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Posts by jon357  

Joined: 15 Mar 2012 / Male ♂
Last Post: 5 Nov 2025
Threads: Total: 76 / Live: 25 / Archived: 51
Posts: Total: 25286 / Live: 15241 / Archived: 10045
From: Somewhere around Barstow
Speaks Polish?: Not with my mouth full

Displayed posts: 15266 / page 394 of 509
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jon357   
3 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

I'd argue that populists aren't democratic at all

It's essentially a technique, one that works well with the lowest common denominator and easily whipped up by news sources.
jon357   
3 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

but sadly like me not empowered to make any kind of difference like millions of others

Yes. Online news is simply binary data on the web; it's how it's used and by/for whom that makes the difference.

We can all do our bit; and have to. I think you've had a varied life and career that's valuable to society and has shown you things that most people never see; as have I. This is important, otherwise people just end up like the two nomarks above, ranting lowest common denominator 'politics' that they don't quite believe but like the idea of without understanding anything outside their own constrained lives.

This is relevant to the thread topic since such people are fed by what they read online. A news source needs to be credible and not pushing contemptible views to the gullible and mentally unhealthy.

And with online news, it's almost as if every opinion carries equal weight. Pre-internet, something needed merit (either intellectual or sensational) to be worth the printing costs. Poland has no dearth of online news, however as with any user-generated content, a very large pinch of salt is needed.

its only a construct to keep you occupied/ distracted.

It works very well sometimes, as we see from the drivel here. Nevertheless, Poland does still have some quality news sources; at least it does when yo've sifted through all the slush.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

geared towards Facebook/Twitter users neither of which I spend much time in.

Nor me (I don't even have an account on the first and rarely use the latter) though you can look without joining. There's usually some content every day.

Seems to be written for Guardian readers....

More for broadsheet readers in general.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

A different solution is needed .......

Yes, though certainly not populism.

We know 'capitalism' doesn't work, we know that Communism is constantly undermined by the avaricious, and we know that the forces of evil (including the so-called 'independent media') constantly try to undermine Social Democracy.

One reason that it's so refreshing to find news sources in Poland that aren't sponsored by PiS or that exist solelt to advance a 'capitalist' or religious agenda.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

impartial

He certainly seems neutral and isn't advancing any dogma.

people with too much money and power who are happy that half the world starves in poverty

capitalism basically.

Compared with most of the English-language news sites, NfP is moderate, objective and unaligned to any party or tendency.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

Sorry mate the universities had been taken over by the commies decades ago ,

Is that a fact? It would surprise many members of the various SCRs at Cambridge.

I prefer to listen to people who have lived and worked in the real world not some nunnery that you would call a university

Those pesky experts.

I do know what you mean about Ivory Towers, though the news site in question does give a very good analysis of events in PL.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

I wouldn't bother with RT, and the Morning Star is dreary. The Guardian and The Times are the best. About Poland, the Radio Poland site used to be OK though started to deteriorate a couple of years ago. GW is on the conservative side (which says a lot about its extremist detractors), however the tabloids in PL are often OK for general news, and the news magazines have so much competition that they (the real ones, Polytika and Wprost) have to keep their content decent.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

Are there any Brit expats here (paid from multis/UK firms)? Maybe jon...

I doubt it. Personally, nope, never been one, not even on arrival the best part of three decades ago.

Funny about us knowing nothing about Poland.

Some confuse not 'knowing' with not sharing their particular point of view. That's the most common perspective.

Plus there's someone pretending that the Director of the Polish Studies programme at the University of Cambridge "knows nothing about Poland".
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

The original founder when it was a blog is the Director of the Polish Studies programme at the University of Cambridge. Perhaps you think he knows "nothing about Poland".
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

A couple of expat Brits who know nothing about Poland

He's not a Brit. He's a Kiwi with Polish roots who's lived in PL for a long time. The other person who runs it is a Pol-Am.

Seems sound, and a breath of fresh air compared to the PiS-sponsored propaganda sites.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

Quite. You prefer government-controlled propaganda sources.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

Completely. Unaffiliated to any party and not advocating any political tendency or point of view. Run by someone who was a very regular poster here.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

Given bolek's other postings I was assuming he was interested in Polish language sites

More about having axes to grind. A common thing for people on the political extremes, fed in part by the news media who need as many readers as possible.
jon357   
2 Jan 2019
News / Poland's News sources [59]

outlets for PiS and completely untrustworthy

On social media there's a good news source "Notes from Poland", run by someone who used to post here. Politically neutral and unaffliated too.
jon357   
1 Jan 2019
Genealogy / Want to find a person [777]

Anna Wlodkowski

In Poland her name would be Włodkowska rather than Wlodkowski (assuming she hasn't remarried or changed it for another reason). There are 5 people called Anna Włodkowska on Facebook, three looking too young, one with no photo and another looking around the age you mention. A round-ish face too.

Let us know if that's the right person. Good luck!
jon357   
20 Dec 2018
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]

The monetary value of the foreskin is too high.

It has no monetary value.

The construction of expensive skin creams

Very rarely.

It has no value for health or anything else.
jon357   
12 Dec 2018
Travel / From Krakow to Auschwitz (transportation) [29]

Wouldn't ya need at least a day or so to "recover" after visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau??

It certainly stays with you. A harrowing place.
jon357   
11 Dec 2018
Travel / From Krakow to Auschwitz (transportation) [29]

It's easy just to get a train there. The part of the complex that people visit (Auschwitz I, where the 'arbeit macht frei' sign and the harrowing exhibits are) is close to the station; you can't miss it. There are regular guided tours there in English (the exact same tour that you'd be on if you paid for a 'package'), and the official guides take you at the end of the tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau (where the famous train tracks/watchtower is and where the very large gas chambers were). Oświęcim is a small town and easy to get to and from.

If you want to explore at your own pace, this is the best way to do it.
jon357   
15 Oct 2018
Law / How do I verify a Polish company's existence? [249]

The 00-001 is a Warsaw postcode - so it may be valid:

Not for that area of Warsaw.

You may like to look at this website and their sub-page: scamadviser.com/is-alstroz.eu-a-fake-site.html

Suspiciously little about them online, in fact only their own website.
jon357   
13 Oct 2018
History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

But since Kievan Rus was European state originally wouldn't you want to bring them back to European civilization completely?

It would be hard to 'bring back' Russia to any sort of civilisation, since it has never been in any sense a civilised country.