toucana

Probably the best scientific overview of the Reflecting Pool problems I have yet come across is this 24m long YouTube video called ‘AquaDiary Podcast’ created by a young female water management scientist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PrT4p8SMAU The podcast confirms that the algae problems are chronic and endemic to the nature and location of the pool, and that the cosmetic alteration of painting the bottom of it blue made matters much worse by raising the temperature of the shallow water. One scientist has compared it to placing a heater under the entire pool. The podcast flags up the issue that by hurriedly pouring countless gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the pool, the Parks Department effectively destroyed important cellular evidence as to which species of bloom was taking place. The popular assumption is that the algal bloom was of a species called Desmodesmus, but this cannot now be confirmed because hydrogen peroxide (a powerful oxidising agent) causes lysis of the cell structures of the algae rendering them unidentifiable. There is a possibility that this could have been a Cyanobacterial bloom which is potentially much more dangerous to both animals and humans, as Cyanobacteria can release potent liver toxins. The bottom line is that what the Reflecting Pool problem really requires is an ongoing scientifically based water monitoring and mangement plan, not a series of quick fixes and knee-jerk reactions. Implementing such a plan would have cost a fraction of the $14M spent so far on what was basically a politically-driven vanity project of President Trump, which was devoid of common sense or scientific input - and was implemented on a no-bid basis without due diligence or oversight.

Guess that's one way of turning it blue

In the general spirit of outdoing ‘The Onion’, it transpires that an Ohio based firm called ‘Green Water Solutions’ was paid to rip out the existing filtration system at the Reflecting Pool and replace it with a ’Nano-bubbler’ ozone system. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZ6cUsSNcKR/ As comedian Jimmy Kimmel notes, they certainly nailed that one - mission accomplished ! Shame Trump didn’t hire ‘Blue Water Solutions’ instead :-P

You are correct. The elements of this problem have always existed ever since the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was first dedicated back in 1922 - and it was never intended to look like a bright blue swimming pool in the first place. I recall visiting the Reflecting Pool in Washington DC back in the summer of 1973 on my first ever visit to USA, and it looked a distinctly dark shade of greyish brown. If you squinted hard enough, you could just about make out a reflection of the Washington Monument- but that was it. The ballyhoo arises from the fact that Trump loudly boasted that he would transform the pool into a crystal clear “Flag Blue” pool as part of his vanity projects vandalism of Washington DC to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Republic on 4 July 2026. Having spaffed millions of dollars on a no-bid renovation contract awarded to one of his MAGA donor buddies, Trump is now trying to deny that the disastrous consequences of this bungled makeover even exist. Some of his spokespersons are putting out statements insisting that “The pool is crystal clear and a bright blue colour” when anyone can see for themselves that it is a putrid green, with large chunks of the newly installed blue pool liner delaminating and lifting off the concrete bottom of the pool. This MAGA denial of reality is what was parodied in the political satire black comedy film “Don’t Look Up” released in December 2021 in which two astronomers attempt to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will destroy human civilization - ( a metaphor for climate change). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbIxYm3mKzI

The Reflecting Pool normally receives water from two possible sources. One is the Potomac Tidal Basin which has suffered ongoing problems from a major raw sewage spill back in January which dumped 240 million gallons of phosphate-rich raw sewage into the Potomac River. https://potomac.org/blog/2026/1/30/potomac-interceptor-sewage-spill-updates The other source of water for the Reflecting Pool is from the municipal water supply that contains Orthophosphate which is added to prevent the release of lead and copper from pipework into drinking water supplies. https://www.epa.gov/lead/why-do-water-systems-add-phosphate-drinking-water-what-are-health-effects-drinking-water Phosphates are nutrients that feed algal growth. Add in bright sunlight and shallow stagnant water, and you will have an intractable problem.

A Canadian YouTuber called 'Swimming Pool Steve' has unexpectedly found himself thrust into the limelight after a guest appearance on CNN as a pundit with expert knowledge of pool sealants and filtration systems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcwqnDUC4-Q In his latest video he addresses the delamination problems now reported to be affecting the Polyurea lining of the Reflecting Pool, and he favours the theory that the binding layer has failed either because of inadequate preparation of the concrete surface, or because of negative hydrostatic pressure arising from an elevated water table - (the Reflecting Pool was built on marshland).

Alligators are fresh water animals who would probably feel quite at home in the murky green waters of the Reflecting Pool right now . But as the pool is just 30” deep at best, and only supports snails and mallard ducks, the alligators would probably need to eat passing tourists to survive. Perhaps MAGA could transform the pool into a novel “Meet The Alligators” themed visitor experience ?

CNN recently took samples of water from the Reflecting Pool and gave them to a DC pool maintenance firm for analysis. The results showed phosphate levels far in excess of the 100 parts per billion (ppb) level regarded as problematic for controlling algae. According to this blog article about pool maintenance, at those levels, algal blooms are inevitable https://phoslocker.com/blogs/news/the-link-between-phosphates-and-algae-growth-in-pools The primary sources of phosphate contamination include: Lawn fertilizers washed in by rain and runoff Leaves, pollen, and organic debris Certain pool chemicals and treatments Municipal water supply Swimmers and pool toys CNN story link below: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TUWFJZey5jI

President Trump’s attempts to turn the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC a bright “American Flag” blue in time for the nations’s 250th anniversary have already come unstuck (like the blue pool liner) with an uncontrollable algae bloom that has turned much of the pool a turbid shade of green. https://www.wired.com/story/reflecting-pool-full-of-algae-climate-change/ The Trump administration has blamed “residual algae from the supply lines which have been sitting dormant for eight weeks”. The article in Wired however points to a number of different issues: i. The Reflecting Pool usually draws water from the nearby Tidal Basin which is often filled with algae. During hot weather when high amounts of algae occur, the water supply is meant to switch to municipal drinking water. It is unclear whether this switch has taken place. ii. Hotter weather in general, and climate change in particular mean that algae blooms are expanding globally and moving up into higher latitudes according to Hans Paerl, a former professor at the University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences. “It’s just getting hotter, and these blooms are expanding globally—they’re moving up into higher latitudes,” he says. “It’s clearly a temperature effect allowing them to optimize their growth.” The problem is made even worse by the stagnant water of the Reflecting Pool. Right now contractors are busy pouring large quantities of hydrogen peroxide into the pool in an attempt to control the growth of algae, but the problem is that hydrogen peroxide in high concentrations (12% or higher) acts as an aggressive solvent of standard glues like cyanoacrylates, and causes the binder and paint to lift off the bottom of the pool. Reputable contractors use specialised pool-grade adhesives such as hybrid polymers or PVC vinyl cements like HH-66 Vinyl Cement that are resistant to normal shock levels of peroxide. But all the recent work on the Reflecting Pool has been done under a no-bid contract awarded to one of Trump’s personal friends (a MAGA donor) with apparently little or no due diligence or oversight being carried out. According to Wired, a spokesperson for the Interior Department has told them that are now “deploying high-tech nanobubble ozone technology” to keep the algae at bay. This apparently refers to infusing water with microscopic ozone gas bubbles (smaller than 200 nanometers) that remain stably suspended for weeks. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0043135424010479 One potential problem here is that the process works seems to work best under conditions of high salinity - The Reflecting Pool is filled with potable fresh water.

Still experiencing very slow response times here in UK for both logging in and navigating around the site - Is this a DNS resolver problem ?

Out in the rural wildneress of central Texas USA lies an astronomical telescope ranch where stargazers from around the world can pay to mount their instruments in a pancake flat landscape far from urban light pollution. Computer controlled equatorial mounts allow the owners to control, monitor, and process their astro-photography over the internet in real time. Star Front Observatories have been in business since 2024 and have almost 600 subscribers paying from $99 pcm upwards to have their scopes installed at the ranch. Some great examples of images taken there can be seen at the end of the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN48vEqaQs8

One of the more unusual consequences of the Strait of Hormuz crisis is an alarming shortage of naphtha which is currently causing much concern in Japan. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/19/japan-naphtha-shortage-explainer-iran-crisis Naphtha, an oil derivative, is used in the production of a wide range of materials including plastics, insulation foam, adhesives, medical supplies such as syringes, and also printing ink solvents. It was a sudden shortage of the latter that recently brought home the acute nature of an unexpected supply chain crisis when Japan’s biggest snack maker Calbee abruptly switched to printing their brightly coloured bags of potato chips in plain monochrome a week ago. ナフサ or nafusa as it is known in Japan has soared in price since April by around 79.4%. Japan which imports 90% of its oil from the Middle East was forced to respond to public disquiet and media questions by issuing government statements that adeqate supplies of naphtha for printing ink had now been secured, and that steps were being taken to find alternative sources of oil - plus a plea to the public to stop panic-buying plastic garbage sacks : another oil-based product now suddenly in short supply in Japan.

I found my original source for this : "Humour of Bulls And Blunders" - Marshall Brown (1906) - The University Press Cambridge Mass. USA

Stranger, pause and shed a tear, For Emily Church lies buried here, Mixed in some perplexing manner, With Mary, Matilda, and probably Hannah. Some centuries ago, it was said, a pious New England man outlived and buried four wives. When a cemetery was moved he undertook the exhumation and reburial himself, but accidentally mixed up the remains in the process. His conscience would not allow him to re-use the old headstones, so new ones were inscribed to reflect the confusion. The inscription first appeared in late-19th-century newspaper anecdotes, and was later catalogued in historical anthologies like Churchyard Literature. Other sources suggest it was an urban legend based on an epitaph found on the grave of one John Penny at the Minster Churchyard in Wimborne Dorset UK which read: "Reader, pause and shed a tear, For John Penny lies buried here; He is not alone, for it is the case, That Mary and Betty are in the same place."

Quite a bit as it turns out, in the wake of President Trump’s arrival on his current chaotic visit to China - (China’s President Xi Jinping didn’t even bother to come out to the airport to greet him). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfRYrXzMpHU President Trump has already garnered quite a number of unflattering nicknames on Chinese social media which include: 懂 王 dǒng wáng - “King Know-it-all” 万 税 爷 wàn shuì yé - “Lord of Ten Thousand Taxes” (a pun on 万 岁 wàn Suì - “Ten Thousand Years!”) 川 宝 chuan bao - “Baby Trump” But the latest nickname for Trump to go viral on Chinese social media is a back-handed compliment: 川 建 国 chuan jiàn guó - “Trump The Nation Builder” As Helen Ann-Smith the Asia correspondent for Sky News explains, the joke lies in the suggestion that it is China not America which has been made much stronger by Trump’s ill-advised tariff policies in particular. President Trump is now the supplicant at the gates of the Forbidden City in Beijing. America urgently needs access to China’s supply of REM (rare earth minerals) to maintain its own advanced technologies, and to restore the Pentagon’s much depleted stock of smart weapons that have been drained by the ill advised war on Iran. Xi Jinping by contrast will settle for any (or all ) of the “3 Big T’s —> “Tariffs/Technology/Taiwan.

Uno !

https://www.flamewarriorsguide.com/warriorshtm/troller.htm

No - "The Princess Bride" (1987) d. by Rob Reiner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_(film)

Nah - He’d be more interested in feeling up Princess Buttercup :-P

Speaking at a rally in Florida on Friday, President Trump told his audience: The remarks came as the Strait of Hormuz remained a central pressure point in the current tit-for-tat maritime standoff. Multiple outlets described how the U.S. seized Iranian vessels after they left Iranian ports, including “sanctioned cargo ships and Iranian tankers in Asian waters,” while Iran blocked nearly all ships passing through the strait apart from its own since the start of the war. The Indian NDTV news service reported that Iran reacted strongly on Tuesday, branding the move “armed robbery on the high seas” and accusing Washington of breaching international law, quoting Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying the operation effectively endorsed piracy, calling it “the outright legalisation of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas,” “Welcome to the return of the pirates — only now, they operate with government-issued warrants, sail under official flags, and call their plunder “law enforcement.”” footnote - think we used to call them ‘privateers’ a couple of centuries ago.

According to a leaked recording published by the Financial Times on Tuesday, the UK ambassador to the US said : “I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States, and that is probably Israel” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1l25qd43nro The remark was made by the current UK ambassador Sir Christian Turner in a meeting with UK sixth-form students visiting the US, shortly before King Charles III arrived at the White House during his state visit to the US. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) said the "private, informal comments" were "not any reflection" of the government's position. Another former British ambassador Lord Darroch said it was "hard to see anyone disagreeing with any of it" as it has been "the conversation in corridors across Westminster".

For anyone who wants to know what those Russian cartoon captions actually say, and quite why it was downvoted, an AI translation is attached below (obscenities redacted).

Should have gone to Specsavers ?

My paternal grandfather was the eighth son of a crofting family on Lewis - all mother-tongue Gaelic speakers and all ‘Wee Frees’. I heard quite a few stories about these hyper-devout Calvinists, but didn’t experience the culture first hand until I visited the Hebridean islands for the first time in the late 90s. I was at the Hebridean Folk Festival in Stornoway in 1999, and it was absolutely true, you couldn’t get off the island until the ferries started running again on the Monday. They also used to chain up the childrens' swings in the playground on a Sabbath, to make sure that absolutely no one had any fun on the Lords day.

DELI-CA-SEA in the local dialect ;-)