knowing your left from your right
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Assuming they have hands with an opposable digit, tell them to look at their hands palm down and the one that spells an 'L' with the thumb straight out is their left hand. If their hands are backwards, just flip them over. ;P I still need to do this to check my left from my right - I have never been able to do it naturally, though after a second or so of thinking I can normally get it right. If I'm wearing a watch it is easier because I always wear mine on my right wrist, but I still need to glance at it or touch it to make sure.
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
David Wulff wrote: I still need to do this to check my left from my right - I have never been able to do it naturally, though after a second or so of thinking I can normally get it right. I can't either. :( I blame it on my ambidexterity. :-D Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar "In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself." — Jiddu Krishnamurti.
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How do you communicate with these aliens? (that sounds a little... odd) :suss:
Ðavid Wulff The Royal Woofle Museum
Audioscrobbler :: flikrDie Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen
It's really just a brain teaser. The idea is that you can only talk (e.g. a phone call) to them in a common language that doesn't include the means for conveying directions. Other than that, there is no other means of communication.
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I'm not sure how I started off on this whole thing, whether it was something I read which buried itself in my subconscious, or if I just got tired of watching paint dry, but the thought occurred to me somehow. How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Up and down would be pretty simple I guess as you would have the gravity of their planet as a frame of referencce.
Draw it? :-D
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I'm not sure how I started off on this whole thing, whether it was something I read which buried itself in my subconscious, or if I just got tired of watching paint dry, but the thought occurred to me somehow. How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Up and down would be pretty simple I guess as you would have the gravity of their planet as a frame of referencce.
Garth Watkins wrote: How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Tell them to face north and their left will always be to the west. Another possibility is that left is from the Old English word "lyft" meaning weak or useless. Assuming that the alien is right-handed, their left hand is probably going to be weaker.
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
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Garth Watkins wrote: How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Tell them to face north and their left will always be to the west. Another possibility is that left is from the Old English word "lyft" meaning weak or useless. Assuming that the alien is right-handed, their left hand is probably going to be weaker.
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
DavidCrow wrote: Tell them to face north and their left will always be to the west. Assuming that his planet rotates like ours relative to the sun. :(
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Garth Watkins wrote: How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Tell them to face north and their left will always be to the west. Another possibility is that left is from the Old English word "lyft" meaning weak or useless. Assuming that the alien is right-handed, their left hand is probably going to be weaker.
"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow
Well if there's anything good that came out of this debate, it's the enlightenment you've given me on the origin of the word left. Thanks
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I'm not sure how I started off on this whole thing, whether it was something I read which buried itself in my subconscious, or if I just got tired of watching paint dry, but the thought occurred to me somehow. How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Up and down would be pretty simple I guess as you would have the gravity of their planet as a frame of referencce.
First I would explain west and east - realtive directions, which see the planet as the immobile environment. West is where you see the sun set in the evening, an east is where you see it rise in the morning. Of course, earth always moves on, so east and west also move, but they move relativley to earth's movement. For a person on earth east and west stay the same, because the whole system (planet, person, and directions) move synchronously. Left and right are something like east and west, with the persons body as the immobile environment. If the person moves, the directions move with him, so that they stay the same for the person. Directions relative to a planet's position: north, east, south, west. Directions relative to a person's position: left, right. _________________________________ Vote '1' if you're too lazy for a discussion
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I'm not sure how I started off on this whole thing, whether it was something I read which buried itself in my subconscious, or if I just got tired of watching paint dry, but the thought occurred to me somehow. How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Up and down would be pretty simple I guess as you would have the gravity of their planet as a frame of referencce.
Left or right is simply a transformation of the axis used to describe up or down? ;) Actually, I'd describe 'left', as my wife since I'm now on some alien planet and I'd describe 'right', as leave now since she probably wants me back home. :) Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] Gently arching his fishing rod back he moves the tip forward in a gentle arch releasing the line.... kersplunk [Doug Goulden] Nice sig! [Tim Deveaux on Matt Newman's sig with a quote from me]
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David Wulff wrote: I am convinced it is because people like us were taught from an early age to use the hand shapes to tell left from right My first grade teacher wrote R and L on the back of my hands in permanent marker and hit the hand with a ruler when I got it wrong.... I carried my hands in my pockets to hide them outside of class, I never learned the "L" trick until I was much older. I didn't get Right and Left down until middle 2nd grade. I alternated letter facing constantly and randomly, they all looked the same to me. Not like dislexia, the opposite, I read it backwards or forwards equally well. Me and English never got along well after that. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Jeffry J. Brickley wrote: My first grade teacher wrote R and L on the back of my hands in permanent marker and hit the hand with a ruler when I got it wrong.... That teacher would have gotten a hard smack back from me with more than just a ruler.
George Carlin wrote: "Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things." Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: If the physicists find a universal theory describing the laws of universe, I'm sure the asshole constant will be an integral part of that theory.
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I'm not sure how I started off on this whole thing, whether it was something I read which buried itself in my subconscious, or if I just got tired of watching paint dry, but the thought occurred to me somehow. How would you explain to someone on another planet what direction left or right is ? Up and down would be pretty simple I guess as you would have the gravity of their planet as a frame of referencce.
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