Interesting webpage to improve listening English apart from the knowledge that they want to share I want to share this website which may be useful to deepen your learning English listening. In addition, it presents the advantage to use subtitles with talks. http://www.ted.com/talks (taken from their website): “TED is a knowledge-sharing platform — a place where collaboration is the glue that binds people together TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. On TED.com, we make the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1400 TED Talks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled in English, and many are subtitled in various languages.”

Short film “Chicken a la Carte” I would like to share with everyone this film: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte In February 2006, at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival, Filmmakers were invited to join a Short Film Competition on the theme: FOOD, TASTE AND HUNGER. This film was named the most popular short film “Chicken a la Carte” : Director: Ferdinand Dimadura | Producer: Ferdinand Dimadura Genre: Drama | Produced In: 2005 | Story Teller's Country: Philippines Tags: Asia, Hunger, Philippines, Poverty Synopsis: There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people. This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization.

Why we fall in love with a man or woman in particular and not with someone else? Researchers have found that falling in love occurs in parts of the brain where pleasures also act as the enjoyment of food and the effects of drugs like cocaine. After initial contact with the beloved, a number of neurotransmitters come into "boiling" and invade specific areas of the brain system. It’s impossible to master all the variables only with a biological explanation; culture, society, family, also have a lot to do with how a person tends to fall in love. "Monogamy is rare among animals; although it has been developed in some species, not in the majority." The modern human has managed to manipulate the reproduction, which leaves us with pleasure and falling in love without procreation. These variables have significantly changed the way people are falling in love. We know it involves a very important cultural component. The moment is also very important: we must be willing to fall in love. The sexual impulse is different from the romantic love. One of the main characteristics of the romantic love is the desire for sexual contact ... and sexual exclusivity. When we go to bed with someone and we don’t love him/her, we don’t really care if him/her also go to bed with someone else. But when we fall in love, we became really possessive. In the scientific community it’s called "mate-guarding". It isn’t love, when there are possession, jealousy, suffering, obsession, etc. When one really loves, disinterestedly loves, wants the best for the other person, whether he/her is with or without you, that's the real LOVE.

Special recognition to all those anonymous altruistic people. Being altruistic not necessarily mean sacrificing one life for another, but rather sharing joys, showing interest in the other, understanding, knowledge, good humor, even your own sadness. “What you keep to yourself you lose, what you give away, you keep forever” (Axel Munthe). Little things we say or do can make increase a light than sometimes turns off, but others will help us to rekindle it. We should be grateful to all those celebrity people that have made our lives better (Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Gandhi, Pasteur, Newton, Mozart, Velazquez, Shakespeare, Edison, Aristotle…); but from here, I want to express my deepest appreciation to all those anonymous people who also make it possible day to day, with their gestures and with their help, at least a little better.

Interesting cultural website http://www.wdl.org/en/ The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. Navigation tools and content descriptions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. It's possible to discover, study and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world.

Short stay at home or... for a language exchange

Taking advantage of the opportunity provided by Italki, I have thought it might be interesting to its users open this idea of learning:

Would you be interested in providing accommodation for a short stay (such as a week ...) at your home or in another form of accomodation in order to maintain an exchange language learning?

Etimología de las palabras. "Bárbaro-a" (Del diccionario María Moliner): Bárbaro, -a (del lat. barbărus, del gr. bárbaros, extranjero) 1 adj. y n. Originariamente, lo aplicaron los griegos y, particularmente, los romanos, a los *pueblos y cosas ajenos a su cultura. 5 Después ha pasado a designar especialmente a los pueblos germánicos que hostilizaban al imperio romano y que acabaron por abatirlo en el siglo v. 2 (n. calif.) Se dice del que utiliza la fuerza y no la inteligencia: ‘El muy bárbaro se ha empeñado en arrancar el clavo con los dientes’. 1 *Bruto. 5 (n. calif.) Sin intención ofensiva, se aplica en lenguaje informal al que tiene mucha fuerza o vigor físico o abusa de ellos: ‘Este bárbaro se baña en el río helado’. 1 Bruto, salvaje. 3 Descortés, irrespetuoso o desconsiderado con otras personas. 1 *Bruto. 4 Aplicado particularmente a cosas, *cruel: ‘Un suplicio bárbaro’. 5 adj. pop. A veces se usa con el significado de «tremendo, estupendo»: ‘Hace un frío bárbaro. Tengo un plan bárbaro’. 5 adv. pop. Estupendamente: ‘Lo hemos pasado bárbaro’. qué bárbaro inf. Exclamación que expresa principalmente asombro, pudiendo implicar tanto aprobación como rechazo: ‘¡Qué bárbaro! Ha conseguido cinco medallas de oro en natación’. ______________________________________ (En la imagen se reproduce la etimología de la palabra "bárbaro-a" extraída del Diccionario Etimológico de la Lengua Castellana, de Dr. Pedro Felipe Monlau. Madrid, 1856

The gender differences in relationship satisfaction Research suggests that women may need to feel that their partners remain close and attentive to them even when they are feeling angry or upset. According to the study published in the Journal of Family Psychology ( http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/fam-26-2-236.pdf ), relationship satisfaction has to do with empathize with each other’s emotions. Women’s satisfaction was more strongly related to the perception that their partners were trying to understand their negative emotions than to men’s actual accuracy in reading those emotions. Demonstrating in some way that you are trying, even if you are not getting it right, is what’s most important for relationship satisfaction. The findings from this study suggest that men may be more satisfied in their relationships when they can accurately read their partners’ POSITIVE emotions, while women’s relationship satisfaction may uniquely benefit when they can accurately read their partners’ NEGATIVE emotions. Women were more likely to report higher relationship satisfaction when they could read their partners’ anger or frustration; because they prefer negative emotion to withdrawal or silence. What do you think about this?

Environmental tragedy We need for greater self-awareness for the future, making people aware of trash thrown away on the street or nature: http://vimeo.com/25563376 http://vimeo.com/6554603 We all have experience of this in many places we have visited. (picture from: http://www.lamarsalao.com/2011/12/la-basura-marina-cosa-de-tods.html)