Stuck In Customs

Here was a really cool fence I found in DC. I figure this is what everyone pictures when they decide to grow roses up over the edge of their fence.

I was playing trivial pursuit this weekend and I got this question… I didn’t believe it so I had to look it up on Wikipedia.
The Dymaxion car was a concept car built in 1933 and designed by Buckminster Fuller. The car was a high efficiency vehicle with a then-unheard of fuel efficiency of 30 miles per US gallon (7.8 L/100 km) and it could move 11 passengers along at 120 miles per hour (193 km/h).

The car was exceptionally large, 20 feet (6 metres) in length, but could do a U-turn in its own length. This turning ability was due to the fact that it turned via a single rear wheel. Drive power was provided by the front wheels, which were mounted on a 1933 Ford roadster rear wheel axle, flipped over to provide proper rotation. Henry Ford had given Buckminster Fuller the V-8 engine to experiment with.

The body was aerodynamically, if counter-intuitively, correct. It was blunt and smooth at the front, narrowing to a low-turbulent tail at the back. Still today, the intuitive “knife-edge front/matron-butt” fashion trumps aereodynamics at anything less that three meters above the ground.

This configuration unfortunately made the car somewhat counterintuitive to operate, especially in crosswind situations. The unusual steering ultimately led to the invention’s demise when an accident at the 1933 Chicago world’s fair, likely caused by the driver of another vehicle, prompted investors to abandon the project, blaming the accident on deficiencies in the vehicle’s unusual steering.

However, according to Art Kleiner in his book The Age of Heretics, the real reason why Chrysler refused to produce the car was because the bankers threatened to recall their loans as they felt the car would destroy sales for both vehicles already in the distribution channels and second-hand cars.

I like the way these glow:

Here are some fireworks from the fourth here in Austin. Below is Lake Austin, and this was shot from the 360 Bridge.

As for the process, it was a tough night because I was on the edge of a bridge that was rumbling as cars went across it, it was very windy, and there was a light driving rain right into my lens. I had to wipe down the lens after every few exposure and try to cup my hands over the top during the shot.

This was an HDR of three exposures at -2, 0 and +2. The Aperture was f6.3; ISO 200; Focal Length 27mm;

Here is a nice little pond we found down in San Antonio.

This is an older picture from Carmel, California, from when we ate lunch at Clint Eastwood’s restaurant. I was re-organizing some of my old stuff and came across this one… and thought it was nice.

I was looking at Fourth of July stuff on Flickr and I saw that my picture of the Washington Monument is the most “interesting” photo in the rankings.

Here is Lake Austin from two different areas on two different days. The first is near 360 an the second is from Mount Bonnell.

Here is old Abe:

I don’t know why I can’t stop taking pictures of motorcycles. I don’t even like riding them… I suppose I like them so much because each one of these custom jobs is a perfect little piece of art; almost like a utilitarian sculpture with just engine and wheels and power.