Drazdany, Nagasaki, Hirosima

Pustil jsem se do komentovani nekterych ne uplne nejhezcich aspektu nasi historie. Inspiroval me, pokolikate jiz, Petr Koubsky.

Somewhere along the way...

...I felt something in the air...

"Many companies start out with a clear rationale for any particular transaction. But somewhere along the way, the deal takes on a life of its own—and can keep moving forward even when it doesn’t make sense." - it is a quote from an article on M&A by D&T nevertheless the feeling of "something" went wrong is pretty well described. Something went wrong even though many dedicated and intelligent people worked so hard.... And it actually doesnt matter whether you talk about some failed M&A deals, the financial crises or for instance the Challenger catastrophe.

Holesovice district, 15 February

Last week I spent three days at a motivation and communication skills training. I enjoyed that - not only because of the two trainers who were really good and experienced (an HR director of an automotive company employing some three thousand workers and one of Czech first headhunters) but also because of the other "students". Two of four were CEOs, one CEO-2 level manager from a large Czech bank. Experience in the air. We, of course, discussed the current economic downturn. Somehow our discussions turned to war several times. Strange feeling - usually big things start as small ones. Hopefully this is not the case.

Petr Koubsky, one of my favourite bloggers, wrote: "A water pipe broke somewhere underground. This is how the end of the world will look like: we will be waiting for someone to repair it. And looking for the number of a free of charge customer care."

And Vaclav Cilek (Letat s ptaky), one of my favourite authors, says: "I've always felt that there are two tendencies beside each other - a creative one and a destructive one. Both are big unpersonal powers - ancient Greeks would call them "gods" whereas modern people rather speak about darwinian strenghts of natural selection. Most of the old societies understood well that destruction is not a lack of positive deeds or a mistake, but a real power of its own following its own logic."

Pigs unlimited

You could hardly guess what a company called Pigs Unlimited produces.

Expecting sophisticated crimes

In general - being a person full of doubts and sometimes even enjoying doubts - I dont like people without doubts. Mainly because they are not open to discussion - or they may be open to discussion, however I believe discussion deserves being called a discussion only if there is a potential of changing ones views. Without doubts this usually cannot happen. And discussion is something what allow us to adapt to changing environment and uncover new features of our world and lifes.

Zdeněk Sýkora: Nudná (Boring), 2006, source

It is interesting that even people who are supposed to challenge assumptions daily, people who are paid for thinking "out of the box", sometimes overlook their own mental boxes and what's more are unable to accept this fact. People without doubts... One of the good examples is probably represented by the roots of the current financial crises - many assumptions have not been challenged. Most likely because people who were paid for doing so were pretty successful - and success usually is not the point of your life which would make you think deeply.
The recent article (Resisting the Seductions of Success) by Harvard Business School faculty explores a situation of successful people. It may make you think. Enjoy.

Gymnazium Milady Horakove

Jeho zalozeni vypada jako docela rozumny a zajimavy pocin. Stoji to za to uz proto, aby Martu "uz se k tomu nebudu vyjadrovat" Semelovou trefil slak, by to stalo. Snad se dobra vec podari.

Psat o tom, ze mlceni staci

Okomentoval jsem komentar o J.P.

Keeping the sea lines open

Some of you may know my obsession with icebreakers - I dont mean the short activities for warming up a group of people but the real ships. It is hard to say where does this interest come from. Basically there may be these reasons behind: I like big powerful machines, I like winter, ice and the like, and I also like the sense of responsibility related to the importance of such a machine that so many people rely on.
You may not share this obsession, however you may like the picture published on Virtual Finland. Check the slideshow.
Just a short introduction: "Icebreakers are more than mere motor ships. They are part of Finland's cold weather culture, and admired accordingly. Apart from their image as princes of the sea lanes, they are essential for the economy."

Zkratka a dobre: velmi pekne fotky ledoborcu a z ledoborcu.

Komentar IV

Komentoval jsem clanek o odhalovani plagiatorstvi. Chce to holt strategicky pristup :-).

Takova hra

Na internetu se nektere veci siri rychle, zvlaste, kdyz jsou hrave. Takze si to muzete taky zkusit. Otazka: odpoved. Nejlepe dichotomicka.
Je zajimave, jak nektere otazky, v danem kontextu, vypovidaji hodne o tom, kdo je klade. Stara pravda, ale potesi vzdy.

• Levice/pravice: pravice. Otazkou je, co dnes tahle slova presne znamenaji. Něco jako britsti konzervativci?
• Ekonomika: At do toho stat moc nezasahuje intervencemi, ale at urcuje dobra a rozumna pravidla a silne je vymaha. At stat nedela to, co neumi.
• Radar: Jisteze ano. Ne kvuli raketam, ale kvuli tomu, aby Rusko vedelo, ze jeho vliv na stredni Evropu je omezeny.
• Temelín: Ano. Kvuli energetickemu mixu. Dulezite je zminit, ze preference Temelina nic nerika o vztahu k usporam a alternativnim zdrojum energie.
• Boj proti globalnimu oteplovani: nevim. Pocitove beru, ze se otepluje, ale nezda se mi, ze by bylo mozne tim ci onim proces vyrazne zpomalit. Rozhodne dulezitejsi je pripravovat se na nasledky. Napr. orat po vrstevnicich.
• Aktivisti: jde-li o aktivni lidi, tak jiste ano. Pasivni jsou horsi.
• NGO: Jisteze ano. Nemuzu za to, ze se tohle slovo zamenuje za Greenpeace lezouci na vlajkove stozary. Sam vdecim jedne dobrovolne neziskovce za hodne.
• Lisabonská smlouva: ne.
• Brusel: no, není to spatne město, takze ano :-).
• 30 Kč poplatek: ano. Uz pro to uvedomeni si, ze to "zadarmo" není.
• ČSSD: ne. Především za maglajs, který zvladli udelat (napr. vnitro).
• KSČM: ano (nakopat do…, vykopat z…, povesit za...).
• ODS: a co jineho mi zbyva….
• KDU-ČSL: radsi ne, prilis nerizena strela. A taky za obranu.
• Zelení: kdyby se od nich odpreparovalo kridlo "aktivistu", tak asi ano.
• Národovci: nerozumim uplne pojmu (resp. citim jeho mnohoznacnost), takze bez odpovedi.
• Cesta změny: vim, ze takova strana byla. Uz pro jeji zoufalou neuspesnost ne.
• Pravdy a lásky všeho druhu: jisteze ano - ani na pravde, ani na lasce není nic spatneho.
• Klaus: poslední dobou cim dal tim min. Starne?
• Paroubek: skoda, ze nemá nekoho, kdo by korigoval jeho nejnizsi pudy. Jenze on se nenecha, takze ne.
• Izrael/Palestina: jasne, otazka asi zni "komu fandim". Ale na to se mi prilis odpovidat nechce - ve svetle veskereho utrpeni války jsou takove uvahy asi trochu nemistne.
• Praha/Brno: v Brne jsem byl tak malokrat, ze bez odpovedi.
• Sparta/Slavia: Slavia!
• Mazání komentářů: jak kterych :-).
• Plat ředitele ČEZ: nevadil by mi. Rikat k nemu ano nebo ne nedava prilis smyslu.

Pridejte se!

V cestine pro 4. tridu jsem obstal

Potesujici zjisteni :-).

500 HP

Well, simply mastery. Worth watching till the end.
Mistrne. Doporucuji sledovat do konce.

2008

A quick year. Yet many things, people, feelings worth mentionioning.
Nejak rychle to ubehlo. Ale na zastaveni je cas. A mrknout se, co stoji za zminku.

Uig - ESN Alumni - Tereza - Arvo Part - Talisker Distillery - drone - Alumni meeting Prague - nase chalupa / our cottage - Twitter - smes / mixture of Krakonosova smes a Kentucky Bird - Philip Glass - Nemesis - Imperial War Musem - Commando Memorial - 16 GB flash disc - ilist - Bara - Skalpel, prosim - Antonio - Toon - Salza - Prague CEMS alumni wine tasting - Pierre - McKinsey Quarterly - zapomenuti hrdinove - martial - Respekt - Ohre - U Lipy - Alumni meeting Siena - clients - Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Kuba - concert of Queen in Prague - Marina - Ben Nevis - last.fm - Benjaming Band - Koubsky o zivote - Váchal: mezi Bohem a Ďáblem - Kryštof Kintera - youtube - kamaradi / friends - hcz

Everything counts