> After recently having my first encounter with a wild pig in Berlin, I was also expecting having to run from lions.
A girlfriend from Berlin once told me a story of how she had to hold out on top of a car for hours after being ambushed by hogs while coming home from a party in the early morning.
I had to take a detour once because an entire group of them was blocking the street.
Close to there, I once at night encountered the same group on the boardwalk, switched sides, and had to warn a couple that I saw a few meters ahead.
Last year ago I saw and heard the entire group go along our street at 5am or so ... (from the safety of my room). The lady who delivers newspapers around that time told me she sees them often after I warned her, and didn't seem to be particularly concerned.
I think they're very much used to humans and even with young ones not overly aggressive, unless you really push/surprise them, so she must have been unlucky.
But you are aware, that even a group of ordinary wild pigs can kill you and the corsican breed is especially famous for it?
If you are, thats cool, because in general I had many close encounters with boars at dawn or night in the forest and nothing ever happened. They are interesting and smart animals and usually respect you, when you respect them and stay calm. I even was quite close to mothers with young ones and the most that happened was, they snorted angrily at me to go away.
Central Europe has a lot of wild pigs and I encountered them several times right in the streets of villages or small cities adjacent to bigger forests - but always around midnight or later. They are smart and try to avoid humans, and they have obviously determined that the small hours are the optimal time to go scouting for some food with no one around.
I also took the title to mean that these were contemporary "lions", which I supposed must be some kind of wildcat or lynx (like American mountain lions).
I have a close friend and colleague from Paris that I worked with in Philadelphia. She once told me that she attributes the American attitude of independence and self-reliance on the fact that we still can run into animals that will kill us. Our perspective is directed by the inherent risk of living with wild (I don't think she had downtown Philly specifically in mind when forming these observations/ideas :) )
> She once told me that she attributes the American attitude of independence and self-reliance on the fact that we still can run into animals that will kill us
That would have been plausible I suppose if it wasn't for the fact that animals that can kill humans exists in many other places, but the attitude of Americans (fortunately) doesn't.
> but the attitude of Americans (fortunately) doesn't.
Perhaps you meant "Unfortunately"? I know it is very vogue to bash America and Americans these days. Perhaps you have spent too much time online, or have had some very negative experiences, but I do not share your view at all. Almost all Americans I have met are kind, helpful, and friendly. Coming from Eastern Europe, it's been an overwhelmingly positive change to have the default be "How can I help you", rather than "Fuck off".
Howard Campbell Jr. is a fictional character from a fictional novel. You're relating the personal opinions of a single novelist as if they were representative facts.
You think the average American is poor? You should spend some time in Southern or Eastern Europe, Southeast or South Asia, or pretty much anywhere on the entire African continent.
I'm not quite sure how an offhand remark upthread about one of the quirks of US culture has culminated in a post explaining that Western Europeans are "faux elitist snobbish... hasbeens fading in consequence" that are just "too arrogant about their position in the world", but it's not the German or French participants in this thread bragging about [ludicrous exaggerations of] their power. I mean, this particular tangent supports the notion that delusions of grandeur might be an issue for some, but not in the way you think...
If, as you suggest, countries need to live in fear of conquest not to resent Americans[1], I'm not sure that's evidence that it's other countries whose citizens are most likely to be exhibiting attitude problems.
[1] I'm not actually convinced this is the case, much like I'm entirely unconvinced that my country is "de facto ruled by the US", or that negative stereotypes about US culture and politics emanate from our desire to recapture our Empire (the people that obsess about that history tend to like the US and our political relations with it more. They're also a lot more obsessed with imperial grandeur than your average German!)
I am an American, born and raised here. It's a great place, people are great. Just like anywhere, there are good people and bad, there are kind people and mean, there are helpful people and not helpful.
Over and over I encounter good people with views that I don't agree with, that would help me in a heartbeat and I would help in a heartbeat. If you fall victim to the mentality that everyone sucks, guess what, everyone will suck in your eyes.
Personally, I think the modern western culture is pretty sick, there's a ton of narcissism, people are sucked into their fake worlds behind their media screens. That doesn't mean they are bad people, it means that the incentive structure of western society is fundamentally broken. Don't confuse bad people with people who are under sway of a broken media system.
> Americans are sure kind and friendly alright--as long as you happen to subscribe 1000% to whatever divisive flavor of propaganda an individual has been brainwashed to believe
You, my friend, are spreading your own flavor of propaganda right here in this post. Take a moment to breathe. There's both good and bad things in america, but it sure isn't the worst place to be born or to live in.
I spent 5 years overseas, living in several European countries and embedding myself in non-English speaking communities. Small-minded, short-sighted, and provincial thinking is the norm everywhere. Your average person thinks their country, language, race, etc. are the best around, regardless of where they're from.
Your post is the worst kind of "divisive flavor of propaganda". You've been led to believe the US is some sort of awful place full of awful people. And I get it, I used to think that too. But the truth is its just a place—a place full of people, the same kind as anywhere.
I hope you find the source of your anger and are able to work on it. Otherwise that toxicity is going to stay with you the rest of your life.
I spent 3 months traveling around ukraine in 2020 (I know.. hell of a year to be traveling)
While lviv and ukraine were lovely, I had to remind myself that I'm comparably wealthy compared to most of the people I was meeting and of course, money changes a lot of things.
I don't know. I, for one, am happy the USA exist as a country and Americans exist as a people.
The attitude of independence and self reliance has to do obviously with low population density, history and ancient cultural roots, but is commendable.
Judging by the news there is also a lot to complain about, and these days more then in the past, unfortunately.
But it's a bit stupid to give up on the good things of your culture because of internal bashing
Wild animals can kill you anywhere in the world, in Europe too. Just not the spectacular ones like lions, more mundane ones like bears, wolves, vipers. And of course anything with rabies or borreliosis.
100% agree. And we are kind of justified after learning how damn many wild pigs there are in Europe, not to mention many thousands of wild horses (and millions of wild pigs) in the USA.
> Peloponnesian settlement of Aigeira, in what is now northwestern Greece
The Peloponessus does not include the northwest of modern Greece. Aigeira appears to be in the Peloponessus, judging from the supplied map. Ergo Aigeira is not in northwestern Greece.
You'd be better of using an actual map as a source instead of Google Maps, as Google Maps redraws borders depending on what country you access it from, sometimes makes it really hard to discuss things around Google Maps links.
It's a good read if only for seeing how science works, how we establish sufficient evidence to support a hypothesis and how real scientists actually change their minds when presented with sufficient evidence to the contrary of their current point of view.
Yes, it makes sense that Lions roamed the area. It was a warmer period, and humans were still not that numerous.
Today, the Balkan Lynx, is the last large cat that lives in the Albania and N. Macedonia area. It is a beautiful animal. Most likely it has survived so far because it is a relatively shy animal, and doesn't attack people, or doesn't instill fear like Lions did and wolves to some extend do.
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[ 225 ms ] story [ 276 ms ] threadAnd I must admit, I clicked this article hoping to discover there were lions wandering around the south of France today.
> And I must admit, I clicked this article hoping to discover there were lions wandering around the south of France today.
After recently having my first encounter with a wild pig in Berlin, I was also expecting having to run from lions.
A girlfriend from Berlin once told me a story of how she had to hold out on top of a car for hours after being ambushed by hogs while coming home from a party in the early morning.
Berlin is a funny place.
Close to there, I once at night encountered the same group on the boardwalk, switched sides, and had to warn a couple that I saw a few meters ahead.
Last year ago I saw and heard the entire group go along our street at 5am or so ... (from the safety of my room). The lady who delivers newspapers around that time told me she sees them often after I warned her, and didn't seem to be particularly concerned.
I think they're very much used to humans and even with young ones not overly aggressive, unless you really push/surprise them, so she must have been unlucky.
And how was it? I've heard lots of stories of funny encounters with wild pigs in Corsica, but sadly never crossed one when visiting.
If you are, thats cool, because in general I had many close encounters with boars at dawn or night in the forest and nothing ever happened. They are interesting and smart animals and usually respect you, when you respect them and stay calm. I even was quite close to mothers with young ones and the most that happened was, they snorted angrily at me to go away.
I hope I never find a pig mom, though.
An important aspect is that you can’t take your clothes off near them: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/hey-thats-mine...
That's true but there are also quite a lot of unicorns and griffins so I'm not sure that that's a clinching argument.
The fact that heraldic lions look anything like actual lions rather than deformed dogs and sheep convinces me that they were somewhat nearby.
That would have been plausible I suppose if it wasn't for the fact that animals that can kill humans exists in many other places, but the attitude of Americans (fortunately) doesn't.
Perhaps you meant "Unfortunately"? I know it is very vogue to bash America and Americans these days. Perhaps you have spent too much time online, or have had some very negative experiences, but I do not share your view at all. Almost all Americans I have met are kind, helpful, and friendly. Coming from Eastern Europe, it's been an overwhelmingly positive change to have the default be "How can I help you", rather than "Fuck off".
You think the average American is poor? You should spend some time in Southern or Eastern Europe, Southeast or South Asia, or pretty much anywhere on the entire African continent.
If, as you suggest, countries need to live in fear of conquest not to resent Americans[1], I'm not sure that's evidence that it's other countries whose citizens are most likely to be exhibiting attitude problems.
[1] I'm not actually convinced this is the case, much like I'm entirely unconvinced that my country is "de facto ruled by the US", or that negative stereotypes about US culture and politics emanate from our desire to recapture our Empire (the people that obsess about that history tend to like the US and our political relations with it more. They're also a lot more obsessed with imperial grandeur than your average German!)
Over and over I encounter good people with views that I don't agree with, that would help me in a heartbeat and I would help in a heartbeat. If you fall victim to the mentality that everyone sucks, guess what, everyone will suck in your eyes.
Personally, I think the modern western culture is pretty sick, there's a ton of narcissism, people are sucked into their fake worlds behind their media screens. That doesn't mean they are bad people, it means that the incentive structure of western society is fundamentally broken. Don't confuse bad people with people who are under sway of a broken media system.
You, my friend, are spreading your own flavor of propaganda right here in this post. Take a moment to breathe. There's both good and bad things in america, but it sure isn't the worst place to be born or to live in.
Your post is the worst kind of "divisive flavor of propaganda". You've been led to believe the US is some sort of awful place full of awful people. And I get it, I used to think that too. But the truth is its just a place—a place full of people, the same kind as anywhere.
I hope you find the source of your anger and are able to work on it. Otherwise that toxicity is going to stay with you the rest of your life.
For the rest of us, it can be hit or miss depending on where in the country we're in.
While lviv and ukraine were lovely, I had to remind myself that I'm comparably wealthy compared to most of the people I was meeting and of course, money changes a lot of things.
The attitude of independence and self reliance has to do obviously with low population density, history and ancient cultural roots, but is commendable.
Judging by the news there is also a lot to complain about, and these days more then in the past, unfortunately.
But it's a bit stupid to give up on the good things of your culture because of internal bashing
The Peloponessus does not include the northwest of modern Greece. Aigeira appears to be in the Peloponessus, judging from the supplied map. Ergo Aigeira is not in northwestern Greece.
The Peloponessus is in southern Greece. Even Athens is not in northwestern Greece.
Wikipedia gives the location as "northeastern Achaea, West Greece". Maybe some of that got lost.
Today, the Balkan Lynx, is the last large cat that lives in the Albania and N. Macedonia area. It is a beautiful animal. Most likely it has survived so far because it is a relatively shy animal, and doesn't attack people, or doesn't instill fear like Lions did and wolves to some extend do.
https://www.dw.com/en/balkan-lynxes-the-last-of-their-kind/a...
https://exit.al/en/2020/06/25/in-albania-the-balkans-last-ly...
Magnificent animals. Best wishes to the poachers, their enablers, and their customers. Let there be no mercy for their souls, provided they have them