Hammers of Hell

On April 30, 1962 at the then super-secret Area 51 facility at Groom Lake, Nevada, those who witnessed the first flight of the new A-12 spy plane were awe-struck by the raw power it displayed. It was so loud that somebody named it "The Hammers of Hell" on the spot.  Built by Lockheed for the CIA, its mission was to spy on the Soviet Union and its client states. Construction plans called for it to be largely built from a rare material called titanium. This was the only metal known that could withstand the super heating the air frame would experience at 3 times the speed of sound and altitudes above 80,000 feet. Using a series of fake companies and import firms, Lockheed was able to obtain the Titanium from non-other than the Soviet Union itself. So they helped the United States build a spy plane that they were never able to shoot down. It just flew too high and too fast. At altitude A-12 pilots reported that the sky turned black, the stars came out and they could see the curvature of the earth. They often out ran missiles shot at them. None were ever lost to enemy fire.

Lead Sled - Slammed '60 Caddy

I spotted this slammed 1960 purple Cadillac at the Cruz'n for the Roses car show this morning. The owner closed the trunk and removed the entry paperwork from the front window so I could get a cleaner shot. He didn't have to do that so that was pretty nice. Unfortunately it didn't stop people from stepping into my shot of course but that's kind of expected. I was being patient but the owner was saying "tell them to get out of the way!" What great style this car has. Check out the bed-of-nails  grill.

Getting All Up in Your Grill

Face full of a '39 Chevy Master Deluxe from the Southern California Bomb Club's car show held in Whittier, CA this morning.  They don't build them like this any more boys and girls. You have to see one of these rolling masterpieces to appreciate the exuberant styling Chevy's designers imparted here just as the world was exploding into war.

Non-Linear

I saw a photo of this atrium on a Washington DC tour book. I showed it to Kathy and she said "I know where that is, National Portrait Gallery." We were staying not too far away so we visited. The evening was really nice, with cool temperatures and the undulating atrium roof was spectacular. The locals seem to hang out here, buying coffee and pastries and chatting one another up. Kathy is sitting on a planter on the left patiently waiting for me to finish shooting some photos and video. The "no tripods" rule is in full force here so to get this shot, I had to hold my camera over my head and press it firmly against a wall while shooting 3 frames for this HDR composite. I was able to hold it perfectly still and it worked just fine. After walking around the nearly empty galleries, we walked to a local restaurant in the fading light and had dinner.

Woodly Park Zoo Station

This is the Woodly Park Zoo metro station in Washington DC. I have always found the architecture of DC's metro stations to be interesting and very worthy of a photo or two. While the stations are nice,it can be a little disconcerting when an express train blasts through the station without stopping or seeming to slow down. You can kind of see one on the right side of the photo. Just look for the semi-transparent blur.

Multiverse

Just prior to Kathy and I traveling to Washington DC, I had been reading a very interesting book about Hugh Everett's "Many-Worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. One of the concepts the reader has to wrap his or her head around is that of the existence of a multiverse, where there isn't a single universe but instead an infinite number of them which are constantly splitting. One where you ate breakfast in the morning and one where you didn't, one where you posted a photo of an interesting art installation and one where you didn't and on and on. Anyway, there are many Smithsonian art museums but on the National Mall there are two that have a walkway between them which is located below ground level. At some point a very interesting art exhibit called "multiverse" was installed. It consists of thousands of LED lights that race around making patterns that are really compelling. You can walk the length of this tunnel or ride on one of two moving sidewalk conveyor belt thingies like the two guys in the photo are doing.

Hotel Window View of Downtown San Diego

Josh, Alexandra and I spent the weekend in San Diego. This was the view out the hotel room window. Sorry about the reflections on the glass. Not much I could do about them. I didn't have my polarizing filter with me.

Dream Car

As usual, Kathy and I were very excited that the day of the annual Uptown Whittier Car Show had finally arrived. We were out very early and I quickly decided that the first car I wanted to photograph was this beautiful Chevrolet Bel Aire. The owners son sleeping in the passenger seat seemed to take all of the excitement in stride. Never stirring once even with all the noise my DSLR's shutter and mirror were making right next to the car door.

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service - AirButt Greg-380

As of the time of this posting the cost of an economy class round trip flight on this QANTAS A380 from Los Angeles, California to Sydney Australia is $1,497 USD. I recently had the opportunity to tour this aircraft and while it was huge, the economy seats were small and leg room tight for someone as tall as I am. I know this for a fact because I tried one on for size.

The aircraft itself was amazing. I was stunned by the incredibly high-tech cockpit and at its massive size.

The A380 has an range of 9,756 miles which would guarantee that I would run out of ass before it ran out of gas.

The Three Muses

This lovely statue stands directly in the center of the rotunda in the Los Angeles Natural History Museum's original building which opened in 1913. The rotunda has been featured in many movies over the years including Spiderman and Born Yesterday.