When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and my
right ear on my right.
When another person looks at me, they see my left ear on their right and my
right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal of what another
person would see or what appears in a photo.

I want to know why this strange phenomenon occurs only in the horizontal and
not the vertical. Why is my image not upside down as well as back to front? Am
I really upside down but unaware of the fact? How would I know if I were?
Others would not notice because they would be orientated similarly.

I considered that binocular vision might be the cause of this apparent
paradox?.. but no.... Even when I shut one eye I am the right way up even
though my ears are still reversed.

The mystery deepens with this stroke of my genius:

If I lean over 90 degrees like so:
___(
| /
|
/\

and again look in the mirror, my left ear is in top and my right ear is
underneath.
Therefore, according to the above, a viewer angled the same way should see the
opposite. He would see my image reversed in the vertical but not the
horizontal. My left ear should be underneath and my right ear on top.
So in my own mirror image, I should really see my head on the ground and my
feet pointing upwards...but I don't. WHY NOT?

Pondering this sensational question led me to a remarkable conclusion.

IN REALITY, WE ARE ALL INDEED UPSIDE DOWN.

The Earth is a spinning spherical shell and we are on the INSIDE. That is why
we don't fall off. Centrifugal force holds us against the inside surface.
The blue sky is actually a smokey haze that fills the cavity. Stars are the
lights of people on the other side. Volcanoes occur when an asteroid has hit
the outside of the shell....it is all so obvious now...

wrote:
When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and my
right ear on my right.
When another person looks at me, they see my left ear on their right and my
right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal of what another
person would see or what appears in a photo.

I want to know why this strange phenomenon occurs only in the horizontal and
not the vertical. Why is my image not upside down as well as back to front? Am
I really upside down but unaware of the fact? How would I know if I were?
Others would not notice because they would be orientated similarly.

I considered that binocular vision might be the cause of this apparent
paradox?.. but no.... Even when I shut one eye I am the right way up even
though my ears are still reversed.

The mystery deepens with this stroke of my genius:

If I lean over 90 degrees like so:
___(
| /
|
/\

and again look in the mirror, my left ear is in top and my right ear is
underneath.
Therefore, according to the above, a viewer angled the same way should see the
opposite. He would see my image reversed in the vertical but not the
horizontal. My left ear should be underneath and my right ear on top.
So in my own mirror image, I should really see my head on the ground and my
feet pointing upwards...but I don't. WHY NOT?

Pondering this sensational question led me to a remarkable conclusion.

IN REALITY, WE ARE ALL INDEED UPSIDE DOWN.

The Earth is a spinning spherical shell and we are on the INSIDE. That is why
we don't fall off. Centrifugal force holds us against the inside surface.
The blue sky is actually a smokey haze that fills the cavity. Stars are the
lights of people on the other side. Volcanoes occur when an asteroid has hit
the outside of the shell....it is all so obvious now...

Maybe you can sell this to George Hammond.

Gary Eickmeier

wrote in message
...
When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and
my
right ear on my right.
When another person looks at me, they see my left ear on their right and
my
right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal of what another
person would see or what appears in a photo.

I want to know why this strange phenomenon occurs only in the horizontal
and
not the vertical.

It's possibly because we rotate on a vertical plane to see what is behind
us. If we were an ostrich we would see everything upside down when we looked
in a mirror. That is because an ostrich looks between its legs (upside down)
when it looks behind it (rotation in the horizontal plane).

I must admit this sounded a lot more plausible when I first thought of it,
but it is because the reversal is actually front back and the visual
impression left right is because of the specific means of effecting a
front back reversal for people compared to ostriches

The rest of your stuff snipped unread.

Try putting the mirror so you are facing south (the mirror is south
of you)... Notice that top-bottom are not reversed nor east-west
preserving rotational symmetry.

wrote:
When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and my
right ear on my right.
When another person looks at me, they see my left ear on their right and my
right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal of what another
person would see or what appears in a photo.

I want to know why this strange phenomenon occurs only in the horizontal and
not the vertical.

There is no "strange reversal" in either plane. But there is an
ambiguity in "right" vs "left" that does not occur for "top" vs "bottom"
-- this has historical and linguistic roots, but is of no effect in physics.

For a vertical mirror along the north-south axis, compare edges of an
original and its image:

original image
-------- -----
north north
south south
top top
bottom bottom

(note I did not have to specify whether the original is
east or west of the mirror. Note also that if I tried to use
"right" and "left" this would be impossible to describe
accurately -- those terms are ambiguous (aka relative).)

It's just that people are so used to their friend's right hand being on
the left that the language accommodates that -- you have imposed that
convention onto your own image, which is NOT valid. A friend's head
being on the bottom is exceedingly rare.


Tom Roberts

wrote:
When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and my
right ear on my right.
When another person looks at me, they see my left ear on their right and my
right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal of what another
person would see or what appears in a photo.

I want to know why this strange phenomenon occurs only in the horizontal and
not the vertical. Why is my image not upside down as well as back to front? Am
I really upside down but unaware of the fact? How would I know if I were?
Others would not notice because they would be orientated similarly.

In the mirror your left ear appears on your left, your right ear on
your right. Only your perception of right and left has changed. No one
standing in front of a mirror would see you any different. Only the
thought you have turned around creates this illusion. Reach with your
right hand while looking in the mirror and grab your right ear. You are
holding the ear and it is still on the right side of you. Even in your
image it is right of the real you.

wrote:

When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and my
right ear on my right.

Uncrating another bull**** meter...

When another person looks at me, they see my left ear on their right and my
right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal of what another
person would see or what appears in a photo.

The definition of mirror reflection is

(x,y,z) -- (x,y,-z) Look at the three binary vector cross products
before and after.

Use a pair of plane mirrors edge-joined at a right angle and you will
get three images. The central one is double-reflected, which is to
say unchanged.

I want to know why this strange phenomenon occurs only in the horizontal and
not the vertical.

Try looking into a big corner cube reflector (set up three plane
mirrors at mutual right angles to make a hollow one). Learn
ray-tracing, or group theory, or shift your lazy ass and do the
necessary chair parade in Google.

Why is my image not upside down as well as back to front?

Idiot. What is the orientation of the plane of reflection? Mount a
plane mirror over your head and look up. Gee... are you standing on
your head? How is the left-right thingie? Why is that? Vecor
cross-products again.

Am
I really upside down but unaware of the fact?

Are you Aussie or Kiwi? That is cultural bias, of course - and the
Aussies did hunt Abos for sport. Can't fault them for that.

How would I know if I were?

Blood rushing to your empty head. Uncle Al's bull**** meter just
swallowed its torsion coil.

Others would not notice because they would be orientated similarly.

Yeah. Try comporting with a higher IQ peer group. Shouldn't be hard
to find one - stay away from the gymnasium and Black History areas.

I considered that binocular vision might be the cause of this apparent
paradox?.. but no.... Even when I shut one eye I am the right way up even
though my ears are still reversed.

What about when both your eyes are closed? If Helen Keller fell in a
forest, did she make a sound?

The mystery deepens with this stroke of my genius:
[Christ on a crutch]

The Earth is a spinning spherical shell and we are on the INSIDE. That is why
we don't fall off. Centrifugal force holds us against the inside surface.
The blue sky is actually a smokey haze that fills the cavity. Stars are the
lights of people on the other side. Volcanoes occur when an asteroid has hit
the outside of the shell....it is all so obvious now...

You are stooopid as satirist, too.

Hey idiot: If a sodium light is zooming normal toward a plane mirror
and you are behind it looking at it and its reflection, will you see
two red-shifted images or a red-shifted image and a blue-shifted
reflection? Now appreciate what even minimal functional intellgence
can accomplish.

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz.pdf

Dear DEvans:

wrote in message
...
When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on
my left side and my right ear on my right.
When another person looks at me, they see my left ear
on their right and my right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal
of what another person would see or what appears in a
photo.

Simple. Clone yourself in situ. Have the clone *rotate 180
degrees* to turn and look at you. Who is now reversed? The
mirror isn't the issue, the rotation is.

David A. Smith

In message , Uncle Al
writes
wrote:

When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and my
right ear on my right.

Uncrating another bull**** meter...

whoooooooosssssssshhhhhhh!

--
Richard Herring

wrote:
When I look at myself in a mirror, my left ear appears on my left side and my
right ear on my right.
When another person looks at me, they see my left ear on their right and my
right ear on their left.
As you all know, the image I see in a mirror is a reversal of what another
person would see or what appears in a photo.

I want to know why this strange phenomenon occurs only in the horizontal and
not the vertical. Why is my image not upside down as well as back to front? Am
I really upside down but unaware of the fact? How would I know if I were?
Others would not notice because they would be orientated similarly.

I considered that binocular vision might be the cause of this apparent
paradox?.. but no.... Even when I shut one eye I am the right way up even
though my ears are still reversed.

The mystery deepens with this stroke of my genius:

If I lean over 90 degrees like so:
___(
| /
|
/\

and again look in the mirror, my left ear is in top and my right ear is
underneath.
Therefore, according to the above, a viewer angled the same way should see the
opposite. He would see my image reversed in the vertical but not the
horizontal. My left ear should be underneath and my right ear on top.
So in my own mirror image, I should really see my head on the ground and my
feet pointing upwards...but I don't. WHY NOT?

Pondering this sensational question led me to a remarkable conclusion.

IN REALITY, WE ARE ALL INDEED UPSIDE DOWN.

The Earth is a spinning spherical shell and we are on the INSIDE. That is why
we don't fall off. Centrifugal force holds us against the inside surface.
The blue sky is actually a smokey haze that fills the cavity. Stars are the
lights of people on the other side. Volcanoes occur when an asteroid has hit
the outside of the shell....it is all so obvious now...

Surely you know a cat always lands on it's feet.
Virtual cheshire cats are mixed in with the silvering
material before it is applied to the glass. They are
incabable of transporting the image between the surfaces
in an inverted position.

No... I don't agree. If we were all upside down our
mirrors wouldn't work because the cheshire cats would
be confused.

Sue...