Nove odkazy / New links

Since I use my blog as a list of links I find useful or amuzing I am adding new ones from time to time. So I just added:

• 65° degrees north in the Suomi section. It is a result of my Finnish obsession (and the fact I like Oulu).
• ilist.cz in the News of the world section - nothing in English :-(. Just an on-line magazine of my uni.
• And last but not least I added a new section called Women. As I said I have here links I find useful or amuzing.

V Oulu uz maji snih / There is snow in Oulu already

Vzhledem k tomu, ze blog pouzivam i jako soukromy (no, soukrome verejny...) seznam odkazu, ktere povazuju za uzitecne ci zabavne, obcas nejaky ten odkazek pridam. Takze ted jsem pridal:

• 65° degrees north v sekci Suomi. Takovy drobny dusledek me naklonnosti k Finsku a Oulu..
• ilist.cz do sekce News of the world pribyl ilist, neboli on-line verze Studentskeho listu, casopisu VSE.
• A na zaver jsem pridal i novou sekci priznacne nazvanou Women (Zeny). Jak rikam, odkazy "uzitecne ci zabavne" (a pekne na pohled, chtelo by se dodat).

Helicopters in heavy rain

Nothing deep: after facing so many disastres apresented everywhere one gets unendurable. At the same time you feel that you "are supposed" to feel something. It's interesting to realize when do you feel somehow move.
I felt strange when I first head about the disaster of a helicopter connecting Helsinki and Tallinn. The ralation between me and the disaster: I came to a meeting in Tallinn in Sept 2005. We went also to a harbour for ferries coming from/to Helsinki. Besides being for ferries it was also a helicopter port. One of them was probably just preparing for take off. The main rotor was moving slowly (but still very loudly). Big machine, dark sky and the sea wind - it was all very impressive. I felt like going by the helicopter as well. Others felt the same later...and it was probably one of the last things they felt in theri lifes.
This article was inspired by this message describing some problems with solving the causes of the disaster.

Pomeren banalni: po tolika vsemoznych nestestich a katastraofach prezentovanych vsudemozne clovek otupi. A zaroven si uvedomuje, ze by "mel citit" nejake pohnuti. Je zajimave, pri jakych prilezitostech to pohnuti citi.
Ja jsem ho citil, kdyz jsem se dozvedel o padu helikoptery spojujici Talin a Helinky. Spojitost mezi mnou a onim nestestim: v zari 2005 jsem se ocitl na jistem setkani v Talinu a dostali jsme se i do pristavu, kam krom lodi z Helsinek priletaly i helikoptery. Jedna tam stala, zrejme se pripravovavala ke startu. Velky stroj, hlavni rotor pomalu krouzil, na pozadi temnych mracen a morskeho vetru to bylo nejak prizracne. Rikal jse si, ze bych tu cestu do Helsinek timto zpusobem zkusil. Jini si to take rikali... byla to asi jedna z posledncih veci, ktere si rikali.
K tehle uvaze me vedl tenhle clanek, ktery popoisuje problemy souvisejici s vyresenim pricin havarie.

Strejda Vojta / Uncle Vojta

Recently a three years old daughter of our friends asked about "uncle Vojta". That's one of the first signs of becoming really old I am afraid.

Nedavno se trileta dcera nasich znamych na "strejdu Vojtu". Tak to je asi jedna z prvnich znamek starnuti, zda se mi.

tak to bylo, tak to je

Obcas si clovek rika, ze kdyby mel treba hudebni talent, mohl dirigovat ty ci ony symfoniky. Nebo ze by po nem pojmenovali nejakou vetu ci pojem, kdyby mel hlavu na matematiku.
A nebo me taky napada, ze kdybych mel v tele vice nezrizeneho ducha, vedl bych takovy zivot, jaky popisuje Lou Fananek Hagen ve svem vzpominani "tak to bylo tak to je" (pdf, 3,8 MB).

Dlouhe penize / Long money

There is a wonderful rococo chateau close to our cottage - chateau Nove Hrady.
It was bought by a new owner several years ago. Not only the chateau itself benefits from the new owner but also all discussions related to our cottage: there is always a good reason for mentioning the last improvements and reconstructions when talking about the last trip there .
There is a measure called Return on Investment. Its inverse value says how many time periods is needed to earn the invested money back. It seems to me that the chateau is quite long money. But having such an amount, I would invest it too I think...

Vstup / Entrance

Kousicek od nasi chalupy je krasny rokokovy zamek Nove Hrady (nezamenovat s Novymi Hrady v jiznich Cechach). Foto prikladam.
Pisu o tom proto, ze pred par lety (tak peti, odhadem) koupil zamek novy majitel a - od te doby stavba vzkveta. Opravuji se fasady, zahrady, stary spychar, na louce za vesnici pestuji vysokou. Zkratka clovek ma tema k rozhovoru a skoro vzdy, kdyz se referuje o chalupe, referuje se take o tom, jak Nove Hrady zkrasnely od posledne.
Existuje ukazatel, kteremu se rika Return on Investment, cesky asi navratnost investice (jo, davat ve skole vice pozor :-)). Prevracenou hodnotou se da zjistit, za kolik casovych obdobi se investice vrati (neboli - za jak dlouho budete na nule). Tak si rikam, ze tohle budou hodne dlouhe penize. Ale mit je, asi bych do toho sel taky...

Dvur se zahradou a vyhledem do vesnice / Courtyard with the garden and a view on the village

Jak na zkousku / Suit for an exam

I found an article on one Czech student server which adresses the issue of proper clothes at an oral exam. In the Czech Republic there is something like a custom to wear suit. But, and that was the point of the article, there is certain controversy about it. The author even says that the teacher did not allow him to sit for the exam (or even gave him "did not pass") because of wearing inproper clothes (something like a T-shirt with "Burn in hell" written on it).
I tried to argue that wearing a suit is something what does not decrease your freedom significantly but rather is a part of a big group of customs and values which to certain degree guarantee the we will not kill each other. Or in other words: this is one of the values which keeps the society a good place for living.


Na Academice se objevil clanek o tom, zda-li jit na vysokoskolskou zkousku v obleku, resp. jak vubec prijit oblecen. A jak hodnotit to, kdyz zkousejici zkouseneho vyhodi od zkousky treba pro jeho (")nevhodny(") odev.
Clanek neni nejak zasadne objevny, nicmene v diskusi par prispevku za precteni stoji. Podle nich na MFF UK nebo FJFI CVUT zkousejici dochazeji na zkousky obleceni lezerne, na matfyze i v trenkach (k tomu citat: "Jinak, na tu zkoušku se nemusíte oblíkat, teda voblíkněte se, ale ne jako že byste přišli v obleku." zdroj). Jeden z prispevatelu tvrdil, ze na VSB se vyzaduje slusne obleceni v predpisech, ale nenalezl jsem to.
Prijde mi, ze pokud to ma skola uvedeno primo v predpisech, tak asi neni co resit. Co ale jinak? Myslim, ze plati obecne pravidlo, ktere predpoklada, ze zkouska je v jistem smyslu zvlastni udalost, pro ktere se vyzaduje i lepsi obleceni. To je snad bezesporne (a zde nejsem priznivcem prilisne svobodomyslnosti, protoze ochrana, rekneme, tradic, mi prijde smyspluplna*).
Ale pak se muze stat, ze zkousejici vyhodi studenta od zkousky kvuli obleceni (studentovu, ne vyucujiciho). Myslim, ze s ohledem na predpisy (ktere zpravidla rikaji, ze zkouska overuje znalosti apod.), by to slo napadnout. Spis by me zajimalo, co by se stalo, kdyby takto vyhozeny student pak u jineho vyucujiciho odmitl byt prezkousen, kdyby vyucujici podle jeho nazoru nesplnoval vseobecne naroky.
Rozhodne by to stalo za pokus, jak by se k tomu postavilo vedeni te ktere skoly.

*Uvadim to sice v ramci hvezdicky, ale mozna, ze prave zde je jadro problemu. Pri obhajobe tradic a hodnot (nebo "hodnot", jak chcete), se lze jen tezko vyhnout pocitum, jakkoli se clovek snazi o racionalni argumenty. V tomto pripade bych rekl, ze tradice a ony zminovane hodnoty maji za ukol udrzovat spolecenskou strukturu (coz lze vylozit jak tak, ze to umoznuje "udrzet prave aktualni usporadani mezi vykoristovateli a vykoristovanymi", tak tak, ze to vice mene zarucuje, ze se vsichni nepovrazdi). Zcela pochopitelne je problematicke vymyslit univerzalni pravidlo, ktere by umoznilo rozhodnout, kde jde spis o pripad prvni ("vykoristovani"), a kdy spise o pripad druhy ("nepozabijeni se"). V konkretnim pripade mi vsak prijde, ze u obleku u zkousky o vykoristovani nejde (no, spise ne). O pozabijeni asi take spise ne (jakkoli obcas by zprovozeni ze sveta nektereho konkretniho vyucujiciho jiste bylo ku dobru sveta - to se ale muze tykat i studenty, jiste). Ale klicem k uvaze (jakkoli klicem pocitovym) je to, ze odstranovanim onech jednoduchych a zdanlive nevyznamnych pravidel a hodnot se otevira cesta k onem zavaznejsim.
Tak nevim, jestli se mi to podarilo vylozit srozumitelne (jak kdysi pravil jeden vyucujici).

Restart: obrazky/pictures

Vice o "restartovaci oblasti" zde.
You can learn more on the "restart region" right here.

Restart

It is interesting - whenever I am abroad for a longer period of time, besides normal homesickness, I always long for going to our cottage or cabine. Among woods, fields, and sand rocks, without running water, sometimes pretty chilly. Shortly: totally opposite to all benefits of the modern world. It is not a dead hand - just a necessary "brain restart". How do you restart?


Je zajimave, ze kdyz jsem dele v cizine, tak krom klasickeho smutneni po domove se nejvice dostavuje chut vyrazit na chalupu. Mezi lesy a poli, skalami, bez tekouci vody, obcas pekne vymrazena, zkratka protiklad vsech vymozenosti moderniho sveta. Neni v tom zadne staromilstvi - jen nutnost "restartu" mozku. Jak restartujete vy?

Growth as a process

For all of you who are obsessed with business and management as I do names such as Jack Welsh, GE and Jeff Immelt are not new. You may find interesting this article (pdf, 292 kB). It is an interview from Harvard Business Review with Jeff Immelt. It addresses the problems of growth and also provides plenty of interesting stories from GE. Enjoy (as I did).

Baleni / Packing

An interesting idea came to my mind while I was packing (big backpack, small bacpkack, notebook bag - all pretty stuffed): maybe it is God's punishment for man's expansiveness. To show the mankind that the space is limited and that it is really not wise to gather too many things. Maybe there is another connection behind: being less expansive we would stay at our village, don't travel (constantly) somewhere and would need maximally a back-basket to put the made shoes to and carry them some 15 kilometers to market in the closest city (as my grandgrandfather did).
But one Czech songwriter and singer is right when saying: "Only the stones and people are brave enough to rive off the hill and in the world constantly changing change what hasn't been changed yet."


V prubehu baleni (velky a maly batoh a taska na notebook) vsech veci na cestu zpet me napadlo, ze baleni je Bozi trest za lidskou rozpinavost. Aby lidskemu druhu bylo ukazano, ze prostor je omezeny a ze chtit mit spoustu toho ci onoho neni uplne rozumne. Tahle souvislost ma asi jeste hlubsi prvek: nebyt tak rozpinavi a chtivi, sedeli bychom stale nekde na vesnici, nikam necestovali a maximalne bychom potrebovali tak nusi, do ktere bychom jednou za cas dali usite boty a nesli je 15 kilometru polnimi cestami do mesta na trh (jak to delal muj prapraded). Ale jak uz zpival Pavel Dobes: "...jen lide a balvany maji tu odvahu, urvat se ze skaly a padat dolu ze svahu a na svete, ktery se furt meni, prekonat, co prekonano neni..."