Sadly, Iceland and the Aurora Borealis have been subtracted from my trip itinerary; Putting the awe back in awesome: Auroras over Sweden make you feel very insignificant in the bigger scheme of things, so you need to positively influence the things that you CAN!; @STFAbisko

VideoFromSpace YouTube Channel video: 3 Years of Amazing Auroras Captured on Video by Chad Blakley at Abisko National Park, Sweden. Uploaded June 12, 2012.
http://youtu.be/DaWAgch0GFM

Sadly, Iceland and the Aurora Borealis have been subtracted from my trip itinerary; Putting the awe back in awesome: Auroras over Sweden make you feel very insignificant in the bigger scheme of things, so you need to positively influence the things that you CAN!; @STFAbisko

Or, jag tänker inte Island som planerat.
Some of you already know this from emails or phone calls of mine the past few weeks, but for others of you, this will be the first you hear of it: I'm not going to be going to Iceland in January as originally planned.
My big plans to stop there for a few days on the way back from Sweden, and to hop on a sweet tour bus and take a long-but-comfortable drive a few hours north of Reykjavik to see the Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis are officially kaput. 

It's mostly because in October, I booked non-refundable airline tickets on SAS and had to pay in advance for the airfare, hotel and the B&B in Stockholm that I'm staying at to get the specific travel dates I wanted, ostensibly, in order to get back in time to watch the public Presidential Inaugural on Monday the 21st.
The non-Romney inaugural as it turns out

This required that I make some changes to my original itinerary, as discussed here on the blog back on July 18, 2012, titled, Want to see a sneak peek of my future? Prescient geniuses with a camera at BeepShow have already filmed part of my future -away from the heat & humidity of Miami- and it includes Iceland and the Northern Lights. But sadly, I'll end up missing Sigur Rós at Iceland Airwaves; #Iceland, #BeepShow, #Icelandair
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/want-to-see-sneak-peek-of-my-future.html

As previously seen on that post: 


London to Iceland in Ten Minutes from Beep Show on Vimeo.
Beep Show video: London to Iceland in Ten Minutes. 2012.
Complete information about video is here: http://vimeo.com/45121903

http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/

Still, it's not like you can't see the Aurora Borealis from Sweden, you just have to be smart, resourceful AND patient... like the people who captured the wonderful videos above and below.

For me to see it in two weeks, I'll obviously have to leave greater Stockholm so I can be free of the city's light pollution.
On the other hand, while I'm there, there will be a whole lot LESS hours of light -daylight- for me than what I'm used to, as sunrise there will be sometime after 8:30 a.m. and sundown will be around 3:30 p.m.
Yes, you read that correctly, sundown at 3:30 p.m.

Just so you know, since I'm guessing that most of you reading this have never heard of it, the city of Abisko, located in Norrbotten, the northernmost county in Sweden, up near the Norwegian border and the Lappland area of Finland, is considered one of the best places on the planet to see the aurora borealis phenomena.
That's largely because the mountains around there catch most of the precipitation in winter and prevent it from interfering with the night time views.
That explains why so many of the videos on this post and uploaded to YouTube were recorded there.
It's a target-rich environment.


View Larger Map

According to this article in the newspaper up in distant Norrbotten, NSD, i.e. the Norrländska Socialdemokraten, http://www.nsd.se/nyheter/ bookings to the Abisko Turiststation STF, a.k.a. STF Abisko, increased by 130% over last year, a banner year. 
http://www.nsd.se/nyheter/artikel.aspx?ArticleID=7366284

According to this article, what's especially noticeable now are the number of Northern Lights tourists coming from Japan and Great Britain, which sort of stands to reason given both how Internet-savvy those countries are, and how famous their citizens are are for traveling and exploring.

For the Japanese, it's about a nine-hour plane ride from Tokyo, but for the Brits, it's much less daunting to get to the nearest airport, Kiruna, via stops in Oslo or Stockholm Arlanda.

Official STF Abisko website:
http://www.svenskaturistforeningen.se/sv/upptack/Omraden/Lappland/Fjallstationer/STF-Abisko-Turiststation/


Meanwhile, over at Porjus, the #1 place to see the aurora according to many informed sources, there's a LIVE streaming camera you might want to check out: http://uk.jokkmokk.jp/detail_nr3.shtml
http://www.porjus.eu/


VideoFromSpace YouTube Channel video:Chad Blakley's latest video of an ionized oxygen aurora over Abisko National Park, Sweden. Uploaded December 19, 2012 
http://youtu.be/7yN9lcJIeLA



VideoFromSpace YouTube Channel video: Awe-Inspiring Northern Lights Shine Over Sweden, December 2012. Shot from Abisko National Park, Sweden. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/N79ATuvHi1Y

See more from Chad Blakley at http://www.lightsoverlapland.com and http://digitaljournal.com/article/327325



tonakai82 YouTube Channel video: Aurora Borealis from Abisko Sky Station in northern Sweden 2012. Uploaded December 15, 2012. http://youtu.be/kc9Ds3b1IKk

More photos at: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/63402501@N07/sets/72157632201759165/  



GregTechnology YouTube Channel video: Aurora in Abisko -The northern lights blaze in Arctic Sweden. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/E4BbfrF5PxE



skbailey YouTube Channel video: Doggylights. Uploaded December 6, 2012.
http://youtu.be/9b3wgmu_9Ko



tenorsominutesagos YouTube Channel video: A Day and Night at the Aurora Sky Station, Abisko, Sweden. Uploaded December 25, 2011. 
http://youtu.be/NkAJBmg3E1Y

I'm concluding today's post with a non-aurora video of snow-heavy Abisko from two days ago, the day before Christmas, with a temperature of about negative 25 Fahrenheit...



Joachim Floberg YouTube Channel video: Abisko Julen 2012.  Uploaded December 24, 2012. http://youtu.be/lIuwAbbZHV0

Trivia: Sweden has a base compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan that's officially called "Northern Lights."
 -----
See more at...
English aurora photographer Patricia Covern, now living in Porjus: 
http://www.arctic-color.com/

www.auroraskystation.com

http://www.visitreykjavik.is/ 

http://www.youtube.com/user/VideoFromSpace

Want to see a sneak peek of my future? Prescient geniuses with a camera at BeepShow have already filmed part of my future -away from the heat & humidity of Miami- and it includes Iceland and the Northern Lights. But sadly, I'll end up missing Sigur Rós at Iceland Airwaves; #Iceland, #BeepShow, #Icelandair, #InspiredByIceland

Beep Show's VIMEO video: London to Iceland in Ten Minutes. July 2012. Music by Sigur Rós. Move your cursor away from the video to have the text disappear and see the video more clearly. Complete information about this incredible video is here: http://vimeo.com/45121903  http://beepshow.com/
It's truly amazing what genius, talent, ingenuity and technology can create!

Want to see a sneak peek of my future? Prescient geniuses with a camera at BeepShow have already filmed part of my future -away from the heat & humidity of Miami- and it includes Iceland and the Northern Lights. But sadly, I'll end up missing Sigur Rós at Iceland Airwaves; #Iceland, #BeepShow, #Icelandair

Back in November, following several very emotionally-draining roller-coaster months with my dad's health a year after his stroke, where we found ourselves frequently at the hospital or at the doctor's office for one thing or another, I wrote here:

It's not exactly a secret that I definitely could use a break for about a week or two from everything and everyone in South Florida to unwind.

Not that there was really ever any doubt where I'd eventually wind-up to relax, but I've finally made my mind up about where I'll be going to get away from South Florida for a while, which I had originally wanted to do back in February or March to decompress after my dad died, then maybe even return to during Midsommar in order to get away from the summer swelter of South Florida.

But perhaps as these things sometimes do of their own accord, it's worked out for the best schedule-wise, since despite it meaning I'm still here during the hottest part of the summer, I'll now be able to experience, first-hand, one of nature's most amazing sights and spectacles.
 
Ten weeks from this morning, unless something crazy and unexpected happens, like a powerful hurricane barreling its way across the Atlantic or the Caribbean towards South Florida -and maybe, even if there is!- I'll be greeting the sunrise far, far away from the land of gridlocked traffic, sleepwalking journalists and corrupt politicians, with nary a decent Ethiopian restaurant to be found that compares to the Red Sea in D.C.

I don't want to give everything away right now with this one post, but I will tell you that as of now, The Plan, as such, is that ten weeks from this morning, I'll be having a relaxed and delicious breakfast right near the water and my temporary home-away-from home in a place where I can sing or hum Stockholm i mitt hjarta to my heart's delight.

Måns Zelmerlöw, Björn Skifs, Loa Falkman and Peter Jöback sing "Stockholm i Mitt Hjärta" (Stockholm in My Heart) from the intro of a 2011 episode of SVT's "Allsång på Skansen" in Stockholm, Sweden. http://youtu.be/JEPvZBDOjdc

http://www.facebook.com/svtallsang

View Larger Map

After more than a week or so in the greater Stockholm area, mostly in and around Gamla Stan, but with some boat trips with friends along the archipelago as well, finally doing the things I've wanted to do the last few years but had to keep on hold because of my dad's health, I'll be heading for fun in a place that is THE polar opposite of South Florida, our old friend, Reykjavik, Iceland, and eventually, a night-time encounter with destiny and the Northern Lights.

And with any sort of luck at all, maybe I can even run into longtime blog favorite, Yohanna, whom I just love, and want to see succeed and get the world-wide success she deserves, because her talent is so immense. 
Yes, to quote myself, Yohanna "hennes enorma talang!"



@yohannamusic

Below, from TV3 in Sweden, Yohanna's amazing performance at their "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (A Song For The Homeless 2009) telecast, singing "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day." 


http://www.myspace.com/yohannamusic

Arctic Motion from Tor Even Mathisen on Vimeo.

http://www.facebook.com/temPhoto

http://vimeo.com/tittentem

http://twitter.com/#!/tittentem

Icelandair video: Unique Iceland: What to do in Reykjavik?

Icelandic actress Þóra Karítas Árnadóttir -a.k.a. Thora Karitas - explains a few things about the fascinating and awesome island known as Ísland. http://youtu.be/Rkr1O6mvHUc

LIVE camera of Blue Lagoon: Bláa lónið - Live Webcam - Inspired by Iceland

Unfortunately, because of when I'll be there, I won't be able to see Sigur Rós at the Iceland Airwaves music festival in Reykjavik, owing to it coming later in October, right before we have elections here in the U.S.. http://icelandairwaves.is/
http://icelandairwaves.is/sigurros/

http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/ 

http://www.visitreykjavik.is/

My life of late: another brush with the good side of America's healthcare system, plus the consistent downside of Adobe Flash & Google Chrome -Crash!

Looking northwest from N. Johnson & N. 35th Avenue in Hollywood at part of the main campus of Memorial Regional Hospital, the flagship facility of Memorial Healthcare System's far-flung Broward healthcare empire. Now if only there was a place where I could get some TLC for my mis-behaving desktop computer that's been driving me crazy the past month. November 1, 2011 photo by South Beach Hoosier.

My life of late: another brush with the good side of America's healthcare system, plus the consistent downside of Adobe Flash & Google Chrome -Crash!

Though you well-informed readers out there in the blogosphere are blithely unaware of it wherever you are reading this now, which could be anywhere in the world or from one of South Florida's many feudal duchies or banana republics, the past three weeks have been quite difficult around my little media empire.

First, my father, who suffered a stroke exactly one year ago -while watching a Dolphins game!-and whom since May has been confined to a wheelchair at the nearby ALF in Hollywood where he lives, has been sick and eventually needed an operation late last week at Memorial, above.

My father received excellent care there from everyone from beginning to discharge, and best of all, it was very efficient -no long waits for anything, unlike Aventura Hospital.

(Plus, I was able to become reacquainted with the surgical lobby reception area and memorize yet another code of cable TV numbers during one particular nine-hour stretch on a sofa there. More useless numbers in my head!)

Consequently, I've had to spend even more time than usual with him during the day and night, wearing my hats of chauffeur, walking medical history and medical paperwork expert.

As it affects things here at Blog Central, I've been getting home later and much more exhausted and frazzled, with the result that my post-midnight dispatches from my corner of South Florida have been far and few between.

I've even had to miss a few Hallandale Beach and Hollywood City Commission/CRA meetings that I'd usually have been at and participated in via a pointed question or two.

It's not exactly a secret that I definitely could use a break for about a week from everything and everyone in South Florida to unwind.

And as I've been pondering the solution to that, what is more the opposite of South Florida right now than our old friend, Reykjavik, Iceland?

Icelandair video: Unique Iceland: What to do in Reykjavik?

Icelandic actress Þóra Karítas Árnadóttir -a.k.a. Thora Karitas - explains a few things about the fascinating and awesome island known as Ísland.

http://youtu.be/Rkr1O6mvHUc

(More on that possible trip soon.)

http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/

Second, I have been having bad problems with the computer, ones that have NEVER been worse than they have been the past two weeks, which explains why I have so many blog posts still frozen in Draft form that I thought would've long since been posted here.

I seemingly can't go two hours without something happening with Google Chrome or Adobe that causes me to get up and walk away from the computer in anger.

As if my ridiculously slow Internet speed from AT&T U-verse wasn't frustrating enough.

Why in November of 2011 are the Google geniuses in Mountain View, CA unable to fix Google Chrome so that everything isn't crashing all the time?

This recent avalanche of Chrome crashes is literally making me re-think my fateful decision to axe Mozilla Firefox a few months ago and go back to Chrome after their I initially exiled them during the Browser War Crimes Tribunals of 2008 and 2009.

So, in conclusion, that's why I have not been posting as much as I'd like -Google Chrome and Adobe laying a minefield for me every time I turn the computer on- so some of my next few posts, those unfrozen drafts, may seem a day or two -or three weeks- old.

To me.

But they'll be new to you.

-----

http://www.iceland.is/

http://www.visitreykjavik.is/#

http://www.icelandair.us/

A Web Developer Speaks: Flash Player is Dead. HTML5 isn't ready. Long live AIR!

By Jason Perlow | November 11, 2011, 10:14am PST

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/a-web-developer-speaks-flash-player-is-dead-html5-isnt-ready-long-live-air/19293

Mobile Flash: So long and thanks for all the crash.

By Ken Hess | November 9, 2011, 3:05pm PST

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/virtualization/mobile-flash-so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-crash/4110

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=2974f4989350aa38&hl=en

http://www.memorialregional.com/

WMAQ-TV, Chicago: Blizzard Unleashes Winter Fury; Blizzard web cam; As usual, Hoosiers in "The Region" to get the worst of it!

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Blizzard-Unleashes-Winter-Fury-115047384.html

And because it was something that I heard for years, I'll say it now, "As always, heavier near the Lake."

And since I actually lived two blocks from Lake Michigan when I was in Wilmette in the mid-'80's, I can tell you that it's true.


And dig the WMAQ-TV LIVE Blizzard-cam, not that they actually call it it that:
Live Video: Weather Conditions Around Chicago | NBC Chicago

If link is dead it's at: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/live-video-chicago-blizzard-115033514.html


Channel 5 seems to have no problem getting their web camera to show the brutal weather around Chicago, with special emphasis on recognizable downtown spots.

Compare and contrast that with the crummy performance of most South Florida LIVE web cams of my acquaintance the past seven years -with nice weather- that aimed for the same general effect, yet usually failed miserably, with one of the worst being the Miami Herald's web cam on their old frumpy and morose website.

That is, the frumpy one before the current frumpy model featuring old stories in the Breaking News area for 12 hours at a time.

That web cam, which so often seemed to be hours behind -LIVE? LOL!- and pointed, rather aimlessly, towards nothing in particular, was not exactly a great calling-card for Knight-Ridder and McClatchy.
Like what was the point exactly?

I'd post the URL here but it's long been deleted.


Speaking of web cams, here's two popular web cams that I enjoy and take me far from my fay-to-day cares here in South Florida. For a little bit at least!

The first webcam overlooks a beautiful and well-known lake in downtown Reykjavik called Tjörnin at http://www.inspiredbyiceland.com/icelandlive/#austurstraeti

The second webcam is one I go to fairly frequently of a a very busy and recognizable area of Stockholm showing the Slussen in central Stockholm, which connects Gamla Stan -Old Town- to the north and Södermalm to the south:
http://www.webbkameror.se/webbkameror/gondolen/webkamera_eriks_640_4.php

Currently, Reykjavik is five hours ahead of us in Miami, and Stockholm is six.

FYI: You can click the photo to make it quite large and almost read the ads on the buses, but the motion is only in the smaller version.
Here's a 24 hour history of the view: http://www.webbkameror.se/webbkameror/gondolen/historik/historik_slussen_4/index.php

In contrast with Chicago, the weather looks quite manageable today for Swedish friends and readers of Hallandale Beach Blog
http://vader.svt.se/vaer.aspx?lat=59,33&lon=18,05&m=10&sted=Stockholm



http://svt.se/2.2173/vader
http://svt.se/2.52756/vaderkartor

As always, heavier near the Lake!

------

Also see the website for SMHI: Sveriges meteorologiska och hydrologiska institut
which is under the Minstry for Environment at: http://www.smhi.se/
Cool stuff!

http://webbkameror.se/