Greetings from Iceland. This northern island is more alive than ever, bursting with energy, activity and hospitality. Take a look for yourself – click and be inspired by Iceland!

Shared by Gissur, a Cold United facebook fan. Thanks a lot, Gissur!

Photo: Ronald Menti -  Flickr Source

Bolot, what is the weather like  in Yakutsk?

Susan, what is the weather like  in Canada?

Karl, what is the weather like  in Sweden?

amazingsnow, what is the weather like  in Spain?

Everybody, what is the weather like ?

In a car dealership in Genf

YAKUTSK – A local popular newspaper, Yakutsk Verchenyj, decided to surprise the residents of the coldest Siberian city and give them the New Year festive mood. Its workers have put Santa Clause’s hat on the head of Lenin Statue on the main square. See how it looked. In a few hours city officials said “That’s not good!” and took it off. Locals liked Lenin’s look

Happy New Year!

About a Boy Special

Ms Merkel’s Christmas Adventure (1 / 3)

 BY SEBASTIAN DALKOWSKI – last update: 24.12.2009 – 18:18

Duesseldorf (RPO). Our columnist gets bored at Christmas and therefore think of a three-part adventure with the Chancellor. In the first episode Ms. Merkel arrives at the end of the world.

“Friends, the ice has cost another 10 pfennig the ball.” Photo: AP

 Mrs Merkel was sweating like the underside of a lid, which lay on a pot of boiling water. She liked to draw early in the morning to ski their lonely orbits through the snow, but Mr. Sauer and they had long ceased to be in Switzerland, and she was a little out of practice. Now, at Christmas, they had finally found the time. With joy she thought of the evening, Christmas Eve. You, Mr. Sauer, the food, the tree, the gifts, the gifts, the gifts.

The sound that launched the failure of these plans was initially low. Mrs Merkel is hardly heard as loudly as she panted. Then she stopped in amazement and turned around. In the distance, a black van drove up. The track would destroy the whole beautiful, thought Mrs. Merkel. Driving here was not allowed at all.

Then she sat down again on the move. The noise grew louder. Mrs. Merkel stopped again, turned around and looked angrily at the van, which was slower and slower and finally stopped a few feet away from her.

“What are you thinking?” She cried, pointing a bird, still got out before anyone. The driver did not move. It was only then she noticed that he wore a black balaclava.
“Oh,” thought Mrs. Merkel, “I better be leaving.”
But no sooner had she turned, jumped two men, who also wore ski masks, from the hold into the snow. Three seconds later, Mrs. Merkel was black before his eyes.

She had no idea how long she had been unconscious when she awoke. She sat in the backseat of a small car, driving a man with a fur cap. She looked out the window. It was pitch black. The light from the headlights was swallowed by a few meters.

When Mrs. Merkel move her arms wanted, she put down that they were fastened with a rope at the door. This was the first time that she was not so sure, to spend Christmas Eve with Mr. Sauer too.
“Can you please tell me what’s the point?” She asked the driver.
“They have been kidnapped.”
“But you already know that I am the Chancellor of Germany and soon all will be looking for me?”
“Mrs Merkel,” the driver turned to her, “if you were not the Chancellor of Germany, we had not kidnapped you.”
“And why have you kidnapped me?”
“It will find out soon enough.”
“And where are we here?”
“At the end of the world.”
“Is there something more?”
“Later, Mrs Merkel later on.”

The car reached the outskirts of a city. Only now, Mrs Merkel knew that everything was covered with snow, even the street. After two minutes the car stopped. The man got out and opened the side door. The Chancellor felt a chill despite her ski suit when they bite a sheep dog on the whole body.
“Listen carefully to me, Ms. Merkel. They would rather do what I say or you sit here any longer in the cold. I now redeem your bonds, then we’ll go a few steps and then we are back in the warm. ”
“Please, please, please hurry up, my nose is already frozen off.”
“It’s still only the nose.”

Half a minute later, she sat leaning against the wall of a room. The heat streamed back into her body. The man tied her again and disappeared. Mrs Merkel looked around. Only the glowing coals of a furnace gave off a faint light.
“Hello.”
Terrified Mrs Merkel look turned to one side. There was a man in his pyjama and bare feet, his hands were also tied with a rope. The face was familiar to her. She had to have seen it before. Perhaps on television.
“Mr. Obama, what are you doing here?”
“I can tell you, unfortunately, only in the next episode.”

The next episode will appear tomorrow, on the first Christmas Day.

About a Boy Special

Ms Merkel’s Christmas Adventure (2 / 3)

BY SEBASTIAN DALKOWSKI – last update: 25.12.2009 – 21:11

Dusseldorf (RPO). Our columnist gets bored at Christmas and therefore think of a three-part adventure with the Chancellor. In the second episode Merkel finds out who has kidnapped her.

 “I and wise? How did you get that?” Photo: AP

The story so far: Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Obama seated in a room, are tied up and not know where they are.

“So Mr. Obama, what are you doing here?”
“If I once knew. Last night I woke up because I had such a thirst. So I went into the kitchen and poured me a glass of apple juice. Then I heard this noise in the garden. I went outside onto the lawn, because someone grabbed me. And the next thing I remember is, as I’m sitting in a car and was driven hither. And you, Frau Merkel? ”
“Mr. Obama, Mrs. Merkel, is that you? It’s me, Mr. Sarkozy. ”
“He’s just me … Mr. Sarkozy, what are you doing here?”, Said Mr. Obama.
“I’ve been kidnapped.”
“You do not say, I thought, here you go on holiday.”
“Now do not start fighting themselves,” said Ms Merkel. “Mr Sarkozy, why do not you come over?”
“I’m tied up with rope to a pipe.”
“Me too.”
“Who was that?”, Said Mr. Obama.
“It is I, Wen Jiabao.”
“Who?”
“Well, the Chinese prime minister.”
“Well, you say that but equal.”
“Why did they abducted us is everybody?”, Said Ms Merkel, “and at Christmas. That is heartless. ”
“What is Christmas?” Asked Mr. Jiabao, when the door opened, the lights were switched on and entered three men in thick coats the room.

 “What is all this?” Mr Sarkozy said, “you’ll get really angry.”
“Do not threaten us,” said the man in the middle, “you will be really angry.”
“Where are we here?”, Said Ms Merkel.
“You know immediately. Excuse me, that we can spoil the Christmas or whatever you celebrate, but we saw no other way. May I introduce myself? I’m Yuri Sabolew, the mayor of Yakutsk in Siberia and now you can also think of where you are. You know Yakutsk, perhaps because it is in winter, the coldest major city in the world. Minus 50 degrees are not uncommon. The milk we sell here in slices and the cars keep running, because otherwise the engine will not start. ”

“And why do you think we’re stuck here?” Asked Mr. Jiabao.
“Just be patient. A few weeks ago I cleaned up my attic and came across a newspaper from the year 2050. ”
“That’s not at all,” said Ms Merkel.
“That’s what I thought, but the newspaper now lay times. In the newspaper, an article was titled, Yakutsk – the coldest major city in the world ‘. Do you know how to began? ”
“They will probably tell us immediately,” said Mr Obama.
“Not so unfriendly. The first sentence reads: In the winter nights, it is sometimes so cold in Yakutsk, the residents have to put on a sweater instead of a T-shirt. A few weeks ago, it was actually so cold that the fogged windows of cars and people had to turn on the wipers. Some of the older ones remember them even more than the last time a few snowflakes fell. ”
“And now what is your problem?” Said Obama.
“What a life we can not imagine. We love our thick fur jackets and boots, and that we buy our milk in glass. Most of us have no idea how to attract a T-shirt or on a non-frozen roads driving a car. ”

“That’s all very regrettable,” Sarkozy said, “but what we have to do with it?”
“It is obvious that climate change is to blame for this development, and they are all guilty of the climate change.”
“I protest,” said Ms Merkel, “we’re very committed.”
“Nonsense. In Copenhagen, you have agreed in principle to destroy humanity. ”
“The great people of the Chinese people will never perish,” said Mr. Jiabao, “but I still do not understand why you had to take us so.”
“It’s simple: They should stop the development and guarantee here on the spot to limit warming to two degrees.”
“Impossible,” said Mr. Obama, “we are a large industrial nation.”
“And we are still growing, we have produced hundreds of little carbon dioxide, we have some catch up,” said Mr. Jiabao.
“We would indeed be happy, but if the others do not go along, our economy is clearly at a disadvantage,” said Ms Merkel.
“So at least we have many nuclear power plants,” said Mr Sarkozy.

The man sighed.
“I was afraid that you would not be convinced so easily.”
“Now, let’s have been under way,” said Mr. Obama, “Let’s see what we can do. Promise. ”
“So simple you can not get away from me. They will remain here until you have given me a promise. ”
“But we have just said already, why not,” said Ms Merkel.
Wait and see “. See this coal stove there? Coal still about enough for three hours, then the cold creeping through the walls and within an hour you’ll loose here minus 30 degrees have. Then you will think differently, perhaps. ”
“You can not do,” said Ms Merkel, “it is murder.”
“What you are doing, murder,” said Mr. Sabolew.
“If I get out of here, then you’ve done something like that from,” said Mr Obama.
“If you’re not careful, you come here only frozen out.”
“The whole world is looking confident now,” said Ms Merkel.
“I do not think so. Do you think we should kidnap you can without the help of your environment? Mrs Merkel’s why it was that Mr. Sauer was skiing you alone, and who has cooked your food so salty that you had to get out for a drink, Mr. Obama? There are enough people around you who do not agree with your politics. Simply call if you have changed their minds. ”
He turned off the lights and left the room with his companions.

For a while nobody said anything.
Then Mrs Merkel said: “We must do something.”
“Fear not,” Mr. Obama said, “For unto you is born a Savior. Me, Barack Obama has chosen the divine destiny to free ourselves from this situation. In a few hours we will again sit with our families and celebrate Christmas, while outside the snow trickles. With my strength and my mind, anything is possible. Peace be with you. ”
“Amen.” And you have an idea? “, Said Mr Sarkozy.
“Nope.”

Two hours later, the last piece of coal burnt in the furnace. On the back, someone had written in white chalk “Cliffhanger”.

The final episode will appear tomorrow, the day after Christmas.

About a Boy Special

Ms Merkel’s Christmas Adventure (3 / 3)

BY SEBASTIAN DALKOWSKI – last update: 26.12.2009 – 09:36

Dusseldorf (RPO). Our columnist gets bored at Christmas and therefore think of a three-part adventure with the Chancellor. In the last episode she manages to escape from the kidnappers – she thinks.

“Good day, you’ve ever thought about changing the phone provider?” Photo: ddp

The story so far: Merkel and other leaders have been kidnapped in the Siberian city of Yakutsk and freeze, if not stop them to climate change.

“And if we agree but to limit the warming?” Said Ms Merkel.
“In no case,” said Mr. Obama, “and also – let’s wait for the first time how cold it really is. Maybe it’s not as bad as we think.

Half an hour later, Mr Jiabao said: “It is much worse than we think. It feels as if I were a piece of meat into a lion’s cage. ”
“So I am not cold at all,” said Mr. Obama and his teeth chattered, “and I do not even have shoes on.”
“I would remind you that we can always give in yet.”
“Mrs Merkel, helping us to a world where we are all broke? Then would rather wealthy, and no world, “said Mr Obama.
“Friends, I think I can free myself,” said Mr Sarkozy, “the tube, to which I am bound, has a rough spot. When I scrub the rope round about it, tore it. ”
“Then once you scrub quickly,” said Mr Obama.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr Sarkozy was free. He turned on the light and broke the chains of others.
“And what do we do now?” He asked.
“How good that I am among you,” said Mr Obama. “If I understand it, we find ourselves in a garage. There, the men got in and over there is the garage door. We ran out easy to put us into a car and disappear. ”
“Good idea,” said Ms Merkel, “do you begin?”
“Of course not. Who knows if the garage door is not guarded. And we can not afford to lose the head of our group. Whom can we give most? Mr Sarkozy … ”
“I cut you like one on the mouth. I will not go before.”
“And I’m a woman.”
“And I represent the concerns of a billion Chinese.”
“Rather, you beat up the concerns of a billion Chinese people,” Obama said.
“Please?”
“Gentlemen, it’s not worth it to argue about the issue of human rights. Now it’s more important. So who comes first? ”
Nobody answered. Silently they sat down again and shakes for a while. This went on for half an hour, then suddenly jumped on all at once, tearing the garage door up and ran outside. It was pitch black.
“We need a car,” said Mr. Sarkozy, “otherwise we are lost.”
After two minutes, they actually found one with the engine running on the roadside. The mayor had not lied.
“I’m going,” said Mr Obama.
“You can not drive at all,” said Mr Sarkozy.
“I’m going,” said Ms Merkel, “please enter them all.”

As they sat in the car, Mrs. Merkel pushed the accelerator. After two minutes they were out of town.
“And where are we going?” She asked.
“Just ahead, for sure soon be behind us,” said Mr Obama. “Eventually, we arrive safely to the next town. There we call. ”
“And if there is no city,” said Mr. Jiabao. ”
“At some point will surely come a city that will live here but hardly as isolated,” said Mr Obama.

So they drove a few hours on the iceroad. Only the lights gave off little light. Soon, Mrs. Merkel was the only one who was still standing. She thought of Mr. Sauer. He would never have helped in the abduction, he was so in love with her. Certainly he was already worried.

Suddenly the car began to jerk.
“What’s wrong?”, Said Mr Sarkozy and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The others woke up.
“I think the fuel is empty,” said Ms Merkel.
“Has anybody ever seen a gas station?” Said Mr Sarkozy.
“I have not even seen a house,” said Mr Obama.
Then the car lurched forward and lay still.

“And what do we do now?” Asked Mr. Jiabao.
“Running,” Obama said. “So far, it can not really be up to the next village and the few miles in the cold we keep out already.”

They got out and ran off. The clicking of the teeth was as loud as the howling of the wind. They had hardly gone two minutes when falling back Mr Obama.
“Wait people,” he said.
“What is it?”, Said Mr. Sarkozy, “You can run over water, as you probably can run on snow.”
“I’m cold, my feet are made of ice. You must take me. ”
“Go back to the car,” said Mr Sarkozy.
“Should not we help him?” Said Ms Merkel.
“We have no time to lose, and Mr. Jiabao has long since run again.”
“But if we do not help him, he freezes to death.”
“If we help him, then we freeze.”
“Mmm.”
“Mrs Merkel, we will send them to someone as soon as we have found a home. And now let us go on. ”
“Please do not go,” pleaded Mr. Obama, but Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy were already going.

After two minutes, Mr Jiabao reappeared. He stood in front of a sign and looked up.
“What’s wrong?”, Said Ms Merkel.
“Look.”
He pointed to the sign. There was “Magadan 1298 kilometers.
“Do we make a snow angel?”, Said Ms Merkel.
“Auja.”

Source: RP Online

Translated from German in English by Mr. Google

Jumping from the roof of our cabin is fun..

What’s so special about this jacket? Please, read further about it. I would like to know your opinions.

I am trying to be serious and not to laugh until my cries. I just know that local villagers, especially the resident of Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk, will do that. Everytime when they see freezing strangers wrapped up in their ultra warm clothes, they love repeating “There is nothing better than fur clothes.”

So… Let’s read.

Joanne Richard writes “No need to come in from the cold or the freezing hockey arena. With the flip of a switch — just like those heavenly heated seats in a car — I’m warm all over and totally loving it thanks to Mountain Hardwear outerwear.”

“It’s prewired to provide heat and, get this, power your electronics too! And even charge them up.”

“From body core to core gadgets you can’t live without, this advanced snow-sports jacket keeps you connected and totally toasty with integrated heating panels running through critical areas between the liner and shell of the jacket.”

“This hot little number lets you turn up the heat up to 37C in temperatures as low as -40C, or you can just sit back — let’s say on your daily commute — without the heat and power any one handheld device requiring less than 10 watts, including cell phones, iPods, GPS devices and even a light. A USB cable is included for charging.”

“The Radiance is comfy, well-made and really lightweight, even with the wiring and the battery pack packed in.”

“The flat lithium-ion battery is ergonomically designed, weighs less than a pound and slides easily and neatly into an integrated pocket in the upper back area of the jacket. When worn, I can feel the small pack, but it’s not heavy or uncomfortable at all.”

“Mountain Hardwear is definitely the king of the outdoors scene when it comes to innovation and design. There’s Radiance for women and Refugium for men, and both are powered by Ardica Technologies, generating 8.6 hours of heat on the low setting and three hours on the high setting.”

“Jackets come in black for men and black or white for women. Truthfully, white scares me since I’m a pill and attract spills but don’t fear — amazingly the jackets can be washed in cold water, with the pockets all completely zipped up and, of course, the battery removed.Throw it in the dryer on low.”

“Mountain Hardwear reports this is just the beginning for their plugged-in apparel — lots of new styles featuring this innovative technology are planned for 2010.”

Well, here is what I think.

First, it is interesting. I would love to check this gadget in Yakutia, the coldest Siberian region, when it will be, let’s say, below -50C.

Second, I am not sure batteries will last 8 hours as described, even when temperature will be equal to -40C even. If the heater stopped working, the gadget will become totally useless. What’s the advantage to pay “$270 for the jacket plus $160 for the Ardica power system and $60 for the Tech Connector Kit”?

Third, the real test (not bla-bla-bla) will show, who is right. A paid-story author or ordinary Siberian villagers