So said the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a Washington society, quoted in The London Times, which looks like this, going all in on AI imagery:
I was going to ding the the Cultural Landscape Foundation for writing "grey" instead of "gray," but when I saw "colouration," I had to assume that The London Times imposes its British spellings on quoted material.
It's funny how people are getting cranked up over the color blue. The Foundation associates blue with backyard summer fun incompatible with what the reflective pool is supposed to be. Our reflections are supposed to be achromatic... gray... character-defining gray. That is, we're supposed to look into the reflective surface of the water and think somber thoughts. You're supposed to think about Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, and not in their happier times. You're supposed to feel sad. It's "distorting the experience" if you feel festive or even optimistic.
I've got to assume that the idea of "character-defining gray" emerged from a process of thinking about that one MLK quote that has come to stand in for everything he every said or did: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." He said content of their character, not color of their character.
I wonder if these Cultural Landscape people thought about the meaning of blue and gray in the context of the Civil War. It could be easy to embrace the blue as symbolic of the Union. But they don't want to. By fighting, they are reinforcing the idea that this reflection-pool blue means Trump Trump Trump.
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98 comments:
It's funny how people are getting cranked up over the color blue.
They're not. It's all about Trump. Nothing more, nothing less.
they are right. We have enough granite in Vermont to do a proper job refitting the Memorial, and maybe they will stop using it for curbs, which act on your tires like a serrated knife if you get too close, not to mention what they do to your wheels. It's a better use for the resource.
"..It's funny how people are getting cranked up over the color blue.."
if Trump does it.. it is BAD!
It's funny how people are getting cranked up over the color blue...
They are cranked up over the color Orange.
They’re cranked up against anything Trump wants to do. Don’t give the irrational TDS sufferers the attention they crave.
Let's complain about the color rather than the grift involved in granting a no-bid contract, which Trump initially said was $1.5 million, has ballooned to $13.5 million and will not be finished by July 4 as Trump promised. Same as the pattern with the ballroom, which was supposed to paid for entirely with bribes from industry and the rich, now the Senate is proposing to spend another billion of taxpayer money to finish it.
To clean the augean stables is a task many dont want
Trump has a point, if the water is dirty, it's not going to offer reflections of the sky and the memorial. It's really kind of dumb to insist that the filthy water is aesthically more pleasing.
Personally, I'd turn the entire thing into a koi pond with aquatic plants. I'd think it'd look nicer. Or how about adding a nice giant mosaic of the American flag on the floor? The mosaic could be made from bits of tile from all over the country.
"Not our kind, dear" underpins nearly squeal we hear from the Left.
Like brivaels excavation into french theory and how it spawned the hydra of critical mind arsons we see today
On the May 15 cafe post, everybody was going on and on about that #3 gray photo. And I was like, "I'm a blue man. What's up with these gray people?" #1 all the way.
Though I can't wait to see Trump splashing around in his new pool, unfortunately, with the blue, it will no longer be a reflecting pool.
Why does every thing want to decay in the prog mind
I'll make this easy: Had Obama done this, it would have been glorified. Look at how they are managing to not hold their noses at his monument in Chicago, that adaptation of Soviet Brutalism.
On the other hand, the reflecting pool is supposed to be...well...able to reflect the monument on the end. But, better a bright and optimistic blue than the color of a dark sludge.
As for grey vs gray. I used to be the US representative for a Canadian manufacturer (yes...they used to build things in Canada). We did a lot of work with designers, and colo(u)r was a regular part of things. I got so used to the Canadian spelling of grey, I adopted it through those years. I'm back to gray now. Loving life in gray.
Canadians so want to see themselves as Europeans.
James Lileks has pointed out to his readers that the overwhelmingly dominant color on TV today, especially on commercials, and extra-especially on commercials for prescription drugs is a teal or aqua blue shade.
I would never independently notice such a thing, but he does. If you become aware of and look for it, it's evident.
According to my sources, Trump already owns the reflecting pool noodle concession which will be a gold mine this summer.
If you think that every criticism of Trump is down to TDS, then that says that you think that Trump is beyond criticism, which is kind of cult like thinking.
I've been to Alaska, where the silt runoff from glaciers has turned the Ocean gray. When there, I prefer to look inland at the mountains and forests. I've been to the Caribbean with gorgeous shades of blue clear water that reflects the open and beautiful sky.
If being asked to look at water for a reflection; I want to see blue.
Trump isn't allowed anything by the hack-D Mao press.
A quick history lesson for you leftists.
“If you think that every criticism of Trump is down to TDS, then that says that you think that Trump is beyond criticism, which is kind of cult like thinking.” Like the Obama cult.
A history lesson for the Israel hating/blame Israel for all the things.... rightwing - leftwing alliance.
Maybe Trump should have done a giant Stars and Bars, just to give these boneheads something to really shriek about.
Didn't Obama spend a fortune to renovate the pool, only to have it leak and still be disgusting? What was the cost of that?
It makes me wonder if the renovation is going to include some kind of water treatment to keep it clean. Otherwise, it won't be terribly long before there's a layer of dust and silt on the bottom and we go back to 'grey'. Anyway, this is progress: Look at the A.I. of Trump, looking young and fit and decidedly non-obese. Things really are changing.
...""I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their reflection but by the content of their water, floating trash, pond scum, goose sh*t, and all."
It looks like Tulsi had some work done, too. Not to mention Trump's flat stomach as well.
Thats the agriculture secretary
"It makes me wonder if the renovation is going to include some kind of water treatment to keep it clean. Otherwise, it won't be terribly long before there's a layer of dust and silt on the bottom and we go back to 'grey'."
No. I predict we'll install AI-guided vacuuming robots to keep the pool clean. Underwater Roombas.
"If you think that every criticism of Trump is down to TDS, then that says that you think that Trump is beyond criticism, which is kind of cult like thinking."
Trump is the most criticized, demonized, and threatened President in history. Multiple "news" outlets do little else and have been that way for a decade. If you wallow in that, as millions do, and still think that's insufficient criticism, that's TDS.
A grey swimming pool makes the water look blue. A blue one may make it look what? Greenish maybe?
But this may not apply to a reflecting pool, in which the water is not crystal clear. I suspect Trump knows this.
The Obama administration oversaw a major renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool from 2010 to 2012 at a cost of approximately $34–35 million. While initially deemed successful, leaks and algae problems persisted over time, leading to ongoing maintenance challenges and setting the stage for later repair proposals under subsequent administrations. This was project was "competitively bid".
Whatever is done, we should definitely not do anything differently this time.
Adjusted for inflation, Obama's restoration would cost $51 million today. "Competitively bid".
Funny how that works
OMG a no bid contract. In Washington of all places. Shriek and moan, we coulda had a half of a Learing Center for that much money.
imTay said...
If you think that every criticism of Trump is down to TDS, then that says that you think that Trump is beyond criticism, which is kind of cult like thinking.
I criticize Trump often.
I just don't make shit up and invent a fantasy world to do it.
If you think that every criticism of Trump is down to TDS, then that says that you think that Trump is beyond criticism, which is kind of cult like thinking.
bagoh20 said...
Adjusted for inflation, Obama's restoration would cost $51 million today. "Competitively bid".
Trump is a job killer.
Sorry but I accidentally hit post before I could add, "hahahahahahahahaha!
It isn't that Trump is beyond criticism. It is that things as trivial as Trump's tie color are presented as unimpeachable evidence that mankind is Doooooooomed.
The reflection is meant to be a reflection on the somber state of affairs since Trump took office. Not real corpses of course, but there's no reason they can't float some polyethylene mock ups of all the children that Trump's policies have caused to starve to death. Maybe some polyethylene cow patties too as a symbol of all the bullshit. The pool should look like raw sewage with little fountains of bright, red blood to signify fresh new bloodshed in Iran or wherever. The reflecting pool should be a focal point where committed patriots can come to engage in their three minutes of Trump hate. I'm sure it would be a huge tourist draw--like the Vietnam memorial--and the Democrats would hasten to fund it.
If you think that every criticism of Trump is down to TDS,
Just the dumb or false or dumb and false ones, Tim. Criticize policies and actions that are actually unique to Trump, and not also carried out by his predecessors without cavil, all you want.
then that says that you think that Trump is beyond criticism, which is kind of cult like thinking.
But it's somehow not "cult like thinking" to criticize every single thing a public figure does, regardless of its importance, effect on civic life and civil society, precedents, antecedents, positive consequences?
Have you heard of the Two Minutes' Hate, dude? You and your ilk regularly go way past your two minutes. Can you point to one time that you, for instance, have ever acknowledged one thing Trump has said or done without "criticizing" it (mocking it, subjecting it to ad-hominem irrelevancies, employing it to tar Trump supporters with a brush of ignorance and stupidity)?
JAORE @9:52, I was literally this close to using Trump's tie color as an example.
Had Obama done this, it would have been glorified.
Obama spent over $30 million to make it worse. This renovation circulated water in from the tidal basin, increasing the algae growth.
Every heart beats "meh" for the red, white and grey.
It makes me wonder if the renovation is going to include some kind of water treatment to keep it clean.
As far as I know, and correct me if I am wrong, but they are doing nothing with the filtration system, just an attempt to seal the bottom (which the renovations conducted by Obama did, as well as sinking deep piles to support the bottom). It will still use water pumped from the tidal basin, so basically swamp water. Because its surface area is huge compared to its depth (between 18 and 30 inches), keeping it clean is probably an impossible task. Stabilizing the bottom is probably also an impossible task as it sits on 20+ feet of marine clay, notoriously hard to build on.
Obama spent over $30 million to make it worse. This renovation circulated water in from the tidal basin, increasing the algae growth.
And there are no plans to change that. Again, correct me with links if I am mistaken.
Fact is, it was probably a bad idea to start with.
"While initially deemed successful..."
What do you mean "initially"? Those $35 million were spent, were they not?
We all know that if Biden had done this, the same people would've kept silent or cheered it on.
We all know that if Biden had done this, the same people would've kept silent or cheered it on.
We all know that if Biden had done this, the same people would be bitching about, especially the no-bid aspect. You would also probably find some way to pin it on Hunter Biden, for good measure.
lefties like to pee in the pool so all good…
Freder @10:22, yeah, probably... But here we are.
One factor in our selling our house and going on the road last fall was maintenance costs. Our pool wasn't a huge contributor, but it was in there. Bodies of water that you want to keep living things out of are a pain, even when they're nice to have.
According to my sources, the color choice was based on Donald Trump's deeply held personal conviction, based on hard experience at Mar A Lago, that it's much harder to find and remove a Baby Ruth bar from a gray-bottomed pool than a blue one.
Freder: “We all know that if Biden had done this, the same people would be bitching about, especially the no-bid aspect.” The same people? Your people? When did “your people” ever bitch about the grift, the fraud, the dementia, etc., any of the atrocities foisted on us by Democrats?
It has now become reflective of a familiar pattern from President Trump, as he forges ahead with a makeover without due consultation while opponents wait for the court process and costs mount from week to week.
The familiar pattern is bringing a lawsuit over anything Trump does. How does the Cultural Landscape Foundation have standing to sue? Trump is the president, live with it.
The reflecting pool needed maintenance, and this is what is being done. Getting pool guys in isn't crazy, and $13 million is nothing. Blue will look different than gray or algae, so get used to it.
It's obvious that the Cultural Landscape Foundation hates Trump, and isn't crazy about America. They are also bitter that the project is too fast and cheap for corruption to set in.
Trump should be questioned, but this knee-jerk obstructionism discredits the opposition.
I was referring to the "same people" here who are defending what Trump has done.
ImTay: “If you think that every criticism of Trump is down to TDS, then that says that you think that Trump is beyond criticism.” Lefty logic. Get in the game, ipDay. TDS is about the compulsive need to criticize Trump about everything, however ridiculous, evidenced here by the unwillingness of your consorts to criticize Obama for spending far more and failing to fix the problem and the incredibly stupid swimming pool analogy.
I don’t consider people here are defending what Trump has done so much as they seem to be defending what Trump is apparently doing to you and your cohorts.
This post got me thinking about songs. A lot of songs reference the color of the sky and blue skies usually signify happy times and skies of grey usually signify bad times.
Trump is easily the most qualified President in history to build or repair a pool, or a ball room, or anything else, and yet he has the most (unqualified) critics. It almost like the criticism is unfounded in knowledge and driven by something else all together.
"...permanently transform ..." Dems win, they can change the color while tearing down the ballroom.
Imagine what Trump could do to the pool for $51 million.
It could be lined with golden statues of Trump facing outward with his middle finger in the air. That's what Obama did, figuratively. He did the same thing with the 2020 election, and got the same leaky result.
"Trump is easily the most qualified President in history to build or repair a pool, or a ball room, or anything else..."
Tim Walz could probably find some Somalis to hire for those projects. It would only cost a couple billion dollars and in the end, nothing would get done.
Better to look like a swiming pool, than its current incarnation as a urinal for the crack-addled vagrancy that currently infests the Federal triangle thanks to democrat urban policy.
“ Our reflections are supposed to be achromatic... gray... character-defining gray.”
No, the reflector is supposed to be achromatic. Your reflection is what it is. Would you want a blue mirror? This thing is literally called the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. You’re supposed to see the reflections, not the pool. I gotta side with the Foundation on this one.
I don't quite understand. If it's a reflecting pool, how blue or gray is it going to be? Between AI, "artist's renderings," and photos of the pool without water, are we really getting a picture of what the completed project will look like?
How old was Dumbass Don when he had the picture taken wearing swimming trunks? Or is this an AI-created image?
Show of hands if you’ve ever heard of the Cultural Landscape Foundation. Double show of hands if you give a sh*t what they think.
Is there some reason why a blue pool wouldn't reflect as well as a grey one (just a different shade)? What am I missing here?
My own understanding (based on owning a pool for 15 years and shopping for one recently) is that a grey or granite pool lining will produce a muddy beigey color and a dark blue will produce a somewhat lighter blue-green color.
Our pool had (still has, but it's not ours anymore) a base color the pool contractor called Tahoe Blue, the darkest of the "stock" colors (my husband being, as I never fail to mention, a man of considerable frugality). When the water was unruffled, it reflected beautifully, in both senses: the reflections of our plantings and trees and the sky were perfect, and the reflection had a rich, saturated character from the deep blue underlayment.
Now, if we're talking Public Pool Pastel, then I can see their point about looking frivolous (if indeed that was their point).
“they are right. We have enough granite in Vermont to do a proper job refitting the Memorial, and maybe they will stop using it for curbs, which act on your tires like a serrated knife if you get too close, not to mention what they do to your wheels. It's a better use for the resource.”
Well, to be fair, a lot of the white marble used in monuments in DC is from CO, and Marble, CO in particular. Biggest piece was the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier in Arlington. From the 1890s or so, up until WW II, the mine/pit was in operation, and a lot of their production went east, and esp to DC, with all of the building that was being done by FDR.
They are back in business now, but the bulk of their business now is huge pieces shipped into Delta, where it is sawed into chunks, that they make into tile. Back when I was in law school, we visited, while the pit was shut down. Now you can’t get in there. The good news is that there are a lot more remnants - now sold by the mine, instead of the few that had been salvaged from the pit. The price of sculptures has dropped to maybe half what it used to be. And it is mostly being done in the area surrounding the mine, instead of in Redstone, maybe 20 miles away.
We picked up one piece, maybe 2’x2’, for a very reasonable price. But saw a couple of maybe 6’ fountains that we were interested in, for maybe $5k or so. She wants to go back and get one for our backyard in PHX, to replace the cast one we have. The CO white marble matches pretty well the white tile that we used for the fire pit, bbq, etc in the back yard. And maybe a nice bear statute, so popular in MT (but typically in wood). We have a nice wood one at the house right behind us. Maybe 6-7’ tall. Thinking maybe cub sized though, to commemorate the young ones, just weaned, that slept right outside the bedroom window, two years in a row, crying all night.
If you ever visit, there is a restaurant in the tiny town of Marble. Great BBQ and esp their BBQ sauce. And a block or two beyond that, is a house, with maybe a hundred marble statutes in the yard. All made locally. Ranging from maybe a foot to 6-8’ tall. Most on consignment, but the guy there does make some of his own - one of which we bought. Really old fashioned - no credit cards (no Internet), but runs on trust.
How old was Dumbass Don when he had the picture taken wearing swimming trunks? Or is this an AI-created image?
Wow, Dude. Try to keep up.
It's AI, gad. Our host called that out. I tend to give older people a pass on looking good in a swimming suit - maybe I shouldn't, as good physical fitness often results in more trouble-free aging and we should all hope for and encourage that, but even a very fit older person isn't going to be a swimsuit model.
Here are photos showing some of the marble from Marble, CO, and our back yard in PHX. The first ones show the semi trailers loaded with marble, and just lying around by where the road to the pit is closed. Middle ones show the area around the house where the marble pieces are being sold. And finally, our backyard.
Photos from Marble, CO.
gadfly said...
How old was Dumbass Don when he had the picture taken wearing swimming trunks? Or is this an AI-created image?
LOL!
How did you even figure out to post this message?
This is further proof that letting everyone vote by default is just a bad idea. This is how democrats get elected and turn everything they control into a slum.
boatbuilder said...
Is there some reason why a blue pool wouldn't reflect as well as a grey one (just a different shade)? What am I missing here?
My own understanding (based on owning a pool for 15 years and shopping for one recently) is that a grey or granite pool lining will produce a muddy beigey color and a dark blue will produce a somewhat lighter blue-green color.
Why are you trying to understand things? Don't be a silly goose.
This was an article in the London Times for retards who hate Trump.
i.e. your average democrat and labour voter.
Did the architect 100 years ago think the color was an important design element. If he did it should not be changed absent exceptional reasons not present here.
Did the sculptors of all the statues that have been torn down recently by the left think their designs were important?
And if he wasn't cleaning up the reflecting pool, they'd be bitching about that, too.
I hadn't realized the Pool is so shallow. If DC were less humid in summer, it would evaporate in no time.
If it gets people to keep their g*dd*mned feet out of the WWII II Memorial, I support it.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation' also opposed the Obama Presidential Library taking land away from the Olmstead/Vaux designed Chicago park for the ex-president's pet project. The color of the reflecting pool seems small stuff compared to other questions involving parks and landscapes.
To paraphrase, ‘the reflecting pool should not be judged by the color of its water, but by the content of its character’,
I recognize Trump, Vance, and Rubio. Who are the other two?
Doug Burgum and a mystery woman who should have been in an American flag bikini (IMO).
Maybe Anna Kelly?
Those who Tom Sawyered Donald Trump into painting the reflecting pool Democrat Blue are going to keep this criticism up until the job is finished.
The funny thing about all of this, is that if it turns out that American Flag Blue doesn't work as a color (and I'm pretty sure it's going to be fine), then you'd do what every neurotic housewife would do when she doesn't like the new paint job: Choose a different color and re-paint it. You could even call it a special sesquicentennial color scheme. And even if you re-paint it, it'll still be cheaper with two coats than the Obamapond.
Nearly 100 comments in, and mindnumbrobot pretty much nailed it in the first post.
Those who Tom Sawyered Donald Trump into painting the reflecting pool Democrat Blue are going to keep this criticism up until the job is finished.
Left Bank, that was funny!
I mean, to be fair, painting it Republican Red is probably right out...
I would bet that the "preservation" committee was inhabited by DEMOCRATS who donated to DEMOCRATS.
No good deed goes unpunished by VENGEFUL, OUT OF POWER DEMOCRATS.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
MLK quote is laughable today on the Left. It is dead.
The only reason Biden didn’t have this done is because the lowest bid was $300M and he was already spending like a drunken sailor and FWR dropped the idea. IDK maybe he just forgot about it. Like he would forget his way back from a microphone to wherever he was before shuffling out to mumble at us.
The price includes complete renovation of the piping and filtering system. Due to severe leaks keeping it full of water cast about a million dollars a year.
costs.
Previously it was green, filled with Algae and smelled terrible. I don't think it reflected anything but a waster $30+ Million rehab that Obama did. What it needs is chlorine and a chlorine pump.
"What it needs is chlorine and a chlorine pump."
Then it will become a swimming pool to the homeless.
Darker colors offer better "reflection" than lighter colors. However, the water is more pond/swampy water than crystal clear swimming pool water, so it will still reflect fairly well but with a different shade (greener)
The medium blue color we've been shown on the news is an incomplete liner layer that will be covered. The final color will be a dark blue that will reflect less light off the bottom than the previous light gray granite. It should look better.
Trump is easily the most qualified President in history to build or repair a pool, or a ball room, or anything else, and yet he has the most (unqualified) critics.
I was trying to guess how many swimming pools he has built in his career and decided it would unquestionably go into the hundreds. Maybe even a thousand. Some big hotels have four or five.
But oh look, a barista who has no idea how to hang a picture on the wall is sneering about him ruining the Reflecting Pool. How comical.
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