Evanston: HUBBLE 3D and Wrigley Field
Evanston: HUBBLE 3D and Wrigley Field
We had a Chicago weekend.
On Saturday morning we drove to Navy Pier to see the extraordinary, HUBBLE 3D, at the Imax Theater.
The forty-five minute film is divided between coverage of the 2009 mission to repair the Hubble telescope and extend its life until the next generation, James Webb Space Telescope, is launched in 2014; and exploration of the universe through Hubble images.
Those of us who have read FAR OUT are familiar with many of those images, but on the IMAX screen they are even more impressive than on the page, and with computer enhancement can seem to be flown into and through.
I don’t believe that we can comprehend the immensity of the universe--the scale is beyond our minds and lives--but Hubble 3D makes a valiant attempt to stretch human imagination in the right direction.
Of the repair mission, I was impressed by the professional skills of the crew, the closeness of the quarters in which they work, and the similarities of repairs in space and on a small boat at sea.
It has been my experience that whatever number of screws or bolts that need to be removed in order to repair something, one will stick. And I have found that there are times when all else fails and you just have to pull or twist a part off.
Apparently these apply to space, too.
See HUBBLE 3D if you can.
Thanks Jim and Marilyn for bringing the movie to my attention.
Yesterday we went to Wrigley Field.
For those of you outside the U.S. and Canada, Wrigley is the home of the hapless Chicago Cubs, who once were owned by the chewing gum family. The oldest baseball stadium in the National League, dating from 1914, it is one of baseball’s cathedrals, along with American League Boston’s two year older Fenway Park. We’d never been there and wanted the experience.
The day was perfect for baseball, or anything else: 82ºF, sunny, light breeze.
We rode the CTA down, had good seats on the third base side, enjoyed hot dogs, peanuts, beer, and the spectacle.
In person I was impressed by the remarkable athleticism of players making routine plays that are considerably more difficult than they appear on television.
I was also impressed by how much better you can follow a game on television than in person, with the distractions of shouting vendors, and people continually standing and moving about in front of you.
Wrigley seats 41,000, and there were over 37.000 there yesterday.
Along with many others we left midway through the seventh inning to beat the crowds on the trains. We didn’t miss much. The Cubs lost 15-6.
Monday, August 23, 2010