May 2012
5 posts
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Summer is Coming to Madrid--6 Things I'm Excited...
Yes, folks, summer is on its way. The eternal debate, however, still rages. Which is better? Summer or winter? While both seasons have their advantages and disadvantages, I tend to prefer summer.
Here are 6 things I’m excited about:
1. Gazpacho, sherry and carpaccio. As much as I love red wine and cocido, I’m also happy when summer rolls around and it’s time for delicious cold...
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Ha! I made Andrew Ti admit that something isn't...
You all know Andrew Ti, right? The guy from Yo Is This Racist?
He suggested on his blog that there is, perhaps, no legitimate situation in which the word “nappy” can be used in a non-racist manner.
I suggested British English usage of “nappy” as “diaper” as a possible non-racist context.
He hit me back.
Bam! I win the motherfucking game of life! I made...
Bertrand Russell on the Ten Commandments of... →
nevver:
Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon...
April 2012
7 posts
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The 10 Best Spanish Foods
I came to Spanish food a little bit late. My first surprise on arriving in Madrid was that no, they don’t eat Mexican food here. I was 21 and suffering from the All-American ailment of total ignorance of everything outside your dismal suburb, and really didn’t know any better.
In addition, I was a vegetarian at the time. While vegetarianism is an interesting experience, I...
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March 2012
3 posts
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Spring in Casa de Campo, Madrid
Casa de Campo is Madrid’s most natural park, and it’s basically right in the middle of the city. You can get there on foot (crossing the Manzanares river from Principe Pío), or you can get off the metro in one of the stops on the edge of the park: Lago, Batán or Casa de Campo.
It’s famous among legitimate madrileños (who don’t often leave their neighborhoods and many...
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Warren Buffett, who knows a thing or two about the...
From Warren Buffett’s 2010 shareholder letter:
“Railroads have major cost and environmental advantages over trucking, their main competitor. Last year BNSF moved each ton of freight it carried a record 500 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel. That’s three times more fuel-efficient than trucking is, which means our railroad owns an important advantage in operating costs....
February 2012
3 posts
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January 2012
14 posts
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Piracy Will Never Kill Music
Saying that piracy will kill music is like saying that urban gardening will kill food.
It’s like saying that fucking for free will kill prostitution.
It’s like saying that walking will kill the automobile.
So, you anarchist foot-walking, free-fucking, urban-gardening bastards, stop getting things for free and instead pay giant corporations for them! Please! Before it’s too...
6 Claves Para Aprender Inglés (Nuevo Libro--Ya a...
madridingles:
Buenos días a todos! Mi nuevo libro 6 Claves Para Aprender Inglés está ya a la venta exclusivamente para kindle de Amazon.
El libro trata de las habilidades que necesitas para hablar y entender el inglés y los pasos que puedes tomar hoy. Esta guía es indispensable para el estudiante del inglés, explicando las mejores maneras de practicar y aprender vocabulario y gramática además...
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Thoreau: "Beware of all enterprises that require...
From Chapter 1 of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau:
“A man who has at length found something to do will not need to get a new suit to do it in; for him the old will do, that has lain dusty in the garret for an indeterminate period. Old shoes will serve a hero longer than they have served his valet — if a hero ever has a valet — bare feet are older than shoes, and he can make them...
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Heart of Darkness
I reread Conrad’s Heart of Darkness over Christmas.
It’s one of those books you have to read when you’re at university studying literature. Or maybe I read it in high school. I don’t really remember. Mostly, I remember it being a book about nothing. One of those books that I pretended to like at the time, because I was a literature geek and I knew I was supposed to like...
November 2011
1 post
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4 Fun Spanish Proverbs
These are four of my favorite Spanish proverbs, not because I necessarily agree with the sentiments they contain (well, actually I do) but because they’re so different than the type of proverbs used in the United States. Hint: there’s a lot more vagina in Spanish folklore.
Strange, considering that statistically, the US has almost 7 times the number of (human) vaginas that Spain...
October 2011
2 posts
Don Quixote de la Mancha, Capítulo XIII
Y, así, me voy por estas soledades y despoblados buscando las aventuras, con ánimo deliberado de ofrecer mi brazo y mi persona a la más peligrosa que la suerte me deparare, en ayuda de los flacos y menesterosos.
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WatchIt’s funny how Americans are getting class-conscious all of the sudden. After spending all of Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, and Bush Jr (that’s just 7 presidential administrations, a mere 28 years!) deluding themselves into thinking that everyone was a member of the upper-middle class, finally they realize that actually, they’re getting shafted. As soon as the consumer credit dries...
September 2011
8 posts
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El Molar, Foothills of the Sierra
El Molar is a small city in the foothills of the Sierra, about 45 minutes north of Madrid. A couple of friends of mine just moved up there, and I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days seeing the town and the sights.
Photo by Lucia Moretti design.
The main tourist attraction in El Molar are a number of bars known locally as “cuevas” up on a hill on the edge of town. These...
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Progressive Democrats, 1896
“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it”
Cross of Gold Speech, William Jennings...
Verb Lists: Infinitives and Gerunds →
Or check out the immense collection of verb patterns articles on my ESL website! You’ll be glad you did!
P.S. A shoutout to Scottsdale Community College. I’m a native Scottsdalean myself, actually.
elsi:
Do you imagine passing your EFL test? Or do you imagine to pass your EFL test?
If you don’t know, better study these lists: verbs followed by infinitives; verbs followed by...
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Santander, Cantabria
Santander is a port city in the Cantabria region in the north of Spain, known mostly for the bank of the same name that was founded there. It’s not a typical tourist destination, but has a lot to offer the visitor in the form of fresh seafood and great beaches in and around the city.
Cliffs, close to Faro Mayor lighthouse. All photos by Lucia Moretti Design.
A lot of Spanish coastal...
August 2011
16 posts
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Islas Cíes, Galicia
Las Islas Cíes are two islands in the mouth of the Ría de Vigo in the region of Galicia, Spain’s rainy northwest. They are considered a natural park and you can only spend the night by reservation in the campsite. Only 3 people live on the islands permanently. The beach linking two of the islands (Playa de Rodás) was voted the best beach in the world by The Guardian in 2007. Photo by Lucia...
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Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen
You’ve got to hand it to a guy who writes a social novel these days, especially one that’s almost 600 pages long and sprawls across four decades. Jonathan Franzen’s novel Freedom must have taken some balls to write.
For those who haven’t read it, the story follows archetypical socially-conscious nice guy Walter Berglund through his troubled marriage, starting in the 1970s...
David Noël: Ten Job Application Mistakes →
I’m glad to see this from a PR person confirming that I’m not just a horrible spelling nazi!
I see a lot of résumés for my job as a Spanish translator, and I’m always surprised and dismayed when someone gives me an original with typos or bad punctuation. I always think, “Maybe this is why you’re unemployed.” There are so few jobs out there where attention to...
Aprende Más Inglés! - madridingles.es: 27 Phrasal... →
madridingles:
I’m proud to announce that Amazon Kindle has released the English version of my ebook, 27 Phrasal Verbs that You Should Know.
Cover by Lucia Moretti Design.
Like the Spanish version, it’s a practical guide to learning the most common phrasal verbs, with many examples and…
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Why Class Warriors Are Still Licking Steve Jobs'...
This is an interesting article from the Economist. Why does everybody love Steve Jobs, while they despise other billionaires?
On a related note, I am amused with the new trend of hating on the rich. It’s an interesting departure from days of yore, when everyone assumed that the rich were just harder-working better people. Ah, to go back to those innocent days of 1998!
Clinton! Now there...
Vallecas is changing...
You know what we have now? A small independent bookshop! Right in the middle of all the Chinese supermarkets and secondhand junk shops, a tiny bastion of gentrification. Just a few blocks from the dilapidated gypsy houses! Even fewer blocks from the methadone clinic!
Apparently, the neighborhood is being taken over by people who read. Books. You know who reads books? Elitists!
This shit is gonna...
The Depths of Stupidity
Apparently, I used to have a blog on Blogspot. I wrote two entries in spring of 2008 and then forgot about it. One of them is pretty good. It’s about going back to Phoenix after my first year in Madrid, and re-encountering my ex-girlfriend, who was (and still is) dating an angry lesbian who thinks she’s the next Ani DiFranco. Here’s the story:
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The Depths of Stupidity
A...