News / Polish Jesuits created a Facebook site for non-believers. Atheists not a total waste? [70]

Polish Jesuits apparently do not believe atheists are a total loss to mankind, as they have created a Facebook retreat site especially for non-believers. FYI a Lenten retreat is a series of meetings at which vital ethical, religious and social issues are discussed. These usually take place at church or away-from-home retreat centers. This is the first time a retreat for atheists has been organised online. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the 10-day retreat each day will raise such issues as morality (what is good and what is bad), the sense of life, sexuality, etc.

"I do not like to think of it do not go here . Probably the first retreat for non-believers " - says a poster on Facebook

The poster is a chess king . Cross placed on its crown traced in red and provocatively Strikethrough . Yes retreat on the popular social networking site advertises a group of Jesuits.

Food / 3 Polish Lenten soups [7]

Lent, known in Polish as Wielki Post (literally: the Great Fast), has developed some unusual foods over the centuries. It was lean, meatless fare, including herring and other fish as well as soups and gruels that reigned supreme. Here are 3 of those soups.

ZUPA CZOSNKOWA - GARLIC SOUP: dice 2 buds garlic fine and mash with flat of knife with a bit of salt on cutting board into a paste. Place in soup bowl, top up with boiling water, salt & pepper to taste and eat with a slice of rye bread (something like chleb baltonowski) or whole rye (żytni razowy) on the side.

ZALEWAJKA - TART POTATOP SOUP: Peel, wash and dice 2 potatoes and cook in 1-1/2 pints water until tender. Add 1 c liquid żur (sold at Polish food shops) and bring to the boil. Add 1 diced onion fried to golden brown in oil plus the drippings. Season with salt, pepper and marjoram.

POLEWKA PIWNA - BEER SOUP: Cut 2 slices rye bread into 1/2 inch cubes and fry to a golden brown in oil on all 6 sides (if you're the patient type) or at least on 2 sides (if you're not). Set aside. In saucepan combine 1 pt water, 1 pt lager and 1/4 teaspoon bruised caraway seeds and cook to just below boiling. Salt & pepper to taste. In soup bowl place the fried croutons and some cubed farmer cheese (pressed curd cheese) and drench with hot soup.

Language / Polish nationality insults in Polish? [67]

The names or nicknames of other nationalities, generally used in a pejoprative way, have made their way into the words and idioms of Polish, as they have into other languaegs as well.

The Swedes say 'Polish parliament' to mean total chaos. Germans use 'Polnische Wirtschaft' to denote total mismanagement. The French say 'drunk as a Pole'. As far as I know, English lacks such references to Poles, but it does contain the notion of getting gypped (from Gypsy) or to jewing someone down (haggling to pay a lower price). An 'Indian giver' is someoen who gives soemoen a gift, then takes it back.

In Polish readily called to mind are:
--oszwabić (to trick, deceive)
--wycyganić (to extort, obtain through trickery)
--jak na tureckim kazania (as at a Turkish sermon - of something completely incomprehensible
--popamiętać ruski miesiąc (to remember something unpleasant for a long time)
--udawać Greka (to play the fool)
--czeski film (one of the more recent additions - nobody knows what's going on.
Anyone know any others?

Life / Popielec - Ash Wednesday [2]

It's heartening to see packed Polish chruches on Ash Wednesday, be it Warsaw's St Stanislaus Kostka or Sterling Hts' Our Lady of Częstochowa. Anyone attend an Ash Wednseday service today or is planning to? Anyone know whether the Anglicans also have their heads sprinkled with blessed ashes?

The 40 Days of Lent Ash Wednesday ushers in is a great time for self-reflection, self-denial and self-restraint -- all great character builders regardless of religious or irreligious motivation. Just think how NOT reaching for that beer will benefit your waistline, brain and liver. After all, aren't the beer barons filthy rich enough already?

News / Poland in the 'brave new world'? [10]

Barring some meteorite or other unforeseen catastrophe, there is much to indicate that the world's power and economic balance is shifting away from the developed West to the already developed (Japan) and rapidly developing Orient (China, India, Japan, Korea etc.). How the Orient interacts with the Muslim World, which controls strategic fuel deposits, may play a key role shaping the further course of events. Mass emigration from the above to the West may also play an important part in the overall West to East shift. Probably the only unknown is the rate at which this will occur. Some predictions maintain that within 50 years English will become a minority language in the US, outnumbered by Spanish and oriental-language speakers.

Where do you believe Poland will end up within the total puzzle, let's say 50 years from now.
--For instance recent Sino-Polish military talks (possibly prompted by a common Russian potential foe) may suggest an independent, special relationship between Warsaw and Beijing.
---If the euro collapses, will Poland's fidelity to the złoty prove an advantage to its economic growth? Reverting to marks, francs, lire, punts, etc. will surely be a confusing and costly operation.

--Poland's being less of a magnet to Third World immigration may be a boon by avoiding the hyper-diversity 'multi-kulti' as Tante Merkel put it) now causing so many problems in the West.

P

--Where will the investment stream and outsourcing business go following the upheavals in North Africa? Can Poland and other Central European countries benefit if this business is re-directed?