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Posts published in May 2016

Mass drilling: At a school with guns and teachers trained to use them, emphasis is on escape during attackdrillknifeman

Mass drilling: At a school with guns and teachers trained to use them, emphasis is on escape during attack

By Mark Sabbatini on May 28, 2016
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Read Time:3 Minute, 29 Second

A large masked man stabbing everyone he encountered while running through the halls of Longyearbyen School might have been the ultimate case of bringing a knife to a gun fight – except the teachers toting weapons daily near students rely on a different kind of training.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Burning curiosity: Kids, researchers and dozens of others get a charge out of tours at Longyearbyen’s power plantplantkidquestion

Burning curiosity: Kids, researchers and dozens of others get a charge out of tours at Longyearbyen’s power plant

By Mark Sabbatini on May 27, 2016
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Read Time:1 Minute, 37 Second

Erik Haukalid, 6, is already an expert when it comes to energy production. But it’s still tough explaining in words what’s going on inside that giant building constantly emitting smoke.

“He has seen this large building and he is wondering what this is,” said his father, Snorre, a cultural heritage advisor for The Governor of Svalbard, shortly before joining a group of about a dozen others Saturday for a tour of Longyearbyen’s coal-fired power plant.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Random weirdness for the week of May 24, 2016snowmobilesdrowning

Random weirdness for the week of May 24, 2016

By Mark Sabbatini on May 27, 2016
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Read Time:2 Minute, 23 Second

Call it six degrees above zero of separation, as the four snowmobiles in the picture above are sinking slowly into the salt water just beyond Svalbard Snøscooterutleie since they’re unable to send out an SOS on their own, meaning their owners may soon be SOL.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of May 24, 2016pricywater

Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of May 24, 2016

By Mark Sabbatini on May 27, 2016
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Read Time:1 Minute, 52 Second

400 kr. for a 750ml bottle of ‘luxury’ local water ‘not a lot’
Anyone in Svalbard can drink locally sourced water merely by turning on a tap – or melting ice or snow – but Jamal Qureshi says he believes plenty of people will be willing to pay 400 kroner for a 750-milliliter bottle of his water from the archipelago.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Big Mac attack on Svalbard? Greenpeace says anti-fishing pact ‘big win,’ but impact on industry’s expansion dubiousgreenpeacefishmap

Big Mac attack on Svalbard? Greenpeace says anti-fishing pact ‘big win,’ but impact on industry’s expansion dubious

By Mark Sabbatini on May 25, 2016
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Read Time:1 Minute, 58 Second

Greenpeace says it’s big news McDonald’s is agreeing not to buy cod caught in Svalbard and other Arctic waters. It might be even bigger if McDonald’s hadn’t stopped buying cod altogether nearly a decade ago.

The “big win for the Arctic” announced by the environmental organization this week involves a voluntary agreement companies such as the fast food giant, British grocer Tesco, and several seafood companies such as Young’s Seafood not to support an expansion of commercial fishing in the Arctic.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of May 17, 2016Longyearbyenkindergarten

Briefs from Svalbardposten for the week of May 17, 2016

By Mark Sabbatini on May 21, 2016
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Read Time:1 Minute, 39 Second

Longyearbyen Kindergarten to remain closed permanetly
Longyearbyen Kindergarten, which faced an uncertain future after being closed last year, will now be shut down permanently because the city no longer has enough children to support more than two kindergartens.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Elise Strømseng wins Tyfus Statuette for efforts in a year of high suffering ; Frida Krystad wins youth cultural awardtyfus16

Elise Strømseng wins Tyfus Statuette for efforts in a year of high suffering ; Frida Krystad wins youth cultural award

By Mark Sabbatini on May 17, 2016
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Read Time:3 Minute, 29 Second

During a year when Longyearbyen experienced far more “typhus” than usual, Elise Strømseng was among those who suffered the most. But she also at the forefront of the many who helped relieve the misery.

Strømseng, won this year’s Typus Statuette, presented to “a resident whose work has kept us out of typhus” (the illness being an old Svalbard reference to all things bad from “poorly paid piecework to a sour beer.)”

culture16
Frida Krystad, 15, right, accepts Longyearbyen’s annual youth cultural activities grant from Mayor Arild Olsen during the Syttende Mai gala Tuesday night at Kulturhuset. Photo by Mark Sabbatini / Icepeople.

The award was presented during the annual Syttende Mai gala Tuesday night at Kulturhuset. The evening’s other major award was presented to Frida Krystad, 15, winner of this year’s annual youth cultural activities grant.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Cooler runnings: UNIS students revive race of outrageous sleds as ‘unofficial’ event; could real thing return?furnituresled

Cooler runnings: UNIS students revive race of outrageous sleds as ‘unofficial’ event; could real thing return?

By Mark Sabbatini on May 15, 2016
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Read Time:2 Minute, 27 Second

At first glance it looks like a collection of some slob’s shabby furniture held together with rope and scotch tape. But that’s impossible since it was built in 1974 and used in the bobsledding competition at the Olympics in Lillehammer.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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Random weirdness for the week of May 10, 2016dumtourists

Random weirdness for the week of May 10, 2016

By Mark Sabbatini on May 15, 2016
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Read Time:1 Minute, 16 Second

We’re embarrassed as hell about our screw up last week regarding the “white paper” (which we’re reminding you on the first three pages of this week’s print edition), but at least we’re not the clear Wankers of the Week for once.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
marksabbatini@yahoo.com
http://icepeople.net
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