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Germany has spent three nights copying Taiwan. If Russia decides to invade it, it has had an idea: surprise them underground

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Last July, the Taiwan subway experienced an unusual day: Instead of passengers loaded with purses and suitcases, soldiers, soldiers and more soldiers armed with anti-tank missiles began to arrive at Taipei stations. The reason was twofold: to send a message inside and outside (China) of the country. That idea seduced Germany, and now that it has begun its rearmament it has launched in Berlin. A disturbing return. The exercise Bollwerk Bärlin III Last week, he returned to the German capital a scene that seemed banished to the memories of the 20th century: soldiers descending U-Bahn stairsjumping onto the tracks and advancing through smoke, simulated gunshots and cars taken over by “saboteurs.” For three nights, between 1 and 4 in the morning, about 250 members of the Wachbataillon (a unit known for its ceremonial role but with infantry functions) transformed stations like Jungfernheide into a real underground battlefield to practice assaults, close combat, evacuation of civilians and protection of critical infrastructure in a realistic environment in which nothing is altered or mocked up: the narrowness of the tunnels, limited visibility and changes in light are the same as they would find in a real war scenario. In the background: Russia. They remembered the TWZ analysts that this return to urban warfare in tunnels and stations, without embellishments or theatrical simulations, symbolizes a profound change in Germany’s strategic priorities and revealed the extent to which the shadow of a possible conflict with Russia has penetrated into the very heart of Germany. his military planning. The metamorphosis. The battalion in charge of displaying honors on state visits had been conceived for decades as a symbol of institutional stability, not as a combat force. However, its real operational mission (protecting the federal government and its facilities in the event of a crisis) today takes on an urgency that has not been seen for a long time. Hence the direct tone of his commanderlieutenant colonel Maik Teichgräber: Berlin is your area of ​​operations and they must prepare for “the worst case scenario,” which means training where you would really fight. The use of stations closed to the public allows practice quick entriesassaults on trains, neutralization of enemies and immediate removal of wounded, integrating snipers, perimeter security and coordination between units in a densely urbanized environment. The presence of additional scenarios (such as the former Rüdersdorf chemical plant or the Ruhleben police complex) underlines the desire to turn the capital’s defense into a multidimensional exercisecapable of absorbing everything from internal sabotage to coordinated incursions that seek to paralyze the political center of Germany. Global dimension of the trend. Which happens in Berlin It is also reflected in other regions of the world. How we countTaiwan uses its subway as a defensive artery during the Han Kuang exercises, aware that, in the event of a Chinese invasion, underground infrastructure they would be vital to move troops and supplies while the surface becomes a continuous target. In parallel, the United States has raised the underground war a priority for its special forces, responding to the proliferation of fortified tunnels, dense urban areas and the expansion of drone swarms that force troops to seek refuge underground. The growing autonomy of unmanned systems, already present in Ukraine, accelerates this trend: in a future where aerial surveillance will be almost constant, defending in depth will mean dominating not only streets and buildings, but subways, tunnels, pipelines and interconnected bunkers. The war of the future, according to these emerging doctrines, will be fought both upwards (against drones, sensors and loitering munitions) and downwards, in an underground network that takes on strategic value. Echoes of the Cold War. He training on the U-Bahn inevitably refers to a divided Berlinwhen the city was a western enclave surrounded by Warsaw Pact forces. At that time, the United States, the United Kingdom and France were rehearsing urban operations aimed at slowing down an invasion to gain political time, aware that holding the city indefinitely was unrealistic. Units like the (secret) Detachment A They practiced sabotage and unconventional warfare techniques from the shadows. Even stations, such as Pankstraße or Siemensdamm, were designed like nuclear shelters for more than 3,000 people for weeks, with armored doors and air filtering. The reunified Germany had left behind that architecture of fear, and today, faced with a panorama of uncertainty, it returns to study how to reactivate these civil protection capabilities. The contrast is evident: what in 1994 seemed unnecessary is once again considered a strategic necessity. Historical rearmament. we have been counting. The exercise is also part of a context transformation unprecedented german military apparatus. By 2029, Berlin plans spend 153,000 million euros per year in defense (around 3.5% of GDP), an enormous jump from the levels that for decades were a source of friction with Washington. It is a rearmament designed not only for modernize capabilitiesbut to adapt the country to threats that They are no longer theoretical: What happens 900 kilometers away, in Ukraine, conditions the entire strategy. This budget increase has led NATO to consider a symbolic turn that would have been unthinkable during the Cold War: that Germany would command the allied forces in Europe. Although that moment has not arrivedthe expectation underscores the pressure on Berlin to demonstrate that it can take on top responsibilities and is willing to prepare its military for complex scenariosfrom urban sabotage to large-scale conventional warfare. Strategic warning. Teichgräber put it clearly: Nobody can guarantee that the war that is currently devastating Ukraine will not one day reach German territory. That phrase sums up the background of Bollwerk Bärlin III. The Bundeswehr trains in the subway tunnels because it understands that contemporary conflicts do not respect borders or capitals. The hybrid warcoordinated attacks on critical infrastructure and the massive use of drones They make the interior of cities as vulnerable as their borders. If you like, what is at stake is not only the defense of Berlin, but Germany’s capacity to react facing a moment in which the strategic … Read more

spent two months underground

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“I have never buried someone who had been buried before.” Those were the words from the priest who officiated the farewell ceremony Michael Meaney. Irish builder born in 1935, he died in 2003, but as the priest said, he had already been buried before. It was in 1968, when he was 33 years old, and a crowd gathered in the London neighborhood of Kilburn to see what Meaney was like. buried alive. Not by punishment or by accident, but by fashion. The living, to the hole. In a time without TikTok, the fashion was to see how people did strange things in groups and in public spaces. There were dance contests that went on until no one could anymore. People competed to see how many could fit in a telephone booth. And another trend was voluntary burials. A famous name was that of the Texan Bill White, “The Living Corpse”, and it basically consisted of people who isolated themselves in the most extreme way: inside a coffin, with kilos of dirt on top and with food and drink that came to them through a small tube. The idea was to set a record and gain some fame from it, and Michael Meaney sought that fame. “MikeBorn in Tipperary, Ireland, Meaney was a big man. “He had the strength of ten men,” some claimed, and when he emigrated to London looking for opportunities, he took advantage. He became a boxer, but after a work accident, a hand injury prevented him from continuing his career. During recovery, he trained himself not to think about the pain and an idea occurred to him: if he had trained his mind not to be distracted by situations like this, maybe he could last longer than anyone buried underground. More than anyone alive, of course. Logistics. On February 21, 1968, he organized a dinner at The Admiral Lord Nelson pub to which he invited the press and anyone who wanted to attend. They binged as a final ceremony and Meaney was buried alive. There are several red lines here: not only the fact itself, but that he did not tell his wife, who was pregnant and who found out when the news was broadcast on the radio. The coffin measured 1.90 meters long, 76 centimeters wide and 61 centimeters high. It had a hole through which Mick would relieve himself in a container with lime so it wouldn’t smell so much, food could be passed through it and the interior was lined with foam to make it more comfortable. Interview from beyond the grave. It was buried about three meters deep and was intended to last 100 days. Coincidences of life, in Texas Bill White was also doing the same thing at that time (I already said that he made a living like this). What was a test of endurance and a quest for fame had become a competition. Apart from eating, when dawn came he got into the routine of doing some push-ups (as far as space left inside, of course) to stay active, and he also had a light that allowed him to read. He also had his crucifix. Should we remove him by force? On the surface, there were times that were busier than others. There were those who came to chat with Meaney through the telephone line that they deployed, they also told him they went down a camera down the tube so he could take a selfie. But the place wasn’t always guarded (he wasn’t going anywhere either) and on one occasion a passing truck compressed the newly piled earth, threatening Meaney’s integrity. Someone noticed and intervened, but there was some concern about the young man’s condition and the case reached the House of Commons, where it was discussed whether they should take action and remove Meaney against his will. to the surface. In the end, they chose to stay still, but not everyone remained impassive. One of his friends, the one who helped him bury himself, in fact, insisted on removing him when he had been in the hole for 61 days. He had beaten White and he said he wanted to be there for more than 100 days, but they didn’t allow him. After half an hour of digging, the coffin emerged and, to the sound of bagpipes, a procession carried a waving Meany with his dirt-covered hand through the hole to the Admiral Lord Nelson pub. When they opened the cover, a slimmer Mick, wearing sunglasses to avoid glare and with a thick beard, confessed that he felt great and that he had only missed more conversation. Monumental chestnut. The problem is that, if he did all this looking for some immediate fame, it was of no use. No one called the Guinness World Records auditors, so they couldn’t give official recognition. Do you remember that Bill White had reburied himself right at the same time as Mick? Well, if the Irishman left at 61 days, the Texan left at 62 and 22 hours. He also failed to monetize fame. He was promised money for making some appearances, but in July of that year he declared that he didn’t have a penny. Quite an “example”. Still, Mick was considered something of a local hero and having a story to tell won. His “feat”, and that of those who preceded him (with people who they arrived up to 147 days), was a danger to both the physical and mental health of those who undertook the journey, so much so that even the Guinness decided In 1991, they stopped giving importance to these actions with the aim of not promoting competition. Although seeing some challenges on social networksthe thing hasn’t changed much from the fashion in which there were those who buried themselves alive to try to monetize the feat. And if you want to know what it’s like to be buried alive, you always have a simulator. Images | British Pathe In Xataka | Some YouTubers buried a … Read more

Madrid Metro has spent millions on advanced machines to cover them like shacks

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It was February 14, 2024 when the Community of Madrid confirmed the last investment with which he was going to get married had been committed: 145 ticket vending machines to access the Madrid underground. The deployment came in large numbers. The almost one hundred and a half devices are part of the second phase of the Metro Technological Improvement Planan investment that also includes, for example, the renovation of hundreds of Metro access turnstiles. The investment tries to give a new face to facilities that are beginning to become small after not having received large investments in the last 20 years. Now, line 6 is being modernized, line 11 is being expanded and the stations are receiving new equipment to adapt to the new transport titles. Click on the image to go to the original tweet Equipment that, in the case of these machines, will be deployed in 19 stations. The first ones, boasted the account of X of the Madrid Metrothey arrived this same week. The leap in quality is evident: 42-inch high-definition screens and even the possibility of opening a video call with Metro services to ask for help if any complications arise. Latest technology devices to be distributed at some of the busiest Metro stations in the capital such as those at the airport, Nuevos Ministerios, Feria de Madrid or Príncipe Pío, among others. Very advanced machines with “Metta’s 4.0 technology,”in the words of the company itself. Machines to which Metro de Madrid has had to put a plastic umbrella. And of course, they have unleashed mockery on social networks. 7.7 million euros and a piece of plastic “It’s plastic. Greetings” This has been the answer that the Madrid Metro has given X to a multitude of users who have asked why the company has put uralite umbrellas on its newest and most advanced machines. Despite describing the innovations and advantages of these machines, many users have focused on that plastic appendage that appears at the top of the machine. An appendix that, without a doubt, is reminiscent of the uralite roofs, everything must be said. Indeed, we could continue with the concise answers of how the person behind the social networks of the Madrid Metro has tried to appease the responses to the shabby difficult to explain solution that the company has used to protect its machines. Madrid Metro has defended itself reiterating that this plastic roof has been installed because the station is leaking. Some leaks that, according to the company, are not its responsibility and, therefore, for the moment the machines will be protected with this particular umbrella for as long as necessary. Meanwhile, Madrid Metro users will be able to use “the intelligent keyboard for destination selection” with “natural language recognition capacity” that the devices have. They can establish a video call with the operators if they need telematic help and they can even obtain new transportation tickets to travel. Of course, we recommend that users open the umbrella. There are leaks. Photo | Madrid Metro In Xataka | 1,500 tons in weight, 100 meters long and one objective: excavate Metro Line 11 in Carabanchel

House prices are so sky-high that a millionaire built a tree house and spent a fortune on it

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High housing prices have caused buy a house has become little less than a utopia for many people, especially the youngest. Todd Graves, a Louisiana millionaire who founded the fried chicken restaurant chain Raising Cane’sdecided to do something different and quite crazy: build a house on the top of a giant tree in the garden of his mansion in Baton Rouge. It is not a toy house, but a real house, with everything you expect to find in a conventional house, but looking at the entire landscape from above. A house, on a house, near another house The millionaire did not decide to build his peculiar house in the heights due to lack of space for his family. In fact, the Graves have built the house on a more than 30-meter live oak tree that is in the garden of their enormous mansion, and right next to the 465-square-meter guest house. As the businessman confessed in a recent interview with Forbesdecided to build a house 20 meters high in 2015, after seeing one of the television shows Treehouse Masters. In the show, a group of professionals are dedicated to build tree houses. However, Graves wasn’t interested in just any house: He asked the team to build a real house with three floors, a terrace, a dining room, a bedroom and even a bathroom with running water. For anyone who doesn’t have a checking account with millions of dollars in it, this sounds strange:why spend so much on something like that When can you have everything on dry land? Graves assures that he uses it to disconnect and have fun, which is like going back to childhood, but as an adult. “It’s fun to have magical things,” he said. A house to move into…if you can afford it The Graves tree house has a first level with a terrace of about 42 square meters to enjoy the outdoors equipped with a slide and another 37 square meters in a living room on the first floor, with everything what a house needs to be comfortable, including a bar counter and a bathroom with running water inside. In addition, for its construction they used wood from an old sewing factory and stained glass that they rescued after the Hurricane Katrina that devastated the area, which gives it a special touch and full of history. On the upper floor, a room invites you to relax and rest, with views that are beginning to be unsuitable for those with vertigo. However, the final climax puts it a viewpoint at the highest part of the construction from which you can see the entire landscape that surrounds the mansion from a height of 25 meters. In addition, it has a suspension bridge almost 21 meters long that connects with another viewpoint overlooking a nearby lake. The millionaire’s whim is truly spectacular, but to the same extent as its cost. Build all this infrastructure It cost $400,000 in 2015a sum that for a normal person is a fortune, but for Todd it represents only 0.002% of his immense fortune, estimated at more than 22 billion dollars, according to data of Forbes. A meeting point for celebrities Graves’ treehouse is not only a treat for his children and their friends to play in, but Graves uses it as a refuge to clear your mind and “improve your performance at Raising Cane’s.” For him, it is a space that combines fun, childhood nostalgia and creativity, even if it is an unnecessary luxury in the eyes of many. The peculiar construction has become a meeting point for some famous friends of the businessman. Rappers like Snoop Dogg and Nelly, and athletes like Shaquille O’Neal and NFL star Ja’Marr Chase have stopped by after appearing on the show.Treehouse Masters’. In fact, Shaquille O’neal liked the Graves treehouse so much that he commissioned a similar one for his home in Georgia from the same builders. On that occasion, the lack of a tree the size of the 100-foot Graves oak made the house a little more contained in terms of dimensions and height. The height already Shaq brings it as standard. In Xataka | A businessman built a mega mansion without permission: the neighbors have gotten the city council to demolish it Image | Raising Cane’s, Animal Planet

Sam Altman spent 6,500 million to create a Gadget from AI next to Jony Ive. Now they face a problem

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In September 2023, Sam Altman, CEO of Openai and Jony Ive, former chief chief in Apple, gathered to devise a revolutionary device they called “the iPhone of the AI”. They were serious because this year Openai bought the Startup of IVE for a whopping 6,500 million dollars. A halo of smoke Mystery has surrounded this collaboration since it was announced and now that new news arrives is because the project has problems, some more serious than others. The “problems.” They tell it in Financial Times. Openai wants to launch its mysterious Gadget Superventas next year. However, sources close to the company ensure that the project has encountered critical problems that could delay its arrival. The team is having difficulties when deciding the personality that the wizard will have, something crucial for a device designed to always be on. There are also doubts about whether to do it as the classic assistants that are only activated when we invoke them or allow it to act by yourself when you consider it useful. The big problem. Assuming that Altman is right and his gadget becomes a global success, the most serious problem they face is that OpenAi does not have the necessary computing power to operate its models on a massive use device, and that costs money (something that OpenAi is not left over precisely). In the case of Alexa or the Google, Amazon and Google assistant they have plenty of computing to make them work without depending on anyone else. OpenAi has chatgpt, The most popular chatbot in the worldand need to work with external investments. First it was his Alliance with Microsoftafter SoftBank’s investment, according to Nvidia And the newly announced according to AMD. If the gadget they want to launch ends up being massive as Altman wants, the numbers do not come out. The device. We do not know what you will call or what design will you have. The details that Altman and Ive gave in their day were quite lazyIn fact, they focused more on saying what it will not be than what will be. It will be similar to the mobile, but it will not be a mobile. Nor will it have a screen, but we will communicate with him through cameras, microphones and speakers. And they will not be glasses either. Nothing concrete, but for the moment it reminds a lot of Ai pin of Humane, that He failed loudly. OpenAi goes for hardware. OpenAI enters $ 1,000 million per monthbut the speed to which money burns is much higher than the one that enters it and would need to enter ten times more to be profitable. Even so, the company is already valued in half a billion dollars. Entry into the hardware business makes sense as a way of justifying its value. Beyond the doubts that arise around this mysterious device (They are many), Openai is very serious about creating a hardware division. When buying the IVE startup, they added 20 employees and later They hired several Apple experts and also of the finish team in charge of the target Quest and smart glasses. We will have to keep waiting to see if it ends up materializing in In Xataka | Data centers for AI are an energy hole. Jeff Bezos’s solution: Build them in space

Chinese astronauts have spent six hours reinforcing tiangong against an increasingly dangerous enemy: space garbage

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The night in orbit just leaves truce. In low orbit, the Tiangong Space Station It becomes the scene of a constant activity that requires millimeter precision. In the last extravehicular exitChinese astronauts had to face a challenge that does not come from technical failures or scientific experiments, but from a silent enemy that multiplies the risks of each mission: the Space garbage which accumulates in the low terrestrial orbit and threatens to hit the structure of the complex. The schedule of China’s manned flight agency places the start of extravehicular activity on September 25 at 19:45 (Beijing time), with Wang Jie as the first astronaut to leave the Wentian module. It was followed shortly after Chen Zhongrui, in charge of attending the installation of the equipment. Chen Dong, from inside Tiangong, managed communications with the control center and supported his teammates throughout the maneuver. The walk concluded at dawn, at 1:35 of September 26, when the two crew closed the hatch after completing the planned agenda. The maneuver was carried out with support from the robotic arm of the station and the team on land. Sludes against fragments: Tiangong’s strategy to resist in space During the walk, the main objective was to install a protection device against Orbital fragmentsdesigned to reinforce the most exposed areas of the station. The operation also included the review of the state of external equipment and structures, with special attention to the systems that suffer greater wear due to continuous exposure to the spatial environment. According to those responsible for the programthis combination of installation and maintenance seeks to ensure that Tiangong maintains its operational capacity in the middle of an increasingly saturated environment of remains. The increase in spatial garbage in the low orbit is one of the factors that most worries agencies in recent years. Each launch adds fragments that, although small, reach speeds that multiply their damage. For China, reinforcing Tiangong does not respond to a specific incident, but to the need to get ahead of an increasingly complex scenario. China is not the only one that has had to reinforce its station in the face of the threat of orbital fragments. The International Space Station Specific armor systems for years have beenknown as anti-mmod shields, which protect their habitable modules from impacts from Micrometeoritos and space garbage. The difference is in the context: it is an infrastructure with more than two decades of service, which has needed to adapt continuously to an increasingly congested environment. In the ISS, this philosophy materializes in shields in Whipple and Stupfed Whipple layers, with several hundred shields distributed in critical areas. The comparison between Tiangong and the International Space Station helps to understand the scope of its protection systems. The Chinese station completed its construction in 2022 with a T configuration formed by the Tianhe, Wentian and Mengtian modules. The ISS, on the other hand, began to assemble in 1998 and ended its main segment in 2011, with a much broader and more complex structure. This difference in dimensions and seniority explains why its shields follow different logics: ISS combines protections included from its design with reinforcements added over the years, while Tiangong integrates solutions designed from the beginning for a more congested environment. The closure of this extravehicular activity does not imply a break, but the beginning of a new stage for the Shenzhou-20 mission. The three astronauts They will continue with numerous scientific experiments and technological tests, in addition to participating in on -board celebrations linked to the Chinese calendar. The installation of additional shields has a clear objective: to hold over time the crew safety and the integrity of Tiangong, which aspires to consolidate as a stable basis for space research in the midst of a more demanding orbital environment. Images | Xinhua In Xataka | 24 years ago, the earth was symmetrical. Now the northern hemisphere is “unequivocally” darker than the southern hemisphere

Nvidia will invest 100,000 million dollars in OpenAI. Actually a single euro will not be spent

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Openai has signed a “strategic agreement” with Nvidia. According to this agreementNvidia “intends to invest up to 100,000 million dollars” in OpenAI gradually, but the truth is that this investment is misleading. Especially since Openai will spend those 100,000 million dollars to buy GPUS to Nvidia. Everything remains at home. What happened. These two companies have initiated the procedures to complete an agreement with a clear objective: create and display AI data centers With a joint gigantic computing capacity: 10 GW. The investment will be made gradually and will be completed “as each gigawatt” of computing capacity is installed in those Data centers. Nvidia will thus become a “computing partner and strategic connectivity” for the development plans of new data centers, says Openai. Millions of Gpus. According to Jensen Huang statementsCEO of Nvidia, that represents between four and five million gpus. Or what is the same: it is the number of units of their GPUS of ia that they expect to distribute this year, and “twice the ones we distributed last year.” The strategy “seller finances buyer”. This agreement is not a simple investment, but a strategic association in which the hardware provider invests a massive amount of money in its main client. In return that client undertakes create a mass infrastructure With supplier technology. It is nothing more than a closed cycle: Nvidia gives OpenAi money, and OpenAi uses it to buy Nvidia products. This sounds like a bubble. There is Several analysts that They speak How this remembers once again The bubble of the Puntocomwhere companies lent money to buy products from the other. That raises suspicions and questions about the long -term sustainability of these agreements. Companies becoming stronger among them. The circular agreement serves in fact to strengthen both companies and solidify their positions as dominant and indispensable actors in the AI ​​industry. In fact, this strategic alliance makes rivals like AMD or Intel very difficult. Nvidia is worth 170,000 million dollars more. The announcement caused immediate reactions in the NVIDIA assessment, whose shares increased almost 4%. The stock market capitalization of the company of Jensen Huan grew by 170,000 million dollars in that session and already touch the 4.5 billion dollars, and manages to distance itself even more from Microsoft, Apple or Google, which already exceed three billion. Long live Hype. Here once again there is a reinforcement of the speech of expectations and Hype. The confidence of these companies in the future of AI is patent, but they are interested and for now Openai’s income – no rivals – are well below spending They are doing in these technologies. Energy challenge. The plans to create infrastructure with 10 GW capacity are also astronomical. According to Some estimatesthose 10 gigawatts They are equivalent to the production of about 10 nuclear reactors, which normally provide a capacity of 1 GW per plant. A colossal cost. The current data centers range between very modest capabilities of 10 MW and other extraordinary 1 GW. Openai’s plans would leave those facilities very behind in computing capacity. In August Huang told investors to create a 1 GW data center is a cost of between 50,000 and 60,000 million dollars, of which about 35,000 are dedicated to Nvidia chips. With those figures, the total cost of those 10 GW of joint computing power would amount to more than 500,000 million dollars, a figure that – one—curiously— It coincides with that of the Project Stargate. Image | Flikr (Techcrunch) | Nvidia In Xataka | 5,000 “tokens” of my blog are being used to train an AI. I have not given my permission

The entrepreneur’s odyssey that bought an old cruise, spent a million dollars on its restoration and could not enjoy it

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Not all projects that dream of having their own ship come to fruition. A while ago we met The story of Clyde Stireswho built a huge yacht at home. The story of Chris Willson It is equally interesting. Unlike Stires, Willson bought an old German origin cruise and spent a fortune to restore it. After years of effort, their plans faded quickly. It all started 16 years ago when our protagonist was browsing the web and found an unusual ads: someone was selling a transatlantic that was tied in Decker Island, California. Without thinking too much, this technological entrepreneur decided to invest in the boat. After closing the acquisition in 2008, he moved his new ship to the Rio Vista to restore it. Restoration and problems Willson now had a boat with enough history. The cruise had been built by the Shipyard Blohm and Voss in 1955. Passengers were traveling from one continent to another on a boat of 72 meters of length that had 85 cabins, different rooms, gastronomic spaces and galleries. Not only stood out in his transatlantic trips, but he had also appeared in the movie ‘From Russia with Love‘by James Bond. As CNN collectsThe man baptized the ship as “Aurora” after spending his first night on board. “I woke up with one of the brightest sunrises I had seen in my life,” he said. But not everything in the project was so perfect. Willson was forced to move the ship several times while performing the restoration tasks, although it was clear that he wanted his ship to be in shallow waters. For more than a decade, Willsson and several volunteer collaborators made all kinds of works in a “artisanal” way To improve the ship. Things, however, began to change in recent years. Aurora was tied in a Californian sports port called Herman & Helen’s Marina, when some locals and local authorities began to pressure so that the ship was transferred to another place. They feared a sinking. An old dragaminas baptized as HMCS Chaleur It was in the same area for a long time and a military tug of the 1940s had recently sunk generating concerns related to environmental pollution. With an eviction order at the door, Willson evaluated the cost of taking out the ship, but needed to spend about one million dollars on river works to complete the tasks. It was simply an amount of money impossible to assume. Willson had received donations To continue with your project, partly by The popularity of your YouTube channel. The only apparent solution was to sell it with the hope that a new owner could continue with the project ahead, but things soon trucked once again. In mid -2024, the Delegation of the Sheriff of the County of San Joaquín announced that Aurora was sinking. “It has been determined that the ship has a hole,” said the authorities. In this regard, they added that there had also been a spill of diesel fuel, forced the intervention of different agencies to contain the problem. In December last year, the ship was finally towed to Mare Island, north of California. There, the cranes disassembled their steel structure piece by piece until it made it disappear. Today no longer exists: The only thing that remains is an invoice of 8.2 million dollars for the costs of scratch. The authorities do not rule out undertake legal actions to purify responsibilities and recover part of the money. Images | Sheriff delegation from San Joaquín County | Aurora Restorration Project In Xataka | Europe is so dry that its rivers are revealing all kinds of treasures. Even a Nazi army of World War II

A millionaire spent a money to paint an exclusive RUF CTR YellowBird. I didn’t expect them to return it by doing the pine

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Who plays with fire can burn, and who transports cars valued at millions of dollars also runs the risk of burning since the slightest carelessness can generate damage valued in thousands of dollars. This is what happened to a passionate owner of a RUF CTR ‘YellowBird’, one of the 80 more rare derivatives of Classic Porsche 911. After investing more than $ 150,000 in maintenance tasks and a total repainting of his painting, the valuable car It ended up rugged When downloading it from the truck that transported it before the stunned look of its owner. An icon of the 80s: the Ruf Ctr ‘YellowBird’ The RUF CTR ‘YellowBird’ is a modified version of the Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 and developed by the German firm Ruf, specialized in converting the sports firm’s sports car In authentic beasts. Specifically, only 29 units of this RUF CTR ‘YellowBird’ were built, which makes it one of the most coveted cars in classic auctions, and a usual of cars video games. His exclusivity has led him to reach historical figures: in March 2024, one of these units was sold for 6.05 million dollars, As reported Topgear. Despite being based on the chassis of the Porsche 911, the Ruf Ctr It was very different In specifications. Its weight was reduced to 1,170 kg thanks to the use of aluminum in several body panels and carbon fiber defenses. It mounted a six -cylinder boxer engine with double KKK turbocharger, double intercooler and a DME injection system derived from the Porsche 962 competition. All of the above granted 476 hp of power and a maximum torque of 553 Nm, capable of exceeding 342 km/h in official tests, surpassing Ferrari F40 by then. Of “yellow bird” to bright black Be that as it may, the Ruf Ctr ‘YellowBird’ protagonist of this story is one of these 29 unique copies that originally went on the market with a body painted in a striking yellow color, as indicated by its last name ‘YellowBird’. Looking for a more elegant appearance, the owner resident in California sent his unit to the RUF headquarters in Germany so that, in addition to making mechanical adjustments, the car in bright black was repainted. For many collectors, modifying the original color of such an iconic model may seem risky, but in this case, the change added an even greater touch of distinction. As you can imagine, neither the transfer nor the restoration process was at all cheap. In total, the owner disbursed more than $ 150,000, according to details Road & Track. These types of restoration operations are common between collectors of high -value cars, which do not hesitate to send their vehicles even to other continents to ensure that they are in the hands of experts accredited by the manufacturer. A very expensive carelessness The tragedy arrived just when the owner was about to receive his Ruf Ctr back and with his new body color. When downloading it from the truck in the transport gondola, the car tires were not correctly secured, which caused it to slide through the ramp without control. Deportivo fell painfully from an approximate height of 2.4 meters, hitting the ground on the rear bumper, while the front was raised at a 45 degree angle on the truck. Touch the image to go to the original message The images of a six million dollar car making the pine on a transport truck soon became viral on social networks, and accounts like @johnclaywolfeshowThey shared them on Instagram accompanied by messages such as “Guess how many millions this little bird was worth.” In these photos you can see the transport operator inside the car at the time of the accident, observing impotent how a newly restored collection piece suffered damage that has not yet been evaluated at all but that, without a doubt, will mean an important disbursement for the person responsible. In Xataka | A Ferrari F40 of $ 700,000 Image | RM Sotherby’s (Stephan Bauer)

Stress for not running out of rare earth is dominating technological ones. Apple has just spent 500 million

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Apple has signed An agreement with MP Materialsa US mining company, to ensure the supply of magnets made of rare earths over the next few years. The company led by Tim Cook will invest 500 million dollars In this company with the purpose of eliminating its current dependence on Rare earth from China. However, the supply of rare land magnets of American origin will begin in 2027. This strategic decision is Apple’s response to two needs. The most obvious is that those of Cupertino need to have access to rare earth magnets without being conditioned by The iron control that China currently exercises on the global supply chain of these chemical elements. In addition, its investment in MP Materials has been very well received by the administration of Donald Trump as part of the commitment acquired by Apple at the end of last February. And is that on the 24th of that month the Cupertino announced that will invest 500,000 million dollars During the next four years in the US and will create 20,000 new jobs. In any case, this scenario invites us to ask us two questions. On the one hand it is important to identify why rare earth magnets are so important for Apple and other technology companies. And it is also crucial that we know how China has achieved dominate in such a forceful way the global supply chain of rare earths. Rare earths are essential to make advanced technology “Rare earth materials are fundamental to producing advanced technology, and our association with MP Materials will help strengthen the supply of these vital elements here, in the United States,” has declared Tim Cookthe Director General of Apple. Permanent magnets made with rare earths, such as neodymium or samarium-colto, are very attractive for electronic devices manufacturers because they have high magnetic force, great resistance to demagnetization and high thermal stability, among other remarkable qualities. In fact, they are not essential only for the electronics industry; They also have a leading role in the sector that is dedicated to the manufacture of electric cars, in the aeronautical and in the advanced armament production industry. The problem for the US and its allies is that currently the rare earth supply chain It is almost completely controlled by China. This Asian country produces 70% of rare earths and controls 90% of the processing industry of these chemical elements. Rare earth magnets are very attractive due to their high magnetic force, great resistance to demagnetization and high thermal stability On April 4, just 24 hours after Donald Trump announced the taxes that he was going to apply to the importation of most products from abroad, The administration led by Xi Jinping responded. And he did it forcefully. In early December 2024 He chose to prohibit The export of some critical minerals to the US, among which were three essential metals for the chips industry: Gallium, Germanio and Antimony. Shortly after the Chinese government added two more critical metals to its list of export restrictions: the Scandio and the Disposio. These chemical elements are probably less known than metals prohibited by China previously, such as Gallium or Germanio, but are at least as important as the latter because They have a fundamental role In the industries of integrated circuits, telecommunications and the manufacture of storage devices. The ability to put pressure from China had not yet been extinguished. Just ten days later, on April 14, the Administration did not hesitate take another step forward With the purpose of putting in check, in addition to the industries that I just mentioned, those of electric cars, aeronautics and advanced armament. To achieve this, it effectively suspended, in addition to the export of the most valuable rare earths, that of high -power magnets that have a critical role in the industries that I have cited in this same paragraph. This is the context in which MP Materials has erected as a crucial actor for the US. And this mining company is the owner of the only site in this country that contains some of the rare earths necessary to manufacture high -power industrial magnets. This is the reason why it has become A very valuable strategic resource For the country led by Donald Trump. The US plan pursues Develop your own supply chain of rare earths with the purpose of eliminating any dependence on the global market of these chemical elements. Image | Daniel L. Lu More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US will not be able to contain the technological development of China. Experts from the chips industry forecast it

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