Source: www.theblaze.com

We live, make many plans and we constantly put something off due to "priorities". Indeed, it's good to have a planned and well-organised life, as long as it doesn't entail constant stress, as long as it doesn't make us devoid of spontaneity and as long as we don't overdo it. But is it truly worth putting off our pleasures to an undefined later, is it worth relentlessly abiding by a plan and the rules that are implied within it? But what if tomorrow wouldn't come?

There are people who make lots of money by creating apocalyptic visions of the world, feeding on the gullibility of people, they dig out ancient prophecies and raise funds in order to "prevent" or "prepare" for the apparently "inevitable" end. After all, when are people most prone to give out their money? When they or their relatives won't need it anymore. Then the day arrives, a wave of suicide occurs, an army of ruined lives. Yet the festival of fanaticism can still go on. "We made a mistake", they say, "the translation was erroneous" they add, and after some thought "it's the interpretation's fault, now we know, we know the date, we've got more time!" and the fun goes on. Cruel. An example of such heinous undertaking is the quite old CHEOPS Project.

On the other hand there are people who don't bother themselves with frailty of our lives, they don't even want to hear about the nonsensical talking about the possibility of this world ending. Oftentimes they don't even bother with their inevitable personal world's end, for how can one name death in a different way? For many something ends, something begins, yet surely we can name this our small, private, earthly apocalypse. An individual armageddon, which sooner or later reaches everyone. Nobody knows when, though, so "Carpe diem!" seems like a profoundly attractive, agreeable statement. Let's catch the day as much as we can, tomorrow might not come.

Source: nasa.gov

Let's go back though to the global matters. Should we truly feel endangered on Mother Earth? Without this place in the universe the humanity might have simply been history. Cataclysms struck our world often. An asteroid, which resulted in the mass extinction of dinosaurs and allowed us to evolve and assume control. Cosmic radiation, created by a nearby supernova could immediately wipe all life from our planet.

An eruption of a supervolcano, which cuts off the access to sunlight, and in effect results in a slow and terrible death. Solar storms, which are able to make us devoid of all our computerization, introducing an impossible to contain chaos. Nothing new in the history of Mother Earth, she saw all of those situations, she bear witness to death of her own, defenseless children, which weren't mature enough to protect themselves. We can kill each other regardless, we possess an impressive arsenal of death and destruction. An unlimited nuclear war according to warfare definitions isn't a war anymore, it's an armageddon. It's not about victory, it's about destroying and burying everything that exists.

Let's make the most of our days as well as we can. Disregarding sickness and unfortunate events, disregarding the matter of one's private apocalypse, I don't even know when the time shall come for our species, for a global apocalypse. We don't have an insurance policy, we've only got Earth. What this means is that we've got to finally take care of it, we've got to ensure the survival of our own species. And all the while let's take care of our own, private well-being. Let's take care of our health, maintain a healthy diet, do sports, not ignore doctors. The clock is ticking...

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By Dominik Marciniak
Translation by Adrian Kołodziński 

The world of current blogs is divided into several regions. The most important of distinguishing characteristics is that of belonging - some of them to freely written works of people, who aren't expected to meet any requirements to start a blog, and some to the elite chosen by many different magazines as part of their blog initiatives (like the one launched by "Polityka"). I shall complain about the former of course, because the latter have their own, defined rules.

We live in times overtaken by image - we add pictures everywhere, we attempt to catch somebody's attention with them, pique their curiosity, add a story. Thankfully in a "tasteful" version it's a wonderful idea - by making our posts more interesting in this way we become more similar to press.

Sadly, everything has a certain line of good taste, and overdoing it is when the blog offers miniscule amounts of written content in relation to pictures, of which there is, colloquially speaking, "a shitton". We live in times in which we have Instagram and Tumblr, Snapchat is also a nice addition, and photoblogs still exist. What differentiates the traditional blogosphere from the just enumerated forms? Two, maybe three sentences of content more? According to many authors sadly it's true. We get lost in all of this, we lose the concept and the formula of a blog. We crave homogenization, as such curbing diversity, or at least that's how the trend has been so far.

More and more often I see complaints about the outpour of new blogs, oftentimes managed badly and without any ideas, usually being a thematical geminate. I don't agree with those complaints. There are a lot of topics that can be discussed again and for something new to be added to them, to inspire oneself, amend, express one's unique view, to look at the problem from a different perspective. Should somebody do that correctly - he'll get by. Even if it's a yet another blog about fashion, if it's well made, it will become more popular sooner or later. Heck, even an average one has a higher chance to become more popular than a blog like mine. Why? The amount of pictures in relation to text suits the modern taste better, to the benefit of the former. We should rather be happy with the increasing interest with this subject, that, though twisted by sins, develops the base of authors and readers alike. Everyone started somewhere, and the golden rule for the man is to learn from your mistakes.

A visualisation of the blogosphere of 2007
source: datamining.typepad.com

Also, there's a difference between a novice writer and a person that constantly makes errors most likely being the result of laziness. Can such a person truly hold his success and forge it into something bigger? I doubt it.

Everything depends on our aspirations, although let's remember that when we post something on the web we can't just cover up the flaws by saying we're doing it "for ourselves". "For ourselves" we can write poems and texts to be kept in our drawers, when we present something to the public we need to brace for consequences of this action. We'll be judged, certain quality will be expected. Sometimes, criticism allows us to flourish, and sometimes we'll simply be hit by hate.

By Dominik Marciniak
Translation by Adrian Kołodziński
Yet another week has passed and the promised reveal of my upcoming projects hasn't really taken place. You've been treated with a fragment of a longer literary text, but that's about it, where's that promised reveal? I guess it'll be postponed a week or two.

On Friday we've reached 5000 views since I've resumed activity on the blog. For many of you that's probably a pretty tiny score, but I'm happy with it. This blog is quite different from the others and never expected much popularity.

I'm feautring and recommending the post "Friendship" due to the message it conveys. By the way, I'm thinking whether I should recommend posts from other blogs - those that caught my attention. What do you think?

Either way it's time to begin the summary, here we go!

Source: haanusa.com

Reflections about the health aspects of grilling welcomed us in the monday text  "Healthy grill? Not without a beer" (Translation unavailable - Translator's note). Many of us love this form of meeting others, realize that it's also somewhat hazardous for our health, but not really sure how. Using the word "cancer" is usually a very strong deterrent, and the message that one can minimalize the chances to develop it are utterly magnetic. Regardless, how could I not share the news with the world that a marinade made with beer is actually recommended when grilling meat? I was quite surprised myself!

Source: i.huffpost.com

"Friendship", so a short text about one of the most wonderful phenomenons that can occur to us. The subject was inspired by the day preceding the note. Relaxation and time well-spent, and also talking about it, presenting different views on it. Inspiring and thought-provoking, and also allowing to truly respect those closest relations. And finally I'd like to covertly send my regards to you, should you be reading this!

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"Movies of the PRL Era" is a very sentimental subject to me. Recently the interest in classic, old cinema is fading, younger generations watch it less, not even mentioning our own Polish cinema, which for many years hasn't gained much traction in the world! But we do have things to pride ourselves on, things to remember, watch and admire. Among others those were the movies that the prestige of movie schools in Poland was built, so it's worth remembering them. They still have a lot to show us.

Source: mr-sinister2048.deviantart.com

"Attitude focused on property and profit out of necessity causes lust for - and more importantly the need for - power. In order to control living human beings we need to use power to break their resistance. In order to control private property we are forced to use power to guard it from those, who could take it away from us, because just like us they never have enough. The lust for private property creates the need for violence to plunder others in an open or covert way." - Erich Fromm

Source: mojbiznes24.pl

"How much money can be made on Polish YouTube? Statistics." is a text that I was provoked to write due to another blogger. He wrote about the topic, used one example unsupported by any solid evidence and ended up gaining all the attention in the world. For a long time I've wanted to write something like this, to show that there's such a thing as access to statistics. "Nothing is impossible to a willing mind" as they say, you've just got to try. But sadly my predictions were right, as I gained haven't managed to gain much attention - people probably deemed it as being a copycat, or maybe it's just the fate of my blog and writing style. At the very least I've presented you with some valuable knowledge, such as potential sources of information.

What's coming next week?

Revolution is around the corner! Be on watch for changes. I've got some plans regarding upcoming topics, but I'll keep them to myself this week as well. By the way, how do you rate the log I've posted on the facebook fanpage?

 By Dominik Marciniak 
Translation by Adrian Kołodziński

 A small fragment of a story written by me on a holiday;"The Case of Paul Ryttersin" will be continued next week.

Despite the urban hustle and bustle of every day life, Aldoria was deemed a rather calm place. In effect, all disturbances of peace were quickly noticed and made known amongst the inhabitants. And this sunny day will definitely stay in their memory for a long time. "Dragon's Egg Inn" prided itself on being considered a serene asylum with "folk liquor", more widely known as piss, so it was an admired inn. To much dismay of the priests of The Great Julius it had been considered a place of worship and admiration of possibly greater importance than the local abbey.

That afternoon's peace was interrupted by a loud bang, which came from within it, causing the whole street to be overtaken by silence interrupted only by sporadic swearing of traders, who wanted to move along as quickly as possible. The inn's door slammed open, and a black cape with sky blue hems was the first thing one could notice standing in the doorway. A somewhat elderly mage was backing up slowly from the building holding a black staff aimed straight ahead of him. Eyebrows frowned in an expression of anger didn't bode well. Barely a few seconds have passed and an angry roar came from inside the building, a 2 metres tall thug dashed towards the magus. He was about to rip his scepter from his hands, about to deliver a punch, when suddenly he was blown away with incredible force, judging by the sounds hitting several people before finally landing on a table. The gust of wind caused by the spell created a cloud of dust, even the pointy beard and dangling moustache of the redhead spellslinger moved lightly. With the tapping of the bottom of the staff on the ground, the passers-by became lively again. They moved along as if nothing happened, and the commotion of life went back to normal.

- You love entering with a bang, master. - a young, dark-haired man emerged from the crowd in a straight, red robe, tied with a black rope, obviously pleased with his slightly snide remark that he's just said
- Some maturity, Felix. The folk of this town has to learn some respect for the ambassadors of the Empire, and if they don't want to listen, well... - On the wrinkled face of the redhead a half-smile appeared, as he hurried his companion with a gesture. They went towards the town center, while attempting to blend into the crowd.
- You've managed to steal the tomes from the private collection of that... What's that innkeeper's face... Ah, yes, yes, Bill, so from Bill's private collection?
- As you can see I've even managed to have some fun as one of the spectators of the spectacle conducted by The Great Ambassador of the Empire of Canthar Hollav Cain!
- You forgot half my titles! - the offended "old man" uttered theatrically 
- Sometimes I'm impressed by the diplomats and courtiers who deem necessary to remember this whole nonsense. The tomes are with mister Lavatieu. Out of curiosity, were those really all your titles, master?
- Are you kidding? Do you think I had half a day to enumerate them all? I was to irritate, not bore to death the innkeeper and his poor clients.
- So I thought.

The walked along the narrow, crowded streets of the port town, and the ever-present filth and decay was unbearable. The disgusting smell of decaying fish was the only thing that differed it from a typical "barbarian" settlement, which the traders offered to everyone they saw. Though it was difficult to assess the displeasure of those two characters, quite grotesque-looking amidst their surroundings, just by looking at their faces. The mage in a diligently sewn, silky outfit with golden ornaments must have definitely been very noticeable, his scepter alone could've been considered a priceless work of art. His pupil, though dressed up more humbly, still had a golden amulet worn around his neck, fitted with gemstones, whose gleam in itself could provoke somebody to attempt to steal it, if not for the respect they both ellicited.

People whispered among each other when those two passed them by, thinking it goes unnoticed. Reactions ranging from naive awe, as those were probably the first people of this kind they've met, through fright caused by their ungodly practices, all the spitting. The Empire of Canthar had a pretty expansive policy, that couldn't go without notice, and many practices of that place were considered as cruel and inhuman, including treating those without any aptitude for magic as test subjects. Or at least those were the kind of ridiculous rumors that circulated since the news were heard that the richest of the local traders brought an ambassador straight from the Empire itself. The locals were quick to attach a dark legend accompanying this event, fully expecting a drought, the fall of the economy and divine wrath.

 Hollav and Felix crossed the city gates in relative peace, going completely unnoticed by the snoring man on his city guard duty. Across the bridge, on the outskirts, had been waiting Dario Lavatieu along with several warriors and his small retinue, promptly moving towards them. They bowed to each other, exchanging all kinds of necessary courtesy.

- Ambassador, I shall emphasise once more how honored I am that your Excellence decided to support me... - In that moment Cain interrupted the man with a gesture.
- Dear mister Lavatieu, what are all those formalities for! We are far from the borders of the Empire, let's spare ourselves all of this before we grow ridiculous.
Having heard that the blonde man smiled a little and stood up straight, cutting his bow short, which he had been serving his guest. The clanking chainmail awkwardly creased the red robe, which he put over it. In effect the trader almost unconsciously ran his hand across it, as if trying to conceal the flaws.
- I appreciate it mis... I appreciate it Hollav. As well as the fact that you replaced my men in this tiny... Borrowing.
- The knowledge gathered in those tomes could prove invaluable to our search, and let's just say that I'll put that on your check. One cannot allow for such ancient grimoires, which are the only ones describing the wisdom of mortals about civilizations inhabiting these lands, to be in hands of some innkeeper on the outskirts of the known world.
- Fair enough. - He muttered, not hiding the grimace on his face - Would you allow me to introduce you to the rest of the comrades in arms before we move out?
- But of course!

Hollav looked discreetly at Felix and nodded to him, walking with Dario towards the rest of the colorful group. He immediately noticed two dwarves, mainly due to the extreme contrast among them. A thick, brown beard belonged to the one clad in a platemail and armed to the teeth, while the two grey braids made from a most likely more impressive beard were the property of the journey's quartermaster (it would seem like it juding by his interest in supplies and papers held in his hand, which were used to "motivate" workers) who was scolding three men. Before he managed to survey the rest of the group, Dario had already started presenting all the rest. First he pointed the scolded trio, only mentioning the name of the elderly dwarf Thursgane, who was correctly assumed to be the one responsible for the supplies during the trip. Next attention was turned to four, bulky guys in black platemails. Armed with a claymore John, crossbowman Mark with a small battle axe hanged on his belt, Steven resembling the archetype of a knight preferring a shield with a coat-of-arms and a sword, and Carl who shared his preferrences with the previous. Ironically none of them had a coat-of-arms, yet in their profession as a mercenary group they were famous for their effectivness.

- Captain Balen, please meet... - Dario said to the brown-bearded.
- His excellence Hollav Cain o' the fuck-all Empire, eye recognize. Oh, f'give the protocol! - The bald dwarf cut in, visibly happy  of his scornful remark
- Why so nervous, mister Balen? After all once upon a time the Company of Black Joints applied for so many lucrative contracts with our bureau! - The magus replied with a smile, and something must have amused his silent pupil on that occassion.
 - After such evaluation of our competence... Ah go t'hell, I'll show ya our quality n' then ya'll crawl to us yerself!

The trader's forehead was sprinkled with first sweatdrops, and his worry about the whole ordeal would probably only escape the notice of a blind, retarded baby. He didn't manage to say anything when the imperial ambassador laughed heartily and extended his hand towards Balen.

- Let's hope it'll be that way. You can count on a warranty, should I be convinced!
The dwarf, though with hesistation, gave him a brief handshake, to the confusion of his companions
- Ekhm, yes, so if you've broken the ice already I'd kindly ask you to get ready to move out. We've little time, noon's around the corner, you know.

They left on horseback, when the sun was high up in the sky. Twelve riders with their steeds loaded with cargo - the march was lead by Mark and Steven, followed by Felix absorbed in a lively conversation with the quatermaster Thursgan, Dario Lavatieu with the ambassador, three workers, John and Carl along with Balen on the very end. They briskly drove out of the town outskirts, following the road towards the nearest bridge. Barely had they said goodbye to Aldoria, when they passed by the first military post, which was a simple, cobblestone tower with a small garrison - the horizon was littered with places such as this one.

- Captain? - John finally said, when he was sure they were far enough so as nobody heard their conversation.

- What is it?
- Those mages, they were talking about only one thing, I'm liking this contract less and less.
- And not only him, sir. - added Carl.

 - Gah, tarnation! Have I evah lead ya on such mission with no reason? Eye I ain't liking it neither, 'specially 'cuz they brought their most important office rat. 'Das why we shoulda protect da c'ntractors from DANGERS, ya hear me? - He winked knowingly, and those nodded after a while
 - One can even hire such people, captain?

- The problem is, Carl, that goddamn not! - he raised his voice a little, but quickly calming down - Even more so that those bastards must 'ave some dirty, well-paid business in this. Till we get to an uninhabitated wilderness watch 'em, and it's gonna be fine.

First post, second, third, fourth, fifth... Felix felt terrible boredom since Thursgan felt offended after hearing that in Canthar for such primitive water containment measures as in quatermaster leather canteen's one would receive at least a hundred whippings due to putting lives of those drinking in danger. He's heard that the surroundings on this island are incredibly dangerous, but he didn't expect such a dense security grid in the area around the town. But what could've such a primitive tower and human guards - a sight utmostly primitive, peculiar for a student of the Higher Magic College? The human element was too weak to fulfill a task of such importance, especially at night.

In such moments one could understand why the Empire, which knew the art of animating magical constructs, triumphed in battles over all other countries. Though, regrettably, more delicate matters still required the intervention of the human element, like this one here. A forgotten island on the edge of the world, suspected to be a second continent by the bureau with secrets of fallen civilizations. Traders organising journeys have been bringing in artifacts of the past imprinted with powerful magic for years. Quite often they paid the price with their lives or insanity due to strong arcane disturbances deep in the land - anomalies, which take place on sites of great calamities were seldomly encountered and were isolated from the world known by him. They tended have undesirable effect on living creatures, ranging from many diseases and headaches, through modifying the fauna around it, giving birth to nightmarish beasts. And according to Canthar's bureau data all of this region could be called an anomaly, which prevents access to knowledge, which could revolutionize and improve the world.

All information regarding the fallen civilizations, which inhabitated these lands long before elves arrived in the Great Lands (so far considered as the only continent), clearly show they far outlevelled even Empire's magical advancements. From flying vehicles to artifacts gathering power able to make entire cities fly.

Luckily nobody else had the time to focus on this region.  When Canthar's spymasters heard the word about the planned journey to the lands far beyond the currently known border of "survivability", they had to send their men there. Otherwies it might've been necessary to use the army, bearing way too big of an economical strain, and way too big of a risk of war with the Eastern Coalition, still posing a real threat to the colossal dominion with rickety foundations ruled by magocracy.
People assigned to a mission of such huge importance had to be experienced enough so as to be able to survive in a little known area, in which only the most proficient of magic arts masters could utilize their talents - Hollav was chosen, who of all his students decided to bring him.
A chance for a promotion of his life, perhaps to be paid with his master's blood, was upon him... For now though he had to focus on observations, he was to be eyes and ears of the warlock while he studied the tomes stolen from what seemed to be the Order of Equilibrium. So be it, he's always wanted to see the infamous effects of an anomaly, he's always wanted to be able to conduct his own research on this matter, he's always...
 - An' what in the heck is wrong with skin from sheep intestines on the mouth of the gourd?! - The raspy voice of the quartermaster woke him up from his daydreaming.

- Speaking in your lingo - They cause the shits if they're not thoroughly cleaned, dear dwarf.
- If somebody is delicate then maybe they do - he said - but if ya think, that their excellence Dario wouldn't chase me away if the water was dirty, then yer dumb!
- That's always a consolation. - sighed Felix - But nevertheless boil it when we'll have the time, or at last attach some filters for...

- Fi... fileters what?! - Thursgan was offended even more.
- Nevermind, just allow me to take care of it in spare time. - his next sigh was accompanied by incredible tiredness due to the work awaiting the young mage during the nearest stop.

Nearly everyone talked, and their voices blended into an impossible to understand mass of words. Nearly, save for Lavatieu and Cain. The warlock was busy analizing the first of the earned tomes, bearing no mind to leading the horse, which trotted in the correct direction nevertheless. He felt the heavy gaze of the trader, who felt quite awkward in this situation, he was waiting when he wouldn't be able to bear it anymore and try to strike up a conversation. And that moment was closer, and closer, and closer...
 - Are they of any use? - He finally asked.

- Usability is an understatment in this matter. - Hollav quickly responded not even rising his gaze above the tome.
- That is, dear magus? I am only but a humble man of business, I like getting to the point.
- That is, dear merchant... - He started, closing the book and hanging the tomes on the silver chain attached to his belt - ...we're not only going to fight against the creatures living deep in the land. I'm wondering how the existence of something like this could've eluded us all!
Dario looked at his companion, like a confounded person to another confounded man, which was enough to prompt further explanation.

- The beloved and respected innkeeper Bill is nobody else, but a confidant of the "Order of Equilibrium", continuing a long standing tradition in his family, or at least that's what the author of those grimoires says. The locals have practically known since the beginning how valuable items the city ruins and necropoleis strewn across the whole island. As such they created a secret organization, whose goal was to protect those treasures from falling into wrong hands, simply speaking by killing anyone attempting to acquire them. Regarding the Temple of Clouds we're heading to I know very little about as of now, but considering the scene we made in the town we should except some company soon.

Lavatieu's fright was once again betrayed on his face, standing in stark contrast to the mage's carefree smile, who was telling the story with slight amusment. He was about to yell out something, when the Cantharian's gesture stopped him.

- Considering how careful and suspicious of me is captain Balen, he's heard about everything and will consider the acquired information in his defensive tactics without an unnecessary, rushed lecture.
What seemed to confirmed this was harsh cursing in dwarven that they heard behind them, along with some yelling sounding like new orders. And considering John, who galloped in order to overtake the group and make contact with its escort in front, one could eliminate all doubts.

- Why didn't you say so earlier?! - the blonde man finally said, who was still overtaken by his emotions.
- Together with Felix we've decided to cast some protective spells, which will make it more difficult for any robbers hanging around this area to chase us, contrary to town's council propaganda. We didn't want to bother the group for no reason, we've got everything under control.

Dario went silent and didn't say anything else, but that didn't calm him down a bit. He slowly started to share the mercenaries' worries regarding the mages' intentions. When he'd heard that his journey interested the Empire and they would positively review his request for help under the condition of receiving 1/4ths of the spoils, that they would choose themselves, he had been as happy as a kid. He had a golem or two in mind, just some steel under his command, but when he'd heard that they're sending a high rank mage... All his hope remained with the Company of Black Joints, which caused the imperial army some grief during wars. Though powers, which the Council of Twelve supposedly possessed, could outmatch their experience. It's better to have hope, that dear Cain won't confirm the legends.

Hollav completed the rest of the read information in his head. Aside from the fact that a long extinct old elven dialact d'akn was used to write this down,  the members of that order had somehow managed to immunize themselves to the effects of magical anomalies. Sadly, he hasn't found a slightest bit of information on the methods used to achieve that, maybe counting aside the fact, that they were able to do that by analizing the achievements of the ancient civilizations. Considering the level of conspiracy it can't be too big of a group, the question is whether they're ready for anything in order to protect the information they stole so carefully. A report about this subject should please the Council of Twelve, as it would prove the bureau's theory about a possibility of avoding the negative effects of abusing magical power.The ancients seemingly had this knowledge, but it failed them in the end. If they could learn about those techniques and improve them, before the Empire's military authority would be damaged due to more frequent magical disasters. If other nations as much as learned about the existence of things like "anomalies" it could have a tragic outcome for world politics and lead to a mass slaughter of those with aptitude for magic, and what's more the Church of Julius would have a perfect reason to organise a cruasde against the world's bastion of magic and technology. While the propaganda that's constantly whispered to citizens' ears assumes the destruction of such a big coalition, the truth is much more cruel than that. He shook his head, when he realized that instead of focusing on the mission he daydreams about the current geopolitical situation. He finally returned to reading the tome, which was made more difficult by the fact that even the most proficient of linguists weren't ever able to fully reconstructed old elven language.

 After an hour of calm riding among the surrounding fields and glades they finally left the area of high security. Here and there one could see some forests on the horizon, here and there some hills, with a lonely birch tree, a stream. Grass grew tall and dense here, though a path still existed and was in use. From time to time they passed by a house or a farm, not attracting much attention of their inhabitants. It would seem that they were used to such colorful groups driving through, or possibly they were only aware of their closest surroundings, because what could one expect from such simple-minded peasants or hunters? It was curious that they still remained on this patrimony. Not until the sun started to go down did they arrive on edge of an awe-inspiring wilderness. Huge and brimming with life, made of centuries-old trees, which seemed to reach the clouds with their dense crowns. Some of them were a little bit yellow, the vegetation period around here seemed to be disturbed compared to the rest of this land. Barely had they left the lands overtaken by spring, and they are met by such a surprise.

The warriors along with the workers started putting up tents and after fifteen minutes one could speak of a camp established on the edge of the wilderness.  Despite Mark's long and clear protests a bonfire was lit. In all of this chaos one small detail escaped everybody's notice - the mages weren't with them anymore. In that time Hollav and Felix managed to take a walk into the forest, studying the plethora of unnatural trees. The branches of those magical byproducts bent in every direction, often times creating geometrical figures. There you see a triangular, thick branch right next to a square or other rectangle, one could even sometimes a circle.

- Casting spells here could be a very bad idea... - Felix breathed, clearly bothered by this situation.
- And now, my dear, recall the lesson about the War Concentration and mix its experience with Sectius VII the Younger's treatise, and by the way...

- Oh, right, it's so simple after all! Thank you master!
- Watch your language! - Cain's ever serene and calm face was now full of anger - We are far away from them and you are to show me due respect, you don't have a conjuror's title, you insolent bastard. If you can't work under these conditions then you might as well tie a rock around your neck and jump into the nearest river.

- Yes master. I'm sorry for my wrongful judgment, master... - the dark-haired boy shivered having seen that the real personality of his protector wasn't hidden under this theatrical mask anymore.
 - I can't find the source of this anomaly, it's weird, damn weird. - Hollav finally broke the silence - I'd get it if somebody as primitive and unacquianted with magic like you couldn't, but me? Exactly! The rest of those rotting buffons from the Council won't be satisfied with such intel.

Felix was still silent, and his master shook his head in embarassment having seen that. They stopped at the nearest glade, or rather what's left of it - only dry, scorched earth remained. The magus took his scepter in both hands and started to create protective circles around him, carefully writing down runic sequences into them. During this endeavour he looked at his pupil.
- Go back to the camp before that band of drunkards suspects us of a world-scale conspiracy. One doesn't need magical talent to think of a nice story, your deceptive talent after your father will be enough. - the youngster had already opened his mouth, but the master stopped him in time - Go, damn it! - Cain yelled, and it seemed as if his voice could crush bones in that moment.

The boy bowed nimbly and immediately turned around, quickly marching towards the camp. "Stuck-up buffoon. Redheads are bitchy they said, don't go to the redhead master they said... they were right" he added in his thoughts. While walking he stared at those weird by-products of the anomaly, still not being able to understand why it had this kind of effect on the trees.

By Dominik Marciniak
Translation by Adrian Kołodziński
This week I'll be a little news ignorant, paying attention only to political matters. Here we've got the issue regarding mr. president's art taste, there we've got a lot of matters related to foreign policy, somewhere between a comment about the IPN's (The Institute of National Remembrance - Translator's note) reform.

Worry not, though, as this will be a blast! As we've got lots of explosive materials in Poland recently, bringing lots of fun everywhere. So many years of peace and suddenly, when an antiterrorism bill shows up on the horizon it turns out that we've got extremists of our own - not islamic (regrettably, many would probably say that they were, but not me).

A god-tier bomb 

Source: PAP

You see, my dear readers, we have a wave of terror overtaking Poland. Starting with Wrocław, where a bus driver obediently took out the explosive cooking pot onto a bus stop, through Warsaw, where police caught some anarchists red-handed as they were planting explosives under police cars, and finally finishing on the countless amounts of bomb threats reported yesterday. But what bombs these were and what terrorists! White catholics, who hit a wall trying to turn right even more! Let's add, that they are masters of engineering. Allegedly their constructs possessed incredibly sophisticated timing mechanisms - judging by the photographs shared by the police it turned out to be a candle on a small thread. Next to it one can admire one of the supposedly planted charges underneath one of the police vehicles. I bet that we'll find pure spirits in those bottles, to match the seriousness of that candle. And that coincidence with the antiterrorism bill! Definitely nobody prepared "strong" arguments for the upcoming parliamentary discussion, right? Farce after farce, and a bomb is proof of that, so as not to say januszexbomb.

Poltical-historical police

The thing that was completely obvious with the change of the ruling party happened. Work is underway to reform The Institute of National Remembrance and they don't bode well, however much the historians might be pleased. First of all the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites will be incorporated into it, and the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression is also planned to be. In effect a bureaucratic giant will emerge, which will require even more employees. And who to employ but historians? The most worrying plan, however, is to disallow the academic communities to choose the executives of this institution. The candidates for the Collegium, which is a form of government on its own, will be chosen by politicians and not universities. The competition to become the chair of IPN will also be removed - here the Council will be replaced, huge surprise, by politicians. Going further the prosecution's rights of IPN shall be extended, it will be possible to persecute somebody due to historical lies and infamy. Sadly this may be the end of different views on history, resulting in the end of this science. It will be stripping it of its most important advantage, that is of teaching to think critically, because there is no one absolute truth. Often we can only speculate, assume and discuss. And where does the line of this widely-understood infamy lie? Making this institution political can't bring anything good. All there's left to do is hope, that those are just terrible rumours.

Burning ambers, Baltic's urgent problem

Source: bi.gazeta.pl

After second world war barrels with chemicals weapons were tossed to the bottom of the (relatively shallow) Baltic sea, except we're talking about the whole Russian arsenal and not just a few barrels. Years have passed, corrosion did its work and according to research our beloved sea is becoming more and more contaminated. What's worse the Polish beaches are now littered with lumps of phosphor, which are deceptively similar to ambers. As much as taking such a lump in your hand is enough to suffer wicked burns. Even cases of whole barrels emerging on a beach happened - in 1955 it resulted in burns for 102 kids, 4 of which were blinded forever. What's the statement of the governors of nearby communities? They swallowed their tongues and theoritically see the problem, but would rather pray that the tragedy doesn't happen in their commune. As of now it's simply better to avoid Polish beaches at the sea, just in case. Thankfully I prefer mountains myself.

Finders, prisoners

Źródło. bi.gazeta.pl

According to Polish law finding something, which might be an antique object, obliges us to immediately contact our local preservationist or governor. Under no circumstances are we to take the item away from the site in which it was found, so as not to deprive it of historical context. If we don't act in this manner we can expect a 3 year prison sentence, instead of a reward as it is predicted for those who abide by the laws. A citizen of Gorzów Wielkopolski learned about all this after he postponed notifying about what he found for a whole month. After contacting the local preservationist he didn't have to wait long for police's visit. In my opinion it's a legal absurd, because there is a difference between returning something after learning about the law nuances, and hiding and keeping away for years.

A media fraud?

Źródło: static.prsa.pl/

Professor Łukasz Święcicki, the hero of the last news summary accused of general judgment of the opposition, responded to the published interview. He claims that some of the things written there were never said, and the sub-titles and inter-titles were added so as to manipulate his statements. "The only goal of my statement was to draw attention to the fact, that some irresponsible political statements may have bad influence on people with weak psyche" - Święcicki wrote in his dementi. The whole case is very specific and it's hard to comment on it - if I were him I'd go as far as to sue those, who defamed him and psychiatry in Poland.

Summary!

 A persecutor of IPN sued an inhabitant of Gorzów found on a beach for illegal takeover of a lump of phosphor and not informing proper agencies about that finding, and the swallowing of said lump he added in the indictment as an infamy to national possessions. The poor bloke, however, couldn't say anything as his throat was completely burned, thankfully the right-wing newspaper "Do Rzeczy" came to his rescue and with its inter-titles blamed everything on the dying guy. As reported by our journalists however the court session didn't come to be -  when a candle on the witness bench went out the whole building exploded, the smoke bringing about the wonderful scent of distilled spirits. The government has already announced an amendment to the antiterrorism bill - for our better future candles cannot be bought or sold due to being potential bomb timers. For the better future of us all!

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 By Dominik Marciniak
Translation by Adrian Kołodziński
Some time ago I was quite irritated with a popular note about earning money on YouTube. Why? It was written disorderly and had no concrete statistics. That's why I'll talk about this "wonderful" topic on the basis of statistics made three years ago, which are thought-provoking if compared to the present-day situation.

 I forewarn you that this data is up-to-date with day 17.07.2012, which is the time when amassing 100 000 subscribers was a great milestone. This isn't devaluing the educational value of this data in terms of the reality of moneymaking with AdSense.

Those statistics are reliable and interesting in terms of the Polish scene on YouTube. They are compromised of results from about 30 Polish content creators, who create their content in Polish and address it mainly to the Polish audience.

 Information comes from small creators, who have just a few thousand subscriptions, and also from huge ones, who had reached the 100 000 subscription milestone and back in the day were the most popular YouTube channels in Poland. Those were mainly creators focusing on content related to computer games and also there were a few vlogers.

Due to the change of situation since the statistics were compiled and gigantic differences between individual YouTube content-makers this shouldn't be taken as pertaining to everyone. It's only a specific average allowing us to take a look at the very general YouTube scene, but  has nothing to do with random individuals.

Profit is given in relation of average views needed to gain 1000 euro. Let's move on to the numbers then.

In the year 2011 the average of the results was 1000€ (euro) for 2 400 000 views.
In the year 2012 the average of the results was 1000€ for 2 000 000 views.

 It was a dynamic gain, and the trend (looking at the current state of YouTube) probably continued, but this is a pure speculation of the blog's author unsupported by any statistics. Now, going back to confirmed numbers.

 The best score for a genuine profit on 17.07.2012 was achieved by a content-maker who was close to reach the milestone of 100 000 subscribers was 1000€ for every 1 500 000 views. It was an impressive result, belonging to a channel that was growing dynamically back then.

 The best score for day 17.07.2012 turned out to be an average of the profits of a vloger, who typically barely met the payout boundary. If along with increasing his audience the trend persisted then he would've had a chance to make 1000€ for every 600 000 views.

The worst score, which belonged to one of the most prominent YouTube content-makers, turned out to be 1000€ for every 4 300 000 views.

The average score for June 2012 was 1000€ for 1 700 000 views.

Some interesting stuff, which have no basis whatsoever in the statistic group, materials, which are uploaded to Wykop (Somewhat of a Polish version of Reddit - Translator's note) or JoeMonster and, due to becoming viral, end up having more views actually earn less money often. Why? Less advertisements are played, so less clicks are made, which provide profits to the creator. From BrzydkiBurak's observations it turned out, that this loss of profit in relation to the number views can be as high as 40%, but typically is around 23-25%.

What about cooperation with companies other than AdSense? On 17.07.2012 the difference in profit from advertisements was tiny and typically it was an about 10% loss for the YouTube content creator, especially in terms of Polish corporations. Symbolic gains over AdSense were guaranteed mainly by foreign companies. Taking into account the current influence and reach of corporations on YouTube, especially Polish ones, these statistics aren't up-to-date. Cooperation with brokers must've been profitable in the last 3 years probably due to additional barter profits and marketing.

This statistic was made by the maker of the channel BrzydkiBurak for the "project" Elephant's Ass (if someone doesn't understand and deems this as vulgar, please click here and learn about it), all I wanted to do was to emphasise some of the most important information from it. Those interested in the issue ought to refer to the sources above, as there they will find more statistical data.

Today's milestone is 1 000 000 subscriptions, and the leading YouTube artists can generate as many as 40 000 000 views monthly. The 1000€ wage for an amount of views most likely underwent dynamic and unpredictable changes, especially because it's always been heavily individualized. Present YouTube generates additional profits with the use of sponsored materials and product placement. The post above was only concerned with profits gained by advertisements displayed on content creators' films.

Big Shar

 By Dominik Marciniak
Translation by Adrian Kołodziński 

I believe everyone's got certain movies that they like more than other. In my case I divide them into specific categories, which don't compete for a spot in my heart and memory. I've got my favorite SF movie, I've got my favorite B-movie, got favorite productions of the 21st century, and going further I've got my favorite Polish movies from the period of... PRL!* I suspect that some of you, my dear readers, might've heard of some of them, or perhaps even watched them. Today I'll focus on some of the works from the last group, maybe  this is not the most popular of topics, but still incredibly sentimental.

Why did I decide to study the cinematography of PRL? It's a part of our culture, and as such, also our history. More often than not they are saturated with positive values, messages, they allow us to better understand our families and ancestors, and on top of that tend to be an unmatched parody of those times. And it's hard not to agree that it's a part of Polish cinematography on a quite high level in view of its current state in our country.

"Big Shar" (1982) directed by Sylwester Chęciński has remained as my favorite movie of that period. A story of a swindler-gambler, that made himself known as the best poker player in town, but finally "met his match" and ended up in prison. Once he served his sentence and wanted to come back to his reality, start anew, it turned out that he has nothing to go back to. Here begins a story of his further experiences and endeavours, which one can only learn about by watching this movie.

"Death of a President" (1977) directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz is a terrificaly told history of the presidental election and assassination of Gabriel Narutowicz. I take it with a pinch of salt, as the movie was layered with the necessary minimum of propaganda, although the events described in it did take place. Poland was astir and in general unrest after reclaiming its independence and the director worked hard to present that atmosphere. Though the fact most terrifying is how strong of a reflection of the present day attitudes we can find in those of our grandfathers and even their fathers, about whom the movie is about.

"Ashes and diamonds" (1958) directed by Andrzej Wajda is an absolute classic of our cinematography. The Second World War had come to an end, yet the underground National Army does not relent and decides to fight against communists, whom they perceive as the new occupying force. The movie shows the woes of a young man, whose soul had grown old and tired due to the war, who starts to doubt whether there's a point in fighting. He sees how many of his friends had died, he doubts while being placed in a tragic situation.

"Teddy Bear" (1980) directed by Stanisław Barea is probably the best comedy of that period. Grotesque and saturated with paradoxes life of the chairman of the club "Tęcza" ("Rainbow" - translator's note) is an excellent presentation of PRL through a comedic lens. Absurd situations in cafeterias, shops or in offices shows the Polish day-to-day life in times when the core of communism in Poland had already rotten, and started its inevitable fall.

The amount of movies I could enumerate is huge. I would be willing to write something of a book describing just the work of Stanisław Barea as I had always been fascinated with it since I was a kid. I'll allow myself to cut the subject short now, as I'm very interested in your opinions regarding this historical period in the Polish (and the foreign, bearing foreign readers in mind) cinema. Are you fond of it, you don't know about it, or just avoid it?

And finally some links to those movies, which are legal to watch online (it depends on the license).

Big Shar

Death of a President

*PRL - Polska Republika Ludowa (Polish People's Republic) was the name of Poland during years 1952 - 1989, during which Poland had been governed by communists, as it was one of the countries on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain. Often considered to as the "communistic period".