May 25, 2023 · 11:49

The balancing scales

This story comes from two different directions, not too different, but there is no real link between the two (it will make sense, I promise). I (and millions with me) saw the Sony Showcase 2023. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. I do not think that this is on Sony, it is on me and to illustrate that, I will have to make a few sidesteps. In the first, you all know how I loathe Microsoft, they did this themselves (and their customer care with them) but we need to acknowledge and accept that Sony is now better because of Microsoft not in spite off. Sony grew to new heights as they were at each others throats. As they were battling for supremacy the gamers in both camps got a much better console and we all rejoiced. The issue (as I personally see it) is that the same needs to happen to games, driving games and gaming to new heights.  This is one and for me the most important reason to hope that Starfield, a Microsoft exclusive will become a 90%+ game. It will up the ante for Sony (and optionally Amazon Luna too). The show started with Fairgame$ a multi gamer experience which (even if it was not) smelled a lot like Ubisoft, all smooth, all overwhelming, but the real deal? We will have to wait and see. Helldivers 2 was very Starship Troopers, Phantom Blade 0 looked like an upgraded Sekiro and Towers of Aghasba had a Zelda feel to it. The games were nice, they were very turbo. They had their good moments too, or at least moments I lived for and I am not stating that all games need to be set to me, but when you saw that Telescope looking like the telescope from Alien (more futuristic), what did you think? Then we get some foam game that was clearly based upon Nintendo Splatoon, a turbo edition. This happens and I am happy for the PS5 people who get to have a go at this game, but all this is iteration and gaming, real good gaming gets offered innovation, we need that to evolve gaming and that is one of the reasons why I hope that Starfield is the game every gamers waits for. I had my moments, I loved Spiderman 2, I saw the new parts and they looked good, they really do, but is it innovation? I feel uncertain, there were more games. I can’t wait to get my hands on Alan Wake 2, it seems to be a winner, but seems is the operative word, it is gameplay we need and we saw little of that (apart from Spiderman 2). Yet the story behind this is that we need actual innovation in gaming on every console and this time around Microsoft seemingly gets to have first dibs on that, but we will know for sure in September. 

This links to the second part of it. I am replaying AC Origins and now I got to the curse of the pharaoh which is graphically a new height. Yet here my mind wandered, I had played it before and I cherished it. I took a sidestep to Valerian and Laureline (in Dutch: Ravian), I grew up with that comic as well with the Trigan Empire and things started to blend, started to mingle. So what if this game is not an assassins game and you cannot climb, hide or anything. Almost like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, but now with a much larger stealth part, no killing. The idea floated in my mind when I saw the Star Trek Voyager episode Displaced in season 3. So what happens when we get to the two worlds Aaru and Aten. So when we get there we know nothing, we get to live lives, we get to walk around and we get to missions, but not in the usual ways. We need to be part of, or hear conversations to open this story and both worlds will have a dozen story lines. No Sekmet scorpions or Cobra’s. You think it is boring, but this is not a game for everyone, it is one where the story is everything and Ubisoft has shown that it can create good stories.  

This interacts when we doe in one world, we wake up in the other and vice vera, so you need to die at times (it is a hassle, but so is life). As such we get to learn that this is a prison and we need to learn why we are prisoners (a little The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley where we get to see versions of stagnation and conformity) and for this the ancient civilisations were great. Life was simple and the mind is much easier observed and classified when it does the simple things. Yet how to set this in gaming? Ubisoft had its device, but what happens when the world is the device? What happens when the wold is not part of the mind, but the mind has to adhere to that world? No matter how complex we are, the mind controls is and as such we are shown new iterations and that could lead to innovations. But in this the story is everything.

We can speculate and ejaculate all over innovation, yet unless we are holding it in our hands (sorry, no pun intended) we have no idea what innovation looks like, the mind will not fill in the blanks, our wills do and that is why Google and Amazon missed out (at least twice already) So how do we get about to find the next innovator in gaming? Well we can dump all the BI people stating they have no clue and rely on the artsy people to dream the new game. Perhaps one with tech savvy skills, because art only gets us so far, tech does the rest, not Business Intelligence. 

This is my view and there will be people telling me I am wrong here. I will let you decide. For now, I want the new iteration of System Shock. Mainly because how the initial game made me feel, just like Mass Effect 1 ten years later. I miss that feeling to some degree, which I personally believe is the reason that some remaster are great reminders.

Enjoy the day.

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May 24, 2023 · 21:37

Fair is the way

To start this off, I am a Sony guy. I have loved my PlayStation one through five and that is it. I am done with Xbox, Microsoft blew its own death march and that is that for me. Still, I do believe in fairness, Microsoft will have its own glorious days, it has had them in the past and it will have them in the future. As such its exclusive massive failure called Redfall does not help it much. Yet this is also another matter, as such when I saw ‘I regret to inform you that the Starfield review discourse has already begun’ I was somewhat offended. You see, no matter what it is a title and it does not matter who brought it, or that it is an Xbox exclusive. It should be judged fairly. 

So as I read “Speaking on the XboxEra podcast over the weekend, leaker Nick Baker suggested that “it doesn’t matter if Starfield is great – I’m already convinced that no-one wants to give Starfield high review scores.” Baker’s thesis is that ‘low’ scores ranging from 7-8.5 out of 10 would be handed down to spin up a news cycle about Xbox’s continued difficulties over recent years.” I got angry. I do not believe that real reviewers (I was one from 1986 through to 1999) would do that. There are two kinds of reviewers. The real reviewers like Eurogamer, and a few like them and there are sycophants internet wannabe influencers who think that dissing one side will bring the other side to them. The real reviewers like Eurogamer and IGN will give you the real deal, others will not. As for the other part I read “But Baker isn’t the only one already focusing on Starfield and its eventual review scores. A recent Forbes article suggests that the Metacritic scores attached to the rest of Bethesda’s catalogue (skirting awkwardly around Fallout 76’s 55%) are more than enough evidence that Starfield is on track for a similar appraisal.” I had to pause, did this  Nick Baker have a case? I for one do not know. I saw the trailer and it blew me away. I was happy for Xbox gamers as they seemingly had a winner for their system. And lets face it Xbox needs a win, especially if it is an exclusive. I haven’t seen anything since, but mostly I wasn’t looking. Why stare at a game you will never play? And the other side is that the game is not finished. It isn’t due until September, September 6th is slightly more precise. So there is well over 3 months to go, and if that date is correct the gold master will be announced in about 8 weeks. As such, how can any clear review be out there? No one gets to see a real version before the gold master as such there should not now, not be any review with a meta score. The trailer is not a reason for any review, but if there was, the trailer I saw makes this a 90% game. I had not felt these gaming butterflies since the Mass Effect 1 trailer and that was in 2006, they had another trailer for the sequel which was in March 2009 and it blew our socks off, moreover Mass Effect 2 is still up to this date one of the best tactical shooters in history, it was THAT good. 

As such I am willing to wait until the real Starfield rears its exclusive head and I will be seeing an actual gameplay on YouTube knowing I will never buy it as I will never get an Xbox, still there are over 18 million Xbox gamers around the world, and why should they not have an amazing gaming journey? I know it is merely half of the PS5 population, but that is a marketing problem for Bethesda, they need not market where they are not. What they need worry about is getting a fair shake and they are entitled to a fair shake, no matter what orchestra they blow from. I believe that above all other things.

Have a great day.

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May 23, 2023 · 21:45

The two coloured fence

It is always nice to see fences in books, images and within the mind. They usually have one colour and more often then not it is a white fence. This is what our mind perceives, yet what happens when the fence has two colours, each side it’s own colour and the neighbour has the other colour. Both unaware as they both see one colour. This was my mindset when I saw ‘Assad in Saudi Arabia reflects the Middle East’s new normal’ (at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/22/assad-saudi-arabia-reflects-middle-easts-new-normal/) the issue here is that it is a decent version to hold, and it isn’t set to both neighbours, it is optionally seeing one side, not wrong, not at fault, it merely is. The thought sparked through when I saw “Assad, who experienced a rehabilitation arguably years in the making, but which was no less jarring for his critics and opponents. A decade ago, officials in the Gulf monarchies were conspiring on ways to oust Assad. They poured resources and arms into the civil war raging in Syria, backing a motley grouping of anti-Assad rebels. As Assad turned his guns on his own people, bombing Syrian cities and unleashing chemical weapons on civilians, they placed the regime in a deep freeze, casting it out of the Arab League” this happened, there is no denying it, so when we are given “British Syrian activist Razan Saffour told my colleagues, reflecting on the Syrian regime’s return to the Arab League. “Instead of holding Assad accountable for his heinous crimes … he is welcomed and even rewarded, as if the past 12 years of suffering and bloodshed never occurred,”” There is no denying this, but we all changed the circus of events. For the largest extent the west scuffled its feet, it jigged in place to avoid any actions in Yemen and Syria, even the chemical attack in Ghouta had no activity from anyone in the west. The Middle East is still reeling all over the place and Saudi Arabia with its own Ally USA who deserted them when they needed them the most had to change tactics. It cannot have a war on both fronts and the war in Ukraine opened up a new dialogue, uniting the Arab League nations, with Saudi Arabia strongly at the helm. With Syria it stands to get the side of Oman, Jordan and I believe Palestine, Egypt is already on the Saudi side and they pretty much deliver the dialogues with Algeria and Libya, Yemen is an unknown at present and the UAE should be a strong ally if Saudi Arabia brings a strong united front, but that is how I optionally (wrongly) see it. The more nations Saudi Arabia unites, the easier the other come along to the Saudi side. This now gives the west a much larger problem, because the trump cards Saudi Arabia holds is China and that is a massive part of the Middle East where China now gets a larger influence. There is then the larger benefit, it takes Russia out of the equation for all of them and that is what the league requires. Russia meddling is for them a problem and the Sudan has enough problems. The Middle East doesn’t need to be the clambake buffet that Russia serves. Saudi Arabia has larger plans and 2030 is merely kicking it off, it is not the destination for Saudi Arabia, it is only 6 years away and all this is coming to some kind of pinnacle (not sure what shape it ill take) but whenever it kicks off, the puzzle pieces will start to shape the image we will get. Egypt and it 5G alliance, the economic beachheads in Palestine and Syria pushing towards Jordan with the water investments, Saudi Arabia is shoring up all the borders of the Arab Leagues. You will see them as separate issues, but I am not certain. It is like watching a symphony unfold whilst the west watches the string section listening to its music, yet when you try to align the brass, woodwork and percussion, it doesn’t work yet. Why? I believe that they aren’t called to attention yet, when they do the entirety of the music will alter and to a decent degree, at that point the sections are all aligning to something more, something we haven’t heard anywhere before. The west was always about the diva’s, and they called their own form of attention drowning out the music. Here we see a different score, all about a symphony we weren’t ready for and that will alter the sound, because the stage is not merely assisted, it is a much larger front and the US blew its options. I reckon that Saudi Arabia is testing whether China could hold that place and that is the sum of the symphony we will get to see and I reckon that this starts in 2029 with the opening acts in 2030. 

Consider that I could be completely wrong, and my paraphrasing sounds nice, but it holds no water. Yet consider that Saudi Arabia has several trillions all over the league invested, we merely thought they had no connections, but I am not certain of that. You see, I always believed that Saudi Arabia will do what is best for ITS own nation and ITS own citizens, when that is accepted as true, then the investments change shape and we see that Iran and Yemen are merely disruptive sides, sides it cannot use and there Syria plays a second role. If Yemen and Iran are cast out when Russia does become desperate (it close to being that now) those nations feel the dangers of total chaos, Wagner made sure of that part of the brief. In this the war in the Ukraine opened doors for Saudi Arabia, it didn’t close them. This is how I see it, this is how I interpret the data, but then again I could be wrong, at present with all the IP and other settings I might say ‘There is a first time for anything’ I have ben right so far, even with my IP sides made public, in at least two cases the world is moving there and I can now sit and watch the unfolding of a few items. We all have to sit, watch and adjust our course. Every business does that, even when they leave billions on the floor. It is common sense to make sure that the mission and course are on track. A lesson I learned in the 90’s. I considered what was and I saw that it was short sighted, but I did not take into consideration the personal course of some, were merely on self focus, not on the company. As such I need to consider that as part of the course, not what is best for the company but what is best for the shareholders and the executives. I reckon the course of Governor Ron DeSantis is a perfect example. Whatever HE needs at the expense of nearly everyone in Florida. So whatever colour the fence has is whatever they think it needs to be, but there is the other side of the fence and when you see both colours you have a much better chance of seeing the whole playing field. It was never on the Washington Post, I merely noticed other elements and I personally believe that they were part of a bigger picture and it fits the timeline of 2030, but again, I could be wrong. 

Enjoy the day.

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May 22, 2023 · 22:23

From bad to worse

This happens, things are not great and at that point someone states ‘watch this’ and opens the floodgates of disaster. This happened in part when Governor DeSantis decided to ‘douse the mouse’ an intensely stupid action if ever there was one. And now the CBC gives us (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/florida-travel-warnings-naacp-lgbtq-1.6850920) the simple headline ‘NAACP among civil rights groups warning tourists about Florida in wake of ‘hostile’ laws’. For those not aware, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) has set out a travel warning (at https://naacp.org/articles/naacp-issues-travel-advisory-florida) there we see “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of colour and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalises the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of colour.” As such the one state that relies on its annual tourism revenue (2021) gives us “Florida visitors contributed $101.9 billion to Florida’s economy and supported over 1.7 million Florida jobs” that comes with “According to the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, for every $1 the state invests in VISIT FLORIDA, $3.27 in state tax revenue is generated”, if only 10% is lost, how much damage will Florida endure as this governor is vying for the seat of presidency and does this on a national level? In addition to what I wrote over the last week, we will see national revenues dwindle down with DeSantis in control of whatever get gets control of. It is even less interesting for the Republican Party as they are enduring two losers in their ranks in power in a decade and it could be a lot worse. And they are in turn empowering China and enabling Saudi Arabia in their own ways. Because in that setting there could be a massive push to grow a sort of Disney world in the United Arab Emirates, but founded much more on the Arabian nights and all kinds of Middle Eastern fairy tales. A setting that is not make believe. The existence of the Boulevard Riyadh City is evidence enough that a theme park a blended theme park could push tourism and revenue in the UAE to a decent amount and no matter how hetero sexual that cluster is, the actions by DeSantis is making them uneasy. The hostilities and the ‘Karen’s of America’ are making the people unwilling to visit the US, unwilling to chance disruptive activities and they are seeking it somewhere else and yes Disney-world Paris would be their first choice, but that place will fill up fast and too many people is a negative impact as well. No matter how we see it, to book for tickets for a place that is too often at 110% is no easy choice. The UAE already has the Dubai mall and from there growth becomes easier (not to mention the Ferrari park in Abu Dhabi) and as such the UAE will have a few options all over the land. And when they consider that this could open a market for millions on Indonesians as well (and depriving the US of even more) they have choices to consider. 

So whatever DeSantis thought he was doing, he will have crushed the Florida economy being the first Floridan governor to do so and this economy after all the covid lockdowns was not that strong to begin with. Basically he becomes the straw that broke the Florida’s Panthers back.

So as one state goes from bad to worse, how many other states will suffer that level of income loss? 

Enjoy the first day towards the next weekend.

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May 21, 2023 · 23:53

The perception of others

This is a case, this is often a case and in this case. I am one of the others. You see the ‘news’ is no longer that, it is often filtered information. Information that is accepted by shareholders, stake holders and advertisers, as such the people are seen and treated more often than not as a distant fourth. This setting came to the forefront when I saw ‘G7 takes stand against China’s “economic coercion”’ (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-65662720) where we are given “And in not one but two statements, the leaders of the world’s richest democracies made clear to Beijing their stance on divisive issues such as the Indo-Pacific and Taiwan. But the most important part of their message centred on what they called “economic coercion””  Now here we need to pause. These people do not lie (at least I hope they do not), but lets take a look at the evidence. The first is the ‘world’s richest democracies’, these nations are

1. Canada, debt around $ 2,100,000,000,000
2. France, debt around € 3,000,000,000,000
3. Germany, debt around € 2,600,000,000,000
4. Italy, debt around $ 3,000,000,000,000
5. Japan, debt around $ 9,300,000,000,000
6. UK, debt around £ 2,500,000,000,000
7. USA, debt around $ 32,500,000,000,000

Yes, they are really rich (in debt). To give a little consideration “As of April 2023 it costs $460 billion to maintain the debt, which is 13% of the total federal spending” for the US, their interest is $460,000,000,000 to pay for the interest and 13% of the entire budget is to pay for the interest. So all this talk about debt ceilings is close to null and void. Not unlike a Ponzi scheme the US government is taking out new loans to pay for the INTEREST of old loans. When did that ever go good? But that is not what this is about. The next stage is about ‘economic coercion’ something America and others have done for decades. Economic coercion is a political tool that the US pushed all over the middle east, and now that Saudi Arabia and other are pulling their contract with the US and giving options to China it is coercion? I mentioned it a few days ago (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/05/19/the-stupidity-of-some/) in ‘The stupidity of some’, I made mention of some elements then and several other articles before that. One should not bite the hands that feeds you and I reckon that is why other players were invited to this party as well (no matter what they say). The US is broke and needs others to do some of the heavy lifting. This is OK, or at least that is why allies stick together, but the bulk is deeply in debt with Canada and Australia in a much better position. Germany had industrial revenues so it is not that bad off either. But this is not bout that, it becomes clear when we see “Now, they worry they are being held hostage. In recent years, Beijing has been unafraid to slap trade sanctions on countries that have displeased them. This includes South Korea, when Seoul installed a US missile defence system, and Australia during a recent period of chilly relations.” They worry? So are they being held hostage, or are they not. Lets be clear all these players have engaged with some form of economic coercion in the past, it is a valid political tool, but now that the shoe is on the other foot, the US is worried. It is losing its grip on the Middle East and as Saudi Arabia is uniting its nations and leagues with the added Syria, Egypt and now optionally Iran as well, the stage changes for the west in the Middle East. China has been invited there now and that worries all players of team G7. You see with them losing 5%-10% revenue to China due to all kinds of reasons they are now scared that someone (the big banks like the Rothschilds) will cancel THEIR credit card and that has them scared silly. I would be to, I really would. This is just a few reasons why I tried to sell my IP to Saudi Arabia and Kingdom Holdings (optionally the UAE too). Amazon and Google were asleep and not caring (perhaps they didn’t like my IP) and Microsoft is not invited to that party and optionally Tencent Technologies is.

You see, the stage, several stages are turning to China as an option. Does China have any less debt? I cannot tell, but they are drilling into new business like nothing we see and that has the G7 scared. 

So when we get to “They called for “de-risking”- a policy that Ms von der Leyen, who is attending the summit, has championed. This is a more moderate version of the US’ idea of “decoupling” from China, where they would talk tougher in diplomacy, diversify trade sources, and protect trade and technology.” We see the larger stage, the ‘west’ will diversify trade sources, so that new and emerging economies can only do business with them if they do not do business with China. Almost like Sony did with retailers in 1998/1999. Those who were showing the SEGA Dreamcast would not be getting the PS2. It scared a lot of retailers because PS2 was a winning system and it did. The same was done much earlier with VHS pushing out Betamax (which was superior). A tool used again and again. Yet the larger stage is not these emerging economies, they are a factor, it is what will Saudi Arabia and the UAE do, they are now aligning the next decade and they were the big spenders all over the place and that setting is now heading for China (not sure if it is a done deal) and in this Egypt is important. With them championing Huawei and their G5, Egypt aligns with Saudi Arabia and a lot of commerce and Egypt then becomes a 5G beachhead all over the mediterranean and Africa. This will benefit China a lot. And as we get to “The US is already doing this with its ban on exports of chips and chip technology to China, which Japan and the Netherlands have joined. The G7 is making clear such efforts would not only continue, but ramp up, despite Beijing’s protestations.” This is the stage that is evolving and it is a dangerous move to make. I get why it is done. In the first I am not stating that China is innocent, I am stating that they all used these tools and the debts are drowning their actions. The danger is that if there are any innovative people in China, they will come with an alternative. I have no idea what, but I recall a nice example. The US created a specific ballpoint pen that could be used in space, they spend millions on that solution somehow and Russia? They used a pencil. We saw the Huawei block by Google and now Huawei is rocking the Harmony OS which is available in 77 languages. It is different from both Google and Apple, so what happens when Harmony becomes the tool of choice in the Middle East? You can ban and block, but the danger is that someone finds another way just like Toshiba in Russia decades ago and there was no alternative, as such Toshiba grew and grew with an entire market where they had no competition. Will it happen again? I am certain of it, when one resource closes people look for another resource, it is a natural continuation. Only really stupid people think that no one can get around them and I wonder what will come next. As such I have issues and the BBC did nothing wrong here, they reported, they used quotes and they adhered to something (not sure what). I am showing you that what is said is not merely dangerous it is deceptive. It these are the richest democratic economies, why is there a 50 trillion dollar debt (actually it is decently higher at present). A debt of 50,000 billion and no one is asking questions. I get it (to some degree) Russia is now a problem, the Ukraine is dealing with it, but it can only do so much. It needs support and I agree they do need it and I believe they deserve all the help we can give them, yet across the waters there is no one dealing with the actual debt, they are merely prolonging a complete collapse that will have too many deep in debt for decades. Retirement plans will collapse, health care will collapse and we will all blame someone, but no one is looking at how we all let this happen and now those with the option will look towards the Middle East (including me), a lot are looking at China as an option and a global brain drain will be the consequence. All settings that the G7 will have to consider, because they all have a lot to lose.

Enjoy the start of Monday up to 12 hours (for some) from now. 

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May 21, 2023 · 01:01

Deployment Evolution

We all evolve what we make, what we consider and what we design, it is a natural act. There are no hidden flaws or weaknesses. We evolve what we see, what we can. It is in our nature. So, two years go I came up with two ideas, the first was to meltdown an Iranian nuclear reactor in a new novel way, and the second one was to take care of the Iranian navy (America was doing efff all). And would you believe it, these two ideas should work on Russian hardware too. Yet today a thought occurred to me. I am not aware if it is true, but the Russian deploy water microphones to make sure no one gets the drop on their strategic locations. As I was thinking that, I remembered something from my youth. In 1775 David Bushnell designed a one man submarine. I saw the blueprints, they were awesome. He came up with the idea, the concept and the design almost a century before Jules Verne came up with 20,000 leagues under the sea. He was that much of an innovator. So now we have better equipment and we could make a carbon fibre solution. Yet what about those microphones? It seems to me that these microphones cannot detect chemical propulsion. People are so about machines, fossil fuels and nuclear rods that they forget that chemical propulsion comes from the 19th century. I would call that vessel the USS Antoine Lavoisier, credit where credit is due and the French had their great moments. 

In addition, when we deploy a silicone hose that at deployment is coated with the same chemicals a clamp has to attach itself to anything and the hose is filled with two elements. The first is thermite. The second is a wire with attached balls and we deploy it over the length (or a large  enough length) of any boat or submarine and we end the connection with a chemical fuse no one would be the wiser. And the nice thing is that if that activation is nicely timed, we do not merely take out the vessel, we take out the port as it is blocked for a considerable length of time. The second one was already designed, the first part was new. I hd initially a drone in mind, but in this way there is no signal, no nothing. Merely silence and a suddenly sinking craft. The balls are no more than in inch. You see, the explosion need not be big, merely enough to create small gaps in the inner hull, the outer hull has a strip missing bigger than the titanic, as such the outer hull is now filling with water changing the rules of Archimedes on that vessel,  the blasts will create enough small holes so that the inner hull starts filling too and even if the alarms sound, the two dozen small gaps is flooding in water and by the time the crew is alert the damage is too far gone and Archimedes waves at the vessel no longer able to remain afloat, and out next generation turtle (optionally looking very different) moves way like Don Juan silently into the night avoiding a livid husband. 

Whatever will I come up next. Perhaps a new way to deploy EMP drones. This should keep the MIG’s in their stables. So in three small mental exercises (two at present) I took care of Russian reactors, The Navy and soon the airforce. No need to do anything about the Russian army. The Ukrainians are slapping that near to death horse. So what has DARPA been up to lately? 

I earned my cookie today! And all of you? Enjoy the final day of your weekend.

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May 20, 2023 · 10:22

Traitor’s Gateway

There is a gate through which traitors pass, it weirdly looks like the one in the Tower of London. It does not offer boating service. The traitors walk through the slime and the muck with their bare feet. This gateway is not in London, it is the entrance of the ninth level of hell, a place reserved for traitors. A gate reserved for people like Jack Teixeira, and he is most welcome to that entrance. Lucifer Morningstar has confirmed his reservation. He stated to me that the demons in that level had been doing too little. Too many demons, not enough traitors. So Jack will be getting the undivided attention of dozens of demons for millennia to come and as a second here equals a year there, eternity becomes a whole new context. And it seems that there is place for more if we can believe the CNN article (at https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/19/politics/jack-teixeira-leak-intelligence-unit-warnings/index.html). There we read ‘Defense personnel alarmed after memos reveal Air Force leadership warned about accused Pentagon leaker but let him continue working’, so what was that again about the devils playground? Especially when I saw “Air Force leadership repeatedly warned Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira about inappropriately accessing classified intelligence have left former and current defense personnel baffled at how he retained his security clearance and was able to continue sharing classified information for months.” I would not say that they are baffled. This level of inaction is just staggering. Some people in this day and age were not willing to put in the paperwork, some were hindered by indecision (a failing many managers tend to have) and then there is “had received a direct order from his superiors to stop taking notes on intelligence, which they found he was ignoring just a month later”. So if I read this right. We see all the huff and puff against Huawei and now TikTok and you keep a clown like that around? Give me a break, China doesn’t need to create elaborate intelligence gathering loopholes (if there are any, no evidence was ever presented.), China can just softly push an intelligence gamer and he will spout whatever they need. ‘Do you want the US invasion plans for Russia?’ Just mention ‘You could never invade Russia’ during a game of Fortnite and some clown will produce the PDF file with (if we may believe the CNN text) personal annotations and notes from the traitor themselves. That US service is just amazing. An Airman with intelligence clearings can deliver faster than an F-35 with overburner heat, hopefully only in America. 

The text also gives us ““This is negligence on the part of the chain of command,” said Jason Kikta, a former Marine Corps Officer and former member of US Cyber Command. “They had a clear pattern of behaviour,” adding he “should have been cut off at the second incident.”” You see, a clear answer and a straight directive, as one would expect from Marines (Airforce please take notes here). A simple application of Common Cyber Sense, like the Marines haircut, just cut it all off! Yes, that is how I believe it should be and what baffles me is how inactive the Airforce has become. You see, Common Cyber Sense is nothing new, it has been around 15 years. The repetition of warnings is nothing new either. All hetero sexual man wanted to look up the dress uniform of a youthful well shaped female Airman. I know it is wrong, but we were all 17 once and don’t we love admiring those forbidden fruits. This happens, it is wrong but it happens. Yet to push defence papers onto the gaming internet is a whole new level of wrong (stupid too) and inactions here that catered to it is setting the question. How much of an overhaul does the classification system need? Not merely that it happened once, but that a repeat offender was able to do it for so long requires a classification overhaul up to the highest rank in that location (and optionally other location to). Although the information at the end “Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Thursday that the new information was “deeply troubling.”” I would say to Mark Warner that ‘Deeply Troubling’ was some time ago and when we see Senators up in arms on TikTok and Huawei issues, all ignoring Cisco matters and calling this ‘deeply troubling’ is making me howl with laughter. And with the added “A memo from September 2022 says Teixeira was “observed taking notes on classified intelligence information” in the unit’s sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, and putting “the note into his pocket.” He was instructed “to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information””. So not only was he doing this for a long time, there is no way to tell how long BEFORE September 2022 this was going on, because I feel fairly certain that he got away with it for some time before someone noticed.

So don’t feel sorely, traitors will brighten your Fortnite day when needed, enjoy your gaming weekend.

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May 19, 2023 · 10:42

The stupidity of some

Yes, we all see that and it has repercussions for these people. We might sit on the sidelines laughing, but it shows a dangerous premise, the stupidity of America, the stupidity of some Americans and how they scuttled their own ship called ‘Future of us’ and ‘us’ could also be seen as ‘US’. This is shown in two articles. The first one is from Yahoo Finance. There was a little better NY Times article, but that was behind a paywall, so you would not be able to read the whole text.

The article (at https://news.yahoo.com/disney-cancels-1-billion-florida-185105108.html) gives us ‘Disney Cancels $1 Billion Florida Expansion’. A setting that came because an idiot (aka Gov. Ron DeSantis) decided to start a war for a trivial reason. He wanted to ‘Douse the Mouse’ (sorry Brittlestar, this is too good a slogan to pass up). And now Disney has cancelled an expansion where we get “The 10-figure office complex near Walt Disney World would have brought more than 2,000 jobs to the region, according to an estimate from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity” So not only does this governor rub any fat cat the wrong way. He now has grievance with the Commercial houses of Florida, his Republican back, the Democrats of Florida and a few other people. Along with the 2000 people not getting a job, up to 8 people connected to anyone losing that job, as such he is 25,000-50,000 votes down and there is likely a larger loss for the Republican side. An ego centric stupid act on the premise of perception that should not have existed in the first place. It is stupid for a few reasons more. The American have alienated Saudi Arabia, optionally the UAE, Egypt and Lebanon as well. Billions in defence industry is now going to China, building contracts in Syria and Saudi Arabia are now going to China, as such the EU and USA are losing out on billions more. The idea that the EU will cater to another Disney-world giving the EU billions more is not out of the question, all money lost to the US, in a stage where they have over 31 trillion in debt. An act too stupid to contemplate and this could have been avoided. In the 70’s my elders taught me ‘Do not bite the hand that feeds you’ and in 1968 we have the premise ‘Money talks, bullshit walks’ and the US seemingly only has walking left. In this day and age I saw the option for millions more in revenue in IT and it will likely go to the UK, the EU (Germany most likely) and Australia (weirdly enough). I am not ruling out Canada, but I know too little about their abilities in that field. Millions more and the list goes on. America dropped well over $5 billion a year on my recent watch alone. And all this before you realise the blunders that signify the USS Zumwalt with its $4 billion expense and the massive drop in abilities. Just to be clear, I am no naval expert, but I dit get a degree in ships engineering and navigation in 1979, so I am not totally in the dark here. The USS Blue Ridge that launched in 1970 outperforms it by a lot and the cost of that rubber ducky is a mere 5% of the failure that the USS Zumwalt represents. I reckon the idea that a congress would not order the smart bullets that the Zumwalt needs (at $800,000 per bullet) might have been the wake up call some people needed. In that environment we get to the second linked article. 

The second article is from the Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/business/commentisfree/2023/may/18/us-debt-ceiling-crisis-republicans) and here there is another side. I do not agree. You see, we can listen to the emotional ‘The US debt ceiling crisis is more proof of Republicans’ cynicism and bad faith’. Here I am on the Republican side. There is a folly to let 31 trillion fester and fester to something more. This is a pox on both houses and it has been for well over 25 years when a tax overhaul was needed and we all hear the same BS. Too hard, too complex. Well, they are close to default on whatever they have left and as Disney goes towards the EU they will open more doors. IBM, Adobe, Amazon, Google and Microsoft are already diversifying leaving the US with nothing (well almost nothing). And as they alienated the few allies left they see an exodus to China, China of all places. 

This is the act of stupidity, stupidity on both houses that would not act when they could and now they are in patters of indecision and they are all trying to find fat jobs in global corporations before the house collapses and it is close to collapsing. This, (and a few related items) was why I tried to sell my IP to the Middle East. In the first you go where the money is. In the second you find a place where you can enjoy your golden years. Because as I see it the US will be a very dangerous place to stay soon enough. Over 200 million desperate people? Yes, that is not a place for me and when the energy shortages hit it will get a lot worse soon enough, they had options there too, but they squandered those options in the last 5 years. 

So whilst everyone is pointing at me stating that I am the stupid one (a fair thought to have) consider that my IP was right in at least two cases, optionally two more that are now evolving. Yet I have a few more and they are all destined to go towards places like Huawei and Tencent technologies. And in all honestly between nothing and  few crumbs, ill take the crumbs, especially if that results in a view like below. 

This is not my 39 coins of silver. It is merely a retirement dream that could optionally be true. And what would you do when you have the choice between what I choose and a retirement home without resources? Because that is what the US (EU and UK too) created with their ego driven decision tree.
Dousing the mouse? When was that ever a good idea, especially when it decides to cancel a billion dollar expansion? Will it go to Euro Disney? With the economic setting the French have, that might be a realistic option for the minions of Walt Disney, and the US? Well it made its own bed, to bad for them that as the others leave that sinking ship well over 275,000,000 Americans will be caught in the middle. They had their options and they voted, or they did not vote and lost their right to complain.

Have a great Friday.

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May 18, 2023 · 12:11

The house wins

Yes, that has been the case since before WW1. In gambling the house wins and I got an interesting surprised served up by the BBC. It was the article (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-65610851) where we see ‘Cryptocurrency: Treat investing as gambling, MPs say’ OK, that was a little unexpected, but when you think of it not the weirdest step to make. We see this with “The risks posed by crypto were “typical of those that exist in traditional financial services and it’s financial services regulation – rather than gambling regulation – that has the track record in mitigating them”, a Treasury official told BBC News.” I can get behind that. Lets not forget that crypto has no gold backing like currency, so not only is it a gamble, but in many cases it is a long shot at best. There is however a consideration we need to have and it is seen with “Gambling helpline charity GamCare told the BBC that, in the past two years, it had heard from more than 300 people who said they were struggling with investing in cryptocurrency and other forms of online financial markets.” It is seen with ‘struggling with investing’. I personally wonder that if you are struggling with an investment, then why invest in it to begin with, but that might be me. 

The plot thickens when you see “He said he had lost about £150,000 investing in crypto, including money he had borrowed, and that checking his phone to see how the market had moved had become an obsession. “There was no break at all, I was just I was on my phone constantly watching it and just couldn’t sleep,” he recalled.” So one person borrows to invest? I would not do that to buy stock in reliable options like Tesla or IBM, as such I will never ever do it in something fleeting as digital dollars. That is an orgasm more fleeting than trying to get one from a hooker with aids. I do not now, not ever trust digital currency. I accept that there are moments that this is the one payment option, but it will only exists until I get to the nearest bank to convert it to something more reliable. As such there is a rather nasty breach here. I would never invest in it and I do get that some do. And to be honest if I had the money in 2010 I might have bought 5-10 Bitcoins and that would have set me right, but I do not trust any digital currency and I still see all these ads come past with the statement ‘How rich would you be now if you had bought even one bitcoin in 2010?’ Yet that ship sailed and when you consider the grifters and BS artists trying to get you on digital trades, the idea to treat it as gambling makes a lot of sense to me and with gambling comes a lot more oversight. 

In the end, I have no idea where this will go, but the idea that all these new ‘students of digital currency’, the idea that they are soon to be privy to gambling oversight does seem appealing to me. And I do get it, it might be me, I might be too old for this new currency. 

I will let you decide, have a great day. 

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May 17, 2023 · 14:32

The BS advertiser

Yup that was what links this. A game called something like the last outpost, it is a zombie apocalypse game and some moron in a beanie tells us that this is what the game looks like, all whilst the game looks nothing like this. The game is a linear game with massive limitations, a game trying to tell a story, all whilst the gamer wants what the advertisement shows and so far I have only seen three games do this and not drown us in advertisements regarding more BS games. This is how Apple and Android are getting rich whilst sleeping. The funny money paradox.

So here I was suddenly asleep and I see a weird setting, the roof of a building is like a bar, the proprietor is a serious shady character of seemingly Scottish origins. When I go down a floor I see some makeshift hospital, the weather was foul, so I did not see a whole much and there was a massive absence of electricity. The only thing I saw was a tag giving me FLIT. 

It was then that I woke up. Something rustled, but the setting wasn’t clear. Then I remembered that I thought in this direction before. For the same reason why I always loved Fallout Shelter (the BS game is relying on a huge Fallout vault door to get his visibility) and the other game I always loved were Dungeon Keeper one and two. Dungeon Keeper One came from Molyneux’s better days and two came from one. And that gave me the initial idea, but I thought too small.  Then my mind remembered that the US has four places named Italy. One in Florida, one in South Carolina, one in New York and one in Texas. So this was about Italy, FL. So what if we set the stage not t houses, but to buildings. Just like in Dungeon Keeper they all need a source of food (Kitchen) and a place to sleep (Hospital), but unlike in dungeon keeper, we cannot make rooms bigger, we need to work with the rooms we have. A hospital will have destined sleeping places, but a mall will not, we might find a smaller place with beds, making us rustle for more beds in the building. But in we need to make it safer (traps) and we need to defend (guard posts) and as we start a game we will have these two places (sleep and food) to build, but they open up to other rooms (alway in similar ways), but it is up to you how you fill in the location and stay alive. And as the game progresses there are more adversaries and more nights to survive. But you have most of the day to set up your traps. The downside is that food is an essential thing and as you have smaller or larger kitchens you have more dishes and more food. In the one pot kitchen you either have more recipes (which you need to find, together with resources), and as you have a larger kitchen you have more pots, as such people have choices (and 5% more energy), the one pot kitchen will leave you with 5% less every night, unless you have two days with different recipes. A large pot will also give you 50 food (like soup), but a stew will only give you 35 food. Yet the kitchen calls in people (who are all hungry), and here is where the game evolves. Some are guards and they defend the building. The engineer creates traps, like trapdoors that can only close for safe passage (or not) when there is a guard present. You need a plumber for heat and an electricians for power. So you need to protect these two as they are more rare to get and as the game progresses in the first level we get waitresses, tinkerers (creates weapons), scroungers (finding resources for weapons and traps) and so on. 

Yes, it feels a lot like a revamped Dungeon Keeper, but if we set aside a little brainpower, it can be enough different to create a new wave of gamers. Consider that this game is 24 (or 26) years old and there are literally tens of thousands still thinking of this game. There is a reason that this was a 90% plus game. Good games last a long time and in this age of instant and temporary satisfaction, we see people hurdling their idea towards the funny money paradox to get income, but they all forget that a good game needs only itself and there we have a setting where the new games could outlast a few items, although with the imminent collapse of the US (debt ceiling driven) it could alter right quick. This was why I was seeking the middle east solution for some of my IP. Better be wealthy in Dubai than bankrupt in New York and some might see that future soon enough. But the setting of gaming was always my number one. And in this case there is an entire culture of unexplored gaming options (and the billion consumers attached to it). 

This was only to wake you up and feel free to use this idea on Sony, Nintendo and Amazon Luna only. I do have standards and Microsoft has none, as such they are not a consideration. So whilst you wonder on why I was driven to move against that BS advertiser? He proclaims in his beanie that this game is how you see it and it is not, more importantly I saw a direction he is bragging about within an hour. Within in hour I surpassed his feeble attempt to surpass what he thinks we see towards what we could be seeing. 

Enjoy the day.

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