Tag Archives: Dubai

April 16, 2025 · 05:43

Mislabelled fear

That is what I saw when I took notice of the news in the Guardian called ‘US’s $2.36tn tourism business fears ‘Trump slump’ over tariff turmoil’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/trump-tariffs-tourism-business) we might look at “Warnings emerge even as effect of economic and political turbulence on the foreign visitors to the US is hard to define” I disagree, you see, slices from UK (69 million), Australia (26 million), New Zealand (5 million) are now avoiding America mainly because of the Canada (51st state) issue. We took offense and even as I yearn to see the Epic Universe, I have decided that if I do get to pick a vacation, I will choose Warner Brothers Abu Dhabi over Orlando. I know that Warner Brothers will still see my money, but in this case 70% will go to Miral, a United Arab Emirates operator. In that same trend many will seek out Euro Disney, Parks in Tokyo and a few other places. And this is not for a mere year, this is for the duration of the Trump administration. Some insults are just a little too much to bear. Oh, and the Canadians with their 40 million people are also avoiding America. I didn’t think that it amounted to 5%-10% of $2.36tn but that could be because America insulted a little more than just the Commonwealth setting. Perhaps others see the weak American setting, perhaps the stage of the Ukraine is equally as upsetting as the Commonwealth setting. America has been kicking the wrong legs, just as interest payments of a 36 trillion dollar debt is due, America loses a lot more income. As such there is nothing that is hard to define, it is the cost of doing business and that part is becoming increasingly hard. 

So this fear is mislabeled, the proper labelling is seen as the price of insulting people, the price of neglecting people and as we see Europe taking additional steps like the fear of espionage on their people by Americans, we need to see that this will take years to undo, especially as Orlando just launched the biggest park in human history, 110 acres (45 ha) in the park itself and the overall size is 750 acres (300 ha), which comes at a cost of $7.7 billion to build, which is stated to be one of the largest and most expensive theme parks in history. Now consider what it takes to get this going, the hotels, the retail stores staff and such costing a bundle in its own right. So as we see the $2.36tn and the 10% lessened revenue and a slice is on that part. Epic Universe will do ok, because it will have millions of Americans wanting to see this place, and the use of influencers was well played, they all showed a place that nearly everyone wants to see. As such the lessened revenue will be felt all over America. Because those wanting to see Epic Universe will take their share from the other places. And that is merely one place. A mere fortnight ago we were told “Several nations issued travel warnings about potential safety risks in America, including Japan, Australia and Canada” others will take notice and that is the larger setting for America for now. So what will Comcast Corp. do? Put it all in a bad bank mortgage and loan and write it off? That would be the economic player will do, as such America will lose a hell of a lot of taxation these several years. Another part of the equation shown in a simple setting. What will happen? That is not for me to tell. But that is the setting that the Guardian is seemingly overlooking. 

So as we are given “Warnings that international tourism to the US could be hit by Donald Trump’s effort to re-engineer economic and political relations with the rest of the world are slowly emerging.” With an added “The Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority said last week it was projecting a 5% decline in room tax revenue for its upcoming budget – a decline that may reflect Trump’s trade disputes with Canada and Mexico. Those countries account for 2.6 million visitors to sin city, or half of international travel trade.” As such these two countries account for half the international trade? It seems that America created its own downfall, as I personally see it. And as we see the trend evolve, we need to understand that next year that trend will continue and as Europe, the Commonwealth and others will seek other paths to joy like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Paris (EuroDisney), London,  Beijing, Tokyo and other places, the losses for America will add and add. 

They wanted to overwhelm the tourist industry and due to political pressures, they merely shown the other places that they might be more desirable. As such, the problem wasn’t hard to define, the Americans merely needed to look into themselves and the problem will exasperate. Consider these places and how they rely on international students to get cheap labour, as the BBC reported last week “Marco Rubio says US revoked at least 300 foreign students’ visas”, and that will have a trickle effect on those still seeking international student visas, they are more likely to seek education from other, non-US places. And the top 50 of universities has plenty of offers on the table for its pending international students. This might seem little, but plenty of business rely on the next batch of international students. So as you are sitting in a theme park hoping for a quick coffee, think again, they might be down a number of staff members because this is a short term impact, the term of summer and that is about to hit all the places that rely on the new batch of international students and with them gone their hiring approach needs to change fast. 

All these elements can be foreseen, but are these places taking notice? America is going through huge changes at present and that place is not ready to face the serious impact of the political pressures they tried to set to other nations. These nations are now retaliating in other ways and Canada seeking other location, other drinks and other choices was a mere first step. With Europe joining their homegrown defense spending, America will lose more and more. All this I put in my blog over the last 3-5 years. Even without President Trump the signs were clear, now they are merely escalating revenue losses and that is impacting America in a few ways. Tourism is merely the latter step, but this is the more visible one. It trickles down to nearly every level of the population, still, that might prove fruitful for people who had been unable to find a job. Still the report of a loss of $118B – $236B is not nothing, add to that lessened defense spending and the people not coming now, will hit tourism the clearest, but this loss will go into nearly very level of the American industry and that impacts small businesses a lot more than foreseen. 

This is merely my view on the matter, but I have been writing on these dangers for some time. Have a great day.

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March 23, 2025 · 04:49

Recalling the idea

I was in a stage yesterday when I got a little too much ‘creativity’, as such two idea’s revisited me. The first was a good one, the use of AR (Augmented Reality) in malls. I wanted to add more functionality in the new IP and in part I succeeded. That idea was warped in a second setting that I also described in a previous article. The application towards real estate was achieved as I looked in the application towards Dubai, I realized that a quote in the Middle East Economy “Dubai’s residential sector saw 32 percent sales growth in 2024, reaching $99.9 billion, driven by investor interest” this implies that the 100% gives us 312 billion, now as I see it, the IP could bring at a mere 2% an added 6 billion. I use conservative numbers and this is merely Dubai. I believe that due to segmentation of the housing market the IP could be a lot more powerful. Taking in consideration places like New York, London, Stockholm, Paris, Riyadh and a few other places, the revenue becomes very interesting. This part I had figured out already. The setting had novel parts and as it could work in a 24:7 setting the larger stage is the missing of idle time and when people are drawn to a place or location. 

Screenshot

I was considering the addition. The setting of an information stand that is in ‘always on mode’ and when people can use the setting because of the setting of any particular mall, the provider merely needs to have a stall, or an arrangement, and the screen will promote in an interactive way the availability of property. And as the mobile app looks at where you are, this could work in any place. A stall is not a requirement, merely an available screen. A mere 2% represents billions in Dubai. Likely less in other places but it will still an impressive amount and in New York City recorded over $28 billion in investment sales in 2024, this implies an optional 560 million in revenue. So the setting is worth exploring. With two screens you can cover residential and business locations in several ways. Still, this is a mere application, I was looking for innovation in my application and we can add information, but that is as I see it mere iteration. The application off the Lightbox advertisement, which is merely a media box is a setting we can see in simple ways. The innovation could be seen by setting this ad in numerous ways of advertising, but that in itself is not innovative enough. Adding isn’t enough and there is a chance that it lessens the impact. So where is the innovation? As I see it, at present I got that IP nearly maximized, but I do think more can be done. In the other IP, the setting of smart ware, the IP has enough in Malls, but there is a setting to add smart collection to the app and if we can add locations (like different malls we visit) we get additional settings and that could add a new notches on the revenue streams. But that setting isn’t enough. 

As I saw one side, I also saw the side of a darker collection/distribution setting. One that does not get ‘governmental’ approval. But the mind does no distinguish that, the mind merely wants to expand the IP it created and expand on it. Perhaps it is not a good idea, perhaps it is. In a world where they are setting on greed and whilst these captains of industry all hide behind their AI and leave revenue on the ground, I found billions in revenue, but how to collect on this? The problem is that most Americans either steal or want all of the revenue. I do like to get a nice settlement fee. As such I have to hope for the eager person that collects on my ideas will leave me a nice sum. Half a dozen IP, I reckon one will leave me with a nice retirement sum and if that fails the showing of my IP in this blog will leave me with something.

Still that is a worry for later. For now I merely want to improve on what my mind did create. Two of the IP’s are as ready as they can be. I believe that the AR stage could some more improvement, but that also requires the AR servers to be deployed. I can only see the creation improve as it is set to some degree of deployment. The AR setting is clear, I wrote about it several times. But beyond that there is little I see, I saw the application for shops, the setting for Bookshops, jewelry and to some degree fashion and the application of branding. From there we can see the interaction with the Real Estate app (in the original setting) and the application of smartwear. With the AR servers, any shop that has multiple locations could directly be applied to all servers and optionally in several national settings. As such there are the a few more impediments and the stronger setting comes out over larger shops. After all the US has 113,000 malls. So when you add the EU and the Arabic nations, it becomes a nice revenue settings. That gave gave me the idea to set the Japanese idea of Eki Stamps. That idea could be set to a larger stage in a larger book with social media and online settings. So what happens when you have a book and every mall and theme park you enter will give you additional pages and whenever you are near of in a ride the stamp will get automatically added, so in the end you will get a more and more robust and impressive collection? That was the setting that was brooding in my mind when I looked at the setting of Ferrari world and WaterWorld (both in Abu Dhabi) and over time museums and other places will add to this improving the value and acceptance of the idea and that gives a rather nice setting. And when one theme park has it, the others will all follow that is the simplicity of the idea I had. So tell me now, how innovative have these so called captains of industry been?

A setting that adds an entire cog of technology and innovation all by itself (with a little cerebral assistance from yours truly). 

As such I am still looking to add to the IP my mind created and create new gaming IP. I feel fine. I was able to outdo Sergei Brin, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, Satya Nadella, Andy Jassy and a few others. Too bad I am not that rich (adding the delusional ‘yet’ to this). 

But the journey of creating the IP was a great ride by itself. Oh, I just remember the stage I had created for Adobe. I should give that a few more thoughts. It started with a weird dream, but the dream is still accessible and it is high time that I make the Microsoft Wannabe’s squeal. Perhaps an idea for tomorrow.

Have a nice Sunday. Vancouver will follow us in 13 hours.

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March 4, 2025 · 19:00

A coincidence by any other name

That happens. We walk in small social circles, so there is a point that where we see repetition, likeminded people have likeminded thoughts. That was my first instinct. You see, I saw something in the Khaleej Times yesterday and I merely saw it as read. That was until several hours ago when I saw almost exactly the same in the SBS News. Now, that doesn’t mean that there is an issue. But wait, let me set the stage by adding the articles here.

UAE obesity rates to hit 95% by 2050, highest globally: ReportDownload

This what I saw yesterday (at a glance)

And today we get:

Warning half of Australia’s kids will be overweight by 2050, but is it the full picture? | SBS NewsDownload

Now there is a chance of coincidence as there is an upcoming setting that involves more than we currently see. But at first I was take by surprise.

Lets get back to the Khaleej Times. Where the reader is hit with ‘UAE obesity rates to hit 95% by 2050, highest globally: Report’, where we are met with “The number of people in the UAE suffering from obesity—both males and females—will see a significant increase over the next two-and-a-half decades, says a new study.”, as well as “Co-lead author Dr Jessica Kerr from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia said preventing obesity must be at the forefront of all government policies.” She is also in the other article. And this leads me to the following questions:

  1. What new Study?
  2. Where is that study?
  3. What were the parameters and how were they captured?
  4. How is this insight of “95% in 25 years” ascertained?
  5. What are the qualifications of Dr Jessica Kerr from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute?

As I see it simple questions that need to be addressed. The first question is partially addressed in “As per the Lancet study, overweight and obesity prevalence among adult males in the UAE aged 25-plus will increase from 84 per cent in 2021 to 94 per cent in 2050, the highest globally along with Kuwait and a few other countries.” So were the 2021 numbers matched? Was there correlation? Simple questions really and they are important as the writer Waheed Abbas paints across the article in acceptable ways, but this is related to science and we need more, especially as Dr Jessica Kerr and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute are mentioned only once. Like it was a ‘matter-of-fact’ that everyone knows. I am pretty sure that is not the case as the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is in Australia and I never heard of them (I also have no kids). 

So off we go to the SBS article where we see:

“A new forecast estimates half of Australian children will be obese or overweight by 2050. But experts say it’s much more complicated.” As well as “The study, coinciding with World Obesity Day, used an established forecast model and Body Mass Index (BMI) data from 204 countries and territories.” OK, this is definitely more, but how was it all collected? You see, in Australia the amount of women how are size 14 and 45 KG is almost staggering, so was there any scientific principle at play here (just asking). The SBS article gives us more, like “What this means is that even if you want to lead a healthy lifestyle, it’s really difficult to do when you’re surrounded by an environment that’s telling you to do the opposite and is promoting obesity.” OK, I can get behind that, but the markers of how 50% of Australian Children are likely to become obese is still in the air. And here we also see some of my questions in action. We are given “But advanced accredited practicing dietitian and lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, Dr Fiona Willer, questioned the study’s methodology and its emphasis on children’s body size. “We now know, without a shadow of a doubt, that body size does not equate to healthiness and nor does it reflect people’s dietary patterns,” she said.” OK, not my area of expertise, but what Dr. Fiona Willer gives us makes a lot of sense and I do have questions, but what about the data and what makes the UAE child more likely to be obese than Australian children, it is a mere 85% versus 50%, but the difference counts. 

And then the SBS article gives us additional questions raised by Georgia Bates when we are given  “Georgia Bates, dietitian and committee member of Size Inclusive Health Australia adds that the complexities of obesity go beyond health implications,” including:

– Weight stigma and chronic stress, which can impact cardiovascular health and metabolic function.

– Weight bias in healthcare, which can delay or complicate diagnoses and treatment.

– Healthcare discrimination, where “people of a higher weight are often dismissed or have their health concerns attributed solely to their weight,” leading to delays in care.

– Workplace bias, where weight discrimination can impact hiring decisions, pay rates, and promotions.

– Interpersonal stigma, leading to bullying, unsolicited advice, or judgment about eating and exercise.

– Mental health impacts, with chronic exposure to stigma and bias contributing to anxiety, depression, and disordered eating patterns.

Kerr says that part of the recommended changes is to reduce individual stigma.

Proper questions, I still have my side of the issue, but I am a data guy, that is how I roll.

But in the interim I designed a new solution, which is based on Dubai and Abu Dhabi. A walk way and bicycle way that is partially ‘roofed’, A setting where we have 2/3 roof where a side and the top is covered with solar panels, allowing people to walk and cycle under the shade (avoiding pesky sun issues) and doubles as power generation for the area. Consider the Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Nakheel Mall, Yass mall and so on (I don’t know them all). Having this walkway saves the people from the sun and let them walk off some of the calories they just ate. In addition the roof captures the sun’s energy and the sun sets the side of the panel, left/top, top or top/right. The panels align to the sun These walkways do not need to be long, no more than 2 miles around the malls, but that could increase activity among people and allow some people to cycle. To that I will offer additional options over time (still considering a few parts). But whilst others talk that something needs to be done, I created an option for the UAE to consider and when you consider the walk around Dubai mall or Yas Mall many will agree that getting out in the open might be a nice idea (when you are protected from the blistering sun). 

Have a great day.

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February 25, 2025 · 04:35

It’s in the air

I saw an ‘article’ and I was momentarily stunned. It was merely a moment, but the headline got me. It gave me ‘Saudi Arabia Air Conditioner Market to Hit Valuation of US$ 5,969.25 Million By 2033 | Astute Analytica’, it was a surprise as Saudi’s have a much better resistance than almost anyone else on the planet. And i’m fine that they prefer a less desert heat feeling. But then I got to wonder about that premise. You see it comes with a ‘sample’ page and for $ 4250/- you get a one seat license. They do hand over a free sample (if you submit your email and phone details, and when did that EVER go well?) You see, now the article is set to a simple sales page. 

And the sales people have a decent grasp of the need. They start the story with:
“The air conditioning market in Saudi Arabia stands as a testament to the interplay between climatic necessity and economic prosperity. In a country where temperatures can soar beyond 50°C during summer months, air conditioning transcends luxury to become an indispensable aspect of daily life. This necessity is reflected in the staggering statistic that approximately 75% of the electric load in Saudi Arabia is consumed by air conditioning systems, with air conditioners accounting for about 52% of the total electric energy produced in the country.” There we have the words ‘Staggering statistic’ but there is no underlining evidence. Well there might be if you pay the $ 4250/- or hand over all your details (and I am not THAT stupid). You see, it might have value if they had submitted that report without wanting anything, but that never happens in this world as they see it. And here I found some details “BSI Business Park, Sector-63, Noida UP- 201301 – India” this doesn’t invalidate them, it merely gives voice to their ‘aggressive’ sales technique. Then we get the ‘run-down’. You see they are given their ‘great companies’ in just too small graphics, but it is too small. At some point you see logo’s like Google and the rest? I couldn’t make this out. So what are these ‘experts’? According to searches I did, we see that they “rated 4.7 out of 5 stars on AmbitionBox, based on 7 company reviews”, and a place called AmbitionBox gives us more, these 7 reviews are 7 people in Noida (likely employees), so which people at Google trust them? 

That is merely the start of it. Then we get to “approximately 75% of the electric load in Saudi Arabia is consumed by air conditioning systems, with air conditioners accounting for about 52% of the total electric energy produced in the country” so on what data is that based? Oh, right, for $ 4250 or handing over all your data you get to know that part. Yet I have questions. You see, There is a side that I consider valuable. They give us that America and India are the larger supplier of AC systems, but that is not the side I looked at. The one sentence I looked at. It was “High energy consumption straining the national grid”, it is the one setting that has value to me. There is a need to look at what makes an AC system operate. There is a need to reengineer these systems so that the power consumption goes down by 50% that is the actual challenge. You see there is a need for cold air, not merely cool air. The romans (you know the ancient Italian bunch) did it in reverse for hot houses in two stages, can this be reengineered to keep things cool? I reckon that you need a lot more power to get something from 50 degrees to 20 degrees than you need when you get 50 to 35 degrees in stage one and 35 to 20 degrees in stage two. Now, this might not apply to all houses. But consider malls and apartment buildings they could use that approach. You see 50.60% of the total housing are apartments, that means thousands of apartment buildings. Now consider that they might get free building AC reducing power drains. Then consider that they have 107 malls in Saudi Arabia (according to 2025 counts) and they set the same setting. A few years ago I set the premise for Dubai in a new setting of power distribution. That could apply to malls as well. So downing the power drain seems to be a first requirement. I did this on June 28, 2022. Almost three years ago in the story ‘Will you feel frisky?’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/06/28/will-you-feel-frisky/). Is it foolproof? No, but it is a large step in the right direction and power consumption will hit the planet on a global setting and I saw Dubai as one of the first places to get hit with requirements. I never tried to sell anything. I am merely trying to contribute to the solution. So take that and add a reduced power drain through air conditioning. Seems that I partially solved the energy drains, and it didn’t require anyone to hand over their details or ask for $ 4,250. You merely had to read the piece and see if you could improve on it, or even implement it, partial or not.

Yet, no matter what the motives of Astute Analytica are, they seemingly handed the world an issue. You see, a salesperson might see opportunity in ‘Valuation of US$ 5,969.25 million by 2033’, yet others will see infrastructure and support jobs by then and others still will see that something needs to be done about power drains by 2033. You can get solutions in more power or you can get solutions into getting better power systems and more power efficient AC solutions. It is up to the instigator to see what is best. The AC supplier wants to sell, but at some point it becomes a redundant setting, especially if power needs are rising. America gave us some numbers late last year when they gave us “Five-year US load growth forecast surges 456%, to 128 GW: Grid Strategies. U.S. electricity demand is forecast to increase 15.8% by 2029”, I wonder what happens when we look at Texas and someone did. A mere two weeks ago we were given “it’s possible that the grid would not have enough power to meet peak demand during the summer and winter seasons starting next year.” As such getting some systems more efficient might be the way to go. And I for one saw an option which was found in ‘cheap’ Slovakian fridges. Considering the two step solutions it might be a way to go, especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Optionally more places as well. But I will leave this to the properly educated civil engineers in the land to see where they can take this idea.

Well I earned my sandwich today. Have a great day.

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January 26, 2025 · 05:00

Saturation

We know it, we know it very well and we have known about it for 30 years. In the 90’s it was always about getting more revenue and the American companies ignored the fact that markets could get saturated. It was always about getting than next quarter and that 5% more. But the setting on what it was based on was forever ‘changing’ so they could base more on it and for a while that was OK, business was good. But after 10 years you would be doing twice the amount, getting close to twice the leads that your sales pipeline required to have to get the numbers. That is what we ruffled under the carpets but if you got there after 5 years you would be management (and useless to some), but you ‘knew’ the markets. As such I looked at the article at the Khaleej Times (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/realty/dubai-property-market-to-peak-in-2025-prices-for-high-end-villas-to-stabilise) where we get ‘Dubai property market to peak in 2025? Prices for high-end villas to stabilise’ with the extra line “However, many industry executives foresee the real estate market maintaining good growth in 2025 due to sustained demand and the gap between supply and demand.” And it is followed by “Going forward, ValuStrat sees Dubai’s residential market maintaining its upward trajectory in 2025, though at a slower pace, supported by economic growth, rising demand, positive sentiment, and increasing market maturity.” You see, all this is probably (I am not a Emirati real estate mogul, Mohamed Alabbar is). And I created IP (based on what I read in Emirati publication) to add to that pool. So I didn’t create something to replace whatever was, I gave my skull the exercise to create a new channel. At that time Real estate was “I speculated was “an additional stage that would bring more than Dh680 million.” This is not a massive growth, this would be the impact if my solution brought a mere 1% to that table. Anything more and it becomes a serious amount of money.” All things are done in baby steps. How large it would grow was dependent on the application and for me? I reckon that a simple 3% of that revenue would suffice, would you sneer at an income exceeding 20.4 million dirham per quarter?  And that was merely Dubai, once operational, the IP would be many times the investment. It was based on another piece of IP I had designed and it had much larger ramifications. Dubai showed me the impact of adding this sales channel to the larger places where it cold matter, London, Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York all places where metropolitan saturation was seen. And the forward thinking person had the idea to try and invest in an additional channel would create a wave. Would it work? I believe it would as nearly all Real Estate did the feel and the growth based on one another’s idea. This was a completely new take on selling property. And that is where I was in January 8th 2024 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/08/one-side-of-business/) the idea was created almost a year before that and it included  smartwear  that in conjunction of this IP could change the interaction between retailers and consumers. So in January 2024 I saw the article showing me the strides that people like Mohamed Alabbar and Hussain Sajwani made in the United Arab Emirates and when I created the initial IP (for shops) I was focussed on shops. Then I saw the wider application of one side and of course the impact that one foot of commerce could make and now that saturation is coming into play my idea resurfaces in my mind and is still seeing the added pool of revenue. Perhaps the added pool is not the right words, the additional channel of access that is created for consumers. 

As such I reckon that people like these two in this field are looking for ways to keep the call for properties higher for a longer time, which would be perfectly normal.

As such saturation was not an obstacle, it was a moment to show what more could be possible and it is not a replacement setting, it was a way to make a larger appeal to people on the spot. “This is a nice place, is anything for sale here? Where could I live? Can I live here now?” Al questions a real estate consumer has, and now the setting comes at their fingertips. 

That was just another moment of creative innovation on the fly and now I added a new sales channel to a formidable group tycoons who could expand their universal territory. 

What a creative lived we could lead when you let your imagination run free. It was based on what retailers could get in the Internet of things and now it gives Real Estate an extension towards the saturation point. Not a bad day. I earned my muffin for breakfast today. Don’t forget to have fun today.

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January 21, 2025 · 21:51

What’s this about?

We all have that at times. We do not know the impact one wants to make and it also happens to me. At times I miss the point that a writer wanted to make. That is not his/her fault but it comes down to the reader what they take away from the event. One particular case (for me) is the writer Harry Mulisch. I tried to get through his book ‘the discovery of heaven’ at least twice but to no avail. Yet when the movie came out in 2001, I decided to see it immediately and it was amazing. So Jeroen Krabbe gave me what I needed to get and even as it was a bit strange to see Stephen Fry in a Dutch movie, he pulled it off nicely. 

So don’t dismay if someone does not get you, it comes with the territory. This intro is essential for what comes next. You see the Sydney Morning Herald (at https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/travel-news/this-city-is-about-to-give-dubai-a-real-run-for-its-dirhams-20250110-p5l3fo.html) gives us ‘This city is about to give Dubai a real run for its dirhams’ at that moment I was pretty sure it is Abu Dhabi. But lets look on. The end of the article gives us “Little surprise, then, that Abu Dhabi made it onto the latest The New York Times’ prestigious “52 Places to Go” list. One can only wonder what Dubai will do in response.” Also the beginning gives us “Now in 2025, an always somewhat more restrained and refined Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, is set to finally give its glitzier, more visited, neighbour, Dubai, a real run for its dirhams.” And in the middle?

We get a collection of fast rattled near facts. We see “Saadiyat Cultural District finally near completion with Guggenheim Abu Dhabi the next high-profile component of the almost 2.5-square-kilometre precinct following the Louvre’s 2017 opening” yet for a travel editor Anthony Dennis leaves a lot in the middle and does hit off with three images. So what is this about?

I haven’t seen Abu Dhabi in any other way than YouTube videos and several of them are awesome. As such I would have written:

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (not Dubai as some will think).
Abu Dhabi has all kinds of great things to see and explore. For Families there is Yas Island. It has a huge mall and Ferrari World and within a short distance of that is Water World, Sea World, Warner Brothers World with the Warner Brothers hotel. It is not the only option as they are about to launch the Wizarding World expansion with expected Harry Potter and Co. as well as the world of Newt Scamander. Staying in the upper selection hotels has the benefit of free passes to any of the theme parks (one per day) but not to fret, Abu Dhabi has free busses going in circles to the mall and parks from anywhere on Yas Island. And Yas Island connects to anywhere in Abu Dhabi, including the airport. It is not the only place. There are renowned malls all over the place and to boot there its a lot more to do. Coming to a plot near there is the new Zayed National Museum. And in addition to that is a Natural History Museum also planned. Its centerpiece attraction is the world-famous skeleton of “Stan” the Tyrannosaurus rex, purchased by the museum in 2022 for almost $32 million. As you show your defining art side with the works of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in the background. And there is more. There is even a mall that comes equipped with  Prison Island Abu Dhabi, you might say that there is something for everyone. 

So stay tuned, this year has a good case to make Abu Dhabi your tourist destination. It will be the great moment that couples, families and of course you on a solo cruise to see the fun you can have and spread the word on social media or your YouTube channel. And you can take another gander by taking the bus and see Dubai for yourself in about 4 hours, or even better add a few days to the trip and make Dubai the next destination (or the other way around). You get to see two world places in one trip and all within a mere 4 hours apart. 

What is more satisfying to show yourself off in your new swim ware and show your world what an awesome time you had before you are back so that the queue at your desk is assured? 

This is what I would have written, but then, I am no travel editor. So I cannot help but think what was that article actually about? That is the question I am facing. You see, it might be me (it usually is) and I don’t get it, why raise the fight between the two? We see “One can only wonder what Dubai will do in response.” I reckon that Dubai will remain Dubai and one could wonder how many more theme parks it needs, don’t get me wrong, as a tourist I would think that more is better, but what about the Emiratis? What about Sharjah? Just two thoughts that occupied my brains. 

It might be a mere personal thought, yet have the deciders of the UAE considered a hyper loop between Dubai and Abu Dhabi? That might be a real people pleaser and a media coverage maker. The idea that you can travel between the two in less than 15 minutes might also call for more business, but that is me with a slightly limited view on the matter. 

Try to have fun. I in the meantime need to find a hacker and take from him in the most gruesome way possible.

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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.

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Have a great Monday.

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