Happy Successful Male Transmitter of Genetic Information Day
Posted on June 21, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 36 Comments
To every man who has managed to contribute to the propogation of the species and/or has voluntarily agreed in a legally binding sense to keep a genetically unrelated child from being consumed by wolves or leprechauns or whatever: Good on you. Have a day.
Personally, I’d like to take a moment to thank the person who makes my participation in this day possible:
Also a significant player in my participation:
Here’s a little song that goes out them both.
[imeem music=”Fio3iBlwn8″]
I’m of the “voluntarily agreed in a legally binding sense to keep a genetically unrelated child from being consumed by wolves or leprechauns” sort. We have two fathers in our little unit and we adopted 3 boys last year (brothers). Although successful transmission of genetic information is completely lost on two gay men, Father’s Day is not. We’re all about today!!
Cheers!
David
Indeed, I know quite a few men who voluntarily agreed in a legally binding sense to keep a genetically unrelated child from being consumed by wolves or leprechauns, so I wanted to make sure they knew that I did not discount their participation in the day.
Thanks!! Much appreciated!! Happy HSMTGI Day! …. or Happy F-Day if that works for you too! ;)
Thank you for your congratulations. I was responsible for 6 pregnancies, which resulted in 2 girls, 3 boys, and one miscarriage.
But my fatherhood came easily. I think those who take on genetically unrelated munchkins deserve far more praise, especially when they have to fight tiny-minded opposition to their efforts. Yea David and husband!
I gave my son an action figure this morning. I just really like giving him action figures, so it’s still self-indulgent.
One the one hand, I am an unsuccessful gene vector.
On the other, I have three children.
What am I?
MY wife and son are still in bed. I made my own coffee and breakfast. Still, I’m pretty happy about today.
“voluntarily agreed in a legally binding sense to keep a genetically unrelated child from being consumed by wolves or leprechauns”
I married my girlfriend and adopted her daughter. That’s what I’ll my daughter today: “You know I saved you from wolves…”
Don’t forget the leprechauns, Christopher. They’re mean little bastards.
As the spouse of one who volunteered for the legally binding sense, I am very much about celebrating the day which honors the choice. Happy Dad’s Day!!
Of course, scientists say that from an evolutionary perspective, raising a child that’s not genetically yours is about the dumbest thing you can ever do.
But scientists are dicks, so we don’t invite them to our fathers’ day parties.
We used to spend all day making barbecue sauce and grilling ~40lbs of pork ribs. The food, the laughing, the mess – it was glorious.
We buried Grandpa 2 weeks ago, though, so it won’t be happening this year.
I’ll miss it. I miss him.
@John Faughnan – A lucky guy?
Off to call the man who donated genetic material and taught me important lessons about Heinlein, driving a car, shooting a gun, being polite, and believing in myself.
Feelin’ the ‘volunteer’ efforts. My uncle adopted his wife’s nephew, a little boy with autism and half a dozen other problems. The sweetest kid in the world.
Hats off to all fathers who are there for their children. Those kids don’t always know how lucky they are.
What role did the flowers play?
Do NOT attempt to distract us from your unexplained absence yesterday, by pandering to the fashionable father’s day furor. Can (and will?) your wife verify that you did, in fact, do any useful work about the home/dwelling place/domicile yesterday, or not?
“men who voluntarily agreed in a legally binding sense to keep a genetically unrelated child from being consumed by wolves or leprechauns”
Where do I find me one of those?
Happy Father’s Day to all of you choosing to stay in your children’s lives.
I am of the saved from wolves and leprechauns variety, and very grateful to the man who made the possible. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads.
Wednesday night we had rain storms of a remarkable proportion here in Western Penna. that flooded peoples’ basements and caused damage that I haven’t seen in my 9 years of living in this neighborhood. I’m wondering if Mr. Scalzi wasn’t cleaning up after similar damage from the storms coming through his area first? I know we had to pitch some wet rugs from our basement and other unsalvageable items. In any case, Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there genetic and non-genetically related. As an adopted daughter, I can say that I benefited from my adopted dad’s parenting.
Happy Father’s Day, John. Here, it’s Dude Who Takes Care of Us Day, and I’m quite happy to go with that.
I took a hike by myself this morning (‘cuz it’s Sunday morning, and that’s what I do anyway) along the Little Miami Trail and noticed a number of women mowing lawns. I am assuming this is not a normal occurrence, that usually the male parental unit does this most other weekends, likely on Saturday.
Not to be outdone, my wife called me while I was on a break from the hike (An “Oh my frakking God! Why the hell did I decide to walk 12 miles in comfy sneakers and I need water, dammit!” break. It’s the cost of doing what I do) and said, “Did you eat lunch?”
I had not, indeed. I had breakfast, but that was about three hours earlier (“OMFG, I was out how long?!?!?”). She said, “Well come home, and I’ll make something special for you.”
The sneaky wench repainted the living room while I was out, which we’d planned to do tomorrow. “Happy Dude Who Takes Care of Us Day.”
I love her.
John @ 6: A man generous enough to bring up his wife’s offspring from a previous marriage? An adoptive father? Don’t know, but good for you. All the little ones need to be taken care of, whether by their biological parents or others.
Happy Father’s Day!
PJ @11 – since we’re social critters, raising children indirectly or not at all related to you genetically contributes to the survival of The Tribe, and possibly your own genes in the long run (other men may be raising your genetic offspring under the same system); at any rate, in a population of billions it’s a genetic wash.
Happy day, all you dads.
Others have noted that genetic information transfer is not the end all and be all of fatherhood. Being a “Dad” is what counts. Taking on that role is the craziest, bravest and most satisfying job in the world.
To all of you out there that are Dads like me, welcome to the club.
I’m having a great day with my family. 8D
Cheers to All. Jeff S @ 23 says it well: craziest, bravest and most satisfying job in the world.Spouse ranks up there too, but its not the same at all
John Faughnan@6, whats the answer to your riddle ? Now we are curious
Scalzi @9 is correct about leprechauns being mean little bastards. We had an infestation around here recently, but I took care of it. I just left a bottle of good whiskey out overnight where they were hanging around.
The next morning there were six dead leprechauns and a missing bottle of hooch. Leprechauns don’t like to share.
(For any who are interested, I trapped the last one (still dead drunk) and released it at the nearest faux-Irish bar. Problem solved.)
First off, that was awesomely funny. Second, you’ve probably already seen this, but someone is moving in on your territory. Scalzi, your influence is now far and wide (or is that “farther and wider?”).
Propagation, you mean?
:)
//riot shield\\
Man, there must be something wrong with my pickup line. I’ve been using it for the better half of my life, twenty of my forty years on this [insert nifty earth metaphor]. Er, okay. Here it is:
“Excuse me. I know we’ve just met, but would you mind if I transmit some genetic material in your general direction? And I don’t want to sound . . . well, rude, but could you make it snappy? The downtown bus is almost here.”
Perhaps I should begin working on another . . .
John Faughnan @ 6 is a stepdad, it seems to me.
And even though I didn’t grow up with my dad but was stuck with an abusive, selfish prick of a stepfather — I admire all that real, loving dads do for their loved ones.
Cheers to all the good fathers out there!
@22, Mythago
That’s an excellent point, but it seems to me it suffers from the free rider problem: it’s most efficient for the individual to live in a community where OTHER people are willing to be selfless and awesome leprechaun wranglers, but to be a selfish bastard oneself.
Which is why I’m glad so few of us are as purely rational as the people in economics class examples.
Let us also praise the many men who incorrectly believe they are the father.
Closest I ever came to being a father was when I promised to try to get someone pregnant. He laughed at me, the little twerp!
This was my first Father’s Day since my dad died. I was OK until I heard the host on Weekend Edition Saturday say it was HER first FD without HER dad too. Kinda made me feel good and sad at the same time.
I like the pointillist effect in Athena’s picture. Was it raining?
What if your children are wolves or leprechauns?
I’m an at home dad of twin girls. I had to quit school and work, because the wife makes way more money than I do, and daycare costs more than I can earn. Sometimes, there’s such a thing as being too good at something. So call mine “Commiseration on Being Too Good at Transmitting Genetic Data Day”
They’re good kids and I love them despite their messing up the “one or none” plan. It has almost gotten easy once they turned four. Almost.
In my case, it should be:
… voluntarily agreed in a legally binding sense to be kept by a genetically unrelated child from being consumed by wolves or leprechauns…
They do keep me out of trouble I would otherwise get into. And I try and return the favor.