Who Am I?

My name is István Dáncs [ audio], alias Stephen Dancs. I was born in 1969, in the northwestern Transylvanian mining town and smelting (Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn) center of Baia-Sprie [bá'yá sprí'yé / audio] {Hung. Felsőbánya (ő = o" ) [fčlshöbá'nyô / audio]; Germ. Mittelstadt; Hebr.; Lat. Mons Medius; 47°40'N 23°42'E, i.e., 1h:34min:48s ahead of GMT; 265 m abs. altitude; pop. (Jan. 7, 1992 census) 11,735; 28.9% Hung.}, situated in a picturesque woodland in Maramureš (Hung. Máramaros; Germ. Marmarosch) county, NW Romania (in northeastern Hungary, prior to 1918-20, and then again, between 7.9.1940-17.10.1944; Armistice Agreement; map). On this sensitive map of Romania, Baia-Sprie (though not marked, but you could look it up exactly on the MapQuest interactive atlas) lies just 9 km (5 mi.) east of Baia Mare (Hung. Nagybánya; Germ. Neustadt; pop. [1992] 148,363; 17.5% Hung.), a picturesque health resort, with a quasi-Mediterranean vegetation, much patronized by artists, and that has a 14th-century Gothic style "St. Stephen" clock tower, which dominates the medieval quarter -- in the northwestern region of the country. This second map, will enable you to see where Romania lies in a European context, viz in southeastern Europe.

Here's the Earth's view as it would look right now, seen from a geostationary satellite sationed at 35,786 km altitude above Baia Sprie, the local news (in Romanian), courtesy of Radio Galaxia Baia Mare, the county paper Graiul Maramuresului and the weather forecast in the nearby city of Sighetu Marmatiei.

My hometown is also the type locality and provides the name for two, very, very, rare minerals to be found only in this region, one, a white (sometimes, due to iron oxids, yellowish white) rough surfaced and pearly mineral named felsőbányaite, and the other called monsmedite. To have a glimpse of other "mine flowers" (Rom. "flori de mină", Hung. "kővirág", Ger. "Steinblumen") from the region, visit the Baia Mare Museum of Mineralogy's web site (here's a somewhat altered mirror of their samples site, in case theirs is very slow) and my Baia Sprie mineral connection site.

In May 1989, I sureptitiously fled late dictator Nicolae (self-styled) "Genius of the Carpathians" Ceausescu's Communist "paradise" for Hungary, Austria, F.R. of Germany, and finally touched-down from the well known "refugee orbit" in Sept. 1992 in Canada's pre-eminent city of Toronto (earthview; Toronto.Cam) where I've been living ever since.

I graduated from the University of Toronto in Aug. 1995 with a Hon. B. Sc. degree in Physics (Specialist), Option: Sub-Atomic Physics. [And boy, I still have the loan papers to prove it! ;-) ] I'm still looking for not just a job, but for that so awaited career related job opportunity in some closely related field. Unfortunately, nowadays most companies look for how relevant one's experience and education are, seldom hiring based on potential and investing their time and/or money into one's career development and/or ability. Any job leads will therefore be very helpful, and much appreciated.

If you would like to know more about my background, have a look at my résumé, or feel free to contact me.

Key to pronunciation:
á -- father, marble, March
ă -- bird, hurry, duchess
č -- end, bed, met, merry
é -- eight, day, date
í -- even, sleepy, clearing, obvious
ď -- ice, bite, light
ô -- hot, toddy, bother, borrow
ö -- curl, Hamburg, French oeuvre, peu, German schön, Goethe, and similar sounds in some other language
ő -- boat, note, obey
sh -- shall, nation, special, mission
y -- you, yard, bunion
' -- primary accent, written after the vowel or syllable carrying the main stress: Nebra'ska, Kan'sas
` -- precedes syllable with primary stress
, -- precedes syllable with secondary stress
· -- indicates syllable boundary when following syllable is unstressed

Stephen L. Dancs, Hon. B.Sc.
Toronto, Canada, Voicemail: +1 (416) 760-5885
Comments to author: bf154@torfree.net