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Hungary Uses iPad To Draft New Constitution
An anonymous reader writes "Hungary is drafting its new constitution on, believe it or not, an iPad. Jozsef Szajer, a Hungarian politician and member of the European Parliament, wrote an enthusiastic blog post last week detailing how he's using Apple's tablet device to flesh out Hungary's new constitution, the country's first since 1949. Not only is Szajer using the iPad to churn out new constitutional drafts, but he's also using it to review new draft proposals. Apparently all aspects of the new Hungarian constitution are being vetted via the iPad in one form or another."
This would be news if he was using a blackberry. ;)
That doesn't seem like a long time to me, how often do most countries get a new constitution? Also, what have they been using as a system of government until now?
I hear in Romania they use a ouija board and crystal ball
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
John Hancock used Brand-X quill to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Lets see, a tool is being used as that tool was intended to be used, to do a job. Big deal! Now, if he was doing this on a RPN calculator, then it would be news worthy.
Fight Spammers!
This is such a non-story apple plug. Fuck you slashdot, bring real news back.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Try drafting one with a bird feather dipped in ink you made yourself, written on lamb skin, freehand.
Hell, try just copying one that way.
That sets an ugly precedent.
Technoli
...is the authoritarian tendency of both platforms.
Attitudes make the difference between Space and Time: we want to MAX our temporal, and MIN our spatial extension.
This guy's iPad just became one of the world's top hacking targets.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Dear Steve Jobs, How do we remove the line, "sent from my Ipad" from our new constitution? No, seriously :(
-Jozsef
There's an app for that....
If they had used Microsoft Office or saved it in OOXML format, everyone and his brother would be up in arms about being forced buy/use proprietary closed software and how that is the end of the world. But if it is Apple, it is kewl.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
So what? Might as well say, modern technology is used to draft constitution for all the relevance this has to anything.
How many important things have been done on a variety of computers? How many more have been done with pen and paper?
Is this the new thing? To be a brand whore every chance you get?
Section IV, Paragraph 2 of the Apple End User License Agreement clearly states that Apple will "...maintain full or partial control (at its sole discretion) of any country, state, or municipality using Apple software, or any software acquired through the App Store (tm) to draft any founding documents, constitution, collective bargaining proposal, or policy on bottled water usage."
Subversion or something similar. Why edit it on a iPad when it can be edited with history and versioning on almost any device? Give the drafting participants commit access. Allow branches for proposals. The general public gets read access for open discussion.
Hell, do it for all laws. That way when the law is approved, you can just merge the proposal to the main branch and set a mile stone.
You could even use blame to find out who added riders. Oh. That is why this will never, ever happen.
get a 30% cut everytime someone subscribes to the new Constitution?
To put a witty saying into 120 characters, jst rmv ll th vwls.
So, at least one iPad fanboy in Hungary uses their iPad for composing documents. I wonder how the drafts and revisions are being handled.
It seems like a throwback to the days of Thomas Jefferson: one person, one quill, limited revisioning capability.
can we all now shut up about how tablets are for consumption of media?
How many stories have we seen where artists, writers, musicians, and other creative types are using tablet devices for creation of content?
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Apple is actively censoring contents on its store
Hungarian state passed laws against press freedoms and freedom of speech...
Now the latter is using a product from the former to design a new constitution...
Reading the article he brags about being able to write during a work dinner in Brussels while on EU business. I would certainly hope that the new Hungarian constitution is not being written during dinner, on the plane, in the car, on the train and during meetings with fellow politicians as he said in his blog. While I understand that it is very convenient to pop something open and read, I highly doubt one can pay enough attention during meetings and dinner with people around to something so complex as a new constitution.
The real news will be on June 30th when Apple wants a 30% cut of Hungary's GDP.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021902399.html
You might want to actually READ the one in the U.S. for an answer to that. Specifically Article V, Amendment.
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Article5
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Apple is claiming ownership of 30% of Hungary, and demanding future payments of 30% of GDP.
Support SETI@home
You do know it's a living document that can be and has been amended over the years, right? Right?
Oh yeah, I'm loving the growing "U.S. Constitution is obsolete" folks. :-\ I'm sure they have *NOTHING* but good intentions in mind. Everyone is all a flutter about the stupid Tea Party, but I'm more closely watching the "Constitution is old and irrelevant" crowd.
Starts off we the ipeople are Hungry
Damn autocorrect.
Yo Grark
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
Someone uses technological gadget for word processing!
What will they think of next.
Agreed. What we have here is a politician performing a task in less than the most efficient manner simply because it can be done this way.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
When the iPad 2 comes out, the app he's using will lock up, demanding a hardware upgrade. Then there goes months of work.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
The iPhone/iPad/ios devices can still not do CSS2 (1998) position: fixed correctly, much to the annoyance of web developers
Experiments and other stuff
You know... like the above mentioned Jozsef Szajer.
Who also has problems with spelling...
Thanx Steve! God bless you! Get back to Apple, for the benefit of all of us! You are a genious!
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Who cares if he writes it on an iPad, a laptop or a freaking paper napkin, the tool is of no importance whatsoever compared to the document in question. Stop treating the iPad as something revolutionary, because it isn't.
...along with kdawson.
It won't remove all of the apple plugs (nothing short of carpet bombing of the Slashdot HQ would do that), but it should significantly reduce the number of non-stories you'll be seeing in the future.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Getting tired of how stupid ./ stories have become. STOP the iMadness. Who the f* cares if some person write something on an ipad, iphone, ifu*king device or not. It seems the kids got hold of the control of /. and the proportion of interesting/non-interesting stories has gone down a lot. Perhaps it is my time to "retire" to more interesting pastures...
in america, we've been scrawling ours on the back of an oil drum for decades.
Good people go to bed earlier.
I'm studying IT at a Hungarian university, and we are learning programming on _PAPER_, because the 15-year-old PC-s we have are a peace of cr@p, and the university doesn't have money for new PC-s.
i use beans to fart !
Endless important documents have been drafted around the world on pc devices. yet, noone felt the need to make news out of it ?
Read radical news here
Any Hungarian wishing to available himself of the new constitution can subscribe at only 99-cents/month.
If this guy doesn't have any hands, then I'll be impressed. But I don't see how using a device with a built in keyboard (virtual) to type a document is a big deal.
If he wants to spend 3x as long to type a document, that's on him. And I say this as an iPad owner. In general, the consensus is correct, it's for consumption not production, bar some niche areas (of which, writing a constitution is not one of them).
Download free e-books, lectures, and tutorials at bookgoldmine.com
The real question is what Jozsef Szajer is getting out of the endorsement deal?
Thomas Jefferson is believed to have drafted the Declaration of Independence (along with the help of Adams, Franklin, Livingston, and Sherman). He probably used quill pens that he cut to suit his writing style (as was commonly done at the time). John Hancock is believed to be the first signatory of the document (being the president of the Continental Congress at the time). The tradition is that he signed it in large lettering so that King George III would be able to read it without his glasses.
Yeah, the next one will be about announcing Mr. Orbán as the King of the Hungarian.
Or maybe the "Friendly Father and Dear Leader for Eternity of Hungary".
By the way, Slashdot, please take care of our IP adresses, FIDESZ was already collecting the names of people voting against them.
thx. bye.
Which coffee shop were they in?
"These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined" --Homer re:
No, you don't get it, you have to RTFA. The real story here is that they were only drinking Coke Classic during the drafting and review procedures.
Twinstiq, game news
Thats adding insult to injury.
Red Leader Standing By!
Hungry, too small to multi-task.
"Guy uses computer for word processing and reading email" is news now?
I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
Man takes a shit using an ipad. news at 6,9,10,11.
That doesn't seem like a long time to me, how often do most countries get a new constitution?
New one? The UK has had a roughly contiguous form of government since 1066 and still hasn't managed to get even one yet.
I fail to see any news or well anything at all in this story.
So what feature of the pad made it better than the other options?
What role did the pad play that could not be done by any other device?
I feel like I'm playing madlibs. (proper noun) (verb past tense) (noun) on an ipad! Report it as news!
I find being offended by me offensive.
At least in my home country law fixes/updates are released as annoying sets of 'from section x.y.z remove "a random sentence" and add "another random sentence"'.
imagine any platform with a real keyboard would be more efficient. or doesn't that matter in the discussion of technology?
I am going to have to buy one of these toys just so everything I do will become newsworthy
First up, I'm going to eat a sandwich WITH AN IPAD!!!
Next, I will do some dishes WITH AN IPAD!!!!
I'll take suggestions on what I can do after that, WITH AN IPAD!!!
(and sure, fuck right off is a valid suggestion, so long as its to fuck right off WITH AN IPAD!!!)
-Lod
Hungary's constitution was completely rewritten in 1989: the current one has only 1 common sentence with the 1949 constitution, the one stating that the country's capital is Budapest.
Hungarian politicians are sometimes *too* enthusiastic about the wonders of the West. One time, our President even treated the half-wit nazoid Bernie Ecclestone like a king, simply because he's into Formula 1. This time, they must have read that Eco essay stating Apple is like Catholicism.
Hungary, beware of vender lock in!
For what? Questioning some miseryshit's understanding about the Constitution already having a built in process to upgrade it?
Or downgrade it. That's why the process is quite involved.
I'm sure they'll keep working on that little revolution of theirs, though.
I hope they make sure to map everything with hex grids.
The upside is, writing on an iPad would be too troublesome to fill the documents with legalese, making for a constitution that might actually be readable.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
in what font???
And they will draft the most antisemitic, xenophobic constitution in any country since the pre-war times. Just look what has come of poor Hungary where the ministers even wear an arrow cross party uniform in the parlament
And this 1949 constitution was drafted on which typewriter?