Pi, Pie, Giant Men, Birth and Death

Happy Pi Day to all of you. Of course, Pi day celebrates the numbers 3.14....... etc, the magic number Pi - infinite and required for mathematical computations. I'm NO math person - I'm OK at arithmetic and basic stuff, but hopeless at anything much more advanced. I understand angles because I'm a visual artist who works in angles, basic geometry, and degrees of a circle, but I'm no scientist making calculations that will rock the world. Pi, however, is a lovely day to just add that letter "e" and eat a piece of pie. So, Happy Pi Day. 

Happy Pi Day to all of you. 

Headlining news this morning was the death of Stephen Hawking at age 76. He beat the odds, making it this long, but damn - I'm going to miss him in our world. He was born in Oxford and died in Cambridge. Isn't that rather like pitting rivals against each other in English academic circles? I think I first got to know his work through his lovely 1988 book "A Brief History of Time". I've read several other books of his over the years, including "The Universe In A Nutshell" (2001). He was a brilliant physicist who had the unique ability to synthesize a complex theory into words that an average layperson could understand. 

As a person with a degenerative disease, he could have blocked
himself into a room and refused to come out. Instead, he was
front and center, never hiding in the shadows, and through that and
his ability to explain complex ideas simply, he was beloved. 

Today will be spent in errands and in organizing paperwork for my income tax appointment tomorrow night. I'm almost out of some essentials, so I'll have to shop at both Target and my local grocery - a lot of time. Once I'm home, I'll spread out all of the bills and various reports, print other reports I may need for my year-end items, make sure I have the appropriate paperwork for my charitable donations, and hunt for my current and previous year's property tax statements. It never takes long for the actual appointment, as long as we have all of our numbers in line. 

"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet" - Professor
Stephen Hawking, 1942-2018. 

So on that note, I'll wind this up. Have a piece of pie to eat today while celebrating the life and accomplishments of Stephen Hawking and the birthday of Albert Einstein. It will be a lovely way to remember these giant men. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with everything ready to go for my evening tax appointment.