diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 13ba8daa..bfa56760 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,5 +11,6 @@ pattern/web/cache/tmp/
 web/cache/tmp/
 test/pattern_unittest_db
 pattern_unittest_db
+examples/06-graph/test/
 
 .DS_Store
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pattern/graph/__init__.py b/pattern/graph/__init__.py
index e4e95bf2..a79ba8c9 100644
--- a/pattern/graph/__init__.py
+++ b/pattern/graph/__init__.py
@@ -133,11 +133,18 @@ def __init__(self, id="", radius=5, **kwargs):
         self.fill = kwargs.pop("fill", None)
         self.stroke = kwargs.pop("stroke", (0, 0, 0, 1))
         self.strokewidth = kwargs.pop("strokewidth", 1)
+
+        if not isinstance(id, unicode):
+            id = str(id).decode("utf-8", "ignore")
+
+        # FIXME this is a mess.
         self.text        = kwargs.get("text", True) and \
-            Text(isinstance(id, unicode) and id or str(id).decode("utf-8", "ignore"),
+            Text(id,
                  width=85,
                  fill=kwargs.pop("text", (0, 0, 0, 1)),
-                 fontsize=kwargs.pop("fontsize", 11), **kwargs) or None
+                 fontsize=kwargs.pop("fontsize", 11),
+                 **kwargs) or None
+
         self._weight = None  # Calculated by Graph.eigenvector_centrality().
         # Calculated by Graph.betweenness_centrality().
         self._centrality = None
@@ -260,11 +267,19 @@ def contains(self, x, y):
     def __repr__(self):
         return "%s(id=%s)" % (self.__class__.__name__, repr(self.id))
 
-    def __eq__(self, node):
-        return isinstance(node, Node) and self.id == node.id
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return isinstance(other, Node) and self.id == other.id
+
+    def __ne__(self, other):
+        return not self.__eq__(other)
+
+    def __lt__(self, other):
+        return isinstance(other, Node) and self.id < other.id
 
-    def __ne__(self, node):
-        return not self.__eq__(node)
+    def __hash__(self):
+        # an alternative might be to use hash(self.id) in some way
+        # since this is supposed to be unique.
+        return id(self)
 
 #--- NODE LINKS ----------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -1181,7 +1196,7 @@ def partition(graph):
                 g[i] = union(g[i], g[j])
                 g[j] = []
     g = [graph.copy(nodes=[graph[id] for id in n]) for n in g if n]
-    g.sort(lambda a, b: len(b) - len(a))
+    g.sort(key=len, reverse=True)
     return g
 
 
diff --git a/pattern/graph/commonsense.py b/pattern/graph/commonsense.py
index 53b1f161..65013db4 100644
--- a/pattern/graph/commonsense.py
+++ b/pattern/graph/commonsense.py
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
-from codecs import BOM_UTF8
 from itertools import chain
+import os
+import sys
 
 try:
     from urllib.request import urlopen
@@ -19,7 +20,11 @@
 from .__init__ import Graph, Node, Edge, bfs
 from .__init__ import WEIGHT, CENTRALITY, EIGENVECTOR, BETWEENNESS
 
-import os
+from codecs import BOM_UTF8
+if sys.version > "3":
+    BOM_UTF8 = BOM_UTF8.decode("utf-8")
+
+    basestring = str
 
 try:
     MODULE = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
@@ -125,7 +130,10 @@ def __init__(self, data=os.path.join(MODULE, "commonsense.csv"), **kwargs):
         if data is not None:
             s = open(data).read()
             s = s.strip(BOM_UTF8)
-            s = s.decode("utf-8")
+            try:
+                s = s.decode("utf-8")
+            except AttributeError: # python 3
+                pass
             s = ((v.strip("\"") for v in r.split(",")) for r in s.splitlines())
             for concept1, relation, concept2, context, weight in s:
                 self.add_edge(concept1, concept2,
diff --git a/test/test_graph.py b/test/test_graph.py
index a07c1d9d..13e9b0f5 100644
--- a/test/test_graph.py
+++ b/test/test_graph.py
@@ -288,7 +288,8 @@ def test_fringe(self):
         # Assert leaf fetching.
         g = self.g.copy()
         self.assertEqual(g.fringe(0), [g["a"], g["c"]])
-        self.assertEqual(g.fringe(1), [g["a"], g["b"], g["c"]])
+        # FIXME the ordering is variable in python3
+        self.assertEqual(set(g.fringe(1)), set([g["a"], g["b"], g["c"]]))
         print("pattern.graph.Graph.fringe()")
 
     def test_split(self):