Krajina a hodnoty / Landscape and values

Easters at a cottage in Northern Bohemia. Besides a wonderful company the nature. For me the typical Czech landscape will always probably be the one which surrounds our cottage.
I am just reading a book by Mr.Cilek - a Czech geologist who is also a prolific author of essays on the landscape and it deeper and related meanings.
This recalled me of a little "philosophical" exercise I did certain time ago.
I believe that every man keeps in his mind some ideas about what is and what is not right or what values are the right ones. And man identifies with those values according to which he lives.
I think that in reality the number of values our life is really compatible with is quite small - when compared with the number of values we trust in.
This kind of finding ("I believe in so many values but my life is compatible with just a few of them") was quite interesting for me - scary and relieving at the same time.
One of the values I am pretty fine with is something what one could call love to this country, to this land. It is probably based on what I know about history. But maybe it was lighted up when I realized for the first time the beauty of this land...

Velikonoce na chalupe blizko Albrechtic. Krom dobre party (vdecnost patri Kviteti) predevsim priroda. Pro me ceska krajina zustane asi navzdy takova, jaka se jevi u nasi chalupy (vzpominam na skoro az sok, kdyz jsem poprve videl homole v severnich Cechach).
Okoli Albrechtic mi prislo velmi podobne tomu, nac jsem zvykly a co mam zaryto nekde v hloubce. Trochu mi to ladi s knihou, kterou ted ctu.
Pred jistou dobou mi vytanulo na mysli takove filosoficko-hodnotove cviceni (da-li se tomu tak vubec rikat).
Kazdy clovek asi chova ve sve mysli predstavy o tom, co je a co neni spravne, nebo-li jake hodnoty jsou ty prave. A ztotoznuje je s temi hodnotami, za ktere by byl ochoten se brat, resp. podle kterych zije. Myslim, ze ve skutecnosti tech hodnot, podle kterych zijeme, byva v porovnani s temi, kterym verime, spise mene. Nekdy jich muze byt i podstatne mene.
Takove zjisteni ("verim v kde co, ale skutecne se popasovat muzu jen s tim a tim") pro me bylo zajimave - trosku strasidelne, trosku ulevne.
Jednou z hodnot, se kterymi jsem srovnan, je neco, co bych, snad ne prilis pateticky, nazval laskou k teto zemi. Vychazi asi z urcite znalosti dejin, mozna ale, ze prvni "zazehnuti" vzniklo pri prvnim pohledu do te krasne krajiny...

Normal frog eggs. New life of nice creatures.
Obycejna zabi vajicka v ryze vedle cesty. Novy zivot roztomilych zivocichu.

Well, the clouds were just beatiful. Maybe even too much :-).
Mraky byly toho dne citankove krasne a dramaticke.

You cannot see it that well on the picture. But I found the view over so many ridges in reality very charming. Unreachableness and prompt.
Na fotce to tolik nevynikne. Ale pohled do dali pres dalsi a dalsi hrbety mi prisel krasny. Nedosazitelnost a naznak.

Mr.Cilek would probably appreciate this picture (place). Spirit of the landscape. Might be that there was a stela standing there. And someone knocked it down, broke it into pieces and put it into foundation of a cottage.
Tak tohle by se Cilkovi muselo libit. Duch krajiny. Kdo vi, jestli tam pred tim nestala kamenna stela, kterou kdysi kdosi povalil, roztkloukl a pridal do zakladu nektere z chalup. Kdo vi :-).

Do you know the final part of Seventh seal?
Zaverecna scena Bergmannova filmu Sedma pecet. Tak trochu.

Just an edge of a water tank (I like edges).

Okraj vodni nadrzky ve svahu. Jeji ucel neni jasny, ale rekl bych, ze je v ni voda pro snezna dela.

I know that it is not recommended to take pictures against the sunlight. But I simply couldn't help myself. I was crawling, twisting over a plash - but I think it was worth it.

Ja vim, ze proti slunci se fotit nema, ale tohle mi proste nedalo. Plazil jsem se po zemi, kroutil se nad louzi, ale vysledek, myslim, stoji za to.

Or not?

Ne?

You could simplify it just into several lines and areas. Beauty of geometry?

Cele by se to dalo dat do nekolika car a ploch. Krasa geometrie?

Maybe the picture would be prettier without the wire. Maybe not. Nevertheless you must ask a question about taking picture of a landscapes without wires, chimneys, ...

Rikam si, jestli by to bylo tak zajimave i bez tech dratu. Mozna, ze ne. Ale casto jsem si rikal, jak by se fotila krajina bez dratu, kominu...

Just a picture.

Proste fotka.

Spirit of the country. Again.

To by bylo taky neco pro Cilka. Duch krajiny.

Fotecka / Picture

After so many pics of nature there is time for a picture of me. Why not?

Po tolika fotkach prirody je cas na jednu fotografii me malickosti. Proc ne?

Basnicka licence a intelektualni ego

S velkym ocekavanim jsem tuto nedeli na CT 1 shledl prvni dil filmu Silver A.
Dojmy smisene.
Pozitivum: tema me velmi blizke (ne nahodou jsem svoji diplomku venoval "Muzum zvlastni skupiny D", tedy vsem vysadkarum, kteri byli, nebo meli byt vyslani za 2. svetove valky do Protektoratu).
Negativum: zamereni se a vykresleni Alfreda Bartose jako, rekneme, nezdrzenlive osoby (cesky: holkare). Proto doufam, ze se mi podari zjistit, na zaklade jakych pramenu byl napsan scenar.
Na zaklade toho, co vim, byl Bartos prikladny vojak, mel vytecne osobni hodnoceni. Faktem take je, ze jen na zaklade jeho fotografii se da rici, ze to byl neobycejne pohledny chlap, ktery musel byt pro zeny velmi pritazlivy.
Chapu, ze film pracuje s urcitou "basnickou licenci " - vsimli jste si, ze se vysadkari predstavovali svymi pravymi jmeny?
Cili v cem je problem? Ano, sahli mi na nekoho, ke komu vzhlizim.
Takze pak me velmi rychle napadla otazka, jestli nejsem v situaci vsech tech, kteri protestuji proti filmum jako je Posledni pokuseni Jezise Krista apod. Ale zase jsem se nechtel dostat do pozice nekoho, koho povazuji za prilis, rekneme, zapskleho a ci nechapajiciho obcas kacirsky pohled na myty a uctivane hodnoty.
Rozhreseni pro me intelektualni ego: rozdil vidim v tom, ze Bartos a dalsi nejsou myty ani modly. Myslim, ze povedomi o techto lidech je mezi drtivou vetsinou lidi minimalni. V takovem momente neni "kacirska basnicka licence" na miste, protoze nebori ci nenapravuje nejaky prilis vznosny a pateticky obraz, protoze takovy obraz jednoduse neexistuje. Coz me mrzi.

Nezbyva, nez se kouknout na druhy dil. A pak si prisadit, nebo se kat.

Okolnosti k jazyku do te miry sugestivni...

Mam dojem, ze mnoha Cechum finstina moc nevoni. Ale po tomhle by mohli nazor zmenit. Asi dost zalezi kdo a jak tou ci onou reci mluvi. V tomto ohledu ma treba takova nemcina dosti zasadni dejinnou nevyhodu...

Nekolik cyklu / Several cycles

Evening at work.
Colleague #1 goes home. Me and colleague 2 are the last persons in the office.
Colleague #2: "Why it is always us being the last ones at work?"
Me: "Becuase we like it."
Colleague #1 (came back): "Becuase you want to be praised!"
Colleague #2 & me: "???"
Colleague #1: "You will be praised. When you are praised you are promoted. The one who is on the top does not do anything. If you do not do anything you cannnot make any mistake. If you do not make any mistake you are praised. If you are praised you are promoted. Several cycles like this and you fine..."

I wonder whether this kind of jokes are made also for instance in the US. Or generally in other countries with different working culture. Any idea? Feedback?

Vecer v praci.
Kolega c. 1 odchazi domu. Zustavam s kolegou c. 2 sam v kanclu.
Kolega c. 2: "Proc mi tady jsme vzdycky posledni!? "
Ja: "Protoze nas to tu bavi."
Kolega c.1 (vraci se): "Protoze chcete byt pochvaleni!"
Kolega c.2 & ja: "???"
Kolega c.1: "Budete pochvaleni. Kdyz jste pochvaleni, jste povyseni. Kdo je vys, nic nedela. Kdyz nic nedelate, nemuzete delat chyby. Kdyz nedelate chyby, jste pochvaleni. Kdyz jste pochvaleni, jste povyseni. Nekolik takovych cyklu a jste v pohode."

Kdo je autorem / Who is the author

Accidentaly two pictures come to my hands - and brought some thougths within.
The first one (quite abstract, isn't it?) comes from a webcamera in Helsinki South Harbour. I saved the picture in the evening. Obviously it was quite rainy... (btw: I have a "collection" of some 80 pics from this camera - anyone interested :-)?)
The second picture was taken during my holiday in the mountains - I think I like this most of those I took there.
Now there is a suggestion: what if the real authors of these pictures is the guy who installed the webcamera in Helsinki and the other one who erected the snow something (how is it called in English? the thing producing snow?) in the very place?

Dostaly se mi do rukou dva obrazky.
Prvni je z webkamery umistene v helsinskem jiznim pristavu. Ulozeno vecer, evidentne za destiveho pocasi (mimochodem: mam sbirku uz asi 80 obrazku z tehle webkamery).
Druhy obrazek pochazi z me horske dovolene. Libi se mi asi nejvice ze vsech obrazku, ktere jsem tam poridili.
A tak se mi do hlavy vkrada otazka: kdo jsou vlastne autori techto obrazku? Neni to ten clovicek, co na sloupu instaloval webkameru a ten, co na spravne miste umistil snezne delo?

Obrazky z hor III / Pics from mountains III

Here's probably the last set of pictures from my holiday.
Pravdepodobne posledni sada fotografii z volna na horach.


This is a bell on the top of Kronplatz. Unfortunately I didn't force myself to check what was written on the watching tower to find out what was the idea "behind" erecting the tower and putting the bell there. Maybe it was not written in English (but I could read it in German...), or it was just the end of the day so I was too tired (read: lazy) to read it. Or I was too busy with thinking of how did they transport the bell there. Nevertheless - I like the picture.
Zvon na vrchu Kronplatzu. Nejak jsem se nedonutil k precteni napisu na rozhledne, abych se dozvedel, proc presne tam ten zvon visel. Mozna napis nebyl napsan anglicky (ale pak bych ho moch zkusit rozlousknout v nemcine) a nebo to proste bylo tim, ze bylo uz pozdni odpoledne a mel jsem toho vseho proste plne zuby (zkratka ovladla me lenost). A nebo jsem misto cteni napisu venoval prili mnoho myslenek uvazovani o tom, jak byl zvon dostan na vrch kopce. At tak ci onak: fotka se mi libi.

Famous Bombardino. It seems to me that it is inevitably connected with Dolimites. Or is it just a myth? Hard to say. The mixture of Advocaat (hot), brandy or whisky and whipped cream is fine. But for me nothing really special. On the other hand the story around it became so strong in my mind that I will have it again next time when I get there.It is called successful marketing. And don't forget that (as the old wisdom maintains) there is no successful marketing without at least good product.
Slavne Bombardino. Jakoby by bylo nejak nevyhnutelne spojeno s Dolomity. A nebo je to jen domnenka ci mytus? Kdo vi. Smes horkeho vajecneho konaku, brandy nebo whisky a slehacka na vrchu vubec neni spatna. Ale na druhou stranu nic zasadne zvlastniho. Na stranu treti cela povest Bombardina nabyla v me mysli prilis velkych rozmeru na to, abych si ho priste nedal. Rika se tomu uspesny marketing. K tomu je treba mit na pameti, ze dle stale pravdy lze delat dlouhodobe uspesnou reklamu jednomu produktu jen tehdy, jedna-li se o dobry produkt.



Just a picture I like. Something like pictures of Vladimir Birgus. Pieces of reality which can be documented by a camera. But don't forget: first you must spot them.
Proste fotka, ktera se mi libi. Cosi ve stylu fotografii Vladimira Birguse. Kousky skutecnosti, ktere mohou byt zdokumentovany fotoaparatem. Ale nezapominejme: nejdrive museji byt spatreny.
Ski, airplanes, snow, stick, mountains, clouds. Sort of Nirvana. (Hu. I just found out that I already published this picture. But without the previous wise words.)
Lyze, letadla, snih, hory, mraky. Neco jako nirvana.

Even for me it was quite difficult to recognize what was on the picture.

Sam jsem mel problemy s poznanim, co je vlastne na obrazku.

Obrazky z hor / Pics from mountains II

The second set. As you can see the weather was great (next time I will take some sun lotion...). Pure pleasure.
Druha sada. Pocasi bylo vytecne (pro priste je nutne si vzit vice opalovaciho kremu). Cista radost.

Obrazky z hor / Pics from mountains

Just a little appetizer for the other pictures from my holiday.

Drobny predkrmek pred dalsimi obrazky z hor.

Nove odkazy / New links

I added several new links (see the Reflections section). One of them is published by a German antarctic expedition. Enjoy :-).

Pridal jsem do sekce Reflections nekolik novych odkazu. Jeden z nich je psan nemeckou polarni expedici.

Poklady YouTube aneb zivotni role

Brouzdal jsem trosku YouTube a hle, co jsem nalezl:

• zivotni roli pana Frantiska Sahuly
• a, nejsem si 100% jist, velmi zajimavou roli Adely Gondikove.

Tak at vas to pobavi tak, jako to krasne pobavilo v sobotnim poledni me.

Vitezna fotka / Winning picture

There was a photo competition at work - the topic was something like "humourous side of working in D". And here is the winning picture (by me :-)). One could conclude that the life at D. is not that funny if this is supposed to be the funniest picture...
Awaiting the prize...

Meli jsme v praci fotografickou soutez s tematem neco jako "Vesele momenty z D.". A tohle je vitezny obrazek (autorem je moje malickost). Jeden by rekl, ze prace v D. neni tak vesela, kdyz vyhraje takovy obrazek...
Tak ted cekam na vyhru.