Happy Pi Day

March 14, Pi Day.  3.141 … also, of course, the return of daylight savings time.  I regret the lost hour, and the sense of weird jet lag, and it would be great if there were any sun rather than a third day of rain, but still, light in the evening!  Life can go on.  I’m increasingly an Aztec by religious conviction, I’m afraid, and every winter I fear that the Fifth Age of the world has ended and the sun will return no more.  So DST is almost like … an Aztec ritual!  The kindler, gentler, non-human-sacrificial New Fire Ceremony.

Update:  With the approach of spring, I was temporarily seized with the milk of human kindness (kindler, gentler, non-human-sacrificial …).  Oh heck, I’m an Aztec.  New Fire Ceremony.  You know where this is going.  We must get with the program.

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    24 Comments

    1. Andrew says:

      We’ll have to throw a big party on March 14, 2015. :-)

    2. Syd Henderson says:

      And toss our pies at each other at 9:26 p.m.

    3. cboldt says:

      And toss our pies at each other at 9:26 p.m.
      a.m., not p.m. Even greater precision is available by timing the toss to 53 seconds after 9:26 a.m.

    4. Brett Bellmore says:

      Yeah, I’ll wait another five years to get excited over it.

    5. JPG says:

      The kindler, gentler, non-human-sacrificial New Fire Ceremony

      I’m sure many of your relatives and friends had a warm felt relief upon reading the last sentence, although you should not be surprised would they hide their cats and dogs from you.

    6. Anonsters says:

      The kindler, gentler, non-human-sacrificial New Fire Ceremony.

      C’mon, Kenneth Anderson, you’re a conservative. Human sacrifice should be old hat for you. ;)

    7. Eric Jablow says:

      Will there be alcoholic drinks after heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics?

      (After the famous pi mnemonic.)

    8. Butternut says:

      Here is to Jenny, who spent her week celebrating Pi with her students like a good teacher should. She tried all weekend to make me understand the concept but, being dense, I stared at her like a six toed grit…

    9. BABH says:

      For pi day, some Deep Magic:

      e^(i*pi)=-1

    10. Syd Henderson says:

      cboldt says:

      – And toss our pies at each other at 9:26 p.m. –
      a.m., not p.m. Even greater precision is available by timing the toss to 53 seconds after 9:26 a.m.

      But who wants a party at 9:26 a.m?

    11. John Armstrong says:

      I think this shirt sums up the feelings of most actual mathematicians and scientists about π.

    12. Steve P. says:

      According to Mr. Armstrong’s link I am a dick, but I love my alma mater’s tradition. I believe that year they completed slightly over 16K decimal places.

    13. Sarcastro says:

      [Always rooted for e, the underdog, myself. When Febuary 71st comes around, I'm gonna paaaartaay!]

    14. Steve P. says:

      Sarcastro: [Always rooted for e, the underdog, myself. ...]

      Euler’s number isn’t so much an underdog as an upstart. I mean, π is old on the order of millennia. e isn’t even four hundred years old. You must be a progressive.

    15. joev says:

      CDR D: Go AZTECS!!http://tinyurl.com/y9nx7ud

      This.

      (long time reader, first time poster — leave it to alma mater pride to bring me out of lurkerdom!)

    16. John Armstrong says:

      Steve, if you’re going to be all formal it’s Dr. Armstrong.

    17. rbj says:

      “The kindler, gentler, non-human-sacrificial New Fire Ceremony.”

      This is why I no longer practice the Aztec religion. Liberals have taken over and ruined. There’s nothing like a good old fashioned ripping out the heart and offering it to the gods.

    18. Michael B says:

      Recently read where some idiot savant has memorized pi out to several tens of thousands of decimal digits.

    19. Happy Pi Day! « UNIX Administratosphere says:

      [...] 3/14) among them. The only mention I saw was on a law blog (The Volokh Conspiracy) by both Kenneth Anderson and Eugene [...]

    20. The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Happy Pi Day says:

      [...] full post on pi day – Google Blog Search Share and [...]

    21. MikeT says:

      I like the t-shirt John, these kind of things have always annoyed me too for some reason.

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