Little Czech Primer: News and Updates

The stolid, well-organised Czechs would get on splendidly with their new Dutch neighbours, and vice versa.

I’m very pleased to announce the addition of something folks have been asking for since I first started this site: audio clips. This addition is thanks to the generosity of Pavel Farkas, who volunteered to produce the audio clips and supply them to me in a web-ready format. Not only do I owe him a debt of gratitude for all the work he did to make this happen, I owe him an apology for taking so long to update the site with the new feature. Thank you Pavel!

At the moment there are a couple of browser requirements for hearing the audio: Flash and JavaScript. The sound clips are triggered by the jPlayer plugin for jQuery, and it uses an invisible Flash clip for playback. I’m very interested in hearing feedback from any users who find that this doesn’t work, or find that these browser requirements interfere with their enjoyment of the site.

Thanks again to Pavel, and I hope everyone enjoys the new feature.

An interesting article about the fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and five people who “participated in this transformation.” Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

I must admit, however, the story caught my eye at first because I wondered what the soldier’s height had anything to do with it.

An exhibit at the Harvard University Center for Government and International Studies this month displayed “black and white photos snapped for over twenty years by citizen spies employed by the Cold War communist government.” The photos are also collected in a book.

As father of, now, three, I’m accustomed to not seeing the movies I wish I could see. Still, it’s with particular regret that I read of The Ironic Curtain, a Czech Film Series coming to New York. It sounds like a great lineup.

A new entry? Do tell.

The V.J. Rott building will soon be home to the Hard Rock Cafe. Lest you think such a thing would be horribly tacky, fear not: the three-floor cafe and bar will feature “a 5-meter custom-made crystal guitar, which will hang suspended from the ceiling.”

Slovakia has beaten regional peers Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic on the way to the euro by a broad margin. The latter two countries have not set a euro entry date yet.

…

[Klaus] has dismissed the presidency as “unimportant”, making foreign media wonder about Czech ability to preside over the EU.

It’s a remarkable contrast, and unfortunately I don’t keep up with regional politics well enough to understand it. I can’t see how it will be to the Czech Republic’s benefit to provide weak or indifferent leadership during their EU presidency.

Slovakia is making the last preparations to switch to the euro on January 1 in a feat for the country of 5 million whose recent history serves as a blueprint for economic success.

Krysa, rat.