Spotting and Stopping Child Abuse

Spotting and Stopping Child Abuse:

by: Moira G Gallaga

'via Blog this'

Two to Do ... in Budapest

Whether you’re stopping off for a couple of days as part of a European tour or making Budapest your  final destination, get hold of a 3-day travel pass and get off the beaten track to see more of this wonderful city, the Jewel of the Danube. Here are two visits to make, sure to add to your sense of having glimpsed beneath the surface of this multi-layered, metropolis.

Great Synagogue in Dohány 

First, head to the Great Synagogue in Dohány (‘Tobacco’) Street, near the Astoria metro station in the inner city of Pest. Recently restored, the Great Synagogue is a bustling and vibrant meeting place, a magnet for locals from the nearby Jewish quarter and visitors from all over the world. Built in the mid-19^th century in a Byzantine-Moorish style, this stunning synagogue boasts almost 3,000 seats (with separate galleries for women), along with a majestic 5000-tube organ. Like other parts of the city, the original building suffered damage from the bombs of the Second World War, during which it also served as a collection point from which the Nazis dispatched Budapest Jews off to extermination camps. It has a tale to tell that only a guided tour of the interior, the gardens and the adjoining Jewish museum can convey. It is probably best summed up by the haunting ‘Tree of Life’ memorial, a willow tree whose leaves are inscribed with names of Hungary’s holocaust victims.

Next, another kind of community space altogether. Take the metro out west to Kós Károly Tér, followed by the 194 bus and you’ll end up in Budapest’s XIX district, on the Wekerle Estate. An early 20^th century experiment in social planning, and influenced in no small part by the early garden cities of England, the Wekerle Estate was built between 1909 and 1926 as a self-contained garden suburb to house 20,000 lower-paid Budapest workers. It retains its unique, Transylvanian style to this day. Tree-lined, intersecting streets made up of 16 different designs of gabled houses and colourful apartment blocks combine with churches, a police station, schools and other social amenities to make this area a lively, low-rise oasis in the middle of Budapest’s urban sprawl. Well worth a visit. 

Wekerle Estate 

Will Apple still be the same Without Steve Jobs?

Some recent news is shaking up the technology sector. Steve Jobs has decided to resign his position as CEO of Apple. Some people may wonder what kind of effect this may have on the company since Apple and Steve Jobs are practically synonymous and most techie-types are familiar with the history of Steve Jobs breaking from Microsoft to build his own mega-company.  Most would agree we are all the better for it, with the prevalence of the iPhone, Mac Book and Apple products that proliferate the computer industry.  Artists enjoy garage band and I’m pretty sure most visual artists would agree that once you go Mac, you never go back. So what direction will Apple head now, with Steve Jobs stepping down?

Some people have suspected this move for quite some time. Jobs has had some health issues that may have made the final decision to step aside a more pressing one. The board of directors have invited Jobs to stay on the board , and he has recommended Tim Cook as his successor. 


Some people think that this will be the beginning of the end of Apple, but any great company goes through changes. He didn’t create the company on his own, and it took lots of brilliant engineers and employees to make Apple that great company that we know today. Although Steve Jobs may have been the primary creative force behind Apple’s initial uprising, he would never have been able to build it to the extent he did without having a great team supporting his creative efforts.


The industry-changing products that Apple introduced in the past are its backbone, and due to their popularity, are surely not going anywhere soon. In a letter to the board, Steve wrote,"I would be the first to let you know when I could not continue to do my job to the best of my abilities." For a man who absolutely revolutionized the music industry with the MP3 player and iTunes, who single-handedly turned the PC industry upside down, and made the Smartphone industry something to put in his back pocket, perhaps its time to make room for another master-mind. The Apple game plan is said to be at least five years in the planning, so we may not see the true results of Steve Jobs’ new role in the company for quite some time.


There are rumours that Google may buy Apple out, or that there will be a free-for-all to buy Apple stock while it plummets as a result of the recent news. However, Jobs and his team are enduring, and though he will no longer be the CEO, as a board member his influence will still be pronounced. Jobs once saved Apple from bankruptcy in the past, and though this may mean some rocky months for Apple before it resettles with its new CEO, Tim Cook, at the helm, it will undoubtedly roust itself to the prominent position it has gained over the last several decades in the world of Technology and as a big player on the stock market.