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Post by Bonobo on Feb 7, 2009 21:44:07 GMT 1
I will take a order of the egg rolls, please. Mike You mean 100 year old Chinese eggs?? |
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 11, 2009 19:32:51 GMT 1
They called me an ass-hole and abused me. Demanded money and treated me like garbage - says Jan Rokita, a member of Parliament who started a brawl about his and his wife`s coats. The couple put their coats on a seat in business class though were travelling in economy. After the flight attendant took the coats back to economy class and cramped them in overhead compartment, Rokita took them out again and put back on a vacant seat in busines class. The attendant said she was the boss on the plane. The argument broke out. The pilot refused to take off and the police was called. They handcuffed Rokita and took him out, abusing him in different ways, e.g, was called ass-ho-le ( Arschloch). . Rokita claims he is a victim of German prejudice towards Poles. The recording made by a co-passenger reveals Rokita`s cries to other Polish passengers: Help me, you are Polish, help me, Germans are beating me! I don`t know what to think about it but probably Rokita flew over the handle a bit. In case you are a Pole and desire to travel by German airlines, you should be careful. The name of the airline - Lufthansa. ;D ;D ;D ;D www.tvn24.pl/-1,1585819,0,1,nagranie-z-samoltu-ratujcie-mnie,wiadomosc.html 
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Post by valpomike on Feb 11, 2009 21:34:59 GMT 1
Rules are rules, even if you are Polish, remember you are on a German airline. Next time, take LOT.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 11, 2009 22:52:12 GMT 1
Rules are rules, even if you are Polish, remember you are on a German airline. Next time, take LOT. Mike It seems the Polish couple purposefully started and continued the argument. What did they want to gain? |
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Post by valpomike on Feb 12, 2009 0:03:46 GMT 1
A free trip, or some sort of reward, for this. Even with them starting it.
Mike
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tomek
Nursery kid
Posts: 256 
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Post by tomek on Feb 15, 2009 15:37:04 GMT 1
Rules are rules, even if you are Polish, remember you are on a German airline. Next time, take LOT. Mike It seems the Polish couple purposefully started and continued the argument. What did they want to gain? Thye want be considered normal peoples, not Ubermenschen from occupied Poland by fascists German of Hitler. Germans must learn that Polishmen are so good like Germans, not so worse than them. Germans passanger can be keep coats everywher, so why Polishmen can not? |
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 15, 2009 21:33:52 GMT 1
It seems the Polish couple purposefully started and continued the argument. What did they want to gain? Thye want be considered normal peoples, not Ubermenschen from occupied Poland by fascists German of Hitler. Germans must learn that Polishmen are so good like Germans, not so worse than them. Germans passanger can be keep coats everywher, so why Polishmen can not? Hmm, come on, Germans abide to air law, that`s all. Airlines have strict procedures after 11 September, passengers must adapt or leave. It is nothing nationalistic. PS. I suppose you intended to say Untermenschen, not Ubermenschen. The latter were Germans, while Poles were Untermenschen. |
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 17, 2009 9:16:04 GMT 1
Foreign Ministry Refuses to Intervene over Jan Rokita's Botched
Lufthansa Flight
Magdalena Kursa
Gazeta Wyborcza
2009-02-13
'What happened at the Munich airport last Tuesday requires a firm
intervention from the Polish government, PiS leader Jaros³aw
Kaczyñski said yesterday.
'Elevating it to the level of a political affair would be madness,'
replies the Foreign Ministry.
Ex-deputy and minister of internal affairs Jan Rokita was on Tuesday
led handcuffed by the German police out of a Lufthansa plane in
Munich.
The police and the airline say he kicked up a row with a flight
attendant who refused to permit Rokita and his wife, Nelli (as PiS
deputy), to put their coats in a locker in business class (they flew
economy).
Mr Rokita says it was the flight attendant who started the row, and
that the German police then brutally abused him verbally.
'We are treating this as a consular matter. We won't ask the German ambassador for explanations nor elevate it to the rank of a
political dispute. Mr Rokita is no longer a member of parliament,'
says Alicja Rakowska, director of the Foreign Ministry's press
office.
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 18, 2009 18:12:52 GMT 1
Berlin - Germany and Poland averted a row Monday over a controversial museum that is to depict refugee experiences, with a Polish envoy saying he was confident he could trust Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Poland's special representative for relations with Germany, met in Berlin with Merkel. There was no news conference, but he told Polish reporters later he was "fully calmed and satisfied."
Tension had earlier flared after Polish diplomats reportedly heard that refugee leader Erika Steinbach, 65, would be appointed to the board of a planned Berlin museum, which is to depict how ethnic Germans had to flee many nations after the Second World War.
Many Poles perceive the museum as having an anti-Polish agenda. Steinbach herself is viewed with revulsion by many Poles because of her advocacy for ethnic Germans expelled from Polish soil between 1945 and 1947.
Ulrich Wilhelm, the German government spokesman, said at a news conference: "The friendship, the partnership with Poland is a very important objective for the federal government," adding this had "a very high value."
Wilhelm said the federally funded memorial would not attempt to reinterpret the history of World War II and its aftermath. He said Germany admitted it was to blame for starting the war and all its consequences.
He added that Germany's 1939 attack on Poland, the start of the war, had "plunged Europe into unfathomable suffering."
Wilhelm said procedures to select the memorial board had not even begun. A state minister, Bernd Neumann, who is a Merkel aide, would meet with relevant organizations to hear their nominations. Germany's cabinet would then select the members.
Sources added that the German government might well postpone the issue, meaning the board could not be formed this year.
The memorial is to expected to be a museum and document centre on one floor of a Berlin office building, near the expellees' office.
Poles have been outraged at Steinbach's criticism of their nation and her focus on the sufferings of Germans rather than victims of the Nazis. In the last few years, the expulsions have been the subject of a rash of German TV dramas.
Bartoszewski reportedly said Sunday that Poland would boycott some events with Germany this year if Steinbach were placed on the board.
After a right-wing administration in Poland fierced opposed the Berlin memorial, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed to advise Germany on keeping the museum neutral. He is set to meet with Merkel on February 27 in Hamburg.
Steinbach is a member of the German parliament for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/256021,germany-and-poland-avert-row-over-refugee-memorial--summary.html
Potato chips, french fries may harm heart
Published: Feb. 16, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Order reprints | Feedback
SZCZECIN, Poland, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Polish researchers suggest that acrylamide from foods such as potato chips may increase the risk of heart disease.
Marek Naruszewicz of the Polish Society for Atherosclerosis Research in Szczecin, Poland, and colleagues say that acrylamide has been linked to nervous system disorders and possibly to cancer.
After ingesting large amounts of potato chips providing about 157 micrograms of acrylamide daily for four weeks, the study participants had adverse changes in oxidized low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, the "bad" cholesterol, inflammatory markers and antioxidants that help the body eliminate acrylamide -- all of which may increase the risk of heart disease.
Additional research is needed in long-term studies of people consuming typical amounts of acrylamide -- averaging about 20 to 30 micrograms, the researchers say.
"Consumers can reduce their exposure to acrylamide by limiting their intake of potato chips and french fries, choosing a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat meat, low-fat dairy products and quitting smoking, which is a major source of acrylamide," Mary Ann Johnson, spokeswoman for the American Society for Nutrition says in a statement.www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/02/16/Potato_chips_french_fries_may_harm_heart/UPI-32921234804077/The findings are published in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Polish scientists working on electronic ear
Polish Radio
16.02.2009
Scientists based at the Lublin University of Technology are trying to
develop an electronic nose, a device used for the detection and
assessment of odors in the air.
The item is rather small and may therefore be used in field tests over an extended period of time. The process is simple: the air is sucked inside the electronic ear and is analysed on the spot, explains a member of the research team Professor Sobczuk:
"The air passes above the sensor matrix. Each of the sensors receives the olfactory composition of the air and interprets the signals transmitted by these sensors, detecting any contamination by ammoniac, for example."
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Post by tufta on Feb 19, 2009 12:38:37 GMT 1
Foreign Ministry Refuses to Intervene over Jan Rokita's Botched
Lufthansa Flight
Magdalena Kursa
Gazeta Wyborcza
2009-02-13
'What happened at the Munich airport last Tuesday requires a firm
intervention from the Polish government, PiS leader Jaros³aw
Kaczyñski said yesterday.
This is a typical lack of feeling what is important and needs action and what is not The effect of this disability is that when Jarosław Kaczyński acts in a sensible manner and in a matter that requires action - he is as ridiculed as if it was another of his follies. What happened at the Munich airport is first of all the fault of Jan Rokita of Kraków who should be wiser than some stupid and arrogant stewardess. But then he is not guilty of the way he was treated by the police. Nonetheless I thought the whole situation is a little absurd. But in this absurd situation there is a 'double bottom' since Jan Rokita's wife, who is German writes: Poczulam wstyd, ze jestem Niemka;
"Wprost' Numer: 8/2009 (1363)
W samolocie Lufthansy odczulam dotkliwie, co oznacza niemiecka buta. Mój i mojego meza powrót z Wenecji przerodzil; sie w pelen absurdu spektakl rodem z Mrozka.
Wielu Niemców traktuje Polaków jak ludzi gorszej kategorii. Sama to widzialam.
" I felt ashamed I am German
In Lufthansa airplane I severely felt what means German uppishness. My husband's and my return from Venice turned into absurd show out of fictional play. Many Germans treat Poles us humans of worse category. I saw it with my own eyes.
. www.wprost.pl/ar/153522/Nie-tylko-dla-kobiet-Poczulam-wstyd-ze-jestem-Niemka/?I=1363 |
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 19, 2009 18:53:54 GMT 1
You can play the game: Rokita on the board! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D  www.tvn24.pl/-1,1587068,0,1,ratunku-bija-mnie-internauci,wiadomosc.html As for the attitude of German police, I am not so sure how the Polish police would behave if they ran into a noisy type like that. E.g., Erica Steinbach.... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 17, 2009 19:38:57 GMT 1
Poland scores low marks on US report on human rights
Poland A.M.
2009-03-02
Human rights reports details shortcomings of the Polish law
enforcement system.
The Unites States has released its annual human rights report. The
document declares, "The [Polish] government generally respects the
human rights of its citizens; however, prison conditions remain poor
and overcrowded; lengthy pre-trial detention, misconduct and excessive use of force by law enforcement officials remained problems.
The judicial system was inefficient and continued to function poorly.
Occasional anti-Semitic violence and harassment also were problems.
Corruption remained a problem throughout the government and society".What are American shortcomings in the eyes of human rights observers? Sensational discovery at Sandomierz Cathedral
Poland.pl
2009-03-08
A sensational discovery has been made during renovation works at the Cathedral Basilica in the eastern Polish city of Sandomierz.
Original Byzantine-Russian frescoes were discovered under wall paintings, which had last been renovated in 1934. The newly discovered paintings are in a relatively good state, art conservators report. No such frescoes can be found in Poland. They are also unique in Central and Western Europe. The paintings were partly covered by the the main altar. During the renovation works, Gothic frescoes were also discovered on the whole northern wall of the Sandomierz Cathedral, which was built around 1360 and developed in the 15th century.  
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 23, 2009 22:09:59 GMT 1
Another big cat roams the forests in southern Poland. It is a puma, snow panther or leopard. It has attacked farm animals, killed a dozen, and wild ones too. A few witnesses saw it. Local authorities warn people not to leave their houses after dusk.  www.tvn24.pl/-1,1592167,0,1,bestia-z-mokrej-znow-atakuje,wiadomosc.html See the video on this site
Polish villagers in fear of killer cat
Stuff.co.nz
26/03/2009
Residents of a Polish village are living in fear as a large wild cat stalks the rural area feasting on their livestock.
Locals in the village – in Poland's southwest, near Opole – have been warned to only travel by car and to stay inside at night while the cat remains on the loose.
Experts have analysed hair left at kill scenes and believe the cat to be a rare snow leopard. The animal is known to be fast, agile and very dangerous.
However, the randomness of the strikes doesn't fit with typical feeding habits associated with the breed, and experts are worrying the cat has upped the ante because it is bored.
To date, the only image of the large cat is jumpy and grainy cellphone footage. But locals are convinced the cat is out there and are heeding warnings until it's caught. |
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 24, 2009 21:53:58 GMT 1
Buy Polish!
thenews.pl
21.03.2009
Saturday sees the start of the Kupujnasze.pl campaign (Buy Ours) to try and encourage Poles to buy Polish products.
According to the organizers, this will be the first advertisement series of its kind in the world.
The co-initiator of the campaign Jacek Sadowski underlines that the advertisement campaign is about "affecting the economy in a real way," immensely important at a time of finance crisis.
He points out that 60 percent of GDP in Poland is based on domestic consumer activity.
Andrzej Olszewski from the Public Opinion Research Centre says that for shoppers in Poland the country of origin of a product is important for only five percent of Polish consumers.
For more information on the campaign go to the Kupujnasze.pl web site.
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Poles among most sober Europeans?
thenews.pl
26.11.2008
A report by the National Institute of Public Health of the National
Institute of Hygiene in Warsaw claims the stereotype of the hard
drinking Pole is untrue.
In fact in comparison with other EU nations Poles are almost
teetotalers!
According to the report, Poland is fourth in the EU in terms of the
amount of consumed alcohol per annum. What is more, Poles' drinking habits have changed radically as well: instead of vodka they now prefer beer and wine.
An average Pole drinks some 6.7 litres of spirit a year. This is
only three-fourths of what an average European drinks (9. 1l) and by half as much as the citizens tiny Luxembourg – the booziest of
Europeans – who drink as much as 14.61 of clear spirit per annum.
Only in Sweden, Malta and Bulgaria people drink less than in
Poland.
"The decrease of alcohol consumption in our country can be
attributed to a fashion for sobriety," says Boguslaw Prajsner of the
State Agency for the Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems.
According to him, Poles realised that drinking alcohol is not the
only way to kill time. "Moreover, they see that alcohol can hinder
achieving a success in life," he added.
The research by the National Institute of Hygiene indicates that
only 14 percent of the Poles say they consume alcohol more often
than once in a week. In the EU this proportion amounts on average to 44 percent.
Changes in alcohol consumption have been dramatic in the last few
years. Only at the beginning of the 1990s, the average Pole drank
some 9 litres of clear spirit a year, making Poland one of the
heaviest drinking countries in Europe.
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 26, 2009 22:57:50 GMT 1
Miracle coma man regains consciousness A 23year old young man from Opole, western Poland, has regained consciousness after being in a coma for one year.
Karol spent twelve months in coma after a serious accident but miraculously regained consciousness after choking on yoghurt.
The young man suffered severe brain injuries and underwent neurosurgery, but he remained unconscious and unresponsive to external stimuli.
According to doctors from two different hospitals, who diagnosed Karol, his state was irreversible. Because of that he was discharged from hospital and sent to a hospice.
Seven months after the accident Karol started responding to light and pain. He was also able to move his hand. Yet the real breakthrough came about twelve months after the tragedy when one of Karol’s relatives tried to feed him with yoghurt (at the beginning he was fed only with the use of probe). Karol choked on the food, and, according to Jozef Bojko, the head of rehabilitation ward in the Regional Hospital in Opole, that stimulated cerebral activity.
Thanks to rehabilitation, Karol is now able to answer simple questions by nodding his head, shaking his hands, and can swallow without additional aid. He can also smile.
He is now relearning how to walk and soon will also be able to speak. www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/humaninterest/artykul104981_miracle_coma_man_regains_consciousness.html |
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 2, 2009 21:33:30 GMT 1
25 years ago two babies were mistakenly handed over to wrong parents. Today the court ruled the compensation from the state: 1.900.000 zlotys, for 7 people to share. www.tvn24.pl/-1,1593823,0,1,2-mln-za-zamiane-niemowlat,wiadomosc.html
Women switched as babies win 425,000 euros damages
4/2/09
WARSAW (AFP) — A court in the Polish capital Warsaw on Thursday awarded 1.9 million zloty (425,000 euros, 566,000 dollars) to three young women switched at birth, two of whom are identical twins.
In December 1983, 15-day-old twin girls Kasia and Nina Ofmanska -- both suffering from pneumonia -- were placed in a Warsaw hospital.
It was there that one of the twins was switched by mistake with another baby girl also being cared for at the hospital.
Seventeen years later, the case of mistaken identity came to light by chance when it emerged that Edyta Wierzbicka, a girl identical to Kasia also living in Warsaw, was her real twin. Genetic testing later confirmed the hospital's error.
In 2002, both families took legal action against the Polish state seeking damages for all three girls, now aged 25. The parents of the young women, all of whom claim to have been traumatised by the switch, were also awarded part of the damages.
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Apr 7, 2009 13:46:42 GMT 1
Dear Polish friends, I regret to inform you that your country is about to be invaded...
Starbucks to open in Warsaw
Created: 07.04.2009 10:33
The first Starbucks coffeehouse in Poland is to open on the central street of Nowy Swiat in Warsaw tomorrow.
Starbucks is owned by the AmRest company which currently runs two large restaurant chains in Poland – Pizza Hut and KFC.
The company plan to open one more shop in Warsaw, and soon another is to be opened in Wroclaw, south western Poland. But that’s just for starters.
“We want to concentrate on the main cities, though we can’t reveal a concrete plan of action, just yet,” explained Drew O’Malley of AmRest to the TVN 24 news station.
Central Europe has become even more central to Starbucks strategy of late, after the company announced that it would be closing up to 600 stores in the US and 61 of its 84 shops in Australia. Further closures in markets saturated by coffee chains are also expected this year.
Currently the largest coffeehouse chain in Poland is Coffee Heaven though its position as an undisputed leader on the market may soon be threatened.
The market for hot drinks in Poland has expanded rapidly since 2000, at a rate of four percent a year and with around 80 coffeshops opening annually.
An average Pole drinks around 555 cups of coffee a year, while at the beginning of 1990s this number hardly exceeded 200 cups. As many as 75 percent of adult Poles admit that they drink coffee at least once a weak and buy up to 80 million kilograms of coffee per annum. (pg/jm)
thenews.pl
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Post by valpomike on Apr 7, 2009 14:56:35 GMT 1
There goes the neighborhood !!!!
Can't we send them a White Castle.
They could not keep the Taco Bell's they had in Warsaw.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 7, 2009 20:56:44 GMT 1
Dear Polish friends, I regret to inform you that your country is about to be invaded... Starbucks to open in Warsaw
Created: 07.04.2009 10:33
The first Starbucks coffeehouse in Poland is to open on the central street of Nowy Swiat in Warsaw tomorrow.
Starbucks is owned by the AmRest company which currently runs two large restaurant chains in Poland – Pizza Hut and KFC.
I don`t drink coffee, unless offered, so the invasion doesn`t concern me. An average Pole drinks around 555 cups of coffee a year, while at the beginning of 1990s this number hardly exceeded 200 cups. Strange data. Are babies included in the statistics?? |
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Apr 7, 2009 23:02:04 GMT 1
An average Pole drinks around 555 cups of coffee a year, while at the beginning of 1990s this number hardly exceeded 200 cups. Strange data. Are babies included in the statistics?? It didn't specify the age.  Coffee is really popular here with teenagers and young adults. Is it the same in Poland, or something else - soda or juice maybe? Note that as a minimal coffee drinker you are (once again) clearly not an "average Pole". ;D |
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Apr 8, 2009 15:20:28 GMT 1
I wonder what the "adoption" cost is for a mosquito or fly, and how do you know which one is "yours"  ;D Mosquito adoption new trend at Warsaw Zoo Created: 08.04.2009 11:21 The Warsaw Zoo has launched a campaign encouraging everyone to “adopt” an animal, that is, to pay for its maintenance. You can adopt any creature you want – even a mosquito or a fly.
There are 4,500 animals in the Warsaw Zoo, but only 150 of them have sponsors.
“Luckily, people feel responsible for the animals they adopted and they do not abandon their commitments even in a time of financial crisis. They save up money but not at the expense of animals,” claims Ewa Zbonikowska from the Zoo.
Most people are interested in adopting big animals or those which resemble a typical household pet. All lions and jaguars already have sponsors.
Erna, a young elephant from Safari Park in Beekse Bergen in the Netherlands, will arrive at the Warsaw Zoo on April 15 and is still awaiting adoption. The monthly cost of the calf’s maintenance is 1,500 zloty (about 400 euro).
Those who want to adopt an animal from Warsaw Zoo can negotiate the maintenance price. (mg/mmj) thenews.pl |
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 8, 2009 21:31:51 GMT 1
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 8, 2009 21:43:15 GMT 1
Coffee is really popular here with teenagers and young adults. Is it the same in Poland, or something else - soda or juice maybe? hmm, parents try to discourage their children from drinking coffee at too young age. A young person drinking coffee is still a rare view. Or are we talking about decafinated coffee? Yes. I think I am doing it on purpose. I feel an urge to show off my uniqueness. ;D ;D |
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Apr 9, 2009 4:35:44 GMT 1
hmm, parents try to discourage their children from drinking coffee at too young age. A young person drinking coffee is still a rare view. Or are we talking about decafinated coffee? Nope - we're talking full-blown caffeine buzz, and not from the cheap make-a-pot-at-home variety. These kids are hanging out at places like Starbucks drinking $4 specialty coffee drinks. They even have a name for them - "Starbucks junkies".  |
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 9, 2009 17:54:58 GMT 1
Nope - we're talking full-blown caffeine buzz, and not from the cheap make-a-pot-at-home variety. These kids are hanging out at places like Starbucks drinking $4 specialty coffee drinks. They even have a name for them - "Starbucks junkies". It is not yet popular in Poland due to the lack of such facilities. But I am afraid it might be a problem soon... |
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Post by valpomike on Apr 10, 2009 2:23:08 GMT 1
If it goes over, you will have one on each corner like we do here, but I don't drink it. I can't see the high price people pay for a cup of coffee.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 13, 2009 16:34:51 GMT 1
Foreigners pay Poles for marriage
thenews.pl
09.04.2009
Up to one in four of the 9,000 marriages between foreigners and Polish citizens every year could be bogus.
In America and the UK it is common to see dubious adverts from foreigners looking for that special someone – in reality they are looking for citizenship, not love. But Poland has become a target for people from outside the EU looking to migrate from poorer regions of the world but denied entry because of strict immigration controls.
"Registrars in Poland are helpless. They can't refuse to marry anyone, even if they suspect a fraud," explains Ma³gorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka from the University in Lodz, quoted in Rzeczpospolita.
For a bogus marriage, a Pole can demand between 15,000 and 20,000 zlotys (3,350-4,500 euros). Most foreigners who are ready to pay for such `services' come from Asian countries and the former USSR region.
Rzeczpospolita gives the example of Olga M, a 27 year old Ukrainian who married 72 year old Aleksander J.. A divorce pertition was made after only two months, pointing to the failure to sexually consummate the marriage. Aleleksander, however, died before the divorce could come through.
The price Poles can demand has risen in recent years as Poland is an attractive country for these sorts of marriages, particularly since the country joined the Schengen Zone, which means free movement for non-EU born citizens.
The arrangement, however, can backfire, especially when the `spouse' takes off out of the country without first getting a divorce.
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Report indicates Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was held in Poland
The Warsaw Business Journal
9th April 2009
Evidence has appeared which supports allegations that the accused terrorist was tortured in Poland
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said that the country where he was held might have been Poland
Courtesy of Wikipedia
In a Red Cross report leaked to the New York Review of Books, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed states that the country where he was held and interrogated while on transit from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay might have been Poland.
"I think the country was Poland. I think this because on one occasion a water bottle was brought to me without the label removed. It had an e-mail address ending in `.pl,'" the report quoted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as saying.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he recognized the building's radiators. "The central-heating system was an old style one that I would only expect to see in countries of the former communist system," the report quotes him as saying.
In it, the alleged "mastermind" of the 9/11 attacks claims he was tortured and severely beaten during his stay in Poland, and that he was subjected to the notorious practice of "waterboarding. "
"During the harshest period of my interrogation I gave a lot of false information in order to satisfy what I believed the interrogators wished to hear in order to make the ill-treatment stop," the report quotes him as saying. "I'm sure that the false information I was forced to invent in order to make the ill-treatment stop wasted a lot of their time and led to several false red-alerts being placed in the US."
The 40-page document, drafted in 2007, reports "the findings and recommendations of the International Committee of the Red Cross following its visits to fourteen 'high value detainees' transferred to Guantanamo in September 2006."
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003 in Pakistan. He is currently in US custody and is awaiting a ruling on charges of war crimes and murder.
...................................................................... Dear Polish friends, I regret to inform you that your country is about to be invaded... Starbucks to open in Warsaw Created: 07.04.2009 10:33 The first Starbucks coffeehouse in Poland is to open on the central street of Nowy Swiat in Warsaw tomorrow.
Poland's first Starbucks means 'end of an era'
Dominika Maslikowsk
DPA
4/8/09
Warsaw - Some urbanites may complain of a Starbucks on every corner of their city, but for Warsaw residents the arrival of the world's biggest coffee shop chain means further prestige and worldliness for Poland.
For Andrzej Bacinski, 34, it means the end of an era of wondering when the next world-known brand will finally arrive in the country.
"I remember Poland's first McDonald's, and the lines were so long," Bacinski said. "And this is the end of that era. We have got everything now."
Seattle-based Starbucks Corporation opened its first cafe in Poland on Wednesday, on Warsaw's elegant Nowy Swiat street. Poland is now the second country in Central Eastern Europe to open a Starbucks, after the Czech Republic last year.
The southern city of Wroclaw is next, company officials said - their Starbucks will open later this month.
Further plans for Poland aren't disclosed, but officials say the company looks forward to more openings in the former Soviet bloc and that the region "represents significant growth areas."
Reports show dynamic growth in Poland's coffeehouse sector, with a 30 per cent rise in 2007 alone.
And for Starbucks, that booming market could mean added profits and a new focus - amid the closure of some 600 stores in the United States.
"I think they'll do well here, because it's a well-known brand," said student Suzanna Ring, 16.
Young Poles are still interested in all things American, Ring said, and "Made in the USA" still spells for many better quality and prestige.
But Wednesday's opening was more subdued than the excitement of Poland's first McDonald's in 1992.
That grand opening came just three years after the fall of communism. America was then the mythical land of the strong dollar, fashionable Levi's and John Wayne.
Since then, Poland joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. After years behind the Iron Curtain, Poles say they now feel more European with a growing economy that hasn't been as hard-hit by the financial crisis as many others in Europe.
With their increased spending power, Poles are now less likely to be in awe of all things American. Others say the war in Iraq and George W. Bush's unpopular presidency did their part to tarnish America's image.
"In the 1990s, it was new and there was a rage for American things, but now there's less excitement just because there's more [American products,]" Ring said. "I'd say most young people are interested, but fascination is too strong of a word."
While McDonald's was for many Poles the first taste of America, at the new Starbucks many young people ordered the drinks they came to love during stays in London, or New York.
For some, the prestige of the brand means just as much as the taste of the coffee.
"We have been waiting for a long time ... this sets the town apart," said student Tomasz Swierczewski. "It's prestige and it means Warsaw as a capital is more worldly."
Swierczewski expects the cafe will be most popular among young people and those who have been abroad.
Poland's older generation, however, may still associate the elegant Nowy Swiat street with the quaint cafes that date back to the 1800s.
"Starbucks?" asked an older woman sipping an espresso further down the street. "I haven't heard of it yet."
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 17, 2009 20:47:05 GMT 1
Another big cat roams the forests in southern Poland. It is a puma, snow panther or leopard. It has attacked farm animals, killed a dozen, and wild ones too. A few witnesses saw it. Local authorities warn people not to leave their houses after dusk. www.tvn24.pl/-1,1592167,0,1,bestia-z-mokrej-znow-atakuje,wiadomosc.html See the video on this site
Polish villagers in fear of killer cat
Stuff.co.nz
26/03/2009
Residents of a Polish village are living in fear as a large wild cat stalks the rural area feasting on their livestock.
Locals in the village – in Poland's southwest, near Opole – have been warned to only travel by car and to stay inside at night while the cat remains on the loose.
Experts have analysed hair left at kill scenes and believe the cat to be a rare snow leopard. The animal is known to be fast, agile and very dangerous.
However, the randomness of the strikes doesn't fit with typical feeding habits associated with the breed, and experts are worrying the cat has upped the ante because it is bored.
To date, the only image of the large cat is jumpy and grainy cellphone footage. But locals are convinced the cat is out there and are heeding warnings until it's caught.Another photo was taken. It is a really big cat. It is fascinating how it avoids people so that tbey can see it once a fortnigght or so.  See the video www.tvn24.pl/-1,1596060,0,1,puma-znow-sfilmowana-chodzila-i-tarzala-sie,wiadomosc.html |
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Post by valpomike on Apr 18, 2009 2:06:56 GMT 1
Could it be a circus animal that got louse?
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 18, 2009 19:14:27 GMT 1
Could it be a circus animal that got louse? Mike Hmm, pumas are not performers in circuses. Read and listen to the story in professional English. It has gone international: english.sina.com/video/2009/0326/229081.htmlResidents in south western Poland are living in fear of a mysterious predator blamed for attacking and killing livestock over the past few days. The animal is thought to be a rare snow leopard. It's has been sighted numerous times around Opole and has even been recorded on a mobile phone camera by a resident of Biala village. At another location, a driver informed the police that a big cat had jumped over his moving car while chasing a deer. Polish pig farmer Tadeusz Wilczynski is taking no chances. He's locking up his livestock after apparently losing a pig and dozens of piglets to a mystery big cat. (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) PIG FARMER, TADEUSZ WILCZYNSKI, SAYING: "Everybody is scared. We are 100 percent sure that this thing will return. Maybe tomorrow, maybe today, we don't know." One local filmed the cat on his mobile phone. And there've been numerous sightings in villages around the south west village of Opole. (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) MOKRA RESIDENT ANDRZEJ WOJCIK, SAYING: "I am afraid that something will follow me because I don't know, I don't have a clue what it is." Local radio has been broadcasting big cat warnings. They've been urging residents to travel by car and stay indoors after dark. At Krakow Zoo they think they've identified the cat. Hair found on the remains of animals killed by the predator suggest its a rare snow leopard. (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) KRAKOW ZOO OFFICIAL, TERESA GREGA, SAYING: "They are fast and agile, and they have big claws. Like every cat predator they're very dangerous." But snow leopards don't normally behave in this way. Cat experts say they usually devour prey in hiding and never blindly kill or maim. (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) ANIMAL EXPERT, ANTONI GUCWINSKI, SAYING: "This animal must be either very nervous, making it very dangerous because it can do just anything, or it is bored." Either way locals want the killer caught before they become it's next lunch. |
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