Miracle

the ‘miracle’ of the refineries that has saved our holidays

by

For more than two decades, Europe became accustomed to a historical anomaly: crossing the continent for less money than a taxi to the airport costs. However, the outbreak of the Third Gulf War has broken the fragile thread from which aviation was hanging. low-cost: cheap oil and geopolitical stability. With 40% of Europe’s kerosene supply trapped in the Persian Gulf, the ghosts of grounded planes and mass cancellations They flew over the beginning of the high season. But the air apocalypse seems that will not materialize this summer due to a rescue in extremis of European refineries. And although the summer holidays of 2026 seem safe, the price to pay will transform the way we fly forever. For great evils, great remedies. To understand the magnitude of the problem, EUobserver provides devastating information: Before the conflict, Europe imported 500,000 barrels of kerosene per day, and 75% of those imports came from the Middle East. Faced with the threat of shortages, the industry has reacted by forcing the machine with exceptional decisions. Refineries typically have very limited flexibility to alter what they extract from each barrel of crude oil. However, as revealed Financial Times, Operators such as the Spanish Repsol have configured their plants to squeeze out much higher performance, increasing kerosene production between 20% and 25% compared to last year and delaying technical maintenance stops. For this reason, Europe has had to look for new suppliers against the clock. The United Kingdom multiplied its kerosene imports from the United States tenfold in April, according to The Timeswhile it has also been used in Nigeria. But here a technical problem arises: how to explain EUobserverEurope routinely uses “Jet A-1” fuel (which resists down to -47 °C without freezing), while the US refines “Jet A” (which freezes at -40 °C). In a measure of historic urgency, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has given the green light for European airports to use and mix American fuel, warning only to take extreme precautions on very cold routes. Furthermore, the airlines themselves have adopted purely logistical strategies. In fact, it is becoming popular tankinga practice that consists of loading up on extra fuel at the airport of origin to be able to make the return flight without having to refuel in destinations where kerosene is scarce or has prohibitive prices. The direct impact on the passenger. The industrial effort keeps the planes flying, but the user will pay the bill. Filling the tank of a giant like the Airbus A380 has gone from costing around $211,000 to more than $340,000, details Business Insider. Not only that, but the tariff business model ultracheap is staggering. Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, acknowledged in statements to the BBC that, although some airlines have launched specific discounts to stimulate demand, in the medium term higher fares are “inevitable”, since companies cannot absorb these extra costs. And he warns that even if Hormuz opened tomorrow, the logistical damage will keep prices high until next year. In fact, tickets are already 24% more expensive than in 2025 driven by kerosene that reached a record of $1,904 per ton in April, according to Financial Times. In addition, airlines such as Virgin Atlantic have already added fuel surcharges of up to £360 per flight, while others in the US are raising fees for checked baggage, point Business Insider. A new labyrinth: compensation. Globally, airlines have eliminated 9.3 million seats from their summer schedules (a 4% cut), eliminating less profitable short routes. The Lufthansa Group, for example, has canceled 20,000 flights, as collected The Japan Times. But be careful with the passenger’s rights. There is a crucial legal nuance in the European Union: if your flight is canceled due to a physical and actual lack of fuel supply, it is considered “force majeure” and you are not entitled to financial compensation. However, if the airline cancels it simply because fuel is too expensive and the flight is no longer profitable, it is considered under its control and you could be entitled to compensation of up to 600 euros. So, do you have to worry about vacations? The official message from the industry is unanimous: summer is saved. Analysts consulted by Reuters They point out that airlines, tour operators such as TUI and airports are playing down fears of shortages to protect ticket reserves, which are vital to their annual revenues. This is helped by the fact that European airports did their homework and increased their kerosene reserves by more than 60% during the month of April. Besides, as the CEO of Wizz Air points out in Financial Timessuch high prices attract boats from all over the world, which “makes the market get creative.” However, the real danger comes in winter. The high season lasts because the planes are full and the tourist assumes the cost. But, as they warn traders in it Financial Timesautumn will be a real “stress test”. If the conflict continues and prices remain sky-high when travel demand falls in winter, many routes will no longer be viable and could temporarily disappear. Furthermore, European airlines are holding up better right now thanks to hedging (fuel purchases at a fixed price made months or years ago), a practice that US airlines abandoned after the 2008 crisis. When these European coverages expire, the blow will be total. The Iberian exception: Spain as a refining power. In the midst of the European storm, Spain is experiencing a very different reality. Energy Minister Sara Aagesen assured Reuters a month ago that the national supply is not only robust, but that the country is in a “privileged” situation. While Europe has closed 35 refineries since 2009, losing 20% ​​of its capacity, Spain took the opposite path. According to The EconomistIn the past, companies such as Repsol, Moeve and BP invested 15 billion euros in updating their plants, going against the grain of political signals. In this way, Spain today has eight refineries that represent 13% of the capacity of the entire European … Read more

In the year 958, King Sancho I of León was so fat that his court forced him to do something unprecedented: the first miracle diet.

by

His reign was fleeting, troubled and controversial, but Sancho I of León It well deserves to go down in the books of national history. And it deserves it for two compelling reasons, never better said. The first is that if he was removed from the throne in 958, it was not because of a game of palace conspiracies and disputes between nobles. Or those weren’t the only reasons, at least. The trigger was his exorbitant bellya belly so prominent that it earned him the nickname ‘El Gordo’ and made his subjects doubt whether he was the most suitable person for the throne. The second is that he can boast of having completed perhaps the most successful (and earliest) “miracle diet” in Spain. We explain ourselves. When I was a child, in the 940s, there was little reason to think that Sancho could one day become a relevant character in the kingdom of León. His status as the third male child of Ramiro II relegated him to a secondary position, behind his Vermudo brothers (died 944) and Ordoño. And if the crib had not favored him, his health was not buoyant either: he was not a young man given to long rides or exercising. Theirs were rather the comforts of the palace, especially those that were served in fountains, well watered with oil. From Ramiro ‘the Great’ to Sancho ‘the Fat’ Miniature representing King Sancho I of León. At the table, Infante Sancho did not hold back. They say that it was given to anthological feastswith seven meals a day, sometimes consisting of 17 dishes, among which there was no shortage of stews with game meat. Perhaps history exaggerates and has deformed his figure, but it has left us at least one piece of information to give us an idea of ​​how plump Sancho was and to what extent he developed morbid obesity: it is said that, already in his adult stage, he came to weigh 240 kilos. If his father had been nicknamed Ramiro ‘the Great’ —or ‘the Devil’, as his enemies referred to him—and his predecessor Alfonso “the Monk”Sancho was given a much less epic and much more descriptive nickname: ‘el Crassus’. Or directly ‘El Gordo’. However, it was one thing to be fond of lavish banquets and quite another to renounce the throne and settle for the delegated government of the county of Castile, a responsibility that had been assigned to him in 944. Once his father died and his older brother became Ordoño IIISancho organized a rebellion between 954 and 955 to expel him from power. The trick came to fruition. His attempt to overthrow him by force was a resounding failure, but in a surprising turn opportune for Sancho’s interests, Ordoño III died not long after, thus granting him the accession in 956 to the crown of a kingdom that was facing delicate moments due to internal tensions and Muslim incursions. His belly didn’t help either. It was bad to weigh 240 kilos, but worse to combine such weight with that of a crown that required being willing to be embedded in armor. As Professor Margarita Torres recalls in an article of the Royal Academy of History (RAH), in the 10th century a king was expected to will combine certain qualities: good judgment, balance, firmness… and the skills of a war leader. It would have been very difficult for Sancho I to appear on a horse on the battlefield, as well as fighting while brandishing a sword or even something as crucial for the crown as providing offspring. Such a condition undermined his image among the kingdom’s aristocracy, who ended up losing respect for him. Add to that the memory of Sancho’s failed coup against his brother Ordoño III and the decisions he made once seated on the throne, which led him, for example, to distance himself from his uncle, the influential Count Fernán Gonzálezand a perfect cocktail will emerge for the fall from grace of a novice monarch. Helping the king lose weight Just two years after being crowned in Compostela, ‘el Crassus’ lost his precious scepter, which passed in 958—by siege—to the infante Ordoño Alfonso. Sancho managed to save his skin and took refuge where he knew he would be safe: in Navarra, with his grandmother, Queen Todoan old woman more than 70 years. The story of Sancho I could have ended then. Fortunately, her maternal grandmother was a woman of means and decided to ask for help from the person who would have the least qualms about plotting against a Christian monarch: Abd al-Rahman IIIthe caliph of Córdoba, an interesting ally both for his position and his resources. At his service he had a renowned doctor, the Jewish scholar Hasday ibn Shapruta skilled, polyglot, cultured man who could help the king overcome his overweight. In exchange for the alliance with Abd al-Rahmanto which the Navarrese joined, the supporters of Sancho I agreed to hand over fortresses on the border. It was not a bad payment for a move that not long later, in April 959, would allow him to return triumphant to the capital of his kingdom while Ordoño IValias ‘el Malo’, was forced to flee and end up in Córdoba. The second and definitive stage of the reign of Sancho I began, which would last until his death in 966. The surprising thing is that—if we believe tradition—the Sancho who returned exultantly to León had little to do with the one who had fled some time ago to take refuge in his maternal grandmother’s castle. In fact, the nickname ‘Crassus’ had become too much for him. The reason? The strict “bikini operation” to which Shaprut had subjected him before his return to the throne, in Córdoba. The remedy was so effective that it is said that Sancho lost more than 100kg in a matter of a few weeks. Before embarking on following the diet of the wise Jew, it is better that you take note, however, of what you will need, … Read more

Benidorm triples its population in summer and does not run out of water. The secret is a miracle of invisible engineering

by

We assume that when we turn on the faucet water comes out. It is an almost automatic, everyday gesture that we rarely stop to think about. However, ensuring that this resource springs up clean and safe in Benidorm, a city that its population triples In the middle of the summer high season, it requires a true miracle of engineering and management. In the Marina Baixa, one of the regions of the Valencian Community with greater water stresscatering to millions of annual visitors is a colossal puzzle. As reported by local mediathe philosophy of those who operate this gear is perfectly summarized by Ciriaco Clemente, manager of Veolia in Benidorm: “In a territory where the pressure on water resources is structural and permanent, guaranteeing that the water reaches the tap in perfect sanitary conditions and that, once used, it returns to the environment without damaging it is not an option, it is an obligation.” The challenge of quantity and quality. The water challenge is not exclusive to the Alicante coast, it is a national problem. According to official data from the Ministry of Health (SINAC)the quality of water in Spain is increasingly threatened. The filtration of nitrates from industrial agricultural activity is saturating the self-cleaning capacity of many aquifers, putting local water treatment plants in hundreds of municipalities in check, especially in inland Spain. While much of inland Spain deals with nitrate pollution, Benidorm faces its own perfect storm: extreme seasonal demand and the threat of shortages. The city not only needs to ensure that there is enough water for everyone, but that its quality is impeccable under all circumstances, regardless of whether it comes from the Guadalest reservoir, the Amadorio reservoir or the Bajo del Algar Canal. To overcome this crisis, the tourist capital has shielded itself around two essential infrastructures managed by Veolia: the Drinking Water Treatment Station (ETAP) and the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). Beyond thirst. Water quality is synonymous with public health and economic survival. In fact, consuming water with nitrate levels close to or higher The European legal limit of 50 mg/L carries serious risks, and recent medical studies suggest that even much lower thresholds could be linked to oncological problems. Treating water to the millimeter is, therefore, a matter of life or death. On the economic level, as the newspaper highlights Informationfor the enormous hotel plant in Benidorm, opening the tap and letting water flow with total health guarantees “is not a secondary detail: it is a basic requirement to operate and to maintain the trust of visitors.” In addition, the system must be able to withstand the onslaught of the weather. According to Alicante Plazathe ETAP faces extreme scenarios after episodes of torrential rains, when the water collected arrives with enormous turbidity due to the dragging of sediments. Given this, the plant adjusts its treatments in real time. “Our responsibility does not end with there being water; it ends when that water reaches the tap in perfect condition,” says Noelia Llinares, ETAP plant manager, in these media. Leaving behind traditional management. As detailed by Veoliathe answer is in technology. A digital ecosystem has been deployed in Benidorm that includes network-wide sensors, leak detection algorithms and remote control systems. This has allowed the milestone of reducing water losses in the network to minimum levels of 5%. To support this burden, ETAP itself already received a powerful injection of more than 9 million euros in its last major expansion in 2010. But the cycle does not end at the sink. The WWTP works under a strict circular economy philosophy: used water is not waste, it is a resource. Today, 35% of the water that reaches the treatment plant is already reused, mainly for agricultural irrigation. And there is an extra factor that adds complexity: wastewater treatment plants are electricity devourers. To counteract this, María José Martínez, head of the WWTP, details that the facility uses byproducts such as biogas or sludge to generate its own energy. “The objective is clear: for the plant to become increasingly self-sufficient and for its environmental footprint to be as small as possible,” says Martínez. The next challenge: squeeze regeneration. Behind all this there is an ambitious project underway: the Regenerated Water Master Plan. The short-term objective is to take advantage of up to 2 additional cubic hectometers of regenerated water for purely urban uses, alleviating the suffocation of conventional sources and reinforcing the network against drought. Benidorm has empirically demonstrated that the high numbers of mass tourism and water sustainability are not antagonistic concepts, but rather necessary allies. In a context marked by climate change, the experience of the city of Alicante provides an inescapable journalistic and vital lesson: intelligent water management is no longer a simple competitive advantage or a green slogan. It is, purely and simply, a question of survival. Every drop counts, from the moment it is dammed until, thanks to engineering, it is regenerated to start again. Image | Diego Delso Xataka | The future of 150,000 hectares of crops is decided today. We have been fighting for decades, but the wars over water have only just begun

His parents built the Chinese economic miracle by working 12 hours a day. Their children have decided not to work almost at all

by

Working twelve hours a day, six days a week, was common in Chinese companies, especially in the technology sector. It is what is known as day 996 and fortunately, the government banned it in 2021. They did not expect that that same year a new concept called Tang Ping and it means just the opposite: doing the minimum to survive. Lay down on the couch. Its literal translation is ‘lie flat’, but we like the creative translation better. Tang Ping It is a social phenomenon that arises as a rejection of the culture of overwork and endless days that barely leave time to sleep. A person who follows a lifestyle Tang Ping He works the minimum necessary to survive and does not have great ambitions; He doesn’t want to buy a car or a house, he spends little on food and he doesn’t want to get married or have children. The latter has not been any fun in Beijing. National security concern. We have talked about the birth rate crisis that China is going through and how the government is doing literally everything for get young people married and have children, so this movement goes against everything they are promoting. The government’s discourse on this trend has taken on a more severe tone. Last April, They published an official warning in which they stated that it is an “ideological infiltration” financed by “hostile anti-China forces” with the aim of “eroding the minds of Chinese youth.” They have turned a lifestyle into a political act that must be repressed. The safety net. They count in Baiguan News that, to understand the rise of this trend, two social mechanisms must be understood. The first is that the parents of these young people were born in the 60s and 70s, so their professional career grew along with the economic development of the country and they are currently the richest demographic group in the country. This means that if their children have financial problems, they can provide support. The second factor is deflation, which is making everything cheaper. In China it is possible to eat for just 1 or 2 dollars in exchange, which makes it viable to live while spending very little money. If we add that youth unemployment is at 16.9% and job opportunities are shrinking, it is the perfect breeding ground for lying down. The generational contrast. The parents of these young people grew up in poverty and, if they worked 72 hours a week, it was not out of pleasure, but out of pure necessity and fear of continuing to be poor. That fear was the engine of Chinese economic growth and allowed the next generation to grow in the abundance that their parents built. The difference is that these young people do not feel that raising the country depends on them, nor do they feel the fear that drove their parents, and many have decided to put their well-being before their professional career. Image | HANVIN CHEONGUnsplash In Xataka | We have been talking about “day 996” in Chinese companies for years. The reality is more complex: “day 323”

from the anti-aging miracle with scientific backing to the dangerous world of injectable ‘looksmaxxing’

by

We live in a time where people do not stop complement your nutrition with magnesium, collagenvitamins and more. But in recent months you have surely come across the famous ‘peptides’, a compound that has gained quite a bit of momentum in the world of cosmetics under the trend called looksmaxxing and also in bodybuilding. But… Do they have any scientific endorsement? What are peptides? In biological terms, peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as the building blocks of proteins, such as collagen, elastin and keratin. They are naturally in our body from the protein that we administer in our diet, and that the body uses as bricks to build the elements of the skin, muscle, immune system and many more functions. But this is something that has happened from natural biology to the field of cosmetics and nutricosmeticssince it has been seen that when these peptides are applied to the skin, they act as “messengers” that trick the body into believing that it has lost collagen, stimulating its production. In this way an anti-wrinkle effect is promised. What does science say? Unlike many “miracle supplements” that flood the internet, topical and oral peptides do have robust scientific backing, although, as always, keep in mind that you should not expect an amazing miracle when applying them. Among one of the most representative studies we have that of the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine (SEME) which analyzed the effect of biomimetic peptides in patients between 40 and 70 years old. Here it was seen that, after four sessions, the biopsies confirmed real changes in the skin as there was a greater proliferation of collagen and elastin. There is more. Clinical trials with active ingredients such as Matrixyl in 93 people showed also a noticeable reduction in fine lines after 12 weeks of use, and also collagen peptide supplements such as Peptan have been shown in clinical trials to be able to reduce wrinkles around the eyes by 13% and pores by 57%. The dark side. When this becomes an obsession, that is when the problems begin, and again social networks have been a trigger. Here TikTok or Instagram has caused a trend known as looksmaxxing to break out., which in Spanish could be translated as ‘maximize appearance’. And it is nothing more than a subculture, predominant in younger men, who wants to optimize their physical attractiveness to the maximum. While the softmaxxing includes gym routines, haircuts and intense skincare, the most extreme aspect has popularized the use of injectable peptides. Suddenly, it’s not uncommon to see videos of content creators showing off refrigerators full of vials that promise ultra-luminous skin, instant muscle recovery, extreme fat loss, or hyper-defined jawlines. And it is a danger. The big problem with these injectables is that they are often not regulated, and people resort to the Internet to buy them thanks to the legal loopholes created by products under investigation or not suitable for human consumption. Here different organizations have launched alerts warning that using products that have not been authorized by the responsible agencies can cause serious risks such as infections, abscesses or even tissue necrosis. A gym shortcut. Beyond wanting to maximize beauty and reduce the number of wrinkles, in the world of bodybuilding, peptides have burst onto the scene, presenting themselves as a modern alternative to classic steroids. In this way, it is not uncommon to hear about BPC-157, TB-500 or CJC-1295, which are peptides that promise great aesthetic results. His promises. BPC-157 or TB-500 have been dubbed ‘healing peptides’ due to the great fame they have gained by promising regeneration of tendons, ligaments or muscle tears in record time. Another popular group are secretogogues such as CJC-1295 They stimulate the pituitary gland to produce growth hormone ‘naturally’, which enhances muscle growth and fat burning much more quickly than by directly injecting the hormone. Your problems. The problem in the field of bodybuilding is the same as in the aesthetic field, but multiplying the doses. Here science points out that although it is true that the BPC-157 can ‘heal’ tissues, at the moment it has not been approved by the EMA or the FDA for this use because there are a lack of studies to support its safety and the recommended dosage. Furthermore, playing with hormonal levels does not come for free, and without going any further, enhancing the release of growth hormone to have more muscle increases IGF-1 levels. And this in the long term can cause insulin resistance and, therefore, open the door to type 2 diabetes in several years. That is why the recommendation is always to avoid their consumption without medical supervision and logically if they have not been approved by the agencies responsible for drug control. Images | Norbert Buduczki In Xataka | Magnesium, creatine, collagen: we are taking supplements above what science believes is useful

The first hard drives in history were gigantic. Then a miracle happened: miniaturization

by

Nowadays it is normal to have 32 or 64 GB of capacity on our mobile devices, and that capacity is usually multiplied by several orders of magnitude on our PCs and laptops. Storage technology has advanced incredibly in all these years, and to appreciate this evolution it is not a bad idea to take a short trip to the past and see how decades ago hard drives were heavy and cumbersome monstrosities that also had very limited capacity and features. The first example of that evolution we have it in the IBM RAMAC 305a monster that appeared in 1956 and was capable of storing 5 MB thanks to a system with 50 24-inch “platters”. That device rotated at a speed of 600 revolutions per minute and generated such a quantity of heat that it was necessary to enclose it in a large “refrigerator” with two cooling systems. Another curious fact about this product is that IBM already thought about a subscription model to make it profitable: clients who wanted to use this product had to pay $3,200 per month at the time, which would be equivalent to almost $30,000 today with inflation. Miniaturization would still take years to reach an industry that was trying to advance especially in the area of ​​storage capacity: customers demanded more capacity, and those 24 inch plates wereAs seen in the image, huge. In this case these models reached 10 MB capacity per disk. The giant of the time, IBM, dominated the sector for years, and in 1962 the company created the first “removable” drives. The IBM 1311 Disk Storage Drive made use of IBM 1316 “disk packs” that allowed the company’s customers to expand their needs to suit. From the 24 inches of the previous disks it went to 14 inches, with 2 Mbytes for each “pack”. The path to smallness Another of those storage devices It was UniDisc.a storage expansion that appeared in 1962 for the Univac 1004/1005 computers. That “flexible” disk similar to those used by IBM had a diameter of 14 inches and was capable of holding 2 Mbytes of information. The drive the disk was inserted into was about the size of a washing machine. At that time, several manufacturers tried to be leaders in a promising sector, and among them was Burroughs, a mainframe manufacturer that, for example, launched this unit of 250 MB in 1979. A true marvel that used, pay attention, regenerative braking: when it was turned off, the motor became a magnetic brake: otherwise the discs continued spinning for an average of 4 hours. A few years earlier IBM had already launched its new hard drive technology, the so-called “winchester“. The IBM 3340 drive had a smaller, lighter read/write head that had a design that allowed it to move across that surface at a tiny distance. Things would advance from that moment even more rapidly, especially in the field of miniaturization (more or less) and the capacity of units that, for example, in 1980 already reached the gigabyte with the IBM 3380 unit. From that year 1980 is also the Memorex Mark XIV “disk pack” in the header image that was advertised as an “error-free” system. It had a capacity of 80 MB and was intended for Memorex disk drives that were again the size of a washing machine. 5¼ units would soon give way to 3.5-inch oneswhich would arrive first from the Rodime company (with former Burroughs employees, by the way). Their devices were capable of storing 6.38 and 12.75 Mbytes and would start a real trend in the PC and laptop market. User needs continued to dictate smaller formats, and this led to 2.5-inch drives that are currently especially widespread due to their use in the solid state drive segment. The rest, as they say, is history: 3.5-inch drives are still widely used today, but that revolution would be followed a few years ago by that of solid state drives or SSD (especially in M.2 format) that have allowed us to achieve reading and writing speeds that were unthinkable just a decade ago. In the area of ​​capacity and cost per gigabyte, yes, those traditional hard drives continue to be (for now) the kings of the market, but if we want examples of miniaturization, the 1 TB drives that SanDisk presented at CES seven years ago made things even better. And what remains. In Xataka | Sandisk has risen 1,000% in the stock market since the summer. Its advantage is called Kioxia In Xataka | The computers of the future have found an unexpected ally to store information: fungi

Germany is experiencing a new “industrial miracle” that it already experienced 90 years ago: that of weapons

by

Germany has been living a transformation silent but very deep. The country that saw the birth of the industrial miracle of the automobile is seeing something similar again, but from a perspective completely different: rearmament, which until recently was a political taboo and a social discomfort, has become a great industrial and labor accelerator. War as a driving force. The country, pushed by the russian invasion of Ukraine and the feeling that the American umbrella is already It’s not so automatic As before, it has been shifting its center of gravity towards defense with a mix of strategic urgency and productive ambition. And that mutation is measured in something very specific: employment, factories, supply chains and a demand that is no longer described as temporary, but as a new normal that promises to last for years, with orders that come in like a wave and companies that prepare to produce at scale, with war economy rhythms without the need to call it that. Mass hiring. German defense contractors have entered into a veritable hiring feverincreasing its workforce by nearly a third in just four years. The data provided by a representative group of large companies and start-ups shows a jump from around 63,000 workers in 2021 to almost 83,000 today Within its defense-focused divisions, a 30% growth which reflects the extent to which the industry is expanding at real speed. I remembered the financial times that, although these figures do not cover the entire sector and there are large companies that did not participate, the portrait is enough to understand the direction of the country: Germany not only buys more weapons, but is rearming its industrial muscle to manufacture, sustain and modernize them, with a labor market that is beginning to reorganize itself around this new priority. Rheinmetall Panther KF51 The budget turn. The great fuel for this expansion is public money converted into contracts. Since 2022, the German Ministry of Defense has signed arms deals worth of 207,000 million eurosand last year alone it concentrated 83,000 million, a figure that contrasts with the 23,000 million in 2021 and that summarizes the break with the previous stage. The most significant thing is that the trend does not aim to stop: Chancellor Merz, in office since May, has relaxed the strict debt rules to allow the level of spending needed in defense, a message that, beyond politics, works as an industrial signal: there will be stable demand, continuity and visibility, just what companies need to invest, expand capacity, hire and plan for the long term without fear that everything will freeze with the next electoral cycle. The real size of the sector. Even with this boom, the German defense industry remains a relatively modest player in terms of employment when compared to the country’s historical giant: the automobile. The Ministry of Economy itself cited around 105,000 jobs direct in defense in 2022, and although the figure will have risen since then, it remains far from the approximately 700,000 workers in the automotive sector, today hit by layoffscompetitive pressure and technological transition. This comparison is important because it cuts to the root a repeated idea: that rearmament can “replace” the car as a great work cushion. Defense can grow a lot, even draw on industry and attract talent, but due to volume it does not seem capable of absorbing the size in the short term. of the engine crisisat least not quickly or massively. Airbus and Reinmetall. Within the employment map, Airbus stands out as the largest employer, with around 38,000 people working in defense worldwide and just over half in Germany, manufacturing key pieces of European military architecture such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and the transport plane A400M. right behind Rheinmetall appearswhich has become the most visible symbol of the boom: the producer of tanks, artillery and ammunition has grown from about 15,400 employees in 2021 at 23,500 todaythe greatest absolute leap among the companies analyzed, and its CEO, Armin Papperger, has even projected a target of 70,000 employees in three years. In parallel, Rheinmetall has begun to experience something that in Germany is a cultural indicator: social attractiveness. He speaks of hundreds of thousands of applications in a single year, as if defense had stopped being a dark or secondary sector to suddenly become a bet for the future for engineers, technicians and industrial profiles. Military startups. The big relative surprise is in the new scene of military start-upsyoung companies focused on surveillance systems or weapons not always publicly detailed, that are raising hundreds of millions in financing and growing at a rate almost unthinkable a decade ago. The most striking case It’s Helsing.which makes armed drones and whose workforce has grown 18-fold in four years after evolving from an artificial intelligence software approach to hardware productiona leap that involves going from selling algorithms to build real objects with parts, assembly lines, logistics and maintenance. This movement is, in itself, a statement: European defense no longer wants to depend only on digital innovation, it wants to convert innovation in physical and deployable systemsand for that you need companies capable of manufacturing and scaling, not just programming. The State accelerates. From within the sector, the discourse is one of sustained takeoff. The BDSV employers’ association, in the voice of Hans Christoph Atzpodien, insists that growth will accelerate because Germany has streamlined processes purchase and has given more visibility on future demand, which allows capacity planning with less uncertainty. The phrase is almost industrially literal: now everything is placed so that large orders “arrive at the doors” of manufacturers. If you want and how do we countthe scenario describes a change of era: for years Europe talked about spending more on defense, but it did so with administrative slowness, political doubts and eternal programs; now the feeling is that the system is being reconfigured to buy and produce urgently, because the threat is perceived to be close and the margin for improvisation has been exhausted. The great temptation: “steal” the car. … Read more

the “miracle” of Namibia to fill Europe’s supermarkets with grapes

by

The country of ‘Namibia’ may a priori be truly unknown to many people, but the reality is that many of the grapes we buy in the EU come from here. a country practically desert that has been achieved and that a priori is not ready to host cultivation, but that has achieved something unusual: converting one of the most arid landscapes on the planet into a large grape plantation that compete in the most demanding markets. An evolution. In this way, what three decades ago was a silent, sun-battered valley on the banks of the Orange River, Today it is the epicenter of the billion-dollar grape industry.. The Aussenkehr region has not only “greened” the desert, it has redefined the global table grape calendar. The origin. The industry was born from the vision of Dusan Vasiljevican entrepreneur who in 1988 identified Aussenkehr’s hidden potential. The challenge was monumental: an environment with less than 50 liters of annual rainfall, a total lack of infrastructure and no previous experience in growing grapes in the area. A priori, only a madman could build a grape plantation here, since it seemed like a guaranteed waste of money. But in the end it was quite the opposite. Overcoming critical financial obstacles, Vasiljevic planted the first 150 hectares, achieving an initial harvest of 1,000 tons in 1991. Since then, expansion has been constant. Collaboration between the private sector and entities such as the Namibia Grape Company (NGC) and the national government has allowed cultivation to be extended to more than 700 additional hectares, turning the valley into an engine of development that currently exports to a good part of the planet. great growth. Namibia’s quantitative leap in recent decades is an economic case study without a doubt. The country’s ability to take advantage of its ideal climate for early harvests allows it to enter the European market before its competitors, obtaining very good prices. This way, exports have passed from 1,917 tons in 1997 to having 7.5 billion cartons ready to ship this season. All this with a value that in 2023 reached 84.2 billion dollars. Your logistics. Namibian success does not depend only on production, but on robust logistics. Right now the main market for this production company is in the European Union, which absorbs 75% of the production, followed by the United Kingdom and emerging markets in Asia. That is why the company’s focus has been on high-value varieties such as Arra Honey Pop and Arra Fire Crunch that offer greater flavor and, above all, more resistance in transportation. Regarding its exit routes to other countries, the strategic ports of Walvis Bay and Cape Town stand out above all, which guarantee the necessary freshness for European shelves. satellite images. But words can sometimes create confusion or even give rise to the idea that we are completely exaggerating. But the reality is that the satellite images do not deceive, and reveal a great contrast between the bright green of the plantations in contrast with the ocher sand of the Namib. View from Google Earth of the grape plantation in Namibia It is also fantastic for lovers of geometric shapes, since in the images you can clearly see different almost perfect green squares in the middle of an arid background. And the truth is that it seems a miracle that it has been possible to revitalize this land that now supplies the European market with a large quantity of grapes. This is something that in 2010 was the focus of NASA that used he Advanced Land Imager and gave recent scientific studies, like those from WaterWatchwhich highlight that Namibia has achieved these yields with exceptional water efficiency, using precision irrigation systems that minimize waste of water from the Orange River. Socioeconomic impact. Beyond foreign currency, grapes have become the livelihood of thousands of families in this area. Right now, the industry supports 3,500 permanent workers and 7,000 temporary employees during harvest peaks. Furthermore, this model has been praised in international forums such as Davos, where it was presented as an example of how irrigated agriculture can be sustainable and profitable in arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa. In Xataka | In the midst of desertification, Australia has had an idea as strange as it is effective to retain water: covering the land with wool

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

by

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

That Napoleon’s jewels were stolen from the Louvre in seven minutes is not a miracle. It is something much worse for France

by

You have hardly been able to escape to the news of the weekend. It happened when the morning of Paris had not yet acquired the pulse of tourism. Then, a four-man gang climbed the facade of the Louvre as if the very principle of deterrence did not exist. Everything was surprising: there was no night, no disguise of technological ingenuity, no escape into an interior labyrinth. Thus, in the seven minutes it took us humans to have a coffee, the group removed from the heart of the museum the most sensitive remains of the French imperial lineage. The most guarded museum in the world could be crossed like if it were a decoration. The material blow. He told in a detailed report this morning Le Monde that the command arrived on the side of the Seine taking advantage a context of works and the functional anonymity of an urban furniture-mountain. They forced a porte-fenêtre towards the Galerie d’Apollon (the room that condenses the mythology of state sovereignty: joyaux de la CouronneNapoleonic inheritances, diadems and colliers that condense continuity of power) and broke two high security display cases in seconds, collecting eight pieces of heritage value not translatable to the market. The operation lasted around seven minutes. The withdrawal was done along the same vertical axis with the support of two large displacement scooters. In the rush of escape, the criminals dropped the Eugenie’s crownlater recovered damaged. What they took and what they didn’t. The theft affected pieces of the corpus Marie-Amélie/Hortense (including sapphire colliers, earrings and tiaras) and jewelry linked to Marie-Louise. They were unable to extract the diamant-régent (one of the three canonical diamonds of the French canon) nor, as we said, preserve Eugénie’s crown in the flight. What is stolen is, strictly speaking, unmarketable as an entire heritage object, but its dismantling (gold, diamonds, sapphires separately) suppresses cultural and biographical traceability, which is where the irreparable lies. Structural failure. They count national media that the gap was not the cunning of others but the internal predictability: five agents for a room thermodynamically saturated with risk, a relay that reduces to four personnel in the exact strip in which the coup is carried out, a security architecture whose modernization was postponed, and a prioritization curve that armored the Joconde but it decompensated the surrounding heritage periphery. In fact, the runion and staff action (boos to management, demand for an independent audit, denunciation of years of unattended alerts) indicates that the failure was not only big, it was known and was never corrected. Political responses. The assault detonated a immediate response of Macron, of the Interior and of the judiciary, with the affirmation that the authors were going to be captured and the pieces recovered. For its part, the opposition transferred the episode to a frame of state decay: If the Louvre (symbol of the nation’s continuous narrative) is permeable during opening hours, the crack is more than museum-like. In other words, from that prism, public humiliation then operates in two planes: exterior (Country-image) and interior (delegitimization of the chain of command over heritage). The crown of Empress Eugenia de Montijo Criminal logic. We said it at the beginning. The pieces, en bloc, do not circulate. Its economic power lies rather in its deconstruction. The likely incentive is not conventional private collecting (impossible to display) but the supply on demand (unknown contractor, including state or quasi-state) or the cannibalized high margin industrial bulk. According to Le Mondehe recent pattern (Cognacq-Jay, Museum of Nature History, Limoges) shows a vector of criminal professionalization with a logistical window close to civil works, rapid emergence, cold extraction, brief departure and, sometimes, exogenous assignment. The discarding of an item in the flight suggests, perhaps, operational friction, but not global improvisation. Precedents. There is no doubt, France knows famous robberies (1911 the Joconde1976 sword of Charles, 1998 the Corot) but the qualitative leap lies in the practical deactivation of the Louvre taboo during visiting hours. The museum was closed to preserve vestiges and the criminal investigation is open with focus on escape routeabandoned equipment, construction perimeters and cameras. In fact, the hypothesis of a foreign commission is not ruled out, nor is the performance of a cell trained in high-density urban theater patterns. Hunting status. From what is known, the investigation focuses in four authorsscooters and routes already mapped, with cameras analyzed and forensic material in progress. One damaged piece was recovered, but eight remain missing. Plus: the probability of intact recovery decreases with time because the thief’s rational incentive is, a priori, to disassemble, volatilize and recombine. The cultural loss is absolute if the components are assembled in another vector or if the metal is melted and sold through other channels. What the robbery reveals. The reputational implosion now forces us to accelerate what years of internal warnings They did not move: comprehensive shielding, redistribution of personnel due to real risk and not due to tradition, closing of logistical windows associated with civil works, and a redefinition of the security perimeter by layers, not only by a single idol (the Joconde-Gioconda). The only “advantage” of an open-hour robbery with global symbolic production is that it makes it politically unaffordable to return to the previous status quo. If you also want, the episode, rather than pointing out an unusual criminal genius, points to the country itself. The escape in seven minutes did not measure the capacity of the thieves, but rather the exact time in which the State left open the possibility that the largest museum in the world could be treated like the entrance to a bathroom in full public service. Image | Tore Sætre, Alexandre-Gabriel Lemonnier In Xataka | Everyone wants to see the Mona Lisa, a problem that the Louvre is going to solve drastically: by hiding it In Xataka | A Saudi prince paid $450 million for a Da Vinci painting. The problem is that it may not be by Da Vinci

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.