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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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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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Well, I'm left-handed 
Behzad
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I'm so sorry.
Have you tried conversion therapy? 
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Actually, Faraday got it right, I'm sure. It was that damned energizer bunny being so busy beating his thing drum that he got the + sign on the wrong end. 
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: Only in electricity does the power flow from the negative to the positive.
Pedantic hat on.
Actually wrong, electrics/electronics recognizes positive (vs ground) as the "power source." Directional indicators point arrows from positive, one-way components (diodes and up) show the arrow as working working from or against the positive energy depending what it's supposed to do....
So power is recognized as positive to negative or zero - electronics and electricity deals with charge (positive values indicate positive charge.)
The actual direction that the charge propagates*, that s by way of loosely bonded electrons, is rarely if ever a consideration in electronics/electrical applications. All they know is the + gets eaten.
Oh, while being pedantic power doesn't flow, it propagates* (otherwise electricity would be really slow).
Message Signature
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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. 
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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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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Because the - and + designations were defined way before the discovery of the electron.
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Because they guessed wrong in the beginning and it's too hard to change now.
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Oh, stop being so negative! 
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It's the arsetronomers that are being negative, not me, I'm positive of that.
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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?
I guess it's a matter of relative thinking. Are the stars moving above us or is the earth moving below the stars?
I have a feeling the celestial coordinate system might be older than both chronographs and Galileo.
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From a navigator's point of view, the stars are anchored to a non-existent point in the sky called the first point of Aries (apart from their proper motion). It is accepted that the earth moves relative to that, for a geocentric position, and then the attitude of the earth is calculated to obtain a topocentric position. All these calculations are related to time - Right Ascension is measured in HH:MM:SS.ss - where East positive rules.
What the astronomers do to get it so wrong, I have no idea. 
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Right on! It wasn't broke for five millennia, so they fixed it until it was broke! 
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Spam, spam, spam, eggs, and spam!
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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If I remember correctly (which is doubtful) from my Navigation/Nautical Astronomy lectures of almost 50 years ago. I think it is because the celestial sphere, which comprises all objects in "the sky", moves relative to a static earth.
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Yeah, that's what Ptolemy thought. It's also what Galileo got imprisoned for disagreeing with, and what Giordano Bruno got burnt alive for denying.
Guess what? Ptolemy was effing wrong!
Us navigators know better. 
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Everything is relative ...
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Astronomy is one of those fields with quite a lot of historical crust. I remember teaching in a foster school reading through the kids' physics books and the one or two that had astronomy in them, made me wonder WTF this stuff isn't expressed in simpler terms/coordinate systems which would totally be possible.
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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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That's got nothing to do with the different sizes of the gallon. It's just that the 'murcans have not got any idea of how to make beer.
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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)!
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<Toilet paper orientation is sometimes mentioned as a hurdle for married couples.>
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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