Tag: pi

Pie, and the love thereof

Apple pie in the sky as dreamer.

apple pieI am on the record, stating my great preference for pie over cake. Pie, as a form, is more flexible than cake, as it can be savory (chicken pot pie, e.g.) or sweet.

Picking this totally random day, here are some of my favorite songs about pie.

American Pie- Don McLean. Also the name of a series of movies about libidinous teenagers.

Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie – Jay & The Techniques. I remember that game. This 1966 song I’m fairly sure one of my sisters owned, perhaps on the album. “Marry you so you don’t roam.” What a controlling guy.

Custard Pie -Led Zeppelin. I was shocked, SHOCKED to find out that this song from Physical Graffiti might be about…something else. Would Zeppelin actually use food items as metaphors for sex?

Flaming Pie – Paul McCartney. The album’s title track about how John Lennon named the Beatles.

Honey Pie – the Beatles. This doesn’t talk about food at all, but is rather a term of endearment. What IS it with Macca and pie?

I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) – Four Tops. More affectionate use of the term.

Sweet Potato Pie – Ray Charles. From the Genius Loves Company album (2004), this track features James Taylor, who had written and performed the song for his Never Die Young album (1988).

High Hopes – Frank Sinatra. Specifically: “He’s got high, apple-pie-in-the-sky hopes.” Apple pie in the sky as dreamer.

Lots of pie songs out there in a simple Google search. Here’s one list .

3.1415

This is really only Pi Day, and a very special one this year, to those somewhat backwards countries who post the date in neither descending nor ascending order of significance.

piToday is Pi Day, pi being the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. But you knew that. You probably were even aware that pi was a very old number, and, of course, an infinite decimal, roughly equivalent to 355/113.

But did you know: “Pi (rather than some other Greek letter like Alpha or Omega) was chosen as the letter to represent the number 3.141592… because the letter π in Greek, pronounced like our letter ‘p’, stands for ‘perimeter’.”

Of course, this is really only Pi Day, and a very special one this year, to those somewhat backward countries who post the date in neither descending nor ascending order of significance, but rather Month, Day, Year.

The primary country using this system is the United States, so it gets noticed. The others, as far as I can tell, are Belize and the Federated States of Micronesia, though Canada, Kenya, and the Philippines use multiple designations, including MMDDYYYY.

Since pi and pie are homophones, some people seem to think that today is Pie Day. But Pie Day in 2015 was January 23.

Still, all sophisticated folks, understandably, recognize the pie as the perfect food, available as dinner (pot pie, e.g.) or dessert, and will use any excuse to eat, or get hit in the face with, pie.

Here’s Dustbury’s pi post from last year, which shows that I’m very pi; either I go on forever, or I’m irrational. Take your pick.

Born this date: Albert Einstein in 1879, who undoubtedly used pi in some calculations; and Quincy Jones in 1933, who recorded and produced many albums that were shaped like a circle.

Both my sister’s boyfriend Mike and my friend, artist Stephen Bissette, turn the big SIX-OH today. Happy natal day to them.

As Happy As Pi(e)

“When everyone is doing nice things for each other all the time there can be no war, and therefore pie can save the world.”

 

I suppose it’s been obvious, though I had been oblivious. The link between pi, that uncalculatable number starting with 3.14, and pie, the flexible food item that can be the main course (pot pies) or dessert (fruit pies), goes far beyond the homonym relationship.

Most pies are created in a mixing bowl, one that comes in a rounded shape, and then is placed in a pie pan, usually circular in design. Even the cutesy ones, such as those made in the shape of a heart, generally have rounded edges.

Pi, of course, is the defining term for the circumference (2πr) or area (πrr) of a circle.

And everyone knows that the circle is perfect; it has no beginning and no end.

Here’s a link to TeachPi.org, “the first and best place on the Web for teachers who want to find or share ideas for Pi Day activities, learning, and entertainment.”

And here is Buffalo blogger and raconteur Jaquandor, a leading advocate of the efficacy of pie, even willing to take one in the face on occasion. You should go to his website and just search for pie.

His blog led me to The World Needs More Pie by Beth Howard, with the tag, “Give a piece a chance.” To that end, she writes:

Why We Should All Bake Pies

“Pie makes people happy. Happy people want to do nice things for others. When everyone is doing nice things for each other all the time there can be no war, and therefore pie can save the world.”

And maybe it can.

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