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Happy Pi Day

I just wanted take a break to wish everyone a Happy Pi Day. It's 3/14, so I hope you are all enjoying your day off, and remember not to bother checking your mailbox.

341 comments

  1. Tacoooo by Shikaku · · Score: 1

    Where's my pi cake?

    1. Re:Tacoooo by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 4, Funny

      The cake is a pi.

    2. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, a round cake would be 2pi

    3. Re:Tacoooo by MikeDirnt69 · · Score: 1

      Pi day your a** ! Oh, wait... I meant 2pi*r

      --
      Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
    4. Re:Tacoooo by Kentari · · Score: 1

      I prefer it to be h*pi*r^2. I'll take volume over circumference to fill my stomach every day...

    5. Re:Tacoooo by Sique · · Score: 5, Funny

      You know, a pizza with a height of a and a radius of z has a volume of pi*z*z*a.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    6. Re:Tacoooo by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 2

      That's the coolest thing I've ever read.

    7. Re:Tacoooo by msauve · · Score: 2

      Perhaps you'll get one on the real pi day, 22/7 (which is only valid when interpreted with the European convention) ~= 3.14. 3/14 ~= 0.214, which isn't anything even close to pi.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    8. Re:Tacoooo by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Cake is not pie. If I'm expecting pie and you show up with a cake, I shoot you in the anus. No exceptions.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    9. Re:Tacoooo by ehrichweiss · · Score: 2

      So I guess everyone below is concentrating on whether it's 14/3 or 3/14 or whatever instead of realizing that today is ALSO another special holiday: Steak and a Blowjob Day! http://www.steakandbjday.com/ I guess they'll find out when they're done arguing over semantics.

      --
      0x09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
    10. Re:Tacoooo by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Pi are not Square Pi are round. Cake are square.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    11. Re:Tacoooo by Sene · · Score: 0

      Thanks! I will shamelessly copy paste that line.

    12. Re:Tacoooo by Captain+Spam · · Score: 1

      What are you talking about? Everyone knows Pi Day is clearly 21 July or March 1, depending on where you are. That's what the Indiana state legislature told me!

      --
      Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
    13. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The cake is 2 pi
      The slice is 1/3rd pi

    14. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i don't have an anus, you insensitive clod. I gave it up for lent.

    15. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A pie with diameter e has a circumference of pi*e.

      Yours was cooler.

    16. Re:Tacoooo by SockPuppetOfTheWeek · · Score: 1

      Confucius say, man with no anus may be full of shit.

    17. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, silly. 3/14 isn't literal. It represents 3.14. Dumbass.

    18. Re:Tacoooo by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      A pie with diameter e has a circumference of pi*e.

      Yeah, but who uses decimeters? (everyone knows that e = 2.718...)

    19. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where's mod points when they're needed??!?!

    20. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps you'll get one on the real pi day, 22/7 (which is only valid when interpreted with the European convention)

      The European convention?? There are dozens of European conventions for writing dates. You wait for your Roughly Pi Day, I'm having my Hungarian Notation Pi Day today.

    21. Re:Tacoooo by Chruisan · · Score: 1

      If it was rhubarb it would be 2*Pi*r...

    22. Re:Tacoooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *whoosh*

      That was the joke flying way, way over your head.

      Try this

    23. Re:Tacoooo by del_diablo · · Score: 1

      Amen to that.
      13.03.11 is a fine date, but the day of the Pi is still some years away.

    24. Re:Tacoooo by GigaplexNZ · · Score: 1

      I've seen many more round cakes than square cakes. Claiming that cakes can only be square is a lie.

    25. Re:Tacoooo by Joepat · · Score: 1

      22/7 only looks like Pi for a few decimal places. it really equals 3.1428571... etc.

    26. Re:Tacoooo by lazybeam · · Score: 1

      Still a little late:

      Posted by CmdrTaco on 12:18 AM -- Tuesday March 15 2011
      from the inevitable-number-patterns dept.

      --
      --
      no sig for you. come back one year.
    27. Re:Tacoooo by coxymla · · Score: 1

      22/4 is closer to Pi than 3.14 is.

    28. Re:Tacoooo by coxymla · · Score: 1

      22/7, rather....

    29. Re:Tacoooo by wgoodman · · Score: 1

      That is pi approximation day which was made up for you Europeans and your silly backwards dates.

    30. Re:Tacoooo by msauve · · Score: 1

      I'm not European, but find their date representation convention to be much more logical - 2011/03/10 sorts naturally. I often use the form 10Mar2011 to avoid any ambiguity. The American 3/10/2011 has no particular order, and makes no sense. (yes, I deliberately chose a date where the month and day can be ambiguous)

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    31. Re:Tacoooo by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      I know which one I prefer, but (as I read /.) you have a quite good guess which one I could celebrate properly.

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
    32. Re:Tacoooo by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      But we can celebrate Pi day AND Steak and Blowjob day (can't really move that one, as it's connected to Valentine's day)!

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  2. No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's 15/3.

    1. Re:No it's not. by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      Its still 14/3 here

    2. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to the ISO standard, it's 2011/3/14 GMT.

      So it's the 2011th 3/14

      Suck it up, princess.

    3. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Either way, it's not 3/14 anywhere. In fact it's never 3/14. There aren't 14 months in the year.

    4. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There is more than one way to skin a cat there chief.

    5. Re:No it's not. by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      That's a terrible approximation of pi. 22/7 is much better.

    6. Re:No it's not. by Canazza · · Score: 0

      you must hate a lot of Europeans.
      And Africans
      and Asians
      and Australians
      and Central Americans
      and South Americans
      and Arabs
      and Indians

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    7. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since when did time begin at year 0? Much as we'd all like to forget and use unsigned ints, there was a time before!

    8. Re:No it's not. by somersault · · Score: 2

      2011-03-14

      FTFY

      --
      which is totally what she said
    9. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "ISO STANDARD DATE FORMAT" does not use slashes to separate the date parts.
      Knobcake.

    10. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Given your history of understanding wordplay and other jokes, you're probably trolling, but I'll explain anyway.

      The first 3 digits of Pi is 3.14.

      In western notation (or maybe just the US), March 14th is denoted as 3/14.

      So March 14 (3/14) is Pi day (3.14). It has nothing to do with treating the date separator as division, and everything to do with simply matching up the numbers.

    11. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you must hate a lot of Europeans. And Africans and Asians and Australians and Central Americans and South Americans and Arabs and Indians

      Somehow, it's always a European whining when the month comes first on an American website, and never an African, or an Asian, or an Australian, or a Central American, or a South American, or an Arab, or an Indian...

    12. Re:No it's not. by SausageOfDoom · · Score: 1

      Only the US and Canadia do MM/DD/YYYY these days. DD/MM/YYYY if you have to, but YYYY-MM-DD ftw.

    13. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it is just a US notation.
      It is getting awful when year as 2 digits is added on the right like in 01/02/11 which may be 11 february 2001 (iso), 1st february 2011 (many countries), 2nd january 2011 (US and some others).
      In my work (international environment), I do my best to have year with 4 digits and iso format as often as possible.

    14. Re:No it's not. by tomhudson · · Score: 2

      Only the US and Canadia do MM/DD/YYYY these days. DD/MM/YYYY if you have to, but YYYY-MM-DD ftw.

      Sorry, but I'm in Kanuckistan, and haven't seen anyone use mmddyyyy for ... gee, not any time this century.

      People avoid ambiguity by using mmm dd yyyy (Mar 14 2011) or dd mmm yyyy (14 Mar 2011).

      If I have to use numbers only, I do use yyyy mm dd - it just makes sense.

    15. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you were even slightly literate, you would know that this is a US website.

    16. Re:No it's not. by SausageOfDoom · · Score: 1

      Ah! I've never visited your fine country, I was going off the wikipedia article.

      Damn you, wikipedia! They told me not to trust you, I should have listened! I should have listened *sob*

    17. Re:No it's not. by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      Actually, Canadian standard format is also YYYY-MM-DD. But a lot of people end up using it because there's so much interaction with the US.

    18. Re:No it's not. by tomhudson · · Score: 1
      Part of it is because, for the french, it's normal to say "the 14th of March, 2011" instead of "March 14th, 2011", so dd-mm-yyyy is both acceptable and unambiguous. However, for ages, the RoC (Rest of Canada) used mm-dd-yyyy, similar to the US, as did the english in Quebec.

      Interestingly enough, my old dBase IV manual lists the following formats for the SET DATE command (notice the separators) - the ONLY place using month day year was the US:

      AMERICAN (or MDY) mm/dd/y
      ANSI yy.mm.dd
      BRITISH or FRENCH (or DMY) dd/mm/yy
      GERMAN dd.mm.yy
      ITALIAN dd-mm-yy
      JAPAN (or YMD) yy/mm/dd
      USA mm-dd-yy

      No wonder we had a y2k problem.

    19. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And March 14th as Pi Day is only celebrated (to my knowledge) in the US, where it makes sense because that's the day the numbers line up. What's your point, exactly? No one's asking anyone outside the US to celebrate it, or even anyone INSIDE the US to. It's not an official anything. It's a fun little day for American math geeks, and we'll happily ignore specific convention to make up an excuse for a little fun.

      Please, feel free to copy Pi day for yourselves and make it 22 July in areas that use DD/MM for daily communications. Post it in July and I promise not to post pedantic asshattery about how your chosen arbitrary date expression format somehow sucks.

    20. Re:No it's not. by Cederic · · Score: 1

      No one's asking anyone outside the US to celebrate it

      Yes they are. Didn't you read the Slashdot article title?

      Happy fucking pi day my arse.

    21. Re:No it's not. by BatGnat · · Score: 1

      I personally think we should start using YYYYY-MM-DD now.
      This way the programmers have just under 8,000 years to get their coding right....

    22. Re:No it's not. by BatGnat · · Score: 1

      Somehow, it's always a European whining when the month comes first on an American website, and never an African, or an Asian, or an Australian, or a Central American, or a South American, or an Arab, or an Indian...

      Actually I'm Australian, and I whine quite a lot about that you very much.
      It is so annoying when co-workers use non ISO dates as filenames. You just can't sort that shit....

    23. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The web has no nationality. I know, I know, you people from the cult of the United States think you own everything.
      (notice I didn't call you American. I didn't want to insult the Canadians, Mexicans, and Brazillians....)

    24. Re:No it's not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you. Someone with intelligence.

    25. Re:No it's not. by Fritz+T.+Coyote · · Score: 1

      And if they don't manage to get it right, not to despair, because there is a top-secret project that has a bunch of old school COBOL, Fortran and Assembly Language Programmers cyropreserved until the year 9998 so they can save the world. Again.

    26. Re:No it's not. by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      No wonder we had a y2k problem.

      If people are stupid enough to assume that how it's displayed and how it's stored are the same then I'm surprised it wasn't considerably worse.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    27. Re:No it's not. by Man+Eating+Duck · · Score: 1

      If I have to use numbers only, I do use yyyy mm dd - it just makes sense.

      Agreed. Where I live dd/mm/yyyy is the norm, but it does cause confusion at times when communicating with people from other countries. I always use yyyy-mm-dd in my own notes, and occasionally this format slips into written messages to other people as well. I've gotten a couple of comments ("huh, that's a curious date notation") but never experienced a misunderstanding. It *does* just make sense.

      --
      Are you a grammar Nazi? I'm trying to improve my English; please correct my errors! :)
  3. Actually it is 14/3 by masterpiga · · Score: 0

    And it's not even a prime... just another blunt day.

    1. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by houstonbofh · · Score: 2

      Just because you people screwed up your calendar so you do not have Pi day, is not our fault. In the US, we like our pie... I mean Pi.

    2. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Eevee · · Score: 3, Insightful

      According to ISO 8601, today is 2011-03-14.

    3. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry, but day day year.

    4. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Laurence0 · · Score: 1

      It's only pi day if you use the American notation...

      So I guess that makes it American Pi day.

    5. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No we just have it slightly later on the 31st of april

    6. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by masterpiga · · Score: 1

      No we just have it slightly later on the 31st of april

      Jeees, so there are countries where April has 31 days. The world is really a crazy place. By the way, like that we lose the slash as a decimal separator. I still prefer to wait until they add two months to the calendar.

    7. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by mooingyak · · Score: 1

      No we just have it slightly later on the 31st of april

      Let me know how that works out for you.

      --
      William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    8. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by littlefoo · · Score: 1

      "Just because you people screwed up your calendar so you do not have Pi day, is not our fault."

      Ah but we do, it's just not today, it's the 22nd of July

    9. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by fredjh · · Score: 1

      Oh, please... shut your PI HOLE!

      --
      Stupid, sexy Flanders.
    10. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Brucelet · · Score: 1

      I think I've seen this comment four times on this page, but I still think it's more insightful that redundant.

    11. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by toastar · · Score: 1

      Is that kinda like may 35th?

    12. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Judging from your size I'm sure you like pie as well ;)

    13. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Kyont · · Score: 2

      Damn straight! Please wake up my cryogenically preserved head when it's 3141-05-09 02:06:53.590 GMT and then I'll be prepared to celebrate the arbitrary matching of a date to a mathematical quantity.

      Come to think of it, I don't want to wait that long. Wake me up at 2718-02-08 18:28:45.905 GMT for "e" day.

      --
      You shall see a cow on the roof of a cotton house.
    14. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by BatGnat · · Score: 1

      Yes I have seen that movie. I have seen what you guys do to pie....

    15. Re:Actually it is 14/3 by scdeimos · · Score: 1

      15 15 2011?

  4. Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Haedrian · · Score: 3, Funny

    And here's a festive image I created for the occasion

    http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5665/28362805.jpg

    1. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by poolecl · · Score: 1
      Cool image.

      I set up a phone line in honor of pi day. Call (253)243-2504 to hear pi!

      Source code is available at http://www.newfire.org/piphone.html

    2. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you didnt create that image, thats the image they use to show that you cannot see any image, is like a frog into an Ice CUBE :D:D:D

    3. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Krau+Ming · · Score: 1

      i created a festive character for the occasion: O

    4. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Haedrian · · Score: 1

      I should have known better than to put a (what I would think is a) limited bandwidth imagine on /.

      Its a visual depiction of uh... meta-pi

    5. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And a PDF one with a few more digits I made a couple of years ago...

      http://lxpro.com/pi8000.pdf

    6. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't get it. I thought pi was exactly 3?

    7. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Bucky24 · · Score: 1

      You didn't create that... Copyright violation!

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    8. Re:Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Krau+Ming · · Score: 1

      what a way to ruin pi day!

  5. Is it Twelvember yet? by mangu · · Score: 2, Insightful

    3/14 is the third day in the fourteenth month.

    Oh, I see, they are using middle-endian notation.

    1. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most countries use year-month-day notations...again it's the US who has to be backwards/difficult.

    2. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by xMrFishx · · Score: 1

      3/14 is the third day in the fourteenth month.

      Not in the real world it's not.

    3. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      3/14 is the third day in the fourteenth month.

      Oh, I see, they are using middle-endian notation.

      In hex its E/3 or E-3 which has a nice symmetry

    4. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2011-03-14? Do you have a better date format? If you omit the year, it is 3-14.

    5. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by koinu · · Score: 1

      I like the stupid articles because of the funny comments that follow. Thanks! :)

    6. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      3/14 is the third day in the fourteenth month.

      Oh, I see, they are using middle-endian notation.

      In hex its E/3 or E-3 which has a nice symmetry

      And in binary its 1110-11 which is also quite nice

    7. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      For fuck's sake, can we all please stop insisting that a particular arbitrary way to represent dates is better? It's pretty asinine how this gets brought up so much.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    8. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by NevDull · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's simple to say that it's a matter of being difficult, but for most purposes of person-to-person communication, isn't the month often more relevant than the day of month when conveying information?

      "Which year?" is solved for most purposes by assuming the current year and getting a sense of tense for correction.

      "Which month?" gives me an idea of the sense of urgency for paying attention to your story. If something's happening this month or next, or happened last month, it's likely more significant than if you start out telling me December when the current month is March.

      "Which day?" without the month ends up making one scramble for context.

      While YYYY-MM-DD makes sense for those of us who get the importance of sorting, for people, "March 14, 2011" conveys information in what I think to be descending order of importance for people, and to then transcribe it as 3/14/2011 isn't so damn evil...

    9. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by slim · · Score: 1

      It is only improved by the Long Now Foundations's leading digit.

      02011-03-14

      You know, to avoid the Y10K problem. (Or, less facetiously, to remind us that there's a lot of future to come).

    10. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by alexandre_ganso · · Score: 1

      Care giving some examples of "most countries"? I thought most of them used day-month-year...

    11. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, it just we're right, and everyone else isn't (and jealous)

    12. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by hduff · · Score: 4, Funny

      For fuck's sake, can we all please stop insisting that a particular arbitrary way to represent dates is better? It's pretty asinine how this gets brought up so much.

      Sure. We can argue over which way the toilet paper goes or 'vi vs. emacs' or any number of pointless, non-winnable arguments that fuel the growth of civilisation.

      Your choice.

      --
      "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
    13. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, because middle-endian is the most retarded storage method EVER, period.
      Middle-endian royally screws the hell out of dating systems if there is no country-of-origin data. (not to mention other storage methods in general that use middle-endian)

      The other 2 methods are pretty easy to understand, the year is the big one, once you figure that out, it is simple. (unless some idiot uses short-year notation, oh hey remember Y2K?)
      In middle-endian nonsense, you need things like this to figure out that it is middle-endian. (with lack of origin)

    14. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by SurfMan · · Score: 1

      As you're on the subject, toilet paper goes with the loose end on the outside, i.e. not against the wall.

    15. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by arth1 · · Score: 1

      Indeed. And let's go with a non-arbitrary way, like YYYYMMDD, which is never ambiguous and actually _sorts_.

    16. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In this "real world" Sunday is the beginning of the week... even though it is part of the weekend.

    17. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by somersault · · Score: 0

      This is the sort of reasoning you get from religious nuts and Apple fan boys. Over here we'd say "14th of March, 2011". If it were just down to that then you could go either way, but for writing purposes, it makes sense to have things in order of how regularly they change, ie DD-MM-YYYY, or YYYY-MM-DD (which is the ideal format, since sorting numerically also sorts by date..).

      --
      which is totally what she said
    18. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by dkleinsc · · Score: 2

      The reason why date representations suck so much is partially inherent, and partially human-created.

      The inherent part: There are at least 4 naturally occurring measurements of time that have been used as the basis - the day, the month, the year, and the second (measured via an atomic clock). None of them can be fully defined in terms of the others.

      The human-created part: Differing base systems for each piece of the time that we tried to create. While the 12-13 months per year and the 365.25... days per year are inherent in the natural world, 24 hours per day, 60 minutes per hour, and 60 seconds per minute are most definitely not. Apparently the idea of 12 hours of daylight goes back to the ancient Egyptians if not further, and we've been stuck with it ever since.

      Probably the closest a society has ever come to breaking out of this confusion was the French Revolution, when they instituted 12 30-day months plus 5 or 6 holidays after the months, as well as decimal time and a 10-day equivalent of a week. Arguably Unix epoch time is probably the most elegant technical solution available, by effectively decoupling measurements of time from representations of those measurements.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    19. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I agree with your assessment. While I have no proof, no citations, and nothing to back it up, I believe our US format either came about due to or was reinforced by, paper calendars. You had a one year calendar (like a wall calendar). It had twelve pages, one for each month. When setting an appointment, the year was pretty much a given as you've said. It was assumed to be indexable in that single year calendar. The first thing to look up would be the correct PAGE which was the month. So that information would be what is needed first. Once you are on the correct page of the calendar, you can then look up the proper day - so that would be given next.

      Following would be the time - starting with the hour - so you can setup the appointment.

      Obviously today with fewer and fewer people using paper calendars the importance of MM/DD/YYYY has been lost and it is now irrelevant and more of "that's what I was taught and what I grew up with". I, and many of my colleagues, are well aware of the different date formats used around the world and tend to use dates like this - 14-MAR-2011 - in correspondence as I've never found anyone in any country get confused by that format. We do tend to work with folks from all over the world. In just the last week I corresponded with folks in Kuwait, South Africa, the UK, and Singapore. Regardless of the "common wisdom" about Americans, many of us do realize there is a whole world out there and folks that use different formats, measures, etc.

    20. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by AntmanGX · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Which day?" without the month ends up making one scramble for context.

      And here's me thinking that most people, when given a day, will assume that you mean either the current month, or the next if that day has already passed. Using your logic, you're telling us that somebody saying "Fancy going to the cinema on Saturday?" would only serve to confuse people as they would then wonder what week you're talking about.

      I don't buy it.

    21. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by msauve · · Score: 2

      "As you're on the subject, toilet paper goes with the loose end on the outside, i.e. not against the wall."

      Not if you have a cat.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    22. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by gfreeman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      isn't the month often more relevant than the day of month when conveying information?

      No. Seeing as we're right in the middle of the month it's a bit redundant to refer to tomorrow as "March 15th". Tomorrow is most easily communicated as "The 15th" (day of March).

      If I were to say "The 15th ..." you'd have only 12 options, whereas "March ..." has 31 options. So I put it to you that the date is more important than the month.

      --
      Ceci n'est pas un sig.
    23. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Kozz · · Score: 2

      3/14 is the third day in the fourteenth month.

      Oh, I see, they are using middle-endian notation.

      Hey. If you don't like it, just wait until the 22nd day of July, which is close enough.

      [patiently waits for math geeks to mod him up]

      --
      I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
    24. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, we should be celebrating on 22/7 anyway. 3.143 is closer to pi than 0.21428.

    25. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by openright · · Score: 1

      "3/14 is the third day in the fourteenth month".

      Why would you assume the European notation or little endian order?

      Note that European notation is inconsistent as well.
      (Otherwise you would have 59:59:23 14-03-2011, for little endian order, or 95:95:32 41-30-1102 for real little endian)

      This is slashdot, so perhaps the international scientific notation should be assumed.

      YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss

      I live in the U.S., and only use this form.

      03-14 (MM-DD) is not middle-endian, BTW.

    26. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      French-made standards often suck, as is the case with the calendar example you mention. Much more sensible is the International Fixed Calendar or one of its many relatives. The year-and-a-day concept is a sound one.

      Also, anything base-12 (like almost all measurements of time) can usually be traced back to Babylon (long before Egypt was anybody to give a crap about). Their entire counting system was base-12/base-60 hybrid. A quick googling of the matter turns up this link that explains that Babylonians picked out the "12" and the Egyptians refined it into a constant.

    27. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not always. In small cubicles it's better to have the paper against the wall (i.e. farther from you so you don't impersonate a T-Rex's short arms to pull off a piece)

    28. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But 03-14 MM-DD is not middle endian. It's ISO 8601 with the year omitted. Yes, the year should not be omitted.

    29. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      French-made standards often suck

      That's a tough case to argue, given that the standards originally developed by the French have been the international and scientific norm for a very very long time. The Revolutionary calendar has its faults, but it's a significant improvement over the Gregorian calendar with all its inconsistencies and references to long-dead political squabbles.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    30. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup. Those of us who use DDMMYYYY will be celebrating PI day on 22nd of July.

    31. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      whatever worthless non American country you are live in remember USA is #1! still use the wrong format it wont matter your not in #1

    32. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by maxume · · Score: 1

      Any standardized date format can be sorted (at least to the extent that it contains date information, obviously MMDD and DDMM can't be sorted by year), YYYYMMDD has the advantage of sorting numerically.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    33. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by corbettw · · Score: 1

      One of the reasons the French calendar failed was that it only allowed for one day off in 10. If they had gone with a five-day week (still evenly divides into a 30-day month), with one day off each week, the people of France probably would've accepted it more readily.

      Kind of ironic considering the French now have three days off in seven....

      --
      God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
    34. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by miltonw · · Score: 1

      To be properly pedantic: Naturally occurring - Year - yes. Day - yes. Month, not so much. It was originally a moonth, but we don't use that any more - completely arbitrary today. Second - arbitrary.

    35. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. And let's go with a non-arbitrary way, like YYYYMMDD, which is never ambiguous and actually _sorts_.

      Better YYYY-MM-DD, as that's standardised.

    36. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      For fuck's sake, can we all please stop insisting that a particular arbitrary way to represent dates is better? It's pretty asinine how this gets brought up so much.

      It gets brought up so much because a certain country is still living in the past. You know, the one that threw off the yoke of British dominance, but still insists on using pounds and feet and miles.

      So, is 01/02/03: January 2nd, 2003, February 1st, 2003, or February 3rd, 2001?

      2001-02-03 is unambiguous, and always sorts properly.

    37. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by bn-7bc · · Score: 0

      May I make a suggestion, what about actulaly using ISO 8601 , or at lest ask people to specify witch format they use while not using ISO 8601 format?

    38. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Linker3000 · · Score: 1

      Is that a five minute argument or the full half hour?

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
    39. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, that would be an improvement. Probably that's why it's called ISO-8601.

      It's far from perfect, though. Because:
      1. the YYYY is arbitrary (when did time start?)
      2. the MM part is arbitrary too (why 12 months? why not 13 as there are moon cycles?).
      3. the DD part is not only arbitrary, but highly irregular 0..{30, except half of the time is 31, except when it's 28, which is occasionally 29}

      Hey, nothing is perfect!

    40. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It gets brought up so much because a certain country is still living in the past. You know, the one that threw off the yoke of British dominance, but still insists on using pounds and feet and miles.

      Britain still uses spellings that were introduced during Norman dominance. Let me know when they throw off the yoke of "colour."

      As for measurements, "a pint is a pound the world 'round," is valid with US units, but not Imperial units; the two systems are not identical.

    41. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by SIR_Taco · · Score: 1

      Looks like someone has a case of the Mondays!

      --
      I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
    42. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by bn-7bc · · Score: 0

      Well this is what i get for not reading every comment before i comment, the point was already made. Pleace don't mod me down. I'm slow at typing so the comment was not there when i started :) .

    43. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      2. the MM part is arbitrary too (why 12 months? why not 13 as there are moon cycles?).

      There are not 13 moon cycles in a year (it's actually about 12.36), and since the sun dominates our climate, not the moon, using lunar months really screws up your calender (i.e. you end up needing entire leap months in some years).

    44. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by DeadboltX · · Score: 1

      YYYY-MM-DD is the ISO standard

    45. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or a small kid. (same reason)

    46. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      It gets brought up so much because a certain country is still living in the past. You know, the one that threw off the yoke of British dominance, but still insists on using pounds and feet and miles.

      Britain still uses spellings that were introduced during Norman dominance. Let me know when they throw off the yoke of "colour."

      As for measurements, "a pint is a pound the world 'round," is valid with US units, but not Imperial units; the two systems are not identical.

      I'm not in Britain. Kanuckistan has no problem with mingling english and french - we call it franglais, and its use world-wide goes back centuries :-)

      from "Bon cop, bad cop" - A language lesson

      And the US still writes it as "knife" (from the french word "canif", for a pocket knife). You just don't pronounce the "k", and made the "i" hard. - though that doesn't explain "knot" :-)

    47. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, presumably you are suggesting that US-styloe dates MM/DD/YY(YY) are easier to sort than UK/Europeans-style:
      DD/MM/YY(YY).

      Bollocks!

    48. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by RoverDaddy · · Score: 1

      Oh look, this isn't an argument! It's just contradiction!

      --
      RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
    49. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      The month I'm referring to here was the lunar month, which is most definitely naturally occurring, and was the basis of many calendars. The modern-day 30ish days per month is a relatively small variation on the Roman attempt at solving the problem of 365 / 28 having a remainder. Many other cultures which focused more on the lunar month rather than the solar year solved the same problem by adding in a leap month periodically.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    50. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3/14 is the third day in the fourteenth month.

      ...Lousy smarch weather...

    51. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      What's wrong with that? A week has two ends...

    52. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For fuck's sake, can we all please stop insisting that a particular arbitrary way to represent dates is better? It's pretty asinine how this gets brought up so much.

      It gets brought up so much because a certain country is still living in the past. You know, the one that threw off the yoke of British dominance, but still insists on using pounds and feet and miles.

      More relevant, we haven't put *on* the yoke of dominance by Brussels bureaucrats.

    53. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      The modern-day 30ish days per month is a relatively small variation on the Roman attempt at solving the problem of 365 / 28 having a remainder.

      I think you meant 365.2425 / 29.53.

    54. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by spud603 · · Score: 1

      Yea, but then we have to wait over 1100 years to get to pi day.
      and until they a fifty-ninth month to the year.

    55. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      civilization

    56. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by punchysysadmin · · Score: 1

      As soon as you Americans stop using retarded notation, sure. There is logic to DD/MM/YYYY Days make up months, months make up years. It goes smallest to largest. Why would you use MM/DD/YYYY? It is stupid and makes no sense. Also, when are you going to move to metric? Just because you have always done it this way does not mean that it isn't incredibly stupid.

    57. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, no, until you stupid schmucks succumb of course. Next?

    58. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      For fuck's sake, can we all please stop insisting that a particular arbitrary way to represent dates is better? It's pretty asinine how this gets brought up so much.

      It gets brought up so much because a certain country is still living in the past. You know, the one that threw off the yoke of British dominance, but still insists on using pounds and feet and miles.

      More relevant, we haven't put *on* the yoke of dominance by Brussels bureaucrats.

      ANSI X3-30-1985 specifies the yyyymmdd format. Last I heard, the "A" in ANSI stood for "American". It's been referenced in subsequent standards

      ANSI.X3.30-1985

      Date conforms to the date formats described in ANSI X3.30-1985. For the A.D. era to December 31, 9999, YYYYMMDD is used; for example 19960831 (the same as FGDC?). It also defines other formats for B.C. dates and A.D. after 9999

    59. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      One of those ends is really a beginning.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    60. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      The date system itself and how it's represented are two separate questions.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    61. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      I think just one zero is a bit arbitrarily. But then again: How many zeros do you want to add? Enough to hold until the heat-death of the universe?

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
    62. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      I have cats as food. They do not go to my toilet because that would be gross.

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
    63. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      No it isn't!

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
    64. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Agronomist+Cowherd · · Score: 1

      Yes it is!

      --
      -DwS
    65. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by j0h4nnes · · Score: 1

      There is *one* way, that is not arbitrary. We should simply settle on this. It is plain stupid that one should be troubled to infer the nationality of the writer in order to get the date right (in all cases where DD 12). $ date --rfc-3339=date 2011-03-15 Sorry, if this puts pi-day behind your life expectancy, but there are other ways to celebrate ;-)

    66. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      month/day/year makes absolutely no sense.
      day/month/year makes the most sense as it gives the most important information first, if you already know the month, you can stop listening/reading after the day
      I personally use year/month/day, because it sorts better in filenames, and matches the standard hour/minute/second format of time.

      or do you tell the time as minute/hour/second instead?

  6. You mean Half-Tau Day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually saw this gaining some exposure today...

    http://tauday.com

  7. Pi Day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    tsk tsk... keep it. I want my steak and blowjob.

    1. Re:Pi Day by Brucelet · · Score: 2

      Interestingly, it's very difficult to celebrate both holidays.

    2. Re:Pi Day by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      Mainly different demographics.

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  8. And just as important. by barfcat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd also like to wish everybody (and also remind them) a happy steak and BJ day. It's exactly one month after V-day which we all know is for the women. This holiday evens out the universe.

    1. Re:And just as important. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      As funny as it sounds, it actually IS a "holiday" in Japan and S. Korea called "White day". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Day and it is like V-day, but for the ladies. (Yes, on V-day women give MEN the chocolates, etc, in Japan, then a month later, the guys up the ante with gifts. According to Wikipedia, in S. Korea the men give other types of candy instead of chocolates or gifts.)

    2. Re:And just as important. by AGMW · · Score: 1

      I'd also like to wish everybody (and also remind them) a happy steak and BJ day. It's exactly one month after V-day which we all know is for the women. This holiday evens out the universe.

      I'm guessing the BJ Day is for men then ...

      --
      Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
      handmadehands.co.uk
    3. Re:And just as important. by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      This "holiday", which does not exist on any calendar...seems sexist and homophobic. Please to be explaining why it is not heterocentric, sir.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    4. Re:And just as important. by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 4, Informative

      This "holiday" [steak & BJ day?], which does not exist on any calendar...seems sexist and homophobic.

      Why that? You haven't been very often to a gay bathhouse or to a park at night, have you?

      We gays like a good BJ as much (if not more...) than any other man!

    5. Re:And just as important. by nprz · · Score: 1

      Actually, it is White Day in Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Day), which happens 1 month after V-day.

    6. Re:And just as important. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but you don't like steak -- we know you gays are all about souffles and such.

    7. Re:And just as important. by Huckabees · · Score: 1

      Queue McBain saying "That's the joke."

    8. Re:And just as important. by rednip · · Score: 1

      This "holiday", which does not exist on any calendar...seems sexist and homophobic. Please to be explaining why it is not heterocentric, sir.

      You must get really confused when speaking to those dastardly individuals who call their vacations 'holidays'. Foreigners (a.k.a. non-Americans) mostly say such things, so if you stay right where you're at, you should be ok.

      --
      The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
    9. Re:And just as important. by keytoe · · Score: 1

      This "holiday", which does not exist on any calendar...seems sexist and homophobic. Please to be explaining why it is not heterocentric, sir.

      All men, no matter their sexual preference - be it straight, gay or other - like BJs. That's pretty much as far from homophobic you can get.

      Unless you meant the steak.

    10. Re:And just as important. by rekenner · · Score: 1

      And then remember to celebrate Cake and Cunnilingus day a month from now.
      Yes, I'm serious.

    11. Re:And just as important. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BJ day? Oh, er, yeah ... BJ day! Of course. Haha! Of course ...

    12. Re:And just as important. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      White Day. A holiday invented by corporations to sell more stuff, 'cause in East Asia, V-day is for the women to give stuff to the blokes.

      Also, fuck you.

  9. Almost there... by nate+nice · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Only 4 more years until 3/14/15. That's the big one and I expect math departments the world over to go overboard on the candy and soda that day.

    --
    "If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer ..."
    1. Re:Almost there... by Haedrian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We could easily extend that to

      3/14/15 9:26:53 am

      And have a real big bash.

    2. Re:Almost there... by the_humeister · · Score: 2

      Unfortunately, it's really 2015-3-14. If prefere e day: 2718-2-8

    3. Re:Almost there... by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

      I think 3/14/28 will be bigger. Just a while off.

    4. Re:Almost there... by nate+nice · · Score: 1

      I'm gonna chug a Mountain Dew at that exact moment.

      --
      "If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer ..."
    5. Re:Almost there... by Chapter80 · · Score: 1

      We could easily extend that to

      3/14/15 9:26:53 am

      And have a real big bash.

      You'll be more than a half second early!
      Wait a sec, and you'd be more accurate.

    6. Re:Almost there... by drb226 · · Score: 1

      But that and 3141-5-9 are way too far off :P

      We can use that date format after e day on 2/7/18

    7. Re:Almost there... by Cogita · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, it's really 2015-3-14. If prefere e day: 2718-2-8

      Unfortunately, I don't have 700 hundred years to spare, so I'll accept messing with date formats to get to celebrate.

      --
      -- "The Price of Freedom of Speech, of Press, or of Religion is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish."
    8. Re:Almost there... by Deadstick · · Score: 1

      The one in 2016 would be more precise.

      rj

    9. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm going to stick a power drill in my head, while I watch a stock ticker...

    10. Re:Almost there... by bennomatic · · Score: 1

      Well, half a second.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
    11. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only 4 more years until 3/14/15. That's the big one and I expect math departments the world over to go overboard on the candy and soda that day.

      Math departments in the US, maybe.

      No-one else orders their date fields like that.

      And no-one else spells 'maths' like that either. ;-)

    12. Re:Almost there... by Chapter80 · · Score: 1

      Well, half a second.

      I stand by my statement:

      Waiting a second would be more accurate:
      3/14/15 9:26:54 am is more accurate than
      3/14/15 9:26:53 am

      Waiting a half second would be more precise.

    13. Re:Almost there... by TheCoders · · Score: 1

      I think you mean 3/14/16. The next digit is a nine, so you round up.

    14. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only 4 more years until 3/14/15. That's the big one and I expect math departments the world over to go overboard on the candy and soda that day.

      That's the date for the end of the world, just as the ancient people known as Pians predicted.

    15. Re:Almost there... by drosboro · · Score: 1

      Candy and soda? Why? I let my students bring in as much pie as they want, and we share it around the class. Usually, we also pull out the string and the rulers, and we see who can calculate the closest value for pi from their pie. And if they're lucky, they get a special lecture from me on the historical importance of the value of pi. And pie.

      Of course, nothing stops me from doing that at other times in the semester, either. I love pie! :)

      (Looking forward to my class later today!)

    16. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      very few countries in the world use the MM/DD/YY format. But since it is not possible to have pi as a date using DD/MM/YY, we'll joiin the celebration.

    17. Re:Almost there... by barrtender · · Score: 1

      I'm confused. Why would /28 be more important? I understand /15 (next digits of pi) but /28?

    18. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'll probably die of a heart attack or diabetes long before 2015, on account of all the junk food and sugary drinks you shove down your pi-hole.

    19. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haven't you heard? The rapture^W singularity will give you those 700 years and more!

    20. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't stare into the sun. That's stupid.

      p.s. you have an ant infestation in your apartment

    21. Re:Almost there... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not the the world over, only in America.
      The rest of the world will wait for 31/4/15.

  10. 3/14?? by dzfoo · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't Pi day be the 22th of July?

                -dZ.

    --
    Carol vs. Ghost
    ...Can you save Christmas?
    1. Re:3/14?? by qmaqdk · · Score: 2

      No, that's Approximate Pi day.

      --
      My UID is prime. Hah!
    2. Re:3/14?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that would be pi approximation day

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day

    3. Re:3/14?? by Timmmm · · Score: 1

      Yeah. 3/14 is *exact* pi day.

    4. Re:3/14?? by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      If you want to be more precise, you could celebrate pi on 21/7 at about 23:47:15.2. (GMT, of course.)

    5. Re:3/14?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because 3.14 is pi exactly?!

    6. Re:3/14?? by Hatta · · Score: 1

      No. 22/7 might have been useful back in the days before calculators, keeping everything in fractions until the very end of a calculation. These days everyone has a calculator handy to get pi calculated to whatever precision you need instantly. There's really no advantage to using 22/7.

      There is a disadvantage to using 22/7 that's mainly pedagogical. Everyone is used to using decimal approximations of real numbers, we see them on scales, thermometers, and so on. It's intuitive to see 3.14 and understand that it's not exact. People are not so used to fractional approximations of real numbers. As such, people who have been taught 22/7 often think that it is exact. In fact, the teacher who taught me the 22/7 approximation believed that it was exact.

      So I'd discourage use of 22/7. If a math teacher is having trouble with the concept, math students will have even more trouble with it. Approximating an irrational number with a ratio gives people incorrect ideas.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    7. Re:3/14?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      22/7 is a closer approximation of pi than 3.14 is. Maybe you should rethink your position.

    8. Re:3/14?? by Wolfling1 · · Score: 1

      Americans wouldn't get it.

  11. Steak and BJ Day by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 1

    Actually, I think you'll find that today is Steak and BJ Day

    http://www.steakandbjday.com/

    1. Re:Steak and BJ Day by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 1

      Actually, I've just had a better idea

      Steak and Pi Day

      (Come on, this is /. after all)

    2. Re:Steak and BJ Day by hduff · · Score: 2

      Actually, I've just had a better idea

      Steak and Pi Day

      (Come on, this is /. after all)

      Of course. Slashdotters are not interested in a beej, just math.

      --
      "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
    3. Re:Steak and BJ Day by mooingyak · · Score: 1

      That might be more realistic, but it sure as hell ain't better.

      --
      William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
  12. interesting note: by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Interesting

    also albert einstein's birthday

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

    March 14, 1879

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:interesting note: by Eevee · · Score: 2

      And White Day, so I'll be stopping on the way home to pick up a treat for my wife.

    2. Re:interesting note: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pics of the marriage consummation, hopefully involving cosplay, or we don't believe it.

      OMFG, the WV is "baller"... it seems so appropriate...

    3. Re:interesting note: by rubycodez · · Score: 3, Funny

      you're on the wrong forum, this is slashdot.

      for slashdotters they have black day

    4. Re:interesting note: by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 1

      Also steak and blow-job day!

      It's always tough when your birhtday falls on a holiday.

    5. Re:interesting note: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      also albert einstein's birthday

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

      March 14, 1879

      More importantly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_Grey

      March 14, 1988.

    6. Re:interesting note: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What are the odds?! Must be one in a million!

  13. Only in America! by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It is only Pi Day if you use the date format of mm/dd. In countries that use dd/mm date format, it lands on 22/7. If you think about it, Pi Day makes more sense in that format.

    My subject line says "Only in America", but in reality Basque Country, Hungary, Korea, and Mongolia use mm.dd which makes the more ideal 3.14

    1. Re:Only in America! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ISO 8601 specifies YYYY-MM-DD, which is really the only sane way to format dates numerically as that's the only way they sort properly.

    2. Re:Only in America! by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      So did you have a point with this, or is it just to be an asshole? On what day do you celebrate mathematicians?
      3.14159 is drilled into scientist heads from day 1. 22/7 is a uniquely rough approximation used by creationists and other types who cannot get through their heads that irrational numbers exist. But the 22/7 thing is NOT American, and 3/14 IS, so that by definition self-justifies, if only because anything anti-American is intrinsically good.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Only in America! by danlip · · Score: 1

      Except that in those countries they use a comma and not a period as the decimal separator (almost all counties outside North America use comma).

    4. Re:Only in America! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is only Pi Day if you use the date format of mm/dd. In countries that use dd/mm date format, it lands on 22/7. If you think about it, Pi Day makes more sense in that format.

      My subject line says "Only in America", but in reality Basque Country, Hungary, Korea, and Mongolia use mm.dd which makes the more ideal 3.14

      22/7 is not Pi... 3/14 at least can be continued with seconds, milliseconds and deeper to get pi :)

    5. Re:Only in America! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is only Pi Day if you use the date format of mm/dd. In countries that use dd/mm date format, it lands on 22/7. If you think about it, Pi Day makes more sense in that format.

      My subject line says "Only in America", but in reality Basque Country, Hungary, Korea, and Mongolia use mm.dd which makes the more ideal 3.14

      Actually, 22/7 is closer to Pi than 3.14...

    6. Re:Only in America! by DeadboltX · · Score: 2

      This is Slashdot, where the ISO defined YYYY-MM-DD should be the only way to represent a date other than maybe Epoch.

    7. Re:Only in America! by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      So did you have a point with this, or is it just to be an asshole?

      Wow! You are taking this way more seriously than the subject deserves. Of all the posts where it could be said that I have been even slightly controversial, this was not the one where I thought anyone would swear at me.

      How could you possibly think that someone would be "anti-American" because of a date format??? I respectfully suggest that you lighten up.

    8. Re:Only in America! by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      It would be nice to think that Slashdot used ISO standards for everything, but in fact it is colloquial US formats that are use more often than not. When people try to correct instances of this, they are met with howls of "this is a US site so we do things our way".

      I don't think that there is an official policy on this, it is just that people post using the spelling and formats with which they are familiar. I do the same thing (in spelling and formats) except where it causes confusion (I usually spell out dates in full) or I do not want to distract the conversation from a complicated or controversial argument just because I spelt colour with a "u".

    9. Re:Only in America! by Trogre · · Score: 1

      Therefore you would need to ALWAYS prefix the day and month with the year. Thus today (2011-03-14) is not Pi day.

      Thanks for playing.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    10. Re:Only in America! by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      I do not want to distract the conversation from a complicated or controversial argument just because I spelt colour with a "u".

      Spelt is a grain, you insensitive clod! Did you mean "spelled"? ...never mind, I see your point.

  14. belt tightening in the USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    In most states, there are no longer separate holidays for pi and e but rather a combined "Transcendentals Day".

    "Come on down, our prices for this one day event are just irrational".

  15. International by agentgonzo · · Score: 1

    It's 14/3 here you insensitive clod!

    1. Re:International by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I respect the sensitivity of others' date formatting preferences, which is why I only celebrate Pi Day on April 31st.

  16. The scary part is ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... that I actually found it funny. Damn I am a geek!!

  17. 2011-03-14 by tepples · · Score: 1

    In ISO 8601 notation, today is 2011-03-14, where the "3.14" is easy to spot. July 22 is 2011-07-22, where the "22/7" is backward.

    1. Re:2011-03-14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In ISO 8601 notation, today is 2011-03-14, where the "3.14" is easy to spot. July 22 is 2011-07-22, where the "22/7" is backward.

      grep "3.14" "2011-03-14"

      Hmm ...

  18. Re:Not a good estimate by kundziad · · Score: 1

    2011-03-14. Do you really not understand it?

  19. Pi-baking time! by adosch · · Score: 1

    I'm going to get my '3.14' on and bake myself something in a circular tin. Maybe pumpkin or apple! (it gives me a good excuse to, anyways)

    1. Re:Pi-baking time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pie R Square?
      NO
      Pie R Round.

  20. You insensitive clod by masterpiga · · Score: 2

    We wait for it every year, yet it never comes. That's true love.

    1. Re:You insensitive clod by somersault · · Score: 1

      Seems more like a true waste of your life.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    2. Re:You insensitive clod by masterpiga · · Score: 1

      Well, while waiting I try to keep productive by writing groundbreaking and truth revealing comments here on /.

    3. Re:You insensitive clod by somersault · · Score: 2

      Seems a lot of us are in true love.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    4. Re:You insensitive clod by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Sounds like a pretty good description of "love" to me.

    5. Re:You insensitive clod by somersault · · Score: 1

      Depends if it's reciprocal.

      --
      which is totally what she said
  21. Re:Americans... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We write it the same way we say it.

    March 14th becomes 3-14. I agree that it makes little numerical sense, but the whole numbered month transition is fairly arbitrary anyway, and computers are already so much better at ordering than humans that who cares if it's a little harder for the computer to order.

  22. Re:Americans... by Bake · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wouldn't hold my breath for 31st of April.

  23. less interesting note: by jdwoods · · Score: 1

    also albert einstein's birthday

    March 14, 1879

    And mine, except four score later. :)

    --
    -- Jeff Woods
  24. Re:Americans... by ari_j · · Score: 1

    It comes from saying "March 14, 2011" in formal writing and oral communication. 3/14/11 is an informal abbreviation of that, and is in that order because it comports with how the formal, unabbreviated version is written. In other words, the purpose for which dates were abbreviated results in the manner in which they were abbreviated. Computerized sorting by date was not a consideration when this date format came into standard use.

    I don't know why we say "March 14, 2011" instead of "14 March, 2011", but as a native speaker of American English it does feel much more natural to say the former. There is probably a history behind that but it, too, had no reason to take into consideration computerized sorting.

  25. Significant Other by Mirey · · Score: 1

    Although Pi day is great and all, I prefer the "Steak and bj" aspect of 14/3 more.

  26. Re:Americans... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod parent up!

  27. Dates by rossdee · · Score: 1

    Except that 'the world over doesnt use mm/dd/yy

    in Commonwealth countries we use dd/mm/yy
    in europe they use yyyy/mm/dd

    Islamic countries use a completely different calendar

    But its less than a week until Naw-Ruz (persian new year
    At sunset on 20th March all 'The Friends' can stop fasting

    Don't forget to 'wear the green' on the 17th for St Pats day

    And it would be cute to 'wear purple' tomorrow (15th) to signify that
    "the Ides of March have come'
    'Aye Caesar, but not gone'

    1. Re:Dates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in europe we use dd/mm/yy as well

      yyyy/mm/dd is mostly used in computers to help ordering files

    2. Re:Dates by balbord · · Score: 1

      I'm in yourope.
      I don't use yyyy/mm/dd. Nobody does. Unless in SQL.

      --
      "If I have been able to see so far, It is because I went out and bought a damn binoculars" - Ze da Esquina
    3. Re:Dates by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      We, in NL, use DD/MM/YYYY.

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  28. Einstein's birthday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's also Einstein's birthday.

  29. Drink for the occasion by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 1

    Have a pair of "Tripel 9" beers and call it a Feynman Point special! http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/BrewFerm_Triple_9_ltr_Beer_Kit.html

  30. Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by HizookRobotics · · Score: 5, Informative

    I too was once an ardent pi supporter. However, I have seen the light... let us eliminate spurious factors of two everywhere and embrace a more reasonable transcendental number: tau

    1. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by milbournosphere · · Score: 2

      In other words...you liked pi before it was mainstream. :) I understand.

    2. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rate parent up. His link is actually informative and correct. Recommend people to read it!

      Pi is wrong!

    3. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Happy tau/2 day!

    4. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by Tetsujin · · Score: 1

      ...tau/2 * r^2?

      --
      Bow-ties are cool.
    5. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by leonbloy · · Score: 1

      I too was once an ardent pi supporter. However, I have seen the light... let us eliminate spurious factors of two everywhere and embrace a more reasonable transcendental number: tau

      Agree. Pi es definitely overrated.

    6. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by JimR · · Score: 1

      But then the volume of a pizza of thickness 'a' and radius 'z' wouldn't be 'pi z z a' it would be 'tau z z a / 2'.

      --
      #exclude <ms/windows.h>
    7. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      It's explained in there. The area of a circle formula actually has a 1/2 in it because it's based on the area of a triangle. We just don't see it because it gets cancelled out by 2*pi. It's plausible that someone designed the math around this equation, since it's the most obvious and common use of pi in basic geometry, but that doesn't make it any less wrong from a global perspective: out of all the times any mathematician has ever written pi, it has more frequently had a 2 in front of it than not.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    8. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by Sebastian+Jansson · · Score: 1

      I read that a while ago and I thought i made a lot of sense. And the really good part is: It's backwards compatible. just write, at the top of each calculation def: tau = 2*pi

      So of course I then started doing my math with tau instead of pi. Turns out we actually tend to have pi without a factor of two quite a lot. In my case it was the fact that -1 = e^(i*pi) that made everything messy.

      Suddenly I got a lot of fractions where I beforehand had none. And really, fractions are way more messy than multiplications. I prefer having a lot of 2*pi than even a few extra tau/2.

      If anything, it might be a good idea to have the constant be for a quarter of a circle rather than a half. That would probably simplify complex calculations a lot. Since 1, i, -1, -i could all be described in polar notation without any fractions.

      TL;DR: Tau is better in theory. Pi is simpler in practice. A constant for Pi/2 might be a good idea.

    9. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      e^(i*tau) = 1

      That's not messy at all. It's only messy it you replace pi with tau/2 everywhere without simplifying. Once you get used to the simplified equations, things make much more sense. And the article also explains e^(i*tau) + 0 = 1 makes more sense too.

    10. Re:Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correction: e^(i*tau) = 1 + 0

  31. pi is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no really.

    http://tauday.com/

  32. Re:Americans... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's only a month and a half away, isn't it? ;)

  33. Ultimate Pi Moment by Chas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Waiting for 3/14/15 at 9:26 AM.

    Just before it flips to 9:27 we'll have an ultimate Pi moment.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:Ultimate Pi Moment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Until then and after that, you can celebrate at 1:59:26.535 every 3/14

    2. Re:Ultimate Pi Moment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An even better one would have been a few hundred years ago. 3/14/1592 at 6:53:58 A.M.

  34. Only in America by mlush · · Score: 1

    Over here is a rather dull 14/3/2011 FX: Google Google Google

    Ah!! 143 = I love you Further proof there are No dull numbers

  35. Wait until 2015 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is there going to be any special celebration in 2015 when instead of being just any old 3/14, it's 3/14/15?

  36. digits of pi by DougMackensie · · Score: 1

    from @neiltyson: http://twitter.com/#!/neiltyson/status/47289370788638722

    "Sixty-four decimal places of Pi gets the observable universe's circumference down to a sextillionth the size of a proton."

  37. A Special Mention for Indiana by richg74 · · Score: 1

    Pi day always reminds me of one of my favorite examples of legislative lunacy, the almost-successful attempt by the Indiana state legislature to set the value(s) of Pi by statute. The story, from Cecil Adams's "The Straight Dope" I particularly liked Prof. Waldo's response, when he was invited to meet the originator of this bill.

  38. Only if you arbitrarily assign significance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only if you arbitrarily assign significance to numbers. Actually, Pi day should be on July 2 because that's the date that we're pi radians around the sun, assuming that we start on January 1 at 0*pi radians. Today is actually, like, 0.3945*pi day.

  39. Re:Not a good estimate by rednip · · Score: 1

    I'm not the AC, but it's a Diophantine approximation of pi
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_that_22/7_exceeds_%CF%80

    --
    The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
  40. Kate Bush had some thoughts on this by swordgeek · · Score: 1
    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  41. You can celebrate two Pi days per year... by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

    By varying the notation.

    3/14

    31.4.

    1. Re:You can celebrate two Pi days per year... by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

      (Okay, so the second one would require a slight redefinition in the calendar.)

  42. The pi is a lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It will be a cold day in hell before I recognize Pi-Day:

    http://halftauday.com/

  43. To the Ivy League engineers out there by AdmiralXyz · · Score: 1

    Happy Rejected-from-MIT Day!

    --
    Dislike the Electoral College? Lobby your state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
  44. XXVI by Chickan · · Score: 1

    Being as I was allowed to escape my mothers womb on one such Pi day many years ago, I applaud those celebrating it. I will be eating Peanut Butter Pie this year in celebration!

  45. the whole concept is irrational by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    pi day bah

  46. We should celebrate Tau day instead by ndogg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We should free ourselves of the tyranny of Pi, and celebrate Tau.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG7vhMMXagQ

    --
    // file: mice.h
    #include "frickin_lasers.h"
    1. Re:We should celebrate Tau day instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You hipsters are just never satisfied.

  47. Re:Americans... by Bigbutt · · Score: 1

    Efficiency.

    "Hey Bob, what's today?"

    "It's the 14th of March"

    vs

    "It's March 14th"

    There are two fewer words to say :)

    [John]

    --
    Shit better not happen!
  48. Re:Not a good estimate by gfreeman · · Score: 1

    Ah, so 3-14 is -11, yes?

    --
    Ceci n'est pas un sig.
  49. Not 3/14 for everyone! by joaommp · · Score: 1, Informative

    Here day comes before month. It's 14/3 you insensitive clod!

    1. Re:Not 3/14 for everyone! by Abstrackt · · Score: 1

      In that case, happy approximately 4.667 day!

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    2. Re:Not 3/14 for everyone! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess that makes today American Pi.

  50. Re:Americans... by ledow · · Score: 1

    I say it's twenty past three. Doesn't mean I write 20:3pm. It's not an explanation of why, it's just a statement of fact that you do.

  51. Re:Americans... by Chapter80 · · Score: 1

    You don't support your sorting argument very well, when you mention 22/7.

    Taking a string and reversing it and then sorting it will not achieve your desired sort order (i.e. taking strings holding dates such as "22/7/2011" or "22/7"). "22/7/2011" in reverse is "1102/7/22". "30/12/2009" in reverse is "9002/21/03". So all the dates from 2009 will be after all the year 2011 dates. Years will be all confused. Ten's place of day-of-month is to the left of the one's place. There are so many issues with this, you can't be a competent programmer, if you'd suggest this.

    Even if you meant that you reverse the order of the three major components like this for February 12, 2011 -> 12/2/2011 -> 2011/2/12, a string sort won't cut it. Because "2011/2/23" is greater than "2011/12/23". It was you who left the leading zero off your example.

    And if you aren't using strings, but are using date types, then really you have nothing to complain about. Date type sorting works just fine for American formats.

    This message is intentionally silly because your critique of all Americans is silly. Sorting is just fine. We have no issue with it.

    We say "March 14th", which is abbreviated 3/14. Simple. Infinitely better than your suggestion.

  52. Here in Europe, it's on a different day by bradley13 · · Score: 1

    Since we write Day-Month-Year, I am personally looking forward to 31.4.15...

    --
    Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
    1. Re:Here in Europe, it's on a different day by andi75 · · Score: 1

      That would be nice, except for the annoying fact that April only has 30 days...

    2. Re:Here in Europe, it's on a different day by Tetsujin · · Score: 1

      That would be nice, except for the annoying fact that April only has 30 days...

      Maybe they're expecting the months to be renumbered sometime in the next four years?

      --
      Bow-ties are cool.
    3. Re:Here in Europe, it's on a different day by balbord · · Score: 1

      31 days in April is just plain irrational.

      --
      "If I have been able to see so far, It is because I went out and bought a damn binoculars" - Ze da Esquina
  53. Pi Day carols! by RevWaldo · · Score: 1
    1. Re:Pi Day carols! by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Kate Bush - Pi [youtube.com] (short version)

      So there's a full version, with all the digits?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  54. 31st April by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    Not in the real world it's not.

    Oh come on - in the real world we celebrate pi day on the 31st April ;-)

    1. Re:31st April by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      I was thinking the 22nd of July would be the most fitting...

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  55. pi is 3.14 not 3/14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not 3/14, that's approximately 0.22, which of course is not pi! It's 3.14 which more accurately represents pi in a mathematical as well as temporal way.

  56. I actually got the day off by denn1s · · Score: 1

    For random reasons, heh...

    1. Re:I actually got the day off by barrtender · · Score: 1

      You should have said "for reasons I can't rationalize".

  57. Wrong day! by Shompol · · Score: 1, Insightful

    22/7 should be the Pi day!

  58. oh my god, a pron actress bio on wikipedia by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    i used to look up pron actresses on wikipedia all the time, then at some point a few years ago, they just stop showing up

    that's the real reason wikipedia deletionists suck

    hey arrogant wikipedia adequacy trolls: give me back my Lily Thai page

    assholes

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:oh my god, a pron actress bio on wikipedia by mangu · · Score: 1

      i used to look up pron actresses on wikipedia all the time, then at some point a few years ago, they just stop showing up

      If you want samples of their work, rather than boring biographic data, you should check http://pinkpornstars.com/

  59. How dare you by frenchbedroom · · Score: 1, Funny

    My date format is DD/MM/YYYY, you insensitive clod !

    1. Re:How dare you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well that was stupid of you. Do you follow a poorly conceived format for anything else?

      Why not SS:MM:HH for time while you're at it??

    2. Re:How dare you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then today is nothing special for you. Don't you think you could change your format for one day to join in the festivities? We have beer...

    3. Re:How dare you by marjancek · · Score: 1

      My date format is DD/MM/YYYY, you insensitive clod !

      You wait until April 31st: 31/4.

      Oh, wait...

  60. 2/16/16 by Tetsujin · · Score: 1

    I think you mean 3/14/16. The next digit is a nine, so you round up.

    And now the real tricky question... If you didn't round up or down, when would you celebrate pi day? 2/16/16? (0.9265 years after 3/14/15?)

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.
  61. MY date format is ISO 8601 by alispguru · · Score: 1

    YYYY-MM-DD. More here.

    --

    To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
  62. Transcendental Day sales by Tetsujin · · Score: 1

    In most states, there are no longer separate holidays for pi and e but rather a combined "Transcendentals Day".

    "Come on down, our prices for this one day event are just irrational".

    You know the deals on Transcendentals Day can be really great - but in practice most people just get drawn into a seemingly endless process of haggling over smaller and smaller price increments...

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.
  63. wrong again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, no, no, stupid Americans. Its the fourteenth day of the third month, the year of our lord 2011.

    Thusly... we are on 14/3/11.

    Not pi day.

  64. I know pi to a thousand places! by Tetsujin · · Score: 1

    How about "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive?
    "Turn Turn Turn" by the Byrds?
    "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash?

    Or, since pi day is a day when we should be celebrating irrationality...

    "Dare to be Stupid" by Weird Al Yankovic!

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.
  65. What about 7/22? by whoami-ky · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't PI day (in the US) really be 7/22 (July 22nd)?

    --
    See my blog at Who's Who
  66. Pi is wrong by marjancek · · Score: 1

    Great math video by Vi Hart, on why Pi is basically wrong.

    Enjoy:
    http://vihart.com/blog/pi-is-still-wrong/

  67. Down with Pi, long live Tau. Also, pie ! by mxs · · Score: 1

    Vi Hart : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG7vhMMXagQ

    There's tau, pie, and pi in that video. In order of importance.

  68. Geek Freak Weekend in Princeton by MrAtoz · · Score: 1

    To celebrate Pi Day and Einstein's birthday, Princeton has a "Geek Freak Weekend", including a pi recitation competition. The winner could recite it out to 1371 digits.

  69. 3.14... by rvr · · Score: 1

    3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128 4811174502 8410270193 8521105559 6446229489 5493038196 4428810975 6659334461 2847564823 3786783165 2712019091 4564856692 3460348610 4543266482 1339360726 0249141273 7245870066 0631558817 4881520920 9628292540 9171536436 7892590360 0113305305 4882046652 1384146951 9415116094 3305727036 5759591953 0921861173 8193261179 3105118548 0744623799 6274956735 1885752724 8912279381 8301194912 9833673362 4406566430 8602139494 6395224737 1907021798 6094370277 0539217176 2931767523 8467481846 7669405132 0005681271 4526356082 7785771342 7577896091 7363717872 1468440901 2249534301 4654958537 1050792279 6892589235 4201995611 2129021960 8640344181 5981362977 4771309960 5187072113 4999999837 2978049951 0597317328 1609631859 5024459455 3469083026 4252230825 3344685035 2619311881 7101000313 7838752886 5875332083 8142061717 7669147303 5982534904 2875546873 1159562863 8823537875 9375195778 1857780532 1712268066 1300192787 6611195909 2164201989

    1. Re:3.14... by JustNiz · · Score: 1

      Dammit my pocket calculator doesn't have a space key.

  70. PI? Yes, I want a piece (Blueberry is superb, sin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PI? Yes, I want a piece (Blueberry is superb, since you wonder)/

    (Yes = 3) ("," = .) (I = 1) (want = 4)(a = 1)(piece =5)(Blueberry =9)(is = 2)(superb=6)(since=5)(you=3)(wonder=6)

    That said, my wife just baked a chicken pot pi for out son's math class, since they are celebrating the day today.

      -

  71. Re:Americans... by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    ...and is also a perfect example of the quality of grammar taught at American schools.

  72. The Annual Flame War by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 1

    I propose that we move the annual flame war over date formats to the first week of January each year. It makes more sense coming right after New Year's Day. In addition to date format, we can devote a day to vi vs. emacs, windows vs. linux vs. apple os, etc. As for Pi Day, we will be celebrating in our office with apple, cherry, blackberry, and lemon pies.

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    Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
  73. Mod parent up. by BitterOak · · Score: 1

    Even CNN is acknowledging this idea. Personally, I do think 2*pi is a more fundamental constant than pi, but I don't like the idea of devoting another letter of the Greek alphabet to it. Tau is used for too many other things (time constants, temperature in "natural units" (absolute temp * Boltzmann's constant), and several other things). Perhaps there should be a new symbol introduced for this quantity, and then we can eventually phase out pi, freeing up another letter of the alphabet for other purposes.

    --
    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    1. Re:Mod parent up. by snowgirl · · Score: 1

      And "e" is not just the Euler constant, but also the charge of an electron... what's your point?

      --
      WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
    2. Re:Mod parent up. by BitterOak · · Score: 1

      And "e" is not just the Euler constant, but also the charge of an electron... what's your point?

      I think you've just helped to make my point. The alphabet is crowded enough already.

      In fact, I've actually read a text book that said the symbol e means both the electron charge and Euler's constant, and unfortunately both appear in formulas. Therefore, if you see e with a real or complex exponent, it is understood to be Euler's constant, but if you see e with an integer exponent, you should assume it's the electron charge! I think this example illustrates why we should try to avoid choosing letters which can cause this type of confusion.

      Tau is a particularly bad choice, since both time constants and natural temperatures frequently appear in the argument to the exponential function, and so does 2pi, a fact which would lead to great confusion if the symbol tau were used for 2pi. Imagine a formula like e^i tau tau, where the two taus meant different things!

      I do agree with the basic premise of the paper, I just don't agree with the choice of the letter tau.

      --
      If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
    3. Re:Mod parent up. by snowgirl · · Score: 1

      The Tau Manifesto talks about this, the book "Pi is Wrong!" actually presents a three legged pi symbol for the circle constant, and a reading of "one turn" or "turn" to it. I would type the symbol here on slashdot, except that there is no way to type it, because it's entirely unique.

      So, thus the problem of introducing a new symbol: adding support is highly unlikely.

      --
      WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
    4. Re:Mod parent up. by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      I'd like to invent a few new Greek letters. How about zu, fhi, eepsilon, cramda, umega, and ita? Also:

      yumicron, used as a basic unit of tastiness for foods and drinks

      deta, used for measuring--what else?--data storage. It can replace bits and bytes. Terabytes are the last pronounceable and understandable of the bye units (with possible Seinfeld exceptions for yotta-yotta-yottabytes). We need a new macro unit of measure so we can start over. It's perfectly acceptable that this is a homophone for "data" because we've made it this far with "bytes."

    5. Re:Mod parent up. by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      Damn it, forgot to include: bifur, bofur, bombur, oin, gloin, and bilbo. Tolkien characters would make for great constant names.

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  78. The humor challenged by bradley13 · · Score: 1

    I knew I should have put a humor tag on that. Yes, folks, I know April only has 30 days. Don't you find it appropriate to celebrate an irrational number on a nonexistent day?

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    Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
  79. Re:Only in USA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    USA != America

  80. 300 by kamakiri · · Score: 1

    I think we should agree to stop at 314 comments, as a mark of respect.

  81. Re:Only in USA! by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

    USA != America

    "Only in America" was a quotation. It has been used many times in movies, musicals and song lyrics. I was inspired by a particular reading from a Latino actress, but I can't remember which movie it was from.

  82. Pi Day? by Trogre · · Score: 1

    It's the 31st of April already?

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  83. AGH! 17 Extra posters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There were 314 posts 314 posts baby and 17 more came along and now were are at the end of March!