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geee they could use one like that in a couple places in this country

In Iceland, an App to Warn If Your Hookup Is a Relative

By Carol Matlack | BusinessWeek – Fri, Apr 19, 2013 11:25 AM EDT

If you meet someone in a bar and hook up for the night, there are some risks involved. We think you know what they are.

If you live in Iceland, though, there’s yet another risk: The object of your desire could be a very close relative. Iceland has only 320,000 inhabitants, and virtually all of them trace their ancestry to the island’s 9th century settlers.

How, then, to determine whether you may be skating close to incest with that attractive stranger? There’s now an app for that.

Developed by three young software-engineering students at the University of Iceland, it lets users instantly compare their lineage by bumping their mobile devices together. The app includes an “incest-prevention alarm,” says Arnar Freyr Adalsteinsson, one of the developers. “When you bump, it shows your nearest common ancestors. If you bump with someone who’s too closely related, you get an alarm sound and a text warning.”

The app draws on an Icelandic genealogical database called Islendingabok, or Iceland Book, which traces the lineage of all the country’s current inhabitants, in some cases going back to 9th century settlers. The app, called IslendingaApp—yes, Iceland App—this month won a contest organized by the university to celebrate the database’s 10th anniversary.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/iceland-app-warn-hookup-relative-2009...

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Permalink Reply by Shadowman on April 21, 2013 at 8:16pm

On the bright side, if one leaves it to chance, you may only have to buy one gift on Christmas, for your wife and cousin. ;-) And if one takes the Bible literally and Adam, Eve, and sons had that app, why the Bible would only be two pages long.

geee they could use one like that in a couple places in this country

In Iceland, an App to Warn If Your Hookup Is a Relative

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