| Author | Message |
|---|
Ace1875
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 2 Nov 2006, 03:15 · [Salvaged from Archive]
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7797189785644344614 |
Dennis
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 9 Nov 2006, 14:18 · [Salvaged from Archive]
An optical illusion, due to the lay of the land
and the way our minds perceive it.
Its still very cool. |
Aiden Chase
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 11 Nov 2006, 10:20 · [Salvaged from Archive]
It's not an optical illusion...I've been there a few times. It's actually kinda scary. The part in the video where they put the stick on two peoples heads and make them switch sides on the plank....When you're on the south side of the plank, with a tape measure (That was mine that I brought), I was 6'2...But on the north side of the plank....I was 5'5. That's no optical illusion...It's just plain creepy. There's also a hill side that you can jump off of and instead of falling really fast and smacking the dirt...You just kinda slowly float to the ground. It's frickin bizarre but really cool and well worth visiting! :D |
Dennis
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 12 Nov 2006, 02:04 · [Salvaged from Archive]
It's not an optical illusion...I've been there a few times. It's actually kinda scary. The part in the video where they put the stick on two peoples heads and make them switch sides on the plank....When you're on the south side of the plank, with a tape measure (That was mine that I brought), I was 6'2...But on the north side of the plank....I was 5'5. That's no optical illusion...It's just plain creepy. There's also a hill side that you can jump off of and instead of falling really fast and smacking the dirt...You just kinda slowly float to the ground. It's frickin bizarre but really cool and well worth visiting! :D
WTF I'm gonna have ta add that to my must see list.
I'd like to see my 5'3" wife be as tall as me, I'm 6'3". |
Violette13
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 14 Nov 2006, 23:10 · [Salvaged from Archive]
I live in Oregon, i've been planning a trip there for this next spring. ;D |
dizirty
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 19 Jul 2007, 16:28 · [Salvaged from Archive]
I live in Oregon, i've been planning a trip there for this next spring. ;D
did you go? |
MightyTiny
Salvaged from Archive | Posted: 20 Jul 2007, 12:57 · [Salvaged from Archive]
It's not an optical illusion...I've been there a few times. It's actually kinda scary. The part in the video where they put the stick on two peoples heads and make them switch sides on the plank....When you're on the south side of the plank, with a tape measure (That was mine that I brought), I was 6'2...But on the north side of the plank....I was 5'5. That's no optical illusion...It's just plain creepy. There's also a hill side that you can jump off of and instead of falling really fast and smacking the dirt...You just kinda slowly float to the ground. It's frickin bizarre but really cool and well worth visiting! :D
The whole site is based on pretty standard illusions that exploit the way perception works in the human brain. They re-enforce these illusions by the way of mythology - exploiting the power of belief. When people REALLY believe that something supernatural is going on, their objectivity goes out of the window - even without such influence humans make pretty miserable observers, when it comes to discerning objective truth.
Further, when you are convinced of something remarkable, the brain doesn't even stay true to actual events - our memories can, and ARE altered, after the event, to make a better story, and to match expectation and belief more closely.
Here's a pretty good article on that Oregon site:
http://www.o4r.org/investigations/oregon_vortex.html
...When you're on the south side of the plank, with a tape measure (That was mine that I brought), I was 6'2...But on the north side of the plank....I was 5'5....
I'm betting measurement error, influenced by the desire to see a real effect. Why? Well, discounting all the practical impossibilities of such sudden shringage, and that it conflicts with hundreds of years of observed physics, and the tried and tested laws of physics, if you actually DID shrink moving from one side of the plank to another, then why didn't the tape measure shrink with you?
If you did shrink, the expectation would have been that the tape measure should have shown exactly the same height for you as it did on the other side of the plank, because the length of the tape measure itself would have been reduced in exactly the same proportion as your height!
Or does this "vortice" discriminate against tape measures? :rolleyes:
If you nevertheless CAN reproduce that effect, then congratulations - you've just won a million dollars. All you need to do is apply for the James Randi million dollar challenge, where he offers a million dollars to anyone that can demonstrate anything paranormal under controlled conditions. All you need to do is arrange someone approved by Randi to come along with you when you do your measurement, to make sure you aren't cheating - unconsciously or otherwise.
The point is that if the Oregon site was based on anything but cleaver illusions and clever marketing to an audience eager for the paranormal, they'd have no difficulty whatsoever winning Randi's challenge. All they need to do is send in an application, and do maybe a couple of hours worth of work, alltogheter, in preparation of the tests, and in the actual testing. Voila - a million dollars on their bank account! That would be the easiest money ever. Why don't they take the challenge? Because they know that their site is based on illusions, and that under controlled testing conditions, illiusions won't fool anyone. |
