Originally published at: My family had fun using this Home blood type test | Boing Boing
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O negative, last I checked.
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Doesn’t everybody already know their bloodtypes? It’s kind of important.
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If you donate blood you get a donor card with your blood type listed. I realize that it is not as fun as home blood-letting, but it is free and could save a life.
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My 7th grade science class tested our blood types. I’ll never forget it. The teacher paired us off, with each pair member responsible for lancing the finger of the other. My partner was so nervous about drawing my blood that he took the cap off the needle, then wound up like a baseball pitcher and drove it into my fingertip like he expected to discover oil (mixed metaphor, I know). I don’t remember my blood type, but I definitely remember how I bruised my finger trying to learn what it was…
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Old school guy amirite?
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I don’t blood-let people. I find people who are easy to… blood-let.
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I honestly have no idea what mine is. I’ve never asked a medical professional and it’s never come up. I’d even be surprised if my mom knew.
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I did this with my kids a few years back. They had fun doing it as well. We then looked at my spouse’s and my blood types as well as those of our parents and drew out the genotype tree including going through the probabilities of recessives, etc. One kid was studying genetics in school at the time and really enjoyed being able to tie in a real life activity with what they were learning at school.
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Yeah, but you might need a transfusion some day. While I know O negative is called a “universal donor” as it is unlikely to cause a reaction when given to somebody with a different blood type, it is still better to get the blood of your type.
This is cool with a couple of caveats… First, be aware that blood type results can point toward non-paternity (both parents are O and kiddo is A… dad is AB and kiddo is O), which is always a fun discussion. Second, I suspect that most medical providers will never take your word for your blood type since getting it wrong can literally kill you. And they probably wouldn’t trust a card in your wallet if you are unconscious since there’s a chance it’s not yours (although a medic-alert bracelet might be okay?). They’ll either consult their electronic health record data or they will give you O-negative while waiting for type results (which usually takes less than 30 minutes).
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Oh, you’re new here.
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Wait, it can change?!?
(Just kidding. Please accept a high five from a fellow o-neg, the superheroes of the blood donor network. Universal donor muthafuckas!)
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The Dear Wife is universal O positive with a rare immune to the common cold. She’s a 7 gallon donor to date. She’s great gal.
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I sincerely hope I am never in need of her blood, but glad to know it is there 
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Would love to, but , alas, am a guy that had sex with a guy, and I don’'t plan to stop having sex with men, and therefore am still banned.
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Sheeet, I don’t know why, maybe it was the Red Cross guidelines? but I thought that outdated restriction had been gotten rid of a couple years ago.
I see that it hasn’t, I’m not questioning you, but that totally sucks. For all of us.
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It’s now basically “You have to defer for three months” and if you are less than honest, it’s basically bioterrorism under the law.
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I saw, so, less restrictive than it used to be, but still marginalizing and stupid. I’m no fiend or anything, but if someone asked what could incentivize me to voluntarily forego sex for 3 months, having a pint of blood drained out of me would not top the list. Maybe I’m just selfish 
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