Written by:

Julia Bizoń,

Konrad Deka,

Tomek Kleiner,

Gosia Szymańska.

This is The Cool Magazine! In this magazine, we’ve tried to combine a selection of writings which we believe will be most interesting. Children, Teenagers, adults – there’s something here for everyone!

Contents:

Page 3: Minority and majority groups in Poland – find out about majority and minority groups in our country. A very interesting read about the differences in our cultures).

Page 4: How to prevent social exclusion in schools? – an essay written to help people understand what exactly social exclusion is and what can we do to stop it.

Page 5 and 6: Ever needed to talk to someone? Ever felt like just giving up! Know that you’re not alone! Psychologist Gosia Szymanska talks about self-harm incidents with teens.

Page 7 and 8: Local foods in the UK – have you ever wondered what is eaten in England? How about Scotland? And Wales and Ireland? In this article you will find out!

Page 9 and 10: Haggis, a special Scottish dish – Here’s a brilliant recipe so you can make this traditional meal at home!

Page 11: Ahmed’s story – terrorism from the other point of view.

Page 12: Religious diversity – advantage or disadvantage of today's world?

Page 14 and 15: “Mysterious Universe” – interview with Piotr Bizoń, an astrophysicist from Jagiellonian University.

Page 16 and 17: Are there other universes? – Find out about theories and latest studies about multiverse!

Minority and majority groups in Poland

Ethnic groups

Poland is inhabited by various national minorities: Belorussians, Czechs, Lithuanians, Germans, Armenians, Russians, Slovaks, Ukrainians and Jews. In addition, in the Pomorskie there are Kashubians a community speaking their own regional language.

Germans are the largest national minority in Poland. Nearly 200 thousand citizens claimed their nationality as German, most of them living in Opolskie Voivodship. As they're the largest minority in Poland, two deputies represent them in the Parliament, as well as there are over 300 schools where approximately 40,000 students can learn in German language. Most members of the German minority are Catholic and some of them are Protestant (the Evangelical-Augsburg Church).

Belorussians are the second largest minority, with about 50

thousand of citizens. They mostly live in Podlaskie Voivodship.

Religions

There are 138 officially registered religious associations in Poland. The biggest religion in Poland is the Catholic Church, which collects about 30 million of believers. The Polish Orthodox Church counts half a million believers, most of them being Belorussians. Lutheran Church has about 85,000 believers. Other groups are not too relevant, as they are smaller than 10,000 people.

It is estimated that about 10% of Polish citizens are atheists, and that number is constantly increasing.

Written by Konrad Deka

How to prevent social exclusion?

Social exclusion is a very big problem which is becoming more and more common. It is extremely hurtful and can cause a lot of pain – for adults and for children. People are usually excluded for their: race, gender, sexuality. There are also examples of people being excluded because of their appearance.

I think the best way to prevent social exclusion is to make sure that the bullies realize how much damage they are making. Maybe they do not know how hurtful they are.

Most social exclusion happens in schools. Teenagers quickly assume things about other people. Usually, they think that something “different” is equivalent to something “wrong” or “bad”. The children being socially excluded have to know that they can always go to the school psychologist, who will try with all their might and help them. Of course, the best option are schools, with a no bullying policy.

Disabled people are also a group that is socially excluded. It is much harder for them to find work than for ordinary people. Luckily, the amount of organizations helping the disabled is increasing.

The last group of people being socially excluded that I want to mention are women. Although the situation for woman is way better than it was before the war it still isn’t good. It’s harder for women to find jobs and they are usually paid less than men for the same job.

Summing up, I think we all have to try and remember how hurtful social exclusion is. We should all try and stop it as best as we can and do what we can to help people that are socially excluded.

Written by Gosia Szymanska

A more and more common problem.

Nowadays, we are hearing more and more information about children and teens self-harming themselves. This is a very terrifying thought, for parents as well as other kids, who are worried about their friends.

Maybe I should start by saying why people start harming themselves. Most of the time, it is a way of dealing with feelings such as: helplessness, despair, low self-esteem, loneliness, shame. People also start self-harming because they don’t have control over their own life or because the only time they feel “real” is when they cause physical pain to themselves. Some self-harm is related to huge emotional pain. When people have experienced abuse or violence. Self-harming people sometimes say that when they hurt themselves physically, it helps take away the emotional pain.

Why do people keep harming themselves? – is the question that comes to mind. A lot of people claim that self-harming is addicting and after a while it gets just as hard to stop as it does to stop smoking or taking drugs.

And now the most important – How can you help a friend or family member? First of all, stay calm. When you find out that someone is self-harming themselves it’s usually very distressing. It’s important to educate yourself – find out as much information as you can and then try and talk to a professional about what you can do to help the person. An important thing is also to make sure your friend knows you are there for them.

If currently a self-harmer is reading this, know that there are people out there always ready to help. Here is a list of the most important home numbers/websites:

• Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696 (UK: Depression Alliance, 0845 123 2320)

• Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433 (UK: Samaritans, 08457 90 90 90)

• LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

• Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

• Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743 (UK: London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard (serves all LGBTQ people), 0300 330 0630)

• Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438 (UK: National Centre for Eating Disorders, 01372 469 493)

• Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673 (UK: SupportLine, 01708 765 200)

• Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272 (UK: The Bereavement Trust, 0800 435 455)

• Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000 (UK: Homeless UK, 0808 800 70 70)

• Crisis Chat Online: www.crisischat.org

• Domestic Violence: 1-800-799-7233 (UK: National Domestic Violence Helpline, 0808 2000 247, Broken Rainbow (for same-sex relationships), 020 8359 9507)

• http://www.selfinjury.com/

Get Connected (puts you in touch with appropriate hotline (UK only)):0808 808 4994.

Written by Gosia Szymanska

Local UK foods!

Every country is famous for some of their traditional foods and dishes.

Here is a list of some of the most famous dishes in England, Wales, Soctland and Ireland. Some of them are really yummy! You should try them!

England:

• Yorkshire Pudding (even though the name might state otherwise, this isn’t eaten as a dessert but as art of the main course),

• Toad-in-the-Hole (similar to Yorkshire Pudding but with sausages),

• Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (a traditional Sunday lunch),

• Fish and chips (I think this doesn’t really need explaining, does it? )

• Ploughman’s Lunch (a dish served in Pubs, which consists of cheese, pickles, onions and a piece of bread),

• Shephards’ Pie,

• English Breakfast (we definitely can’t forget about this! Eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms and baked beans)

Ireland:

• Irish Potato Soup,

• Irish Farm House Broth,

• Irish Wheaten Bread,

•

• Irish Spiced Beef.

Wales:

• Laverbread (boiled seaweed),

• Bara Brith (a rich cake)

• Welsh Rarebit (melted cheese on toast)

• Cawl (a rich stew made with bacon, Welsh lamb and vegetables),

• Welsh Cakes, also known as Griddle Scones.

Scotland:

• Haggis (the best known Scottish delicacy),

• Scotch Pies,

• Black Bun (a very rich fruit cake)

• Porridge (even though a lot of people don’t like this dish, it is still eaten in loads of houses because it’s cheap and easy to make),

Written by Gosia Szymanska

Haggis!As I said before, Haggis is the most popular and traditional dish in Scotland. Here is an easy recipe how to make this food.

Ingredients

• 1 sheep's stomach or ox secum, cleaned and thoroughly, scalded, turned inside out and soaked overnight in cold salted water

• heart and lungs of one lamb

• 450g/1lb beef or lamb trimmings, fat and lean

• 2 onions, finely chopped

• 225g/8oz oatmeal

• 1 tbsp salt

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp ground dried coriander

• 1 tsp mace

• 1 tsp nutmeg

• water, enough to cook the haggis

• stock from lungs and trimmings

Preparation method

1. Wash the lungs, heart and liver (if using). Place in large pan of cold water with the meat trimmings and bring to the boil. Cook for about 2 hours.

2. When cooked, strain off the stock and set the stock aside.

3. Mince the lungs, heart and trimmings.

4. Put the minced mixture in a bowl and add the finely chopped onions, oatmeal and seasoning. Mix well and add enough stock to moisten the mixture. It should have a soft crumbly consistency.

5. Spoon the mixture into the sheep's stomach, so it's just over half full. Sew up the stomach with strong thread and prick a couple of times so it doesn't explode while cooking.

6. Put the haggis in a pan of boiling water (enough to cover it) and cook for 3 hours without a lid. Keep adding more water to keep it covered.

7. To serve, cut open the haggis and spoon out the filling. Serve with neeps (mashed swede or turnip) and tatties (mashed potatoes).

Written by Gosia Szymanska

Ahmed's storyAhmed ibn Muhammad abd Khalifa was a 14 years old child from

United Arab Emirates. His father was an average citizen of Abu Dhabi, a shoemaker in poor district. The family of Ahmed was very zealous, so the child grew up as a very devoted Muslim. He has got a lot of friends, not only Muslims but also Christians and Buddhists. Everything in Ahmed's life was going well until he reached the age of 15. Groups of Islamic fanatics took to their ranks persons older than 15 years, and Ahmed's dad forced his son to join one of them – Al Shakira.

Al Shakira consisted about 50 people who were ready to die for Islam in Jihad. Ahmed was terrified when he thought about death, but he was hiding out from others. After long preparations and training, he was sent on his first and last mission. A suicide mission. The situation between countries on this territory was stable, Ahmed's mission had no military benefits. It was the Jihad mission.

On 10th February 2011 Ahmed, dressed in school uniform, entered the Pakistani Army training base in Mardan. He had no problem to get into the center, guardians did not even think of searching the student. Ahmed was not sure whether what he does is right, but if so decided his father … The boy threw the uniform away and pushed the detonator of C4 explosives attached to his belt. And it was over.

31 Pakistani soldiers were killed, 42 went to the hospital. Ahmed couldn't survived it, explosion scattered his limbs for a few metres. The whole world was crying, but Ahmed's father tears were filled with pain and pride. But whether it was really worth the lives of the boy and so many brave Pakistani soldiers?

In acts of terrorism on religious ground has already killed hundreds of thousands people. In the name of what? God?! If God would command to kill so many of his children? Try to avoid stories such as Ahmed's. Let's do everything we can to stop religious attacks.

Written by Tomek Kleiner

Religious diversity – adventage or disadventage of today's world?

Nowadays, issue of religious diversity concerns the whole world. Let's see what are pros and cons of it. But for first a little introduction. There are many religions all over the world. Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and many others. Each one of them has a lot of believers and a lot of traditions that should be respected. But in today's world persecutions on religious grounds are common, especially in countries where there is one dominating religion.

From one point of view, people may share traditions with others so culture develops, and in my opinion mixing of traditions is a prerequisite for progress - when we compare two things we may choose the better one. Of course it is impossible to unite all religions – it would cause riots and terrorist acts. But I think that they are many aspects which various religions agree, so why couldn't we eliminate one of flashpoints of religious war?

Another advantage of religious diversity is that everybody may choose religion which best suits to his religion views. Even if somebody is irreligious (agnostic or atheist), he may decide about what he wants to do. In theory, there is full freedom of religion. In practice, things look worse...

On the other hand, there is a discrimination on religious ground. Many people suffer because of their faith – there is no understanding of dissimilarity. Even in Poland, we often have prejudices to people that are not Christians, but it is not that bad as

in Arab countries. Many man were killed because they refused to convert to Islam. There are also many religious wars, such as war of the Holy Land, Jerusalem.

Other problem is that there are many believers who wouldn't agree for such changes as I mentioned at the beginning. They would protest that mixing religions attacks their history and culture. I am talking mainly about Muslims and their Jihad – the holy war. Their attitude to other religions is very negative and they wouldn't cooperate in a process of combining religions, and could even cause mentioned before Jihad.

To sum up, I'm not sure whether religious diversity is good for our world. There are many pros and many cons, but none of them convince me that I finally chose a clear position on this issue. But definitely discrimination because of religion must disappear immediately for good of all of us.

Written by Tomek Kleiner

„Mysterious universe”

An interview with Piotr Bizoń, an astrophysicist from Jagiellonian University

Let’s talk about universe! What is it made of?

In 5% it consists of stuff we are made of – protons, neutrons, electrons – ordinary matter. 20% of it is dark matter, which we don’t see but know it exists. The rest is made of dark energy.

Does the universe have a center?

No. In fact, it looks basically the same from any point of view – galaxies moving away from us in all directions.

What is dark matter?

We don’t know, but we have some ideas. Most cosmologists think that dark matter consists of so called WIMPs – Weekly

Interacting Massive Particles. We hope to discover them in Large Hadron Collider.

You said that we don’t see it, but it’s there. How do we know that?

When we look at galaxies and how they move, we observe that they pull on each other as if there was about 4 times more matter than we see. Its movement would be different if there was no dark matter.

What is dark energy?

Well, from observations we know that the universe is expanding. One would expect that this expansion should slow down because galaxies that

move apart pull on each others. Thus it was a great surprise when in 1998 it was discovered that in fact it’s the opposite – the universe accelerates. We believe that this acceleration is caused by the energy of empty space, and that’s what dark energy is. It has a negative gravitational effect, which means that its gravity pushes things apart rather than pulls things together. The problem is that all attempts to compote this energy give a result which is much, much larger than the observed value. It’s one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology.

That is fascinating! Are there other mysteries?

Yes, of course. For example we don’t understand why 5% of the universe is composed of ordinary matter. According to physics of elementary particles, there should be the same amount of matter and

antimatter right after the big bang, beginning of the universe. But when matter meets antimatter they annihilate and produce radiation. The fact that there is 5% of matter is left means that there was more matter than antimatter at the big bang, but we don’t know the origin of this antisymmetry.

Written by Julia Bizoń

Are there other universes?

Our universe may seem gigantic to us, but there’s a possibility that it’s just one of many others. There are lots of theories and studies trying to decide whether or not they really exist. The term for this is “multiverse”, which was invented in 1960 by Andy Nommo. Its original definition is “an apparent universe, a multiplicity of which, go to make up the whole universe”.

Recently London scientists published 2 papers detailing how to search for signatures of other universes. In the CBA (cosmic microwave background radiation) they discovered four patterns, that may be the places where our universe crashed into other. Imagine bubbles, next to each other, existing in the same time – universes may be like that. If they collide with each other, they create bruises that can be seen in the CBA. Thanks to NASA satellites the map of multiverse was created. One of the scientists said: “"The work represents an opportunity to test a theory that is truly mind-blowing: that we exist within a vast multiverse, where other universes are constantly popping into existence."

Scientists Thibault Damour and Sergey Solodukhin suspect that what some of the black holes could be actually wormholes. A black hole is an object with an enormous gravitation field that nothing can escape. They cannot be seen, but can be identified by the way matter swirls around them. Wormhole, on the other hand, is

a kind of a rift in space, a bridge connecting two places. Damour and Solodukhin were trying to find out how a wormhole connecting two universes might look like and they discovered, that it would look so much like a black hole that it would be impossible to tell the difference between them.

According to “The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics” by Hugh Everett, if something didn’t happen, but could, happens in a parallel universe. Every choice you make might create other universes in which you chosed differently. Those universes can be either very similar, eg. The only difference between them is that in one you’re having a pizza and in other a bagel, or it can be completely different – eg. You don’t even exist. Actually, that’s how some scientists explain existence of human kind or anything we know, even our planet – so many things influenced life on earth that, when you think, there was a small possibility for us to turn out as we did. But when you think of our universe as just a one between many others, in some of which there is eg. no life, it may seem less surreal.

To sum up, there’s not a lot of facts that we can be sure of when it comes to multiverse. Studies are continuing and the chances of a great discovery are just as high as the possibility that we will never know for sure. For now we can be intrigued by the mystery powered by our own imagination.

Written by Julia Bizo