The Swedish armed forces have been hit by a major equipment problem, according to reports. Flimsy military brassieres are unable to stand up to the strains imposed when female Swedish troops perform "rigorous exercises", routinely bursting open or even catching fire - so forcing busty young conscripts to hurriedly strip off in the field.
The women complained that the bras’ fasteners have a tendency to come undone when the women performed rigorous exercise, forcing the female soldiers to take off all of their equipment in order to refasten the brassieres.
Female soldiers are taking their argument to the top brass, saying this has been a problem for 20 years and that 2,000 female soldiers will enter the Swedish military next year.
The Swedish Conscription Council, a rights group representing the country's 500-odd women soldiers, said the poor quality of the standard-issue sports bras was unacceptable.
"Our opinion is that the Swedish Armed Forces should have ordered good, flame-proof underwear," Paulina Rehbinder, a union spokeswoman, told The Local, Sweden's English-language newspaper.
Sweden has allowed women conscripts since 1980. Four to five per cent of Sweden's armed forces are women.
Showing posts with label swedish culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swedish culture. Show all posts
Friday, 25 September 2009
Friday, 18 September 2009
Swedish Care Foundation labels computer gaming an 'addiction'
A Swedish organization called the Youth Care Foundation claims that computer gaming addiction is reaching pandemic proportions around the world. This is the same group that called World of Warcraft "the cocaine of the computer games world" back in February.
In an interview with Sweden's English paper, The Local, Sven Rollenhagen of the Youth Care Foundation touts his position as one that helps young Swedish people to recognize and manage computer gaming addiction.
Already ahead of the curve by "daring" to view gaming addiction as something distinct from other common problems facing young people, Sweden's Youth Care Foundation has put the country on the map as a leader in developing strategies for coping with the issue.
"Sweden has long been at the forefront of efforts to battle addiction," he said, adding that there are very few, if any, experts elsewhere in the world who have dedicated their work completely to the study and management of gaming addiction.
"If you extrapolate from the number of calls we received or simply from the millions of games that are sold around the world each year, you start to see how big the pool of potential addicts is," he said.
In an interview with Sweden's English paper, The Local, Sven Rollenhagen of the Youth Care Foundation touts his position as one that helps young Swedish people to recognize and manage computer gaming addiction.
Already ahead of the curve by "daring" to view gaming addiction as something distinct from other common problems facing young people, Sweden's Youth Care Foundation has put the country on the map as a leader in developing strategies for coping with the issue.
"Sweden has long been at the forefront of efforts to battle addiction," he said, adding that there are very few, if any, experts elsewhere in the world who have dedicated their work completely to the study and management of gaming addiction.
"If you extrapolate from the number of calls we received or simply from the millions of games that are sold around the world each year, you start to see how big the pool of potential addicts is," he said.
Friday, 7 August 2009
Swedes benefiting from tougher hockey at home
Peter Forsberg was one of 11 Swedes selected in the NHL draft. This year, the draft was nothing short of a Swedish invasion.
Seven Swedes were drafted in the first round, for a total of 25. Only Canada and the United States had more players taken.
"It's a record," Forsberg said. "I would never have guessed there would be seven Swedes in the first round."
Experts credit a revolution at the grass roots of Swedish hockey. They say an emphasis on making players mentally tougher has created a new generation of Swedes better prepared to make the leap across the Atlantic.
"The biggest change is the attitude improvement," said Hakan Andersson, a Red Wings scout based in Sweden for the past 20 years. "Swedes have always been skilled, but they used to be more timid."
Things started changing in 2002 when the Swedish Ice Hockey Association launched an initiative to improve the performance of its juniors after five years of mediocre results in international youth competitions. An "ABC of hockey" curriculum was written by the association for the first time and was distributed to 400 clubs throughout the country. Twelve chief coaches were hired to mentor the clubs and coaches in their areas. Competitive practices emphasizing winning were designed to create a stronger mentality.
Tommy Boustedt, Sweden's head of hockey development, said it used to be acceptable for Swedish junior teams to finish in the top four in international competitions. "Now the only thing the players are going for is gold," he said. Sweden's under-20 team won silver medals at the past two world junior hockey championships, losing both finals to Canada. They finished eighth in 2003, and their results have improved steadily since.
And each year since 2005, Sweden has had more players enter the NHL draft than any other European nation.
Seven Swedes were drafted in the first round, for a total of 25. Only Canada and the United States had more players taken.
"It's a record," Forsberg said. "I would never have guessed there would be seven Swedes in the first round."
Experts credit a revolution at the grass roots of Swedish hockey. They say an emphasis on making players mentally tougher has created a new generation of Swedes better prepared to make the leap across the Atlantic.
"The biggest change is the attitude improvement," said Hakan Andersson, a Red Wings scout based in Sweden for the past 20 years. "Swedes have always been skilled, but they used to be more timid."
Things started changing in 2002 when the Swedish Ice Hockey Association launched an initiative to improve the performance of its juniors after five years of mediocre results in international youth competitions. An "ABC of hockey" curriculum was written by the association for the first time and was distributed to 400 clubs throughout the country. Twelve chief coaches were hired to mentor the clubs and coaches in their areas. Competitive practices emphasizing winning were designed to create a stronger mentality.
Tommy Boustedt, Sweden's head of hockey development, said it used to be acceptable for Swedish junior teams to finish in the top four in international competitions. "Now the only thing the players are going for is gold," he said. Sweden's under-20 team won silver medals at the past two world junior hockey championships, losing both finals to Canada. They finished eighth in 2003, and their results have improved steadily since.
And each year since 2005, Sweden has had more players enter the NHL draft than any other European nation.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Why the pirates are on the rise in Sweden
It is estimated - but nobody really knows - that at least one in 10 Swedes swap music illegally via BitTorrent file-sharing websites like Sweden's notorious Pirate Bay, and it is thought that in 2008, some 15m films were illegally downloaded by Swedish internet users.
Such internet activity as propelled the country into the biggest political debate for 20 years. At its heart is a controversial law passed in parliament last year. Known as the FRA Law, in honour of the Swedish electronic intelligence agency, it permits the monitoring of international phone calls, e-mail and internet traffic.
Some of the world's most powerful computers will scan all cross-border e-traffic in real time for a quarter of a million trigger words and phrases that the security services believe warrant further investigation.
While Finland has Nokia, Sweden gave us Ericsson. Swedes enjoy some of the highest - and fastest - rates of connectivity in the world, a development that has been spurred by necessity because of the country's sparsely populated geography, and a key factor in driving the discussion around the new law. Cultural differences also play a part, for example Sweden's liberal culture, part of which is the principle of Allemansratten.
Allemansratten means everyone's right to roam and it's an important part of Swedish culture and identity and a major factor dividing people for and against the new law.
Such internet activity as propelled the country into the biggest political debate for 20 years. At its heart is a controversial law passed in parliament last year. Known as the FRA Law, in honour of the Swedish electronic intelligence agency, it permits the monitoring of international phone calls, e-mail and internet traffic.
Some of the world's most powerful computers will scan all cross-border e-traffic in real time for a quarter of a million trigger words and phrases that the security services believe warrant further investigation.
While Finland has Nokia, Sweden gave us Ericsson. Swedes enjoy some of the highest - and fastest - rates of connectivity in the world, a development that has been spurred by necessity because of the country's sparsely populated geography, and a key factor in driving the discussion around the new law. Cultural differences also play a part, for example Sweden's liberal culture, part of which is the principle of Allemansratten.
Allemansratten means everyone's right to roam and it's an important part of Swedish culture and identity and a major factor dividing people for and against the new law.
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