My Daily Bread Crumbs 13 Aug 2022

August 13 is Left-Handers Day. Created in 1992 by the Left-Handers Club as a way to celebrate left-handers, the unofficial holiday aims to ‘raise awareness of the advantages and disadvantages left-handers face.’

The day also encourages businesses and governments to be more left-handed friendly and adapt everyday objects for left-handed people.

10% are Left-Handed

Left-handed people use their left hands to carry out tasks that require the use of hands. About 10% of the world's population is left-handed. Despite this, most equipment and day-to-day articles are designed and manufactured for the use of right-handed people - those who use their right hands to perform tasks.

The purpose of Left-Handers Day is to make the majority right-handers aware of the frustrations that left-handed people face while using devices designed for right-handed people. The day also encourages designers to think about the convenience of those whose left hand is their dominant hand.

Left-Handers Day is also sometimes known as International Left-Handers Day.

How to Celebrate?

Many organizations and public places in cities around the world create “lefty zones”, where everyday objects are adapted for use by left-handed people. If you are a “lefty”, go celebrate your awesomeness at one such zone.
Take your right-handed friends with you to show them how difficult it can be to use objects not made for them.

Did You Know...

...that people who are ambidextrous can easily perform tasks and use devices with both their hands? Ambidexterity is rare and only occurs in about 1% of the population.

***

When my summer teaching post in the Czech Republic came to an end, I told my students my next teaching destination would be in Australia, "the land down under."

On my final day, they presented me with a card. The carefully worded note read

"Good luck, and happy journey to the underworld."

***

At a planning meeting at my college, I congratulated a colleague on producing some superb student-guidance notes explaining how to combat plagiarism.

"How long did it take you to write them?" I asked.

"Not long," he said. "I copied them from another university's website."

***

The last year I entered a marathon. The race started and immediately I was the last of the runners. It was embarrassing. The guy who was in front of me, second to last, was making fun of me.

He said, "Hey buddy, how does it feel to be last?"

I replied, "You really want to know?" Then I dropped out of the race.

***

Every Valentine's Day our campus newspaper has a section for student messages. Last year my roommate surprised his girlfriend with roses and dinner at a fancy restaurant.

When they returned from their date, she leafed through the paper to see if he had written a note to her. Near the bottom of one page she found:

"Bonnie—What are you looking here for? Aren't dinner and flowers enough? Love, Scott."