Neverwhere

40 Years Ago Man Landed On The Moon

2009-07-21T15:35:00.003Z

Or did they? According to some people it's all a big hoax and here are the main reasons why:

1. Apollo 14 astronaut Allen Shepard played golf on the Moon. In front of a worldwide TV audience, Mission Control teased him about slicing the ball to the right. Yet a slice is caused by uneven air flow over the ball. The Moon has no atmosphere and no air.

2. A camera panned upwards to catch Apollo 16's Lunar Landerlifting off the Moon. Who did the filming?

3. One NASA picture from Apollo 11 is looking up at Neil Armstrong about to take his giant step for mankind. The photographer must have been lying on the planet surface. If Armstrong was the first man on the Moon, then who took the shot?

4. The pressure inside a space suit was greater than inside a football. The astronauts should have been puffed out like the Michelin Man, but were seen freely bending their joints.

5. The Moon landings took place during the Cold War. Why didn't America make a signal on the moon that could be seen from earth? The PR would have been phenomenal and it could have been easily done with magnesium flares.

6. Text from pictures in the article said that only two men walked on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. Yet the astronaut reflected in the visor has no camera. Who took the shot?

7. The flags shadow goes behind the rock so doesn't match the dark line in the foreground, which looks like a line cord. So the shadow to the lower right of the spaceman must be the flag. Where is his shadow? And why is the flag fluttering if there is no air or wind on the moon?

8. How can the flag be brightly lit when its side is to the light? And where, in all of these shots, are the stars?

9. The Lander weighed 17 tons yet the astronauts feet seem to have made a bigger dent in the dust. The powerful booster rocket at the base of the Lunar Lander was fired to slow descent to the moons service. Yet it has left no traces of blasting on the dust underneath. It should have created a small crater, yet the booster looks like it's never been fired.

Image from NASA

10 góðar ástæður fyrir því að vera í ESB

2009-07-20T01:28:00.001Z

1. Af því að Evrópusambandið er einstakt og ótrúlega vel heppnað samstarf þjóða. Það hefur skilað friði og framförum og bætt lífsgæði fólks innan landamæra sinna og utan.
—–
2. Af því að við erum ekki ein í heiminum. Af því að alþjóðavæðingin hefur skellt okkur jarðarbúum í einn og sama bátinn. Við sjálf höfum t.d. sjaldan kynnst því eins og síðustu mánuði hvernig breytileg sjávarföll á Wall-Street geta skollið á okkur af fullum þunga.
—–
3. Af því að með aðild fáum við á endanum gjaldmiðil sem tryggir fyrirtækjum markaði, fjármagn og stöðugt rekstrarumhverfi. Evran tryggir stúdentum betri tækifæri til mennta, almenningi sanngjarna vexti og ferðamönnum heiminn.
—–
4. Af því að Evrópusambandið er að sumu leyti þróaðra og fullkomnara í nálgun sinni á brýn pólitísk viðfangsefni, heldur en okkar eigið stjórnkerfi og stjórnmálaflokkar.
—–
5. Af því að í Evrópusambandinu er rík lýðræðishefð, sem er byggð á grunni ítarlegrar málsmeðferðar og málefnalegrar ákvörðunartöku. Litlar þjóðir hafa mikið að segja innan Sambandsins og stærri þjóðir sem reyna að kúga minni þjóðir eru litnar hornauga. Fyrir þá sem trúa því að þjóðir geti bara verið með eða á móti manni, þá eigum við fjölmargar vinarþjóðir innan sambandsins. Við eigum almenning í Evrópu sem kaus okkur í Eurovision, þrátt fyrir að óvandaðir bankamenn hafi verið nýbúnir að stela sparifé þeirra, og þrátt fyrir að lífeyrissjóðir þeirra og bankar hafi þurft að afskrifa 6000 milljarða vegna Íslendinga.
—–
6. Af því að Evrópusambandið er friðarbandalag. Það er siðlegasti leikandinn og áhrifavaldurinn í alþjóðlegum stjórnmálum. Bandaríkin pynta fólk og fangelsa án dóms og laga. Kínverjar loka á Internetið og skerða málfrelsi (íslensk stjórnvöld hafa hingað til kosið að halla sér helst að þessum tveimur þjóðum). Rússland hefur ríkisvætt misskiptingu auðs. Nei, Evrópusambandið er rétti vettvangurinn ef menn hafa áhuga á að breyta heiminum til góðs (halló VG-liðar?!?).
—–
7. Af því að Evrópusambandið stendur vörð um hagsmuni neytenda. Gegn ótrúlegum og vaxandi áhrifum stórfyrirtækja, þá hefur ESB sagt stopp. Þeir hafa stoppað Microsoft í einokunartilburðum. Þeir hafa hindrað samruna sem hamla myndu heilbrigðri samkeppni. Og þeir hafa fengið farsímaframleiðendur til að samþykkja einn staðal fyrir hleðslutæki fyrir farsíma. Íslenskir neytendur geta rifjað upp olíusamráðsmálið til að meta frammistöðu eigin stjórnvalda á þessu sviði.
—–
8. Af því að Evrópusambandið er lítið apparat. Það er ekki bákn. Það er hins vegar hægfara vegna þess mikla samráðs og upplýsingaöflunar sem fylgir allri ákvarðanatöku stofnanna þess. Sem getur verið kostur. Það eru ekki teknar geðþóttaákvarðanir í Brussel. Sambandið er ekki gallalaust frekar en önnur mannana verk. En á alla sanngjarna mælikvarða er það svo til fullkomið.
—–
9. Af því að Evrópusambandið er fremst í heimi í þróunarmálum. Já og umhverfismálum. Sem eru tvær hliðar á sama peningnum. Þeir eru miklu betri í þessu en við og okkar stjórnmálamenn. Á þessum sviðum erum við eins og illa upplýstir ríkisbubbar. Við höfum aðgang að menntun og peningum til að vera framarlega í þessum málum. En okkur er bara andsk. sama og kjósum frekar að sitja með höfuðið fast upp í okkar feita rassi.
—–
10. Af því að með aðild að Evrópusambandinu þá endurheimtum við hluta af sjálfstæði okkar, sem áður var tapað. Ekki sem þjóð eða þjóðrembur. Þjóðin er og verður áfram fullvalda. Heldur sem borgarar. Við fáum beina aðkomu að ákvörðunum og löggjöf sem snerta okkar daglega líf og sem eftir tilkomu EES-samningsins hafa komið til okkar fullbúnar til innleiðingar.

Tekið frá Andrési Jónssyni á Eyjan.is

Eat Less, Live Longer, Feel Younger

2009-07-10T11:20:00.002Z

It takes me enough time to get from home to work to enjoy some radio time. Yeah, I'm old fashioned that way. I love listening to serious conversation on the radio. As a matter of fact, ever since my communications studies in the last century I've loved radio. Not the talk radio type that N-American readers might know. To me that's just like listening to static. No, the radio I like is the stuff that's created and delivered by the likes of BBC Radio 4, Radio 7 and the World Service. Say what you will about the British, but they do know how to create world class radio services.

So on my way to work I learned that by eating less. Being on something called the calorie restricted diet. Which is essentially staying below 30% of the daily recommended calorie intake. You can live longer and stay younger while you do it.

"It involved reducing calorie intake by 30% while maintaining nutrition and appeared to impact upon many forms of age-related disease seen in monkeys, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy."

Read the full news item here

Corruption

2009-07-09T12:34:00.003Z

The head of state used their influence to divert government property and contracts to family and their close political allies. Funding from abroad flowed straight out of the country again and into the pockets of a selected group of people. These selected few created a few strong business groups that dominated the markets they operated in. The state would take a "hands-off" approach to regulation and corruption grew. The ruling party would appoint judges based upon their relation to the close knit political power circle. This went on until the economy collapsed, leaving the country loaded with external debts, but few if any actual paying investments. The elite mostly fled the country, while those left in the country lost faith in the institutions. What followed was the recurring story of despots and internal unrest as the general population suffered through sever reduction in social services in order to pay the external debt. Leading to a vicious cycle of poverty and conflict.

This is the all to familiar story of many developing countries. Never thought I'd say this. But now I know why Iceland wasn't a developed society along the lines of the rest of the Nordic countries. Instead we are a developing country without strong internal democratic institutions and rampant corruption.

For some of the facts on the situation faced by Iceland and why we've joined the debtor country group - look right here

If you read Icelandic here are the 3 articles that you should read:

Dýrt fyrir ríkið að selja banka

Icesave

Um smjörklípukenninguna og seðlabankastjórann

A Beautiful Day In Iceland

2009-07-03T13:16:00.002Z

The weather was amazing when I walked out the door this morning. Sunshine, a light breeze and according to the thermostat in my car 29 degrees on the Celsius scale. Yeah, if you're still in the ancient Fahrenheit scale you'll have to do a bit of conversion. This doesn't happen often here. But today is a beautiful day. Wandering the interwebs I found this photo which seems appropriate.

Headache

2009-07-02T23:07:00.002Z

This was a strange day. It was difficult to get up and out of bed. That's not what was so strange. But then after a couple of hours at work, I had this really bad headache. It was strange. Felt really bad. Bad enough that I ended up taking a painkiller and it still stuck around. I usually don't bother much with painkillers. Often enough it's enough to get some water and a breath of fresh air. This time around it didn't help. Not even with the more than a little freshness in the air. If you're sweltering in the summer heat. We're chilled up here. Finally got rid of the headache after I got home.

Summer tasks

2009-07-01T16:25:00.002Z

Last night I did the lawn thing. So most of the grass around my home is shorter. All part of the summer stuff. The great thing about the Icelandic summer is that you can do this sort of thing late at night and it's still daylight. I'm glad I did my bit to keep our lawn in shape.

Lunch break

2009-06-30T16:33:00.002Z

Today I went to apply for a new passport. A few weeks ago I went to the Netherlands without it and found that travel in the Shengen area is just like domestic travel. But I want to have a valid passport and since I can't find mine I needed to get a new one. Turns out we've just updated our passports. Now mine will not only contain an RFID chip, but it will also contain my fingerprints. So lots of details for anyone who would be able to steal one of those things and break into it.

Anyway I thought I could easily do it during my lunch break. Not quite as it turned out. First of all there's only one place to do it. Which is not quite next door to my current work place. Then when I got there. The nice numbered queuing system wasn't working. This I only found out after waiting for 15 minutes. When I asked how long it usually took and if it was fine for me to go out and get lunch and come back. The system is broken and we are waiting for IT people to come and fix it. Ah, the IT people need to fix the system and there's no way to deal with customers while it's broken. Actually they figured out within 5 minutes that they could, but by then someone else had gotten in front of me. So I had to wait. For another 5 minutes. It then took about 3 minutes to get the details about the new passport, take my photo and for me to sign and give up my fingerprints. Another couple of minutes and I could cancel out my old passport. What fantastic efficiency. The girl who took my application was really sorry. "I was just having my lunch break"...yeah me to.

The not so lost art of writing

2009-06-29T12:50:00.003Z

Hey I'm back from my blog hiatus. My urge to write has returned. Will post stuff. Back to my old idea of 3 min non stop writing flow. So today I'm thinking about art and creative stuff. How I can stumble upon something so amazing that it literally takes me away from the daily grind for a few moments. Today I found this amazing little site I want to share with you. Electroboutique is run by a bunch of Russian artists. I've come to love Russian contemporary design. I think some of their web stuff is the most ozom use of the medium I've seen. Often minimalistic but there's a beauty in their use of the form. Quite different from the often bloated sites I see out there.

Lets Be Agile

2009-02-28T13:53:00.001Z

I read somewhere, a long time ago, that writing your thoughts on things around has a calming effect. This has been true for me. Essentially I don't write for my readers (all 3 of them), but myself. So when I don't feel like writing. I don't.

So now I've been on a several weeks hiatus. Maybe it was the darkness. Maybe everything around me here in Iceland just seemed a little unreal. There's something strange going on when the temperature hits double digits in February. Global warming is coming and it's happening fast. Which is a scary thing. I just got a postcard (yes, one of those made out of paper) from a friend in Japan and there are scary things happening there. The thing is that it's hard for those of us who live so far north to really understand why global warming is a bad thing. Looking out of my window and watching a clear blue sky with the sunlight glittering in the snow. It just seems unreal to think that hotter weather is a problem. Somewhat as unreal as the news about the current situation.

We have a new central bank governor. This, I believe, is all for the good. We've now seen the culprits of the crisis removed from their positions. The high flying bankers are gone. There are new people in the Icelandic financial watchdog. There's a new government and now we've done some cleaning in the central bank. There's even been a few people who have apologized for making mistakes. Not the key people. They are still blaming one another for their own failure. After awhile I realized that's probably how they see it. I've become convinced that it's a built in problem of our system. Competitive behavior based upon the principle "winner takes all" simply leads to certain specific problems. Now, I want to ensure that I'm not misunderstood. I'm all for competitive behavior. I think it's the driver behind many good things.

Now think about this for a second. Without the complex and highly advanced information and communications structure we enjoy today. This latest econmic crisis would have been averted. So would anyone seriously suggest that we stop using the Internet. I hope not, as that would mean I would have to find a new job. But some people seem to think that we shouldn't allow competition. Clearly the cause of the financial crisis was competition. The capitalist system caused it. Absolutely right and spot on. The only thing is. I'm not really convinced that there are any better alternative. Instead I believe that we need to be more agile. Think in the short term (not just, but also). Five year plans don't work. Six month plans don't work either. Two week plans seem to work just great. Plus we need surveillance and some authority that can provide the checks on the people who have access to capital. There are all sorts of good things that can be done. We can also make all sorts of silly mistakes. Here's what the past few months have made absolutely clear in my mind. Allow people access to "free" money and they will take it and run as quickly as possible. Show them how to do this without breaking any laws and they will take advantage of it. So clearly we need a highly regulated financial system. Enron and now the collapse of the banks show the danger of unregulated markets. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, that those in power at Enron and in the banks, did not at any given point give more than 5 seconds thought about the other minority owners. Their actions speak for themselves in that regard. So my conclusion is that we need more democratization of business. Not that I know much about business. But I understand a few things.

Now I mentioned before that I got a postcard. A paper thing with a photo on the outside. It was nice to get such an actual analog thing. I like it. Just because we can send e-mail, shouldn't mean that we stop doing all the analog things. A postcard is just about perfect. It doesn't have enough room for a lot of stuff. So you don't have to think long about what to write. It makes the receiver happy. So I say we should send more postcards and do more analog stuff. Do analog stuff and be more agile. Seems like a good project for the next 2 weeks.

Not My Own Words

2009-02-05T10:28:00.004Z

I came across some text that I thought was interesting. It might have been written by many of the commentators writing today. Originally it was written about America and I did a little experiment and replaced "America" with "Iceland".

"The psychic effect of the depression, it seems to me, is generally a good one.... It has taught people the difference between speculative values and real values. It has hastened the death of sick industries, and proved the vigor of sound ones. It has blown up the old delusion that the amount of money in the world is unlimited, and that every Icelander is entitled to a police captain's share of it. Best of all, it has taught millions that there is really no earthly reason why there should be two cars in every garage, and a chicken in the pot every day."

"A few years back we were all leaping along after the pacemakers, and making shining fools of ourselves. Life in Iceland had become an almost unanimous effort to keep up with the Joneses, and what the Joneses had to offer by way of example was chiefly no more than a puerile ostentation. So many luxuries became necessities that the line separating the one from the other almost vanished. People forgot altogether how to live well, and devoted themselves frantically to living gaudily."

"It seems to me that the depression will be well worth its cost if it brings Icelanders back to their senses. Once they rediscover the massive fact that hard thrift and not gambler's luck is the only true basis of national wealth, they will discover simultaneously that a perfectly civilized and contented life is possible without the old fuss and display."

H. L. Mencken: "What Is Going On In the World," 1933

Seeing as this was written back in the 1930's it seems like there's hardly a chance that we'll ever learn this lesson. Indeed there's now plenty of evidence that maybe what we need is to go back to the gold standard. That certainly would finally give the ISK the "hard" value it needs.

Recession Diary part 8

2009-01-21T22:33:00.005Z

During my recent visit to Hong Kong everyone seemed to have heard about what happened to Iceland. I was asked to explain what had happened. Explained how much I lost. That some of my money had simply disappeared and that my retirement fund was now worth a lot less than it had just 6 months earlier. How much this was going to affect us. The inflation rate, currency exchange and interest rates. That nobody had been arrested for any wrong doing. That not a single government official or surveillance employee had lost their job. That not a single person in any sort of position of authority had stepped forward to apologize for their mistakes. What surprised my friends in Hong Kong and others I spoke with, was that until then the protests had been very civilized. Some meetings with speeches. But very little else. No serious riots. No burning cars or broken windows. My friends wondered what caused this.

Given the situation as it stands right now. Where a huge number of people are faced with a couple of very uncomfortable facts. That the place where they live is actually decreasing in value, while the loans they are paying are rising fast. Just after returning I heard an example of this. Just over a year ago. A person had decided to invest in their own place to live. It cost at the time 30 million ISK. This person paid out 5 million in cash. Took a loan for 25 million in foreign currency. After all, everyone was told that it was crazy to take on loans in ISK. There might be some currency fluctuations, but low interests rates should more than make up for that. It was simply crazy to imagine that the currency would be allowed to fluctuate all that much. Right now the family home is valued at 27 million. But the loan is currently at 50 million. Now add to this the fact that somewhere close to 12.000 people (remember that's up from nearly none) are currently looking for work. That a huge number of people lost their work some 3 months ago and are just now waking up to the fact, that their next paycheck isn't going to cover their expenses and that it's unlikely that the situation is going to change any time soon. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Except maybe the people who are most isolated from all of this. That things are starting to get a lot more heated.

I'm not surprised. It was amazing to get a chance to spend a couple of weeks among friends. To forget for a moment the serious situation right here. To enjoy great food, excellent company and learn from people who've actually been faced with similar events and even worse. Things aren't just bad here in Iceland. They are bad all over. But I also realized how little responsibility the Icelandic elite has taken for what just happened. The total and utter collapse of the Icelandic financial system, the emergency laws and the steady stream of revelations about dubious deals. What's even more amazing is that it appears like it's more or less all the same people who are in control within the new financial institutions. On top of that the Icelandic government has ensured that I can't even open an account outside of the country. Right now there are such heavy restrictions in place on the movement of foreign currency that foreign investors aren't even allowed to invest in the Icelandic economy. So the people who brought us into this mess. Most of whom don't seem to be exactly suffering, seem to be surprised that people have just about had enough of the situation.

Yesterday thousands of Icelanders of all ages gathered together in front of the longest parliament in the world (established way back in 930). They blew whistles, banged pots and pans. Threw snowballs and did their very best to make the first meeting of the parliament after Christmas realize that something unique was happening. No formal political party had called upon people to make their voices heard. This was a pure form of grassroots activity. Facebook, SMS, blogs had been used to communicate this idea. The Icelandic police were completely taken by surprise. Unfortunately they lost control of the situation and were eventually forced to bring on the OC gas. This proved ineffective in breaking up the protests. Fires where lit and it wouldn't be until late at night that the protesters where driven away. Today we saw the crowds return. People are angry and parliament decided to postpone it's previously advertised meeting today. When the protesters discovered that in the church next door family and friends were grieving the loss of a loved one. They all left and didn't start up their protest until after the family had left. What a civilized bunch of protesters. They would head for the office of the prime minister and for the first time in decades the police had to escort the prime minister from his office. This hasn't been seen here since 1931 and back then we belonged to Denmark. This time around we can't blame the Danes for our problems.

The bleak fact of the matter is that we're faced with some amazingly bad economic news. People are losing their jobs. Prices are going up. There's a steady stream of news that seem to show that a small group of interconnected people have abused the public trust. There are cutbacks being announced in social services. Lots of people are being asked to accept a reduction in their paycheck at exactly the same time as expenses are going up. These are the kind of circumstances that call for drastic action. But the demands from the crowds seem to be simple enough. They are calling for elections. Our dearly beloved leaders seem to think that this might mean crisis. I wonder how they would define the current situation.

Thoughts on 2008

2009-01-07T20:59:00.001Z

It's time to remember the year that's just passed. What a remarkable year it was for me. To live in interesting times wasn't exactly what I expected at the beginning of the year. But 2008 turned out to be a year of big news. Looking back it's been quite an eventful year for me. As in previous years I've felt blessed enough to have excellent friends and it turned out to be a year when I made new friends in far away places and renewed my ties with old friends through Facebook.

A memorable visit where we drove in amazing northern lights during the coldest weekend of the year seems to stand out in memory from the early part of 2008. However, early on in the year there appeared signs that changes might be in store. While I was reluctant to make changes, I was pushed in that direction and eventually made a leap to a new work place. Something that I now feel was a good move. I feel on a professional level more alive in my work than at any point over the last couple of years. I'm more active now with my professional friends and feel that I'm learning and experiencing more than I've done in quite some time. Experience is one my keywords for 2008. It was however, with mixed feelings that I left my friends at my former workplace. At the same time it showed me new opportunities and finally gave me the opportunity to travel to new destinations. To be pushed into such a search was stressful, yet I found quite a lot of strength in my own habits of yoga and enjoying visits to the gym with my friends. I even made a professional visit to London to consider new options and visit friends, some of whom have now moved closer to home.

For a long time I'd been thinking about traveling to Asia. Spending 6 weeks on the road in Asia and visiting Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand before I started at my new workplace was an amazing experience. It brought me into contact with new environments and new friends. Experienced the rain forest in the rain. Had someone steal money from me while I slept. Discovered a lot of culture and tasted some excellent food. Made such a strong and positive impression on me that I went to Hong Kong at the end of the year for another visit. A start in London set the tone for the adventure. Change of plans turned out to be a good move. I saw amazing sites. Wrote a travel journal. It also ended in London with a visit to dear friends and some unexpected fun. At this point the financial situation already pointed towards changes. But the crash was unexpected. I've told people that I lost my kitchen. The money I meant to use to get a better kitchen vanished. I almost decided to cancel my travel plans to Hong Kong. What a mistake that would have been.

Following my first travels to Asia I spent an eventful summer. Didn't do as much hiking as I wanted. But spent a very cold weekend in Thorsmork. A weekend that brought me right back to Iceland and made me remember how cold my home country really feels. Still managed to do some amazing shorter hikes. Became active in the Icelandic part of the Couchsurfing community. Something that I had experienced in Asia. Hosted a variety of people from all over the world. Made new friends. Saw Iceland through the eyes of visitors. Visited new places and rediscovered old favorites. Enjoyed excellent music during Iceland Airwaves with some of those visitors. Music as always part of my life. Discovered lots of excellent music. Saw some excellent movies. My Asian movie collection has grown by an amazing amount.

The later half of the year passed quickly. I made my best effort to learn a bit of Cantonese. Some of which I managed to remember during my visit to Hong Kong at the end of the year. Discovered a host of interesting blogs and made a dedicated effort to create one of my own. A site dedicated to bringing together images from around the world. Something I hope to continue in 2009. Struggled with my fears and made some progress. The year ended with an amazing visit to Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. I would cheer for the end of 2008 and the arrival of 2009 while drinking champagne and watching fireworks in Hong Kong. 2008 was in many ways an amazing year for me. It made me a strong believer in the power of karma. I discovered a city that I still haven't grown tired of. I watched my friends make a commitment to share their lives together. Enjoyed the hospitality and generosity of my friends near and far. Looking back this might have been a year of bad financial news, but for me it was an amazing year of discovery and wonder.

Recession Diary part 7

2008-12-07T17:27:00.002Z

"Everybody Talks About the Weather…We Don’t" - Ulrike Meinhof

We're still not very far into the recession. It's just been over 2 months now since the collapse of the Icelandic financial system. Feels longer than that. I have a feeling this is a turning point for many of us. Before and after the fall. The real effects of this fall won't really start to show until in early 2009. Right now we're in the buffer. Kind of like when you get hit by a car. It takes awhile to feel all the effects.

A recession is good news for the environment it would seem. There are far fewer cars on the road. Far less junk mail coming through my mail box. A lot less. Last year it seemed like I was taking a full bag of newspapers and advertising to my local paper recycling container every week. It's taking longer to fill up the bag this year. There are other interesting side effects. The whole pressure of ever growing material needs has gone. It doesn't make much difference for me. Never was big on the material side of life. My life wasn't going to get better by owning a larger car. I've even tried to make sure that I had money to pay for the things I was buying. It might just keep me from trouble.

Our dearly beloved leaders are still in total denial. No responsibility taken by anyone. I've been thinking about this. Maybe it isn't fair to blame our beloved leaders for this. After all it wasn't like they were in charge of the banks. In a way you might say that it's comparable to blaming the police if someone crashes their car. Of course it would appear that the police wasn't paying any attention to how fast the car was going, enforcing the speed limit or checking if the vehicle was roadworthy. Maybe the difference is that in most cases. I don't have to pay the fine. So now when I hear people discuss the dangers of foreigners taking over if we join the European Union. I wonder how much worse things would be if we had somebody looking over the shoulders of these people. Been watching the trailer for The Baader Meinhof Komplex. Made by the same people who created Der Untergang. Good to know what we need to avoid.

Recession Diary part 6

2008-11-29T20:28:00.002Z

"There is no cause to worry. The high tide of prosperity will continue." Andrew W. Mellon, US Secretary of the Treasury in September 1929.

It's weird to be in the middle of the worst news to hit Iceland since the collapse of the herring stocks in the 60's. It's been more bad news this week. More people losing their jobs. This week we've heard that up 15.000 people might be without work next year. For a society that's been without unemployment for so many years this is going to be a difficult thing to adjust to. I've already mentioned that there are fewer cars on the streets. Apparently there's been a 10% reduction in cars on the streets. That means we've gone back to 2002 in terms of traffic. A 6 year reduction in just 1 month. It's more noticeable when I go home from work. I guess people are still on the move in the morning or maybe it's just that I notice it more. One place that seems to be just as filled with people is the gym.

My theory is that people use the gym as a stress release. It makes sense. I know from experience that it helps. I think it has to do with filling your body with oxygen. Both the gym and yoga enable us to fill our body with oxygen. Plus going to the gym means that you get rid of some of the stress and frustration while keeping yourself healthy. But while the gym is full of people it feels like there's less joy among those there. I hear people discussing the situation they are in. I overheard a conversation between two people. Both had received bad news about their work situation. They understood why this happened and hoped that things might turn around, that they would be rehired. Made me feel really sad.

Over the last few years we've seen a lot of construction. So much work to do. We even had several thousand people join the population of Iceland. Now that construction seems to be grinding to a halt. I notice this at work. Construction seems to have halted next door. In the center of Reykjavik there was a massive building going up. A huge building that is going to be the new center of attention. Plans had been made to construct an international finance center next door. The company that had taken on the work is now effectively bankrupt. The work is now in jeopardy and it remains unclear who will finance the completion of the building.

This week I noticed that I can no longer buy wheat beer. Hoagardeen is no longer available as it's sold out and no new stock is on order. Plenty of Icelandic Christmas brew on sale though. There have been news that clothing stores might not be able to import stock for Christmas. We have restrictions on the movement of currency into and out of the country. Apparently these new restrictions are similar to the ones put in place during the great recession of the 1930's. Now it's not all bad news. Some enterprising Icelanders have created the "Kreppuspilið" or The Recession Game. Wouldn't be surprised if it's a hit.

Recession Diary part 5

2008-11-23T14:41:00.005Z

"In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: Not necessarily to Win, but mainly to keep from Losing Completely." - Hunter S Thompson

The protests are slowly becoming more intense and vocal. This week the police made their first mistake. They arrested one of the more active protesters. Mostly I would say that the police have been very careful to stand on the sidelines. I don't really think they want to face up to a large scale riot. Things could quickly spin out of control if that ever happens. So I think the police deserve some credit. Still not quite.

The story behind this arrest is that this person has been active in the Icelandic dark green environmental movement. So during one of those protests, he was arrested and fined. He refused to pay the fine, which means that he is supposed to sit in jail for a certain number of days. Now Icelandic jails are hardly large. Somewhat to small for the criminal element in Iceland, so we've actually done a deal with other countries to export foreigners who commit crimes here. Anyway due to our prisons being filled to capacity, this person was first put behind bars for a few days and then released and told that he'd have to sit out his fine at later date. According to Icelandic law, any person who is supposed to be in jail, is to be given 3 weeks notice before they are put behind bars. In effect the police is not supposed to be able to pick you up for something like this and put you behind bars on a moments notice. A few weeks ago someone, apparently this person, raised a flag on top of the Icelandic parliament building. Not the Icelandic flag, but the symbol of an Icelandic "low price" store. The symbolism was potent, but this could hardly be called a serious crime. So when this person was arrested when he was part of a group of political science students visiting the parliament building, it was widely seen as a warning to other protesters. Well yesterday, following the peaceful protests I participated in, several hundred people went to the police station to demand the release of this person. Almost broke down the door of the police station and were then pushed back by club and gas wielding police. Following a stand off for a couple of hours the person was released. According to the police after someone paid his fine. You can read the BBC version of events.

More and more shit is floating up to the surface. This week we've been treated to news of my bank failing to follow it's own rules. Lent out billions of kronur. Worth considerably more back then. To allow an investment company that appears to have little if any holdings. To invest in one of the companies that owned the bank. The only guarantee the bank had in getting its money back was the shares it lent the money to buy. For me and most others, we'd be asked to put up 70% of the value of the stock we intended to buy in some sort of securities. This is actually more amazing than the credit default swap monster I've been reading about. Not only had the bank no guarantee that it would get it's money back, but the only security was in the stock it lent the buyer. The stock was in a holding company which now is effectively bankrupt. Now why would any bank do this? Apparently this means that the bank appears to have more money. It's kind of like Enron. The bank will look to be increasing its holdings. By issuing worthless loans. In it's accounting it shows that it's owed money, but in actual fact it's holding worthless paper. The company that had it's shares bought will appear to the market like there's interest in its stock. It might even use this tactic to prop up failing shares. Short term everyone seems to gain. Apparently the fact that both sides were owned by the same group of people, had absolutely nothing to do with this.

Recession Diary part 4

2008-11-20T23:04:00.004Z

Tonight I watched the key news magazine on Icelandic television. I watched with increasing amazement as our beloved supreme leader managed to say that no mistakes had been made by any government institutions. Lots of mistakes were made, but only by the Icelandic banks. Which wasn't really his fault as they were private institutions and what the banks were doing was allowed by the EEA agreement. No mistakes were made by our former beloved leaders in the central bank. None what so ever. It wasn't their role to look after the banks at all. So how could anyone think to blame the central bank. To even doubt the wisdom of our beloved former leader is to show an utter lack of understanding. Unfortunately the financial watchdog, wasn't really a dog. Not really. It was more like a puppy. A very small puppy. Who saw the Icelandic banks grow far beyond it's ability to follow what they were doing. Everyone did as best they could and how can anyone blame them for not having the resources needed to do their job. Hardly justified at all. No mistakes by anyone. Well, maybe just the one. Allowing this EEA agreement. Who could after all have guessed that privatizing the banks would cause them to grow. Nobody could have guessed that. So how can we possibly blame anyone. Well, besides the greedy bank owners. I don't like to be treated like an idiot. If our institutions didn't make any mistakes. Then our politicians must be fools.

The King

2008-11-17T13:00:00.001Z

Recession Diary part 3

2008-11-15T18:36:00.003Z

Today I participated in the largest protest ever held in Iceland. It's estimated that more than 6 thousand people gathered together in front of the Icelandic parliament. It was peaceful, lots of banners, people gathered together for a multitude of reasons to show their displeasure with the situation. It's a cold day here in Iceland, the daylight is growing shorter and it feels like the weather is in sync with our situation. Despite the cold people showed up. The demands of those organizing the meeting are simple enough. They want those in charge of our central bank to step down, the same goes people in charge of the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority. This makes sense to me. As recently as this summer the IFSA stated that all the Icelandic banks were in fine shape. Seems like the central bank played along and may have even contributed to the crisis through it's efforts. It hasn't helped any that the governing board of the central bank is politically appointed. Since these 2 institutions share some of the blame for our current situation it seems natural to me that we should see new people step in.

I've already mentioned that I attended ICEWEB 2008. The final presentation there was about the need to establish a culture of innovation here in Iceland. It was a really interesting presentation. If we trace the history of Iceland we can see that we've gone through several bubbles. The first one might be called the northern trade bubble. This made Iceland very rich from the time it was settled until around 1200. When that bubble burst, Iceland fell on hard times for about 700 years. In more recent times we've seen other bubbles. One was caused by the failure of herring stocks in the 60's. Iceland at the time was completely dependent in it's foreign currency earnings on fishing. So we started to diversify. We have established some heavy industry and the utilization of our energy resources. This became the second pillar. We've seen the growth of tourism which became the third pillar. Then we established a massive financial industry. Because it was only the 4th pillar, it's collapse has had a devastating effect. Our next step must be to diversify even further. This is why it's so important to enable a culture of innovation. So that the effects of the next bubble, won't affect us in the same manner that this one has. Because if we think about it. Bubbles happen all the time. So a diversified economy is like bubble wrap. If one bursts, there's plenty of others still going. This requires a few changes. For one thing we need a more stable currency. We need open markets and support for those interested in trying out their ideas. In my mind this means that we need to apply for full membership in the EU.

Recession Diary part 2

2008-11-12T21:53:00.000Z

Today I was at a workshop held in connection with ICEWEB 2008. Iceweb 2008 is the second conference held by SVEF or the Association of the Icelandic Web Industry, an association that I'm proud to be part of. Today was the first day of a three day event, that is bringing together those of us working in web development and some excellent industry leaders, both homegrown and from abroad. Our speaker today, Kathy Sierra is best described as a popular Web developer, author and blogger who encourages people to consider human behavior when designing technology products. While we didn't discuss the economic situation in Iceland, it wasn't ignored either. Kathy has gone through a number of downturns. She's a survivor from the dot.com bust and one of the things she mentioned stuck in my head. That those organizations which have a strong value proposition for their customers and a focus on strong customer relations have historically emerged stronger from recessions. That after the dot.com bust a number of companies emerged as people became involved in start-ups and new ideas.

We discussed this during the break. One of the people I work mentioned a great idea. Maybe I should say a great enabler that's missing here in Iceland. In essence what you need today to start up a business isn't much more than a computer and an Internet connection. But if you're trying to sell your idea, you really do need a bit more. You need a place with a conference room, possibly someone who can answer the phone when you're not their. So she mentioned that now was the time to create such an incubator. Due to the downturn there's already an oversupply of office space. Create a good environment where 100 small start-ups could be based. Offer free office space, a good internet connection, somewhere to have meetings, a person who picks up the phone. Offer support in terms of business plan creation, legal assistance. In return get 30% (or some such percentage) in ownership of the start-up. Do this for, say 3 years, and allow the start-up to buy back the stock before the end of the 3 years. If things don't work, nobody has lost anything. If things work well the stock will be worth something. If not, people will have a place to put their ideas into action. Something to keep them busy while we work through the current situation. We can expect that 90 out of 100 ideas will fail. That's the way these things work. But 10 should work and we might even see 1 or 2 become very successful. We're lucky here in Iceland that we have a lot of well educated people. Lots of whom are now looking for new opportunities. This sort of incubator has worked in many countries. There's no reason why it shouldn't work here. I've already seen signs that this sort of place might be established. Actually it sounds like a great idea, even when we don't have a recession.

This week I also applied for my Chinese visa. It was an interesting experience. The people at the Chinese embassy here in Iceland seemed genuinely interested in the turn of events here and concerned about how things would turn out. I got the feeling that they haven't been very busy over the last few weeks. They noticed where I work and seemed to assume that I was going on business to China, we have an office in Shanghai, but very pleasantly surprised that I was going as a tourist. Explained to me that I couldn't get a multiple entry visa, as that was only for business travel, but that my double entry visa should be fine for me to use on my trip to Hong Kong. I'm looking forward to seeing more of China.

Recession Diary part 1

2008-11-10T19:59:00.001Z

I've decided to share how the recession that is starting here in Iceland is affecting me. Possibly give a glimpse into how something like this affects someone like myself. If you don't know already here's a short intro to how we got into this mess.

Iceland is part of the European Economic Area, which means that we're half way in the European Union. But not a full member. Several years ago 2 of the largest Icelandic banks were privatized. Some years later they and another Icelandic bank had grown and started operations abroad and some time ago it was revealed that a higher proportion of people were working in the Icelandic financial industry than in Switzerland. Several critics of the rapid growth of the Icelandic financial industry warned that the Icelandic banks were rapidly becoming to large for Iceland. The key reason was that in the EEA agreement there's a statement that if a financial instituion fails, the government of the home country of the bank is responsible for 20.000 Euros insurance. So when the 3 banks failed it wasn't just a matter of a private institution failing. It means that Iceland is responsible for the 20.000 Euros in insurance. This means that we're all now responsible for damages that equal several times the GDP of Iceland. So not only is Iceland dealing with the failure of 3 of its largest financial institutions, but it's also faced with paying out damages to those who had their money in the accounts of the Icelandic banks. The failure of the banks is then having a serious knock-on effect on the rest of the economy. Funding for companies has dried up. Investors in the banks have lost their money. Retirement funds have lost a chunk of their investments, which in turn means lower payout. At the same time the value of the Icelandic currency went into freefall. Sank like a rock. So much for the background.

It's not an overstatement to say that this hit us like a brick. All of a sudden I saw some of my savings disappear. Even now I don't know exactly how much I've lost. But it was a considerable part of my savings. I can expect that the money I had in my retirement funds has shrunk. Time is on my side however, as I still have several years until retirement and with the drop in prices on the stockmarkets, there's actual opportunity to rapidly make some of the money lost back. What's worse however, is the situation of some of my family and friends. People have lost not only their savings but also their jobs. The first few days after the failure of banks things seemed to carry on much like before. But now I'm starting to feel and see the effects.

For one thing there are a lot of people who've just lost their jobs. They are still getting paid, but on average this will last only for about 3 months. I've noticed the effects already. There are fewer cars on the road when I go to and from work. Prices are slowly starting to rise on imports. Which for a country like Iceland means just about everything. Credit card debt is now with 25% interest rates while the inflation rate is rocketing. Due to the fall of the currency my car payments have gone up by 100% since I started paying for the car. Which I don't own, but lease with a currency connection. But I'm lucky in a sense. The company I work for has its revenue in foreign currency and has offered to pay us in either euros or dollars. This will provide me with some shelter from the flucation of the Icelandic currency. Plus it's in a growing industry and is thus hopefully somewhat sheltered from the current economic downturn. You might say that it's now become a beacon of hope for the Icelandic economy.

While it would be an overstatement to say that there's any lack of goods on the shelves. The variety is slowly becoming less. I noticed this in the wine store. Some popular selections are no longer available. I've also noticed this in the grocery store. A few things haven't been available for a couple of weeks. There's talk about the manufacturing industry starting to lack supplies. This is however, a wonderful time for tourists to visit Iceland. I've had people stay with me who have bought more than they planned. Things are simply so inexpensive here now, that the value of their currency is considerably higher than they expected. Still, due to the general economic downturn, it's probably more difficult to get people to come visit. We're all feeling the pinch.

I also feel that there's a lot of anger and resentment bubbling under the surface. Nobody is saying sorry. Nobody in government or in the institutions we trusted to monitor and safeguard us against this sort of thing has lost their jobs. Corruption is bubbling up to the surface. There are calls for change from all sides. This weekend saw the first glimpse of serious protests as somewhere around 5000 people (that's nearly 2% of the population - if you live in the US think 5.000.000 people - we're about 1000 times fewer than the US population) gathered to protest in the center of Reykjavik. Just imagine that. A 5 million march on Washington DC would be world wide news. A small part of that group threw stuff at the parliamentary building. Just eggs and tomatos. The government is responding by establishing a riot taskforce. The news media treated that as the main event. Not the fact that we've just had 5.000 people protesting. There's a lot of historical evidence that things can quickly spiral out of control. Next weekend it wouldn't surprise me if 10.000 people show up to protest. I'm in the group that calls for an immediate start in negotiations with the European Union for full entry into the EU. There are also several new initiatives to see if this can be turned into an opportunity. To create new jobs and firms that can utilize all the human capital that is now looking for work. There's constant talk on blogs, radio and TV about what we'll do next. Lots of ideas floating around. Few concrete actions or answers from those I and many others see as responsible for this mess.

So this is just the first. Not everything is here. But unfortunately it seems like I am living in interesting times.

Skilur Hannes ekki tölfræði?

2008-10-31T18:47:00.002Z

Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson er um margt merkilegur maður. Hann er einn helsti boðberi þess sem nefnt hefur verið nýfrjálshyggju á íslenskri tungu, hámenntaður og kennir við Háskóla Íslands. Eitt af því sem hann gerir í hjáverkum er að skrifa pistla í Fréttablaðið. Hannes hefur löngum verið húsbóndahollur, enda á hann þeim stöðu sína að þakka. Í Fréttablaðinu í dag upplýsir hann alþjóð þó um alvarlegan skort á þekkingu á tölfræði. Ég vil að minnsta kosti ekki trúa því að hann sé í alvöru að reyna slá viljandi ryki í augu fólks.

Í greininni heldur hann því fram að vegna þess að svarhlutfall í skoðanakönnun sé 800 af 2000 eða 40% af þeim sem voru spurðir, þá sé hægt að túlka svör þeirra sem svöruðu spurningu þannig að 90% af 40% séu í raun 36%. Þetta sé afburða niðurstaða fyrir einn umdeildasta Íslending seinni tíma. Þeir sem þekkja tölfræði vita þó að þetta er fráleit túlkun hjá Hannesi. Því í tölfræði er talað um skekkjumörk eða vikmörk. Það er að segja að ef könnun væri endurtekin eru ákveðnar líkur á því að niðurstaða yrði önnur. Raunar er 800 manna úrtak fremur lágt hlutfall. En vikmörkin eru hins ekki svo stór. Um þetta má finna ágæta grein hjá Capacent sem tekur stöðugt kannanir hér á landi. Þegar úrtak er ekki nema 800 þá aukast vikmörk og eru nálægt 5%. Það eru því á bilinu 85 til 95 prósent svarenda á því að þessi umdeildi Íslendingur ætti að láta af störfum. Þetta ætti Hannes að vita. En það kannski skýrir margt ef Hannes er ekki betur að sér í tölfræði en þetta.

Real Friends

2008-10-31T10:07:00.005Z

European Union doubles crisis fund as more look for help

The European Union crisis fund available to member states and selected neighbours is to be more than doubled to €25 billion (£19.7 billion) as signs emerge that Hungary may not be the only nation to need an emergency cash injection.

Iceland is so far the only other eligible country to apply for help from the EU's macro-financial assistance fund but officials are braced for inquiries from other nations known to be in difficulties such as Ukraine.

Reported by The Times

Now when do we start the application process?

Why We're F*****d

2008-10-24T15:52:00.004Z

I'm an avid listener of the BBC. Follow them online and today the BBC Worldservice is having a whole day of programs about the current crisis. The news is basically very simple. We're all f*****d. I would urge all of you to spend 30 min and listen to this program (you can download it from the BBC web site) and just in case you don't know what a credit default swap is and why you should care. Here's essentially what made the bankers "rich":

"Unless derivatives contracts are collateralized or guaranteed, their ultimate value also depends on the creditworthiness of the counterparties to them. In the meantime, though, before a contract is settled, the counterparties record profits and losses – often huge in amount – in their current earnings statements without so much as a penny changing hands." Warren Buffett in his 2002 speech to shareholders (page 12)

Oh and here's what caused the current crisis - The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.

So onward to "Failure or Fraud"

Required Reading

2008-10-23T14:10:00.005Z

For those of you who are really trying to understand how the financial system works. Here is the book that will allow you to understand how our modern day banking system works. It's rules and why you need to trust your bank manager and pay them large sums of money so that they don't abuse your money for their own gain...oh, wait they still did. So why not take a lesson from the pages of the financial wizards (not real wizards as those are strictly found in the Unseen University section of the city) of Ankh-Morpork. Read it and weep (with laughter I hope).

Just click on this wee link and you'll be taken to Amazon for a fast purchase of this amazing story of financial adventure.