Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   ibwebb
   Member

   Yesterday (2/26/09) I believe I was skimming through the forum and read something that came back to me later:

   By WhiteRabbit
   "What I need though is a dedicated left handed contoured mouse. I use a Microsoft Wireless intellimouse v2.0 at the moment. but it's designed for a right handed person. I'm left handed, so miss out on he comfort and rarely use mouse buttons 4 and 5 because they are not easily accessible."

   Being a right handed person, I had never thought about things really needing to be different for the Lefties of the world. I started looking into what was really out there in the way of computer stuff for lefties and was shocked. Apparently 'ambidextrous' is about as close as you can get for a mouse until 2006! I ended up reading a lot of articles/blogs stressing the problems for left handed people and checking on the suggestions they had for lefties. Apparently the incredibly complicated task (feel the sarcasm?) of changing a mouse to work for lefties makes them all cost a lot more (about double it seems). Anyway, following some of the suggestions I found a really good site that offers a lot of left handed (dedicated) items. I cant say they are cheap or expensive because there wasnt much to compare them too. Here is the site:

   http://www.thelefthand.com/

   They offer a world of things for lefties, not just the computer stuff. I wanted to offer it out there for the lefties in hopes that it may help.

   ibwebb

   Posted 15 years ago #
2. 

   ornithos
   Member

   Hi ibwebb,

   Thank you for your investigations, I'll certainly be following this up (as I'm sure Whiterabbit will be doing). I'm a leftie too (well, not politically, more sort of mid-field) and have had to suffer "right-handed" mice for years, ultimately resulting in RSI.
   I've since then been using a trackball with my left hand, which took some getting used to.

   I salute your efforts (left-handedly, of course).

   Regards,

   Ornithos

   Posted 15 years ago #
3. 

   copmom
   Member

   Welcome lefties of the world! I'm another one. I've always used my mouse with my left hand and even have hubby used to using his with his left hand even though he's right handed.. go figure!
   It's not just computer things.. I never could teach my kids how to tie their shoes (before velcro came along), or knit, because I did it backwards.
   My son in law is a lefty and had to pay almost $4,000 to have a mandolin custom made for him!
   Actually I think us lefties are the ones that do things correctly.. not the righties! What's funny is even though I do use my left hand for the mouse and for writing, I do almost everything else with my right hand.. !!

   Posted 15 years ago #
4. 

   ibwebb
   Member

   @copmom
   You should really check out that site then. I was surprised at some of the things on there. I am a right handed person.. tho strangely enough (before my accident) when I was working as a phlebotomist I was a lefty. Going through school the instructors were all flabbergasted as to why, but I just couldn't get the hang of drawing blood with my right hand. After doing it for about five years I had a boss that got really interested in it. I told him that I had slowly trained myself to use my right, but was never as good with as when I drew with my right. One of the Pathologist tried to tell me something about the halves of the brain and explain it, but even when he finished he wasn't sure if it was a reason or just a theory. Anywho.. I hope it helps you. I know that if nothing else i have become more aware of the world of lefties. It never occurred to me that the keyboard should be switched, etc for a lefty. Ya learn something new everyday! lol

   ibwebb

   Posted 15 years ago #
5. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   Thanks for the links ibwebb. We should have a revolution - power to the lefties. Make everything right handed more expensive. :)

   Posted 15 years ago #
6. 

   kerikaz
   Member

   I'm another lefty. My mom says when I was little, teachers and others that worked with children would "convert" a kid trying to use their left hand. I was lucky with my teachers who adapted their teaching to help me. I don't hold my hand upside down to write like alot of us do, I hold it the same as a right handed person would.

   Here are a few things I struggle with or have had to adapt to: Scissors - my grandmother bought me special lefthanded scissors when she taught me how to sew. cerated (sp?) knives - can't cut my meat! Computer 10 key - I still used the keys above the letters for years until I taught myself to 10 key right handed. Mouse - I've used mine right handed for so long I don't know if I could change now.

   I can't think of the bunches of things that are very right handed oriented at the moment, but I know there are many. I remember there being a LeftHanded persons store at a shopping area in San Diego and the items being very, very expensive.

   Thanks for posting the link above, I will definately check it out. And I'm with Whiterabbit - "Lefties Unite!"

   Keri

   Posted 15 years ago #
7. 

   Anonymous
   Unregistered

   I have a wheel mouse optical by Microsoft and it works fine in both hands, seeing as
   I am ambidextrous I leave it on the right hand side in our household as everyone else is right handed.

   For what is usually said as 'right click' you change the buttons via the software to left click.

   Posted 15 years ago #
8. 

   samm
   Member

   Kerikaz, I know exactly what your mother meant. Teachers would grab a pencil and put it in my right hand and hold my hand closed. It didn't work. They made me ambidextrous,I still eat and write with my left hand, I do everything else with my right hand. A mouse doesn't even feel right in my left had. My dad was also left handed. I'm looking for the trait to show up in my grands but so far it hasn't.

   Copmom, you're right, lefties use the "Right" side of their brains. :)
   I once found a lefties store on Pier 39 in San Francisco, I had a ball in there.

   Posted 15 years ago #
9. 

   copmom
   Member

   kerikaz.. I don't write with my hand upside down either.. and I operate a 10-key adding machine with my right hand very easily. Funny, I've never even thought about using the number keys on my keyboard.. no need to I guess. When I was young the school teachers kept trying to make me write with my right hand.. never happened, and when I took shorthand they said I'd never be able to do it left handed.. they were wrong!
   The left handed store link is great! Never thought about left handed scissors, but I use my right hand for that anyhow.
   The one thing I just found that is hard for me to use .. we just got one of those Pedi Paws toe nail trimmers for the dogs.. having a hard time making that work turning it in the "right" direction.. guess I'm turning my hand the wrong way even though I'm using the right hand for that!

   Posted 15 years ago #
10. 

    Archangel
    Member

    Isn't being left handed kind of like a birth defect???? ROTFL

    Just joking all!

    Posted 15 years ago #
11. 

    ibwebb
    Member

    @ kerikaz, copmom, and samm:
    My mother and uncles (her brothers) talk about that all the time. They went to Catholic schools and would always talk about the nuns 'smacking' their hands with a ruler or yardstick if they picked up their pencil with the left hand. One of the never learned to write right handed (and contrary to Archangel's joke they told my grandmother that he may be retarded and that was why.. and no that was the only reason they based that on.), the other is ambidextrous (with writing only), and my mother cannot use her left hand like her right at all anymore. Though, all my life my mom has always gotten comments anywhere we went on her perfect hand writing. She credits that to the same school of writing with the nuns as above.

    @Lee:
    I have a Targus (AMW15US)cordless,laser mouse that is suppose to be for either. It has no shape that would suggest it would go either way and the drivers allow you to set it for 'left handed operation'. As I said before I really never thought much about this until WhiteRabbit made that comment and now I seem to notice it all the time.

    @Archangle:
    You're on you own. I hope you ducked after typing that. LOL
    __________

    Other tidbits:

    The Pathologist that I mentioned in my last post had said that left handed use the right side and the left people use the ... wrong side LOL I know what you thought I was going to say (and yes, it is the left side). He was saying something about how your right side is the more artistic side where the left is more logic driven. That being said that left handed people are suppose to be more artistically adapt than right handed. It wasnt too long after talking to him about all this I read an interview with Billy Joel. He was commenting on how happy he was that his daughter was left handed and the advantages she would have playing the piano. His daughter is suppose to be incredible on the piano and was way ahead on the learning curve (according to Billy). I dont know how solid that all is, but I know that my daughter is/did take several biology/psychology/etc classes where they investigated the relationship of the right and left. There was a lot of very eerie stuff about the early years (and not to distant years of lobotomies *shivers*. Anyway, the studies were about people that had seizures and they disconnected the Cerebral Hemispheres. It apparently helped a lot of people with the seizures but they also found that afterward the subjects/patients were able to do two totally different things at the same time. i.e. draw a picture with one hand while taking notes with the other, read a book and write (on a different subject), etc. Okay, I tend to get long winded and I am sorry for that. I hope you all find wonders that you can use at the website (I do know that the keyboard you all need is there).

    ibwebb

    Posted 15 years ago #
12. 

    copmom
    Member

    ARCHANGEL!!! So now you're claiming that we're all 'defective'... Could it be, just possibly, that us lefties are not the defective ones after all? Gee, this is now starting to sound like politics.. those on the right and those on the left! Hummmm.
    @iwebb.. good point about lefties being artsy! My mother in law is ambidexterous and she's also a wonderful artist.. portraits, landscapes, etc. Her big concern when she finished painting something was wondering if it could have been better if she'd used the other hand!

    Posted 15 years ago #
13. 

    samm
    Member

    Copmom, Tell your mother-in-law if she did the painting with her left hand then it IS better. And yes people there is a correlation between left handedness and intelligence..We're simply far more intelligent than right handers.. Sorry righties.

    I love being a lefty. I hate not being able to throw a ball with my left hand.

    Short story: I was at lunch with my dad and one of his friends one day when the friend said, did you notice the difference in our table and all the other tables here? I looked around the room and said, ok, we're the only black people here, he said, that's way too obvious, there is something else. I must have looked around for 20 mins. He then said this is the only table where everyone is left handed, what are the odds of that?

    Posted 15 years ago #
14. 

    ornithos
    Member

    Samm,

    I've also heard that there is a correlation between left handedness and (higher)intelligence. It's also my experience that lefties are more likely to be artisitic, or, perhaps, creative and inventive. But sadly (I'm told), there is also a higher incidence of mental illness amongst us lefties. I suppose in life everything gets balanced out, don't you think.

    By the way, I am able to throw a ball left-handed, but am rubbish when trying right-handed. Oh, and in my wider family I'm the only left-handed one; it must be a genetic mutation :<)

    Regards,

    Ornithos

    Posted 15 years ago #
15. 

    samm
    Member

    Well Ornithos, you know what they say, the higher your intelligence the closer you are to insanity... and that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! LOL

    Posted 15 years ago #
16. 

    copmom
    Member

    Samm... YES, people that are lefties do have higher intelligence! (Me patting myself on the back). As for artistic, I'm not creative, but can copy anything.
    Oh, as for my mother in law, don't want to throw a damper on things, but she's been in assisted living and just passed away last night. She was 92, and went very peacefully. Thurs. we have to drive down to Charlotte for the graveside services... we're so thankful we got most all of her paintings a few weeks ago.

    Posted 15 years ago #
17. 

    Whiterabbit-uk
    Games Guru

    Hi Copmom, I'm so sorry to here about the loss of your mother yesterday. I lost mine 14 years ago. I still greave for her occasionally, but thankfully I have a lot of fond memories of her. I hope all is well with you and your family.

    Regards

    Stephen

    Posted 15 years ago #
18. 

    Whiterabbit-uk
    Games Guru

    Same here ornithos

    Posted 15 years ago #
19. 

    ibwebb
    Member

    @copmom:
    Sorry to hear about the loss of your mother, though hope that her going peacefully comforts some.

    ibwebb

    Posted 15 years ago #
20. 

    ornithos
    Member

    Copmom,

    Please also accept my condolences on the loss of your mother in law.
    We'll be thinking of you and yours tomorrow.

    Ornithos

    Posted 15 years ago #
21. 

    Archangel
    Member

    Sorry to hear about your Mother In-Law but thank god she passed peaceful. Its a fact that Lefties are more Artistic and Creative. I know because I've arrested many of them!! ROTFLMAO

    Archangel

    Posted 15 years ago #
22. 

    copmom
    Member

    Thank you everyone for your condolences.
    Archangel.. since you've arrested many lefties.. shouldn't the jails have left handed items available for their conveniences? Like left handed knives, guns, etc.?? LOL

    Posted 15 years ago #
23. 

    Buckleysmom
    Member

    Well there's a saying that my "lefty" btother always points out...."If the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body....then only left handed people are in their right minds". To which I hand him a piece of paper and pair of scissors and say, "OK.....if you're so smart, cut out a snowflake".

    When I was in accounting class our instructor told us we should learn to use the calculator with our left hands which would keep our right hands free to hold the pencil. I tried but there was NO WAY it was going to happen, and I'm slightly ambidextrous, so even though I have to rag on my brother (just part of the job of being an older sister) I do sympathize with being a lefty in a right-handed world.

    Copmom.....you know you guys are in my thoughts and prayers regarding the passing of your mother-in-law. Take care....God bless you and hugs to you and your family.

    Posted 15 years ago #
24. 

    kerikaz
    Member

    Copmom - We may be twins! LOL I love doing arts and crafts, and sometimes can create my own stuff, but I'm mostly an EXPERT at seeing what someone else has created then running home and making my own (with some variations). Maybe it's not so much that lefties are creative thinkers as we just enjoying creating.

    Very sorry to hear about your mother in law, but am glad you were able to get some of her paintings. My grandmother took up painting in her 70's and was quite good. My 2 sisters and I have her paintings split between our homes. My very favorite that she ever painted is on my wall right behind me.

    Keri

    Posted 15 years ago #
25. 

    copmom
    Member

    kerikaz, I'm the same. When I see something I like (like back when macrame was in vogue), I thought I'm not going to pay all that money for some plant hangers, etc., so I learned to do it myself! Maybe it's because I'm cheap? But actually, it was because I just knew I could do it. Then once I do accomplish something I'm bored with it, because I know I can do it, and go on to something else.
    I'm going to have the kids choose what pictures they'd like for their homes.. there's quite a few and she also spent a small fortune just on the frames. We just can't use all of them in our house ... different styles, different taste. Some have to be framed with glass, but will get around to that.

    Posted 15 years ago #
26. 

    Whiterabbit-uk
    Games Guru

    It would be lovely to be able to see some images of your mothers paintings. You could take some photos of them and then upload them to a photobucket account? If you did consider posting links to some I'd suggest posting only low res so that they aren't ripped off in any way. :)

    regards

    Stephen

    Posted 15 years ago #
27. 

    Canis Majoris
    Member

    Thank you for the link, ibwebb. It's really intresting)

    Posted 15 years ago #
28. 

    copmom
    Member

    whiterabbit.. thanks for the suggestion. I need to take some pictures of them anyhow to send my son & daughter in Calif. to see if they want any of them! As for them getting ripped off, I believe I have some of those watermark programs on here I could possibly use, but low resolution is a good suggestion too.

    Posted 15 years ago #

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