rejectomorph (flying_blind) wrote,
rejectomorph
flying_blind

Tau's It Going?

When I started this journal on June 28, 2001, I had no idea that it was Tau Day. Tau is a number (6.28) which some mathematicians want to use to replace pi (3.14) as the primary definition of the circle constant. They have their reasons, which you can read about on the Tau Day web site, but all that concerns me is that my journal anniversary is Tau Day, and it took me thirteen years to find out. Well, I'm not a mathematician, or even much of a geek, so I guess that isn't surprising.

What maybe is surprising is that I didn't realize until today that June 28 is also the anniversary of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, the event that many historians believe launched the First World War and the consequent destabilization of western civilization itself.* Now that's something I ought to have noticed, given the amount of history I've read, but it just never registered. Anyway, I don't know if this pair of associations makes my journal anniversary auspicious or inauspicious, but there they are.

Anyway, I can now pretend that all the people commemorating one of history's most famous murders and the people observing a geeky math-related event are actually helping me to celebrate my journalversary. They aren't, of course, but that's where the pretending part comes in. Anything can be pretended, and as my regular readers know I'm nothing if not pretentdious.

One more thing to note: I had hoped that my journalversary would coincide with my 6,666th journal entry, but this turns out to be entry number 6,700. I was going to skip posting a few times over the last few months to make it come out, but totally forgot. I guess I could take that to be yet another sign that I write too much, but I don't intend to.

The night was scented with jasmine on June 28, 2001, but this year almost all the blossoms are already dead. That is making me sad. I could try drinking enough beer that I'd be able to pretend that I smell jasmine, but I'd probably end up just passing out stinking drunk, and I need to go shopping tomorrow. No, it will be a sober, unscented journalversary this year so I can have a fresh head at the store. I don't want to end up buying pie the day after Tau Day. Gauche!

R.I.P., Franz Ferdinand. R.I.P., Western Civilization.


*Here I thought about noting that Tau is about the circle, and that ever since 6/28/14 civilization had been circling the drain, but I decided that the pun would be out of place on so solemn an occasion. Same reason I said nothing about writing a well-rounded entry.
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