A study by the World Health Organisation found that natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years because there are too few people carrying the blond gene. According to the WHO study, the last natural blond is likely to be born in Finland during 2202.
Wow, I thought, that's amazing: a prominent human phenotype disappearing within a timescale fairly close to the 3x average lifespan . I had to find out more. The first result from my Google search:
In response to recent media reports citing an alleged World Health Organization (WHO) study predicting the extinction of the naturally blonde hair gene, WHO wishes to clarify that it has never conducted research on this subject. Nor, to the best of its knowledge, has WHO issued a report predicting that ‘natural blondes are likely to be extinct by 2202’. WHO has no knowledge of how these news reports originated but would like to stress that we have no opinion on the future existence of blondes.
Not only is it the first result, but four years old to boot.
Some people lost their faith in government after Watergate, the Iran Contra hearings, or being shot in the face by a high-ranking member of the White House. For me, the moment was 7:05 this morning when I found out that not only was the man operating the jackhammer at furious volume outside my window not going to be hauled off in manacles but that his behavior was completely, entirely legal.
I've never understood why construction has to take place so early in the day, and am still unconvinced by the reasoning that it depends on daylight. In the dead of winter the sun doesn't rise until 7:15, and year-round I never see construction workers on site less than a few hours before sunset.
Thankfully fate brings a passive recourse in the form of "white finger" (a.k.a. Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome or "HAVS", which really makes me wish their advocacy group is named the "HAVnauts").
I found a crazy-cheap package deal to Beijing, so Dr. Glasses and I skipped town for a week to check out China. If you like close-up pictures of anonymous Oriental roof shingles and think the mere couple-dozen nearly-identical shots of the Great Wall most people bring back are way, way too few then THIS IS THE PHOTO ALBUM YOU WERE BORN TO VIEW.
Thanks to the snowstorm back in NYC our return flight was delayed until the early morning of Valentine's day, so that I could be reminded of returning to the searing black chasm of loneliness where love is supposed to be. On the other hand, the hotel they put us up in for the night did have a bar with an intergalactic ski chalet theme (no joke).
