Iceland
catdynamics | December 23, 2008Kertasníkir - and we are done!
The Elfs are all here.
He'll try to swipe the candles from the kids hands (which might leave them vulnerable to the Christmas Cat!).
Better hope someone loved you enough to give you a piece of clothing also, or you will be cat meat!
As he comes, his oldest brother, Stekkjastaur, gets ready to leave as the brothers celebrate the 12 days of christmas in town.
catdynamics | December 23, 2008If Herwig's can do chocolate covered bacon as a dessert, then ought we not to try chocolate covered hákarl (putrified shark), or better still, chocolate covered skate?
Chocolate bacon
catdynamics | December 22, 2008Ketkrókur - is another hungry wee lad. He'll hook the meat from the rafters and run off with your dinner.
Strange thing is, he doesn't seem to like skate!
Vicious rumour says he loves sachertorte though.
catdynamics | December 22, 2008Gáttaþefur - has a masochistic streak, he just stand by the door and sniffs, and sniffs.
If you're not good, he might sniff up all the good smells from the christmas meal.
Of course in our frantic state, we burned the (leftover) pizza, so he can sniff all he wants.
We went Herwig's Austrian Bistro - Herwig's - where bacon is an herb!.
There I learned two things: they now have chocolate covered bacon for dessert, and if you're the last customers, and they have a lot of sachertore left, the portions get bigger.
Much bigger.
catdynamics | December 20, 2008Gluggagægir
Happy Winter Solstice!
Remember, an Evergreen and a Flame - or Winter Will Never End.
Feels like it anyway...
Tonight's elf is not particular, he'll scout the place out like a financial advisor looking for a commission, peering through the window, and then he'll make a move on anything "nice" he spots.
catdynamics | December 20, 2008Bjúgnakrækir - he will swipe your sausages, even if you hang them high.
Mmm, horse sausage is making a comeback in Iceland.
Poor peoples' food, that, and whale steaks.
catdynamics | December 18, 2008Skyrgámur is the most terrible of the Elfs.
He will steal your skyr!
We're down to our last tub... no steenkin' Elf is taking the last of our skyr.
catdynamics | December 18, 2008Hurðaskellir - hear the door slam in the middle of the night?
It is the door slammer, and he is pissed.
Sleep is for the weak!
catdynamics | December 17, 2008Askasleikir - catching up with the times.
This lad like to swipe your Askur...
We like to feed to leftovers to the cat, which also saves on dishwashing of course, but being able to compete with pets for food is useful, but desperate.
Then you have to compensate the cat of course, no win.
catdynamics | December 17, 2008Pottasleikir - pot licker, gets the last scrape of food out of the pot, ahead of the children, natch.
Useful survival skill that.
catdynamics | December 17, 2008Þvörusleikir - spoon licker - silver of course; he was late and lackadaisical - he inherited a majority stake in an investment bank and decided to semi-retire to Surrey
catdynamics | December 14, 2008Stúfur is the short stumpy one - he'll swipe your frying pan if you don't beware.
Rumour is he spends summers interning at Kaupþing.
catdynamics | December 13, 2008Giljagaur is the second jólasveinn to come to town.
That is if he hasn't been rendered by Gordon Brown for terrorist activities.
grrlscientist | December 13, 2008tags: Iceland, nature, Eva Sturm, Sigur Ros, streaming video
This spectacular video focuses on Iceland. Land of contrasts: Hot water and Ice, situated in the North Atlantic, right above the mid-ocean ridge that separates America and Europe. [6:12]
Iceland from Eva Sturm.
The cinematographer writes:
Shooting was done in two stays (2 weeks each) in 2005 & 2006 (both in September) with a result of 15 hours of footage.
Camera was a SONY Z1. I used some COKIN semi-grey Filters extensivley to get the sky as dark as I wanted it to be. Almost no color correction was done in the post, but the…
catdynamics | December 12, 2008Today is the 12th of december, and there are 13 days until christmas.
This means, of course, that the first of the yule elves came to town this morning.
As you know, Bob, there are thirteen of the Yule Lads, or jólasveinar, as we call them.
And they are not really elves, since their mother is a troll.
The childstealing, cannibal Grýla, of legend.
Stekkjastaur is the first to arrive in town.
They come to town, one each day until christmas eve, and then leave in order, starting christmas day and finishing on the 6th of january.
They leave small treats or presents in the shoes of good…
catdynamics | December 12, 2008Report of EU delegation to Norway and Iceland on Deceptive Practises:
Prof. Kjetil Storesletten (econ. Univ. Oslo), has pointed out how Icelandic Banks circumvented the Basel standard for capital adequacy through deceptive practises.
Report of EU delegation to Norway and Iceland on Deceptive Practises (pdf)
The banks sent each other "love letters" - they'd lend each other reciprocal loans, balancing exactly.
This changes the asset and liability value equally in their books, but they can leverage against assets. So this multiplied their ability to take highly leveraged positions and…