I’m not discouraging at home novelty tests like ancestry and 23andme, I’m discouraging their use in the situation you’ve described, because that’s not what they’re intended for. I’m very sorry for your situation, and I hope that you find the information that you’re looking for, but you’re more likely to find it with actual paternity tests than trying to glean information from a test that’s not meant for that.

As for the medical comments, ancestry isn’t meant to provide that. It’s not actually sequencing the DNA, it’s just checking for specific sections of DNA that are known to vary between different ethnicities. Some health information can be assessed in that way, but its inclusion in at-home tests was made illegal because those sorts of results need to be handled with a genetics professional so that they can explain the complex results and their impact on the individual and their family. Some at-home tests have added medical information back in, but that’s legally dubious, and considered to be dangerous by genetics professionals.

If there are any medical concerns, a different DNA test should be used, and should be ordered by a genetic counselor or geneticist. Situations like these are one of the reasons why genetic counselors exist - please don’t believe that adding a medical professional to the mix is a bad thing - genetics is a very complex topic, and having someone trained to understand and explain it is invaluable. Please let them help you in your endeavor.

Well, the Ancestry test only really gives stuff like… ancestry. It’s not useful for much else, and for good reason - it’s meant to be a neat novelty, not a medical or paternity test. I’m a former genetic counselor, and we generally don’t suggest getting DNA tests for children unless it’s important for health reasons, or if they’re old enough to give their own consent for it - that sort of information is very personal, and often people don’t want it to be available in their health records.

If you are simply wondering about ancestry, you could always get the test yourself - anything the test shows for you would at least give that side of the kids’ ancestry. Obviously parenthood verification can be useful, but from your other comments you seem to be aware that a mother doesn’t need such a verification, and it’s generally not recommended that you use ancestry tests for that purpose anyway. If you’re concerned about any genetic issues in your family, I’d highly recommend talking to a genetic counselor; they can help organize the family history and see if there’s anything you’ll want to be cognizant of.

You want a DNA test because your kid doesn’t share the same interests in video games that you do? Sure, there’s likely a set of genes somewhat contributing to preferences and interests in humans, but even if we knew them, we’ve already got plenty of evidence that biological children frequently have different hobbies than their parents, so we know things like that are most heavily determined by all of the other things people are influenced by in life, outside of genetics.

Frozen? Every parfait I’ve had has just been yogurt with berries and jam in it. Also, yes, if you use chocolate sauce instead of gravy, you can absolutely call it pork au chocolat. It would probably be better if you switched out the pork for something like pancakes, but you do you; one of the best things about food is that you can do whatever you want with it.

Looks like a savory parfait to me.

Honestly, I like the fact that I could hold and eat this while doing other things at a BBQ. It would also be useful if there’s not a lot of seating for everyone.

I am a sucker for turning normally-sweet treats into savory ones, though - I turned my cinnamon rolls recipe into a cheesy rolls recipe a few years ago, and I consider it one of the best ideas I’ve ever had, so maybe it’s just me.

Well, lets see, I make my company about 3 orders of magnitude more money than they pay me every year, so I suppose if my kids gather 1000 pieces of candy, I’ll give one back to them as payment.

Yeah, even texting STOP is still giving them what they want - they included that to trick people who would otherwise ignore it into verifying their existence.

Oh, cool! You make saxophones?

In a vacuum, yes. But knowingly taking an action that condemns someone should destroy you; even if it saved others, knowing that someone died partly due to your actions should make your stomach churn whenever you think of it. Your part in this election and the results thereof should keep you up at night - it definitely will for me.

Oh it’s not, it’s just rare for someone to have them while actually understanding morality.

Congratulations, you solved the trolley problem. I’ll let all of the philosophers of the world know so you can collect your prize… Inaction isn’t innocence, but the “right” answer isn’t innocence, either. Don’t take solace in the fact that you minimized the damage by condemning a bunch of people you don’t know to death by the very person you supported; this election will be my greatest regret in life for not doing something more to force out a 3rd option, as it should be for all of us.

Holy fucking shit… We’ve looped back around with the trolley problem memes to end up back at the actual trolley problem.

The entire reason the trolley problem is a “problem” is because it’s not necessarily morally correct to insert yourself into a problem in order to save people, if by doing so you also condemn someone. It’s debated that it’s better to let an unfortunate scenario in which multiple people die play out - allowing yourself to stay out of the picture and not be responsible - than to take action to minimize the damage, and by doing so become part of the picture and partly responsible for the damage that does occur.

It’s supposed to be a difficult situation, even if taking action saves lives, because by taking action you are specifically partially responsible as an acting member in the scenario. There are a lot of people who believe that it’s better to stay out of it and leave yourself morally untouched for having never taken part in it than to take action, even if the action would save lives. And there are a lot of people who believe that it’s better to take action if you can, especially if it saves lives, even if your actions still condemn people to death.

The whole point is that it’s NOT a scenario with a correct answer. The best answer is the one that lets you sleep at night. Yes, I’ll be voting democrat, but I certainly don’t blame those who believe dirtying your hands by voting for a genocide supporter is an unacceptable act.

I’m definitely in support of A, regardless. I only know complex words from having seen them used correctly in the wild; how could anyone be expected to learn them otherwise?

The ability to find an approximate definition of a new word using context - and slowly whittle it down to the actual definition over subsequent encounters - is invaluable for gaining better language comprehension.

Pretty sure they mean one less account someone could track you with, because yeah, staying on top of sending monthly checks for stuff is something I’m very glad I don’t have to do anymore. My credit took multiple hits in my younger days from bills I forgot to pay on time.

Sweet Home Carolina! No, wait…

Nah, they just did a bunch of takes for the music video.

Pretty clear that it’s “Biden warns Americans that their ability to even pretend that the US is a democracy is at stake” As in, the US is not a democracy, but we pretend it is, but Biden is warning us that our ability to do so is at stake, because it’s going to get so much worse that we won’t even be able to bury our heads in the sand anymore.

They’ve never needed pictures before, and they don’t need pictures now. Hell, even the iconic meme picture is taken from a video of a woman speaking normally - they just used an unflattering frame to discredit her. This isn’t a ploy to get a photo op of the left being mad, it’s another small push of the republican boundaries. Enough “joke” bills about overbearing punishments for minor offenses made by people their party doesn’t like, and they’ll be primed enough to fully support the real thing. We’re already there for a large portion of the republican base.

Turns out all those people who put an orange filter over scenes in Mexico were just trying to show a happy, friendly atmosphere!