Last year 1/2007

A spot three times the size of the Earth appeared on the Sun. Newspapers reported that a crustacean with hairy claws and membranes instead of eyes was discovered on the ocean floor and given the nickname the “yeti crab.” Cherry trees blossomed in December. The World Bank officially cut off development aid to the Czech Republic and moved it from the list of “developing” countries to the “wealthy” list. Madonna appeared in Prague’s Sazka Arena. It came to light that Iran’s nuclear bomb, which Czech politicians had originally wanted to help Tehran produce, will evidently even be able to reach Prague.

“‘Peace in Europe’ is a nice phrase, but all these years after the war only old-timers take it to heart,” wrote Lidové noviny commentator Luboš Palata while commenting on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to bring the European Constitution back to the negotiating table. Czech freedom-fighting hero Rudolf Pernický (90) was cremated in the Strašnice crematorium. Oskar was renamed to Vodafone. A rare bird – a barnacle goose – nested on the banks of the Beroun River. The level of debt of Czech households exceeded half a billion crowns and banking statisticians warned that every seventh household was unable to repay its obligations. The spring thaw raised the level of rivers, and the authorities once again – for the third time in nine years – warned of a serious threat of flooding. Summer temperatures hit 45 degrees Celsius in large cities, and the use of air conditioning, freezers, and refrigerators overburdened the power transmission grid so much that their operator announced a state of emergency for the Czech Republic. “It wouldn’t be off the mark,” proclaimed Water Management Research Institute expert Ladislav Kašpárek after Mladá fronta Dnes reported on a major drop in underground potable water supplies and its reporters asked him, “Should we start comparing the price of water with the price of gold?” Pluto ceased being a planet. Prague’s Ruzyně Airport opened a new terminal. The Chamber of Deputies passed the law on registered partnerships for same-sex couples. In Vienna, scientists from the Czech Technical University received the European ICT Prize, awarded to the best IT inventions, for their 14Control device, which enables a personal computer to be controlled by eye movement. “Dogs, you can sniff around the places I pissed on last, but don’t be surprised if I manage to piss on the whole block in the meantime – it’s your time that’s being wasted,” Hugo Toxxx, the Czech Republic’s most famous rapper, relayed to detractors of his music. Fourteen new, unattended footpaths cut through the Czech-Austrian border. Vivienne Westwood held a fashion show in the Prague Castle. Jan Lukas passed away. Ján Langoš’ funeral was held in Brno. The Civic Democratic Party won the elections by a large margin, however, considering the 100:100 stalemate between the Chamber’s “leftwing” and “rightwing” camps, political leaders have yet to form a government that would gain the confidence of Parliament. The new point system for drivers made Czech roadways considerably safer. Ivan Martin Jirous a.k.a. Magor received the 2006 Jaroslav Seifert Prize for his poetry. Before the elections, the Unit for the Detection of Organized Crime director Jan Kubice told the Chamber’s defense and security committee that organized crime was growing within the ranks top politicians. “They don’t know how to appreciate women, they view them only as housewives, not as equal partners. And they also don’t know how to live – they’re constantly agonizing, stressed out, worrying about everything,” replied swimmer Yvetta Hlaváčová to Mladá fronta Dnes Magazín’s question, “What don’t you like about Czech men?” The Indian company Ashok Leyland acquired the Letňany-based truck maker Avia. Successful Romanian manager Adrian Sarba assumed management of Nova TV. Czech President Václav Klaus called the fear of global warning one of “modern mankind’s crucial mistakes.” In one of Bohnice Psychiatric Clinic’s pavilions, patient Věra Musilová (30) died by suffocating on her own excrement while locked up a caged bed; the International Organization for Human Rights of the Mentally Handicapped subsequently began working on a lawsuit against the Czech Republic regarding the Czech authorities’ continued practice of locking the mentally ill in cages and caged beds. The Hubble telescope photographed an unknown galaxy with a billion stars and hundreds of millions of suns in the Big Dipper constellation. Vienna’s Volksoper opera house included Janáček’s opera The Excursions of Mr. Brouček on its bill. Space probes discovered water on Mars. The Chamber of Deputies prohibited Czech scientists from cloning humans.