Brazil World Cup Stadium Worker Electrocuted

Summary:

A worker has died electrocuted while building the stadium of Arena Pantanal for the World Cup. The worker of 32 years old called Muhammed-Ali was installing the communications equipment when he was electrocuted. The work in the stadium has been halted and is now the most-delayed stadium of the tournament, with seating and wiring yet to be finished. It is the 8^th worker who dies in the construction for the World Cup stadiums.

Opinion:

In my opinion it’s understandable this high number of deaths in a construction of this sophisticated buildings. Moreover if we compare this with the deaths in the preparation of the other World Cup in South Africa (only 2) it’s understandable and it seems that there is a lack of attention or a lack of security. About the building of this stadiums it seems too that nobody have organized that because they are building stadiums with capacity of 40000 people in small cities with team that use to have an attendance of only 2000 or 5000 fans.

Words learnt:

-Halted

-Setback

-Wiring

http://news.sky.com/story/1258170/brazil-world-cup-stadium-worker-electrocuted

Fantastic Plastic: New Material Heals Itself

Summary:

A new type of plastic has been developed with the impressive innovation that can heal itself from damage like a hole or a crack. This works with a vascularized system with oozing fluids that can become in a gel in minutes and can become harder in three hours.

The researchers explain that this system have been developed with a similar way that it works in the plants or in the humans with the blood. They say that this new technology can be used in objects that are hard to repair that in the space.

Opinion:

In my opinion this is a very useful innovation that can be used in a lot of devices but it seems it will take a lot of years to develop well this technology. Moreover I think is a very intelligent occurrence to try to develop something looking at the nature because is the most complex system in the world.

Words learnt:

-Oozing

-Wells - "pous"

-Thick

http://news.sky.com/story/1258400/fantastic-plastic-new-material-heals-itself

Spotify Pulls Silent Album Which Made $20,000

Summary:

Spotify is a music program that pays 0,007$ to the artist who share songs for each reproduction of more than 30 second that people make on their songs. This program is very popular and has millions of users. Knowing all that a band wanted to make profit and shared a completely silent album encouraging their fans to listen it while sleeping. They earned 20000$ but finally Spotify has removed the album because it says it violates their terms of content.

The money that the band has earned will be used by them to fund a tour around the areas where the album has been most listened.

Opinion:

In my opinion this has been a very intelligent action for the group to make money and to promote the band. Moreover it’s good that the money going to be used to tour for the people who have helped them to won it.

Words learnt:

-Gist

-Mapped

-Streaming

http://news.sky.com/story/1257610/spotify-pulls-silent-album-which-made-20000

Antibiotic resistance now 'global threat', WHO warns

Summary:

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that a “post-antibiotic” era is coming. According to the WHO the antibiotics are becoming useless and the bacteria are becoming more and more resistance because of the misuse of these drugs. In this “post-antibiotic” era, several injuries which have been treated for decades will kill again.

The solution they propose is more medical cooperation to develop new antibiotics, more hygiene and more vaccinations to avoid the diseases.

Opinion:

We have studied this year in school that due to the misuse of the drugs we are killing the weak bacteria and we are letting place to the hard or mutated bacteria which resist the antibiotics. This is worrying because is showing the speed of the process and that we are becoming more sensible to the diseases. As usual the problem comes from our irresponsible behaviour with these drugs.

Words learnt:

- Stakeholders

-Spread

-Last-resort

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27204988

Villarreal give life ban to rogue fan who threw banana at Dani Alves

Summary:

On 27th April Barcelona faced Villareal away on “El Madrigal” (CF Villareal stadium) where started the story. It was around the minute 70 when Dani Alves (Barcelona defender) was about to take a corner kick. In that moment a Villareal fan threw a banana just next to Alves as a racist abuse. Dani Alves, maintaining his composure, picked up the banana and ate it, so he turned the action to humour. FC Barcelona finally won his match and the action of the defender became very popular all around the world. A lot of football players and famous people have supported with the action by sharing photos with bananas on the internet.

The shameful action has been apologized by Villareal and they also have punished the fan with a life ban, so this fan won’t be able to enter any football stadium in the Liga competition and this will be an exemplary punishment to avoid similar future actions.

Opinion:

In my opinion this is a shameful action and the worst is that it hasn’t been the first time it happens that in the Spanish competitions. The punishment which has been imposed will be useful to discourage people from doing future similar actions but in my opinion people should be sufficiently intelligent and polite to know how stupid these actions are.

Learnt words:

-Withdraw

-Berk

-Utterly

-Culprit

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/28/sport/football/dani-alves-banana-racism-football/index.html?hpt=ieu_mid

Brazilian fisherman finds satellite launch debris in Amazon

Summary:

A Brazilian fisherman found a large metal piece of launch debris from a European satellite. The man found the object floating on the river and he pushed it to the bank of the river to see what it was. The object belongs to the UK Space Agency and comes from the Europe’s most sophisticated satellite, which launched from the neighbouring country of French Guiana last year. A spokeswoman for the UK Space Agency confirmed the provenance of the debris and explained that the object probably landed on the Atlantic and then floated inland. Moreover local, authorities didn’t trust the first calls and they didn’t arrived after the media first reports.

Opinion:

This is a strange happening and I would have been very confused if I have been the discoverer of the object. In my opinion this news are worrying because shows the lack of control of the pieces they throw.  It’s difficult to believe that this big object floated inland for the river and it’s strange that the UK Space Agency didn’t recollect the object from the sea.

Learnt words:

Debris

Payloadshroud

Wreckage

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27215788

First soccer, rugby players diagnosed with CTE

Summary:

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in many athletes with a history of repetitive brain blows. The repeated concussions promote that the tau, which is a human protein, spills out of the cells and when is widespread can choke off and disable the neural pathways which control the memory, the judgement and fear. Symptoms include depression, aggression, sclerosis, disorientation and dementia or early Alzheimer at the final stages of the disease, but scientists can only definitively diagnose it after death by looking at the abnormal build-up of “tau”.

This disease has been recently found it in a lot of athlete’s brain. Although it could seem that the American football players, the wrestlers or the hockey players should be the more affected for the hard impacts they receive, the disease have been also found it in footballers, baseball players or rugby players. The blow which receive a football header it can seem innocuous but the recent studies show that the damage can add up.

There have been a lot of studies on former athletes and a lot of early deaths or even suicides have been related with this disease.

Opinion:

When I read this news I became so worried, because the studies show a lot of former athletes with neurodegenerative diseases which died at early ages, but in my case I’m goalkeeper and I don’t use to head the ball. However it’s worrying and in my opinion a solution should be find it.  

Words learnt:

Blow

Concussion

Spillsout

Chokeoff

Widespread

Addup

Wrestlers

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/28/health/cte-soccer-rugby/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Copy of Mein Kampf signed by Hitler sells for $65,000

Summary:

An autographed Adolf Hitler's Nazi treatise, Mein Kampf, has sold at auction in Los Angeles for $64,850.  The treatise is divided in two cloth-bound volumes which date from 1925 and 1926. The inscriptions are from Hitler offering Bauer, an early Nazi party member, his best wishes for Christmas.

Mein Kamp is a book which Hitler wrote when he was jailed for his failed putsch attempt and it rails against Judaism and communism. Nate Sanders, the auctioneer, consider the book heinous but he says that for him is only an auction item like any other.

Opinion:

In my opinion this book should be prohibited because in this book Hitler wrote the basis of his Nazi ideology that promoted the cruel genocide of a lot of people and the World War II. Apart from that I think it should be prohibited, I think that the buyers are giving importance to the book and to Hitler by buying it for this exaggerated price.

Words learnt:

Cloth-bound

Putsch

Railagainst

Heinous

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26396882

Personal air vehicle: Is this possible?

Summary:

According to Missy Cummings, professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the future where we will have an air vehicle isn’t far away. The idea of the air vehicle would be the intersection of a drone with a robotic car, so that your plane was also your car. The main propriety of a drone is that uses a fly-by-wire system which drives alone for a pre-set route. Drones have a negative bias in the media, says Cummings, because they are essentially seen as spy cameras, however they don’t know that the drones technology is used in conventional planes. To build these vehicles it should be necessary to use this drone technology to avoid the tragic accidents which can cause our slow human reaction system.

There really aren’t any technological hurdles to this idea, says Cummings, however there are psychological and cultural hurdles that slow the process. We tend to distrust from the drones controlled by computers, we tend to want to be in our comfort zone that in this field are the conventional vehicles, and finally it will be very expensive to build a drone because we haven’t got the robots to make a big manufacturing process.

Opinion:

In my opinion some day we will use any type of flying vehicle like a type of plane or what’s called like a “jetpack”… but the question is: If we have the technology to do it, why we haven’t done it yet? It could be interesting to see some prototypes and others but if anyone is demanding desperately for them probably we don’t need them. I think that probably in a long time this technology will be able to give us a better life quality but the problem is that we are now in our comfort zone, where we are secure, always is the same and this technology would suppose a radical change in our society, a radical change which we are not prepared to.

Words learnt:

Hurdles

Bias

Drone

Fly-by-wire

         http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131031-a-flying-car-for-everyone
             

Spain PM says Catalan independence referendum 'illegal'

Summary:

Tensions between the Spanish government and Catalonia's regional government have been rising in recent months. On December the Catalan authorities said the referendum would be on 9 November 2014, but Mariano Rajoy, Spanish prime minister, has vowed to block the vote and has said that a referendum on independence for Catalonia would be illegal so it can’t take place.

Spanish authorities thought that the economic crisis fuelled the Catalan nationalism but Mariano Rajoy is optimistic and has said that they expect a good growth forecast. Under current Spanish law, the referendum would not be binding because it has not received the backing of the central government. However Artur Mas, the Catalan president, has said that the referendum could be celebrated like a “consultation”.

Opinion:

In my opinion the referendum should be done and will be done because is the only way to know what people thinks and to solve the problem. I think the position of the Spanish authorities is only worsening the situation and is promoting more the vote for the independence.

Words learnt:

Vowed

 Forecast

 Binding

 Fuelled

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26341833

African migrants 'storm' Spain's Melilla-Morocco border

Summary:

Three hundred African migrants have stormed a border fence in Melilla attempting to cross from Morocco to the Spanish territory. Ninety-six migrants were arrested while about 100 managed to cross. The migrants hurled rocks to the security forces while they tried to cross the six-metre double wire fence. In the clashes, a lot of migrants were wounded, and 13 security force members were wounded too.

It hasn’t been an isolated case because there have been a lot of similar events also by sea.  Melilla is a major crossing point, together with Ceuta, for sub-Saharan Africans seeking work or asylum in Europe.

Opinion:

In my opinion, the migrants’ situation of poverty justifies their acts of trying to cross but is a controversial question because of the difficulty of finding a solution. The problem is that it’s not viable to let all them pass, but I think it could be good to establish several reasonable restrictions like the fact of speaking Spanish, haven’t been at the jail… that could be more useful that the simple fact of don’t let nobody enters the country.

Words learnt:

Fence

Stormed

Wounded

Clash

Seeking

Hurled

Wire

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26329018

Luís Aragonés: Spain mourns the loss of "tiki taka" master

Summary:

Luís Aragonés died the last Saturday on 2nd February at the age of 75. He retired the last year due to the health problems which have led him to his death.

Called “the wise of Hortaleza”, Luís Aragonés was player and then he was coach from a lot of teams during almost 30 years. In his last career he was Spanish national team’s coach and won the 2008 European Championship title leaving them the legacy of the “tiki taka” passing style which he established  by making a brilliant breakthrough changing the national team’s style and discarding several “untouchable” players.

All the Spanish team have mourn the loss of Luís by making “silence minutes” and a lot of players and presidents have shown the sorrow they feel.

Opinion:

In my opinion he was a great player, a great coach and seemed a very great and close person. He was a wise in football and he achieved to excite a lot of people in this country by showing them that there’s nothing impossible. He showed to the entire world that without world class stars but a good team work and commitment a lot of things can be achieved.

It’s a tragic loss but the Spanish team’s mourning has been touching.

Words learnt:

-Legacy

-Breakthrough

-Sorrow

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/01/sport/football/luis-aragones-spain-football/index.html?iref=storysearch

Desingend babies and critics

The company called “23andme” has the new patent called “build-a-baby”. This consists on a DNA testing that can tell to the prospective parents the main traits which might have their future babies. The DNA testing is made on a small saliva sample of the couples and apart from predicts the risk of inheriting specific genetic diseases, can also predict details such as height, weight, eye and hair color and even personality of their future offspring.

The first critics have appeared with the obvious question: “How ethical is to build a perfect baby?” Firstly some critics have said that the patent is “ethically and socially treacherous”. Moreover a lot of critics have said that this could be misused to choose the future child traits and design your baby.

Opinion:

In my opinion it’s not ethical to design your baby with the traits you want, but in this case this it could be useful to avoid some diseases. Moreover it’s important to see that in this case this company don’t let people choose any traits but this patent could only let people choose between the different options the parents have in their own DNA.

New words learnt:

Prospective:

Offspring:

Treacherous:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24381149

Tragic accident and rush for the next World Cup

In Brazil, the host of the next Football World Cup, a tragic accident with the death of 2 workers have happened during the construction of the Corinthians Arena. A big crane collapsed on the structure destroying part of the facade of the stadium while it was finishing the roof structure. Two workers died and the crane operator was taken to the hospital.

Is not the first accident, with these ones there have been 4 deaths in different accidents. The FIFA and the Brazilian government said that they were deeply saddened by the tragic deaths.

Moreover the World Cup is this next summer and 6 stadiums are not ready yet. The FIFA deadline is on December but it seems obviously the stadiums won’t be finished so it seems that the Brazilian constructors will have to work round-the-clock until the start of the World Cup to finish the construction of all the necessary buildings.

Opinion:

It isn’t the first accident in the construction of the buildings for the World Cup and in my opinion they are organizing badly all this because it’s true that this brings a lot of money to the region but they have to worry more about the workers and the people because they only mind the money and the deadlines. 

Moreover I think they have started to build these stadiums too late because they knew that the World Cup would place there 8 years ago so now it’s not the time to finish too hurry and round-the-clock risking too much.

New learnt words:

Crane:

Façadeor façade:

Round-the-clock:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25127897

A strange cannibalism case

A 55 years old police officer has been arrested for a supposed cannibalism case in Germany.  He is on suspicion of murdering and butchering a man he met on a cannibalism website. It seems that the victim who was a 59 years old man had been all his life fantasizing about being killed and eaten, and offered to be killed in this website. The police have said it will be difficult to find out the truth about what really happened, because is an utterly extraordinary case and even though the police officer confessed, he didn’t say the motive of the crime.

Moreover some parts of the dismembered and buried victim have been found on the suspect’s garden. The only previous similar case was in 2001 when a man was sentenced to life prison for killing and eating a voluntary victim he met on internet. That was an easier case because the suspect posted on a similar web an advertisement looking for a young man for “slaughter and consumption”.

Opinion:

In my opinion this is a very macabre article, and I think that is a bit stupid to let people talk and make this websites on the internet, when they are talking about these things and they are planning crimes. The article say that is difficult to judge the suspect because is an strange case and they don’t know all the details but I think there isn’t any dilemma and this is a mad man who have to be in prison the rest of his life.

New learnt words:

Butchering:

Utterly:

Slaughter:


http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/29/world/europe/german-policeman-cannibalism/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

The folding wheel and the detachable wheelchair

In this last year a designer called Duncan Fitzsimmons invented the Morph wheel which is a folding wheel that can be compressed to almost half of its original with. This object was originally created as a folding bicycle wheel but then it becomes more useful for create a detachable wheel chair to improve life of people with mobility impairments.

 This invention allows wheelchair users more flexibility and comfort when traveling by car, plane, boat, train or in the daily life providing more space in their houses.

This project has received several awards for being one of the best inventions of the year and has received a lot of compliments for have made possible a better life for people with mobility impairments.

Opinion:

In my opinion this is a very good invention because it has been thought to improve our lives and especially wheelchair user’s lives by providing them a useful object which the one they will be able to do a lot of things they were incapable to do before. In think this project deserves all the awards they have received and I think that this will encourage them to carry on working in future inventions.

Learnt words:

-  Folding/ fold

-  Detachable

-  Impairments

Link:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/22/tech/innovation/reinventing-the-wheel-new-high-tech/index.html

The strange judgment of a pianist

Near here, in Girona a pianist called Laia Martin is being judged and facing a possible jail sentence because of being sued for noise pollution. Prosecutors are seeking a 20- month prison sentence and 6 months of ban for playing the piano professionally.

Sonia Bosom, the accuser and former neighbour, alleges that the pianist, who is 27 years old, practised her piano 8 hours per day during more than 4 years. Ms. Bosom accused her of causing a psychological harm and says that now she has horror of pianos.

In their defence, Ms. Martin and her fathers, who are also accused and probably will have to pay a fine, say that she didn’t practised as much as she is accused of and that they tried to soundproof the room.

The public prosecutor had sought a prison term of seven years for Ms. Martin but the final verdict is expected within two weeks.

Opinion:

In my opinion this is a very exaggerated judgment compared with other worse crimes that receive less punishments. Moreover I have to say that I decided to talk about this because I heard it previously and it shocked me a lot. We will see soon the verdict but I hope that the punishment consists on other things different from the prison and I expect they could solve this problem without excessive resolutions.

New learnt words:

- Sued

- Seeking and Sought

- Former

- Soundproof

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24967042