Rich M

Skeptic, atheist, English Country & Contra dance enthusiast

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@moonmom0317 @LauraRbnsn [6/x]From what my wife was able to figure out with her research (as an expert in origins of genetic disorders) before she had a kid with me - the most common from an old father are higher rates of achondroplasia (dwarfism) and autism, though the chances of those seemed quite low.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@moonmom0317 @LauraRbnsn [5/x] And those individual mutations could easily happen in non-coding regions (since most of our DNA is non-coding anyway, and most of that is "junk"), or in areas where there's duplication from Mom's side, etc.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@moonmom0317 @LauraRbnsn [4/x]On the other hand, from what I can tell, as a father gets older, sperm do degrade more, and there are more genetic mutations. That is, rather than a full extra chromosome - which will *definitely* cause a problem, there are more individual mutations inside chromosomes.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@moonmom0317 @LauraRbnsn [3/x]And for live births that do happen, the chance of various trisomys (trisomy 21-Downs, trisomy 18-Edwards) significantly increases (it's still totally possible to have a very healthy baby at 40, but as you start to get toward 45+, you're rolling dice that are more loaded).

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@moonmom0317 @LauraRbnsn [2/x]From my understanding of how she's explained it to me - as the eggs (from the woman) age, the chance of chromosomal problems increases significantly. That's part of the reason that it's so much more harder to carry a pregnancy to term as a woman ages.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@moonmom0317 @LauraRbnsn [1/x]Not sure where you're getting your information, but I'm quite sure that it's incorrect. My wife works in pediatric genetics, dx'ing disorders, figuring out what went wrong, etc-& she's more worried about her age (40) than she is about mine (53) when it comes to having a kid.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@emilykmay You haven't developed an urge to kill, have you?

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@JOSEPH45075332 @NelsonMogaka_ My wife is a genetic counselor in peds. She runs into some characters (and very sad situations). Not phased at all by screaming kids, bc she has to do family hx interviews with screaming kids. Also, she can spot disorders at like 100 yards away, just from dysmorphic features.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@MRICTPET @sm But the stuff that you're telling the nurse on intake is being entered into the medical record (which takes time for them to type it up). Typically when the doctor comes into the room they've had a moment to review what the nurse typed in, then they go over it briefly again.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@MikeNumerical @sm That doesn't make any sense. Typically (like for my doctor's appt) the insurance copay is going to be the same no matter who takes my BP/temp. A much simpler explanation is that the doctor's time is much more costly than a nurse's, so it makes sense to have other folks do intake.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@emilykmay It's unfortunate but true. People are clamoring to work in jobs that they might have a passion for. Like zookeepers - pay is crap, but you have to get a degree & volunteer for years to get a chance. Fortunately there are still decent jobs where you don't have to go full corporate

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@emilykmay Agreed on 'all forms of communication'. Unfortunately some folks use that need for communication as an 'in' to push pseudoscience like 'facilitated communication' (though it goes by different names now).

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@emilykmay My kid's daycare is getting into birthday season now, b/c they clump them by age. It's nice to see these folks and have a fun time, but damn, it jams up the weekend calendar for a couple months.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@emilykmay Very strange how she assigns "student loans and the whole higher ed sector" and "email jobs that don't need to exist" to women specifically - when roughly just as many men go to university, get student loans, and have "email jobs" (vague-like I design buildings but use email...)

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@kevinfolta Headline should be, "Chemical detection lab equipment is getting *crazy* sensitive."

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@BridgetWhispers @emilykmay I think part of it is just about people not realizing that breaking up is definitely an option, at any point - and it doesn't have to be the result of a massive blowup or cheating or abuse - and that's not specific to gender. It's why I married my first wife, which went poorly.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@RealDianeYap I appreciate knowing my grandparents, but attaching forbears' accomplishments seems weird. And if you're gonna do that, seems like their crappy actions should attach too. What if they were a molester?

It's enough to want to raise a kid to be an awesome person & have a great life

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@FikseJake @TURBOPOSSUM I kind of understand wanting decision-makers to be home, though obviously that means it's gonna be high-pressure. Renewal by Anderson did this to us, didn't even do the thorough inspection they'd promised. And their estimate was *wild*, like $5k+ per window.

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@FreyaTheWolf @HistorianZhang I like how the F column doesn't have a label. My Heats prof in college explained how he graded on the curve, like top 20% gets an A, next 20% gets a B, and so on-then, "Bottom 20% are SACRIFICE". (typically in that class you could get an A with even a "low" score bc it was hard)

[Rich M @sowellfan]

@basic_d4d @brian_is_tired If the parents are baby-wearing, then the kid doesn't need a seat. Otherwise, yeah, each kid counts towards the number.