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’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
Site makes things
easier for leftiesIn a right-handed world, there are a number of things right-handed people (myself included) simply take for granted. Try writing from left to right with your left hand some time. Not easy, is it? Try finding scissors, a computer keyboard or a camera made specifically for left-handed people. Even harder.
Unless, of course, you're familiar with www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk, a Britain-based lefty resource which offers a wide array of left-handed tools (rulers, Swiss knives, openers), kitchen products (peelers, corkscrews,tableware), gifts (clocks, pottery); stationery (organizers, address books, binders, message pads), books, videos and games for the left-handed. It also features helpful information on left-handedness, from statistics (did you realize that up to 15 percent of the world's population are lefties?) to tips on raising a left-handed child.
With exhaustive lists of famous lefties, Anythingleft-handed.co.uk reminds us that in many ways, left-handed people are a special breed. Some may disagree with the contention that lefties enjoy an advantage in sports requiring good spatial judgment (a "left-handed brain" function), though it would serve to explain why many of soccer's most prolific players, such as Diego Maradona and Pele, were left-handed.
In Baseball, throwing or batting left can be a huge plus. Just ask Barry Bonds, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, David Justice, Darryl Strawberry or David Wells. Southpaws like Oscar de la Hoya and Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker can present huge problems for boxers accustomed to right-handed opponents.
Albert Einstein was a famous lefty. So were Henry Ford, William Bonney (aka Billy the Kid), John Dillinger, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte. Until George W. Bush came along, every U.S. President since 1980 was left-handed. Some of music's greatest composers -- Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, Rachmaninof and Schumann -- were lefties, as were celebrated rock icons Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain.
You might think the great mysteries of left-handedness somehow allowed Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, James Caan and Brad Pitt to tap the depths of their soul to become great actors. That's, however, where I'd have to draw the line. Keanu Reeves is reportedly also left-handed.
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
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’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
