I had an exceptionally busy day today and in the course of it I had a conversation that touched on the man who represented Rice’s congressional district for three decades, Albert Thomas, ’20. Throughout those decades Thomas was a stalwart friend to Rice, never more so than when he helped get the Manned Space Center built in Houston in the early 1960s. Believe it or not, I recently found a photo of him as a Rice junior in 1919, helping a wayward freshman “calculate the angle” in the academic quad:

Also, I’d like to say a heartfelt thanks to all the commenters and emailers who took their time to educate me about the computer photographs I’ve been posting. I know it’s fun, but when you stop to think seriously about the intellectual history of the institution the rise of computation is a central theme. I really appreciate the help. Fair warning: I’ll need more.

Bonus: Trees in Motion!  They planted a lot of trees near the back of the Shepherd School after the Jones School building was finished:

Then the other day most of them were suddenly gone:

But don’t worry–they have merely moved (not under their own power, though) over to the football stadium:

All remains quiet on the Italian Cypress front.