The announcement made me giddy: As of September 18, Houston has an open data policy. Most of the city’s data will become public, allowing any resident access to terabytes of information that can be used to improve the city’s quality of life. At data.ohouston.org, the city has already posted 162 city datasets – data on everything from hurricane risk areas to registered city lobbyists to crime stats.
Hypocrisy.
Last week belonged to that one word. Scandals left and right rocked the two most popular sports in America.
For everyone who thought the Ray Rice furor had ended, JUST KIDDING! The league might have gone full Richard Nixon to sweep issues under the rug. For those who thought racist issues in the NBA were over after Donald Sterling, NOPE! The Atlanta Hawks will see that and raise you one by stereotyping and talking about African heritage as though it were some delinquent character trait. And this is without even mentioning that Adrian Peterson, NFL MVP and one of its most marketable superstars, was involved in a child abuse case brought about this weekend.
Why do people in Houston care so much about the Astrodome? In other cities, when new stadiums and arenas are built, the predecessors are imploded gleefully.
For me, the answer is personal. I was not born yet when the Astrodome was first built. I did not become a permanent resident of Houston until a little over a year ago. But the Astrodome moves me.
The new year has begun in earnest for college students. Classes are underway, and spirits are high. Or at least mine were, until one of my professors started brainstorming ways to one-up another professor in the level of difficulty of his class. In the middle of the first day of class, no less. With the new school year comes another bane of college students’ existence: textbooks.
As you can see, I spend a bunch of MY time sleeping.
I’m a college student. The one thing all college students want is more time. To be fair, that’s what most people want. So how do all of us spend our time?
Thankfully, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released the results of their American Time Use 2013 survey (yes, I examine BLS stats for fun). A lot of cool information is in there, but the one that really caught my eye was the breakdown of time spent on primary activities.
Until he graduated this year, Soorya Avali and his camera were everywhere on Rice University’s campus. The engineering student turned photographer shot every awesome happening, from birthday parties to the time-honored Beer Bike traditions. Everyone knew him, if not by name, then as “that Indian guy with the camera.” His was lens through which we viewed the school.
Forbes recently published an article ranking America’s top 20 most creative cities. As with any rankings, context and criteria have to be taken into account. Usual suspects like Boston, San Francisco, and New Orleans were present in the top 20, but one city was amiss. The city that I reside in now, Houston, was nowhere to be found.
