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    The Intelligence from The Economist

    Small-Vox symptoms: Spain’s elections

    Mon Jul 24 2023
    WarshipsDazzle CamouflageSpainGeneral ElectionCoalition NegotiationsIce CreamUnusual FlavorsNostalgia

    Description

    The episode covers Russia's warships adopting dazzle camouflage for tactical reasons, Spain's general election resulting in potential coalition negotiations, and the nostalgia associated with unusual flavors in ice cream.

    Insights

    Warships and Dazzle Camouflage

    Russia's warships are repainting their vessels using dazzle camouflage to confuse AI-controlled weaponry and avoid detection by satellite tracking.

    Coalition Negotiations in Spain

    Spain's general election has led to uncertainty in forming a government due to the lack of a clear majority. Possible coalitions include one with a separatist party in Catalonia or a grand coalition between centrist parties.

    Nostalgia for Classic Ice Cream Flavors

    Despite the availability of unusual flavors, people are drawn to classic options like vanilla due to its universal appeal and association with childhood nostalgia.

    Chapters

    1. Russia's Warships and Dazzle Camouflage
    2. Spain's General Election and Coalition Negotiations
    3. Unusual Flavors in Ice Cream and Nostalgia
    Summary
    Transcript

    Russia's Warships and Dazzle Camouflage

    00:00 - 21:50

    • Russia's warships are repainting their vessels for tactical reasons in the era of AI-controlled weaponry.
    • Dazzle camouflage was used during World War I to break up ship outlines and confuse U-boat commanders.
    • Camouflage paint schemes on ships became less relevant after World War II due to radar and sonar detection.
    • Visual recognition of ships is becoming important again, especially for operators using video cameras to guide uncrewed surface vessels (USBs).
    • Paint jobs like the ones on the SN can create confusion and increase the chance of targeting lower value vessels instead of warships.
    • These paint schemes may also help ships avoid satellite tracking by making them appear smaller than they are.
    • Sophisticated paint schemes could be developed to fool artificial intelligence systems that track ships.
    • Adversarial examples, which can fool machine vision systems, could be used in future paint schemes.
    • A pot of paint is a cheap way to provide some protection against being spotted or targeted.

    Spain's General Election and Coalition Negotiations

    00:00 - 14:41

    • Spain's general election resulted in no party gaining a majority, leading to potential coalition negotiations.
    • The center-right People's Party and the far-right Vox party failed to secure an outright majority of seats.
    • The socialist party performed better than expected in the election but still fell short of a majority.
    • Vox is a hard-right party that opposes changes in Spain, particularly on issues like immigration and regional powers.
    • The formation of a government in Spain is uncertain due to the lack of a clear majority for any party or coalition.
    • The king will talk to the big party leaders to discuss forming a possible majority coalition.
    • If the first debate and vote fail, there will be a two-month clock to find an alternative.
    • Possible coalitions include one with a separatist party called JUMS in Catalonia, but they have compared Pedro Sanchez unfavorably to a used car salesman.
    • Another possibility is a grand coalition between the two big centrist parties, which would sideline extremists and govern for the center of Spain.
    • Vox, the far-right party, has fallen back in support, showing that Spaniards are nostalgic for centrist government.

    Unusual Flavors in Ice Cream and Nostalgia

    21:23 - 25:54

    • Experimenting with unusual flavors in ice cream is not new, with examples like bacon and egg ice cream, pig blood ice cream, mac and cheese flavored ice cream, ranch dressing flavored ice cream, and pizza flavored ice cream.
    • An 18th century London ice cream shop called the Pineapple served Parmesan ice cream.
    • Ice cream has a universal appeal and is made and loved in various cultures around the world.
    • Vanilla is often considered a universally appealing flavor due to its presence in breast milk and formula milk.
    • The joy of eating ice cream is often associated with childhood nostalgia.
    • Hagen-daz was one of the first companies to market ice cream to adults.
    • Despite innovative flavors, people are drawn to classic options like cocoa pops.
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