Pi — the ratio of circumference to the diameter of a circle — has captivated imaginations for thousands of years. Pi is generally rounded to 3.14 though it was calculated out to 2.7 trillion places in December by French computer scientist Fabrice Bellard.

Mathematicians know that pi is not algebraic, and it cannot be represented as one number divided by another. Theoretically, its digits will continue on randomly and indefinitely without ending in repetition.  It’s so random, that there are no occurrences of the sequence ‘123456′ in the first million digits of pi.

Well, the mysterious number has its own holiday today: March 14 (3/14, get the pun?) the same date as Albert Einstein’s birthday. It was only last March that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution supporting Pi Day and encouraging schools to teach students about the magical number.

An article at CNN.com pays homage to Marc Umile, a math geek who holds 10th place in the world for pi memorization; in 2007, he typed out 15,314 digits from memory. (The world record for memorizaton was set by Chao Ly in 2005: he memorized 67,890 digits.) According to the article “any string of numbers you can imagine is somewhere in pi — for instance, look for your birthday. Coincidentally, ‘360,’ the number of degrees in a circle, occurs at digits 358 to 360.”

Dozens of memorization enthusiasts (like Umile, here at 1,000 digits)  have posted videos of themselves reciting or typing out digits on YouTube; there are also plenty of poems and songs online dedicated to pi. One of my favorites is the video below of Folk Singer Lucy Kaplansky singing her own ode to Pi. And don’t miss this parody of the hit song “American Pie“   written by CNN SciTech blogger, Elizabeth Landau.

I’m not so good with numbers, myself. Remembering birthdays and phone numbers has always been a challenge, so for me, pi is best expressed as simply 3.14. I’ll have to enjoy its enormous majesty through the others who are saluting it on this day!

You don’t have to memorize and recite enormous strings of random numbers to show you can be eco-minded!
You can help the environment by recycling your used printer cartridges and cell phones. Your inkjets, toners, and cell phones are worth more than you think!
Why not recycle them at eCycleGroup.com?

Hypnotist Ricky Kalmon hypnotizes a volunteer on stage to believe he is the greatest puppeteer in the world. The volunteer’s left and right hands are his puppets, and he uses them to perform a very special version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” By the end of the performance, the entire assembly of volunteers is acting as his puppet chorus, and one even gets up to help with backup vocals.

Doesn’t it make you want to play with a hypnotist?

Bohemian Rhapsody Puppet Guy by Hypnotist Ricky Kalmon – Watch more Funny Videos

Find this unbelievable? According to his website, Ricky Kalmon is an extremely sought after stage hypnotist, corporate entertainer, and motivational speaker all over the world.  He is also the star of his own television show, “Seeing Stars,” that airs on the TV Guide Channel.  His show combines hypnotic suggestions with direct audience participation to create an interactive experience unmatched by any other performer.

The entire effort of great magic is to make the watchers wonder “How the heck did he do that?” The magician knows he’s hooked the audience based on their response to his illusion. Do they gasp? Murmur? In this YouTube video, the watchers SCREAM in fright, and you know that, regardless of how Criss Angel did it, we all took the bait: hook, line, and sinker.

Life is great when you’re able to turn “a little too much time on your hands” into a business opportunity that pays hundreds of dollars for your doodles. And while many artists make their living with traditional media like oils on canvas, or watercolors on paper, this one makes his living with Sharpies on Styrofoam cups

They’re gorgeous: intricate black and white drawings that circle around the cup to tell a story with no beginning or end. Pointillistic drawings of people and animals, Japanese woodcut-style oceans of swirling waves, and playful vignettes of people in everyday activities. They can take hours or months to create: Cheeming Boey drinks out of the rejects and sells his best ones between $120 and $220 at a fine art gallery in Laguna Beach, California.

Some might raise their eyebrow at his medium which gets a bad rap in this environmentally aware society because polystyrene foam never biodegrades.  But, as Boey said in an interview with the The Orange Country Register, “These cups last thousands of years, and my Sharpie says it’s permanent ink. These things are going to last generations. It’s archival material.” He also draws more temporary art – on bananas.

See more photos of Boey and his work in this gallery at The Orange Country Register or check out his entire Styrofoam Cup collection on Boey’s Flickr page

I’ve grown up with both dogs and cats as pets, but it’s not a secret that I prefer cats for their day-to-day simplicity: Put out a bowl of crunchy food, clean the litter box every couple days, and if you’re lucky, they’ll let you pet them. It’s the perfect pet relationship!

But on the “so adorable you can hardly stand it” ratings scale, this roly poly French bulldog puppy wins the prize for its cuteness.

Now look, I don’t know whether this little guy just likes rolling around like this, or if he’s stuck on his back like a tipped-over turtle who can’t get right-side up again. Ours is not to wonder why: ours is just to keep saying “awwwww, ain’t that cute,” while we watch him rolling around.

Go ahead. I dare you to try watching it just once. I know you’ll replay it again and again and again and again and again and again…. He’s so cute, I just want to squish him in a giant bearhug of love.

Share it with your friends, and leave a comment would ya?

Rumors abound that “Pirates of the Caribbean” co-stars Kiera Knightly and Orlando Bloom will be pairing up once again: This time to star in “The Fever Returns,” a remake of 1977 cult dance classic “Saturday Night Fever.” Apparently the film will be reset from Brooklyn to London, and it’s still unclear whether the movie will be a remake, or a sequel to the original film.

In the meantime, if you didn’t learn to do the hustle thirty years ago, here is a tutorial, so you can be ready for the disco dance craze the new film is likely to inspire.

Oh yeah, Tim Burton strikes again with his uncoming recreation of “Alice in Wonderland.” I can’t wait to see it, but I’m also a little afraid to venture into his twisted version of Wonderland.

According to USAToday, “The traditional tale has been freshened with a blast of girl power, courtesy of writer Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast). Alice, 17, attends a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. Off she runs, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited 10 years before yet doesn’t remember.”

Johnny Depp welcomes Alice back to wonderland in his role as the Mad Hatter, his seventh collaboration with Burton. If you thought he was wacky as Willie Wonka, my guess is he’ll be truly out of his head as the Mad Hatter.

Burton’s real-life wife Helena Bonham Carter will appear as the Red Queen; as the result of her favorite slogan “Off with their heads!” her moat is filled with bobbing noggins. Anne Hathaway creates an ethereal and ghostly white queen. The star role of Alice is 19-year-old Australian actress Mia Wasikowska. » Read more