Return of DM

You have probably seen it, I definitely have and they all call it “A call to AI arms” or something of that sort. It started an hour ago. I saw a security guard and I said “That shop is deceiving us, they say 50% of everything and they are still wearing all their clothes”, the guard was not amused, or perhaps his sense of humour doesn’t go that far. It might not have been overly funny, but at that moment a few things clicked together. And I was of to the races. You see, a few things clicked together and it started yesterday, but my subconscious had figured a few things out that my brain was still working on. 

Part 1
Part 1 woke me up to what some laughingly call AI. It was shown to me as a YouTube video. The video (at https://youtube.com/shorts/Kt_oGa4jLik) gives us an “AI” version of the statue. 

Screenshot

There is a setting that could work. Consider the increase of interest in Latin and Roman ways of life. To get these statues ‘brought’ to life has advantages. In the first we would not need to rely on actors for all of it and it would be one way to give more impact to the work of Edward Gibbon (1776) published the first volume of his The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Decline and Fall has been the theme around which much of the history of the Roman Empire has been structured. And it doesn’t click with too many of us, but when these statues come to life and as they give life to the writings something more comes to us, especially when it is in Latin. Now you see the first constraint. To see a few seconds of LLM on a statue is one thing, to get people to watch 24 times 45 minutes the constraint will become visible to all. Constraints are seen when the technology just isn’t ready and the utter bull we see on LinkedIn on a daily basis that our future is AI, when it doesn’t exist (yet) gives you a clear pause. But some people need this bubble to exist, their livelihood actually depends on this.

Part 2
Part 2 is LinkedIn. You see, I get a regular image on whether I am hiring. And the options are Yes and Not right now. This isn’t AI, or any kind of AI. This is Direct Marketing and that is what you resort to when you have no data. In 1998 I got a nice taste of that. Someone told me “You either bombard someone with DM, or you start getting clever about who you address the marketing to” it was a clever setting because that was when SPSS launched Answertree. The selected choice for those who wanted to waste as little as possible and when the penetration is a mere 4%, being clever will pay off nicely.

The setting we see now is a combination of constraints and abilities. We have no AI abilities and neither do the computers. As such certain people are trying to sell you a concept, an idea on how things will go and as such they create models that learn everything. So as such they are trying to WOW you with examples on YouTube and LinkedIn on how to do that, but the constraints are there and when you see the constraints you will try to get off that train and the people will have gotten you invested at boarding that train. As such you are hooked and then the limits become visible. 

Part 3
The third part came yesterday in a dream, but the setting was seen at least a month ago. I saw it somewhere in November when I stumbled upon it, but it never clicked, because I wasn’t looking for it. But yesterday in that dream I saw the interaction of SPSS (AS400 version) with an export via EXCEL into SAP Dashboard. I had not used that combination in over a decade, but the image was there. Now, I get that these numbers aren’t ‘inspiring’ to anyone else than investors and the board of directors at ADNOC, but to create traction you need inspiring views and the report (added below) doesn’t have that and that is not on ADNOC, you need a better setting for that and that is usually where the car sinks (or strands). 

As I personally see it, constraints are surpassed when you give free reign to data to create interest and one place to do this is using SAP Dashboard to create this (originally called xcelcius). That is when market research used the combination to create visible waves in a new setting that people had not seen before and that creates the traction they needed. So what about the numbers shown via a dashboard? It isn’t just oil that requires presentation. You see Abu Dhabi has International Holding Company (IHC), Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), ADNOC Gas L.C. and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). These four represent 1.5 trillion in revenue. I reckon that they could use a more visible setting in presenting self and that is merely in one location. And no AI was needed here. A mere look at presenting different and showing themself in other ways. When you realise what dashboard can achieve, they will achieve more all whilst AI is still being created. So whilst we applaud the LLM (and DML) of statues, the moment one person states that Julius Caesar can give voice to his work (for example Commentarii de Bello Gallico) and the constraints make it fall short, you will realise that there is some length to go until AI is an actual reality. 

That was the parts my dream didn’t give me and a simple sign that bustled with inaccuracies (of everything) that was when my brain clicked the part together. OK, I can be slow too. Yet I take pride in my slowness, especially when my brain refuses to wake up, which it did to me today.

So have a great day and remember that tomorrow is the last day to learn what sex 2024 was about.

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At the close of a year

This might be the last article this year (no promises). I have been haunted by a weird dream, but that is not what this is about. You see, the army recognition group gave us yesterday (at https://armyrecognition.com/news/aerospace-news/2024/saudi-arabia-eyes-up-to-100-turkish-kaan-fighter-jets-as-us-made-f-35-remains-inaccessible) ‘Saudi Arabia eyes up to 100 Turkish Kaan fighter jets as US-made F-35 remains inaccessible.’ I know nothing of this plane, so I am not going in that direction. The setting that the US set the inability of the F35 being handed to Saudi hands is worthy of responding to. You see, the pricing of the F35 is set to “$102.1 million for the F-35C.” This means that America lifted their nose at 10 – 25 billion of hard needed income. The planes, the support and engineering surplus and a few other options. I expected that China would ‘swoop’ in to get that money. It is decently plausible that their were more reasons. I am merely setting that this could also mean the end of the Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB), you see, airbases on foreign ground are meant for allies and America has priced them out of that corner. As I see it Anthony Blinken has done away with that option. You see, only two months ago we got “US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday sought to make headway with Saudi Arabia on” whatever ‘his’ administration is ‘worried’ about. You need to have an ally for that and the fact that the F35 has been ‘unavailable’ since 2012. That is over 12 years, so as the F35 faces being optionally phased out by 2030, they lost one of their biggest customers and provisional ally in the Arabic peninsula as I personally see it. 

And America? Well, who needs an ally who is never there? That is the short and sweet part of this all and for Turkey this might be the sweet deal of the century. At some point the UAE and Egypt will also require 5th gen stealth fighters. This will make it harder for America and China to get traction. I never expected that Turkey was on that level, but that shows you what I know of this field.

And this is not the first time America, Europe and China enter behind the fishnet only to end up with nothing. This potential purchase follows Saudi Arabia’s $3.1 billion agreement with Türkiye in 2023 for the acquisition of 60 Baykar AKINCI unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), set for delivery in 2025 and 2026.

So, when was the last time major governments walked away from a potential 15 billion deal? America might shout tariffs and the upcoming said expansion with their 51st state (Canada), but they forget that Canada is part of a Commonwealth and in their views (the Commonwealth) it amounts to a direct assault on the Commonwealth. So when was the last time a nation was engaged with the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and at least two dozen more. If they reject all imports from America, the American economy goes the way of the dodo a lot faster than the dodo did. For China it sounds like a prolonged Christmas. You see, if they get traction with the Commonwealth, a desire they never thought realistic, but going after their largest member Canada might set that deal to nominal.

That as the rejection of billions set a dangerous premise for America and Saudi Arabia can play hard to get in that instance. So the next threat by the president elect Trump will set a minefield around (presumed) Marco Rubio making his job next to impossible. 

But we will see what will happen. In the meantime we should send a congratulatory card to Turkey for this achievement.

And of course the card for the next tenant of the Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB), but that is likely to follow in 2025/2026. As I see it, the next two years are close to essential for the next administration to avoid a governmental garage sale. But what do I know?

Still, in retrospect the dream still bugs me. The dream was a job at ADNOC, in Abu Dhabi. They had an AS400 running SPSS 6.1.3 and it had been gathering dust. It wasn’t working and the people at IBM said it was the fault of ADNOC. In the dream I merely had to remove 2 lines (reading ASCII data), two variables Alphanumeric were making a mess of things and removing the two lines solved 96% of the issue. 96% was fixed in the first hour (well for one job). I needed two additional hours to align the alphanumeric fields. And that took two hours to work out, I used Excel for that (the one Microsoft program Microsoft got right). And with that the first month was back on track. A weird setting, as I know next to nothing of ADNOC, I know that they are in oil, and that is all. I haven’t thought of that program in over 2 decades, so what gives? Well, in part technical support at SPSS was perhaps one of the most fulfilling jobs. But the powers that be didn’t see me as IBM material. O well, such is life. 

Time to head to the end of the year and see what 2025 will bring. 

Have a great day and the optional conclusion of a great year.

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The who now?

Arab News in Pakistan alerted me to news that threw me a bit. The story reads ‘Students in Pakistan’s north embark on over 150-kilometer march for road safety awareness’ (at https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2583931/pakistan) we are given ““This route has been constructed by FWO [Frontier Works Organisation],” he added. “However, the tunnels were not built, and this road has become more dangerous.”” This threw me a bit, you see, I am not versed in this, but shaped by Dutch and Australian education (all the way up to University) I have a certain understanding to certain matters. As I see it, a road is planned is costed and when it is approved it is build. Now I don’t know how it is costed, but I would assume (with a flair for humour) that it is that the cost of a road is set to X (per meter) and the tunnels are given to 2X+(1.5*(6*COS(distance depth))) with an increase of materials by coffee and pie. Added as well are bridges which would cost 4.1314546 times the distance in meters offset by the depth of the crevice traversed. OK, it is clear that I do not know anything about costing roads, but these matters would have been set to papers. So when I was given that the tunnels were never build I went “Huh?” Would that not be an alert to anyone involved in the creation of that traversable distance? And then we are given “Arab News contacted FWO, a construction and engineering organisation managed by the Pakistan Army, for its version. However, it was referred to the local chapter of the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, which did not respond to the query until the filing of this report.” As such there is a likely issue. It comes with the added “It has become a well of death. Accidents are common on this road, and it has devoured many precious lives. A few days ago, five people were killed after a landslide buried their car. We have grown tired of lifting bodies due to accidents.” As such I get why there is a mach for road safety and when we see the connected “Skardu is a major tourism, trekking and mountaineering hub in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region”, I wonder what is going on. When the connected tourism fatalities get exposed to western media (they love western deaths for the flammable digital dollars) we see a much larger setting. The road was partially build, the tunnels (all five) are missing, which means that there is a lot of money somewhere. What happened to that cash?

And as I see it, this visibility is given to us by Shehbaz Shareef, a member of the Baltistan Students Federation (BSF). Whatever the equation is, it represents a lot of money, and the digging equipment wasn’t used so some construction firms are also out of revenue. You see, I expect that a construction and engineering organisation managed by the Pakistan Army might not have all that drill equipment, if they do they have a log file with times been drilling times. So where are those? 

As such this story threw me a bit, as I see it the there are a few lose screws in this story (optionally not intentional and it is not on Arab News). And as we are thinking this over I wonder what I have missed (optionally a few items) but in a setting where there is a balance of debit funds and credit labour costs. In any world the balance is maintained by setting one part against the other and now we see that a man named Shehbaz Shareef is telling us that parts of the equation is completely missing and it will result in lives (plus added costs). So I go “You’re who now?” On the lighter side of things, I just thought of a modern multifunctional Christmas tree. A tree not based on wood (the actual tree) and it all comes with lights. The ornaments are kept separate. It is all in a days work. Some will state that it is a mere x3+y3+z3=k, yet when you realise that there are a few quirks to any “Diophantine equation”. But the question becomes how did Diophantus of Alexandria come to realise that there was a Christmas tree, they didn’t exist at that point. So when you realise that the Fermat equation xd + yd − zd = 0, and now set the premise that you consider  “there is no algorithm that can correctly decide existence of integer solutions for all equations in this family.” Doesn’t that mean that any (so called) AI that is given that will optionally go nuts trying to figure this out cannot accept this unless a programmer sets the exit routine to this faltering setting. Now consider that someone had the building equation ready (by themselves) and realising this implies that someone knew that the tunnels were not there and as such Shehbaz Shareef opened a optionally dangerous hornets nest (as I personally see it). Have you ever seen any clear limelight setting see revelation all whilst the involved parties all had 13 moves to hide the skeletons who appeased certain parties. It is just an idea and I might be wrong, in the meantime I designed another patentable idea. What ever will I do next. Over the next week I will write a little less, all about people bothering me with all kinds of Christmas tree events.

Have a great day, I’ll be dreaming of Canada and the white snowy (and icy) slopes whilst being in a place with a 36 degrees Celsius heat. Have a good one.

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The stage of tomorrow

Yes, many have a tomorrow stage, yet in all fairness as I can see it, the UAE is jumping forward by leaps and bounds. Only today did I see the announcement that was given in April that Harry Potter is coming to Abu Dhabi. The capital of the United Arab Emirates as about to make a dent in tourism. It already was, but now there is even more to enjoy. It already had Waterworld, SeaWorld, Ferrari World, the Yas Mall but now it is enhancing and enlarging Warner Brothers world with the setting of Harry Potter. I don’t know when it will open, but I reckon that it should be ready before the summer will be making its announcement in 2025. For America it might become a nasty shock. Orlando has put a decent effort in making the enhancements to Universal a massive project. The Epic Universe will be five parks in one right next to the original Universal park. And there is enough for all, but it is the first time that the Harry Potter fans in the Arabian peninsula get handed this world to their front door. There is more, because Universal might be seen as more of the same (it is not). But Abu Dhabi is presenting itself as the family outing of choice. This is not merely done through advertisements. The many families and couples visiting these parks are all outspoken positive on their adventure. Not through influencers, simple people. A family from the UK with mom, dad and son show the world what an amazing time they had. An Australian couple (not the Hemsworth family) do exactly the same and YouTube is filled with people who visited these parks and are outspoken positive over the experience. 

Now that Harry Potter is coming Abu Dhabi can be certain that thousands more visitors will be coming their way. In the us (2023) 1247 people were asked how they felt about Harry Potter. Only 3% was not a fan and 47% were avid fans. That implies that Abu Dhabi will be the place to be and with Yas Island where the parks are as well as some hotels are, the people would want to splurge in their 2025 vacation. With several parks in the vicinity (Waterworld and WB are neighbours) with the WB hotel between the two. And on the other side of the hotel is the Yas Mall with Ferrari world. OK, the hotel is 10 minutes from the Yas mall, but there are busses, and in all these places there are affordable food places. There is something for everyone. The United Arab Emirates seems to end the year on a high note and I reckon that there is plenty of fun to be had. 

I reckon that with Dubai being a mere 90 minutes by bus away, there is every reason to have a vacation in both spots. Week one in one place and week 2 in the other place. People could end up having the vacation of a lifetime. 

The one surprising thing for me was the UK couple where they also talk about the prices of the food places they visited. With the comparison of UK prices, the UK seems somewhat expensive in comparison. 

I reckon that as soon as the HP experience comes closer the YouTube presentations will show that Orlando might have priced themselves out of this race. I don’t think that everyone will take the different destination, Epic Universe looks too good for that, but some will rethink where to go to in 2025 and some should at least consider that path. There is no reason to compare the two, but consider that Yas Island has a Wet’n’Wild (Australia) alternative next to Warner Brothers world and with SeaWorld the alternative to the one in San Antonio you see three parks close to one another. Not too many places can offer this, but one of them is Abu Dhabi. And there is much more on this island.

Off-course there is an alternative reason, as the UAE is a zero tax country, the combination for a new Apple or some other thingamajig on the really cheap side makes this an easy choice and with a mere 90 minutes between Dubai and Abu Dhabi the choice for most of you becomes really simple. 

Have a great Thursday, for me it started 45 minutes ago.

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See Eventual Opposition

That is at times the destiny of the CEO, and at times the CEO is offered assassination or is destined to be one. It is a little dark but economies all over the world have set that notion in motion. You might hide behind the old texture of ‘don’t kill the messenger’, yet at times the messenger is the heading of the message. As I see it, at times the multimillion dollar notion that the CEO gets, is his Damocles sword. And that is now more often than not set in actual stone. You see, some CEO’s have shareholders to account to, but what if the account holders are millions in a healthcare? Like most I took notice of the undoing of CEO Brian Thompson. I wasn’t surprised as it was America. But when I saw that the killer was also on terrorist charges, I took notice. At first I saw the CBC article (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/luigi-mangione-tiktoks-glorification-explanation-1.7410769) giving us ‘3 reasons behind the unsettling glorification of Luigi Mangione’. And the story gave me initially more with “A fundraiser for his legal defence raised thousands of dollars before being removed. Online stores are selling T-shirts bearing his face and messages like, “In This House, Luigi Mangione Is A Hero, End of Story.” On TikTok, users posted videos with phrases like “free my man” and “my empathy is reserved for people who deserve it.”” It is flam able ‘hero’ talk and the media loves flames. It makes for easy digital dollars. Then I saw (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/luigi-mangione-murder-terrorism-charge-unitedhealthcare-ceo-1.7413037) ‘Luigi Mangione charged with murder as an act of terrorism’ that got some more attention. CBC was giving us “Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thompson’s death on a midtown Manhattan street “was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we’ve seen that reaction.”” It seems that Alvin Bragg is not shy of the limelight. And as I personally see it, the setting of “intended to evoke terror” feels more like the stage that the friends of Alvin Bragg might be CEO’s of healthcare systems that now fear that their ticket is about to be punched. As I see it, America has 626 health systems, which implies 625 scared CEO’s and one person who is about to become CEO and feels lightly more secure as his predecessor was assassinated. Or as I would like to see it, 625 companies with a number totalling over 330 million people and a lot of them are massively disgruntled. Yes, I reckon that they would be scared. That doesn’t make the ‘act’ of taking out ‘the trash’ an act of terrorism. But I recon that is how these 625 CEO’s would like to see this. 

So why?
As we have seen it, health care in America is falling flat for the longest of times and whilst these people were adamant to see importing medicines from Canada as an act of wrongdoing to the bonus levels of these 625 CEO’s, the people are slightly in a different stage of thinking. As I see it, some might take the cape of a healthcare CEO like a calling. They should be paid, but the setting is that 10 million is a bit much. And the 625 others might be in a similar stage. As the generic (not to exact and optionally wrong) way of thinking is that these people would amount to $6,250,000,000 on an annual level all whilst their members cannot make ends meet and their healthcare is filled with trapdoors and loopholes making their healthcare a debate between lawyers on who gets it and who does not. All that and they are losing millions in available funds. Yes, at that point we see anger and rage fill the hearts of healthcare members.

With the opted setting of “U.S. health insurance companies, as Americans swapped stories online and elsewhere of being denied coverage, left in limbo as doctors and insurers disagreed, and stuck with sizeable bills” and that makes this a terrorist act? Healthcare is broken in America, more than broken, it pretty much failed the people it is supposed to protect. Perhaps the CEO’s need t consider the millions they are taking away from the pool of money available. There are two settings. I am not against the CEO making more, but how much more is the setting that matters and that comes out in the open now. As such we could see the setting of the terrorist charge as a preemptive setting towards others, and in part of the proof that needs to be stated that is to some extent missing here. What makes it terrorism? Perhaps Alvin Bragg, the district attorney might want to make a clear case of that in the media. I do not disagree with the setting that New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch gives us with  “any attempt to rationalise this is vile, reckless and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice.” Perhaps the commissioner might also enlighten us why this former CEO gets 10 million for shafting its customers in the dark. Because however you want to non-vilify the 10 million pay check, but in this stage with millions losing out on care products that they currently can’t afford. 10 million doesn’t hold a candle against the anger of people. And that is also not seen here. So as we take notice of “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping.” I merely ponder the setting with ‘what makes a civilian population?’ 625 CEO’s in a population of 8,258,000 New Yorkers? And then we get ‘Affect the conduct of a unit of government?’ Is a healthcare a government installation? In that case, how come that man got 10 million? Thats more than a general makes with his finger on the nuclear button (or a few other military man). This entire setting is defunct from the word go and there is a lot more and I feel that I disagree, but I have no clear evidence to counter this. As I see it, my view would be the spirit of the law, whilst I will accept black letter law on which I lack view (in this case). 

But we can all agree on one thing, as I (optionally we) see it. Luigi Mangione opened a door that (at least) 625 CEO’s are scared of facing and they are scared to address that directly, so (my speculation) as I see it several of them (perhaps all of them) called them and directed Alvin Bragg to make an example of Luigi Mangione right quick. There is the premise that this will backfire in massive ways and it has been a long time coming, because healthcare was massively broken long before Barack Obama became president on January 20th 2009 and all that time these CEO’s were  speculatively overpaid by a lot. And the people are now angry. It merely reminds us of the setting you can deceive all people for some of the time, some people all of the time, but never can you deceive all of the people all of the time.

Have a great day.

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The meme of nothing

Something made me pause this morning. The actor Tim Russ (Tuvok, Star Trek Voyager) had sent a meme over Twitter. Now in itself this is nothing new, actors and actresses do this to entertain the fans and for the most show their commitment to issues. The meme below was send.

I have seen similar memes for some time and the setting is fine, it is just a useless meme. Like all those people shouting tax the rich. You see America is a nation of laws and there are all kinds of laws. This impacts tax laws and an overhaul has been overdue for over a quarter of a century. I made mention of this as early as June 8th 2014 (over aI made several more mentions, even earlier at that. In this case I wrote “The US gets through taxation a mere 14% of where the debt is at. How is any of that realistic? So, the total collected taxation, before any other cost is taken into account (like paying government staff and utilities), it only amounts to 14%, after all that is done 0.1% is left if the US government gets a fitting budget (something that has not been achieved since president Clinton was in office).”, the debt now is close to 50% larger. So wonder if you will, what is the use of taxing the rich if the law prevents discrimination? Moreover we might want to blame Billy bad boy Gates (Microsoft), Sergei sneaky Brin (Google), Larry Scoundrel Ellison (Oracle), Jeff paperback Bezos (Amazon), Tim the shifter Cook (Apple) or even Andy off-the-books Jessy (Also Amazon). We can call them names, we can blame them. The truth is that they did nothing wrong. They adhered to tax laws, a black letter interpretation if you want, but the problem is not them, it is the people who wrote the laws, the stakeholders that influenced the lawmakers and the politicians who weaselled out for all kinds of selfish reasons. There is no Democratic or Republican blame, they are all to blame from Bill Clinton onwards. The last president in the existence of America who had a surplus in the treasury. It has been that long and and I wrote about it over a decade before, I am pretty sure I raised it a few times before that, but the story should be clear. A setting that has been known for over a decade and the media loves the tax the rich flames. They love cashing in on flames per digital dollar. The rest not so much. So wonder something simple. Am I more intelligent than 334,925,763 Americans? I don’t think so. I am definitely not more intelligent than the five mentioned above and a few dozen more. They knew what was going to happen and as such they aren’t innocent, but they were not guilty either. Guilt should be sought in Washington DC, amongst the lawmakers. They catered to the mess America is in now and these meme’s are entertaining but incorrect. One might surmise that some of the wealth of Jeff Bezos comes from the fact that he can safe on shampoo. A bottle of that stuff costs  £390 in Harrods, so that is money saved in the bank. The rest has hair (as far as I know). 

You think I am making a joke, but there is a hidden flaw in that. You see, shampoo is something we all get to buy, I have no doubt that they have all kinds of expenses that a doctor misses out on. Tax deductions are the game for some and that is pretty much all they can be gotten on. The rest is corporate and that impacts Amazon, Apple, Google, and all other corporations and that is set in law and the lawmakers gave these corporations a huge discount all over the place. So when you go in ‘tax the rich’ mode, consider how useless that mode is. 

As someone told me, when you get access to web camera on Tiananmen Square,

tilt the camera from centre 24.5 degrees to the left and 15 degrees up, you might (might is the operative word) see President Xi stating ‘對富人徵稅’ howling with laughter (I have no idea what he says, I do not know Chinese. But I reckon they are grateful for the easy victory handed to them by American lawmakers no less.

The simplicity is that America gave the world away by giving tax breaks to corporations. And there isn’t much time left, there might not be any time left. As I personally see it, in the age of President Trump the corporations will clean house, give the bonuses to the board of directors and they will all split to a zero tax place with no extradition. You might call me out on that, but that is how I see the world change and they will leave whatever is left behind to clean up the mess. It will go gradually, but I reckon that these five people will have at least one apartment in Monte Carlo, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Nassau or Lichtenstein and they will get some diplomatic status so that they cannot be extradited to America. 

You want to doubt this, fine. But the reality for over a decade will have been clear. The taxation does not show or warrant the amount of debt America has and Economists all over the world either never said anything or the media kept it quiet. Your choice in what happened. I actually cannot tell. I can only see the numbers, not the reality behind that. I am not an economist, but I reported this for over a decade, so I feel fine. I leave it up to you to dig into the matter how others (with economic degrees) didn’t see this. And when the next bubble comes (the thing they refer to AI) and the so called trillions of revenue, that bubble is as I see it an excuse for some on whatever mattering reason to remain in denial that it was a simple error (in stead of that it never was possible) and they will walk away with whatever they can afford. 

Bubbles are only useful as long they are still presented when that falls down (I reckon within 1-2 years) the setting changes from what they think is bad to actually severely disastrous. And it was never going to be solved via memes.

As I see it the meme doesn’t lie, but the impact goes in the wrong direction and has been going in the wrong direction for over a decade. There was an urgency for my selling my IP and I would rather be in a pace with some actual money then be thrown in the midst of desperate people seeking someone to blame, but that’s just me. 

Have a great day.

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The statistics are against me

Yup, that happens and I don’t believe it is a worrying issue. You see, it started a little over a year ago and I created my first (sort of) script. It is called ‘How to assassinate a politician’ which I later ‘reset’ to ‘Essay’. MY first script was meant specifically for an islamic audience which could have graced the walls of the UAE or the Saudi media bosses. I saw the story and it was my response to an Islamophobe population. And how to better serve it than to assassinate the biggest European islamophobic of all Geert Wilders (now PM of the Netherlands). I thought it was an excellent idea (a pure personal thought). Yet now I am confronted with ‘How the creative economy drives growth in the Middle East’ (at https://economymiddleeast.com/news/how-creative-economy-drives-growth-middle-east/). Here I see “In the UAE, a global creative hub, Dubai Media City is home to a talent pool of over 40,500 creative professionals”, so what was I thinking? Well, the short of this is that I write to feed the creative beast in me. I was unaware of just how large the Media City population was, and if you go by that setting you will never get anything done.

And whilst you are mulling over “The UN Trade and Development Creative Economy Outlook 2024 highlights the crucial role of creative industries in global trade and economic growth. According to the UNCTAD survey, the creative economy contributes between 0.5 percent and 7.3 percent of GDP and employs 0.5 percent to 12.5 percent of the workforce in various countries. “The creative economy has the right forces pushing its sails. This is not just art. It is an economic powerhouse that we must harness together, leaving no one behind,” stated Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of UNCTAD.”” You see, it is nice to hide behind numbers at one setting, but the source of the numbers matter a well. I find a little worrying setting behind the statement “The creative economy has the right forces pushing its sails. This is not just art. It is an economic powerhouse that we must harness together, leaving no one behind” my issue is in one direction “leaving no one behind”, which is nice, but that is a political statement and Grynspan was in the past Grynspan was a professor and researcher at the Economic Science Research Institute at the University of Costa Rica. This is not some anti statement. I always wonder and become ‘skeptical’ when a politician makes a “leaving no one behind” in their setting. Because that tends to rally towards “We were however forced to make choices” and that always goes at the expense of Art, especially when dollar numbers are involved. That and the setting of “employs 0.5 percent to 12.5 percent of the workforce in various countries”, which is quite the distribution. So where is it 12.5%? Hollywood with its 153,859 villagers? Some other consideration would be ‘the UNCTAD survey’, which I am not attacking now, as I have never read it. But the stage of a survey calls with me the setting of data. What data? What was filtered? How was it collected? What nations participated? Indonesia has around 277.5 million people, how many does its media (online and other) have? Simple questions really. 

When we dig into the matter, we see “Middle Eastern countries recognise the potential of the creative economy. In the region, the intersection of the digital and creative industries, in particular — encompassing the use of artificial intelligence (AI), Web3, and virtual reality — is driving innovation and economic diversification.” I still shiver at the notion that AI does not yet exist, no matter how many players boom the bubble of the AI vibe, it does not yet exist and we need to take notice of this. It might be fuelling the desire for it to be here, but it isn’t and when the world starts wondering the simple equation of “LLM’s vs AI” and true data parsing, its verification process and programmers with its algorithms the statement “According to a white paper by Dubai Design District and Dubai Media City, the global digital creative economy could grow by 11 percent annually, reaching a staggering AED27 trillion by 2030.” I fear for the fallout it precedes. And like the other papers the question of population, collection and reading the data will get a much higher priority. I winder how certain power players will address and respond to “a staggering AED27 trillion by 2030”, you see, joy of a revenue is nice, but the fear of it falling short in 5 years will be on the forefront of nearly every mind who depended on this fuelling stage. 

There is a side I fully agree with. It is seen in “In November, Dubai Media City underscored the essential role of multicultural creativity at this year’s Global Media Congress held in ADNEC Center Abu Dhabi.” I believe that true creativity can only be seen in a multicultural setting as such the UAE has a jump on all other nations as I personally see it and even as I shiver at the 40,500 setting (I am not debating or attacking it) I understand that my script had very little chance to begin with. I am still proud I wrote it and there are three more coming (not with Islamic values in mind), but that is the state of the world. Creativity is where our thoughts take us. And we respond as we would or as we can. The first one was islamic in nature, but that doesn’t mean all will be and multicultural is the first step of being truly creative. What matters to me are a few things and the stage of the numbers is one, articles rarely spell that out and as such it becomes my setting that I wish I knew more of UNCTAD and their numbers, because it is at the heart of the matter here. And here is the spiller (or killer). You see, the UN Trade and Development has a UNCTADstat Data centre. I took a look (at https://unctadstat.unctad.org/datacentre/) where I found “International trade in creative services: estimates for individual economies” an experimental part that has data from 2010 to 2018 and shows us Saudi Arabia, but not the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as such I wonder where the numbers are coming from. The article does not give us that part. I saw the Creative Economy Outlook 2024. The word ‘Statistics’ is given to us 23 times, and always with references like {Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2022. UNCTAD/DITC/TAB/2023/2. Geneva.} Yet the report gives us no real numbers (like raw data) or the reference to raw data has exactly 0 hits. As such I tend to have a more skeptical view on such a presentation. As such when ‘confirming’ the survey, I see another ‘hitch’ the fact that the phrase ‘in countries where data is available’ is missing from the article. It happens, but as I see it, it is kinda sloppy. With the rather large setting shown (in the UN pdf) that we see “inputs received through the 2024 UNCTAD Survey on the Creative Economy from the following countries: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Benin, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Seychelles, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uzbekistan and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” And here we get the other shoe dropped. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are not mentioned at all. This is not on these countries, but as I see it The editorial of the Middle East economy has a little explaining to do (as I personally see it), it might be merely semantics, but that is at times how I roll.

And there is more on the graphics, one pie chart merely shows Saudi Arabia and the UAE as part of the EMEA region, as such I wonder which part of the 21% is Europe, because that sets a much larger premise of advertisement per region and population. There is no real way that Saudi Arabia and the UAE can compete in advertising against a population of 742 million europeans. As such I start to develop questions (as I would).

Well that was it for now, I’ll add the United Nations PDF at the bottom, it took me less than 10 minutes to scope out the questions you see here and if I took a little more time I will find a lot more. But that is the setting of a political brief (as I see it), I also didn’t see (I might have missed that) on the definition of the media and what sources are set to what medium. You see, there is a chart on Global video games revenues, and predictively set (based on data) this is always an upward spiral because there are no sources (or data) available for the Playstation 6, the Nintendo Switch 2, or the Tencent handheld. They are the tomorrow systems and there is no data on any of that a present. But the larger audiences are already looking into these parts. So what gives on the data?

A mere simple question that has no easy answer, I get that, because presumption is always on what is known, but take the simple setting in 2012 the PS4 was released. It got more than 50 million consoles out and obliterated the Microsoft product. In 2016 Microsoft merely gave us all Xbox live numbers. So when we see that, what numbers does UNCTAD have to set the Total video games revenue from 225 to 312 billion and Video games advertising from 75 to 137 billion between 2023 and 2027? A lot higher than Traditional games which went from 55 to 62 billion? The numbers do not reflect each other. As you might guess that sets gaming in a dead drop against advertisement, a bad business practice as I personally see it. And I could go on but when you see it was a forecast based on PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2023-2027 (so based on what numbers?) This is merely what I found in under an hour. As such question all numbers that have no accompanying response setting (aka N). 

Also when we get the Countries with the most significant art markets by value of sales in 2023 and we see USA, France, UK, China and other with France at 7% and other at 15%, where do the UAE and Saudi Arabia end up? Consider that a place with 40,500 members do not surpass France and are part of the 15% What is the setting for them? I wonder if the Middle East Economy had those questions in mind when they released that story. As I see it a simple question really.

Have a great Monday.

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What is it?

You know the setting that came (if I remember correctly) from the original TV-series ‘The Untouchables. The start was always “the names have been changed to protect the innocent”, what if it becomes “The names have been changed for the progression of greed”? As such we get:

This was a simple story, I am all about the stories and about the settings of an RPG. In that setting you cannot have a one track mind and as I see it the people forcing us into advertisements for the need of greed, need to be stopped. I am not against advertisements, I am against forcing it down our throats, which is why some of the IP I created will not allow advertisements and that is how I see it. Some will be fine with it, others are not (the greedy people). And I created this setting to fight the overwhelming setting of greed.

And I needed a hobby for this Sunday. What is more lovely than to create an offset to ‘Microsoft’s ad revenues surge 19% in latest quarter’ with this? So do I mind that they recorded Revenues were $64.7 billion, Net income was $22 billion. No, I do not. It is wrong to okay Google and say it is wrong for Microsoft to make that penny. I believe that it is wrong to force it down out throats. That where marketeers come into play. And they must be stopped, their hinger for advertising is insatiable and my idea stops it to some extent. When the world does something to stop insatiable greed we will have a chance, but I won’t hold my breath. So my creative mind selected an idea to stop them. Creativity yay. 

Have a lovely day.

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Calling a bluff

That happens, some people bluff and others tend to call the bluff. That is the setting that president elect Trump called on himself. We all heard how the upcoming Trump administration called the setting that they opened. They threatened the Canadian Trudeau administration on tariffs when “Trump threatened in a social media post to apply devastating levies of 25% on all goods and services from both Mexico and Canada, vowing to keep them in place until “such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country!”” As I see it, a larger setting that the US called upon itself. The war on drugs has been going on since June 17, 1971, during which President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse “public enemy number one”. I get that, drugs are the filth of any civilisation. Perhaps America could have changed tactics decades ago, when it was set to ‘the black population’, being white an wealthy enabled cocaine habits, all whilst crack users got the bulk of the heavy punishment. I cannot voice any opinion because it is too far from my bed. Yet the media used that setting to give us “New Jack City” and “Boys N the Hood” with an entertaining “Cocaine bear” for good measure. I reckon that “Traffic” is one of the best views on the subject (there are many I never saw).

So after half a century of failure the President elect Trump now blame the neighbouring countries. Well two can play at that. In the first I suggest any American arrested on drug charges (outside of USA) get the death penalty. No options, no trials, just point and click the gun. In the second we consider the stage that Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford is suggesting (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/12/canada-ontario-premier-trump-tariffs). With ‘Ontario leader threatens to halt energy exports to US if Trump imposes tariffs’. This is actually not a bad move (better than my idea). At present we have the idea that Canada’s revenue from electricity exports to the United States hit a record high of C$ 5.8bn. Quebec is the largest exporter, with Ontario following second at 13.9m megawatt-hours of power sent south. Of course the setback is that Ontario loses that near essential revenue. But consider that America loses 13.9m megawatt-hours of power which adds to the hardship America has at present and the next 2 quarters that hardship could be seen as close to debilitating. 

So should the Trump administration push the tariff bluff, the payback that follows is nothing short of a banger of a payback. I see all these bad press moments of Doug Ford, I cannot answer whether they are valid, but I reckon this one is on point and only 6 hours ago we were also given ‘Ontario premier suggests stopping US liquor imports over Trump tariff threat’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/13/ontario-trump-tariff-liquor) not a big thing for the non alcoholics and lets face it, Ryan Reynolds gives us Gin (perhaps soon Canadian Gin too), Dan Ackroyd (part Canadian) gives us Crystal Head Vodka and Canada also has its Whiskey types. As such, it will hurt America a lot more than it will Canada. 

There are other drinks that come from outside of the USA. There is Jenever (Dutch Gin, Netherlands), Gin (UK), Aquavit and Absolute Vodka (Sweden) not to mention the dozen of wines from the French speaking regions (like France). Oh, and Raki and Ouzo are Greek. As such plenty of non-American options. As I personally see it, the response to the Trump bluff will be countered in a few ways and it is my belief that the Trump Administration will be forced to do a 180 degree on the spot, that is if they would like to keep their other ventures running somewhat smooth. 

I personally think that Doug Ford called an upcoming bluff in several ways and all are promising answers to the situation that Canada is in no way to blame for. So what do they want? A 8,891 km wall? Who pays for that? As I see it, the war was essential for a long time, but as the ‘law’ unfairly differentiate the rich and the pour on drugs, this was never going in any direction fast. 

It seemed like such an easy solution but that was never go down well, because the complexities that American law allowed for made it way too complex (as I personally see it).

Have a great weekend, Toronto joins un on this Saturday in 2 hours.

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Demands from the people

That is what buzzed through my mind when I was confronted with ‘Australia wants to make digital platforms pay for news — even if they block it, like Meta did here’ a mere hour ago (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/australia-social-media-ban-1.7408426) You see, the media (and politics) are so willing to make social media the bad apple. It must come at a price. 

I have more issues with “The Australian government said Thursday it will tax large digital platforms and search engines unless they agree to share revenue with Australian news media organisations.” You see, soon others (like game makers) will rely on other means to get revenue and this is a handle that allows them to get a slice of it. Of course there are all kinds of ways that these are monitored and that will open even more doors. To be honest I look at Australian media less then a dozen times a year at present. They are that much trivialised by themselves. 

As such Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland created a new problem (as I see it). How to police the media, because that is the second hurdle. There is at that point no longer “the people have a right to know”, it becomes all the people should get to know. The difference seems trivial, but it is not. And as a third base, it is no longer an option to filter the news. Stakeholders and share holders do not get to tell the audience that it is in their best interest. No, no, it all becomes available to everyone at that point. I wonder how long it will take for political parties to see that they tied their own shoelaces together. 

As such it will (I speculate) too long for the media to seek another path to managing their own news. And the bar will be set massively low when other parties hide behind ‘right to express yourself’ into a setting not unlike ‘we communicate our news to the world’ and that is merely the beginning. Soon thereafter every cause will have a ‘news’ cycle because they are given free money by the Australian government. I think that Meta, Google and TikTok are already aware of that danger. It seems like the media will soon see the demand from the people and some will see this as ‘newsworthy’ demanding a few coins from Google (et al) in the process. 

As I see it, there will soon be a rush for coins from nearly every location. Have a great Friday, I am about to gander to the breakfast table.

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