Amorality Tale

Amorality Tale

By Ben Bova

Only the fact that the Piece Movement spread with the speed of light through Europe, Asia, and Africa has saved our beloved Unted States from total annihilation at the hands of the Godless Communists. Western Europe fell into a frenzy of lust, especially Italy, where the leaning Tower of Pisa finally toppled, but no one noticed or cared. The Pope ordered the Vatican sealed off from all outside contact. No one has heard a word from the Vatican for four months now, although there are rumors that certain of the younger Cardinals have been seen along the Via Venetto, dressed in mufti.

The Warsaw Pact nationa quickly fell to the Piece Movement, Poland being the first to succumb. Accordig to some journalists, the Movement averted an immenent Russian invastion and thus saved the Poles from further repression. Martial law collased overnight (literally) in Poland, and the Russian troops assigned to crush Polish resistance were soon grappling with other matters. Tanks became bordellos, heavy artillery pieces became symbols of the new Movement, and were soon decorated wit flowers by smiling Polish women and laughing Russian soldiers.

Despite every precaution, Russia itself fell to the onslaught. Reliable intelligence reports confirm that the sudden deaths of eight Politburo members (average age, seventy-three) can be attributed to the Movement. The USSR is in chaos, but the Russians do not seem to care.

Amorality Tale. Photo: Elena 

Even China, long a model of organized patience, has gone wild. Someone in Beijing found a maxim of Cunfucius, which, roughly translated, means, « If you can’t beat them, join them. » Seismographs as far away as San Francisco ahve borne vivid testimony to the vigor with which a billion Chinese are copulating.

Australia was the lone holdout, and I must confess that for several weeks I was tempted to emigrate Down Under. Separated from the rest of the world by the purifying ocean, this huge island continent remained steadfasty immune to the Piece Movement, mainly (I am told) because the average Australian male is inordinately shy of women and prefers to drink beer in the company of his fellow men, talkig about sports rather than sex.

Unfortunately, a female American tourist – no doubt an agent provocateur – found the chink in the Aussie armor. She put the proposition in sporting terms. She bet the captain of the Australian Americas Cup yacht crew that his team could not equal the endurance record set recently by the crew of the American yacht, Pulsar. The Aussies accepted her challenge, athough no one seems to know if they won the bet or not. No one has seen any of them since that fateful day.

However, once the average Australian male understood that the national honor was at stake, they leaped into the action with typical Australian enthusiasm. Sales of Foster’s Lager have fallen nearly to zero, and Australian women are raising funds to erect a monument to the Unknown American Tourist

Bushido

Bushido

By Ben Bova

Once his equipment was functioning he plucked a series of test objects – a quartz wristwatch, a bowl of steaming rice, a running video camera – over times of a few minutes. Then a few hours. The first living thig he tried was a flower, a graceful chrysanthemum that was donated byy one of the space station’s crew members who grew the flowers as a hobby. Then a sealed beaker of water teeming with protozoa, specially sent to the station from the university’s biology department. Than a laboratory mouse.

Often the power drain meant that large sections of Shanghai or Hong Kong or one of the other customer cities in Greater East Asia had to be blacked out temporarily. At the gentle insistence of the energy consortium, Konda always timed theses experiments for the sleeping hours betweenn midnight and dawn, locally. That way, transferring the solar power satellites’ beams from the cities on Earth to Konda’s laboratory made a minimum of incovenience for the blacked-out customers.

Carefully he increased the range of his experiments – and his power requirements. He reached for a puppy that he remembered fromm his childhood, the pet of a nurse’s daughter who had sent him digitized messages for a while, until she grew tired of speaking to the digital image of a friend she would never see in the flesh. The puppy appeared in the special isolation chamber in Konda’s apparatus, a ball of wriggling fur with a dangling red tonge. Konda watched it for a few brief moments, then returned it to its natural spacetime, thirty years in the past. His eyes were blurred with tears as the puppy winked out of sight. Self-induced allergic reaction, he told himself as he wiped his eyes.

Bushido. Photo by Elena

He spent the next several days meticulously examining his encapsulated world, looking for changes that might have been caused by his experiment with the puppy. The calendar was the same. The computer programs he had set up specifically to test for changes in the spacetime continuum appeared totally unaffected. Of course, he thought, if I changed history, if I moved the flow of the continuum, everything around me would be changed – including not only the computer’s memory, but my own.

Still, he scanned the news media and the educational channels of hundreds of TV stations all around the world that he orbited. Nothing appeard out of place. All was normal. His experiment had not changed anything. He still had the wasting immunodeficiency disease that his mother had bequeathed him. His body was still rotting away.

He thought of bringing the puppy back and killing it with a painless gas, to see what effect the change would make on history. Bu he feared to tamper with the space-time coninuum until he actually had Yamamoto in his grasp. He wondered idly if he could kill the puppy, then told himself angrily that of course he could; the dog must be long dead by now, anyway

Kerið Lake

Kerið Lake

Vulcanologists used to class Kerið as an explosion crater. Explosion craters are formed in explosive eruptions, which sometimes leave deep craters. However, deeper studies of the Grímsnes area have not revealed the existence of any ash deposits that could be traced to an explosive eruption in Kerið andi t is now believed that it was originally a large scoria crater. It is clear that as much as half of the Tjarnarhólahraun lava flowed from kerið.

In its present form, the crater was probably formed by a small magma chamber beneath the crater being emptied towards the end of the eruption, resulting in a collapse. Beneath a certain level, cavities and fissures in the rock are filled with groundwater, the surface of which is called the water table. The water in Kerið does not drain out, but rises and falls according to changes in the water table. Thus, the crater is like a window on the groundwater.

The crater of the lake was formed about 6,500 years ago and lies at the northern end of a row of craters known as Tjarnarhólar. It is oval, about 270 m long, 170 m wide and 55 m deep: the depth of the water at the bottom varies between 7 and 14 m. According to an old tradition, a rise in the water level here is accompanied by a corresponding fall in the pond on Búrfell in Grímsnes and vice versa.

Kerið lies in the Iceland´s Western Volcanic Zone, which runs through the Reykjanes peninsula and the glacier Langjökull. Traces of volcanism are not very obvious, since most of the eruption sites are low-lying and many of the craters are hidden by vegetation, but three craters in the Grímsnes area are clearly discernable and well-known features: Kerið, Seyðishólar and Kerhóll.

Illustration: A girl standing on top of Kerið, photo taken on 14 September 2016 by Scoundrelgeo – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_girl_standing_on_top_of_Keri%C3%B0.jpg

Hafnarfjördur

Hafnarfjördur

Just a short drive or a bus ride from Reykjavík centre lies the small town of Hafnarfjördur. While technically a suburb of Reykjavík, Hafnarfjördur is an independent community and this charming and vibrant seaside town is well worth the visit to get to know the local spirit.

Home to about 30.000 people, Hafnarfjördur has been a fishing town and port for several centuries, thanks to its natural harbour. The town centre is a charming and cosy environment and just a stone’s throw away is beautiful unspoilt nature – rugged lava fields, clear lakes, and colourful geothermal areas. If you’re lucky, you might even spot one of the Hidden People, as Hafnarfjördur is rumoured to be home to a large population of these mythical creatures from Icelandic folktales and Legends.

The Heart of Town

The heart of Hafnarfjördur is the colourful town centre, down by the harbour. Surrounded by the old-fashioned corrugated iron-clad houses, in all the colours of the rainbow, and with a view of the ocean, the compact Hafnarfjördur town centre gives you an instant feeling of belonging. Following the Strandgata street, you’ll run into a myriad of charming little shops and boutiques, bookstores, designer’s workshops and so on. Many of the shops in Hafnarfjördur are tended to by the owners and designers themselves so take your time to chat with them if you want to get to know the local community. If the weather is less than optimal, don’t fret – simply head to the Fjördur shopping mall, home to several interesting shops and boutiques. The atmosphere is friendly, and the shops sell everything from clothes and jewelry to toys and baked goods!

If you’re feeling hungry, Hafnarfjördur has a wide variety of dining options, everything from fast food to fine dining. New and exciting restaurants have been opening in the centre for the past few years and if you feel like wiling away the hours at a cafe, people-watching or reading a book, you can choose between several establishments where trained baristas serve high-quality coffee and tea.

One part of the town centre merits special mention – the harbour. While Hafnarfjördur still has a bustling harbour with colourful fishing boats bobbing gently by the pier, some of the older factory buildings have found new purpose. In the past few years, new and exciting cafés, restaurants, and shops have been opening their doors in the former industrial area, so be sure to take a stroll along the harbour while you’re there.

Nature

A day in the town centre is a day well spent but if you’re feeling more active, Hafnarfjördur also offers several opportunities to experience natuer. Hafnarfjördur is on the outskirts of the Reykjavík area and surrounding it on most sides are mountains, endless fields of rough lava, and other natural wonders. The town is even sometimes known as the Town of the Lava.

Close to Hafnarfjördur is Mt. Helgafell, one of the most popular hiking spots in the Reykjavík area, The relatively low mountain makes for an easy climb, as the ascent is slow and steady, but due to the flatness of the surrounding landscapes, you’re still rewarded with a spectacular view when you get to the top.

Calm and quiet. Photo by Olga

If you don’t feel like climbing, why not go to the Krysuvik geothermal area? Iceland’s geothermal heat manifests in different ways and in certain regions, the effects of the underground heat are visible on the surface. Steaming fumaroles and bubbling mud pots are surrounded by colourful rock formations at this natural marvel, just a short drive always from Hafnarfjördur.

Hafnarfjördur is close to nature, with green and natural spaces in and around the town. Whether you’re just taking a stroll through Hellsgeroi park in the town centre, or riding a horse through the lava fields surrounding the town, you never feel far from nature in Hafnarfjördur. Take a horse riding tour, go hiking, go on an Elf Walk in Hellisgerdi park or just take a picnic in the Hafnarfjördur area.

Health and Lifestyle

the people of Hafnarfjördur like to keep active and the town’s gyms are a popular place to do so. In the summer, many locals take their training outside, choosing to spend their time running in the beautiful nature or practising their golf swing. Hafnarfjördur’s golf course is one of a kind, surrounded by lava fields and with stunning ocean views.

Much like the rest of Iceland, Hafnarfjördur has an abundance of geothermal heat and puts it to good use with its thermal pools. Hafnarfjördur has three different swimming pools and each of them offers different qualities.

Thermal Pools in Hafnarfjördur

Sudurbaejarlaug: this is perfect pool for basking in the sun on a summer day. There’s an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, hot tubs, steam baths, two waterslides and other toys for the kids to play with: Hringbraut 77, Hafnarfjördur.

Asvallalaug: Opened in 2008, Asvallalaug is the newest pool in Hafnarfjördur. It is particularly family friendly, with a shallowkid’s pool, a wading pool and hot tubs for the parents, all indoors, away from the elements. If you still want to get a little sun, there are also outdoor hot tubs and even a lovely sunbathing area. Asvallalaug is the most easily accessible pool, with a state-of-the-art lift for disabled swimmers. Asvellir 2.

Sundhöll Hafnarfjördur: Hafnarfjördur’s oldest swimming pool, first built as an outdoor swimming pool in 1943 but converted to an indoor pool a decade later. With two outdoor hot tubs as well, this historic swimming pool offers plenty of opportunities to meet some locals and have a quiet swim befor relaxing in the hot tub. Herjolfsgata 10b.

Arts and Culture in Hafnarfjördur

Despite being so close to Reykjavík, Hafnarfjördur has an independent character and a distinct community spirit. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the museums and galleries of the area.

Hafnarfjördur Museum

There’s no place better to get to know the heart and soul of Hafnarfjördur than the Hafnarfjördur Museum. In fact, it’s not just one place, as the museum has exhibitions in a few old houses in the Hafnarfjördur centre, as well as on a walking path by the harbour.

You have the chance to see how a 19th century upper-class family lived in Hafnarfjördur, as well as labourers and fishermen, an exhibition on the town’s maritime and commercial history, and various temporary exhibitions as well. Address: Strandgata 4, Hafnarfjördur.

Hafnarborg

If you’re more interested in art than history, head over to the Hafnarborg (Hafnarfjördur) Center of Culture and Fine Arte, founded in 1983 on a substantial donation by Hafnarfjördur natives and art collectors Sverrir Magnusson and Ingibjörg Sigurjonsdottir. Not only did they donate their art collection but their house as well, and today it houses 10-12 art exhibitions per year. The exhibitions include everything from masterpieces from Icelandic art history to experminetal work by contemporary artists.

After exploring the wonderful museums in Hafnarfjördur, be sure to check out the program at Baejarbid, the town’s culture center and music venue. Built as the town’s cinema, Baejarbid is a historic building and regularly hosts some of Iceland’s most popular artists. Address : Strangata 34, Hafnarfjördur.

Events in Hafnarfjördur

Fishermen’s Day : June. Every fishing town in Iceland celebrates Fishermen’s Day once a year, and Hafnarfjördur is no exception. Every boat is docked by the pier as fishermen and their families join in the two-day celebrations by the harbour.

Vikinghatidin: June. Every year, the Viking village in Hafnarfjördur hosts a Viking fair, a four-day festival celebrating the ancient rites and traditions of the Viking community. The festival settling is a market day in Viking times when ships have brought goods, foods, and people from far across the sea.

June 17th: June 17th is Iceland’s Independence Day, celebrated in every town in Iceland. The people of Hafnarfjördur gather in the town centre as well as other locations around town to celebrate the day with a parade, live music, street art, rides for the kids and plenty of other events.

Christmas Village: November – December. In the weeks before Christmas, the Hafnarfjördur centre is transformed into a winter wonderland, with Christmas music, visits from the Icelandic Yule Lads, horse-drawn carriage rides, and stalls selling everything from Christmas gifts to snacks and hot drinks.

Museum Night: February. Hafnarfjördur’ museums take part in Reykjavík’s Winter Lights Festival’s Museum Night. On Museum Night, the museums stay open until late and put on special Museum Night Programs.

Swimming Pool Night: February. It’s similar concept as Museum Night but this time, it’s the swimming poools that are open late.

At Home Music festival: April. This unconventional music festival takes place every year at the same time as the Bright Days festival. The At Home music festival, or Heima, is an intimate musical experience, where instead of playing large music venues, Icelandic musicians put on shows in the homes and living rooms of Hafnarfjördur locals.

Bright Days: April. The festival takes place around the Fuirst Day of Summer, Iceland’s unique spring holiday, and focuses on the art and culture of the community. Events of the festival include artists in town opening up their workshops, concerts by popular Icelandic artists, children’s entertainment, and a parade in honour of the First Day of Summer

The Castle-in-the-Air Theory

The Castle-in-the-Air Theory

The pros in the investment community have used one of two approaches to assent valuation: the “firm-foundation theory” or the “castle-in-the-air theory”. Millions have been gained and lost in these two categories. To add to the drama, these two theories appear to be mutually exclusive, but the understanding of these two theories is essential if you are to make sensible investment decisions.

The Castle-in-the-Air theory of investing concentrates on psychic values. Lord Keynes, a famous economist and outstandingly successful investor, enunciated the theory most lucidly in 1930. It was his opinion that professional investors prefer to devote their energies not to estimating intrinsic values, but rather to analyzing how the crowd if investors is likely to behave in the future and how during periods of optimism they tend to build their hopes into castles in the air. The successful investor tries to beat the gun by estimating what investment situations are most susceptible to public castle-building and then buying before the crowd.

According to Keynes, the firm-foundation theory involves too much work and is of doubtful value. Keynes practiced what he preached. While London’s financial man toiled many weary hours in crowded offices, he played the market from his bed for half an hour each morning. This leisurely method of investing earned him several million pounds for his account and a tenfold increase in the market value of the endowment of his college, King’s College, Cambridge.

In the depression years in which Keynes gained his fame, most people concentrated on his ideas for stimulation the economy. It was hard for anyone to build castles in the air or to dream that others would. Nevertheless, in his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, he devoted an entire chapter to the stock market and to the importance of investor expectations.

House on the rocky ground. A thing is worth only what someone else will pay for it. Illustration: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

With regard to stocks, Keynes noted that no one knows for sure what will influence future earnings prospects and dividend payments. As a result, Keynes said, most persons are “largely concerned, not with making superior long-term forecasts of the probable yield of an investment over its whole life, but with foreseeing changes in the conventional basis of valuation a short time ahead of the general public.” Keynes, in other words, applied psychological principles rather than financial evaluation, to the study of the stock market. He wrote, “it is not sensible to pay 25 for an investment of which you believe the prospective yield to justify a value of 30, if you also believe that the market will value it at 20 three months hence”.

Keynes described the playing of the stock market in terms readily understandable by his fellow Englishmen: It is analogous to entering a newspaper beauty-judging contest in which you have to select the six prettiest faces out of a hundred photographs, with the prize going to the person whose selections most nearly conform to those of a group as a whole.

The smart player recognizes that personal criteria of beauty are irrelevant in determining the contest winner. A better strategy is to select those faces the other players are likely to fancy. This logic tends to snowball. After all, the other contestants are likely to play the game with at least as keen a perception. Thus the optimal strategy is not to pick those faces the player thinks are prettiest, or those the other players are likely to fancy, but rather to predict what the average opinion is likely to be about what the average opinion will be, or proceed even further along this sequence.

The newspaper-contest analogy represents the ultimate form of the castle-in-the-air theory of price determination. An investment is worth a certain price to a buyer because he expects to sell it to someone else at a higher price. The investment, in other words, holds itself up by its own bootstraps. The new buyer in turn anticipates that future buyers will assign a still-higher value.

In this kind of world there is a sucker born every minute – and he exists to buy your investments at a higher price than you paid for them. Any price will do as long as others may be willing to pay more. There is no reason, only mass psychology. All the smart investor has to do, is to beat the gun – get in at the very beginning. This theory might less charitably be called the “greatest full theory”. It is perfectly all right to pay three times what something is worth as long as later on you can find some innocent to pay five time what it is worth.

The castle-in-the-air theory has many advocates, in both the financial and academic communities. Keynes`s newspaper contest is the same game played by “Adam Smith” in the Money Game. Mr. Smith also espouses the same view of stock price determination. On the academic side, Oscar Morgenstern was a leading champion. The views he expressed in Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, of which he was co-author, have had a significant impact not only on economic theory but also on national security decisions and strategic corporate planning. In 1970 he co-authored Predictability of Stock Market Prices. Here, he and his colleague Clive Granger, argued that the search for intrinsic value in stocks is a search for the will-o`-the-wisp. In an exchange economy the value of any assets depends on an actual and prospective transaction. Morgenstern believed that every investor should post the following Latin maxim above his desk: Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest (A thing is worth only what someone else will pay for it.)