Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2007 (19. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2007-03-02 / 10. szám
President visits communist-era work camp Budapest, February 25 (MTI) - President László Solyom visited the small town of Csolnok in N Hungary on Sunday, site of a communist-era work camp for political prisoners, where they were forced to work in mines. Addressing a gathering in commemoration of the memorial day for the victims of communism, Solyom noted that “Remembering offers satisfaction to the victims and gives strength to all of us,” adding that such a remembrance should become a part of the nation’s collective consciousness. He noted that in Hungary, communism committed its greatest crimes in the 1950s but that the essence of the regime did not change until 1989/90. He also said that the Hungarian people had cleansed themselves in the failed revolution of 1956. He called on people to remain worthy of that time by recognizing that once the regime changed in 1989, communism ended and that there is no continuity or link between the communist regime and today’s Hungary. Solyom warned that freedom of opinion and of assembly were precious and no restrictions could be allowed. Police and the justice administration had to be required to act in full compliance with the law, he added. Fidesz rally on March 15 February 22, 2007 10:56 am | Fidesz, the main opposition party, says it will hold a rally in Budapest on March 15, the anniversary of the 1848 revolution. As reported by The Budapest Sun, Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán said he will take legal action against János Kóka, the Minister of Transport and Economy, who said that Orbán was plotting civil war for March 15. The government has warned that the March 15 events could be overshadowed by an attack on parliament. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány said on public television on Wednesday, Feb 14, that he knew of extremist groups planning to cause trouble. Last week security around official buildings was strengthened nationwide, after 15 and 20 shots were fired from an AK47 at Hungary’s police headquarters. The governing Socialist party (MSzP) said they agreed this would be appropriate. PM Gyurcsány has earlier said all politicians should stay at home on this occasion in order to give the day „back to the people.” Hungarian algorithm beats human BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Computers can beat some of the world’s top chess players, but the most powerful machines have failed at the popular Asian board game “Go” in which human intuition has so far proven key. Two Hungarian scientists have now come up with an algorithm that helps computers pick the right move in Go, played by millions around the world, in which players must capture spaces by placing black and white marbles on a board in turn. “On a nine by nine board we are not far from reaching the level of a professional Go player,” said Levente Kocsis at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ computing lab SZTAKI. The 19 by 19 board which top players use is still hard for a machine, but the new method is promising because it makes better use of the growing power of computers than earlier Go software. “Programs using this method immediately improve if you use two processors instead of one, say, which was not typical for earlier programs,” Kocsis said. Whereas a chess program can evaluate a scenario by assigning numerical values to pieces — say 9 to the queen and 1 to a pawn - - and to the tactical worth of their position, that technique is not available to a Go machine. In Go all marbles are identical and scenarios are too complex, so the computer has to think forward all the way till the end of the game and emulate the outcome of each alternative move, whose number rises exponentially with the number of turns. Even the most powerful computers have failed at that task, but Kocsis and his colleague Csaba Szepesvari have found a way of helping computers focus on the most promising moves, using an analogy with slot machines in a casino. Punters will find that certain onearmed bandits in a casino appear to pay more on average than others, but an intelligent player should also try machines that have so far paid less in case they are hiding a jackpot, Kocsis said. The key is to find the balance between the two sorts of machine. Go software using a similar method, called UCT, does not have to scan all possible outcomes of a game and they can quickly find the best mix of scenarios to check. “This bandit algorithm has proven advantages,” Kocsis said. The possible outcomes of a game are like branches of a tree, and earlier Go programs, unable to scan all branches, picked some at random and tried to find the best move from that sample. The UCT method helps a computer decide which routes are most worth investigating and programs based on it have consistently won games against most other machines. Las Vegas on Danube Duna Plaza in Budapest Mordechai Zisser, chairman of the Israeli-owned company Plaza Centers, has big plans for the Hungarian market. He was behind the vast Arena Plaza on Kerepesi ut and the „Hungarian Las Vegas” being built on Hajógyári Island. His company was behind Duna Plaza, built 12 years ago, and has since built 15 others around the country. Hvg.hu spoke to Zisser in Jerusalem. Plaza Centers created the first shopping centre in Hungary, and even though you have sold all of them - 12 to the French, four to the English - you have changed Hungarian consumers’ habits and weekends for ever . Perhaps no city has as many shopping centres as Budapest, and almost every major provincial city can lay claim to one or two such ’refuges’. Did you realise that shopping malls would prove such a success? It wasn’t hard to predict. It was just a question of time and a new political system - the shopping centre approach is popular all around the world. Duna Plaza was the first shopping centre in eastern Europe 12 years ago, and then the others followed, in Budapest and in the provinces. We’ve built malls in Poland and the Czech Republic, and we are working on a vast shopping and entertaining centre in Bucharest called Casa Radio. We’ve broadened our activities to the new members states - Romania and Bulgaria, and at the same time we are pouring more resources into building hotels and homes. An important reason for our success was that we tried to be first movers. Speed wasn’t everything: it would have been easy to fleece a naive foreign investor if we hadn’t done our homework properly. In the mid-1990s, interest rates stood at 16 per cent, there were piles of regulation and red tape, and there were barely any foreign brands in the marketplace. Under those conditions, you could only invest if you had thorough knowledge of local peculiarities and the ability to adapt swiftly. Things are different in Hungary nowadays - you have European conditions, things are easier for businessmen. Of course, with lower risk levels, yields get smaller too: back then we could get returns of 22 or 23 per cent, now we have to be satisfied with something like 8 per cent. I can’t really feel sorry for you. It’s far more worrying to hear that the malls are driving the smaller shops out of business. Not just in Budapest, but in other cities as well, once busy high streets are empty and shops are closing throughout entire districts. It’s not just the malls that are to blame. For one thing, most shopping centres were built on decaying industrial sites that needed urgent rehabilitation. We’ve spruced up all kinds of neighbourhoods, pushed up residential property values, improved entire districts. The other thing is that city centres are changing all around the world. Who ever decided that certain streets are sacred and that they should be reserved exclusively for trade? We have to rethink the role of city centres - maybe arts and galleries could take the place of shops in the centres of our towns. We’re building central and eastern Europe’s biggest ever shopping and entertainment centre on Kerepesi ut, and we hope to open the E200m project by the end of the year. The Arena Plaza Mall will have more than 200 shops, a huge hypermarket, a 1000-seat conference centre, restaurants, a gallery exhibiting the works of young artists that will resemble the bazaar of Istanbul. There will be a 22-screen cinema and Hungary’s first 3D IMax screen. qj ”lfl Still I Long For My Old Life / DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. #102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 Spa, Hotel foglalások, Kocsi bérlés Kedvezményes repülőjegy árak LAX-BUD-LAX $545.-tót +TX. Információért hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 Március 2, 2007 ^ The English Page of the Hírlap can serve as a bridge between the non-Hungarian-speaking members of the family and the community. Use it to bring people together! Subscribe to the Hírlap! Advertise your business in the Hírlap! If you have any questions or suggestions, please call (323) 463-6376 . | My life’s longing is far away. My wandering spirit took me far Away from my homeland And my childhood friends. A wild ood roars before me, Oceans stand in my way A salty storm of waves Ferries me to my new country. Hope’s cheerful wings y me. Along with faith and love. I go and don’t look back My path takes me west. A new country where I’m so alone, Far a distant land, Strange people shake my hand And they give me a home. I live my old age here, But still I long for my old life A great water appears before me And I stare across it every night. A Kaprinyákné Bodnár Szerénke Phoenix, Arizona jf AMERICAN Hungarian Journal
