Job Discussion Forums

[zaylahis]

Sorry was thinking of English and other languages...they are read from right to left

[jwbhomer]

Eh? English is read from right to left? You mean I've been doing it backwards all these years?
As for Chinese, reading in columns from top to bottom is passe. You still see books printed that way in Hong Kong and Taiwan. But on the mainland the standard is left to right...just like English.

[zaylahis]

OH GOD!!!! SORRY GUYS! Don't know what I am talking about.LOL. OK English left to right, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Sanskrit is left to right! LOL..was there a song which goes..."can't tell my right from my left" or is it "can't tell my left from right" LOL....

[jwbhomer]

No, Arabic is right to left. So is Hebrew.

[zaylahis]

LOL ...of course you are RIGHT and I must have LEFT my brain somewhere.....I thought I wrote that but I see I was wrong....was better a few threads up I think.....LOL...I better let it rest at that

[lall]

By the way, I'm ambidexterous, which is why I started the thread. I discovered that I could use my left hand to deliver a fairly-stong backhand at table-tennis, when I was around 15 years old. I'd switch hands right in the middle of the game and my opponents would object, stating that it was against the rules.
My volley to the rear of the badminton court with my left hand is as good as my right, though not as accurate. However, my left-footed kick at football (soccer, if you must) is more powerful and accurate than my right.
I can haltingly write with my left hand.

[Geronimo]

I stumbled upon this article today on the yahoo! homepage....

http://www.livescience.com/health/060321_left_hand.html

It states that there is a strong link between left-handedness and the direction of our hair whorls. Corey Binns of "Live Science" writes:-

"In a twist on the genetic model, the gene for hand preference might also be the gene for hair whorl direction, the way a person's hair turns on the top of their head. Half of people with counterclockwise whorls prefer their left hand, according to research by Amar Klar at the National Cancer Institute."

From my schooldays I recall that the Latin for 'left-handed' is 'sinister' - and there is little doubt that left-handers have suffered from prejudice in the past. But the hair whorl direction finding must surely point to a genetic causation of what might be termed 'predominate handedness' .

[007]

[veiledsentiments]

Err... 007... you could just look at their hand and see which is holding the pen.

I'd say that it is surely a genetic issue, but one thing left unsaid in the article is what is the percentage of left-handed/clockwise hair whorl people.

VS

[lall]

Nice "tongue-in-cheek" post, VS, but I guess you realise what exactly 007 meant in his post.

Reverting to the subject, the whorls of the hair of even the baldest of people can be clearly seen, if you look closely enough. You may need a magnifying glass, though.

[Geronimo]

In response to the query raised above by OO7, Amar Klar ignored the bald and the long-haired during his spying missions in airports and malls.
Unfathomably, Klar has nothing to say about women whose hair curls both ways.
VS wonders, naturally, as we all do from time to time, about the "percentage of left-handed/clockwise hair whorl people"... Well, VS, according to Amar (or "Alles" -as I call him) Klar - "95% of righthanders have a clockwise whorl". ...Therefore, only 5% don't. Let us assume that this remaining 5% is accounted for by the counterclockwise whorl brigade. It means that in a room of 100 people and barred to the ambidextrous- 89 people would be expected to be right-handed; and of those people, 84 or 85 would have clockwise whorls; and 4 or 5 counterclockwise whorls. With me so far?
As the counterclockwise brigade split 50/50 -left/right-handed, we can conclude that of the remaining 11 people out of the original 100, 4 or 5 have counterclockwise whorls,too; and thus the clockwise account for the remaining 6 or 7 left-handed folk present. So, summarising, amongst the clockwise hair whorl brigade: there are 6 or 7 lefthanders to every 84 or 85 right-handers...equals approx. 7-8 %....give or take the undetectable hairpiece....in the northern hemisphere...

Okay, I don't mind if you don't believe me. In fact, I whorly don't care at all!
Read "Bioedonline"...
http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news-print.cfm?art=449 and ...
http://www.blonnet.com/2002/11/30/stories/2002113000141800.htm
which states that Klar worked with Crick and Watson.

[veiledsentiments]

Why wouldn't we believe you?

I expect that your only serious doubter is 007...

VS

[Geronimo]

Well, VS, I must admit that my account does seem to be a little "hair-brained"

All we need to do now, though, to establish whether or not our male Omani students are more likely than other students to be southpaws, is persuade them all to remove their headgear....simple!....