Not To Be Trusted With Knives

For the uninitiated¹, Pi Boxing Day is the day when one traditionally boxes up all the uneaten pie from Pi Day. Except, of course, that you ate all the pie. Which makes Pi Boxing Day the best holiday because it requires absolutely no work. And you are full of pie still.

I told you that I liked to celebrate Pi Day by being irrational.

Image Credit: Posted by slayeh on Flickr.

1. where “uninitiated” = everyone except Kalev and I, who invented Pi Boxing Day last night [↩]

Tags: cats, photos, pi, Pi Boxing Day, Pi Day, pie, pieminister

Many people celebrate Pi Day by eating pie. I prefer to celebrate it by being irrational.
-Dr. Beth

In honour of Pi Day, I have hounded demanded of nicely asked my Official Statistician & Tattoo Consultant for some wise words about pi to share with you, my lovely readers¹  So here, my friends, is some info on the wonder that is pi, from the wonder that is Almost Dr. Dan:

Not only is Pi irrational (i.e., it cannot be expressed as the ration of two integers), it is also transcendental.  That is, it cannot be a zero (or root) of a polynomial equation with integer valued coefficients.  For example, while root 2 is irrational, it is the solution to the following polynomial: x^2=2.

Other interesting Pi tidbits:

Indiana once had a ‘pi bill’ up for legislative discussion.  Turns out an amateur mathematician thought he had proved how to square the circle.  Sadly for him, it had already been shown that this was an impossibility in 1882 by von Lindemann.  Strangely enough, people still to this day try to prove that you can square the circle.  But I digress.  The pi bill indirectly asserted that pi was in fact 3.2.  Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill for full details.

I’ve also heard of other laws (but couldn’t verify the info) that had pi set to 4 (yikes!).

One of my favourite representations for pi is this rather simple looking infinite sum.  It’s credited to Gregory and Leibniz.

As well, in honour of Pi Day, I give you this photo of Dan’s pi tattoo:

1. After all, it is his first anniversary as my Official Statistician & Tattoo Consultant! [↩]

Tags: events, math, Nerdery, pi, Pi Day

Between Monday and Wednesday, I drove ~600 km. I’m actually really looking forward to having a full day in my office tomorrow – sooo much to catch up on!

Also, because it’s now mid-March, I will, like last year, be blaming everything on fiscal year end until the end of the month. Find a typo in my blog posting? It’s because of fiscal year end. Stuck in a traffic jam? Fiscal year end. I would ordinarily include a link to where I talk about this phenomenon last year, but, you know, it’s fiscal year end and all.

Just got this email from an organization that I used to work for with a request to pass it along to anyone would might be interested.  So I thought I’d share it with all y’all in case anyone is looking for a new job:

Are you a people person?

Are you a ‘systems thinker’ with excellent attention to detail?

Are you passionate about science, engineering, and technology?

Did you master Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube long ago?

If so, we invite you to submit your application to become Let’s Talk Science’s:

Coordinator, Online Volunteer Engagement

We are seeking a highly motivated self-starter with excellent knowledge about web technologies and social media for this new, full-time 1 year renewable contract position. As the successful candidate we prefer that you have a graduate degree in science or engineering, and volunteer management experience.  Previous experience with Let’s Talk Science is also an asset as you will better understand the dynamic and exciting environment in which we operate.

As a key member of our volunteer outreach team, and reporting to the President, you will focus on: building and managing an online volunteer engagement program, program administration and data management; implementing our outreach evaluation program; and other special projects and events, including the All Science Challenge. You will employ diverse online engagement tools in an effort to enrich the volunteer experience.

This position is based at the National Office in London, Ontario. However, location may be negotiable to the right candidate.

For more details, including a full position description please contact Heather Small

(877) 474-4081 x 227 or hr@letstalkscience.ca.

Interested candidates should submit their resume and cover letter by 5 p.m. on Friday February 26, 2010 to:

Heather Small

Human Resource Assistant

Let’s Talk Science, 1584 North Routledge Park

London, ON N6H 5L6

Or via email: hr@letstalkscience.ca (please submit in Word or pdf)

FAX: (519) 474-4085

Let’s Talk Science is committed to employment equity, welcomes diversity in the workplace and encourages applications from all qualified individuals.  While we appreciate all applications, only those invited for an interview will be acknowledged.

Tags: doing good, job posting, Let's Talk Science, social media, stuff on the internets, volunteer

So here’s the “to do” list I came up with off the top of my head for all the things I need to do for my move:

Can you think of anything I’ve overlooked?

Tags: list, moving, to do, to do list

In keeping with my desire to be a year-end cliché, here are my goals for the new year (in no particular order):

• Sleep.  Sleep is always the first thing I sacrifice when I take on too many jobs, which I do a lot.  I’m going to take advantage of the fact that I’m not teaching any courses this term, nor working any extra contracts at the moment, to get a proper night’s sleep at least four nights a week.
• Tackle 40 of my 101 things to do in 1001 days list.  Since I have 83 things left to do and only 650 days left to do them, I think getting 40 done in the next year would be reasonable.
• Reattempt the 100 pushups/200 situps/200 squats program, at which I was a spectacular failure. I think part of the problem was that, following my “Go Big or Go Home” philosophy of life, I tried to do all three programs at once, found it took a lot of time that I couldn’t quite fit into my day, and then bailed.  This time I will do each program separately.  And I’m not going to start until after I get back from vacation.
• Get back to running. I’ve already registered to run the 8 km race at Vancouver International and I’m planning to run the Scotiabank Half Marathon in June. And again, without the extra jobs, I’ll have more time to focus on this.
• Do a 30-day yoga challenge. Apparently one is coming up at February at my local Moksha Studio.
• Focus on fruits and veg. You’d think as a vegetarian I’d get lots of fresh fruit and veggies, but lately I’ve been a total slacker about getting groceries and my diet hasn’t been all that great.
• Lose 15 lbs.  My tagline lately has been: “Working in Public Health is making me fat!”  It’s not actually the job (though the constant supply of cakes and cookies at my office has not helped) – it’s more the owning of the car¹, having an office on a second floor instead of a six floor² and having a 1.5 hr commute each day³.  The above mentioned getting proper sleep⁴, running, yoga, and fresh fruit and veggie eating should all help with this.
• Do a great purge!  Again, since I’m not teaching this term, I will have some time to prune my wardrobe⁵ and my paper files⁶
• Hit a net worth of $0.  Thanks to my crushing student loan debts, my net worth is negative. Since both DreamBank and my “rampant begging” link on the sidebar of this blog have been uberFAIL at helping me pay off that student debt, I’ve had to do it the old fashion way- through my own cheapness frugal and responsible nature.  Due to my pension, RRSPs, TFSAs, and other savings, I’m on target to hit a net worth of $0 sometime in 2010, which I think is pretty awesome.
• Make $100,000. Now, I should say that my salary is *not* even close to $100,000 and this year, even with salary + several teaching gigs + contract work, I did not make $100,000. And I have no teaching nor contracts lined up for 2010. But I’ve decided I want to hit a six-figure income this year. I just need to figure out how to do it. Go big or go home, I always say.
• Invest 10% of my earnings. I keep reading that this is what you are “supposed” to do. And while I make payments to my pension and RRSPs every paycheque, right now I don’t know what percentage of my income I’m investing. So step 1 is to sit down and crunch my numbers and see what percentage I’m investing right now. Step 2 is to make any necessary adjustments. Step 3 – consider additional ways of investing.
• And, of course, what list of goals would be complete without my stalwart goal? In 2010, I’m going to blog every day!

1. whereas I used to walk several blocks to bus stops every day – all those little bits add up! [↩]
2. I’m a stair walker and, again, little bits do add up [↩]
3. =1.5 fewer hours to do any sort of activity [↩]
4. research shows an association between getting less sleep and being overweight [↩]
5. i.e., bring any clothes I don’t wear anymore for donation to a thrift store [↩]
6. I have papers that I can most definitely get rid of!  Journal articles from my thesis research, I’m looking in your direction! [↩]

Tags: being a cliché, goals, New Year's Resolutions

A few people brought this to my attention the other day:

Apparently, in honour of the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, Google made a bunch of Sesame Street Google logos.  And since today is a numerically significant day – i.e.,  Friday the 13th (*thirteen!* *thirteen days in November!* ah ah ah ah ah!) and Google recently posted that pic of the Count, I thought it was a good time to resurrect the paper I wrote while working for the Centre of Excellence for Sesame Street Investigations, along with my colleagues from the The Newspaper Route: Your First Step to Success Inc. and The Canadian Division for the Advancement of the Vampiric Monarchy. You know, for anyone who wasn’t reading my blog two years ago.

Click here to read the paper (.pdf).

Image Credit: Posted by COG LOG LAB on Flickr.

Tags: 6008l3, Count von Count, Friday the 13th, Google, Nerdery, numbers, The Count

Oh Thursday, you are a long, long day for me.  In addition to my usual 1.5 hrs of commuting and 8 hours at my regular job, Thursdays this semester involve 3 hrs of night class¹.  Meaning I race home from work, grab a quick bite to eat, make sure I have everything I need for class, and then head off to campus for the evening.  And I’m not home ’til about 10:30 p.m., which is my ideal – albeit rarely realized – bedtime.   So that is my long-winded excuse why today’s blog posting is a link to a different blog.  It’s a little blog project that my friend and colleague, Dr. Dave and I have been working on.  It’s called The Black Hole, where the “black hole” in question is the postdoc (and academic life, really).  We talked about such things as science funding (or lack thereof)/policy/training/communication, and scientists in nonacademic jobs.  Or, as Dave put it in his inaugural posting, we talk about “what’s wrong with the scientific enterprise.“  It’s not meant to be a bitch-fest, but rather a place to generate discussion about issues that we and our colleagues have faced – and hopefully some discussions on how to make the situation better. We’ve just started up, but there are a few postings up with more coming down the pipe.  So if you are a scientist – or even if you are not – I encourage you to check it out!

1. an aside: some of my students told me tonight in class that they’d found my blog.  So, if you are reading, students – hello! [↩]

Tags: blogging, science, scienceadvocacy.org, scientists, The Black Hole blog

Today I hit the 10,000 km mark on Zaphod, my beloved Smart Car!

Because I’m a super nerd, I’ve been tracking my gas mileage¹.  And so far, this is where I’m at:

A few observations:

• I have driven a lot.  Part of this is because I drive 35 km each way to get to work and part of it is because I do a lot of driving for work.  The territory covered by the organization for which I work is *huge* and I’m often having to go to places for meetings or site visits or suchlike. ²  As a comparison (and to make me feel better), my dad bought a new truck on the same day I bought Zaphod and he has put more than 20,000 km on his.
• 7 cents per km isn’t too bad for gas, especially given the fact that I have to buy the premium gas, as apparently Smarts are “designed for” the expensive gas and if you don’t use it, you’ll void your warranty.  I do try to take advantage of the fact that I am often out in places like Abbotsford for meetings and gas is generally cheaper in Abby, so I try to fill up when I’m there.
• A fuel economy of 5.92 L/100 km  is bang on what Smart claims it will be for city driving³.  However, I do mostly highway driving, so you’d expect I’d be closer to the 4.8 estimate for highway driving, or at least the 5.4 estimate for combined city and highway driving.  On the plus side, I’m getting slightly better gas mileage than what’s reported by other smart drivers on http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
• Based on these numbers, I estimate that I’ll drive ~23,000 km and spend ~$1,600 in gas in a year. According to Transport Canada⁴, the average per year for car drivers is 15,400 km⁵).  The average fuel economy for cars is listed at 9 L/100km, although this is data from four years ago and I’d be interested to see if it’s any better today.

1. really, any excuse to make a spreadsheet and I’m happy [↩]
2. For example, this week I was out in Aggasiz, which was a long, albeit beautiful, drive, Surrey and Port Moody for meetings. [↩]
3. they say it will be 5.9 [↩]
4. from their 2005 Canadian Vehicle Survey [↩]
5. cf. pick up trucks (15,000), vans (18,500) and SUVs (16,500 [↩]

Tags: fuel economy, fun with spreadsheets, mathlete, Nerdery, photos, rampant consumerism, Smart Car

A friend of mine and I are putting together a little science-related blog¹ and I have a question² for one of the blog postings I’m going to write over there.

Where do you get your science information from?

Doesn’t matter what kind of science – be it health, environmental, astrophysics, agriculture, geology, whatever – I’m curious as to where people get their scientific facts from.

Do any non-scientists ever read scientific journals (or do any scientists read journals from outside their field of training)? Popular magazines? Scientific American? Health care professionals? The media? Government agencies (like Health Canada or Stats Canada or Environment Canada or the BC Centre for Disease Control)? Random forwarded emails telling you that [fill in name of common food or drug] causes [fill in name of disease]?

Let me know in the comments section!

1. because, you know, I clearly don’t spend enough time blogging as it is [↩]
2. a little unscientific survey, if you will [↩]

Tags: blogging, knowledge translation, Nerdery, science