mafketis
22 May 2018
News / Thousands of Polish women attend Czarny Piątek rally in Warsaw [780]
gadzooks! What female witchery is this?!
gadzooks! What female witchery is this?!
mafketis
21 May 2018
News / Thousands of Polish women attend Czarny Piątek rally in Warsaw [780]
"We're spending more money on the disabled!" is not a campaign slogan that has ever gained a significant amount of votes.
It's very amazing how poorly PiS has handled their very legitimate complaints and it's a little disgusting how the party-run media has tried to turn the public against the disabled...
That's PiS for you "If you're no use to us then spie.....cie!"
But apparently their lives don't matter
"We're spending more money on the disabled!" is not a campaign slogan that has ever gained a significant amount of votes.
It's very amazing how poorly PiS has handled their very legitimate complaints and it's a little disgusting how the party-run media has tried to turn the public against the disabled...
That's PiS for you "If you're no use to us then spie.....cie!"
mafketis
20 May 2018
Language / "Putschke" - Please help me figure out a nickname my grandfather called me [30]
I assumed this was from Yiddish and the (now) General American 'putz around'. "I was just putzing around the house when she called."
"i am going to putschke around
I assumed this was from Yiddish and the (now) General American 'putz around'. "I was just putzing around the house when she called."
mafketis
20 May 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]
the funny thing is how quickly it has become clear that the flow of migrants into Europe represent anything but a massive liability (except to the people smugglers).
remember how funny it was when they were pretending that they would contribute economically? hilarious!
- no Italian contribution without migrants
the funny thing is how quickly it has become clear that the flow of migrants into Europe represent anything but a massive liability (except to the people smugglers).
remember how funny it was when they were pretending that they would contribute economically? hilarious!
mafketis
17 May 2018
Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]
Getting back here late (busy week) but to answer your question.... I'm incapable of religious faith so I'm not sure if 'believe' is the right word, but according to my experience and powers of observation
evolution (and the selection pressure of majority values) the former is about part of what makes different human groups different (on average)
different environments reward different behaviors (places with cold winters favored those who could think ahead, while physical robustness wasn't much of an advantage) places with lots of endemic disease favor those who display robust vigor (and planning ahead isn't rewarded or often possible at all).
the latter isn't about reproduction but about what types of behavior are rewarded or punished in different socieites. Being a free thinker in a conformist society wont' get you anywhere while being a conformist in a society that values innovation is also a dead end.
It's not a contradiction for me to say that all human beings deserve dignity and respect and to point out that putting people from very different physical and social environments in the same place (with no new ethos to assimilate to) is.... not a good idea.
genetic research is showing that groups of people (on average) differ far more biologically than is comfortable for the old Disney exhibit "It's a small world" and the differences are baked in and not amenable to well-intentioned government interventions....
Fair enoughski. What do you believe?
Getting back here late (busy week) but to answer your question.... I'm incapable of religious faith so I'm not sure if 'believe' is the right word, but according to my experience and powers of observation
evolution (and the selection pressure of majority values) the former is about part of what makes different human groups different (on average)
different environments reward different behaviors (places with cold winters favored those who could think ahead, while physical robustness wasn't much of an advantage) places with lots of endemic disease favor those who display robust vigor (and planning ahead isn't rewarded or often possible at all).
the latter isn't about reproduction but about what types of behavior are rewarded or punished in different socieites. Being a free thinker in a conformist society wont' get you anywhere while being a conformist in a society that values innovation is also a dead end.
It's not a contradiction for me to say that all human beings deserve dignity and respect and to point out that putting people from very different physical and social environments in the same place (with no new ethos to assimilate to) is.... not a good idea.
genetic research is showing that groups of people (on average) differ far more biologically than is comfortable for the old Disney exhibit "It's a small world" and the differences are baked in and not amenable to well-intentioned government interventions....
mafketis
17 May 2018
Work / What Jobs are there in Poland for an Englishman besides teaching english? [70]
If you don't live in Poland anymore that should be 'was useful'...
In my 2 years of working in Poland, speaking Polish has literally been useful for me 0 times.
If you don't live in Poland anymore that should be 'was useful'...
mafketis
15 May 2018
News / Thousands of Polish women attend Czarny Piątek rally in Warsaw [780]
Yes it is, unless you think moral agency doesn't enter into questions of morality at all.
That is not an issue at all
Yes it is, unless you think moral agency doesn't enter into questions of morality at all.
mafketis
14 May 2018
Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]
I don't necessarily believe in the unidirectional theory of progress (that all humanity is headed in the same direction with the same goal and some groups are ahead of others).
Nationalism is like everything else, it has its pros and its cons. The nation state enabled the most destructive wars seen on the planet but it also helped produce the highest living standards in history. Universal public education and lots of other things are inextricable from the nation state and it can't be junked without getting rid of them.
The UK is probably the farthest along in the specific project of dismantling the nation state and this includes the government backing off from things like providing healthcare, education, law enforcement, conflict resolution and other services.
I'm afraid much of the rest of the world is still a 'baby'.
I don't necessarily believe in the unidirectional theory of progress (that all humanity is headed in the same direction with the same goal and some groups are ahead of others).
Nationalism is like everything else, it has its pros and its cons. The nation state enabled the most destructive wars seen on the planet but it also helped produce the highest living standards in history. Universal public education and lots of other things are inextricable from the nation state and it can't be junked without getting rid of them.
The UK is probably the farthest along in the specific project of dismantling the nation state and this includes the government backing off from things like providing healthcare, education, law enforcement, conflict resolution and other services.
mafketis
14 May 2018
Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]
historically everything leads to war.... nothing leads to war quite like peace, every single war? preceded by peace. Maybe peace should be outlawed?
dont' buy it, it's more that different societies have different majority prefences (the same range of behavior is found in all societies but what the majority in each society wants is different)
historically everything leads to war.... nothing leads to war quite like peace, every single war? preceded by peace. Maybe peace should be outlawed?
a world divided into different stages of human development
dont' buy it, it's more that different societies have different majority prefences (the same range of behavior is found in all societies but what the majority in each society wants is different)
mafketis
14 May 2018
Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]
Because it's full of Puerto Ricans who tend to be violent. Attitudes toward everyday violence vary wildly across countries and in societies where it's regarded as acceptable in personal relationships (Latin America, Africa) or as an expression of honor (Middle East, North Africa) levels of violence will be higher than in other places.
Bring a bunch of people from violent places to a calmer and guess what? They bring the violence with them.
The state of any society is first and foremost a result of the values and choices of the people living there. Migrating somewhere else doesn't change that (it can but it takes generations and perhaps forceable weaning them away from their original culture and can bring about alienation which has its own problems...)
Human nature isn't that hard to understand but people in charge of urban and migration (and lots of ofther things) in the modern world try to ignore human nature and the importance of cultural values and the results are what they are.
- this is quite an interesting way of looking at it, but why is Puerto Rico so violent?
Because it's full of Puerto Ricans who tend to be violent. Attitudes toward everyday violence vary wildly across countries and in societies where it's regarded as acceptable in personal relationships (Latin America, Africa) or as an expression of honor (Middle East, North Africa) levels of violence will be higher than in other places.
Bring a bunch of people from violent places to a calmer and guess what? They bring the violence with them.
The state of any society is first and foremost a result of the values and choices of the people living there. Migrating somewhere else doesn't change that (it can but it takes generations and perhaps forceable weaning them away from their original culture and can bring about alienation which has its own problems...)
Human nature isn't that hard to understand but people in charge of urban and migration (and lots of ofther things) in the modern world try to ignore human nature and the importance of cultural values and the results are what they are.
mafketis
12 May 2018
Life / The Art of Complaining by Polish people [47]
that should be psiakrew, what you wrote is "dogs of blood" whatever that is....
Psy krwi
that should be psiakrew, what you wrote is "dogs of blood" whatever that is....
mafketis
11 May 2018
News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [43]
Some Gypsy groups classify sex within the group and with non-gypsies for money as two completely separate activities...
they also largely ignore each other... I saw an interview with a Poznan gypsy who said there were three or four branches in the city with almost nothing to do with each other...
They were pretty serious about their traditions, though. No premarital sex,
Some Gypsy groups classify sex within the group and with non-gypsies for money as two completely separate activities...
the Polish Roma essentially ignored them
they also largely ignore each other... I saw an interview with a Poznan gypsy who said there were three or four branches in the city with almost nothing to do with each other...
mafketis
11 May 2018
News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [43]
Gypsies like lots of kids, a teenage pregnancy isn't a problem...
Gypsies like lots of kids, a teenage pregnancy isn't a problem...
mafketis
11 May 2018
News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [43]
Not necessarily. The thing to remember about gypsies is they have something like a caste system and some of them support themselves partly from prostitution with non-gypsies.
Once in Bucharest in the middle of the street in summer I saw an adult gypsy woman very obviously prostituting a young girl (barely a teen) to someone in a car. Very unsettling. People with weak nerves don't necessarily want to know how gypsy cultures work...
Gypsy prostitutes? Wouldn't they be totally ostracised?
Not necessarily. The thing to remember about gypsies is they have something like a caste system and some of them support themselves partly from prostitution with non-gypsies.
Once in Bucharest in the middle of the street in summer I saw an adult gypsy woman very obviously prostituting a young girl (barely a teen) to someone in a car. Very unsettling. People with weak nerves don't necessarily want to know how gypsy cultures work...
mafketis
11 May 2018
News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [43]
It would be an immediate failed state without non-Romany to actually run things. Traditional Romany culture (like orthodox Jewish culture) needs a host because there's too many things necessary to keep a society going that they won't do because they're too concerned with nonsense like ritual purity and maintaining tradition rather than improving their lives materially.
A better long term plan would have been to carve out a not too bad part of the Soviet union with compulsory bilingual education for a few generations.
It would've made a lot of sense to move them into a state carved out of Eastern Slovakia, Eastern Hungary and that bit of Ukraine
It would be an immediate failed state without non-Romany to actually run things. Traditional Romany culture (like orthodox Jewish culture) needs a host because there's too many things necessary to keep a society going that they won't do because they're too concerned with nonsense like ritual purity and maintaining tradition rather than improving their lives materially.
A better long term plan would have been to carve out a not too bad part of the Soviet union with compulsory bilingual education for a few generations.
mafketis
11 May 2018
News / Roma community feels discriminated in Poland [43]
Please, they are totally incapable of achieving (or maintaining) a state. They can't organize at any level higher than the extended family (or caste, if you will).
The Soviets tried to settle them and essentially failed.
When the Roma eventually get their own state
Please, they are totally incapable of achieving (or maintaining) a state. They can't organize at any level higher than the extended family (or caste, if you will).
The Soviets tried to settle them and essentially failed.
mafketis
11 May 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]
Lack of power of abstraction. The idea of internalizing blame (things are bad because of choices I/we have made) is an almost exclusively post enlightenment western idea. For most of the world if things are bad then it's because you've angered the gods or enemies are practicing witchcraft and the like.
Unfortunately western intellectual ideas often work against themselves. For a westerner colonialism was a political phenomenon with bad and good features, for non-western colonialized people it's witchcraft and the cause of all their misfortune. Magic thinking.
Most of the people bringing primitive savagery like FGM to Europe or trying to impose and enforce blasphemy laws are no more able to make the connection between dysfunctional social practices and poverty than a goldfish can understand the idea of a fishbowl. Not because they're stupid because most aren't, but because they've never had the chance to engage in abstract critical thinking - and tend to avoid doing so when they have the chance by invoking multi-cultural nonsense.
I often wonder why people in countries which (bad stuff) move to a new place and repeat this behavior after having escaped it.
Lack of power of abstraction. The idea of internalizing blame (things are bad because of choices I/we have made) is an almost exclusively post enlightenment western idea. For most of the world if things are bad then it's because you've angered the gods or enemies are practicing witchcraft and the like.
Unfortunately western intellectual ideas often work against themselves. For a westerner colonialism was a political phenomenon with bad and good features, for non-western colonialized people it's witchcraft and the cause of all their misfortune. Magic thinking.
Most of the people bringing primitive savagery like FGM to Europe or trying to impose and enforce blasphemy laws are no more able to make the connection between dysfunctional social practices and poverty than a goldfish can understand the idea of a fishbowl. Not because they're stupid because most aren't, but because they've never had the chance to engage in abstract critical thinking - and tend to avoid doing so when they have the chance by invoking multi-cultural nonsense.
mafketis
10 May 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]
the main difference (aside from quantity) is the idenitty of the victims.
Why is the holocaust the only genocide people are expected to still worry about (in a century of genocides small and large)?
in which innocent Poles were slaughtered by Russians, and the Holocaust, is like comparing apples and oranges
the main difference (aside from quantity) is the idenitty of the victims.
Why is the holocaust the only genocide people are expected to still worry about (in a century of genocides small and large)?
mafketis
7 May 2018
Language / Issues understanding "to go" verb in Polish language [18]
The three big factors with Polish verbs of motion (which aren't that important in English) are
1. by foot or by vehicle (sometimes type of vehicle) iść vs jechać
2. is there a destination? (fex jechać (towards a place by vehicle) jeździć (go by vehicle but not necessarily toward a destination)
3. is/was/will be the destination reached? (jechał vs pojechał_
The three big factors with Polish verbs of motion (which aren't that important in English) are
1. by foot or by vehicle (sometimes type of vehicle) iść vs jechać
2. is there a destination? (fex jechać (towards a place by vehicle) jeździć (go by vehicle but not necessarily toward a destination)
3. is/was/will be the destination reached? (jechał vs pojechał_
mafketis
6 May 2018
Language / Issues understanding "to go" verb in Polish language [18]
Also the Polish equivalents of a number of expressions in English that use 'go' don't use any verb of motion in Polish
I went to the doctor - Byłem u lekarza (I was at the doctor's)
We went to the movies - Byliśmy w kinie (we were at/in the movie theater)
you don't say . Idę samochodem but Jadę samochodem.
Also the Polish equivalents of a number of expressions in English that use 'go' don't use any verb of motion in Polish
I went to the doctor - Byłem u lekarza (I was at the doctor's)
We went to the movies - Byliśmy w kinie (we were at/in the movie theater)
mafketis
6 May 2018
Language / Issues understanding "to go" verb in Polish language [18]
The problem is with duo and not you. I've used duolingo but they are very erratic in terms of translations and very slow to correct mistakes (if they ever get corrected).
duolingo is best at helping you brush up on a rusty language or as a supplement to other learning materials, the interface doesn't lend itself to being a primary source
both walk and go should be accepted as translations (and both present continuous and simple present should be accepted)
The problem is with duo and not you. I've used duolingo but they are very erratic in terms of translations and very slow to correct mistakes (if they ever get corrected).
duolingo is best at helping you brush up on a rusty language or as a supplement to other learning materials, the interface doesn't lend itself to being a primary source
both walk and go should be accepted as translations (and both present continuous and simple present should be accepted)
mafketis
5 May 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]
No it does not. Poles feel no collective guilt for the holocaust and compensation has to end sooner or later. Where are the Jews standing up for compensation of property lost by Poles to the Soviet Union? Or by Roma? Poland has been generous enough with compensation.
Play another card, the collective guilt card won't work.
. However, the question of culpability needs to be spread around.
No it does not. Poles feel no collective guilt for the holocaust and compensation has to end sooner or later. Where are the Jews standing up for compensation of property lost by Poles to the Soviet Union? Or by Roma? Poland has been generous enough with compensation.
Play another card, the collective guilt card won't work.
mafketis
3 May 2018
Law / Work permit + national visa in Poland for India citizen [91]
You probably can't unless a hospital wants to hire you (which they won't unless you speak Polish - the language of medicine in Poland).
You probably can't unless a hospital wants to hire you (which they won't unless you speak Polish - the language of medicine in Poland).
mafketis
1 May 2018
Travel / Travel within Schengen using Poland's Karta Pobytu &/or US Passport [9]
they usually check passports if you're flying within Schengen (in Poland, again outside of Poland they can't tell the difference between a karta and a dowod)
they check your ID only.
they usually check passports if you're flying within Schengen (in Poland, again outside of Poland they can't tell the difference between a karta and a dowod)
mafketis
1 May 2018
Travel / Travel within Schengen using Poland's Karta Pobytu &/or US Passport [9]
Probably not. The one time I flew Ryan Air as a non-Schengen citizen they wanted to see my passport (and stamped the board pass I'd printed).
On regular airline flights I've checked always handing in the karta pobytu first and only showing my passport if they specifically ask for it. Once or twice they haven't asked for a passport but usually they do.
Outside of Poland (in Schengen) they can't tell the difference between a karta pobytu and a dowód osobisty and usually don't ask for a passport.
Probably not. The one time I flew Ryan Air as a non-Schengen citizen they wanted to see my passport (and stamped the board pass I'd printed).
On regular airline flights I've checked always handing in the karta pobytu first and only showing my passport if they specifically ask for it. Once or twice they haven't asked for a passport but usually they do.
Outside of Poland (in Schengen) they can't tell the difference between a karta pobytu and a dowód osobisty and usually don't ask for a passport.
mafketis
26 Apr 2018
Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]
But havent' non-fatal violent attacks skyrocketed?
But havent' non-fatal violent attacks skyrocketed?
mafketis
25 Apr 2018
Genealogy / Polish surnames - Origin and Meaning [29]
I'm not a geneaologist (sp?) but I'd very surprised if they weren't.
There's also the possibility that they are the "same" name in different slavic languages (like Polish Trepka and Russian or Ukrainian (or something) Terepka)
I'm not a geneaologist (sp?) but I'd very surprised if they weren't.
There's also the possibility that they are the "same" name in different slavic languages (like Polish Trepka and Russian or Ukrainian (or something) Terepka)
mafketis
24 Apr 2018
News / Thousands of Polish women attend Czarny Piątek rally in Warsaw [780]
you have a real problem with logical inference....
a fetus is not a moral agent, especially at the age in which most die (many without the woman ever realizing she was briefly pregnant....)
conception is a very poor benchmark for protected status - implantation would be better and natural viability is even better.
According to your logic we should have a right to kill all people
you have a real problem with logical inference....
a fetus is not a moral agent, especially at the age in which most die (many without the woman ever realizing she was briefly pregnant....)
conception is a very poor benchmark for protected status - implantation would be better and natural viability is even better.
mafketis
13 Apr 2018
Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]
They're not fundamentalist Christians, many theologians wouldn't consider them to be Christian at all (they call themselves Christians but many disagree) they have some seriously weird rituals like the veil ceremony (filmed in secret and now available on youtube I highly recommend watching)
And mainstream Mormons no longer practice polygamy (there are some very small rebel offshoot groups that do but they're not officially Mormons)
Also not fundamentalist Christians. In the US context 'fundamentalist Chistian' refers almost exclusively to evangelical groups devoted to ideas like literal interpretation of the Bible, being 'born again' as an adult, tithing etc)
And crucially evangelicals have some influence as a voting bloc but no real power in practical terms. I agree there's lots of crazy on the fringes (like a group that wanted/s to base the legal system on the bible) but they have no chance of exercising real power.
A couple of different times, but IINM they reached their membership peak in the 1920s (slight revival as an underground terrorist organization in the civil rights era) but they've been close to having anything like real political power, racist institutional power in the South had other foundations and heavily depended on setting blacks and poor whites against each other...
Firstly you have the extreme groups like those amongst the Mormons who practise polygamy
They're not fundamentalist Christians, many theologians wouldn't consider them to be Christian at all (they call themselves Christians but many disagree) they have some seriously weird rituals like the veil ceremony (filmed in secret and now available on youtube I highly recommend watching)
And mainstream Mormons no longer practice polygamy (there are some very small rebel offshoot groups that do but they're not officially Mormons)
The Amish also have had under age sex scandals.
Also not fundamentalist Christians. In the US context 'fundamentalist Chistian' refers almost exclusively to evangelical groups devoted to ideas like literal interpretation of the Bible, being 'born again' as an adult, tithing etc)
And crucially evangelicals have some influence as a voting bloc but no real power in practical terms. I agree there's lots of crazy on the fringes (like a group that wanted/s to base the legal system on the bible) but they have no chance of exercising real power.
Just bear in mind that America produced the Ku Klux Klan
A couple of different times, but IINM they reached their membership peak in the 1920s (slight revival as an underground terrorist organization in the civil rights era) but they've been close to having anything like real political power, racist institutional power in the South had other foundations and heavily depended on setting blacks and poor whites against each other...
mafketis
13 Apr 2018
Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]
roughly true but more true at the individual level
sort of, if you keep in mind that it's a pretty fuzzy category,
a more helpful way to think of it is that individual genetics set limits for certain behaviors and environment plays a big role in how much of that is actually achieved.
baby a with genetics that make genius level work possible (but born into an aggressively anti-intellectual and chaotic environment) might be surpassed in IQ by baby b with less promising genetics but born into a well-ordered environment that nurtures the intellect
and there are chance mutations as well and there's no predicting when and where they'll turn up (which is why you want to give a good shot at development to all children).
As well as the maximum IQ level one can hope to achieve.
roughly true but more true at the individual level
The set of all these traits is known as a race.
sort of, if you keep in mind that it's a pretty fuzzy category,
a more helpful way to think of it is that individual genetics set limits for certain behaviors and environment plays a big role in how much of that is actually achieved.
baby a with genetics that make genius level work possible (but born into an aggressively anti-intellectual and chaotic environment) might be surpassed in IQ by baby b with less promising genetics but born into a well-ordered environment that nurtures the intellect
and there are chance mutations as well and there's no predicting when and where they'll turn up (which is why you want to give a good shot at development to all children).