Charles Hotel, Cambridge, Mass. (Pi not pictured.) (Christopher Reynolds /…)
Apparently, pi is no longer just a handy way of expressing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s a lifestyle, and the biggest day of the pi year — March 14, of course — is nearly upon us. Here’s how to spend it.
Your first option: Buy a T-shirt from these people. Then take it on a road trip to Pie Town, N.M., preferably the Pie-O-Neer Cafe. The restaurant is usually closed on Thursdays, but for 3/14 it’s making an exception. (Some people imagine tha Pie Town is in the middle of nowhere. Nope. By car in light traffic, it’s about 3.14 hours southwest of Santa Fe.)
Second option: Read Pascale Le Draoulec’s 2003 book “American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America’s Backroads.” In it, the author crosses the country in search of pie makers, pie eaters, pie recipes and a deeper understanding of “the madonna-whore of the dessert world.” Having digested that, head to China so that you may bow at the feet of Chao Lu. As a college student in 2005, Chao made the Guinness Book of World Records in 2005 by reciting pi from memory out to 67,890 places. Tell him what you did when you were a college student.
Third option: Make a reservation at the Charles Hotel, a 3.14-minute walk from Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass. If you book on March 14 for a stay over any nights from March 19 through April 3, management promises a 31.4% discount. (That means the bottom $219 rate drops to $150.) Once there, you can read this epic, pi-related poem and these slyly twisted REM song lyrics.)
And then: Start planning now for Pi Approximation Day, held on the 22nd of July, because, of course, 22/7 equals 3.14.
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