On this date in 1879 Albert Einstein was born. I don’t have much more to say about it beyond what I wrote last year, except to note that when I was in high school and struggling to understand his Theory of Relativity, his plain English explanation helped me immensely.
“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”
March 14th, 3.14, is celebrated around the world as Pi Day every year. But this year’s Pi Day is even more significant because this year it is 2015 and the first 5 numbers of pi correspond to the format we sometimes give dates; in this case March 14, 2015 is 3.1415.
Pi is a mathematical constant, defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159, though the actual number is infinitesimal. Here’s how the Dr. Math site describes pi:
Pi is an infinite decimal. Unlike numbers such as 3, 9.876, and 4.5, which have finitely many nonzero numbers to the right of the decimal place, pi has infinitely many numbers to the right of the decimal point.
If you write pi down in decimal form, the numbers to the right of the 0 never repeat in a pattern. Some infinite decimals do have patterns – for instance, the infinite decimal .3333333… has all 3’s to the right of the decimal point, and in the number .123456789123456789123456789… the sequence 123456789 is repeated. However, although many mathematicians have tried to find it, no repeating pattern for pi has been discovered – in fact, in 1768 Johann Lambert proved that there cannot be any such repeating pattern.
As a number that cannot be written as a repeating decimal or a finite decimal (you can never get to the end of it) pi is irrational: it cannot be written as a fraction (the ratio of two integers).
An even more detailed Pi Day T-shirt which includes the next 5 numbers, narrowing it down to the hour, minutes and seconds of the day.
And now my brain is mush because math is NOT my strong suit.
But most of us at least know the basics of pi and that the first three numbers correspond to March 14 (and the first 5 numbers correspond to March 14th THIS year) and even we non-mathematicians can enjoy the fun of this particular mathematical expression.
So, Happy Pi Day! May your day be roundly and irrationally enjoyed.
Six years ago this week I was in Lexington, Kentucky doing recovery work following one of the worst ice storms that the state had ever experienced. I had a day off and decided to visit the nearby Kentucky Horse Park and take some photos. It was cold and wet, even in the middle of March, but the visit was so enjoyable and I was wishing my mom, who was still alive at the time, could have been with me because she loved thoroughbred horses.
This is just one of several good shots I got that day during the show which highlighted the skills of both the horse and their trainer/rider. This young lady was demonstrating how her beautiful equine creature could, from a fairly fast gallop, stop on a dime without throwing the rider or injuring itself.
I spent the past 3 weeks watching the first 2 seasons of House of Cards on Netflix so that I could be ready to watch the 3rd season, which dropped on Friday, February 27th. I watched episodes of the 3rd season late at night for the most part during that week and finished the season at lunch on Friday the 6th.
The first 2 seasons were absolutely awesome! The 3rd season…well not so much.
First, it got off to a slow start. Things don’t really pick up until the 5th episode, which is a bit late when you only have 13 episodes to air in a season.
Second, can I say I almost didn’t recognize Frank and Claire? I don’t mean physically (though at one point Claire does change her hair color and so does Frank, however his change is not by choice but rather the graying that seems inevitable to all sitting presidents), I mean in their behavior. They are almost unrecognizable because they just seem like all politicians we’ve come to observe and not the totally off the wall cretins that we came to know in the first 2 seasons. What happened?
Remy seemed like a watered down version of his old self as well. Are we to believe that the veneer of the White House just made all these people more…human?
Doug. Oh Doug, I didn’t really think you were going to go through with it.
The last episodes of Season 3 did pick up a bit and the last episode, though predictable as far as Frank and Claire were concerned, was pretty good. And when I say predictable, I mean in the sense of predictable when you’re dealing with normal people, which Frank and Claire weren’t in the first two seasons and then became in this third season.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still eagerly await season 4, and beyond if it works out that way, if only to see all these warped and twisted people, especially Frank and Claire, hopefully get the comeuppance they so richly deserve.
And for the record, I hated the bomber jacket on the campaign trail look.
Today’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to March of 2007 when Michael and Stephanie came down from NYC to visit my daughter Ann. Stephanie and Ann have been friends since high school and remained so after Stephanie moved back to the Big Apple and met her future (and now) husband Michael. It was great to see my “other daughter” and I know Ann enjoyed the visit so much.
As a side note; when I was in NJ in 2013 and took the train up to New York City to spend the day with Michael and Stephanie walking around Chinatown and Little italy (which was a LOT of fun for me), Michael was very courteous to me when my old man memory (or lack thereof) made me say “Nice to meet you.” because I didn’t recall our meeting in Orlando when this photo was taken. My face was red, but he was very kind.
I’ve grown and shaved off beards several times in my beard-shaving life. So much so that I wish I had listened to my dad when he tried to tell me that my desire at the age of 12 to shave off the extremely long peach fuzz on my face would result in countless mornings over numerous years of having to shave off the resulting coarser stubble if I wanted to remain clean shaven. He warned me that daily shaving is no fun.
Alas, I did not listen.
For the last 20 years, at least, I have always kept a goatee. I have watched it (and the hair on my head) turn from its original naturally dark blonde to its current naturally light gray. In those ensuing 20 years, I’ve probably only let my full beard grow out 3 or 4 times and have watched it grow out grayer and grayer as well. I usually ended up shaving the beard off because:
But a couple of months ago I decided to let it grow out again. The hell with the gray! I’m an old fart now, so what does it matter?
My father-in-law asked me what I’m trying to hide, but with a face that looks like mine I think it’s obvious, lol.
Now, a problem I’ve always encountered with a beard (and even my constant goatee) is that it itches, feels dry and produces flakes of goatee or beard “dandruff” which is especially aggravating when I’m wearing a dark or black shirt that ends up looking like it has snowed on my chest. I’ve tried using shampoo/conditioner and even just conditioner on my goatee or beard when showering, but the results were often hit or miss.
But the other day I was reading Wil Wheaton’s Tumblr page where he is currently answering questions about virtually anything that involves his life, interests and beliefs. Wil has also been growing out a very impressive beard over the past few months and someone asked him, “Do you use beard oil?”
“Beard oil?”, I thought to myself, “What the hell is beard oil??”
“Yes, I do”, Wil answered, “I use Modern Beard Oil.”
I Googled it, looked it over and thought, “Hmmm, this might be the answer.”
I don’t know WHY I’ve never heard of beard oil before this. In my younger days I probably would have seen something about it in GQ magazine, but I haven’t read that magazine in at least 25 years and can’t recall that I’ve ever actively used their website. It’s never come up in conversation with other men, though I don’t see why it ever would. I guess I’m just a clueless, uninformed, non-fashionable guy.
Here’s the kicker, though. After reading up on beard oil I say to Cindy, “Have you ever heard of beard oil?”
“Oh yeah.”
Wait, what? You’re the one, I’m thinking to myself, who suggested I use conditioner to reduce the flaking effect, but you never mentioned beard oil?
Before I can voice that she says, “Well, I’ve heard of it but I don’t know much about it.”
So I start telling her that this site has these beard oils in different scents and with different oils like jojoba, coconut and tea tree at which point she says, “You know, I have all those same oils that I use in making my candles and fragrance oils, you want to try one of them?”
Um, yeah!
So she brings me a pinewood-scented, jojoba oil based bottle of the stuff and I’ve been using it for about a week and it really seems to be working well. I smell like a forest when I first rub in the 2-3 drops it takes to condition my beard and goatee, but I’ve had less itching and almost no flaking. And I’ve been filling in my abysmal lack of knowledge about beard health by watching The Beard Baron on YouTube.
Now my only remaining question is, “How long do I let this thing grow?”
Saturday, March 14th at 9am will see the annual Moving Day® Orlando event to benefit the Parkinson’s Foundation at Crane’s Roost Park in Altamonte Springs.
The Moving Day® Orlando website offers this description of the event:
Moving Day® is the National Parkinson Foundation Central Florida’s annual fundraising walk/run event. It is a fun and inspiring fundraising event that unites families, friends and communities both large and small in the fight against Parkinson’s disease. This celebration of movement will feature a family friendly walk course, a kids area, a caregivers relaxation tent and a special Movement Pavilion featuring yoga, dance, Tai Chi, Pilates, etc. all proven to help manage the symptoms of PD.
My mother-in-law has Parkinson’s, as did her late father, Charles William Kinney, and it is in his honor that many of our family members will be taking part in the walk. With our matching “Perkins Pack” t-shirts, we’ll all take turns accompanying “Granny” around the course, whether she is running, walking or sitting comfortably while being guided around the course in her stylishly black “Grannymobile” wheelchair.
The Mayo Clinic defines Parkinson’s Disease:
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects your movement. It develops gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. But while a tremor may be the most well-known sign of Parkinson’s disease, the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement.
In the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, your face may show little or no expression or your arms may not swing when you walk. Your speech may become soft or slurred. Parkinson’s disease symptoms worsen as your condition progresses over time.
Although Parkinson’s disease can’t be cured, medications may markedly improve your symptoms. In occasional cases, your doctor may suggest surgery to regulate certain regions of your brain and improve your symptoms.
If you can come out and participate, donate or watch and cheer the participants on during Moving Day® Orlando, it would mean a lot to the Parkinson’s Foundation and to those who are participating.
In Memoriam – Barbara J. Wetherington, July 8, 1934 – February 27, 2010
I miss you every day Mom.
Mom in 2003 at her desk in the Deaf Services Center where she was an interpreter for the deaf.
Cindy shows that the world revolves around her during our visit to Universal Studios in 2006 for this week’s Throwback Thursday.
I don’t know where I got this from, but it makes me laugh every time I see it, because I can just imagine this is how it would be the first time Lois Lane sees Superman’s junk.
