https://www.bolyongo.hu/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:04:04 +0000 FeedCreator 1.8 https://www.bolyongo.hu/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=wiki:logo.png https://www.bolyongo.hu/ https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:a_te_konyved_milyen_vastag&rev=1784201029 How thick is your book? I love TV series. Well, not all of them, but there are some that have really drawn me in. When that happens, I wait for the next episode to come out with childlike anticipation, and in the evening my wife and I watch the latest episode together. That’s exactly the case with the third series of *The Silo* at the moment – although I did cheat a bit here, as I couldn’t wait for the new series, so I read the book instead. 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:23:49 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:bayernturm&rev=1784193516 Bayernturm, the observation tower that has lost its function I have written about the former GDR many times on this blog; I will include the relevant links below the post. After the Second World War, the eastern half of Germany, which had been divided into two and came under Soviet influence, became a socialist state with a system similar to that of Hungary. However, the paranoia that was fundamentally encoded into the system reached its peak here, as the neighbouring country, the FRG, was th… anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:18:36 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:blackout_spanyolorszagban&rev=1784193393 Blackout in Spain Yesterday’s power cut in Spain has highlighted the problems facing the European electricity grid, which will become increasingly serious unless meaningful action is taken, and will affect more and more regions and countries. Let’s start with a brief, albeit rather superficial, explanation of how the electricity grid works. anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:16:33 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:boeing_737_max_mcas&rev=1784231397 Boeing 737 MAX / MCAS The history of the Boeing 737 MAX/MCAS represents one of the most serious aviation crises of recent decades, highlighting fatal shortcomings in corporate culture and safety regulation. The first disaster The first Boeing 737 MAX disaster occurred on 29 October 2018, when Indonesian airline Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after take-off. All 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:49:57 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:csernobil_arnyeka&rev=1784231538 The Shadow of Chernobyl: Forty Years After the Disaster Four decades have passed since 26 April 1986, when Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, causing the worst civil nuclear accident in history. Although the physical ruins have long been covered by a gigantic steel sarcophagus, the invisible legacy of the disaster remains with us to this day. Radioactive isotopes such as 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:52:18 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:csungking&rev=1784232055 Chongqing, the world’s largest city There are several inaccuracies in the title; on the one hand, in terms of area, it is indeed the largest city on Earth (and in the world, as we currently only know of Earth); it is practically the same size as Austria. 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 20:00:55 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:dunning-kruger-hatas&rev=1784193422 The Dunning-Kruger effect [The Dunning-Kruger effect] The Dunning-Kruger effect (Dunning–Kruger effect; DKE) is a psychological phenomenon whereby people with little knowledge or skill in a particular field tend to overestimate their own abilities. In contrast, those who actually possess a high level of knowledge or experience often underestimate their own abilities. anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:17:02 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:ebolajarvany_kongoban&rev=1784231094 Ebola outbreak in the Congo The Hungarian (and, generally speaking, the European) press tends to turn a blind eye to epidemics in distant parts of Africa – such as the current Ebola outbreak in the Congo – rarely reach the attention of the Hungarian (and, more generally, European) press, as long as they do not pose a direct threat to the continent. 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:44:54 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:ekranoplan_ismet_a_hullamok_felett&rev=1784193457 The ekranoplan: back on top of the waves From time to time, developers revisit technologies that have long since fallen into oblivion, as it has already been proven that a particular technical solution is viable; it was simply that circumstances were not favourable. Monorails, RTGs and ammonia-based cooling systems are being presented to the public once more – naturally in a new guise, and in many cases genuinely reimagined, with new, state-of-the-art control systems and recalculated efficiency… anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:17:37 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:half_hour&rev=1784482139 Half an hour left of your life Do you still have Hair ? Older people might still remember just how much of a cult hit this film was amidst the final throes of entrenched socialism. Obviously, it was mainly the music that captivated us, but the story was also quite unusual for us. 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:28:59 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:kiraly_a_masodpilota&rev=1784231864 When the King Served as Co-pilot In the Netherlands, everything works a little differently. I’m not (necessarily) thinking of legal cannabis, the red-light districts or the obsession with bicycles – issues that immediately spring to mind when I return home from Rotterdam. Rather, I’m thinking about how leaders there place great importance on the image that they are one of the people, and they really are.0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:57:44 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:lablec&rev=1784152641 Dear reader! If you’ve got this far in your reading, I think I’m fair in assuming that you haven’t found this post entirely uninteresting. Oh, please don’t close the tab just yet; I’m not trying to squeeze any money out of you. All I’m asking is that if you know anyone with whom you could have a good discussion about what’s written here, or if you’d simply like to share it with them, please don’t hesitate! anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Wed, 15 Jul 2026 21:57:21 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:mco&rev=1784231635 The tragic failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) programme In September 1999, after a journey to Mars lasting nearly 10 months, the Mars Climate Orbiter broke up and burned up in the Martian atmosphere. On a day when NASA engineers and onlookers were preparing to celebrate, with champagne in hand and holding their breath. 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:53:55 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:notre-dame_de_la_paix&rev=1784193545 Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix, the world’s largest Catholic church I’ll try to tone down my cynical attitude, but it’s going to be difficult, given the sheer number of parallels and allusions that spring to mind – I apologise in advance to my religious readers. No, my issue isn’t with religion itself, but with the church – or churches – built upon it, which tend to go too far. anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:19:05 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:oroszok_a_gnss_ellen&rev=1784230884 Russia’s hybrid warfare against the European GNSS system How would you react if the sat-nav in your car suddenly stopped working? What if the mobile network went down and, all of a sudden, the power cut out too? These are, in fact, the main objectives of one of the tools of Russian hybrid warfare, the 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:41:24 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:orwell_elmaradt&rev=1784230611 Orwell was wrong; bureaucracy has triumphed What has become of China’s social credit system? In 2018, I wrote a blog post entitled ‘Scored Down in China’ about one of the plans put forward by the Chinese authorities, which was more like an episode of *Black Mirror*. Over the past eight years, however, instead of the points-based system, a much harsher blacklist system based on digital bureaucracy has emerged. 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:36:51 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:silk_road_hagyateka&rev=1784193487 The Legacy of the Silk Road Let’s start at the end of this rather divisive story; One of Donald Trump’s One of US President Donald Trump’s first decisions was to grant a pardon on 21 January 2025 to Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:18:07 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:talatan_pv_park&rev=1784231253 When a solar power plant turns the desert into an oasis The use and integration of renewable energy sources into existing energy supply networks often raise more problems than they solve. The main problem is the unpredictability of these energy sources; in other words, if the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing, there is no energy. 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:47:33 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:therac-25&rev=1784231782 Therac-25: The error message nobody understood The Therac-25 is a so-called linear accelerator (linac) , which was primarily used for the radiotherapy treatment of cancerous tumours in the 1980s. Although it was considered the most advanced device of its time, its use and widespread adoption remained limited, precisely because of the accidents that occurred. A total of just 11 units were built by 0 anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:56:22 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:translation&rev=1784148154 Translations German and English translations of bolyongo.blog can be read here. I originally write the blog in Hungarian, as this is my mother tongue, but I live in Germany and the professional language used in my work is English – which is why I have decided to rewrite some of the posts myself or have them translated. The deepL translation system, which can be embedded into the dokuWiki anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:42:34 +0000 https://www.bolyongo.hu/doku.php?id=en:passport:utolso_bejegyzesek&rev=1784482057 The latest posts on the blog Half an hour left of your life (19 July 2026) How thick is your book? (11 July 2026) Orwell was wrong; bureaucracy has triumphed (5 July 2026) Russia’s hybrid warfare against the European GNSS system (27 June 2026) Ebola outbreak in the Congo (28 May 2026) When a solar power station turns the desert into an oasis (13 May 2026) Boeing 737 MAX / MCAS (5 May 2026) The shadow of Chernobyl: Forty years after the disaster (26 April 2026) The trivial disas… anonymous@undisclosed.example.com (Anonymous) Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:27:37 +0000