Pi, has always fascinated me. There are so many ways you can explain it, so many ways you can break it down and has a lot of history behind it.

For those who need a memory refresh, Pi is a mathematical constant, an irrational real number. It is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and is approximately equal to 3.14159.

J asked me a trivia question (she had heard over the radio) about Pi on our trip back to her family this weekend. See whether you know the answer to it.

What state in the USA has a law against rounding down the number of Pi to 3?
(Move your mouse over the black blurb to reveal the answer)

Kansas

While I am at it, how many digits of Pi can you remember? I had a friend that could remember Pi to 50 decimal places.
(Move your mouse over the black blurb to reveal Pi to 50 decimal places)

3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510

If only this were true, I’ll be a multi-millionaire, as I have get a couple of these emails daily i.e. of me winning the UK Lottery. I don’t know what the point is for someone sending this. There are no blatant advertisements, no URLs, no images etc. (not that I am asking for it). I can see email spam trying to push products and services down your throat but this is just pointless.

Seriously, if I am to be informed of lottery winnings, it’ll have to be from something either than a free service like charter.net or yahoo.com email. These spammers are definitely lacking some intelligence and common sense. And don’t they know to spell check? … look at the words “noitfy” and “stelings” (in bold) in the email message. As Charlie Brown would say… “Good Grief!”

—–Original Message—–
From: UK INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY [mailto:afrogge@charter.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 1:51 PM
Subject: LUCKY WINNER!!!

Dear Winner,

On behalf of the ukinternational lottery board we are here to noitfy you on your winnings of £118,704 thousand pounds stelings to claim your prize send us these tickets numbers Batch: 19/47/1153,Ref:
UKLOSL/941OYI/53 ,Serial Number: 3422/06,Lucky Numbers:
4-7-10-33-35-49 .

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:
AGENT: Mr. Danny Alvares.
EMAIL: info.dannyalvares02@yahoo.co.uk

Yours Truly,
Mr.Scott Parker

Can you shut down your computer and not touch it for 24 hours? Denis Bystrov and Michael Taylor has come up with an experiment to see how many people can do it. They are naming it The Shutdown Day and it’ll officially be on March 24th. I’ll try, but it’ll be tough.

Wall Street Journal published a 12-step program for the email addict. I am definitely an addict, as the first thing I do everyday is check my email and I feel lost if I don’t.

1. During meals, do not check email.

2. Do not hide your email habits from family members. If you feel that someone would be upset to see you BlackBerrying, it’s a sign that you probably shouldn’t be.

3. Commit to stop emailing while driving (even at red lights), walking across the street or doing anything that requires careful attention.

4. Do not check email for the first hour of the day. In addition to giving you time to leisurely read the newspaper or spend time with your family, the practice will help you shake the tic-like checking ritual.

5. Endeavor to leave the mobile email device in the car or at home when attending any function taking place at your child’s school, or when picking up your child from school.

6. Decide on an email-free block of time. Parents should first assess their child’s conversational patterns — some like to talk about their day immediately after school, others just before bedtime. Even if your child doesn’t seem interested in talking, stick to your promise not to email during that time.

7. Set boundaries at work: Alert your colleagues that your mobile email device will be turned off during the predetermined time slot.

8. Actually turn off your device and stick it in a drawer during the time you’ve designated as email-free.

9. If you are in the middle of a work crisis, still try to respect some boundaries. Consider blocking out a few 15-minute periods to check email — and then turn the device off again. Honestly assess whether the situation at work is an actual crisis that can’t be solved without your oversight.

10. When emailing while socializing or spending time with your family, ask yourself if your priority at that moment is enjoying after-work activities or getting work done. If it is the former, power-down. If it’s the latter, return to the office.

11. Upon arriving home, practice a ritual that helps you mentally separate the work day from the after-work evening. Light a candle, put on music, pour a cocktail. Don’t check your email during this time.

12. If mobile email overuse creates tension between you and your significant other, consider creating jointly agreed-upon BlackBerry-free zones. For instance, unless your bedroom doubles as a home office, consider maintaining it as a sanctuary of your personal life.

Britney is really going a stray… driving in the front seat with her baby without a seatbelt, pantiless, rehab, bald… the list just goes on.

However, I think one can kind of learn a little from Miss Spears i.e. of how NOT to go about your life.

1. Be bold, unique and different but don’t go overboard
Be yourself, and change is good but don’t go crazy with it.

2. Guilty by association
Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton etc. Sometimes you have to keep good company to keep your life in line and be careful who you associate with. If you start hanging around with trash, you start acting like one too.

3. If you want respect, you have to respect yourself first
If you want people to think positive and have a good opinion of you, earn it. It is not handed to you on a platter. No amount of money can buy respect.

4. Always try to better yourself, evolve and improve.
Don’t go backwards and digress. At one time Britney and Christina were head to head… Britney has become a cave woman, Christina has become the swan. Life is about trying to improve yourself and becoming a better person.

5. Take responsibility for your actions.
“Oops! I did it again…” doesn’t cut it.

6. Think about your kids
If you have kids, think about them when you start doing and acting stupid. You are not just harming yourself, it’ll trickle down to your kids eventually.

7. If you are an adult, be mature and act like one.
This is regardless of whether you are famous or a nobody.

8. Modesty is the best policy!

Blockbuster changed their strategy last year in a way that they don’t have due dates for movie rentals anymore. A 2 day movie rental has a 7 days grace to return it (essentially giving you about a week and a half from the time you borrow it), and a 7 day rental thus gives you 14 days. However if you keep it long enough, they have the authority to charge you for the purchase of the DVD.

The poor checkout clerk probably has a hard time trying to explain how the setup works to customers. 2 days actually means 9 days, 7 days actually means 14 days. And didn’t they say there isn’t any due back date anymore? Sounds confusing just talking about it.

In the another case, my father-in-law pointed this out to me about a $50 restaurant gift card he had. If you don’t spend it within 12 months, the card will depreciate after a 6 month grace period by the % of what is stated in the small print and expires after 5 years. So you’ll have 12 months which really means 18 months till it starts depreciating and 60 months till it’s worthless. Confused?

Funny how businesses work, they say something, sell you something but somehow they don’t always say what they mean.

I saw this book at Starbucks and am very tempted to buy it. Just wondering whether anyone has read it and will be interested to hear your thoughts. Ishmael Beah (whom book is based on) will be making his US nationwide book signing tour soon.

A parody of the “I am a PC, and I am a Mac” commercial. Here is a hilarious animated take on Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs… with a happy ending.

This past Valentine’s has been a good and bad one. Good because, J’s school was canceled and we were snowed in, so we spent the day at home together.

Bad because the next day, she came home with lots of Valentine’s gift from her students — nice and yummy chocolates. And the good kind too! If there is glaring weakness in me, it’s that I just can’t turn down chocolates.

I think I can cross off February as the month to lose some weight.

… I have seen almost every accessory for the iPod, a company called Suki comes up with a jaw dropper. Introducing the newest accessory for women who have iPods… the OhMyBod. It’s a portable vibrator that you can plug into your iPod, vibrates according to the rhythm of what you are playing and you can turn the vibes up with your volume.

Great effort with the slogans too:

“A whole new way to plug n’ play”
“Turn in and turn on”
“The ultimate Acsexcory”

Cheezy but catchy! The last one there is a trademark by the way. And the accessories, what great toy doesn’t have the accessories.

This one cracked me up, they actually have a Tips and Tricks section to help you get the most of your accessory. Here are some of the more amusing ones:

“Q: Do certain songs work better than others?
A: Yes. There are some songs that have long pauses or not much in terms of beat or rhythm…but it really depends on your taste in music and what turns you on in terms of vibrations.”

“Can I use OhMiBod in the car?
A: The simple answer is yes - but we don’t recommend it (could be a bit distracting to your driving). But if you are a passenger - we say go for it! Listen to the music through your stereo and play along to make the trip go faster!”

Makes me wonder the next time I see a woman listening to her iPod (real loud) and enjoying herself…

Gives a new meaning to “Sex in the City”. Sorry, couldn’t help that one.

What will they think of next? Never mind, don’t answer that.