A motley collection of ideas
I’ve always been fascinated by gas-discharge lamps. I don’t know why—perhaps simply because they glow in the dark. Or perhaps because they don’t always shine with a steady light, but sometimes flicker a little, as if they were alive, or burning like a flame. Or maybe because it seems as though the light is created … Read more
This Easter was spent in quarantine. It was a great opportunity to take advantage of the sunshine to draw pictures with light. Let’s replace the sterile electronic world of digital cameras with a dip in the water and think back to the 1830s, the birth of photography.
It is not widely known that Hitler was a vegetarian, and even fewer people know that he was also an animal welfare advocate. Allegedly, the idea to ban bowl-shaped aquariums originated with him, as he believed it was animal cruelty that the fish had no corners to hide in and that the bowl distorted the … Read more
Dr Pál Veres was the favourite sexologist of socialist Hungary without being a sexologist. He was a newspaper photographer, journalist and Hungarian history teacher, and only graduated as a doctor at the ripe old age of 56, when he was already well known for his popular articles in the Ifjúsági Magazin. He became famous for his radio programmes in which he referred to fucking by name. One of his listeners once asked him if it was possible to masturbate with a vacuum cleaner. Uncle Pali’s answer was succinct: “It depends on which end: the one that sucks or the one that blows?”
Format: Hardcover. You can purchase it on Knihobot The Hungarian edition was published by Typotex Publishing Ltd. in 2019 and can be purchased at Typotex. Ever since the world began, people have enjoyed telling and listening to animal tales. The fables of Aesop, Phaedrus, and La Fontaine were not written for children but intended for … Read more
Nowadays, in the age of semiconductor diodes, many people don’t even know what this thing is. Yet, they were used in radio and television receivers up until around 1975. Recently, at a ham radio flea market, I picked up an AEG selenium rectifier for a few forints. I started searching online for its datasheet, but … Read more
A few months ago, I was looking at tests of robot vacuum cleaners. Reading the user reviews, I noticed that many people talk about a vacuum cleaner as a pet, and even talk about it as if it were their child. One young couple, for example, watched with rapt attention in the evenings as the little robot taught them how to move chairs, table legs and other obstacles in the room. Then, when it finally crawled onto its charger and slithered away, the couple dozed off. Admittedly, a robot is more suited to the hipster lifestyle than a dog or cat, and it cleans up and doesn’t need cleaning up after, but to quote Uncle Abel: “No, no!
The salad is an undeservedly neglected part of holiday lunch. Hungarians just eat something pickled with the meat and call it a day, while food bloggers throw together something from the leftovers. Yet there’s real science in salad, let me tell you! The word “salad” comes from the Latin expression herba salata (meaning “salted herb”). … Read more
“It was still called broadcasting, and it cost a lot of money,When the first speaker excitedly sat down at the microphone.His ringing voice soared and flew far away,And in one listener, something responded:— The test was successful!”(LGT: The Radio) Today, digital technology is making its way into every area of communication and broadcasting. The crystal … Read more
This article revives a classic from Janusz Wojciechowski’s cult book Building Electronic Toys: a simple Hartley oscillator that does nothing—except beep endlessly. I once drove my father crazy with it and today it’s still a perfect tool for learning electronics. We explain how it works, show how to rebuild it, and explore Wojciechowski’s quirky ideas … Read more