Reykjavík Grapevine - jún. 2021, Blaðsíða 6

According to Frét-
tabla!i!, a wooden
parrot was coura-
geously rescued
by the Icelandic
fire brigade on May
17th. At first, the
Grapevine was less
than impressed. It
wasn’t exactly the
brazen, eye-catch-
ing rescue we all
crave, in a country
where reporters
dash to the first
sign of a runover
sheep, falling vic-
tim to the ring-road
enthralled tourists.
Saving a wooden
parrot? Not exactly
heroic, until we
realized this was
exactly everything
we had wished
for—an audacious
rescue of an actual,
living parrot.
While it might
not be as wild as
those in South
America, a do-
mestic parrot still
requires a focused
and methodical
rescue mission of
the nation’s best,
albeit only, fire
brigade. The parrot
was found perched
in a tree, naively
assuming that he
belonged out in
Icelandic nature—
how wrong he was.
This is no place
for a parrot, heck,
it’s no place for
humans most of
the time. Unfortu-
nately, this was no
locally-made, hand-
cra"ed, artisanal
parrot carved from
the birch trees of
Iceland’s wilder-
ness—though, it’s
definitely organic.
The headline
reads, “Slökkvi li!i!
bjarga!i páfa gauki
úr tré,” but Google
translates the title
to “The fire brigade
rescued a wooden
parrot.” “Slökkvi li!i!
bjarga!i” accu-
rately becomes
“The fire brigade
rescued” but
unfortunately, the
composition of the
parrot transformed
when the verb “úr”
was introduced.
This is supposed
to mean “out of”
but when com-
bined with “tré,” or
tree, the meaning
evolves. Google
sucks the life out
of the parrot and
creates an illusion
that Iceland’s fire
brigade is hope-
lessly devoted to all
animals, whether
they’re locally-bred
or locally-made,
we don’t discrimi-
nate—all animals
will be saved here.
BK
While daily infection rates for the coro-
navirus have been quite low lately, the
big question on people’s minds is vacci-
nations. On February 15th, Minister
of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir told
reporters the government expected to
have 190,000 people fully vaccinated by
the end of June, calling it “numbers we
can stand by”.
As of June 1st, there are just under
92,000 people fully vaccinated. Bear-
ing in mind that “fully vaccinated”
means that a period of time—usually
two weeks—have passed since a person
has received both shots, we still have
our work cut out for us to reach that
number.
Bingo!
However, one of the vaccination strat-
egies that have raised the biggest
questions is that of random selection,
which begins this week.
In case you were wondering whether
this random selection was going to be
done using some high-tech AI, or even
an online random number generator,
Ragnhei!ur Ósk Erlendsdóttir, direc-
tor of nursing at the Capital Area
Health Care, told reporters that “we are
going to put all the remaining cohorts
in a certain hat or mug and then draw
either men or women from the rele-
vant cohort.”
What if you’re not a man or
woman?
Ragnhei!ur explained that this method
is simpler than some 21st century
method of random selection and also
that “there were so many tasks with
our programmers” that they couldn’t
get just one of them to code something
on the fly.
That said, since the National Regis-
try allows people to register their
gender as non-binary (i.e. neither a
woman nor a man) and there are an
unknown number of people who are
currently registered as such, it was
unclear how any of these people were
to be random selected.
At long last, health authorities
issued a clarifying statement: every-
one, regardless of gender, would be
eligible for random selection, and the
solitary concern was regarding Astra-
Zeneca and its possible effects on
those with high estrogen levels. Feels
like they could have said that from
the beginning and avoided any confu-
sion, rather than insist on this weirdly
gendered selection system.
Valur Grettisson, the editor-in-chief
at the Reykjavík Grapevine, has hiked
to the volcano over 20 times and re-
ported about the ever changing area
over the past months. Here, he gives
you the honest answer on exactly how
hard it is to hike to the volcano.
"How hard is it to hike to the volcano?
The short answer is, not that hard. The
long answer... well, it’s complicated.
The hike to the volcano in Geldingadalir
is, at the time I’m writing this, around 7
kilometres, meaning it is categorized
as a medium hard hike. The town of
Grindavík and the search and rescue
teams have been laying proper paths
to the volcano. But, there is a mountain
to hike up to, namely Fagradals#all. You
will have to ascend over 200 metres
which is the hardest part of the hike.
Fortunately you don’t have to hike the
whole 200 metres in one go, but in two
separate stretches. Right now, these
paths are pretty good, but they can
be steep for those that are not in good
physical shape — our only advice is to
walk slowly up these hills. Trust me, it
will make it considerably easier.
Now, that is only half of it. Icelandic
weather is notoriously unstable, mean-
ing that checking the forecast before
the hike is vital. Keep in mind that the
weather in the city could be very di$er-
ent from the weather at the eruption
site. The easiest way to find out the
forecast, is to visit safetravel.is before
heading out. Another thing that cannot
be stressed enough is the importance
of proper footwear. Many have twisted
ankles or fallen and hurt themselves.
The best way to avoid this is to wear a
good pair of hiking boots. If you want
to hike in the evening, bring a head
lamp — it will start getting dark again
at the end of July. That’s it. Enjoy the
hike. It can be trying, but the reward
is unbelievable." °
ASK A
Hiker
Q: How hard is it to hike
to the volcano?
Drawn From A Hat
Vaccinations, Hun%er Games style
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
Adobe Stock
First 6 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06— 2021
LOST IN GOOGLE TRANSLATION
Pfizer gang!
Iceland Saves All Animals, Real or Not
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