As you no doubt do not know, today is Pi day, an unofficial holiday to celebrate the mathematical constant pi. If pi is truncated to seven decimal places it becomes 3.1415926, making March 14 at 1:59:26 pm the designated time of pi.

Indeed, at that precise moment, the Engineering staff will meet in the kitchen to consume pie of various kinds. We owe Larry Shaw a debt of gratitude.

I'm certainly not harbouring any fantasies about post-season prospects for the Maple Leafs this year. It is obvious to everyone, myself included, that the team desperately needs to be rebuilt... From the top down.

Sundin would have unquestionably fetched a lavish return on the open trade market, but it made me ill to visualize him in a Detroit, San Jose, or (especially) Ottawa jersey. After so many years of dedication to the team, city, and fans, Sundin owes the MLSE absolutely nothing. To his credit, he's been staunch in his assertion that Toronto was where he wanted to end his career.

Mats probably says it best in his own words:

"I cannot leave my teammates and join another NHL club at this time. I have never believed in the concept of a rental player. It is my belief that winning the Stanley Cup is the greatest thing you can achieve in hockey but for me, in order to appreciate it you have to have been part of the entire journey and that means October through June. I hope everyone will understand and respect my decision."

That statement perfectly asserts why Mats is a revered captain, a tremendous leader, and probably the greatest Leaf of all time.

The interview below from Saturday, February 23rd illustrates the media dogging that Sundin has been suffering through. Yes, he's paid extremely well to deal with this sort of thing, but he's much calmer than I could have been. A few of those reporters would have received much different answers from me (e.g., the moron 0:26 into the video).

I don't know where this Henry Rollins clip came from, but his ideas intrigue me and I'd like to subscribe to his newsletter.

To compound this, the iPhone refuses to save account information if a server certificate can't be validated. Further, you can't edit advanced account properties to disable SSL until the account is saved! Thanks for the catch-22, Apple!

If your server doesn't enforce certificate use (i.e., it will allow plaintext connections), you can use the following procedure to save your account information, then to disable SSL.

1. Select Settings, Mail
2. Select Add Account...
3. Select Other
4. Enter all of your relevant email account details
5. Select the Save button. At this point, you will be presented with an 'invalid certificate' warning.
6. Select the Cancel button; you will be returned to the account details screen
7. Select the Save button; ignore the warning that 'you may not be able to send email'
8. Open the settings for your new mail account and select the Advanced button
9. Use the sliders to disable SSL for mail receiving/sending. Be sure to check the port numbers to ensure they're valid for your particular email server

You should now be able to send/receive email, albeit without the security of SSL.

Hopefully Apple will fix this in short order, as it seems a rather basic email function in this day and age...

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Richard Peddie is the President and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns and operates the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL hockey club.

He is hated by fans for decisions like hiring a completely inexperienced General Manager in John Feguson Jr. -- and as was revealed this past Saturday evening -- taking a pass on hiring the legendary Scotty Bowman to turn around the fortunes of the Leafs. Scotty Bowman has built teams that have won the Stanley Cup nine times. To repeat: NINE STANLEY CUPS.

Any die-hard Leafs fan will tell you that jumping the bandwagon or switching allegiances is not an option. Enough is enough, though. When I start missing the days of Harold Ballard, something is seriously wrong. I want Peddie's head on a plate, and I want it now.

Not that it will make a lick of difference, but I've set up a petition calling for the MLSE Board to shitcan Richard Peddie immediately. For the love of all things holy, sign it. Tell your friends to sign it. Ask your Mother to sign it. Fake a signature from your dog...

PETITION TO FIRE RICHARD PEDDIE NOW

Is it just me, or is this kinda funny? [click thumbnail for larger image]

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Leading up to the sale there was an unbelievable amount of work to churn through, and all of it extremely time-critical. As someone who is involved with all departments in the organization, my time was highly monopolized attending to requests revolving around the due diligence process. The undertaking was, to put it mildly, exhausting.

With the acquisition effort off the table my attention turns to merging two disparate, global IT infrastructures. This will be a challenge, but there are optimistic signs that there is a genuine interest in providing the necessary resources to do it right.

Nearly all of my stock options were vested and I was subsequently paid out after closing. As far as I'm concerned the acquisition is a fantastic development, though employees with less seniority may well have a different opinion. I can't exactly retire, but you won't be hearing any complaints.

So, there you have it. I'm officially 1.5 for 3 with start-up companies (0.5 for selling a small pot of options after leaving a prior company) over the timespan of roughly a decade. Time will tell if I can muster the energy to take another hack at it -- or even worse, get involved with something silly like branching out on my own!