I was in a hurry and hoped others would continue the thread. Cline is open source, pay as you go, using your own Openrouter API keys. You can use any model you like. Its more expensive than Cursor of course, depending on usage and models.
The project of Skopje 2014 was actually a big money embezzlement scheme for the regime back then which was borderline dictatorship and mafia. The top dogs actually squeezed the whole government budget for themselves getting contracts and tenders, and because there was not any more money left to embezzle they came up with Skopje 2014 and got a 1-2 billion euro loan from european countries in order to build it. The project was to renovate and build the city centre in baroque style, and create massive monuments from people all the way back from Ancient Macedonia, to more modern revolutionaries from 19th-20th century. This was in line with their nationalist and right wing rhetoric. Saying that is anti-albanian because the albanians have protested actually doesnt mean much, because political parties there usually illegally pay people to attend protests to further their own agendas. The political parties in Macedonia are actually segregated by ethnicity, with 2 big ethnically macedonian parties and 2-3 smaller albanian parties. One party cannot achieve majority to form a government, and back then the leading party called VMRO DPMNE, which started the Skopje 2014 project, actually had a coallition with the leading albanian party called DUI. This project was voted on by both parties, which achieved legal majority in the parliament and was approved. Not to say there wasn't massive corruption, but definitely not antialbanian, since the leading albanian party approved the project. In addition, despite 20% of the population being albanian, it doesn't mean that the country and its history and culture is albanian. Half of the albanians living in macedonia at the moment immigrated in the 90s because of the kosovo war.
And regarding the ancient borders of macedonia being currently in greece, after the Ottoman empire collapsed borders were drawn in the region as a result of war, not as a result of ethnicity. Thessaloniki before WW1 a quarter of the population was slavic speaking bulgarians and macedonians, a quarter jewish, the rest was greek and turkish. There were pogroms against macedonians both in bulgaria and greece, all the way from around early 20th century to around WW2, and it stopped when the current borders were drawn because of the Yugoslav partisans. In fact, in the first balkan war, bulgaria could've occupied and kept thessaloniki if their army arrived a day earlier, but they were beat only by a few hours by the greek army led by the king, because the ottoman general decided to surrender the city and not fight. Not only that, but macedonia as an independent country was first theorized (not sure if its the right word) by macedonian and bulgarian revolutionaries that were operating in thessaloniki, with the goal of getting rid of the ottoman occupation. So, the current borders dont mean much. Macedonia was actually divided in 3 and stopped existing in one of the balkan wars, because all the neighbouring countries got a slice of it. Luckily Tito and the yugoslav partisans won, and hence the borders are now what they were post WW2. If the axis had won WW2, the current Macedonia would've likely been a bulgarian province right now, joining the western side of bulgaria which is also called macedonia (pirin macedonia).
The gratitude they have towards America is due to the USA declaring war against Yugoslavia and Serbia, and "liberating" Kosovo. Bill Clinton is considered a national hero and even has a monument declared to him, and even boulevards are named after him. [0]
Most of the leading crime gangs in europe and worldwide are Albanian [0]. They are a global operation thats present in almost every country thats relevant to the drug trade, and thats as a result of their massive diaspora (something like 30%-40% of their whole population has fled albania since the 80s). VICE declared Albania as the first and only european narco-state.[1] I actually have a friend who worked for the UN researching the narco economy in Albania, and the conclusion was that the GDP of the drug trade was half the GDP of the whole country [2]. In 2014 there was an incident where Dutch tourists that were hiking the mountains there accidentally discovered endless cannabis plantations and posted it on YouTube after leaving the country. This prompted wide outrage everywhere in Europe, and hence the Albanian government had to do something to save face, and they burned all the crops there in the region.[3] The thing is, the government and the narcos are all the same. Albania is still the major exporter of cannabis across Europe, and Albania is still the reigning king of drug transport. The Italian mafia is closely associated and probably dwarfed by the Albanian mafia.
That is correct. Tito is very loved and respected even now, and not just by older generations but rather pretty much even younger folks think he was a great guy. He's considered great because he managed to unify the whole balkan slavic block (despite religious differences), and there were even talks to bring Bulgaria into Yugoslavia, however Stalin objected and that never happened. People love him because he wasnt a shitty dictator, he didnt abuse his power, and he fought off both the nazis and the fascists. After Tito died, Yugoslavia went on a downfall, both economically and socially. There was also ofcourse a lot of foreign meddling.
Better in what way? And Eastern Europe can range from Czech Republic, to the Balkans, to even include the Caucasus, and of course Russia. I'd wager half of Eastern Europe has better society than majority of the US excluding parts of the East Coast and the West coast.
The China data is just a scapegoat. The risk is very minor. The US is banning TikTok because is a domestic big tech competition, and because lawmakers cant control it.
Brooklyn Mirage is hardly a rave place, just a club. Went last year it was pretty terrible. The sound was so quiet I could talk with my gf without yelling. There was also a food vendor inside the venue for whatever weird reason. Paid $300 for tickets and 2 drinks. I heard basement is a good place but never been. Europe's techno parties and raves are still going strong and no food vendors inside ofcourse we are not that lame.
My understanding is that Brooklyn Mirage was engineered specifically to be both loud and at the same time permit a conversation with the people next to you, so your experience is a feature, not a bug. I think we’re all just not used to having that level of thoughtful engineering with that design criteria, so we just associate “too loud to talk” with “good.” I found the experience to be remarkable.
There were clubs in lower Manhattan and Midtown before 9/11 that had those kind of sound systems. The kind of THD that costs money. Jungly kind of beats were still exotic.
Its definitely not a feature. This sound system would be laughable in europe, where the techno culture is thriving. The point is to get lost to the music dancing. Not much talking should be going on. I think they designed it that way so as to not be noisy to the surrounding area since its an open space. Also, having a food vendor inside the club is extremely lame. Can't americans go a few hours without food? Do they have to eat everywhere they go? Its so weird every cocktail bar in NYC also serves food, this is not the case in europe. You go to a bar to drink, food is eaten at a restaurant.
Oh for sure, Brooklyn Mirage is the worst. And there are definitely great parties still happening all across NYC that are reasonable -- I literally just bought tickets a few minutes ago to see Dlala Thukzin [1] spin at Silo in Brooklyn for $25. Perfectly fine cost to pay the artists.
