9/11 Memorial and Stunt Roller Derby Rink Opens

Let’s talk about the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon.  (and you can read more here).

184 benches on a two acre plot of land, each with an illuminated pool of water beneath them.

So what’s the thinking there?  “Hey!  Come to the Pentagon.  Bring your skateboard!”

Or maybe this is a distraction in the event of a future attack.  The terrorist staring through the window of the cockpit and wistfully thinking of his childhood BMX dirt bike when… Ackmed!  Pull up!  We’re going to hit the retaining wall!

Though the retaining wall isn’t much of an obstacle:

A gray concrete retaining wall around the memorial park ranges from 3 inches tall, representing the youngest victim, Dana Falkenberg, who was just three years old, to a height of 71 inches tall, for the oldest victim (71 years)

I think that would have been better if they went by height.  The shortest victim was three year old Dana Falkenberg, and the tallest victim, at seven foot, is not really missed because he always sat in the front row during the video briefings.  And here’s a seven foot section of the retaining wall to help illustrate just how annoying he was.

Poor Dana, though.  Some kid gets killed by terrorists and all she gets is a bench on an obstacle course and three feet of retaining wall?  We’ll mourn the loss of innocence with as little concrete as possible.  And an illuminated pool full of McDonald’s wrappers and pennies.

I love this:

The direction of the bench, signifies if the victim was a passenger or in the Pentagon at the time of the crash.

Really?  Hey, see those benches facing your office?  Yeah, you would have died.

Or maybe they’re going for the Stratego theme?  If so, I want to be on the Pentagon side, because they have more pieces.

And are there benches for the terrorists?  Those can have little anti-pigeon spikes on them.

Here’s a model-shot for you skateboarders.  Send me the Youtube link after you get out of jail.