Monthly Archives: July 2022

July 24, 2022 · 23:08

The reality teaser

That is my name for them, it was today that I was recollecting something I thought would make a good game. Yet it is not a mainstream game, it is a niche, but it will appeal to some and from there I would hope that it would catch on. I wrote about it on July 12th 2021, the article ‘New and reinforced’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/07/12/new-and-reinforced/) was the start of the idea. A game that was for the streamers, not that the consoles could not get there, but the sheer size of the game and the intricacies that would need several patches over time made it not feasible on consoles, but streamers are a different matter. There it was possible. The Zombie survival game came from that setting. And here the issue starts. You see, several games on Android and Apple have ads, they show something that is not in the game, but adding it would be a good idea. There has been some complaints on that and Apple and Google seemingly do not care, the advertisement money is coming in. Yet the idea that the Last Fortress uses as a teaser is actually a good idea. It is not implicated in the Zombie survival game I had in mind, but the addition of a room creator is not a bad idea. Especially in a safe zone. You see, I have mentally added a whole range of artisans that add to the game and to the gameplay, but in today’s world they are often forgotten. 

  1. The Seamstress

The seamstress adds to the creation of armour, now her speciality is not better armour, but more comfortable armour. I remain a devoted follower of checks and balances. So metal armour would be +5 protection, but they have a comfort level of -2, as such weapons and movement are degraded by 2 points. So it is not the greatest solution. But here comes the seamstress. Her ability starts by adding comfort levels to EVERY piece of armour, and as she does more alteration her plus one will become plus 2. As such metal armour has no longer any setbacks. A stage games forget about, the checks and balances.

2. The watchmaker
Yes that is someone you would ignore, but the watchmaker would add the setting of clockwork traps. Together with a tinkerer they could create traps that have a longer usefulness, and also they would use less power or none at all, a corridor with traps that can reset themselves. 

These are but two of a whole range of people that are optionally in the game to be saved and added to the community. But what happens when it is not in a place you know like Los Angeles or New York? What if you had to create a safe space in a place like Palermo, or perhaps Messina? 

An island where you need to eradicate well over 93% of 5 million people? Now the idea of a watchmaker and a tinkerer does not sound so weird does it? There is no way that you will find the 5 million bullets and not everyone is turned yet, so you will need weapons, you will need to find food and you need a safe space to optionally grow food and create drinks. So even as the reality teasers give you something you cannot play, that does not mean it cannot be made and next to the survival game on the Citadel and that might still be an option later down the track, but you need to start somewhere and a zombie survival game is as good a place as any. And be honest, who considered Sicily as a starting place? 

It is merely a thought but it opens up all kinds of venues for the game, you see when the mechanics are in place, the same game could be launched in a place like Malta (525,000), Gotland (57,000) but here we can now add a dimension, Gotland will allow us to add Hyperthermia as an element, as such the seamstress suddenly becomes close to essential. Each with their own challenges and as we become more and more adept we will see places where the population is increasingly hostile (Cuba), we could add Nassau, Crete, Falklands and so on. A game that evolves and has an increasing amount of places where you need to find your way around and learn to survive and no cheating these special people will not be in the same place every time, perhaps in some games they are not even there. As such I had decided to Create 15 special people. Each with a special skill that by itself is merely useful, but combined with another special person becomes a real game changer for the game. It is my way to have checks and balances and still keep the game interesting down the track. 

And credit where credit is due, it was the reality teasers that put me on this track and if you wonder where I get my ideas from and why game makers are not on this track you would be right. Some game makers are on the right track and give us new places to dream of (Guerrilla software) and the older ones like Insomniac are also on the right track, but the larger players like Ubisoft are losing the plot. We see news like ‘Ubisoft’s Bad Luck Streak Continues With Delays, Cancelations, Cost-Cutting’ where we get to see “Guillemot reiterated that despite these issues, the company is still aiming for over $US400 ($555) million in operating profits this year”, yes because gamers are really interested in how much profit you are making, even though a game like Valhalla was released on November 10th 2020 it still shows crashing bugs almost two years later. And when we see that the game is now in shops at 1/3rd of the original price. You think gamers are interested in their profits? They want a good game and there the plot falls for too many game makers and that is a shame because good games are worth their weight in gold. Still good games are coming, but from other directions and soon that changes too, because more and more are seeing the benefit and the larger profit margins of streamers. If I can find the hidden cache of 50 million people all willing to pay $10 a month, how long until others are figuring out that small thinking only gets you so far. It is the larger dream cut in manageable pieces could bring the game everyone has been waiting for. And it is not that far ahead, some of my ideas are already possible and could be ready early 2024. And when you consider that people are gawking at games that will not appear until late 2023, I think I have set the proper foundation of larger games and where they could go. Too bad some others are not ready for that yet, but I reckon that Tencent will give them a cruel wake up call, if they get where I expect them to go. The people at Google, Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft will be either adjusting their faulty vision or they will all become inferior to Tencent, a setting we would never have believed less than a year ago. Sony is still safe for now, but they too will see the realisation that there is a much larger player in town than they bargained for. 

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July 24, 2022 · 13:03

Choices and power

It is something that has been bugging me all day and part of last night. It was set in motion by a story I am working on and it reflected on my IP. You see I had hoped that Amazon or Google had bought my IP, it benefits them the most (amazon more than Google). But in this day and age there are two new players in town Netflix and Tencent. They are not on anyones radar before 2023 (second half) but that does not mean I need to ignore two potential players for my IP. Consider that my IP will allow a minimum of 50 million consoles (or subscriptions). Consider the following list

Playstation 4 – 117 million
Nintendo Switch – 107 million
Playstation 5 – 20 million
Google Stadia – 3 million
Amazon Luna – Unknown

I have no real reliable information on how the Amazon Luna is doing and Microsoft is not a consideration. Now we get Tencent and Netflix and one of them gets an option to surpass the others and end up behind Nintendo and Sony in the number three spot, the setting is a sale that is the starting setting and will get them well above 50 million subscriptions, optionally around 75 million, and that mind you is merely the beginning. They could temporarily be the number one but Sony is hardcore focussed on this market and they do have the goods. So am I empowered to set one in a fighting position and become one of the top 3 game solutions? Or is the power derived from the additional choices that entered the field? 

More important Tencent and China get the option to run and rule one more field, it would be empowering to Tencent. Yet Netflix has reasons too and they have the setting to optionally alter their subscription approach two new players added to the ones I was willing to sell to (Amazon and Google). There is the option of Elon Musk and he is considered by me as a wild card. He is not in these fields but he has the Midas touch and when he sees options he seemingly grabs them. The odd satisfaction of all the Elon Musk haters entering a new market and becoming a top three player is oddly satisfying. So I went from two consideration now to 6 considerations and I feel decently well, because that is merely one side to the first IP bundle and the other two are still available, the second is ruled by the 5G solution and that will take off in 2-3 years when 5G is fully deployed, all ahead of the largest boom I am ever to likely see in my lifetime. 

To be honest I had some sights on Netflix, but Tencent is new, until recently and until some patents came past my desk I was in the dark on the setting of Tencent, but here they are a contender for streaming information and with 50 million plus, they are looking at up to half a billion a month, not something anyone can afford to sneer at, not in these times. But the larger settings are still out of the equation, the Augmented reality solutions I came up with (see previous articles), there we have a stage where marketing could rule a new part of well over 100,000 malls on a global scale and from there I can only speculate where this goes. A stage that could benefit places like Monaco, Riyadh and Dubai in all kinds of ways. But I get ahead of myself. Is all this power through choices, or choices that come from power? You see they are not the same coin, they aren’t even the same currency. The implied word ‘choice’ has several sides and they aren’t restricted to coins, they are also part of technology and enablement. All different settings for the same word and only the shallow will see them as one and the same. Power is more restrictive but also more out there and eagerly seen by everyone for all the wrong reasons, it is an enabler but only to some degree and it reflects on the chosen partner in this on how they want to continue with the offered choice and they pretty much see power as a monetary enabler, which is their choice, but it is the second tier and the third tier that will enable them to a much larger degree. That is the long game and that is where I have been focussing on, the long game, only the greedy reflect on the next quarter and their bonus.

But that is merely my (limited) point of view.

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July 23, 2022 · 16:45

Where the colossus is no more

Part 4

He arrived a little past 20:30 at de Gaulle, he went straight to the counter to get a ticket to Rhodes. There was one in an hour, it was Italian airways via Milan, he took it and went pst boarding to the gate. It was all a repetition  of something he had done dozens of times. The airport was almost new, he had been in this airport once as he had to change flights, he never went through the departure lounge though. There was nothing significant here. And there was nothing really interesting at the gate. He got on board and sat down. His mind started to wander as they took off. 

The map showed Rhodes, but nothing stood out there. The documents and the drawings were different, the drawing was what seemed like an old oil lamp, the text was in French and referred to the sight of Helios. Yet how the lamp fitted into this was unknown to him. The writing gave that there was a shrine, a shrine to Helios. The lamp of illumination would shine on the places it reached and it could reach more if the items were united. That part did make even less sense to him. Jacques III Thuret came 2 millennia after ancient Greece and likely the same time when the shrine of Helios was lost to the world. There was a cult to Helios, but he knew nothing of it. As such he would be going in blind, but what was more important, someone knew a lot more and that was never a good thing. Even as he knew that his ancestors had created some items or relics, the ones that survived are a lot more powerful now, then they were in those days. As such when he arrived on Rhodes 6 hours later he would be considering his options. He took a taxi from the International airport to Rhodes and asked the driver to take him to the Rodos Park Suites hotel. He got there 15 minutes later, paid and tipped the taxi and booked a room. His credit card could take that hit because it did not look cheap. He got a nice suite a double room, it was not large but looked comfortable. The bed felt nice and the TV was clear. He switched the TV off and as he walked into Rhodes he looked his Olympian sight it was almost dark, almost, there was a small spot that was seemingly illuminated. He walked in that direction. It took almost half an hour to get there. He looked again, the place looked a lot more illuminated, when he switched back to his normal sight, he saw that no one would notice it, but that might not be for much longer.

There was something at play here. He looked around, he was at the Platia Rimini. The hotel mentioned this place, they called it the “Sound and Light Garden”, it was beautiful, nicely arranged and quite peaceful. But it made no sense, he was now close to the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, which was somewhere in the 7th century. He needed answers and none were coming forth. He walked into the garden and looked. The garden were alight in Olympic views and normally nicely lit in normal view. He tried to focus but the light was way too illuminating for that. So he sat down on the bench that stretched the sides of the path in the park and suddenly he saw it, it was as small as a flicker, but it was there. So he walked to the well in the middle, it was dry but there it was, a little out of the middle, the circle of discolouration. He looked around. Too many people here now. He looked deeper and closed his eyes as fast as he could. Whatever was there was bright, really really bright. He had closed his eyes. As fast as he could, but he was seeing blurbs of white all over and he saw them everywhere he looked. He closed his eyes for a minute whilst sitting on the bench again. Most had dissipated, but there was still a few spots, they would subside soon enough. He was thinking of the vault he had. So what happened if he created another portal? With a hole that led to the hole under the well? The problem was that he did not control it as well as he wanted to, so he might have to resort to brute strength. He hated that because he would leave a mark, but he saw no other way, he did not know where the others were and how soon they would be here. So he walked across the street to the Dromos Street Food where he had the Satay Chicken and nachos with Greek Salsa, both were really nice, and the coffee was good, nothing to write home about but still good. He sat at his table with his back to the wall and his view on the park entrance. He looked at the people, but the two in Paris were not showing up and the people seemed uninterested it specifics of the park. For a moment he thought there was a catch, but it seemed that the couple there were remembering the park and what they did there. They were still in love and softly speaking in each other ear on what they did there. He smiled, to be young and still this much in desire for one another, these two had no idea how lucky they were. It was almost dark when he finished the Papara Beef which made him more hungry. Odd, but that was the result of a really nice beef, better than anything he had had in London. He ordered another coffee and paid, he took the coffee with him as he scoped out the area. There were no people in the direct area. He got rid of the coffee and walked into the park again, but now keeping a close eye on the entrances and who was around, he stepped into the empty well and stood as far away from the lighted spot, there was no one so he summoned his bident and focussed he tabbed the well once and pushed hard, harder then anything he pushed before and slowly the ground and the well gave way. There was not much sound, but too much to his liking, the hole was large enough, he jumped in and ended in a well lit room. He quickly put some shades to protect his eyes, but it was not needed. This light was strong, almost a strong as a LED torch, but not too strong as long as he did not look into the flame. The oil lamp was on top of a golden hand, he got the lamp, blew out the flame and looked around, it was an empty room, there was a path going north and down, he saw that the corridor had collapsed a little further down. He got out of the well and he got away as fast as he could. At the wall of the park he summoned the vault and placed the lamp, closed the vault and walked off. He left the golden hand, it would add to the puzzle and it would leave him unexposed. He went back to the hotel, enjoyed a nice hot shower and he went to sleep. The next morning he had his breakfast and he bought some clothes and a nice duffel-bag. He made a point of of buying postcards and posted them with names he remembered from London. He kept them around for most of the day as he walked the streets of Rhodes, it was late in the afternoon when he noticed the orthodox priest, he asked for the postbox, the priest pointed down the road and he went there to mail the cards. He returned to the Dromos Street Food, he had another Papara Beef with a coffee and smiled at the woman who helped him the day before. He was happy that he got the pink shades, it did put the woman on the wrong food, alas, the waiter liked them a whole lot better. He asked if I asked pink and my solemn response was “υπήρχε μόνο αυτό”, he sighed and walked away, something she really liked. She started the conversation “Have you heard?” I shook my head, “heard what?” The well in the park collapsed there was a golden hand under the well. I tried to look shocked “Really?” Yes she responded, the hand was large it took several man to get it out, the police have closed the police have closed the Sound and Light Garden for now. There were reporters, so he backed off, he did not want to give the wrong people a shine on him. He looked at the commotion, and noticed that all the camera’s were pointing at the park. He nodded to the woman and paid for the coffee and sandwich. He was about to walk off when she handed him another coffee in a takeaway cup with the smiling “for the walk”, he nodded and smiled. He gave here the customary ‘Antio’ and walked away from the scene in the general direction of the hotel, walking and shopping most of the day. When he got back he made a point of keeping eye on the people going in and out of the hotel for at least 10 minutes. His Olympian sight saw that there was nothing watching the place or him, yet he had the feeling that someone was staring at him, he had that feeling in Paris but not as strong. He saw nothing, so he went to his room and packed the bag, he signed out and knowing that he could get the 22:45 from Rhodes to Gatwick with Easy-jet was his sign to leave Rhodes and the parts they were looking for were not on him, more important, they were in a place where no one could ever find them, so the relics were safe, but he was really curious on what was going on. 

End of episode. 

This was part two and the parts over the last day would be the two parts of a three parter. The third will not be tomorrow, because I have a few more parts to figure out, but consider I had all this in under an hour, what more could I get done? I reckon that I might be one of the never published 30,000 wannabe’s in Hollywood, but it is not about selling this, it is about the story and you will get more soon enough. 

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July 22, 2022 · 20:56

And then there were two

Part 3

He woke up the next day nice and refreshed. He had breakfast, read the paper and was considering what to do next. He knew he had the watch, but the watch was dangerous, even the trip into the past of Rotterdam was a lucky but dangerous setting, he realised that. He basically survived a bombing that might not have killed that many, but it made 20,000 homeless, even if knocked down the impact could have been severe, so he was happy that the watch was in his vault. He was about to walk away when the paper caught his eye. He had looked at the International news, the business news but it was a corner that he usually ignored that was the eye catcher. Vandalism in Paris, there was a photo of a place he recognised, it was an image from the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church he visited the day before. He looked over the article, someone broke in broke several of the tombstones, the ones on the side of the one he visited. These people were less subtle. The authorities were investigating the senseless act of vandalism, they were pursuing leads.  

He put the paper aside. Apparently he got there in time, but who else was looking for the clock? There were several thoughts, but none of them made sense. Too specific for tomb robbers, too violent for thieves and in that the surrounding stones were damaged, not the most subtle of ‘explorers’, there was more to this. He checked out and walked back to the train station and boarded the train to return to Paris, this needed to be investigated. 

CROSS Architecture. Wir sind ein junges, international tätiges Architekturbüro mit Standorten in Aachen und Amsterdam.

He needed to learn who else wanted to stake a claim on that watch. Getting the ticket and getting to the train was relatively simple, he got off where he needed to board. There would be a train in 35 minutes. He saw a shop, bought the Guardian and got to the platform. It was 10 minutes later when the train arrived and he got to the seat assigned to him. He didn’t feel like looking at the environment he was travelling through, he did that yesterday. He decided to read the paper, even if the information was pointless and in some cases useless. It kept him occupied. Some of the information was interesting, but for the most it was the proverbial waste of time, reading it was as useful a passing of time as watching paint dry. It took a little over 157 minutes to get where he needed to go and from there he walked the same path towards the church. When he got close to the church he saw the abundance of police cars. Too many to be useful, this was a presentation to the people. He kept his distance and looked around. It was then that he saw the Imperial House just next door. He walked on the other side of the street until he was directly opposite the Imperial house and crossed straight to the restaurant. He saw that one of the tables was free and sat down. He waited to be served. He ordered the spring rolls and noodles. He ate slowly taking in all the traffic, all the people and memorised it all. He switched between his normal and Olympian vision and nothing sprang out to him, it was about 20 minutes later, just as he was ordering more tea when he noticed it. A man and woman, passing by a third time. His Olympian vision saw nothing stand out. They were human, nothing special. Yet they were observing the church they were taking turns at looking around and they had each others back. They were a near perfect team, observing and checking all the elements they could see. He felt decently safe, as he was eating and drinking tea. He was done, he saw them walk off and they would be back in minutes. They were very good. He got up and took a turn to the left. He saw the crossing and crossed the Rue de Rivoli. He walked into the small street and looked around, there was not that much traffic, there was none looking at him. He stood in a corner and waited, the couple walked past the crossing focussing on the church. He focussed his Olympic vision on the couple, he would now be able to find them anywhere fast. He walked away and left the area of the church. It took 20 minutes before he passed a nice cafe. He walked in, ordered a beer and took a small table. The beer was served, it was a Stella Artois, he took his time, savouring every sip and let time pass by. Every now and then he looked out and focussed on the two he needed to investigate and it was not before 7 PM when their direction changed. He waited another 10 minutes and he moved in the direction the couple had vanished towards. It was a small trip, a mere 15 minutes. When he got close he saw where they were. They had taken shelter in the Cour Des Vosges, what seemed to look like a suite on the second floor. Very convenient for him, so he slowly walked around until he had enough privacy to get up and he did as fast as he could. At every moment looking around for prying eyes. When he got to the upper floor he saw that one of the windows was open, it was one that led to the corridor where they were staying. He waited in a corner, he saw the couple leave the room, they were talking to each other, speaking softly, but for him it was not a problem, they were discussing diner and the excellent quality of food that the Cour Des Vosges served. That was a nice surprise, it meant that he had time to investigate the room. He waited around 10 seconds and walked into the corridor, walked to the door and slowly gained entrance to the room. He was cautious not to leave any prints, not to leave any footprints or any kind of disturbance. The drawers and lockers were all filled with clothes and all kind of stuff, so far they looked like perfectly ordinary tourists. It was then that he noticed the small safe. It was easy to get entrance and there was what he hoped for. Hopefully a clue, images, documents and maps. The maps were of Paris and Rhodes. He memorised the documents as fast as he could and he memorised the maps, the Paris one was useless, he had been there, but the post-it on the map stated that the watch was most likely in the tomb of Jacques III Thuret. He looked at the other map. It was Rhodes, there was no post-it, but the documents gave the information he needed. He carefully put everything back in exactly the same order and left the room. He left the hotel in the same way he came in, as he left the hotel he saw a window with the restaurant, in the corner he saw the two enjoy whatever they were eating. It seemed to be a lamb dish. He walked off. Whatever came next, it would be in Rhodes. So he signalled a taxi and asked the driver to take him to Charles de Gaulle airport. Time to see what Rhodes brought to the equation.

Part 4

Still to be continued (remaining as evil as I can)

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July 21, 2022 · 22:47

Stunting into stupidity

It started with an article in the Al Jazeera (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/20/israeli-journalist-sneaks-into-mecca-triggering-online-backlash). The article gives us ‘Israeli journalist sneaks into Mecca triggering online backlash’, it gives a lot more and it gives us the man who topped the stupid bill (namely Gil Tamary) and the byline gives us “his report aired on Israel’s Channel 13 News had not intended to offend Muslim”, didn’t he? He wanted a showstopper, to be mentioned in history and he was utterly uninterested in the aftermath. He merely wanted to be first at the expense of everyone else. How did I get there? “Israel’s Channel 13 News aired a 10-minute report on Monday in which journalist Gil Tamary drove past the Grand Mosque that houses the cube-shaped Kaaba, the holiest shrine in Islam, and climbed the Mount of Mercy”, you see, the mount of mercy is a granodiorite hill about 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Mecca. This was all premeditated, and that was essential in making an article that would upset muslims, it was a stunt from beginning to end. The quote “The report was billed as a scoop and the journalist the first Jewish Israeli reporter to document the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.” Supports my point of view. You see, if the reporter was Muslim it was not that much of an issue, but Channel 13 news did not send a Muslim, did they? 

You see only Muslims are allowed to visit Mecca, while non-Muslims cannot enter. The breach of this rule can result in a fine or deportation. And that rule has been in place before I went to primary school where we learn this. Gil Tamary needed a stunt, something to brag about over dinner for all time. He is the first non-Muslim to go to Mecca, a stunt too stupid to consider the impact of insult made to Muslims. Gil Tamary is an idiot, perhaps the biggest one in Israel, so that is the other stunt he can make claim on: “I am the biggest idiot in Israel”, but he will not try that path, will he? And in all this when we reconsider “The purpose of this entire endeavour was to showcase the importance of Mecca and the beauty of the religion, and in doing so, foster more religious tolerance and inclusion”, might optionally have been true if the film team would have been Muslim, if the reporter would have been Muslim. I saw Mecca, I saw the Hajj through the camera’s of Muslims. I spoke about it in ‘The media gets it this wrong?’ days before someone decided to sneak into Mecca. I never snuck into Mecca, people had covered their trip to Mecca, the trip of their lifetime and shared it with all others. Channel 13 had that very same option, but left it to the idiot of Israel (Gil Tamary) to make a fool of Channel 13 and to upset millions of Muslims. So if we see stories of upset Muslims if will be due to Gil Tamary a.k.a. the idiot of Israel. I feel angry, I feel angry that someone would disrespect any religion to such a degree. And you know what is even worse? When I seek ‘Gil Tamary’ I get: “5 results (0.29 seconds)”, the western media was willing (read: intent) to stay clear of this, the media who in large numbers would convict the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lacking evidence, is not willing to go near this event. The media has become this warped! And no one is asking questions. No one is demanding evidence of such levels of misrepresentation. 

So when will the media realise just how insignificant they have become? You see when other people will look at Arab News, Al Jazeera and other media and they see how misrepresented the news has become, what will they do? What excuse will they use? 

I will let you ponder that part of the equation.

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July 21, 2022 · 01:33

Watch this shit

Part 2
The watch, even though well over a century old was sublime in all its glory. The plate was clear white, the dial had 24 hours there were minutes and it seemed by all accounts a beautiful clear pocket watch. It was when he looked deeper that the differences started to show. It was the cogs, not all of them, but 5 cogs were different, when he looked they were bright gold, whilst the gold plated cogs looked dimmer than the 5 ones. The 5 cog seemed the same, but when he looked deeper there were writing not on the cogs, but in the cogs, words he did not recognise, they were Greek in origin, but it was not ancient Greek, not even Olympian. And the words became other words whilst he looked at them, the words formed sentences, became paragraphs and his mind shuddered, he had to blink. There was definitely something with the cogs, but it did not make sense, for now at least. He looked at his watch, and set the clock to time, it was seven forty in the evening, he set the watch and tried to wind the clock. The wheel did not move. He was not used to this watch, and it was when he accidentally pressed the button when the world went nuts. The building spun, the room spun and he was suddenly in mid air, it was not merely that, there were explosions everywhere, he heard screams, shouting and the sound of explosions drowned it all out. He was in the air and fell to the ground, between two buildings, something like a narrow alley. He was able to break the fall and land on his feet, more importantly there was no one around to see him, the next thing he saw was the building at the end of the alley explode violently and a wave of flames came his way. It did not hurt him, it would scourge others, but the flames were transitional not remaining. The building was a goner and flames were escaping the building setting the next building on fire.  He walked to the end of the alley into a wider street. People were running and screaming dragging children away from the flames. He looked up and heard the planes fly by bombing everything in sight. Bombers were flattening a path with bombs, houses and streets burning. He ran for cover, street after street. 

Then he saw a newspaper which stated ‘Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad vrijdag 10 Mei 1940’ he recognised some words like proclamatie, Duitsch and a few others. He set the watch to 40 minutes past 7, it was 1940 here. The streets were destroyed, there was one church still standing. It was a miracle on how many people seemed to be running for cover, so many still alive, no idea how many died that day. 

He looked at the street, it was empty he looked at the watch and pressed the button again, it all faded again and he was back where he started, in his room, standing by the chair and he suddenly realised how dangerous this watch really was. He called his private vault forth and the wall became a portal and he placed the watch in secured storage. He looked around and suddenly became aware that his clothes were dirty, smelly and he was smelly too. He took a shower, put on his robe and called the front desk. It was less than 3 minutes later when someone knocked at his door. He took the clothes and handed them to the woman at the door. She informed him that the clothes would be back clean in two hours. He nodded, signed the bill and closed the door. 

He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes.

Part 3

To be continued

Yes, there is more to come and this was merely episode one of the tale. How much more? I hope to inform you within 24 hours. Not bad for a mere 2 hours of dozing off.

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July 20, 2022 · 19:53

Parlez vouz pierre tombale?

The trip to Paris was uneventful. He drank some coffee ate a croissant and looked out the window as the train ripped through the lands. It was a view he had seen before, he had taken the trip before. Yet the trip seemed to relax him. He noticed the people on the train, one woman gave him a nice smile, he smiled back, tourists and elderly as well as some business types. He relaxed and thought of the letter. He had read up on Aion, there was a lot he never knew. His divinity, his mastery of time. The mirror had given him a few more things. The proof that Euripides got some of the settings of Aion from Sappho; these papers showed that Sappho was told about Aion by one of the muses. The writing was highly poetic yet the papers tell of the muse telling her that time is no friend, it does not care and it merely moves by the graces of Aion. The writing was more descriptive, but the information was clear. In this he has absolutely no idea how Jacques III Thuret fitted into all this. His family had become famous for the clocks made, and they were amazing. He found however no information of any watch that was made by Jacques III Thuret. The trip took a little under 2 and a half hours and when he got off at the Gare du Nord station he knew as much as he was going to learn. As he brooded over the watch and over Jacques III Thuret his other sight looked at the streets and at the objects in the city. He stared at the Eiffel tower but he didn’t see anything. And he started to think on the ‘somewhere obvious’ part. Jacques III Thuret died in 1738, long before that doohickey was build. Then he thought of the places that were important in 1738. There was the Place Vendôme, the Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Élysées, the church of Les Invalides, and the Panthéon. All obvious places. There was the consideration of the late baroque church of Saint-Roch at 196 rue Saint-Honoré (1738–1839), but it wasn’t finished until Jacques III Thuret was dead and buried. He suddenly stopped. Buried! If something was that important, he would take it with him to the grave. That was the obvious place! And after a few searches  he found that he was placed in the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church on rue Saint-Antoine in the Marais quarter of Paris. It was a bit of a walk, but he enjoyed walks so he set course due south on the Bd de Magenta, after he got to the plaza he took the Rue de Turenne, when he got to the end he looked to the right and there was the church, but he also felt like having more than a croissant, as such as he observed the Comptoir des Mers he entered, got a table, ordered a Filet de Sole some local grape juice. He considered asking fr a California wine, but the French were not the humorous at times. He took his time to eat, it was getting closer to 7pm and he had a few hours. As he finished the meal and paid he smiled at the waitress who really smiled at him and walked out. He looked around the church and there was nothing really visible. He took his time to walk around taking in all the details, all the options to enter. There was security, but nothing worth considering. It was a church after all. During the second walk around he saw what he needed to see, he carefully looked around and saw nothing. He turned to the church and saw the opening on the second floor. He had become very accustomed with gravity and he climbed up the side with merely his two hands, it was like he was weightless. He entered the church listening for any presence of people, there weren’t any. He looked again and he saw nothing. He floated down and saw steps leading down. He took them and went through the door, it led to a corridor, then another and another and more steps down. There he saw a room with grave stones. It took a minute until he got to the stone of Jacques III Thuret, he stared and focussed. He saw nothing. So he summoned his bident and got the tips on 2 sides of the corner, he slowly pushed, careful not to make too much damage. He lifted the stone, then grabbed the stone and slowly lifted the stone. He had hi hands on the long sides of the stone and slowly lifted it and walked to the wall where he placed the stone. He then walked to the hole and saw the coffin, something shiny was there, he lifted the coffin and saw the dead and mummified remains of Jacques III Thuret, he saw the shine in his vest pocket. He reached out and grabbed the watch. He saw it was different, but he quickly put it in a leather pouch and paced it in his coat. It took a minute to place the stone back and he took special care for it to be in exactly the same place. He saw the two points of his bident, but they were small enough for people not to notice them, he then got some of the dust of the other stones and rubbed it over the stone edges and into the two small points. Under normal conditions no one would know anyone was ever there.

He walked away and slowly made his way out of the church and out of Paris. He had to think and he decided on a different course. He took the Eurostar to Rotterdam, booked a room in the Hilton and stayed the night. He went to his room, which was a lovely suite, the chair looked comfortable, so he sat down and opened the pouch.

Part 2

To Be Continued.

Yes, I am that mean at times

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July 19, 2022 · 20:34

Recap and time stitching

This setting all started on 

Mr. S. King resigned (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/08/mr-s-king-resigned/)
Another episode (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/03/02/another-episode/)

I still have to add parts 3 and 4 here, but I forgot where I left them. As such a recap becomes pretty essential.

The story starts with a message, a message in an envelope under the door of an apartment in London. The envelope had no stamp, no address merely the text “μελλοντικός κυβερνήτης του ταρτάρου” (future ruler of Tartarus), the back stated “Αιών” (Aion). The letter was actually in English and gave him a notion that something was about to be wrong, things are out of order and he was requested to fix what was wrong. The letter ended with “I will owe you a great deal if you succeed”. There was nothing to go on, but then he looked at the letter deeper and the letters reshaped in another way, the text gave him “Το παλιό μου ηλιακό ρολόι μεταμορφώθηκε από τον Jacques III Thuret σε ένα ρολόι, ένα ρολόι τσέπης που δημιουργήθηκε το 1712, έχει μια κρυφή ισχύ που είναι πολύ επικίνδυνη. Μπορείτε να δείτε το ρολόι αν κοιτάξετε αρκετά βαθιά, είναι κάπου στο Παρίσι, κάπου εμφανές.” He considered the text ‘somewhere obvious’, it seemed like a clue, a hidden clue, but for now, he had no idea where that was. He took the taxi to St Pancras International and got a ticket to Paris. The train would leave in a little under an hour, so he went into the station and got a Lamb shepherds pie and a coffee. As he was eating the pie, he was pondering the note, the idea that he was being played, but the note seemed sincere and only an Olympian could read it, so he was a little lost. And he knew very little about Aion. He was a master of time, but he had no idea how it all fitted towards Jacques III Thuret. He had to Google the name and it as a famous clockmaker, not a watchmaker. So the facts were all over the place, but it seemed to him that Aion was not the type to be careless with words. So there was a lot more to be done.

This concludes part one of a few parts and it is part of a two or three parter (still in doubt on this and it is not a cliff hanger).

Intro of the sequel
There is a lamp, it is old, very old. It is like the ancient greek oil lamps. It looks like a teapot with an elongated flame holder, but that would not be the largest issue, the issue was that the light was stronger than a modern 50,000 Lum LED torch, and it has been lighting the little room it was in for thousands of years. The room was out of sight and out of mind, it was forgotten by everyone who every knew it existed and forgotten by the relatives of those who once knew. And if you listened as careful as possible, you would still hear nothing. It was a sunny day, and the people were walking around, enjoying the sunshine, enjoying the view. It was Platia Rimini, and if someone had been watching, they would have noticed that the bottom of the well near the centre was bleaching ever so slowly, and the bleach patch was increasing, very very slowly. These are the two intros and they are related. I will write more soon. The idea came to me on the train on the way home and I see the entire episodes in my mind, but the ideas are still erratic and chaotic, so I need to make sense of it all. And add it here. With a movie, a mini series and a TV series in the bag (designed), as such this series is becoming (to some degree) public domain fodder. Anyway, it was an idea that united items that have divinity in use, a setting that the divine is not a static setting, it is a setting that is malleable and it could reflect in massive ways, but that is part of the story, what was benign and almost innocent 2500 years ago, becomes a weird setting in today’s environment. Like TNT, like several other inventions, they suddenly made sense. But the inventions of then, the relics of then were not invented with the same setting, with the same idea in place. As such we can create a new environment, one that I am about to create. 

It is there where I set the stage for the third episode in that event. Optionally it is merely at the end of the first season, not a cliffhanger. I personally believe that season 1 should not end in a cliffhanger. I have nothing against cliffhangers, but to rely on them for a second season seems wrong, as a storyteller, the story should keep people vested, not the need of ‘How does it end?’ And as such I have some personal issues with cliffhangers. 

And for now I need to set a few central issues in motion, I also need to find a few facts (to make the story easier to swallow). So I hope to tell you more about it soon.

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July 18, 2022 · 20:47

For those not seeing the oil field

There is a larger field, a larger oil field if you wish. And the people aren’t getting it. I get it, it isn’t an easy equation and it is not really your fault, because the media is guilty as hell in all this, but lets start at the beginning (well, some kind of beginning). One such headline is ‘Oil trumps human rights as Biden forced to compromise in Middle East’, it is one way to look at it, but it is the wrong way. My headline would have been ‘Greed is eternal at the expense of everything else’. The point here is that we get to see a few sides that the media is not giving us. It starts with the oil and that part is a lot more important than you think it is.  So lets take a look at the three nations and the barrels per day they pump.

United States11,184,870
Russia10,111,830
Saudi Arabia (OPEC)9,313,145

So America pumps out a lot of oil, now it makes perfect sense that they will not deal with Russia, but it is at present still an unequal information package.

You see the United States exported about 8.63 million barrels per day (b/d) and imported about 8.47 million b/d of petroleum. And now you think it does not make sense. So lets just say that the US is selling oil at $50 a barrel and buys it at $35 a barrel, so they get 8 million (rounded) times $15, is $120 million of profit a day and that amounts to $43.8 billion a year. Profit they basically got for free. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not willing to give away $43.8 billion after the way the US treated the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There is just so much any person will take and I reckon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken enough of the treatment handed to them. So the US instead of catering to self sells 73% of all the oil they pump, so why should the KSA after the way they were treated cater to that situation? Even an alternative that the us keeps 50% of their sales, they hand the KSA 50% it might be seen as a compromise. The US could stop selling 2,500,000 barrels a day and cater to its own needs, but the profit of some are not easily swayed. They are seemingly willing to let the US population freeze to death (or boil to death). And these numbers are out there, the media has had them for the longest time. All these BS articles on going crude oil free whilst the US is selling 73% of whatever they drill. Seems a little hypocritical, doesn’t it? 

That 73% does cater to 176 countries and 4 U.S. territories, no one denies that, but the profit goes somewhere and not all of it to the US coffers owned by the US treasuries. Someone is getting rich and the media is happy for you to be in the dark about it. Ask yourself “How many media outlets have given view of the amount sold? Why is the US short on oil whilst the oil harvested goes somewhere else?” I get it, there is a need for profit, no one denies that, but we see all these articles that imply and suggest that the Saudi’s are the bad paty whilst the US is trying to get cheap oil so that they can sell it at a profit. And believe me, when we change the prices of the earlier given $50 and $35 into the real numbers the equation changes really quick and the numbers become exceedingly large. 

So why should the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hand over profit that they are entitled to? Did you honestly think that Aramco was some non profit organisation? If it is it will be non profit for Saudi Arabia and its citizens, not for the US and their citizens, or the 176 countries that they could cater to. And the media does not really give you that, do they? So when the Guardian gives us “Brent crude hit a 14-year high of $139.13 a barrel in March, fuelling global inflation and a worldwide cost of living crisis. In the US, inflation is at 9.1% and accelerating, which is likely to translate into lost seats for the Democratic party in November’s midterm elections.” What happens when they sell 2.5 million barrels a day less and let that go to the US shortage? The equation changes by a lot does it not? 29% less sales will be felt all over the US and by Brent in particular, so why exactly does the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia need to play ball with the US, especially when China is exceedingly courting Saudi Arabia for all kind of goods and when I see the revenue setting of 375 billion + 530 billion that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is spending on improving Saudi Arabia, there is every setting where the US has overplayed its hand and China is now in a premium position to get their revenue balls rolling. A setting I warned about before Covid before 2019, there were courters in the field and when that overpriced US plane wasn’t going there, China could sell the Chengdu J-20 at a nice price to Saudi Arabia (I admit I was trying to get my foot in the door and make a play for a simple 3.75% commission), and when you consider that this bill might go up to 15 billion, my 3.75% makes for a nice half a billion (we all have overly big dreams), and merely to play the courier? You have got to be kidding, I am so ready for that part! 

But this was about oil and the US played the wrong hand several times over (like shaking hands with air) and now Saudi Arabia and especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud might feel that the US played them for a fool and the problems start when the US could not afford problems. A stage where we see that Brent Crude is not so innocent and the media should have been on top of this, but I will let you people decide how that should be seen.

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July 17, 2022 · 22:39

The media gets it this wrong?

That is more than a question, it is a statement and the ABC is joining the tool section of media. This all started today when I saw a piece by Stan Grant. The article (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-17/joe-biden-upholding-rules-based-order-shaking-hands-with-killers/101242386) gives us ‘For Joe Biden, the price of upholding a global rules-based order seems to be shaking hands with killers and tyrants’ and the article is lousy from the start. We get “So this is what the global rules-based order looks like: US President Joe Biden sitting down with a Saudi leader with blood on his hands. US intelligence says Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. His body is believed to have been cut into pieces and incinerated.” A little recap. The UN report (at [381]) gives speculation what had to be done, but there is no evidence of any kind that the CIA or other intelligence agencies had ANY realistic level of evidence that Khashoggi’s life was in danger, more important none of the evidence shows that there was a definite evidence. I saw one report that gives us that it was highly likely that a member of the royal family was involved. Lets repeat that ‘Highly likely’ and that is not evidence, as such the statement ‘sitting down with a Saudi leader with blood on his hands’ is a farce and pure speculation. In addition the statement “His body is believed to have been cut into pieces and incinerated” is equally speculative. Then we get to the statement “Osama bin Laden, who plotted the attacks, was a Saudi. Of the 19 terrorists who carried out the attacks, 15 were Saudi citizens. An FBI report has linked a Saudi diplomat to the attackers.” Lets look at that. The more correct version is “Osama bin Laden, who plotted the attacks, was a Saudi, trained by the CIA” as such the attack on America was done by a rogue CIA agent, but that is bad PR, is it not? Then we get “When it comes human rights, China ranks higher than Saudi, according to Freedom House.” Based on what data? How many nations were tested? These seem like harsh questions to ask, yet the writer added the line in the middle, so these questions are valid. Especially as Freedom House is added once in the entire text, the context is gone. In all this the Uyghurs might not agree with that statement, but behind every silver lining a new dark cloud is hiding. 

Is Saudi Arabia a perfect state? Not according to many in the west, not according to non-islamic people. I do not know, I have never been to Saudi Arabia, what I saw was from YouTube. I saw the Hajj today, I saw Mecca, a place that a christian will never visit because it is off limits to non islamic people. Am I upset? No, I am not. I reckon that there are places in Saudi Arabia I would want to see before Mecca ever graces my list. It is nothing negative, it is that Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam have a lot to offer. I saw the video’s and they look awesome. I saw the Hajj, thousands of people united in one faith and these people are a mix of Sunni and Shias, praying next to one another in peace, more important they all have the same Quran. Try that in the western world. The Protestants and Catholics have been at each others throats for centuries and they still are. There are over a dozen version of the bible and they all claim theirs is the real one. There is ONE Quran! In the Mecca walk that someone posted I saw Mecca. I saw the streets, I saw a surprising amount of high rises. I saw Haagen-Dazs and I saw two KFC’s. I saw a shopping mall that is every bit as luxurious as the ones I saw in Sydney, Bangkok, Chicago or New York. I saw a vegetable store handing out bananas to passing people. Try that in London. I saw people happy and walking in joy. I think that we are more alike than unlike and it made me happy. The streets were clean, the people were walking all over and as they were closer to the Mosque, the pilgrims stood out in their white cloaks, all unified in faith. I can honestly say that I never saw such a sight in Lourdes. I saw no discord, It was an awesome sight. 

This all reflects back to the article. Is MBS guilty? No! He is not, is he innocent? I cannot tell because there is no evidence, and that what is there is warped. I stated that several times and there is something to say for the rogue agents. We have our own Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) to thank for that. Wasn’t it he who said “Oh, who will relieve us of these blasphemers?” No order was ever given, but the blasphemer was gone. Was this the same? I cannot tell, there is no evidence, but it seems clear that rogue agents were hoping for some reward. I like the response of one of the spokespeople best “Khashoggi doesn’t make the top 1000 of worries of the Crown Prince”, it is paraphrased. I tried to find the article again, but I was unable. Consider the facts, when Khashoggi was alive he was a mere columnist for the Washington Post. I reckon that less than a thousand non WP readers had a clue who he was. And now his name is stated in nearly every article that mentions Saudi Arabia or the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, have you not noticed that? So in this age, the US needs cheap oil and Saudi Arabia is the only source left for America. And in that race no one is asking why the US needs Saudi oil. You see America is the largest oil producer, followed by Saudi Arabia, Russia and China. In this day and age of everyone screaming to reduce oil, why does the US need Saudi oil? Perhaps the US needs to reconsider the stupidity they preach and come out clean why they need more oil. They are by several sources the largest producer of oil, so why would they need more? Perhaps I was right all along, to reduce oil usage one must redefine what is essential, it seems that the US is not doing that. But that side of the equation does not make it into the media, does it?

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