Christmas

The great Christmas revolution in Spain is not the millions of LED lights: it is the rise of "Good afternoon" and "New Year’s Eve"

by

Don’t look for them in the RAE dictionary because academics have not yet found a place for them there, but over the last few years two words have been making their way into the national Christmas lexicon: “good afternoon and new year’s afternoon”. Just like Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, the canonical celebrations they have begun to complement. Actually both terms are self-explanatory: good afternoon and old afternoon They are nothing other than lateness (a phenomenon upward) transferred to the festivities of December 24 and 31. It’s that simple, that effective. The formula has caught on to such an extent in recent years that it has gone from being a diffuse and spontaneous phenomenon to a settled reality that moves thousands of peopleis organized with weeks in advancehas the institutional endorsement of the town councils and gives an extra boost to the coffers of the hoteliers. New times, new traditions. Christmas is (almost by definition) synonymous with tradition, but that doesn’t mean it’s immutable. On the contrary. Over the last few years, the holidays have been enriched with new habits that, through repetition, have already become established in Spanish ‘Christmas lore’: lighting parties of the lights, the fights between city councils to erect XXL luminous trees, the ‘pre-grapes’ and of course the good afternoon and old afternoon. New celebrations that take over from others that falter. ¿Good afternoon and old afternoon? Exact. Two expanding trends that are practically self-explanatory. The good afternoon and old afternoon They are nothing other than the adaptation of the late to the two big Christmas events: Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The party no longer starts at night, with a copious dinner. It begins at noon and in the afternoon, with celebrations that usually leave homes and move to public spaces such as restaurants, bars, streets and squares. It is not about replacing the family dinner on the 24th or the one that precedes the 12 bells on the 31st, but rather about rethinking the celebration with friends and family, adjusting their schedules to bring them forward towards the afternoon (even at noon) in a ‘challenge’ to the traditional dinners that go on forever and the old party favors. A proven success. It may seem simple, but it works. If you open Google and type “New Year’s Eve” You will basically find two things: announcements from town councils that inform about their celebrations (the list is extensive: Petrer, Cartagena, Torremolinos, Boadilla del Monte, Two Sisters, Fuenlabrada…) and articles of regional newspapers that they count how the “previews” of December 24 and especially December 31 have gained popularity over the years. “It’s like reliving a day of the Pilar Festival in the middle of Christmas. A terrifying vermouth, but with wonderful billing,” explained last year to the newspaper ‘Heraldo’ a hotelier from Zaragoza who told how the good afternoon and old afternoon They have carved out a niche for themselves in December. There is nothing written about how to celebrate them, but the most common thing is that the afternoons start in the hours before dinner, even around noon (about one or even a little before), and continue for hours, until eight. In Xataka Nougat has always been the most popular and democratic sweet at Christmas. Now it’s becoming a luxury Searching for the causes. that the old afternoon is gaining strength precisely now and not eight, ten or eleven years ago is no coincidence. Although it is not easy to determine the reasons that explain why a trend succeeds, the truth is that the boom in Christmas “previews” is preceded by factors that have paved the way for it. The first (obvious) is the expansion of late in Spain. Whether causality or not, as the population pyramid of the country is thinning at the base and widening in the age group between 30 and 50, evening leisure has been gaining weight. That is, venues willing to offer experiences similar to those at night parties, only at an afternoon time that prevents the client from staying up late or waking up the next morning exhausted and hungover. The legacy of COVID. Another factor that helps understand the success of the good afternoon either old afternoon It’s the pandemic. COVID not only forced us to spend weeks confined at home, it also (and perhaps because of that) rediscovered the pleasure of going out and enjoying the streets and terraces, which is precisely where they are celebrated the afternoons of December 24 and 31. This is how hoteliers explained it to them in 2024. The Digital Confidential in an article in which it was stated that attendance at the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve previews shot up by 25% in just two years. {“videoId”:”x80zm7f”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”How your TOWN or CITY has changed in 40 years: this is the NEW GOOGLE EARTH feature”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”135″} Is there more? Yes. To all of the above, other equally important keys can be added, such as families being less willing to spend hours between stoves or the increase in ordered dishes to restaurants. If we enjoy more leisure on the afternoons of the 24th and 31st, it is simply because we organize ourselves differently on those days and we are less tied to the kitchens. Another key is the advantages to organize midday and afternoon plans instead of long dinners, especially if there are children involved. How icing is it the bet what have they done not a few town councils by the evening parties, especially in small towns where the afternoon has become an opportunity to celebrate (in community and with music) Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. Images | Gijón City Council, Fuenlabrada City Council In Xataka |It has always been said that the King of Spain plays Gordo with the number 00000. There is a part of truth and part of a lie (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = … Read more

The five best Christmas offers on Kindle depending on the price and use we are going to give it to read

by

Amazon has launched many Christmas offers and, of course, the Kindles have fully entered them. But… which one to buy? In this article we are going to discuss which is the most interesting depending on what we want to spend and the use we are going to give it. Kindle by 107.99 eurosa basic model that stands out above all for its price. Kindle Colorsoft by 194.99 eurosAmazon’s eReader with a color screen. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition by 224.99 eurosa model similar to the previous one with added functions and better features. Kindle Scribe (2022) by 264.99 eurosa slightly older eReader but just as interesting as the rest of this list. Kindle Scribe (2024) by 349.99 eurosthe latest generation of its range. Other Kindles that are not on sale. Kindle If you want a Kindle to read occasionally and are only looking for a basic experience at a not very high price, the best purchase option is the same Kindle. It incorporates a six-inch glare-free screen and its size is small to take on a trip. Its theoretical autonomy is up to six weeks and it comes with 16 GB of storage. Bad is that with this model we lose the adjustable warm light, the automatic front light adjustment (it can be done manually) and the water resistance. The good is that it costs 107.99 euros. Kindle (latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Colorsoft Maybe the Kindle Colorsoft It is not the most suitable eReader for reading comics given its seven-inch size, but it is interesting to take advantage of the color screen to underline text in various colors and differentiate dialogues between various characters. Or to see the covers and color illustrations. With all this, it is focused on those people who prefer to add a touch of color in these situations and who can spend a little more money on a reader. Bad: It does not have wireless charging or automatic front light adjustment. The good: its price 194.99 euros It is quite tight, it is waterproof, its theoretical autonomy reaches 12 weeks of use and the frames are tighter than on the basic Kindle. In this sense, it is smaller in height, but wider and a little thinner. Kindle Colorsoft (latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition On the other hand, Amazon has a more complete model of its eReader with a color screen called Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition. It has exactly the same dimensions and the same specifications, with a couple of additions: it incorporates automatic front light adjustment and comes with wireless charging. Bad: its price 224.99 euros is higher than that of the basic model. If we are not going to use its two additions, it is advisable to opt for the other eReader. The good: It is a more complete eReader and the price difference right now is not excessively large. Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Scribe (2022) He Kindle Scribe Launched in 2022, it will not be the most recent eReader in its range, but Amazon continues to sell it at a fairly competitive price. The most notable thing is the format, since we are talking about a reader with 10.2 inch screen. It is aimed at readers of digital books, but also for those people who like to take notes of certain dialogues or just to take notes. It includes a pencil and its theoretical autonomy is up to 12 weeks of use. Its price is 264.99 euros. Bad: It weighs quite a bit (433 grams), so it is not the most suitable for traveling. Furthermore, it is not waterproof either. The good: It is quite practical if what we are looking for is a screen that covers more text with a larger size. It is also if we want to take notes. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Scribe (2024) He Kindle Scribe Launched in 2024, it does have some interesting additions, but as we will mention later, it does without others. It maintains the same format as its previous generation by having a 10.2-inch screen and also includes a stylus. As in the previous model, it is oriented for use at home and for taking notes. Its price on Amazon is 349.99 euros and in MediaMarkt of 329.99 euros. Bad: Its weight is 433 grams and it is not waterproof nor does it come with wireless charging. The good: It is available in various storage configurations, its theoretical autonomy is up to 12 weeks of use and incorporates artificial intelligence functions to summarize text or notes. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Other Kindles The Kindle Paperwhite is one of the most popular eReaders in each generation due to its quality-price ratio, but neither of them are on sale. Its use is aimed at people looking for a better reading experience and that they tend to read quite frequently. It is also ideal to take on a trip even if its size is larger than that of the Kindle. He Kindle Paperwhite costs 169 euros and it has a seven-inch screen. In addition, it incorporates adjustable warm light, water resistance, incorporates 16 GB of internal storage and its autonomy is up to 12 weeks of use. He Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition costs 199 euros and, in addition to what its basic model already includes, it comes with automatic front light adjustment, wireless charging and 32 GB of internal storage. Kindle Paperwhite (latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition (latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | amazon In Xataka | Which Kindle to … Read more

AEMET confirms a collapse and snow at 1,000 meters to start Christmas

by

If you thought you had too much of a coat this week, now you’re going to have to think twice. After a few marked days due to unusually mild temperatures for mid-Decemberthe weather is going to change radically with the arrival of the peak days of Christmas. A thermal collapse. So far, the month of December has seen some really warm days where you could easily be out in the sun without a jacket. This is something that has been seen especially in parts of the Mediterranean, Almería and even in the Cantabrian Sea with thermometers that have reached to touch 20 degrees. However, it already has an expiration date. Starting on December 21, coinciding with the official start of astronomical winter, a notable thermal drop is expected. According to AEMET itself This change will not be gradual, but will feel like a drastic collapse in thermometers by this polar jet that arrives from the north that will leave minimum temperatures in the negative and that in general will cause a thermal drop of 3-5ºC. Precipitation map for Sunday, December 21 | Source: AEMET Rain and snow. Before the great drop in temperatures, we will see abundant rains in our territory due to the entry of a new front from the Atlantic. This will mean that this weekend we will see abundant rain in a good part of the peninsula, with special emphasis on northern Spain where significant storms are expected for next Sunday. The Galician coasts are where we will have to keep a close eye, as these precipitations will be accompanied by very strong gusts of wind, which will lead to the appearance of waves that can exceed seven meters in height. Appearance of snow. With the drop in temperature, rain can end up turning into snow in part of the peninsula. In this case, the snow level is expected to drop to 1,000-1,200 meters in the northern third. The most affected areas They will be the communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja, Castilla y León, the Community of Madrid and Castilla – La Mancha. This is bad news, except for lovers of a Christmas under a layer of white. And just this weekend a new operation begins, coinciding with the start of the Christmas holidays. This is something that can cause significant traffic delays in the northern third of the country. Christmas week. We already have Christmas Eve almost here, and there are many eyes on to the weather forecast. For now, the progress that the AEMET has given us after the front on the 21st is that we will have a cold environment with significant night frosts across the peninsula and widespread, although not extreme, rainfall, which will be present especially in the south of the peninsula. But this is something that will not affect the Canary Islands, which will maintain stable weather and normal conditions for the time in which we find ourselves. An extreme change. There is a climate prediction coming from Europe that sees a much more extreme and unusual scenario that may or may not occur. Specifically, the ECMWF points out that there may be heavy snowfall in the province of Seville, Huelva and the south of Badajos on Christmas Eve. This would be something historic, since snow is a strange event to see in Seville, where there has not been a solid snowfall since 1954. That is why this European prediction is really crazy, which logically can change as the days go by, leaving the chances of snow in Seville a disappointment, despite the fact that the low temperatures are going to continue. Images | Osman Ran In Xataka | Lightning seems like a normal thing: in reality we have been trying to understand it for years and we have achieved it in a laboratory

For decades, the “00000” has fascinated Christmas Lottery players. The reason: the King’s Number

by

All the Lottery numbers They have the same chance of winning the Christmas prize, but not all of them generate the same interest or are surrounded by the same halo of fascination. Perhaps one of the most enigmatic is the “00000”. And it is because the doubts it raisesquestions that resurface every December just like the nougats in the supermarkets, the perfume ads on TV or the LED lights in Vigo. Does it really exist? Can it be purchased? And above all… Is it true that it is the number that gives Lotteries and Betting from the State to the Royal House? There are those who are so sure of the latter that they even refer to “00000” as “The King’s Number”although (spoiler) it is not actually founded. Is 00000 played? Yeah. In the Christmas raffle they play 100,000 numbers different. From 00000 to 99,999. Both included. In fact, a quick search arrives to confirm that the first issue on the list has been sold this year in half a dozen of branches in Cádiz, Las Palmas, La Rioja, Valencia and Murcia. After all, there is nothing written about tastes (and superstitions): there are those who see 00000 as an ‘ugly’ number, a combination to avoid with little chance of receiving the jackpot, and those who bet their 20 euros on it as the winning horse. Have you ever played? No. Not at least if we’re talking about El Gordo or millionaire prizes, although that doesn’t make 00000 a special number either. Although the National Lottery traces its origins to 1812 (when the biggest prize amounted to 8,000 pesos) and the Christmas draw began to become popular 133 years agoin reality there are not so many numbers graced with El Gordo. That doesn’t mean that 00000 hasn’t made more than one person’s day (or Christmas). In 2014 he achieved a stones of 120 euros. It may not seem like a big deal, but that year the same administration in Logroño had sold 160 lucky tickets, leaving money in the pockets of its clients. 19,200 euros. In 1828 luck also happened to him. That year the lucky number was 00523. To many the figure may not be attractive because it is too ‘low’, but the truth is that the drums do not understand low or high numbers. Lotteries remember that Gordo touched figures between 0 and 10,000 61 times, 70 times to bills from 10,001 to 30,000 and 64 times to combinations ranging from 30,001 to 66,000. The King’s Number? One of the most famous myths about 00000 is that, precisely because it is the first in the numerical sequence, State Lotteries and Betting reserves a special destiny for it: a gift for the Royal House. You don’t have to look hard to find articles that remember a story that in reality is nothing more than that: a story, pure urban legend. “No. It is a baseless rumor. Institutionally, no tenth is given away,” they clarified already in 2011 from Lotteries to the newspaper ABC. It is not the only occasion in which he has had to deny the hoax. “No tenth with the number 00000 is given to the king for the Christmas draw,” insist to RTVE. The best proof is that the tenths of 00000 can be found in various administrations in the country and in 2014 the media even they interviewed to one of the winners with the 120 euro stone. Curiously, she decided to play that number and not another because she was convinced that it was the one they used in Zarzuela. Curious, commented… Feared? 00000 not only generates expectation for its history and myths. There is another detail that arouses the curiosity of Christmas Lottery lovers. In case he wins the first prize, if chance showers him with millions of euros… How the hell would it be sung? Would we hear the children of San Ildefonso hum “zero thousand zero hundred zero zero”? Would you opt for a simpler formula? theEconomist assures that 00000 would simply be sung as “zero”, without further flourishes. Although another thing (of course) is that their nerves play tricks on them on the 22nd. Images | SELAE 1 and 2 and Royal House In Xataka | ChatGPT You have the same chance of hitting the Lottery Jackpot as a witch reading the guts of a crow

How to easily create a nice Christmas greeting with your photo using ChatGPT Images

by

We are going to explain to you step by step how to create a Christmas greeting with your photo wearing ChatGPT Imagesthe section to create images from photographs of ChatGPT. This tool will allow you to do the editing with artificial intelligence without having to write a prompt certain. Right now, this section has a default style that allows you to create a pretty Christmas photo in just two or three clicks. So, to this we are going to add an additional request and voila, you will have the complete congratulations. You’ll see that it’s simple. Your Christmas greeting with ChatGPT The first thing you have to do is enter the ChatGPT website or application on your device. Once you are inside, open the side menu Click on the section Images that will appear just below the search options. This will take you to the main screen of the section Images. In it, look in the section Test a style on an imageand here inside click on the option Festive portrait what you are going to find. This will open a window where you have to choose the photo you want to use as a basis for congratulations. It has to be a portrait-type photo in which one or more people appear. For this, you can use one of the recent ones that you have used in this section, or manually choose another one that you want to use. Just by doing this, ChatGPT will turn your photo into a festive portrait Full of Christmas decorations and motifs. If you don’t like the result the first time, you can try again, and even copy and paste the prompt using another photo, or repeating the entire process. Once you have the image created to your liking, it’s time to give it the final brushstroke. In the same chat where it was generated and shown to you, you have to write that you want me to add a text using a Christmas font. For example, you can put something like “Happy Holidays.” For that, I have used this prompt: I want to turn this photo into a Christmas card. For that, I want you to put the text “Happy Holidays!” at the bottom. using a Christmas font. And only with this you will have your greeting created. Now all you have left is decide if you want to make additional adjustmentssuch as changing the size of the word, its position, or even making the image horizontal. You can even upload someone else’s photo and ask ChatGPT to add it to the composition by doing the same treatment to the photo so that it looks the same. In Xataka Basics | How to create a character in ChatGPT and Gemini to use it in all the images you make with artificial intelligence

The European Bizum wants to be working next Christmas, but first a problem must be resolved. One of power sharing

by

“Wow, but if it gives me the option to pay with Bizum, how cool.” That was my expression a few months ago when in an online purchase the online store offered me to pay directly like this. No debit or credit card, no Google Pay. With a Bizum. The instant payment system that is triumphing in Spain is so good that What we want is for it to work further. And that is precisely what the banking entities of the European Union want, who saw a “European Bizum” as a great idea. There’s just one problem. Who will control it. The European Bizum is approaching The European Central Bank he has been fighting for five years for that application that does the same as Bizum but throughout Europe. There was a major power struggle here with two large factions. On the one hand, the consortium Spain-Italy-Portugal. On the other, that of France-Germany-Belgium-Holland, who wanted to impose its own Bizum, called Wero. Fortunately, in recent months we have seen how the positions of both consortiums have become closer and the unification now seems almost definitive. This is what they indicate in five dayswhere they quote “market sources” who talk about the agreement being signed in early 2026. The European Bizum should start operating at the end of next year if everything goes as expected. This system may not be a new application, as requested by the French and German entities, but rather a system that interconnects existing ones. It is a somewhat more confusing solution but also more practical, because users will not have to change apps. For example, a Spanish user will be able to send a Bizum to a German at no cost, and the German will receive that money in his Wero app in a way that is transparent to him. The European banks participating in the negotiations have reached an agreement to establish a new company that will be the owner of this interconnection technology. There was talk of applying certain commissions, “but it was finally rejected in favor of a multilateral network.” Power distribution And there is the new challenge: Who is in charge in this new society? The distribution of power is now the great unknown, and there are several options. On the one hand, each national platform receives practically the same participation. On the other hand, the distribution should be made based on the volume of each country and then corrected. The Bizum model seems like it can also be applied to that pan-European solution. It is interesting to realize that as explained in the economic newspaper, the owners of Bizum are 22 Spanish banks, among which the participation varies: Caixabank: 25% Santander: 21% BBVA: 18% Sabadell: 12% Other minority banks such as Unicaja, Bankinter or Cajamar have lower participations, but Bizum’s statutes establish that no bank can have more than 25% participation. Do we need a digital euro? Europe has been looking for a solution for some time that would allow it to mitigate its dependence on the two great giants of electronic payments: Visa and Mastercard. The European Payments Initiativecreated in 2020 by 16 banking entities, had precisely the objective of creating a European interbank network that competed with these platforms and with others such as PayPal. And little by little it has been proven that Bizum was precisely a great candidate to achieve this. The application, with more than 30 million users in Spain, has not stopped growing in benefits and alliances like the one a year ago they signed with Revolut. There are still other obstacles in the creation of this European Bizum. For example, building a common deposit guarantee fund to deal with large US entities. It does not seem that this is going to be a major impediment to the implementation of the pan-European alternative, and that makes us wonder what happens now with the digital euro. The European Central Bank (ECB) has been designing the design of this digital asset for years. There have also been important movements in that sense, and if the European regulations are approved in 2026, there will be a pilot starting in 2027. The EU seems to want to be ready for a possible first broadcast in 2029. However, that European Bizum will theoretically solve part of what the digital euro wants to achieve, so does it make sense? It is very likelyespecially since the digital euro is a legal tender issued by the ECB. It is not just a way to transfer money, but a digital form of official money itself. Both alternatives can coexist, and this European Bizum may be the best way to promote the use of the digital euro. In Xataka | The Treasury confirms it: payments for dinner and gifts to your friends through Bizum do not go to the Tax Agency

How to create a Christmas sugar cookie image with your pet’s photo in a couple of clicks with ChatGPT

by

We are going to explain to you step by step how to create a Christmas sugar cookie image with your pet’s photo wearing ChatGPT Imagesthe section to create images from photographs of ChatGPT. This tool will allow you to do the editing with artificial intelligence without having to write a prompt certain. Therefore, the best thing about all this is that these images are very easy to makeand you only need a couple of clicks to get them. Furthermore, since when the photo is generated you will also be shown the prompt generated by ChatGPT itself, you can copy and paste it into another AI or make any modifications you want. Make sugar cookies from your pets The first thing you have to do is enter the ChatGPT website or application on your device. Here in the side menu Click on the section Images that will appear just below the search options. Once you enter the section Imagesnow you have to look in the row where it says Test a style on an image. Here, search and click on the option sugar cookie that appears with the drawing of a dog biscuit. This will open a window where you have to choose the photo of your pet that you want to use as a reference. For this, you can use one of the recent ones that you have used in this section, or manually choose another one that you want to use. And that’s it. Just by doing this, ChatGPT will create the sugar cookie image with the photo of the pet that you have uploaded. If you are not satisfied, you can try again or copy and paste the prompt with another photo. You can also edit and modify the prompt so that the result is different. In Xataka Basics | How to create a character in ChatGPT and Gemini to use it in all the images you make with artificial intelligence

Toledo has stretched its Christmas season to last 49 days and attract more tourists. Some neighbors think it’s a bad idea.

by

Day of celebration for some. Outrageous to others. The one of Friday, November 21 It was a night of conflicting feelings in Toledo. While the City Council celebrated the official switching on of its Christmas lights (the early risers of its history) a group of neighbors gathered in the historic center to protest the ‘bill’ of mass Christmas tourism. For them, long celebrations of 49 days (until January 8) marked by crowds and difficulties in continuing with their lives. The (mega)Christmas. They do not reach the height of Vigo, which turned on its lights November 15 and probably won’t turn them off until well into Januarybut Christmas in Toledo will be much longer than usual this year. The City Council decided advance one week the implementation of its lighting and redoubling its commitment to attract tourists: if in 2024 the red button is pressed on November 29in 2025 it was activated the 21stwhen they started to shine 1.1 million LEDs100,000 more than a year ago. The result: Christmas brighter and more extensive that are remembered in the Castilian-La Mancha town. A percentage: 94.25%. The bet seems to have gone well for the City Council, which a few days ago he stuck out his chest due to the flood of tourists it received during the Constitution and Immaculate Bridge. According to the data provided by its Tourism Councilor, the city achieved a hotel occupancy of 94.25%, which, he emphasizes, consolidates it as “one of the preferred destinations” for visitors. As a reference, the year-on-year increase in visits has exceeded 47%. Visitors came to Toledo from Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona, ​​Seville, other towns in the province of Toledo and even travelers from France, Italy, Argentina and the USA. The tourist boom was not limited to just the long weekend. Although Christmas has not yet started as such, The Spanish posted last week a series of photos that show that the historic center of the city was crowded again on the weekend of December 13 and 14. One coin, two sides. Greater influx of visitors usually translates (not always) in more business for restaurants, more guests in hotels and a greater number of potential clients for commerce. In Toledo, however, there are those who has raised his voice to warn that all this does not come for free to the city. And not just because of the cost of Christmas decorations. The same Friday that the mayor presided over the ceremony a group of residents of the historic center turning on the lights they concentrated to denounce the impact that crowds and mass tourism have on their lives. Is it something new? No. The debate on tourism (and its impact) it’s not new in Toledo. In fact, a few months ago the City Council gave the green light to an ordinance that seeks precisely to “promote a balanced coexistence between visitors and neighbors” and sets limits to the use of megaphones or tourist groups. This Christmas, however, the patience of the neighbors seems to have been exhausted. First for the phenomenon of Christmas tourismwhich transcends to other areas of Spain. Second, because this year Toledo has decided stretch your holidays. “Dangerous streets”. The most critical residents warn of the saturation of the historic center and how this affects their daily lives. After all, those who live in tourist areas are forced to continue with their routines (working, shopping, walking the dog…) with the streets crowded with visitors. “There are a lot of people circulating. I understand that they come to do tourism, to enjoy themselves, but they should be aware that there are people living there who are carrying out their normal daily lives,” explains to elDiario Natacha, a neighbor of the Historic Center who complains about the “overcrowding” on weekends. One of her neighbors, Carmen, goes even further and warns: “The streets are becoming dangerous.” And what is the solution? There is who poses distribute the tourist offer throughout the town to decongest the historic center and seek a “more livable” city model. One thing is clear: Toledo is forced to deal with two realities that seem to collide with each other. A, the discomfort on the part of its inhabitants with the agglomerations, something that is clear with their protests. The other reality is that tourism is a fundamental (and inalienable) source of wealth for the region. In 2023, for example, it assumed 7.3% of GDP of Castilla-La Mancha. Beyond Toledo. Toledo is not the only city that has encountered such a dilemma. In Vigo too have registered protests of neighbors and groups critical of the Christmas lights phenomenon, which according to the City Council attracts several million of visitors to the city in a matter of two months. Perhaps the most critical voice is that of the Vigo Central Zone Neighborhood Association, which complaint that the holidays become “a period of circulatory chaos, mobility problems, security problems, dirt and noise and light pollution in the heart of the city.” Your complaints already They have arrived at the court. Images | Toledo City Council In Xataka | There is a reason why Vigo is announcing its Christmas in Japan. And it has little to do with Japanese tourists

Five original devices and accessories to give to a techie for Christmas

by

What gift this time for Christmas? Many times we run out of ideas, so it is always good to receive a little help. If you are still missing some (or some) gifts to buy for a technology lover, in this article we are going to review five original ideas to hit the nail on the head. Muse M-132 WM by 39.66 euros when added to cart, a portable cassette player. elago W6 by 15.99 eurosan accessory to “convert” an Apple Watch into an iPod. Elgato Stream Deck Neo by 69.99 eurosan accessory that serves both for gaming and productivity. Cup warmer by 20.98 eurosan ideal device for coffee or tea lovers. Unitree Go2 Air by 2,595 eurosa robot dog with artificial intelligence functions. Muse M-132 WM Perhaps the new generations don’t know it or find it strange, but those of us who already had gray hair used cassette tapes to listen to music. If the person you want to give a gift to has some tapes collecting dust and you want to liven them up, El Corte Inglés has this portable player Muse M-132 WM by 39.66 euros. This is a Private Sale offer, so to see this price you must first register in the store and add the player to the cart. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links elago W6 Continuing with old devices, iPods were very useful devices, but unfortunately they were forgotten after many years accompanying us listening to music. It’s not an iPod, but if the person you have to give the gift to has an Apple Watch, the elago W6 allows you to “turn” it into the Apple music device to recharge the watch. yes really This is a portable charger which, according to the brand, is compatible with all Apple Watch series. Its price in this case is 15.99 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Elgato Stream Deck Neo He Elgato Stream Deck Neo It is an accessory that is more oriented towards gaming and broadcasting, but the truth is that, as we already mentioned in Xatakait’s also perfect for productivity. By 69.99 euroswe are talking about an accessory with eight LCD keys that allows set shortcuts, switch apps and much more. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Cup warmer There are few things like having a good, warm coffee in the middle of winter. To prevent it from cooling, a cup warmer like Accwork’s, which also costs only 20.98 euros. It has three temperature settings (maximum up to 85 ºC) to maintain the temperature of the coffee or tea, turns off automatically If we go 10 minutes without placing the cup, it has memory functions depending on the type of cup and has a timer. Accwork Mug Warmer The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Unitree Go2 Air If you feel (very) generous and want to give him a gift techie to someone who has been extremely good this year, MediaMarkt has on offer the Unitree Go2 Aira quadruped robot (or robot dog) that includes a battery, is capable of carrying objects weighing up to 10 kg (7 kg is recommended at most), incorporates 12 joint motors, 3D LIDAR sensors and intelligent detection and avoidance. Its autonomy is one to two hours and its price is 2,595 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Muse, elago, Elgato, Accwork, Unitree In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best sports watches with GPS. Which one to buy and most recommended models from 199 euros to 749 euros

It’s tempting to start a “miracle diet” against the clock to get to Christmas. The experts have something to say

by

We have reached December and, with it, Christmas lights turn on and also a silent race that repeats itself every year. While company dinners, meetings with friends and family gatherings accumulate, thousands of people begin what we could call “the last sprint”: losing weight quickly before sitting down at the table at Christmas. But behind this sprint There is a much more complex phenomenon. One that has social, emotional and biological roots, and that hides a perverse effect. Express diets teach the body to be more efficient in saving energy, which ends up causing us to regain it and sometimes even more after losing weight quickly. The pre-Christmas sprint. Every December, an almost automatic reflex is activated, the feeling of having to “get there safely” to the holidays. The psychologist specialized in Eating Disorders (ED), Sara Bolo, He explained to us in Xataka that this phenomenon is not coincidental, but a pattern that repeats itself year after year. “Christmas is a special time, where we see family or friends again that we don’t see every day. And with that, comments about the body reappear: ‘I look thinner at you’, ‘you’ve gained weight’…” This dynamic, as common as it is harmful, multiplies aesthetic pressure and turns coexistence into a silent body examination. Another ingredient is added to this context, the purposes that were not fulfilled. “We arrived in December with the idea of New Year, New Me that we announced in January – says Bolo – and the urgency appears to show that we have achieved something.” That mixture of self-demand and closure of the cycle pushes many people to make drastic decisions in a very short time. One more factor. And it’s not just aesthetic pressure or frustration, there’s also anticipatory fear. According to Bolo, it is common for some people to restrict their diet in the weeks before, thinking that this way they “compensate” for Christmas meals in advance. “It becomes a defensive preparation. I don’t want them to tell me anything, I don’t want to feel guilty, so I start restricting before,” he details. This urgency is exactly what dietitian-nutritionist Laura Jorge also observes, director of the centers that bear her name. Since your consultation, December always has the same profile, more requests for “quick fixes”, more promises of express weight loss and more anxiety. “Every year we see an increase in people looking to lose X kilos ‘before the holidays’. It is a very clear pattern,” he explained to us in an interview. Three elements are repeated: urgency, guilt and dichotomous thinking – “now I restrict myself, and at Christmas I will eat” -. What starts as a sprintBoth experts agree, it usually ends up being an emotional and metabolic trap. The hidden enemy. Science explains it bluntly, when we subject the body to extreme and sudden caloric restriction, the body activates survival mechanisms, not weight loss. As Jorge details, the metabolism slows down, hunger increases, satiety decreases and the body begins to use muscle mass as a source of energy. This not only makes it difficult to maintain weight loss, but also reduces basal metabolic expenditure, making it easier for us to gain weight later. Scientific research supports these observations. A study of New England Journal of Medicine showed thatafter losing weight, leptin—the satiety hormone—was still low and ghrelin—the hunger hormone—was still elevated even 12 months later, even though the person had already recovered part of their eating routine. The authors conclude that these adaptations create “a physiological environment that favors the recovery of what was lost.” In addition, the factor of genetics must be taken into account. A study from 2024 published in International Journal of Obesity points out that not everyone responds the same; some people, after repeated cycles, develop a greater risk of insulin resistance or visceral adiposity. The other side. Rapid weight loss has an immediate emotional effect and makes it seem like a success. “You get on the scale, you see fewer kilos and you feel immediate euphoria,” admits Sara Bolo. But it is a mirage. When the weight returns – as it usually does – the emotional collapse appears: guilt, frustration, shame, absolute thoughts (“I am a failure”, “I have no willpower”). Furthermore, the environment reinforces this dynamic because thinness is praised and gain is censored, even with “innocent” comments. This back and forth deteriorates self-esteem and fuels restrictive behaviors that, far from solving the problem, intensify it. A door that is better not to open. “The restrictive diet is the first step of any eating disorder,” he says. the psychologist Rigid control, obsessive calorie counting, avoiding social meals, or classifying foods as good or bad are early signs. And Christmas is one of the moments where they manifest themselves the most. Laura Jorge agrees: “In these weeks we see people who begin to talk obsessively about compensating, skipping meals or doing compulsive exercise. These are signs that should not be ignored.” The combination of aesthetic pressure, abundance of stimuli and comments can activate a latent ED or aggravate an existing one. When the comment is “innocent”, it is not. Social responsibility is evident. The experts remember that comments as common as: “Oops, are you repeating yourself already?” “That’s good, you’re thinner.” “After these meals, tomorrow on a diet.” Behind all these phrases, a thin laugh follows that for many sounds like a roar. And as experts say, they are not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful. “You have to take care of your language,” summarizes the nutritionist. “Do not congratulate people for losing weight, do not comment on their own or other people’s bodies, do not pressure them to eat or stop eating.” Aesthetic pressure often begins with a comment that seemed harmless. So how can we accompany? For those who live Christmas meals with fear of losing control, the key is not in the plate, but in the environment. The psychologist Sara Bolo insists that accompany It does not mean guarding, but offering a safe space. His advice … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.