Aging

We all feel it and I felt it today in a massive way (with assistance from IKEA) it is not that I don’t get it, I get it just fine, but I face the aging of my body, it is getting to 70 years old now and varying three piece es of furniture to my trolley implied tossing 6 boxes on that trolley and each and every try one was throwing out my back (and then some). Still, the IKEA staff members were excellent in handing me support and assistance. I reckon that they were thinking “What the hell is he doing carrying 240KG in boxes?” A thought that should have occurred to me quiet plainly. And the next day (whilst I was eagerly destroying my knees) I occurred to me that there is a second setting of bias, bias of my own abilities. So when we (now) look at bias (like Rina Diane Caballar) we see “Humans are innately biased and the AI that we develop can reflect our biases. These systems inadvertently learn biases that might be present in the training data and exhibited in the machine learning (ML) algorithms and deep learning models that underpin AI development. Those learned biases might be perpetuated during the deployment of AI, resulting in skewed outcomes.”Humans are innately biased and the AI that we develop can reflect our biases. These systems inadvertently learn biases that might be present in the training data and exhibited in the machine learning (ML) algorithms and deep learning models that underpin AI development. Those learned biases might be perpetuated during the deployment of AI, resulting in skewed outcomes.” It occurred to me that bis and validating requires a timestamp of this validation, because out via of the outcome is becoming the bias of the equation.

So when we see “Skewed Outcomes: Machine learning models are trained on large human-generated datasets that often reflect real-world prejudices, leading to biased decisions in hiring, healthcare, and policing” which is what IBM is handing us, but the hiring manager is trying to do what a hiring manager is trying to do, rolling with the punches of time, but his ‘assistance wizard’ is not doing this and it becomes a grey/black issue for the machine, whilst the hiring manager is looking for that white resume. So whilst everyone is ‘bottoming his/her resume’ quality is falling in between the cracks of unemployable ad the traps they have.

We then get “Algorithmic Opacity: Deep learning models function as “black boxes,” making it difficult to trace how or why a specific discriminatory choice was made.” Which we get from the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner. And whilst these models are not to verbal on how decisions are made there is every chance that this will instill a brain-drain. You see, some others can see that some degrees sound impressive but they are useless (in the beginning) so whilst some will drag this out by handing their tech support to philosophy graduates. The hiring manager is confronting a new workforce where sone stay quiet, so will revert to the caveman analogy and we can go on a few turns on that, all whilst the hiring manager requires a programmer who correctly addresses the Machine Learning modules and start preparing for dozens of exceptions and exclusions, whilst the essential inclusions are largely overlooked (actually they are merely overlooked until it is too late to do something about that). And it becomes worse because the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner will try to explain the wrongful act of Discriminatory choices, making transparency even less likely.

And then IBM gives us a gem (a diamond in the rough if you prefer) “And while organizations are taking advantage of technological advancements such as generative AI, only 24% of gen AI initiatives are secured. This lack of security threatens to expose data and AI models to breaches, the global average cost of which is a whopping USD 4.88 million in 2024.” Does anyone realise that in hiring the lowest assistance can secure over 60% whilst the Gen AI is getting only 24% and that is before some could have thought of “Search for security gaps in AI environments through risk assessment and threat modeling.”, “Assess model vulnerabilities by using adversarial testing.” As well as “Invest in cyber response training to level up awareness, preparedness and security in your organization.” So whilst some might do some of these things, the investment of millions merely hands them an optional rise from 24% to 45% securing investments and whilst corporations are looking towards ‘Microsoft data centres swing to $326m profit amid investment spree’ all whilst they all listen to Satya Nadella talking up a storm, we see “Accounts filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show the company increased revenue 33 per cent to $3 billion, and paid $165 million in income tax for the year” (source: Financial Review) and no one is looking for ACTUAL success stories. I saw one success story, it was BMW with “Cut vehicle production line downtime by 25% while boosting quality inspection accuracy to 92%” but was that actual AI in use, or was that machine language optimizing machines? We see all kinds of numbers thrown at us, but whilst we see ‘dodgy’ accounting in effect like “Microsoft has not laid off 60,000 workers; instead, in late October 2026, the company announced a Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO)—a buyout program—offered to about 60,000 employees (roughly 27% of its global workforce of over 220,000 people” So where are they going to go. And I am still of the mind, when the world wakes up to the flim flam AI artistry, we will see managers falling over themselves to rehire whatever they can and their opposition is doing the same and likely succeed where the VEO offers fails. Because when we see that machines cannot do it all, when the clarity that there needs to be a person who activates the verifying module and when these big wigs come back with the setting our AI does that, and whomever gets a day of looking into that, will see a tsunami of harm coming all their ways. But I have learned that managers who get rid of the people who gets them into hot waters, there is the opportunity for the adversary of that firm, but what am I saying, Microsoft and Amazon doesn’t have any adversaries, do they?

So what does any of this to do with aging? Well, there are a few settings “Data aging is the process of moving old, low-relevance, or historical data away from active, high-performance storage or memory into secondary or historical storage areas” (source: SAP) as well as “It moves inactive or closed records (such as old financial transactions) from hot in-memory storage to cold disk partitions within the same database. This reduces the main memory footprint and speeds up queries for active day-to-day data, while keeping historical data accessible via specific SQL range restrictions (WITH RANGE RESTRICTION).” The question becomes have these training modules kept up with these aging routines? Because that element is often not in exported data, as such the validity of the data as well as its verifying functions are failing. So whilst we are considering “such as old financial transactions”, so how are these records of Gerald Payne, World Plus and a few others are seen by these ‘machines’ and whilst we are aware that there is a link between these settings, the setting of ‘with age restrictions’ might not be used everywhere as such the amount of credible data is failing (harshly) and I am merely stating obvious cases, but these poi scheme settings are still being used and some are ‘confidential’ because they are being investigated and syphoning out these dealers gives them a case for suing for discrimination. Because in the United States (as far as I know) “Under federal law (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states that blanket bans on hiring anyone with a criminal record can be discriminatory.” So these people merely need to prod the fake AI system to see where they are ‘disregarded’ and start a case against these discriminatory parties. I reckon that this will be a class action case for 2027. Don’t take my word for it, just watch the news, it will happen. I feel decently certain of that.

So there am I (still aging) taking up my fight with the white Fågelfjället, I will not be defeated by my age or that massive amount of wood (even if it kills me).

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Last stop speculation central

That is what it seems to me, however, the information given to us by Al Jazeera is too worrying to keep it from you. The title ‘Are Houthis using Russian satellites as Saudi Arabia fends off strikes?’ (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/31/are-houthis-using-russian-satellites-as-saudi-arabia-faces-hits) on one hand it would make the gulf states see Russia as a direct enemy towards their safety and security. It would be a really dumb thing to do, because the gulf states would be pressed directly in the arms of China. And that renewed alliance would bring China billions upon billions ion defense contracts. So when we get to “Analysts say the seizure of state arsenals, external backing and extensive military evolution has enabled the Houthis to build a powerful arsenal.” The better look is given by Elijah Magnier (Brussels based) who gives us “AURORA’s findings don’t necessarily show the whole picture.” I tend to be on that horse, the United States has every reason to see the relationship between Russia and the gulf states sour, but that doesn’t take away the setting we are given with ““The third is Iran obtained information through another intermediary, so a third party could theoretically have supplied the intelligence originated from the Russian system, and there is no currently publicly verified evidence establishing such an arrangement,” he added. But Obaid highlighted that distinguishing a Russian-supported intelligence architecture from proof that a particular Russian satellite supplied the targeting data for an individual Houthi strike is essential” and this makes perfect sense. In this the setting seems to add up and Nawaf Obaid, founder of the geosignal intelligence firm AURORAH. As such there is reason to believe that the Houthi terrorists are getting high end intelligence and knowing what we know from Iranian actions, the prefer a buffer zone, and a Russia buffer zone will do very well. This puts President Putin in a spell. He either denies Iran based players access from Russian satellites, or he is willing to play this out, knowing very well that this will enable a Chinese victory over the Gulf states and there is no coming back from that. As I see it, Nawaf Obaid its leaving an impression. Because “He said the satellites they identified include Russia’s Bars-M military mapping satellites, Persona optical reconnaissance satellites, Lotos-S1 electronic intelligence satellites, Pion-NKS maritime reconnaissance systems and Kondor-FKA radar-imaging satellites. They also examined the EKS/Tundra infrared early-warning constellation.

“The critical finding was not the presence of individual Russian satellites, but the sequencing and integration of their complementary intelligence capabilities,” he said.” So either the CIA didn’t know or didn’t care and either case is damaging to the United States, especially as they received in 2025 (allegedly) “the combined National Intelligence Program ($73.4 billion)”, I have no idea how big the budget of AURORAH is, but it is not that much, not by a long shot. So has the United States lost interest in the gulf states? That would be a nice opening sentence for the Chinese parties, that the United States no longer needs access to OPEC and its 1.2 trillion to 1.5 trillion barrels of oil. As such the political plays are massive and there is a reservation I must give you. This is one article from Al Jazeera, I have not seen any corroboration from anywhere else.

So when we get to “Obaid also confirmed to Al Jazeera that based on the findings, “Russian military geospatial and signals intelligence has supported the Iranian-led intelligence architecture assisting Houthi operations in Yemen.”” As well as “He said the strongest operational example of this has been the Houthi offensive along Yemen’s western coast towards Bab al-Mandeb, where Russian-derived intelligence, Iranian command integration and local human intelligence all contributed to “the rapid deterioration of opposing Yemeni forces’ battlefield coordination”.

“We assess that this intelligence relationship is also relevant to Houthi missile and drone targeting against Saudi Arabia. Russian military reconnaissance provides capabilities far beyond ordinary commercial satellite imagery, particularly when optical, radar and electronic intelligence are integrated,” he said.” Whilst I read this may mind goes wondering how the CIA missed all this? Or are they no longer interested? You know with midterms coming up next week. But the setting that China could take this setting and offset both the United States and Russia and away from the access of more than a trillion barrels of oil is kinda astounding, especially as oil is priced between $104 and $114 dollars a barrel. And whilst they already squandered access to Canadian oil, I would think that they would make sure all intelligence on how Houthi terrorist is getting their intel might be a little higher on their list.

So whilst we contemplate “Russian officials have not yet commented on AURORAH’s findings, but in recent years, technological and military ties between Russia and Iran have deepened significantly, anchored by joint strategic agreements, space cooperation, and the exchange of defence technology. Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst on Yemen at the International Crisis Group, said Moscow reportedly supporting Tehran’s allies like the Houthis is particularly significant because it would mean a shift in the trajectory of the Yemeni conflict.” This makes sense if this is done without approval of the Kremlin (aka President Putin) and the coins that some are getting are now getting in the way of political aspirations. And I for one am not convinced that the CIA is behind this, but I find it weird that the CIA never found this. Making Nawaf Obaid a possible new player in the Gulf States intelligence circles, especially if be can find and bind this to Iranian parties.

Yes, I am massively speculating here and I admit this, because this setting might require some additional speculation, if not for the who, it might merely push the innocent parties also in the limelight and that is equally important.

So have a great day and enjoy halloween. I did my good deed for this special day, I aided my ex in an assisted suicide I pushed her into a woodchopper, she was too scared to do it herself. And again I prove that no Halloween is complete without a bad joke or two.

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What was that word?

There is a word that is usually ‘connected’ to shortcomings. Or perhaps more ‘clinical’ is the explanation “the amount by which something is less than what is required, expected, or earned” and it can take many forms. In humor (the kind that Jimmy Carr uses), “I aided my partner in assisted suicide. I threw her in a wood chipper, she was too scared to do that herself”, and depending on that nations laws, assisted suicide is accepted. Then we get less than was expected “That pinky thingy is nothing like the  nine inches you promised me”, which can have all kinds of reasons and there is less then earned which we get from Money.CA (at https://money.ca/news/economy/us-tourism-deficit-canada-travel-bill) where we see ‘First U.S. tourism deficit since 1999 hits nearly US$14B — and Trump’s trade representative now backs a bill to entice Canadians back’,  US bill to entice Canadians back? This I have to see. Even the Baron Munchausen couldn’t weave a story that enticing and that man has experience weaving stories. So as we are given “The U.S. travel sector ran a trade deficit of nearly US$14 billion last year as millions of Canadian travelers took their vacations elsewhere. It was the sector’s first deficit since data collection began in 1999, according to a report from Democrats on Congress’s Joint Economic Committee cited by Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.” You see over a year ago in ‘Honey and ladders’ (https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/07/05/honey-and-ladders/) I gave the world (the world that reads why blog) ““Amid the president’s immigration crackdown, travel bans and sweeping global tariffs, the U.S. is expected to be the only one out of 184 countries to see foreign visitor spending fall in 2025, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.” With the addition of “The study suggests that the U.S. economy is on track to lose $12.5 billion in international spending this year alone – but the actual shortfall might be much greater.”” So I gave that over a year ago and now we see that the first tourism deficit hits nearly $14B, I think I called that rather neat over a year ago and I reckon that until deep into 2035 that is not change, the deficits will come and come and come. So now we get “Now, Washington D.C. is trying to lure those travelers back. Last July, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer told a Senate committee he’d fully support a bipartisan bill aimed at boosting travel with Canada and Mexico. He agreed the decline in tourism is problematic and would support the proposal “100%,” according to the Las Vegas Sun.” Apart from the fact that I personally see Jamieson Greer to be part of the problem and not of any solution, but that might be my shortsighted part in this. So whilst we get that “A travel trade deficit means Americans spent more on trips abroad than international visitors spent in the U.S. The U.S. ran a travel surplus in 2024, but in 2025 it flipped to a multibillion-dollar deficit. Canadians were a major part of that decline. In 2025, Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. fell 25.4%, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan). That capped an 11-month streak of year-over-year declines the agency calls the deepest and most sustained on record outside the pandemic. Leisure visits to the U.S. dropped 21.5%, or 3.2 million visits, and Canadians’ spending on U.S. trips fell by CA$3.3 billion to CA$18.8 billion.” I think that the main reasons comes much closer to home. That person labelled the Clown of the United States (no idea who they are talking about) comes with 51st state mentions, calling Canadian exploiters, all whilst the trouble is south of the Canadian borders and Mexicans agree, in summer, Canada is a friendly place (in winter too, but they find solid water weird and hinkey. To each their own I say and I get that Mexico do not appreciate clothing they can only wear on vacation. Luckily for me I never have to because even as a hockey fan our water tends to be fluidic at best (more a Summer Mcintosh than a Brooke Mcintosh element) but that is the limitation we work with and to be honest even as a non-swimmer I could (hopefully) best Brooke Mcintosh in water with her skates on. And lastly we see “There are practical hurdles too: Canadians who stay in the U.S. longer than 30 days must now register with the U.S. government.” I wonder if it is just Canadians or all visitors, because in the age of data centers the bulk of the people in the Commonwealth, EU and for that matter Asian and the gulf states as well, are not to fond of handing their data to the United States, especially if they are merely on vacation. Then there is the Bond issue Consular officers determine the required bond amount—$10,000, $15,000, or $20,000—at the time of the visa interview and we can do so much with that money, like buy a complete Mac Pro in the UAE (as it is a zero tax country) for that matter and their visas are around $75 for 30 days. And as tourism is becoming a killer aspect, any trip to the United States should score ultra low on anyones agenda, especially as the quality of fun of a trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai could outdo whatever the United States hands you. In the entire article, I merely have one setting that I do not agree with “Canadians continue to have a strong appetite for travel, but they’re being thoughtful about where they go and how they spend their money,” she said. “The United States remains an important destination for winter getaways, cruises and visits with family and friends.” The element visit family and friends remain, the rest is doubtful. Europe has plenty of winter getaways and some say (I have never been on any winter vacation) that the French Alps are to be experienced to be believed. Which is fine, but two years ago, most of those fields were a little absent of snow. There are those who think that Canada is the exquisite experience but there I must be cautious, because he queues around mount Whistler (somewhere north of Vancouver) are a little bit of a downer and then there is China who has its snow fields, it has several and I merely mention one of them “Chongli (Hebei Province), The co-host zone for the winter games near Beijing, featuring major infrastructure at resorts like Wanlong Ski Resort, Genting, and Thaiwoo” (source: skiresort.info) as said, I have never been on a winter vacation although I have been sort of Skiing in Switzerland and Sweden (but I keep to ‘sort of’) because my knowledge on these contraptions could be measured with a thimble.

Here is one in case you are unaware what that is.

Well, so whilst we see (some with humour) that the United States is going in deficit more and more, as such it will teach them to call my Canadian brethren part of the 51st state and a few less appealing things. And as a premium effort, let me introduce Canadians to the options of the UAE, in particular Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which could both be seen as they are a mere hour away from one another. I would advice to stay in Abu Dhabi with all its parks and entertainment and take the train 2-3 times because Dubai is a place to see for yourself. Feel free to doubt me, but there are loads of videos on both places on YouTube, so see for yourself. Never believe any source without looking at the evidence and a vacation wherever you go is still capturing your fee time, as such you should see what you are in for. And for Canadians there is a bonus. It is Visa-Free Entry for Canadians. You receive a 90-day visa on arrival free of charge, which can be used within a 180-day period (either continuously or across multiple visits), that beats US travels on an expensive bond any day of the week and that is how the United States priced themselves out of a tourism race. Its like watching a Chevrolet Chevette Diesel going up against that dinkey toy that Lewis Hamilton drives (I think it is a Ferrari Rocher) but I think my point comes across nicely. I thought the American version was too Crass (entering a gunfight with a blackjack) So you have a great day all and in good taste like all Commonwealthians say “Lets add to the deficit of the United States” they earned it.

Have a great day today, as it is Halloween.

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Finally

So Arab News gives us hours ago (at https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/houthi-attacks-on-saudi-airports-raise-question-of-war-crimes-un-rights-chief-tells-arab-news-3008749) Houthi terrorists have been going this path for a while now, as such the question is a little late, but so be it. We are given ‘Houthi attacks on Saudi airports raise question of war crimes, UN rights chief tells Arab News’ I think this question of war crimes was a long time coming. So as we see “Attacks by the Yemen-based Houthis on airports and other civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia raise the question of possible war crimes, the UN’s top human rights official told Arab News, as he also condemned the detention of dozens of UN staff in Yemen by the Iran-backed militia.” Is his real goal the Saudi issue, or is it “he also condemned the detention of dozens of UN staff in Yemen by the Iran-backed militia”? You tell me. I feel certain that there were attacks by Houthi terrorists into Saudi Arabia, but that news seems to be suppressed. And as Volker Turk gives us “Turk said he was “very worried about the escalation that we see,” and once again highlighted the 71 UN workers currently detained by the Houthis, eight of them from his own office. Some have been held for years. “It’s totally unacceptable,” he said, describing the detentions as “the most flagrant violation” of the privileges and immunities afforded to UN staff.” As I see the setting that 71 UN workers, some for years have been held. It seems to me that the condemnation of Houthi terrorists comes a little late, as such I wonder what drive him out to the front today, because as I see it, this is not the real setting (for him), but I have been wrong before. So whilst we are given “Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, a spokesperson for the international Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, said on Oct. 15 that King Khalid International alone had been targeted 20 times since the start of the month. The attacks have continued since then, and the coalition said on Wednesday it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile fired toward the city of Taif.” So there were 20 attacks for the last two weeks? And now the UN makes hay out of this? I reckon that most of the world is no longer holding the UN as a serious matter and this is how they are setting up a ‘united front’ it is too bad that King Khalid International airport had to endure 20 attacks in the last two weeks. But that might be the bitter pill that the UN is serving up, whilst Google search is living us with blanks. Because there I find “This attack follows an escalating series of Houthi missile and drone strikes targeting major regional airports throughout October 2026, including King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and airports in Abha and Dammam. A major October 10 strike on Riyadh’s airport resulted in multiple casualties and temporary international flight suspensions” I am not blaming Google, but if this is what I find, who is suppressing the news? The media itself? Just a question to consider today. Have a good one.

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Not the 7 dwarves

So, Mining (dot com dot AU) give us a few hours ago that ‘Canada-UAE pact broadens critical minerals access’, as such that is good news for Canada and optionally making the employment  lines reasonably shorter. But the working together between Canada and the UAE also means that (according to France Pinzon) “The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed on 27 October, will eliminate or reduce tariffs on more than 99% of current Canadian exports to the UAE. It is also intended to address non-tariff barriers and establish more predictable trade and investment conditions. The agreement is expected to enter into force in 2027, subject to the countries completing their respective approval processes” it is just another setting where the world is giving a clear signal that in these matters the United States is no longer a party of interest to them and Canada is playing right not these settings for the people of Canada (aka Canadians) but it goes deeper. Canada has its ire minerals and the UAE just got a real deal whilst ‘some’ (we will not go into who) has its own tariff tables and Canada is giving the UAE a deal where Canadian are mostly nullified and in some cases severely reduced. This opens up all kinds of investments for the UAE. And in that trend we see that “The UAE has also committed to invest up to US$50 billion ($71 billion) in Canada across industries including mining, energy, and AI, according to Reuters. The agreement forms part of Canada’s broader push to expand its critical-minerals relationships in the Middle East. In July, Canada and Saudi Arabia announced more than C$1 billion ($1.08 billion) in commercial agreements spanning mining and other sectors, as reported by Mining.com.au.” As such, the message is clear. No matter how some are advertising their place as a big beautiful country, others see this differently and seek deals elsewhere, which was the only thing that PM Mark Carney needed to hear and this is a near fact now (and the ink of the agreement is still drying). And as we are being told “The UAE agreement builds on an investment protection pact that entered into force in May and an earlier commitment to pursue cooperation across responsible critical-minerals value chains”, which, as I see it makes perfect sense and in light of the projects that the UAE is developing (an example is Abu Dhabi where it is developing a $1.4 billion lithium-processing facility and driving demand for high-performance materials like neodymium oxide and dysprosium oxide to support aerospace, electric mobility, and clean energy under Operation 300bn.) so there would be space for Canadian miners and engineers to be deployed in the near future, as such (as noted by the BBC) “Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s economic platform focuses on reducing reliance on U.S. trade, fast-tracking major infrastructure projects, and reforming domestic industries”, so whilst we were given 9 hours ago ‘Building Canada Strong for the Next Ten Years’, it seems that Prime Minister Carney didn’t waste a second on that and this setting alone could be the start of the aforementioned “The UAE has also committed to invest up to US$50 billion ($71 billion) in Canada across industries including mining, energy, and AI, according to Reuters.”

So unlike that politician in the United States who makes claims (like defeating Iran 60 times), the

Canadian Prime minister is showing results and as I see it, this deal is as important for Canada as it is for the UAE. A real partnership (as I see it), a true Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. I wonder what will happen next, because this is showing a real promise in the EU, the Commonwealth and China and there is no way these places will let this slide by without giving it the attention it deserves. Because that shows the increased enablement of Abu Dhabi and that will show its economic benefits a few times over. Its like ringing the bell saying, we have a larger ability to work, play and live and that is a very enticing prospect for anyone looking for a job. And personally I wonder why (better state ‘if’) Australia is making gains on a partnership in this with PM Mark Carney, because I am Australian and it would make sense for the Commonwealth to work together on these projects. Not that Canada has any commitment other than the Canadian people. The idea that there is a second tier in this, keeping more away from the United States tends to make sense of this. But the is merely my thoughts on the matter.

No matter what happens, as I see it Canada has this win squarely in its hands and we should cheer for our Canadian brethren (but that might merely be me). Have yourself a wonderful day today.

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Out of moves

That was the first thing I thought when I saw the BBC article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckpdg4pl7pgvo) with there title ‘Police using AI risks making discrimination worse, researchers warn’, the article itself was three days old, but I have had a few things on my plate, it is not the greatest excuse, but it happens to be the truth. We are given “The growing use of AI in policing risks increasing discrimination against minority groups, researchers have warned. Studies suggest that predictions of future crime hotspots may be based on biased data, which can magnify existing prejudice and create a dangerous feedback loop.” I couldn’t have said it better myself and but it is also based on settings that are more true than anything the truth could bring, because (as I have said over and over again) AI does not (yet) exist. It is mere predictive analytics and that requires data moreover it requires validated and verified data, the outcome in any different setting is what we call the GIGO law (Garbage In, Garbage Out) and that pretty much spells inaccuracy, bias and outright discrimination. And we are given “This would involve checking the data that forces use to find and remove any bias, according to Dr Carolyn McKay, an associate professor and researcher in digital justice at the University of Sydney Law School.

“The public functions of state policing ought to be subject to human oversight and scrutiny,” she says.” This could be the start, but until the data is thoroughly scrutinized the outcome of these predictive models are at best debatable and in the worst case a mere blanket of discrimination, although the policing parties will cover this with ‘Mister X’ looked at the data and we believe it is accurate and when the first case comes where we validly can deny the truth of it, the class actions will come calling. Leave it to any lawyer to see the business end of wrongful convictions and as I see it, that is the only path that will be seen as merit. The article gives it in a different shape, but it is the same outcome, here we see “The problem, according to McKay, is that AI systems are trained on data that already contains human bias, and this can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. Think of AI as a map-maker asked to draw a map of a city they have never visited. They are locked in a windowless room and can’t go outside. All they have are maps that are 50 years old.” Take one mere consideration “London police corruption in the 1980s was defined by deep-seated internal networks, ties to organized crime, and systemic cover-ups within the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police” and anything connected data that is used is mere gap fillers for a bias and discrimination in London alone. Now we get back to the village of Sydney (the one in NSW, Australia) where we see “Police corruption in Sydney during the 1980s was a systemic and deeply entrenched feature of the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force, particularly within vice, drug, and detective squads in areas like Kings Cross” now these two villages were not sanitized over a day (or even in years) that means that any documentation is tainted with ‘accidental’ inaccuracies and this goes on for close to two decades. Consider that tainted data to be the beginning of predictive analytics and you have yourself a massive amount of class actions and personally hit people demanding representation and even if there is human oversight. How can that person rely on any data he/she sees?

And I am merely pushing two obvious places in the foreground. Take a harbor town like Rotterdam (Netherlands) or even Antwerp (Belgium) or Paris (France) and these are harbour cities, as such there are many parties who ‘disregarded’ and ‘adjusted’ reports and data, the entire setting is drenched in ‘obliging’ failure. But not to worry, the legal system will proceed and defend the damaged parties and their bills will not be cheap (they need a cushy life too) and this setting (as I speculatively see it) will give these lawyers thousands of hours and these players go for roughly $750 an hour, now take that times 50,000? Is anyone seeing the outcome of that failure?

And that is before you see the outcome of class actions that might reach an easy billion in punitive damages. And I have been making sure that the settings of validation and verification was clearly mentioned in most of my ‘fake AI’ articles. And whilst we consider that and in TechCrunch via a writer called Anthony Ha (in LinkedIn), we see ‘AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says’ where we see “AI hasn’t benefited the bottom line of any big corporations outside the tech industry, according to a note recently published by the chief economist at Apollo Global Management (the private equity giant that used to own TechCrunch). Apollo’s Torsten Slok focuses on what he calls the S&P 493 — the S&P 500, minus Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla — finding that profit margins and revenue per worker appear to be flat, with no evidence that AI is improving productivity.

“Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech,” Slok said.” Now take that equation to what some call a failing police force with tools that make things harder, less reliable and legally expensive. That is the setting these police forces are seeing. So whilst ‘some’ made statements, the one that reverberated in my mind was “Masayoshi Son, the chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, has been the primary SoftBank executive speaking out about the AI bubble. He asserted that global AI infrastructure will require roughly $5 trillion annually and argued that AI will eventually transform the economy to generate massive profits.” The fun part for me was $5 trillion annually and ‘AI will eventually transform the economy to generate massive profits’ but as I see it, AI is 15 years away (at the very least), so who is paying for the $75 trillion? And what profits will be gotten? And the issues of data validity and data verification will not go away and they better start today if they want their boat comes in in 15 years, because unverified and unvalidated data is still junk data. (Punters might call that CCC data) so it is worth less than nothing. So how exactly are profits coming in? Because as I see it, the police will be using that same junk data and the money is gone and no one knows where to find it and to give you an example Reuters gives us “STAR50 Index Collapse: China’s main AI and semiconductor stock index, the STAR50, plunged by 40% in under four months, erasing about $480 billion in market value.” As I see it, hardware is the first to fall and the mentions of “Western markets have experienced milder pullbacks—such as a roughly 6% drawdown on the Nasdaq—as major tech firms and chip giants continue to draw heavy capital inflows and massive infrastructure spending” is as I believe it to be false creations. They merely hide it better and the 5 large investors are covering each other and investing in each other, so when that bubble burst (I personally believe it is already bursting) they make claims of tax write offs and pay no tax for a few years (a speculated view by me).

So in this atmosphere you want the police to use fake AI whilst it is predictive analytics and I am not against predictive analytics, it is a good tool if the data is reliable and that is in too many cases seemingly not the event we are hoping for.

So you tell me, where is my thinking wrong? I worked in data analytics since 1992. I saw the rise of predictive analytics, but the people never trusted this, so someone came and called is AI, but it is not AI, not even close. And no one is thoroughly investigating data validation and data verification, because these two settings is where it all goes wrong, horribly wrong.

So you all have a great day and don’t let my words make it sound gloomy, the news won’t tell you this, but that is them. They are now all about the digital dollars. And the start of this article was given to you by young British science writer Adrian Dredge wrote about the potential pitfalls of AI and policing. The essay won the 2026 Young Science Writer Award, chosen each year by the Association of British Science Writers. A man I do not know, but he was awarded the honour by people who know things, so that is seemingly good enough for me.

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Truth be told

There is a small issue. First of all I love Frontier games. I have been a fan of Elite since 1984. That love still remains. And when I got Planet Zoo on the Xbox One, I loved every bit of it, it was a nice journey into gaming. So when I heard its successor was out, I never hesitated. But here we get issues and issues is a small setting, optionally nothing. Lets show you the stage:

It is the second run on the career. First we get Locate the Warthog Habitat. Which took seconds, just look to your zoo, soon in and soon you have it, nothing too fancy and it works, but then you need to Locate and select an Exhibit, so here the issue starts. After 10 minutes I was unable to do this. And as you see, there is an abundance of choices, but what to do? The issue is that after 5 minutes, the ‘educator’ should have said something according to the lines of “Are you having problems with this? Go to any exhibit and now press ‘whatever needs to be pressed’ or even illuminate the buttons/options in an illuminating colour like ‘gold’”. As I see it, the game has a lot more to offer, but in this stage the younger gamers will abandon the game, which would be a shame as the game looks truly inspiring, as much as the first game was.

So I feel a little sad that this was never discovered in the final testing. So when we get to that latter part Select a Lion and enter Animal Camera, I wonder why an earlier option Walk through the park and see what the visitors see wasn’t there (at present), and this is the second stage, the first stage was great, drive around in Africa and take a few snapshots. I had a blast and it felt like it was a great successor and it was a great look. So what went wrong, because either I am doing something massively wrong and the game didn’t pick up on this, or as I see it, they failed in educating the gamer. It could go either way, but I am not stopping this game. I loved the first game and I feel certain that this hiccups will be resolved. Perhaps the tester did this on a Monday morning, whatever the reason. This should’t be happening to a software house with decades of experience, but that might be merely my view on the matter.

Have a great day today

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Lousy wake up call

We get that at times, some are expected, others never were and when they come they git you like a freight train. This morning I woke up to the knowledge that Walter Koenig left us at the age of 90. He was an acting giant and I remember him from the early days of Star Trek in 1971 (the Netherlands got it a little later then the rest of the world) and we loved seeing him as the Russian ensign on Star Trek

We saw his work over the 79 episodes of the original series, we saw him in the movies all the way to his promotion to admiral (The voyage home) and after that in the movies that followed. So, you would think that was the end of it, no, it was not. He accepter the role of Alfred Bester in Babylon 5 and grew his fanbase even more. He was not the most popular character, but he made excellent work of him being quasi evil (according to security chief Garibaldi), but I think he had his own axe to grind.

What goes without saying that millions of fans in two series are mourning the loss of him today and to them, his family and friends I wish them the sincerest condolences.

We lost a titan today, and it hurts a little, but we have an escape. We can watch his work again and again and see the splendor he brought to the screen.

I wish you all a happy day, whether you ever met Walter Koenig or not. Whether you saw Pavel Chekov, or Alfred Bester or not. We all will row with the oars we have and I wish you all a decent week as it is only Tuesday here and Monday in the Westlands (aka Canada).

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You could eat from the floor

That is an expression I heard in a few ways, som e not so good, some are a little better. But the version I heard today was new to me and it comes from Canada. EnergyNow.ca is giving us  (at https://energynow.ca/2026/02/billions-left-on-the-dock-why-canadas-next-pipeline-could-be-worth-21-billion-a-year/) ‘BILLIONS LEFT ON THE DOCK: Why Canada’s Next Pipeline Could Be Worth $21 Billion a Year’, so floor or dock, all the same if you want to eat and there is seemingly plenty go around. When we consider “According to the most recent data from the Alberta Energy Regulator, the annual average WCS price was US $60.99 per barrel in 2024. In that same year, the WTI-WCS differential narrowed to approximately US $14.73 per barrel, down from a decade-average discount of about US $17 per barrel. While forecasts suggest this differential could average around US $11.00 per barrel in 2025, the gap remains a substantial economic hurdle.” But as President Trump threw Canada in a tariff war, Canada could dispense with every discount and sell full price to Europe and China. It seems simple to me, The United States will have to pay full price now or the business goes overseas. So, do you really think it is contained to $21B? So as we are given “Data confirms that the expansion directly contributed to narrowing the WCS differential by providing an alternative to the U.S. Midwest market. Canadian crude can now reach global buyers in Asia and beyond, forcing U.S. refiners to compete more aggressively on price. The narrowing of the differential from over $18 to near $11 is a testament to the value of market access.” So whilst there are settings that matter, China might see this to a setting where an additional $6 could make all the difference from almost expensive oil, towards a setting the United States into moves of desperation and they did this to themselves. China merely pays top dollar for oil that now sways away from the United States. So as we see “The Western Canadian differential is not fixed by geology; it is shaped by market access and transportation capacity. At current production rates, the pricing gap represents over US $21 billion annually in unrealized revenue. Even modest improvements in market access yield significant real gains for provincial and federal budgets. Infrastructure matters because it improves pricing power. Timing matters because lost revenue compounds over years. Opportunity cost matters because every year of constrained access leaves billions on the table.” So if that is the case why was President Trump this ‘uneducated’ to waste that much money? Ad now Canada has the Trump card (bad choice of tactics) and this trump card is going (very likely) the way of the EU or even China and with the US Administration on their anti-China bender, China might actually lime the settings that he has access on and with oil towards the United Staes being suppressed, their movements become more erratic and more desperate. I reckon that is the way the Democrats want to illuminate this Republican administration.

But in all this, perhaps I am wrong, you decide. Have a great day today.

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An idea for someone else

That happens, I am a true believer of IP and its real owner. There is no leeching involved. I am hereby going the idea to JK Rowling, ho could optionally hand it to Avalanche software, the makers of Hogwarts Legacy and the sequel.

I was watching some YouTube with fanfares and it suddenly appeared to me that we know very little About the original founders. We like to believe that Gryffindor is good and Slytherin is evil, but that would be too bleak a setting, its like saying all bad people are truly evil. Ghengis Kahn, Benito Mussolini, Donald Trump. The setting seen now is not the setting as it was a thousand years ago. And as this is all Wizarding world this becomes the ownership of JK Rowling.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like RPG and that I really like replayability. In this the origin of the houses one to mind. You get to go to the places where Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin originated. You get to see all four lands and do missions in them but only the house student gets to do that one mission where you could own and restore the houses, with an optional secret passage from Hogwarts to your place (and it gives the room of requirements a moments rest). So any house can do missions there (optionally within these four towns) and learn spells and make friend, but only the hour student can embark on the one mission that will grant them the original house of a founder and they all require reparo (and perhaps a few new spells) to get the place in a spit spot place (Mary Poppins made me say that). There is also the settings that these places have mixed muggle and wizarding people The idea that there is a lot more to offensive spells and therefor other spells need to be created. Like an are disillusion spell, that gives a ‘nasty’ dislike to the place as muggles. And there is a drive (in me) to let these houses look a little like the houses at Hogwarts, so Hufflepuff will be a burrow, Ravenclaw will be a tower and Slytherin will be an underground house (optionally by a lake) and Goodrich place will be in Godric Hollow, optionally Harry’s place of birth with a few extra basements. Because I do not know how far HL2 is, I can’t write missions on them and only on the parts I wrote here. But there is a setting where we could see the interaction with muggles and that could confuse a few things. So I am a little in the air on that. But the wizarding people will come with missions, lost items optional overrunning spiders and a fair bit of Inferni. There is the chance of Trolls and perhaps a new kind of troll depending on where you are. There is a side where we could save as many Centaurs as we can and destroy the ash winders. But there is also a time limit, so that you have to rush to save the Centaurs and the more you safe, the greater your fame becomes. There is also the setting that not all trolls are bad and that frost trolls and frost giants might be worthy of saving (but that is merely a first thought), so as each land has its own dealings, these are dealings that you take back to school, optionally in your sixth or seventh year (not sure where HL2 is) it makes things less complex by adding Hogwarts and the surrounding areas, and this offers the makers to propagate the save game they had in the first HL, making this a continuation and optionally a reason to play HL again.

There might a reason for Avalanche to launch both games together on the Switch 2, but that is up to them. What does matter is that I gave form to these ideas (optionally being completely rejected by JK Rowling) but that is her right, it is her IP. I am merely spitting a few ideas and hopefully they land in willing ears and optionally not fits what Avalanche Software had in mind.

So have a great day all and soon I have to start Hogwarts Legacy for the fourth house (Gryffindor) as I saw that place in the 8 movies, as such I wanted to see the other places first.

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