Tag Archives: history

May 5, 2025 · 06:55

The Dutch gene

Today was remembrance day in the Netherlands and in 8 hours it will be liberation day. These two days are high in the heart of the Dutch, being Dutch by birth, they are important days for me too. On May 4th, the Dutch ‘celebrate’ Remembrance of the Dead. It is in May 4th and it is crowded by visitors and people who lost a family member of friend, well that was for the longest of time. At present they merely remember the loss of progeny and past family members. This is how the Dutch remember the dead on the day before liberation day which will start in about 8 hours. 

Remembrance Day set the focus on It commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the beginning of the Second World War. After that we get Liberation Day throughout the Netherlands. A wide variety of entertainment and events taking place to commemorate the liberation of The Netherlands during World War II. As I moved to Australia almost 2 decades ago, these two days still touch me on these days. Usually I watch the movie ‘The Assault’ during these two days (one day or the other) and after it was released in 2006 also the movie Black Book. 

They give us a near perfectly real image (as I see it to be) of the days of World War 2 in the Netherlands. I reckon that the non-Dutch might not see it that way. Most of us are nearly always washed over by a more action driven nature of what WW2 was actually about. Most of these moves are American (or British) of origin and they set the stage of a weaponized setting, but these two movies show us a country under actual occupation. A setting that tends to be confusing for most. Don’t get me wrong, the Dutch enthusiastically hated the Germans, that hatred lasted the better part of 4 decades. We (or better stated I) do not hate Germans, it all happened before I was born, my father was a youngling and only saw his parents being hit by the results of WW2. My family (as far as I know) was never personally hit by any doom, or actually losses because if it. And as far as I feel there is no need to propagate hatred under those conditions. You can tell me that there is another way, but the propagation of hatred because of hatred seems petty and wrong. 

Still there is need to remember those we lost there, in an age that seems it is handy to forget about them, I believe it is important to remember those who fought against the occupation by the Germans, so that we can see how important those days were. Especially now, especially as Russia is moving against the Ukraine and in this we see how courageous the Ukrainians are. The 20th Largest army in the world is holding the second largest army in the world at bay. So what are the reliable numbers? Will we find ourselves forced into the next war. As such it was important for me to see these two movies. They do not inform me as much as console my feelings and doubts. You see, with everything that is happening in the world for the people like Putin and Trump, we need to be sure of our feelings. A moral compass if you prefer. A set point of what was, not the media shown exploitation of digital dollars of what they would like it to be. At present the bulk of the media just want to see money (digital or not) and we need to resist flame grown emotions. 

As the Netherlands is about to enter Liberation day, we might overlook such events, but we need to make sure we do not, because the consequences will be dire for all concerned.

So try not to overthink this and have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, Politics

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

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.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Politics, Tourism

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

April 14, 2025 · 07:33

And now for a momentous occasion

Yes, it was a momentous occasion yesterday. For the people of my generation (that would be the generation that is old and decrepit), Yesterday it was the 50th anniversary of Monty Python. I got told this by the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250407-how-monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-became-a-comedy-legend). I completely forgot that it had been so long. I was there, in front of my TV when the birth of Monty Python was shown to us on a 4:3 screen and I saw it on a black and white TV. Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin with additions from Terry Gilliam showed us a totally new concept in Television. They called it comedy and it was magnificent. 

OK, I have to make a slight adjustment. It was 50 years since their masterpiece Monty Python and the holy grail came out. The TV series are older. Still, we forget the larger picture. The movie made them globally funny, the TV was (in those days) often limited to Europe (mainly UK, Netherlands, Belgium) but the movie made them a global household name. These younger pups think that comedy comes from some guy named Steve Carell, what do they know? Apparently a marketeer from Dutch Barn disagrees, but I have no idea what that is about. And now that idea might never have worked, there is word that the youthful young Jim Halpert played by John Krasinsky was taken to a quiet place by his wife, so that’s that. And what do those people know? Monty Python was here first and it was magnificent. I remember those days. I was one year too young for the movie (14 years and older) but I became a knight who said ‘ni’ as well. I saw it a year later and it was magnificent. Of course I already knew Monty Python from TV and as such The TV characters were known to me but yesterday’s article brought it all back to the surface. Read it, it is a really good article. For one, I never knew that funding was a bit of a problem and the legendary band Led Zeppelin brought the bread to the table. We get from Michael Palin: “I say to people, ‘Led Zeppelin gave us £50,000 – and look where they are now.’” Apparently Pink Floyd also aided in the support of the movie. And it was money well spend. I still have the movie on DVD (I had the VHS tape as well) and it was the beginning of a great comedy movie franchise. And the setting of “the film’s budget was less than £300,000 ($393,000). This wasn’t much for a sweeping fantasy set in medieval Britain, so the team had to be inventive.” The realisation that that little money got a movie made that is still a character a timeless humor is to be revered. A movie that is hopefully still bringing in the pounds, shillings and dimes and it would have been doing that for 50 years. Today the average comedy like Evan Almighty is almost forgotten after 20 years, I enjoyed that movie and several other from him, he is a good actor, but the setting of 50 years is something completely different. It matters, and it brought a nice dish to the table. In the end the actor who played the Rabbit of Caerbannog was later served as Rabbit au vin and he was completely forgotten 2 days later, except for the eater, who caught indigestion for at least a week. Things happen.

Still, this milestone brings feelings to the surface, happy feelings and it was brought about by 7 youthful young individuals that went on shaping the stage of comedy. Later Terry Gilliam would blow my socks away with Time Bandits, Brazil, and later “12 monkeys” with Bruce Willis. 

Happy are feelings of those who bring is joy and the Monty Python team brought us a lot, including the thought that every sperm is sacred, so ladies don’t forget. 

Have a great day and if you haven’t seen Monty Python and the holy grail, try to see it this week, it will be the best thing you will have done all week.

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, movies

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

April 11, 2025 · 06:42

Nuance in Black and White

That is what we get, nuance, is it black or white? That is the definition of nuance for some and in this particular case Newsweek. Don’t bother with the 16 or 256 gray scales there are, because that is where their digital money is. But I took offense and that comes with a price. I am talking about the article we see (at https://www.newsweek.com/hajj-visas-saudi-arabia-travel-2056781) with the headline ‘Saudi Arabia Bans Travel Visas for 14 Countries’. It is here we see “Saudi Arabia has banned certain types of visas for travelers from 14 countries, weeks before the annual Muslim pilgrimage known as Hajj”, so far, so good is my view on this. The added “The country is clamping down on visa numbers by temporarily halting travel documents for visitors from a string of countries, with the suspension due to remain in place until after Hajj has concluded in mid-June. Officials made the move to address overcrowding and safety concerns, according to reports.” As such I see it a something that happens and I am OK with this. The issue is seen a little further down where we see “While last summer, Hajj coincided with a vicious heatwave, and more than 1,000 pilgrims died as a result of searing temperatures of up to 125 degrees F.” The issue is that the bulk of all these departed souls came from tour operators who sold them visas on ILLEGAL reasoning. As such they had no Hajj permit and as such there were no provisions, no busses and no shelters for these people. That is the nuance that I see as ‘intentionally skipped’ by Newsweek. I wonder how it feels to be the one intentionally misinforming the people. The nations who are temporary banned from visas are Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen. I presumably gather that when we look at the thousand or so victims of tour operators bungling the jobs are showing the numbers that make up these victims. Oh, and I have not ever seen any of the news outlets looking into the tour operators who ‘mis sold’ the travel arrangements for the people who went on their one way trip to Makkah. We do get that in another way “The Times of India reported that people are known to enter Saudi Arabia on visitor or Umrah visas and then overstay in order to perform Hajj without registering officially. This allows them to bypass a quota system, which allocates a set number of Hajj places to each country to help control pilgrim numbers. It is hoped that a crackdown on all types of visas until after Hajj will prevent the problem.” And Newsweek sets the second problem of misinforming their audience What I stated on issues like no provisions, no busses and no shelters for these people is skipped. The Saudi Arabian settings has settings for their pilgrims. There are shelters to temporary hide from the blazing sun, busses to take them to places (which set to be 20 miles apart) and there are water provisions all for those with the Hajj pass. These were all skipped by some and as this is set up for the 2 million pilgrims. As I personally see it, these tour operators became murderers for even entertaining that setting and those who by self interest avoided the Hajj settings did this to themselves, but I fail to see that these were all self serving. The only self serving option I saw was a tour operator making a quick additional buck or two. And Newsweek did nothing to point that out either. There were no investigations by the western media and that is offensive, especially as over a thousand people lost their lives. 

We are given in the end “Muslims with the appropriate visas will be preparing for their trip, while others may have to delay their plans until next year. Meanwhile, the kingdom’s officials will be gearing up for the annual influx of Hajj visitors.” And I like this, but the simple setting of ‘appropriate visas’ is massive and needs to be shown in these places. I reckon that Saudi Arabia needs to make a small movie, optionally on YouTube and TikTok showing the dangers of the wrong visa and optionally letting these people know that these tour operators need to be reported. I wouldn’t hurt to put the fires to the ankles of these tour operators, who I personally see as the number one culprit. 

Have a great and safe day. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, Religion

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

March 30, 2025 · 06:45

The need for a credit card

That is what we all think at times. There are two stages that stop us for getting one, or to get the credit limit upgraded. The first is work. It is hard to tap into that ‘virtual’ resource when you are out of work. The second stage is that if you have a job and it pays, the future of the company you work for makes upgrading limits a genuine problem. Even if the bank approves it, you yourself at times wonder if you should make that jump. Rightfully so as you soon realise that you are merely working to pay the interest bills.

So where is this going?
Well America is in that situation right now. It failed to ‘bolster’ its size by claiming Canada and it is now in a bullying stage then there is Greenland, which is funny because no one wanted Greenland for the longest of times and now it get ‘courted’ by America. Of course the courtship (like any courtship) is usually based on lies and on presentations in a different direction. Like most men, the first notion of a courtship is to push his dick onto her vagina no matter the cost to her. This reminds me of a joke Jack Whitehall stated: “We all look at the village idiot in some way, here in the UK we put him on the street, In America you love village idiots. They end up in the White House” and that is basically the setting they face. His bully tactics are coming up short and for the most part the skeptics are watching what is coming next. I considered the options and as I have been keeping an eye on the American economy, I see the play they essentially need to play. You see, America has run out of Credit Card Space and they need to upgrade their credit card. So first they talk trash on Canada and try to make it their 51st State. But now that it is failing they need alternatives. 

But the cause is worse than the need, they now face massive changes as Canada, part of the Commonwealth is seeking alternatives with Commonwealth nations. Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom seem to be on board to support each other and that is what America never counted on. Then there is the EU and some of these nations (two at present) are dumping their F35 aspirations and they are looking elsewhere for their planes. It might not be large customers, but it is a beginning and that gives rise to alternatives.

Getting back on point.
We see news by several channels, ABC for one gives us “Mr Trump iterated that the island was important for US national security. The US president has not clarified how or when he aims to annex it, but he has not ruled out using military or economic power.” As I personally see it, the real reason is “Greenland has rich untapped mineral resources and oil and gas, but development has been slow” that same setting exists for Canada and the US desperately needs to upgrade its Credit Card and that is one way to set it to a reality. As I see it, as a Courtesan truly worthy of the name village idiot he sets the trash talk to stellar to make these two ladies drop their briefs and that isn’t happening. Moreover (I for one) and plenty of others feel very protective of Canada. Greenland less so, but that is a Danish/EU setting. The method employed is just too icky. And now as American debts are surpassing thirty six trillion dollars with no handle on spending, the credit card needs to be upgraded before America has to default on things. As such Canada needs protection from the Commonwealth nations or it gets dragged into that hole named America. And that debt is shown as $36,000,000,000,000 and two elements will hammer America. The first is that the debt is now higher that its GDP, this might not seem like it is a big thing, but these are trillions and there is no stop spending in effect. Also the larger issue is interest. You see, then we look at that we see that Australia has a 3.28% debt setting. I cannot say exactly what America’s is but it should be over 2%, this means that 720 billion dollars interest will be due every year (a little over simplified) and seeing that the American tax office collected $4.9 trillion in FY 2024, we see that 14.693% of the taxation is lost on interest payments and it is getting worse. So a nation that is spending in all the wrong places gets to live of 85% of its budget and last year (2024) it was dealing with a deficit of $1.8 trillion (or 1800 billion dollars). So what happens when you have to do this on 85% of your budget?

This is why America needs to upgrade its credit card and it is falling short. Especially as nations rally against the baboonic trash-talking bully tactics of the president of the United States. As well as national interest, particularly Canada and Denmark.

There is but one larger solution in play. When America defaults before it resorts to military options, the game is over for America. It would become a third world nation over night. If not than we have a non-preferred option and that is to run into the arms of People’s Republic of China. There is the chance that the world will react to a larger degree all American items, which is bad news for Apple and Microsoft, but that is the stage that is evolving.

I have the stage (personally fueled) that America collapsing is not the worst thing, but all those enjoying retirement plans that they saved up for their whole life, they can rejoin the workforce until they die. I reckon the ultra rich will lose a chunk of their value and they will evade to Bermuda, Monaco or the UAE to life out their lives. The rest will learn that the vote of 2024 was the worst day in their life but that is what we face. The rest of the nations have no reason to celebrate. When the dollar goes, so do the Yen and the Euro. As I see it, President Xi was ready for this by playing the waiting game. He will gain the economic options of 27 EU nations and up to 56 Commonwealth states. On the upside, Canada might get an infusion of cash as they build several airbases on their southern border (a presumption of me). The irony is funny, to pretend to serve national interests, president Trump caused the creation of Chinese airbases on their northern borders.

As Wall Street fixes on what is likely to happen, they need to set the shores of financial options and as I personally see it, those shores remain under attack for the better part of a decade and the is bad news for Wall Street as the economy doesn’t have that much time anymore. Im actually not sure how America survives 2026 at present. 

Well, have a nice day and consider where you are and where you are likely to be soon enough.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics

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

February 26, 2025 · 05:35

The who now?

I do not know all the inn’s and out’s of sports, I freely admit that. I live in Australia and like Canada we enjoy an over interested sport community (read: a sport mindset population). 

So when I saw news item named ‘Saudi Arabia to host Islamic Games again’, I went ‘The who now?’ And this isn’t a new thing. As I read “Two decades after hosting the inaugural edition in Mecca, the nation is once again at the heart of regional sport. In November, Riyadh will welcome the world’s top athletes for the sixth edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games, event aiming to strengthen brotherhood among Muslim-majority nations.” So this isn’t a new thing. It has been going on for two decades. And we are about to face the 6th edition of these games. So how come I was utterly unaware of the existence of these games? I don’t need to be muslim to enjoy games I cannot participate in (for the most, with one or two exceptions I am not able to participate on any level in sports). So I was taken aback. 

Let’s recap for the sports ignorant people who might never have heard of these events as well and I am looking at the media with utter disdain at present for not illuminating these games. The first were held in Mecca. The Islamic Solidarity Games and these games involve elite athletes of the OIC competing in a variety of sports, as such we get to see the creme de la creme in sports compete. The first were as said in Mecca (2005), the 2010 in Tehran were cancelled, in 2013 it was Indonesia to host these games, which were done in Palembang, then it was up to Baku to host them in 2017, in 2021 Turkey hosted them in Konya and now, in August 2025 they will be held in Riyadh. So what exposure did these games get? I would have loved to have seen them in Indonesia. That place doesn’t get to much exposure other then touristy occasions. 

So what sports are shown?
Well, at present 28 sports have been shown and the bulk of these sports were shown as:

Athletics (since 2005), Basketball (since 2005), Diving (since 2005), Equestrian (2005–2013), Football (since 2005), Gymnastics (since 2017), Judo (since 2017), Karate (since 2005), Swimming (since 2005), Water polo (since 2005), Weightlifting (since 2005), Wrestling (since 2017)

These are the sports we are ‘familiar’ with in a Olympic setting. Right Nike? (I am talking to the goddess, not the brand next to me now). A little less known are the sports below, or at least I don’t remember seeing them in an Olympic setting. Nike is shaking her head in disbelieve and rolling her eyes. They are: 

Bodybuilding (2025), Handball (since 2005), Table tennis (since 2005), Taekwondo (since 2005), Tennis (since 2005), Volleyball (since 2005), Wushu (since 2013)

The list is important as they are ‘enjoyed’ watching by the bulk of the world, as such I cannot believe that I had never heard of these games. 

Media bashing
You might think that I am making light of the situation and perhaps that is true, but can anyone explain how any person remains devoid of this knowledge when we have countries like Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and America where sports seems to be on the mind of men optionally a lot more than sex? The old story (according to women) is that men look for their golf balls more than a g-spot? (no idea what they mean with that). 

It might sound weird, but there is a decent Islamic population in at least 4 of them, so why don’t these Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation and Islamic Solidarity Games enjoy a lot more exposure? As second issue I would raise that there is another hurdle optionally failed. The fact that in these 20 years Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates wasn’t a host. There might be many valid reasons, but with all the exposure that Abu Dhabi enjoys, these games could be flooded in the limelight as I personally see it. So will they host these games in 2030?

At present I am learning a whole new chapter in sports. And the next chapter will shock you. When I enter “Islamic Solidarity Games Riyadh” in Google Search I do not get ONE news agency on page one. Worse still, one mention from the BBC on page 4 which was given in 2010. The western world is sunning these games to THAT degree. The western world was eager to paint Saudi Arabia black at every occasion they could find regarding the 2034 FIFA World Cup. So where are they now?

I think the western media needs to take a hard look at themselves when it comes to sport reporting. We have seen a lot of media engaged in ‘Whitewashing sports’ when it comes to Saudi Arabia, so who will take the front space when it comes to showing the thousands of athletes and the struggles they face with these games? There is something to scold western papers on the fact that they are seemingly shunning thousands of athletes. 

The more I see exposed by the biassed western media, the more l appreciate having a cat.

Have a great day, I am 165 minutes away from breakfast (we all have our little day to day priorities). 

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, sport, Tourism

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

February 24, 2025 · 00:37

An idea came to mind

Yes, we all have these moments. There is an idea brewing and you might think “it already exists” and you would not be wrong, but I am thinking of a bigger picture. It is set to genealogy. We all have these settings. We want to find out about our family. And for the most part Ancestry (one of the rulers in that franchise) is pretty much the best there is. Yet, as I see it, there is a larger need to keep our records on the side, for other settings to match. There currently is no real solution there. However, consider your Google Account. Nothing wrong with that, but what if you could expand on your own space, optionally an encrypted account where you set whatever you had and expand regardless of genealogy solution you do employ and set these parts of the puzzle on your own merits and your own space and your own connections. It sees like a lot, but hear me out. Lets set a ‘kinda’ fictive setting.

Screenshot

My maternal great grandfather was an unknown to me. He resided in Saffron Walden (UK) and lived on Debden Road 21 (at some point). Now it is an Osteopathic Clinic, and I found out that it was a pet store in the 50’s. So was my great grandfather a pet store owner? A lot of these details are not registered and I found them by chance. So wouldn’t it be great that a player like Google could collect and keep these details safe? If Google could interact with Ancestry and like minded providers and collect that data too, it might be great. I don’t want to take business away from Ancestry. But you cannot expect them to hold it all. Yet in unison with others. People could learn a lot more from their ancestors in this way. So who lived at Debden road 23? Or across the street? There might be a lot more info floating around. All things that Ancestry might not have and you can collect these parts and add them to your settings. What I learned was that my ancestors had connections to Exeter. There was a possible connection to a cemetery there. Ancestry might have it, but the collection of images and locations now are stretching some genealogy solutions thin. Wouldn’t it be great if Google had a solution for people to collect these parts and verify them somehow? I wonder if Google figured out how many millions have some kind of need for this and consider that they were all about ‘whatever the consumer needs’ I kinda wonder why these steps weren’t acted on (perhaps rejected initially) but there is a larger need and I think that Google fits that prescription better (I just don’t trust Microsoft). And did anyone consider that map connections the might hold some truths?

It is merely thoughts that are invading my brain and it is set to  facts that I am exposed to, but there is a larger setting and there are millions that have a larger pool of connections that are forgotten, everyone that preceded me is dead and with my death (somewhere in the future) that knowledge is lost to all. Perhaps no one considers me worthy. But do you share that with your brother and sister? And there children? Will they not get curious at some point? It isn’t merely me, but it is the people who come after me and you, they might want to know.

So have a great day and consider what you no longer know because your ancestors are removed from life. It is lost data and preserving that might mean more to your progeny than you currently realize.

Have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under IT, Media, Science

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

December 13, 2024 · 06:18

Demands from the people

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

Example:
I see something on Google Search (as I usually do) and I think “This might be interesting” and I take a look only to be confronted by a paywall. It is the media advertising habit. As such, if Australian politics want to make the social media pay, it comes at a price. All pay blocks are forbidden by Australian news and Australian media. You do not get to call yourself ‘entertainment’ and use the news as a advertisement campaign. An example of this is the Queensland Courier Mail. And there are many who use this method (some do not). When you charge others for your triviality, you do not get to set your bar to ‘private’, you must offer it to all without a paywall. 

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

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

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

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

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Media, Politics

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

March 7, 2022 · 22:39

The educational track

What if education got a helping hand? We seemingly play games, we seemingly read books, we seemingly learn. What if we unite this? And here we have a setting to the larger stage and I will admit that Ubisoft has the baton. They got it when they aded the Discovery tour to AC Origin. And when we weren’t in a rush to get the achievements we would have learned a decent deal of life in Egypt. The embalmers, the beer makers and so on. I stated it before, Ubisoft screwed up [plenty, but not that game. That one they got right and credit should be given where credit is due. 

And Ubisoft (others too) have been sitting on top of a whole range of IP that they could redistribute in a ‘plus setting’. The stage is decently easy. We have the person we play, we unite the maps of AC Origins and AC Odyssey and we go to town. Remove the wild animals, remove the enemies and so on. Then we add the tracks and works of 

Homer, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Plato, Hesiod, Democritus, Socrates, Empedokles, Anaxagoras, Herodotus and many more (well over 300 more). When set in a time line we learn and we now have an educational program. This can be done for Greece and Italy (aka Roman empire). The finny part was that I would have expected that Ubisoft had picked up on this, especially after the discovery tour. And let be honest, it is a much more interesting way of learning. See it as missions, from person to person, take a gander from where they were born to where they stopped living (or until the big works are illuminated). We see all thee boring books (not all mind you), but to use games to educate has not been explored enough and weirdly enough Ubisoft has an inside track here the renaissance  (AC 2, Brotherhood), US independence war (AC 3), And there is plenty more to tip on and with streaming systems seeking a larger hold, having the games with optional educational side will be a growing thing and lets be clear the expected $200,000,000,000 that the analysts state that gaming represents might go longer for Ubisoft if they find the larger application and I reckon that AC Origins (with Odyssey) might show to be a larger cash cow that could help them stretch time, time they basically no longer have. I would grasp at all options to stretch what is there. And they are not alone, but they are as far as I can tell the most visible one. 

We need to realise that not all games have an educational option, but those who do could have a larger stage to fill and a larger appeal (especially to parents). And don’t knock the idea. To get kids (11-16) interested in classical education topics is hard enough, getting them to walk the timeline of Homer and write a paper in it (with screenshots) might be the new setting no one in education considered before. It might not be their fault, but I reckon it is the foot in the door Ubisoft desperately needs at present. 

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming

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