Budget Nomad: March 2012

Friday, March 30, 2012

Hungarian Secret Service

In my Caboodle newsletter, there was this item "Foreign Ministry launches bilingual consular service info site" which sounded promising as a source of information to keep on hand for sharing in the future. The words "The site" are hyperlinked, giving me a logical reason to believe it would take me to this new info site where I could read more. The link is no good and leads to a dead end only. When I tried Googling it, all links lead back to Caboodle. I thought that if I clicked on their source, MTI, I would at least get it in Hungarian where I could figure out a link. Nope! That just leads to more Caboodle articles.

Finally I this site, but it is nothing new. So it seems for now that Caboodle is part of the Hungarian Secret Services division.

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Breaker, Breaker, Copy That

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If you ever watch any police shows or military movies, you know the expression "Copy that".

Well in Hungary these days, it has all new meaning. The Hungarian President's had someone blow the whistle stating he plagiarized his doctoral dissertation. I have been reading the news translated from Hungarian to English, regarding the fall out over this, but a former student, Andrea sent me this link to an article in The Economist. Click here to read it.This is an earlier picture; he is not smiling so much these days.

For gosh sakes, the man's doctorate is in physical education. It would make sense that he copied 17 pages verbatim from another person's work. We all know how jocks are about not doing academic work. Well to add insult to injury another 180 pages were 'borrowed' from the work of a Bulgarian sports historian. It makes me wonder if Mr. Schmitt's completed work was much more than 197 pages. Well, perhaps 200 when you add the title page, table of contents and acknowledgements. I guess, that last page didn't exist for obvious reasons.

The Economist reports that the supervisory committee has stated that the blame should be placed on Mr. Schmitt's doctoral committee "who did not do their jobs properly". This is a typical reaction of pointing the finger, not realizing there are four others pointing back. Why should a student do their job properly in the first place without having to be suspect?

Semmelweis University, the institution that is now the overseer for the physical education degrees, pulled the doctorate from Mr. Schmitt. While all political parties are in agreement on one thing, Schmitt should resign, Prime Minister Orbán is allowing him to make his own decision.

Quoting The Economist "Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, promised last year that the era of the cosy insider was over. 'Our homeland will no longer be a country without consequences'”.

The irony of it all is the increased security we have implemented against plagiarism at the university a year ago. If we find a student in this situation, the consequences are dire. What is the definition for hypocrisy?

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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Nigel Made Me Laugh Out Loud

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My friend Nigel, commented on the post with the readers with this comment: "If they were in Budapest it must be Orban Victors new book "Silence of the Lambs"".

I read it on my phone as I was walking home from school and laughed out loud. All the way home, I kept chuckling like the town idiot, but it was fun to have a good laugh. Thanks Nigel!

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Literary Protest?

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I was down at Deák yesterday when I ran into this literary sit-in. All of these people were reading books. They seemingly ignored anyone who approached them with questions and few were speaking among themselves. I am clueless what was happening so if anyone knows, please share. Darn it if I hadn't just finished the book I had in my bag or I would have joined them.

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Thursday, March 22, 2012

A Double Scoop of Chocolate Hazelnut Faggy, Please

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When we first moved here, I noticed this word all around the city. I thought either this is a great city for gays or they are purposefully being derogatory and posting it on a tremendous number of buildings, signs, and in store fronts. It was so close to fag, faggy, faggot, there had to be a relation.

Still, I cannot look at this word without smiling at my preconceived notions. This is another lick-able, likeable treat that also comes in a number of colors and flavors. It is ice cream.

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Eek E-books

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For as long as e-books have been around, one friend or another has tried making me a convert to this medium of reading. I have refused to indulge in the e-book craze for a number of reasons. Not in any particular order, but they include:

I love holding a book in my hands and flipping the pages. This doesn't matter whether it is a slim volume like the book I am reading now The Murder at the Collective or a tome like Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth at a gargantuan 1008 pages.
When I love the story, I keep checking the number of pages that are left creating an early mourning as I approach the end cover. When I don't care for the story, but am too stubborn to put it down, I check the pages to see how much longer this suffering is going to continue.
American Express uses the slogan "Never leave home without it." I apply that to a book. There is a book in my bag 98% of the time.
Perhaps it is because I do so many things on computers, including reading thousands of pages of students' work during a semester, I don't want to stare at a screen for reading pleasure. I can barely get through a news articles from the NY Times without feeling overwhelmed. Give me a real paper and I can be content for hours. That said, I do have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a Samsung smartphone, which I do use to read US Today and CNN News when I know I will not have time to pull out my book.
There is something emotionally stimulating about browsing the books in a bookstore that will never be replaced by browsing online. Although some browse bookstores and order online, I try not to do this as brick and mortar bookstores need all the support they can get, especially independents.
Yes, you can get instant access to e-books on a variety of devices, but for me it is more satisfying to either discover a book I have never known I wanted while in a bookstore or to order one online and having the anticipation build until it arrives.
One of the first things that catches my eye when visiting others are the books they have around. There is much to be learned about a person from the books or lack of books. I doubt I could learn as much by asking if I could browse someone's Kindle for example.
A book can be lent or borrowed by anyone when there is mutual agreement. You can give the book away, sell it, or heaven forbid and damn you if you do, toss it away. For most e-book devices, this is either not possible or your share buddy has to have the same device as you, limiting opportunities.
Last of all, the cost of e-books is increasing as popularity grows. There is a computer newsletter that I read with a religious fervor and have for years, though the branding has changed over time. This is a quote from the latest newsletter.

http://winnews.com/

"So I went from e-book skeptic to e-book believer. And I still love them, but lately I've been buying fewer and fewer. And that's because of the increasingly (in my opinion) outrageous prices. I grumbled when the typical price of a new release novel in electronic format was $9.99. I was highly annoyed when that climbed to $12.99. Then I started seeing bestsellers by big name authors such as James Patterson and Tom Clancy priced at $14.99. When I paid $16.00 for Stephen King's latest, I decided maybe it was time to go back to paper - at least for the "big ones." Amazon was selling the hardcover version at the same time for $17.48.

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't compute. Regardless of what they say, I believe it costs publishers far less to produce and deliver an e-book, without the cost of paper, printing, storage, transportation, etc. I believe they're taking advantage of customers, assuming if we have the money to spend on high-tech devices, we'll pay close to the same prices for intangible electronic files as we pay for physical books that work with no electricity, don't require proprietary technology to be read and can be loaned or sold to whomever we want.

Now it appears I'm not the only one who thinks publishers are gouging the customer. The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Apple, along with five major publishers, of colluding to keep the price of electronic books up. And this isn't just an "American thing" either. The EU is conducting its own investigation into the matter."

Yes, you are reading this blog online, but it is free, available on many devices, and shareable without restrictions.

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Bad Timing - Mixed Messages

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New five-star Buddha Bar hotel to open in downtown Budapest next month - Read more here.

and

Malév shutdown hits Budapest five-star hotels - Read more here.

I think that April or May is very optimistic considering the global economy and the fact that major hotels occupancy has been down considerably for two years now.

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Monday, March 19, 2012

Ben & Jerry's Does a Gay Theme

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Image via Wikipedia

For those who are not from the US, first a quick lesson. Ben and Jerry were two old hippies who decided to change the way business worked. They created their business in Vermont, using fresh products from local producers and farmers. They paid fair wages and had a standard on the ratio between their salary and the lowest paid worker, which would make any CEO laugh to death today. Another words, they built their business model on what they believed in: ethics, fairness, and customer service. These are traits we didn't often see in business when they started nor do we see them now.

They also made ice cream with weird names and sometimes strange combos: Cherry Garcia, Chubby Hubby, and Chunky Monkey are some.

If this law is passed in Britain, they may have to make one called Apple-ly Ever After with my Chubby Hubby who really supported Ben & Jerry with his purchases.

This teaser is from the LA Times. You can read the full article here.

Ben & Jerry's wants gays to live "apple-y ever after" in Britain.

As the British Parliament starts debating legalizing gay marriage this week, the British arm of the American ice cream company has changed the name of its apple pie flavor to Apple-y Ever After. The carton, which is available only in select stores in Britain, has a picture of two men in tuxedos standing on top of a wedding cake.

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Árpád Writes In

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Árpád has left a new comment on your post "Hungarian Transportation In the News":

I am told that Budapest’s 4th metro line has been in the pipeline since before I was born. It has gotten its own website since then, but that only helps as much as rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Nonetheless, one should not be despondent. Metro 4 will probably have been operating by the time we pay for our tickets/passes in Euro rather than HUF.

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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day

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Would someone PLEASE send me a corned beef sandwich. I really am part Irish. Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

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No One Left to Mind the Store

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This is a social commentary on the state of the economy here in Budapest, but reflected worldwide. Dare I say on this St. Patrick's Day that the luck of the Irish was not with them?

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Hungarian Transportation In the News

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There could very well be more than this, but this is what I came across in transport news.

The Budapest Airport Authority is seriously considering closing down what used to be called Ferihegy I Airport. It had since been renamed Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal I, but it may be again renamed as Redundant! It seems that with the demise of Malév Hungarian Airlines, there is now a whole lot of empty space at Terminal 2. This would mean transferring the budget airlines into the full service airport. What I hope it doesn't mean is higher fees for these airlines, which prompted so many of the past to cut Budapest from their radar.

The other loss here is transportation. The train from Nyugati Railway Station only extends to terminal 1. The tracks were never completed to make it to terminals 2A and 2B. Budget air passengers who opt for the train, will have to get off at the old terminal 1 stop and then continue by bus to the airport. The question lingering is whether or not the train will even maintain this stop if there is no longer a functioning airport.

Changing gears and modes of transport, yesterday Ron and I were waiting for a metro at Blaha Lujza. This shiny white tube-like apparition appeared with fancy new red seats. It stopped, but the doors never opened. There was a disenfranchised voice going blah, blah, blah or maybe it was Hungarian, but either way, we had no clue as to its meaning. A few minutes later, the old and familiar blue Russian train appeared to carry us off to our destination. Perhaps in our lifetime we will get to ride on the new cars that have been promised for the last four years. I have given up hope of ever riding on the new Metro 4 line.

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Friday, March 16, 2012

A Week in Review

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Some weeks fly by so fast, you barely remember what the day happens to be at any given moment. This week was one of those weeks.

Wednesday night we were to meet our friend and tenant Jeff Frawley at the Odean Theater for the Funzine Film Club. I am not even certain what movie we were supposed to see, but we had done this film club as a monthly ritual when he was here on a Fulbright accompanied by his girlfriend, the lovely Allison, and the delightful Dr. Karla Kelsey, an additional Fulbrighter. We arranged to meet Jeff at the movie by 7:30pm for the 8pm show. He had invited a fellow teacher Julius. As it turned out, the film club had been canceled do to the film not arriving or some such. We could not make sense of the explanation, but the replacement film was a Hungarian nature show. We enjoyed our beer from the lobby cafe, talked, and went our different ways.

Thursday was a holiday. It was the Remembrance of the 1848 Revolution Day - The main demands of Hungarians were: freedom of the press, and the establishing of a Hungarian parliament in Pest with its government, freedom of religion, a jury, a national bank, a Hungarian army, and the withdrawal of foreign military presence from the country. You may notice some similarities to the current situation in Hungary.

Ron and I took advantage of the weather to walk around the city. Todd Berliner, a Fulbrighter told us about a chocolate café where the hot chocolate is so thick you need to spoon it out. There are a dozen ingredients that can be added to it too. We hunted it down, found it, but it only opened at 3pm. We walked the city, noting the mobs of people disseminating from various events, carrying flags. To idle away some of the time, we stopped at Csendes, a coffee shop extraordinaire. It looks like a bomb went off inside an old antique/junk store

and everything inside was plastered to the walls. A visual delight.

Finally, we returned to the chocolateria and found it open for business. Ron had dark chocolate with orange and I had the same chocolate with peanuts, a drink I could do some spooning with.

Later that evening, we had been invited to a Beat Poetry gathering sponsored by the seductive W. Hunter Roberts, a minister of a different stripe. She holds these monthly poetry shindigs where costume is required. We begged out of it for two reasons. 1. I hate costume functions. 2. I really dislike poetry. This even could have been palatable, given it focused on the Beats. Though they were before my time by a half a decade, I had read and enjoyed Ginsberg and thought his poetry was a Howl. Instead, we had Todd Berliner, a current Fulbrighter over for the screening of the movie, Game Change. Todd alone, but also when accompanied by his wife Dana, are delightful company.

Friday, I was sick as dog in the morning. We had lunch scheduled with a former student for whom I had been the thesis adviser. He had invited Ron and I for a "thank you" meal and chose Hard Rock Cafe, since he had never been to one. This was perfect since I wanted to include it as a new entry in my Hungary chapter for the Frommer's Europe book. For a short time, it didn't seem I would live to eat another meal, let alone lunch which at the time was four hours into my future. I recovered sufficiently to put on a happy face for a happy meal in a happy place, so all went happily.

Speaking of Frommer's, I shared readers' complaints with my editor that Hungary was included in the Eastern Europe book; she told me not to be too concerned. They are no longer going to have an Eastern Europe book. Three editions and it is the end of the story, so if you have one, hold on to it.

All this and yes, once again it happened. Wednesday night when I shut down the main desktop computer, Windows installed updates. Thursday when I turned it on, it would not boot yet again. When I finally did get it to boot, it started doing a Chkdsk on drive G. It is still running and still checking. Yikes!

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Sunday, March 11, 2012

I Want One

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This advertisement really gets my goat, but after looking at it for some time, it does make me a little rammy myself. I do wonder what he will look like when he is an old goat and why are the people clamoring at his feet? They know what the woman must know:

Goats make great pets. I want one of these new fangled goat breeds.

Goats were one of the first animals to be tamed by humans and were the most popular herd animal 9,000 years ago.
Goats have no front top teeth- instead they have what is called a 'dental pad' or hard gums. They have 8 lower teeth and 24 back molars for grinding food.
Goats can live up to 20yrs if well kept.
Goats can easily be housebroken , much the way a puppy is.
Goats are smart and can learn and respond to their given name in less than a week.The pupil in the goat's eye is rectangular in shape instead of being round like those of most other mammals.
Goats have excellent night vision.
Goats have a 4 chambered stomach and chew cud, (a plug of partially digested food stored in the largest compartment of the stomach called the rumen).
Goat feces has little to no odor, produced in small pea sized pellets.
Goats do not charge people and try to use the horns as instruments of mass destruction.
Goats are fastidious eaters and typically will not eat dirty or spoiled food.
Goats have relatively few diseases, very few which as zoonosis (no more than any other pet animal)
Goat milk is the most easily digested milk from any animal and quite often used by those who are lactose intolerant.
Soaps made with goat milk is often used for patients with skin disorders such as excema