Category Archives: Finance

January 3, 2023 · 16:25

Plough through the middle

That is where I find myself. There are two issues on my mind. The first is that I have a definite plot twist for Residuam Vitam (the plot is isn’t everything) but it still matter to the story to have that twist, the ploy no one sees in the beginning and when you ponder it it will make sense. It is like that theft, where in the end things seemingly go sideways, but only if you see it from one side, the other side is the one many overlook. That is where I was. 

As such
Ereshkigal was pondering the field she stood in, she saw from here to almost eternity and the field was in disarray. It was the nuance she saw and she had been staring at that nuance since the beginning of time. So she saw any item out of place and the field was starting to skew, it did not take her long to see how it was skewing and something had to be done. She focussed for a mere fraction of a moment and that was all that was needed. As she was looking at the field something walked into her existence. It was Tia that appeared. Tia looked around, she had been here before, but to be asked to come was new to her. She bowed to Ereshkigal. Ereshkigal pointed at the field and asked ‘What do you see?’ Tia looked around and saw the field, she saw all that was and she saw the edges of what was now. She looked again and stared more intensely now. She saw nothing, she saw the patterns, she saw the colours and she saw what as once the people and then she saw the introduction of some sort of cacophony. It was the best she could see. She responded ‘Some form of chaos, a cacophony of sorts’ Ereshkigal nodded. A chaos through absence and even as I am not yet clear on the how and who are involved, the creation of this chaos will have larger impact to all of us, we must act. She then stared at Tia and told her what must be done and who was chosen for this. ‘Do you agree?’ Tia had to think it over for a moment. She was aware on interactions, she had done it many times, but now it was a rare event that involved a living person, a person linked to the Huron spirit no less. She nodded to Ereshkigal. ‘It will be done’ and Tia vanished. 

It was the deep of darkness, it was around 03:30, the detective was asleep, but suddenly she wasn’t really asleep anymore. She was asleep lying in her bed watching herself and a man in a chair next to it. The man spoke, hello little utehke, the voice spoke out and she recognised the voice of her father who left her many years ago, so she knew she was asleep, but the bedroom was perfect, with the extra man. Father? She asked. No little utehke, but he is what you see. He joined me a long time ago. Listen for there is little time. There is something happening and it is impacting all lives. I cannot tell you specifics, but I can help. Be calm now, this does not hurt, but it will not be comfortable. And with that the detective suddenly felt noxious, she saw the hand of her father in her head and slowly it felt like it was in her head. Then the head slowly retracted. Sleep now, you feel better soon. You will see more now and it will help you, it might even save you. Learn first do not act rash, too much relies on it and slowly the room where she was watching herself was dissolving and the room turned black and she fell in a deep sleep, unaware what was happening around her. She was for all intent and purpose dead for the smallest moment of time and in that moment another world was revealed to her and she saw almost everything. But the mind, the mortal mind does not like that view and the mind protected itself in the only way it knew. It closed off and reset itself and in that moment the new flavours of mortality invaded her mind and took root in her where the mind, the eye, the ear and the nose met. And she continued on the dreamless sleep she started on, a little different, but still the detective she once was.

What is wealth?
It is the second part that has also occupying my mind. It was given to us by the BBC (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64142662) where we get ‘Third of world in recession this year, IMF head warns’ there is an issue (I always will have at least one) and lets have that summary.

“It comes as the war in Ukraine, rising prices, higher interest rates and the spread of Covid in China weigh on the global economy.” Yes they are elements, but the war in the Ukraine will mostly affect Russia and Ukraine most of all, not much more beyond that. Well, more on the Russians as they lose more and more of its citizens. As such I have issues with “We expect one third of the world economy to be in recession”, as such my automated answer is ‘What third’ Which nations? And the shallow “Even countries that are not in recession, it would feel like recession for hundreds of millions of people”, so now we add ‘feels like recession’? Why is that? What is really happening? What are you the procrastinating source for? Then we get “China, the world’s second largest economy, would face a difficult start to 2023” there is another issue. I am not saying that this is not the case, I have no data to counter that, but China has been playing a long game and that is a different kind of fish. Now that it is reeling in commerce gains from Saudi Arabia and optionally Egypt as well, the silk road is getting primed for completion. A new stage of commercial China that we were warned about and it is getting her faster because stupid people (UK and US) played the wrong game and now that China is moving in these two players are missing out on dozens of billions for their economy and it goes straight to China. That I saw two years ago (perhaps three) but these two players were all about how wrong I was and how it would not go there. As such no one saw the danger when Al Jazeera gave us three weeks ago ‘China, Saudi Arabia cement ties with deals including Huawei’ whatever the west gave us was emotional mumbo jumbo with trivialisation, as well as ‘How Saudi Arabia’s crown prince snubbed Biden repeatedly to forge ties with authoritarian China and Russia’ a mere two days ago which came from Business Insider. And the voice of Jon Alterman adds “they both agree that a unipolar world led by the United States would undermine their interests” a United States trivialised by one simple sentence and China is stepping in. The US and the UK made it happen, they catered to idiots (in case of the UK that would be the CAAT) and there are a few in the US. It led to a shift of well over $35,000,000,000 in funds from both towards China and that is merely the beginning. 

The 5G stages that are Huawei are now finding its stage through China and as I see it Egypt is a new choice as well, it now sets the Huawei 5G stage going West of Egypt to East of Saudi Arabia in one nice swoop and Saudi Arabia is about to own it all (via STC that is). When I mentioned that STC would be a force to watch in 5G two years ago people telecom people no less, called me a joke, a freaking joke no less and that is no longer the case, this is about to happen and when the data centres are added Saudi Arabia officially becomes a power player in 5G and on the world stage. The STC what was initially a 35 million group and as such ignored by too many is about to become a voice will well over 175,000,000 people attached for data and voice making it well over twice the size of British Telecom and that is merely the start, when this connects to Neom the damage will add and add and it takes power away from US, UK and European players and I reckon that by 2026 the electronic show in Germany has STC as a main attraction and at that point the growth will really start. Ahead of the 2030 vision Saudi Arabia will be making its international mark in several market places and it was all due to stupid people. When they had an option they were all high and mighty with voices like ‘They will always need us’ but that stage is now hanging, that is now becoming yesterday’s news and whilst these people will try to ‘persuade’ Saudi customers to some kind of bauble race, China will add real value to the table and that race will conclude with the Americans staring at some wooden spoon and no recourse left.

Here is my issue. As we see “The IMF is an international organisation with 190 member countries. They work together to try to stabilise the global economy. One of its key roles is to act as an early economic warning system” is seemingly incorrect. I would alter it into “The IMF is an international organisation with 190 member countries. They work together to try to stabilise the global economy for the US and EU as much as possible. One of its key roles is to act as an early economic warning system when its friends are threatened” and then we consider “For the next couple of months, it would be tough for China, and the impact on Chinese growth would be negative, the impact on the region will be negative, the impact on global growth will be negative” and my response would be, no toots (Kristalina Georgieva), you saw it wrong, the data you present is correct, it is the gains that follow that makes China the winner, and these gains are not part of anything you present are they? It was the long game and the Chinese are really good at their long game. So where is the European response to the Silk Road, that news you catered to months ago on how there was an answer. There was none and now you are against a wall with nowhere to go but some cushy retirement place and watch the changing of the guards as China becomes the new president of that world economy. You played the wrong game, you catered to the stupid voices and China was fine with that because they had time. The Huawei/Saudi link wasn’t ready but now that it is the stage changes by a lot and still that link is well over 500% faster than anything the US has to offer and that difference will tilt the economic scales by a lot, and I reckon that the first companies will change to a better setting soon thereafter. I reckon that it takes less than 10% of these companies to change ‘some loss’ to critical recession points, and there is an upside. I saw and wrote about it two years ago, so there will be a record and I get to slap you with it every time around. Because these ‘voices’ with claims need to be set into the limelight and with every answer in the trend of ‘It is difficult’ I will gain a step on that ladder and whenever they rely on ‘There were miscommunications’ I gain two steps. It was never rocket science, it was about the reality of data, not the story these people gave their shareholders. And to illustrate that part reconsider what I wrote yesterday and now consider two hints “Orson Welles” and “1975”, now that tory takes a massive turn to the right, does it not? To do the game of peekaboo with an actual ghost is a lot more satisfying. There is nothing like a gasser whilst the other person has a cardiac arrest in the process. Try it, it is so satisfying. 

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January 2, 2023 · 17:25

That one question

Yes, we always have that, one more question, one question to start with, the list goes on. I am no different, but I tend to base it on facts that I am exposed to. And the Guardian gave me (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jan/01/russia-ukraine-war-live-zelenskiy-vows-to-keep-up-fight-amid-new-wave-of-russian-missile-attacks) ‘Russian claims its missile attacks are targeting drone production while Zelenskiy vows to keep up fight’. And here I merely saw this as another article. But after a few moments a few thoughts came up in my mind and they led to questions. So lets take you through these motions. 

Russia claimed its strikes against Ukraine on New Year’s Eve, including the launch of more than 20 cruise missiles, killing at least three people, were targeting its neighbour’s drone production.

So lets just say (a far stretch) that this is what they are trying to do. Consider that more than 20 missiles is at a price of $1.5 million dollars, making this a $30 million dollar strike. They got nothing, merely the death of 3 people (not saying that is a good thing), but the math then gets us that Ukrainians die at $10 million per casualty, implying that with a population of around 44 million, the cost of killing the Ukrainian population will set the Russians back by about 440,000,000,000,000. Which amounts to 440,000 billion dollar, which is about 150 times more than the Russian state can cough up. So they will be broke long before they made a dent in their ‘Wishlist’. 

If we reject that (fair enough) the fact that over 20 missiles did not do the job, implies two possibilities.

  • In the first, the missiles are so inaccurate, they will hit everything except for what they aim for, a laughable situation.
  • In the second, it is not an accuracy issue, it implies that the GRU and/or FSB cannot correctly verify and correctly capture intelligence. 

Either is reason for the Ukrainian Paddington bear (Zelenskyy) to slap the Russian bear silly (again and again). 

And there is cause for wondering why the media is not seeing that bigger picture. But I am all about humour and there is a lot to be gotten here. You see, a year ago (December 14th 2021) I wrote a solution to meltdown Iranian nuclear reactors. I gave it to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (via email) as I felt it was important for someone to stand by them and let Iran know that they have a bigger problem than they think they have. And as their reactors are based on Russian design, the idea came that if it works on one (there are a few little issues with my solution) it will also work on the other. And as Russia is about to recruit even more people, they might be better off sending them to guard the 38 reactors they have (just a thought). They have been making threats about using nuclear power. My solution is less complex. I just put the solution online and let anyone hating the Russians enough to take a stab at it, solves everything (as I personally see it).

That would of course invite one more question and that is fine. But the inactions of certain governments are no longer acceptable to me and these pro-Russian wankers in the Netherlands (Thierry baudet), the UK (Tommy Robinson) and a few more are getting under my skin too, I reckon one massive setback for Russia will set these roaches back to wherever they usually hide.

So what is easier than to hand a solution to the internet and let the Russians go nuts trying to monitor Georgians, Chechnya’s and a few more Russian speaking people who have had enough and see this as a solution and there are a fair amount of Russians there as well, the moment they get to even one reactor  Russia will have no other option but to pull back or hand a nuclear offensive and with their current hardware settings, there is a chance over 30% will not function, as such whatever hits Russia will end Russia. A simple solution, not?

Lets be clear, this is not a good solution, I know this, but at some point people have had enough of the lies and acts of terror that come FROM Russia. And Russia needs to wake up to the consideration that people have had enough of them and that TV show on ‘expansionism’ will have far reaching issues. Is my solution good? Of course it is not, but there are too many flaccid politicians not doing enough to stop Russia, so I decided as a near retirement citizen to up the game a little. Or as the Cheshire Cat stated “When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? I’ll tell you: Whenever you want it to be!” A more academic version is “If the results do not match the hypothesis, change the question to make it match”, a favourite stage in Market Research storytellers. And there we have the setting and it will lead to more questions. Hopefully in Russia someone will ask “Is the mess President Putin hands to us worth the mess we are about to receive?”, well that is up to them, we can only show them where that window is and let them decide to use it as a point of entry towards another solutions. 

If that one question got them there, I actually end up doing more than a dozen flaccid politicians, not bad for a storyteller and inventor on minimum wage. How much do each of these flaccid politicians get?

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January 1, 2023 · 20:12

BBC to the whatever

There was an issue from the start. I had reported on it before, so I initially decided to let it go. Yet then I remembered something. It is time to hold the BBC like other papers accountable for their fuck ups, and that includes the BBC as a media outlet. So lets take a look at the article (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64109777) giving us ‘Twitter in data-protection probe after ‘400 million’ user details up for sale’. You see, it might be about Twitter but it is larger then Twitter. The first instance is “Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) says it “will examine Twitter’s compliance with data-protection law in relation to that security issue”. Twitter has not commented on the claim.” The second part is “The data is said to include phone numbers and emails, including those belonging to celebrities and politicians, but the purported size of the haul is not confirmed. Only a small “sample” has so far been made public.” Wo far it is very neat, the extent of lack of mentions is also a lot more clear. You see there are two issues. When it was gotten and how it was gotten (the how is given to some extent later on). There is a setting emerging, but I will mention it soon. Then we get “data of US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was included in the sample of data published by the hacker. The data of broadcaster Piers Morgan, who recently had his Twitter account hacked, is also reported to be included. Twitter has so far not responded to press inquiries about the claimed breach. Chief executive Elon Musk did not reply to a tweeted request for comment from leading cyber-security reporter Brian Krebs – though the breach, as Mr Krebs notes, probably occurred before the Tesla boss took over.” The first gem is here. It is “probably occurred before the Tesla boss took over” and another stage where the media should have held Jack Dorsey to account, but it could not be bothered to do their bloody jobs. The media is showing to be as useless as a silent politician without the limelights. Then we get “While acknowledging the amount of data taken had not been verified, the firm’s chief technology officer, Alon Gal, told the BBC a number of clues appeared to support the hacker’s claim. The data did not appear to have been copied from an earlier breach in which details were published from 5.4 million Twitter accounts, Mr Gal said. Only 60 emails out of the sample of 1,000 provided by the hacker in the earlier incident appeared, “so we are confident that this breach is different and significantly bigger”, he said.”

There are all kinds of issues here, but the fact that there is an earlier breach gives a larger rise that the media should have looked at the fares of Jack Dorsey, but they ignore that part. I wonder what Jack Dorsey has on the media, because that is the only part that makes sense to me. And there is no reliability with ‘Only 60 emails out of the sample of 1,000 provided by the hacker in the earlier incident appeared’ which is at best merely an alleged side of the matter. There are heaps of other sides (like alternative email address) but there remains an issue. Was it the same hack? There might not be reliable information there, so Jack Dorsey is back in the frame. But the media keeps him intentionally out, on at least 5 events and that is worrisome. That they report now makes sense, but the earlier absence of reporting does not and they pushed for a stage where Elon Musk paid well over twice the amount he should have, and the media is no longer a trustworthy institution, no matter what they claim on their websites. 

So when we see ““Ryushi” has said that it exploited a problem with a system that lets computer programmes connect with Twitter to compile the data. Twitter fixed the weakness in the system in 2022. But the flaw is also believed to have been used in the earlier breach affecting more than five million accounts.” There are several issues here, but the fact that it was fixed in 2022 indicates that he became the owner on October 27, 2022. That gives the hack 8 weeks at best and even shorter if it was fixed, as such there is another issue and the BBC is not clean on mentioning it and even less on the responsibilities by Jack Dorsey and that too is on the BBC (and other media). 

My issue with the article is that is was so cleanly written, to keep names out of it and to make sure that nothing hits Jack Dorsey, why not? They never had that issue before, so something is up and it is time the media is seen as the untrustworthy source it has been for too long. But I reckon they will decide not to do so and make claims to IPSO that they can police themselves. In the meantime there is now a too large an issue with the media. Perhaps it is whoring for digital dollars, perhaps it is something more and the course of the media to avoid Jack Dorsey all over the field makes me believe that there is more. I wonder when we get that part, if ever.

For me, I am having another beer, the first 5G IP went public on 4Chan 20 hours ago and I wonder who finds it and who registers it. I hate waiting, but that I all I can do at present. Such is life.

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December 31, 2022 · 12:02

One more nugget

It started this morning. My mind was all over the place, it is the last day of the year, so it is allowed to wander (I am such an enabling person) and whilst it was wandering, it started to shape an idea. It is about making merchandise more functional. Now the first idea was for Bethesda, but they are Microsoft now, so they lose out. 

It was their Bobblehead trophy display that got me thinking. You see, gamers love their merchandise and some is neat. Yet most of it, nearly all of it has no real function. Now, this is fine. Yet what happens when the bow of Aloy does get function. It has hidden spaces for memory cards, it optionally even has a USB dive. The outer part can be exchanged so that you could always get a bigger drive. It could also hold a power bank, and the same could be the case for the  spear. Now the fan has a functional device and there is no one who needs storage and a power bank more than a gamer?

The combinations are endless. And it does not matter where you play. The HALO helmet, the spear from Aloy, the axe from Kratos, all devices that are cherished and will be cherished a lot more when it comes with something functional. I was happy when I got my pip boy with Fallout 4 and it was a great start, but consider some of the other games. Minecraft, Pokemon, Mario Kart and the list goes on and it is not merely me. Talk to any given fam and he (or she) will come with the line “Do you know what would be cool?” And some of them will be truly cool. And it is not limited to simple devices. Some limited items no longer function, but that is not a given. The chainsaw I had with the gamecube edition of Resident Evil. What if there was a power bank with Bluetooth that could connect and make it work on a remaster or a new console? The device is generic, but could be more. To see this, in one time I had a N7 vault for my Xbox360. Now, this doesn’t hold up nowadays, the Xbox dimensions changed, but what if the vault was empty but connected? The same for the Master Sergeant helmet. What if they have additional options. The fans will go nuts and they will be happy for a very long time. Now I gave a few shallow examples and they are not the ‘real’ deal, but they could lead to the real deal. In a previous article I mentioned two items that when inserted into a ‘real’ wizarding wand could become a controller. The two elements are generic, so they can be moved from ‘toy’ to limited collectors item. Some stuff is playful, but from the playful to the shear appealing items for many gamers is sea of choices. And the merchandise makers have been about the short term appeal and left it there, but the stage could be a lot larger. The connected items could become a lot more. Who has not seen the Diamond Minecraft sword in toy and game stores? So what happens when we connect one element to it and suddenly your diamond sword becomes +2 stronger and lasts 20% longer? The location devices could be used. A larger stage for more use and making the game enticing, the gamer happy and all matters of options in-between. The bow of Aloy was merely the key to open a much larger door, the merchandise door has been largely ignored on many levels and why? Even now, today as I saw some of these items in shops. I see the larger stage ignored, the missed stage of interaction. Now, I will be the first one to admit that this is not always possible, but what about the Mario Kart that is also a night light? Basically a battery, lights and wires were missing, three parts and suddenly people pay $10-$20 more and some eagerly so.  The larger part is not that people pay that amount extra, it comes with the stage that thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of gamers will get it as well because it was cool and the last three games sold well over 120 million items, so how many would want a kart that is a USB charged night light, optionally more? A whole niche with gaming connections spanning EVERY console out there and nothing to connect it at present, or at least massively too little of it. I remember my first figurine. A ninja, it held a sword which doubled as a letter opener (and that thing was bloody sharp) now consider the Assassins Creed figurines, or the Witcher or bloodborne figurines?

The Ninja was 1980 something, now we get the person who wants bloodborne and if that knife is also a letter opener, so much the better. And the nice part is not that it is everywhere. It is the figurine and optionally the collector can buy the knife as well. We need not have it everywhere, but some will want it. The market is flexible and no one is looking into this direction, or perhaps they are rejecting it. So what about the Sonic batarang? I was playing Arkham again last night. Why not have that batarang. As an actual bluetooth device, or even have the bluetooth as an optional expansion, we can look in so many directions and too many aren’t doing that. Now, lets be clear, these are not all great ideas, but they open a train of thought and that thought is ‘What else could we have?’ I had return to Arkham on day one and it came with a batarang, it looked nice, but was a bit of a let down. But it could have been so much more. So why wasn’t it? Some f the game developers have created the coolest games and the coolest items in game and they racked hundreds of millions of fans. So these are already in your corner, why not see what more you can do to make their gaming experience so much cooler? It was not that big a leap and they aren’t making it, why not? What stopped them? And another matter, not all items can contribute in the game, but like the bow with the storage and power bank, its use goes a lot wider than the game and it could contribute for a long time, optionally for years to come. It is the kind of marketing a maker hopes for and almost never gets. I wonder why.

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December 29, 2022 · 20:35

As stated yesterday

It is in part a reap from ‘Recap to the intro’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/09/25/recap-to-the-intro/), showing you the stories that make up a new RPG, the initial setting was given on September 25th 2021, well the recap was. The stories were earlier, but that article gives you a collection of links, 6 in total that gives you the backstory. Then when you seek “Lawlordtobe + RPG” you will get a lot more, including some stages of commerce. It was the stage that Bethesda set by becoming part of Microsoft, that allowed me to add a few other parts. You see, the stage of an RPG is too often set to one main line. Yet what happens when you open that stage? You see streamers allow for that and it allows for evolution whilst people are playing the game. So in this setting we have the island as is, but when we get past the first two games, the games evolves into a new setting, it is taking NewGame plus to an entirely new dimension. In this we have two settings, the old and the new. The old is the stage where Magic is part of life, in the new, the non-magics decided that magic gives some an advantage that is unfair on those that do not have control of magic. It creates levels of distrust. It is not a copy of Skyrim, there are no fighting parties. Levels of distrust can go a long way before there are actual hostilities. But distrust can give way to imbalances in trade, conversations and abilities. Trainers that will not train the other side, until you change the balance of that seesaw. And that is merely the beginning. 

The stage of that story can be aligned in several ways and that allows for more game play, more new games and more sides to a story that is shaped by gameplay. A stage we invite the players to shape and that opens a new form of play in RPG’s. A story with multiple sides and different triggers. It has never been done to this degree in gaming before. And now the streamer (Amazon Luna) could be the first. This is not going to be an easy task, but the right developer will get the chance to create a new kind of RPG, one that none have seen before and one that Microsoft could never have thought of. Thats another chunk of $100,000,000,000 going straight to the sewer of lost revenue. A stage Microsoft could not have considered because they lack imagination and I am making this freeware for Amazon Luna developers, so that they can take the wind out of Microsoft even further. That is the price of business. Those who cannot pull their weight, they get left behind and forgotten.

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December 28, 2022 · 05:10

The wrong stuff

We used to get it, we used to see and then something went wrong. Don’t get me wrong covid changed the equation and at present the grey population is massively abundant. So at present when companies and corporations have a hard time finding people, why are they ghosting? Why do I see job openings that have been open for less than three weeks and well over 250 applications? It seems to me that HR departments and agencies are just unable to do their jobs. The problem is possibly two folded. Companies that do not know how to proceed, with one example showing me that they were looking for an 18 year old with 5 years of experience. Common sense lost much?

One source giving us “Australia’s labour shortage is expected to continue in 2023 with employers not expecting a great shift in available talent in the forthcoming year.” Yet the data I see gives another issue, especially with the ghosting going on. Employers have no handle and no clear vision as to what to do considering ‘talent’. They keep on playing the same game and merely fail more often. So why is that?

In the UK there is another factor. There we see “People opting to retire rather than return to work following the pandemic has led to a tightening of the labour market.” There are loads of people selecting early retirement over work and in some cases it was that the UK pushed for workaholics and now it is costing them. We see the news on how to (bla bla bla) and no one is looking at the number one issue, it is not the workers. There is a massive flaw on what HR departments (and agencies) do and not enough on what they SHOULD be doing and one side is clearly shown. When a company is ghosting with the shortages we see, they have lost the plot.

There is more but the fundamental need to change HR is key to this and they are not catching on. 

And whilst we hear noise like “But we need the best”, the fact that you put that demand with such shortages is nothing close to madness. What HR is setting (optionally by the bosses) of we need the best should have been ‘Whomever is good enough’ for well over 6 months.

Yes, we are in a downward spiral and it is hard to make choices, but that is why these people were given the big bucks. And that is before we get to the false jobs for some agencies ‘just’ to capture resume’s and no one is doing anything about this falsehood, people without jobs should be happy to find a job, but no one considered this day and age. People have had enough with the treatment they are getting and now companies cry. They cry to open immigration, they demand more workers so that they can get them cheap, but that day has passed and the workers are seeking another solution and is where corporations find themselves. Dousing job info with ‘most coveted employer’ or some other basic cry for ‘look, we are the place where you want to be’ and that is before you get to the interview and you are being told a different job than the one you applied for. The stage is that people have had enough for certain jobs, for certain tasks and whilst the company refuses to evolve, they merely set the stage to deceptive conduct. As if that was EVER a good way to get anyone.

So whilst you consider where you want to work consider what those agencies are claiming and those corporations are telling you. A stage that is now becoming increasingly important. That is how I see it, but then, some will claim I am wrong. I will let you decide to see who gets the staff members and who gets to live with shortages all over 2023.

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December 26, 2022 · 03:22

Not the composer

It started yesterday, I saw the news, shrugged a little and moved on. It was not that the news wasn’t worthy. It could be, but I have priorities and as such it wasn’t one of mine. I had other things to look at and I do have limits, I cannot push 3700 seconds into an hour, only delusional people do that. Time is a barrier, one that I accept and I need to find ways within the time allotted. So this morning (02:20) I suddenly realised something that wasn’t clearly seen initially. But my mind caught on, lets see if you realise what I initially missed and a lot of people missed it as well. The article ‘North Korea sold arms to Russia’s Wagner group, US says’ (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64072570), it is there that we see “Fighters from the mercenary group have ballooned from 1,000 to nearly 20,000 in Ukraine, the UK government says. “Wagner is searching around the world for arms suppliers to support its military operations in Ukraine,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.”

  1. In the first we see the growth to 20,000 men, it seems that the Russian army can no longer match the losses that they are facing. Not only are they relying on mercenaries, the stage is growing from there. 
  2. The fact that they are searching ‘around the world’ implies that military hardware is even less dependable, less in numbers and less operational than ever thought before. It shows that the military arm of Russia is failing on too many factors, but somehow 68 oligarchs are filling their pockets all over the place. Lets consider that greed is rampant in Russia and the military side is feeling that impact by being less than operational.
  3. North Korea is shipping hardware. A nation that has one language, Korean. There is either a translation service, or there are instructors involved. These two options are open. I reckon that the instructors are Russian instructors in Korea learning what they can, but that also implies that Russia either depleted its infantry rockets, or that they are even less operational in that count. I would speculate the second, but it is speculation. 

As such we also get “Mr Kirby said Wagner is spending more than $100 million (£82 million) each month in Ukraine.” And “The fact that President (Vladimir) Putin is turning to North Korea for help is a sign of Russia’s desperation and isolation”, the first is simple, the second is a lot less clear and I do not completely agree with it. It is not desperation, it seems it is merely the only avenue left to them at present. I reckon that any depletion there is a silent blessing for China and then there is the spending. If Wagner is spending $100 million a month, they are getting close to $2 billion a year. And the west better figure out where these people are sending the surplus, because that money might get earmarked for other needs soon enough. Russia is not stupid, if they lose to this degree, they will need some kind of victory, any victory and the media is aware of it, they merely haven’t connected the dots yet. And it is important to see all the dots that are connectable. 

In this we can speculate all we want, but we need to find the data and the fact that the Wagner group gets this amount to spend implies there is a lot more, greed is eternal, it always is and even if they aren’t driven by greed there will be an operational impact. Where? Your guess is as good as mine, but realise that a player like Russia will not easily accept defeat, they want to make sure the other player bleeds a lot more and the missile attacks aren’t getting it done. They will lash out in other directions too. Places like Finland, Estonia and Latvia make sense, but there is no way that this can be predicted. There is also the events in Africa and Russia might seek destabilisation there too. Yet in the end we will have to wait and see what will happen. We can give additional weight to ‘German intelligence service employee arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia’, it will not be helpful. Yes, there is every indication that this is right, but that falls into the folder that is labeled ‘Business as usual’ not more than that. Yet the idea that the Wagner group has well over $500 million to spend and it remains (for now) beneath the surface is a problem. The amount of money will enable too many to do too much damage, as such it needs to be investigated.

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December 25, 2022 · 11:41

Ring around the currency

There is a stage, a stage I walked and it does not concur the news. The news given to us (or me at least) through ‘Saudi Crown Prince launches program to enhance digital infrastructure, creative work’ (at https://ara.tv/gkurj) from Al Arabiya. You see, the Saudi Consulate (through, I imagine orders from the royal house) stated that only partnerships can be considered. Yet creative work does not reckon on partnerships. The fact that Google and Amazon were clueless on what they saw, or they rejected this implies the folly, or the reduced impact of such a stance. We are also given “the creation of an intellectual property ecosystem that supports innovation and a creativity-based economy, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.” It cannot work as I see it. You see, partnerships implies that the partner will hold part of the IP, or the IP will become a whole lot more expensive, so when I offered a safe space for (an expected) 900 million Muslims this so called National Intellectual Property Strategy (NIPST), will reportedly play a part in achieving the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 would have needed to wake up (as I personally see it) and they did not, or the people waking it up, showing what is out there should have been alerted and they were not. I reckon that a safe space for 900 million Muslims should have woken the NIPST right up, it did not. On their side we can argue that it did not wake up Google or Amazon either, so it is not entirely on them. The idea that a new power player arrives should have woken the two up, or lose it to that wannabe Microsoft, but none of them woke up. So why is that?

I personally see it as a failure to identify a new innovative solution that ignores established foundations, because those foundations are rotten. As such a intellectual property strategy, a national one would not hope to have a real chance into becoming the power player. It will get a foothold, it will get IP, but only at the setting of the limited sight, which is a strategy and could be a strategy but not a true innovative one. The true innovators laugh at limitations, they laugh at established orders (especially rotten ones) and they create new foundations, stronger foundations. It is my personal believe that the foundation set to almost 1 billion Muslims should be seen as a sturdy start to something none of them have played to for a very long time. Decades to say the least, but that is my personal view. Those who hold the rotten foundations will not agree and will even less approve of my thinking. The longevity of their rotten foundations requires as many people as possible, too little and the rotten structure reveals itself and that is their fear, they invested lots of money in that foundation and when it gets exposed their value goes straight from penthouse to basement. A setting I saw coming close to three ears ago, before the first Covid lockdown, I was already on these pages and when we add the news from the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-63906654) where we are given ‘Cost of living: Recruitment slows for game developers’. Here we see “There are 2,200 games firms in the UK, supporting 73,300 jobs The industry adds £5.26bn in GVA (gross value added) to the UK economy each year” now think for a second. How many AAA games were released in 2022, how many of them were British? 2200 gaming firms? How many rely on funny money (advertisement money) for them to get a few dollars, pounds or Euros? If only 10% of these UK firms relies on ‘real’ games it will be a lot. But that side is not one that the UK focuses on, are they? And it comes to blows when we get to “The value of the UK consumer games market reached a record £7.16bn in 2021” Yet my innovative solution, the one that the NIPST was never shown takes that one out of the equation, a billion (or more) Muslims that are not exposed to these advertisements, so how much is that costing these 2200 developers? Safe space is the next thing and when it comes it all ends for these £7.16bn funny money wielders and it will hit Google and optionally Amazon as well. That is the innovation that the NIPST was never shown, interesting evolution, is it not? And that is not merely on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is a global problem now, greed dictates innovation, an option it was never allowed or expected to do ever before. Why is that? Why is it now? It is because the fakers until they make it never ending up making anything, an economy founded and adhered to fakers with powerpoint presentations, seeking ‘yay’ sayers and not much more.

Well enjoy Christmas Day and realise that it never grew up through Toddler toys and it was never raised through baby food nourishment tables. That we did to ourselves, we created economies founded on funny money and certification enabling wannabe’s and in the digital age that foundation is about to collapse. If I am the first many more will question the values from fakers and wannabe’s soon enough. And after that? Well consider that the UK has 2200 game developers, there is Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Apple and mobile developers. So how many are where? How many are streamers and now consider what that 7 billion revenue is actually hoping for? Not a person enjoying games, because 20 advertisements an hour takes the fun out of gaming, but you figured that out, did you not? Now lets see where the NIPST will end with its current strategy. And consider how many of these developers are actually aiming for safe space?

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December 22, 2022 · 20:03

Blame Canada

Yup, it happens, it is decently rare though. The rumour has it when the EU wants to upgrade Human Law issues, they look at the law books from New Zealand and Canada and copy what they need (allegedly). So when the CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/yvr-vancouver-international-airport-flights-cancelled-dec-20-2022-1.6693067)

gave me ‘‘I may never fly again’: Horror stories from the Vancouver airport’ I definitely took notice. And I have to admit, there is an issue, a different one than reported, but there is one. It made me think back 25 years when I had the quirkiest sense of humour.  I was at Iraklion airport and the plane was delayed. 6 hours delayed. This happens, but Iraklion had no bar, no cafe a broken down coffee machine and a tax free shop. I was not going to spend 6 hours drinking alcohol, so I had to suck it up. There was no food either, so by the time the plane FINALLY arrived, I was as quirky as I had ever been. As I walked to the plane I saw a highly rusted 2” bolt, I picked it up and walked into the plane. I asked for the chief engineer (who came quickly but seemed puzzled). I handed the rusty bolt to him stating it had fallen out of his engine, he might want to hold onto it. The first 10 rows of passengers turned completely white and the demon on my right shoulder slapped my neck with the comment ‘Nicely done!’ The captain off course sought me out 2-3 minutes later telling me that one more joke like that and he would have me evicted from the plane. Ah well, the life of a comedian is never without obstacles.

So back to the article, you see, we get the part of “During those 11 hours, whenever Hudson became restless, she gave her baby some formula to calm him down. She’d brought two days’ worth — by the end, she had just one sachet left”, we get it the emotional baby stories hits a mark with every parent. As well as “When she mentioned this to a customer service agent, she was told she’d have to leave the airport to buy more formula. “I don’t know where I’m going to go and get formula,” Caley said.” In the first, weather is unpredictable and the storms they had lately are one of a kind. But there is a side that has value. Every airport the size of Vancouver needs to have a basic shop, a 7-11 like place with pharmacy where basic stuff like foods, baby foods, medication and firs aid events can be acquired. Perhaps a need for Canada to place a Shoppers Drug Mart in every airport in the checked in side, with a few optional extras like baby food and formula. About 4 hours ago CBC also gives us ‘Vancouver airport restricting international flights for 2 days to clear backlog after snowstorm’, a stage we cal all see and Canadians more clearly then most others and when we see this, there is a larger call for amenities in stores. I wonder how many are on that train with food for thought? The additional stage where these airlines hand out Tim Horton vouchers so that the people can get some coffee, some food and even as these passengers get one voucher, the option to buy more would be well appreciated. So in 327 seconds I saw options where the press (in this case CBC) reports a ‘horror story’. Don’t get me wrong a mother our of her mind because she cannot appease the baby is a real horror (and more dangerous than the Russian infantry at present), but that sets us in solution seeking mode, not in reporting the horror mode, at least not me. 

And when I see “WestJet sent Caley an email saying it wouldn’t be able to rebook until after Christmas and offered no accommodation because the delay was due to weather. They have no idea when they’ll be able to get to Toronto”, but there are trains from Toronto to Vancouver, it could solve the issue for a lot of people and that is a larger stage, now I get that places like WestJet (with a lack of margins) might not have that option, but the setting releases pressure from the airport. Just a thought, was that so hard? I know it is not feasible by bus or car, and they will have options outside in Vancouver, but that also raises the issue, what options did WestJet have? I am not blaming them, we see the news and we know that some storms could never be predicted, yet what was known? What could have been cared for? This is not a unique situation in Canada or Alaska for that matter. These are questions I do not have answers to, but the Canadians do and WestJet should have some answers (perhaps they do), but we do not see them here and that matters. The question at this point becomes was this about the bottom dollar for WestJet? I am not accusing, I am asking and that is also on the CBC, there is no article that shows how Canadian airports dal with a situation like this and for me “We sincerely apologise to all of those impacted” does not hold water. Not when people are stuck for well over a week in one location and this might be a one off, but that too was not reported on, was it? 

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December 21, 2022 · 22:42

The question remains

I got news about 10 hours ago from Al Arabiya. There we are given ‘Saudi Arabia approves draft agreements on atomic energy, economic crime’ (at https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2022/12/21/Saudi-Arabia-approves-draft-agreements-on-atomic-energy-economic-crime)

The article gives us a few items that require the limelight, even as the western papers give it no attention, the event described here is one with a lit of impact.

  • members approved a framework agreement to cooperate with Morocco in “the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy”
  • a draft Memorandum of Understanding with Uzbekistan to help allow the countries to exchange of information “related to money laundering, terrorist financing and related crimes,”
  • a draft agreement with Greece, to foster cooperation in health between the countries, 
  • a draft agreement with Italy to help encourage direct investments between the countries, and a draft agreement with Ghana to develop non-oil exports between the states.

These are the four big ones, there are four more. And when you consider the map, we see that within a year the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be the largest economic partner for the important parts of North Africa, Egypt, Morocco and as ties are stronger connected with Tel Aviv, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now the powerhouse in the Mediterranean. Greece, Italy and soon better ties with Turkey. This was always going to happen, I predicted it, but my view was that this was 3-4 years away. It seems I missed the target by at least 2 years. 2023 will open the doors and I reckon that larger gains will be Made in 2024. Saudi Arabia is now in a setting where it will be able to drive commerce that is not oil based soon enough and stronger than ever before. 

And that is before you see the steps that China is opening up, but it also implies that China is a lot stronger to become the defence dealer of choice, billions and billions of dollars that are about to be lost to the EU and US. I warned them that this was coming and now the steps of making sure it happens will become a reality. It does not make me happy as I miss out on my 3.75% bonus check and on $27,800,000,000 that is a lofty loss. Such is life!

Now there is a second stage in play, the article does not bear it out, but I reckon that the Kingdom Holding Company will get a few other options going their way. I do not know how, but the Kingdom loves partners in this (I learned that at the Saudi Consulate several weeks ago). What is in play is that there are several options for Israeli growth. Not just the NSO group, but NICE with their CXone platform will set a larger stage of cloud centres for the Line and Neom. From there as they make their solution more Arabic, they will get a handle on several fields in several nations. And we all see the stages as they evolve, well that is if you read English Saudi News casts, the west seems to filter it away and when we see too much of this, it becomes a joke what the west is and has been the last decade. Filtering news information was never a good idea and you are about to see why. Saudi Arabia is active in growing business in Egypt, Morocco, Greece, Italy, Indonesia, and China. Consider the loss of revenue for the EU and the US? Is no one asking questions? And this is merely what can be seen for 2023. I reckon that several nations will go into crises mode in the next week, because some of them were moved from consideration column A to column C. Only a blind person ignores is and one with an oversized ego ignores it. When will we learn that we cater to the players who have it and the US doesn’t have it, and the EU has even less at present. There is every indication that by 2025 the Saudi Telecom Company will be the biggest player in North Africa and the Middle East. This will have larger implications when Indonesia is added to that network. It was a simple cascade stage and it is about to become a reality. From there there is every chance that the STC will enter Europe as a new player and one wielding a formidable bat. That is what I see as optional changes. So whilst we see the EU and US with contracting economies, we get to see another one grow and it is about to grow by a lot.

Have fun!

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