1966 Batmobile

This is a 1966 Batmobile toy replica.  Purchased at the Volo Auto Museum for $26.95.  Considering the real Batmobile sold at auction for $4.2 million, I suppose this one is a bargain!  Check out this website for more information on the Batmobile!

My brother reminded me that we had one of these toy Batmobiles when we were kids!! I thought that thing looked and felt familiar! That was over 50 years ago! I believe the one back then was my brother's. Well, now I have one!

Growing up, I always thought the 1966 Batmobile was the coolest car around. I still think that! :)

Volo Auto Museum - Volo, IL

(Click on the photos for a larger view)

I went to the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, IL today.  Wow!  What a museum!  This beats the auto show!

Not only did they have a lot of cars from movies, they had a bunch of cars for sale too!  If you are in the market for a collectable car, this is the place to get it!  I was shocked at how many cars they had.

Besides cars, there were exhibits like scooters, antique boat motors, Wurlitzer jukeboxes and military displays!  I plan to use this museum to train Balanced Exposure students on how to photograph museum exhibits and how to adjust cameras for proper exposure!

I found myself constantly adjusting my exposure settings since the various exhibits' lighting kept fooling my camera's meter.  I believe the students will learn a lot by accompanying me to this museum to see how to proper evaluate their settings and dialing in the right exposures.

Come with me when we do a class here!  It will be worth learning how to interpret camera meter readings and adjusting exposures properly!

Besides the cool exhibits at the museum, I was lucky to meet Dick Shepard, the museum's commercial photographer as well.  He showed me his photo studio where he takes quality photos of the cars they have for sale.  It's a large converted garage with overhead continuous lights with light diffusion panels.  The studio is also equipped with studio flashes.  Above, you can see a photo of a vehicle ready to be photographed in the studio.  The floor rotates continuously so that various angles of the cars can be taken without driving the cars!  Looks great in videos too!  Very impressive.  He said they never touch up the cars in the photos, so what you see in the photos are the way the cars are when you buy them.

My favorite exhibit?  Can't you guess from the photos?  It's the Batmobile from the 1966 TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward!  I grew up with Batman & Robin so this car just brought me back to my childhood!

Tanto

This is a Japanese Tanto.  This short sword is made of 1080 carbon steel and is very sharp.

I purchased this sword to compliment my Japanese Katana which is made of 1095 carbon steel and is extremely sharp.

The higher the carbon steel number, the harder the material.  But it also makes it more brittle.  The lower the number, the softer the material, but more flexible.  If you look closely, you will see part of the "hamon" line near the base of the blade.  The reflection of light hides the rest of it along the blade.  The line is created by putting clay on part (but not all) of the blade when it is fired to harden the sword.  This makes part of the blade that does not have clay heat up more than the part that has the clay.  The sharper edge does not have the clay, so it becomes hotter.  Once plunged into water after the firing, the sword hardens and actually curves the blade as well.

The reason that you do not want the entire blade hard is for the strength of the blade when struck.  If another sword were to hit your sword, you want your sword to flex a little so that it doesn't just break.  But, you want the edge to be really sharp.  The hamon line due to the clay keeps the back part of the sword more flexible but keeps the edge part harder to allow better sharpening.

This technique has been done for centuries of sword making and is the reason why these samurai swords are so sharp!