Ascended to the throne one year ago after the abdication of his mother, Margrethe II, King Frederik X. has changed the coat of arms of the monarchy, last lightly adjusted in 1972, that better reflects the composition of the Danish realms from a historical and heraldic perspective, giving formerly colonies and present autonomous regions of Greenland and the Faroe Islands equally billing with their own fields (quartered shield with the update per dexter, represented by a polar bear and ram respectively—the escutcheon supported by a pair of woodwoses, vildmรฆnd, a symbol for the patron protector Silvanus of the woodlands). Decreed in late December, the change signals (see also) that Greenland is not for sale after repeated overtures by the incoming Trump administration and internal calls for the territory’s independence, which with the US involvement has not always worked out well (see previously here, here and here), and the de-mothballing of American military installations in Iceland.
Monday, 6 January 2025
royal achievement (12. 151)
Saturday, 2 November 2024
10x10 (11. 957)
รพjappaรฐ vinnuviku: Iceland’s experiment with a shorted working week
dรฉnouement: examining the kishลtenketsu arc of narrative and its structure in world literature
indirect allorecognition: injured comb jellies will fuse with another to allow one to heal—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest
climate solutions: just a shower thought probably better shared on this website, could we reduce CO₂ concentration by making the atmosphere bigger?
celestial symphony: the icon and ingrained theme from the 1986 Chinese television adaptation of Journey to the West—see previously
oracles of astrampsychus: ancient tools of divantion included drawing lots, bibliomancy and a sort of algorithm—via Strange Company
goonies in space: the latest Star Wars spinoff, Skeleton Crew
denaturalised: Elon Musk could have his US citizenship revoked if it’s confirmed that he lied on his immigration application—via the New Shelton wet/dry
the gaudรญ of mita: Keisuke Oka’s hand-built tower, the Arimaston Building in east Tokyo
sweethearting: AI-powered facial recognition monitors for suspicious friendliness between customers and staff may be the next phase in retail security theatre
Monday, 19 August 2024
herรฐubรญรณ (11. 779)
Originally built as a as a meeting house for the people of Seyรฐisfjรถrรฐur under the auspices of the Herรฐubreiรฐ community council (broad-shouldered after the nearby tuya, a mesa-like, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through glacial ice and considered national landmark and Queen of the Mountains) in 1923 and transformed into in movie theatre a quarter of a century later, Herรฐubรญรณ as a cinema and cultural venue remains the only one in Iceland’s east, and we really enjoyed the feature from Grapevine contributor Iryna Zubenko on the labour of love it took to restore this region’s fixture and anchor after shuttering in 2020. The port town of seven hundred, but audiences come from all over for the single screen, is also home to the only car-ferry service into or out of Iceland with connections to the Faroes via Hirtshals, Denmark. The refurbished movie house was designed Gรญsli Halldรณrsson, the architect of numerous public buildings, stadia and hotels in Reykjavรญk.
synchronoptica
one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus the first Saturday morning television programming block for kids
seven years ago: Trump’s imperial ambitions plus a mass resignation from the US National Endowment of the Arts
eight years ago: perpetual calendars, the 1968 Summer Games plus more links to enjoy
nine years ago: the Digital Star Chamber
ten years ago: the displaced head of Vladimir Lenin
Sunday, 30 July 2023
9x9 (10. 915)
polly pocket: following the success of Barbie, all the Mattel branded toys promised their own feature films
freshmen fifteen: a nifty conversion tool in the style of Neal.Fun—via Pasa Bon!

a sunday in the park with georges: the pointillist work by Seurat recreated in Wisconsin—see previously
eimreiรฐin: what became of trains in Iceland
you gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues: we appreciated this reminiscence about the Ringo Starr tune
meteorological optical phenomenon: more on the Sun’s green flash as it disappears from the horizon
seybold seminars: the outsized influence of desktop publishing conferences—see also
return to tender: another exquisite John and Faith Hubley short courtsey of Fancy Notions
Friday, 21 July 2023
7x7 (10. 897)
equity: UK’s actors’ union in solidarity with American counterparts in protest
spatula city—where your thirteenth spatula is free: the Weird Al Yankovic (previously) tribute to public-access television premiered this day in 1989—via our faithful chronicler

magical mystery tour: revisiting the ‘lost’ Ashram of the Beatles in the Himalayan foothills
american songbook: Tony Bennett, crooner, Nazi hunter, civil rights champion, RIP—via Super Punch
barbie once commanded the stage with the rockers—now, the last thing she wanted to do was talk: channelling Ernest Hemingway on his birthday to narrate modern happenings
watership down: disturbing film adaptation given a PG rating after forty-five years of indelible nightmares
synchronoptica
one year ago: a concert to commemorate the Fall of the Berlin Wall plus more adventures in Scotland
two years ago: the experimental nuclear cruise ship NS Savanna, the Scopes Monkey Trial plus Sweden’s Bohus Fortress
three years ago: more on The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World plus some scream therapy in Iceland
four years ago: Japan’s broadcast daily constitutional
Sunday, 26 February 2023
8x8 (10. 575)
of bunkers and bridges: the government fall-out shelter behind Reykjavรญk’s Bรบstaรฐakirkja
the outfit says soundgarden, and the zine says bikini kill but the bedroom set definite says chemical brothers: the new historical American Girl Doll is from the 90s

tiger by the tail: exploring the forgotten history of the big cat on the edges of Hong Kong
a project for a metropole: the impossible, monumental architecture proposed eighteenth century influencer รtienne-Louis Boullรฉe—see also
ahh ridiculous: the 1960 space exploration film 12 to the Moon, with an international crew, which also received the MST3K send-up
internyet: a look inside the obscure Russian agency charged with censoring the web
Sunday, 5 February 2023
9x9 (10. 526)
famous one hundred twenty-three metre spire of salisbury cathedral: Polish coast guard rescues divers near critical infrastructure who were searching for amber
macroagression: some GOP members in the US congress have switched their American flag lapels for tiny assault rifles—see also
backbox: watch composer and sound designer Suzanne Ciani, Diva of the Diode, create a soundscape for a pinball game

mastodon flock: find your following—via Waxy
cel-ray: a peppery, celery soda that one can still find for sale
rosetta stone: two trilingual ancient clay tablets rediscovered help scholars decipher a lost Canaanite script
brought down by the left-wing economic establishment: Liz Truss attempts to revive her political career with a long screed in the Sunday Telegraph
sรฆstrengur: Iceland developing contingency plans in case the undersea cables connecting it to the rest of the world are severed
Wednesday, 21 December 2022
8x8 (10. 400)
gadgetbahn: displacing solid public transportation networks with amusement park rides won't address underlying traffic problems
senior superlatives: the most interesting fonts and typefaces of the year
seneca falls: the altruistic act that is said to have inspired It’s A Wonderful Life and other festive adventures in audio with Josie Long
fรฆรฐingarsaga: listen again to an eleven-year-old Bjรถrk Guรฐmundsdรณttir recite the Nativity Story in Icelandic
as it was: some the most popular songs of the year
shot sage blue marilyn: the most expensive works of art trading hands this year
chief twit: abiding by results of a poll, Elon Musk announced he will step down as CEO of the social media platform as soon as a replacement can be identified
Monday, 3 October 2022
the modal nodes (10. 193)
Joining musicians whose signature sound spans from Cold Play to the Animal collective, Bjรถrk—promoting her new album, Fossora, also cites Figrin D’an and band as inspiration—an ongoing celebration of the Cantina Band that had its start with a disco remix. An unfortunately named interpretation of Dixieland, the number likely is the connection that many have with that particular genre of jazz.
Tuesday, 27 September 2022
8x8 (10. 174)
on pointe: an Australian ballet company recites an alphabet of foot poses
detour: experts urge adding a Venus-flyby to first crewed mission to Mars

puffling: with blรกsa Icelanders help to reset sea bird chicks internal compass
bisexual lighting: the story of a strange picture and other Wikipedia articles in need of an illustration—via Super Punch
only you could be so bold: whilst Putin invades Ukraine, a studio in Kyiv is creating the voice of Darth Vader
asteroid! coming in from the void: ripped from the headlines
tiptoe: performer dazzles with their bottle-walking routine
Friday, 27 May 2022
8x8
city in a bottle: a bit of micro-coding from Frank Force (previously) decoded—via Waxy
kr: the Icelandic Graphic Design Association (FรT, Fรฉlag รญslenskra teiknara) issues a challenge to come up with a glyph for their krรณna

enough: TIME magazine’s cover lists the two-hundred thirteen US cities that have had mass-shootings this year, so far
social sentinel: a look at the dubious pre-crime predictive software that ill-serves society and the reliance on tech to come to the rescue in general
party line: last bank of public phones removed from New York City—see also here, here, here and here
swiss miss: Tina Roth Eisenberg celebrates her seventeenth blogoversary tesserae: MIT Lab develops autonomous modular tiles to create structures and habitats in space
Sunday, 22 May 2022
per my last email
Courtesy of JWZ, we are treated to another campaign from Visit Iceland (see previously here and here) that invites travellers to relax and back up that Out-of-Office auto-reply by Out-Horsing one’s email and truly disconnect and enjoy vacation. Select equine understudies are equipped with giant keyboards to prance and stamp on and answer all one’s work inquiries. The tourism authorities campaign also highlights some of the outstanding natural beauty of the island and the their native breed of horses. More at the link above, including some video demonstrations.
Sunday, 15 May 2022
land of fire and ice
Architect Arnhildur Palmadottรญr revealed a monumental lavaforming proposal that would harness and redirect volcanic eruptions in order to create durable and sustainable buildings and pavements. While there are scaling and technical hurdles—plus ensuring that these controlled eruptions don’t release more carbon into the atmosphere than they save and sequester, this radical reassessment of geothermal potential as something bold and innovative, engineering a closed system, like a reverse Dyson Sphere.
catagories: ๐ฎ๐ธ, ๐, ๐ก, ๐ฅ, architecture
Wednesday, 11 May 2022
7x7
homo loquax: Futility Closet refers us to an expanded listing for the taxonomical name sapient human with some choice Latinate adjectives to describe us
crate-digging: Jimmy Carter’s grandson is exploring the White House’s surprisingly hip vinyl collection—via Messy Nessy Chic
le bestiaire fabuleux: a 1948 artists’ collaboration of a surreal and abstract menagerie—see also
sabbatical: Jason Kottke takes a break from blogging and poses the questions that probably haunt everyone in this community—come back soon
mรถrkrets makter: the very different (though retaining the epistolary format) unauthorised translation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula familiar to Icelanders
stratification: exploring the historic map layers of London—via Things Magazine
word-horde: daily vocabulary lessons in Anglo-Saxon words
Wednesday, 30 March 2022
alรพing considered
Wednesday, 1 December 2021
7x7
dress rehearsal: for a quarter of a century, an individual attended his own funeral
dominical letters: how the artificial unit of the week came to govern our lives—see also
carceral publications: a collection of US prison newspapers
yes or no questions: celebrate the conclusion of Futility Closet’s eight plus year run with a final episode of lateral thinking puzzles
hvorugkynsnafnorรฐ: despite progress in the choices for human naming conventions, the Icelandic governing body for horses is still highly gendered
regenerative medicine: researchers develop “xenobots” capable of biological self-replication—via Waxy
amigone: aptly named mortuary services—via Super Punch
Friday, 10 September 2021
6x6
clรฉo from 5 to 7: discovering an Agnes Varda classic
la sociรฉtรฉ du spectacle: an update of the 1974 Situationist Guy Debord’s critique of mass marketing and estrangements of modern society
raise high the roof beam: experience a house inside a barn
wtc: a profile of architect Minoru Yamasaki, best known for designing New York’s World Trade Center
ccs: Iceland’s carbon capture and sequestration plant (previously) goes on-line
Wednesday, 1 September 2021
รพorskastrรญรฐin
With precedent disputes just after WWII and reignited after a fashion with Brexit fishing negotiations, the Cod Wars began in earnest on this day in 1958 when Iceland expanded its territorial waters to the edge of maritime claims by the UK and West Germany, with all sides sustaining losses over the next two decades as this protracted conflict continued with boats ramming into one other and the fishing nets of trawlers cut. Although in the aftermath of each skirmish, the International Court of Justice sided with Iceland’s claim, no resolution was reached until 1976 when Iceland threatened to withdraw from NATO if the matter wasn’t settled once and for all, an action that would denied the alliance’s submarines access to a strategic part of the North Sea (see also) at the height of the Cold War, brokering an agreement amenable to all parties. Following on from the truce, the United Nations codified the Law of the Sea and standardised exclusive nautical economic zones.
Friday, 30 July 2021
tgif
Twin brother and complementary to the Norse goddess Freyja (‘Lady’ and name-giver to Friday) the fertility deity Freyr (‘Lord’) is the patron of virility, sacral rule—in other words theocratic kingship whereby the monarch is also priest and judge—as well as fair weather, a good harvest, peace and prosperity. Granted domain by the gods over รlfheimr, realm of the light elves as an infant as a teething gift, Freyr’s steed is a mechanical boar called Gullinbursti, a tribute from the dwarves and from the magic of Odin the fine ship Skรญรฐblaรฐnir that can be folded up and kept in a pouch when not in use plus arms including an enchanted sword that fights on its own. Having little truck with man, Freyr seems a mythological figure belonging to the other legendary races and perhaps signals the weekend for elven kind. In one of the better attested sagas, Freyr is besotted with a giantess named Gerรฐr (Old Norse for Fenced-In). His advances rebuffed, Freyr grows despondent and lovesick and recruits one of his footmen, Skรญnir, to go to Jรถtunheimr (the Realm of the Giants) to woo Gerรฐr on his behalf. Even though as a Vanr is gifted, cursed with foresight and knows bereft of his magic sword his fate is to be vanquished at Ragnarรถk, Freyr promises it to his surrogate as a reward.
catagories: ๐ฎ๐ธ, ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช, myth and monsters
Tuesday, 6 July 2021
7x7
snuck out in the middle of the night: The Onion forecasted the West’s hasty departure from Afghanistan a decade ago
fjรถgurra daga vinnuviku: a pilot experiment reducing what’s defined as full-time a stupendous success in Iceland
nine seasons: geniuses from the Hood Internet (see previously) remixed the Seinfeld theme with a hit song from every year it airedcarriage shift: a LEGO typewriter inspired by the model of the toy’s creator
subrident: a story told with some edifying vocabulary words
15-minute cities: natural language map queries
low-level pokemon, normally easily defeated, stuck guarding locations, perhaps indefinitely: augmented reality sites abandoned at Bagram Airbase