L'italiano è una lingua facile? Ogni volta che dico alla gente che ho deciso di imparare l'italiano, mi dicono che è una lingua facile e che posso impararla rapidamente. In realtà, tra le lingue che potrei imparare, l'italiano è probabilmente la più facile per me, considerando che la mia lingua madre è il portoghese e che ho già imparato l'inglese e lo spagnolo. Tuttavia, va preso in considerazione che il portoghese, lo spagnolo e l'italiano sono lingue simili e posso confonderle molto facilmente, il che significa che devo impegnarmi molto per non confonderle. Inoltre, non mi piace l'idea di vedere l'italiano come una lingua facile perché voglio impararla bene, e imparare una lingua bene è sempre difficile, non importa quale lingua si stia imparando.

Ciao a tutti! Mi chiamo Anderson, sono brasiliano e qualche settimane fa ho deciso di imparare l'italiano. Ho scelto l'italiano perché la lingua me sembra bellissima. Anche me piace molto l'Italia, ho visitato il paese tre anni fa e mi piacerebbe ritornarci un giorno. La mia avventura con l'italiano ha apenna cominciata, ma ne sono davvero entusiasta.

La selección Argentina se gana el mundial en Catar Tras jugar un duro partido en contra de Francia, la selección Argentina de fútbol se convertió en la nueva campeona mundial en el último Domingo, 18 de deciembre. El partido, que terminó empatado 2-2 en el tiempo regular, tuvo un tiempo extra en donde los dos equipos metieron goles, lo que resultó en un nuevo empate 3-3. Así, el ganador fue decidido en los penales en los cuales Argentina se sobresalió y le ganó a Francia 4-2. Esa fue la tercera vez que Argentina se gana la copa del mundo. La victoria coronó la carrera del jugador veterano Lionel Messi, quien es considerado el mejor jugador Argentino de su generación y uno de los mejores de todos los tiempos. La victória también marcó el regreso de la copa del mundo a sudamerica, ya que después que Brasil se ganó el mundial de 2002 solo equipos europeos se habían ganado el mundial.

The castrati - The Italian Opera Superstars The castrati (plural in Italian for "the castrated ones") were Italian singers who were castrated at young age with the objective of obtaining male singers who could reach high-pitched notes; they were suppose to be the male version of soprano singers. The usage of castrated singers became a fad in Italy and the rest of Europe as the Catholic Church prohibited female singers of performing on stage. As the opera houses still needed singers to perform the roles of women and children, the castrati came into play. Promising young singers would undergo castration as young as the age of 8 years old; after the procedure, the castrated boy would go through intensive singing training. It's important to point out that the castration itself aligned with the training wouldn't guarantee the singer's success; those who didn't stand out would be destined to a religious life, normally as church choir singers. As for those who succeeded, a glamorous life was expected. Being a successful castrato (singular for "castrati") meant touring throughout Europe, living among the aristocracy and making a lot of money. Such flamboyant life, however, would come at a price; besides the obvious setbacks that the castration would bring to the reproducitive ability and sexual life of the castrated singer, conditions liked to the lack of testosterone, such as osteoporosis, were a constant in castrati's lives. In 1878, Pope Leo XIII prohibited the hiring of castrated singers by opera houses. As a result, the castration of boys for musical purpuses started falling out of fashion until it completely disapeared in the 19th century. It's estimated that roughly 4,000 boys were castrated per year at the peak of the fad in the 16th century.

Is Modern Satanism Really About Worshiping Satan? It may sound weird and counter-intuitive, but Modern Satanism, a.k.a. LaVeyan Satanism and atheistic Satanism, doesn't have anything to do with worshiping the Devil. Founded by Anton LaVey, who also founded the Church of Satan and wrote the Satanic Bible, Satanism is rather a atheistic religion which doesn't believe in supernatural concepts such as God or the Devil. In a very simplistic way, we can say that the members of the Church of Satan believe that people should live free of the moral and the supernatural concepts of traditional religions, being themselves their own god. Maybe you wonder why it's called Satanism, if it's not really about the Devil. As far as the name of the religion is concerned, LaVey chose the name to give an idea of opposition to Christianity and Judaism as he believed that traditional religions suppressed the man and prevented people from living their lives as they truly are. It is important to point out that there are people who define themselves as satanists and that do worship the Devil, but LaVey's followers don't consider those people satanists; to them, those people are just Devil worshippers.