"BM is Bipolar, Drug and Alcohol used during preg. BM is requesting a family that is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints"
Mmm. That's pretty darn peculiar.
Better than Christian Science, though.
I'm amused by the "Hisp." designation. Dude! Not even born yet and it speaks Spanish. Buy now! That kid's a genius.
1.
seems the price went down on that kid from 30k (2/18) to 20k (3/2)
You know, it wouldn't take much more than html/SSL, some backend, and perhaps some perl to set up a derivative exchange based on that site. The economy needs a new bubble.
10: There's some sort of King Solomon/tranche joke in there that my mind is too feeble to come up with. And yes, I'm a bad person.
10, 11: And when the bubble pops you can demand exorbitant bonuses in your bailout package, since only you will have the expertise to unwind the deals and make the babies whole again.
I have no idea what the legal ins and outs of adoption services are, but somehow the following verbiage would not be that reassuring if I were a prospective client.
We are not facilitators or a referral service. We also own and operate a licensed adoption agency in the state of Georgia. This agency is called Hope For Adoption, Inc. This provides a layer of legitimacy for what we do.
A whole layer of legitimacy! Can't beat that.
You mock, but just across the border in South Carolina, all that's required is a veneer of legitimacy.
I'm kind of amazed by how many are "unk" gender. Uh, it's not usually that hard to figure out.
15: I think most of these are still enwombed.
15: Aren't they not born yet, many/most of them? I mean, still easy-ish to find out, but it takes some extra doing besides checkin' the undercarriage.
It's not pwnage if you use "undercarriage". Based on this rule I've made up just this second.
This isn't Calvinball, Stanley. This is real.
But he comes under the "drummer's exception".
15, 16, 17: you just need one of them stud finders you can pick up at the hardware store.
21: Every time I hold one of those things, there's such a high signal-to-noise ratio that it EXPLODES.
So if you're a stud and need a date on short notice go to the hardware store?
And what does that have to do with sexing foeti?
For those of you unawares of the post title, I do recommend.
24: 4th declension, dude. 4th declension.
It looks like these children are for sale or something, which is just ghastly, but which surely cannot quite be true?
But some things are just truly sad, you know? and then there's not much left to say.
and then there's not much left to say.
We'll prove you wrong if it takes all night.
28: English, ma'am, English*. I didn't debase the world, I merely live in it.
*chiefly British
26: I was hoping for Jim Thirlwel.
I take it that the adoption site offers a daily supply of methodone for 30K.
I take it that the adoption site offers a daily supply of methodone for 30K.
Fuck, what? Goddamit people, don't bury the lede.
32:it's British to form plurals in Latin based on incorrect declensions? That's weird.
35: can't have past, lesser empires getting uppity, can one?
37: Boring.
35: I have no idea. Just know that one entry for "foeti" was labeled thus.
37: I can't bear to crush your evident excitement at the fact that I got it right by admitting that I looked it up.
While trying to justify my use of foeti after the fact more thoroughly exploring the peculiarities of modern English, I came across an interesting* entry in a Google search that linked to this "fold over" Cherry Blossom festival pamphlet. The text displayed in Google was "g n i r p S f o e t i R. S M. O S S O L B Y R R E H C E H T O T E D I U G. o t o G s m. o s s o l b y r r e h c / m. o c . t s o p n o t g n i h s a ...". I guess it picks up the "backward" text in folded over portion of the pamphlet.
*Well, interesting to me.
Poor babies on that site are all doomed to have stupid parents. Flying to hati and buying a kid would be 1/100 the cost.
||
My mom's new dog is really cute. I'd take a picture but I don't have my camera with me.
|>
15, 16, 17: Oh, heh. I was apparently confused about what year it is...
21: Stud finder,you say? I should go pick one of those up -- I'm coming up dry searching unassisted.
WTF? I'm so confused. Why is this so expensive??? Where do the price differences come from? Difference in birth mother living expenses?? How do they pick that?
34: 33 was joking, right? Please tell me 33 was joking.
Maybe I'm just tired, but this site has bad vibes and is making me anxious. It's true I'm eons away from parenting, but I thought I might want to adopt. Are there non-Christian adoption sites?
Are cute babies more expensive?
Which are tastier?
Why do I care, I'm vegetarian...
If you mean by "playing loose with some laws" that it is illegal to sell a child in the United States, well then, they are playing loose with some laws...
I didnt look at the link, but people who want to adopt are prime targets for con artists. They are often emotional and desperate to get a kid.
35, 32: It's British to form plurals in Latin based on incorrect declensions? That's weird.
Yes! There are extensive discussions of the plurals of "octopus" at Languagehat and Language Log. It's an English word adopted from barbarous scientific Latin-Greek:
A.) "Octopuses", B.) Octopi", C.) "Octopodes", D.) "All of the above", E.) "None of the above, but ________".
Anything goes, lady. Don't fool yourself.
Nosflow too.
E: For example, "octopussies".
49: Ha! A pseudo bugbear of mine! I actually say C just to be an ass. I had assumed the incorrect plural there came from the Romans themselves, assimilating the Greek ending to their own. The Romans did that a lot.
It's an English word adopted from barbarous scientific Latin-Greek:
"Octo" is Greek as well as Latin. It's an Indo-European thing.
1. "Octopus" is a Greek word and therefore takes a Greek plural, "octopodes".
2. No, "Octopus" is a Latin word based on a Greek word, just like "future" is an English word based on a Latin word. Therefore, it forms a Latin plural, "octopi".
3. No, it's an English word based on a Latin word based on a Greek word, and it is well established that English speakers do what the hell they want, linguistically speaking, without any consideration of underlying logic or consistency. Therefore, it takes any plural it chooses, like Chuck Norris.
Therefore, it takes any plural it chooses, like Chuck Norris
Chucki Norres?
Late to the party, but ms bill and I used a predecessor to this agency to adopt our kids from Korea quite a while ago. The adoption blog that Becks refers to seems a little shaky in comparison. We went through fingerprinting, writing autobiographies, getting recommendations (!), interviews with social workers, and classes before being "accepted" to be adoptive parents. After each of the kids came, the agency made three "home visits" to our place to check up on us. Then to court (pro se) to get final approval, and then we got each of them naturalized - that part is simpler now. Totally worth every hassle, btw.
Ha! A pseudo bugbear of mine!
Actually, oud, "bug" is Celtic, while "bear" is Germanic, so you've tripped over your own peeve.
Yes, of course I made that up.
Actually, oud, "bug" is Celtic, while "bear" is Germanic, so you've tripped over your own peeve.
According to encyclopedia.com, by sheer dumb luck you're right!
Man, if all it took was $30,000 and we could get a new baby tomorrow, my wife and I would be all over that...
55,56: Wait?! What's the date again? Well, I meant the plural of "octopus" -- but when I was a wee undergrad classicist, I was very affected by Da/vid Hal/perin's work on gender and sexuality in the ancient world. In his book One Hundred Years of Homosexuality he rails against the term for many reasons (most of them Foucauldian) but one of them was its Greek/Latin Frankensteinitude. So I began to affect horror at words like "television" and "narratology." My goodness was I a twee little nightmare.
57: Maybe heebie will sell hers? I mean, it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Heebie, I'm willing to raid my retirement account for 30K if you are interested....
I'm willing to raid my retirement account for 30K
Yeah, but is she willing to throw in all the extras like fetal alcohol syndrome and hereditary mental illness?
60
I know that I am being extra paranoid, but, (due to issues like jokes in the airport), I would suggest someone delete 60.
Seriously? Like, some law enforcement official would see 60 and think that Spike was offering to buy Heebie's baby, and would then take some action against Spike?
I don't have any individualized sense of how that might play out for real, but the risk seems pretty attenuated.
63. You'd hope so, wouldn't you? But then, there's this.
According to encyclopedia.com, by sheer dumb luck you're right!
Woo! Actually, I was pretty sure about bear, and then it was a matter of picking a likely non-Latinate source for bug. Still, Woo!
58: Our editor scolded us once for some neologism we attempted that was a Greek/Latin combo. I was surprised she noticed, but mostly I felt ashamed.
If I remember correctly, the actual Greeks and Romans called the thing a "poulpe" or something like that.
Erasmus was very admiring of the poulpe and thought we should model ourselves on it. Aristotle wrote extensively about them, including their sex life. Aristotle was given a lot of shit for having an interest in lowly creatures.
I've always wanted my impluvium done in a mosaic octopus.
Maybe I'm just tired, but this site has bad vibes and is making me anxious. It's true I'm eons away from parenting, but I thought I might want to adopt. Are there non-Christian adoption sites?
Put this out of your mind and don't let it make you anxious. No one I know who's adopted or been adopted has dealt with anything creepy like this. See 54 and the experiences of lots of others here.
58: My goodness was I a twee little nightmare.
"Was". That's past tense, right?
(A joke ... I am always needing all the help I can get.)
But in that vein, a question for the classical savants; I am intermittently aware of all some loan/derived word traditions, but is there any way beyond just knowing the words to tell if the Latin root of an "-us" word is second or fourth declension? Apparently the genitive singular of the root is what you want, but absent that is there any rule or guideline that helps if you only know the English word itself?
Man, if all it took was $30,000 and we could get a new baby tomorrow, my wife and I would be all over that...
It's a cheaper way of avoiding the nasty sex part than in vitro or artifical insemination, and it saves wear and tear on the lady.
Genitive sounds naughty.
Are you pro-genitive?
but is there any way beyond just knowing the words to tell if the Latin root of an "-us" word is second or fourth declension?
No. But the number of 4th Decl. words is small enough to memorise the important ones. "Domus" is the commonest bugger. "Genus" is 3rd Decl., speaking of genitive. Plural "Generes"
75. Philoprogenitive is such a word as will give Oudemia and C.P.Scott a nasty turn.
Genitive sounds naughty.
And then there's the genitive plural.
Genitive sounds naughty.
Not as naughty as oudemia having her impluvium done.
72: Hmm . . . not off the top of my head. The main thing that pops to mind with 4th decl. nouns is that they are generally formed from verbs -- so cantus, song, is from cantare, or consulatus is from consulare. But it's not clear to me that that will help you if you don't already know a fair whack of Latin. But I'm really a Hellenist, so what do I know?
Is free speech on the internet so dead you can't even make spurious offers to buy other people's children anymore?
More seriously, $30K wouldn't be a bad trade for avoiding the home study, the paperwork, the pursuing friends for recommendations, the trying to get a birth mother to like you, and, mostly, the waiting associated with adoption. We've been looking into the adoption process, and it appears to be pretty steep hill to climb. For us, its complicated by the fact that we are also in a situation where we may soon be moving overseas - which would derail everything.
I'd be thrilled to pay $30K to get past those issues so we could just get a kid already. Our son needs a little sister.
80: hentai mosaics!
No tentacles, though. And NSFW. From the photostream, it would appear to be from someplace in Moscow.
You mean ... someone is wrong on the internet?
But I'm really a Hellenist, so what do I know?
The good stuff!!!
Our son needs a little sister.
Aren't little girls the largest category of Chinese imports not sold at Wal-Mart?
Vaguely similar problem: how to go about letting nephew who seems to do much better at our house just move in without unduly disrupting relations with his father and younger brother. Blech.
83:
I almost never comment here, and, when I finally do, I comment on the wrong post.
Oh man, my comment before the outage didn't make it.
85: We looked into that. Apparently China is shutting down baby exports for a while while they clear their backlog.
At the same time, I understand Korea is ramping up. Still, its a long process because of all the checking they do to ensure the recipient family will be, you know, fit parents.
My wife wants one from Nepal, but those are harder to come by....
A really fun thing to do while camping with a group of people who met while they were all adopting daughters from China is to capsize a large kayak load of their precious darlings in the surf. Turns out that older parents + one kid each + lots of trouble to obtain kid = extreme risk aversion. (There was no actual danger--the water was waist deep and the kids just hung onto the boat while I gathered them up and stuck them back in--and one of the dads was mostly concealing his own fear of the water as protectiveness of his daughter, but there was some high-speed wading going on there for a few minutes.)
81: Is that because of this study, Spike?
69:Yeah, it seems so. I really am eons off from being able to think about this, anyway. Plus it seems like the "discount" for black babies is a realtaively well-intentioned financial aid trying to address a real problem---and maybe black families who'd be more comfortable adopting black babies are also likely to be poorer.