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Someone has put everything they need in a survival flash drive.

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The massive arrival of the Internet and connected devices have implemented a half-truth in our daily lives: that there will always be connectivity. And it doesn’t have to be. I discovered it the hard way on April 28, 2025, the day of the blackout: Without cash, something as common as eating out and paying with a card became an impossible mission and involuntary fasting. With information, more of the same: the usual Wikipedia or Google Maps are of little use without the Internet (in fact, download the original is always a good idea). Someone has wondered what would be left on your computer when the Internet goes down and to address that uncomfortable but legitimate question, they have launched a “survival kit” that fits on a USB flash drive. You insert it into your PC, it boots directly from there and it comes with everything. Yes, also an AI assistant. The project. shelters is an open source project created by Spanish Spanish dev Javier Prieto. What it essentially offers is a lightweight variant of Ubuntu preconfigured with a selection of tools designed to work completely offline. The heart of the project is an installation script: you prepare a USB with the base system, you connect it to the Internet once to run that script and you no longer need the Internet. Why is it important. The refugiOS proposal solves a real problem that is often overlooked: the vulnerability of depending on the Internet and its infrastructure. In the event of a serious emergency, such as my blackout, but also natural disasters or conflicts, what the servers offer will be inaccessible. And it will be the time when you need them most. Having that data physically stored without the need for external and foreign infrastructure can make a difference. Emergencies aside, the project evidently also satisfies from a privacy point of view. Everything you consult in refugiOS stays on your machine. There are no servers that record your activity, conversations or routes or share them with the AI. In a context where data and its analysis are increasingly the order of the day, having tools that work without filtering data to the outside provide value beyond being useful in the event of a possible apocalypse. And it offers one more extra: total portability. What does shelter bring?. The available content is grouped into five blocks: Offline library and encyclopedias: Wikipedia, WikiMed and WikiHow thanks to Kiwix. Maps and GPS navigation with offline search and routes using Organic Maps. Artificial intelligence. An AI assistant run locally available in three power levels depending on the RAM of your computer: from the basic Phi-4-mini for any PC with 4 GB of RAM to Qwen3-14B that requires 16GB to Qwen3-8B, which requires 8GB. Encrypted file vault (LUKS standard) to protect sensitive files. General tools like LibreOffice, VLC or Syncthing. There are three AI models depending on the hardware of your computer. GitHub Context. There are a few digital resilience projects, including Kiwix, which has been distributing Wikipedia offline to areas without internet for years; but what refugiOS is about combining several of these options into an all-in-one, ready-to-use system, which is also accessible to someone who doesn’t have too much technical knowledge. And it also comes at the best time. On the one hand, because there has been a real boom in small and efficient language models (something that a couple of years ago was unthinkable) and on the other, because of the current situation: conflicts, the flooding of AI to each and every one of the Internet sectors or the shift of the American technological monopoly of the West towards a more invasive policy. refugiOS takes advantage of that technological window and opportunity to add a layer of comprehensive utility. In detail. The project has deliberately conservative design decisions in that it ensures that the system boots and runs smoothly on basic and/or veteran computers (with 4GB of RAM), being easy to maintain and distribute. In fact, the documentation explains how to copy it to pass it on to your people. Of course, its status is still quite incipient: it is functional, but with room for improvement in the interface, documentation and language coverage. However, its roadmap is ambitious, with thousands of public domain books through Project Gutenberg or support for shortwave radio receivers. In Xataka | Batteries, radio, power bank: the six basic technologies that we recommend for your own “survival kit” in the event of a blackout In Xataka | Someone has passed 12,000 laws and reforms to source code and now searching the BOE is no longer an ordeal Cover | Immo Wegmann and Marcel Eberle

The war machine that the US destroyed, Iran has put it back on its feet

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During the Vietnam War, American pilots bombed for days a network of tunnels near Cu Chi convinced that they had completely rendered it useless. When the troops advanced on the ground, they discovered that not only was it still operational, but the combatants they had reappeared from hidden exits a few meters from their positions. The scene left a brutal lesson: destroying from the air does not always mean eliminating what is below. A start of war that changes everything. The first hours of the conflict in Iran set the tone of everything that would come later: an intensity of fire rarely seen, with hundreds of missiles and almost a thousand drones launched in just two days, forcing the defensive systems to operate at the limit from the first moment. That volume not only showed the scale of the Iranian arsenal, but also the type of war that was being waged, one in which saturation was almost as important as precision. From that starting point, the expectation was clear for all the actors: if that rhythm was sustained, the key was not going to be who hit the hardest, because that actor had a name from the beginning, but who last longer. The illusion of total destruction. Because the United States and Israel responded in the first 48 hours of war with a massive campaign of bombings that sought to disable the Iranian military infrastructure, attacking thousands of targets and sealing access to underground bases to leave the launchers trapped. For weeks, the official message It was forceful.: The missile program had been devastated and the country’s response capacity was practically nullified. However, even at that time doubts arose from within the US apparatus itself, which warned that a significant part of these systems had not been destroyed, but simply blocked or temporarily inaccessible. Iranian efforts underway at a missile base in Tabriz on April 10 The mountains as a shield and strategy. It we count at the time. The real differentiating element was not in the missiles, but in where they were stored. Iran has spent decades building a network of underground facilities in mountainous environments, many of them excavated in granitic rock capable of resisting extremely powerful attacks. These “missile cities” not only store weapons, but also integrate complete logistics systemswith tunnels, launch points and escape routes designed to minimize exposure. It is an architecture designed for survive the first blowassume damage and keep the operational core intact, in a logic that prioritizes resilience over invulnerability. A loader over debris blocking an entrance to a missile base near Khomeyn, April 10 Dig, reactivate and launch again. Satellite images now have confirmed that, as soon as a ceasefire window opened, heavy machinery went into action to remove debris and reopen accesses blocked by bombings. As? The Telegraph said Through satellite survey that dozens of excavators, trucks and engineering equipment were deployed at key points to clear sealed entrances and regain access to buried launchers. Again, what is relevant here is not just that it is being done, but the speed: in a matter of days (and even in just 48 hours in some cases) those facilities have become operational again, suggesting that much of the military capacity was not destroyed, but simply paused. Designed to resist. All of this, furthermore, fits with a very specific doctrine: assume that the enemy will have air superiority and design the system to survive it. Unlike a conventional war, where losing control of the air usually implies the progressive destruction of infrastructure, here the logic is different and focuses on protect assets critical underground, absorb the first attack and recover capacity combat as soon as possible. This approach turns conflict into a race of attrition, where each cycle of attack and reconstruction erodes both the attacker and the defender. The real problem. If you like, the direct consequence of this dynamic is that the apparent initial success of Washington (and Israel) has lost weight in the face of the recovery capacity Iranian. Because, although the attacks have been massive and technically effective, the speed with which Tehran is restoring its bases raises an uncomfortable scene for their adversaries: every pause, negotiation or ceasefire in the fighting becomes an opportunity to rearm again or, literally, dust off the bunkers In that context, the question stops being whether an infrastructure can be destroyed and becomes how many times it can function again before the other side is left behind. without resources or without political margin to continue. Image | Airbus In Xataka | If the question is where is the US nuclear aircraft carrier, the answer is uncomfortable: hidden so that it does not sink In Xataka | We sensed that Iran bombed the US military bases with help: some coordinates have revealed its name, and it is Made in China

They have put the 21 most popular AI chatbots to perform differential diagnosis. They fail more than a fair shotgun

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‘House‘It’s a series that I love. I don’t care about the intrastories in the slightest, but the process of differential diagnosis – despite all the movie stuff – drives me crazy. This ability to rule out diseases that could explain the same symptoms to arrive at the most probable diagnosis seems like witchcraft to me. Well: they have put the 21 Most Popular AI Chatbots to make that differential diagnosis and the result is clear. It fails more than a fairground shotgun. In short. He Mass General Brigham It is not an ‘anyone’. It is a non-profit network of American doctors and hospitals, including two of the most prestigious medical teaching institutions in the country. From January to December 2025, a group of researchers from the institution they put 21 AI chatbots such as Claude 4.5 Opus, DeepSeek, Gemini 3.0 Pro, GPT-5 or Grok 4 to evaluate dozens of clinical cases with the aim of establishing their level of success in an early diagnosis. The information is extremely basic, but it is also what professionals have when making this differential diagnosis and the ultimate intention is to evaluate the clinical reasoning capacity of the latest generation language models to see if they can be a clinical ally. The answer is no. While models optimized for reasoning achieved much higher scores than simpler ones like Gemini 1.5 Flash, the bottom line is that LLMs are still limited for this task. The exam. Each of the models was given 29 clinical cases that represent more than 16,200 responses in total. The result is that these newer versions of the most powerful chatbots they couldn’t produce an adequate differential diagnosis in about 80% of cases when they only had basic information about the patient. The problem is that age, sex and symptoms is very vague information, yes, but it is one that human professionals who have to make this differential diagnosis ‘play’ with for the first time. Little by little, as they do other tests and obtain more information, they refine the result, but it is that first ‘discard’ treatment that often makes the difference. “We want to help separate the hype from the reality of these tools as they are applied to healthcare” another movie. And, precisely, as the LLM They were given more data, the performance and results were more robust. When the chatbot has more and more information such as physical analysis data, laboratory results and diagnostic images, things change and AI reaches the final diagnosis in more than 90% of cases. But of course, to reach that stage they must have almost all the clinical data, which further shows the gap with impotence when performing an initial filtering. Don’t trust Google ChatGPT. The researchers are clear that “these models are very good at identifying a final diagnosis when the data is complete, but they have difficulties at the beginning of an open case,” which leads them to emphasize that they should not be trusted at home. The AI ​​industry is pushing your product in the medical circuit, but the study points out that “despite continuous improvements, commercial LLMs are not ready for clinical implementation without supervision.” They state that a human is needed in the operation and “very close supervision” to be able to scale the use of an LLM in the healthcare field. And there they are always talking about professional use, but more and more cases are seen of people who previously treated themselves by trusting Google and who Now they do it trusting what ChatGPT tells them. In the study they emphasize that “hallucinations remain” in these latest generation models, also showing concerns about the safety and integrity of patients. About El Salvador. In any case, it is evident that, in the end, Medical AI is another helper, a tooland here what has been tested is a “common” chatbot that knows everything, but is not specialized in anything. In medicine, as in other industries, the use of AI can help with tasks such as eliminating possibilities or organizing thousands of data, but a chatbot is not yet a good companion in this differential diagnosis because it simply cannot be trusted. Those who are going to have to trust AI for any type of treatment are Salvadorans. El Salvador has been a pioneer country when it comes to adopting new technologies, and the president, Nayib Bukele, has just embarked on another experiment: $500 million to leave healthcare in the hands of Gemini. The population will have access to the app Dr.SV who will work as a family doctor. As detailed in The Countrythis AI will know the symptoms and will assign calls with doctors who will make the diagnosis. The AI ​​will monitor for consultations and chronic diseases and the goal is for it to take care of cancer patients in the future. According to Bukele, they are creating the best health system in the world, something curious considering that they laid off more than 7,700 health system employees during 2025. For the sake of Salvadorans, let’s hope that This new experiment does not end like Bitcoin City. In Xataka | Privacy is dying since ChatGPT arrived. Now our obsession is for AI to know us as best as possible

projections have just put on the table the worst El Niño in 140 years

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It often feels like we are erasing the meaning of the word ‘historical’ by using it so much. And yet, here I am: about to say that seasonal prediction models show an “unprecedented” convergence in the same direction: an extremely strong El Niño before the end of 2026. If what the models say is confirmed, we could be facing the most powerful El Niño in at least 140 years. So yes, ‘historic’ is the appropriate word. But, first of all, let’s review what ENSO is. They are the acronym in English of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and they refer to a cyclical (although very irregular) climate phenomenon that has great effects on the global climate. Huge, in fact. If we exclude the stations, it is the most important source of annual climate variability from all over the planet. During the warm phase (that is, during El Niño), the absence of strong trade winds that cool the surface of the equatorial Pacific causes the temperature of that area of ​​the ocean to skyrocket. It is this, through different atmospheric teleconnectionswhich disrupts all the weather systems in the world. The effects are varied and change depending on the region (“drier conditions than normal in certain parts of the world; while in others it causes more precipitation. Some countries have to deal with major droughts and others with torrential rains”, says AEMET); but when we talk about temperatures there is no doubt: El Niño is synonymous with heat. Although, of course, that is in a normal ENSO. If we talk about the strongest ENSO event in a century and a half, everything skyrockets. The most likely conclusions tell us about a wild redistribution of heat globally, a more than likely temperature record for 2027 and a string of profound alterations in rainfall and hurricane patterns. And why do we think it will be like this? Fundamentally, because the convergence of the different models is a very strong indication. Not only is it that more than half of the probabilistic scenarios of the European model they project anomalies greater than +2.5 degrees in the equatorial Pacific, is that Zeke Hausfather (adding 433 members from 11 models) reaches the same conclusions. And what exactly is the news? Obviously, the news is not that El Niño is coming. We have already talked about that: The news is the strength (aggressiveness, even) with which it now appears in our projections. Or not even that. Because no one is very clear what an event of this type means in a climate context like the current one (it would arrive after three years above the 1.5 of the Paris Agreement). And that is a problem. “Problem”? It is also the most appropriate word. We must not forget that the super El Niño of 97-98, one of the strongest ENSOs in recent years, caused numerous consequences that lasted for years: the estimates say which caused damage to global economic growth of around 5.7 trillion dollars. If this event is greater than the one in ’97, the question is whether the improvements we have made since then are enough to contain the blow or not. The answer, I’m afraid, we will have in a few months. Image | Xataka In Xataka | “It is so extreme that it is difficult to believe”: El Niño forecasts depict an event of unprecedented intensity.

There are people obsessed with magnesium as a supplement when the best way is to put it directly into your diet

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We live in the era of biological optimization, where The strange thing without a doubt is not taking dietary supplements from the supermarket such as magnesium, collagen, calcium, various vitamins… Magnesium in particular is sold as an almost magical way of sleep betterreduce anxiety and recover muscle. But the truth is that we are forgetting the most important thing: We have all this in food. The reminder. With so many food supplements (which often do not come cheap), sometimes we forget that we have these nutrients in the supermarket in different presentations. This is something in which Doctor Federica AmatiChief Nutritionist at ZOE Science & Nutrition, has put its finger on the sore spot of the supplement industry: For the vast majority of the population, there are plenty of pills and no food. Why magnesium matters. There is an obsession with taking this mineral, and the reality is that it makes sense because its functions are critical for our body to function correctly. Its fundamental role in many metabolic reactions of the body makes it essential for human survival, since without magnesium we would literally be extinct. And it is no wonder, because beyond being used to prevent cramps, it has important functions in energy production, DNA synthesis, metabolic control such as glucose levels, and also structural function by allowing bone to develop. Given its importance, the consumer logic seems simple: “If it’s so important, the more you take, the better”. But this is where science has to put the brakes on because a large amount does not always equal better performance. The best foods. One of the positions that we can have on the table right now is that magnesium supplements (and even others) are not necessary, unless it is known that there is a deficit. All this because it has a big problem: they are isolated. The problem with supplements is that they are isolated. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) emphasizes that the food matrix It is irreplaceable. When you get magnesium from an almond or spinach, you’re not just ingesting the mineral, you’re getting fiber, phytochemicals, and other micronutrients that work together and that no pill can fully replicate. The daily doses. The official recommendations today indicate that the minimum levels of magnesium They are not unattainablesince for adult men between 400 and 420 mg per day are needed, while for women between 310 to 320 mg per day is sufficient. Low figures mean that they cannot be easily achieved with food by adjusting the shopping list without going to the pharmacy. Where can it be found. If the goal is to reach 400 mg daily, the strategy is not to look for supplemented foods, but to go back to the basics. In this case, science points because the food where we have the greatest amount of magnesium are seeds and nuts, where we find almonds, cashews and especially pumpkin and chia seeds. But in addition, it should also be noted that green leafy vegetables such as spinach or chard have chlorophyll in their composition, which also acts as a highly coveted magnesium reserve. All this without forgetting legumes and whole grains. Who needs supplements. Logically, they have a site, but it is by no means a universal recommendation for everyone who may have their requirements met with the diet. According to the ODS, there are different groups of people who may require this supplementation (under medical supervision). These are the following: Gastrointestinal disease such as celiac disease where nutrient absorption is compromised. Type 2 diabetes, since its pathophysiology causes a decrease in magnesium. Chronic alcohol consumption. Elderly people where absorption is naturally decreased. In these specific cases, the evidence indicates that supplementation can help improve parameters such as sleep quality or anxiety, but because they have an absorption problem. A previous visit to the doctor. Before starting supplementation of any type, it is best to go to your primary care doctor to verify in a blood test the nutritional deficiencies that you want to counteract. And our body does not store these minerals, meaning that anything taken in excess has no effect whatsoever. In Xataka | Magnesium, creatine, collagen: we are taking supplements above what science believes is useful In Xataka | Which dietary supplements really work and which don’t, in a great graph A version of this article was published in January 2026.

Shakira wants to put 300,000 people in a place that does not convince the Government at all

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Live Nation and Shakira have now officially presented Macondo Park, a 40-hectare temporary venue at the Iberdrola Music in Villaverde designed for close the tour ‘Women no longer cry’ with a nine-concert residency in Madrid in September. The problem: the Government delegate in Madrid has been warning for years that the space does not meet security conditions for massive events and has formally asked the City Council not to authorize them. Stadiums make money. What Shakira and Live Nation have presented is not exactly a concert: it is a temporary infrastructure designed ad hoc by the international study BIGknown for projects such as the Danish pavilion at the Shanghai Expo or the expansion of the National Museum of Qatar. According to data from the organization, the so-called Shakira Stadium will occupy four hectares within the Iberdrola Music space, with capacity for 50,000 people per night: 26,688 seats in the stands, 25,000 standing and around 3,000 in the VIP area. Macondism. Macondo Park will be deployed around the stadium, which takes its name from the fictional town created by Gabriel García Márquez in ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’: 40 hectares active for twelve hours each concert day. The cultural program, baptized ‘Es latina’, includes gastronomy, workshops, exhibitions and sales of Latin American crafts, all selected by Shakira herself. There will also be a specific area for children called Macondito, designed (according to the organization) with the participation of the artist’s children, Milan and Sasha. The goal, according to Live Nation, is to “demonstrate what it means to be Latino” and project that cultural imaginary in Europe. Minitour without moving. Some pertinent figures: nine performances in Madrid, scheduled for September 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27, to which have been added October 2, 3 and 4 due to the very high demand and how quickly the pre-sale sold out. The entire project expects more than 300,000 attendees throughout the residency. Ticket prices range between 73.50 and 181.50 euros, with VIP packages exceeding 1,000. And it will take 69 days to build the complete structure of this spectacular theme park around the artist. Problems in Villaverde. This great plan collides with a somewhat complicated background. Iberdrola Music is the same space that has hosted the Mad Cool festival for years. It was also the scene of the Harry Styles concert in 2023, where organizational failures led to monumental traffic jams and part of the audience ended up walking along the M-45. In the letter he wrote to the City CouncilGovernment delegate Francisco Martín recalls that he already warned about the venue in July 2023 on the occasion of the Reggaeton Beach Festival. According to Martín, in an institutional meeting held in 2024 it was found that there continued to be “relevant deficiencies in terms of accessibility, mobility and organization of entry and exit flows, incompatible with the celebration of large events in safe conditions.” The administrator of the Mad Cool festival even faced a request for a two-year prison sentence from the Prosecutor’s Office for violations related to noise pollution. It’s not a festival. Martín also differentiates between the festival model, where the public enters and leaves in stages for hours, and the “fan phenomenon”: a massive concert where 50,000 people try to leave the venue in a very narrow time frame. It is this second scenario that, in his opinion, Iberdrola Music is not prepared to absorb. Crossing of accusations. As it could not be otherwise, this open letter was followed by an exchange of accusations with little or nothing to do with music. Borja Carabante, Urban Planning delegate of the City Council, accused Martin of “trying to boycott, harm and harm the city.” Mayor José Luis Almeida pointed in the same direction: he described it as “extraordinary” that Shakira chose Madrid as the culmination of her tour and even hinted that up to ten dates could be held. Mariano de Paco, Minister of Culture of the Community of Madrid, defined it as “great news.” The preceding Adele. Promoter Pino Sagliocco, president of Live Nation, avoided entering the political fray. He defended that the mobility plan “is already done” and endorsed by engineers, and insisted that Iberdrola Music is “an experienced and well-conditioned space.” He compared Shakira’s plan to Adele’s precedentwho established his residence in a park in Munich, comparable in size to this Macondo. The center of the debate. There is slaps for pre-sale ticketsbut municipal authorization has not been granted, and the Government Delegation has made it clear that it will go “as far as necessary” to ensure that the venue offers guarantees. For now, there is silence from both sides of the Administration. The conclusion of all this is that the debate is not led by Shakira, but by Madrid’s real capacity to manage massive events outside the urban center, with access infrastructure that several reports consider insufficient. After 17 countries, Shakira’s tour culminates in the only place on the planet where organizing a live show means invoking a perfect storm. In Xataka | We Spaniards have stopped watching TV, going to the cinema and reading books: the only thing that interests us is going to concerts

NASA has put a Spaniard in charge of the project for its future lunar base: Carlos García-Galán from Malaga

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Dressed in a jacket, light blue shirt and gold tie, Carlos García-Galán He did not occupy another chair at the NASA conference held in Washington. Escorted by the administrator Jared Isaacman and other top-level officials, the engineer from Malaga spoke before the press in the middle of the presentation of the agency’s new lunar turn. His presence at that time placed him at the forefront of a roadmap that redefines NASA’s priorities on the Moon. The context of that scene helps understand its relevance. Hours before,Isaacman had presented a roadmap that changes the focus of the agency. It is no longer just about returning to the Moon, but about establishing a sustained presence on its surface. The proposal involves deploying in three phases the initial elements of a permanent lunar base, with stable infrastructure and a logic that is more industrial than experimental. The man from Malaga who now pilots the Moon Base program This change of course also redefines the role of those who must execute it. In this context appears García-Galán, whose official position within NASA is “executive program” at the lunar base. This is a high-level management position, responsible for coordinate and guide program development, not an operational role on the ground. His role will be to lead the project from the agency structure, not to direct a facility on the lunar surface. García-Galán, remember, is not a newcomer, but an engineer who has developed his career within NASA and has been assuming responsibilities for years to get to this point. His presence in the announcement is linked to that trajectory, which now places him in one of the great bets of the US space agency at this stage. His career within NASA helps to understand why he has come this far. Before this appointment, García-Galán, according to LinkedInheld the position of “deputy manager” of the Gateway program, until now a relevant piece in the agency’s lunar architecture. With more than 27 years of experience In manned space flights, he has worked on the design, integration and operation of complex systems, participating in programs such as the International Space Station and the Orion spacecraft. His experience at Gateway also helps explain this appointment. In that program, García-Galán was involved in integration and management tasks within an environment with multiple partners and components. The new approach towards a lunar base requires precisely this ability to order diverse pieces, from missions to infrastructure, something that fits with the profile that has been developed within the agency in recent years. The program that he will now supervise is divided into several phases with a common objective: establishing a sustained presence on the lunar surface. NASA proposes a sequence of missions that will go deploying infrastructurefrom mobility and energy systems to communications networks and habitats. The idea is to advance progressively towards a base capable of sustaining longer-term human stays. Images | NASA (1, 2, 3) In Xataka | Elon Musk knows that TSMC is overwhelmed: Terafab is his idea to completely change the global chip industry

run 20 km to churn your own butter. We have put it to the test

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Just when I thought the culture of running I could no longer invent more excuses To go out and devour kilometers, the algorithm has decided to merge training with cooking recipes. To put you in situation, I was doing scroll calmly on Instagram and suddenly I came across what I consider the last barrier to fitness: runners that make butter while they run. They have named him the churning and burning (something like “stirring and burning”) or, simply, the butter runs. Can it be real? Apparently, yes. It all started in February of this year with American content creator Libby Cope and her partner, Jacob Arnold. In the video, Cope ask a simple question: “We Googled it and, as far as we knew, there were no previous runners who had successfully made butter. So we said… ‘Okay, shall we be the first?’” In it reel She is seen pouring a carton of liquid cream and salt into an airtight bag. “You might be wondering why,” Cope says to the camera. “The real question is: why not?” Since then, the phenomenon has exploded globally. A quick look at Instagram shows us an army of runners imitating the feat on accounts like saral.fit, margot_outdoor, lib_claire, rachlzw either alexladikoff. gonzo journalism Faced with such an avalanche of content, in Xataka We couldn’t sit idly by, but we didn’t want to get dirty either. So we turn to our hero without a cape: my partner Javier Lacort. Javier, always willing to sacrifice his sports team for investigative journalism, accepted the challenge without blinking: “I’ll do it,” he said. We owe him, at the very least, an eternal breakfast. The conditions of the experiment were the following: Javier went out into the street to run 20 kilometers with an entire 500 ml brick of liquid cream on his back. The weather: clear skies, 51% humidity and a temperature of 13ºC, although with a treacherous thermal sensation of 8ºC. My partner opted for a pragmatic and very much our approach. While American pioneers recommend using airtight bags Ziploc heavy-duty, Javier simply poured the liquid cream into a regular plastic shopping bag. With a few secure snap knots, he placed it directly into the pocket of his hydration vest. The goal was to see if the force of the impact over 20 kilometers would be enough to whip cream. But, before seeing the result, what does science say? How does running turn a liquid into a spreadable solid? As detailed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the principle is pure physics: The constant churning process causes the fat globules present in the cream to collide, clump together and end up separating from the remaining liquid, known as whey. Come on, the same thing they did nomads centuries ago by galloping with milk sacks hanging from their pack animals, only now the pack animal is wearing carbon fiber slippers. Today, the runner It’s the human mixer. However, the results vary greatly. Get butter depends on several factors: the distance (most run between 5 and 10 kilometers), the intensity of the stride (the more bounce, the better) and, fundamentally, the percentage of fat in the cream used. The process and the verdict Javier completed his 20 kilometers and, after leaving his vest on a park bench with the air of having survived a true dairy odyssey, the verdict was clear. Upon opening the bag, he confessed: “It smelled wonderful, honestly.” In the images that he gave us of the process, the evolution can be clearly seen. After 20 kilometers of impact against the asphalt, the macro photos reveal that, without becoming a solid and consistent block of butter, the cream had been whipped and presented a lumpy and thick texture. Why did Javier get a thick whipped cream texture instead of a block of butter like those on TikTok, despite having run a considerable distance? The answer is in the weather. Scientific American magazine has the key: Temperature is crucial. If it is too cold, the fat molecules harden and fail to group together to form solid clumps; if it’s too hot, the mixture turns into soup. The ideal temperature is room temperature. With a thermal sensation of 8ºC, Javier had the thermometer against him. In fact, other runners who attempted the challenge on snowy days failed in the same way. Given what has been seen, for those who want to replicate it, the pioneers leave some vital advice. Libby Cope recommends running for at least an hour, using cream with 35% fat and, as a rule of thumb, always use an airtight “double bag” to prevent your back from ending up looking like a clandestine cheese factory. Other users recommend loosening the hydration vest a little so that the bag bounces more, or choosing routes with hills, stairs or uneven terrain. And the vital question: is this edible? The short answer is yes. In fact, eating it has become the official goal of the race. The challenge has generated a small post-workout ritual: open the container to check if there is butter and spread the fresh result on a piece of bread as a snack recuperator. It’s the perfect ending to the social media video. Culinary creativity has not taken long to appear. One of the runners, Irene Choi, is no longer satisfied with the basic recipe, but rather practices he habit stacking (stack habits) creating flavored butters. They add sea salt, herbs de Provence, garlic or even honey before going for a run. Choi went so far as to make a “honey butter and corn juice” that he called “an excellent use of my time.” From a more cynical (and brilliant) perspective, columnist Emma Beddington reflects on Guardian about the phenomenon: “The couple (Libby Cope and Jacob Arnold) now have more butter than they know what to do with. Do they even know how much butter costs these days? Let them sell it!” Beddington jokes that this trend fits perfectly into … Read more

the war in Iran has put it in check

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Between Galicia and Tehran there are more than 5,000 km and the situation experienced in the Iberian Peninsula bears little or no resemblance to that which crosses the Persian Gulf. However, a server here, who writes these lines from Galician lands, has found that the situation in the Middle East has turned his travel plans upside down. And he is not the only one. Throughout Europe (and beyond) thousands of people are rethinking their vacations due to instability in the Gulf, which already threatens alter the flows of international tourism in the short term. The reason is very simple: the Middle East is not only a key player in the oil market (something already crucial in itself), it is also a key player in the map of air interconnections, especially between Europe and Asia. And that affects those who plan to fly this year to Vietnam, Japan or Thailand, among other destinations. A turbulent sector. Beyond Iranian politics, the energy market or the general threat that the rise in crude oil ended up moving to the shopping cart, there is a sector that is suffering in a very special way from what is happening in the Middle East: tourism. The Gulf is not only one of the great lungs of the oil industry, it is also a crucial piece on the tourism map. Firstly, due to the growing attractiveness of destinations like Dubai, especially among expats. Second (and this is the key) because in recent decades the region has managed to establish itself as the great connecting node between Europe, Asia and Africa. How important the Gulf is to the operations of international airlines became clear in the days following the US-Israeli attack on Iran. Tehran’s response, which launched attacks on its neighbors in retaliation for the support they provide to the United States, left out of play to airports such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha or Kuwait (among others), unleashing what some analysts consider the biggest crisis aeronautics since the pandemic. Was it that serious? Yes. And so we tell you at the time. That airfields like Dubai had to close their doors for security reasons affected thousands of Western expats who suddenly found themselves without options to return to their countries. The situation reached the point that some drove for hours to try their luck in Oman. Others paid large sums to charter jets. The fact is that the expats were not the only ones harmed. The ‘shock wave’ of the war also hit Western tourists who were on vacation in Asia and overnight they found that the Middle East terminals where they had to make a stopover to return to Europe (Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi) were blocked. A young Spanish woman complained in X those days of being “stuck” in Thailand. “The flights are for 4,000 euros or there is overbooking“, he lamented. The Government ended repatriating tourists from the Middle East. And the hangover came. This was more than a week ago, but that does not mean that the waters have returned to normal in airport operations, much less in the tourism sector. To begin with, because part of the Gulf is still an untouchable area for airlines. It comes with taking a look at Flight Radar’s flight monitoring maps to see the huge gap which remains open mainly on Iran, Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Emirates advertisement. Airspace slopes. The reality as of March 17 is that the war continues to condition airline operations in the area. In your last part Regarding traffic, OPS Group confirmed on Monday that a large part of the airspace in the Middle East remains marked by conflict, either closed (Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria) or subject to more or less restricted operations, as is the case above all in Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. In fact the platform remember that the most common corridor in the Persian Gulf for flights between Europe and Asia remains greatly altered by the war, which is leading airlines to look for alternative routes, either diverting north, towards the Caucasus, or south, through Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Oman. What do the companies say? The Middle East not only stands out for its geographical position. It is also home to some of the most important airlines in the sector, such as Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad. And their grills are still far from being normalized. Just yesterday Al Jazeera informed that Qatar Airways has announced a program of limited flights to and from Doha due to the war. In fact, its operations will remain restricted at least until March 28. “Qatar Airways’ scheduled flight operations remain temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace,” explains the company. “The airline will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the full and safe reopening of Qatari airspace.” She’s not the only one. Etihad Airways too indicates on their website which, at least for now, “operates a limited program of commercial flights between Abu Dhabi and several key destinations.” It even gives the option to change reservations at no extra cost. Qatar announcement. “A reduced schedule”. Another company that has not returned to normal is Emirates. In the last hours I published an update in which it clarifies the status of its flight schedule: “Following the partial opening of the region’s airspace, Emirates operates with a reduced flight schedule.” Lufthansa has also suspended operations with Dubai, Dabi, Amman and Ebril until next week. Connections with Tel Aviv, Beirut and Tehran remain marked and in some cases will not be recovered until late April. In general, the specialized environment Condé Nast Traveler informed on Friday the 13th that there are a significant number of airlines with their operations altered in one way or another. What can we expect now? The situation in hubs like Dubai has improved since the total blockade that followed the attack on February 28, but the panorama continues not to be what it was before that date. Dubai … Read more

Getting married in Switzerland was equivalent to paying more taxes than a single person. And a referendum has put an end to the problem

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In Switzerland, marriages they are news. And not because of its rise or fall, demographic issues or new trends when celebrating them. They are for strictly tax reasons. In a historic decision the Swiss have supported majority (with 54% support) a reform that will basically put an end to what is called the “marriage penalty” in the country. In other words, saying ‘I do’ in Switzerland will no longer be (in most cases) a sentence to paying more when declaring income to the Treasury. The decision has come preceded by an intense debate, which gives a clue that the issue does not only have fiscal implications. The background is social, cultural and historical. What has happened? That after years of debate Switzerland has given the ‘green light’ to a key tax change for marriages. Couples in the country who formalize their relationship will stop paying taxes jointly, through a single tax return in which the sum of their income and assets is taken into account. From now on, each spouse will be taxed individually. Just as if he hadn’t gone through the altar. The measure has received the endorsement of 54% of voters during a referendum in which they have discussed more topicsbut it does not mean that it will be activated immediately. The idea is that it be adopted gradually, over the next five years. The cantons have margin until 2032. Is it so important? Yes. In fact in Switzerland (and other countries who have paid attention to the fiscal change) there is no talk of joint or individual taxation, but of something much more forceful: the end of the “marriage penalty”. Because? Because according to its promoters, the current Swiss tax regime punishes those marriages in which both spouses work and enjoy good salaries. In these cases, with the current system, couples are forced to bear greater burdens than they would face if they remained single. That is, the same couple can find themselves in one or another tax bracket (more or less beneficial) depending only on whether they have formalized their relationship. Why’s that? Basically because the Swiss system is a few decades old and is based on a traditional family model in which each household has a single base salary. If the family receives more income (a second payroll) they are usually taxed at a higher marginal rate. “The joint model came from a time when women’s income was considered a ‘complement’ to that of their husbands,” clarify Swiss Info. With the new system, that changes. Does it influence that much? What we have seen so far may sound abstract or too theoretical, but its scope is better understood with practical examples. In January Swiss Info carried out a simulation for different profiles of households with one or another tax system and found that the ‘photo’ changes quite a bit. The summary is very simple: new tax model It mainly benefits marriages in which both spouses earn the same or similar amounts and harms (forcing them to face a greater tax burden) those in which there is a greater imbalance of income between the members of the couple. A practical example. Let’s take the case of a couple in which both members earn the same: 100,000 francs. With the joint model that has been operating in Switzerland for years, its tax burden would be about 6,700 francs. With the new individual taxation system it would drop to 2,700. Things change in couples in which there is only one salary. In these cases (with the same level of income) individual taxation will mean an increase of 32% compared to joint taxation. What is the change looking for? Its promoters assure that the new model will solve a problem that has been dragging down the Swiss economy for some time: a tax system that discourages paid work for those people who provide a second income to their homes. When changing the legal framework, remember Financial Timesthe Swiss government hopes to increase the nation’s workforce by about 60,000 people and increase the national GDP by about 1%. Advocates of the change hope it will help women gain strength in the Swiss labor market. It is estimated that only 60% of Swiss women work full time, a percentage lower than the OECD average, which is around 78%. The “marriage penalty” has also led to some curious practicessuch as couples who marry without legally registering their union or even marriages that they divorce before retiring for tax reasons. Are they all advantages? Not at all. At least that is what the sectors most critical of the measure maintain, warning of several negative effects. The main one, that the new system will result in more bureaucracyincreasing the workload (and costs) of the administration. There are cantons that also fear that the change of model will affect their coffers, punishing them with a loss of income. Beyond the practical issues there is another ideological one: part of the critical sector warns that individual supervision will generate inequalities that will harm traditional families above all. According to the Government, the new framework will more or less half of the taxpayers see their tax burden reduced. 36% would not notice changes and only the remaining 14% will have to pay more taxes. Images | Leonardo Miranda (Unsplash), Ronnie Schmutz (Unsplash) and Leo_Visions (Unsplash) In Xataka | 40,000 euros to say “yes, I want”: weddings in Spain have become events and their price is skyrocketing

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