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In Iceland, Tap Cellphones To Avoid Incest

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Students at the University of Iceland have written an Android app that helps you avoid dating your cousins. The app accesses the Icelandic national genealogical database that contains information on all living citizens and their ancestors going back 1,100 years. Tapping two phones together will bring up an alert if you share a common grandparent." Just one of the consequences of having a population small enough (and well documented enough) to have a well-known genetic makeup.

10 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. No incest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Having sex with your cousin is not incest. Incest is defined to be with direct 1st degree relatives of the same bloodline. You can even marry your cousin - perfectly legal. At least in Germany.

    1. Re:No incest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Even more amusing is that states regularly slagged for being full of "inbred racist rednecks" - such as: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia, and others... ban marriage of first cousins.

      The list of states that allow first cousin marriage include "forward thinking" places like California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington DC, and Oregon. Can't wait to hear the inbreeding jokes about those states!

      Q: How do you tell if someone is from California?
      A: The hemophilia, mostly.

  2. Re:"Tap" phones? by coldsalmon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Also, a very poor choice of words when talking about phones. "Tapping" a phone doesn't usually mean bumping two phones together.

  3. Re:Don't you know who your cousins are? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Iceland is one of the few places that still use the Ancient Germanic Naming (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_names). This is based upon your father's (or rarely mother's) first name.

    Thus, if siblings lose contact with another, it is very possible their decedents would not know their cousins by name.

  4. Re:Don't you know who your cousins are? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nah we were reasonably friendly. I was taking the slow "get laid or friend-zoned trying" approach while other guys were going for the "assault with pickup lines and see what sticks" strategy.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  5. Re:Don't you know who your cousins are? by WaywardGeek · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, it depends on the genetic diversity in the population. In some island cultures it became acceptable to for brothers to marry sisters. If everyone already pretty much has the same genes, that's fine, because serious receive genetic disorders have already been breeded out. In Iceland, it's likely less of a problem to marry a cousin than it would be in most of the USA.

    --
    Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
  6. Re:Don't you know who your cousins are? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Informative

    This word does not mean what you think it does...

    decedents : someone who has died

    Perhaps you meant "descendants"?

    Good point about Iceland's naming conventions though - hadn't really thought about it, but if we used Ancient German Naming, I'd only know a couple of cousins were related if my Dad had told me so....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  7. Re:Don't you know who your cousins are? by TheP4st · · Score: 4, Informative

    In Iceland AFAIK people are called "Bob son of George" or "Mary daughter of John"

    Almost right, it's "Bob son of George" and "Mary daughter of Jane"

    --
    "I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
  8. Re:Don't you know who your cousins are? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was taking the slow "get laid or friend-zoned trying" approach

    There's only one result from that approach, still, it's better than the full assault. You've probably learned by now that something in between is better.

    If you're suggesting there's no escape from the friend zone, there is. The secret is cold-turkey no-contact for a while (I haven't dialed in the exact timespan, but I've confirmed 1 year separation can do it), and improving your life in some way during that time (status based like better job, higher income, new car, but anything with growth helps like learning a new language, travelling, volunteering). Eventually reunite and all you gotta do is not be stupid and good times may not only be had, but you can actually build a relationship which is the whole point of pining for a friend (otherwise there are other ways to get a quickie or cheapie that won't pay off long run).

    It works because the brain changes for attraction and chemistry are in different locations and fade at different rates. A friendzone situation has attraction in there, at least weakly (you don't have to be beautiful, but you definitely can't be a slob), but the problem isn't that the chemistry is missing but that it's negative. Improving your life without them adds to your confidence, shows that you don't need them (and thus wanting to share your life with them is a valuable gift and not you feeding off them), and sets up a vector that demonstrates that they should have gotten in on the ground floor but here's the next chance.

    It's a lot of work but if you are friendzoned and you know them well enough you will be able to decide if the juice is worth the squeeze.

  9. Re:Don't you know who your cousins are? by quarterbuck · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not really. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name " Mary daughter of Jane is the uncommon version".

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