Life / The perfect souvenir from Poland [28]


Yeah, it could be a problem to find a fair in the middle of winter. :)

But since you brought up the topic of Polish honey... The first literal information about making honey in Poland dates back to the Xth century, and still proto-poles were making it long before that date. Medieval Poland was famous for it's quality honey and wax and was one of the biggest producers and exporters of this products in Europe till XVIII century. Polish beekeepers were a separate privileged group, destroying a hive was punished by death and the most popular alcohol of that times were “miód pitny” (mead) considered to be a lot more precious than wine by our nobles at that time. Also when we talk about honey we have to mention Jan Dzierżon, the father of modern apiculture, most known for his discovery of parthenogenesis among bees and for designing a movable-frame beehive. So yeah, I guess that taking back honey, as a souvenir is definitely a good idea. :)

Love / BLACK GUYS POLISH WOMEN [809]


And you are right. "Czarnuch" basically is a derogatory name for a black man. However I've noticed that young gangsta rap fans sometimes address themselves that way, just like black gangsta rappers address themselves with the N word. At the beginning it probable was more of tongue in cheek while with time it became norm, so now in some contexts.

It also can be considered neutral, I think.

Life / The perfect souvenir from Poland [28]

Fisz, you just can't stop amassing me with your knowledge about Poland. Respect. :)

Of curse you are right about the amber. As for the sculptures, I'm planning to visit a fair in September in a small village in Wielkopolska. There will be a lot of sculpturers selling their works, plus a lot of folk singing and eating out some regional specialties. I love the Christian and Slavic pagan mish mash in the folk culture. Devils, daemons, angels, vampires, strzyga's, werewolf’s, spooky lakes with the water creatures, crossroads and crosses that stand there to keep away bad spirits, etc... I just can't wait. :)

)

News / Darwins theory of Evolution in Polish schools [59]


But that's exactly what is being thought for years here in Poland.

Life / The perfect souvenir from Poland [28]


Try looking for amber jewelry. Poland has over 1000 years old tradition of making it. Or take a look around for polish folk handcraft like hand made handkerchiefs, wooden sculptures of devils and angels, dishes covered with the images of flowers, kierpce (polish highlanders shoes), ciupagi (polish higlenders axe), the sculpture of Lajkonik or maybe Warsaw’s Syrenka? It basically depends where you currently are and it varies from reproductions of the biggest medieval battle, the battle of Grundwald to some commie posters or sculptures of comrade Gierek, etc...

News / Tinky Winky from tellytubbies outed in Poland [145]


But what if he wants to flirt with me? What would my mother say if she found out that I was drinking vodka with a colored homo-tubie at the local pub...? She's very conservative you know... ;)

Life / Most famous, respected Polish last names? [46]

Kowalski, Wiśniewski and Nowak. :)

Life / Can you think of any famous Polish personalities? [147]

OK, so lets get back to the topic. Basically it's extremely hard for a non-westerner to be famous in the West. There are definitely many Poles worth knowing that are well known for people that are interested in a particular science, literature or music discipline, but are they known outside of this circle? I'm not sure. Have you heard about:

- Napoleon Cybulski (the discoverer of adrenalin),
-Kazimierz Funk (the discoverer of vitamins),
-Ludwik Hirszfeld (he established the foundation of knowledge of human blood types),
- Ignacy £ukasiewicz (he developed a product called “nafta” kerosene (1852); invented the petroleum lamp, established the world’s first oil “mine”, built the first refinery in Ulaszowice near Jaslo, replaced hand mining with drilling machinery and steam power),

- Julian Ochorowicz (he forecasted correctly the future technique of transmitting moving pictures so he can be said to have been one of the first to conceive the idea of television),

-Kazimierz Proszyński (he built one of the first cinema cameras in the world. This pleograph, or apparatus for taking photographs and projecting pictures, was built before the Lumiere Brothers lodged their patent. Proszynski also made the first pocket film-camera and devised a method of synchronizing sound and film tracks),

-Abraham Stern (he demonstrated the “first calculating machine in the world which could perform the four basic arithmetical processes and extract roots),
- Jan Szczepanik (he patented many important inventions which were of use in textile machinery, electric television, color photography and films, and devised a method for the optical registration of sound),

- Alexander Wolszczan ( he was the forst man to discovere an extrasolar planet),
-Ludwik £azarz Zamenhof (the creator of esperanto),
-Stefan Drzewiecki ( His disertation, “Theorie generale de l’helice” (1920), was honored by the French Academy of Science as a fundamental work in the development of modern propellers),

-Jan Śniadecki (his works on the possibilities of a theory of probability were of a pioneer nature),
-Michał Sędziwoj ( He was the first man in history of chemistry to describe oxygen – “the food of life, which exists in the air”. He advanced the theory of combustion and breathing),

-Kazimierz Siemanowicz ( he was the first to conceive the possibility of a multiple-stage rocket and of rocket batteries. May be considered a precursor of space flight),

- Stanisław Marcin Ulam ( known for his activities in Manhattan Project (1942-1947) that lead to the creation of nuclear weapons in Los Alamos)
- Paweł Włodkowic ( as early as the beginning of the 15th century he strongly supported the idea of conciliarism and pioneered the notion of peaceful coexistence among nations — a forerunner of modern theories of human rights), etc etc....

Aside from scientist there are also great Polish strategist like Hetman Koniecpolski ( the concorere of Gustavus Adolphus), Hetman Żółkiewski ( he managed something Hitler dreamed of, he set his foot In Moscow), Jan Karol Chodkiewicz ( in almost every military school the cadets are being thought about his magnificent victory over Swedes at Kircholm) or Jan III Sobieski ( the only "modern" man that has a star constellation named after him), etc...



Music? Szymanowski, Wieniawski, Paderewski, Rubinstein, etc.. Film? Wajda, Kieślowski, Jerzy Kawalerowicz - people that inspired the likes of Tarantino, Lynch or Scorsese... and many many more...

The truth is that the west was generally ignorant about the eastern part of Europe for a very long time. Would you know about Teodor Józef Konrad Korzeniowski (aka Joseph Conrad), Maria Skłodoska-Curie or Roman Polański if they would stay in Poland rather than go abroad? I doubt it.

Just because one haven’t heard about those people, doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth knowing about. There is still an enormous world of polish literature to be discovered by the westerners: Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Prus, Sienkiewicz, etc... Maybe in a few years time those names will stop being anonymous for you? I surely hope so. Maybe the computer game "The Witcher" in a short time will make Sapkowski the most known polish writer? Who know who knows...I surely hope so. :)

UK, Ireland / The Problem i have with Culture Differences (UK + Polish) [32]


Aparently he is mixing two things: being cultural as knowing the rules of savoir vivre, attending theatre or ballet every once in a while, reading Dostoyevski and listening to classical music, with being traditional: which includes customs, cuisine, etc.... Even in the latter aspect we modern Poles are a lot poorer than our forefathers…. Still I can see the improvement.

Love / Polish attitude towards sex [194]


Well they aren't actually banning it.

Life / What do Polish people think about Americans living in Poland? [48]


Probably, that they don't exist. :)

History / Polish movies about Poland's role during WWII [20]

clunkshift, I'm impressed. Andrzej Wajda's "Kanał" is my favorite movie from your list. Did you know that after it won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1957 there were film critics coming up to him and congratulating for the idea to put the action of the movie in the sewers. Some American producers even offered him a job impressed by his imagination...Little did they know that during the Warsaw Uprising people really did transport from one place to another through sewers. A lot of them drowned, a lot of were burned to death by Germans or were eaten alive by rats....

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]

More or less. It's nothing unusual actually. Not a nation specific trait. The outcome of this whole situation will be definitely interesting but as always I believe we will manage. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


And it seems that you Germans don't know history well. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]

Touche southern. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


You obviosly dreamed that Poles capitulated though. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


We beat Bolshevik Russia in the 1920's.. That's 1920's, nit 1870's..hehehe

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


Hehehehe... Ahh yes, you germanic fearsome wariors that the last time won the war in 1870's, hehehehe....

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


He's got a point there BBoy. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]

Nice, but we all know that it didn't end that way. :) 1870's you say, hmmm... hehehe

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


I'm not talking about campaigns, but a war. As I remember eventually you lost the Second World War. :)

OK, let's talk about it tomorrow. Night. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]

Hey BBoy. Many times you told us about the fearsome Germanic warriors. So now tell us the last war your country won on its own. That’ll be interesting. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


Well that is a very probable scenario. I'm curious what will be the end result. :)


A very valid point Kruk. Come to think of it, what was the last war Germans actually won? :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]

Yes BBoy, you saw us through. Germans invaded Poland in order to protect Jews from poles. They even gone through all the trouble and build them camps to increase their safety. Germans were all good, just like in that movie Schindler’s list, and Poles were the bad ones. LOL :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]

[


I doubt you will hear any answer Maxx. It's not the first time BBoy ignores an uncomfortable question.


There’s no point repeating myself.

Good night. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


First of all, you lost me. Why did you brought that up is beyond me. Secondly, stole? I don't remember Poles having anything to say about the redrawing of the boundaries after the WWII. You should address your complains about the land losses to Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill.(although the last one also didn’t had much to say about it :) ). And Finally, those lands were once polish and lets leave it that way. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


A German telling me about murdering and stealing during the WWII? Now I seen them all!!!!!!!!!! So tell me what was your excuse for the atrocities your people done to my country?


So they say. :)


Yes it seems rather pointless. How long can one repeat himself? Geez...

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


For Christ sake, the next thing you will say here is that we actually started that damn war! What really pisses me off with all you Erika Stenbach fans is that you treat the German exodus after the war as if it hadn't anything to do with the whole war itself? But what ever you will say and do you won't change the fact that it had a lot to do with it! Attack of your country on mine was the reason your family no longer lives near Wrocław and not the other way around. You were the aggressors, not us, you lost the war and were forced to face the consequences. If the poles where just as bas as you claim it to be, than they would round the rest of remaining Germans up, and not expel them, but send them to Auschwitz for the fate their deserved. I think that Poles had the God damn right to have their revenge on you, and that your people’s exodus was the liniest punishment I could think of.

edit-
And I still stand correct that the vast majority of Germans run away from fear rather than were expelled.


And long before you people come to live there it was called Wrocław.

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


That's definitely one of the reasons. The second one was that they feared what will happen when the Red Army arrives. Even your government was encouraging people to evacuate from those areas before the Russians come. That's a fact.

PS: My statistics come from 1938 - 91% Germans, 8% Poles. :)

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]


99%? Where do you get your statisxtics from? Besides, I never said that I live in Gdańsk... I live in Greater Poland where Germans had definately a lot of Polish neighbours. :) Still i stand correct.


Crimes on whom? On Germans? For what you did you deserved worse than you actually got.


Than compare the casualties of innocent people that died from the hands of Germans and Poles during the war and we will see what happens. :)