Roy Lewallen wrote:
Gary S. wrote:

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 20:09:55 GMT, "Tom Donaly"
wrote:


They (the politicians) were relying on that vast storehouse of
scientific information, the
Bible, for their instruction.
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH



I missed that part. Guess it would be in the Book of Numbers.
. . .


Actually, it's in I Kings vii.23 and II Chronicles iv.2:

"Also, he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in
compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits
did compass it round about."

In _A History of Pi_ by Petr Beckmann, the author states (p. 174) that
"There is a story about some American legislature having considered a
bill to legislate, for religious reasons, the biblical value of pi = 3.
I have found no confirmation of this story; very probably it grew out of
an episode that actually took place in the State Legislature of Indiana
in 1897." He describes the incident. . .

A bill was introduced in the Indiana House in 1897 which said in the
preamble:

"A bill for an act introducing a new mathematical truth and offered as a
contribution to education to be used only by the State of Indiana free
of cost by paying any royalties whatever on the same, provided it is
accepted and adopted by the official action of the legislature in 1897."

In Section 1, the value of pi is effectively declared to be about 9.2.
In Section 2, it's said to be exactly 3.2. The bill was referred
["perhaps symbolically", muses Beckmann] to the House Committee on Swamp
Lands, which passed it to the Committee of Education, which reported it
back to the House "with recommendation that said bill do pass." On Feb.
5, 1897, the Indiana House passed it unanimously.

A charitable person would speculate that, like our current legislators
and the more recent Patriot Act, they just didn't trouble themselves to
read it before voting.

It was saved from passage by the Senate by the intervention of a Purdue
math professor named Waldo who, horrified when learning about it,
coached the senators.

History repeats itself. Now political interests are being used to
modify, distort, ignore, and contradict scientific findings. And Kansas
is once again attempting to legislate against the teaching of evolution.
Some things never change.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

In some states (Oregon included, IIRC), pi _is_ legally equal to three
-- at least for the purposes of calculating the number of board feet in
a log, and most likely as an informed decision to make calculation easier.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott
wrote (in .
com) about 'Another hopeless text: spot the errors...', on Fri, 10 Sep
2004:
In some states (Oregon included, IIRC), pi _is_ legally equal to three -
- at least for the purposes of calculating the number of board feet in a
log, and most likely as an informed decision to make calculation easier.

It is, AIUI, based on an average diameter and allows for the taper of
the log.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 02:05:19 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote:

|On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 00:46:31 GMT, "Clarence" wrote:
|
|"Reg Edwards" wrote in message
...
| History repeats itself. Now political interests are being used to
| modify, distort, ignore, and contradict scientific findings. And Kansas
| is once again attempting to legislate against the teaching of evolution.
| Some things never change.
|
| Roy Lewallen, W7EL
|
| It could only happen in the USA!
|
|A flaw in the system called Democracy?
|
|Democracy works best with a well educated, critical thinking,
|intelligent group of voters capable of seeing long term effects.
|
|Someday, we might see how that works out.

Doubtful. Of course real democracy is when nine of ten people in a
room can vote to kill the tenth.

John Woodgate wrote:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott
wrote (in .
com) about 'Another hopeless text: spot the errors...', on Fri, 10 Sep
2004:

In some states (Oregon included, IIRC), pi _is_ legally equal to three -
- at least for the purposes of calculating the number of board feet in a
log, and most likely as an informed decision to make calculation easier.


It is, AIUI, based on an average diameter and allows for the taper of
the log.

Probably -- I suppose if you measure more toward the butt end of the log
that'll take care of the 0.14159etc.

I used to know a guy who had worked at a company that made estimator
pads for log scalers -- had keys to enter all the parameters, an LCD
screen, microprocessor, the whole nine yards. The first time he went to
check it with a _real_ log scaler this old coot stepped out of the
shack, looked at an entire load of lumber on a truck and said "that's
about X board-feet". Kevin spent half an hour measuring and entering
and came up with the same number.

Progress. Go figure.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 08:18:10 -0700, Tim Wescott
wrote:

[snip]
I used to know a guy who had worked at a company that made estimator
pads for log scalers -- had keys to enter all the parameters, an LCD
screen, microprocessor, the whole nine yards. The first time he went to
check it with a _real_ log scaler this old coot stepped out of the
shack, looked at an entire load of lumber on a truck and said "that's
about X board-feet". Kevin spent half an hour measuring and entering
and came up with the same number.

Progress. Go figure.

That's how my grandfather on my mother's side made his fortune.

At age 17 (in 1913) he was sent by a building contractor to pick up
some lumber (by horse-drawn wagon).

He argued with the estimator that the load was short. (Doing all the
calculations in his head.)

The saw-mill boss came up to settle the dispute... the estimator was
fired and my grandfather was hired.

Later he owned the saw-mill and a coal mine and a *HUGE* farm in
Barbour County, WV.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott
wrote (in .
com) about 'Another hopeless text: spot the errors...', on Fri, 10 Sep
2004:
I used to know a guy who had worked at a company that made estimator
pads for log scalers -- had keys to enter all the parameters, an LCD
screen, microprocessor, the whole nine yards. The first time he went to
check it with a _real_ log scaler this old coot stepped out of the
shack, looked at an entire load of lumber on a truck and said "that's
about X board-feet". Kevin spent half an hour measuring and entering
and came up with the same number.

Progress. Go figure.

The old coot had probably already measured it. Old coots have a way of
fixing to win.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
...
Roy Lewallen wrote:

snip

In some states (Oregon included, IIRC), pi _is_ legally equal to three
-- at least for the purposes of calculating the number of board feet in
a log, and most likely as an informed decision to make calculation easier.


"I know you are a logger, sir, and not a common bum,
'Cause no one but a logger stirs his coffee with his thumb."

Maybe the reason for the rounding down is more obvious than that!

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 17:14:41 +0100, John Woodgate
wrote:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott
wrote (in .
com) about 'Another hopeless text: spot the errors...', on Fri, 10 Sep
2004:
I used to know a guy who had worked at a company that made estimator
pads for log scalers -- had keys to enter all the parameters, an LCD
screen, microprocessor, the whole nine yards. The first time he went to
check it with a _real_ log scaler this old coot stepped out of the
shack, looked at an entire load of lumber on a truck and said "that's
about X board-feet". Kevin spent half an hour measuring and entering
and came up with the same number.

Progress. Go figure.

The old coot had probably already measured it. Old coots have a way of
fixing to win.

Not always.

Some get enough experience that they can eye something to an amazing
degree of accuracy. Just takes 25 years of practice.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

"Wes Stewart" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 02:05:19 GMT, Gary S. Idontwantspam@net wrote:

|On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 00:46:31 GMT, "Clarence" wrote:
|
|"Reg Edwards" wrote in message
...
| History repeats itself. Now political interests are being used to
| modify, distort, ignore, and contradict scientific findings. And Kansas
| is once again attempting to legislate against the teaching of
evolution.
| Some things never change.
|
| Roy Lewallen, W7EL
|
| It could only happen in the USA!
|
|A flaw in the system called Democracy?
|
|Democracy works best with a well educated, critical thinking,
|intelligent group of voters capable of seeing long term effects.
|
|Someday, we might see how that works out.

Doubtful. Of course real democracy is when nine of ten people in a
room can vote to kill the tenth.




--
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the
people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
Thomas Jefferson

On Friday 10 September 2004 09:14 am, John Woodgate did deign to grace us
with the following:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott
wrote (in .
com) about 'Another hopeless text: spot the errors...', on Fri, 10 Sep
2004:
I used to know a guy who had worked at a company that made estimator
pads for log scalers -- had keys to enter all the parameters, an LCD
screen, microprocessor, the whole nine yards. The first time he went to
check it with a _real_ log scaler this old coot stepped out of the
shack, looked at an entire load of lumber on a truck and said "that's
about X board-feet". Kevin spent half an hour measuring and entering
and came up with the same number.

Progress. Go figure.

The old coot had probably already measured it. Old coots have a way of
fixing to win.
--
By golly, I guess I must be an old coot. I went to Staples to get a
ream of 11x17 paper. All they had was a box. (10 reams per). The droid
said that was the only way they can sell it. I said, "Don't be stupid.
Just break open the box and get out a ream." This moron says, "Oh, they
don't have barcodes on the single reams, they can't scan it." I just
grumbled at him and went up to the register, and asked the kid, "Can
you do a price check?" - BTW, this was the same kid who had got his
boss, who was the one who said they can't sell one ream. So, the droid
is off somewhere, I go slide a ream out of the box, the kid prices it,
and it's about five bucks. So I go to the droid, and ask, "Are you a
betting man? Tell you what - let's crack that box, and if the ream is
not marked, I'll pay you five bucks, but if it is, you gotta buy it
for me." He didn't want to bet, but he relented, and went and got
the same ream that I had just had scanned, but stealthily put back,
and let me buy it. Maybe this should be a true tale of induhviduals.

Cheers!
Rich