Things That Piss Me Off Tuesday - The 70 isn't the new 50 edition

Some Pictures Aren't Meant to Be Shared
Ladies and gentlemen, sometimes Twitter is great. The ability to share whatever is on your mind with all your followers around the world in a fraction of a second is mind blowingly awesome.

Sometimes Twitter is not so great, particularly if you have an inflated ego and impulse control problems. In other words, if you are Geraldo Rivera.

This happened.

His caption: 70 is the new 50.

He removed it after people started throwing up in their mouths a little all over the world, but as we try so desperately to teach our children, once something is on the internet, it lives on forever. You can delete it all you want, but I can promise that someone screenshot that shit or downloaded it already. You would think that he'd have at least a basic level of awareness of that.

Also. 70 may be the new 50, but that still doesn't mean anyone wants to see that. I hope his ego got a little kick in the nuts yesterday.

Oh hell, who am I kidding? It's Geraldo. He's pretty sure he's the best thing since sliced bread.

At least he didn't tweet a picture of his old man ass.

KATE HAD A BOY!
So what if I totally thought it was a girl and was off by over two pounds on the weight? As a doula I have seen itty bitty women squeeze out gigantic babies. I had to laugh when the Royal Correspondent for CNN said that Kate was "brilliant" for having a boy on her first try.

Really?

Because mothers have any say whatsoever about what the gender of their babies are.

Because being a smart royal somehow gives her control over William's sperm.

Because princesses have magic eggs that only allow in male creating swimmers.

Really?

Even my kids have a better understanding of genetics than this highly paid international reporter.

Speaking of Genetics
Apparently, scientists in Massachusetts have figured out how to turn genes off in utero, which would effectively cure a condition like Down's Syndrome.

As a student of bioethics, this troubles me.

For every mother who elects termination for a genetic abnormality such as Down's, there is one who would tell you how amazing her child is, and how she couldn't imagine her life without them. The idea of being able to eliminate health conditions and diseases may be wildly appealing in some ways, but for someone like me, it also throws up all kinds of red flags about manufacturing perfect fetuses.

In a society that already is fairly intolerant of anyone different, this is the kind of science that may only serve to exacerbate that. If those with ample resources can elect to eliminate diseases and conditions in their children, where will the line be drawn? Gender? Eye color?

Are we okay with the road this leads us down?

There are already doctors in Europe practicing reproductive medicine known as three person IVF, where genes deemed defective are swapped out with someone else's healthy genes. As if IVF wasn't expensive enough as it is, we now have doctors making designer babies. Is it the true privilege of the rich? Or is it just a way to avoid terrible diseases?

Time will tell, I suppose...and as with everything else, the law will lag behind the science.

Buh-bye NYC
So I wrote about global warming a little last week, about how island nations and low lying cities all over the world are in dire risk of being submerged because of rising sea levels.

This report just came out, giving the newest projections for sea level rise in the short term and long term future. It's not good news.

I won't go through the report and write all the findings here, because you really just need to read it. 

The Grammar Police
Normally, the grammar police bug me a little. Not too much because there are certain common mistakes that people make that send me jumping up and down and shaking my head. Generally though, if a person is capable of getting their point across, I'm willing to forgive some grammar errors.

I have terrible grammar, and I fully admit that, but at least I know when to use different versions of words that sound alike.

I have this thing about bad grammar though....ready?

Don't use it if you are going to be an asshole online. If *you're* hellbent on insulting someone with your words, do it right or *you're* just going to look like an idiot.

If you are calling someone out for being ignorant, make sure you can compose a coherent sentence first.

Someone had the nerve to call me stupid yesterday over something I wrote. I didn't know the guy, and a mutual friend of ours took care of it right quick, but it got me thinking.

If you're so dismissive of the opinions of others that you don't even actually process what they are saying, you've officially missed the point. If your response to something is immediately to say "fuck that", I'm going to have a hard time taking you seriously from here on out. If you tell me I'm stupid, I'm probably not going to engage whatever it is you want to argue with me about because you've already brought the conversation to a level I won't drop to.

I feel like I might need an anger translator like Luther on Key & Peele. I'm far nicer publicly than I should be, than I want to be sometimes, because I have self respect. Luther is in my head though. And the jumping and the flailing and the clapping. For serious. Ask my husband what happens when I'm fired up.