My Diary – Leonardo Cardillo

Key Takeaways

What the article is about

• The article explains where gas in the body comes from, with a focus on swallowed air and gut bacteria.
• A person always swallows some air when eating or drinking, even when trying very hard not to.
• Even in a strict “zero air swallowed” thought experiment, the body still makes gas inside.
• Small daily habits, like slower eating and smart food choices, can gently change how much gas builds up.

Story & Details

A simple question with a clever twist

Many people look at their own body and think: how can this body make gas at all? The feeling can be a mix of surprise and mild embarrassment. A stomach feels tight, clothes press on the waist, or a sudden sound breaks a quiet moment. It can seem as if gas appears from nowhere.

Sometimes the question becomes more logical and sharp: if almost no air goes down, does that mean the amount of air is still more than zero? And if the amount of swallowed air could be exactly zero, would gas disappear? These are small maths questions, but they touch real biology. The short answer from doctors and scientists in 2025 is clear: the body never makes gas from “nothing,” yet gas would still exist even if no air went down with food.

Swallowed air: the first source

Health organisations explain that gas in the digestive tract comes from two main places. The first is swallowed air. Every time food, drink, or even saliva goes down, a little air goes with it [1][2][3][5]. This is true for everyone. It happens during normal eating and drinking, even when a person is calm and careful.

Some everyday habits add much more air. Fast meals, big gulps of drink, talking while chewing, chewing gum, sucking on hard sweets, smoking, or using loose dentures all push extra air into the stomach [2][3]. Fizzy drinks carry gas inside the liquid itself. The air in the stomach leaves mostly as a burp. The rest moves into the small intestine, where part is absorbed into the blood and part travels on into the large intestine.

This is why the idea “almost no air” does not mean “no air.” As long as someone eats and drinks, a small, non-zero amount of air will always go down. In real life, the number never reaches perfect zero.

Gut bacteria: the quiet factory

The second main source of gas lives lower in the body. The large intestine is home to many bacteria. They are too small to see without a microscope, but they play a big role. These bacteria help break down parts of food that the stomach and small intestine cannot handle alone, such as some fibres in beans, grains, vegetables, and fruits [1][3][4].

When bacteria digest these leftovers, they release gases. Common ones are hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes methane [1][4]. Some of this gas is absorbed back into the blood. Some stays in the gut and moves along until it leaves the body as a fart. The mix and amount depend on what a person eats and on the types of bacteria living in that person’s gut. A food that makes one person very gassy may cause almost no gas in another.

Gas from basic body chemistry

The body is always at work. Cells burn sugar and fat to give energy for movement, thought, and warmth. This process creates carbon dioxide. Most of that carbon dioxide goes from the blood to the lungs and leaves the body when a person breathes out. A smaller part stays in the blood for a while and can move into the digestive tract. In this way, normal body chemistry also adds to the total gas inside.

So even in a calm moment, even without a big meal, gas is moving around inside the body. The digestive tract is not just a tube for food. It is a living system where air, blood, cells, and bacteria meet.

The “zero air” thought experiment

Now return to the clever question: what if no air at all ever went down with food or drink? Imagine a perfect world in which a person could swallow only food, with zero air mixed in. It sounds neat and simple. It might be tempting to say that gas would vanish.

But the science says something different. In that imagined world, bacteria would still live in the large intestine. They would still break down fibres and other leftovers. As they work, they would still release gases [1][2][4]. The body’s cells would still make carbon dioxide as they burn fuel. Some of that gas could still move from the blood into the gut. Gas would be different in amount and balance, but it would not be zero.

This shows why the question “if zero air is swallowed, does that mean no gas?” has a soft but firm answer: no. Swallowed air is important, but it is not the only path.

Everyday choices that make a difference

Gas is a normal part of life. Still, too much can feel heavy or painful. Health experts suggest some gentle changes that may help [2][3][4][6]. Slower eating gives less chance for air to slip in with each bite. Drinking from a glass instead of a straw can cut down on bubbles. Fewer fizzy drinks and less chewing gum can reduce swallowed air. Paying attention to which foods bring the most gas can guide future meals in a calm, practical way.

These steps do not aim to remove gas completely. That would not be healthy or realistic. The goal is simply to reach a level that feels comfortable.

A small Dutch word

One small language note links daily life to this topic. In Dutch, the word “lucht” is used for air. Seeing this word on a weather chart or a science poster can be a quiet reminder that air and gas are normal parts of the world outside the body and inside it.

Conclusions

A calm view of a noisy subject

Gas in the body can cause jokes, worry, or even shame. Yet the story behind it is simple. Air goes down with food. Bacteria in the large intestine break down leftovers and make gas. Normal body chemistry moves gases between blood and gut. Together, these steps explain why gas is always present.

Knowing this brings a softer view. Gas is not a sign that the body is failing. It is a sign that the body and its microbes are doing their daily work. Thoughtful habits can shape how strong that message feels, but they do not erase it. A tight belt, a sudden burp, or a quiet puff is, in the end, just one more piece of proof that life is busy inside.

Selected References

Places to learn more

[1] National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). “Symptoms & Causes of Gas in the Digestive Tract.” Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/gas-digestive-tract/symptoms-causes

[2] Mayo Clinic. “Gas and gas pains: Symptoms & causes.” Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gas-and-gas-pains/symptoms-causes/syc-20372709

[3] MedlinePlus. “Gas in the digestive tract.” Available at: https://medlineplus.gov/gas.html

[4] Canadian Society of Intestinal Research. “Intestinal gas.” Available at: https://badgut.org/information-centre/a-z-digestive-topics/intestinal-gas/

[5] Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Gas in the Digestive Tract.” Available at: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/gas-in-the-digestive-tract

[6] TED-Ed (Purna Kashyap). “Why do we pass gas?” YouTube video. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvnjaUU6Xk

Appendix

Bacteria
Very small living things that cannot be seen without a microscope. In the large intestine they help break down parts of food and make gas as a normal part of this work.

Digestive tract
The long path that food follows inside the body, starting at the mouth and ending at the anus. It includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine.

Flatulence
Gas that leaves the body through the anus. It comes from swallowed air that travels through the intestines and from gases made by gut bacteria.

Intestinal gas
Gas that is inside the intestines. It is a mix of swallowed air, gases made by bacteria, and gases that move from the blood into the gut.

Lucht
A Dutch word used for “air.” It appears in Dutch texts about weather, wind, and sometimes health, and links daily language to the idea of gas and air.

Swallowed air
Air that goes down into the body when a person eats, drinks, or swallows saliva. It is a major source of gas in the stomach and can also reach the intestines.

Thought experiment
An idea that is tested in the mind, not in a real lab. The “zero air swallowed” case is a thought experiment used to see what would happen to gas in the body if no air at all went down.

A short text message can look friendly and safe.
One message that starts with “Hi dad, I changed provider and I have a new phone number” is now a classic trick in a growing WhatsApp scam.
This article explains how that message works, why it is dangerous, and how families can protect themselves.

Key Takeaways

• Criminals send text or chat messages that pretend to come from a son or daughter who has a “new number”.
• The sender often asks the parent to move the talk to WhatsApp and then asks for urgent money.
• The message in Dutch that starts with “Hoi pap, ik ben overgestapt van provider en heb een nieuw telefoonnummer” is a clear example.
• The safest reaction is to ignore the new number and contact the real child on the old, saved number.
• Banks, police, and fraud help centres advise people to act fast if money has already been sent.

Story & Details

A late-night message

On a cold night in late November, a parent in the Netherlands looked at a phone and saw a new text.
The sender’s number was not saved in the contact list.
At the top of the screen, the phone showed a clear warning: this was a message from an unknown number and people should be careful about fraud.

The text itself sounded warm and close.
In Dutch it said: “Hoi pap, ik ben overgestapt van provider en heb een nieuw telefoonnummer. Kun je mij een whatsappje sturen op [number]? Oude nummer mag weg.”
In simple English this means: “Hi dad, I changed phone company and I have a new phone number. Can you send me a WhatsApp message on this number? You can delete the old number.”

The message tried to look like a normal update from a child.
It used “Hoi pap”, an informal “Hi dad”.
It gave a reason for the change, the move to a new provider.
It told the parent to remove the old number, which would make later checks harder.

A short Dutch lesson that shows the trick

A few words in the text help to see the pattern:

• “Hoi” is “Hi”.
• “Pap” is “dad”.
• “Nieuw telefoonnummer” is “new phone number”.
• “Oude nummer mag weg” is “you may remove the old number”.

On their own, these are simple family words.
In this order, from an unknown number, they are a warning sign.

Dutch police and safety sites describe almost the same text when they explain WhatsApp fraud.
First there is a short message about a new number.
Then the criminal asks the victim to send a message on WhatsApp to that number.
After that, the fake son or daughter says there is an urgent problem, such as a bill that must be paid today.
The parent is asked to send money quickly to a new bank account, often in another name.
When the parent later calls the real child on the old number, the child knows nothing about it.

How this fits into a wider wave of scams

This is not only a Dutch problem.
Police and newspapers in many countries report the same pattern.
In Spain, hundreds of parents have sent large sums of money to criminals who pretended to be their children using a “new number” story.
In the United Kingdom, a “Hi mum” text scam has spread in the same way, with fraudsters posing as sons, daughters, or close friends and asking for rent money or other urgent payments.

The method is simple, and that is why it works so well.
The message uses love and fear, not technology.
A parent sees the word “dad” or “mum” and feels a strong pull to answer.
The story about a broken phone or a changed provider sounds normal.
The criminal counts on panic to stop the parent from checking.

What experts suggest

Police, government websites, and fraud helpdesks all give similar advice.

They say that people should never trust a new number just because it uses family words.
Instead, they suggest a quick check through another route.
Call the old number.
Ask a short question that only the real child would know.
If there is any doubt, stop the chat and do not send money.

Experts also stress that victims should not feel ashamed.
The scams are designed to trick caring people who want to help family.
Banks and police can often help if they are contacted quickly.
Fraud helpdesks collect reports and use them to warn others, so one person’s bad experience can protect many more.

Conclusions

The “Hi dad, I have a new number” text looks small and friendly, but it opens the door to a powerful scam.
It uses simple family language, a believable story about a new phone number, and the speed of WhatsApp to push parents into fast payments.

Clear public warnings, like those now shared by police, fraud experts, and the media, show that many people are learning to pause, to doubt, and to check.
A short moment of calm, a phone call to the old number, or a quick talk with another relative can be enough to break the spell of the fake message.

In a world full of quick chats and changing numbers, the safest habit is also the simplest one: if a message about money comes from a “new” child or friend, always check through the “old” way first.

Selected References

[1] Dutch National Police – Information page on WhatsApp fraud and “friend in need” scams.
https://www.politie.nl/onderwerpen/whatsapp-fraude-vriend-in-noodfraude.html

[2] Fraudehelpdesk (Netherlands) – Article on getting a WhatsApp message from someone who claims to be a known contact with a new number.
https://www.fraudehelpdesk.nl/fraude/ik-krijg-een-whatsapp-bericht-van-een-bekende/

[3] Veiliginternetten – Explanation of help-request fraud and how to report it.
https://veiliginternetten.nl/wat-whatsappfraude/

[4] The Olive Press – Report on Spanish parents losing money to a WhatsApp scam where criminals posed as children in distress.
https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2024/05/01/text-fraud-warning-in-spain-how-hundreds-of-parents-sent-e850000-to-scammers-posing-as-their-children-in-distress/

[5] The Guardian – “Hi mum!” feature on WhatsApp text scams targeting parents and friends.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/may/04/hi-mum-whatsapp-text-scam-parents-friends-bank

[6] YouTube – Dutch police warning video about WhatsApp fraud, explaining how the scam works and how to spot it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8_-uzj7-as

Appendix

Fraud helpdesk
A service, often supported by authorities or consumer groups, where people can report scams, get advice on what to do next, and learn about new fraud tactics.

Friend-in-need scam
A type of fraud in which a criminal pretends to be a friend or family member who urgently needs help, usually asking for money through text or chat apps.

Help-request fraud
Another name for friend-in-need scams, used on some Dutch safety sites, where the fake message is framed as a simple request for help.

New number text
A short message that claims someone has changed phone number or provider and asks the reader to start using this “new” number, often as the first step in a scam.

Phishing
A wider group of tricks where criminals send fake messages that look real in order to steal money, passwords, or other personal data.

Relative-in-distress scam
A form of help-request fraud where the criminal pretends to be a child, parent, or other close relative who is stuck in a crisis and needs quick money.

WhatsApp
A popular messaging app used worldwide to send texts, pictures, voice messages, and calls over the internet.

WhatsApp link
A special web address, often starting with “wa.me”, that opens a chat with a specific number in WhatsApp and is sometimes used in scam messages to move victims into a private chat.

Key Takeaways

• Clear subject: Circtec is building a tyre-to-chemicals plant in Delfzijl/Farmsum, Netherlands, with Bilfinger as EPCM partner.
• Scale and aim: the facility targets about five percent of Europe’s end-of-life tyres.
• Status and timing: funding and contracts were announced in May and October 2024; construction is described in 2025 updates.
• Name insight: “Circtec” aligns with “circular technology,” matching how Dutch materials style the name.

Story & Details

A new plant on the North Sea coast. Circtec, a UK-based technology company, is building a plant in the Dutch chemical cluster at Delfzijl, next to the smaller locality of Farmsum. The site will process end-of-life tyres through pyrolysis. In plain terms, tyres are heated without oxygen. This makes gases, oils and solid material that can be upgraded into fuels and chemicals.

A major integration role. Industrial services group Bilfinger holds an EPCM mandate. That means it engineers the design, buys key equipment and manages construction for the owner. Sources describe Bilfinger as the system integrator for Circtec’s proprietary process at the new facility.

Money and milestones. In May 2024, Novo Holdings and A.P. Moller Holding led an equity round to help fund the plant, together with Dutch public support. In October 2024, further financing notes and trade press reports reiterated the project’s scale. In February 2025, an investment agency update said construction had begun. These steps position the plant as one of Europe’s headline efforts to deal with used tyres at home, rather than shipping them abroad.

Scale and impact in simple numbers. Public materials say the plant, at full capacity, could handle about five percent of the roughly 3.6 million tonnes of tyres that reach end-of-life each year in Europe. That is a large share for a single site. It also shows why project partners present the plant as part of the circular economy: fewer tyres to burn or dump, more products made from what already exists.

What the name means. Official brochures and releases use “CIRCTEC” as a brand in uppercase, without a formal acronym line. Dutch hiring pages, however, write the name in a way that clearly signals “circular technology.” That reading matches the company’s mission and the plant’s purpose.

Conclusions

Circtec’s plant in Delfzijl/Farmsum is a simple story told at industrial scale: take a hard-to-recycle waste stream and turn it into useful products. Bilfinger’s EPCM role ties the parts together. Funding in 2024 and construction notes in 2025 suggest steady progress. The name points to the idea behind it all—circular technology—made concrete on the shores of the Netherlands.

Selected References

[1] Circtec — Company site: https://www.circtec.com/
[2] Circtec — Funding press release (PDF, May 2024): https://www.circtec.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Circtec-Novo-Press-Release.pdf
[3] Bilfinger — Press release on EPCM role (Jan 2024): https://www.bilfinger.com/en/news/press-releases/details/driving-the-circular-economy-bilfinger-spearheads-circtecs-pioneering-tire-recycling-plant-as-system-integrator/
[4] Invest in Holland — Article confirming Netherlands project (May 2024): https://investinholland.com/news/uk-based-circtec-launches-europes-largest-end-of-life-tyre-pyrolysis-recycling-facility-in-the-netherlands/
[5] Polestar Capital Circular Debt Fund — Note on Circtec facility scale (Oct 2024): https://www.pcdf.nl/news/pcdf-circtec
[6] YouTube — European Parliament: “The Circular Economy: EU’s Plan for a Greener Future” (context on EU policy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0zLVv8Z2EA
[7] Werken bij Circtec — Dutch hiring page styling the name as circular technology: https://werkenbijcirctec.nl/
[8] Invest in Holland — 2025 update noting construction: https://investinholland.com/news/invest-in-holland-2024-investments-drive-key-transitions-for-shared-value-in-the-netherlands/

Appendix

Bilfinger. An industrial services group appointed to deliver engineering, procurement and construction management for the plant.
Circtec. A UK-based technology company that converts end-of-life tyres into fuels and chemicals using pyrolysis.
Circular economy. An economic model that keeps materials in use for longer and cuts waste by design and reuse.
Delfzijl. A Dutch port city in the province of Groningen; home to a major chemical cluster.
End-of-life tyres. Tyres that can no longer be used on vehicles and must be treated, reused or recycled.
EPCM. A project delivery method in which an integrator engineers the design, procures equipment and manages construction for the owner.
Farmsum. A locality next to Delfzijl; many project notes use both names when describing the site area.
Pyrolysis. Heating material without oxygen to break it down into gases, oils and solids that can be further processed.

Key Takeaways

• The everyday English name is collapsible dish rack; foldable dish rack is also correct.
• Dish rack is common in the United States; plate rack is often used in the United Kingdom.
• These terms help when buying or searching for kitchen gear online today, November 30, 2025.

Story & Details

The item is simple: a rack that holds wet dishes so they can air-dry. When the rack folds flat to save space, everyday English calls it a collapsible dish rack. Shops and product guides also use foldable dish rack, and both are easy to understand for beginner readers. In many American contexts the base term is dish rack; in British contexts plate rack appears frequently for the same household tool. The “collapsible” or “foldable” label signals one key benefit: quick storage in a small kitchen or shared home. Clear wording like this makes online searches faster and helps compare products without guesswork.

Conclusions

Use collapsible dish rack for the clearest, most common product name, and foldable dish rack as a natural alternative. Both keep shopping simple and make small-space living a bit easier.

Selected References

[1] Cambridge Dictionary — “dish rack” (notes US/UK usage): https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/dish-rack
[2] Cambridge Dictionary — “collapsible”: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/collapsible
[3] BBC Learning English — “The Vocabulary Show: Kitchens & cooking” (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEVxB7C3YuQ
[4] Cambridge Dictionary — “foldable”: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/foldable
[5] Merriam-Webster — “dish rack”: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dish%20rack

Appendix

A1 level
A beginner stage of English that focuses on short, everyday words and simple sentences.

Collapsible
Able to fold down to save space; a common label in product names.

Dish rack
A rack that holds washed dishes so they can dry.

Foldable
Designed to be folded; an everyday alternative to “collapsible.”

Plate rack
A British English term often used for a dish rack.

Key Takeaways

The year as a chain of weeks.
The year 2025 can feel easier to handle when it is seen as a line of weeks, each one starting on Monday and ending on Sunday.

One anchor week sets the pattern.
When week forty-eight is fixed as the week from Monday 24 November 2025 to Sunday 30 November 2025, all other weeks in the year fall into a clear order.

One long task as a personal reference.
A single, well-written task in Google Tasks can store the full weekly map for 2025, plus short notes and search phrases to find it again quickly.

Today, the chosen week is ending.
By the end of November 2025, the anchor week has already passed, so the weekly map is no longer theory; it is something that can be checked against real days that just finished.

Privacy still matters in private notes.
Banking codes such as CBU and CLABE are useful in personal records, but they also deserve care, even inside a “private” app.

Story & Details

Breaking the year into weeks

Picture the calendar for 2025 not as a busy wall of tiny boxes, but as a line of neat blocks. Each block is one week. Each week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. This matches the international week system used across much of Europe, where Monday is the first day of the week and week numbers follow a clear rule.

In that system, the year is not just twelve months. It is also a series of numbered weeks that sometimes cross from one year into the next. Because of this, some weeks that touch January 2025 actually begin in late December 2024, and some weeks that touch December 2025 end in early January 2026. The shape of the year becomes smoother and easier to scan.

Fixing one week in late November 2025

To turn this from an abstract idea into a practical tool, one week is chosen as an anchor. Week forty-eight is set as the week that runs from Monday 24 November 2025 to Sunday 30 November 2025. In this view, week forty-seven is the week from Monday 17 November 2025 to Sunday 23 November 2025.

This choice has an important effect. It locks the pattern in place. Working backward from that anchor, week one becomes the week that starts on Monday 30 December 2024 and ends on Sunday 5 January 2025. Working forward, the sequence goes all the way to week fifty-three, which begins on Monday 29 December 2025 and ends on Sunday 4 January 2026. Every week in between starts on a Monday, ends on a Sunday, and contains at least one day in 2025.

A complete mental map of weeks one to fifty-three

With the anchor set, the year 2025 is now a chain of fifty-three clear segments. Week ten, for example, sits in March. Week twenty-five lands in June. Week forty is in late September and early October. Each week has a fixed start and end date, so any date in 2025 can be linked to a week number without guesswork.

Today, at the end of November 2025, this map is not just a plan. It reflects days that have already happened. The week from Monday 24 November 2025 to Sunday 30 November 2025 is closing, and it carries the label “week forty-eight” in this scheme. That live connection between numbers and lived days makes the system easier to trust.

How to store a whole year inside one small task

The weekly map is powerful, but memory is fragile. This is where Google Tasks comes in. Google Tasks is a simple to-do app that lives inside the Google world. It appears in the side panel of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, and other Workspace tools, and it also has its own mobile app. A task in Google Tasks can have a title, a longer description, and a date.

One carefully written task can hold the entire weekly structure for 2025. The title can be something like “Weeks of 2025 – Monday to Sunday”. The short description can say that weeks always start on Monday, that week forty-eight is the week of Monday 24 November 2025 to Sunday 30 November 2025, and that week one starts on Monday 30 December 2024. The details area can then list the week ranges or at least explain how the pattern works.

Because Google Tasks links to Google Calendar, adding dates to that task or to related tasks can make pieces of this weekly map appear directly in the calendar. In 2025, new updates even make it possible to schedule dedicated task time blocks straight in Google Calendar, so tasks no longer need to hide inside fake events. That makes the weekly map more than a note; it can shape real time in the diary.

How Google is pushing everything into Tasks

Over the last year, Google has started to move more and more reminders into Google Tasks. Reminders from Google Keep, for example, are being shifted so that notifications now flow through Tasks and Calendar. This creates a single place where to-dos live, instead of splitting them across many small systems.

At the same time, new features are giving Tasks a little more weight. Calendar can now create time blocks directly for tasks, and the mobile app is slowly adding clearer deadline fields. These improvements are modest but they point in one direction: Google wants Tasks to serve as a quiet hub for everyday actions, with Calendar as the visible surface.

Using one long note instead of twenty short ones

In a world of many apps, a person can end up with dozens of tiny notes. The weekly map approach suggests a different style. Instead of splitting the idea into many parts, it lives in a single, long task. That task becomes a personal reference card.

Inside the task, search terms can be written as plain sentences. Phrases like “weeks 2025 Monday Sunday start end”, “week 48 2025 Monday 24 November 2025”, or “week 1 2025 Monday 30 December 2024” are simple but powerful. Months from now, typing any of those phrases into the Tasks search bar should bring this note to the top. For someone juggling many lists, this is a gentle way to make sure the weekly map is never lost.

Sensitive banking codes inside “private” tools

Alongside these time-based details, there is another kind of information that people often want to keep handy: banking codes. In Argentina, every bank account has a CBU, a twenty-two-digit number that tells the banking system exactly which account should receive a transfer. In Mexico, a CLABE number serves the same purpose for domestic transfers, using eighteen digits to point to the correct bank, branch, and account.

These codes are crucial when sending money. They must be correct and complete. For that reason, some people like to copy them into notes or tasks so they are easy to find. But they are also sensitive. A full CBU or CLABE is not a password, yet it still exposes the path to a real account. Storing them in plain text increases the damage if someone gains access to a phone or computer.

One way to reduce risk is to separate the map from the keys. The weekly map for 2025 is safe and can live freely inside Google Tasks. CBU and CLABE numbers can stay in a password manager or another secure tool that is built for confidential data. The task about weeks can then contain a short line like “account details stored in secure app” as a reminder, without copying the numbers.

A small Dutch language boost

Even a tiny language detail can support this whole picture. In Dutch, the days of the week are maandag, dinsdag, woensdag, donderdag, vrijdag, zaterdag and zondag. These names also follow the Monday to Sunday rhythm. For someone living in or near the Netherlands, linking those words to the weekly map makes the pattern feel more natural: maandag is the start of the week, zondag is the close.

A short Dutch mini-lesson like this can sit at the bottom of the task description. It is easy to read and, over time, it helps the weekly map feel more like a familiar road and less like an abstract diagram.

A calm way to see a year that is already in motion

At this point in 2025, most of the year has already passed. The late November anchor week has come and gone. But that is exactly what makes a weekly map so helpful. It works both for planning ahead and for looking back. A person can ask “What happened in week thirty-two?” or “How busy was week five?” and the answer will be tied to clean date ranges.

The single Google Tasks note, with its clear title, short explanation, and friendly search phrases, then acts as a key. Open it, scan it, and the year turns from a blur into a tidy ladder of weeks.

Conclusions

A year can feel like noise or like music. In 2025, choosing to see the year as a string of Monday-to-Sunday weeks gives it a steady beat. Anchoring week forty-eight to the last full week of November makes that beat concrete.

Google Tasks, long seen as a quiet side tool, becomes more powerful when it holds that weekly map in one well-designed note. New links between Tasks, Calendar, and other Google tools make it easier to move from ideas on a list to time in a day.

Care with banking codes such as CBU and CLABE shows that organisation does not need to mean exposure. Dates can be public; account numbers can remain guarded. A tiny Dutch lesson on the days of the week then adds a human touch, turning a dry calendar into something that feels closer and easier to remember.

Selected References

[1] “Week Numbers for 2025 (ISO 8601).” Epoch Converter. https://www.epochconverter.com/weeks/2025

[2] “Calendar weeks 2025.” Calendar.online. https://calendar.online/calendar-weeks/2025

[3] “ISO week date.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_week_date

[4] “Calendar for Year 2025 (The Netherlands).” timeanddate.com. https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/custom.html?country=25&year=2025&wno=1

[5] “Organize & Track To-Dos with Google Tasks.” Google Workspace. https://workspace.google.com/products/tasks/

[6] “Learn about Google Tasks.” Google Help Center. https://support.google.com/tasks/answer/7675772

[7] “Your Google Keep reminders are now moving to Google Tasks – and power users will find this very confusing.” TechRadar. https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/your-google-keep-reminders-are-now-moving-to-google-tasks-and-power-users-will-find-this-very-confusing

[8] “You can finally schedule tasks directly in Google Calendar – here’s how.” Tom’s Guide. https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/mobile-apps/you-can-finally-schedule-tasks-directly-in-google-calendar-heres-how

[9] “What is CUIT/CUIL and CBU in Argentina.” RemitBee. https://www.remitbee.com/help/sending-money/what-is-cuitcuil-and-cbu-in-argentina

[10] “CLABE Number: What It Is and When It Is Needed?” Western Union. https://www.westernunion.com/blog/en/us/clabe-number/

[11] “Dagen van de week in het Nederlands.” SpeakLanguages. https://nl.speaklanguages.com/nederlands/woordenschat/dagen-van-de-week

[12] “Use Google Tasks Like a Pro: A Complete Walkthrough.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKtRYsY9vY

Appendix

Banking identifier (CBU and CLABE).
A banking identifier such as a CBU in Argentina or a CLABE in Mexico is a long numeric code that points to one specific bank account and is required when sending domestic transfers so that the money reaches the correct destination.

Calendar week.
A calendar week is a fixed group of seven days used as a unit in many calendars, often numbered so that people can talk about week one or week forty-eight instead of listing every date.

Dutch days of the week.
The Dutch days of the week are maandag, dinsdag, woensdag, donderdag, vrijdag, zaterdag and zondag, and they follow the same Monday-to-Sunday order that is used in many European week systems.

Google Tasks.
Google Tasks is a simple to-do application from Google that lets users create tasks, add notes and dates, and see those tasks inside tools such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, and a mobile app.

ISO week date.
The ISO week date is an international standard that defines how weeks are numbered in a year, stating that weeks start on Monday and that week one is the week containing the first Thursday of the calendar year.

Week-based schedule.
A week-based schedule is a way of planning in which work, events, and goals are grouped into weekly blocks, making it easy to think in terms of “this week” and “next week” rather than only in single days.

Weekly planning note.
A weekly planning note is a short written guide, often stored in a task or document, that explains how weeks in a year are organised and gives quick reminders about key dates and patterns.

Key Takeaways

• A metal “toothpaste key” squeezer can rust even if intended as stainless steel — moisture and tiny scratches break the protective layer.
• Household items like white vinegar or a baking-soda paste often remove light rust spots.
• For heavier rust, a commercial rust-remover soak works well and can restore metal parts gently.
• After cleaning, dry the tool thoroughly and store it in a dry place to slow new rust formation.

Story & Details

A household metal device — the kind used to squeeze the last bit of toothpaste from a tube — developed a line of brown rust along its seam. The roller shape, the curved metal and the folded end of a toothpaste tube make the tool immediately recognizable. What began as a simple bathroom utensil had begun to show the telltale signs of corrosion.

Rust, technically iron oxide, occurs when iron-containing metals meet water and oxygen over time. Even a metal object described as “stainless” can rust if its protective oxide layer is compromised by small scratches or persistent dampness.

Cleaners often turn first to what’s already in the home: white vinegar, whose mild acetic acid dissolves light rust, and baking soda, which acts as a gentle abrasive. For a small object like this squeezer, a soak of vinegar for 30–60 minutes followed by a gentle scrub tends to work well. If that fails, a paste of baking soda and water, left a while and scrubbed with a toothbrush or soft pad, can finish the job.

When rust goes deeper or spreads across creases and harder-to-reach spots, a commercial soak such as a rust-remover solution may be the better option. These formulas are designed to dissolve corrosion without damaging the base metal, often suitable for small tools and up to heavier objects.

After cleaning, drying thoroughly and storing the metal where air circulates — rather than leaving it damp in a humid bathroom — reduces the chance of rust reappearing.

Conclusions

An everyday metal tool like a toothpaste squeezer can rust easily with common use in a bathroom. The good news is that simple household items or a modest rust-remover soak can usually bring it back to usable condition. With a little cleaning and careful drying, it can surely last longer — without turning into a crusty ragged edge in the medicine cabinet.

Selected References

[1] “How to get rid of rust,” WD-40 DIY tips (vinegar and other home remedies for rust removal). https://wd40.ae/diy/how-to-get-rid-of-rust/
[2] “WD-40 Specialist Rust Remover Soak,” official product information on removing rust from tools and metal parts. https://www.wd40.com/products/rust-remover/
[3] “How to Remove Rust From Stainless Steel,” sheetmetalimprovements.com.au guide to rust cleaning using vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, or WD-40. https://www.sheetmetalimprovements.com.au/how-to-remove-rust-from-stainless-steel

Appendix

Baking soda. A common household powder (sodium bicarbonate) that becomes a mild abrasive when mixed with water — useful for gently scrubbing rust without scratching metal.

Rust. Iron oxide that forms when iron-based metals react with moisture and oxygen; it appears as reddish-brown patches or flaky spots.

Toothpaste key (tube squeezer). A small metal tool designed to roll up and squeeze the tail end of a soft tube — for items like toothpaste — to extract all contents neatly.

White vinegar. A mild acetic-acid solution commonly used in kitchens and cleaning; effective at loosening light rust and mineral buildup from metal surfaces.

Key Takeaways

In short

• A humidity absorber box is a small plastic container that quietly pulls water from the air in places like wardrobes, drawers, and bookcases.
• Inside the box, white pellets made from calcium chloride attract moisture and slowly turn it into liquid in a lower tray.
• The instruction leaflet, often printed in many European languages, explains how to open the box, place it safely, and pour the liquid down the drain when the tray is full.
• The liquid can irritate eyes and skin, so the box must stay away from food, drinks, and children, and it should never be opened fully or used for anything else.

Story & Details

Damp weather, small box
Late in November 2025, the air in many homes is heavy and cool. Coats hang close together in cupboards, shoes dry slowly in hallway units, and book spines feel just a little sticky. On a supermarket shelf stands a row of compact plastic tubs: humidity absorber boxes. They promise to fight damp in the quiet corners of the house where air does not move much.

What sits inside the plastic shell
Each box has two main parts. At the top there is a plastic grid or lid with small holes. Under that lid sit dry white pellets. The bottom half is an empty tray. The pellets are usually made from calcium chloride, a salt that loves water. It is highly hygroscopic, which means it pulls water vapour from the air and holds it. Safety data sheets for common household moisture absorbers warn that these pellets and the liquid they create can sting eyes and irritate skin, so direct contact should be avoided and the product must stay out of reach of children [1].

The quiet work of absorbing water
The leaflet that comes with the box uses simple steps. First the user lifts off the plastic grid and peels away the thin aluminium foil seal. Then the grid goes back into place, so the pellets are covered but the air can still move around them. Once the box is prepared, it is left in a damp place: in a wardrobe with packed winter coats, in a drawer where clothes never quite dry, or in a bookcase pushed against an outside wall. The pellets slowly dissolve as they pull in water from the air, and the liquid gathers in the lower tray. Consumer guides explain that these passive absorbers work best in small, closed spaces; they cannot dry an entire flat, but they can reduce moisture and musty smell in one cupboard or closet [2],[4].

Watching the tray fill up
After some days or weeks, depending on how damp the space is, the lower tray becomes full of clear or slightly cloudy liquid. At that point the instructions say that the box has done its job. The protective sheet or membrane above the tray is pierced in one spot, so the liquid can flow out in a controlled way. The liquid is then poured down a household drain with plenty of water, and the empty box and spent pellets are thrown away. Safety documents for similar products support this advice and highlight that the liquid is basically a strong salt solution: it should not touch skin or eyes and should not be poured onto soil or metal surfaces where it could cause damage over time [1],[3].

A short Dutch lesson from the packaging
In Dutch shops, these boxes are often sold under names such as “vochtonttrekker” and “vochtvreter”. The first means “moisture remover”; the second literally means “moisture eater”. The words appear on many packs on Dutch consumer sites, where the products are advertised for wardrobes, basements, garages, caravans, and even cars [4]. The idea is always the same: a small, quiet helper that sits in one place and stops damp patches and musty smells before they spread.

Why people still buy them in 2025
Even in 2025, with smart home sensors and electric dehumidifiers on the market, the humble humidity absorber box keeps a place in many homes. It is cheap, needs no electricity, and is easy to understand. Recent tests comparing moisture absorbers and powered dehumidifiers show that the small boxes cannot compete in large rooms, but they are handy in small spaces and can be a useful first step before deciding on bigger changes such as better ventilation or building repairs [2]. For people living in rented homes or student rooms, a simple plastic box can make a cupboard smell fresher without major work.

Conclusions

Small tool, clear limits
A humidity absorber box is a modest device, but it answers a very ordinary problem: clothes that smell damp, drawers that never feel fully dry, books that start to curl. When used as the leaflet describes, it quietly gathers extra water from the air and keeps that moisture out of fabrics and paper.

Reading the leaflet matters
The same leaflet also explains the limits. The pellets and the liquid they form are not harmless. They are meant to stay inside the box, away from curious hands, pets, food, and metal surfaces. When the tray is full, the liquid goes down the drain with plenty of water, and the empty box goes into the rubbish. Used in this simple, careful way, the small tub on the shelf can help a home feel drier and more comfortable, even as damp autumn weather returns each year.

Selected References

[1] Farnell. “Moisture Absorber – Safety Data Sheet.” Accessed November 2025. https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1694216.pdf

[2] Choice. “DampRid vs dehumidifiers: Does DampRid really work to combat mould and damp?” Published October 2025. https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/cooling/dehumidifier/articles/does-damprid-really-work

[3] Woodside. “Dehumidifier / Moisture Absorber – Safety Data Sheet.” Accessed November 2025. https://www.accesstoretail.com/uploads/documentation/2022%20DEHUMIDIFIER%20MOISTURE%20ABSORBER%20-%20Woodside6.pdf

[4] Woonvrienden. “Beste vochtvreter 2025.” Accessed November 2025. https://woonvrienden.nl/vochtvreter/

[5] Engineering World. “What is Inside Moisture Absorber | How Desiccant works?” YouTube video, educational overview of desiccant materials and their use in household moisture absorbers. Accessed November 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZG1wYftuNU

Appendix

Calcium chloride
A white salt used in many humidity absorber boxes; it attracts water from the air and turns into a liquid solution as it works.

Desiccant
A substance that absorbs moisture from the air and keeps nearby items dry; examples include silica gel beads and calcium chloride pellets.

Humidity absorber box
A small plastic container filled with desiccant pellets, designed to sit in cupboards, drawers, or other small spaces and collect extra moisture as liquid in a lower tray.

Protection sheet
A thin internal layer above the liquid tray of a humidity absorber box that reduces splashes and keeps the liquid from spilling while still letting water move downwards.

Vochtvreter
A Dutch word used on packaging for humidity absorbers; it literally means “moisture eater” and refers to the same type of box that collects damp air and turns it into liquid.

Key Takeaways

A single card on the screen
A worker opens a timecard app used by a Dutch temporary employment agency and sees only one card in the list, marked “Found: 1”, so all attention falls on that single week.

A past week with no hours
The card is labelled “Leegloop” and covers week 46 of the year 2025, from 10 November to 16 November, a period that has already passed by the end of November 2025, yet the total still shows only a dash instead of hours.

A gentle warning to take action
Beneath the empty total sits a pink “Report” label next to buttons such as “Action”, “More”, and “Go to”, signalling that the week is open and still needs to be checked, completed, or confirmed.

Story & Details

A quiet moment with a work app
On a workday in late November 2025, a worker unlocks a phone and opens a timecard app. The interface looks clean and simple: a blue bar at the top, a title that reads “Timecards”, and a list that has room for many weeks but currently holds just one. Sorting is set to “Number” and the filter is set to “All (no period filter)”, so nothing is being hidden. The text “Found: 1” confirms that there is only a single week to review.

Zooming in on week 46
The card that does appear belongs to week 46 of 2025, labeled “2025-46” with the dates 10 November to 16 November. By the time this screen is viewed, that week is already over. The worker is not planning a schedule but looking back at what the system believes has happened. This is exactly what modern timecard tools are built for: giving an easy way to see whether all working time for a past period has been captured and is ready for payroll.

The meaning of “Leegloop”
Across the top of the card sits a short word in Dutch: “Leegloop”. It literally evokes a sense of empty running or slow draining away. In everyday Dutch, it can describe an office that is losing staff or a village where people move out. In a work context, it often points to idle time: a person, machine, or team that is ready for work but has nothing to do. On a timecard, a label like this is a quiet clue that the week carries no recorded activity.

The story behind a simple dash
Where many workers would expect to see a number of hours, the line “Total: –” appears. That small dash says a lot. It means that, as far as the system is concerned, this worker has not logged any time in that period. Several things could explain this. The worker might genuinely have had the week off. The app might still be waiting for hours to be typed in. Or the shifts might have taken place but never been recorded. Whatever the reason, the week is still unresolved for payroll and planning purposes.

Buttons that invite a next move
Under the empty total, the eye is drawn to a pink icon and the word “Report”. Nearby sit three subtle prompts: “Action” on the left, “More” in the middle, and “Go to” on the right. These controls hint at what the app expects: open the week, check each day, enter hours if needed, and then mark the period as ready. Modern digital timecards make that process quicker than old paper cards, but they depend on the same simple habit: someone has to go in and confirm what actually happened.

Why this small Dutch word matters
For someone who is not used to Dutch, “Leegloop” might look mysterious or even worrying. A short language lesson helps. Knowing that it points to emptiness or idle time turns the label into a useful signpost. Instead of feeling like an error message, it simply shows: this week is blank. That insight can reduce stress for workers who are still getting used to digital timekeeping and can help them explain the situation to a planner, payroll officer, or contact at the agency.

Conclusions

An empty week is still a clear signal
A week marked “Leegloop” with a dash instead of a total is not a dead end. It is a clear signal that the timecard app has no hours on record for that past period and that someone needs to decide whether that is correct.

Understanding the label brings calm
Once the meaning of the Dutch word is clear and the role of the “Report” prompt is understood, the screen stops feeling mysterious. It becomes a simple reminder to review, adjust, or accept the quiet week.

Small screens, real consequences
This kind of mobile view may look modest, but it connects directly to real-life outcomes such as correct pay and reliable records. A brief check of one empty card can be the difference between confusion later and smooth, predictable wages now.

Selected References

[1] Reverso Context. “Leegloop – Translation into English.” Dutch–English example sentences showing “leegloop” used to describe idle time and underuse. Available at: https://context.reverso.net/translation/dutch-english/leegloop

[2] Time Champ. “What Is a Time Card? Its Role in Workforce Management.” Explainer on how time cards record start and end times and support accurate payroll and compliance. Available at: https://www.timechamp.io/glossary/time-card

[3] Employment Hero. “Electronic timesheets: what are they and do you need them?” Guide to the role of electronic timesheets in tracking working hours and projects. Available at: https://employmenthero.com/uk/blog/electronic-timesheets-guide/

[4] SalaryBox. “What is a timesheet? A complete guide to understanding timesheets in 2025.” Overview of how modern timesheets work and why they matter for productivity and labour law compliance. Available at: https://salarybox.in/blog/what-is-a-timesheet-a-complete-guide-to-understanding-timesheets-in-2025/

[5] Eastern Michigan University. “Submitting Timesheets: A Step-by-step Guide to Submitting Your Student Employee Timesheet at EMU.” Video tutorial on YouTube showing how to review and submit a digital timesheet. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Z9TENaFKg

Appendix

Idle time
Idle time is a stretch of the working day or week when a person, team, or machine is available but not doing useful work, often because no task has been assigned or some resource is missing.

Leegloop
Leegloop is a Dutch word that suggests empty running or slow draining away and is often used to describe underuse, loss of people, or idle time, such as a week on a timecard where no hours are recorded.

Time card
A time card is a record of when someone starts and finishes work, and sometimes of breaks and overtime, so that total hours and pay can be calculated accurately.

Timecard app
A timecard app is a digital tool, usually on a phone or browser, that lets workers see, enter, and submit time cards instead of relying on paper forms or wall clocks.

Timesheet
A timesheet is a grid or form that lists work hours for each day over a period such as a week or month, often grouped by task or project, and then sent for approval before payroll is run.

Week number
A week number is a code that gives each week of the year a simple label, such as “2025-46” for the forty-sixth week of 2025, which helps planners and payroll teams match timecards to specific calendar periods.

Key Takeaways

A simple safety notice that speaks to a bigger problem
TheFork, a well-known restaurant booking platform, has sent a short security message that explains how criminals try to trick diners and restaurant staff with fake online messages.

Clear rules that are easy to remember
The message says that TheFork and its partner restaurants do not ask for payments or sensitive data such as card numbers or passwords through text messages, chat apps, phone calls, or casual online messages, and that any request like this is a red flag.

Hospitality under pressure from smarter scams
Reports from European cybersecurity authorities show that phishing has become a main way for attackers to break into organisations, and hotels and restaurants are frequent targets.

Artificial intelligence raises the stakes
Analysts warn that more than four in five social-engineering attacks now use artificial intelligence tools, which makes fake booking and payment messages look more natural and harder to spot.

Awareness, not fear, is the real defence
Simple habits such as checking the sender, ignoring unexpected payment links, and using official apps and websites to confirm any request give diners and hospitality workers real power against these scams.

Story & Details

A small banner that hides a serious message

TheFork is a regular part of daily life for many diners who book tables, collect loyalty points, and sometimes buy gift cards through its website and app. At the top of the safety message, the account area shows a gift card balance of zero and a loyalty balance of zero points. It looks like a normal account screen, the kind that appears before a booking or a review.

Below that, the tone shifts. The message explains that customer safety is a top priority and that online scams aimed at restaurants and their guests have increased during 2025. It introduces a key term in simple language: phishing. In this context, phishing means a fake digital message or call that pretends to be from a trusted service in order to push a person to pay money or share sensitive information such as passwords or card details.

TheFork describes what these messages often look like. Many use pressure. They may say that a reservation will be lost unless payment is made at once, or that a special offer will expire in minutes. They may look like a booking update, a loyalty reward notice, or a delivery question. The message tells customers to pay close attention to who is really sending the message and which channels are used.

The rules that draw a clear line

At the heart of the notice are a few very direct promises. TheFork states that it does not ask for payments or sensitive information by casual digital messages, by calls out of the blue, or by chat apps such as popular mobile messaging services and social media chats. Partner restaurants using TheFork’s tools follow the same rule.

This simple line is important. It means that any unexpected message that asks for payment or sensitive data through these channels can be treated as suspicious at once. The text then explains what to do in that situation in very plain terms: do not click links, do not download files, do not send money, and do not answer the sender. Instead, delete the message.

The notice also gives a safe way to get help. If a person is not sure whether a message is real, they are advised to avoid all links and attachments and to contact TheFork’s support team through official contact pages on its website. The company’s legal and information pages explain how it handles data, reviews, and gift cards, and they sit under the main TheFork domain rather than in strange or unfamiliar addresses. [1][5]

Why restaurants and hotels attract phishers

This is not an isolated warning. Across 2024 and 2025, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity has reported that phishing has become the most common starting point for successful attacks against organisations. Once attackers gain access to an account or internal system, they can move on to install malware, steal more data, or launch ransomware. [1][4]

Hospitality is a natural target. Hotels and restaurants work with constant flows of bookings, cancellations, last-minute changes, and payment questions. Staff are used to dealing with urgent requests from guests and booking platforms. Criminals exploit this culture of speed. Security researchers have described campaigns where fake booking pages copy the look of popular travel sites and try to capture staff login details. Other campaigns send bogus messages to hotel managers asking them to open attachments that secretly install malicious software. [3][4]

Smaller restaurants can be at special risk. They may not have full-time technical staff, but they do rely on online tools to manage reservations, loyalty schemes, and payment systems. A single stolen password can expose lists of customers and their bookings. In busy periods such as holidays, staff may have little time to check details and may feel strong pressure to respond quickly to every message.

Artificial intelligence changes the tone of fake messages

Another trend worries experts: the growing use of artificial intelligence in social-engineering attacks. A recent European awareness campaign on phishing warns that more than 80 percent of observed social-engineering activity now uses some form of artificial intelligence, including language models that generate convincing text in many languages and tones. [4][7]

In practice, this means that fake booking messages can now sound more natural and less robotic. They may match the style of real messages from known platforms. They can include local place names, realistic restaurant details, and personalised greetings scraped from public data. Combined with urgency and emotional triggers such as fear of losing a table or a discount, these messages can fool even careful staff and guests.

A Europe-wide push for simple cyber hygiene

Against this background, European institutions have turned phishing into a central theme of public campaigns. European Cybersecurity Month, held every October, has focused strongly on social engineering and phishing in recent years. The 2025 edition again highlights phishing as a main way attackers break into devices and accounts, and it encourages both organisations and citizens to adopt very simple habits: think before clicking, check the sender, and use trusted channels. [2][6]

ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, has published threat landscape reports that track thousands of incidents over recent years. These reports show that phishing and related social-engineering tricks remain a steady and powerful tool for attackers, even as technical defences improve. The agency stresses that human awareness is a vital part of any defence plan, and it produces materials aimed not just at experts but at the general public. [1][4][6]

One example is a short awareness video on how phishing scams work and how to stay safe. The video explains in simple language how a message can look real while leading to a fake site, and it shows viewers what to look for before they click. It is hosted on the official ENISA YouTube channel and is part of a wider push to make cybersecurity advice easier to understand:

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfkh_Cc43W0

Turning a loyalty point balance into a teaching moment

TheFork’s own loyalty system, which lets diners earn points and turn them into discounts at partner restaurants, adds another layer. These points represent real value. That makes them attractive to criminals who can send fake messages that promise bonus points, warn that points are about to expire, or offer special rewards if the customer confirms card details.

By setting clear rules about how it will and will not contact customers about payments and sensitive information, TheFork gives its users a simple test they can apply every time. If a message about bookings, payments, or loyalty points arrives in a way that breaks those rules, the safest action is to ignore it and use the official app or website to check the account directly.

In 2025, as the holiday season brings crowded restaurants and busy hotel lobbies, that kind of clarity can make the difference between a short moment of doubt and a costly mistake.

Conclusions

A small nudge toward safer habits

A short safety notice from a restaurant booking platform may seem like a small thing, but it reflects a much larger shift. Phishing is no longer a rare, clumsy scam. It is now a polished, often automated tool used against hotels, restaurants, and their guests almost every day.

Clear, simple rules such as those shared by TheFork help cut through the noise. When a company states that it never asks for payments or sensitive data through casual digital messages, staff and customers gain a quick way to judge new messages. This kind of guidance does not remove the need for good technical security, but it gives ordinary people a practical role in defence.

A shared responsibility for a busy sector

For the hospitality world, the message is gentle but firm. Bookings, discounts, and loyalty points will always be part of the business. So will last-minute changes and urgent guest requests. Phishing will keep trying to ride on that sense of urgency.

By combining clear communication from platforms like TheFork, regular awareness campaigns from public bodies, and calm daily habits from staff and guests, the sector can stay welcoming and warm while making life much harder for those who want to turn fake messages into real damage.

Selected References

[1] European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). “Emerging technologies make it easier to phish.”
https://www.enisa.europa.eu/news/emerging-technologies-make-it-easier-to-phish

[2] European Commission. “European Cybersecurity Month 2025 kicks off with focus on phishing threats.”
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/european-cybersecurity-month-2025-kicks-focus-phishing-threats

[3] TRG International. “Phishing in Hospitality: The Growing Threat Hotels Can’t Ignore.”
https://trginternational.com/blog/hospitality-phishing-threat-hotels/

[4] European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). “ENISA Threat Landscape 2025.”
https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/enisa-threat-landscape-2025

[5] TheFork. “Legal and Trust, Safety and Transparency Information.”
https://www.thefork.com/legal

[6] European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). “Beware email phishing scams” (video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfkh_Cc43W0

[7] Geneva Internet Platform Digital Watch Observatory. “EU kicks off cybersecurity awareness campaign against phishing threats.”
https://dig.watch/updates/eu-kicks-off-cybersecurity-awareness-campaign-against-phishing-threats

Appendix

Cybersecurity Month
Cybersecurity Month is an annual campaign in the European Union that runs each October and promotes safer use of digital services, with themes such as phishing and social engineering and with activities for both organisations and citizens.

Hospitality sector
The hospitality sector includes hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, cafés, bars, and related services that provide food, drink, and accommodation to guests, often relying heavily on online booking and payment systems.

Phishing
Phishing is a form of online fraud in which criminals send fake digital messages or create fake sites that pretend to be from trusted organisations, in order to trick people into sharing sensitive information or sending money.

Social engineering
Social engineering is the use of psychological tricks and emotional pressure to make people do something that helps an attacker, such as clicking a dangerous link, opening a harmful file, or sharing confidential details.

TheFork
TheFork is an online service and mobile app that lets people find restaurants, book tables, post reviews, and use digital payment and gift card features, and it works with partner restaurants in many European countries.

Yums loyalty points
Yums loyalty points are a reward currency in TheFork’s loyalty system that diners earn when they book and complete meals through the service and that can later be exchanged for money-off discounts at participating restaurants.

Key Takeaways

Main points at a glance

Academia.edu has changed its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy in September 2025, adding detailed rules for new artificial intelligence tools such as AI-generated podcasts and summaries, while keeping the basic promise that uploaded papers and profile information remain the researcher’s own work.

The new rules give the company wide permission to use member content and personal information, including names and academic profiles, to power recommendations, analytics, and AI features, and also to generate adaptations of that content such as audio versions.

Researchers can keep using the platform, change privacy settings, or switch off AI tools through dedicated settings; continuing to use the service counts as agreement to the new terms, so reading them carefully now is important.

Story & Details

A platform at the centre of a new debate

Academia.edu is a commercial platform that hosts millions of academic papers and profiles from around the world. It has long presented itself as a place where researchers share work, discover new articles, and track how often their work is read or cited. In recent months, it has also moved strongly into artificial intelligence tools that generate summaries, key points, and even spoken-word podcasts from uploaded papers.

In September 2025 the company updated its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The changes arrived with a simple message: the rules now support new features and new laws, while the mission remains to help researchers share and discover research. For many users this sounded reassuring. The details, however, are more demanding and have sparked strong reactions in academic circles.

What the new terms actually allow

The new Terms of Use now state clearly that, by creating an account and uploading work, a user grants Academia.edu a broad, worldwide licence to use that work and related personal information. This licence is described as irrevocable, non-exclusive, and transferable. It covers member content such as uploaded papers and also personal details like name, photograph, affiliations, and areas of interest.

One key part is the right to “generate adaptations” of member content in any medium. The terms give podcasts as an explicit example. In everyday language, this means the platform can turn text into audio, or use a paper as the basis for AI-generated summaries, highlight reels, or other derivative formats. The company can also use a researcher’s name and profile alongside these adaptations, including in promotion of its own services.

For researchers, ownership of the original papers does not change. The work remains theirs. What changes is the scale of permission granted to the platform to copy, transform, and present that work in new ways, for its own business purposes, for as long as an account exists and sometimes beyond.

How AI podcasts and summaries fit in

The most eye-catching features in this new landscape are AI podcasts and other AI-generated outputs. Paying users can now ask Academia.edu’s systems to produce an audio version of a paper, or to generate concise summaries and talking points. The updated terms explain that when a researcher uses such tools, the service grants a personal licence to the resulting podcast or summary, with a clear limit: it may be shared on other platforms only in a non-commercial way.

Non-commercial in this context means that a researcher can post an AI-generated podcast on a personal site, on social media, or in a classroom setting, as long as it is not sold, put behind a paywall, or used directly to make money. Commercial reuse would require different permission. This arrangement is meant to balance a researcher’s freedom to share with the company’s claim over its own AI-powered services.

These AI tools raise other questions. Because the system can generate audio in a human-like voice, some scholars worry about how closely it may imitate a person’s own speech or style over time. Critics have also noted that the broad licence to use personal information, including voice and likeness, could allow future products that go beyond the simple reading of a paper aloud.

Privacy policy changes and what they mean

The updated Privacy Policy, last revised in the middle of September 2025, sets out how the company collects, uses, and shares personal data. It repeats that Academia.edu acts as the controller for most of this data and explains that information can be used to improve recommendations, measure engagement, and support AI features.

For everyday users, the most relevant elements are how visible their activity is to others and how much control they have over it. Separate guidance from the company explains that analytics are private by default, but may be made public, and that users can hide their name and affiliation in some viewing statistics if they prefer not to appear in another author’s “who viewed my paper” list. These options sit alongside more recent AI-related settings.

Privacy in this context does not only mean who sees a profile page. It also covers how much of a researcher’s behaviour can be recorded and reused. Page views, downloads, saved papers, and citation alerts all form part of a data picture that helps train algorithms and target new features. The new documents try to make this data use more explicit, though still in legal language that can be hard to read for non-specialists.

Opting out, staying in, or walking away

Many academics have voiced alarm at the new terms. Commentators on philosophy and history sites, personal blogs, and social media have called the licence “overreach” and have encouraged colleagues either to delete accounts or to opt out of AI features while keeping a minimal presence. At the same time, others see value in discovery tools, networking features, and the convenience of AI summaries for teaching and preparation.

The platform itself offers a middle road. Through account settings, users can visit a dedicated AI section and disable AI outputs. Official help pages explain that doing this removes existing AI podcasts and summaries made from that account and prevents new AI content being created from those papers. This does not erase the account or the uploaded files, but it changes how they may be processed by the AI systems.

The decision is not the same for everyone. A senior professor with a well-known personal site and stable institutional repository might decide to remove work from commercial platforms altogether. A graduate student trying to build visibility might keep an Academia.edu profile active but switch off AI features, or leave them on while being careful about what is uploaded. The important point is that there is no longer a neutral default; a clear choice now exists.

A short Dutch language detour

For people reading these documents in the Netherlands or Belgium, a few key Dutch words often appear on similar platforms. When a site shows algemene voorwaarden, it is referring to the terms and conditions. When it refers to a privacybeleid, it is pointing to the privacy policy. Both texts deserve attention, especially when new AI tools are involved. Understanding those two phrases makes it easier to spot where the rules of a service are explained and where personal data practices are described.

Conclusions

A quiet moment to read the small print

Academia.edu now sits at a crossroads between open sharing and intensive data use. Its updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy mark a clear shift toward AI-driven services, broad licences, and new ways to reuse academic work, while still presenting the platform as a helpful tool for discovery and career building.

For researchers, the most helpful response is calm and practical. Reading the terms and privacy policy at least once, checking the AI and privacy settings, and deciding what should and should not be hosted there turns a vague sense of worry into an informed choice. Some will keep using the new tools enthusiastically. Others will draw firm lines or move their work elsewhere.

The common thread is control. When a company gains wider rights over content, the safest step is not panic but attention: a careful look at what has changed, a clear sense of personal comfort, and a simple plan for where and how to share work in the future.

Selected References

Key documents and further reading

[1] Academia.edu, “Terms of Use” (last updated September 2025). Available at: https://www.academia.edu/terms

[2] Academia.edu, “Privacy Policy” (last updated September 2025). Available at: https://www.academia.edu/privacy

[3] Academia.edu Support, “How do I opt out of AI?” (step-by-step guide to disabling AI features and deleting AI outputs). Available at: https://support.academia.edu/hc/en-us/articles/33051579972503-How-do-I-opt-out-of-AI

[4] Academia.edu Journals, “Contact us” and related pages (office address and contact details). Available at: https://www.academia.edu/journals/about/contact-us

[5] Wikipedia, “Academia.edu” (background on the platform’s business model and history). Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academia.edu

[6] Justin Weinberg, “What Will Academia.edu Do with Its New Rights to Your Name, Likeness, and Voice?” Daily Nous, September 2025 (critical analysis of the updated terms). Available at: https://dailynous.com/2025/09/22/what-will-academia-edu-do-with-its-new-rights-to-your-name-likeness-and-voice

[7] Electronic Frontier Foundation, “EFF: Electronic Frontier Foundation” (short explainer video on digital rights and online freedoms). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taL36C4NyLE

[8] Annette Hamilton, “Academia.edu Alters Terms: What You Need to Know” (discussion of licence scope and AI adaptations of member content). Available at: https://annette-hamilton.com/2025/11/09/academia-edu-alters-terms-what-you-need-to-know

Appendix

Academia.edu

A commercial website where researchers upload and share academic papers, create profiles, and follow the work of others, combining social-network features with a large document repository.

AI podcast

An automatically generated audio version of a text, created by artificial intelligence tools that turn written papers into spoken-word recordings.

AI tools

Digital features that use artificial intelligence to analyse or transform content, such as generating summaries, highlighting key points, or creating audio from written papers.

Algemene voorwaarden

A Dutch term commonly used on websites to label the section that explains the general terms and conditions under which a service may be used.

Licence

A legal permission that allows one party to use another party’s work under certain conditions, such as copying, adapting, or sharing content within agreed limits.

Non-commercial use

Use of content in ways that do not directly seek payment or financial gain, such as sharing materials for free on personal pages, in classrooms, or in open discussion spaces.

Opt-out

A choice that lets a user stop a specific feature or form of data use, for example turning off AI processing of uploaded papers so that new AI outputs are no longer created.

Privacy policy

A document that explains how a service collects, stores, uses, and shares personal data, and what choices users have to control those practices.

Privacybeleid

A Dutch term that refers to a website’s privacy policy, describing how personal information is handled and what data practices apply to users.

Terms of Use

A set of rules and conditions that define how a service may be accessed and used, including what is allowed, what is forbidden, and what rights the service has over user content.