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Pi, Greek letter π, is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Pi = 3.1415926535…
With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational and transcendental number meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating. The symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737.
-- piday.org
News
The Fed Stays the Course
The Federal Reserve acknowledged on Tuesday that it is not certain which way the economy is going. It saw signs of improvement, but its outlook is cautious. It plans to continue near-zero interest rates through 2014 and bond purchases through June to keep borrowing costs low. The stock market responded enthusiastically. Without more help — from Congress, the White House and the Fed — it is hard to see how the fledgling recovery will take off.
While the jobless rate has declined swiftly, from 9.1 percent last summer to 8.3 percent in February, the slow pace of economic growth suggests those job gains are not sustainable. Similarly, the strong retail sales report for February largely reflects higher spending for gasoline, suggesting that consumers are more stressed than free-spending. [ ... ] The message, unfortunately, has not gotten through. The Fed, so far, has correctly resisted calls from its hawkish members to tighten its policies. Barring a dramatic, and unlikely, upsurge in the economy, it must be prepared to loosen policy further.
The Fed should not be the only one doing battle for the economy, but given lawmakers’ inability to agree with President Obama, or each other, on even basic stimulative policies, its economic leadership is essential.
Report: Bank of America, Wells Fargo leaders knew of foreclosure issues
Bank of America Corp. vice presidents knew employees were signing foreclosure documents without verifying their accuracy, and some vice presidents signed thousands of documents per month themselves, according to new federal reports based on employee interviews.
Wells Fargo & Co. gave lofty titles to employees without higher education or experience in order to allow them to sign documents, and ignored warnings that they couldn’t handle the workload, the reports state.
[ ... ]
For example, Wells hired a pizza-shop employee to be a vice president in charge of signing loan documents. At Bank of America, an employee said she signed 20,000 documents per day.
Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
Cameron, Obama meeting on weighty issues
The focus for the two leaders Wednesday was expected to fall on the Middle East and Afghanistan. Obama and Cameron are seeking to ramp up pressure on Iran to reverse steps toward acquiring nuclear weapons capability while staving off a military strike from Israel that they fear would have unpredictable repercussions.
In a joint opinion piece published in The Washington Post on Tuesday, Obama and Cameron said they plan to discuss how to handle the resumption of negotiations with Iran.
"We believe that there is time and space to pursue a diplomatic solution," they wrote.
Britain wants endgame in Afghanistan, says David Cameron
David Cameron has admitted that the British public and Armed Forces wanted an “endgame” to the war in Afghanistan.
As he prepared for talks with Barack Obama about withdrawing from the conflict, the Prime Minister conceded that Allied forces would not leave behind a “perfect democracy” and that Afghanistan faced “huge development problems” following the decade-long war. However, people wanted to know “that our troops are going to come home”, he said.
[ ... ]
According to opinion polls, an overwhelming majority of the British public believe that the Afghan war cannot be won, while in the US, a Washington Post/ABC News poll this month showed that 60 per cent of Americans think the war has not been worth it.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrives in Afghanistan; pledges no change in strategy
CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived Wednesday for his third trip to Afghanistan, pledging that a recent string of setbacks would not force the United States to alter its strategy in Afghanistan.
The killing on Sunday of as many as 16 innocent Afghans, mostly women and children, by a U.S. Army staff sergeant has heightened anger over the long U.S. war and occupation. That anger was also stoked in February by the burning of several Korans at a U.S. military base.
What if George W. Bush had done that?
A series of recent moves — from aggressively filling his reelection war chest to green-lighting shoot-to-kill orders against an American terror suspect overseas — would have triggered a massive backlash if George W. Bush had tried them, say former Bush administration officials and a few on the political left. Even Obama’s love for the links draws only gentle ribbing rather than the denunciations that helped drive Bush to give up the game for the balance of his presidency.
[ ... ]
“A little bit of consistency from the media would be appreciated — and from the left-wing groups,” said Mark Corallo, director of public affairs at the Justice Department from 2002-05. “I don’t see anybody standing up. … Where is the outrage?”
[ ... ]
“Virtually all the Democrats who were apoplectic about Bush and were constantly complaining about him ‘trampling on our values’ over eavesdropping and detention have been silent about assassination, even though it’s so much more severe,” Greenwald said. “It isn’t that Obama is necessarily any worse on civil liberties than Bush. The point is he’s able to get away with so much more.”
AFL-CIO endorses Obama in unanimous vote
ORLANDO, Fla. — The AFL-CIO put aside its sometimes-tense relationship with the White House and endorsed President Barack Obama for re-election Tuesday, vowing to mobilize its grassroots network on his behalf.
The federation's executive council, made up of 57 leaders of its member unions, voted unanimously to back the president. Several of the AFL-CIO's member unions had previously announced their support. Altogether, the unions represent 12 million members.
"With our endorsement today, we affirm our faith in him - and pledge to work with him through the election and his second term to restore fairness, security and shared equality," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
Insight: Big 4 auditors spend more than ever on U.S. lobbying
(Reuters) - The world's largest accounting and auditing firms, known as the Big Four, have been pumping more money than ever before into U.S. lobbying and political campaigns as they confront new challenges from their regulator and Congress.
Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers last year spent a combined $9.4 million on in-house and outside lobbyists, according to a Reuters analysis of congressional disclosure reports.
[ ... ]
A significant portion of the Big Four's lobbying efforts goes to trying to influence the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB. The nearly decade-old oversight panel is debating regulatory changes that could have major implications for the auditing business.
Guy Who Rented All 94 Rooms of Aspen Hotel for Party Scores Awesome New Goldman Job
The main character in that tale was an individual named Jeffrey Verschleiser, a former Bear Stearns executive who was instrumental in helping blow up that venerable firm. Verschleiser among other things was reportedly involved with an elaborate Wall Street version of a merchandise return scam, only instead of taking the proceeds from returned TVs and stereos, his unit was pocketing the cash from crap mortgages sold back to banks on behalf of investors.
Verschleiser also made a bundle burning Bear's bond insurers, whom he bet against after inducing them to insure his crappy mortgage bonds, nicknamed "Sack of Shit" bonds by one of the funny dudes in his department. Verschleiser reportedly bragged that he made $55 million shorting his own bond insurers in the space of three weeks.
[ ... ]
So this guy, who made the news both for his professional unscrupulousness and for his personal assholedom, is the guy that Goldman picks to head its global mortgage operation.
Encyclopedia Britannica halts print publication after 244 years
The paper edition of the encyclopedia ends its centuries-long run, but is it a victim or beneficiary of the digital age?
The Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that after 244 years, dozens of editions and more than 7m sets sold, no new editions will be put to paper. The 32 volumes of the 2010 installment, it turns out, were the last. Future editions will live exclusively online.
For some readers the news will provoke malaise at the wayward course of this misguided age. Others will wonder, in the era of Wikipedia, what took the dinosaur so long to die. Neither view quite captures the company or the crossroads.
In South Sudan's violence, U.S.-backed army part of the problem
Here in Jonglei state, where tit-for-tat raids have billowed into a full-scale internal war between the Murle and Lou Nuer tribes, South Sudan's army has become part of the problem, despite the $270 million in American aid it's received since a 2005 U.S.-brokered peace deal led last year to the creation of the country.
A broad group of U.S. activists who forged close ties with the South Sudanese rebel movement spurred that deal to end Sudan's decades-long civil war. They included churches from then-President George W. Bush's hometown of Midland, Texas, the Congressional Black Caucus and celebrities such as actor George Clooney.