The rise and fall of empires

Earlier today, a bot from Hong Kong thoroughly scanned my blog. It was busy, just like the Singaporean bot a few months earlier.
I am aware of the predominance of Asia on the Eurasian continent, that the nations of the European peninsula are gradually losing their leading role in the globalised world and that the migration of people from Africa will completely reshape the composition of its population in fifty years. My guess is that they wouldn't even recognise Hungary if they lived long enough. I don't want to grow old here though. I really don't. I wouldn't have wanted to be born in China either, where there are lots of people, life is cheap and it would feel like shit if I was blacklisted and faced with the impossibility of existence. This technique was also used in Hungary by a former dictatorship.
Unfortunately, the dictatorship has also been recreated because the Hungarian does not know freedom and demands repression. That is security for him. The orange scavenger likes the oppressive regimes of the East because he is a little man who supports his miserable mental make-up with great role models. And yet he spoke so eloquently about Western values early in his political career.
I feel sorry for Hong Kong, I feel sorry for the many people of China and all the horrors that selfish people of all ages and in all countries unleash on others.
Unfortunately, the imperial mindset is ignorant of human rights and oppressive empires are hellish places, no matter what the propaganda marketing may suggest. No sane person falls for the charade.
Oh poor foolish humanity, even empires will not survive the 21st century. It will be a very great human sacrifice.

Ötleteltem

Az év 9. hetére már itt is lesz a meteorológiai tavasz kezdete, március elseje. Igazából a harmadik hónappal indul el az újév, mert az időjárás, a hosszabbodó nappalok hatására berobban a vegetációs szezon. Ötletelek, hogy mivel lehetne feldobni a szezonkezdetet, hogy igazán eredményes év lehessen a 2024-es annak ellenére, hogy a klímaváltozás egyre inkább érezteti a hatását. A február picit sem érződik téli hónapnak. A korai meleg viszont nem téveszti meg a cseh kucsmagombát, jelenleg 1 centisek a termőtestei, bőven az avar alatt rejtőzködnek. Idén is március közepére lesznek elég nagyok az elsők, hogy észrevehetőek legyenek. Erre is gondoltam ma délelőtt, ahogy a piaci helyemen tervezgettem a szezont. A kis, kilenc négyzetméteres stand az enyém, és a berendezésén, dekorációján, világításán töprengtem. Apránként, ahogy az anyagi lehetőségeim engedik, az igényeim alapján akarom átrendezni. Arra is gondoltam, hogy mivel a tudás a legfőbb érték, amit tényleg fontosnak tartok, egy kis zöld információs pontot is kialakíthatok, ahol nemcsak a gombákról lehet tájékozódni, hanem minden olyan helyi kezdeményezésről, például közösségi kertekről, amik az élet megőrzését és a közösség építését tűzték ki céljaiknak.

Jó példát szeretnék mutatni, egy picike reményt sugallni, amikor a média agresszíven a rosszat harsogja, de direkt, mert a félelemkeltéssel hatásosan lehet befolyásolni az embereket. Én viszont egészen másban utazom és mást tekintek fontosnak. Abszolút tisztában vagyok a küldetésem kicsinységével és erőtlenségével, valamint hiábavalóságával, de mivel semmit sem veszthetek, ami erőmből telik megteszem. A tavaszi nap-éj egyenlőségre szeretnék kész lenni a dekorációval. Négyszáz eurónak megfelelő összegből gazdálkodhatok hónapról hónapra. Tényleg apránként fogok haladni a szűkös keret miatt. Ez már csak ilyen, az élet kemény menet. De ehhez is hozzászoktam életem 46. évét betöltve, és megbocsátó nevetéssel engedem szélnek az illúzióimat, a reményeimet. A hitet régen felszámoltam magamban, mert az ember is csak egy állat, nincs semmiféle magasztos küldetése. Amit teszek, azért teszem, mert kedvem van hozzá és még mozog kezem-lában, működik az agyam, ver a szívem, és a tüdőm se halt el embólia következtében. A természet siker ismérve alapján sikeres vagyok, mert még élek. Tart, ameddig tart. És nem fogok senki után futni. Mint valami sárkány betekeredek a helyemre és onnan nézlek titeket. Ha gombával jössz, egyből közös nevezőre állhatunk és jó élményben lesz részed.

Writing well is hard

Don't be fooled by my self portrait, I'm completely done, I've been struggling with writing since November 2021, to finally become a "professional" writer someday. In vain do I know I am a writer, since here is my blog with several demanding short pieces of writing, once writing has many levels and I am somewhere in the middle. A few words about my self-portrait, before I fall into my creative lamentation that I have a typical philosopher's head, and the indulgent gentleness of my gaze reflects that I know the human, myself, quite well. In any case, I am very desperate and sad because the goal is so far away and perhaps unattainable. Because writing well is difficult. Writing is easy, I can write up to three thousand words when I'm rested, but there are compulsory structural elements without which there is no storytelling. So far I have read and annotated Robert McKee's Story screenwriting textbook twice, which has made me fully aware of the difficulty of writing. What a great development! And I know that I have the talent, but writing is still difficult. Okay, lesser talents are pinning their hopes on AI, I soberly use it in fairy tale mirror-mode. "Tell me, dear AI, is what I write good enough?" I gave the AI the introduction to the novel up to the point where the protagonist's life is completely turned upside down, his life can't go on because he learns something that destroys his ideas. The inciting incident is really strong. I've really read Robert McKee's Story book thoroughly. I copied what the smart chatbot said about my novel based on the excerpt.

"Your novel's beginning intriguingly sets up a complex and emotionally charged narrative that aligns well with Robert McKee's principles of storytelling, emphasizing character, conflict, and change. Here's a breakdown following McKee's guidelines:

Strengths:

Complex Characters: The protagonist, Alexander, is depicted with depth, showcasing vulnerabilities, inner conflicts, and a transformational journey, all of which McKee emphasizes as crucial for compelling storytelling.

High Stakes: The narrative sets high emotional and existential stakes for Alexander, involving his identity, his relationship with his father (the king), and societal expectations, resonating with McKee's advice on creating compelling drama through stakes that matter deeply to the characters.

Inciting Incident: The conversation with Master Nikolaus and the subsequent revelations serve as a powerful inciting incident, throwing Alexander's life into turmoil and setting him on a journey of self-discovery and confrontation, in line with McKee's structure of storytelling where conflict initiates change.

Rich World-Building: The setting is vividly drawn, providing a rich backdrop that influences the characters and their journeys. McKee points out the importance of a well-constructed world that shapes the narrative.

Areas for Improvement:

Clarity and Pacing: At times, the narrative might benefit from clearer pacing and more direct exploration of its central themes. McKee suggests that every scene should turn the story in a new direction, and some sections could be streamlined or focused to enhance narrative drive.

Character Motivations: While the characters are complex, making their motivations clearer early on can help readers invest in their journeys. McKee advises ensuring that character actions are deeply rooted in their desires and fears.

Dialogue: Some dialogues can be refined to more naturally reveal character and propel the plot. McKee notes that dialogue should always serve the dual purpose of character development and advancing the story.

Show, Don't Tell: There are moments where the narrative might lean towards telling rather than showing. McKee emphasizes the power of showing to engage the audience's emotions and imagination more deeply.

Your novel demonstrates a strong foundation with its intriguing premise and complex characters. Refining it with these considerations in mind could enhance its emotional impact and narrative effectiveness. Remember, writing is a process of continuous improvement and discovery. Your story has the potential to deeply resonate with readers, offering a unique exploration of identity, power, and transformation. Keep pushing through the challenges, and consider these suggestions as tools to help you refine and deepen your narrative."

That's all well and good, but I'm still a long way from finishing the novel. What makes it really difficult to create is that I grew up in an environment that regarded the artistic profession as a useless activity and it poisoned me with a murderous shame. So it's not enough that the writing is difficult, I'm burdened to somehow circumvent the devastating guilt of devoting my attention to such uselessness. And I've already worked out so much for the novel, and not only for the one I'm writing, but for seven other stories. I have an amazing imagination and I instinctivel writing from the inside out.
I can't help it, I was born to be a writer (artist). Why did I have to be beaten into the ground for that when I was small and vulnerable?! I was literally beaten by fate. I have no idea how far I can go with such a handicap. I long for completeness.

Five good mushrooms in Békés county

Of Hungary's 19 counties, Békés, in the south-eastern part of the country, is not famous for its mushrooms. It is a heavily converted agrocultural landscape, or agrodesert. The desertification effect is compounded by climate change, which is causing increasingly extreme weather, and the irrational drainage of water from the landscape. Before 2000, as a young mushroom picker, I was able to marvel at the disappearing wealth of good mushrooms. In the autumn of 1998, I found my first field blewits Lepista personata, a wonderful memory. To this day I can recall the joy of finding it in the tall grass. Field blewits are not one of the five mushrooms I'm going to show you because they have a very distinctive, strong flavour that many people find too strong. There are around thirty edible mushrooms in the county. These have completely different flavours and textures, adding variety to our mushroom or meat dishes. What's more, the aniseed funnel Clitocybe odora can even be added to sweets!
On the mosaics in the picture, if you are an advanced mushroom hunter, you will recognise the slate bolete Leccinum duriusculum, the poplar fieldcap Cyclocybe cylindracea, the fairy ring mushroom Marasmius oreades, the coastal mushroom Agaricus litoralis, the giant puffball Langermannia gigantea. These are five of our really popular, well-known and great edible mushrooms. More specifically, the fruiting bodies of the organism.
You can find articles about all of them in Hungarian on my blog by searching for their names.

Spring is coming

"The daisy Bellis perennis is a symbol of innocentce, modesty, loyalty and newborn babies. It has been used since the 15th century to represent the newborn Jesus and Hail Mary in Western art."
It's a favourite wildflower that thrives in the green spaces of human settlements and even on mild winter days opens its rosy-white flowers. Because of its bright yellow centre, it is also a symbol of the Sun, reinforced by the fact that it closes its petals at night and opens them again the next day in the sunshine. With its persistent flowering, it is also a symbol of hope, so I like to enjoy it. I appreciate the little flowers that bloom tirelessly and pop up everywhere to bring colour into our lives. Daisy has a number of horticultural varieties. What makes it even more special is that you can eat its leaves before flowering and its flowers later on. I recommend the Hungarian-language blog Erdőkóstoló.
Also edible are the flowers of the violet Viola odorata, which can be used to make a very expensive essential oil, among other things.
Go and give yourself to the small pleasures that truly bring you the greatest joy in life.

Tanulság mindenkinek

2014 október második felében a netadó elleni tüntetéshullám volt az utolsó jele annak, hogy a magyar nemzet igenis a nagyvilághoz tartozik és a fejlődést támogatja. Az most másik téma, hogy időközben a szabadság terének tekintett kibertért hogyan osztotta fel maga között néhány elképesztő tőkeerejű multicég, és a közösségi alkalmazások nevükkel ellentétben a közösséget számolták fel. Erről már mások írtak, keress rá, mert ezek is nagyban hatnak rád, akármennyire is nem kívánsz tudomást venni az életedet veszélyeztető halmozódó problémákról.
Maradok kies hazámnál, hiszen ez a mikrorendszer befolyásolja mindennapjaimat, és üti agyon egyből a kedvemet, amint előbújok kétségbeesve védelmezett alkotói műhelyemből.
Én ott voltam tíz évvel fiatalabban a helyi tüntetéseken a netadó-ellen. 2014 és 2017 között több helyi tüntetésen is jelen voltam, mert jobboldali konzervatív pogányként, aki tisztában van az emberi értékekkel, fontosnak tartottam személyesen megmutatni vállalásaimat. Bármennyire hihetetlen, de azon kevesek közé tartozom a megalkuvások kicsiny mocsarában, akiknek vannak elvei és nemcsak olvasott az erkölcsről, hanem gyakorolja is. Ezért oly keserves számomra, ahogy a jelenlegi 30-as generáció veselkedik neki egy az alapjától rontottnak számító rendszernek és követeli a változásokat. Semmi sem fog változni, hiszen a magyar nemzet az alapjával együtt egy hazugság.
Linkeltem a több tucatnyi közéleti írásom közül hármat, amiket érdemes elolvasnod.

Közéleti gondolkozás: az első lépés
A nemzeti illúzióról
Kinek a felelőssége?

Időt szántam rá, hogy átlássam a mikrorendszert, ami közvetlen befolyásolja az életemet. Ezt javaslom neked is, mert csak a valóság ismeretében lehet stratégiát és taktikát kidolgozni a NER felszámolására, ami egy profi élősdi szervezet és semmi más nem érdekli mint tagjainak vagyonosodása. A magyar ember oly kisszerű lény, hogy kizárólag anyagi javakban képes gondolkodni. Ezért is röhögök rajta, amikor nagy szavakkal kezd dobálózni. Az abszurd élő megtestesülése. Nagy sóhaj. Részemről minden lehetségest megtettem, hogy másik irányt mutassak. Most már te jössz, kedves olvasóm. Csinálj végre valamit!

The fall of the hero

It is not history that has ended, but the story of the human who acts, the hero. We are all weird animals at the mercy of our needs, merely pretending to be somebody. The human of the present is incapable of managing his destiny independently, because it is surrounded by a system that is global and knows everything about it. If it wants to live, it serves and does not form morals and principles in itself, because they are only useless loads in its psyche. I file my fingernails and stare depressedly at the human tragicomedy, looking in the mirror.
Алексей Анатольевич Навальный died after a strange, prolonged "suicide". He returned to Russia a heroic puppet in a geopolitical battle, even though everyone, including himself, knew he was going to die.
There are also long-lived politicians in history who, over the decades of their lives, have experienced how history works and how the world changes in a completely different direction and completely independently of their ideas. Lajos Kossuth is a well-known historical figure of the Hungarian nation. I am trying to put together a very large historical tableau in my mind and I can't. It is now beyond my intellectual capacity and I am actually beginning to feel sad. I'll leave this article aside and go on to something I can influence. Knowing that I am no hero, I view the tragicomedy of human with irony.

Thinking ahead to May

I'm not in a hurry at all, but sometimes I imagine in advance what I want to do.
The photos for this mosaic were taken in May 2020 in the nearby mountains. In fact, I didn't go very high up the mountains, I stayed in the oaks of the lower parts. If it's rainy and mild in May, the summer bolete Boletus reticulatus can be collected in the first half of the month. Four years ago, everything went very well and the mushrooms gradually started to grow in a wave, so that by the beginning of June, there was an amazing abundance. I have made great memories here. That's why I was so shocked in 2021, when the drought had a negative impact on the excellent mountain forests too. I had one article in Hungarian about the summer of 2021, which was about the weather. I have an article in Hungarian on how spruce forests are dying, also from summer 2021. The summer of 2022 was even worse and an unbelievable drought developed in my homeland. I wrote about this in Hungarian. I returned to the mountain forests in the summer of 2023 and was confronted with an unprecedented shortage of mushrooms. I have never experienced such a shortage! I didn't write about it because it was a really depressing experience. 
I'm currently doing my '101 mushrooms' project, which has online lectures on Fridays, the fifth of eight this week. I start my field training in March and I keep a close eye on the weather, because I have seen all kinds of combinations and I know exactly how dry the landscape can get in a short period of time and how the mountains are affected by drought. But I know that everything goes well in rainy weather, and I also know where the fungi are likely to appear from week to week.
It would be nice to have another May as beautiful as the one we had in 2020.

What has Europe given us? Carl von Linné

Carl Linnaeus is a name that everyone who studies science comes across. He gave us the binomial nomenclature we use to name living things. Kálmán Váczy has published an overview of the works of the eminent Swedish naturalist, which can be read online. We need role models to inspire us. Europe has given us many real men and women who, despite their human shortcomings, have left us life's work that will guide us for centuries to come. It is utter nonsense to attack Europe, because our small nation is no different. But we have also given great men and women to the world. It is time to wake up and realise how wrong we have been. The Hungarian ragtag elite is absolutely damaging and unfortunately is preying on us to the detriment of the nation. It is not possible to live a normal, creative, productive life when a narrow interest group terrorises the majority. It is not misfortune that beats the Hungarian, but his own ineptitude and the worship of an ill-entrenched authority, that he falls for status symbols and jargon and refuses to recognise that he is bowing down and destroying himself and his country because of them. Europe is not the cause of our problems, we are the cause. Get a grip, because the world is leaving us behind at an accelerating rate and you will be in for an incredible shock.

Colour February

The second month of the year is a typical transitional period, when nature is still in its winter dormant state, but there are already signs of easing and the approach of spring. This year, the warm air that burst in during the sixth week has kicked things into high gear, and as I watch the snowdrops and eranthis are already starting to open up in the garden. The flower buds of one of my favourite ornamental shrubs from the Far East, the japonica, also started to colour and swell at once. Colourful primrose hybrids have appeared on the market. The yellow ones have a very pleasant smell, which absolutely evokes spring already in February. Spring flowering bulbs, such as hyacinths, are increasingly available. The flower shops will be full by Valentine's Day. Many people don't like the day of lovers or the day of small favours, as I call it, but it exists in Hungarian folklore. Saint Bálint is also known as a saint in our country. It is a popular folklore that sparrows choose a mate on this day and that the sparrow is the favourite bird of Aphoridite, the goddess of love. Kindness and attention are among our basic needs. You really don't need to do much, just a smile, a chocolate, a thank you for something, a handshake, a hug, to make the other person feel that you would be less without them. Now imagine if colours disappeared from the world! We would go mad. It's the same when we forget to feel love for each other.

Destruction of forests

How can I tell you so that you understand how wrong we have done ourselves by treating the biosphere, including forests, as an unlimited resource and destroying everything we touch. How easy it is to take ownership of a natural resource and turn it into money. It's pure business. Really? We have practically eaten the very basis of our lives, sold it, filled it with rubbish. We are behaving in exactly the same way as the simple baker's yeast, which considers its potential as a limit in a good lukewarm dough until the heat of the oven reaches it. The same thing happens to us. Only this time we've lit the oven. While I like disaster movies, I don't like the fact that I'm living in one as I enter the second half of my life. It's practically a war with ourselves and we're losing. As living beings, we cannot transcend the instincts that control us. In that sense we are really on the same level as lemmings. Don't be fooled by the fact that you wear clothes, drive a car, have a complicated job, if you think about it, everything serves one purpose, not to thirst, not to starve, not to get cold, not to eat another, just like animals. It's unfortunate that the civilisation that is the basis of our prosperity was made possible by fossil fuels, which burned up the carbon sequestered by life and put it back into the atmosphere. And the life that could be reabsorbed is destroyed. It will be hell. Worse than the two world wars combined. This is not an alarm. It is accurate foresight.

The hellish cancer of our age is the crisis of values, that we only ask the price of everything, but do not think about what the real values are. And we don't care about them at all because they seem limitless to us. They are not. I can see our handprints in the forests, even in the spruce forests above 1,000 metres. But in this post, I've included my photos from the Bükk. The opening picture was taken on the edge of a chert oak, where the new growth meets the older growth. If you look closely, you will find three dead trees. It was scorching sun and heat on the forest edge, which was beating down on the trees. I hiked back to the denser part where the cool water evaporated from the moist soil and plants, and the forest looked considerably more beautiful. I did notice, however, that the oak canopy was just as stunted as it was here in the backyard. They did not look vigorous. Interesting, but I've never been in a beech forest in the Beech. I've been mushrooming in mature oak groves and hornbeam-oak groves. It was like being in the Mecsek. I wouldn't have been able to tell which mountain region I was in from the summer picture of the plant community. The mountains are also simply becoming a featureless cultural landscape due to "cultivation". Because the most important thing is our comfort, our timber supply. The second picture was taken on the border between the oak "freed" from hornbeam and the part still covered with hornbeam. Needless to say, the latter was the more natural looking and better. Now I'm wondering if I saw a natural forest when I was running around in the interior of the Beech, i.e. a stand of different species of trees of different ages, plus shrubs and herbaceous plants. I shake my head. No.

Ironically, the part that made the deepest impression on me was also man-made. However, it had been cultivated centuries earlier, and time had blurred human intent with the will of nature. Stepping into the wooded pasture of the Cherry Village and seeing the old cherry oaks, their sad relatives in the 'woods', ready to be cut, made my heart beat. I hurried with silent steps to the nearest one to touch its sturdy trunk. I feasted my eyes on its foliage, then, entranced by the first one, I looked over its closer kin. Indulgence at 110%. Rarely does one get to a place that has been undisturbed for a long time. The only one here is the grey cattle gully, which was fortunately at its overnight resting place. These animals are semi-feral and not afraid to use their horns. They don't want to meet one face to face. They are efficient guardians of the area. There are places where the crowds don't need to go. Crowd tourism is one of the worst things. It actually does more harm than good. But here too, self-interest prevails and no one has any regard for the interests of the community, of nature. Very few people understand what is wrong with our civilization.

On the map section of hikingtrails.com, the Long Valley Pine is the point. Because I saw the felled spruce pines piled up on the side of the road, and the loader went to get another load. I'm sure you've heard that climate change is killing the planted pine plantations and they are all being harvested. If you visit the Mátra, you will see the gutted, suffering, dying trees. But you don't have to go far, today I saw two dead spruce trees in my home town. And they were older specimens, about 15 metres tall. Beech is also in decline, with barely 1% of beech trees remaining in our country. Here in the south-east, the woody vegetation is completely disappearing, leaving only the bush. The upsurge in tree planting is commendable, but it is good to bear in mind that water should also be provided. Remember this spring, when there was a ban on fires in March! Forests become extremely fragile in prolonged drought. It's hair-raising to experience the rattling drought and imagine a single spark turning a cooling shelter into hell. Plant a forest! Wonderful. It really is. It could go up in smoke at any time. See this year's wildfires around the world, which are increasing in extent year on year. The process is spinning. We're falling off the chain of life because we can't control our animal urges. How is that bad? I doubt I should condemn man, the animal that thought itself a god. We are, after all, naked lemmings. Nothing more. A cog in the machine of life. I'm sure plastic will be a breeding ground for new life forms, just as some form of machine intelligence will also outlive us. But as a species, we humans and most of the plant-animal-fungus species of the natural environment that allows us to exist will be destroyed along with us. We are an evolutionary dead end. But there is nothing wrong with that. We have started an interesting process. Although it is sad to see the destruction. But out of the ruins, new life is emerging. After our twilight comes the dawn of something else.

The original article in Hungarian was published on 23 August 2019. Translated by DeepL.

What the nationalists want to ignore

The Slovak houses, like my Hungarianized surname, always remind me of my ancestors, that I have a family tree of many nationalities. That is why the nationalist slogan is false for me. Of course, the old trick is "divide and rule". It is a good question whose interest it is to maintain nation states in Europe, instead of finally developing a unified European consciousness that could unite us, the half a billion people living here. In theory, the Carpathian Basin could have been an ideal melting pot of peoples, but somehow they all split up and formed many small countries. We claim absolute fictitious differences when we are actually related. In my family tree, besides Slovak and Hungarian, I also have Romanian, Slovenian and Armenian ancestors. Why on earth would I impose a Hungarian identity on myself, when it is enough for me to be a Hungarian citizen and to have a family tree of many nationalities is a good feeling for me. The Hungarian nation is not in my interest, but in the interest of those who use it for marketing purposes. They enrich and profit from the national brand. It looks to me very much like the Nationals are bleeding the country dry and have for years been virtually hostile to anyone who tries to resist their damaging selfishness. I claim that nationalists despise Hungarians in the interior. An example of this is the worship of Hungarians beyond the border, especially the Hungarian-speaking ethnic group of the former Principality of Transylvania, as an 'ancient pure Hungarian race'. Now that the system of national cooperation is faced with an ageing population and the emigration of those of working age, it is simply resorting to global labour leasing and the importation of guest workers. I have nothing against guest workers! Just don't exploit them! What bothers me is that the nationalists have been running a vile campaign for years with the slogan: 'If you come to Hungary, you cannot take the jobs of Hungarians'. A 2014 attacked NGOs, in particular the Ökotárs Foundation, which reminded us of the cursed times. Or those times never passed. There is also the severe limitation of the independence of local governments, the degradation of mayors to mere executors of orders. Staggering price rises and depressed wages. Wherever I look, the nationalists are hostile to the Hungarian people and are directly intimidating them.
Then I watch Hungarian people serving nationalists in exchange for a little money, unable to see that they have accepted a handout from a thief! Look at what the 'masters' were before they came to power and what they do and the damage they cause, then think about whether it was worth sacrificing your human dignity for them!

The highest level of self-defence is nature conservation

I went out in the Póstelek for the first time this year because I wanted to find the scarlet elfcup Sarcoscypha austriaca. I had no luck, as the developing tiny cup mushrooms were well hidden, but I'm sure that after the significantly warm weather of week six they will be of visible size by next weekend. I was not left without a fake habitat image because I found a bottle with a red cap among discarded rubbish. My anger brought out the cynical critic in me and I imitated a cup mushroom with the cap. The majority of people are simply incapable of understanding that nature is the basis of our life and the destruction and pollution of nature will surely decimate our species, we will bring upon ourselves a tragedy of unimaginable proportions! It is in our own interest to protect what is left of nature!

Here and there in the fields the sky was reflected in patches of inland water. It was so beautiful that I took a picture of it. Freshwater is the most valuable raw material and resource of the 21st century. Tidal power plants built on the coasts are indeed practical. But those built on rivers will have a disastrous impact on our river waters and cause serious tensions between countries. Melting glaciers feed the rivers. The Tarim Basin's vast and arid desert is created by the rain-shading effect of the surrounding mountains, while meltwater from glaciers on the mountains feeds the cities on the desert's edge. It is a sad fact that the Carpathian Basin is heading towards a drier period and water scarcity will be a serious problem for people living here. We need to seriously reassess our relationship with water! Death by thirst is a terrible agony.

An apt term for the cultural landscape of Békés county is the agricultural desert. It was an ironic sight to see the irrigation system on the barren winter ground. The fields are huge open wounds in the landscape, and during summer storms it's amazing to see the wind carrying the dead soil. Large-scale monoculture production is unsustainable. In a few decades or less, the whole thing will become impossible in Békés County. In the same way, the landscape will become unlivable for people, which has always been a very difficult landscape to live in. It has never been a place where large numbers of people have lived. But the problem is not the landscape, it's the people. Israel is an even harder place to live in, yet it is an incredibly developed country thanks to its knowledge-oriented people.

The fourth picture was taken in the castle park. While no one was walking in the oak plantations, the park was getting more and more crowded by the time I finished my survey walk. Most people have become unable to move in the open air for long periods! Not only do they not garden, they don't even go hiking. The mall mentality, the consumerist attitude, the dependence on comfort, makes them unviable. It always shocks me when I see someone out in the fresh air smoking. We humans are very strange indeed, we do totally irrational things and we are extremely hostile to the living world, we have become anti-natural beings. This brings me back to the opening picture of the post, where I imitated a scarlet elfcup welcoming spring with the red cap of a bottle. In the end, we are left with plastic, and our chemicals are preserving our lifeless, collapsed civilisation.

Russian bear bit off the tail feathers of the Hungarian falcon

How did the hopeful young man who spoke at Imre Nagy's funeral become a servant of Russian interests? The emblematic figure of the system of national cooperation is a mixture of political entrepreneur and con man, and delusional messiah. It is uncomfortable to look at him and listen, especially when he is overcome with fear in the presence of the Russian lord. The Hungarian leader likes to present himself as very brave, but what he showed there was a little man. It is amazing that Hungarians always look for hope in the wrong direction and betray themselves.
Unfortunately, I still have a sentimental heart and a sincere sorrow as I look at this unfortunate, half-mad Hungarian nation full of complexes and missed opportunities. A bunch of alkies hobbits in the middle of Europe, who have long suffered from identity confusion. And yes, I'm Hungarian, so my anger and sorrow and biting irony are absolutely justified! You should understand, because it's in your interest to be subjected to a resource-wasting, life-sucking system and you're losing out! I'm very sensitive to unequal situations because I've been a victim and I recognise the "evil". I'm still reading Pierre Bourdieu's Masculine Domination and he clearly describes the power-versus-human relationship in the male-female set-up. It is clear that the system that has ruled the Hungarian nation for centuries is responsible for the nation's decline, because it constantly stifles development, oppresses people and drives out or even destroys the active ones. It is sad to me to see elder person desperately clinging to the illusion of a "proud nation" and when I briefly outline what the reality is, it is as if I have struck a blow. And yet I do not wish to harm him at all, but to rescue his own person from the lowly position to which he is a prisoner and which he serves with blind, false enthusiasm. The system that is holding the Hungarian people captive is completely exploiting them, because it is shockingly inefficient, extremely wasteful and has a penchant for redistributing state wealth from the population to the 'elite'. I swear on my life that I have tried to find the positive aspects of the orange regime, but when I put the good and the bad of the orange regime together, it turned out to be bad. It should be obvious to many by now how disenfranchised they are, and collectively the country is lagging behind and in steady decline.
It is important to note that the "Hungarian" elite has a predatory mentality! It cannot manage. If it cannot access external resources, its serious shortcomings will be exposed. He has an absolutely hostile mentality to anyone who questions and contradicts his presumed prerogatives, his unlimited thievery.
Be sure to read the recommended work by Pierre Bourdieu, because it is astonishing how he makes sense of the psychological self-subordination of the exploited of the system, how the elements, dictates and symbols of the centuries-old structure completely transform their minds and make them believe that they are serving free will the regime that supposedly and in their misconception, protects them.
I'm going to finish writing now, because I have an overwhelming feeling. So many lives wither away before they can be fulfilled. It is sad to see the wasted lives and the unhappiness, the unbridled delusions and the villains who are not suffering a bit.
We are all living in the last chapter of the tragedy of a small nation, and I call out in desperation to the others who can still act.

Return to default position

I've loved smartphones since my Sony Ericsson P800 PDA+mobile hybrid, but the internet is becoming an opaque chaos due to AI, which is better left out. I'm very familiar with the useful features of a phablet, and I certainly carry one for ease of orientation when travelling. (I have about twenty phones scattered around my room, from several manufacturers. They are all older devices of sentimental value to me. Like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in the picture. I was very happy when I bought it many years after its release. The Note series is legendary.) But since 2019 I've been increasingly disturbed by the nature of the electronic leash as it influences my behaviour and "rewards" me with dopamine shots as a one-armed robber. It wasn't just their cheapness that made me buy two cheap smartphones, I deliberately wanted a more restrained, nerve-wracking user experience for myself to curb my gadget addiction. I know myself well, I know that I have a tendency to mania, and I have zero tolerance for most "drugs", which means I don't use any of them! The last time I drank alcohol was last February, half a glass of cider, but I now buy the non-alcoholic version of that when I want a fizzy experience. There is a very tasty 0% beer, but I rarely see it in shops. But even these are occasional, whereas the smartphone is always at my fingertips. Unfortunately. Thinking about the evolutionary history of the human race, we are still tool-using cavemen and are actually incapable of grasping the impact of technology on our minds and bodies. Sometimes, I freak out breaks out at the glimpse of the bigger picture. It is better to slow down and use as little technology as possible. We've gone from user to used and it's scary.
I bought my first radio telephone in 2000, an ancient Ericsson that even then seemed like an antique, but for me, like many others, it was a generational experience to make my first phone call while travelling by train. I have a completely clear memory, it was so fantastic. Communication is one of my favourite human values, because in our dysfunctional wreck of a society, clear, transparent information exchange is rarer than a white raven. I'm a fan of apt, witty thoughts as we both blossom when we find a clever companion. Ah, a wonderful experience. And what has communication between people become? Wow. Don't go near the ruins. But you have to talk, because the exchange of information is essential to the running of the community. The radiotelephone is still a useful tool and has a raison d'être. So, after a long selection process, I jumped at a bargain and bought one of the devices I had long been knowing for.
My new feature phone is a simple gadget, but that's the beauty of it. I don't mind that it's made of cheaper plastic, because it adds to the feeling of a target device. It's really a model for the elderly, but the colourful casing and shell shape give it a more modern feel. I only needed it for phone calls, but its FM radio, which works without the earpiece, has surprisingly good reception, a particularly nice feature for me. Of course, my smartphones have the online radio app, but old technology never goes out of date for me. My purchase was to achieve quiet reflection during the day, so that nothing distracts me from my work. I interact with people countless times in my work, but as an introvert, I get exhausted quickly. If I waste my finite mental energy using a smartphone, I can make mistakes that I cannot afford to make. I like to make rational decisions and go where my common sense leads me. Enough of the deliberately stirred up information-noise, garbage; calm is the value. And I don't want to be like the hero of the movie Her at all, the poetic message of the artwork doesn't move me one bit, because technophilia is not a normal state of being.
The truth is that as living beings we need a living natural environment and our technology is exacerbating climate change. It is actually inadequate to deal with the growing crises of the 21st century. We are human beings, we need each other, because it is precisely our community, our cooperation, that has made it possible for us to be the temporary masters of the world.

Day of the Republic

This is a very nice May photo of me from a long time ago, where the poppies and elderberries together display the Hungarian national tricolour. I am a green patriot, which means that the natural values of my homeland have shaped my Hungarian consciousness. Thanks to my diverse national ancestry I am immune to nationalism, I am truly a patriot. Thanks to the many influences that my very mixed reading experiences have given me, and of course being a good observer, I have become a citizen. The common good, the republic, democracy are not discredited terms for me and I understand their meaning very well! I can clearly see how the Hungarian nation is being eaten up by the diligent practice of utterly selfish self-interest, by the principle of "don't put off until tomorrow what you can steal today", by distrust, by stupid nationalism. I cannot be fooled by silly advertising slogans.
Did you know that today was declared the Day of the Hungarian Republic in 2005? "On 1 February 1946, the Parliament adopted Act I of 1946 on the Form of Government of Hungary." We are commemorating it. I wonder which government(?) changed the name of the country from the Republic of Hungary to the Hungary on 1 January 2012? The orange band of thieves who see themselves as the full heirs to noble privilege. The restoration of the Horthy era, the parade in the Buda Castle of a man who is ideal for the coach of a second-rate football team but more than suspect as prime minister, says everything about the current regime and what lies ahead for the Hungarian republic. Foolish to hope. But of course don't think about anything now, stay stupid.