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. . . PI see "MATHEMATICALLY SPEAKING" Last year [1999], a Japanese computer scientist calculated it [pi] to 206 billion digits... In 1610, an unlikely monument to pi was built in Holland. A tombstone in the graveyard of Peter's Church in Leiden was supposedly engraved with the numbers 2-8-8, representing the 33rd through 35th digits of pi, calculated by the mathematician who spent his last 14 years expanding pi to 35 digits. ... ...Throughout the 19th century, human calculators tried, but could not finish off pi. One such brain, Johann Dase of Hamburg, was able to multiply two eight-digit numbers in his head. Dase could calculate for hours at a time, go to sleep, and continue where he left off. In 1844, he put his mental calculator to work on pi, and in two months computed it to a new record of 205 places. Another true believer, William Shanks, spent twenty years with pencil and paper calculating pi to 707 digits. Shanks mark stood into the 20th century, though it was later discovered he made a mistake on the 527th digit. Twenty years on the job and his pi was incorrect. ...Edwin Goodwin, a doctor living in Solitude, Indiana in 1897, "supernaturally" discoved that pi was equal to 9.2376. Goodwin has his "solution" published in the "American Mathematical Monthly,' then set about getting government approval for his own private pi. He convinced his local legislators to introduce a bill before Indiana's House offering state schools free use of his "new mathematical truth." The bill, chocked full of math jargon, fooled the House and passed by a 67-0 vote. {Later failed to pass the Indiana Senate.] ... ...Each fall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, football fans cheer for their favorite irrational number: "Cosine, secant, tangent, sine, 3.14159!" ...As a teenager in Montreal, Simon Plouffe became "addicted to numbers." Upon learning of a world record for memorizing pi, Plouffe set out to break it. On his first day Plouffe memorized 300 digits. ...Within six months he had memorized 4,096 digits of pi. .... Soon the record was more than 5,000. ... The current memorization record is well beyond his reach, he admits. The reigning champ is Hiroyuki Goto, who recited 42,195 digits in nine hours. --Bruce Watson _Smithsonian Magazine_   PIANO . . see "MUSIC" for related links The romantic scene at the piano used to play an important part in courtships. Then girls didn't have 'sex appeal'; they had 'allure,' and they all knew this allure could be displayed to the best advantage at the piano. When the beau called on Sunday night and presented his bouquet or box of bonbons, the girl spoke of a new song which was 'simply divine' . . . They sang it together, maybe. After a few verses of one of those tender, romantic lyrics beneath rose-shaded lights his sales resistence was shattered completely and he was sure that his devotion would last until the sands of the desert grew cold. --Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) American lyricist, in Meryle Secrest _Somewhere For Me: A Biography of Richard Rodgers_ [2001] In 1919, the great pianist Ignace Paderewski agreed to serve as prime minister of Poland, and he attended the Paris Peace Talks in that capacity. The story is told that the French premier, Clemenceau, said to him, "Are you related to the pianist?" Paderewski replied, "I am, in fact, the pianist." Continued Clemenceau, "And now you are prime minister?" "Yes," answered Paderewski. Sighed the Frenchman: "What a comedown." --Jay Nordlinger, Beethoven, Verdi - and someone you don't know, NROnline [15 September 2003] - ...We take the ubiquity of the modern piano for granted, but of course for many years the keyboard tradition was represented by the harpsichord, with its plucked strings and uniform volume. In 1700, as Mr. Barron reminds us, one Bartolomeo Cristofori, under the patronage of a Medici prince, invented an instrument in which the strings were struck with leather hammers, producing a gradation of tone from loud (forte) to soft (piano). Instrument makers soon discovered that more keys, longer and thicker strings, and higher tensions produced a more brilliant tone. The new instruments sold well but lost all usefulness when their wooden frames, inevitably, warped and buckled from the tension of the strings. After a century of trial and error, a stronger frame was found. John Broadwood in England, and Dominique Boisselot and Sébastien Erard in France -- and later Ludwig Bösendorfer and Carl Bechstein in Germany -- became the reigning gods of piano manufacture. --James Penrose "Building a musical instrument and a company " reviewing _Piano_ by James Barron _The Wall Street Journal_, July 15, 2006 - A Steinway will never sound quite the same again. --Steinway & Sons, piano manufacturer. Sole copy in ad honoring the memory of Vladimir Horowitz who had just died, _New York Times_ [10 November 1989] . . see "FOOD & DRINK" for related links When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, ummmm, boy. --Jack Handey (1949- ) American comedian and comedy writer, _Deep Thoughts_ A homemade pie with a flaky crust is one of life's great joys. Such a crust is airy, yet has texture. It makes its presence known without being assertive. It displays one of the great struggles of the universe, the tension between being and nothingness, right there in a 9-inch pie pan. --Rob Kasper, "Baltimore Sun" I have nibbled at Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie, and have served it to those on whose welfare I took no interest. --Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, "Cross Creek Cookery" ^ Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745) Anglo-Irish clergyman, satirist, and journalist. On his travels Swift stopped at a house where the hostess, anxious to please her eminent visitor, asked him what he would like for dinner. "Will you have an apple pie, sir? Will you have a gooseberry pie, sir? A plum pie? A currant pie? A cherry pie? --' 'Any pie but a magpie, madam,' interrupted Swift. --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ Construct a bullet-proof dough. Toughen it and kiln-dry it a couple of days. Fill with stewed dried apple; aggravate with cloves, lemon peel and slabs of citron; add two portions of New Orleans sugar. then solder on the lid and set it in a safe place until it petrifies. Serve cold at breakfast and invite your enemy. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot _A Tramp Abroad_ [1879]  PIGS . . see "ANIMALS" for related links "The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax - Of cabbages - and kings - And why the sea is boiling hot, And whether pigs have wings" --Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832-1898) English writer and logician, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ [1865], Ch. 6 "The Walrus and the Carpenter" st. 11 I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. --Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister [1940-1945, 1951-1955] The Seven young Guinea Pigs went into a garden full of Gooseberry-bushes and Tiggory-trees, under one of which they fell asleep. When they awoke, they saw a large Lettuce which had grown out of the ground while they had been sleeping, and which had an immense number of green leaves. At which they all exclaimed: 'Lettuce! O Lettuce! 'Let us, O let us, 'O Lettuce leaves, 'O let us leave this tree and eat 'Lettuce, O let us, Lettuce leaves!' And instantly the Seven young Guinea Pigs rushed with such extreme force against the Lettuce-plant, and hit their heads so vividly against its stalk, that the concussion brought on directly an incipient transitional inflammation of their noses, which grew worse and worse and worse and worse till it incidentally killed them all Seven. And that was the end of the Seven young Guinea Pigs. --Edward Lear (1812-1888) English landscape painter and writer of nonsense verse, "The History of the Seven Families of Lake Pipple-popple" Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent. "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said. --A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne (1882-1956) English writer for children The Pig, if I am not mistaken, gives us ham and pork and bacon. Let others think his heart is big, I think it stupid of the Pig. --Ogden Nash (1902-1971) American writer of humorous poetry I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it. --George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish comic dramatist, literary critic, Socialist propagandist, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925 {EB} - What is worse than a male chauvinistic pig? A woman that won't do what she's told. --anon. Commitment: The difference between involvement and commitment can be illustrated by a breakfast of ham and eggs. The chicken was involved, the pig was committed. --anon. An impetuous maiden named Marion, An antidisestablishmentarian, Took a rabbit, a bear And a pig to the fair, And posed as a veterinarian. I dreamt of a virile young stud, We rolled like two pigs in the mud, We spent half an hour, Making love in the shower, Then I fell out of bed with a thud. Said an old lady pickling figs To another one nickeling wigs: "Aren't we fickle To nickel and pickle When we could have been tickling pigs?" Q: What do you get if you cross a pig and a conifer? A: A porcupine Trivia: An average pig squeals at a range from 100 to 115 decibels. . . - When the provisions are on board and the ship is ready to sail the buccaneers resolve by common vote where they shall cruise. They also draw up an agreement or chasse partie, in which it is specified what the captain will have for himself and for the use of his vessel. Usually they agree on the following terms. Providing they capture a prize, first of all these amounts would be deducted from the whole capital. The hunters' pay would generally be 200 pieces of eight. The carpenter, for his work in repairing and fitting out the ship, would be paid 100 or 150 pieces of eight. The surgeon would receive 200 or 250 pieces of eight for his medical supplies, according to the size of the ship. Then came the agreed awards for the wounded, who might have lost a limb or suffered other injuries. They would be compensated as follows: for the loss of a right arm 600 pieces of eight or six slaves; for a left arm 500 pieces of eight or five slaves. --A.O. Exquemelin _The Buccaneers af America_ [1678] in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.} _History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 392 Cohan & Major add: This eyewitness account of English, French and Dutch sea-rovers was published in Holland and became an instant bestseller. It is written from inside and gives a vivid portrait of Henry Morgan, the notorious. brutal (and, from this distance, charismatic) Welsh pirate. The buccaneers took their name from the method of smoke-drying beef, which became their stock in trade. The meat was cured over a wooden frame, and the Carib word boucan was applied to both the griddle and the process. The buccaneers were sometimes Protestant drop-outs, committed to plundering Catholic Spain. They developed their own community code of conduct: the Custom of the Coast. Yet even this man had not suffered all the torments which the buccaneers inflicted on the Spanish to make them divulge their hidden wealth. Some they hung up by their genitals, till the weight of their bodies tore them loose. Then they would give the wretches three or four stabs through the body with a cutlass and leave them lying in that condition until God released them from their miserable plight by death. Some poor creatures lingered on for four or five days. Others they crucified, with burning fuses between their fingers and toes. Others they bound, smeared their feet with grease and stuck them in the fire. --A.O. Exquemelin _The Buccaneers af America_ [1678] in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.} _History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 392 Cohan & Major add: Henry Morgan, whose torture techniques are here described, was arrested and transported to London as a sop to the Spanish in 1672. But when war broke out again between the two countries he was knighted. He died in 1688, a wealthy planter and deputy governor of Jamaica. -  PITY . . see "EMOTIONS & FEELINGS" for related links I pitied him in his blindness But can I boast, "I see?" Perhaps there walks a spirit Close by, who pities me. --Harry Kemp (1883-1960) American poet, _Blind_ Pity is feeling sorry for someone; empathy is feeling sorry with someone. --Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American civil rights leader Perchance that I might learn what pity is, That I might laugh at erring men no more. --Michelangelo (1475-1564) Italian sculptor, painter, and architect How much to be pitied is he who has no pity! --Publilius Syrus (85-43 B.C.) Latin writer of mimes, originally a slave from Antioch in Syria (whence his name) {WWITRW} ----- pathos (noun) 1. A quality in life or art that evokes pity, sadness, or compassion. 2. Pity or sorrow. . . see "DECEPTION" for related links He said, our judges had not gone deep in the question concerning literary property. I mentioned Lord Monboddo's opinion, that if a man could get a work by heart, he might print it, as by such an act the mind is exercised. Johnson: "No, Sir; a man's repeating it no more makes it his property, than a man may sell a cow which he drives home." I said, printing an abridgement of a work was allowed, which was only cutting the horns and tail off the cow. Johnson: "No, Sir, 'tis making the cow have a calf." --James Boswell (1740-1795) Scottish lawyer, diarist, and author, _The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_ [1786] It is certain that I cannot always distinquish my own thoughts from those I read, because what I read becomes the very substance and text of my mind. --Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and educator who was blind and deaf, (When accused of plagerism) Today an original thinker is the first to steal an idea. --Karl Kraus (1874-1936) Austrian satirist I pounce on whatever is mine, wherever I find it. --Jean François Marmontel (1723-1799) French critic, dramatist, and story writer If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research. --Wilson Mizner (1876-1933) American playwright, quoted in: Alva Johnston, _The Legendary Mizners_, ch. 4 [1953] It could be said of me that in this book I have only made up a bunch of other men's flowers, providing of my own only the string that ties them together. --Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) French moralist and essayist, _Essais_ [1580] In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgement. --Pliny the Elder [Gaius Plinius Secundus] (23-79) Roman statesman and scholar, _Natural History_ Whatever is well said by anyone is mine. --Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.- 65 A.D.) Roman philosopher and poet Fine words! I wonder where you stole them. --Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Anglo-Irish poet and satirist When a thing has been said and said well, have no scruples. Take it and copy it. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed from one another. The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others and it becomes the property of us all. --Voltaire (François Marie Arouet) (1694-1778) French writer and philosopher I do borrow from other writers, shamelessly! I can only say in my defense, like the woman brought before the judge on a charge of kleptomania, "I do steal, but, your Honor, only from the very best stores." --Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) American novelist and dramatist ;void(0)) PLANS/PLANNING . . see: "GOALS" see "SUCCESS" for related links - Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. --Æsop (c.620 B.C.—c.560 B.C.) (Thought to be a legendary figure.) _Æsop's Fables_ "The Milkmaid and Her Pail" It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow. --Æsop (c.620 B.C.—c.560 B.C.) (Thought to be a legendary figure.) _Æsop's Fables_ "The Dog in the Manger" - The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humbles hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it. --Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860—1937) Scottish writer and dramatist. _The Little Minister_ [1891], ch. 1 It is always good When a man has two irons in the fire. --Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher English Jacobean dramatists, _The Faithful Friends_ [c. 1608] But Mousie, thou art no thy lane In proving foresight may be vain The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain For promis'd joy! --Robert Burns (1759—1796) Scottish poet and songwriter. "To a Mouse" [1785] His early dreams of good outstripp'd the truth, And troubled manhood follow'd baffled youth. --Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824) English Romantic poet and satirist. I began revolution with 82 men. If I had [to] do it again, I'd do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action. --Fidel Castro (1926— ) Political leader of Cuba from 1959. In _New York Times_ [22 April 1959]. "When I was a small boy in Kansas," Dwight D. Eisenhower once recalled, "a friend of mine and I went fishing, and as we sat there in the warmth on a summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be president of the United States. Neither of us got our wish." --Carl M. Cannon, _The Oval Office and the Diamond_, "The Atlantic" [May 2001] When any great design thou dost intend, Think on the means, the manner, and the end. --Sir John Denham (1615—1669) British poet. First say to yourself what you would be, then do what you have to do. --Epictetus (55—135) Greek philosopher. - Of a good beginning cometh a good end. --John Heywood (1497—1580) English playwright. _Proverbs_ [1546], Part I, Chapter 10 Look ere ye leap. --John Heywood (1497—1580) English playwright. _Proverbs_ [1546] - Where there is no hope, there can be no endeavor. --Samuel Johnson (1709—1784) English poet, critic, and lexicographer. In "The Rambler" (English journal), 110 [6 April 1751]. Make no small plans, for they have no power to stir the soul. --Niccolò Machiavelli (1469—1527) Florentine statesman and political philosopher. It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin. --Benjamin E. Mays (1894—1984) American educator and president of Morehead College. Voyages are accomplished inwardly, and the most hazardous ones, needless to say, are made without moving from the spot. --Henry Miller (1891—1980) American novelist and essayist. _The Colossus of Maroussi_ [1941] I always wanted to be some kind of writer or newspaper reporter. But after college— I did other things. --Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929—1994) Wife of President John F. Kennedy. If you don't know where you're going, you will probably end up somewhere else. --Laurence J. Peter (1919—1990) Canadian teacher and author. _The Peter Principle_ [1969] In the current decade [1961-1970] the Soviet Union, in creating the material and technical basis of communism, will surpass the strongest and richest capitalist country, the USA, in production per head of population; the people's standard of living and their cultural and technical standards will improve substantially; everyone will live in easy circumstances; all collective and state farms will become highly productive and profitable enterprises; the demand of the Soviet people for well-appointed housing will, in the main, be satisfied; hard physical work will disappear; the USSR will have the shortest working day. --Program of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, adopted by the 22nd Party Congress [31 October 1961]; in _New York Times [29 November 1961]. Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground. --Theodore Roosevelt (1858—1919) American Republican statesman and President [1901—1909]. Words inscribed near his grave in Oyster Bay, N.Y.. Prius quam incipias consulto, et ubi consulueris mature facto opus est. (Get good counsel before you begin; and when you have decided, act promptly.) --Sallust [Gaius Sallustius Crispus] (c. 86BC — 35/34 BC) Roman historian. _Bellum Catilinae_ (Catiline's War) [43—42 BC] If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. --Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.) Roman philosopher and poet. All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas Layin' in the sun, Talkin' bout the things They woulda-coulda-shoulda done... But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas All ran away and hid From one little did. --Shel Silverstein (1930—1999) Ameican poet and songwriter. Rash indeed is he who reckons on the morrow, or haply on days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past. --Sophocles (496?—406 B.C.) Greek dramatist. _Trachiniae_, Line 943 The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you've made up your mind — jump in. --Charles R. Swindoll (1934— ) American evanegelical Christian pastor. You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. --Rabindranath Tagore (1861—1941) Bengali poet, short-story writer, song composer, playwright, and painter who won the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them. --Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862) American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher. "Conclusion" in _Walden_ [1854] ----- improvident [im-PROV-uh-duhnt]; adjective: Lacking foresight or forethought; not foreseeing or providing for the future; negligent or thoughtless. inchoate (adj.) 1. Just beginning to develop 2. Only partly formed machination [mack-uh-NAY-shun; mash-], noun: 1. The act of plotting. 2. A crafty scheme; a cunning design or plot intended to accomplish some usually evil end. Ex.: [T]o keep away from them and steer clear of their inveigling schemes and grasping machinations... has been my constant life-long effort. --Jeff Stryker, "They Couldn't Resist: Oh, One Last Thing," _New York Times_ [21 May 2000] stratagem (noun) ['stræ-tê-jêm] A clever scheme or plan to achieve an objective, a cunning ploy. end page | PACIFISM & PAIN | PAINTING - PARENTING | PARIS - PASSPORTS | PAST (THE) - PATRIOTISM | PEACE - PERCENTAGES | PEOPLE | PERCEPTIONS - PERSUASION | PESSIMISM - PHOBIAS | PHONIES - PHYSICS | PI - PLANS | PLACES | PLANTS - POETRY | POETS - POLITICAL PARTIES | POLITICS & POLITICIANS | POLLS - POPES | POPEYE - POTENTIAL | POVERTY | POWER | PRACTICALITY - PRAYER | PREACHERS - PREPARED (BE) | PRESENT (THE) - PRETENDING | PRETENTIONS - PRIVACY | PROBLEMS - PROGRESSIVES | PROGRESS - PROPAGANDA | PROPOSALS - PUBLIC (THE) | PUBLIC OPINION - PURPOSE (ON HAVING A) | QUALITIES - QUIPS | QUIRKS - QUOTATIONS | | H | I - J | K - L | M | N - O | P - Q | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The End | The Reviews | Photos | |
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