The Second World

My good friend Parag wrote a book on geopolitics that's coming out this month. He was nice enough to give me an advance copy. I was surprised to see that the cover had been changed--an earlier version (which is still the cover that comes up on Goodreads) features a globe-themed rubik's cube. Parag said that they actually made that rubik's cube and he now owns it.

National Building Museum

National Building Museum, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

For the last three weeks, the National Building Museum has been showing movies that conspicuously feature elements of mid-centurury design and architecture: The Moon is Blue, The Best of Everything, and In Like Flint. The sound was pretty awful, since the interior of the museum is cavernous. But they did allow you to bring food in.

SR-71

The SR-71 Blackbird at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space extension out by Dulles airport. With Imperial War Museum Duxford, this is the most impressive collection of aircraft I've ever seen. And the planes at the Air and Space extension are in much better condition than the planes at Duxford.

The final flight of this SR-71 was from L.A. to Washington. It took 64 minutes.

Read about the experience of flying the SR-71 here.

The Mill

The Mill in Salt Point, NY.

Kehoe Field

Kehoe field is an astroturf field at the far southern side of the Georgetown campus. The domed building in the background is Georgetown's old observatory.

The Leavey Center's Rooftop Plaza

This space is located three stories above ground.

Georgetown's Leavey Center, an unremarkable, if not ugly, late-80s combination of student center, hotel, and parking garage, has one redeeming feature: its rooftop plaza. And almost no one uses it, or even knows it's there. You reach it by walking through unmarked fire doors and climbing up two flights of steps that reek of cigarette smoke--workers and students obviously retreat into the stairwell for a quick smoke when they don't want to go outside. When you reach the third floor, you discover a deserted collection of lawns, an arbor, and brick walkways, with views of the main campus to the east and north and the hospital to the west.

The construction site for Georgetown's new business school, viewed from Leavey's rooftop.

Looking north towards the Reiss science building.

Hot dog van

Hot dog van, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

On the mall in Washington, DC.

They're no kebab vans, but I enjoy the hand painted signs on the hot dog carts parked around the Mall in DC.

Colbert's Portrait

Colbert's Portrait, originally uploaded by Nat Hansen.

In the bathroom at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.

Desks

Another shot of a classroom at GWU, this one by request.