Looking Forward to a Dynamic Third Age - Comparative Survey Report

BALL (Be Active Through Lifelong Learning) is an Erasmus + project of the European Union with the chief objective of analysing the degree of Preparation for Retirement among European citizens. The team working for this project, funded by the EU, is composed by organizations with broad experience at work with the third age from three European countries, Poland, Iceland and Spain, and the results obtained from these three contexts aim to provide a clear picture about the state of the art in preparation for retirement nowadays. The main objective of the project is to develop innovative guidelines and recommendations for use at lifelong learning centres; universities; companies; unions; associations; local and regional authorities who need and wish to prepare and encourage individuals under their auspices to prepare for the third age. The project defines the age group of 50 to 70 (the “baby boomer” generation) as the target group for such early preparations. The project and its outcomes will be used to raise awareness of these important issues and disseminate the results throughout the European Educational Area and the worldwide U3A network.

Iceland’s contested European Policy: The Footprint of the Past - A Small and Insular Society. Jean Monnet Occasional Paper 01/2013

Introduction. Iceland’s domestic politics and foreign affairs are undergoing drastic changes. After an economic crash, violent protests on the streets of Reykjavik for the first time in Iceland’s history contributed to the defeat of the government. The party system has been altered. A turn has been taken towards Europe after the United States left the island, first by closing its military base in 2006 and then by its clear stance not to assist the country in its economic difficulties. The former close relations with the superpower are unlikely ever to be restored. The EU membership application is placing severe constraints on political parties which are split on the issue and has put in jeopardy the unity of the first left majority in the Icelandic parliament, the Althingi. Society is in a state of flux after an unprecedented economic downscaling and the collapse of almost its entire financial sector – which had boomed rapidly beginning in the mid-1990s. The credibility of politicians, the parliament and the media is in ruins. Iceland’s smallness and its location on the geographical map – one could also say the geopolitical map – has had a profound influence on its domestic and foreign affairs. Iceland is closely associated with the other Nordic states and has adopted many of their domestic characteristics, with important exceptions. On the other hand, the country has come under American influence – geographically, it straddles the Mid-Atlantic rift – and has limited its participation in the European project. Its geographical location in the middle of the North Atlantic has led to a notion that the country’s culture is unique and should be protected by all available means. Politicians continue to play the ‘nationalistic uniqueness’ card with considerable success even though the country has been swept by globalization. Rapid modernization (which only really began in the Second World War with British and American occupations) and sudden engagement with the outside world (which only extended to the general public in the last quarter of the twentieth century) are still slowly but steadily making their mark on the country’s foreign policy. The country’s political discourse and foreign policy still bear the hallmark of the past, i.e. of a small and insular society This paper will address the political developments in Iceland since the 2008 economic crash and place it in a historical context. The aim is to understand Iceland’s present foreign policy and, in particular, the highly contested decision by its government in 2009 to apply for membership of the European Union. The paper is divided into five sections in addition to this introduction and the concluding remarks. First, it starts by explaining the importance in Iceland of a political discourse based on the concept of independence which dates back to the historical narrative of the settlement period. This section will also examine Iceland’s close relations with the other Nordic states – despite important differences between it and the others. Second, the paper will analyse the importance of the party system, i.e. the dominance of the centre-right in Icelandic politics, and the changed nature of the system. Third, it examines how Iceland further distinguishes itself from the other Nordic states in many important features. Fourthly, the paper analyses the country’s three main foreign policy priorities in the post-war period, i.e. extensions of the Exclusive Economic Zone, firm defence arrangements with the US and membership of NATO, and the drive for better market access for marine products – including a partial engagement in the European project. Fifthly, the paper examines how the country’s smallness, in terms of its central administrative capacity, has affected its domestic and foreign policy-making. The concluding section summarizes the main findings concerning the political and historical obstacles that the Social Democratic Alliance faces in its hard-fought battle to change the country’s European Policy.

(Table1) Sedimentation rates and age-control points form ODP Hole 152-919A

Planktic d18O and d13C records and point count records of biogenic, volcanic, and nonvolcanic terrigenous [ice-rafted debris (IRD)] sediment components from Hole 919A in the Irminger basin, northern North Atlantic provide a comprehensive dataset from which a paleoceanographic reconstruction for the last 630 kyr has been developed. The paleoceanographic evolution of the Irminger basin during this time contains both long-term patterns and significant developmental steps. One long-term pattern observed is the persistent deposition of hematite-stained ice-rafted debris. This record suggests that the modern and late Pleistocene discharges of icebergs from northern redbed regions to the Irminger Sea lie in the low end of the range observed over the last 630 kyr. In addition, Arctic front fluctuations appear to have been the main controlling factor on the long-term accumulation patterns of IRD and planktic biogenic groups. The Hole 919A sediment record also contains a long-term association between felsic volcanic ash abundances and light d18O excursions in both interglacial and glacial stages, which suggests a causal link between deglaciations and explosive Icelandic eruptions. A significant developmental step in the paleoceanographic reconstruction based on benthic evidence was for diminished supply of Denmark Strait Overflow Water (DSOW) beginning at ~380 ka, possibly initiated by the influx of meltwater from broad-scale iceberg discharges along the east Greenland coast. There is also planktic evidence of a two-step cooling of sea surface conditions in the Irminger basin, first at ~338-309 ka and later at ~211-190 ka, after which both glacials and interglacials were colder as the Arctic front migrated southeast of Site 919. In addition to offering these findings, this reconstruction provides a longer-term geologic context for the interpretation of more recent paleoceanographic events and patterns of deposition from this region.

Geochemistry and isotopic ratios of basalts from ODP Leg 163 sites

Voluminous, subaerial magmatism resulted in the formation of extensive seaward-dipping reflector sequences (SDRS) along the Paleogene Southeast Greenland rifted margin. Drilling during Leg 163 recovered basalts from the SDRS at 66ºN (Site 988) and 63ºN (Sites 989 and 990). The basalt from Site 988 is light rare-earth-element (REE) enriched (La(n)/Yb(n) = 3.4), with epsilon-Nd(t=60) = 5.3, 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7034, and 206Pb/204Pb = 17.98. It is similar to tholeiites recovered from the Irminger Basin during Leg 49 and to light-REE-enriched tholeiites from Iceland. Drilling at Site 989, the innermost of the sites on the 63ºN transect, was proposed to extend recovery of the earliest part of the SDRS initiated during Leg 152. These basalts are, however, younger than those from Site 917 and are compositionally similar to basalts from the more seaward Sites 990 and 915. Many of the basalts from Sites 989 and 990 show evidence of contamination by continental crust (e.g., epsilon-Nd(t=60) extends down to -3.7, 206Pb/204Pb extends down to 15.1). We suggest that the contaminant is a mixture of Archean granulite and amphibolite and that the most contaminated basalts have assimilated ~5% of crust. Uncontaminated basalts are isotopically similar to basalts from Site 918, on the main body of the SDRS, and are light-REE depleted. Consistent with previous models of the development of this margin, we show that at the time of formation of the basalts from Sites 989 and 990 (1) melting was at relatively shallow levels in a fully-fledged rift zone; (2) fragments of continental crust were present in the lithosphere above the zones of melt generation; and (3) the sublithospheric mantle was dominated by a depleted Icelandic plume component.

Om Rök-stenen /

Separate reprint from Antiqvarisk tidskrift för Sverige, vol. 5, Stockholm, 1878.

Of William Morris and his work /

Illustrations of mss. pages of the translated Eyrbyggja saga and Bandamanna saga on p. 29-30.

Gothrici & Rolfi Westrogothiae regum historia lingua antiqua gothica conscripta; quam e m. s. vetustissimo edidit,

Contains also Joh. Buraeus' Monumenta lapidum aliquot runicorum, with woodcuts of runic stones.

Arne Magnussons i AM. 435 A-B, 4to indeholdte håndskriftfortegnelser : med to tillæg /

"The list in A.M. 435B is that of Þormóður Torfason's MSS.-collection, by Árni Magnússon. The appendices consist of a list of Á. Magnússon's purchases at the Rostgaard auction 1726, and a list of MSS. in Bibliotheca Resenii 1685"--Halldór Hermannsson. Cat. of the Icelandic Coll., p. 17.