hi.  a friend is making his first trip to the states, and would like to get
a credit card to use while he is here.  how does he go about getting a
visa/master card/whatever?  which card should he get?

thanks in advance,
marina.  )

ask any bank

On Fri, 31 Mar 1995, Marina Psaros wrote:

> hi.  a friend is making his first trip to the states, and would like to get
> a credit card to use while he is here.  how does he go about getting a
> visa/master card/whatever?  which card should he get?
>
> thanks in advance,
> marina.  )
>

Greg Grose writes:
> Amos Danube wrote:
> : Calling the gov't "incompetent", "unprofessional" and some other names
> : will not help anybody, won't solve any problems.
>
> By golly you're right:  better to pretend the Emperor isn't naked.

While the Horn government is displaying a remarkable amount of incompetence
and unprofessionalism (especially for a government whose main campaign theme
was expertise and professionalism!) it can hardly be said that they bungled
everything they touched. In particular the agreement with Slovakia was a
major coup, and finally they started moving on the economy. "Better late
than never" or "too little, too late" remains to be seen.

Andra1s Kornai

An interesting article about opinions about Slovako-Magyar relations
depending on region of Slovakia has been published in yesterday's
SME. After a study of the Statistical Office of Slovak Republic,
Slovaks who live together with Magyars in nationally mixed territories
in Slovakia are more positive about their relations with Magyars than
the Slovaks from northern parts of the country.

Some figures:
                       relations are: GOOD    BAD
Opinions among Northern Slovaks        60%    30%
Opinions among Southern Slovaks        80%    10%
Opinions among Slovakian Magyars       90%     5%

Moreover, although in all the three groups, the prevalent opinion was
that nobody pays for others, there is 10% more people among Northern
Slovaks who believe Slovaks pay for Magyars compared to Slovaks who
live with Magyars and know what they are speaking about.

To the question of tolerance (Would you like to have a neighbour who
is of the other nationality) answered NO 67% people in Northern Slovakia,
but only 25% Slovaks and less than 10% of Magyars in the mixed territories.

Article can be accessed at URL
http://savba.savba.sk/logos/news/sme/data/index200395.html#39
Article is in Slovak only. SME and many other Slovakian dailies
can be accessed online since about 6 months.

(All disclaimers apply.)

Roman Kanala

 writes:

>As far as I remember, I was not accusing anybody. Mr. Tony Pace simply got
>psychically destabilized a little bit more than usual when I said I know who

<even more obfuscation and ad hominem deleted to focus on the stated topic>

>the method how to work with facts and the scientific scepsis. I doubt
>there is a word about epistemology on the page 564.

Kanala's scepticism does not constitute scientific proof, further ad hominem
does not constitute proof concerning page 564 of No1gra1d Va1rmegye.

On 31 Mar 95 Andras Kornai writes

>...the agreement with Slovakia was a major coup

This is rather puzzling in the light of the very negative press reports
coming from Europe, completely leaving aside comments of the people
adversely affected. Also, per Webster's, a coup is defined as

"a brilliant, sudden, and usu. highly successful stroke or act".

What was brilliant about this agreement?


C.K. ZOLTANI

Brahms and other West European composers wrote in a style
which they conceived of as pertaining to Gypsies. This musical style,
however, had little to do with music which Gypsies performed in their own
communities. Brahms was probably trying to evoke the style called
"verbunkos," a semi-classical genre which seems to have flourished in the
cafes of cities like Vienna and Bratislava. There are written exemplars
of this style; Gypsies were also proponents of the music in oral
tradition. Johathan Bellman's book _The style hongrois in the music of
Western Europe_, Boston:Northeastern University Press, 1993, approaches
this topic. Probably the best description of verbunkos in English can be
found in Bencze Szabolcsi's book and the previously mentioned record
jacket notes.

A little known chapter of American diplomatic history with respect to
Hungary is recounted in the current issue of the East European
Quarterly. It is:

        T. Mills Kelly, America's First Attempt at Intervention
        in East Central Europe. East European Quarterly, XXIX, No. 1
        March, 1995.

A short excerpt will give you the flavor of the story:

"American policy toward independence movements in Central and Eastern
Europe was not always so restrained (reference to the Bush
administration). Faced with the need to respond to the Hungarian revolt
against the Habsburg government in 1849, the administration of Zachary
Taylor chose a course of action that the Austrian government saw as
direct and deliberate interference in its domestic affairs. Washington,
it seemed to the Austrians, was attempting to undermine the status quo
in the region at the very moment that the Habsburg and the Russian
armies were poised to reestablish the old order. The decision by the
American government to court diplomatic involvement in the Hungarian
revolution resulted in a genuine crisis in Austro-American relations,
one of only two real breakdowns in this relationship between the
founding of the American state and the dissolution of the Habsburg
Monarchy."


C.K. ZOLTANI

In article >,
Gotthard Saghi-Szabo  > wrote:
>The following Hungarian language text, contains an invitation for
>Hungarian scientists to a reception at the Embassy of the
>Republic of Hungary. Please, forward it to your Hungarian
>colleagues.
>Sincerely,
>Gotthard
>

How hungarian do you have to be?  My Mom makes a mean goulash.




--
I learned something here today.  Nothing I do and Nothing I own
can remake the past -- Buaku

>
> On Fri, 24 Mar 1995, Greg Grose wrote:
>
> >
> > He did have this to say about liberals:
> >
> >         Say that civilization is a tree which, as it grows, continually
> >         produces rot and dead wood.  The radical says: "Cut it down."
> >         The conservative says: "Don't touch it."  The liberal compromises:
> >         "Let's prune, so that we lose neither the old trunk nor the new
> >         branches."
> >
> > quoted in _A People & A Nation_, Norton, Katzman
> >
> >
> > --Greg
> Thanks .I've learned something. As I see the meanings of the terms are
> changing continuously.
> Our nowadys liberals not only  want lose the old trunk but they
> are choosing between new branches too.S.B.>
>
>
>


On Fri, 24 Mar 1995, Norb the Hungarian wrote:

> Somosvari Bela wrote:
> > > Norbert Ja'nos Udvardy Walter | "A Radical is a man with both feet
> > > Fort Worth, Texas, USA        | firmly planted--in the air."
> > > Internet:     |
> > > FidoNet:  1:130/911.6212      | -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
>
> > Just a question.  As I remember I've read yours quotation above with
> > Liberal not Radical.  Am I right?
>
>         Nope; it's always been Radical. 8-)
>
>         Norb
>
> Norbert Ja'nos Udvardy Walter      | "True individual freedom cannot exist
> Fort Worth, Texas, USA             |  without economc security and indepen-
> Internet:         |  dence."
> FidoNet:   1:130/911.6212          |               -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
>