Why?

A high school student Tuesday recited 8,784 digits of Pi — the non-repeating and non-terminating decimal — likely placing him among the top Pi-reciters in the world.
Gaurav Rajav, 15, had hoped to recite 10,790 digits and set a new record in the United States and North America. But he remembered enough to potentially place third in national and North American Pi recitation and 12th in the world.
. . .
Gaurav began memorizing Pi while a student in Gooding’s class. Gooding holds the competition every year, and said she expected students to learn about 40 digits. Gaurav recited nearly 2,990 the first time.

Whew, close call–but the North American Pi record survives for another day.
If there’s a practical application we need to instill in the youth of America, it’s a full knowledge of pi. Just the other day, I was cycling through a remote area of eastern Roane County and my mind happened upon a geometric problem. I had the radius of a circle and needed to calculate the circumference. My brain went into meltdown mode, and for the life of me I couldn’t come up with the seventh and eighth digits of pi. I came to a house and stopped to ask if the residents knew, but no one was home. So there I stood like an idiot, banging my head against a tree trying to remember it was 3.1415926. Duh.
Parents, don’t let this nightmare happen to your kids. Make sure they memorize at least 40 digits of pi. If you really love them, I’d shoot for 100, just to be safe.

Can a deaf person tell when a train is approaching? At first glance, I’m inclined to think he or she might be able to sense it: either the ground rumbling, or the vibrations of the sound waves, or something. But tragically, at least in this case, the answer appears to be no, as an 18-year old was struck and killed along the tracks near Austin, Texas.
One has to wonder why an at-risk pedestrian was walking within one foot of the tracks. In general, the “shoulders” on the tracks are pretty wide.

Doesn’t cut it in South Korea:

South Korea’s prime minister offered his resignation and an apology Tuesday for playing golf while a national rail strike disrupted his country.
Lee Hae-chan’s resignation was accepted by the country’s president, Roh Moo-hyun, who had just returned from a trip to Africa.
Lee had been under fire from opposition parties and the public for hitting the links on March 1, which was the first day of a countrywide walkout by railway workers.

Hmmm. A national leader being forced to resign for being “out to lunch” during a national crisis. Interesting precedent.

Move over, duct tape and plastic wrap:

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is offering a rather specific warning about how to prepare for the disease [bird flu]. He urges Americans to buy extra cans of tuna and powdered milk and stash them under the bed to get ready.
It’s not the first thing you might think of to protect yourself against a potential pandemic.
“Let me acknowledge that no one in the world is prepared for a pandemic,” Leavitt said this weekend at a conference in Wyoming. “When you go to the store and buy three cans of tuna fish, buy a fourth and put it under the bed. When you go to the store to buy some milk, pick up a box of powdered milk. Put it under the bed. When you do that for a period of four to six months, you are going to have a couple of weeks of food, and that’s what we’re talking about.”

Does tuna have special anti-flu properties? Just wondering. I’m not a tuna eater, and if it’s just a matter of having something on hand to eat, I could go for canned something else.
As funny as this story seems, it’s worth noting that at least on the surface, Leavitt seems like one of the more reasonable voices in this administration.

A clash over safety:

The mayor of a New Zealand town wants a nude cycling race to be called off — because the participants won’t be wearing helmets.
John Hurley, mayor of the Tasman District on New Zealand’s South Island, said police would look like “fools” if they allowed the race to go ahead for the third straight year, in spite of the objection of local residents.
. . .
About 100 people are expected to take part in the “clothing optional” race Sunday around Golden Bay on the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island. The race aims to promote safe cycling and alternative energy.
Hurley said police should enforce laws which require all cyclists to wear safety helmets.

So we have a potential showdown between organizers of an event purporting to promote “safe cycling” and authorities who may enforce a safety regulation. What a dilemma.
I think somewhere under the ambit of “safety” is comfort. Simply put, if you’re not comfortable riding a bicycling, you’re more likely to have other problems.
I can’t speak from experience on this one, but I think riding a bicycle without shoes and shorts would get old pretty quickly–like after two minutes. Therefore, safe cycling includes shorts and shoes.
But maybe that’s just me.