Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2006 (18. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)

2006-09-01 / 34. szám

Susan Jancso 2006 “walking the earth, without the soaring wings of yore” stant travelling companion, a little rubber bird with a long beak, and what once had been fluffy yellow hair but he has hardly any left of it now, after so many years and my younger daughter’s loving care. I got him from my crew when I completed my 5 million kilometers of flying, just before we left Hungary in 1975. Since then, I take him with me on every trip, and he kind of watches over the safety of the flight. The captain’s voice came through the PA system. He welcomed us, and made the announcement that we had to wait some twenty minutes on the ground because we ran a little late and lost our original spot for take­off. I thought, good, that gives my suitcase enough time to get to the plane. He also said the plane goes on to Providence, Rhode Island after a brief stop in Las Vegas. I took the in-flight magazine, the SPIRIT out of the seat pocket and started to leaf through it. I was just about to get immersed in an article when some move­ment interrupted me. The girl by the window was getting out, she had to go to the bathroom. I let her out, and we exchanged a tew words of courtesy. After she left, the young man started to talk to me, he was pointing at something on the floor. Oh-oh! Birdie was lying on the carpet, almost out of sight, I didn’t even notice that he was missing. The girl must have pushed him down as she was get­ting out. I picked him up and put him in my jacket pocket, peeping out so he can continue to watch over us. I thanked my neighbor. He must have been wondering about my accent because he asked me where I was from. He was kind of cute, with bright black diamond eyes and longish pitch­­black hair smoothed back over his head like in the old days of brillantine. I told him I was from Hungary, then I asked him back. “And you, where are you from?” He looked at me with wide-eyed innocence and said without batting an eye: “I am from Pakistan.” I can’t even begin to describe how I felt when he said that. My heart certainly missed a beat, and I started to think in “terrorist mode”. Oh my God, we are never going to make it to Las Vegas. The girl came back and they changed seats so that now she sat next to me, and Dark Eyes by the window. I was trying to catch what they were talking about, but there was too much noise. We were already taxiing towards the runway. I scrutinized every detail about my neighbors. She had long blond hair, almost down to her waist. She was nice, considerate, easy to talk to. No way she could be a terrorist or befriend a terrorist. The guy was wearing a designer watch. Otherwise, they were both dressed casually, jeans and jackets and tennis shoes. Tennis shoes with thick soles and shock absorber insets, you know, those little plastic containers built into the shoes, you can see the liquid move around in them... THE LIQUID!!! But we were not allowed to bring any liquids on board! Had security been too lax at nice and easy Bob Hope Airport in Bur­bank? Now I was sure they were up to no good. And I realized with horror that she had gone to the bathroom in the back before takeoff! It could not be a coincidence. She had prob­ably placed whatever ingredients were needed for a bomb in a hidden compartment there. Then later he could get up and go to the back to finish the job. At this point I was totally freaked out. Should I warn the flight attendants? I was sure we were all going to die. I started to take notes on the back of my itinerary. There were already a few sentences written about the cancelled flight and the ground delay. But now I was writing with the express purpose of let­ting others know what was going on. “The guy next to me is from Pakistan! And the girl he is with went to the bathroom in the back before takeoff. I am in row 8 on the left - just in case something happens...” I stole some more looks at my neighbors. They were both reading several issues of Variety magazine. They acted normal, not like someone facing imminent death. Not like someone planning to commit mass murder. Another thought hit me. Maybe the pair gets off in Vegas, and someone else will set off the bomb on the next leg of the trip. And the plane goes on to Provi­dence! How ironic! Straight into the lap of Divine Providence! I took some more notes. I was beginning to feel like Miklós Radnóti, the Hungarian poet who was shot into a mass grave during World War II. But on the way there, during the forced march, he continued to write poetry in perfect meter, recording every detail of what happened and how he felt about it, not knowing if anyone would ever have a chance to read what he wrote. The magazines my neighbors were reading looked like sub­scription issues, with the name of the subscriber on the label. I was trying to sneak a look and read the name on the labels, but I couldn’t, not with or without my glasses. All I saw was that the last name consisted of three characters only, nothing else. They were whispering some­thing among themselves and as I looked on, they started to tear off the labels and roll them up in tidy little balls. My heart froze again. Since I’m here, it seems I lived to tell about it, so whoever reads this will know I did not die on that plane. But the feeling of imminent doom was very real, and the details all added up to a perfect scare. My neighbors did one more trick on me before we landed safely in Las Vegas. As we were making our descent to McCarran Airport, Dark Eyes took off his watch - the heavy metal designer digital watch I observed earlier - and handed it to the girl, point­ing out certain parts. Oh God! They are going to blow us up after all! After the London scare, talk show hosts on TV explained how these explosives could be set off by a simple cell phone or a digital watch. I let out a deep sigh of relief when we touched down in Las Vegas. I kissed Birdie for a job well done, and put him away in my purse. As the pilots let down the wing flaps to reduce the speed, the well-known land­marks of the Strip sped by us, as if welcoming me, promising a good time after my ordeal. And a good time I had indeed. But I still can’t get over how easily even a “fearless flyer” like me can be freaked out by a combination of seemingly innocent but in their context potentially lethal events. Just like certain liquids that are harmless in themselves, but when combined, can blow an airplane out of the sky. Susan Jancso Los Angeles, Aug. 20, 2006 JAZZ AT THE CSÁRDÁS Hollywood’s Finest Hungarian Restaurant MONDAY NIGHTS 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm The smooth sound of JAZZ presented by THE HARMONY CLUB featuring... Pianist: To be announced Bassist Tom Pedrini and Drummer Steve Hideg Csárdás Hungarian Restaurant 5820 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood (Corner of Melrose & Vine) 323-962-6434 No Cover / No Minimum A Plútó nem bolygó többé A Nemzetközi Csillagászati Unió (IAU) prágai konferenciáján 2500 vezető csillagász történelmi szavazáson úgy döntött, hogy az 1930-ban fölfedezett Plútó nem bolygó többé, írta a CNN. Felfedezésekor azért sorolták a bolygók közé a Plútót, mert azt hitték, akkora, mint a Föld. Jócskán tévedtek. Ennek ellenére több mint hetven évig bolygóként tartották számon, mert mindig volt egy felfedezés, amely javított a parányi jeges sziklagolyó megítélésén. A csillagászati konferencia szavazásán végül azért osztályozták le a Plútót, mert nem felel meg a bolygók új definíciójának. Eszerint azt az égitestet lehet bolygónak nevezni, amely egy csillag körül kell kering, de nem csillag, és elegendő tömege van ahhoz, hogy a saját gravi­tációja gömbölyűvé vagy közel gömbölyűvé formálja. Emellett egyedi pályájának kell lennie, ami a Plútóra nem igaz: hosszúkás pályája találkozik a Neptunuszéval. A Plútó egy teljesen új kategóriába került, ezentúl hivatalosan törpebolygónak kell nevezni. Ebbe a kategóriába számos aszteroida és más égitest beletartozik majd. Botrány a Plútó körül: Mégis bolygó a bolygó! Egyes csillagászkörökben felháborodást keltett, hogy a Nemzetközi Csillagászati Unió közgyűlésének utolsó napján megfosztották a Plútót bolygó besorolásától. A közgyűlés elé került javaslatokat kidolgozó testület elnöke szerint ráadásul a közgyűlés résztvevői közül már alig voltak Prágában, így csak az illetékes tudósok 10 százaléka szavazott a sorsdöntő napon. Most petíció indult a Plútó visszasorolására. A közgyűlés döntését egyenesen kínosnak nevezte a NASA Plútó­­missziójának vezetője. Alan Stern úgy véli, rendkívül erőitettet dolog választóvonalat húzni a törpebolygók és a bolygók között. „Ez olyan, mintha kijelentenénk, hogy egyes emberek nem emberek, valamiféle önkényes okra hivatkozva” - mondta. Az éhes férfiaknak jobban tetszenek a testesebb nők Azok a férfiak, akik kihagyták az ebédet, vonzóbbnak találják a testesebb nőket - állítja egy új tanulmány. Egy brit egyetem kutatói szerint a férfiaknak ugyanis éhesen jobban tetszenek a kövérebb nők. Egészen addig, amíg jól be nem laknak. „Az éhes férfiak sokkal toleránsabbak, és pozitívabban értékelik a kövérebb nőket, mint azok a társaik, akik éppen evés után vannak” - mondta Viren Swami, a Liverpooli Egyetem közegészségügyi tan­székének egyik kutatója. A pszichológus szerint kutatásuk eredménye azt mutatja, hogy még ma is él a férfiakban az az evolúciós preferen­cia, ami a teltebb nőket részesíti előnyben. „Evolúciós szempontból a kövérség azt jelenti, hogy az illetőnek nagyobb források állnak a rendelkezésére. Szeptember 1,2006] Figyelem! A CSÁRDÁSBAN naponta friss mákos és diós BEJGLI kapható! 7h fycuiadfan otthon a AiUéíAel - Ai&jjut nálunk /naqkapJtaija kíAyin! CmkoA nélküli! i& kéigíiünk! (323) 962-6434

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