Law / Poland's going forward while Britain is still trying to wake up [86]


Can you imagine what would have happened if the worker faction within Solidarity had their way?

I've always maintained that the average moustache-worker within Solidarity didn't particularly want democracy, but only wanted better conditions for themselves and their families. Even nowadays, Solidarity's actions betray them as being very selfish - witness the endless striking and trouble whenever anyone proposes ending their rather cushy conditions. It's not really different to PiS voters as a whole - they talk about democracy and freedom, but on their terms.


And many of those receiving handouts are working on the black market. Does anyone really believe that those people working in guarded parking lots aren't claiming some sort of benefits?

Law / Poland's going forward while Britain is still trying to wake up [86]


By "nice", you mean "terribly tacky and garish", not subject to any planning laws whatsoever, right? I mean, for a country that relies so much on her natural beauty, letting people build whatever they want, where they want is definitely the way forward, isn't it?


What, like your own country that threatens people with prison terms for making fun of the President? At least in the UK, you're free to call the Prime Minister whatever the hell you want.

Law / Poland's going forward while Britain is still trying to wake up [86]


Still posting nonsense, are we?

I'd say the fact that PO wants to dismantle the welfare state in Poland while PiS and the SLD want to keep it is a rather large fundamental difference.


Meanwhile, Poles see their house flooded because they bought cheap flood plain land - and now they want the Government to bail them out because they couldn't afford insurance. Komorowski's already pointed out how terrible the uncontrolled development is in Poland.

USA, Canada / To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question [119]


Pricey for someone who is at least 60, I would guess?

USA, Canada / To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question [119]


I'm almost certain that you'll be taxed on at least some of that amount. Obviously, you'll receive credit for taxes paid in the United States - but Poland starts taxing people at a ridiculously low amount.

Also, 4500PLN or so might be good money right now, but salaries are increasing dramatically. Of course, it depends where you live - if you're happy living in the countryside, about 50 miles or so from a major city, then you will be able to live well.

Something I don't understand - how can you be fit to teach and yet draw a pension from the US Government?

UK, Ireland / Moving from Ireland to Poland [39]

You haven't had the pleasure of dealing with Polish bureaucracy yet. It's not as bad as people say it is, but they will still lie to your face and tell you the wrong information just to get rid of you.

Real family values? Well, if going to church on Sunday and then beating your kids/wife afterwards is your thing, well. Remember, here, it's still acceptable for a man to drink-drive.

Even if you found a job as one, the salary is so low that you would be unlikely to earn enough to "get by". It's quite common for paramedics in Poland to work in an additional job just to pay the bills.

In all honesty - if you don't have something that Poland needs and wants, you will find it very difficult here.

USA, Canada / Poles in America: How do you pronounce your Polish surname? [128]

Nothing annoys me more than the ones who can't even pronounce their last name properly, yet claim to be Polish. Adam "An-gee-eff-ski" was a good example of this!

Love / Ten things to remember when you have a Polish girlfriend [79]


A marvel? The system which condones cheating and has next to no effective punishments for those caught cheating? The same system which teaches endless useless rubbish to university students, just because they can't sack old professors with out of date knowledge? The same system that wastes endless amounts of money on having a break between secondary and high schools? The same system that allows schools to have double or even triple shifts, rather than simply putting the kids into "worse" schools? The same system that produces endless amounts of inexperienced individuals with a "master" degree, yet the same people end up working for 1500zl netto? Or the same system that equips the same students with absolutely no work skills?

There are some good aspects, but the Polish education system is very poor in many respects.

Study / "MAGISTER" OR "MASTERS DEGREE" - ARE THEY THE SAME? [75]


I think the basic level is a bit of a joke - I've seen the requirements to get a pass at the basic level and it's completely shocking as to how easy it is.

But to get three advanced passes at 80%+ ? That's completely different - and easily on par with the UK.

Study / "MAGISTER" OR "MASTERS DEGREE" - ARE THEY THE SAME? [75]


Sure - you'll find that the Polish Matura is in some ways weaker, some ways stronger.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]


As far as I know - yes, they do, because high quality examples are somewhat rare.

Study / 90% of Poles have university degree? [57]


However - it is true that there are adverts here demanding a Masters just to work as a receptionist, which is a joke!

Work / Questions about teaching in Elblag or Opole? [23]


It's a very devious thing to do - I appreciate that some people simply demand too much and then feel hard done by - but schools should leave it alone rather than proactively trying to remove content.

What are they offering you, out of curiosity? Feel free to PM me :)

Work / Questions about teaching in Elblag or Opole? [23]


I can only tell you the facts - there's a forum that is probably the definitive forum about ESL called "Dave's ESL". Regent School have been very very proactive in making sure that any criticism of them is removed from the site - do you really want to work for a school that does such a thing?

I also know puddddddin quite well - and she was left with a very unpleasant taste in her mouth about the place.

There's also the fact that if you have problems there, it's going to be a lot harder to find another job/hours there than in a major city - essentially, you'll be tied to the school.

The "word on the street" is that they resort to hiring teachers blind because no-one in the country would go near such a place. They also seem to hand out a lot of "job offers" in the true Polish style - it really isn't worth anything unless you get a signed and sealed contract.

Work / Questions about teaching in Elblag or Opole? [23]

Don't go there - it's as simple as that.

Study / Medicine study - good Polish University for international students; study in English? [38]


If you don't speak Polish to a near-native level, it is incredibly unlikely that you will fufil the Polish language requirements for medicine.

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]

The article is complete rubbish. For a start, the computers and memory sticks will all have been secured using AES-128 as a bare minimum, if not AES-192. After all - why the hell would a NATO military fly into an unfriendly territory without having everything secured?

Then the talk about "interim government" - what interim government? The PO-PSL coalition is holding up fine. Surprise - Americans fail to understand that the Polish president isn't part of the government.

Poland has also stressed repeatedly that they enjoy full access to the investigation - so more nonsense.

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]


Ah, so you're really not too informed, because it's already been discovered that the "sirens" aren't actually sirens at all.

Cordial invitations by Harry, points about agent orange and Ukraine, fighting for Poland and various other off topic posts, comprising nine pages, removed.

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]

Tell me Olga - either the video is accurate or it isn't. The video that you posted clearly shows fog - so is it accurate, or has it been tampered with?

Your call. :)

By the way, I'm still waiting for more proof about the video creator being killed in Kyiv. Why hasn't any of the Polish media picked up on this yet, Olga?

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]


Did you even read the article? The tests were performed on behalf of the Russians, who have the sole right to conduct the investigation under the relevant international law. The black box has been decrypted and the results passed to the Russians - as you would expect, as it may help them in their investigation. Given the openness so far in the investigation, what would it achieve to withhold the data from the Russians?

Obviously the box was given back to the Russians because the investigation is - well - being carried out in Russia. It's rather useless to them anyway, but it doesn't make sense to have parts of the plane's equipment in Poland.

Then again - I don't expect you to know a damn thing about military encryption or how it works. You struggled enough with the concept of why the TAWS system didn't work as it was supposed to - military encryption might just be too difficult for you.

(go on : tell me that the Russians can break AES. Please, please...)


It's what makes me laugh about the CF crowd - they refuse to accept that these kind of things can actually happen out of nowhere. It wouldn't be the first time that something has crashed due to the sudden onset of thick fog!

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]

You're starting to show how little you actually know about aviation. Given that the box is a Polish military device, it's highly likely that it will actually contain a significant amount of details about the instrumentation, especially if there was a sudden catastrophic failure that suggests external interference.

One thing that you quite probably don't know about is the fact that many modern aeroplanes automatically "phone home" with details of problems. It's this which has allowed a reasonable guess to be made about the fate of AF447, and I'd be surprised if something similar didn't exist on the TU-154.


Has AES-192 been broken? No? There's your answer. It would be incredibly sloppy and lax of the Poles to have a military piece of equipment not using the highest grade of encryption available to them. The fact that the Russians openly said that they couldn't read it suggests that it was indeed encrypted using AES-192 or at least AES-128.


Something that has been 'enhanced' is not identical to the original.

Anyway, if you admit that the enhanced video is the same as the original, then if the dialogue is translated accurately (it's not, but anyway) - then you also admit that the weather conditions are accurate. That means you admit that there was fog at the time of the crash. Cute :)


Where has it been stated by anyone involved with the investigation that this is the case? Or are you still insinuating that the Polish military prosecutors are in fact liars and Russian traitors?

Olga, hey, while we're at it - did you ever find one single remotely credible news source for the story about the cameraman being killed? Even Nasz Dziennik hasn't reported it!

Nice video by the way - taken 2 days after the plane crash :) Or have you chosen to conveniently forget that the wreckage was left in place for a few days?

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]


I said that Kaczynski's man is leading the Polish side of things. Or is my language too difficult for your conspiracy-filled brain?


Yes, which any good investigator will be able to tell a significant amount from.


Russia couldn't do anything with it regardless. They don't have the know-how or ability to tamper with it - as has been previous stated on here, the Poles will be using AES as a minimum for military hardware.


Digitally enhanced and thus tampered with? :) Well done, you've just shown us that the conspiracy theorists are actually tampering with the video!


From your link.


The black box that the Poles have will tell us quite comprehensively about whether or not the plane had engine problems - unless you're suggesting that the Russians are capable of breaking AES encryption AND that they're capable of leaving no traces of this. If so, then NATO is quite frankly ******.

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]


Would this be because Tusk wants the investigation to be independent of politics, and that in fact, a man chosen by Kaczynski is in charge?

Or are you also suggesting that a Kaczynski man is actually a Tusk puppet?

Here's a question : Poland has sole custody of a 3rd black box, used by the Polish military. Are you really going to tell me and everyone else that the Polish military is participating in a cover up to help Russians?

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]


The weather data backs this up as well, unless of course, CNN was participating in the cover up almost from the first hour.

Actually - I was driving home last night and was suddenly enveloped in thick fog out of seemingly nowhere. For about a kilometre, there was really thick fog - visibility maybe around 200m or so. Yet it lifted as quickly as it came - and people believe that such a thing was impossible at Smolensk?

I'm still waiting for Olga and her kin to produce one credible shred of evidence to suggest that this was murder and not a tragic accident.

Law / What are the bike laws in Poland? [30]


Of course it exists - it's still being issued to all non-EEA/CH citizens. Effectively, it is good enough to act as ID - how many foreigners are really carrying around their passports?

There's no guarantee that it didn't - you need to check this with the local police station to see if there's any points recorded against the PESEL. You can't be certain that it didn't get linked somehow - it's quite elementary to link your personal details to the PESEL number.

Law / What are the bike laws in Poland? [30]


Yes, it's actually connected with your PESEL. The system works on the basis of your PESEL number being used to identify the driver, hence why you go to the police to get a copy of your driving record rather than to the driver licencing office. Same reason why your PESEL is on the Polish licence.

As for the police picking up on the fact that you have a PESEL - I've heard reports that they are able to access residency information over the radio - so they'll know if you have a PESEL or not. Certainly for non-EU citizens, they will have the number on the Karta Pobytu - which the police will undoubtably want to see. EU citizens is a different story - and I don't know for certain if they can link the points to your personal details (the Germans can, I know this) if you don't have a PESEL.

So - a British licence is no defence if you have any sort of paper trail in Poland.

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]


That's what I thought, too :(


Sadly, if 8km of visibility is accurate, then the conspiracy theorists will run wild :(

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]

The government didn't get wiped out. In fact, calling the President "government" is a bit of a misleading description, because the President has no executive power and can only do things on the basis of what the Government (which is headed by the Prime Minister) recommends. I'd also hardly call the boss of the IPN and NBP "government".

It would be more accurate to say that the top military command was killed - but as always, with military situations, there was deputies ready and waiting to take control.

So - the guy was obliterated in the crash. Don't you think that there's a possibility that the laptop was equally destroyed?

Real Estate / House prices in Poland to drop more or rise again? [228]


Dunno Mark, why don't you tell us why you don't own property if prices are so low?

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [686]


Yes, because that newspaper isn't known at all for printing absolute rubbish to increase sales.