History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]

@Bratwurst Boy, but he was a known reformer... Perestroika and glasnost ring a bell?


I am glad that the Soviet Union wasn't ruled by someone worse at that time, of course, but I can't be as infatuated with Gorbachev as you are, because he wasn't as great to nations that were forced to be part of the Soviet Union as he was towards the countries who were the Soviet Union's satellite states, like Poland and Eastern Germany. I'm capable to look at him not only from Polish perspective, but also from the perspective of Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, etc. This is called empathy.

History / Gorbachev and Poland [63]


Calling him a great guy wouldn't be factual either. If you sum everything up, he was a kind of "grayish" character, I guess. Not black, not white either, but gray...


Yeah, a rather black character for Lithuanians, isn't he...

News / R. Trzaskowski, current mayor of Warsaw, future President of Poland [354]


The criticism and calls for her to resign came from the opposition, as far as I remember, and from some journalist with Russian name who posted the video. According to polls people in Finland in general weren't terribly upset.

And I guess you didn't see comments from Poles under Polish articles about this... :)
A whooping majority was like:

"Why can't we have such a prime minister???"

"Leave her alone, she's a human being, she can party in her free time. Everyone needs to relax."

"Finns are criticising her?? What is wrong with them??"

"She's hot."

lol

If that video leak was done by RuSSians (they were doing such stuff to Russian anti-Putin oppositionists), to discredit the Finnish prime minister for the decision to join NATO, then it didn't work :)

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

Yes, Jan Żabiński was the director of the Warsaw Zoo before and during the World War II, which was one of the biggest zoos in Europe at that time. Him and his wife saved 300 Jews by hiding them in their villa and in the zoo itself, for which they were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. 298 of those Jews survived the war.

Jan was also a member of AK (Home Army) in the rank of lieutenant and participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. A street in Warsaw was named after him.

The film about their heroic rescue of Polish Jews is titled "The Zookeeper's Wife" and stars an Oscar winning actress Jessica Chastain as Jan's wife. I've watched it for the first time this week and I can honestly recommend it, especially these days, with war over our border, it feels all too relatable...

m.imdb.com/title/tt1730768/

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@Cargo pants, I put two separate photos together.


Yes, Antonina Żabińska! :)

There was a film made about this couple. Do you know why?

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@Cargo pants, yes, it's Jan Żabiński! :D And the lady?

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


Um... Are you going to use those sunflowers to make compost?


I'd just eat them the way I'd eat fresh ones... You could roast them too, I guess...

Who are those people?:

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News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

@Bobko, not really, because you also took lands that belonged to Poland and our factories (literally, physically - you dismantled them and transported them in parts to the Soviet Union) and people for forced labour.


It wasn't Zelensky and Lukashenko that took those lands from Poland, but Stalin/the Soviet Union.


What can I say... PiS are incompetent morons.

Off-Topic / Top managers in Russia - why so many suicides? [20]

@Novichok, now give us the statistics for the suicide rate among former and present CEOs of oil companies and banks in Russia, Norway, Ukraine and the US - I'm curious to see those too :)

Off-Topic / Top managers in Russia - why so many suicides? [20]

@Alien, Russian workers/soldiers smoke cigarettes and so things blow up or catch fire... And Russian men kill themselves and their families all the time... Nothing to see here... Move along...



:)

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


But do they hate the activity itself or the fact that you're making them do this during holiday? lol


Don't worry, I won't tell anyone ;D


My guess is that you took out the seeds to dry them, so they wouldn't go bad or mouldy (thanks to this you can eat them later on). I don't know about the sunflowers though.

Off-Topic / Random movies (not Polish) proposed by forum users [99]


I predict a lonely life for you, Crow lol


Could be better in some aspects, imho, but this is the only film about "rape camps" set up by Serbs during the Bosnian War that I've seen or even heard about, so it's worth watching for that reason alone.

Another film based on facts that I can recommend is "The Red Sea Diving Resort" ("Operacja Bracia" in Polish) with the lead role played by Chris Evans (Captain America from Marvel films). It's about a secret Israeli operation during which Jewish-Ethiopian refugees who suffered persecution in Sudan were rescued and taken to Israel. Mossad agents were using a holiday resort as their covert base and were posing as resort's employees. A story like from a movie :)

It's available on Netflix.

Life / Why Polish singers are not popular abroad? [101]


Yes, and it was her music + her story that made Simon Cowell push that golden button. She wrote a great song and she sang it beautifully. If it wasn't for cancer, she could be a star.

I agree that it would be cringeworthy if she wasn't talented and shared such a story to win "pity points". But she didn't have to. She was talented.


But we do about AIDS? lol:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Show_Must_Go_On_(Queen_song)


Fortunately, pr1cks like you don't get to tell artists what they can or cannot compose their songs about :))

Life / Why Polish singers are not popular abroad? [101]


It is a music competition. Music is all about emotions, you idiot! LOL Many, if not majority, of songs are about what you call "emotional crap" :D


Normal people do give a damn. Her song was about her life story. So, even from the point of view of the contest, it was important for her to share what this song was about. Thank to this I've understood the meaning of this song and why "it's OK". The song has become much more meaningful to me and more relatable. That's how normal people react to music and art in general. Song are often stories in a way. And if those stories are authentic, if singers know what they're singing about because they've been through stuff in life it makes their music more meaningful, authentic and relatable to people listening to their songs.


No, but they asked her what she'd been doing for a living. And she answered that she wasn't working for the last years, because she was battling cancer. They also asked her about her song - what it's all about. So how are you supposed to say that your song is about battling cancer without saying that you have cancer, you idiot?

Life / Why Polish singers are not popular abroad? [101]


They've asked her questions and she answered truthfully. I find her story and her attitude inspirational. I'm glad that she shared her story.


No, it's amazing that she managed to talk about it and then sing in front of such an audience. A brave and inspirational woman. You, however, are truly disgusting.


Now your reaction shows what a sociopath you are.

Life / Why Polish singers are not popular abroad? [101]


Nope, to the semi-finals. Sara James still had to go through semi-finals and she did get to the final by singing Elton John's "Rocket Man".


You mean "sob stories" like the one of Jane Marczewski?:



It's so f*cking unfair that people like you get to live to an old age and talented sweethearts like her die at such a young age...

It's not OK... Not OK at all... 😢

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@pawian, your second guess is correct. It's my mother's pot - she put those sticks solely to prevent pidgeons from sitting there and making a mess by throwing the soil out of the pot. It's the same pot where the pidgeon mum layed the egg from my pidgeon egg riddle :) Somehow she managed to lay the egg in that pot despite all of those sticks being there. I don't how it was possible. It's a mistery. Those sticks were inserted very densely. It must've been a pidgeon-magician or sth :)) Amazing :)))

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

@johnny reb, but you wrote this about a defenseless child:


This is f*cked up.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


Interesting :))

Btw, I've always enjoyed helping my grandparents to hull (? - to remove them from their pods) broad beans after harvesting them - there's something satisfying about it :))

And what is this all about?:

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Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


Yes, of course! :)) Boiled broad beans, to be precise. In Polish called "bób". In my family fondly called "bober" ;) All my family loves it, me included :d We don't eat it as a meal or part of a meal, but more like a kind of a snack. I peel the skin and eat them without it, but there are people who eat those broad beans with skin, especially if they're young. Young broad beans are delicious (when they're green and springy inside) :)) You can tell the young ones apart - their skin gets wrinkled after being boiled. The older ones get floury and I don't like them then that much.


Indeedly, haha ;D

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@pawian, so now you'll know how to recognise one if you ever see it :) They come to the garden in the morning and in the evening.


Thanks, I didn't know that!

Something easier this time (at least for Poles, I guess) - what is this beauty?? ;]:

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Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


Bingo!! Well done! :D 🎉🎊🥇

In Polish it's called "szczygieł" :) Adult males look like this:

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@johnny reb, I don't think there's a bird called "Pinterest"... lol

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@johnny_reb, nope, Yellow-winged Tanager doesn't live in Poland. A pretty bird too though :)

OK, a hint then - those are young birds and so their head looks different than that of adults. The head of an adult bird is very colourful. Those are one of the most colourful birds in Poland :) They have the same wings as adults though and that bird in the photo higher on the right has a very characteristic pattern for those birds on it's wing.

Another hint - they're smaller than sparrows.


;D I'm sure you are ;) I hope she enjoyed it, doing something crazy from time to time is good for the soul ;)

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@pawian, you and all the bugs of this world? ;D Don't tell me that you've managed to talk your wife into sleeping there? ;O 🕷️🕸️🐜🪳👀

Btw, that bird riddle is a bit tricky :)

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@pawian, let me know if you need tips :)


Are you going to sleep on it?

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


No idea then... Does it have anything to do with gardening, taking care of the garden?

A photo taken today - what are those birds called (in Polish or English)? :):

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UK, Ireland / Polish immigrants in the UK - victims or criminals?! [295]


First of all what they were doing to that kid would suggest serious psychopathy, imho. Alcohol only triggers what's inside you already, I think.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


I've never eaten it raw, I think, only boiled :)


Hmm, don't know... Are you keeping something warm?

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


Oh yeah!!



xD


Yup :) "A na to... ZASMAŻKA!" ;D

Btw, cauliflower with roux is yummy, I like it a lot ;d