Lögberg-Heimskringla - 20.10.1995, Síða 1

f Lögbergl
neimsKrmgia
The lcelandic Weekly
Logberg Stofnaö 14. janúar 1888 Heimskringla Stofnaö 9. september 1886
Inside this week
Notes from our readers............
Canada & lceland signing..........
Iceland speaks at the U.N.........
Sigvaldason family reunion........
In the same doorway...............
Matching word game................
109. Árgangur Föstudagur 20. október1995
109th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 20 October 1995
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Númer 37
Number 37
lcelandic
News
Climbing Mr. Cho-Oyu:
■ Three lcelandic
mountain climb-
ers, Björn Ólafs-
son, Einar Stef-
ánsson and Hall-
grímur Magnús-
son, are attemp-
ting to reach the
seventh highest
mountain top in
the world •—
Cho-Oyu, in Tib-
et. They have
now reached
7,000 m eleva-
tion and the most
difficult leg of the
trip lies ahead.
The top itself is
8,201 m above sea level or a bit lower
than Mt. Everest which stands at 8,848
m. Hörður Mgnússon, Hallgrímur's
brother, said in an interview with
Morgunblaðið that the companions plan
to reach the top in about a week to 10
days. "They have built camps 300
meters apart. It is diffícult to work at that
altitude and they do not have oxygen
tanks with them." The companions built
headquarters at 5,800 m, and another
camp at 6,400 m. They have now
reached 7,000 m and intend to build a
camp at 7,200, from where a final attack
will be launched to reach the top itself,
in about a week to ten days. All supplies
are carried by yak-oxes. Cho-Oyu is the
highest mountain top lcelandic mountain
climbers have attempted to reach.
According to Hörður, everything has
been going well and the climbers are in
good health. Ten years ago Helgi
Benediktsson climbed Diran, in Pakistan,
which is just under 7,300 m.
New Ship For Eimskip:
■ The Eimskip Co. has just signed a con
tract for the purchase of a 12,500 ton
tank ship, being built in Poland. The
price is $1,600 million krónur and
Eimskip will receive the ship in April or
May next year. This will be the largest
tank shíp Eimskip has bought. Hörður
Sigurgestsson, manager of Eimskip Co.,
said that he expects the purchase to be
financed by foreign bank loans. "The
purchase is a part of a regular renewal of
the fleet used for European shipping. It
is also connected to the proposed
changes in the companies shipping
schedule. Besides the new ship, another
ship will be rented, which will enable the
company to sell or rent Brúarfoss and
Laxfoll abroad." The ship will be built in
Stettin, Poland, by a German design
which has proven very economical to
operate. There will be accommodation
for 12 passengers.
V_ GUNNUR ISFELD J
lceland on Internet
By Ke vln
Johnson
While many
people are still
wondering jusi
what the Internet
is all about,
Iceland has
jumped in
wholeheartedly...
For a quick how-to description see page 3
1994, world-
wide study by
the Internet
Society placed
Iceland among the top
countries utilizing Internet
when analyzed on a per
capita basis. This finding
was reported by Scientific
American on a map in their
August 1995 issue.
Brian Gudmundson, a
policy analyst in the native
affairs secretariat for
Northern Affairs in Can-
ada, took time to share
with me his excitement
about reaching Iceland
from the most recent off
ramp to the information
superhighway — Intemet.
If one has a suitable
computer, one will require
three further props to join
the Internet: a modem, a
piece of hardware acting
as a telephone link, which
costs around $100; appro-
priate software, either IBM
or Macintosh, which costs
around $150; and an
account with a local
Internet server, which
costs around $100 a year.
An account with a server
may provide one with
some free on-line time, but
once these gratuitous
moments are used up, a
user-fee ranging from 60
cents to a dollar per hour
will be levied. $ince
world-wide communica-
tion becomes possible, this
may provide a tremendous
reduction in long-distance
bills.
If one lacks the techni-
cal skills, individuals may
be drawn upon to provide
the initial hook-up, and a
two hour hands-on lesson
by the Internet literate will
put one well on the way
down the road to success.
Books are also available,
which can familiarize the
novice with specialized
jargon and procedures.
The first step in reach-
ing the information super-
highway is to extend a fully
equipped computer into
cyberspace and couple
Netscape to the hard drive.
One navigates the Intemet
through Netscape.
After a small invest-
ment of time, one may
communicate throughout
the world by E-mail. In
many unique fields of
interest this extends the
notion of community from
the insular restraints of
geography. Instead of fret-
ting when snail mail mis-
directs a letter for Iceland
to the Ireland of Seamus
Heaney, one may fulfil
correspondence with com-
puter literate kin on a
daily basis via the
Internet.
Graphs or lengthy cor-
respondence may be relat-
ed in this fashion in only a
brief period, and commu-
nication does not require
the destination computer
to be active at the time of
sending. E-mail shuttles
from a physical computer
terminal to a local server,
then communicates with
the server in Iceland; the
correspondence lies latent
in an electronic mailbox
until one finds the leisure
to consult it.
Anything transferred
via the Internet may be
printed as hard copy if
desired, but this technolo-
gy may actually point to
the paperless society
which early computer
gurus predicted.
Brian Gudmundson
gains joy and insight from
the Internet, being
impelled to acquire more
information on Iceland by
this means since visiting
the land of his family’s
provenance in 1993. The
amount of foreign media
that inundated the little
island astonished Brian,
and he contrasted the
response of Icelanders
to that of Quebecers.
However, Icelanders
reflect no insecurity about
losing their language and
culture, unlike some citi-
zens in the other solitude
of Canada.