Nice Work If You Can Get It: Developing Websites in Slovakia
At first glance, the homepage of the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava would appear to be the gateway to your average, run-of-the-mill website.
Yet appearances can be deceiving. For this website — for which the kid who mows your lawn on Saturdays or your nephew in Wichita might charge a hundred bucks or so – came with a price tag of over 25,000 euros (or $33,000), according to a report by Slovak daily SME.
The director of the gallery told SME that it was money well spent for the minimally designed site, though many a comment under the article disagreed with that assessment.
Of course, the Slovaks who are footing the bill for the site should be delighted that they got such a bargain. A couple of years ago, their neighbors to the south, Hungary, paid exponentially more for a presence on the worldwide web.
Cheap Vacation Tip: Sliac, Slovakia: 4 People, 4 Days, $100
Sliac, Slovakia
Yet for about what four people can expect to pay for a stop in a Parisian coffee shop, a quartet for travelers can enjoy a cultural, sporting, adventurous and relaxing weekend in Sliac, Slovakia.
Situated in the heart of Europe, Sliac provides refreshing natural spas, beautiful views of and treks to nearby mountain ranges, fantastic dining, trips to historical towns and – this is Slovakia after all – some of the best beer in the world.
And all at a ridiculously low price.
For more information contact:
Relax Vikend
Tel: +421 944 152 291
Email: ubytovanie@sliacdnes.sk
Political Fight Breaks Out After Hockey Loss in Slovakia
The gloves came off between two leading politicians in Slovakia during the immediate aftermath of the country’s 4-3 loss to Russia at the World Hockey Championships last Tuesday in Bratislava.
According to a report in the Slovak newspaper SME, Ivan Gasparovic and Iveta Radovica, the president and prime minister of the hockey-mad nation, respectively, ran into each other while waiting for an elevator following the disappointing defeat at the hands of the Russians.
The press account says that Gasparovic pushed Radicova, Slovakia’s first female prime minister, out of the way as the elevator reached their tier and told her to “get out of here”.
Government spokesman Marian Balaz told SME that the president’s angry outburst “was a tremendous shock” to those present.
Other sources report that Gasparovic’s wife called Radicova to apologize on her husband’s behalf.
For his part Gasparovic, a burly septuagenarian, brushed off the incident – claiming it was nothing more than a harmless gag. (Gasparovic’s exact phrase was “Kanadsky zartik” which translates as “Canadian joke” and is taken to mean a harmless prank in Slovak.)
This is not the first time accounts of Gasparovic’s undiplomatic behavior have landed him in political trouble domestically.
In the 1990s, when serving as speaker of parliament, an open microphone caught Gasparovic using the words “old” and an unflattering slang term for a part of the male anatomy to refer to Slovakia’s then-president Michal Kovac.
Cartoonist Gets Back at Slovak PM Through Giant Billboards
Last September, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico sued one of his country’s largest newspapers, SME, for $43,000 and an apology over a cartoon by Martin “Shooty” Sutovec. Sutovec had portrayed Ficoas a man without a backbone.
Read more…
Ice Hockey: Two Minutes for Breaking All-Time Goal Record
Confusion reigned over Slovak ice hockey Tuesday night as Arne Krotak was sent to the penalty box for two minutes for celebrating the goal which made him the leading goal scorer in the history of the country, according to a report in the Slovak newspaper SME.
Krotak, who plays for the Slovak side Poprad, scored his 394th career goal during an away game in the city of Kosice, and placed himself ahead of Vincent Lukac, as the player with the most goals in the history of the Slovak Extraliga.
After the puck landed in the back of the net, Krotak’s teammates got up off the bench and rushed to the ice to congratulate him. While on the ice, each Poprad player proceeded to take off his jersey — under which was a shirt with the words “Krotak 394″ inscribed on it.
The Kosice crowd, however, was apparently in no mood to join in the celebration or ponder the historical significance of the event. After a couple of minutes, they started to jeer Krotak. The referee then skated over to the ecstatic huddle around Krotak and directed the player to the penalty box to sit out two-minutes for disrupting the game.
Officials from Poprad insist that the referees were apprised that there would be an extensive celebration should Krotak break the Slovak goal record in Kosice, and they claim that the referees had agreed to let the celebration take place.
The report in SME states that the referee avoided reporters question after the game and left the arena through a side exit.
Krotak played four seasons with Kosice but was traded to Poprad in 2006.
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