English in Madrid

Source: Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash Drinking a cup of coffee may add nine minutes per day to your life  It has become a national pastime but our obsession with drinking coffee could be having unexpected health benefits and even increasing our lifespan by up to nine minutes a day, new research suggests .  Two new studies , including the largest ever conducted into coffee drinking, have found that imbibing even a single cup a day reduces the risk of dying early from any cause, and dramatically cuts the chance of death from digestive problems.  People who consumed just one 350ml cup each day slashed their risk of dying early by 12 per cent over 16 years, while three cups reduced the risk by 18 per cent. Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, calculated that, if causal, it meant a cup of coffee a day extended the average life of a man by three months and a woman by a month. “Pro-r...

Source: Wikipedia (AngryJulieMonday)   Gangnam Style is no longer the most-played video on YouTube  Psy's Gangnam Style is no longer the most-watched video on YouTube. The South Korean megahit had been the site's most-played clip for the last five years . The surreal video became so popular that it "broke" YouTube's play counter, exceeding the maximum possible number of views (2,147,483,647), and forcing the company to rewrite its code. But the song has now been overtaken by another music video - Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's See You Again . The heart-wrenching ballad has now been streamed 2,895,373,709 times; beating   Psy's current count of 2,894,426,475 views. Adding it up , that means See You Again has been streamed for a total of 21,759 years. If one person was to listen to each of those streams consecutively, they'd have to have started during the glacial peak of the last Ice Age. The song was written for the action mo...

  Source: Robert Bye on Unsplash Vegetarian beef farmer gives herd to animal sanctuary  A vegetarian farmer has given his herd of cows to an animal sanctuary to protect them from the slaughterhouse . Jay Wilde, 59, who farms in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, sent 63 cattle to a Norfolk rescue centre as he could no longer bear to send them to be killed . Mr Wilde, a vegetarian for 25 years, grew up herding cows and took over the family farm when his father died. "Cows have good memories and a range of emotions. They form relationships. I've even seen them cry," he said. "It was very difficult to do your best to look after them and then send them to the slaughterhouse for what must be a terrifying death." The Hillside Animal Sanctuary near Frettenham said 30 of the cows are pregnant and all the animals "would live out their lives essentially as pets". Founder, Wendy Valentine, said Mr Wilde is not the first farmer to have donated his herd...

  Source: Ross Sokolovski on Unsplash Researchers suggest replac ing car honks with duck quacks Researchers are tackling sound pollution from loud car horns by developing a beep which apparently sounds like a duck's quack. The pleasant-sounding horn is designed to alert people to danger while not stressing out others within the vicinity. A quacking sound was chosen after different sounds were tested on 100 volunteers and it was found to be the most friendly for pedestrians passing by . The research was conducted at Soongsil University in Seoul, South Korea, and looked at the development of the vehicle klaxon since it was first introduced in 1908. The classical car horn's "ah-oo-gah" remains a famous sound in early motoring, but it came to be replaced by other attention-grabbing sounds. Some of those klaxons have come to be found very irritating, however. The team of scientists set about trying to find less distressing sound for passers...

Source: Wikipedia (Peter Isotalo)   Madrid tackles 'el manspreading' on public transport with new signs  Transport authorities in Spanish capital want to encourage men to respect boundaries on bus seats and keep legs closed  Madrid’s transport authorities are taking a stand against seated male selfishness with a campaign to tackle the social scourge that is manspreading. Fed up with men whose thighs fail to respect the boundaries of bus seats, the Spanish capital’s Municipal Transport Company (EMT) is to put up signs discouraging the practice. The EMT – which explains that “el manspreading” is “an English term that describes the posture of men who open their legs too wide and take up neighbouring seats” – said the new signs are intended to remind people of the need to respect the space of all bus passengers. Would-be manspreaders will hopefully be deterred by small pictures of a thoughtless , faceless red man invading the seat to his right. “Th...

Source: goforitingles   Which of the following sentences are right?  Correct those that are wrong.  1. A: He recommended us to take the train there.      B: I wouldn't recommend eating there.      C: I bought this mobile after a friend recommended it to me.      D: Doctors recommend that we do thirty minutes of exercise every day.  2. A: We would like that you come with us.      B: I wouldn't mind to see his latest film.      C: Would you prefer sitting outside?      D: I'd much rather stay in bed than go to work today.  3. A: She denied lying on her CV.      B: They denied that they had broken any rules.      C: He denied to have cheated in the exam.      D: I refuse to fly with British Airways ever again.         4. A: Remind me to phone her tomorrow.   ...

Source: Natacha de Hepcée on Unsplash A Day In The Life Of: A Rent-a-Pilgrim Any Roman Catholics who have vowed to make the pilgrimage to Fatima in Portugal which is famous for religious visions but can't fulfil   their promise, help is at hand -- rent-a-pilgrim.  For 2,500 euros (1,671 pounds), Pilgrim Gil will make the journey in your place -- and send you a certificate stamped along the way to prove he walked your every step.  Carlos Gil, 42, who owns a small computer company, took up this mediaeval practice four years ago when he suddenly " felt an urge to walk to Fatima" and said charging each client was simply a way to keep do ing what he loves.  "I make the trip to Fatima once or twice a year because it elevates my spirit," said Gil. "Sometimes the trip is so intense that I forget I'm doing it to fulfil my client's promises."  Like a true pilgrim, Gil begins his seven-day journey to Fatima on foot from his home ...

80 years on , Picasso's powerful anti-war Guernica still resonates Exactly 80 years ago, in a crowded market square, the small Basque town of Guernica was bombed by Nazi aircraft at the behest of General Francisco Franco. Days later Picasso heard about the attack and painted Guernica in a Paris attic, a haunting work of art that has become a universal howl against the ravages of war , from 1937 Spain to 2017 Syria. The canvas mixes stark images of agonising humans and animals to depict the horror of the bombing of the small Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937 during Spain's civil war. Luis Ortiz Alfau, a 100-year-old Spaniard, was there that day "to pick up the dead and the injured," he told AFP. " Around 4:00 pm, three planes started arriving every 15 minutes, they were German and Italian planes," said the former soldier on the Republican side. "They dropped explosive bombs , then incendiary bombs, and the town started to b...

Source:  Call Me Fred en Unsplash Brexit: The UK's letter triggering Article 50   Dear President Tusk On 23 June last year, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. As I have said before, that decision was no rejection of the values we share as fellow  Europeans . Nor was it an attempt to do harm to the European Union or any of the remaining member states. On the contrary, the United Kingdom wants the European Union to succeed and prosper. Instead , the referendum was a vote to restore, as we see it, our national self-determination. We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe - and we want to remain committed partners and allies to our friends across the continent. Earlier this month, the United Kingdom Parliament confirmed the result of the referendum by voting with clear and convincing majorities in both of its Houses for the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The Bill was passed by Parliament...

Source: Attila Surányi en Unsplash   Boozy Spanish tourist hotspot Benidorm plots bid to become Unesco world heritage site alongside wonders of the world   The package holiday destination could join sites including the Grand Canyon and Great Barrier Reef on the list  BENIDORM – the home from home of boozed-up sunburnt Brits – could become a world heritage site alongside iconic landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and the Great Barrier Reef. The Spanish town’s council plans to submit a bid to Unesco next year for heritage status, according to The Times. The Costa Blanca holiday hotspot would be a surprising addition to the list. But mayor Antonia Perez insisted the town has plenty to offer. He said: “We are unique both in terms of our natural beauty and our man-made model of a sustainable city. “We have beautiful beaches and a vertical city which is very sustainable. “Benidorm has expanded upwards unlike many other cities ...