We must be nearing Peak Idiocy?

Danny1969

Does anyone care about what gender it's gonna be ... It's generally one or the other and neither is particularly  interesting. The kind of person they will be has little to do with the gender 

snowblind

Our species has too much leisure time.

NothingOnTheTele

My wife and I found out our child's sex at the 20 week scan. It's a surprise whether you learn it at 20 weeks or at birth, so I don't feel we missed anything in that respect. It allowed us to settle on a name and to buy baby clothes and certain personalised items in advance, and to better prepare ourselves mentally.

We only told immediate family, and we did so during a normal family gathering by releasing a coloured balloon from a box. We both found the idea of a big party, and of filming it for social media, a bit narcissistic. But to each their own.

Boromedic

^^having done it at the detail scan because my ex wife couldn't wait, and then having waited till the actual birth it felt way more magical waiting till delivery tbh. It's not an early suprise really, it's finding out via a scan which is like peeking at your pressies early

Still, each to their own and all. 

hollywoodrox

snowblind said:

Seem to recall a story about the Rolling Stones doing some gig where they were supposed to release a bunch of doves but they'd kept them in badly ventilated boxes and half of them were dead before they let them loose.

They did with butterflies at Hyde park after Brian had died , love the stones though plus it was different days 

snowblind

Yep. All coming back now. Different days indeed.

Is the whole gender reveal thing just another gimmick from the card/party balloon manufacturers to shift more product? I guess it would be a steady stream of consumerism to fill in the gaps between Xmas, Valentine's day, mother's day, father's day etc.
"Get well soon"s and "Sorry you're leaving"s can only kill so many trees.

Equally it blurs into the current obsession with "spoiler alerts". You are going to get largely the same lifetime's worth of happiness/joy/financial drain regardless of what sex it it. Why try to make it a surprise finding out what shade of plastic tat you are going to be buying?

TimmyO

ICBM said:

Contrary to mathematical theory, there are in fact not two but three kinds of infinity - in order of increasing infiniteness, or whatever the correct term is -

1. Countable infinities. 2. Uncountable infinities. 3. Human stupidity.


... see my signature.

Maths caters for more than one kind of infinity. But you have to study maths for longer than most of us do. 

I gave up trying to grasp the maths behind Zeno’s Paradox whereas my son decided to study Maths & Philosophy at uni

TimmyO

Gender reveal shenanigans seem utterly alien to me - I get being excited about finding out as a parent- but assuming other people should clap and celebrate on your behalf is odd. imo. 

In the same bucket of “eh?” I would put the apparently somewhat normal thing of charging people to come to your wedding/party/kids party. 

Greatape

I side with all the 'don't understands' re: gender reveal parties. But I think there are a couple of sides to it. Yes, it appears to be an offshoot of the social media/monoculture/Ant and Dec/QVC world...but on the other hand, maybe it brings a little bit of joy to someone. 

I dunno. I'm reluctant to condemn other people's fun... except when it leaks into animal cruelty and other wank. 

Nitefly

I wonder when the 20-week scan became a normal part of all pregnancies?  My kids are all in their 40's now, and the technology wasn't available then (early 80's), at all.

When the first scanners became available, they were only used in cases of difficult pregnancy as I recall.

Offset

Philly_Q said:

snowblind said:

Seem to recall a story about the Rolling Stones doing some gig where they were supposed to release a bunch of doves but they'd kept them in badly ventilated boxes and half of them were dead before they let them loose.

They did that at Hyde Park in 1969, but they were white butterflies, not doves.  Maybe someone else killed some doves!

There was a great urban myth floating around some years back which attributed the presence of parakeets in London to Jimi Hendrix, who was alleged to have release a pair in Carnaby Street.  Sadly, it appears to be complete bollocks.

Sporky

Greatape said:

but on the other hand, maybe it brings a little bit of joy to someone. 

Well, if you're going to bring reason and balance and so on into this then I don't know what's gone wrong with the internet today.



(fair point)

(it's still weird though, right?)

Kittyfrisk

Don't forget corporate idiocy too... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz5d6mj5gp8o
Bastards.

Greatape

Sporky said:

Greatape said:

but on the other hand, maybe it brings a little bit of joy to someone. 

Well, if you're going to bring reason and balance and so on into this then I don't know what's gone wrong with the internet today.



(fair point)

(it's still weird though, right?)

It is still weird. 

Kittyfrisk said:

Don't forget corporate idiocy too... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz5d6mj5gp8o
Bastards.

For fuck's sake....