Random
catdynamics | December 23, 2007Ketkrókur is another hungry wee lad. He'll hook the meat from the rafters and run off with your dinner.
Good thing he doesn't like skate!
catdynamics | December 22, 2007Happy Feast of Saint Thorlacius.
I hope everyone got some "cured" skate!
It is the reason for the season, the excuse for all Manly Men, and Women, to go somewhere suitable (like the garage, your uncle's house, or a restaurant desperate enough to put up with the smell and serve the stuff) and eat the food traditional to this Eve of of the Day of Advent Yule.
Þorlákur, the patron saint of Iceland, a truly novel game of Thor's to have one of his own be the patron Saint.
His feast has been celebrated on this day for 808 years, by law.
Party on.
Tindaskata - from fauna.is
Copyright Jón Baldur…
catdynamics | December 22, 2007Gáttaþefur 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.
catdynamics | December 21, 2007Friday?
Aaargh!
We welcome the return of the Sun, Newtonian dynamics never cease to amaze.
And we ask the Mighty iPod, what is in store for us this festive Yule season?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
The Crossing: No Compassion - Talking Heads
The Crown: Welcome Back Victoria - Jesus Jones
The Root: Four Studies: The Firebird
The Past: Kata Rokkar - Björk
The Future: Strange Days - Doors
The Questioner: 15.5 Remake - Smith and Selway
The House: Lover, Come Back to Me - Billie Holliday
The Inside: Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul - Metalof, R.H.…
catdynamics | December 21, 2007Gluggagægir- sneaky little elf, likes to peep in the windows to see if he can see something "nice"...
Nice!
Happy winter solstice!
Remember, you need an evergreen, and a flame.
Do it right, or winter might never end...
catdynamics | December 19, 2007Bjúgnakrækir - hold on to your sausages.
The hungry elves are back, and this one will hook the sausages from the rafters and snarf them.
"Bjúgu" are a particular Icelandic delicacy, large, very fatty. Good winter food.
catdynamics | December 19, 2007Ekki um jólin...
Latest seasonal viral video
Er, from Iceland.
REI - they are very sought after for their geothermal power expertise, right now.
catdynamics | December 19, 2007Skyrgámur is the scariest elf of all.
He will steal all your skyr!
Yes, in the old days they had skyr by the barrel load... none of these individual portion cups.
catdynamics | December 18, 2007little things noticed in the last few seasonal shopping time units...
as someone who perused "stocking stuffers", it is very noticeable that the "under a dollar" li'l knick-knack, that is actually mildly functional or amusing, is no longer available - almost everything under a dollar is pure crap, and anything of any functionality is up in the $3-5 range.
anecdotally, groceries are getting considerably more expensive.
Good thing groceries don't count in terms of "core inflation", eh?
But cheap knick-knacks do.
In a pinch we can always eat flat screen TVs (or CRT TVs if you're a starving…
catdynamics | December 18, 2007Chad, rightly, considers "Fairytale of New York" to be one of the greatest holiday anthems of all time.
News have now arrived, via Iceland of course, that the BBC is censoring the song during play.
The problem is Kirsty McCall's "You scumbag, you maggot/You cheap lousy faggot" line. The Beeb now fades Kirsty's voice on that last word.
Offensensitivity folks.
The locals respond
Personally I rather like faggots, especially with lots of onion and gravy chased down with a nice beer. Don't understand what the fuzz is about.
Maybe it is some public school thing.
And mushy peas! Lots of mushy…
catdynamics | December 18, 2007Hurðaskellir - you know he's coming, but the slam of the door will surprise you anyway.
Classic "condemned man's paradox".
He's not hungry. You just won't sleep tonight.
catdynamics | December 17, 2007Askasleikir - askar are the wooden all purpose bowls - of course after dinner, you put them down for the cats and dogs to lick them clean.
Very energy efficient.
This lad will distract the animals and then snatch askurinn to lick them clean himself.
Helpful, as these lads go.
catdynamics | December 16, 2007Pottasleikir - little ice storm and some snow is not going stop this one.
He likes to lick the pots - yum, and we're cooking a pot roast today!
catdynamics | December 15, 2007Þvörusleikir - fourth elf made it before the storm.
Tall, lanky lad, likes to lick the cooking spoons...
catdynamics | December 14, 2007Stúfur - is the shortest of the lads.
He'll steal your frying pan and lick off the crusty bits. Yum.
catdynamics | December 14, 2007Not snowing right now, but right crunchy it is.
So, will the snow in the possible, maybe, somewhere nor'easter this weekend be delightful, and I ask that in the spirit of my inner child?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Gimme Danger - the Stooges
The Crossing: I Want to Come Over - Melissa Etheridge
The Crown: Dite alla giovine - La Traviata
The Root: Footprints - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Past: Rat Trap - Boomtown Rats
The Future: Carnival of the Animals: The Elephant
The Questioner: Paintballs Coming Home - Half Man Half Biscuit
The House: Rite of Spring 3 - Stravinsky
The…
catdynamics | December 13, 2007Giljagaur is the second of the lads to come to town.
Happy to report the munchkins got new gloves/mittens from him, so they're almost cat-safe.
catdynamics | December 12, 2007Today 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.
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 children, if…
catdynamics | December 7, 2007Cool snowy friday, and we ask the Mighty iPod: what has CoRoT wrought?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Follie! - Verdi
The Crossing: Make You Feel Better - Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Crown: Sexuality (London Remix) - Billy Bragg
The Root: Flamingo Baby - Violent Femmes
The Past: I Don't Need This Pressure Ron - Billy Bragg
The Future: Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together - Morrissey
The Questioner: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra Variation XII - Benjamin Britten
The House:Twydale's Lament - Half Man, Half Biscuit
The Inside: Kirkjuhvoll
The Outcome: I Melt With You -…
catdynamics | December 6, 2007more random thoughts on iran
Nuclear Mangos has a summary of the summaries on Iran and the NIE
So, it appears that the White House doesn't know when it knew about Iran.
It also appears that the key intelligence leading the US to conclude the Iranians do not actually have such a program was a combination of a major defection in the last year, and UK signals intelligence confirming his story.
So... presumably, if all this is kosher, and the paranoid wing in Israel is despairing that the whole thing is a setup and the US has been spoofed, but then Iran knew exactly when the US knew that there…