Several months before blue strips started floating to the surface of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a company involved in its last renovation more than 15 years ago was approached with an opportunity to do this remodel as well. But the company said no.

Specifically, it balked at two requirements – the Trump administration wanted it done by July 4, and the pool bottom had to be blue, according to two employees with the New Jersey-based Sika Corporation, which provided the concrete construction and sealing products for a 2010 renovation project to the Reflecting Pool.

According to the two employees, who spoke to CNN on the condition they not be identified, both demands made the job “unfeasible.”

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[–] 119 points 1 month ago (4 children)

the time delay made it unfeasible because to paint something - even if it's polyurethane based or epoxy based- you have to dry it out first. otherwise the moisture does bad things. (aka, causes it to not adhere properly.)(aka causes it to flake off.)

It's rather like painting over wet drywall mud.

The "it must be blue" because blue absorbs more light than white- and that caused the massive algae bloom.

But Trump is a moron who can't comprehend just how fucking stupid he is, or that he's not the smartest person in the room; so of course he gave it to his buddy who was happy to do it for a "small" bonus, even though that guy is at least as stupid as Trump is.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    I'd think you'd want the bottom to be black, so that it reflects the surroundings instead of being visible. You say the blue color caused the algae bloom by absorbing more light, is that a temperature thing? I would think absorbing more light would leave less for photosynthesis. I thought the algae bloom was caused by not maintaining the filtration system.

    It's classic Trump, slap a coat of paint on a problem instead of fixing the rot underneath. Change the aesthetics while destroying the purpose of it. I'm just amazed he didn't paint it gold.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 month ago

    The impact of the blue (Or any dark ) paint was that it absorbs more radiation from sunlight, increasing the temperature of the water in the pool. It’s this temperature increase which gives rise to the algal bloom. Theoretically painting it black would have been even worse.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    They're too stupid to understand bodies of water are blue because they reflect the sky. Typical failure to grasp a simple idea by the a profoundly stupid and incurious child rapist.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    I know you think you're being clever, but the sky is blue because it reflects the water, too. It only works with sunlight, which is why everything would look blue if you stood in a small room with water, air, and the sun.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

    You shouldn't have started your comment with an insult to their intelligence and then immediately talked bollocks. Now I'm duty-bound to correct your arrogant nonsense.

    the sky is blue because it reflects the water

    Nope. It's blue because the atmosphere filters out bluer light.

    It only works with sunlight

    Nope. There's nothing special about sunlight, you can reproduce the effect experimentally with a torch and a tube of water

    everything would look blue if you stood in a small room with water, air, and the sun.

    What? How you gonna fit the sun into a small room?

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  • [+] -6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Wow. You criticized me and then practically admitted at the end that you've got no proof. If you can't even conceive of how to put the sun in a small room with yourself, some air, and some water, then how can you criticize my clearly flawless logic??

    The sky is blue because water is blue because the sky is blue, which you can prove by standing in a small room with the sun! It's so easy to understand that you might think a toddler came up with it!

    And don't you tell me about filtering, light diffusion in clouds, refraction, and all your other science lies! The sky is born blue, and every night it catches on fire, which is why sunsets are red, and the "stars" are embers on the charred remains, and thunder storms happen when the sky screams and cries from pain. It's all very logical when you anthropomorphize everything and stop paying attention to your own words.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    What? Ooohhhhh was I being autistic again?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    The sky is blue due to differential scattering. Blue light scatters more than red. That's also why sunsets are red. It's the remaining light passing through the atmosphere.

    Water is often blue due to reflecting the sky. It also has a slight blue tint. This is only obvious in large, deep bodies. It's why the sea around some tropical islands looks so blue. They are volcanoes, so the water drops off rapidly. That much water has a significant blue colour. The sky then adds to it.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    The sky then adds to it.

    AH HA! So you admit that I'm right that the sky is blue, which makes the water blue, which makes the sky blue! If only we could harness this perpetual blue for energy production...

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    And apparently they drove on it, like an entire motorcade

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  • [–] -4 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    that probably didn't actually do any harm...

    the water weighs more than even trump's fat ass.

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  • [–] 18 points 1 month ago

    Yeah... Those big "slashes" claimed to have wrecked the coating? Likely done by the edges of the tyres of the motorcade.

    Water may be heavier, but it applies that pressure evenly, not in very narrow strips.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    You also usually need special procedures if you can't spray it all in one go. Spraying more solvents on top of bonded coatings will absolutely disrupt the bond. It also might not bond to itself very well.

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