January 17, 2003

• We  had a power outage here this morning, just as I was headed toward a place to save my game on the PS2 and Doug was getting up from the computer to get his dinner before crawling in the sack.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, our kitchen range is electric… sorta long story… I may tell it some day, or maybe Sarah can… I think she was here when the propane stove fell out of the back of Mark’s truck.

  
  

  Anyhooo, Doug was fussing over not being able to nuke a sausage when we got into a hilarious exchange on the topic of electricity as luxury or necessity.  He has lived fifteen of his twenty-one years off the power grid.  It’s a luxury to him as it is to me, but I pointed out that to some people, on respirators, etc., it is necessary to life.  I don’t recall how that seguéed into his idea for a sketch on SNL about a bunch of old folks with portable respirators at a rave, but we were slaying each other with our respective contributions to the script.
  

  I had reminded him that we had fire in the woodstove, and was holding the flashlight for him to find the foil for wrapping his sausage, when the power came back on.  So the sausage got microwaved, as did my leftover coffee, and I got to log onto Xanga and see what you guys had to say about my threesome blog. 
  

  This comment is from BettyC:

  
  

  “…I love hearing about your sexual appetite.  And I am curious about how you tie it to your hair color.”

  
  

  Betty, it wasn’t me that made that connection.  All my life I have been hearing from others the twin redhead stereotypes:  hot temper and hot pants.  After many discussions with redheads and redhead afficianados, I concluded that there was a kernel of truth at the roots of both stereotypes.

  
  

  During the ‘seventies, my physician was a redhead, an old friend of Charley’s.  He, Martin, confirmed something else I’d been observing about redheads:  our tendency toward certain genetic weaknesses such as skin disease, allergies, sinus problems, clotting problems, etc.  That last thing is one I have mercifully escaped, but every time I’ve checked into a hospital some nurse has asked me if I’m a bleeder, because they just expect it of redheads.

  
  

  Martin, Charley and I hashed out a theory to account for all three things:  the genetic flaws, the hot tempers and the healthy libidos.  We even came up with a source that explained how we ended up with those unearthly genetic traits.  In his book, Star People, Brad Steiger listed red hair along with a bunch of physical anomalies or weaknesses, as characteristic of the Star-Born, descendants of ET visitors.  By whatever route we redheads came to be here with those anomalous traits, there is some sound genetics that would explain how the genetic weaknesses led to hot pants and hot tempers, as well as another redhead trait that is not so widely recognized.

  
  

  In the general population, because of the recessive nature of the gene involved, red hair is the rarest of ethnic types.  In organizations such as Mensa, Intertel and the Four-Sigma Society, red hair is represented by numbers much greater than the percentage in the general population.  When I started attending Mensa get-togethers in Anchorage, four out of twelve local members who met regularly had red hair.  Three more apparently carried the recessive gene because they had red-haired offspring.  So, in that small population, we were in the majority.

  
  

  I have taken this theory that Martin, Charley (a carrier of the recessive gene, all three of whose wives and two out of three of whose offspring are redheads), and I developed to the forums at The Realm of Redheads.  Our discussions brought forth one redhead who claimed that none of that stuff fit her, and who became incensed at any suggestion that she was of extra-terrestrial stock.  (maybe she dyes )  The vast majority of those who contributed to the threads reported having some of the anomalous physical traits, and admitted to personally living up, to some degree, to the sexy and hot-tempered stereotypes. 

  
  

  Here is our Darwinian theory of redheadedness:

  
  

  The genetic anomalies or weaknesses would tend to shorten the lives of individuals in this population.  Over the course of many generations, the weakest individuals would be weeded out.  The survivors would include the most intelligent members, the ones who were quickest to jump to a defensive stance when threatened, and the offspring of those who reproduced youngest and most often.  Thus, hot pants, hot temper and high IQ would be more concentrated in the red-haired population than in the general population because the others would not have needed such traits to survive.

  
  

  One other peripherally related thing:  recent medical research, in which some Realm members participated, showed that it takes more anaesthetic to knock redheads out for surgery than it does for the rest of you.

  • 2:27 pm
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