News or nuse?

[valpomike]

But sex is only good, face to face, with a person who you care for, the real thing.

Mike

[Bonobo]

Former minister caught plagiarising from wiki
29.03.2010 15:25

It’s not just university students who are plagiarizing Wikipedia in Poland: Professor Aldona Kamela-Sowinska, a former treasury minister, has been caught copying most of the introduction to her latest book from the web.

The copying was discovered by Marek Wronski, a scientist who investigates cases of plagiarism at Polish universities. Wronski revealed that the introduction to the book Economy and information society is almost entirely copied from popular web sites, such as Wikipedia or Sciaga.pl, where students can find ready-to-use essays and articles.

It turns out that the renowned economist wrote only four sentences by herself.

Professor Kamela-Sowinska, caught red-handed, admitted copying the introduction from internet. “There is no need to cry over the spilt milk, I’m not going to bury head in the sand,” said a defiant Kamela-Sowinska and added that other academics often copy half of their dissertations, while she copied just a few vital facts.

The former minister also called for a re-definition of plagiarism in the times of internet. But her critics are unconvinced.

“The professor tries to justify herself in a childish way, as if she didn’t know what copyright is,” says Marek Wronski, who thinks that following the scandal Kamela-Sowinska should quit her post as rector at the Higher School of Commerce and Accounting in the western city of Poznan.

Prof. Kamela-Sowinska, however, has a history of this type of thing. Three years ago she copied a text about honesty into her book on ethics in business. The author of the plagiarized article took the economist to court, demanding 20,000 zloty (5,130 euro) in damages. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education has also been investigating the case. (mg/pg)

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza
Comments

* Thad 29.03.2010 19:28 Fire Her !!! Thad
* Fred Scuttle 29.03.2010 19:53 Does make you wonder how she progressed in her academic career if she is copying other people's work now. Fred Scuttle
* Lady Q 29.03.2010 23:05 Cheating has and always be very popular and accepted here. They (poles in general) don't see anything wrong with it. This all comes from the mentality and culture. If she were from the west she would be thrown out on her a**, but she's from Poland, so let her be. Lady Q
* Maciej Skiba 29.03.2010 23:35 That is such a disingenuous comment Lady Q if I ever seen one. Plagiarism is seen in all country's, this has nothing to do with culture, you're right it has to do with mentality but that mentality is present in some people from all races and nationalities. Maciej Skiba
* Lady Q 30.03.2010 10:42 Easy little tiger Maciej Skiba. Where many people come from, cheating is just like dishonour. And yes I am right that in this culture many people cheat and most see nothing wrong with it. Parents, teachers, students and even Head Masters know about this, why are you trying to cover up something that's so obviously apparent? I just told Poles here that I try to see positive sides and even try to help others, but when the truth is suppressed by those who don't/can't admit it, that's when I get serious. And to answere you...yes cheaters live everywhere, but we're discussing a so-called professor. Not you, anyone else or I. Lady Q
* langlang 30.03.2010 10:59 just yesterday i was running a lesson on culture (music,etc..)
7 out of 7 students (age 15-18) did not even consider buying CDs at the store, some even claiming it to be a stupid thing to do. "Why should i do this?", "It"s stupid",
"No one does it..".. etc..
The same could be said about many other cases of infringment of privacy - i do have to double LADYQ on her opinion.. Unfortunately! langlang
* Maciej Skiba 30.03.2010 11:08 Lady Q??? Why would I try to cover up anything, did you see me deny that Poles cheat? Point is, people cheat and it has nothing to do with nationality. You're living in a dream world if you think this is somehow only specific to Poland. Maciej Skiba
* Maciej Skiba 30.03.2010 12:37 and BTW, lol why little tiger? Was my post aggressive or something? Maciej Skiba
* Peter 30.03.2010 16:24 Maciej, it's true that there are cheats everywhere, but there are some countries where it seems to be more readily accepted, and unfortunately, Poland seems to be one of those countries. Peter
* Maciej Skiba 30.03.2010 16:41 Peter,

How would you even be able to arrive at that conclusion? Personal experience? It seems your view is based on perception, it's not very scientific. To be honest I can't find any studies so I can't refute your assertion scientifically either, but just common sense tells me that this has little to do with race or nationality. Maciej Skiba

www.thenews.pl/national/artykul128448_former-minister-caught-plagiarising-from-wiki-.html

[Bonobo]

‘Swastika’ in Hindu temple near Warsaw?
26.05.2010 13:19

Polish authorities are considering banning a centuries old religious symbol, or ‘swastika’, in a Hindu temple in Wolka Kosowska, a small village near Warsaw.

Authorities are worried that the ancient Hindu religious swastika – derived from the Sanskrit word svástika –violates Poland’s ban on symbols associated with Nazi or communist dictatorships. For Hindus, the cross symbolises prosperity and happiness.

The Indian Association of Poland (IAP), which says it represents around 2,000 Indian immigrants to Poland, is converting a factory building in Wolka Kosowska into a Hindu temple. The Nazis used the symbol, however – in German, a Hakenkreuz – to symbolise the supposed struggle of the Aryan race, after appearing in far-right nationalist circles in Germany from the turn of the 20th century.

“The temple is almost ready inside, now we’re building a marble façade,” Suresh Motwani, who supervises the construction of the temple told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. Inside the Hindu Bhavan temple there will be nine figures of Indian gods and goddesses, imported from the Jaipur region in India. There will also be a swastika.

“The aim of the temple is to provide a common identity to the Indian community in Poland, and acquaint Indian youth with Indian traditions, culture and religion,” says Seema Motwani from IAP. The Indian community also wants to invite Poles, who are increasingly interested in Indian culture, to take part in Indian holidays and rites.

Hindu Bhavan will be the third Hindu temple in Poland. Two other temples are also located near Warsaw.

[Bonobo]

An Indian Sikh was asked to take off his hat at the airport in Warsaw.

He claims it was a dishonour to him that is why he tried to resist, so was fined 500 zlotys. In result, he complained to human rights organisation.

Uni students made a show and threw a fridge out of window. Will be prosecuted.


During a renovation of the foundation, a house was destroyed.

A railway baby Fiat constructed by firefighters

A schoolboy found a shell and brought it to school which was evacuated in result.


American tourists are troubled by municipal police for drinking beer in public, while a Polish drunk man s sleeping on the bench opposite them. Scandal!

[valpomike]

Does this mean, they look the other way when you are Polish?
Or were the tourist under age?

Mike

[Bonobo]

Jun 26, 2010 22:04:47 GMT 1 valpomike said:

Does this mean, they look the other way when you are Polish?
Or were the tourist under age?
Mike

Tourists were drinking beer in public, off premises, which is forbidden. The article suggested that they were an easier target/prey for the municipal police to fine than a completely drunk Pole sleeping on the bench.

[Bonobo]

That is what is happening in Poland now - small premises are pushed out from the market by bigger ones.



Corner shop in decline in Poland
26.07.2010 08:51


Around 4,000 small shops are set to shut their doors for the last time in 2010, as more and more discount stores extend their chains into ever small towns nationwide.

According to a report by the European Commission, tens of thousands of small shops have closed down in the whole EU in the past five years.

The loss of these local grocery stores means that some smaller towns and villages are often left without any sort of shop at all, a burden for the elderly and for those without a car.

The European Commission believes that internet shopping is a way to combat the loss of local stores, although the older generation, which is most affected by the closures, may have problems doing their shopping on-line.

[Bonobo]

What a silly idea.

Police: ‘cash or credit card, sir?’
27.0.2010 08:43

Police cars are set to be fitted with credit card terminals for the quick and efficient paying of fines by speeding drivers.

Currently fines have to be paid at either a bank or post office due to regulations stipulating that police officers are not allowed to accept cash from on-the-spot fines.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is behind the idea to equip the squad cars with card terminals, and is proposing a change in regulations so that drivers who break the highway code have the option of paying with plastic in situ.

Paying by card will still remain an option, however, with the caught motorist incurring additional costs from the transaction (up to 3 percent) as well as the telephone connection from the terminal to the bank.

The Internal Ministry has finished drafting the relevant legislation, which means that Police cars may be fitted with the terminals from 2011.

In the future, credit card terminals may also be fitted at various State offices, such as municipal councils or tax offices. The move is a cost-cutting measure, as the Ministry of Finance reports that the transportation and security of collected monies absorbs up to 1 percent of GDP.

www.thenews.pl/business/artykul136443_police-cash-or-credit-card--sir.html

[Bonobo]

A two-metre anaconda has been caught and taken to a zoo after it slithered its way out of a toilet in an apartment in Wroclaw, south-west Poland.

Much to the alarm of a 73-year-old woman living in a downtown Wroclaw apartment, the anaconda emerged out of the toilet bowl, after which the woman informed emergency services immediately.

Police and veterinary experts arrived at the scene to catch the two-metre long anaconda, taking it to a local zoological garden shortly afterwards. Police are now trying to determine how the snake got into the Wroclaw sewage system.

The anaconda, which is native to South America, is used to marshy waters and can spend long periods of time submerged in water.



See the film:
www.tvn24.pl/-1,1674317,0,1,dwumetrowa-anakonda-wypelzla-z-sedesu,wiadomosc.html

[Bonobo]

Plane forced to return to Poland after onboard fisticuffs
29.09.2010 11:23

LOT airlines is demanding that a Polish-American who started a fight yesterday afternoon on board a flight to Chicago, forcing the captain to return to Poland, receives a heavy fine.

“We had to drop 22 tonnes of fuel [in order to land at Warsaw airport], which cost us about 100,000 dollars,” said Marta Marczak from Polish Airlines LOT.

The American businessman of Polish origin, who travelled business class, started arguing with the crew and hit one of the pilots over a dispute over whether his son could sit with him.

The captain decided that the aggressive man could be a danger to both crew and co-passengers and turned the plane back to Poland. After landing the man was detained by border guards.

[valpomike]

Those dam Americans, what everything, and now. Makes the good ones look bad. We are not all like this guy.

Mike

[uncltim]

They should have jettisoned the man and continued to their destination.

[Bonobo]

More Poles rolling their own
10.11.2010 10:42

More and more Poles are reaching for rolling tobacco instead of the traditional packet of cigarettes, a new report shows.

Poles roll up as many as 4.7 million cigarettes annually, according to data from the Health Ministry.

Even though hand rolling tobacco is considered as a greater hazard to health than normal cigarettes, Poles are finding hand rolling tobacco more economical than regular ‘straights’, as excise on tobacco remains lower than for regular cigarettes.

Data released from Nielsen consumer researchers in Poland shows that in 2009, sales in cigarettes dropped by 1.3 percentage points, with hand-rolling tobacco sales increasing by the same margin. With trends set to continue in 2010, producers estimate that sales of rolling tobacco may even rise by more than 30 percent.

The tobacco industry estimates that the move to hand rolling tobacco from traditional cigarettes costs the state budget between 300-400 million zloty (75-100 million euro) yearly.

[Bonobo]

Found on Azerbaijan news:

Giant Frosty the Snowman built in Poland15 December 2010 [19:25] - Today.Az

It has been snowing for quite some time in Poland and with all that “raw material” at hand ,three inhabitants of Trzebnica city, Poland started building a snowman. The problem is they didn’t know when to stop.

The 31ft giant, named Milocinek, was finished after 6 days of work and is now the pride and joy of the city, which is pretty normal, if you believe the rumors that this is not just the largest snowman in Poland, but also the largest in the world. I hate to break it to them, but this doesn’t even come close to beating the record for the world’s largest snowman. Milocinek is so large they had to use a barrel for a hat and a traffic cone for his nose, instead of the usual carrot.

Although the three men who built Milocinek started of out of pure boredom, they became more and more enthusiastic as their work progressed., and didn’t stop until they realized their snowman was taller than pretty much all the surrounding houses. In fact, Milocinek is so large they had to use a barrel for a hat and a traffic cone for his nose, instead of the usual carrot.

[valpomike]

Could he have eaten bad mushrooms?

Mike

[Bonobo]

Dec 18, 2010 15:55:54 GMT 1 valpomike said:

Could he have eaten bad mushrooms?

Mike

Who?

[Bonobo]

Twins in Poland have two fathers
28.12.2010 12:19

In only the seventh known case of its kind in the world, twins born in the north of Poland were conceived by two different fathers.

The mother of the twins got pregnant after she was having sex with her husband and her lover - though not at exactly the same time.

After giving birth to twins, a boy and a girl, the woman filed for divorce and accused her husband of denying fatherhood so that her lover would have to recognize the twins as his own and pay for their upkeep.

However, DNA tests show that the husband was the father of the baby boy, while the lover was the father of the baby girl.

“It’s only the seventh such case in the world. Such rare cases are possible when an ovulating woman produces two eggs and has sex with two partners in a short period of time,” says Doctor Piotr Koziol from Forensic Medicine Institute in Lublin who conducted the DNA tests.

The local media has learned that the woman is now living with both twins and her lover.

[Bonobo]

A cat returned home after 3 years:

[valpomike]

If I were the cat, I would never leave her, ever.

Mike

[Bonobo]

Jan 5, 2011 22:17:50 GMT 1 valpomike said:

If I were the cat, I would never leave her, ever.

Mike

The cat doesn`t look particularly happy. I think he had run away because she was too possessive.

[valpomike]

If she wants, I will fill in for the cat, when the cat takes it's next trip.

Mike

[Bonobo]

Panic as snake slips loose on train
18.03.2011 16:43
Passengers on the long distance train from Gdynia to Zakopane were shocked this week when a snake of 3.5 metres length was spotted slithering down the aisles.

Much to the alarm of travellers, the mottled yellow and white reptile had escaped from a parcel.

Once the animal had been spotted, the train made a prolonged stop at the next station, Ilawa, where veterinary experts were called in to retrieve the snake.

Slawomir Nojman, spokesman for Ilawa police, told the Polish Press Agency that the slippery package was due to be delivered to an inhabitant of Nowy Sacz, southern Poland.

Thankfully, the reptile was removed without injury to itself or passengers. Police then checked the remaining packages, only to discover yet one more snake, this time of a length of 1.5 metres. The second snake had not yet managed to escape, however.

Owing to the unexpected incident, the train left Ilawa somewhat later than scheduled.

[Bonobo]

Meteorite lands on roof, northern Poland
04.05.2011 13:45

A meteorite weighing about a kilogramme smashed into the roof of a Masurian agro-tourism farm in the village of So³tmany, near Kruklanki, northern Poland.

Nobody was hurt but some damage was done to the roof.

Parts of the meteorite, which descended on Saturday causing some damage to a barn roof, was recovered by astronomers from Olsztyn, and will be examined by Professor Tadeusz Przylibski from Wroc³aw Technical University. Then it will be handed over to the Nicolas Copernicus Museum in Frombork or to the Planetarium in Olsztyn.

The meteorite, the biggest piece of which is about the size of a human fist, has also caused a stir in the Polish scientific community as it is the first planetoid fragment in 17 years to be recovered immediately after its fall to Earth.

Probably the specimen is a chondrite, a fairly common type of meteorite, derived from the belt of planetoids between Mars and Jupiter.

The last time Polish researchers recovered a chondritic meteorite immediately after it fell was in 1994, in Baszkówka near Warsaw.

This was also Poland’s only chondrite which did not fall apart after its passage through Earth’s atmosphere.

[Bonobo]

Man tried to open Easyjet plane door mid-flight
12.05.2011 08:28
A British man was overpowered by crew and passengers on board an Easyjet flight from Krakow to Edinburgh yesterday after he tried to open one of the cabin doors mid-flight.

The plane was diverted to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and landed around 20 minutes after the incident at 16.20 CET.

“The captain acknowledged that the safety of the plane was uncertain and was forced to land,” police spokesman in Amsterdam, Robert van Cappelle said.

None of the 156 passengers and crew on board were hurt during the incident, although the British man who tried to open the forward cabin door was injured during the scuffle that followed.

It is unknown why the man tried to open the door - which would have led to a catastrophe, say police. The man was not armed they said.

[Bonobo]

Hunt for missing piece of the moon
05.04.2012 10:51
Moon dust presented to Poland by American President Richard Nixon in 1973 has disappeared without trace.

The lunar souvenir, which is technically worth millions of dollars, came from the Apollo 17 expedition of December 1972, the last time that humans set foot on the moon.

The sample was transferred to the office of prominent Polish communist, Professor Henryk Jablonski, the then Chairman of the Council of State between 1972 and 1985.

Jablonski also received a plaque commemorating the landmark - or rather moon-mark – Apollo 11 expedition of July 1969, which saw the first human steps onto the moon.

The latter item can be viewed at the Planetarium in the city of Olsztyn, northern Poland. However, the fate of the Apollo 17 moon dust is a mystery.

The Council of State was abolished with the fall of communism in 1989, and the office of the President of Poland took over many of its duties.

However, the president's office has told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily that it does not possess any lunar samples, although it acknowledged that a record of the gift endures in the archives.

Polish space enthusiasts are hoping that the sample has not gone the same way as one presented to Ireland in 1969.

The Irish moon dust was accidentally thrown away in 1977, after a fire ravaged the country's Dunsink Observatory.

[Bonobo]

Certain mushroom picker found a WW2 shell in the woods, packed it into a shopping bag and brought to a police station in Czêstochowa. They had to evacuate the station and vicinity, about 50 people.





Now they are thinking of accusing him of endangering people`s lives.

[Bonobo]

In Europe, becoming more and more rotten, only Polish people are still so loyal in marriage.

www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/125945,Polish-couple-celebrate-longe st-marriage-in-Europe

A Polish couple are celebrating their 82nd wedding anniversary today, marking the longest ongoing marriage in Europe.
Ignacy (104) and Stefania Stasiak (101) originally tied the knot way back in 1931.
They took their marriage vows 82 years ago today in their native town of Aleksandrow Lodzki, central Poland, where the pair still lives.

[Bonobo]

A Polish eldest lady turns 113:
www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/127660,Polands-oldest-lady-turns-113

www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/127660,Polands-oldest-lady-turns-113

[Bonobo]

Cake-throwing martial law internee faces charges
06.06.2013 15:28
A communist-era opposition activist is to be charged after throwing a cake into a judge's face during a case against former Interior Minister Czeslaw Kiszczak.

Mariusz Mrozek, spokesman for the Warsaw police, confirmed the decision on Thursday after Judge Anna Wielgolewska lodged a complaint.

The incident occurred at a Warsaw district court after the judge temporarily closed a session to the public to hear evidence from two psychiatrists as to whether Kiszczak, now 87, was fit enough to be tried.

Kiszczak was set to be tried for the fifth time over responsibility for the Wujek Coal Mine Massacre of December 1981 in Katowice, Silesia. Nine men died when police and soldiers tried to break up a strike at the mine, with the protest launched three days after the government's imposition of martial law.

Having heard evidence from the psychiatrists, the judge called for a break in the sitting.

However, as she emerged from the courtroom, former opposition activist Zbigniew M. (name witheld under Polish privacy laws) apparently struck her in the face with a large cream-cake.

Wielgolewska later ruled that Kiszczak's trial should be suspended owing to the defendant's health.

Zbigniew M. could face a sentence of up to a year in prison, for “insulting a public functionary.”

[Bonobo]

A swarm of bees have been removed from a Warsaw tram stop.