Happy Pi Day!

Today, March 14th, is International pi Day. pi being the Greek symbol for the highly irrational number that comes when you divide a circle's circumference by its diameter. It starts with a 3 and a decimal point and then disappears over the horizon.

Pi = 3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 more

Hence the day: 3/14 is how some parts of the world think March 14th is written.

A piece of trivia: if I convert "LEE" to digits, it becomes "120505". This sequence of numbers appears in the string of pi at position 1,733,630 counting from the first digit after the decimal point. The 3. is not counted.

However, doing the same with my full name gets the following response: The string 12050511051414050425 did not occur in the first 200,000,000 digits of pi.

Does that make me unique?

Or just irrational?
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Shedding some light. Maybe.

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I thought I had left this urban myth behind long ago. I first met it in 1983 and re-met it over the weekend.

It goes like this: I don't turn lights off because it uses more power to turn them on and off than they use when on.

Really? I don't think so.

How much more? Lets say 100 times, for the argument. It's generous.

How long does it take to turn a light on? Let's say half a second, for the argument. It's generous.

100 times a half =50. It's generous. Squared.

So if you turn a light off for anything over a minute you will be saving more power than if you left it on. So turn it off, already.

And take that myth and bury it. Somewhere dark.

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But a different question, same topic: It was suggested that the turning on and off of a power-saving fluorescent bulb shortens it's life and that, if you include the cost of the bulb, the economics can favour leaving it on. That complicates the calculation. I still don't like it though.

Anyone know about this?
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The sky's falling! The sky's falling!

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There's water falling from the sky!

Now that blue band is travelling west to east and there is not much beyond it to the west but, hey, it is something!
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Shit-house Poetry

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Poetry in the loo can cut down on paper use too, says a Japanese group campaigning to save toilet paper as part of the country's battle against global warming.

Simply pasting a "toilet poem" at the eye level of a person seated in the cubicle can help cut toilet paper use by up to 20 per cent, a study by the research centre Japan Toilet Labo showed.

"That paper will meet you only for a moment," reads one poem.
"Fold the paper over and over and over again," says another.
Or just: "Love the toilet".

Now the group is looking to have its posters displayed in 1,000 public toilets.

Perhaps J Cosmo could come up with an offering?
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Kangaroo update

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Mother and daughter, relaxing beneath a pistachio nut tree.

The original photo from my blog (Feb 12th, 2007), showing the mother being bottle fed:

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Well, that was different.

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Well, that was different. Headed into central Victoria for a few days away. In a last minute decision, Cosmo came along too. The country side was fairly brown. This is not unexpected at this time of year but the dams and creeks were all dry, too. We came across the tree above and at first glance it just looked like a tree in a paddock.

Then we realised that the shadow was watching us.


It was great to visit the countryside but nice to get back to my own bed too.

More pictures tomorrow.
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Going bush

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Leaving Melbourne for a few day and heading to beautiful downtown Wedderburn, in central Victoria.

Back late Wednesday.

Be good and play nicely.
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Opportunity

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It did knock, I was out the back digging compost into the vegetable garden.
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A weekend off. At home, but off.

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This is the 925th post on A Curate's Egg and my 1,522nd post over all in five blogs.

No wonder I feel knackered!

This morning I was all for chucking it in but I am feeling a little less impulsive this afternoon. I must apologise to folk as I have not been particularly diligent in travelling around the commenting traps of the blogs in my Reader (358 unread posts waiting for me.).

It is interesting blogging but at times I feel that I am starting to repeat myself, having flogged my hobby horses numerous times. Speaking of which, the above figures don't include the now defunct Chemist's Cookbook, a blog about food from a chemist's point of view.

However, I shall persevere, as long as people keep coming back to read!

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Just an update on the ads. I have been looking at the figures and this is how it pans out:

◊ Roughly one person out of every 250 visitors clicks on an ad. (0.38%)

◊ Most of these people have come because of Boneman's fine efforts at propelling The Curate After Dark blog into the international limelight.

◊ Limelight fades.

◊ The ads have brought in 69¢ a day, roughly one good coffee a week. Boneman, I owe you!

◊ There is no retirement plan there but they add an element of interest.
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Bits. No pieces.

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Why do we have pieces when bits will do? I mean the English language is littered with double ups. Bits AND pieces. What is the difference between a bit and a piece?

Between a spick and a speck?

Between a bit and a bob?

Between a this and a that?

Between an odd and an end?

Between a flotsam and a jetsam? Well, I sort of know that one but it has become a double act anyway.

I wont go on, you get the idea.

And we are not the only ones: the French gave us bric-a-brac.
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It's raining! OK, it's not pouring but it is raining!

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OK, so it is not much and will pass over us in about 20min (the weather moves past left to right) but at least the place has that lovely rain smell.

Now, I'm off to bed with the hope we will get more over night.

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Flexible working hours!

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Well, they are taking the recession with the seriousness it deserves!
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Just when you thought it was safe...

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The first screen of a mass distributed Police SMS message this afternoon warning of high winds tonight leading into a hot and extremely windy day tomorrow and Wednesday.

Ugh! Fingers crossed.

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Sorry, enthusiasm has not been high on posting of late.
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Well, so much for summer. Now...a wet autumn?

The above graphic represents our rainfall so far this year, as a slice of the average rainfall for the same period.

The little green wedge is 3.8mm, the lowest Jan+Feb on record. The previous lowest figure was three times higher, 11.3mm, in 1893.

Now, for some reason Australia ignores the solstices for its seasons. Summer is Dec-Jan-Feb, so we are officially in autumn (fall) now. Let's hope it is a wet one. The novelty of watering the garden in the wee small hours is wearing a tad thin.
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Nuclear attack on Adelaide?

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In the forelorn hope of finding rain clouds on the horizon, I checked the Weather Bureau's radar site this morning. (More of that later) Above is what I saw.

What the?

What on earth is happening in Adelaide?

I went to the Adelaide radar and the picture is no better:

Have the Martian's finally arrived?

The Kallathumpians bombed the place?

An enormous circular rainstorm, heavier at the edges than the middle?

Need a new valve in their radar?

It's a mystery!
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