Is Anyone On A2K from Iceland?

I'M THERE!

lol The joke when I was up there was that there was a woman behind every tree. (There are darn few trees in Iceland. )

so fishin...is the mj legal there? and are these alcoholics or drunks? you know the difference...if they have jobs and baths they're alcoholics.. :wink:

If the archangel was named maroni...then why don't they call themselves morons instead of mormons?

no police, coast guard or military? happiest people in the world? the women are easy and they spend the livelong day eating drinking and they believe in elves? Do these folks have thick furry feet by any chance and are they all short?

Where's my passport?

I don't think that it's legal, Bear; but, if there be no police, you won't be caught!

Plus, in England, it's meant to be illegal, but people take drugs even on the buses, in front of the cameras, and the bus drivers do nothing.

I don't think MJ is legal per se but it isn't as big an issue as it is here in the States.

And they are alcoholics - not drunks. They all work and raise their families, etc... You never see anyone laying in a gutter or anything.

The bastids is wicked smaht too! They love to debate and will take any side on any issue and argue you into the ground. They debate in bars like we'd play darts or talk about sports. It's entertainment. They don't get upset or start throwing tantrums but they have a lot of fun getting foreigners all spun up.

My wife's aunt is from Iceland. She was back there visiting when she suffered a dizzy spell. Turns out to be cancer (a tumor pressing on her brain), and it spread undetected. She only has a few months to live.

Hi

A few things about Iceland:

Literacy rate: it is actually not 100%, but 99.9%. Some people just don't learn.
The key, I think is the preschool system, very good, and used by almost every child.
There is a difference, I believe, between preschool and "daycare", the American way. It means a lot of exposure to books and to the cultural traditions of the country.
I also think the love of language, a very Icelandic trait, has to do with the high literacy rate.

There IS police.
The Ríkislögreglustjóri (National Commisioner of the Icelandic Police) heads it, under the Ministry of Justice.
They also go after you if you don't pay your taxes!
They care more about taxes than drugs.

Drugs are not legal, but -as Fishin' said- there is no big fuzz about it.
A policeman cannot buy drugs from you, and then arrest you.
There's very little marijuana, but lots of hash . It is expensive. Much more than in the US.
On theory, you can grow your own mj. The climate does not allow it.

Drinks. We are supreme coffee and Coca-cola drinkers.
We are also supreme liquor drinkers, or so goes the fame.
I think this is because there were tough anti-liquor laws decades ago. In fact, March 1st is "Beer Day", to celebrate the demise of the anti-beer law.

Women drink as hard as men, or maybe harder. Probably that's the reason of their supposed availability (not for everyone). If they're stoned, they are even more available (my AnnieHall like experience).
But, since women are so powerful here, I'd put it the other way: they think men are available.

Sex and marriage. Age of consent for sex is 14. Age of marriage without parental permission: 18. No antisodomy laws. Harsh laws against forced sex or "circumvented" sex (tricking people unto sex).
The majority of Icelanders are born out of wedlock (in the words of the American Right we are a nation of bastards), but there are strong social safety nets, and no prejudice about it (hell, they are the majority!). The divorce rate is high, but not as much as in the US.

Happiness. My take is that one thing is not being overstressed, and a different one is to be happy. Very few overstressed people in Iceland.
Happiness is also related to sunshine. People are happier in the summer than on Christmas.
Happiness is also related to being content with what you have. With the life you have lead. I think that has to do more with the philosophy of living (a cultural thing) than with the state of society.

I think I've written too much.

One would think some halogen grow lights and some quality seed might do the trick.

cjhsa, I'm so sorry for your aunt!

Hresstu þig við!, gerum bara gott úr þessu!
(Cheer up, let's make the best of it)

Sorry to dump sadness on this thread, but she is the only person I know who is actually from Iceland. I know several people who trace their ancestry back there.

EXACTLY my first thought.......

I saw some like that growing outdoors in urban Boston years ago.

Hey, that's big!

I confess I've tried to do it. It didn't grow much and I got pure crap.

Iceland sounds idyllic in many ways. I suspect, though, that the taxation issue may rule it out for some A2Kers. The ones who think that any form of taxation is some sort of abuse of their freedoms...

It is my understanding that the people of Iceland have sorted out the variation in their DNA and are selling the information to pharmaceutical companies for a bundle .

Value added tax: 24.5%, except for food and newspapers (14%)

Individual income tax: 38.5%, after deduction of (minimum) personal allowance.

Corporate income tax: 18 % (reduced from 30%, by the center-right government).

Capital gains are taxed according to the income level of the individual.

Industrial fee: 0.08% on all operating income.

Property fee: level varies according to the place.

Car fee: level varies according to the car.

Net worth tax: 0.06% of your assets.

I guess near-total literacy ain't free. Something we Americans may want to consider once in a while...

I'd think the weather would be a bigger turn off than anything else. It doesn't snow much or even drop below freezing much along the southern coast (where most of the population is) but it's always windy. 25-30 MPH winds are the norm and 70 MPH isn't unusual. They hit as high as 124 MPH while I was up there. Lot's of rain too. All a part of living in the middle of the North Atlantic I guess.

The weather sucks big time!
As Fishin' says, it's not the cold (warmer than Chicago or New York in winter, I've been told), but the humidity. Your very bones feel damp.
That, plus sometimes the fog is so thick you feel you can cut it with a knife.
With such a depressing weather, you must develop a philosophy of happiness.
For example, you really enjoy when the climate is nice.

But, honestly, I think the big turnoff for Bi-Polar Bear would be the taxation.