Would you like some Oil with your Pi?

Happy Pi Day! That's right, today (March 14, or 3.14) is the 22nd annual day of celebration of the notorious mathematical constant here in geekdom. It is usually marked by eating pie (the homophone of pi) and generally sharing terrible mathematical puns. NewScientist offers a musical take on the ratio of honour, by translating the digits of pi into notes and chords with surprisingly melodious results.

An example of pi humour, courtesy of xkcd.com

On a less musical note, and entirely unrelated to pi, there was an excellent post in the Toronto Sun today which traces the flow of oil into and out of Canada. Alan Parker gives a good visual overview of where oil is exported and imported into the country and why. Parker notes that much of the oil from Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline may actually destined for refineries in Washington and California, which are set up to receive crude via tanker from Alaska's dwindling reserves.

Finally, on a more oceanic note, Have you ever wondered what happens to the 10,000 or so shipping containers that fall off of container ships every year? Staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium did, and have launched a study to look at the biological effects of a sunken 40' container, 20 km outside of Monterey Bay.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful remainder of your day.