And On to Intersex

Have there always been variations of gender in humans?  There are variations in plants and animals.  Most plants are hermaphroditic, with 6% of species having separate males and females.  Clown fish and snails can change sex.  Cardinals and chickens can be half male, half female. Bearded dragons have been found to change their sex while they're in their eggs.  If exposed to warmer temperatures male dragon eggs will become female, even though they genetically remain male.  The American Psychological Association says: “Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.” What would a clown fish or snail tell us when they change sex?  There's our deficiency.  We are unable to learn from other species - we are able to learn about them through scientific observation and experimentation.  And we haven't wanted to know much about this in the past.  We're in an age when this is now front and centre in our social conversations.  Here's a summarization of the latest iterations of transgender ideology. I found two pictoral representations - the gender bread person and the gender unicorn. Here's the unicorn:     The Intersex Society of North America has described the types and frequency of intersex birth rates. Their summary statistic says that the total number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female is one in one hundred births.  You can look at the long list of variations HERE.   Here's a small extract:  " If you ask experts at medical centers how often a child is born so noticeably atypical in terms of genitalia that a specialist in sex differentiation is called in, the number comes out to about 1 in 1500 to 1 in 2000 births. But a lot more people than that are born with subtler forms of sex anatomy variations, some of which won’t show up until later in life". From the article What is intersex: "Though we speak of intersex as an inborn condition, intersex anatomy doesn’t always show up at birth. Sometimes a person isn’t found to have intersex anatomy until she or he reaches the age of puberty, or finds himself an infertile adult, or dies of old age and is autopsied. Some people live and die with intersex anatomy without anyone (including themselves) ever knowing." This is the article HERE.  The list of topics at the website is fascinating. What picture of the day do we have?  People tell me spring isn't here yet.  My garden has crocuses, snowdrops, irises and witch hazel blooming - one has to look down to see them.  If one is willing to visit Cole's, my local garden centre, then spring will be obvious - no need to look hard.

Betting on a President

I noticed the spring Iris, Danfordiae is blooming in my garden.  Today our pictures are the Primulas in the Cole's Garden Centre.  They have a polyhouse packed with pansies and primulas, so the scent is divine. And of course, the colour is intensely splendid. A similar intensity surrounds the topic that continues in the news and conversations.  I decided to check out the speculation that Trump will not last out his first term. How would one do this?  By looking at betting sites. Gambling is a topic I have never investigated, so find it interesting. In January 2018, the odds of him being impeached were 4 - 7. The Newsweek article says that oddsmakers at Paddy Power thought in January that it's nearly twice as likely Trump will be impeached as it is that he will serve four hears in office.  The Newsweek article said: "Paddy Power has additional ominous betting odds for the White House. Of the three years Trump has remaining in his presidency, the betting site has impeachment most likely in 2018. The odds that Trump is impeached in 2018 are nearly even at 5-4. For a sitting president, that doesn't paint a particularly rosy picture. The odds get exponentially better for Trump if he emerges from 2018 unscathed, as the site puts the odds at 7-1 that Trump is impeached in 2019 and 50-1 in 2020. " We're not allowed to access the Paddy Power website.  So I found a betting site that covers this in the U.S. It is oddsshark.com. There are odds on the following: exit date complete a full term as POTUS convicted by the senate in his 1st term impeached by the house in hist 1st term resign the presidency in his 1st term There were odds on the duration of Donald Trup's handshake with Vladimir Putin, on whether Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would hug, on whether Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would kiss, and then all manner of things that he'll say:  best friends, comey, golden, great job, etc.   For Obama, there were bets in bad taste - assassination was one of these in the headlines.  There are current bets on nuclear war due to North Korea, on the world ending, the next pope, and on and on.   These are at bestcasinosites.net. Betting turns out to be a vastly popular activity and there are many stories of famous, bizarre, and stupid/dumb bets.  So back to our pictures - the Primula Festival in the garden is around the corner.  I hope you enjoy these spring beauties.

Lotus in Grimsby

Lotus are blooming at the Cole's Pond store.  This lotus was captured over the span of two days and you can see the spots on the flower petals in the third photo.  I drove by yesterday and a second lotus is blooming - it looks like a darker pink.  However, Coles isn't open on Sundays so it'll be today that I get to find out.    The Lotus is a revered flower and plant from ancient times.  Its meaning was creation and rebirth and "was a symbol of the sun because at night it closes up and goes beneath the water and at dawn it climbs up above the water..." How about this 'fun fact':  the lotus flower is a very popular tattoo.