Happy International Left-Handers Day! Celebrate Your Right to Be Left

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JEWEL SAMAD / AFP / Getty Images

Five of the last seven U.S. Presidents are or were left-handed, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama

Did you know that Aug. 13 is International Left-Handers Day? Chances are that President Barack Obama, to say nothing of quite a few of his predecessors, knows it. Why? Because he — like four of his last six predecessors — is a lefty. (And we’re not talking about politically.)

Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford are or were left-handed — quite the statistical anomaly, considering that only about 1 in 10 people worldwide prefer using their left hands.

(PHOTOS: Oval Office Secrets from Truman to Obama)

Naturally there is a website to teach you everything you needed to know about Left-Handers Day. It turns out that 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed, as were four of the five original designers of the Macintosh computer. When it comes to twins, one of them has a high chance of being left-handed, and lefties are believed to be especially good at the likes of tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.

Other famous lefties include Prince William, Marilyn Monroe, Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, Martina Navratilova and Nicole Kidman.

There’s also a more serious side to the day, which spreads awareness about the special needs of left-handed kids. Also, lefties are far more likely to develop schizophrenia than right-handers, for reasons not well understood.

But in an election year, the main question seems to be one of politics. Does the trend give Obama-Biden (lefty-righty) an edge over Mitt Romney and his newly chosen vice-presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, who are both right-handed? Maybe Romney or Ryan should start signing things with his left hand, just to even the odds.

LIST: Top 10 Lefties