Volcano Erupts In Iceland 191
Reports are coming in that a volcano in Iceland called Grimsvotn has erupted, sending plumes of smoke 15km into the air. It was accompanied by a series of earthquakes, but all of them have been minor so far, and scientists don't believe the eruption will cause problems for air travel like 2010's Eyjafjallajokull event. Local coverage in Icelandic is available, as well as early pictures of the eruption.
Re:Down with Iceland (Score:5, Informative)
How can it really get any better?
The entire country pretty much runs on geothermal and hydroelectric power.
There are bathable hot springs.
The word geyser comes from Icelandic.
The whole country is snuggled up against the Arctic circle, but the jet stream keeps it from getting unpleasantly cold. In summer it can get quite toasty, actually. (And from June through August the sun dips below the horizon, but it never gets really dark.) In winter, you can see northern lights in the afternoon.
They have Europe's largest waterfall.
And millions of puffins.
And, for better or worse, Björk.
Re:On an unrelated note: English names are stupid (Score:4, Informative)
Spelling was deregulated until roughly Coleridge's time. Thus Shakespeare spelt his name quite a few different ways.
Eventually, there was a big move to standardize English spelling. Rather than adopt a simple phonetic system, the academics chose to use the phonetic system of the root word. If the word is Germanic, in origin, you use a Germanic inspired phonetics. If it's French, in origin, you use a French inspired phonetic system. Greek? Latin? Guess what, there's more systems. Sucks, doesn't it?
Oh, and Dutch printers were some of the first big printers of English books, so sometimes a bit of Dutch crept in.
Re:On an unrelated note: English names are stupid (Score:4, Informative)
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead -
For goodness sake don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose -
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart -
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd mastered it when I was five!
(author unknown)
For extra credit, look up Gerard Nolst Trenité.