A life in words

  • Visualizing Texts as Networks

    For a recent project in my text mining class we were required to explore ways of visualizing textual data. This is a tricky problem due to the nature of text, mainly because it is both categorical and sparse. Visualizing numerical data is, relatively speaking, a piece of cake, because real numbers can all be related…

  • If You’re A Member of Congress, Vote ‘No’ on Health Care Reform!

    To quote one of my favorite economists, Gary Becker: Despite the long debate, many provisions of both the House and Senate bills remain highly controversial. These include, among many others, the way the uninsured would get coverage, the de-emphasis on health savings accounts, the postponement until 2018 of the elimination of the tax advantages from…

  • “No Man Is A Failure Who Has Friends”

    So wrote George Bailey’s guardian angel, and as I was flooded by your kind thoughts and congratulations today I felt rather like George Bailey being saved by those who loved him. Though I may not be who I wish I was, I know I’m not a failure because I have the thoughtfulest, kindest family and…