LeftHanded or RightHanded ?? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2020, 01:39:01 pm
content: It seems that the brain does a major cross-over to the body. LH side controls the RH side & visa-versa.If someone is LeftHanded, (I am), then it generally means that the RH side of the brain is 'more' developed.In the RH side of the brain, there is a predominance of control/ability towards things like...Artistic Flair, Abstract Thinking, Balance, Coordination etc., and hence a lot of the worlds 'thinkers' are LeftHanded. (Including the likes of Poetry, Flair, Music, Maths etc..) I don't profess to 'fit' that norm though.In fact, I've changed over the years!! I write LH, but do detailed computer graphics using aRHMouse!!!I throw with my LH, but kick a ball with my Right-Foot. Can use a Snooker-Cue in either hand, but mainly right.When I was a kid, in the 1950's, we usedink Nib pens, and your hand could smudge your work! And virtuallyall modern Ledger/Receipt books are made for RH people, and so not cramming text into the binding!!!In times of old, 'Lecherous' meant LH, and 'Righteous' meant of the Right Hand. Don't know about that... butthere are a shit load of scientific, astronomical, mathematical people of old that were left handers!!I usually tell people that I'm 'Ambidextrous' with a WheelBarrow!!

author: Ground_Loop
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2020, 01:53:54 pm
content: I am similarly configured. Left for eating, writing, hammering, soldering. Right for throwing, shooting, bowling. My fly rod works just as well with both hands.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2020, 02:46:34 pm
content: Further bias in language: "sinister" means left and "dexterity" means right.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 04:15:32 am
content: I'm a southpaw with "precision" type things (writing, soldering, and eating, for instance) and right handed for almost everything else - throwing, batting, shooting, hammering, using scissors, making noise with a guitar. I tend to favor my right hand with most tools, like screwdrivers and pliers, but can easily use my left hand for such things if it makes work easier or more accessible. And to add to the fun, my right eye has astigmatism, so I'm left eye dominant (great fun when trying to shoot a rifle right handed, and using an SLR camera).-Pat

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 05:20:35 am
content: I'm a righty for just about all things. (Sorry - I felt we righties needed at least token representation)Left hand is useful for holding solder, wire and PCB (all at the same time) as well as being a target when time to use a hammer. I also use it to change gears when driving.

author: Domagoj T
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 05:45:50 am
content: Quote from: Brumby on June 02, 2020, 05:20:35 amI can manage to hold two wires I need to splice in my left hand, the iron in right, but solder has to be preformed on the bench so it stands up and then slightly down, then the entire "assembly" is brought in towards the solder. I would love to learn your magic, sir.Righty here too.Quote from: Cubdriver on June 02, 2020, 04:15:32 amCan't help you out with shooting rifles, but for DSLRs, there are focusing screens that might help you. There are various designs, but basically they exaggerate out of focusness or provide various split image effects when out of focus so it's easier to see when stuff is in focus.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 06:36:15 am
content: Quote from: Domagoj T on June 02, 2020, 05:45:50 amI think that ship has well and truly sailed - I've been shooting with SLRs for almost 40 years now (started while in HS in 1982), so the muscle memory of turning my head slightly to the right, looking through the viewfinder with my left eye and having my nose squashed flat against the back of the camera is now pretty much cast in titanium reinforced concrete with diamond aggregate and unlikely to change. It just happens reflexively after all these years.Like 'handedness', eye dominance is one of those things that seems to be subconscious and established before you realize it, and then not easily overcome. I wore glasses that corrected the astigmatism well before high school, but despite that still naturally went to the left eye with the camera viewfinder from the start. I do appreciate the suggestion, though.-Pat

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 11:53:13 am
content: A couple of years ago, I was in a room of 15 engineers and embedded programmers. Eight of us were left handed which is a statistical anomaly considering only 10% of people are left handed in the general population.Some of us were punished for being left handed as kids. I am lucky to be still left handed after a teacher tried to bash it out of me. In primary school in grade three one day, students had to correct the work of the student sitting next to them. The teacher whose name was Mr. Godden noticed I drew the ticks backwards and knew I was left handed. He belted me with an 18 inch wooden ruler on the hand repeatedly whilst gloating but I refused to cry despite the intense pain. He would have stopped if I cried. He stopped at thirty hits one for each tick drawn backwards, leaving my hand red raw. He also did other horrible things at other times I won't mention here.But I am proud to be lefty.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 01:01:45 pm
content: My father was ambidextrous---his favourite trick was to sign his name with both hands simultaneously, with the right signature going left to right as normal, & the left signature, its mirror image.Dad was both an Engineering Patternmaker & a sculptor.Mum was left handed, & a painter/poet..The "handedness" skipped a generation---I, & my siblings are all right handed.Both my sisters are artists, both painters & sculptors.My brother & I had a bit of skill that way, but never pursued it.I have found. over the years, that I use whichever hand is convenient------ in many cases, say when tightening bolts. it is often easier to hold the bolt in place with my right hand, then fit, & tighten, the nut with my left.

author: Gribo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 01:26:05 pm
content: I am ambidextrous, I write with both hands, not simultaneously, and use mouse with either hands. Soldering how ever is comfortable at the moment.

author: Cubdriver
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 02:27:37 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on June 02, 2020, 11:53:13 amDamn!! That's hardcore! Certain people shouldn't be teachers! Sheesh! I never encountered anything remotely close to that, but do clearly remember a substitute teacher in about third or fourth grade telling me I was underlining things wrong (being a leftie, I started at the end and underlined 'backwards' to the beginning). Weird what sticks with you over the years. As I got a bit older and (debatably) wiser, I've always regretted not being sharp enough to ask her to turn away and while I drew several lines, some left to right (the 'correct' way in her opinion) and others right to left, then asking her to identify which was which. Sad.y, thatsomewhat mischievous thought did not occur to me until several years later.On a slightly different note, I do often tell people I missed my calling - should have been a doctor - I have the handwriting for it.-Pat

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 04:28:06 pm
content: As I understand it, the dominant eye is usually the opposite from the dominant hand. Somehow, that left me (naturally right-handed) in the situation of being able to close my right eye independently of the left, but unable to close the left eye by itself, which makes shooting a rifle very difficult. I can live with that problem. When my mother taught elementary school, they would identify the dominant eye by handing the pupil a cardboard tube and tell him to play telescope, noting which eye the pupil used.

author: wn1fju
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2020, 04:53:29 pm
content: Born a lefty but my grandmother proclaimed "it is a right-hand world," and so I was forced to eat and write with my right hand at an early age, and that's how I ended up. Sports are somewhat random - I throw and kick left-handed but play racquet sports such as ping-pong or tennis right-handed.

author: IconicPCB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 07:17:08 am
content: I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous.Seriously!

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 08:03:09 am
content: Another ambidextrous, Use what ever hand is most convenient at the time, though my writing is a little better on my left. but any tools, which side I swing a Bat, etc, can use both equally as good,I annoy people with typing sometimes as I can use literally any combination of hands or fingers without issue, each time I damaged a finger or hand I just learned around it.Schools where very strict on trying to "correct" my left handed-ness as a kid, which led to all this.As a side effect, I am effectively left-right disoriented, any time someone gives a direction I will glance at my hands to see which one makes an "L" for left.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 09:10:13 am
content: @rerouterStarting with the preferred anatomic position (palms facing forward, both thumbs facing out), when I flex my elbow, only my right had can form an L easily.Does that make me dyslexic?

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 09:44:09 am
content: Right. Very much. In fact, I really had trouble in high school. I was in the basketball team, and you are supposed to be able to play with both hands. Depending on the side and the moves, there is an advantage of using one hand over the other. I always was really bad with left hand, something like 1/4 the throwing accuracy.If you think you are ambidextrous, just go on a field, and try to score points with both hands, and do some Statistics.

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 10:05:17 am
content: Quote from: TimFox on June 02, 2020, 04:28:06 pmI was taught to shoot with both eyes open but with a blank screen in front of the non dominant eye. Allegedly it is preferable for some weird neurological reason that I don't remember.I also have the opposite eyes problem, so I generally shoot better right-handed using my dominant eye despite being a left hander, but I didn't realise this for a long time so all my early shooting was left handed, and heavier rifles I still tend to use left handed as I find I can hold them steadier. Not that I do much shooting any more, and some rifles are just unusable left-handed.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 11:26:00 am
content: Quote from: TimFox on June 01, 2020, 02:46:34 pmHA!!... I noticed that 'tooki' thanked your post!... I expected him to!!To others in general...Yea, back in those days, kids were actually 'punished' for writing L.H., & were thought of as evil!I'm also a Guitar player, but hold it R.H. (Neck on the left). Makes sense to ME, as my left hand isoften doing all the hard/complex fingering. ??However, it seems 'generally' true about 'lefties' in regard to tech/arty-farty fields!!

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 11:35:30 am
content: i'm ambidextrous. i can even write using both hands. the only thing i notice is that the certain activities have a 'preferred' hand . It works fine with either hand, but better with a specific hand.Soldering the really small stuff like 0402 and .5mm pitch parts : right hand.writing : left hand.hmm. come to think of it .. it's not so much the manipulation of the iron. its the holding of the part ... part is in left hand. (writing hand), iron in right. but then when i have to do the 'drag' soldering of the pins i switch iron to left hand.. curious. so it is fine motor control

author: SerieZ
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 11:51:37 am
content: Quote from: richard.cs on June 03, 2020, 10:05:17 amI have better eyesight with my left eye and for Pistols I use the left eye to Aim.Unfortunately I am right handed and with the rifle I cannot use the left eye to aim down the Diopter as I am not very good using my left hand precisely even though the Rifle is actually very usable with both Hands.With both I shoot with both eyes open and I have tried it with one eye closed sometime (In some Swiss Competitions you are not allowed to use "eyesight claps") and your eyesight just gets tired much much quicker that way. At least that is my experience...In order to get better results I would probably have to buy one of those really expensive shooter glasses to fix the sight of my dominant right eye while also "clapping" (I really do not know a better word for it) down the left.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 12:13:24 pm
content: Quote from: Cubdriver on June 02, 2020, 02:27:37 pmWe also had a Mr. Hammer (ironically his real name) who was a substitute teacher in the same year one day and in a case of mistaken identity, he called me out (with someone else's name) for something I supposedly did at lunchtime which I knew nothing about. He used a belt with plastic electricians tape wrapped around the end to add to the sting. After a victim would put their hand out to get the strap, he would aim for the fingers so it hurt the most, and he would hit very hard. He gave me the maximum legal number of straps by a teacher in the state of Victoria - eight. Things like that never leave you. Fortunately corporal punishment was abolished in this state in the 70's. I never let these bad experiences affect my academic life, after all most teachers were decent, but they might be one reason I have had a pastime for the last 20 years of studying wrongful convictions and the lack of justice in the USA, Australia and the UK.These days, I don't think being left-handed is considered in negative light. We lefties cope well in the world mainly suited for right-handed people. I kick a footy with the right foot, write with the left hand, can use a mouse in either hand (although those right-handed biased mouses feel a bit odd). Most of us lefties who had fountain pens as kids have learnt to write with our hand above the writing so out wrist does not smudge the ink, even though we now use ballpoint pens.Now my handwriting is atrocious because I very rarely write anything. But I wonder how many Millennials know how to write out a cheque. Or what crossing it with "NOT NEGOTIABLE" means. I have not written out a cheque for 10 years.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 12:27:36 pm
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on June 03, 2020, 09:10:13 amNo something much worse, a contortionist,who's preferred position is thumbs facing out...

author: InductorbackEMF
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 01:14:18 pm
content: Left handed for almost all things other than typing/mouse stuff.Can write fine using both hands if needed.Alex.

author: wn1fju
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 04:44:07 pm
content: I heard this story years ago. I have no idea whether or not it is true, but I would like to think it is.A math professor stood in front of his calculus class and, as was his custom, started off by asking if there were any homework problems that the students had difficulties with. One student blurted out a problem number. The professor then asked if there were any others. Another student yelled out a second problem number.The professor calmly walked over to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk in his right hand, picked up another piece of chalk in left hand, and then proceeded to write the solutions to both problems side by side on the blackboard simultaneously!

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2020, 11:59:40 pm
content: Quote from: wn1fju on June 03, 2020, 04:44:07 pmThere was apparently a bloke who lived near Melbourne who carry on two conversations simultaneously - one at 25 WPM Morse code with a fellow ham radio operator and the other as a normal verbal conversation with someone in the room.

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2020, 05:20:37 am
content: I did used to have a science teacher who wrote 2 columns of text on the board at the same time with both hands. But he would fall back to left when he was drawing.

author: yippy
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 04, 2020, 08:15:36 am
content: Leftie here, do everything with my left hand apart from using a mouse.

author: GlennSprigg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2020, 02:06:42 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on June 03, 2020, 11:59:40 pmTo both you guys, (and others!), that's amazing. and25 WPM Morse code? at the same time? Wow...I never learnt properly, and used to hear M/C at times onoff-the-wallstations at between 3 & 8 times thespeed!!So I wrote some software, (25 years ago & now lost!), to Translate the transmissions! (About 98% accuracy). Was fun.However, it reminds me of my 'Missus' who basically 'Pisses-me-off' with her 'apparent' ability tospeed-read!!!She 'reads' multiple crappy 'Mills & Boon' novels each day. I watch her face scan down the L.H. page in about 8 secs,gloss over the R.H. page in about 6 secs, and turn the page again...AARRGGHH!!!I tell her that 'reading' should be at a speed that you are reading it OUT LOUD, and that even if she 'glossed' overkeywords, there's NO WAY she has caught the full 'Nuance' of each sentence/meaning/feelings etc. Arghhh...For many years now, NOTHING will convince me that/what she is actually reading!! But I still love her!!

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2020, 07:43:24 am
content: Anyone can speed read each page of a Mills and Boon book, just like missing a few episodes of Days of Our Lives - you miss nothing. The speed readers fail badly when they have to read a datasheet or a maths textbook. It is important to read datasheets slowly and thoroughly.My missus is similar - speed reads books much quicker than I. Mind you, I have read only one fiction book is 40 years because having to read Shakespeare's and other boring rubbish in high school put me off reading fiction for life.