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Posts by Wiedzmin_fan  

Joined: 31 May 2010 / Male ♂
Last Post: 15 Jun 2011
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Posts: 79

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Wiedzmin_fan   
31 May 2010
Genealogy / Polish and Russian DNA? [52]

If you run a google search for "genetic map of europe", you'll see some fascinating graphs.

Also, you can look up the following papers:

Nature 456, 98-101 (6 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07331; Received 30 May 2008; Accepted 12 August 2008; Published online 31 August 2008
"Genes mirror geography within Europe"

and
European Journal of Human Genetics (2008) 16, 1413-1429; doi:10.1038/ejhg.2008.210
"Investigation of the fine structure of European populations with applications to disease association studies".

Short answer - yes, it looks like the Poles and the Russians are very close genetically.

EDIT:

What always puzzles me is how do they define what is "Russian" DNA or "English" DNA etc. Doesn't this assume that a DNA is actually nationalistic?

DNA is not nationalistic, it is ethnographic.
Wiedzmin_fan   
1 Jun 2010
Genealogy / Polish and Russian DNA? [52]

or ethnocentric?

Rrr, my fingers sliped: it's ethnoGEOgraphic.

A particular ethnic group that lives in a particular geographic region for a long enough period of time develops a particular genetic make-up. Seems pretty straightforward, no?

If you say "these are Russian genes" then doesn't it run the risk of someone taking it a bit further and saying only those who have those genes are "real Russians".

"Russian genes" (statistically) exist whether you like it or not, and the science can break it down for you in terms of haplogroups, frequences, and all that.

What's wrong with that? It's a scientific fact.

We shouldn't discriminate against those who don't have "real Russian" genes when dealing with citizens of Russian Federation. They all have equal rights, be they ethnic Russian, Tatar, Yakut or whatever. I don't see a contradiction here.

I mean, we all have eyes, right? So we could always see when someone is Russian or not. The science just came up with a quantitative instrument to determine if someone is Russian. What difference is it going to make? IMHO, we are just back where we started, and the only solution is to treat every citizen as an individual, without prejudice.
Wiedzmin_fan   
9 Jun 2010
History / Why Poles love Russia [105]

I think it's a love-hate relationship (with more of the latter). There are too many similarities between the two, which only makes the differences (and the betrayals, and the violence) all the more traumatic. It's like having a sibling you don't get along with - on one hand, you two are family, on the other hand, they are hurting you more than any stranger could.
Wiedzmin_fan   
9 Jun 2010
History / Why Poles love Russia [105]

Poland and Polish don't care much for 'Slavic'

Well, that's too bad. Slavic culture is pretty neat. I thought some of the pagan traditions are still preserved even to this day. Don't people celebrate Ivana Kupala and Maslennica in Poland? Don't they still refer to Svarog/Dazhd'bog/Veles/Perun, or to Baba Yaga? Aren't the musical instruments the same (gusli/svirel'/volynka/rozhok/zhalejka)?

I agree there's not much of similarity in the architecture. But the food is pretty much the same!
Wiedzmin_fan   
9 Jun 2010
Law / British married to a Polish woman and they have a son. Son's British Passport? [65]

I would be VERY careful when allowing any minor child to travel with their Polish parent, unless you are certain that he/she is not planing to "return" there for good.

That's very... draconian. I am appalled by this whole thread. There's so much hatred and preemptive disapproval towards the mother of the child, it's as if she is a total stranger and an enemy.

Children now can't travel with their parents, because their parents happen to be Polish?! Their nationality makes them suspect? This is insane.
Wiedzmin_fan   
9 Jun 2010
History / Why Poles love Russia [105]

Aren't you a Russian by any chance?

I am 1/4 Russian, 1/8 Polish, and the rest of me is Ukrainian. So it's close enough :)
Wiedzmin_fan   
17 Jun 2010
Genealogy / Garus last name - from Poland or Russia? [28]

I fond this information when searched in Russian: enc-dic.com/family/Garusov-2781.html

There are documented mentions of your last name since 1545.
Wiedzmin_fan   
19 Jun 2010
Food / Russia vs Poland Vodka war [70]

The taxi driver barely speak Russian to say nothing about English. :)

Yeah, the driver is definitely not Russian (nor Ukrainian for that matter!).

Anyway, what Polish brands of vodka (other than Zubrowka) can you guys recommend? Or Russian, it doesn't matter. Something that is available for export. Here we buy Grey Goose mostly. I want to buy something more authentic next time.
Wiedzmin_fan   
19 Jun 2010
Life / Sci-fi / Fantasy books in Polish? [12]

Wiedźmin by Sapkowski

I second this recommendation! It's not too bad, considering other stuff that's available. There's also a TV series.
Wiedzmin_fan   
21 Jun 2010
News / Decoded talks inside Poland's president's plane are released in Internet [337]

Wiedzmin_fan:
"Smolensk airport is not in EGPWS database."

I don't think the radar altimeter cares about what's in the database.

They were going in for landing in the middle of nowhere as far as the warning system is concerned. Of course EGPWS would go crazy and start screaming "Pull Up". They were expecting it to happen, that's why it was ignored.
Wiedzmin_fan   
23 Jun 2010
Food / Russia vs Poland Vodka war [70]

A question: in Poland, does Vodka go with seljodka (fermented herring), or is it a Russian thing only?

(I know it's not a Ukrainian thing, or not so much anyway, and that made me wonder about Poland too).
Wiedzmin_fan   
23 Jun 2010
News / Russia, Poland ready agreement on visa-free travel [71]

so they can import the mafia and their prostitutes to places like UK, Germany and France.

I think it's a little too late for that. Criminals most likely have easier access to visas, permits and whatnot - they just bribe their way through the bureaucracy. It's the regular folks who have it tough.
Wiedzmin_fan   
24 Jun 2010
Food / Russia vs Poland Vodka war [70]

I hate fermented herring

Heheh. Well, I love it! To each his/her own, I suppose ;)

I have dreams about it (it's really hard to get here in the states, because it violates some of those pesky FDA codes). All the herring they sell here is pickled, not fermented.

I've gotta find me some good stinky fermented kind ;)))
Wiedzmin_fan   
29 Jun 2010
News / WHY DOES POLAND BUY GAS FROM RUSSIA? [105]

I absolutely agree that Poland (and all other countries, unless they have domestic energy reserves, of course) need to diversify their energy sources. And, of course, Poland is absolutely right to seek other (than Russia) gas suppliers. But how does that compute with the very vocal Polish opposition to the Nord Stream pipeline? I don't get it.
Wiedzmin_fan   
29 Jun 2010
Genealogy / Polish looks? [1462]



The homemade pûrno posted above reminded me of this.

(it's a song from a Russian TV series; somebody uploaded it with Polish subtitles)

Don't those folks look like 100% Poles to you? Well, except for Bezrukov - his nose is just a little wrong shape, that that's a minor thing ;)
Wiedzmin_fan   
29 Jun 2010
News / Decoded talks inside Poland's president's plane are released in Internet [337]

Could someone comment on this:
niezalezna.pl/article/show/id/35973

My understanding of Polish is limited, but they are saying that the Yak-40 pilot heard the control tower order the descent of the presidential plane to 50m, is that right?

How credible is this publication?
Wiedzmin_fan   
29 Jun 2010
News / Decoded talks inside Poland's president's plane are released in Internet [337]

Yeah, they smoked a little too much but, geographically, were too low ;)

No, I was serious. According to the transcript, weren't they about 50 or so meters about the proper flight path? and then they suddenly went down very sharply?

Is there a proper source where all the details are summarized appropriately?

Saying it as error of pilot only is unfair to pilot.

Quite true.
Wiedzmin_fan   
30 Jun 2010
News / Decoded talks inside Poland's president's plane are released in Internet [337]

Why the ever-growing body of evidence from experts which challenges the wisdom of the official line?

Could you specify which experts, what evidence?
Is that similar to the evidence presented in that niezalezna.pl article (about the pilot of Yak-40 who heard presidential crew's communication with ATC)?

Also, do you think it's a credible source?
Wiedzmin_fan   
5 Jul 2010
Love / What do Polish girls think about Gypsies? [116]

Wow. So much Gypsy-Roma-Tsigane hate in this thread. Also, so much ignorance - confusing Romanians/Rumanians with Roma, hello? That's just stupid.

To answer OP's question: regardless of what Polish girls think of gypsy men, those men most likely aren't particularly eager to settle down with Polish women. Their tribes/families will cast them out (at which point their _meaningful_ lives will be over, according to their beliefs and traditions) if they do that.

Gypsies have a very complicated, twisted, patriarchal society with all kinds of rules, beliefs and taboos. Non-gypsies just wouldn't fit in. You have to be born into it.

But their music is awesome.
Wiedzmin_fan   
22 Jul 2010
History / What was the culture of Poland prior to the advent of Catholicism? [17]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_Neopaganism

But the revival of the Native Faith and culture is pretty controversial. It faces opposition (not to say smear campaign) from both traditional religious circles and the state employed crowd-control ideologists. This quote, for example, is very typical (and tragic, really):

As Dr. Victor Shnirelman, a cultural anthropologist at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology in Moscow, has written, ethnic nationalism, xenophobia, racism, and antisemitism are core values of many Russian Rodnover groups.

To put it simply, going back to your roots = fascism. Mindboggling.
Wiedzmin_fan   
21 Aug 2010
Genealogy / Garus last name - from Poland or Russia? [28]

My Birth name Garus does not exist I guess.

I don't understand what are you trying to accomplish - are you looking for English-speaking relatives in the US only? If not, how exactly are you going about looking for relatives in the Eastern Europe without speaking/reading the language(s)? I am sure you are aware that there are paid services (in Russia, and I am sure in Poland too) where professionals would track down your relatives via archives and public records.

As far as "name Garus does not exist" - surely, you are joking?
Here are 10 people with that name looking for relatives *right now*, on this particular site:

analizfamilii.ru/search.php?s=%C3%E0%F0%F3%F1&id=5542#5542

garusov is not garus necessarily..

Your point being?
Wiedzmin_fan   
29 Dec 2010
News / Ruski a slur like Pollack? [53]

But generally it's offensive and the term "ruski" it hasn't got polish origin but russian. In polish should be "rosyjski". If we wanna say that sth is russian we should use "rosyjski".That's why "ruski" is rude, impolite

I don't get it.

What is the (polite) polish term for actual russians (as opposed to tatars or bashkirs or chechens or yakuts or...)?

In Russia, the term "rossyjskij", means citizen of Russian Federation. It's a term for all residents who could be of different nationalities. A particular Rossiyanin can be actually russian (ruski), or udmurt, or buryat, or whatever. It's similar to "British" (which can be actually english, or scottish, or ...).
Wiedzmin_fan   
29 Dec 2010
News / Ruski a slur like Pollack? [53]

Which is very confusing, by the way. And pretty anti-russian (all other nationals have "their" term, and actual russians are invisible, it's like they don't exist).

I wonder who started it. I am ethnic Ukrainian, but I live in the states. I get tired of explaining who I am, because everybody considers me Russian by default (since I am from that part of the world). It must be pretty frustrating for the actual russian-russians too, I think.

Anyway, thanks for the explanation!
Wiedzmin_fan   
1 Jan 2011
News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [682]

I think the factors that are being clarified now, are the ones that could have prompted induced pilot error.

I've looked at Russian aviation forums, and one of the problems has to do with classification of flight as military or civilian. if it was a civilian flight, they couldn't have ordered to abort it (but then there are other rules that were broken regarding accepting civilian flights in a military airfield); if it's was a military flight, then the ground technically could have ordered to abort (or had the authority to do so, anyway), but then they have to disclose the [military] guidelines on weather minimums and so on, and they are technically top secret, so the chicago convention doesn't apply. It's a right mess, really.
Wiedzmin_fan   
15 Jan 2011
Language / Polish or any Slavic language key to any other Slavic languages? [126]

I’ve met few Ukrainians, very friendly people, but what was really striking for me, that they only spoke Russian. It's kind of sad.

It's not sad, it's a fact of life. Those who live "v selo" speak Ukrainian, and those who live in a city, speak Russian. That's how it always was, even before the Soviets.

In the Western part, the more educated Ukrainians spoke Polish back in the day.

But it always was assumed that speaking Ukrainian means "selo". It was taught (mandatory) in schools, but you know how that goes... I don't speak Ukrainian (OK, I speak, but very very badly) because I could only effectively practice it when visiting some relatives "v selo". Even my mother didn't speak it, and she was only one generation away from selo :)

I believe now that the Russian was banned from TV and newspapers, more people are starting to speak Ukrainian. So maybe things will change.

Anyhow, I live overseas now, so that doesn't matter to me anymore. Just wanted to clarify the situation.