Category: Website

Posted on

Website news for November 2011

This is the first official website news for Iceland volcano and earthquake blog for November 2011. The purpose of this web site news is to tell people what is going on with me [Jón Frímann] and this web site that I run. I do not intend this to be a long blog posts unless I have to. This is going to be divide into needed sections of what is going on. I hope that have this every month from now on.

Monitoring changes for earthquakes and volcanoes

The following areas has been added to my personal monitoring system, Spain and Canary Island (part of Spain), Denmark (since February). Following areas are now part of special report system. Azores Islands, Madeira Island. But special reports cover eruptions and major earthquakes for a short time period. I also cover all major earthquakes that happen on the planet Earth. That is earthquakes that are larger then Mw8.0 in size. I have to have limit to what I cover here. As I cannot have good quality if I am cover too much. I rather want to cover less and have better quality of what I cover.

Twitter

I have added a twitter button to this web site. So links can now be shared more easy on twitter. Facebook button is so far not in the picture. As they are just too complex to setup from my point of view (they also appear to track people from what I can gather). So I won’t bother with setting up a Facebook button.

Web site traffic

It took one year to get 1 million page views. But it only took a month or so to get up to 2 million page views. Currently the page load counters stands in this number, 2,142,929 page loads. But this equals to 652,725 visits to this blog during a little bit over the year. For the earthquake pages there have been 3,057,298 page loads since that web site was started back in the year 2006. But that are 696,378 visits to that web sites since I did start it. So far the traffic does not warrant a move to dedicated server. But that might change if the traffic grows even more in the future. So I am watching out for that possibility in the future.

Geophone network

The geophones that I did order are finally in Iceland. I am going to pick them up at the post office tomorrow I hope. I hope that I can install and start both of them in December. But I am not going to have time to install then in November.

Money issues

I became debt free yesterday (finally). The last day of October 2011. But that does not change the fact that I am going to continue to be broke as I have been. Since now I have to spend my money into saving for the move to Denmark (since I was unable to have both options). I am also saving up so that I can buy a new tv, as my old tv is getting tired and bit breaking down in the tube monitor (I also find it better to look at LCD monitors, but I have poor eyesight). The total cost of moving back to Denmark and buying a new tv is estimated about 4.396,00€, 32.697,00DKK, 6.153,00$, 3.843,00GBP, but this is about 700.000 ISK that I need to save up before I can move back to Denmark. But I am saving everywhere that I can. I have placed payments from Google Adsense on hold so I can save that money. I am not getting anything from Amazon ads at this moment, so it does not matter at current time. The saving for the move to Denmark starts tomorrow. It is going to take me until June to get the money that I need to move back to Denmark. I plan to start looking for a apartment in March or maybe earlier. It is a bit unclear at the moment. But it is going to take few months to get apartment in Denmark (I think). But I am in a hurry to move from Iceland for many different reasons.

Update 1: Due to currency restrictions in Iceland I cannot save money on Google Adsense as I had hoped. As I am going to need that income to pay for bills and other things from my danish bank account. I just hope for the best in this regards.

For that reason I am going to have to relay on donations as before. At least until this annoying period in my life goes over. I do not ask for a lot. Just something to make the month in terms of expense that we all have to deal with.

Thanks for reading and the support.

Blog post updated at 13:45 UTC on 1 November, 2011.
Blog post updated at 08:52 UTC on 5 November, 2011.

Posted on

One year old

This blog is now officially one years old. People can read the blog posts from one year ago here, when this blog was starting.

A lot has happened in this one year. I have moved to Denmark and back to Iceland (for time being, going back to Denmark next year). Grímsfjall volcano did erupt in the largest eruption in at least 140 years. Katla volcano did have minor eruption. Hamarinn volcano did also have minor eruption and does not appear to be done yet. A lot more is going to happen in the next year. But that is a story that is going to be told later.

As for this blog. I am going to continue to do my best and continue to develop it to make it better and more informative then it is today. It is a progress and takes time. A lot more volcanoes are set to erupt in Iceland and I am going to do my best to write about them when the time comes.

Posted on

Back to Denmark in the summer of the year 2012 (off-topic blog post)

This is a off-topic post. So feel free with off-topics thing in the comments.

One of the aspect about writing about volcanoes is that it depends on how you feel in the place that you write in. But for me as a writer that is a important aspect of my writing. I love writing about volcanoes and earthquakes, the monitoring data among other other things all related to volcanoes and earthquakes. But that is also important for me to live in the correct place so I can make my best work. This is not just about writing about volcanoes, but this is also important for my other book work that I am planning to write in the future.

The thing is however that place for me is not Iceland and never has been. It is a collection of many social factors I am not going to go into here in details, but the biggest reason is that in Icelandic culture writer are not appreciated as they should be on the public scene (and some types of work are not even put forward unless you got right connection). But I find that living in Iceland affects my work and even starts a writing block with me. For that reason it is important for me to do my work elsewhere then in Iceland. From what I gather my writing appears to work well in Denmark. It might also do so in other Europe countries. But so far my feeling for Denmark is good and for the moment I am going to stick with it.

For that reason I am moving back to Denmark in the year 2012. The exact date is not yet clear. But I have decided that I am hopefully going to move in June. At the moment that might change. But I find this to be a good target, as then I have been one year from Denmark since I did move first time around to Denmark in February in the year 2011 and back to Iceland in June.

I am plan moving to a town named Ringsted in Denmark. It is closer to Copenhagen then Sønderborg where I used to live. But trip with a train is about 35 min, rather then 3 hours and around 30 mins from Sønderborg. Around the time that I move. I plan to have for all the costs that I need to pay. Thanks to a computer work that I got. I should already have been covered the transport cost already (I have not yet been paid, so this is in the remains to be seen stage). The only thing that remains is the deposit for the apartment plus one expensive month without rental benefits in Denmark (since I am low income).

Status update to my blogs

In light of all this. I have decided that I am going to upgrade the status of my blogs to work, rather then just plain hobby. It is going into to effect from this blog post here in part. But it is going to full effect from 1. January 2012. How this is going to develop is a process that I am going work on all the time that I am going to write. But the average work on a blog post that I write here is about 1 hour and 35 min. But longer blog post can take up to 8 hours to write from start to finish.

This change suggests that I am going to have some income from this. That would be welcomed. But for the moment I do not have a lot of income from this work. Most of the income is from donations and advertisements on this web site. For the moment, that is not enough for the whole month. But with the social welfare it helps. But that also has its drawbacks for the long term. As income lowers my social welfare if it goes above certain amount. Now, that is all good with me if that income would be constant. For the moment, that is not the case. So how this is going to turn out is a good question. But I hope for the best when the time comes. For the moment however, my income from this is low and I expect it is going to remain so for the months ahead.

As for my plan on paying back my debt with the bank. It is going rather good. But it is going to go better next month, as I am only going to school this autumn. So I am hoping to be debt free before the new year comes. But if that happens remains to be seen.

On-topic snapshot

It is all quiet in Iceland. While that remains. I am writing this blog post to use the quiet time for something useful.

Thanks everyone for the support! 🙂

Posted on

Donations and Google Adsense

This is a off-topic post:

I once more have to ask for donations. As I have been doing for past few months. The reasons are simple and have remained unchanged as before (check older blog post for details). But the cost of school this winter is something I can handle on my own, but with debt payments it does not leave anything leftover for me to spend on other stuff and food during weekends. But in the dormitory where I live there is only food during the week, not on the weekend.

I also want to try and keep a balance in my finances until I move back to Denmark. My debt payments are going well to and almost on target so far.

Google Adsense

I am quitting with Google Adsense. The reason is quite simple. They have not paid me and they don’t answer my emails on what the problem might be. As my account is on invisible hold with them. My rule is simple. I don’t do business with companies that behaves like this. All Google Adsense ads are going to vanish in the next three days or so. But I remove them when I have the time to do so. That is going to take around three days in my estimate. Now if Google Adsense fixes this issue in timely manner I am not going to quit using them, for now anyway. But given the current track record on this type of issues, I do not think that is going to happen.

I am going to replace the Google Adsense ads with Amazon Ads. But I have had no problem what so ever with Amazon when it comes to ads and payments. So I am going to keep using them.

Google Adsense has removed the hold on my account, so I am going to get paid from the on 1. October and onwards. So this issue should now be fixed forever I hope. I have started to add Google Adsense ads back to my blog and web pages.

Thanks for the support and understanding.

Blog post updated at 20:06 UTC on 1. September 2011.

Blog post updated at 03:03 UTC on 3 October 2011.

Posted on

How donations help me II

This is a off-topic blog post.

The earlier background information can be found here.

The saving project for the next 14 or so months

After what I call a rather expensive (more then expected and more what I liked) August. I am going to freeze my spending for the next 14 or so months. That means I am going to limit my spending as much that I can do during this time. But that is until I move back to Denmark in February 2013. I have to spend some money on food, maintenance on my computer and all necessary stuff. But I am going to limit that as I can possible do. I just hope that nothing dies or fails computer wise during this period.

My debt paying down plan is running good at current time. I do not expect any problems with it, at least nothing that I cannot balance out in the budget during the paying down period. At least that is what I hope actually happens. But I have to wait and see what happens actually.

How the donation button works

This might be obvious. But I am going to write it down anyway.

The “Donation” button is a single donation. It is what you want to donate. It is a free range of what people want to donate. The “Subscribe” donation button is fixed at €10, but that is $14.17, 8.7GBP, 74.51 DKK, 93.29 SEK (current exchange rate, this is a estimate). It runs for 6 months and then has to be renewed. I did not want to last for 12 months or longer. I did not find it to be fair to the people how donate, as things change change a lot in 6 months. This option was for people how might want to donate regularly. But not a large amount each time they donate.

People how want to donate in other currencies the Euro can do so. I support SEK, DKK, USD, GBP. If requested I can add more currencies that I can support. But it has to be a currency that might be used every once in a while. I do not want to support a currency that is never used for a donations.

The income problem

As I have told people before. I just have my income from social welfare. Something that I am to get my self off with income from e-book sales when the time comes. But at the moment this blog and a new blog that I am going to create are my work and provide a little bit of income during the month. This extra income helps in that sense it allows me to pay down my debt faster. But I would not go as far saying it allows me to collect some money in the long run. But I am going to do my best with saving money during this winter, as I need to do if if I want to move back to Denmark.

It is also a problem in Iceland in regards to income how prices are going up in regards to food and other stuff. I do however not expect this to be too big of a problem during the next 14 months or so while I am living in Iceland. I just hope that I make it out in time before the economic mess starts in Iceland. If people want to talk about it, they can do so here on my main Icelandic blog where I write about this in English or Icelandic if they fancy Google Translate errors.

I hope that my income problems gets less annoying when I start to publish my e-books. But I plan to release few short stories in few weeks time. Those are not long stories and won’t be expensive. At least I hope for the best when it comes to e-book sales.

As always I thank you for the support that I get with donations. 🙂

Posted on

How donations help me

This is a off-topic post.

Here is a little background information on how donations help me in the long run and the short run.

First some background information

First when I did start the donation route. I was unsure about it. As it is not custom to ask for money in Iceland and in Icelandic culture it is short of shame. I do not know why that is. That is why it did feel uncomfortable doing this for the first time around. At current time my main stable income is social welfare that is around 150500 ISK, 910€, 1293$, 794 GBP, 6785 DKK at current exchange rate. It has moved up a little since I moved back to Iceland as it was due to some extra that I get on top of the basic social welfare when I am living in Iceland.

As can be seen this is not to live on. It is even less when I am paying down my debt as fast that I possible can. But I am going to try and pay down my debt in around 7 months. If I can do that, I can move back to Denmark in early in the year 2013. Then I can move without much problems.

Now the main story

But in order for all this to work up. I need slightly more income then I get from social welfare. As it turns out that I need to buy food (we human apparently need to eat to survive). But I also need to pay my bills. Both in Iceland and Denmark (mobile phone) but also what I need to buy to eat. Now, because I am going to school and I am going to be living in a dormitory (with a lot of 16 to 17 year old kids) I won’t have to buy food from Monday to Friday. Except snack and something of that nature. But I also plan to buy subscription to DR 1 to maintain my Danish while in Iceland.

Donations help me to pay the bills and buy food. But they also help me pay down my debt faster then I otherwise would have done.

What you get in return for donating

Endless supply for blog posts on what is going on in Iceland. I also give in details when I can what is going on in Iceland, and if I can why. People how donate also get a free e-book (only pdf format) if they want. But that is just e-books about past eruptions in Iceland. I also maintain this blog and do all the service parts that need to be done (that I can anyway) myself. I also answers all the emails that I get when I have the time to do so. I also provide live information from my geophone (started years earlier, but have now been integrated into this now).

The work behind each blog post

I do not know if people release this. But I put a great work into each and every blog post I make. I try to do my best when a eruption suddenly starts to get information on what is going on. This is also what people get when they donate. My work on each blog post about Icelandic volcano that is making it self heard in Iceland. But you also get blog post about earthquakes, harmonic tremors, glacier flood and everything else if it is related to Iceland geological activity. Sometimes if I have time I try to write about the history of Iceland past eruptions. But it takes me from 1 hour and up to 8 hours to write one blog post, depending on size and details of the blog post in question.

What about the advertisement ?

While advertisements is a attempt to increase my income with something else then donations. It is has not been going to so good, as the income is somewhat irregular and I might only get paid 1 to 4 month or not even that often. They do help, no doubt about that. But they depend on traffic and I only get high traffic when something interesting is happening.

What is planned for the future ?

This blog is going to be free as it has always been. I am considering opening up a forum with Invasion Power Board. But that also costs money, so I might not know when I get around to buy it. As it expensive and I am trying to save money to move back to Denmark. So it has made it into my todo list for now. When it might become a reality is a question. But no later then 2013 if everything goes according to plan.

I want to make a living of writing. This is just a step in that direction.

I also want to thank everything for the support so far. It helps more then you know! 🙂

P.S: I am going to publish my first short story soon as a e-book. When it might happen I am not sure yet. But it is just going to a really short story that I am about to publish.

Blog post updated at 18:13 UTC on 2.08.2011.

Posted on

1 million views on this blog

This blog has reached a important milestone. It has had this many views in less then 1 year since I did start it. But I did start this blog in September 2010. Few months after Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption.

Here is the latest number from my web counter: 1,001,099

I want to say thank you to all of you how read this blog. But this many readers make this blog worth it in so many ways.

Posted on

Big plan changes for me

While this is completely off-topic I still find it necessary to say this (I will go back to volcanoes and earthquakes in next blog post). There have been some big plan changes to my plans. The biggest change is that I am going to move back to Iceland in August. This is so not what I had planned. But there is nothing that I can do about it as my income does not support living in Denmark for the moment. If remains to be seen if I move too a different country in the future. As of this moment all such plans have been put on a hold for undefined period of time.

I am going to move back to Iceland in August and then go back to school to learn electronics and other fields so I can get a good job or something that gives me the income to support me in setting up geophones and watching volcanoes. It is going to be costly moving to back (~200.000 ISK, ~1.236€, ~1.712$) to Iceland so all support for this is welcomed when the time comes. Until I move back to Iceland I am going to be in Denmark and I hope that I am going to have enough money for food each month and for all that I need to pay for.

Thanks for reading this blog, and thanks for the support and the donations. 🙂

Posted on

The subscription button

If people are wondering what the subscription button is doing there I have a answer. This blog is not going to charge for a subscriptions and never is going too. This button (because PayPal didn’t offer any other button that I could find) is for people how want to donate ten euros every month to this blog for six months at the time. This blog is going to remain free as it has always been since I did start this blog.

I thank all my readers for the support. Both for the donations and for reading this blog. It makes my work worth doing it.

Posted on

Fundraiser for items and trying to be a professional blogger





Euro foreign exchange reference rates (ecb.int)

While I am thankful for the all the readers that I get on this site it does not change the fact that I need to earn a good living. Currently I am on a fixed income (Welfare) due to my Asperger’s syndrome, but I have a really mild version of this syndrome. This fixed income is not a lot and never has been. But due to my move to Denmark is going to get even less. In Iceland I got 159000 ISK (about 997€, the exchange rate euro/ISK is poor at the moment) but when I moved to Denmark it is going to get lower and in the line of something about 138000 ISK (about 865€). So I don’t have a lot of money to work with over the month.

While this blog originally started as a minor blog about earthquakes and volcanoes in Iceland it grew fast. From September 2010 and until today this blog has had 424,518 page views. My helicorder web pages have had 2,090,461 page views since I did set those pages up (the year 2006). Based on this fact I did decide to try being a professional blogger. That includes getting enough money to live from this blog. I do not know how long that is going to take. But given how long it took University today (started as a blog) to get into that status I might have to wait few more years until I get enough income from this blog to get a stable living from writing on the blog site about Icelandic volcanoes and earthquakes.

This leads me to the ever ending results that come from this type of situation. I need to get a job. That evidently is going to give me less time to attend to this blog. I also plan going to school here in Denmark to learn programming, languages and electronics (if I can learn electronics). So work with that is going to give me less time in the end to write here. But the school is few months off so I am just going to wait and see how that goes. As I sad in a comment yesterday there might be a delay until updates return to normal because I lack the tables to setup my computers properly. There also might be a delay until everything gets back to normal updates, as it might take a good time to get connected a ADSL2+ service. I do not know when I get ADSL2+ connection, as I do not know the service time here in Denmark. Currently I am on poor 3G connection for the internet.

I am a writer and my plan is to write and publish eBooks to sell on Amazon. I am also thinking about releasing them in a blog format (I am still considering that option). I hope to get a income from that in the future. But there is going to be a while until I can start selling eBooks on Amazon and get a income from that sale.

Due to how low income I have. I have decided to do a little fundraiser here. For two tables that I need and a new (or used) PC monitor. I am going to do this as cheap as possible.

Computer Table price is 400 DKK (they did rise the price, damit!) – This is just a normal table. I do not like computer special boards.
TV table price is 300 DKK.
23″ LCD PC monitor price is 999 DKK last time I did check. There might be cheaper 23″ LCD PC monitors for sale in Germany. But I do not know the price on them. I might also buy a used PC monitor to use for a short time while I try to get the money for a new PC monitor. This are the prices where I live locally. But I want to buy this locally so I can get this items right away.

All other support besides this is also welcomed. I must point out that I can only transfer funds that go into my PayPal account into my credit card at the moment (I do not know if that changes when I setup a new PayPal account for Denmark). So any usage that I have there is going to minus first from whatever I transfer into that card. PayPal also takes 5% of whatever I transfer into my credit Card.

Here is the PayPal donate button. This the first time that I do this type of button. So please let me know if there are any issues with it.





Euro foreign exchange reference rates (ecb.int)

Thanks for the support! This blog is going to remain free as always. That is not going to change.