decision

The irrational fear of changing jobs has a name and influences your decision making: sunk cost fallacy

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Often people They cling to jobs that they no longer satisfy them – or that, directly, They do not support-, but they resist leaving it moved by the fear of losing everything they have invested to get to where they are: time, effort or training. Although it may seem strange, this behavior responds to a psychological bias called sunk cost fallacy. This bias can delay decision making to leave a job and perpetuate itself in an unfavorable work situation that can even affect mental health .. What is the sunk cost fallacy? Psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem coined for the first time In 1972 the idea of ​​cognitive bias psychologists such as Daniel KahnemanNobel Prize in 2002, were based on the work of Tversky and Kahneman To demonstrate The profound influence of this bias on business and personal decision making, being relatively easy to be trapped in that immobility situation. Richard Thaler presented for the first time The practical concept of the fallacy of the sunk cost, concluding that people have a greater tendency to use a certain good or service when they have previously invested money in them. According Research From the University of Ohio (USA), the fallacy of the sunk cost refers to the trend that people have to continue an activity or remain in a certain situation because resources have already been invested in it, although these resources are unrecoverable and the logical decision would be to abandon it. In labor decision making, falling into the fallacy of the sunk cost – or of unrecoverable cost – implies postponing indefinitely the decision to change jobs Just because we do not want to “lose” what has cost us to reach the current position. The bias in important decisions This thought error causes people to stagnate in jobs that do not motivate them and are even restricting their professional potential, even when there are evidence of other more beneficial and rational options. The bias is based on a determining psychological factor such as loss aversion. For example, the personal feeling of responsibility for the resources already invested, or the fear to seem like a “wasteful” to others, can make someone stay years in a job that no longer provides satisfaction or professional growth. In Psychological researchit has been proven that the change of work is postponed, although the alternative is clearly better. This paralysis is produced by this aversion to the psychological loss that supposes that all the effort made in the past has fallen into a broken bag. Trapped in their own trap A study carried out by the researchers at the University of Kansas with more than 1,000 participants showed that, who fall into this fallacy, have greater symptoms of anxiety and postpone the search for professional help. Recent research From the Department of Psychology and Economics of the University of California in San Diego, they reflect that “the fact that you have dedicated unrecoverable resources to a project does not mean that you have to sink with the ship,” said their authors. The scientific evidence It reveals that, to avoid making irrational decisions, it is essential to identify this cognitive bias and learn to make decisions based on objective data and future possibilities, not in what has cost you to reach the point where you are. Recognizing the fallacy of the sunk cost is the first step to overcome it In labor decisions. If this awareness does not occur, there is a risk of continuing to invest resources, even more intensely, falling into a vicious circle that will be increasingly complicated to leave. Such and as they highlight From Asana, it is important not to get carried away by immobility and make decisions based on objective data and take an external perspective, not get carried away by fears and investments of the past. In Xataka | We thought to choose among more options would make us freer. The “choice paradox” says no Image | Unspash (Marco Kaufmann)

With war drums playing in Europe, Germany has made a radical decision: recovering the “mili”

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The Ukraine War and the elongated shadow of Putin have not only reactivated the debate on Military spending In NATO. He has also recovered a word closely linked to that discussion and that for decades has been taboo in much of Europe: ‘milli’. Germany has decided that it changes. Your government has launched The legislative machinery to recover military service, suspended in the country since 2011. will do so with a voluntary recruitment system, although it already warns that this could change if the army does not grow to the Desired rhythm. And the starting goal is ambitious. What happened? That Germany has moved to recover military service. Yesterday, Friedrich Merz’s government government approved the bill that will open the doors to a new volunteer mili with which the country aspires to strengthen its defense. He did it after months of debatein a context in which each even more countries from Europe its military services are rethink and with a staging loaded with intentions: the announcement was made after a cabinet meeting in the Ministry of Defense, something that did not happen for several decades. What do you want to do? At the moment implement a voluntary mili, although the Foreign Minister himself It has slipped That in a few years the government has not achieved its objectives will seek ways to achieve “a greater commitment.” What we will see in the short term is a Germany that reactivates the service with certain peculiarities: it will send a letter to all the men and women born from 2008 to respond whether they are interested or not to participate. In the same questionnaire questions about academic preparation and the state of physical form will be included. Among those who respond affirmatively, a group of volunteers will be chosen who must undergo a medical examination. If everything is correct they will participate in a military service of at least half a year, a extendable term that will also include financial compensation. Selected young people can choose which of the army branches want to acquire skills, which includes the bodies of the marine, armed, air force and specialized units in cyberspace. Are more details known? Yes. To begin with, the schedule that the government handles. The law must still receive the guarantee of Parliament, but Merz Trust in which the new mili can be released “immediately”, from 2026. It is also known that there will be A small difference Between men and women. Both will receive the questionnaire, but only they must cover it if they do not want to receive a fine. After that difference, Clarify The countrythere is a mixture of historical and legislative factors. Until 2011, the year in which Germany said goodbye to the mandatory military service, the only ones who participated were the men. The government never eliminated the service, only suspended it, and expand the obligation now to women would require modifying the Constitution, which would further complicate the process. Will it always be voluntary? The million dollar question. And it is not easy to answer it. At the moment the mili will return to German with a voluntary character, but Merz has left the door open To that change in the medium term: “If in the next one, two or three years the objectives are not met, we have created a mechanism in the law that will lead to greater commitment.” The change, of course, will demand that the Government and Parliament return to position themselves. The norm would therefore allow the recruitment approach to be reviewed without the need for the geopolitical context. The voluntary (or mandatory) character of the service has been the great disagreement point and the detail that has most tensioned the discussion between the different political forces. The conservatives advocate a mechanism that allows recruits to be captured in a more agile way in the event that the Government considers it necessary and Christianocial Union even goes further by demanding the return to the mandatory mili. In the opposite pole there are who argues than the Bundeswehr I would arouse greater interest if the working conditions it offers to the young Germans. Will you do something in that line? Yes. Conscious of the debate, Minister Boris Pistorius insisted Yesterday when the Executive is improving the conditions of the recruits. “In the future the salary will be 2,300 euros, a remarkable increase. There are no accommodation or medical insurance expenses. Therefore it is a package that considerably increases the attractiveness compared to the current situation.” In an attempt to make the more attractive offer for recruits, he insisted that “flexible training schedules” and the possibility of participating in courses will be offered. What the government has also decided is that From 2028 It will implement a mandatory medical examination for all young people between 18 and 25 years old, which will allow the country to know its “really available recruits” base. What is the goal? Reinforce the defense. Something that is better understood with figures. Right now the German army is made up of about 183,000 active men and women. What the government wants is to reach 260,000 at the beginning of the next decade, amount that NATO Consider adequate For the country. Another of Merz’s team is extend 200,000. To reach these figures will also involve a challenge for the German administration itself. “We all want to see that increase quickly, but there are a number of objective criteria that must be met. The two basics are the locations and instructors. If we do not have them we cannot call rows to 350,000 young people from Germany. We are missing barracks and instructors. That means that now everything has to grow again from below, an increase that is being promoted,” Merz recognized yesterday. Why now? By the European geopolitical context, marked by two major factors. The main one, the role of Russia and its relationship with Europe since the Kremlin decided to start the military occupation of Ukrainein 2022. The … Read more

Spain has just changed the fiber optic rules after 25 years. The decision benefits a company: Telefónica

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The National Markets and Competition Commission He has decided to completely free Telefónica of its obligation to share the fiber optic network with other operators. A measure that ends almost three decades of state supervision initiated after the privatization of 1999. Why is it important. Telefónica thus recovers the total autonomy about its infrastructure of 30.8 million houses covered. You can freely decide who your network shares, at what price and under what conditions, without prior regulatory supervision. The context. Since the privatization of Telefónica at the end of the last century, the State imposed the obligation to rent its network to competitors to promote competition. What began with Gigaadsl in 1999 evolved until NEBA in 2012forcing the operator to initially share 100% of its network, reduced to 25% since 2016. What has happened. The CNMC Council approved on July 29 eliminated these restrictions for two key reasons: The Masorange fusion has created a competitor that surpasses Telefónica in number of clients. The broadband market has greater competition with new independent wholesalers and more fiber deployments. In detail. The resolution will enter into force in February 2026, giving six months to the operators that NEBA use to renegotiate agreements or migrate customers to other networks. Telefónica will keep only The framework obligation of renting physical infrastructure such as arches and pipes. And now what. On the one hand, Telefónica will gain commercial agility by not needing prior approval of the CNMC for new offers or technical changes. On the other hand, its competitors will lose the advantage of knowing in advance the strategies of the operator, which until now had to pass the regulatory “replicability” filter. The big question. How will you use this new freedom to compete. The operator can now launch offers without notifying their rivals or waiting for regulatory approval, just when it must present their new strategy – that of The era with Murtra in command– Before ending 2025. Outstanding image | Telefónica In Xataka | 100 years after his birth, Telefónica faces the greatest existential dilemma in its history: what wants to be older

A Netscape decision in the 90s explains why Google and Meta grow up with each technological revolution

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In 1995, engineers of Netscape They faced a problem during a development night: how to allow websites to execute code without being able to steal user data? Thirty years later, its solution, the ‘Same-Origin Policy‘(Policy of the same origin), has become the invisible architecture that governs all the Internet. Why is it important. Each website became an isolated universe, unable to communicate with others. That night decision explains why we can barely escape the Apple ecosystem, why our data live trapped in silos and why each technological revolution makes the usual giants more powerful. The context. Alex Komoroske, former strategy director in Stripe and former director of Google for 13 years, He has identified what he calls the “iron triangle” of modern software. System designers can only combine two of these three elements: Sensitive data. Internet access. And non -reliable code. The logic is simple: if you allow unknown code to access personal data and have Internet connection, you can steal everything and send it anywhere. The solution was the total isolation. Each application became a fortress where your Instagram data cannot talk to Uber’s, your Apple photos cannot be processed by Google tools, and each service begins knowing zero about you. In detail. Komoroske Talk about this phenomenon With the water metaphor going down a mountain. Each obstacle does not stop the flow, redirects it where there is less resistance. Over time, channels are formed that attract more water to become increasingly large rivers. Planning a trip illustrates this mechanism: Flights in the mail. Hotel in another app. Restaurants in Google Docs. Calendar in a different tool. The constant friction of copying, pasteing and reformating leads to grant access to a single service that already knows all your context. Without friction, everything works perfect. When you share the trip, you use the tool that already has all the information. The threat. The AI promises to be different, but is inheriting the same physics. The LLMS They can create almost free software – a developer with AI can build in hours what it took weeks – allowing infinitely personalized tools. But this “infinite software” distributed through traditional stores does not solve our problems: it amplifies them. More applications mean more silos, more places where your data is trapped. The AI needs context to be useful, but our current security model means that sharing context is a commitment of all or nothing. Yes, but. The technical pieces to transcend this paradigm already exist. Modern Intel, AMD and ARM chips include “safe enclaves“, encrypted and protected memory regions of anyone, including cloud administrators. AI brings us a unique opportunity, because it makes the current limitation evident. The technical pieces already exist and it is the first time in thirty years that we can transcend this policy. While nothing changes, the concentration of power will continue to reinforce. In Xataka | What was ATI: to look at Nvidia to end and forgotten by the technology industry Outstanding image | Netscape, Xataka, Unspash

The decision that opens a gap between China and the United States and will define the future of AI

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It is one of the hottest debates in the AI race and that is making the difference between the two most advanced powers. China is committed to Open Source with models such as Deepseek, while in the United States they lead private developments such as Chatgpt or Claude. Meta, on the other hand, has been defending the Open Source for a long time. Or we believed. According to the New York Timesnew Mark Zuckerberg Superintelligence Team I would be questioning this strategy in favor of developing a closed model. Flying. If confirmed, it would be a drastic change in the finish line. In 2023, goal It joined other companies To defend the creation of open source models and have not been few times when Mark Zuckerberg has said that his AI is Open Source (although not all true). Now that the new Superintelligence Team commanded by Alexandr Wang He has started working, they are considering whether to continue with the plan or choose to develop a closed model. Behemoth. It is the name of the AI Open Source that Meta was developing, its largest model to date. In fact, Behemoth’s bad results would have been The trigger for Zuckerberg decided to create the new AI team. Nearby sources claim that one of the first discussions of the team has been to leave its development. There is also the possibility that Behemoth’s development continues and that the new team focuses on developing a new model that points to the great goal of goal: Create a general artificial intelligence. What is an open AI. The Open Source concept is not new, but with the arrival of AI there has been enough debate about its definition. The AI models are very complex and the classical definition did not adapt to them, so in October last year the Open Source Initiative agency The Osaid published (Open source ai definition), a definition with which Target I did not agree. In order for an AI open source, it must allow the following: Use the system for any purpose and without having to ask permission. Study the operation of the system and inspect its components. Modify the system for any purpose, even to change your performance. Share the system so that others use it, with or without modifications, for any purpose. Chinese patience. The United States and China are the two most powerful players in the AI race, but although they play the same game, they do it with Very different strategies. With Deepseekhis most famous AI model, China surprised to bet on the open source, a strategy that has allowed him Avoid the zancadillas that your rival puts With vetoes and restrictions. And it is not the only oun source in China, there are many more: Qwen from Alibaba, Doubou by bytedance, Ernie from Baidu, Hunyuan Turbo of Tencent or Kimi From MoNshot AI. It is not a matter of giving in exchange for anything, behind there is a strategy of Soft Power Technological: Today I give you access, with the intention of being dominant tomorrow. China wants to create global dependence on its models and be an alternative to the payment models of the Americans. China has the future vision and patience to do so, we have already seen how invested for decades to form engineers And that today gives a clear advantage in the AI race. American immediacy. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google… The greats of the AI of the United States have opted for private development and subscriptions to access their most leading models. The exception to the rule was put by the goal with flame, the only one whose code is accessible (at least part), But if they focus on private development, that closed approach will be armed even more. The objective is clear: they have the most advanced models and resources to continue training them, so they can obtain an economic benefit by monetizing them. They do it through subscriptions to pro versions or with specific products such as AI agents, it is the case of the newly announced Chatgpt agent. The trap. China’s strategy makes all the meaning if we take into account that they were behind their rival (although They have managed to cut positions in record time). With open and free IAS they manage to create a great very fast user base and create that dependence. However, it is not a good long -term strategy from the economic point of view. If in the future they begin to monetize, that sooner or later they will have to do it, they face two problems: that their users come out in disarray and that the regulators put their eyes in them. The United States maintains strong control and obtains benefits from minute one. Has the most sophisticated models, but every time prices are higher And that makes a luxury within reach of a few. Many will look for alternatives and there will be China with their open and free models. They are two opposite visions: one focused on the present and one in the future. We will have to wait to see what vision is imposed. Image | Bibek ghosh, and Kaboomps (Pexels) In Xataka | Four AI companies are monopolizing the intellectual future of humanity. They are not good news

China has been so close to dying with its solar panels that has made the only logical decision: manufacture less

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China is a colossus in the photovoltaic industry segment. They are not just installing huge parksbut dominate production with iron. So much that they have made The whole world depends on its technology and collapsed the price of the panels, drowning European and American manufacturers. The result of the crazy expansion was An internal price warbut after years of losses in the domestic market, they already propose a solution. Manufacture fewer panels. Storm. In 2020, China presented a zero emission plan Net for 2060. The goal is reduce your considerable carbon footprint and pollution and, for this, They marked That in 2030 there should be at least 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity installed. The energy began to act, but companies from other sectors saw that there was a lucrative opportunity and got into the business. The result? Market saturation and such a beast production of the modules that were drowning foreign companies, but also to the domestic market. If 1,200 GW of renewables installed in 2030 were needed, only the solar installed in 2024 already surpassed The 880 GW. To the search for solutions. Production folded world demand And prices crashed, with huge companies in the sector asking the State for help To be able to continue in business. In that unsustainable situation for your own industry because They lost money with each salea kind of OPEC For Chinese photovoltaic, the Chinese photovoltaic industry association, or CPPO, with 33 of the main manufacturers signing a self -control commitment. The meeting was held in December last year and its executives are still looking for solutions after years of price wars. This week the Snec pv & is expo 2025 In Shanghai, in which manufacturers and companies around the world have met to evaluate the global situation. And, although we have to wait to see what measures they take, the Asian association of the photovoltaic industry – one of the organizers of the event – is clear that it cannot be followed in this situation. Or we refer to one or sink. As we read in South China Morning Post“The solar industry is not a zero -sum game,” said Zhu Gongshan, president of the association, in the inauguration speech. “We are in this together and the extreme cost of costs and fierce competition are not different from drinking poison to calm thirst,” he said. China installed About 278 GW of solar capacity last year, a figure that represents almost 60% of the new facilities worldwide. And it was the result of an overcapacity that contributed to a fall of 60% of the prices of the solar modules between 2020 and 2024. At the December meeting, one of the measures agreed by the main manufacturers was to respect a minimum recommended price to preserve the margins, and had a moderately positive result in early 2025, with a price rebound. But they don’t loosen the accelerator. The Cpia estimated Between 215 and 255 GW for this year, a cut in front of the amount of last year, but the accounts do not leave and the rhythm of facilities that are being kept is still very high: until April 30, 105 GW had been added, 75% more than what was installed in the same period of the previous year. It is estimated that it was because in January a large number of facilities were carried out and that they will fall 44% in the second half of 2025. One of the measures driven By the Government to reorganize the industry, it entered into force on June 1: sell production at market price instead of a guaranteed rate in the new solar plants. The antidote. “Instead of waiting for a cyclical recovery, we must face a disruptive restructuring in the sector,” said Zhu. And what are the proposals? Several are handled, such as focusing on improving collaboration between the government and companies to confront the offer through regulations or mergers. Another is that I know Bet on technological innovation for both panels and production chain, which will allow sustainable growth and higher benefit margins. That is, not to make the crazy panels that anchored to a technology that can be quickly outdated, but is cheap, but to improve quality and make fewer panels, maintaining a higher price and avoiding saturation. Change of mentality. Another problem is that there are too many things to consider. Those 33 Chinese companies of the CPPO are not the only ones that manufacture panels and there are those who may not respect self -control agreements. But, in addition, these internal problems are added tariff manids imposed by the United States. In the case of panels, Trump’s administration He imposed tariffs of More than 3,500% to the importation of panels from China and 60% to materials such as polisilicio, wafers and Chinese solar cells. China’s response, according to the president of one of the local businesses, should be internationalization. “Due to tariffs, it is no longer enough to export: we must locate production abroad,” said Gao Jifan, president of Trina Solar. We will see what happens, but try to stop that saturation of the market is significant, and that they talk about democrating production can generate a new battle from Western countries that we have already seen with the Chinese car: the one that try to attract the attention of manufacturers. Image | Huasun In Xataka | Solar panels that clean other solar panels: the photovoltaic industry has entered its self -replicant phase

How a decision in France and a connection in southern Spain caused the blackout

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Huenaja, a small Granada town of just 1,100 inhabitants and with more than 700 megawatts installed of solar energy, It was the zero zone of the blackout of April 28. In seven seconds, everything It was plunged into a total collapse. Now the expert committee of the European Network of Transmission Systems Operators (Entso-E) has identified Two questions. The investigation. For more than six weeks, this European agency has worked to find the causes of the blackout, apart from the Electricity of Spain and its Portuguese homologous, Ren. According to the reporthalf an hour before collapse, two episodes of power and frequency oscillations were recorded in the European continental network. The Iberian Peninsula, connected to the continent mainly through lines with France, began to lose synchronism. A new detail. The ETSO-E has pointed out that at 12:16 and 12:22, there was a change in interconnection with France: a system with dynamic control (hiking of direct current) was passed to a fixed export mode of 1,000 MW to the Gallic country. According to the experts consulted, this decision left the Spanish system without support for synchronous power, which reduced its margin of action before oscillations. As a piece of dominoes. Almost in parallel, Ree made an internal connection of lines in southern Spain, which, According to Entso-ewould have caused surge located in areas such as Huenaja (Granada), Valdecaballeros (Badajoz) and Don Rodrigo (Seville). Several electrical plants then activated their automatic protections, disconnecting to avoid damage. This further aggravated the tension in the network, triggering a chain reaction: generation falls, frequency loss and total disconnection of the Iberian system of the rest of Europe. Was any system activated? System defense plans, automatic mechanisms designed to stop these processes, were activated, according to has confirmed The report. However, they were not able to contain the fall due to the speed and intensity of the event. At 12:18:47, the interconnection lines between Spain and France were disconnected by protection against the loss of synchronism. At that moment, the peninsula was isolated and collapsed completely. A major debate. This crisis has uncovered a great conflict at the technical and political level, while responsibilities They pass like a hot potato. The debate is intensified around the backup systems and the penetration of renewable energy. On the one hand, nuclear plants They were criticized For disconnecting, but three were in scheduled stop, and the others operated normally until the system collapsed, activating protection protocols. On the other hand, the lack of inertia of the system has been stated again. Not synchronous renewable energies, such as solar and wind, They do not contribute inertia to the electrical systemwhich makes it difficult to stop sudden frequency falls. However, blaming renewables would be to simplify excessively. However, the technical report is clear: it was not exclusive fault of renewables, but a systemic failure, aggravated by operational decisions and structural limitations such as low international interconnection. An interconnection problem. The blackout has evidence They have demanded France that is committed to concrete deadlines and binding actions to advance in electrical interconnection corridors. What comes now. The Entso-E expert panel continues their research and have created A web page for this. Now they will meet on June 23 and will be delivered to the European Commission. Meanwhile, the event leaves an awkward lesson: in an increasingly renewable and decentralized electrical system, technical coordination, The operational resilience and cross -border planning They are more crucial than ever. Image | Unspash Xataka | Spain and Portugal are tired of promises: they ask France to leave the electric alley

In 1914 Russia decided to prohibit vodka to stop alcoholism. It was a disastrous decision

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Exists A legend (not confirmed) that said that, when the final surrender of Nazi Germany was known in World War II, the jubilation with which it was held in the Soviet Union is counted as one of the drunkenness more epic in the history of ethyl celebrations. The myth did not stay there, since the story said the Victory Day It led to the closest to a “national alcoholic blackout”, leaving the nation Without vodka in just 24 hours. The truth is that, whether or not, it makes all the meaning of the world. They came from a prohibition that had resulted. An ancestral relationship. Counted in an extensive Report The Atlantic that the Russian inclination towards alcohol has religious and political roots. In 988, the Prince Vladimir chose orthodox Christianity in part for not prohibiting Alcohol consumption, unlike Islam. During the 16th century, Ivan the terrible established the first state taverns (the calls Kabaks) that they became Fiscal monopolies. In less than a century, a third of Russian men I was indebted With these drink houses. Already in the 18th century, Pedro the Great consolidated that institutional dependence: not only tolerated the alcoholism of his subjects, but punished wives They tried to get their husbands out of the taverns, and recruited ethyl debtors for the army. Arrived at the nineteenth century, the State obtained almost half of its income from the sale of vodka. Far from being an externality of the system, alcohol would be said that it became its collection engine. In this context, the Tsar was going to make a decision of Ajundia. Imperial abstinence. According to Timethe history of the Russian prohibition not only precedes the famous Dry American Lawbut it constitutes one of the most transcendental (and fatal) decisions of the Tsar Nicolás II. It happened in September 1914, when a few days after the death in combat of his cousin, the prince Oleg Romanovthe Tsar sent a telegram to his uncle Konstantin Konstantinovich announcing the definitive suppression of the state sale of vodka in Russia. That gesture, which apparently responded to a moral conviction and a personal loss, dismantled one of the pillars Economics of the Empire: For centuries, the State had maintained a lucrative monopoly on alcohol, generating up to a third of its income thanks to sales to the peasantry. When renouncing that source of financing just at the threshold of World War I, Nicolás not only unleashed a deep fiscal crisis, but also fragile social contract between the throne and its people. Nicolás II Catastrophic consequences. The problem was not only economic. The measure was adopted at a time when the empire tried Revict your prestige After the defeat in the Russian-Japanese war of 1905, where alcoholism among soldiers was indicated as a decisive factor of military collapse. Collective drunkenness during mobilizations and the front had been so notorious that even the Káiser Guillermo II He came to declare that in the next conflict he would win the nation that he least drank. Under that impulse, the ban seemed a strategic decision, aimed at disciplining the army and facilitating mobilization. And, indeed, Russia initially deploy troops quickly and obtain some early victories. However, the price was elevated: by suddenly depriving millions of people of their usual consumption in full war and without social compensation mechanisms, a deep resentment Between peasants, workers and soldiers, amplifying the distance between imperial power and masses. Logistic collapse The Tsar appointed the reformist Peter Bark as Minister of Finance with the difficult task of disconnecting the treasury of alcohol, but the budget vacuum became unsustainable. Given the loss of hundreds of millions of rubles, the solution was the most precarious: Print moneyaccelerating hyperinflation and eroding even more the economy of war. The fiction that national productivity had improved without vodka was sustained with falsified reports and grandiloquent statements, while citizens suffered the consequences of shortage and monetary depreciation. At the logistics level, chaos was equally shocking: the wagons that had to transport grain and supplies to the front were occupied by Aristocratic distillators That, prevented from selling within the country, tried to export their vodka to France, Japan or any port available, saturating the already weak Russian rail networks. From Tsarism to Bolshevism. Paradoxically, the prohibitionist policyborn within the Tsarist conservative regime, was one of the few who survived the tumultuous change of governments that Russia shook Between 1917 and 1924. Neither the provisional government nor Lenin’s Bolsheviks revoked the measure. The communist leader, in fact, defended it as a Ethical and ideological principlewarning that a socialism based on the sale of alcohol was a betrayal of the revolutionary ideal. During the civil war, discipline, sobriety and consumption control were seen as essential components of the new order. Of course, after Lenin’s deaththe logic of state benefit imposed once again: Stalin The monopoly reestablished of vodka (now decorated with the Hoz and the hammer), restoring the practices of the old empire under a new clothing ideological. In terms of fiscal consumption and profitability, the prohibitionist stage It was erased almost completely. Moral experiment. That’s how it ended A movement That did not go as expected, much less. Beyond its symbolism, the Russian prohibition embodies a singular case where a moral decision, taken from power, precipitated the collapse of a regime whole. Time told That, in the context of a devastating war, a broken economy and a desperate population, the elimination of one of the few social exhaust valves ended up exacerbating all the latent tensions of the system. The Zar tried to save the soul of the Russian people removing alcohol, but ended up losing the throne. Thus, the vodka veto not only marked the start of the end of The Romanovbut left a enduring lesson about the risks of moralizing governance in times of crisis. Now, that legend of the end of World War II and the greater ethyl celebration It charges all the meaning of the world, because, sometimes, drunkenness can be more … Read more

Only a few days after the MWC, at the Barcelona airport they have made a controversial decision: evict the synthes

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Airports are By definition places where they land and take off airplanes, where travelers pass and in which one hopes to meet suitcasespeople running, Farewell scenes (and reunions), screens full of numbers and Duty Frees. However, they are something else: the roof under which hundreds of homeless people are sheltered who find in the terminals covered and safe spaces where to spend the night. To a greater or lesser extent occurs or has occurred at the airports of Madrid, Malaga, Tenerife either Barcelonaalthough in the latter they have just move token For that to change. How he has done it and especially when, just a few days after the beginning of the Mobile World Congress and the arrival of thousands of visitors, It has generated controversy. Homeless people in Prat? Exactly, the figures dance depending on the source that is consul A hundred Syntch. There are those who raise the number of people who spend the night in the enclosure to 160 or who go further and talk about around 180 or even 200people who with greater or lesser frequency convert the terminal into their improvised home. Is it a unique case? At all. A quick search arrives on Google to verify that in other busy airports of the network managed by AENA, such as Madrid-Barajas, South Tenerife either Malaga-Costa del Solsomething similar happens or has happened in recent years. And it is not something exclusive to Spain. Similar cases are in United Kingdom, Argentina, USA either Italy. And that to cite some examples. Of all perhaps the most commented over the last weeks is that of the Madrid-Barajas airport. And the reason is basically An estimate: Little union alternative Aena Enaire (ASAE) calculated that among the four terminals that make up the airport there are around 500 people homeless, well above the handful of tens that added just a decade ago. And what happened in Barcelona? That the airport has just been the scene of An operation to evict the synthesch that sleep in their facilities. The avant -garde Explain that Tuesday night Aena deployed a device in which a dozen security guards participated and basically focused on the homeless people left the T1 terminal. In the operation, agents were also involved the Mossos d’esquadra, although they clarify That it was not his initiative and his task was to offer support, and emergency personnel and the social area of ​​El Prat and Barcelona. The eviction would have started the eleven and a half from the night and lasted until the early morning. The Catalan newspaper Precise That days ago there were already personnel who were in charge of informing the Sintecho that on Tuesday a device for the “disinfection” of the T1 would be deployed that would prevent them from following inside, an operation that has already been deployed before in the T2. Other media They pointwithout citing sources, that the objective was double: clean and send a message to the people who spend there. “Paso de Paso”. The phrase is Maurici LucenaPresident and CEO of Aena, who He has spoken of the theme: “Aena feels concerned with the people who spend the nights in our infrastructure. Airports are designed as a place of passage, not to structurally offer pernocentation solutions.” From the body has not come into details, but eldiario.es Precise that at least the initial plan was for the device to be repeated again. In its day the Generalitat de Cataluña, the municipalities of El Prat and Barcelona and Aena signed An agreement focused precisely on homeless people who live in the terminals, but that agreement expired on January 2024which affected the assistance they receive. In October police sources They already recognized to The country The complex thing that was becoming the situation: “We make social assistants and it is not our work.” At that time there was talk of a hundred synthesch. It matters where … And matters when. He AENA device In the Prat it arrives at a very specific moment, on the eve of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which starts on Monday and stands out as one of the great citations of the congressman and fair calendar of Catalonia. The appointment mobilizes tens of thousands of people and the first and last one that many of them see in Barcelona is precisely their airport. That coincidence has not gone unnoticed. Not even for Lucena himself, who assures that Tuesday’s operation is not related to the technological fair. “It has nothing to do with that, I guarantee that,” insists the director of the airport manager. The MWC is not the only factor that marks the context of the operation. In autumn Airport employees manifested in T1 to report that they feel “fear” for thieves and some syntch in the terminal. “Punitive and cosmetic device”. From CCOO already They have warned that the improvement of the safety of the workforce “cannot be an excuse to stigmatize the extremely vulnerable population” and insists that the security of the personnel “should be negotiated with the social agents”, “which is not done”, Apostille. CCOO also questions the motivation of the measure on Tuesday and speaks of a “punitive and cosmetic device for the Mobile World Congress.” “It is unacceptable”. CCOO has not been the only one to show its discomfort because of what happened at the airport. Taula d´entitats of the third social sector of Catalunya and Ecas have issued A statement Also in critical tone: “We consider that it is unacceptable to have normalized the situation of these homeless people and not have planned an accompaniment device with overnight alternative.” Social entities regret transferred to the press that the device was activated for “security” and “unhealthiness” reasons. “We suspend that (these) terms are not used when referring to these people because they contribute to stigma on the situations of poverty and exclusion,” ditch The collective. Images | Jorge Fraganillo (Flickr), Contliciun (Flickr) In Xataka | The Olympic Games are just around the corner, so Paris has … Read more

The price of rice has raised so much that Japan has had to make an unprecedented decision: resort to its reservations

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Few things reflect to what extent there is a crisis situation that the price of a basic product in the supermarket. In Japan, and in most Asia, Rice is a fundamental pillar of foodsupporting the life of much of the population. However, a combination of factors threatens the essential cereal. In Japan he has never been so expensive, and the government has made an unprecedented decision. Tons of rice. Given the increase in rice due to distribution problems, the Japanese government has announced that, As of March, it will release 210,000 tons from its emergency reserve To stabilize the market. It is, therefore, The first time this reserve is used with the purpose of reducing pricesinstead of doing so for emergencies such as bad harvests or natural disasters. The Minister of Agriculture, Taku Eto, emphasized that rice production has been enough to meet demand, but bottlenecks in the distribution have maintained high prices. In 2024, Production increased by 180,000 tons compared to the previous year. However, the amount collected by distributors fell into 210,000 tons, which suggests that Farmers and wholesalers retained stocks anticipating new price increases. According to researcher Masayuki Ogawa at UTSunomiya University, The mismatch is due to the entry of speculative buyers They have artificially maintained prices without the benefits reaching producers. Crisis factors. As we said at the beginning (And in past weeks), there are several. The price of a five kg package of Japanese rice has risen from 2,023 yen to 3,688 yen in a year. Causes? The 2023 record heat wave reduced agricultural yields and reserves, while consumption increased due to unprecedented tourism. Besides, The warnings of typhoons and earthquakes unleashed panic purchaseswhich led some retailers to limit sales. To this we must add what we commented before. The harvest has not been bad, but quite the opposite, but everything indicates that farmers and wholesalers retained stocks anticipating new price increases. Liberation strategy and expectations. To relieve market pressure, The Ministry will initially auction 150,000 tons of rice to agricultural and wholesale cooperatives, mostly composed of a grain of 2024, with a small part of 2023. Subsequently, another 60,000 tons will be releaseddepending on the impact of the first phase. The auction will take place in mid -March, which means that rice will begin to reach shops between the end of March and April. The main objective is clear: Improve distribution without intervening directly in the market price mechanism. In this regard, Eto reaffirmed the government’s position that Prices must be regulated by supply and demandtrusting that the measure helps normalize the situation. In addition, the Ministry plans to replace (buy “back”) the amount released within the year, with flexibility in the deadlines according to the market reaction. Impact on consumers and industry. While the measure is expected to reduce the price of rice, Ogawa warned that The decrease will not be immediate or uniform at all points of sale. Instead of directly impacting prices in supermarkets, released rice probably is destined for the prepared food industry, such as restaurants, hospitals and schools. What is that reserve of the nation. Japan implemented its rice reservation system in 1995, after the supply crisis caused by an unusually cold summer in 1993. Since then, since then, since then, The government maintains a stock of approximately one million tons and are stored in some 300 facilities nationwide, annually renewing 200,000 tons to guarantee the supply in emergency situations. In fact, a warehouse in Saitama, near Tokyo, allowed access to media before the ad, Showing 20,000 tons of rice, enough to fill 300 million bowls. In the past, these reserves have been used after natural disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 in Tohoku and the Lady of Kumamoto in 2016. Now it remains to be seen that the movement has effect and the stabilization in the distribution is containing the price increase In the medium term. Image | Rawpixel In Xataka | In full tourist boom, Japan has encountered a historical rice crisis. Now pay 30% more expensive In Xataka | Japan has no doubt that he approaches a brutal crisis. The cost of cooking your star dish has never been so high

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