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?

After a Starbucks customer received her coffee from the Barista, she was so inspired by the employee who thanked her in sign language that she wrote a letter to the company suggesting that all employees should do the same.

Starbucks has posted a video response at MyStarbucksIdea.com and the reader commentary there is extremely supportive.

Should Starbucks Baristas be able to say Thank You in sign language? How should Starbucks best accommodate hearing- or speech-impaired customers?

Watch the video below, and share your vote at MyStarbucksIdea.com.

You don’t have to learn sign language to tell the world you’re 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?

Each week, Jonathan Ross presents music and celebrity chat on his BBC television show “Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.” In this entertaining video clip,  quirky Oscar-winning Hollywood anti-hero Christopher Walken reads a few lines from Lady Gaga’s hit song “Pokerface.”

I suppose we should be thankful he didn’t request “more cowbell!”

Click here to see Lady Gaga perform Pokerface. (more…)

It doesn’t matter whether you’re with the Chin or Coco, this entire situation has become an embarrassing mess for NBC, and EV-erybody has been talking about it.

Here it is in a nutshell:
Several, many, some, years ago, NBC made plans for Jay Leno to retire from his job as host of “The Tonight Show” and lined up Conan O’Brien to take his place. Conan took Lenos place in June 2009, and soon after NBC gave Leno a different show at an earlier time, put Conan (who was lovingly nicknamed “Coco” by some) into Leno’s old spot, and gave Conan’s old spot to Jimmy Fallon.

Just this week, NBC decided this arrangement isn’t working for them, so they’ve decided to muck with the lineup a little more. They want to give Leno a half-hour spot at 11:30, bump Conan back to 12:05, and move Jimmy Fallon later behind them.

According to Mashable,  Conan put The Tonight Show up for sale at Craigslist  though the listing titled “4 SALE: BARELY-USED LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW,” has been removed (thank goodness for screen captures, or this wouldn’t have been quite so funny). Over at Twitter, #teamconan is topping trending topics, and even the little Reddit Alien was sporting Conan’s hairstyle for a few days this week.

Jimmy Kimmel attempted to explain the situation by cutting a pie into pieces,  Rosie O’Donnell said she thinks Jay Leno “should walk away”  and  David Letterman has offered up his own suggestion as well–watch the video below to hear his take on it.

What do you think about all of this? Personally, I’m with Coco.  Please share your opinions with us at twitter.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.

Honda created an impossibly complex Rube-Goldberg-like machine using pieces and parts from its Accord station wagon to produce this amazing video with the punchline “Isn’t it nice when things just work?”

The sequencing was so incredible, that many people thought it was computer-generated or must have utilized digital tricks, but actually it took 606 takes over the course of three months and cost six million dollars to create. Each time something tiny went wrong, the crew would setup the entire sequence, and start over again.

It’s always great when we stumble across one of those things that makes you say “How the heck did they do that?” So, enjoy this Guinness “Slide” commercial we found at Metacafe,  which gives a new spin on a complicated idea. I haven’t found any background yet that explains how they did it, but for now, I’m just satisfied watching the fresh pint of Guinness slide its way across New York City!

Guinness: Slide – Check it out at Metacafe.com

Thanks to @MarkShepard, for sharing this video,  and introducing us to Oren Lavie and his lovely music. The stop motion video for “Her Morning Elegance” is created from more than 3200 photo stills shot using a camera hanging from the ceiling over the bed.

It took four weeks to create an animated computer-generated storyboard for the video, using 3D dummies for the characters, but it only took two days to shoot the live actors frame by frame to create the 3.5-minute final sequence.

This video has become an international sensation with over 8 million hits on YouTube to date, breaking YouTube’s most highly rated video record. The song can be found on “The Opposite Side of The Sea,” Oren’s debut album, released on his own label, A Quarter Past Wonderful.

According to his blog, Oren is a “songwriter, director, and a writer of funny books for sad children,” who likes to “create dreamy visuals from realistic elements…squeezing big worlds into small spaces.” The gorgeous redhead in the bed is Israeli actress and model Shir Shomron.

“Her Morning Elegance” was also featured in a Chevrolet Malibu television commercial (found here on YouTube).  The songwriter, who has never owned a car, says could not stop giggling for days, though he continues to take the bus.

The video below says there is, but only if we look at things from a different perspective. It was created as part of a 2007 AARP contest on YouTube, to open an intergenerational dialogue encouraging young people to speak their minds and give AARP insight into their views.

The goal of the U@50 Challenge was to give people between the ages of 18 and 30 the chance to submit short videos describing what they expect their lives to be like at age 50. More than 50 videos were submitted from across the country and from these the five top videos were selected by a panel of judges based on their technical quality, creativity, and their ability to foster discussion.

The first-place video entitled “When I’m 50…” was submitted by Ilya Polyakov, a film studies student from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and earned a $5000 prize.

This second-place video was created by Jonathan Reed of Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. His point is clear: No matter how bleak our future looks, we can change it by approaching it from a different perspective.

“The aim of this contest was to create a dialogue between the generations and to gain an understanding of what concerns our future members,” said AARP Director of Academic Affairs Harry R. Moody. “We have been impressed with the enthusiasm young people have had for this contest. These videos have done a great job of highlighting the issues that are important to younger Americans in facing their futures.”

How’s your perspective? How can YOU change things to create a better future?

Have you heard the term “Flash Mob”? According to Wikipedia,  a flash mob  is a “large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse.” So you’re standing around at the mall, and suddenly all the other people engage in a spontaneous pillow fight. Or emerge in groups to begin dancing with each other. Or sing.

The first flash mob was organized in Manhattan in May 2003, but was unsuccessful because the targeted location was tipped off in advance about the plan. According to Dan Hall, brand manager for experiential agency ID, these early flash mobs were seen as such an impressive medium for generating PR that they were soon being implemented by advertisers as a way to gain attention for their message. More recently, the phenomenon has even been exhibited with crowds of zombies.

In an article at AllBusiness, Hall says “Flash mobs are a tremendously powerful medium to surprise otherwise marketing-savvy consumers into recognising and interacting with a brand face to face.’ Through their presence in the spontaneous event, “They allow people to be part of a shared experience they can tell others about.”

T-Mobile has capitalized on the flash mob concept in an ongoing advertising campaign that has used choreographed dances and karaoke events to “bring to life the fact that there are often unexpected, wonderful, exciting things that happen that you want to be able to share.”

What would you do if you were standing in a train station and people around you suddenly started dancing? Would you join in? Would you grab your cell phone and start recording? Would you be frightened? Check out these two videos: The first is a performance of “Do Re Mi”, performed by more than 200 dancers in the Central Station of Antwerp. The second is a video that explains how T-Mobile created their own Flash Mob with 400 dancers in Liverpool Station.

Have a great weekend!

I was home alone late one night nearly 20 years ago, killing time with MTV on in the background when this video from the Indigo Girls began playing.   I had never heard of the duo, and had no idea who they were, but I loved the concept of the video, and the message of the song.

Titled “Galileo,” the song references the circle of reincarnation, making light of the possibility that our day-to-day circumstances could somehow be linked to our previous lives… a fear of flying caused by a previous life’s plane crash, or making compensation in this life to right wrongs we committed in the past, basically “serving time for mistakes made by another in another lifetime.”

I went on a quest to find out more about the band and discovered the Indigo Girls,  an American folk rock duo consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. Since then I’ve become a lifetime fan of their music and thoughtful lyrics that tell moving and important stories. When I need to find consolation, I listen to their songs to help me identify what’s in my heart.

Beyond the themes of their music, they are also very politically active. According to their page at Wikipedia,  they have championed the causes of the environment, gay rights, the rights of Native Americans, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. For many years they incorporated a recycling and public outreach program into their road tours by including Greenpeace representative Stephanie Fairbanks in their road crew. They helped Winona LaDuke establish Honor the Earth, an organization dedicated to creating support and education for native environmental issues. Amy and Emily have also appeared at the annual SOA Watch rallies, the March for Women’s Lives, and several other rallies and protests.

They’ve just recently released a new album, titled “Poseidon and the Bitter Bug” and are touring this summer across the United States and Europe in support of it. As part of their tour, the Indigo Girls have partnered with Rock for a Remedy and are collecting food for people and pets at each venue; these donations then make their way to neighboring families who are struggling keep food on the table.

I hope you will enjoy their music as much as I have. Normally, I embed the music video player directly into our Friday posts, but embedding has been disabled on all the Indigo Girls music videos I can find at YouTube.com. Please click to watch the Indigo Girls perform Galileo and maybe discover other Indigo Girls music as well. You can also find them on Facebook.

Have a great weekend,
Brandy