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Subject: [IP] more on Ahem.... no leap seconds?




Begin forwarded message:

From: George Sadowsky <george.sadowsky@attglobal.net>
Date: July 29, 2005 3:24:18 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Ahem.... no leap seconds?


Dave,

Apropos of Mike O'Dell's lament:

In 1897 a bill was proposed in the Indiana Legislature that would have legally established the value of pi. This value would then have been copyrighted and used in state math textbooks. Other states would have to pay to use this value. See:

        http://www.inwit.com/inwit/writings/indianapilaw.html

for the history of this nonsense -- and it's probably not unique!

George

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: mo@ccr.org (Mike O'Dell)
Date: July 29, 2005 12:42:59 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Ahem.... no leap seconds?



To paraphrase a nameless hardware designers lament:

    It could be a lot faster, simpler and cheaper
    if it didn't have to get the right answer.

The next thing you know, they'll be trying to
legislate PI to be a more convenient value.

oh, wait a minute....
    -mo


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