Life / Will the price of petrol/diesel reach 7 Zlotys in 2011 [58]

The story with diesel is all Russia-related. Europe is still, enormously dependent on Russia for diesel.

This story really irritates me.

A few weeks ago, I read some happy NATO cheerleader write something along the lines of: "there is a shortage of diesel in Russia, hahaha!".

Then I saw Putin put in place export controls on diesel. Immediately, I saw dozens of articles with headlines like, "Putin Raises the Ante with Ban on Diesel", "Diesel - the new weapon in the Kremlin's arsenal", etc.

Western clowns...

Diesel is cheap in Russia, so many unscrupulous people were making ludicrous amounts of money selling it abroad. The government banned this, so that there could be enough diesel for Russians. Now, the clowns went from laughing at Russians for diesel problems, to accusing us of using it as a weapon.

Build your own refineries. Buy our crude from India at a premium, and make your own diesel. Stop making everything the fault of Russians.

Can you imagine the allies complaining that Hitler won't sell them oil, gas, or grain? Well that's you now. And yes, in my example we are Hitler.

Life / Question about Polish medical treatments [4]


This is sort of random, but I know a guy that has this condition, and he literally washes his face with Head & Shoulders.

I'm a little skeptical myself, but curious if this is something you've heard about?

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


See... this is what I need!

Lots of husbands and boyfriends keeping the good 30+ people occupied. I tell myself - a husband is not a concrete wall....

I don't want to be a home wrecker, but what can you do if you see that two people match? My only rule is no wives of friends or business partners. At that point, it's not behavior of someone you want next to you.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Fair enough. Rare as it is, this does happen.


This grotesque point of view is the only I have, while I cannot find someone I love.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


You don't know me, and I don't know you... believe then when I say it's not difficult for me to find women interested in me.


This is true. I feel this lacking in my life, in a bigger and bigger way. I see that people do not take me as seriously, as they appraise some other people from our social circle, merely because I wasn't as successful at creating a family for myself.

This is why I am laser focused on kids. I want my own soldiers, my own persons which I molded after my own image, like some toy soldiers out of clay or pewter.

I love kids. I feel a big gaping hole in my life through their absence. I feel I am something less than my peers, because I don't have kids.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Now I'm sorry - I clearly phrased that in the wrong way.


Reading your description, I see how it is difficult. The time to grab these girls is before 23-24. My problem is, they are not interesting to me at that age. Maybe I should talk to Strelets35, lol.

Why they are not interesting, is because at that age they act essentially as toy dogs at my side. I feel embarrassed before my adult friends and their wives, if I bring someone like that with me.

Here is another part of being single at 35 which is not great - less and less of your friends want to spend time with you.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


No, no... I meant her parents being divorced.

If she is divorced, and has no kids - that's fine in my book.

I have two major relationships in my life, and both happened to last seven years. The girls I've met, have explained to me that's basically equivalent to having been married twice. While I disagree, I see where they are coming from.

Divorced is not a criteria. I just don't think that a girl that grew up without a dad would be good fit for me. Not sure if that is a fair criteria...

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


I recently had a couple of dates with a 34 year old (yes, the Ukrainian girl is out of the picture after 7 years together). Before that, I had several dates with a 27 year old. I caught myself doing a lot of simple math in my head. The first girl would be 40 in 6 years, and the other in 13 years. That seemed a big difference.

Virtually all the women worth being around, after 30, have been married and have at least one kid. I don't want to sound like a terrible person, but I realized I don't want to raise someone else's kid. I even told myself - "if you really like her, what does it matter?". Problem is - I didn't "really like her", as I can't "really like" anyone at the moment. I also like the idea of having my own chance at making a family, rather than inheriting someone else's.


I can see the attraction of this option. However, personally, I am a big family person. I don't want some fortress-type mentality in my family of, "it's us against the world". Marriage is a marriage of two families, in my understanding.


I thought this way for a long time. However, there's problems girls from poor families have, that rich girls don't. If I am really trying to create a life with a minimum of friction, a girl from modest means would not qualify. Again, I am a terrible person.

Agree with points on intelligence/education, and others.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


This is true, very true. I'm not sure I could ever love someone, like I loved the person I loved in my early twenties. I think this muscle, atrophies afterwards.

Now I have to measure any potential mate against the following criteria:

1) Is she younger than 30?
2) Was she married previously, does she have kids?
3) Does she speak Russian well? Does she speak English well?
4) Is she intelligent? Well educated?
5) Does she come from an "intact" family, or a divorced one?
6) Does she come from a "good" family?
7) Is she physically attractive to me?

After you sort through these criteria, almost no one passes the test.

Forget about love... All I feel these days is some kind of passing excitement (infatuation) over some colorful person I run into, which inevitably turns into disappointment once the novelty wears off.

The time to do a quick deal was late teens and twenties. Now I've been spoiled by life.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


As a man, I think I have somewhat of a different problem... but maybe it's the same for women. I can't say.

I spent about 15 years after college focusing on my work. Now, when I feel I'm standing firmly on my two feet, and finally want to have children - there is no one I want to have them with.

Do not misunderstand me - I really want children. I think I would be a good father. However, it seems the correct way to have children is to have them with someone you love. Last few years, I have come to understand that I'm becoming pretty set in my habits, and more stringent in filtering potential relationship candidates by a complex matrix of criteria. I find it hard these days to "like" anyone, let alone "love" them.

Starting to think, I should marry someone for a few years, get some kids, then go back to living life as I've become used to it.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


Whoa! I shudder to think how you treat people that you do not respect. Could you give an example of such a person?

UK, Ireland / London is Poland's 24th largest city [85]


I mean... it's still America's financial, cultural, and innovative capital. It has the best restaurants, the best museums, the best theatres. If Chicago is the capital of the Midwest, then in NYC it really feels like a global capital. No annoying guys from Indianapolis or Milwaukee, that earn $200K a year, and behave as if they own the world. In NYC you can meet anybody, and at the same it's remarkably classless. You could be sitting with a billionaire and never know it.

As a businessman, within walking distance of my office, I can find the best best lawyer and best accountant. I can go to a cafe downstairs and have a beer with my investor. Manhattan is built on convenience... This density of professionals and deal makers is probably only rivaled by London, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Paris, Tokyo, Berlin are national ghettos.

UK, Ireland / London is Poland's 24th largest city [85]


Of course you forget Moscow. According to other calculations, it's Moscow that's Europe's biggest city at roughly 20M (metro area). Before this FT article you shared, I had never seen 25M being quoted as London's size.

People often joke re: Russia's distorted economy - due to the insane centralization of wealth in Moscow. These people must not have heard of London. The 25M figure above is staggering, meaning almost every second person in the UK lives in London. How is the "levelling up" of Yorkshire, the Midlands, Wales, and other places going to happen if London continues to hoover up all the cream from the rest of the country?


You should come to NYC. London will feel like Singapore to you then.

Life / Poles are not racist [873]


Have you ever been to Africa?

I say this because I've already heard it quite a few times where an argument is made along the lines of, "It's African-Americans that tie themselves up in knots over racial transgressions, while actual Africans don't mind it one bit."

Newsflash - they do. Africans are surprisingly proud people, who would've thought. On the one hand, they do seem to think that their American cousins are a little bit crazy, but on the other - and I assure you - they still think blackface is in bad taste.

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]

@amiga500

I think I will stop responding to you, like with that other person, until you can learn to communicate like a human being.

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]


You're quite good at writing meaningless messages. Here, and in other threads.

The Ukrainians must not have been informed that it was just an "nation state import ban" (whatever the hell that means).

The Ukrainian agricultural ministry announced back in April, that it "regrets the decision by our Polish colleagues to temporarily limit exports to and through Poland (including transit) of agricultural products from Ukraine".

The Polish prosecutor's office, in parallel, had performed investigations that same April, into firms that had allegedly been relabelling Ukrainian grain meant for industrial purposes as Polish grain for food production and selling it to flour producers in Poland.

Every document I have read on the subject, states that the import ban includes transit.

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]


Poland of ten years ago, and Poland now - two very different animals.

Shifting subjects from Glapiński's fate... the grain ban is not going to be great for taming inflation. In the larger picture, the effect may be negligible in comparison to other factors, but for Poland's poorest it will be a hard blow. At the cost of protecting Poland's farmers, the average cost of a loaf of bread will likely further rise.


Why don't you read the news a bit more closely, and then argue.

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]


This has less to do with Western democracy, and more with naked honoring of past obligations.

Investors watch these things closely when appraising risks of investing here or there. It sends a not so nice signal that dealing with Poles can be dangerous, because subsequent administrations will not honor arrangements made by previous ruling parties.

If they can jail (or invalidate decisions made by) former office holders, it's a short distance from there to invalidating agreements entered into by the PiS government and investors.


What is this, then:

• 
  IMG_7021.jpeg
  

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]

Read an article in Politico.eu, about how PO has promised to hold Central Bank head Adam Glapiński to account if they are to win the elections.

Quote:

The party, Civic Platform, vowed to hold Glapiński accountable for "destroying the independence" of the National Bank of Poland and "failing to implement the basic task" of fighting high prices, it said in publishing a package of pledges for its prospective first 100 days in office on Saturday.

I find this a little bit strange. PO has also promised to make an entire host of other PiS functionaries face tribunals, including Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, President Andrzej Duda and Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.

Not saying such naked political reprisals couldn't happen in the United States, but it certainly has a whiff of banana republic about it.

In other news, related to inflation quite directly, Poland has promised to effect a unilateral ban on Ukrainian wheat when the EU moratorium expires in two days.

UK, Ireland / The "Paracetamol Myth" - Polish people hesitate to visit UK doctors. [51]


Luxury!

When I said employment, I really meant slavery.

We had to get up at 12 am, half an hour before bed, and a 1,000 miles was only the trip one way. Puddle you say? We'd be so lucky to drink out of a puddle. No, in our case we had to drink from a septic tank through rolled up newspaper. Then our father would come home, and beat us on the head with broken bottle.

But we were happy then. Try explaining that to the young people these days.

UK, Ireland / The "Paracetamol Myth" - Polish people hesitate to visit UK doctors. [51]

Jon, you should know this... When I think of those friends mentioned above, I often remember the Monty Python sketch about the four Yorkshiremen.

You know this sketch?

UK, Ireland / The "Paracetamol Myth" - Polish people hesitate to visit UK doctors. [51]


Every time I've Googled this stuff, it seemed that the actual academic literature doesn't support any claims of actual health benefits. Instead, it's more about the risks... But I know what I know, and I definitely feel better.

My friends, especially certain, specific persons, usually excoriate me for my sybaritic tendencies. It may be bad... but I don't think it's the kind of sin people make it out to be.

For one - it provides employment.

UK, Ireland / The "Paracetamol Myth" - Polish people hesitate to visit UK doctors. [51]

Sadly no (but you probably weren't asking me).

I'm 34, and feel a little self conscious of going to spas. That doesn't mean I don't like it. When I travel alone, it's my guilty pleasure - especially if it's some Four Seasons or Mandarin Oriental type place.

Usually, I do the rounds on the steam room, dry sauna, cold plunge - then go in for a massage. That's it. The guys that go in for manicures, facials, cryotherapies, etc - still judge them (even though my first boss was like that).

Best spas I've ever been to were in Japan. Never been to Baden Baden, or any in the South of France.

Russian sanatoriums in the Caucasus would give a lot of the proper "spas" a run for their money.

In New York State we have the historic Saratoga Springs, and less well known places like Mohonk. They're kinda dilapidated, however - as if it's still the 1920s.

UK, Ireland / The "Paracetamol Myth" - Polish people hesitate to visit UK doctors. [51]


This has to be a Communist Bloc leftover. Sanatoriums are still a big thing throughout the CIS. Thermal baths, "medicinal" muds, salt caverns, etc.

However, it's also normal for Russians to say: "I'm checking into the hospital for a week, to have a battery of tests run on my cardio-vascular system". If you did that in the states, you'd be looking at $30-40K if paying out of pocket.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1002]


Muslims are people too.

Off-Topic / Best posters [885]


Ehehehe... I didn't want to create the impression that I am without blame.

I have done my fair share of calling people on this forum: pigs, pigdogs, pedophiles, grandpa/grandma-fu*kers, diseased wh0res, unwashed peasants, clinical idiots, and so on.

However, I don't think I ever called anyone a kike, a faggot, a Jesus-freak, a n*gger, or some such thing.

With love for all mankind - forgive me, a sinner :)

Off-Topic / Best posters [885]


What is this German English?

My criteria would be not very different from what you provided. However, if I could add something, it might be this:

1) Good posters don't throw naked links, or videos without annotation. Instead, there should be some attempt to distill the contents of the link/video into some essential bullet points, which would be easier for people to digest. Not everyone has time to click on everything, especially when there is a suspicion that the content is trash.

2) Good posters refrain from using bad language unnecessarily, or insulting their conversation partner's religion, sexual orientation, age, health disabilities, etc (essentially things the other person does not have much control over).

3) Good posters are able to see things not only from their perspective, but can also appreciate - at least in part - what is being argued by the other.

4) Good posters try to bring new things to the attention of other members.

UK, Ireland / The "Paracetamol Myth" - Polish people hesitate to visit UK doctors. [51]

In Russia, people love to spend days and weeks lying in a hospital bed. Whenever Russians arrive in the United States, they are inevitably shocked at how American hospitals will try to kick you out the minute you can stand on your own two legs.

To my relatives, I explain this by pointing at the exorbitant cost of hospital stay in the United States. But also, I tell them that what we have in Russia is idiotic, because those are beds that could be used by someone that needs it more urgently, rather than a typical Russian hypochondriac that enjoys being looked after. It's fantastically inefficient - how long hospitals are willing to keep people - in Russia.

Is it the same in Poland? Do Poles check into hospitals as if it were a spa in the south of France?

• 
  IMG_6940.jpeg
  

Off-Topic / Best posters [885]


By your criteria, most of the posters on this forum are not good posters.

1) Availability - this criteria, many people would certainly be able to satisfy. However, it alone cannot make someone a good poster.

2) Predictability - everyone here is utterly predictable, probably including myself. We could all swap login information, and probably write posts for each other: that's how predictable everyone is.

3) Clarity of expression - oh boy, this is a big problem here... I will not point any fingers, but these people must know who they are. Sometimes I only understand a message after two or three attempts.

4) Creating aggravation - you really are on the wrong forum :)

Life / Why are Polish people so strange & unusual? [51]


I actually think it's lovely, without quotation marks. My point - really - is that for a nation which gets dumped on so much, for the exact same reasons the Brits and Americans love to dump on us (see front page list of topics)... it's kind of myopic for Poles to join in on the Russia bashing.