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Chile had a desert full of used clothes. Now you have something to brag about

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Just a few years ago, images of the Atacama Desert, covered by mountains of discarded clothing, they went around the world. From space, satellites they captured a multicolored mosaic in the middle of the arid land of northern Chile: thousands of tons of T-shirts, jeans and coats that had ended up there after crossing oceans and continents. Today, Chile is in the news again, but for a diametrically opposite reason. The country achieved the Guinness Record of the largest clothing exchange in the world, with more than 2,300 garments in perfect condition exchanged for eight hours at the La Moneda Cultural Center, in Santiago. A turning point. The event was organized by The Ropantic Showa pioneering start-up in circular fashion founded by María José Gómez Gracia. The initiative not only sought to break a record, but also to denounce the global overproduction of clothing and the environmental consequences of excessive consumption. “We have normalized that clothing is a completely disposable item, that shopping is a form of therapy,” Gómez Gracia explained. In Chile, each person consumes 32 kilos of textiles per year, generating more than 572,000 tons of waste, according to the Ministry of the Environment. This context makes the record not a simple cultural event, but a collective response to an environmental emergency. From desert catwalks to ‘re-commerce’. The change began with activism and creativity. In 2024, the NGO Desierto Vestido, together with Fashion Revolution Brasil and the Brazilian agency Artplan, organized the Atacama Fashion Week: a parade in the middle of the desert with models wearing clothes rescued from landfills. According to The Guardianthe pieces—designed by Brazilian artist Maya Ramos—were made with clothing found among the waste, symbolizing the four elements: earth, fire, air and water. A year later, that alliance gave rise to a revolutionary idea: “Atacama Re-commerce”an online store that gives away clothing rescued from the desert, charging only the cost of shipping. The project—promoted by VTEX, Fashion Revolution Brasil, Artplan and Desierto Vestido— seeks to convert the act of shopping online in a form of environmental activism. In just five hours, the first collection sold out and more than 200,000 people signed up for future releases. “It’s a simple and powerful way to transform commerce into consciousness,” summarized the creative Pedro Maneschy. A problem with fast fashion. This phenomenon has generated an environmental and social emergency. The United Nations warns that the textile and footwear industry is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of the planet’s wastewater. Global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014, and consumers they buy 60% more today of garments than two decades ago, keeping them half the time. For years, Chile was the final destination for discards from Europe and the United States. It is estimated that about 39,000 tons of clothing ended up in the illegal landfills of the Atacama each year. “We live five minutes from the garbage dumps and we breathe the smoke from the burned clothes,” denounced Ángela Astudillo, co-founder of Desierto Vestido, to The Guardian. Now, the country has become a circular economy laboratory. Projects like EcoFiberwhich makes insulating panels from used textiles, or Atacama Re-commercewhich rescues garments to reuse them, show that sustainability can also be an economic opportunity. From a court ruling to a circular country model. Last September, Chile’s First Environmental Court issued a historic ruling that forces the State to repair the Atacama “clothing desert.” The ruling orders a comprehensive plan to be presented in six months that includes the removal of waste, its safe final disposal and the restoration of the landscape. “The environmental damage is proven and the State must materially repair it,” said Minister Marcelo Hernández Rojas. The ruling, celebrated by organizations such as Desierto Vestido and Greenpeace Chile, sets a regional precedent in terms of environmental responsibility. In parallel, the Extended Producer Responsibility Law (REP)—which forces companies to take responsibility for the waste they generate— has incorporated textiles as priority products. And universities like Chile are already working on models that professionalize the restoration of garments and generate local employment, according to DW. Furthermore, the shift is also cultural. More and more young Chileans are opting for responsible consumption. “Massive consumption of clothing is normalized. I made the decision to buy almost everything second-hand or barter,” Antonia Jerez told21 year old student. “Buying new clothes is no longer fashionable, there are too many going around the world,” added Catalina Navarro, 23. This generational change reflects a new relationship with fashion: more conscious, local and circular. From symbol of excess to emblem of change. For years, the Atacama Desert was the mirror of global consumerism: a landscape where the labels of Zara, H&M or Nike mixed with sand and dust. Today, that same place is transformed into a symbol of environmental and social resilience. “We went around the world for the mountains of clothes in the desert; I hope they recognize us today for the solution,” pointed out María José Gómez Graciafounder of The Ropantic Show. The challenge is not over. There are still thousands of tons to remove and a global culture to transform. But Chile has shown that fashion can also be a tool of change. Image | skyfi and The Ropantic Show Xataka | There are so many “low cost” clothes accumulated in the Atacama landfill that can already be seen from space

The ChatGPT Atlas agent made my purchase at Mercadona and now I have a pantry full of garlic

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a week ago I tried the new ChatGPT Atlasthe new OpenAI browser and, although it has a lot to improve, it seemed like a threat to Google’s dominance with Chrome. Today I put it to the test again, this time with a Plus subscription, and I wanted to check if agent mode is capable of hmake the purchase at Mercadona. Posing the situation It was the first time I used ChatGPT for something like this and I didn’t want to just give you a list. of the purchase, so first I asked him for ideas to make healthy recipes that are delicious. He offered me several options and when I decided on one of them, I activated agent mode and asked him to buy the ingredients at Mercadona. We have already talked about AI browsers are vulnerable to prompt injection attacks and OpenAI knows it. Before starting, a message appeared alerting me that using agent mode carries risks and I could use it with or without the session logged in. In my case I have chosen the logged in session because I wanted to see it work more easily, but as a precaution I have first deleted my payment details on the Mercadona website. Making the purchase Once the risks have been accepted, agent mode has been activated and the mouse has started to move through the Mercadona website interface. The sidebar shows the model’s entire thought and decision-making process while buying the ingredients to make a chickpea curry. In the video you can see the entire purchase process. The agent has been making decisions when he has found several items to choose from. For example, the recipe required an onion, but decided that it was more practical to buy a 1kg package. However, when choosing spinach, he decided that a package of baby spinach was better than the large package that is much cheaper. When he finished choosing ingredients he asked me to check it and I asked him to change the spinach. He has done it without question. The process has stopped when it has run into an insurmountable obstacle: it only had 10.28 euros and the minimum order on the Mercadona website is 50 euros, so I asked it to also include the ingredients of another of the recipes that it had suggested to me at the beginning, one for baked salmon. Since that one didn’t reach the minimum order either, I told him that I wanted to make it for four people and please don’t give me frozen salmon, but fresh ones. The agent adjusted the quantities and changed the salmon for a fresh one, but it still didn’t reach 50 euros, so I asked for something more creative.: to look for the most viral Mercadona products recently and add them to the basket. The purchase is made for you, but there is a problem When he was done, it was time to check the basket. I found that I had added garlic and also purple garlic. The normal garlic was fine, but the purple ones? I have reviewed the chain of thought and he was confused looking for purple onion. Mercadona calls it “red onion” and the agent has decided that it was better to add purple garlic because the color matched, even though they were a different ingredient. Regarding the viral products, I have chosen an advent calendar with makeup, smoked raclette cheese, cookie nougat and pistachio cake. The total amount was 66 eurosit is true that I have not expressly told you to adjust to 50 euros, but it seems to me that you have gone a little overboard. The agent has taken control of the browser and done exactly what he wanted: make the purchase for me. However, there is a problem and that is It’s very slow. I haven’t helped much either. Not having anticipated that there was a minimum order and the additional requests that I have been making, such as changing the quantities or choosing products by itself, has made it even slower. In total he has been thinking for almost 15 minutes, but if we take into account only the first part of the purchase for the chickpea curry, it has taken 2:14 minutes. More than two minutes to add eight items to cart. All the time I had the feeling that I would already have the order finished and paid for. Regarding reliability, I have to say that He has made fewer mistakes than I expected, but it is still necessary to check what you have added to the basket at the end because you can sneak in some garlic instead of onions, and I already have enough garlic in the pantry. Much more practical in other scenarios One of the use scenarios that OpenAI gave in the presentation of its new browser was precisely to make the purchase. After trying it, it is clear to me that the ChatGPT Atlas agent mode has a lot of potential, but not for making the purchase, that’s why I have tried another scenario where it can be much more useful: organize a trip. I asked him to find places for me to go on a getaway over the December long weekend, that were less than 2 hours by car from Valencia, with a specific budget and to look for them on Booking and Airbnb. In six minutes he gave me options for two different destinationsorganized in a table with price per night and highlights. Once I have decided, I only had to give him the personal information to complete the reservation. To organize a trip it is practical. Making the purchase is simply adding things to the cart, a much more mechanical process that we can do manually in a very short time. If we also encounter obstacles such as the minimum order or we are not completely clear about what we want, we end up losing more time than gaining it. Where the agent does offer more … Read more

is in a park full of parents with umbrellas

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In times where love seems to be summed up in a “swipe left” or “swipe right”, finding a partner has never been so easy… Or so difficult. While Tinder, Bumble or Hinge promise algorithmic compatibility, in China the most popular dating “app” does not require an internet connection, just a printer, an umbrella and worried parents. Every weekend, entire parks in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing are transformed into a mosaic of laminated posters with personal descriptions. It is not the singles themselves who place them, but their parents. It is the so-called marriage market or xiangqin jiao (literally, “blind dating corner”), a phenomenon that can be described as an analog version of a dating app. Love in times of demographic crisis. The rise of these markets has its origins in a paradox: while matching apps and agencies multiply, weddings and births plummet. In 2024, only 6.1 million couples will get married in China, 21% less than the previous year and the lowest number since records began. according to data from the Wall Street Journal. This year there was a small rebound — 3.54 million marriages in the first half — thanks to a new policy that simplifies civil registration according to the South Morning Post. But the general trend continues to plummet. The causes of this situation they are multiple: long working hours, high housing prices, gender inequality and, above all, new priorities among young people. “Energy is limited, so I eliminate what drains me the most. First thing? Dates,” confessed a 22-year-old studentreflecting a profound generational change. Faced with this scenario, many parents decided to move from concern to action: if their children are not looking for a partner online, they are looking for one in the parks. How does the Tinder of paper? According to Noema Magazinethe first love market emerged more than a decade ago in Shanghai, in People’s Park. Every Saturday and Sunday, no matter rain or shine, the park is filled with parents with signs hanging on ropes, benches or open umbrellas. They detail age, height, weight, salary, property, including whether the candidate’s parents have a pension. Photos, interestingly, are optional. “Those who do it best are the average ones: neither very good nor terrible,” explained a matchmaker nicknamed the Professor Guwhich charges the equivalent of $16 to display a poster for six months. In Chongqing, another of the large cities of the southwest, The Wall Street Journal described similar scenes: retired parents squeezed on paths covered with posters. Some attendees use WeChat — the ubiquitous app in China — to scan QR codes or exchange contacts. A woman included in her profile that she earns $560 a month, that she owns a house and a car, and that she is looking for a husband “without bad habits, under 29 years old and no taller than 1.73.” On the next page, a 26-year-old man asked for a wife with a university education and “who is not too plump,” a reflection of still very traditional standards. The cultural contrast is evident. In China, marriages are still considered an economic and family alliance rather than a romantic act. Therefore, the marriage market is, as detailed in Noema Magazine“a fusion between Match.com and a farmers market,” where banners replace digital profiles and parents act as human filters. Marriage market in Shanghai Is love found? Really, few achieve success. The stories of couples formed under this phenomenon They are almost non-existent. Most return every weekend out of habit, for company or simply to kill time. A father from Shanghai, interviewed by The Agehas been there for more than a year and has only gotten two matches for his 36-year-old son, with no results. “I only act as an intermediary, I pass the information on to him, but in the end it depends on him,” he confessed resignedly. Despite everything, for many it is a form of generational catharsis. “Our kids think ‘why should I settle?’” said a woman nicknamed Sister Gaoa veteran matchmaker who arrives every week with dozens of laminated profiles. “In our generation, people put up with more. Today they don’t want to tolerate anything.” There are also young people who challenge the norm. As reported by the state media CGTNHuang Junjie, 29, decided to advertise himself in the Beijing market. “I tried apps like Douyin or Xiaohongshu, but they felt very far away. Here at least you see people face to face,” he explained, standing next to his sign. He was looking for a mature woman and was even willing to get married. matrilocal —living with the wife’s family—something unthinkable a generation ago. Beyond love. Behind every umbrella is a story of anxiety and family pride. In China, many parents feel that seeing their children married is their last mission in life. In a society where being single is perceived almost as a failure, the markets They are both a space of hope and shame. For this reason, some parents They confessed to feeling humiliated for having to “offer” their children in public, although others defended their right to intervene. “The girls are not willing to say ‘I want a boyfriend’, so we help them,” said a mother from Shanghai. In essence, the phenomenon also reflects loneliness of an older generation. With more than 300 million retirees, many of them widowed or divorced, attending the love market is also a way to socialize, not to be left alone at home. Meanwhile, the Government is trying to stop the decline in marriages with economic incentives, child subsidies and even university courses on “romantic education.” But, as analysts point outthe results remain modest: young people value personal freedom more than the pressure to get married. A pressure for women. In this scenario, women bear disproportionate pressure. In China, staying single beyond the age of 27 can make you a Sheng Nuliterally “leftover woman.” The term, popularized by state media in the 2000s, became a social stigma that pushes many professionals to justify their singleness to … Read more

Europe has seen that Gen Z is full of militarism, body worship and a desire to party and has told them: go to the front

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First there were technical shoes, then sports watchesand now the military backpacks: khaki, resistant, full of patches and straps. Europe dresses usefully, as if preparing for war were just another aesthetic trend. In the gyms, more than in the barracks, a new type of citizenship is trained: bodies ready, gazes focused, backpacks ready for something that we still don’t know if it is a fad or a calling. Those who wear them seem to embody a new European trend: the return of the body as a patriotic symbol. A few weeks ago, the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, declared: “It’s tiring to see obese troops.” His comment—as provocative as it was political—coincided with an unexpected finding: Generation Z, the same one that grew up among screens and anxiety, is recovering the cult of the body, the taste for action and, in some cases, a renewed curiosity for the idea of ​​serving or protecting something bigger than oneself. Europe has taken note. Atasila ne aniram? In a chapter of The SimpsonsBart and his friends formed a music group with subliminal lyrics to encourage young people to join the navy. A joke that, with the passage of time, has become another pop prophecy fulfilled. In a Financial Times column have started to unravel the new military movement. European armies have detected an unexpected change: young people who previously fled from conscription now sign up for military or civilian volunteering. In Germany, applications for voluntary military service They have grown 15% in a year; In Finland, the Government has announced his intention to increase to one million reservists in 2031, For its part, Sweden, with its “total defense” system (Totalförsvaret), already integrates 380,000 citizens into radio, transport or dog training associations that support the Army without holding weapons. According to official data from the Swedish governmentdue to the War in Ukraine, registrations skyrocketed: in a few months they received as many volunteers as in a normal year. Meanwhile, in the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—they are also reinforcing their “civil militarism.” The three states prepare plans mass evacuation and citizen response to a possible Russian attack. The maneuvers include everything from logistics volunteers to farmers who learn to drive light armored vehicles. Furthermore, Estonia has created units of cybervolunteers to protect digital infrastructures and Lithuania just launched a program to train 22,000 drone operators. Europe is not raising massive armies: it is cultivating available, disciplined and functional bodies. A low-intensity militarism that mixes gym, volunteering and “healthy patriotism.” But why Gen Z? The simplest answer is because it is shaped by the mirror, but there is much more to it than that. Currently, we live in the era of protein chicof spiked shakes, sculpted bodies and extreme routines. The psychologist Sara Bolo warned that “Many apparently healthy behaviors hide disorders disguised as fitness culture.” But beyond the excesses, the cult of the body has become an ethic: physical self-discipline as a sense of purpose. And behind it there is something else: 36% of European Gen Z exercise regularly and another 50% want to start. However, the most revealing fact is not that, but the void it fills. Sociologist Robert Putnam already diagnosed that “we stopped bowling together.” Today, the gym replaces the social club, the bootcamp the summer camp, the weight routine the collective ritual. In other words, Generation Z isn’t just looking for muscle: it’s looking to belong. In a Europe where 13% of citizens and 20% of young people say they feel alone “most of the time”, according to Eurostatcivil defense appears as a new type of functional community: a gymnasium with anthem and purpose. The body as a political border. This cult of the body, born in gyms and amplified by networks, has also filtered into institutional discourse. What was once individual well-being, today takes on a collective, even patriotic tone. On the other side of the Atlantic, body obsession has acquired ideological overtones. Hegseth himself gathered hundreds of top brass to reprimand them: “No more beards. Let’s trim the hair, shave the beards and go back to standards.” His speech was more focused on appearance than performance, more on the image of the ideal soldier than on his operational capacity. Europe observes with caution, but the impulse is the same: the body once again becomes a metaphor for the nation, a space where the moral and physical health of the State is projected. Trained, vigilant, prepared. Recruit with algorithms. For now, the old continent is strengthening its network of civil associations. But if you look to the United States, you could find a more aggressive recruiting model. The US Army has hired e-girls and influencers like Hailey Lujan, an employee of the psychological operations division (PSYOP), who combines uniforms and beauty filters to attract new recruits. On the other hand, the Pentagon He also tried video games: America’s Armya shooter free launched in 2002 so that players wanted to get ready after playing. It worked for two decades as the first major gamified recruiting tool. For now, the European version of digital recruitment is more sober – campaigns about volunteering and civil protection – but the logic is identical: convince Generation Z that the uniform can also be a lifestyle. Fragility disguised as strength. On the margins of the gym where discipline and self-improvement are preached, a digital manosphere thrives that turns fragility into ideological fuel. On TikTok and YouTube, figures like Andrew Tate or anonymous accounts with a military aesthetic promote a masculinity “based on strength and control.” fitness has become in a gateway to the digital extreme right, where the body symbolizes purity and the enemy is always the weak. Cases like that of the Spanish influencer Llados, who combines coaching physical with discourses about “traditional masculinity”, illustrate that blurred border between personal improvement and emotional manipulation. The risk is not only the militarization of the body, but also its ideological instrumentalization. The gym, a space of redemption, can become soft indoctrination campwhere loneliness and … Read more

Libya has decided that the full weight of Islamic law must fall on one thing in particular: crows

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At 900 meters above sea level, the Green Mountain is actually a fertile plateau of lush forests in northern Libya. It is by far the wettest place in the country: one of the jewels of North Africa’s biodiversity. one that a religious ‘fatwa’ is about to load. A ‘fatwa’? Not only that: a ‘fatwa’ (that is, an Islamic legal opinion issued by a qualified jurist) whose content is almost entirely dedicated to crows. They told it in El PaísAhmad al Dalansi, of the Investment Authority of the National Salvation Government, made it clear “there is no religious objection to killing them.” In his view, “the prophetic tradition that classifies them as harmful (fawasiq) and dictates that they can therefore be eliminated “just like rats and snakes.” But why would anyone want to kill crows? That is to say, it is one thing that it is not prohibited to kill them and quite another that people are willing to do so. However, the matter is more complicated than it seems: because the truth is that crows are becoming a real problem. What is a crow like you doing in a place like this? Let’s start at the beginning: the crows (Corvus ruficollis) are not new to the Green Mountain area. However, in recent years the corvid population has not stopped growing and this seems to be causing problems in other animal populations. Especially in land turtles and a native type of short-toed eagle. This, although it may not seem like it, is part of the problem. Because, unlike other animals, crows do not attack crops. However, they are “very intelligent creatures, who do not fear humans and are capable of adapting to various environments.” The growth of its population, like a chess game, is what is pushing an ecological imbalance that triggers (in turn) rodents and snakes. Hence the consultation and the fatwa. It makes sense, right? If crows are a problem, the most direct question is whether they can be eliminated. AND the Al Dalansi edict maintains that culling them is not only Islamically acceptable, but that “preventing harm is a more important priority” than maintaining current populations. The problem is that, upon seeing it, the Libyan Heritage and Wildlife Authority came out to report that such an eradication would be disastrous. Not only because crows also have a very important role in regulating the ecosystem; but, above all, because the problem is not the crows. What is the problem? The problem is the garbage. In recent years, as explained by journalist AMR Fathallah“the crow population (…) has multiplied spectacularly in Shahat, (due to) poor waste management.” Shahat is in the heart of the mountain. The lack of urban planning has caused housing to get out of control and that has caused “secondary landfills to proliferate in the forests, valleys and even roads of Shahat.” And there the crows feel at home. And, of course, killing the crows won’t end the problem. Fathallah himself explains that the last time an attempt was made to eliminate the crow population, it was followed by a history-making infestation of ticks. It is reminiscent of the mass killing of Chinese sparrows that caused a famine that killed millions of people. Ecology is too complex to be solved with fatwas (or pseudoscientific theories). The central issue in all of this is that these are not isolated cases. As climate change accelerates, “magic” responses are becoming increasingly popular. The problem, as we see, is that this has consequences. Image | Sasha Matic | Aldin Nasrun On Magnet | 400 years ago, Chinese women invented a language to speak only among themselves. Today it is resurfacing

In full boom of energy drinks, Coca-Cola has decided to bet on something else: “advanced hydration”

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You just need to enter a power shop and see the refrigerators full of cans of a thousand and one colors to get to the conclusion that if there is any saturated sector in this country that is that of drinks. But Coca-Cola believes that it is not enough. That is why he has just announced that It disembarks in Europe with ‘Bodymarmor Lyte’its commitment to “revolutionize” the segment of advanced hydration; A sub-director who, in the next three years, will grow 24%. And he will start with Spain. And that is perhaps the most interesting question: how have we gone from living in a world hooked to energy drinks to another in which the largest world giant of drinks bet everything to a product To “squeeze life to the fullest and that sometimes experiences moments of exhaustion that prevent you from maintaining your usual rhythm”? What is the ‘advanced hydration’? An almost Marketinian term to call a “hydration approach” that beyond simple water consumption. It incorporates additional components such as electrolytes, vitamins, antioxidants or other ‘technologies’ to enhance “water absorption, retention and nutrient rebalancing.” It is used in several areas, but what interests us today to understand Coca-Cola is its use in the sports field. There, it comes to basically mean the use of water with electrolytes. Water with things. That’s where Bodymor Lyte enters. As explained from the companyit is a non -isotonic drink, low in calories, designed to improve water absorption (thanks to electrolytes) and B6 vitamins. And it is curious because Coca-Cola already has two very popular brands in this range: ‘Aquarius’ (with a composition based on mineral salts) and ‘Powerade’ (especially formulated for “rehydration and resistance” in sport). More than a curiosity … While ‘Aquarius’ is a product of daily, massive and accessible hydration, ‘Powerade’ focuses a lot on the sports field. This is important because with ‘Bodyarmor Lyte’, Coca-Cola is doing something similar to the turn that Apple with the Apple Watch: a turn towards health and the premium. Because? It is true that the great phenomenon of drinks in recent years has been energy. Coca-Cola, in fact, participates with own products (such as Burn) and also with participation in others (such as Monster). However, as the energy segment grows, so does the health sector (that of drinks without caffeine). In fact, it has been the boom of the “coffee” drinks that has driven the contracting of ‘Better-For-You. That’s where Bodymor Lyte wants to settle. A vision too uniform of an increasingly segmented market. In 2004, Malcolm Gladwell He told the story of Howard Moskowitz. Moskowitz was asked to find the perfect spaghetti sauce. The problem is that, after spinning and more turns, he realized that he could not make a sauce that liked everyone. It was then that he proposed to get more from a sauce. As Gadwell explainedfollowing his advice, “Preno introduced the extra thick sauce and, during the next 10 years, they earned 600 million dollars with their line of thick extra sauces.” In 2004, RAGU had 36 varieties of pasta sauce. Something almost unimaginable 20 years before, when there was only one. The world becomes increasingly diverse (or perhaps we see more and more) and that allows them to grow totally opposite phenomena. Who was going to tell us that a drink was going to reveal the difficulty we have to design policies in today’s world? Image | Coca-Cola Company | GKGRAPHIX53 In Xataka | We already know what energy drinks cost your rest. They are bad news for your dream

In full birth crisis, Japan faces an extra challenge in 2026: a superstition

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Japan is a country with several calendars. The Western, or Gregorian, is common in the Asian country, which also has its own calendar, based on the “Eras”, the reign periods of its emperors. But in the culture of the country there is still the embers of another calendar, the one based on the traditional Chinese calendar. In 2026 we can verify to what extent this embers is still alive in the Japanese archipelago. To understand why we have to go a complete cycle behind, the year 1966. That year Japan experienced A significant phenomenon: a Fall marked in birthan abrupt contrast with the historical series. If in 1965 around 1.82 million children were born, in 1966 the figure was 1.36 million, 25% less, according to Explain Japan Times. The births were immediately recovered: in 1967 they rolled 1.94 million. The collapse in birth can also be seen in the Japanese health ministry data. As explained by the international agency, the fertility rate went from 2.14 in 1965 to 1.58 in 1966, to “bounce” up to 2.23 the following year. The data was not the result of a statistical anomaly or a disaster, neither natural nor created by the human being. We can see this reflected in an increase in induced abortions in the country, which was recorded A study Posted in 1974 in the magazine Annals of Human Biology. It was the fault of a superstition. The year 1966 corresponded (approximately) to the year of the horse of fire in the cycle on which the traditional Chinese calendar is based. The calendar based on the sexagesimal cycle used in some Asian countries relates each of the 60 years of its cycle with one of Twelve animals (which includes the rat, the tiger, the dragon and also the horse), and one of five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). And what is special for the year Hinoeuma? According to Japanese superstition, women born during the Fire horse year They will kill their husbands or, according to translations, will be at least the cause of the death of their spouses. This would have taken many couples of childbearing age to avoid pregnancy (or even interrupt), at a time when, as Emi Suzuki and Haruna Kashiwase explain in An article For him Data Blog of the World Bank, there was no possibility of a selective abortion depending on sex. Another important detail mentioned in its article is that the phenomenon occurred more marked in rural Japan and not so much in the urban context, which reflects the greatest follow -up that this type of superstitions used to have in the rural world. 60 years of change 60 years is a long time and Japanese society is no longer the one. Will something be repeated again similar in 2026? There are two reasons why it can be suspected that, if the fall in birth rate occurs, this will be of a minor magnitude of experienced in 66. The first reason is in the slightest weight that today has the superstitious in society. Japan lived an abrupt transition series between the end of the EDO era and the present. One of the most vertiginous progress is the one that led a country ravaged by war to become a worldwide technological innovation pole. 1966 It can be seen as a year of transition in this context, 2026 not so much. In any case, the peculiar relationship between Japanese tradition and modernity is often difficult to understand from the western point of view, so it is not convenient to venture into this direction. However, there is another fact that takes us away from that year 1966: 1.15. We said at the beginning that between 1965 and 1966 the Japanese fertility rate went from 2.1 to 1.6. The fall associated with the year Hinoeuma It was punctual and was reversed the following year, but if we looked at the set of the Historical data we see that it is a small detour in a curve with A marked trend: Japan He runs out of birth progressively. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Health cited by Suzuki and Kashiwasethe Japanese fertility rate was descending throughout the second half of the twentieth century, first quickly and then slower. In 1989 the birth rate would be located again in 1.58 and has not been recovered or expected to do so. It was known as he “shock of 1.57 “ When the rate fell below the year Hinoeuma. Today the rate It is already 1.15. A few years before, in 1987, Japan celebrated a kind of “Fiesta de Quintos”, a celebration in honor of the generation that had turned 20 in the previous months, those born in Hinoeuma. The newspaper The New York Times It echoed of that celebration and superstition that had diminished the generation held that year. Then it seemed clear that the “fifths” of 86 would be the smallest promotion in history, but they would only be for a short time. In Xataka | While the population of Japan sinks irremediably, Tokyo grows. There is an explanation: Ikkyoku Shūchū Image | Evgeny Tchebotarev

In the full boom of foreign tourism, Metro de Madrid has had an idea to make its brand profitable: luxury merchandising

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No matter where you go or who you ask. There are certain icons that everyone recognizes worldwide. They are part of a border -proof visual heritage. A clear example are The Olympic ringsthe symbol of peace or the dollarthe arroba or the Celebrate Smilethe smiling yellow face designed decades for Harvey Ball. If we probably did a survey most people would include in that list of universal symbols The subway logo from London. Madrid It seems determined The same thing happens with your suburban. What happened? What Metro de Madrid has surprised with A peculiar proposal. One that has little to do with trains, infrastructure and schedules. Or yes. The institution has just presented an official clock, a submersible Berbier piece, stainless steel and sapphire crystal ‘inspired’ in the capital’s suburban. The images that they have already been seen show the red, blue and white logo of Madrid in the sphere and how the marks of the hours are decorated with The colors of the different lines. One, light blue; two, red; three, yellow; four, brown … in another historical wink at the bottom of the sphere appears The figure “1919”the year in which the First Line Four Caminos-Sol was inaugurated. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Is more known? Yes. Sunday The world slid Some details of the launch. The idea is to create only 50 numbered units that will be sold for 395 euros. Too much money? No problem. In case the Limited Editing Berbier clock is exhausted or the client wants to pay less, Metro plans to market another, cheaper model, which will incorporate a similar sphere with interchangeable silicone straps in four colors. The price in that case will be 120 euros. However, there is much more interesting fact. Not by what he tells us about the clock itself, but of the Metro plans. According to Precise The worldthe new accessory can be bought unocidly in the store that the operator plans to release at the opera station. It will be The third (There is already one at the Sunstation and another in the Plaza de Castilla) and the idea is that not much to open its doors. In January He pointed to the second half of 2025 already early summer It was specified that the space is probably available in the last quarter of the year, which will allow you to take advantage (at least partly) the Christmas campaign. Metro stores? That’s how it is. In itself, stores are not a novelty. As Remember Europa Pressthe history of the Metro store can be traced at least 1984, when it opened its sun sales space. Several decades later, at the end of 2017, added the place of Plaza de Castilla. Today its catalog of items can be consulted (and buy) also in latientademetromadrid.com. In addition to selling merchandising Officer and pieces such as the new Berbier watch, the opera space will serve travelers as office Customer service. But … What do they sell? They don’t sell, better. His articles list It is amazing broad: bolis, bags and backpacks, cushions, sweatshirts, fans, bottles, socks, notebooks, toys, cups and even lames with stations posters such as Santiago Bernabéu or metropolitan state. All related in one way or another to the Madrid suburban. Most show the famous blue, red and white logo or incorporate the colors of the different lines. In the wide metro catalog there is also Bestsellers They have stood out for their commercial success. For example, Some shoes Sports designed in collaboration with Titocustoms to celebrate the company’s 105 years. They launched as a limited series, but given their “great reception” Metro decided to create a new edition. In total more than 1,000 pairs have been sold. Another product with pull is The Christmas sweater. It was released in 2023 and they have already been dispatch More than 3,000 units. Are there more figures? Yes. Not many more, but there is some that helps us understand the scope of the commercial stores of Metro de Madrid and especially its evolution. At the beginning of the year, when the plans to open the opera store were announced, the Europa Press agency wakefulness That in 2023 the volume of sales before taxes reached 127,470 euros, a record that exceeds the box of the previous year, which had been 81,619. That is, the billing shot more than 56% in a year. Most sales were channeled through physical stores (75%), highlighting above all sun, with almost 65,400 euros. Why do you do it? To understand Metro’s commitment you have to know your data, but also (and even more) the context. His decision to open a new opera store coincides with two clear trends. The first is the increase in travelers. In January the company estimated that in 2024 it had reached its “historical user record”, with 715.2 million trips8% more than in 2023. The data of fact improves those registered by the company in the years before the pandemic. The other trend is the increase in tourism. Especially that of foreign origin. Spain is close to passing the historical barrier of the 100 million of international visitors and there are those who believe that in not much time, By 2040will be the great tourist referent of the planet, surpassing France or the US. Much of that flow is directed to destinations of the Mediterranean coast, the Canary Islands or Northern regions, such as Cantabria either Galiciabut Madrid also plays a key role in the national tourist fabric. In 2024 Madrid received More than 11 million of visitors. It is estimated that the international market meant 56% and generated more than 16,000 million euros, 21% more than in 2023, with a key weight of the US, Italy and France, although the Chinese are the ones who have grown the most, 74%. And what is Metro? Everything indicates that taking advantage of that pull of visitors and users. After all, the new store will not open in any place. … Read more

‘Operation Triunfo’ is the prime video tool to grow at full speed. The key is in Latin America

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Although the audience figures did not seem clear until Operation Triunfo 2023 concluded, the program He ended up throwing a very positive balancebecoming the most watched national premiere in the history of prime video in Spain. Therefore, the platform has decided to bet strongly on this new stage, seeking to maximize its scope, and devote itself especially as a cultural reference for generation Z and decisively reaching various Latin American countries. Some figures. Among the things that Prime Video has told is that it reached 3.5 million unique viewers during its 14 weeks of broadcast. A triumph that extended, as Amazon will certainly interest, Beyond the mere audience Of the platform: in its 14 weeks of broadcast, Amazon registered one million visits to the OT thematic store, 720,000 interactions with Alexa and 66 million votes through the app. They are additional business routes that corroborate why OT is so important for the digital store economy. Audience involved. The great triumph of the program (worth the redundancy) has been to earn to very involved spectators with the format: 8.6 million weekly votes and 1.6 million records in the app (the previous record was at 820,000) that add up to those mentioned 66 million; 5,000 million global visualizations and 80,000 publications in Tiktok; a peak of 180,000 users connected simultaneously on YouTube; And more than 27,000 attendees in disc firms, so that everything is not virtual. And in addition, of course, hashtags about the program after in the list of Twitter trends every Monday, on many occasions monopolizing the first ten positions and making the edition of constant conversation during its 14 weeks. For all of Latin America. ‘OT 2025 ‘premieres on September 15 at 10:00 p.m. in Spain with simultaneous live transmission for the first time in its history for six Latin American countries: Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Peru. It is a Amazon response to the growing demand of the fans of the program and, above all, wants to take ‘OT’ beyond Spain, and that Prime Video impacts more globally. Undoubtedly, an ambitious intention but that if it is possible to give an extraordinary dissemination to the program. To increase this impact will bet on social networkswith 15 weekly minutes with which the contestants to generate content in a “Tiktok Corner” within the Academy, with live reactions on Fridays on social networks at 15. Again, as happened last year, social networks will form a primary part of the Amazon strategy. There will also be new weekly programs: ‘OT connection (Tuesday to Saturday at 8:00 p.m.) and’ Face B ‘(Sunday, also at eight in the afternoon). Technological investment To provide viewers A program at the heightAmazon has put on their feet the greatest scenario in the history of Prime Video, with 358 m² of LED screens, 10 cameras, including the Spderm, and more than 750 lighting devices. It is a considerable technological leap and as Amazon has revealed to the press, it is only the spearhead of a very ambitious project, where everything is integrated more organically than in previous stages. For example, the study where ‘connection ot’ is recorded just below the academy, so that there is immediate access to teachers and contestants. And there will be no post -grooves or videosumeros: everything will be part of the gala. Youth is sought. Therefore, expand borders, more programs and support determined to the possibilities of social networks. All with a very clear intention: to appeal to the interests of generation Z, which is able to make a fan phenomenon germinate that is the one that really gives life to this type of programs. In search of the youngest generations of spectators to get the format, which is already 24 years old, it remains fresh. Header | Amazon In Xataka | How Prime Video Use Chenoa and ‘Operation Triunfo’ to destroy the tired audiences of traditional TV

In full train development in Europe, they have raised a ‘subway’ to unite capitals that is a fantasy. Literally

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Traditionally, the train was the Interior mobility dorsal spine In Europe. The development of the infrastructure allowed population movements for decades and, although the low-cost flights They have made a large part of the cake, there are European movements for recovering trains. An example is the NOX Night Trainbut another is the Starline project, a high speed ‘subway’ network that connects the main European capitals. Appeals everything that Europe is looking for: interconnection, transport of goods and sustainability. And it sounds too good to be true. Precisely, there is the problem. Starline. 21st Europe It is a Danish group architect of the Starline project. In his web They claim that Starline is not a matter of convenience, but a strategic need for current Europe. It is a high -speed train that will link the main European cities thanks to machines capable of traveling at 400 km/h (superior to that of the bird, for example) connecting, in principle, 39 destinations. To achieve these speeds, the idea is to minimize the closed curves and slopes as much as possible, achieving a great average speed that shortens the times between destinations. In the proposed map we can see that they have used a system of segments such as the one we can find In the subwayas well as stations that allow connections with other lines. The train. The idea is the most attractive, being able to go from Madrid to Istanbul without getting out of the train, or arriving Helsinki transforded in Vienna. As much as they reach 400 km/h, the journeys would be long and, for this, they have thought of wide -seat cars, quieter areas, others open for teleworking or for families with young children and cafeteria. They also propose that there is no seat division based on the classic hierarchy of airlines. And the reason why design should be blue is to distinguish trains and turn them into an icon, such as Red London Buses or the yellow yotk taxis. In addition, they would be connected and travelers could see the train status in real time at all times. Stations? Cultural centers. That experience for the passenger would start directly at the station. Instead of being a mere point of passage, what 21st Europe proposes is that they are public spaces with their own identity. If they advocate infrastructure with the trains, with the stations advocate places designed by the most reputed architects and designers of the different countries, creating buildings that are identity of each of the countries where there is space for stores and restaurants, but also for museums, concert halls, conferences or sports venues. Going directly to a concert or a match of whatever is directly from station to station is a great idea. Goods. Positive points are not limited to travelers. From the group, they detail that rail transport is four times more efficient than classical road transport in Europe, but only 18% of the goods move by train. Thus, they consider that the system could be used as way to transport goods in high speed Without resorting to the truck, the plane or the ship, implementing cargo and unloading hubs directly at the stations and strengthening Europe with a large new commercial network. China’s example. Placing the stations outside the large urban centers, it is achieved that they remain accessible, but avoiding the disturbance of traffic that exists in the central stations of the large European capitals. In addition, they consider that they would be an economic engine for those cities, and all thanks to the data that come from China. The Asian giant has gone expanding its high -speed rail network In record time and, from 21st Europe, they claim that cities with connections to that network experienced an increase of more than 14% in GDP and that each new line connected to the total contributed with an additional 7.2% to that growth of urban GDP. Now, China’s investment has been (and is being) huge, and has the big problem of Periodic maintenance cost. Sustainability, the great asset. In it Ride of decarbonizationthere are countries that are looking for replace short distance flights with the trainand Starline enters perfectly in such proposals. It is estimated that, in Europe, the commercial flight sector represents 4% of the total Greenhouse Emissions and about 14% of transport emissions. The calculation is that European flights contaminate five times more by passenger/kilometer than the train, and that is where Starline points. They detail that it must be independent at the energy level, betting on renewable sources that integrate solar, wind storage and batteries in their stations and operational infrastructure. With all this in mind, they estimate that short -journey flights could be replaced by a high -speed rail, reducing 95%emissions. In Spain, The bird is winning the game to the plane. You have to wait sitting. The 21st Europe project does not leave a stick without touching and it seems that it has no fissure. Everything is positive and sounds great, but there is a problem. Well, two. The first, regardless of complication when governments and companies agree to offer a unified service, is financing. The Danish group points out that the network must be financed through a combination of EU infrastructure budgets, financing of the European Investment Bank and long -term EU bonds. In addition, the governments of each country should co -finance their regional stations and connections, and all this maintaining a lower ticket price than the short -journey flights. The second big problem, and the key in this matter, is that this is an idea thrown into the wind. 21st Europe is something known as a ‘Think Tank‘, a group of experts who design visionary projects on the future of the continent. They have other proposals as an infrastructure of public parks called ‘Continent of Play‘, but basically that is, a project, an idea to initiate a conversation in the political spheres, but without the capacity for what they propose is launched. We will see … Read more

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