Talk About Tennis 2.0

Suliso wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:18 pm

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:11 pm
This, together with the recent news of Pete Buttigieg's announcement that he and his husband* had welcomed two children, is a good sign of progress. The news of an openly gay political figure getting married to his same sex partner was unthinkable as little as 20 years ago. Now, it is not even the top headline in your news feed.

Do you know how these things are arranged practically these days? Biologically only one of them could be a father and a mother is still needed. Maybe technology will change it soon, but it's not there yet. A bit easier for two women obviously.

There a number of options, but most likely would be: they chose one of them as the biological father, they used a donor egg and a surrogate mother who was inseminated artificially. Because of the artificial insemination the chance of multiple births (i.e. their twins) is higher.

Another option would be using the sperm of both and seeing which one would "take." because the eggs are fertilized before insemination, only one of the potential father's embryos would be used, it would just be nature's/doctors' choice on which are more viable.

Obviously, the other option is adoption, but based on the newborn photos and the fact that they are twins, the above is more likely.

I should have been more careful with my writing. Buttigieg and husband ADOPTED. They welcome twins, although the process is still ongoing.
You understand my point, anyway. That two openly gay men would be allowed to adopt children was impossible in the very recent past. The sick ideas that homosexual men would adopt children solely for the purpose of pedophiliac intentions would doom any such attempt. Who knows how many children were prevented from going to a loving household simply because of such ideas.
As you say, for women it is easier. I believe there are videos on line to assist women with house-hold fertilizations techniques. All that is needed, apart from some very basic tools, is a friendly donor.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:26 pm I should have been more careful with my writing. Buttigieg and husband ADOPTED. They welcome twins, although the process is still ongoing.
You understand my point, anyway. That two openly gay men would be allowed to adopt children was impossible in the very recent past. The sick ideas that homosexual men would adopt children solely for the purpose of pedophiliac intentions would doom any such attempt. Who knows how many children were prevented from going to a loving household simply because of such ideas.
As you say, for women it is easier. I believe there are videos on line to assist women with house-hold fertilizations techniques. All that is needed, apart from some very basic tools, is a friendly donor.

Not a very safe or doctor-recommended thing AT ALL.

The medical process for women is only slightly simpler in that one of the mothers is likely able/willing to carry the child (one of my best friends and her wife are expecting in October!).

AND MY BAD, looks like Buttigieg and his husband adopted indeed, I hadn't read the follow-up stories about it. It's not quite confirmed, but apparently he talked about being on adoption lists earlier this year.

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:32 pm ...

Not a very safe or doctor-recommended thing AT ALL.

The medical process for women is only slightly simpler in that one of the mothers is likely able/willing to carry the child (one of my best friends and her wife are expecting in October!).

AND MY BAD, looks like Buttigieg and his husband adopted indeed, I hadn't read the follow-up stories about it. It's not quite confirmed, but apparently he talked about being on adoption lists earlier this year.

I'll take your word. Not a subject in which I have spent too much research time

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:23 pm
There a number of options, but most likely would be: they chose one of them as the biological father, they used a donor egg and a surrogate mother who was inseminated artificially. Because of the artificial insemination the chance of multiple births (i.e. their twins) is higher.

I wonder how do they find someone willing to do that. It's not really a pleasant process...

Suliso wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:49 pm

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:23 pm
There a number of options, but most likely would be: they chose one of them as the biological father, they used a donor egg and a surrogate mother who was inseminated artificially. Because of the artificial insemination the chance of multiple births (i.e. their twins) is higher.

I wonder how do they find someone willing to do that. It's not really a pleasant process...

In some countries, including the US (although not all US states), "commercial" surrogacy is legal, meaning women can be paid for this (on top of any medical/personal expenses. Even if commercial surrogacy is not legal, only "altruistic," if done through an agency contract, the intended parents typically pay medical AND MOST LIVING expenses for the mother during the process. So, even in that case, women are likely doing this out of financial need

Then of course there are friends/relatives who I guess agree to do this as a favor. Some women enjoy being pregnant.

(This is among the long list of random info I know from work, since my job is to talk expertly about issues I have basic knowledge about )

Since it's germane to the current topic...

That entire episode and the follow up are two of their best episodes.

Suliso wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:49 pm

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:23 pm
There a number of options, but most likely would be: they chose one of them as the biological father, they used a donor egg and a surrogate mother who was inseminated artificially. Because of the artificial insemination the chance of multiple births (i.e. their twins) is higher.

I wonder how do they find someone willing to do that. It's not really a pleasant process...

The egg donor portion is a full industry in the US. Finding a surrogate is a harder search, but it's gained greatly in popularity in recent years, it's become fairly common. Finding an ideal match? A bit harder, but generally finding a willing surrogate? Much easier than you're likely thinking.

I happen to own a very old pocket watch passed down the family. Story is that it was purchased as a university graduation gift for my grand grandfather by his father about 110 years ago. So I was looking online if I could find something more about it and its maker. It looks exactly like this:



And it was made in the workshops of Pavel Bure who was a Russian watchmaker of Swiss origin and the main supplier of the imperial court.



Perhaps an even more curious part is that this Pavel Bure is a grand grandfather of the famous hockey player Pavel Bure.

As an admirer of watches: that is a beautiful piece. Obviously manual, which makes it more valuable.
Now you MUST have a kid, to pass it down

Actually maybe it's another generation older or perhaps it wasn't purchased new. These watches have serial numbers starting from 1000 produced in 1880 and ending with ca 440,000 in 1917. Mine is a relatively early number of 40,859 and thus according to a table I found must have been produced in 1898. In the last decade of the 19th century they produced 3-5 thousand watches per year there as in the late period just before the revolution it went up to 20,000 pieces. However seems like it was a unified numbering for gold, silver, nickel and steel pocket watches.

Easier to find stuff these days. I don't think my dad knows this.

What a gem of a sentence this is. From the February 12, 1965, issue of Time:

"In its second week of spring and summer showings, Parisian haute couture managed to sashay back to the hip-flask era, blast off into far-outer space, and keep fashion pundits' necks swiveling as if they were covering an inter-aeon Davis Cup match."

(This random bit brought to you because I was looking up Edward Molyneux, a real fashion designer who has a cameo in K.J. Charles's The Sugared Game (part of a 1920s pulp adventure trilogy). And the epilogue to the series mentions young people "playing unseasonal games of tennis so vigorous as to remind" one character that they're now solidly middle-aged. )

The hip-flask era. A time when no gentleman would be found in the streets without a fine spirit on him.
Then jerks like safety-advisors (uhm) decided that drinking in the office was actually a risk.

Ribbons wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:01 am What a gem of a sentence this is. From the February 12, 1965, issue of Time:

"In its second week of spring and summer showings, Parisian haute couture managed to sashay back to the hip-flask era, blast off into far-outer space, and keep fashion pundits' necks swiveling as if they were covering an inter-aeon Davis Cup match."

(This random bit brought to you because I was looking up Edward Molyneux, a real fashion designer who has a cameo in K.J. Charles's The Sugared Game (part of a 1920s pulp adventure trilogy). And the epilogue to the series mentions young people "playing unseasonal games of tennis so vigorous as to remind" one character that they're now solidly middle-aged. )

Don't you love coming across tennis in the wild? I always say "tennis is everywhere."