long

Long before Real Madrid, the Roman Empire had already invented VIP boxes. And they ended in disaster

by

In the first century, the emperor Nero ordered that some shows will include giant awnings to protect the most privileged attendees from the sun, while the rest of the public endured the heat in the upper stands. That seemingly trivial difference reflected the extent to which the experience of attending an event was already marked for money and status long before modern stadiums existed. Show business in Ancient Rome. Long before modern stadiums like the Bernabéu turned sport into a crazy revenue machine, the Roman Empire had already understood the economic potential of gathering crowds and charging for access. At that time, amphitheaters were not only leisure spaces, but political and commercial tools where prestige and money mixed openly. In fact, businessmen like Atilio They saw the games as a direct opportunity for profit, betting on filling venues at all costs and maximizing every available seat. In that context, the logic of squeezing capacity (with privileged areas for the elites and crowded stands for the rest) not only existed, but was central part of the model. Raised to make quick money. In this context, it is born the Fidenae project with a clear idea: build a lot, quickly and cheaply to start earning money as soon as possible. Attilius, a freedman with entrepreneurial ambition, decided to build a huge wooden amphitheater on the outskirts of Rome, reducing costs in the most critical elements. The structure was supported on unstable ground and was assembled with poor joints, while more seats than planned were added to increase revenue. The result was a building that appeared grand from the outside, but was actually designed more to maximize profits. that to ensure safety of those who were going to occupy it. Spectacle turned into tragedy. What happened? That the inauguration attracted tens of thousands of people who came with the expectation of witnessing gladiatorial combats after a period in which these spectacles had been rather rare. That amphitheater was filled to the limitthere was no room for a pin, with the public distributed by social classes and areas, replicating a hierarchy that also had its economic reflection. Thus, in a matter of seconds, what seemed like a festive day he happened to enter sadly in the Guinness Book of a total sporting catastrophe when the structure began to give way and collapsed simultaneously inwards and outwards. It was not just an accident, since the magnitude of the collapse trapped both those who were inside and those who were trapped. were in the surroundingsleaving a balance of victims that, according to sources, ranged between tens of thousands of dead and injured. The worst sports disaster in history. From then until now, because of its scalethe collapse or collapse of Fidenae was not only a local tragedy, but the biggest sports disaster that has ever been documented, surpassing even many modern episodes in number of victims. The figures, although imprecise at the time, point to a catastrophe comparable to major battles in terms of human losses (they were counted about 50,000 deadsome lost their lives instantly, while others were buried under the rubble), something totally exceptional for an entertainment event. The speed of the collapse, the absence of evacuation measures and the fragility of the construction made any reaction impossible, turning the amphitheater into a mousetrap, a death trap in a matter of seconds. What should have been a profitable business ended up being the most extreme example of how the search for profit can multiply risk to catastrophic limits. From greed to the first rules. There is no doubt, the impact of that disaster shook the Roman Empire and forced an institutional reaction that marked a before and after in the construction regulation. The Senate persecuted the person responsible, Attilius, and sent him into exile, but, more importantly, established rules that They demanded economic solvency to those who wanted to organize shows and forced them to build on safe land. Those measures can be considered one of the first attempts to regulate structural safety in public spaces, born directly from a tragedy caused by negligence. Ultimately, the episode left a lesson that is still very valid: when business prevails over security, the show not only cannot be guaranteed, it can end up becoming in his own catastrophe. Image | Wikimedia C. In Xataka | In 1995, South Korea suffered one of the great architectural disasters of the century. The culprit: the air conditioning In Xataka | If you’re hot at home, remember that Disney made an auditorium with a huge mistake: turning a neighborhood into an unbearable oven

Memory prices have started to fall in some markets. There is still a long way to go to close the AI ​​crisis

by

There is a scene that repeats itself every time the market gives a truce, even if it is minimal: it is enough for the price of a key component to begin to fall for the feeling that the worst is over. This is exactly what is happening now with DDR5 memory. In recent weeks falls have been recorded in the retail channel of several markets, and that has reactivated an inevitable question among those who have been following the evolution of prices for months: whether we are facing the beginning of the end of the memory crisis or simply a one-time adjustment. An extended pressure. To understand what we are seeing now, it is advisable to broaden the focus and look at the recent path of the market. The rise in memory prices It has not only hit the user who wants to update their equipment, but also manufacturers, distributors and assemblers, in a context marked by supply and demand tensions that have been conditioning purchases and strategies for months. Therefore, we are facing a pressure scenario that has ended up affecting a good part of the hardware market. Where and how much prices are falling. Beyond perception, what there is right now is a measurable change in some shop windows. TrendForce aims to clear declines in the retail channel in several regions. In Europe, the German market recorded a monthly drop of 7.2% in March 2026, while in the United States there have been discounts of more than 20% on specific 32 GB DDR5 kits. The most striking case is China, where 16 GB modules have fallen between 25% and 30% from the peaks at the beginning of the year. A correction. Behind this adjustment there is a much more earthly explanation than it might seem. According to the analysis firm and the industry sources it cites, the main factor is less traction in consumption after months of high prices, which has led many buyers to delay decisions and distributors to accelerate the release of inventory. Added to this is a common lag between the spot market and contracts, which can take between one and two months to translate into actual shipments. The noise around TurboQuant. In parallel with this correction, an element has appeared that has fueled the debate in the market. TurboQuanta compression algorithm from Google, has been interpreted in some recent coverage as a sign that the pressure on RAM could relax. However, the most prudent readings They point in another direction, pointing out that this is an incremental improvement and not a change capable of alone altering structural demand, especially in memory for servers and loads linked to artificial intelligence, which remains high. End of the crisis? All this fits into an idea that the sector itself repeats quite clearly. From Taiwan-based memory manufacturers, contract prices have remained stable despite volatility in the retail channel, and demand in segments such as servers, DRAM and HBM remains strong, partly supported by multi-year agreements with large customers. In this context, the current correction is interpreted as a specific adjustment, not as a sufficient turnaround to consider the current episode of tension resolved. Caution and more caution. What we are seeing in some markets is a temporary relief for the consumer, yes, but everything indicates that it is a correction within a cycle still stressed by underlying factors that have not disappeared. The most optimistic forecasts speak of a progressive normalization towards the end of 2026 in some segments, while others place it even further. With this scenario, ending the memory crisis would be getting ahead of events that, for now, are still far from being confirmed. Images | Andrey Matveev In Xataka | AI urgently needs memory, so Samsung and SK are going to inject $1 billion into China

Microsoft’s problem is not having lost a quarter of its value in three months. It’s just that he’s been wrong for a long time.

by

It seems like not so long ago when many celebrated Microsoft’s commitment to Azure. The decision of Satya Nadella Focusing on cloud computing soon began to translate into good financial results, propelling the Redmond company to achieve record revenue figures. But there was something more relevant in that movement: the realization that it could generate enormous benefits beyond Windows. That strategy, started in 2014ended up marking a before and after that became especially visible in 2019, when the firm reached for the first time a market capitalization of one trillion dollars. However, not even the most long-term oriented strategists, like Nadella, are free from errors. Microsoft has been chaining questionable decisions for some time that have ended up having a direct impact on its quarterly results. Specifically, the company has lost almost a quarter of its value in just three months. To put it in context, we are talking about its largest quarterly drop since the 2008 financial crisis. A decline of this magnitude, logically, does not go unnoticed. From cloud leadership to a strategy under pressure If we want to understand why the story has gone wrong, we have to start with the most obvious: the market has reacted harshly and, above all, selectively. In the first quarter of 2026, Microsoft lost about 23% of its stock market value, according to CNBCwhile the Nasdaq lost around 7%. It is not a minor movement, among other things because we are talking about a drop of a magnitude that has not been seen in almost two decades. This gap compared to the rest of the sector begins to point out problems that go beyond the general context. For a time, the commitment to OpenAI was seen as one of Microsoft’s great strategic successes, and it is not difficult to understand why. The company has invested around 13 billion dollarss to integrate this technology into Azure and into products like Copilot, which allowed it to place itself in a very advantageous position in the race of the artificial intelligence. However, with the passage of time we have also begun to see the other side of that decision: a very high technological dependence and a growing pressure to justify that deployment. As the months have passed, that close relationship has also quietly begun to change. Although Azure remains a key partner for OpenAI, the company led by Sam Altman has started to open your infrastructure to other actors to sustain the growth of its models, which increasingly require more computing capacity and energy. This does not break the alliance, but it does change its meaning, because Microsoft no longer concentrates with the same clarity all the strategic advantage that it had achieved in the first phases of the agreement. If we go down to the field of the product, where all these bets should materialize, the case of Copilot is especially illustrative. Microsoft has tried to make this assistant the axis of its new value propositionintegrating it into Microsoft 365 and a good part of its ecosystem, but the adoption It is not going at the expected pace. According to The Information, almost no one uses Copilot. What we have seen is that bringing artificial intelligence to the daily life of companies is more complex than it seemed on paper. Added to all this is a tension that is not always seen, but is very present in the backroom of this race: that of how to distribute resources in an environment of growing demand. Microsoft is investing massively in infrastructure to sustain the rise of AI, but at the same time it has to decide how it allocates that capacity between Azure and its own services. In January, CFO Amy Hood came to point out that Azure’s growth in the December quarter would have been even greater if the company had allocated more chips to the cloud instead of distributing some of that capacity among services like Copilot. Attrition is not limited to artificial intelligence, and that should also be taken into account. Also this year we have seen notable drops in income and in various areas of the Xbox ecosystemin a context also marked by previous price increases in Game Pass and on the consoles. It may seem like a minor front next to Azure or Microsoft 365, but it helps complete the picture of a company that has been opening too many flanks at the same time. What we have seen is that even in areas where it had a consolidated position, Microsoft is finding it more difficult to keep pace. Put all these pieces together, and what begins to emerge is an increasingly evident disconnect between Microsoft’s operational strength and the way the market is valuing its strategy. The company remains the fourth most valuable on the planetcontinues to grow, with revenue up close to 17% year-on-year in its last reported quarter and with Azure advancing 39% in the December quarter, but that strength is not translating to its price or valuation. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana 2 In Xataka | The ghost of IBM: Satya Nadella’s great challenge is to prevent Microsoft from becoming a technological fossil

How to use artificial intelligence at Easter to help you organize your trip or your long weekend vacation

by

We are going to tell you several things in which AI can help you during Easter. This can range from prior preparations to some help once you are there. You already have at your disposal a large number of apps and websites to organize yourself during Holy Weekbut so much Claude as ChatGPT either Gemini They can also help you by fulfilling several of the functions of these apps, and having them all in one. You should know that these are just ideas on how to apply the artificial intelligence in travel planning, but You should not blindly trust anything they tell you.because they can make mistakes. However, there are some applications that are quite useful, and I must even tell you that I keep a couple of them to myself after having discovered them researching for the article. Ask me to help you choose your destination If you still don’t know where to go At Easter, even knowing that accommodation may already be full in many destinations, you can also ask the AI ​​to give you suggestions on where to go. Thus, depending on the parameters you give it, it will make suggestions that adapt to what you have in mind. To do this, you have to create a prompt in which you give him some notions of what9 you want. You can tell it if you want the beach, mountains or city, if you are traveling alone, as a couple or as a family, and how many days you have available. You can also give him ideas about your budget.and ask him to give you several suggestions explaining the reason for each one. You can use a prompt like this: “I want to go on an Easter vacation from April 3 to 6, we are two adults, we like cities with history but that are not overcrowded, we have a medium-low budget and we leave from Valencia. What destinations would you recommend?” Create a day-by-day itinerary Once you have chosen the destination you want to go to, artificial intelligence can also help you create a complete day-by-day itinerarysuggesting and organizing the most recommended visits in a logical manner, and with more or less adjusted times. This is something that can always take a lot of time to do by hand, and even if you don’t want to trust 100% of what the AI ​​tells you, it can serve as a starting point that you can later adapt. You can use a prompt like this: “I’m going to spend 4 days in Seville from April 3 to 6. We are two people, we are interested in architecture, gastronomy and historic neighborhoods, but we want to avoid long lines and the most touristy sites. Can you make me a day-by-day itinerary with morning, afternoon and night?” Claude has a route planner Some AIs have their own route planning system. For example, you can plan routes with Claude with an internal mechanism that asks you several questions to find out what you want. This mechanism works for you to plan new routes and create a map module from an already created one. For example, if you have created a four-day route, then you only have to write the following: “Group everything in one map module” When you do this, a map module will be generated within Claude, with tabs for each of the days and a list of places you plan to go. These sites will be linked on the map so you know where to go from, and you can open the route in Google Maps. Create specialized AI You have two very good alternatives to create an AI specialized in the destination using only the documents that you give him as a knowledge base. The best of them is use NotebookLMbecause in addition to uploading PDFs and other files you can also add YouTube videos or websites as sources from which you will get the information. You can also use Claude. The advantage in both cases is that have control of the fonts you usebeing able to add travel guides that you trust to the sources, or official websites where all the first-hand information is available. Ask him to make your suitcase list I must admit that I am terrible at organizing my suitcase, and this is something that AI can also help you with. You can ask him to creates a list of things to take which will be personalized depending on your destination, the duration of the trip and the activities you are going to do. You can use a prompt like this: “I’m going to spend 5 days on the Costa Brava during Easter. There will be some hiking, trips to the beach if the weather is good and some dinner at a restaurant. Can you make me a complete packing list, including clothes, shoes, toiletries and various items?” In case you decide to use Claude, since he can make you a interactive packing list with a check list so that you can complete all the items you have included and know which ones you are missing. If you prefer you can also dictate to the AI ​​the things you want to have on your list of luggage, so that it is personalized. Then, when something else occurs to you, you can go to the chat you have with the AI ​​for this and ask it to add or remove items, or even ask it if you are missing something considering when and where you are going. Gemini finds flights for you and compares prices Although all AI chatbots can help you search for flights, Gemini integrates Google Flights along with the rest of Google tools. That makes the search engine company’s AI the best alternative to search for flights and give you all the information about prices and availability. To use this function you can ask directly for flight options from your city of origin to your destination by specifying the dates, and the … Read more

wants to build a huge lake 2.8 kilometers long

by

If you go to Google Maps and search for ‘Saudi Arabia’, you will find a large piece of land within the Arabian Peninsula. The word “earth” is not just a saying: the sand color predominates throughout its geography. Because Saudi Arabia is sand. Beneath that surface there are important and invaluable deposits of oil, natural gas and minerals that make any construction, even if it defies the rules of logic, profitability or common sense, possible. As a mega ski resort in the middle of the desert. EITHER water parks throughout the dry land. EITHER a Caribbean style resort. Have we already mentioned that there is no water in Saudi Arabia? That is not an obstacle to mounting an artificial lake high mountain with three dams. The most dystopian future is in NEOM and we already know that it’s very expensive. The project. It is called Trojena Lake and it will be a freshwater lake in the middle of the desert, at an altitude of 2,600 meters in the mountains of Tabuk, as a bucolic backdrop for its ski resort. According to the construction company, the reservoir will be the largest artificial body of water in the entire country, 2.8 kilometers long and 1.5 square kilometers in surface. To contain the water between the mountains, it will use a system with three dams and inside there will be an artificial island for recreational use. As if the above were not enough, the lake will not have a normal shape: on one side will be The Bow, a cantilever that will extend the surface of the lake beyond the front of the main dam, as if it were a kind of balcony overlooking the mountain. It will be shaped like the bow of a suspended ship and will house a luxury hotel, residential and entertainment areas. It is not a ship stranded in the middle of the mountain: it is an artificial lake with a view of the valley. WeBuild Why it is important. To begin with, because as we have already been able to glimpse in the main details of its construction, we are facing a challenging project from an engineering point of view: due to its size, the construction challenge of constructing the dams or excavating the rock and even the way of obtaining water. Or simply because it is in a hostile environment where it should not even exist (naturally). On the other hand, because it is a thermometer of the real state of NEOM, a project whose future seems increasingly uncertain after cuts and delays. Trojena Lake one of its most advanced and tangible projects: there is a contract of 4.7 billion dollars signed with a renowned Italian construction company, machinery in the mountains and real progress. And although its completion was scheduled for the end of 2026, there are already leaks from Saudi officials pointing to delays of three to four years. Render of the lake. NEOM Context. The economic engine of Saudi Arabia has been, for decades, oil. But black gold has an expiration date, so it takes time for the Middle Eastern country to diversify its economy. As? with his Vision 2030 plan to promote tourism, infrastructure and, ultimately, other ways to monetize. NEOM is their urban development megaproject, but it is not just any one: it is exuberant and ostentatious, an instrument of international reputation that seeks to attract investment, talent and tourism through a modern and futuristic image. In a nutshell: another Dubai (pre-conflict Dubai between the US, Israel and Iran). For now, influencers have already attracted. In figures. Here are some of the astronomical numerical data from Trojana Lake: An initial $4.7 billion contract signed with We Build in January 2024. A lake 2.8 kilometers long and 1.5 square kilometers in area. An excavation of 90,000 cubic meters of rock per week. Manpower: 10,000 people. Technical challenges. Many and large. To build the lake they will use three dams: the main one will be 145 meters high and 475 meters long and will be made of RCC concrete, like the second dam. The third, however, will be made of rock and will have a volume of 4.3 million cubic meters. The logistics are extreme as they are in the desert, with no pre-existing infrastructure, so everything is moved to that remote location. On the other hand, The Bow is a long-span cantilever suspended over an active reservoir, which combines complex structural engineering with continuous and permanent exposure to water loading. The icing on the cake is the water: WeBuild’s press release does not specify its origin and there are no rivers around it, which implies pumping, desalination or collection of aquifers. According to Arabian Gulf Business Insightthe water will come from an area near the Gulf of Aqaba, more than 200 kilometers away. But there are many more. Trojena Lake cannot be understood without the framework that surrounds it and here the list of problems that threaten NEOM and Saudi Arabia’s desire to diversify its economy by offering a futuristic image is revealed. The 2029 Winter Olympics were postponed indefinitelythe costs of the futuristic city have been shotthe delay of the specific project is an open secret within a general delay. Not only that, even there is talk of a rescaling of its size. And we have barely mentioned the elephant in the room: the war adds a new layer of difficulty, both directly (drone attacks have already reached Riyadh) and indirectly, with the blockage of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the uncertainty of energy trade and, in general, the disincentive for foreign capital investment in the face of instability. In Xataka | The Line and Trojena were the jewels of the new Saudi Arabia. They will also be the first to face reality: they are very expensive In Xataka | Saudi Arabia’s impossible bridge to join Africa and Asia: a 32-kilometer megastructure over the Red Sea Cover | NEOM

has confirmed that this war is going to haunt us for a long time

by

Every day they circulate around the planet more than 100 million of barrels of oil and enormous volumes of gas that depend on a few strategic points to reach their destination. It only takes one of those nodes to fail for the markets to react in chain in a matter of hours and the impact is noticeable from large industries to the final price of energy in homes. The red line that no longer exists. Because he latest attack on Iran He has not been just another member of the war: he has crossed a border that until now everyone avoided, that of directly striking energy productionnot just its transportation or its peripheral facilities. The sequence is clear and extremely dangerous, because first the gas fields are attacked, then immediate retaliation comes. against equivalent infrastructures in neighboring countries, and in a matter of hours the conflict can enter a logic of “eye for an eye” that has no turning back. In fact, what for years was the worst possible scenario for analysts and strategists (an open war against the energy heart of the Gulf) is no longer a hypothesis for become realityand that changes the very nature of the conflict. War against the system, not against objectives. attack the South Pars gas field It’s not just hitting one more facility, it’s hitting a central piece of the global energy system and Iran’s own internal workings, and the Iranian response. on Ras Laffan confirms that the message has been understood throughout the region. It is no longer about destroying military capabilities or putting political pressure, but rather directly damage the pillars that support states: we are talking about income, social stability and supply capacity. When a facility that concentrates near a fifth of natural gas liquefied planet can be engulfed in flames, the war stops being regional and becomes become systemicbecause its effects spread far beyond the battlefield. A war with the face of Iraq. Plus: the dynamic that has been activated is dangerously reminiscent of the gulf war 1991, when burning oil fields became a symbol of total war against energy infrastructure. If the current escalation continues, it is not difficult to imagine the next step: refineries, petrochemical plants and entire fields become priority targets, with prolonged fires and damage that can take years to repair. The difference is that now global interdependence is much olderwhich amplifies the impact and can turn each attack into a direct hit to the global economy. In other words, the war is no longer fought only with missiles and drones, but with the destruction of the capacity to produce and sustain the energy that moves the planet. An expanding goal board. The Iranian response It also hints at a deeper strategic change: one where, if its energy base is hit, any equivalent infrastructure in the region becomes legitimate objectiveincluding facilities in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates or Qatar itself in the equation. If you like, beyond the energy, the implicit message is even more disturbing: if this taboo is broken, other, perhaps more dangerous ones can also be broken. Because Iran still has the capacity to climb in other directionsfrom attacks on political and symbolic centers to more direct blows against power structures. In other words, if they touch the economic heart, they can begin to point to the political heart, and that opens up a range of scenarios that are much more difficult to contain. The war after the combat. From that perspective, the real problem is not only what is happening now, but what this implies for medium and long term. Destroying energy infrastructure is not something that can be repaired in weeks, and each impact can leave scars that most likely they will last for yearsaltering trade flows, regional relations and power balances. Therefore, possibly this moment be so decisive in the war conflict: because it confirms that we have entered in a phase of the same whose consequences will persist long after the bombings stop. It’s not just another war in the Middle East, it never really has been, but now it’s the beginning of a dynamic that can redefine how conflicts are fought in a region where, from now on, the limits are no longer clear. And that is what makes it more dangerous than any other. Image | nara In Xataka | If the question is where Russia is in the Iran war, satellite images leave no doubt: helping to bring down the US In Xataka | A trick is unblocking the passage of ships in Hormuz without the need for drones or escorts, and the US is not going to be amused

is to survive long enough to get the uranium out of there

by

Extracting radioactive material in conflict zones is one of the more complex missions that exist and usually requires highly specialized equipment, millimeter protocols and logistics comparable to that of a large-scale military operation. Plus: unlike other interventions, it is not enough to reach the objective. Because exposure time, safety of the environment and subsequent transportation are critical factors that they condition everything. Nuclear objective without clear plan. Officially, the United States has presented the war against Iran as an operation aimed at preventing Tehran get nuclear weaponsbut reality is stubborn and somewhat more ambiguous. Because while the official discourse insists on eliminating this threat, operational decisions show that the focus is right now in degrading missiles and dronesnot so much in securing enriched uranium. This contradiction has generated criticism even within the own political systemby showing that there is no clear strategy to solve the key element of the problem. The core of the problem. It we count a week ago. In reality, the critical point is not the bombed facilities, but the material that has survived to those attacks. We are talking about hundreds of kilos of highly enriched uranium that remain buried in underground complexes like Isfahan or Natanz, protected by rubble and structures designed precisely to resist attacks. That stock, a prioriis enough to bring Iran closer to a nuclear capability if it decides to reactivate, making it the most valuable and dangerous asset in the conflict. The strategic dilemma: leave. And here emerges the key idea that defines the entire “nuclear” situation: the United States’ problem right now is not simply to invade Iran, but survive long enough to get the uranium out of there. The reason? Recovering that material would involve deploying hundreds or thousands of soldierssecure hostile perimeters, excavate collapsed tunnels, and operate for days under constant threat from drones, missiles, and asymmetric attacks. The difficulty, therefore, is not only in locating it, but in maintain the forces on the ground the time necessary to extract and evacuate it safely. Extreme complexity. Experts describe this hypothetical mission as one of the most complex never raised in recent war history. Mainly because it would be necessary to coordinate special forces, engineers, protection units and air resources, in addition to create improvised infrastructure to transport the material out of the country. All this in an environment where every minute increases the risk of casualties, sabotage or contamination, and where the operation could last longer than expected without guarantees of total success. The uncomfortable alternative. There is, as almost always, a plan B. Given this scenario, the option that seems to prevail right now is the simplest: avoid operation and rely on deterrence. There is no doubt, this implies assuming that the uranium will remain in Iran, under indirect surveillance, with the apparent threat of new attacks if an attempt is made to recover or enrich it. Plus: this solution does not remove the “official” problem which gave rise to an entire war, if anything it only freezes it, leaving open the possibility that the country reactivates its program in the future. A latent risk. Under these scenarios, the result stages a conflict that has weakened capabilities visible, but has left intact the most determining elementor at least the one that has given rise to giving free rein to the war machinery to two (+1) nations. Meanwhile, the kilos of buried uranium have become a permanent pressure factorboth for Iran and its adversaries. And, above all, it reveals a most disturbing paradox, because you can win an air war and still lose control of the central strategic objective. Unless, of course, that wasn’t the goal. Image | x In Xataka | The US has asked all its allies in Hormuz for help. The answer he received was anticipated by Spain before anyone else: “no” In Xataka | The world is desperately asking Ukraine for its antidote to the Shahed. And Ukraine has decided to keep them for its war

The rarest chicken in Spain is blue and lives in Extremadura. What we don’t know is for how long

by

Human beings are ungrateful animals. For decades, while we miserably worked the land, those blue chickens (rustic, tough and independent) were very good for us. The battered farmhouses of Extremadura, toasted by the sun, extractivism and simple life, were full of them. But then modernity, cities and supermarkets came… and they became a hindrance. Today, despite the fact that in recent years the institutions have stepped up, there will be about 2,000 chicken specimens Extremaduran blue. The Extremadura Blue Hen Breeders Association has 23 farms, but most people raise them for personal consumption or as a simple hobby. It is the rarest chicken in Spain and that, believe me, is saying a lot. A country without half measures. In Spain there are 21 poultry breeds in danger of extinction. This means that 95.4% of all registered native poultry breeds are threatened. In fact, 84% of all native breeds (whether they are birds or not) are in danger. And it is curious because, in short, we live in an unparalleled agricultural power. Spain is the second largest chicken producer of the European continent (only behind the United Kingdom), the third in beef and the first in pork (although swine fever can change this). Although, to tell the truth, it is not that curious. In fact, that is the problem. The emergence of industrial poultry farming since the 50s it was cornering local breeds for the benefit of commercial hybrids specialized in pure and simple production. Therefore, deep down, we are not talking about a problem of great economic magnitude. We are talking about two central issues in the present and the future of the ‘Spain emptied‘: the territorial management model and the question of what we do with genetic heritage. Since its recovery began in 1991 (when only specimens were found in five towns in the region), the situation has improved greatly. But not enough: all those questions are still on the table. And they are not easy questions to answer. Because, and in this case the blue Extremaduran hen, is a good example of the problems that arise as soon as we start working on the matter. because the underlying question is whether a livestock breed can be preserved if no one can make a living from it. And not only because the regulations They are designed for industrial poultry farming (and represents a very considerable obstacle), but for the paradox that hides in a simple Extremadura hen: the realization that not even at the time with greater institutional support (MAPA logo, breeding programs, germplasm banks, etc…) this breed can take its commercial leap. Is it a warning to sailors? Is it the future we have to live? Image | Mentxuwiki In Xataka | China is so clear that the future of pork lies in ‘skyscraper farms’ that it is doing something: taking them to other countries

If the oil apocalypse becomes a reality, Spain has known for years how long it can last: 92 days

by

Faced with the logistical blockage of Hormuz that threatens to drown the global economy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has decided to press the red button. The organization has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history: about 400 million barrels. To put it in context, this figure is more than double the 182 million barrels that were injected into the market in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Spain, as a member of the IEA, will not be left out. How to collect Europe Pressthe vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, has confirmed our country’s support for this plan. If the proposal is approved unanimously, Spain will contribute to the market the equivalent of about 12 or 12.5 days of its national consumption. The Spanish bunker. All this movement leads us to the big question: how much margin does Spain really have if the situation becomes entrenched? Legally, there is a global obligation to maintain minimum security stocks equivalent to 92 days of sales or computable consumption. According to calculations of The CountryAdding all the capacities, the country has about 105 days of autonomy. This safety mattress works through a mixed system: The Corporation of Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products (CORES) must maintain 42 of those dayswhile the remaining 50 days are maintained directly by the industry. Currently, CORES custody more than 5.4 million cubic meters of stocks. It’s not just crude oil. To be truly useful in a crisis, CORES reserves are composed by 54.4% diesel, 29.2% crude oil and 6.0% kerosene. stocks They are strategically distributed by Spanish geography. The Levante area accounts for 44.8% of the total, followed by the central area with 19.2% and the northern area with 17.7%. The objective of these reserves is not to replace normal long-term supply, but to inject fuel into the market to stop sudden price increases and buy vital time to reorganize logistics and trade routes. We can’t relax. Just because we have a margin of three months does not mean that we are invulnerable. Spain is a country with almost absolute foreign energy dependence. In 2024, national oil consumption was 1,322,492 barrels per daybut own production barely reached 76,947 barrels. Our net crude oil imports represent more than 100% of our consumption. Furthermore, our economy she is addicted to black goldespecially to move. The transport sector is responsible for 71.1% of the final consumption of petroleum products in Spain, with diesel/diesel being the undisputed king, accounting for 61.1% of that consumption. The Iranian asphyxiation has a crack. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have activated a logistical “antidote” capable of rescuing up to 7 million barrels per day. The main asset is East-West Pipelinean oil pipeline connecting eastern Saudi fields with the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The machinery is already in motion, there is already an “army” of at least 25 supertankers sailing towards Yanbu to load this crude oil. Adding to this effort is the United Arab Emirates pipeline, which provides up to 2 million additional barrels directly to the Gulf of Oman. The refinery factor. But the macroeconomy hits a wall, Saudi oil pipelines transport crude oil, not diesel. As analyst Arne Lohmann Rasmussen warns, the real danger is the deficit of distillates. If Europe does not have enough refineries to process that oil in time, the desert pipelines are of no use. This is where the CORES bunker win the game. The 54.4% of already refined diesel that Spain stores is the only thing that guarantees that the trucks do not stop. In short, the Saudi “antidote” prevents total collapse, but our reserves buy the 100 days of peace necessary to avoid seeing the pump in the clouds. If diplomacy fails, not even the bunker will avoid the historic scare. Image | Volgotanker Xataka | The price of oil has plummeted overnight. The one at the gasoline pumps will remain the same

Battles are won long before the first missile is launched

by

In World War II, armies began to discover that intercepting a radio signal could be as decisive as sinking a ship. Decades later, that logic has multiplied: today a modern conflict can involve satellites, algorithms that process millions of data per second and attacks that occur on invisible networks long before the first plane or the first missile appears in the sky. The war that happens before. In the past, wars began with the first visible shot: a cavalry charge, an artillery barrage, or a missile launch. But the conflicts of the 21st century have changed radically that logic. Before the first projectile crosses the sky, it has already been released a decisive battle in another much less visible place: computer networks infiltrated for years, satellites observing movements, electronically blinded radars and algorithms that analyze mountains of data to anticipate each enemy movement. The war in Iran has proven it again crudely. Same as it happened in ukrainethe real showdown begins long before the audience sees the explosions. A years-long murder. I was counting last week the financial times in an extensive report how the attack that ended the life of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was planned, one of the most extreme examples of this new way of fighting. When Israeli fighters dropped their bombs on the Pasteur Street complex in Tehran, the operation was actually years developing in silence. Israel had hacked a large part of the traffic cameras in the Iranian capital and transmitted their encrypted images to servers in its territory. Those data are combined with algorithms able to reconstruct patterns of life: what time the bodyguards arrived, where they parked their cars, what routes they followed and which officials they worked with. This information was integrated with human intelligence, communications interceptions and social network analysis that identified centers of power within the Iranian system. The result was a production chain targeting: an intelligence machine designed to convert data into military targets. Blind first, attack later. When it came time to execute the operation, the missiles and bombs were actually the last phase of the plan. Before the fighters went into action, the United States launched cyber attacks aimed at degrading Iranian communication and air defense systems. The goal was simple: blind the enemy. Disabled radars, confused command networks, and cell towers unable to transmit warnings created a temporary vacuum in which attacking forces could move with advantage. That logic (take away first the eyes to the opponent) had already appeared in previous conflictsbut has now become a centerpiece of modern military strategy. The invisible battlefield. This previous combat is fought in what the military calls the electromagnetic spectrum: the domain where radars, communications, satellites and navigation systems operate. Controlling that space means being able to detect threats before the enemyguide precision weapons or block signals that allow a defense to be coordinated. Losing it can have immediate consequences. Without secure communications, units cannot coordinate, without satellite navigation, guided weapons lose precision, and without radar, anti-aircraft systems stop seeing the targets they must intercept. That is why military strategists repeat a warning increasingly clear: if the electromagnetic spectrum battle is lost, the war is probably already lost. The lesson that came from Ukraine. How have we been countingthe war in Ukraine was the laboratory that demonstrated to what extent this invisible combat It is decisive. There, both Russia and Ukraine have employee war systems electronics to jam drones, jam GPS-guided missiles or disable enemy communications. At times, Western precision weapons such as lHIMARS rockets or the JDAM pumps They lost some of their effectiveness due to Russian electronic interference. The result was a battlefield where spectrum control (and not just the number of missiles or tanks) determined who had the advantage. The new phase of modern warfare. The operation against Iran confirms that this trend is not a Ukrainian anomaly, but rather the norm in contemporary wars. Today the first movements in a conflict are not usually visible, because they are hackers infiltrating networks, satellites detecting signals, algorithms processing data or electronic systems blocking communications. If you like, it is also a silent phase, but absolutely critical. Only when that battle is won do missiles take off, planes cross the border or bombs fall on their targets. By then, however, much of the outcome has already been decided. Because in the wars of the 21st century, the most important combat is not fought in the air or on the ground, but in an invisible domain where seeing before the enemy is as decisive as shooting first. Image | US Navy, nara In Xataka | Iran’s drones have aimed at the same target as the US. And now that they have pulverized it, they are going to unleash their most dangerous weapon In Xataka | Iranian oil made the Shah of Persia immensely rich. He also financed palaces, 140 luxury cars and a private Boeing 727.

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

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

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

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