Thank You & Goodbye

1843-2011

The UK's Sunday tabloid News of the World says googbye after 168 years and 7.5 million readers once some phone hacking allegations have been proved to be true. The paper apologised for it in a full-page editorial. The last edition frontpage contains a montage some of the most famous exlusives and scoops as it can be seen in the image above by Reuters.

Cyberspace Independence Declaration

Nowadays there are people around the world who are working hard to change things in favour of Mankind. They want to speak loudly and be listened by a huge number of citizens without any kind of frontiers. Internet has become the bridge to do it and “Cyberactivism” is the name of this movement.

Cyberactivism takes advantages of all the resources that Internet provides in order to keep people in touch by using the social networks to pass on relevant messages. Idealistic and influential people have created websites where everybody can follow them and share their oppinions with the rest of the world.

One of the most active cyberactivist fellows is John Perry Barlow. He encourages Mediterranen bloggers to work together to change the current world. Recently, he was in Javea to explain his points of view and how everybody is important in this task to revome all the obstacles for a fairer world.

The Internet as a tool for change

One of the main advantages that the Internet has brought to our society is its potential as a tool that allows citizens to organize themselves. People from different countries can arrange meetings and demonstrations with an ease that was only a dream just a decade ago. The first examples of this cyberactivism were the protests organized by the movements against globalization which followed the summits of the G-8, the G-20 and the IMF. But the real capacity of change that the Internet can bring to the free world has been seen in the recent protests in the Arab world. Although the official media can be easily controlled by totalitarian governments and dictatorships, the web has provided the people with an instrument to make public what their leaders want to keep hidden. Censorship is not as easy as it used to be, although some countries, especially China, have unfortunately succeed in their attempts to control what appears and what must be deleted fromn the Internet, as the tragic example of the late Nobel Peace Prize shows. Although Liu Xiacobo was already imprisoned when he was awarded with the prize, his conditions of confinement toughtened after that. Besides, his wife and other dissidents were also arrested. But none of these is known in China, as far as the government has achieved to block all the news concerning this matter on the Internet.

However, the uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia show that the Internet can also cause changes in the countries where democracy is a dream and freedom a utopy. The Net has been the main tool used by the people in order to organize themselves and to occupy the streets peacefully. Social networks such as Avaaz launched in 2007, have become a powerful arm in the quest for freedom in the Eastern countries. Besides, the new technologies have also turned these demonstrators into street journalists, as far as the images we can see from these revolts have been taken and transmitted by them. Their governments did not want the Western world to know what was going on in their countries, but we have seen what happened thanks to the common people. It has been proved that a mobile phone can be as dangerous as a gun, and the fall of Mubarak is a proof of that.

Let's Talk It Easy: Online Learning Communities to improve your English

The Web offers nowadays a wide range of sites and resources to learn a new language. We already knew about the existence of a series of websites that are working as communities where you can learn and put into practice the language in an international environment. But which are the real possibilities these sites can offer us as language learners?. After browsing the web and getting a rough idea of the most popular ones, we designed a research procedure to be followed by everyone in our work team. The guidelines were as follows:

 1 - Country of origin (UK?France?Italy?USA?...) e-address, contact, how long it's been running

 2 - Is there any need of registration? is it free? do they ask you to pay for some fee? how much?

 3- Has it got a chat? videoconference? does it include oral and written production?

 4 - Profile of participants (number of members, sex, age, studies, nationalities/native speakers)

 5 - Are there any teachers supervising the language being used or is it just free production without

 any language control?

 6 - Is it easy to be used? is it regularly updated? would you recommend it to Spanish students?

 why (not)?-overall assessment of website (rate it 1-5)

BUSUU www.busuu.com

Overall assessment: ☺☺☺ 

 The name “Busuu” comes from a dying language only spoken by eight people in Cameroon. Apart from creating a fine tool to learn languages, the two young founders of the website have ambitious plans. Actually, they are attempting to raise awareness about nearly extinct languages such as Busuu and Squamish (native Canadian).

 Busuu website is a platform with a user-friendly and intuitive interface. Users are people from all over the world and  both sexes,  but mainly from South America, Europe, Australia, Russia and its surrounding countries. The age of the users ranges from 15 up to 75 years old, or even older.

 Registration is needed. You must set which languages you speak as well as which languages you would like to learn, selecting the beginner, intermediate or advanced level. Nowadays,  they offer seven languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian, but the number of languages is increasing. Two kind of membership are available: Premium and  Free. Premium membership (payment, though free 7-days trial period) is great: downloadable & printable PDFs of  units; audio files , audio podcasts,  video units, listening comprehension exercises; grammar units and customized reviews. Free membership has more limited features than the Premium, but enough to start learning. Prices of the Premium membership range from €15.99 monthly fee (1 month) up to €5.99 monthly (12 months).

Although you can exchange conversation with native people, there aren't any teachers supervising the language being used, however, you can report an abuse.  Another drawback is that your writing will be corrected by native people but not teachers...and what’s more, you will have to correct compositions of the languages you speak as a native or advanced level!  José Luis Llorens

Palabea.net  

Overall assessment: ☺☺☺

Matthias Spanic, a former teacher of Spanish in Berlin, founded this site, which is located in a German Server, in 2007. Its clear interface and simple design make Palabea very user-friendly. Once you have registered and declared which language you know and which one(s) you intend to learn, all the tools and resources that the site provides are free. So, what are you waiting for to sign up and start to improve your language skills?.

In the site, you can learn English with a lot of modern multimedia methods: textchat and/or videochat, podcasts, video lesson, dictionaries, and also submit, read and edit documents. The exact number of members is unknown, but most users are young people wishing to learn and improve a language. There aren’t any teachers supervising the language being used, which from my point of view is a great drawback, but the best of all is that you can contact native speakers quite easily. As soon as your profile is visible, you get friend requests (I got 7 in a week!).

Palabea doesn’t have any publicity interfering your navigation, but there are partners, such as languages schools and broadcasting companies sponsoring the website, and there is even a link where users can give away their donations to improve the web and a fan boutique with merchandising stuff. Carolina Cortés

 http://www.lingq.com/. Overall assessment: ☺☺☺ 

LingQ’s online language learning system is developed by The Linguist Institute, a company located in Vancouver, Canada, and founded by Steve Kaufmann and his son Mark. According to Kaufmann, the LingQ method has everything you need to practice all the skills and become fluent in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Swedish and Japanese. The website is up-to-date and new material is continuously being added.

All you need to join the LingQ online community is a computer with an Internet connection and register. If you are willing to pay for it, unlimited graduated lessons will be available; if not, a free account offers you 5 lessons and the chance to try resources such as getting help from a tutor, joining live conversations with students from all over the world, taking part in interesting blogs and forums, learning new vocabulary, listening and downloading podcasts and writing your compositions which will be corrected by tutors.

Although I enjoyed the experience of a two-week free trial, I think I would not pay for the subscription. The interaction in the website is quite nice, but the grammar and vocabulary sections are not very convincing since I did not find them quite effective, actually I found them a bit too boring. María Silva.

 MY LANGUAGE EXCHANGE

www.mylanguageexchange.com

Overall assessment: ☺☺☺

 “My Language Exchange” was founded in 2001 in Montreal by Helene Cournier and Dan Yuen with the purpose of helping students of foreign languages to meet native speakers of the languages they are studying. As the homepage indicates, over one million users from 130 different countries practice over 115 languages, from Armenian to Zulu. It is free to sign up as a regular member, a possibility that offers learners to participate in group discussions, post messages in the bulletin board and reply to gold members’ messages and emails. On the other hand, gold members must pay a fee that ranges from 6$ a month to 24$ a year. The advantage of being a gold member is that you can contact any member of the site, whereas as a regular member you can only reply to those gold members who have contacted you.

 Language exchange with other members is carried out through the text chat and the voice chat, and there is also the possibility of meeting penpals. Other appealing aspect of this site is the bulletin board, a forum for discussions quite useful where members help each other to clear their doubts and make suggestions (for instance, you can recommend books or films that may be useful in the learning process). To sum up, “My Public Exchange” is an interesting web page for second language learners, although accessibility is limited if you are not a gold member. Ricardo Hernando.

WIZIQ http://www.wiziq.com/

Overall assessment: ☺☺ ☺☺ 

 I've been browsing through different sites and signed up and ask for some information to see if their content is really regularly updated, which are supervised by qualified persons and so on, and the truth is that nobody has answered me. I have a bad experience with online courses so I am reluctant to learn a subject in this way. I've been navigating on Talk and learn and Busuu. Finally, I chose wiziq because I think it is the best site to maintain feedback with people not only with a teacher but with people in general. I spoke in a chat and conversations have been very interesting. Furthermore, WiZiQ community seemed the most reliable, and the best to advertise and communicate with the public. This community is in YouTube, Twitter and Facebook too.

 WiZiQ is an online learning platform. The site is designed to help students and teachers meet partners and to provide an online virtual classroom learning environment.

The site was started by Harman Singh (India). WiZiQ's Alexa traffic rank for India places it among the top 1,000 highest traffic sites, and its global Alexa traffic rank exceeds many of its competitors (Edufire, Myngle, Sclipo, GuruFi). WiZiQ has also been featured on Mashable, ZDNet, NYTimes, Silicon India, Sramana Mitra's blog (who is a columnist for Forbes), and other blogs.The age of the users ranges from 18 up to 75 years old, or even older.Teachers provide lessons in standardized tests. The WiZiQ virtual classroom runs using a web browser and Adobe Flash. On the site one can find online tests, tutorials, and recorded classes. WiZiQ also serves as a social networking site to bring together educators and students from around the world. There is no vetting of the teachers on the site, as anybody can become a teacher and anybody can be a student. Teachers upload their profiles advertising what they can teach, tutorials, their experience and their credentials and students can run searches, find recorded classes to watch, tutorials to take, or teachers to work with.

One of the most distinguishing features of WiZiQ is that it offers class sizes of up to 500 people for a low price. In other respects it has similar features to other e-learning, web conferencing and other online learning platform providers. Estela Gomariz Calderón

 www.kantalk.com Overall assessment: ☺☺ ☺☺ 

KanTalk is “a cool fun community, a free space where you can practice spoken English” (or any other language, there are many more from Portuguese to Slovak). It started in January 2007. After registering you can edit your profile and you can even record your voice so people can get to know you better. You can make friends by sending people you might be interested in a message and later be accepted by them, the same procedure as in Facebook. Actually, one of the best things about this community is that you can use your oral abilities by means of a Skype account but also by producing your own recordings (it’s really easy!) and sharing them with anyone who would like to listen to you and answer with any other recording. From my viewpoint, this video and recording option is one of the best things the site offers. I also browsed the list of groups and their interests. One of the most popular groups are for instance “Beginners English in Skype” with 333 members or “Pronunciation of English” with 211 member, but most of the groups are not very active, maybe because everybody can create a group. Groups can deal with many subjects of interest from Photo Poetry to 2008 Beijing Olympic Games or the videogame Call of Duty, but also with Grammar, Skills (Reading & Writing, Listening & Speaking) and even test preparation (FCE, IELTS, TOEFL). I decided to ask for permission to belong to a group (Book Club). Each group has got a Discussion Board with the possibility of participating in different discussion threads, so I took part in some discussion. Then, I made a Polish friend, Wojtek. Later, I followed some lessons about Brazil and Internet addiction, based on an interesting article from The New York Times: “If your kids are awake, they are probably online”).  I discovered that I could contact through Skype with people who were online and I decided to talk to an interesting Canadian teacher, Kyran Kennedy, who lives in Ontario. He is a very active member of Kan Talk (he’s got 121 friends!) Of course I would recommend you this site (although better not keep high expectations). I am sure you will find someone interesting to talk to. Lola Alemany

Andrew Lansley Rap, a viral video: Success of a YouTube video criticising UK Department of Health

Here’s that rare thing, a proper modern protest song – from a young guy from Loughborough who works on the bins.

MC NxtGen, aka 22 year old Sean Donnelly – aspiring hiphop artist and currently a dustman by trade – has skewered the motives behind controversial planned reforms of the National Health Service with his Andrew Lansley Rap – directed squarely on the UK Health Secretary who is pushing for reforms, including what have been described as the unlikeliest rap lyrics ever written.



Chorus:
Andrew Lansley, greedy,
Andrew Lansley, tosser,
the NHS is not for sale you grey haired manky codger. (x4)

So the budget of the PCTs, he wants to hand to the GP's,
Oh please. Dumb geeks are gonna buy from any willing provider,
get care from private companies.
They saw the pie and they want a piece;
Got their eyes on the P's like mice for the cheese.
I talk truth when I ride the beat, you talk shite when you speak,
see money when you close your eyes to
sleep.

So fall back -- your face looks like a shrivelled up ball sack.
The stuff that you chat is bull crap, I'm sure Andy Pandy snorts crack.
Health minister, I mean sinister.
You know your public will finish ya,
is your brain really that miniature?
Give yourself an enema.

Made filthy rich by those who represent Walkers Crisps,
Mars and Pizza Hut, proved your a health slut and your always talking shit.
A hundred and thirty four pound an hour every week, that's quite a lot of quids;
and you came to the conclusion that the food industry should be a little less strict.

Scandal disclosed that you flipped your second home.
You said your claims were within the rules, filled your pockets, took us for jokes;
so how would you cope when broke folk get ill, injured and broke,
but don't have the dough,
to get their life back on the road, so poor die slow, and the rich take control.

(Chorus x 4)

Lansley's white paper: "Liberating the NHS"
sets out a plan where we'll become more like the U.S.
and care will be farmed out to private companies,
who will sell their service to the NHS via the Gps,
who will have more to do with service purchase arrangements
than anything to do with seeing their patients.

He's been given cash
by John Nash,
chairman of Care UK:
a private healthcare provider,
who, if they have their way,
will be the biggest beneficiaries
of conservative Lib Dem policies
to privatise healthcare and pull apart the welfare state.

These plans have been slagged by patient organisations,
charities and unions,
nursing and medical institutions.
The Royal College of GPs even joined the attack,
looked closely at the proposals
and said they were crap.
Say yes for the NHS, Andrew Lansley can suck on David Cameron's breast.
His quest is for the rich to pay less, and the poor have to stress, it'll be one big mess.

Anrew Lansley, codicioso

Andrew Lansley, mamón

El Sistema Sanitario Nacional no está en venta, viejo sucio canoso

Así es el presupuesto de los fondos de asistencia primaria , él quiere pasárselo a los médicos de cabecera

¡Oh, por favor! Los cretinos van a comprarle a cualquier proveedor servicial,

obtendrán la asistencia de empresas privadas.

Vieron el pastel y quieren su parte;

Pusieron sus ojos en los médicos como ratones en el queso

Digo la verdad cuando cabalgo sobre el ritmo; dices mierda cuando hablas

Ves dinero cuando cierras los ojos para dormir.

Así que retírate – tu cara parece una bolsa de huevos reseca

Lo que dices es mierda, estoy seguro de que Andy Pandy esnifa crack

Ministro de salud, quiero decir siniestro

Sabes que la gente acabará contigo

¿de verdad tienes tan pequeño el cerebro?

Ponte un enema

Asquerosamente rico gracias a los que representan a patatas fritas Walker,

Mars y Pizza Hut, demostrado que tu sistema sanitario es una puta y siempre estás diciendo mierda

134 libras por hora a la semana, eso son bastantes libras ;

y llegaste a la conclusión de que la industria alimenticia debería ser un poco menos estricta.

Se ha revelado el escándalo de que tiraste tu segunda casa.

Dijiste que tus peticiones cumplían las reglas, te llenaste los bolsillos, nos tomaste por bobos

Así que cómo te las arreglarías cuando la gente arruinada enferme, herida y rota pero no tenga pasta

Para devolver su vida al camino, así que los pobres mueren lentamente y los ricos toman el control.

(Estribillo x 4)

Anrew Lansley, codicioso

Andrew Lansley, mamón

El Sistema Sanitario Nacional no está en venta, viejo sucio canoso

El libro blanco de Lansley: “Liberalizando el Sistema Sanitario Nacional”

Establece un plan con el que nos volveremos más Estados Unidos

Y la asistencia se la encargarán a empresas privadas

Que venderán sus servicios al Sistema Sanitario Nacional a través los médicos de cabecera

Que se dedicarán más a servicios de atención al cliente

Que con nada que tenga que ver con ver a sus pacientes.

Le ha dado pasta

Johny Nash

Presidente de Asistencia del Reino Unido

Una empresa proveedora de servicios sanitarios privada

Quien, si encuentran la forma,

Se convertirá en la gran beneficiaria

De las políticas socialdemócratas conservadoras

De privatizar el sistema sanitario para derribar el estado de bienestar.

Estos planes han sido denunciados por organizaciones de pacientes, de caridad y sindicatos, instituciones médicas y de enfermería.

Incluso el Colegio Real de Médicos de Cabecera se sumó al ataque,

Leyó con atención las propuestas

Y dijo que eran mierda.

Di que sí al Sistema Sanitario Nacional, Anrew Lansley le puede chupar la teta a David Cameron.

Su intención es que los ricos paguen menos, y los pobres tienen que soportar la presión,

Será un lío enorme.

(Estribillo x 4)

GLOSSARY
PCTs; Primary Care Trusts
“I mean sinister” juega con el doble significado de “mean”; querer decir (verbo) y miserable (adjetivo)
Quid; libra (coloquial)

Traducción realizada por Ricardo Hernando

Problems that can be caused by computer work

Computers make our life and work easier... and quicker. Thanks to the innovation of computer and IT, what used to take days and even weeks will only take us some hours (or even minutes). But, just like anything else in this world, the benefits they bring come with some drawbacks too.

One of the issues being linked to consistent usage of computer are health problems that pose danger for one’s wellbeing. Working in front of the computer for several hours a day can take a toll on a person’s health. Below you will find some of the common health risks associated with frequent computer use and what you can do about it.

1. Eye Disease

Since we stare at the bright computer screen for many hours a day, our eyes are the first ones affected. Dry eyes, blurred vision, eyestrain, and glaucoma are just few of the many eye-related problems that can be experienced after prolonged use of the computer.

When we work in front of the computer, the bright screen can strain our eyes, and the fact that we do not blink as much as we do also contributes negatively to our eye health. To minimize the computer’s danger to our eyes, take a break every one hour and rest them for a few minutes. See to it that there is no glare on the screen and that the monitor should not be facing the windows.

2. Bad Posture, Back and Neck Pains

Sitting for a long period can have adverse effects on your posture, back and neck. These problems are often a result of poor seating posture and poor organization of computer equipment on the desk more than the actual use of computer. The best way to avoid these problems is to ensure the proper ergonomics of your work area.

For one, you should sit back in an ergonomic chair that has an adjustable height and tilting back. Make sure the top line of the screen should be at eye level or below it. Place the chair in an arm’s length from the monitor so that you do not stick your neck out. There should be a stable footrest that enables your thighs to be parallel to the floor.

3. Headaches

It is common to experience throbbing in the head after long hours of using the computer. It is also possible that this headache would be accompanied by dizziness and exhaustion. To avoid such problems, take regular breaks in between your work.

4. Hurting Hands and Wrists

Hands and wrists usually ache or feel numb after working in front of the computer all day. It even causes carpal tunnel syndrome at times. To prevent this condition, wear splints so that your wrists would not bend too high or too low. Give your fingers, hands, and wrists a break every few hours by holding a tennis ball and giving it a few squeezes to relieve joints and muscles.

It is also important to remember that old adage that says, “All work and no play make Jack a dull a boy.” After working in front of the computer all day, you need to get out, breathe some fresh air and do outdoor activities to give yourself a nice break that you truly need.

Source: http://hubpages.com/hub/Dry-Eyes-Headaches-and-other-Problems-Caused-by-Computer-Work

Social Networks and Job Finding

1. LinkedIn is considered the number 1 spot for job seekers. With more than 35 million users.What you must do is optimize your profile, join and participate in groups, use its applications and exchange endorsements.


2. Plaxo is very interesting because of the address book that keeps track of all your contact information, including a Yahoo!Map indicating where your contacts live.


3. Twitter is an amazing tool although I must confess I still don't understand the way the conversations flow or how I can add to a discussion. Anyway, it is considered an amazing tool "if you can unlock its power"


4. Jobster is said to be a powerful platform for employers offering jobs and for employees searching for them. You can upload your resume, embed your video resume, show your picture, tag your skills and show links to your site.


5. Some more interesting websites


Craiglist, MyWorkster, VisualCV, JobFox, Ecademy