Why, oh why, can't people agree on something so simple ...
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Time, as in GMT or UTC, is measured plus to the East and minus to the West. Supremely logical, since it fits the movement of solar midday. Navigators reckon longitude positive to the East, and negative to the West, Why? Well check out that damn' great big yellow star up there, and check it against your ship's chronometer. Works pretty well huh? Astronomy first started as a science as a service to navigators. In fact, some say that Homer's 'Iliad', where the warriors are entering their boats, that they represented the navigational stars of the Northern hemisphere, and by memorizing them in a poem, it would be easier to identify them when sailing the Mediterranean. Likewise, the second poem, 'The Odyssey' was a warning of various perils. (Bear in mind that Homer wrote down the poems about 500 years after their memorized recital.) Having said all that, would somebody please kindly tell me why astronomers insist that East is negative, and West is positive? OK, so it means that the Right Ascension increases with time to the West, but that is actually meaningless as the same thing would happen, but just with a minus sign before the number. :mad: A few centuries of analytical astronomy fighting five millennia of navigation by the Sun and stars - and the astronomers decide to do it differently! If you wonder why this rant, I have just wasted a couple of hours trying to track a serious bug - when it was just the wrong sign on the input. :-O :((
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And what exactly is a gallon? And why am I drunken after a half gallon of beer in London but not in New York City?
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Time, as in GMT or UTC, is measured plus to the East and minus to the West. Supremely logical, since it fits the movement of solar midday. Navigators reckon longitude positive to the East, and negative to the West, Why? Well check out that damn' great big yellow star up there, and check it against your ship's chronometer. Works pretty well huh? Astronomy first started as a science as a service to navigators. In fact, some say that Homer's 'Iliad', where the warriors are entering their boats, that they represented the navigational stars of the Northern hemisphere, and by memorizing them in a poem, it would be easier to identify them when sailing the Mediterranean. Likewise, the second poem, 'The Odyssey' was a warning of various perils. (Bear in mind that Homer wrote down the poems about 500 years after their memorized recital.) Having said all that, would somebody please kindly tell me why astronomers insist that East is negative, and West is positive? OK, so it means that the Right Ascension increases with time to the West, but that is actually meaningless as the same thing would happen, but just with a minus sign before the number. :mad: A few centuries of analytical astronomy fighting five millennia of navigation by the Sun and stars - and the astronomers decide to do it differently! If you wonder why this rant, I have just wasted a couple of hours trying to track a serious bug - when it was just the wrong sign on the input. :-O :((
People can't even agree on toilet paper orientation[^]. "Toilet paper orientation is sometimes mentioned as a hurdle for married couples." And because of that, I've seen it being discussed by Dr. Phil once (his verdict was "who cares!?"). I must admit I've switched from under to over throughout my life and now I think everyone who uses my previous preference is a sick psychopath who should be hanged from the gallows (until I switch back, of course)!
Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
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Yeah! ..and why do Americans and Europeans* drive on the wrong side of the road? Everyone knows that driving on the left so that your strong right hand is holding the wheel when you change gear is much safer. ;P * "Europeans", obviously and quite rightly, does not include the British in this case.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Time, as in GMT or UTC, is measured plus to the East and minus to the West. Supremely logical, since it fits the movement of solar midday. Navigators reckon longitude positive to the East, and negative to the West, Why? Well check out that damn' great big yellow star up there, and check it against your ship's chronometer. Works pretty well huh? Astronomy first started as a science as a service to navigators. In fact, some say that Homer's 'Iliad', where the warriors are entering their boats, that they represented the navigational stars of the Northern hemisphere, and by memorizing them in a poem, it would be easier to identify them when sailing the Mediterranean. Likewise, the second poem, 'The Odyssey' was a warning of various perils. (Bear in mind that Homer wrote down the poems about 500 years after their memorized recital.) Having said all that, would somebody please kindly tell me why astronomers insist that East is negative, and West is positive? OK, so it means that the Right Ascension increases with time to the West, but that is actually meaningless as the same thing would happen, but just with a minus sign before the number. :mad: A few centuries of analytical astronomy fighting five millennia of navigation by the Sun and stars - and the astronomers decide to do it differently! If you wonder why this rant, I have just wasted a couple of hours trying to track a serious bug - when it was just the wrong sign on the input. :-O :((
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People can't even agree on toilet paper orientation[^]. "Toilet paper orientation is sometimes mentioned as a hurdle for married couples." And because of that, I've seen it being discussed by Dr. Phil once (his verdict was "who cares!?"). I must admit I've switched from under to over throughout my life and now I think everyone who uses my previous preference is a sick psychopath who should be hanged from the gallows (until I switch back, of course)!
Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
Clearly this is a very important issue and goes to the bottom of every successful relationship. Logically it has to be over, reduces the risk of the toilet paper reaching another surface such as the floor, becoming soggy or picking up bugs that could alter your gut bacterial profile. So a serious health risk, so definitely a gallows issue!
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People can't even agree on toilet paper orientation[^]. "Toilet paper orientation is sometimes mentioned as a hurdle for married couples." And because of that, I've seen it being discussed by Dr. Phil once (his verdict was "who cares!?"). I must admit I've switched from under to over throughout my life and now I think everyone who uses my previous preference is a sick psychopath who should be hanged from the gallows (until I switch back, of course)!
Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
People who own cats always use the "under" roll deployment. That way the cat can spin the toilet paper without unrolling it. The cat will quickly bore with the "over" roll deployment after dispensing all of the paper. If you are lucky enough to have both cats and dogs, this is where the cat tag-teams the dog to rip all of the dispensed paper into shreds.
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Time, as in GMT or UTC, is measured plus to the East and minus to the West. Supremely logical, since it fits the movement of solar midday. Navigators reckon longitude positive to the East, and negative to the West, Why? Well check out that damn' great big yellow star up there, and check it against your ship's chronometer. Works pretty well huh? Astronomy first started as a science as a service to navigators. In fact, some say that Homer's 'Iliad', where the warriors are entering their boats, that they represented the navigational stars of the Northern hemisphere, and by memorizing them in a poem, it would be easier to identify them when sailing the Mediterranean. Likewise, the second poem, 'The Odyssey' was a warning of various perils. (Bear in mind that Homer wrote down the poems about 500 years after their memorized recital.) Having said all that, would somebody please kindly tell me why astronomers insist that East is negative, and West is positive? OK, so it means that the Right Ascension increases with time to the West, but that is actually meaningless as the same thing would happen, but just with a minus sign before the number. :mad: A few centuries of analytical astronomy fighting five millennia of navigation by the Sun and stars - and the astronomers decide to do it differently! If you wonder why this rant, I have just wasted a couple of hours trying to track a serious bug - when it was just the wrong sign on the input. :-O :((
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When dealing with other forms of power storage, energy flows from the higher (positive) potential to the lower. Examples are hydrological power, wind power, etc. etc. Only in electricity does the power flow from the negative to the positive. Why couldn't those damned natural philosophers (==scientists) have given the electron a positive sign? :mad:
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
Because the definition of positive/negative charges dates back to the cat-rubbing era of static electricity generation when no one knew how it worked. That the negatively charged particle ended up being the one to move is down to a bad coin flip. :doh:
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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Because the definition of positive/negative charges dates back to the cat-rubbing era of static electricity generation when no one knew how it worked. That the negatively charged particle ended up being the one to move is down to a bad coin flip. :doh:
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
I know. It makes about as much sense as any other arbitrary convention in the exact sciences.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
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Time, as in GMT or UTC, is measured plus to the East and minus to the West. Supremely logical, since it fits the movement of solar midday. Navigators reckon longitude positive to the East, and negative to the West, Why? Well check out that damn' great big yellow star up there, and check it against your ship's chronometer. Works pretty well huh? Astronomy first started as a science as a service to navigators. In fact, some say that Homer's 'Iliad', where the warriors are entering their boats, that they represented the navigational stars of the Northern hemisphere, and by memorizing them in a poem, it would be easier to identify them when sailing the Mediterranean. Likewise, the second poem, 'The Odyssey' was a warning of various perils. (Bear in mind that Homer wrote down the poems about 500 years after their memorized recital.) Having said all that, would somebody please kindly tell me why astronomers insist that East is negative, and West is positive? OK, so it means that the Right Ascension increases with time to the West, but that is actually meaningless as the same thing would happen, but just with a minus sign before the number. :mad: A few centuries of analytical astronomy fighting five millennia of navigation by the Sun and stars - and the astronomers decide to do it differently! If you wonder why this rant, I have just wasted a couple of hours trying to track a serious bug - when it was just the wrong sign on the input. :-O :((
Chris C-B wrote:
Having said all that, would somebody please kindly tell me why astronomers insist that East is negative, and West is positive? OK, so it means that the Right Ascension increases with time to the West, but that is actually meaningless as the same thing would happen, but just with a minus sign before the number.
Simple. It's based on the direction the sun appears to move across the sky. When the sun is overhead (local noon), how long does it take to get to the western horizon. 6 hours. Likewise, it's been 6 hours since it was on the eastern horizon. From noon, add 6 to the time to get sunset and subtract 6 to get the time of sunrise.
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Yeah! ..and why do Americans and Europeans* drive on the wrong side of the road? Everyone knows that driving on the left so that your strong right hand is holding the wheel when you change gear is much safer. ;P * "Europeans", obviously and quite rightly, does not include the British in this case.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
Perhaps because we Americans, and our Continental cousins, can walk and chew gum at the same time, or less metaphorically, shift and steer at the same time. :)
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When dealing with other forms of power storage, energy flows from the higher (positive) potential to the lower. Examples are hydrological power, wind power, etc. etc. Only in electricity does the power flow from the negative to the positive. Why couldn't those damned natural philosophers (==scientists) have given the electron a positive sign? :mad:
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
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Yeah! ..and why do Americans and Europeans* drive on the wrong side of the road? Everyone knows that driving on the left so that your strong right hand is holding the wheel when you change gear is much safer. ;P * "Europeans", obviously and quite rightly, does not include the British in this case.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
Well now, as I understand it people rode their horses to the left so that another rider coming toward them couldn't press up against their side and trap their sword in its scabbard (I assume they were all right handed). Then that fiend Napoleon, rode on the right as a secret weapon. Probably cheated at cricket, too.
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When dealing with other forms of power storage, energy flows from the higher (positive) potential to the lower. Examples are hydrological power, wind power, etc. etc. Only in electricity does the power flow from the negative to the positive. Why couldn't those damned natural philosophers (==scientists) have given the electron a positive sign? :mad:
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
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Yeah! ..and why do Americans and Europeans* drive on the wrong side of the road? Everyone knows that driving on the left so that your strong right hand is holding the wheel when you change gear is much safer. ;P * "Europeans", obviously and quite rightly, does not include the British in this case.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
Well, I'm left-handed :laugh:
Behzad
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Well, I'm left-handed :laugh:
Behzad
