Self-Defeating

You know how commercials sometimes blast you out of your chair when they come on the air because they're so loud compared to the show you're watching? Don't you think this is rather foolish on the part of whoever is running the show at the various networks? Ked and I are watching a movie on FX (cable) right now, and the volume change is almost unbelievable. The thing is, though, it's really quite self-defeating. The advertisers want to get our attention, but they grab it so hard that we scramble immediately for the remote control to get to the blessed mute button. If the ads came on at a humanly tolerable decibel level we might just let them roll over us without bothering to silence them, thus allowing them to seep in subliminally at least, even if we didn't pay active attention, but as it is we can't push mute quickly enough. We don't listen a nanosecond longer than we have to. Seems like somebody needs to rethink this plan.

Could Everyone Please Stop Calling Each Other EVIL?

File this one under random and frustrated rants:

These heavy political seasons bring out the accusers of every political persuasion. People left, right and center (well, okay, less center than left and right) can't seem to help judging one another's motives. Most of these judgments lack the understanding that people can share similar goals while vastly disagreeing on method. I would wager that 99% of Americans share a desire for children to be wanted, raised in peace and safety, and all of their fellow citizens to prosper. I'm guessing that almost no one wants war and that we would all love to see America standing among many prosperous nations in the world, each with its sources of security and revenue, populated by happy and peaceful citizens. We all have different methods that we think will be successful in bringing about our desired ends, but hardly anyone wants other human beings to live in poverty, or to see animals suffer, or innocent children dying in endless wars, right? For the most part, people desire what is right, don't they? Is it possible for us all to agree on that, or am I the only person who has that kind of faith in the goodwill of the average American? (I am not talking about ability and accomplishment here, just intentions.) Am I just that much more naive than other people?

Judging by "the accusers" of all political stripes, seemingly no generous motives can possibly exist in the hearts of the disloyal opposition. By the standards of their most extreme opponents, liberals support abortion because they think humanity is an infestation upon the earth and they enjoy killing babies. On the other extreme, conservatives opposed to abortion are thought to simply want to control everyone's lives and keep women tied to their unwanted offspring while men dominate the world. Conservatives face the accusation that their support for free markets and self-sufficiency can only come from their desire to increase their own lofty fortunes by stripping the last dollar from the hands of poor unfortunate children and uneducated social victims. The alternative accusation is that liberals use these same unfortunate children and uneducated social victims as an excuse to strip every last dollar from hardworking taxpayers so that they can increase the power of Big Brother and ultimately transfer all financial control to the Democratic majority in Congress--and ultimately the United Nations. Conservatives, of course, really want to rule the world.

Can we just all stop it, please? Whatever we think of each other's methods, could we please just give other people a little benefit of the doubt as to their motives? No one can see into another person's heart. We all misinterpret what we see even with our own eyes (and our eyes don't come anywhere close to reading minds). I know I do it all the time. On a personal level, I take things as slights, or even attacks, that are nothing of the sort, but my inability to see beyond my own perspective and insecurities hinders my ability to give other people their due as far as their intent. I regularly have to call myself up short, and seek God's help in not letting my limited vision make me see others as intentionally hurtful or neglectful, or whatever--and this is with people I love and desire to think well of. On the macro level, I see this multiplied many times over when expanded to group and political party dynamics. Larger groups of people become anonymous, and so much easier to judge. Whole categories of people somehow have the capacity to become evil en masse in a way that none of these people would be ever viewed if two ideological opponents were simply chatting in line at the grocery store about their favorite dish soap or Chardonnay.

Based on blog posts and comments I read (and I read a lot of them), from one political extreme to another, liberals and conservatives espousing their own views truly see themselves as the good, right, noble, compassionate and virtuous party in every ideological dispute. They want what they see as good to come to fruition. They aren't seeking to have wrong rule the world, but many of them don't seem to be able to recognize that same fact in other people who don't see things their way. Many refuse to even listen when someone puts out an idea that is different from their own. Some of these might actually be good ideas. If we could recognize that the folks out there that we disagree with aren't trying to be evil, and listen to each other once in a while, maybe we could make a little progress in finding common ground.

Or am I just being naive again?

Rant over.

Update: Please don't get me wrong. I do firmly believe that there is evil in the world, but do not believe that the average person intends to be evil and sets out to support wrong. They may be wrong, but that's not the same thing.

Washington D.C. Pics Of The Day--Day 5

It's the next-to-the last day of the trip, and I've got lots of pictures to post, but not a lot to say. What we saw today pretty much speaks for itself. We spent a great day at the National Gallery, so most of the photos are my attempt to capture and remember the beautiful things that we got to see up close and personal. (I couldn't believe how close we got to stand to priceless treasures.) If you aren't into amazing works of art, this is not the post for you. If you are as impressed as Ked and I are by great artists' abilities to capture a bit of the world for the ages to come, scroll on down. (Click on the pic for a larger image--I tried not to make them too big this time.)

First a glimpse of the art of man and God: the Washington Monument and a beautiful day.

We passed this church several times and loved this window.

The whole church, in fact, was quite lovely.

Ked is looking happy to dive into the world of Van Gogh and Da Vinci.

The National Gallery boasts a marble hall that qualifies as art all by itself.

Speaking of Van Gogh, here's his self portrait.

A Girl With Watering Can

oil on canvas, 1876

Auguste Renoir

French, 1841-1919

Spring

oil on canvas, 1881

Edouard Manet

French, 1832-1883

City Hall at Thorn

oil on canvas, 1848

Eduard Gaertner

German, 1801-1877

Some detail from the Gaertner painting.

Still Life With Fruit, Oysters and Wine

oil on panel, c. 1655

Jan Davidsz De Heem

Dutch, 1606-1683/1684

View Down a Dutch Canal

oil on panel, c. 1665

Jan Van Der Heyden

Dutch, 1837-1712

Still Life With Flowers and Fruit

oil on panel, c. 1705

Jan Van Huysum

Dutch, 1682-1749

Here's a close up section of "Still Life." The Dutch Masters absolutely blow me away. Can you believe the details? The water drops, the sheen and transparency of the grapes, and even the fly are simply incredible. That Van Huysum was nothing short of amazing. Definitely click on this one to enlarge it.

The Interior of Oude Kerk, Amsterdam

oil on canvas, c. 1660/1665

Emmanuel De Witte

Dutch, 1617-1692

Dishes With Oysters, Fruit and Wine

oil on panel, c. 1620/1625

Osias Beert The Elder

Flemish, active 1596-1623

Madonna and Child

oil on panel, c. 1532

Jan Gossaert

Netherlandish, c. 1478-1532

Pirna, The Fortress of Sonnenstein

oil on canvas, c. 1755-1760

Bernardo Bellotto

Venetian, 1722-1780

The Square of Saint Mark's, Venice

oil on canvas, 1742/1744

Canaletto

Venetian, 1697-1768

Ginevra de' Benci (obverse)

oil on panel, c. 1474/1478

Leonardo Da Vinci

Florentine, 1452, 1519

Lamentation

oil on panel, c. 1505-1507

Andrea Solario

Milanese, active 1495-1524

I found it interesting that the most cheerful colors of the lot are in the painting about the death of Christ, titled "Lamentation." I also found all sorts of fascinating cultural indicators from the subject matter and stylistic approaches of the various artists from different eras and places. For example, Ked and I noticed that the Italian greats of the past definitely had a fascination with extremely young-looking Madonnas, and extremely old-looking Josephs. Do you suppose that has something to do with their desire to see Mary as perpetually virgin? Maybe by making Joseph a really old man they could maintain the mental image that he would be uninterested in her in any physical way. Maybe not... I'm just speculating.

Next time--whenever that is--the Museum of Natural History!!

Washington D.C. Pics Of The Day--Day 4

Welcome back for another episode of Ked and Kat's Travels. We are continuing our exploration of Washington D.C., and running out of time before we head back home to Portland, so we're getting up early and heading out into the city, determined to fill our day as full as possible. Come along and see the sights, and maybe learn a thing or two.

We did cram a lot into this day, and would have done more if the sun didn't have this dreadful tendency to go down at night. That doesn't mean it was all a mad dash, though. We really wanted to soak in and contemplate what we saw--there was a lot to think about. After our exciting foray into Air and Space on day three, day four moved us in a more introspective direction. This was a Sunday, so we thought it would be an ideal time to visit some of our nation's memorials. We walked the loop around the Tidal Basin of the Potomac River, and viewed some of our country's remembrances of her history and people. We saw the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and finally, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This was not a light and fluffy set of tourist sites. Each place we went had its depth of meaning and impact, and I'll try to give you a taste of what we saw, and especially what we read.


Okay, this picture really is rather light and fluffy. Almost every day we walked past this spot, and this day I made Ked let me take his picture with this quirky little fountain. The water streamed so steadily that it looked like tubes crossing the pavement. It was oddly unnatural. More than once we saw people stopping to put a finger in the stream, just to see the tubes wiggle and sputter like water is supposed to do.

Our first official stop for the day was the World War II Memorial. This is an absolutely beautiful tribute to America's efforts and sacrifices during that great global conflict. Each of those pillars contains the name of an American state or territory which sent its youth to die in the struggle for freedom and against tyranny.

The teeming throng of people at the memorial was an international melting pot, reflecting the reality that this was not just an American travail, but indeed a worldwide conflagration.

The pavilions at either end of the memorial, one for the Atlantic and one for the Pacific, "symbolize a war fought across two oceans." The wreaths of oak and wheat represent America's industrial and agricultural strength, vital to the war effort. The wall to the right of these pillars contains the following tribute from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to those who remained and served the country from home:

"They have given their sons to the military services. They have stoked the furnaces and hurried the factory wheels. They have made the planes and welded the tanks, riveted the ships and rolled the shells."

They also rationed, scrimped and recycled to contribute to the war effort. The sacrifices to win this war were committed and nearly universal.

Here's another nearby inscription, fitting to this pictorial combination of the WWII Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the American flag in the distance:

"We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other." General George C. Marshall

Beyond the Reflecting Pool is the Lincoln Memorial. We didn't go to it this time, because we have been there before and wanted to cover new ground, but I do remember it being just amazingly inspirational. Do go there when you get to D.C. yourself.

I fear these photos will all start to look alike today, being such a determined combination of blue sky and water , green trees, and monumental white marble, but I think these scenes are so beautiful, and I hope you will indulge my inability to choose between them.

Speaking of blue, green and white, here is a view of the Jefferson Memorial as we travelled around the tidal basin that provides a home to the village of monuments near the National Mall. I don't think there's a single bad scene or angle to be had on this particular walk, and I would love to be able to see this in all four seasons of the year. I bet it's spectacular in the snow.

As we headed round the path, we came upon the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It had a significantly different tone from the grand marble edifices that make up the rest of the Memorial Parks. This place was much more subdued, with dull stone and bronze to commemorate the trials and challenges of the Great Depression.

Here's something upon which I think most of us can agree.

Here's another look at the Jefferson Memorial. You might get tired of these. I find this monument absolutely stunning. To give you some substance as well as style, I'll caption a few of these photos with some of the quotes from Jefferson which you can find inside the Memorial.


"Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens... are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We... solemnly publish and declare that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states... and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honour."

While I have no feet in this photo, I include it so that I may say that I stand with Jefferson when he says, "Here, we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."

" I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue and advancing the happiness of man."

There is so much more to be said about Jefferson. He was a man of the Enlightenment, of letters, science and art, and had boundless influence on the very nature of our republic. He was, as the literature from the Memorial states, "a political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturalist, diplomat, inventor and the third President of the United States." We're talking giant here. I walked around in awe.

I have no pictures to show you from the rest of our day. We spent it at the Holocaust Museum, and they request that no photographs be taken, out of respect. I will simply say that our visit was very, very hard, but important. Nothing I say can do it justice. Everyone should go there.

Creative Punishment

Ked and I were driving home from running some errands this evening when we passed the music store where Ked bought his guitar, and a few other instrumental diversions. The folks who work there are nice, and take time to give good service, and have given us fair prices. So, it rather irritated us to see that some brat with a spray can had tagged their delivery van. Tagged--what a lovely euphemism, like some innocent children are playing a harmless game--what I really mean is vandalized. I know a lot of people don't think this is a big deal. Kids will be kids, and they need "creative" outlets. It's really just art on someone else's canvas, right? No big deal. Thing is, though, now the store is going to have to pay to have the van repainted, or have an insurance company pay for it, likely causing a rate increase, which means it will be more difficult for them to give the next guitar purchaser a good deal. These property crimes do cost people time and money, and not just rich people who "can afford it," but they are so low on the priority list that, even if the little creative geniuses get caught there's not much to stop them from grabbing another can of Krylon and heading back out to express themselves all over someone else's vehicle or building.

I'm thinking that our society needs to hand out a little "creative" punishment, something to maybe, possibly deter the less hardened public artists before they develop a habit of vandalism--a return to good old-fashioned shame. My idea for implementing tagger shame is this: tag them back. I propose that anyone who is caught tagging be tattooed on the forehead with an emblem of the court's choosing. Now, I realize that some taggers would wear this as a badge of honor, and getting their first forehead tat would become something of a rite of passage, so I propose the judge should make it as mortifying a mark as is humanly possible. Tough guys who are already covered over with snakes and daggers need a change of pace. Hello Kitty would do nicely, or, better yet, Barney. How about a nice big purple dinosaur smack in the middle of their forehead? To make it truly special, the judge could add lyrics like:

I tagged you
They caught me
My sentence was this Barney

I think it has a nice ring to it, don't you? I don't even think this could be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. The kid's already proven he likes art, and he's got no problem with someone taking a little "creative license" with someone else's property. The judge is only expressing himself for a little while--say, five years. After that the tagger can have the tat removed, at his own pain and expense, of course. I like it. After all, deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the tagger the fear to spray. (Name that movie.) Too harsh? Okay, you have any better ideas? Leave 'em in the comments. I'm all eyes.

Washington D.C. Pics Of The Day--Day 3

Ahh, Day 3. This is kid-in-a-candy-store time for me. Ked and I spent the whole day at the National Air and Space Museum--we could easily have spent two, despite the fact this was the second time we have been to this particular museum. I walked around all day with a huge grin on my face. What's not to grin about? We saw rockets and planes, with names like Starfighter and Skyrocket, and learned about how they fly. We saw giant telescopes and planets, and a fascinating 3D movie of the Sun. We soared along with an absolutely fantastic IMAX video about a real-life Air Force pilot participating in international combat exercises at Operation Red Flag. We walked through the field of missiles and space stations that were the offspring of the U.S./Soviet race for space, soaking up the details on every plaque we could get our eyes on, and took our tour through the Skylab Orbital Workshop (or a reasonable facsimile, anyway). We also stood in line for fifteen minutes for a fifteen second glance inside the cockpit of a big-old-jet-airliner, whimpering because the protective glass kept us from pushing all the buttons.

With all of this, and much more, we still didn't have time to investigate aviation during the World Wars, or really dig into jet propulsion, or check out the flight simulators, or peruse the Jules Verne-imagined space capsule, or see again the Wright brothers plane that started it all, or. . . You get the point. We'd probably have gotten through everything quicker if we didn't have the driving compulsion to read every single thing we passed, but I wouldn't give up that compulsion for (almost) anything. There's nothing so cool to me as spending a whole day in an amazing place and leaving feeling like I've only scratched the surface. It was heaven. We are so going back someday.

So, on to the pics of the day. I'm not sure how effective these photos will be at giving a sense of what got us so excited. It's really hard to convey scale, even when you click on the photos to enlarge them (which I encourage you to do), and so much of what we enjoyed was what we learned, but here goes. As usual, we'll just walk out of our hotel and see what we see...


One of the first things of interest which we came across was this demonstration, all bedecked with a combination of American and Chinese flags, an arresting sight by its sheer improbability. We weren't able to ascertain exactly what was going on, but we suspected that the folks here were seeking aid and support for the victims of China's recent devastating earthquake. This is just a guess, however, since what we heard while we were there was a young girl's slightly off-key voice loudly singing "The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow" through a rather distorted sound system. That could be about the earthquake, right? (Oh, by the way, those little smudges in the air in front of the Washington Monument aren't smudges; they're helicopters. You can see them pretty clearly in my original high-resolution photo, and not quite so clearly if you click to the full-blog-sized photo here. Just letting you know your screen isn't dirty. The helicopters are simply being covert. It's the old helicopters-disguised-as-smudges camouflage.)

What would any day in D.C. be without its share of the abundant columnage that decorates this fair city? This fine example of columnar architecture is brought to you by the good people of Canada, who seem happy to let their embassy reflect this dominant architectural theme.

For just a minute Ked and I thought we had taken a wrong turn at Denver and headed to the City by the Bay, but a few more steps brought us to another set of columns, a fountain, and some statues, so we knew were were still in D.C. and not some Twilight Zone version of San Francisco.

We arrived at Air and Space and I promptly adopted perma-grin. The grin got wider as I looked up to see Spaceship One. Here's what Tier One Project, "the world's first privately funded manned space program," has to say about Spaceship One: "On October 4, 2004, SpaceShipOne rocketed into history, becoming the first private manned spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 328,000 feet twice within the span of a 14 day period, thus claiming the ten million dollar Ansari X-Prize." I want a ride. Do you suppose they'd be nice to me because I gave them a link in my highly insignificant and fluffy little blog? Nah, didn't think so.

Here's Kedley standing next to the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia. Yep, this is the one that ferried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the Moon and back again, from July 16-24, 1969. Doesn't look very big for spending eight or nine days in space, does it? However, I have photographic proof that previous modules were much smaller. Neil, Buzz and Michael can be glad that they weren't aboard the Mercury or Gemini crafts. Talk about your sardine cans! Apollo looks absolutely spacious by comparison, and, of course, they had the lunar module to kick around in for the flight out. However, since they let that crash back onto the surface when they departed la Luna, the ride home got pretty cozy.

Here's one for any of you ladies who ever wanted to be a stewardess. (Yes, I know the PC term is "Flight Attendant," but in the fifties, when the industry was all about glamour and every girl wanted to fly the friendly skies, the proper form of address was "Stewardess.") Back in the day, potential candidates were evaluated by height, weight, age, marital status (single), appearance, race, gender, and education. I discovered that should some time machine whisk me back to 1952, I would have no hope of being a flight attendant in that strict and bigoted era. Ignoring the fact that I'm married and over a decade too old, I'm two inches too tall!! (The acceptable window is 5'2"-5'6".) At least, I was two inches too tall before that extra decade stole a half an inch from me! Stinking gravity.

It's a shame, too, because if I had been sufficiently unmarried and otherwise adequate appearance-wise to be a stewardess, I could have worn a nifty outfit like this one. Seriously, all snark aside, this little number is pretty darn elegant air-wear. I may have to copy that jacket, even if the only thing I wear on airplanes these days are comfort clothes. Maybe I could make it out of some of that new stretchy fabric that looks all stiff and uncomfortable, but feels like you are in your pajamas, or, maybe I could wear it someplace other than on an airplane! (See, you come someplace like the Air and Space museum and you start getting all sorts of wild and crazy, futuristic ideas.)

How about we talk about something that involves women and flight, but doesn't involve such trivialities as what they're wearing while they're up there? This is the Lockheed Vega that Amelia Earhart flew in 1932 to make the first nonstop solo flight by a woman across the Atlantic, and also the first nonstop solo flight by a woman across the United States. Her 19 hours in the air during the flight across the continent makes me feel a little pathetic for whining about our six-or-so hours in the air from Portland to D.C.. Of course, I'm betting that Amelia didn't have to cope with any cute-but-crying infants either. It's a toss-up.

Here's a fun array of aircraft, from a 1936 Douglas DC-3 passenger liner, which, according to Wikipedia "revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s," to a 1928 Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor, U.S. mail plane. (Did you know that Ford built planes? I sure didn't.)

Here's the Starfighter I mentioned earlier. The handy museum plaque said this type of day fighter, first flown in 1954, is known as "the missile with a man in it." It's the first U.S. jetfighter to fly at twice the speed of sound, and this one, the seventh one ever built, flew for 19 years as a "flying test bed and chase plane," before retiring to the Smithsonian in 1975. Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan also flew these Mach 2 machines, which goes to show you what a decade can to to change international relations. This baby was built only nine years after the end of World War II, and yet Germany and Japan got U.S. permission to build and fly them. Gives me hope for the future, that does.

Here's a fun thing. This is an honest-to-goodness, real-deal Apollo lunar module. I'll just quote the whole NASM plaque verbatim so you can be as in-the-know as Kedley and I now are:

"This is an actual lunar module, one of 12 built for Project Apollo. It was meant to be used in low Earth orbit to test the techniques of separation, rendezvous, and docking with the command and service module. The second of two such test vehicles, its mission was cancelled because of the complete success of the first flight.

"The lunar module had two stages. The descent (lower) stage was equipped with a rocket motor to slow the rate of descent to the lunar surface. It contained the exploration equipment and remained on the Moon when the astronauts left. The ascent (upper) stage contained the crew compartment and a rocket motor to return the astronauts to the orbiting command module. After the crew entered the command module for the trip back to Earth, the lunar module was released and eventually crashed into the Moon."

There--don't you feel all edified and erudite now? Oh, and as an aside, did you notice how many U.S. flags there are in this shot? I count five. The Apollo Project folks certainly weren't reticent about touting Brand America. I find that quite refreshing.

Here's a whole bushel of Air and Space fun. We have missiles and rockets aplenty, Skylab, and way in the background we have a full-sized replica of the Hubble Space Telescope. This Space Race Gallery was loads of educational entertainment, even if part of it was suitable for the "interesting, but creepy" category, like the Tomahawk missile in the upper foreground.

Ked and I had a ball in the "How Things Fly" section of the museum. We learned about the four forces that act on an airplane: gravity, lift, thrust and drag, and got to play with neato little hands-on gadgets which demonstrate those forces. Many of the gadgets involved water and/or strings in the wind, so that we could see the effects which are invisible when only air is involved (unless it's really, really dirty "L.A. in the 70s" kind of air I suppose). It was cool. We learned about vortices and how wings work, and what the flaps are for, and all manner of information that is pretty useless in my world, but awfully fun to know anyway.

After we learned how planes fly we were running out of time, so we quickly zipped through the "Explore the Universe" gallery, which showed us some of the ways man has devised to look at space throughout the centuries, and saw a few other odds and ends of Air and Space goodness on our way out the door. I have tons more pictures, but this is probably enough to convince you that you need to head to Washington to get to this museum, right? Maybe we can all go together next time, because I'm definitely panting to get back. I didn't even get to tell you about the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, or what free fall is, or about Voyager, the geysers on Triton, the Mars exploration Rover, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I just don't have time to describe it all, and I'm sure you don't have time to read it either. Too many wonders, not enough time!! That's it--next time you're coming too!

Well, it's time to go back to the hotel and have some dinner. What would the walk home be, though, without another pretty columned building like the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center to admire? See you next time. Hope you enjoyed Day 3!