from desert to district
I once lived in Tempe, AZ. I now live in DC...
Vote!
The time has come to vote my kittens! I have to say, I went through the 800+ submissions on Lomography individually and this was not at all an easy decision. So many of you uploaded such fantastic film photos! Thank you to everyone who participated :)
Without further ado, I present you with the…
WILCO (Taken with Instagram at Wolf Trap National Park For The Performing Arts (Filene Center))
Mural Ride #bicyclespace (Taken with Instagram)
Will Robertson of the Washington Bicycle Club riding an American Star Bicycle down the steps of the United States Capitol in 1885, a fine addition to these gorgeous vintage photos of early bike culture and a playful reminder of the political power of the bicycle.
clouds (Taken with Instagram)
ATLAS (Taken with Instagram)
James Cook and the Transit of Venus
On August 12, 1768, His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour slipped out of harbor, Lt. James Cook in command, bound for Tahiti. The island had been “discovered” by Europeans only a year before in the South Pacific, a part of Earth so poorly explored mapmakers couldn’t agree if there was a giant continent there … or not. Cook might as well have been going to the Moon or Mars. He would have to steer across thousands of miles of open ocean, with nothing like GPS or even a good wristwatch to keep time for navigation, to find a speck of land only 20 miles across. On the way, dangerous storms could (and did) materialize without warning. Unknown life forms waited in the ocean waters. Cook fully expected half the crew to perish.
Their mission was to reach Tahiti before June 1769, establish themselves among the islanders, and construct an astronomical observatory. Cook and his crew would observe Venus gliding across the face of the Sun, and by doing so measure the size of the solar system. Or so hoped England’s Royal Academy, which sponsored the trip.
But there was a problem. Transits of Venus are rare. They come in pairs, 8 years apart, separated by approximately 120 years. Halley himself would never live to see one. An international team did try to time a Venus transit in 1761, but weather and other factors spoiled most of their data. If Cook and others failed in 1769, every astronomer on Earth would be dead before the next opportunity in 1874.
![theatlantic:
To Catch a Bike Thief: D.C. Cyclist Tracks Down Stolen Bike Online, Steals It Back
The story of how a Washington, D.C., cyclist who recovered his stolen bike isn’t the biggest news of the day, nor the most dramatic, but it’s an absolute inspiration to those of us who love our bikes and fear having them stolen. NBC Washington’s Richard Jordan explains:
He arranged to buy his bike back. A man came out of an alley at 5th and Longfellow streets NW with the bike, and Lesh took it for a “test ride.”
Lesh simply rode off without paying.
“This guy finally started calling me, and left a message saying he was going to call the police,” Lesh said, laughing.
[Image: AP]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3tky5grjj1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
To Catch a Bike Thief: D.C. Cyclist Tracks Down Stolen Bike Online, Steals It Back
[Image: AP]The story of how a Washington, D.C., cyclist who recovered his stolen bike isn’t the biggest news of the day, nor the most dramatic, but it’s an absolute inspiration to those of us who love our bikes and fear having them stolen. NBC Washington’s Richard Jordan explains:
He arranged to buy his bike back. A man came out of an alley at 5th and Longfellow streets NW with the bike, and Lesh took it for a “test ride.”
Lesh simply rode off without paying.
“This guy finally started calling me, and left a message saying he was going to call the police,” Lesh said, laughing.
