Benjamin Franklin’s ultimate prank
Relevant XKCD:
Title text: Sure, we could stop dictators and pandemics, but we could also make the signs on every damn diagram make sense.
this would also be society if counterclockwise and clockwise were swapped. it’s the universal way to talk about 2d rotations but pretty much nothing (except a clock) ends up turning clockwise. it didn’t have to be this way
Ummm… Have you ever used a screw? Bottle cap? “Right tighty, lefty loosey”? A car wheel when going forward? Literally 99% of things tighten clockwise.
You’re the person people have to say “no, your other left” a lot to, aren’t ya?
Just wanna say, a car tire moves a different direction based on your perspective.
If you’re looking at the driver side of the car, the tires move counterclockwise, whereas if you’re looking at the other side, the tires appear to rotate the other way.
Perspective changes a lot of things, it’s pretty cool.
edit: Driver side in my case is (when viewed from the back) the left side
I thought you messed up the sides but then realised driver side is not the same on every country
i don’t ever use bottle caps or cars. but in the case of screws (and bottle caps), the choice to make them tighten clockwise and loosen counter clockwise is entirely arbitrary.
my main point is that i think it’s confusing that clockwise is negatively oriented and counterclockwise is positively oriented (in the mathematical sense). and the mathematical definition of orientation is ultimately dependent on trigonometry. and it just feels wrong that clocks are negatively oriented.
You’re the person people have to say “no, your other left” a lot to, aren’t ya?
no.
I’m not sure why you’re saying its clocks that are wrong rather than the other stuff. Currently we have x = r cos(𝜃) and y = r sin(𝜃), and that’s what makes anti-clockwise rotations mathematically natural. But if we instead just used x = r sin(𝜃) and y = r cos(𝜃) then clockwise would be the natural positive rotation. And in that case, the unit circle would start at the top and go around clockwise… like we do for compass bearing (and clocks of course). So perhaps that would be better than changing what clocks do.
“the choice is arbitrary”.
Except it’s not as many other have pointed out. You’re just confused and trying to spread your confusion to others. Yes, advanced math gets complex, that’s advanced math. Don’t drag trig into this when you’re just confused.
Also 99% of things loosen anticlockwise. So why preffer tighten over loosen?
Tighten = on/activated. You use a cap buy putting it on to seal the container. You out a screw in to join the wood. You do the thing it’s meant to do in a clockwise fashion.
What’s the purpose of a cap? To keep things in. The purpose of the spout itself is to let them in.
Clockwise wins.
that’s not arbitrary - the hour hand of a clock mimics the shadow of a sundial.
it makes sense, in the northern hemisphere, where 90% of people live.
What, and live with negativity at the heart of every atom?
I recognise the grandstand from the Marylebone Cricket Club, but they tore down the rest of the stadium. I guess that’s a good thing?
