Last night my son informed me that our daughter-in-law had given birth to a baby boy, Jonathan - thus commencing an entirely new role for me as as grandfather.

Today he told me that the new baby had been weighed shortly after birth on some dual digital scales in the hospital that registered the baby's weight - for him to see and check with the midwife - in pounds, to three decimal places, i.e. to the nearest thousandth of a pound (these scales don't do ounces, I'm told).

The baby - which we all knew was going to be a big one - clocked the scales at 8.000 lbs.

Honest!

What was recorded on the official hospital record?

re (Daniel Jackson): "What was recorded on the official hospital record?"

REPLY: The time of birth, 10.18pm on 7 October 2005. And probably the baby's weight, i.e. whatever 8.000 lbs. is in metric.

For decades, hospitals and health clinics have compulsorily had to record heights, weights etc. in metric, whilst at the same time translating these poorly-understood and unwanted measurements into plain English. As happened last night in Harlow Hospital.

Estimated proportion of British mothers who know their babies' weights in pounds: 95%

Estimated proportion of British mothers who know their babies' weights in kilos: 5%

Tony,

Congratulations on grandfatherhood, regardless of how the baby was measured.

re (JohnM-SI): "Congratulations on grandfatherhood, regardless of how the baby was measured"

REPLY: Much appreciated, it's a special moment and one of many privileges life can offer. I'm grateful.

In line with my new status, I shall have to dye my hair grey or silver and cosmetically arrange to have lots of wrinkles on my face. Then I might actually start *feeling* like a grandfather.

By the way, the baby's ethnicity is (percentages added for clarity):

1/2 Chinese (50%)
3/8 English (37.5%)
1/8 Central European (12.5%)

"By the way, the baby's ethnicity is (percentages added for clarity):

1/2 Chinese (50%)
3/8 English (37.5%)
1/8 Central European (12.5%)"

Apparanently, Tony doesn't have a clue as to the concept of dominant and recessive genes. If a child is born to a black father and a white mother you can't say the child is 50 % one and 50 % the other. It could be 68 % one and 32 % the other depending on whose genes dominate in what cicumstances.




"re (Daniel Jackson): "What was recorded on the official hospital record?"

REPLY: The time of birth, 10.18pm on 7 October 2005. And probably the baby's weight, i.e. whatever 8.000 lbs. is in metric. "


First of all you never said whether the scale was digital or analog. If it was analog chances are high you can favor a desired reading. Analog scales are more likely to show both scales at the same time. With a digital scale it would be highly improbable to to get an exact X.000 reading in any system.

Second, the hospital would not translate what you think of as an 8 lb reading in to grams or kilograms. They would read the standard mass right off the scale and record it, in this case maybe as 3600 g. This becomes the official or legal mass. Asking the hospital to see the legal mass they recorded would verify via a conversion that the mass was really an exact 8 lb or the greater possibility you were told or are telling us something untrue just to further your illusion. You won't verify because you don't want us to know the truth and the truth being there was no exact 8 lb reading in imperial.

I'm sure the time of birth recorded was 22:18 and no reference to am or pm will be found on the hospital record either.

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Apparanently, Tony doesn't have a clue as to the concept of dominant and recessive genes. If a child is born to a black father and a white mother you can't say the child is 50 % one and 50 % the other. It could be 68 % one and 32 % the other depending on whose genes dominate in what cicumstances.
>>

So which traits do you look at to determine the race of the child? There are no "race" genes. Race (or racial appearance) is a combination of several different genes. In the US, they legally use the concept of blood quantum, which I believe is proportional to ancestry.

Congratulations Tony!

Are the proud parents deliberating between "Troy" & "Miles" for his forename?

"So which traits do you look at to determine the race of the child? There are no "race" genes. Race (or racial appearance) is a combination of several different genes. In the US, they legally use the concept of blood quantum, which I believe is proportional to ancestry."


I didn't use the word race. But if you look at certain features, such as skin color, hair type, plus other distinctive viewable features of the individuals, the child of the two will not have features of either parent divided equally or proportionately. Even other children of the parents will have different ratios of the features from their parents.

My point was to say that if your grandparents are each from one of the four known "racial" groups: African (black), Oriental (yellow), European (white), and Native American (red), you can not claim to be 25 % of each.

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REPLY: The time of birth, 10.18pm on 7 October 2005. And probably the baby's weight, i.e. whatever 8.000 lbs. is in metric.
>>

First of all, congratulation Tony.

However, I find it hard to believe that the last decimal place was used. In Imperial terms, it meant that the baby's weight was measured to 1/64 of an ounce or better than 0.5g. My understanding is that babies are weighed to the nearest 5g or 10g.

re (Beranger): "Are the proud parents deliberating between 'Troy' & 'Miles' for his forename?"

REPLY: Jonathan

re: Daniel Jackson's challenge

REPLY: In due course I shall find out more about the scales used to weigh new babies

Gosh - that Daniel's a nasty piece of work!

How about some congratulations for "Grandfather" Tony - like the others have done?

Congrats to you Tone! Regardless of how the weight was recorded and how the weight was anounced!

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My point was to say that if your grandparents are each from one of the four known "racial" groups: African (black), Oriental (yellow), European (white), and Native American (red), you can not claim to be 25 % of each.
>>
Legally, you can. Whether you look such or not is irrelevant.



Congratulations to you, Tony.