Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Why an astronaut was obsessed with failure (and the lesson that leaves us to improve our productivity)

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Most of us avoid thinking about failure. And when we do it is usually something inevitable, but ephemeral, because we flee from that thought. Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut who commanded the International Space Station, did exactly the opposite throughout his career: Metustically visualized each possible failure. Because? To prevent it. What seems like a paradox (focusing on failure to achieve success) makes some sense. Precisely in its workplace, space, an error can mean death. There, NASA dedicates Much of the training time to practice the response against emergencies. It is not pessimism, but strategic preparation. It is a method applicable to everyday life and on the earth’s surface. When We visualize what can go wrong in a project or an important decisionwe are reducing anxiety and uncertainty. And improving our response capacity. It is like having a mental GPS that has already calculated alternative routes before encountering the first obstacle. But there is a trap: The key is not to become obsessed with the worst scenarios, but to turn them into contingency plans. Hadfield did not limit himself to imagining disasters, but developed specific responses for each one. He turned fear into something productive. The method can be reduced to three steps: Identify fissures. Develop a specific response for each one. You practice those answers until they become automatic. This method makes sense and works because Eliminates the surprise factor of failure. When you have already visualized a problem, and practiced the answer to it, our brain processes it as a similar situation, not as a crisis. Hadfield came to command the International Space Station preparing obsessively for everything that could go wrong. We, at a more mundane, literal and metaphorical level, we can achieve our goals by systematically proof all possible fissures. It is not something that guarantees success, but it is a way of thinking that it will make us more competent already proof of failures. Outstanding image | NASA / Wikipedia Commons In Xataka | We are most concerned about procrastination. There is a dark reverse: “Precrasting”, do too much ahead of time

The most precise map of the Earth has been created by a team of physicists. And it has little to do with what we are used to

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One of the great challenges of cartographers trying to create world maps is the impossibility of recreating the surface of a sphere in a plane. At least faithful, precise and legible. The map on disk. He last attempt For creating a map that minimizes the distortions associated with the representation of the surface of the sphere in a plane has given a curious result: a plane whose authors compare it with a vinyl disk. The reason is that on this map our planet is represented as two circles, one showing the northern hemisphere and another the south. The map has imperfections, but its authors consider that it is the most faithful projection to date. “You can’t do everything perfect,” pointed in a press release Richard Gott, one of the authors, “a map is as good in a thing as it may not be to represent other things.” A problem of (more than) half an millennium. Humanity has known for thousands of years that Earth is spherical, but this rarely was a problem for two reasons. The first is that the cards only included the Eurasia and Africa region, the Americas, Oceania or Antarctica did not enter the maps until To this we must add that the maps were not so precise that the distortions of This problem They will charge relevance. Many times they didn’t have to be: it was not until the modern era that cartographic precision began to be vital, especially for those who threw themselves into the sea. From Mercator to Winkel Tripel. Mercator’s projection is a of the oldest And even today is one of the most used. This projection was created in the 16th century by Gerardus Mercator with the intention of facilitating transoceanic navigation. While this map maintains precision in the shapes of the elements such as seas or countries, The sizes are significantly distortedmaking areas close to the poles more with respect to those located in Ecuador. A lot of history. Centuries of work have led less distorting maps. Among them, the authors of this new plane include the Winkel-Tripl, a projection created by German cartographer Oswald Winkel in 1921. This map is not so helpful for navigators and still has distortions around the poles, but represents a commitment . It is also the representation used by the National Geographic Society. “Disco” version, showing here on the obverse and the reverse on the same plane. Gott et al. Scoring the maps. If the plane is not perfect, why do your authors think it is close? In 2007 David Goldberg and Gott itself created a maps score system based on six criteria: local forms, areas, distances, flexion, asymmetry, and cuts. The punctuation system is inverse: a spherical mapamundi would have a score of 0.0, and from there, any added distortion would add greater score. The punctuation system was introduced into An article In the magazine Cartography: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization. Being work of the same team does not result from this letter to be able to minimize the score. If the Winkel-Tripl had a score of 4,563, the new map Reduces error to 4,497 points. The “trick.” The new projection presumes to achieve better scores than its alternatives in the six variables stipulated by Gott and its team, however there is one in which it emphasizes particularly thanks to a trick, that of continuity. If we take any map we will see that there is a cut, usually located in the Pacific Ocean, between Asia and Oceania, and the Americas. This is a great source of distortison according to Gott’s criteria and his team. Your solution: a disc with two faces. The Gott map is raised to present itself in the form of an disk, which gives continuity to the “cut” we see in Ecuador (and that, that, The authors explain The map could also be placed along the zero meridian). From Earth to the confines of the cosmos. The authors of the new map took advantage of their new projection to Cartogarafiar Other other elementsfrom the planets of the Solar System to the celestial vault, including a story map Microwave cosmic background. In Xataka | The real size of all countries in the world, compared to the size of the maps In Xataka | The map that teaches us what the world will be like within 250 million years Image cover | Rectangular version of the projection of Gott, Goldberg and Vanderbei *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

The Coffee World Cup exists and Spain has put their hopes in a barista in Vigo: Marcos González

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Making coffee is simple, but prepare a good coffee It is something that has crumb. When you start investigating the peculiarities of each preparation, coffee varieties and instruments for get all the juice to the grainsyou discover that it is an art. There are those who take this to the highest level, so much that there is even a coffee World Cup. Or Baristas, rather. This is the World Coffee Challenge, and this year the Vigo Marcos González will represent Spain in this curious competition. The Coffee World Cup. If there is an Excel World Cupit is logical that there is such a competition around One of the most consumed drink on the planetafter the water, of course. In fact, there is not only a competition, since the World Coffee Challenge is an umbrella that embraces various disciplines. One of them is the World Barista Championship in which, obviously, the best baristas in the world break up to see who prepares the best experience. Because here not only does the technique matter, but to tell a story to the jury. It seems boring from the outside, but it is quite interesting to see the skills of the competitors. One of them is someone who has worked a career as a coffee disseminator, James Hoffmanwho rose with the trophy in 2007 and what he has done follies how to prepare a Donut coffee. Coffee fest. As in all competitions, there are a series of previous rounds, and to find the Spanish representative, a few days ago the Coffee fest. More than a simple competition, it is a coffee celebration with the best coffee with milk preparation or the best filtered coffee, others that test their skills with the Latte arttasting tournaments and other activities. James Hoffman was in this year’s edition, as well as other disseminators and youtubers such as Hedrick Lance. And, regardless of being a meeting point in which coffee lovers share knowledge and experiences, it was the framework of the national competition of Baristas. Vigo quality. 18 professionals from all over the country gathered to prove their skills, and the best was the Vigo Marcos González. It was not the first time that he raised with victory, since in 2018 and 2019 he was also considered the best barista in Spain. His proposal this year was an experience that ‘told’ crucial moments of his career, as they detail Our companions from direct to the palate: Origin: Inspired by its connection with the Esmeralda farm in Panama, this concoction reflects its first experiences with Coffee Geisha, a variety appreciated for its unique flavor profile. Freedom: This drink embodies Marcos’s relationship with his team and innovative spirit, highlighting the importance of collaboration and creativity in the world of coffee. Happiness: A fusion that joins flavors and techniques of Colombia, Panama and Asturias, regions that have significantly marked the personal and professional life of the barista. His three elaborations, in order, were an express with The exclusive Geisha Caféa coffee with milk and a cocktail. In Faro de Vigo, the barista confessed That such a championship requires many hours of training. Also imagination to link coffee with the narrative and conquer the jury. And that your pulse does not shake because we all know that any calculation error can be a disaster when it comes to Prepare the perfect coffee. Objective: Milan. It will be from October 17 to 21 when Milan will host the World Coffee Championship of this 2025 and the opportunity that Marcos will have to be duel against another 69 of the best baristas in the world. In FDV, he said that some of them are their idols, so it will not be easy, but he hopes that this time the defeated after staying in 2019 one step away from the semis. The judges will evaluate factors such as the taste, presentation, balance and technique of the barista, as well as that narrative that we comment that links the elaborations. We will have to be attentive. Images | WCC In Xataka | Toast coffee at home with the air fryer: the perfect example that experiments are done with soda

An underwater cable that will give more than one return to the earth

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Two current trends in geopolitics are the Rare earth and submarine cables. The first because China has the pan for the mango and are essential for the construction of today’s world. The second because that world cannot be understood without them and we are seeing that they are an element of pressure in A scenario like the Ukraine War. Submarine cables are the perfect example of globalization, the element that allows practically all countries Let’s be interconnected and that we can enjoy telephone lines, internet or streaming systems as we do today. Our oceans are full of these cables And it is companies such as goal or Google who are investing greatly in increasing their number due to the boom of both streaming and AI. Precisely a goal, which was already working to display a huge cable of more than 7,000 kilometers, has just announced one that will go around the world: A megacable that will interconnect more than 50,000 kilometers. Waterworth Project: New Generation Cables The Earth has a circumference of about 40,000 kilometers, this being a fact that helps us understand the magnitude of the infrastructure that plans to display Mark Zuckerberg’s company. In a releaseMeta has commented that this underwater cable is the most ambitious so far for its part (and by anyone, go) and that, when it has been completed, it will link the five main continents through more than 50,000 kilometers. The name of the project is Waterworth and the idea is join the two coasts of the United States with Brazil, South Africa, India and Australia. They have not talked about numbers, but it is a multimillion -dollar investment and will be carried out in several phases over the years. To get an idea, the Google cable to join Japan and the west coast of the United States It will cost about one billion dollars. The intention of the goal is to strengthen its position in the digital highway segment in order to boost their artificial intelligence. It is something that the company is very involved and, in this way, it will reinforce its presence in the sector. These submarine cables are composed of other cables, normally 8 or 16 fiber pairs, but there are also some with 24 pairs. Waterworth will be of this last class and will become the longest of 24 pairs. And it is not a plan on paper: they are already working on the path that will travel the cables, with the intention of protecting them as much as possible, since some sections will be 7,000 meters deep near high risk failures. Vital highways (such as the Ukraine War is demonstrating) Something they are also paying attention to is the cable covering. Meta has commented that they will use improper burial techniques in the shallow areas near the coast, where ships usually damage these systems, but are also looking to protect them in the face of “other dangers”. What other dangers? Well, we have recently seen in the Ukraine War, where Cuts have occurred in these cablessomething that has caused instability in some systems. Due to its importance, and the stage in which the cuts were given, at first it was believed that Russia and China were behindbut it seems that the explanation is another: dragged anchors that caused the cuts by error. Be that as it may, that at first it would be thought that the cable cut was part of a pressure measure in a war scenario, it reflects the importance when protecting this type of systems. In the end, as a goal states in its statement: they are essential now, but they will be even more in the era of the AI ​​we are entering. Images | Goal In Xataka | A third of the world’s population cannot read this: the UN reveals that 2.9 billion people have never accessed the Internet

China has a possibility to unseat Android forever. One called Harmonyos

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Android supremacy on mobile devices is indisputable. So much that more than 70% of the world’s population uses a device with this operating system. The rest is configured by iOS and, in a tiny part, the rest of the operating systems. But there is a small fish starting to look at the surface: Huawei with Harmonyos. In Europe it is a minority operating system with hardly any presence, but Huawei’s commercial success in his native country He is achieving the unthinkable a few years ago: Harmonyos has surpassed iOS in China. After achieving this goal, the approach is clear: could Harmonyos be China’s weapon to completely displace Android? A little context. In case you don’t know the situation of Harmonyos, the quick summary is simple. In 2019 Donald Trump signed an executive order To veto any company that assumed “a threat to national security.” Huawei was one of them and, after the veto, Google was forced to suspend any type of relationship with the Chinese company. This left Huawei without Google applications and with an Android version without updating, Which was a debacle for the company both in Europe and its native country. While in China Google’s lack of services is not relevant, Huawei stopped having access to American companies components, facing a scenario in which they had to start building from scratch to be competitive again. Huawei’s response. From the first moment, Huawei was willing to face this situation. That same 2019 presented Harmonyosan operating system as an alternative not only to Android, but Windows, Wearos and even smart cars. If you do not let me use full android, develop a system for everything. The proposal took to arrive, landing first on PC and later on mobile phones. It should also be noted that, from the beginning, Harmonyos was an operating system focused on China. It was still based on Android and existing platforms, although with several modifications. In fact, the company’s telephones in Spain still have EMUI (Android). There is no operating system without application store, so Huawei developed its own ‘App Gallery’. Since its launch in 2018 (it was already the alternative store of Huawei before the veto) until today, it has become the third largest application repository, behind Play Store and App Store. The state of Harmonyos. Currently, Harmonyos is beginning to reach its sweet point with Harmonyos Next. An operating system created from scratch, without any code of Android, and focused on all types of technological devices. It is an ambitious objective that we have already begun to see fruits. He Avata 11Huawei electric car, use Harmonyos as an operating system. Mobile devicesthat sweep sales in China, too. Harmonyos is more than an operating system: it is a huge ecosystem that celebrates Huawei hardware, and has the potential to spread beyond the brand. Chinese hope to flee from Android. The million -dollar question is if Harmonyos has the potential to replace Android in China, and the answer is a resounding yes, but with nuances. China is a unique market, where Google applications and services have hardly any presence. This gives the system a significant advantage, although difficult (not impossible) to replicate. In fact, Huawei has already managed to migrate much of its user base to Harmonyos. According to company data, more than 300 million devices They are already using the operating system, which makes it one of the fastest growing operating systems in history. In addition, Huawei has been working in its own applications ecosystem, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS)which includes an alternative application store to Google Play, as well as maps, payments and cloud services. One of the keys to popularizing the system would go through trade agreements. Many trade agreements. Huawei needs to attract developers to App Gallery, and get a real competitor of Play Store and App Store. In other words, that a single popular app in your store is not lacking. After achieving that, it would be to enter conversations with large smartphones manufacturers. Given that in the Chinese house there are giants such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme or Lenovo, it is a plan that does not sound crazy. Image | Huawei In Xataka | We already know how many euros a triple folding costs. Huawei Mate XT Ultimate has opened the ban

After a delay of seven years, Saudi Arabia takes up the works of the highest skyscraper in the world. Let’s see what lasts

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Saudi Arabia has become the Madrid of the ‘galacticos’, the Barcelona of the ‘Tiki-Taka’. When we talk about megaconstructions, the country plays in another league, a capable of shadowing the Almighty Manhattan. And it is evident when we see all those projects that have as hands like the imposing MUKAABthe huge Abraj al Bait tower watch or the ‘Boss’ end of urbanism: The Line. Another project is Jeddah Tower that, like The Line, It has been choking More than once to builders. But, after two threats to return to the work, now the final one has arrived: they have restarted the works of what will be the highest building in the world. Kingdom Tower. The Jeddah Tower, or Kingdom Tower, has an objective between eyebrow and eyebrow: make the Burj Khalifa 828 meters high. To do this, the same team of architects that built the Dubai skyscrapers is being in charge of this tower, which will be the jewel of the crown of the crown of the Vision 2030 Project and the heart of a new city that will rise around it. The construction began more than a decade ago, but although they advanced at a good pace, the planning was too optimistic. It was said that it would have been completed in 2018, but by then, the tower was not even close to completing. The reason? Delays due to labor problems and COVID-19 Pandemiabut above all to the purge of corruption of 2017. The purge. In 2018, the heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman created an anti -corruption committee with an objective: centralize political power. He had tired that different elites of the country handled the threads, so he created a system that ended with more than 380 arrests of entrepreneurs, ministers, princes and even members of his family, as his own mother. HE speak of death groups to murder dissidents and, in this purge to stop political corruption, extortion to officials and money laundering, foundations and first floors of the Jeddah Tower suffered the consequences, being frozen. Initial plans with the intention of release the tower in 2018 and a height comparison To the third is the defeated. At the end of 2023, the promoter invited local contractors to see which candidacy conquered him for the end of the work and, in October last year, a video made it clear that They moved on. The problem is that everything was very in the air … until now, when the company Kingdom Holding Companythe one behind the project has announced that construction has restarted. In it release before the press, They affirmed that they had already poured cement on the 64th floor and that they are using a cement application technique with which they can complete a floor every four days. 1,000 meters, more or less. It will have about 160 floors and we cannot speak with ownership of the matter because, really, it is not clear. It is curious that it is not known from the beginning how many floors the tower will have or how much it will measure, and in the last releaseThey explain that it will measure more than 1,000 meters high, but that it is something that will take place in the future. To every train. What seems invariable is that it will be a luxurious tower that will act as an epicenter of a new city. The skyscraper will house shops, offices, recreational spaces and hotels, such as Four Seasons. He also aspires to have the highest viewpoint in the world and is expected to be a structure covered with glass, such as an extremely elongated pyramid and with a base of three edges. It will be in an area of ​​5.3 million m² in which there will be hospitals, schools, universities, shopping centers and housing, as well as other high towers and, from the government, it has been confessed that they are open to any type of investment to develop The ambitious project. Investment? Welcome. They affirm that the financing has almost been completed, with the builders -binladin Group- financing the first part, the banks putting their grain of sand and other sources of capital that has preferred not to reveal (stating that it is something that they will do step by step). What has made it clear is that Binladin Group is “strongly supported by the government” and that they are open to any type of investment because it is a tower that will make the land around you increase their value. And not only the immediate, like that land of 5.3 million m², but the entire region. This is what they want to ride around them They have work ahead It is estimated that the Jeddah tower is completed by 2028 as part of Vision 2030 to diversify the economy of the country, but as this does not stop, they are already thinking about its following tower: one that will humiliate Jeddah with a height of two kilometers in Riadnear the imposing Rey Khalid International Airport. Images | Omarnizar05, Google Earth, Jeddah Tower In Xataka | Saudi Arabia is waste so much money in The Line that has entered deficit

For 15 years a strange circle under an island in Japan was an enigma. The author’s identity was a surprise

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If we go to the dictionary to be exact with the term, the verb “courtej” accompanies the following definition: try to get the love or favors of someone flattering him and looking for his company. Therefore, the finding that took place several decades ago was so surprising. Normally, when we talk about courting WE THINK HUMAN KEY. However, in the animal kingdom they exceed everything seen in our species when it comes to claim the attention of the other. The enigma of the circles. In 1995, a group of divers who were exploring the waters near Amami ōshima, Japan, Japan, They discovered strange circular formations In the seabed. It was surprising, since those structures were symmetric, with radial spikes and valleys, and with such a prominent geometric perfection that it aroused all kinds of speculation about their origin: were they facing a human creation, or was it due to some kind of unknown natural phenomenon , or maybe an unusual organism? The years passed, and it was not until 2011 that A team of scientists managed to solve the mystery. Not just that. They managed to “catch” the suspect repeating the lavish scene. To the surprise of the researchers, the protagonist was A tiny torquigener albomaculosusa small kind of balloon fish that, with a size of just 12 centimeters, seemed to be able to sculpt structures 16 times larger than their own body with a very specific purpose: seduce a couple for reproduction. The art of courtship under the sea. The year of the finding, the scientists recorded the process of creating these circles in the seabed, observing up to 10 reproductive events in two study areas. Each structure took between seven and nine days to complete and required extreme precision. The male balloon fish used its pectoral, anal and flows fins to dig and model the sand in a perfect radial pattern, alternating between rapid and strategic pauses movements To give texture to the formations. In addition, he decorated the peaks of his work with decorative elements such as shells and coral fragments, while the center of the circle was completely clear as we see in the images. Only when these final details were ready, The females began to approach to evaluate the design of the “artist”. The mating ritual. At this point, when a female was interested in the structure, The male stirred the fine sand of the center to attract his attention. If she decided to enter the circle, the male withdrew momentarily before swimming quickly towards her in a repetitive courtship dance. If the female was impressed, she put her eggs in the center of the circlemaking it a temporary nest. If that was already fascinating, shortly after it was revealed that the impressive structures were never reused, they were of only one use. After reproduction, males leave their creation and begin a new one from scratch, since the process of sculpting the circle consumes most of the finest and most adequate sand for reproduction. This apotheosic nest construction ritual, documented years later In the Big Pacific series of BBC Earth/PBS and narrated by Sir David AttenboroughHe has amazed biologists and spectators since then. Ephemeral art. No doubt, the complex work of the balloon fish is One of the most fascinating exhibitions of the animal kingdomcomparable to the elaborate dances of mating of birds or the constructions of some mammals. However, what makes these structures unique is that these are true underwater works of art, carefully designed and molded with geometric precision. In addition, its discovery also offered a new perspective on the evolution of courtship in vertebrates. Although humans tend to think about art and architecture as exclusively ours capacities, these seabl , all that, and surely something else, in the extraordinary work of a tiny creature. Image | H KAWASE et al (2017) FISHES, CC by 4.0 In Xataka | What science tells us about when a romantic relationship will be a success or complete failure In Xataka | We have lost track of one of the few mammals that put eggs. Now we have rediscovered it

Before the lack of crew, South Korea is developing ships with AI. And the US has already taken their eyes

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We have the whole day in the mouth. If a product does not have ia, it is not fashionable, and Despite loud recent failuresit seems that artificial intelligence It has come to stay and conquer it practically everything. A segment in which it has a lot of potential is in the improve autonomous capabilities of vehicles, especially in countries in which human workforce is increasingly scarce. This is the case of South Korea, which is promoting Autonomous ships up to ia To replace the lack of crew. But there are already those who look with sweet eyes thinking about applications in the military industry: United States. Samsung with Ia. Now in ships. South Korean national pride is Samsung, a company that recently presented its smartphones Galaxy S25 and that has been uploaded on the artificial intelligence ship. Samsung is a giant company that makes consumption technology much more. Both the main company and its subsidiaries have businesses in sectors such as construction or biotechnology, and one of them specializes in ships. Samsung Heavy Industries, or SHI, is one of the three large ship builders in the world, focusing on the construction of ships for special tasks such as ultragrandes ships, very specific transport ships, offshore platforms and navigation systems. One of the last projects in which it is involved is that of construction with ships equipped with autonomous navigation system thanks to AI. Ok, catamaran! Conducts. How can we read in Nikkei Asiain November last year, Shi tried a 12 -meter -long catamaran on Geoje island, south of South Korea. This ship could transport 12 people and its crew had a task: give voice orders to the ship. After scoring the route, he was dedicated to following the ‘line of points’ and details such as speed or obstacles were shown in real time on a screen. From the control center you can monitor your parameters thanks to the installed cameras, as well as make adjustments, but the AI ​​developed by sister Samsung Electronics is the captain of the ship. Government facilities. A wall against which there were companies like Samsung or Hyundai when trying autonomous vessels is the law. According to the Asian media, the regulations made it difficult for companies approved A law that precisely facilitates obtaining permits to perform tests in the real world. The reasons were not specified, but having South Korea one of the most alarming demographic situations on the planet And facing –Like Japan-, to the lack of workers in certain positions, an autonomous or semi -autonomous vehicle sounds like a good idea to alleviate the situation. Realizing Japan again, we have already seen even Robots with chainsaws to set the train tracks. Taxi! We mentioned Hyundai, since it is another of the great South Korean and, through Hyundai Heavy Industries, this year they will test an autonomous aquatic taxi in Busán. The idea is that the passenger introduces the destination, at which time the system will look for the ideal route and begin to travel it. Apart from the systems to recognize the environment thanks to 3D cameras, the idea is that you go accurately at the destination dock, ready to release a passenger and receive another. Returning to Samsung, the next steps of this project include tests to avoid collisions, as well as Improve satellite communication To be able to develop this pilot as something on a large scale. Satellite communication is another technologies that seem important to the company. The US looks carefully. Samsung has a key advantage: you can design and build these ships from scratch, integrating its own autonomous navigation technology. That is, with their naval experience, they can design a ship from scratch that includes the autonomous navigation systems that they provide from Samsung Electronics, being a more accurate solution than to place those navigation systems on a ship that is not specifically designed for it . And who is already looking closely at these advances is the United States, but not any aquatic taxi department, but the Department of Defense. In one call From Trump al, now dismissed, South Korean president Yoon Yeol, President Electro recognized the capacity of South Korea in the construction and maintenance of ships. Clue. South Korean ports are becoming a key to the US presence in the South China Sea and local media claim that contracts between South Korean and US companies have increased recently. It is a fundamental strategic enclave, especially in a scenario in which China is performing maneuvers that their adversaries watch closely. Beyond this, and seeing that Samsung is not the only one who is betting on autonomous ships, it is expected that we see a flourish of this implementation of AI in this type of vehicles in the coming months. Image | Shi In Xataka | This is the Zhu Hai Yun, the new ship of China: capable of navigating without crew and full of aerial and sailor drones

A single island houses 70% of the US military bases in Japan. There is a weight reason for not to come out: China

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At the end of January, in the Japan islands closest to Taiwan, Many places began to evacuate the area. The action was part of a series of drills that have been intensified in the last two years preparing for “the worst”, understanding this as An armed conflict between China and Taiwan. In fact, the most important island of Okinawa prefecture has a fact that attests to tension in the area: there is no other place in Japan with such a number of soldiers in the United States, and they have been there since World War II. Okinawa: trapped between two powers. For more than a century, Okinawa has been a territory in disputemarked by the conflict between Japan, the United States and China. Its history, which goes from being an independent kingdom to become a battlefield and military baseit reflects the weight of geopolitical decisions about the lives of its inhabitants. The island was originally The kingdom of Ryukyuan independent state that maintained tax relations with both Imperial China and with the Japanese domain of Satsuma. However, in the 1870s, Japan attached the archipelagoestablishing its control over the island. During World War II, Okinawa was the stage of One of the bloodiest battlesused as a shield to prevent US troops from reaching the main islands of Japan. After the war, instead of being returned to Japanese sovereignty, Okinawa was under control of the United Statesbecoming a military strategic point. Already in 1972, after 27 years of American occupation, The island was finally returned to Japan. However, the US military presence never disappeared. In fact, Okinawa houses 70 % of US military bases in Japandespite representing only 0.6 % of the national territory. It is estimated that there are 80,000 Americans on the island, of which 30,000 are uniformed military. The “slow” withdrawn. This week had the New York Times that the departure of those thousands of American marines has already begun, more or less, although With a delay of more than 20 years Regarding the original calendar. Before Christmas, a 105 Marines contingent that would normally have been sent to the island He was redirected to the new Camp Blaz base in Guam. This small movement marked the first trimming of military personnel in Okinawa within the agreement between Washington and Tokyo to reduce that US military presence on the island that goes back to World War II. According to the pact, 9,000 marines (almost half of the troops on the island) should be relocated at some point. However, due to the construction of replacement bases, its exit could take more than a decade to complete. United States maneuvers on the island A discontent agreement. Negotiation for the reduction of military presence It began in 1995when the case of three American soldiers who raped an okinawense girl caused massive protests on the island. This led to the United States and Japan They will agree to relieve the military load on Okinawa. As? In essence, by closing The Fuutema Air Base and the construction of a new installation in the north of the island. The first plan, signed in 1996, established a period of five to seven years for relocation, but almost three decades of that agreement, the original base remains operational and the new landing track is still 12 years after being completed. Geopolitics: the brake on the reduction. In any case, the delay in the withdrawal of US troops is due, in large part, to the growing military presence of China in the region. Recently and As we countthe Japan Ministry of Defense reported that Four Chinese warships sailed between Okinawa and a nearby islandincreasing concern in Tokyo and Washington about security in the Western Pacific. The rise of China, together with the threat of North Korea and tensions in Taiwan, has changed strategic dynamics. In fact, the times told that many in Tokyo and Washington wonder If they should really reduce the presence of marines in Okinawaespecially when the island is within the range of Chinese missiles and would be a key point in any conflict in the region. China’s hat. Although historically Okinawa maintained commercial relations with China, Beijing’s current influence on the region is seen with concern for many Japanese. The tensions between China and Japan by the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands They have fueled the fear that Okinawa can become a conflict point Between both countries. An uncertain future. For all this, and despite international pressure, the transfer of the Marines progress to slow pacealmost testimonial. Japan, meanwhile, has chosen to keep the status quoinvesting in the modernization of existing bases instead of accelerating relocation. In this regard, Camp Schwab, in the north of the island, will be the new home of the Marines relocated from Fuhenma. The construction includes an area of ​​land five times greater than the pentagon to house landing clues and hangars. It does not seem, therefore, that you think too much about an exit. For its part, Camp Fosterin the southern part of Okinawa, it is being remodeled with new barracks, schools and homes, consolidating the military presence in that area. Japan spends According to the New York Times1.5 billion dollars a year in the construction of new facilities, in addition to the 2.8 billion dollars already allocated to Camp Blaz base in Guamwhich, as we said, will house a part of the displaced marines of Okinawa. Yet, Pentagon still does not provide a clear calendar For relocation. And here we return to the exit box: in case of conflict in Asia, LTo Guam’s remoteness could represent a strategic problemsince the Marines would have to return to Japan crossing a combat zone. Thus, what is clear is that the island remains a key piece on the Indo-Pacific board, trapped between the strategic needs of the United States and Japan, and the own aspirations of autonomy of its population. Image | US Indo-Pacifi In Xataka | The Japan islands closest to Taiwan have begun to evacuate the area. They have been preparing … Read more

Age does not make us more irritable, rather on the contrary

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The physical effects of aging usually jump and perhaps that’s why they are well known. During the most advanced stages of our life we ​​usually lose strength and flexibility, we get tired more and our skin wrinkles. But beyond being forgotten, Something changes in our brain. Not only with their abilities but also in what affects our character and our personality. Because the changes that we live at the psychological level with the advance of age go beyond the dementia we associate with this period. The changes are varied and include both positive and negative aspects. The question of what these traits are rather complex. Different people age differently, so some of the studies on the subject may be contradictory. “The exact change in an individual’s features is unpredictable,” Explain in an article in Psychology Today The psychologist of the Edinburgh René Mõttus’s Unviersity. One of the personalities that we associate with the elderly is that of the old Cascarrabias. The idea that as we get older we become more irritable and closed of mind is quite widespread, but Scientific evidence is very limited. It is true that age can lead us to a certain degree of social isolation and that this generates psychological stress that in turn supposes a slab for our physical and mental health, as indicated A study Posted in 2014 in the magazine Annual Review of Psychologybut the myth of the old Cascarrabias may well be just that: a myth. Because many studies have found that the trend points in the opposite directionthat is, when we age, on average, we tend to make ourselves friendlier. According to Mõttus, the idea that people become more kind, cooperativeorganized and responsible is in general more accurate: “Such changes in personality are slightly more common among people than opposite changes.” One of the key phenomena in the development of our personality when we age is that of the so -called personality maturation. Maturation It is not an exclusive phenomenon of youth but is maintained until the elderly is well advanced. As we become greater, the charge of responsibilities increases. For example, we go from having numerous people who take care of us (not only in the family, also in social) to having to be more and more of ourselves. And not only does the number of people who can take care of us decrease, it also usually increases the number of people we must take care of, such as our partner or our children. This can make us get more responsible with age. As we pointed out before, there is diversity in changes and not everything is positive. On the one hand because there is a lot of diversity in the changes, on the other because there are traits that seem to tend towards an evolution that we could catalog as “negative.” A study Made by Mõttus himself and published in 2011 in the magazine Psychology and Aging He observed different results when studying different age cohorts and observed that the group of octogenarians analyzed progressed towards lower extraversion, cordiality and awareness, something that did not happen in the sexagenaries analyzed (the other cohort included in the study). Live 100 years Studying changes in personality as our age progresses is not a simple task. The world living different generations of people changes a lot for comparing one generation with another does not give us too much information. To know how this we must study the same group of people (OA very similar groups) over the years. Doing this is not easy since they require cohort studies that expand over years or decades. Knowing if these changes have any limit is also complicated. The studies with cohorts are losing participants over time, as is natural, and with it. It is psor that some analyzes should be limited to comparing people of several generations, such as a study conducted in Japan and Posted in 2006 In the magazine AGE (Dordrecht, Netherlands). This reminds us of one of the problems that can be associated with this type of studies: The survivor bias. At an early age our personality keeps a certain correlation with the risk of dying since in our personality a certain risk propensity can be marked, which in turn increases the probability that, for example, we fight in a traffic accident. The same can be worth in other ages. A more prone personality to addictions can also lead to premature death. The question is whether this continues to occur throughout our lives. The answer may well be, which would imply that the studies analyzing this type of changes must take into account this possible bias when comparing people of different ages, even when they are compared with themselves. In Xataka | One of the greatest aging experts has just explained what he does to live more. It makes sense Image | Andrea Piacquadio

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