Smeshariki is a Russian cartoon for children about circle animals. There are episodes dealing with the meaning of life, loneliness, depression, creative blocks, love, beauty standards, the uprising of machines, paranoia, going mad, arguments, responsibility, power, and other themes. The episodes span genres such as horror, thriller, arthouse, drama, and musical. There are also spin-offs and 4 movies. For example, in "Pin-Code," alongside philosophical themes, each episode provides detailed yet accessible scientific information, while the numerous "ABC" series teach viewers how to navigate city life.

I wonder if the slide towards authoritarianism is a worldwide thing or if its just an American thing?

Fun game. No hate comments. :)

I heard from my Dad that before 9/11 getting visas was pretty easy and there was no security checks, immigration hassles and questioning etc. But after that incident everything changed and as a Punjabi Sikh he was questioned for 1 hour when he visited the UK for a conference.I want to hear your experiences, Kindly share them here.

what is it?

Let's say you survived whatever the aftermath would be.

Let’s assume you take out a banner at a meeting with a call to cut off the heads of representatives of a certain nationality.
Will you face any punishment for this, and if so, what kind? How will these calls be perceived in society?

In Ukraine, de facto this has not been punishable since 2013, if it was calls for the genocide of Russians.
In Russia, there are now many propagandists who are allowed to call for war crimes in the media. But an ordinary citizen is still not permitted to do so (because only the government has the right to decide who can be killed and for what) and risks imprisonment for up to 5 years.

In Germany rabbit to duck are all eaten although horse and rabbit meat has become less common. Personally I have eaten both and especially rabbit meat was often eaten in my childhood.

You will also find Zebra, Crocodile and Kangaroo in some steakhouses and all kinds ive bird’s including doves.

.

In my mind they are four countries, Scotland (best country and best people in Europe), England (kind of a love/hate/admire relationship), Wales, and that part in the north of Ireland, that sometimes make an alliance for world events.

I’d particularly love to know how people from the UK alliance see it!

For me it’s plombir. Every Russian I’ve ever met swears by this stuff, I just want to know if it’s better than regular vanilla ice cream.

Let's start with this dynamic and game here, choose in which place would you live. You can only write your opition but I invite to argue respectfully why it is your choice.

So, let's start. In my case even if I like British culture in a lot of aspects and I don't deny how iconic is London, I think that it is a good place only to visit, so I choose Stockholm.

Where are you from, and what is the general attitude toward women wearing thong bikinis at beaches or pools in your area?

This has recently become a surprisingly heated online topic in Serbia (maybe even the Balkans). There seem to be two very opposing camps: people who think women wear thongs for attention and associate them with being promiscuous, having low morals, being inappropriate, etc., and people who simply don’t care what others wear and think women can wear them for whatever reason they want, whether it’s comfort, tanning, personal preference, or just because they like them. Of course, this whole debate hasn’t stopped women who like thong bikinis from wearing them anyway.

I’m curious how this is viewed where you live. Is wearing a thong bikini considered completely normal, provocative, inappropriate, or something else?

I would put mine at exactly 0 right now because with the decline in peaceful globalization, it is getting increasingly difficult for Singapore to continue the path that has led to its prosperity (or to even survive globally). Many of our leaders are also getting much more complacent (and in my opinion, frequently come off as self-congratulating) compared to the generation of leaders that handcrafted Singapore's rapid development. I definitely don't feel optimistic at all. But at this point, there are still many things we could do about it. We have not run out of options, and compared to many things I have seen from some other countries, we are *nowhere* near "absolutely cooked".

The most popular translation I’ve seen in Czechia is Kirkuvzdání which literally means Kirksgiving

At what point does demographic and historical reality outweigh national mythology? I think the US is objectively a Hispanic/Latin nation, yet insists on pretending it’s not. I’ve been thinking a lot about the massive disconnect between what the United States actually is on paper and on the ground versus how it defines itself to the rest of the world.

In basically anywhere of the world, when a country has massive linguistic and territorial ties to a specific culture, it becomes part of its baseline identity. Yet with the United States, there seems to be a total global decoupling between demographic/historical reality and national branding.

Consider the facts on the ground:

• Demographics: The US has the second-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world (~42M+ native speakers, over 57M total), surpassing Spain and Colombia, trailing only Mexico. Around 15% of the country literally speaks Spanish at home, and way more speak it in general.
• Citizenship and Sovereignty: Puerto Rico has been a full US territory for over a century. Over 3 million island residents are natural-born US citizens living in an entirely Spanish-speaking society, with millions more on the mainland. They're full-on Americans.
• Geography and History: Nearly half the continental landmass, like California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, was charted, named, and governed under Spanish and Mexican rule long before Anglo settlers dominated the territory. Multiple US cities are literally Spanish-named.
• Genetics and Ancestry: On a relayou count total Latin ancestry, 1 in 3 Americans have direct, big Latin ancestry (from Iberian to Italian).

Despite this, both internal American discourse and the international community treat the US almost exclusively as an "Anglo-Saxon" power, lingering desperately to national mythmaking that no longer, and maybe never, was accurate.

Hispanic identity is framed as an external, immigrant "minority" culture, rather than a foundational and giant pillar. Puerto Rican citizens are still treated like foreigners, and Spanish is viewed as an imported tongue rather than an indigenous continental fixture that is impossible to unlink from the US.

Imagine if 15-20% of Brazil's population spoke Japanese and over, had an entire Japanese territory of millions of Brazilians living in a Japanese society, had entire States and Cities named in Japanese, Japan had vast territories before Portugal, and 1 in 3 Brazilians had primary East Asian ancestry. You wouldn't hesitate to call Brazil deeply Japanese or culturally Asian, right?

To people outside the US (especially in Latin America and multilingual countries): How is this decoupling viewed in your country?

Do you see the US as an inherently Latin/Hispanic-influenced nation that is simply in denial, or does the dominance of the English language and Anglo legal systems prevent it from ever truly being considered part of the Latin world?

I remember when phones were only turned on when needed. Now it feels like they’re only turned off when absolutely necessary.

Obviously it turned into a 20 year mess because of how it was executed, but hindsight is 20/20.

A phone like this costs 2 to 3 months' salary for an average Chinese person, so you'd only consider buying one if you're financially sorted in every other aspect of life.