Bob Schwier on 15 Mar 2005 22:18:20 -0000


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RE: [PLUG] happy pi day


Alas, a holiday a week after the ordeal by I.R.S. form sounds good to me.
bs


On Mon, 14 Mar 2005, Paul L. Snyder wrote:

> Quoting George Gallen <ggallen@slackinc.com>:
> 
> > what is sad is that so much thought has gone into this?
> 
> I hardly think so!  In my opinion, there hasn't been anywhere near _enough_
> thought put into it.
> 
> I mean, really!  The celebration of a universal constant such as pi should
> not be tied to the vagaries of American date-writing conventions.  Perhaps
> March 14 is suitable for a vulgar festival, but it's hardly intellectually
> satisfying.
> 
> How about designating the "Pi Point" to be when 1/pi-th of a year has
> elapsed?  That would be (if my calculations are correct) on April 27, just
> after 04:23:40?  Or, 1/pi-th of a year /before/ the end of the year: that
> would be September 6, just before 19:36:20.  (This latter is a much better
> time to celebrate by raising circular beer glasses if we're calculating
> relative to a local time zone.)
> 
> For reduced arbitrariness, rather than calculating from Jan 1, it could be
> calculated relative to the solstices.  This has the added advantage of
> eliminating any arguments about time zones.  As a back-of-the-napkin
> calculation, that will be somewhere around April 16, 18:17 UTC.  In PA, that
> will be 1:17 PM EST.  (Check above figures before relying on them, obviously.)
> 
> That's a Saturday, this year.  Anybody up for drinks?  We need to get the
> REAL Pi Point on the calendar.
> 
> Irrationally,
> pls
> 
> 
> 
> 
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