Jan.
Don’t They Have An App For This?
A member of the first generation of native iPad users learns to write, months after learning to scroll, swipe, pinch, tap and TYPE HIS NAME. Strange days.
Latest bad idea in “housing recovery” policy: A federally-run “down-payment protection plan”:
Homebuyers could purchase protection from the government for a one-time fee, say 1 percent of the house purchase price, or $2,000 on a house selling for $200,000. The fee could vary with the risk of house price declines in each area. The plan would be open to all buyers.
At the end of three years, the government would automatically mail checks to protected homeowners if average house prices in their area were lower than when they purchased their homes.
What could possibly go wrong with this?
Jan.
Jan.
What makes it all worthwhile (almost)
I often wonder why I bother with the thankless job of being the modern equivalent of a small-town publisher. Because it’s not always thankless, at least literally. From the All Hungary Media Group email inbox the other day:
Dear Mr. D’Amato,
I am writing to thank you for your coverage of the current events in Hungary. Although I’ve been a Hungarian resident for many years, I don’t speak Hungarian, so without your without your efforts I’d know a heck of lot less about what’s going on.
These are interesting times and I look forward to keeping informed about events in Hungary via AHMG
Nice! Now if only more advertisers out there felt the same way…
Jan.
A bit down my street, a bit before my time
Just stumbled on this wonderful shot of the corner of Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út and Andrássy út three blocks from our flat, taken around 100 years ago with a “magic lantern” camera. Click here to see the full pic, complete with the placename misspelling that may be the reason you’ve never it before. Damn I wish I had a time machine.