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sâmbătă, octombrie 24

women find deep male voices attractive...


No offense to tenors, but outside of opera, a high male voice is seldom, if ever, considered seductive. Scientific research has shown that women find deep male voices attractive, and the same is true in other species, like howler monkeys.

But evolution is often stingy in its gifts, and researchers investigating male competition to reproduce have discovered an intriguing trade-off in some species of howler monkeys: the deeper the call, the smaller the testicles.

Jacob Dunn of Cambridge University, one of the leaders of the research, said that species evolved either to make lower-frequency sounds, or have larger testicles, but none had both a very low sound and very large testicles.

“It’s a great study,” said Stuart Semple, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Roehampton in London who was not involved in the research. “It shows this really clear trade-off.”


Vervet monkeys relinquished their dislike of a colored corn when they changed location and saw other monkeys eating it.Study in Science Shows Monkeys Pick Up Social CuesAPRIL 25, 2013
ScienceTake: Monkeys Provide Clues to How Tool Use DevelopedMAY 18, 2015
Dr. Dunn and other researchers, including W. Tecumseh Fitch, of the University of Vienna, and Leslie A. Knapp, of the University of Utah, studied the size of a bone in the vocal apparatus, which is directly related to how deep the calls are, and the size of testicles, to come up for averages in nine species of howlers.

They had been intrigued by great variations in both the size of the howlers’ hyoid bones in museum collections and in the size of the monkeys’ testicles as seen in the field. Dr. Knapp said that some of them are large enough that they are quite obvious “when you look up into the trees.”

They used the museum samples of the bone and living monkeys in zoos for testicle measurements, and reported their findings Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

The differences in anatomy were directly related to differences in monkey lifestyle. In some species of howlers — monkeys that live in Central and South America — males compete to gain control of mating access to several females. A basso profundo helps attract mating partners and scare off rivals, so a deep call is important. Testicle size, which is directly related to sperm production, is not so important.

In other species, females copulate with several males, and the more sperm a male produces, the better the odds he has of reproducing because the sperm from several males all compete to fertilize the female’s eggs. In those species, sperm trumps sound. Dr. Dunn said that similar trade-offs are seen in other animals, like gorillas and chimps.

One male dominates a gorilla group, he said, and “They invest in body size. Males are huge.” But, he said, their testicles are “tiny.” In chimpanzees, mating is more of a free-for-all and sperm from several males may compete for success in fertilizing a female’s eggs. Chimpanzee testicles, he said, are “massive.”

The reason howlers do not have both large testicles and a very deep call, said Dr. Dunn, seems to be that both options impose a cost in terms of energy expended, either as the animal is growing or during its life.

And there are other costs. Testosterone, which makes for larger testicles, can suppress immune function, he said. Another possibility: “Bigger testicles are also vulnerable to being caught on a branch or scratched by another monkey.”

It may also be, he said, that once a species started down one evolutionary road, sound or testicles, evolutionary pressures kept them on that path.

The researchers studied nine howler species. They created 3-D scans of 255 hyoid bones in museum collections. In howlers, the hyoid bone creates a resonating chamber for sound and its size is directly related to sound frequency. The bones were saved in museums before the era of genetics as a way to identify species.

There are hints in other studies of possible similar evolutionary trade-offs in humans. On the one hand, some research has suggested that men with deep voices have more sex partners, and therefore more opportunities to reproduce. But another study showed lower sperm quality in deeper-voiced men.

Nonetheless, the recent research has no practical application to human mate choice. The monkey research was not about individual monkeys, but different species, while humans are all one species. The hyoid bone does not function the same way in human beings. And, as Dr. Knapp pointed out, human females have many more important criteria for mates other than testicle size.

The research on the live zoo animals posed some challenges. Their testicles were measured when the animals were lightly sedated for other purposes. Still, Dr. Knapp said, “It’s not the easiest thing to do.”

As for extending the research, perhaps into the monkeys’ natural habitat, she said, “We have to come up with another way to measure testes size if we’re working in the field.”

joi, octombrie 22

10 întrebări la care știința nu poate să răspundă




 Sistemul tradițional educațional plasează începerea istoriei omenirii cu circa 8000 de ani în urmă.
Religia sau ceea ce a înțeles omul din scripturi, ne învață că omenirea s-a născut cu 6000 de ani în urmă și de atunci și până în
 prezent se dezbate cu neputință pentru a afla răspunsurile la cele mai arzătoare întrebări.
 
 Omul nu știe cine este sau de unde vine și cu atât mai puțin care este scopul  său în viață. Pe lângă aceste întrebări deja clasice, mai sunt și altele  la care nici-o știință nu poate oferi răspunsuri satisfăcătoare.
 Problema este că aceste întrebări fără răspuns se înmulțesc pe zi ce trece și  viitorul nu pare să strălucească cel puțin din această perspectivă. Pentru a realiza bezna totală în care se află civilizația umană, am  adunat un set de întrebări la care știința nu
 poate răspunde:
 
 1. O hartă ciudată, desenată pe o piele de gazelă, a fost descoperită în 1929 și înfățișează  Antarctica înainte sa fie înghețată.Era semnată Piri Reis, care a avut acces la Biblioteca Imperială a Constantinopolului și  care a copiat-o doar, după un alt model, în 1513. Cărțile noastre de istorie ne spun că Antarctica a fost descoperită de James Cook la 17 ianuarie 1773.
Cine a putut desena harta după care s-a inspirat Piri Reis și când pentru că Antarctica este sub gheață de zeci de mii de ani?

  2. O figurină bizară a fost descoperită în Idaho în 1889. Conform analizelor  de laborator s-a stabilit că are o vechime de peste 1 milion de ani. Cine a putut să construiască o asemenea figurină în urmă cu peste 1 milion de ani?

  3. În China s-au descoperit peste 100 de piramide care sunt îngropate la 300  de metri în pământ. Arheologii sunt de părere că acestea sunt cele mai vechi piramide existente pe Terra. Oare realizează cineva că este nevoie de zeci de mii de ani sau poate sute de
 mii pentru ca un obiect  să fie îngropat cu 300 de metri de pământ?

4. Există numeroase piramide construite pe fiecare continent. Nimeni nu poate spune pentru ce au fost construite aceste structuri megalitice, ci există doar presupuneri. Oare cine le-a construit și în ce scop?
 
 5. În Ecuador  a fost descoperit un ibric cu 12 cești. Sunt făcute din jad și  imediat au atras atenția oamenilor de știință. Interesant este că dacă  torni conținutul celor 12 cești în cupa mai mare se umple perfect. Mai  mult de atât interiorul ceștii mari este magnetic. Acest lucru este  imposibil pentru că dacă interiorul este magnetic ar trebui să fie la  fel și exteriorul, dar lucrurile nu stau chiar așa.
 Cine a realizat acest set de cești și care este cauza pentru care interiorul cupei mai mari este magnetic?
 
  6. Au fost descoperite peste 350 de artefacte ciudate în America Latină. Unul  dintre ele înfățișează o piramidă, care are un ochi deasupra sa. Când este mișcat în anumite direcții se poate vedea o stea care pare  desprinsă din constelația Orion. Obiectele sunt inscripționate cu litere ciudate care au mai fost găsite prin diferite locuri. Artefactele au o vechime de câteva zeci de mii de ani.
Este posibil să fi existat o civilizaţie mai avansată înaintea apariției omului pe Terra?

  7. Cuvântul  pre-sanskit, descoperit într-una dintre piramidele egiptene a fost tradus și are următoarea semnificație: „fiul  creatorului vine". Despre ce creator este vorba și de pe ce planetă poate să vină?

  8. În 1851 în Dorchester, Massachusetts, a fost descoperit un vas din zinc și  argint. El are peste 800.000 de ani vechime, ceea
 ce certifică faptul că ființe inteligente au existat pe Terra și în trecutul îndepărtat. Despre ce fel de ființe este vorba și care este cauza pentru care au dispărut ?
 
9. Toate  religiile par să promoveze o poveste similară. Cu toate acestea religia a fost folosită pe post de tehnică de manipulare
 și menținere în umbră si prostire a intregii populatii. Cine dorește ca omenirea să nu afle adevărul și de ce?
 
 10. în ultimele sute de ani nu au fost decât un alt tip de limitare și îngrădire  intelectuală. Oamenii au fost educați să se comporte
 precum niște roboți și să nu mai aiba timp sau curaj să se mai gândească la lucrurile cu adevărat importante din viață.
Cine trage de frâiele societății și care este cauza pentru care omul este tratat precum un sclav?



DE UNDE VINE EXPRESIA...


  1. Acarul Păun La inceputul sec. XX a avut loc o catastrofă feroviară in stația Vintileanca, de pe ruta Ploiesti-Buzău. Ancheta a ajuns la concluzia că vinovat pentru catastrofă era acarul de statie … Ioan Păun. Adevaratii vinovati au fost scosi de sub acuzatie.
  2. Abracadabra: Abreviarea cabalistica a cuvintelor ebraice: ab (tata), ben (fiu), Ruah a cadish (sfantul duh).
  3. A prioriInlatina: "din cele precedente". Când cineva pretinde că stie acel lucru dinainte, a priori.
  4. A da mâna cu cineva :Obiceiul vine din antichitate, când două persoane care se întâlneau vroiau să demonstreze că mâna nici unuia nu conține o armă.
  5. "A-si da arama pe fata"In evul mediu, falsificatorii monedelor de aur ori de argint le făceau din arama si le acopereau numai cu un strat subtire de aur ori argint. Dupa un timp de folosire, se rodea acea pojghita ramanand numai materialul initial, arama.
  6. "A trăi ca in sânul lui Avraam": Expresia care inseamnă" a trăi fericit", se trage de la Evanghelia lui Luca (c.XVI,v.22 si 23 ), unde se spune ca săracul Lazar a murit si a fost dus la sânul lui Avraam (in paradis).
  7. "A trăi ca un bimbașă":  ...a trăi în belșug, expresia vine de la comandantul cetelor de arnăuți, bimbașa Sava, care se imbogățise excesiv in ultimii ani ai epocii fanariote: ( Bimbașă în turcă este "comandantul a 1000 de soldați")
  8. Avocatul diavolului: Vine de la Advocatus diaboli, persoană insarcinată de biserica catolică să cerceteze un candidat propus la canonizare. El este in opozitie cu Advocatus Dei (avocatul Domnului). 
  9. "A  se bate cu morile de vânt". Expresie care înseamnă, a te lupta cu năluci cu himere. Cunoscutul personaj a lui Cervantes, Don Quijote de la Mancha a pornit să se lupte cu nişte mori de vânt pe care, în închipuirea lui înfierbântată, le luase drept adversari.
  10. A spune brașoave. A spune minciuni, lăudăroșenii. Expresia vine de la negustorii brașoveni medievali, care își lăudau exagerat marfa.
  11.  Augur- "E de bun augur"..."E de rău augur"...efectiv înseamnă "e semn bun"..."e semn rău" Expresia provine din antichitatea romană, când preoții -numiți și ei auguri" prevesteau viitorul după zborul păsărilor, ori după măruntaiele acestora . (ex: de la avis= pasăre și garrire= a flăcării)
  12. "Banul nu are miros": Imparatul roman Vespasian (69-79) a pus foarte multe taxe, printre ele si una asupra folosirii closetelor publice (numite si vespasiene). La ironia fiului sau Titus, care ii reproșa acest lucru, Vespasian a luat un ban i l-a dat să-l miroasa fiului si i-a zis: "vezi nu are nici un miros". 
  13. Barbie. In sensul de foarte frumoasă, cu trasaturi perfecte. Papusă de plastic cu păr blond si măsuri ideale. Ideea acestei papusi i-a apartinut  lui Ruth Handler sotia fondatorului firmei Mattel, fiica acestora Barbara, care purta diminutivul Barbie. Modelul folosit a fost o papusă germană pe numele sau Lili, adusa de cuplu dintr-o calatorie in Elvetia. Barbie are 30 de cm si o multime de accesorii.
  14. "Bătaia e ruptă din rai". Zicală aproape universală care se regăsește la aproape toate popoarele europene. "Bătaia e ruptă din rai", "Dumnezeu îți dă dar nu îți bagă în traistă" și "incurcate sunt căile Domnului", nu sunt citate biblice.


"Călcâiul lui Ahile". Orice persoana are un punct slab. Legendele grecesti povestesc ca zeita Thetis, la nasterea fiului sau Ahile, l-a imbaiat pe acesta in Styx, fluviul care despartea infernul si oferea invulnaribilitate. Dar cand l-a scaldat, zeita l-a tinut de calcai. Astfel Ahile era invulnerabil, cu o singura exceptie, calcaiul. El a fost ucis la asediul Troiei de o sageata trasa in calcai.
  1.  Ca mortul în păpușoi.
  2. "Carpe Diem": Bucura-te de ziua de azi, traieste clipa. E inceputul unei ode scrise de Horatiu "Bucura-te de ziua de azi si nu te increde in ziua de maine".
  3. Casus belliIn latina "Motiv de razboi".
  4. Cele 7 minuni ale lumii. Piramida lui Keops, Grădinile suspendate ale Semiramidei, Statuia lui Zeus, Templul lui Artemisa din Efes, Colosul din Rodos, Farul din Alexandria, Mausoleul din Halicarnas.
  5. Cui Bono: Expresie latina care inseamna " cui foloseste" ori "in folosul cui". Este atribuită marelui jurist roman Cicero, care intr-o pledoarie asupra unui asasinat, a cerut sa se cerceteze "cui bono", cui foloseste acel asasinat.
  6. "Curriculum Vitae" (latina). Cursul vietii. Toate datele referitoare la starea civila, studii, ocupatii si functiile avute.
  7. "Daca nu vine muntele la Mohamed, se duce Mahomed la munte": In anul 612, păgânii i-au cerut lui Mohamed care incepuse să predice islamul, să facă o minune si să aducă muntele la el. Mohamed a cerut o clipă de ragaz, a inceput să se roage spre cer, apoi s-a inchinat si a zis "mare este intelepciunea ta Allah, daca ai fi dat ascultare rugii si ai fi urnit muntele ne-ai fi omorat pe toti. Trebuie sa ma duc eu la munte pentru a nu murii acesti păgâni".
  8. De la Ana la Caiafa. Semnifica o amanare, o tergiversare premeditată a unei rezolvări de mari importantă, amanare ce presupune de fapt un refuz. Sunt trimis de la Ana la Caiafa! sau: M-am saturat sa mă duc de la Ana la Caiafa – adica nu se rezolvă nimic, niciodata. Iisus, dupa ce este tradat, s-a dus la Ana, socrul arhiereului Caiafa si fruntas al Sinedriului. Purtat apoi de la unul la altul i se pun intrebari, la care Iisus raspunde simplu si demn. Pentru a nu fi implicati in pedeapsa lui Iisus, acestia il predau procurorului Pilat din Pont.
  9. Degetul din mijloc. In ziua de azi este ceva jignitor sa arati cuiva degetul mijlociu. Dar acum sute de ani, gestul avea alta semnificatie. Inaintea bataliei de la  Agincourt din 1415, francezii, anticipând victoria lor asupra Angliei, au  decis sa le taie degetul mijlociu tuturor soldatilor luati prizonieri.  Asta pentru ca fara degetul mijlociu le va fi imposibil sa mai tragă cu arcul si astfel sa mai ia parte la vreo lupta pe viitor. Insa francezii au pierdut acea batalie iar soldatii englezi ii batjocoreau aratandu-le degetul  mijlociu, pe care acestia intentionaseră sa il taie.
  10. Demiurg: Cuvantul inseamna in limba greaca "constructor", "arhitect". In filozofia  platoniana numele dat lui Dumnezeu, Creatorul, Sufletul universului.
  11. Divide et Impera (lat" Imparte si stapâneste"). Acest adagiu roman a fost folosit de Machiaveli sub forma "divide ut regnes", "divide pentru a domni".
  12. Dura lex, sed lex (lat.) - Legea este aspra, dar lege;  maxima antica prin care se sustine forta si importanta legii pentru viata sociala si nevoia de a respecta. 
  13. Eminența cenusie: (omul din spatele actiunilor, cel care conduce fara a fi vazut). Expresia vine de la colaboratorul cel mai apropiat a cardinalului francez Richeliu, prim ministru al Frantei in timpul domniei lui Ludovic al XIII-lea (1610- 1643), calugarul capucin Francois Le Clerc.
  14. Et in Arcadia Ego. (lat. si eu am trait in Arcadia), exprima regretul fericiri pierdute. Arcadia era o regiune din Pelopones, sudul Greciei, unde traia  un popor de pastori, pe care greci ii considerau neprihaniti, oameni de o mare puritate. expresia a fost folosita ca inscriptie la tabloul "Pastorii Arcadiei" pictat de Poussin.
  15. Evrika: gr "Am descoperit", strigatul inventatorului grec Arhimede, cand a descoperit celebra lui lege" un corp scufundat in apa pierde o parte din greutatea lui, egala cu volumul de apa dislocuit" principiul lui Arhimede.
  16. Excelsior (lat "Mai sus") era mottoul Statelor Unite ale Americii.
  17. Ex aeque (latină. "la egalitate"). -Când doi candidați la un examen au obținut, aceiași notă ori când doi sportivi au cucerit același loc si același premiu.
  18. Fiasco. (eșec complet, dezastru) In mod ciudat, cuvântul provine din lb italiană și înseamnă literamente "sticlă". originea provine dintr-o tavernă venețiană, unde un cântăreț încerca să înveselească consumatorii, unul dintre ei însă nemulțumit de prestația "artistului", a cerut  în mod repetat să i se aducă o sticlă (fiasco) pentru a aplica o corecție celui de pe scenă.
  19. Grosso modo. (lat. "in linii mari"). Se spune despre o lucrare necompleta.
  20. Idem. (lat. "acelasi", "de asemenea").
  21. Ingognito (lat. "fara sa fie cunoscut")
  22. In extremis (lat. "in ultima clipa")
  23. In vino veritas (lat. in vin stă adevarul). In Grecia antica, cei care erau banuiti de fapte infame erau imbatați de autoritati si anchetati sub aceasta stare.
  24. In tara lui Papura Voda. Porecla data lui Stefanita domnitor al Moldovei, in timpul caruia Principatul a fost lovit de o mare foamete, oameni hranindu-se cu papura.
  25. JEEP vine din prescurtarea "General Purpose" vehicle – G.P.
  26. La pastele cailor . Adica niciodata, corespondentul roman al acestei expresii este "la calendele grecesti"
  27. Linsaj. Executarea fara judecata a unui infractor de catre multime. Expresia vine de la seriful american Joh Lynch (se citeste linci) care isi exercita meseria intr-un oras din Carolina de Sud, si care pentru a starpi talhariile si omorurile a indrodus pedeapsa cu linsajul. Lăsa multimea sa pedepseasca singura pe autorii infractiunilor.
  28. Luna de miere. Expresie persana, prin care orientalii aratau cat de putin tine dulceata casniciei..o luna!!
  29. Cand englezii au ajuns in Australia au vazut un animal ciudat care sarea  prin paduri. Au chemat un bastinas si l-au intrebat prin semne ce animal era acela. Cum bastinasul repeta "kan ghu ru" ei au adoptat acel nume pentru animal. Dupa mult timp cercetatorii au constatat ca bastinasul de fapt spunea "nu inteleg".
  30. Mana cereasca. ( de la ebraicul man,hu..ce e asta?) Are intelesul de surpriză placută picată pe neasteptate "din cer". expresia are legatura cu legenda biblica relatata in Exodul (cap. XVI, 4)..Dumnezeu pentru ai hrani pe evrei plecati din Egipt si aflati in mijlocul desertului, le-a facut marea surpriza sa le trimita, o hrana gustoasa si hranitoare, zi de zi, dimineata si seara. Minunea era ca hrana avea gustul pe care il dorea cel ce o consuma. 
  31. Mărul lui Tell. Wilhelm Tell a fost legendarul erou national al Elvetiei in razboiul de independenta impotriva imparatului Albert al Austriei. Refuzand – spune legenda- sa-l salute pe guvernatorul imperial Gessler, Tell a fost condamnat de acesta sa traga cu arcul intr-un mar asezat pe capul copilului sau. El a trecut cu succes prin aceasta primejdioasa incercare si, de atunci, "marul lui Tell" a devenit simbolul unei reusite bazate pe o mare iscusinta.
  32. Marul discordiei" este un fruct simbolic generator de conflicte. În timpul nunţii zeiţei Thetys cu Peleus, un rege din Tesalia, în timp ce zeii dănţuiau, şi-a făcut apariţia Eris, personificarea discordiei, care nu fusese invitată, şi a aruncat un măr de aur (mărul discordiei) pe care era scris "celei mai frumoase". Văzând mărul, Hera, Atena şi Afrodita l-au revendicat, fiecare susţinând că le întrece în frumuseţe pe celelalte 2. Văzând că nu pot ajunge la o înţelegere, cele 3 zeiţe au hotărât să ceară o opinie obiectivă. De aceea l-au ales ca arbitru pe prinţul troian, Paris. Paris i-a oferit îmărul Afroditei, după ce aceasta i-a promis ca soţie pe cea mai frumoasă femeie pământeană, Elena. Zeiţa a făcut-o pe Elena să se îndrăgostească de Paris şi să fugă cu el în Troia. Agamemnon, regele cetăţii Micene a hotărât să răzbune onoarea fratelui său, Menelaus, printr-un război îndreptat împotriva cetăţii troiene.
  33. Mea Culpa (lat." E vina mea"). expresia provine din doua surse, de la o rugaciune catolica Peccavi, care consta in a-ti marturisi pacatele si apoi a te lovi cu pumnul in piept, rostind cu glas tare "mea culpa, mea culpa" si de la un obicei juridic in dreptul roman, cel acuzat era intrebat daca isi recunoaste vine, iar cei care recunosteau, mea culpa, se bucurau de circumstante atenuante.
  34. Munca lui Sisif. Se folosește cu înțelesul de muncă grea și inutilă. Sisif a fost primul rege legendar al Corintului. Din cauză că și-a sedus nepoata, i-a luat tronul fratelui și a scos în vileag nişte secrete de-ale lui Zeus, unul din ele fiind răpirea Aeginei de către Zeus. Zeus, ca pedeapsă, l-a supus la o caznă perpetuă în Infern: a fost sortit să împingă la deal o stâncă uriaşă, care ajunsă în vârf, se rostogolea din nou la vale şi munca se relua. O muncă fără sfârşit, de unde şi expresia "munca lui Sisif".
  35. O.K. In razboiul civil din SUA dupa o batalie se afisau ranitii si mortii? Cand armata nu avea pierderi se afisa "0 killed" (0 morti) de acolo provine expresia O.K.
  36. Oul lui Columb. Solutie simpla la indemana tuturor, dar realizezi acest lucru abia dupa ce solutia a fost descoperita de altul. Columb a cerut nobililor sa faca un ou sa stea pe masa pe unul dintre capetele lunguiete, fara ca ei sa reuseasca acest lucru, Columb a luat oul si la lovit la unul dintre capete.
  37. Panem et circenses (lat.) - Pâine si circ - Expresia este întâlnita în Satirele lui Iuvenal si se refera la perioada de decadenta a Romei republicane, când plebeilor nemultumiti li se ofereau spectacole de circ, la sfârsitul carora primeau gratuit alimente. în sens general, a oferi pâine si circ înseamna a da maselor lucruri neînsemnate, pentru a le distrage atentia de la lucrurile reale.
  38. "Pasti" intrebuintat de obicei la plural…este de origine ebraica. La evrei cuvantul Pascha (pesah) insemna trecere si era mostenit de acestia de la egipteni, indicand: sarbatoarea anuala a azimilor in amintirea trecerii evreilor prin Marea Rosie si a exilului, sarbatoare ce coincidea cu prima luna plina de dupa echinotiul de primavara.
  39. "Ochi pentru ochi". Cunoscută si sub denumirea de legea talionului (Exodul.XXI.v24). "Viață pentru viață, dinte pentru dinte, ochi pentru ochi". Face parte din legislatia antică mozaica.Atentie! legea talionului spune clar, ca pedeapsa trebuie sa fie egală greselii..ochi pentru ochi, nu dinte pentru ochi
  40. Sabia lui Damocles. In sensul de pericol care te pândește mereu. Damocles, curtean a luiDionisos cel Bătrân, tiranul Siracuzei, a fost ca mai toţi curtenii… curtenitor şi linguşitor. Spunea că nu există mai mare fericire decât să fii tiran. Spre a-i da o lecţie, Dionisos, la un ospăţ, l-a aşezat în locul lui pe tron şi a poruncit să i se acorde toate onorurile regeşti. Dar când Damocles se lăfăia mai în voie, tiranul i-a cerut să se uite în sus. De tavan, exact deasupra capului lui Damocles, atârna o sabie fără teacă prinsă numai cu un fir de păr de cal. Îi arăta astfel primejdiile care îl pândesc în orice moment pe tiran.
  41. Sânge albastru: Expresia vine din Spania medievala, cand marii aristocrati sustineau ca in vinele lor curge sânge albastru, spre deosebire de nobili din "categoriile inferioare , care au suferit mezaliante cu maurii si evreii (in timpul ocupatiei arabe 711-1492)
  42. Secretul lui Polichinelle : "Secret" cunoscut de fapt de toată lumea. Polichinelle este un personaj din teatrul popular francez de marionete.
  43. Strugurii sunt acri. un vers din fabula lui Esop. Vulpea si strugurii. O vulpe înfometatăneputându-se cațără  pana la struguri, invoca faptul ca "struguri sunt necopți și tari" .
  44. Statuie. Dacă o statuie reprezentand un erou pe cal prezinta calul cu doua picioare in aer, personajul a murit in batalie. Daca are un picior in aer, a murit ranit dupa batalie si daca are patru picioare pe jos a murit de moarte naturala?
  45. Vârstă matusalemică. Legenda biblică (Geneza, cap. V, verset 27) aminteşte de un strămoş al lui Noe, Mathusalem, care ar fi trăit nici mai mult nici mai puţin decât 969 de ani (din anul 4.277 până în anul 3.308 î.Hr.) ! Numele lui, sinonim astăzi cu recordul longevităţii, a ajuns proverbial şi e pomenit ori de câte ori vorbim despre o vârstă care depăşeşte mult limita obişnuită. 
  46. Veni, vidi, vici ! – "Am venit, am vazut, am invins" ! – Cezar. Dupa victoria de la Zala asupra lui Franace, regele Pontului, Cezar a trimis la Roma lui Matius o scrisoare cu numai trei cuvinte :Veni, vidi, vicii ! Acest mesaj, a devenit o expresie universala, care serveste spre a caracteriza un succes rapid.
  47. Veto. (latină "Mă opun"). Concept din legislația romană. Era folosit de Consulii (2 la număr) unul dintre consuli se puteau opune unei decizi militare luate de celălalt (deci decizia militara trebuia să fie luată în unanimitate. Tribunii (aleși să reprezinte plebeea romană) se puteau opune prin VETO, unei legi votate de senatul roman. Astăzi Veto  se folosește in consiliul de securitate O.N.U si in numeroase legislații (Marea Britanie, Australia, India, Sua, etc)
  48. Ți-a mâncat pisica limba?. În imperiul asirian, soldaților dușmani capturați li se taia limba, acestea deveneau delicatesele cu care erau hrănite pisicile regelui 








joi, octombrie 1

American Vigilantes


Jennifer Percy

May was the flowering month for the Syrian thistle. The pink heads grew from the rubble in a small village south of the city of Tel Tamer, in northern Syria. A local Kurdish militia had liberated the village from the Islamic State, or ISIS, in the night. Coalition airstrikes had set fire to the grass and blackened the earth. Concrete buildings and small mud-brick homes were charred and gutted, riddled with bullet holes. The belongings of residents confettied the ground. At a curve in the road lay the corpse of an ISIS fighter.
I found a 26-year-old American civilian named Clay Lawton standing alone, just outside the village. Square-jawed, with large eyes and bright teeth, he was a volunteer freedom fighter with the local militia. ‘‘I’m from Rhode Island,’’ he said. ‘‘You know it? Most people confuse it with Staten Island or Long Island.’’
While we were talking, the unit he had arrived with drove off. Now he was alone, wondering how he would find a commander and return to the action. ‘‘I guess you could say I’m free-floating,’’ he said.
Lawton first heard about ISIS on ‘‘The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.’’ At the time, he was lounging around Key West, driving tour boats from island to island, going to parties, talking to girls. Three months later, he ran out of things to do and bought a ticket home. He lived with his parents and took a job painting houses, thinking he would start a career as a carpenter. After high school, he spent a couple of years in the Army but never deployed. He always wished he had. When a friend from boot camp sent Lawton an email full of links to videos made by the Islamic State — the execution of James Foley, clips from the day ISIS executed 250 Syrian soldiers in the desert — Lawton looked up ‘‘how to fight ISIS’’ on his lunch break.
A Facebook page called the Lions of Rojava was recruiting foreign volunteers. It was affiliated with the People’s Protection Units, known by the Kurdish abbreviation Y.P.G., the military arm of a faction that since 2012 has controlled a sweep of land between the Islamic State’s territory in northern Syria and Turkey. Rojava, as the Kurds call it, is a place that didn’t exist until a few years ago, when civil war in Syria opened up a front for Kurdish nationalism.
Lawton sent the page a message, and within a day a Y.P.G. representative invited him to join the fight. He had about $800 in savings. In February, he flew to Norway and then to Dubai, and from Dubai to Sulaimaniya, in Iraq. ‘‘From there I was really nervous,’’ he said. As he spoke, Lawton sipped water from his CamelBak. ‘‘I thought everyone was ISIS. I thought I was going to get kidnapped.’’ A fighter picked him up in a fake taxi and took him to a safe house where another American who was scared and lost was still hanging out, because he was so desperate to get to the front. Lawton told him to come with him, and so they went together.
Lawton arrived in Syria, was given an M-16 and in just over two weeks was participating in the offensive at Tel Hamis. ‘‘Fighting ISIS wasn’t high-profile yet,’’ he said. ‘‘Wasn’t a big deal. Easy ride to the front.’’
His nom de guerre was Heval Sharvan, but the freedom fighters called him Captain America. ‘‘I think, after this, I might want to relax and go back to work,’’ he said. ‘‘Maybe New York or maybe Miami. Well, Miami might be too chill.’’
Lawton told me about the day he killed an ISIS militant. A Kurd gave him a sniper rifle to attack an ISIS-controlled village. Lawton took a position on the roof of a building and saw an ISIS fighter with a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher running below. Lawton shot him.
‘‘The guy just exploded,’’ Lawton said. ‘‘He was just gone.’’ Lawton still had the rifle at his side, close to his body like a purse.
‘‘That was my first kill,’’ he said. ‘‘Kinda weird, but I had a nightmare that night.’’
‘‘About the militant?’’ I asked.
‘‘It’s hard to explain,’’ he said. ‘‘You know these guys are animals, but even with that knowledge … ’’ He trailed off. ‘‘You know you have to let the brain figure it out on its own,’’ he said. ‘‘He pointed the R.P.G. at me. He would have taken me and my friend. It was hard for me. Killing people, you know you are here to do it. But then, when it happens, and you see it. It’s different. He just exploded.’’
Kurdish Y.P.G. fighters arriving in a village outside Tel Tamer, Syria, after a retreat by the Islamic State. Moises Saman/Magnum
We walked together up the road toward the village. Barley fields spread for miles all around us. ‘‘A couple days later, I was good,’’ he said. ‘‘Ever since then, it’s been no problem. I just have to remember the videos.’’
He meant the videos of Foley, of the Syrian soldiers. He looked down and softened the earth with his boot. ‘‘See,’’ he said. ‘‘I have a big heart, and I never pictured myself actually doing it. I like to see the good in everybody.’’
The foreigners were sleeping in the villages, standing guard, burning trash, with no schedule and no plans. They were easy to spot. The Irishman with bright red hair and skin pale as the sky. Assorted Europeans who traveled in a pack. The Americans with too much sunscreen and gear. Some were fresh to the fight, and others had been on the ground for months.
At the village where I met Lawton, another American walked alone up a dirt road. The man was almost six feet tall, fair-skinned and balding with a goatee. He was a 48-year-old Ohioan named Avery Harrington, though the Kurds called him Cekdar. He was sweating but in good spirits. He drank noisily from a water bottle. A purple-velvet Crown Royal bag that held empty magazines dangled from his belt.
‘‘I’m 54 days over my visa stay,’’ he confessed.
Harrington was in the Marines during the first gulf war but never made it to the desert. Before arriving, he worked in the Ohio Department of Transportation as a highway technician, plowing snow in the winter. After connecting with the Lions of Rojava, he flew to Iraq in March 2015 with $10,000, body armor with steel plates, two canned hams, turkey bacon, 25 pairs of clean socks and 10 packets of baby wipes. He was able to cite the customs regulation — Section 126.17, Subsection F — that allowed every citizen to take one full set of body armor, including a helmet and gas mask, overseas. He paid more than $500 in baggage fees. The hams never left Iraq.
In April, when Harrington finally arrived in Syria, he was part of such a huge influx of foreign recruits that the Y.P.G. started making special units for Westerners, groups of roughly 12 soldiers. They went through a kind of boot camp called the academy. Harrington was one of seven in his class, including two other Americans, a New Zealander, an Iranian and two Brits, one of whom was an actor named Michael Enright. They trained together for just more than a week, learning to clean and dismantle Kalashnikovs. Those with more experience, like Harrington, were given PKC machine guns. Drills started at 6:15 a.m., and the men sometimes practiced blindfolded to prepare for nighttime attacks.
Why were the foreigners there? Some were escaping life back home. Others were old soldiers, trying to fill a void. A few just had delusions of grandeur. They came for the feeling of solidarity, or adventurism, or they came to fulfill a childhood fantasy, to act out some violent adolescent emotion. The youngest fighter was 19, and the oldest, I was told, was 66, a former English teacher from Canada named Peter Douglas. The veterans hoped to kill ISIS fighters and train the locals as they had been trained in the Marines or the Army. The civilians, among them a surf instructor and a philosophy student from the University of Manchester, wanted to learn what they could. They hoped their stamina was enough.
It started the same way for each of them: watching the war on television, then acting on their feelings of impotence and anger. They bought plane tickets from Philadelphia or Miami or Washington and flew solo across the Atlantic, following the orders of a Kurdish militant on Facebook who barely spoke English. It was exciting; it turned them on. They were there to help.
They crossed borders to join a de facto state run by a socialist militia with small arms, entering a battlefield where soldiers died of preventable wounds and untrained medics made tourniquets from broomsticks and torn blankets. The veterans had more experience with weapons than the Y.P.G., who fought with light infantry and without Kevlar. As one foreigner said, of a Kurdish unit, ‘‘I wouldn’t play paintball in that outfit.’’ These Westerners were genuinely brave, and yet the will to do good was not enough. The mind-set of the Y.P.G., some realized, had little to do with their own beliefs. “This is the Twilight Zone,” one said. “Lovely fairy tale,” said another. Many realized, far too late, that this wasn’t a normal deployment. Ad hoc organization, no advanced weaponry, no Black Hawk to airlift them to safety, few translators. They had abandoned everything — jobs, children, wives.
Some fought in combat, but many did not. What followed were purposeless days, sleepless nights, and I sensed a bit of humiliation among them. Like Marlow on his way up the Congo, these men seemed to experience a disturbance in their Western consciousness. They had vastly overestimated their use. Their service was respected but insignificant. These were men who arrived with a stark idea of good versus evil, who thought of themselves as heroes, and found themselves turning in circles.
‘‘We perpetually give,’’ Harrington said. ‘‘And we are perpetually getting screwed.’’
In the months after the first volunteers arrived in the fall of 2014, the foreign fighters battled ISIS alongside the Y.P.G., but then they started dying. By the summer, at least six foreigners had been killed, including one American. The Kurds started using the foreigners for safer tasks — to secure remote outposts or cover guard shifts in rear areas.
Jordan Matson, a 29-year-old Wisconsin man who ran the Facebook page at first, was among the few who continued to join the most dangerous missions. He said he was the second foreign fighter to arrive. He had been in Syria’s Kurdish territory for almost a year and was the darling of the Western militia movement. He was so popular that one woman, writing on Facebook, threatened to kill herself if he didn’t marry her. Another, he said, tried to travel to Syria with her child to ask for his hand in marriage.
I met Matson while he was taking a break from sniper duty. We were in the basement of an apartment building in Tel Tamer, a ghost town with closed storefronts and dogs with cut-off ears. Matson was over six feet and had a big jaw, a goatee and a childish grin. He wore full fatigues and carried a Kalashnikov. I asked if he had time to talk. Yes, he said — he had nothing to do. ‘‘If I have no one to play chess with, then I’m going to stare at that wall,’’ he said. ‘‘And then I’m going to stare at that wall. And when I’m done staring at that wall, I’m going to stare at that wall.’’ Matson asked if I wanted any doughnuts or soda. He was going to get something from a man down the street who worked at the only operating store in town. ‘‘I have lots of money,’’ he said. He wouldn’t say where the money came from except a ‘‘generous benefactor.’’ Harrington told me the foreigners were given a monthly allowance of about $100 for their services from the Y.P.G., which they used for extra food and toilet paper.
Before the war, Matson had never been outside the United States. He was working the third shift at a meatpacking plant in Wisconsin. He joined the Army and served for a year and a half before being discharged. ‘‘Hey, we think you have PTSD,’’ he said his superiors told him. He added, ‘‘But I don’t.’’ He was going through a divorce at the time; he later decided he had an emptiness in his life because he hadn’t deployed.
In June 2014, after the fall of Mosul, he learned on Facebook about an American named Brian Wilson. Wilson was in Rojava, fighting ISIS. They connected online, and Wilson gave him his contacts and suggested a flight route. That same month, Matson flew to Poland, then Turkey, and then drove to a town on the Turkish border. There, a Y.P.G. fighter picked him up in a fake taxi and drove Matson into Iraq. They stayed in Erbil and moved around safe houses; Matson pretended to be a doctor. They traveled deep into the mountains until they were able to cross the Tigris River at night into Syria.
Things happened quickly for him. There was no training and no induction. Matson joined a sniper unit. The soldiers’ job was to attack a group of ISIS militants who were firing mortars at a Christian police station. It was a six-hour firefight. A Y.P.G. fighter died in a suicide bombing. Matson was hit by a grenade and injured his foot. An ambulance ferried him to the regional hospital in Serekaniye.
It was there, bored during his recovery, that he worked on a page to recruit foreigners to the Y.P.G.: the Lions of Rojava. The banner was an image, altered with Photoshop, of foreign fighters. They were holding guns on a hilltop next to a giant lion; behind them was the smoke of ruined towns. It was news to most everyone that there was a Western-friendly faction in Syria. So many queries came in from veterans and nonveterans that he couldn’t deal with them.
Matson passed on the responsibility for the page a while ago. Kurdish Y.P.G. supporters run it and provide directions to prospective fighters on how to apply: Simply submit a résumé and statement of purpose. So far, Matson says, he has met about a hundred foreign recruits, but no one keeps track of the numbers.
Avery Harrington, a 48-year-old former Marine from Ohio, arrived in Iraq in March 2015. Moises Saman/Magnum
Because of the language barrier, the foreigners couldn’t communicate well with the Kurds who were supposed to manage them. Conflicts between difficult personalities were allowed to fester. There were stories about drifters and lunatics. A British man who petted the dead ISIS bodies. Another who used his psychic abilities to hear ISIS fighters speak. One man requested to go home because of a bad case of attention-deficit disorder. Another said he understood what ISIS wanted and sympathized with their cause. Another was known for looking around and saying, ‘‘Did the C.I.A. send you?’’
When Michael Enright, the British actor who trained with Harrington, joined the foreign fighters, he became a source of controversy. Enright is best known for his role as a deckhand in ‘‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.’’ He also played Nick Libergal in Season 1 of ‘‘Law & Order: L.A.’’ (In the show, the police find Libergal dead in a bathtub, his body dissolving in quicklime.) Enright had wanted to fight in the war on terror after Sept. 11, but his friends discouraged him. The rise of ISIS offered him a second chance.
Matson wanted Enright off the battlefield. He described Enright as ‘‘mentally unstable’’ in a Facebook post. ‘‘Enright is a liability,’’ Harrington told me. ‘‘He’s not just a danger to himself, he is a danger to everybody out here.’’ The actor was considered reckless with weapons, disassembling his Kalashnikov without checking that the magazine was empty. At a meeting, Harrington asked who wanted Enright kicked out of the class. Everyone raised his hand. After training, Harrington said, their commander decided to keep Enright at the front but without a fighting role. He wasn’t welcome in any unit. (When I later asked him about the comments, Enright said he did fight but didn’t want to get into any of ‘‘the gossip’’: ‘‘I think it helps ISIS. I hate ISIS.’’)
When Enright was ostracized during training, ‘‘the last thing he told me was this,’’ Harrington said. ‘‘ ‘Hope you don’t get a bullet in your head, bro.’ I thought, Dude, if we see you on the front lines, we’ll put a bullet in your head.’’
The dead man in the village was lying on his back with his arms crucified, his lower half twisted. It looked as if someone had stuck a plum in his eye socket and left it to rot. The bomb tore a hole through his pants but preserved his bright blue boxer briefs. His head was tilted slightly back, and his upper lip had slid toward his nose, leaving him with a permanent snarl.
‘‘I’ve seen more dead bodies working for the Department of Transportation in Ohio,’’ Harrington said.
‘‘This is my first,’’ I said. Harrington admitted it was his first in Syria.
‘‘Someone stole his sandals!’’ he said. ‘‘He had trekking sandals on yesterday.’’
We hung out by the body for a while. Then Harrington decided to walk back to the village center for water. A truck rolled up carrying crates packed with flatbread and tomatoes on the vine. The soldiers gathered around the truck and ate the tomatoes like apples.
‘‘I hate this,’’ Harrington said. He was looking at the tomato he got for lunch. ‘‘I love rib-eye. As soon as I leave here, it’s big old steak time.’’ He had lost a lot of weight since he arrived, and he showed me the Leatherman he used to poke new holes in his belt, which tracked the progress of his diminishing waist.
Kurdish Y.P.G. fighters near the body of an Islamic State fighter killed during overnight airstrikes near Tel Tamer. Moises Saman/Magnum
‘‘You know what I want,’’ he said. ‘‘I want this to be a seasonal job. Go plow snow in the winter and fight ISIS in the summer.’’
We finished our tomatoes, and Harrington started talking about how the Kurds always threw rocks at the stray dogs. He said another fighter almost shot someone over it the night before.
‘‘Who’s that?’’ I asked
‘‘He’s the guy with the Mohawk. He’s from San Antonio.’’ He pointed to a man with a sunburned scalp, who was crouching and barely visible in the shade of a collapsed building. ‘‘That Texan has been here a bit too long. Decent guy, but doesn’t know how to take a grain of salt. This is their country, play by their rules. Don’t let [expletive] upset you. You can yell, scream and get mad, and all you are doing is raising your blood pressure.’’
The Texan asked that I refer to him by his warrior name, Azad. He wore Oakleys and a calculator watch. He had sold his gun collection to pay for the trip to fight ISIS. He seemed disappointed in the whole journey. ‘‘I was driving a truck for the oil fields when I decided to come out here. I got a job as a brick mason to try to get in shape. But it’s frustrating,’’ he said. ‘‘The arrogance of the Kurds. They don’t know little things that could be done to save their lives.’’ He spoke in a sorrowful monotone.
He had expected to be able to train the Y.P.G. But the Y.P.G. didn’t care. They didn’t need a Texan coming to their country to explain how to fight. Instead, they kept him on guard duty. Once they even told him to drive an ambulance.
‘‘Came all the way over here for nothing,’’ he said. ‘‘Seems like such a waste of my life. I’ll never get the security clearance to go work the oil fields again. They will do a background check, and Homeland Security won’t like that I’m in a foreign militia. Work your whole life, finally get to the point where you’re making good money and blow that aside to do the right thing, and then when you get here, your hands are tied. It’s a no-win situation. If you go home, you will hate yourself the rest of your life, because maybe you could have made a difference.’’
To escape the heat, we walked through some weeds to the shade of a ruined home. ‘‘I wouldn’t go in there very far,’’ he said. The home was about to collapse. It was full of the detritus of someone else’s life. Scattered about the dirt were sticks and rotting clothes, the occasional gleam of a wedding photograph.
‘‘The people who lived here left with only their clothes on their backs,’’ he said. ‘‘A lot didn’t make it out alive. I get choked up. Then you find out the Kurds are looting and stealing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve taken things from houses. Food, rope, cellphones. Only reason I’m here now is to kill daesh’’ — a derogatory word for ISIS fighters. ‘‘You know what they do.’’
Azad and I stepped away from the house and onto the road. It was around 4 in the afternoon. Up the road to our right, a group of Kurds next to a supply truck was yelling and grabbing at Harrington and another foreigner.
“I thought everyone was ISIS. I thought I was going to get kidnapped.” Moises Saman/Magnum
‘‘Oh,’’ Azad said. ‘‘That guy.’’
It was Michael Enright. He had been on the truck and had come to talk to Harrington about bad-mouthing him in a Facebook post. Harrington, a large man, put his arm around Enright, who was much smaller.
They screamed at each other, but I couldn’t hear the words. Enright rammed his head into Harrington’s face. Harrington swung his arm for a punch but missed. The Kurds started the engine. Enright ran and jumped into the truck bed. They drove off, and Enright stared out at us like a dog.
Harrington ran down the hill. He was screaming and cursing. ‘‘It’s the [expletive] British guy. He [expletive] head-butted me,’’ he said. A tooth had cut cleanly through his lip. A rope of red saliva dangled from his mouth. ‘‘He shouldn’t have tried to be a fighter,’’ he said. ‘‘Piece of [expletive], danger to everybody!’’
The fight seemed to disturb Azad. The threat of the Islamic State loomed over us, but the dramas of private life continued to take center stage. ‘‘Give up everything to come out here, and you’ve got these guys,’’ Azad said. ‘‘They come here for personal reasons. Just trying to make themselves look good back home. They are out here playing games and risking lives.’’
Azad wandered off and sat down on a rock across from the dead body. He pointed at it and waved his hands. ‘‘Yeah we got daesh here for an interview. Hey, yeah, why you go rape and murder women and children? You just executed a 3-year-old?’’ The Kurds near him were laughing. He kept saying it. ‘‘Hey want to interview a daesh? Daesh here!’’
He wouldn’t stop, so I asked the corpse if he had anything to say. Azad smiled and spoke for the dead man. ‘‘It’s not that bad,’’ he said. ‘‘Not that bad being dead.’’
I walked with Harrington to a neighboring village, where I would meet a driver who would take me out of Syria. Clay Lawton was there, along with an Estonian, a Dutchman and a Spaniard. I said my goodbyes and left. During the drive, a flat tire stranded us on the bank of a river, and Lawton poked his head over the truck bed. ‘‘Just catching a ride,’’ he said. ‘‘Mind if I go with you guys?’’
We rode in the bucket of a bulldozer across the river and then crawled up a wet bank and entered a field of yellow barley. A thin road cut through the field, and we hiked it.
‘‘See that village over there?’’ Lawton said. He pointed to a pile of concrete. ‘‘That’s where I shot the guy. Yeah, ISIS is right there,’’ he said. ‘‘We should probably not be standing here since we’re within sniper range. They’re probably looking at us right now. There still might be some ISIS guys left.’’
A white cloud rose from the dead fields. ‘‘Oh, yep, that’s an airstrike. That means there are still some guys right there.’’
He dragged his arm up and pointed. Neither of us had slept much, and so we didn’t make the effort to move.
Another driver waited for us at the end of the road. Lawton jumped in the van. ‘‘Where exactly do you want to go?’’ I asked.
‘‘Doesn’t matter,’’ he said. ‘‘Just take me to America, or a combat zone.’’
His plan was to change into civilian clothing and cross the border into Iraq. But when we looked in his duffel, he had only fatigues. We made one more stop, at the same location where he was first abandoned by his unit. After discussing the plans, we decided that the political situation was too tense to bring him across the border.
Lawton started dropping his belongings on the ground: camouflage shirts, a bundle of tank tops in a plastic bag. He would find a way out on his own, he said, and wanted to lighten his load. I headed back to the truck and looked back to see Lawton, alone again on the hill. His clothes made a small trail behind him in the dirt.
____________________________


Ridem KCMO (formerly Wyoming) 10 hours ago

Self-described marginal men who hope that Death will give some meaning to their Lives. Better playing Rambo in Syria than shooting up a high school, shopping mall,or a movie theatre back in the US.

Reply 155Recommend

NYT Pick
The Real Mr. Magoo Virginia 10 hours ago

Unless these folks actually understood who and what they are fighting for and against and why - the whole cultural, ethnic, religious and historical enchilada - they have no idea what they're doing. Unless they can tell a Kurd from a Sunni Arab from an Alawite, and figure out where people's sympathies lie the way that locals can, they are merely tools for people and forces they can never understand or be a part of.

Reply 145Recommend

Ray Russ Palo Alto, CA 9 hours ago

I feel a genuine sorrow for these men. Nothing I read actually convinced me that they're there for any other reason than their sense of marginalization in this country with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do other than play a child's version of 'war' but with real guns and real lives.

Reply 109Recommend

Sura Mbaya Ukraine 10 hours ago

While all these guys seem to have their hearts in the right place, they exemplify the folly of fighting for a cause that is not their own. The frustration at not getting into Hollywood movie-type firefights after months on the ground is quite evident and I am not even sure there's been a single instance in history of foreign fighters or "advisers" helping to turn the tide or even helping win a war.

All that said, they are brave adventurers and I hope that they never get captured by ISIS militants who are likely reading this very article and putting prices on their heads.

Reply 84Recommend

C. V. Danes New York 9 hours ago

The question in my mind is not whether these guys know what they're doing, but whether ANYONE knows what they are doing over there.

Reply 74Recommend

Dues1031 Atlanta 10 hours ago

I don't know what's more depressing, the fact that these guys are living the dream and it's horrible or at the end of the day their contributions will probably mean nothing.

Reply 64Recommend

global hoosier goshen, IN 10 hours ago

Thanks, Ms. Percy, for your civilian courage amid such strife.

Reply 59Recommend

Student New York, NY 9 hours ago

disturbing on many levels. if there ever were folks who can be described as "unlawful combatants", they're it. they are appointing themselves judge, jury and executioner. this should be no more legal than leaving the US to join ISIS. these are people who basically just want to go shoot people and god knows what else. this will come back to haunt us, either when one of these yahoos gets caught committing atrocities or is captured and publicly tortured and/or executed.

Reply 58Recommend

SCA NH 9 hours ago

So--OUR vigilantes are good. THEIR vigilantes are bad.

Seriously?

FYI: We*ve created, funded and trained many of THEIR vigilantes, who then surprisingly turned out not to be tame animals properly habituated to the leash, but to have motives and ideologies of their very own, and apparently to have more intelligence than our Fearless Leaders, to boot.

ANYONE driven by ideology--right-wing, left-wing, secular, theologically-inspired--is by nature a dangerous and perhaps also frighteningly naïve fundamentalist who shouldn't be handed anything more dangerous than a pea-shooter--and even those can take out eyes, etc.

To all of my sterling fellow commenters praising these idiots: We could stop ISIS and all its siblings in, like, a week. Just insist that the Saudis stop funding and indoctrinating them.

Of course, regardless of whom we elect to the Presidency, this time around, that will never happen. And that's why we can just settle down for another hundred years of war.

Reply 48Recommend

Ford HiPo Downtown 10 hours ago

Ahhh, life is grand in the third world. Apparently, these guys went over there with the idea that they would be showered with flowers and anointed as "King of the Kurds". Never once do they consider that they are a nobody that could easily disappear in the wastelands.

Reply 46Recommend

johnny apollo usa 10 hours ago

I'm surprised to see names used...Using their names and faces could jeopardize not only themselves but their families, neighbors, co-workers, friends...

Reply 44Recommend

Jonas Middle East 9 hours ago

Fantastic article that, I think, captures the most extreme wing of American self-deception beautifully. We have this idea that we're "heroes", "the good guys", saving people from "evil". And these are the men that are insane enough to want to get out there - let's not beat about the bush - to kill some "bad guys". Literally to murder some people in the name of "freedom".

Unfortunately, war is not quite so black and white. It's often boring, as any deployed soldier will attest. And you, my friends, are not Arnold Schwarzenegger or Kiefer Sutherland.

Reply 41Recommend

Bill Randle The Big A 8 hours ago

These are men who, like many Americans, are addicted to violence. There is nothing noble about their endeavor. They aren't heroes. Guns and violence are intoxicating for these men and they can't get enough. They are people who thrive on blood lust and the excitement of risking their lives and getting to kill (indiscriminately and without rules of engagement). I suspect they will reap what they sow...

Reply 36Recommend

Southern Boy Spring Hill, TN 10 hours ago

Brave men willing to do what their country is not.

Reply 36Recommend

PAC New Jersey 8 hours ago

Every time I feel the urge to cancel my subscription to this paper because of bald-faced partisanship, shameless cheerleading, and intellectual dishonesty, a piece like this comes along and blows away everything else available on the internet. Wow. Great reporting, great writing.

Reply 33Recommend

b b 10 hours ago

These guys have more courage than our president, and that is a sad state of affairs.

Reply 33Recommend

Constance Underfoot Seymour, CT 10 hours ago

Great article. Informative without the author injecting opionins, as there's plenty raw reality for the reader to form their own.

Reply 32Recommend

Student New York, NY 9 hours ago

someone please help me understand why the term "terrorist" does not apply to these folks.

Reply 31Recommend

Freods Pittsburgh 10 hours ago

Americans have a long history of going to fight for others. Errol Flynn fought in Cuba for Fidel, the Lafayette Escadrille was made up of primarily Americans, American communists made up the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, and then there is Israel where many Americans have fought in their wars. Essentially, this is nothing new, but I don't think vigilantes would be the correct term to use.

Reply 27Recommend

Jon NM 8 hours ago

Since when is fighting in a foreign war being a "vigilante?"

Mercenaries fight for foreign governments.

Adventurers fight for the adventure.

Reply 26Recommend

ConAmore VA 9 hours ago

My hat's off to these men and/or women as the case may be.

If my history is correct [if not politically incorrect] prior to our entry into WWI and WWII thousands of Americans joined the Canadian and British military and air forces to fight tyranny.

Reply 26Recommend

migflyboy osaka 9 hours ago

Interesting read. How long will it be until ISIS fighters capture a couple of these guys and use them for another propaganda (beheading) video or ransom debacle? Live by the sword...

Reply 26Recommend

Mikedbike People's Republic of Minnesota 10 hours ago

Vigilantes? More like genuine heroes that make the leader of the United States look like a worm..a smarmy, sniveling worm if that's possible.
The elite thugs sitting at the UN planning a global utopia with Agenda 2030 aren't fit to lick the boots of these men and not qualified to assistant managers of a lemonade stand franchise. Yet, the usual media suspects are goose-stepping their approval.
WB Yeats' "Second Coming" paints an accurate picture of where we are at as a country and world including, "The best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity." At least these guys are still fighting.

Reply 26Recommend

Sasha Love Austin TX 9 hours ago

These men seem silly, aimless, while their passion to kill seems a folly.

Reply 21Recommend

wfcollins raleigh nc 10 hours ago

thank you for writing this. it does show that even though you give up everything to go over there, you may not get a chance to fight. there doesn't seem to be any firm objective or centralized command and control structure. and not a lot of forward progress. or will to. this lack of desire by the people whose land this is is an excellent reason why neither american money or lives should be spent in great quantities. air strikes, drones, maybe some training and the occasional special forces attack. i am not endorsing isis, but we cannot fight and win other peoples wars for them. we should protect innnocents, women, minorities, etc. i salute these modern day lincoln brigade guys. their noble objectives and beliefs are now meeting head on with the realities of war and conflict. welcome to the suck, as the marines say. an excellent article.