World Oceans Day takes place every 8 June. It has been celebrated unofficially since its original proposal in 1992 by Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[1] The Brundtland Commission, i.e. the World Commission on Environment and Development, provided the inspiration for a global oceans day. The 1987 Brundtland Report noted that the ocean sector lacked a strong voice compared to other sectors. At the first World Oceans Day in 1992, the objectives were to move the oceans from the sidelines to the center of the intergovernmental and NGO discussions and policy and to strengthen the voice of ocean and coastal constituencies world wide.
The Ocean Project, working in partnership with leading organizations from all sectors, including the World Ocean Network, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and many others in its network of 2,000 organizations, has been promoting World Oceans Day since 2002 and together with World Ocean Network led a three-year global petition movement to secure official UN recognition. World Oceans Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in late 2008.[2]
World Oceans Day events are celebrated on 8 June, the closest weekend, the week, and the month of June. The day is marked in a variety of ways, including launching new campaigns and initiatives, special events at aquariums and zoos, outdoor explorations, aquatic and beach cleanups, educational and conservation action programs, art contests, film festivals, and sustainable seafood events. Youth have been playing an increasingly important role since 2015, including the development in 2016 of a World Oceans Day Youth Advisory Council (Wikipedia).
The following recording was recorded at midnight 29th of May in a wonderful weather nearby Hraunhafnartanga peninsula, close by the arctic circle.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at medium level.
Veturinn 2017-2018 hefur verið afar ánægjulegur fyrir þá sem hafa viljað sjá breytingar í verkalýðshreyfingunni. Eru það voandi merki þess að niðurlægingartímabili verkalýðshreyfingarinnar allt frá tímum Guðmundar J Guðmundssonar sé loks á enda.
Hófst það með kosningu Ragnars Þórs Ingólfssonar í stjórn VR og síðan Sólveigar Önna Jónsdóttur í Eflingu. Bæði hafa verið mjög skellegg í umræðunni um bætt kjör.
Það var því nokkur eftirvænting hvað myndi gerast 1. maí í ár, því sá dagur var nokkuð viðburðarríkur ári áður. Þá hélt Ragnar Þór ræðu á sérstökum baráttufund á Austurvelli á meðan gamla verkalýðsforustan með Gylfa Arnbjörnsyni hélt sinn fund á Hallærisplaninu.
Eftir útifundina 1. maí 2017 var Sósialistaflokkurinn stofnaður í Tjarnarbíó. Þar fremstur flokki var og er Gunnar Smári Egilsson sem sjaldnast hefur vafist tunga um tönn í umræðunni um spillingu og fátækt á Íslandi, orsök og afleiðingu.
Með þessu nýja fólki kemur nýtt tungutak sem hljómar eins og himnasending fyrir meðvitða launþega. Tilkoma Ragnars Þórs, Gunnars og nú síðast Sólveigar að mörgum öðrum ólöstuðum, þá er farið að heyrast langþráð tungutak í verkalýðsbaráttunni sem ekki hefur heyrst í áratugi. Fyrri verkalýðsforusta, sem greinilega var og er samgróin atvinnurekendum og fjármálageiranum, kom aldrei orðum að neinu sem máli skipti fyrir almenning, hvað þá að sýnna baráttunni með aðgerðum. Hún hefur fyrst og fremst komið sé fimlega frá aðgerðum gégn arðráni fjármálaaflanna, sjáftök þeirra ofurríku og síauknu launamisrétti.
En svo er það annað mál að hálfu ári liðnu, þegar kjarasamningar verða lausir, hvort ný forysta muni standa við gefin loforð. Því má svo ekki gleyma að almennt launafólk þarf lika að hafa vit, kjark og þor til að taka slaginn með verkalíðshrefingunni og verjast áróðri valdhafa og fjámálaafla
Upptakan sem hér er í boði var tekin upp á Ingólfstorgi 1. maí 2018, þ.e. tveir aðgreindir dagsrárliðir sem skeyttir eru saman. Er það ræða Ragnars og í framhaldi af því söngur almennings á Maístjörnunni og Internationalinum. Þá má heyra í ágætum miðbæjarróna taka nokkuð ákaft undir ræðu Ragnars og í lokin spaugileg, síendurtekin mismæli hjá kynni dagsins sem var Þórarinn Eyfjörð, framkvæmdastjóra SFR.
May day 2018
This is a recording of the VR union leader´s speech and two singalong songs in Mayday 2018. All is in Icelandic. It was recorded Ingólfstorg scuere in downtown Reykjavík.
Kirkjubæjarklaustur (Klaustur) is a village in the south of Iceland on the hringvegur (road no. 1 or Ring Road) between Vík í Mýrdal and Höfn. It is part of the municipality of Skaftárhreppur and has about 500 inhabitants.
Even before the time of the first Norse settlement in Iceland, Irish monks are thought to have lived here. Since 1186, a well known convent of Benedictine nuns, Kirkjubæjar Abbey, was located in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, until the Reformation in 1550. The names of the waterfall Systrafoss („waterfall of the sisters“) and of the lake Systravatn („water of the sisters“) on the highland above the village refer to this abbey. Folk tales illustrate the history with stories about good and sinful nuns. The Systrastapi (sister’s rock) is where two of the convent’s nuns were buried after being burned at the stake. One of the nuns was accused of selling her soul to the Devil, carrying Communion bread outside the church, and having carnal knowledge with men; the other was charged with speaking blasphemously of the Pope. After the Reformation, the second sister was vindicated, and flowers are said to bloom on her grave, but not that of the first nun. Systravatn also has a legend relating to the convent. The nuns traditionally bathed in the lake, and one day two nuns saw a hand with a gold ring extending from the water. When they tried to seize the ring, they were dragged below the water and drowned.
The village became well known in Iceland during the Lakagígar volcano eruptions in 1783. The pastor of the local church and dean of Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla, Jón Steingrímsson (is) (1728 – 1791), delivered what became known as the „Fire Sermon“ (eldmessu) on July 20, 1783. The legend says that this sermon stopped the lava flow, and the village was spared at the last moment. The current church, constructed in 1974, was built in memory of the Reverend Jón Steingrímsson.
Today, the village is an important service center for the farms in the region as well as for tourists and weekend visitors. (Wikipedia)
During summer time many bird species are nesting close to the village and the river Skaftá which flows beside the village. Arctic Terns have a big colony almost in the middle of the village, so many other migrant birds are nesting there too.
The recording was captured early morning 7th of June 2016 and is a part of 7 hours long recording
Many bird species are in this recording, Arctic tern, Red wing, Common Snipe, Whimbrel, Common Redshank, Red-necked Phalarope and probably many other species. What I love most in this recording is in the middle of the recording, is a „special song“ of Eurasian Wigeon which is not a common bird in my recordings.
Quality headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level. Be careful, sometimes the level goes high when birds fly by.
I spend almost 4 days late June 2017 recording in Þjórsárver area, which is a tundra southeast of Hofsjökull glacier. It was shortly after the road administrator open the Sprengisandur route across the highland, so there was still not much traffic. It was very early this summer so it was possible for me to record birds activity in nests.
When I arrived at Eyvindakofaver I saw an Arctic fox sneaking around a stone cairns and an angry Snow Bunting flying around. It was a clear message for something interesting to record.
The weather was boring for recording. It was cloudy, the temperature about 4°C and the wind was SW, 5-10 m/sec. But the stone cairn was a suitable cover for the microphones. So I put up my gear and started recording just before midnight and then went to sleep.
At 3:40 the wind suddenly went down for about 30 minutes which was the only minutes with calm weather this four days in the area. Calm weather means normally better detail recording for the birds’ activity and deeper listening to far distance sounds.
Usually Snow Bunting lay eggs two times during the summer so this was likely the previous nesting time.
It is necessary to listen to the whole recording but suddenly something happens in the nest which we humans can guess was probably a brutal rape or other domestic violence.
If you think this was something else, feel free and leave a comment below.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening in silence at low level, or in speakers at low level.
(256 kbps / 59,4Mb)
Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Sennheiser MKH20 NOS
Pics: Canon EOS-M
Weather. Cloudy, around +3°C, SW, 2m/s
Location: 64.613944, -18.575462
Hér er á ferðinni lágstemmd hljóðupptaka sem beinlínis lýsir ljóðrænni sveitasælu út við sjó. Hún er tekin upp við Kópavog fyrir neðan bæinn Ófeigsfjörð við samnefndan fjörð á Ströndum.
Ímyndaðu þér að þú liggir þar með lokuð augun á grasbala rétt ofan við fjöruna við hliðina á lækjarsprænu sem rennur þar til sjávar. Þú ert þar milli svefns og vöku, það er logn og sólin vermir skrokk og grundir. Lágstemmd en þung undiraldan lemur sandfjöruna fyrir neðan þig og þú heyrir í henni jafn vel neðan úr jörðinni sem ofan.
Nú stefnir allt í að þessi sveitasæla sé að hverfa á þessum dásamlega stað.
Það hefur væntanlega ekki farið fram hjá nokkrum manni að innlendir sem erlendir braskarar hafa gengið hart í því að fá að virkja Hvalá sem rennur í Ófeigsfjörð. Mikil andstaða er við þessi virkjanaáform. Hafa braskararnir því mútað fólki með ýmsum hætti s.s. með loforðum um innviðauppbyggingu ofl.
Ég ætla ekki það skrifa meira um þetta hér, en vísa á fréttir og blaðagreinar.
There are not many places left in Iceland where it is possible to have peace from traffic or feel as you are in clean unspoiled nature. But one of this places is in the northeast Iceland named Hornstrandir and Strandir.
But now, „business“ gangsters are planing to build a power plant in the river Hvalá that flows into the fjord, Ófeigsfjörður at Strandir.
Following recording was recorded in June 2015 below the old farm Ófeigsfjörður which will be just a typical noisy place in the future if the business gangsters are going to build the power plant just few kilometers north of the recording place.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at medium level.
(mp3 256kbps / 56Mb)
Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics: Rode NT1a (NOS)
Pix: Canon EOS M
Recording location: 66.049968, -21.703009
Weather. Calm, sunny, about 14°C
For me nothing is as pleasant as laying in the grass on a warm summer day in good distance from human activity, looking at the sky and listen to the wind wipe the grass until I fall a sleep.
This is something I did the 30th of July 2017 when I decided to visit places I remembered as a child, almost 50 years ago. It was at my grandparents´ farmland, Efri-Brú, which they owned most of the last century.
About 2 km northeast of the farm is a place named Hvítingshæðir. There is an old ruin of sheep shield, surrounded in grass field and remnants of old fence. This sheep shield in Hvítingshæðir was one of three or four sheep houses in distance from the main farm buildings. These sheep shields were usually built in places where it was easy to mow and keep hey for sheep during the winter months.
There is not much going on in this recording. Many decades have passed since farming was in the area and most birds are quiet this time of the day. So gust is playing the main role in the recording.
This was one the first recording I did with my parallel MKH8020/8040 AB setup in Rycote windshield. It was recorded on four channels with 50dB gain and HPF at 80Hz.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level.
It was very nice weather this evening. The downtown was almost overcrowded with people which was shopping or just walking around to feel and smell the atmosphere of Christmas.
It was calm so the town smelled strongly of cloves, toasted knead, spirit, red vine, beer, all kinds of perfume, tobacco and even weed…and what is never missing in Reykjavik, a smell of exhaust from traffic.This was perfect weather to catch the sound of the Christmas rush hour.
Just 30 second after I start the recording, I heard beautiful singing voices. There were six singers of female song group „Jólabjöllurnar“.
I placed my self around 4 meters from the singers. Behind me was the audience on their walk who stopped for a moment to listen. The heavy background noise is mostly from car traffic, as usual.
This recording is captured with DIY binaural microphone rig which I just finished to prepare several hours before the recording. It contains two matched pair of parallel Primo EM172 capsules, connected to LOM phantom power adapter (see pictures).
I spent two hours walking around recording this evening. I noticed some audible time error between left and right channel in 30-40° around the rig which means the rig needs some changes in the future. But the funny thing is this time error sounds like a perfect „sound effect“ in combination with this well trained singers.
This was recorded on Lækjatorg square in Reykjavik town center between 9 – 10 pm.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at mid level.
Lækjartorg á Þorláksmessu 2017
Það var ótrúlega gott veður þessa Þorláksmessu. Miðbærinn var líka troðfullur af fólki, sem liklega skiptist jafn milli Íslendinga og útlendinga sem voru að versla, sýna sig og sjá aðra.
Þar sem ég gekk austur Austurstræti og var var nýbúinn að ræsa upptökutækið þá mátti heyra fagran söng frá Lækjartorgi. Ég gekk á hljóðið og þar var þá sextett fagurra kvenna að syngja jölalög.
Ég mátti til með að ná þessum söng á upptökutækið og gerði það þar til yfir lauk.
(mp3 256kbps / 44Mb)
Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Primo EM172
Pix: Samsung Galaxy6
It was a BBC article „’Worrying alarm call’ for world’s birds on brink of extinction“ which reminded me about several recordings I have made of seabirds in cliffs. This recordings are not many or interesting, but who knows how this cliffs will sound in the future when the climate change has changed or destroied the livelihood for many bird species.
So what ever about the quality of this recording is, it can be valuable in the future. Just imagine if we had been given the opportunity to record the Great Auk before it became extinct in the mid- 19th century. It would have been wonderful.
We are loosing some animal species almost every month on the planet. So it is very important to record as much as we can of the biosphere now and in the future…even though it is as likely the recordings will disappeared after several years for just „technical reason“.
„Krýsuvíkurbjarg is a wave-cut cliff that rises from the sea in the lava of Krýsuvíkurhraun.
There are many bird nests found there, approximately 60,000 pairs consisting of 9 kinds of sea birds. The black-legged kittiwak (Rissa tridactyla) is the most common one, a common migrant found in many places in Iceland. It’s population in Iceland is estimated to be about 630.000 birds, what is an interesting fact since the population of people is only 330,000 in the country! The estimated number of kittiwaks in Krísuvíkubjarg is about 21,000 birds.
Common murre (Uria aalge) is a large auk also found in Krýsuvíkurbjarg. They make no nest, their single egg is incubated on a bare rock ledge on a cliff face. Their breeding can be very tight up to 70 birds on each square meter. Interestingly, the young are considered ready to leave their nest only three weeks old, but the male bird teaches the young how to hunt in the beginning. The estimated number of the Common murre in Krýsuvíkubjarg is about 20.000 birds
There are other kinds found on the cliff, but with smaller amounts of birds.The razorbill (Alca torda), The thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia). The northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) can be found there, but is not as common as it is in Vestmannaeyjar. The European shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis). The European herring gull (Larus argentatus) is there and the black guillemot or tystie (Cepphus grylle). Above the cliff edge other kinds can be found like the purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) and The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis).“ (discover.is)
This recording was made 11th of July 2016.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level.
Októberbyltingin var bylting í Rússlandi árið 1917. Hún er kölluð svo vegna þess að hún fór fram í október skv. júlíanska tímatalinu sem þá var í gildi í Rússlandi en samkvæmt gregoríska tímatalinu var dagsetninginn 7. nóvember, og er miðað við þann dag þegar byltingarinnar er minnst. Októberbyltingin var vopnuð uppreisn í Petrograd (núna Sankti Pétursborg) og kom í kjölfar febrúarbyltingarinnar sem hafði gerst sama ár. Októberbyltingin steypti af stóli bráðabirgðastjórn Aleksandr Kerenskij og færði völdin í hendur ráða sem var stjórnað af bolsévikum. Í kjölfar byltingarinnar kom fram nýtt stjórnarkerfi byggt á nýjum hugmyndum sem leiddi af sér stofnun Sovétríkjanna. (Wikipedia)
Að sama skapi þá breytti byltingin í Rússlandi allri pólitík á vesturlöndum, því í kjölfar hennar fékk almenningur auknar kjarabætur, heilsugæslu og betra skólakerfi frameftir síðustu öld.
Vinstri menn á Íslandi fjölmenntu og héldu upp á þennan viðburð í Iðnó 7. nóvember 2017 með skemmtilegri samkomu þar sem haldnar voru hressilegar ræður, kveðið og sungið á víxl í tæpa þrjá klukkutíma.
Að sjálfsögðu mætti ég með upptökutæki og tók upp viðburðin meðal gesta í miðjum sal. Sú upptaka sem hér heryrist eru tveir dagsrárliðir sem áttu sér stað eftir hlé. Annars vegar er það ræða Vésteins Valgarðssonar og svo lokaatriðið þar sem allir sungu Internationalinn, öll sex erindin þar sem Þorvaldur Þorvaldsson leiðir sönginn og frændi hans, Þorvaldur Örn Þorvaldsson, spilar á gítar.
Því miður er hljóðkerfið í Iðnó afskaplega lélegt. Hljómgæðin eru því skelfileg þó upptaka hafi heppnast með ágætum.
October Revolution 100 years anniversary
At the 7th of 2017 many socialists and other left wing folks in Reykjavik calibrated the 100th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution.
The program included inspired speeches, poetry and songs and singalong songs that lasted for almost three hours. This recording contains two of this programs, an Icelandic speech and then singalong song of The Internationale in full version in Icelandic.
I think I need to apologize for the poor sound quality in this recording but it is mainly because of the sound system of the house.
(mp3 224Kbps / 37Mb)
Recorder: Olympus LS100
Mics: Primo EM172 (Binaural)
Location: Iðnó, Reykjavík
Pix: from the www
Á örfáum árum hefur ójöfnuður aukist gríðarlega á Íslandi, einkum frá aldamótum, þó upphafið megi rekja lengra aftur í tímann.
Eignir og auðlindir þjóðarinnar hafa sópast til örfárra einstaklinga. Nú er svo komið að aðeins 5% þjóðarinnar á jafn mikið og hin 95%. Ef nánar er farið út í þetta þá eiga 20% landsmanna 90% allra eigna og þar með eiga 80% landsmanna aðeins 10%.
Þessum ójöfnuði hefur verið stjórnað af orfáum ættarklíkum, eins konar Oligarch, sem hafa alla tíð komið sínu fólki til valda á Alþingi í „frjálsum“ kosningum. Það sem verra er, þeir hafa svo í gegnum tíðina komið sínu velvildarfólki í allar mikilvægar stöður í ráðuneytum og stofnunum ríkisins. Þessu fólki er svo ómögulegt að skipta út þó almenningur kjósi annað.
Þessar valdaklíkur eiga líka flesta fjölmilðana sem eru verulega litaðir af áróðri og heilaþvotti oligarkanna.
Eftir bankahrunið í október 2008 hefur spillingin í samfélaginu sífellt orðið augljósari þrátt fyrir að öllum fréttum og upplýsingum um slíkt sé haldið í lágmarki á fréttamiðlum oligarkanna. Fréttamönnum sem fara út í slikt, er sagt upp störfum eða þeir lögsóttir. Vísað er til alls kyns óljósra laga, kerfisvillna, þagnarskyldu eða málum einfaldlega ekki svarað.
En hægt og sígandi hefur spillingin samt sem áður verið dregin fram í dagsljósið. Þökk sé fólki sem hefur þor og þolinmæði til að berjast fyrir réttlæti, og vinnusömum fréttamönnum sem hafa þorað að leita sannleikanns. Samfélagsmiðlar hafa stöðugt minnt á einstök mál sem litlu óháðu fjölmiðlarnir kryfja til mergjar.
Ekki verður farið nánar út í einstök spillingarmál hér, en meðfylgjandi upptaka var tekin upp 4. apríl 2016 á mótmælum á Austurvelli þegar upp komst að þáverandi forsætisráðherra, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson og spúsa hans, höfðu tengst aflandseyjareikningum. Hann sagði svo af sér daginn eftir þessi mótmæli. Þáverandi fjármálaráðherra Bjarni Benediksson, var lika flæktur í ýmiss konar brask en að vanda slapp með ótrúlegum hætti.
Nú þegar 9 ár eru liðin frá bankahruninu þá eru valdaklíkurnar sem ollu hruninu enn við stjórn á Íslandi. Þjóðin er tvíklofin. Annars vegareru það þeir sem vilja breytingar og bætt samfélag og svo hinir, sem láta stjórnast af áróðri, yfirgangi og græðgi oligarkanna.
Upptakan er góð áminning um að íslenska þjóðin þarf nauðsynlega að takast á við breytingar. Þjóðin verður að fara að tileinka sér jafnrétti, samkennd, jöfnuð og bræðralag.
HLJÓÐMYND - SOUNDIMAGE 