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Several people have been asking me what the password-protected Pi area in my blog contains AND have also been demanding login accounts and passwords. Pi is accessible via that funny looking “n” in my top nav menu. I didn’t use Times Roman font which is why it doesn’t look like the normal Pi symbol. Pi is a joke reference to The Net, a 1995 psychological thriller directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Sandra Bullock.

Bullock plays Angela Bennett, a computer technician whose identity is erased after she is sent a disk from her friend who wants help in debugging the mysterious system he stumbled upon. The disk contains a link to Mozart’s Ghost which looks just like a regular band web page except for a little Pi symbol in the lower-right hand corner. When the Pi symbol is clicked on with the correct keystroke(s), it sends the surfer to password-protected sites. After discovering this, Angela’s life is in danger from a secret gang of cyber-terrorists known as the Praetorians. Her entire digital identity - bank accounts, credit cards, etc. are deleted by the Praetorians.

5 years ago, I tested a CD-ROM demo application containing a tiny, almost imperceptible Pi symbol linking to Google, inserted by a developer who obviously thought he was being funny and clever. When I told him I had found it, he seemed slightly amused yet pissed because his joke had ended. Yes, the geek-o-meter is off the scale in this geek-laden entry.

Well, I’m not obviously going to divulge what the Pi area in my blog contains, however, if you really must know, the password to access it is mentioned in the following 8 true fruityoaty Pi facts… or maybe I’m just completely bullshitting you about the password part:

1. Pi is the first two letters of my nickname given to me at birth which is in no way a variation of my middle name which also begins with “Pi”. At first sight of me, my Mom said, “Oh, she looks so _____, let’s call her _____.” My sister’s nickname is even odder, which somehow makes me feel a lot better about mine. Sometimes, my father mixes up our monikers… literally. For example, one time, he combined the first 2 letters of my sister’s nickname and the last 3 letters of my nickname… and we don’t know who he was referring to… It was very confusing.
2. Pi is a 1998 film co-written and directed by Darren Arofnosky, which I had mentioned in this earlier post. It is about a paranoid mathematician searching for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature. I actually saw Darren Arofnosky and his squeeze, actress Rachel Weisz in the North American premiere of “The Fountain” (a film co-written and directed by Arofnosky) during the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. My sister thinks I’m very odd and she would never ever pay to see a film like Pi.
3. Magnum, P.I. was an American television show that aired from 1980 to 1988 and followed the adventures of Thomas Magnum (played by Tom Selleck), a private investigator living in Hawaii. I watched this show regularly in the late 80’s because my big sister, a big fan of the show, regularly held the TV set hostage. She was also much bigger than me so I was scared to change the channel.
4. Life of Pi is a novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. A young Indian boy ruminates on issues of religion and spirituality and survives on a life raft with a huge Bengal tiger for 227 days. The novel is the winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize. For some reason I can’t pinpoint (because I liked the parts I read), I am unable to finish the last 2 chapters of this tiny book. My sister, a more avid bookreader than I am, shares the same predicament, however, she is able to articulate the reason - something about falling asleep. Perhaps it’s because the mix of faith, nature and dangerous animals is old hat to her. Our earlier years were spent in a farm-like setting, surrounded by finger-biting ducks and chickens. We can recall near-death experiences with nature, raging floods, poisonous rattler snakes and rabid dogs that chased you for miles to tear into tender young flesh. We also survived years in a militant Roman Catholic private school staffed by dour German nuns, English-speaking Filipino teachers who threatened to beat you if you misbehaved (which apparently included not knowing the answer to 5×5 in Grade 1 or forgetting to answer in English), and a crochety old female librarian who wouldn’t let anyone read or touch the books.
5. Pi is a mathematical constant, approximately equal to 3.14159, which represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean geometry. When referring to this constant, the symbol Pi (again, that looks like a funny “n” because I’m not using Times Roman font) is always pronounced like “pie” in English. Incidentally, my sister makes the most awesome pies and doesn’t know Pi beyond 3.14.
6. According to my Wikipedia search, Pi Day and Pi Approximation Day are two unofficial holidays held to celebrate the mathematical constant Pi. Pi Day is observed on March 14; Pi Approximation Day may be observed on any of several dates, most often July 22. One way of celebrating is to eat a pineapple… which is a heck of a lot better than eating a square radish on Square Root Day. Incidentally, I’ve been called pineapple by several people throughout my life, but I suppose it’s better than being called “square radish”. I don’t think my sister has ever called me pineapple or radish, but she has called me “odd” or “square” a few times.
7. Pi is a song by Kate Bush. According to this guy and this other guy, Kate’s song is mathematically flawed and that she in fact sings the digits of Pi incorrectly. Yeah I know, who cares? My sister thinks I’m very odd for liking music by Kate Bush because she thinks Kate Bush is weird. Kate Bush IS weird.
8. Pi is also the name of a song and video by Hard ‘N Phirm, sent to me by a friend who asked me about the Pi thing. It’s a funny video spoofing a children’s educational program on American public television in the 70’s. Here is the video, for your listening and viewing pleasure:

Enjoy. “Did somebody say pie?” I like pie! Especially fruity plum pie.

Adieu,

fruity flakey Pi