June 25, 2006

Geneology? LAME! If you really want to see whence you came, you can participate in the Genographic Project, which uses a sample of your DNA to delineate the travels of those who begot you.

The kit, which includes a cheek-sampler, various bits of information, and your own special ID, is about $100. National Geographic states that "[y]ou will not receive a percentage breakdown of your genetic background by ethnicity, race, or geographic origin. Nor will you receive confirmation of an association with a particular tribe or ethnic group." However, "[y]our results will reveal your deep ancestry along a single line of direct descent (paternal or maternal) and show the migration paths they followed thousands of years ago. Your results will also place you on a particular branch of the human family tree." What do you think? Would you be willing to pay a hunnerd dollars to trace your genetic heritage? (Genographic Project Atlas [flash])

posted by nunia 18 years ago
  • For fuck's sake, thank you for not saying "from whence". I love you. Also, good post.
  • I wonder if this is the kit that accountant bought, who turned out to be descended from Genghis Khan. I'd love to know FROM WHENCE I CAME.
  • Sorry about that. I got carried away. From henceforth I'll behave.
  • URGE TO KILL RISING
  • Does MCT go off half-cocked whenceever somebody thwarts him?
  • *pokes transplanting tool into one ear in the manner of a codgyfolk* Eh? MCT has warts?
  • If I had a hundred quatloos lying around, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Wouldn't it be cool if you met your fortieth cousin twice removed that way? (Now we know why MCT wanted that fancy suit; you can't be Henry Higgins without one!)
  • Fortieth cousin is at most ~1000 years back. This test will give you info on who your ancestors were ~50,000 to ~10,000 years ago. Prepare to say hi to all your new 400th - 2000th cousins, which is just about everone on the planet!!
  • More seriously, I think this would be an interesting way to spend 100 clams. The research leader, Spencer Wells wrote a great book The Journey of Man that explained, without dumbing down, the historical information we now have access to (thanks to modern molecular biology) that is contained in everyone's DNA. Because mitochondrial DNA and the Y-chromosome don't recombine, their evolutionary mechanisms are limited to random mutation. A mutation that occurs is then transmitted to all progeny, and we can now analyse all these mutations that have accumulated in human subpopulations during their expanison across the globe. This new knowledge has allowed us to formulate a much more complete and powerful theory of when and how we populated the planet. Coupled with other data (such as linguistics) we can really glean insights into the origens of many specific populations extant today and other recent human expansions (such as the Han Chinese and the Bantu Expansion). IANAE, but the book is really great and only 1/10th the cost of participating in the project!!
  • Hey, Cousin fatnat! See you at the reunioun? I'll be the one with the potato salad.
  • For fuck's sake, thank you for not saying "from whence". I love you. Aw. *blushes* I was once an English major, FWIW.
  • Is there a sample better than this blurry one? I'd do one for curiosity's sake, but getting a generic "Congratulations, you are European" result kit would be really lame.
  • I "did" genealogy for years, and could never get back further than about 1800. So, out of curiosity, I just signed up for the dna kit. If you're interested in what the results look like, I'll post them here. Though, I'm a bit diappointed that they won't show any racial information - I'd love to know whether there were any non WASP ancestors in my background, after the original diaspora out of Africa. But, maybe one can guess based on the migration paths.
  • Yeah, it's sad that they won't give you ethnic information because it might hurt someone's precious little feelings. What if you discover that you're descended from barbarians? Would that hurt your chances for promotion at work?
  • The barbarians have already been promoted to positions of incompetance
  • Or accountancy.
  • Some indigenous groups aren't wild about giving their DNA info to the White Man.
  • I've been thinking about doing this for a while. What would be really helpful is if they could list which countries you can send genetic material from specifically instead of just saying "Some won't. You gotta check." Been checking - still no answers.... wonders if she should just mark it as "souvenirs"
  • Nah, mark it as 'spit'. They won't wanna touch it.
  • As an accountant, my opinion is that the barbarians wound up in sales.
  • even a brief look at historical sources shows that from whence has been common since the thirteenth century. It has been used by Shakespeare, Defoe (in the opening of Robinson Crusoe: “He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York; from whence he had married my mother”), Smollett, Dickens (in A Christmas Carol: “He began to think that the source and secret of this ghostly light might be in the adjoining room, from whence, on further tracing it, it seemed to shine”), Dryden, Gibbon, Twain (in Innocents Abroad: “He traveled all around, till at last he came to the place from whence he started”), and Trollope, and it appears 27 times in the King James Bible (including Psalm 121: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help”).
  • from what quid said.
  • From whence. Same difference.
  • Having surfed whence this project was posted I'm probably not going to spend the money... whence it is obvious the project is masturbating in political correctness I doubt I'll get any accurate or meaningful results. The blurry sample page whence the project is posted seems to bear this out.
  • I will be leery of giving my DNA to dubious organizations. Suffice it to give it to dubious people.
  • I would pay $100 if the results were clearer. Though I'm not sure I trust anyone with my DNA. But then, I have a familyful of genealogists and I know my posse was hanging out in Croatia in the 1600s. Before that, I can come up with some pretty good guesses (or could if i read more).
  • "Language critics have attacked the construction from whence as redundant since the 18th century, and it is true that whence itself incorporates the sense of from, as in a remote village, whence little news reached the wider world. But from whence has been used steadily by reputable writers since the 14th century, most notably in the King James Bible: 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help' (Psalm 121). It is hard to label as incorrect a construction with such a respectable record of usage." It was in the Bible. What could be more compelling book on usage than the Word of God?
  • Yeah, MCT, so there. I'll use this language like Moses did, right outta the bible, from whence it came.
  • Me? I just hate redundancy, pleonasm, and superfluity.
  • YOU'RE ALL FUCKING WRONG.
  • SHOUTING MAKES IT TRUER.
  • And who is this "WRONG" of whom we are fucking? Because, you know, I like to know these things. You know?
  • This is a grand cospiracy to start a genetic library with everyone's information! The government is taking over everything!!!!! /sigs up for a kit
  • It's tempting, altho I think I'll hold off for now. I already know I'm descended from barbarians, they're from Ireland ;)
  • MonkeyFilter: And who is this "WRONG" of whom we are fucking? Indeed.
  • Pete! From whence cometh these taglines?
  • That's it. I'm siccing my zombie wife on you.