[ExI] it's your choice

[William Flynn Wallace]

My aunt went to the Isle of Man searching for relatives, before DNA
testing.  She was in some shop and told a person who she was looking for.
The clerk was a member of that family!  They hugged and cried and so on.
Good for them.

I just have no feelings for 3 cousins - there must be hundreds or thousands
of them.  All of my 'first cousins' were adopted.  Only Mama had kids out
of four siblings.   I don't know what you get out of it, Spike, but I hope
you get all you want.  You could say hello to my cousins in Scotland - but
there must be thousands of William Wallaces around, so if you mention my
name they will likely say "So?"

bill w

On Sat, Apr 4, 2020 at 10:45 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of
> Keith Henson via extropy-chat
>
> <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>
> > I do take the notion lightly, for I am watching a time when the
> > concept of race is being stretched beyond recognition.  It used to be
> pretty simple.  But now, it really isn't...
>
>
>
> Clarification of my earlier comment please, regarding the 60 dollar DNA
> tests.
>
> There is plenty of guesswork and wishful thinking in the genealogy game.
> What those DNA tests are really good for is connecting you with 3rd and 4th
> cousins who you really can verify are actual genetic relatives with these
> cheapy tests.  If you have a group of those, often 300 to 1000 people,
> someone or some-many in that group are going to know one hell of a lot
> about
> your common ancestor.  They might have inherited the actual documentation,
> or live near where the old timers lived and know the family stories from a
> loooong time ago, in some cases know right where the family originated in
> the old country.
>
> Wishful thinking: we were discussing how people somehow identify with a
> particular culture, perhaps they just dig their style there, even if there
> is no genetic component.  Example: Japan.  I like theirs: clean, orderly,
> high tech, all the stuff I like and admire in a society, but I can assure
> you I have no Japanese ancestors.
>
> Consider the American, such as my mother, who went on a tour of Europe when
> she was about 50.  She knew nothing of her ancestry, just went with a tour
> group, was there four weeks, did all the tourist stuff, had fun, went to
> the
> art museums and the castles and all the usual things, but there was one
> standout experience: the group was in Germany and they went somewhere and
> had a big party completely had a blast.  They loved it.  My mother
> considered it the highlight of the trip.
>
> 20 yrs went by, cheap DNA tests became available, we did them, part of our
> DNA traced back to a region in Germany, not all that far from where they
> had
> the big German party on the tour.  She learned of the German connection for
> the first time, after the DNA test.  But as far as my mother is concerned,
> she is German now (Jewish at that.)  Well OK then.
>
> I can show her that I am more German than she is, and that we are both more
> Scotch than German, but I just play along.
>
> There is wishful thinking mixed with the science if you go in for that
> sorta
> thing.
>
> Still I am looking forward to going to Germany in the next few years and
> finding the ancestral homeland.  I have a 3rd cousin who has been there and
> verified the stories.  I'll take my yarmulke.  Might go to Scotland and
> find
> the other homeland as well.
>
> spike
>
>
>
>
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