
Click on the picture to watch this audio slideshow about bird watching at Óshólmar, an area at the mouth of Eyjafjardará river just outside Akureyri in north Iceland, the largest Icelandic town outside the capital region. Not many tourists know about this attraction, which is perfect for a walk in the sun.
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Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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Verne Holdings, a joint venture by General Catalyst and Novator, signed an agreement with National Energy Company Landsvirkjun, Farice and Keflavík Airport Development Corporation (KADECO) yesterday on establishing a data center by Keflavík International Airport.
Verne Holdings will put up ISK 20 billion (USD 306 million, EUR 203 million) and in return will be provided with electricity, data transfer, a building and a lot for the data center, which will be established this year and start operations in early 2009, Morgunbladid reports.
The data center has the potential to create about 100 jobs in the next few years and directly or indirectly have a positive economic influence for Iceland of up to ISK 40 billion (USD 611 million, EUR 406 million).
“Those of us who spearheaded this project believe entrepreneurs should definitely be responsible for directing world economy into green channels,” founder of Novator and one of Verne Holdings’ two owners Björgólfur Th. Björgólfsson said at the meeting yesterday.
Björgólfsson stated it is indisputable that CO2 emissions are causing negative changes to the earth’s entire ecosystem. Growing concerns about global warming, energy shortage and rising prices of electricity make Iceland’s green energy an attractive option for foreign companies in need of data centers.
The human being will be on display for the first time in its natural environment in the Reykjavík Family Park and Zoo next weekend. Visitors can observe three men and one woman in a cage after 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.
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The formal Videy island swim took place yesterday and there were three participants, two men and one woman, Thórdís Hrönn Pálsdóttir, who is the first woman to participate in the Videy swim since 1959.
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The Environment Agency intends to investigate whether the Heath Protection Authority handled the situation in Eskifjördur, east Iceland, in the correct manner when contaminated water from a trawler was carried into the town’s drinking water system.
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One hundred and forty million cubic meters of ash is estimated to have fallen in Iceland during the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull last spring. That excludes all the ash that fell into the ocean and in other countries.
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The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book Puffins as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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Hendrikka Waage is an accomplished jewellery designer whose first children’s book Rikka and Her Magic Ring in Iceland, takes readers on an enchanted and educational journey through the country. It’s beautifully illustrated and a good lesson in geography, but the plot could have been better thought through and the moral of the story is a bit too prominent.
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On the third day of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption we drove from Skógar to Hvolsvöllur in total darkness, a distance of 18 kilometers. It was frightening, the darkness being so impenetrable that we could hardly see out the windows of the car. We could see faint lights from the farm standing right next to the highway.
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Ásmundur Sveinsson is among the foremost Icelandic sculptors. The current exhibition in the Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum in Reykjavík is entitled “I choose women who thrive…” and features women as symbols in the sculptor’s art. The works in the exhibition are selected from his entire career.
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