Do You Know This Person?

If you've read my story, "Adam's Hot Dogs at the End of the World," in Nature, you might recognize this description:

"Mr. Chalker points out that "alien" beings are often described by experiencers as having no visible hair. But one species of Extraterrestrial being sometimes called "Nordic", is described fairly often as having distinctly human-like features including hair, often (though not always) blond in color. A number of well-known abduction cases have involved human-looking beings with hair, including the 1975 abduction reported by Travis Walton in Arizona, and the 1957 Brazilian abduction reported by Antonio Villas Boas."

But if you haven't read it, here's what the first paragraph says:

"The tall pale man opposite him thoughtfully chewed a bite of hotdog, the bitten remainder of which he held about mid-chest, just slightly above Adam’s head. Adam noticed a spot of yellow mustard on the man’s red tie. His suit was black, as were the sunglasses resting on top of his wavy blond hair. His almost-colorless blue eyes remained fixed in an unblinking stare that Adam still found somewhat unsettling."

Life is research, even when life is fiction. I have no idea how Peter Khoury came to have a pair of blond Mongoloid hairs, with extremely rare mitochondrial DNA markers, wrapped around his penis. It's an interesting tale, no doubt. But two hairs in a plastic bag could have come from anywhere. The story attached to them is just a story. I have a hand-carved wooden box with mother-of-pearl inlay that was made in Africa, even though I've never been to Africa. That doesn't mean a gorgeous Somali woman name Fatima appeared at the foot of my bed and gave it to me.

As for the supposed rarity of blond Mongoloids, I suggest reading "Outlaws of the Marsh" - a 13th century Chinese novel in which are described Chinese heroes with red hair and pale skin, extremely dark Negroid skin, and everything in between. My copy is divided into four books, with each cover showing a different period painting depicting some of the heroes from the books. The cover of the third volume is especially interesting. The character on the right is obviously Caucasian. He looks a little bit like Tracy Hickman. In Song dynasty China. Ok. So maybe China wasn't exclusively Mongoloid back in the day.

Or maybe Tracy Hickman is an alien - somebody check this guy's DNA!

And did you also know that some of the Pharoahs were black? It's true. I saw it on tv.