Tuesday, December 29, 2015

LOST TOMB OF SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFENT UNEARTHENED IN SOUTHERN HUNGARY?

DISCOVERY NEWS - ARCHEOLOGY - SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT
by Rossella Lorenzi

Moslem Hungary.... Ottoman Empire...the ruler sires 1000 children...or more... (Maybe YOU have some of his DNA?)

Excerpt:

Turbék started out as a shrine over Suleiman’s burial in the 1570s and thrived as a holy town until its destruction by the Habsburg army in the 1680s.

‘For Allah’ Inscription Found on Viking Era Ring
During a dig carried out in October and November, Pap and colleagues unearthed a rectangular building with wide walls built from bricks and stones.

Covered with stone tiles, the building had a large central room, about 26 by 26 feet. A robber pit in the middle of the structure suggests it was plundered in the late 17th century.

Some decorative elements remained intact and match in style the decorations in Suleiman’s mausoleum in Istanbul.

Intact, Packed Etruscan Tomb Found

“Currently everything suggests that this building could have been Suleiman’s tomb,” the researchers wrote.

Friday, December 25, 2015

CHRISTMAS ANGELS BRING THE TREE

We all know that there are ANGELS in MANY RELIGIONS 
and that this image brings in the PAGAN Christmas Tree....

Monday, December 7, 2015

SAINT NICK - a ROLE MODEL OF GENEROSITY and EMPATHY and the SOULLESS SAN BERNARDINO TERRORISTS

Old Saint Nick, also known as Saint Nicklaus, and now, in the Western World as Santa Claus, was, like our present Pope Francis, who has given out sleeping bags to the homeless in Rome, Italy, personally, a person of action who role modeled generosity and empathy by bringing gifts to the poor. Some say it started with the secret gift of three gold coins to some poor children.  Today there is so much poverty around the world, it's almost impossible to imagine any immediate answer to the suffering, which includes starvation of children born to die.  I know I have it good here in the United States.

Walking my dog, I often encounter a woman who is sweet and kind and always begging.  To my amazement she walked into a corner store that mostly sells liquor and asked a customer to give her $20 so that she could buy a Christmas tree.  To my amazement this stranger gave her $10 towards her purchase.  I told her where artificial trees were being sold at a good price, but she explained she was trying to raise $40 for a real tree, and then more money for lights and decorations, because she wanted to have a REAL CHRISTMAS.  Well, one can have a REAL CHRISTMAS without a tree and lights and decorations, but I found it interesting what I was witnessing.

I don't want to loose my Christmas spirit of generosity and empathy, but I'm struggling to maintain a  Christmassy attitude because the San Bernardino terrorist attacks seem to be EVEN MORE SENSELESS than the killings in PARIS.  You see, these terrorists, whatever their religion, HAVE NO EMPATHY OR GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT. 

They do not care about ending the lives of the innocent or making children orphans.  They wish to spread fear and hatred, not love, understanding, tolerance, or kindness.  There is no love left inside them, not even (in this case) for their own six month old child.  They have not even thought about the KIND OF WORLD they are trying to create in which that child/children will have to live.  They are establishing a TERRORIST STATE and it is a state in which the violence is so extreme  (killing of babies born disabled - teaching children to chop off heads using dummies)  that I believe it is devoid of ANY SPIRITUALITY whatsoever.

It's as if they had their very souls plucked out by demons.

After listening to radio reportage for hours and reading, again, many articles that report on the terrorists in PARIS, I learned that the man who lead the group had BEEN IN HUNGARY and RECRUITED TERRORIST HELP-MATES THERE, that these men had REFUSED TO REGISTER LAWFULLY WITHIN HUNGRY.

I realized that some of the Paris and the husband-wife couple San Bernardino terrorists seem to fall into the "he/she was such a nice, quiet person," category. 

I looked at the pictures of this EVIL COUPLE that were available.  At once I saw how dead, how zombie-like and hypnotized the eyes of the male shooter were.  The female, not so much.  Today the news is that it was the female who shot first, who was radicalized first, and that various Muslim organizations are distancing themselves from terrorism - or at least these two - both here and in other countries such as Pakistan.  She was so "shy" that many people never saw her face or heard her speak, as she would not speak to men other than her husband but she was deadly.  Is this Muslim or is this mentally ill?

Why are we even still using the term "radicalized" when something more and worse is happening?

Why is there civil war in Syria, why is the whole MIDDLE EAST a HELL ON EARTH?  Why is the CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION the most barbaric part of the world?

So here I am, all ready to go to a Christmas concert at the local community college where a friend of mine is playing the trumpet, wearing a fancy purple evening jacket, and hoping that at least for a while, I can shut the terror out of my mind, reattach to my own spirit of Christmas, and continue to be generous and empathic.


C 2015  All Rights Reserved  Magyar-American BlogSpot.  Including International and Internet Rights

Sunday, December 6, 2015

SANTA CLAUS SUGAR PLUMS

[christmas_sugar_plums_2.jpg]
Confection label, showing Santa Claus on sleigh with reindeer. engraving, color.
CREATED, PUBLISHED: c1868.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

TURKEYS - HUNGARIAN TURKEY RECIPES? STUFF WITH CHESTNUTS

 
About now if you're a Hungarian-American who is going to cook for THANKSGIVING next week, you may be purchasing a turkey and other ingredients to make your fall harvest feast.  Since Turkey - the bird - is native of the America's I don't think of the meat as very interesting to Europeans but these days you just have to be near a market that imports the whole bird.
 
I could give you a link, or many, to recipes for Chestnut Stuffing and "Hungarian Turkey" recipes but I'll let you do that yourself.  There is even a Martha Stewart recipe for free on the net which emphasizes to start with fresh.  Let's just say that combining chestnuts with bread crumbs, bacon, thyme, and parsley and butter is a good start.  Chop Chop Chop!
 
Chestnuts are the seeds of the chestnut tree.  In the fall the covering of the seeds bursts open and reveal the tender nut but they must be used within a week of harvesting them or else can be frozen for up to a month.  Like a garlic bulb or clove, they must be peeled and then cooked to soften them and you do that before you combine them with other ingredients.
 
Growing up we had Turkey one time a year, on Thanksgiving.  I liked the stuffing better than the meat, though I loved the gravy over the stuffing.  Visiting friends, I was able to sample some of the more complicated and imaginative recipes for stuffing, including the wonderful texture and crunch of chestnuts. than my parents made.
 
As I understand it, chestnut trees grow well in Hungary and have been cultivated in the Mediterranean for 3000 years.  They were common in North America and then a blight wiped them out in the early 20th century but efforts are being made to replant them.

Monday, November 16, 2015

CRYING FOR INNOCENT VICTIMS of TERRORISM - EVIL and BRAINWASHING : OPINON by MAGYAR AMERICAN

Friday night, late, a friend of mine called me with a throb in his throat.  "Did you hear about the terrorism in Paris?  I've met some of the musicians that play in that band! " He explained that they are not a heavy metal or death metal band but took the name of their band as a kind of joke.  Whatever, they do play rock and roll, which is offensive to Moslems, and the terrorists targeted people out to have a good time, if not sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

I had not heard about this latest act of terrorism by Moslem EXTREMISTS, as I'd been feeling under the cold, windy, weather and was laying in bed under a crochet blanket with my dog and reading a book, so I told him I would call him back.  Within fifteen minutes, thanks to the internet on my low budget cell phone, I was able to tell him that the band members themselves were OK.  From that point on I read at least a hundred articles from news services all over the world, especially The Daily Mail - UK, but also the New York Times, Washington Post, and many others, searching for the latest tidbit of information that would bring the whole picture into focus.

Sadly, I will tell you what the whole picture is in one word:  EVIL

And that evil is prevailing makes me feel tearful and depressed.  This morning I wanted to stay in bed under the covers and not get on with my day but I snapped out of it while taking a hot shower and then dressing and putting on makeup and perfume and leaving the house.  I put on my best appearance anyway despite feeling so down.  I knew that I could not quit living my life out of fear...

The American Holiday of Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away and is the beginning of our holiday season with Christmas and the New Year coming up fast and this is the time of year when most people make an effort to share, give generously, and be more loving and tolerant, beginning with their own family and then to strangers

I've already bought slices of turkey breast, stuffing bread, pineapple, onions and garlic and ginger, an acorn squash, sweet potato, zucchini, and other ingredients to make a small American feast.  But I'm planning on attending a local community celebration that I went to once years ago that happens to be put on by a local Jewish congregation and is open to everyone of any faith.  It is held outdoors rain or shine and wind and cold might keep me away, but I was looking forward to it, and thinking of asking this particular friend along.  I can easily make my personal thanksgiving meal for the following Sunday's meal.

Now that Moslem EXTREMISTS are killing the innocent outside of SYRIA (where even children have been beheaded and women have been killed for refusing to be sex slaves) well, their TERRORISM has worked.  Paris is terrified.  Certainly London is.  But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that terrorism only takes place in big cities.

I'm afraid to go to this community gathering where hundreds of people will be on Thanksgiving, especially because it is being held at a Jewish temple.  I also hesitate to take the subway.  I fear that the subway would be a great target during rush hour.  Yet I know that our HOMELAND SECURITY and other governmental agencies are doing their best to find terrorists and other criminals who mean to hurt or kill others before they can do so.  Still, I think most people I've been talking to feel a bit paranoid.

There is only one way to understand people who blow themselves up, in an effort to kill others.

THEY HAVE BRAIN WASHED and are in a CULT.

So while I cry for the innocent victims, I decided today, knowing that people from all over the world can read this blog, to talk to you about BRAIN WASHING and CULTS.

What is the difference between a  regular religion and a cult?

A cult often expects you to cut yourself off from your family and friends, which is to say, your support group, and gradually you are surrounded only by people who are indoctrinating you. They isolate you as part of their ownership of you. In a cult, your mail may be censored or kept from you.  You may be denied use of communications such as the phone or e-mail.  You may not be allowed to leave the cult, not even to go out to the doctors or shopping, alone or without permission. You may be expected to give them your money, maybe even sell your house and give them all the money from the sell, and move to live with or near others in the cult.  Without the finances to leave them, they now have more control over you.  They will put you to work, often extensive volunteer work, in exchange for bare necessities or access to the leader or permission to marry.

Women are often sexually exploited in a cult.  They have no right to own their own bodies, to decide when or with whom they will have sex with, or are brainwashed to think that having sex with other cult members or the leader doesn't count when it comes to promiscuity.  They may be forced to marry someone not of their own choosing. Their husband may rule their lives like never before, or the couple will be ordered to not have sex or not have children.

What they tell you BEFORE you give up your family, friends, job, possessions, and MOVE to be with them, and the reality may not match.  But you may, having given up so much, and being idealistic, still decide to give it a try, not knowing you can never own your life again.  (I have to wonder if some of the suicide bombers kill themselves because they see it as a way out!)

Some cults use constant teaching called programming to challenge your normal thought processes.  Some use actual hypnosis, sleep deprivation (keeping you working for days on end without proper sleep), nutritional deprivation (keeping you on a starvation diet, or making you work longer and harder for the reward of a full meal), all of these things making you more and more likely to do things their way and to submit and become part of a hierarchy that is dictated. 

When it comes to acts of violence, which you may or may not have been prone to before you joined or were recruited by the cult, your training includes desensitizing you.  (As I understand it the terrorists in Syria even train children to behead beginning with the use of dolls, which of course cannot feel pain or shed blood.)  Because you have learned to think of other people as the Other, not like you, not part of the cult group, even as the enemy, their humanity is in question.  (The Nazi's did this by comparing the Jews to vermin.)

If you try to leave the cult because you realize it is one and that you do not want to be controlled, you may not have any old friends or family left to take you in.  You may be threatened with violence yourself, or be shunned, attacked verbally, or find yourself the target of slander that makes it impossible for you to regain employment.  (This is the testimony of many an ex Scientologist.) Some cult members have found themselves in desperation and decide to make the best of their situation, and years go by before they can leave, often when the leader dies or the group breaks up.

It's best, whenever you encounter a new religion, or version of your religion, in which your personal freedoms and right to determine your own life or fit into a multicultural society, TO NEVER GET INVOLVED IN A CULT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

However, it is a known fact that some people have, though intensive deceptions, including group hypnosis, joined a cult, totally changing over their life, in as little as one long day, or weekend.  Some cults have recruiters looking for their type of person - someone a bit disgruntled with their own life or the state of the world who is idealistic and believes they can make change - but often also someone who is intelligent, educated, or who has special skills and talents - such as an ability with languages, computer programing, or in the case of terrorists, some history of military use of weaponry.

Here is Southern California, there have been and are many cults.  Some of them are storefront preacher-lead cults.  Rarely are they violent.

C 2015 All Rights Reserved  Magyar-American BlogSpot 


Sunday, November 15, 2015

MY DOG (JUST KIDDING!)



I went to GOOGLE IMAGES and put in the words "public domain dogs," seeking an image of a maltese-poodle (a relatively rare and recent dog combo) and this came up.  The TAIL looks like my dog's.  As does that ready for anything attitude.  Don't know about the bones that might be human on the ground.  Listed as a WOLF and linked to Napoleon?

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

THE DANUBE CARRIES THE HISTORY OF EUROPE - JACQUES COUSTEAU ADVENTURE CIRCA 1990-1992



Watching

1) The Curtain Rises - the old abbeys and castles, and new dams and industry, and the timeless ECOSYSTEM of the river THAT CARRIES THE HISTORY OF EUROPE.

2) Charlemagne's Dream to link the Rhine and the Danube by a canal which now exists and creates also a passage from the North to the Black Sea.

3) The Rivers Cries Out...  The royal stag and the Carpathian bear, the Danube and it's tributaries.

4) Rivalries - nuclear and industrial pollution, fished out waters, rusted out vessels and the horrors of war.

I admit to being distracted badly while trying to watch this film, and also having a sense that the information was valuable but needed an update. But what surprised me was that it turned into a travelogue about the land - and the history - and wasn't all about what was under the water. 

As I watched I also wondered about the flooding that has occurred in recent years in Europe.  I thought about fresh water - drinking and farming water - shortages.  Earth changes and drought.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

STEREOTYPE OF HUNGARIANS : PARTY ANIMALS or DEPRESSED and DRUNK? WHAT ABOUT POETRY?


 

Since I personally have never been anything close to a "party animal" and rarely get drunk, that stereotype sure doesn't fit me.  I've been depressed, though not seriously deep or for too long.  A bad break up or the death of a loved one can do it to me, and everyone is entitled to one bad break up so that one can mature, but it seems to me that my response is usually long walks in nature and morning shakes with lots of vitamins and protein powder.  I also suspect that most depression is actually anger that is unexpressed and unexpressed because it is considered antisocial to do so.  So making lists of things I hate often brings me to humor.

It mostly seems to be a waste of time to me to be depressed but yes, sometimes one must entertain their depression till they figure things out, and while entertaining it, one might wish to have a glass too many of wine.  (Read my past posts on STEREOTYPING Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans including the wine versus beer issue!)

OK, the PARTY ANIMALS are usually drinking beer and they chug it, they like LOUD parties and concerts, they don't want to have conversations, just to yell at each other, and speak in bumper sticker messages.  They call other men who they are not related to "Bro!"  Too much beer (or hard liquor or drugs) allows some of these beasts to actually BOND to each other, and show emotion and support for others, without actually being thought of as homosexual!

OK, the DEPRESSED AND DRUNK, they want to be alone, they may actually be picky about the wine labels - the brands - as they drink themselves into sleep. How deeply depressed can you be when you also actually EAT FOOD and GAIN WEIGHT?  Seriously depressed and you would be unable to entertain food, and just waste away, thinner and thinner, till you were nothing.  Seriously depressed and you cannot answer the question, "What would you order if it was your last meal?"

Then there is the next day when the sun must not come through the window bright and early, but there is always a pillow over the head anyway.

Are you laughing yet?

The fact is that while "party animals" and the depressed and drunk people exist, they do not especially exist in Hungary. And so this is a worthless stereotype.  You can find such people all over the world who use or imbibe substances in order to feel. 

Hungarians also write and read and recite poetry in order to feel and express feelings.  So there!

C 2015 Magyar American BlogSpot

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

COLUMBUS DAY AFTERTHOUGHTS and THE REFUGEES INCOMING TO HUNGARY and ALL OF EUROPE

Yesterday was a holiday called COLUMBUS Day here in the United States.  It meant that most government offices and schools were closed in honor of the DISCOVERER OF AMERICA.  (I should say THE Americas as he didn't actually land on North America or what would become the United States.)  COLUMBUS DAY IS A TRADITION.

To be honest, a lot of people are just grateful to have a day off, maybe just to go shopping for all the sales that feature early winter clothing.  No one wants that holiday removed from the calendar if it could mean loosing that day off.  (We really do not have much off time here in the States.)  I went out shopping for several hours, something I loath to do, but my neighbor enticed me with a big coupon she had for more savings from the local Macy's.  I barely thought about the discoverer of America or any of the issues now connected to him as I walked the mall and tried on lots of shirts.

As a child the adventures of Columbus, his sailors, and the ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, certainly captured our imaginations in school.  How could they have sailed all the way across the ocean in those small rickety ships thinking there were sea monsters at the edge of the world?

I recall that classrooms were decorated on the theme, and that we did art drawings and projects that focused on this adventurer and discoverer.  We tried to imagine what the Native Americans that he and his sailors encounters thought when they saw those ships and saw people who were very light in complexion.  (Our teachers figured we were too young to understand venereal disease.)

These days some of the Native American tribes are particularly upset about the dedication of a day to the man. These days there is speculation that Christopher Columbus was NOT the first European to sail and land on a beach in the New World - America - a CONTINENT  that was either totally unknown or long forgotten.  For a very long time there was no opposition, speculation, or CONSPIRACY THEORIES attached to Columbus and his discovery of America, a voyage that was financed by Queen Isabella of Spain, and about the time that Jews were being converted or expelled from that country.  It was simply a day to be enjoyed.

So maybe it's true that Queen Isabella financed the trip, not for the greed of gold, but actually thought that Columbus could find some place for the Jews to go live?

The expulsion of Jews from various European countries over time is history.  It was thought that all the citizens of a country should be unified in the same religion, the same values and way of life and that it would bring unity.

And I've been reading around Hungary's position as a Christian  (Roman Catholic mostly) country that does not want to take in thousands of fleeing refugees from war torn Syria or anywhere else particularity Moslem.  I was thinking about how countries often have an OFFICIAL RELIGION but here in the United States at the founding of our country it was decided that religious freedom was key.  So recently there have been some statues of Satan popping up in this nation.

Although I understand that people who flee their countries are desperate, leaving everything behind, and risking their lives, and that many of these people end up dead because the boats they paid to get on sink or there is a stampede or illness, I frankly also understand that sometimes a country has to look at it's budget and it's own citizens who are living in poverty, and for Hungary that often means the Rom (gypsies), and admit to itself that it cannot afford to help. 

I'm not picking on Hungary here.  Hungary can fit in our state called "Indiana," but I actually think that until the United States houses all it's own homeless it should stop being parental to the world.

I look at it from a one person standpoint.  I have friends who I like and care about who are in need and maybe I can invite one of them over for dinner once in a while, and I can afford to share food, but I'm not able to pay their rent.

Hungary is also concerned about Moslems because of a history of being occupied by the Moslem Turks for a substantial amount of time, that Christianity and Christian values will be threatened by too many of these refugees.  It may be unpopular to say, but I can understand these fears, especially when it comes to the value, attitudes towards, and treatment of women.

The United States is thought of as a Satan country by Moslem terrorists.  That's why we had 9/11 et el.  A family of Moslems lives down the street peacefully and no one seems to think badly of them just on that basis, but as they are surrounded by people with Western Ways, they must tolerate knowing that their neighbors include people who have sex without being married, women with educations who work at jobs full time and don't have families, and so on.

Germany has taken thousands of refugees willingly.  Germany's economy can afford more.  But as I read around the subject, hours of reading, I found ONE EXCELLENT QUESTION that we should all be asking which is  WHY ARE THE WEALTHY MOSLEM DOMINATED COUNTRIES NOT TAKING THESE REFUGEES? 

Why are they running all the way to Europe?  Is it the reputation of these countries?  Is it that they perceive that the Western World is overall wealthy?  How many of them wish to make major changes in their point of view and lifestyle to fit in, contribute, and cooperate?

Let me make this personal once more.  One of my friends in need has eaten a dozen times at my table this year, and if I could not afford it I wouldn't invite him so no I don't feel used, and on occasion he brings a loaf of bread or a bottle of wine or some other contribution, but has never offered to wash a dish.  Compare him to the friend who is also in need, also eats, sometimes contributes,  but who always offers.

All for Now!


C  2015  Magyar American BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

Thursday, October 1, 2015

AMERICAN MEDICINE - SOCIALISM - BERNIE SANDERS - and THE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER BITE

The election of the next President of the United States is far away but the election process has started as various candidates dare to run, some more famous than others.  I have a friend who wants Bernie Sanders, the openly socialist candidate to win.  In particular he thinks of Obamacare, the slang term for mandatory medical insurance coverage that has begun under the administration of President Barack Obama, as socialist. 

I don't agree.  Social medicine is run by the government.  Here we have to pick a plan and pay for it, though if you are truly poor you might be covered by a plan that uses taxes.

But right now I'm so turned off of politics that I can't imagine voting for anyone who is running!

I did notice some grassroots campaigning for Sanders taking place, and that cheered me.  Some common citizens with hand drawn posters were standing at a busy intersections and waving these posters.  "Honk if you want Bernie!"  I prefer that kind of local activism to all the expensive media campaigning.

Do I really want to live in a Socialist  country?  No.  No more than I would want to live in a Communist Country.  I think my friend doesn't know how much is dictated to you when you are a participant in government health care and other so called social welfare programs.  Yes, we can take care of the poor better than we do, but that is a spiritual choice.

This friend is from Texas where he says there are black widow spider's everywhere.  I found some in my apartment crawling but not their nest.  I managed to kill one crawling on the wall with some ecologically correct insect spray.  I believe they came inside because of the drought. 

Well, my friend managed to never get bit in Texas but about five days ago he got bit here in Southern California by something on his back - in his car!  (I've since learned that mechanics here frequently find Black Widow spiders in vehicles and get bit! ) He can't see it but he can feel the pain and the swelling, which is about five inches in diameter.  And he will not go to a doctor or urgent care.

Why not?

He is covered under Obamacare.

Certainly that is the place to go where the bite can be examined to be sure it is not infected and perhaps besides some pain killers or antibiotics he can get something to reduce the swelling.

This is not the first time this year that he has had a medical issue that might have benefited from seeing a doctor.  He also decided to let his body fight an infection in a tooth, and when I saw him he had lost 10 pounds and looked like the blood had drained from his face.

What is the fear of using his insurance.

One of my friends thinks that he is afraid because he knows that there is actually something else very wrong with his health and that seeing a doctor over something minor might lead to tests that might reveal a more serious diagnosis.

Hmmm

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