About us

About Vordur

The name "Vordur" is taken from Icelandic and the proper Icelandic spelling is "Vörður". It means guard, custodian, keeper or protector. Someone who makes or keeps things safe.

The image that is used on the website, in the software, help and documentation is of a statue of Leifur Eiriksson that stands in front of the Hallgrimskirkja cathedral in central Reykjavik, Iceland. The statue was given by the United States of America to the people of Iceland on the 1000 year anniversary of the Icelandic Althing, the oldest parliament in the world, in 1930. It was created by sculptor Stirling Calder

The image was taken on June 10, 2002 at around 9:30 in the morning.

Leifur Eiriksson was probably the first European to travel accross the Atlantic all the way to North America around the year 1000, almost 500 years before Columbus. Leifur was probably born in Eiriksstadir in west Iceland between 970 and 980. Around the year 980 his father Eirikur the Red (Eiríkur Rauði) was outlawed from Iceland. Leifur moved with his father and family to Greenland and grew up in Brattahlid in Greenland. He also spent time in Norway and was sent by the Norwegian king Ólafur Tryggvason to Christian the settlement in Greenland. This was probably the winter 999-1000 because that following summer Leifur went to Greenland and two men were sent to Iceland which became Christian in the year 1000.

The banner image used on all our website pages and on the About window in the software was created by taking a one pixel slice from the photo on the left. To the right are two slices, that show a 1 pixel slice and a 12 pixel slice, where the colors from the photo show better.

I took this photo at the Alamo Beach just south of Port Lavaca, Texas, late on Christmas day 2004.

The coastal areas got the biggest snowfall in 85 years on Christmas day 2004 and it was one of the most awsome images I have ever seen to see the palmtrees in the snow and the beach and dusk colors were absolutely incredible. If you zoom in on the photo you can see the moon hover over the horizon, slightly to the left.

In Icelandic, "Vörður" is also the plural form of Varða, which means a cairn, a mound of rocks used as landmarks or as a memorial.

On the east coast of Iceland, between Reydarfjordur and Eskifjordur, about 100 meters from the road, there is a cairn on a Prophetess grave memorial cairn. The original date is unknown but based on history it was probably in the 15. or 16. century. A prophetess who lived at Somastadir in Reydarfjordur requested to be burried where there was good view over the fjord and the fjord would never be robbed or harmed while her grave was preserved.

The photo was taken on May 7, 2004 at around 4 in the afternoon. The view is due east.

About Icetips Software

Icetips Software started out back in 2001 primarily creating developer tools for Clarion developers. It is owned by me, Arnor Baldvinsson, and my wife Susan Pichotta.

I'm Icelandic but have been living abroad since 1996, first 3 years in Denmark, from 1996 to 1999 and then in San Antonio, Texas, from 1999. I have been messing with computers since 1986 and been programming professionally since 1994. In Denmark I worked for Allerup EDB in Roskilde for 2 years on various projects. Since I moved to the US I have worked on projects for small and big companies but mostly worked on tools for other Clarion developers. Visit Icetips Software's website for more information.

Susan grew up in Port Angeles in Washington State. She started working with computers in 1980 and is still at it, doing computer graphic. Visit her website at Ace Icons for more information about what she is doing.