The Novel “Beyond the Blue Border”: Insight into the Past of the “Ossis” for the Modern Teenagers

The article analyses the debut historical juvenile novel by the German writer Dorit Linke (b. 1971) “Beyond the Blue Border” (“Jenseits der blauen Grenze”, 2014) in the aspect of the literary, historical and pedagogical potential of the text. The main events take place in the Baltic Sea in August 1989 when youths tried to escape from Rostock to West Germany with flashbacks into their life in the GDR. The connection between the periods of the late 1960s and 1980s is emphasized. It was a time of formation or changing the worldview of the main novel’s characters, which belong to three different generations: 1933 (grandfather), 1968 (parents) and 1989 (teenagers). The title of the book points to a kind of marine locus, representing the key stereotypes about the element of water and the inner state of the heroes. The sea is regarded as a constitutive topos, which not only performs the traditional background function of nature but also turns into an artistic image of a literary text. The narrative from the perspective of a teenage girl makes it possible to explain better to the reader of the appropriate age the motives of the incredible act of their peers and helps to get insight into the everyday life of the “Ossi” (residents of East Germany) in contrast to the “Wessi” (West Germans). In this way, the modern German historical juvenile literature demonstrates the relevance for its recipients, performing the cognitive and didactic functions without aggressive interference in the minds of adolescents.

Crisis of the Rule of Law in Europe: The Cases of Hungary, Poland and Spain

Democracy is an instrument at the service of a noble purpose: to ensure the freedom and equality of all citizens by guaranteeing the civil, political and social rights contained in constitutional texts. Among the great principles on which this instrument rests is the division of powers, which consists, substantially, in the fact that power is not concentrated, but that the various functions of the State are exercised by different bodies, which, moreover, control each other. Well, the increasingly aggressive interference of the Executive and, to a lesser extent, the Legislative in material spheres that should be reserved exclusively for the Judiciary, violates this principle and, for this reason, distorts the idea of democracy, an alarming trend that, for some time now, are observed in European Union countries such as Hungary, Poland and Spain. Preventing the alarming degradation of European democracy, of which these three countries are an example, requires not only more than necessary institutional reforms to ensure respect for these principles and prevent the arbitrariness of the public authorities, but also a media network and an education system that explains and promotes these values and principles, that is, one that makes citizens aware of and defend constitutionalism. Keywords: Rule of law; Democracy; Separation of powers; judicial independence; Europe.

Ecological factors facilitating city-dwelling in red-rumped parrots

The red-rumped parrot (Psephotus haematonotus), which appears to be undergoing range expansion, started colonising metropolitan Melbourne ~30 years ago. The factors that have facilitated this colonisation have not been evaluated. We investigated aspects of the parrot’s ecology at six parkland sites through late autumn and winter 2006 to elucidate these factors. The predominantly ground-feeding red-rumped parrot consumed mainly seeds of exotic grass and herb species, four of which were particularly important in providing a continuous winter food resource. Two of these species were common turf grasses and their visible and concealed seeds provided >50% of the diet. Sites occupied by parrots had relatively more native trees, tall trees and dense canopy cover than unoccupied sites; this may be important in providing suitable daytime and nocturnal roost sites. Little aggressive interference competition occurred with other ground-feeding birds. Mean population density in occupied sites was 1.3 parrots ha–1. Mean flock size was 10 ± 6 and, on average, males comprised 67 ± 19% of a flock’s members. We suggest that abundant, continuously available food (seed) resources, apparently limited competition for food and the presence of suitable roosting sites are probably important in facilitating winter occupancy of parkland by red-rumped parrots in Melbourne.

Humanitarian, Noncombat Role for the Military

This paper is being composed on Olympic Day 1994, exactly 10 years after its historic flame illuminated the skies of Sarajevo for a festival of peace and friendship. Today, the flames sadly come from incendiary bombs, shell streaks, and fratricide hatred. Against this tragic degradation, the role of the military and the international community has been changing from that of aggressive interference to one of humanitarian assistance and negotiated settlement. In this new setting, disaster and emergency medicine have a special opportunity to prove a noble calling and obligation.Conflict, unfortunately, and help, fortunately, are as old as humanity. The thoughts expressed herein concern the latter aspect with special reference to the military. As long as man has had a heart, some adrenaline, and the physiological reflex for protection, he has had compassion and an urge to bring succor to those who suffer. The sufferer may be a friend or he may be an enemy, but in humanitarian medical actions, there is no foe.

Impact of red-winged blackbirds on singing activities of long-billed marsh wrens

Male long-billed marsh wrens prefer to sing from the tops of cattails, but red-winged blackbirds force wrens to sing from lower perches on cattails. The response of marsh wrens to redwing aggression declines with increasing distance from redwings. Marsh wrens that are frequently exposed to redwing aggression respond less strongly to redwings at intermediate redwing–wren distances than wrens that rarely encounter redwings. This is probably because marsh wrens habituate to redwings and learn to respond only to those situations when redwings present an immediate threat.Marsh wrens responded strongly to redwings but little or not at all to nine other species that approached them. This species-specific response is most likely associated with redwing–wren aggressive interference. It is proposed that by suppressing marsh wren singing activities redwings might depress the mating success of male marsh wrens that defend territories near redwing breeding areas.