Pile Migration :::: chapter four, page 6

A homogeneous pile, as Latin roots would indicate, consists of solely one type of item. Be it a pile of firewood, a crate of tomatoes, or the infamous sock drawer; one need not travel far to encounter a respectable homogeneous pile. Unfortunately such configurations are popular not by chance so much as the amount of efficiency they provide. Having all of my ice cubes piled up in the freezer not only keeps them frozen, it allows for the cooling of preferred drinks easier. As unintended as it might be, piling homogeneous items together brings ease to the process of locating. And thus in this light, homogeneous piles share a quality with stacks- uniformity. Discriminate if you want to, but saying any one pile is better than another is like quantifying grains of sand.

A laundry basket, a salad, and the locker of a typical rebellious high school student all constitute non-homogeneous, or heterogeneous, piles. The definition is simple enough: any pile with two or more objects. It does not matter how much or how many. Technically, a pile of twenty plastic bottles and one shoe is not homogeneous. It is not very heterogeneous sure, but neither are candles very bright. Further examples of non-homogeneous piles include banana-splits, the internet, water samples, antique stores, and lost and found piles (at least most of the time).

Of course, the line between these two categories may be blurred due to laziness, ignorance, or mere confusion. For instance, knocking over a brick wall produces what may appear to be a homogeneous pile of bricks. Rather the presence of mortar among those bricks tends to pass unacknowledged. Thus

a case of false labeling, for the pile itself is not truly homogeneous. One may also differentiate between a pile of books, and a pile of bibles. The latter being the former only more specific. Correcting such commonplace oversights may make you annoying or noble. It all depends on your peers appreciation for proper pile etiquette.

Either way we have only succeeded at portraying piles as fixed items in time and space. Perhaps leaving the assumption: once a homogeneous always a homogeneous. How ignorant. Change and movement are at the very least themes of our undertaking. Yet for now such theoretical instructions might be too advanced, off-topic, or premature for discussion. We invite any browser-inclined types to momentarily jump ahead to page ????? for a more descriptive analysis concerning mass, heterogeneity, and integration.

inverted (hole)

While a pile's philosophical opposite is the stack, it's physical opposite is the hole. Because the hole exhibits many of the same attributes and properties as the pile, we will refer to the hole as an inverted pile. Like the pile, the hole is a disorganized outgrowth of nature toward an indeterminate end. Whereas the pile is composed of numerous particles of atomic physicality, the hole represents the pure absence of the physical.

Inverted piles also occur naturally in the environment. The Grand Canyon is a commercial for inverted piles. Craters left by stray meteorites are another witness to this phenomenon.

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