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Posts by Bobko  

Joined: 13 Mar 2017 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 9 hrs ago
Threads: Total: 28 / Live: 24 / Archived: 4
Posts: Total: 2988 / Live: 2912 / Archived: 76 		From: New York
Speaks Polish?: A
Interests: reading, camping

Displayed posts: 2936 / page 29 of 98
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Bobko   
6 May 2025
News / Attacks against healthcare workers in Poland [142]

How do you know all of this?

America is a much more liberal place when it comes to drugs, than is Poland - I gather. In NYC, cocaine is omnipresent (though apparently the 80s were even worse). Weed is legal. Alcohol is obviously legal too. It's not unusual for an acquaintance who's beginning to feel a bit too tipsy, to snort some coke and go right back to being "sober". I would do it myself, if I didn't have a strong reflex against putting stuff up my nose - because it seems like an amazing workaround to being a drooling drunk at the party.

The methheads I have a good idea about, because there's simply so many of them. Their antics are on display daily. As you walk into the subway station, you can observe for yourself how they first use the syringe (opioids) and then immediately the pipe (amphetamines). Easy enough to guess that the point of this is to stay lucid for a longer part of your high rather than immediately turning into a vegetable.

The father said that it's enough for his son to drink one beer to go crazy like that.

That's one of the last stages of alcoholism.

The brain's hippocampus has shrunk. The liver is in such condition, that it can no longer metabolize alcohol properly. The brain is dopamined out, and conditioned to perfection by the "First Drink" effect.

At this point, there's not much that can save a person. Probably has only a few years left.
Bobko   
6 May 2025
News / Attacks against healthcare workers in Poland [142]

What the F are you guys talking about... people fighting on fentanyl and benzos!!! This is impossible, like it is impossible for a driver with Down's Syndrome to win the Monaco Gran Prix.

I mean, I suppose it's possible if you take an already extremely aggressive individual, give him some benzos, and then start zapping him with a cattle prod for a good 15 minutes. But even then, a 12 year old child would defeat such an assailant.

Benzos and fentanyl are central nervous system depressants that are literally famous for making people lose all motor function. Besides being limp - your situational awareness is pretty much zero. Add to all this - that it takes a huge effort to inhale even a full breath of air, because your lungs refuse to cooperate with you. Great fighter!

I think you may be thinking of people that are mixing several things at once - then yes, you can get some funny combinations. Fentanyl + Meth. Alcohol + Meth. Cocaine + Heroin. Meth + Benzos. In this way, the meth keeps your reflexes tip top, while the downer dulls your pain and removes your inhibitions.

who are usually not coordinated/fast enough to do much damage

Depends on the stage of intoxication. At a certain point, even Muhammad Ali becomes helpless, but there are other stages. At earlier stages, you can still have decently snappy reflexes, but already significantly dulled pain perception and heightened aggression - a combustible mix.

If you are dealing with a professional alcoholic, you could be dealing with a real demon. If he's in the midst of what Russians call белая горячка (Delirium Tremens), he may decide that you are Beelzebub sent to take his soul - and lunge at your eye with a screwdriver. For this, he doesn't need to have drunk much at all.

In fact, with veteran alcoholics, the best time to get stabbed is when they are sober. Sometime between 8 and 11 am, or whenever the first liquor stores begin to open up.
Bobko   
5 May 2025
News / Will PiS be happy if AfD wins elections in Germany? [1442]

You stop a million when you shoot 10 at the border.

Novi is right here. It's the most effective deterrent.

After the terrorist attack on a mall last year, a lot of people said bad things about Putin for broadcasting on federal channels that the attackers ears were being cut off, and that they were being hooked up to big voltage batteries.

But guess what - the FSB did such a brilliant job at this job - that the entirety of Russia's migrant community is now literally crawling out of its skin to demonstrate loyalty to the Russian state.

Cutting off ears, and electrocuting the balls seems to work - sometimes.
Bobko   
5 May 2025
News / Attacks against healthcare workers in Poland [142]

@jon357

I don't know what could ever compel me to become a prison guard.

I think you have to have a very specific mental profile to want this job.

One of the worst possible jobs I could imagine.
Bobko   
5 May 2025
History / PAŃSTWO - A Tale of Polish Occupation [27]

What happened - not fun anymore

It's hard man. I have to sit for 20-30 minutes writing a post. Then I look at it, and am disgusted with my writing, and infinitely embarrassed I decided to share it.

A proper few paragraphs, if I wanted you to be really impressed - should take days/weeks.
Bobko   
5 May 2025
News / Attacks against healthcare workers in Poland [142]

Not long ago another prison guard shot dead his 5-year-old daughter

Something about being a prison guard...

The ring leader of the Abu Ghraib torture clique was a former corrections officer. Had multiple complaints against him by inmates, at first. Then got a restraining order from his wife, after beating her. Still had no issues re-enlisting with the Army, and then got to do his favorite job again but now in Iraq.

When you spend 8 hours a day around men caged like animals, maybe it does something to your psyche.
Bobko   
2 May 2025
History / PAŃSTWO - A Tale of Polish Occupation [27]

Scene: A small village N. somewhere between Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk. The local Orthodox parish - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker - has been designated for transfer to the Roman Catholic Church under the "Ecclesiastical Realignment Agreement" brokered by PAŃSTWO's religious affairs bureau.

Father Janusz (Polish priest, mid-50s, practical, not overly ambitious) arrives to formally take possession. He finds Father Mikhail (Russian Orthodox, older, tired, kind-eyed) already waiting in the cold vestibule. The church smells of wax and mildew. A stray cat sleeps in the lectern.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Father Janusz:
You are Father Mikhail?

Father Mikhail:
Yes. You must be Father Janusz.

Father Janusz:
I am. I have the transfer papers. You have the keys?

Father Mikhail (produces them):
Such as they are. The big one sticks. We use a hammer.

Father Janusz (nodding):
That's often the way.

[They stand in silence. Neither makes a move toward the keys.]

Father Janusz:
I am instructed to conduct a formal inventory.

Father Mikhail:
If you wish. But I advise against counting the hymnals. Half were chewed by mice during the last... political adjustment.

Father Janusz:
Understandable.

Father Mikhail:
The iconostasis is original. Except for St. George's face. A soldier borrowed it in 1943 and never returned it.

Father Janusz:
Noted.

[The cat stretches and yawns. Neither priest reacts.]

Father Mikhail:
The parishioners will be slow to adjust. Most cannot tell the difference between Latin and Church Slavonic. They go where the candles are cheaper.

Father Janusz:
That is true everywhere.

[A pause.]

Father Mikhail:
I suppose you will change the calendar?

Father Janusz:
Yes.

Father Mikhail:
They will object at first. Then they will enjoy having two Christmases.

[They both nod.]

Father Janusz:
The bishop in Smolensk requests that any Orthodox relics be set aside for collection.

Father Mikhail:
There is only one relic. A finger bone said to be from St. Euphrosynus. The provenance is questionable.

Father Janusz:
In what way?

Father Mikhail:
The bone is rather large. Some say it came from a horse.

Father Janusz:
I will note it as pending clarification.

[They fall into a companionable silence.]

Father Mikhail:
The parish records are in the sacristy. You will find the attendance figures have been... optimistic. The last census was during Lent, when numbers tend to be higher due to the fasting market closing early.

Father Janusz:
A familiar pattern.

[The cat jumps down and pads toward the door.]

Father Mikhail:
I will remain in the village. I am told there is need of a man who can repair fences.

Father Janusz:
A valuable skill. Perhaps more valuable than theology these days.

Father Mikhail:
It always has been.

[They exchange the keys without ceremony.]
Bobko   
30 Apr 2025
History / PAŃSTWO - A Tale of Polish Occupation [27]

Gauleiter?! Surely you meant Wojewoda Moskiewski!

This exalted office is already reserved for Zbigniew Stonoga.

He would make a great Voyevoda, that man.... I would follow him beyond the River Styx.

@Torq

Why is it so much easier to write dialogue, than to write narrative prose?

Does this mean that film scriptwriters are inferior to other authors?

Does this mean that Hasek was some kind of an amateur, since Sveik is almost completely dialogue?
Bobko   
29 Apr 2025
History / PAŃSTWO - A Tale of Polish Occupation [27]

@Torq

Excellent. I imagined Braun as Gauleiter of Moscow, but Vladivostok should do.

Grzegorz Braun *pushes the intercom button*:
Let the chinks in, Ms Kowalska

Amazing.
Bobko   
29 Apr 2025
History / PAŃSTWO - A Tale of Polish Occupation [27]

Checkpoint outside Oryol. A folding table, one broken chair. Rylov (Russian private) and Walicki (Pole - equivalent rank) are manning the station. They've been told to question any travelers and "record suspicious behavior in accordance with DUCH Directive 42/Б." So far, no travelers.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Rylov:
You ever actually caught someone suspicious?

Walicki (without looking up):
Not really. Closest was an American rabbi, came through with a guide and a translator. Said he was visiting to "check in on the Jewish community."

Rylov:
What did you tell him about the Jewish community?

Walicki:
Told him we just guard the road.

Rylov:
Was he wearing a hat?

Walicki:
Of course. And gloves, even though it wasn't cold. Gave us some brochures.

[Pause.]

Rylov:
So what'd you write in the log?

Walicki:
"Cleric. Foreign. Expressed general concern. Provided literature."

[A man with a bicycle rides past without stopping. He salutes vaguely with two fingers. Neither soldier reacts.]

Rylov:
You think they'll make us fill out the form for him?

Walicki:
Depends. Did he look ideologically consistent?

Rylov:
His chain was rusty.

Walicki (nodding):
That's a good sign. Revolutionaries always oil their chains. They're obsessed with progress.

[Pause. Walicki begins writing.]

Rylov:
What are you putting?

Walicki:
"Subject: Bicycle man. Status: inconclusive. Chain rusty, but honest eyes."

Rylov (with awe):
You should get promoted.

Walicki:
Promotions cost money.

[The wind changes. A dog barks once, then goes quiet again.]

----------------------------------------
@Torq

I like the first cover!
Bobko   
29 Apr 2025
History / PAŃSTWO - A Tale of Polish Occupation [27]

Leading member of PIOTR, Captain Marcin Burak wasn't looking positively at the whole situation.

Very nice Grunnie.... hahaha!

This is what we should do - write books, instead of slinging insults at each other.
Bobko   
29 Apr 2025
History / PAŃSTWO - A Tale of Polish Occupation [27]

Inspired by Kania's kind words - I have decided to serialize my PAŃSTWO chronicles.

As a reminder, this is a fictional record of a Polish occupation of Russia - triggered by an unprovoked Russian declaration of war, followed by their immediate surrender (thanks Grunnie for the idea).

-----------

Internal Call Log - PAŃSTWO Headquarters

April 17 - Day 9 of Polish Presence in the Former Russian Federation

Call between Nikolai Sergeyevich (Head of Cultural Affairs, Ural District) and PAŃSTWO's DUCH (Departament Ujednolicenia Cierpienia i Heroizmu). On the phone for DUCH is Lieutenant Kazimierz Wrzodak.

-----------------

Nikolai Sergeyevich:
Good afternoon, Pan Wrzodak. I'm calling again on behalf of the Ural District Cultural Committee. I've been instructed to submit our "Regional Identity Compliance Report," but I'm having trouble answering section seven.

Lt. Wrzodak:
Section seven... that's "Local Expressions of Polishness and Willingness to Participate in the Romantic Struggle Against Invisible Enemies," correct?

Nikolai:
Yes. The form asks us to list "examples of spontaneous Polish melancholy in regional art." Our resident sculptor made a statue titled "Sad Man With Cabbage", but it turns out it was about tax reform. Does that qualify?

Lt. Wrzodak:
It depends. Does the cabbage represent the futility of fiscal clarity in the face of cosmic disorder?

Nikolai (uncertain):
The man is weeping and the cabbage is partially shredded. There's also a receipt nailed to the plinth.

Lt. Wrzodak:
Excellent. That meets the criteria for Class II Symbolic Despair. Proceed.

Nikolai:
Thank you. We also attempted a painting. The initial proposal - Chopin crying in a snowy wasteland - was deemed too abstract. So the team produced a new work titled "Kościuszko Receives an Administrative Summons."

Lt. Wrzodak (suddenly attentive):
Go on.

Nikolai:
It depicts General Kościuszko being handed a stack of official papers by a junior clerk from the Ministry of Seasonal Road Maintenance. Behind him, a portrait of the Virgin Mary is hung slightly crooked. There is a sense that Kościuszko doesn't understand what he's being fined for, but feels morally obligated to accept it.

Lt. Wrzodak (quietly):
That... is magnificent. It encapsulates everything. Duty. Confusion. The quiet humiliation of paperwork. Send it immediately to the Central Registry of Heroic Misunderstandings.

Nikolai:
Of course. I'll have it couriered.

Lt. Wrzodak:
Ensure the Virgin's frame remains crooked. It's essential.

Nikolai:
Yes, sir. One last question - do the official forms in the painting need to reference a real department?

Lt. Wrzodak:
I defer to your best judgement here, Nikolai.

Nikolai:
Perfect. Thank you, Pan Wrzodak. Long live the Commonwealth.

[Line disconnects. A pigeon flies into Nikolai's office window and dies without cause. The paperwork begins.]
Bobko   
28 Apr 2025
History / Poles should apologise to Ukrainians first [487]

he had pleasure of trolling Poles

Espana is a poet and a scholar. I try to follow humbly in his footsteps. But I sketch in charcoal, and he paints with light. I am the echo, and he is the voice.

I am the candle to his sun.

Once I read a post from Espana, and he said - "My dog is stupid. I think he is Polish."
Bobko   
18 Apr 2025
History / What made Poland into the country it is today? [62]

let's declare you 100% Polish

Please... Appreciated, but not necessary :)

I think maybe I am unfair towards characters like Lyzko and Milo.

Russians know what 966 means, because the separation of Czechs, Poles, and Russians is an important part of the mythology of Slavs. Lech, Czech, Rus - and all that stuff. Also, any Russian that gets curious about how Christianity came to Russia, will probably next try to understand how it happened for the Poles and Czechs.
Bobko   
18 Apr 2025
History / What made Poland into the country it is today? [62]

For most of us it is the dialling code for Saudi Arabia...

What the f*ck...

Aren't you a son of some big Polish patriot? I'm not Polish and I knew immediately what 966 meant. I'm pretty sure Velund knows too.

You seem to be about as Polish as Johnny Reb.

Back to what made Poland into the country it is today

Let's look at your points, critically.

1) Solidarnost' - an expression of Poland's innate democratic instincts. Did this appear suddenly in the 1980s, or was it something that had defined Poland over a much longer period of time?

2) Pope John Paul II - Poland is defined by its almost "extreme" Catholicism. While tremendously popular in Poland, and a point of national pride, John Paul II likely had little to do with making Poland such a religious society. This probably took root much earlier, and for other reasons.

3) Joining the EU - Poland joined the EU in 2004. Half the Poles on this forum are Eurosceptics, like Ironside or Korvinus. Joining the EU led to a huge improvement in incomes and infrastructure, but it hasn't changed who Poles are. In the same way that Spaniards are still Spaniards, and Italians are still Italians.

4) Joining NATO - this one just leaves me scratching my head. In what way has joining NATO shaped what Poland is today? Are you under NATO occupation?

5) Polish energy to transform - what?

Ask Bobko

Thanks Rich, like I have nothing better to do... Wait - I don't, haha!

I think Rich's answer was good, and actually a bit surprising to hear coming from him. He usually talks about Poland in disparaging terms, and how happy he was to leave it. So it was unexpected to see him provide a no-nonsense response, grounded in Polish historical fact, without any insults peppered in.

So, why does everything since 966 matter?

At least because in 966 the Pole Mieszko accepted Christianity from the priests in Rome. In 988 the Russian Vladimir accepted Christianity from the Greeks, coming from Constantinople. To this day Poland is Catholic, and Russia is Orthodox.
Bobko   
15 Apr 2025
History / What made Poland into the country it is today? [62]

@Lyzko

How could it be a typo, if within the same sentence Richard mentions this includes events that happened a thousand years later? He mistyped the entire sentence?

Why is it comical that a Pole might consider events in 966 still relevant to the process of formation of national identity?

You are a Jew, correct? Do you find it so preposterous, if someone argues that the destruction of the Second Temple had a shaping effect on Jewish consciousness?

Do you think it's hilarious, that someone may think it still affects modern Jewish life - that they were expelled from all European countries in the Middle Ages?
Bobko   
11 Apr 2025
Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [743]

Go to your local coffee shop and buy a coffee for 5 bucks.

Perhaps it is too simple an example.

Lets imagine this:

1) I am Boeing

2) I buy jet engines from Rolls Royce for $20 million dollars.

3) A trade deficit is formed with Rolls Royce - for exactly $20 million dollars

4) Rolls Royce stubbornly refuses to buy airplanes for me, but instead insists I simply continue buying engines

Am I a loser?

Does it matter that I later sold a plane for $80 million dollars to China Airlines - netting a 25% margin in the process?

How about this:

1) You go to the barber, and he cuts your hair. Charges $30.

2) You now have a trade deficit of $30 with the barber.

3) You go home, and with the hour saved from not cutting your own hair - earn 100X what you paid to the barber.

Should you then go back to the barber, and demand that he purchase a $30 foot massage from you - to balance accounts?
Bobko   
10 Apr 2025
Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [743]

Another great stock pick if you are bullish Russia - GAZPROM.

Total market cap is $35 billion dollars. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil which is tiny in comparison is worth almost half a trillion dollars.

You can own the largest gas producer in the world, for a 90% discount.

Did I forget to say it pays a 50% dividend? Who cares about the stock price performance, when Gazprom prints money for you? It will continue to print money in dividends, for as long as the Russian government relies on it to fill up its coffers.
Bobko   
10 Apr 2025
Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [743]

6 stocks, from any stock market, even Mogadishu

Look at Surgutneftegas.

The company's market cap is 1.6 trillion rubles. It has almost 7 trillion Rubles of cash-like assets on its balance, and practically zero debt.

That is, the company is worth about $16 billion dollars, while it has almost $70B of cash sitting in deposits.

Theoretically - if you could buy the company, you would immediately get a 4X+ return.

It's one of the most mysterious companies on the Moscow Exchange. It has been hoarding cash for almost twenty years. Nobody knows anything about who it's shareholders are, beyond its mysterious director Vladimir Bogdanov who only controls a small share.

Rumor is that it is Putin's personal piggy bank. It's as good an explanation as any, for why an oil and gas company would hoard dollars like Smaug the Dragon.

At one point last year - SURGUTNEFTEGAS accounted for 40% of all FX deposits in Russia. There were about $150B of USD-denominated deposits in Russia, and $70B of it was held by SNG.

They never invest this cash into anything. Not even US Treasuries (they can't do it now because they are sanctioned). They could have turned that $70B into $500 billion by now, through simple investment activity, but instead they just collect more and more cash.

So there's a stock tip for you - a company which controls 5 times more cash than its worth.
Bobko   
8 Apr 2025
Off-Topic / USA and The Middle East. [27]

Trump is doing exactly the right thing by attacking the Houtis in Yemen.

It's very funny how to you:

1) Trump is a galactic-scale moron for destroying the US economy with tariffs

2) Trump is a complete idiot for not respecting his alliance with your sh*thole of a country

3) Trump is a traitor for selling Ukraine down the river

4) and so on, and so forth...

But then at the same time "Trump is exactly right to be attacking the Houthis".

In Russian we say - "Either pull your pants up, or take the crucifix off your neck".

I realize that hating brown people is your primary forte, but what do you know specifically about the Houthis to be able to say that "Trump is doing exactly the right thing?"
Bobko   
5 Apr 2025
Off-Topic / What's your hobby? [191]

@Torq

Slavs are Gods of literature.

They seem like idiots, but at the same time they see through your soul :)
Bobko   
5 Apr 2025
Life / Trendsetter from Poland. [112]

keeping chickens in cages has been banned in the EU

F*cking idiots.

I hope you starve to death.
Bobko   
5 Apr 2025
News / Presidential elections 2025 - the race has commenced!!! [665]

Brat Grzegorz

I love this motherf*cker.

But still my number one is Zbigniew Stonoga, after I was introduced to him by Kania.

Only Stonoga can honestly tell his "imbecilic" electorate, that the way PiS will f*ck them... "tak sie powinno was jiebat jak tylko was Moze".

Respect to this man.
Bobko   
4 Apr 2025
News / Presidential elections 2025 - the race has commenced!!! [665]

insulted the jewish faith and its' followers as satanic

Once again - I ask you what about this appears to you as antisemitic?

You are beginning to sound a little bit hysterical. Please calm down.
Bobko   
4 Apr 2025
Off-Topic / What's your hobby? [191]

haha

Did you forget the Imperial secret agent that was tasked with "entering Schweik's trust"?

Agent Brettschneider?

Who was so ashamed of the costs he imposed on the Inperial treasury, that he locked himself in an apartment with the seven poor wretches he bought from Schweik - and was eventually eaten by them?

When Schweik heard about this, he only said: "It will be hard for him to gather his bones at the Final Judgement".
Bobko   
4 Apr 2025
Off-Topic / What's your hobby? [191]

@Torq
Have you forgot Schweik?!?!


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