<![CDATA[I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there.]]>I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. It was just after The Wall came down. I had so many encounters that conveyed a sense of hope for a bright future. I imagine the squares of Budapest feel like that again right now. ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/37f40d2e-5683-4bc6-9011-b28e72dbe650/i-have-a-particular-fondness-for-hungary-because-i-spent-a-formative-time-studying-there.RSS for NodeWed, 15 Apr 2026 05:03:04 GMTMon, 13 Apr 2026 02:04:51 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:09:08 GMT]]>@shriramk I mean, Hungary was 5% Jewish before WW2. Like elsewhere in Europe, it's not that Hungary was never diverse so much as that it became monocultural through genocide and ethnic cleansings that happened within living memory.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Alon/statuses/116395432272586326https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Alon/statuses/116395432272586326Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:09:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:11:29 GMT]]>@cigitalgem Good lord, I didn't *write* anything with him! This is as close as I got!

But my Erdős number happens to be 3, I think, which happens to also be my Gates (as in Bill Gates) number.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116395205528830601https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116395205528830601Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:11:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:10:15 GMT]]>@j2kun Did you?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116395200682677903https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116395200682677903Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:10:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:07:03 GMT]]>@SteveBellovin @cigitalgem @shriramk @mattblaze oh ha ha of course!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://a2mi.social/users/peterhoneyman/statuses/116395188107681090https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://a2mi.social/users/peterhoneyman/statuses/116395188107681090Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:07:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:05:01 GMT]]>@peterhoneyman @cigitalgem @shriramk @mattblaze And me!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/SteveBellovin/statuses/116395180108199258https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/SteveBellovin/statuses/116395180108199258Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:05:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:02:02 GMT]]>@SteveBellovin @cigitalgem @shriramk @mattblaze

i'm stuck at 3 by way of richard ladner and mihalis yannakakis

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://a2mi.social/users/peterhoneyman/statuses/116395168383924769https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://a2mi.social/users/peterhoneyman/statuses/116395168383924769Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:02:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:39:38 GMT]]>@cigitalgem @shriramk @mattblaze @peterhoneyman I didn't think I'd co-authored anything with you. That said, @mattblaze and I have an Erdős number of 2, since we've co-authored stuff with Ron Rivest, who's a 1.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/SteveBellovin/statuses/116395080305408148https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/SteveBellovin/statuses/116395080305408148Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:39:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:27:27 GMT]]>@shriramk damn that's a small number. And you simultaneously improved mine. Thank you for the reveal.

Hey @SteveBellovin and @mattblaze and @peterhoneyman your Erdos number may have just improved in my measurable universe

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sigmoid.social/users/cigitalgem/statuses/116395032407797217https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sigmoid.social/users/cigitalgem/statuses/116395032407797217Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:27:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:22:08 GMT]]>@shriramk it reminds me of the title of a history of Hungary I read, I think the subtitle was something like "1000 years of victory in defeat"

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/j2kun/statuses/116395011507840927https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/j2kun/statuses/116395011507840927Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:22:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:20:32 GMT]]>@shriramk I didn't know you did Budapest Semesters! What an experience

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/j2kun/statuses/116395005243857317https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/j2kun/statuses/116395005243857317Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:20:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:19:12 GMT]]>@t0yv0 CEU was still in Budapest when I visited in 2014 or so (though I visited a tech company, not the university), but already Jobbik signs were prevalent and I wondered how long they would last there. Not much longer, it turned out. )-:

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394999993144800https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394999993144800Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:19:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:17:40 GMT]]>@t0yv0 Yep, CEU was a very neat project, and I thought it was cool that such a place existed. But clearly had no room in an "illiberal democracy". It could have turned into one of Soros's great gifts to his country of birth, but I guess they didn't want it. )-:

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394993951461994https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394993951461994Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:17:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:15:29 GMT]]>And finally, Paul Erdos (Erdős Pál) visited us and gave a talk, and kindly posed for photos. I was much better with a camera than my roommate, so he got the in-focus snap. (-: Unfortunately, this proximity did not make me any smarter, so here I am.

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394985378956010https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394985378956010Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:15:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:14:33 GMT]]>This, I'm realizing, is from my grunge band album cover photo era. My friends John, Eric, and Jeff pose with me in front of the bas-relief sculpture of the coronation of Szent István in Esztergom. ↵

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394981673651898https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394981673651898Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:14:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:14:09 GMT]]>I went into a bin to find old photos I haven't looked at in 30 years. Here's a symbolic one. The flag-with-the-hole was symbolic of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and this spot commemorates that event. It was revived after the end of the Soviet Union. I imagine some are flying it again now… ↵

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394980125238150https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394980125238150Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:14:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:12:07 GMT]]>@shriramk some of my lecturers during my time at CEU in Budapest were working on research arguing for re-integration of Roma schools that "accidentally" segregated the Roma children into special needs schools. CEU was trying to be very diverse. Unfortunately the entire university was forced out the country for what appeared to be political reasons. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/16/ceu-classes-move-to-vienna-orban-hungary-ousts-university

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://vmst.io/users/t0yv0/statuses/116394972122208783https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://vmst.io/users/t0yv0/statuses/116394972122208783Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:12:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:12:04 GMT]]>So I suspect it's not easy for many outsiders to understand Hungary. You have to view it both through the lens of its 1100 yr history, including long periods of non-independence, and through its linguistic isolation from its neighbors. And what it did under Nazis, and what was done to it by Soviets. ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394971945563792https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394971945563792Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:12:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:08:15 GMT]]>Also, due to its singular language, Hungary had never been a particularly diverse country. I remember very well how my Jewish friend and brown self would get *stared at, hard* in public places. What I saw in subsequent decades (eg, Jobbik) was a very obvious extension of what I'd experienced. ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394956924593478https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394956924593478Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:08:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:07:20 GMT]]>So it wasn't like HU had been a proper independent democracy that briefly lost independence. Rather, being on the Pannonian plains, it had been invaded from all directions: Mongols, Ottomans, Habsburgs, Nazis, Soviets. So it was like a fledgling trying out figure out what it *meant* to take wing. ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394953314691212https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394953314691212Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:07:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:06:29 GMT]]>It's also important to remember that while some countries were regaining autonomy, Hungary has a very long history of NON-autonomy. Even the Austro-Hungarian empire was A-H in name; the real power was in Vienna. The Hungarians had a definite inferiority complex about it, knowing they were second. ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394949995596307https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394949995596307Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:06:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:06:13 GMT]]>It was almost as if the country had gone into a deep sleep for decades, and then blinked hard at a very bright light. Of course Hungary had always been the most "Western" of the Eastern bloc, but that was still a pale shadow of what was happening in the West. ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394948908607867https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394948908607867Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:06:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:05:44 GMT]]>Within a period of *one month*, I experienced:

- bomb scare at the airport
- Pope's first visit (to a *very* Catholic country)
- Iron Maiden's first visit
- the Russian putsch (Yeltsin on the tanks), which reverberated hard in Hungary
- Unix coming East for the first time ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394947013890526https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394947013890526Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:05:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have a particular fondness for Hungary because I spent a formative time studying there. on Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:05:24 GMT]]>It was an amazing time. Remember how Prague was "cool"? Budapest was the low-fi version of that — more real. Underground bars, street signs being changed, nobody spoke English, absolute mayhem. If it wouldn't be pretentious I'd write a small memoir of that time: ↵

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394945740771030https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/shriramk/statuses/116394945740771030Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:05:24 GMT