2010 in review
Note from blogwriter: it’s gotta be said, the peeps at WordPress know how to flatter their blog owners and make ‘em feel special :) The below arrived via email today.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 58,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 7 days for that many people to see it.
In 2010, there were 11 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 387 posts. There were 25 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 3mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.
The busiest day of the year was May 17th with 466 views. The most popular post that day was froggy cuteness at the Pearl.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were search.aol.com, google.com, bigextracash.com, weheartit.com, and 74.125.67.100.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for frogs, random, abstinence, pictures of frogs, and beethoven.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
froggy cuteness at the Pearl March 2009
15 comments
Aliens, Bible and Beethoven March 2009
random train of thoughts June 2009
2 comments
On abstinence February 2009
now only dust mites inhabit my digs April 2009
1 comment
Moving to Weebly
May 5th 2010
I’ve now set up shop at
It’s quick, easy and cool. I’ve grown somewhat weary of standard blogging, so I moved, to get a fresh start as it were.
First I did what it says below, and then I did what is says above! Who knows where I’ll end up! :)
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January 15th 2010
I am moving my blog to
Reason? Mainly bc I don’t want to pay to have a non-static new page / tab under steinunn.wordpress, and this Weebly can do for me. I am a bit apprehensive abt it as I don’t know anyone abt Weebly … but I’m having much fun adding multiple blogs under the one url, blogs about different things (blogs as in not-static pages), so as long as I am having fun it’s all good, right?
Cheerio; you know where to find me!
Xx
Tracy has the most beautifully coloured hair.
And here we are together.
I am sporting my bothered bushybrow Playmogirl look, as I generally do in photos (you have to see my hands&arms to understand the Playmo-reference), but I am willing to embarrass myself like this in hopes that someone sees this picture, recognises Tracy, and gets us in contact somehow.
Please! Pretty pls!!?
Here are peoples’ comments on mbl.is’s commentary on the interview. Most folks, I included, thinks he did a fine job. Not once did Paxman manage to talk all over him, which is what he is so good at. He’s a tough one, that Paxman, which is why people like him. Weird how he very disrespectfully referred to the president as just “some president”, though.
Paxman didn’t really have a come-back on the fact that, though the governments of countries like France, Holland and Ireland, and other EU countries, have trusted the people of their nations to vote on important issues in national referendums, Britain’s governments have never shown its people this trust.
Said president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson:
In Britain the parliament is sovereign; in Iceland the people are sovereign.
More foreign media on Icesave
mbl.is quotes foreign journalists, a few of whom actually understand the actions of the people
and its’ president.
The citizens of that most placid of countries, Iceland, … backed by their president, have found a characteristically polite and restrained way of disputing an obligation to stump up large sums of cash to pay for the arrogance and greed of other people. They are right. We should listen to them … but it seems unlikely that we will.
- TimesOnline, commentary by Roger Boyes, and plenty of comments!
- The Independent , business commment by David Prosser
- Financial Times, article by John Kay, above.
Further on the Icesave debaucle
Iain Martin of WSJ knows his stuff. Well, he sounds like he does, though some of the 
commentors don’t agree. I don’t really know the facts about the deposit protection which a certain James Baldwin writes about in his comment (under 3) ). It’s an important fact, but of course, if it’s correct, it’s utterly disgusting and unfair – those in this world who have dosh and deposit it in banks are protected and get their money back – from whom? From me, who have no money. Why? How is that fair?
Among other things, Iain writes:
At the height of this cheap money boom, savers abroad were attracted when offered high returns from the odd-sounding Icesave (think about it and it sounds like your investments could easily be frozen at any point). But in the crazed excitement of those years, savers in the Netherlands flocked to open accounts. And for the British it also looked too good to be true, with savings rates guaranteed to be above the Bank of England’s base rate. The problem for everyone involved was that it was too good to be true.
In Britain, the Icesave business was positively welcomed by the government in good times and regulators failed to spot that it was woefully under-capitalised. When it collapsed, the British government, along with the Dutch, decided to bailout its citizens with money in Icesave. They didn’t have to do this; those who had placed money in an institution rooted abroad were all adults who should have been aware of the risks. Of course, the governments only paid up because it knew that it was vulnerable to the charge that its regulatory regime had failed. They then set about claiming back the money with menaces from Iceland. Until yesterday the tactics were working.
What message will savers in large countries draw from this for next time there is a boom? That they needn’t ask too many questions about apparently easy returns, because if it goes wrong then their government, or their fellow taxpayers, will bail them out. The bill can then be sent abroad and bullied out of foreign taxpayers. Thus they learn the wrong lesson and forget caveat emptor, or buyer beware.
It sounds harsh, but it’s true!
His article today is called Iceland should ‘ave stuck to fishing. The Icelandic mbl.is rewrote his story here, you can also see bloggers’ views on it.
President’s veto
Today at 11am my co-workers and I watched a live broadcast from the president’s home (not a palace, just a home on a nearly-island) where he announced that he’d not sign the bill to pay the Icesave debt.
Media in Iceland and all over the world has gone mad over this, and it’s of course only bc Britain and Holland are involved. British and Dutch people lost money due to Icelandic bankers’ recklessness, while the then government turned a blind eye.
I, and about a quarter of the Icelandic nation (or was it a quarter of those eligible to vote?) understand that the money
We are good enough to be dumped on, given unfair debts that are ours and other such crap, but how about giving us our constitutional rights - the power to choose?
must be paid. The terms of repayment right now are ridiculous and utterly unfair, we were abused and forced into agreeing with the terms the big leaguers wanted. Iceland is so screwed. Again, I don’t have the word to describe it.
Most are saying that we, the nation, understand the government’s obligation to repay the money lost due to idiot risk-taking uncaring self-serving bankers and a scary sleeping government, and we just want to renegotiate the terms.
Our politician are busy busy telling everyone that it’s not that we don’t wanna pay – we’re gonna pay! – but new fairer terms (as much as unfair can be made fair) must be negotiated. On telly a political lady last night (didn’t see it, dunno who) re-stated the meant-to-be scary point that as a little fish in a big pond Iceland, this tiny nation, needs to bend over and take it bc those who are bigger and better want it that way. Bullshit. Our government is sulking and sucking up to Britain and Holland. The Icelandic government does not care what Icelanders have been asking via protest etc.
I, in my naivety, consider it only fair that we, the real & actual individuals with personalities, feelings, homes, families, debts of their own, pets, studies to tend to etc, individuals who make up this nation, none of whom did a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. to lose the money of the Dutch and British people, are excused from shouldering the burden of paying them back, as we never had the money, didn’t benefit in the slightest, didn’t cheat or swindle anyone, and do not currently or ever have the money. It was never ours! It was never us! We’ve been framed, and our current government is actually agreeing that yes, despite not having anything to do with it we shall let the little guy bleed.
One could even argue that as we, most every individual of this island nation, didn’t force anyone to invest their savings in Icesave, then why should our futures be doomed – and I do mean doomed as once you have no money and no credit and apparently no big-nation friends, you lose business, you lose your decent standard of living, chance of education, need I go on? – bc we pay people who were free to do what they wanted with their sums and they took a risk on Icesave?
On mbl.is you can see some of the media who took the news and ran with it – most are saying “Iceland won’t pay”, which is not what this is about. The law the president didn’t sign is still valid, but it won’t be put in effect unless the nation votes it into effect. I may seem to contradict myself – I don’t want to pay a dime, but it seems like that is gonna happen anyway, but with renegotiated terms.
My first referendum coming up!
aljazeera even covered it!
Rúv news tonight.
The voices of people in the street – I stared long and hard at the furred-up lady today (00:28) as I walked from work, bc her getup is hideous, and now she’s on telly!
Stöð2 news tonight and Stöð2 “Ísland í dag” – had to dodge this little twat several times downtown, he and his crew really wanted to talk to me! Nah, not really, which is sad bc I had my answer all ready: “Don’t care what you are asking, I refuse to be seen on trash tv!” This show is horrible, they introduce every new clip with “humour” and smiles, be it books by people who just died from cancer or the annual New Years race; they are tasteless little hosts, and make me cringe. She’s beautiful though. He’s tiny, slightly shorter than I. Just a boy! :)
