priority

The obsession with Mars disappears and the priority is now a “self-sustaining city” on the Moon

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For nearly two decades, SpaceX’s mantra has been unequivocal: colonize Mars. The red planet was not just a destination, it was the reason for being of the company and one of the clearest objectives in Elon Musk’s mind. But this has completely changed, since Musk himself has confirmed what had been rumored among investors: priorities have changed to focus on something simpler. A new city. SpaceX has put the handbrake on immediate Martian colonization to focus all its efforts on a closer and more pragmatic objective: building a “self-sustaining city” on the Moon in less than 10 years. And the reason is not just economic, it is a question of pure and simple orbital physics. The window problem. The change of focus, as explained by Elon Musk himselfresponds to the need for quick results. In the case of aerospace engineering, the speed of development depends on how many times you can test, fail, and test again. And this is where Mars is a real logistical nightmare. As detailed, to travel to Mars efficiently you have to wait for the orbital alignment of the planets to occur, which happens once every 26 months. Something to which we must add a trip of approximately six months, so it is not easy to have missions in a row, but rather they would have to be spaced almost three years apart. The windows of the Moon. While Mars needs a large amount of time to deliver results, the Moon is much easier, since Elon Musk himself recognizes that the launch window is constant. Specifically, every 10 days approximately A new mission can be launched that has a travel time of just a few days. Musk summarizes it with industrial logic: the Moon allows us to iterate much faster. If the goal is to secure the future of civilization with a colony outside Earth, the lunar path is the fast track. A lunar city. The goal is not to put a flag back on the lunar surface, but to establish a city that is capable of growing on its own autonomously. According to ABC Newsthe plan involves prioritizing lunar missions with a possible first unmanned lunar landing around 2027, with a view to having that permanent presence in less than a decade. This finally aligns Musk’s personal interests with government contracts. Let’s not forget that SpaceX has a multi-million dollar contract with NASA to the Artemis programwhere the Starship HLS will be the vehicle in charge of lowering the astronauts to the lunar surface. By making the Moon SpaceX’s “civilization” priority, Musk ensures that the development of its giant rocket serves both its customers (NASA) and its new private roadmap. Among investors. Like any good company of this type, behind it is a large number of people who must be accountable and, above all, offer immediate benefits. In this case, SpaceX formally notified its investors last Friday about this change of course: unmanned missions to Mars, initially planned for the end of 2026, are postponed indefinitely. For Wall Street and the big funds, this turnaround is music to their ears for two key reasons. The first of them is that the Moon offers a modelable revenue narrative and deadlines that depend on signed contracts, as is the case with Artemis and NASA. The second is that investors need security so that they continue investing money in the company. In this case, this change of course protects the company’s astronomical valuationwhich seeks to consolidate itself in the billion-dollar club after the boost of xAIeliminating the immediate risk of a failed mission to Mars. What about Mars? This decision does not mean goodbye to the original dream of the company and of Musk himself, but rather it is a reality check. For now, Musk maintains the goal of trying to build a city on Mars within 5 to 7 years, but the narrative has changed: Mars is no longer the first critical step, but the second. In this way, the Moon will serve as a testing ground, a spaceport and, above all, as the place where humanity will learn to live outside of Earth without having to wait two years for supplies if something goes wrong. Images | SpaceX In Xataka | SpaceX is known for its rockets. What is less known is its growing and striking fleet of aircraft

They charged him for “leg room” and “priority seating”

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Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, went to dinner at a restaurant in Ireland and ended up receiving a karma master lesson. The restaurant owners had added a surcharge to their bill. things so common like sitting in a chair or having leg room under the table. Checkmate. A quiet dinner…until the bill arrived. As and how I collected the british The Independentthe CEO of Ryanair went out to dinner on a random Friday at a restaurant in Navan, a city in County Meath, Ireland. Dinner at the Luvida restaurant went smoothly while the millionaire executive I tasted some breaded prawns, mushroom toast and sea bass, everything washed down with a good wine. Once the tasting of the dishes was finished and he was satisfied with the course of the dinner, the manager asked for the bill without knowing what they had in store for him from the other side of the counter. The bill: 104.45 euros with many “extras”. When he received the bill, O’Leary found some concepts that caught his attention. The dishes and drinks they had consumed amounted to a subtotal of 104.45 euros. However, to this amount were added some additional charges which added 37.85 euros more to the amount of the account. The restaurant shared the bill for O’Leary’s drinks that night in your profile from Facebook. As can be read on the ticket, the breakdown of those 37.85 euros was made up of 7.95 euros for a supposed “extra leg room” at your table, or 9.95 euros for a “priority seat.” In addition, there was an additional charge of 19.95 euros for a “quiet area reservation.” To make things even more interesting, in the corner of the note you can read the indication “Terminal 1”, reinforcing the parallelism with an airport experience like the one that Ryanair provides to its users. The total bill: 142.30 euros that the manager had to pay after dinner. An Irish “trolling” with a British backlash. Obviously, these are not common concepts in a restaurant since it is assumed that sitting in a moderately comfortable chair while dining is part of the service. However, and displaying sharp British irony, the restaurant staff put O’Leary in the mirror for the way his company treats its customers. In fact, the airline has already been sanctioned on several occasions for its policy of charging an additional fee for hand luggageto which is added the collection of other charges and penalties such as the selection of seats and even make the boarding at the last minute. O’Leary took it with humor. According to what they say local mediathe manager took the joke from the restaurant service with great humor. Which has not transcended It is whether O’Leary finally paid the surcharges or they remained in the final bill as happens with the surcharges of the users of the airline he runs. What the millionaire did do is pose with a friendly attitude with the restaurant staff, who appreciated the visit and the executive’s good nature. “Thank you to Michael O’Leary for choosing to dine with us tonight. It was a pleasure having you. I hope you don’t mind if we add some additional charges to your bill for extra legroom, priority cabin seating and quiet area reservation,” the restaurant published on its profile on social networks. In Xataka | Now we know why Ryanair charges its passengers for everything: it is the key to having a profit of 2,540 million euros Image | Wikimedia Commons (Polish presidency of the Council of the EU 2025), Luvida

Bathing in Rome was not a priority. Until the elites of the empire discovered the luxury of the Termas de Trajan

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At present, daily hygiene is (or it should beat least) something we assume with total normality. But in the times of the Republic of Rome, the bathroom was not considered as A priority. The Personal hygiene It consisted of little more than washing your arms once a day and the rest of the body every nine or ten days. At the end of the 1st century, a new trend inspired by classical Greece was gaining importance among the privileged classes of Rome, which began to build spaces dedicated to the pleasures of the bathroom in its lavish villas. The ones were born Balnea that worshiped to the Salutem per Aquam or health through water. Submerging in water bathtubs at different temperature went from being a mere practical requirement to wash, something more playful that fit as a glove with the enjoyment of the patricians and other wealthy class. The challenge: get the greatest and most luxurious hot springs of the empire Marco Vipsanio Agrippa was the first ruler of Rome to which it occurred to build a huge Balneum in the Mars field as a meeting and entertainment place for the citizens of Rome. However, unlike Balneumwhich were deprived, these public water baths will receive the name of Themaereaching Our days like Termas. Agrippa, without knowing it, had started a career with its predecessors in which each new ruler wanted to leave their mark with some larger, more luxurious and most ostentatious hot springs than those of his predecessor. Trajan, as a good Sevillianhe knew the benefits of a good bath to cool off the heats and relax at the end of the day, so he entered the rag in the competition by building an authentic architectural and technological wonder of the ancient world. Ruins of the Termas de Trajan If we could Travel in time to ancient Romewe would meet the sumptuous Trajan Termas. Considered as An architectural wonder delivered to the luxury and well -being of those who visited it. These places offered numerous attractions for the entertainment and health of citizens: saunas, bath pools, Palestras, libraries, porches and gardens decorated with everything luxury of detail. However, although in most cases the cost of the entrance was available to the majority of citizens of Rome, only the wealthiest and powerful could pay all the pleasures and luxury offered by these facilities. The hot springs were inaugurated in the Oppio hill in 109 AD covering the void of public bathrooms left by the fire of the Domus Aureaof Emperor Nero. The Trajan Termas They were a real display of architectural innovation that Integrated the latest in Roman air conditioning technology and opulence in the decorations and mosaics. Mosaic with sandals in hot springs. “Salvom Lavisse”, a bath is good for you In the structure of its construction it was innovated with the development of lighter materials to achieve a equally resistant concretebut much lighter and permissive with heat based on volcanic rock either Tufo Giallo. The wooden structures, which served as fuel for the previous hot springs, were replaced by slender advocated ceilings and large interior spaces. The whole occupied the triple of the surface that its predecessor with some 111,000 square meters of luxury dedicated to body cult. The water supply was guaranteed by a complex aqueduct that brought the water from different sources of the Bracciano lake located 40 km from Rome, and was stored in huge deposits near the theater enclosure with a capacity of eight million liters of water. Trajan thermal complex plant Enjoy a bath in that sumptuous temple dedicated to hygiene and health was A luxurious and relaxing experience. The thermal complex was designed with an impressive architecture and offered a wide range of services and comforts to enjoy. The operation Upon entering, he passed by the NATATIO A large pool with which the first visual contact with the water was had, but that was visited until the end. Before, it should be passed through the APODYTERIA or common dressing rooms. From that point, the visitor passed to the Palestra Fully naked or smeared in essential oils to worship the body exercising the muscles or participating in ball games. Moment that many used to achieve political favors or influences between high society. Columns on which the ground rested. Eustolian house. Cyprus Then, the Thermal circuit It continued through heated rooms with an elaborate system in which the exposure of the sun’s rays was combined through large double windows, and a system of “radiant soil” raised on a series of columns that was heated by the circulation of hot air under the ground, the walls and the vaults. The wealthiest could enjoy massage services with scented oils and ointments and even body hair removal executed by slaves Hot water pools (Caldolarium) and temperate (Tepidarium) were conditioned using the same underground boilers with which the air that acclimatized the entire enclosure was heated. These boilers warmed a large bronze container with inverted turtle shell that came into contact with the base of the bathtub Caldolarium and circulated hot water by convection until The whole pool had the same temperature. Maximum resources optimization, with the same fire air and water heated. The thermal circuit ended with a bathroom in the four cold water pools of the huge central basilica of the Termas de Trajan. In them you could share the bathroom, the conversation (or what arises) with the rest of the hot springs, it was already allowed entry of both men and women. The route ended in the NATATIO who welcomed the visitor. This was one outdoor pool With an approximate depth of one meter, with which the visitor left his luxury and well -being reverie to return to his routine, which Rome did not do in one day. Unfortunately, fate wanted all this wonder of ancient Rome to succumb under a fire. An even greater project emerged from its ashes: the hot springs of Emperor Caracalla … but that is another story. In Xataka … Read more

In South Korea, parents are buying their children actions of Tesla instead of toys. Child capital is priority

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In January there was one of the most anticipated news in time in South Korea. A small ray of hope after years of demographic debacle when seeing how the nation saw a Increase figure thus breaking a streak of almost ten years. Then we knew ideas that sought to further enhance that birth rate, such as the offer of “Premium” meat To the new moms. Now we also know that kids are receiving gifts from their parents. But they are not toys, they are actions. From stuffed to the portfolio. In South Korea, traditional children’s gifts (dolls, consoles or games) are being replaced For stock stock actionsan increasingly popular trend between parents seeking to plant the seeds of financial education from childhood. What was previously exclusive to expert adults, today, According to local mediait makes its way between minors who, with the consent of its parents, already total more than 1.2 million investment accounts in the country. Explained the Korean Times Cases like Lee’s, a 45 -year -old office worker who has given her son on her birthday and on Children’s Day, embodying this new philosophy for seven years: build an early heritage and transmit economic knowledge through the example. Although the child still prefers the letters of Pokémon that his mother gives him, the father’s intention is not immediate, but in the long term: familiarize him with concepts such as dividends, shareholding property and compound growth, even if for now he does not fully understand them (or nothing). Fiscal instruments and benefits. This kind of dystopia has much more, since the favorite instruments of this generation of children’s investors are the High Dividend ETFfunds that replicate indices such as S&P 500, and actions known as those of Samsung Electronics, Tesla, Nvidia or Apple. Because the strategy not only responds to an educational eagerness, but also to tax advantages: Parents can transfer up to 20 million WON (about 14,000 euros) Free from child taxes every decade, which converts these gifts into efficient patrimonial transmission vehicles. According to an example cited in the middle by a father, an initial investment of 20 million WON with an annual yield of 7% can be transformed into 70 million after 20 yearswithout paying a single won. This forecast is aligned with an increasingly entrenched vision that the economic future begins to build not in adulthood, but in the first years of life. Adolescence and stock market. Apparently, the trend has begun to permeate even among children and adolescents themselves, particularly in the strip from 17 to 19 years. In a recent survey Made by Samsung Securities43% of young people claimed to have an investment account In his name, and 58% declared that they planned to invest in shares soon. This youthful interest contrasts with the traditional lack of financial culture among the youngest in other countries, and reveals a society that, through parental practice and accompaniment, is Refforting your relationship With money from the bases. According to Hwang Seiionresearcher of Korea Capital Market Institutethis phenomenon has low risk due to the small initial amounts and adult guidelines, but it can have a high impact on the literacy long -term financial. Seducing childhood. The last of the legs to be treated. Faced with this hatching of investors Precocosstockbrokers are deploying directed campaigns directly to children and adolescent public. Within the framework of Children’s Day, signatures like Mira Asset Securities, Samsung Securities and Kiwoom Securities offered economic rewardsgift cards and reduced commissions for minors that open their first online accounts. Kiwoomwhich concentrates more than half a million of these children’s accounts, has even launched a Educational Channel On YouTube to teach basic finances in a didactic way. An entire ecosystem that points to a strategic objective: to capture the investor from its earliest stage to consolidate a long -term relationship with the market. Transcending money. The KT told That, in the background, and beyond the accumulation of wealth, this movement represents a sociocultural transformation: money ceases to be a taboo issue between parents and children and becomes part of the dialogue daily. In a dystopia that few were able to advance, tell a small child who is Tesla’s shareholder or who has a fraction of the S&P 500 not only introduces it to the language of capital, but, apparently, offers a new way of understanding his place in the economic world. If you want also, in a historically oriented society to savings and educational effortSouth Korea seems to be finding new ways to translate those values ​​into the 21st century. What was once an envelope with tickets today can be a business fraction, and what was once an ephemeral toy, now it becomes a tool financial training. Childhood, losing along the way part of its playful character, is thus linked to a broader notion of forecast. Because how these hint Parents “Visionaries”It is never too soon to learn to invest in the future. Image | Pexels In Xataka | The last idea of ​​South Korea to lift birth: Free flesh to the new moms South Korea | Seoul is so desperate to activate his birth rate that he has had an idea: give € 700 to those who marry

The Max Airpods have become the example of Apple’s contradictions. Consistency is no longer a priority

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Apple has just announced that Airpods Max with USB-C port They will receive a software update in April that will allow them to reproduce audio without loss (Lossless) and ultra-low latency. The trap: this characteristic, highly anticipated from The arrival of Lossless A Apple Music in 2021will only work when they are connected with cable. That is, wireless headphones of 579 euros (originally costing 629) will need to be physically tied to a device to offer the highest sound quality. One part is technically understandable, but the other part is paradoxical. Irony. The Max Airpods were born promising “high fidelity sound” In 2020, but when Apple launched the audio without loss in Apple Music just five months later, these premium headphones were able to reproduce it. Not even by cable, because the decision to introduce lightning instead of USB-C or a 3.5 mm jack prevented it. Four years and a port change later, finally this capacity comes, but with a giant asterisk that changes the nature of the product: you must give up wireless freedom, precisely the main characteristic for which customers are willing to pay that price. Between the lines. This movement says a lot about the current Apple. The company that was once characterized by its obsession with details and coherence is now allowed to fragment in divisions with disconnected priorities. The USB-C port allows a completely digital transfer, eliminating the technical problem of lightning. But this solution, although technically correct, is late and fragmented. Why not include this capacity from the release of the USB-C version? Why announce it now, months later? Apple has even created its own wireless protocol for loss without loss With the pro. Why not expand it to iPhone and Mac? The answer has more to do with product calendars and allocation of resources than with purely technological limitations. The background. Apple’s decisions about high quality audio reflect a commercial strategy rather than an absolute commitment to excellence. Audio without loss in Apple Music was mainly a competitive response to rival services, not a crusade for audio quality. If it were the second, it would have planned from the beginning a real solution for its premium devices, instead of adding patches over the years. Meanwhile, ecosystem fragmentation grows: The AirPods Pro 2 They offer lossless audio, but only with Vision Pro. The Max Airpods will now, but only with cable and only the USB-C version. The consistency of the experience, the “It Just Works“That defined Apple for years, fades. Perhaps it is a consequence of the Growth of its catalog, which has gone from minimalism to calculated maximalism. Sometimes, perhaps, inconsistent maximalism. And now what. Apple is subtly repositioning the Max Airpods with this ad. In his press release They highlight “significant improvements for composers, producers and mixers”, with focus on Workflows of Logic Pro. This new approach to audio professionals lets us intuit a strategic change: The Premium consumer segment has not responded as expected. They need to differentiate themselves from competitors that offer similar characteristics at a lower price. They look for a niche where the high price is more justifiable. The big question. Is this fragmentation simply the inevitable cost of the growth of the company and the catalog, or does it reflect a deeper problem? The Apple of Steve Jobs made fewer products but each told a clear story and occupied a specific place in a perfectly integrated ecosystem. The Apple of Tim Cook has multiplied its catalog of products and services, but at the expense of a certain coherence. The result: users who need to investigate what generation of which product is compatible with what functionality –The iPad and Apple Pencil is the icing-. A scenario that contradicts the promise of simplicity that defined Apple. Turning point. Apple is increasingly adopting a philosophy of “good enough now, better after.” The products are launched with incomplete characteristics that are then added by updates. This approach can work well for software, but it is frustrating when it affects premium hardware that users do not usually replace. For current Airpods Max owners with USB-C, this update is a late but welcome improvement. For those who have the Lightning version (for sale until seven months ago) is another reminder that Apple can leave relatively recent products behind without too many objections. And for potential buyers, it is a signal to wait for a future version with better wireless capabilities. The ironic thing is that, after eliminating the 3.5mm jack from the iPhone, arguing that the future was wireless, Apple now reminds us that for the best audio quality we need … return to the cables. Specifically to one of forty -five euros. The circle closes, but not precisely in the most elegant way. In Xataka | Apple Intelligence is a “fire” for Apple. The firefighter chosen to turn it off is the chief of the vision pro Outstanding image | Ravi Palwe in Unspash

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