Happy Pi Day

This is the founder of Pi Day, Larry Shaw.

Yes, it's Pi Day which is observed on 3/14 in honor of π being 3.14blahblahblah. Here's what I know of π—nothing really. A couple of years ago Daughter No. 1 set out to memorize as many digits of the thing as she could, and at one point she could recite more than 200. The Guinness World Record for memorizing π digits is 67,890, which looks like a joke, but it was verified when Lu Chao of China recited them in 24 hours and 4 minutes.

Today also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday. I'm not sure how many digits of π Albert memorized in his day, or maybe he didn't bother to memorize any, being so occupied with charming the western world and being a star. When Albert was a boy, he didn't do well in school except for math in which he excelled.

Here's what I know of math—nothing really. I took a basic algebra class in high school and just didn't get it. I kept asking my teacher how I would use that subject in my adult life since I thought I'd probably end up being an English teacher or a writer or something to do with words, and he could never give me a suitable answer. My teacher didn't have much of a personality, as I remember, and he just wanted me to shut up and do the equations. The next year, I took basic geometry and had an easier time because I could see what was going on. But anytime an algebraic equation was introduced into the shape we were making, a segment of my brain rebelled and went for a walk in the park, sat on the swings, and kicked its feet in the sand at the bottom of the slide. My geometry teacher was a little kinder than the algebra one and was better at coaxing reasonable class participation from me, and when he retired a few years ago, I sent him a thank you note for his patience. He could never tell me why I would need to know how to divide a triangle when I grew up, though.

So, for those of you who excel at math or at least appreciate it, happy Pi Day, and happy birthday to Albert Einstein. I'll be playing with words and daydreaming on the playground while you busy yourselves with all those silly numbers.

No More Mr. Nice Guy

It's good to be a nice person--to say nice things, to do nice things, to write nice things--but I declare an end to the use of the word nice. Nice is what you say when you can't think of any other adjective. Someone shows you a picture of their back yard--that's nice. Someone tells you about their afternoon adventure--that's nice. Or someone describes their childhood in great detail and sometimes with painstaking effort--that's nice. It's a lazy word, and it's non-descriptive. Nice is like mashed potatoes with noodles and chicken gravy all in a big pile on one plate with some canned corn for garnish. Everything is the same color and texture and base substance--starch (this is a favorite Amish dish). Nice is like a partly cloudy day in April when outside feels like inside, and you can't tell a difference between the lighting and the temperature of your living room and the lighting and temperature of your front yard. Nice is a glass of lukewarm water. ...

Ish People

Tell an Ish person to show up around 9 a.m., and you'll see them somewhere around 9 a.m. Tell them to show up at 9ish, and you'll see them anywhere from 9:05 to 9:20. You have given them license to dilly dally, and who wouldn't take advantage of that? The other night at the big shindig dinner party, one of the drummers said the rehearsal the next morning would begin at 9ish. "I am an ish person," he says. Immediately the clanker goes off in my head--oh, good, I thought. I can deliver my daughter a little late. No Ish person is early, so if you say 9ish, that does not mean give or take 5, 10, 15 minutes. It's exclusively a taking phrase. Take an extra 10 minutes to drink your cup of coffee. We won't mind. We're Ish people. Sunday's rehearsal started at 2:00. Because it was conducted by the same people who conducted the Saturday rehearsal, my understanding was 2-ISH. My daughter is worse than I am about taking liberties with Ish time frames, so she d...

Long Live Anita Bowser

You know I occasionally check my hometown newspaper's website to scan the obituaries (morbid, I know, but I'm at that age). Over this past weekend, I read the obituary of Indiana State Senator Anita Bowser . She was a noted Democrat who championed causes protecting the neediest in the state's population. She was respected on both sides of the aisle for her intelligence and plain and outspoken approach to law making. The picture on her senate page is lovely. I remember none of those things about Anita Bowser . My first year or so in college was spent at a branch of Purdue University, and in the early 80s, Anita was a political science professor. She taught my American Government class my freshman year, and she was a mess. Somewhere in my old text book, I have a sketch of her drawn on a particularly dull day in class--her hose sagged at her ankles, her slip showed at least half an inch all the way around, her hair had been slept on but not brushed, and her bright red lip stic...

Ms Mac said…

If you'd taken your maths learnin' just that little bit further you'd have learned that the stuff you learn in algebra and geometry come together in calculus.

Quite what a woman of words would do with calculus is still beyond me though.

8:25 AM

dive said…

Er … It's 14/3 outside the colonies, Robyn.
I'll be happy to celebrate a Pie day instead, though.
Happy birthday to Albert!
Next time you're in London I'll endeavour to explain special and general relativity to you.
Maths is FUN!

9:25 AM

Scout said…

Ms Mac, me taking a calculus class. Bah, that's so funny!

Dive, math is NOT fun. Math sucks. And I hadn't thought about the reverse way to present the date. I guess the odd looking man who started this thing hadn't thought of that either.

9:34 AM

Shazza said…

Pi day...who da thunk it?

I don't know much about algebra...don't know what a slide rule is for...la, la, la.

When I went back to school...to college, I had a great algebra teacher who actually took the time to teach me. I aced the class. I was really excited because I considered myself a math moron.

I prefer to take my brain for a walk in the park though..it loves the swings!

12:29 PM

Maria said…

I had a math teacher in high school who was very impatient and he goes down in my memory as the one and only teacher who ever told me I was stupid.

I had stayed after school for math help and after he spent about an hour trying to explain a complicated algebraic problem to me, he finally threw up his hands and said, "I don't think I can help you anymore. You appear to be simply stupid."

I cried all the way home in the car. Now, I get MAD whenever I see him at church when I go home to that little town in Iowa where I was brought up.

In fact, I just might call him on the carpet the next time I see him, because I am STILL mad just thinking about this!

3:55 PM

And hey...off subject...but you are the only other person I know who watches Lost.

What did you think of last night's show? Kind of a trippy ending, yes?

4:36 PM

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said…

Ooooh pie r squared. Loved all that. lol.

4:42 PM

Mrs. G. said…

Some mornings I wake up and I wonder, "what day is Robyn covering today?" Pi day? Perfect.

7:35 PM