Famous Czech gay architect weds, Miss California clashes gay marriage

(c) Jan Sibik/Reflex

Famous Czech architect Petr Hala recently married his Italian boyfriend. “Married” is of course a technical term, it is registered partnership, but the ceremony has all attributes of a wedding, which includes the person officiating, vows, kisses…and of course, bachelor parties.

There are Czechs who are against it, but there are no public campaigns against it because Czechs are generally open-minded and liberal and they do not protest against things that are none of their business.

Meanwhile… Associated Press writes:

The reigning Miss California has gone to Washington to help launch a campaign opposing same-sex marriage. Carrie Prejean told NBC’s “Today” show Thursday that she’ll be working with the National Organization for Marriage to “protect traditional marriages.” The 21-year-old says that marriage is “something that is very dear to my heart” and she’s in Washington to help save it. She says many people have thanked her for standing up for traditional marriage. [boldface by TCDW, photo www.nydailynews.com]

I am furious, I must say, just like Perez Hilton was. What does a 21-year old single student know about marriage? And I would really like to ask her:

• why do you care about other people’s marriages? Is your own opposite-sex marriage less or more traditional because of other people’s marriage?
• how is opposite-sex marriage with separate bedrooms, no sex life, family lawyers and shrinks traditional?
• if you want to protect traditional marriage, shouldn’t you start by fixing husbands and wives who hate each other, who do not have sex, who spend $300 an hour for therapy? Same-sex couples who decide to tie the knot love each other…
• what is your first sentence going to be if/when your daughter comes to you and says “mom, I am a lesbian”

Apparently I am not the only one to think so, cf. the controversy she started during the pageant. She said

“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there but that’s how I was raised”.

OK, so on one hand she talks about freedom and “no offense to anyone…” and on the other hand she is planning to campaign against gay marriage.

Maybe she should look up a certain document. It starts “We the people”, not “We the heterosexual Evangelical Christians”. Of course, she is entitled to her beliefs, but these beliefs should not be potentially oppressive and offensive. Otherwise I would be entitled to mine, along the lines of  “No offense, but…nice breasts you got”. Same thing…

UPDATE: Hmm, certain relatively credible sources say that they are fake. So a man can not marry a man he loves but he can marry a chick who needs fake tits to enter a beauty contests. In the words of this girl, No offense…

Swine flu paradox: Czech airports screen Americans

(c) Getty Images

So far no case of swine flu has been confirmed in the Czech Republic. The three suspicious cases turned negative. All of them have recently returned from Mexico, as did the remaining EU cases in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

It is a sad paradox, really. During the times of unilateral USA-Czech visa regime many politicians, tourists and journalists (including myself) used to mention the fact that the system had been humiliating (“we have to, they don’t“).

And now every American who arrives in the Czech Republic is screened. “Luckily” we do not have regular Mexico-Prague flights, so passengers traveling from Mexico have to change flights in Madrid where some precautions have been in place as well…

In the meantime, Czechs have been buying out Tamiflu. However the authorities warned that taking the pills as precaution has no effects and the body may become resistant to it if the “patients” actually become sick…

Charter flights between Prague and Miami cancelled before they started

Thousands of Czechs were expected to visit the United States on Prague-Miami flights when the visa regime ceased to exist a few months ago. Travel agencies thought that with the favorable exchange rate they would fly some 7,000 tourists to Florida.

Nope. According to the Planes.cz server Czech Airlines withdrew from the route and so did the Travel Service charter airline. Both due to small demand.

I remember there were times when “summer holiday” in the U.S. WAS indeed ridiculously expensive. Airline tickets, visa fees and the fact that any immigration officer can send you home even if you have a hotel reservation and a return ticket — South Beach and Florida landmarks just weren’t worth it. Now the prices are much better, but Czechs -naturally- save money on things they need the least.

For example being fined by a beach buggy cop for sunbathing topless. I know, I know, Florida is more open-minded about this, but still

The Brno Reservoir: almost no water and some ruins of a flooded village

The Brno Reservoir is a major “free time destination” of Brno citizens.  It offers hiking trails, beach volleyball courts, beaches … including a nude beach… biking paths, etc. However, its water quality is far from normal. In fact once it gets a little hotter, it is considered unusable due to cyanobacteria contents. In other words…it is green. Which is why it is going to look like this this summer:

The reservoir will be almost “empty” so that specialized treatment can take place and the most toxic mud will be excavated. There will be even less water than there is now…which is expected to reveal the ruins of the abandoned village that was flooded when the reservoir was built…

There are experts who say it should work – finally. And there are other experts who say it is useless because the water “quality” will worsen again because many upstream villages have old WWTP’s (or none at all) and their effluent water composition is what makes water green.

Either way: people still visit the beaches even though they can not jump in and swim. And now they take walks in the dry river bed…

The City of Brno to remove illegal graffiti. It will cost us two million

The Council of the City of Brno agreed that the municipality shall pay TWO million for the removal of illegal graffiti on buildings in 22 streets of downtown Brno. This “street art” is probably the most pointless form of  “petty crime” there is… and I would be a loud supporter of corporal punishment. I know the Czech Republic is a civilized country, but a young man who spray-paints his “tag” on a 19th century facade of a building that has recenly been renovated for 4 million (an actual example from down the street) is not civilised. I think this country would use some laws that are applicable in Singapore…

Future high school students to take their tests

There are no school districts  in the Czech Republic, so students can basically choose any school they want. Most high schools specialize in particular social or natural sciences, languages, sports, etc. There are schools where you will have French twice a day, and there are some that will make you a future Nobel Prize material.

However, this is also the reason why almost all high schools choose their future students and have them take complex and tough written tests. Let’s say a school plans to open three classes of freshmen next September, so out of 2,000 applicants only 90 can get in (3×30)…

Oh yeah, classes. With some exceptions, Czech schools (elementary, junior high and high schools) are organized into classes of 25-30, which means you spend four years of high schools with the same people. And since there are desks for two, students often have the same deskmate all year.

The risk of not being accepted means that student often choose safety nets (schools they don’t want to attend, but they apply anyway because they know they can get in, so just in case…).  BUT! They can send THREE applications but almost all schools have the tests on the same days, so technically one of the applications gets wasted because students can physically attend/take part only in two testing days…

Whoever invented this probably failed math in high school…

The Pope will come to Brno in September, church leaders confirmed

AFP/Alberto Pizzoli

The Pope will visit Brno in September (Sep 27) and so far the plan is that he will greet his followers and other people who find it essential to see him on Brno International Airport. Brno councilman Jan Holik (Christian Democrats) said that Vatican envoys have seen the place and have nothing against it. Over 200,000 people are expected to come.

I wonder what this is going to do with hotel prices… since Brno is relatively close to four countries (Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland), thousands of foreigners are also expected to arrive.

TO BE UPDATED…

Czech travel agencies: forget last-minute bargains this year

(c) Getty Images

This financial crisis forces people to give up things that need the least, of course. In case of Czechs: seaside-resort holidays. For many families and couples there will be no Croatia, Greece, Spain or Egypt this year. Lucky bastards who live in Florida.

Czech travel agencies still do offer their services…  but they recently announced they significantly reduced their capacities (i.e. numbers of beds and rooms…) they pre-ordered last year, or well ahead. It means two things: they will sell out what they have faster and they will offer almost no last-minute departures that can be described as “buy today, fly in two days”.

Last year one could wait until a Tuesday, pick a destination, pay a ridiculously small price and pack to depart on a Friday. Not only there will be no such thing this year, travel agencies also INCREASED their prices, which I don’t understand, considering the fact that people have LESS money.

Odd Czech things: sign boards saying what the particular store sells

I bet every Czech finds their nation odd in some way. To me one of the weirdest thing is our store naming and signage habit that seems to have survived the pre-1989 times when everything was state-owned.

You can see dozens and hundreds of stores/shops in the Czech Republic where the main sign will not name the owner but the merchandise the store sells. In the U.S., the name of the retailer TOYS R US yells at parents and kids from above the entrance to … enter. In the Czech Republic the sign would usually say “TOYS” with no specification of the owner.

It is really odd because the signs say the obvious. You can SEE that the store sells toys.

Same thing with sign boards that say “FLOWERS” (not let’s say Angela’s Flower Garden), or “MEAT” (not Tom’s Deli).

Makes me wanna do a little sightseeing with a camera to illustrate the …well..oddity.

Nazi swastika spray-painted on a house owned by the city

The municipality of the City of Brno (or one of its boroughs) does not care much about its property. It has been ignoring a serious violation of the law. Some vandal spray-painted the Nazi swastika on the facade of an old “apartment building” owned by the city. True, the city owns many buildings and it can not guard and control them all, but still…

According to the Czech Penal Code it is against the law to “promote movements that oppress people” (rough translation). In other words, swastika in public is against the law, even if spray-painted as an act of vandalism that does not reflect the graffiti author’s actual political views. I am almost sure that this act of vandalism is football-related…

A private house (wall/fence/etc.) owner can be ordered by authorities to remove such graffiti at their own expense and they can seek compensation in court if the vandal is actually convicted. I wonder why it does not work the same way with a house that is owned by the city.

The truth is that the house is not located on a busy street in terms of pedestrian numbers and drivers who drive by have to pay attention to traffic lights. On the other hand, it can be seen by foreign tourists who arrive at the Zvonarka bus terminal. It is right across the street.

NOTE: the house is not abandoned/evicted. Coincidentally, only the first floor apartment that can be seen on this photo happens to be empty.