Life / As a black gay man (US) visiting Warsaw this summer, will I get beat up for nothing? [65]


Take an aspirin and chill down, bro. You're seeing negativity in the post that isn't there. The point of the post is that Poland has moved on, not that Krystian shouldn't be a councilman.


Because Krystian is black, gay and in Poland and the poster asked what happens to black, gay men in Poland. Did you read the title of this thread?

Life / As a black gay man (US) visiting Warsaw this summer, will I get beat up for nothing? [65]


These days, if you're black and gay in Warsaw you're more likely to end up on the City Council rather than beat up

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krystian_Legierski

News / 9 year old Polish girl and 10 year old brother killed by World War II bomb [46]


No one mentioned the word "bomb" or big white letters, though Little Boy did have big white letters on it.

Some ordnance has labels like "warning", "danger", "handle with care", etc. Or this:

History / Vikings in Pomerania (near Gdansk area)? [19]

A Thor's hammer made of amber in Wolin for export to Scandinavia (Nat. Musem, Szczecin)

Goth stone graveyard in Odry, 60 km SW of Gdansk (2 cent. AD, well before Vikings)

Goth stone circle

Goth village reconstruction in north Poland

Note: real Goths should not be confused with modern teens who wear black mascara and like to call themselves Azrael.

News / 9 year old Polish girl and 10 year old brother killed by World War II bomb [46]


It may have mattered in case there was any legible writing/warning left on the bomb. Had it been in Polish, there's a tiny chance the kids may have paid more attention (I assume 9-10 yr olds can read).

Language / Declensions, prepositions and pronouns [16]

Proof that an Englishman can master Polish declension. The guy speaks 20 languages, though...
...

Travel / American woman visiting Poland in March/April [15]


You lost me on this one. What "pros" does rural racism in Poland have if you're black?

History / The Greatest King of Poland? [117]


Just to clarify: Chrobry didn't stop anywhere. He went all the way to Kiev to settle the Kievan succession.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boles%C5%82aw_I_Chrobry

Genealogy / Is tallness common among Polish people? [201]


Any links to recent army/population surveys that give the correct average?

History / The Greatest King of Poland? [117]


Well, Chrobry wasn't clairvoyant, he couldn't tell upfront which territorial gains will "stick" over time and which won't. Today's borders include his Pomeranian gains, but not his Ruthenian ones. He couldn't have known that back in 1018. You could say a similar thing about pretty much any country in Europe that expanded at some point. Lithuania once owned Ruthenian lands, today Lithuania is back to its small, ethic self. You could say that Lithuania could've "skipped the whole GDL" and save time. Sweden once owned Finland and Estonia, today Sweden is back in its (largely) ethnic borders. You could say that Sweden could've "skipped the whole Finnish adventure" and saved time. Denmark once owned Norway, today Denmark is back to its small ethnic self (plus Greenland, see PS below). Germany made big inroads into East-Central Europe (East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania), today it's back where it was ca. 1000 (plus the land of the Polabian Slavs, who never managed to wholly unify and form an independent state). Today's borders won't change the sense of achievement borne out of those historical expansions. Also, even though e.g. today Lwow/Lviv is outside Poland, it won't change the lasting, historical contribution to the Polish (sometimes world) culture and science made by Lvovian Poles while Lwow was Polish. Born there: Stanislaw Lem (Solaris), Stanislaw Ulam (hydrogen bomb with E. Teller), Maria Konopnicka (Rota), Alexander Fredro (Zemsta), Stefan Banach (Lwow School of Mathematics), etc.

PS. The territorial gains in or around Europe which seem to "stick" over time are large, uninhabited areas, like Russia's Siberia and Denmark's Greenland.

History / The Greatest King of Poland? [117]

In terms of sheer "balls" and a lust for conquest, it's hard to top Chrobry.

His European Tour 992-1025:

1002 - Lusatia, Meissen (not far from modern-day Berlin)
1003 - Bohemia (Prague)
1003 - Moravia
1003 - Slovakia
1018 - Ruthenia (Kiev)

Genealogy / Is tallness common among Polish people? [201]

Why not just dig up proper stats on human height? Wikipedia can't be trusted since it's editable and a likely target of a 'nationalistic' agenda (see countless undo's in the page history). I've found legit stats compiled by a basketball scout/researcher, who gives links to all his sources in pdf (national army/population surveys conducted in 2000's on male youths aged 20-30). There's a very apparent north-to-south height gradient in Europe (ex-Yugoslavia being an exception).

Netherlands 184.8
Iceland 181.5
Denmark 181.1
Czech Republic 180.8
Slovenia 180.3
Germany 180.3
Norway 180.3
Sweden 180.0
Croatia 180.0
Finland 180.0
Estonia 179.6
Austria 179.2
Serbia 178.5
Poland 178.3
Switzerland 178.1
Belgium 178.0
Greece 177.9
United Kingdom 177.8
United States 177.6
Hungary 177.3
Ireland 177.0
Ukraine 176.5
Canada 176.3
Lithuania 176.3
Russia 176.2
Israel 176.2
Turkey 176.1
France 176.0
Spain 175.0
Italy 174.8
Romania 174.0
Portugal 173.5

forums.interbasket.net/f10/average-male-height-by-country-updated-9287

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Among its Central Euro pals Poland is doing quite well: Hungary - 46, Poland - 49, Czech Republic - 52, Slovakia - 56 (lower number=better). I wouldn't call the above bunch "disreputable".

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Hold on there, Bubba, I think you need a remedial class in basic statistics. You're comparing two separate lists, created by two separate organizations (Forbes and World Bank) using different algorithms. That's a big no-no, you know. This is Poland's position on the same list in 2008 & 2009:

World Bank's Doing Business: 2011 - 73, 2010 - 70 (up 3 places)
Forbes' Best Countries for Business: 2008 - 33, 2009 - 35 (down 2 places)

doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/poland

forbes.com/lists/2008/6/biz_bizcountries08_Best-Countries-for-Business_Rank_2.html

forbes.com/lists/2010/6/best-countries-10_Best-Countries-for-Business_Rank_2.html

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Huh? Transparency Int'l says corruption in Poland is dropping every year, with a particularly big jump in 2009. Poland's position on the worldwide corruption list: 2007 - 61, 2008 - 58, 2009 - 49 (higher position= less corruption).

transparency.org

UK, Ireland / Long-term impact of returning UK Poles to Poland [21]


I was mostly interested in the cultural aspects (hence "cultural/societal"), but feel free do discuss business / economy. One thing I obviously forgot is the knowledge of English as a second language. Seems to me it'll be far more widespread than it would've been otherwise.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]



German TV report on Polonezkoy (in German)

News / Praising Poland can be dangerous [45]


Didn't I put :) in my post, too?

News / Praising Poland can be dangerous [45]


Draw a line from Nordkapp to Athens and repeat the experiment. I've never heard of Malmo as a yardstick of Europe. Does their City Council know about this new role? :)


Ventian gondolas work the tough waters of Eastern Europe? The things you learn online...


Central Europe. Why does your north-south divide cut Europe in two exclusive parts, as if you've never heard of a center? There's Central America, Central Africa, and Central Asia. Is Central Europe M.I.A.?


I see Finland referred to as Western Europe, while, curiously, it's one time zone east of Poland. Western Europe is apparently quite an acrobat, as it assumes the most geographically contorted positions just to avoid Warsaw and Prague. :)

The East/West divide from 20 years ago lives on in the popular mind and defines geography, whether people admit it or not. It's rooted in how the human mind works: the subconscious sense of tribal affiliation is always defined by the last long conflict in memory, the Cold War in this case. That's why Helsinki and Vienna are in the "West", while Warsaw and Prague are in the "East". This won't change until a very long time passes or another long-term conflict comes around. Imagine that tomorrow Moslems launch a war against Europe (a purely hypothetical scenario), their armies take Slovenia and the Italian Trieste, cut Austria in half, take Slovakia and the Ukraine. Let's say this situation lasts 30 years or so, displacing memories of the Cold War. After 30 years those Moslem parts would become "Eastern Europe" in the popular mind, while Poland would suddenly find itself in "Western Europe".

Feedback / Kill troll posts with Firefox addon [25]

I wasn't comparing PF as a whole to real life, just the mechanism of social exclusion. If you invite friends over and and one of them ends up trashing your place, hitting on your girl and harrassing neighbors, chances are he won't be invited again. He'll be effectively removed from your social life, by virtue of your giving him the cold shoulder (he may or may not learn from that experience, depending on how dense he is). Being able to block trolls is the equivalent of that mechanism on PF, prevously lacking.


I think you're confusing two separate concepts: 1) "sticking your head in the sand" and 2) allowing to have your time wasted by crackpots and sociopaths. If Jehova's Witnesses come by your house, do you engage them in a proper 2-hour theological debate to dispute their worldview, because doing anything else would be "sticking your head in the sand"? I don't. I close the door, because I don't like my time wasted. Blocking trolls on PF is no different, given that their contribution to my wellbeing, knowledge or entertainment is zero, which qualifies them as a complete waste of my time.

Anyway... I tweaked the script a bit and updated the file. On my system the script now preserves css perfectly.

Feedback / Kill troll posts with Firefox addon [25]


Boy, some people are amazingly clueless about technology. No one's hacking any forums or websites here. The web pages generated by PF get sent to you exactly as before. It's only when it comes to display the web page in your own browser that the script strips the unwanted chunks from the page. Greasmonkey wouldn't be hosted by Mozilla if Firefox people hadn't had a good look at its source code. The workings of the troll remover script can be checked by any programmer.


No one's forcing the thick-skinned people to block anyone. Just like no one should be forcing the thin-skinned people to hang out with jerks they don't care for. Sounds to me just like your typical social dynamic in real life.

Feedback / Kill troll posts with Firefox addon [25]

Hm, for some reason, I can't see all the posts above... ;) I take it someone was questioning the security of the solution? Greasemonkey comes straight from Mozilla's site. All add-ons posted there have been vetted by the makers of Firefox. I'll see if I can tweak the script to play nicely with CSS.

News / WHY IS POLAND STILL GIVEN THE COLD SHOULDER? [197]


The British task force (40 Harrier jets vs. Argentina's 200 jets) wiped Argentina clean out of Falklands in about 2 months, with a 1:3 casualty rate in British favor. Is this what makes a country a "military power"? By this measure, Poland should be in the same category, based on its performance in 1939 against Germany.

Argentina, with no communist past, had an inflation of 200% in the 80's, managed to default on its debts in 2003, its economy collapsed, the president had to flee his palace in a helicopter from rioting public (not unlike Ceausescu in Romania). Historically, its main product is beef from the pampas, with few industrial exports, its natural resources are negligible. This is your definition of an "economic power"?

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [533]

Cassubian road signs in Poland:



Lithuanian road signs in Poland:



German road and communal signs in Poland:



Signs in Lithuania with Polish names visibly removed:

On the bilingual signs in Poland you see letters such as ú,š,è,ü, which don't exist in the Polish alphabet. Yet Polish graphic designers and their computers were somehow able to put them on a road sign. I find the argument that some Polish letters don't exist in the Lithuanian alphabet rather silly. Are Lithuanian graphic designers and their computers really so far behind the times that they can't tackle the staggering feat of putting a Polish letter on a road sign?


They are. EU Commissioner of Human Rights is looking into the problem:

"The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention concluded in the case of Lithuania that the absence of bilingual public signs in certain areas was incompatible with the convention. There appeared to be a contradiction between the Law on the State Language and the Law on National Minorities which ought to be addressed."

"When visiting Lithuania recently I learned that the spelling of Polish names on passports and other official documents had became a controversial issue. However, the government in Vilnius has now submitted a proposal to parliament which, if adopted, would be seen as a constructive step towards fuller respect for minority rights."

coe.int/t/commissioner/Viewpoints/100125_en.asp

News / WHY IS POLAND STILL GIVEN THE COLD SHOULDER? [197]

Is G-20 membership based on GDP only? If it is, I don't quite see why Saudi Arabia and Argentina are in, but Poland's not. Whether you take GDP nominally or PPP:

GDP (nominal), 2009, IMF:
Poland $430,736
Saudi Arabia $376,268
Argentina $310,057

GDP (PPP), 2009, IMF:
Poland $688,761
Saudi Arabia $593,385
Argentina: $572,860

Why would Argentina be seen as a regional power after the 1999-2002 near-total economic collapse and the humiliation in the Falklands?

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [533]


They mistrust Poland because they fear that Poland will.. do what, exactly? Launch a morning raid into Lithuania to take over Wilno again? Yeah, right. I'm sure NATO & EU would just sit by and watch. It's patently clear to everyone that no borders will change in Central Europe in the next ~100 years, because no sane person wants to light up that powder keg again, as in 1914 or 1939. Do they fear Poland as a "proxy" of Russia? Give me a break. Poland has been on hostile terms with Russia since 1989, the relations have been improving only recently. During those 20 years of bad PL/RU relations Lithuania still could not be bothered to put up bilingual signs in majority-Polish towns. In the same 20 years Poland managed to put up Polish/German signs in the Opole area, Polish/Cassubian signs near Puck, and Polish/Lithuanian signs around Suwalki. If Lithuanians act this way because they're afraid of something, what is it specifically that they fear? Or is it all a nasty repeat of Bandera/OUN/Ponary-type mentality?

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [533]


Wasn't there a Lithuanian guy called Jogaila who learned Polish and went on to become a king? It's a tragedy that no one warned him in time that with his Polish skills he can only end up on a construction site.