So who owns the Mackerel.

The Icelandic delegation in the mackerel coastal state talks—the second series of meetings ended in London yesterday—is discontent with the latest proposal from the European Union and Norway, a 3.1 percent share in the mackerel quota.

“The unfair position of Norway and the EU, which is reflected in their ridiculous proposal of a 3.1 percent share for Iceland in the mackerel fishing quota next year, is disappointing. The proposal is completely unrealistic and does not contribute towards resolving the issue,” commented Tómas H. Heidar, the delegation’s chairman, to Fréttabladid.

http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=369560

Aside:

If the mackeral are to survive, someone is going to have to teach them to stay out of the EU.

Down the Rabbit Hole of Cabbie Depression

[Don't take rides with strangers]

Soon darkness will envelope all for months on end and snow will fall mingled with hail, sheeting the windshield in freezing cold white. Such is the time for the depressed to wallow, for the forlorn to simmer in deep funk. The inching lapse of time and creeping stretches of wait pile up infinitely as the mind softens and slowly turns to mush. I vowed once for an end to this but my means are meagre and the coins call for me to claim them, the bills beg to be bound in my billfold.

I long ever to be the drunken lout whom I serve, as alcohol keeps the wolves at bay. I know indeed that it is a fine custom for a man to lock tight his heart’s coffer, keep closed the hoard case of his mind, whatever his thoughts may be. Yet I bare these feelings freely without care of being judged. Only by distribution can sadness be cast away, or by infecting others, my state be made to seem less wretched. Bereft of joy, I, by sorrowful utterance, bereave others of theirs.

Finally I catch a fare. Why does this please me, I wonder. Once safely shipped to whatever destination only more futility awaits. Safely shipping briefly considers ceasing as carelessly crashing presents a final solution. Might it be I’m listening to too much Neurosis? Should I perhaps switch to FM 957 and for a while become a happy zombie with its gleeful head swimming in sickeningly sweet and frothy pop culture hell bent on ever discovering a lower common denominator on which to breed a bleached hair generation of functional retards? Should I rather be happily monosyllabic than sadly eloquent? I probably will never know.

Tonight I spark an incorrigible flame and toke a jay. I get high on hate and loaded with bile, contempt and loathing. I run lights and ignore stop signs. I heed no limits and strive to end this ruined life continuum. I’m playing a game you see. Whoever is the biggest dick fare tonight gets to join me in the great beyond with a high-speed crash gasoline fire as the expedient.

http://www.grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Winter-Awaits-Down-the-Rabbit-Hole-of-Cabbie-Depression

A Nation Of Barebackers

It’s 4:30 in the morning at the 10-11 on Austurstræti, as a night of steady drinking, sweaty dancing and anonymous groping comes to an end. Couples slobber and dryhump through the aisles, clutching sandwiches and Coke to power-up for a night of sloppy fucking and awkward re-introductions in the morning. At the check-out line, the display rack of condoms and lubricants is practically untouched and ignored.

For the most part, Icelandic culture is more open and accepting of casual sexual activity than most places in the world. This cultural aspect has been popularised overseas to the point that the country’s leading airline managed to advertise ‘Dirty Weekend’ trips for years and Reykjavík is now a classic stag party destination for hooting British males. What the airline’s marketing campaign did not divulge to horny tourists was that ‘dirty’ should be taken quite literally and they might go home with more than they bargained for. The condom is not very popular in Iceland.

...

None of the young people I spoke with had any reasonable explanation for why there is such a pervasive aversion to slapping on a jimmy-hat and seemed apathetic to think of one. I turned to Sigurlaug Hauksdóttir for answers. Sigurlaug is a social worker at the Icelandic Directorate of Health and holds a Masters degree in parental sexual education. Her view is that condom use in the country is, indeed, insufficient, attributing it to several factors. “One reason is people here start to have sex very early, especially girls,” she told me. “European research has showed that Icelandic girls are the third youngest to start having sex, behind Greenland and Denmark. When kids start having sex very young, they are very vulnerable. It’s harder to assert themselves, say no and insist on using a condom.”

http://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/A-Nation-Of-Barebackers

See Iceland for less..

For as little as $379 roundtrip, fly nonstop to Iceland or 10 European cities, all of which stop over in Iceland’s scenic capital, Reykjavik. Departures from Boston, New York City and Seattle.

But be warned.. Iceland being at its northern tip within 1km of the artic circle gets dark early in winter, and light late. That said, you'll see sunrises and sunsets, lighting up an amazing landscape without any loss of sleep. Iceland really is breakfast as the end of the universe.

I think Iceland should build a pier, or offer boat trips to Grimsey, just so that tourists visiting Iceland could make a day trip to the Arctic Circle, while in Iceland. Its at 66'33" North. I've crossed the Arctic Circle in another land of the midnight sun, but that was in Alaska north of Fairbanks -- not Iceland.

http://www.travelzoo.com/airfare/europe/907824

Much too short package tours

EU and Greenland clash over Arctic issues

The European Union has accused Greenland and other Arctic nations of failing to ensure the environment in the far north is properly safeguarded. Vice president of the EU, Diana Wallis, said she could imagine “people on the streets” protesting if wider international stewardship is not guaranteed.

Greenland’s foreign minister responded to the allegations by accusing European countries which are pushing for a ban on deep-water drilling of suffering “panic reactions” after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Wallis, however, said at the meeting at Cambridge University this week that wider participation in the Arctic Council must become a reality.

“It’s got to be widened out. If we don’t do things then people will take to the streets to make sure something is done over climate change,” she said in a report by the Guardian.

Interest in the Arctic region has increased in recent years as global warming has triggered a race for natural resources that have long been trapped under the ice. Oil companies have already started to drill in the area, including Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy which announced two new oil and gas “shows” of the coast of Greenland in the past month. The EU has, however, been pressing for a ban on deep water drilling since the BP blow-out earlier this year in the Gulf of Mexico.

Greenland’s deputy foreign minister, Inuuteq Holm Oslen, said he is suspicious about the motives behind such “green” concerns.

“We welcome focus and attention on environmental issues […] What we don’t welcome is the notion that there should not be any industrial development in the name of environmental protection. What the rest of you have been benefiting from should not be denied to us in the Arctic,” he said.

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/10/20/eu-and-greenland-clash-over-arctic-issues

Iceland wants to be your friend

http://icelandwantstobeyourfriend.com/

MPs Propose Referendum on Iceland-EU Talks

Seven MPs of the Left-Green Movement, Independence Party, Progressive Party and The Movement, have submitted a parliamentary resolution to Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, that a national referendum on whether Iceland’s membership talks with the European Union are to continue. They suggest that the referendum take place on November 27, at the same time as the Constitutional Parliament, Morgunbladid reports.

The only problem is that according to legislation on national referendum approved by parliament in June this year, at least three months are supposed to pass between Althingi’s approval of a parliamentary resolution on a national referendum and when it takes place.

“I had forgotten about that legislation,” admitted Vigdís Hauksdóttir of the Progressive Party, who is the parliamentary resolution’s first presenter, to Fréttabladid. She said she will submit a bill at Althingi today on the amendment to the legislation passed in June so that a national referendum can be expedited.

A statement accompanying the parliamentary resolution says that the majority of MPs do not reflect the majority of the nation in its attitude towards EU membership.

The EU assumes that the parliament and the nation are unified in their position towards the EU, which is not the case in Iceland, the seven MPs argue.

Opinion polls show that the public opposes membership, only a narrow majority supports it in parliament and the government itself is split in its opinion, the statement continues.

If the majority of the nation supports continued membership talks with the EU, the government has a clear authority to carry on with talks but not until the nation has had its say, the statement concludes.

The seven MPs who submitted the resolution are, in addition to Hauksdóttir: Ásmundur Einar Dadason of the Left-Greens, Birgitta Jónsdóttir of The Movement, Halldóra Lóa Thorvaldsdóttir, substitute MP for the Left-Greens, Pétur H. Blöndal and Árni Johnsen of the Independence Party and Birgir Thórarinsson, substitute MP for the Progressive Party.

http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=369190

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If others wish to provide input into this process a web search suggests that Vigdís Hauksdóttir might be reachable at vigdish@althingi.is.