Life’s Rich Grind

Coffee Beans Balkan Cafes Serbian CoffeeLife’s simple pleasures are the best. A satisfying cup of well-prepared coffee is up there among the very finest and it is stealing a lead on its lighter rival. A refreshing tea is often described as the cup that cheers, but coffee beats tea hands down when it comes to giving life a much-needed lift.

Coffee has been my saviour during many dull meetings, it has sparked me up on a fuzzy morning, and it has delivered a swift after-dinner kick towards the next stage of many a long night. I take it strong, black and without sugar. Preferably in double shots and definitely without cream. Don’t even dare mention decaf, as that pale pretender to the heady brew of deep flavour and rich aroma will just not hit the spot.

When I am in the Balkans, I drink so much good coffee. Not all of it is to my taste, I should add. Specifically, Turkish coffee (and the same brew by any other name) is not really for me.

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Microsoft Recognises Serb Students For Making Water From Air

Water From Air Serbia Students Microsoft AwardFour Serbian students have been recognised for developing what is being hailed as a practical solution to help tackle the global water crisis. Big issues demand bold claims, and this team from Novi Sad is unafraid of the grand scale of the problem that they wish to address. With water conservation an issue that will increasingly impact the world, the need is great for the creative application of some pretty radical solutions. This is an age that calls for big thinkers and practical solutions.

Now one of the world’s richest businesses has seen exactly this kind of creative thinking with real-world application in the work of Novi Sad’s Rebel Star Team. This group of enthusiastic students from the University of Novi Sad is already receiving commercial interest in its Wabox Project, which was born from a wish to picture a world where technology can help solve the world’s water crisis.

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What Makes Tesla A Genius?

Nikola Tesla Serbian ScientistNikola Tesla was a prolific visionary on a par with Leonardo da Vinci, the great and the good of London’s Serbian community heard at an event to celebrate the birth date of the man whose impact is still felt today. London’s Serbian Embassy hosted the various groups of the diaspora who were united in celebrating the life and work of the great Serb scientist and to consider his incredible legacy.

“On this day 156 years ago, a genius that was to light the world up was born in the small village of Smiljan, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,’ said Serbian Chargé d’Affaires Branimir Filipović. “His father, an orthodox clergyman, couldn’t have envisaged the greatness his small boy would achieve.

“His visions could be only measured by those of Leonardo da Vinci. If someone can name another man to compare with this great gentleman, please tell us.”

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The Cyclist Conspiracy: A Book Review

Cyclist Conspiracy Geopoetika Serbian Literature Svetislav BasaraSome things in life come easily while others need more effort. When extra effort is required, the rewards can be even greater. In art this is regularly the case, and it is definitely the situation with The Cyclist Conspiracy by Svetislav Basara, a prolific and awarded figure in contemporary Serbian literature.

When published in Serbia in 1988, this challenging and ambitious book attracted mixed reactions. Some claimed it was an academic indulgence that went one step too far, while others proclaimed it as a masterpiece from one of Serbia’s literary figureheads.

The style of the book (translated by Randall A Majorwas often related to the work of Argentina’s Jorge Luis Borges, to the great Umberto Eco, and even to the current big-hitter of the conspiracy romp, Dan Brown. But while this book shares a fashionable fixation with secret societies and conspiracy theories, here the symbolism is neither over-bloated nor dumbed-down.

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