Less than 5 seconds

It's amazing how many of you people can finish in less than 5 seconds.

It takes almost 5 seconds to read this line, so yes that's fast.

I was just checking my blog's visitor statistics and I am not surprised to I find that it doesn't matter what I write about, people keep coming here looking for Icelandic girls. Well, I admit that Icelandic women are...how should I put it, very clickable but still, in all humbleness I believe that there is more to this blog than beautiful Icelandic girls talking about how good life is or just generally looking hot.

Anyway, what I was starting to say is that from all the millions of visitor this blog gets per week, about 85% stay less than 5 seconds. Now come on, Less than 5 seconds?! Even a superficial guy like me who likes simple things in a silver spoon straight to the mouth dedicate more than 5 seconds to the boring charades of unimportant strangers.

And what about all the Icelandic girls? Even they require more than 5 seconds for almost anything they do, almost.

Besides, what possibly can you see in less than 5 seconds and already decide that you got to get out of here so soon?

I guess it all doesn't matter now, tomorrow I'm leaving the icy rock and going back to the middle east for 3 weeks. I wont be here to tell you about my adventures and give you updates from my recent statistics charts but I'll be with you in my heart and soul and unless I'll have something worthy to say to you (that will justify you'll spend for little bit over 5 seconds) I'll just say, hasta la vista for now.

Jews, Israelis and the Noble prize

The Nobel, the famous of all prizes, divided since 1901 following the will of Alfred Nobel, Swedish industrialist and inventor of the dynamite.

Analysis of the first 100 years of the prize-giving shows that the weight of Jewish Nobel laureates is not proportional to the percentage of the Jewish population in the world, or even their percentage only in the western world. This amazing statistic shows us that 21% of Nobel Prize winners are Jews or half Jews (Jews by the father).

The number of Jews in the world, during these first 100 years, relative to the average total population in that period, was lower than 0.3% (up to the Holocaust the Jews were an average of nearly 0.4% of the world population). In other words, the number of Noble prizes won by Jews was totaling more than 70 times their weight in the population!

Here are some number, In Economics 20 of 51 (39%, it should be noted that the Nobel Prize in Economics is presented only since 1969). Literature 11 of 99 (11%), Nobel Peace Prize 11 of 95 (12%). Altogether 155 Jews (and half Jews) out of the 731 winners in 100 years.

These numbers have proven the "Jewish genius", no less. No matter how you look at the numbers, they're amazing. 39% of Nobel Prize winners are Jews. The gentiles always claimed that the Jews excel in commerce and economics. Anti-Semitic doctrines were build base on that fact. Nobel Prize proves that there's apparently some truth in it.

Sorting by country the United States swept most of the awards (232 Nobel Prizes in the 20Th century) followed by Germany (83) and Britain (80). Later the numbers going sharply down with France (49) and (31) awards to Sweden. Then Russia (20) Switzerland (20), Italy (18) Netherlands (16) Denmark (13) and thus ends the first ten winners among the states in 100 years history of Nobel Prize in the 20Th century.

Why Israelis didn't win Nobel in science during the first century?

Until the Nobel winnings of Israelis in the beginning of this century, the question must be asked. Why were so few Israelis? (Peres and Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize, Agnon won the Nobel Prize for Literature) Why Israelis never won a Nobel in science? Is it because the scientific community in Israel is lagging behind the rest of the world? Is it due of relatively low achievements? Are we so busy with security problems until we can't find the time and resources to invest in science? Perhaps, God erased the mind of the Jews the moment they moved back to their fathers land... There were also raised allegations of anti-Israel committees, conspiracy and what not.

Answers to these questions should be investigated, but all that changed with the winning of Kahneman in Nobel Prize in Economics back in 2002. What came after was even better, since the beginning of the 21St century Israel came to be first place in winnings per person, no less.

Since the beginning of the 21St century Israel is the first in Nobel prizes per capita.

The winning by Prof. Ada Yonath from the Weizmann Institute in Chemistry this year increased to five the number of Nobel Prizes won by Israelis since the beginning of the century. Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2002, Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004 and Robert Aumann won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2005. It is also important to note that in the 21St century all of Israeli winnings were in science.

Since the beginning of the 21St century, a total of 119 Nobel Prizes (usually two winners per prize) were given. Israel with a population which is approximately 0.1% of the world population received over 4% of the awards, 40 times their number in the world's population. But the really amazing achievement is that since the turn of the 21st century, Israel is the world's first Nobel prizes winner per capita. Israelis are Nobel Prize winners at a ratio of one every 1.5 million residents. Austria which is in the second place received awards for one of every 2.8 million people. Britain, one of every 5.5 million people. U.S., received one of every 6 million people.

Since the beginning of the 21st century Israel is sixth place in the world in Nobel Prizes in general (including peace and literature)!

It should be noted that the classification was done according to the citizenship of the winners, this way the U.S. gets 50 prizes, when the actual number is 65 laureates who actually live there today (including the Israeli Kahneman).

It is also interesting to note that Sweden, which was world champion receiving the Nobel Prizes per capita in the first century since Nobel begun, with an average of slightly more than 3 awards per decade, received only one Nobel Prize since the beginning of the 21St century. It's hard to ignore the fact that the Swedes themselves are part of the award committee, a fact which probably explains why so many candidates were actually Swedish. Switzerland and Denmark were second and third place in the 20Th century. Since the beginning of the 21St century Switzerland is with one Noble and Denmark with none.

Of course it's too early to predict statistics for a whole century. The statistics of the 20Th century suggest that the Swedes, Swiss and Danish are always strong candidates for the Nobel.

Iceland with a population of 310,000 won one Noble so far. Haldor Laxness won a Noble prize in literature back 1965. One noble for such a tiny nation puts Iceland way up in the scale as far as the statistics shows.

Amazing Iceland

Iceland - experience of a life time

Iceland is a kind of place that only mentioning its name brings a cold wave through the body. But slowly, without making too much fuss, this wonderful country designates as one of the hottest tourist spots in Europe.
The reasons for that are primarily resulting from spectacular natural sites Iceland offers to tourists, among them hot springs, spas, colorful glaciers, active volcanoes, geysers, snow-covered mountains and frozen lava deserts. With these breathtaking landscapes, vacation in Iceland would allow you a glimpse into the rich culture of the country, its special folklore tradition and fascinated history.

Despite its vastness large area, only about 320,000 inhabitants live in Iceland, with over half of them live in the capital area of Reykjavik.

Iceland - little bit history

Before you leave for vacation in Iceland it's better to learn a little about the country's rich history.

The first inhabitants of the island were Irish monks who found comforting solitude in the uninhabited island. After the 9Th century the first permanent settlers reached Iceland from Norway. From its early beginning parliamentary regime was established in Iceland with a constitution. So began the period of enlightened peace on the island that lasted until the 13Th century and ended by a following a wave of political violence and betrayals.

Harald I, King of Norway, took advantage of the situation and threw his authority on the island which soon became a province of Norway. Here began dark period which characterized by volcano eruptions of Mt. Hekla and epidemics that interrupted the trade and supply lines to the state and beyond.

In the late 14Th century the control of Iceland moved to the hands of Denmark, a fact which not contributed much to the improvement the situation. Only in 1918 the Danish government released Iceland which became an independent country under the auspices of Denmark monarchy. After the occupation of Denmark during World War II, Iceland finally received full independence.



Vacation in Iceland - think out of the box

Right back to the present, vacation in Iceland will expose you to the wealth of tourist experiences which is hard to find elsewhere in the world.

Hiking fans will find unlimited possibilities here ranging from several hours to two weeks in places like Landmannalaugar, Hornstrandir and Látrabjarg.

Ski lovers will enjoy wonderful sites in places like Akureyri and Bláfell not far from Reykjavik. Also snow sleds riding, river rafting or horseback riding are popular activities throughout the country.

Visitors to Iceland must spend some time in the capital Reykjavik, where they can find plenty of parks, markets and museums. Plays, opera performances and movies in the original language is a common thing in the Icelandic capital as well as lively discos and nightlife.

The official tourist season of Iceland is very short, starting on May 31 and ends on September 1. These are three months each year when one million tourists come for vacation in Iceland and have an unique experience.

Flights to Iceland are available directly from more than 25 major destinations throughout Europe, USA and Canada.

If you are looking for a slightly different experience, think outside the box and book your flight to Iceland for an experience of a life time - a vacation in Iceland will provide you all this and lot more.