Oerlikon 20mm Cannon

That's me firing a 20mm Oerlikon cannon. And that's Snowy on the bow in a life preserver.

This is a detailed view of a much larger work which I will post about soon.

The Greatest Soccer Pin in the World

Cyclone Soccer Club Thunder Pin Detail, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

This is the greatest soccer pin in the world.

Cyclone Thunder, Fresno, California, 1991-1992.

Cyclone Soccer Club Pin Collection

Cyclone Pin Sheet, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

This is my complete collection (from early 80s to early 90s) of soccer pins from the Cyclone Soccer Club, Fresno, California. I played for the following squads from roughly 1988 to 1994:

-Force
-Storm
-Thunder
-Hailens [sic]
-Fury

My brother played for the following teams between 1992 and 1994:
-Force
-Lightning

Rarities include the misprinted "sTORm" pin, the red on gray "Thunder" pin, and the gold "Fury" pin.

Doug Hansen designed the "Storm", "Thunder", "Hailens", "Lightning", "Quakes", "Kamikaze", "Hurricane" and "Blast" pins.

Icicles

Icicles have grown from the gutter in the backyard. The biggest ones are about five feet long.

Snow Plow

West Town, Dec 16, 2008, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

It's winter in Chicago.

Best Classrooms on Campus

Second floor Classics, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

I would like to document the best classrooms on campus. This is a start: I like this seminar room, on the second floor of classics. It looks out on the quad, it has a solid seminar table, and antique maps on the walls.

I was the TA for Ted's J.L. Austin class in here in fall of 2005.

Artifice

Q_TCS_Manystuff059, originally uploaded by Qompendium.

Recent art by Wyeth for a show in Germany.

South Carolina BBQ Odyssey

The parts of South Carolina that I have visited deploy either vinegar or mustard-based sauce on their barbeque, as indicated on this map. I like vinegar best, because the mustard sauce I've had tends to be too sweet. Does anyone make a spicy mustard sauce? That would be ideal.

Melody and I tried three new barbeque spots during the latest trip. First, we stopped before we even entered SC at Allen & Son, in Chapel Hill.



Pictured above: two sandwich platters, which we ordered based on Esquire's claim that they're the best chopped pork sandwich in the United States. They were pretty good. My fried okra was excellent, as were the mugs of sweet tea. The hush puppies were like donuts. Their Brunswick stew was full of corn and was extremely viscous.

With an intermission consisting of Bo-jays and Thanksgiving, we drove out to the main culinary attraction: Bub Sweatman's. We visited two years ago and we were very excited to return. We drove two hours south of Charlotte and drove into the Sweatman's parking area which was deserted. That was worrisome.


Sweatman's supposedly doesn't have a phone, so we didn't call ahead, and we got burned:


We sat in the parking lot for about thirty minutes consulting our mobile devices and observing as one car after another pulled into the parking lot, saw the sign, and dejectedly drove away. The fourth or fifth place we called turned out to be open: Big T's, outside Columbia. My phone was still full of podcasts, so the detour was no problem. (I recommend "The Stakeout", from The Moth.)

Big T's turned out to be a satisfactory substitute. They had homemade pork rinds, collard greens, and barbeque and hash covered in mustard sauce.




I had to ask for an account of the difference between "skins" and "cracklins". Turns out cracklins have more fat. The skins were good, even though some of them were so tough they seemed likely to knock my molars out.

The next day we finished our barbeque holiday with lunch at Mac's Speedshop in Charlotte with Melody's brother. They had weak sweet tea but pretty solid sandwiches. I saw a dude eating a piece of meat attached to a bone the size of my forearm. (I think it might have been the "Kansas City Beef Rib".)

For another recent survey of food on a recent trip to the Carolinas, see this post.

Gate Checked Luggage

Our "gate checked" luggage is delivered as we disembark on the tarmac at O'Hare, in the sleet.

Z&H Marketcafe

Z&H Marketcafe up on 47th street stocks fancy cheese, varieties of paté, and coffee made from a Clover machine. If you go in a couple of times, the guys who work there will call you by name.




Like any good hangout in Hyde Park/Kenwood, there's lots of Foucault floating around. In this case, it's a copy of Le government de soi et des autres.

Color Adjectives

A representation of the meaning of the adjective "green", during a joint meeting of the Wittgenstein Workshop and the Semantics and Philosophy of Language Workshop.

Blindness--Significance?

Class on Oedipus Tyrannus, Cobb 430, University of Chicago.

The Scope of a Serious Birder

Keith's Leica Televid 77. With patina.

Fall in Hyde Park

Fall in Hyde Park, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

Last week, Hyde Park was in the grip of some extreme autumn weather, with piles of crunchy leaves, temperatures dipping into the 40s, and increased squirrel activity.

Now it's just cold.

Polling Place

Nov 4, 2008: Hyde Park Neighborhood Center, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

Hyde Park neighborhood club.

Melody spent her morning and afternoon defending the rule of law at some polling places up on the north side.

Holzer Halloween

The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art had an opening and book signing for Jenny Holzer's exhibit Protect Protect on Halloween. We got a catalog signed, saw some decent costumes, shared a table with a U of C grad student in English working on an 18th century travelogue, and watched the projection on the outside of the building. The SLR-carrying droog in the third shot took our picture without permission inside the gallery, so I retaliated out on the steps.

Moonraker Athletic Center: Men's Locker Room

The men's locker room at the Moonraker Athletic Center at The Sea Ranch is decorated with fantastically bold graphics.

Some Essays on Art and Other Things

Because of its intriguing title, this is the most discussed dissertation in the neo-Anscombe Lounge/Manley Thompson Library.

Photo by Wyeth.

Scopes

Through the rightmost scope I saw a vulture sunning itself in the top of a tree and two peregrine falcons sitting on a branch sticking out of the lagoon.

View from the Houseboat

Bolinas, Oct 18, 2008, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

Bolinas, California.

Philosophy Department Party

Another pleasant philosophy department party in the Smart Museum of Art.

Last year's party, from a different angle.

Hydrants

Chicago Marathon, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

Water hydrants around downtown were blasting water this afternoon for the Chicago marathon.

Just seconds before I took this picture, a cab drove through the spray with its rear passenger window open, soaking the backseat.

Architectural Representations?

Christ Church Dining Hall, originally uploaded by witaman.

Is it possible for one building to represent another? The University of Chicago's Hutchinson dining hall is a replica of Christ Church dining hall, pictured above.

Wikipedia claims that Cornell also has a replica of Christ Church's dining hall, in the form of Risley Hall, but the photographic evidence depicts an inferior copy. I'm inclined to say that Chicago's replica is a more realistic representation than Cornell's.

The question of whether Hutchinson represents Christ Church dining hall was prompted by a remark that PJ made about Hutchinson and Christ Church almost two years ago.

The Great University of Chicago Press Booksale

University of Chicago Press is selling off a bunch of its surplus stock. I was hoping to find big stacks of Midway Reprints of Carnap, but no luck. The best thing there was a box filled with Ted Cohen's Jokes book.

Clover

Fort Dearborn Addition, Oct 3, 2008, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

This is a cup of coffee brewed with Intelligentsia's Clover.

Chemosphere

Westwood, Sep 4, 2008, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

A cross-sectioned model of the Chemosphere.

Ichiro Dashboard Ornament

Ben has a Ichiro Suzuki figurine on the dashboard of his Honda. When I asked him to explain why he had it, he said that Ichiro is a "character" and that the bunting figurine "captures Ichiro's dynamic style of play". Ben also pointed me to these quotes from Ichiro:

"Yesterday when I played, inside my head I said 'I want to go home quickly,' and I swung and I was able to get a hit because I wanted to go home. Today I thought, 'I want to hurry up and get something to eat,' and I swung and got a hit today."

"To tell the truth, I'm not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to. If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying."

Los Angeles Central Public Library

The Los Angeles Central Public Library doesn't open until 10 in the morning. By that time a crowd gathers outside each of the library's three entrances waiting for the doors to open, and when they do, everyone rushes inside. It's the most excitement I've ever seen directed at a library.

Santa Monica: Hennessey + Ingalls Bookstore

Just a few blocks from the beach, and one block from the Third Street Promenade is Hennessey + Ingalls art and architecture bookstore. H+I is not only the best specialty art bookstore I've ever seen (far better than any museum bookstore, and about 50 times better than Blackwells Art Bookshop in Oxford), it is the bookstore that is most fun to browse, without qualification. I would make an effort to come here every time I go to Los Angeles just to flip through their copy of Candida Höfer's Libraries.

As important as the enormous range of art books they have to the pleasant browsing experience is H+I's knowledgeable staff. When I asked if they had a copy of Every Building on the Sunset Strip, the guy behind the counter pointed out that not only did they not have it, but that a copy would cost me several thousand dollars. Obviously that wasn't what I was looking for, though he said they used to "always have a copy in stock". I was actually looking for Ruscha's Then and Now, but couldn't remember the title. He quickly identified what I was after and opened up a sealed copy for me to browse.

Zed recently reminded me that in Michael Mann's Heat, Robert DeNiro's character buys a book on metallurgy at H+I.

And you can walk to H+I from Father's Office after having a hamburger.

Related: You can read my assessment of the relative virtues of the best academic bookstores here.

Thomas 2001 Organ

Wyeth pointed out that the Thomas 2001 organ that decorates the lobby of the hotel I stayed at in Los Angeles plays a small role in one of his motion graphics.

Photo by Melody.

Chocolate Mouse, Lamp Shade, and Other Ice Cream Flavors

The suggestion board and plastic ice cream scoop mobile at Scoops.

The Modern Lawyer

Bunker Hill, Sep 3, 2008, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.