Imagine you are offered $26 million to convert your farm into a data center. And then imagine that you reject them

The market price of agricultural land in Mason County, Kentucky, USA, is around $6,000 per acre. Last year, an unnamed company — the suspect is one of the AI ​​majors — offered Ida Huddleston and her family about 10 times that amount for half of their 1,200 acres. They tempted her with 26 million dollars to build a data center there but Huddleston, 82, rejected the offer without thinking. Farmers of yesteryear. Delsia Bare, daughter of the owner, counted on a local television station as for them “26 million means nothing. Although the phrase is blunt, it is likely that more than indifference to money it reflects a different scale of values. The land matters. Bare explained how his family has farmed that land for generations, paid taxes on it, and kept it productive even during the Great Depression. “We even grew wheat during the Depression and kept bread production lines running in the US when people didn’t have access to other foods.” For the family, the sale would be a break with those values. Obsession with data centers. The Huddlestons’ story is not an isolated case, and Bare herself claimed to be one of dozens of homeowners in the area who had received similar offers from the same anonymous buyer. We all know that large AI companies have been seeking for months to expand the presence of data centers throughout the US, and several of them have announced astronomical investments to achieve that future computing capacity. cheap land. Rural areas are perfect because they are far from urban centers but still have access to resources such as water for their cooling systems and electrical networks with sufficient capacity. In Kentucky the price of agricultural land is relatively low compared to other areas, and that availability of water and energy is a very attractive combination for companies that want to create new data centers. From stupid farmers, nothing. Huddleston, 82, explained that turning down the offer is surprising: “They call us stupid farmers, but we’re not. We know when our food is disappearing, when our land is disappearing.” The owner is clear that the conversion of agricultural land into the basis for digital infrastructure will have consequences on water, food production and the economy of rural communities itself that for decades have been very outside of these technological cycles. Lies. Those who wanted to buy his land claimed that the project would bring jobs and economic growth to the area, but Huddleston has a very different opinion. “I say they are liars, and the truth is not in them. That’s what I say. It’s a scam.” Gone with the wind. His daughter compared this symbiosis with his land to that reflected in the mythical film ‘Gone with the wind‘ and what her protagonist in the film, Scarlett O’Hara, experienced: “She was very attached to that land. Her spirit would never die. The same thing happens to me. As long as I am on this land, as long as it feeds me, as long as it takes care of me, there is nothing that can destroy me if I have this land.” But. Despite the Huddlestons’ refusal, the project has moved forward. Other neighbors in the area have agreed to sell, and the AI ​​company has adapted its plans to use those plots. It is therefore likely that the Huddleston family farm will end up being very close to that future data center if it is finally built, but one thing is certain: for now they are holding out. Image | Xataka with Freepik In Xataka | OpenAI has signed countless billion-dollar agreements with other companies. We are discovering that they are made of paper

Gasoline prices are rising so much that a new subsidy is in the air. And her employers already reject her

The sum of all numbers in a data set divided by the count of those numbers. This is how the arithmetic mean is defined, probably the most used statistical value. A first approximation to a story but it is by no means definitive. And the average tells us a small part of what happens. How is it turning out with the price of gasoline. Has gasoline gone up? The data They say yes but they are disparate. According to the portal dieselgasolina.com which monitors the price of Spanish gas stations, 95 gasoline has increased by two cents since yesterday and today it is purchased for 1.58 euros per liter. Diesel equals it in price and in this case it has increased by four cents. But the drivers’ feelings are very different.. Just a quick review of this map of eldiario.es in which the increase in the price of each service station is recorded. It clearly reflects that prices have risen where there is more population or in large mobility corridors, such as the most frequented highways. It is easy to find increases in gasoline to 1.70 euros/liter and diesel to even 1.80 euros per liter. With variations in the last week of more than 10%. That is, increases of more than 10 cents/liter in the last week. The average growth, therefore, is marked by other gas stations that have not changed their prices due to less frequent renewals. Click on the image to go to the original map. Source: eldiario.es The noise of the subsidy The rise in gasoline prices and, above all, diesel, which continues to be the vast majority in the Spanish vehicle fleet, has caused talk again about the application of a purchase subsidy by the Government. In March 2022, after a transport strikethe Government agreed subsidize the sale of gasoline and diesel to the final consumer with 20 cents/liter. Of those 20 cents, 15 were paid by the State and the remaining five cents were paid by the gas stations. Then, the price of both fuels was around 1.80 euros/liter and recovered them again despite the State’s efforts. That is to say, the subsidy somewhat alleviated the purchase of fuel but It certainly didn’t help curb prices.. Yet, In Portugal the aid reached 40 cents/liter and in Poland reduced VAT as a means to reduce the price. The situation does not invite optimism. Carriers are already beginning to complain the Government to implement an aid package to alleviate a situation that everything indicates will become even more complicated. Nacho Rabadán, general director of the Spanish Confederation of Service Station Employers (CEEES), described COPE the situation as “a black week for service stations”, ensuring that businessmen are eating part of the increase in costs from the rise in oil. However, CEEES has already informed the Government that they do not count on them if a new subsidy has to be applied to the purchase of fuel. They collect in The Independent that the association has sent a letter to the Executive and they rescue Rabadán’s words in which he assures that “in 2022, the payment of the bonuses had to be advanced by the service stations out of their own pockets and, on average, they amounted to 30,000 euros; we were the ones who financed the 20 cent measure. That cannot be repeated.” Those days, CEEES also defended that the procedure was erroneous and the low cost They threatened to close because, in their opinion, their business model would be put at risk if they had to advance the money. The big oil companies, on the other hand, they did enter into a price war. Recently, the CNMC accused Repsol to use the subsidy and subsequent discounts to eliminate its competition. At the moment, there is nothing firm on the table but the rumor of a possible subsidy for the purchase is taking shape again. All we have at the moment are statements from Carlos Corpus, Minister of Economy, collected by Expansion in which he points out that he says they will be “above the prices.” “Unfortunately, we already had to go through a similar episode in 2022 as a consequence of the invasion of Ukraine, so we are perfectly prepared to know what we have to do if necessary, protecting our citizens and companies through that shield,” Corps has made clear. For now, what that shield will be for citizens and companies is unknown. What is certain is that the gas stations want us to not return to the situation of 2022. Photo | Eric Mclean In Xataka | There is a hidden war to sell us the cheapest possible gasoline. One that Ballenoil and Plenergy already dominate

The most cool film producer of the moment faces a dilemma: either Milmillonaria or reject the AI

A24, the producer who has turned the artistic horror (which for a time has been called detailed ‘high terror‘) and the experimental drama in box office phenomena is found in a Existential crossroads. Or accept the millions of risk capital companies or stay faithful to the principles that have made it a rarity within Hollywood: A producer with ethical and aesthetic principles. Humble origins. Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges founded A24 in 2012 with just 20 million dollars. Twelve years later, they were Hollywood envy: they had a brand valued at 3.5 billion dollarsthat transcended production work to become almost a cultural movement. While Hollywood embarked on an exploitation of repetitive franchises, they opted for authors such as Ari Aster, the Sadfie or Barry Jenkins brothers, who gave them their first successes: ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Midsommar’, ‘Uncut Gems’ or ‘Moonlight’. The total turnaround. His first films made A24 prestige and money win, but the real bombing came with ‘All at once everywhere‘, an existential tragicomedy with time trips of 2022, with a modest budget of 15 million dollars and that raised 140 worldwide, and He took seven Oscarsmany of them of the main ones. A24 was in the spotlight, with a cult of the brand that was not born in a marketing agency, but completely organic. In Xataka A face washing for the academy: how A24 has made Aura cinema "Indi triumphs in the Oscars But with success (we talk about an ambitious multimedia plan that has led A24 to organize immersive experiences OA Relauncar classic exhibition rooms), the problems also arrived: those 3.5 billion value demand constant growth, international expansion, and of course, processes optimization. Money calls money (already problems). A24 did not want to become a Lionsgate, acquired by Warner. Or worse: a blumhouse, an indie terror icon that since it was acquired by Universal was immersed in The same dynamics of Majors of billing a franchise after another. It is inevitable: no matter how much production conglomerates guarantee creative independence to their studies, decisions go to the committees, obsessed with process optimization. And that is where capital funds enter and, hand in hand, the threat of AI. Enter Thrive Capital. Specifically, who appeared was Joshua Kushner with his Thrive Capital Fundoffering offering 75 million dollars without the creative limitations that the money from corporations usually brings. There would be no pressures to make franchises or any other obligation, and his history corroborated it: Thrive had financed Instagram before purchase of Facebook, for example. The small print, yes, is unnegotiable: Thrive Capital is One of the largest investors in OpenAIhundreds of millions have been left in chatgpt. And in that sense, Thrive does not hide their letters: they are an openly pro-one background and believe that this technology will transform the content of the coming years. And although Thrive at the moment does not press to A24, it seems clear that he will do so in the future if the producer resists incorporating the AI ​​into her processes. {“Videid”: “X86AO51”, “Autoplay”: True, “Title”: “‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, Trailer”, “Tag”: “Eventhing Everywhere All at Once”, “Duration”: “162”} The controversy of ‘everything at once everywhere’. The arrival of tools that use artificial intelligence to Hollywood is absolutely unstoppable. And in fact, a pair of background within A24 raised flirting with AI who found themselves with some rejection of a sector of their audience. On the one hand, ‘everything at once everywhere’ He used Runway AI To create special effects: the use was minimal, but it caught the attention for the usually “artisanal” character of A24 cinema. The controversy was accentuated when it was learned that some ‘Civil War’ posters had been designed with AI. An essential dilemma. Before A24 several routes are now opened, which will undoubtedly determine something even more important than their income: Your identity. You can try to normalize the use of AI and gradually incorporate it into your processes as already do Majors that delegate issues as part of marketing, advances and others to AI. Or they can become the last resistance to AI if their investors allow it: they would align with some of the most prestigious directors of their team, such as Robert Eggers or Ari Aster, whose long and traditional documentation processes and creation of films such as ‘La Witch’ or ‘The Lighthouse’ become essential identity elements for A24. He Growth between unexpected and uncontrolled A24 She has turned the producer into a balancer between the indie, the traditional, and the hug to the latest Hollywood production trends. Perhaps the story you have left to live at A24 is the last bastion of a way of understanding cinema that is increasingly part of the past. In Xataka | An AI has created the script of a film that precisely speaks of creativity in the cinema. A room refuses to release it (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 most cool film producer of the moment faces a dilemma: either Milmillonaria or reject the AI It was originally posted in Xataka by John Tones .

Egypt and Jordan reject Trump’s idea of ​​moving Palestinians from Gaza to their territory

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt rejected the US president’s proposalDonald Trump, of displacing the population of the Gaza Strip to his territory or other Arab countries and defended the creation of a Palestinian State as the legitimate right of his people. In a statement, the Ministry reaffirmed “Egypt’s adherence to the political solution to the Palestinian question”, which involves “ending the occupation and returning the usurped territory to the Palestinian people”, to guarantee their legitimate right to their land. and homeland. He also stressed its rejection “of any violation of these inalienable rights, whether through settlements or land annexationsor evacuating those lands from their owners through displacement or encouraging the removal or uprooting of Palestinians from their lands, either temporarily or permanently.” In this way, he responded to the statements that Donald Trump made yesterday, Saturday, to the journalists who were traveling with him aboard Air Force One, and to whom he said that he had spoken with the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, about the idea of ​​building housing. and transfer the million Gazans from the Gaza Strip to countries like Egypt or Jordan, according to CNN. According to the Egyptian department, displacing the Palestinian population of their land “threatens to further spread the conflict in the region” and hinders the possibilities of peace and coexistence between its peoples. In this sense, he explained that the Palestinian territory includes the unity of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and the lines of June 4, 1967. Jordan supports the creation of the Palestinian State On this same day, the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Ayman al Safadi, He expressed himself in similar terms and also rejected Trump’s approach while demanding the creation of the State of Palestine to fulfill the right of the Palestinian people and achieve the long-awaited peace in the Middle East. “Everyone knows that the solution to the Palestinian cause lies within Palestine. Jordan is for the Jordanians, Palestine is for the Palestinians,” he stated before highlighting that the path to regional security and stability is for “the Palestinian State of sovereignty to live in peace alongside Israel in accordance with the solution of the two states.” Keep reading:• Trump calls Gaza “a demolition site” and wants Jordan and Egypt to welcome its inhabitants “temporarily or long term”• Ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel ends• Israel releases 200 Palestinian prisoners after 4 hostages released by Hamas are reunited with their families

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