Light switches wired wrongly

[JohnW2]

It would make more sense if everyone drove on the proper side of the road like what we does, supposedly being fixed upon by knights jousting and being predominantly right handed.

You may be right as far as 'we' are concerned. When cars/roads, and later aircraft, came along, virtually all countries adopted the centuries-old maritime convention - that when two ships were heading towards one another, they passed "port to port" (i.e. 'drove on the right').

There must be some reason why we decided 'otherwise', so I suppose your explanation might be as likely as any other

Kind Regards, John

 

[EFLImpudence]

Yes, I think Ebee is right about the swords (and isn't Japan also famous for swords) but by the time the U.S. came along they had pistols which were better in a hand on the side away from an assailant - i.e. driving on the right.

I have heard that Napoleon chose driving on the right just because the U.K. didn't.

 

[JohnW2]

Yes, I think Ebee is right about the swords (and isn't Japan also famous for swords) but by the time the U.S. came along they had pistols which were better in a hand on the side away from an assailant - i.e. driving on the right. .... I have heard that Napoleon chose driving on the right just because the U.K. didn't.

As I wrote, I was under the impression that most of the world (other than UK, and hence 'The Empire') simply adopted the long-established maritime convention.

As for why 'we' were different, I have no idea. but thes theories about swords and joisting 'sticks' sound quite credible.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Why was that the maritime convention?

 

[JohnW2]

Why was that the maritime convention?

Goodness knows (and Mr Google might, as well!) but it is my understanding that it was a convention that had been around for a number of centuries. It's tempting to speculate that it may have been related to the fact that a high proportion of people are right-handed (and also have a dominant right eye) ?

 

[securespark]

OP

What is the LED problem?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It's tempting to speculate that it may have been related to the fact that a high proportion of people are right-handed (and also have a dominant right eye) ?

I was curious whether I was right-eye dominant, so I investigated how to check - it's easy....

• Pick an object far away from you, like a light switch, clock or picture across the room.
• Use your hands to create a small hole and then extend your arms out all the way.
• Look at the object through the hole made by your hands.
• Close your left eye. If you can still see the object through the hole between your hands, your right eye is probably the motor-dominant eye. If you don’t still see the object after closing your left eye, then your left eye is probably motor-dominant.
• Try switching which eye is closed a couple times to confirm.

Eye testing, suggested that my right is not quite as acute as my left, so I was surprised when the above test result confirmed my right as the dominant one.

 

[ebee]

Well Harry I have heard of people being described as right handed or even right footed but never right eyed, everyday it`s a learning day on this forum

PS to you and John, do right/left ears come into play too or anything else (Oh yes I am aware of the brain by the way)

 

[JohnW2]

I was curious whether I was right-eye dominant, so I investigated how to check - it's easy....

• Pick an object far away from you, like a light switch, clock or picture across the room.
• Use your hands to create a small hole and then extend your arms out all the way.
• Look at the object through the hole made by your hands.
• Close your left eye. If you can still see the object through the hole between your hands, your right eye is probably the motor-dominant eye. If you don’t still see the object after closing your left eye, then your left eye is probably motor-dominant.
• Try switching which eye is closed a couple times to confirm.

All true, but you don't have to fiddle about "using your hands to create a small hole". All you need to do, with both eyes open, hold up a finger at arms length so that it aligns with the object (light switch,clock, picture or whatever. Then close each of your eyes one at a time. When you close your non-dominant eye, nothing happens - your finger remains lined up with the distant object. However,when you close your dominant eye, your finger will appear to jump sideways relative to the distant object (in the direction of the eye you have closed.

Eye testing, suggested that my right is not quite as acute as my left, so I was surprised when the above test result confirmed my right as the dominant one.

It actually did not confirm that. "Dominant eye"is nothing to do with how good one's vision is in that eye - it is perfectly possible for the vision in one's 'dominant' eye to be much poorer than in one's non-dominant eye.

Dominance of eyes is to do with the direction in which peoples eyes 'point' in order to achieve binocular vision (which, amongst other things, facilitates distance judgement). Most people probably think that, particularly when looking at a fairly close object, both eyes 'point inwards' towards to object (as in left-hand diagram below). However, that is NOT how it is - one's dominant eye looks more-or-less straight forwards and the non-dominant one does all the moving so that it is pointing at the object being viewed (right-hand diagram below).

Just as there are a few truly ambidextrous people round, so there are a few who don't have a dominant eye (i.e. per left-hand diagram), but that is very rare. I don't know whether not having a dominant eye goes with being ambidextrous.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Just as there are a few truly ambidextrous people round, so there are a few who don't have a dominant eye (i.e. per left-hand diagram), but that is very rare. I don't know whether not having a dominant eye goes with being ambidextrous.

I'm pretty much ambidextrous. Born left-handed, forced at primary school to become right-handed, by tieing my right behind my back. The only thing I now cannot do, left-handed, is handwriting. I'm especially ambidextrous, with hand-tool use, but differentiating left from right, has always caused me issues. When picking up knife and forks, I tend to take my lead from others.

 

[Diver Fred]

Live in a USA spec house - Down is Off Up is On. Soon get use to it.

My lounge the switch is upside down in that respect mainly 'cause the second switch has been disconnected.

 

[JohnW2]

Well Harry I have heard of people being described as right handed or even right footed but never right eyed, everyday it`s a learning day on this forum

In that case, you presumably will have learned even more (about what being 'right-eyed' actually means) from what I recently posted!

PS to you and John, do right/left ears come into play too or anything else (Oh yes I am aware of the brain by the way)

You seem to understand more than you think you do since, in the final analysis, it's all down to the brain, given that virtually everyone is born with one cerebral hemisphere (usually the left - see what I'm about to post to Harry) being dominant - and a lot of things (like left/right-handedness) are a consequence of that. I can't say I've heard of 'dominant ears', but they may well exist.

Kind Regards, John

 

[SUNRAY]

I'm pretty much ambidextrous. Born left-handed, forced at primary school to become right-handed, by tieing my right behind my back. The only thing I now cannot do, left-handed, is handwriting. use, but differentiating left from right, has always caused me issues. When picking up knife and forks, I tend to take my lead from others.

I've always been left handed, a family trait. At school we were taught: "You write with your right hand and what's left is your left hand." so I always had difficulty remembering which was which until I had a car accident at 9 years and broke my left leg.
I was taught to eat 'right handed' with fork in left hand / knife or spoon in right but if ever it's fork only such as cake or buffet it's automatically in my right hand. I'm also essentially ambidextrous with hand tools but saw cutting straight for me has always been troublesome which seemed to be fairly standard for us lefties at high school.
Our high school averaged around 5-7 lefties per class of 24 (2-3 times national average) which was very much catered for; our metal workshop benches had 8 vices and we'd be grouped together as best we could, a couple of classrooms had chairs with a side table attached and enough lefts were there to accomodate us etc.

 

[JohnW2]

I'm pretty much ambidextrous. Born left-handed, forced at primary school to become right-handed, by tieing my right behind my back.

A common, and rather sad, story from the past, but that's obviously different from people (very rare) who are actually born truly ambidextrous.

As I've just written to ebee, it's obviously all down to the brain, and we are nearly all born with one side of the brain being 'dominant'. However, it's all a little confusing since, for some peculiar evolutionary reason, the nervous system of nearly all higher animals, and certainly all mammals 'crosses over' - so, for example, all of the nerves serving the right side of the body come from the left side of the brain and 'crossover' in the brainstem. Hence most people are born with a dominant left cerebral hemisphere, leading to their being right-handed etc.

Have you ever had problems with 'stammering', I wonder? I ask because it is a frequent problem experienced by those who have been 'forced' to change handedness. There is usually only one speech centre in the brain, one one side or the other. Since you were born left-handed, your speech centre will have ('unusually') been on the right side of your brain. However, when attempts were made to 'force' you to become right-handed, your brain would eventually have tried to shift your speech centre to the other side. However, that shifting is often incomplete and leads to the brain getting confused by partial speech centres on both sides - and that is commonly manifested as stammering.

 

[ebee]

You are right that is interesting about eyes, i had no idea. so the dominant eye looks at the target central and the other one triangulates for depth and distance etc so is possibly cleverer in reality I suppose. or a least the brain running it and computing it is so.
Pretty clever stuff anyway .
I had no idea about stammerers either, I do remember that left handers were strongly even forcibly encouraged to be right handed and some were really brow beaten into it apparently.
It has always puzzled me even though I am right handed why with knife and fork we often use the fork in a spoon like manner but if no knife we use the fork as if a spoon in the right hand, strange that!