Tag Archives: Finland

August 10, 2026 · 11:39

Moments to drink to

So, as I took notice to the settings in the CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/us-booze-bans-canadians-9.7300293) where we see ‘U.S. booze might end up back on Canadian shelves, but have we lost the taste for it?’ Where we see “Majority of Canadians say they won’t buy American alcohol if it becomes available again, recent poll shows” and that is merely the beginning. I (as an Australian) am also shunning American drinks and I am not alone in this. Optionally a fair share of people in the UK are on that same setting. And there are options for us. I for one am a fan of French Cognac (Martel/Hennessy), Australian Rum (Bundaberg), London Gin (Bombay Sapphire) Finnish Vodka (Finlandia), Swedish Vodka (Absolut) and there is Scottish Whiskey, prettier stated Scotch (Glenfiddich), Italian Limoncello (Villa Massa) and optionally Ice Wine from British Columbia (never had it, but I am curious) and there are plenty of Wine suppliers in Australia, Germany and France to have a clear setting of shunning American alcoholic goods. If there is 1-3 ‘essential’ drinks that are unique to the United States we can avoid them and shame all the friends who will go to that venue. That is the effect of the bully tactics with his 51st state remark. So even as we are given “So when she read on Friday that Canada was prepared to lift a ban on American alcohol sales as part of its trade negotiations with the Trump administration, Anderson says she felt disappointed. “But just because it goes back on the shelves doesn’t mean that sales are going to go back to where they were. The damage has been done,” she told CBC in an interview.” As such I am willing to bet that this was an empty point in the settings of the Prime Minster (Mark Carney), because he knew how much Canadians and Commonwealthians were shunning alcoholic good from the United States. A bully tactic that is costing that industry their foothold in several nations. So his beautiful big bill of bankruptcy is coming along fine. So when I see “Support for a continued boycott of U.S. alcohol was highest in British Columbia, where 80.9 per cent of respondents said they were unlikely or somewhat unlikely to buy U.S. booze again if it’s made available. That was followed by 74.7 per cent of people in Ontario and 73.9 per cent of Quebecers who said the same, the poll found.” I merely wonder how steep the decline is in the Commonwealth as a whole. So while we see “Trump has threatened to impose 50 per cent tariffs on some Canadian goods on Aug. 19 if Canada fails to lift some retaliatory trade measures against the U.S., including the alcohol bans. Those bans date back to early last year, when several provinces removed U.S. alcohol from the shelves at their respective liquor boards in response to Trump slapping a 25-per-cent tariff on Canadian goods.” There is a larger setting because as industries are failing to make revenue, more and more brands shutdown and they can all put the blame on the Trump Administration and even as Canadians remember how Howard Lutnick was (almost crying) like a little girl, they feel no sympathy and they remember the words given to them in “U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick criticized the current version of North America’s free trade agreement on Friday, calling it a bad deal and taking aim at Canada’s trade strategy ahead of upcoming negotiations.” And as I see it, it was what there was, in light of the 51st state banter and they reacted. So whilst the Prime minister might concede to lifting that part, the population of Canada to buy it, is another matter, it could merely gather dust on the shelves, right next to the elves there who will not be called into service for another 14 weeks. As such I wonder what will be left of the America distilleries and breweries in December 2026. Let alone (I believe) that Monty Python remarked that American beers were like making love in a canoe, it was fucking close to water. As such they could resort to Canadian, German and Belgium beers and there Canada could make trade deals too. A setting that set disaster all before President trump opened his mouth and whilst we see another dump of tariffs, the legal side will prove him wrong twice again and that is the setting of another nail of defeat in the bat of midterms. It all could have been avoided with proper respect and tally the losses that the United States are currently facing. So, as the Financial times is giving us ‘Will US inflation be cool enough to trim bets on a September rate rise?’ We have to wonder what the story is with all this whilst we also see ‘Greenback drops as weak US jobs data pushes out Fed hike expectations’ and we see “The US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said, compared with economists’ expectations for an increase of 80,000 jobs, according to a Reuters poll. The US unemployment rate fell to 4.1 per cent as the labour participation rate fell to a near five-and-a-half-year low of 61.4 per cent.” I am not sure what numbers to believe, but the overall picture puts the United States in a harmful place and the danger of self harm is clearly there, so whilst we get pumped up results in one area, the setting of ‘unfair treatment’ (a cry story from Howard Lutnick) give me the shivers, because if the media to a larger extent is pushing overhyped results in one area, whilst drowning out the negative stories on the other side there is seemingly no good US economy, it is (figuratively) an economy above a sinkhole and that tend to lead to disastrous settings. As I see it, the Trump administration should have played a different game from the start and as we see ‘The US has collected about $19b of Venezuela’s oil money. Where is it?’ (Source: AFR) with “The Trump administration has collected more than $US13 billion ($18.6 billion) in revenues from Venezuelan oil sales this year, according to FT calculations, but has said almost nothing about what has happened to the money.” The sinkhole it is set above is becoming more and more distinct and there is no escaping the fallout of that event and that is before the other elements start playing out, because they will come in the worst time possible. So we could say “We’ll drink to that”, but for the 340,000,000 citizens of the United States it is not good news. As such there is a rather large issue forming and it is not tendered to by American alcohol. Merely by other nations suddenly getting a windfall coming from American insults and those people at any given time will stand with Canadians and that lesson is about to hit hard in Washington DC. 

So have a great day this day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

July 27, 2026 · 09:52

The gaming concerns

We all giggle at the ‘forecast’ of some gaming bosses. I am the same, so when I saw (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9803j74091o) ‘Amazon gaming boss predicts future where players no longer need consoles’ we can anticipate “Yes, but that is not now, it will be in the not so near future” and the setting of “Amazon’s head of gaming Jeff Gattis has told the BBC he believes the rising cost of tech means people will turn to streaming games online rather than buying new consoles. He said the tech has developed a lot in recent years, making it more viable than it used to be – but accepted some people will still buy their own hardware.” The truth of the matter that streaming is the future, but the setting towards a thick client (to a console) will make the most sense close to a decade. 

You see, some might remember the Microsoft failure Crackdown 3 where we see “Crackdown 3 uses a cloud-based compute system for its multiplayer mode (Wrecking Zone) to offload physics and environment destruction calculations to Microsoft Azure servers, multiplying local hardware power by up to twenty times. It is also fully playable via video streaming through Xbox Cloud Gaming with supported subscriptions.” But the results were “However, this data-streaming system frequently triggers micro-stutters, texture pop-in, and occasional fast-travel freezes on PC and base consoles.” And be clear, I am not having a go at Microsoft here. I actually applaud that they took this leap in 2019. It could have been better to some extent, but it was clear that the hardware was nowhere near ready even for strong servers using distributed technology. And we haven’t gotten much better at it in gaming at this time. Yes, distributed streaming is the wave of the future and I whole support this, but we are not ready, none of the gaming systems are at present to exclude a console. So when we see “While cloud gaming has long been billed as the future of video games, previous efforts have failed to gain widespread adoption – leading to the high-profile closure of Google Stadia in 2023.” I saw a future which could have gotten Google $6 billion in annual revenue, but they had closed the Stadia a week earlier. As such I offered that solution to Amazon (Andy Jessy) but he never got back to me, as I see it, his loss. Now I am still awaiting Tencent with their solution to nibble on that setting and there is no doubt that my prediction of $6 billion is real and I wrote about it in my blog (go look for it) I am not the person to hand out solutions to any wannabe that asks. And it was a real setting with gaming options to over 50 million gamers in the first phase. I predicted (as clumsily as I could what would happen after) but I have nothing real to offer after that revenue hits $12 billion – $15 billion annual. And I based it on a three pronged solution, because as I see it, a console is there for more than one reason and it would be a shame merely to offer one side. Google made the most sense as they had developed two of the solutions, but these could be remade and I wholly believe in streaming technology.

So when we see “Gattis argued there was still a huge untapped audience beyond traditional console owners which Amazon was trying to reach. “There are somewhere between two-and-a-half and three billion people who play games around the world, but only a fraction of those own dedicated gaming hardware,” Gattis said.” I find these numbers a little debatable, because as I see it, those relying on their mobile are not really gamers, that requires a large screen (or TV) and a decent console or home computer but that might be merely my view and in all this there is a future for distributed gaming, but it requires what is referred to as a thick client (console/home computer) because these millions of people will flood the internet when they are merely use a think client and I merely have to point out the issues Sony had a mere two days ago, to see the setting of “Thin clients require a stable internet and thin clients are network-dependent” that is the setting and before 2040, there is no non console setting to be had, even then you will be catering to metro people and the rural gamers are left behind. A setting I find completely disgusting and unsavory. Gaming is for everyone and even if (at times) we see that there is a lot to be had from these ‘metro’ gamers. It is completely unacceptable to stop catering to rural gamers. If only to consider France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Greece and that is merely Europe. Actually Sweden has the bet internet nationwide, but if we consider nations like Saudi Arabia, USA, Canada, Australia, and a few other places. How many rural gamers will be thrown into gaming darkness because of this? I boggles the mind I say. The BBC gives us more (read th article) and a lot makes sense in all this, but the setting of ““Gamers are willing to trade a little fidelity for convenience, but not to pay premium prices for something they don’t own which stutters when the Wi-Fi dips,” he said.” Is also something that needs addressing and it is done through the subscription model, as I see it, when you are a member, you get to won a game for all time, but it requires a thick client, so games at the end of their cycle need to be downloaded to the console, with an optional SD Card, to unclog the console. That might be a first setting that will gain the favour of gamers and the idea that they have at times a month to get a simple SDCard, is not to taxing on their wallet.

A simple card that supports the total of a Blu-ray can be gotten for a mere $33, as such storage becomes near obsolete as well. As such there are options but I see it for the far future, no matter what I believe that my solution holds, it will require a thick client, as the internet at present is a little to unsafe and insecure to count on. And that is before the upcoming rematch of net neutrality, a setting so intense and massively hedged against gamers, that a thin client is too dicey a choice to make at present.

Well, that is it for now. So tune in later today for a story that will make pyromaniacs water their mouths. Have a great day all and to all have a great day gaming.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, IT, Media, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

June 23, 2026 · 15:57

As one door closes

That was the setting I saw this morning as I took notice of ‘MGX could purchase APAC data center operator DayOne’ (at https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/mgx-could-purchase-apac-data-center-operator-dayone-report/) with the juicy (for some) subtitle “Comes ahead of DayOne’s $20 billion IPO” it opened another avenue for the UAE, you see as the United States has pissed of pretty much every country with their cloud act, the setting that I see is that if MGX embraces the GDPR and adheres to this in several means, Microsoft, Google and IBM will lose the traction they have all over the EU and the commonwealth. So whilst we take notice of “Reuters’ sources said that the MGX acquisition is not finalized and a DayOne IPO could still go ahead. DayOne currently runs a portfolio of more than 500MW of data center capacity in service and under construction, with another 500MW held for future development across Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan. The company also has sites in Thailand and Finland.” 

And in case if ChapsVision, it is nice it is getting the Palantir account in France (and optionally in other EU countries as well) but that comes with the addd need for stronger data centers and not in American hands. The Edge (at https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/807778) gives us ‘Abu Dhabi’s MGX weighs multi-billion deal for data centre operator DayOne — Reuters’, which gives us (at https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/807778) that “Abu Dhabi-backed artificial intelligence investor MGX has been exploring buying Singapore-based data centre operator DayOne, three sources said, in what would mark a major step in its global expansion into the technology. MGX has been working with an investment bank in preparation for the potential transaction, said two of the sources, who declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential.” Which implies to me that this is not yet a done deal, as such it is likely to happen, especially as countries are making moves to pull away from the United States and their Cloud Act, but that might not be enough, the secondary stage is that Microsoft as a data Endor is seemingly already on the way out in a few places, so that would be setting the stage that this could indeed happen. So whilst we see “A deal for DayOne could mark MGX’s first acquisition in Asia as the company pursues a lightning-fast international expansion. It was set up a little over two years ago with the US$385 billion sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and AI company G42 as its founding partners. MGX falls under the purview of Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and brother of the president.” The setting might be that Europe is ‘hesitant’ to replace the yoke of the United States with a Chinese replacement, but if there is a common ground between the UAE and Europe and a (for a lack of a better term) a Chinese wall is inserted in the European centers, a larger benefit to Emirati revenue could be right here. It all depends on how the UAE plays this ad what guarantees they could give the EU and the Commonwealth. As such there could be a new player in the town of Europe and under the much stricter rules of the GDPR, solution could be drawn. On a personal note, I reckon that China does not fear being left out of data as long as the United States loses a mouthful of revenue. Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft could all lose a chunk of their revenue and that puts the United States on the defense to keep whatever they can hold onto, as I see it, at present it sucks to be the President of the United States. And after the folly that is called “the Iranian peace treaty” and President Trump implying that they could ask for Tolls in the strait of Hormuz, angering many nations, especially ones trying to get oil across the strait, (source: Al Jazeera) as such the world is looking for other solutions and several firms might regret ever giving the keys to the united States to President Trump. But as I see it, the UAE is on the job and when one door closes, another tends to open and this might be the moment for the EU and Commonwealth to talk to the UAE in finding a solution that they can live with, the question is, will the UAE play game with Europe and the Commonwealth? My guess is yes, especially is China at the stage realizes a massive drain on the revenue of the United States, it could be the death stroke against the coffers of America and from there is goes downhill fast in the former land of opportunity.

I reckon that the next stage becomes opening another site in France, giving more power to ChapsVision, not sure if it is needed, but all the traction helps. And a second data centre in Europe would give several benefits, especially if these two centers are connected and support each other in case of data congestion, because that is bound to happen, but if two centers are connected, there is a larger solution for that. There is still the power use issue, but that is for tomorrow, it all depends on how stretched the power settings in France are and secondary, if Google, IBM and Microsoft are on the way out, there will be room for more. I actually hope that Google and IBM find another solution, but as American firms the Cloud Act is hanging over their heads, so that is the way in for MGX and the United Arab Emirates. 

Have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Politics, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

May 4, 2026 · 12:33

As oil burns

That is the lesson the Russians are learning. The BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyp41v1n1go) ‘Russian strikes kill 10 as Zelensky says Ukraine hits oil tankers and terminal’ where we see “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said three Russian oil tankers, a cruise-missile carrier warship and a patrol boat were struck in separate attacks on two Russian ports. There are no details on damage to the ships, but Zelensky said the tankers were part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to evade Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s full-scale invasion launched in 2022.” So whilst the Russians struck 10 people, 5 ‘commodity’ items were taken of the Russian board. Paraphrased that comes down to a taker for every 2 Ukrainian lives. I think it is not a proper way to say things, but in value it does ring true. And as Russia is losing more and more, the option to replenish through the selling of oil is also fading. Yes, I know it is not the most elegant way to state things, but it seems that the world needs a wake up call and as I foresee that soon this might be a solo fight between Russia and the United States, as the rest have isolated these two players. So the world sees two megalomaniacs praise and banter all over the field whilst they have to tough it out alone. It remains me of that old hit by Frankie Goes to Hollywood called Two Tribes (1984) and whilst some might remember that hit, some will see the light of the reality that it gives. And Russia? Their option is pretty simple and it was phrased by former Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin in one easy step and it was out there for over 3 years “In October 2022, she stated that the only way to end the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine. Her direct response, “The way out of the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine,”” seems simple, but the effect that the ego of megalomaniacs is that lead ing equals defeat, they cannot comprehend this concept. President Trump not in Iran and President Putin not in the Ukraine and as I see it, the rest of the world is ready to isolate both and they can banter to each other. 

So whilst some will ‘comment’ that Russia only lost 2 tanks, the reality is that they already lost 11,908 tanks, they might not have that many more open to the western front. They apparently only have about 2,500 tanks left and for any ground offensive that is not that much and we have no idea how many of those are the T34 ‘juggernauts’ (from 1939) and when you consider that these encounters are now set to UAV’s and the Ukraine did away with 269,813 of them bad boys and 2,224 of them in the last week alone, Russia has a problem as their supplier (Iran) is dealing with its own losses all over the field, so Russia is almost forced to rely on 1,334,030 dead soldiers, with 1,080 removed from the roll call of life in the last week alone. I reckon that over 900,000 might still be alive if someone in the Kremlin would have taken the words of Sanna Marin in their heart. The likely disadvantage of listening to someone’s ego. So when Russia wants to sell its oil, it needs to remember that 93,556 automotive and fuel tanks can no longer deliver anything, that being said, three oil tankers, for some unexplainable reason, cannot bring oil deliveries either. As I see it, the Russian options are getting fewer and fewer and soon they can only knock on the doors of the United States and whilst the Republican Party is in power, they might not get turned away. So there is every chance that Russia’s state oil firm Transneft will not report income for some time to come. So whilst we hear that the Ukraine has delivered Russia an estimated $7 billion in losses, with March alone seeing over $2.3 billion in revenue losses. These attacks have reduced oil transshipments by 300,000–500,000 barrels per day (bpd), forcing production cuts, reducing exports to their lowest level since 2024, and leaving half of Russia’s oil companies unprofitable. (Source: Al Jazeera) So as most doesn’t have the ability to suffer losses to this degree (I can honestly state that my wallet was never in a position to carry that much revenue) and that is the hidden setting that a lot of the media is not clearly stating. How much losses can any place (like Russia) endure? The media seems to paint with the same brush all matters so that the clarity is not seen, but when you sit and think if it the picture doesn’t make sense. Russia as well as Houthi terrorists rely on Iranian UAV’s and their space parts, but that was scuttled by the United States (as far as we know). Oil is shown its combustable properties by the Ukrainian forces and there is no clear setting for Iran which is getting an explanation by the forces of the United States and Israel. The stage is that both Russia and Iran seems to ‘fare’ in normal ways, but that setting could never be in such a setting. The image is wrong and there is every indication that I am missing parts of the image or revenue streams, but the media has lost reliability and I lack that knowledge to fill in the blanks and no one seems to be answering these questions. So whilst we see oil burning, no one is wondering what replaces that. 

So, have a great day and consider the issues I brought to the surface at this moment.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Military, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 13, 2024 · 18:01

What is real?

That is at times the question. There was an image on LinkedIn (see below) and I had taken notice of it. Yet today on LinkedIn we were given a rather large recruiting drive which seems odd, but it doesn’t need to be. The line “Amazon plans to cut 14,000 manager positions by 2025” directly opposes the recruitment drive on which 150 people applied for (as a presented fact).

We see all the big boys dumping staff around 120,000 of them and the others are planning to dump a significant amount of people (numbers unknown). One of them I know ‘personally’, it is the Swedish telecom company Telia. We were given a month ago “Swedish carrier Telia is set to cut 3,000 jobs this year as part of cost reduction measures. The proposed cuts would equate to around 15 percent of its workforce, and deliver annual savings of 2.6 billion Swedish crowns ($253 million), the operator said today (September 4)” the larger issue is not that they are dwindling down staff, a 15% decrease is significant. It is the other side of the coin that I cannot see at the moment. That 15% might be all over the place, but the turnover is that a company with 15% less staff tends to have issues all over the board. Perhaps it works out, perhaps not. But the issue that I see with 3,000 persons saving them 2.6 billion Swedish crowns is a more significant issue. You see that amounts to a personal saving of 866K per person and no one in Sweden makes that much (well almost no one) this means that Telia is downsizing a lot, as such we need to take a look at “As of 2023, the company had a market share of roughly 31.5 percent” This implies (implied does not mean factual) that Telia is downsizing a few more branches and that now leads us to a much larger setting. Another source on this gives us “I envisage that this intended approach will not only result in a Telia that is simpler and faster in decision-making and commercial execution, but also help us to grow our business and generate enough cash so that we can make necessary investments and cover our dividend, as we remain committed to our dividend policy” I feel uneasy on this. Especially the statement “we remain committed to our dividend policy”, now this might (and likely is) merely me, but it could also mean that Sweden is ripe for players like STC (Saudi Telecom Company) and Huawei (Ren Zhengfei) to take up the baton to wave a much larger change in Europe. I expect that Huawei might show links to China Telecom (a speculation, not a fact). You see, as these companies all dwindle down, these staff members (requiring a job) might be a nice niche for these two players. Saudi’s STC is already in Europe “Saudi Telecommunication Company’s subsidiary TAWAL officially began operations in Europe in August of that year. In September 2023, it was announced STC Group had acquired a 9.9% stake in the Madrid-headquartered multinational telecommunications company, Telefónica, S.A..” When you consider this stage, and Sweden is the next target, Finland and Norway are not far away. I saw some data on STC entering Slovenia (might have been Slovakia) and that puts the option of Poland on the table, at that point Saudi Arabia has a clear path from the South of Europe all to the far north. And with that on the road, Huawei will have negated a much larger win, it took them some time but with this in place America is out of the race in Europe. All that bantering of fear mongers (never showing any evidence) and now these players will succumb to a much larger setting. Mind you, I am speculating. I have no evidence of this. And when we consider that IBM and Cisco are also on the list, the internet overhaul could become a lot larger. We say ‘it won’t get this far’ but the stage where they could be replaced by other players There is a Chinese version of Cisco (not sure how that words), but the stage becomes that Huawei and STC would have a clear path taking over servicing the European population of 449 million people in the EU. It is what I would attempt to do and America losing 120,000 people to ‘streamlining’ businesses will not help. So what happens next? Well if this impacts Telecom in Europe, especially a well maintained network, America will lose more and more and now they have no data to look into, that implies that Google, Meta and Microsoft will get less data and that will hinder their actions in the long run as well, especially as the Department of Justice is seeking to slice and dice Google. In that setting Huawei and their Harmony OS NEXT will get a great option and as that vibrates through the Middle East and Asia, Huawei will get the sweetest revenge on America to start. In this setting (as I personally see it) Germany and France will soon count the chickens they have and the eggs coming from this setting. I feel that Germany will turn first, but that might merely be my view on the matter. 

What is a given is that this is merely a setting as I see it (optionally very wrong), but as Saudi Arabia via BRICS makes more inroads into Europe, America will essentially lose these income streams. And that is the beginning of the end for America and its $35,000,000,000,000 debt. There is every consideration that more then 20% loss of revenue implies that America can no longer pay the interest bill. A setting I saw coming a mile away (5 years ago), so I do not see any hindrance to this scenario (which doesn’t make it correct).

And in all this China is seeking ‘revenge’ on the accusations America spouted and Saudi Arabia is aiming to become a technology hub and they are well underway to make that so.

So in this day and age of redundancies, there is a larger group of people almost desperate to find a new gig and there these two players can find all kinds of people ready and willing to give their new employer the best that they had. Will it be so? Time will tell. 

I want to congratulate Vancouver as they join us on this Sunday and the rest on having an equally fine day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Media, Politics, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

January 28, 2024 · 19:59

Uproarious Nonsensical players support terrorism.

This was a stage I saw last week, but I didn’t trust the source. Now that the BBC is joining that list, the game changes somewhat. The story (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68119268) gives us ‘UN agency condemns aid halt over alleged help for Hamas attacks’. Now, I haven’t had a great deal of trust in the UN and it melted down close to nothing when that UN essay writer Eggy Calamari launched her attack on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in particular His royal highness Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. I debunked her fiction (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/02/27/that-was-easy/) in ‘That was easy!’. Now, I am not saying he was innocent, because I CANNOT prove that. Yet a person is regarded innocent until proven guilty and that document shows massive gaps and no clear evidence of guilt. I will go even further that the UN took its time AVOIDING one piece of evidence and for the most no one has ever seen it. The document is added to that article, so feel free to read up on it. This matters as we saw similar acts on the UN avoiding the guilt of Houthis and the acts by Hamas. The United Nations (as that joke goes) is less useful than a crack dealer in a schoolyard. This all matters because now we see “The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has urged the countries that halted funding to reconsider their “shocking” decision.” My somewhat less than politically correct response is “Are you out of your flipping mind?” This is not some ‘misplaced’ act of doubt. This is a direct accusation that members of the UNRWA have actively been assisting Hamas with a terrorist attack. So the UN better wake the folly up and start properly investigating. The quote “The agency says it is investigating and has already sacked those employees” I understand and I accept that the UN needs to properly investigate things, but this comes from several sides and at present Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States have suspended funds to the UNRWA, so this is serious. These are nations with an effective intelligence network. As such the UN has its nightmare scenario running amok (no idea how one runs a muck), but this is not a setting lost in translation and this is an accusation, not some half baked allegation. I rely on evidence and I have not seen any, but these are organisations that have all kinds of connections, as such I tend to accept the allegation until proper presentation is made. The issue is that the allegations against Saudi Arabia by the UN and FTI Consulting (which the UN used)  had holes in them, several and both reports were used even though the people behind it should have known better and the fact that I showed holes in these reports in less than 24 hours implies that others would have done so quicker, but they remained silent. And now the UN has a problem. Through the UNRWA they stand to lose a lot of fundings and until they clean their houses (plural) the world has pretty much had enough of that UN gravy train. The fact that we are treated to “It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an agency and an entire community it serves because of allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially at a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region.” You see, this is not some ‘criminal’ element. These are people ACTIVELY supporting terrorists and terrorist goals. One might state (might being the operative word) that the attacks of October 7th might not have been possible without direct support by UN staff members. I know it is a stretch, but it might not be far from the truth and the UNRWA conveniently sacked these people. So how will they be prosecuted? A missing question. 

Today we see the start of nations at large demanding accountability from the UN. They kept silent on Houthi attacks on Saudi civilians. The kept silent on terror attacks by Hamas and that is merely the tip of the iceberg. This all reminds me of an old saying and I used it against a few companies in the past. When you cater to everyone, you please no one. It does not seem fair, but that is the reality we face. We cannot please all and the lesson will be a hard one to learn by the United Nations and we will see that soon enough (I reckon before March 1st).

Enjoy your Sunday, mine is mostly gone by now.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Law, Media, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 2, 2023 · 19:41

My presumption is real

This article goes over several parts, parts you might agree with and parts you will not agree with. That is fair! You see several parts are set to presumption, which is still better than speculation. The difference is seen in the meaning. Presumption is an idea that is taken to be true on the basis of probability. There is more than probability in my case. I have worked in IT since 1983, as such I have been around (at least twice). Speculation is the forming of a theory or conjecture without firm evidence. And both are important because I am talking from the past, which is not always seen or accepted as evidence. This is fair, and this is why people might disagree and I get it, never take anything for granted, not Ven when I say it. I love the expression from NCIS in this case ‘Trust but verify’ Gibbs was right, always verify what you learn. It is the only real way to move forward.

So this all started yesterday with an article. The article (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66118831) gives us ‘Gallium and germanium: What China’s new move in microchip war means for world’, they say it is 8 hours old, but I saw the article a little over 25 hours ago, so not sure what changed. The setting is “Under the new controls, special licences are needed to export gallium and germanium from the world’s second largest economy. The materials are used to produce chips and have military applications. The curbs come after Washington made efforts to limit Beijing’s access to advanced microprocessor technology.” You can turn and twist this to your heart content, but the setting is inaccurate and largely incorrect. Not what you read, that is fine. But there is a whole mess that precedes this and to see this we need to go back to the 90’s. You see, the IT world saw hoe the arms race was going and how military contractors were filling their pockets and the IT world took a page from that stage and started its IT Armistice race. I was caught up in it as well. A 386, a 486, a 486DX2, the Pentium, the Pentium 2, the Pentium-450, the Pentium2, as such between 1993 and 2002 I had wasted thousands on 7 systems, 7 systems in 10 years and I had enough. You see for the most the Pentium2 was enough to do 90% of everything I did, except gaming. Then I switched to consoles and saved myself thousands more. As such I avoided to the largest extend the graphic card war which might seem small but high end gaming needs a $1200 card, my PS5 was less then a thousand dollars on day one. In this Microsoft also pushed the borders, making us upgrade again and again. Oh, they played their cards cautiously and they played it well. Yet consider “Vista alone had 50 million lines of code, 10 million lines more than its successor, Windows 7. Because of the excessive amount of bloat and code, it was very slow on devices at the time, even on the latest and greatest hardware of 2007. This meant that it was more expensive to buy a machine that ran Vista properly.” Between Windows XP and Windows 7 we had the Vista nightmare and it cost too many too much. Yet weirdly enough with a little effort (Suse Linux at $99) you had an equal if not much better option, it would work on most Pentium2 systems like lightning. You could download it for free but for that money you got the discs and a DVD, the DVD had all the discs which included Linux and a truckload of programs, even open office I believe. If not it was easily downloaded. A linux lookalike version of Microsoft office that was free. It had an SQL database and so much more, even a nice collection of games, but they were not high resolution games. Fo that you needed a console and you saved thousands. It is this armistice race. We went though thousands of processors and that is what counts, because that drained the Gallium and Germanium we had and now China is one of the few that has it now. You see, we might act against China, but Gallium is found in Japan, South Korea, and Russia as well. China has however 90% at present. That does not mean there isn’t more, but finding it is not easy. Germanium is also found in Canada, Finland, Russia and the United States. China has about 60% and that is where we see the odd duck out (on your left). And is it not interesting that the second material is not mentioned that it is also found in Canada and the US? In this greed was again a much larger stage to this. The IT Armistice race dwindled whatever the west had and now China and Russia seem to have the upper hand. Still the larger stage is not merely who has it, but it becomes who can find it better, because that is where this is heading. I get it, we all need the latest PC (or MAC) but ask yourself, what allows you to do what you need to do? That is the question that IT providers like Dell and HP were eager to avoid at all cost as it impacted their bottom dollar. They will make the ‘party line’ To enjoy the best of Windows (whatever version) you are best off having a (the latest chip). That is what caused a large part of the drain and I was every bit as guilty. By the time I figured out what was going on I my bank account had about $22,000 less (11 systems with 2 still in use). You can scream whatever you want on how I could ‘save’ some dollars, but the truth is that we all enjoyed that feeling of the latest system, but it came at a price. So when we now see “a Pentagon spokesperson said the US had reserves of germanium but no stockpile of gallium” and why is that? It it is such a crucial element, why is there no stockpile? That is an easy answer, but no answer will be forthcoming. A race for supremacy, all whilst at least two racers are no longer able to keep up and that race is about to turn nasty for at least one of them. The Commonwealth might rely on Australia, but until the deposits are found the UK is in a tight spot. As I personally see it we might have to take a step back and see how else we can get the job done. As such I am phrasing an extremely speculative question. French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran found in 1875 the substance we now know to be gallium, it is in group 13 of the periodic table and is similar to the other metals of the group (aluminium, indium, and thallium. My question becomes Is there another solution that employs indium or thallium? I honestly have no idea, I do not even know where these two are found and whether they can do what Gallium does. Also there is Rhodium, can it (or a combination) get the job done? I have no idea, but it seems to me that the head-banging against a wall we raised ourselves is massively stupid to say the least and there is every chance that there is a chemist and an electronic engineer who will laugh at my suggestion, which is fair enough. To see this we need to look at 1965 when Friedrich Schächter created a ballpoint that works in space as it is a pressurised ink solution. In in 1967 it was reported that NASA purchased approximately 400 pens for $2.95 a piece, all whilst Bic pens were $0.29 in those days. Russia decided to solve it by using a pencil, which costed $0.39 at the time. So we can caress our ego’s or find another solution.  And this is merely one of many issues. So will you embrace someone who adds 10 million lines of code, or seek whatever else is out there? I get it, the other solution will not work for everyone, but over 2 billion people use a PC out there. I am willing to bet the bank that at least 25% could do with a cheaper solution. There are (according to some) an estimated 300 million computers in production annually. I feel certain that at least a third doesn’t need to be bought and if Microsoft woke up and recreated Windows XP for households and adds a decent office version to it several other gallium issues could suddenly be less stringent. In 2018 970 units of Gallium were used. In 2022 it was almost 3500 units (the chart did not clearly give me what the units were). Why is that? I know that PC output is not over 300% in 2022. There might be other uses as well, but I would not know that, but the more I see the more questions I end up with and the BBC (or its article) isn’t giving me the goods. There was no mention of Canada or the US in it, was there?

It is time for plenty of people to wake up, I for one would send a wake up call (plus coffee) to Dr. Stefanie Tompkins of DARPA, perhaps they can find alternative options for these two metals? Not the weirdest idea and as the Pentagon needs these materials it seems to me that between lunch and diner DARPA might find an answer, these boffins are kinda clever so it is one way to go. What do you think?

Enjoy the middle of the week, its all uphill in anticipation to the weekend until Friday. 

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Media, Military, Politics, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 4, 2023 · 00:32

When is a fence not one?

That is the thought I had a few days ago when I was confronted with ‘Finland’s main parties back plans to build Russia border fence’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/19/finland-main-parties-back-plans-build-russia-border-fence), it was a newer story with added parts, and they do not matter at present. You see, the Finnish border with Russia is 1,340km, like the Texas Mexico fence, it is folly. On the stage of getting a 1,340,000 metre fence costs more than the combined reserves of ALL EU nations, as such Finland cannot afford it. Then we get the simple setting that large parts of such a fence can be tunnelled under in simple ways. And to withstand the power of any tank that wall needs to be strong and it might merely delay any invasion by an hour, so what gives anyone the idea that this wall is a solution, other than the delusional thoughts of some politician? 

I honestly do not get it. Then, if you look at the map, the northern part of Finland borders Norway, who then borders Russia, so how to solve that? Build a wall that includes Norway? There are a dozen settings where the wall falls short, as such the use of a wall there is just folly. 

So what gives someone the idea that a wall was any kind of a solution to anything at all? And when you consider the Russian smugglers who use Finland to get to the shores to Sweden (the Lulea – Tornio – Russia route), I feel sure that some people will see the wall fail there as well. But the Guardian seemed to bite on that red herring with “Finland’s border guard last month suggested building a fence several metres high, topped with razor wire and equipped with surveillance cameras and sensors along 160 miles of the border – roughly 20% of its total”, so we have a wall that is covering 20% of the border, as such where? And when you consider that 80% is still available what does it do but take resources away, resources Finland does not really have that much to begin with. Then we get “The fence would protect areas identified as posing a potential risk of large-scale migration from Russia, mainly in south-east Finland, where most traffic crosses the border, but also around border stations in the north of the country”, which now implies that the Lulea – Tornio – Russia route could also make money for refugee smuggling, so yes, that was a really good idea from day one (sarcasm implied). And then we get the juiciest steak in political Finland. It is given to us with “The project would take up to four years to complete and could cost several hundred million euros, according to border guard estimates. Final approval for the main phase could be delayed until April, when Finland is due to hold parliamentary elections”, did you catch the stage? At a minimum of 200M, the fence will cost $1.3M per mile, which is ridiculously cheap, as such the cost would be well above 400 million and that is still decently cheap. Because border guards, electronic surveillance and a few other items will put the wall, the limited wall at no less than a billion, which is a lot more than several hundred million euros and that is before budgets are overrun and the entire mess will be useless at the price of close to €2,000,000,000 and that is still pinching pennies whilst the wall has no depth, implying that digging under it would be decently easy. So in this time of need, which nation has 2 billion ready to waste on solutions that go nowhere? At present NPR gives us that the Mexican wall is set to around $20,000,000 per mile, implying that Finland is looking at $3.2 billion, implying that my simple calculus exercise was right on the nose with €2,000,000,000 and as Finland has time issues (like Winter is coming) the 4 years is also over optimistic. Increasing the Finnish army by 300% might be cheaper and as we saw that the Ukrainian turned the Russian bear into sishkebab, that idea might be a lot more effective. A wall that cannot defend itself is merely a place you can get around and in this day and age, walls are avoided most of the time. To b e honest, I would like the politicians behind this give us the numbers on how they got to the few hundred million euro. I reckon we can all use the entertainment.

I reckon looking closely at the construction firms and their connections might reveal a few additional items, but that is me, ever the skeptic. Oh that is all before we look at the cost and maintenance of guards on that stretch of wall, you would need well over 80 guard groups, with 24 hour coverage, travel settings and food/drink options. I reckon I low balled the cost by a lot.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Military, Politics

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

January 31, 2023 · 17:01

One issue, more to come

The first issue is known. I wrote about it on January 23rd (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/01/23/a-national-consequence/) it was ‘A national consequence’ where we see the events unfold between Turkey and Sweden. I want to side with Sweden, but this time they broke their own windows and now we see (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64457233) ‘Swedish flag burnt in Jakarta amid Turkey Nato row’ it took a few days but now the anti-Sweden issues start rising and that is before Egypt and Pakistan wake up to the issues that Sweden allowed to be mainstream issues. As I personally see it Rasmus Paludan started this and is not only cause to Sweden being halted from entering NATO, Swedish tourists will do well to stay out of Islamic nations for a while. You all it freedom of expression, most others will call it targeted racism, but the Swedes will get all time to ponder that stage. As we get “Other anti-Sweden protests have also taken place in Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Lebanon this month.” We see that Pakistan is awake, not sure about Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but that cannot be far away. Even as we are given “We urge the Indonesian government to not just condemn this, but to also join in boycotting everything Swedish,” said one protester in Jakarta, Wati Salam. What they [the Swedes] did was an insult to our holy scripture,” said another, Junaedi Abdilla.” We recognise the Swedish defence with “the burning does not reflect the government’s opinion” which came from their embassy in Djakarta, but the truth is that they allowed the extremist to start the fire and now it is an international problem. Rasmus Paludan played you and you let it escalate. For me it does not matter, at some point one of the Arabic nations will consider my script ‘How to assassinate a politician’ and that works well or me. It was designed with the Dutch politician Geert Wilders in mind, but it can be easily reset to Denmark (or Sweden) with Rasmus Paludan being the target. There is a consequence of insulting Islam and we need to accept that these consequences have far reaching consequences. Drawing the image of Muhammad, burning Qurans. These are mere two events and the far right keeps on going to these two places. They have been doing it for years and at some point something will have to give. So what happens when Iran and Saudi Arabia stops delivering oil? Will Europe pay premium for American oil, or will they consider Venezuela as a supplier? Something has to give and in this day and age, the available options are not out there in numbers. You did realise that, did you not?

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Religion

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

January 5, 2023 · 22:16

Growth

Growth, we all seek it, in mind, in business, and in setting and there is a stage that is evolving at present. The Guardian reported early this morning ‘Record warm winter in parts of Europe forces closure of ski slopes’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/04/warmest-january-ever-forces-ski-slopes-across-europe-to-close). Now there is the expression that one swallow is no identification of Summer. Yet there is no guarantee that next year will be better. Consider the stages France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. That is a stage that gives them a pool over well over 2 million people who do want snow, who want to taste the slopes. They will soon need to seek or at least consider other venues. In the Northern Hemisphere that gives them Norway, Canada and China. Finland has a lack of mountains, as does Sweden. Norway can grow as can Canada. I reckon that there are too many anti-China sentiments at present. Norway and Canada have good vibes on the slopes and I reckon it is time for them to consider new settings. Some places in Norway can grow, but they will need at least one more place for now, as does Canada. Yes Whistler is a great destination, but it is overcrowded. The 2022/2023 movies are mostly ab out the horrendous waiting times, the amount of people trying to get up. Whistler is full and Canada either creates an additional place where the people now going to Whistler can g, or bleed tourists to other nations. I reckon that they will see that another Canadian field (most likely in British Columbia) makes sense. There have been abandoned places (near Calgary) that offer a good setting, yet that stage need work as well as anything new. Every field will grow, but only if all the amenities are there. The same for Norway, who is seen as an excellent place to visit, but the call of Whistler is strong. So, as I see it They both have good chances, but the one with a better option and a cheaper one (Whistler is really expensive) will get that cluster of people. So there is risk. If a strong winter gets back in the next year, their issues are saved (France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy), if not the early bird will get the collection of worms and it will be a lot more than mere thousands. Thi will affect plane travel as well as accomodations. There is of course a lot more and even as I cannot give you all the answers, there is clear place to grow, not merely to get the overrun to Whistler, the failing of places we never expected to fail will call for more answers, some we might never get. But the overwhelming stage is that snow is lacking in places where it should not and the places that could benefit might never have seen this coming.

That is not on them, but next year will be and there they need to find ways to either take the risk that they miss out, or see what they could get because a group of millions of tourists in this day and age is a strong call. Personally I have no interest, but there is a second stage, one that is not a given. We can get that Paris and Milan–Cortina d’Ampezzo are places currently set for the Olympics. I hope it goes well, but if this bad winter stage continues, someone has to step in. Who? That is anybodies guess. But there is room to grow for several reasons and several places will have the option to grow, will they take it? I cannot tell, but even if there is added revenue, it comes with a decent amount of risk. No one denies that, but no one saw the really bad snow weather of this season come, especially when places like Canada is drowning in the stuff. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Politics, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,