At work

Here at work, I am learning NLTK, a natural language processing toolkit that uses Python. Though setting it up is a real big hassle, in Windows and Linux, I'm slowly progressing. Here is a model of the uses of the words "American" vs. "citizen" in all the inaugural addresses up through 2005. I wonder who it was who used "citizen" so much in 1841 - Andrew Jackson maybe?

America vs. Citizen

Snow in Houston

Last Wednesday, December 10, it snowed in Houston. Weather forecasters were surprised by the system, which did not show a strong chance for snow until Tuesday morning. It began with small ice bits at around 5:30 at the University of Houston, and grew to flakes large enough to land on the ground and not melt right away, as I was driving along Main Street, inside the 610 loop. It tapered off near home, but came back in an hour in force. My sisters enjoyed throwing snowballs at each other and me. Temperatures rose, and the snow, almost half an inch deep in places, melted later in the evening. However, it stayed cold enough in midtown Houston that at 9 AM on Thursday, there was still snow left on cars in the UH parking lot, where I quickly fashioned a snow bunny.

Bunny

The system was a regular nor'easter by midday Thursday, when it looked like this:
NOAA image

And now, temperatures are back in the 70s. Regular Houston weather, right?

Arboretum November 2

A puddle
Autumn Leaf
Autumn Leaf
Another Autumn Leaf
Pine Sap
Fresh sap drips from the thick bark

iPhone vs. Android

http://www.topnewsblog.info/tblog_11012.htm

Third week of college

The third week of college has gone by well. I'm settling in (sort of) and just got 88 on my first Pre-calculus test. Friday there is no school due to Hurricane Eisenhower (Ike), and so I will not be able to drive through a lot of rain and wind that the general and one-time president brings us. Ike is currently projected to pass just southwest of where I live, and bring us the greatest glory of his cavalcade. Unfortunately, people revere him so much that there will be few people out along the road to greet him, even though Texas is his birthplace (specifically Denison, along the river that forms the northern border of Texas). His current reincarnation, however, seems to have been on vacation in the Cape Verde Islands when he was called to duty. Hopefully, he will disappear quickly so that the populace can move on with its peaceful weekend.

On a different note, we have finished the Iliad in Honors Lecture, and received our paper topics. I may post the final copy here for you to read and criticize as a novice college paper. We begin Genesis on Monday. Can't wait!