News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

You are welcome.

I was waiting for some news regarding negotiations with COVEC. It looks to me that the Chinese are playing the same foxy ball, but dressing their requests differently each time - using delaying tactics. I'll be tempted to say at this point: screw them, take a Polish company, paid them 0.6-1 billion more and let them go to work asap.

Below is my translation of some news from TVN24:

Deputy head of the GDDKiA (General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways), Andrzej Maciejewski, announced on midnight last Thursday that the Chinese company COVEC have offered new conditions of work on highway A2.

- This afternoon the company provided us with an important information about their proposed amendments, regarding the scope of work, which in their opinion is possible to implement on these sections of the A2 motorway, and the new financial conditions that are associated with it. We will be analyzing this data - he informed waiting reporters.

- These new financial conditions, according to the consortium, will lead to acceleration of works on construction of the motorway A2, so the finishing date will be kept as defined in initial contract - he added.

Mr. Maciejewski, did not say whether the proposed price is higher than previously ageed. - I will remain reserved in that assessment - he said, explaining that it requires a prior analysis of the presented conditions.

He reported that on Friday afternoon, the Chinese shall provide detailed information on questions asked by GDDKiA. He did not specify what kind of information. Analysis of these documents will take until Monday, June 13. - We will present our position on Monday - (...) whether it is acceptable or not, whether it makes sense or not, and whether it lawful and in accordance with the contract - he said.

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]


For this I apologize. I should have said it in a more subdued tone. I was irked by "world knows better than you guys with your NC". Not all of us spin nonsense about perceived superiority of a certain nation. What can I say - I ignore such posts, since responding to them pollutes any good thread.

I agree with the second part of your post since I know quite well that this is just a student exercise in passion, knowledge and innovation. But I support programs like ARC, IASC (International Astronomical Search Collaboration) or even programs of building those mini school-based observatories in Poland because they stimulate interest in certain branches of science and engineering. Kids from all other the words, including those from the Copernicus city of Toruń, have fun discovering and naming planetoids and asteroids - but that's the subject of another post.

Contribution of Polish Kids to discovery and naming asteroids
The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) is an educational outreach program for high schools and colleges, provided at no cost to the participating schools.

International Astronomical Search Collaboration, Discovery Hall of Fame, web page is somewhat outdated, but provides some information about naming of discovered astronomical objects:

iasc.hsutx.edu/index_files/Page685.htm

The page shows a list of seven discoveries of asteroids, numbered and catalogued by the Minor Planet Center (Harvard). This process takes 3-5 years to complete, at which point the asteroid can be officially named.


There is one Polish entry:
Asteroid: 2007 GH2, Name: Not Named, School: ZSO #7, Location: Szczecin Poland

Another source suggested that the proposed name is "Szczecin". To verify it I went through a lot of noise in many web pages and finally found the IASC data discovery page:

iasc.scibuff.com

The data below is extracted from that page.

Newly discovered objects are put on a provisional list. This means that the Minor Planet Center will assign a provisional designation number and it will stay there until confirmed some time later by some other means. The current list of Provisional Discoveries contains 396 objects, discovered since year 2006, when the program started. Five of those belong to Polish schools.

#371 - Asteroid: 2011 HT24, School: The 10th Prof. Stefan Banach School Group, Location: Toruń Poland, 2011-04-30
#374 - Asteroid: 2011 HS31, School: The 10th Prof. Stefan Banach School Group, Location: Toruń Poland, 2011-04-30
#356 - Asteroid: 2011 FX88, School: Mikołaj Kopernik High School, Location: Sierpc Poland, 2011-04-02
#349 - Asteroid: 2011 FJ49, School: The 10th Prof. Stefan Banach School Group, Location: Toruń Poland, 2011-04-02
#233 - Asteroid: 2010 MN2, School: Mikołaj Kopernik High School, Location: Sierpc Poland, 2010-06-22

The list of Numbered Discoveries, confirmed and ready to be named, is much shorter: total 21 entries. Two of them are Polish.
#21 - Asteroid: 2010 CH1, Number: 279377, Name: To be chosen, School: School: The 10th Prof. Stefan Banach School Group, Location: Toruń Poland
#11 - Asteroid: 2007 GH2, Number: 241099, Name: Szczecin, School: ZSO #7, Location: Szczecin Poland

Putting it all in some perspective: there are about 250 schools from dozen of countries involved in various IASC projects. There are some claims that the full list of Polish discoveries since 2006, when the IASC program was introduced to Poland, consists of close to 30 astronomical objects, but I could not confirm it. So let's stick to 5 + 2 facts.

2012 University Rover Challenge: May 31 - June 2, 2012, Mars Desert Research Station, Hanksville, Utah


Ten teams participate in this year's competition: one from Poland, two from Canada, seven from USA. Poland is represented by Scorpio-2 from Wrocław University of Technology - classified last year at the fourth position.

The last year's overall winner, team Magma-2 from Białystok University of Technology, does not participate this time. They were busy during past 12 months, participating in several international exhibitions, such as Hightech Mechatronica 2012 (March/April 2012) in Netherlands. The event brought together engineers and programmers specializing in mechatronics and high-tech systems. The fair attracted over 60 exhibitors.

From Scorpio-2 diary, in Polish:

We were out of luck yesterday evening. Four of our six tires have been punctured during test drives, probably as the result of rapid and reckless driving. Unfortunately we had no replacement parts. A little bit of creativity and in few hours later the vehicle has been restored. Let us hope that this will not happen again during the competitions.

This day began with a briefing and vehicles' weighing at the vicinity of Mars Desert Research Station. Unfortunately, we exceeded the maximum weight limit, so we had to remove two middle wheels. This should not significantly affect the off-road capacity of the vehicle. By lowering the weight we can install more cameras and additional batteries, which will increase the rover's life span.

At 17.30, during the first out of five challenges, we presented our team and the project to the judges. We have very positive feelings, however, the results will not be announced until the end of the competition. Now this is time to prepare for tomorrow's jobs. We are still arming our vehicle with additional devices, which might be helpful. We are facing two tasks tomorrow: Equipment Servicing Task in the morning and Site Survey Task in the afternoon.

Before the nightfall we are going into the desert again to test all the items.

From URC facebook:
Congrats to our podium finishers at URC2012:
1. York University
2. Brigham Young University
3. Cornell University
More to follow as the staff returns from the field!

Well, no medal this time for the Poles.

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]

On June 1, Prime Minister Donald Tusk took part in the opening of the first astro-base, a mini astronomical observatory, at the junior high school of Gniewkowo in Kujawsko - Pomorskie. The idea of creating school-based mini observatories was born in 2008. Construction began in the second half of 2010. Before the end of September this year 13 more similar objects will open in Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship.

Each astro-base, or astrobaza in Polish, is equipped with a telescope and computer stations. Under the dome of the telescope there is a room for 12 people. All school mini observatories will be linked in a network of telescopes, so that students will be able to constantly exchange information about the observations carried out. Students will be able to photograph the sky and send pictures to other schools where they will be displayed on special, interactive tables.

The astro-bases are being constructed in 14 localities: Gniewkowo, Brodnica, Dobrzyń n. Wisłą, Golub-Dobrzyń, Gostycyn, Inowrocław, Jabłonowo Pomorskie, Kruszwica, Radziejów, Rypin, Świecie, Unisław, Zławieś Wielka and Żnin.The cost of the construction is 4.1 million zł. Funds are provided by local governments and co-financed by European Union.

translated from Polish source:

I am so impressed, especially since I received my primary education in one of those 14 places. No one would ever dream then about such things as "astrobazy" in villages or small towns.

• 
  All astro-bases look the same
  
• 
  Gniewkowo astro-base during opening multimedia presentation
  

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]


Passion is contagious. I look at these young men and women and I cannot stop appreciating their passion and expertise. So I report it here. And since I know a bit about certain subjects governing the design of their rovers: programming, basics of manipulators, communication - my appreciation grows even higher.

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]

Galileo Galilei was born in 1564 - 21 years after the death of Copernicus in 1543. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism.

So your point is?

Other than that he was a renaissance man: a mathematician, physicist, philosopher, engineer. So was his contemporary Johannes Kepler, with whom Galileo Galilei had argued about ties and elliptical orbits of planets. Kepler was right, Galileo was wrong on this subject. Kepler's best known works are "Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy. These works also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

What impresses me most in Galileo works is something, which is mostly ignored by hunters of encyclopaedic tidbits:


The man had profound understanding of classical notion of space and time.

But all those achievements of Galileo, Kepler and Newton do not take away the importance of Copernicus' epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium -


All those quotes are available in wikipedia, or somewhere else - so before you open your mouth with some trivial nonsense - study the subject first.

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]

Oh yes, I got it. According to wikipedia the results of URC 2007 were as follows:
1. University of Nevada
2. Brigham Young University
3. University of California, Los Angeles
4. Pennsylvania State University

So yes, Pennsylvania was there in 2007. Maybe they did not qualify for 2011, or maybe they are just bored. But notice BYU is still there. According to some interview, the teams are not there forever - they form and fall apart. You should know that as a musician. :-) But - as you know - success breeds success, so I am sure new generation of young people in Poland is as eager as the current one to take the challenge.

And I am really pleased that the new universities, such as Białystok, may mean something. I used to have very low (and believe me - quite justified) opinion on some such universities, long time ago.

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]

Sorry Antek, I am confused. UPenn in '95? URC were inaugurated just in 2007. Please explain.

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]

The final scores of URC 2011 are tabulated in five categories and posted here. I will just show the totals (out of maximum 500 points: 5 tasks x 100 points each):

1. Białystok University of Technology - 411.3
2. York University - 364.8
3. Oregon State University - 348.2
4. Wrocław University of Technology - 274.2
5. Brigham Young University - 214.2
6. University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Torun - 202.7
7. University of Michigan - 185.7
8. University of Waterloo - 163.5

Once again - Congratulation Białystok, outstanding job.

History / What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]


I am glad you liked it. :-)


No, I left Poland for France in summer of 1979. My French friends have helped me a lot during the waiting period for my Canadian landed immigrant visa. I landed here in April 1980. I visited my family in Poland several times, after 1992 - not as often as I would wish it to be.

One particular visit was funny in one respect: the old and the new money at the same time everywhere! You guys were still in shock after being treated like millionaires for so long - 20 thousands here, 100 thousands there. So everyone was still counting in old złoty. I, on the other hand, preferred all transactions in the new currency because its strength was comparable with Canadian dollar. All I had to do was to divide a price of an item by two and then try to compare it with a Canadian price. But removing those four redundant zeros in my head was a bit trickier for me.

I always asked cashiers to return my change in new currency and they would inadvertently deny my request because they were always short of small change in PLN currency. So, I have unwillingly accumulated a big pile of old money. One day I decided to get rid of it on the occasion of buying a ticket at a railway station. The hall was almost empty, the cashier was nice, the ticket price was somewhere about 37 PLN, so I happily commenced counting my old money, but I stopped in the middle, turned around and realized that there was already a long line forming behind me. Desperately, I pushed the entire pile of my old money towards the cashier, and she counted it so fast that I was quite impressed. "You are two złoty short, sir" - she said. And guess what? I did not have any PLN coins, so I was forced to use my two shiny 20 PLN bills. And my pile of old money grew by the extra 30 000 złoty.

History / What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]


This is a time proven tactic: 30 years before that DDR was spreading their tale of "potato bug":


images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/GerRecon/omg1950Sept/reference/history.omg1950sept.i0033.pdf

The story resurfaced six year later in Poland and Czechoslovakia, because the pest have been spreading east of Germany with alarming speed. Even children were engaged - school posters (or rather collages of text and sketches) included hand drawn images of American bombers dropping "stonka ziemniaczana" like crazies.

History / What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]



I think, it was 1978. My buddy and I found ourself unintentionally on the Slovakian side at Barwinek's border crossing (Dukla Pass, Low Beskid "Beskid Niski"), after a long trek, tired and hungry. The idea was to buy some food in their local store there (probably a jar of meatballs in tomato sauce - a standard tourist issue in those times, which explains why our backpacks were usually so heavy - 25-30 kg). Well, the blue marks on the border trail were somewhat confusing at that locality and there we were: on the wrong side of the stout chicken wire fence.

Yes, that was a chicken wire fence but it was only installed in the nearest vicinity of that border crossing, several hundred meters or so. I have trekked the entire mountain range of Sudety and Karpaty in 70s and I have never seen any barber wire on the border. Not even in Bieszczady, in the so-called "Bieszczady Sack", where the three borders met,

bieszczady.pik-net.pl/worek.phtml

This fence was an exception so you might find it useful to remember when writing your book. What happened next is a quite a story.

We had a quick decision to take:
a. go back and circle around the fence. Nay - we were too tired and too hungry for extra walking.
b. climb over the fence on the Polish side and approach Polish border officers. No, too many Slovak tourists have already seen us and started asking question (usually in German) about our backpacks ("Is it a portable bed"?)

c. Approach Czechoslovakian border guards, apologize and reason with them.

We picked the last option, and then have been dully arrested, interrogated by an angry colonel recalled from his home in Košice (at least 50 km away) and - after six hours and after signing a Slovakian version of their incident report, and witnessing signing of the international "receiver-acceptance document" (two tourists, two backpacks, one hatchet, one kettle, one tent, 10 pairs of socks, mostly dirty..) - we were handed over to a local WOP lieutenant who swore that he would take revenge on a first Czechoslovakian taking a p1ss on the Polish side of the border. That's what they usually did there, on both sides. And he added that the trail markings at Barwinek vicinity were indeed screwed up and that's why he had to deal with so many minor infractions by tourists. He was really angry at that Slovak colonel for being such a rigid official.

Language / Need advice on how to improve Polish language skills [134]


You may believe in what you want but - since you said it in public - could you please back it up with some good links to the newest, well documented, research on the topic? I bet you, you will find nothing of the sort. In contrary, you will find plenty about brain plasticity, brain non-locality, redundancies, and so on. Well, some people still believe that an average human uses only 10% of his/her brain capacity. If we only could tap into that untapped 90% we could all be geniuses, or we could easily produce "design children". Well such believes are ridiculously wrong, but it does not stop many "brain gurus" from selling dubious product and services that suppose to significantly increase your brain power. A brain snake oil anyone?

And the notion that English language is simple, clean and logical (as opposed to "ridiculously complex" Polish) is also wrong. I would not get that far myself, but I've heard many English native speakers admitting that their language is dysfunctional. Dysfunctional? Didn't you just mention the brain's higher functions?

I will help you a bit with it. Let's start with English homophones, which an English speaker must memorize in order to effectively communicate. Fifty homophones starts with letter "A", such as: airless, heirless; Abel, able; or ai, I, aye and eye. Here is the entire list of the homophone distribution frequency among letters of English alphabet: A-50, B-96, C-143, D-35, E-27, F-60, G-48, H-48, I-26, J-10, K-33, L-63, M-67, N-29, O-17, P-116, Q-9, R-85, S-148, T-71, U-5, V-10, W-99, X-2, Y-8, Z-2. Altogether, this makes an impressive list of 1307 homophones to be memorized. The details are here: homophone.com

Then you have heteronyms - the words that are spelled identically but have different meanings when pronounced differently. For example: Lead, pronounced LEED, means to guide. However, lead, pronounced LED, means a metallic element. You can see the list at this address: personal.umich.edu/~cellis/heteronym.html

I will just count the distribution among English alphabet: A-7, B-4, C-12, D-7, E-1,F-0, G-0, H-1, I-3, J-0, K-0, L-3, M-1, N-2, O-1, P-11, R-11, S-8, T-1,U-0, W2, X-0,Y-0, Z-0. One nice example: "She wished she could desert him in the desert."

Here is the first verse of a popular "poem", which underlines how "dysfunctional" English is and how much one has to memorize. Yet this does not stop the English speakers to develop their higher brain functions. :-)

[I am not permitted to copy it here in its entirety, but you can find many of such copies on internet.]

News / Definition of 'Polish vodka' to be changed [5]


It might be, but... Isn't Poland the top triticale producer?
According to wikipedia: "The primary producers of triticale are Poland, Germany, France, Belarus and Australia."

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

OK, here are some details from both sides of the divide: COVEC vs. GDDKiA, which I translated from

GDDKiA
On Friday GDDKiA announced that "in response to the final request, sent on Thursday to COVEC, for submittal of a remedial program regarding works on the A2 motorway, the Chinese consortium announced on Friday its intention to withdraw from further construction."

The COVEC company also asked GDDKiA about the possibility of a meeting and talks, which - according to COVEC - would make it possible to carry out further work on the basis of signed agreements.The government agency announced that the talks would take place before Thursday, the deadline of the 7-day ultimatum issued by the Polish side to the Chinese consortium.

The value of the contract signed with COVEC is this:
- section A: 754.58 million zł gross, 618.51 million zł net
- section C: 534.54 million zł gross, 438.15 net zł.

- The total amount paid to the contractor for the job done on two segments of the highway A2 is 124.76 million zł net, while the 50.31 million zł net is to be paid by the end of June - GDDKiA said.

GDDKiA also reported that the COVEC owns 117 million zł to subcontractors and suppliers. "Even after taking into account the payment of 50.31 million zł for the work done in April on both sections of A2 the overdue payments to subcontractors and service providers will still amount for 66.69 million zł (net) "- says the agency.

COVEC
The consortium sent a termination note to GDDKiA. But the consortium declares its willingness to return to negotiations with GDDKiA.

"The reason for the decision of the consortium are:
- unfair, unnecessary and unreasonable streching of payment deadlines by the investor
- undervaluing quantity and quality of construction work work done by the chief engineer of the contract
- subjective verification and evaluation of work done on site by the person supervising the project
- unexpected increase of market prices of the building materials.
Accordingly, the consortium is unable to continue work on construction"- reads the communique.

The note also stated that over the past two weeks, from 13 May, the two COVEC's presidents from headquarters in Beijing, held talks in Poland with GDDKiA - in order to find an amicable settlement of the work stoppages on the construction sites, in connection with the protests by subcontractors.

"From the very beginning GDDKiA holds the view that changes in the contract with the general contractor are impossible, and it keeps their position inflexible during negotiations, which in no way brings the parties to a compromise; that is, to meet the contractual terms of the completion of sections A and C of highway A2 by May 2012. COVEC, in order to meet the deadlines, accelerated the construction works whenever possible "- reads the note.

The company said it has invested in the construction of sections A and C, over $ 100 million from its own resources.

"According to the agreement, the Consortium should receive payments from GDDKiA no later than in 58 days. However, payments are always submitted on the last day of the agreed cycle. The COVEC's representatives submitted many appeals to GDDKiA - asking for a sensible, practical shortening of the payment period, in order to streamline the work on the sites - reads their note.

COVEC notes that previously they have paid the amount owed to their subcontractors within 5-7 days.

"Recently, in view of the situation, there have been slight delays. If GDDKiA took our appeals seriously the protests could be avoided and the work stoppages would not happened - reads the note.

COVEC also points out to other difficulties, which slowed slowed down the work - namely the deficiencies in the description of the contract. The actual geographical and geological situation at sections A and C of the A2 motorway in many places does not match the description of the project design documents - says the Chinese consortium.

According to COVEC "the status of the construction at the sections A and C A2 is highly advanced, and these delays are the result of external factors. COVEC has commenced the project termination procedure, in order to protect its rights in the event when no compromise could be reached."

"However, we hope to solve all the problems and we can restart our work in the next 14 days" - said in a statement.

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

Director for military programs in Razumkov Center, Mykola SUNHUROVSKY has been asked about reforms in Ukrainian Army.



day.kiev.ua/210133

News / On German Fields, Romanians replace Poles [9]

Those numbers are quite high.

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

I have no grudges against Tusk, I was just continuing with the topic - hoping for the best. But it does not look good.

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]


If the last-ditch talks between the Chinese and GDDKiA fail this week the latter will demand 741 million zł penalties from COVEC. But this looks like an empty threat because the Chinese company has no such assets. During a tender in 2009, COVEC provided banks' guarantees for the amount of 130 million zł - which was the standard 10% security for the contract worth 1.3 billion zł. The guarantees were confirmed by Bank of China, Germany' Deutsche Bank and other banks. Ultimately, each of the participating banks underwrote 10 million zł.

COVEC was registered in Poland in 2007 as a foreign branch of China Overseas Engineering Group, based in Beijing. According to Thomas Starzyk from business information agency Dun & Bradstreet, the holding company is doing quite poorly, below the average for the entire construction industry in China. Its entire annual cash flow is about 4 billion yuan, less the 2 billion zł. This is not much more than the value of the two sections of the A2, which the Chinese have promised to build for the 1.3 billion zł.

There are even more doubts concerning the company. According to "Dziennik", a Polish entrepreneur could not find the seat of the company in Shanghai and Beijing. Also, "Dziennik" claims that they we could not get through to the Chinese numbers listed on the official website of COVEC.

Oh, boy!

I glanced at their website as well - a standard professional design (Flash Player) with "pretty pictures" but not much essence. Certain sections, like "HQ Offices" are empty. "Under construction"? :-)

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


Who do you think you are, calling me names? Control yourself, son.
Comparing your production in this forum vs. Paradowska's in Polityka I would not hesitate for a second whom to choose as my conversational buddy. I enjoy her writing and I am not as paranoiac as you are apparently are. Case close.

News / What must be done to improve politics in Poland? [72]


Oh, bull! I do not live in Poland but I can read and I can draw my own conclusions, thank you very much - so no propaganda please. "Wyborcza", "TVN-24", maybe "Polityka" (half-half) - yes, they do not like PiS and for a good reason. But moving right along: "Dziennik", "Rzepa", "TVP", "Nasz Dziennik" and the bunch of various tabloids and portals ("niezależna.pl" anyone?) just push their pro-PiS agenda so strong that they make me puke, how stupid they sound.

In Toronto, where I live, there is only one daily that at least attempts to stay neutral. That's "Gazeta", the oldest daily here. All other junk papers, many of them free of charge, sponsored by people with specific agenda in mind - especially those tabloids that sell 95% adds for local butchers, real estate agents, auto-mechanics and tarok card readers - toot the same, anti-PO, pro-PiS propaganda. So do not give me your little pathetic story about PiS being persecuted by Polish media.

Going back on the subject: how to improve politics in Poland...
This is nothing original, as far as JPII's works, but he once said something of this sort: Poles should stop fighting against each other, they should start fighting for something.

In another thread here we have been discussing a "Chinese problem" with the motorway A2. One poster pointed to a discussion among MPs, on TV24 - in front of cameras of course, that took place just recently. Finger pointing to start with. Some enjoyment - "hah, they screwed it up, good for us!" And no attempts to rationally help with the problem, which after all affects entire nation and its pride. Frankly, my posts in that thread were more enlightening and up to the point than anything that was said in that public TV show.

Since I do not live in Poland I should really stay neutral - and I was for a long time. For years I was hoping for the better future for all you guys there, for the return to some normality in Poland. After all I have my close family living there. "Oh, just give them some time, two generations maybe, and the communist wrongs would be repaired, people would become 'the most hospitable nation in the world' again" - I thought. Not until I noticed the likes of Ziobro, running around with their secret listening and recording devices, few years back. And that was scary! What the hell has happened with us? Not to us - with us. We did it to ourselves. There is no outside enemy - contrary to what some propaganda attempt to push through.

Read the article "Widacki uniewinniony, IV RP oskarżona" by Janina Paradowska, " paradowska.blog.polityka.pl/2011/05/31/widacki-uniewinniony-iv-rp-oskarzona/
My translation:


And on and on she goes, describing disgusting activities of the prosecutor office, such that Soviet NKVD would be proud of. Read it yourself. That's your IV Republic in its worst.

I still believe in some goodness of some politicians, and definitely in goodness of most Poles. Problem is, we are so quick to judge and speak and so slow to listen and relate. All those resolutions, regulations, and law in general are good for nothing if average Pole does not even intend to observe them. As a result, there is no day-to-day law enforcement, but if someone is finally caught the state comes down on him with a ton of bricks. That's not a definition of a friendly state.

History / What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]


The term "sour cherries" is a misnomer, since many "wiśnia" varieties are not sour at all. Especially those big dark, almost black juicy ones - with soft skin of course. Unfortunately, there is no right translation for "wiśnia". Some call them "morello cherries". There are many varieties of "wiśnia" - and yes - some species are sour, especially those small, light red, pale ones. Wikipedia, pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trześnia, categorizes it as "Cerasus avium", "czereśnia ptasia", "trześnia" - "bird cherry", however the new taxonomy suggests completely different name - "Prunus avium".

There is also "wiśnia pospolita" (Cerasus vulgaris Mill.) - probably a result of multiple interbreeding with "prunus avium" and" Prunus fruticosa Pall." - "wisienka stepowa", "wisienka karłowata".

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiśnia_zwyczajna


A good story, Antek. :-)
Alcohol of any sort, including the one produced by our colleagues from Chemistry department, served as a basis for "cashless exchange of goods and services" in our university. For example, in order to get some broken lab glass mended or some new produced one would be buried under unpleasant paperwork and procedures, followed by "we are too busy, come next week" refusals from our continually drunk faculty "glass masters". But a half litre bottle of any alcohol would open the door to their workshop in no time. Our research group was so pissed off with the situation that we all have learned the basic glasswork: how to join glass tubes, blow the bubbles, embed wire conductors in the glass - without causing it to break while cooling, etc. One more good reason to become a theoretician. :-)

• 
  Prunus avium - sweet-sour juicy "wi¶nia"
  

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]


This sounds like the Tatar's "czambuł". Funny..
One of the Texan cities (I do not remember which one, but definitely not Houston nor Dallas) came with the new resolution regarding the public dress code. Their city buses carry a sign: "Pull up your pants or find yourself another bus". Your student "na czilałcie" should really take notice...

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]

So, this is it! The Polish team from Białystok University of Technology won the University Rover Challenge 2011. Congratulations!
Their rover "Magma2" was the lightest, simplest and the most innovative of all the competing units, including a so-called hexacopter - a flying element used for airborne observation of the terrain. Experience counts: the Białystok-Toruń team has already competed last year at Utah and took the third position with their first version of "Magma".

2. York University, Toronto, Canada
3. Oregon State University, USA
4. "Scorpio", Wrocław Technical University
5. ?
6. "Copernicus", UMK Toruń


Not really. "Spirit No More: NASA Bids Mars Rover a Final Goodbye"


The Mars Society officially announced the result of the URC competitions, marssociety.org/home/press/announcements/untitledpost-2

An excerpt follows:


They also announced that a full breakdown of the events and points, as well as photos and videos of the teams will be posted on their website over the coming days.

News / Polish robots in race for Mars [24]

Translated by boletus:
From "Scorpio" (team Wrocław) blog, scorpio-urc.blogspot.com/2011/06/ostatni-dzien-zawodow.html


The Scorpio's blogger describes in detail two first challenges that took place yesterday. Their rover completely failed on the manipulator arm task: firstly they had so many failures with their servo-mechanism that they gave up on the task. Nevertheless, they tried it later just for fun and they realized that their manipulator was not precise enough for that task.

However, the exceeded in task #1: "Collecting and returning a sample likely to contain photosynthetic bacteria, other colonies of bacteria, or other organisms such as lichens.".


:-)

Oh, one more thing: all three Polish teams cooperate and help each other if they can.

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]


Yes, and this seems to be a global problem.

There is a document by European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Association: "Evaluation of EU public procurement legislation and policies, EFCA policy paper",
efcanet.org/Portals/EFCA/ELOKET/1724/Modernisation%20EU%20public%20procurement%20market%20(2011-03-31).pdf

In the introduction they state:


They propose some reasonable changes to tendering procedures, such as


and

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]


Mods: Most of the "quoted" fragments are in fact my translation from Polish sources, so please do not erase.

I read the article you pointed at, and I repeat what I have said before: I have no clue which side is to be blamed.


But your article is old - 2011-02-11. Here is something newer: from 2011-04-21: "Consortium NDI SA - SB Granite abandoned construction site A4". GDDKiA clearly points its finger at NDI SA - SB Granit. In any event - this does not look good.

Going back to the "Chinese" problem with Highway A2:

The Chinese consortium COVEC announced Friday its intention to opt out of further construction of the A2 motorway between Stryków and Konotopa - told PAP Andrzej Maciejewski of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways. The contractor asks for more talks , but the government is preparing two backup options .

This is an unprecedented situation . Never before government General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways ( GDDKiA ) did not were replaced by the main contractor of the contract in his duties. Yesterday, officials of the de facto started manually manage the construction of endangered sections of the A2 highway . China Overseas Engineering Group , which is building two of the five sections of the highway from Lodz to Warsaw , is on the verge of losing the contract. Foreign shoulder China Railway Engineering - construction giant behind the Great Wall , reaching over 20 billion dollars in revenue a year - can not cope with the implementation of 50 km highway for 1.3 billion zł .




Backup plan 1: direct management of subcontractors



Backup plan 2: "Pospolite ruszenie", "levée en masse"


I wish them the best - even just to play with the nerves of those black ravens that just appeared on TV - cawing and enjoying themselves. "Whatever Midas touched, it turned into gold, whatever Tusk touches it turns to the one - you know what" - says Kurski. Clever!

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

Read what?