Year

What is a light year and why it is impossible to travel in less than a year, according to Einstein’s relativity

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Among all the rules that govern the universe, one of the most iconic and at the same time difficult to understand is the universal speed limit. The speed of light is not only an unwavering constant: it is the link between matter and energy, as Albert Einstein described with the most famous formula of science: E = Mc². Can Asom to the foundations of our own existencebut not travel to more than “C”. Only light can travel a light year in a year. Let’s define constants: the speed of light The speed of light is the key piece in Einstein’s equation. That “C” is not only a number, but the conversion factor that unites the concepts of mass (m) and energy (e). It is a constant that represents the speed of light in a vacuum, but also the speed limit for the spread of any type of information, signal or material particle in the universe. If you think very strong, it is the limit of causality itself: an effect cannot occur before its cause, spreading at the maximum “C” speed, can reach it. This speed is the same for any observer in the universe, regardless of their own state of movement. If you travel in a hypothetical 99% spacecraft of the speed of light and light a flashlight, the light of that flashlight will move away from you exactly at the speed of light, not to a fraction of it. It is one of the universal constants of physics. And the observations of the cosmic microwave background, The remaining light of the Big BangThey confirm that it has not changed measurable in more than 13.8 billion years. What speed is light, then? Although it sounds strange, the speed of light in a vacuum has an exact and defined value: 299,792,458 meters per second. To put it in more earthly figures, it is equivalent to almost one billion kilometers per hour. A photon of light would go around the earth’s Ecuador about 7.5 times in a single second. It is, according to Albert Einstein’s special relativity theory, the definitive and unwavering speed limit of the universe. An epic about measuring the above Calculating the speed of light has been one of the great sagas of science. After the philosophical debates of ancient Greece and an ingenious but failed attempt from Galileo using lamps between distant hills, the first estimate came in 1676. Observing the eclipses of ío, one of Jupiter’s moons, the Danish astronomer Ole Rømer noticed that they had a different duration According to the time of the year. He deduced that it was due to the additional time that the light took to cross the orbit of the earth when our planet moved away from Jupiter. Rømer estimated the speed of light in 220,000 km/s, a surprisingly close figure for the time. Half a century later, in 1728, the English physicist James Bradley He refined this measure using a different method: the aberration of stellar light. He noted that the apparent position of the stars changed slightly due to the speed of the earth in their orbit. Something similar to how rain seems to fall at angle when we run. From this effect, it calculated a speed of 301,000 km/s, a value with an error of just 1%. Michelson’s experiment. Image | Popular Science (1930) It was not until 1887 that scientists discovered the most surprising aspect of the speed of light. Albert Michelson and Edward Morley tried to detect the “luminous ether”, an invisible half assumption that, according to the belief of the time, filled the space to allow the propagation of light. With Your experiment They hoped to measure a difference in the speed of light depending on whether it moved in favor or against the “ether wind” created by the movement of the earth. However, they found no variation at all. Sometimes, scientific progress does not come from finding what is sought, but of accepting the evidence that hits old certainty. This was how this failure It became one of the most important results in the history of physics. He showed that the speed of light was constant regardless of the observer’s movement, knocking down the ether theory and laying the empirical bases for the revolution that Einstein would unleash later. What is a light year and what is used for Since 1983, the speed of light is no longer something that scientists try to measure with increasing precision. Its value was set with such accuracy which is now the meter itself that is defined according to the light. One meter is “the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 seconds.” This change hides a deep truth: the constancy of the speed of light is a more fundamental property of our universe than our own units of measure. We no longer use meters to measure the speed of light, we use the speed of light to define the subway. And this is how one of the largest units of measure we use is born, and that has been crucial to understand the immense scales of the universe. Although your name includes the word “year”, a light year is not a measure of time, but of distance. In a nutshell, a light year is the distance that a ray of light travels in a vacuum during the course of a terrestrial year. That is, in 365 days. Given the incredible speed at which the light travels, it is an astronomical distance, of approximately 9.5 billion kilometers. We use the light years because the distances in space are so huge that measuring them in kilometers would be totally impractical. For example, The exoplanet closest to EarthNext Centauri B, is about 4.2 light years away. In kilometers, that figure would be almost 40 billion, a much more difficult number to handle and contextualize. How a light year is calculated in kilometers A laser indicates the center of the galaxy … Read more

The megaindios of Ourense, Zamora and León have paralyzed the Galician bird. It is the nth setback in a horrible year for Renfe

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The Madrid-Galicia bird had become an oasis for Renfe. The Spanish company, objective of all kinds of criticism during 2025 had seen how the Galician corridor was even bending the arm to the airlines. The fires are, now, the last unexpected twist that leaves a trail of cancellations, delays and travelers desperate to find an alternative route to the train. Fires. They are, without any doubt, the news that marks the rate of today in Spain. When we write these linesthere are more than 40 active fires in our country. Of these, two out of three foci They are located in Castilla y León. In addition, only in Ourense (Galicia) have burned more than 60,000 hectares. Lack of resources, forests that are lacking maintenance and one heat wave that seems to have no end They have been the perfect fuel to find ourselves in a situation that has been out of control. Click on the image to go to the original tweet Cut. With the provinces of Zamora, León and Ourense surrounded by the fire, the bird has stopped completely. This morning, Renfe confirmed in his X account that the circulation was interrupted “until the competent authorities allow resumption.” It is the fifth day that Renfe keeps the high -speed line between Madrid and Galicia suspended since Last Thursday, August 14, it would be suspended For the first time the rail service. The previous day, Wednesday, August 13the company already had to suspend some of the paths during the afternoon. Click on the image to go to the original publication From Madrid to Zamora. At the moment, the only solution that Renfe has given is to open a train that makes the journey between Madrid and Zamora. With an eye on the evolution of the fires, for the moment the only alternative they keep open is the one mentioned in the image superior. In the responses to the publication, Renfe confirms that There is no alternative plan For travelers who had tickets bought for any of the Galician cities. Bus alternatives have not been established, For example, and they don’t guarantee When can you return to normal. The nth problem. The interruption of traffic in the Galician corridor is the nth bad news for the company that is living a 2025 to forget. If we make a list of everything that has happened in the previous seven months that we have throughout the year we find the following: A flying line. The situation is even more complicated, taking into account that the Galician corridor was being the line that was best working at Renfe. As high speed has been settling, the data says There is a traveler transfer from the plane to the trainwhich is offered as a more flexible and interesting alternative if you want to spend less than 24-36 hours in Madrid. Besides, The particularities of the line and orders saturation to manufacturers have caused Renfe to have a dominant position on competitors. Although the line is liberalized and any company can operate, the truth is that companies such as Ouigo lack adequate rolling material and They do not expect to have it in the short term. What can the traveler do? At the moment, little if I planned to use the high speed line between Madrid and Galicia. As we have seen, Renfe is only partially offering, between Madrid and Zamora. Once there, there is no other than taking a car or a bus to continue the trip. Options for traveling tomorrow, August 19, between Santiago de Compostela and Madrid Shot prices. The other option, of course, is to fly from Madrid to one of the Galician airports. Of course, from one day to another, flying from Madrid to Vigo, to Coruña or Santiago de Compostela forces to invest more than 100 euros per ticket (there are only three options for less than that money and Vigo does not have them) and in some cases the prices per trip exceed 300 euros. But the trip is very complicated in the reverse sense. From one day to another, the cheapest option to travel between Vigo and Madrid forces to disburse 369 euros, from A Coruña you can travel from 272 euros and from Santiago de Compostela you have to disburse 379 euros. All data have been taken from the flight search engine Skyscanner. Photo | Hugh Llewelyn and Ume In Xataka | Each new data we know about the AVE in Spain points in the same direction: it is winning the game to Barajas

Eclipse fever has filled Soria and Teruel one year after producing

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It is Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Shortly after half past eight in the afternoon, the sunset light becomes strange, as a metal, the air suddenly cools and the birds are silent. From a hill of Burgos or a rock of Soria, thousands of people observe how the moon has completely covered the sun. Exactly one year is left to total solar eclipse that will obscure Spain for the first time in more than a century. World capital of astronomical tourism. The Eclipse of 2026 will mark the opening act of an unrepeatable cosmic carambola in several generations: the “Iberian trio”, a sequence of three solar eclipses (two totals and one annular) that They will cross the country in 2026, 2027 and 2028turning Spain, for three consecutive years, in the world capital of astronomy. The countdown for the first eclipse, which will bless the north of the country, has begun, and what is at stake goes beyond two minutes of shade. Emptied Spain, where hotels and light pollution is scarce equallyprepares to fill itself as never before. In Airbnb alone, searches have increased by 830%. “Especially in rural destinations such as Teruel and Ariza (in Aragon), Guadalajara (in Castilla-La Mancha), Reus (in Catalonia), sample of Los Olmos (in the Valencian Community) or Valldessa (in the Balearic Islands),” an Airbnb spokeswoman told Xataka. Eclipses hunters have already reserved. In Calatañazor, a small medieval Soriana villa that looks from the heights La Vega del Río Milanos, are “up to the eclipse”. The Casa del Cura told Xataka that the entire inn has been reserved for months by American and French clients. “They get to everything first.” Similar responses are repeated in much of the province, where the phase of the entire eclipse will last 1 minute and 42 seconds. “The first reservations are received last summer, two years in advance,” the Rural Hotel Pinares de Soria, in Molinos de Duero, told Xataka. Eclipses hunters choose Spain because alternatives are not so encouraging in clouds (Siberia, Greenland and Iceland). And the most early stay with the peoples of the Iberian for their low light pollution. Few rooms, triggered prices. With much less beds than coastal municipalities, the occupation in the villages of emptied Spain has shot, but also prices. Although it does not allow to reserve so in advance, the Castilla thermal Hotel in the Burgo de Osma has already been able to estimate its rates: the night in a double room for eclipse day will be around 500 euros, twice its current price. “The Solar Eclipse of 2026 is a unique opportunity that places the Spanish rural communities in the center of the world map,” summarizes Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago, director of Airbnb in Spain. Meanwhile, in hotel Spain. While Airbnb has enormous penetration in the rental of rural houses and apartments in small villages, Booking.com still has its main strength in the hotel offer, concentrated mostly in cities. Unlike Airbnb, Booking has seen more growth in provincial capitals than in rural areas. Especially in Santiago de Compostela (+85%), A Coruña (+67%), Bilbao (+45%) and Zaragoza (+39%), according to the statements sent to Xataka by the platform. Luxury eclipse. The entire eclipse band will enter the Peninsula along the Asturian coast and will leave by Castellón, passing, minutes before sunset, on the island of Mallorca. These coastal areas have emerged as “Premium” options to enjoy the astronomical phenomenon. Despite the Counterreloj career with sunsetMallorca has become the luxury option with 6,000 -euro tourist packages of 6,000 euros per person and suites at 1,700 euros the night that are already reserved. Hotels on the coast of La Tramuntana, such as the Port de Sóller, They have already sold 65% of the accommodation For those dates. Everyone wants their piece of cake. And public machinery is already underway. Asturias will enjoy the maximum duration of the eclipse in national territory (1 minute and 48 seconds in Oviedo). The Principality has announced the elaboration of a map of insurance points to avoid agglomerations, ocular health campaigns and an international conference with NASA experts to position the region as a reference in the space industry. Under the motto “Burgos Te Eclipsa”, the Diputación de Burgos has also presented today A 12 -month program of activities and a website. The web recommends six strategic observation zones in different regions (Merindades, Bureba, Demand, Arlanza and Ribera del Duero), remembering that King Alfonso XIII has already chosen the province to see the total eclipse of 1905. A stress test. Despite the good economic prospects, the eclipse of August 12, 2026 will not be a stress test for the country, especially in areas that are not prepared for the influx of so many tourists. The Government has created an interministerial commission To face possible challenges, such as road traffic and infrastructure overload such as water, light or mobile connection in rural areas. Not only the Sorian hoteliers of villages of 40 inhabitants are overwhelmed with so much called by the eclipse. The countdown for a historical eclipse has begun in much of the country. Image | Henar boats (Unspash) In Xataka | A third of Spain will be completely dark for one or two minutes. The astronomical event of the century is approaching

This worker combined three jobs for a year. They threw it out of the three the same day

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We don’t know if We will run out of work because of AI, But for the moment we do know that There are people carrying the concept of multi -employment to another level. Many share their experience in the Reddit Overemployed community And there has been a case that has caught the attention. A worker tells that he had three simultaneous jobs and, without waiting for him, on the same day he has lost them all. According to the worker, the fault has LinkedIn. What happened. The worker himself tells in This Reddit publication. He is dedicated to sales in the technological sector and during the last year he has been hired in three companies at the same time. The companies were not aware of this situation and thought that the employee was with them exclusively. Everything was going well until one of his bosses tried to look for him on LinkedIn and, not finding him, he began to suspect. LinkedIn’s chivato. The boss who looked for him in LinkedIn did not find him because the employee had been in charge of blocking the whole world of company No. 2 not to discover him. However, he did not count on the boss to contact the hiring agency, which he had not blocked and that he could access the profile where he put that he had another job in company No. 1. Not only did they say goodbye, they also contacted the company No. 1 that, in less than an hour, also fired him. Unemployed. He still had a job, a company in which he had been working for two years. Nor could he keep it. Those responsible for the company Nº2 contacted them and at the end of the same day he had lost all three works. In this case it was not for LinkedIn, but because the worker mentioned the company No. 3 in his curriculum. In its publication, the now unemployed gives congratulations to the Human Resources Department “respect your dedication to ruin my life.” There have been more cases. He is not the only one that combines several jobs in secret. In the same community of Reddit we can find many more cases and in Xataka we have also treated them, such as that of this Barcelona company that He discovered that one of his employees had another job. There are even those that even exceed the protagonist of this article and reach the four jobs at the same time either This engineer who was winning a fortune Thanks to teleworking and chatgpt. Remote work. Obviously, these people do not have full -time face -to -time jobs. At the moment Teleworking is falling capebut the figures are still higher than prepandymia. This has allowed some people to decide to combine several jobs without their employers knowing it. The trick of some workers is do the minimum in each job so as not to have too long days. The role of AI. Many of these multi -employed admit to using AI tools, like this I assured Vice that “AI does 80% of my work” and he only dedicated himself to more complex tasks or refine what AI had done. Others use the Slack messages, write emails or take notes in meetings. By saving these tools for a long time, This engineer He managed to complete the work in less time, allowing him to get up to two additional works with which he has paid the mortgage and the university of his children. Image | Vlada Karpovich, Pexels In Xataka | Four different works already: how teleworking and chatgpt are facilitating “multi -employment”

Something strange is happening this year in the Svalbard archipelago

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February of this year, 2025, it is full winter, but some areas in the Svalbard archipelago do not seem to be aware: melted ice and green sprouts peeling among the rocks attract the attention of a group of scientists who work in these Norwegian islands in the middle of the Arctic polar circle. Something does not fit. A February too warm. The Researchers Team I recently caught attention About this fact, and did Through an article Posted in the magazine Nature Communications. In this piece it is pointed out that, for several days in February 2025, the temperatures recorded in this area exceeded 0º Celsius, the water freezing temperature. An archipelago in the eye of the hurricane. The increase in temperatures that we associate with climate change is not a uniform phenomenon: while some areas of the globe They coolabout hundreds of kilometers others are heated much faster than average. This is the case of the Svalbard archipelago. This set of islands belongs to Norway and is located in the middle of the Arctic Circle. The Svalbard archipelago is the place where we can find the most northern civil settlement on the planet, NY-work. From white to green. The exceptional warming in these islands was apparent to the team beyond the measurements captured by the thermometers. The snow in the area had backed away not only huge puddles of liquid water, but also suggesting the rock surface of the islands and the tundra’s own vegetation in summer. “Being on water swimming pools at the tip of the glacier on green, naked, was shocking and surreal,” described in a press release James Bradley. “The thick layer of snow that covered the landscape vanished in days. The team I wore felt like a relic of another climate.” Rain, no snow. These changes made almost impossible for the team to perform their work. First because its goal was to collect snow samples that rushed in this polar environment. In Words by researcher Laura Molares Moncayo“The objective of our field work campaign was to study newly fallen snow. But for a period of two weeks, we were only able to collect newly fallen snow once, since most of the precipitation fell in the form of rain.” The change also involved added difficulties, including more risks derived from the activity. The thaw hindered vehicles transit, making access to certain areas difficult, but also making the task of returning to the camp more complicated in the face of unexpected dangers, dangers that include, for example, the encounter with polar bears. Feedback According to the team, the implications of these changes can be very relevant beyond the difficulties involved for scientists working in the environment. According to the team itselfwarm events such as that registered in February can affect many different systems, “from the microbial carbon cycle to the survival of the Arctic Fauna.” In case it was not enough, these events can also generate a loop: by melting permafrost, soil that remains frozen all year, greenhouse gases are released that in turn aggravate heating. In Xataka | What is global warming, what are its causes and how we are trying to fight it Image | Bradley, Molares Moncayo, et al. (2025), Nature Communications

Sell tickets a year earlier

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It is inevitable: each new premiere of a film directed by Christopher Nolan is more than the essential cinephile event of the year. It is a cultural event. And so It will happen again with ‘The Odyssey’the epic adventure film inspired by Homer’s classic stories and that a year before its premiere has managed to raise an expectation never seen before. Everything is part of a carefully drawn plan. Odysseus & co. The only announcement of ‘The Odyssey’ already put expectations in the clouds: Christopher Nolan, the director technologically more advanced of the momentwill adapt a very classic adventure, a founding story of epic stories, and whose footprint in world culture is unbarkable. I was going to decorate it with a cast, as always in his cinema, of consecrated stars (Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal …). Produce Universal againwith whom he already worked at the Oscarizadísima ‘Oppenheimer‘And the premiere is scheduled for July 17, 2026. A year earlier. To stand this strategy, Universal put tickets on July 17, a year before the premiere of the film already knowing that Nolan’s name is more than enough to sell ‘The Odyssey’, without the need for trailers. They are the passes for the first weekend, in the Exclusive 70 mm IMAX formatthe preferred by Nolan. The tickets sold out in a single day and, of course, it did not take long unleash speculative feverwith resale of up to 200 pounds in London (a phenomenon that Nolan already knows: It happened with ‘Oppenheimer’). A bold bet. The typical marketing of the great productions, especially those of the expected summer premieres, usually starts from 4 to 6 months before the premiere. Nolan has skipped the norm bending that period of time and in a format that also knows that it is exclusive (in Spain, for example, There are no cinemas that project in this format). 95% of the tickets sold out in minutes, generating 1.5 million dollars of benefits… before the film has finished its production. IMAX, the future. A few days ago, BBC linked success From this universal marketing operation to the previous success of a Warner movie, Ryan Cogler’s vampiric adventures’The sinners‘. The director expressed on numerous occasions your love for the IMAX format And the film became a success in that format. According to BBC, this semi-lain success could have encouraged Universal for this early sale, relying on support without palliative that Nolan has always made the format. An excellent Timing To claim the formats in the room, now that it is clear that the recovery of pre-pandemic box office figures It may never come. Nolan, for elites. Nolan is still a RARE Av Inside the cinema. You can afford to make the movies you want: Science fiction would be With Kubrickian left to continue his trilogy about Batman, and after that, more twisted science fiction and a biopic without fantastic elementsand then refer to this new classical epic epic. And they will always be successes. But if other directors dared to experiment with their same approaches, tones and topics, possibly the box office would not accompany them, Seeing public preferences. Nolan is an isolated phenomenon, and that is why the following steps of the industry so that the public goes back to the rooms must be extremely careful. Christopher Nolan’s eternal paradox: razes at the box office, success after success even one year in advance, but that does not mean anything. An islet in a sea of sequelae. Image | Gtres – Warner In Xataka | After fifteen years of its premiere, this classic treasures a record: the highest grossing science fiction film without being a saga

recruit 40,000 adolescents a year in the army

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The mili, or military service, won a year ago, won Force in Europe With the advance of the War in Ukraine And a Putin strengthened. Lithuania, Latvia, France either Denmark They were some of the nations that put on the table the need to reinforce their recruitment. Many of them already looked at the call “Nordic model”and now it is Germany that seems determined to implement it. Or almost. The awakening of an army. I told this week The Financial Times. Germany prepares to take a radical turn to its defense policy with the launch of A new program of voluntary military service that aspires to recruit until 40,000 young people a yearin a commitment to revitalize armed forces that have been overcome by the new European strategic reality after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Suspended in 2011, the former mandatory military service has been subject to intense debates In recent years, but the government has now opted for A voluntary model (inspired by the Swedish system) that combines economic incentives, professional training and a possible route to the professional army. This strategy seeks to solve both the shortage of troops and the need to create a massive and operational military reserve in the face of possible future crises. The road map. The proposal, which will be presented as bill Before the German Cabinet at the end of August, it contemplates a staggered process. In a first phase, it seeks to expand the number of places covered by the current voluntary program, going from 15,000 this year to annual increases in Between 3,000 and 5,000 young people until reaching 40,000 in 2031. The main objective is to strengthen the number of army reservists, automatically integrating those who have completed the voluntary service. But a percentage of these young people is also expected to opt for a professional military career. At the moment, The Bundeswehr It has about 182,000 professional troops, and the government intends to expand that figure Up to 260,000 for 2035. In parallel, the reservists body should multiply more than three times, from 60,000 to 200,000, which will require a deep transformation in the recruitment and training rhythms. Economic incentive. To achieve this, the plan contemplates a series of attractions designed to capture 18 -year -oldthe main group to which the initiative is directed. From 2026, all men who fulfill that age (about 300,000 a year) must fill out A mandatory questionnaire To evaluate its aptitude and availability for the service, while, in the case of women, participation will be voluntary. Those who register can receive a Net salary of about 2,000 euros Monthly, language courses, technical training, subsidies to obtain the driving card and the possibility of acquiring new useful labor skills beyond the military. The basic service will be six months, although it can be extended if the volunteer wishes. Then, from 2028, all 18 -year -old men must also recognize recognition Mandatory doctor, even if they do not want to enlist, in order to build an updated database on the potential reserve available for total war scenarios. 7th Army The new Merz doctrine. The program is framed in the vision of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who He has promised make the German army conventional more powerful in Europe. His government, which has already allocated hundreds of billions of euros When rearmaconsiders that the new voluntary military service will not only serve to solve the chronic problem of lack of personnel in the armed forces, but also to reinforce Germany’s position within NATO and as a reference actor in continental security. In the background: The Russian threat, the setback of the pacifist strategic culture inherited from the postwar period and the growing global tensions have driven Berlin to redefine their military role with a decision that, although presented as voluntary, It contains clauses that would allow to reinstate the mandatory service if the current scheme fails to achieve its objectives. Volunteer with shadows. Yes, because the full return of the mandatory military service is discarded for now, the project includes mechanisms that, de facto, could lay the foundations for A future conscription If their figures fall short. Unlike the Swedish model, where the authorities select the recruits among the suitable citizens, in Germany only those who will be chosen Express your will to participate. However, the fact of demanding all 18 -year -old men and a medical checking points to the creation of a structured national evaluation system, one that It could be activated more easily if the situation requires it. In parallel, the legal text provides for A clause which would allow to restore the conscription formally, although without establishing a specific activation threshold. The model, therefore, is presented as a balance point between the German pacifist tradition and the need to respond to a new era of insecurity. European echo. Plus: Germany It is not the only in reconfigure Your approach to military service. In France, Macron He has defended The reactivation of the Voluntary National Service as a way to strengthen the reserve body, which aspires to duplicate in the next decade, although it has refused to return to forced recruitment. In Eastern Europe, countries like Poland, Lithuania or Finland are expanding their abilities military and reservists accelerated. The German model, for its scale and ambition, could become a reference For other Western democracies that seek to strengthen their defense without reintroducing the mandatory service directly. In a Europe that Rearmastructured volunteering (encouraged, but not forced) is emerging as A formula politically viable to strengthen military preparation without breaking social consensus. Margin of uncertainty. No doubt, the success of German plan It will depend not only on their ability to attract young people, but also on their logistics implementation, their social acceptance and their ability to adapt in a changing geopolitical context. Although they have been designed Attractive incentivesit is still uncertain if they will be enough to recruit tens of thousands every year, especially in a little familiar generation with the military. … Read more

93% of Spaniards have bought there throughout this year

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Mercadona has eaten its competence in Spain and in an example to be followed by world giants such as Costco, Walmart or Tesco Regarding the margin of benefit, in what leads them with a good distance. Behind such specific figures there are usually more general ones, and that is just what the Wordpanel by numerator (before Kantar) is just than Kantar) than collect expansion. Absolute leader in market share. Mercadona has a 26.7% market share according to Wordpanel data, which represents a sidereal advantage over its closest persecutor, Carrefour (9.2%). They are followed by Lidl (6.7%), Eroski (4.3%), day (3.7%), consume (3.5%) and Alcampo (2.9%). Stronger in his hegemony. The most striking thing in a domain photo like this is that Mercadona is the second supermarket that grows the most compared to 2024, only behind Lidl ( +0.3% vs +0.4%). In addition, in 2024, Mercadona was the supermarket that grew the most. In addition to growing, it diversifies: one in seven euros of your benefit wins it Selling money, no food. 93.2%: Spaniards are very Mercadona, and much Mercadona. Having a room in the distribution market is already a huge milestone, but of all the data surrounding the Supermarket of Juan Roig, the most surprising is the percentage of buyers who have attended at least once to the supermarket: 93.2%. A figure that speaks not only of how internalized it is to buy in the Valencian company, but of the amplitude of its presence in the market. According to the company, it has 1,602 supermarkets on national soilwith establishments in all autonomous communities. The only places where we cannot find a Mercadona are the islands of La Gomera, El Hierro and Formentera. Lidl is far, far away. In contrast to the figure of Mercadona, which is practically the entire population, the percentage of users who have bought at least once in Lidl is in 69%, which is already a victory itself, because they are almost two points more than a year ago. And without opening more stores. The total number of Mercadona establishments has stagnant (or even reducing) A five years. In 2019, the company had 1,626 shops compared to 1,602 today. The great expansion It occurred between 2000 and 2010when they practically tripled their number of stores in Spain. As of 2015, they are around the same numbers. Changes in already open stores. Mercadona has been applying deep transformations in the establishments that I already had open, gradually making them “Stores 8“. They are broader, they have more advanced technology and integrate sections such as” ready to eat “, designed for those than They buy time, no food. These stores are, according to Juan Roig, “twice as profitable.” A unique model. In addition to the Spanish market figures, Wordpanel by numerator also collects, with similar methodology, the distribution market share in countries such as France, Ireland, United Kingdom either China. In several of them there are supermarkets that exceed 20% quota with slack, such as Tesco in the United Kingdom or Dunnes in Ireland. However, Mercadona is the only supermarket of all the analyzed that dominates its market of origin so clear about its maximum competitor. And in Ireland, for example, there are three supermarkets above 20%. In France, three above 17.5%. Spain is a unique case, although Covir will show that The opposite model also works. Images | Mercadona and INE In Xataka | Juan Roig believes that cooking at home has no future. There are eight million Spaniards who are already giving the right

now they will include a mandatory two -year postgraduate

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The government faces the difficult challenge imposed from Europe of Modernize and bring public administration to European standards of excellence. Therefore, the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function has presented The proposal for a new opposition model to the opposites of senior state officials. This reform will mainly affect the future officials of the A1 and A2 subgroups, that is, those with high specialization functions such as judges, finance inspectors or superior architects, who already had to accredit a specific university degree for the position. With the new framework, in addition to that degree, they must overcome a Postgraduate course two years to opt for a public square. An opposition with two exams. Minister Óscar López explained that this transformation is based on a system “that meets maximum rigor and European standards”, while seeking to “improve the selection and talent that access the administration.” The objective, according to the ministry in its proposal, is to capture “the best” through an intensive training path, in line with the programs that They exist in France or Germany. This new system will force the new candidates to first go through an aptitude test, which will serve as a filter to show candidates. Those who exceed this first examm, will access a National Training School for officials, a newly created center where a two -year postgraduate training program will be taught. This training program will be mandatory before presenting the final exam which, now, will allow obtaining a public square for the specific group for which it has been forming, equivalent to current opposition system. Not everyone will pass. However, the candidates who will pass the first exam will be more than those who can finally access a place, telling that some of those who exceed the first exam will not exceed the second. That is why those who take and The two postgraduate years successfully finishand do not get the square, they will receive a postgraduate title officially. According to the Secretary of State for Public Function, Clara Mapelli, with this official title comparable to a university master’s degree, the investment of the two years of training in the School of Officials would be compensated. New training scheme for high -ranking officials Academic credits according to the group. Another important novelties of the Ministry’s proposal is to create a training system that follows the European model based on ECTS credits (European transfer and accumulation of credits). Thus, the highest rank bodies of the A1 subgroup must study 120 ECTS formative credits, while those of the A2 group will require 90 credits that will be taught in the schools of officials. For group B, 60 ECTS will be needed. For their part, the candidates for places of group C1 and C2 have other novelties. The first is that they will need to complete a training itinerary with 30 and 10 credits respectively, but in the latter cases, the necessary training The square has been assigned once they have been assigned. In this way, each official will receive their training from the interior of the public administration, maintaining the active places and adapting their training to the concrete functions of the position. The French model. The new academic structure proposed by the Ministry takes its inspiration from the French model of the École Nationale d’Enchion (ENA)created in 1945, and from which four of the last presidents of France have left, including current President Emmanuel Macron that has renovated it. To launch this new National School, the Ministry has announced a network of alliances between the schools and institutes of the State Administration with the schools and institutes of the European Administrative Space and the universities of the European Higher Education Area. In addition, the system will be linked to State scholarship regimewith the aim of guaranteeing equal opportunities regardless of the socioeconomic level of the applicant. Reactions against. The trade union associations of officials and sectoral group have already shown their doubts regarding the new opposition system. From the State Finance Inspectors Association (IHE), they warn that this model, allowing to know the identity of the applicants who access the second exam after the course, “entails a very serious danger to the future of the public function.” For his part, Miguel Borra, president of the CSIF union, assuredto Public That the new model “will not solve the serious problems of administrations and their professionals”, warning that 60% of public employees will retire in the next decade and that currently 30% of the templates are temporary. They also denounce that this new system can generate more delays in the selection processes that already cause “every year to expire thousands of places for the inactivity of administrations,” he slid. In Xataka | Why Extremadura and Murcia are becoming opposition factories: more than 43% of its active population is in it Image | Pexels (Tima Miroshnicenko)

The 22 -year CEO of a Tech company that demands 80 hours a week to its workers

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In Silicon Valley, a new generation of technological entrepreneurs He is turning his back to the traditional workday of 40 hours. A case that has generated a heated debate is that of Daksh Gupta, founder and CEO of the STARTUP GREPTILwho has implemented an extreme day model that has raised a large dust in the Reddit threads. Gupta, only 22 years old, considers that working 80 hours per week is not only not excessive, but is necessary to survive in the current technology industry. An extreme workday. Daksh Gupta published in late 2024 in Your X profile That his company did not offer any type of conciliation between working and personal life, literally affirming: “Greptile does not offer balance between working and personal life.” As he said in that same message, the days in his company begin at 9:00 and end at 23:00 or even later. “We also work on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays. I emphasize that the environment is very stressful and that poor work is not tolerated,” the CEO added without ambiguity. The work culture defended by Gupta shows An important change Among the managers and founders of Silicon Valley, who are erasing the boundaries between working and personal life. What was traditionally understood as labor exploitation, some see it now as An extreme form of commitment professional. In the case of Greptile, this commitment can mean days of 14 hours from Monday to Sunday. Competition as justification. In one Interview with Inc.comGupta argues that this time demand responds to the reality of technological startups. The CEO declared that “this is an extremely competitive space. Nobody cares about the third best company, not even the second best, in any software category. If you are going to strive 95%, it is the equivalent of striving to 0%.” His position generated an intense debate on networks and, as confirmed in Your X profilehe received numerous criticisms and even death threats for applying this policy. Gupta, however, insists that changing his work form would mean a competitive disadvantage that cannot be allowed. “We face very intense competition,” he said to justify the sacrifices required by his employees. Silicon Valley and the culture of hyperproductivity. What for many may seem an unsustainable work excess, in Silicon Valley begins to become a norm, such and as they publish in The confidential. The so -called “new culture of effort” to which Daksh Gupta gave visibility, is referring to figures such as Elon Musk, who has publicly defended The extreme days. “No one has changed the world working 40 hours a week,” said the millionaire CEO of Tesla in one of Your messages in x. At the same time, Tesla’s own investors They asked the tycoon Dedicate at least 40 hours a week to do your job as the CEO of the electric car manufacturer. Another outstanding name of this new culture of the eternal working days is Serguéi Brin, co -founder of Google, which also asked his employees a minimum of 60 working hours per week. The era of offices with ping-pong tables And free food has given way to marathon days where, literally, workers are expected to live for the company. As I said Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, work from 9 to 5 as we know it, is in danger of extinction. AI was going to end the eternal days. Beyond the regression in labor rights imposed on Silicon Valley, the most ironic thing is that these proposals for extreme days arrive precisely those companies that are developing AI models that promise reduce workload of workers. No less ironic it turns out that companies like Microsoft or Google ensure that between 25 and 30% of its code is already generated with AI agents, and at the same time they have hardened performance demands and commitment to carry out longer days, under the Shadow of mass layoffs. In Xataka | Lucy Guo, co -founder of Scale Ai, bets everything at 996: “If you want to leave at 5 you are not at the right work” Image | Unspash (Aluminum dissemboweler3000)

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