Laughter Therapy_Risoterapia :)

Hay quienes dicen que hacerlo de pie fortalece la columna,
boca abajo estimula la circulación de la sangre,
boca arriba es más placentero,
hacerlo solo es rico pero egoísta,
en grupo puede ser divertido,
en el baño es muy digestivo,
en el coche puede ser peligroso,
hacerlo con frecuencia desarrolla la imaginación,
entre dos enriquece el conocimiento,
de rodillas resulta doloroso,...
sobre la mesa,
sobre el escritorio,
antes de comer o en la sobremesa,
sobre la cama o en la hamaca,
desnudos o vestidos,
sobre el césped o la alfombra,
con música o en silencio,
entre sábanas o en el armario.
Hacerlo siempre es un acto de amor.
No importa la edad,
ni la raza,
ni el credo,
ni el sexo,
ni la posición...

¡Leer... leer es un placer, siempre!
Hay que leer más.
Leer es +

Viñeta Interferencias, El Roto

The Aroma of Tea_animation short

Amazing animation short film by Michael Dudok de Wit (Holland, 2006), 3 min.

50 (British) Reasons to Love the European Union

As the EU celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, The Independent, one of Britain's quality newspapers, looked at 50 benefits it has brought, and asked: "What has Europe done for us?" Here are the answers:

1 The end of war between European nations
2 Democracy is now flourishing in 27 countries
3 Once-poor countries, such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal, are prospering
4 The creation of the world's largest internal trading market
5 Unparalleled rights for European consumers
6 Co-operation on continent-wide immigration policy
7 Co-operation on crime, through Europol
8 Laws that make it easier for British people to buy property in Europe
9 Cleaner beaches and rivers throughout Europe
10 Four weeks statutory paid holiday a year for workers in Europe
11 No death penalty (it is incompatible with EU membership)
12 Competition from privatised companies means cheaper phone calls
13 Small EU bureaucracy (24,000 employees, fewer than the BBC)
14 Making the French eat British beef again
15 Minority languages, such as Irish, Welsh and Catalan recognised and protected
16 Europe is helping to save the planet with regulatory cuts in CO2
17 One currency from Bantry to Berlin (but not Britain)
18 Europe-wide travel bans on tyrants such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
19 The EU gives twice as much aid to developing countries as the United States
20 Strict safety standards for cars, buses and aircraft
21 Free medical help for tourists
22 EU peacekeepers operate in trouble spots throughout the world
23 Europe's single market has brought cheap flights to the masses, and new prosperity for forgotten cities
24 Introduction of pet passports
25 It now takes only 2 hrs 35 mins from London to Paris by Eurostar
26 Prospect of EU membership has forced modernisation on Turkey
27 Shopping without frontiers gives consumers more power to shape markets
28 Cheap travel and study programmes means greater mobility for Europe's youth
29 Food labelling is much clearer
30 No tiresome border checks (apart from in the UK)
31 Compensation for passengers suffering air delays
32 Strict ban on animal testing for the cosmetic industry
33 Greater protection for Europe's wildlife
34 Regional development fund has aided the deprived parts of Britain
35 European driving licences recognised across the EU
36 Britons now feel a lot less insular
37 Europe's bananas remain bent, despite sceptics' fears
38 Strong economic growth - greater than the United States last year
39 Single market has brought the best continental footballers to Britain
40 Human rights legislation has protected the rights of the individual
41 European Parliament provides democratic checks on all EU laws
42 EU gives more, not less, sovereignty to nation states
43 Maturing EU is a proper counterweight to the power of US and China
44 European immigration has boosted the British economy
45 Europeans are increasingly multilingual - except Britons, who are less so
46 Europe has set Britain an example how properly to fund a national health service
47 British restaurants now much more cosmopolitan
48 Total mobility for career professionals in Europe
49 Europe has revolutionised British attitudes to food and cooking
50 Lists like this drive the Eurosceptics mad

We are being watched

Surveillance cameras at London Victoria Station.

How To Live Longer :)

It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies: 1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 2. The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 3. The Japanese drink very little red wine and and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. CONCLUSION: Eat and drink whatever you like. Speaking English is what kills you.

UP :) English is a difficult language!

Lovers of the English language enjoy this. It is an example of why people learning English have trouble. Learning the nuances of English makes it a difficult language. This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v]. It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this up is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look up the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now ........my time is UP. Oh...one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? UP Don't screw up. Send this on to everyone you look up in your address book... Now I'll shut up 

You can find more funny texts like this on the website Laugh 'n Learn.

President Obama's Speech on Equal Rights

Amenábar's ÁGORA

Set in 4th-century Roman Egypt, Rachel Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, an atheist scientist who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus (played by Max Minghella) is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity. Ágora is a historical epic story about the clash between scientific knowledge and superstition, free thinking and religious fanaticism. Spectacular and highly entertaining, this is Alejandro Amenábar at his best. 

Flamenco Project

Flamenco has attracted significant international interest since the early 1900s. The 1960s and 1970s witnessed an unprecedented "foreign invasion" of committed and adventurous musicians traveling far from their homes and cultures to experience flamenco first-hand in the pueblos of Andalusia. Many not only lived the life and studied the music, but also documented their experience at its heart and core with photographs, audio recordings and films. It was an extraordinary period of cross-cultural exchange made possible by the generosity and openness of many of the great flamenco artists of the 20th Century. 

The Flamenco Photo Project consists of a growing collection of more than one hundred images culled from the work of 12 photographers, all non-Spaniards and lovers of the art of Flamenco. They have seen things as others have not, bringing a fresh and vivid point of view to the visual history of the Flamencos from 1960 to 1985. 

The Flamenco Project is dedicated to assembling, preserving and publishing these unique documents of that memorable time. The Flamenco Project Collection is now on display at two of the Cajasol exhibitions halls in Seville (Sala Imagen + Sala Chicarreros) until November 1st. A must-see! You can access the online photo gallery by clicking on the title link above.

STOP CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

Spanish Conservatives and Spanish Socialists reject legislating against festivals involving cruelty to animals: "Why is it that they are only able of reaching consensus at our expense!"

100% Tarantino

A band of US soldiers facing death by firing squad for their misdeeds are given a chance to save themselves - by heading into the perilous no-man's lands of Nazi-occupied France on a suicide mission for the Allies... Inglorious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino at his best! Spoken in English, German, French (and a little Italian, enough to make you crack up in your seat), make sure to watch it in the original version, as regional accents do play an important role in the storyline. If you weren't a Tarantino fan before, your are surely bound to become one after this hair-raising thriller! A truly cathartic anti-Nazi experience. Watched it only last night and I am still palpitating with excitement :) A must-see film!

La universidad europea ya habla inglés

La universidad europea ya habla inglés. ¿Y los alumnos? La lengua franca cobra fuerza. La oferta en este idioma y el nivel del estudiantado son claves para el éxito del espacio único europeo. Un reportaje de SUSANA PÉREZ PABLOS para El País, 12/09/2009 

¿En qué lengua puede estudiar una carrera un español en Polonia? ¿Y un polaco en España? ¿Y un alemán en Suecia? ¿Y un francés en Lituania? La riqueza de idiomas de la UE juega en contra de la materialización del espacio común europeo de universidades que persigue, como uno de los objetivos más relevantes, fomentar la movilidad de estudiantes. Suena bien, pero ¿en qué lengua van a estudiar esos alumnos para poder entender bien los contenidos de ingeniería, historia del arte o sociología? Descartado hace tiempo el esperanto, todo apunta a que la lengua franca va a ser el inglés. En futuro, porque aún no lo es. Sí en el mundo empresarial o en el de la investigación. Pero este aspecto, que requiere una inversión (no sólo económica, principalmente organizativa y de impulso político) a medio-largo plazo no está exento de dificultades... (Pare leer el resto del reportaje, cliquea en el enlace del título)

How to use a condom to fight aids:

This cartoon was sent to me by a Catholic doctor.

Saving You from Bad Cinema Choices

movies.ie is a very interesting Irish site for film lovers!

Climate Change: Let's FACE IT

Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it is a human rights issue, an issue of global justice.
Millions of people living in the developing world are already feeling the devastating impacts of climate change. They will continue to be hit first, worst and hardest by climate change, a problem they did not create.
Now is the time for urgent action and justice on climate change. In the lead-up to crucial UN global climate change negotiation in Copenhagen this December, add you name and make a difference.
Join our campaign today to send a clear message to our Government calling for much needed leadership and action to ensure a fair and safe future for all.
Take Action Now

Pink Diplomacy

Minister takes 'pink diplomacy' to anti-gay nations
The Sunday Times

August 16, 2009

The gay Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant is championing a controversial drive to fund equal-rights activists in homophobic regimes. British missions in countries such as Jamaica, where homosexual acts are punishable by long jail terms, and Nigeria, where they can lead to the death penalty, are being encouraged to “support progress” by financing gay pride marches and legal challenges from local campaigners.

As well as targeting Commonwealth countries, “pink diplomacy” will extend to eastern Europe, where gays have suffered brutal attacks from far-right groups. Opportunities to tackle discrimination in ultra-conservative nations, such as Iran, are also being considered - cautiously.
The move risks a backlash from countries where support for homosexuality runs contrary to state teaching and religious beliefs.

The fact that the initiative is being promoted by Bryant, a former Anglican curate, could exacerbate things. Bryant, 47, said: “It is completely up to staff in our embassies and consulates around the world to decide the most appropriate and effective way of making our case but we do encourage this important work because British values are based on fair play and the protection of the individual’s freedom. We are not naive about this work. In some places oppressive regimes make it some of the toughest work we do.”
Bryant thanked Robin Barnett, the ambassador to Bucharest, for attending a gay pride march in the Romanian capital that had previously been targeted by thugs hurling fireworks and stones. A 2008 study by the European Commission ranked Romania as the most homophobic in the European Union.
Officials confirmed this weekend that the new policy included financial backing. A Foreign Office briefing document sent to British missions, said Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Nigeria and Uzbekistan were “countries of particular concern”.

Man's First Step on the Moon

On July 16, 1969, three astronauts embarked on a mission to reach the moon. Four days later, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on an extraterrestrial body.

Walter Cronkite, in memoriam

"And that's the way it is. Walter Cronkite for CBS News. Friday, July 17th, 2009. Good night."

Tackling the drinking problem

Should the drinking age be raised and alcohol banned in public places?
By Nigel Morris, The Independent. Published: 16 August 2007


Why are we asking this now?
The murder of Garry Newlove, who was killed after he confronted a group of vandals outside his home in Cheshire, has prompted a plea by the county's Chief Constable for strong action to combat drinking among young people. Peter Fahy has called for the minimum drinking age to be raised from 18 to 21, for alcohol to be banned in most public places, for the price of beer and spirits to be raised and for tougher controls on the sale of drink.

Controversy also continues over the impact of the liberalisation in 2005 of the licensing laws, with Devon and Cornwall police this week reporting a 50 per cent rise in violent attacks in pubs and nightclubs since the reform.

How bad is the problem?
Anyone visiting the centre of a city or major town on a Friday or Saturday night is likely to be in little doubt that binge-drinking among young people is a serious problem. It is nothing new in British life. Riots broke out in the 1740s over the high taxes on gin, the Temperance Movement was founded in 1835 in response to fears over public drunkenness and tough licensing laws were passed in 1914 to stop the war effort being undermined by excess alcohol consumption.

However, the number of teenagers who drink regularly appears to have climbed sharply over the past two decades. Among 35 European nations, Britain had the third highest number of 15-year-olds (24 per cent) who said they had been inebriated at least 10 times in the past year. Teenage drinkers are consuming more alcohol and more often.

Increasing alcohol consumption is inevitably linked to crime and anti-social behaviour. There were 1,087,000 violent incidents in 2006-07 in which the victim believed their offender had been drinking, an increase of 6 per cent on the previous year.

Who is to blame for teenage drunkenness?
It is becoming relatively cheaper to get drunk, with alcohol now costing 54 per cent less in real terms than it did in 1980.

The introduction of cut-price happy hours in "vertical drinking" establishments and price-cutting competition between supermarkets have acted as a brake on the rising cost of alcohol. The popularity of drinks targeted at young adults - alcopops in the 1990s and high-strength bottled lager this decade - has drawn more youngsters into bars.

Despite successive enforcement campaigns, under-age drinkers appear to have few problems getting their hands on beer and spirits. Somerset police said yesterday that 67 per cent of pubs and clubs and more than a third of off-licences sold alcohol to children during an undercover operation. The police, however, can do little about adults buying alcohol for under-18s or about teenagers knocking back drink they find at home. And making alcohol more expensive or more difficult to acquire is tackling the problem's symptoms, rather than its causes. Are parents turning a blind eye to drinking by their children? And what messages are being sent out to our youth by the British tolerance, and arguably glamorisation, of drunkenness?

Has 24-hour licensing made a difference?
The 2005 Licensing Act enabled pubs, clubs, restaurants and off-licences to open around the clock, although in practice most have only applied for moderate increases to opening hours. Ministers argued that the move would help encourage the growth of a more civilised Continental-style cafe culture, while critics warned that levels of alcohol-fuelled trouble would rocket. The jury is out over the impact of the Act. The latest figures showed 940,522 violent crimes and cases of disorder and criminal damage were committed from 6pm to 6am in the year after licensed premises were allowed to open later, which is a negligible 0.7 per cent increase on the 933,701 recorded in the previous year.

Would raising the drinking age tackle the problem?
Mr Fahy argues that increasing the limit would send out a signal of society's determination to tackle drunkenness. The same radical conclusion was reached recently in a report by the left-leaning think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research. Alternatively, it called for teenage drinking to be controlled by a smart-card system.

Its author, Jasper Gerard, argued: "By raising the age threshold it is at least possible that those in their early and mid teens will not see drink as something they will soon be allowed to do, so therefore they might as well start doing it surreptitiously now. Instead they might come to see it as it should be: forbidden."

The Home Office Minister Meg Hillier firmly ruled out such a step yesterday, arguing that it would "demonise or prevent a lot of adults who are drinking quite responsibly".

Raising the limit would put Britain out of step with the rest of western Europe, where levels of drunkenness are lower but minimum drinking ages range between 14 and 18. The United States has a 21-year-old limit on buying alcohol, although some states allow consumption under that age. A limit of 19 applies in most of Canada and 18 in Australia.

Should we ban drinking in public places?
Local authorities have the power to outlaw alcohol consumption in designated areas and 100 councils have followed the lead of Coventry, which imposed the first ban 20 years ago. However, Mr Fahy wants to turn around the presumption of the law, requiring councils to apply for special permission to allow public drinking, modelling the move on the recently imposed smoking ban.

Again, a Government which has spoken of encouraging more civilised drinking has given a chilly response to the idea. Any politician who attempted to ban al fresco drinking would take a gamble. It could lead to the most unlikely people becoming criminalised - the family who have a bottle of beer with their picnic or the music fans who enjoy an open-air concert with a bottle of wine.

What is the Government doing?
There is no question the Government recognises it has a problem on its hands, although the extent to which it can influence a long-term social trend is clearly limited.

To the delight of tabloid newspapers that have denounced the new licensing laws, Gordon Brown has ordered a review of 24-hour drinking which will report by the end of the year. It is unlikely to find enough evidence to justify overturning the legislation.

A further Department of Health review into the cost of alcohol could respond to doctors' and campaigners' concerns by backing an increase in alcohol duties. Again it would be a brave politician that campaigns on increases in the price of a pint of beer or bottle of wine - even though the ill effects of alcohol cost society £20bn a year.


Should the legal drinking age rise?

Yes...
* The move would send out a strong message of society's abhorrence of drunkenness
* Young adults would start drinking at an older age, with benefits for their health
* Banning teenagers from buying alcohol could cut alcohol-fuelled rowdiness

No...
* It would be a nonsense when youngsters can marry at 18 or drive at 17
* No other western European nation bans alcohol until the age of 21 and most have lower drunkenness rates
* It would be unfair on the majority of young adults who drink responsibly and in moderation

As Consumerism Spreads, Earth Suffers

Hillary Mayell National Geographic News January 12, 2004 Americans and Western Europeans have had a lock on unsustainable over-consumption for decades. But now developing countries are catching up rapidly, to the detriment of the environment, health, and happiness, according to the Worldwatch Institute in its annual State of the World report. To provide enough beef, chicken, and pork to meet the demand, the livestock industry has moved to factory farming. Chickens at a typical farm are kept in cages with about nine square inches (about 60 square centimeters) of space per bird. To force them to lay more eggs, they are often starved. Chickens slaughtered for meat are first fattened up with hormones, sometimes to the point where their legs can no longer support their weight. Crowded conditions can lead to the rapid spread of disease among the animals. To prevent this, antibiotics are included in their feed. The World Health Organization reports that the widespread use of these drugs in the livestock industry is helping breed antibiotic-resistant microbes, complicating the treatment of disease in both animals and people. Not Much Happier The increase in prosperity is not making humans happier or healthier, according to several studies. Findings from a survey of life satisfaction in more than 65 countries indicate that income and happiness tend to track well until about $13,000 of annual income per person (in 1995 dollars). After that, additional income appears to produce only modest increments in self-reported happiness. Increased consumerism evidently comes at a steep price. People are incurring debt and working longer hours to pay for the high-consumption lifestyle, consequently spending less time with family, friends, and community organizations. "Excess consumption can be counterproductive," said Gardner. "The irony is that lower levels of consumption can actually cure some of these problems." Approximately 1.7 billion people worldwide now belong to the "consumer class"—the group of people characterized by diets of highly processed food, desire for bigger houses, more and bigger cars, higher levels of debt, and lifestyles devoted to the accumulation of non-essential goods. Today nearly half of global consumers reside in developing countries, including 240 million in China and 120 million in India—markets with the most potential for expansion. "Rising consumption has helped meet basic needs and create jobs," Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute said in a statement to the press. "But as we enter a new century, this unprecedented consumer appetite is undermining the natural systems we all depend on, and making it even harder for the world's poor to meet their basic needs." The report addresses the devastating toll on the Earth's water supplies, natural resources, and ecosystems exacted by a plethora of disposable cameras, plastic garbage bags, and other cheaply made goods with built in product-obsolescence, and cheaply made manufactured goods that lead to a "throw away" mentality. "Most of the environmental issues we see today can be linked to consumption," said Gary Gardner, director of research for Worldwatch. "As just one small example, there was a story in the newspaper just the other day saying that 37 percent of species could become extinct due to climate change, which is very directly related to consumption." From Luxuries to Necessities Globalization is a driving factor in making goods and services previously out of reach in developing countries much more available. Items that at one point in time were considered luxuries—televisions, cell phones, computers, air conditioning—are now viewed as necessities. China provides a snapshot of changing realities. For years, the streets of China's major cities were characterized by a virtual sea of people on bicycles, and 25 years ago there were barely any private cars in China. By 2000, 5 million cars moved people and goods; the number is expected to reach 24 million by the end of next year. In the United States, there are more cars on the road than licensed drivers. Increased reliance on automobiles means more pollution, more traffic, more use of fossil fuels. Cars and other forms of transportation account for nearly 30 percent of world energy use and 95 percent of global oil consumption. Changing diet, with a growing emphasis on meat, illustrates the environmental and societal toll exacted by unbridled consumption. Diets of highly processed food and the sedentary lifestyle that goes with heavy reliance on automobiles have led to a worldwide epidemic of obesity. In the United States, an estimated 65 percent of adults are overweight or obese, and the country has the highest rate of obesity among teenagers in the world. Soaring rates of heart disease and diabetes, surging health care costs, and a lower quality of day-to-day life are the result. Some aspects of rampant consumerism have resulted in startling anomalies. Worldwatch reports that worldwide annual expenditures for cosmetics total U.S. $18 billion; the estimate for annual expenditures required to eliminate hunger and malnutrition is $19 billion. Expenditures on pet food in the United States and Europe total $17 billion a year; the estimated cost of immunizing every child, providing clean drinking water for all, and achieving universal literacy is $16.3 billion. There is, of course, no easy solution to the problem. The authors call for green taxes (to reflect the true environmental costs of a product), take-back programs that require manufacturers to recycle packaging or goods, and consumer education and awareness programs. But first and foremost we need to reorient our way of thinking, says Gardner. "The goal is to focus not so much on sacrifice, but on how to provide a higher quality of life using the lowest amount of raw materials," he said. "We need to change the way we produce goods and the way we consume them."