December 2003
These are the nine
routes of the new map set of Forest Park just released by Friends of Forest
Park.
|
Have
you Noticed...
Something new in Portland:
City
View
Big
Stump
Avenue
of Trees
Maple
Hole
in the Park |
Heart
of the Park
Wild-Leif
Stone
House
Old
Growth |
.
What are
they? Where can you find them?
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November 2003
"Energy
is the capacity to do work" speaks about a metaphorical "energy."
"Energy
can be unavailable for doing work," speaks about a scientific, mathematical
"energy."
Two
very different "energies," almost always confused. Understand the
difference and you have seen some of the magic of science.
Learn the science.
Understand
the science.
|
Have
you Noticed...
"Energy is the capacity to do
work."
"Energy can be unavailable
for doing work."
Your physics textbook probably
has both of these statements. We need to identify and resolve this
contradiction.
.
What is
it? How to resolve?
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October
2003
Look
here
|
Have
you Noticed...
One of Portland's parks has
a tricycle track
.
Where is
it?
|
|
September
2003
Look
here
|
Have
you Noticed...
Everybody knows about the
Washington Park Rose Gardens where the Portland Rose Society maintains
this Gold Medal display, the Rose Festival queens have their honorary tiles,
and musical events are presented in the adjacent amphitheater. But
Portland Parks maintains two other formal rose gardens.
.
Where are
they?
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August
2003
Explore
|
Have
you Noticed...
that
the simplest science can be more difficult than the more complex, and we
can miss seeing the obvious.
Da
Vinci Days, 2003
Oregonians
for Rationality Booth
Amusing.
Confusing. Baffling. Teaching.
Amazing.
Deceiving. Revealing. Magical.
Throughout August explorepdx
will seek the magic found
in places we never think to look...
...and
search for ways to help a person
understand
the concepts that underlie
modern
high-tech knowledge.
.
Why should
we want to?
This
will be ongoing throughout the summer.
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|
July 2003
Explore
|
Have
you seen...
Da
Vinci Days
Oregonians
for Rationality Booth
How might our perceptions
deceive us?
How might others
deceive us?
How might we
deceive ourselves?
How
can we see the magic of science?
How might we
become able to use science?
Math, too?
Why
should we want to?
Surf this
site for some answers.
Details
will appear here throughout the summer.
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June 2003
Pi, in the underground Zoo MAX
station?
Not exactly! Look
again. |
Have
you Noticed...
.Where
is it?
What
is it?
What's wrong
with it?
Why?
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|
May 2003
.
|
Have
you Noticed...
.
"One of the longest
pedestrian skybridges in the world is located in Portland.
Where?
|
|
April 2003.
This is an aerial photo
of Marquam Hill, the home of OHSU. The wooded area is in Marquam
Nature Park (MAP)—steep-walled ravines.
The red overlay indicates the streets that are on the map but not on Marquam
Hill. MIORE (plus why)
. |
Have
you Noticed...
.
"Creative cartography"
is the curse of the curious when you want to explore some place you've
never been. This map has a lot of errors.
...What
are they? Why are they there?
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|
March 2003
The error in common
to the first three statements is the failure to see the reversal
of the negative by another negative—a multiplicative
negative.
Negation is
a slightly tricky concept. Negation of
negation is even trickier, tricky enough to frequently trip up a
lot of people. And a lot of science requires a good sense of negation
of
negation.
Mutual reciprocity
(exemplified by the Golden Rule) is a symmetry concept which conceptually
stems from a system of potential negations and negations of negations.
In physics, the concept of irreversibility
is usually misunderstood, demonstating the difficulty of understanding
negation of negation. The usually misunderstood concept of Newton's
third law of motion (action and reaction) demonstrates the difficulty of
understanding mutual reciprocity.
Click
on the balance...See deeper.
|
Have
you Noticed...
.
A significant fraction
of people don't see much, if any, difference between, "He hasn't got no
food on his plate," and "He has got no food on his plate."
Similarly, "He
could even care less," and "He couldn't care less."
“It got to minus
ten degrees below zero,” and "It got to ten degrees below zero."
"Do unto others
as they would do unto you." and "Do unto others as you would have them
do unto you."
All of these
share a common error. That error involves a simple abstraction—of
the kind that is the heart and soul of modern science and mathematics.
...What
is that error?
.
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|
February
2003.
The cable trail
connected Leif Erikson Dr near Mi 8.6 to the south end of Saint Johns Bridge.
It is now history. An excellent new pedestrian route into this part
of Forest Park took its place in the latter half of 2003. It is an
extension of Ridge Trail down from Wildwood Tr, mi 20.89
20.81 (rerouted, June, 2004), crossing Leif Erikson Dr at mi 8.50 to 8.52
(it jogs), and descending to the old concrete reservoir just above the
bridge access road. Explore from either of the two trails shown on
the map—about 100 yards to either side of the end of the bridge.
|
Have
you Noticed...
Somewhere in
Portland is a trail so steep that a cable assist has been provided to help
us negotiate the trail. On wet days when the ground underfoot gets
muddy and slippery, that cable—which seems to go forever, climbing from
about 200 feet elevation to about 500 feet elevation—is very welcome.
...Where?
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January
2003
On
the East side of Parkhill Dr,
on
top of a cliff over Barbur Blvd.
(a
little east of Himes Park).
The
herbicide spray seems to have gotten it.
(For
now.)
45.4782°
N
122.6791°
W
. |
Have
you Noticed...
Kudzu!
(Pueraria
lobata)
An alien invader
that can grow a foot a day, and in the South has created havoc by smothering
everything in its path. This member of the pea family has now invaded
Oregon. One location was in SW Portland.
...Where?
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