Indeed and I remember the curious case of someone I always thought was a psychopath. It was this guy living in my neighbourhood, a bit younger than me, from a troubled family, I think his father was an alcoholic. I avoided this guy whenever I could but sometimes he just happened to be around. He was a well built boy but not tall, the type of guy who doesn't need to exercise to have power. I think he could have beaten three of us at once, if he caught us. This guy I've heard once telling the others how he punched his father in the face. He must have been around 15 years old. A cousin of mine did that once too, to his stepfather who was abusing his mother. Then my cousin ran and came to our home. I remember his trauma after that, he didn't like to talk about it. Well, this other guy seemed nothing like that. He was enjoying that and he was sharing it for the others' enjoyment. Some years later, I guess he was about 20 years old, I heard him again telling a similar story, but only for some seconds, while I was passing by. It's one of the stories I regret to have missed in my life. Because this guy was telling the others how he and his buddies were partying and they got drunk and entered this hotel in a youth summer resort and got in fights with others. And he described very vividly his encounter with another guy in whose room he broke, making a detailed introspection in that guy's mind at the moment of the confrontation, of what that guy was thinking, of how that guy was defining the situation and weighing his options. I'm sorry I don't remind the exact words he used, because it was a great description in very fine detail. I still think the guy is a psychopath, even more because of that.
Those were the 90's here, extremely mad times, a period of social anomie that luckily has passed. Nowadays something like that would be very unlikely to happen.
Avoid sociopaths and psychopaths at all costs. I hear you. One of the worst things I ever saw was a guy break into an old lady's room and bring her out at the point of his rifle. Then he screamed at her and made her march around in front of us. She was terrified. It was so insane that I didn't know what to do -- and I didn't do anything, because my mind couldn't process what I was seeing. And I was afraid of what this guy and his friends would do to me.
That's insane, indeed. I don't think you can do much in this situations. And having rifles around is always dangerous. I wouldn't send my kid to school in the US, because of the shooting madness. I hope they change something soon. In the recent years police here was encouraged to use pistols to stop runaway drivers. That only produced a number of accidental victims of badly aimed police bullets. I know policemen who refuse to carry the service weapon, "because you never know".
The USA does indeed have a problem with too many weapons among the citizenry. We have more guns than people. However, not all persons here in the US are responsible gun owners. This is a big issue. I have been around guns since I was born, but no one in my family has ever used a firearm in a crime. We are responsible. The problem here in the US is that many of the people owning guns are not responsible, and they use firearms -- legally owned or illegal -- against other persons for idiotic reasons, because they don't understand that that is wrong. If everyone in the US were intelligent and not mentally challenged, there would not be this problem with gun violence. What I really mean to say is that only criminals and idiots die in gun violence.
@Uncles There was a Polish guy shot at point blank range in Chicago some weeks ago. The assassin was an American. The reason? The Pole scratched his car, while exiting the parking spot, and the whole thing went ballistic (with the aggressor loosing a fist fight). You're idiots, you're utter idiots, defending the "holy second amendment"... forgetting that in 1791 you were still a poor country, faced with threat from the world's biggest empire. At least since 1945 you're the world's biggest empire, so the justification of the "holy second" is none. Some 1% of Poles owns a firearm, and it it is good so. Shot wounds? Mostly accidents among the hunters, who started the hunt with drinking, instead of finishing it with it. I guess most of Polish A&E wards have not seen a shooting victim for years. Access to firearms? Well - it's complicated - it is rather a simple path to become a sports shooter, but it requires a lot of consequence. It's rather bothersome to get a license for concealed weapon (although, taken my professional situation into account, I would get one without any problems - I simply don't like the idea). And - if you simply want to shoot some rounds at a registered shooting range, supervised by an instructor - all you need is your ID card. So we're free to practice, but firearm ownership is very limited (all you can buy and shoot outside a registered range without a licence is a black powder (replica) weapon - so stuff for hobbyists and not someone who'd like to use it to "do" a convenience store).
None of us here in this forum has any power to change the world. I am honestly saddened to hear about the senseless murder of Mr. Marchewka. It would be better to discuss over drinks, but our countries have both had experience where arms in the hands of civilians were welcomed. Me? I've been working in my garden. The damned animals and the spring/summer rains cause so many problems. The bastard squirrels and rabbits dig up my new plants, and the idiot workers who are supposed to maintain our area spray poison in our gardens.
To me this sounds like the kind of thing a responsible parent tells his kid when teaching about guns, in the US. Like "be smart, don't fight with others". But in the recent years we've heard of many shootings by individuals who take it out on the others. It's shocking. I've read, a few days ago, about a kid who was shot in his mum's car during a traffic quarrel. Fortunately in the US there are many smart people and fine ideas. I know the anti-guns campaign is strong there. I'm sure this madness will one day end. And I don't think the gun violence is so much related to being stupid. I wouldn't trust myself to carry a pocket knife. In fact I'm amazed of how few the victims are compared to the number of guns there. Of course, that can't be an argument for allowing gun ownership. Imagine someone campaigning for allowing dangerous poison around kids, in order to preserve liberties, because it wouldn't result in a higher proportion of deaths than those by guns.
Oh, pests! I have a huge weed problem in my yard. I don't use chemicals, so it's hard to manage. And I'm split over completely weeding out, because I don't want to end nature. I also have mole-rats stealing my onions, potatoes and carrots. They flourish and they seem to be very safe. A ferret would do the trick, but ferrets give my neighbors nightmares, because they prey on their chickens.
You should be congratulated for your objective opinions, Vasco. Are you sure that you're not a diplomat? Vasco, you should visit us and spend a weekend in Chicago (with protection -- well, I don't recommend visiting there, really). There were ~55 persons shot this past weekend. That's only two days. Slava bogu, only 1/10 or so of the victims die. But that's crazy. The people shooting each other are poor and from broken families.
Fortunately not Oh, I know Chicago as the setting for some popular cop movies. But fuck, that's a lot of people shot!
A few days ago a guy got shot (BTW, how cool does that sound in English: "got shot") not far from my house. ~ 10 KM from my home. He lived, fortunately. But this is why my home has an alarm system and why I am ready for potential trouble. Yes, it's very sad. There is a lot of crime here.
A week ago I bought the goats I was talking about. I'm unsure if I should post pictures of them, given the fact goatbanging has been a subject on this forum.
And you believe someone will risk a trip to TRANSylvania, just to bang one of your goats? Well - if you ask me, driving down the famous Transfăgărășan is more of an incentive to visit your country. Just need to buy a car that better suits it (some roadster I guess) - I am currently driving a VW Golf Sportsvan - contrary to the name - neither a sports car, nor a van.
I'm more concerned about their pics ending up on some specialised goat porn site Transfagarasan should be ok for any car. I've been there in my childhood, but avoided it ever since. Well, I'm avoiding day trips by car as much as I can. But the Făgăraş mountains themselves are great, been there a few times backpacking. That was before parenthood era. Will resume it soon though. Beware the brown bears, wherever in the mountains in Romania. Noise keeps them away. I use to sing loudly or shout when walking through the forest. When on the bike, especially when descending through the forest, if you're fast you can sometimes surprise a bear on the path. That scares the shit out of them tho, faster than it happens to us. But I don't look forward for such encounters. In the most touristic areas, many bears look for food from tourists, better keep away from those too.
So you're afraid your goats will turn to be local celebrities, somewhere in the darknet As far as driving is concerned - I do like driving, but I need to buy something more driveable than this VW to enjoy it. Had an old BMW X5 previously, and I really enjoyed driving it (not so much the excessive bills for repairs and servicing). I actually enjoyed driving all the BMWs I ever had... starting with the 1998 E36 316i I bought used, in 2004 or 2005. Hiking? I'd love to. Brown bears? Got them too - in Tatra and Bieszczady mountain ranges. They're more dangerous in Bieszczady, where they have to compete for the food with wolves, but I guess there was not a single person killed by bears in years now (even with the number of the latter steadily growing due to conservation efforts). Bieszczady used to be the Poland's "remote wilderness", last resort for those who craved for contact with nature and peace of mind, and not for tourist attractions - but that has rapidly changed during the past two decades, so I am actually searching for something "wilder" than what was once the last Polish "true wilderness".
Dr. Frog, I always remember that Poland was supposedly the last place where "real" aurochs lived. To be honest, I'm amazed that any such creatures survived past the 1500s. This may be one of the few cases where aristocracy contributed to the general good.
I hadn't raised any herbivores until these goats. Fuck, they're smart. Comparing them to the usual pets, they feel more like dogs, than cats, and that's because they're so social. I feed several cats and I love them, but goats are friendly for real. They salute you and they come to you for petting. They're distressed when left alone (like 10 metres away!) from the others or from humans. They shit and piss everywhere, so one wouldn't keep goats on their lawn. I don't keep a lawn, I hate them, I think they're one of the top contemporary evils, but I don't allow the goats in my garden or near the terrace. And they chew everything.
It was not the aristocracy, it was the king of the Commonwealth (and the protection was initiated by the Prince of Mazovia). There are no exact dates available as to the protection of the species, but: Mazovia left Poland after the 1134 feudal division of Poland, only to be incorporated back in the kingdom in 1527 (but some parts were already re-conquered in fourteenth century). The first to introduce the protection of aurochs were the princes of Mazovia, who witnessed the death of the last German population of these animals in 1470. After 1527 it was the authority of the King of Poland (and after 1569 the King of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) that protected these animals. But it was a lost case by then. The animals were already deprived of their natural habitats. The scale of conservation efforts was insufficient. In 1570s there was just one herd left. The last cow died in 1627, just half a century later - of natural causes (most likely the inbreeding in the herd, which was devoid of external sources of genetic material, made it even more vulnerable to bovine diseases that were somehow transmitted from domestic cattle). But - it was not the auroch, but the European bison that was the greatest success of the conservation program first introduced by King Sigismund II Augustus (the last Polish King of the Jagiellonian dynasty). The introduction of death penalty for poaching a bison made this creature survive to this date (even after German soldiers killed 600 of 609 animals living in the Białowieża forest during WW I, with the Red Army killing the last 9 by 1921) - there were enough bisons left at zoos to re-introduce them to Białowieża after WW II.
US congressmen on UFOs. Loved this: "If the Russians had UFO technology, they would own us right now” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/17/ufos-us-report-national-security-concerns After Saddam's WMDs it was time for some UFOs.