when come back, bring π
It's here! It's here! The day we all wait all year for has finally arrived!
It's π day!
I'm celebrating the occasion by taking myself on a special geek date to Wizard World down at the convention center. It's even cool enough outside for me to wear my π hoodie on the train.
There is going to be so much geeking out today, I can't even stand it.
Please to be enjoying this classic WWdN post from 2004:
This morning over breakfast, I said to my wife, "Happy π day!"
"Happy pie day? What the hell are you talking about?"
"No, not 'pie'," I said. "'π'."
"Not 'pie,' but 'pie.'" She was clearly not amused. "Isn't it a little early to be drinking?"
"Anne, look at the date on the calendar."
"Yes it's march 14th, and you're going to watch WrestleMania dos equis* with your brother." She frowned. "Are you trying to tell me that you're taking a pie to Jeremy's house? Because if you expect me to make you a pie . . ."
"No, I don't expect you to make me a pie." I said, well into that area where you've explained the joke so much, it's never going to be funny.
"Today is March fourteenth. That makes it 3.14 on the calendar. 3.14 is also known as π."
She blinked a few times.
"Oh. It's π day."
"Yes!" I said. "And at 1:59 pm, it will be even more π day. Isn't that cool!?"
She took a long, thoughtful drink from her coffee mug, carefully set it down and said, "You are such a nerd."
Happy π Day, my fellow geeks.
And a happy Pie Day to you Wil! (I can't remember the darn key on my keyboard for the symbol. I fail at geek.)
My best friend, who is a brilliant scientist, dropped the ball and forgot the bring a pie to his lab today for him and the other scientists to enjoy.
Seriously, when you can't trust a scientist to celebrate Pie Day who can you trust?
Posted by: ShadowTracer | March 14, 2008 at 09:57 AM
If you're feeling day-monthy, you can also celebrate π Day on July 22, aka 22/7.
Posted by: Andrew | March 14, 2008 at 09:59 AM
I knew I shared my birthday (today) with Albert Einstein and I thought that wes pretty cool, but n day! Awsome!
Posted by: John M | March 14, 2008 at 10:02 AM
For all you windoze people out there, hold the Alt key down they use your numpad on the keyboard to type 227 (of course!).
For Macs, you can often find special characters in the Edit menu. Choose greek and find the sixteenth character in the lower case series.
Posted by: gmknobl | March 14, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Speaking of nerdy days...Have you heard of Yuri's Night? As they put it,"Yuri's Night is like the St Patricks Day or Cinco de Mayo for space!" http://www.yurisnight.net/2008/
Posted by: Mr.Fusion | March 14, 2008 at 10:12 AM
mediaChick said I should tell you about Yuri's Night :-)
Posted by: Mr.Fusion | March 14, 2008 at 10:14 AM
You're awesome, Wheaton.
Posted by: casbar | March 14, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Aw, poo. Here in the UK, it's only 14.3 day. o_O
Posted by: londonali1010 | March 14, 2008 at 10:40 AM
I want pie, but I'm british as well.
And I don't have any pie in my house either . .
Posted by: Ian Coomber | March 14, 2008 at 10:50 AM
On a mac, π is option(i.e. alt)+p
Mmmm...π.
Posted by: itchymax | March 14, 2008 at 10:54 AM
It didn't occur to me until this year that Pi Day and Steak and a BJ Day were on the same date.
Posted by: Max | March 14, 2008 at 11:00 AM
The Exploratorium in San Francisco is celebrating their 20th Annual Pi Day with lots of fun/nerd activities. Yay science! And at the Exploratorium-soooo cool.
Posted by: Meg | March 14, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Today may be π day, but EVERY day is pie day.
(weebl & bob rule, ok)
Posted by: head.fairy | March 14, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Happy pi day to you too Wil. I will raise my glass at 1:59 PM. I would like to go to WW today but I'll settle for tomorrow when Summer Glau is there. If you get a chance, be sure to check out my friend Dominic Vivona's booth. He is working on a new book called Gunplay that looks pretty cool.
Posted by: brendoman | March 14, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Happy Pi Day!! :)
Posted by: angie k | March 14, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Happy Pi Day! Incidentally, my godson rules:
http://www.wiremonkeymother.org/?p=515
Posted by: MatildaZQ | March 14, 2008 at 12:03 PM
It's Friday Piday.
Rhyming is fun!
Posted by: Squirrelgnome | March 14, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Andrew, July 22 is internet day.
Because 7/22 is Pi reversed -- or IP -- which as everyone knows stands for "internet protocol".
At least that what it was in the ARG "The Beast".
Posted by: Alan | March 14, 2008 at 12:14 PM
We were discussing this last night at a technical writers meeting, when my friend Carrie said "How I wish I could calculate pi" - then pointed out that the if you write down the number of letters in each word of that sentence, they give you the first few digits of pi. We then got into a discussion of how many digits you really need. Our techie selves thought maybe 4, our writer selves decided "none".
Anyway, Happy pi day to everyone!
Posted by: bphuettner | March 14, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Apple Pi day everyone.
How did you celebrate it, Wil? Did you eat a pie at Jeremy's?
Posted by: Gaerin | March 14, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Sweet π day
I work at a paper in Florida and I just got free tickets to tomorrow's Dodgers vs. Nationals game.
Wil, if you ever make it down to Central FL, I'll get you Dodger tickets too.
Posted by: anjacara | March 14, 2008 at 01:03 PM
the mathematicians at the office threw us a pi party. i had blueberry.
pi party music: (warning - it sticks)
http://pi.ytmnd.com
Posted by: ennKay | March 14, 2008 at 01:19 PM
That really is addictive, ennKay. And probably the only way I'd ever remember Pi past the seventh digit.
Happy Pi Day, everyone!
Posted by: Mystral721 | March 14, 2008 at 01:30 PM
Alt 227 results in Ò on my stupid work keyboard...
Happy McPi day anyway! ♥
Posted by: kristinalead | March 14, 2008 at 01:35 PM
Wil. I was just wondering. Following your post back in December, have you had a chance to take a look at any more Doctor Who? I recently bought Planet of Evil from 1975. Still stands up today.
When you do sample some more stories it will be great to read you blog about it.
Posted by: Julian | March 14, 2008 at 01:40 PM