Wow! Now there's a compliment for you.

Icelander: Are you an Icelander? Then you know the name of my favorite Icelandic writer Arnaldur Indrittason (Jar City, Silence of the Grave, etc.) Man, is he good! I noticed a strange accent mark used in the Icelandic language when the name is spelled IndriDason. I've always wondered what that mark was.

I know three things about your country: (1) it is volcanic, (2) people do not have "surnames" as Americans know them: every one is "son of" or "dottir of"; (3) Icelanders somehow turned into very bad bankers. I hope that last sad episode has corrected itself. Last I heard, Iceland was ... am I getting this right? ... for sale?

With kind regards,

Dean Clark (aka Aleck Rand)