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Posts by convex  

Joined: 25 Nov 2009 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 28 Nov 2011
Threads: Total: 20 / In This Archive: 13
Posts: Total: 3928 / In This Archive: 3150 		From: Wroclaw
Speaks Polish?: un poco...wait
Interests: aviation

Displayed posts: 3163 / page 89 of 106
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convex   
26 Feb 2010
UK, Ireland / Britain... What the Poles did for us. [444]

Not at all, youre comparing a war tactic to declaring war thats obsured. Using that context we can bring on thousands of hypothetics.

I think that the intelligence gathering ability that was made possible by cracking enigma (and of course Turing & co for cracking on an industrial scale), was one of the decisive factors in winning the war. I am not equating declaring war with a tactic, that would be absurd.

Are you not aware that initially Hitler had no intention of war with Britian.

Initially he had no intention of war with Norway either, or the Benelux for that matter.

Anyway, he spells it out pretty clearly in Mein Kampf. Neutrality would not be tolerated, Britain, Italy, and Germany were to form an alliance and take out France, then defeat the Soviets.

Do you also believe in the easter bunny and the tooth fairy?

To underestimate the tactical (and strategic for that matter) advantage that the ability to read your enemies confidential communications brings...well.... Ok, you have a great argument there about bunnies and fairies.
convex   
26 Feb 2010
UK, Ireland / Britain... What the Poles did for us. [444]

If the Brits hadnt declared war on Nazi Germany, there wouldnt be a Poland today. The Poles should be thanking their lucky stars the Brits stepped in, albeit belatedly.

Arguably, if the Poles hadn't broken enigma so early on, there wouldn't be a Britain today.

Nazis. Didnt. Want. To. Invade. The. UK.

They didn't want to invade anyone. Sea Lion must have all been in my head.
convex   
26 Feb 2010
UK, Ireland / Britain... What the Poles did for us. [444]

Not necessarily - if Poland and Pilsudski had trained the Polish Army to use guerilla warfare against the Germans instead of trying to fight man to man, Poland may just have had a chance.

That wouldn't have been tolerated. Guerrilla warfare would have given a great reason to go into scorched earth mode, and eventually just murder or deport all the remaining Poles.
convex   
24 Feb 2010
History / Were these Polish people communists? [16]

They weren't pro-communist, they just accepted their situation and worked within it. They also weren't actively anti-communist like many of the forgotten heroes of that time.
convex   
24 Feb 2010
History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]

well with the French and the Brits and Italians legitimizing the whole thing it was pretty much a done deal.

Might as well hop on the bandwagon.

And for the record I think that the Brits were great allies who did all they could under the circumstances, the same can't be said about the Americans.

America was never in an alliance with Poland.
convex   
24 Feb 2010
History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]

So Poland took advantage of a situation to further their own interest, therefore helping to legitimize the Munich agreement...

Did we ever have any obligations to help Poland. We also never signed anything like French and Brits did so quit blaming us.

Thank you for pointing out that glaringly obvious detail. The defense pact was in place to react if Poland was attacked by Germany, which did occur. The UK defense pact had nothing to do with internal affairs, nor did it have anything to do with the Soviets. As far as I could see, the UK lived up to their end of the deal... I don't know enough about the French pact.
convex   
24 Feb 2010
Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

Yes, I had to buy some green sticker for 15 euro (or sthg like that) to place on the windshield if I wnated to drive inside Berlin. But I have an ordinary car, not so environmentally friendly.

Only some cars are able to get the sticker. Cars without a catalytic converter for instance can't get a sticker. Large trucks can't get them. Quite a few older cars don't qualify for class 4.

How do you know? If you go to hospital in a week or so... Anyway I don't wish you that of course. But someone may be paying for you in the future, you increase this chance greatly.

I guess if you have the same insurance provider as I do, I suppose you might be paying in and we'd be sharing the cost. I can't even imagine how many people are using my contribution to pay for things like childbirth, bypass surgery, dialysis, hell, psychological care.

Restaurants? I'm fine with that, no problems there! But a smoking ban in pubs? Open a few smoking pubs, and open a few non-smoking pubs.

Amen, if there's a demand for it, the places will open. Apparently there isn't enough demand for it right now...
convex   
24 Feb 2010
Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

Ok, but this is what, like a 0.1% of the traffic or even less? It's such a small number that it falls into "interesting but insufficient" category;)

Actually most of the bigger cities are covered. I wouldn't call all the city traffic insignificant.

Are you so lazy that you are not willing to go out for a smoke? I think this is actually a good law to impose (one of few I agree, but "letting the nature to decide" is not applicable here) but it'll serve EVERYONE, even you who don't agree with it.

It's not a matter of being lazy or not, if the owner of a bar wants me to smoke outside, it's no problem at all. It should be up to the person paying the rent there as to what happens on their premises. Reducing the fat content of foods would serve EVERYONE, why not legislate that? The same goes for alcohol? Look at how much damage it does!

hat is very expensive and not many of those people have ever paid for their treatment. How do you argue that? I don't want to be paying for your cancer treatment. Or mine because of you. Smoker:))))

Trust me, you definately won't be paying for my cancer treatment.
convex   
24 Feb 2010
Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

It is impossible to ban the things you mention

Why? In Germany there are zones that only certain cars which meet stringent emission standards can drive through.

Don't say that people who don't want to smell like smokes can always stay home - that is not much of a choice, is it :).

No, people that choose to go out can choose to go to bars which are non smoking. I would actually be more comfortable with a ban on smoking in non private establishments (public areas). It's a matter of the rights of the owner of the establishment.

Once the government figures out that quite a bit of domestic abuse and violence stems from consumption of alcohol, I would expect that to go as well. We can't forgot all the hardship that families go through (and the burden on the public health system) when a loved one dies of heart disease, so no more fatty foods in restaurants.

Why don't people just take some responsibility? The means to change it is there. Open a non smoking bar, where the majority apparently would go to, and let nature run its course. See, no need for laws. You can't get this right back, ever. Once it's gone, it's gone for good and sets a great precedent for other violations of private property laws.
convex   
23 Feb 2010
Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

Your friends are either smokers or they are not assertive. Have you thought about what they like?? Maybe blowing the smoke in their faces in not exactly the type of fun they'd like. Or maybe not.

My girlfriend doesn't smoke. She won't go to places that allow smoking, and I respect that choice. My friends speak up when they don't like something. If the music is crap, the service is crap, or if the atmosphere is crap. If they weren't assertive, they probably wouldn't be my friends.

I don't like the smell of grease in my clothes, but every now and then I find myself in a McDonalds. I also don't like the smell of car exhaust, yet almost everyday I find myself coming home smelling like the city. Is there a ban in the works for those two as well? Drunks **** me off too, alcohol ban? Drunks after all are the ones ****ing in the street, making everything smell like urine and depositing their kebabs on the sides of buildings.

I'm not talking of restaurants, I'm on about pubs. In a country like Poland there is very little consideration that non-smokers might have a problem, so few pubs bother. I'd be a hermit if I did that.

You were talking about majorities earlier. Pubs would bother if non smoking patrons were in the majority. I'm willing to go in halves with you on starting a non smoking pub, if you can show me that there is a demand for it. Make a good enough argument, and I'd be willing to finance the whole thing.
convex   
23 Feb 2010
Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

It's a matter of awareness and culture I guess however, this particularly should be regulated by some law as there is no bad side of imposing such ban.

Why do you need a law to enforce something that has the market behind it? We don't need a law to settle this one. More laws is always a bad thing. Just vote with your money, let the people that run the bars decide if they want to get on the bandwagon and attract new customers, or stay with the old model and turn people away. It's a huge intrusion on the rights of the bar owner. There is absolutely no reason for a law.

The other thing is that I don't think many people would go to a non-smoking pub when all their friends want to go to a smokey hole.

You've just hit the nail on the head, it's not economically viable because the majority of the people don't want it. If the majority of the people did actually want it, you'd see many many more smoke free pubs and restaurants. I vote with my money, we all can do the same. I got to bars that allow smoking, because I like to smoke when I drink and talk with friends. I refuse to eat at places that allow smoking. Why can't you do the same?
convex   
23 Feb 2010
Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

I know a couple of places in Wroclaw that are smoke free. Unfortunately, they aren't exactly booming...

It's simple - noone would deny right to smoke. You want to smoke - you go outside (or to smoker's room etc.) without affecting the whole place. The majority of society does not smoke.

Then why not just open non smoking bars? Isn't that the solution? I mean the majority don't smoke. Why is no one doing this?
convex   
23 Feb 2010
Life / Do you think a smoking ban would be a good thing in Polish restaurants and Bars? [217]

if not a total ban, then at least harder segregation. I rarely go to pubs now as my wife has allergies and neither of us feel well after being in a pub with no air conditioning and a thick fug of smoke.

Why on earth would you go there? Are there no other options? Are there many people that think like you? Lets open up a non smoking bar and make a killing...
convex   
22 Feb 2010
Classifieds / Expat groups / parents / clubs - Wroclaw [13]

There will be a drunken stumbling club meeting this Saturday for...well, something like a marathon around the pubs in Wroclaw. Pod Papugami on the 27th at 8pm. PM me, and I'll send over my number.
convex   
22 Feb 2010
History / The relations: Church and III Reich (Kosciol-NS Niemcy) [16]

The fact is that Catholic clergymen and Catholic laymen saved more Jews than any other institution, organization or state. And the clergyman paid the price. Thousands were imprisoned even archbishops and bishops, many died - 20% of Polish clergymen were executed or killed in Konzentrationlagers (in some Western Polish bishoprics more than 50%) and Polish bishops Kozal & Goral died in KZ.

They also managed to save more Nazis than any other institution, organization, or state. The Catholic church is a huge organization, with some of it's members sympathetic to the plight of the Jews, some supporters of national socialism and fascism. The church was riding it out in the middle. As long as either the fascists or the allies were in power in Italy, the church would be safe. I'm sure if they truly felt threatened, there would have been a much harder line against the Nazis.
convex   
20 Feb 2010
Real Estate / Mortgages for apartments in Poland - what currency? [9]

Also, something to add to that. In the past, with currency fluctuations, the interest rate of the target currency usually went down which offset the pain of the fluctuation. Interest rates can't go down any further in most western economies. That means if you get hit with a fluctuation now, you're gonna be hosed unless you're hedging against something. Interest rates have no where to go but up.

Take home loans in the currency that you earn, or hedge against currency fluctuation.
convex   
18 Feb 2010
Study / A Portuguese student wants to study in Poland [10]

ens-cachan.fr/monabiphot/pages/services4.htm - There are two dormitories located in the centre of the city

Both of those are central, within stumbling distance of rynek. There are also quite a few dorms in biskupin, but i'm not sure how much they are. I would guess they're cheaper as they are a bit further out, and older. And a bunch of private rooms in Poland.

portal.pwr.wroc.pl/349591,242.dhtml - and here are some more from the university of technology
convex   
18 Feb 2010
USA, Canada / Do many Polish people in America hate Americans? [592]

Not quite true, there were plenty that were wanted (those found after the blitz) who were shipped over for convenience and those that were in temporary care in the early days...You really do need to learn a bit before you speak on such matters...

Considering the fact that they were sent away from their homeland, I'd say they were unwanted.

Your modern day bible bashers would make the calvinists look like wh*res and devils in comparison :D You might want to look at the surnames of the founders of the religion...they were not English ;0)

The founders of the religion weren't, but people that made their way over the US were. Edward Winslow & co come to mind.

our modern day bible bashers would make the calvinists look like wh*res and devils in comparison

wouldn't doubt it. there are now laws in place to prevent their atrocities though.
convex   
18 Feb 2010
USA, Canada / Do many Polish people in America hate Americans? [592]

No, you don't know your history criminals were also shipped to America, it only ended after they gained their independence.

you might want to check your vag for sand, and clean if necessary. a humorous comment, chuckle chuckle everybody.

Yes, most people know that the British also used America as a convenient place for long term storage of criminals.

The Quakers were not relgious wackos

No, but the calvinists were/are.

And yes, most people know that the British also used Australia as a convenient place for permanent storage of unwanted children.

Britain managed to dump unwanted kids all over the place, America, Canada, New Zealand, some of the African colonies...
convex   
18 Feb 2010
Law / GDP or GDP per capita - what's more accurate number in Poland? [10]

What are you looking for? If you want to compare the financial situation of average people in different countries, you're best bet is to take a look at median incomes, the cost of a local basket of goods, including real estate, and the unemployment rate.

GDP is a sham :)

If it's quality of life you're looking for, HDI is a good indicator.

OECD has stats ondiscretionary income too
stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?datasetcode=sna_table2