LEFT-HAND=BAD-HAND

LEFT-HAND = BAD HAND?

Over the centuries, customs, religions and habits have made sure that the left hand is almost universally damned and unwelcome. Only very recently has the use of the left hand been accepted as more ‘normal’. We have picked a selection of items that make the point.

• In popular folklore in many cultures around the world, the Devil, or the local equivalent, is always left-handed (look at paintings and illustrations and extracts from religious texts). The custom of throwing spilled salt over the left shoulder originates here as well, it is to placate the devil to your left and avoid bad luck.
• Throughout most of Christianity, good stuff happens on the right and bad on the left! One count reveals over 100 favourable references to the right hand. Virtually all references to the left hand are unfavourable. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, the sheep on the right side inherit the kingdom of heaven, but the goats on the left are cursed and sent into everlasting fire and punishment.
• The ancient Greeks regarded the left side as inauspicious and unlucky and the Romans later took up the same view. The Greek word for left, ’skaios’ came to mean ‘ill-omened’ and ‘awkward’ as well.
• An account of certain African tribes in 1906 describes what they do to left-handed children. They poured boiling water into a hole in the ground then thrust the offending hand in and wedged it down with earth. This tended to damage the hand and discourage the child form using it.
• Until fairly recently (and still, sometimes, today) children using their left hand to write with were strongly dissuaded, by having the left arm tied behind their back, by having the left knuckles hit with a ruler or other suitable punishments. We are probably the first generation that does not include many thousands of natural left-handers who write with their right hand!

Opera’s new software kit beckons to widget developers

Wednesday’s beta release of a software development kit for Opera widgets brings the Norwegian company one step closer to its lofty goal of world browser domination.

This Opera widget could appear on your laptop, desktop, or Wii.

(Credit: Opera Software)

Opera Software if offering the SDK for widget authors to deploy their Web applications on the spectrum of devices that support the Opera browser.

Give your laptop some 3G love

As we head into the long weekend here in the States, I caught word of a newfangled freeware called JoikuSpot Light that might appeal to traveling owners of laptops and 3G phones that can’t get their Wi-Fi connection to, you know, connect.

Joikuspot, and its Windows Mobile sibling, WMWiFiRouter, let laptop users wirelessly connect to their phones’ 3G signal, piggybacking on it to your messages out and get fresh data in. If you’re stuck in an airport or hotel room with a crappy or nonexistent Wi-Fi signal, JoikuSpot will enable to you to connect. If you’ve got an unlimited data phone plan, this could be extremely cost- and time-effective.

Featured Freeware: Rockbox

If you can’t stand the native operating system on your portable MP3 player, you can make it rock out with Rockbox. Open-source Rockbox is firmware that represents the first step for audiophiles regaining control over how they interact with their portable devices.

Compatible with more than two dozen MP3 players, including most iPods, iRivers, and Archoses, Rockbox comes with a detailed and lengthy installation and usage guide. The last time I tried out the auto-installer I found it easier to install Rockbox by hand. Reading the manual thoroughly is a must, given the complexity and potential risk to your device. Once installed, though, Rockbox’s features are impressive, from customizable skins to support for users with visual impairments to complicated sound equalizing

from: download.com