As you begin April, you will be coming off a particularly stressful full moon in your relationship sector. That moon put the control in the hands of a partner or competitor, not you. If you felt at a disadvantage, you probably were not dreaming. A relationship may have upset or disappointed you, and it may have left you wondering what to do next. Those born in March were most affected by this full moon that appeared March 29 (but that is still strong for the first days of April). If you are an April-born Aries, you may have had an easier time.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

                        A work-related project seems to have come to a conclusion, and as you enter April, you may feel relieved that it is over. Take the first few days of April slow and easy. April will not be as busy as March turned out to be, so you can coast a little and enjoy life more. Saturn in Libra (a placement that Saturn took on October 29 last year) has added work to your shoulders, most likely because of cutbacks in personnel where you work.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

                        Whenever there is a full moon at the end of the previous month, as we had March 29, emotions tend to run strong. So as the new month begins, you will likely still be thinking about what occurred. This full moon focused on your personal life – the person you love, or even a child – and brought a conclusion, ending, or major new development. That new moon helped you make a decision and move forward with greater certainty. If a cloud passed overhead at the end of March (possible, due to the presence of Saturn, which was so close to that full moon), you should find April to be a better month.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

                        As April dawns, you may be mulling over your home circumstances and wondering how you got into this situation in the first place. It’s very likely unforeseen conditions put you where you are, and that you are doing the very best you can. The full moon that arrived on March 29 highlighted your frustrations, for that moon fell very close to Saturn, reminding you of how tightly controlled conditions have become for you. Saturn has been limiting your movements and choices, and you may be frustrated by what has transpired since the last quarter of 2009.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)

                        This will be a good, solid month that may include quite a bit of travel. The full moon that occurred on March 29 may have sent you packing a short distance, and if so, you seem to have had a goal to complete at that time. In fact, that trip might have been arduous in some way. No matter what you experienced, things will improve this month, as April seems perfect to send you further afield, to points very far from home, possibly even abroad. Spin your compass, dear Leo – it looks like you’ll be heading to the airport.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

                        Saturn, the taskmaster planet that has been responsible for many of your trials and tribulations of the past two years, is moving back into Virgo this month for a brief 14-week stay, from April 7 to July 21. During this phase you will do one more challenge. After that, you will be done with Saturn in Virgo for the coming nearly three decades.

Libra (September 23 – October 22)

                        You may be feeling relief now that you’ve made it to April. This will be a slower, less pressure-filled month, and you will get a chance to take a deep breath and collect your thoughts. You are coming off a rather depressing full moon in Libra, March 29 plus or minus four days. That full moon made certain realities very clear in a kind of matter-of-fact way, which is never easy. Saturn fell very close to that full moon, giving everyone, of every sign, a sobering view of life, but because it appears in your constellation, you may have felt it more than most. As you begin April, you may still be thinking about what came up, but know that with every passing day in the first week of April you’ll be feeling better.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

                        Last month brought some heightened emotions to bear at the full moon, March 29, and you may have felt physically drained as a result of what was going on at the office. The moon was close to Saturn, and Pluto was in tough angle to the Sun, so no doubt you felt at the point where you were ready to crack if you didn’t get more support from higher ups around you. Happily, as you begin April, you will feel calmer and happier. VIPs are finally waking up to your need for support, and you suddenly find yourself in a prime position. Everyone wants you in their corner, even if they’ve had a strange way of showing it.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

                        This month holds the potential for lots of interesting developments – in career, love, travel, and fitness – but Mercury is about to retrograde, so as much as you’d like to dive into activities and make decisions in a flash, you won’t be able to move quickly. In April, patience will bring benefits – don’t rush to announce or seal plans, even if others pressure you to do so. To make the most of April, you will need to know where the potholes in your path lie. You will be able to sidestep problems, but you’ll need to stay alert to do so.

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

                        As a Capricorn, your career and reputation are of paramount importance. Few signs are as willing as you are to put in the long hours of work necessary to see the outstanding results you expect of yourself. Lately the pressure has been on you, due to a rare, once in three-decade position of Saturn in your tenth house of honors, awards, achievement, and fame. Responsibilities have been mounting and you seem to be in a phase where the nature of your job is about to change and you will be asked to learn new skills and to aim toward higher standards. You are a natural leader, and you’re ready for these changes, but lately you seem to be a bit overwhelmed by all that has been going on.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

                        This month, Mercury, the planet of logical, rational thinking and communication, will shut down for a rest on April 18 and will resume normal functioning May 11. Before you even get to April 18 – as soon as April 8 – you will start to feel the slowdowns, cancellations, and random difficulties in travel and shipping that Mercury in retrograde brings, so you will have to be very organized this month. If you have any important negotiations or meetings, or a contract to sign, you must complete your actions in the first week of April to avoid problems with Mercury. If you cannot complete things quite that fast, then you would benefit by tabling all important agreements – even verbal ones – for May 13 and beyond.

Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

                         As you enter April, you seem a bit frantic about money. You may have found that when bills came due, you didn’t quite have enough cash to pay them all, or a business deal that you depended on did not go as planned. Whatever happened seems to have unnerved you in the last week of March. Not to worry. You have some really fine financial aspects this month to help you make up for any shortfall, and you may do better than you ever expected.

Credit to 0800 Horoscopes

 What is pi?

Pi is the Greek symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi is also an irrational number, which means that it will continue infinitely without repeating. Pi has also been calculated by computers and was found to be 1 trillion digits past the decimal. 

An example of what pi looks like:

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288…

Oh Number PI

Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
Your digits are unending,
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
No pattern are you sending.
You’re three point one four one five nine,
And even more if we had time,
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
For circle lengths unbending.

Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
You are a number very sweet,
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
Your uses are so very neat.
There’s 2 Pi r and Pi r squared,
A half a circle and you’re there,
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
We know that Pi’s a tasty treat.

To enjoy more Pi Day, get your Pi gear at www.piday.org, and learn the Pi Day songs at www.winternet.com/~mchristi/piday.html.

How can you participate?

On March 4 all you have to do is speak well, write well, and spread the word. We want people to think about language and how to use it properly. 

The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar provided 10 grammar tips you should follow for National Grammar Day:

 1.      Me, myself, and I – an intensive or reflexive intensive pronoun; you use it for emphasis, or to refer to yourself as the subject of the sentence.

2.      Is it “good” or “well”? – when using “well’ in a sentence, it describes your state of health; using “good” in a sentence tells everything in your life is just fine.

3.      Less vs. fewer – use “less” when you’re talking about an amount of something that can’t be divided into units; use “fewer” when you’re talking about a quantity that can be divided or measured.

4.      Which vs. that- use “that” for restrictive clauses and “which” for non-restrictive clauses.

5.      i.e vs. e.g – i.e stands for “that is”; e.g stands for “for example”.

6.      affect vs. effect – use “effect” for a verb of change, and “affect” as a noun for clinical settings.

7.      insure vs. ensure – insure specifically means to protect against risk; ensure means to make certain.

8.      To split, or not to split: the truth about split infinitives – an infinitive is a “to” plus a verb. DO NOT split the infinitive by sticking an adverb between the “to” and the verb!

9.      A preposition you can’t refuse – you can’t end a sentence with a preposition.

10.  Conjunction function – DO NOT start a sentence with a conjunction.

           Source: http://nationalgrammarday.com/

One story behind St. Valentine is that he was a priest in the third century Rome, and when Emperor Claudius II “realized” that single men made better soldiers than men that were married and had wives and children he outlawed marriage for young men, but St. Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for lovers in secret, but when St. Valentine was discovered he was ordered to be put to death. Another story says that St. Valentine sent the first “valentine greeting” himself. St. Valentine was in prison, and it is told that he fell in love with a young woman, probably the jailor’s daughter, and he wrote her a love letter and signed “From your Valentine,” and that same expression is still used today.

There are many possible reasons that Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14^th, one possible reason is to commemorate the anniversary of St. Valentine’s burial or death. A different reason suggests that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to “Christianize” Pagan celebrations that occur around the same time. One more reasonable explanation suggests that Valentine’s Day was placed on February 14^th because on February 15^th there was a festival dedicated to St. Fanus, Roman God of Agriculture. Another plausible reason that Valentine’s Day is on February 14^th is because it is the art of the birds mating season, so it was suggested that February 14^th should be a day for romance.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth century, in Great Britain Valentine’s Day was celebrated by handwriting love notes and sending or giving them to their lover. Near the end of the eighteenth century, pre-printed cards began to replace written letters because of technological advancements. Cheaper postage and the availability of already printed cards made sending Valentine’s Day greetings popular. Approximately eighty five percent of all valentines are bought by women. Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

To find out more about Valentine’s Day you can log onto http://www.history.com/content/valentine, but all of the information in this article was from http://www.history.com/content/valentine/history-of-valentine-s-day.