Millions

What are solar storms and why society has become so vulnerable to something that has happened millions of years

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“Understanding the space climate is not an option.” With this lapidary phrase summarizes its efforts to predict solar storms the European Space Agency. They occur since the sun exists, and some of the most powerful They are recorded in the trees rings. But they are not our ancestors, but we, the most dependent civilization of the technology that the earth has ever stepped on, the most vulnerable to them. But what exactly are solar storms? How are these energy outbreaks? And the million dollar question: can we predict when the next one will impact on earth? The answer is in a complex network of satellites, artificial intelligence models and constant surveillance of our star by space agencies. What is a solar storm 150 million kilometers away, the sun flushes with a magnetic activity so powerful that, from time to time, it goes out of hand. A solar storm is a sudden explosion of energy, plasma particles and magnetic fields that the sun releases towards the solar system. If the ejection occurs in the direction of the Earth, the solar storms can produce more intense auroraslike those that were seen in much of the world in May 2024. But they are not only a show: in our technological civilization, they are also a threat. To understand them, we have to differentiate their two main components. The guts or solar flares. They are a intense radiation outbreak: A whip of energy released when the magnetic fields of the sun tense and break. This radiation travels at the speed of light, reaching the earth in just eight minutes. They are classified according to their intensity by X -ray flow, measured in watts per square meter. The class A, B and C are the weakest, and those of class M and X, the most powerful, which usually cause interference in short wave radio communications. Coronal mass ejections. It is the ballistic part of the solar storms. While fulguration is the flash, the coronal mass ejections They are the “cannon bullet”: a gigantic bubble of loaded particles (plasma) and magnetic fields that are thrown into the space at speeds of millions of kilometers per hour. This massive cloud of solar material It takes between 18 hours and a couple of days in crossing the space to cross with our planet. Not all guts are accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, but when they occur together and in the direction of the earth, they are a powerful cocktail that can put astronauts at risk, knock down satellites (as happened during a Starlink deploymentor fry electrical installations on land (As in the Carrington event). How they form A Class M. Image: That The origin of the solar storms is the magnetic field of the Sun. A star is not a solid ball, but a sphere of rotation plasma. But it does not rotate uniformly: his Ecuador turns faster than his poles. This differential causes the magnetic field lines to twist, tangle and accumulate an enormous amount of energy, as if they were elastic gums twisted to the limit. These areas of intense and complex magnetic activity They usually manifest as sun spots on the visible surface of the sun. When the accumulated tension becomes unsustainable, there is a magnetic reconnection event: the lines are broken and violently reorganized, suddenly releasing all the stored energy. This release drives the guts and can launch into the mass of the solar crown. The intensity of its effects on Earth depends on its speed, its size and, above all, the orientation of its magnetic field. If the magnetic field of coronal mass ejection is oriented towards the south, it is aligned in opposition to that of the Earth, our protective shield, which allows a much more efficient and destructive energy transfer. How they affect the earth If we are here it is because the magnetic field and the atmosphere of the earth protect us from radiation. Solar storms are not a direct risk to the health of living beings on the earth’s surface. For astronauts it is another song. In 1972, shortly before the Apollo 17 mission, there was an intense solar storm that would have inoculated a mortal amount of radiation in astronauts if they had been on the surface of the moon. Today, astronauts who work in the low land orbit, even protected by the magnetic field, plan space walks according to the space climate. The really vulnerable to intense solar storms is our technological infrastructure. When a coronal mass ejection impacts the earth’s magnetosphere There is a geomagnetic storm. Extreme cases can induce electric currents in high voltage lines, overloading transformers and raising the risk of blackouts, especially now in summer, when the electricity grid is already very tension. The satellites, despite having mechanisms to avoid induced currents, usually carry the worst part. Solar storms expand the upper atmosphere of the Earth, increasing friction and accelerating the fall of satellites that orbit the earth at low height. This effect already is accelerating the fall of Starlink satellitesthe most large constellation of the low orbit. Even during moderate geomagnetic storms we can notice some effects, such as precision errors in GPS systems or that airlines deflect flights from polar routes to avoid failures in plane systems and protect passengers. The kind face of solar storms are the auroras: solar particles that when hitting our atmosphere They create a light show at the poles. During severe geomagnetic storms, dawn can also be seen in less common latitudes. When the next solar storm will occur Image: that The most severe geomagnetic storms occur Around solarthe period of more activity of the Sun in its 11 -year cycle. Now we are going through solar cycle 25, and we approach the maximum activity, planned by the NOAA and ESA by the end of 2025 or early 2026. This means that we are in a high probability phase of intense storms. Luckily, spatial meteorology is advancing by giant steps. To predict solar storms, … Read more

The United States has decided to launch millions of flies with airplanes on its own territory. It has good reasons

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As killing flies to guns, in the United States they have decided to do it using more flies. Literally. For months the country faces the ghost of the Cochliomyia hominivoraxa fly that in its larval state is a serious threat to cattle, wildlife, pets and even Humans. Hence the country has devised a peculiar strategy to fight it: raise thousands of millions of flies and then release them from airplanes. It sounds crazy, but it makes all the meaning. There is no small enemy. At first glance the Cochliomyia hominivoraxalso known as the New World Barrenning Worm (or NWS) does not seem much. But that is with the naked eye, of course. Although they are not much greater than common flies, in their Larval state they represent a considerable threat, especially for cattle, pets and wildlife. NWS females deposit the eggs in wounds or mucous membranes and, once they hatch, the larvae break through the meat, feeding thanks to their sharp oral hooks. Hence “BARRENOR WORD”. Dead cattle in weeks. The species is so voracious that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) warns of its effects, the risk of cattle and what the nation is played by keeping it at bay. “It is crucial to protect our livestock industry, our economy and our food supply chain,” emphasize. In An interview With the AP Agency, Michael Bailey, director of the American Association of Veterinary Medicine, is even more explicit: the larvae can end a 450 kilos bovine in a matter of two weeks. And why is it news? The boreride worm is An old acquaintance of the American authorities. Although the species is endemic to Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and countries in South America, the US has been looking for a way to prevent the species from expanding north with the help of Panama. Moreover, in his day he already deployed a strategy that allowed him A small outbreak Registered in the Florida Keys in 2017. The problem is that now the larva is calling again at the gates of the southern US, which has put the USDA on guard. “Although the NWS has been eradicated from the country for decades, recent detections in Mexico, at points as north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 1,125 kilometers from the border, have led to the immediate suspension of the imports of living cattle, horses and bison in the US entry ports on the southern border on May 11,” I recognized The government recently. Cattle lock and something else. Import blocking is only a small part of the Usda activated plan to curb the expansion of carnivorous parasite. The US authorities also want to have a vast network of facilities that allow him to raise hundreds of millions of NWS flies every week. And are willing to invest millions of dollars to achieve it. The Agriculture Department has already announced the investment of 8.5 million in a southern Texas and other installation 21 million To re -adapt a metapa plant, in Mexico, which was dedicated to the breeding of fruit flies. The idea is that it now focuses on the NWS. Both facilities will also be added to another base of Panama that is already able to raise about 177 million flies every week, a figure that the USDA considers insufficient. Its goal is to get to 400 million. But … raise flies for what? To have fewer flies. I know, it sounds inconsistent, but it makes all the meaning of the world. The flies that leave those hatcheries are not ‘normal’, but special specimens, males sterilized with radiation that can mate, but not (and this is the key) reproduce. The idea is actually very simple: scientists raise millions of flies, billions, and then release them in the fields so that females mate with those altered males. The result are eggs unable to hatch, which translates into less larvae and, over time, in diminishing populations. A solera technique. The technique is interesting for several reasons. For a start, Remember APit is more effective and ecological than resorting to pesticides. In addition, Washington has already proven that the system works relatively well. USDA remember which used the same “biological control technique” to end NWS populations in the 60s and the 2017 Florida outbreak. The same strategy has also been deployed in other places to combat different pests. Los Angeles used it to stop the proliferation of the Fruit fly And Singapore did something similar with the mosquitoes They transmit dengue. ‘Bombing’ of flies. Raising sterile male flies is just the first part of the plan. To work and stop the carnivorous worm, something else must be done: release those diptera strategically. And the US already knows how to do it. The Associated Press agency It has relieved that the government proposes to throw the altered specimens on southern Texas and Mexico. In fact he hopes to have In late of this same year a special installation to disperse insects in the Moore Air Baselocated almost at the border with Mexico. The new farm of southern Mexico would take something more to be ready. It would not be activated until July 2026. Images | USDA (Flickr), APHIS-USA and Wikipedia In Xataka | These worms live in the most radioactive area of ​​Chernobil. To everyone’s surprise, they seem immune to radioactivity

To batteries, it does not need to recharge and save millions of liters of diesel

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While Europe looks with sweet eyes on Hydrogen train and In Argentina they already presume their solar trainAustralia boasts of her brand new electric train. Wait, how “electric train” when that exists for decades and It is called Ave? Because the Australian train has an important nuance: it works with batteries and is not connected to the catenary. The result? An “infinite train” manufactured with racing technology. And with a mission: save a lot of money in diesel. The ‘Infinity Train’. Mining in Australia is a huge business And companies invest to improve their infrastructure, thus being more competitive and efficient in every way. Fortescue (how difficult it is not to write “Fortesque” as in ‘Medievil‘) is one of those companies, and just announce who have completed the pilot trip of their “intinifo train.” Driven only by its battery system and without being connected to the current, this ‘Intinity Train’ has completed a trip of about 1,100 kilometers, and the most impressive thing is that it will have to do another 1,100 kilometers back without having to recharge. In fact, the idea is to make constant round trips without going through a plug. His trick is not called Solar panels Not anything like that: it’s called regenerative braking. Formula braking 1 AND. In 2022, Fortescue acquired 100% of Williams Advanced Engineering, a British company founded as a split of the Williams team of Formula 1, but focused on the creation of High performance batteries for formula E. The purchase was closed for 223 million dollars and the objective was Accelerate decarbonization in the company’s mining operations. One of the keys to Formula E, which also applies to the Formula 1 battery system, is the generation of electric power thanks to braking. It is like a dynamo that generates electricity with the engine in reverse, and in the case of ‘Infinity Train’, it is a tremendously magnified process. A huge asterisk. Because here the trick is that the round trip from Perth to the Pilbara region makes it loaded with materials, increasing the weight of the train and maximizing regeneration in braking. But, in addition, it is a route with a slope down. The slope on the road to the mines to the port is 600 meters, so the train has more than 1,000 kilometers to, with up to 34,000 tons of iron from the mines, generating electricity that compensates for the expense it can do. The return path makes it downloaded and ‘strip’ of that energy that has filled the batteries so as not to need an external load nor the support of the catenaries. And start again: they return to load the train, go downhill up loading their batteries and then climb the energy generated. The matter of money. In a huge continent and with the complicated terrain to install catenaries, it is a solution that has all the way, but the limitation is more than evident: the technology of this train can only be applied in situations as specific as that of long journeys in which the phase of being loaded with materials is done downhill. In other situations, it seems more complicated. But well, the company’s intention is to electrify its more than 50 transport trains for 2030 with the aim of reducing its emissions and, in addition, saving What Diesel costs. It is difficult to get the idea of ​​magnitude, but They speak to cut 82 million liters of fuel per year and reduce 11% of its annual CO₂ emissions if they electrify the train network. Electrifying the mines. From the company they affirm that this technology can be exported to everyone, and in the end it is another step in the MODERNIZATION OF MINES. It is precisely in this work environment that the electrification It seems very necessary not only to reduce emissions and that companies meet their objectives, but to improve the health of workers. In recent years we are seeing Betting for electric trucks and even automatedand the ‘infinite train’ adds to the trend, but with the great point against that it is a possible vehicle in extremely concrete situations. Image | Fortescue In Xataka | France has thousands of kilometers of unused train tracks. So you are covering them with solar panels

Anthropic trained his AI with millions of books with copyright. To a judge that has seemed correct (with a great asterisk)

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Anthropic has just achieved a very important legal victory in that legal battle that the world of AI maintains with copyright and copyright for years. The sentence, favorable to Anthropic, can sit a great precedent for the rest of the cases in which AI companies have been sued for training their models with works with copyright. But be careful, because it has not been a total victory. ANTOPIC WIN. In the demand of three authors against Anthropic, the company was accused of downloading millions of books with copyright, in addition to buying some of them to scan and digitize them. The objective: train their AI models. Judge William Alsup has made clear In his sentence that “the use for training was a fair use.” Companies that develop AI models have always shielded in that concept of just use to argue how their models with all kinds of works, including those protected by copyright. Fair use. This legal criterion maintains that limited use of protected material is allowed without needing permission from the owner of those rights. In the laws of Copyright, one of the ways that judges have to determine if that type of activity is a fair use is to examine whether that use was “transformer.” Or what is the same, if something new has been created from these works. For Alsup “the technology in question is one of the most transformatives that many of us will see in our lives.” A victory with a great asterisk. Although the judge indicated that this training process was a fair use, he also determined that the authors could lead Anthropic to trial for hacking their works. The company argued that this was justified because it was “at least reasonably necessary to train LLMS.” For Alsup the issue is precisely that although they ended up buying some of them, he built a huge library for which he did not pay: “Anthropic downloaded more than seven million pirate copies of books, did not pay anything and retained these pirate copies in his library even after deciding that he would not use them to train their AI (at all or never again). The authors argue that Anthropic should have paid for these pirate copies of the library. This sentence coincides with it.” Thomson-Reuters’ precedent. A few months ago Thomson Reuters won a 2020 demand Against a so -called Ross Intelligence Startup. According to them, the company had reproduced material from its legal research division, called Westlaw. The judge rejected the arguments of the defense and declared that the argument for fair use could not be applied in that case. The sentence against Anthropic is right in the opposite direction and blesses that type of use … while companies buy the works with which they train their models. The company of AI, by the way, had already achieved a small legal victory In a previous case against Universal Music. Anthropic downloaded piecework books. In the trial it was revealed how the co -founder of Anthropic, Ben Mann, downloaded in winter 2021 data sets such as The so -called Books3 or libgen (Library Genesis) that they are nothing more than gigantic book compilations, many of which are protected by copyright. Goal is in the same. All companies that develop AI models have been trained with all types of data, including works protected by copyright, and they all face a similar situation. Goal, for example, downloaded 81.7 TB of books with copyright via Bittorrent to train their AI models. That makes the company of Mark Zuckerberg can end up suffering a destination similar to that of Anthropic, which has before him a new very dangerous judicial process for his finances. A potential fine of billions of dollars. As indicated in Wired, the minimum fine for this type of copyright rape is $ 750 per book. Alsup indicated that the illegally unloaded library of Anthropic consists of at least seven million books, and that means that the company faces a potentially huge fine. At the moment there is no date for that new trial. The endless battle of AI and copyright. This is the last episode of a soap opera that we will undoubtedly see many more chapters. Companies like Google, OpenAI either Perplexity They have been equally voracious when training their models and have devastated public (and not so public) data on the Internet. Copyright’s rape demands are accumulating, and cases such as Anthropic may sit a predictive disturbing for all of them if they did not buy the books they used to train their models. Image | Emil Widlund In Xataka | 5,000 “tokens” of my blog are being used to train an AI. I have not given my permission

Millions of people are hooked right now to an Olympic Games where cats compete. Cats made with ia

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What happens if together Internet obsession with cats With? Well, well mixed, they can be the ingredients of the next viral success in networks such as the one we have seen this weekend. If you have Instagram or Tiktok, there are many chances that you have seen (or have shared) a video of cats making springboard jump with pirouettes worthy of gold medal. This has cooked this viral liver that has already become a whole Trend 300 million visualizations and upload. The creator of these ‘Kitty Olympics’ has been @PabloPROMPTa Canarian psychologist amateur to create videos with AI. In its networks it has an important sum of followers, but the figures that you have achieved with this video are demential. In the first hours already He was surprised Growth: 1.5 million in just 5 hours. It was just the beginning. Right now it has almost 70 million in Tiktok and 237 million on Instagram. The thing was not there. As we said at the beginning, the video unleashed a whole wave of similar videos, what in the jargon of the networks we would call Trend. In Tiktok, the search ‘Olympics Animals’ returns results where the protagonists are giraffe dogs, capibaras, camels or lions, some of them with several million visualizations. How he has done it. Videos created with AI There are many, but not everyone gets so much impact. The realism of the video and the naturalness of the jumps that cats give is what attracts the most attention. For its creation, the new model of Hailuo aihe Hailuo 2 that was released a few days ago and promised notable improvements in the realism of physicists. While I wrote these lines I have tried the free version of this tool to create these gymnasts and, although it is not as striking as the ‘Michi Olympics’, the result is not bad. Creation yes, but halfway. From the first generative AI tools, the controversies with artists They have been to the agenda, even Some have come to sue To these tools for intellectual property. With the social networks filling with videos made with iaanother problem arises, that of effort and originality; While there are creators dedicating hours to videos of a few seconds, others such as Daniel Bitton They presume “generate 8 or 10 videos in less than 30 minutes” and also the algorithms are favoring them. In the case of the video that this Olympic trend originated, although it has been this user who has published the video on networks, he did so from a Prompt of another user (@fofrai), so it was not an original idea of ​​his. The other face. Although we can discuss the originality or effort it has taken, the video of the Olympic cats has triumphed because it is fun and is very achieved. However, the content created with the networks is increasing and does not always have this sympathetic appearance. A few months ago we talked about ‘AI Slop’ or The garbage that began to flood social networks. The phenomenon consists of videos made with AI (quite disturbingby the way) that he had managed to break the algorithms of recommendation of Tiktok and Instagram. Based on saturating them, they ended up showing these videos to a larger audience. On the other hand, there is the problem of content created with ia that is presented as realas happened a few days ago with the Conflict between Iran and Israel. In response, the platforms like Tiktok are starting to label it. In Xataka | The Ghibli paradox: the most viral success of AI is at the same time a symptom of its problems as a daily product

Every year millions of packages are lost during shipments. So there are companies that are selling them to weight

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Only in the United States They lose or steal 1.7 million packages every day. In Spain the latest data from the TDI logistics group They revealed that more than two shipments were lost per minute. The curious thing is where at least part of them end: they are shown to weight. Millions of lost packages. According to They indicate to EFE From the employer of the logistics sector one, in Spain more than 3.3 million packages are sent per day, and the cases of loss involve a tiny fraction of 0.001% (about 3,300 per day). A simple error on the label or lack of centralized information can cause these problems, and that is where some companies recover them to resell them. Reversing weight. Services such as Crazy Day Factory, My Mystery Package, Merkandi, LotesDevolutions, or King Colis are dedicated exactly to the same thing: acquiring those lost packages to often resell them as part of surprise boxes that are sold to weight. As they point out in the confidentialin Kink Colis for example they establish a price of 1.99 euros per 100 grams in standard packages and 2.79 euros in the premium type. A lot of noise and few chollos? In King Colis FAQ, a French startup, they explain that buying this type of surprise packages can be very profitable, because one “can contradate state -of -the -art technological devices to clothing or accessories of recognized brands.” However, they also warn: “Not all lost packages necessarily contain treasures. There is a part of chance!” You don’t know what you buy. One acquires these packages to weight, but does not really know what he is buying. As they revealed in the nationalin stores such as my mystery package open ephemeral stores throughout the year in different municipalities to give out these packages, but there is a key requirement: the package cannot be opened until after buying it. And that implies risks. These lost packages are not checked and therefore can be damaged, be defective or have a much lower price than the buyer ends up. In Lotes Devolutions they explain that those products that put on sale – which are returns, not lost shipments – do not go through a previous check, which can end up causing a disappointing surprise effect. Packages are sold repaired without visible brands to eliminate commercial references, turning the purchase into a riddle … or a bet. The psychology of surprise. The surprise boxes such as those offered by all these businesses take advantage of known phenomena of human psychology. Several researchers published in June 2024 A study in which they revealed how the stimulus-organism-response (Sor) causes that impulsive purchase out of curiosity without intervening conscious thinking. We think quickly instead of thinking fast, as the Nobel Prize Daniel Kahneman in his famous’ stood out in depth.Think quickly, think slowly‘. Previous experience. In Xataka we were able to meet this type of business last year, when we went to an old warehouse on the outskirts of Madrid to try to locate some cholt between the chaos of Amazon returned products that a company put on sale. There was no surprise effect here and the proposal is something different, but the conclusion was already clear: we had no luck and after hours of search we went out empty. Finding chollos, whether by surprise or not, is not easy. Image | Chuttersnap In Xataka | The end of free online returns: Zara, Pull and Bear and more stores begin to collect them

How to put millions of people in bunkers

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The German nation, with a current population of around 84 million people, currently has about 5,780 bunkers. Makes sense: these vestiges of war of the past were mostly built During World War II And, to a lesser extent, during the Cold War. These spaces, most underground, had a very simple function: host and protect thousands of people from the case. Germany believes that the time has come to prepare them again. Prepared for war. It The Guardian told The weekend. After decades of generalized belief that a direct military conflict on European soil was unthinkable, Germany has initiated a deep transformation in its civil protection policy against the growing fear of a possible Russian attack in the next four years. Ralph Timesler, director of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and assistance to catastrophes (BBK), has warned that the country It is not prepared for a large -scale war of aggression and has called an urgent national mobilization for adapt infrastructure existing (from tunnels, subway stations to basements and parking lots) as shelters capable of protecting a million people. The message is clear: Germany needs to move from pacifist rhetoric to the Preventive action If you want to face the strategic challenges posed by an increasingly unpredictable Russia. The outdated bunker. Of course, there is a problem: these shelters need a wide reform. The current civil protection panorama in Germany leaves no doubts: of the 2,000 bunkers inherited from the cold war, just 580 They are operational and could only house 0.5% of the population. In contrast, Finland It has 50,000 spaces protection that cover 85% of its citizens. Plus: BBK’s proposal is not limited to building new shelters (an expensive and slow task), but prioritizes the immediate adaptation of existing urban structures. In parallel, it is planned to modernize alert systems, improve the cybersecurity of emergency applications and develop clear signals indicating Where to protect yourself In case of attack. The initiative arises in a context in which mass bombings on Ukrainian cities Like Járkovwhere Russia launched one attacks of the most intense since the beginning of the invasion, reaffirm the need to prepare for war scenarios in Europe. Strategy and other urgencies. CNN counted That the financing of the ambitious plan is not yet guaranteed, although it is expected to come from Temporary survey of the debt brake approved by Parliament in March, which allows exceptional expenses in defense, infrastructure and security. So much, the funds They must be distributed Also between intelligence services, military modernization, cyber -defense and improvement of key infrastructure such as bridges and roads suitable for the transit of military vehicles. Tiesler estimates that at least they will be needed 10,000 million euros Until 2028 to meet the basic civil protection needs and 30,000 million in the next ten years. In this budget distribution, civil protection competes with equally vital strategic sectors, which makes the debate a first -order political issue for the nation. Citizen Resilience. Beyond the structural works, Tunta has directly appealed to the Individual responsibility of the population. The man proposes the establishment of a civil protection service, mandatory or voluntaryand recommend that each home store sufficient supplies for at least ten days without water or electricity, in the same line as That ad that launched Europe to the entire continent. Politics, if you also want “preventive resilience”, adopted in Other European countries as We have been countingseeks to prepare German society not only for natural catastrophes or cyber attacks, but for that scenario once distant, now less unlikely, of an armed conflict in continental territory. Thus, Germany seems to start shaking the lethargy of his postwar period and redefine his priorities before a geopolitical environment that no longer allows indifference. If France seems be “reorganizing” To Renault, Germany seeks to do the same with its bunkers. Image | Miguel Alcântara In Xataka | Before the climbing in Ukraine, Germany has dusted something: a war manual and its underground shelters In Xataka | Billionaires prepare their mansions for apocalypse: luxury bunkers have become a trend

A retiree and his children have stolen millions of dollars to Ford in office material. Indeed, lights, caps and bumper

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Although in February this year Audi closed its Brussels plant After 75 years in operation, the road was not simple. In the middle of the workers’ protests, someone had an idea: take the keys of 200 cars, put them in a box and remove them from the factory. Clean, simple and with 200 kidnapped cars whose unit value was around 100,000 euros. As simple as keep a box under the jacket and go through the door. More complicated seems to steal the entire engine of a car. This is what was discovered A few months ago in India. For five years, up to 900 Kia combustion engines were stolen from their plants and has not been clear to what extent some worker of the company itself is involved. However, and although large, one can understand that engines from a factory have been steal if they manage to partially disassemble. But how can one take a car cap? And a bumper? This is what they wonder in Ford where a retiree and two children, company workers, have committed a “billionaire” robbery for more than two years. Hello, dad, I bring you a bumper The information, which comes from Detroit Free Pressa police note echoed in which it was confirmed that four people have been arrested for the theft of pieces of different Ford assembly chains that later sold on Ebay. Among those arrested is a former Ford employee but the identity of any of them has not been revealed so far. The pieces were stolen from three Ford plants, one in Deabane, another on a mounting plant in Michigan and one last in Flat Rock. In Motorpasion and The Drive They point out that three of these four men were family. One of them was a retired father and the other two were his children who had contact with a Ford employee. The extracted pieces were taken to stores where they accumulated for sale. A robbery that, according to the local police, is encrypted in “multimillionaire”. And it is that the four employees would have been subtracting and selling pieces for more than two years. The most curious thing is that it is not small or easy to hide pieces. Among the products found were car headlights but also Bumper and Capóslarge pieces therefore. An agent pointed to Fox That the stores where the pieces were stored were covered to the roof. The investigation is analyzing how these pieces could be taken out of the plant without attracting attention from other employees and will have to discover how they were eliminated from the inventory so as not to attract attention since all the pieces in a mounting plant usually have some type of code that identifies each piece. In addition, from the police they point out that they are still looking for new indications that take them to ships or warehouses where the suspects could save the pieces, taking into account the volume of them and the economic damage that it seems to have caused. Photo | Ford In Xataka | The “Sowing Method” alerted by the Civil Guard: this is the new scam popular in the great parking lots

In Spain there are millions of pets and families wishing to travel with them. There are those who have already seen a millionaire business

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At this point of the year, last May Ecuador and with summer almost (almost) to stone shooting, it is likely that you have already thought about your next vacation. The usual thing: you decide where you will leave, how you will move, who will accompany you, how much you will spend and begin to take a look at the destination in case you need reservations inputs or excursions in advance. To those concerns more and more people Add another: what to do with your pets. And in a country where there is already Many more company animals That children is not a minor issue. In fact that question is the key to a booming business. On vacation with your pet? If you have a pet and you are looking for options not to leave it behind during your vacation, you are not alone. More and more people do it. A while ago the agencies investigated the issue and discovered that between 2019 and 2022 Google searches on accommodations that admit animals had shot 93%with 65,000 searches In the summer months. In fact more than half From those consultations they started from people who seemed more interested in finding hotels Pet Friendly At any point in Spain that in locating them in a concrete city or province, which suggests that pets are key when planning the getaways. That interest also corroborates the travel agencies o Booking, one of the great platforms in the sector: in approximately 2023 eight million of people used pet filters while searching accommodation on their website. Hotels with them or for them. To that growing interest in hotels Pet Friendly The one of the specific residences for animals is added, which according to the marketing agency generated 80,210 consultations on average in June 2022. And the trend does not seem to have declined. A quick search arrives on Google to find a Good handful of news that They speak of The high demand of the Canine Hotels, the diversification OF THE OFFER (WITH ACCOMMODATIONS “deluxe” for dogs) or how your activity He has shot with the Animal Welfare Law. New demand, new business. That interest has not only promoted New businesses focused on taking care of pets while their owners go on vacation. The hotels themselves have decided to adapt. There is estimates They talk about almost One third (30%) of Booking accommodations support pets. If you are looking for a room for two people between August 18 and 24 in Spain, without specifying destination, its search engine showed 70,700 options on Thursday. When using the pet filter stays in about 17,400more or less 25%. “They usually invest more”. A few weeks ago the Palladium Hotel Group gave a The country A key to understanding that interest: admitting pets can lead to certain changes in the operation of accommodation, but also has its reflection on the income sheet. “Travelers who choose accommodations Pet Friendly They usually invest more in their stay, whether in broader suites or additional services, which positively impacts average spending by host, ” Recognize. Other companies have launched to organize trips and activities Designed so that the client can enjoy them in the company of their pet or have even gone further with bets more risky. Cruise Tails and Expedia Cruises of West Orland have organized A cruise that allows you to cross the sea In your dog’s companywith petroat service, hairdressing and veterinary on board. Maybe it sounds strange, but a considerable percentage His pets already accompanied by people. And that despite the fact that airlines and companies in charge of operating railway and bus services do not always make it easy to travel with animals. Even the Imserso It has adapted To the trend. More pets than children. That there are more and more demand and businesses focused on pets is better understood if a key fact is handled: in Spain there are more (Many more) Company animals that children. In September The world He pulled calculator And it came out that there are almost six furry companions for each child under four years. While the latter have fallen during the last decade to represent 3.7% of the population, pets touch the 10.5 million. After contacting all the veterinary schools of Spain, The country contributed Another estimate A few months ago: at the beginning of 2025 in the country there were around 1.6 million cats and 9.3 million dogs. In total: 10.9 million censored pets, without counting reptiles, birds, fish and other species. From the Reiac they point out that the figure “is not real at all” (there are animals without chip and owners who do not discharge them when they die), but it is the one that approaches reality. In any case, it clearly exceeds the number of children in Spain. In 2022 the INE counted 1.8 million about 6.5 million With less than 15 years. A Milmillonario business. Their data is not the only ones that reflect the growing weight of pets in Spanish society. It is calculated that in 80% of the municipalities From Malaga there are already double pets than children and the first They already double to the latter. At an economic level that translates into a lucrative business of thousands of millions of euros. Estimates do not always coincide, but give an idea of ​​their reach and how it has evolved. In 2017 it was estimated that in the EU the pet business invoiced 36.5 billion euroswith the Spanish market occupying the fifth position. Since then, despite the fact that the sector has given some moderation samples, the figure would have increased considerably. ANFAAC talks about almost 2,000 million In 2023 and there are estimates that raise clear that sum. Images | Yux Xiang (UNSPLASH) and Andrey Kremkov (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | The domestication of cats remains a mystery. But we are closer to knowing where and why it happened

Opposite is the boring dream of millions of people. And the Spanish fashion writer has made him a book

by

“I tell the people I appreciate, he said, so I also tell you, that the important thing in work is security,” says the official Beni to her young interim partner Sara, thus encouraging her to oppose. We could change those names for almost any other because, although they are the ones he uses Sara Mesa In his latest novel ‘Opposition‘They are the reflection of a reality. And the writer captures the thought of the majority of the Spanish population with her last work: the tranquility of a stable work is synonymous with a public square. Once again, the writer of the awkward truths tells us about a fact that floods the conversations and the future of the population. The study ‘State of the discomfort: the labor turn towards the public sector’, prepared by OPPOSITATESThe states that seven out of ten Spaniards would leave a stable job in the private sector for a fixed position in the public sector. Besides, it makes clear Who would lead that change; 72% of women would abandon the private sector because of that dream of conciliation and stability that seduces the official, something that especially captivates the strip between 18 and 24 years. All this added to the duration of the working day, the possibility of accessing a better retirement or the good eyes of the banks when admitting a mortgage of a public worker. Being an official in Spain looks like a vital option More than attractive. (Unspash) In addition, the pulse of society is marked by social networks, and it is clear the interest among a sector of the population to oppose when there are many Dedicated videos To this on platforms like Tiktok. Give advice for the study, what you should know before starting, hauls of material … All this enjoys great success Within the vertical video platform. But there is even more revealing fact and that it seems that Sara Mesa drinks in ‘opposition’: the 42.4% Of these young people between 18 and 24, they confess that they consider opposing or are opposing for the fear that the employment situation raises. A writer who radiography to society Sara Mesa has become In a key figure of literature in Spainwith a work that challenges you and many times it bothers you. His narration feeds on what defines us as a society, of what blushes us as individuals, and becomes that internal voice and at the same time that is installed in your thoughts, moving as a dictation, word by word to the paper. That theme that frames us and places, in this case in the world of oppositions, serves to talk about many issues and set a photograph of the now. Already in ‘Scar‘(2015) tells us about a disturbing love story, but also of guilt, submission or consumerism. On the other hand, in ‘Bread face‘(2018) faces us without surroundings with the taboo and with the discomfort when narrating the relationship between an adolescent and an older man, exploring and exploring the issue of maladjustment. With ‘A love‘(2020) and its subsequent adaptation to the big screen by Isabel Coixet, tells us obsessions and drives, shows us a little explored place of female desire in its most primitive form, while reflecting on social classes or types of male. With the interesting elections made by Coixet in its adaptation of 2023 we can see in image that internal dialogue of Nat, as well as the roughness and acidity of the work. Already in 2022, ‘A family‘, repeated the pattern of addressing a topic that would already give for books and books such as family relationships, but took the opportunity to touch insecurities, emotional education and how power within relationships is an actor who forges and molds them. Its wealth is that, despite the variety of stories, the magnetic pen, dark and polished table is not lost at any time; Like your star theme, incommunication. Word after word we see on paper a complete breakdown of human relationships in the purest style Sally Rooney; immersing ourselves in the cause of the beginning of that personal connection between the characters, and the uncertainty and knot in the throat that holds the end of it. The terrifying hope of knowing your future On this occasion, ‘opposition’, it is a precise portrait of the pressure of a society that offers the opposition world as the only profitable future. The author introduces us to Sara, a young woman who has achieved an interim post in an administration office and who considers that the opposition may be the next logical step in her future. We find a reading of the public institutions that shows enough sneer, but without forgetting to be truthful and scathing. Sara arrives at a job where he literally has nothing to do, immersing himself to the Kundera in the unbearable lightness of the administration and thus beginning the doubt, tedium and discomfort. Those rigid hierarchiesthe hostility of the environment, the absurdity of many of the tasks of the official and unconditional obedience are wearing the protagonist, which is strengthening in his psyche the idea of ​​moving away from that day of the Marmota that replaces Bill Murray’s bed with an immense building that catches you and tries to expel you. The anguish of what your day to day will be after the opposition is another cause of restlessness. What is left of life is going to be like that? It is the question that, as a ghost, is around the protagonist daily, and what most likely is the same issue that much of the public staff is done and, why not say it, also the rest of society. Face to face we face what we are willing to give up To submit to the rigidity and stability it offers, such as a siren song, the public administration. The wet dream of all Spanish: a little year in a ministry. It would be perhaps a more simplistic story if we only stay in that layer, speaking of … Read more

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