Meet Czech Poetry - The Seventh Elegy by Jiří Orten

I have decided to do some translations every once in a while of some famous Czech poems to which I cannot find a decent English translation anywhere on the internet. I feel incredibly lucky for knowing both English and Czech languages to such a degree, that I can enjoy the finest writing from both of these cultures. But even if you don't know Czech, you still deserve to have a chance to read some of the best poems ever written in this language, wherever you're from. Just like the poets who wrote them deserve to be heard. The first entry is my personal favorite, one of nine brilliant elegies written by a poet who died at 24 years of age - Jiří Ohrenstein was his real name, Jiří Orten his artistic pseudonym.

Future Science Reviews - The World's End

Do you remember the days when science fiction was actually fun? With the recent and still upcoming sequelitis of sci-fi movies with the additional title being something along the lines of "darkly into darkness darkening dark", it is becoming increasingly rare to just have a laugh at some good old smart sci-fi movie that doesn't take itself extremely seriously. In the case of The World's End, it is even weirder, since this technically is a sequel, if only in spirit, a third movie in a trilogy. Kudos to the creator Edgar Wright for making it no less fresh and original than his previous two genre elevations (not parodies). But how does it stand when compared to the rest of science fiction and worse still, the actual (possible) reality of the future? Read on and find out.

Future Science Reviews - Elysium

Hello random readerhood

As a lifetime fan of all things science fiction, and a little bit of a scientist as well as an artist, I have decided to start sharing my opinions on movies, games and written stories "of the future!" with the rest of our shared planet, meaning you. It is therefore only fitting that the first review would be a one of a movie that makes a very clear point about all of us sharing the planet. Very bluntly, that is, but let's not get ahead of myself. I shall call this series Future Science Reviews, because this reviewer is not going to pretend that movies are just movies and science fiction is just some science fantasy that may ignore the real world in all of its, as of yet conveniently unknown, splendor. Don't worry though, I am a fan of magic as well. And logic, which applies to science, magic and storytelling alike. Okay, let's review a hell out of this thing and rate its futureality.

General Defense of Astrology

Here is a comprehensive list of arguments debunking astrology being debunked. As you will see, most of the debunking is just clarification, because critics of astrology, though educated, usually do not feel in any way required to learn what it is they are criticising. Don't worry, all the actual problems of astrology will be mentioned as well. Each article deals with one general group of particular criticisms and explains how all of them in reality miss the mark.

The Greatest American President of All Time

If I am to select a single American president to be the greatest, first I have to examine the very concept of „greatness“. The greatness is of course not an objective, scientific term, that could be reduced to numbers or neutral factual observations. Even though it would be unwise to ignore the facts entirely, since they can form a solid basis for evaluation and serve as a fundamental qualification, the greatness is essentially a matter of subjective values. A man can be „great“ only from a certain perspective and to some person or people. In regards to politics, the greatness is most often judged from the historical, personal and national perspectives. Objectively speaking, these perspectives normally entail significant factors like president’s concrete accomplishments, prosperity of the USA during his term, military victories, magnitude and scope of his vision, his legacy, renown and importance, strength of his character, his charisma and rhetoric skills or his level of patriotism, decisiveness and resolve. I listed these mostly objective factors in no particular order, since their relative importance varies, depending on who is assessing it. At this point, I need to decide, who’s perspective and what measure do I want to adopt.

Flimsy Logic of Science

If you dare to believe anything at all beyond the strict boundaries of so called good science, it may have happened to you that a self-proclaimed sceptic/atheist/scientist disregarded and invalidated your whole life's experience as well as your person by spouting a single catchphrase. Let's look at some of those popular self-evident scientific truths about our reality a little closer.

Real Magic

If somebody asked me, who or what I am or wish to be, I wouldn't say I am an artist, or a scientist, or philosopher, not even author, believer, speaker, writer, thinker, teacher, visionary, expert, pundit, none of those labels. Without a moment's hesitation, I would say that I am, for serious, only this: