Reykjavík Grapevine - mar 2021, Qupperneq 6

When the team at
Grapevine Towers
read on mbl.is that
Sir Elton John had
died, the well-lubri-
cated VineMachine
sprang into an im-
mediate response.
Just imagine the
Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers, but
wearing plastic
viking helmets.

Before you could
say “Nikita,” news
editor Andie had
turned out an
eloquent obituary
for Pinner’s premier
piano-man, Valur
had donned his
black suit (with
Poll" in matching
harness) ready to
cast the devastat-
ing news to the
world, and culture
editor Hannah Jane
had organised a
gala extravaganza
tribute perfor-
mance of ‘Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road’—
all four sides of
the vinyl, starring
herself—with tick-
ets already on sale.
That girl doesn’t
hang about.

When we realised
that this news was
simply a Goog-
leGa$e™—yet
another mistransla-
tion by the world’s
favourite language-
mangling tech-
giant—Team ‘Vine
found themselves
all adrenalined-up
with nowhere to
go. So following a
brisk jog around
the block to shake
it o$, the rest of
the day was spent
blasting "Candle In
The Wind" on the of-
fice stereo and wal-
lowing in the relief
that Sir Elton’s life
hadn’t sputtered
out like… erm… well,
like a candle in the
wind.

What had actually
happened to Elton
was that he had
lost weight; noth-
ing more dramatic
than that. How-
ever the expres-
sion “Elton John
hefur lést” could be
taken to mean both
“Elton John has lost
weight” and “Elton
John has died”—at
least to the linguis-
tically naïve—and
that includes the
GoogleBot. So on
this occasion we’re
going to cut it
some slack. It’s try-
ing hard, a%er all.

Anyway, thankfully
the Rocket Man is
still on earth, he’s
just hefur lést (or
a little less he%y).
He’s Still Standing.
Yeah Yeah Yeah!
JP
Two new domestic COVID-19 cases
were detected on March 8th, according
to the latest data from covid.is. Both of
them were outside quarantine at the
time of diagnosis.
One of those diagnosed was an
employee of the grocery store Hagkaup
in Gar!abær, Vísir reports. This person
worked stocking items during the
night shift, and was working over the
weekend before they tested positive.
Due to the nature of their work, they
had little to no contact with customers
and the entire store has been sanitised.
And then it spread
Two people were diagnosed with the
virus while outside quarantine, and are
indirectly connected to a person who
tested positive at second screening on
March 4th. Contact tracing is also zero-
ing in on a concert held at Harpa on
March 5th.
On March 9th, it was further
reported that a pizza delivery driver
for Pizzan in Kópavogur tested posi-
tive, and all of their co-workers were
subsequently put into quarantine. This
driver was making deliveries over the
weekend before their diagnosis.
Act now
Chief epidemiologist "órólfur Gu!na-
son declined to say definitively whether
or not a fourth wave was on its way. He
did say, however, that this recent spate
of infections was proof that following
guidelines, both domestically and at
the border, is the key to eradicating the
virus from Iceland.
As it stands now, domestic restric-
tions are scheduled to be relaxed
slightly on March 17th. With this latest
outbreak, this is now increasingly
unlikely. "órólfur emphasised the
importance of acting quickly to contain
the spread before a fourth wave has a
chance to form.
Global warming is on everyone’s mind;
summers are getting hotter, glaciers
are melting and greenhouse gases
are filling the skies with smog. Living
on a rock in the North Atlantic makes
you feel relatively untouchable by the
chaos across the world but one day
the seas will rise and Iceland will be
hit hard. We asked Halldór Björnsson
of the Icelandic Meteorological O"ce
how he thinks rising sea levels will af-
fect the country.
“Iceland is rising rapidly in some loca-
tions which affects the relative sea
level change. In some locations, es-
pecially along the south east coast of
Iceland the rate of rise is so fast that
it is doubtful that these locations will
experience any sea level rise.
How much sea level will increase
there depends on several things, such
as the warming of the ocean, the melt
of glaciers and icesheets (in Greenland
and Antarctica) and changes
to the gravitational field due to the ice
melt. The last item is quite surprising to
many, but the current size (and mass)
of say the Greenland icesheet a$ects
gravity around it in such a way that it
keeps sea level higher than otherwise.
Once the icesheet melts this effect
diminishes with the effect that sea
level may drop close to the ice sheet,
but rise more elsewhere.” OT °
ASK A
Scientist
Q: What Effect Will
Rising Sea Levels Due
To Climate Change
Have On Iceland?
Sir Elton Is Dead!
Long Live Sir
Elton!
A Fourth Wave? That Depends
New infections raise concerns and questions
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
Vísir/Vilhelm
First 6 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 03— 2021
LOST IN GOOGLE TRANSLATION
NEWS
POV: You're getting screened
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