Carpet creep

[gene]

No! I'm not talking about that pervert who sells flooring down at your local home improvement store.

I'm talking about carpet mysteriously moving. Yes. Creepy, huh?

Check out these pictures. I layed this gray carpet in the hallway of my studio about 4 or 5 years ago. I lay it flat on the floor. It does not touch the walls on either side. After a week or two or a month or so, the carpet has moved, creeped, always into the same wall. And it begins to wrinkle up as in the pictures. I lay it flay on the floor again, and it creeps into that same wall. Again, and again, and again. Kind of creepy, huh?

And it will continue to wrinkle more and more until I put it flat on the floor.

For all these years I did not know what, or who, has been causing it. Someone told me it was poltergeists. I thought that was it until I remembered that I don't believe in ghosts.

One explanation, the only one that made sense to me, was that someone was breaking into my studio at night, and instead of stealing stuff, they would push the carpet into the wall - just to mess with my mind. I've been leaning toward this explanation for a good while now.

However, the other day, I happened to mention this phenomenon to a person who was in my studio, AND, they told me exactly what was causing it. He even showed me how it was done.

So, any guesses before I expose who, or what, the real creep is?

gene



http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz228/genejoe/th_DSCF3150_zps069d1f25.jpg


http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz228/genejoe/th_DSCF3149_zpsdb48d708.jpg


http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz228/genejoe/th_DSCF3148_zps0e63ff6d.jpg

[MinUph]

OK so it creeps?

[gene]

Paul, maybe if you tried Buddism you might be more interested in knowing why my carpet creeps???

From Happiness in this World
Reflections of a Buddhist physician
by Alex Lickerman, M.D.
Why We Need To Know Why
How knowing the reason for things shapes how we respond to them

"I've said this before, but it bears repeating: we are, all of us, meaning-seeking creatures. We seek not only to define the meaning of our lives by adopting, whether consciously or unconsciously, an over-arching purpose, but also to understand the reason for almost everything that happens in the course of each day. Why did our boss change our work schedule? Why does our spouse care so much about the clothes we wear? Why is traffic snarled for miles ahead of us? Why does Gene's carpet creep?"

Yes, I added that last part about my carpet.  :)

gene

[baileyuph]

Gene it is the result of the magnitude and direction of user force vectors becoming more apparent due to thicknes of carpet/backing and/or padding.  Put simply carpet inertia is less than user force vectors. 

If the carpet was straightened and never walked on, it wouldn't move.

Running instead of walking would make things really creepy!

Good luck,

Doyle 

[MinUph]

And now we know the real truth.

[byhammerandhand]

Easy.   The backing is anisomorphic.

[kodydog]

What those guys said ^
Gene, I didn't know your were a Buddhist. Ah ha, That would explain your profile pic.

I once worked with a lady from Guatemala that was a Hari Krishna. Gainesville has a large temple that is very well organized and a large population of this religion. She never pushed her religion on me but she enjoyed talking about it and I asked her many questions to keep her going.

It seams similar to Buddhism. With the belief of reincarnation, chants, fasting, strict diet, and meditation. Is this a fair assessment?

[gene]

Mr. Kody dog. I am not Buddhist. My dog is.

From what my dog tells me, Buddhism is not a religion necessarily, although there are many Buddhists who clearly worship Buddha.

Buddhism sees the world as being a place of suffering. And by using "right thinking", one can rid their own life of all suffering. This is the main teaching of the Buddha. Folks spend their entire lives working on the "right thinking". All other stuff if fluff added by others over the millennia to make it more attractive to the peoples.

I do not see suffering coming from the external world. I see suffering, and all other experiences, coming from our own beliefs. What we experience in life is meaning - the meaning of life events, the meaning of people, places, and things. This meaning comes from our beliefs. Eliminate those beliefs from which "suffering" or any other negative meanings arise, and there are no negative or 'suffering' types of meanings to be experienced.

Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha, got it wrong. Our thinking is also a reflection of our beliefs. To change our thinking, we need only change our beliefs. Trying to change our thinking is like trying to change our reflection in the mirror.

There is no record anywhere of the Buddha talking about force vectors. Yes my friends, it is force vectors and not the demonic forces, nor thiefs in the night, that are moving my gray carpet. When you walk on the carpet, the downward force of your feet is tranlated into a sideways movement of the carpet by the nap on the bottom of the carpet.

Mr. Doyle, you said

Running instead of walking would make things really creepy!

I don't know if this would be true. This is similar to the question: If it is raining and you need to go from the car to your house, will you get less wet if you walk or if you run?

If you walk, more rain drops will fall on you than if you run. However, if you run you will have less rain drops fall on you because you are spending less time in the rain, but you will run into more rain drops in front of you than if you walk because you are moving faster.

So, if I spend less time crossing the carpet with more force (running), will that cause more creep than if I spend more time crossing the carpet with less force (walking)?

gene

[kodydog]

Why not just jump over the carpet each time you travel down the hall?
Or better yet, build a bridge.
Or my favorite, swing form a rope.

[kodydog]

And yet another idea. ( your dog would love this thinking outta the box)


BTW thanks for the lesson on Buddhism and vectors. I found them both interesting.

As far as the rain thing goes, definitely get more wet the faster you go. That's why, when in your car you slow down when it starts to pour.

[Mojo]

Hari Krishna, I remember these people at the airports. This was back during the Vietnam war. Didn they wear sheets and have butch haircuts ?

You never let others know at the airport that you were a service member. It was always better to travel out of uniform. I remember being in O'Hare and thinking of the stark contrast.........hari krishna's and a very young Marine both walking through an airport at the same time.

Very different and difficult times back then. Thankfully I was to young to be drafted and serve during the war and as a matter of fact Saigon fell while I was at MCRD in San Diego.

Chris

[SteveA]

Gene
I've seen this problem a million times.  It's floor shrinkage - the result is the carpet appears to have gotten larger.  Just install a couple of humidifiers in the hallway to re-introduce moisture to the effected area. 
Good Advice -  from a fellow grunt -
SA

[kodydog]

I think Genes Buddhist Dog is messing with him. Every time he straightens the rug the dog sneaks over and messes it back up. Buddhists have a very dry sense of humor.

[byhammerandhand]

Gene's karma is catching up with him.   When he was a kid, he'd always make his bed with a lump in the blanket.

Hare Krisha, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare

[gene]

Do they make a pill for "karma disfunction"? If they do it's probably shaped like a lotus flower.  :)

You never let others know at the airport that you were a service member.

I've read a number of historical scholars who believe that without the extremely successful propaganda campaign by the North Vietnamese and the willing accomplice of the USA main stream news media, it could easily have been the war protesters who needed to be careful at airports so they would not get harassed or spit on.

Ho Chi Min's regime murdered over 2 1/2 million Vietnamese after the US pulled out of South Vietnam. And not all of these were those who worked with the USA. They were teachers, college professors, intellectuals, anyone who was educated and not an active part of the regime.

It seems totalitarian governments are threatened by educated people. Have you ever wondered why, with all our resources, the USA not leading the world in education?

gene