Today I was outside on the deck talking to Holly on Skype, when a neighbour of David’s which I had just met the day before, came and asked if I’d help him move his new washer and dryer. I said sure and went across the street to help. The guy was really nice, and had some nice dogs there with him. He started asking me about why I was on the island, and we chatted for a bit. Then a woman came out who could have been his wife, but I honestly didn’t ask. She wanted to know about my ears and tattoos, and the dude filled her in on why I was here. They asked a bunch more questions, and then suddenly the woman interrupted, and said “I’m sorry I just noticed your simian line, and I had to stop you. Can I see your hand for a moment?” I said “Sure, what the fuck is a simian line?”. It turns out it’s something I was recently discussing with Holly. I have one hand that has a line going all the way across it, instead of two lines. At first I thought, so the fuck what, I have one line instead of two, but then I did some reading about simian lines. There is some interesting facts that go with it. Here are some things I found out:

-There are most often two transverse palmar creases, a proximal one and a more distal one, neither of which extends all the way across the palm. Fusion of these two creases, an event that occurs prior to the 12th week of fetal life, creates a single crease extending horizontally across the entire palm.

-A single transverse palmar crease is present in normal people with a frequency of 0.8% on the right hand and 1.3% on the left hand whereas it is present with a frequency of 71% on the right hand and 66%% on the left hand in Down syndrome. It is therefore useful in the clinical diagnosis of Down syndrome.

-Like many minor anatomic variations, a single transverse palmar crease is associated with a number of different dysmorphic disorders, including Aarskog syndrome; de Lange syndrome; the deletion syndromes involving chromosomes 4p, 4q, 5p (cat cry syndrome), and 18q; the fetal alcohol syndrome; Seckel syndrome; Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome; the syndromes due to trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) and trisomy 8; and Zellweger syndrome.

-The name “simian” was adopted many years ago and comes from the fact that some monkeys have only one crease in their palm.

-Approximately 4% of Caucasians have a simian line on at least one hand, and 13% of Asians will have one.

-At least fourteen chromosomal abnormalities are listed in the medical literature that have a high correlation (up to 84%) with the occurrence of a Simian Line. Down Syndrome is one of these diseases due to a chromosome abnormality.

-Dudes with simian lines are dead sexy and have huge cocks.

*** Just found this too:

-The Simian Line gives the ability to focus on one thing, absolutely, to the exclusion of all else. These people generally achieve and accomplish far more than most, developing techniques and inventions that will last for generations. They also experience far more misfortune than most, usually due to the same intensity that drives them. A truly double-edged sword.

-Males are twice as likely as females to have this condition.

-In some families there is a tendency to inherit the condition unilaterally, that is, on one hand only.