Redheads Need More Anesthesia than Others

The real reason. by President+A.+Lincoln · 2002-10-14 18:52 · Score: 4, Funny

They're just more pissy, thats all. Blondes go under real fast because theres not as much brain to put asleep.

Cheers,
Abe.

I'm going to the Dentist this week. by teamhasnoi · 2002-10-14 18:52 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm going to dye my hair, print this article for my dentist, and I'll be FLYIN HIGH!

Thanks Slashdot!

Re:I'm going to the Dentist this week. by GoatPigSheep · 2002-10-14 19:08 · Score: 2, Funny

that won't quite work because there are ALWAYS other ways of finding out your TRUE hair colour if you know what I mean ;)

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GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
Re:I'm going to the Dentist this week. by FyRE666 · 2002-10-14 19:24 · Score: 2, Flamebait

I think I'd rather have the pain than be ginger, to be honest...

--
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
Re:I'm going to the Dentist this week. by teamhasnoi · 2002-10-14 19:29 · Score: 2

I guess that would be the right time to find out...
Re:I'm going to the Dentist this week. by Dread_ed · 2002-10-15 09:02 · Score: 2, Funny

A similar kind of unequal reaction led to the discovery of the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide. The anecdotal evidence I have read states that some guy named Gardner Quincy Colton used to give people nitrous oxide at parties and at lectures to his friends and associates. At one lecture he attended a man reacted in a violent manner instead of the usual happy-go-lucky manner associated with those who inhale nitrous oxide. The man hurt himself while under the influence, but did not notice it. This led a dentist in the audience to try using nitrous oxide as a pain reliever. Which led to me being able to get a free high from my dentist. Observe...

Nurse: Ok, I'm going to put this on your nose. Just breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth for a minute and tell me when your feet start to tingle. I'll be right back.

Me: Suuuuure. No problem.

(Exit nurse)

Me: (Breathing DEEPLY!!!)

(Enter nurse after about a minute and a half)

Nurse: How ya doin' in here? Feet tingling?

Me: Nope, not yet. (Feet are actually NUMB! Knees are tingling)

Nurse: Ok, I'm just going to step down the hall and get the instruments ready for your wisdom teeth. Just call me when your feet tingle, ok?

Me: Okie dokie.

(nurse exits)

Me: (HUMONGOID INHALATION!!)

(enter nurse after another two minutes)

Nurse: How are you doing in here? Your feet tingling yet?

Me: Nope, don't really feel much of anything. (Numb to the waist, chest is tingling now)

Nurse: Ok, I'm going to step out again for just a second.

Me: No problem, I'll be right here.

(nurse exits)

Me: (trying to take deep breaths but failing because of numb abdomen)

(nurse returns, quickly this time)

Nurse: Are you SURE you don't feel anything??

Me: Um...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Nurse: (Smiling) I think you've had about enough of that now.

Me: (Slober SLOBBER Slober!) Wheee!

It is completely impossible to say anything intelligent or enlightening in a space this size, excep

--
When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.

What about... sex? by boa13 · 2002-10-14 18:54 · Score: 4, Funny

Do they need 20% less stimulation? :)

Re:What about... sex? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-10-14 19:07 · Score: 5, Interesting

My wife is a redhead. For her, more stimulation is better. (She's getting a Sybian for christmas. If you don't know how STIMULATING one of those can be... well, you need to do some "research".)

Another interesting thing... one orgasm is 'it' for her. After she has finished, she is so sensitive that she cannot tolerate being touched sexually. Perhaps that is somehow related to this research... (nerve sensitivity?)
Re:What about... sex? by cscx · 2002-10-14 19:17 · Score: 4, Funny

She's getting a Sybian for christmas

Sounds like someone isn't getting the job done...
Re:What about... sex? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-10-14 19:38 · Score: 2, Informative

"research done"
Sybiant
thanks google
Re:What about... sex? by the+way,+what're+you · 2002-10-14 19:38 · Score: 5, Funny

She's getting a Sybian for christmas

Sounds like someone isn't getting the job done...
You know it's really for himself...

--
example.org - powered by Linux!
Re:What about... sex? by AndroidCat · 2002-10-15 00:01 · Score: 5, Funny

Do some more research and you'll see! Plus, it's fun!
I haven't tried that line before. "It's not for me, you understand. This is for Science!" Hmm, it just might work.
Or in role-playing: Today I'll be the mad scientist and you be the sweet young innocent trapped in his experiments to measure pleasure thresholds. Now where's that lab coat?

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:What about... sex? by kin_korn_karn · 2002-10-15 02:43 · Score: 2

he'll regret it when she gives up on him and decides to marry the machine.
Re:What about... sex? by Agent_Eight · 2002-10-15 06:24 · Score: 2, Funny

How do you know that you've satisfied a redhead?

She unties you
Re:What about... sex? by poot_rootbeer · 2002-10-15 06:47 · Score: 3, Funny

She's getting a Sybian for christmas
Sounds like someone isn't getting the job done...

Oh yeah, like YOU can vibrate and rotate at independently variable speeds...

at last, an answer! by bradkittenbrink · 2002-10-14 18:55 · Score: 5, Funny

so that's why I spend so much on alcohol...

About red hair by SexyKellyOsbourne · 2002-10-14 18:57 · Score: 5, Interesting

Red hair is a phenotype particular only to scarce areas of Northern Europe, mostly in Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia -- even there, it is not entirely common.

Blazing red hair is a very recessive trait created entirely by past inbreeding in Europe -- and past inbreeding is a common heritage for Europe, as well, since most Europeans can trace their ancestors back to a very small group of perhaps a dozen Ice Age survivors. It requires not only a 3rd-level hair gene (0-3 for red), it also requires a very low lightness gene (0 for platinum blond, down thru 12 to pitch black), which is extremely recessive as well.

Since the trait is so recessive, the extinction of redheads is predicted to be sometime in the late 21st or early 22nd century, due to population implosion of the native populations of northern Europe and the traits being lost due to interbreeding with those with dominant dark-haired traits.

It's no surprise that redheads have other strange recessive genes that we are only now discovering -- this could prove to be very interesting, and could help a lot in future gene therapy.

Re:About red hair by johnstein · 2002-10-14 19:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

wow, i shoulda posted my response below as a reply here. (redheads losing their hair sooner). in fact i now remember a friend i knew from school who had light redish-blonde hair, however he kept it cut very short since his hair was thinning too.

heh, this revelation probably isn't so insightful for those geneticists out there, but it makes me more and more relieved that my mother's brown hair genes won the battle of my head.

-John

--
"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and hoping for different results"
Re:About red hair by The+Tyro · 2002-10-14 19:16 · Score: 5, Interesting

There is considerable genetic variation among racial groups with respect to many drugs.

For example, certain persons of american indian descent have an enzyme deficiency that results in certain paralytic drugs having a greatly prolonged duration of action. Naturally, this is not always something you want in a normally rapid-on/rapid-off neuromuscular blocking agent...

There are also racial tendencies with regard to what classes of blood pressure medications work best with certain racial groups.

This kind of variation (along with anatomic variants) can make the practice of medicine very challenging. Don't go into medicine if you don't like surprises!

--
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Re:About red hair by Quirk · 2002-10-14 19:21 · Score: 5, Funny

You wrote: "since most Europeans can trace their ancestors back to a very small group of perhaps a dozen Ice Age survivors."

I know this is the case for my family (german/danish). We've traced our family line on both sides to a brother and sister who barely avoided a slow cold death by crossing the Alps into the area around Cannes.

--
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Re:About red hair by Anonymous Coward · 2002-10-14 19:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

> Red hair is a phenotype particular only to scarce
> areas of Northern Europe, mostly in Scotland,
> Ireland, and Scandinavia -- even there, it is not
> entirely common.

Nope. I know from friends and relatives that red hair is also found among North Indians (especially among Kashmiris), though it is certainly in the minority. My own hair is dark brown with red highlights. But then again, Indians seem to have a wide range of phenotypes in everything from eye, skin, and hair color to the shape of eyes and faces.

Indians in many ways appear often to be more a collection of thousands of micro-ethnicities than a single ethnic group. Though these micro-ethnicities shade into each other at the boundaries, there is a lot of variation between them. It would be interesting to see if the results presented in this study (conducted on people with European ancestry) could be replicated with Indians that have red hair. After all, it could be that this has nothing to do with red-hair in general, but only with a particular way of getting red hair.
Re:About red hair by Jugalator · 2002-10-14 20:21 · Score: 5, Interesting

this could prove to be very interesting, and could help a lot in future gene therapy.

It could also help archaeologists understand the predecessors of Homo Sapiens better, if the research saying the "redhead gene" might come from neanderthals is true.

I mean, if redheads are slightly more sensitive to pain somehow, I think it is very likely that neanderthals were as well. And this is things we would never know from "common", material studies alone.

Besides, isn't it thought that blondes are making room for brunettes as well, for reasons similar to what you mention?

--
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Re:About red hair by FishBoy23 · 2002-10-14 20:31 · Score: 4, Funny

Man, imagine if you would've kept going and traced back to your GRAND-parents...
Re:About red hair by NexusTw1n · 2002-10-14 21:47 · Score: 2, Interesting

If black hair is the more dominant gene then how do you explain my family, parents red and black hair, 3 children all red ?

Or Prince Harry ?

Of the half dozen friends I know with red hair, they all come from one red one black hair parents, which to my (admittedly limited) gene knowledge, seems to indicate red hair is a dominant gene.

Got any links to go with the wild claim red hair is going to be extinct in 100 years ? Or were you just trolling ?

--
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein
Re:About red hair by msaavedra · 2002-10-14 22:46 · Score: 5, Informative

Your understanding of heredity is a little bit off. The examples you give are perfectly consistent with red hair being recessive, black hair dominant. Here's a simplification of how it works: imagine we have a gene with two alleles, let's call one 'R' for red, the other 'B' for black. Each person has two copies, so the redheaded parent has RR, the black-haired parent has BR. If you look at all the combinations the children could have, 1/2 would be BR (and have black hair), and 1/2 would be RR (and have red hair). For more information, draw a Punnett square, which should spell it out more clearly.

Note, however, that in real life, things are not quite that simple. Hair color is determined by the interaction of a number of genes. Thus, people don't have either pure black, pure blond, or pure red hair. There are many subtle variations.

Also, the other poster, troll or not, was completely wrong about redhead genes fading out because they are recessive. Genes do not change frequency within a population because they are recessive or dominant. If you read up on Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium why this is true should be clear. Note that in very small populations (under say, 10,000), genetic drift and other random changes in the gene pool could wipe out some variants, but redheads number in the millions worldwide; their genes are not in danger of vanishing any time soon.

--
"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it."
--Henry David Thoreau
Re:About red hair by Alsee · 2002-10-14 22:52 · Score: 3, Interesting

If black hair is the more dominant gene then how do you explain my family, parents red and black hair, 3 children all red ?

It means the parent with black hair has a dominant black-gene and a recessive red-gene, and the red-headed parent has two red-genes. Each child has a 50-50 chance of red or black hair. Three of a kind is not particularly unusual.

Red being a recessive gene means that redheads only have red-genes, a pair of redheads can only have redheaded children. People with black hair could have a hidden red-gene, and a pair of people with black hair could have a red-headed child.

-

--
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Re:About red hair by dj28 · 2002-10-15 00:17 · Score: 3, Interesting

Uh, the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium theory doesn't work. There are five factors that can throw Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium off course: mutations, gene flow, genetic drift, non-random breeding, and natural selection. As you can see, Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium doesn't hold up in real life. Since genetic flow is a factor to people with red hair, then it will indeed change the allele frequency. So, the other poster is completely correct in his conclusions, and you are misguided.
Re:About red hair by AndroidCat · 2002-10-15 00:28 · Score: 5, Interesting

And if you have the gene for Malignant Hyperthemia Susceptibility, certain anaesthetics cause every muscle in your body to spasm, your core temperature skyrockets and you die. Don't talk to me about surprises!
Luckily, when my brother was having his appendix out, it was by the chief surgeon of Toronto General, who just happened to be a friend of Dr. Britt, who at the time was one of the foremost researchers into MHS. He knew exactly what to do. (Ice bath, keep the heart going...)
I almost certainly have the gene too, but the 100% test involves sampling a chunk of muscle tissue from a leg. I'll pass!

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:About red hair by SEWilco · 2002-10-15 00:29 · Score: 2, Insightful

My congratulations to your family researchers. I'm impressed by their being able to trace their heritage all the way back to the Ice Age. What was the name of the area around Cannes back then?
Re:About red hair by KUHurdler · 2002-10-15 00:52 · Score: 2, Funny

Yeah, I traced my family back to a guy and his wife that lived in a boat for over a year with his three sons and their wives... I think they had lots of animals too... like 2 of everything.

--
Fix Your Own TV - RiddledTV.com Avoid the Landfill
Re:About red hair by AssFace · 2002-10-15 01:02 · Score: 2

My girlfriend's family on her mother's side has that... disease? disorder? Whatever it is, they have lost at least one family member to it.

Usually those that have it have a certain build - most obviously distinguished by large calves.

My gf doesn't have the build, but still doesn't know if she has it since, as you say, the test for it is unpleasant.

From what she says, this is pretty much limited to people from the Maritimes (where her mom's family is from), and the only real experts on it in the world are in Toronto and the surrounding area.

--

There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
Re:About red hair by swb · 2002-10-15 01:09 · Score: 2

Nope. I know from friends and relatives that red hair is also found among North Indians (especially among Kashmiris),

Aren't many northern Indians decendants of an Aryan people from central Europe who might be genetically similar to northern Europeans? It would explain why many Indians have caucasian facial features, even though they have dark hair and dark skin tone.

Or is this just BS I misremember from history?
Re:About red hair by AndroidCat · 2002-10-15 01:13 · Score: 2

Basic genetics is the simplied version. It's a little more complex than that. Sometimes you need a few genes to switch something on, and some genes tend to hang around in gangs.
For a good book on that, Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene is my recommendation. I'm sure that there's better technical books, but it's a Good Read. Keep the salt handy for the intra-evolutionist cat-fights.

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:About red hair by Neon+Spiral+Injector · 2002-10-15 01:18 · Score: 2

Typical /. thinking, you forgot the sexual partner.

Really, though, if both people were BR then what you said would be true, same goes for RR. But if you have a BR and an RR, then you have a 75% chance of RR and 25% of BR offspring.

But as one of the parent (did I intend that pun?) posts pointed out hair color isn't just determined by one gene, but that is a good simplification of how things work.
Re:About red hair by gmack · 2002-10-15 01:28 · Score: 2

My father and all of my uncles have found that local anesthetic doesn't work at all.

Thankfully I don't have it as bad but I have noticed that local doesn't work as well or last as long as the medical staff usually expect it to and general simply takes forever to work.

I have a nasty memory of having a doctor trying to stich my leg back together only to realise the anesthetic had completely worn off.

Several of my uncles have had to have relatively minor cuts stitched without anesthetic simply because it's less painful than having the emergency room they happen to be in constantly apply needles in the hopes that a large enough dose will work.

There are no redheads in my father's side of the the family at all and that side of the family is German.
Re:About red hair by AndroidCat · 2002-10-15 01:54 · Score: 4, Interesting

Scotland in my case. I could see the Maritimes having just a bit of a Scottish background. :^P
Dr. Britt has since retired back to Britain or Ireland. Do you know of any current experts in the Toronto area? It's mainly for dental work -- all the current pain-killers are supposed to be safe, but some dentists freak when you tell them and want some expert to pass the blame to. (One dental surgeon's assistant backed up and said "Is it ongoing?" [Subtext: Can I catch it?] Yeah, ongoing all my life lady, come closer and I'll give you some MHS luvin' and cooties!)
My father has his teeth done at a hospital clinic but that's expensive. Email me or post if you know: androidcat99@hotmail.com.
There might be some bonus to the MHS genes -- Like how the genes for Sickle Cell give you resistance to Malaria if you don't get the full dose. It's hard for me to judge how other people's bodies work, but adrenaline does hit me like a pile-driver, so perhaps some ancestors made fine berserks? (As always, the pay-back is a bitch afterwards.) Bonus: I don't have to drink as much coffee to get completely jazzed!
The large calves might be due to the equivalent of a constant electro-stim "workout". Again, hard for me to judge, but another possible bonus is that during certain acts when muscles clench, they most certainly do, oh yeah!
disease? disorder? Condition, allergy? There is a blood test that can find 100% negative, but if you fail that, you only might have it. Sorry to hear about your girlfriend's family loss. As I said, we were damned lucky when my brother found out the hard way.

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One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:About red hair by Merlin42 · 2002-10-15 01:54 · Score: 2

Since the trait is so recessive, the extinction of redheads is predicted to be sometime in the late 21st or early 22nd century, due to population implosion of the native populations of northern Europe and the traits being lost due to interbreeding with those with dominant dark-haired traits.

Oh boy ... damn biologists can't do math! Unless there is some environmental presure working against the phenotype the percentage of genotype is (more or less) preserved across generations. If mating were truly random across the globe then in a few generations we would have just as many redheads (as a percentage of the GLOBAL population) ... they would just be spread out across the globe better.

Type O blood is a recessive, BUT the percentage of type O phenotypes is not exactly going up or down b/c of type A, type B, or type AB phenotypes.

--
Thoughts on tech, Software Engineering, and stuff
Re:About red hair by AndroidCat · 2002-10-15 02:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

Thanks!
"Bad" genes is funny things. If they had no benefit and only harm, they'd remove themselves from the pool eventually. (Like Queen Victoria's genetic time-bomb to her in-bred descendants.)
Some, like Sickle Cell as I said above, have a benefit if you don't get the double reenforcement. (Trivia: There's a different gene from Africa that also gives resistance to malaria, and has the same problem when reenforced.) The games theory math for these genes must be very tricky -- on the one hand, they provide a benefit in half-dose and so tend to spread. On the other hand, if they spread too much, they reenforce and tend to kill the host. (Perhaps there are no bad genes, just genes that are misunderstood?)
Mother Nature is the ultimate kludge-artist: "Okay, if I hack this gene, it'll increase blood-flow. It'll cause problems later, but that's tommorow's problem, sucks to be you." I mean, she wired the eye receptor cells with the I/O coming out of the front of the cell! Hopefully all that "unused" genetic information will turn out to be code comments (as well as version control).

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One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:About red hair by Have+Blue · 2002-10-15 02:34 · Score: 2

Now explain why both of my parents and my brother have black hair, but I have red :P
Re:About red hair by Alsee · 2002-10-15 03:05 · Score: 2

Now explain why both of my parents and my brother have black hair, but I have red

That's what recessive means.

I specificly said "People with black hair could have a hidden red-gene, and a pair of people with black hair could have a red-headed child.".

Each of your parents has one black gene and one red gene. Since the red is recessive, you see the dominant black hair. You have a 50-50 chance for each parent to give you a red gene. That's a 25% chance you'll get two red genes. If you get two red genes (red-red) you have red hair. That leaves a 75% chance of having black hair (25% black-red, 25% red-black, 25% black-black).

On the other hand it's possible your father doesn't have any red genes, but the mailman does.

-

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Re:About red hair by Spasemunki · 2002-10-15 04:58 · Score: 3, Informative

The 'Aryan' people who moved into India and provide the genetic background for a lot of Northern Indians were from Persia, not Europe. And while some of these Persians did continue to migrate into Europe later on, I don't think they made it as far as Scandinavia, where the red-headed gene has its genesis (red-heads in Ireland and other parts of Europe are largely a product of intermixing with Vikings). There aren't many red-headed Iranians that I know of, so it seems unlikely that Indian red-heads come from Persian stock.

On the other hand, there were a lot of European genes that moved through Asia Minor, India, and into Central Asia and China along the Silk Road. They've found ethnically Caucasian mummies in China that are a result of this migration and mixing. Unless the Kashmiri red-heads are a product of a local mutation that was concentrated in the population, it seems more likely that these genes were brought from Northern Europe much later than the Aryan immigration from Persia. The Vikings got around, so it seems reasonable that they might have sent some genetic material into the near-east and the subcontinent one way or another.
Re:About red hair by Jagasian · 2002-10-15 05:06 · Score: 2

My understanding is that an Aryan race originated from modern day India, moved through modern day Iran, Iraq... and all the way up to Europe. With some of this tribe settling along the way. Note that allot of important things started in India: advanced mathematics, Sumerians, sophisticated sexuality...

Not that I am Indian, but from what I have seen, they have contributed allot to this world. Oh, and their herbs, spices, and currys rock!
Re:About red hair by MAurelius · 2002-10-15 06:17 · Score: 3, Informative

Thanks for posting your experience with MH, which is every anethesiologist's nightmare. I know, because I'm an anesthesiologist. Obviously, it's critical that everyone like you with a strong family history of this disease, tell their anesthesiologist before any surgery!!

At the risk of being off-topic, I also wanted to say that people like you can be safely anesthetized without triggering an MH episode. I just had a patient like you last week with a similar family history. At our hospital, we have a special vapor-free anesthesia machine, which supplies only oxygen and Nitrous Oxide (N2O), which are both safe. We use muscle relaxants that are known to be safe (succinlycholine is NOT safe) and in my case last week I ran infusions of propofol and alfentanil for the six-hour lumbar spinal fusion (patient in prone position). The young man (37 y/o) did fine and woke up with no memory of the surgery and relatively little post-op pain. The patient had an epidural catheter for post-op pain control, using morphine by continuous drip.

Marcus
Re:About red hair by AndroidCat · 2002-10-15 07:06 · Score: 2, Interesting

which is every anethesiologist's nightmare
I can bet. Frequently the first indication of MH in a family is an attack in what should have been a simple operation -- and then it's brown trousers/think fast time. The last estimates I heard were a while ago, but I think it was one in 10,000?
My brother had his operation in the '70's when MH wasn't as widely known, so it was lucky that the surgeon just happened to be very well informed. I'm glad that anesthesiologists are informed. Now if only that would filter out to the GPs and dentists. Ah well. (There are web sites with good info that are easy to find.)
Oddly enough, I did have my tonsils out in the '60's before we knew this. I got through it, but my muscles were sore for days afterwards, so I wonder if maybe the hospital forgot to mention a little reaction...?
Tell their anesthesiologist before any surgery And wear a Medic-Alert bracelet, And keep a card in my wallet. I wouldn't want to ruin an anesthesiologist's day. :^)
Maybe it's really all because I'm part red-head?

--
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Re:About red hair by broter · 2002-10-15 09:06 · Score: 2

If they had no benefit and only harm, they'd remove themselves from the pool eventually.

Interesting thing. If a gene is all bad, but doesn't kill you until a bit after the typical breeding age, I imaging it has a good chance of staying in the population (at least until modern times). Think about a ficticious gene that causes males with it to die around age 30 with a high probability. Until *very* recently (20th century), most of the fatherly duties would be over by then and the offspring would survive (until the gene kills them).

As for females, I'm sure a longer lived mother would be a better competator than a shorter lived one. But even then, as long as the genes was less likely to kill the female than child birth and other factors it could continue to exist in the pool.

Even so, as long as the prob that you die from your genes can be reduced by environmental factors, all bad genes can still exist in a population as long as they tend to be linked to worth while genes.

In responce to a previous post about red hair becoming extinct, it probably won't go away (and the genes linked to it) due to preferential breeding status. Considering that red hair is twice as likely to show up in playboy then in the wild population, I don't think the red heads will be extinct.

Just my $.02

--
"One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place."
- Mick Travis, "If..."
Re:About red hair by aswang · 2002-10-15 12:20 · Score: 2

The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is only an ideal case. The answers derived from the equation are not meant to be exact, but they tend to be good enough, so much so that in epidemiology, the five assumptions of no mutation, no gene flow, no genetic drift, random mating, and no natural selection can be used as a starting point for calculating incidence and prevalence even when there is obvious data that contradicts the five assumptions. Given that most mutations are lethal, and most of the remainder are silent, the mutation rate doesn't factor into the equation all that much--the mutation rate only matters if the mutations are non-lethal and therefore actually change the gene pool. While gene flow may affect human subpopulations, it doesn't really matter for the human race as a whole because we are all stuck on this planet for the time being. And because of globalization and the current ease of travel due to airplanes, genetic drift isn't all that important either. Only non-random breeding and natural selection are likely to influence the equation in this case, and since there is unlikely to be hard data at this point, I would hazard to guess that despite various anecdotes, red haired people really aren't selected as mates more often than anyone else, and while one might infer from this story that there is a different survival rate for being red-haired vs. not, I'd be willing to bet that the selective pressure is miniscule at best.

I know these guys! by Scaebor · 2002-10-14 18:58 · Score: 2, Funny

Anesthesiology is still very much a mystery to scientists, and picking the right dosage that keeps someone out without killing them is still very much an art. Studies like this will help them determine how anesthesics work and why.

Yeah, there are these guys that live down the hall of my dorm that said something like that. They keep telling me "Man, we're like, you know, doctors or scientists or something. Yeah..."

--
"Hey brother Christian with your high and mighty errand / your actions speak so loud I can't hear a word you're saying"

I Doubt It by e8johan · 2002-10-14 19:05 · Score: 5, Interesting

This proves that correlation studies can be used to find many results. You can find that statistically, red-heads feel pain easier, but this does not say anything about any single individual.
There is a reason to why one says "lies, damn lies and statistics. Correlation has been used to "prove" many things such as racist ideas (superiority due to colour), intelligence from weight etc. A good correlation between two parameters does *not* prove that they are connected!

Re:I Doubt It by JMemmert · 2002-10-14 21:01 · Score: 5, Interesting

I concur with the above statement and would like to add some more comments.
I am a dark blonde with no redheads in my family for roughly three generations back (No jokes about inbreeding here, please. ;-))
My tolerance for novocaine, diazepam (valium) and a host of other anesthetics is about 12x normal (tripple the dosage, 1/4th of the duration) and has puzzled more than one specialist. The result of careful analysis has shown that my body eliminates most anesthetics at a much higher rate than normal.
My pain level is no higher or lower than average though my sensitivity to stimuli is much higher than average (I can read a photocopy with my fingertips, sometimes even writing in ink).
Based on that point of data, I'd say that equating sensitivity to stimuli to sensitivity to pain, as it has happened in many posts is probably not a good (i.e. valid) idea. I should be screaming of pain most the time if this were true.
Only empirical evidence with a very limited set of data, I know, but as e8johan stated: "but this does not say anything about any single individual".
The next question is whether sensitivity to pain has any relevance to the effect of an anesthetic.
If I remember correctly, local anesthetics work vastly different from general anesthesia by targeting different areas in the body.
[1] states that Novocaine et al. supress the transmission of stimuli through the nerve while general anesthetics act in the brain ([2] has something about some anesthetics triggering the sleep cycle, for others, I don't know).
Desflurane now is a geneal anesthetic, acting in the brain. So, any reference to "I can do this, I can do that" that does not duplicate the function of a geneal anesthetic is useless...
This means that my impressive tolerance for Novocaine et al. does not have any significance for the research performed as it targets a different type of anesthetic. The same goes for many other comments along the same lines, including alcohol.
Alcohol acts as an inhibitor ([3] states: "Alcohol acts primarily at the GABAa receptor to facilitate its action, thus in essence creating enhanced inhibition.") but does not have a sufficiently strong effect that the person affected could consciously compare it to a geneal anesthetic...
As for the use of alcohol as geneal anesthetic, which would be the next logical argument... it's not been very effective prior to complete unconsciousness and the level and speed of alcohol absorption plays a huge role. That also rules out any comment along the lines of "I can drink more than an ox".
I won't ask for people to check what they're writing for relevance... after all, I enjoy many of the comments I read here, but it is considered bad style to criticize the work of others without enough commonalities between the work and the critical remarks.
Re:I Doubt It by Alsee · 2002-10-14 22:57 · Score: 3, Informative

A good correlation between two parameters does *not* prove that they are connected!

It prooves they are correlated. :)
I'd consider that a connection. I assume you meant to say it doesn't prove causation.

-

--
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Re:I Doubt It by Skirwan · 2002-10-15 01:28 · Score: 2

My tolerance for novocaine, diazepam (valium) and a host of other anesthetics is about 12x normal (tripple the dosage, 1/4th of the duration) and has puzzled more than one specialist. The result of careful analysis has shown that my body eliminates most anesthetics at a much higher rate than normal.
That would be a result of your mutant healing factor. Now retract those claws and get back to the Institute before we lock you up, you filthy mutant.

--
Damn the Emperor!
Re:I Doubt It by Fjord · 2002-10-15 02:15 · Score: 3, Informative

I agree with you, kind of. The problem here is that they are trying to assign causation: redheads need more anethetic because they feel more pain. There's nothing here that supports that. Instead, taking a needle and pricking people with verious hair colours would determine a hair-color/pain senstitivity link. There are just too many other factors, most notably how redheads process the anethesic. Maybe they need more because they have a higher tolerance for outside chemical changes.

But it does show that redheads need more anethetic on average, that's what correlation is.

--
-no broken link
Re:I Doubt It by e8johan · 2002-10-15 02:23 · Score: 2

"But it does show that redheads need more anethetic on average, that's what correlation is."

Well, that information isn't very useful, unless your an economist trying to asses how much anatheic that will be consumed during the next budget period or something...

This article is a big steaming pile by rhodesbe · 2002-10-14 19:06 · Score: 5, Funny

I am a redhead who is dating a redhead, and who has red haired relatives all over my family tree. I can tell you that redhead pain sensitivity is no more or less than anyone else. You can believe what you want, but just remember: If you tell an irishman he can't handle pain, he'll cut his own balls off to prove it, then he'll shove them down your throat and stomp your ass into a mudhole so you remember. Believe me.

Re:This article is a big steaming pile by Anonymous Coward · 2002-10-14 19:52 · Score: 2, Funny

...then the irishman sobers up only to realize that that he cut off his own balls, and ate them himself.
Re:This article is a big steaming pile by the+way,+you+die · 2002-10-14 21:14 · Score: 2, Funny

Pain sensitivity is not the same as pain threshold.

And I'd rather get my ass stomped into a mudhole than have my testicles removed, but that's just me I guess.

Redneck Redhead Study? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-10-14 19:10 · Score: 4, Funny

"Redheads are likely to experience more pain from a given stimulus and therefore require more anesthesia to alleviate that pain."

It took scientists to figure this out?! I thought we'd all known for years that redheads, especially ladies, experience more pain from the simple act of a stranger saying hello than they do from passing a kidney-stone. Why, the last time I tried to say "hey, how are you?" to a lovely redheaded girl, I thought I was about to lose my manhood in a horrific accident! Short fuses, and all...

Then again, these were scientists from the University of Kentucky. Who better to study redheads, than rednecks?

On a serious note, this doesn't surprise me too much. Redheads are well known for having extremely sensitive skin. Ever see a redhead with a tan? If you have, it was a rarity, most redheads go straight from pasty-white to fire-engine red; freckles (another sensitivity based reaction to the sun) are more common among redheads than folks with locks of other colors. So it seems logical that this would extrapolate to other areas of pain and sensitivity.

Bart Wilkins

Re:Redneck Redhead Study? by broller · 2002-10-15 00:00 · Score: 2

Then again, these were scientists from the University of Kentucky. Who better to study redheads, than rednecks

Actually, as the article (and the article summary) says, it was the University of Louisville in Kentucky. "The University of Kentucky" refers to UK, which is located in Lexington, KY. You've done the equivalent of calling Florida State "the University of Miami."

Students from both schools would be offended by your comment.

I can see it by The+Bungi · 2002-10-14 19:11 · Score: 5, Funny

Taco: holy shit guys, there are more stories about Micro$oft [with emphasis on the '$' - Eds] than Linux today!!1!!

Chrisd: I know.

Taco: well, do soemethiung abouttit man!!1!

Chrisd: Some poor schmuck submitted a storie a few minutes ago about the effect of anesthesis on readhe...

Taco: yeah, post that. Do it!!1!!

Chrisd: Are you sure???

Taco: Do it, dammit!!!1!1!

Chrisd: OK...

Re:I can see it by cadfael · 2002-10-14 19:15 · Score: 2

Well, at least its not from Timothy, so we're pretty sure its not a repost.
Join the newest gameshow on /. Who can find the previous incarnation of a story that Timothy just posted? Winner gets 50 karma.

--
-- The Hollow Man
Non illegitimati carborundum
Re:I can see it by nsushkin · 2002-10-15 00:10 · Score: 2, Funny

After Red Hat, redheads is the next best topic ;)

Blondes vs. redheads by Farang · 2002-10-14 19:17 · Score: 2, Interesting

From the article: "Red hair is the first visible human trait...linked to anesthetic requirement." Not sure what "anesthetic requirement" actually is, but I recall that years ago it was reported that blue-eyed people have a higher tolerance for pain. Whether that lowers their anesthetic requirement... I believe "anesthesia" means "without sensation," in other words unconscious. So what are we talking about here? Do we mean the ability to tolerate perceived pain, or how easily one slips into unconsciousness after being drugged? Are the two related?

Re:Blondes vs. redheads by Shalome · 2002-10-14 21:26 · Score: 3, Informative

That's strange.. about 10 years ago my optometrist told me that blue-eyed blondes are somewhat more sensitive to pain, especially related to the eyes. He said he has more trouble fitting blue-eyed blondes for contacts (especially hard lenses), and that they tended to experience worse night vision and painfully poor tolerance for high light-levels, expecially with contacts in.

Then again, he could have just been trying to make me feel better when I wimped out on hard lenses (I could only open my eyes in darkened rooms when I had them in, even after two weeks of "getting used to them"). I'm fine with soft lenses, though!

--
Moderation totals that amuse me for one of my posts: Flamebait=1, Insightful=2, Funny=2, Overrated=1, Underrated=1

Re:Hmmmm.... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-10-14 19:19 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm greatly disturbed that this got modded 'Interesting'....

Obligitory Kids In The Hall Reference by zephc · 2002-10-14 19:22 · Score: 5, Funny

Red-Haired Girls

[Setting: A Tree-Filled Field in the Woods.]
[The It's A Fact Girl jumps in front of the camera and into a close up.]

It's A Fact Girl: It's A Fact.

[The It's A Fact Girl runs back into the woods, in sped up motion. When she stops, Scott as The Queen of England leans over in front of the camera and smiles as she addresses it.]

Scott: Hello. When I was a little girl, if a child was born with red hair, she was considered irreparably evil and drowned as a witch. It's a fact!

--
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.

Re:I've noticed that by bmajik · 2002-10-14 19:25 · Score: 2

dude, the whole point of redheads is "no ruphies required".

what the hell is wrong with _you_ ? do your teeth look like the back of a hammer or something ? :)

--
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

New Department? by BoBaBrain · 2002-10-14 19:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Redheads Need More Anesthesia than Others

What section is this, ChrisD's lurve tips?

--
I am a Karma Library.

I don't buy their conclusion. by Dynedain · 2002-10-14 19:47 · Score: 3

I'm blonde, but can see light tinges of red in my facial hair...it comes from my grandmother who's a natural strawberry blonde; my uncle is definately a redhead.

What I've noticed is that when it comes to alcohol, caffiene, and other intoxicants/stimulants, I need a much higher dosage to feel the effects. I have a higher alcohol tolerance than antyone I know, matched only by a binge drinker who weighs 60 lbs more than I do.

I don't think that I'm more susceptible to pain either. Friends frequently refer to me as the guy with the 'asbestos hands'. If anything, I have a higher pain tolerance than most.

Drugs, just like pain and other nerve stimulus (I have very strong willpower over being tickled even though I am quite ticklish) seem to require stronger amounts to affect me to the level as the average populace.

I guess I can attribute this to my redhair or Dutch genes, being one and the same.

--
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....

Re:I don't buy their conclusion. by back_pages · 2002-10-15 01:19 · Score: 2

I also have red hair, though not fire or bright red. I had a broken foot for a few months before going to the hospital. I guess I was about 14 years old. It hurt, but not always, and it never occured to me that I should go to the hospital until I played an entire soccer practice on it and couldn't walk at all afterward.
I fell out of a tree and broke both of my arms when I was 15. I had a concussion that had me in and out of conciousness at least half a dozen times. I was awake when they were setting the bones, which involved grabbing a hand, pulling it away from the elbow, and changing the angle in my forearm by about 30 degrees. With both arms in this condition, I had the presence of mind to bravely fight against my attackers, kicked a nurse in the stomach, and viciously threatened the doctor.
It takes about 250mL of 80 proof rum for me to catch a buzz, and at least a third of a liter to be so drunk that I wouldn't drive. I completely quit drinking beer because it would take a 12 pack to feel anything other than a full bladder.
I don't consider myself to be less sensitive to pain, but my hands and fingers are a mess of scars and burns that might indicate otherwise. My tolerance of alcohol is legendary among my friends, who often elect me to drive despite having had more to drink than they have.
So, less sensitive to stimuli? Maybe... perhaps my best attribute is a deep appreciation of hour long rolls in the hay. At least, my girlfriend never complains.
Re:I don't buy their conclusion. by Peyna · 2002-10-15 01:59 · Score: 2

I've always wondered why people with blonde or even black and brown hair have red facial hair, but nowhere else? From my observations it is very common. Are there different genes for facial hair and pubic hair than head hair?

--
What?
Re:I don't buy their conclusion. by Dynedain · 2002-10-15 04:15 · Score: 2

Actually....the total ammount of alcohol I drink isn't all that much.

Aside from the occaisional glass of wine, I only drink at parties. And most of the time I don't drink much then, simply because if I wanted to get drunk like everyone else, I would have to drink a lot more than I want to.

There was only one time that I got drunk enough to pass out. The best estimates are that I had somewhere on the order of 35 shots. The guy I mentioned who weighs 60lbs more than me only had a drink or two more before he passed out (we were matching drinks the whole evening).

--
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
Re:I don't buy their conclusion. by Dynedain · 2002-10-15 04:19 · Score: 2

I think it has to do that the hair growth there is stronger. Those hairs, while shorter, are typical thicker. They also tend to be the last to lose their color when people get old.

Interesting enough, until I was about 8 I had platinum white hair, even on my eyebrows.

--
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
Re:I don't buy their conclusion. by exploder · 2002-10-15 06:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

What I've noticed is that people seem to have a great need to feel unique, and making up wacky-ass medical anomalies seems to be a popular means. "Oh, tylenol doesn't work for me..." or "My body eliminates anesthetics at 4x the normal rate" or "anesthetic gel actually CAUSES me pain" or this git above. You're not a beautiful snowflake, get over it.

--
Yo dawg, I heard you like the Ackermann function, so OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD

Isn't this a bit of a generalization? by mysticalreaper · 2002-10-14 19:49 · Score: 4, Insightful

I've got red hair, bright red. I've got freckles too, though fewer now than when i was a kid. I'm 20 now. Anyways, the only thing that i've noticed about having red hair is that you get sunburnt easily. Other than that, nothing. In fact, i think i have a higher than average tolerance for pain. It's hard to compare levels of pain with others, of course, but I don't find myself hurting more than others at all.

The article states that, in general, redheads felt more pain. But what if i don't? What if i feel less pain than average? Directly linking hair-color to pain reception is tenuous at best, and it seems like doctors messing with my anestheisa beacuase of my hair color could be bad, with the threat of coma.

I've never heard of hair color affecting ANYTHING before. Sure race affects some things, like reactions to certain drugs, and diseases. Sex and age as well will determine the best treatment. But hair color? What about eye color, does that factor in?

It seems like this is a broad generaliztion, and i don't think this can be the deciding criteria for pain reception. I don't buy it this first time round, if only based on personal experience.

Re:Isn't this a bit of a generalization? by Peyna · 2002-10-15 01:27 · Score: 2

It is highly likely they are looking at the wrong thing. From my experience there are a few different types of red heads, and you can usually differentiate pretty easily. Usually redhaired people of Irish descent tend to have different freckles than those that aren't. It's kind of hard to explain but I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. Then you have people like me, where as far as I can tell my red hair comes from the side of my family from Czechoslovakia. Are there many red haired people there? =]
Anyway, I've never had problems with anesthetics and I wonder if it isn't more of an Irish/Scottish type thing rather than a red haired one.

--
What?
Re:Isn't this a bit of a generalization? by Kintanon · 2002-10-15 02:56 · Score: 2

Red hair could be an indicator of the presence of an entirely seperate gene which controls or regulates pain tolerance which just happens to show up frequently in people with red hair. That would be my guess.

Kintanon

--
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
Re:Isn't this a bit of a generalization? by hattig · 2002-10-15 03:01 · Score: 2

I am the same. I have red hair, tonnes of freckles and skin that came straight from a vampire.

I don't feel pain as much as other people apparently do either.

Maybe we aren't more sensitive to pain. Maybe we just get rid of anaesthetics quicker and more efficiently thanks to our evolutionary enhancements.... :)

And I can drink a tonne of drink and be fine. And then one drink more and I am waking up the next day with a blank memory! Also I have zero tolerance for weed, but that is another matter.

Would you volunteer by jukal · 2002-10-14 19:54 · Score: 2

To participate as volunteer redhead for the research.:

We are looking for women aged between 19-40 to take part in our research aiming to help us understand fundamental questions such as which systems in the brain produce unconsciousness and which modulate pain perception. The research is conducted using empirical studies. Basicly, we will stick you with nails and see how you react. Please send your applications to...

I would believe the test group contains a bit more than average of masochist individuals. :)

Their conclusion is flawed by Dynedain · 2002-10-14 20:02 · Score: 5, Interesting

Another comment now that I've read the article.

They claim their findings indicate redheads are more susceptable to pain.

Based on what is presented in their article, an equaly valid point can be made:
anesthesia is less effective on redheads.

Both are legit conclusions from the presented evidence. Either redheads could feel more pain, or their bodies may not absorb/be affected by intoxicants as much.

Explains why the redheaded cultures are known for impressive drinking skills.

--
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....

Re:Their conclusion is flawed by Anonymous Coward · 2002-10-14 21:27 · Score: 5, Interesting

Yep. fair. I'm *very* redheaded -- mom and dad both very red.

When I had to have a major op as a kid, they had to give me a whole bunch of anesthetic to put me out. The normal "count down from 10" act didn't work. I had to have three attempts that I remember. When I had my lower wisdom teeth out, the normal 5 injections in the jaw went up to 40 injections before I lost enough feeling to start, and they had to keep topping me up, and it still hurt.

I'm also extremely resistant to ibuprofen, paracetamol, codeine, morphine, and a whole bunch of other pharms. Aspirin's the only one that works, and I need about twice the dose of someone else my age/height/build. My alcohol tolerance has always been extremely high. Marijuana has no effect on me whatsoever. I'm allergic or resistant to most medicines I've ever had.

More importantly, my mom has have _woken up_ during a major operation. Luckily they noticed quickly and put her under again. She also has similar resistance to pharmaceutical drugs.

I'd have to go with "anesthesia is less effective on redheads". I'd also flag it (Score: -1, Well Duh). More research from the Institute of the Blindingly Obvious.

Posting anonymously, because I've already moderated some of the more bigoted posts in this article. Some people don't realise the reason redheads tend to have short tempers is the amount of shit they get from bigots while growing up -- something the bigots obviously don't do.

Anecdotal experience by bollucks · 2002-10-14 20:12 · Score: 5, Interesting

I'm a specialist anaesthetist and for many years we have anecdotal reports of redheads being more resistant to anaesthesia. We certainly find clinically that this is the case and also there is information that they are more likely to suffer a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis). Many of these anecdotal reports are what start these interesting studies initially conducted on small samples and lead to serendipitous discoveries of how things work.

If you hate those 1-800-CALL-ATT ads by Ilan+Volow · 2002-10-14 20:15 · Score: 5, Funny

Keep in mind that you'll have to make the tranquilizer dart 20% heavier to make Carrot-Top less annoying

--
Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!

Re:If you hate those 1-800-CALL-ATT ads by Have+Blue · 2002-10-15 02:40 · Score: 2

Personally, I'd recommend making it 200% heavier.
Re:If you hate those 1-800-CALL-ATT ads by sharkey · 2002-10-15 03:18 · Score: 2

In fact, screw the dart. Get out the .357.

--

--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.

Angie Everhardt in surgery by pjammer · 2002-10-14 20:22 · Score: 4, Funny

Patient: Uhm - WHAT are you doing?

Doctor: Well, Miss Everhart I need to verify that you're a 'real redhead' before we proceed with the operation to ensure proper dosage ...

--

The Pjammer Chronicles --

Treating heads by Ektanoor · 2002-10-14 20:24 · Score: 2

Well the theme is quite interesting but the story is, as usual relatively superficial, I don't get up what level of investigation they reached. So I fear that soon the Mass Media will start publishing such stories:

Eggheads can be knock down only with a hammer...
Shaking melonheads as a new form of anesthesy...
Lemonheads give always a twisted smile after receiving the approporiate dose of anesthesic...

I just can't win... by shepd · 2002-10-14 20:32 · Score: 4, Funny

>and that topical gel stuff they put on your gums before the injection? That actually CAUSES me pain.

Five bucks says it feels like your mouth is on fire wherever they apply it. I find it useless, too. Can't they find a better way to inject than to go an inch into the joint in my gums? I can't imagine there's anywhere else it could hurt more... And they make sure your muscles are as as stretched as possible for maximum pain (ok, they don't do it on purpose, and I could always lay off the candy). :-/

"Don't worry, it just feels like a mosquito bite". Yeah, like a mosquito bite on my crotch, maybe.

Carbocaine sounds great, but with previous experiences with other prescription pain killers, I'm wary to try it.

Last major dental surgery was having wisdom teeth removed. After waking up, I puked lots of blood (I'm told I was a real winner for the amount -- and the first in the last while) and was given Toradol for the pain.

After two Toradols I sat in a seat for a while trying to catch my breath while my heart was racing (probably a stupid thing to do -- next time I'll get my ass to the hospital instead). So again, I lived with the pain, and used that super-duper tylenol they prescribe you instead.

Maybe I'm just an over-sensitive, over-complaining loser, though. Or it could be the fact I haven't been in hospital for anything serious for a couple of decades. No, the first one sounds more realistic.

Thanks for the suggestion anyways. I'll ask about it...

--
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC

I'm with you by Wee · 2002-10-14 20:37 · Score: 5, Interesting

What I've noticed is that when it comes to alcohol, caffiene, and other intoxicants/stimulants, I need a much higher dosage to feel the effects. I have a higher alcohol tolerance than antyone I know, matched only by a binge drinker who weighs 60 lbs more than I do.

I don't think that I'm more susceptible to pain either. Friends frequently refer to me as the guy with the 'asbestos hands'. If anything, I have a higher pain tolerance than most

I don't buy it either. I'm pretty blond-ish (I've got reds in my beard and mixed in with a bunch of light colors in my hair) and I'm rather light-skinned. I'd describe myself almost exactly as you describe yourself. I even have a friend like yours with a higher tolerance than myself (although he's recently stopped drinking). I hardly feel pain and when I do it's usually too late.

I've broken all of my fingers (most twice), most of my toes, a few ribs, both ankles and both wrists. I have a 10" long "depression" in my skull from when I cracked it playing football in the house at age 6 (dove for a "pass", hit the little metal striker plate on the door jamb). I had a double hernia at 18 months old. When I was growing up, I'd say I had a cast/splint on something for about 3 months out of every year. For the longest time, everyone thought I was really fragile. Turns out I just didn't feel it when something broke, and so never had that "Don't dive into a tackle with your fingers sticking out" negative reinforcement. I'd break something and not notice until I couldn't bend a joint or it hurt later on when I moved it in some way.

I've even broken fingers and not known it. I once went in to the emergency room for a sprain or whatever and they discovered an old break I didn't remember. That was when I did go into the emergency room. After a while, I stopped because it was too expensive (and I had a full set of splints anyway). That's why to this day I can't touch type; I took typing class three times but could never complete it (twice for fingers, once for wrist).

I don't get cold very easily. I mean, wiping ice off a windshield is no big deal. Hot isn't terribly bothersome, either. Reaching into a campfire to move a log around or into water to get corn (or whatever) isn't something I normally think about not doing. It takes a couple more beers than most people to get a head of steam going, and I never ever throw up from drinking. I'm not ticklish. When I get a splinter, I just take it out with a scalpel and a small incision because it's easier and quicker than digging around. A healthy splash of rubbing alcohol afterward isn't bad at all. I've had a tooth (accidentally) removed without anesthesia. That hurt a lot. It takes a couple Vicodins to do any good. Curisouly, aspirin works very well for most stuff. When I get a headache, it's migraine-quality.

Long story short, I don't buy the relationship between hair color/skin tone and nerve responsiveness. I know I'm only a sample of one (and a highly biased researcher :-) but the theory just doesn't hold water. I am not more susceptible to pain than most people.

BTW, I haven't broken anything in four years. If the lack of negative physical feedback didn't teach me to be careful, the feedback of "no type, no money" sure did. I still do stuff like play paintball, it's just that I tend to think a little more carefully about what I need to do before I do it.

Oh yeah, I'm not Dutch. Scotch-Irish/English, with a teensy bit of Polish.

-B

--

Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

Re:I'm with you by Foosinho · 2002-10-15 01:07 · Score: 3, Funny

I have a 10" long "depression" in my skull from when I cracked it playing football in the house at age 6 (dove for a "pass", hit the little metal striker plate on the door jamb).

I think we've found the reason for your apparent lack of pain receptors!
Re:I'm with you by Riskable · 2002-10-15 03:34 · Score: 2

I've broken all of my fingers (most twice), most of my toes, a few ribs, both ankles and both wrists. I have a 10" long "depression" in my skull from when I cracked it playing football in the house at age 6 (dove for a "pass", hit the little metal striker plate on the door jamb). I had a double hernia at 18 months old. When I was growing up, I'd say I had a cast/splint on something for about 3 months out of every year. For the longest time, everyone thought I was really fragile. Turns out I just didn't feel it when something broke, and so never had that "Don't dive into a tackle with your fingers sticking out" negative reinforcement. I'd break something and not notice until I couldn't bend a joint or it hurt later on when I moved it in some way.

I've even broken fingers and not known it.

Hmm... After reading your post I'm really starting to believe what people are saying about redheds being the result inbreeding.

--
-Riskable
"Those who choose proprietary software will pay for their decision!"
Re:I'm with you by Wee · 2002-10-15 11:39 · Score: 2

If only I had used the phrase "purple helmet" in some innocuous way.
Bingo!
-B

--
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

hemorrhage by yellowcat · 2002-10-14 20:43 · Score: 2, Informative

My mother used to work as a nurse in the delivery wards and every time they had a red-headed woman coming to deliver, they would put a hemorrhage watch on her. Seems that red-headed ladies were far likely to bleed during birth than ladies with other color hair. Anecdotal evidence, but useful still.

FYI she worked at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

--
yellowcat ^_^ ??

Re:hemorrhage by back_pages · 2002-10-15 01:26 · Score: 2

Huh, I have red hair, the oft-mentioned high tolerance for alcohol, perhaps an unusual tolerance for pain, and this as well! I had a friend who thought I had mild hemophilia because I bleed so much. It's really irritating when a simple slice to the hand takes a mop to clean up.

*** News Flash *** by iamnotaclown · 2002-10-14 20:55 · Score: 2, Funny

We're also better in bed.

It's a FACT.

the extinction of redheads by Tumbleweed · 2002-10-14 21:07 · Score: 3, Funny

OH no - SAVE THE REDHEADS!!!

(No redheads were harmed in the making of this post.)

Re:the extinction of redheads by Baldrson · 2002-10-15 02:35 · Score: 2

OH no - SAVE THE REDHEADS!!!
(No redheads were harmed in the making of this post.)
Hey, that's almost as funny as - "SAVE THE JEWS!!!" (No Jews were harmed in the making of this post.)

--
Seastead this.
Re:the extinction of redheads by Algan · 2002-10-15 02:35 · Score: 2, Funny

OK, I'm a redhead and I want to do my duty in saving the redhead genotype... can I have your sister's phone number? For the sake of science and biological diversity, of course :)

--
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

Women only studied so far.... by Goonie · 2002-10-14 21:09 · Score: 3, Interesting

Wonder if the results are generalizable to men as well.

I vaguely recall reading somewhere that male and female responses to pain are somewhat different (beyond the obvious differential responses to anaesthetics caused by different body weight). Any of the anaesthetists who've posted care to comment?

--

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)

Re:Warning: Bad Irish Joke by Dr.+Spork · 2002-10-14 21:22 · Score: 3, Informative

Ireland is not where most of the redheads are. In fact, Scotland has far more per-capita redheads, and IIRC even Belgium has more. It's just a stereotype in the USA, because here, most of the redheads really are of Irish descent. But that's only because Ireland has sent so many more immigrants to the US than the countries more densely populated with redheads. (Irish-Americans far outnumber the entire population of Ireland!)

Anesthesia? Surely not! by main() · 2002-10-14 21:35 · Score: 3, Funny

> "Redheads are likely to experience more pain from a given stimulus and therefore require more anesthesia to alleviate that pain."

Huh? I can't think of anything more likely to *induce* pain than listening to that man-faced, pop-singing gasbag, Anesthesia.

Si

Aaah that would explain by Daath · 2002-10-14 21:42 · Score: 2

Why she's always screaming so much ;)

--
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.

Conclusion might be backwards by LtOcelot · 2002-10-14 22:34 · Score: 2, Interesting

The article doesn't indicate that participants were tested for pain sensitivity in the absence of anesthetic. This is an important control case -- without it, there's no telling whether redheads have greater sensitivity to pain or greater insensitivity to anesthetic.

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by Bowie+J.+Poag · 2002-10-14 22:47 · Score: 3, Funny

http://www.brainyblonde.com?

Error 404: File Not Found

Cheers,

--
Bowie J. Poag

Re:What about... food? by swv3752 · 2002-10-15 00:18 · Score: 3, Interesting

I agree mostly. I like Dutch spicy mustard. Most other caucasins don't realy like it. My entire dad's family likes spicy mustard but my mom hates it. My dad is Dutch, while my mom is Lithuanian and Scottish. German spicy mustard has sugar added and I hate it. I think there is a bit of genetic predisposition going on. That sure doesn't explain my love of Mexican and Oriental food though.

--
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life

No WWW by AlecC · 2002-10-15 00:19 · Score: 2, Offtopic

I have always felt that websites without assigning the www. subdomain are obnoxious and poorly designed.

Like slashdot.org, huh?

For all except megacorps, the www is redundant. Though most people used it instead of http://. So if it starts www, of course it is http, dummy.

--
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by moebius_4d · 2002-10-15 00:21 · Score: 3, Insightful

OK, so you're sexy, mostly blonde, and geeky enough to post here. But brainy? Proof please.

I see your domain name is owned by Vibe Media of Beverly Hills, with an Admin Contact of "Kari, Alix" AKA Entertainment Marketing of L.A. So you'll pardon my initial skepticism that this is your homepage and your post here is just to get on everyone's bookmarks for when the logic puzzles and chemistry experiments go up on the site.

I'm a natural redhead... by _outcat_ · 2002-10-15 00:38 · Score: 3, Interesting

...and I have found this to be true in my case. Whenever I go to my dentist he's always surprised how much anasthetic I need. I get the dosage. We wait like ten minutes or so, and it's still not numb. We wait longer. Still nothing. Finally he gives me another dose. Two hours after the filling/procedure/whatever NO PAINKILLERS exist any longer anywhere in my body, and my mouth hurts.

Maybe this sensitivity has a correlation to the stereotypical "redhead temper." I know I'm a bit prone to fits of rage myself. (Yeah, okay, I've got a horrible temper and no one should ever be a passenger in a car that I'm driving because a sweet little redheaded girl turns into a demonic monster from hell behind the wheel screeching all kinds of obscenities especially when I'm in New Jersey but that's another stereotype for another day. I digress.) I'm such a wuss about pain, so I might have just started reacting more to negative things. Hence the temper.

I don't know, just my two cents..

--
Angry IT woman in big clompy boots. And talking lint!.

what about black people? by AssFace · 2002-10-15 00:57 · Score: 4, Informative

And no - I am not about to say some racist thing.

I just recall in my days of competitive running that I was taught at the OTC that people with genes from one side of Africa have certain body makeups and are mostly fast twitch fibers, and people from the other side are mostly slow twitch.

What does that have to do with any of this? The odd thing that they also noted was that natural red heads had nearly identical makeups to the fast twitch section of people that they studied in Africa.
This meant that if you were at a track race and were looking at the top runners winning a sprinting race - the odds were going to indicate it more likely that the people of African decent (aren't we all if we go back far enough?) would most likely be genetically from the same area, and the white people would most likely have red hair.
And once I started looking for it, I was impressed that it actually rang true - lots of fast Irish guys.

I've never seen much mention of anything pointing out red heads since that study until now - usually hair color isn't thought to mean much in the grand scheme of things (aside from my preferring blondes).

--

There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.

Re:what about black people? by hattig · 2002-10-15 03:05 · Score: 2

Yes, I am a redhead and I ran for my school in sprinting, although I needed more training than I received. I can still outrun anybody at short distances without a problem. But long distances are bad for me, but that is just because I am unfit I am sure! :D

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by uncoveror · 2002-10-15 01:02 · Score: 3, Funny

Yes, brainy blondes do exist: natural blondes. It is the bleach blondes who are stupid because bleaching hair causes brain damage.

--
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by macdaddy357 · 2002-10-15 01:07 · Score: 4, Funny

What do you call a smart blonde? A golden retriever.

--
How ya like dat?

Me at the dentist by macdaddy · 2002-10-15 01:09 · Score: 3, Interesting

My dentist has always told me that I take an incredibly high dosage of the stuff they shoot in your gums when you have cavities filled. When they pulled my wisdom teeth last year, the pulling took about 10 minutes, max. Getting me numb pushed through 2 of his other appointments. Usually he gives you some shots and goes to work on someone else and returns when he's done there. That way the shots have time to take effect. Well when he did mine, he gave me a little extra like normal. Then went on to the next person. He came back and started poking around, asking if I could feel it. I could feel it and told him. More shots. He left again. Came back. Still could feel the prodding. More shots. He left, came back. Finally it was numb enough to procede. I always have needed a lot of that stuff to get numb. He could have simply played a tape of my old english teacher talking and I would have been right out. Nope. Always wants to do it the hard way. :-)

Re:What about... food? by operagost · 2002-10-15 01:12 · Score: 4, Interesting

asians and indians in general seem to be able to take more spicy and salty food before the food starts to taste bad to them, whereas i've noticed caucasians in general can't take one bit of spicy food, and their threshold for salt is quite low.

You've obviously never been to the southwest US. It's full of gringos who've become accustomed to the taste of jalapenos (and worse). I love it too, even though I've lived my whole life in the northeast US. I suggest it's nurture, not nature.

--

Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.

Pheromones by Robotech_Master · 2002-10-15 01:16 · Score: 3, Interesting

I found an article on the 'net some time ago which noted that blondes and redheads produced different (more effective?) pheromones than brunettes. It was quite an interesting article, from about the mid 1970s; unfortunately, when I try to google on it now, all I find are human pheromone perfume advertisements.

--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by macdaddy357 · 2002-10-15 01:26 · Score: 4, Funny

So, being Kevin Mitnick's sidekick on a radio show qualifies her as brainy? Will it work if I put Anna Nicole Smith on a show with Bill Nye, The Science Guy? Did you notice that there aren't many redhead jokes? That's because the last guy to tell them got killed.

--
How ya like dat?

How the hell do you get (-1, Funny)... by His+Nastiness · 2002-10-15 02:06 · Score: 2, Funny

I mean seriously what the hell kinda sense does that make? It's like Al got more votes but George won. (-1, Funny)?!!?!!?!!? I think I need to sit down.

Hmmm I wonder... by twoslice · 2002-10-15 02:12 · Score: 3, Funny

If your an anesthetist, do you get to check if she is a real redhead before the operation? Cause, I mean that would be a really cool job!

--

From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...

110v/220v by Myriad · 2002-10-15 02:15 · Score: 2

My wife is a redhead. For her, more stimulation is better. (She's getting a Sybian for christmas. If you don't know how STIMULATING one of those can be... well, you need to do some "research".)

Just make sure your don't plug a 110v version into a 220v outlet... it really pissess off the morgue - it could take them hours to get that smile off her face!

--
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'

Blue eyes: by Unknown+Poltroon · 2002-10-15 02:22 · Score: 2

I have blue eyes, and here are some of the problems associated with them:
More suceptible to macular degeneration later in life due to most of the following-
Extriemly sensitve to bright light. I really HATE camera flashes, and bastards who turn on the lights without warning after a movie. THat shit HURTS. I cant walk from a dark area into full sunlight without being largely blinded for 10-30 seconds, again, it hurts.
The damn eye test where he shines a light into the side of your eye in a dark room is almost impossible for me, i tear up so badly it takes twice as long, and i go through some tissues. None of the other test bother me.
One benifit, i seem to have better than average night vision.

--
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.

Totally true. Confirms lifelong beliefs by jeblucas · 2002-10-15 02:31 · Score: 2, Interesting

Holy crap! I am behind this study 100%. I have all kinds of personal stories related to this. I was always in a -lot- of pain at the dentist. My families teeth are as hard as rocks, thank G-d, but if I did manage to get a cavity it was a devestating affair. The shot would hurt, the novacaine would take a long time to start working, and it -still- hurt like a mother.

Fast forward a couple of years. I slice my hand open and need to get stitches at the emergency room. The tech gives me a shot of lidocaine and leaves for ten minutes. Comes back and starts to clean the wound with iodine, and I wince because it is killing me. He's -stunned- that I can feel anything. He gives me another shot and rubs my hand hand "to get it dispersed". Comes back in another ten minutes and marvels as I cringe through the stitches. He said, "You are processing the anesthetic very quickly--you should advise your doctor of this in the future."

Since then, it's been a nice conversation point, but no it seems to have a little backing. I feel somewhat vindicated.

--
blarg.

Re: Irish Endurance by Vegan+Pagan · 2002-10-15 03:05 · Score: 2

That's why I always tell it to the ones who already cut them off.

20 % more chloroform by ellem · 2002-10-15 03:33 · Score: 3, Funny

For the little red haired girl in accounting...

Yesssss my precioussss

--
This .sig is fake but accurate.

Re:Stepchild by Creepy · 2002-10-15 04:14 · Score: 2

sure -

This explains why red-headed stepchildren need more severe beatings ;)

Where the heck did that "beaten like a red-headed stepchild" thing come from, anyway?

Nerve Toxin & Virgin Tongues by NickFusion · 2002-10-15 04:21 · Score: 3, Informative

The active ingredient in hot peppers, capsaicin, is a nerve toxin. Large doses (as in a lot of hot food) damage the nerves in the tounge and throat. The net result is that you are less sensitive to hot food, and need more "hot" to produce the same sensation as that first jalapeno on your virgin tounge.

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What were you expecting?

You guys are hilarious by Wee · 2002-10-15 04:40 · Score: 2

Your responses are great...

I'm not an idiot (IQ in the 150s), I'm only 1/16 Polish, no inbreeding (that we know of), and Mr. Glass is slightly inaccurate; Mr. Not-Too-Careful is more like it. Although my name isn't Brasky, the thought has crossed my mind that the crack in the head might have something to do with it.

Oh yeah, no trophy needed. But it's so sweet you guys care!

-B

--

Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

Re:I must be a freak by ktakki · 2002-10-15 04:57 · Score: 2

So I goto the indian store (not where you buy indians) and I ask them "for the spiciest thing they sell", they goto the back and get me this big clear plastic bottle full of ketchupy looking stuff with a rooster on the front and a green squirt top (does anyone know what this is?) so they are all handling it like its plutonium or something and they sell it to me...

It's Sriracha, a piquant blend of chillis and garlic in a convenient plastic squeeze bottle. And you're right: it's not that hot.

But it sure is tasty.

k.

--
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank

Capsaicin by Camel+Pilot · 2002-10-15 05:04 · Score: 4, Informative

Long term exposure to Capsaicin such as extreme hot sauce may cause pain receptors to become "desensitized".

However, pain receptors are completely different from taste receptors. In fact, Capsaicin fakes out the pain receptors as it simulates real damage. This tricks the brain into producing endorphins, which promote a pleasant sense of well-being or even an alterted state of consciousness. The endorphin high can make spicy foods mildly addictive (and for some, such as myself, a complete obsession).

I hate to break it to you but... by Arker · 2002-10-15 05:47 · Score: 2

...you're mistaking cause and correlation. The things that are found more typically among red-heads are not therefore caused by the same genes that cause the red hair - they're caused by other genes that just happen to be typical of the same gene-pools where you find red hair. So the fact that you didn't get the red hair doesn't affect the chances that you got the other in the least.

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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by 0x0d0a · 2002-10-15 05:49 · Score: 2

It makes more sense to have a "www" in front of the thing than not. Actually, any other machine name would be okay too -- it always seems weird to see the domain also point to an A record.

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May we never see th

Up there and down there are different places by 0x0d0a · 2002-10-15 05:53 · Score: 3

Pubic and facial hair can naturally be different colors.

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May we never see th

Re:Up there and down there are different places by Loligo · 2002-10-15 21:27 · Score: 2

>Pubic and facial hair can naturally be different
>colors.

I think your dentist is taking the long way to get to your teeth.

-l

Re:It's true what they say about redheads... by Nintendork · 2002-10-15 05:55 · Score: 2

Quit picking up chicks at the computer club and you won't have this problem. Try the local pub where the barflies hang out. Sure, the women are skanks, but the chances of one of them doing nasty things is a lot greater. Maybe not with you, but I think you get my point. :)

What the hell is this thread doing on /.?????

Not necessarily by 0x0d0a · 2002-10-15 05:56 · Score: 2

You're almost certainly right in this case, but there can also be interactions among genes, so it's *possible* that the "red hair" gene is also a crucial component of the "likes massive quantities of garlic" gene.

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May we never see th

Dangit.... by thumbtack · 2002-10-15 06:30 · Score: 2

If only I had this information a few weeks back, I would have bought her a couple of more drinks.....

However... by quintessent · 2002-10-15 06:37 · Score: 2

...when we contacted them, none of the researchers, who were all red-heads, were alert enough comment on the new findings.

--
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.

Ah! That explains why- by WolfWithoutAClause · 2002-10-15 06:56 · Score: 2

I always have to give them more rohypnol to get them to pass out; or talk to them with my scintillating personality- that works too. Either's good. ;-)

--

-WolfWithoutAClause

"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"

redheads going extinct by yali · 2002-10-15 07:07 · Score: 2

Since the trait is so recessive, the extinction of redheads is predicted to be sometime in the late 21st or early 22nd century...

For what it's worth, a blonde version of that assertion has been circulating as an urban legend.

Re:Novacaine doesn't work so well on me.... by hether · 2002-10-15 08:18 · Score: 2

Its funny you mentioned this. I experience the same thing. The dentist would always give me three or four shots and I could still feel the pain until a few years ago I finally said just don't give me any. They looked at me like I was mad, but did it anyway. Now I only have novicaine for things that are really deep and only if after they begin to work on it I am in great pain. I still feel the pain, but I guess I tolerate it better than most. And yes, I'm a redhead.

--

Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.

Me too by hether · 2002-10-15 08:45 · Score: 2

I am amazed to see the number of posts here from people who are readheaded and agree with the story. I never really thought about it before but I don't think I'm more sensitive to pain, just definitely require more anathesia. So I guess I concur with the results of the study. At the dentist I just skip the novicaine when possible since it doesn't really work anyway. With my wisdom teeth the tylenol with codeine was completely ineffective. I get nothing from regular doses of tylenol either. Ibuprofen and aspirin tend to work though. I once woke up just after a surgery when I should have slept for at least two more hours, and I do tend to bleed a lot. I seem to have a fairly high pain threshold I've been told. Not sure about the alcohol or drugs though since I rarely drink and haven't tried drugs.

And to think, these are all because of my hair color? Wow.

--

Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.

Re:Warning: Bad Irish Joke by Cyno01 · 2002-10-15 12:06 · Score: 2

>We just drink a shitload of beer! don't forget the whisky, and damn straight about the o'douls

--
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Re:You need to see my other site by macdaddy357 · 2002-10-15 12:23 · Score: 2

He pays you $12,000 a day to be on his radio show with him? Now that's one pricey sidekick! You are an "Escort?" You have even more in common with Anna Nicole Smith then I first thought. You might get just as much money as she got from that old man, if not more. It sure must beat working for a living.

--
How ya like dat?

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by valmont · 2002-10-15 18:34 · Score: 2

Nah:

HTTP Error 500: Application Error:

Stack Trace Follows:

NullPointerException at brainInstance.think()

--
Extraordinary Vacations. Exceptional Prices

Re:You need to see my other site by valmont · 2002-10-15 18:53 · Score: 2

heh. i think some DNS tweaking is in order:

Name: brainyblonde.com
Address: 64.71.153.74
Aliases: oxymoron.brainyblonde.com

http://oxymoron.brainyblonde.com/

I dare you to actually do that! if you did do that, and even put-up a page with blonde jokes on it, i swear i'll add you to my fans list :)

Now, if you can tell me within 12 hours of this post going out there what exactly your new DNS records are guna look like, and which configuration changes you'd need to make to httpd.conf, you might actually impress me. I read the Salon story, while highly entertaining, my 16-year-old sister can put-up a web site like yours and use hushmail, as well as point out inherent flaws in Netscape's early designs of their Document Object Model. I was pretty impressed by the information you did manage to get out of the guy's office DSL connection, but i'm wondering if you had some serious help there.

--
Extraordinary Vacations. Exceptional Prices

Re:Brainy Blondes do exist! by 0x0d0a · 2002-10-15 19:31 · Score: 2

I still argue that it's nonintuitive -- that the way DNS was intended to work was that only leaf nodes in the name tree are assigned to hosts.

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May we never see th

Blue eyes by Jahf · 2002-10-18 05:42 · Score: 2

It's the other way around, blue eyes were reported to make a person more susceptible to pain ... I think it was on the order of 20% (similar to red hair).

Both red hair and blue eyes are recessive. Both most commonly occur in people of northern european descent. I would guess that the higher-intensity pain is also a recessive gene that tends to piggy-back onto the same cultures.

Total supposition: there might even be an explanation to them. In extremely icy/snowy regions, blue eyes would reflect back more light (blue eye coloring has the highest index of reflection of the natural eye colors), reducing glare/distortion? In those same places, the cold may number nerve endings, causing more sentivity to pain to be an advantage, too.

I don't see what survival advantage red hair would have, but it sure is sexy :) Oh wait ... there's the advantage!

--
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.

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Redheads Need More Anesthesia than Others

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