July 4th Fireworks Photos in Washington DC
These photos were taken July 4th, in Washington DC, sitting on the lawn underneath the Washington Monument (which is, in my opinion, the best place to watch the fireworks). If you decide to go, arrive at least an hour early to get a good spot on the lawn. Another popular place to sit is on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial, but there’s less space there, and there it’s much more crowded. After the fireworks, many nearby metro stations will be closed, and police out in full force, looking to smash heads. So walk quietly to a farther station, wait in line, and hope to get home!
These photos were taken by me with a Nikon D90 using the kit 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR ED lens at ISO 400, slow ~1/2s shutter, and f/6.3 at 22mm. My first time taking night fireworks pictures, hope they are OK!
For information about next year’s fireworks, About’s 4th of July page is worth a look!
Happy Pi Day!!
It’s pi day! That annual celebration of π=3.141592653589793238462643383279503 that happens on 3/14!
Go out and enjoy a math-filled day!
9/11 Terrorist Attack’s 8th Anniversary
Today is the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York against the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001 suicidal jihadists flew fully fueled airplanes into the World Trade Center, the pentagon, and other targets. America’s most gut-wrenching 21st century moment cost 3,000 lives, and permanently scarred the memories of New Yorkers:
In light of the anniversary, it’s worth spending some time to ask yourself “what has America done to make them hate us so much?” Consider the recent imperialist unjust wars fought in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and the illicit actions of the CIA around the world, or the hundreds of military bases we maintain in other countries. The aid dollars we dole out to dictators to preserve the status quo, our arbitrary tariffs and immigration policies that alienate foreigners, and the eroding of Americans’ own civil liberties in the name of “freedom” and the “war against terror.”
America was once respected as a nation of justice, wisdom, and opportunity. Perhaps over time the Obama administration can repair America’s reputation.
“So, let’s imagine how [the September 11th attacks] could have been worse for example. Suppose that on September 11, Al-Qaeda had bombed the White House and killed the President, instituted a murderous, brutal regime which killed maybe 50,000 to 100,000 people and tortured about 700,000, set up a major international terrorist center in Washington, which was overthrowing governments all over the world, and installing brutal vicious neo-Nazi dictatorships, assassinating people. Suppose he called in a bunch of economists, let’s call them the ‘Kandahar Boys’ to run the American economy, who within a couple of years had driven the economy into one of the worst collapses of its history. Suppose this had happened. That would have been worse than 9/11, right? But it did happen. And it happened on 9/11. That happened on September 11, 1973 in Chile. The only thing you have to change is this per capita equivalence, which is the right way to look at it. Well, did that change the world? Yeah, it did but not from our point of view, in fact, who even knows about it? Incidentally, just to finish, because we [the U.S.] were responsible for that one.” — Noam Chomsky.