@Helical_Code Benedryl is my next stop. My SO was in a motorcycle accident once and broke her cuboid bone in her foot (we didn't know it was broken yet). She couldn't go to the hospital because no insurance so we were making do with the pain meds we had on hand. To a colorblind person, the pink benedryl was not so different in color as the orangish/red motrin. I gave her four. She woke up every couple of hours to tell me how much her foot still hurt and then she passed right back out.
@Helical_Code We still laugh about it and I'm no longer allowed to dispense pills without reading bottle labels.
I always thought women couldn't be colorblind. I think the chances are like half of one percent. Probably why I was in my mid twenties and arguing over paint colors before it was discovered. Looking back though, it makes sense. I always thought my parents were painting the carport a god awful pink....it's tan/brown.
@Foxthorn
That's fascinating!
The red and green cones are on the X chromosome, so red-green color blindness in XX individuals requires mutations on each X chromosome. The blue cones are on chromosome 7, so for *anyone* to have blue-yellow colorblindness two mutations are needed.
The frequency of blue-yellow color blindness is about 1%, and red-green color blindness in women is 0.5% (as you said) - statistically, not that much different. RG color blindness is 12% in men.
@Helical_Code I struggle with colors containing reds and greens. I can't always distinguish blue from purple. Tan is a concept that I understand but I generally either see green or red. Shades of green and brown are favorites for geologists to use in their graphs and I generally can't see the difference between the shades/tints. It's not severe, but it's enough to add some interesting moments to my life for sure!
@Helical_Code My brother and father are also both color blind as you would expect. My mother...I'm not entirely sure how she puts up with us.
@Foxthorn
Well, it's possible that your mom is a carrier for red-green color blindness, though you may have it as a result of a stochastic mutation. Is color something she cares a lot about? My mom is keenly tuned into color, and I definitely picked that up from her.
@Helical_Code I would tell you that she is not keenly tuned in to color, but at the same time none of the rest of us are allowed to pick out paint, and if we're dressing up for something where appearance matters, she checks all of us before we leave the house.
@Foxthorn
Oh man, that sounds really tricky with the green and brown and the geologists!
In biology, there's RNA transcription data that's usually displayed as red and green heat maps. I've grabbed a piece of it and noted what I see. It's definitely come up that this kind of display isn't user friendly for people with red-green color blindness. Some interfaces allow people to choose what they want the color coding to be.
@Helical_Code oh wow that would be interesting! I'm glad my field isn't more sensitive to color. It's unfortunate that I have one frequently used software that plots data in various shades of yellow to green to brown. It's terrible. My report reviewer asked me to label the graphs because he's color blind. I had to apologize and tell him I had the same problem and that I couldn't distinguish them for labeling. That's why I include tabular data in the package.
@Helical_Code I try to make all of my staff engineers color-aware. A couple of weeks ago one of them used a light blue for soil A and a similar light purple for soil B and when she presented her data to us in a meeting, there were three of us (me, the same reviewer, and our client) who couldn't tell them apart. She was astonished. And yet even after that incident, she still asked me why I had switched the color for soil C from green to brown mid-report. Obviously it's a test...I am testing you.
@Helical_Code Where it does come into play is in our field work because utility locators mark utility locations using various colors of spray paint on the ground. Two years ago we had an intern that had been drilling with us for two months before I realized that he was so colorblind, he had to memorize the order of the stop lights. There was no way that kid could distinguish the utility markings. I have since learned to ask all of our new staff about their ability to see color #safetymoment
@Helical_Code Out of curiosity, I tested this morning to get an official classification and the results come out as Deutan
@Foxthorn
That's interesting! I tracked down a test and took it just to see what it was like. I figured it would be the bubbles on a round field, depicting integers. Some of them were pretty subtle indeed.
@Helical_Code Digital applications of the test are tricky because monitor calibration comes into play. I find the numbers to be the hardest because I can often see the general shape of the number but not the details (1 vs 7 vs 2, 3 vs 8 vs 6 vs 9, 5 vs 6, etc.). My eye doctor gives me the test they use on kids with shapes. I do a little better with that one. She checks me every visit...I'm not sure why. Maybe to make sure it isn't getting worse since it's possible that it's not genetic?
@Foxthorn
OMG. I admit to giggling, but only because I figure that the break has long since healed.
I'm so tempted to ask you nosy questions about your colorblindness (because I heard a talk about the genetics of colorblindness 25 years ago).