Excerpt from the Testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas O. Melia (House Foreign Affairs Europe and Eurasia Subcommittee) “Eastern Europe: The State of Democracy and Freedom” on July 26, 2011. Source.
Several recent events are cause for significant concern about Hungary's democratic trajectory. Hungary is an important EU and NATO member. At the same time, we have seen the current one-party government use its unprecedented two-thirds parliamentary majority to lock in changes to the Constitution that could solidify its power, limit checks and balances, and unduly hamstring future democratic governments in effectively addressing new political, economic and social challenges. The government replaced members of a media oversight board, for example, with candidates aligned with the ruling party. More disconcerting, the board has been given the power to issue decrees and impose heavy fines - up to $950,000 - for news coverage it considers "unbalanced" or offensive to "human dignity."
Secretary Clinton stated during her June 30 visit, "As friends of Hungary, we … [call] for a real commitment to the independence of the judiciary, a free press, and governmental transparency." We are urging the government to temper the pace of change, to be more inclusive and to limit the number of issues covered by so-called "cardinal laws," which require a two-thirds majority to change. In particular, we will ask the government to carefully reconsider the new law on "the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion and on the Status of Churches, Religions and Religious Communities," which requires re-registration of all but 14 religious groups, negatively impacting the religious freedom atmosphere in Hungary. We will continue to engage Hungary in a broad dialogue in coming months, as the government works to implement its new constitution.
Foursquare let you share your location, meet friends and comment on places. Chromaroma transformed public transport into a multiplayer game in London. And now a shadow city is unveiled, coexisting with the real one you're living in, in which you're a mage battling others like you. Check out Shadow Cities, a location-based multiplayer game for the iPhone:
You're walking down the bank of the Danube. Suddenly your instincts flare up, signaling danger. Can that suited-up guy who just took off the tram be an enemy mage? You reach for your phone to cast a spell...
Regardless of the realization, the idea is awesome. Unfortunately the app is not available in the Hungarian store yet and the game is limited to the iPhone, no Android client so far. Still, isn't it fascinating where technology is taking us?
Whenever I visit the cemetery where my granddad is buried I think of all the space needed for the gravestones and the pointlessness of the huge mausoleums some families build for themselves. I really don't think people need such mementos in order to be remembered. I'd much rather be cremated and thrown into the wind or a river than lie in a coffin.
It's probably old news but I've just stumbled upon a project of Spansih designer Martín Azúa: he created a special urn called Bios Urn from natural materials which turns people's ashes into trees. An awesome idea. After all, who wouldn't want to be a tree in a second life? You can even choose what kind.
Bios Urn
The Bios Urn project reintroduces the human being to the natural circle of life. It is the profaine ritual of regeneration and the return to nature. Bios is a mortuary urn made from biodegradable materials: coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose. Inside it contains the seed of a tree. Once the urn is planted, the seed germinates and begins to grow. The seed can be changed for a different type of seed or plant more adequate to the chosen planting place, if need be.
Gerard Moline 2002, Tutors Martín Azúa, Emili Padros / Definitive product Azúamoliné 2005 / Top nominee - INDEX Awards 2005 / Produced by CIRE / Distributed by Limbo Disseny
I wasn't sure if I was going to post this. I don't know what to think about itt és most (here and now). One one hand it has some catchy sing-along tunes, on the other many songs are downright disturbing and full of unexpected experimental sounds. I'd wager not many would listen through the whole set. (I, for one, didn't either.) Although if you speak Hungarian, some of the lyrics are quite interesting and clever.
This is what the Nyerges Gábor Ádám said about his work:
itt és most (here and now) is a successor of the 2009 album akkor és ott (then and there). recording started in Summer 2010 because I was in a bad mood because I was happy. guilt and the like. although it's true I used some soundbits from before. nem rossz hely (not a bad place) was finished first, and since "many good men at this not a bad place are not afraid" everything went smoothly. I jotted down everything in a big red book, lyrics and tabs as well. in the meantime everything that was shit then and there at the time went worse, not to leave me without inspiration, only by then I didn't give a rat's ass. some numbers that started out as band versions ended up here as well, because there isn't really a band anymore and they fit in. stuff.
Unlike my previous music posts, chances are, you probably haven't heard about this band. Vanity & Jokes is the solo project of Udo Pesch and at the time of writing this he had a grand total of 652 plays on Last.fm. Regardless, I think he has an interesting voice.
Help SFportal win HUF 1 million on a tender by Budapest Bank to be able to enjoy the works of contemporary Hungarian science fiction authors translated to English.
Their aim is to organize an anthology of short stories and select a novel then have them translated into English and publish both on Amazon.com as an ebook. Any future income from the sale of these ebooks would be used to fund more translations.
If you believe this is a noble goal help them win by voting for them on Facebook. (The tender runs under the name of SFportal editor-in-chief, Jun Miyazaki.) The system allows one vote per person per day so remember to vote every day until the end of the first round on 5 August.
Rarely do I get music recommendations on Last.fm and those few are mostly self-marketers. Like this time when Bellerafont (age 20, from Ukraine), the frontman of My Personal Murderer sent his latest song, She's Dead. Don't ask why, I haven't been listening to this band ever before.
Regardless, I liked what I heard. All their songs are fascinatingly depressive with lyrics of doom and soft guitar-driven melodies. They live on Facebook instead of having a website and most of their material is free to download from Last.fm.
As a bonus here's a video for Danger Dancer (2011):
I went to see Kesh at Zöld Pardon yesterday. Unfortunately only before heading out did I realize that the Sony camera was still on the charger only unplugged from the wall socket: as a result the battery was fully drained. At least I assume that was why it happened. It's an old device and the battery is not in the best shape anyway.
Anyway, I was only armed with my Nexus S. No luck with that either: the pictures are either blurred or whitewashed and the soundtrack in the video is unusable; only a distorted cacophony of bass and drums. To an extent the Sony's mic distorts as well, but still handles concerts much better, like when I used it to capture Tides of Time.
Too bad because Kesh is the most popular search keyword here.
Update: My partner-in-crime Anett has an iPhone 4, which admittedly makes a much better concert recording equipment. Check out Mizu live at ZP.
