Wrong! In Alabama, the value of pie is "Pecan." George A
P.S. Sorry, I couldn't help it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Gabriel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 4:43 AM Subject: Pi in the Sky (Was: Re: EU thought crimes) > >From: "The Fool" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: Re: EU thought crimes > >Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 11:05:16 -0600 > > > > > From: Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > Andrew Crystall wrote: > > > > > > > > As a sidenote, in America the Holocaust was established > > > > by a court case as a fact and thus technically holocaust > > > > deniers could be taken to court on that basis. > > > > > > > Uh? Does it mean that someone could be taken to a > > > court by claiming that Pi = 4? Or by denying Evolution? > > > >Several states have _tried_ to return pi to the biblical value of 3. > > I was **sure** this was an urban legend... snopes bears me out: "There is > not now and never has been a bill in front of the Alabama state legislature > to redefine the value of pi." > > Oh, and there's a reference to SIASL (Heinlein) at the end, so we're back to > something vaguely ontopic. :) > *grin* > Jon > > > From: http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.htm > Claim: Responding to pressure from religious groups, Alabama's state > legislature redefined the value of pi from 3.14159 to 3 in order to bring it > in line with Biblical precepts. > Status: False. > Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1998] > > HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA engineers and mathematicians in this high-tech city > are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama state legistature narrowly > passed a law yesterday redefining pi, a mathematical constant used in the > aerospace industry. The bill to change the value of pi to exactly three was > introduced without fanfare by Leonard Lee Lawson (R, Crossville), and > rapidly gained support after a letter-writing campaign by members of the > Solomon Society, a traditional values group. Governor Guy Hunt says he will > sign it into law on Wednesday. > > The law took the state's engineering community by surprise. "It would have > been nice if they had consulted with someone who actually uses pi," said > Marshall Bergman, a manager at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. > According to Bergman, pi is a Greek letter that signifies the ratio of the > circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is often used by engineers to > calculate missile trajectories. > > Prof. Kim Johanson, a mathematician from University of Alabama, said that pi > is a universal constant, and cannot arbitrarily be changed by lawmakers. > Johanson explained that pi is an irrational number, which means that it has > an infinite number of digits after the decimal point and can never be known > exactly. Nevertheless, she said, pi is precisly defined by mathematics to be > "3.14159, plus as many more digits as you have time to calculate". > > "I think that it is the mathematicians that are being irrational, and it is > time for them to admit it," said Lawson. "The Bible very clearly says in I > Kings 7:23 that the alter font of Solomon's Temple was ten cubits across and > thirty cubits in diameter, and that it was round in compass." > > Lawson called into question the usefulness of any number that cannot be > calculated exactly, and suggested that never knowing the exact answer could > harm students' self-esteem. "We need to return to some absolutes in our > society," he said, "the Bible does not say that the font was > thirty-something cubits. Plain reading says thirty cubits. Period." > > Science supports Lawson, explains Russell Humbleys, a propulsion technician > at the Marshall Spaceflight Center who testified in support of the bill > before the legislature in Mongtomery on Monday. "Pi is merely an artifact of > Euclidean geometry." Humbleys is working on a theory which he says will > prove that pi is determined by the geometry of three-dimensional space, > which is assumed by physicists to be "isotropic", or the same in all > directions. "There are other geometries, and pi is different in every one of > them," says Humbleys. Scientists have arbitrarily assumed that space is > Euclidean, he says. He points out that a circle drawn on a spherical surface > has a different value for the ratio of circumfence to diameter. "Anyone with > a compass, flexible ruler, and globe can see for themselves," suggests > Humbleys, "its not exactly rocket science." > > Roger Learned, a Solomon Society member who was in Montgomery to support the > bill, agrees. He said that pi is nothing more than an assumption by the > mathematicians and engineers who were there to argue against the bill. > "These nabobs waltzed into the capital with an arrogance that was > breathtaking," Learned said. "Their prefatorial deficit resulted in a > polemical stance at absolute contraposition to the legislature's puissance." > > Some education experts believe that the legislation will affect the way math > is taught to Alabama's children. One member of the state school board, Lily > Ponja, is anxious to get the new value of pi into the state's math > textbooks, but thinks that the old value should be retained as an > alternative. She said, "As far as I am concerned, the value of pi is only a > theory, and we should be open to all interpretations." She looks forward to > students having the freedom to decide for themselves what value pi should > have. > > Robert S. Dietz, a professor at Arizona State University who has followed > the controversy, wrote that this is not the first time a state legislature > has attempted to redifine the value of pi. A legislator in the state of > Indiana unsuccessfully attempted to have that state set the value of pi to > three. According to Dietz, the lawmaker was exasperated by the calculations > of a mathematician who carried pi to four hundred decimal places and still > could not achieve a rational number. Many experts are warning that this is > just the beginning of a national battle over pi between traditional values > supporters and the technical elite. Solomon Society member Lawson agrees. > "We just want to return pi to its traditional value," he said, "which, > according to the Bible, is three." > > > Origins: This wonderful bit of creative writing began circulating on the > Internet in April 1998. Written by Mark Boslough as an April Fool's parody > on legislative and school board attacks on evolution in New Mexico, the > author took real statements from New Mexican legislators and school board > members supporting creationism and recast them into a fictional account > detailing how Alabama legislators had passed a law calling for the value of > pi to be set to the "Biblical value" of 3.0. > > This brilliant piece of humor was originally posted to the newsgroup > talk.origins on 1 April 1998 as well as sent to a list of New Mexican > scientists and citizens interested in evolution and printed in the April > issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter NMSR Reports. > Its talk.origins poster followed up a day later with a full confession and > explanation of the prank, thereby allowing others to share in the fun. One > would have thought that would have been the end of it. > > Ah but the Internet works in mysterious ways. Several readers forwarded the > piece to friends and posted it to other newsgroups. As the story moved > along, what would have easily identified it as a parody and not a news item > was stripped out: the attribution to "April Holiday" of the "Associmated > Press." Now it looked like a real news piece. Which is how it was received > by many. > > There is not now and never has been a bill in front of the Alabama state > legislature to redefine the value of pi. With one exception, none of the > names given in this fanciful account stand up to scrutiny. > > The one exception is Guy Hunt. He is a former governor of Alabama, convicted > in 1993 for diverting $200,000 from his inaugural fund to his personal use. > > Though the claim about the Alabama state legislature is pure nonsense, it is > similar to an event that happened more than a century ago. In 1897 the > Indiana House of Representatives unanimously passed a measure redefining the > area of a circle and the value of pi. (House Bill no. 246, introduced by > Rep. Taylor I. Record.) The bill died in the state Senate. > > Barbara "cornbread are square; pi are round" Mikkelson > > Sightings: In Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein makes passing > mention of Tennessee's enacting a law making pi equal 3.0 > > Last updated: 28 October 1998 > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > > _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
