the fro 644

(any more last minute assignment 20 contributors?
the door's still open til someone posts an assignment 21)

contributions: Brazil | France | Guyana | Iceland | Italy | Japan | Luxembourg | Macau | the Vatican

// ooh, for assignment 21 can we require that at least one link be included? Like illustrating your story..

// no assignment 20 by fro? ;(

i mean, the information's interesting but it's definitely that much more interesting coming digested from the writer. obviously for assignments like this you need sources & stats but you can tell when someone's really interested and presenting, vs. just straight facts..
that's my 2cents.

btw, it's really great having so many visiting columnists :D
.. really spices up the DeFro(Do).

veeber 4,305
agent k 2,607

dudes you're going to crash the system! :P
[are you guys just strictly cut-pasting? cuz that's no fun.. i do hope there's some digestion going on pre-report, and proper use of paraphrasing/quoting?]

a third thousand-word breaker
Mcphunnifer 1,027

and now we have three continents..
:)

i'm eating ketchup chips and i'm loving it
(definitely your influence fro. tsktsk)
but it's the strangest thing.
i feel like something's missing ..
like eating a hotdog minus the meat product.

weighing in at "second place" is
euge 1,180

which brings our World up to seven diverse countries..
France | Iceland | Italy | Japan | Luxembourg | Macau | The Vatican
:)

// I wonder where else they do that patronymic system like Iceland does. it's cool.
you know, like in LOTR; Gimli son of Gloin, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Arwen daughter of Elrond...

wow. chip, you take the cake on Assignment 20 so far.

Word count tally:
chip 1,933
kokomo 480
mr. dad 469
drew 375
staash 494
de 743

and the fro has yet to do her own assignment...
;P

on my lunch break i took a tour of the brand new Munsey Apts, just for kicks. got to see a 2bdrm/2bth on the 12th floor.
must be nice to live smack in the middle of downtown.
expensive, but nice.
Is The Standard (next to your place, fro) opening up anytime soon? that sounds nice too..

fro, going back to the riddles, hey yeah, wind has gotta be right. did you get the one next to it (2 part i think)? (i think i got all the ones on the right side of the first page..)

Iceland.
I don't know why i'm drawn to these northern lands (i've always wanted to visit Canada, and Sweden sounds really cool too)..
Iceland is Europe's westernmost country and the most sparsely populated (almost 4/5 of the land is uninhabited - everyone lives near the coast where it's less mountainous). Size-wise, it is comparable to the state of Virginia. Its capital, Reykjavik, is the northernmost of any country's capital.
They have one of the highest life expectancies and lowest infant mortality rates in the world. The best possible healthcare is accessible to all inhabitants.
So what's so cool about Iceland?
The hot water springs: the air might be cold but the pools are toasty. "One of the advantages of living in Iceland is the endless and ubiquitous flow of geothermal water streaming from the earth. This hot water is used for open-air swimming pools all around the country, which serve as health spas and as pleasant places to meet people*."
And this geothermal energy is used to provide economical and non-polluting heating. Hence Reykjavik (pop. 170,000) is one of the cleanest cities in the Western world. One of the country's best salmon rivers runs right through the city.
Their food: suits me just fine -- all pure and unpolluted:
- Lamb (is to them what beef is to us, sort of, but their lamb is gourmet. free range like everything else there and very tender)
- Fish (smoked, dried, Fresh…lots and lots of good fish)
- over 80 types of cheese (they're very big on dairy)
Names: Everyone uses first names, strangers or friends.
A small number of Icelanders have family names, but "by law, Icelanders must follow the ancient tradition of deriving their last name from the first name of their father (patronymic system). For example, if a man named Eirikur names his son Leif, his last name will be Eiriksson (the son of Eirikur). His daughter Thordis would be named Thordis Eiriksdottir (the daughter of Eirikur). She keeps her own name even if she marries. For this reason, Icelanders always have to be referred to by their given names. The patronymic is never used alone. Icelanders say, for example, 'the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson', but never 'President Grímsson'.*"
Bjork: just kidding. but she is one of theirs.

I'd like to visit in the summer. For two to three months in summer there is continuous daylight in Iceland. Early spring and late autumn have long twilight, and then the days are very short in mid-winter.
Leisure activities are mostly outdoor sport type things: Horse riding, river rafting, whale watching, salmon and trout fishing, sea angling, glacier trips (glaciers cover almost 12% of Iceland), snowmobiling and 4 x 4 expeditions over the highlands.


more from their *official site:
Language.
Icelandic, the national language, has changed very little from the original tongue spoken by the Norse settlers. Icelandic has two letters of its own, Þ/þ and Ð/ð, which were used in old English. "Þ" is pronounced as "th" in "thing" and "Ð" is pronounced as the "th" in "them". A large percentage of English words derive from Icelandic. English and Danish are widely spoken and understood in Iceland.
Government.
Iceland has a written constitution and is a parliamentary democracy. A president is elected by direct popular vote for a term of four years, with no term limit. Most executive power, however, rests with the Government, which must have majority support of Althingi, the Parliament. Parliamentary elections are held every four years. The government is headed by the Prime Minister. The cabinet stays in power until the next general election or a new government is formed. The ministers sit in Althingi, but if not elected members of parliament they do not have the right to vote.
Climate.
Iceland has a relatively mild coastal climate. The average summer temperature in Reykjavik, the capital, is 10. 6°C/51°F in July, with average highs of 24. 3°C/76°F. The average winter temperature in Reykjavik is similar to New York City's, about 0°C/32°F in January (average highs are 9. 9°C/50°C). Usually the weather is very changeable.

More facts:
Population: 279,385
Ethnic groups: Homogeneous mixture of descendants of Norse and Celts. {basically if i ever visited i'd stick out like a sore thumb.}
Religions: Evangelical Lutheran 93%, other Protestant, Roman Catholic and more {wow. the Evangelical Lutheran Church is the state established church, if you haven't guessed}
Literacy: (definition: age 15 and over can read and write, total population): 99.9%

And last but not least, IMAGES from Iceland.
click around.. landscapes, etc. don't worry if you don't understand the words.. It's magical.

yo i was asking cuz i thought you were coming with me, early? for the envelopes? if you can't that's ok..

hey fro, what time are you out today? i'm thinking about stopping by the enoch pratt after work, and then i can meet up with you.

hey, thanks for the offer, crispy. but that reminds me, we caught mouse#2 over the weekend.
M had come back and we were all gathered around the kitchen counter telling her about how i discovered the mouse, etc, and we wondered if the other one died too, when L suddenly screamed. "omigosh, the other one's in the trap over there!" (she said its belly and tail were stickin out but none of us turned to look.)
So our good ol JL came over a second time and threw it out. (we need to bake him cookies, or something)
This time it was the suffocation trap so it was good and dead.
YAY.
Now i can stop talking about dead and dying rodents ;)

if anyone wants mousetraps we have many different kinds...

aw, i'm so sorry fro.

there must be some conspiracy, cuz my program's been totally rebelling too! it's enough to drive you mad..
(click if you're bored. don't click if you're already mad.
it'll only make things worse)

i didn't even bother to check this morning.
(public city & county schools are closed but my office is up and running as usual..)

My weekend:
Maid In Manhattan
Catch me If You Can
Gangs of New York
Happy Accidents (dvd)
LOTR (dvd, making of part I. made me wish i could've visited Hobbitton..)
Monsters Inc (dvd)
Advil LiquiGels (are my friends. haven't been feeling so great.)

yeah, too many movies to be good for me. I'm pretty sick of them actually.
*oh, i almost forgot, i did get some exercise. after our hour+ drive home from columbia yesterday we got a little stuck on the road right outside our community, so M and i pushed L's car in through the entrance and for most of the drive up to our house ;P