Happy Pi Day!

Today is pi day, because the date is 3/14, and pi is approximately equal to 3.14. Actually, the date is 14/03 in much of the world, and the format 3/14 is used in only a few countries including the US and Canada.

Also of note, today is Einstein's birthday - three cheers for the father of modern physics!

And (thanks to Louis Y for the heads-up) apparently it is also Giovanni Schiaparelli's birthday - three cheers for Martians! It was a mistranslation of Schiaparelli's words that led to the long-enduring notion that there is intelligent life on Mars. Schiaparelli mistakenly thought that there were channels carrying water across the surface of Mars. The Italian word for channels, "canali," was mistranslated as canals, making it sound like they had been built by intelligent Martians. Ah, would that Marvin were real...