— daily timewaster: What a worrisome view from Downtown Reykjavik.
And what do the Icelanders do? Hike up and have a picnic.
— daily timewaster: What a worrisome view from Downtown Reykjavik.
And what do the Icelanders do? Hike up and have a picnic.
Mailing Address for the Blue Planet
Your Say
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Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I
reach my hands and play with pebbles of
destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs
reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive
in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
The Vault
Take It Where You Find It
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
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It’s a shame that such a descriptive word as awesome has been reduced by its all-too-often, overuse.
Both of those videos truly are awesome. Magma being churned as if it were nothing more than jelly or jam in a kettle. Really puts things into their proper perspective.
just that silly erf lettin’ off steam again
perfect setting for a tun of vodka and a pickled sharkmeat roast.
They’ve all been weaned on tales of Arne Saknussemm. Perhaps that volcano is the storied Snaefells Jökull, and the center of the Earth lies within….
This present eruption isn’t as bad as the one that took place in Iceland between June 1783 and February 1784. The Lakagígar eruption poured out poisonous gases like sulfur dioxide as well as an estimated 42 billion tons of basalt lava, which led to widespread crop destruction, the loss of half of Iceland’s livestock, and the death of a quarter of the island’s human population from famine.
The eruption caused a drop in temperatures worldwide; on our side of the pond, the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of the coldest on record, with the longest spell of below-zero temperatures in New England and the heaviest snow falling in New Jersey. The Mississippi River froze at New Orleans, and the Chesapeake Bay at Annapolis; some observers reported seeing ice floes in the Gulf of Mexico.
Here is a link to a recent documentary about Iceland’s eighteenth-century volcanic disaster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50uQCFfqAQ&ab_channel=RolfB
The Icelanders may be a bit weird, but they are not wimps.
When in Iceland you will go to the Gulfoss waterfall. It’s powerful, not least because you can walk right up to the edge and have it flowing around you, and it’s a whole lot of flow. There are no guardrails, no paved paths, no warning signs. One simply contemplates how unpleasant the last few moments of one’s life would be, should one fall in.
If you drive east from Reykjavik, the first town you come to is Hveragerthi (so badly spelled). There is a strip mall of recent construction, with a gas station, grocery store, and a tourist office. Inside the tourist office one sees part of the floor open to the rock underneath, framed and lighted with Plexiglas. If you ask what that is, you are told, “That’s the fault.”
They discovered a fault line while building the strip mall. They continued to build on it, and simply framed the fault as a conversation starter. As a concession to safety, they did eliminate the planned second and third floors.
Over in the corner is a big plywood box, about four feet square. This is the earthquake simulator. About 1997 they had a fairly severe earthquake, in town. It pretty much levelled the place, I was told, but no one died. So they built a big box that simulates what the residents felt. One pays a kroner, and you go inside and close the door.
There are handrails. First you hear a roaring sound in the distance, coming closer, and then you are shaking like mad and grateful for the handrails. This goes on and on, but I was told it’s only 45 seconds. That’s 30 seconds more than I really wanted. And then it stops, but your legs don’t, and you come out of the box breathing hard.
These are things Icelanders believe should be in a tourism office.
The volcano in the video is “Bob”. It was the first one to form late March. Geldingadalir has gotten a whole lot more exciting since then. I recommend Tokolosh, GutnTag (if your motion sickness isn’t easily triggered), afarTV, and the Reykavik Grapevine, all on YouTube (yes, there are a few things worth watching).
Yep, Geology Nerd here…
No, the degree was NOT from the People’s Republic of Bloomington.
Speaking of which – from one of the Indy stations…
“Bloomington creatives launch pop-up cicada dining experience”.
Nope. Ain’t gonna.