We are blessed with two left-handers at the Velsoft palatial head office. Since one in 10 people are left-handed, this makes absolute sense (although we think we got two of the best).  We hear loads of things about left-handers – some of it true, some not.  They are said to be more artistic due to using the right side of their brain (like Ludwig Van Beethoven), also they are said to be better at sports (think Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, etc.), as well they’re supposed to have on average higher annual salaries but also die sooner (kind of a bummer).

Aug. 13 — Monday — is “Left-Handers’ Day.” Started in 1996, the day celebrates left-handedness and raises awareness of the difficulties and frustrations experienced by south paws in a world designed for right-handed people.

When I was conducting research for this blog I came across a list of famous left-handers. It’s staggering, and includes:

Barack Obama Sergei Rachmaninov
Bill Gates Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Oprah Winfrey Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Napoleon Bonaparte Ludwig van Beethoven
Babe Ruth Glenn Gould
Marie Curie Niccolò Paganini
Leonardo da Vinci Jimi Hendrix 
Aristotle Otis Rush 
Albert King  Dick Dale 
Zacky Vengeance  Elizabeth Cotten 
George H.W. Bush Joe Clark

 

I asked our lefties (Cindy and Luke) what it’s like being left-handed in a clearly right-handed world. These are some of the things they said.

  • Resting your hand on the metal rings when writing in a binder or spiral notebook
  • Being surrounded by scissors, but not being able to use most of them
  • Having to open a can by crossing over arms and turning at an awkward angle
  • As a university student: never having desks that curve for a left-handed person
  • Bumping elbows at the dinner table, therefore always sitting on the end
  • Ink/lead marks on your hand from writing
  • Zippers – enough said!

What’s in the Pipeline:

  • Ben is on vacation.
  • Carol is editing new courses and writing blogs.
  • Chris is adding text-to-speech audio to our entire course library.
  • Clare is changing covers for our course packages.
  • Jan is working on CA course components and eLearning QA.
  • Sydney is working on custom projects and eLearning courses.
  • Dylan is working on some custom projects.

Course Count:

Courses released this month:

Microsoft Word Online

GDPR Readiness: Getting the Message Out

Here is the official count of courses for both courseware and eLearning, broken down by Computer and SoftSkills.

Computer SoftSkills Total Courses
Courseware 283 172 453
eLearning 910 167 1077

Left-Handed Trivia

(thanks to Useless Daily)

  • Between 10 and 12 per cent of people on earth are “lefties.”
  • Left-handers adjust to seeing underwater quicker.
  • Almost 40 per cent of the top tennis players are left-handers.
  • They recover from strokes faster.
  • They are more likely to be insomniacs.
  • They are better at multi-tasking.