Ahhh, Pi Day. Being a geek, writing the entry for the3six5 on Pi Day was 3.0 parts giddy enthusiasm mixed with 0.14159 parts reverence and somber respect. May you all do something irrationally transcendental today <smiley/>.
Pi Day is important - as you know, the U.S. has fallen behind much of the rest of the world in math and science education. I'm convinced that some roots of the problem lie squarely at the feet of both popular culture hammering that “math is hard” and attacks on science from multiple channels (pseudo-science, anti-vaxxers, thinly-veiled religious agendas re: evolution, etc.). Of the many hats I wear in this life, one of them is the “somewhat-crazy-volunteer-math-teacher” hat at my daughters' school. I'm consistently (happily) surprised by how complete these kids are as people – often wise beyond their years. Besides getting to spend time with cool kids, I see it as my small part to play in combating the growing sentiments of anti-science. Bonus is that they tend to erase my cynicism and fill me with hope for the future of our society. Win-win, as they say! As for what I did today, one of my daughters is unfortunately sick with a cold. Never fun. But one of the positive things that came from it was that she and I got even more than our usual quality time together. As a family, we spend a lot of great time together, doing things like running, biking and cross-country skiing. We're all incredibly close, but it's different when someone's sick. There's a different gentleness to it. Maybe it has roots in evolutionary processes, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that things slow down, and in our hyper-connected, hyper-scheduled society, that's oftentimes a good thing. Last night, tucking Ella in for bed, she told me that I am beautiful and that I have kind eyes. Does it get any better? Without a doubt, in that moment I was reminded of how much these three women in my life mean to me.______________________________________________
About the author: Rick Cochrane is passionate about vast and varied things, loves his family dearly, is an abstract-random thinker, develops kick ass software by day and night, and drinks altogether too much excellent espresso. Follow his rambling rants and observations as @rickbert on Twitter.