User blog comment:LurkerLordB/Real-Life People born after a POD/@comment-1375165-20120803044713/@comment-1375165-20120803141909

Guns, that point about Henry I is a non-sequitur. If Henry had his "surfeit of lampreys" earlier in his reign and happened to die of food poisoning there, that would be quite interesting. It falls under "people dying of natural causes" which I love so much.

That's very true though about gender and birth defects. But I think the chances of getting those should be used in any calculation rather than that absurd "egg sperm calculation". Other genetic variations that will affect looks in generic ways aren't enough to significantly alter the course of someone's life. They'll be brought up in the same way in the same place and that, I think, will make all the difference.

These are moot points in the face of that second thing I said - namely, that unless the POD is close to the person being born it is not likely to produce even the most minute differences in his or her parent's intercourse. Some peasants screwing on a Japanese farm won't make a different child if a hundred years ago Henry I overstuffed himself on lamprey eels and died early. THAT is ASB.