A Spanair plane bound for the Canary Islands from Madrid caught fire after skidding off the runway killing 147 people; 173 were on board -- 26 are known to have survived.

The plane was delayed for an hour because of technical reasons and when it finally tried to take-off from Terminal 4 of Barajas International Airport, it hardly got off the ground before it swerved off the runway as its engine caught fire and blew-up into flames. This happened around 2:30pm this afternoon (Spain time).

"The plane was totally broken apart, it was all full of bodies," one of the witnesses told El Pais newspaper (as reported by Sky News).

You can see a video post accident here on Spain's National newspaper El Pais, unfortunately the commentary is in Spanish.

Before the crash, Spanair pilots threatened to strike after they heard of plans to cut the airline's workforce by 1000 people.

Spanair is one of Spain's national airlines -- the second largest after Iberia, and owned by the Scandinavian SAS Group.

With summer in full swing it, finding good outdoor spaces to have a drink is the thing to do. Nothing says summer more than a couple of friends sitting on an outdoor terrace sharing a pitcher. But even better than your average terrace or patio has to be a rooftop.

Stopping for an evening drink is an excellent activity, but if you can find a bar on top of a tall building with an excellent view of your host city, even better. While in Vietnam last fall, my hostel in Hanoi had a rooftop bar and it seemed none of us ever wanted to leave. Our friends over at Matador Nights -- part of the Matador Network -- think along the same lines and have graced us with an article on The World's 10 Best Rooftop Bars. It's the insider's guide to finding the best rooftop nightlife, from the ultra cool to the ultra sexy.

Here are the top five:

1. Sirocco, Bangkok, Thailand
2. The Penthouse, Madrid, Spain
3. Luna Bar, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4. Rooftop Bar, Melbourne, Australia
5. Gravity, Dublin, Ireland

For the rest of the list and descriptions to all of the bars, read the Matador Nights article here. Do you have a favorite rooftop bar?

I've never understood how the concept of a silent rave ever got popular. People in a club listening and dancing to their own music on headphones. The hook is around the fact that you can dance to whatever music you want in a social environment.

How is this fun? Why wouldn't you just do the same at home? It's a social thing, but when do you talk? On drink breaks?

The concept originated in the Netherlands some years ago under the notion of "going wild in silence", and ever since has been floating around Europe. A couple of months ago, Union Square in New York held a huge "Silent Disco", apparently the first ever in New York.

In Madrid, it's come on a small scale. Organized by a youth center at their premises, I can't imagine it to attract too large of a crowd, but then again, it's Madrid -- you just don't know.

According to the CNN, the DJ's involved in introducing the concept say that they are confident that in the ever changing world of clubbing, it's better to be seen than heard. Hmmm.

I'd go to watch, but I doubt you can get away with just being a spectator to this silliness. Maybe I'll just go and join in.

Ha! The title of this photo is "Making friends with the locals." Could not have said it better myself.
It was taken by RXX in Madrid.

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4 luggage handlers at Madrid Barajas Airport have been arrested for smuggling cocaine into Spain by taking advantage of their position and access to luggage that is unloaded off air crafts.

A bag with over 17 kilograms(!) of cocaine was loaded onto the plane from an unspecified destination. The "loaders" then contacted their friends who worked at Barajas with identification details of the bag that had the drug. Once the bag arrived at Barajas, the luggage handlers picked it up and sent it to the person responsible for delivering missing luggage to its owners (who was also part of the scheme) -- this is how they had planned to get it out of the airport. Sounds too easy to be possible, eh?

It seems like this wasn't the first time it has happened, but the first time they've been caught. It is unclear at what stage they got caught, and how.

Spain has a serious cocaine problem: 3% of adults in the country consume cocaine (even more than the US), making Spain the largest consumer in Europe.

Spain is very lax in many aspects: it's rules are not applied stringently, especially at the airports the controls are quite loose, nobody seems to be really bothered. For example: I have American friends living here for years without papers, sin problema. Once, one of them got questioned on her overstay when she re-entered Spain from the US. She told them she had fallen in love, that's why she didn't go back when she should have. Apparently, the officer smiled and let her back into the country! It could have been her lucky day, but I still don't think that's acceptable.

Another example: smoking marijuana in public is illegal here (you can grow and smoke it at home!), yet every one does it -- I don't know anyone who has been caught.

In my opinion, no matter what soup you are in, if you look innocent, behave with the authorities, and are a little smart, you'll probably get away with it in Spain. So it doesn't surprise me that even authorities take advantage of this chilled attitude. I am glad they got caught. Hopefully this will make Barajas re-evaluate their procedures and tighten controls!

The noisiest city I have been to is Athens--at least what I remember. I'm basing this on a fuzzy memory of an experience crammed onto a bus thinking that the people around me were angry, bit finally decided that they were having a chat and had to raise their voices to be heard above the din of the traffic. That was one bustling place, and I've lived in New Delhi.

There's an article in the New York Times about how noisy Cairo is these days. It's so noisy with horn honking and teaming people, as a matter of fact, that it's like living in a factory. If you know anyone who has worked around machinery for a lifetime, think about how often the word "WHAT?!" comes up. Just a tad.

Where else has noise? I found a Web site, "hear-it " that cites Spain as the country with the most noise and the second loudest country is Japan.

According to The Hearing Journal, San Francisco is the loudest city in the United States beating out New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The quietest city is Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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Spain's high speed link between Madrid and Barcelona is finally open, after more than two decades of construction and administrative delay. Transporting passengers at 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour), and at a price of 180 euros round-trip, the train is expected to compete with air travel.

Madrid and Seville have been connected by high speed bullet train since 1992. Motivated by the addition of the new Madrid-Barcelona line, the Spanish government says that it will have more high speed train lines than anywhere else in the world by 2010, as reported by the BBC. France recently unveiled its latest contribution to the industry of high speed trains, meaning that we can probably look forward to an even better, and certainly faster, train-connected Europe.

[Thanks, Moody75!]

I promise I will stop writing about the painfully long lines everywhere you look in Madrid, starting with the lottery lines to the King's cake line, but seriously...look at this line at the Museo Nacional del Prado. People as far as the eye can see! I haven't seen a line of art lovers this long even at the Louvre.

Granted, Prado is an amazing museum featuring one of the finest art collections in the world and I understand people want to see it. What I cannot understand is why everyone is waiting in line (for up to 8 hours, I hear) to purchase tickets if you can get tickets online and bypass the line entirely.

Please, do Velazquez a favor, and do not give up on him. Next time you are in Madrid, go to an internet cafe, buy a ticket in advance and get around the people who clearly enjoy queuing up.

I would never pass up the opportunity to spend a few days in Madrid. On my way from Portugal, I couldn´t be so close and not come here for some tapas and paella. When asked if I prefer Barcelona over Madrid (and I have been asked this question more than once) Madrid would get my vote. I can´t really explain why.

There is only so much one can write about Madrid that hasn´t been written already. What surprised me the most is the Spanish obsession with playing the lottery. It took me a few hours to figure out why there has been a consistent, long line (and I mean long, hundreds of people--see picture) at the Puerta del Sol. Then a friend told me that people regularly line up here to buy lottery tickets. ¨The Spanish people are very superstitious,¨ she explained. Apparently, no other country on Earth has such religious lottery-following, even though other countries´s top prizes are much higher than here. The Spanish state-run National Lottery dates back nearly 250 years.

The most eagerly-anticipated draws of the National Lottery are those which take place over the Christmas period, El Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad or El Gordo (The Fat One), and El Niño (The Boy). The purse in El Niño is held on January 6th (hence the line yesterday and today) and the top prize in each series is 2 million euro. You can still buy a ticket, folks!

Some people say that in order to win, you have to buy your ticket at the Dona Manolita, a lottery vending shop which opened in 1931 and has become a Spanish institution. They apparently sell all the winning tickets. Now, that is what I call superstition!

One of the strangest things people do in Madrid for Christmas is wear crazy wigs around the city. What's stranger is that nobody really knows why!

For the last 30 years or more, Plaza Mayor has been home to a Christmas market with over a 100 stalls that sell all sorts of things: miniature statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary; novelty gift-wrapping material; carnival accessories like tinsel wigs, rainbow wigs, Afro wigs, assorted head-boppers, mad glasses with flashing lights or with eyes springing out -- the list is endless. I think the carnival stuff, although sold pre-Christmas and worn throughout the festival, is mainly for New Year's Eve.

Go there after 6pm pre or post Christmas and Plaza Mayor is a jolly circus of people of all sexualities and walks of life frolicking around the area being merry, encompassing and radiating the joy of Christmas in the capital. There is a great video that captures this spirit, you can check it out here.

Needless to say, there is Christmas activity all over the city, but Paseo Castellana, which is the business high-street of Madrid is one of special interest. It's decorated with lights and huge sparkling Christmas trees, all so magnificent that there is a special bus that takes you along the route just to see them all. Also this year, 60 international artists have sculpted structures from ice that represent Madrid like the Puerta de Alcala, or the Santiago Bernabeu football stadium.

It's cold here but not excruciating so everyone's on the streets in holiday mode -- it's a great time to be in Madrid.

Merry Christmas!