"dr-know"

A Reader Responds to Last Week’s Dr. Know: “My Guess Is That E.P. Was an Oblivious Pedestrian”

Last week’s column on pedestrian safety, or the lack thereof, generated a (comparatively) huge number of reader responses.

Ecological Considerations Aside, Wouldn’t I Personally Be Safer if I Chose to Drive Instead of Walk?

Recently, I was nearly run over by an oblivious driver. Ecological considerations aside, wouldn’t I personally be safer if I chose to drive instead of walk?

Are Electric Flywheel Buses in Portland’s Near Future?

For decades, flywheel energy storage has been one of those just-over-the-horizon technologies that make the cover of Popular Mechanics every couple of years, but somehow are never quite ready for prime time.

Birds Poop in the Reservoir all the Time. Why Isn’t There More E. Coli Contamination?

This is a difficult question to answer: not because it’s technically complicated, but rather because it’s going to seem like I’m advocating that everyone should drink a big, frosty mug of bird shit.

Shouldn’t We Abandon the Tradition of the Pioneer Courthouse Square Christmas Tree in This Age of Climate Change?

In this age of climate change, it seems we should be protecting big, old trees, not cutting them down to be short-term decorations. And what happens to the tree after it’s taken down?

Damian Lillard Wears the No. 0. Carmelo Anthony Wears the No. 00. Question: Is 00 a Real Number?

For the record, the 2019-20 Blazers aren’t the first NBA team to have a 0 and a 00 on the roster at the same time.

Did Some Wiseass Rename a Portland-Area Aviation Waypoint as an Inside Joke?

Because my life is dull, I watch videos of air traffic control communications. Recently, I noticed controllers diverting planes to waypoint “HPSTR,” pronounced “hipster.”

Journalists Always Seem to Stick Their Prepositions of Time Between the Subject and Verb. Is There Any Reason For This?

My normal human friends put their prepositions of time at the beginning or end of the sentence: “This morning, I got high”; “I got high this morning.”

When Do Sailors on Submarines Masturbate?

Submarines sometimes stay underwater, in very cramped quarters, for months at a time.

We Tear Down Confederate Statues, So Why Do We Still Honor Adm. Samuel Hood By Using His Name For Our Mountain?

The poster child for Alpine indigenous-name reclamation in the U.S. is, without a doubt, Denali.

Willamette Week

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