Some of the kids in my life

Deserted housing

Monday was the 30th anniversary of a major protest here in Iceland. That is, in 1975 women from all over Iceland marched downtown in Reykjavik to demand equal rights. One of those rights was equal pay for equal work and another was the right to work the same jobs as men. These are two things that seem to be a problem for men everywhere to agree to. In this country, 30 years later, there is still a 35% difference in pay between men and women. Women are still a minorty by far in politics and of the biggest 100 companies in the country only one has a women as CEO. So, on Monday, women here worked 65% of the day (the part of the day they are paid for) and then marched downtown. Somewhere around 50,000 people turned up at the rally, most of them could not get close enough to see the stage or hear the speakers who lectured the crowd. For a country of roughly 270,000 people, a gathering of 50,000 is absolutely amazing. It was fantastic to see on the news (I would have been there to march, but came home to get The Boy at playschool instead so The Wife wouldn't have to babysit). While the amount of positive energy was great and the turn-out may actually bring about a change, one thing stuck in my craw. Several companies and businesses closed to (as they put it) show support for their female employees. But in my opinion, that really undermines what the women were doing. By closing, the men got the day off with pay as well. Part of the point of the walk-out was to make the importance of women in thework place felt. People at school told me that, for instance, all the banks HAD to close because all of the tellers and customer service people are women and therefore, closing was the only option. But I think it would have shown more support of the women to stay open and inconvenience everyone looking for services and working in the banks because of the absence of the women. I cannot believe that in this day and age, greedy men are still ruling over everything in such a way as this. From my experience, even if I try to generalise, I cannot find any reason not to pay women as much as men. In fact, with few exceptions, the women that I know work harder and do a better job than the men I know at most jobs. I have never seen a woman doing construction work or other jobs that require great strength so I have no basis for comparisson there. However, if I think about school work there is only one woman that I know who does not work as hard or harder than the majority of the men at the school. More than 55% of the students at the University of Iceland are women. I find them far easier to work with and more organised than all but a few of the men I have worked with on group projects.
I just feel a bit ashamed of my fellow men when I hear that these people who are at least equal to us in every way are treated as second class citizens. I just do not get it. If I ever stand in the position of employer, pay will be determined solely by merit and not by anything else.

Nicholas and William

I couldn't resist. I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory recently and enjoyed it very much. I especially appreciated the casting and acting of several characters. Grandpa Joe was exactly as ihad imagined him way back in the old days. That said, when I saw this comic strip, I thought, "That has to appear on my site!" It's twisted and all that, but I think it's terribly funny. (again, this is the work of Nicholas Gurewitch and was found in the archive page of his site)

1983-August3

I know that you've been saying to yourself, "I really wish I knew what Our Hero looked like back in 1983. My step-father decided to post some photos that he took during that year and the following year. I stole this one and cropped it so that nobody would give me any flack for posting a photo of them without their permission. So, now you see the stunning beauty that is Our Hero. Since I moved to Iceland, I've turned into a white man. I guess that it works liks having a bandage for a long time-the skin underneath turns white. Maybe someday I'll move to a place where the sun shines and return to my natural brown state!

Biologists

The population of my graduating class seems to have plummeted in number! Some of my friends went off to some God forsaken valley in the north called Hólar í Hjartadal to learn fish farming. They tell me that there's too much fun going on up there to keep up with school work, but they won't se the sun again until they drive out of the valley to a more open stretch of landscape. One of my other friends decided that it would be a good idea to go in the opposite direction and didn't stop until he got to where everything is upside down (Australia). He says he's having a great time and learning more than he thought possible. Another friend of mine flew off to a country where everyone speaks Danish. Of course, that makes sense as the country is called Denmark.
It seems that they're all having a great time and learning the occasional tidbit toward becoming biologists. I just wanted to let them know that they are missed down here in the civilised parts of the world.

Nicholas Gurewitch

I've mentioned him before, but the author of the funniest comic strip I know of has his own site and should be properly linked from my site. He's to be found here, if you're interested.

On the Brain

Just in case anyone out there does not know, I thought this picture might be a good public sevice announcement.
Actually, I guess I need to admit to the world that we're going to have another baby. Inga's pregnant.

Mussel and barnacles

Grass-drawn circle in the sand

A plover at my beach

Sickness

Well, you hear numbers all the time. People are dying by the millions everyday. But when you hear something like what i heard this morning, you think, "Wow, how can that be?!" The little nugget that stuck in my ear this morning was that the number of children who die from sickness caused by indoor pollution is about the same as that of children who die of malaria every year. In other words, between malaria and indoor pollution-caused disease our world loses about 3,000,000 children every year. Indoor pollution is caused mostly by coal or wood fires used to cook inside homes.

Are You Sure Magic's Not Real?

I can only say that this guy has got me stumped! I wonder if Carl can do THAT!

My New Indian Acquaintance

Well, the Indian guy whose blog I mentioned a couple of days ago brought up a very interesting subject and I started responding on his site but realized that the response was going to be quite long. Also, it is a subject that I think my readers would enjoy as well, so I want you all to go read his post (dated October 10, 2005) and then come back to read mine and then respond as you see fit.

My response:
I live my life like number two but occasionally wish I were a number 1 person. Let me explain. I don't have any real role models and when I feel like I should be doing more with my life to get myself ahead it's usually the desire for more stuff that makes me think that. It's got nothing to do with the quality of my life or my fear that I will be forgotten as soon as I die. I may be a typical American in this regard, but I don't know the other 297,834,130 of us, so that's merely a guess. But life to me is far too short to waste the good years trying to be something when I'm old. I get my main pleasure from my family. My wife and kids are just about everything to me. I'm in school to learn biology right now and that's because that's what interests me. I'll never be rich from it. It'll probably not make me famous or the subject of great envy. I may achieve a certain amount of admiration for my work in the future, but that's not what drives me. I figure that we spend the vast majority of our waking moments working and the job we do should be enjoyable and make us happy. It should also allow us to do the other things that we feel are important.
That said, I don't want to give the impression that I look down on those who work hard at achieving a certain goal at some point in the future. I don't really understand that sort of thinking, but that does not mean that it is not an admirable method of living. I feel happiness everyday. I assume that many people who do not live the way I do (by the day, that is) feel happy everyday as well. We as a race need to have people who are willing to devote their lives to build something huge or make changes or whatever it is that drives these goal-orientated people. Change is a good thing, most of the time. At the very least, it gets people to think about why they live the way they do and whether that is the right way to be. It keeps one from stagnating in a pool of content or apathy.
So, I say to those who are building the icons of tomorrow, "Good luck and thank you". And I ask you, the reader, what do you think?

Good News

I was listening to the news this morning. I heard news of the 30,000 feared dead and 1,000,000 homeless after the big earthquake in Pakistan. I heard news of the 3000 still trapped under mud sent flowing by hurricane Stan. I heard news of a woman who called the police this morning because a drunken stranger had wandered into her apartment and was in bed with her 3 year old daughter-completely naked. Then, I heard that the police were called by concerned neighbors when repeated cries for help eminated from the apartment next door. The police arrived and went in to find a man having a terrible nightmare! That, I thought, was good news. It seems that a lot of bad stuff goes on in this world, it's good to hear stories about people NOT landing in trouble.

Ratings

Last night I went to the video store with the Kids to get a couple of movies to have a fun night of snacking and watching movies. We got pineapple and strawberries and chopped them up and put them on toothpicks. We baked a chocolate cake (Betty Crocker-not as good as Duncan Heinz but the only American mix available). We put Doritos in a bowl and brought out the Coke. I had even bought each Kid a little box of candy. The movies we rented were "The Lion King" (to watch with Guðjón) and "EuroTrip" (for after Guðjón went to bed). I'd seen the first one before and new exactly what kind of syrupy Faux Christian symbolism I had to look forward to. I guess it's a lot better than most Disney movies, but still...why do they ruin them with those damn songs?! Anyway, that movie held no surprises and a good time was had by all.
"EuroTrip" was a different matter altogether. First off, I have to state for the record that I had not seen the movie or any previews for it, not had I heard anything about it from anyone I know. The Girl decided that she wanted that one most of all from the scant selection to be found in our 20 m2 (215 sq. ft.) video shack. She was holding two when she asked for my opinion. One was some typical schmaltzy "love" story, although the story couldn't be further from my idea of true love. (schmaltz er orð sem er stundum notað til að lýsa eitthvað sem er of sætt, eins og til dæmis ljós blá feit kaninaungi með litla loðna eyru og ofstór augu sem heldur á blóm handa þér og er með rauð kin-og eina sem maður vill gera er lemja til dauða með sleggju. Schmaltz er orð úr Þýsku og þýðir það soðin kjúklingafita) The other was a movie called "EuroTrip". Upon looking at the box I thought, "Hmm, it's rated G (leyfd öllum aldurshópum). It'll probably make me at least chuckle here and there. She's seen it and is suggesting it to me so there can't be much that will embarrass her to watch with her father-figure (who LOVES to make fun of any kind of sexual reference while watching a movie with her)." So, I decided to rent it.
We watched the Disney first and that was fine. Then Guðjón went to bed and we refreshed our Doritos bowl and sat down to watch the comedy. I must say that the G rating does NOT hold up to my standards. The movie is a big bowl full of sex smothered in thick prejudice, with some drug references sprinkled on top. Those who know me well know that I am not exactly prudish in my sense of humor. But a in my opinion a movie that features full frontal nudity (albeit a group of 60 year old men), a blow job scene, BDSM hooker scene including a sodomization with a jackhammer like device brandishing 3 dildos, hash brownies, twin siblings (brother and sister) high/drunk on absinthe sucking face, a 10 year old German kid impersonating Hitler, and a group of soccer hooligans as heroes should not be rated G. I just looked it up on the net and found that in the States it's rated R (bönnuð innan 17 ára).
While I thought it was hilarious, I would rather that my daughter didn't watch stuff like that. I mean. I know that sheltering her from the world won't work. But I just think that the ratings systems have gotten a bit lack when my 5 year old could have rented this movie. As the credits started to roll, I sat there wondering at the irony. Here is a movie joking about the misconceptions Americans have for Europe and yet, one of them is explained by the rating on the box. That is, one of the common American misconceptions about Europe (one that was commented on a few days ago by my friend Eyrún) is that everyone over here loves sex and enjoys having it with anyone stems from people's lack of inhibition about nudity. In a way, it's built on truth. But the truth is that Europeans are not that much different from Americans when it comes to sex. There is a bit more freedom here because it's not a taboo to have sex. It's not a taboo to be naked.
It seems to me that some of the people I know in California would agree with the European stance on nudity. But coming from Puritanical New England, I can understand where the prejudice comes from. Normally, I don't count myself as one of those with this opinion that Europeans are a sex-crazed lot with all sorts of unusual desires and such (it seems to me that internet pornography comes from the States). But as I sat watching what was going on in the movie while sitting next to my 12 year old daughter, I became extremely aware of what I was watching. I was suddenly reminded of an article that I saw recently in a newspaper (last week, I think, í DV) where it was reported that movies are offering nothing but bad values. They cited "American Pie" among others as being nothing but a big bowl of sex with drug references and infidelity. When I saw it, I thought, "No kidding!" However, I watched "EuroTrip" with a little kid because the ratings board had told me that, not only was it okay for her, it should be considered a family comedy.

Click image for full size

Waste

Why do I play computer games? I just don't get it. I've been playing this on-line game that my dear brother got me into and just lost a huge amount of stuff I had built up over the past two months in a heartbeat as a guy who has higher rank than mine decided to sweep me clean off the map. So, do I realise that this is a waste of time and stop logging on? No, probably not. Probably, I keep logging on and build up enough strength to take him out someday. But what's the point?!

Well, here's the sunrise a couple of days ago.

Another Perry Bible Fellowship Comic

Nicholas Gurewitch has done it again.
Click image for full size

This Weekend

Norway has been borrowing my wife for a few days. But she comes home tomorrow. I'm sitting here listening to Hera and surfing around and writing and looking at pictures. Soon I have to go back to cleaning the house-which reached an all time mess-level last night as I was home alone with the boy after the Girl went to her friend's house for a sleep-over.
Anyway, I just came across rather interesting blog. It's not very often that one finds one that is different from the others, but this one's pretty unique. It's only unique in the author's point of view, though. He's an Indian guy with whom I am in now way acquainted. But I read the first of his posts and thought, "Hmm, this is an interesting blend of subtle and innocent prejudice, imperfect English, some unusual ponderings, and a black background. Maybe I should come back." I read a bit more and confirmed my first impression: I should come back and read more. So, I've put a link to it on the list to the right. Let me know what you think.

Icelandic Music

If any of you are far from this wonderful land where I live and want to buy some Icelandic music you can get it at tonlist.com. Carl bought me a bunch of downloads for my birthday and I found that they have a really good selection of Icelandic bands. I can recommend some if you'd like. I'm sure my Icelandic readers can chime in with their favorites, too. But big names like Björk and Emiliana Torrini are not available for download because of the record company they have deals with. I don't smoke pot any more and therefore cannot listen to Sigur Rós long enough to make buying a disc of their music worth it, so I didn't even check if they are available at that site.

Langt Síðan

Langt síðan ég hef skrifað á Íslensku hérna!
Bjarni var að spyrja hvað ég er að læra núna á dögum. Það er eitt á eftir til ég útskrifast sem líffræðingur. Ég er að einbeita mér að læra eins mikið um sjávarlíffræði og hægt er og endar fer ég líklega einhvern tíman í meiri skóla til að læra meira í þeiri grein. Mér finnst skemmtilegast að læra um dýr og þá aðalega dýr í sjó. Ég er ekki mikið fyrir plöntur eða örverur. Og mér finnst rosalega leiðinlegt að læra um erfðaefni. Nei, áhugan mín er fyrst og fremst á lífandi dýr og sérstaklega dýr sem hægt er að sjá með berum augum.
Sumir eru líklega að hugsa, "En hvað ætlar hann að gera þegar hann er búinn? það er góð spurning! Ég er ekki alveig viss hvert ég vfer að vinna á næstu ári n það verður í einhvern veginn dýrafræðitengd starf. Það er að vinna mjög stórt verkefni í Sandgerði að greina dýr sem fundust í sumar. Það er fyrsti staðurinn sem ég ætla að leita mér vinnu. Annars er alltaf hægt að það sé einhverskonar starf í boði hjá Hafró.

And now back to English! For those of you who do not understand Icelandic, I'm sorry, but sometimes I want to write a bit in Icelandic and I'm certainly not going to translate everything. I was just talking about school anyway, so you all know what's going on in that deprtment anyway.