How Many Left Handers Are There?: According to a study by Dr. Chris McManus, who has conducted widespread research into the genetic causes of handedness, 13 percent of the population is left-handed. It's Possible, some scientist believe, that half of humanity would be left-handed if they had not been trained to use there right hands as children
"I'm Sure it's not just change that Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and a long list of other artist have all been left-handed or ambidextrous. Their genius may well have had something to do with their left-handedness" - Dr. Jeannine Herron, research psychologist in neuropsychiatry
Inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin left handed; Buzz Aldrin; George Burns; Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex; Singer Natalie Cole; Former Presidents Ronald Reagan; James Garfield; Herbert Hoover; Harry S Truman; Gerald Ford; George Bush; Bill Clinton; Athlete Babe Ruth; Actor Rip Torn; Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King; Actor Rip Torn; Baseball Player Lenny Dykstra; Inventor Thomas Edison; Bill Russell basketball player; Simpsons Cartoonist Mat Groening; Tennis Player John McEnroe; Albert Einstein;
Q: Well-known for his complex, surreal lyrics as well as his social and political activism, what lefty lead singer of the rock band R.E.M. was born on this date in 1960? Don't care well here it is any way.... Michael Stipe.
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus was the son of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. This Lefty ruler was named Ceasar at the age of five, and co-Augustus at the age of seventeen. The popular movies The Fall of The Roman Empire (1964) and Gladiator (2000) were loosely based on the career of the emperor Commodus.
Lefty Lore: A Danish legend says that on the twelfth night after Christmas if an unmarried woman walks to bed backward, throws a shoe over her left shoulder, and says a verse to the Three Holy Kings, the man she sees in her dreams will one day marry her.
Left Handed political cartoonist Pat Oliphant got his start drawing weather maps in Australia. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966 and is now one of the most widely syndicated editorial cartoonist in the world. Pas is also a sculptor and the founder of the BGA, The Bad Golfers Association
Lefty's Across the Country: Lefty's Cigar Store, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania - Lefty's Moving Service, New Orleans, Louisiana - Lefty's Barber Shop, Kansas City, Missouri - Lefty's Automotive, Chicago, Illinois
"Left handers have a higher 'fluid' intelligence and better vocabulary then the majority of the population. This is perhaps why there are more of them in creative professions, such as music, art and writing"
Born in 1755, lefty American politician Alexander Hamilton as the first and most influential Secretary of the Treasury. He established the first Bank of the united States, was the principle author of the Federalist Papers, and his picture appears on the $10 bill.
International concert pianist and left hander Christopher Seed is like any other pianist - he plays the piano. However, the piano that he plays was built with the keyboard in reverse. The instrument was built by Poletti and Tuinman Fortepiano Makers of Holland. It was completed in the summer of 1998, and in 1999, he performed the premier concert to a standing ovation at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
Did you know that like her son Charles, her grandson William, and her mother Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth II is also left handed? Her father, her great-grandfather, and her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, were also lefties.
Inspiration From Lefties "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools" -Martin Luther King Jr
Off beat Good Eats chef and left-hander Alton Brown was raised in his mother's grandmothers kitchens. Although he worked as a cook throughout high school and college, he never considered a career in food until after a decade working as a cinematographer and video director. He realized that he spent all his time between shoots watching cooking shows, reading cookbooks, and eating. His books include I'm just here for the food, Alton Brown Gear for your Kitchen and Alton Brown Kitchen Users Manual.
Did you know that some companies make check book where the checks tear off a stub at the right-hand side?
Lefty Composers Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach; John Cage; Alexander Dreyschock; Cole Porter; Sergi Prokofiev; Sergi Rachmaninoff; Maurice Ravel
Lefty Fact Blonds are twice as likely to be left-handed as brunettes and redheads.
Inspiration From Lefties "Energy and persistence conquer all things" Benjamin Franklin
Lefty Fact According to the New England Journal of medicine, mothers between the ages of thirty and thirty-five have a 25 percent higher change or producing a lefty.
Occasionally, left-handers play instruments strung for right-handers. New Orleans jazz bassist Sherwood Mangiapane is one of those lefties. "He picked it up by ear and played it his own way. He played left handed and looked like he was playing it backwards." "He didn't restring it. It was just the way he learned."
Inspiration from Lefties - By good luck, I was left handed, and indeed, throughout my whole life, I had never done aught in the right-handed way - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Wilhelm Meister
A recent Study found that left-handers are significantly better than right-handers at remembering images that involve direction, such as which way the queen is facing on an English pound. Perhaps this ability keeps lefties from getting lost!
Albert Einstein's handedness is a subject of some debate, although it is believed he was a lefty forced to writ right hand. When the first anatomical study of his brain was conducted in 2000, however, neuroscientist Sandra Witelson found that the two hemispheres of his cortex, particularly the language centers, were more symmetrical than asymmetrical, a characteristic more prevalent in the left-handed.
"Yet this infant Afterwards proved to be left-handed, the tendency being no doubt inherited - his grandfather, mother, and brother having been or being left - handed" - charles darwin, observing his son in " A biographical sketch of an Infant"
Lefty Lexicon the english word "left" may have origins in the Latin word laevus, meaning "the shield" or "luck side"
"Yet this infant afterwards proved to be left-handed, the tendency being no doubt inherited- his grandfather, mother, and a brother having been or being left handed" - Charles Darwin, observing his son in "A biographical Sketch of an Infant"
Lefty George Pataki was the governor of New York State. Pataki began his political career with his 1982 election as mayor of the Coty of Peekskill, New York, and in 1984 to the New York State Assembly. He has been governor of New York since 1995.
Two Theories exist as to why left-hander Lord Baden Powell chose the left hand for the Boy Scout handshake. One is that the left hand is nearer to the heart; the second is that using the non-weapon hand was a sign of trust.
Outspoken, redheaded, lefty Bill Walton won three straight Player of the Year awards at UCLA before continuing his stardom in the NBA. The Basketball Center is a huge of The Grateful Dead and once played drums with the band at a show in Egypt.
Racing Lefties - Johnny Herbert (Formula 1); Terry Labonte (NASCAR); Valentino Rossi (Motorcycle); Ayrton Senna (Formula1); Karl Wendlinger (Formula 1)
Q: What lefty musician, physician, and theologian won the noble Peace Prize in 1953 for his missionary work in Africa? Hint he was seventy- eight years old. A Dr. Albert Schwetizer
Highlights from the History of Left-Handedness - U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz, born on February 10, brought some positive attention to the otherwise tragic 1972 summer in Munich. Not only did he win a record seven gold medals - more than any other individual athlete at a single but - he broke four world records
Did you know that several experiments have found that the right hand of lefties is quicker, stronger, and more skilled than the left hand of righties?
"I shall not enter on the subject, why we are not in the possession of Santa Cruz, Your partiality will give credit, that all has hitherto been done which was possible, but without effect. This night I, humble as I am, command the whole destined to land under the batteries of the town; and to-morrow my head will probably be crowned either with laurel or cypress. I have only to recommend Josiah Nisbet to you and my country. The Duke of Clarence, should I fall, will, I am confident, take a lively interest for my son-in-law, on his name being mentioned." - letter from Lord Horatio Nelson - the last ever written with his right hand - to his commander - in - chief. Nelson would lose his right arm fighting in the Canary Islands, but continue to lead ships into battle as a lefty.
Lefty Lore - It was no coincidence that the fourth finger of the left-hand was chosen for the wedding finger in 300B.C. Doctors at that time believed a nerve from this finger ran directly to the heart.
According to the Old Testament Book of Judges, Israel was freed from tyrannical domination when left-handed swordsman Ehud plunged his double-edged sword into king Egon of Moab.
Did you know that just because you're left-handed does not mean you're left-footed? Only 45 percent of lefties claim the left foot as their dominant foot.
"Give me all the left-handed pitchers and Ill beat you to death" - Clark Griffith, first manager of the New York Yankees
Southpaw O Finley was an innovative, flamboyant, and controversial baseball team owner. Some of his ideas that seemed jarring at the time - the designated hitter and night games in the world Series - have become widely accepted today.
A 2004 article in Cognitive Brain Research, " Handedness, Hemispheric Asymmetries, and Joke Comprehension," by Seana Coulson and Christopher Lovett, found that the left-handed tend to have larger "humor centers," activating a broader region or the right hemisphere - and some of the left - when listening to jokes.
Enrico Caruso, was one of the most famous tenors in the history of opera and one of the pioneers of recorded music. During his career, this left-hander made nearly 260 recordings and made millions of dollars from the sale of his records. Caruso was the leading male singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for seventeen year.
Lefty Lore - Some say seeing the new moon over your left shoulder will bring you good luck.
Seventy-four percent of left-handers claim to be left-eye dominant. To determine eye dominance, make a triangle with your hands and center and object within the triangle. Close your right eye. If the object stays reasonably centered within the triangle, you are left-eye dominant. If it appears to jump, your right eye is most likely your dominant eye.
Did you know that left-handers can read backward (or backward and upside down) much better than right-handers? This may indicate a higher degree of certain kinds of mental flexibility among left-handed people.
Did you know that Emperor Charlemagne renamed all of the months of the calendar agriculturally into Old High German? These were used with some modifications in Germany and the Netherlands until the late 18th century. When he died in 814 he was buried in his own cathedral. The tomb was opened in 1000 by Otto III, who found the left-handed ruler perched on a marble throne, robed and crowned.
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Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais are one of the most famous left-handed couples in history. They married in 1796.
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Lefty Lore- Anyone who digs coal out of the ground from under his or her left foot in the spring will have good luck.
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The Left-Handed scored higher on test of divergent thinking, a style or reasoning that leads to new concepts and ideas. According to a 1995 study published in the American Journal or Psychology, lefties "are able to generate a multiplicity of solutions."
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