A motley collection of ideas
Today would be Ernest Hemingway’s 125th birthday. His love for cats was legendary—his home in Key West is now a museum and still hosts a large colony of around 60 cats, famous for their extra toes, known as Hemingway’s polydactyl cats. Cats typically have five toes on their front paws and four on their back, … Read more
Fluorescent lamps are becoming less and less fashionable these days, as LEDs are pushing them out—but they’re really not that bad. The technology improved a lot between the 1970s and 1990s: the unpleasant light of old fluorescent tubes is a thing of the past. Flickering and color distortion have been reduced so effectively that in … Read more
With Schlieren photography, even a person’s breath can be captured. It is often used to illustrate various flows, shockwaves, bullets, flames, and fire propagation. NASA has even developed a version of the method that allows supersonic aircraft to be photographed in flight. Most people have probably seen such images before — in recent years, the … Read more
Multiverzum kiadó, 2023328 oldal, 5990 Ft Morte annyit tesz: halál. Úgy, hogy Mort, lehetne egy bújós házi cica is, vagy a Madagaszkár-filmek idétlen egérmakija. Robert Repino regényében Mort(e) egy meglehetősen nagy macska, aki nem akar messiás lenni, csak a barátját szeretné megtalálni egy tébolyult világban: egy kutyát. „A kutyának köszönhetően érezte magát normálisnak. Mert ő … Read more
In the spring of 2019, I wrote an article about the so-called “wasp garage,” prompted by the fact that these things started appearing in many supermarkets and pet stores. Lots of people bought them, put them out in their gardens—and nothing happened. NGOs and local governments also installed them in public spaces, and there are … Read more
I inherited this device from my father—he brought it from the Soviet Union at some point. It was manufactured in 1974 and is a typical example of the simple yet extremely robust Soviet devices. It doesn’t contain any “smart” electronic circuits, so there’s nothing in it that could burn out or break. It’s simply built … Read more
It is well known that, thanks to its favorable balneological and geothermal conditions, Hungary is a country rich in thermal waters. Although the demand for the energy utilization of thermal water is increasing, geothermal energy remains our largest untapped energy source, due to the unique geological characteristics of the Carpathian Basin. The average domestic heat … Read more
Spotters, SWL (shortwave listening) enthusiasts, and amateur radio operators all enjoy listening to aircraft communications — and nowadays, even drone pilots find it useful to monitor air traffic. A good handheld airband transceiver easily costs well over a hundred thousand forints, whereas the device described here is dirt cheap by comparison. Of course, it’s not … Read more
The Bajai fisherman’s soup is more than just a dish — it is part of Hungary’s cultural heritage, a true hungarikum. Its preparation is quick and simple: unlike other regional versions, the fish is not pressed through a sieve but simply cooked with onion, and served at the end with thin noodle “gyufatészta” (matchstick pasta). … Read more
The handheld meter has been a staple in almost every technician’s toolkit for nearly 100 years. Today, the majority of handheld meters have digital displays. However, until the 1970s, most meters featured analog readouts. These were typically multimeters capable of measuring voltage, current, resistance, and occasionally capacitance and frequency. “Pocket watch”-style measuring instruments were popular … Read more