Today i don't have much to do... So i decided to post about left handers as i'm a left hander myself(:

Left-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. Most left-handed people exhibit some degree of ambidexterity. (Ambidexterity is the state of being equally adept in the use of both right and left appendages, such as the hands.)
Common in males than females. Left-handedness, in comparison to the general population, also appears to occur more frequently in both identical and fraternal twins, and several groups of individuals with neurological disorders (such as people with epilepsy, Down Syndrome, autism, mental retardation and dyslexia). Statistically, the identical twin of a left-handed person has a 76 percent chance of being left-handed.

I don't think i am mentally retarded. Or do i?? lols..

In 2007, researchers discovered LRRTM1, the first gene linked to increased odds of being left-handed. The researchers also found evidence that possessing one particular form of this gene slightly raises the risk of psychotic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. (Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality.)

Watch out left handers!!

Meaning
English word sinister comes from the Latin word sinestra, which originally meant "left" but took on meanings of "evil" or "unlucky" by the Classical Latin era.
In Portuguese, the most common word for left-handed person, canhoto, was once used to identify the devil, and canhestro, a related word, means "clumsy"

Ohh.. we're evil and clumsy lols...

Sports
In boxing, someone who boxes left-handed is frequently referred to as southpaw. The term is also used to refer to a stance in which the boxer places the right foot in front of the left, so it is possible for a right-handed boxer to box with a southpaw stance. Most boxers, southpaw or otherwise, tend to train with sparring partners who adopt an orthodox stance which gives southpaws an advantage.
In tennis, a southpaw holds the racket in their left hand. Because of this their grip of the handle is supposedly adjusted in a slightly different style from right-handed players.

Multi-task
There are many theories on how being left-handed affects the way a person thinks. One theory divides left- and right-handed thinkers into two camps: visual simultaneous vs. linear sequential.
According to this theory, right-handed people are thought to process information using a "linear sequential" method in which one thread must complete its processing before the next thread can be started.
Left-handed persons are thought to process information using a "visual simultaneous" method in which several threads can be processed simultaneously. Another way to view this is such: Suppose there were one thousand pieces of popcorn and one of them was colored blue. Right-handed people—using the linear sequential processing style—would look at the popcorn one at a time until they encountered the blue one. The left-handed person would spread out the pieces of popcorn and look at all of them to find the one that was blue. A side effect of these differing styles of processing is that right-handers need to complete one task before they can start the next. Left-handers, by contrast, are capable and comfortable switching between tasks. This seems to suggest that left-handed people have an excellent ability to multi-task, and anecdotal evidence that they are more creative may stem from this ability to multi-task.

Right-handed people process information using "analysis", which is the method of solving a problem by breaking it down to its pieces and analyzing the pieces one at a time. By contrast, left-handed people process information using "synthesis", which is the method of solving a problem by looking at the whole and trying to use pattern-matching to solve the problem.

The computer mouse is sometimes made to fit the right hand better. Many computer installations have the mouse placed on the right side, making it awkward for left-handers to use without moving the mouse to the other side of the keyboard. Some mouse drivers and operating systems allow the user to reconfigure the mouse buttons to reverse their functions. However, being left-handed does not always mean the person uses the mouse on a computer with the left hand; many left-handers can use the mouse right-handed because they learned it that way from the start. It can be said that this is an advantage as one can use the mouse with their non-dominant hand, leaving their dominant hand available to simultaneously complete other tasks.

I guess this means we can multi task... (:

Music
Left-handed adaptations have even bridged the world of music; guitars are often made especially for left-handers, though generally at a higher cost, and with greatly reduced availability. There have even been inverted pianos where the deepest notes correspond to the rightmost keys instead of the leftmost. Inverted trumpets are made, too, but at a considerably higher cost. Although the trumpet's valves are normally designed to be operated with the right hand, the prevailing belief is that left-handed trumpeters aren't at a significant disadvantage. The horn, for example, is played with the left hand, yet most horn players are right-handed.

I would really like to have a inverted piano too(:

Intelligence
In his book Right-Hand, Left-Hand, Chris McManus of University College London argues that the proportion of left-handers is rising and left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers' brains are structured differently in a way that widens their range of abilities, and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centres of the brain.
McManus also says that the increase in the 20th century of people identifying as left-handed could produce a corresponding intellectual advance and a leap in the number of mathematical, sporting, or artistic geniuses.

In 2006, researchers at Lafayette College and Johns Hopkins University in a study found that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26 percent richer if they graduated. The wage difference is still unexplainable and does not appear to apply to women.

This is one of the time when i wish that i'm a guy...

Discrimination faced and the increse in left-handers
Left-handers suffered severe prejudice during the 18th and 19th centuries and it was often "beaten out" of people...
In adulthood, left-handers were often shunned by society, resulting in fewer marrying and reproducing
As prejudice declined in the 20th century, the number of natural left-handers who stayed left-handed increased
The rising age of motherhood contributed as, statistically, older mothers are more likely to give birth to left-handed children

Shorter lifespan
A study published in 1991 claimed that these statistics indicate that left-handed people's lifespans are shorter than those of their right-handed counterparts by as much as 9 years. The authors suggested that this may be the result of left-handed people being more likely to die in accidents as a result of their "affliction", which renders them clumsier and ill-equipped to survive in a right-handed world. Many subsequent studies have shown no evidence that left-handed people have reduced longevity compared to right-handed people.

Hope my lifespan won't be short...

SOURCE:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handed

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