Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


Not really, I was too young at that time to be interested in economics. But, on a related subject, you may be interested in an interview with Mieczysław Wilczek - one of the few private entrepreneurs in PRL, later the secretary of industry in Rakowski's government and the author of the radical re-orientation of the economic policies in 1988, BEFORE Mazowiecki and Balcerowicz. "Oto ojciec proszku Ixi"


Very funny. I used to have a plantation of poppies in my garden (for makowiec). Converting them to opium is elementary, and converting to heroin by reacting with acetic anhydride not much harder. Also, what is so hard about harvesting cannabis? Synthetic amphetamine is not a rocket science either - I still have a Polish texbook for pharmacy students (mid 1980s) with a detailed recipe (I bought it for the description of synthesis of pentaerythritol tetranitrate).

I am under the impression that you are one of those believing that polar bears used to roam streets in PRL (impeded only by military checkpoints, where they were asked to show their papers).


My government (although at that time I considered them Soviet nominees, rather than "my government") never made me to take off my shoes. My government never invaded my home. My government actually respected more principles contained in your Bill of Rights than are actually recognized in the present day United States (after all these exceptions manufactured by courts to benefit government functionaries). And my government was nominally a Communist, totalitarian regime. Think about it.

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


Before 1990: I had two proficient English teachers in high school (an average school; I was too lazy to commute to one of the "better ones", so I chose just a decent one within a walking distance). Then I had English courses at the university, with various teachers, and ALL of them were native speakers (British).

Delphi is absolutely correct: English WAS widely taught before 1990.


It always depends what you are comparing with what. The Communist authorities in Poland were predominantly interested in maintaining the political monopoly. Accordingly, if you wanted to be active politically, you were definitely under much more political control than people in the West were. Also, the economy was supposed to be Marxist (more or less so), so economic activities beyond certain level were controlled too, until the (counter)revolutionary reform by the pseudo-Communist government of Rakowski/Wilczek in 1988.

On the other hand, however, the government wasn't interested in meddling in people's personal lives. There was no "war on drugs", with 70,000 police raids on private homes a year, like in the present-day United States. There was no "war on terror" scare and no associated deprivation of individual rights. No TSA, no groping. There was no "zero tolerance" idiocy that now puts kids in handcuffs for bringing a knife to school (actually, we had a shooting club at school, something that would make U.S. teachers wet their pants). So, I dare to say, an average person in PRL used to be MORE FREE than an average person is in the 2010s United States. But perhaps this just shows not how free PRL was, but rather how controlling the Western societies have become...

Life / Individualism in Polish culture...Is it almost Nonexistant? [170]


Ever heard of the liberum veto?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberum_veto

The Polish culture is probably the most individualistic in the world (to the point of seriously compromising the integrity of subsequent Polish states, especially compared to Poland's neighbors with their "zu befehl" on one hand, and the Asiatic culture of obedience imposed on our Eastern cousins on the other).

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]

In Poland not practiced, in Germany now outright illegal:

foxnews.com/world/2012/06/26/german-court-circumcision-on-jewish-boys-assault/

"German court: Circumcision on boys an assault"

Time to get rid of this ritual mutilation. All the claimed medical benefits can be just as well obtained through elementary hygiene.

USA, Canada / Marriage certificate required for Polish passport (I'm a Polish-American) [9]

Actually, considering the bureaucratic chaos in Polish offices and consulates, PF may be a good place to meet others who already have braved the system. Localization of the birth certificate (as ledski did) should not even be the proper path any more, because it has been replaced by obtaining the so called apostille that makes foreign documents valid in Poland. The governing law (the Hague convention) went into effect in 2005, but bureaucrats don't seem to care. Law is law, bureaucratic practice is bureaucratic practice. I am at the beginning of the process (getting a passport for my daughter), so I cannot share more experiences.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]


I does not depend on how much money you have. I depends on the state of the mind and on the level of demoralization of the person who assigns you to a particular social stratum. Let me illustrate this with an example from my discussion on another forum. It was about schools. I send my daughter to a private school, being barely able to afford the tuition. Every day I take her to school in my 13 years old Subaru, because there are no free school buses for us, the filthy rich. There are no free lunches. Yet for someone who milks the system (funded also by my taxes) by sending his kid to a public school, I am indeed filthy rich, and I should be penalized.

This is not about how much money you earn/have. You are "rich" (and you are treated accordingly) when you disagree with the redistributive policies and attempt to separate yourself from this system.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]

So, communism as the desired solution. Correct? I am not immediately saying "no", but please tell me how do you want to motivate people to work, to delay consumption and other rewards (in order to invest), and how to accommodate these "20" from the Pareto's rule, who are responsible for scientific, technological and economic progress.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]

If they are hard working, then at t=0 they will start accumulating more wealth then the lazy ones, within our model.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]


OK, let us imagine doing such "reset". Then, from t=0 on, the more intelligent and more hard working will start accumulating wealth again, and the lazy/stupid will found the new class of "poor". Then what? Prevent this by imposing communism at t=0, or reset again, after the inequalities become "unbearable"?

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]


I recommend Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy in America", Chapter XV. Here:
xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/1_ch15.htm
Democracy can (and does) degenerate into tyranny of the majority, and then you may observe various "do-good" policies. A few examples:

- high taxes imposed by representatives of the indoctrinated mob, which only have the effect of satisfying the mob's sense of envy (from the point of view of economics such taxes eliminate productive jobs and restrain social mobility: the rich remain rich, the poor remain poor)

- in the United States, the push for making home ownership available to everybody. Such a noble idea, wasn't it? Its effects: increasing the availability of loans, RAISING THE PRICES of real estate (Economy 101) and making it UNAVAILABLE to middle class (because they don't own their homes, banks do). College loans (following the same mechanism) should also be mentioned here.

Democracy can, as easily as any individual or collective tyrant, deprive people of opportunities to better their lives. Then they rebel.

Life / A new Poland's war - the poor vs the rich [81]


IMO, the poor rebel when they notice that the system blocks their attempts to get out of poverty. By high taxation. By overregulation. By cracking down on grey market. By all things that restrain social mobility and condemn the poor to remain poor (and dependent on entitlement programs) forever. People can accept being poor if they see improvement or a chance for improvement. When they hit the glass ceiling, they become mad.

Language / Polish war cries/battle sayings [21]

Lem had mentioned one:

Genealogy / I have Jewish DNA, but only know of Polish ancestry . [120]


Intermarriage was uncommon (for religious reasons - non-Catholics could not marry within the Catholic faith, and, of course, interfaith marriages are even now an absolute no-no for religious Jews), but it wasn't necessary for mixing the DNA. :)

History / Poland worst off as a result? (life in German Prussia vs. Russian communism) [14]


Actually, aren't we forgetting that Churchill wasn't the Prime Minister at the time when Germany attacked Poland? Chamberlain was, the same man who sold Czechoslovakia to appease Hitler.

History / Poland and Britain started WW2 [307]

DougTales
"Poland and Britain started WW2", murdered the Jews, raided Pearl Harbor, and finally helped the Nazis launch their Moon rockets from the secret Antarctic base. Yeah, we rule!

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


A virus is not a higher organism. It does not need to process energy to remain infective (in a broader sense "alive", although the term is disputable with respect to a virus). As for the pH - it is relevant to the cell entry of influenza (the conformational rearrangement of the hemagluttinin is pH-triggered), but HIV relies on a different mechanism, and the "very precise pH" is not necessary.

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


According to what mechanism? As far as I know, the thing one washes away provides nice, semi-liquid, anaerobic conditions for the virus, facilitate the opening of skin pores (or even the formation of lesions, facilitating the viral entry).

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


There are valid medical factors, IMO. Without the foreskin, it is easier to wash that body part, or, even without washing, the virus is more exposed to the environment and "dies" more quickly. If proper hygiene is maintained, however, both these mechanisms are moot.

P.S. "To się myje, a nie wietrzy" means "You are supposed to wash this, rather than ventilate".

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


It does not prevent, but statistically it somewhat reduces the risk. Nevertheless, the same benefits are available through proper hygiene. So, here is my point: circumcision may be a good solution for people who have problems with maintaining hygiene. There is an appropriate saying in Polish: "to się myje, a nie wietrzy".

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


All this evidence becomes irrelevant once you note that you can simply wash these body parts, instead of mutilating them. The benefits of washing are comparable to the benefits of mutilating, without the side effects. You know, some warm water, soap...

Speaking of hygiene - google the NIH grant 3U01MH066701-07S1. :)

History / Why have Poles contributed so little to Academics? (Particularly Science) [180]

Delphi, Europe is a big place, and Poland is fairly large too. You definitely can find nepotism in many places in Europe and North America, but academia is supposed to be governed by high ethical standards. People may still do it from time to time, but at least they know that this is wrong. What shocked me during that dinner was the utter disregard even for the appearances. Hiring a relative - business as usual.

History / Why have Poles contributed so little to Academics? (Particularly Science) [180]

Jews are EVERYWHERE, not only in Poland, overrepresented in "white collar" jobs, including science, and this overrepresentation translates into a statistically elevated ratio of true achievements. There are two reasons for this, one is of a mixed, cultural/genetic nature, the other one is purely cultural.

The first factor is, of course, the intelligence. Argue as much as you want whether the reason for the above-average intelligence among Ashkenazi Jews is a result of genetic or rather cultural factors. The other reason is purely cultural, and is based on a thing that is alien to most Europeans. Let me illustrate this with an anecdote.

More than 10 years ago, we had an after-conference farewell dinner. Naturally, we were trading stories and observations. A Jewish professor told a story about her nephew, who was, well, let's put it in this way: he wasn't an Einstein. So, "to give him a head start, I employed him in my lab", said the professor. She said it without any shame, without even a trace of a realization that what she did is virtually everywhere (outside Asia and Africa) considered inappropriate. For me, it is completely natural to judge people on their merits alone, and promote/recommend an Indian or a Chinese over a fellow Pole, without any regrets. Jews are much more governed by nepotism and ethnic solidarity, and these translate into additional opportunities for their fellow Jews, not available to members of ethnic groups more concerned about fairness and merits - the basic elements of the academic ethos.

Work / My friend is looking for a job in Poland with a physics degree [32]

B.Sc. is equivalent to the Polish "licencjat". This is too little to land a good job in a process based on screening of resumes by HR. Now, it is entirely possible that his actual programming skills are outstanding. In such case, he should look for a job through personal networking.

A little bit of advice: he should emphasize "programming" rather than "physics". For programmers, formal requirements are often loose. For physicists, a Polish "magister" or a PhD (from any country) would be necessary.

UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

I have a comfortable situation: my wife is Asian, I am Polish, so we have adopted English as the primary language at home, and the "English first" principle with regards to our daughter.

I am aware of Chomsky's linguistic theories, but I observed that the early attempt of multilingualism has simply failed: the child was becoming a dictionary, capable of translating a very limited vocabulary between the three languages, to the insane joy of the grandparents. Yet the real language development (assembling words into phrases and sentences) just didn't want to happen - when the development of these skills lagged for about 5-6 months, I said "enough" and focused solely on English, before it became really too late. Our daughter is now within the top 1 percentile in the Iowa standardized test. If the extended family feels offended, it's their problem.

P.S. Naturally, opinions with regard to multilingualism will vary. The primary factor is the expectations. If by "proficiency" we understand being capable of communicating at the level "please hand me the TV remote", then, of course, multilingualism is possible. But if we want the child to think, reason and properly articulate, the brain power, IMO, should not be wasted on handling several languages.

Law / Is there a legal requirement for us to support aging parents in Poland? [26]

Delphi is correct, there is such a legal obligation (Kodeks Rodzinny, Art. 128 and Art. 133 § 2). Naturally, if the father wants to enforce it, he will need to go to court. If he was a non-supportive parent, not present in your life, then the court will probably laugh at him.

History / Polish inventors - what have they ever given to the world? [101]


Science in itself is neutral from the ethical point of view. It's the application that counts. A bomb based on the Teller-Ulam design may vaporize a city, but it may be also used to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth. Even the former application is not entirely bad: the MAD doctrine (although seemingly literally mad) has kept the two superpowers from unleashing the World War III.

Also, the same scientific approaches that have been used by Ulam for the modeling of thermonuclear reactions can be used for other purposes. The Monte Carlo method (it was Ulam who proposed this name) is used, for example, in drug discovery.

History / Polish inventors - what have they ever given to the world? [101]


Actually I did, in #36. I have no duty, however, to refrain from contributing to other subjects within this thread.

History / Was the Polish/ Lithuanian commonwealth a European power? [111]


From the 16th century on, being a seafaring nation was increasingly becoming the primary determinant of a "European power". The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth wasn't one. Perhaps it was if you consider the earlier period.

Real Estate / Good places to live in Krakow [20]

Krakow is absolutely terrible. I lived there and eventually got sick with commuting. In the summer it's not too bad - you can ride bike. But when the weather gets worse, you are at the mercy of the limited number of parking spaces, slow public transport and extremely limited number of routes from the suburbs to the center (read: traffic jams). Kraków may be acceptable if your work place is located in the suburbs and you can live nearby. But otherwise - beware!

History / Polish inventors - what have they ever given to the world? [101]


How about the hydrogen bomb? :)
Google Stanisław Ulam.