returning

We believed that Generation Z was returning en masse to the Church. An error in a survey is to blame for the mirage

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Stadiums vibrating with thousands of twenty-somethings raising their arms, eyes closed, singing to god. International pop stars posing in nun’s habits on the covers of their most anticipated albums. And, as a backdrop, an incessant barrage of headlines announcing the unthinkable: the massive return of the youth to the church pews. Over the past few months, the world seemed to witness a fascinating twist in the script. Generation Z, the most secular and secularized demographic cohort in history, was re-embracing Christianity. However, when you scratch the surface of this apparent spiritual awakening, what emerges is not a collective epiphany, but a trap. A gigantic demoscopic mirage. What they sold us as the great rebirth of faith is, in reality, a monumental miscalculation where the armies of artificial intelligence, the mischief of paid online surveys and the desire to believe in a revival have completely distorted the true—and much more complex—religious transformation of young people. We believed that faith was returning to the streets, but the fault was in the method. The spark that ignited the narrative of the great Christian revival jumped in the United Kingdom with the publication of the report The Quiet Revivalcommissioned by the Bible Society. Based on survey data YouGov, The study showed a spectacular figure: monthly church attendance among English and Welsh young people aged 18 to 24 had quadrupled, going from a marginal 4% in 2018 to a resounding 16% in 2024. The news spread like wildfire. Entire dioceses held conferences to “turn up the volume” on this revival, and politicians in the British Parliament used the report as proof that “Christianity is neither oppressed nor decayed,” as reported by BBC. However, demographic experts were quick to raise alarm bells. Surveys considered the “gold standard” of sociology for using random probability samples—such as the British Social Attitudes wave Labor Force Survey— showed a diametrically opposite film. According to these rigorous metersthe percentage of practicing Christians between 18 and 34 years old had not only not risen, but had fallen from 8% in 2018 to 6% in 2024. The danger of surveys opt-in If young people are not filling the churches, where do the miracle figures come from? The answer lies in the architecture of the internet itself. The report of the Bible Society was based on surveys opt-inthat is, panels where users voluntarily register in exchange for financial rewards or points. Demographer Conrad Hackett warns that this format suffers an “existential threat.” Those who respond to these surveys usually seek to maximize your profits filling out questionnaires at full speed, lying about their age to access more surveys, or using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) from other countries to get paid in hard currency. Worse still, Artificial Intelligence has come into play. The researchers have detected armies of chatbots programmed to imitate humans and fill out surveys en masse. The fake young people in these polls are so unreliable that, in similar studies carried out in the USA12% of those surveyed opt-in under 30 years old even stated that he had a license to pilot a nuclear submarine. The “great awakening” was largely an algorithmic hallucination. The situation in our land In Spain, the optical illusion is similar. Phenomena like Hakuna Group Music They managed to bring together 12,000 young people at the Vistalegre Palace, while events such as Calls They gathered 6,000 people at the Movistar Arena. Both are betting on Contemporary Worship Music (CWM), an evangelization format of Protestant and evangelical heritage, full of giant screens, pop-rock and raw emotions. But the noise of the stadiums clashes head-on with the silence of the parishes. The comparison of the official reports of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) is devastating. If we analyze the transition from the previous exercises to the most recent data, the fall of the sacraments is an undeniable constant: Baptisms: They fell from 152,426 registered in 2023 at 146,370 in 2024which represents a year-on-year decrease of 3.97%. The magnitude of the collapse is better understood if we look in the rearview mirror: in 2007the Church celebrated no less than 325,271 baptisms annually. Communions and weddings: Inertia drags the rest of the life cycle. First communions fell by almost 5% (standing at 154,677), and Catholic marriages fell by 6%, remaining at a reduced 31,462 ecclesiastical unions. Institutional collapse has other profound social consequences. Given the collapse of baptismal prayers, more than 150 Spanish town councils now offer “civil baptisms” or lay welcome ceremonies to celebrate the arrival of newborns. At the same time, the bleeding of vocations has left Spain with only 15,285 priests, whose average age is around a worrying 65 years. The problem It’s so pressing that has forced bishoprics like that of Tui-Vigo to make lay women official to lead “Celebrations of the Word” in the villages in the face of the total lack of priests. The only discordant note—the small statistical lifeline to which the Church clings—is the baptism of children over 7 years of age. This figure experienced a reboundrising from 11,835 in 2023 to 13,323 in 2024. A figure that suggests a paradigm shift in Spanish Catholicism: conversions that are much more thoughtful, personal and less conditioned by “cultural” inertia. The great gap between Spirituality and Religion To understand Generation Z in Spain, two concepts must be drastically separated: the Catholic institution and the search for the transcendent. Here comes into play what my partner in Xataka defined as: “The 29-59% paradox.” According to the Barometer on Religion and Beliefs in Spain (BREC) of 202561% of young people between 18 and 24 years old declare themselves indifferent, agnostic or atheist. Only 29% define themselves as Catholic, a figure much lower than the 46% national average. However, just because they don’t set foot in a church doesn’t mean they are pure materialists. That same report reveals that 59% of young people firmly believe in the existence of the soul and 45% in “energies.” As the sociologist Mar Griera explainswe are not facing a return to dogma, … Read more

AI needs electricity relentlessly. And that is returning the gas to the center of the system

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For years, big technology companies projected a clean image: data centers powered by renewables and commitments to climate neutrality. But the explosion of artificial intelligence is putting that narrative to the test. Electricity demand is growing at a rate that the grid cannot keep up with, and the fuel that is covering the gap is not the wind or the sun. It is natural gas. The contradiction is already visible in the numbers. Google and Microsoft consume around 24 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year each, more than more than a hundred countries. And while they announce record clean energy contracts, their emissions continue to rise: Google has increased its emissions by 48% in the last five years and Microsoft by 31% since 2020. An independent analysis rated climate integrity of several technologies as “poor” or “very deficient” in the face of the energy boom of AI. The cloud is not ethereal. It’s physics. And for AI to work without interruptions, we are starting to burn more hydrocarbons. The electron fever. The phenomenon is not marginal. A report from the Open Energy Outlook initiative—led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and NC State— projects that electricity demand of data centers and crypto mining could grow by 350% between 2020 and 2030, going from representing 4% to 9% of total consumption in the United States. Goldman Sachs points in the same direction: Specific consumption of data centers could increase by 160% before the end of the decade. The pressure has already broken market balances. In December 2024, in the PJM region—which supplies 13 states in the eastern United States and has the highest density of data centers in the world—capacity prices went from $30 to $270 per MW-day in a single auction. The extra cost will end up affecting the bills of some 67 million customers. John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy, described it as a “golden era of energy demand”, but warned of a physical limit: “the new electrons cannot reach the grid quickly enough.” And in that void between explosive demand and insufficient supply is where gas reappears. The tyranny of 24/7. If renewables are increasingly competitive, why not cover this demand with more wind and solar? The answer is technical. Artificial intelligence requires continuous, 24/7 supply. It cannot be turned off when the wind goes down or the sun goes down. As Manuel Losa, manager at Pictet Asset Management, explained, to the Financial Times: If demand grows and firm energy is needed 24 hours a day, “today, the only way to achieve this is with gas.” The problem is not the marginal cost of renewables, it is firmness. Without massive storage or reinforced grids, solar and wind generation cannot guarantee constant supply. And the deployment of new transmission lines is slow and contentious. Furthermore, traditional electrical planning assumed growth of 1-2% annually; Now there are areas with increases of 20-30% annually linked to data centers. The quickest solution today is to build or expand gas-fired generation. But even there there are limits. Gas turbines—critical equipment—have become a bottleneck. Just three years ago, Siemens Energy executives stated that the turbine market was “dead” in the face of renewable advancement. Today, the factories are overflowing. Global orders are expected to exceed 1,000 units this year, with the United States absorbing almost half. Delivery times can be extended up to five or even seven years in some cases. The bottleneck is no longer the chips. They are the turbines. So what happens with renewables? Renewables do not disappear. In fact, they continue to expand. Google has signed agreements to purchase nearly 1.2 gigawatts of new wind and solar energy in the United States from Clearway Energy. Big tech companies continue to sign clean energy contracts in multiple regions. However, the problem is temporary and structural. Purchasing renewable electricity does not guarantee that hourly consumption is supported by clean generation at that same time and place. In fact, there are solutions. Battery storage and grid upgrades can increase renewable integration. The Open Energy Outlook report shows which regions like Texas, with more investment in transmission, they manage to take better advantage of wind power to feed new demand. But deploying storage and hardening the network takes years, and AI is growing rapidly. For this reason, even companies traditionally focused on renewables are expanding their portfolio in gas, How did you have access? Financial Times. NextEra has announced plans to develop up to an additional 8 gigawatts of gas-fired generation. Clearway builds hybrid data center campuses combining renewables and combustion turbines. It is not an explicit abandonment of renewables. It is an emergency solution. But there is also nuclear. amazon tried to connect directly a data center to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant to ensure stable and clean supply. Federal regulators blocked the deal over potential effects on grid stability and the impact on other consumers. Furthermore, Google has signed an agreement with Kairos Power to develop seven small modular reactors (SMR), with the goal of adding 500 MW emissions-free by 2030. Microsoft and other companies are exploring similar deals. But even in the most optimistic scenario, new nuclear capacity will not be operational on a relevant scale before the end of the decade. AI needs electricity now. A clash of transitions. Five years ago, natural gas was presented as a retreating bridge fuel within the energy transition. Today it has become the structural support of artificial intelligence. A friction between two transitions that advance at different paces: the digital one, exponential; the energy, regulated and slow. As the Open Energy Outlook initiative warnsthe choice should not be between digital progress and network stability. But if energy planning doesn’t adapt more quickly—more transmission, more storage, better market design—the expansion of AI could mean more gas, more emissions, and higher bills. Artificial intelligence promises efficiency and intelligent decarbonization. But for now, its massive expansion is prolonging the life of the fossil generation. The digital future is advancing at full speed and the energy … Read more

Returning to the Moon before 2030 begins to seem like a political fantasy

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This same week we learned that the Artemis II mission, which was to put humans around the Moon again, it had to be delayed. The old ghosts of the space program, as it is the complexity of liquid hydrogenhas once again been a blow to NASA, which is increasingly closer to SpaceX to delegate part of its space missions. Hydrogen as a cursed inheritance. As a reminder, all the problems with Artemis II have arisen during the general refueling test, since it had to be stopped when a leak was detected in the hydrogen fuel lines. For fans of the show, this sounds awfully familiar. They are faults traced to which The Artemis I mission has already suffered and that seem inherited from the Space Shuttle era. Liquid hydrogen, being the smallest molecule in existence, has an astonishing ease of escape through the slightest imperfection, a situation that has been recently aggravated by the extreme cold on test platforms. The dependence on SpaceX. While the SLS rocket shows signs of technical and budgetary fatigue, with Boeing threatening staff reductions amid this crisisNASA is forced to pivot increasingly toward the private sector. This is where SpaceX meets with open arms. The current plan is complex: the SLS must put Orion capsule in orbitwhich will then be coupled with the SpaceX human landing system (HLS) to go down to the lunar surface. However, the SLS delays put at risk the entire chain of missions that come after such as Artemis III that could go until 2028. It has its challenges. But SpaceX is not completely perfect, since for the Starship HLS to reach the Moon, it requires an orbital resupply maneuver that could involve up to 12 prior tanker flightsan unprecedented logistical complexity. Although Starship also faces its own challenges and delays, different sources indicate that is the only lander contracted with real capacity to operate before 2030. Although NASA has opened the door to Blue Origin for later missions seeking to diversify, today, without SpaceX, the lunar rhythm would collapse. Until exhaustion. While SLS struggles to overcome basic leaks, SpaceX is following its “break things to learn fast” philosophy. By the end of 2025, the company completed its eleventh test flightachieving a key milestone: the smooth and controlled splashdown of the upper stage in the Indian Ocean and the successful restart of the Raptor engines in a vacuum. This flight marked the end of the “V2” era. Now, SpaceX transitions to Starship V3, an even larger and more capable beast, designed specifically to meet Artemis’ payload requirements. But introducing a new vehicle involves new risks and time-consuming certifications. More than a rocket. We often forget that the Starship HLS is not just a transport vehicle; It will be the “home” of the astronauts on the lunar surface for a week, which further marks this dependence. Although it does not stop here, since SpaceX has completed SpaceX recently completed 49 crucial contract milestones for NASA that go beyond propulsion, including life support that will keep the astronauts alive. Although they have also managed to validate the system for the descent of the crew on the moon or the Raptor engines that have demonstrated their ability to ignite after being exposed to the deep cold of space. Dependency is a problem. With the current data on the table, the optimism of 2025 has evaporated, delaying the date of the different missions to return to the Moon. And although the SLS is currently a bottleneck, the immense complexity of the Starship operation, which requires an almost weekly launch chain, is the real wall against which Washington’s political dates crash. Images | SpaceX In Xataka |

In Galicia, shellfish harvesters are capturing clams and then returning them to the sea. There is a reason and it is in Canada

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The normal thing when shellfish harvesters collect clams is that this product then ends up in the fish markets and goes from these to the fishmongers, supermarkets and finally to the tables. That’s normal. Over the last few weeks in the brotherhoods of Vilanova and Rianxo, in the Rías Baixas, things have been something different: The bivalves arrived at the market, but from there they returned to the sea, a frustrating round trip for professionals that reveals a lot about the market. To understand it you have to cross the Atlantic. What has happened? The news spread a few days ago the newspaper Vigo Lighthouse. Over the last few weeks, some brotherhoods in the Arousa estuary have been forced to withdraw lots of clams from the auctions to return the catches to the sea. It happened on at least one occasion in Rianxo and two others in Vilanova, where the professionals also decided to give up two days of work. In reality, there is little mystery about it: the merchandise was quoted at prices so low that it did not even cover the minimum cost. In order not to undersell it, the shellfish collectors choose to withdraw the lots from the auctions and return the bivalves to the estuary. Was it quoted that low? It seems so. Óscar Fernández, president of the group of shellfish harvesters of Vilanova, remember that at the end of 2024 the group decided to update its prices to prevent its professionals from continuing to lose purchasing power. To be more precise, what was agreed is that the minimum rate for japonica clams would rise by two euros/kilo, going from seven to nine, and the fine clam would remain at 30 euros/kilo, ten more than before. Any quote that fell below that minimum would be discarded. Or in other words, the seafood would be removed from the market to be returned to the sea, which is exactly what they have done in Arousa. “The decision was made a year ago, but until now there had been no need to remove lots of clams from the fish market,” Fernández told Lighthouse. Among the discarded merchandise there was so much japonica clam as fine. Not only that. Faced with the prospect that the rates would not exceed the minimum, in Vilanova they chose to give up two days of work. Better that than underselling. Can it go further? That seafood moves in ‘discrete’ figures at this time of year is nothing exceptional. Summer is behind us and there are still several weeks until Christmas, so the sector is accustomed to November not being exactly a buoyant month. This fall, however, is out of the ordinary. The Galician Fishing platform sample that the average price (market) in Arousa so far this year is €15.05/kilo. They are 50 cents less than the average for 2024 and are far from the 16.38 that were reached in 2023. The figures (yes) must be handled with caution. To begin with, because they show annual averages, so those of the last two years include December. If we look at the monthly data, in October the kilo was quoted at €13.1, its lowest level since March. In November the average has risen again to 17.54. Another key is that the indicators include slimy clams, bicudasfine, blonde and Japanese. However, professionals in the area do not hide their misgivings. “When Noia opened we noticed a big drop in prices. This week they rose a little, but they are still below those of 2024,” comments Fernandez. And what are the causes? More important than prices are the factors that influence them. And the sector clearly points out two: the effect of Noia opening and the arrival of foreign products. “Seafood is coming in from other places,” says Miguel Ángel Iglesias, Rianxo’s senior boss, who warns that the problem is not so much the pressure it exerts on the native merchandise but rather certain questionable practices. “There are people who sell it as if it were from here.” Hence, a greater effort by the Xunta is missing to avoid fraud and mislabelling. “There is a consumer who is willing to pay a little more for our product and we have to prevent them from taking clams from other sources because the labeling is ambiguous,” Iglesias claims in statements to Lighthouse. Just like other branches In the primary sector, shellfish harvesters demand that the authorities demand the same standards for imported products as local products, with the same “sanitary guarantees” and transparent traceability. In the union, of course, not everyone seems to be having the same bad time: in Vilaxoán they have also noticed a drop in the price of, for example, the japonica clam, but in Cambados they have seen a rise in prices in recent days. Is it something new? Not quite. Before the production crisis suffered by the shellfish banks of Galicia, part of the industry has chosen to look for gender abroadin countries like Canada, Italy, Portugal or Morocco. I explained it a few months ago The Voice of Galicia in a comprehensive analysis in which he recalls that, although the competition from the Dutch, Portuguese or Irish bivalve comes from afar, it seems to have intensified since 2023, when (on the eve of Christmas and after strong erasures) the Galician shellfish harvesters found themselves with a challenging scenario: an increase in clam and cockle mortality. Where does the merchandise come from? Now professionals work in a market that has been forced to look for alternatives to cover the demand for seafood, which, in practice, means that the local genus must compete with bivalves from Bulgaria, Ireland, Sweden, Morocco, Portugal, Holland or Canada. “It comes from many places,” recognized in summer to The Voice Trini Lois, a good connoisseur of the Arousa fish markets. “Galicia is the only place where shellfish harvesting did not rebound. In Portugal it was at a low point, but they once again have high production and are selling.” Regarding … Read more

The AI has converted work interviews into a cheat circus. So companies are returning to the face -to -face

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The virtual work interviews They are already normal in job search processes. The problem is that in certain areas, such as software and programmers engineers, candidates usually take advantage of AI tools to cheat. The trend is so worrying that some companies are already returning What always worked: Interviews in person. Google wants to meet you in person. SUCTAR PICHAI, CEO of Google, He explained in June In the Lex Friedman podcast that renewal of the company’s policies at the time of Hire certain profiles. “We are making sure that we introduce at least one round of the candidate for the candidates, just to ensure that the fundamental aspects are fulfilled.” Return to the face -to -face. Pichai’s message is the same as They are adopting other companies such as Apple, goalCisco or the consultant McKinsey, who are among a growing number of companies that are recovering the interviews face to face with the candidates in various stages of the selection process. Mike Kyle, from the Coda Search/Staffing Employment Agency, explained how the quota of companies that have the requirement to make face -to -face interviews has become 30%, when in 2024 it was only 5%. If you want what salary I offer you, I need to meet you. That return to face -to -face interviews usually also focus on the last part of the selection process, but in reality it can occur at any time. If you do not present yourself physically at some point in that process, You won’t know what conditions (Salary included) offers you the company. Cheat programmers. As we said, that is especially true for profiles such as programmers. During some phases of the interviews, real -time sessions usually consider in which candidates must solve a programming problem. In virtual interviews, what has happened is that the interviewees cheat And they use AI to solve the problem, which is not clear whether or not those candidates meet the requirements. AI has become a problem. The resurgence of interviews in person tries to mitigate the problem that AI has raised. Companies that offer jobs have ended up using AI systems for Filter candidateswhich usually flood those offers because they also use AI to generate their CVS adapted to each position and automate the request for various positions quickly. THE ART OF THE TRAPS A few months ago we counted how a student managed to overcome a Amazon technical interview Thanks to the use of AI. That gave him a disturbing idea, because he created a startup called Cluelly to help others do the same or to make exams. One that in fact advertises with an unusual message: “Cheat everything.” The idea seems to have liked, because the investment firm A16z has already injected 15 million dollars In the project. Deepfakes that are interviewed for you. That is a good example of a dangerous trend. It is not that candidates try to deceive companies about their real capacities thanks to AI: there are people who are using these methods much more worrying. The FBI already warned in 2023 of a fraud that involved thousands of North Koreans that simulated being North Americans seeking to work remotely in US companies. His way of doing so was really striking and complex. Be careful with murmuring. Companies that use virtual interviews in their selection processes are also paying special attention to these traps. In fact, some try to detect them by monitoring indications that can aim at fraud: muttering out of the screen or typing and then pauses before answering (waiting to see what the chatgpt tells them on duty to read that answer) It is usually a clue to hunt checkery. Image | RAD MINE In Xataka | Hide the holes in the curriculum of an intermittent work career: the art of not deceiving without telling the whole truth

Hertz hired an AI company so that his clients felt safe by returning cars. Are more insecure than ever

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“I only have one problem, I am too perfectionist.” No, if you have thought about saying this in your next job interview, I would say you park the idea aside. And I would say that it is not the best idea if you want the work to move forward efficiently. It can be very effective but very little efficient. If you have doubts, ask Hertz. What happened? Hertz is one of the large rental cars companies. In his search to clarify the possible conflicts with customers about whether or not that scrape was before taking the car keys, the company associated with Uveye in April and since then it has been deploying verifier tunnels in the airports that analyze the state of the car. In its statementHertz pointed out that “AI -driven camera systems and Uveye automatic learning algorithms allow automated inspections in real time of the body, glass or tires.” The ultimate goal is to give “greater precision to our maintenance process, so that we can focus on our vehicles being ready when and where our customers want them.” Too much precision. And what if they have achieved precision. As soon as a few months have passed before the company has to face its first controversy. At the International Airport Hartsfield-Jackson From Atlanta, in the US, the system has already been mounted and one of the clients already knows what it is to face the scrutiny of the AI. Patrick, a client who had rented a Hertz car, found a $ 440 sanction by the company. This alleges that the customer marked the car with a scratch of 2.5 centimeters. With the contract signed by Patrick, the company defends that the driver must pay almost half of that amount for the repair of the car and, in addition, pay $ 125 for the processing and another $ 65 to administrative expenses. This reached the sum of more than 400 dollars. Nail clients. The client, they explain in The Drivehe refused to pay for the damage after seeing the images provided by the company that, through an application they advanced that, as if it were the soon payment of a fine of the DGT, he would receive a bonus of 50 euros. But Patrick’s case is not the only one. Carscoop He explains that more than one client has had problems with the artificial intelligence system that Hertz’s cars is reviewing. The problem, they say, is that the system is failing on some occasions, either ignoring friction in cars or by giving bodies that do not have any damage. There is nothing. This last medium echoes a client who has told his Reddit experience (Akkasca of user name). There he presented his case. Before leaving the car at Houston airport, Texas, she checked that everything was in order. The tunnel passed without novelty but when he already set up to the terminal, a notification came to the mobile phone that there was a body damage. Strange, he went to the car again and found that the detail shown by the AI should only be a reflection. He decided to record a video and, subsequently, present it as proof to Hertz. However, he says, the rent is washed and says that she has to talk to those responsible for the company of AI who, in turn, have dismissed the video in which nothing is seen. This is not. Chaos has also been followed by New York Post. The media indicates that among the few solutions that are there is, obviously, not to rent a Hertz car where they have implemented the tunnels with AI. The problem: at the end of the year they hope to have 100 operating tunnels distributed throughout the United States. The problem would be such if it were not for the small detail that the AI is not only being extremely careful on some occasions or making errors for the incident light in the body. As if that were not enough, there are friction that does not contemplate and, therefore, the next client runs the risk of being accused of touching a car that was already damaged. The solution should be to record a video in which the status of the car is shown before getting on it but we have already seen that in case of error Hertz’s clients are not obtaining the best response from the company. In fact, The New York Times It tells the story of a client who was sanctioned by the AI with more than $ 100 dollars despite the fact that a Hertz employee had verified that the car had been delivered correctly. Photo | Uveye In Xataka | We are less and less owners of our cars. The renting in Spain accelerates even between individuals

Banar him without returning the money

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Cody “Clix” Conrad ranks 16 on the list of Twich streamers with more followersin whose Top 10 we find Spanish characters such as Ibai Llanos, Auronplay, Rubius and Thegrefg. While broadcastingLucaslev (LZL11) called Discord a 15 -year -old who had spent $ 35,000 on donations that month. The thing ended badly for the teenager: Baneado of his channel. “It’s addictive.” While he was interrogated to questions about the reason for such high donations, Lucas said that this year he had earned $ 18,000 investing in shares. When asked why, if he could need money for other things, Lucas said that for him it was like “spreading love”, and that Dopamina released when they said his name, recognizing that “it is addictive” to spend money. He told the streamer “that honestly I just wanted to get your attention to add me in Fortnite, that’s all.” Rich parents, minor consequences. Lucas replied that his parents had a stable financial situation, (rich, in other words) and that he was going to stop spending on Twitch because a few days before Father learned of the expense he had done on the platform and “it was bothered.” As? Using his card, but that was in his father’s name, because he had no age to open it. Despite the father’s advice, Lucas continued donating Clix during the stream. Click the image to access the publication. Hypocrisy. Clix spent the conversation giving good advice to Lucas, as the money should be kept for him and for more important things. At one point, it seemed that I was going to make a reimbursement of money, because he said he did not want to “encourage reimbursements, but”. However, after asking the child to love him with sending more money, he said he was going to send it to him. There ended the call and threw him out of the channel. Of course, without returning the money. After that, he continued playing Fortnite, asking for subscriptions to older people. Why it is important. The problem with donations comes from afar. We had more and more people addicted to donate on Twitch. Jen Herranz “opened the melon” stating that there were real people who had a problem, a kind of modern “ludopathy”, and came to ask people to stop giving him subs On the channel. After the broadcast of a Jordi Évole interview with Ibai, An anonymous mother counted that his son stole his father’s card (with financial problems) and spent 600 euros on subscriptions. Ibai He came to talk about the subjectsaying “Subscribe to a channel only if you can afford it. ‘Do not spend money you need on any Twitch channel. If you are going to steal the card your father or your grandmother to donate, do not do it. Many times we have put in touch with the people who have given us many subscriptions to see if they were aware of what they had donated. If you are a millionaire, it seems good to me. What does Twitch say. In his Guide for parents and educatorsthe company explains that children under 13 They can’t use Twitchand details measures to prevent problems and prevent children from accessing content not suitable for their age range. They also mention “Donations” Common on the platform, but do not stop the problem of children who donate huge amounts of money, such as that of the child that donated $ 11,000 to kai dinnerTy Thousands of subs to Cazeah. At the time, the company did updated its standards regarding betsbut it was not enough to stop the case of a young man who became addicted after seeing streams related Image | Clix (Twitch) and Ilgmyzin in Unspash In Xataka | Extreme heat, high prices and calls for Ibai’s aid: the problems of evening 5 to exhaust tickets

The house is getting so impossible in Madrid that people are returning to an unexpected place: seseña

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Real estate markets have their own symbols. For years Seseña was from Lick, The real estate bubble which exploded in 2008. Today is something very different: the housing crisis which faces Madrid (and Spain), which has allowed that ancient ghost city associated with Francisco Hernando‘El Pozero’, being reborn strongly. With prices in climbing And a serious housing deficit In the capital, more and more people look out of Madrid when they have to look for a house, to localities such as ValladolidSegovia … or seseña, where It has resumed construction and arise New promotions residential AND It is not the only “Ghost city” that is gaining impulse thanks to the families expelled from Madrid for a market that increasingly tightens Your pockets. Of brick bubble icon … For years Seseña, especially THE PAU THE QUIÑÓN (The city projected by ‘Paco el Pocero’) was an icon of the years of brick excess and The real estate bubble. Also of his hangover. Those who bought in the middle of the urban maelstrom found a kind of “Ghost Barrio”homes in the hands of banks and a fractured market in which prices did not stop falling. If in 2007 a two bedroom floor cost almost 200,000 euros, seven years later, with the banks desperate to get rid of the properties, it could be bought by less than half: about 60,000 euros. … to enjoy a golden age. Today things are different in Seseña. After years with half -building works and worried For the Okupas, the town is living a new golden age. Families arrive. They open business and services. Projects such as PARQUIJOTE. And they raise New promotions. In 2023 The newspaper He spoke of two major projects: an urbanization of 156 houses that moved between 110,500 and just over 200,000 euros and another of chalets. The change has been cooking for some time. Almost a decade ago The countryHe dedicated him A wide report in which he explained how the residential city the Quiñón was gaining impulse little by little, with families, businesses and services. At that time the newspaper spoke of 6,411 inhabitants. Last year Antena3 again analyzed the situation of the Macro Urbanization Toledana and He found An increase in the number of residents, in addition to a growing demand for housing. “Three years ago you could find a house easily here. Now it is almost impossible,” explained At that time Vanesa, a woman who had installed time before in the Toledo urbanization after buying a four -room house with storage room, garage and pool for about 150,000 euros. Waiting list to buy. The last clue on the rebirth of the urbanization of Seseña gave it A few days ago Reuters, who has found The growing interest by the town. Although it is about 40 kilometers south of the capital and does not have the best connections and public transport, more and more families seem interested in settling in their apartments. Reuters speak With an agency that had a waiting list of 70 people for each home. Seseña (and something else). The area has also seen how the new work was also activated. Promotora Impact Homes, for example, is promoting a promotion of 156 homes which started in 2023. Its goal is to have it ready throughout this year. In the sector there is even talk of presale levels of almost 50% In new buildings. “Seseña is 100%,” celebrates the mayor, Jaime de Hita. His is not the only town in Madrid that has seen how his brick was activated. Something similar It has happened in Valdeluzurbanization located 75 km from Madrid that It was halfway after the outbreak of the real estate bubble. Its mayor wait that the population triggers over the next few years. Reuters appointment even a third example: an urbanization located on the outskirts of Bernuy de Porrerosapproximately 100 kilometers north of Madrid, which has also recovered the activity after remaining almost abandoned. And what is the reason? All these populations have something in common: their relative proximity to Madrid, which makes them an attractive destination for families that end up being expelled from the capital for the high cost of their home. Is The case For example, from Nestor, an employee of the construction sector who four years ago left Carabanchel to move with his family to Seseña. Living in Seseña requires you to get up every day at dawn and take the 6.30 h bus that takes it to the capital, but the price gap makes that discomfort more than assumable. In his day Nestor moved to Seseña because the rentals were there 20% lower than those of Madrid, Explainand a few months ago he decided to take another step and become an owner: together with his wife, he bought an apartment in the Toledo town for 240,000 euros. “We chose this close site because we can pay it. Madrid is very expensive right now,” The man tells. Is it a unique case? No. It comes rapidly to the newspaper library to meet Testimonies of families who have decided to settle in Seseña or professionals in the sector who attend the rebirth of urbanization and its buildings. “They seemed monsters that were going to stand for the future, but the need for housing has caused them to reactivate,” confesses A real estate to Tele5. “We move in prices below 200,000 euros. That is impossible in Madrid.” Money issue (and km). Seseña is not the only town to which the families expelled by the Madrid real estate marketthat only in the last year has seen how housing became more expensive, According to idealist. The improvement (and cheaper) of communications, especially the train, has caused Segovia or even Valladolid being hosting people who work for companies in the capital. In those municipalities they find homes at prices that, such as I recently recognized A family installed in Valladolid, “Nor would they smell” in Madrid. Images | Seseña City Council, Wikipedia and Seseña is more (Flickr) In … Read more

Russia opened her prisons to fight in Ukraine. The problem is that they are returning free … and they were convicted murderers

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In the month of January several data and figures of the war in Ukraine were known through the Institute for the Study of War. We already knew that among the many paradoxes that the conflict threw, one of them had to do with The economic “value” that he had a Russian soldier in his native country. However, then another reality was also revealed: Moscow’s casualties on the front led the Kremlin to implement drastic strategies to fill their ranks, opening the door of their prisons To recruit criminals of all fur. The problem has arrived months later, when many of those soldiers are returning home. Return murderers. I told it a few days ago in Exclusive Washington Post. As we said, the war in Ukraine opened a Unusual and disturbing door: convict criminals, even murderers and rapists, could obtain forgiveness of the State If they agreed to fight in the front. This macabre pact has now resulted in a new wave of violence in the interior of the country, fed by veterans and former inmates who, after surviving the war, return home as free men and, in many cases, returning to crime. Real examples. In The report There were tremendous stories like Yekaterina Polyanskayamurdered with a knife by its ex -husband in an Achinsk park, Siberia. Shortly before, the man had also killed his new partner. This was only one of the numerous cases that have shaken communities that fear to see how their worst executioners escape from punishment under a war medal. In a dystopian turn of events, his aggressor, Kirill Cheplygin, currently arrested, has requested Go back to the forehead To avoid their conviction, and the neighbors, terrified, have started a campaign to prevent their possible return. It is not an isolated case: other criminals have followed that way, some so monstrous like Nikolai Ogolobyakconvicted By cannibalism and murderor Viktor Savvinov, who, after being pardoned by fighting, killed brutally to two more peopleincluding a decorated teacher. The pattern is repeated: atrocious crimes, a brief step by prison, armed redemption in the front and, for many, definitive impunity. Between war heroes and predators. In the background, a story that We already count in the month of January and that the New York Times published Exclusive: Russian authorities promoted this policy with patriotic rhetoric and institutional fatalism. According to Kremlin, shedding blood on the battlefield can even redeem the cruelest of criminals. In fact, They counted the reports that the official press portrays them as a new heroic elite, and the Censorship Law prevents openly criticizing to those who have fought in the so -called “special military operation”. However, in the streets, especially in rural or peripheral communities, imposes fear. Families of victims live knowing that the murderers of their daughters, mothers or neighbors could Return armedproud and without control. Cases like Oksana Pekhtelevawhose daughter was murdered with sadism by her ex -boyfriend and tortured for hours without the police intervened, she learned by the press that the man had been released and sent to the front. Today he doesn’t know where he is, or if he will return. An arbitrariness that breaks any possibility of justice. Plus: citizen protests run into a wall of Institutional indifferencewhile the crimes accumulate in those margins of the heroism officialized. Brutality and abandonment. Within the Russian army itself, violence is not only against the enemy. According to The reports With which the post has been made, there are dozens of documents that describe commanders who “cancel” their own soldiers by sending them to suicidal missions, punishing them in cages, burying them alive or hitting them. In total psychological support, structural brutality has transformed thousands of men In human bombs ready to explode. To all this we must add another “bad” of wars: Alcoholism has shotwith record figures for consumption after the invasion of Ukraine, and the crime rates They have reached levels not seen for a decade. He Washington Post counted Cases such as Danil Akhipov, who fled from the country after flying their hand and defecting, which describe a front where superiors treat soldiers as cannon flesh and human life is not worth much. AkHipov explained to the environment that, of every fifteen men in his assault unit, Only three survived to each operation. The result: a dehumanized army, full of combatants With posttraumatic stressaccustomed to killing and now reintegrated into society without supervision or purpose. No exit for victims. Meanwhile, the Legal and political framework Russia seems to reinforce this spiral of impunity. The law, as we said, consecrates forgiveness as a reward for combat, without evaluating the risk of freeing certain individuals. Neither multiple sexual crimes nor particularly sadistic murders prevent access to this kind of “war pardon.” Ukraine too approved a law A year ago, it allows “minor” criminals to fight, but those convicted of murders, sexual crimes or violations of national security laws are prohibited from doing so. In addition, the victims and their relatives are not informed in Russia, nor do they have access to legal resources to oppose, and in many cases they do not even know that their aggressors were released until It’s too late. The political elite, armored by institutional machinery, ignores citizens’ requests. For many, to live in the same city or town that who killed his mother or daughter is a daily hell. And yet there is no legal tools To protect them. Trauma mirror without justice. The documents and the experiences collected For the Times and The post They reflect a reality that has surely been repeated in all wars and conflicts of the last centuries. In the case of Russia it is not only a consequence of the armed conflict, but the consolidation of a model that sacrifices justice, security and truth in favor of a warmongering rhetoric that makes criminals patriots. Because of its proximity, the parallels with the return of traumatized veterans after Afghanistan in the 80s serve as warning, but the difference is that today impunity … Read more

In the middle of the cold war, the yoke had the honor of becoming “the worst car in history.” Threat with returning as electric

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It was manufactured for almost thirty years and those who remember it do so with that half smile that only brings you the nostalgia and paternalism of those who love a child knowing that his brother is much smarter. It will return in 2027 in electrical format and retain some of its hallmarks. Hopefully, for the good of all, that it does not retain all its hallmarks. We talk about the yoke, a car that became famous in the Soviet Yugoslavia and that will return to life in 2027 in purely electric format. At least That is what Serbian businessman Aleksandar Bjelić wants. Congratulations, has created the worst car in history Small, simple, affordable … Soviet. The yoke was one of those cars that went down in history on the other side of the steel curtain for its proposal to motorize the masses. Like the Riva Lada in Russia or the Trabant in the Berlin and Communist Germany, the Yugo was part of the history of Yugoslavia during the 80s. In fact the car survived the country itself as eThe yoke remained in production until 2008. His secret resided in the simple of the proposal. Fiat 128 shortened variant, the car was a small utility that was manufactured in Serbia. A three doors that set everything to sit the passengers on top of four wheels and in front of a steering wheel. Its origin must be sought in Kragujevac, Serbia. Over there, Zastava Automobili He assembled cars that exploded a Fiat license. That is, the same as I was doing Seat before Volkswagen passed. Among those licensed cars was the Fiat 128 that the company exploded in Yugoslavia with the novel name of Zastava 128. Jokes apart, the car was a success that added 1.5 million units sold by adding its different bodies between 1971 and 2008 when the car stopped selling. In the 80s, Zastava He decides that he has to offer a cheaper version and puts on the market the Zastava Yugo or Zastava Koral, a cut version derived from Fiat 127. The car is a success in Eastern Europe in part because of its iconic image. It has logic taking into account that the car looks like Volkswagen Golf. In fact, if we observe the first generations of both, it looks a lot at Volkswagen Golf. As much as to affirm that Giorgetto Giugiaro He should not have given the concept many turns when he was commissioned to look for a form to the yoke. Thus, with the firm of Giugiaro and the promise to put on the market a simple car the Zastava Yugo began to make a name. Under his hood he set up a simple Fiat engine of 908 cc and 45 hp. A power that gave the last name to the car when it was exported out of Serbia as a yoke 45. Later a slightly more powerful version of 1.1 liters and 55 hp would arrive. A 1.3 -liter and 65 hp option was even put on the market. As we see, it didn’t seem The car you would buy to travel large kilometers. In spite of everything, you have to understand the time and that, of course, neither Yugoslavia first nor Serbia later had to invite those kilometers. That was what Malcolm Bricklin should not have understood, the businessman who in 1985 wanted to introduce the yoke into the US market. Let’s review, a small, simplistic car and with a dwarf engine on a highway in the United States. It didn’t seem the best of ideas. And it wasn’t. “Cheap to buy. Terrible to drive”. With these words they define Hagerty from the United Kingdom to the healthy yoke that was sold in the United States as a Florida yoke. And that was a version above the aforementioned yoke 45. A car, the healthy one, which mounted a more powerful engine, in versions of 1.4 and 1.6 liters to get a better performance on the road. The lower version, that yoke 45 was sold in the United States with the name of Yugo GV. It was, by far, the cheapest car on the market. But the rolling quality was as bad that it was considered the worst car in the world. The criticisms were so bad that it quickly became a joke, it would have been a meme with wheels if at that time The word “meme” would have existed. Almost immediately, the car was made a hole in the hearts of the fans. In fact, you can find a book written by Jason Vuic entitled exactly like this: Yoke. Boom and fall of the worst car in history. The fascination was huge by a car that simply accounted for breakdowns due to pairs and offered poor results in security tests. So bad was the experience that was the car with the worst note of customer satisfaction in the prestigious JD Power in 1986. Precisely In JD Power they explain that in the Consumer Reports analysis it was specified that “the car dragged up to 100 km/h” and that in the best case the peak speed reached 86 mph (about 138 km/h). But those criticisms arrived after many buyers had already done with the car. A yoke giving everything Its price was so low that they sold more than 1,000 units on the first day. Then, the nightmare of the owners began. The spark plugs collapsed Because the United States gasoline was not adequate, the distribution strap had to be repaired at 30,000 miles (about 48,000 kilometers). Little by little, the ear mouth extended and the lawsuit plummeted. So plumme that according to the American portal they were sold with 2×1 offers despite its low price, with the idea of ​​the concessionaire to take them off as soon as possible. The performance was so bad that in 1992 the American subsidiary of the company broke. However, the car continued its performance in Serbia. The company came to 2008 When it … Read more

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