No kidding, I am a cum laude philosopher, and so can you!

My mom’s acquired this diploma 3 weeks ago back in Budapest and it has an English translation so I can share it with you:

French Bulldog in Budapest

Source: Simbabu (The same photographer made our wedding pics too.)

The birthplace of America’s first superhero: downtown Budapest

It’s weekend which means I am not just about biology and biotech blogging and can allocate a little time to spend on other projects like visiting the nearest Barnes & Noble at Metairie (it is a shame that there are no big bookstores in Uptown New Orleans except the Tulane Campus) and buying new books for entertainment like the one called The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman. I slowly got interested in Houdini due to the account of my friend Csaba on the Houdini figure in the book Ragtime by Doctorow. Another indirect hint was Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Guess where was Houdini born: Anne Fleischmann was urging Cecilia Weisz on, alternately wiping her brow and giving her some ice chips to suck on. On March 24, 1874, the small room at Rákosárok utca 1. sz. had been emptied, the three young boys sent out to play. Only a few neighbors were there as Anne expertly cradled the baby’s head and turned it slightly to allow the shoulders to emerge. She gently grabbed the baby’s chest as the rest of the bloody body was expelled from the womb.

Of course, a newborn meant another mouth to feed, and another warm body to share this typically small “room-and-kitchen” flat in the predominately Jewish section of Pest, part of the newly consolidated town of Budapest, Hungary. That made four sons now for Mayer Samuel Weisz, who had recently graduated law school. One could only assume that Mayer Samuel would make a very eloquent solicitor if the story of the courtship of his future wife was any indication.

Ok, let’s move with our Google weapons to figure out exactly where is this location in present Budapest:

Search 1: Rákosárok utca Budapest