Culture Days

As a part of our Culture Project we have to write about ten presentations we went to and decide on the three best presentations. As I went to see about 15 presentations, because I was in the Tech Team, I’m not going to write about all of them but just of the ten I liked most.

1. Two Heroines of American Aviation: Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman

This presentation was about two women, Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to do a transatlantic flight and Bessie Coleman, who was a famous African American woman to do stunt flying. Even though this topic didn’t match my interests, the presentation was so perfectly interesting structured that I enjoyed it very much.

2.  Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly – Irish bands from America

I found this presentation very interesting not only because I love music, but also because it was structured very well with the two interviews. The topic itself was new to me and I really thought that Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly were Irish bands but actually they are American and this was kind of shocking to me, because I think that many people believe that these two bands are from Ireland.

3. Willie Daly

Although I was not familiar with this lovely story, I really enjoyed the story as well as the presentation. Willie Daly is probably one of the kindest men on earth because he tried to match people together and made this for free. Willie is a matchmaker because he feels sad for all the farmers that have to live alone and therefore tries to find a matching person for them. The person who gave this presentation was really showing interest in her topic and this made is even more interesting for me.

4. How the World sees Booby Sands

I was not familiar with Bobby Sands either but I was so impressed of this topic that I’m definitely going to watch his new movie “Hunger”. The fact that he made a 66-day hunger strike for achieving freedom is really impressive.

5.  Abortion Law in Ireland – A Pro-Choice View

The fact that Ireland has one of the strictest abortion laws was really frightening to me because the story about the three women who suffered because they were not allowed to get an abortion, shows that it is not really fair.

6. The Symbolism of the Harp

I have to admit that it really didn’t match my interests and the only thing I remember from this presentation was that there is a harp used on the Guiness beer as well. The only difference between the Guiness harp and the harp used on the Euro coin is that it faces the opposite site. Nevertheless, it was a good presentation and Julia really seemed to know what she’s talking about.

7. Paying for national heritage - Parking charges at Cliffs of Moher

I really enjoyed Blandine’s presentation, even though she seemed to be a bit bored. I have been to the Cliffs of Moher as well and therefore I could relate to the topic, but the parking charges were new information to me because I went there by bus.

8. The impact of global warming on Ireland's agriculture

This topic was really informative and interesting but also difficult to understand because Christian was talking a bit too fast to be able to follow him in every point he mentioned. What I found shocking was the impact the Gulf Stream has on Ireland and its climate. That there will be a great extinction of species is really sad.

9. The Life on Irish Traveller Woman

The TV-series “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” seemed really funny to me, according the pictures we were shown. It was interesting that even though the series is called “My Big Fat GYPSY Wedding”, it’s actually about Irish Travellers and these two terms don’t represent the same kind of people. Gypsies have their origins in India and often have a dark complexion, whereas Irish Travellers have their origins in Ireland. It was not the most interesting topic to me, but it was interesting.

10. Comics in America

I really thought that this presentation would be much more interesting. Instead, the person who gave the presentation was talking monotonous, which made it quite boring. Nonetheless, I found it interesting that women were represented as sex-symbols, which made them to victims.

The most interesting ones were undoubtedly Willy Daly, Bobby Sands and the Abortion Laws in Ireland. Not only the topics were interesting, but the presentation itself was really good. They were well structured so that they were able to catch my attention. Besides, they were clear to understand, because they were mainly talking freely which made it easier to pay attention as well. 

The most interesting presentation due to its title was "Ellen DeGeneres-a modern woman and her influence on America". Unforntunately I was not able to go and see this presentation, because I had an Italian exam :(

Alternative to Boot Camps

As I said in my previous post I’m going to talk about the alternatives of Boot Camps as well. Actually it’s just one effective alternative that I found on the internet and it’s called Wilderness Therapy Program.

The huge difference between Boot Camps and this Therapy is that in the latter the leaders are real specialists, whereas in Boot Camps these “specialists” have neither a therapeutic, nor a pedagogic education. There are no qualifications for Boot Camp leaders so it simply can be done by anybody. “It is harder to get a fishing licence then to lead a camp of boys”, so the senator Chris Cumminskey from Arizona.

Generally, the Wilderness Therapy Program uses an outdoor setting to avoid distractions and this is said to fasten the process of accepting the negative issues that have caused the bad behaviour. The teenagers or adults go through an emotional, behavioral and therapeutic journey in a wilderness environment, which shows behavioral changes after only one year. Besides, the participants had shown a reduction of behavioral and emotional symptoms due to the outdoor healthcare. More than 83% made a clinically significant improvement and teens aged among 13 had shown the highest reduction.

The aim of this therapy is to succeed in changing negative behaviour for a long time. They promise you a long-term success, instead of a success that lasts just a while, like in Boot Camps.

Other differences are:

Therapeutic Wilderness Program	Military-Style Boot Camp
Respect of authority	Fear of authority
Self-Discipline	Doing "as told"
Cooperation	Obedience
Responsibility	Repression
Self-Esteem	Resentment
Self-confidence	Need for structure

I think it’s totally clear that the Therapeutic Program is way more effective than a Boot Camp after reading these differences!

"The program I chose for my daughter was "NOT" for her. It was more of a "boot camp" program. I was looking for therapy and internalization through the help of professionals. I believe if you take a negative child, and put them in a negative environment, such as a boot camp, it builds resentment and anger. I had no idea as to what I had done. I had always valued myself as an intelligent person, and this was a rude awakening”, a parent’s true story from Lon Woodbury's Struggling Teens.

This quote demonstrates that Boot Camps are shown as a harmless and therapeutic program to achieve a behavioral change, but actually they are the opposite. A Wilderness Therapy program could be described as harmless, therapeutic and successful – as it really is ;)

Boot Camp, Morton Rhue

This time I want to talk about my favourite book, which is “Boot Camp” by Morton Rhue. I don’t know how many of you have read it or at least know what it’s about, but  just to give you a slight insight of the content, I will summarize the plot.

Connor Durrell, a fifteen year old boy, has been sent to a Boot Camp called Lake Harmony. His parents arranged a “transporter”, Harry and Rebecca, that should drive him to the Camp. Connor has been dating his math teacher Sabrina who is twice his age. Although his parents have forbidden him to see her, he continues dating her. Connor thinks that it’s natural being in a relationship with his teacher, no matter how old she is. Therefore he thinks he does not deserve it to be sent to Lake Harmony. After a while he finds out that he has to do what he is told to, otherwise he will be punished. Connor has often litigated with Joe, his “father” and leader. He shows him that he does not belong here, which makes him get punished even more often.
After some time he becomes friends with Pauly and Sarah. Pauly is now nine months at Lake Harmony but still on level one. He has been sent there, because his father wants him to be a tougher boy. Sarah is there since two years. She has been sent there, because she does not agree with the religious attitude of his father.
Connor is often sent to TI – Temporary Isolation – where he is forced to lie face down on the cold floor for hours or even days. Then a leader or other members of the camp beat and kick him. Besides TI, Connor is also beaten by other boys that are already in level 6, like Adam.
One day Pauly, Sarah and Connor decide to escape from Lake Harmony and therefore they have made up a plan. They plan to open the circuit breaker box and shut off the power; lock the box; set a fire; sneak out when the fire trucks come in. Somehow get to Canada with no money for food or transportation. They manage it and sneak out as the fire trucks arrive. After they have walked for miles they find out that Harry and Rebecca are chasing them. They find a boat and cross a river, but only Pauly and Sarah can make it. Connor is taken back to the Boot Camp and TI has come just after that. After he spends another few weeks at Lake Harmony he is already a Level Five and finally his mother comes to take him home.

Well, in my opinion it’s a really touching but also very scaring story, because regarding the fact that real boot camps existed as well, it’s thrilling that punishments like this were really an option for desperate parents. I am sure there would have been effective alternatives that are less brutal and also don’t cost that much, because these Boot Camps were really expensive. A crucial question is whether it’s allowed to treat young people this cruel way or not, just to achieve a better behaviour. 

The treatments for achieving a better behaviour and to reach a higher level, as it’s described in Rhue’s book, are for example the TI room. In this room you are forced to lie face down on the floor and then be kicked and beaten with a bat.

The methods that were used in the novel are very similar to those in real Boot Camps. In real boot camps this TI room is called “get-right-room”. In the novel it is also recognizable that this re-education program doesn’t really work. Connor doesn’t behave as they want him to and therefore he gets punished. The punishment doesn’t seem to be a signal for him to start to behave brave. After some time he starts to pretend to be aware of what he has done wrong, just to get into a higher level. That his friends Sarah and Pauly are already more than a year at Lake Harmony shows that the program really doesn’t work, at least not for everybody. The malfunctioning system suits with the failure of real Boot Camps that are known as being ineffective. 

As already mentioned, they are indeed good alternatives for “bad” teenagers to get a re-education. It’s really not necessary to send them to a Boot Camp where they are treated unfairly and invest so much money in it. Especially not when they are not even effective!
Maybe I’ll make another post and tell you a bit about alternatives, as I’m really interested in it :)

An untypical Easter tradition

I think most people have a typical image of Easter, namely spending the day with their families and friends, maybe attending a church and receiving presents and gifts in form of Easter eggs and stuff. In Slovakia instead it’s a little bit different than in Austria and Ireland for example. As it’s likely that you are going to think it’s absolutely crazy, I would be interested in your opinion on this. So just let me know :)

As most Slovakian people are Christians, they celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection as well, but just in a more uncommon way. I’m going to tell you about my experience, which was actually more surprising than I thought it would be. I knew that the typical tradition is that boys and men splash some water in women’s faces or even go to stranger’s houses with a bucket filled with cold water and pour it over women.  That’s not really nice, is it? But that was just the beginning. In addition they spank women with a kind of birch made out of wood with strips of cloth tied on it and everytime they get to spank a woman, she has to tie a new strip of cloth on his birch. You might think now that women are a bit disadvantaged, but don’t worry - they do something in return. They need to give the men chocolate eggs. Isn’t that lovely? Hahah

Well, that’s what normally happens. However, in my case it was all still a bit crazier. The doorbell was ringing and I went to open the door. Neighbors were at the door and while one of them took my hands and the other one my legs, they put me under the shower and showered me with all my clothes on. I had never thought that your clothes get so much heavier when they are wet haha

I kind of like this tradition because it’s really not something typical that you see in everyday life. In Slovakia it’s also not common to exchange presents. The aim of it is to spend the day together and to enjoy the tradition.
So if you have planned to ever visit Slovakia and to experience something really traditional, then I recommend you to go to Slovakia in the Easter breaks :D

Really bad songwriters!

The does/do phenomenon

In school you have learned how to use verbs correctly, namely when using present tense you put an “s” after he/she/it at the end of the verb (she does) and after I/you/we/you/they you don’t (you do).

Well, many people still have difficulties to handle this rule properly and it’s questionable why such an easy rule causes so much confusion. In my opinion incorrect English, e.g. in the internet, is a big influence that can mess up your correct grammar. What’s more, song lyrics are very often wrong as well. I first realized that three to four years ago when I started listening to song lyrics carefully.

In song lyrics verbs are often used in the shorter form, even if it was supposed to be the longer form with the “s” at the end, because otherwise it wouldn’t rhyme or it wouldn’t fit in the rhythm. Even if many people don’t care about that bad grammar in songs, I really do, because listening to a song and suddenly hearing incorrect grammar really makes me angry.

The newest song by Robbie Williams “Candy” is a really good example. In the first line of the refrain he sings “Hey ho here she GO, either a little too high or a little too LOW”, because otherwise it wouldn’t rhyme ;) Really clever Robbie, but it may confuse language learners, so just stick to correct grammar! 

Look, it’s not that hard :)

I try my bestest…, my heart bleeded…, can we conversate?

That’s even more dreadful. Making up words that don’t even exist, I mean…c’mon!
It’s an eyesore typing this text into Word and having these words underlined in red. Don’t you songwriters have Word on your PCs? If not, you should get it.

Gwen Stefani thought that “bestest” would be the superlative of “good” or she just thought making up a superlative of the already existing superlative “best” would be clever.
“When you cheated girl, my heart bleeded girl…” Alright Mr. Timberlake, but you don’t have to invent a new past participle for “bleed”, because there is already one – “bled”.
And last but not least the word “conversate”. What the heck does that mean? Did you mean “talk” or something like that?

Probably the worst title of a song is “The Way I Are” by Timbaland and Keri Hilson. Using “am” instead wouldn’t hurt. It wouldn’t even change the rhythm!

There’s a similar problem with Bryan Adams. “But that’d change if she ever found out about you and I” You and I? Really? Obviously it’s supposed to be “You and me”.

You got the idea?

Songwriters can be really horrible regarding correct grammar in song lyrics. Sometimes it’s better not listening to song lyrics at all. Either they contain a stupid content that doesn’t even make sense (Justin Bieber), or they are written in wrong grammar. Just trust the grammar you read in books and what you’ve learned in school.

The influence YouTube has on singers

YouTube cannot just change the life of a YouTube artist, but can help making people from, for instance X Factor UK more famous in other countries as well. Many people, especially teenagers, regularly upload songs they covered on YouTube in the hope of getting as many subscribers and views as possible. With a lot of luck and when the right people share your videos in the right moment, you can even get discovered and maybe have the opportunity to sign a record deal.

A teen-pop legend became famous through this YouTube phenomenon – yes, it’s the super-cute Justin Bieber! Justin has been discovered by Usher himself, who firstly met and sang with him and secondly offered him to sign a record deal and have Usher as his producer. Here’s the video of him singing to Usher:

Many YouTube artists have been discovered and given the opportunity to record an own song with a music video to it, but mainly they hadn’t much success with it and therefore rejoined their career as a YouTube cover artist again. This happened to Savannah Outen, Charice Pempengco, Esmee Denters and many more.

Then there are these artists that are brilliant, record some own songs with a music video, but somehow don’t get the opportunity to sign a record deal. Megan and Liz are the best example, because they already recorded lots of own songs and even met the band Plain White T’s and sang a song with them.

I really hope these two sisters will make it far because they would absolutely deserve it to get famous. They really have talent and nevertheless don’t have a record deal, but Justin Bieber, who is in my opinion an average singer, became famous at the age of 15. Somehow unfair, but Megan and Liz will make their way as well :)

Another way of getting recognized by the world as a YouTube artist is through the amazing Ellen DeGeneres. As she is the most generous person on earth, she is also interested in helping unknown artists getting discovered. This happened to Greyson Chance, who has been invited to Ellen’s show to perform Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”. Maria Aragon has been invited to her show as well. She sang Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”, which was so stunning that Lady Gaga herself saw her video on YouTube and invited her to perform a song with her on one of her concerts in Toronto! 

This event definitely made her popular and because of the fact that Ellen’s show is not only broadcasted in American television, but is uploaded on her YouTube channel as well, makes her popular in even more countries. Because when people like me watch her show on YouTube, see Maria Aragon’s video and share it, it will absolutely help her to get more popular.

In general there are not so many ways of getting recognized as a YouTube singer and even if you get discovered, it doesn’t have to mean a total success. What I experienced is that the success of singers that have been discovered by Ellen lasted the longest. It’s a difference if you record an own song and shoot a music video that’s only published on YouTube, or getting the opportunity to sing at a talk show and be seen by many many more people. YouTube does indeed influence YouTube singers, which is actually a positive thing, but in most cases it doesn’t help them to become famous anyway.

Help! How do I get a toned body till summer?

This is a question many people are asking themselves at the moment, because as sun finally seems to appear, many people want to get their body in shape again. Because of the fact that Christmas and Easter was being celebrated recently, and some people enjoyed it to the full, many are now complaining about their increase in weight.

So, even if I’m not that kind of person who gained weight over Christmas and Easter time, I don’t want to have an unshaped body for summer either. Therefore I explored the internet for some really good tips and workouts that will help my body to become toned.

This site is really helpful:  http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2011/02/8-workout-moves-for-a-toned-body-in-two-weeks#slide=1

I think especially the stomach and the legs are the body part with which women have most problems with, but if you are motivated and want to reshape your body, these exercises look very promising and effective. I will absolutely try them out!

A really good and effective exercise is the so called „squat“. 

If you exercise it right, your whole lower part of your body will get trained, inclusive your muscles in the stomach area. If you want to train your biceps as well you can hold one or two dumbbells (that’s a strange word, isn’t it? haha) in your hands for extra effort.

For training your legs I found a good workout as well.

There are also some exercises for training your legs if you click on the link above, but these seem quite good to me. 

If your problem zone is your bottom, noooo problem: the “squat” exercise trains your bottom as well ;).

Toning your body is not just something you do for your appearance in summer, but it’s really healthy for your body as well. So even in October, when it starts to get colder again, you could at least do some of these exercises once or twice a week. Fitness is an essential factor that contributes to your health in general. When you are fit and have achieved a state of physical fitness in doing cardio training for example, you will live a happier life, at least that’s what I think and hope to experience myself.

Training and shaping your body doesn’t mean to go on a diet and start starving, it just means to eat healthier, which is in my opinion really really easy. For me it’s very easy, because I’ve always eaten healthy except the fact that I’m totally in love with chocolate, but I’m going to quit my relationship to it now, unfortunately :( haha.

I hope I could at least some of you motivate to do a bit of sports now and hopefully my exercise suggestions can help you :)

FITNESS FIRST.