Thursday, February 24, 2005

Walking

Recently while walking I have come up with some good live journal ideas, but unfortunately I haven't been able to remember them by the time I actually get to a computer. However this time I have remembered one thing and I am going to write about it. I noticed when people walk to a certain destination they always tend to take care of the shortest dimension first and then leave the longest for last. I do it all the time and when I try to act differently it is nearly impossible. For example, say you are on the left side of a street and you need to take a right turn a quarter mile ahead of you, the natural instinct is to cross the street as soon as possible and then walk the quarter mile as opposed to staying on the left side of the street until you get to the corner and then crossing there. Now please take into consideration that this only works if crossing the street does not involve going across four lanes of heavy traffic. If you think about it crossing now or later will not make your trip shorter, since either way you have to do the length and width. Now you are all beginning to think about it and will soon realize once you leave the building you are in just how correct I am with my assumption. The only explanation I have for this behavior is the need to make our path a straight line and as soon as possible. Once you cross the street you will then be on the most direct path to your destination, we all know the most direct path is the shortest. However by walking along the left side the entire way you are taking the longest possible route to the most direct path. Now that is something to think about while you are walking.

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