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the brand that became big promising not to be like the others and ended up without its own place

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I started with OnePlus back in 2018, when I decided on a OnePlus 6 which offered a very interesting technical specifications and features at a price that would be unsustainable today. Today my mother has that same phone, and the device continues to work like a charm. At that time, the company was beginning to change its strategy, since selling the idea of flagship killer It was starting to be a problem. When OnePlus He started his career back in 2014.sold the promise of offering high-end mobile phones at a price that should not exist. That promise made it one of the most beloved brands of recent Android. That same promise, broken little by little over the last decade, is also a good part of the reason why this week the company announced his definitive departure from the United States and Europetwo of its most important and also most competitive markets. Withdrawal from the United States and Europe This same Monday, the German media WinFuture published that OnePlus and its parent, Oppo, were preparing an announcement of “fundamental strategy changes” for this week. This big announcement, now officially confirmed by OnePlussuppose the withdrawal of the brand from the United States and Europe. Just like collect 9to5Google, the brand has had “years of setbacks and abandonment” that foreshadowed this outcome. The plan is that There will be no more launches of OnePlus phones, tablets or wearables in Europe or the United States; The remaining stock will be liquidated in the coming weeks and months; and devices already sold will maintain updates and technical support until the end of their life cycle. India and China are left out of the announcement, although Notebookcheck point that there the brand “will be practically irrelevant” as an independent firm, converted into an economic range within the Oppo catalog. From the impossible promise to the giant that absorbed it To understand how we got here, it is worth going back to 2014. OnePlus was born as a small, almost cult-like company, with a very simple idea: to offer high-end specifications at a price well below that of Samsung or Apple. The first model, the OnePlus Onewas sold by invitation only and arrived loaded with CyanogenModa version of Android highly valued among the most enthusiastic users. This is how the “flagship killer” label was born. that would accompany the brand for years. OnePlus One The turning point came in 2021, when OnePlus stopped operating as an independent company and became integrated into Oppowhich is part of the Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics (the same group to which Realme, Vivo or iQOO belong). Months earlier, in October 2020, Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus, had already left the company to found Nothing. Neither Pei nor OnePlus ever officially explained the reason for this departure, although Pei himself did speak later, in different interviews, that he felt that their room for radical innovation was reduced as OnePlus became an increasingly larger and more structured organization. Since then, OnePlus has been losing its own margin of decision within the group. Its prices rose, its software design became more and more similar to Oppo’s, and the differences that once made it unique began to fade. 2026 was already warning This year has been, in retrospect, the chronicle of an end foretold. In January, some first reports without clear sources They talked about a dismantling of the brand. OnePlus publicly denied it and many users breathed a sigh of relief. In March we knew about after a leak that the global withdrawal could come as soon as April. In April, OnePlus itself acknowledged that it was “evaluating its roadmap” in Europe, while cutting staff in the region, with losses concentrated in the communications, marketing and sales departments. From there, the pieces began to fit together faster. A rumor circulated a merger with Realme and that OxygenOS, OnePlus’ own operating system, would disappear to be integrated into ColorOS, Oppo’s software. Now, the disappearance of OxygenOS is already confirmedtowith all future devices moving to use the matrix system. In addition, OnePlus websites in several European countries, including Spain, France and Germany, began to redirect buyers to the Oppo store in some sections. From Lowyat.NET they add one more layer to the story. And according to the medium, the global RAM price crisis and storage would have hit a brand like OnePlus especially hard, which competes in the high-end without manufacturing its own chips or having the purchasing volume of Samsung or Apple to negotiate better conditions. Added to all this is the drop in sales as another determining factor behind the decision. A brand that stopped meaning something The launch of OnePlus 15 We especially liked it in this house, and today we continue to think that it is one of the best devices we can purchase. However, Oppo’s footprint has been growing to its maximum expression in this terminalboth in software and user experience. And Oppo has been conquering that ‘essence’ that has hooked the most diehard users to the brand for a long time. From TechStory they comment BBK Electronics has been rationalizing the number of brands it maintains for some time in markets where margins are narrow and each firm requires its own distribution, marketing and guarantee network. Maintaining several brands (Oppo, OnePlus, Realme) selling, in practice, variations of the same hardware stops making sense when only one can cover the same market. In fact, Slashdot and other media they point that brands like Redmi and iQOO, or Poco on Xiaomi’s part, could face similar decisions in the future, although it is still not clear which of them would be next. And what about the clients? For the millions of users who already have a OnePlus, the good news is that They will not be left without support from one day to the next. And in this sense, current devices will continue to receive software updates and technical support until their expected life cycle is exhausted, which in the case of the … Read more

Mass tourism has found a new vein in the most unexpected place, the favelas

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When you think of Rio de Janeiro, one of the first images that comes to mind is Christ the Redeemer, the 30-meter-high statue that stands at the top of Corcovado Hill. For some time now, however, there has been another Rio icon. much more visited by foreign tourists: Vidigal and Rocinhatwo areas of the city known for their favelas. Between them there are tens of thousands of visitors. Nothing surprising if we take into account that the favelas are increasingly present in the itinerary with which tourists arrive in Brazil. There they look for authenticity… and good selfies. Touring the favelas? Exact. The history of the Rio favelas is ancient. It usually dates back to late 19th centurywith the closing of the settlement of Providenceand since then the word has been linked to a series of ideas: substandard housing, poverty, crime. Nothing that a priori one wants to experience during an idyllic vacation in a beach destination and postcard landscapes. Over time however that has changed. As international tourism grows in Brazil More people look to Rio’s favelas in search of something difficult to find in the most ‘touristized’ places: authenticity. This has made it no longer strange to meet tours, guides and groups of foreigners in some settlements. Even new ones emerge viral trendslike climbing to the top of a rooftop in Rocinha to record a video with help from a drone. Are there figures to prove it? Yes. He Carioca Tourism Yearbook 2024a report that collects trends in the sector in the Brazilian metropolis, shows that that year there were areas known for their favelas that made it into the TOP 20 of the most visited icons in Rio de Janeiro. Not only that. They even surpassed other symbols, such as Christ the Redeemer wave Selarón Staircasetwo of the places that have spent decades starring in Rio’s tourist postcards. To be more precise, in 2024 the Municipal Tourism Secretariat registered 81,600 visitors foreigners in Vidigal and 45,600 in Rocinha. It is far from the 925,400 of Copacabana beach or 554,400 of Ipanema, but it still stands out among the busiest in the region. If we add the flow of tourists arriving from other parts of Brazil itself. That balance shoots up considerably. And in recent years? Interest in favelas does not seem to have waned. For reference, last January (high season in Rio de Janeiro) Rocinha received 41,852 visitors37% more than last year. Around those same dates Or Globeone of the most influential newspapers in Brazil, published a chronicle in which he confirmed the rise of favela tourism and the challenges that this entails. The growing ‘pull’ of the favelas can also be followed through the international press. In recent months the average reach of Associated Press (AP), D.W., Guardian either the BBC network have dedicated articles to the phenomenon, delving into the challenges, opportunities and moral dilemmas it generates. As a background, a fact that they stick out their chest the Rio authorities: in 2025 Rio received some 12.5 million of visitors, significantly above the 11.4 in 2024. Of them, 2.1 million came from other countries. They may represent a small proportion, but in just one year their influx shot up almost 45%. How do you explain your success? That there are more and more tourists who include favelas in their Rio tours is no coincidence. There are several factors that explain it. The first is that the authorities have done an effort to ‘pacify’ themsomething that dates back to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Over the years, a network of services, local businesses and guides has also been created that make the experience much more accessible for foreigners. The clearest example is the Na Favelaan app created precisely to facilitate the organization and management of activities with guides. Those responsible offer “authentic experiences” that, they say, boost the local economy. Does it generate wealth? There are testimonies that suggest this. A few months ago AP interviewed to Vitor, a local guide who works with visitors who are curious about the settlements. He previously worked as a taxi driver in Rocinha, but upon noticing that foreign visitors were increasing, he began offering tours and now basically lives off of tourists. In another interview He recognized that, after a life marked by drugs and violence, tourism offered him an opportunity. “I never imagined it. I didn’t finish school or manage to learn another language.” “If you come to Rio and only visit Copacabana Beach, the statue of Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf Mountain, you are not really visiting Rio. You are visiting a luxurious and expensive part of Rio,” claims. “The essence comes from the favelas.” He is not the only one who slips that message. In May the BBC chatted with an expert in tourism that assures that the violence in the favelas of the South Zone has subsided, something that it attributes in part to the sector. He also assures that, although the area may pose a risk to residents, the cartels do not target tourists. @thefavelaunitedtour When global icons choose authenticity 🇧🇷✨ An unforgettable day showing the real Rio to Rosalía. Culture, stories, people and soul — this is not just a tour, it’s a life experience. Book your tour and discover the real Brazil with us. #RealRio #FavelaExperience #CulturalTour ♬ Cycle Syncing Frequency – Still Haven Is it all good news? No. Although it is no longer strange to meet foreign tourists in certain areas of some favelas, the reality is that they are still not the safest destinations in Brazil. It became clear only a few weeks ago, when dozens of visitors They were trapped in a viewpoint during a police operation against drug traffickers. Months before, in April, more than 200 tourists They had also been stranded for several hours in Morro Dois Irmãos in a similar episode. An operation against drug trafficking caught them in the middle of their tour. The touristification of favelas not … Read more

Artists are starting to ask their fans not to poop at concerts, even if they lose their place

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Olivia Rodrigo has confessed that she recognizes her most devoted fans by smell. They are the ones who poop in the front rows, unable to stop looking at it even for a moment. Behind the eschatological joke there is a somewhat more controversial fact (if possible): the front row at concerts is currently so expensive that many fans are not willing to lose their place for a squeeze. The fans have greater strengths. At KISS Breakfastthe morning show on the British station KISS FM, the hosts asked Olivia Rodrigo about the most uncomfortable place she had ever had to go to the bathroom. The singer redirected the answer: has been to concerts and festivals where people wear diapers to stand in the front row, not move and do their business on siteand he noticed that closeness firsthand. “I’ve smelled it,” he said. It’s not the first. Other artists that make you want to. The first time he noticed the problem was at his concert in Hyde Park in June 2025: it is a venue that prohibits leaving and re-entering once the entrance has been scanned. There he read a fan’s poster announcing that I wore diapers to last in the front row. She is not the first artist: years before, in 2023, during Taylor Swift’s Eras Toura wave of fans was detected showing off their diapers so as not to miss a single minute of the more than three-hour repertoire. ‘Glossy’ magazine documented how content creators taught how to put them under their dresses and recommended the most discreet diaper brands. Part of the problem. The question is funny, but there is an aspect of this story that is not so funny. Rodrigo kicks off The Unraveled Tour in Hartford (Connecticut) next September, a tour of 86 dates around the world. Prices already confirmed by Ticketmaster range from $83.40 to $799.50. General court access is around $250 and VIP early entry packages to the pit will be between $540 and $554. With these amounts, it is normal that if a fan is willing to wait up to ten hours in line to get a good spot, they are also more than willing to piss themselves. The image of the hysterical fans who can’t hold their pee is replaced by a sadder one: the design of the venue penalizes going to the bathroom, and the fans have to manage as best they can. We can discuss whether there are artists who really deserve all this ordeal, but the point is that live prices are not going to go down, and as we have seen in phenomena like Bad Bunnyconcerts are the new place where you have to be. With or without diapers. They all smell. Rodrigo is not the only one who has suffered from the issue in recent weeks. At a concert by folk singer-songwriter Noah Kahan in Philadelphia on June 26, someone didn’t even put on a diaper: defecated directly next to the seats. Kahan approached him the next day at Days later, in Toronto, he had the public recite an oath: upon entering the premises you sign a social contract by which you should not do belly on the floor. The size of the artist (and the age of the audience) who goes to see Rodrigo or Taylor Swift and who goes to see Kahan is different, so perhaps the proximity in time of this eschatological drift of the concerts may be coincidental. But of course, it articulates a story about how concerts have become luxurious and very expensive prisons that restrict us from the most basic needs. Of course, it opens the door to highly expressive means of claiming for crowding and delays. Header | NRK P3 In Xataka | In 1966, a professor traveled to Cartagena to meet John Lennon. And thanks to him Spain began to learn English

I wanted to know the closest place to go see the eclipse. So I programmed an AI app to look for it

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Next August 12 I will be in Madrid, and that is a problem. And it is because Madrid will not be the optimal place to see the astronomical event of the century: the solar eclipse that that day will have millions of people watching the sky around 8:30 p.m. My idea is to go see it with my family in a location where it can be seen in its entirety for as long as possible, but I would also like not to go too far. There is tools such as those of the National Geographic Institute They tell us what the eclipse will look like in each location, but I didn’t want to know that, but rather where to go to see it taking into account distance and travel time. There may be tools that do something like this that I haven’t found, but yesterday, when thinking about the idea, I realized that I could actually try to make my own tool. AI models and platforms such as Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, or OpenCode have already shown that almost anyone can turn an idea into an app, and as you know I was already amazed by the possibilities. Why not try it? That’s just what I did. Try it. I told it yesterday on my personal blogand I also wanted to share the experience here. The first thing was to find out if something like this was feasible. There are several ways to solve that, but I tend to go with the “Deep Investigation” modes offered by current models. I wanted to try ChatGPT in its free version, which offers this possibility, and I made my proposal to him to find out if it was possible. After eight minutes going through sources on the internet, he presented me with a really complete “executive summary” in which he confirmed, among other things, that there was a good set of data sources that I could use for the application: the IGN and the National Observatory, for example, have public resources with a CC-BY license, there are astronomical APIs such as OPALE (IMCCE) either USNO/APODwhile for routes to destination it suggested OSRMa fantastic and open platform for this type of function. GLM-5.2 program like angels With that information under my power, I began development with the AI ​​platforms and models that I have been using lately. This was also a perfect opportunity to test how it behaved the GLM-5.2 model from Z.ai. I have been subscribed to the platform for a few months—I took advantage of an offer at the end of last year—and now that they have launched this model I have been testing it with small experiments. The performance seemed fantastic and certainly close to what the Claude Opus 4.8 or GPT-5.5 offer, so This was a fantastic opportunity to see how GLM-5.2 solved the problem.. What I did was create a directory on my Mac mini M4 (original name, “eclipse”), go into it and launch Claude Code preselecting the model I intended to use (claude –model glm-5.2). Once the AI ​​agent was started for scheduling, I explained my conversation with ChatGPT, copied the executive summary, and gave him some more guidelines to start planning everything. The conversation about the development of the project was long and GLM-5.2 ended up compacting it, but I asked him to show me a summary of that original plan. This was the idea. GLM-5.2 is a model that “thinks” quite a bit, and I like that it does: it makes the responses much more precise and complete in my experience, so even that first plan took a few minutes to get ready. When he presented it I thought everything was fantastic. I reviewed it, but I’m not a developer, so I simply relied on GLM-5.2 when choosing technical options for the entire project and looked more at the requirements and objectives that the plan established. I didn’t capture that part of the conversation and since I ended up “conversing” quite a bit later, Claude Code and GLM-5.2 compacted the conversation to avoid excessive token consumption. Even so, I have now asked him to show me what he had saved in that compaction, and that screenshot above shows a little what the idea for the development was. Everything seemed perfect, I insist, so I told Claude Code / GLM-5.2 to get going. And boy did he do it: spent 42 minutes creating and editing files without me having to intervene at all. When he finished (again, I didn’t take a screenshot of the terminal) he showed me a summary of what he had done, and told me how I could test the project. A few small commands in a separate terminal window to launch the web application and voila: I could now see the project in my browser. The first look left me stunned: the thing was promising. This is what I saw when I first opened the project in my browser. Some mistakes, yes, but nothing bad. I found the interface spectacular, but after a few seconds I began to detect errors. The “Distance” shown in the “Journey” part was unrealistic, and the locations chosen from Madrid were much further away than I had assumed. For some reason I had made some incorrect decisions when choosing these locations, so I started “chatting” with GLM-5.2 in Claude Code to correct everything. That process was entertaining and trivial: I told him what was wrong (“you are showing very distant destinations, a good option for example from Madrid is Lerma and you don’t show it”), and from there GLM-5.2 thought and thought to make its modifications. He presented them to me, I reviewed them and started again. After three or four attempts and another half hour of tests, things were already very clear. The recommendations from Madrid were great, and I considered several options in which I prioritized time to arrive (highway/highway) over distance, and of course, time of totality of the eclipse: the closer you get … Read more

2,000 years ago they wanted to build a temple to the goddess Minerva in Cuenca. They ended up doing it in the most unlikely place

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In a quarry one expects to basically find workers, machinery and stacked blocks. It is like this today and it was probably like this (with obvious differences) in times of the Roman Empire, when the stonemasons of Hispania dug in the mountains and caves of the peninsula in search of deposits. In a quarry exploited between the 1st and 4th centuries AD in Cuenca, archaeologists have however found Anything else: a temple of 2,000 years dedicated to Minerva. From a simple quarry to a temple. What has happened? that archaeologists have found a fascinating find in Carrascosa del Campo, in the municipality of Campos del Paraíso (Cuenca): a temple dedicated to the goddess Minerva. The discovery is interesting because of the value of the carving itself, but what makes it really special is its context. The aedicula It was not erected in the center of a city, the courtyard of a wealthy villa or on the walls of a sanctuary. The votive piece was carved into the rock of a quarry. Its creators carved it in front of the site, a place where it was surely easier to meet stonemasons than priests. What is the sanctuary like? The temple is located in a place known as Peña de la Saceda and experts estimate that it was carved between mid-2nd century and early 3rd century AD The complex is made up of pilasters, capitals, a triangular pediment and a carved entablature, which imitates a small sanctuary. Although the representation of the goddess Minerva has been greatly deteriorated over the centuries, experts have identified her traditional attributes (helmet, spear and peplum) and an owl, an icon used as a symbol of the goddess. Do we know anything else? “There is barely a glimpse of the goddess Minerva. What can be clearly seen is an owl, which is the totemic bird that represents Minera,” explains in the SER Juan Carlos Guisado di Monti, one of the archaeologists who signed the article from the magazine Mantva in which the discovery was revealed. The relief is accompanied by a brief inscription at the bottom of the aedicula, in which can be read: “Minervae dominae Ploti vs cun svo comitato”, that is to say: “To Minerva Domina, (dedicated) Plotius Vigor with his retinue.” And where did they find it? That’s the key. The temple, 0.7 m wide by 0.5 m high, was conceived as “a small facade carved directly into one of the stone fronts of the quarry.” Its authors carved the complex out of sandstone rock, and they did so in the quarry itself, not in a remote space. This is not a minor detail, since it tells us about a connection between the profane and the sacred, how a quarry, an a priori functional space focused on work, could also acquire a sacred meaning with a sanctuary dedicated to the goddess of wisdom, arts, strategy and craftsmanship. Is it something unique? “There are other temples dedicated to gods in other quarries, but in Spain until now none dedicated to Minerva had been discovered. This is the most important and surprising discovery, because it suggests that the quarry workers made their ‘votes’ to the goddess, for the work they were doing,” details in elDiario Dionisio Urbina, who has directed the excavations at the Roman site for more than a decade. Equally relevant is the brief inscription located at the bottom of the temple and which includes the formula “cum suo comitato”which suggests to archaeologists that the offering was not individual, but rather came from a group. What were the quarries? The temple was located just 15 km from Segóbrigaan important deposit that includes a theater inaugurated in the time of Emperor Vespasian, in the 1st century AD. As the authors of the study recall, the area was also known for the mines of lapis specularisa selenite gypsum stone highly appreciated in Rome for the manufacture of windows and whose exploitation generated wealth in the region. Now the temple discovered in Carrascosa del Campo reveals something else to us: the veneration of Minerva. “The rock sanctuary of Minerva constitutes a find of special value. The old quarry, transformed into a place of devotion, shows how the Roman religion was not only expressed in the large urban or peri-urban sanctuaries, but also in rural and productive enclaves where the community, the workers or their promoters sought protection and left both their veneration of the goddess and the memory of their vow inscribed in the rock,” they conclude the researchers. The discovery, yes, has come accompanied by some controversy. After the news circulated in recent days in general media, the director of the Cerro de la Muela excavation recalled that the work is still “in progress” and regretted what he considers an “unauthorized dissemination” of the results. Images | Government of Castilla-La Mancha and Wikipedia In Xataka | In 1778 Mozart attempted to teach composition to a French noblewoman. It didn’t go well at all, but thanks to her we now have unpublished works

For decades we climbed this New York skyscraper without knowing that the screws that held it in place could not hold.

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The situation was more or less like this. For two decades, hundreds of thousands of people entered and left the doors of one of the largest skyscraper in New York City. These people, many of them workers, went up and down in the elevator completely unaware of the critical failure that the building had, terrifying in architectural terms, and that no one took into account. Rarely in the history of urban planning in large cities has there been a similar situation. The story dates back to the beginning of the 20th centurywhen the Lutheran church of Saint Peter was located on land of 53rd Streetbetween Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan. By 1960, the church community was experiencing serious financial problems, which led the city council to sell the land. The negotiations were not easy and lasted years. Mainly, because the church demanded the creation of a new building separate from the apartment block in which it could continue its activities. In the end the project was given the green light. The developer accepted the conditions, and Citi Bank commissioned Hugh Stubbins & Associates to design the skyscraper. William LeMessurier was in charge of engineering. The final project consisted of a skyscraper, a church, a public space below street level and landscaping. The most important element was, of course, the skyscraper. The plan marked 46 floors that were to be distinguished from the rest of the city by the polished and anodized aluminum of the façade. In addition, between the panels there were rows of windows. It didn’t really look complicated, at least not like the roof and base of the building. The happy roof Thus, in 1977 the skyscraper was completed. By then it had grown larger, with 59 floors and a total height of 279 meters. An architectural work that dazzled at first glance on the city skyline, a colossal tower where its 45-degree inclined top stood out. The top of the roof resembles an isosceles triangle. The original plan was to build terraces and apartments, but over time the architects decided to install huge solar panels. LeMessurier, a professor and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, carried out a series of tests to verify their efficiency. It turned out that the energy converted by the installation was insufficient. Eventually, the idea of ​​a small solar plant was abandoned. However, nothing like the base on which the building stood. Some “stilts,” as LeMessurier himself described, among which the then seventh largest skyscraper on the planet seemed to float. We are referring, of course, to those four gigantic pillars (34 meters each) that are located in the center of each side (rather than in the corners) of the base. It also had a single column in the center, in this case narrower, which housed the building’s elevator banks and provided additional strength to the frames. This design made room for the church under the northwest corner of the building, and gave the giant structure a brutal effectalmost as if he were levitating. In fact, it was exceptionally “light”, of only 25,000 tons (for reference, the Empire State Building was 60,000). The famous pillars The base became an architectural icon, as it made the space in the corners empty. LeMessurier had the weight of the skyscraper distributed to the exterior skeleton. Specifically, in a grid of triangular-shaped frames hidden under the façade. Interestingly, this structure was visible from the inside. The elements were not completely welded, but only fixed with bolted joints. Apparently, the steel frame designed in this way was intended to withstand perpendicular winds. According to the engineers, other types of wind should not pose a threat. Furthermore, municipal regulations did not require other air gusts to be taken into account in the design. The truth is that the architecture hid an important mechanism on the upper floors. The Citigroup Center had one of the first tuned mass dampers (TDM). It is a 360-ton concrete sphere embedded in oil. When vibrations from the ground or wind moved the building, the mechanism would oscillate in the opposite direction to the tilt of the building. The problems begin This swing was in turn balanced by hydraulic arms that support the sphere. With this solution, the skyscraper was able to “maintain balance.” As LeMessurier explained at the time, this piece was key, since its function was to cut the sway of the building in half by converting the kinetic energy of sway into friction. Once completed, the building was praised, but also the first doubts arrived. New York is not a major hurricane state, but it does have them from time to time. What would happen if, once every 50 years, the winds blew over 100 km/h? These winds can blow from different directions. The Citigroup Center opened in 1977 under the name Citicorp Center (which changed to Citigroup Center in 1998 following the merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group). But only a year after its inauguration it became clear that it could have a very serious defect structural. A year later, LeMessurier receives the call that no architect expects in life. It was Diane Hartleyan architecture student at the prestigious Princeton University who had studied the construction of the skyscraper for her thesis. The first of the calls was to ask him several technical questions about the design. Hartley’s professor had expressed doubts to him regarding the strength of a tilted skyscraper where the supporting columns were not at the corners. Hartley did some calculations of the building’s wind load. He then compared them with LeMessurier’s calculations and discovered that the construction engineers’ figures were incorrect. The student asked to be sent exact load calculations for different types of wind. Only received data related to perpendicular winds and guarantees on the solidity of the structure. What’s more, LeMessurier told him that the professor had no idea and that everything was in order. The geometry of the building’s frame worked perfectly with the pillars in such positions, … Read more

The US had a ship with 2,000 marines ready to invade Iran. Now he has sent it right to the place where China worries the most

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An image that is still studied in military academies occurred in 1942, when during the call Battle of Midway The Americans managed to sink four Japanese aircraft carriers in just a few hours. That battle showed that, in the Pacific, moving a handful of ships to the right place could upset the strategic balance of an entire region, a lesson that continues to influence American naval planning more than eight decades later. A movement and what it reveals. For weeks there was speculation that the United States would expand its confrontation with Iran through more aggressive operations on the ground in the Persian Gulf. However, one of the most significant military moves has occurred far from the Middle East. He USS Boxeran amphibious assault ship capable of landing troops, vehicles and combat aircraft has abandoned any potential role in a ground operation against Iran and has set course to the South China Sea. On board is the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, some 2,000 troops specialized in rapid interventions and amphibious assaults. The decision suggests that Washington considers that the main strategic challenge today is not in Tehran, but in the growing rivalry with China. From the Gulf to the China Sea. When the Boxer left San Diego In March, in the midst of the crisis with Iran, many interpreted its deployment as a way to keep open the option of carrying out limited landings or capturing strategic objectives if the conflict escalated. However, after a logistics stopover in Singapore and a transit through the Andaman Sea, the ship has reappeared in the South China Sea integrated into the Indo-Pacific Command structure. It is a platform comparable in concept to the Juan Carlos I Spanish, capable of operating landing craft, amphibious vehicles, helicopters and F-35 fighters, allowing it to act as both a light aircraft carrier and a ground intervention force. What changes for Iran. The boxer exit It further reduces the chances of a US amphibious operation against Iranian targets. While the USS Tripoli continues in the region performing functions focused on air strikes and naval support, Washington seems to be betting on a strategy based on blockades, precision bombings and economic pressure, avoiding committing troops on the ground. The decision can be interpreted as a partial military de-escalation, although it also reflects a simpler reality: the United States believes it can contain Iran without deploying significant amphibious forces, while competition with China requires a constant presence and visible in Asia. The concern of Asian allies. Reuters counted that the issue was very present in the Singapore Shangri-La Dialoguewhere numerous Asian defense officials expressed doubts about whether the United States will be able to simultaneously maintain its focus on the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. Although Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth insisted in which Washington can manage both scenarios at the same time, countries such as the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand they are reinforcing their military capabilities and deepening their mutual ties to complement the American security umbrella. The goal is to build a stronger regional network in the face of growing pressure from Beijing. Japan and the new security architecture. Japan is becoming one of the pillars of that strategy. Tokyo has made more flexible historically its arms export rules and aspires to act as a connection point between the different partners in the region. The idea is that deterrence against China do not depend exclusively of the United States, but of an increasingly integrated network of countries capable of sharing equipment, training and military cooperation. This shift reflects the extent to which the perception of China’s military rise is transforming Asian security policy. The center of gravity of global competition. The arrival of the Boxer coincides with intense military activity in the Indo-Pacific. The USS George Washington aircraft carrier has started new patrols from Japan, while the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning operates in the Western Pacific under surveillance of neighboring countries. In this context, the deployment of a US amphibious force in the South China Sea has a strong symbolic and operational value. Because beyond the crisis with Iran, the Boxer’s journey summarizes an increasingly evident trend: although the Middle East continues to generate immediate conflicts, the great strategic competition that defines Washington’s priorities is being fought in Asia and, especially, in the face of the rise of China. Image | US Navy In Xataka | China has resurrected the strangest concept of the Cold War: a plane, a ship and a missile launcher in one machine In Xataka | Something is happening over the skies of Chile: the US and China are fighting their particular “cold war” in silence

Bad Bunny’s authentic party takes place in Sector T, the “stiffs” outside the Metropolitano

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600,000 tickets are a lot of tickets. They are the ones that Bad Bunny has sold out for twelve concerts in Spain. The cheapest ones are around 70 euros. The most expensive, 600. The venues are going to be full every night. And yet, hundreds of people stand on the street, spread blankets and take out refrigerators around Gate 20 of the Riyadh Air Metropolitano and listen to the concert with a clarity that rivals that inside the venue. They call themselves Sector T. The T is for “stiff.” Who are they? Bad Bunny’s second concert in Madrid On Sunday, June 1, it left in its wake, along with the inevitable celebrity counts at the Casita (which are invariably the most read news in the media that cover the concerts), an image that circulated on social networks: hundreds of people who did not get (or did not want) entry gathered spontaneously outside the stadium, specifically in the area of ​​gate 20. There the music comes with surprising clarity and you can even see part of the stands of the venue. The scene was summed up by a spectator with a phrase that accompanies many of the videos: “Sector T of stiff but happy being able to afford the 10 dates.” The expectation. Bad Bunny debuts in Madrid a residency format that he had only done before in Puerto Ricowith ten consecutive nights in the same stadium. The tour brings together more than half a million people in its ten dates at the Metropolitano, with tickets flying in a matter of hours after they went on sale. The demand was so brutal that thousands of fans were unable to attend, but the feeling has not diminished that the concert is the place in Madrid where you “have to be” right now (with permission of the Pope’s visit). That is why the T Sector phenomenon has occurred. Metropolitan FTW. The Atlético stadium was not always the first reference in terms of concert venues in Madrid. That role corresponded to the Bernabéu, whose expensive renovation was designed precisely to turn it into a continuous entertainment space, without depending on football. We already know the story: acoustic problems, complaints from neighbors, and now the developers have to take care of possible fines. Clearest consequence: the Metropolitan takes the biggest musical shows of the yearamong them Bad Bunny and his ten nights at the athletic stadium. The Metropolitano has established a contractual limitation that requires all shows to end no later than 10:59 p.m., as a measure aimed at protecting residents’ rest and bringing forward the departure of the public. The venue also states that it operates with one of the most advanced acoustic control systems in Spain, which includes real-time monitoring, limiters verified by the City Council, probes in homes in Canillejas and Las Rosas and state-of-the-art acoustic barriers. Neighborhood associations have complaintsYes, because of the chaos at the exit, with traffic jams, horns, screams and so on. Sector T, of course, is a free agent who is not subject to any of those restrictions. The future of the T Sector. Bad Bunny still has eight more dates confirmed at the Metropolitano: June 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 and 15. The makeshift sector of Gate 20 will have the opportunity to grow over the next two weeks: Sector T will grow larger as the tour progresses and images of the exterior circulate alongside those of the interior. What is not yet clear is whether the Metropolitan or the organization of the event will take any measure regarding the concentrations at the exterior entrances. For now, no one has told them to leave, so they will be there. And some will repeat. Image | NFL In Xataka | If the question is who can turn Amancio Ortega into his personal tailor, we already have an answer: Bad Bunny

Japan wanted its roads to be more than just a place of passage. And they thought of something: vending machines

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There are many, many things that catch your attention when you arrive in Japan. At first, it is difficult to understand how this country of ancient traditions and quiet Buddhist or Shinto temples that seem to be everywhere can mix with the most hilarious bustle of stores like the Don Quixote. As the days go by, little by little, one begins to assimilate what one sees and begins to focus on issues just as curious but not as striking. When you want to realize you are in the konbini in turn choosing which of the 12 types of cold coffee and the eight hot ones you want the most. Or if you dare with that lemon soda marked by some kanji as attractive as they are threatening. A few days later, you are picking up any of those soft drinks in the middle of a road, in a layby where there is nothing… Where there is nothing but a vending machine. And then you ask yourself: but what is this machine doing here? Vending machine culture And in Japan there is something as ubiquitous as shrines: vending machines. The Japanese have a passion for jidouhanbaiki either jihanki. Obviously, the most famous and used are those that sell something to drink, but there are all kinds of them and for all kinds of objects. My colleague Javier Pastor already pointed out in 2017 that there were an estimated five million vending machines distributed throughout the country. Some with objects as extravagant “like this one from used panties either it’s poop“. But in addition to selling products, these vending machines have found another function: that of promoting national and inland tourism by road. The country has been fighting rural depopulation for years and has found in vending machines a great support for travelers to opt for the car and motorcycle instead of the very crowded bullet train. The formula is as simple as it is Japanese: make the traveler comfortable. With that premise, many vending machines have been popping up on lay-bys and rest areas in the country. A tremendously simple formula for the traveler to stop and even deviates from its path. With a density of less than 40 inhabitants for each machine vending machine, this option has not only become a tool to assist the traveler, It is already a tourist attraction in itself. And that has encouraged an increase in the number of people who see here as another incentive to go out with their car or motorcycle for the weekend. When the Japanese have an obsession, it is very difficult for others to catch up to them. If we talk about motorcycling and motorsports, Japan is one of the most cultural countries. Hence, some roads have simply become a hobby. One where the customer simply pays to drive but to which some auxiliary services have been added to improve the experience. like the ubiquitous vending machines. It is not the only tool they have found to encourage this type of pure leisure travel. There are musical highways where the asphalt emits a melody as the car or motorcycle passes by, using the roughness to create scores that the traveler plays as they pass over it. Or the michi no eki, something like the latest evolution of the service area where the gas station has the obligation to have another business or to offer a local product. There are those that only sell local food but there are those that even have their own natural science museum. A perfect opportunity to collect your stamps or banknotes, other tourist attractions of these spaces. And Japan is an obsessed country for collecting and making everyone as comfortable as possible. And for that jidouhanbaiki They are perfect. Photos | Xataka In Xataka | Japan is searching for the person who built a road on the country’s largest lake. It leads nowhere

There is only one correct way to place toilet paper. A patent ended the debate in 1891

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We have been fighting all kinds of battles for centuries, and in some cases the response passed between disputes between each other. Among these debates there is one that never seems to disappear because both sides are equally clear about it. We are referring to toilet paper and correct way to hang it. If it takes us decades to achieve a significant advance of the roll, it makes sense that the controversy has endured. The funny thing is that the answer was there from the beginning. A “war” of a century and a half. The eternal dispute about how it should be hung toilet paper (with the sheet “above” or “below” the roll) has generated conflicting opinions, family debates and even heated discussions. Those who prefer the “over” method give practical and hygienic reasons: it is easier to locate the end of the paper, it reduces the risk of contact with the wall (and therefore with germs) and it is visually tidier. However, on the other side, supporters of “under” appeal to a more discreet appearance and the fact that, for example, it makes it difficult for pets or children to stay at home. unroll the entire paper. An illustrated invention. However, all this controversy seems to have found an official answer in an unexpected place: a document from more than 130 years ago. In 2015, writer Owen Williams rescued an image history of Google Patents file which showed the patent registered in 1891 by Seth Wheeler, none other than the inventor of perforated toilet paper. In it, it is clearly illustrated how the paper should be hung: above the roll (image below). The patent, registered by the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company, includes unambiguous diagrams in which the paper is unrolled from the front. Wheeler’s patent Wheeler’s reasons. The inventor not only patented the concept of perforated paper in 1871, but two decades later, he perfected the roll design, with the intention of minimizing waste and facilitating its use without the need for complicated roll holders. Your goal it was efficiencynot to fuel endless debates: “My improved roll can be used on the simplest supports”, wrote in the text of the patent. In its original conception, the paper should fall towards the front to facilitate individual tearing of the perforated sheets, thus avoiding accidental unrolling or unnecessary waste. Yes, Nokia made toilet paper before mobile phones Science to the rescue. There is more data that corroborates that the “pro-encima” are right. Science also supports this orientation for purely health reasons. According to explained doctor Christian Moroprofessor of health sciences at Bond University, hanging the paper with the sheet on top reduces the risk of users touching the back wall of the holder when reaching for the end of the roll, which can minimize that spread of bacteria. More remembered that among the potential contagion agents That can be found in bathrooms include streptococcus, staphylococcus, E. coli and common cold viruses, all capable of being transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces. Preventing hands from coming into unnecessary contact with the wall or roll holder is therefore a simple but effective measure to reduce the risk of infection in shared spaces. An invention… to review? Beyond the debate about how it should be placed, in recent years others have appeared around the invention. The New York Times explained in a column that although its invention represented at the time a technical improvement over previous methods (which included, attention, leaves, seashells, sticks with sponges or even reusable ceramics), the persistence of its use reveals less a functional effectiveness than a cultural resistance to abandoning the familiar. Here the Covid-19 pandemic appears, when toilet paper acquired an unusual prominence: not for its medical usefulness, but as a symbol of control in the face of chaos. The mass hysteria led to emptying shelves, ignoring that neither the supply was threatened nor was paper the most hygienic solution. And despite this, experts agree that it is far from being the cleanest or healthiest option. The evidence. The Times explained that researchers in infectious diseases and colorectal health agree that the exclusive use of paper does not guarantee adequate cleaning and can, in fact, cause irritation and promote the transmission of diseases. Among the pathogenic agents that can survive in poorly eliminated fecal remains are those germs and bacteria that we mentioned before and that cause urinary infections. Traces of it were even detected coronavirus at the time in human feces. According to Dr. H. Randolph Bailey, a colorectal surgeon in Houston, many anal ailments he sees in his office come from excessive cleaning or with inappropriate products, such as wet wipes with perfumes and irritating chemicals. Water as a solution. Here a parallel debate opens, surely more bitter. The reason? The most hygienic method, according to many specialists, is rinsing with water, either using bidets or similar. In Japan, for example, smart toilets with warm water jets are the normwhile in the West adoption remains marginal. The reasons are not technical or economic (today there are compact and accessible solutions), but rather cultural. The rejection of the bidet has historically been associated with prejudice of modesty, licentiousness or even ridiculous misunderstandings like the one that occurred during World War IIwhen American soldiers learned about bidets in French brothels, which made them “suspicious” objects. The anecdote of a North American tourist who he mistook it for a bathtub for babies illustrates the extent to which discomfort in the face of the unknown has slowed its adoption, even in France, where it was originally common. Or wipes. In recent times, a “plan C” has emerged against the fundamentalists from the roll or water: wet wipes. The problem is that it has been accompanied by environmental consequences. Its accumulation in sewer networks, combined with grease and waste, has led to enormous blockages (known in the world Anglo as “fatbergs“) capable of collapsing urban sanitation systems. From that perspective, instead of improving the situation, wipes have added a … Read more

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