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Ölkelda: The Mineral Water Isn’t For Sale—It’s Free (For Now)
The first stop on our tour of northwest of Iceland was a place you’d normally drive right past without noticing it: a farm like so many other farms you drive by on Route 1, called Ölkelda. But what makes this farm unique,…
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Lake Mývatn Tour: Back To The Way It Was
North-central Iceland’s attraction to tourists revolves primarily around two areas: Akureyri, for being “the capital of the north”, and Húsavík, which has exceptional whale watching tours. Sadly, the wonderful stuff in between these two towns is often completely neglected. However, there is…
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The Three Stages Of Integration
I’ve lived in Iceland for nearly 12 years now, and have been a citizen for the last four. Along the way, I’ve met other foreigners who moved here for various lengths of time, and have always been fascinated by the transformative process…
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Illegal Public Bingo Game To Be Held On Good Friday
A group advocating the separation of church and state in Iceland is organising a public bingo match on Good Friday, in defiance of a law which bans the playing of bingo over the Easter holiday. As the Grapevine reported, a statement the…
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Police Remind Public: No Bingo On Easter
Easter is mere weeks away, and the Icelandic police are prepared, by making statements to the press now regarding laws on what one may and may not do on Easter. Fun, according to a statement police sent the media, in the form…
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Foreigners Also Receiving Food Assistance
About a third of those in Iceland seeking food assistance are of foreign origin, and some believe this is due to their insecure position in Icelandic society. The Office of Social Sciences, working under the Ministry of Welfare, conducted a survey on…
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Parliament Committee Calls Ban on Wikileaks “Harsh Operation on Freedom of Expression”
The parliamentary general committee (allsherjanefnd) met today to discuss the ban that Visa and Mastercard have placed on card-holders who wish to donate to Wikileaks, and have raised the possibility of taking away their operating licences. Numerous interested parties met with the…
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Icelandic Company To Sue Visa Over Wikileaks Ban
An Icelandic company that has been serving as a conduit for donations to Wikileaks will sue credit card company Visa for banning its card-holders from donating to Wikileaks. As reported, WikiLeaks has faced numerous financial difficulties lately. Swiss banks have closed his…
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Flag May Become Commodity
A bill newly submitted to parliament would change Iceland’s flag laws in such a way that the flag would lose its protected legal status and could be used to adorn any number of products for public consumption. Despite what you might think…
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Leave Those Kids Alone
In the latest round of bickering going on between church and state, the Human Rights Committee of Reykjavík city council recently drew up a proposal that would forbid church officials from visiting play schools or grade schools for the purpose of missionary…
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Russian Oil Exploration in Icelandic Waters One Step Closer
Russian Minister of Energy Sergei Shmatko has asked oil companies in his country to begin work with Iceland in the search for oil in the so-called Dragon Zone, located in the northeast corner of Icelandic fishing waters. As reported last month, Russian…
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Muslims, Iceland, and the EU
With the news that a plot of land for a mosque in Reykjavík might possibly be approved—some 10 years after the Muslim Society of Iceland first applied for one—the comments sections of news websites such as Eyjan were exploding with rage. It…
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You’re Voting
First of all, do you have the right to vote? If you’re a Scandinavian who’s lived here three years, or any other sort of foreigner who’s lived here five years, the answer is yes – you can vote in the municipality where…
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Honeywell to Study Effects of Volcanic Ash on Jet Engines
While all of Europe grounded their planes during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, Honeywell was purposefully flying jets through the ash cloud to test what damage ash actually does to engines. In a statement from the company to the media, Honeywell says it will…
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It’s Over
Everyone’s favorite ash-belching machine appears to have reached a conclusion. A cessation of volcanic activity was first given greater attention when famed journalist and personality Ómar Ragnarsson flew a plane over the volcano last week, returning to say that there was no…
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Your Guide to Reykjavík Municipal Elections 2010
Us at the Grapevine love the city of Reykjavík. It is surely our favourite city. We believe it is one of the best places in the world to do a lot of the things we like doing. Why else would we live…
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Magma Wants to Conduct Geothermal Exploration in Area of Natural Treasure
Magma Energy – a Canadian energy company that recently announced it had acquired a 98% stake in the Icelandic power company HS Orka – would like to explore the area around Kerlingafjöll mountain for possible geothermal drilling. RÚV reports that according to…
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Government Seeking to Shorten Magma Energy’s Lease
The Icelandic government is hoping to shorten the length of time that Canadian company Magma Energy will own 98% of Iceland’s third largest power company, HS Orka. As reported, Magma Energy already owned 46% of HS Orka when it approached the Icelandic…
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Foreign Energy Concern Set to Buy Nearly All of Icelandic Energy Company
The Canadian energy company Magma Energy will soon own 98% of HS Orka, an Icelandic power company. Leftist-Green MP Ögmundur Jónasson believes the government ought to step in and prevent the sale from happening. In a nutshell, Magma Energy already owns 46%…
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The SIC Report: What’s All This Then?
When the banks collapsed in October 2008, Iceland’s bankers, politicians, and financial supervisors sprang into action—and promptly blamed everyone but themselves. As a result, it became apparent that a neutral third-party was going to be needed to investigate what caused this mess.…
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Attention World: Reykjavík is NOT Covered in Ash
We’ve been getting a number of concerned e-mails and phone calls from friends and family about the volcano in Iceland. This I’m used to – the Hekla eruption in 2000 prompted my father to call me to ask if they had a…
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Icelandic President: Amateur Volcano Expert
Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has once again spoken to the BBC about the dangers of the volcano Katla, only with a considerably more reserved assessment. The president made headlines last week when he told the BBC program Newsnight that the current…
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The President is Not a Geologist
President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson said many things to the BBC last night with regards to the volcanic eruption. Things that have apparently been reprinted across numerous news sources. The president, however, is not a geologist. In particular, the president told BBC…
