Academic Paper Project

My topic for the Academic Paper is EU standardized playgrounds. In the paper I will compare EU standardized playgrounds with the "old-school" playgrounds which had not standards and regulations, at least not as specific ones like the EU has. By comparing these two types of playground I will introduce the regulations. For example, what kinds of shock absorbing surface playgrounds have to use or how high a slope can be. Or what angle does the ladder has to have in order to be EU compatible. Furthermore I will provide some statistics on how these regulations prevented injuries. 

The problems I have are mainly small ones and I hope to find a solution to them soon. One problem I have is that I don't have access to the really valuable sources. I tried it in the library but the library has no subscription to these journals. So I will have to stick with what I have.  Another problem is really just a matter of time and devoted attention. When I chose this topic I thought it’s going to be easy to narrow it down because it’s already specific enough. I was surprised when I started to discover the many possible aspects of my topic. I could write about the legal departments and institutions that are responsible for the playgrounds and so on and so forth. I start to feel settled with my topic and my structure but I still need some more details, because it’s the first time I do something like this and I’m not totally confident about the structure.

Sources:
http://www.oralhealth.ro/volumes/2010/volume-2/V2-10-2.pdf
(It’s about dental injuries that children suffer on playgrounds.)

http://www.rospa.com/leisuresafety/adviceandinformation/playsafety/
(Overall about the regulations)

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1076/icsp.9.1.1.3326#preview
(this is one of the many I don’t have access to but the introduction has useful terms that I could use)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30335956/Kidesafe_2004_-_Playground_Surfacing_Standards_-_A_Discussion_Paper.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1386608957&Signature=2ZQ%2Ftm4CnHOjw%2FE1RiNJLdfB3gM%3D&response-content-disposition=inline
(It has its focus on Australia but mentions European standards too)

http://www.childsafetyeurope.org/publications/info/child-safety-regulations-standards.pdf
(what are regulations and what are standards/ explains the role of standards in the EU)

5 EU related topics

I have to admit, choosing five topics that interest me and are in someway connected to the EU has proved to be a bigger challenge than I expected. What's more, I tried to choose topics that are not just interesting, but also "easy" to write about. I don't want to end up with a topic that turns out to be too difficult and complicated so that I would regret having chosen it. I had that experience last semester with American religions and to be honest it was very distressing. So I tried to choose more or less wisely this time.

1. EU standards on playgrounds
The standardized EU playgrounds were my very first experience with the EU. I can remember that in my hometown all the playgrounds were demolished and new "EU playgrounds" were built instead. As I was too old to appreciate the newly set up playgrounds I just watched my brothers having a lot of fun using the new equipment. My question now is what are the standards that the playgrounds have to live up to. How is it decided whether an equipment is safe enough or not. What are the requirements of an EU compatible playground. ( one of the more complicated ones due to lack of resource)

2. The Hungarian majority's opinion about the EU.
In Hungary the recent government and partly the opposition are strongly against the European Union and permanently seek the opportunity to criticise the EU. They try to persuade the people that the EU is only holding back Hungary's economy and that the country would be better off without the EU. What are the reasons for reluctance? What kind of picture do the people get about the EU in Hungary?

3. Orbán Viktor (Hungary's Prime Minister) and his relationship with the EU.
This is partly connected to the second topic. This is a very recent issue in Hungary. Mr. Orban's relationship with the EU is very complicated and controversial. It would be great to write about this in order to gain a better view on the happenings. Besides the news and the Internet is full of resources related to this topic.

4. European Week of Sports ( EWoS)
The European Week of Sports is a request that was put forward by the Council in 2012. It is still under discussion, but it would be an event organised annually and would promote participation in Sports and physical activity all around Europe. What will the program look like. What are the ideas? What kind of sports will it promote? Will it be like an Olympia only for Europe? The problem is that it is still under questionnaire so there may not be enough information to write a paper about it.

5. The European Union as pease keeper?
The reason for the establishment of the EU ,as by know you may all know, is to prevent peace within European countries, but is that really what it does? In some aspects it seems to me that the EU is causing more controversies than peaceful stability. For example, the tension between Germany and Greece. Even if it is not causing a war, the dissension between nations seems to increase rather than decrease.

Culture Days

Hello,
So the culture days are over. I really enjoyed it but to be honest, it’s good to have it behind me. It was a culture shock. Too much information in too short time. Even though I’m  still digesting all the info, I try to fix my mind on 10 that I watched. These are my top 10.

Ireland:

 1.Julia Seeman:The Symbolism of the Harp.

2. Alexandra Pasca: Hero or Enemy? How the World Sees Bobby Sands

3.Katrin Wiesinger: Reek Sunday on Crough Patrick

America:

4. Orsolya Csizmár: Two Heroines of American Aviation: Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman

5. Marina Margeta:  Things you might not know about San Francisco and the Bay area

6. Livia Perschy:  Danger of Society Threat Groups in American prisons

7. Lucie Bois: Comic books and Superheros

8.Anna Agabani:  Why on earth would anyone live in Tornado Alley?!

9. Louis Nguyen: Harlem, New York City

10.Bianca Stadler: Sacagawea: Her Claim to Faim

The 5 that I chose to be tested on:

1.Lucie Bois: Comic books and Superheros

2.Anna Agabani:  Why on earth would anyone live in Tornado Alley?!

3.Alexandra Haunold: The Columbian Exchange

4. Danger of Society Threat Groups in American prisons

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

All the presentation I saw were in some way great. Some of them were great because of the topic, some for  the way they were presented or the PP/Prezi design. I learned a lot of new  and additional info in those  2 days. Thank You!

MAKE ME DANCE!!!:)

Hello,

Time for a break. The culture paper is a hard task and we need to rest every once a while. So I started browsing the internet and I realized that of all the reasons why the internet is great, maybe having fun is the most important. Since the World is online, everyone can express himself by making GIFs or using MEMEs to make a comic story. Everyone can share their humor with everyone. Isn't that great?

I volunteered and hope that you will laugh at least little bit, even though we have to face hard times.

http://theuglydance.com/?v=teznfpkifm

Have FUN!!!:)

CROSSFIT

Hello everyone,

As I am slowly but surely running out of topics (or better said  which I think are interesting for other than me), I decided to write again about sports, but this time it has also something to do with the USA. I want to introduce you to CROSSFIT.

It has its roots in the USA where it already built out a very big fan base. Competitions and Crossfit Gyms open up all around the World, especially in America. In the last 3 years over 600 crossfit gyms opened up in the US. It spreads continuously and it starts to reach the public too. For the US this means another national sport.

Crossfit is a Sport that combines basically every kind of exercise you can imagine. From weightlifting to rope climbing to chin-ups. The best in the whole thing is that anyone can do it and it is not even hard to set up a workout plan. It only requires some imagination and endurance. The workout is splited into WODs which look like this:

-21 pull ups

-21 toes to bar

-21 sit ups

- 15 pull ups

- 15 toes to bar

- 15 sit ups

-9 pull ups

-9 toes to bar

-9 sit ups

WOD means Workout of the Day, though this does not mean that you can’t do more of them  within a workout session.         

The goal is to accomplish this set as fast as possible. But you can also set your alarm for 7 minutes and do as many rounds as possible. Here you can see that it has many variations and everyone can find his/her favorite. It is pretty easy to set up a crossfit gym. Basically the only fixed equipment is the pull up bar, everything else requires only space.

The competitions are structured as to give every competitor the same chances because there are no weight groups. This is the tricky part in it. Every competitor is different in weight and size and all of them have workouts in which they are better than the other, but the question is: who is the fittest among all of them.

Some days ago the Crossfit Regionals took place all over the World. In Europe it was in Denmark. To participate in this competition is already a great honor for the most of them. To my surprise, my favorite crossfitter  Kovács Lacee from  Hungary won the Regionals and with this he qualified for the World Championship in America.

On the picture you can see Lacee, the Hungarian  who won the Crossfit Regionals in Europe.

Nine Inch Nails experience

Hello!
I have to confess I wasn't very active in the past few weeks concerning my blog. Things start to overwhelm me as we are coming closer to the end of the semester. However, I can give the best out of me when I'm under pressure, so I have to keep my chin up and chew myself through this. Still the worst thing is that because the semester goes till 5th July, I will miss the show I was waiting for since I was 15 years old. Queens Of The Stone Age is touring with their new album and they are going to play in Sopron and I will sit here in my room probably studying for the oral exam. What can I do?! I have to cope with it that I again miss one of my favorite rock bands. Now we get to the actual topic, Rock'n Roll now.

We all know that America and Great Britain gave birth to the biggest rock bands in history. Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Ozzy Osbourne, Nirvana, David Bowie just to name a few. I now they may not fit in to the traditional Rock'n Roll category, but they all emerged from it. Without them, my life would be totally different. I mean I grew up on these albums and listened them over and over again, till I knew every song by heart. I realized that now that the internet gives us unlimited access to basically everything, younger generations like my brother, don't really appreciate a real CD or a Vinyl. I can remember myself looking on the Vinyls on my father's shelf with astonishment, and even though I was very young at that time and I did not really understand what it all is about (also because I could not understand English), but the music filled me with passion and contributed much to the person who I'm now.

 I'm still discovering the endless alternatives of this music and with endless I mean endless. From underground powerviolence to industrial noise to real Hip-Hop I really like to listen to everything. The band that still has the biggest impact on me is Nine Inch Nails. The leader of NIN (Trent Reznor) is a very talented musician who composed music for movies and games and his label helped many bands in their career. He collaborated on many projects with members of TOOL or David Bowie etc. Seeing him working together with Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) and Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) gives me a feeling of enchantment. Since all of them are the giants of 21 Century Rock music, seeing them play together and collaborating in projects is for me still unbelievable.

Take Care,
Harald

The new pioneer: New Zealand

Hey,

The 17th April of 2013 was a great day for New Zealand. They joined the ranks of the more developed countries and legalized same sex marriage. It’s just a small step, but nowadays we have to be happy if that step goes forward and not backwards. Since it is still a big issue and in many countries even a taboo, I’m happy that New Zealand got to be a striking example of human progress. 

After I made some research I found out that more than 50 percent of the Americans support same sex marriage. Still it is banned in 38 states of the 50. 9 states legalized it and so gave a new meaning to the word marriage and made it open for everyone. 6 states allow civil unions between couples, but not marriage. Let’s hope this will change soon, and that the other more conservative states open their eyes and stop holding back progress.

What's your opionion on this? Do you think it is profane to allow same sex marriage? If yes why?

Here is a video of the great moment:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/new-zealand-spectators-sing-spectators-gay-marriage_n_3100992.html

Have you ever heard about VSAUCE?

Have you ever heard about VSAUCE?

My flat-mate from China showed it to me, last semester. Since then I watch at least 2 videos a week. I'm getting kind of addicted to it. Actually if I don't hear Michael's voice in a week at least once, I feel like I would have forgotten to eat for days.:)

A group of devoted people with a mega-mind behind it all: Michael Stevens.

They introduce you to fairly difficult and scientific topics, but the narrator (Michael) is explaining everything in a totally understandable and funny way. In about 10 minutes Vsauce broadens your horizon and teaches you facts you may forget 1 minute later, but it is still very interesting to watch. And who knows, maybe some of the facts get stuck in your brain without you noticing it. 

With everything I really mean everything. From topics like "What is the most dangerous place on earth?" to "ENGLISH" and "What is Déjá vu?". They really answer all kinds of questions which you always asked yourself, but never found a good explanation for it. All this, in a very clean and intelligible English. Very instructive and entertaining.

and as always: Thank's for reading :)

Introduction

Hello and Welcome to my new blog. Yes it's new because like the most of my fellow students, I also took the SUK1 course where we already had the opportunity to more or less get into the habit of blogging. I may not took it serious last semester ,but I definitely want to spend more time with free writing now. Writing is not my strength. It was always the part of learning which I did not really enjoy. I hope this will change, at least I try my best.

What will I write about? (I love to ask myself questions:))
Hmm, actually I have a few ideas, but I think that blogging is also important because it gives me the opportunity to make mistakes and learn how to write down my own, free thought, without thinking about them too much. On the other hand it's better to be careful with writing down everything before letting it go through my mental censorship.:)

actual introduction:
I'm Harald, but you can call me as you wish. Considering the fact that I mainly grew up in Hungary I got used to it if someone misspells my name. I study (as you may have guessed it) English, German and Hungarian. I love angry, fast music and occasionally fast food. I love cycling, wall-climbing, Kettlebell and Crossfit. I'm vegetarian, but not proud of it. I like movies and I read much and anything . Sure I have favorite authors ,but this is not constant. I specially admire Tolkien, Vonnegut, Palahniuk, and  Russian, Hungarian writers. I really like to go on concerts of any kind and I also help organizing shows in my hometown. As the most people who study languages I also love traveling and discovering the unknown. I could go on like this ,but you should read my posts and not my introduction.:)
Good night and good luck.
H.