attraction

Spain wants to become a “bunker” for data centers with a very clear attraction: cheap energy

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Spain finds itself facing a historic opportunity. In the offices of big technology companies—from Amazon (AWS) until Microsoft or Google—the map of the Iberian Peninsula shines with its own light. The geographical location and the deployment of fiber optics have made the country the ideal candidate to be the great “cloud” of southern Europe. However, there is a toll: these data centers (DPCs) consume electricity at an industrial pace. Only the Community of Madrid investments are played worth 23.4 billion euros linked to these projects, while regions like Aragon see how the demand from these centers threatens to absorb half of all the energy they occurs in the community. But until now, Spain had a barrier to entry: an electrical regulation designed for steel foundries, not for servers. In order not to miss the investment train, the Government has decided to make a move and change the rules of the game. A change of rules in the BOE. The Ministry of Industry and Tourism has activated the legislative machinery. The goal is to allow data centers can access to the Statute of Electrointensive Consumers, a category that until now was reserved for large heavy industry and that allows receiving million-dollar compensation on the electricity bill. In fact, the first step is now official. Through a resolution of the Secretary of State for Industry published last January, the Government has eliminated with a stroke of a pen and as a matter of urgency the main technical obstacle for the 2026 campaign: the “off-peak” requirement. The previous regulations required companies to consume at least 46% of their electricity during the cheapest hours (generally at night) to receive aid. This, which works for a factory that can put on night shifts, is impossible for a data center that operates 24/7. The new resolution considers this requirement fulfilled for all applicants this year, a “technical amnesty” designed to facilitate the entry of new actors. However, it is not an isolated patch. In parallel, the Ministry has submitted to public consultation a Royal Decree Project to reform the Statute in a structural way. The text, whose hearing process has already included the sector’s allegations, explicitly recognizes that the current regulations have been ‘misaligned’ and need to be adapted to strengthen the competitiveness of companies in the face of high energy prices. The end of the tyranny of the night. To understand the importance of this measure, you have to look at the sky. The old rule required consumption at night because, historically, that was when electricity was cheap. But the explosion of solar energy in Spain has changed the paradigm: now, the cheapest hours tend to occur at midday, when the sun shines brightly, generating what experts call the “duck curve” in prices. Maintaining the obligation to consume at night was not only a bureaucratic barrier for data centers, but also economic and ecological nonsense in the Spain of 2026. By eliminating this requirement, the Government not only helps technology companies, but also adapts the law to the reality of an electrical system dominated by renewables. Less bureaucracy and more compensation. The Government’s plan to seduce data centers does not consist of paying for their electricity directly, but rather of shielding them from indirect costs. The reform proposes two courses of action: money and simplification. Compensation of hidden charges: The new Statute will allow subsidizing costs that increase the bill but are not energy consumption, such as contributions to the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE). According to industry sourcesthis charge is around 2 euros per megawatt hour and has a tendency to rise. Alleviating this burden is vital for technology companies’ numbers to turn out green. Administrative facilities: The entrance exam has been relaxed. Along with the elimination of off-peak hours, the BOE has set a new technical ratio (ratio between consumption and added value) of 0.61 kWh/€ by 2026. In addition, cumbersome requirements are eliminated, such as the requirement for very specific long-term renewal contracts, which generated a disproportionate administrative burden. The missing piece of the puzzle. Despite the red carpet rolled out by the Ministry, the sector remains cautious. From SpainDC, the association that brings together data centers in Spain, they value the elimination of the off-peak hour requirement as a “relevant advance”, but they warn that the party has only just begun and they still do not have the official invitation in hand. The problem is bureaucratic, but lethal: the CNAE (National Code of Economic Activity). To be an electro-intensive consumer, your activity must appear on a closed list of eligible sectors. If the Government reforms the technical requirements but does not expressly include the “Data Processing” code (6311) in that list, the reform will be a dead letter for them. “For data centers, the inclusion of the CNAE is a premise. Without it, certification is still not within our reach,” employers warn the Energy Newspaper. Added to this is the underground tension due to the capacity of the network: it is not enough for energy to be cheap, there must be “plugs” available. The Electrical Network It is saturated in key pointsand the sector demands urgent investments so that the promised megawatts actually reach the servers. A seduction in the testing phase. Spain has sent a clear message to international markets: it wants to be Europe’s great data warehouse and is willing to modify its sacred industry laws to achieve it. The BOE resolution for 2026 It is the test of faitha temporary safe passage to prevent the flight of investments. However, the ultimate success of the strategy depends on the fine print that is written in the coming months. If the structural reform of the Royal Decree ends up including data centers in the official list of beneficiary sectors, Spain will have completed its transformation: from a country of sun and sand, to a country of sun and data. Image | freepik Xataka | Meta is spending millions and millions of dollars convincing us of one thing: that data … Read more

In China, glaciers have become a tourist attraction. So you’re protecting them from global warming with XL blankets

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Located in the province of Sichuan, just 300 kilometers from Chengdu, the Dagu glacier offers such fabulous landscapes that every year it receives several hundred thousand tourists. They come from other parts of the country or the planet to enjoy the snow and the views from their cable car. For scientists, however, Dagu is more than just a white paradise. In his opinion it looks more like a “terminally ill”a patient they must care for to avoid (or at least delay) the fatal outcome: the slow and unstoppable loss of ice due to climate change. For this purpose, a group of Chinese researchers has had a curious idea, to say the least: ‘covering’ part of the glacier with a gigantic blanket. A threatened paradise. Dagu is more than a glacier the tibetan plateau full of landscapes instagrammable. It is also a fundamental piece in the region’s economy. The enormous mass of ice attracts more than 200,000 tourists per year, which keeps an industry that employs thousands of people, and its melting supplies the populations with drinking water and even energy thanks to hydroelectric generation. Neither one nor the other has stopped scientists from referring to Dagu as a “dying glacier” or “a terminal patient.” Thus, in such a heartbreaking way, he defined it a few months ago Wang Feiteng, glacier expert and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Is your condition that serious? The data are certainly not encouraging. In an article published in 2025, the Chinese organization recalls that since the 1960s its ice has “fragmented into scattered remains” and the frozen surface of the glacier has been reduced more than noticeably. And the trend does not seem to ease. “During the last four years the terminal end retreated another 20 meters,” warn from the academy, which insists that if nothing stops the process the situation of the glacier will be critical and irreversible at the end of this same decade. “Without urgent intervention, the Dagu glacier will disappear by 2029.” Beyond Dagu. The Chinese academy is not the only one to warn of the degradation of the environment. In 2003 Bloomberg dedicated him a chronicle in which he already pointed out that in the last half century alone the glacier has lost more than 70% of its ice. Regarding the reason, researchers have few doubts: The retreat of the ice mass is explained by the climate and the increase in temperatures. The problem is actually much bigger. Dagu may be one of the most vulnerable, but China has many other glaciers spread across its vast geography. Many. It is estimated that about 69,000, the tenth part of the glacial mass of every planet. And only between 2008 and 2020 its frozen surface receded by about 6%. If we broaden the perspective, since the 60s it has shrunk 26%. A blanket for the sick. Dagu’s situation may be critical, but… “As a doctor, can one just walk away?” he wonders Wang Feiteng. Convinced that the answer is ‘no’, a few years ago he and his colleagues decided to apply a striking strategy on the Tibetan glacier. They are dedicated to covering part of their frozen surface with a blanket that protects it (at least in part) from the effects of global warming, slowing down the loss of ice. It may sound strange, but the key is in the physical properties of that ‘protective quilt’. What they use are “glacial blankets”layers that stand out for their reflective capacity and provide thermal insulation, minimize the absorption of shortwave radiation and improve the albedo of the glacier, that is, the proportion of reflected solar radiation. The result? Less ice loss. The technique is not exactly new. It is inspired by what they already wear decades doing the ski resorts of Austria or Switzerland to protect the snow, although the approach does change. The idea was put into practice in Dagu in 2020 with six rolls of white cloth covering a selected area of around 500 m2. And does it work? It seems so. The program has been attractive enough to attract the attention of UNESCO, which a year ago published an article by professors Kang Shichang and Du Wentao, both linked to the CAS, in which some results of the experiment are described. To begin with, experts have found that the melting rate in the area covered by the glacial blanket was reduced by 34% between 2020 and 2021. “Even a year after removing the fabric, the area melted 15% slower due to the extra ice,” clarify from the CAS. The scientists were not limited to Dagu. In an attempt to go further, they used “more advanced nanomaterials” to cover a section of the Urumqi glacierin the Tian Shan Mountains. Thanks to the use of nanofibers, the researchers claim that they have managed to reduce the melting rate up to 70% in summer. The key is in a new material that, according to a team from Nanjing University, is capable of reflecting more than 93% of sunlight and dissipates the heat to which glaciers are exposed, reducing ice loss. Not everything is advantages. The results They are hopeful, but they leave some questions raised and also have limitations, such as recognize Kang Schichang and Du Wentao: “Covering glaciers with blankets has been mostly applied to small, tourism-focused glaciers on the brink of disappearance. While it has been proven effective in slowing their retreat, it poses environmental risks, high costs, and can only be applied in small environments. Large-scale retreat of glaciers cannot be addressed using nanomaterials alone.” The Chinese Academy itself recognize that Dagu is “an atypical case”, since unlike most of the glaciers in China, which are remote and difficult to access, this one “is located in the center of an urbanized tourist destination, which has electricity and access to water all year round.” That’s important for several reasons. First, because it has generated an infrastructure that makes it easier to deploy programs such as blankets or the … Read more

The Prado has become a saturated tourist attraction. So you have made a decision: no more blockbusters

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The Prado Museum has decided to stop. After reaching its third consecutive visitor record in 2025 with 3.5 million people (a figure that many institutions would celebrate with champagne), its director Miguel Falomir has broken decades of obsession with numbers: “The museum does not need a single more visitor.” The Madrid art gallery announces a radical change for 2026: it eliminates the blockbuster exhibitions. What are blockbuster exhibitions? The large monographic exhibitions designed to attract masses, especially tourists, which now disappear from the Prado’s priorities. In their place, more specialized thematic proposals. The objective is no longer to grow, but to ensure that Going to the museum “isn’t like taking the subway during rush hour”in the words of Falomir during the presentation of the annual program. The measure makes the Prado a pioneer of a debate on cultural sustainability that has swept through Europe since the pandemic, when institutions like the Louvre had to impose capacity limits to prevent artistic contemplation from becoming survival from the tidal waves of tourists. The case of the Louvre. The French museum model leads the way in what not to do: with its nine million annual visitors it has become the best example of how success devours the cultural experience. The Prado’s 3.5 million seem modest in comparison, but Falomir remembers one detail: the Madrid museum is between eight and nine times smaller. That is, more visitor density per square meter. Since the pandemic. These changes have been brewing since 2022, when the museums reopened and were able to put into practice the capacity limits that they had been considering for years. Since then, the Louvre has maintained a limit of 30,000 daily visitors and a time slot system with mandatory advance reservation for certain rooms. But it is not the only one: the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence have adopted similar strategies. The Host Plan. The response of the Madrid museum It’s called Host Plana project that addresses the quality of the visit from several fronts. They will begin by optimizing the current more than 70,000 square meters, which in 2028 will grow with the Salón de Reinos: an additional 2,500 square meters. Among the concrete measures is the prohibition of photographs in the rooms, which has already been proven effective in improving flow. Added to this are adjustments in access management and limits on group size. But Falomir insists: “We have to think about what to do so that the public is not only interested in iconic works.” The director recognizes that the concentration on star pieces creates bottlenecks while other rooms remain empty. The visitor profile is revealing: 75.85% are foreigners. Falomir insists that “we are the museum that most nationals visit,” but they want more Spaniards. Other museums, such as the Louvre, have opted for more aggressive policies: raising the price of tickets for visitors from outside the EU. The programming strategy. Faced with a 2025 full of large monographic exhibitions (Veronese, Anton Raphael Mengs, Juan Muñoz) designed to attract masses, 2026 is committed to the complex and specialized. Proposals such as “In the manner of Italy. Spain and the Mediterranean Gothic (1320-1420)”, which Falomir readily acknowledges will not have the commercial appeal of its predecessors. It’s not a new idea. The New York Metropolitan has been alternating for years big names with risky academic exhibitions. The Tate Modern does the same. But the Prado goes one step further, and recognizes that this strategy responds to a goal of decongestion, not just curatorial criteria. The 2026 program includes “El Prado in feminine”, with three collector queens: Isabel de Farnese, Cristina of Sweden (400th anniversary) and, above all, Mariana of Austria, whose December exhibition will reconstruct the evolution of her image and power. Also arriving are “Rilke and Spanish art”, “Hans Baldung Grien” and “Prado. Siglo XXI”, an exhibition that looks at the museum itself and its transformation in this century. Everything fits with the emerging trend of the “slow museum”, a movement that proposes recovering slow contemplation in the face of accelerated consumption of art as if it were a tourist attraction. The programming strategy. Faced with a 2025 full of large monographic exhibitions dedicated to Veronese, Anton Raphael Mengs or Juan Muñoz, designed to attract large audiences, 2026 is committed to more complex and specialized thematic proposals. They are proposals such as “In the manner of Italy. Spain and the Mediterranean Gothic (1320-1420)”, which Falomir recognizes will not have the commercial appeal of its predecessors. There are models in this policy, such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which has practiced for years a mixed model that balances big names with riskier academic exhibitions. The Tate Modern in London operates in a similar way. Museum exhaustion. In recent years a term has emerged: “museum fatigue“Visiting a museum has become an obstacle course where contemplating Las Meninas or La Gioconda means making your way through a forest of arms with mobile phones. Falomir sums it up like this: “The big problem with large museums is that the visitor is sovereign.” No one controls whether someone will stay eight hours or five minutes, or which rooms they will visit. The result: impossible concentrations in certain areas while others remain empty. In Xataka | This museum has a guide who makes fun of visitors. The result: sold out tickets

Madrid was supposed to have renaturalized the Manzanares for its ecosystem. Now he has turned it into another tourist attraction

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It is not strange that in December talk about lights. In recent years some cities in Spain have launched a crazy race for displaying millions of LEDs along its streets or raising the tallest luminous Christmas tree in the country. What is less common is that people talk about the lights that decorate the bed of a river, which is precisely what has been worrying environmentalists and residents of Madrid for days. To be more precise it worries them the City Council’s initiative to activate 61 projectors in Manzanares. For the City Council, these lights are a success that will “more attractive” the riverbank and will reinforce its security. For neighbors and environmentalists, it is a mistake that will generate something very different: “light pollution.” What has happened? That Manzanares is news. And not because of the “renaturalization” process that began years ago, of which they stick out their chest the Madrid City Council and the neighbors and (among other things) has helped recover its fauna. The key in this case is quite different: the lighting system installed in a 560-meter stretch of the river, around Dam 6, between the districts of Arganzuela and Latina. Although the spotlights were installed there more than a year ago They were not activated until a few days agocoinciding with the on of Christmas lights. The problem is that what for the City Council is a cause for celebration for residents and environmentalists is a problem. Why’s that? Because the opinions regarding the Manzanares lights could not be more different. If you ask the City Council, it is an initiative “sustainable and respectful” with the environment that will benefit the neighbors and attract tourists. “It will make this city environment more attractive for residents and visitors, also offering more security to pedestrians,” claims José Luis Martínez-Almeida’s team in the statement in which he celebrated the commissioning of the lights, last Saturday the 22nd. “The 61 LED projectors will project a blue light to boost the attractiveness of the area and realize the central construction,” abounds the City Council before stating that the lights are part of a “pilot project” and are here to stay. For now, they will continue to operate beyond Christmas, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, adapting their operating hours to sunset. What do the critics say? They talk about “light pollution” and a measure that has been deployed “despite citizen and scientific rejection.” Among those who have spoken out most vigorously against the 61 river projectors are: Ecologists in Action and the Corridor Verde-Imperial Neighborhood Associationgroups that put forward various arguments, such as that the new outbreaks will negatively affect the ecosystem or that they only seek to attract visitors. “It is unnecessary and harmful, it is not justified by any reason of general or public interest and it only responds to the arbitrary whim of the City Council in its desire to continue touristifying the city in general and Madrid Río in particular”, regrets Ecologists. However, the greatest emphasis is placed on the impact that LEDs will have on fauna, something that has already earned them “scientific rejection.” Will it affect the river ecosystem? It depends on who you ask. For the environmental group there are no doubts. “You cannot subject the fauna of Manzanares to an eternal day, not only the birds, but also the insects, which are a crucial part of the ecosystem,” warns in The Confidential Erika González, biologist. “Fauna, like human beings, also need darkness for their life cycle (…) It is difficult for us to understand why the City Council, the same one that decided to successfully renaturalize Manzanares and dedicates a budget for maintenance, now decides to attack the ecosystem.” Things are quite different for the local government, which in the same statement in which he reports on the switching on of the projectors, he emphasizes that the system has been designed applying environmental criteria. “It has been developed using solutions that minimize light pollution. The spotlights are located in a pocket of the river, limiting light emissions to the sky.” Is it the only disagreement? No. Another idea in which the City Council and the neighbors clash is the convenience and necessity of the lights. From the City Hall they argue that the lights will improve “safety” around the river, but residents question whether that is necessary. “There is no insecurity problem and if there were, the logical thing is that lights be installed on the street, not in the river bed,” reasons Susana de la Higuera, from the Pasillo Verde-Imperial Neighborhood Association. The controversy surrounding the Manzanares lights dates back a few months. In fact, the City Council installed them in 2024 with a view to Christmas of that year, but his critics took the issue to the courts and requested precautionary measures. Although the process is not resolved, the judge handling it denied a few months ago the temporary stay that kept the lights disconnected. Ecologists in Action regrets In any case, the City Council has turned them on with the contentious appeal still open. Their discomfort (like that of the neighbors) has already moved to the street with a protest on friday. Images | Madrid City Council In Xataka | Felipe II wanted to build an XXL canal from Madrid to Lisbon. Now the city has recovered it, inspired by Ancient Egypt

A Volvo S80 has been parked in the middle of a lake for 13 years. And it has become a tourist attraction

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Google Maps is a tool that can take us on a trip through the most unusual places without leaving the sofa. The great pyramids, the Canadian tundra or even Everest are ‘visitable’. But if we enter the coordinates 41.35474 – 88.79789, there seems to be an error. A car in the middle of a lake? It’s not a normal car, it’s a Volvo. What’s more, it is THE Volvo. On the outskirts of Ottawa, about 130 kilometers from Chicago, there are a tiny artificial island that is just the right size to house a Volvo S80 silver from 2001. And if you are thinking that someone forgot it parked there when the area flooded or any other strange story, you should know that the story has a much simpler explanation. And also much more fun. Volvo Island Year 2012. Scott Mann, local citizen and owner of a couple of car repair shops, owned the land of an old open pit mine which had been abandoned and flooded, forming an artificial lake. As sometimes it seems that advertising has no limitsMann had an idea: place a car in the middle of the lake. We do not know if the result of a “because you don’t have noses” or because it really seemed like a good idea, the businessman conceived this as a marketing strategy to promote his workshops. As? Well, I don’t have the slightest idea, but he must have had it very clear. Their plan was to place the car there in the middle and organize a contest for people to guess how it got there. Actually, placing the Volvo was very simple: since the land is his, he towed the car to the end of a spit of land and, later, removed the segment that connected the peninsula with the rest of the continent. Ready, the Volvo S80 was already in its new home, and there it was abandoned waiting for someone to wonder how it happened. There are a couple of things that are wrong with that plan, and it turned out that someone in the office questioned whether it was really a good decision. Tiffany Warren, office manager, explained to the local media The Times They started doing it with the idea of ​​the contest, but in the end they abandoned the idea because “It was actually quite dangerous.”. The reason is obvious: the ground is not the most stable, there is 12 meters of depth around the car and if someone tried to reach it for whatever reason, misfortune could occur. So, the idea of ​​the contest was abandonedjust like the Volvo and any other genius marketing plan Mann might have in his head. The Internet did what the Internet does best For a few years, Volvo Island remained a local curiosity, but in 2015… it exploded. appeared in Google Maps and Street View and the Internet did its job. The place went viral and, although it can only be seen from afar because it is still private property, hundreds of fans have come to contemplate this work that could be another of the wonders of the modern world. In fact, the most delirious thing is that on Google Maps it appears as a “Tourist Attraction”, and has accumulated 455 reviews at the time of writing this with a score of 4.9 out of five stars. The reviews are for a laugh, but don’t think that people simply write a review and that’s it: they actually go to the place, take photos and upload them to the platform. “Photos simply don’t do this place justice. I feel truly blessed to have seen Volvo Island with my own eyes. I drove to Volvo Island in a Volvo for an incredibly immersive experience. As I drove away in my wife’s Volvo, I was overwhelmed with the emotion of what I had just witnessed: Volvo Island in all its glory,” says someone in the Google system. There are also more serious questions, such as how is it possible that, after so much time, the bodywork is still in that state, without signs of corrosion when it has been outdoors for at least 13 years. And people who claim that the island is the Grand Canyon of the Midwest or the Taj Mahal of Western civilizationa mandatory place if you go to the United States and a recommendation: go early because there is a line. Jokes aside, the truth is that it is most curious that Google Maps shows the icon of a car in the middle of the lake. It’s also a great example of how the Internet becomes a cultural phenomenon? something so unexpected that it has not only inspired digital tourism, but also physical one. And it appears that Mann has no intention of removing the vehicle or modifying the island. It has taken, as we say, measures to prevent people from accessing the islet due to both the depth and the sudden changes in terrain below the surface, but everything indicates that this failed “announcement” will remain there for a long, long time. He should have put up a sign for his workshop, or something. At least… he gets that publicity. In Xataka | All your worst nightmares have been captured by the Google Street View car. Here you have the proof

Now the war for attraction parks has begun

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The consumer’s struggle to introduce food into closed enclosures in which he had paid to enter I was in theaters. Then we go to the Music festivals. And finally, the Attraction parks: Facua has denounced several for preventing entry with food and drink from outside its customers. After this decision there is a constant struggle between companies that seek to maximize their benefits and consumers who claim basic rights. Do not introduce food. Magic Island, Warner Park, Port Aventura and Terra mythical are the Spanish attraction parks that have received the complaint of Facua-Consumenores in Action before the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 for preventing entry with food and drink. The objective of this prohibition is clear: to force visitors to acquire in establishments and vending machines inside the enclosures, usually at much more expensive prices. The objective, says Facua in its statement, obeys “economic motivations and the eagerness to obtain greater benefits.” According to the association, these practices violate the Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007 of November 16which approves the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws. The reasons. Some of these parks use reasons for the ban. Warner alleges “hygiene and security reasons” From its websiteand mythical terra It also refers to reasons of “health” and “food and safety hygiene”. Magic Island and Portaventura do not detail the causes of the prohibition. Facua states that in all cases these reasons are “unjustified” And they remember that the prohibition “does not occur in Disneyland Paris and Parc Astérix, in France; in Europe-Park, in Germany; in Legoland Windsor Resort, in the United Kingdom, or in the Park of Los Jardines de Tivoli, in Denmark. In all of them it is allowed to access with food and drink.” Facua’s reasons. The reasons why Facua has filed the demand are the same as he presented (and won) Before movie chains like Yelmo. According to the Association for the Defense of Consumer Rights, the main activity of these companies is “recreational establishments”, in its variant of attraction and thematic parks. The restoration service is a complementary activity and is not part of the price of the entrance that consumers hire when paying it. It is, contrary, the imposition of accessories not requested by the client. 30,000 euros. That was the amount of the fine imposed on the Yelmo cinemas for prohibiting the entry of food and drink from outside in its rooms. The sanction comes from Kontsumobide, the Basque Institute of Consumer, which considered the prohibition as an abusive clause, for the reasons detailed in the previous paradfo. It was not the first time that judicial resolutions were produced against this type of practices. There were already a history In Huelva and Zafrawhere he declared illegal or fined rooms for preventing entry with outdoor food. The company tried to justify the measure, covering in the right of admission. In festivals it is not so clear. In the case of music festivals, the situation is similar but more complex. Many festivals prohibit entry with exterior food, arguing commercial and security motifs. However, the Ministry of Consumer opened sanctioning file to a music festival for this practice – an important precedent – claiming again that “the main activity of these events is not the restoration, but the musical show.” However, there are discrepancies in The interpretation of the law: Some experts consider that when Food sale is a relevant business part From an event of several hours or days, it can be part of its main activity. Variable regulation. The regulation in the festivals ultimately depends on each autonomous community, which produces notable differences: in some regions (Like Asturias), the right to access with exterior food is guaranteed if consumption is allowed in the enclosure; In others this access can be vetoed when the promoter markets its own products. The debate also extends to sporting events, where food is usually allowed only in plastic containers and small volumes, with the strict prohibition of alcoholic beverages and glass or metal containers. Header | Portaventura In Xataka | Abu Dabi’s Disney Park will not look like any other. For a hot reason

The Xiaomi Su7 factory in China has become a tourist attraction. And there are those who pay a money to see it

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He Xiaomi Su7 It appeared on December 28, 2023. It was not a joke, much less. Months later we saw an even more capable version, the Su7 ultraand almost for the anniversary, Xiaomi presented the SUV model: the Xiaomi Yu7. In less than three years, Xiaomi got his ambitious electric car will pass from the design table to the streetsand has achieved it thanks to a good strategy and a futuristic factory that is so successful that has become a tourist phenomenon. So much that in China they are reluctant in tickets at higher prices than those who would be paid to enter Disneyland. Success. The Xiaomi Su7 is to study it. It seemed crazy, but in less than a year, Xiaomi managed to sell 200,000 units and estimated to sell 300,000 this 2025. However, They had to update their forecasts because the new forecasts pointed more at 350,000 units. Its car division already represents 10% of the company’s income and hopes to start selling them outside China Facing 2027. The factory. There is a huge investment behind to start something like that in such a short time, and much of the ‘guilt’ is the factory. It is estimated that a car occurs every 76 seconds, or 40 cars per hour, within the Xiaomi EV Factory of Yizhuang, and that is thanks to a very high degree of automation: 91%, according to estimates. The plant has 700 robots performing processes of creating molds, assembly of parts, welding, paint and different quality verification processes that are responsible for guaranteeing the good condition of welding by points, of rivets and adhesives. Using tools with artificial intelligence and scanners, the correct installation of critical pieces and components such as batteries is controlled, as well as the structural integrity of the pieces. There are humans. Beyond the manufacturing plant, there is a circuit of 2.5 kilometers in which vehicles undergo tests, but also different stations to ensure the performance of parts such as brakes, address or damping. And yes, there is human supervision (about 100 people), but in the end it is a highly automated process, such as the one we see in brand factories like Tesla. Visits. Something very positive for the brand is that it has managed to generate a strong feeling of community among its users due to the huge product ecosystem (especially in China). And that visits to the plant are organized is an ideal opportunity for brand fans, to technology or automotive to take a look at the manufacturing process. It is a strategy to strengthen their relationship with consumers, also a promotion tool, so that visitors see all those automatisms in action. There are exclusive products, visitors can take something in the plant’s dining room and the visit is divided into two parts: 40 minutes where the plant is presented, technology, SU7 design and talk about that automated production. 20 minutes Finals in which the production line is explored to see all the robots in action. In addition, as they point out from Ithomethere is only one session on working days and five on weekends and holidays, so the opportunity is further limited. Apart from the robotic arms, there is an army of “electric corabos” robots Resale. Now, it is a factory, not a museum, so the visits are very controlled. It is done in groups of 20 people and thousands of people have signed up. It has become a highly demanded destination that is not only managing to compete against traditional options, but has promoted a resale market of tickets with madness prices. As they point from Motorpasionthis resale leads to a black market in which prices reach 2,000 yuan, which would become about 280 euros. That per person and for an experience of, as we say, one hour. You can always wait for an entrance to touch you, but it is already a process that compare With that you touch the lottery because there are tens of thousands of applications and, as we see, the visits are very small. And second hand. It is clear that there are those who see commercial opportunities anywhere, but the tickets for the Xiaomi EV Factory is not with the only thing that is played in the market. Although SU7 production is high, it seems that it is not enough to meet demand, so there is a generous waiting list. And there are those who are selling them as soon as they receive them. Units with just 10 or 20 kilometers are sold by about 15,000 euros above of the sale price. It is something that we have already seen other times (As in 2022 with Tesla) And it is a way of who has many, eager to skip your waiting tail (and have the money), can do it. The truth is that the Xiaomi EV Factory looks impressive, but we can only see it in videos like the one we leave on these lines. At least until Xiaomi is encouraged to remove their cars outside the Chinese borders and open plants through Europe, something that Other Chinese manufacturers are doing. Images | Xiaomi In Xataka | Family and friends keep asking me if “it is worth buying a Chinese car.” This is my answer

In 2016, a urologist discovered that a Disneyland attraction helped expel renal calculations. The story was a bit more complicated

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In September 2016, David Wartinger (Urologist and Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University) He published a study according to which the Russian mountains facilitated the passage of kidney stones and, of course, the media went crazy. The kidney calculations They usually cause intense pain, bleeding, nausea and vomiting. In many cases they do not even go through the ureter them alone and you have to reduce them to dust with shock waves. The mere idea that a simple walk in a fair attraction could help solve it was a bombing. Of course, the story had a small print. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. At some point in the late nineteenth century, someone found A colossal gold vein in Big Thundera mountain of the southwest of the United States. Quickly, the small mining camp in the immediate vicinity became a prosperous city and the mountain was filled with an intricate system of trains that moved the mineral from one place to another. No one suspected that Big Thunder was a sacred place for the Native Americans. Or, rather, it was a damn place that the natives avoided as a soul that the devil carried. It was inevitable that, sooner or later, a catastrophe would pass. And it passed. Some speak of an earthquake, others of a sudden flood. Be that as it may, the town was abandoned and the mine was closed until, years later, an expedition discovered that the wagons continued to move through the heart of the mountain without anyone who handled them. No, As Randy Meeks explained to usIt is not a real event: the plot of the most mythical mountain of Disneyland. That’s where history begins. A urologist in Michigan. As Wartinger himself explainedthe idea came unexpectedly. “Basically, I had patients who told me that after getting on a certain Russian mountain in Walt Disney World, they were able to expel their kidney calculations (…) I even had a patient who said he expelled three different calculations after climbing several times” As it seems, this theory did not pay much attention until, already retired, he discovered that other urologists They told similar things. It was then, when he felt the need to put it into practice. He did not do it with people, of course: he did it with a 3D model of a kidney with three calculations. He put it in the backpack, went to Orlando and rode 20 times in the Big Thunder Mountain. And what did you discover? “In total, we use 174 kidney calculations in different shapes, sizes and weights to see if each model worked in the same attraction and in two other roller mountains,” Wartinger explained in Msu Today. Interestingly, Big Thunder was the only one that gave positive results. “In the pilot study, sitting on the last car of the Russian mountain showed a success rate of around 64 percent, while sitting in the first cars only had a successful rate of 16 percent.” A simple curiosity … that quickly took out of context. With the help of the same Wartinger, by the way. As explained in Snopesin the interviews given by the retired urologist went far beyond reporting the results of his study. “If you have kidney calculations, but otherwise it is healthy and meets the requirements of the trip, patients should try it. It is certainly a cheaper alternative to medical care,” he said. The problem is that the basis for this is weak. What really does science say? There is no doubt that, as other urologists pointed out, This preliminary evidence suggests that a roller coaster can help naturally expel (very “) small. But, obviously, there is no empirical basis to recommend it. That is, it is a very striking study that could give an interesting clinical trial. A study that was never conducted. And without which, raising it as an alternative is risky: the experience of riding in that roller coaster with a large calculation can be terrible. Image | Renato Mitra In Xataka | There are people addicted to drink up to 15 liters of water daily (and it is a more serious problem than it seems)

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