no kitten ever climbed so high

Gray whale
Now that we are sinding you to The End
That great god
Tell him
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing

I write as though you could understand
And I could say it
One must always pretend something
Among the dying
When you have left the seas nodding on their stalks
Empty of you
Tell him that we were made
On another day

The bewilderment will diminish like an echo
Winding along your inner mountains
Unheard by us
And find its way out
Leaving behind it the future
Dead
And ours

When you will not see again
The whale calves trying the light
Consider what you will find in the black garden
And its court
The sea cows the Great Auks the gorillas
The irreplaceable hosts ranged countless
And fore-ordaining as stars
Our sacrifices
Join your work to theirs
Tell him
That it is we who are important

[W.S. Merwin]

but on this day in 1930 it was renamed Istanbul, no more Constantinople (named after Constantine the Great).
Why did Constantinople get the works? That's no bodies business but the Turks.
Although it was during the formation of the Republic of Turkey(founded in 1923), when the capital was moved from Constantinople to Ankara and Constantinople was renamed Istanbul at that point.
Link.

I didn't realize that Pi day is also Albert Einstein's birthday. We should all eat some pie outside today so we can marvel at the nature of light while enjoying delicious pies with circumfrences equal to 2πr.

My good friends The October Game are nominated for the Best New Band award at the Emerging Talent Awards in the UK. Please consider voting for them.

Happy birthday Sir Thomas More! A very perceptive man indeed.

So much to do everyday! Four hardcore classes, plus the twenty hours of working a week makes for little time for much gathering of thoughts. My directed study professor is a little absent minded. We'd planned to possibly go out onto the docks this Saturday (yesteray) to clean off some gethering plates, but he e-mailed that day explaining that it was his wife's birthday so he wouldn't be able to go. Oops.

My roomate moved out last weekend and my girlfriend is (trying to) move in before this weekend is out, so everything is a little up in the air at home. Nothing too serious though, Lazarus (my kitty) actually seems very happy to have brand new furniture to lounge on.

Happy...early February...I guess...everybody.
Woo!

"Perigee" Moon tonight. Up to "14% wider and 30% brighter."
See more at spaceweather

Will post more when not on the run.
So much to do, so much to do...

"Oh, won't you do me the favor, man,
Of a giving mind,
A polymorphing opinion here,
And your vague outline.
...
It's like I'm pressed on the handle bars,
Of a blind man's bike,
No straws to grab, just the rushing wind,
On the rolling mind."

Split Needles - The Shins


I think this sums up my sentiments regarding Icelandic politics pretty well at this point.

It's funny listening to the vast diversity of opinions regarding the economic collapse is Iceland.

They range from beliefs that it was purposefully orchestrated by the IMF and foreign forces in order to gain ownership of the energy generating capabilities of Iceland, to it being the inevitable result of a people who are historically megalomaniacs with no concept of consequence.

Personally, I think both have elements of truth. Historically we've failed to effectively adapt to change, deforesting the entire island and depending almost exclusively on whatever food production worked in Norway. The ridiculous zeal with which Icelanders invested and spent money they didn't have (with encouragement and blessings from the government) represents to me that same failure to adapt to our own unique situation and merely copying whatever everyone else was doing, which resulted in the disastrous economic situation the country now finds itself in.
To a very significant extent though, Britain caused one bank faltering into a nation wide collapse when they froze the accounts of ALL Icelandic bank outlets in Britain when it became clear that ONE bank was experiencing difficulties. This and the IMF conditions of the loans we took (which calls for big cuts in social service spending, which is expected to delay Icelandic recovery) and their history of exploiting impoverished countries they lend to certainly suggests that the IMF is trying to gain access to the electrical generation industry here (Read more here).
Tough times for us ahead.

Yet we still managed to blow up millions of krónas worth of fireworks this New Year's Eve. Just goes to show that the concepts of "collapse" and "depression" have changed a bit since the mid-twentieth century.

A very happy new year to everybody!
A blue moon and a partial solar eclipse tonight heralds, I think, a spectacular new decade.

Farsæld á komandi ári!

Happy birthday Louis Pasteur!

Also today in 1831 Darwin set off on the HMS Beagle from Plymouth Sound, England.

I feel more tired now than during the semester, relatives are hard work.
Also, I feel like it's harder for me to fall asleep when I don't have to go somewhere early the next morning. It's an interesting sensation.