Connectors - which way round

[Shaunie]

Gonna weigh in with my tuppence worth here. Throughout my forty years in the electronics industry the gender of a connector has always been defined by the contacts themselves. Pins=male, sockets=female. Nothing stops you from defining the gender of the housing as male or female but essentially a plug has pin connectors and a socket has female connectors. Not perfect, as this discussion shows but it suffices for most situations.
As for driving on the left, as far as I’m aware that is, when on horseback keeping to the left easily allowed ones sword to be brought to bear on the person coming the other way should his attentions not be honourable. Napoleon however was a lefty so on the continent he had everyone ride on the right so he got first dibs with his sword. Don’t think it occurred to him that he had disadvantaged his entire army for his own convenience. I’m a leftie too but I still think it was a bad idea though.

Edited By Shaunie on 12/10/2020 00:33:07

[TonyS]

Posted by Shaunie on 12/10/2020 00:31:04:

Gonna weigh in with my tuppence worth here. Throughout my forty years in the electronics industry the gender of a connector has always been defined by the contacts themselves. Pins=male, sockets=female. Nothing stops you from defining the gender of the housing as male or female but essentially a plug has pin connectors and a socket has female connectors. Not perfect, as this discussion shows but it suffices for most situations.
As for driving on the left, as far as I’m aware that is, when on horseback keeping to the left easily allowed ones sword to be brought to bear on the person coming the other way should his attentions not be honourable. Napoleon however was a lefty so on the continent he had everyone ride on the right so he got first dibs with his sword. Don’t think it occurred to him that he had disadvantaged his entire army for his own convenience. I’m a leftie too but I still think it was a bad idea though.

Edited By Shaunie on 12/10/2020 00:33:07

I think the confusion for me came with thinking of everything as connectors within a housing. In the case of the XT60 / XT90 these aren't constructed like that, they are the connector itself. Anyway, enough's been said on this I think.

As for the driving on the left/right, I heard a similar tale though the explanation I'd heard was that it was Louis XVI who decided that, as evidence that France was a civilized country there was no need to have your sword hand free when travelling and to demonstrate this he dictated that everyone should ride on the right.

I also picked this up on the web and to be fair it sounds more likely:

In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

Right-handed knights preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent

Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.

In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver’s seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.

In Russia, in 1709, the Danish envoy under Tsar Peter the Great noted the widespread custom for traffic in Russia to pass on the right, but it was only in 1752 that Empress Elizabeth (Elizaveta Petrovna) officially issued an edict for traffic to keep to the right. In addition, the French Revolution of 1789 gave a huge impetus to right-hand travel in Europe. The fact is, before the Revolution, the aristocracy travelled on the left of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right, but after the storming of the Bastille and the subsequent events, aristocrats preferred to keep a low profile and joined the peasants on the right. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794, more or less parallel to Denmark, where driving on the right had been made compulsory in 1793.

[Gary Manuel]

It's a shame we predominantly right handed Brits chose to drive on the left because I find that changing gear etc with my right hand whilst driving abroad makes it much easier than fumbling with my left hand back home.

Edited By Gary Manuel on 12/10/2020 12:41:31

[TonyS]

Posted by Gary Manuel on 12/10/2020 12:19:38:

It's a shame we predominantly right handed Brits chose to drive on the left because I find that changing gear etc with my right hand whilst driving abroad makes it much easier than fumbling with my left hand back home.

Edited By Gary Manuel on 12/10/2020 12:41:31

True, and it's not just gear shifting. It's more and more the case that cars are turning to control knobs and switches, touch pads and touch screens in the centre console that require a significant degree of dexterity that right handers find difficult to use with the left hand. This means that they're more distracted when trying to use them.