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The 9/7 Gene

Look at the figure below. Which number does it resemble most, a nine or a seven? Some people say nine, others say seven.

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Scientists have discovered that how you perceive this figure is determined by a gene. People who see a nine have one form or allele of this gene, people who see a seven have a different allele.

It seems that people who carry the nine gene are most often found in southern Europe, particularly Spain (though at least one individual carrying the nine gene has been reported as far north as Utrecht). In contrast, people with the seven gene tend to live in northern Europe, particularly Britain.

Presence of one form of the gene or the other is also linked with certain personality traits. People carrying the nine gene tend to have a very liberal or tolerant attitude towards the use of drugs, arguing that they don’t really matter or affect performance. People with the seven gene are known to take a hard-line stance in public on drugs, and are vehement in denying that they personally ever have or would take these substances.

People with these traits generally are homozygous for this gene, that is, they contain either two copies of the nine allele or two copies of the seven allele. Individuals homozygous for one allele generally don’t get along well with people homozygous for the other form. Fortunately, though, some people are heterozygous, that is, they contain one copy of each allele. Since neither allele is dominant, heterozygous individuals tend to exhibit traits somewhat between those of homozygous individuals. That is, they do not take an extreme nine view or an extreme seven view, but tend to be more moderate in their beliefs.

Unfortunately, the population of heterozygotes is thought to be dwindling. Since those homozygous for nine do not get along with those homozygous for seven, it’s almost inconceivable that they would intermarry, and produce children, some of whom would be heterozygotes. Thus heterozygotes result only from the intermarriage of each other. Simple Mendelian laws, of course, indicate that only half the children of such marriages would themselves be heterozygous. So the population of heterozygotes is dwindling.
 
Aug 31, 2012
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Intriguing. The Road Racing forum, the Contador thread in particular, is proving a highly fertile ground for hypothesis formation.

The 7ners and 9ners are not exhaustive, though. I see an 8.
 
Lol, I'm ashamed to admit that it took me until King Boonen's post to realize what the OP was about :eek:

When I briefly thought there was such a gene, I did think it resembled a 9 more than a 7, but found it weird with the phenotype described, so I thought I was heterozygotes :p
 
Jun 15, 2009
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10-caught > DQ correct
11-nitpickers couldn´t sort things out before the Giro (even though loads of time) > legitimate win
07-(where the seldom false-7 gene has its origins) Rasmussen, not AC the winner

BTW, great OP Merckx, it took some time to get it. Awesome. :)
 
Jun 15, 2009
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That would be discrimination. You can´t blame people for gene defects. If you are born with 7, false-7, or 9 is not the fault of individuals, but decided by nature.
 
Re:

FoxxyBrown1111 said:
That would be discrimination. You can´t blame people for gene defects. If you are born with 7, false-7, or 9 is not the fault of individuals, but decided by nature.

Ha Ha

Just saw this post and the mods reply below and it shows how hard the discussions on his number of wins can be

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?p=1726169#p1726169

adding to his Grand Tour total (that would be 10, or 8, depending).

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?p=1726183#p1726183

Your second post and your second doping reference. To give you the benefit, no doping talk in in the PRR forum. You have not added anything nobody doesn't know about the number of GT wins.

Surely this is a ridiculous interpretation of no doping talk rule
 
Re:

del1962 said:
I want to know how many GTs can be said that he won in the PRR section, I think it should be the official number of 7 and those who want to say 9 should do so in the clinic
The official number is 7, as it is 0 for Lance, Landis, the Chicken and Ji Cheng. If anyone disagrees you can easily set them straight without mentioning doping. In fact I'm usually as curt and to the point as possible.

I think any argument serious argument to be made on that, would probably have to be based on charges of hypocrisy and would possibly be evidenced by innuendo (perhaps mentioning Schleck, Merckx, Riis, Indurain, what have you), and therefore would be have to be wrought here, lex lata, lex rex.
 
Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
del1962 said:
I want to know how many GTs can be said that he won in the PRR section, I think it should be the official number of 7 and those who want to say 9 should do so in the clinic
That's stupid.

Not stupid at all, as doping cant be discussed in the PRR section then the argument of 7 or 9 can't be had in there so it just deteriotes into he said/ she said, hence we need a rule for the PRR section on how many he has won, and for this the best way to do it is stick with the official records, so those who say 9 should do so in the clinic where it can be properly discussed
 
Oct 16, 2010
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Re: Re:

del1962 said:
LaFlorecita said:
del1962 said:
I want to know how many GTs can be said that he won in the PRR section, I think it should be the official number of 7 and those who want to say 9 should do so in the clinic
That's stupid.

Not stupid at all, as doping cant be discussed in the PRR section then the argument of 7 or 9 can't be had in there so it just deteriotes into he said/ she said, hence we need a rule for the PRR section on how many he has won, and for this the best way to do it is stick with the official records, so those who say 9 should do so in the clinic where it can be properly discussed
actually agree with this.
 

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