Love / Relationship Issues with my polish girlfriend advice needed [76]

In Russian, there is a saying: «насильно мил не будешь», or "even when forced to, you won't be able to be sympathetic".

What this aphorism means, I think, is that one cannot love, or return to love, if there is absent a connection of the souls. There has to be mutual attraction.

It's always hard to hear that somebody does not love you. Can make a guy want to shoot himself. However, trying to be extra charming and romantic, is not the answer. This is the definition of what I wrote above. You are trying to force somebody back into love, and that never works.

Go find someone that will love you for the guy you are, not the guy you can "turn on" in an emergency situation in an attempt to save your family.

Kids feel the happiness of their parents very acutely. They know if you are miserable, and it reflects on their own development. It's not really doing them any favors to power through a sh!t relationship for their sake.

Life / In need of good Polish jokes about Polish culture, people, etc [239]

This time, I need help understanding a Polish joke.

Why does the duck winning, indicate the presence of a Pole?

Does this mean Poles are so stupid, their roosters are incompetent? I'm so confused.

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Life / In need of good Polish jokes about Polish culture, people, etc [239]

Some more jokes:

- People say I'm very old-fashioned.

- Who says this?

- My serfs, for example.

/////

(The year is 2017)

- Excuse me, sir, how do I reach Lech Kaczynski Avenue?

- Drive straight down Victims of the Smolensk Catastrophe Street, then take a right onto Kaczynski Brothers Street. Next take the turn onto Martyrs of April 10th Boulevard, before going onto President of the Millenium Street, from there you can go down Fighters for Law and Justice Street. It's easy afterwards - simply go to the Twins Square, past the monument to Jaroslaw the Living God, and you'll end up directly on Lech Kaczynski Avenue.

////

Lech Walesa tells the German president:

- I can promise that Poland will give you everything you need.

- Danke.

- Anything, except Dankę

Life / In need of good Polish jokes about Polish culture, people, etc [239]

An Englishman and a Pole are arguing about which language is more difficult to learn.

Englishman: For example, we write "Shakespeare", but it's actually pronounced "Szekspir".

Pole: That's nothing, we write "Boleslaw Prus", but read "Aleksander Glowacki".

News / Famous Poles die - your memories [112]

Today, a famous Polish-American mathematician - Ted Kaczynski - took his own life while being hospitalized at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina. Yet another victim of the brutal conditions rampant in the American correctional system.

Wikipedia tells us, that: "Theodore John Kaczynski was born in Chicago on May 22, 1942, to working-class parents Wanda Theresa (née Dombek) and Theodore Richard Kaczynski, a sausage maker. The two were Polish Americans who were raised as Roman Catholics but later became atheists."

He went on to become one of the best high school students in the country, earning him a National Merit Scholarship to Harvard University at the tender age of 15. At Harvard he studied mathematics, which he continued then to pursue at the University of Michigan as a masters student. Focusing on complex analysis, specifically geometric function theory.

After leaving academia, he became a wilderness survival expert, living out of a modest cabin in Montana. Finally, in the closing chapters of his life he became a civic activist, campaigning around issues close to ecology and technologic progress.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


... and a terror to the Germans.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


You raise an important question. The existence of these miniature states (yet bound in all the vestiges of sovereignty) is a pernicious problem in European history for the past few centuries.

Ordinarily, the answer to your question would be economic coercion and brute force. Unfortunately this path is now only available to the United States. Even China struggles to address regional problems in this way.

The only real answer to the problem is that the many countries of the world (200 is it now?), should be consolidated back into a manageable 30-45 countries. Everyone is responsible for their own little patch of dirt, and doesn't expect ludicrous assurances from each other - as Tacitus wisely pointed out.

A Polish Intermarium could be one of those 30-45 countries. With Poland's abundant natural resources, well developed stock market, impressive demographics, and powerful military - it could easily be the locus of a Central European superpower.

News / Poland is the new military power of Europe. [275]


More like the turd in the corner that's stinking up the whole room.

Peddle your "Global Britain" trash amongst your Tory boyfriends. Britain has the least global significance right now that its had since before William the Conqueror came to your foul island in an attempt to civilize you.

Off-Topic / Things We Love [332]


Disgusting stuff, sure to have you well on your way to diabetes.

1) I loved cigarettes, but sadly can't smoke them anymore. In the beginning, it was unfiltered Lucky Strikes and Chesterfields. Then for the longest time - until I quit - Marlboro Reds. Nothing better than rolling out of your tent in the morning, pulling a cold can of beer from the cooler, taking an electrifying morning sip, chased by a mouthful of sweetly acid smoke. No coffee can compare.

2) Fishing. When I fish, I fish. Last time was a month ago when I rented a house at a lake upstate. I probably fished 16-18 hrs a day. It's like crack to me. After each fish I tell myself, "just one more"...

3) Women. All kinds of women.

4) Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

5) Drinking alone. I hate drunk people, and cannot talk to them. I enjoy being drunk myself - very much.

6) Scuba diving. No cell phones, no emails, no one speaking, just the sound of the bubbles exiting your regulator. Plus fish, I love fish. I love to eat them, but I also love to look at them. Scuba is when I am most at peace.

7) Debating my family.

8) Being home alone.

9) Going to favorite museums alone.

10) Saunas

News / Poland is the new military power of Europe. [275]


You started well enough, but then you put your British patriot hat back on.

The strongest military in Europe is Turkey. By any objective measure, sans nuclear weapons.

They are not part of the EU. They are Muslims. There is a lot of them - 85 MILLION! They are located much more strategically than Britain.

I would agree however that Britain is number 2 after Turkey. Then France. Then Italy/Poland, etc.

Off-Topic / A Slavic Guide to Women [3]

@Cargo pants

You have just demonstrated all you are worth.
Go and take a rest now, piggy.

Work / How does a person join the Poland's army? [39]

@Kashub1410

I don't have time to waste on serving in junior roles within the national armies. This seems more trouble than it is worth.

How about the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport - any connections there? Willing to take on a civilian role in the air traffic control tower.

Work / How does a person join the Poland's army? [39]

@Kashub1410

Any advice on how to be recruited into a staff position at the below formations:

Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE), Szczecin
MNC NE Support Brigade, in Stargard
Brigade Command Company, in Stargard
100th Signal Battalion, in Wałcz
104th Support Battalion, in Wałcz
Force Protection Company, in Szczecin

Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade
LITPOLUKRBRIG, in Lublin
LITPOLUKRBRIG Command Battalion, in Lublin

If you can help me be recruited into either of these two formations, I am willing to enter into Polish citizenship.

Off-Topic / Authoritarians of the World - Unite! [4]

This why, reluctantly, and against my economic interests - I vote communist in protest. In any case, they seem to be the most moral of all the crooks that abound.

News / Poland overtakes Taiwan and the Netherlands... [17]


Never met such a patriot of Polish journalism - hahaha. This man is beyond saving.

News / Poland overtakes Taiwan and the Netherlands... [17]

I told Kania many times to stop reading Polish press. It is not good for the brain.

News / Poland overtakes Taiwan and the Netherlands... [17]


I wonder what method of calculating GDP was employed. When checking the same IMF stats for countries in terms of both nominal and PPP GDP, these are the results:

1) Netherlands: $1.080T & $1.290T
2) Taiwan: $790B & $1.7T ($790B goes a much longer way in Taiwan than it does in Europe)
3) Switzerland: $841B & $739B (extremely strong Swiss franc is a big factor in the "haircut").

Meanwhile, these are the stats for Poland:

Nominal: $748B

@ Purchasing Power Parity: $1.7T

So what do we have? Poland does not have an economy larger than any of the three countries listed, when we use straight nominal numbers, without indexing for anything else. Only when comparing PPP numbers does Poland tear ahead.

I'm fine using PPP, but am a little frustrated that nobody wanted to use PPP when discussions were centered on the Russian economy. Instead it was: "ahahaha, Russian GDP halved after Crimea". In terms of PPP, Russia has a larger economy than UK, France, Italy, and only slightly smaller than Germany. I doubt anyone on this forum would treat that number seriously.

Also, Taiwan has a little north of 20M people, NL - 17M, and Switzerland - 8M. A little sad to compare yourself to them, no?

As to the statistic claiming Poland attracted more "greenfield" investment than China - I just don't know what to say. It's a meaningless statistic. Foreign Direct Investment flows to China amounted to $189B in calendar year 2022. In addition, the Chinese state invested an additional $218B into fixed asset investment projects. I won't scare you with the number for how much Chinese households invested.

Poland recorded $25B in FDI flows during 2022. So this "greenfield" either has some very narrow and stupid definition, or is defined only as "greenfield" flows outbound from the other 26 EU countries. With a stretch, I'm willing to believe that during that year Poland attracted more European investment than China - given the context. But there is simply no way Poland can compare to China in terms of overall investment. Neither can tbh US, India, Brazil, or Indonesia.

History / Andrzej Panufnik - Another Anglo Pole [4]


Man oh man... Poland was really rough to Andzej Panufnik.

First they punished him by giving him the reins of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra - the leading one in the country. Then they decided it is not enough, and made him head of the Polish Union of Composers. Deciding that his liberalism was taking on a dangerous bent, they decided to send him to Moscow to meet Dmitri Shostakovich and Aram Khachutarian. Further, he got to meet the Zhou Enlai the premier of China.

He was so restricted in his movement by the communists, that he went ahead and married an Irish woman, and made regular visits to the British Embassy before finally emigrating.

Truly, the Communists were worse than the Nazis. Good for him for escaping!

Off-Topic / Russian Views On Poland and Vice Versa [414]


Huh? Can't seem to trace what you're reacting to.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]

Alex Jones claims the US government has the know-how and the wherewithal to produce a weapon which makes frogs gay. If they can make a frog gay - imagine what they can do to us?

Off-Topic / Things you can't get used to in your new country [95]


In general Americans are obnoxiously loud. In Russia, in a restaurant there is basically silence compared to an American restaurant. In an American restaurant I feel I have to yell at my companion to be heard.

Nobody is as loud as the mainland Chinese however. I never know if they are arguing, or discussing the weather. Even black people in America appear as English aristocrats, when compared to the Chinese.

On the other hand, in Kyrgyzstan and in Bhutan - it was pointed out to me that I was speaking very loudly. Everything comes in gradations

Off-Topic / Things you can't get used to in your new country [95]

1) Air travel - American air travel definitely the worst in the developed world. Nowhere else have I seen this amount of delays, cancelled flights, ****** airports, idiotic staff, and anti-human interior design.

2) Police - I don't feel that they "protect" me here, instead I feel a compulsion to cross to the other side of the street when seeing one. No objective reason to feel this way, just feel cops are a lot more approachable in Russia. Maybe it's the fact that I'm here on a visa, and don't feel nearly as free as I feel back home. I could conk a cop on the head in Russia, and nobody would deport me anywhere.

3) As mentioned in the "Turning 60 years old" thread - the absolutely atrocious attitudes towards seniors and family in general. This constantly shocks me, and not in a good way.

4) Anywhere outside the big cities the food seems to be absolutely terrible (and even in the big cities, food that is good is very expensive). The people eat sh!t. Like literal sh!t. Then they look correspondingly.

5) The goddamn air conditioning. It's everywhere and all the fu*king time. Americans live like astronauts preparing for cryosleep. I'm a big guy, that doesn't often feel cold, so then I feel like a woman when sitting in an American movie theater or subway car.

6) I don't know what this thing is called in English, but it's the thing you put your blanket inside of before you use it to cover yourself in bed. At least in civilized countries. In America, a minimum of homes seem to use this thing, instead employing a stupid system where you cover yourself with a sheet and then the "uncovered" blanket on top. This seems to me very uncomfortable, and rather unhygienic. In general, the way Americans do up their beds is weird. At home, and in hotels.

7) Tons of houses with no light fixtures in the ceiling. What the hell is up with this? Why does everybody use goddamn lamps?

8) No bidets to wash your ass.

9) The tea is never actually hot. Sometimes they warm it up in a microwave. Savages.

10) The coffee is sh!t, except in big cities.

11) Did I mention the food is terrible?

12) Rich people behave towards poor people in disgusting ways. Everyone thinks this is normal.

13) The roads on the East Coast.

14) People from New Jersey. No such thing in Russia, thank heavens.

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


Sounds pretty good to me. The "people", by and large, are stupid. Then, they elect other stupid people to be their leaders. It would all end in disaster, if not for the "Grey Cardinals" or "Deep State", that try to keep the ship of government on an even keel regardless of what the "people" may want to happen.

Probably the only country that does "direct democracy" well is Switzerland. But it is populated by Swiss people. Most other countries cannot rely on this factor, and by most I mean all.

Sorry, just felt someone had to put in a good word for the "Grey Cardinals".

Off-Topic / Terms of Russian Surrender [116]


Pretty difficult for me to imagine, in granular detail.

Local NATO brigade may find it hilarious - if one were to say that "Russia hasn't really begun to approach things seriously" - but in many ways it's the truth. Certainly the truth when compared to Ukraine.

1) Our government is terrified of calling a general mobilization.

2) The economy is still largely on a peace-time footing

3) Travel restrictions are correspondingly loose

4) UKR government offices are still strangely "off-limits"

5) Different "grain" and "ammonia" export deals are in effect, and gas is continued to be pumped through the Ukrainian gas transport network.

However, you asked me how we may lose... Here's how this might come about, IMHO:

1) Putin continues to think he may be accepted back into the warm embrace of G7, and therefore attempts to avoid doing anything "scandalous" - such as targeting key Ukrainian decision makers.

2) Putin continues to try to isolate Russia's civilian population from the "horrors of war". Eventually this will lead to a rude awakening, with unpredictable circumstances. Better to start preparing people now.

3) Martians land on Red Square, declaring eternal friendship to the people of Earth.

4) Zelensky declares as his aim the "reconstitution of the Soviet Union, within its 1991 borders", and calls upon the people of Russia and Belarus to lay down their arms in furtherance of this goal. The purpose being, the reunification of a single people separated by tragic historic events.

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [450]


You come up to people with red hair and ask them where they are from?

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [595]


Sana me Domine et sanibor!

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [595]


Hahaha! You are the average age of my friend circle. I noticed that after 30, age stopped mattering very much in my friend selection protocol. Of course, my girlfriend would say this is because I am as boring as rock.


Are you not Catholic?

History / Future of Kaliningrad Oblast - is it possible to annex by Poland or will it become an independent country? [146]

@GefreiterKania

Whatever brings you Poles joy.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [595]


Poles suffer, because they must learn. Pain is the beginning of wisdom.

Aeschylus said as much:

He who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep pain, which cannot forget,
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God