English in Madrid

Image created by Chat GPT Australia plans social media ban for under-16s Australia's government says it will introduce " world-leading " legislation to ban children under 16 from social media. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the proposed laws, to be tabled in parliament next week, were aimed at mitigating the " harm " social media was inflicting on Australian children. "This one is for the mums and dads... They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online. I want Australian families to know that the government has your back ," he said. While many of the details are yet to be debated, the government said the ban would apply to young people already on social media. There will be no exemptions on the age limit for children who have consent from their parents. The government says that the onus would be on social media platforms to show they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. Albanese said there would be no p...

  Image generated by Chat GPT Spain’s 'pineapple -gate ' sparks hopes of romance and shop chaos A Spanish craze encouraging single people to seek partners in supermarkets by using a fruit-based code has caused some chaotic scenes and even led to the police being called to restore order . In recent days, many single Spaniards have been drawn to branches of supermarket chain Mercadona between 7pm-8pm by claims they can find romance at that time, particularly if they put a pineapple upside down in their shopping trolley . The phenomenon seems to have been driven in great part by the actor and humourist Vivy Lin, who posted a video on TikTok of her pushing a trolley around a Mercadona store talking about the supposed window. “The time to hook up in Mercadona is 7pm to 8pm,” she said. On its official TikTok account, the supermarket posted a pineapple with the caption: “The pineapple on the shelf of Mercadona waiting for you to get a date .” The pineapple manoeuvre is r...

Source:  Firmbee.com en Unsplash Facebook: Quarter of global population used site daily in December The number of people using Facebook daily grew to an average of two billion in December - about a quarter of the world's population. The bigger - than - expected growth helped drive new optimism about the company, which has been under pressure as its costs rise and advertising sales slump . Shares in parent company Meta surged more than 15% in after-hours trade as boss Mark Zuckerberg declared 2023 the "year of efficiency". He said he was focused on cost cuts. "We're in a different environment now," he said, pointing to the firm's revenue , which declined in 2022 for the first time in its history after years of double-digit growth. "We don't anticipate that that's going to continue, but I also don't think it's going to go back to the way it was before." Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, announced a major restru...

Source: 磊 周 en Unsplash WHAT A MESS I filmed myself getting huge Messi tattoo across my forehead after World Cup win – two weeks later I hate it   A LIONEL Messi fan says he regrets tattoo ing the footballer's name on his forehead following Argentina’s victory in the World Cup. Colombian influencer, Maicol Quinonez, shared the shocking moment he got ‘Messi’ tattooed in huge letters across his head in a social media post. Now only two weeks later, the influencer more widely known as Mike Jambs says he hates the tattoo. The bizarre inking was a tribute to World Cup champion Lionel Messi and Quinonez captioned his post “ Fulfilling the challenge . I love you @leomessi’. The digital creator also had three stars tattooed on one of his cheeks representing Argentina’s World Cup wins and D10s on the other - a play on the Spanish word for ‘God’ and the footballers famous shirt number. Quinonez has racked up over 143,000 followers on Instagram, many of whom mocked the ...

Source:  Mika Baumeister on Unsplash Spanish court ruling gives parents permission to read their children’s WhatsApp messages  The mother argued that her ex-husband had breached Spain's privacy laws by checking his nine-year-old's messages  A father who was sued by his ex-wife for reading his two children’s WhatsApp conversations has been cleared by a court in northern Spain. The mother claimed at a court in Pontevedra on 26 December that her daughter’s privacy had been breached by her ex-husband, after he ordered his children to hand over their mobile phones so he could read their WhatsApp messages. The unnamed woman told Spanish daily newspaper El Español: “Both children told me that their father put them in a room and went through his daughter's conversations on her mobile phone. When he asked his son to give him his mobile, he said no.” The father allegedly threatened his son with the police if he did not give up his password. An earlier lower...

 For Spaniards, the summer holiday is still a beach, but with WiFi Nine out of 10 like to spend their holidays on the Spanish coast, armed with technology and enjoying the luxury of a hotel Ninety percent of Spaniards prefer to stay local during the summer holidays, according to the Spanish Holiday Habits survey , carried out by Madison Market Research for Cerveceros of Spain. Half of those interviewed, irrespective of their age, said that the beach was their favorite destination. A third of Spaniards also rated discovering new cities and sampling the cuisine during the summer months. The weather, the beach and the food are Spain’s main attractions and the reason that little has changed in terms of holiday preferences among Spaniards in the past 40 years, according to the Madison Market research which was investigating the evolution of the country’s holiday habits. One thing that has changed, however, is the choice of accommodation. From interviews with 2,000 ...

Twitter can be a great tool for learning more vocabulary. You can use it as a dictionary to see words and expressions used in a natural way. Here are some football expressions taken from Football A - Z . to be sent off : Convicted match-fixer correctly predicted Cameroon would lose to Croatia 4-0 and have man sent off in World Cup. http://t.co/8LpPg9dgsV — David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) July 1, 2014 the crossbar : #SportUpdate - Mauricio Pinilla gets tattoo of his shot that hit the crossbar against Brazil in Chile's World ... http://t.co/v5KwD2dvOM — HADIAH MENARIK? FAV (@SportUpdate_ID) July 1, 2014 to foul (2 meanings): FOOOUUULLLLL!!! FOOOUUULLLL! That haircut is FOUL! #ARG pic.twitter.com/VL8QDxbPv7 — Peperami Animal (@Peperami) July 1, 2014 a referee / goalkeeper (goalie) : Argentina president likens herself to mistreated goalkeeper, says referees 'screw us over' http://t.co/iOIjKakzMn pic.twitter.com/IwCci5g8YD — Yahoo Finance (@Yahoo...

Source:  Brett Jordan on Unsplash Bullfighting groups cry foul over Twitter abuse Spain's major bullfighting organisations have called on authorities to take action against people making "despicable" comments on Twitter about a bullfight on Tuesday which was cancelled after all three bullfighters were injured. Five groups made a joint statement declaring their "complete repulsion" towards what they described as "unspeakable" comments made on the social media network after Madrid's San Isidro bullfighting festival was cancelled.  They claimed that the comments incited hatred towards both the injured bullfighters "who shed their blood in the arena of Las Ventas" and bullfighting in general, which they described as "fully recognized" as a legal activity of "ethical and cultural value".  In the statement the groups also hailed the "dignity and sacrifice" of the injured bullfighters and said that the offe...

New York Good Cop Lauded For Act Of Kindness The image of Officer Larry DePrimo buying boots for a barefooted homeless man earns wide praise for his random act of kindness. It was meant to be a private gesture, but the New York policeman who bought a homeless man a $100 (£62) pair of boots has won international and official praise. Officer Larry DePrimo appeared before throngs of reporters and cameras on Thursday after being awarded a pair of cufflinks by his boss, NYPD Commisioner Ray Kelly. The 25-year-old explained that he had been inspired by his grandfather to buy the anonymous barefoot man a pair of shoes, after encountering him during his beat near Times Square on a cold evening in early November. "He told me when I was much younger, 'If you are going to do something, do it 100%. And do it, or don't do it at all,'" Officer DePrimo said.  "I didn't really think anything of it at the time," he added. "What sticks out in my m...

Image source : Roberto Vongher @ wikipedia Costa Concordia: Italians buy t-shirts with 'Get back on board, for ----’s sake!' logo Italians show anger at the Costa Concordia cruise ship captain, Francesco Schettino, with t-shirts screaming "Get back on board, for ----’s sake!" and the creation of Facebook pages and Twitter hashtags. It has come to symbolise the entire disaster – the furious command barked down a phone line by a Coast Guard official to the captain of the Costa Concordia to get back on the ship and take command of the mass evacuation. “Get back on board, for ----’s sake,” screamed the official, Gregorio De Falco – a phrase that has now gone viral among Italians on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. Source: Daily Telegraph I don't have access to the full article now so Chat GPT has produced a text using the vocabulary from the article; The order to return was not merely spoken but seemed almost to scream through the phon...

KLM To Offer Mile-High Dating Via Facebook KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has taken blind-dating to new heights by launching an initiative that will allow customers to pick their seat-mates on Facebook. The pilot programme is being praised for those people who are sick of being stuck next to crying babies or the passenger from hell - or for those simply looking for mile-high love. The airline announced its plans to start a "meet and seat" service early next year that will link travellers' Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to their check-in information. Source: Sky News Vocabulary : a blind date - to take to new heights - to pick (your seat-mate) - to praise - to be sick of stg - to be stuck next to sb - to check stg/sb out - to turn to sb - a recipe for disaster - creepy (adj) - matchmaking - to stalk sb - to work out - What to you think of the idea? Would you like to pick the person you sit next to? O...

A social networking site for ''beautiful people'' has been hit by a ''Shrek'' virus which allowed tens of thousands of ''ugly'' applicants to sign up. Members of BeautifulPeople.com must traditionally pass a strict '' rating '' stage where existing users vote on whether someone is attractive enough to be accepted into the online community. But this screening process was brought down last month, allowing anyone to join, regardless of their looks. Owners today apologised to more than 30,000 ''unfortunate'' people who were ''wrongly admitted'' to the site and subsequently banished . Source: Daily Telegraph What do you think of this website and the people who want to join it? How do you think the people who were kicked out feel? Would you ever try to join such a club? Don't you think it is all just a publicity stunt?   Vocabulary : to s___ __ - to become invol...