problem

In Brazil there is a fever for babies. The problem is that they are so real that people are confusing them

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The story began as a harmless content in Tiktok, one that quickly climbed to became a national issue in Brazil. A young woman He published a video In which he pretended to take his “baby” Bento to the hospital: he prepared his backpack, lying it in the car, weighed it, gave him the bottle and cleaned his cheek. More than 16 million people saw that scene, but few realized that he was not a baby, it was A Reborn doll. Political chaos. I told this week The Guardian. While Jair Bolsonaro faces a trial for I attempt at once of state and the current president Lula is going through The worst moment of popularity of his third term, the focus of wide sectors of the Brazilian public debate It has diverted Towards an unusual phenomenon: Reborn dolls. We talk about figures Baby hyperrealistscollected and made by thousands of people (mostly women) in Brazil for decades, who have suddenly become white of viral teasingviolent threats and an unusual legislative wave. Laws against dolls. According to The New York Timescurrently there are at least 30 legislative projects presented in Brazil to prevent Reborn dolls from accessing public services such as health or education. Legislators on the right, especially in the state of Amazonas, have even taken Dolls to Parliament claiming that some women are trying to obtain public benefits with them, (although there is no evidence to support it). In a turn of the events that approaches a dystopia, one of the drivers even asked if the next step would be to castrate “Reborn dolls” in veterinarians. Stigmatization As a mockery, the official account of the city of Curitiba warned To the “Mothers Reborn” that their dolls do not give the right to use yellow seats reserved for pregnant women on buses. In contrast, the Municipal Council of Rio de Janeiro proposed to establish On September 4 as the day of the storker Reborn to honor the artists who manufacture them, although the mayor He vetoed the measure on the argument that “this is not happening.” To put things in order, or almost, According to the UOL mediait has only been documented A real case of a woman with a psychiatric disorder who tried to enter a hospital with a doll, which shows that most bills are based on viral fictions. Vinyl body kit From Tiktok to Congress. As we said at the beginning, it all started with a series of virals in networks where a collector had called “Crazy” for taking his doll to a mall. Then, another clip showed a doll being Attended in a hospitalas part of a role -playing game. Although the author of the video clarified that it was A dramatizationthe content was replicated alarmistly as if it were real. From there, social networks exploded with teasing, threats and a torrent of indignation aimed at the so -called “mams reborn.” The controversy reached a disturbing point on June 6, when a man assaulted a real baby four months on public roads by confusing it with one of these dolls. The aggressor was released on bail and the baby is out of danger, but the fact illustrates the climate of hysteria unleashed. Disguised misogyny. What at first glance seems like a lower controversy over eccentric hobbies hides a darker background: the pathologization of female entertainment. It counted at the Guardian The sociologist and political scientist Isabela Kalil, professor at the FESPSP, who warns that while adult men can collect action figures or spend hours in front of video games without raising suspicions, women who interact with hyperrealistic dolls are quickly tildos of unbalanced. The artist Larissa Vedolinknown as Emily Reborn In networks, he has received death threats daily for sharing his creations. “They write to me from anonymous accounts who are looking forward to finding me on the street with a weapon,” He recounts. Vedolin, like many other creators and collectors, defends that the Reborn are not toys, but works of art. Some may take weeks to complete and reach prices of up to 3,000 eurosdepending on the level of detail, such as the width hair implant. Social reflection. He Youtuber Chico Barneywho recorded a collector event in São Paulo for Your documentary Reborn Babies Don’t Cry, He pointed out With surprise the normality of the meeting: “It was only a group of people sharing an interest, with nothing eccentric.” But that contrast between the reality of the phenomenon and the viral narrative highlights a frequent dynamic in contemporary digital culture: the constant search for a target for collective hatred. Kalil summarized it rarely: the fury is not based on real events, but on a need for channel social anxiety through symbolic objects. “This case has served to project contempt, mockery and aggression against women who deviate minimally from conventional expectations,” affirms. Ancient practice. The Times remembered that Reborn dolls exist Since the 90s and his interest is not limited to Brazil. In the United States, Dave Stack, founder of Reborns (an online sales platform) ensures that sales have grown up constantly: 10 dolls a day five years ago between 40 and 60 currently. Prices range Between 200 and 250 dollars For vinyl models, and up to more than 4,000 for limited editions of soft silicone. Among its buyers there are mothers who They have lost childrencenters for patients with dementia, lawyers who use them in judgments, creators for film and television, and mainly people who “simply love babies.” Some clients even take them to medical consultationsThey feed them with porridge or photograph them with Santa Claus. A hysteria as radiography. In summary, the Reborn phenomenon in Brazil has become the closest thing to A mirror of collective anxiety, normalized misogyny and the excessive influence of social networks in political discourse. What is essence is a form of artistic expression or an emotional refuge has been transformed in whitewashing, legislation and polarization. The episode reveals not only the ease with which a moral panic is generated, but … Read more

There are so many people growing marijuana in their homes that Endesa has a problem. And it will solve it with ia

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In the industrial areas of many towns or cities, the constant buzzing of high pressure lamps illuminates hundreds of marijuana plants that grow to the rhythm of stolen electricity. It is a scenario that is repeated daily throughout Spain, where illegal cannabis cultivation and electric fraud They have woven a network of silent crime. Faced with this threat, Endesa has taken another step. Root cut. Endesa and the General Police Station of the National Police have signed a collaboration protocol to strengthen the fight against crimes that affect the electricity supply. From the massive electricity fraud to the theft of material, sabotages and even cyberators, as collects the press release. A more joint action. The protocol foresees, among other measures, joint training, information exchange, analytical reports, technical field advice. In addition, it contemplates the active participation of the Judicial Police in technical actions of Endesa and addresses associated crimes such as the manipulation of measuring equipment, the theft of personal data or scams to consumers by cybercriminals. A problem that does not stop growing. According to the European drug report 2025, Spain concentrate 73% Of all the seizures of marijuana in the EU, many of them in plantations Indoor connected fraudulently to the network. Only in the last year, the Endesa networks subsidiary, e-distribution, disconnected 2,214 illegal hooks related to crops, with a consumption equivalent to 70,000 homes. The data is replicated in different areas of the country. In Granada, like has detailed ABC Granada, between January and April of this year, Endesa has detected 246 illegal plantations, at the rate of two a day. In Córdoba, in the same period, 19 files have been opened, which is equivalent to one per week, According to the Córdoba Diario. In both cases, the excessive consumption – quoted to the up to 80 homes by plantation – saturates the network and causes collateral damage. The highest invoice. The impact goes far beyond the economic. These illegal connections cause constant overloads, with serious safety consequences. Last summer, 24 fires were recorded in the distribution network in Andalusia, five of them in Granada and four in Córdoba, directly linked to marijuana plantations, According to the Córdoba Diario. Technology at the service of prevention. To deal with this challenge, Endesa has opted for prevention. For years, predictive models based on artificial intelligence and Big Data have applied to detect suspicious patterns. Now, it has also begun to display smart sensors in its networks, capable of anticipating overloads before they occur. A battle without rest. Electric fraud linked to illegal marijuana culture not only challenges electricity, but also the coexistence model in many areas of the country. The answer is already underway, but the challenge – technical, police and social – has just begun. Image | Pexels Xataka | There are so many marijuana crops in Spain that they are causing problems to one of their great industries: electricity

There are people eating carrots like rabbits because they think that they will get morenos. There is only a small problem

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Summer arrives and with it, the trick of tricks to get that golden tone that leaves the mark of a good vacation. Between sunscreens, self -lane and calculated sun exposure, there is a advice that resurfaces every year as if it were a novelty, although it has been circling in beach conversations decades, Fashion magazines and now, Viral Videos of Tiktok: “Eat carrots and you will get brunette.” But is there anything true in all this? A harmless snack? Eating carrots on the beach is not something so crazy, since they are fresh and nutritious. However, the old belief that, if you feed like a rabbit, you will end with golden skin as if you had been in Menorca, every summer returns. The point is that the color differs much from what one can imagine. A rather orange tan. What is really happening is a phenomenon known as Carotenodermia. “Yes, carrots can change the color of the skin,” has affirmed for glamor Dermatologist Dr. Christian Merkel. But, he has warned: “The tone tends more to orange than to the classic brown of the solar tan.” This effect is due to beta-carotene, a pigment present in carrots, pumpkins, mangoes and other warm fruits and vegetables. When consumed in large quantities, this accumulates in the skin, especially in areas such as palms of the hands, soles of the feet, elbows or nose, causing a change of color in the skin. A false brown. And not even. Dermatologist Silvija Gottesman, Interviewed by MedPage Todayhe clarified: “It is not a true tan, since unlike the tone generated by melanin after sun exposure, what is achieved with carrot is a superficial coloration, without activation of melanocytes.” So, more than a golden tan, it is a temporary orange dye. There is a stop. Like almost everything in nutrition, the dose matters. Sarah Carolides, nutritionist of the Lanserhof Clinic, He explained for Women’s Health Mag That excessive consumption of beta -carotene can dye the tpiel, even without realizing it. He estimates that it is enough with about 12 raw medium carrots per day, or less than 300ml of daily juice for approximately one month, to begin to notice visible changes in skin color. In a documented clinical case by the University Clinical Hospital of Zaragoza, a One year girl who developed a notable yellowish coloration after consuming carrot puree daily. The pigmentation disappeared after removing the food from the diet for two months. Can you entail a danger? In general, no. Carotenodermia due to food is not harmful and is usually reversed when modifying the diet. However, attention must be paid because it can be confused with diseases such as jaundice. In addition, in people with metabolic disorders or diseases such as hypothyroidism, diabetes or anorexia nervosa, this type of pigmentation could indicate more serious imbalances. As has pointed out The doctor of Lucas Laguna for Consalud, the accumulation of carotenes is not only because of the diet, but for alterations in his metabolism and elimination. The end point. Eating carrots have benefits. They are healthy, antioxidants, rich in vitamin A and can give a slight warm tone to the skin. But no, you’re not going to tan eating as Bunny Bugs. The effect is more orange than gold, more visible in the hands than in the face, and more anecdotal than aesthetic. Image | Freepik and Pxhere Xataka | There is only something more abundant than tourists on Spanish beaches: Asian algae are becoming a huge problem

The two most important chip companies in China have a problem: the 5 Nm have been choked

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In the middle of last May Dr. Kiman expert in the manufacture of integrated circuits who has worked in Samsung and who currently investigates for TSMC in the US SMIC (Semiconductor manufacturing international corp) I was about to Start 5 nm chips production. And also that he planned to launch his first 3 Nm nodes equipped with GAA transistors (Gate-alall-around) in 2026. This company is the largest Chinese manufacturer of semiconductors, and has been working on the development of its own 5 Nm photolithography with Huawei. For these two companies to have the ability to manufacture their own 5 Nm chips is crucial, but they are having serious problems with this integration technology. Dr. Kim pointed in May that the performance by wafer that SMIC had reached in this node was less than 30%, but now there are two antagonistic means, the Canadian platform Techinsights and the Chinese newspaper SCMPthose that support the difficulties faced by Huawei and SMIC. According to Techinsights the new laptop Matebook Fold Ultimate Design Huawei incorporates a soc Kirin X90 manufactured by SMIC. Nothing striking here. What is surprising is that the chip of this ambitious team is not produced in the 5 Nm node. SMIC is manufacturing it in its second -generation 7 NM node (N+2) using an integrated circuit production technique known as Multiple patterning. This strategy in broad strokes consists in transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. China needs avant -garde lithographs, but endures thanks to mature chips The problem facing SMIC and Huawei, as we have explained in other articles, is that the Multiple patterning It has an upward impact on the cost of chips and the decrease in production capacity. These two Chinese companies have been forced to use this technique in their equipment deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP) because the prohibitions of the United States and the Netherlands prevent the Dutch company Asml from selling their machine their machines in Chinese extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE). The latter allow to produce more advanced semiconductors than UVP equipment. In Xataka The cure of some diseases "incurable" is already closer thanks to quantum computers According to Techinsightts, the new Matebook Fold Ultimate Design Matebook of Huawei incorporates a SOC Kirin X90 manufactured by SMIC In current circumstances it is reasonable to conclude that Huawei has not yet incorporated 5 Nm chips manufactured by SMIC in its most advanced equipment because the production of these integrated circuits is still very limited. This is what Techinsight and SCMP supports. And we think about it too. However, there is something important that we should not ignore. As I mentioned a few lines above, China needs avant -garde photolithographies To have the ability to make chips as advanced as those produced by South Korean companies Samsung or SK Hynix, Taiwanese TSMC or Intel or Micron Technology Americans. But, curiously, the Chinese semiconductor industry is surviving Thanks to mature chips. In fact, in 2024 it produced 12.5% ​​more than in 2023. It is not bad at all, especially if we are in mind that US sanctions and their allies prevent Chinese manufacturers of integrated circuits accessing UVE lithography equipment. And since 2024 they cannot buy more UVP lithography machines. For a good part of 2022 the production of China semiconductors suffered an important fall and did not begin to recover until the end of that same year. Of course, in 2023 this industry grew almost constantly, and in 2024, as we have just seen, the rebound was monumental, especially in the final stretch of the year. {“Videid”: “X81Felr”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “A future without mole in China the industry changes the paradigm and we explain why”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “182”} In this situation it is reasonable that we ask ourselves what kind are the integrated circuits that are producing the Chinese manufacturers. And the answer is very revealing: these are chips derived from mature integration technologiesusually of 28 nm or less advanced. After all, the semiconductors that we find mostly on electronic devices, appliances or cars, among other products, have been produced using them. More information | Techinsights | SCMP In Xataka | The US has declared the total war on Huawei: he does not want him to sell his chips for the most advanced outside of China (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news The two most important chip companies in China have a problem: the 5 Nm have been choked It was originally posted in Xataka by Juan Carlos López .

In case not finding waiters were not enough, the hospitality faces a new problem this summer: where to accommodate them

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According to a recent report Prepared by Obsbusiness School, tourism represents 15.2% of the total of the national economy and 2025 has all the signs of becoming a year of record for this sector, with an estimate of 98 million tourists, which represents an increase of 4% compared to last year. These tourists will spend about 138.5 billion euros. The data from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism They pointthat the sector will use a total of 2.99 million people. Such and as they highlight in Five daysthe main problem facing the hotel sector is not just the Personnel shortage. Is that, although they can hire workers to cover the high season in summer, these They cannot be paid The accommodation by the High price of rentals In tourist areas. Homemade. According to the last ‘Rent prices report in Spain’ Published by Idealista, the average price in Spain is 14.5 euros per square meter. That is, a 60 square meter accommodation should cost about 870 euros. However, the price increases when we approach tourist areas such as Málaga (16.3 euros/m2), Balearic Islands (19.7 euros/m2), Barcelona (23.9 euros/m2). In the case of the Balearic Islands, for example, the rent of a 60 -square -meter house would amount to 1,182 euros, a figure that can be doubled in high summer season. The high price of rentals makes it unfeasible that workers from other territories move to the main tourist destinations during the months of greater influx because, literally, The salary is gone Only in the rent. Work and accommodation. The hoteliers of the Balearic Islands were the first to alert the situation. Hotel chains Meliá, Riu, Barceló and Iberostar had planned increase your templates To meet summer demand. Due to the difficulty of finding accommodation for their new employees, chains have been forced to reserve a part of their facilities as accommodation during the summer months, offering it for free as an incentive to attract qualified talent. Hospitality entrepreneurs in the Canary Islands, meanwhile, They offered to build homes at priced price to rent to workers in the sector. However, the Ministry of Tourism estimates that only about 455,000 employees work in these large chains that have enough financial muscle to assume the cost of the accommodation of its employees. The other 2.5 million remaining employees belong to restaurants, bars and other small businesses. That leaves them with a serious problem, no longer due to lack of labor, but because rental price It makes someone from outside move during the high season to work. The only way out: adapt. It is materially impossible that the supply of local labor covers all the demand for the hospitality during the high season, so, given the impossibility of hiring more personnel, restaurants and small hospitality businesses of those those Tourism areas “Tensioning“They have chosen to adapt and reduce their care schedule depending on their staff. According The data of the Turijobs Employment Portal published by Self -employed and entrepreneurs87% of restoration businesses have had to apply these time adjustment measures to adapt to the lack of personnel. Desestationalization of tourism. One of the objectives of the tourism sector is Destationalize itTo, thus stabilize demand throughout the year allowing a more rest and economic continuity market, instead of focusing all the activity in the summer months. As they highlight in The countrypart of that goal is being achieved, and during the first three months of 2025 it has been increased by 5.7% The number of tourists, so that the tourist season is now ahead of May and ends beyond October. The de -stationalization of tourism would allow employees to settle in these destinations throughout the year, not only during the summer months, stabilizing in turn the availability of a sufficient local workforce. Long -term strategies. Given an unlikely scenario of moderation in rental prices, the most affected companies in the sector have adopted a long -term local personnel collection strategy. Thus, the dependency of personnel from other autonomies is reduced and, with it, the problem of accommodation. Portaventura World and University Rovira and Virgili signed a training agreement In 2024 for 150 employees per year. This agreement offers, in addition to a training accreditation, a job at the facilities and the Tourist Resort of Port Aventura once the training is finished. In the same line the initiative of the hotel chain THB Hotels moves that, through Your program THB College has offered accommodation and training to more than 2,000 employees since its creation in 2014, eliminating the problem of the shortage of qualified and accommodation personnel for them. In Xataka | Construction and hospitality do not hire the same pace as before. Health and education cut cod in job creation Image | Pexels (Allan González)

Technology are asking for “AI Fluency” for their vacancies. The problem is that a euro is not being invested in teaching it

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Recently, Andy Jassy, ​​CEO of Amazon told them In a statement to its employees that, in the coming years, their jobs They will change or disappear If they do not learn to use AI tools. Companies pronounced on the same line Like DuolingoZapier or Shopify. That turn towards the domain of AI tools has made A new concept Start appearing in technological employment offers: “ai fluency” or literacy in AI. The new hiring requirement with which companies ask that candidates come formed from home in the use of AI. What is literacy in AI. The literacy in artificial intelligence or “ai fluency” in its English terminology, it refers not only to the basic use of AI in the workplace (where its main value has been shown It is the translation) but the ability to integrate it into processes work to optimize them. Wade Foster, co -founder and CEO of Zapier, said in his X profile that the company had established a new standard when hiring, and 100% of its new employees should be “fluids” in AI. That meant that all his New employment offersThey were going to have a new requirement: “AI Fluency”, regardless of whether it is for a position in sales, product or development. How to define that literacy. Zapier It is not the only which has decided to add this new concept to job offers. It is enough to happen A lap By Glassdoor or other technological employment platforms to begin finding offers that already claim that literacy in AI together with requirements such as experience or mastery of programming languages. One of the most recurring questions that users made to Foster after their message was how literacy is measured in the candidate. Zapier’s manager He replied After a few days including a table with examples of the level of literacy in AI that the candidates should have based on the expectations of the position they aspired. The basis of this table is the level of complexity and integration of AI in their work that each candidate is able to demonstrate. Touch on the table to go to the original message “5 years of experience” for Juniors. At this point no one doubts that The use of AI It will be a basic requirement in most jobs in different degrees, as is the use of office tools. That leads us to the question about whether this new requirement will become another irrational demand in job offers, such as those that human resources professionals They have been denouncing for years. Ask for five years of experience for a junior job, 10 years of experience in a programming language that was invented five or being graduated from a particular university. The curiosity of employees. The key to this new ability to get a job is based on the employee know How AI models workhow to give the right commands and how to generate correction loops so that the AI ​​itself detects its mistakes. However, all this needs Advanced training that, for the moment, it is borne by employees who use AI tools on their own and learn to use it Back to companies. According to data from ‘Autumn Work Force Index of 2024’ Prepared by Slack, 76% of the employees surveyed are willing to form in the use of AI for their work. However, 48% of them They would feel uncomfortable recognizing that they currently use it. Companies do not train their employees in AI. The current reality of literacy in the AI ​​of companies collides frontally with their desires to integrate this technology into their processes. A recent report In Infojobs ensures that 1 in 3 employees uses some type of AI in their work. Of those who usually use it, only 20% say they have received some type of training to integrate it into their job, while 60% say they have not received it, nor are there plans to receive it in the next six months. He annual report Infoempleo and adecco supply and demand for employment in Spain 2024 is even more devastating with its figures: 84.71% have not facilitated any training in artificial intelligence to its employees. Realistic jobs against scarcity. According to A report From the Bank of Spain, 45.8% ensure that the shortage of qualified personnel is the main obstacle to integrate into their processes. Impose literacy criteria in unrealistic the positions for junior positions or who do not need it, can chronify that personnel scarcity and prevent the access to the labor market To the youngest. Imposing unreal requirements makes it generate A talent scarcity equally unreal, not because There are no professionals trained To develop that position, but because companies are not investing in training professionals for those vacancies and expect them to come from home and fit 100% in their vacancies. In Xataka | Of engineers to keyboard operators: AI is converting software programming into a mounting chain Image | Pexels (Cottonbro Studio)

Spain is no longer the ugly duckling of the European technological ecosystem. Now has the opposite problem

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Spain is ceasing to be the lagged technological ecosystem of Europe. The venture capital funds have invested just over 1 billion euros in 95 Spanish startups only in the first quarter of 2025. That represents an 184% increase on the sum collected in the first quarter of 2024, according to a long report published by Sifted. Why is it important. Spain is already the Fourth European country in technological financing this yearand its operations count is already close to Germany and France, with populations and income per capita notably higher. The context. This moment is not accidental, but arrives at the confluence of three factors that have created the perfect storm: The gold fever that is being AI worldwide. Government movements favorable to technology, such as generous fiscal disasters, Visas for Startups and Digital Nomads wave Sett. The appearance of the so -called ‘Mafia founders’: those that have experience in large Spanish companies such as Cabify, Glovo and Job & Talent. There is a turn here: recent rounds are larger and faster to run than before, according to Sifted in statements from sources in the sector consulted. In figures: 95 capital rounds. 910 million euros collected in what we have of a second quarter … … which is 90% more than in the second quarter of 2024. And the trend accelerates: more than half of all financing operations in Spain had at least one foreign investor. The accumulated in what we have of the year is more moderate if we attend to the figures of The referentwhich reach 1,774 million euros compared to 1910, depending on the methodology and type of operations included. In any case, the amount is higher than that of any year except 2021, 2022 and 2024. And we have not even reached the 2025 Ecuador. In the foreground. The big names are here: Between the lines. It is a change that goes beyond money: that there are Spanish founders contacting large investors is a double sign: Increase confidence in your own startups. They look for better conditions than those offered by Spanish funds. This contributes to the gap between British and Spanish equivalent rounds, to give an example, reduce. Yes, but. The background question is whether there really is a change in the trend or if we are simply seeing the consequence of large funds looking for destiny to your money. And that arrival of foreign funds also represents a dilemma for national risk capital: More legitimacy for the ecosystem. But also more competition. Spain has gone from being ignored by the great international funds that its own founders often prefer the conditions that foreign investors can offer. Spanish funds now face a competition that previously existed. The problem contrary to the one they had five years ago. In Xataka | The worst nightmare for governments is to have more pensioners than workers: in Galicia it is already happening Outstanding image | Per Lööv in Unspash

The subsoil of historical cities hides a great garbage vacuum. The problem is that you have to punch

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Tony Soprano, from the great series’The soprano‘He was dedicated to garbage management. It may seem an exaggeration designed for fiction, but as usually happens, fiction surpasses reality. Base management It is a problem for half the world (more now than China decided to stop being our landfill) and move so much money that there is mafias moving from one country to another. In the search for solutions, the definitive company came up with a Swedish company to stop seeing cubes and garbage trucks through the streets: move waste from pipes. It is something that has turned medieval cities into the technological pinnacle of garbage collection. But the day -to -day life of the neighbors is something else. Changing the approach. It all started by chance. At the end of the 1950s, the Sollefte hospital in Sweden was investigating the creation of a central aspiration system to catch dust. One of the participants in the table was OLOF H.Hallstrom, director of Centralsug, the current Waste Waste company, and the idea arose: instead of a giant vacuum For dust, a giant garbage vacuum could be created. So They tell On its website, where they point out that the system was inaugurated in the hospital in 1961 and that it continues to work with many of the original pieces installed more than 60 years ago. But of course, if it works so well in a building, why not expand the network to an entire city? That is no longer so easy. Sollefte basements with garbage collection tubes A giant vacuum. First of all, you have to see how it works. Known as’Pneumatic garbage collection‘O’ Automatic vacuum collection ‘, AVAC from now on, is a giant vacuum connected to a multitude of underground pneumatic tubes. On the surface there are a series of nozzles that are designed for organic or plastic waste (the glass could damage the system) in which the bag is deposited with the waste and, thanks to fans that generate suctions of more than 60 km/h, travel through the tubes to a collection center. Example of one of these nozzles They are classified and loaded into trucks to transport them to their final location. This system reduces the use of trucks and their corresponding pollution, as well as Cubes in the streets. The most current systems include doors that are automatically open and cards in possession of citizens to activate the system. Modernizing historical cities. And that reduction of cubes and trucks circulating is something ideal for any city, but it seems key in locations with two profiles: tourist or old helmets of medieval cities. A clear example is Bergen, a Norwegian city founded in 1070 that is the second most populated in the country and has a historic center full of colorful wooden houses. It has fired several times and the garbage itself can be a focus of fire, so by safety and improve the helmet, they decided to bet on an avac type system. It is one of the 200 cities in the world in which this system has been installed and, as we read in The Washington Postthe diesel emissions Since the garbage trucks stopped circulating along their narrow streets. Among others, Leganés, Barcelona, ​​Barakaldo, Torrent, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Stockholm, Doha or Seoul have neighborhoods in which a pneumatic collection system is used, and in new construction complexes of some cities are also betting on it. Complex. The problem is what you can imagine: the system itself is expensive, but it is also a headache. In new neighborhoods, it is as simple as to pass one more pipe in the streets where there are already other pipes, but in Historical cities Or neighborhoods already built, bet on something like avac implies lifting the streets and performing a considerable work. Bergen’s example is clear. As they point out on TWP, since they made the decision to start building the system in the historic center in 2007, they have invested about 100 million dollars. There are years to finish connecting the entire network and estimate that the cost will be 30 million dollars. Terje Strom, responsible for waste management in the city, says it is “almost impossible.” Contextualizing the figures? It is almost the entire annual budget of the Waste Department. Collection Central in Konza Technolopis, Africa Gamification and penalty. But, leaving cost aside, user experiences seem positive. It is a system that simplifies the garbage, which eliminates full cubes and the truck transit. In Spain we have containersbut in other cities they work with individual cubes that roll through the streets and share the stamp. Not everything is perfect, since although there are no trucks, they do operators who are dedicated to unblocking the mouths when someone introduces something that should not. And beyond not seeing garbage trucks, there are two incentives for citizens. One is the gamification by application That tells us how many kilos we have deposited in real time and compares with the previous month. It also tells us how average we are, since there is a limit. In Bergen, to open waste mouths, residents bring their electronic key, which allows you to register how much discard and collect a rate according to the amount of non -recycled garbage they send to the incinerator. This penalty is something that It has also been seen in South Koreawith positive results regarding the increase in recycling. Not everyone is happy. Beyond installation costs, it seems the perfect system to manage waste. However, looking at what happens in Spanish cities in which these systems have been installed, we see that not everything is so beautiful. There are more than thirty cities that use this pneumatic collection, and in some Failures are reported that cause the tubes to be full due to pipes that do not absorb well. Tubes in a kind of garbage rooms in Leganés. The main problem for users is the diameter of the mouth. Image | Xataka It is something that causes bad odors, as users of … Read more

An island wants to unite Spain and be the autonomous community number 18. The problem is that it belongs to the USA

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It We count A while ago, in front to secessionismboth in Europe and in other continents we find the face of the other currency: movements that what they are looking for is the union against separation. One of them has sounded again these days. Actually, It is not newbut it always gives speaking in the case of a territory Very particular from the United States … and want to be part of Spain. Union is strength. As we said, this Another face of the currency travels shared historical and historical narratives, from the desire of the Moldavos to return to the body of a Romania with which They share languageculture and past, even, as we will see, in the echoes of Imperial nostalgia of some Puerto Ricans who, in a gesture as unusual as revealing, imagine their future not in the 51st star of the American flag, but as an autonomous community number 18 from Spain. Examples There are moresince Tyrol del Sur has revived in the past old belongings Habsburg-Germanic when dreaming of a Reintegration in Austriawhile The “Great Albania” Ethnic-national ghosts were revived yet lit In the Balkans. He Iberismmore lyrical than political, evoked the peninsular union between Spain and Portugal, sustained more by nostalgic intellectuals than by movements with real citizen traction. In parallel, The “Great Hungary” He kept beating on the margins of Magaria nationalism, especially among the Hungarians who were out of the borders after the TRIANON TREATYand in Valonia, a small game dreams of return to France a strip of the old Napoleonic space. The same end. All these movements, although of little practical viability, reveal that identities not only fragment: sometimes too They seek to reconstituteas if the map of Europe, far from stabilizing, was still an unfinished canvas where some villages aspire to join beyond the borders they have to live. Let’s put as an example the Puerto Rico case. A historical link. Among the embers of a Empire that dissolved More than a century ago, there are still territories and movements that, by conviction or nostalgia, aspire to restore the political ties that one day united them to the Spanish crown. This is the case of Puerto Rico, an archipelago that for more than 400 years was an integral part of the Spanish empire and that, after the effects of the Spanish-American war in 1898, was ceded to the United States. Since then, the island has lived in an ambiguous legal status as Associated free state: It is not an independent nation, but neither a sovereign state within the American Federation. In that institutional limbo the MOVEMENT AWARD MEASURESa group that proposes, in a serious although controversial, that Puerto Rico returns to Spain and becomes its autonomous community number eighteen. In other words, the initiative seeks to activate historical, sentimental and legal springs to reverse the course taken more than a century ago, challenging both the structure of the Spanish State and the constitutional rigidity of the United States. Legal obstacles. Obviously it is not so simple. In fact, the legal reality is relentless against the aspirations of the movement. The United States Constitution prohibits any form of territorial secession that is not mediated by Congress, which annuls the possibility of Puerto Rico abandoning its link with Washington without a highly unlikely legal process. On the other hand, Spain lacks a mechanism in its order that contemplates the Incorporation of a territory foreign as a new autonomous community. Although activists They denounce a blackout Informative that prevents the dissemination of their message within Puerto Rico, they claim to have the 16.3% support of the population (figure not verified by independent studies). There is no game. In addition, and very important, being constituted as a cultural association and not as a political party (a limitation imposed by US legislation on entities with proposals incompatible with their federal system) cannot attend elections or develop institutional political activity. All this gives the movement a more symbolic than pragmatic, more provocative than realizable. Background questions. Be that as it may, and despite the obvious limitations, AWAY MEETING Open a peculiar window on the perception of identity in Puerto Rico. In a territory where there is no Right to vote By the president of the United States, where American citizenship is granted without full representation and where Spanish remains the maternal language of the majority, there are sectors that feel culturally closer to Hispanic Europe than to the Anglo -Saxon universe. The phenomenon, although minority, Old debates revives On decolonization, self -determination and belonging, not only from a legal perspective, but also from an emotional, historical and linguistic. Image | Pexels In Xataka | The ghost of secessionism travels Europe In Xataka | A Caribbean island causes a new exodus of millionaires: Puerto Rico

Our reservoirs have a serious structural problem. And experts have been warning us for years

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Drought has been one of the recurring themes of recent years. Both the lack of rains and their diverse consequences have more than a five years in the informative agenda. That is why the question of how much water we have left has asked Very diverse ways. There is only one problem: we are not really able to answer it. Moreover, what we know that our water reserves They are usually below what the data indicates. The reason is in something as natural as erosion and sedimentation processes, but its consequences They have been worrying the experts for years. Throughout their channel the rivers transport small particles of rock and organic matter that tend to accumulate at certain points of the route, either on the river bed, in river deltas or in its meanders. The reservoirs are another of the auspicious places in which the water tends to “release” these particles. The swamp floor Thus tends to accumulate sludge. The first problem that this generates is the loss of swamp capacity. The higher the volume of this occupied by sediments less is the amount of water it can store. The second problem is that we do not know exactly how the sediments accumulate in each swamp since it can vary depending on the characteristics of each basin and each reservoir. If we don’t know how many sediments we have, we can’t be sure how much water we have left. The weight of the terrams Estimates on the weight of the terrain, which is how this accumulation of sediments is known in the reservoirs, vary. A Batimetry Study made in 2018 For the Tajo Hydrographic Confederation in the Entrepeñas and Buendía reservoirs, he estimated that the accumulation of these sediments was insignificant. At the opposite end, Another batimetry studyis made by the Segura Hydrographic Confederation, estimated that its reservoirs could have lost between 10 and 40% of its capacity due to the incidence of this phenomenon. They highlighted the case of the Lorca reservoir, built at the end of the 19th century, which would be at the upper end of this fork. Estimates made for the whole Spanish reservoirs are limited. A study conducted from 110 reservoirs estimated that The loss of capacity could be around 5%. José Luis Casamor and Antoni Calafat, from the University of Barcelona, They warned in 2018 that uncertainty was high in this estimate, since the possibility of extrapolating the results of this study to more than a thousand remaining reservoirs was limited. This is a problem on which experts carry years warning. The study carried out in the Segura Basin, for example, was carried out in 2017, while Casamor and Calafat’s work was published in 2018 in the publication Earth and technology of the ICOG (Illustrious Official College of Geologists). In a second article (also published in 2018) in The conversationCasamor explained that that of terraces was a problem with “faces and difficult execution” solutions “. Cleaning the sediment reservoir bed is an arduous task that requires the emptying of the reservoir, something that can be even more complicated in old reservoirs, explains Casamor. Prevention is a better option for this expert. This is to incorporate knowledge about the accumulation of sediments in the infrastructure design process. Another inclusion of dikes prior to the reservoir may contain the sediments up so that they do not accumulate in the reservoir. Other proposed measures to contain the sediments upstream include reforestation. The plants contain the erosion of the soil, which makes less particles reach the rivers and from there to the reservoirs. In this sense, rural abandonment has also been indicated as partial responsible for the situation. The fires also contribute to the arrival of sediments to the channels, so the fight to contain them can also contribute their grain of sand. In Xataka | The time of truth of the Spanish reservoirs: how are they going to endure the heat after rains that has left them overflowing Image | Ray Raimundo

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