Casaubon's Book

Getting it Right In the Pi-Hole

Posted by Sharon Astyk on March 8, 2010
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I’m not going to be beating PZ Myers any time soon on readership, Dr. Isis in hot shoes or Comrade Physioprof in elegantly phrased obscenity, but I think I’ve found something that this blog can kick fellow-science blogger patootie at – the baking of awesome pies. After all, how many of those other blogistes actually have a food and cooking book to their credit? How many famously brought our nation together in the pursuit of pie (I’ll be re-running the famous “We Need More Pie” essay tomorrow, since it is pure, ennobling, and well, because I’m off doing other stuff and need some gently used blog content ;-) ).

It turns out that in a tradition that dates all the way back to 2009, science bloggers celebrate “Pi day” on March 14, with pie. Lots of pies. In fact, competition for the most awesome pie. With prizes, glory and honor. And we (my readership) could win it all for the glory of well, something or other.

Here’s the deal: (Go here to see this with links and all the other details)
In 2010, the Pi Day Pie Bake-Off returns, but this year the rules are different, the prizes are bigger, and we are excited to have a co-sponsor for the contest: food website and staff favorite, Serious Eats, whose past coverage of pies has been impressive.

This year, the contest is open to both readers and bloggers. We will post all the submissions on our editorial blog, Page 3.14, and put them to a final vote at the conclusion of the contest on March 14. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a prize of $314 in cold, hard cash. Three winners in the following categories will each receive a “Simple as 3.141592″ T-shirt generously donated by mental_floss: Judges’ Pick, Most Photogenic, and Best Concept Pie. The last must be somehow representative of a concept in science or math–your choice.

To enter the 2010 Pi Day Bake-Off, first upload a photo of your pie to Photograzing on Serious Eats. Then, email your pie submission to pi@scienceblogs.com. Please include your name, blog or website if you want us to link to it, and the link to the photo on Photograzing. We will email you to remind you when your pie has gone up for the vote, so you can pester your friends to vote for you.

Realistically, I have a book due in three weeks and no working digital camera, so the odds are good that my “Paleoclimatology Ice Core Flurry Pie” may remain only a dream. I am relying on you, dearest readership, to bring glory and honor to my blog. Do me proud, pie folk!

Sharon

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Comments

  1. #1 Greenpa
    March 8, 2010

    Ran into this over on BBC, and just thought you’d find it fascinating; I sure did.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8550614.stm

    And speaking of Jewishness- it just occurred to me that while I know about gefilte fish, hamentaschen, challah, and chicken soup, I’ve never heard of any traditional Jewish pie.

    How is that possible? And what reasons might there be? I think there’s a post in there somewhere…
    :-)

  2. #2 Greenpa
    March 8, 2010

    Ok, bolt out of the blue. You GOTTA do this. :-)

    We all know you have a knack for humorous fantasies; here is a spectacular opportunity-

    Make UP a fabulous traditional Jewish pie- JUST DISCOVERED, from the “lost tribe” in Zimbabwe…

    Oh, please, please, you just gotta. :-)

    3,000 year old pie! Think of the myths you can make up!

  3. #3 aimee
    March 8, 2010

    I think traditional jewish pie is called rugelach!

  4. #4 abbie
    March 8, 2010

    I’m the reigning champion of the Pi Day baking contest at my school. Since I’m on maternity leave this year (still no baby yet!) I can’t participate! For anyone who wants my recipe, here it is: http://farmersdaughterct.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/butternut-squash-pie/

  5. #5 Anna
    March 9, 2010

    I only just recently conquered my fear of pie crusts. This might just be the thing to launch my pie baking to a new level.

  6. #6 Greenpa
    March 9, 2010

    and, since Jesus was Jewish, perhaps Marmite would be a good ingredient for the pie? Apparently he hangs out there-

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8071865.stm

  7. #7 capsiplex
    March 9, 2010

    How is that possible? And what reasons might there be? I think there’s a post in there somewhere…

  8. #8 ET
    March 10, 2010

    Are you still so sure that this isn’t a likely scenario in the US?

    “President Bachelet’s decision, said Sergio Serulnikov, a history professor at the University of San Andrés in Buenos Aires, recalled an unusual aspect of Argentina’s 1989 food riots, which lasted a month. No disaster triggered them; instead, hyperinflation had left the poor starving. At first, groups of shantytown women entered stores en masse, loaded baskets and left without paying — but also without touching the cash registers or breaking anything. Later, that discipline disappeared and mobs smashed their way into shuttered markets. With the government helpless and the police wavering, Professor Serulnikov said, storeowners started bargaining, offering to give everything away if their stores were not damaged.

    Those riots finally ended, he said, when there was nothing left to take — a fate Chile escaped.”

    From
    The Moral Ambiguity of Looting in NYT March 5, 2010.