Life / Polish Classical Music [101]

@AntV

I went to the NY Philharmonic once or twice. Now they call me twenty times a year asking for an "urgently needed donation" to keep the Philharmonic going. I hate the Philharmonic.

We got three things there, all in one place. The Met Opera, the Philharmonic, and the Ballet. I've been to all three at different points (it's 7 blocks away from my apt). I hated the ballet (went to see Spartacus, expecting some badassery with swords, saw instead a powdered man in tights jumping around). Opera was actually nice, but only because they had LCD screens built into the seat in front with English subtitles. Otherwise I would have fallen asleep. Philharmonic I went to see some German lady play the Bach Cello Suites. Was for a class. Was ok.

Life / Polish Classical Music [101]

Feeling distinctly uncultured while reading through this thread. You people and your erudite takes on music are inspiring to observe!

News / Will America send troops to fight a Russian invasion of Baltics and/or Poland? [283]


Mhmm, kicked our ass so hard they gave away their economic heartland.

From the Wiki article for the Moscow Peace Treaty:

"Finland ceded approximately half of Finnish Karelia, exceeding the amount of territory demanded by the Soviets before the war. The ceded area included Finland's industrial centre, the cities of Viipuri (Finland's second-largest city), Käkisalmi, Sortavala, Suojärvi, and the whole of Viipuri Bay (with its islands).

Finland also had to cede a part of the Salla area, the Finnish part of the Kalastajansaarento (Rybachi) Peninsula in the Barents Sea, and in the Gulf of Finland the islands of Suursaari, Tytärsaari, Lavansaari (now Moshchny Island о. Мощный), Peninsaari (now Maly Island, о. Малый) and Seiskari. Finally, the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviet Union as a naval base for 30 years at an annual rent of 8 million marks. The total area ceded by Finland amounted to approximately 9% of its territory.

The harsh terms imposed on the Finns led them to seek support from Nazi Germany."

Of course, it worked wonderfully when the Finns went in for round 2, with the assistance of their new Nazi friends. The result was the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948, where Finland agreed to (in addition to all its earlier concessions): "[...] to resist armed attacks by "Germany or its allies" (in reality interpreted as the United States and allies) against Finland, or against the Soviet Union through Finland. If necessary, Finland was to ask for Soviet military aid to do so."

Link:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Peace_Treaty
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Soviet_Treaty_of_1948

Great success! Now Finns can tell themselves they are heroes, just as Poles can, and soon Ukrainians will be able to.

News / Will America send troops to fight a Russian invasion of Baltics and/or Poland? [283]

Oh my, what a rollercoaster this Finland/Sweden thing is! Do you think Finland and Sweden will put all their exalted values up their ass, and extradite those 73 Kurds to serve time in Turkey? If the stakes are - protecting your own skin, I suppose they might. Europeans, after all, are always "flexible".

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News / Up to 80 Polish fighters killed in Ukraine [63]

Nothing. Except that Russians usually come to collect, sooner or later, and you should be prepared to pay. Over short time horizons, however - nothing.

Bismarck had something to say about Russia in this regard:

Do not expect that once taking advantage of Russia's weakness, you will receive dividends forever. Russian has always come for their money. And when they come - do not rely on an agreement signed by you, you are supposed to justify. They are not worth the paper it is written. Therefore, with the Russian is to play fair, or do not play.

News / Will America send troops to fight a Russian invasion of Baltics and/or Poland? [283]

@Crow

Hmm. Seems so.

News / Will America send troops to fight a Russian invasion of Baltics and/or Poland? [283]

Hey! This is my old thread! I'm some kind of genius, surely - for anticipating the high relevance of this topic all the way back in 2017.

*pats himself on back*

News / Strange object over Poland's Silesia [27]


Delirium Tremens, known colloquially in some English-speaking countries as "the shakes", or "seeing pink elephants" - is often known to cause visual hallucinations of "little green men". However, we can safely rule out alcohol withdrawal as the reason for these absolutely factual events because as with the farmer and so with the people from Gdynia - all affirmed they were sober on that day.

Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]

@jon357

Your hate for Poland and all things Polish is painfully palpable. But why come online, and in a forum intended for people to share things about Poland, would you come and spew your toxic venom?

Have you not better things to do? Polish pizza makes Poles happy, and ketchup is both nutritious and delicious. Accept it, you imperialist scum.

Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]

@Przelotnyptak1

Ahem... The title of the thread is "Polish Pizza - Best in the World". Please stay on topic.

News / Strange object over Poland's Silesia [27]

@GefreiterKania

Oh sh!t. You told me you were a Pomeranian, but I did not think you were from Gdańsk. Nice man! I really want to visit Gdańsk - all my life been wanting to go there.

Rapidly moving on. It seems you have a somewhat dismissive attitude to Poland's history vis-à-vis unidentified flying objects. Is it so fantastic to you, that people would want to travel the galaxy only to abduct a Polish farmer? Some people already claim that Polish people are extraterrestrials - and if you follow the evidence you will begin to see that it is more than just rumor. Don't hate, if you don't understand.

Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]


I have, but it's quite far from my apartment and so I have to make an effort to go there. Never ordered delivery from there either. One place I like, out of the "famous" places - is "Artichoke Pizza" down in NYU-land below Washington Square Park. They're famous for their artichoke slices, but also have normal style pies. It sounds terrible, but an artichoke pizza is actually not bad.

Pizza in Moscow is also quite good. I was only poking fun above. Most of the ketchup pizzas disappeared in Moscow by the 2010s. I'm sure it's the same in Poland.

In general - ketchup is good, ketchup is life. At least to us, in Russia, it was a symbol of something exciting and new when everyone first started trying it. Some compared it to our Georgian salsa-like condiment - Adjika. Others claimed they could make it at home, better than Heinz, by using some homemade recipe involving tomato paste, vinegar and salt (imho these experiments always failed).

As a kid I put ketchup on everything. Didn't matter if it was savory, sweet, bitter. I could probably eat ice cream with ketchup on top, back then. If stocks of provisions were low, I would often happily eat some bread with ketchup on it. If I was feeling very wealthy indeed, I would squirt a quarter bottle of ketchup, and a quarter bottle of mayo into a bowl, and make a very nice bootleg "chipotle" sauce, that's orange in color, and goes very well with fries. Incidentally, nobody here in the states puts mayo on their fries, whereas in Belgium or France - they never seem to bring you the ketchup.

News / Strange object over Poland's Silesia [27]

High on my list of places to visit when I will be in Poland, is the monument to the Emilcin Abduction incident in Emilcin, Lublin Voivodeship.

It was there, that farmer Jan Wolski was famously abducted in May 1978 by two green men, and then forced to sit in a spaceship naked while being offered icicles to snack on.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilcin_Abduction

Please share your own abduction stories here, but only if they happened in Poland.

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Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]


For pathetic Western digestive systems, perhaps.

Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]

@pawian

Oh this is simple. We have sanctioned pepperoni, mushrooms from the cellar, olives that we grow in greenhouses, and ketchup!

Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]

@pawian

Of course, I don't know what you mean.

Food / Polish Pizza !! The best in the world? [330]


We Russians, also love our ketchup to be served with pizza. Mmmmm... delicious.

First photo is a photo of a very delicious looking Polish pizza I found online. Second is a delicious Russian pizza - with ketchup of course.

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Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]

@Miloslaw

Better for the climate, and for the critters which we are driving extinct. The forests will come back, and the bison will roam.

Life / Life in Poland - ECONOMY [43]


It's good for paying for drugs, or sex - as I've said. It's good for avoiding sanctions. For pretty much everything else, fiat is better as a currency.

Most people who HODL coins, don't use them anyway. Why would you use BTC to pay for something, if you know your BTC will be worth more tomorrow?

Life / Life in Poland - ECONOMY [43]

@cms neuf

Another downside of an appreciating zloty - if that's what one wants - is it will be a Polish export killer. This is the reason why Japan is continuing with its negative interest rate of -0.1% as if it is 2011 outside, and inflation doesn't exist. Because their priorities are different. They want a cheap yen, to protect their companies competitiveness.

At the same time, a strong dollar is terrible for American exports. But after 15 years of a very weak dollar, the change was overdue - though it will be painful.

Life / Life in Poland - ECONOMY [43]


That would be really stupid, IMHO. Bitcoin, and all the sh!tcoins that followed it, was created after The Great Recession of 2008. This is its first real test against a recession, and it has show what a great "inflation hedge" or "durable store of value" it really is. It's doing worse than the worst parts of the stock market, and weekly we hear of yet another project going belly up. If you hold on to your crypto, you're risking a total wipeout. I don't think crypto will ever go to zero, since drug dealers and prostitutes will always have a use for it - but a price of $200-300 is enough for this function.


All major currencies in the world are declining against the US dollar, except for the Ruble (for reasons everyone knows) and a handful of smaller currencies of commodity rich states. The reason for this decline is that the US Federal Reserve has decided to take the threat of inflation seriously, and has begun seriously hiking rates. The era of infinite money is coming to a rapid close. The 0.75% rate hike at the meeting two weeks ago, was the largest such hike since 1994. At the same time, the European and Japanese central banks have been more cautious (the ECB is looking at a 0.5% hike, which would be the biggest since the year 2000). This situation, where the US is leading the pack in fighting inflation, and others are still working under the old "infinite money" regime, is creating serious divergences in rates. If you can earn 3X more money holding US treasuries than German Bunds (I don't know what the exact number is now, just speaking figuratively), then of course money will flow into USD denominated assets.

If you want the zloty to be appreciating against the dollar, then you should also be prepared for the Polish CB to raise interest rates to 10-12%. This would mean mortgages, car payments, credit card bills, etc that are twice as expensive. It would mean a huge squeeze in investment by private capital, since bank loans would be out of reach for a lot of companies that were still able to borrow when rates were 6-7%.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Whoa! Very quickly I graduated from "charming Nazi officer" to "Angel of Death". The irony that the policies Paulina and Pawian advocate for the world to pursue will bring 10x more death - is somehow lost on everyone. But hey, it feels good and it feels right!

If only you guys knew what a doofus I am in everyday life.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


You know what? It's very strange that there isn't even one publicly-Ukrainian poster on PF. There are three Russians at the moment. Yes, our population might be larger by 3X, but their relationship with Poland is also probably stronger than 3x of ours. Also millions of the men are sitting at home with fcuk all to do at the moment, why not give forums a try. Even more so for the millions of Ukrainians in Poland. You would think they would show up here sooner or later, but still no.

I suppose the answer is that the level of commonality and mutual facility in language, precludes them from having to enter the expat forum loop entirely.

They have however infested all Russian forum boards and news comment sections. Perhaps that's why they don't have time for PF. It would be amazing to have a Ukrainian here that could set people straight on the facts, doesn't have to be pro-Russian.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Agreed. Surprisingly sober account, except I don't think Russia has any genuine ambition to play China off America. More of a kind of "forced embrace". First of all, we wouldn't know how to "play them off" each other, given that our leverage is mostly energy and commodities. Secondly, as you said - I think we're well aware of the problems inherent in trying to sit on two chairs at once.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Absent the shooting the sister in the head part, this is the stuff of film and literature. Not to overuse the Bible, let's use Hollywood as a gauge of what people respond to. The Pianist, is literally about a Jew and a German officer in Poland finding a mutual respect despite everything else going on. Schindler's List won an Academy Award for showing how a German entrepreneur and his Jewish deputy saved thousands of lives. What is so terrible or fantastical about people reaching out across the lines? Small people, encountering each other, and not allowing the outside context (which is admittedly terrible) to color their interaction?

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]

@AntV

Still ranks behind dozens of American and British colleges according to current rankings published :(

Now the Times have stopped even including them in their annual ranking. The reason we get a low score typically is because of the publication rate. Not enough being translated into English and published in journals like The Lancet, Nature, etc.

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Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]

@GefreiterKania

Now think about the Chinese and Indian universities with 0.1% acceptance rates.

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


Imagine my disappointment when I sit with my family of Moscow State University graduates and still feel like the stupidest person in the room. You should see the historical reading list for people that graduated from the faculty of Political-Economy at Moscow State. Somehow, the people in the Kremlin didn't worry about how these people read their books and how they discussed it. After seeing the result of my education at Columbia my father was left only with bitter disappointment.

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]

@AntV

No need to pay crazy money, the whole reading list is accessible online. What's missing of course is the classroom discussion, but that can be overcome if one is curious enough:

college.columbia.edu/core/core

@AntV

Re: being currently unfashionable, ours was created more than a century ago in the wake of the shock of The Great War. Our campus has two prominent monuments to students that died in WWI. Our graduates contributed a disproportionate amount of officers to the American war effort. Thousands died. Whatever they call a Core Curriculum in the rest of America has nothing to do with ours, though it served as the template for many other such programs at other places.

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


The only way to read the Bible, IMHO. No Standard Revised Version for this atheist.

I actually only became familiar with the Bible through college. At Columbia we're very proud of something we call the "Core Curriculum", which is basically a quick walkthrough of Western Civilization's foundations. We start with the Iliad, go on to Plato and Socrates, then the Aeniad, Cassius Dio, etc. From there, it's a quick jump to Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli, Dante. Then comes my favorite part with Montaigne, Rousseau, Vico, Hume, Smith, Hobbes, Luther. It keeps going through Hegels and Kants, but the key is that to be able to read any of it and make sense of it, you typically need a good working understanding of the Bible. Otherwise all the allusions, allegories, etc don't make sense (even Yerofeev, is inaccessible without the Bible, Kania). So that is where we start typically, and then always come back to through the first two years of study. Many, many hours spent debating scripture between Jews, orthodox, Catholics, Muslims. This truly was special.

As literature, the Bible is the greatest achievement of mankind. Just because it's written by people with a ridiculous outlook by my standards, doesn't mean I can't appreciate the enormous depth of wisdom in the proverbs or the beatitudes.

We also read the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran, and the Annals of Confucius.