Reykjavík Grapevine - des. 2021, Blaðsíða 6

Last month, the daily newspaper Morgun-
bla!i! appeared to report that an earth-
quake near Hekla—the active volcano in
the south—had caused the nearby farm of
Selsund to be overrun by drunks.
Woah! Hang on a second. Aren’t active
volcanoes supposed to spit out ash-caked
changelings? That’s what Baltasar Kormákur
told us, anyway. Is someone trying to sell
us some sort of low-rent, English football
hooligan version of ‘Katla’ here?
Well, no. Rather boringly, this is merely
another case of GoogleBollocks™, when the
world’s favourite language mistranslation
algorithm is asked to interpret a headline,
and fails. Miserably.
The Icelandic phrase “drunur gengu yfir
bæinn” which The GoogleMangle™
interpreted as “drunks swept over the town”
is probably better rendered as “a rumble
swept over the town”. At least that’s what
Valur Grettisson, The Grapevine’s editor-in-
chief, says. He should know, being a proper
Icelander and all. And his linguistic abilities
aren’t governed—as far as we know—by
some confused Google app, Zuckerdroid
style.
So don’t believe everything you read; it’s
perfectly safe to travel to southern Iceland.
The chances of you encountering a zombie-
like hoard of slobbering drunks—shouting
incoherently, and singing at the tops of their
lungs—are slim. Assuming, of course, that
Selsund hasn’t become the new cheap pack-
age destination for British stag parties. JP
After the September 25th elections and
following the longest parliamentary
break in Icelandic history, negotiations
between the Left-Greens, the Independ-
ence Party and the Progressive Party
have produced a new government.
A strong Progressive
showing
Changes include not only who will serve
as minister, but also what the ministries
are, as some new ministries have been
created. The Left-Greens will continue
to front three ministries, and the Inde-
pendence Party will continue to helm
five, while the Progressive Party will
now have four ministries under their
control.
This is most likely due to the strong
showing the Progressives made on elec-
tion night, adding five seats to their
tally, while the Left-Greens lost three
seats since the 2017 elections and the
Independence Party broke even.
Who gets what?
The ministerial composition is now
as follows, with VG (Left-Greens), D
(Independence Party) and B (Progres-
sive Party), indicating party affiliation
in line with their official party symbols:
Prime Minister: Katrín Jakobsdóttir (VG)
Minister of Finance: Bjarni Bene dikts son
(D)
Minister of Infrastructure: Sig ur!ur Ingi
Jóhanns son (B)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: "ór dís Kol brún
R. Gylfa dóttir (D)
Minister of Health: Willum "ór "órs son (B)
Minister of Social and Job Market Affairs:
Gu! mundur Ingi Gu! brands son (VG)
Minister of Food, Fishing and Agriculture:
Svan dís Svav ars dóttir (VG)
Minister of Justice: Jón Gunnarson (D)
for half the term, followed by Gu! rún
Haf steins dóttir (D)
Minister of Schools and Children’s Affairs:
Ásmundur Einar Da!a son (B)
Minister of Business and Culture: Lilja
Alfre!s dóttir (B)
Minister of the Environment, Energy and
Climate Affairs: Gu! laugur "ór "ór! ar-
son (D)
Minister of Innovation, Industry and
Universities: Áslaug Arna Sig ur björns-
dóttir (D)
What was the hold up?
As can be seen, most of these MPs were
also ministers during the previous term,
but only Katrín and Bjarni retained their
original positions. Willum, Jón and
Gu!rún are completely new to minis-
terial positions.
One reason for the delay was the deci-
sion not to announce a new government
until the committee investigating the
Northwest District ballot counting scan-
dal reached a conclusion. Ultimately, the
majority of the investigating committee
decided to consider the results of the
regional recount valid. This cleared the
way for the new government finally be
announced.”
ASK AN
Expert
Q: Why is it hard to rinse
soap off your hands?
Words: Reetta Huhta
Photo: Atli Már Hafsteinsson
When washing your hands here in Ice-
land, you might have realised that the
soap doesn’t seem to rinse o! easily.
It’s a phenomenon that has puzzled us
at The Grapevine for a long time—so
we decided to find out what’s that
all about.
According to Ingvi Gunnarsson, a
geochemist at Orkuveita Reykjavíkur,
the chemical composition of water
a!ects how easily it rinses o! soap.
Water can be classified as hard or
soft, and Icelandic groundwater is
generally categorised as so". Rins-
ing soap with so" water takes longer
than with hard water, Ingvi explains.
But why is it easier to get the soap
o! with cold water?
Ingvi is intrigued by the follow-up
question: “Never have I heard before
that cold water rinses the soap o!
better than hot water,” he admits, but
proceeds to contemplate the possible
reasons.
“Low temperature geothermal wa-
ters—at least here in Reykjavík—are
so"er than fresh groundwater and
therefore not as e!ective as cold wa-
ter in terms of rinsing soap o! your
hands,” he says, adding that although
there is a di!erence between the wa-
ter compositions, it is not that big.
However, this might not be the only
reason behind the phenomenon. Ingvi
says that another possible explana-
tion is that hot water in Iceland comes
directly from low-temperature geo-
thermal fields and is mildly alkaline.
“Alkaline waters can be a little slippery
to touch compared to neutral water,
and therefore one feels that the soap
does not come o! one’s hands when
washing them,” he explains. In reality,
the soap has been rinsed o!, but the
alkaline water makes you feel like you
still have some soap residue on your
hands. °
Iceland At Last Has A New Government
Get ready for more of the same
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
Gunnar Vigfússon
First 6 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12— 2021
LOST IN GOOGLE TRANSLATION
Meet the new bosses, same as the old bosses
Seismic Activity Allegedly
Produces Pissheads
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