Happy Pi Day

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Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday March 14, 2011 @02:18AM from the inevitable-number-patterns dept.

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.

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Happy Pi Day Everyone... by Haedrian · 2011-03-14 02:21 · Score: 3, Funny

And here's a festive image I created for the occasion
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5665/28362805.jpg
Is it Twelvember yet? by mangu · 2011-03-14 02:22 · 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 bigstrat2003 · 2011-03-14 02:31 · 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
2. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by hduff · 2011-03-14 02:49 · 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
3. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by dkleinsc · 2011-03-14 03:07 · 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/
4. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by AntmanGX · 2011-03-14 03:14 · 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.
5. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by msauve · 2011-03-14 03:18 · 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
6. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by gfreeman · 2011-03-14 03:20 · 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.
7. Re:Is it Twelvember yet? by Kozz · 2011-03-14 03:26 · 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.
And just as important. by barfcat · 2011-03-14 02:23 · 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 ArsenneLupin · 2011-03-14 03:46 · 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!
Re:Tacoooo by Quiet_Desperation · 2011-03-14 02:23 · Score: 4, Funny

The cake is a pi.
Almost there... by nate+nice · 2011-03-14 02:24 · 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 · 2011-03-14 02:26 · 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 · 2011-03-14 02:27 · Score: 2
  
  Unfortunately, it's really 2015-3-14. If prefere e day: 2718-2-8
interesting note: by circletimessquare · 2011-03-14 02:26 · 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 · 2011-03-14 02:39 · 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 rubycodez · 2011-03-14 03:06 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  you're on the wrong forum, this is slashdot.
  
  for slashdotters they have black day
Re:Actually it is 14/3 by houstonbofh · 2011-03-14 02:27 · 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.
Only in America! by Gadget_Guy · 2011-03-14 02:27 · 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 DeadboltX · 2011-03-14 05:30 · 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.
belt tightening in the USA by Anonymous Coward · 2011-03-14 02:28 · 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".
Re:3/14?? by qmaqdk · 2011-03-14 02:30 · Score: 2

No, that's Approximate Pi day.

--
My UID is prime. Hah!
You insensitive clod by masterpiga · 2011-03-14 02:34 · Score: 2

We wait for it every year, yet it never comes. That's true love.
1. Re:You insensitive clod by somersault · 2011-03-14 03:26 · Score: 2
  
  Seems a lot of us are in true love.
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Eevee · 2011-03-14 02:36 · Score: 3, Insightful

According to ISO 8601, today is 2011-03-14.
Re:Americans... by Bake · 2011-03-14 02:40 · Score: 3, Informative

I wouldn't hold my breath for 31st of April.
Re:Tacoooo by Sique · 2011-03-14 02:51 · 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*
Tau instead of Pi... Wait a few months by HizookRobotics · 2011-03-14 02:55 · 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 · 2011-03-14 03:43 · Score: 2
  
  In other words...you liked pi before it was mainstream. :) I understand.
Re:Steak and BJ Day by hduff · 2011-03-14 03:00 · 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
Re:No it's not. by somersault · 2011-03-14 03:03 · Score: 2

2011-03-14
FTFY

--
which is totally what she said
Ultimate Pi Moment by Chas · 2011-03-14 03:04 · 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!!!
Re:Tacoooo by A.+B3ttik · 2011-03-14 03:06 · Score: 2

That's the coolest thing I've ever read.
Re:Tacoooo by msauve · 2011-03-14 03:12 · 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
Re:Pi Day by Brucelet · 2011-03-14 03:20 · Score: 2

Interestingly, it's very difficult to celebrate both holidays.
We should celebrate Tau day instead by ndogg · 2011-03-14 03:23 · 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"
Re:Tacoooo by ehrichweiss · 2011-03-14 03:34 · 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
Re:Tacoooo by jellomizer · 2011-03-14 03:40 · 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.
Re:No it's not. by tomhudson · 2011-03-14 04:21 · 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.
Re:Actually it is 14/3 by Kyont · 2011-03-14 05:03 · 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.