Last leg

We dodged freezing rain this morning. No precip. and in the high 30's as we head out. Last night was a great gathering of the clan with Susie and Dennis, Dan, Becky and her friend Mark, Peter and Lori, and also Damon, who is now officially Dr. Crockett, having received his Ph.D. from UC San Diego. His field bridges philosophy of the mind and neurology of the brain, specifically visual perception. But he is branching out into a job in L.A. later this winter which will attempt to analyze cultural phenomena mathematically. E.g., it will analyze the millions of images transmitted daily on social media in an effort to determine what they tell us about our society. So ponder this question: what would it tell us about city "A" if the images sent by residents of that city consistently contained an average of 4.2 faces, compared to city "B" where the average # of faces was only 1.4? Is that significant? And if so, in what way?

Sadly, I forgot to take pictures. The conversation was too engaging. It did include a very funny look at research into what Google search terms are most common in various states. So, e.g., in Alabama, "Obama the Anti-Christ" is a common search term, whereas in Illinois, "deep dish pizza" is very common, and in Vermont, "Kale recipe" gets the prize. Now that is fascinating! And perhaps even significant for an understanding of culture. 

We'll be home tomorrow!