Category Archives: Finance

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.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Science

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.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Law, Media, Politics, Science

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.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Politics

And the stupid award goes to

That was the setting that I considered when the BBC gave us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck4g1jg4n9dno) ‘Are California voters about to impose ‘world’s first’ tax on billionaires?’ You see, it is discriminatory to say the least and for that matter, going on from 2014, with this example from 2017 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2017/11/07/consideration-in-3-parts/) ‘Consideration in 3 parts’, even then I was talking about “The Guardian gives us more and more mentions of ‘Tax Avoidance’ and as I mentioned a few days ago. It is not illegal, it is perfectly legal. Most papers will hide behind ’emotional’ parts to cry outrage, but in the end they too are not outspoken on pushing to adapt legislation to change this and to push for clear corporate taxation needs, whilst we see that they are all on the second largest data drain set at 1.4TB. So after the Panama Papers, do you think that banks, especially banks of these kinds, banks that rely on such paths to ensure themselves of a good income. Do you think they would hesitate to invest a few millions into hardware that keeps it secure?” A clear and balanced tax system was all that remained and now it becomes even worse. What do you think happens when California loses its handle on the total net worth of California’s billionaires with an estimated at $1.87 trillion to $2.3 trillion, depending on recent market valuations. What happens when that leaves for Bermuda, Monaco and the UAE? California is no longer the haven and heaven it was 30 years ago. That 115 million buys a lot of decent condos in all three of these jurisdictions. So they spend $30M on three apartments with all the luxuries and have the rest for their own needs. California tax system gets ZERO.

And whilst the larger group (lets just say Apple) is still in the clear. Opening all kinds of shops that most people cannot afford and it is all written off against taxes. The question “Is it wise to open a store there” is now offset by “Is it a 100% tax write off” and that is the real problem and I am merely mentioning Apple, but Microsoft and others are in that same boat. The tax system is holding them above water and we see the ridiculous Jeff Bezos settings whilst for over a decade the media made fun of him for not making any money. He thought it through and whilst HIS company grew, he grew and now that he has achieved it, we all (US Taxes) want a piece of that. No, you were stupid then, so you cannot become greedily clever now. You reap what you sow.

So whilst California is sugarcoating this as “Now voters are about to decide whether the mega-rich among them – including media mogul Oprah Winfrey, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, Skims cofounder and reality television star Kim Kardashian, and filmmaker George Lucas – should hand over billions of dollars to pay for improvements to healthcare.” And of course there is the name George Lucas, the fact that he worked 20 hours a day for decades to bring us the entertainment we got, he created jobs for thousands and more business in several directions. No, he had to be mentioned. All whilst their lawyers will throw a tantrum on unclassified zero hours towards the money they become viable for. So what happens when Zuckerberg sets up a new technology from the UAE or from the EU? Will you complain then? Oh and when the newsreel gives us the new setting from “California’s gross domestic product (GDP) is approximately $4.5 trillion, making it the largest sub-national economy in the United States and the fourth-largest economy in the world—ranking just behind the United States, China, and Germany” towards “California’s gross domestic product (GDP) is approximately $2.1 trillion, ranking just behind the Mexico in 13th position and almost on par with Australia in 14th position” because that reality will turn several investors away from California as well. California isn’t doing too well as we see streets with closed businesses as their landlord is awaiting the next investor to make something from that and that is also a reality for California and that is already happening. As such California has a lot of problems and they catered to corporations for over 11 years and now the bill comes calling because corporations only care about their bottom line. If that was not the case these places would never have opened their new grounds in Abu Dhabi, they go where the customers go and these customers are not seeing California as a haven of vacation until deep into 2040.

That too is a reality the US tax system created (not to mention this US administration), so as I see it good luck and whilst Mexico is surpassing them in GDP, when will we hear the first Californian voices shout “Recuérdennos, amigos?” (Source: Google Translate, I don’t speak Spanish).

This is the setting and I wonder how many Californians will embrace Dubai and Abu Dhabi on 2026/2027) optionally before these tax drives become law.

Have a great day all and “sabah alkhayri, hal yumkinuni alhusul ealaa qahwat min fadlika?” (also Google Translate).

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Law, Media, Politics

That one script

So, things are going rather poorly in my life. Movers that give no response (not knowing what their timeline is) then we get the nasty setting of double rent (old place and new place) and a few other factors that are going not so great. So, as I was contemplating the words that Trump has defeated Iran (which is no a real thing) I was contemplating what can I do to upset the balance of power. Not the rich ones, they have their bitcoins their squared away billions. But the average man, to one from the lowest to the top 75%, what happens when President Trump has them squared against him, so what would it take?

As such a ‘script’ for TV came to mind. It has all the likely things drawing people to the screen, partially nude ladies and men all wondering what happened to their clothes and a mere fraction might be safe. Then I remembered the composition of US currency. 75% cotton and 25% linen. It is made by one one place and it is prohibited to own that kind of paper (unless it is US currency). Then the nasty demon (sitting on my left shoulder) pricked me with his fork and said “Do it, don’t be a pussy”, the angel on the right shoulder kept quiet (he usually does) and as such I created the makings of a biological weapon, not against people, they are mostly immune, as such people had no idea what was going on, but their currency was getting eaten (although that was not entirely clear in the beginning) the linen wearing nurses were first out in their lingerie and as such a few more who were betting on cotton clothing and optionally linen too. From there it went bonkers (except for California, where nudity is seemingly a way of life), so whilst people with their hands were providing the handling of cash and forwarding these microbes, the setting became almost non entertaining for banks as one bill set on a stack would infect the whole tray of cash and when it came to light that their money was getting devoured and over a trillion dollar went up in smoke chaos became the new ‘news item’ of the day. And the lower classes who live by the dollar had nothing left at the end of the day, the banks had even less and their policies had these savings on file, but no longer in their vaults. You see, this is the foundation of chaos. Take an everyday item of the table and the world goes mad. On the other hand, drug cartels with their stored money will soon learn that they have a little less than nothing, so there is that to consider.

As I see it, the Bitcoin will make a rapid rise, so if you are into that invest before the script becomes a TV item that will scurry the American population into fear and mayhem.

So whilst we are in the setting of a digital boom, consider that diverse weapons have many more diverse consideration and the ones that don’t kill might do a hell of a lot more danger than you consider.

Well, that is my blowing of steam. I wonder what I will come up with tomorrow. I already had an idea on how to nullify Iranian oil in very much the same way. You see, someone advocated (on LinkedIn) a microbe that eats oil. For oil spills a radical efficient way to take care of business. To drop a bucket of that stuff in a 122 million barrel storage vats, so what happens when you poor a bucket of that stuff in those vats? How long will that oil hold? Makes you think doesn’t it and no missiles were needed to destroy them and the contaminated oil will propagate to every oil dump in these vats. It must be my week to be nasty and vindictive.

So have a great day and I will focus on getting the calm back into my soul.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Military, Politics, Science

What went wrong?

That is the hidden question in all this. You see, I have had my suspicions in several directions. It is the outcome of Business people getting in bed with art, art is a different stroke, it adheres to different parameters and whilst these people are gracing several directions in gaming, they forget that art is the compelling setting. There is no business in that. It comes from excellence in art that makes games great and Bethesda was on the right side, but then Microsoft bought it and it seemingly went down the basement after that. So whilst we see all kinds of excuses on lag times and latencies. Why are they there? Gamers bought the big systems Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and whatever Microsoft has. These systems are there to deal with the user requirements and it has worked since the the Playstation 2. So why? Because someone stated that we all want to game together? Well, for some people this is true and there is greatness in team play (when the cheaters are away) but the new generation is taught that cheating is fine because they all do it and that is where the game goes amok.

So as we happily gamed away in whatever Bethesda and Bioware and Santa Monica Studios brought us, someone thought it was a good idea to listen to Business applicants.

So in my previous example (yesterday) I played on the Bethesda Elder Scrolls idea. Why? Simple, they have created a lore bigger than most can conceive but there is a similar setting for their Fallout setting and there is lore for the God of war series (which is based on history) so when we look at the fitter games one more adds the setting, it is Guerrilla games. Their Horizon series has the ability to match a ‘new’ storyline in greatness and it is set to ‘our’ future so there are options. But the need for more gaming or better said greater gaming is essential.

Today I was considering the old expression bread and circuses (from Juvenal 55AD) the modern day world used this setting to ‘divert’ the population into some stage of sleepiness. We we’re all awake, but we accepted the bread and circuses setting because a lot of us do not really have a choice. But the game of life changed. Bread is no longer free, it costs and now it is costing more. We have the circuses on one side (in the United States it is called politics), we have Television (whilst the cost of receiving the entertainment is rising) and we have our actual gaming and that is the exclusion of all things. And we are willing to pay the $100 for a game like that and in case of Skyrim it had probably been the best investment ever. I bought several copies (PS3, PS4, Xbox360) and with over 3000 hours it was well worth the setting. But this might change as hardware is reaching new heights. So we might lose a lot on the PS6 and the Switch 2 (optionally the Switch 3) but we have to consider this and as such the RPG style gaming brings the best entertainment for its value and as I see it, the artsy people need to be in charge and the business people need to wire their lips solidly shut. Because what comes requires the focus of people who want a great experience and the Elder Scrolls has the most lore, but they are not alone. I am not sure about why ‘EA Is Closing BioWare and Canceling the Next Mass Effect’ I have suspicions, but there are shoddy speculations at best. Still, somewhere last year I created a new setting for ME5 and I took an approach (likely) no one even considered. I combined ME5 by adding ME4 and ‘repairing’ all I thought was wrong with it (there was a lot) but the idea was great and as such it had to survive. But I am aware that some people state “it’s impractical as a commercial blueprint” but there is where I differ, gaming is art, it has no commercial value. As an example I want to offer Edvard Munch the scream, it is now valued at $120 million.

It was a mere $83,700 in 1900. That is the effect of art and not everyone likes it. I wouldn’t pay anywhere near that for the scream. But the icons of Gaia, that is worth something to me. I even saw in my mind note blocks of Aether, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Eleuthia, Hades, Hephaestus, Minerva and Poseidon, note blocks with the logo on every page, optionally their embroidering of these icons. I am a gamer, that is what I value and I reckon many gamers (in the millions) see this in the game they play.  It was what the business people never got, they merely got where the money was, or where they think the money was. But there is the crunch, a good game can survive on its own. Oblivion proved that with the remaster and I had no problems buying that for the PS5. That game was the reason I bought the Xbox360 in the first place. So there is one ‘response’ I have an issue with “Quantity alone doesn’t guarantee success. Padded or repetitive content often feels worse than a tighter experience. Older engines eventually hit technical limits (performance, tools, stability). Not every game is easy to expand, and endless post-launch support isn’t free or infinite. Player expectations also matter—some people prefer finishing a game and moving on.” I agree that repetitive content is not a solution, as such I came up with the creation of New Kvatch and the size difference was to ensure it would all fit. The sections that might be the same is the overwhelming settings that most places are there, but in this setting (a few centuries after Skyrim) we have a new stage. We have a new industrial age and it is run by the great great grand daughter of Jeanne Frasoric. Which will ensure new lore amounts as well as inverting the items you used to collect. The destroyed shrines need to be rebuilt and items have to be retrieved, you will also need to find someone to head the shrine. And the challenge becomes how and where. With the exception of Azura, which will always be in Skyrim. Some will be out in the open, some will be underground. And it is up to the player to decide, yet we might agree that Nocturne is not a place that we want out in the open. And as we face 5 (or 6) locations, depending on where we are with Morrowind. The gamers can explore, can replay old missions and whilst chapters might be ‘relocated’ except the Mages council which will always be in Cyrodiill we get a totally new concept of gaming, and in all this we have a a new way of gaming and replayability will be a new setting, so there is as I see it, no such thing as ‘repetition’ this is up to the player and they might set the game in new and interesting ways. A way that was always the main intent of any RPG video game and as such the big makers will get the big dollars, considering that Skyrim has 65 million copies sold, there is every indication that many will consider this title and after the setting of too many business types hiding behind lag times and latency of the hardware, someone might wake up and consider the setting that this is a one player game. But they are not alone, Guerrilla games might also make consideration (after Horizon 3) to make a ‘global’ challenge and there is still the Mass Effect setting and Fallout is not out of the picture either.

We have many directions gaming could be taken into and I love my RPG gaming, but I do recognize that there are many GTA5/GTA6 fans. As such they could create something that people can enjoy for a decade, the fact that it was created in 2013 makes that clear.

So I cannot tell you where to go next. You need to trust the game makers you pour your heart in, that is the best advice I can give you. So, have a great day and enjoy gaming, or get not gaming if possible.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Gaming

The claim of game time

We all see it, we all endure it and in some cases the game makers think that 100 hours is forever, then they add a few tidbits and they think they are saved, which is nice, but in this dat on internet ad almost instant fame through Tik Tube and Youtok these maker get a nasty surprise. Now I don’t want to do this, but the same goes for plenty of RPG games. When I play an RPG I look around in places and admire the views they bring, but I realise that not everyone is like that ad one of the first ‘adjustments’ were made by me in early 2014. My mind loved Oblivion and I thought that adding Skyrim to this might be an excellent way to make 400 hours into 2000 hours. But the mind didn’t stop there so as I ‘designed’ this new setting we got Elsweijr and Valenwood to the mix. In my mind there was a unbalanced settings there (I don’t want to call it a civil war, as this is a setting for Skyrim) But this setting gave me a few ideas into Creating New Kvatch. Not a simple mission, because a city is the work of a lifetime and this was done through labour force, so as you create solutions to missions you were rewarded with a few slaves (call them unpaid labor),which gives you the burden of creating housing, produce local hands (for farming) and the need to upstage it all, this stage he’d three stages and you had to find books. You could find the common books on building a  town (brick and iron), or you could find rare books on Dwemer metallurgy (which gives you the Dwemer doors) and you could find advanced books on Whitestone mining. So, you might find a book von moonstone mining and from there the moonstone doors were created and you could find Daedric books, as such there were paths, but there was a catch, you get ONE option, so whilst there is a need to find the books, the choice selected is matching your selection and there is no cheating here. These books are rare to find and you could be playing for 300 hours finding one of the rare books. But the town that was created would make you a council member and whilst you complete missions that give you more and more slaves (volunteer miners) and you need to advance some of them to be overseers or even chief smiths because these are the people that get you the doors. And there is the need for more and directed more. A simple setting that you get by finding quarries and there are a few in the land. And these quarries will get you the stones you need to complete the towns, so whilst Stone might be readily available, White stone that gets you an Ayleid look are not early achieved. So while you are ‘involved by getting the doors and entrance created, the rest is automatically done and when you have an pretty workforce the city comes alive in a few years. It will have all the niceties of smiths, grocers, herbalists and whilst you do not need to do anything for that, they only stay if the city has a clear chance. Now consider Cyrodiill 9 times the size, Skyrim roughly the same size and there would be Valenwood and Skyrim and now we get  the other side. You get one dark brother hood, one fighters guild, one mages guild (which would always be in cyrodiill) and one thieves guild. So consider that some say that Skyrim is about 37 square kilometer, Cyrodiill is about 450 square kilometer and now we add Valenwood and Elsweijr masking them an adjusted 200 square kilometer. Now consider the setting of an RPG with 700 square kilometer challenge and that will keep people busy for years. Because that is the setting we need to realise. Funds are drying up and people can only afford 1-3 games a year. Wouldn’t you want to do everything to make YOUR game the one they chose? And the time of creating viral content on YouTube is almost over. And you can remain in denial all you want (especially if you see yourself as the content creator) but as I see it, RPG’s have a decent chance in all this and we start seeing people with writers block, they need a stage where they can shine and whilst there is a winning team (Bethesda made a massive hit with Skyrim and whilst it was created for the PS3 and Xbox360, it kept people happy for over two generations, which is quite the achievement and now they face the amazing Horizon games and both of them are making quite the splash, so consider that you could try to make something that surpasses it all, or you could set a new frontier and the idea of combining Oblivion, Skyrim and the Valenwood and Elsweijr (optionally after the next installment is added) that is one gaming side that will find a massive appeal in the elder scrolls fans. And as I see it time is running out, because whatever Horizon 3 brings will decide the taste of gamers for some time. And whilst we see all these fake AI’s telling us that 2026 is the biggest year in gaming so far with 5%-6% YoY growth, it is mere speculations, and they are decent speculations, but no one saw the oil setting and that price, or the impact of Bitcoin miners, hardware us getting more expensive data s getting more expensive and that comes before the prices of food and drink and that will cost. Wallop in the next two years. Things will not remain the same and you either get ahead of the curve or you fall behind. Bethesda has the setting that they have the IP to make it work and whilst there would be some redesign, there is a chance that they could pull it off and make millions of gamers happy at the same time, because whatever they do could impact all Skyrim and all Oblivion players and that is one hell of an audience. But the truth is that they are no longer alone in this field and consider the question If you could only afford one game in the next 2 months, would that be Elder Scrolls VII, or Horizon III? And how will that impact your gaming and that is before the Harry Potter fans come out and go nuts over Hogwarts legacy 2? Yes some will be able to afford them all, but that group is shrinking fast, much faster than these so called analysts are seeing and whilst they are staking up the reasons for the why, the real deal is that funds are depleting and that is a hard pill to swallow.

So you have a great day and consider the question that will be on the front of your mind soon enough. GTA6, Elder Scrolls VII, Fallout 5, Hogwarts legacy 2 or Horizon 3 and you could only afford one, which one would you pick? I wonder if that is what Sony saw when they decided to abolish physical games? I actually don’t know but there is more behind their reasoning.

Time for my brekkie.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Gaming, Media

They think the end is near

Yes, we al hear it. People are saying that their difficulties are over the moment they throw that clown into prison. But it is not that simple. True is gone, Credibility is gone and the are not coming back any day soon. My personal feeling is that until 2040 there will not be any credibility given towards the United States. There is reason for that, they never really convicted him for the insurrection impeachment, there are too many factors going into these settings and it is clear that some democrats were hesitant, hesitant about what was lawful, hesitant about a whole lot of things and the world has had enough. And when we see the setting of Canada and Venezuela there is even more anger. Did anyone ever find the 13 billion that was ‘supposedly’ misplaced? As toilet paper is at this moment $2.68 is is a whole lot of money missing the balance sheets and whilst the Gulf States are angry about their lost revenue of oil, which makes sense as Iran is clearly guilty, but the president who started it all is now seen as a horse not shown, all whilst he is depriving the Ukraine from essential intelligence. So, should we refer to the United States now as West-Russia? But the stage is a lot worse (according to Fortune) who claimed that the United States became insolvent in March this year. And according to Treasury department data, the budget deficit widened to $1.99 trillion, which is 12% worse than $1.78 trillion gap in 2025. So who ever becomes president, they will inherit a mess that will take decades to clean up and whilst they want to make trade agreements, the rest of the world aren’t interested and it seems that all the deals are mede between the world leaders and Canada, that so all 51st state and these larger revenues are being kept away from the United States, so where is that ‘big and beautiful country with the greatest economy in history’, but as I see it, those many billions are merely changing hands between Nvidia, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle. Merely these 5 hands and they are exchanging invoices between each other and that is not really an economic setting and whilst Microsoft pulled out of the UK because of power delays (source: Reuters) I think there is more going on. Europe and the Commonwealth are actively striving for data sovereignty and that take Microsoft of the board. It basically takes them all of the board making the economic setting for the United States a bit of a mess. And whilst they are getting more and more deals, theft that they are American will stop a whole range of deals moving forward. Still we see all the news and the debatable settings and the options is still there that the media is set on a scaffold right next to the republican party and ‘We merely brought the news’ will no longer hold any water.

So whilst the American voters is looking for relief (as well as their $5000 dollars) the news is merely getting worse. You see, where the United States was for a long time the only option, the gulf states have now an exceeding commerce repartee that combines several items and exceeds a total of $300 billion and I reckon that should Chinese hardware come involved against Houthi terrorists, the Houthi setting will open up additional sources of intelligence and merchandise and they will gain a foothold in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Iran will drop the Houthi terrorists like a bad habit, because Chine assures 90% of Irans oil supply. And that works in two ways for Saudi Arabia, because the United States ‘claimed’ (according to the Jerusalem Post) ‘What does Tom Barrack’s warning on Saudi Arabia reveal about US Middle East policy?’ Where we see “US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also the US envoy to Iraq and Syria, spoke on October 20 at the Global Security Forum in Doha. He discussed Saudi Arabia’s“difficult position” today. He hinted at the challenge Riyadh and others will face pursuing an exclusively military or “kinetic” response.” I merely wonder why a kinetic response even mean. The UK and UAE see the dangers that Houthi forces mean and I reckon that China could brake that stalemate and as such the USA is out of any negotiations with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. So do you still believe the United States is in a setting where they can rightfully claim that they are that ‘big and beautiful country with the greatest economy in history’ but that would be an erroneous statement. If it was so great why do the people in Nevada get the news from the Nevada Current “Rising costs threaten Nevada revenue outlook, state economic panel warned”? And on that notion the LA Times gives its readers ‘While California’s tourism rallied, L.A. faced its worst year since the pandemic’ as I see it, not an economy that is that great, because the drop in tourism hits nearly all walks of life and the numbers we are given are those of flim flam artists. They focus on resilience, not on revenue and when they do that we see small settings and how well they are doing, all whilst the established parties like WFTV tell us “Universal Orlando announced plans to lay off more workers as theme parks continue to struggle because of the coronavirus pandemic.” We got this 20 hours ago, so what the setting with an upsurge in Coronavirus? Is it just an excuse because the real numbers are not what stakeholders and shareholders are looking for?

We can look at all these numbers until we go blind. But the short and sweet is that the United States are done for until after the elections in 2040 and by then Saudi Arabia has completed its Vision 2030 and the UAE will have two new icons in its theme parks and that will guarantee millions of more tourists and those tourists will not be visiting the United States. So whilst their defense industry are losing clients (and they have to renew all the missiles lost in the last 6 months) we see the data sovereignty hit hard in the EU and the Commonwealth we see a former United States beg for revenue and they are unlikely to get it, and when the larger corporations become EU corporations and reject the United States as their home base, the US Department of the Treasury will see a scaling balance that is off by a lot and whilst this administration might be in denial, the successor will have no option to leave the books open and show where it all went and this happens at almost the same time as the Business Times of Singapore is giving us ‘The battle against rising US Treasury yields’ where we see “WITH benchmark US Treasury yields breaking above 5.3 per cent in October, rising bond yields are now at the forefront of investor concerns against the backdrop of America’s US$40 trillion in debt outstanding.” And this is 22 hours ago.

So whilst people might panic (just like the Bitcoin bitches in Dubai a few weeks ago) the entire Image is likely distorted, with people in charge not willing to see the real picture and others hoping for a quick resolution because they have financially vested interests in all this. I cannot offer them anything of substance, because this administration treated any ally they had with animosity and more animosity than the United States has given Russia recently, even turning against the Ukraine and its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This is funny in my book, because the man that voiced Paddington Bear is turning the big bear of Russia into its personal bitch and it is fun because Paddington Bear is British, not a Disney character. So fun all around.

Have a great day today

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Tourism

An optional second reason?

That was the first thing that came to mind, not in opposition or in criticism bc cause you get those people as well. No, the idea to see ‘Saudi Arabia announces first batch of hospitality investment projects worth $1.78bn’ (at https://www.arabnews.com/tourism-transport/saudi-arabia-announces-first-batch-of-hospitality-investment-projects-worth-178bn-3007297) is decent enough, but my mind kept on wondering, what if there was a second reason? Consider that the unknown and language are the first setting. So what if these places had for example 10 settings each to do more? So, whilst we are given

And that is fine, but what if there was an additional push? So 50 places for additional settings, like jobs in Aramco. At present it is trying to look for any number of places and for the most in Multiple rounds of interviews (online or in-person at regional hubs like Houston, London, or Singapore. This sounds nice, but the world is seeking jobs and for the most the idea of a job in Saudi Arabia is met with question marks. So what if these people get a placement offer and it comes with language skills, introduction into Saudi life? In two-three weeks they get  language setting and an introduction into local life at Aramco? It comes with a contract that if they do not want to do this, they are barred from similar places in the gulf states, just to make it fair all around. And there might be an appeal for miners from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Greece, Portugal, and Spain. You could open offices in all these places, or you could invite those with a decently good resume to come stay in Saud Arabia lowering the hurdle somewhat. And the nice part in all this is the setting that these ‘volunteers’ might attract friends with mining experience as well. So before you know it these 50 roles might even attract 150 to 200 more volunteers. This seems a win/win setting for Saudi Arabia. As I see it, this system could also be employed by ADNOC (UAE) as they have similar and even higher needs to fill the shoes of job openings. I have no side how either are setting there mark, but there might be a call to fill both locations with jobs. And with a lower hurdle, there will be plenty of people to take in the sounds and scenes of these two places. An altered job interview might root out those looking for an actual job and those trying to find a cheap holiday. And as the UAE is ‘sporting’ the setting of hospitality market offers thousands of active positions across hotels, resorts, restaurants, and event companies, concentrated primarily in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.  It could lead to several positions being filled the moment they are seen by these foreign ‘tourists’ which would also give clearance for a pool of linguistics all over the UAE.

Two locations that could benefit from this now so standard hiring practice and there is an offset. They pay for the vacation and depending on their results they get a full refund, as such there is the optional filter to weed out the freeloaders. I am aware that my plan has its flaws and weaknesses, but how had considered the path to find people? I get the idea not too many has looked into that direction. So have a great day and try the following: “قهوة واحدة من فضلك، على ألا تكون حلوة جداً.” (I surely hope Google Translate didn’t make a mess of that line. And in two weeks you might even know more Arabic or optionally Emirati Arabica (I have no idea how close Arabic and Emirati Arabic is) but these students will be able to tell soon enough.

Have a great day today.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Media

The red horse

It has been busy, but it is also getting countered. Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/3007204) is telling us that ‘Saudi Arabia and UAE call for closer Gulf coordination in face of Houthi attacks’ it is a good start, although a case could be made to include Egypt as there is every chance that Egypt will be a point of ‘evasion’ by the Houthi terrorists. It is a mere personal observation that they do not want to get caught retreating not the Sudan, but I have no definitive intelligence on that, other that the fact that they have disrupted Sudanese politics and assistance efforts to its population. I totally agree on the setting we are given by “Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Monday called for stronger coordination among Gulf nations to contain escalating regional tensions amid continuing Houthi attacks on the Kingdom. It came as the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, discussed the latest regional developments, and condemned attacks by the Yemeni militia against civilian sites in Saudi Arabia. The ministers stressed the need for closer consultations and joint diplomatic efforts to strengthen cooperation among Gulf Cooperation Council member states, support de-escalation and prevent conflicts from spreading across the region, the Saudi Press Agency reported.” I am of the mind that de-escalation could be achieved through eradication and it might be a reason why politics is not a direction I should actively try to find employment in. However the red horse and its rider are more effective in the United States where (according to some) the dumbest person on the planet was made President. According to the United Kingdom they tend to bash and ridicule their dumbest people (aka village idiots) but in America these people are given a White House (with decently new curtains and wallpapers), but I would not know anything about that. Yet the Guardian gives us ‘Trump slams Zelenskyy amid Russia sanctions rift and says ‘somebody else’ should negotiate for Ukraine’, I am of the mind that the Ukraine did the right think by selecting the Ukrainian voice of Paddington bear as president of their nation. With the 20th largest army he stopped the army that was in the top 3 of the world (it is now number 8 according to some sources) the Red Horse and its rider have seen loads of action in that region. So, whist only 16 hours ago we saw the Guardian give us ‘Trump accuses Zelenskyy of not wanting to end war as feud rumbles on’ and it is ghastly what he mentions, especially as Former Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin stated that the one way to peace was for Russia to leave Ukrainian grounds and she said that on October 9th 2022, so basically a little over 4 years ago and most of the educated politicians of the world agree on that. So it is a little baffling how the president of Western Russia (aka President Trump) states that other people should be speaking for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Can you imagine the gaul of some people? Perhaps he needs cheap diesel and that is one way to get it, because there is every chance that no matter how ‘resilient’ the US Economy is rated at, the chances are that the Credit Card of the United States might in the near future get rejected more and more and as they are losing allies in the gulf states, they might be scraping the bottom of the barrel for people with a positive mindset on the United States. And whilst we see the Guardian give us “Trump defends decision to waive some sanctions on Russia” there is every chance that this will cost him additional allies and as CNBC gave us two days ago “Ukraine is facing increasing uncertainty over its ability to sustain the war against Russia as a series of moves by U.S. President Donald Trump has raised fresh questions about Washington’s reliability as Kyiv’s most important military partner.

Trump’s agreement with Putin to ease sanctions for Russia to provide global markets with diesel, as well as restrictions on U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukrainian forces” is merely one side, the other side was given to us by Politico who gives us ‘Wright defends Trump’s Russian diesel deal as ‘carrot’ for peace’ where we see “Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s diesel deal with Russia as an “incentive” for Moscow to “reduce” its war in Ukraine, adding that after four years of conflict, other attempts to bring both sides to the table had failed. “This is a carrot to try to end a war. It’s not an economic lifeline for Russia,” Wright said on ABC’s “This Week.” “President Trump isn’t going to just throw up his arms and say, ‘Well, I guess we can never stop it,’” he added, when pressed on why a “carrot” was the appropriate action at this moment. “Clearly, it’s a tricky problem.” Wright argued that sanctions on Russian oil remain in place and that Moscow could only benefit from diesel relief by reducing its war effort or reaching an agreement with Ukraine that would allow it to repair its oil refineries.” And whilst everyone is focussing on Bugs Bunnies food supply and the ‘code word’ for cheap diesel, the turn is that the United States has little more to offer. The clambake in Iran has taken resources from the United States and they need years to rebuild it, in the meantime every lat penny is poured into the stage of ‘looking good’ all whilst there is more and more failing, all whilst the media is ‘assisting’ the United States by making hit a story towards resilience. So whilst we are given that “Pressed about Trump’s earlier announcement of an energy ceasefire, which both Ukraine and Russia have denied, Wright described an agreement as something the president was still pursuing.” And no one is pursuing this? An energy ceasefire that both parties deny? So where is this coming from? The wishful thinking list for the tooth fairy? Did anyone ask Dwayne Johnson if he was aware of that list?  And the idea that an announcement is given on a matter that “the president was still pursuing”, I merely wonder who was managing that sketch, because as a joke it is in bad taste especially as we consider that at least 15,578 civilians have been killed and over 43,352 injured in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022. There is not a pursuit of anything and as I see it, there is nothing feasible about “an agreement with Ukraine that would allow Russia to repair its oil refineries”, as I see it, they should all be bombed to hell, something President Trump failed to do in Iran and now he has an upcoming war that will last over a decade. So yes, I would encourage the red horse and its rider to support the Ukraine to wreck havoc on Russia. And don’t take my word on this, Sun Tzu wrote not around 500BC, so we have 2500 years of experience and knowledge that this is the correct setting. He wrote something in the spirit of “Feeding off the Enemy (Chapter 2: Waging War): Sun Tzu famously notes that transporting food and equipment over long distances ruins your own country’s economy and impoverishes the common people. Therefore, “a wise general strives to feed off the enemy”” and several players know this beforehand and if they claim ignorance on those fact they should not be inn positions of power. That sounds simple enough.

So the red horse is active in several stages, but we are all about countering that red horseman, by either giving the options to the pale horse or the pale horse. I reckon that only Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are worthy a visit from the White horse, whilst it is not a conquest when you regain your territory, they did conquer Russian forces and that warrants a visit from the White horse.

And whilst this is going on, we will watch and see how Saudi Arabia and optionally with assistance of the UAE defeat and diminish the numbers of Houthi terrorists. We can always be in denial of granting any thoughts to the red horse and that is fine, but as I see it, it is a defeating choice, because in the end out leads to visits from the black horse an your soul is handed to the pale horse, it is pretty much your only option, because there is nothing wrong with the pacifist mindset, I to some extent applaud it, but it can only survive when all parties agree to it, as such it is harder to start something, but the starters of war like pacifists, because they can take whatever they want and leave you with nothing, which makes you a target of the black horse and famine overtakes you. Where will your pacifistic mindset go then? If you are merely one person, it is a choice for you, but when you have a family and loved ones, where did your pacifism leave them? Lambs for the slaughter? You think about that.

Have a great day today.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics