One of Obama's best-known acts as a first lady was establishing the garden in 2009. It was a symbol of her efforts to reduce rates of childhood obesity, with initiatives such as the "Let's Move" campaign and school nutritional regulations.
In addition to serving as a symbol of her initiatives, Obama used the garden as a place to showcase her down-to-earth fashion.Vogue said in its reviewof Obama's 2012 book, "American Grown," that "throughout the book, the first lady, always beautifully coiffed, wears a different J. Crew sweater to match the season (marigold yellow for summer, argyle for fall)."
Trump's garden style is less accessible than Obama's clothes from J. Crew and Target. At $1,380 for a seemingly casual shirt, most people aren't likely to run out to copy Trump's style.
A first lady's outfits are not paid for with taxpayer dollars, so the cost of her attire doesn't affect the American people at all. However, the first lady's style is a series of calculated, strategic decisions.
Obama used fashion to appear as an accessible yet aspirational "mom-in-chief," despite her unique position as an incredibly academically accomplished first lady, the only African-American first lady, and the first to be the frequent subject of racist attacks.
AP Images
So far in her public life, Trump has never had to try to be relatable. Trump and her husband have long embodied a more gold-plated, luxe version of the American dream than the Obamas.
It's a version of opulence that repulses many, especially progressives. But it's also a luxury-oriented style of self-presentation that helped make the Trump family famous.
Even in the garden built by Obama, Trump isn't going to shy away from her signature style. If you dislike her, that'll probably deepen your aversion. But if you support the first lady, you might think Balmain is the perfect attire for the White House garden.
After high winds and heavy rains brought by Hurricane Harvey, a mysterious sea creature with fangs and no face washed up on the shoreline in southeastern Texas. Preeti Desai, social media manager at the National Audubon Society, posted pictures of the critter earlier this month on Twitter, asking, “What the heck is this??” Desai, who said she had accompanied conservationists assessing the damage from the storm, spotted the creature on a beach in Texas City, about 15 miles from Galveston.
admiral-condell-official: On the deck of the Russian cruiser Admiral Kornilov (1887) The man in uniform is N. P. Solodkov, who was responsible for training naval cadets for the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastapol until its evacuation in 1920. This photograph was taken in Bizerte, Tunisia.
Laid down in 1886 and launched in 1887, St. Nazaire in France; commissioned 1888. Served at Far East 1899–1891 & 1893–1902, reclassified to cruiser of 2nd Rank 1905 and training vessel 1907, decommissioned 1911 +
Imperial Russian Navy protected cruiser Askold (the grandson of Ragnar Lodbrok, a semi-legendary king of Sweden ca. 770-785). Her five thin funnels gave her a unique silhouette for any vessel in the Imperial Russian Navy, leading British sailors to nickname her “Packet of Woodbines” after the thin cigarettes popular at the time.In WWII, A Stranded Dutch Warship Disguised Itself As An Island To Evade Japanese Bombers
The Netherlands officially surrendered on May 15th, 1940. However, its Navy continued the fight. Part of the navy was deployed in the Dutch East Indies during the attack on the homeland and a part managed to escape to England. The Dutch Navy established a headquarters in London while its troops operated in all theaters of war. Some Dutch ships participated in Operation Dynamo, better known as the evacuation of Dunkirk and in transport missions during the invasion of Normandy.
HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen (1936) was one of the ships anchored at Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies, the third of eight Jan van Amstel-class minesweepers built in the 1930’s; named for the celebrated 17th-century naval commander Abraham Crijnssen.
The captain of the HNMS Abraham Crijnssen devised a plan that sounded so crazy that it might actually work ? and ordered that the ship should be camouflaged like a floating island… keep reading
I am very excited to share with you my debut children’s book, Dazzle Ship, authored by Chris Barton and published by Lerner Book. Dazzle Ship is the story behind the thousands of war ships painted with bold colors and crazy patterns during WW1. Sounds interesting? You can get a copy anywhere books are sold in American or online here. –Victo Ngai (Illustrator)
Author Chris Barton and illustrator Victo Ngai vividly bring to life this little-known story of how the unlikely and the improbable became just plain dazzling.
November 1918: Airmen and seamen cheering King George V from the aircraft carrier Argus on his visit to the Fleet at Rosyth, on the Firth of Forth. Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
At 9 inches high and just over 7 inches wide, the dollhouse rests on a seascape of pink Bermuda sand. Chair legs are made of sea urchin spines and tiny scallops, table tops are real mother-of-pearl. The artist is Peter Gabel.
The Traveller’s Guide to Madeira and the West Indies. Being a hieroglyphic representation of appearances and incidents during a voyage out and homewards. … With a treatise explanatory of the various figures, etc; 1815; Haddington, G. Miller and sons. (via Meaddows Ryan)
SAILOR DIVES OFF SHIP TO SAVE PUP WASHED INTO SEA How he dived 30 feet from the bridge of the mine-sweeper into the Mediterranean with the pipe he was smoking still tight in his teeth, and won himself a four-legged pal at the same time, is the story told in a letter home from Soundman 2c C. Leroy Van Cleef Jr. 20, U.S. Navy of 198 North Bridge St. H wrote his parents:
“We were along the coast and had our new mascot aboard. It was a fairly heavy sea (and cold water, I might add). Our mascot happens to be a spaniel of some sort. We call the water-loving hound ‘Rusty’. “Well, Rusty was out on the fantail this day and a wave came along, washing her overboard. We had to get permission to break formation and go back for her. That took us about 15 minutes until we finally found her. I was up on the bridge at the time, smoking my pipe. Well, I shed the knife I had on and my shoes, and yelled up for permission to go after her. ‘Permission granted.’ “So I dove off the bridge. When I hit the water, I heard something snap in my mouth. That happened to be my pipe while diving about 30 feet. I don’t know how my teeth escaped breaking. Luck, I call it. However, I got Rusty all right. She was swimming to beat everything. Quite a current too. They threw us a life ring and pulled us aboard. “Yesterday I was out on the fantail and the sea was rushing up on the deck. Rusty came up and snuggled around my legs. I guess that swim was worth my favorite pipe.”
An image posted to a Pentagon media site and tweeted by Scottish journalist Ian Keddie shows the USS Jimmy Carter, a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered submarine, returning to her home port in Washington Tuesday flying the American flag alongside the unmistakable pirate skull and crossed bones.
The 450-foot-long vessel is one of three in its class and is specially modified to conduct some of America’s most covert underwater operations. That fact alone — as Keddie points out — makes the appearance of the black and white flag significant.
The Jolly Roger’s presence on the conning tower of submarines goes back to 1914.
Official Trailer for THE SHAPE OF WATER – FOX Searchlight
An other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment.
Doug Jones explains how strongly the director stressed making the creature sexy: “He said to me, ‘This time the monster’s going to f— the girl.'” more
With adult fairy tale The Shape of Water earning rave reviews and scoring a Golden Lion win at the 2017 Venice Film Festival, del Toro seems poised for another hit and possible Oscar contender.
Pinna nobilis, the clam from which sea silk is produced, grows up to a yard in length. Arnaud Abadie/CC BY 2.0
Sea silk sounds like the stuff of legend. Harvested from rare clams, this thread flashes gold in the sunlight, weighs almost nothing, and comes with a heavy load of misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and misinformation. But the fiber itself is no myth. Its flaxen strands come from Pinna nobilis, or the pen shell, a giant Mediterranean mollusk that measures up to a yard in length. To attach themselves to rocks or the seafloor, some clams secrete proteins that, upon contact with seawater, harden into a silky filament called byssus. The byssus of the pen shell makes sea silk, the world’s rarest thread.
