Breaking news: No New War Today!

... You can thank Obama.

Light posting next several days...

... stop by every once in a while, but honestly - there's not gonna be much thru Sunday.

More Pi Day stuff

You can have your Pi and eat it too

... and let's not forget the geeky stuff:

Representations of Pi

Then there's this - entertaining, informative, and not TOO mathy:

The Joy of Pi

Happy Pi Day!

Chao Lu
Pi memorization world record holder
date : 20 November 2005
accuracy : 67,890 digits of Pi
time : 24 hours 4 minutes

Okay: 67,890 digits is just a wee bit longer than what I wanna post.
Here are the first 700 digits of Pi (... just over 1% of what Chao Lu memorized):

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676694051320005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235

Election night fun

What happened to Newt?

Newt had a bad night:
- AL: 30%, 2nd to Santorum's 35%
- MS: 31%, 2nd to Santorum's 33%

Wasn't Newt supposed to be a lock in the South?
- Nope: Dixie went for the OTHER crazy Catholic!

"Anyone but Romney" wins Mississippi!

70%!

... Santorum is nominal 'winner': 33%.

"Anyone but Romney" wins big in Alabama!

72%!!!

... Santorum is the nominal 'winner': 35%.

Santorum puts plants above people!

Rick Santorum: ‘The dangers of carbon dioxide? Tell that to a plant’

This anti-Biblical worldview oughta disqualify him for the presidency IMMEDIATELY!

More old music

Be Afraid! Be VERY Afraid!!!

Dihydrogen Monoxide FAQ
Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

Alert your REPUBLICAN Senators & Representatives about this toxic substance TODAY!

Dihydrogen Monoxide is a by-product of ROCKET-FUEL combustion!
Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
Liquid DHMO is responsible for THOUSANDS of deaths in the U.S. each year!
Solid DHMO causes hypothermia, frostbite, road accidents, and death!

IT IS NOT REGULATED by ANY Government agency!!!

Write your Republican Senator & Congressman TODAY!!!!!

How long?

Just till we get that damn nigger outta the White House!

HOUSE REPUBLICAN QUESTIONS OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE: 'IS IT LEGITIMATE?'

Just a reminder...

For every one woman having sex, there's also a MAN having sex!

... and I'm not sure the converse is true: that "man on dog" thing comes to mind!
An old joke:

Man 1: The first time I had sex, her mom was standing just three feet away.

Man 2: Three feet away? What did she say???

Man 1: "Baa"!

another "Just for fun"

"Game Change"

Okay: I watched the HBO movie, "Game Change".
Overall - entertaining... and it's no wonder nominal GOP strategist Steve Schmidt is now a regular on-air personality with MSNBC!
[He be the fellow ultimately responsible for foisting Sarah Palin on us!]

BUT! - in fairness to Ms. Palin, I find it very hard to believe that she was as deliberately obstructionist & as deliberately ignorant as she is portrayed in the film.

[pointless aside: strength is presumed to be the longest word in English with only one vowel. Schmidt has gotta be up there on list of longest proper names with only one vowel!]

In related news:

'Game Change': Sarah Palin Presidency 'Frightens' Former McCain Strategist Steve Schmidt

A Carol Burnett show skit with pedagogical value

A riddle from old 'Carol Burnett show' skit... with
pedagogical value:

A hunter walks due south from his camp for one mile. He then walks due east for one mile, where he shoots a bear.
He then returns to camp by walking due north a mile.

What color was the bear?

In the 'Carol Burnett Show' skit, Carol launched into tirade centered on, 'What color was the bear?'!!!...
... BUT: there is a mathematical point to this riddle.
The key is that 3rd bit of info: 'He then returns to camp by walking due north one mile'.

Hint: Pythagorean Theorem is true only in Euclidean plane geometry... not on the surface of the earth (spherical geometry).

Forget finding your kids summer jobs!

14-Year-Old Buys Distressed Home
By Susanna Kim | ABC News
12 March 2012
After Willow Tufano earned $6,000 from antiquing and selling items on Craigslist, the 14-year-old asked her mom if she could invest in half of a short sale in her home state of Florida.

Tufano earned the money from finding free items or deals online or at antique auctions and leftover furniture from foreclosed homes. She re-sells the items or gives them away on the "free" list on Craigslist. She says she could not have thrived in that business without the support of her parents and grandparents, who drive her around to pick up items.

With her saved money, she didn't want to buy or barter for another longboard skate board or Xbox. Instead she set her sights on a three-bedroom short sale of $12,000 that was worth about $100,000 at the peak of the housing market, as reported by NPR's Planet Money.

"If there's one thing I want people to know, it's that your age does not matter," Tufalo told ABC News. " If I can inspire another person my age, younger, that would mean the world. Whether it's buying a house, buying a car, or whatever. If you really work for it and put your mind to it you can do what you want to do."

Step 1: Help sell household goods from 'distressed' properties.
Step 2: use earnings to BUY a distressed property!

Winning hearts & minds

US soldier kills 16 Afghans, deepening crisis
By HEIDI VOGT and MIRWAIS KHAN | Associated Press
11 March 2012
BALANDI, Afghanistan (AP) — An American soldier opened fire on villagers near his base in southern Afghanistan Sunday and killed 16 civilians, according to President Hamid Karzai, who called it an "assassination" and furiously demanded an explanation from Washington. Nine children and three women were among the dead.

I can do nothing but agree with my friend OneFly:

Declare Victory And Get The Hell Outta There

English Composition 101 & cable news

English Composition 101:

1. Tell 'em what you're gonna say.

2. Say it.

3. Tell 'em what you said.

Cable News coverage of GOP primaries:

1. Tell 'em what's gonna happen.

2. Report what happens.

3. Spend the rest of the week discussing what DID happen.

... and they can fill up an entire week of broadcasts with this!

Mark your calendar: March 14!

Celebrate Pi (π) Day!

Other resources:

Pi Day 2012

Celebrating Pi Day 3.14

March 14th is a fantastically mathematical day.

Pi Day

Just for fun: Pi (π), mathematical constant - ratio of circle's circumference to its diameter. It's a constant only in Euclidean geometry - depends, ultimately, on Euclid's "parallel postulate". In spherical geometry - the GEOmetry in which we all live ("earth measure") - this ratio is NOT a constant!

... more "just for fun": the Pythagorean Theorem (that bit about 'square of the hypotenuse') is also true only in Euclidean geometry... if you try to use it in surveys of earth's surface, you'll get really lost!
Both Pi & Pythagorean Theorem depend on 'parallel postulate'.

[... oh, yeah: 14 March = 3-14... as in 3.14159... ]