Pi Plus a little bit

An anecdote from Martin, not in his own words but following on from this morning's entry.

Martin tells me that Pi in India has been defined as 10. I asked the reason for this comment and this is the reply :-

In 1999 after the military Coup in Pakistan and the imminent threat posed by the nuclear capability which Pakistan had just revealed, the Indian Government became concerned that they could not keep up with this arms race. In order to increase the volume of their own warheads, Indian defined Pi to be 10.

Somehow it doesn't sound as good as when Martin told it but I can't remember the exact words. At the time I was struck at how good an example of a contrived answer it was. Maybe they should use square missiles instead. That reminds me of when I was in my mad keen space phase at the time of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. This is what the spacecraft looked like.



(From http://images.jsc.nasa.gov)

I built many Lego models of these craft and every time I made them square for obvious reasons and not once did it worry me. Now there are so many bricks in Lego sets with many more configurations than I ever had (The best things I had were the sloping tile bricks for making houses) and they make up all sorts of different models. There is no imagination required any more. For some reason my favourite model was one of the little free-swimming saucer-shaped submarine which Jaques Cousteau had. I can't find any really clear pictures of it which is suprising because it was one of those rare non-artistic human artifacts which is just "right"; so obviously perfect in both form and function. It made me happy that I could construct it with all the interior features as well so that there were seats inside at exactly the correct angle for viewing through the windows and which were accessible via an opening hatch (to a very small person). Maybe I will try and contstruct one in the Virtual Lego Program. I love the idea of creating Lego models which you can actually get inside. I am what you might call Claustrophilic, but that may be just a desire to shut out all the bad stuff.

I have just browsed the Lego shop site. If only I had been able to buy any brick I wanted when I was eight. We just had about enough to construct a two story house on one base plate though it did look like a real house, apart from the roof being very bright red though. I suppose it could have been in the South of France or something though I don't think there are many 1970s detached houses in the parts of France I am thinking of. Which reminds me. You don't see housing estates in France, not like those in the UK. Everyone lives in flats or farmhouses or Chateaux. And with that bit of rampant stereotyping, it is time to go.