Welcome to the yard on the left. A place to contemplate, relax, and rant on the right.

7.25.2008

Ta Da, a new flower this year

Every year, in the depths of winter, Charmaine gets all her seed catalogs. As we look through them, we always strive to find something different to try in the LipsYard Gardens.

This year's newbie is Sea Holly (Eryngium.)

It has an otherworldly appearance and a blue color, something rare in the garden. Blue for a Blue House in a Red County!

Our next president will be a lefty. Regardless of whether we elect John McCain of Barack Obama, the man who takes up residency in the White House will be a lefty.

The United States has had four left-handed presidents since 1974: Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Even the ranks of vice presidents and unsuccessful contenders for the white House are heavy with left-handers: Al Gore, Bob Dole, John Edwards and Ross Perot were all lefties.

As a matter of fact, six of the twelve chief executives since the end of World War II have been left handed. Just add Harry Truman to the list above. That's a disproportionate number, considering that only one in 10 people in the general population is left handed.

The reason might be that left-handed people use the right side of the brian more, and that's the side that visualizes the whole of a problem, is more capable of multi-tasking, and even shows greater creativity. That explains why George W. Bush ISN'T a lefty.

1 comment:

Carole Seawert said...

As a lefty, it's nice to think we have some traits that turn us into leaders, but I think it's just coincidence that there have been so many southpaw US presidents. After all, there is no evidence of lots of left-handed presidents or prime ministers in other countries.