Good Afternoon,
Congratulations on an insightful and informative newspaper. A friend of mine recently returned from a hiking trip to your country. I just finished reading a copy of your newspaper, which he happened to pick up while he was there.
I wish to ask a question and make a comment about a heading on one of the pictures on page 12, the “Culture” section of the paper. The pictures show a number of white clad figures with funny hats and clothes on their bodies performing various poses. The caption for the picture says, “The Ku Klux Klan practices its morning aerobics”.
What I want to know is “do the performers actually call their group “The Ku Klux Klan”, and if they do, are they aware of the negative connotations that the name carries.
My friend was quite excited about his trip and I hope to make a trip over in the near future.
Ciao,
A Curious Reader
This is not, in fact, the KKK, mostly known for wearing sheets, burning crosses and taking friendly black folks and hanging them from trees, but the Other House Street Theatre, mostly known for wearing sheets and entertaining passersby in Reykjavik during the summer, hence making hanging about in the sun doing nothing much more enjoyable for all. The reason for the title was something we in Iceland like to refer to as a “djók.”
Hello guys,
First of all congratulations on your paper it is funny, in English and free…
Three great things.
I work in Decode Genetics and there are approxiately fifty foreigners with the company. At the moment we receive Icelandic newspapers. As a foreigner, I look at just 3 items in an Icelandic paper ; pictures, ads and weather Forecast
I have stop looking at the TV guide since I do not care to watch Innlit-Útlit or Icelandic weddings on TV. The “Deep Pool” is ok, as I can watch how young people look for fame…
So, since we need an English newspaper and you are here to save the UNIVERSE and at the same time my brain, can we please have 50 copies at the office.
Good luck guys and girls…
Thank you very much. It is good to know that the boys at DeCode watch the Deep Pool. With the miracle of modern science, one day we might all look like them. Now that would be saving the Universe.
Gentlemen,
The Grapevine is an excellent and informative newspaper about Iceland, its culture and its people!
Unfortunately for Americans of Scandinavian and German heritage, you cannot find German or Scandinavian newspapers at newsstands on the waterfront, or around the city anywhere.
Maybe in Boston, New York or up in St. Johns Newfoundland, but not here.
Good to read about what is going on Janseits der grosses leiches In Eisland.
(I know you guys can speak German)
Terry Hillom
Skipper
Littlejohns Island, Maine, Marine Lobster Fishing boat, “Das Boot.”
PS. Say Hallo to our Viking Buddy,
“Hagar Der Schrecklich!! For US.
And a Heil Rumsfeld to you too, Mein Herr. Contrary to popular belief, Grapevine does not speak German, having slept its way through most of secondary school. However, this will probably be remedied on Culture Night, as the Goethe Zentrum are teaching German in 20 minutes, after which the country will no doubt speak German fluently and it will replace English as the language proliferating in Icelandic. Until then, Auf Wiedersehn.
Dear TRG,
This morning rain was pouring down and 20m/s winds, but it was still an exciting adventure to distribute the Grapevine.
Sat. Sun and Monday. Monday is an important day to have the ferry stocked, because it will be FULL and a lot of people will need pillows to sleep on and places to throw up, that is a great thing about the Grapevine, you can use them for a lot of things……just a little joke poking fun at the drunks.
Best Regards,
Michael Parks
Our circulation department in the Westman Islands seems to have been busy preparing for the coming onslaught. The plan was to get them out before all hell broke loose. We hope they made it back to the mainland safely.
Dear Grapevine:
One hundred, five hundred, and a thousand years ago, there were many more whales in the sea than now. Also, there were many more fish in the sea than now. The shortage of both today is a direct result of human beings harvesting both whales and fish at a greater rate than their populations could sustain. If the “balance theory,” which is to be used to justify restarting the hunt on whales, were valid (that is, less predation results in more prey, suggesting that fewer whales means more fish, and more whales means fewer fish), then the centuries’ long decline of whales should have resulted in a centuries’ long increase in fish populations. Alas, the fish declined as well, and from the same cause, overfishing by humans. If the “balance theory” were valid, and if we want more fish in the sea (in order to kill more of them), we should reduce the effects of their main predator. Human beings should be taking fewer fish from the sea than they now are. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
Cheers,
Bert Murray
Actually, there were probably fewer whales in the sea 100 years ago due to too much hunting. Of course human harvesting has led to a long term decline in both fish and whale population. What the balance theory points out is that if the main predator, us, concentrates exclusively on one species and not the other, on fish while leaving the whales alone, then the result can only be that there will be too little fish to feed both whales and humans. Nature, of course, has a solution to this problem. It´s called famine. But we, as at least semi-intelligent creatures, cannot accept famine as a viable option, any more than we can accept it as a way to deal with overpopulation in, say, Africa (although this in effect might seem to be the case).
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