The lesson for today includes an introduction to pedigree analysis. You all know the conventions of a human pedigree, right?
I also include an addendum.
Genetics science is gradually catching up and recognizing that trans people exist, although there is still some confusion about precisely how to acknowledge them.
Does your institute have any free material? Every time you post something from your classes I get interested in doing some related exercises, but I never can because I don’t have the materials.
I’m still working out the Thorium-Uranium method, too. There’s some interesting related maths going on, probably amounting to something about the non-intersections in phase spaces by uniqueness. Hopefully I’ll have more info in the evening.
Somehow I expect eugenicists coming in here to complain about how the symbols ruin their nice charts. Along with the existence of XY women and XX men whose plumbing doesn’t match their chromosomal destiny or something.
The problem with genetics is that it superficially looks straightforward… And the various pseudo science people lack the stubbornness to learn the material, or are just unwilling to admit they lack crucial knowledge.
.
Miscellaneous: some species can only be traced using DNA as they can not be grown.
“Overlooked group of gut bacteria appears key to good health, global study finds”
.https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-overlooked-group-gut-bacteria-key.html
And here I thought “pedigree” was about the origin of one’s trust fund and eligibility (or eligibility of one’s girlfriend) for membership in the DAR… because the pedigree charts were established not to determine biological characteristics, but who was the proper inheritor of a title. Presuming, of course, that nobody was lying about their sexual couplings.
What, does that mean “pedigree” is just a social construct established to help weed “undesireables” out of a self-selected elite that determines overall worthiness and value to the entire population by comparison to a single, supposedly immutable characteristic? Then perhaps I’ve been doing it all wrong, which would be truly shocking (not quite as shocking as discovering gambling in Rick’s casino, but the same sort of thing).
Dog and cat shows like their pedigrees.
And I see there is a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedigree_collapse
“I also include an addendum.”
Adding to the knowledge base. What are you, some kind of scientist? ; )
I know most of those symbols from genealogy, though pedigree is an acceptable synonym. Foot of the crane is descriptive of the lines between generations.
It’s been so long since I’ve drawn genograms. I’m delighted to see that non-binary options have been introduced. At first glance I didn’t like the XX/XY labels for transgender as it reduces sexual biology to the chromosomes, but given genograms exist for the purpose of genetic analysis and counselling, the presence of X or Y chromosomes is still important to note.
@ ^
Dude, it’s literally titled “Genetics class”.
@^
Dude, what a stupid comment.
@ Silentbob : have you read this uyet? :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/02/06/i-think-this-might-be-a-little-bit-racist/#comment-2292701
Silentbob, what the fuck is your problem?
What is the purpose of the addendums if they’re just the same symbols? I’m NB and I don’t want to be represented as “unknown”. I do know: I’m neither. How about a star instead?
Sorry, I misread ‘undesignated’ as ‘unknown’. But still, I suppose the qualitative point stands. I am designating that I’m neither.
John Morales @5,
Pedigrees are very useful when breeding populations of research organisms, too–you usually want to maximize or minimize the genetic diversity of each generation, depending on the research goal. And they have their place when tracking human genetic disorders and such.
Silentbob @9,
I honestly never noticed your vendetta with chigau before–my visual cortex automatically edits out a fair amount of the flaming in the average Pharyngula comment thread–but I do see you saying in 2023 that “the misgendering was not intentional.” Sooo…how come you’ve kept doing it for the next 2+ years? Transphobia doesn’t become okay just because it’s aimed at someone you don’t like.
Prax #15
I am not transgender.
Noted, chigau, and thanks for the correction. Strike “transphobia” in my last sentence and replace with “misgendering,” then. Whatever the motivation, I don’t think it’s acceptable.
Apparently, the racist troll “違う” has lately taken to claiming they don’t identify as male and therefore I am “misgendering” them.
This is very obviously mocking me for my long running support of trans equality and inclusion:
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2023/09/29/anthropology-panels-elizabeth-weiss-and-the-devious-self-serving-propaganda-of-gender-critical-bigots/#comment-2196264
(For those who are unaware “違う” is a transphobe who hangs out at anti-trans hate site “butterfliesandwheels.org”.
See here for one of a million examples:
https://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2026/between-pout-and-smile/#comment-3089973)
However, I would never deliberately misgender anyone. So on the 0.02% chance this loathsome piece of shit is actually telling the truth, I will only refer to them using gender neutral pronouns in the unhappy event I ever have to refer to the prick in future.
coward
Silentbob @18:
You fucking liar. I’ve been commenting here for 13 years, and have known chigau is a woman for all that time, because she (and others) fucking said so. You’ve been told this repeatedly, by me and others.
In all that time, I can’t remember a single instance of her saying anything remotely transphobic or racist. Or reading anything from anyone else suggesting this.
Fucking liar. You really are a foul excuse for a human being.
Fucking awesome. Great. Rationalization and doubling, tripling, quadrupling down.
Silentbob, what the fuck is your problem?
Silentbob, what the goddamn fuck is your problem?
Silentbob, what the ever-living goddamn fuck is your problem?
Silentbob, have you looked in a mirror lately?
SilentBob @18,
So you’ve been misgendering her in, like, revenge? That’s still not appropriate or informative, IMO.
Assuming it’s the same Chigau commenting at B&W, why not cite a transphobic comment of hers (I haven’t noticed any yet), or ask her to clarify her position on trans issues, or something like that? Ophelia certainly makes plenty of transphobic statements in her posts, and you could talk about those too. But misgendering someone for being friends with someone who misgenders people only compounds the problem. Again, IMO.
[meta]
Prax, many trans people hang around this blog, and chigau has been around since 2010 or so.
Not one has ever said anything like that in all these years, because it would be baseless.
It would be most remarkable if none had picked up on chigau’s alleged transphobia in all this time.
Very hard to fool you mob.
Crip Dyke from Pervert Justice (on sidebar) is a prominent trans advocate, and chigau was also a participant there.
FWIW, B&W also was a blog here for years, and the focus was always feminism.
That Ophelia came out on the TERF side doesn’t change the rest of it.
And chigau was a regular there.
Yeah, I used to hang on out B&W as well. Didn’t want to stay there after Ophelia showed her TERF colors, but I wouldn’t assume that all her commenters share all her opinions. That’s certainly not true of PZ’s commentariat, after all.