phenomenon

In León there are small villages that are finding a peculiar phenomenon: thousands of “ghost tourists”

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In the world there is good and bad touristsrespectful tourists and disrespectfulclean and others capable of converting places such as Everest either The Fuji In authentic stercolera, but much less common is what some peoples of the province of León are living. His municipalities are finding a kind of “Ghost Tourism”a drip of thousands and thousands of travelers that nobody has seen or heard or housed, but that in theory they have visited the town. Or at least he assures it A study of the INE. Multiplying the census by 24. Carbajal sources It is a town of León located about 50 minutes by car from the provincial capital and surrounded by hectares and hectares of cultivation. It doesn’t usually sneak into the news, but Monday León News He dedicated him A broad article which explains a peculiarity of the people: in summer there are few municipalities in which the population shoots more for tourism. According to A study INE experimental that measures the flow of tourists from the position of mobile phones, between July and August 2024 the town received 1,826 tourists. Many do not seem like many, but it is that INE himself acknowledges that in the Leonese town there are barely registered 76 people. That is, when the heat arrives, the summers multiply by 24 the municipal census. Next to nothing. “It’s a mockery”. Such data would be compressible if Carbajal sources had a natural park, an old fortress, parties known throughout the community or some other claim that explains that avalanche of visitors, but the City Council itself itself Recognize that this figure of 1,826 tourists (464 in July and 1,180 in August) is difficult to explain … and even more difficult to assume. “It is a burial,” nods The mayor of the town, Carlos de León Saluds, in León News. Similar opinion, Ana María Ortega, former mayor and councilor, Explain That one thing is that the influx of visitors increases in July and August for the people who returns to the village or visit to their relatives and a very different one that the data is triggered in an exorbitant way. “In summer you can triple the population, but multiply by 24 the number of inhabitants with veraners and tourists cannot be.” So … what happens? To understand that mysterious “Ghost Tourism” the first thing is to go to the prine sources. The data of the 1,826 tourists leaves a new “Experimental Statistics” of the INE that resorts to the signals of the mobiles to calculate different metrics related to tourism: the place of origin of foreigners arriving in Spain, the destinations that visit the Spaniards when they leave the country and the movement between communities, provinces and municipalities. The study has been prepared for a few years and always talks about the same: “Tourists.” If we consult the “internal tourism” data and more specifically the flows of “Interprovincial tourists” Residents in Spain, classifying the results by municipalities, the surprise arrives: in July of last year Fuentes de Carbajal received 646 and in August 1,180. In total 1,826. The question is therefore … how are those figures calculated that collide the mayor and the former mayor of the people? Mobile and antennas matter? The response is given by INE in The technical file From the survey: the data is related to the position of mobile phones and are obtained thanks to the collaboration of the country’s large operators. The approach is interesting and promising, but implies certain challenges. “The location of mobile phones is estimated from mobile phone antennas”, collects the institute itself: “This implies that the location of a mobile is not established with total precision, and the error depends on the concentration of antennas.” In summary, the more mobile antennas, the greater precision. Unraveling the mystery. The INE’s ability to analyze the data is also limited. The records on mobile location are anonymous and processed each operator, so the institute receives only aggregate data and in tables, without option to examine loose values. In rural areas it is also found that the low density of the network conditions the type of ‘cells’ with which it operates. By statistical secret, the institute also hides certain data. With that information about the Ortega table Slide that the balance of carbajal sources (which is so adjusted to what is perceived in the people itself) may be due to technical issues, such as coverage or that for some reason the data of other municipalities are added to those of the Leonesa Villa, thus blurring the real photo. Near Fuentes de Carbajal there are other villas with a balance of zero visitors. In Xataka we have already addressed the INE to ask him about that apparent mismatch. Is it the only case? No. León News Informs other equally striking, although none reaches the level of carbajal sources. In San Millán de los Caballeros, for example, the INE registered 1,648 tourists in July and in August 1,602, which adds 3,250. Again they may not seem like many, but it is that the town has 191 inhabitants registered. The same occurs in Izagre, of 137 residents and who according to the statistical institute receives almost 2,000 Veranians. “We don’t have great parties, just four performances during the summer,” remember the mayor of San Millán. “There are two campsites close to the people, but they are in the municipal terms of Valencia de D Juan and Villamañán.” Nor does the Izagre councilor achieve to understand everything that happens: “On central summer days, with the holidays, between 150 and 200 people can be reached in each of the villages, but reaching the 1,987 veraneantes in those two months cannot be.” Images | Zed Mendez (UNSPLASH)Google Maps and Wikipedia Via | León News In Xataka | It is increasingly easy to see from the road a crop that had never been dominant in Spain: the pistachio

It is a common phenomenon and is called GTP

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Do you remember when, years ago, stories circulated that used to consider urban legends – until it experienced them – about dreams in which we played tetris or doom, and that were so real that, sometimes, they got to be confused with the periods of vigil? A name came to be given, The tetris effectand the new generations of games and apps, more and more sophisticated and realistic, have taken that phenomenon one step further: after the Tetris effect, the GTP arrives. What is the GTP. Are the acronym for Game Transfer Phenomenathat is, phenomenon of game transfer, and consists of a series of involuntary experiences that players have after intense game sessions, where elements of video games (from images and specific sounds to such concrete aspects as object inventories) are overlap with our real life perceptions. Its characteristics were described for the first time about a decade ago by Angelica Ortiz de Gortari In a doctoral thesis. His inspiration was his own experience: visualize products in a supermarket as if he were using a video game telescopic sight Some of his symptoms. They are very varied: visual perceptions (see life bars or the game of the game) and auditory (soundtrack, special effects), automatic impulses (executing conditioned movements, such as pressing buttons), recurring thoughts and behaviors inspired by video games (speaking involuntarily with concrete games), tactile or kinesthetic sensations (perceive the control in the hands when there is not there) … player can see health bars on people’s heads, or feel the need to grab everyday objects as if they were Power-ups. A frequent experience. It is not about An isolated or unusual phenomenon. Studies in which More than 6,000 players have participated They indicate that most have experienced GTP at least once. And in Another analysis that was carried out in Chinabetween 82 % and 96 % of participants in a survey reported that they had experienced some form of GTP. This BBC article Check the phenomenon and mention Ortiz de Gortari, which describes that, for those who experience it, the GTP can be “disconcerting and potentially dangerous”, although, being relatively natural and simple to explain, most of the time it is passenger and has no greater significance. But why does it happen? On the one hand, video games demand automatic and conditioned responses, which can then be repeated in real life. And of course, the very high immersive capacity of modern games multiplies this possibility of transfer. It is a phenomenon comparable to catchy songsthat we repeat in our head without being able to forget them, but the GTP has a plus of intensity because the brain areas that manage it are linked to action and impulses, not to passive attitudes. It will go to more. Experts such as Ortiz de Gortari affirm that with devices such as virtual reality helmets, phenomena such as GTP could increase exponentially in the future. Without a doubt, it is an area that Science considers that it should be examined thoroughly: Not only because video games are the main form of entertainment globally, but because it delegates, to a large extent, to what extent our minds are vulnerable to increasingly aggressive technological advances. Header | Photo of T in Unspash / Xataka In Xataka | I have tried a virtual reality escape: this is to solve mysteries with your own hands in a very immersive experience

In South Korea there is a curious phenomenon that keeps economists and fans of the K-Pop in suspense: the return of BTS

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For a time BTS’s careerone of the most popular K-Pop bands on the planet (if not the most popular), seemed unstoppable. Their sales added millionslike his Fans legions Inside and outside South Korea or its fame in the music industry, which soon extended to the Anglopartla market. The Septeto broke barriers, crowned in the Billboard 200 And even posed with Joe Biden In the White House. In 2022 however things changed. At its peak, the Boy Band advertisement A temporary pause forced by something that had little to do with music: the mili. Now its seven members have fulfilled the obligations with Seoul and You talk already next resentment With a background question: what will you mean for the K-Pop, a cultural industry Milmillonaria In full transformation? When BTS hung the rifle. In South Korea the law is relentless: all men between 18 and 28 must Comply with mandatory military service (or social volunteering) for a period ranging between 18 and 21 months. The rule provides some exemptions for athletes, dancers or young people who have achieved large awards in their disciplines and suppose a pride for the country. The same does not happen with K-pop singers. At most they can, thanks to a reform approved in 2020, delay recruitment up to 30 years. Hence In 2022 BTS members did something strange in a formation uploaded to the crest of the wave and with a growing fame both inside and outside Korea: they announced a break to do the mili. Its seven components do not have the same age or enlisted at the same time, hence the band’s reunion It was announced already by then by 2025. And the date came. The oldest component, Jin, was enlisted in December 2022 and ended his service in June 2024which has allowed him to return to the stage and resume his solo career. In recent weeks, RM, V, Jimin and Jung Kook have also graduated. The last to fulfill its obligations with the South Korean state, Suga, did it Just a few days ago. In practice, Remember Nikkeithat means that (if there are no surprises) in July all members of the Boy Band They will be able to resume their joint career. And, as expected, that has unleashed the expectation of the international press and its fans. The agency that represents the band has confirmed to The New York Times That he still cannot relieve any return plan, but that has not prevented BTS fans from being celebrated and some leaks jump. A few days ago Variety It echoed of an exclusive of The Korea Herald That states that the group will return to the stage in more or less nine months, towards March next year. Nikkei does not specify so much, but reveals That the band’s environment rules out that a stage is once again on the stage. Much more than pop music. That BTS’s return plans (despite being diffuse still) have monopolized holders in the means of reach of The BBC, CNN either Tnytreveals that Boy Band South Korean is much more than a popular group. BTS is relevant for several reasons. And not all strictly musical. Beyond its success in the West or to break molds by crowning the Billboard 200, BTS is a key exponent of Hallyu, The “Korean wave” that has expanded the culture, music and cinema of the country far beyond its borders. In 2024 Asia Fund Managers assuredciting a survey of the South Korean government itself, which the Hallyu wave added around 225 million fans throughout the world, far from the 9.26 million that its first survey had shown, made in 2012. According to its calculations, in 2023 there were more than 1,700 Hallyu fans clubs in 119 countries and much of them (68%) focused on the K-Pop. It’s culture … and it’s money. Asia Fund Managers remember Also that the influence of the K-Pop is not limited to the music industry or the concert circuit. That there are more pending people of South Korean groups translates into greater interest in the country’s culture, their language, kitchen, tourism or fashion, which has a measurable impact on Wones. Wion ensures that the global value of exports of products and services related to the K-POP exceeded 5,000 million dollars in 2018, a stratospheric figure compared to 40 million only two decades ago. The figures should be handled cautiously, but give an idea of ​​the mayor of the K-Pop as a cultural industry. There is Who esteem which in 2018 contributed 1.7% of South Korea’s GDP. “K-pop has become an important cultural force, influencing fashion, beauty and language trends,” Reflect ROMADHONI FAILUATE IN MEDUM. “This has contributed to promoting South Korean culture and tourism, generating an increase in income in these sectors.” And what does BTS suppose? In 2022 Korea Science published A report which reflects that in full international expansion the “BTS effect” came to boost exports of consumer goods of South Korea worth $ 1.1 billion. In 2021, during An interview In the NPR, Vanek Smith went even further and estimated that the Boy Band It contributes hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars every year to the South Korean economy. Its effect reminds in a way that of Taylor Swift, whose activity reverses in thousands of millions of dollars for the United States, according to the Federal Reserve. The K-Pop in crisis? Yeah Filtration of The Korea Herald It is correct and BTS returns to the stage in March 2026, the big question is … will it meet the same K-Pop in 2022, when the group announced its temporal break? During this time already measured, some members have continued with solo careers and during these last years their agency has strategically launching issues and videos to keep interest in the Boy Band. The K-POP scene also has other outstanding representatives, such as Blackpink, Seventeen either Newjaans. However, during the last years There has been multiple voices that have identified symptoms of Crisis in the K-Pop. … Read more

We have been talking about the ‘Miracle Inditex’ for years to explain its growth. That phenomenon is coming to an end

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Inditex has just confirmed what many feared: it is no longer the unstoppable growth machine we knew and faces a more mature stage, without the double digit that until very recently was the custom. Why is it important. The first quarter marks a turning point in the history of the Galician giant. Sales grow just 1.5% compared to 7.1% of the previous year, and the benefit stagnates at 0.8%. They are figures of any European textile company, not the empire that used to other numbers. In figures. The numbers are devastating: 8,274 million in sales … … When analysts expected 8,380 million. Is The weakest growth since 2018excluding pandemia. The stock market does not forgive: the shares collapse more than 4% and touch the 46 euros in intradic minimums. The context. Three factors explain this unexpected normalization. The strong euro devours international sales with an impact of 3% that the company did not know how to foresee. Torrential rains in Spain (15% of global sales) have stopped spring clothes purchases. Operating costs grow above income for the first time in years. Between the lines. The data of the balance They show something more worrying: Inditex is losing efficiency. Stocks rise 6.3% when the company is proud to maintain Stocks minima. The net financial position falls by 7.3%. They are symptoms of a company that can no longer control all variables as well as before. Now it remains to see if it is something temporary or goes further. Yes, but. The second quarter offers a respite: sales are growing 6% between May and June. Even so, it is half of the 12% registered a year ago in the same period. The improvement exists, but it is still that of a normal company, not that of a phenomenon as it was so far. The latest. The Jose Arnau exitvice president and right hand of Amancio Ortega for 24 years, symbolizes the end of an era. Your substitute, Roberto Cibeirainherits a prosperous but mortal company. The transformation is complete: Inditex has gone from being a business unicorn to a solid, but predictable multinational. The miracle is over and gives way to the era of maturity. Outstanding image | Inditex In Xataka | Amancio Ortega: the billionaire who lives as one more neighbor (except for private jets and superyates)

The phenomenon of the year in Tiktok Spain is an influencer dressed in the nineteenth -century maiden mode

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The phenomenon of Inés de Robles (better known as Inesdrobles) It is particular for very different reasons. On the one hand, it is a fashionable Tiktaker who, however, remains faithful to a style that cannot even be described as Vintagebut hugs the rancid and little strident as a sign of identity. Second, those who have raised their commentators. And now, he is riding the wave of fame Tiktaker. The template. Inés de Robles videos are always the same, which has undoubtedly helped you establish a definite style. For example, never speak; simply, with unusually current background music (Quevedo, Mar Lucas, J Balvin, Ozuna … a whole Playlist own of a young woman of tastes mainstream), which accompanies of often frightful playbacks. Dressed in clothing Vintagethat sometimes they touch the directly typical of the last century (although, as we will see, not quite), it always makes a characteristic gesture: it bends a foot on the knee of the opposite leg, and stretches it and supports the ground as if it were a ballet step. 11 tricks to dominate Tik tok The comments. However, what has made it viral are its commentators: with a very white and nothing offensive sense of humor, they joke about the outdated aesthetics of videos. “She does not do history exams, she does Storytimes“,” I have gone so much that I have reached the Renaissance “,” I came out in ‘For his illustrious’ and I gave me ‘me’ “,” Fonograph of the lady? “,” This video has reminded me of the summer of 1874 “,” That is the treaty of newly signed tordesillas, right? ” 300,000 ‘Like’ and several thousand comments. Famous (and promotions) arrive. Fame is knocking on the door of Inés de Robles in the form of faranduleo, with collaborations where other people poses with her and makes her famous gesture with her foot. Some of them have been Beéle, Violeta Mangriñán, Omar Montes and even Iker Casillas. And of course, promotions have arrived, some more naked (Grefusa!a Futurist optics), and others more appropriate (Carolina Herreraa online copying where Gutenberg’s Bible says there). His last nine videos, all of April, are guests or promotions paid. An inimitable attraction. The result of this whole mixture is a fascinating account, since Inés de Robles never speaks, which makes her look like a young woman trapped in a bubble. The curious use of artists as inappropriate as the Zowi or Bad Gyal in the background in their videos contrasts with the descriptions of the videos, halfway between naivety (“enjoying sunset”, “excursion day”) and the consciously rancid (“APPOINTMENT for Thursday Tea”, “Tuesday of Mandados”). Or it is one Performance very careful or one of the last traces of spontaneity of Tiktok. And if so … What do you want to tell us exactly? @inesdrobles Recording some themes to the rhythm of @beéle 🤘🎶 #INESDOBLES #INESDEROBLES #Classicgeneration ♬ Sobloove – Beéle Inés: Origins. To discover the answer you just have to go back to the beginning of your account, not far behind in time (July last year), where we see elements such as fashion music and trap display, but in line unquestionably more modernaccompanied by their Two sisters. Some photo linked to rhythmic gymnastics also makes it clear where it comes from The famous and enigmatic gesture with the leg. The outfits They are, above all the last ones, already directly out of a period of the 1st period, possess to continue with the joke of the traveler in time. The Old Money style. As Absolutely everything can be categorizedInés de Robles aesthetics It can be framed In a recent current known as Old Moneya style with connection points with fashions Cayetana, PREPPYCatholic or prick and that is inspired by the lifestyle of American rich families, with luxurious leisure exhibition: golf, equestrian or tennis. Table skirts, poles, pearls … Everything that implies a social category in which it does not just enter, but carries generations in the family abounds (hence the “old money”, not very successful literal translation). Of course, here the ingenious account comments have twisted the concept and have taken Inés to dress with clothes that go beyond the merely aristocratic to get into the directly nineteenth. Header | Tiktok In Xataka | We have been waiting for years at airports for years. Tiktok’s “airport theory” believes that it has been a mistake

Physicists believed that this quantum phenomenon was impossible. They were very wrong

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This appointment of Richard FeynmanNobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to quantum electrodynamics and one of the most admired scientists of the twentieth century, condenses very well The complexity of quantum physics: “If you think you understand it, you don’t really understand quantum physics.” Quantum mechanics study the laws that govern The world of the very smallof the particles, as well as the interactions to which the atomic and subatomic structures are exposed. Most of these rules are radically different from the laws we have become familiar with in the world in which we live. In the macroscopic world. Many physicists have spent the last century trying to understand how known quantum phenomena work, and also striving to identify unknown quantum rules. The problem is that working with the extremely small, with the particles, is very difficult. However, this does not mean that they are not successful. To hunt and capture the elusive transition of super -artedia Physicists Klaus Hepp and Elliott H. LIEB predicted in 1973 a quantum phenomenon known as super -transiant phase transition. For more than half a century the scientific community has worked out without success to find evidence to protect the existence of this mechanism beyond mere theory. But everything changed on April 4. That day a group of researchers from Rice University, in Texas (USA); the University of Shanghai (China); NASA’s National Laboratory (USA) or the National University of Singapore, among other scientific institutions, published an article in Scienceadvances in which he explains the procedure he has used to experimentally observe this quantum phenomenon so elusive. Understanding what is the transition of super -transiant phase and all its implications is not simple, but we can get a rather precise idea about what this mechanism consists of if we observe it as a sudden change in a particle system that causes many of them begin to behave in a coordinated way. When this phenomenon does not occur, atoms interact in a weak way and behave in a disorganized way, but when the super -artary phase transition arises, they synchronize and exhibit the same behavior, giving rise to a new state of matter. When the super -transiant phase transition arises the atoms are synchronized and exhibit the same behavior The most surprising thing is that this new state gives the material unusual properties from a macroscopic point of view. The researchers who have mentioned some lines above have managed to carry out the first direct observation of this mechanism. And they have succeeded by triggering the transition in a glass composed of erbium, iron and oxygen subjected to a temperature of −271.7 degrees Celsius. In addition, they exposed it to a magnetic field of no less than 7 teslas, so it was more than 100,000 times more intense than the magnetic field of the Earth. What they pursued was to induce the transition of super -transiant phase by coupling the spin of the particles. And they succeeded. The spin is an intrinsic property of The elementary particleslike the electric charge, derived from its time of angular rotation. The first experimental evidence that endorsed its existence It arrived in 1922 Thanks to the experiments of German physicists Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach, although scientists did not begin to understand the nature of this very important property of elementary particles until a few years later. The reason why it is not easy to understand precisely what the spin is because it is a quantum phenomenon, so it is not quite correct to describe it as a conventional rotation movement in space. Even so, the description that I have proposed in the previous paragraph is usually used for a didactic purpose because it helps us to intuit without too much effort what we are talking about. In any case, the most interesting thing is that the transition of super -transiant phase opens the door to the next generation of quantum technologies. This is the really important thing. According to physicists involved in this experiment, this mechanism can be used to put quantum sensors endowed with a much higher sensitivity than those currently available. And it can also be used to produce more robust cubits for Quantum computers. Sounds good. I hope your predictions are fulfilled. Image | Generated by Xataka with Dall-e More information | Scienceadvances In Xataka | CERN has achieved something unprecedented: transform smartphones sensors into an antimatter chamber

‘A Minecraft movie’ is becoming such a large phenomenon that is causing disturbances in cinemas

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‘A Minecraft movie’ is in its second week in cinemas and we can stop considering it a day flower: His monumental box office He has already made it the film that has raised the most in what we have been from the year. But there are more: the passes are becoming authentic jungles, with disturbances, interrupted passes and a long etcetera of phenomena that have nothing passenger. We are facing the most noticeable movie of the year … although for reasons that have nothing to do with their quality. Second weekend. 80 million dollars in the United States has raised, which represents a 50% drop with respect to its overwhelming 162.7 million debut, but remains a figure that makes the film the success of the year: it has already been raised 550 million in the world, advancing to ‘Captain America: Brave New World’. The film has given a very welcome thrust to a loose box office for this start of the year and gives the starting gun for a series of expected successes: ‘Thunderbolts’, the new ‘impossible mission’ and ‘Lilo & Stitch’ The most popular game in history. Although the first advances were badly receivedkneading a spectacular amount of Dyslikes In Warner’s official channels on YouTube, there is a different phenomenon, but comparable to that of the film of ‘Super Mario Bros‘: A failure between median critics and spectators, but a success among its target audience. It is actually pure mathematics: ‘A Minecraft film’ is aimed at a number of potential spectators of 300 million (it is the last official sales data, October 2023), and many of them are responding to the call. Not everyone plays. And those 300 million (which today will be many more) are multiplied by a very simple issue: many of the game fans They do not playbut they consume videos related to the game. It is calculated that could be tens of thousands of Streamers of the gameeach of them with their own thousands of followers, who are not necessarily players. Recall that there are 600 million registered players (the fourth most popular game in the world). It is a real land paid to take the Z generation to the rooms. A complicated phenomenon to adapt. ” Minecraft ‘has successfully brought to the big screen part of its aesthetics, but it is a not very easy task on paper. This creation of Markus Persson and now owned by Microsoft (by 2,500 million wing) It has openly rudimentary but very versatile graphics, which allow constructions of all kinds to be carried out, and without pressures: for many players, the attractiveness is simply to enter the game and build, which has undoubtedly been key to attract very young users. Fanaticism was triggered in the early last decade, before even the launch of the first official version: At that time he already had 16 million players. The infinite. In fact, the secret that, on the way to two decades after its launch, the game remains fresh and attracting millions of players are the thousands of mods, mostly free, which generate new ways to interact with him. Not only that: the ability of the game to generate communities makes it essentially a collective game and, a large part, lacking the central narrative. What, beyond its values ​​as a film, makes this Warner bet a considerable achievement: they have turned an experience into a narrative. And successfully. The key to success: the winks. The reason why ‘a Minecraft movie’ has become a success is because it speaks of you to you with the players: overflow memes and tributes to the games that the staunch fans know how to decrypt, of the phrase “As a Child, I Yearned for the mines” to the iconic sound bang of the game, work of C418. And above all, to Chicken Jockey, a apparently harmless meme and is generating an unexpected response among the young audience of the film: disturbances in the movie theaters. A liberating cry. The cry of “Chickn Jockey!” comes from the scene streamer. There is only 5% chances that a zombified character will self -generate on the stage just above a chicken, creating the illusion that he is riding it. That is why it is so weird and is celebrated when it happens in a streamand hence the chain reaction that this character has unleashed when appearing in the film, and that went viral when he was filmed by a spectator, in the first weekend of life of the film, with a mobile. Followed by an explosion of jubilation of the spectators. The chaos. In an unheard of situation (since the time of ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show‘Even the most recent’WICKED‘Public participation in projections is not entirely strange). The Descriptions and Videos of what happens in the rooms are Out -control projectionswith notices to the police and people putting in the fireworks artificial or, of course, chickens. The latest manifestations of the phenomenon have been starring the own Jack Black asking for calm In a surprise appearance in a projection, a New Jersey room warning that they will only allow the assistance of minors if they are accompanied and a poster of disclaimer warning the spectators of the consequences if they do not behave. Cinemas ON FIRE. The subject will still give us to talk, because the box office and success guarantees it. For example, they begin to proliferate 4xd projections Where the Berraco behavior (except for the part of introducing farm animals, dirtying the armchair or that the cinema burns) is more than welcome. At the moment, he leaves criticism in an awkward place when explaining these phenomena, because they are not an extravagance without further ado: they belong to the highest grossing film of the moment. Do we embrace chaos or cry out about the end of culture by moving the spectators of the consequences if they do not behave. Header | Warner In Xataka | The largest artificial society experiment is happening in Minecraft: what happens when you … Read more

China is also eating the world of collection toys through a phenomenon: the Pop Mart

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In the toy industry, the ‘Made in China’ label is no longer a stigma. At least, not since brands like Pop Mart has invaded the toy international panorama with accessible, modern products and whose sales are counted by millions. The giant of the hyperestilized dolls has captivated collectors and children from all over the world thanks to social networks, with an intergenerational impact that should be the envy of more “serious” industries. At least, While tariffs do not suppose a problem. What are they? The Pop Mart are the dolls that the company of the same name manufactures and that can be purchased Through its websitein specific stores that are opening (sometimes temporarily) by the main capitals of the world, and even in vending machines also more frequent. They are divided into series in which the same doll is shown in different variants, which makes them highly collectible. The fashion of aesthetics Cute It has made them products that go beyond children’s public, and their usual dissemination in surprise boxes that hide their content has led them to succeed in social networks. A viral impact. Undoubtedly, the ease of social networks to transcend borders has given Pop Mart’s thrust to be known outside China. A quick Pop Mart in Tiktok throws, only with creators of Spanish content, an infinite ristra of unboxings that have the addition that, being in many cases of surprise boxes, the users themselves, With hundreds of thousands of followersthey are the first to be surprised. A clear precedent: Funko Pop. The nature of the dolls partly remembers the Funko Popthe doll brand that have already become mainstream Absolute, all cut by the same aesthetic pattern, and which refer to multitude of franchises and trademarks. The Pop Mart, although they have a certain common iconic character among all, are subdivided into multiple collections and each one has its own aesthetics. Of course, they also surrender to the power of the franchises and have multiple collections dedicated to Disney, Harry Potter, SpongeBob, Marvel, Barbie and a long etcetera. The importance of authors. Pop Mart has another distinctive feature that distinguishes it from today Funko Pop: His support for designers and artists behind some of the doll lines, which gives him an air of exclusivity against more impersonal brands and also connects with another clear precedent of the phenomenon. This is the Art Toys, very expensive vinyl dolls that a couple of decades ago were epitome of modernity. Many more affordable than those, Pop Mart boasts of a designer shield With names like Lang, Ayan Deng, Pucky or Libby Frame. It is not surprising: thanks to one of them, Kasing Lung, has generated its best known property, Labubu. Labubu sweeps. Labubu is a kind of elf with a monkey appearance and a smile that seems out of the hell itself, and has become the property of Pop Mart most selling globally: it is part of a broader collection called The Monsters, and generated 419 million dollars last year for 419 million dollars in benefits for Pop Mart. It is not, that yes, the company’s best known brand in China, where the girl-girl triumphs Molly. This is the creation of a designer there, Kenny Wong, which corroborates the good eye that Pop has had put in the foreground the creators of his icons. Blind origins. The company was founded in 2000 by businessman Wang Ning, 38. In less than fifteen years he has managed to convert Pop Mart into one of the best known companies in China: in 2024 his actions rose 370%. His success is such that in September 2023 he opened his own attraction park in Beijing, Pop Land40 square kilometers. But it is its unstoppable world implementation that is drawing attention. International madness. According to data you handled Time magazine130 of the company’s 530 stores at the end of last year are outside China (the first in Spain It opened in Barcelona). In 2024, its benefits for international sales rose a spectacular 375%, which corroborates the growth that Europe and the United States is having. According to him Company’s own income reportin 2024 it had benefits of 1.8 billion dollars, of which 40% came from outside China. The viral surprise boxes. Part of the secret of Pop Mart is in the surprise boxes (or blind boxes, as the literal translation of Blind Boxes): The search for specific models, with special attention to special dolls, not described in catalogs, and that can leave each seventy and so many boxes, combine with the guarantee of not repeating surprise if you do not want. For example, if you buy a complete collection of six surprise boxes, it is known that those six They won’t have repeated dolls: The viralizable content, the gamification of the search and the commercial hook are as evident as effective. The invasion of Chinese toys. Of course, Pop Mart is not alone in this crazy race to earn the hearts of influencers and collectors. His fiercest competitor is TOP TOYfounded much more recently, in 2020. It is owned by Minisothe Chinese low -cost store chain specialized in consumer products. In 2024, they already had benefits of 134.84 million dollars, their products focus on licensed properties, and already have different 40 IPS dolls. With the project to open a thousand stores worldwide in the coming years, it is clear that a future toy also dominated by Chinese companies awaits us. Header | Choo Yut Shing in Flickr In Xataka | If China wants to dodge US tariffs, Russia can teach you a shortcut: Kyrgyzstan

Ghibli -style images have firing the chatgpt phenomenon again

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You probably remember that moment in the late 2022 in which Chatgpt broke into the scene. An application created by a practically unknown startup allowed, for the first time, to maintain a fluid conversation with an AI. We could ask him to write a story, review a text or explain string theory. At a time when the industry seemed to advance with incremental improvements, without great surprises, Chatgpt’s irruption was an unexpected turn. And yes, he caught everyone with the Guardian. Because, as happens so many times, when a technology catches us, we run in mass towards it. The chatgpt phenomenon was no exception. He only needed five days to reach one million users. A shocking figure if we compare it with other technological giants: Netflix took three and a half yearsTwitter two years, Facebook ten months and Instagram two and a half months. Now, Openai is news again: he has done it again, overcoming his own popularity records. Click to see the original message in x The person in charge of announcing the new milestone was Sam Altman himself. “The launch of Chatgpt 26 months ago was one of the most crazy viral moments I have ever seen, and we added a million users in five days. We just added one million in the last hour,” The OpenAi CEO wrote in a message posted on X on March 31. There are very few services capable of receiving such an avalanche of users in such a short time. One of the closest cases starred in Goal with Threads, Your alternative to Twitter, which added two million users in just two hours. Of course, the context was different: direct integration with Instagram greatly facilitated this mission. But not everything stays in the official data. Analysis signatures such as Tower Sensor also reflect the huge growth of Chatgpt. According to your estimatesapplication downloads increased by 11% last week, while the number of active users grew by 5%, with subscriptions by increasing 6% in the same period. When technology connects with the public It is no secret that artificial intelligence has evolved at high speed in the last two years. However, they are not always the most sophisticated technical advances – Those that seek greater performance, solve complex problems or democratize access to reasoning models – those that manage to connect with the general public. Generally, what moves us is on another plane: nostalgia, art, humor. Or, directly, the memes. And it is precisely where the last of Openai has found his hole in everyday life. Exactly seven days ago, Chatgpt was updated With a new function: an integrated image generator, driven by the multimodal model GPT-4O. One of the many scenes recreated with chatgpt Although GPT-4O was already present in ChatgPT-we met last year-until now he stood out for his skills in text generation and computer vision. But It did not generate images. That has changed with this latest update, which, curiously, is especially good when recreating images in very recognizable styles. In Spain, as in other parts of the world, users soon took advantage of the novelty to unleash creativity. They began to recreate iconic images In the purest Studio Ghibli style, transform vacations in scenes built with Lego pieces or convert real portraits into versions of Muppets or in detailed illustrations Pixel art. But not everything is so idyllic. Fever for the new ability to generate images in ChatgPT has been accompanied by two factors that, although less visible, are not minor. The first has to do with The infrastructure: demand has been so high that OpenAI delayed deployment for free users and impulse use limits. In addition, the question of visual styles is not exempt from controversy. As users experience with recreations inspired by very recognizable creative universes, a debate has been on the table that has been around the development of artificial intelligence: how have these models learn? The answer, although not always transparent, points in an awkward direction. Many of these models, including the one that drives this function in chatgpt, They have trained with large volumes of images available on the network, Many of them protected by copyright. This, once, is a point of tension between technological and authors. Images | Xataka with chatgpt | @MDURBAR | X screen capture In Xataka | How to turn your photo into an action doll with accessories using chatgpt In Xataka | Openai has just lifted the greatest financing round in history: there is a blind faith in the AI ​​despite everything

There are alarmed people because fruits are increasingly sweet. It is a more complicated phenomenon than it appears

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A few years ago, Melbourne Zoo decided that he would stop giving fruits to some of his animals “because they were too sweet for their own good“In recent years, red pandas and primates had gained weight and some even had signs of decay. The reason tells a greater story about our relationship with the fruit. Too much sugar. “The problem is that cultivated fruits have been genetically modified to have a sugar content much greater than its natural ancestral fruits,” Michael Lynch explainedVeterinarian Chief of the Zoo, to the Sydney Morning Herald. It seemed a curiosity without much route, but it wasn’t. The idea that “fruit is not healthy because it has much higher sugar levels than in the old days” It has been circulating for years Online. In fact, come back again and again … But is it? The answer is complicated. If we go to the data (for example, to Central fooddataa database of nutritional analysis of food in the US), we can find some fruits in which that is seen growth. For example, “wild blueberries” would have 6.46% of sugars, while commercial “blueberries” would be at 9.96%. Growth is considerable, yes. What happens is that this effect disappears when, instead of comparing with primitive varieties, we analyze whether the fruit has been raising its amounts of sugars in recent decades. Angela Dowden He reviewed the United Kingdom data since 1946 and found no significant differences in the sugar content of apples, white grapes or strawberries. Giovanni Stanchi. This makes sense. For years, human beings have gone improving Fruits and vegetables to the point that they don’t look at anything. Giovanni Stanchi was an Italian still life of the seventeenth century. At some point between 1645 and 1672, Stanchi painted a picture full of peaches, pears and watermelons. Watermelons that do not look anything like ours. And it’s not that it was anything new. The watermelon was a plant of Africa that for 1600 (via al-Andalus) It was already extremely popular in the orchards throughout Europe. Bodegons give us An unbeatable opportunity To see how the watermelon has changed until today. By 1860, the watermelons They were acquiring an appearance more recognizable. It is not just a matter of appearance. Also of flavor. We have seen it With tomatoes (Although, in this case, Often for worse) and we could see it with almost all fruits and vegetables. For example, Brussels cabbage They are much less bitter That 20 years ago. The point is that, when we talk about sugars in fruits, we will see that growth has a limit. A physical limit. In general, As the botanist James to Wong explainedfruity sugars levels tend to converge in a very similar range because, as with tomatoesplants can not manufacture more sugar without becoming much larger or produced less (and none of that interests us at a commercial level). But there is something else. Let’s go to nutritional data to see it clearly: following Dowden’s data, super sweet “modern” strawberries contain only 4.89% of sugars, while Kiwis have 8.99% and bananas have 12.23%. This gives us an interesting key. As Wong points out, what fitomejoradores do is that “the fruit has a sweeter flavor not increasing sugars, but reducing acid and bitter chemicals that mask their sweetness.” And there is the explanation of what happened with Melbourne’s animals. The problem was not so much the level of fruits sugars (which, Rememberbeing “fiber -packaged fructose” cannot increase blood sugar levels as refined sugars), but were so good that pandas and primates stopped eating other things and their diet was unbalanced. It does not seem a problem that affects us human beings. Hopefully the fruit would gain weight in our diet because that would mean that, on average, the feeding of society would improve. What we are seeing is, in fact, it is just the opposite: the weight in our processed food diet tripled between 1990 and 2010 (from 11% to 31.7%) and that led to the added sugars added will pass from 8.4% of our daily energy intake at 13%. Within our dietary concerns, the sweet fruit is not among the worst problems. Image | Evie Fjord In Xataka | “We looked at the US with condescension and now we are almost the same”: the unstoppable degradation of food in Spain

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