Czechmatediary

I have been lately into listening to Karel Kryl’s songs. This guy was such an interesting person! He died quite young at the age of 49  but his songs are going to be cherished by the Czechs and Slovaks forever. By the way, his music skills are just one slice of the Kryl-pie. He was a great poet and a painter as well.

CZ: Posledni dobou se mi nejak zalibily Krylovy pisnicky a dosti casto je ted posloucham. Nic moc jsem o Krylovi pred tim nevedela, pouze ty zaklady, tudiz jsem se rozhodla udelat jakysi Krylo-vyzkum, co se tyce jeho zivota a dila. Pro zmenu to byla opravdu velmi zajimava a dobrodruzna osubka. Nejen ze byl nadany na poezii a hudbu, byl take vybornym malirem. Zbytek textu je v anglictine, protoze na cesky preklad uz jsem nemela cas ani silu. Sorac.

Karel Kryl was born and raised in a Moravian town called Kromeriz, where his grandfather established a printing business, one of the best ones in pre-communist Czechoslovakia. Thanks to this book-friendly surrounding Karel was in love with literature ever since he was a little boy. When he was just 5 years old the communist party won the elections and few months later he was forced to watch, while the communist army destroyed all of his family’s printing machines. That was the end of prosperous times at the Kryl family. His father had to start working at the local factory and Karel later followed his footsteps. (more…)

A 53-year-old Czech-born tennis celebrity Martina Navratilova was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since the disease was diagnosed early the prognosis to a completer recovery is excellent. “I cried when I found out about this. It knocked me on my ass, really. I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it’s completely out of my hands.”

The nine-time Wimbledon champion was fortunately diagnosed with a non-invasive form of cancer, called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which was confined to the milk ducts. Navratilova had a lumpectomy and will start 6 weeks of radiation therapy in May. “It was the best-case scenario you could imagine for detecting breast cancer,” says Dr Mindy Nagle, Martina’s ob gyn as well as her best friend. (more…)

I have not watched the last Bachelor show but I could not help myself noticing the tabloids on the front pages of every magazine: “Jake Pavelka picked the bad girl!“, ” Jake Pavelka cheats on his fiancee“, “Jake Pavelka will be dancing with the Stars!“. I did some quick research on the origin of his last name and my suspicion was confirmed. The name is definitely of a Czech origin ( I could not find any specific details on what side of his parents is actually Czech though). (more…)

Does the name Georg Placzek ring the bell? No? Don’t feel bad because it is a name unknown to many Czechs. Mr. Placzek is known mostly in America, since he was (the only Czech!) present for the detonation of the 1st nuclear bomb, which he had also helped to build.

Radio Prague wrote a very nice overview of Placzek’s life and you will be surprised to find out in what ways was he connected to names like Charles Darwin, Neils Bohr, Otto Frish and other famous scientists (click here to read the complete article).

CZ: Rika vam neco jmeno Georg Placzek? Ne? Nebojte se, nejste sami; malokomu z Cechu toto jmeno neco rika. Georg byl znamy zejmena v Americe, kam v roce 1945 emigroval. O par mesicu pozdeji byl jako jediny Cech pritomen u detonace prvni atomove bomby. To ale neni vsechno, byl totiz take jeji spolutvurce.

Radio Praha o nem napsala moc zajimavy clanek, kde se take dovite, jakym zpusobem byl spojeny se jmeny jako je Charles Darwin, Neils Bohr, Otto Frish a dalsimi veleznamymi vedci.

Slovaks were testing their bomb-detection protocols by planting plastic explosives into 9 passengers’ suitcases WITHOUT informing them about it and this is how the story ONLY begins…

CZ: Na Slovensku se tentokrat testovalo, zda-li by 90 gramu trhaviny proslo letistnim bezpecnostnim systemem a podivejte, co z toho bylo za prusvih:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Source: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/06/slovak-security-team-plants-plastic-explosive-on-flight-to-dublin/

Do you ever wonder where does Milos Forman live nowadays? He cleverly covered both extremes – a rural farm in Connecticut and an spacey apartment in Manhattan. You can read more about his adventurous living conditions right here (click here).

CZ: Premyslite nekdy o tom, kde vlastne Milos Forman dnes zije? Zajistil si chytre oba extremni typy ubytovani – farmu v Connecticutu a prostorny apartman v New Yorkskem Manhattanu. Vice si o Formanovych zivotnich podminkach muzete precist zde (klepnete zde).

One of you guys discovered this great video presentation on the transformation of Czechoslovakia since the end of the Cold War and its impact on international business. The presentation is done by a professor (Peter Petrik) who was born and raised in Czechoslovakia (today Slovakia) and who not only knows his history very well but can also give you some personal insight on it.

CZ: Jeden z vas, ctenaru, objevil vyborne video zabyvajici se transformaci byvaleho Ceskoslovenska od konce studene valky a jaky tato transformace mela efekt na mezinarodni obchod.

From Behind the Iron Curtain to Membership in the European Union from Slovak on Vimeo.

The Czechs have recently invented something incredible. What we are talking about here is a blow-up car seat which costs way less than the regular one. And if your children grow out of it you just blow it out, fold it into a little package and put it into the glove department until you have another kid. Do you know how much easier would it be to fly with this thing??? Complete heaven!!!

Not only that it passed the crash test but it’s also supposed to be super comfortable. The only drawback is that the BEDI car seat was created for kids 3 years of age and up (15kg and up).

This wonder seat costs less than 1,400 crowns (about $70) which is about 3 times less than a regular Czech car seat. You can order it via the internet and when shipped within the Czech Republic the shipping is free. (more…)

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Do you know, what the first official Slovak organization in the US was? It was  Jednota (or The First Catholic Slovak Union of America), founded in Cleveland as early as 1890. Early after that The National Slovak Society (Narodni slovensky spolok) was founded in Pittsburgh. This time the organization was nondenominational and it still exists today. Its founder, Peter Rovnianek, had such a patriotic spirit that he also established a new Slovak community in Arkansas (about 300 people) and gave it a clever name – the Slovaktown (it looks like the town doesn’t exist anymore, however, since I tried to google it and I got only the ‘historical’ map of the place). (more…)

MICHAEL BOREK is like many of us. He is Czech to the bone and lives in the US. But he is also a photographer and a great one. I asked him if he would do an interview with me and he kindly agreed to it. I suggest you go on his web site and read this interview to get a better appreciation of his wonderful work :0)

CZ: MICHAL BOREK je jeden z nas: je totiz Cech do morku kosti a zije v USA. Je ovsem take fotograf a to nejen ledajaky fotograf – je velmi nadany! Zeptala jsem se ho, jestli by se mnou neudelal rozhovor a on s tim souhlasil. Doporucuji, abyste se mrkli na jeho stranky a precetli si nize uvedeny rozvhovor – budete tak moci ocenit jeho dilo do vetsi hloubky :0)

1/ Where you into photography even during your childhood? Were your parents supportive?

Yes, I did like to take pictures as a child, but I was not very systematic. When I wanted to actually develop these photos, the things got quite complicated: I had to take out the door out of our closet, put them on top of the bathtub, then put a bunch of bowls on top, each filled with a different chemical such as the developing bath, the interrupter and the fixer; I also had to put the red light bulb in  as well as the magnifier above the washer and that was all done in a a classic communist panelak bathroom, meaning that the space was VERY limited. (more…)