November 19, 2023 · 04:03

Speculating towards something?

That is the setting, I have been keeping my eyes on Bangladesh for more than one reason. You see, Bangladesh with its 170,000,000 people represent an upcoming population that has never been considered for several retail groups, but that nation could become a more important group. China sees this, Saudi Arabia sees this and that is where the next article comes into play. The article (at https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2023/11/18/japan-brings-bangladesh-into-the-folds-of-new-security-framework/) gives us ‘Japan brings Bangladesh into the folds of new security framework’ which also gives us “Japan maintains economic partnerships with most Asian countries, particularly Bangladesh. Dhaka has received around US$25 billion in development and economic assistance from Tokyo since 1972 and around US$9.2 billion of this has been overseas development assistance.” I believe it is one truth, but not the one that matters to Japan. When America implodes, so will Japan, unless they make new friends fast. And when Japan embraces 170 million Muslims, they stand a chance to get some relief from Saudi Arabia and optionally the UAE too. That is what I am speculating is behind this move. Yes, there is a stage that Japan can use for retail purposes, but there is a larger stage. As per March, Japan is dealing with a $9.2 trillion debt. When America collapses (not if, when) Japan will lose a lot more and whatever they have banked against the dollar will fall away, as such Japan needs another path. China is not one due to historical stages, Russia is equally unavailable. As such this path seems the most intelligent one and even as it is not the best path, it might be one of the few left available to the former friends of the United States. And in continuation of this speculation, when things implode, the BRICS players would like to keep as many as larger players on their side as possible and Japan is not great, it is a huge economic player. 

So as I see it (and I could be wrong), Japan and a few others will need to realign their priorities in allies and economic sides and Japan seemingly just made their first move. I wonder when either Saudi Arabia or the UAE will set another path towards Indonesia and its 273 million citizens. This makes the setting fro BRICS a larger one, with two additional nations they get almost half a billion consumer and this is the stage that is merely in its starting place. When these two nations get the chance to become workers in Neom, optionally additional domains we get a new setting for economy and that is where Japan is banking on. It is trying to get a slice of that pie and as America has been in denial of too much we see that their ‘friends’ are reevaluating their options and there is now an optional case that Japan made the first move. 

Am I right? Am I wrong?
That remains the question, my speculative view comes from the data available to me, it does not make me correct, but I see it that I am more likely than not correct. A stage we all faced. I am willing to become critical of my view, slice and dice it, merge the data streams and see what I can prove through that. I am still a decent amount away from proving it all, but I feel that It is clear that Bangladesh wasn’t merely for some security framework, the larger stage is still in play. It is still fluidic but the media at large is less and less reliable. Consider the media streams that gave ANY view on this stage and then ask yourself the question why did they not make mention of it? 

Just 20 hours until my weekend is over, enjoy yours.

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November 18, 2023 · 07:21

A song in my heart

We all have these moments, we all get that moment that our heart starts to sing and it is never for one reason. It can be a woman (Laura Vandervoort), it can be a video game (Horizons Forbidden West), a movie (John Wick 4). There are different reasons fuelled with anticipation, desire and longing. The heart picks up on this and sings. For me this started in 1982. A mini series on TV caught my attention. It was the exploration of John BlackThorne (Richard Chamberlain) of Japan. It was probably the first time I saw something on the historical side of Japan. We saw the titan Toshiro Mifune and I am decently certain it was the first event I saw with him. Over time I saw more, we saw the Portuguese version of Gimli, portrayed by John Rhys-Davies, Yoko Shimada, Alan Badel and many more. The work of James Clavell brilliantly set to TV. It was a few years later when I got the VHS edition and another decade until I got the DVD. It was a few years ago when I tired to get the Bluray edition, however unsuccessful. I still have the DVD’s. I must have seen the series several times since the 1982 introduction. It never stopped bringing joy to my heart. So when I saw a new trailer, the trailer to the 2024 remake, my heart basically went bug-nuts.

Now we will get to see the cycle from Blackthorne and Toranaga, now portrayed by Cosmo Jarvis and Hiroyuki Sanada. We have seen Sanada in several things (well, you could have). There was 47 Ronin, Helix and several others. I know it will be a few months, and several more until I will be able to get the 10 episodes on Bluray, but the idea in itself makes my heart sing. One of the more prestigious series I have ever seen will be remastered and with the evolution of special effects and camera options, guided by a new cast with decades of insight we are optionally treated to a series that will overwhelm the senses, at least that is what I am hoping for. The 1980 version was ‘only’ 5 episodes, but the pilot and finale were 3 hours each, as such the new version might be on par with that. Yet I am not trivialising this, the original version was a titan and it still is, it stands next to I Claudius as the best drama in history and they have had their positions for half a century, as such the remake will have quite the challenge to equal. I have no doubt that the cast is up to the task. Hiroyuki Sanada is very much on near equal footing as Toshiro Mifune is. His list of achievements is a decent indication of that. The rest? Well, I hope to learn this in about 15 weeks when the first episode airs and I do hope it is something I will be able to see, although it is much more likely I will get the Blu-ray on day one (preferably before December 2024). 

For now I feel great and it is Saturday (nice bonus). Shogun returns renewed and I can’t wait to see it. I am enjoying the weekend, I hope you will too.

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November 17, 2023 · 19:09

It’s that time again

Yes, America has Thanksgiving, they have Christmas and now they have stopgap (4 times a year). You see, yesterday the news was given (at https://arab.news/vysbu) with ‘US Senate passes stopgap funding bill to avert government shutdown’ I made mention of this on October 2nd with ‘An altering stage’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/10/02/an-altering-stage/)where I gave the readers “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” and I actually got it exactly right. Yes,. There was a stopgap now, but that is not a budget, as such Americans face the same dance around December 29th, just as the year ends. So when the stopgap isn’t coming through things will turn bad really really fast. Consider the thought that the bulk of approximately 2.79 million civil servants will be set out in the cold just after Christmas. As such how deeply disturbing will this become? All this because for 25 years America decided not to overhaul the tax laws. Lets be clear, this was ALWAYS going to happen, but with overhauled tax laws they would have had an additional year to get their act together, now their end of game moment comes in stages of stopgaps. All to stop the government from falling over. We might see the populist setting from others with their ‘tax the rich’ but it is a farce, a joke that has no way to go. A complete overhaul was the only option and now with BRICS and China pushing in on the little revenue they had left, they have no options now and their competitors are moving in on whatever revenue they had left. Is it doomsday speech? To some degree, but it is laced with reality. The debt of $31,000,000,000,000 is real and that interest will exceed $310,000,000,000 annual, all whilst we see articles that America is a mere 18th on the list. Yes, it is flimflam presentations. We get that Japan is in deeper waters, but not by much. We see the flimflam approach towards % or GDP, but when you look at the outstanding interest and the simple setting that 100% annual taxation in America doesn’t even cover the interest bill, the larger stage is seen that this is a decliner with no escape. And all that is before we see the impact of infrastructure bills (like paying civil servants). The stage is not a nice one, but America did this to themselves and as the rich and the large corporations become ‘transient’ out of America could be the killing nail that shows the stupidity of several administrations that refused to overhaul tax laws. And when this goes south fast, debts will implode and those owning US treasury bonds will lose whatever they thought they had. That is the nightmare scenario that is showing to become an optional reality ever 45 days from now. Until when? Until it goes wrong. 

Enjoy the day, it is Friday here now. The weekend is starting for the Pacific, the west needs to wait the better part of a day.

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November 16, 2023 · 20:24

Just a tally

Yes, we like our tallies, it gives us a feel of accomplishment even if what is behind that tally is beyond our control. I have tallied my way through life and even as some was directly applicable to me, some was not.

Yet there is a realisation and it sets off at the very beginning. The realisation of comparison. I might have a tally that includes 2 21 year old women, 1 22 year old and 4 23 year old, without comparison and meaning it is a little hollow. If it is your ‘black book’ some will applaud, when it is your achievements in a retail shop a lot less so, especially when it involved a mall.So one with out the other is meaningless and the other way around it tends to be pointless.

So here we are looking at

And we are given the numbers. But what does it mean? You see the Dutch Army had at the height of the cold war age 1000 tanks, at the moment according to some sources it merely has 18 tanks (no idea how correct that is). And as you see, the Russians have lost 5,362 tanks during its Ukrainian offensive. This becomes a whole different crumbled cookie when you consider that (according to one source) has 12,556 tanks. Now the tally becomes a much larger consideration. This implies that on what I consider to be a meaningless war, a war of terror they lost 42% of all tanks, as such the Russian armoured assault power has almost diminished by 50%, that ain’t nothing that is half the battle gone against an armed force that was considered 21st on the world ranking list. As such the tally continues and when you consider that they lost 22 warships, all whilst the UK has a total of 70 warships. This might not seem much against the 290 that Russia is supposed to have, but if the spread of that navy is anything to go by Russia is indeed in trouble on several fronts. Now we might giggle and expect scenes from the battleship Potemkin to become a reality. The supply and support issues we have seen in recent days might not make that setting too unrealistic. Now that Ukraine has access to more modern airplanes, the 322 they lost will up by a lot soon enough. Yet they were supposed to have 900 of these bad boys and well over q third is now gone and that was before the F16’s were roaring over Ukrainian sky. A meaning less war, based on lies and Russia seemingly have lost 50% of its tanks and 33% of its fighter jets and that is all before we see the losses of helicopters and 313,000 troops. On the other hand that means that over 250,000 Russian women are cold at night. Can we reintroduce the concept of prima nocta in St Petersburg? 

I might not be a monarch, but at times I am just like any other horny little teenager. Is it fair? Nope, but they weren’t fair on Ukraine either so something needs to give. In addition, this might be the first time in history that Russian gender imbalance was so outspoken, as such beyond the military parts, the Russian social parts will also see changes and impacts all over the field. In addition, as the gender curve changes, the jobs that have been overwhelmingly male will also change. It will not immediately meltdown the economic vibe in the larger cities, but there will be a larger impact. There is no upside for Russia, the dead do not contribute and it cost the Russian government nothing. Conscription is up and when over 17 you can now be drafted into the Russian army. On the other side we see “aims to increase spending by around 25% in 2024, with record amounts going on defense” yet that is also a loaded stage. You see tanks ned time to get assembled, planes need assembly and the labour force required is currently down by a lot. All that I saw coming close to a year ago. We are also given (source: ABC News) “Record low unemployment, higher wages and targeted social spending should help the Kremlin ride out the domestic impact of pivoting the economy to a war footing, but could pose a problem in the long term” and no one considered the impact of no tenants, the pricing bubble of apartments, especially in St Petersburg and Moscow and several other linked factors. All that was optionally visible with a mere tally. 

When you diminish 300K people it might not seem a lot on the scale of Moscow (12 million) or St. Petersburg (250K) but overall that impacts start counting in several ways and there is one little thing the Russians overlooked. The dead do not pay taxation, so how will that increased budget come to pass? Something will have to give way and that doesn’t spell well for the current population of Russia. Suddenly my reference towards prima nocta doesn’t sound too weird, does it? You see we overlook that in WW2, the Nazi’s relied on 34,000 women over 500 Nazi-run brothels across occupied Europe to keep their troops in check. So how long until Russia takes a page from that charter? 250,000 women all manless and all serving mother to be Russia. The tally does not make sense, but to some it starts adding up to a new setting and behind all that is Bratva, a group overlooked by too many and now that their bosses have lost their capital in the west and their homes all over the west they will start getting creative fast. When you see the tally and what it connects to you get new iterations of what could be, not what should be and the nice thing about a tally it is a one dimensional application of simple numbers. 

I get it, some will frown, some will say I am wrong, but they will all be worried. I took the simplest application of numbers and took a gander on where it COULD lead to. In my defense, the path of the greed driven tends to be highly predictable, but that is merely my view on the matter.

Enjoy the day.

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November 16, 2023 · 01:48

Time of the signs

This is the stage we at times face. It is not a sign of times. Time was not the operator here, the signs were and some remained in denial. One of the better game reviewers (Eurogamer) gave us ‘More people are playing Skyrim on Steam than Starfield’ today (at https://www.eurogamer.net/more-people-are-playing-skyrim-on-steam-than-starfield). There are a few issues, but that is not on Eurogamer. We get the setting that on Steam Skyrim versus Starfield ends up being 15,386 – 11,563, as such on steam a 12 year old program has more traction than Starfield. Skyrim is great, it still is. Skyrim was a 90%+ game and that matters, good games always do, all whilst Starfield is barely getting above 80%, in one case it is a mere 70%. That is the impact of mediocrity and Microsoft has spend billions on that. 

In contrast, Sony’s Spiderman 2 has sold over 5 million copies. Compare that to the Starfield list of what some say is “the game sees over 504074 daily players on average”, a mere 10%.

A game that is shooting itself in the foot by being merely on 2 systems. It was the right of Microsoft to bar it from Sony systems, they did spend all that money, but now the stage changes. New (and at times free IP) will be pushing in on that field and with the small announcement that “It’s fair to say, it will probably be a while before we hear anything more about how The Elder Scrolls 6 is progressing” the new players get almost free reign with creating RPG IP and that setting gets worse for Microsoft when the Tencent Technology handheld is released. 

So we see that modders are trying to improve the program, we see more and more that Starfield was not worth the hype, although with the lack of games that Microsoft has on its contraption, it might be the only thing on that system. In the meantime we see Sony pushing ahead and they did not have to spend a total of around $80,000,000,000 for Bethesda, Mojang and Blizzard their goose is properly cooked. We see all kind of half baked release signals by no one is setting the stage of what ACTUALLY will be released and when. In the meantime Microsoft will ned up with more and more competitors. And we get it Bethesda will not rush ahead and that is fine and perhaps they will create a new titan in RPG, they basically have done that 4 times already, but this time around 108,000,000 gamers are not connectable as Microsoft is making Bethesda games exclusive to their system and that includes the 40 million PS5 players. The not so nice part for Microsoft is that if there is even one successful new RPG IP, Microsoft will miss out on a lot more and after all that money they spend, what a shame. And with some stating on Redfall “Very mediocre game at launch. Combat feels sluggish and unpolished. Characters and dialogue are uninteresting” is merely one side, you see that proper game testing is essential and as I see it that baton was passed in both Redfall and Starfield. You see when we are given “Bethesda released another Starfield beta update, its second such patch in November” my mind wanders in another direction. You see the game was OFFICIALLY released on September 6th 2023, so why do we see ‘beta’ patches months later? And when you start looking, you will find a lot more. You see, none of that is fair on Bethesda, yet as they are now part of Microsoft, they will endure a lot more and the Arkane failure (Redfall) didn’t help much. Now their last straw will be a news Elder Scrolls and that is seemingly not out until 2025, as such several developers will have the field to create something that holds up to scrutiny and when they do the damage will be on Bethesda (and as such on Microsoft too). They already have felt damage from the Horizons games (both of them) and number three is coming. When is utterly unknown but if they get it out before the end of 2024 Microsoft will be handed another painful defeat and now it is AFTER they spend all those billions. The stage I tried to push for is coming to terms and should Tencent Technologies (or Amazon) take my share towards 50 million users, Microsoft will diminish. None of this is fair on Bethesda, but that is what they signed up for and the steam numbers show that they had glorious days, but a lack of gamers is about to undo whatever they created between 2005 and 2019. It saddens me because Bethesda had great gaming moments. Even now I am hoping that Oblivion and Fallout 3 will make it to PS5, these games were that good. But the Microsoft stage is different and leaves no place for Sony. The one fear I have is that they will create some kind of portal to capture user data of all Sony players. There is absolutely no evidence for that, but Microsoft needs data, it lacks data. Google has one side, Amazon has another side and Sony and Nintendo have the final side. A triangle of data and Microsoft is the piggy in the middle and that game is already frustrating with merely two players against the piggy, in this setting (as I personally see it) Microsoft is wearing itself out a lot more than Don Quixote rushing after windmills and in all that the profit they seek is no Dulcinea. 

It is at best the old hag from some old movie we all forgot about.

It is the time of the signs and one of those signs are the old days, the old days where developers saw that fun was a determining factor, something too many developers have forgotten about. I wonder how many other developers Microsoft will drag down before they realise that they are merely making it harder on themselves to hold onto anything at all. When it was merely one console it was fine, but now it is billions in several directions and the hardship is merely increasing from what already is and with 2 more players adding into that field the setting becomes unsustainable for Microsoft and as such for a player like Bethesda as well. Perhaps they will create the next Elder Scrolls to be a 95%+ game and I hope that they do, because it will up the level of games all over the field, at present it is not likely to increase gaming quality, sad. Really really sad.

The latter part of the week is now in play for me. I wonder what I will find in 16 hours.

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November 15, 2023 · 13:23

Considerations

We all have them and in this I am no different. As I was mulling things over, my mind saw the end of season 3 of Kenos Diastima. Things were falling into place and even as I was going in that general direction, my mind set in place the specifics of that setting. As these cogs turn and turn I was seeing the setting that got the story to there, and I have forever in the stage to end that series at season 3, a story with an open ending. Like the famous director Terry Gilliam I love open endings. A stage where the viewer gets to mull over what comes next. It leaves me with a sense of accomplishment. In that same way I also considered additions to the last two episodes of Engonos. On that note, I thought I had put the story here already. However I did not find the image.

My mind saw an additional cog, an additional layer to add to the story to the conclusion of season You see, what if we add a pinch, a setting for more and it is all linked to the fountains of Tartarus. These fountains were the ingenuity of Heaphestus and they are surrounding the palace of 

Hades. As I recall there are 32 of them in three styles. The image you see merely represents (to some degree) one of the styles, but they are important and they aren’t nice and they are also a form of defence for the palace. The inner layer being eternally protected by the damned Myrmidon. They are not nice and they never will be. They are kept in place as they ignored the orders given to them and grandpa was always a stickler for rules. Those who weren’t oath breakers but slide the rules of the ‘game’ off the beat end up in eternal service of Hades and he does not waste. Myrmidons were trained better than any other soldier in that time and they were ‘rewarded’ with eternal protection of the palace. It is all they know and they do not play nice. As such his lair is plenty protected, not that anyone would want to attack it. One does not attack the lair of a god, not even in Tartarus.

So as my mind started to make sense of the developing story I saw that I had already opened the link with Heaphestus, so that part is good, I merely have to add a few tiny bits and that part is clear. As I was going over all that the story I handed out yesterday on a Final Draft project management starts making more sense, becomes more clear and more defined. Locations, people, objects optionally a graphical representation of all the elements. In that stream of data the story is disassembled into elements and as such anything missing or unconnected becomes clear, shows up clearly and that allows for a better story a more robust narration and it all improves the quality of the story. As FX had as a slogan ‘the story is everything’ especially to a story teller. But everyone, including me needs the right tools. With Pages a writer writes the story, but we all get it that for a script Final Draft is the better tool. I reckon that as you have more projects, managing any project becomes the top need. 

So as my mind is tinkering with Onganos and Kenos Diastima I also see that the season 2 midpoint will need work and it all makes sense. Not everything should be in a cliffhanger. I have nothing against them, but at times a mid season conundrum fuels the soul of the watcher, making it a more defined experience. All this and soon there is more on other matters too, but that will be for later today.

Enjoy the upcoming mid-week. 

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November 14, 2023 · 11:00

A gap preceding a gap

This is a difficult article to write. A lot of it is speculation, optionally presumption. Yet if someone tells me that presumption, due to my lack of knowledge is inappropriate I would accept that. My mind wandered and I saw a weakness in a program called Final Draft. It is not really a weakness, but it could be THEIR opportunity. This site is debatable for them, but to be the more rounded solution would enable them to create a larger gap behind whomever are following them. 

My mind saw Ryan Reynolds (yes, the Canadian actor) starting talks with some guy named David Thomson. Not entirely sure what the conversation was about. But Ryan saw a new opportunity that grew from his insight in MNTN (www.mountain.com). You see the narrative of advertisement in changing. In that view we all focus on the advertisement themselves, but the larger stage is now becoming Development, production, deployment and so on. As such Final Draft might optionally be best to offer a new setting on Final Draft v13. 

You see, the missing part of project management. Even as there are some solutions, they are generic, for these people having one that is specific for Final Draft with timelines (somewhat similar to Monday dot com) would benefit Final Draft greatly. 

And it isn’t just for large companies, indie developers and script writers would be able to use it as well. Especially in scripts that have more than one season you want to see time lines, to test whether the scrutiny holds up and in that way advertisement companies could use the same setting. I reckon that the larger companies all have their own solutions, but Final Draft is used in over 60 countries and when you think of it, there is a larger pressing need to use project management solutions catered and tinkered to media and advertisement. Excel (not the worst solution) will no longer suffice in these places and as media corporations have a more distributed purview, that purview requires management with timelines, with options to see where pressure points arise and even more important when idle time and zero hours become too abundantly visible. We all have idle time at times, but when you have an entire crew on 40-80 hour idle time the cost will start to show and that impacts the margins and profit stages. 

For the simple developer (like myself) seeing the timelines and the completion times are also important. Not the fact of pressure, but to see where the lag is and whether certain parts were overlooked. It is the stage where the working project is set to a 90% complete versus 95% complete starts to show. If we take the old rule that completion of 5% past 90% has the same timeline as the first 60%, that gain is easily suppressed when you have a project file seeing what you optionally overlooked and in advertisement that part is even more clear, they work against (at times irrational) timelines and deadlines we see that Final Draft has an opportunity to grow its solution in another direction as well. I reckon that no matter where the project is set up, it needs to be deployed on a local level, because no executive will trust its data to the cloud, not with IP of this nature and also clouds fail (see Microsoft, September 2023). A distributed system might be the way to go, and independent developers (that one person studio) might not benefit with the cloud. And that is before you realise that there are 38,000,000 active VLoggers, they too need to up their game, the competition is cutthroat and murder as well. All options that show the possible opportunity that Final Draft has coming their way. I haven’t touched Final Draft since I tested version 6 decades ago, but I just went through the PDF of version 11 and I saw this gap and covering the gap preceding the gap makes the remaining gap passable and that is also where MNTN could find itself in the next 2 years. As they started the new setting the wannabe’s will come in soon and the better prepared they are, the stronger their foothold on the market will be and with all the others failing in obvious places MNTN could chisel out the niche that is safe, secure and almost spectacular (a subjective term). As such Final Draft has an even larger foothold it could create, but that is just me. I could be wrong after all. 

Another practical Tuesday filled. Time to rewatch Bullet Train and snore a little too. Enjoy the day.

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November 13, 2023 · 23:32

Sides of currency

That is the setting, it is never sides of a coin. That was in the old days when things were simple. Things are no longer simple and that is why it took me so long to take on this issue. To be honest, the one clarion voice in all this has been the actor Misha Collins. I will get back to that later.

For now it is important to know that I am not anti-Israel, I am not anti-palestine. I am anti-Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organisation and my largest issue is that the western media was eager to ‘forget’ the events that started all this. The Nova Festival in a rural farmland area near the Gaza-Israel border was just one of multiple locations hit by Hamas on October 7th. It was the spark in a powder keg and we are seeing the results of all that. Yet that was weeks ago. What started this were two stories. The first was given by Al Jazeera (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/11/saudi-arabia-to-host-arab-islamic-summit-to-unify-efforts-on-gaza) giving us ‘Arab-Islamic summit rejects justifying Gaza war as Israeli self-defence’ there we see that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) gives us “This is a humanitarian catastrophe that has proved the failure of the international community and the UN Security Council to put an end to Israel’s gross violations of international humanitarian laws, and prove the dual standards adopted by the world,” I do not completely agree. This all started by acts of terror by Hamas and Israel has hd enough. We are also given by a source I do not know (at https://unitedwithisrael-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/unitedwithisrael.org/saudis-help-block-anti-israel-measures-at-arab-summit/amp/) where we are given ‘Saudis and 8 More Arab Countries Block Anti-Israel Measures at Arab Summit’, I cannot say how correct this is because Al Jazeera makes no mention of this. I added the article because it is important in other ways.

Important to know 
We get all kinds of information, in this we get all kinds of information through LinkedIn, through Twitter (X to some). The first is about anti-semitism

This matters. I do not know if these events in London are really all pro-palestine. I believe that is not the case. It is riddled with anti-semitism and quite frankly it bothers me because anti-semitism is now worse than it was in 1933, this will go from bad to worse soon enough and it is making this world not a nice place. All these children with no idea what is going on ripping the posters of kidnapped jews from the walls, smiling like they matter, these children really do not matter. If you are willing to hide real events you have no value whatsoever. It is a dangerous thing to say, because the media is partially to blame. Some are intentionally misreporting and misrepresenting events. 

Image two is more dangerous. It implies that Arabs in Israel aren’t protesting against Israel. I fail to believe that 100% would not protest, but it is possible. Still I haven’t seen any media really reporting on this. Is it true, or is it false?

These things matter. You see with deepfakes, advanced learning machines we get data and images that cater to anyone who has the money to set these things in motion and the media is part of that. 

What needs to happen
The first part is that Saudi Arabia needs to clearly advertise a site that gives the true settings. What was said in these events. Where does Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud stand? This is important because he is the stabilising voice of the Middle East and there is now a stage where we no longer can trust the media to give us the low down on what is ACTUALLY being said, were we get the real deal on where certain parties stand.  

The Actor
Now we get to Misha Collins. He stated on Twitter (X to some) something that struck a nerve. You can see it (at https://x.com/mishacollins/status/1723909073219772737?t=Nrp0sJig4eyEqYW4aIY_iA&s=03) it is amazingly good. He does give the setting from two sides and we need to ac knowledge that Israel had true grievances. The operative word was ‘had’. This has gone on for too long and in the end Hamas is not getting hit, merely the people from Gaza are and the top Hamas person is safely in Qatar, so what is now the point? 

That is the question I am struggling with. Can or should Israel be allowed to continue when 100 people from Gaza are killed and merely 2-3 Hamas operators? That is a price much to high, on the other side we see that as long as Hamas is in charge in Gaza this setting is unlikely to change. 

I understand that Hamas needs to be stopped, but this needs a very different approach and bombing Gaza into the stone age will not make it so. 

As such I have been struggling with several issues, but the largest issue is that the western media is no longer to be trusted and that makes it much harder, add to that deep fakes and populist agenda’s that are more often then not anti-semitic in nature makes us all run for the hills, we can no longer tell what is real and it is my hope that Al Jazeera and Arab News will become the real sources of information, but that is merely one thought. 

This weekend is hard, harder then most and it is all happening whilst we all see the Santa Claus stands and commercialisation of Christmas events, all whilst the reality for the west bank is one that is not including reindeers. 

I will not tell you to enjoy the weekend. I get it, you want to but it is time to mull a few things over.

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November 11, 2023 · 13:27

Wandering thoughts

We all have them, and I am no different. As I was contemplating more sides to yesterday’s story. As I was thinking through new levels of intelligence (machine learning) on grouping impact of NPC characters I saw the article in the Khaleej Times (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/travel/saudi-e-visa-demand-for-umrah-from-uae-soars-trips-start-from-dh600) where we see ‘Umrah demand in UAE soars; trips start at Dh600’ As such I wondered about a few things. You see, Saudi Arabia is busy increasing its tourism footprint. Then I learned that there is no train connection between Dubai and Riyadh. Consider these 1050 Km and tell me which tourist, religious or not wouldn’t consider doing that trip by train. From there we see two new options. The train from Riyadh to Mecca which does exist, as does the train ride from Riyadh to Medina. But the train trip from Medina to the Line does not yet exist. So now we have more than merely a religious trip. The Line – Medina – Riyadh and Dubai. A new way for tourists, Muslim and non-Muslims to see the nation of Saudi Arabia. People who can see that land without checking in and out of airports, see the lands of Saudi Arabia, its deserts and much more. A new tourist attraction if you will and a new way, one not blemished by western exploitation to see and learn about Islam. 

And even as these are mere thoughts, when we see “These budget-friendly packages start at just Dh600 per person and are not only economical but also convenient, as they are designed for travel by bus. DoJoin App is offering this 10-day package with travel by bus and is for residents who already possess the 1-year Umrah e-visa.” The small upgrade from $163 (Dh600) to Dh750-Dh999 might have the right appeal for a lot of people to take the train, optionally seeing Medina and the Line, two stops they might never have considered before, all whilst growing tourism in several directions. I reckon that I am not stating anything new, I feel certain that both the United Arab Emirates as well as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are working on this and with Saudi Arabia working on Hyperloop technology, we might see a lot more options in the coming years. I reckon that once Emaar and Virgin Hyperloop One (VHO) crunch the numbers, the line that comes after Riyadh – Jeddah will possibly include Medina and the Line giving Saudi Arabia, a new achievement and a worlds first. That will be the 3rd or 4th time they surpassed any expectation and that is another setting where we see that America as well as the European Union has politicised themselves out of the game. In 2019 we were given the quote “MEMBERS of the European Parliament spend £60 million of taxpayers’ cash on gravy train, plane and taxi services getting to and from work” and another source gave us ““This is not value for money and, as the second largest contributor to the EU gravy train we should get a grip on reality, pull the plug and pull out of the European Union” it is not the reason that I see is reason to disband the EU, but what is happening is that non-EU members are creating a real train ride that is very much value for money, whether it is the current train technology or the coming Hyperloop, others are showing that there is plenty value for money and that is weirdly enough one of the first things a tourist is looking for. Well over 90% of the population gets to spend their vacation money only once a year, so they try to make it count and there is plenty to see in Saudi Arabia (in the UAE too), even as too many media has been trivialising that for way too long.

Just my thought in the weekend, still 35 hours to go in this weekend, whatever will I think of next.

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November 10, 2023 · 16:09

No Permanent Commitment

Yup, it happens to us all. Yet in this case it is about a different kind of commitment, it is about gaming with the the capital gee. I raised the issue on June 10th (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/06/10/how-to-ping-a-delusional-mind/) where I gave light to a new approach and a different usage to IP that Vint Cerf created and in gaming it would allow for an innovation patent and it would give the maker an 8 year advantage. In addition to that, my mind started to elaborate on that idea and see a larger picture. As such we can take it to a new level. As we set the stage of a maximum of 25,000 NPC characters, we can include a little more.

Now consider:

Physical courage – Feeling fear yet choosing to act. 
Emotional courage – Following our heart.
Intellectual courage – Expanding our horizons, letting go of the familiar.
Social courage – To be ourself in the face of adversity.
Moral courage – Standing up for what is right.

Now, not all NPC characters will have all these traits, but when we add Situational phobia, Animal phobias and Phobias of the natural environment we get a whole new level of gaming. The idea that with EVERY game these traits are set to a certain level with EVERY NPC we get an entirely new level of gaming. Consider any NPC in any RPG, in a cave or a city. We could set intellectual courage to magic wielders only and set Phobias of the natural environment for them to zero as well, we get a new level of challenges. The other side is that grinding will also become a different entity. Consider the game Oblivion. Early in the game I would grind Rockmilk Cave to get the good stuff. Now that same consideration where the NPC characters would have different traits over the new crews inhabiting it, with the added new IP that Vint Cerf left us with, the game becomes a whole new challenge. As such the old text of ‘I must have imagined it’ will become a thing of the past and these two elements together will rock the solution towards real innovation in RPG. When we add the other IP parts I mentioned earlier we end up with an entirely now form of RPG gaming optionally blasting Bethesda and whatever else Microsoft will have coming. Indie developers would have a much larger stage of competitive RPG. 

All this adds up to two parts. The first is that innovation will drive gaming to new heights and that will be in the hand of streaming systems giving them more than a lease on life. It becomes the new setting that makes streamers real independent gaming systems. The second is that Microsoft fails yet again and that will make it a ninth time. All those billions and gaming IP ends up not being in their hands, but in Public Domain a new level of failure for Microsoft. All that because they wanted to invade the safe space of one gamer. What an expensive lesson to face.

Friday is 33% done for me, for others it is about to start, the race to the weekend is on.

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