Flowers

Last year, me and Lee-Anne tried to grow sunflowers unsuccessfully. This year I planted 60 of them. They started to sprout but then someone ran over them with a lawn mower. Five survived. Three broke in wind storms. I tried to stake them up, but only one of the broken sunflowers made it through. Three left. Fortunately, two managed to blossom

Weird thing is, I thought I planted purple and teddy bear sunflowers, but I got regular ones. I don't remember if I put regular flowers in the mix, and the standard are just more resilient than the variants, or if I got ripped off. They were from different parts of the patch, and I thought I'd sorted the different types into sections, so it seems like they should be different types. Oh well.

Not only did we get the two standard blossoms, one was growing at least two additional blossoms in the joints of its leaves. I had a neighbour in Guelph who managed this, and I never knew how or why it happened. I have since heard from other sunflower enthusiasts that this is a semi-common phenomenon, and flowers like these are called mutants. Kind of a gross way of referring to them, when the outcome is so pretty.

Unfortunately, something attacked in the night and tore both their heads off. I don't think a human stole them, it seemed way to chaotic. It might have been a skunk. I've run into a skunk in the backyard twice and both times it was coming toward me, not away. Me and Lee-Anne also ran into three baby skunks one evening, and it seems like there's a lot of skunk sightings in general.

Anyway, I tried staking up the two now-headless sunflowers. I thought that if the mutant survived, we'd have a shot of its two additional heads blossoming but unfortunately it didn't make it. The non-mutant sunflower survived without its blossom.

This left one final flower, which had yet to bloom. It was the smallest of the three due to being one of the ones that broke in the wind storm. I'd been saying all along that it was my favourite of the three, since I love an underdog story. The first sunflower I ever grew broke in a windstorm and similarly survived.

Well, it eventually happened

 Missing a couple of petals since whatever creature took the other two blossoms also took a bite out of it. It also didn't fully unfurl, maybe due to its size, but I still think it counts!

While I'm at it, I'll show you some pictures of the bulbs that sprouted earlier this year.

They mostly came through in the spring.

As an aside, that sub shop that I've been talking about, Big John's, finally reopened after seven months, almost as unceremoniously as it closed.

Genealogy Results

A couple months ago, an ancestry detection service called 23AndMe was having a Father's Day sale. Despite not being one myself, I decided to take advantage of the offer and made a purchase. The bundle included an ancestral background check and a health and traits overview. I would have likely only bothered with the ancestry data, but I got the health information as it was a part of the sale.

They sent me a kit, I spat into a tube and mailed it back to their lab for analysis. I just got my results. 

Before going into them, I'll give a brief overview of what I understand of my heritage based on what I've been told by family members. On my mothers side we have the Landstreet family, which is an English adaptation of something like "Lundstrat", which is Dutch in origin. When they immigrated to the US they likely anglicized it.

Going by name origin is a weak way of tracking ancestry though, because it only follows the male line. An example of why names aren't always the best way to determine heritage is that my last name is "Sibbald", which is Scottish. However, my father was adopted.

Because of that fact, my father's side is a little difficult to trace. I did wind up in contact with the genetic side of his family when his biological mother wanted to meet him. Apparently they migrated from Sweden two generations back, making my dad 1/2 Swedish and me 1/4.

This is the bulk of my understanding. I think it's likely that I'm 1/4 Swedish with a drop of Dutch. Other than this, I've no idea.

People have guessed that I was Greek, and people have guessed that my brother is Italian. Back when I was in highschool, when I had long hair and no beard, some people thought I was at least partially Indigenous. I've been told I look Arabic a few times. 

Lets see if that holds any merit. 

Genetic Background

According to 23AndMe, I am...

99.3% Northwestern European

No surprises here.  Goes along with what little I knew of my ancestry. If anything, it's surprising that it's so consistent.

Narrowing it further, it looks like within this continental region, I am primarily

Scandinavian, at 35.6%

Coming through my father's side, probably. Scandinavia includes Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Of these places, they found genetic markers for me only in Norway and Sweden. Looks like I've got more than the 25% I estimated.

Next, I am

British & Irish, at 27.8%

I've got genetic markers spread throughout both the UK and Ireland. Up next, I am

French & German, at 13.9%

This region is composed of Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Despite the name of the category, I don't have any French in me. Interestingly enough, I have nothing from the Netherlands either. I had guessed that I was a bit Dutch, which is the language of the Netherlands. All of my DNA in this category comes from Germany, so it looks like the Landstreet lineage comes from areas that are seen as modern day Germany.

Specifically, they found potential links to Baden-Wurttemberg, Brandenburg, and Saxony. Next up, I am

Finnish, at 3.9%

I almost feel like you can tack this under Scandinavian. Honestly, before doing this, I thought Finland was in that region. Geographically, it neighbours Sweden and has a lot of similar cultural elements at least nowadays.

Finally, I am

Broadly Northwestern European, at 18.1%

Basically, this is DNA that they were able to trace to this region but couldn't narrow it down further. Could be more Scandinavian or German DNA. Pretty consistent with everything else they found.

Of the remaining 0.7% of my DNA, I am

Eastern European, at 0.3%, North African at 0.3%, and 0.1% undetected

I think they leave the 0.1% undetected as a caveat, since it's essentially impossible to determine anything at 100%. Kind of like when ads say that cleaners kill 99.9% of germs.

They weren't able to narrow down my Eastern European or North African ancestry to any more specific regions. North African is the only real curveball here. That region includes Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, although who knows exactly where my DNA comes from.

Next up we have my health report. This one is scary because it could imply issues further on in my life. They made me give specific consent to reveal this information and I had to go through tutorials for the stats on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and cancers saying that 23AndMe does not diagnose, that it doesn't guarantee anything, and that these conditions are impacted by lifestyle and environment as much as genetics.

So let's see what we have

Health Report

Looks like I have no increased chance of any form of cancer detectable by this analysis and no indicators for Parkinson's. Unfortunately, I have a slightly increased chance of developing late-stage Alzheimer's past the age of 65. I have one genetic marker passed down through one of my parents. Unfortunately, I suspected this might be the case as my granddad is currently suffering from dementia, as did his mother.

According to 23AndMe, this means that I have a 4-7% chance of developing it by age 75, as opposed to the usual 3% and at 85 my risk is 20-23% as opposed to the usual 11-14% Basically I'm twice as likely. Unfortunately I think there are other forms of dementia that aren't detectable by this analysis.

There are 10 additional health predispositions. I'm clean for all of them except Age-Related Macular Degeneration, which is a form of vision loss occurring in late life. I am at an increased risk, which means both my mother and father passed on this gene. The site is not giving me information on what age it might start or how likely I am to get it. Oh well, at least Lee-Anne comes from a family of optometrists.

Now let's look at what genetic conditions I could be at risk of passing on, were I to choose to have children.

Carrier Report

This section covered 45 inheritable conditions. Of them, there is only one that I have a genetic variant for, which is Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation, Type 1a. This is a condition that causes developmental delay, muscle weakness, and failure to gain weight. However, it says I only have one variant in my system, and it takes two to develop it. So if Lee-Anne also has the potential to pass it on, it could be a concern, but my genetics alone cannot cause it.

Next up is my wellness & traits report. This covers trivial info that I will be able to verify.

Wellness & Traits

The Wellness Report covers 8 categories. According to it I am...

• Unlikely to flush when I drink alcohol. This is true, never noticed a flush and no one's ever said anything
• Likely to consume more caffeine than average. True, I currently drink 2 mugs a day
• Less likely to be a deep sleeper. True, I am a notoriously light sleeper
• I am predisposed to weigh about average. This is false, I weigh significantly above average
• I am not lactose intolerant. True, I can handle dairy just fine
• I likely have the muscle composition of elite power athletes. That's a fun way to say it. I'd say true. I haven't trained for it but I am uncommonly strong with a naturally hulking build
• I likely have similar saturated fat and weight. Apparently this means I don't have a specific issue with processing saturated fats. I, uh... have no idea.
• I likely have average or less sleep movement. False, I toss and turn in my sleep.

So, factoring out the saturated fat one because I didn't understand it, 23AndMe guessed correctly 5 out of 7 times.

Now for my Traits Report, which has 37 different factors. According to it, I am

• Less likely to be able to match musical pitch. True, I have a tin ear.
• More likely to be able to smell asparagus. True, I can smell it
• Less likely to have back hair. False, I'm a sasquatch 
• Likely not to have a bald spot. False, balding since 19
• Likely able to taste bitterness. True, I love bitter tasting foods
• Less likely to have bunions. True, I don't remember ever having them
• Likely not to have dimples. True, don't have any
• Slightly higher chance of disliking cilantro. Is this that gene that makes it taste like soap? I don't have that, I'm cool with cilantro
• Likely not to have a cleft chin. True, don't have one
• 50/50 chance of having dandruff. Doesn't matter because they went middle-of-the-road for this, but I don't think I have a dandruff problem
• Likely has detached earlobes. True, they're detached
• Likely no early hair loss. False, already said I've been balding since 19
• Likely has wet earwax. It's not like I've done much comparing, but yes I would describe it as wet
• Likely brown or hazel eyes. Yes, dark brown
• Less likely afraid of heights. False, I'm terrified of them. I can't look at the roof of an apartment building without getting dizzy
• Less likely to be afraid of public speaking. Kind of true. I do some public speaking in my job and I seem less hesitant than my peers to take on roles that involve this. Funny as I consider myself introverted
• Likely to have a longer ring finger than index. Yes, this is true
• Likely not to be flat-footed.  This was awkward to verify, but I believe this is true, I don't have flat feet
• Likely not to freckle. True, I never freckle
• Likely to experience hair photobleaching. I don't think so, my hair seems to be a pretty static colour
• Likely to have straight or wavy hair. I barely have hair anymore, but in highschool it was long and straight with a slight wave, so this is true
• Likely to have thin hair. SOME of my hair is thin, that is the stuff I'm losing. The hair on the sides of my head is thick, and I had a thick head of hair growing up. I think this one is false
• More likely to prefer vanilla over chocolate ice cream. Oof, this puts me on the spot. Both are kind of boring flavours. I thinks it's true overall, although I have no problem with chocolate. Vanilla is a little underrated because of its reputation for being the default
• Likely to have dark hair. Yes, dark brown
• Average odds of hating chewing sounds. They went middle ground with this, but this is not a particular pet peeve of mine
• Likely bitten by mosquitoes about as frequently as average. Sounds about right
• Less likely to experience motion sickness. True, it doesn't get to me
• Likely to have lots of hair as a baby. I think this is true? I think I remember seeing baby pictures of me with hair. It was a lot lighter than it is now, too
• Likely not to have a photic sneeze reflex. Apparently some people sneeze as a reflex to bright lights. This does not happen to me
• Likely not to have red hair. As I've already said, it's dark brown
• Likely to have lighter skin. Lighter than what? I'm white but I tan. I think I have slightly darker skin than most Caucasians
• Less likely to have stretch marks. I've got some
• Likely to have longer big toes. False, I have longer second toes
• Likely to have a bit of a unibrow. This is about right. A slight unibrow if I don't take care of it
• Likely to wake up at around 8:23 am on days off. False, that's way too early. Try 10:00
• Likely no widow's peak. I mean, I'm bald. I don't have a peak anymore, widow's or otherwise but that wasn't my balding pattern. I got a bald spot and it spread, Fat Friar style

They asked some questions that would be easy to get right based on statistics, and they went middle of the road a few times, but overall 23AndMe was right about 22 traits, wrong about 10, and indeterminate for 3

Haplogroups

This section talks about my maternal and paternal lines specifically. It's not as interesting as it sounds. It doesn't say what traits, vulnerabilities, or nationalities were passed down either side. But it does say that my mother's line is H1, which is the same as 1 in 19 23AndMe customers and my father's line is R-L2, which is the same as 1in 56. It gives some vague movement patterns of our ancestors, but each line just says we're European, which isn't new.

Under this category they do tell me what percentage of Neanderthal DNA I have. The Neanderthals were a type of primitive intelligent life that evolved alongside Homo Sapiens. The two were genetically similar enough that they interacted and bred together. Modern day humans are primarily Sapien in origin but geneticists are finding that we are much more closely tied to Neanderthals than we thought.

It is popularly considered that the Neanderthals died out, but it is likely that they were simply absorbed into the modern human genepool overtime, their genetics overtaken because of their relatively sparse population compared to the Sapiens.

The Neanderthals were larger, stronger, more solitary, and more dependent on trapping or ambushing their prey, as opposed to the Sapiens, who were better long-distance runners, more slight of build, and more collaborative in nature.

When I heard that we have as much Neanderthal DNA as we do, I suspected that I had a bit more than most. After all, I am strong, solitary, and don't do much running. My forehead has a ridge to it, and I've noticed in some team pictures of the Summer Program staff where we formed a human pyramid, I wasn't as able to crane my head up as far as the others to face the camera due to a slight ridge of bone and muscle at the base of my neck. After all, I do have that aforementioned "Elite Power Athlete" build that was in my Wellness Report.

My theory does not bear out though. I have fewer Neanderthal variants than 86% of customers through my father's side, and less than 96% of customers on my mother's side. I am actually far less Neanderthal than most.

Family & Friends

This section tracks down genetic relatives that have taken 23AndMe and have chosen to share their information. I thought this would be a lot more interesting than it was. I found one of my greatuncles on the Landstreet side, and a handful of relatives on my father's genetic side that I've already got as Facebook friends. If I was looking to reach out to more people I guess this would be more interesting, but it seems like I'm already in touch with most people that I share a significant genetic connection with. It's otherwise a lot of 4th cousins with names and faces that hold no significance to me

Conclusion:

It was interesting to see that I actually had a pretty accurate guess as to my lineage. I've seen a lot of people be really surprised by what they got. Weird that I was 0.0% Dutch, and that that line likely comes through a German origin. Even though I was only confirmedly about a third Scandinavian, Germany and Finland are right near that area as well, and the general Northwestern European ancestry could as well. Seems like there's a lot of geographic consistency.

 People were pretty flatly wrong when guessing my ancestry, as I'm 0.0% Greek, Italian, or Indigenous. The people that said I was Arabic weren't as wrong, but I don't think my North African trace ancestry shines through enough to give a visual indicator.

The North African ancestry was the only real curveball. Not enough to have any real significance, but it's kind of fun to learn a detail like that.

As for health, the late stage Alzheimer's is a bit troubling but I'm still more than likely not to get it. It looked like I was more likely to get late stage vision loss, so it's good I know so many optometrists.

The trace data was fun but less accurate than I'd hoped, and I was disappointed not to have as much Neanderthal DNA as I hoped.