Tag Archives: Dubai

January 18, 2025 · 18:45

The new optional premise

We have all heard the Anti-Chimetic (might not be a real word) from America. This is the setting we all face, once a Chinese innovative company becomes too big, it gets b banned from America. Yet, now there might be a new premise set. You see the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3e18qylq5do) gives us ‘US Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban law’ with the added “The US Supreme Court has upheld a law that bans TikTok in the US unless its China-based parent company ByteDance sells the platform by this Sunday” They might hand it to Kevin O’Leary (with a co conspirator), and as Kevin O’Leary is all about making Canada the 51st state he is becoming the enemy of every Commonwealthian. We don’t like that option, yet as I see it there is a second options. 

You see, the idea is that ByteDance creates a new hub in the UAE (optionally in Saudi Arabia) and now America has a problem. What will they do? Stop either of these two players? Good luck with the fallout that this brings. 

If ByteDance creates (for example) a second hub in the UAE, for example Abu Dhabi, and set the pre mine that everyone can post there, the UAE becomes the TikTok hub. The second nice part is that all the advertisement revenue goes there too and now we get a new setting, the international viewers get an international audience and in that the UAE will see a nice windfall too. Optionally we will now see Emaar Properties, Nakheel, Meraas, DAMAC and a few others float to the advertisement top. Optionally it opens the doors for Google to ‘promote’ solutions, but that is how commerce goes. It wasn’t enough for America to fill their pockets, now it turns out they are left with an empty shell. And from there new opportunities will grow and the first nail of the America isolation coffin is set. So whilst American ‘Justice’ is now set against the 170 million users it has in the US. These users might find a new breeding ground for growth. And with the 175 million users it has in Europe, the premise will now be set that America can no longer advertise to over 350 million TikTok users and lose the view of millions of users. I reckon (a speculation) that this loss will be seen all over Google (YouTube) as well. An Anti-Chimetic setting that comes with several hooks and a non-American angle in addition. So how good was this? I set this premise to the content that America had never proven that Huawei was an actual danger and should TikTok seek this solution, it also opens the stage for Huawei to get more and more visibility. There is no fairness in this, America should have given evidence (there was none), merely the fear that is was going to be (and successfully proven at present) that America lost to China in innovation. The setting that was simply set as early as 2010 when SIPO granted 814,825 patents, a year-on-year increase of 40.0%. So this is not new, this has been going on for 15 years. All whist certain ‘captains of industry’ relied on the size of whatever viagra increases instead of revenue. Innovation was a mere spin and now that the die is cast and results are to be shown these people cry like little bitches that the market isn’t going their way. Well the market relies on innovation, something the UAE has proven several quarters over the last 5 years with (allegedly) tremendous growth every quarter. We have seen the numbers and we are shown this with Emirates (with a reported growth of 71%), Emaar Properties Dubai (with a 66% growth) and a few others, but the story should be clear. I actually came up with an idea that could have added even more to that revenue and I grant you that Dubai was a good place to test my IP, before it gets grown into London and Toronto. My IP is never actually localised. It is merely a stepping stone to a more global impact. So as I see it the TikTok ban might open a few more doors for me (pure wishful speculation on my side) and in this where is America? And in this the Guardian gives us ‘TikTok says it will ‘go dark’ in US on Sunday unless Biden acts’ a real nasty setting, because the ‘go dark’ setting isn’t the end, but it is the diminished revenue for America in a stage where they are losing a near dozen in revenue settings on the global stage and when this is the start the TikTok people will find a second stage in the EU where one country will become a secondary hug to Abu Dhabi. A second stage of revenue going from America to another place. So how is that for jolly?

And in all this America only needed to supply evidence, not evidence that players like (for example) Microsoft would like to see presented, but evidence that shows that China was an actual danger to innovation, because it is the innovation that counts. And now there is a stage that could open up sales for Huawei to the EU all that from Anti-Chimetic fears. What a lovely web they weave.

Have a lovely day and feel free to explore what innovation the Huawei Watch 5 brings. The first watch that becomes a threat to both Google and Apple all at the same time. One brand to smite both, so how secure are we with what comes? HamonyOS is now striking out to a much larger population and while Apple and Google are at odds with each other, Huawei is setting the stage to strike at both. And this news is a mere 2 hours old.

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January 7, 2025 · 08:49

UN Redundant Whining Association

Let’s see how we could optionally expose the media and set a department of the UN to the trashcan of useless to the maximum degree. It is a ride that has seen some time. The first part we got around late July 2024. The rumours went round and at some point the UN decided to put a stop to it and on August 5th (at https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/investigation-completed-allegations-unrwa-staff-participation-7-october) we were given under the headline ‘Allegations on UNRWA staff participation in the 7 October attacks’. There we see “I acknowledge the completion of the investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) into the serious allegations that 19  area UNRWA staff members in Gaza were involved in the abhorrent attacks of 7 October on southern Israel” with the added “In April, an independent Agency-wide review by three reputable research centres under the leadership of former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna concluded that UNRWA ‘possesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities’. The Agency has started implementing the recommendations of the review” and is fully committed to them.” Now we can accept that for what it is (I do not), but the massive takeaways here in this brief are ‘the completion of the investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)’, ‘an independent Agency-wide review by three reputable research centres’ and ‘UNRWA ‘possesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities’’ as such we could surmise that the UNRWA is well versed in tradecraft, they even pulled the wool over the eyes of the French foreign minister and three ‘reputable’ research centres. The other option is that these four players were in league with Hamas which I find unrealistic. 

Less then 24 hours ago we were given (at https://nypost.com/2025/01/06/us-news/un-watchdog-group-urges-dismantlingly-of-unrwa-for-enabling-crimes-gainst-humanity/) ‘UN watchdog group urges dismantling of UNRWA for ‘enabling crimes against humanity’’ we get the added “A United Nations watchdog group says the infamous UN relief agency that provides $1.5 billion a year to Palestinians should be disbanded for colluding with terrorists and “enabling crimes against humanity.” “The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is neither independent nor neutral,” says a scathing new report by the Swiss-based group UN WATCH.” So, why did the OIOS miss this? More important, as we see that several Israeli news sources gave us parts of this already, why were these parts (as I see it) intentionally overlooked? It was not by all media, but the largest collection of media courtesans merely used part of the past news as a source for (as I personally see it) pursuit of digital dollars. And it took the watchdog some time to figure this out. Which I do not hold against them. But the larger setting is reached. The United Nations is as useless as some say they are and now in the setting with Trump and Musk, we can safely set the premise that the UN is a cost that the United States can avoid having.  As I see it António Guterres will have to do a lot more than smooth talking. There might be a setting where the UN could be disbanded. There is every cause to consider that the organisation’s 37,000 staff members could find themself thrown of that gravy train. To illustrate further I offer the image below. I cannot vouch for the numbers, but the image is powerful. So don’t use these numbers as is, trust but verify I say and so did some marine named Gibbs.

What it does show is that the UNRWA is as useless as some expect them to be and the crying newscasts we see now like ‘7 infants dead in Gaza from cold weather, inadequate shelter: UNRWA’ and ‘Social order in Gaza will collapse if Israel ends cooperation with UN aid agency, official says’ it is too late for that, the UNRWA is done for (unless massive amounts of evidence ‘suddenly’ comes forward. We saw in the beginning of December aid from the UAE get to Gaza. In the day after that we see armed masked men (supposedly Hamas) drive of with a whole stack of these boxes. We cannot hold the UAE on that, they did the almost unthinkable, they found hundreds of volunteer who created these care packages in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. What happens in Gaza becomes the question. So was the UNRWA involved? Or was Hamas merely a block away collecting these boxes? Your guess (or speculation) is as good as mine. However, when we consider the timeline from August I have to conclude that Hamas is the cancer on the Palestine people and they will not ever find release unless Hamas has been eradicated. 

It is a harsh reality we see here (I saw that about a year ago). But change has to happen and disbanding the UNRWA might be a first requirement.

Have a great day.

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December 19, 2024 · 00:50

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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December 16, 2024 · 18:57

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.

1416030-ENDownload

Have a great Monday.

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November 21, 2024 · 23:10

One pond is not like the other

This happens. We are not always aware, but it pays off to check. It is an easy mistake to make in Europe and America, but there are rules and thinking that you are from a ‘free’ society does not mean you can ignore the rules another place has. As such we get to The Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/20/london-18-year-old-arrested-in-dubai-for-sex-with-17-year-old). You see, there are strict rules in some places. Most of them involve drugs, criminal activities or sex. We are given “We really liked each other but she was secretive with her family because they were strict. My parents knew about our relationship but she couldn’t tell hers. She had to meet me without telling them it was to see a boy.” And there we see the first red flag. With “she was secretive with her family because they were strict” we get the problem. And with “Fakana was charged because the girl’s mother found their chats and pictures back in the UK.

It is understood the woman subsequently contacted police in Dubai and Fakana was arrested.” And with the premise of “Sex outside marriage is legal for tourists, but only if both parties are over 18.” We see an entire life getting squandered. I have no clear picture how the mother was about it all, but as she called the police in Dubai I can guess that she was not OK with it. And the bleeding heart stage of “Fakana’s family has called on the foreign secretary, David Lammy – their local MP – to intervene.” We get nothing. You see he broke the law and that is the real drive. The UAE sees crime and deals harshly with it. We can ‘break down’ the setting as much as we want and the Guardian does this in the byline with “Marcus Fakana could face two decades in jail for having sex with girl, also from London, while on holiday in UAE”, no the setting is much simpler. He had sex with an underage girl and the parents (at least the mother) of the girl are not OK with it. Don’t get me wrong, I was a teenager once (I think that was at the time of the Crusades) and I get the setting, but the law is the law. And he should be lucky. If he had smoked a joint afterwards he might hang in the real sense of the word. And he is lucky because the punishment in the UAE for rape of a minor is the firing squad. And if she maintains that she was not ready for that he gets to feel what many have felt before. That is the part we do not see here. 

There is an abundance of party timers and as long as they party in Europe they tend to be fine. When the age difference is low (like in this case) many places have the Romeo and Juliet law. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia (mostly Muslim countries) do not. So the ‘excuse’ “has since turned 18” will not work. She was a minor in the eyes of the law. As such the sentence “Detained in Dubai, which campaigns to help people it says have suffered injustice in the UAE” does not work. He broke the law and she was still a minor. All that beside the point that the UAE has strict laws regarding sex outside marriage. And that should have been the first issue for the parents of Marcus Fakana. It pays to know the minimum of local laws. And do not blame Islamic law. In North Carolina and Virginia Oral Sex is a Felony, and that is regardless of the marital status. So, rejoice his life could have been blown after he was blown. 

And the media is partly responsible for this mess (to a degree). The Independent gives us ‘Briton, 18, facing 20-year jail sentence in Dubai over holiday romance with 17-year-old girl’, no, he had sex with a minor. And the word minor is not given once in the article in the Independent. The Standard makes the same mistake. We are led to believe that it is so unfair. But the simplicity is that countries have laws and other countries have different laws and this is one law the parents should have made clear to their son. And as for the excuse ““The girl was just a few months younger than Marcus and he didn’t know that at the time,” said Radha Stirling, the chief executive of Detained in Dubai” I get that she has a job to do and with that the second excuse should not hold water either, it is “This is not something Dubai should be prosecuting.” Yes Dubai should. You see, she was a minor. Ignorance is not a valid defence. I personally believe that he should not serve 20 years, but there need to be consequences. The media handling of the issues is making that clear. Perhaps a month (at the most) and after that he becomes persona non grata. I reckon that he gets that in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and several other nations will deny him access to.

I am for the most a black letter law person. I do believe in the spirit of the law and for me (and many others) this is not a serious case, but for the parents of the girl it is. In islamic law the ‘spoiled’ woman is not a good one (sorry for that term). And it could have been prevented if Marcus would have been told of the laws of the land he visits. 

So I am willing to blame the parents more than Marcus, but in the end he must face the music.

Enjoy the day, it is almost Friday here

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November 7, 2024 · 20:15

What are we doing?

This question bothered me a lot lately. Not some message about an orange menace, or some Kardashian piece of jewellery that once belonged to royalty. No that doesn’t wake me up (or interest me). But in this light we have two articles. In the first we get the main event. Arab News informs us (at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2578351) ‘Saudi Arabia’s aid arrives in northern Gaza to assist Palestinians’ and the issue is none of the western media as far as I can tell have this news, and it is news. 

Source: Arab News

We are given (with images) that “Several trucks with aid, provided by Saudi Arabia’s humanitarian agency KSrelief, have arrived in the northern Gaza Strip via Jordan.” We are also given “The aid was scheduled to be distributed through the Saudi Center for Culture and Heritage, which serves as the executive partner of KSrelief in the area.” As well as “The campaign to assist Palestinians, initiated by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has raised over $186.3 million from over 2 million donors” the idea that 2 million Saudi’s create a wealth setting for humanitarian relief to the amount of nearly 200 million dollars giving us that the average donation by Saudis comes down to nearly $100 dollars and it isn’t just a trickle, this comes down to a little over 5% of the entire nation’s population. When did we see in the west that amount of humanitarian aid? When we see this numbers the entire western media should have stood up applauding this effort. I have a tainted view of Gaza (and I have been there in 1982), so there is premise to my point of view. What I fail to see is how the media is so tainted that news is filtered out (I personally refer to that stage as corrupt). 

Even I (with my own clear bundle of personal issues) pause to stop and realise that this is a monumental setting. We already saw that the UAE is dealing with shortages in Lebanon (vie the Khaleej Times) and now this? And the western media is currently too tainted to be of any informative acts. No the Guardian is simply washing this over by giving us (at https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/nov/07/chris-hemsworth-criticised-abu-dhabi-tourism-ad-uae-ntwnfb) ‘Chris Hemsworth criticised over tourism ad promoting Abu Dhabi despite ‘notorious’ human rights violations’ and the Guardian (other news outlets too) are always seeking the Human rights violations. It is never about just the acts of influencers showing the world that there is a lot more to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. In this setting it is about  Abu Dhabi, which my meagre self calls the domain of ADNOC and the Abu Dhabi Scorpions (a previous hockey team for the uninformed). Abu Dhabi also has Ferrari World, Warner Brothers World, Yas Water World, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, Prison Island Abu Dhabi and a few other ways to spend your hard earned free times. Like shopping in the Yas Mall with 235,000 m2 (2.5 million sq ft) of shopping spanning over 400 shops. As such Abu Dhabi might not be Dubai, but it has plenty to offer and they called the assistance of Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky to help out (Luke Hemsworth is probably still too young). So when we get to “The international non-governmental advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the UAE “invests in a strategy to paint the country as progressive, tolerant, and rights-respecting while carrying out repression against dissent”.” Personally I would advice the HRW to go and f**k a camel but that would be inappropriate towards the camel.

So see the articles and consider what else we are missing (apart from the budget to go see Abu Dhabi in person). Within the last week (might have ben two) I showed two cases of astounding humanitarian aid (the HRW missed that part I reckon). Are nations innocent? Well I doubt it, the discriminations that we saw in Florida against the LGTBQ population is one, but the HRW seemingly missed that part too. We have flaws, we all do, but the black washing (the opposite of white washing) of the media is as I see it now getting out of hand. 

As such I wonder what people tend to see and I am curious about the Hemsworth advertisement, perhaps it is on YouTube?

In a time where we disregard and mistrust nearly everything, it is time that the people in the western world regard the Arabian media (namely Arab News, Al Arabiya and the Khaleej Times). There is something seriously wrong in media world and it is time that we take away our view from them and the digital dollars they are whoring for. 

On a personal note, this morning I completed the virtual challenge of walking from Florence to Rome, the walk Saint Francis of Assisi did a few hundred years ago. The challenge was virtual, but the walk (503 km) was very real.

Have a great day.

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October 31, 2024 · 18:39

A day of flags

Something crossed my path and it puzzled me for a moment. An article passed me by on the Khaleej Times and for a moment I was stumped. The article (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/uae-sheikh-mohammed-calls-on-all-institutions-to-raise-flag-at-11am-on-november-1) gave me ‘Sheikh Mohammed calls on all institutions to raise flag at 11am on November 1’ where we see “As UAE celebrates Flag Day, the Dubai Ruler has called on all ministries and institutions to raise the flag at the same time, 11am on November 1.” So, what stumped me? The reason for it is quite natural. I however grew up in the Netherlands and there flag day is on June 22nd when the herring season starts. It amounts to a national herring eating day. For the Dutch it is a delicacy.

And with that in mind my first reaction was “The UAE doesn’t have herring” which for a (previous) Dutchman seems quite naturally. The setting or flag day is a national day in many countries and the UAE has plenty to be proud of. In Sweden it is celebrated on June 6th. That day in 1905 Sweden dissolved the union it had with Norway. On that day the Swedish flag became a reality.

In France it is celebrated on July 14th. This is due to the storming on the Bastille on July 14th 1789 which marked the beginning of the French Revolution. In the United Kingdom it has multiple meanings. 

As I see it, it differs per nation and they all have their own reasons. As such it seems to be an event of jubilee and tomorrow it is the United Arab Emirates that have reason to celebrate. We also get “The leader also invited “all sons of the nation to participate in this occasion.” Flag Day is an expression of love for the nation, loyalty to the flag, and “our renewed determination to keep the flag of our union flying high, expressing the pride, glory and dignity of the United Arab Emirates,”” Ever nation has reasons and the UAE also has its reason, proudly dipped in pride for its nation. Some might think ‘So what?’ But they would be missing the point. You see whether you are born there or it becomes your new nationality because you decided that the UAE is your new home. We should all have pride in the nation we embraced and celebrate the flag day we chose. As a simple question. Do you now the day of your flag day? As I see it, it doesn’t matter if you were born there. When you embrace your new grounds I believe that you should embrace the flag and your new national anthem. It doesn’t stop you from becoming a global citizen, but any global citizen is derived from a national sense of pride. That is perhaps debatable, but I believe that to be true. 

Have a lovely day.

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October 26, 2024 · 17:54

As ideas go

I just had another idea hit me square in the face. I cannot tell if it is a good idea, but as the evolution of eCommerce is going, there is space for this idea. In this case it is fledged to the conscription of Al C. O’Holloway (aka alcohol) and I just had an idea. To see the idea, you need to consider the elements. There are 3.2 billion video gamers in the world, and 1.17 billion play online. Now the idea is not set to online gamers, merely gamers. You see, when you are gaming you get hit by hunger and thirst. I for one rely on coffee and fruit juices. But not all are like me (I do like a drink every now and then). As such I was considering the online options of getting what you need and I tend to not like this. Going through the lists, or offerings tend to make me not like the order. I like to be in a store seeing what gives and that applies to food and drink. Now consider a gamer where he can walk into a store. Any store that offers the option like Dan Murphy (Australia) or LCBO (Canada). Now the store could be specific (like a location) or generic. You walk the isle and you see the bottles (an in per Unreal Engine 5 created). No list, just you strolling the lanes for what you feel like is a good choice. And the mind (read: brain) will link this to your actual visit to these places. The brain has that ability, more so then going over a list in catalogue. 

As we linger on the options, we get to add a certain bottle or brand to our Wishlist. I got this basic idea of the system (see below)

We have a walk through the booze browse place. We select items and we can then decide if it is an order, a consideration or a mere preferred drink (Wishlist). And as we walk and profile our drinking needs, we also get above the red line an update to our profile, more exact, it considers what you have placed in your profile any hidden traps. Perhaps you dislike beers, or wines and someone adding beer or wine will get red flagged and the fraud detection goes into high gear. This is not the final trigger, because you might order it for a guest. There is however a larger need to engage fraud detection in this day and age. As we keep on browsing we get to the end where the list is given and we decide making any item a Wishlist item, a preferred item or an actual purchase. The purchase is finalised and the delivery address is recorded (you might be gaming at a friends place) and the purchase is received and delivery is made through whatever option you like, possibly just an in-store pickup. Now you might want to think that there are other ways and you would be right. But eCommerce has its own grips on the matter and whatever the customer wants he or she can get. This way you are appealing to 3 billion gamers. That is not a simple Direct Marketing fling, that is a long term option and this market has been overlooked for too long. Optionally we see “They can get it in another way” vibe and that is not incorrect, but the sentiment in this day and age is just plain wrong. How long until this method is used for super markets? Consider that Dubai has a temperature of 33 degrees. Some like to go out and endure it, but as streaming systems evolve they want to walk around in their homes and see what gives at  Carrefour they have foods and fashion. And there is a larger need. It is obvious that the larger places will adapt to this first. But as this system evolves more will crowd the place. The idea that was started (to some extent) by Sony Home is now in a stage where a lot can opt to move in and it will go to a much larger place. You see 3 billion gamers are about 40% of the planet. I merely wonder why it has taken so long for others to adopt the idea.

And there is a secondary option. This might be easier way to stop fraud, because gamers will have profiles that have been around for years and these places will be able to find a lot more data on the transgressors of fraud as well as the stores trying a fast one on the customer, they are likely a lot easier to find, but that is merely a gut feeling of mine.

Have a great Saturday.

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October 14, 2024 · 16:41

What we see as good

That is at times the question. You see, we see via Twitter and Facebook all kind of dubious shenanigans on how we would be saved by another Crusade (implied innuendo). That sounds nice, but the setting was that we had to go there thrice and still it ended in an uneasy truce. Now there is absolutely no guarantee that Christians will succeed this time around. The first crusades were enacted through greed and pillaging and even now the Christians remain in denial of that part. I do not think this will ever change. And it gets from bad to worse after that. The ‘west’ is still working under the believe that they can come on top of it. Just like the NRA believing that they stand a chance against the US military in an insurrection mode. (It took me 30 minutes to stop myself from howling from laughter).

You see, “The Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates, following the implementation of the UAE Federal Law No. 7 in November 2014, designated a list of 83 organisations and entities including the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Hezbollah, Houthis and the Islamic State as terrorist organisations” that was a decade ago, they still see Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. As such it is remarkable that the Khaleej Times gives us ‘Thousands of UAE residents turn up at Expo City Dubai to pack aid boxes for Lebanon’ (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/hundreds-of-uae-residents-turn-up-to-expo-city-dubai-to-pack-aid-boxes-for-lebanon) it is here that we see how utterly remarkable the people of the UAE are. Here we are given “Thousands of UAE residents turned up at the Dubai Exhibition Centre in Expo City early on Saturday morning to pack aid kits for those affected by the crisis in Lebanon. Some left homes as early as 6am to make it to the event which began at 9. Many brought items to contribute, which were collected at the location while others chose to make monetary contributions to registered charities at the event” now reflect on this against the events in Europe where affected countries include Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Thousands of people have been evacuated; at least 26 people have died, and thousands have been displaced. So tell me how many people got into an active mode to help and support these people? Not that many (a pure guess on my side) and here we see thousands of people supported through goods and donations as well as packing the parcels for the people affected. 

And these westerners thinks that they can ‘fuel’ a new crusade setting? Don’t make me laugh. 

Even the UAE organisers were amazed as we read “The capacity of the hall is 1,000 people and that’s how many people we were expecting,” said Dr Tariq Al Gurg, CEO and Vice Chairman of Dubai Cares. “But we have already had 2,500 volunteers, and we are expecting it to rise to 3,500 or 4,500 by the end of the session. We had to really rapidly change the strategy to ensure as many people could have the experience. The packing sessions were shortened to about 40 minutes.” A hall sized up for a thousand people and they ran out of space well before noon and think of a thousand people in a place that goes warmer than 36 degrees Celsius. That is what the people are up against. A whole ‘horde’ of people who make it their business to give aid to the people of 

Lebanon. It is also here where we see “He said the 10,000 boxes that the volunteers packed were just part of the aid being provided to Lebanon. “We will give them tents, drinking water, food supplies and hygiene kits. Also, we will get them proper instructors to get them psychosocial support.”” That is what Lebanon needs (well they heed a seize fire more), but that is all in the hands of Hezbollah and whilst they hide behind the three killed UN soldiers. The papers are eager to dismiss the fact that Israel told the UN soldiers to get out of the way, but they refused. I cannot fault either side for this, but the fact that Hezbollah (in support of Hamas) decided to fire on Israel was pretty much the dumbest thing they decided on in 2024. But on the good side, the people of the UAE rallied for the people of Lebanon and that is equally dismissed (as far as I could tell) by the western media. And this isn’t the only event, a similar event is being conducted in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (October 14th) at the cruise terminal. Dr Al Gurg said similar packing events will be held in the coming weeks as well. And that is who these Crusade claiming weirdo’s want to go up against? In 1095 the Westerners had over a century of advantage and they barely got out alive they lost a few million lives, on equal footing (now) it is massively likely that the west will not survive that stupidity. But it is not about the neo-Crusades. It is about how a country (the United Arab Emirates) decided to unite to give aid to the Lebanese. A nation 2500 km away from Lebanon and they rallied like nothing else. I wonder what happens when they really set the marker  on what these volunteers of the UAE find unacceptable.

As such I say, well done emirates and on a side note (as I find the setting to hilarious for words) there is every chance that Jerusalem at some point will see

Determination of the people is half the war and these Neo Crusade weepers might take notice of what we see in the Khaleej Times. And when you take notice of that, also take notice on the western media not taking notice (as far as I could tell). So well done Dubainese and Abu Dhabians. Well done!

Enjoy the day.

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October 3, 2024 · 21:35

When books are more

That was the setting I saw myself in this morning. As you (optionally) read this morning, I had given a walk down on a piece of IP by Meta, with the reference to stories more then two years old on my view on what is now the Orion with references to tourism advertising and a few settings towards creating awareness. But whilst I was writing that setting, I thought of another stage. The stage that reverts by to books. 

Consider the TV series I, Claudius. A drama that is the best drama ever written. Now I had the ‘initial’ version released in the 80’s, now it’s a Penguin title. The nice part of Penguin is that it is cheap. But my mind took it to a new direction and with augmented reality it is possible. Consider the story (which plays in ancient Rome) but now add augmented reality and at that point we have access to artwork like the statues of the old Romans like Augustus (Brian Blessed), Tiberius (George Baker), Caligula (John Hurt), Sejanus (Patrick Steward) and many more. Not the actors (or optionally included), but the art work, the statues, the places like the Colosseum, the royal palace and many more places that we might have seen. Draw the reader in with the art and references of how those people likely looked with ‘A.I.’ as the sculptures are drawn the the living version of these people. The stage is never ending. We could enable a much larger realm that some books give us. I, Claudius might show us how that world might have looked. Even as there are still issues to be resolved (Meta does little for free), but the sights could open a much larger world and Orion could bring that to the living room of anyone who has an Orion, the spectacle that brings a spectacle to the living room (to coin a phrase). 

I for one would like a little more spice with some of my books. It is OK if this title has these views added to a new version (like a limited edition), but the art still needs to be initially created. And there is no reason that these works of art cannot be accessible by the Orion glasses. Especially if one grows the tourism stage with these places and items. Consider if you are at the Colosseum, you put on your glasses, or see though your mobile art and stages of places at the simple connections? Wouldn’t that be great? I took this example as this is the best series the BBC ever created. But in my writing of ‘The opportunity for 2022’ on February 1st 2022, I used the option of Monte Carlo, through QR codes the people saw a much larger stage using a mobile. There is no reason that the Orion glasses couldn’t be used. I reckon that these glasses paired with your mobile wouldn’t do the trick too (a lot more comfortable) and with that we see the new tier of these glasses as it fuels tourism. Seeing the augmented reality of the winner William Grover-Williams driving his Bugatti Type 35B on 14 April 1929 on the track (which in Monte Carlo still exists), it gives the people more then they had and now we are literally off to the races. Augmented Reality is merely constraint by the limitation of the creative thinker and Meta removed several borders. That is the larger stage we need to embrace. I get that some people will state that there is enough tourism there. But the early bird will gain access to the revenue worms that are out there. Like the malls they need to push borders to engage the people and the malls are now feeling the pressure to create engagement and you merely need to see the amount of people who attended the malls in 2019 versus 2024 to see that places like Eaton centre mall (Toronto) and Dubai Mall (Dubai) have lost visitors (Dubai not that much) but the keep on top of matters is done by offering people more then before. That has always been proven (again and again).

America had 116,000 malls and there is no real list where I could read the numbers. But the Dubai Mall has a good amount of visitors. Now the top three malls in Dubai are the Dubai Mall, the mall of the emirates and Nakheel mall. Still there is (or soon will be) the Dubai Hills Mall. So how will you keep people engaged? By offering more and optionally something that the others do no have, as such there is apace and place for augmented reality and I saw that years ago. Now that Meta has the Orion there will be space and a place for growing that market. Funny, this was out in the open for years and both Google and Amazon were both asleep at the wheel. Now Meta has a new realm to grow a few markets and could end up being the game changer in certain fields.

Have a great day and for the Vancouverians out there, nothing will happen at 21:21 in the evening. I just learned that. I love my time based jokes, like photo bombing, it is an acquired guilty pleasure.

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