California Tanker
07-16-2007, 07:27 PM
After much panic and expense, I am now holding my new passport. The latest and greatest version, with RFID chip.
I have to say, the State Dept did a rather good job on it. A lot more interesting than the old one. Where the old one just had a hexagonal pattern on the first two pages, and then the seals of the various states randomly scattered on all the following pages, the new one is one where you are inclined to flick through all the pages just to see what's on them.
Page 1 is a picture of Ft McHenry, with the words to the last four lines of Star Spangled Banner. Page 2 has a quote from Lincoln, together with the usual "The SecState requests all whom it may concern...". Page 3 is the 'data' page, with your picture and height and whatnot. The only thing Page 4 is for is your signature, at the bottom. Otherwise, it's a large picture of a bald eagle's head, some wheat, part of the flag, and the Preamble to the Constitution.
Most everything after that point is a two-page spread. Pages 5 and 6 are a desert vista with boring legal stuff, the next spread is snow-covered mountains with a Daniel Webster Quote with more boring legal stuff. Going from there, everything is those pages left blank for visas and entry stamps: There's the Liberty Bell and a Washington quote, the next spread is USS Constitution sailing past a lighthouse with the 'We hold these truths to be self-evident' excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. Then you get a spread with another bald eagle head, and some buffalo grazing in front of a mountain range., the quote is from Martin Luther King Jr.
Pages 14 and 15 are Mt Rushmore, with a John F Kennedy quote, and Theodore Roosevelet gets a quote above a picture of a stern-wheeled riverboat cruising up what I presume is the Mississippi.
Dwight Eisenhower gets the next spread of a farmer using an ox-drawn plough. Lyndon Johnson's spread is a scene of two modern cowboys working some long-horns, and I am very pleased to see a picture of a 1930s or so steam locomotive pulling a tramp freight over a trestle as the next spread. The quotation is that which is inscribed on the Golden Spike.
A bear catching a fish and an Indian Totem Pole are on the next spread, the quote is from the "Thanksgiving Address, Mohawk Version", whatever that was, and the Statue of Liberty gets a quote from Anna Julia Cooper, who I also haven't heard of. Last page is a shot of a satellite orbiting the moon, with Earth in the background: The quote is from Ellison Onizuka, who I've only heard of because Onizuka Air Force Base is around the corner from me.
And that's that. Very nice passport.
NTM
I have to say, the State Dept did a rather good job on it. A lot more interesting than the old one. Where the old one just had a hexagonal pattern on the first two pages, and then the seals of the various states randomly scattered on all the following pages, the new one is one where you are inclined to flick through all the pages just to see what's on them.
Page 1 is a picture of Ft McHenry, with the words to the last four lines of Star Spangled Banner. Page 2 has a quote from Lincoln, together with the usual "The SecState requests all whom it may concern...". Page 3 is the 'data' page, with your picture and height and whatnot. The only thing Page 4 is for is your signature, at the bottom. Otherwise, it's a large picture of a bald eagle's head, some wheat, part of the flag, and the Preamble to the Constitution.
Most everything after that point is a two-page spread. Pages 5 and 6 are a desert vista with boring legal stuff, the next spread is snow-covered mountains with a Daniel Webster Quote with more boring legal stuff. Going from there, everything is those pages left blank for visas and entry stamps: There's the Liberty Bell and a Washington quote, the next spread is USS Constitution sailing past a lighthouse with the 'We hold these truths to be self-evident' excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. Then you get a spread with another bald eagle head, and some buffalo grazing in front of a mountain range., the quote is from Martin Luther King Jr.
Pages 14 and 15 are Mt Rushmore, with a John F Kennedy quote, and Theodore Roosevelet gets a quote above a picture of a stern-wheeled riverboat cruising up what I presume is the Mississippi.
Dwight Eisenhower gets the next spread of a farmer using an ox-drawn plough. Lyndon Johnson's spread is a scene of two modern cowboys working some long-horns, and I am very pleased to see a picture of a 1930s or so steam locomotive pulling a tramp freight over a trestle as the next spread. The quotation is that which is inscribed on the Golden Spike.
A bear catching a fish and an Indian Totem Pole are on the next spread, the quote is from the "Thanksgiving Address, Mohawk Version", whatever that was, and the Statue of Liberty gets a quote from Anna Julia Cooper, who I also haven't heard of. Last page is a shot of a satellite orbiting the moon, with Earth in the background: The quote is from Ellison Onizuka, who I've only heard of because Onizuka Air Force Base is around the corner from me.
And that's that. Very nice passport.
NTM