Genes. By Genghis

“They seem the unlikeliest of relatives. One was a fearsome warlord whose name became a byword for savagery. The other is a mild-mannered accountancy academic from Florida“. It sounds like the beginning of an insipid Hollywood buddy movie starring Robin Williams and Jackie Chan in which they do a little dance, make a little love (not to each other – it’s Hollywood), and conquer a swath of Asia from Beijing to Kiev and along the way learn a valuable lesson about friendship, honesty, and evisceration.

But before you pull out your bankbook to see if your savings and planned retirement funds are sufficient for a zany night out at the movies, the story is actually about a middle-aged accountant from Florida who has just found out he is a descendant of Genghis Khan. That sounds more like the premise of a Canadian film than a Hollywood film. So put your bankbook away. You’ll never see it.

This family tree was discovered by a British geneticist who offers genetic tests to anyone now for the low, low price of £195. According to the researcher, the Mongol emperor was quite the prolific little subjugator of the weak. An estimated 16 million people worldwide can claim to be the Khan’s direct descendents.

“I obviously haven’t conquered any countries”, said the flabbergasted accountant. He did add however that he had “headed up accounting groups”. Ooooooo! Scary! Watch out Ernst & Young! Khan is on the loose and after your spreadsheets!

Via The Huffington Post

I know what you bought last summer

Some American data mining robots my have to be put in the storage shed for a little while. “The European Court of Justice has blocked an EU-US agreement that requires airlines to transfer passenger data to the US authorities”.

Since 2004 European airlines have routinely handed over 34 bits of information on every passenger they fly to the States, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, and credit card information. American authorities believe that knowing exactly when Mrs Ingaborg Åkesson of Gävle, Sweden’s Mastercard expires will aid immensely in the twin fights against terrorism and unwise spontaneous Ikea purchases.

The EU courts disagree (damn French!), claiming that there is “no appropriate legal basis” for the transfer and that there was a risk the data could be misused. This is, of course, silly, cowardly, surrender monkey protectionist talk. It is inconceivable that American authorities, who routinely never ever overstep their jurisdiction and run a wholly and completelyn legal war in Iraq and totally legitimate surveillance of every single phone call Americans have ever made, would ever misuse data on EU citizens, whom they cherish and respect as they do Canadians.

Why doesn’t the US just require visas of everyone who visits? Are they afraid it would make them look bad in the eyes of the world?