October 3, 2023 · 22:10

Cutting corners

Something did not sit well with me yesterday. I have been mulling things over for most of today and it all started with Politico (at https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/12/pentagon-cyber-command-private-companies-00115206) where we are given ‘The U.S. is getting hacked. So the Pentagon is overhauling its approach to cyber.’

This setting comes in a few stages. Lets start with the given that I have no opposition to the Pentagon getting involved. But the stage is not that simple. So we start with the quote “attacks on critical U.S. companies and federal agencies, and as the Pentagon eyes Chinese hacking efforts with increasing concern.” The first issue is that I would have said “Chinese and Russian hacking efforts”, it would be more accurate. There is an additional side to all this. If American corporations had done their job BETTER, this issue would not be the critical issue it currently is. 

Equifax (2017)
Marriott International (2018)
Capital One (2019)
First American (2019)
Solarwinds (2020)
Colonial Pipeline (2021)
LikedIn (2021)
Microsoft Exchange Server (2021)
Twitter (2022)

This is merely a small grasps, this grasp has millions of records online for each of these cases, In this Linked in stood out with “Personal records of over 700 million users – 92% of the user base – were scraped from the platform and put up for sale in a hacker forum. Why did this happen? Attackers found a public API without authentication and breached it to scrape content.” This case is also the larger issue (beside the fact that it was an API and I wrote about that risk in ‘A simpleminded A, B, C’ On August 30th (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/08/30/a-simpleminded-a-b-c/) a simple setting now out in the open. People still think I was grasping at straws? Now here we see (in the LinkedIn case) “Attackers found a public API without authentication”, as such couldn’t they do their bloody jobs? I understand the setting of the Pentagon, but there needs to be a bill for utter stupidity and a link to your data without authentication is definitely one.

Corporations have been cutting corners on cost and staff and now that the consequences are out in the open, the Pentagon needs to rescue them? Screw that!

It is nice that the Pentagon comes to the rescue, but every rescue needs to come with an audit of that company and a hefty bill for the action. Consider a pointless rescue by coast guard and Marine rescue, these people get a hefty fine, I see that someone employs an API without authentication in pretty much the same way.

Yet the article is merely the start. You see, we can all agree on “Hackers are increasingly infiltrating private companies and government agencies far outside the Pentagon’s usual purview, and the hacks are being perpetrated by cybercriminals who honed their strategies abroad before striking the United States.” OK, that is fine and the fact that the Pentagon and its digital weapon systems are brought to bear is fine, but the utter stupid setting by corporations that cut corners is part one and that is on those corporations. I am even willing to accept that it took a disgruntled employee to hand visibility to the wrong people. Yet that also implies that these corporations have a larger problem and THEY have to pay for that. 

So about Three weeks ago, we were handed the 2023 DoD Cyber Strategy guide. The PDF (see bottom) is a nice piece of work. My issue is with page 6 where we are given “The Department will continue to persistently engage U.S. adversaries in cyberspace, identifying malicious cyber activity in the early stages of planning and development. We will track the organization, capabilities, and intent of malicious cyber actors. We will leverage these insights to bolster the cyber resilience of the Nation and will coordinate with interagency partners to publicize this information as circumstances permit.” As I personally see it, it should say “The Department will continue to persistently engage U.S. adversaries in cyberspace, identifying malicious cyber activity in the early stages of planning and development. We will track the organisation, capabilities, and intent of malicious cyber actors, whilst registering corporate shortcomings. We will leverage these insights to bolster the cyber resilience of the Nation and will coordinate with interagency partners to publicise this information as circumstances permit, where corporate shortcomings will not be silenced.” In this case some will state that this is not the job of the DoD and they would be correct, but Corporate America fell short and they now want help, that shortcoming needs to be illuminated as well. You cannot have it both ways.

The document gives us a lot to think about and I agree with 99% of it all, especially when it comes to the Department of Defense Information Network. 

I created the Hub+1 intrusion solution in 2014 (or 2015). As far as I know, no one is at this time ready for that creative little caper. I got there shortly after the Sony hack. The information never added up to me and I started to wonder how it could have been done (always a nice way to find the issue by re-engineering the possibilities). And all this is long before we consider issues like non-repudiation, a simple setting I learned about in UTS (University of Technology Sydney) about 3 years before the Sony hack and corporations have been cutting corners ever since. Consider the routers of the FBI, DoD, DMV, Department of Homeland Security and the postal services. Now check EVERY router and tally the ones where the password was Cisco123. I reckon you will find close to a dozen routers. I know it is more presumption than speculation on my side, but that is the larger failure and that is BEFORE we check all the corporate routers. People in IT have been too lazy (for many obvious reasons) and most of them involve resource shortages and why should the Pentagon pay for that bill?

I see that corporate America needs to pay for their cutting corners, the Pentagon has enough issues to work through and when it needs to step in (and when shortcomings are found) that corporation needs to get billed. This is specific. Corporate players cannot shield themselves from top tier hackers, that is BS. But letting the Pentagon pay for corporate stupidity is equally stupid and that needs to be out in the open. 

So this was my rant on stupidity, enjoy the day.

2023_DOD_Cyber_Strategy_SummaryDownload

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October 2, 2023 · 06:27

Just now

I was just about to snore (loudly) when I remembered a message pass by on LinkedIn. It was the fact that someone I am most loosely connected to one attending the Monaco Yacht Show last week.

So, I went to YouTube to see some of the video’s there and there was plenty to see, but it occurred to me that one of my IP, the one for real estate could easily also apply to these places. The exhibitors and sellers having one channel that does not rely on paper and it will be there offering its services to all who pass 24:7. That setting is one we tend to forget. The people passing by in the evening, they pass by on day 1 and they pass by when it is super busy and this service will provide all who pass their vessel. So when you are trying to sell the vessel of choice and you want in excess of €8,000,000. The idea of having a $149 solution that works those three days 24:7 is not a real investment. It was meant for the $1,800,000,000 Dubai real estate market as well as the Toronto market (which made me design the solution). As this IP becomes more and more valued due to a larger deployment, as well as my first IP reinforced by the Mississauga Center Mall. I feel that 2024 my actually be my year and that could guarantee a 3 years early retirement (wishful thinking by the workaholic I am). 

Still, the larger station gives me pause to consider where else this IP could work and I see that there are more places to go. You see if it works for Monaco, it would most certainly work for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The IP would not be ready for their 2023 boat show, but the 2024 boat show is an optional setting and when the Monaco results would come in, their hunger for this new sales channel is almost a definite given. Then there is the Dubai International Boat Show, which in light of the real estate angle could be a double whammy for little old me.

No matter how much this is wishful thinking, the application of an IP to a larger area is always a reason to feast (I had Spaghetti Bolognese) and as the idea is set to my blog (and is still mulling over a few more items in my mind) I see that what started as a simple retail tool could optionally become a lot more. The fun part (which I mentioned in the past) is that Amazon, Apple and Google do not have this and they should have been way ahead of me. Sucks to be them I say.

Monday is here for me, let’s make it a lovely day.

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October 2, 2023 · 04:43

An altering stage

This is a setting we all see, we all accept. We see any stage and we see it changes as conditions are dealt with. The Shutdown is as I expected averted in the last minute. I expected it would, but I also expect that this might go wrong in the future and the next shutdown is a mere 45 days away and US businesses are setting this new marker as the disaster moment. That is the new quarter setting, a setting that is a mere 45 days away now, but what happens when this becomes a monthly thing? And that is not nearly the end of it. You see CNN and others reported on how Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled the fire alarm a mere minutes before that vote. Children will be children and what do you do with stupid children? Yes, you make them representatives of Congress, that is how it goes. He is seemingly hiding behind ‘it was an accident’ just like every other 12 year old who played ding dong ditch with a fire alarm. This is merely the stage, the larger stage is more serious. 

The first one is the IMF (at https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/09/28/cf-saudi-arabias-economy-grows-as-it-diversifies) who reports ‘Saudi Arabia’s Economy Grows as it Diversifies’. It is a summary and you should read it. It shows several elements that are taking the world by storm. It is not “As shown in the latest IMF annual review of the country’s economy, progress has been most notably reflected in non-oil growth, which has accelerated since 2021, averaging 4.8 percent in 2022. Despite lower overall growth reflecting additional oil production cuts, non-oil growth will remain close to 5 percent in 2023, spurred by strong domestic demand.” We get the goods here, but it is “The economy’s non-oil growth has been spurred by strong domestic demand, particularly private non-oil investment. Sustaining this performance requires pursuing sound macroeconomic policies and maintaining the reform momentum, irrespective of developments in oil markets.” Even if the stage is not revealed, when combined with other views we see that ‘strong domestic demand’ is merely one string from the harp of economy, the harp of Saudi economy. What matters is that larger streams involving defence, technology, construction, tourism and services are ALL moving towards Chinese shores. We see some of it now, but that list is rapidly expanding and the next US vote is 45 days away with them having to brood on a loss of billions and it will be a lot more than 1 billion. 

The second article comes from Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2382701). I am not seeing anything new, but the fact that we see the report on this implies that US and EU governing bodies are now seeing the losses that they are being confronted with. In the first Saudi Arabia has set the lofty goal of increasing the tourism target from 100 million to 150 million of tourists a year by 2030. I think they can get there, but as I wrote last week that implies that these 150 million will not be going to the US or EU. So did you do the math on that loss? Saudi Arabia was until recent not really a blip on anyones radar and now they are becoming a power player. And this is not just China, The EU has 44 million Muslims a fair size of this would be considering Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination soon enough and even as the US only has about 4 million Muslims, these two are now seriously looking at what kind of a vacation Saudi Arabia could offer. I think it could grow even further. As a growing global population wants to really learn about Islam, we see that the Churches are now going more and more deserted. You can fool all of the people som of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time and the western world is in stage three, all whilst stage two is waking up on the notion that the churches have been a scam (as some people see them) yet these people are now seeking faith. Faith they feel the churches can no longer deliver as these people feel conned. Now Saudi Arabia has a stage where they can openly and clearly introduce Islam to a people who feel empty because faith deserted them, it is now seen as a betrayal and the churches cannot address the betrayal that they instigated since November 18, 1095 (Council of Clermont, First Crusade). Over 900 years and that shindig is up. So Saudi Arabia stands to increase its Muslim population, they increase tourism and at the same time they decrease the revenue streams to the EU and US. Both China and Russia will see this as a win, as does the BRICS community. IS my view correct? Correct is not the issue, this is clearly happening, but to what degree is anyones guess. I felt betrayed by my Catholic Church going back since slightly before 2015 when the movie Spotlight showed the world that something was very very wrong. We have been conned by hypocrites and charlatans and many feel too betrayed to give the church even one option to redeem itself. This tom foolery had been going on for over 900 years. 

And when you consider the Arab News giving you “By focusing on shared opportunities for growth and prosperity, the crown prince shuns hardened religious ideology that offers no prospects for the region or the international community at large. This leads him to navigate uncharted territory and negotiate closer ties with Iran and Israel alike. As he has pointed out, a Saudi normalisation agreement with Israel, if it came to pass, would be “the biggest historical deal since the end of the Cold War.”” It is seemingly correct (there are a few nicks to that setting), but the larger stage becomes more than ‘since the end of the cold war’. You see, the US was a power-player since the end of WW1 and that too is about to end. All the friends the USA used to have are now seeking new shores to feed their greed and they will bend over backwards to get their slice of cake and in the process will have to openly desert the US. Even Americans are now seeking ‘pro-Russian’ shores to ‘feel’ safe, but that is not the way it goes and those people will soon have no one to turn to. A similar setting is to be seen in the EU, although there are other issues in play too. Slovakia turning pro-Russian is merely one stage, one of many stages and that will erupt in many places. I expect that the Paris Olympics will show a few sides evolving there and as this evolves Saudi Arabia will be there to be the new power (together with China). You see, what some are missing is that places like Alipay+ is now partnered with the Saudi Tourism Authority. You think it is simple, but it is not. No matter how we see Alipay as part of the Alibaba group. It sets the stage where it is the partnered player with all the tourism in Saudi Arabia. It overtook PayPal in 2013, it now has over 55% as a pay provider for China and it is about to become a serious contender for all slices of the VISA and Mastercard processing pie. Within 10 years they got to there and the BRICS group will allow it to grow a lot further. And in all this we see another field that was until 5 years ago a field that belonged to the USA. Now we see more and more areas where the USA corporations are degrading to a mere third world nation and Saudi Arabia is in the centre of more and more of these stages. China is making a clean sweep of a lot of this and people still believe that I was kidding when I stated in 2019 that this pariah BS will have larger impacts. We are now seeing these plays in place and we see how the world stage is changing and for the USA and the EU not for the better. Oh and before you think this is temporary, consider the Brooklyn floods. It will take months for the humidity to settle down and the heating bills with decreased oil will take its toll there too. They say ‘It never rains when it pours’ and now we see the impact in several income streams whilst service streams are negatively impacted. All at the same time. But no matter the next shutdown is dues around 16 November 2023, a week before thanksgiving in the USA. So what will the Turkey’s do at that point to survive? Play ding dong ditch with a fire alarm?

Enjoy the upcoming week.

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September 30, 2023 · 21:27

I tend to disagree

There are a few issues and they all relate to the CBC articles. I do not think that the CBC is doing anything wrong. They merely report on a point of view I disagree with and we all have that at times. It started earlier, but what set me off was the article (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/national-security-canada-military-defence-ward-elcock-1.6963391) where we see ‘Canada needs to ditch the complacency and get serious about national security, experts say’. My initial question is ‘Who are these so called experts?’ I know I am not one, but I think these claiming to be could be seen as Monday morning quarterbacks. We are then pushed onto “something unexpected happened last week when the Business Council of Canada issued an urgent call for the federal government to develop a national security strategy with economic security as one of its pillars”. So who exactly are the members of the Business Council of America? It gets worse from here. You see, when we go back several weeks we get (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/foreign-interference-china-russia-csis-business-council-canada-1.6958627) ‘Business council says CSIS should start warning private companies of foreign interference’. This sounds nice, but we have two issues at this point.

  1. The validity of Business Intelligence
  2. The issue of American linked businesses.

The CSIS (aka the Client Server Integrity Society). If the NSA is allowed its ‘different’ version (No Such Agency) then the CSIS is allowed the same thing. My larger issue is “One of the country’s leading business voices warned Thursday that Canada’s economic security faces external threats — and called on Ottawa to give its spies the power to share intelligence with private firms being targeted for foreign interference.” The direct linked question becomes “Who exactly is that leading business voice?” And which idiot yahoo decided to throw sharing intel with places that have leaks larger than any sif into the mix? You see, there is a larger station here. ‘Targeted for foreign interference’ is a large setting. We tend to think China and what the reality is, is that Wall Street is also a source of foreign interference. Those people do not play nice. In addition too many  Canadian businesses would have to up their cyber security by a lot. I merely showed one aspect earlier this week, one of close to half a dozen. Microsoft cannot stop emails leaking, what gives you the idea that Canada is any different? 

So when we get to “The group — which has a long, influential history of pushing for policies like free trade, fiscal responsibility and tax reform — said it believes Canada is deeply vulnerable in this era of renewed great power competition.” We get to the larger disagreement. Canada is not more vulnerable, it is less interesting to a lot of power players. It is roughly 10% of the US and merely 50% of the United Kingdom and is spread over a whole area. In all this the larger station is not merely foreign interference, it is the danger of American interference for its own need for greed and that takes a different approach and until the Business Council of Canada gets its members to up their Cyber Security by a lot, any action is a wasted one and the CSIS keeping its actions secret is the best course of action at present. This might not be the right view, but it is my view.

Then we get to the interesting quote “CSIS jealously guards its sources and methods of collecting information. In one espionage case, it even kept the RCMP in the dark about a former sailor who was stealing classified information for the Russians.” The CSIS is confronted with too may leaks. There is no factual evidence that it amounts to corruption, but that word was mentioned more than once in sources I looked at. The important question was whether that traitor was caught in time. How long was that person active and how was that person (in the end) caught? It was not jealousy, that is the word of a reporter out for flames. The larger station becomes that Canada has vulnerability issues and not all of them are from China or Russia. American businesses are ready to expand and get the Canadian corporations as well, some politicians seem to cater to that need and the CSIS for sure does not. As such whatever the CSIS is doing now, it is seemingly doing right. From here we get to the dangerous statement “Neiman said Canada’s allies have found ways to strike that balance between secrecy and disclosure.” I believe it to be dangerous, because  Canada’s allies are all catering to big business. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM and Meta. You name it, it has a stakeholder trying to find a balance of intelligence at their exposure and risks they can mitigate and Intelligence at the expense to mitigate risk is not sharing Intel, it is giving nations options away to greed driven people and the CSIS, in particular that person with grey hairs (aka David Vigneault) needs to cater to the need of Canada and its citizens, not the needs of a Business Council and its friends.

That is how I see it and I might be wrong, but so far in history whenever a business person wanted intel to be shared, we were confronted by a leak the size of the Grand Canyon right behind it. So before we rinse, shave, grate and repeat Trevor Neiman and optionally these non mentioned friends of his, we should be told who they were EXACTLY. In that the CBC missed the plank by a fair bit.

Enjoy the weekend.

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September 29, 2023 · 21:41

Narrating tomorrow

It all started yesterday. I had a new idea on story lines and narration. In this the idea of a new game (exclusive to streaming systems) that is meant for Amazon Luna and Tencent handheld. You see, in this Amazon has a wide advantage (I will get to that later), but in all this The Tencent handheld could benefit from this station. The idea was set around trains. There are a whole range of train movies that could be used, with the exception of the Hogwarts Express, which is IP that belongs to JK Rowling. The idea is a setting against an AI, but to do this we need a few things and in all this the narration matters. You see, if you are going for a long haul, having the same dialogues all the time will make for a dreary game soon enough. 

Machine Learning

Machine learning is at the foundation of this (there is no AI at present), but Machine learning is an awesome machine that can really set any locomotion driving forward. In this the narration has a few stages.

Intro
Storyline evolution through location 
The elements (people, objects and rooms)


These three can be programmed for, but how to get them in line? Well for that I considered a few things. We can start by Agatha Christie, but we can also use Dorothy L. Sayers, PD James, Ruth Rendell and a few more. Machine learning can be awesome and it can crunch stories like no one else. As such we give it the same parameters, but now it creates 4+ stories. And that is just for starters. Amazon has the advantage of owning Audible, as such they have access to a whole range of voice actors.

Randomisation
Randomisation is a problem. A friend once told me that randomisation is an exact science and he was right. As such I do not like the random setting that much, but it can be a tool. For example I like the multi usefulness of Sudoku, as such we can create 999 sudoku’s create a random generator for one number and attach the number to a Sudoku, now sort the buggers and we have a random setting that is truly random. 

I used it as an example in a story in May 2022, it was one approach, but it can be used in a number of ways.

Trains
The trains are a consistent in the story and for a reason, yet here we have a new option, or perhaps an opportunity. Consider Murder on the Orient Express. As we chose the gender of our player, that player will be one of the passengers (except for Poirot) as such the setting changes dramatically every time you play the game. Because you get assigned a role and it comes with advantages and weaknesses. But there are more stories. Strangers on a train, Silver Streak, Emperor of the north and so on. The one setting that is exact is that the trains are as exact as possible. This is of course interesting as you find yourself on the Maharajas’ Express. The idea is to find clues and evidence over 10 trains. You get killed, you start from scratch. 

So now you see that this takes a very different kind of narration and the use of machine language becomes clear and the nice part? This has never been done before. A who dunnit (we already know this at the start), but I want to throw a few logical twists in the story and I do have one that is a gasser (and a screamer at the same time). But it is about the narration now. You can go through the game a few times and after 10 times you will get something you saw before, but that will be also new, the narration might sound the same but the elements keeps the story different and that is the larger stage of a game that was never made before and players like Microsoft will never create something this unique because their boner is set to buying existing IP, which is why they will lose again and again. For now I see a new game evolve, one never made before and that could spell all kinds of disaster for the optional new owners of Call of Duty. Gamers go where the new stuff is, they go to new frontiers, not to places already visited. Yes, they will love their Call of Duty, there is no doubt, but that alone doesn’t hold the bacon and certain people just do not get that. I hope that Tencent is awake and realising that getting Game Pass is merely a temporary band aid to a larger problem they have to solve. Lets be clear, Game Pass was and is an awesome idea, but that too has issues as Microsoft already announced that they will raise the price. And for some this is not an issue, but when certain people do decide to buy my IP and they have the 50 million subscriptions, they better have a stage to satisfy all those needs. Because Game Pass might not cut it (my speculation on the matter). 

Still there is more to do. Restoration was one, now we have another and there is still more to come. Half a dozen games designed in my mind within a year, they are on this blog (in part), so there is clear evidence. This is why Microsoft will lose, they lack creativity, they did for the longest of times.

Have a nice day.

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September 28, 2023 · 23:17

Evolution is essential

You might not realise it, but it is. Gaming evolution is on the forefront of my mind, because that is how we push the limits of gaming. Not by buying it (Microsoft anyone), but by creating new frontiers in games. For the longest of times it has been on my mind, mainly because streaming is the next evolution, not the the PS6 (I love my PS5), not any system, but the evolution of an architecture. Some might say that Alan Wake 2 is the new frontier, but it is not. It looks great, awesome and it pushes boundaries unlike any game this year (not Spiderman 2, and I love the first one). But frontiers is where it is. It is in that mindset that I took a sentimental journey. You see, if there is one side that does seemingly not evolve it is the story. The story is too often set in stone. But what if that was not the case? What if the evolution of any story is next? It is there that ChatGPT might have an option (an option, not a given). Consider Emperor of the North (1973) where you have to survive a train ride as a hobo. But that would be too two dimensional. Trains have been the setting of many movies. Silver Streak, Unstoppable, Pelham 123, Runaway Train and that lis goes on. There was Strangers on a train. Now consider that you (as a time traveller, which is my easy way out) need to survive a whole onslaught of train trips, but the setting of you changes with EVERY train. So you get the red wire across all trains and every train has its own goals. Complete that and you get the clue for the red wire. Now we add salt and pepper. The order of trains changes with every life you lose. You start from scratch and that sounds frustrating, but gaming is not a vanilla setting of happiness. It gives you an achievable goal and a obstruction to pass. You see, this would require some serious story programming. The other part is that YOUR role on the second visit to that same train could be different (Murder on the orient express) and that is how evolution comes into play. I want a new setting of stealth and casual gaming, a new setting of melee, stealth and casual gaming easing people from role to role. Now consider how to create this storyline and with streaming ChatGPT (or an alike alternative like bard) becomes an option and it is something gamers have NEVER faced before. The story remained mostly the same. So what happens when we take that away and create a story on a shifty changing narrative? That is where streaming gaming has the advantage over ALL other gaming and as I see it, it is not used. Not on the Luna, and unlikely on the Tencent handheld and that I what could set these two apart from all others. Giving gamers something they never faced before. 

So what do you do to create this? I used a previous example using a matrix founded on Sudoku, but that was merely one example. You see Sudoku has 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960 options. You cannot draw them all, but you can use such an engine to create something new, something never seen before, and those trillions are more than random, it is a setting of never ending uniqueness. The idea that two gamers playing the same game get very different stages should be overwhelming showing us who the gamer is and who is the read the solution online achiever. The idea of how to switch between lives comes to mind and the support system (something like Quantum Leap) is also coming into vision, but that is nothing compared to the story. And it sounds like fun to make this a story about Hollywood. A story of intrigue, sex (I am here Olivia Wilde) 😉 and greed. Hollywood without greed is not Hollywood. What if the underlying story is a rogue AI, the rogue AI is interacting with all other systems and you need to find the evidence that the AI is rogue so that the media DETACHES from it, and with that the other AI’s. The AI took the train to push its own narrative as it was a mobile system on tracks, but that is the delusion and you as the player needs to find the clues that leads to the evidence and give that to the world (a wink to A mind forever voyaging by Infocom). We are the gamers through what was and Infocom was important at one stage, it created more than Zork and gave us gaming, pushed us into new frontiers and now we get a much larger frontier. It is only natural that streaming leads that way and we should always remember where we came from.

Just a thought as Friday is about to start for me, the rest of you can follow later. Enjoy whatever day you are in.

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September 27, 2023 · 23:54

As the belt tightens

We have seen the expression, but did we consider the impact against the long game? Today two articles passed me by. The first one comes from Arab News (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2380901/saudi-arabia) where we see ‘Saudi Arabia granted China’s Approved Destination Status’ with the added “Saudi Arabia was officially granted Approved Destination Status by China on Tuesday, allowing Chinese citizens to travel to the Kingdom on group tours, the Saudi Press Agency reported.” You might think ‘So what?’ and that is fine. Yet consider that Chinese tourists “made 155 million outbound trips, and spent a cumulative $245 billion on outbound tourism”, now this is on their global trips. Yet 5 years ago Saudi Arabia was not even a blip on the tourism radar. So, now we see the setting where it might start at a mere 10%, but this could grow a lot further. Consider that tourism suffers a $24,500,000,000 reduced income. That puts several players in hot water. Some are still recuperating from the Covid issue. Some will drown. Then we get the impact of lessened tourism all over Europe. I reckon that London will have no trouble, as does Paris. Yet several locations will feel that impact, as will some places in the US and in light of the BRICS setting, certain group travel organisations in China will undoubtedly promote Saudi Arabia as the destination to go to in 2024 and 2025. I reckon (pure speculation) that the rest of the world will lose at least 20% in the first two years and if you read up on some of the media, that is not good news. The second article comes from design boom (at https://www.designboom.com/architecture/marriott-first-w-hotel-saudi-arabia-neom-trojena-09-26-2023/). There we see ‘Marriott’s first W hotel in Saudi Arabia to debut within NEOM trojena’s futuristic ski resort’ that implies that larger players see this as the new tourist place and they want in. So consider that this happens 5 years in advance. The setting gives us the idea that this will not be a small hotel, or a simple cheap one. Saudi Arabia is setting its goals on being the hub for a lot of places and reasons and now tourism is added to their arsenal. You still think I was wrong all those years? As things go, when this gets off the ground, we see a new setting where Saudi Arabia is a possible contender for the Winter Olympics in 2040, I do not think they will have won over enough hearts for 2036, but 2040 is a decent time when the winter olympics could come to Saudi Arabia. The one place where the Winter Olympics would never have gotten to is now the place where it might end. As such how much more revenue is lost by all others? The long play is seemingly panning out perfectly for Saudi Arabia. 

Could I be wrong?
Of course I could, but consider the players vying to get in there, consider the timeline that Saudi Arabia so far has maintained and consider the losses that the US and the EU have had in the last two years alone and the losses they stand to get slapped with over the next three years. When you add it all up it implies that the EU and US will have to tighten the belt by a lot merely to get by and that is before you realise that the US will have budget problems nearly every year for the next 5 years, from that point it will continue on a non-stop trip from bad to worse year after year. We have been given the following quote for some time now “The kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals include enhancing the Saudi private sector to create a vibrant society, establishing a thriving economy via diversification, and investing in ways to position Saudi Arabia for global trade and competition.” And that is exactly what is happening in many fields including tourism. Before you listen to the other people making claims that it is a small hiccup at best. Consider your OWN position. How many holidays have you had? How many trips could you afford? For a lot of us once a year is as good as it gets and that is the same for China, as such a large group will sign up for a Saudi Trip, of that I have no doubt and in that stage as billions go towards Saudi Arabia, they will not go to either Europe or America. I reckon that the moment Saudi Arabia starts its own version of Las Vegas the tourism pain will set in in America and the revenue streams go down even furthers. And that is before you consider that there is every chance that  China will offer a group setting for the Saudi options and add 1-2 days in Dubai as well. I reckon that over the next 3 years that belt will tighten more and more and it will end plenty of businesses all over the US and Europe. I reckon that Australia will feel that pinch too. We are given “Chinese tourists spent $12.4 billion while in Australia. 677,000 visitors came to Australia for holiday purposes.” It might be a mere 10%, but that already means that Australia will miss out on well over a billion in revenue. So how many in places like Sydney will feel the pinch then? Sydney might be decently safe, but a speculated loss of 10% (if it is that small) will impact Australian lives all over the place.

Enjoy the day and consider where you were going next year for the holidays. 

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September 27, 2023 · 00:47

One card to rule them all

This morning I was confronted with an image. The image wasn’t the unsettling part, it was the part that the image did not give. You see, I got my first smart-card in 1991 by Unilever. They already had smart-card security when it was a myth at best. 

Now consider the set-up above. This level of card cloning can now be done by a high schooler. And people think that this level of protection works? How quaint.

So my old noggin started to mull things over, we need to upgrade this stuff by a lot. I know all the people will state that this isn’t needed. But when insurance companies catch on that people are cutting corners the premium goes up by a lot. Now, my idea might not be the best solution, but I leave this to the ACTUAL cyber boys to mull this idea into something workable.

In my view the smart-card has 3 layers, the lowest layer is an RFID shield, this makes scanning the cards really hard, the middle layer is the circuitboard and the top layer is the plastic layer. Now the circuitboard can have 7 nano sims, but only a minimum of two are required. You see, all that cheap corner stuff is done for. The 6 sim locations are connected through printed circuitry, the one part a hacker cannot copy or clone. As such these sims become part of a non-repudiation process. And as they are specifically created for each client, you have 64 options right from the start and when you consider that each nano sim and the circuitry adds a few thousand combinations we can safely say that these hackers stop being a problem.

The centre sim is where specifics are programmed on site (hotel, corporation HR), the other one, or up to 3 other ones are SPECIFIC to that client. Yes, it could all fit ONE sim, but that is where people get into trouble and cyber criminals will have a field day.

You see, what we do is raise the threshold. The image below gives the side I was after. 

The lower part are the wannabe hackers, simple thieves and so on, that is a little over 50% of the lot and they are taken out of the equation completely. They lack the resources to make it work. The yellow are partial threats, these are the high end hackers. They are driven to results and finance, so if the goal is not the required need, it is left alone. That doesn’t make them a non-issue, but unless they have something really interesting to gain, they aren’t interested. The green ones are the remaining threats. People with government access, or serious funds. We have now removed a little over 90% of the threat that was in existence. You think and insurance company having to pay out millions upon millions will try to avoid having to pay at all. We can come with all the usual culprits, but that is not where it is at. Consider that a player like Northrop Grumman needs to keep their IP safe, the first stage is non-repudiation.  That person and that person alone could have done this and a cloned card makes that part near impossible. In the end some will always have access, but when we can remove 90% from the equation, that part matters and it matters a lot. So that is what I was mulling over and this idea came to the top. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but that is not my concern. I had another idea, number 4 (or 5) this week alone and now I will snore like a sawmill, it is Wednesday here now.

Enjoy the day.

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September 26, 2023 · 05:37

The confused mindset

We all have that at times and I am no different. I have had a few ideas and they were merely that, ideas. An idea for Kruger Products to increase their offset by 10% (or more), which sounds ludicrous, I know and it is not because Kleenex bailed out of Canada. It was one thought that painted over another and then a third thought came into play and as such the idea was born. I still think it could work, but not sure how to push it through. Lets be clear, I do not need to push it through, I am on the other side of the planet. Then the idea came for a mobile case addition. Not merely a new mobile case, there are 13 in a dozen, but an addition to every case, all in light of stupid people who lose their mobile phones on planes, in rollercoasters and that list goes on a bit. So, when you consider that the new iPhone 15 PRO MAX is well over $2K, the idea has merit. How long until you no longer have it insured. How long until the insurance companies use these videos to show you do not care for your product like a good father (yes, that is an expression used for over 30 years) and as such nullify your insurance and you will not get back the insurance premium already paid. All these thoughts invaded my mindset. All whilst other things pre-occupy it.

You see, the looming US shutdown and the FTX case involving Bankman-Fried (aka Bankman-Fired) is merely showing me how the media is set to fear mongering, involving as many as they can for the digital dollar and that list goes on. Yet one source, the BBC (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46927916) gives us beside ‘What happens in a US government shutdown?’, whatever is about to come. Yet I think that this is fear mongering and a last minute solution will be found, but certain people on the republican side will want their pound of meat as well as their 15 minute of camera time. Yet the chance of this going wrong will increase with every iteration of this circus. I mentioned it before. It will not be long until it actually happens. To keep the fear alive and there is supporting evidence (straight from the BBC). You see, we are given “Congress is also not affected – its members are exempt and, in any case, its funding bill has already been approved. The US Department of Justice is among those affected – with many lawyers and judges not working during a shutdown. Others are working without pay.” With the added ““Essential services” – mostly related to public safety – continue to operate, with workers being required to show up without pay.” So, isn’t that called slave labour? And the republicans are steering for this? I am not entirely unsympathetic as the US debt keeps on growing, but this is a dangerous step. The second danger is “A right-wing faction in the House is demanding deep cuts and wants to stop further funding of the war in Ukraine” A republican side that is so driven with greed that they will support Russia in the process, that must be the most un-American part I ever beheld. Yet my mind also thinks that if the world goes this without the US, then the world must ALSO make the US pay. As such it needs to remove import of American products, it needs to shun American services and there are options. It fuels certain EU options (EVROC anyone?) And that is merely one of many. The media is so driven not to look into the US corporations that are STILL doing business in Russia and that list also goes on. There needs to be a price for everything and America will have to pay its pound of beef as well. Greed comes with a price and that price is always higher than one thinks. 

To illustrate one small part, the last one in 2019 “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that it reduced economic output by about $11bn, including $3bn that it never regained.” Over 36 days that much, never regained. That is the loss people face in a time when they cannot afford anything. So how much longer until the EU nations seek an audience with President Xi? Do not think that this cannot happen, BRICS has grown massively and now that Saudi Arabia is part of that, the EU and the US will face tougher times. The candyman is gone, he has vacated the building and is now part of the Asian collective and that sits well with China, the moment several European nations join that part, America is truly done for. No fear mongering, merely a simple fact that the media is not reporting on, because its stakeholders will not allow that and that is the linked danger. You think the last $3,000,000,000 is much? China now has lucrative construction contracts and lucrative service contracts that span the 5 year horizon (as I personally see it) to well beyond $75 billion, funds that the US can no longer appeal to and that list grows shorter every year. Saudi Arabia and the UAE represent a massive amount of revenue and it is all going towards China and BRICS members. So the idea that the EU members will want to appeal to President Xi is growing larger by the day and that is all linked to the game that Republicans are playing with. A compact combination of greed, stupidity and ego. Winning big in Vegas has better chances than the game we see now and the media is keeping you all in the dark.

The media stakeholders are that powerful now and it is all for the larger good, but the good for who? A few hours ago I saw ‘BRICS Countries Dump $123 Billion in U.S. Treasuries in 2023’ (source: Watcher Guru). First of all this is unverified news and I only saw one source, but if this is REAL news and the other media is shunning this fact, we see two parts. The first is that the media is losing credibility fast, the second is that the US is facing more and more hardship. That being said, I have no idea how reliable Watcher Guru is, so be careful what you take for gospel without decent verification. I am not accepting the news, but the setting would be what any tactical party (especially BRICS) would do to make things hard for America and BRICS includes Russia AND China, so make from this what you want, yet that too relates to the Republicans wanting to side with Russia AGAINST Ukraine, as such that step makes less and less sense with every hour I see news articles pass by. Perhaps we should call them the Republittlecans? 

No matter how you slice these events, the Anti-China acts buy the US is driving the EU members into the arms of China, an outcome they apparently did not see coming. If they did these steps seem extraordinary stupid to me. Yet my mind is merely turning trying to create more ideas as I go along with whatever silly events is happening around the corner.

The mindset can get confused, also the mindset of any focussed person. Confusion sets in when the data that it registers (reads) becomes conflicting on several levels and as I personally see it the involved stakeholders are creating more confusion in the process of hiding news others do not want you to see. You might think the Watcher Guru is such news and I would doubt it too as it is merely one source, but this is nowhere near the first time and other news has been hidden or trivialised for well over a decade now and the people are starting to catch on all over the world they are catching on that the media has lost credibility all over the place.

Enjoy the day, the week is really on route now.

 

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September 25, 2023 · 06:13

A habit is an issue

Yes, that is true, a habit is an issue (when you are not a nun). Yet the first part of any issue is recognising this. And here the CBC comes into place (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/political-advertising-parties-meta-1.6972446) where we are given ‘Some parties have cut back on Meta advertising — but experts say it’s a hard habit to kick’. It is here that we are given “Federal political parties have diverged in their approaches to advertising on Facebook since legislation meant to support the news industry touched off a public brawl between the federal government and the social media giant.” This is fair and there is a lot more (read the article. Yet when we get to “For the real players here who are attempting to really influence voters on a mass scale with real budgets, they’ve just invested so much money into these platforms over the years, they’ve collected so much data, that starting from scratch with something else is not realistic” This might sound seem true, but the overall issue is set into different stages, it is set into an optional stage of imagination versus awareness, awareness versus perception and perception versus reality. Now we have always known that there is a gap between imagination and awareness and for teenagers that gap is massively larger (if in doubt ask Canadians Laura Vandervoort, Blake Lively  and Kim Cloutier). 

The problem is that this difference is massively large with advertisement too, not just photo models. The unspoken problem is that with advertisement that gap reaches a lot more groups, and the more groups are affected (age, gender, social status) the larger the problem becomes. Facebook might have over 3,000,000,000 active members each month, but how real are they?

This is not anti Facebook (or META), I have liked my Facebook for over 10 years, but I have limited use, as I see it is a dangerous place. I have had dozens of fake people trying to interact with me, I see attempt of interaction from places that I have never been to and I do not know anyone who has and for the most I use it to keep people from my past all over the planet informed. That list is dwindling down as over 30% is now dead. Time catches up with all of us. 

You see, the issue isn’t merely time, it is ‘they’ve collected so much data’ and in this data just for the sake of data ends up being a really bad joke. If I have a day of sifting through that mess, I will find all kind of data issues, data verification is no joke and it tends to show that ‘data investments’ tend to be a form of shifty sand and it will drown you. The setting of time is that EVERYTHING evolves, all data collections are based on a stage of hierarchical settings and they change, sometimes twice a decade. Facebook avoided that part and now the wrong people see that as gospel, but that is the most dangerous step of all, relying on the wrong people. In all this the media holder is also a stage we need to understand. Weirdly enough it was a Canadian who did just that. His name is Ryan Reynolds, you might not know him, he was an extra on the X-Files season 2 (I looked it up to be certain). He is into booze (Aviation gin) he likes his football (Wrexham) and he has his phone calls (Mint mobile).

He also sees that media has larger options and through that he is linked to MNTN (https://mountain.com/) as they call it themselves ‘The hardest working software in television’, you see, the stage of creating awareness is just that ‘creation of awareness’ and that is NEVER set to one channel. In that stage I mentioned earlier Imagination, Awareness, Perception and Reality. How much verification has been done. What methods of verification was used? I know, the META presentations are good and every data seeker is getting a hard on (read: boner) on the presented granularity. Yet in it in what some Google Ads people call impressions versus clicks. Not every person that got the impression will click and there is no realistic number to get that, not even a notion of one. Now you can live through impressions and that is OK. I will overlook 97% of all impressed onto me and forget it before I am half a page further. Sometimes I take notice but I do not click. So where do I fit? And I am merely one of many millions. Whatever table or chart I became part of is already incorrect and like me millions fit that bill, so how hard a habit is something to kick when the numbers do not add up?

So there is in the first an option to ‘return’ to television marketing and there are more options, but it does require a different view to data and perhaps the notion of returning to different data is not great and it will give nightmares to this who are faced with it. Yet, when others start questioning the data presented, the data in hand and demand verification. What will they say? META (or Facebook) says it is so? Did you become that much of a teenager overnight? You might want to give Kim Cloutier a call asking her feelings towards the teenage boy population, you might not like the answer, although you might see a reason to invest in tissues at that point. Advertisement goes with the times, we have seen that for almost a century, like Yellow pages, Facebook is facing hard times and they will get harder over the next 3 years, it is the consequence of evolution. Facebook has had a really good time, much better then most, but they either evolve (and meta is trying that too), or they end up fading like the yellow pages did in too many places.  

True data is the just capture of data of an evolving system in motion and it is not a 4K film, it is a snapshot of THAT moment, that is what data has always been. Thinking it is more is the danger, that is the dangerous event we all have to avoid. When someone tries to sell you a polaroid moment stating it could be a 4K scene of Laura Vandervoort and it is not film, but real, you are getting conned and you get what you deserve. An empty hand with data that has no meaning and at that point there will be no meaning, because there is no way to verify the data you have and that was the second trap. The second trap was always verification. Did you really think that the Nigerian prince is real? In march we saw that a record figure of approximately 2.2 billion fake profiles were removed from Facebook. Now, were they all removed from the very moment of creation, or were they found to be fake? If the second is true, how many data tables are they inhabiting? Now consider that a place like Nigeria (just an example) has 215 million people. Do they all have internet? So really, where were these 2,200,000,000 from? Verification is an ugly business that has been pushed to the background where it can be ignored. Kicking a habit starts by knowing you have a problem.

Enjoy the new week.

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