Happy Pi day...  hope it wasn't too irrational for you.  I must tell you, it was weird for me; after yesterday I'm still not sure how to feel.  Am I back to normal?  Am I completely different?  Somewhere in between, and not static but bouncing back and forth.  I took high energy into the weekend and multiplied it with my ride Saturday, and then yesterday spun me around a few times.  Who knows what trajectory I'll take?

Saturday night Shirley wanted to watch Avatar.  (If you know Shirley and know Avatar, you can deduce that yes, things are a little weird around here.)  And so I looked on iTunes, nope, no Avatar.  Netflix, nope.  Blockbuster, nope.  There did not appear to be any way to buy Avatar online, despite the fact this movie is over a year old.  So I launched Pirate Bay, found a torrent, and downloaded the movie; took about three hours.  And we watched.  Awesome. 

(Yes, that is my favorite scene, when he tames the wild whatever creature and flies it against the helicopters.  Makes no actual sense but what an excellent scene.  Made for showing off 3D I do believe.)

Here's one for Shirley: Jane Eyre movie adaptations, why are there so many, and which is best?  The appeal of this story is hidden to me.  Not made for showing off 3D :) 

Just read a great article about Sudanese entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim in the New Yorker.  Man, what an amazing guy.  Not only did he found the largest cellphone company in Africa, thereby enhancing communications all over the continent, he's using the fortune it gave him to incentivize good governance.  He and others like him are the real hope for Africa, not handouts and aid from the West. 

I've been looking for this forever: affect-effect.  Just when you thought there were two words here, you realize, there are five!  "When you affect a situation, you have an effect on it."  So be it. 

Lonnie Pogue starts off his iPad 2 review thusly: "'An utter disappointment and abysmal failure'.  'Consumers seem genuinely baffled by why they might need it'.  'Insanely great it is not'.  'My god, am I underwhelmed'.  Good heavens!  What a critical drubbing!  Whatever it is must be a real turkey.  What could it be?  Only the fastest-selling gadget in the history of electronics: the Apple iPad."  Yep, I too was fooled.  [ via John Gruber ] 

Horace Dediu: the billion dollar smart cover.  Wow.  Apparently there are 31 little magnets involved, 21 in the case, and 10 in the iPad itself.  I'm sure this is the start of a trend, there will be magnets everywhere, with stuff jumping into place all around.  So be it. 

Aaron Quint: Flash Rules.  "I’m probably going to get in trouble for this, but I'll let you in on a little secret. Your hatred of Flash is wrong and misplaced."  I don't hate Flash either.  It's just a tool. 

In honor of pi day, a pi joke, courtesy of XKCD via Cory Doctorow. 

Prescription for a long life: Work hard, don't retire early.  I'm going to live to 100, easy :)