Preventing incest in Iceland, and more

Preventing incest in Iceland

Iceland has established a searchable database of family trees designed to help young men and women avoid committing incest. In the tiny, inbred country of 300,000, people often find that they are related, which can be problematic in a sexually liberal society. Icelander Elin Edda says a friend began sleeping with a guy, “and then found out they had the same great-grandparents. It really freaked her out.’’ To permit quick decision-making, the database—which contains the genealogical background of every Icelander—can be searched via smartphones.

Liam Neeson's gamey stew

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Animal-rights activists have called for a boycott of Liam Neeson’s latest film after he admitted eating wolf meat on the set. Neeson, 59, says he ate wolf-meat stew to better understand his character, who is pursued by ravenous wolves after a plane crash in the Arctic. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals condemned Neeson’s wolf meal as “out of step with the rest of the world.” Neeson concedes the stew was “very gamey,” but says that as an Irishman, “just throw a lot of carrots and onions in there and I’ll call it dinner.”

Death of a video gamer

A 23-year-old man died after playing video games for 10 hours in a Taiwanese Internet café, but his fellow gamers failed to notice. Chen Jung-yu’s body was only discovered when a clerk went to tell him that the 23 hours he had paid for had expired. Prior to that, said the clerk, “I thought that he was only dozing off and paid no particular attention.” Police say that as Chen’s body was being removed, the café’s 10 other customers remained hunched in front of their screens.