Attacked By Thugs
05.21.2004
Warsaw has a river running down its middle, an unassuming and turpid ribbon of water with a stairstep concrete enbankment along both of its banks, where you can often find retirees fishing (only people on fixed incomes or those close to death would dare eat fish from the Vistula). In between the embankment and the touristy downtown on the western side of the river runs a lo…
05.21.2004
Warsaw has a river running down its middle, an unassuming and turpid ribbon of water with a stairstep concrete enbankment along both of its banks, where you can often find retirees fishing (only people on fixed incomes or those close to death would dare eat fish from the Vistula). In between the embankment and the touristy downtown on the western side of the river runs a lo…
Poland Joins The European Union
05.03.2004
I was warned that it was utter madness to arrive in Warsaw on the last day of April, the day before Poland and nine other countries were slated to join the European Union. There was a meeting of the World Trade Organization under way, the city was filled to the gills with prime ministers, central bank heads and other luminaries, and fully half of the city center had been design…
05.03.2004
I was warned that it was utter madness to arrive in Warsaw on the last day of April, the day before Poland and nine other countries were slated to join the European Union. There was a meeting of the World Trade Organization under way, the city was filled to the gills with prime ministers, central bank heads and other luminaries, and fully half of the city center had been design…
Białowieża Forest
02.17.2012
One August morning in 2010 I woke up before dawn to go bushwhacking near the Belarussian border. My guide, a friendly Polish geography teacher named Romek, was waiting outside to take me into one of the last patches of primeval wilderness in Europe, Białowieża Forest. Primeval forest is what covered nearly …
02.17.2012
One August morning in 2010 I woke up before dawn to go bushwhacking near the Belarussian border. My guide, a friendly Polish geography teacher named Romek, was waiting outside to take me into one of the last patches of primeval wilderness in Europe, Białowieża Forest. Primeval forest is what covered nearly …
An Annotated Letter From Roman Polanski
05.04.2010
Roman Polanski, who is in Switzerland awaiting extradition to the US for the 1977 rape of a thirteen year old girl * , has just released a fascinating open letter, which I have reprinted here with my comments. Polanski's letter reads: Throughout my seven months since September 26, 2009, the date of my arrest at Zurich Airport, where I had landed with…
05.04.2010
Roman Polanski, who is in Switzerland awaiting extradition to the US for the 1977 rape of a thirteen year old girl * , has just released a fascinating open letter, which I have reprinted here with my comments. Polanski's letter reads: Throughout my seven months since September 26, 2009, the date of my arrest at Zurich Airport, where I had landed with…
Borderlands
02.18.2009
There is nothing distinctive about the Polish border with Ukraine. This part of the world sits on an endless, invasion-friendly plain crisscrossed by rivers that meander around without a clear sense of purpose before giving up in exasperation and draining into the Baltic or Black Sea. Historically, borders here have not counted for much. If you had horses, archers and an ac…
02.18.2009
There is nothing distinctive about the Polish border with Ukraine. This part of the world sits on an endless, invasion-friendly plain crisscrossed by rivers that meander around without a clear sense of purpose before giving up in exasperation and draining into the Baltic or Black Sea. Historically, borders here have not counted for much. If you had horses, archers and an ac…
You Forgot Poland
02.11.2009
The following are excerpts from an article by Juliusz Ćwieluch and Wawrzyniec Smoczyński [what a name!] that appeared on October 25, 2008 in the popular Polish newsweekly Polityka : “I was told about the attack a few hours before it started. It was at night, I got a call from vice-president Cheney” recalls [former Polish President] Aleksander Kwaśniews…
02.11.2009
The following are excerpts from an article by Juliusz Ćwieluch and Wawrzyniec Smoczyński [what a name!] that appeared on October 25, 2008 in the popular Polish newsweekly Polityka : “I was told about the attack a few hours before it started. It was at night, I got a call from vice-president Cheney” recalls [former Polish President] Aleksander Kwaśniews…
Ought Nine
01.10.2009
Real winter has descended on a Poland still trying to recover from its Christmas binge. The main Polish celebration falls on Christmas Eve, but both the 25th and 26th are holidays spent trying to make up for the brief interval of meatlessness on the 24th. Three years out of seven, the Christmas holidays fall between two weekends, creating a nearly uninterrupted streak of days off from some…
01.10.2009
Real winter has descended on a Poland still trying to recover from its Christmas binge. The main Polish celebration falls on Christmas Eve, but both the 25th and 26th are holidays spent trying to make up for the brief interval of meatlessness on the 24th. Three years out of seven, the Christmas holidays fall between two weekends, creating a nearly uninterrupted streak of days off from some…
TV Solidarity
04.17.2007
On September 14, 1985, residents of the Polish city of Toruń watching the popular James Bond ripoff 07, Call In (in which a blond and ideologically correct Citizen's Militia officer fights crime from within a series of tight sweaters) were surprised to see the show briefly overlaid with block white letters reading "Solidarity Toruń: Boycotting the election is our duty,"…
04.17.2007
On September 14, 1985, residents of the Polish city of Toruń watching the popular James Bond ripoff 07, Call In (in which a blond and ideologically correct Citizen's Militia officer fights crime from within a series of tight sweaters) were surprised to see the show briefly overlaid with block white letters reading "Solidarity Toruń: Boycotting the election is our duty,"…
Balloon Pirate Radio
04.13.2007
One of my earliest childhood memories is the peppy Solidarity stickers that were ubiquitous in Poland in 1981. A third of the population had joined the first indepenent trade union in the Eastern Bloc, and the country was still flying high from John Paul II's 1979 visit, when crowds in th…
04.13.2007
One of my earliest childhood memories is the peppy Solidarity stickers that were ubiquitous in Poland in 1981. A third of the population had joined the first indepenent trade union in the Eastern Bloc, and the country was still flying high from John Paul II's 1979 visit, when crowds in th…
Polish Election
06.06.2003
Over in Poland, a nail-biter of an election. People are voting in the referendum to join the European Union. The outcome of the vote isn't in doubt, but what is in doubt is whether the voter turnout will exceed 50%, making the referendum binding. Things don't look good right now - after a full day of voting, the turnout is 17% and change (here's a little Bolsheviks in the White House
04.18.2003
One of the best things about the country of my birth is that, since the fall of Communism, the print media have been second to none. Much of this is thanks to the former dissident Adam Michnik, and the daily newspaper he founded, Gazeta Wyborcza. I don't know enough about contemporary journalism to praise the paper properly - all I know is that it manages to be sharp, funny, and fair at th…
06.06.2003
Over in Poland, a nail-biter of an election. People are voting in the referendum to join the European Union. The outcome of the vote isn't in doubt, but what is in doubt is whether the voter turnout will exceed 50%, making the referendum binding. Things don't look good right now - after a full day of voting, the turnout is 17% and change (here's a little Bolsheviks in the White House
04.18.2003
One of the best things about the country of my birth is that, since the fall of Communism, the print media have been second to none. Much of this is thanks to the former dissident Adam Michnik, and the daily newspaper he founded, Gazeta Wyborcza. I don't know enough about contemporary journalism to praise the paper properly - all I know is that it manages to be sharp, funny, and fair at th…
Polish Soccer Victory
06.13.2002
We won! We won! And the first player to score was named Emmanuel Olisadebe! Black, Nigerian-born, and fluent in Polish. Who knew? It's great to see that we're not just a land of lily-white potato eaters anymore. This might be old hat to Denmark, France, or Germany, but Poland is the most
06.13.2002
We won! We won! And the first player to score was named Emmanuel Olisadebe! Black, Nigerian-born, and fluent in Polish. Who knew? It's great to see that we're not just a land of lily-white potato eaters anymore. This might be old hat to Denmark, France, or Germany, but Poland is the most
Idle Words
brevity is for the weak
Eating the happiest cows in the world
I Spy
I go for a walk in Beijing and accidentally infiltrate the Chinese space program
Dabblers and Blowhards
Smushing Paul Graham
Attacked By Thugs
Warsaw police hijinks
Dating Without Kundera
Alternatives to the Slavic Dave Matthews
A Morning in Iceland
The best layover in the world
A Rocket To Nowhere
Space Shuttle rant
Best Practices For Time Travelers
The story of John Titor
French Week 3/03 (Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6)
100 Years Of Turbulence
Wright Brothers exposed
NYC Marathon 2003
Bleeding nipples
PC Forum
Business at the speed of dumb
Poland Joins The EU
Report from Warsaw
brevity is for the weak
Greatest Hits
Argentina on Two Steaks A DayEating the happiest cows in the world
I Spy
I go for a walk in Beijing and accidentally infiltrate the Chinese space program
Dabblers and Blowhards
Smushing Paul Graham
Attacked By Thugs
Warsaw police hijinks
Dating Without Kundera
Alternatives to the Slavic Dave Matthews
A Morning in Iceland
The best layover in the world
A Rocket To Nowhere
Space Shuttle rant
Best Practices For Time Travelers
The story of John Titor
French Week 3/03 (Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6)
100 Years Of Turbulence
Wright Brothers exposed
NYC Marathon 2003
Bleeding nipples
PC Forum
Business at the speed of dumb
Poland Joins The EU
Report from Warsaw
Every Damn Thing
Every Damn Thing
Your Host
Maciej Cegłowski
maciej @ ceglowski.com
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