10 Mar
Pi, Pie, Pee and Peanut Days
There’s always something to celebrate somewhere and some don’t seem to make much sense.
Please don’t think of me as an old grouch, though, because I am bringing you a host of ‘special’ days for Mad March. The first one that caught my eye was March 16th – Everything You Do Is Right Day, which fits in with the ‘doing a good deed for the day’ ethos I was ‘taught’ as a young scout – pramuka here in Indonesia.
But why there should have been an International Women’s Day two days ago on the 8th March, a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women, elsewhere subtitled a day for flamboyance and strength, makes me wonder why I can’t find any International Men’s, Girl’s or Boy’s Days. Mind you, if Our Kid were American he could celebrate National Teenagers Day on March 21st.
I’m not one for trophies or gloating and I believe that everyone, whatever their gender, who achieves something for the social good deserves recognition whenever it seems appropriate. Every day should be a Mother’s Day, and if love is all around, why celebrate it on just the one day – February 14th? Because the malls are otherwise fairly quiet?
As today is the Festival Of Life In The Cracks Day, it seems the perfect opportunity to bring you a bunch of randomness.
“Studies prove that over 80 percent of all people living on the planet in the last five decades believe life exists in the cracks. Some feel life slips through the cracks. Still, no matter how you slice it, there is a jamboree going on in those thin slivers and today’s the day you can join the fun.”
I looked for days that ought to be more prominent through browsing a couple of previously unknown Wikipedia pages: Random and Unusual Articles, both worth a lazy peruse.
14th March is Pi (π) Day
Typically, March 14 is more popular for countries using the month/day format since 3, 1 and 4 are the first three digits of π. Sometimes Pi Minute is also celebrated; this occurs on March 14 at 1:59 p.m. If π is truncated to seven decimal places, it becomes 3.1415926; making March 14 at 1:59:26 p.m., Pi Second (or sometimes March 14, 1592 at 6:53:58 a.m.). An upcoming Pi Day in 2015 will have the date 3-14-15 and a Pi Second of 9:26:53.589… a.m.
There are a large variety of ways of celebrating Pi Day and most of them include eating pie and discussing the relevance of π.
(National Pie Day was held on January 23rd – damn, missed it – but I can tell you that Naylat LaRochelle’s Italian Apple – Mascarpone Pie With Almond Topping won the Emile Henry Contest.)
Wiki has a page devoted to pee and this page has the sensible advice that if you’re thinking of taking a nude swim in the Amazon, don’t pee!
Another missed opportunity was Peanut Butter Lover’s Day on March 1st. I love the stuff, but with Marmite?
Apparently some do mix and match it. A Guardian article on the launch of a special edition of Marmite XO has lead to one such comment, among many, from we Marmarati and I can’t wait for my first taste ….
Piece be with you, my friends
……………………………………………..
P.S. A question for Jakartans: Seen this?
Re: Jakartans have you seen this?
Likely not and maybe never and that you be too bad.
"Jakartans" is an interesting term. Is there such a thing? "Orang Jakarta"? I recently used the term "Jakartans" in an email to a friend of mine who lives in Jakarta and they were surprised to hear it. They told me that the city government refers to its citizens as "residents". They also mentioned they had just read an article in which someone had used the phrase "non-Indonesian citizens." Think of that for a moment: "non-Indonesian citizens." (!) Is there such a thing as that? And who would such people be?
Seems like there is a big question of who is who and what is what in Indonesia and Jakarta.
Sorry for this indulgence – is there a need for some clarification/homework to be done on the last point I raised in the earlier post? Im sure many would like to know.
I know its not "give "J a job" day
I think I took the term 'Jakartans' from the Post, and use it to refer to those of us who live here, or who consider Jakarta to be their home town but now live elsewhere.
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner …. although my family's roots there go back 150 years at least.