Tuesday, March 9, 2010

How to Get Pregnant With Twins


Many couples want to get pregnant with twins. It may seem ideal if you only want two children. Having two children that grow up side by side to experience the milestones of life at the same age may seem perfect. You'll get through the diaper period all at one. If you are interested in getting pregnant with twins, there are a few things that you can do to increase your chances of having a multiple birth. Follow these steps that may help increase your chances.
Instructions
  1. Step 1

    Choose a partner that is a twin. Twins are more likely to have fraternal twins so partnering with a twin may increase your chances of getting pregnant with twins.

  2. Step 2

    Wait until you are of advanced maternal age to have children. The older you are, the more likely you are two have twins. Women over age 35 are more likely to have twins.

  3. Step 3

    Set up an appointment with a fertility specialist. A fertility specialist can prescribe medications and treatments that can increase your chances of having a multiple birth.

  4. Step 4

    Gain weight. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recently released a study that showed women with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher had an increased chance of having twins.

  5. Step 5

    Eat yams. According to the the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs, eating yams can increase your chances of having twins. Yams are thought to have chemicals that cause women to ovulate more which can increase your risk of having multiples.

Would A Bank Sleep With You? Understanding Credit As A Relationship

Throughout my years working as a banker, I found out an interesting analogy between your credit behaviours and how ones can manage his/her relationship. Today I will write a 25 years old man; Stephen (the customer) and a nice young lady of the same age; Lara (the bank). In this first part, I will write about building this relationship. On part two, I will explain how people can ruin it. So let’s see what happens when Stephen meets Lara. Remember, credit is all about trust. relationship
Don’t try to sleep with her the very first night (credit history)If Stephen is trying to hard on the first night, Lara may be scared and may want to put an end to the relationship before it even starts. When you have no credit history and you are trying to get a credit card, a car loan, a mortgage and a flex line for your renovation at your very first meeting at the bank, you will be declined in a heart beat. Bank, just as Lara, likes to know more about who they are dealing with. Some banks might lend you the money without any questions on the very first date, but be careful, you might end-up with a huge bills in interest and other charges. Those kind of girls are expensive and so are banks.

Be a reliable friend (experience with other lenders)

Let’s assume that Stephen is a real gentlemen and that he did not try to push things with Lara. After a couple of dates, Lara is starting to get interested in Stephen. This is when she will ask her friends and maybe his friends to know more about him. She will pull out his “relationship bureau” to see if he had any issues in the past. Lara is not necessarily looking for long term relationship with his ex-girlfriend but more about his trustworthiness. By asking friends about their perception of Stephen, Lara will have a good idea if Stephen is reliable, honest and sincere.

Be on time, buy flowers, be consistent (general credit behaviours)

Stephen is now in a relationship with Lara (man, it’s not an easy job to keep her happy!). They have been together for a few months and things are going good. Stephen is never coming late from work and he his always ready when they have to go out. He buys her flowers and other nice gifts for her birthday and other occasions. But the most important part, he is honest and consistent. Lara truly believes him and he says that he loves her. Fortunately, banks are not that demanding ;-) In fact, they just want to make sure that you are making all your payment on time and that you don’t lie about your source of income and your assets. As long as you can proof that you are a honest man, both Lara and the bank will trust you back.

As you can see, building a strong credit score is not that hard. It requires time, consistency and honesty. I admit that human relationships are more complicated. But in the end, it all comes down to trustworthiness.

How Do People Become Gay?

We are frequently asked, "How does someone become homosexual?" The question implies that all are born heterosexual and some "become" homosexual somewhere along the way. I believe that implication to be inaccurate.

It is apparent that homosexuality does not have one particular "cause." It is not purely genetic in origin, for instance, because the very twin studies (Bailey and Pillard) that some interpreted as "proving" a purely genetic origin of homosexuality actually "disproved" it, because only 52% of identical twins of homosexual persons were also homosexual. If homosexuality were dependent on a particular "gay gene," both twins should have possess that gene, and thus there should have been a 100% correspondence.

Significant Link Between Biology and Homosexuality

However, the study (and others like it) did find a highly significant link between biology and homosexuality, as the incidence of homosexuality in the general population is much lower than 52%. Personal experience corroborates this link because among my homosexual acquaintances I know of several families in which a number of relatives are also homosexual. In one case, for instance (see Gay Sons), a father who believed that he had "become" homosexual because he had been allowed to play like a girl and had grown up without strong bonding with his father tried to make very sure that his son did not grow up gay. So he spent a lot of time with him and made sure that he only played "boy" games with "boy" toys. In spite of all this effort, the son also turned out to be gay.

From my wider studies, I conclude that a person finds him/herself with a homosexual orientation as a result of the interplay of several factors, including heredity, prenatal influence (a controversial subject, but with not only animal studies but some human studies to back it), and environmental factors such as childhood trauma or being brought up and conditioned as a member of the opposite sex. The latter is the background of a significant number of lesbians, for instance.

Ultra-conservative Christians and gay theologians appear to agree that a genetic origin of homosexuality has moral significance. Ultra-conservatives claim that homosexuality has no basis in genetics and is therefore a morally culpable choice. Gay theologians argue that homosexuality is genetic and is therefore morally correct.

I disagree with this basic reasoning.

Genetic Traits Are Not Necessarily Morally Good

Hereditary tendencies may be toward morally positive or negative behavior. The fact that I inherited a strong streak of selfishness and a bad temper does not sanctify these traits, for instance. While we are not responsible for our heredity, we are responsible for what we do with our heredity. And the Bible teaches that to whom much has been given, of that one, much will be required. So God requires no more of one than the other – a daily submission to His will. (Luke 9:23)

While there seems to be strong evidence to point to a biological link to a homosexual orientation, it is also very likely that, for some people, a homosexual orientation develops as a result of psycho-sociological factors. In other words, for some, homosexual orientation may be altogether environmentally caused. (Conservative Christians have generally taken the stance that all homosexuality is environmentally caused.) I believe this to be especially true of lesbianism, as there is little, if any, evidence to point to biological origins. Yet, environmentally caused homosexuality is not experienced any differently than biologically caused homosexuality. In either case, persons find themselves with an overwhelming desire to be intimate with members of the same sex when the whole world says that the normal attraction is to the opposite sex. Despite the testimony of some in today's generation who say they experience no feeling that this is "wrong," I believe that most, if not all, gay persons do experience this feeling initially. Thus, they do not choose to be attracted to the same sex any more than the rest of us have chosen to be attracted to the opposite sex.

Homosexuality is Not a Choice

In summary, homosexuality is not "caused" by a choice. Some heterosexual men choose to engage in homosexual encounters and then go back to their wives and the enjoyment of a heterosexual sex. The young man who serviced their needs in some public washroom simply shakes his head in wonder that such a thing is possible, for he cannot conceive of such a choice. Several of my homosexual friends have acknowledged that they know men who have chosen to engage in same-gender sex exclusively -- and thus appeared to "become" homosexual. But this is not the case for the majority. In fact, not a few gay people are somewhat judgmental of those they call "bisexual" -- people who can relate sexually to either gender and enjoy it.

SEXUALITIES

Sex, Love, Money and AIDS: The Dynamics of Premarital Sexual Relationships in Ghana

Augustine Ankomah

University of Wales, Swansea

Empowering women, especially in developing countries, in AIDS prevention is one of the most important strategies in slowing down the AIDS pandemic. However, the different contexts within which young women are exhorted to embark on HIV risk-reduction sexual behaviors and the difficulties involved are often not fully explored. The article highlights the apparent powerlessness of young women in premarital sexual exchange relationships in urban Ghana where many sexual relationships are contracted with material gain in mind. Using qualitative methods, the article explores the concept of sexual exchange where sexual services are exchanged for material gain - a situation quite different from prostitution, as it is understood in Europe or America. Given that women engage in sexual exchange mainly for financial reasons, the article concludes by arguing that improving women's economic status to enable them to advance their occupational careers, although highly desirable, is perhaps not enough to empower women without substantial change in contemporary societal norms which support sexual exchange.