6 August, 2016. 10:34
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
THE RISK OF WEST QUEENSLANDERS ACCIDENTLY sleeping with a relative or ‘family friend’ is apparently high enough to justify the creation of a smartphone app to help prevent it.
A Thargomindah-based tech startup has released an app that has the information of every person registered in the Maranoa federal electorate and how their families might know each other – or if they’re related.
Lead software developer Vaughn Rust said the idea was born out of an awkward situation that involved his youngest boy and his best mate’s niece.
“So get this, the kid comes back from the Roma Races with this bird under his arm and I’m thinking, ‘Fuck me dead, that’s Matty’s niece,’ and then the idea just came to me,” he said.
“I thought if there was an app that prevented these types of situations, it’d go off like a grass fire. My brother, for example, knocked up our second cousin in the 90s, but they found out too late to pull the plug on the bastard. The cake had already risen. We all thought it was going to be born with a club foot or something,”
“In the end, they had a healthy baby boy. He’s a bit slow and his favourite movie is Frozen. Bit odd for a 24-year-old stay at home son. Each to their own, but.”
After Mr Rust told his son that he’d just gotten a bit too close to a family friend, the blood drained from his face and he retired to his room. He later refused dinner and went back to lying face down on his bed listen to P.O.D.
Perhaps not as high as the risk of voters accidentally electing people who aren’t eligible – maybe there should be an app for that?