A preschool called Egalia in Stockholm, Sweden have come up with a very strange concept that is being introduced at one school this year.  Gender Neutrality is being introduced at a preschool which runs through 6th grade.  At this school there are rules banning any form of dress, speech or even bathrooms alluding to a difference between sexes.

You heard it right.  No Hes, No Shes, No Hers, No Hims.  There are dresses allowed or gender specific hairstyles.  Even the bathrooms are going to be completely gender neutral, meaning there will be no urinal and the bathroom is for both sexes.

Critics say that not only does it go against all natural impulse for the sexes to be gender neutral but it leaves student completely ill equipped to go out into the real world.

Of course the proponents of the school say the exact opposite. They say students will be able to respect each other and build relationships with each other free of the constraints of gender bias.

There are no boys and girls in Egalia, just “friends.” That’s the term teachers in the school use to address all students. In addition, the staff refrains from using the pronouns “him” or “her.” Instead, the gender labels, which are “han” and “hon” in Swedish, are replaced by the “genderless” pronoun “hen” — a word that doesn’t actually exist in the Swedish language.

It is quite strange that in order to exclude gender references the school is forced to make up names and language to accommodate.  The school is funded by taxpayers dollars so I am sure a lot of attention is being paid to its success or failure.

Do you think a Gender Neutral School is as ridiculous as most people would?

Watch Opie and Anthony discuss the Swedish school!

No Boys or Girls Allowed at Swedish Gender Neutral Preschool [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the practice of file sharing may not be condoned by the Sweden government they have allowed a group of more than 3,000 file-sharer to start a religion based around the practice.

In a humor turn of events the church has been named “The Missionary Church of Kopimism” which is pronounced “Copy-me-ism.”

At first Swedish lawmakers fought the religious request, in fact the group has been attempting to be recognized since 2010. Rejections first occurred according to TorrentFreak because authorities wants Kopimism to define their prayer practices.

In my head I see the group praying to their gods Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker (Napster‘s co-creators if you weren’t aware) while punishing those against the practices by promising to send them to a hell run by copyright protector Lars Ulrich of Metallica fame.

Speaking to Wired the churches founder Isak Gerson said:

“Our main ritual is the act of copying and connecting with each other by sharing information.”

He goes on to note:

“More people will have the courage to step out as Kopimists. Maybe not in the public, but at least to their close ones.”

In the meantime the group hopes that by gaining a unified voice with open “worship” of their practice they can gain the voices needed to work for and against certain legislation.

In speaking to their fellow believers they say: “Keep copying. Maintain hardline Kopimi.”

Will you be joining the Missionary Church of Kopimism anytime soon? I know plenty of people who have been unwitting members for years.

Sweden’s New Recognized Religion Is ‘File Sharing’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

In 1944 officials in Sweden decriminalized the act of having sex with animals and now a new animal welfare act aims to once again make the practice illegal.

Speaking about their intentions Eva Eriksson, County Governor of Värmland said during a press conference:

”We know that there is a great risk of the animals being used this way are harmed by it.”

The main reason for the change? Believe it or not a large part of the councils decision was based off the internet. As a society that has become very connected officials feared that finding animals to have sex with had become too easy thanks to the world wide web.

According to Eriksson:

”Today it is very easy, on the internet and other places, to encounter animals for sexual intercourse and there are also many more reports of this happening.”

While the law would make it illegal to have sex with animals the council says that it will not encompass other “acts of cruelty” against those animals.

As Eriksson stated:

”This is about people who enter stables and perform sexual actions on horses or cows, which is not natural behaviour for the animal and isn’t ethically justifiable.”

The law has also been careful to avoid language that avoids the sexual stimulation of animals for the purpose of breeding and for veterinary medicine procedures.

While it’s about time that such a law came about in the region I’m still amazed that they had at one point made it illegal and then decided to change their minds and decriminalize the act.

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Sweden Considering Ban On Beastiality is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook announced that it is building a 900,000 square feet server farm in Lulea, Sweden, a small city with 45,000 in population. The city is also 600 miles north of Stockholm and just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

The appeal of the place is the average temperature of 27.5 degrees. Server farms usually get very hot and uses a lot of electricity. Cold weather should cool off the machines.

Aside from the weather, the company also said that the large, fast-flowing river nearby the location with its large hydroelectric dam should be able to provide for the electricity needed. The company would be needing 120 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to the power requirement of about 16,000 homes.

Facebook said in a statement:

“The Lulea data center will draw its power almost exclusively from hydroelectric sources. The result is a data center that is significantly more efficient than the industry standard, saving energy and reducing its environmental footprint.”

If you’re a Facebook employee, would you relocate to the Arctic Circle?

Cold Weather is Great for Servers so Facebook is Going to Sweden is a post from: The Inquisitr

In an attempt to avoid bankruptcy automobile manufacturer Saab plans to sell to Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. and Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. for the low price of just $142 million.

The company’s have until November 15 to close the deal after singing a memorandum of understanding.

Saab was forced to scale back their production of vehicles to almost nothing starting in March when the company ran out of the money needed for production. The company then almost filed for bankruptcy last month but the process was halted when a Swedish court provided the company with creditor protection.

The announcement of the company’s problems come after General Motors offloaded the manufacturer in February 2010 for $400 million in preferred shares and cash.

Shares at the company fell by 32 percent upon news of the sellout while overall share prices have plummeted by 80 percent in 2011 which give the company a real world valuation of just 19.5 million Euros.

Under the proposed agreement Youngman will own 60 percent of Saab shares while Pang Da will control the remaining 60 percent.

For their purchase the two company’s will take control of an automobile manufacturer who’s production high of 133,000 cars in 2006 has been marred by ever decreasing sales with just 31,700 Saab’s being purchased in 2010.

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time Saab has neared bankruptcy, in 1989 the company was failing until GM purchased half of the company and in 2009 as GM was in a crisis of it’s own they said Saab could be closed down in the same fashion they did with the Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer brands.

With the new deal Saab hopes to offer delivery terms to their suppliers and begin full production again in the near future.

While governmental regulations and Sweden and China must approve the deal the biggest hurdle could come from former owner General Motors. Saab Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Victor Muller revealed:

“This is a transaction that requires a lot of consensus from General Motors. It’s not just the preference shares and technology rights. There are many, many relationships with General Motors, all of which need to be taken into consideration, so it will be a lot of work. What I can tell them is that Saab will be a fantastic client for them.”

Included in their debt to GM is $326 million in preferred shares which Pang Da and Youngman will assume should they purchase the company.

It is expected that the deal will see at least some of the company 3,7000 employees laid off.

Saab To Be Sold To Chinese Manufacturer, Will Likely Cut Jobs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Although prison terms for founders of the Pirate Bay were reduced in a recent appeal, a judge upped fines in the case by two million dollars for a total of 46 million kronor- less than the 120 million kronor fine requested by entertainment companies.

Pirate Bay founder Fredrik Neij was sentenced to 10 months on appeal, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi to eight months in prison and Carl Lundstroem to four months in jail. A fourth man, Gottfrid Swartholm Warg, was unable to be present in court due to illness, and he will be sentenced separately.

A lawyer for the entertainment industry, Monique Wasted, was thrilled with the exorbitant fines and prison terms again handed down:

“It’s a relief that the court of appeal finally affirmed that if you carry out this type of activity, you’ll go to prison,” she told TT.

“In two years, this type of piracy will be over. After a ruling like this and all the pioneers start to get older and have children and families, piracy won’t occur to this extent.”

Some say, however, that the decision- which, according to many tweets flying around this morning, saw fines far in excess of those for rape and murder- is an example of the court system being used to protect the interests of corporate entities and the very powerful above those of others:

“This was a political trial from the start and it must be resolved politically,” Rick Falkvinge, leader of the Pirate Party said in a response to the verdict. “The public has lost all confidence in the justice system in these matters, and it is beyond sad that the courts still persist in running special-interest justice.”

Peter Sunde, one of the three men sentenced on appeal, says the handling of the case was “wrong.”

“They’re giving us jail even though it’s not the right thing for the ‘crime.’ It’s just to scare people. That’s what you did in the 1600s…,” defendant Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak.

Sunde told TorrentFreak that all defendants plan to appeal at the Supreme Court as soon as possible.

[The Local, Torrent Freak, The Guardian]

Swedish judge upholds convictions, raises fines on Pirate Bay founders is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m sorry but at what point are we just going to stick a fork in this one, call it quits and move onto one of the many other really good bittorrent tracking services out there. It was bad enough that some putz decided to buy the whole only to have the deal fall apart in flames as he got everything he own repossessed now we have courts trying to force judicial decisions upon people and companies that don’t even fall within their jurisdiction.

According to the team over at Torrent Freak the Stockholm District Court is now ordering that two of the site founder’s be banned from operating the site. The thing is here that neither Pirate Bay nor Gottfrid Svartholm or Fredrik Nelj are located in Sweden.

Ex-Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde, who appears to be excluded from the decision, is notably annoyed, noting that neither the founders nor the site are located in Sweden.

“The Stockholm City Court is located in Stockholm. Stockholm is in Sweden. Swedish borders apply. Frederick and Godfrid live outside Sweden, even outside the EU. The Pirate Bay is outside the EU,” he told SR.

“How then can the Stockholm District Court, Sweden, get to decide that people abroad must not work on a site in another country?”

Talk about the long arm of the law needing to be reminded that it isn’t that long.

Pirate Bay founders told hands off the site is a post from: The Inquisitr

A man was refused entry into a night club in Helsingborg, Sweden because of the club’s dress code. The sweatpants wearing dude, desperately wanting to get into the club, proceded to knock another man to the ground outside the club and forcibly removed the victim’s pants, which complied with the dress code.

The embarrassed victim wouldn’t have gone without pants for very long because his assailant let him have the sweatpants in return.

Police in the area happened to roll by the club and observe the two men, both without pants now, arguing outside and stopped to find out what was going on. The pants-robber tried to assure the police officers that him and his ‘friend’ were merely swapping pants and that everything was ok. The victim and a bouncer at the club told the police what was really going on.

The 26 year old pants robber has been charged with theft at the Helsingborg District Court.

Swedish man arrested for ripping off another guy’s pants is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sweden’s third largest city has legalized topless bathing…at public swimming pools.

The City of Malmö decision after initially being asked to vote on a motion that would force women to cover up after a feminist group started appearing at pools topless. Instead they voted in an amended version that said that “everybody should wear bathing suits,” leaving the door open for topless bathing as long as the woman was wearing a bottom part of a bikini.

A council spokesman told The Local that “We don’t define what bathing suits men should wear so it doesn’t make much sense to do it for women. And besides, it’s not unusual for men to have large breasts that resemble women’s breasts.”

The leader of the feminist group behind the law said that “It’s a question of equality. I think it’s a problem that women are sexualized in this way. If women are forced to wear a top, shouldn’t men also have to?”

Swedish city legalizes topless bathing….at public swimming pools is a post from: The Inquisitr

So I gather by now you’ve all heard the terrible news about the guys behind The Pirate Bay torrents search site have been found guilty with lots of help from the US entertainment industry and their lackey trade groups. While everyone and their brother seems to be bemoaning this latest victory – which is pyrrhic at best – by the entertainment I am surprised by two things.

First – who in their right mind didn’t expect this outcome. Come on get your head out of the sand for five minutes and face the fact that the multi-billion dollar might of a global entertainment industry could have shit bricks and they would have still won.

Second – if you think it will stop here or that the decision in anyway will affect the Pirate Bay search business then you are sadly mistaken. The four people behind Pirate Bay have already made it clear that they have planned for this contingency and spread their servers around the world in such away that they are going to be very difficult to shutdown. As well it didn’t matter who won in court this time around because you can be assured that in either case the appeals would have been filed before the ink was dry.

What is interesting is to read all the various hyperbole that has been circulating throughout the tech blogosphere this morning. Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström have been described as being everything from the ones responsible for the world’s most notorious file-sharing site to being money grubbing opportunists who caused the entertainment industry great financial harm.

Ya okay we’ll let you roll with that for a minute or two while Sony Music Industry, Warner Bros., EMI and Columbia Pictures decide how to divvy up the $3.6 million award for damages. The thing is that for all the accusations of Pirate Bay being a file sharer the argument is fundamentally flawed. Pirate Bay as a site does not host any of the files that they are accused of sharing. All they are doing is providing a search engine interface for torrents that point to both legal and illegal content. It’s not like they are twisting anyone’s arm to download anything – they are providing a service not a file depot.

This would be like suggesting that Google or Microsoft Live are file sharers because they provide links to downloadable content. If the grounds that the entertainment industry used against Pirate Bay are valid by even the farthest stretch of the imagination then the same arguments should be used against Google and Microsoft. After all a simple search for Rolling Stones MP3’s on both of those search engines will give you a multitude of download links.

Think not? Then think again

While using torrents actually is more difficult until you get use to downloading them both Google and Microsoft through their respective search engines provide direct links to easily downloadable files. so what is the difference here?

As Paul O’Flaherty pointed out this morning

The entertainment industry is a monolithic conglomeration of companies that would rather litigate than innovate and have proven time and time again that the pursuit of money and protecting their outdated business model is all that matters to them. What better direction to take than to go after those with the deepest pockets? Especially now that they have a precedent ruling against what is essentially just a search engine.

Why is it okay for Microsoft or Google to use the exact same excuse that the guys running Pirate Bay used and yet while they go to jail, Google and Microsoft get a free pass. This story is far from being done but in the meantime everyone talking about this bullshit decision will carry on with misleading information about how these file sharers are getting what they deserve and racking up the pageviews as they go. In the end though there is no difference between them and any other search engine provider – they just made a better target and better press.

The Pirate Bay boys heading to jail and Google keeps serving up files is a post from: The Inquisitr

A Swedish Court has ruled that the letter Q isn’t an acceptable name, after a local couple tried to change the name of their son.

The parents of a boy argued they’d been calling their son Q since he was born, that their son responds to the name and that no matter what official records say, everyone knows him as Q, local press reported.

The parents told the court that since this is what they consider his name is, and what the boy considers his name to be, he should be allowed to use Q as his legal name.

The court however called bollocks, finding that the name “failed to satisfy basic linguistic requirements.” It did however note that some letters may be acceptable, but only if those letters are already commonly accepted as a name, where as Q apparently isn’t.

Swedish Court finds Q isn’t an acceptable name is a post from: The Inquisitr

As TorrentFreak points out, the figures are even more remarkable among men aged 18-29, where The Pirate Party polls a staggering 55%. If an election was to take place today, The Pirate Party would poll higher than the Greens, resulting in over 19 seats in the Swedish Parliament.

The Party, founded in 2006 aims to reform copyright laws, not abolish them. Their platform includes all non-commercial copying and use being completely free, and the encouragement of file sharing and p2p networking. They don’t however believe that copyright should be abolished, instead reformed so that copyright remains in place for a maximum of 5 years, as opposed to the death plus 70 years as is usually the case today.

Pirate Party’s have been setup or are currently being setup throughout the world. Here’s the links for the United States, United Kingdom (currently offline), and Australia if you’re interested in joining.

Pirate Party Polling 21% in Sweden is a post from: The Inquisitr

The complaint comes from the boys school, who claim (and again, I’m not making this up) that by not inviting the two children, the boy had violated the children’s rights by discriminating against them. The context is that the birthday party invites were handed out on school property, therefore the actions of an 8 year old on school property must comply with anti-discrimination laws.

According to a BBC report, the boy’s father has lodged a complaint with the parliamentary ombudsman, noting that “the two children were left out because one did not invite his son to his own party and he had fallen out with the other one.”

We now crown Sweden as the winner of the ultimate nanny state award for 2008…and possibly all time. The case is said to be decided by the Swedish Parliament by September.

Not inviting a kid to an 8 year old’s party becomes a national scandal in Sweden. is a post from: The Inquisitr