Category Archives: Media

June 22, 2024 · 23:25

In the heat of the night (and day)

I got news yesterday, I had to mull things over as this is not something I have know how on. The article was from the BBC and as they lost a lot of credibility, I had to investigate a few things.

The article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxrrzp479r4o) gives us ‘Egyptian pilgrims ‘totally abandoned’ in Hajj heat’, I found it to be a blatant inaccuracy given (to say the least). But let me give you the information that matters.

The article gives us “Effendiya, a widow, went to Mecca on a tourist visa, not on an official Hajj visa. She was among hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims who hoped to fulfil their religious obligation this year without obtaining special Hajj permits”, as well as “Pilgrims usually stay in air-conditioned tents, have buses to drive them between holy sites and are provided with medical care. Sayyed says Effendiya and other unregistered pilgrims “had none of these facilities, they were totally abandoned”. He adds that they tried to protect themselves from the searing heat by using bedsheets to make a tent.” All this comes across as true, I cannot fault that. Where the BBC (and others) fall short is the fact that Saudi Arabia has rules. Mecca has a little over 2 million people. During the Hajj the population there is doubled. This year it had 1.8 million pilgrims. So those are the official numbers. Unregistered pilgrims are not part of this, as such they do not get any of the facilities. I certain path to death, especially as this year the Hajj was done under a searing sun pumping up the temperature to 51.8 degrees (Celsius). So these unregistered pilgrims are not given air-conditioned tents, bus rides or medical care. 

The Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/19/hajj-heat-deaths-missing-pilgrims-search-saudi-arabia) gives us with ‘Search for missing pilgrims continues after hajj heat deaths’ an additional “Arab diplomats on Tuesday told Agence France-Presse at least 550 pilgrims had died this year, the majority due to heat-related illnesses after temperatures reached 51.8C (125F) in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.” I believe that the BBC fell short of exposing of creating a clear message that there is a risk by going to Mecca on a tourist visa during the Hajj. The guardian gives us “Each year, tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often costly official permits. This had become easier since 2019 when Saudi Arabia introduced a general tourism visa, said Umer Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham.” You see there is a reason that the official permit comes at a price. The air-conditioned tents and busses as well as medical posts cost a fair bit and when you have to deal with 1.8 million pilgrims that cost will increase. Consider Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The cost of a stadium with 96,000 people. The cost of that and multiply it by 20, that is the reality. Compare that to the Super-bowl 2024 where only 61,629 attended. The Hajj attracts the biggest audience in the world and this year is was unduly hot. They might not have known this before they attended but that is a large slice of the issue and the BBC did not clearly identify it. They stated this, but not the indirect issues that are in play. I wonder if the 550 pilgrims mentioned are merely the registered ones. Those who had access to air-conditioning, water, busses and medical options. I reckon that there are more elements in play. They might not have directly mattered, but indirectly they could have set an influence. None of that is seen in the articles. 

In other light, the New Arab gives us “According to multiple testimonies, the deaths were caused not only by heat but by poor management of the disaster by Saudi authorities.” The question that comes to mind is due to unregistered or registered pilgrims? It matters as there are lager issues in place. As it happens we might not be able to tell who was registered or not but the unregistered pilgrims are the weight that changes whether a boat floats or sinks. In addition, 51.8 degrees is largely unheard of, even if you are in an air-conditioned tent with a fair supply of water. In addition we see “Saudi authorities have struggled to crack down against the practice, particularly this year when over two million pilgrims were expected, although they reportedly turned back over 250,000 unregistered pilgrims”, in this setting I wonder what investigation the BBC (and the Guardian) did to investigate the Egyptian travel agent that did this, because it is always about the money, which indicates a paper trail. These people had arranged flights, that means a passport. That part took less then 5 minutes for me to figure out. So when we see “Hesham’s wife, walked tens of kilometres under the scorching sun from one holy site to the next, unable to board the official Hajj buses made available to pilgrims” it is the grim reality doing that under the condition of 51.8 degrees Celsius. I doubt I would last half that distance, a 70 year old person won’t last even that long. Were mistakes made? I reckon there were, little to no doubt about that. But in regards to the unregistered pilgrims I do believe that the Saudi Arabian government and Tawfig Al-Rabiah, Minister of Hajj and Umrah are as I see it not to blame. I might alter that point of view when Saudi Arabia has conducted its own investigation, yet I also believe that these travel agents need to be hunted down and prosecuted. In addition their businesses are to be taken away from them and they shouldn’t ever be allowed to be allowed in a tourism position. They pretty much send these people to their deaths. And these people know that they are in trouble, as the BBC reports “Her family say they have been unable to contact the broker who organised her trip”, an unreachable travel broker? He probable fears the consequences (a speculation by me at present).

Enjoy this Saturday, mine is almost over.

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June 17, 2024 · 00:25

The depth of ignorance

This reflects on me in this case. We are often driven to points and I am no different. In this case it is a piece by Iranian media. The article (at https://www.iranintl.com/en/202406151148) gives us ‘Iranian Official Criticizes Saudi Actions During Hajj’. Now we can state that Saudi Arabia is the bad boy, but there is another side. I reckon that Iranian media falsely reported on Saudi actions and giving benefits to Houthi acts. There have been a few issues in the last few years. Did you think that the media would not be acted on? The article gives us “He highlighted the recent expulsion of six individuals, identified by Iranian officials as members of an Iranian government media group, suggesting that these expulsions occurred under questionable circumstances” yet the article does not elaborate of WHAT was done, it also does not give information on these 6 media figures. You see we are given “More than 1.83 million Muslims performed Hajj in 2024, Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Tawfiq bin Fawzan al-Rabiah said in a briefing”, as such 6 individuals represent 0.000003278688525 of the whole. If we slice the data we get 90,000 Iranian people making it a larger number (which was 0.000066666666667). So the media gives interest to less than a mere sixth hundredth part of a per mille. It makes it all massively less than irrelevant. 

Iran is not informing us, merely gives rise to Abdolfattah Navvab and for the most we wonder what the other 89,994 Iranians have been up to. I doubt that we will get the real rundown and Saudi Arabia might not have the numbers. It is managing the feeding and services for nearly 2 million pilgrims. In a country with 34 million people that is some achievement. Mecca has about 1.5 million people, so that city will have more pilgrims that residents there. Take all that in account and we cannot consider any act in Mecca other than close to miraculous. Six people have no bearing on the actions of Saudi Arabia as I personally see it. 

This is where the depth of ignorance becomes apparent. I am not a muslim, I have little to no knowledge on that matter. But I have been looking into the acts against Saudi Arabia by Houthi forces. The attacks on Saudi soil have been clear and in this matter we can assume that misrepresentation by Iranian media might have been a factor. This is speculation, but the article does now give us anything to go on. We are merely gives “arrest of some Iranian pilgrims”, a mere ‘some’ the action of 6 people are not detailed upon. Weird, is it not? 

The other side is that we are given “He reiterated a call for Iranian pilgrims to distance themselves from “the criminal Zionist enemy and its supporters,”” so how exactly does Israel fit here? They aren’t welcome in Mecca (and as far as I know neither are christians). So is this a jab at Saudi Arabia is to be seen as a zionist supporter? They have spoken out against Israel often enough. They even arranged for Palestine families to visit the Hajj on the Saudi dime. So as per usual we are not given the whole story. In that light we need to ask questions and the setting that this is not happening at present, I can only hope that Saudi media will give the world what the Iranian media has been up to.

Yes, there is a depth of ignorance, but Iran did this to themselves. The safe path is to see Iran as the guilty party, no matter how this plays out. And yes, in this my ignorance might show me to be wrong. So boo hoo hoo to those crying foul at what I wrote. 

Enjoy your weekend, My Monday just started half an hour ago.

 

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June 14, 2024 · 12:30

The teeth that bite

It is a phase we see, the teeth are the realisation that issues are catching up with the world. They knew already, but they decided to keep you all in the dark. For this we need to go to ‘Will China Replace the US As Saudi Arabia’s Main Ally?’ (at https://thediplomat.com/2024/06/will-china-replace-the-us-as-saudi-arabias-main-ally/) there we are given the setting that China is ‘optionally’ replacing the United States as the main ally of Saudi Arabia. You might wonder what this is about. You see, I predicted this happening on June 3rd 2023, a little over a year ago (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/06/03/would-you-believe-that/) in ‘Would you believe that?’ I even inferred that earlier, but that was more speculation then the application of Business Intelligence. A year ago, Now lets be clear, I am nowhere near as gifted in analyses as the people in The Diplomat are (or should be) so this is where I got to ‘they decided to keep you all in the dark’, the writing as on the wall and it will become worse. Even as the United Stated is no playing nice to the Middle Eastern nations (Saudi Arabia and the UAE mainly). Their need for cheap oil, their need to keep involved but it is too little too late. Saudi Arabia is catching on and China is there to take up the slack. Brics was an element, but a small one. China was already catering to the needs of Saudi Arabia. 

And that is also my new setting of sales. You see I created the IP that could give Saudi Arabia (or the Kingdom Holding, owned by Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud) And it could give either 5 billion a year in phase one and continuing to 20 billion a year in a later stage. Billions deserted by Google and averted by Amazon and Tencent Technologies as well (Microsoft was not invited). It merely required them to open their eyes. And with this setting there is a clear showing of elements where these players are shown where they lost out. For the most they are all on the AI horse (which does not yet exist) and more importantly, as this IP matures, the moment LLM (Large Language Models) and Deeper Machine learnings grow up and interact, the setting will become even brighter. One pillar of this could cost Facebook a little over 10% in the beginning with around 20%-30% later on. All because the captains of industry were asleep at the wheel. 

And do they connect? Yes, when China wakes up to this revenue and they see that they can go after the treasure trove of Facebook, they will have a vindication of TikTok, more importantly, TikTok could become the main driver in the Middle East, which should partially hurt Google as well (an unintended side effect). Now that the ties between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are strengthening, the game changes even more. When Bangladesh is reeled in the loss for America and Wall Street is nearly complete. Egypt is already on board, so 3 out of 4 are on the side of Saudi Arabia, all that because people are running after hypes and (more often then not) asleep at the wheel. 

Perhaps a little reminder is in order. Chasing hypes is the consequence of marketing, not sales. One is wishful, the other is an achievement. China seems to have it partially worked out, how far they have come is unknown to me, but the setting that the Diplomat needed to give credence to this stage implies that the controlling powers are now scared that the stage is taken away from them. I think it is already being taken away, but we need to see the news on that (if they even report on this). 

The stage is set to the discussion on China replacing the United States and the west, but the one part that they do not report on is the impact that this economically has. You see, this would push well over $135,000,000,000 from the US and EU towards China. It seems like it will be ‘regarded’ as small fry, but the lack of these funds will definitely hurt the EU and the US, should my IP have the larger impact than the stage changes even further. Consider the UK reporting on a loss of 4 billion, the EU on 65 billion and the US 66 billion loss, how much tighter will their belts end up being? In that same setting Beijing will get the extra revenue which will open door to second and third tier revenue. 

We can argue that I am not seeing this correctly and that would be fair. But I have been right for well over a year, the writing was on the walls on this one. And consider one little extra. I came up with the IP. Not Amazon and not Google, so when you realise that they were asleep how much revenue did they miss by chasing a non existing AI horse? And Apple? Not sure where they stand, they have been minding their own niche which is fair enough. Yet when we consider that they too left (for other reasons) billions in revenue. What learning should we take from that? I say learning because when you are focussed on a niche that is part of a market and you mind your store, you are not doing anything wrong. We need to also see this. But Amazon and Google should have picked up on this. They cannot hide that failure. Merely my point of view.

Have a great day.

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June 9, 2024 · 22:58

The unspoken call

There was a call in Reuters last week. I had seen it, however I was dealing with the intelligence I was able to lay my hands on. It seems like a simple exercise but it is not. The article (at https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-experts-urge-all-countries-recognise-palestinian-statehood-2024-06-03/) gives us ‘UN experts urge all countries to recognise Palestinian statehood’, it seems so simple. Yet it is more complex than you think. You see that setting might be acceptable AFTER Hamas has been eradicated and the west knows this. You see Hamas is a one trick pony, it resorts to violence only ad at present it does so through Iranian guidance. If Palestinian statehood is awarded whilst Hamas is still in charge, all bet are off. The west knows this and they don’t like the centrepiece of Arabian stability. There is Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). That one trick pony (Hamas) will come with its new rule. A bigger seat at the Arabian table. When they do not get it Saudi Projects will suffer. The Line, Oxagon, Trojena, Sindalah, Red Sea International Airport, Mukaab, Qiddiya and a few more will subtly be suffering set backs, optional outright sabotage. That would cost Saudi Arabia billions. In addition UAE locations like Dubai and Abu Dhabi will be hit. It will not be some case of speculation, Iran does not like the path Arabia is on. It does not allow any path where they are an inferior setting. And they now have their claws in Hamas and Houthi forces. 

As such Hamas needs to be eradicated. It is simplest if Israel does it. It could do with the win and Saudi hands will remain clean. When Saudi Arabia and the UAE are forced to act the result will be destabilisation for years to come. All what Saudi Arabia had achieved will be for naught. The UAE will likely get a hit on tourism and travel, but there too the impact will be felt. The west likes this. They are trying to rally against China and the Arabian players are part of Brics now, catering options for China. All options are largely lost to the west. So they are now calling to include Palestine into everything. A call that is too rash for words. 

We can think all we can on Palestine, but they let Hamas in and did not do anything about Hamas for 2 decades. Hamas is under their buildings, part of their infrastructure and they have grown the next generation of Palestines to be terrorists too. The west did little to nothing, they figured that Israel would deal with that problem. Now that Israel is, the anti semitic rhetoric is taking global proportions. And the media was quiet for too long on the 120 hostages and they trivialised matters. So now that the gloves come off there will be another setting. If Israel succeeds in eradicating Hamas, statehood for Palestine could follow, yet with a few clauses. Any new Hamas interference will result in economic sanctions. In support of this other economic means will be required. Also Egypt will have to show it hands and allow Palestinians through. You know, I do not think this will happen. Egypt had identified the threat that Hamas and Palestine sets. Why do you think that they put a wall there? No one is questioning that part. It is all about Israel. 

If Israel does not succeed and statehood is awarded to Palestine, Saudi and UAE intelligence will have to beef up operations. Saudi will have a lot more riding on this and whilst there are upsides for Saudi Arabia, the risks are a lot higher. In the mean time Hamas leadership is still comfortable in Qatar and Iran has lines out to them. I wonder what will come to a close first. Israeli patience, of Saudi patience after statehood is awarded. 

In the end part of this is speculation, but the premise is sound and when Iran flexes its financial muscles towards Palestine, Saudi interests in Saudi Arabia will come under pressure, and it will resolved by giving a bigger seat to Hamas, the Iranian tool. A setting that we must avoid, the west especially. The west might no longer be a global strong power, but when chaos hit the Arabian peninsula, only the greed driven parties will see it as a plus point. The rest will suffer the consequences. And in this the media will shrug it off saying they merely reported on it. But the media will be every bit as guilty as anyone else. Even more so as they decided to not inform the public and filter events to what their stakeholders share holders and advertisers required. But the media will not report on that. I wonder why. 

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June 3, 2024 · 14:55

Stupidity, bigotry, you tell me

I was alerted to a situation to days ago in the Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/may/31/robert-de-niro-denied-award-trump). Now we all have thoughts on that person that elevates to ‘Orange is the new black’ person also known as Donald Trump. In this we see ‘Robert De Niro denied leadership award after speaking out against Trump’ there we are given “the group has rescinded the award after the celebrity spoke out against Donald Trump outside the former president’s criminal trial in New York this week”, it is my firm believe that he showed leadership in that place (a lot more than any Trump figurine). The hollow statement of “Mr De Niro’s recent high-profile activities will create a distraction from the philanthropic work that we were hoping to recognize”. In addition we see, stated by Mr. De Niro “We’ve forgotten the lessons of history that showed us other clowns who weren’t taken seriously until they became vicious dictators,” he said. “With Trump, we have a second chance and no one is laughing now. This is the time to stop him by voting him out once and for all” is just another setting where De Niro is showing a form of true leadership. This is not a point of view that all republicans accept but that is the nature of free speech. Some will agree and some will not. That is the nature of the beast. As such the fact that the National Association of Broadcasters punished him shows us more about the rotten nature of the National Association of Broadcasters than the upright views of Robert De Niro. And even as we see “A spokesperson for the group told the Hill on Thursday that the event was “proudly bipartisan”” gives me the view that these people are trying to remain on good terms with both sides of the political isle even as one side now has a registered felon (by 34 counts) on their pedestal. It is my believe that it is time for Republican voices to state how weird the decision is by the National Association of Broadcasters. Consider the setting where broadcasters are opposing freedom of speech. Even as they said that they support free speech, but it comes with punishment if you do. It does give me the idea that President Biden should present Robert De Niro with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the earliest opportunity. 

A recognition that he deserves and one that will show the National Association of Broadcasters how irrelevant they are becoming. And I am stating this whilst my heart is Republican at heart. It might be nice if Arnold Schwarzenegger would second that event, attendance by Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney and Nikki Haley might be nice too. The governator was after all the Republican Governor of California. 

There is a lot more to say, but it seems hollow. The fact that the press didn’t speak out against this (as far as I could tell) is another side to this equation, but I will look into this later on. You see the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a following of 8300 radio and television stations. So where are they all? In silent agreement? This is how media gatekeeping progresses. 

It shows that gatekeeping on issues have already started. Perhaps the Presidential Medal of Freedom will stop this to some extent. Yes, this is my feeling and I could be wrong. 

What do you think?

Enjoy Monday.

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May 18, 2024 · 21:43

Thoughts

As I am turning towards Engonos and some of the embellishments that I should incorporate I also am reminded of something I wrote in March 2017 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2017/03/17/the-finality-of-french-freedom/), yes that long ago I made predictions, all based on common sense. And now we see in the first Deutsche Welle (at https://www.dw.com/en/germany-faces-challenge-as-2025-tax-forecast-sinks/a-69102992) where we are given ‘Germany faces challenge as 2025 tax forecast sinks’, this sounds like a trivial matter, but if the first economy will have issues with paying for its infrastructure, the entire mess becomes a problem. So we are all given “Finance Minister Christian Lindner said it was clear that the public sector would have to tighten its belt.” And it is followed and pretty much epilogued with “What I repeat almost like a mantra in view of the exorbitant political wishes is now available in black and white: There is no new financial room for manouver in the foreseeable future.” 

There are a few sides to that. I the first Russia loses an enemy, a lame duck that is part of the EU. Germans has no moves left. The second one is ‘France faces four major economic challenges in 2024’ (the FT article was behind a paywall) and this one is found (at https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/01/23/france-faces-four-major-economic-challenges-in-2024) is is a little older but as the economic belt of France is tightened dark clouds are forming. They have one advantage, the 2024 Olympics will bring money. How much? Is anyones guess. France has problems with manufacturing, The Chinese markets are not dishing out dough for French items like wine. And behind this is “The extraordinary debt levels across the major economies in the world pose a risk to France, too, as it faces the threat of an austerity budget which directly impacts the financial health of households and consumers.” We get the ‘quote’ “The French manufacturing sector remained low throughout the year, sinking deeper at the end of 2023. If output remains at the same level, there is the possibility of a “technical recession” within the sector”, when the media starts adding ‘technical’ to the story, you know that there is a problem. To put it mildly blunt, there is for example not a technical pregnancy. My penis entered her vagina and I came. She turned out to be pregnant or not. Nothing technical about it. You can dwindle numbers around all you like, but in the end there is a recession or there is not. These two stories matter, especially when you consider the first one I wrote in 2017. There I set the EU like a pontoon, kept in place by 4 anchors, they stop the the pontoon being thrown around in the economic sea of uncertainty. 27 people on that pontoon, 4 of them were manning the anchors. These was the UK, France, Germany and Spain. Now, the UK left and both France and Germany are in a difficult position. So it come down to Spain who is not doing too well either. I saw this in 2017, but the media kept on playing its game on populism, so who looked out for the overall health of the EU economy? 

As you can see (based on Q2 2023 data) That the EU debt is partially driven by France and Spain, the UK is no longer part of the equation. The EU is in a dire position. And whilst we get jolly news all over the fields the direct problem is will the US sell the EU down the river, or will the EU chisel its marks in new ventures? Overlapping the fields where the US was sole choice. That too I set out in the past. The simple consideration is that if the world is a cake and the cake is almost none growing, the population growth and the debt growth implies that there is less to be had and you know the issue with shortages? People go hungry, the population loses it humanity because it is the era of ‘me’. So whilst we consider that different choices needs to be made, the old setting under Wall Street and the US will soon become a field of Commonwealth, Brics, China, and the Middle East. In all honesty with all the messes the US is creating none of them have a use for them. It sounds harsh but that is the reality. In a land where we have 10 people and 7 meals the hungry will not care who is humane or who is woke. 7 will eat and three will not. It is not a nice setting, but the realistic one. There were options for energy and housing all by Elon Musk. Are they true, are they false? I cannot tell. It seems to be limited to Youtube and TikTok. The media as far as I can tell have not touched it. So where is the media? Are they now governmental tools? Consider the fact that nations have an issue with homelessness. So would this Musk solution help? Would this take pressure of the stress? France, the Netherlands, Australia, they all have issues but no one seems to tackle them. This matters because when the economic drivers come calling on the EU the other settings becomes huge. And the media is doing way too little about it. Why is that? 

Just a few thoughts that came to mind on this Saturday.

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May 17, 2024 · 00:54

Balances? Check please!

Two articles passed me by in the last 24 hour. The first gave me pause to think, the second was merely icing on the cake. The first article (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-69018575) is the report where the BBC tells us that 2 brothers required no more than 12 seconds to steal 25 million dollars. This happened in April 2023. Now it is time for a history lesson. In the 13th century Amatino Manucci, working for Giovanni Farolfi & Company tarted this approach in 1299 (possibly earlier). This method was still taught when I was in school 680 years later. But the IT people al rushing to get things done faster did away with parts of that. Although this last part is speculation, it makes sense that someone got lazy. Systems have seemingly done away with checks and balances. Interesting enough the BBC also gives us ““The defendants’ scheme calls the very integrity of the blockchain into question,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to the public ledger that records crypto payments.” I am not sure if I can agree with that. Blockchain gives a timeline, change that and the timeline gets disrupted. What matters is that crypto needs a clear set of checks and balances in place to avoid ‘batch hackers’. As I see it there is an issue with the ‘pending private transactions’ why was it pending? The reason could be very valid, but then the checks and balances for pending transactions needs an overhaul. I am certain that this is not the only case. Yes, it might be the first case, but there is a larger station. You see the department of Defense (US) will have this coming year $850,000,000,000 and how much of that is set in pending transactions? Spread over Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines and Coast Guard. I reckon the US treasury department will hauling ass to get a handle on this. 

I am not arrogant enough to live by ‘this could have been prevented’ but systems evolved so quickly and with so much ‘need for greed’ that I have serious doubts whether someone set down to consider and evaluate the checks and balances on such systems. Even a odd ball geek looking at this and trying to see it inverted because that is the point where glitches are found. 

The second one was also from the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68843985). In this article Jane Wakefield gives us the goods. It is given with “There has been a common theme to these stories, and it is all about how each celebrity made vast sums of money from an online investment opportunity in crypto currencies. And if this all sounds a bit unbelievable, that’s because it is – I hadn’t done a single one of these interviews, nor written any of the articles. And none of the famous people involved, or me, would dream of endorsing crypto investments of any kind.” Is is another setting where the system is not ready for the criminal element. In my mind it lacks checks and balances. Although here it is not as simple. You see there are a dozen roads to the honey jar and sealing them all will just be a waste of time. There is a setting of cloaking and Meta does what it can, but these criminals are as good as the Meta developers, often faster too. 

For now I am still of the mind to never engage with any advertisement on Meta, it is not to be trusted. No social media is and that is a hard lesson to learn, but learn it or lose your cash. This is of course no good news to the real traders there, the real novel experiencers of hobby equipment, but it has come to this. It is time for meta to get a check mark too, one for sellers, so that the people are going to the right place. I am not sure how to go about that, it is not my field of expertise. 

It is Friday here now. Joy, joy.

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March 1, 2024 · 23:53

The dream connecting

This started yesterday, I was contemplating yesterdays article. I thought there was no connection, now I am not certain. I have been through a lot, my sternum was cut in half, my heart got a new valve and that was the start of a few issues. One if them is NSW housing stating that turning down an apartment on reasons of heart failure is not enough a reason, even the setting that I am in ICU did not sway them. So as such I have 2 weeks to get the papers in order. My life sucks!

So the dream was weird. It was like in some tropical French place. He was handing out food to all who wanted it. He was in relaxed clothing handing out palm leaves with fish and a side order of rice to all who wanted it. I also joined the queue and I took a leave from him. He said ‘hello’ and ‘welcome. Drinks are on the tables’ I said thank you mr Bowie and I started to turn whilst he continued ‘Mr Bowie is my dad, I am David’ Sorry David, I said and took a step towards the patio with benches and coolers with ice-water and drinks. I took something that looked like lemon based and I was surprised, it was lemon based with rum, sweet and delicious. It went nicely with the fish. The fish was lovely as was the rice. 

Whilst eating I was watching the people. They seem overly happy to be in this place. Some of the women were flirty and talking with him, but they kept their distance. His wife was still alive as such she would not be here. So why was I there?

It bothered me, I was still alive. So why was I allowed a look?

Then it came to me you see the EA list is set by the shakers and makers. Those who made the ranks at EA didn’t want that list to change, but the next iteration of gamers think differently, they see different sides and Streaming games will give them that and Apple and Android with their games advertisings will suddenly see a new rankings evolve. That is where Luna and its Tencent opposite can set new strides. It will be at some coin, but there is a chance that it will ruin the day that Apple and Google saw no further then there bankroll. I was stating that this will set a change of 50 million gamers, it could be more a whole lotta more and that is what is at stake. 50 or 100 million gamers who have had enough of advertisement. My line cancels out on 225 million gamers in stage two. If that proves to be correct it would create a streamer player list at the top, followed by Sony and then Nintendo. The question who could it be? A player who set the mark will win 

(as long as it isn’t Microsoft) the nice side is that streaming is new, really new and it will not hinder Nintendo or Sony, they have their own niches. This will be a new niche. A new order of gaming, where the happy moments are counted, not the achievements. And face it, can some of the older games even consider achievements?

So this side and the previous article give a more structural soundness. I just didn’t see it that way yesterday. But now I know more, there is always more. 

Enjoy the end of this week

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March 1, 2024 · 10:17

Just to mention a few issues.

To see this part I need to take you on a trip. First all the way back to September 2020 when I initially wrote ‘Software as a salad’ then to June 2021 when I wrote ‘Clouds for a chance for gaming’ now consider that I know gaming, I have been involved with gaming since 1985. So a few hours ago this image passes me by

So I went on this quest for over three years getting people to get ready to use what was to be added to what is. The situation is pretty simple. Between 1985 and 1999 the industry released over 10,000 games for Atari 600, Atari 800, Atari ST, CBM64, and CBM Amiga. The idea was to take the top 10% which is a little over 1000 games and make them ready for streaming. Now this does not happen over night. Games will need revamping, access to new graphics and music. 

A setting that would give the Amazon Luna and/or Tencent holding a massive advantage. Consider that I gave this to the world, all whilst EA gives us a commercial buy three pay for two. A simple concoction where we see exploitation without return to gamers. How is that for progress? How is that a situation for forward mobility? This is just 5 games, so what about the other 995? And this is how you lose a console battle, by not engaging with the audience. By hiding behind what is known, what is secure. A setting that EA knows to well, and they are not alone. So consider ‘Murder on the zinderneuf’, so what happens when it is revamped, rebranded as ‘Zeppelin final flight’? Alike but not completely. When that happens the IP is open to be reused that is the part EA and others forgot about when it is alike but not a copy and there are hundreds of games that can be exploited that way. Software people they never learn. Why is that?

I wonder what it takes for them to consider the lesson that I have placed in front of them for over three years now.

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February 21, 2024 · 23:44

Exit towards destabilisation

That is the setting that we see coming a mile away, or at least I am and that is how I see it. Today I am given ‘China condemns US veto of call for immediate ceasefire at UN’ (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68355436) and I have a problem with this. You see, the problem with the article is that we see “China has sharply criticised the US for vetoing a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.” Yet, the issue is more complex. There can not now, or will there ever be peace as long as Hamas exists. Hamas will never stop. Its commanders are safely in Qatar, a nation that has given Hamas almost $2,000,000,000 in financial support. Then there is Iran and they both are vying for destabilisation in the Arabian peninsula. It is a very personal view, but I believe that is the game that is being played with Hamas as puppets, right next to the Houthi forces. The problem is that we are given disinformation from nearly every side and that is hampering insight and optional progress. 

As I see it the two powers in the Middle East are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. This is not what either Qatar or Iran like. They want a much bigger seat at the table and as such there is an essential need to rely on Hamas and Houthi forces and in this Iran seems the only actor, but I am not convinced. There is no clear intelligence what Qatar is doing beside sheltering the top of Hamas, which is as far as I can tell not a crime, not even in the Arabian peninsula nations. As I stated a personal view is that it is much better that Israel deals with Hamas. You see when BRICS evolves and the table setting is clear Iran will not be happy. They want more and they will push Hamas (and others) to get a larger seat at the table of plenty and Hamas being the one trick pony they are will strike out at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia first striking their projects. Lets be clear, I have no intelligence available that this will happen, but knowing what I do know. A one trick pony will resort to what it knows and for Hamas this is violence, and violence alone. At that point the KSA will either strike back in full or they will have to concede. Do you think that the KSA will concede against a terrorist organisation? It would be all the information that the Houthis would require to attack again and again, and Iran would show its clean hands stating “We had no hand in this” all whilst supplying weapons to both. 

This is the stage of destabilisation that China needs and that is at this point the wrong stance to have. As such my message to China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun who gives us “Only by extinguishing the flames of war in Gaza can we prevent the fires of hell from engulfing the entire region” is “take Hamas out of the region and talks can begin”. You see the stage of Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run health ministry is the larger problem. Anything Hamas run is tainted and that needs to stop. We can cry all we want for the Palestinians, yet Hamas is part of the problem and it started on October 7th 2023. Too many are ducking that part and have been since day one of the IDF assaults. That is before we consider the larger stage that we are given that the UNRWA is accused of directly supporting Hamas. The Washington Post gave us an image of a Hamas data centre UNDER the UNRWA building. The problem is that all sides are engaged with disinformation. I cannot deny that there are voices that Israel is doing the same that Palestine are doing in that regard. Israel has had well over a week to publish all evidence via all newspapers, they did not do that, that must be considered as well. 

My largest fear is that Hamas is pushed to attack any of the KSA projects and that will start new stages of destabilisation, not to say what they will do given a chance to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I believe that the risk is too high for any Arabian peninsula nation. In all this Hamas must go, preferably today and permanently. 

I truly believe that this is the only way that there is a future for the Palestinians and to remain with a stable middle east. The problem is that I am stating this based on information available to me and there could be issues with that. Yet there is no denying that Hamas is a problem for everyone and the sooner all others realise this, the better we all will be.

Enjoy the week. I might be away for a few days.

 

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