I asked AI "how has molecular biology ended midgets?" and AI scolded me:
"The query contains a misconception. Molecular biology has not ended 'midgets,' as the term 'midget' is considered outdated and offensive. The preferred term is 'person with dwarfism' or 'little person,' and the condition is not something that can be eradicated through molecular biology."
AI won't even touch the word "midget" without protective quotation marks, lol. And after accusing me of a "misconception" that midgets have ended, the AI makes the bizarre syllogism that because "midgets" is an "offensive" term, therefore midgetism cannot be ended through molecular biology. Or something.
Anyway, I gather that fetal testing means midg—uh, dwarfists get aborted rather than born. I note that the tests for dwarfism mostly start working only in the second trimester, so this must get rather gruesome.
It's the same with other fetally-detectable congenital conditions. You don't see much Down's Syndrome anymore either, for example, and for the same reason.
ChatGPT in this instance is a double stupid bad thinker. A dwarf is a colloquialism for a person afflicted with achondroplasia, a condition in which cartilage forms abnormally. This stunts the epiphyses and makes the long bones be short bones. Dwarves have short arms and legs but larger hands and feet. There is no sure yet.
Midget was a colloquialism for a person who remained small because of a lack of human growth hormone. Fortunately HGH is a protein hormone which molecular bio technology (recombinant DNA and some bio engineering tricks for scale) made easy to produce artificially in the 1980s. Midgethood is easily diagnosed in childhood so any such patient in the civilized world would have been treated to normal size since then. Thus no appropriate aged midgets for new Wizard of Oz productions. The midget supply ran dry 40 years ago.
My millennial neighbor confided in me that he wife was a pre-midget who got treated and she is normal today.
Never forget the midget Holodomor and and don't let mdroy convince you it didn't;t happen!
I wonder if many parents to be would get abortions upon finding out that the babies would suffer from dwarfism. It’s obviously not a good thing to have but it won’t prevent them from living reasonably normal and fully independent lives. It is certainly not in the same category as Down’s.
Steve, Steve, Steve, you tall fellow. Being a midget is not something that needs a cure, it's just that modern medicine is able to help those who wish to transition upward towards their true height
I recently rewatched L.A. Story. A very different LA 35 years ago--whiter, cleaner, no homeless camps--and a very different Sarah Jessica Parker. Not that we expect someone not to change over 35 years, but she didn't look that good even ten years later.
You mean the poor Wicked Witch of the East's legs shriveled up TWICE?
Judy Garland, her mother, and daughter Liza all married gay men, amongst others. Daughter Lorna Luft first married a rock guitarist (coded straight, sez Sailer), but her husband since '96 co-produced her music album...with Barry Manilow! Genetically broken gaydars?
Ironically, Jeff Goldblum played James Watson in the 1987 film "Horizon" the Race for the Double Helix.
The tag reads: Watson and Crick race to find the structure of DNA before Linus Pauling, Maurice Wilkins, or Rosalind Franklin can find the key to unlocking the secret.
I think he specifically gets typecast as "suspect scientists". If you watch interviews of him, the impression is that he radiates some kind of social power or magnetism. You get the sense that he could overwhelm you if he chooses, but holds back intentionally. Hence why he seems both very smart and slightly untrustworthy.
Certain actors get typecast in sci-fi, like Goldblum, Sigourney Weaver, and John Lithgow. I don't think any of them care about science or sci-fi, are instead more traditional humanities types.
I gather that Zoe Saldana, who is in lots of sci-fi movies, has actually put in the effort to learn about science fiction so she can talk with fans at sci-fi movie conventions. Good for her.
This seems like the role that Ariana Grande was born to play. Hard to describe why. The sense of unreality, mental illness, helplessness, deep pain, shifting identity, earnestness, wish to believe, eagerness to please. It's heroic in a weird way. You're watching someone fighting a very difficult battle. Losing, perhaps, but keeping her chin up. The black lady seems to have protective instincts - a trait I've often noticed in admirable black women. So the two women fit together well.
Thanks to molecular biology there ain't no midgets no more.
I asked AI "how has molecular biology ended midgets?" and AI scolded me:
"The query contains a misconception. Molecular biology has not ended 'midgets,' as the term 'midget' is considered outdated and offensive. The preferred term is 'person with dwarfism' or 'little person,' and the condition is not something that can be eradicated through molecular biology."
AI won't even touch the word "midget" without protective quotation marks, lol. And after accusing me of a "misconception" that midgets have ended, the AI makes the bizarre syllogism that because "midgets" is an "offensive" term, therefore midgetism cannot be ended through molecular biology. Or something.
Anyway, I gather that fetal testing means midg—uh, dwarfists get aborted rather than born. I note that the tests for dwarfism mostly start working only in the second trimester, so this must get rather gruesome.
It's the same with other fetally-detectable congenital conditions. You don't see much Down's Syndrome anymore either, for example, and for the same reason.
ChatGPT in this instance is a double stupid bad thinker. A dwarf is a colloquialism for a person afflicted with achondroplasia, a condition in which cartilage forms abnormally. This stunts the epiphyses and makes the long bones be short bones. Dwarves have short arms and legs but larger hands and feet. There is no sure yet.
Midget was a colloquialism for a person who remained small because of a lack of human growth hormone. Fortunately HGH is a protein hormone which molecular bio technology (recombinant DNA and some bio engineering tricks for scale) made easy to produce artificially in the 1980s. Midgethood is easily diagnosed in childhood so any such patient in the civilized world would have been treated to normal size since then. Thus no appropriate aged midgets for new Wizard of Oz productions. The midget supply ran dry 40 years ago.
My millennial neighbor confided in me that he wife was a pre-midget who got treated and she is normal today.
Never forget the midget Holodomor and and don't let mdroy convince you it didn't;t happen!
I wonder if many parents to be would get abortions upon finding out that the babies would suffer from dwarfism. It’s obviously not a good thing to have but it won’t prevent them from living reasonably normal and fully independent lives. It is certainly not in the same category as Down’s.
Funny old world, we likely live in maximally eugenicist times.
Is being a midget completely curable with human growth hormone nowadays but dwarfism isn't?
Steve, Steve, Steve, you tall fellow. Being a midget is not something that needs a cure, it's just that modern medicine is able to help those who wish to transition upward towards their true height
I recently rewatched L.A. Story. A very different LA 35 years ago--whiter, cleaner, no homeless camps--and a very different Sarah Jessica Parker. Not that we expect someone not to change over 35 years, but she didn't look that good even ten years later.
I didn't recognize her in LA Story from "Square Pegs," the '82-3 HS comedy series in which she was an unpopular girl acting her actual age.
Today SJP looks quite good for 60.
You mean the poor Wicked Witch of the East's legs shriveled up TWICE?
Judy Garland, her mother, and daughter Liza all married gay men, amongst others. Daughter Lorna Luft first married a rock guitarist (coded straight, sez Sailer), but her husband since '96 co-produced her music album...with Barry Manilow! Genetically broken gaydars?
Ironically, Jeff Goldblum played James Watson in the 1987 film "Horizon" the Race for the Double Helix.
The tag reads: Watson and Crick race to find the structure of DNA before Linus Pauling, Maurice Wilkins, or Rosalind Franklin can find the key to unlocking the secret.
Jeff Goldblum got typecast as scientists.
And now wizards, apparently, since both are viewed as smart dudes.
I think he specifically gets typecast as "suspect scientists". If you watch interviews of him, the impression is that he radiates some kind of social power or magnetism. You get the sense that he could overwhelm you if he chooses, but holds back intentionally. Hence why he seems both very smart and slightly untrustworthy.
Certain actors get typecast in sci-fi, like Goldblum, Sigourney Weaver, and John Lithgow. I don't think any of them care about science or sci-fi, are instead more traditional humanities types.
I gather that Zoe Saldana, who is in lots of sci-fi movies, has actually put in the effort to learn about science fiction so she can talk with fans at sci-fi movie conventions. Good for her.
After a misspent youth most famously messing with the wrong architect he made good.
This seems like the role that Ariana Grande was born to play. Hard to describe why. The sense of unreality, mental illness, helplessness, deep pain, shifting identity, earnestness, wish to believe, eagerness to please. It's heroic in a weird way. You're watching someone fighting a very difficult battle. Losing, perhaps, but keeping her chin up. The black lady seems to have protective instincts - a trait I've often noticed in admirable black women. So the two women fit together well.