… we haz evakuashun plan. Shazam!
[Thanks Jon!]
WEATHER RIGHT NOW
Pretty miserable. Severe winds and pounding rain. Plus it’s real dark. Dayz getting wery wery short nau. Sunrise today was at 9.21, sunset due for 5 pm [40 minutes from now]. And temps: 8°C [46F]. Could be worse.
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Our weather’s lovely, so I think I’ll stall some more on that move to Canada. Thanks for the laugh!
Why don’t you have a Move To Iceland one? We could bring our big bucks and help the economy too!
I’m going round friends and we will sit up all night and watch. Expect we’ll be drunk at dawn and I hope it’s in celebration. Those polls had better be right.
That was great, even with the sound down (at work).
The weather here would be dreary if it wasn’t for the fall colors.
Too bad Icelandic police officers don’t wear Mountie uniforms. I would feel better living here if they did.
Eh, when I lived there in the early 90′s, there was a point system for immigration. Having a BSc was worth some points, having a Master’s was some negative points (-10, I think), and having a PhD was worth -60 points. The idea was that if you have a PhD, you might depend on State dollars and be a drain, and at that time they wanted entrepreneurs… So when the “University Professors” flashed, I thought “Hey, that’s not true!”.
Life in Canada was great though. So little crime, compared to Baltimore anyway.
Hm. I wonder how many negative points I’d get for “Blogger”.
I’m totally loving the banana-republicometer!! there should totally be one. Who volunteers to keep track of points?
Will watch the video when get home, but so far, Canada is pretty darn nice
That is hilarious! I already own property in Canada, so I guess I’m halfway there. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to evacuation, though.
It’s interesting how the last eight years have energized many typically apathetic Americans into action. I have never in my lifetime seen people so excited about an election. Even more than they were for Reagan or Clinton. It’s also interesting to see how the Internet is changing the whole campaign process.
Everyone is reminding everyone to vote today. Our travel agent in Florida said he’s never voted in his life (I can’t believe that ANYone that has the right to vote, doesn’t!). But – he’s like a reformed smoker – makes sure everyone gets out to vote!
I think we’ll all wake up a whole lot happier tomorrow morning! The polls here are all going towards the same candidate. I’m going to be soooo glad that the campaign ads are over and gone.
Thanks for the laugh- we’re feeling a bit nervous and hopeful today, here in California… Canada sure looks nice!
Crossing fingers for you all!
Zoe – I nominate you as scorekeeper.
Who knows? Maybe with Obama the USA will more closely resemble Canada. (And Linguaphile: I hear Bush’s legacy will be his ability to mobilize so many of the apathetic and young to get interested and vote — not quite what he had in mind!) Anyway, Obama thinks Canada has a president and that the so-called president is also head of state so chances are the US will never look like Canada since their leader (at least the person I hope will be their leader) doesn’t actually know anything about Canada. How is that possible when we share the world’s longest border?
Andrea – tsk! And here I thought he was supposed to be all cosmopolitan!
Talking of elections. Any sign of a General Election in Iceland? You certainly need one!
Thanks for thinking of us! I went to an election party at a friend’s house tonight and as (sort of) a joke, I brought some cookies manufactured in Canada (maple-flavored cookies shaped like maple leaves), just so we could get used to Canadian food in case we all have to move there.
Unfortunately, the cookies sucked, but fortunately, we don’t have to think about moving to Canada (at least not for the next four years).
I am thrilled and relieved. I hope the rest of the world is, too. There are gargantuan problems that will be terribly difficult to address and even harder to solve but I hope at least our government stops rampaging full tilt in the wrong direction.
P.S. I like Joe in Vegas’s suggestion!
Hi Alda,
As always I really appreciate and look forward to what you write.
Tonight has been a fundamental change in the direction of my country. Obama has been declared the winner of the election. I sense there will be no immediate changes when he takes office. When you “hard over” the rudder on a big ship, it takes time to see change. But change will come.
Perhaps one of the good things about my country is that, on a regular basis, we get to elect, re-elect, or dismiss those who have been charged with running the government. Tonignt my country went to the ballot box and chose to change the way things have been done for the last 8 years under Bush. That is how it is done here.
Alda, can you take time and explain to your Iceland loving readers (such as myself) how political change occurs in Iceland.
I have been traveling to Iceland for many, many years; yet, I know little about your political process. I read somewhere that elections are not until 2011, but there is a way to force elections. Is that true?
What can the people of Iceland do to remove those in government who are implicated in the banking collapse?
I wish you, and all Icelanders, only the best during these difficult times.
Don
I just came across this article. Is this the end for Oddsson?
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2008/11/05/government-mp-calls-for-central-bank-changes-in-iceland/
“There is neither trust nor confidence in the abilities of the chairman of the Central Bank of Iceland or its Board any longer, and so the current incumbents should give way and allow others to rebuild that trust and confidence,” wrote Ragnheidur Rikhardsdottir, Independence Party MP in a column in Morgunbladid yesterday. The article’s headline was: “This far and no further”.
wOOOOOOOOt!!!
This is the biggest change in the world since 9/11! Although I really think this change should have happened in 2004… it’s probably too late to fix what’s been done in the past four years. But at least those years are over now, so the re-building of the world can begin.
Kenya has declared tomorrow a national holiday! Maybe deCODE could check if Obama has any Icelandic genes…
Andrew – Pfft! It’s gonna take a lot more than that to get Doddsson out of the CB. On the contrary – Ragnheiður Ríkarðsdóttir got her fingers slapped by the party for daring to criticize him.
As for elections – Don, I’ll look into what you’re asking – I don’t know what the procedure is here for early elections (perhaps other readers can help?). And Andrew – no, so far there are no early elections in sight.
As ever, the little people remain little.
“Tonignt (sic) my country went to the ballot box and chose to change the way things have been done for the last 8 years under Bush. That is how it is done here.”
Wonderful! Give yourself a good pat on your US of A back. I’m thankful that you can enlighten the rest of the world who might have similiarly democratic voting processes, though hopefully with less hanging chads, lawyers, sub clauses and other such peculiar machinations of voting irregularities that lead to suggestions of disenfranchisement and ultimately a farcical view of democracy.
“Perhaps one of the good things about my country is that, on a regular basis, we get to elect, re-elect, or dismiss those who have been charged with running the government.”
Agreed, but when you are not practising blind tub thumbing, mindless flag waving patriotism, perhaps that statement is true of every democracy?
“Alda, can you take time and explain to your Iceland loving readers (such as myself) how political change occurs in Iceland. ”
I daresay it is timing! The US election was always going to be 2008. The fact you that have a half wit in office did not expediate it . I imagine in Iceland it is the same.
Does this elect, re-elect, dismiss stuff only happen in the USA? Maybe only re-electing a vegetable.
One of the good things about your your country? Actually I’d argue that one of the bad things about your country is that votes can be bought in a way that is impossible elsewhere.
I’m delighted that Obama won the presidential election – nothing to do with being left, right, black, white, Republican, Democrat etc etc. He just seems like an intelligent and articulate person – for the rest of us it’s a terrifying thought that appear to be so few of them of them in the USA.
(Apologies to Alda, I am a committed lurker but sorry for getting overly reactive up on your blog!)
Clement, are you drunk?
No! Do I appear to be??!!
No, you seem perfectly lucid. I’ve just never had a comment like this from you before.
Apologies, normally i would just read and quietly comment to myself, but the “That is how it is done here” remark really got up my nose! And I probably overreacted. Back to lurking!
No worries. We allow the occasional public sneeze here.
Hey, I resemble that video! (‘cept for the elite part)
And very recently we had a general election that nobody noticed with all the drama down south. But wow, I gained a little bit of hope by seeing the u.s. election results. Not so much for who won but that it could happen at all and that a majority are actually tired of the 8 year mess.
I’m coming up to Niceland/Diceland next week! yippee!
You understand that the comedy bit was mocking liberals, right? Typical stupid white liberals….
^of course. that’s why they call it comedy.
But this stupid liberal did indeed leave for Canada 20 years ago. I wasn’t wrong, things turned out as I expected. I’m happy to see there is a ray of hope now but that’s all it is for now. But hope and peace are stupid liberal terms right? I’ll take peace any day over death for profit.
call me when there is a plan to get the fsck out of Iraq and other messes the smart guys got us into.