How To Jump on a Bandwagon - Ask Me Anything

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself' started by SoulPunisher, Jun 15, 2019.

  1. Everyone's doing one so I thought, since the last time I did one of these I was 17 or 18, let's do another!

    Ask me anything. Stupid stuff or serious stuff. I don't care. Ask me anything.
  2. Imagine this.
    You are a squid and you are swimming in the ocean. You smell it first, a guardian. You stare deep into it's weeh-like eye. Would you squid it, summon the power of squids or squid slap it?
    Jaqque_r0x likes this.
  3. You never ruled out that I can combine all three.

    I would summon the power of the squids. I presume that this means I can emit some kind of squid-screech that rallies every squid in the vicinity to my location; I would then break them into divisions - one cavalry unit and one long-range unit. The cavalry would charge at the guardian and squid slap it. If they are defeated, the long-range unit, including myself, squids it from a distance and we all hope it is killed as we flee together.
    Jaqque_r0x and MoreMoople like this.
  4. What do you imagine to be my IRL first name?

    What is your favourite colour?

    What is your favourite block in Minecraft?

    What are your hobbies IRL and in Minecraft?

    I'll come up with more l8r :p
    MoreMoople likes this.
  5. Right now I'm imagining it to be Jaqque. I know it isn't because I don't think that's a real name, but I'm imagining that :p

    Depends. In terms of pure stylistic choice, I love maroon. But the colour that speaks to me the most is black - I'm not quite sure why or how, but it does. My pens, headphones, hats, and other accessories are black, my computer's theme is solid black, and you can usually find me walking around in black converse/vans, black skinny jeans, and a black t-shirt. I wear very little else besides black clothes. Maroon to look at and black for everything else, I'd say.

    Sandstone. I think. Before nether brick was introduced in Beta 1.8 I built everything with sandstone. Ever since then I've always built with a combination of nether brick and sandstone.

    In real life I like talking to my 'pArTnEr', listening to music, playing guitar, reading books and writing everything, debating with people that have differing political views to my own on Reddit, watching (TV?) shows, drinking high amounts of caffeine - oh, and for the past six months I've played dozens of hours of Fortnite. In Minecraft I like to build aquariums filled with turtles and dolphins and throw in pufferfish to make them fight to the death.
    MoreMoople, 607 and Jaqque_r0x like this.
  6. Interesting observation. I've noticed an upswing with these as well.
  7. It happens once we get into June/July and people start getting out of school. I always do them about now because I get at least one or two introspective questions and summertime is a good point to reflect on the year so far. This year I'm doing it because I'm impulsive and wanted to be asked stuff once I saw other people getting asked stuff and it's super fun to answer.
    607 likes this.
  8. European bump
  9. I'm not doing one, actually.
    Joy_the_Miner likes this.
  10. Introduction AMA
  11. If you were to start a jazz trio who would you want as the other two members?
    607 likes this.
  12. Roy Hargrove (R.I.P 1969 - 2018, known for his features on 2003's Hard Groove and 2018's A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships) and Frank Sinatra (R.I.P 1915 - 1998).

    We'd be called the Skeletons In The Closet.
    Jay2a likes this.
  13. what's the difference between maroon and brown?
  14. Zbid likes this.
  15. Okay, so this is a bit of a weird question, but knowing you I'm quite sure you have at least something. :p

    I'm currently traveling towards Bosnia, where I'll go on a cycling trip through the Balkans with my dad. The places we roughly follow (we have a track to follow) are Mostar, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Gjakovë, Prizren, Ohrid, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa. As I know you're greatly interested by history and the like, and know your "relation" with Serbia, I figured I'd ask the following question:

    We would like to know a bit more about the history and such of those areas, and wonder if you perhaps have already written something about it, or if you know of a good place to find something ourselves? :)

    I hope this question is not too weird. Currently on the bus through Germany, I'll say hi. :rolleyes:

    Anyways, oh, another question I like to ask: how are you doing? :) Anything you're looking forward to?
    607 likes this.
  16. I like this post. I quite like this post. :D
    TomvanWijnen likes this.
  17. I haven't written anything, but I like quite a few of those places, so I'll do something for you now :p

    Mostar
    Mostar is basically the capital city of Herzegovina and a part of one of the ten cantons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, itself one of the two states in the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina - the other state is Republika Srpska, a majority Serbian region that isn't particularly happy about not being in Serbia; hell, they're not even included in the name of their own country.

    For much of its history, Mostar was a small settlement based around a wooden bridge and didn't even have a name until 1474, when a document called it Mostar - likely after the Bosnian name for the bridge-keepers, 'Mostari'.

    The region came under Ottoman rule in 1468 and was renamed as 'Kopruhisar', and divided into two sections: a bazaar (a commercial area), and a mahala (a residential area). The original bridge was destroyed by the Ottomans and a new stone bridge, the Stari Most, was built on the order of Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent - it eventually became the city's symbol.

    The city remained under Ottoman rule until 1878, when the Congress of Berlin approved the Austrian occupation of Bosnia. In 1908, the Austrians annexed Bosnia to the protest of the Ottoman Empire, sparking the Bosnian Crisis - one of the fundamental foundations for World War I. In 1918, the city, alongside the rest of Bosnia, became a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavian government made it a part of Croatia, and so when Yugoslavia was demolished by Nazi Germany in 1941, Mostar was a city ruled by the fascist Ustaše - a terrorist organisation run by Croatian fascists. I think Mostar is nearby to the concentration camp that the Ustaše filled with Serbian children, but I'm not sure and Google Maps won't load for me right now.

    Mostar was restored into the hands of Yugoslavia when the state was remade as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, governed by the Communist League, in 1945. Mostar prospered and industrialised, producing tobacco, wine, and aircraft, and became a focal centre of tourism in Yugoslavia; being situated upon the River Neretva, it witnessed the creation of multiple hydroelectric dams.

    Prosperity in the Balkans does not last for long. Mostar was hit by Yugoslavia's hyperinflation and collapsing economy in the 1980s, and the population of Mostar joined the rest of Bosnia in declaring independence in 1992. The Yugoslav People's Army and the Army of Republika Srpska lay siege to and shelled the town; the Croatian Defence Council organised and started fighting back. Despite the Catholic Cathedral and most of the town's mosques being destroyed, the Croatian Defence Council won. They proceeded to destroy the Orthodox church and cathedral. The Bosnians and Croats did not like eachother at all and declared war on eachother in 1993 - Mostar was split between the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defence Council. 2,000 people were killed in Mostar. The Croatian Defence Council also blew up the Stari Most bridge, after it had stood for 427 years.

    When you're there, you'll see that the Stari Most bridge still stands. It was rebuilt and reopened in 2004 as an exact replica of the previous version. The $15 million project was funded by the World Bank, the United Nations, Aga Khan, the World Monument fund, and the Council of Europe; construction was undertaken by a Turkish building company and the Hungarian Army. The original bridge was a central part of Mostar's history and culture, and when I say that the new version is an exact replica, I mean that in every way - the Mostari people love that bridge.

    Dubrovnik
    Dubrovnik was founded sometime in the 600s by Greek refugees fleeing from a Greek colony that had been invaded and settled in by Slavic tribes (*cough cough* the modern day Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, and Slovenes *cough cough*). It came under the protection of the Byzantine Empire/Eastern Roman Empire and was known as the 'Republic of Ragusa', and was swimming in riches, being situated upon an important trade route. It was so rich it bought parts of Serbia in 1333.

    Ragusa was forced to become a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire sometime afterwards and paid a large portion of its profits to the Ottoman Sultan every year. However, by the 1500s, the city's prowess and wealth still rivalled that of other famous city states like Venice, their biggest rival, who wished to control the entirety of the Adriatic Sea. Ragusa opened its first pharmacy (still open to this day) in 1301, a homeless shelter in 1347, and a hospital opened in 1377. It also abolished its slave trade in 1418, due to its intense appreciation for civil liberties. Sometime during this period the original language of Ragusa, Dalmatian - a Romance language related to Italian - was replaced by Serbo-Croatian.

    The city was devastated by an earthquake in 1667 that killed over 5,000 of its citizens and heavily impacted its trade. It was forced to sell the Bosnian town of Neum to the Ottoman Empire in order to protect itself from Venice - Neum became a part of the rest of Bosnia and is still in it to this day, helping to give Croatia that weird shape.

    In 1806, Napoleon's France occupied Ragusa and incorporated it into the French Empire as a part of the Kingdom of Italy. The city was the sight of many clashes between the Russian Empire and Montenegro against France. In 1813, the people of Ragusa rose up in rebellion and helped the armies of the United Kingdom push France out of the city. The Austrian Empire sent an army to help the Ragusans and the UK... and then pulled a little sneaky by annexing it for themselves.

    The Austrians established the Kingdom of Dalmatia in 1815 and gave the city its own Parliament. Dalmatia did not like the Austrians and Austria's measures to 'stimulate' the Dalmatian economy completely failed. Dalmatia became a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918. Like Mostar, it became a city of Croatia occupied by the Ustaše in 1941. In 1945, it became a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

    During the Yugoslav Wars, the Croatian Defence Council ruled that it should not be a place to fight and thus demilitarised the entire city. The Yugoslav People's Army saw this as an opportunity and lay siege to it and occupied it, planning to give it to Montenegro, who said that they have more claim to it than Croatia does. 114 civilians were killed in the seven month siege and 56% of the city was destroyed.

    Dubrovnik is now part of the Republic of Croatia, a country with a very high standard of living and the European Union's newest member state. Dubrovnik was rebuilt and is known to the general public of the world through Game of Thrones as the filming location of the Seven Kingdoms' capital of King's Landing between 2011 and 2017. Unfortunately the show did away with good writing, plots that make sense, and the King's Landing shooting location in Season 8 (2019).

    Kotor
    Kotor was founded by the Roman Empire as 'Ascruvium' in 168 BC. The city suffered frequent raids from the Ostrogoths and Arabian Muslims and thus became heavily fortified over time. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Ascruvium came under the protection of the Byzantine Empire and was renamed as 'Dekatera'. During its time under the flag of the Byzantines, the city experienced a high rate of settlement from Slavic tribes, who eventually assimilated with the local population.

    Kotor was conquered by Serbia in 1185 and its most important port until Serbia fractured in 1371, and Kotor became a part of the Kingdom of Hungary, before switching hands to the Kingdom of Bosnia, and then became a part of the Republic of Venice in 1420 and was renamed to 'Càttaro'.

    Kotor's architecture follows typical Venetian rules as a result of the suzerainty. Like Dubrovnik, the city was almost completely destroyed in 1667 by the earthquake.

    Napoleon conquered the city in 1805 and, like Dubrovnik, it became a part of the Kingdom of Italy. It was captured by the United Kingdom in 1814 and Austria took it for themselves and incorporated it into the Kingdom of Dalmatia. As a result, the city saw intense fighting between Montenegro and Austria during World War I. It became a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, being renamed to 'Kotor', and was annexed by the Kingdom of Italy in 1941 and renamed back to 'Càttaro'. During the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, it was the scene of some mild skirmishes between Republika Srpska and the Croatian Defence Council, but got off lightly.

    Gjakova
    Aaaaand now we get into the controversial parts about Kosovo :p

    Gjakova was founded as Đakovica sometime prior to 1485 as a Serbian village. The Ottoman Empire owned it after they conquered Serbia. Over time, the Serbian Orthodox majority dwindled and the Albanian Muslim population displaced them. During the Balkan Wars in 1912-1913, the Montenegrin Army started murdering the Albanians.

    In 1998, the Kosovo Liberation Army declared Kosovo's independence from Serbia and Yugoslavia. NATO almost immediately intervened - in April 1999, they spotted a convoy of Albanian refugees in Gjakova, didn't realise it was full of refugees, and bombed it. They killed 73 people. At first, NATO officials lied that the Yugoslav Army had killed the 73 civilians and NATO was actually bombing the soldiers. Reporters arrived at the scene immediately and soon discovered that the refugee bodies were burned and everything was covered in shrapnel - only then did NATO admit that it had accidentally bombed a refugee convoy. 75% of the city's population were rounded up and forcefully kicked out by the Serbian Army, many were executed, and their homes and shops were looted and burned.

    After the war ended in 1999, the Albanian population returned and today the city is relatively prosperous by Kosovo's standards.

    Ioannina
    Nobody knows when Ioannina was founded, although it is first mentioned in an official document dating back to the year 879 AD, when it is shown as a settlement under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. In the Fourth Crusade, the crusaders went to the Holy Land and attempted to retake it - they ended up sacking Constantinople and carving up the Byzantine Empire for themselves; Constantinople was left permanently weakened, allowing it to fall to the Ottoman Empire who used the city to block Europe from getting trade (causing Europe to go... exploring), and Ioannina ended up in the newly independent state of Epirus (basically most of modern day Greece).

    The government of Epirus enlarged the city and renewed its defences, and allowed refugees who were fleeing from Constantinople to settle there. The Byzantine Empire came back from the brink and defeated the French-dominated Latin Empire that had attempted to replace it in 1241, and attempted to take Epirus back - it did not succeed. Ioannina decided to willingly rejoin the Byzantine Empire in 1318, however it was quickly conquered by the Serbian Empire in 1356. It suffered from numerous raids from Albanian tribes during this time and when the Ottomans arrived in 1430, the city surrendered to their new overlords without a fight.

    The Ottomans had promised to respect the city's autonomy, but after an armed rebellion by the population of the city, the Ottomans stripped their privileges away, destroyed their Christian places of worship, and erected a mosque. Despite the upper classes largely converting to Islam and starting to speak Turkish, the common people retained their Christian Greek identities. Ioannina became the centre of the Greek enlightenment and became a prosperous cultural and economic focal point of Greece. The city's many merchants funded the construction of schools and educational materiel. The Greek Enlightenment directly led to the Greek Revolution: in 1821, Greece fought for its independence, backed by the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom. Ioannina, however, was not included in the peace settlement, which was signed in 1829 and created the Kingdom of Greece.

    Ioannina did not have to despair for long, however: in 1912, the Kingdoms of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria went to war with a dying Ottoman Empire, hoping to win back their old territories that they had not reclaimed. Ioannina was brought back into the borders of Greece in 1913. Greece and Turkey were once again at war in 1919, and in the peace settlement Greece expelled the Muslim population of Ioannina from the city in exchange for the Greeks living in Anatolia, who Turkey was about to murder. Ioannina was bombed to rubble by Nazi Germany in 1941 after the Italians failed to capture the city, and its Jewish population was entirely... removed. To Auschwitz. We all know what happened in Auschwitz. Of the 1,400 Jewish people deported, only 164 of them survived.

    Is that enough? :p (the ones I haven't included had mostly undocumented histories, and also I should probably take a break from this post :p)

    I'm doing great! How about you? (Yes I know it's my AMA :p)

    I'm looking forward to going to Lanzarote in August. After that, pretty much exactly a month later, I'll be going to university. I can't wait for fresher's week and to get some history essays done... and all of the challenges that living by myself (with flatmates, but still) brings. Oh, and the collective meltdown that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is about to bring to my country. And you?
    607 likes this.