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It’s April Fools Day! I’m not a huge fan of this day as a celebration of pranking people, seeing if you can embarrass them or get them to believe some false news story or the like. But I’d be all for a day in which we celebrate laughter and All Things Funny, whether it’s sophisticated wordplay or gonzo silliness or a good old pie in the face. Here are a few things that always hit my funny bone: (Here, on an episode of Cheers, Sam finds that his bar has been bricked in as a prank by Gary of Gary’sDown the rabbit hole….

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(NOTE: This is a repost of last year’s Pi Day post. I didn’t get a chance to generate any new content–i.e., shoot a new video in which I get a pie in the face in the midst of a lesson about Pi–this year, but hey, last year’s video is still pretty funny, if I do say so myself!) It’s Pi Day, everyone! It is also Albert Einstein’s birthday and, sadly, this year’s edition marks the passing of Stephen Hawking, about which I’ll have more to say later. But for now, let’s celebrate Pi! Calculate Pi yourself! NASA’s Pi in theDown the rabbit hole….

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It’s Pi Day, everyone! It is also Albert Einstein’s birthday and, sadly, this year’s edition marks the passing of Stephen Hawking, about which I’ll have more to say later. But for now, let’s celebrate Pi! Calculate Pi yourself! NASA’s Pi in the Sky Challenge A few videos: (That one’s titled “Pi Day” but the video has nothing to do with Pi so far as I can see, but it’s a cool video anyway, so there it is.) And finally: Happy Pi Day, everyone! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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Roger notified me of the passing recently of actress Greta Thyssen at the age of 90. I confess that I had no idea at all who she was, but thankfully, Roger provided context. In addition to her film career she later became an artist, and was married for a time to Cary Grant. For my purposes, she starred in several Three Stooges shorts. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Stooges, but you can’t deny that they elevated the fine art form on which Ms. Thyssen several times found herself on the receiving end: Full points to Ms. Thyssen forDown the rabbit hole….

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A lot of people I know–most people I know, likely—struggle with happiness. They struggle with keeping it once it’s found, and they struggle with finding it in the first place. Some struggle more mightily than that: some have to fight just to believe that happiness is a thing in the first place. This is why I have problems when people say things like “Happiness is a choice” or otherwise imply (or state outright!) that one can simply decide to be happy. As if happiness is a simple matter of flipping a mental switch. It’s not. I had this exchange onDown the rabbit hole….

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UPDATE 3/14/2019 I see this post is getting a lot of traffic all of a sudden, so if you like this sort of goofiness, check out my similar post from last year, which features a newer video in which I may or may not get pied. (Spoiler: I get pied.) Happy Pi Day, everyone! UPDATED below! Yes, it’s Pi Day, 3-14, the funnest of all the various goofy geeky holidays! (Well, May 4 — Star Wars Day — is right up there.) UPDATE!!! I posted the earlier material to hold this space until I had my own material ready toDown the rabbit hole….

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So there’s this new photo app called Prisma that’s all the rage. It’s kind of cool, really — it’s similar to Instagram in that it takes photos (new or existing) and applies filters to them to make them look nifty. The difference is that Prisma’s filters don’t just tweak certain aspects of the photo, like contrast or color balance or such things; Prisma uses your photo as the basis for a new image, called an “artwork”, in a certain artistic style, specified by use of the filter. It takes a little getting used to (and I’m not quite there yet),Down the rabbit hole….

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Ack! Sorry, folks. This week has been really screwed up, because of usual stuff: a big weekend trip with the family last weekend, lots of writing, and an overnight shift at work that has me wondering what day it is. Well, I suppose none of that’s usual other than lots of writing, but there it is. Anyway, here’s something that I feature for obvious reasons: Henry Mancini’s “Pie in the Face Polka”, from the movie The Great Race. Enjoy! PS: Oh, what the heck? Here’s the very scene for which this bit of film music was written! Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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Some stuff! :: Oh my, I forgot about my new feature, Tone Poem Tuesday. Ugh! I’ll really try to remember next week. In fact, I think I’ll write some in advance. Meantime, here’s an oft-featured favorite of mine, the gorgeous choral setting of Shenandoah. :: Roger visited the Corning Museum of Glass. Oddly, I have never been there. How weird is that! A major upstate NY attraction, and I’ve never once been there. :: Kevin Drum thinks we should stop complaining about the Olympics being tape-delayed for prime time viewing. I agree. In fact, as I write this I wasDown the rabbit hole….