Browsing Category Weekly Fortepan articles

Vending Machines and Self-Service Restaurants in Socialist Hungary

“On November 7, a bar called Mézes Mackó is opening on Rákóczi Street, with the first Jukebox in Budapest, which provides entertainment for only one forint,” this is how a newspaper on October 22, 1956 reported about future automation. The newspaper also reported that the first fully automated self-service snack bar would be set up on the corner of Lenin Boulevard, with vending machines selling all sorts of products, including Vienna sausages, beer, sandwiches, and cakes. “Whether more ‘robotized units’ will open at other spots in the city depends on the success of the first vending-machine bar.”

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Redressed: Brief History of Hungarian Window Display Dressing

The window display is an exhibition: An interesting, sometimes bizarre, sometimes harmonious arrangement of all sorts of objects, that draws our attention: as the Hungarian saying goes, “All for the eyes, but nothing for the hands.” Shop windows sometimes lure us with an air of abundance, sometimes, they are ashamed testimonies of scarcity. We either take pleasure in looking at them or are appalled at their sight. There are just so many different ways to dress a window.

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Can You Spot the Difference within the Same Photo? The Background to Mysterious Twin Portraits

One of the most highly priced photos in the world was taken of two seven-year-old sisters. Even the reinterpretations of Diane Arbus’s photo are world-famous. Twins have been intriguing the mind and fantasy of artists, scientists, and lay people alike, from ancient times till today. The study of twins, in spite of its long scholarly tradition, still provides surprising discoveries to this day.

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