AccountMaker

Serb here, here's some context:

We had mass anti-government protests in Serbia almost every year for the past 6-7 years, but this current wave is the biggest since the fall of Milosevic. In November, the canopy at the train station in Novi Sad suddenly collapsed, killing 15 people (the train station was renovated twice and opened in July last year), essentially nobody was punished and we had protests, the same as every year when something happens.

But then the students in Novi Sad, Belgrade and Nis rose and blocked virtually all universities. They started blocking the streets for 15 mins every day at 11:52 (1 minute for each person that was killed by corruption), and held weekly protests. Almost everyone was delighted by this and joined and helped the students in any way they could. Then pupils in secondary schools started protesting, which caused the government to close the schools for winter early. The new semester was supposed to start this week, but some schools and teachers deceided to strike and stay closed. A few weeks ago in Belgrade we had the biggest protests in the history of Serbia (bigger than the 5th October protests that ended the reign of Milosevic).

The students came out with a list of specific demands and wouldn't pull back an inch, and everyone else is participating in support of the students and their demands. They're insanely well organized and made this as clearly guided as possible (there's absolutely no talk of Russia, the EU, Kosovo, the US, who's a nationalist, who's progressive, the protests are for a country with functioning institutions). It really shattered the image of young people being apolitical and not caring about anything.

This is all built on 13 years of scandal after scandal, and the Novi Sad tragedy could very well be the breaking point that led everyone to say enough is enough. I left a lot out, but we never had a movement such as this one, and there is a very real possibility that real change comes out of this.

A good example I heard once was concerning the tagelharpa. It's an Estonian instrument, historically used in Estonian culture, however if you hear it you'll probably think Vikings. The modern viking/pagan/neofolk music scene uses it prominently, and as it has a much broader reach than Estonian culture, this has lead (through no fault of the musicians I must add) to situations where many people think of it as a "viking" instrument, even though it never was. Thus, a piece of Estonian culture is widely appreciated as belonging to another culture, due to popular media influence.

I don't know if this is really an example of cultural appropriation, but that example helped me grasp the concept (if it is a good example).

It's not only that they sent communists to concetration camps, they opened the camps in the first place in order to have a place where to put them all

I honestly never heard that version given here for Serbia. We say "pistaći".

A Fortress Called Home by Seven Spires

If I had to single out a few, it would be Blackbraid from the US, Vermilia from Finland, and Praznina from Serbia. Vermilia and Praznina made up like 90% of my listening a few months ago.

The Illiad was like the ancient Greek Bible because it was used to provide behavioural guidelines and views common to all Greeks. It was a text central to any Greek's education. How does a leader act? Read the Illiad. How are battles waged? Read the Illiad. What is the relation between humans and gods? Read the Illiad.

Alexander the Great was known to carry a copy of the Illiad with him at all times, and many philosophers routinely used excerpts from it to illustrate their points. And people would reference it like we reference things from the Bible in the west (Judas, turn water into wine, cross to bear, turn the other cheek etc)

I used: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/home
https://www.kennys.ie/

Satisfied with both of them.

But nothing will replace BookDepository in my heart

That was quite an elegant proof

Yeah, I once watched a video that explained that one part of Feng Shui is to create a room layout that does not block the flow of energy, but you just substitute "energy" with "where people walk" and suddenly is makes sense. You identify the most frequented locations of a room, draw walking pathways that lead to and from each location, and make sure that you don't have anything blocking those paths.

Nothing revolutional, but I never thought about room design that way.

I borrowed a book on yoga from a colleague back in April. As a software engineer, back pain has been my biggest enemy for a long time, so I decided to try them out. I picked out some easy poses to do in the morning for 15 mins and then I'd do everything I can from the book when I get back from work. In the beginning I felt like my body was going to fall apart, but after a week or so of doing that every day I noticed an insane improvement in my flexibility, posture, and, most importantly, no back pain!

I've been slacking off these past months, not doing the exercises regularly. I also never looked into other aspects of yoga besides the physical exercises (breathing/mindfulness). I'd love to read into it if anyone would recommend resources for reading!

I've been using FlorisBoard for quite some time now, it gets the job done.