March 14 Pi Day

Happy Pi Day – 3.14

Today’s New York Times had a fascinating article about Archimedes and his discovery of the value of pi.

I’m sure you remember, as I do, that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter is 3.14, or pi. So we celebrate March 14, 3.14, as pi day. And it’s also the birthday of Einstein – a wonderful coincidence.

The NYTimes says, “As a ratio, pi has been around since Babylonian times, but it was the Greek geometer Archimedes, some 2,300 years ago, who first showed how to rigorously estimate the value of pi.”

Can you imagine being able to do that? It’s completely beyond me! But reading the article, I could understand how he did it. I don’t understand how he knew what to do – that was more than brilliant.

He used straight lines, many, many of them, to approximate the circumference of a circle. By lining up all the straight lines inside a circle, he reasoned that the actual circumference had to be a little larger than the sum of all the straight lines. Another set of straight lines outside the circle had to be a little larger than the circumference. Hence the number in between – pi! You can find the formula to show how pi is between those two in the article.

I didn’t get from the article why the number is called pi. If you know the answer, please share it.

Traveling Family

Sam has been here in Westport for 3 weeks but left tonight Saturday to go back home to Nigeria. He’s traveling on Royal Air Maroc through Casablanca.

Soon after he arrived at the airport he called to say the flight from Casablanca to Lagos has been cancelled! The airlines did not say why. He decided to fly to Casablanca anyway, even though there’s not another flight to Lagos until Tuesday.

Corona Virus in Nigeria?

As far as I can tell, there has been only one confirmed case of the corona virus in Nigeria. The victim, an Italian man who arrived on Turkish Airlines, is recovering. All his contacts were quarantined, but after 14 days with no symptoms have all been allowed to go home. He will soon also be released.

But with fears of US airlines cancelling or suspending flights to other places including Africa, my daughter and I decided to fly sooner rather than later for my husband’s funeral in Nigeria. It is scheduled for early April.

I’ll go with my daughter Beth this coming Friday, March 20. She hates to be away from her husband and young son for three weeks, but finally decided it’s safer to go now.

“Nigerian English” Entering Oxford Dictionary

I’ve had this story waiting since December. So it’s not news anymore, but still worth reading.

https://public.oed.com/blog/nigerian-english-release-notes/

However, I have to disagree with one of the dates the story includes. “In the early 1990s, agric began to be used in Nigeria to designate improved or genetically modified varieties of crops or breeds of livestock, especially a type of commercially reared chicken that is frequently contrasted with ‘native’ (i.e. traditionally reared) chicken,” I read.

It’s true that agric usually refers to an improved chicken, raised on chicken feed instead of left to fend for itself. But the word was in use in the 1970’s! I described a scene in my book about buying “agric” chickens.

It was after my father-in-law’s death in 1979. I had gone with my uncle-in-law Obi to visit the local Dibia or shaman. Obi’s mission was to ask the Dibia to hold back the rain for the funeral in a few days.

Obi explained our purpose to the Dibia. “With the correct offerings and the instructions I will give you, the rain will stay away,” he said. He asked us to come back with five large yams, two chickens, five kola nuts, a jug of palm wine, a bottle of schnapps, and one thousand naira, about twenty-five dollars. He insisted that the chickens should be okuko agric, or agricultural chickens, from a farm that was operated by the district government to produce larger, more tender poultry than the chickens that fended for themselves.

After some bargaining, we agreed on one agric chicken and fewer yams.

I drove to the farm the following day and bought the chicken! We took it and the other agreed-upon requirements to the Dibia that afternoon.

If you’ve read my memoir, Nigeria Revisited: My Life and Loves Abroad, you know whether it rained!

Will someone visit the Dibia as we prep for my husband’s funeral in April? It is still the rainy season! Is the Dibia even still there, or a successor?