Tag Archives: Italy

What is the difference?

A note to start with. This is pure presumption, there is no evidence that this is happening at present. And the second part is that I will be talking about AI in this article, all whilst I know it doesn’t exist yet. The setting of ‘AI’ is the conclusion of LLM and deeper machine learning at present and the solution in some cases is amazing, yet it is not AI (and that never will be the case), yet players all over the field (like for example Microsoft) they are set to the ‘AI’ field and there lies the danger, too many will snap their teeth into this field and they do not know what they are doing. The ‘et al’ parties in this like the revenue and will to some extent ‘accomodate’ what comes and what will connect to it. 

If this is the first setting of that stage, the second would be the accusation that ‘Meta Opens Floodgates For AI-Generated Accounts On Facebook, Instagram’ (source: Forbes). This sets up a new stage in data collection and data gathering and this connects to a movie called ‘Free Guy’ (with Ryan Reynolds) and that set in motion some thoughts that occurred to me. This part will be speculation to some, presumption as I see it for the simple reason that I have seen decades of lazy programmers and not to clued in data scientists who rumble to appease their data collecting masters. 

The premise
A man is going out on a date with his girlfriend, they are having a lovely meal and at that point he gets arrested for an outstanding warrant in Riverwood NSW, as he is accused of stealing merchandise from a shop and he is sought out to answer questions for the death of a police officer in that location, he is not wanted, but is a party of interest. He goes along with the setting, as only to see what is going on. He is certain that they aren’t looking for him. 

You see, the man is not the person they are looking for, to be honest there is no such warrant but there is the snag. Someone mixed up profiles and his gaming profile where he visited the Riverwood Trader in Riverwood in a place called Skyrim. You think I a kidding? No that is the reality we face when AI’s, who are not AI’s as AI’s do not yet exist. In the bungling mess that data scientists face they will cross the wrong paths and leave a lot of people in a dark setting as they are in line of warrants and black marks by the setting of that stage. And when someone will query the stage and ask if Riverwood NSW and Riverwood Whiterun are the same locations, or virtual ones. The computer will simply answer “What is the difference?

Settings
The setting of correct staging of locations and perhaps the simpler settings that a game crime is not a real crime the computer throws a NULL, it was never taught the distinction. The data Scientist never thought it would become a reality. And there is the stage when we get fake profiles collecting data. No distinct verification of data required (apparently).

It was a danger I saw years ago, but no one seemingly caught on and now as everyone wants to trow in their ‘AI’ to be more efficient in data collection, real profiles and real people get twist in a setting of what is reality and that setting will become the event of the day for a lot of people.

I am not looking forward to the arrest warrants from Florence and Rome for killing these so called Italian Carabinieri. I killed dozens in Florence and Rome and they will not realise that those done as my Altar Ego (Ezio Auditore) were not real, but leave it to any data scientist to leave that little setting out in the open. Now that some are pushing their ‘AI’ delusional reality to the larger profile and matching stages with all kinds of profiles we face these dangers. Should anyone say “That will never happen, we are to clever for that” I will answer “Why are you selling AI while it doesn’t exist yet?” These are stages that will soon come to fruition and even as it is not exactly that exact, there will be cross linking social media sources a they think it is their great O (ask any girl, she’ll know what I mean) and the simplest setting is decades old. You can not compare a basket of apples and a basket of oranges by calling both baskets ‘fruit’ the simplest setting ignored for simple greed. Because these ‘AI’ systems will accept both as fruit, even as an actual AI system would see the difference and simply state “I cannot compare a multitude of Oranges and Apples in the same comparison. The difference between a real system and an orchestrated system. 

Have a warrant free day today.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, IT, Law, Media

The end is nigh

Yup, it is. And not in a normal way. There is no demon sprouting on the land. You see Lucifer Morningstar has greed driven politicians doing his dirty work and what is more satisfying than any person digging his own grave? So how did this setting deploy? Well as the DoJ decided that there agenda matters most they are about to force Google its Chrome browser. (At https://www.itnews.com.au/news/google-must-sell-chrome-us-doj-argues-613298) We see “Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data and search results with rivals and take other measures – including possibly selling Android – to end its monopoly on online search, prosecutors argued to a judge” Its always the stupid and greedy that redefines the borders of hell. Anyway, whatever his ‘personal’ reasons are the game is literally afoot. In this instance whist that is considered Europe and the Middle East will select the dollars for donuts option and in this we need to consider the second cog in this wheel. It is given to us by Politico (at https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-china-huawei-ban-2029-5g-networks-government-greens-lawmaker-4g-strand/) which they gave us in July. There we are given ‘Germany goes soft on China, dragging out Huawei ban until 2029’ and this ban will be delayed again and again. Lets not forget that American anti-Chinese actions led to this. And no matter how we feel about it. The Americans NEVER gave ample evidence for any of it. So as one start to ferment the sentiments of how stupid this American administration is, Huawei will add to this. You see Huawei now has HarmonyOS and it has a few other arrows in its quiver. The larger setting for the internet of things was ignored for too long. And as Germany delays, so will France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and the Nordic regions. Like domino stones they will tumble each other. All whilst this administration will find another person to take a metal briefcase to the European leaders like a pop star and we saw that before. So the evidence better be real this time around. Still that will take time and in the meantime we are given by Huawei Central (at https://www.huaweicentral.com/huawei-matepad-pro-13-2-2025-will-reshape-office-experience-ceo/) We are “shown” ‘Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 2025 will reshape office experience: CEO’ and this is the larger setting. For when Google loses market share, in that same instance Microsoft loses market share as well. The Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 2025 is now only 4 days away. With HarmonyOS it will be able to connect nearly all other devices. As we are shown that the “Multi-Window enables users to open several apps in split-screen mode for multitasking. One can also swipe an app inward from the left/right edge to bring up the Multi-Window dock. It’s a useful tool for office work, meetings, and more.” That is precisely why politicians should stay away from technology decisions. Basically they are too stupid to see the forest through the trees and in this instance there will be a massive jolt to Google, Microsoft and I reckon that Apple will also see a dip in revenue. Or as some will say “It sucks to be you” to the Attorney General. 

So am I right or am I wrong?
That remains to be seen, but as I see it, the demand for the Google ‘simplification’ will open the doors of HarmonyOS to Europe and for a much stronger setting to the Middle East. And with the uncertainty of the Google stage. Huawei and their data centres. The setting of Google will make a lot of people nervous and that works for Huawei. We were given last year “The launch of the Huawei Cloud Riyadh Region was announced at the Huawei Cloud Summit Saudi Arabia 2023. The new cloud region, located in an STC/Center3 data centre in Riyadh, offers three availability zones. It is the company’s first region in the Middle East.” How long will it take for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to follow suit? And how happy do you think Microsoft will be to do their ‘AI’ work in a Huawei data centre? All this will come to pass (unless someone muzzles the AG). There is a setting to it all and one brick will stumble the next one and the next one. It is the result of the internet of things. And with the Huawei MatePad Pro there is more than just the connectivity. It will slow iPad sales and from there Microsoft will find themselves in more hot waters (some they did to themselves) and the UAE will demand that Microsoft will do its AI work wherever it needs to be and as such Microsoft will enable Huawei even more. All this because someone has anti-Google feelings. For 15 years Google found and created an innovative road. It is not up to the DoJ to reward stupidity to the competitors of Google. They forgot the basics and these settings will now work for China as well. 

And as we see that Politico gives us “Under the agreement, components manufactured by Huawei, China’s leading 5G equipment maker, are to be banned from sensitive core network infrastructure by the end of 2026, rather than by the end of 2025 as previously envisaged, as reported by POLITICO. When it comes to the radio access networks (RAN) such as antenna masts, Huawei components would have to be removed by the end of 2029 instead of the end of 2026. This is a satisfactory outcome for German operators, who were in the process of upgrading these networks anyway, thus limiting extra costs.” You see one thing, but I see that there is no real America by 2027, as such the ban becomes moot. Add to this the expansions that Saudi Arabia is making with the STC. The Saudi Telecom Company is already making waves in Egypt and now it seems Portugal as well all this enables Huawei more and more growth and as Google starts to falter the European politicians will try to divert whatever they can as to not be eaten by their ‘allies’. As the west falls to Huawei and the STC the more hardship America will face. It all started by attacking its own base and by attacking Google they basically drowned their own livestock and  from there the business opportunities they had. Funny for me, not so much for Microsoft who basically let it happen and now that the office suite is under attack (from next week) we will see all kinds of spin by one player on how hard it will be for the shifters. The overt setting was that (an oversimplified setting) the Department of Justice should have stayed out of matters. They hide behind ‘monopoly’ but that game states that all players are equal whilst that setting hasn’t been true for decades. The world had Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Google and Oracle. The others are spinning, making presumptuous presentations on whatever wasn’t real yet and now there will be a tap on the door. How will it end?

I honestly have no idea. The only thing I foresee is that with the breaking up of Google the end will be nigh for those relying on ‘scripted’ settings for the better things that it will bring. Because that just ain’t so. For things to become better true innovators are needed. And the bigger part of those are not in America. The 5 I mentioned has them, but when the For each of those China might have an alternative. Huawei could now replace Google (in part), Tencent with Huawei will be able to replace parts of Apple. As I see it only Oracle has a steady foundation and it all depends on the DoJ waking up what they are about to unleash and still if they do not Credibility towards Google will wane, that much the DoJ already achieved. I wonder if they realise what they are about to achieve. 

The world seems to become more and more Chinese oriented. Well, that is what this administration seemingly wanted.

Have fun with the fallout.

Leave a comment

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

The first stage in a setting

This is the first of two, the second is of a much lighter sense, as such I am leaving this for desert. The first one (this one) is heavy and will offend a whole lot of people. I have stated this opinion before, but that stage got back in my mind after I saw this article (at https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-crown-prince-personally-doesnt-care-palestine-issue) where we are given ‘Saudi crown prince said he personally ‘doesn’t care’ about Palestinian issue’, it sounds nice. We are then given “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he does not personally care about what he referred to as the “Palestinian issue”, according to a report in The Atlantic.” I do Care and as the foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia (Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud) tells us “Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat on Thursday announced the launch of a new initiative to establish a Palestinian state and garner support for the implementation of a two-state solution after decades of international efforts failed, leading the region to the brink of an all-out war”, which several sources told us including Al-Arabiya (at https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2024/09/27/saudi-arabia-announces-new-global-coalition-to-establish-palestinian-state).

My view is that I have nothing against the establishment of Palestine, but it does urgently require the eradication of Hamas. Hamas is a hate only party and sooner or later they will abide by the ‘requests’ of Iran and hit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran wants to be at the head of the table, or they will ensure that no one will sit there and destabilisation continues. That time has passed and Iran still depends on Houthi and Hamas to bring their point across in the most violent way possible. Now that Hezbollah has been carved into pieces by Israel, Houthi terrorists will think twice on continuing on a path where they ‘assist’ Iran in any way possible. And sooner or later (probably sooner) Iran will find a way for Palestinians or Yemeni’s to find a low paying jobs just to throw wherever they are (in the KSA or UAE) to foul things up. In simple ways that will demand long term repairs or even reconstructing parts that were already done and soon (either Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates) will through ‘anonymous’ sources to get a larger seat for Iran at the table. This is not speculation, it is presumption based on the actions of Iran over the last 20 years. And as such The eradication of Hamas is a given need. When they fall away Iran has merely Yemen to fall back onto and that stops Iran (for now) in its tracks. As Yemen (read Houthi terrorists) sees what damage Israel did to Hezbollah and Hamas next, they will choose a non-violent path, especially when Iran stops taking their calls. 

I believe that there are options especially as Iran loses the two terrorist allies they have. I don’t think it will be the end of it, but I believe that stability in the middle east is essential to a better world and too many power players think that destabilisation is key to their wealth. That needs to stop. I know that it is merely my view and many will state that I am wrong, but as I see it, there are too many people having blind faith in Iran turning a page to a better future, all whilst this path has been walked by administrations for 3 decades. It is time to call it quits. We need solutions there and they need to be made by the right people. Oh, and for those that think that this isn’t essential. Remember that Hamas on 7 October 2023 initiated a sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 364 individuals, mostly civilians, were killed and many more wounded at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re’im and they took 40 people hostage. As far as we know from those 40 hostages, 14 of the hostages are still being held captive. That has been the focal point for Israel. And the setting that we see with the ‘proclaimed’ 40,000 deaths and it was clear months ago that Israel stated ‘Let our people go’ that is what Hamas pushed for and now that Hezbollah has lost pretty much the complete top of their structure (pager by pager) Iran is worried and so should Hamas be. I get that Saudi Arabia wants to stand by Muslims and that is something a lot of people understand, but it does require the eradication of Hamas. Hamas did this to themselves on October 7th 2023. Saudi Arabia (as well as the UAE) need to focus on stability for the middle east and in this case I count Egypt as a middle eastern player. Egypt will be important to Saudi Arabia down the line with 5G advancements as well as the fact that 111 million Egyptians are a great goal for the Saudi Broadcasting Authority, they could largely increase their visibility, moreover, it would allow Egypt to broadcast to Muslims in Spain, France, Italy and Greece. And from there, optionally to more nations in Europe. But that is merely my insight lacking view on the matter. OK, it has a personal view. As more islamic people get connected to streaming TV and streaming solutions, my script ‘How to assassinate a politician’ might actually be released at some point (my ego tends to seek solutions too).

It is almost Monday now. So have a great day and you will hopefully enjoy this Sunday.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Media, Politics, Religion

Thoughts

As I am turning towards Engonos and some of the embellishments that I should incorporate I also am reminded of something I wrote in March 2017 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2017/03/17/the-finality-of-french-freedom/), yes that long ago I made predictions, all based on common sense. And now we see in the first Deutsche Welle (at https://www.dw.com/en/germany-faces-challenge-as-2025-tax-forecast-sinks/a-69102992) where we are given ‘Germany faces challenge as 2025 tax forecast sinks’, this sounds like a trivial matter, but if the first economy will have issues with paying for its infrastructure, the entire mess becomes a problem. So we are all given “Finance Minister Christian Lindner said it was clear that the public sector would have to tighten its belt.” And it is followed and pretty much epilogued with “What I repeat almost like a mantra in view of the exorbitant political wishes is now available in black and white: There is no new financial room for manouver in the foreseeable future.” 

There are a few sides to that. I the first Russia loses an enemy, a lame duck that is part of the EU. Germans has no moves left. The second one is ‘France faces four major economic challenges in 2024’ (the FT article was behind a paywall) and this one is found (at https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/01/23/france-faces-four-major-economic-challenges-in-2024) is is a little older but as the economic belt of France is tightened dark clouds are forming. They have one advantage, the 2024 Olympics will bring money. How much? Is anyones guess. France has problems with manufacturing, The Chinese markets are not dishing out dough for French items like wine. And behind this is “The extraordinary debt levels across the major economies in the world pose a risk to France, too, as it faces the threat of an austerity budget which directly impacts the financial health of households and consumers.” We get the ‘quote’ “The French manufacturing sector remained low throughout the year, sinking deeper at the end of 2023. If output remains at the same level, there is the possibility of a “technical recession” within the sector”, when the media starts adding ‘technical’ to the story, you know that there is a problem. To put it mildly blunt, there is for example not a technical pregnancy. My penis entered her vagina and I came. She turned out to be pregnant or not. Nothing technical about it. You can dwindle numbers around all you like, but in the end there is a recession or there is not. These two stories matter, especially when you consider the first one I wrote in 2017. There I set the EU like a pontoon, kept in place by 4 anchors, they stop the the pontoon being thrown around in the economic sea of uncertainty. 27 people on that pontoon, 4 of them were manning the anchors. These was the UK, France, Germany and Spain. Now, the UK left and both France and Germany are in a difficult position. So it come down to Spain who is not doing too well either. I saw this in 2017, but the media kept on playing its game on populism, so who looked out for the overall health of the EU economy? 

As you can see (based on Q2 2023 data) That the EU debt is partially driven by France and Spain, the UK is no longer part of the equation. The EU is in a dire position. And whilst we get jolly news all over the fields the direct problem is will the US sell the EU down the river, or will the EU chisel its marks in new ventures? Overlapping the fields where the US was sole choice. That too I set out in the past. The simple consideration is that if the world is a cake and the cake is almost none growing, the population growth and the debt growth implies that there is less to be had and you know the issue with shortages? People go hungry, the population loses it humanity because it is the era of ‘me’. So whilst we consider that different choices needs to be made, the old setting under Wall Street and the US will soon become a field of Commonwealth, Brics, China, and the Middle East. In all honesty with all the messes the US is creating none of them have a use for them. It sounds harsh but that is the reality. In a land where we have 10 people and 7 meals the hungry will not care who is humane or who is woke. 7 will eat and three will not. It is not a nice setting, but the realistic one. There were options for energy and housing all by Elon Musk. Are they true, are they false? I cannot tell. It seems to be limited to Youtube and TikTok. The media as far as I can tell have not touched it. So where is the media? Are they now governmental tools? Consider the fact that nations have an issue with homelessness. So would this Musk solution help? Would this take pressure of the stress? France, the Netherlands, Australia, they all have issues but no one seems to tackle them. This matters because when the economic drivers come calling on the EU the other settings becomes huge. And the media is doing way too little about it. Why is that? 

Just a few thoughts that came to mind on this Saturday.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media

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

A strange evolving setting

I saw the article last night (really really early this morning) and it gave me something to think about. The article (at https://www.deccanherald.com/business/economy/with-russian-oil-imports-falling-india-turns-to-saudi-arabia-2832708) comes from Deccan Herald. I do not know them, but it is an Indian paper. The west doesn’t seem to have this. So lets look at what is weird. 

It starts with “at least five cargoes of the sweet Sokol variant heading to other locations, data from vessel tracking agencies showed.” Then there is “China appears to be the final solution for some cargoes” so whilst we see that imports of Saudi oil, rose by about 4 per cent, Russian oil declined by 22%, the numbers do not add up. I personally believe that Russia is in more trouble then they are letting on. I personally believe that a chunk of that oil is going to Iran to pay for drones. Iran might have oil, but it is embargoed, Russian oil is not and they can make transfer sales and fill their coffers up that way. Now, all this needs to be taken lightly, because there is only one source and I am speculating of that. Consider the deal Russian suppliers had with India. Also consider that by late July 2023, Iran had sent at least 400 Shahed and Mohajer series drones to Russia. That is close to $20 million, per $60 a barrel that is a whole lot of oil and the fact that India is getting less implies (implies is not a fact) that Russia has more than one issue at present. The Shahed drones are running out, more are needed and Russia (through several sources) are lacking in capabilities to get their own drones to the front. This all adds up that Russia has increasing issues to maintain their battlefronts, to maintain their Russian oil supplies and to maintain their manufacturing facilities. Napoleon lost with a lot less problems.

So whilst Saudi Arabia is seeing more revenue from their oil stocks, the question is how long that happens. It is not on Saudi Arabia, but once it is shown that Russia is lacking in a few ways the larger station comes that Russia will be fighting internal and external wars. 

So how right am I?
That remains the larger question. If any of the presented facts through sources is wrong, the entire domino wall comes tumbling down. None of this could be verified and the fact that only the Deccan Herald had this is also a point for debate. There are differences between the data of Kpler and Vortexa and that is fine. But the stage where Russia is delivering 22% less whilst there are implied reasons and none of this backed up by facts, together with the one mention of China with “China appears to be the final solution for some cargoes” makes me think that there is more going on and somehow someone paid for all those drones, Iran doesn’t give these toys away. 

So there is a stage where merely some of it could be right, but which part? 

In addition to Yesterday
Yesterday I talked about tourism. What I failed to mention is that there was data on the UAE. Reuters gave it 4 days ago (at https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/uaes-abu-dhabi-sees-non-oil-gdp-growth-77-q3-2023-statement-2023-12-29/), I missed it.  There we see ‘UAE’s Abu Dhabi sees non-oil GDP growth of 7.7% in Q3 2023 -statement’. This is huge and it is non-oil growth. Now, this is not merely tourism, this is on more sides, but tourism will be taking a chunk of this. Poland with 1.4% growth is the biggest in the EU last year. This implies that the United Arab Emirates outperformed all EU nations by well over 500%. That is massive. Now, comparing GDP’s is unbalanced and incorrect, I get that. However, these settings imply that tourism in the US and EU are taking a serious dive in 2024. We can debate that this is merely a hiccup, or that it is nothing, a mere blip on the radar. But in light of their faltering GDP and places like Greece, Spain, Italy, London, Paris, New York and Florida need tourism these blips could have severe impacts in these places. If continued there is every chance that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will get access to $25-$30 billion and other places do not. Do you still think it is a little hiccup? Even when we see “Florida visitors contributed $101.9 billion to Florida’s economy and supported over 1.7 million Florida jobs (2021)” now consider that to be 5% less. How many jobs will go south? The European nations cannot even consider losing that much, it would be like the impact of Greek tourism (2002-2008) but now over three nations. That impact will be seen. 

So how accurate is this?
It is not. The reported numbers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE are, but how it affects others is not directly seen and can only be speculated on. What is clear that money spend there will not be spend anywhere else and that implies well over 25 billion lost to other places. How much each is impacted remains a guess. 

So enjoy the day and consider that special deals this summer will be all over Europe and America, so you might get a decently prized vacation this year.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Military, Tourism

Making a case

This is something different. I have been accused plenty of times. Hatred of one, disgust of another and so on. So in light of that, lets give you a setting where I show you what Ubisoft could have done (could still do actually). I was making a somewhat delusional setting of me attending the University of Toronto getting a Master of Arts in Greek and Latin. It would be my fourth degree. I currently hold three degrees, making me a dirty old man. As such, a fourth degree feels essential. I have two graduate degrees and a Master (Intellectual property). So I was contemplating a few things and the idea connected to Ubisoft making a newer version of Playstation Home (not limited to Sony consoles) and a few things started to connect. Did you know that France currently has 500K students in Latin? I did not know that. Now consider that we use games in VR mode for language training. There is Greek (Athens), Latin/Italian (Florence, Monteriggioni, Venice, Rome), French (Paris) and so on. 

For the most Ubisoft has the graphics. Now we need to add a few limitations (no climbing or killing) and ion VR we listen to actual conversations in the designed language. Students will be learning languages in front of their console. Consider that (according to some) we see these numbers annually French: 120 million, Italian: 2 million and I have no clear numbers for the other two. 

Yet, as the library increases, the impact and interest in these language studies also increases.   So students get a real grasp of languages in specified languages. Now consider the one number I left behind. 

AC Syndicate London could cater to two billion (yes, 2,000,000,000) students of the English language. Listening to actual conversations, learning the language and more importantly learning some historical culture. Now, the language models need massive upgrades, they need to add 100,000 conversations and I reckon that when Universities sign up, they too will (hopefully) add a part to all this. 

A simple setting (except for the VR part) that was already designed. Now take away the climbing and killing and it becomes an educational tool, all whilst ‘their’ version of Playstation Home could still come. So what happens when Arabic (AC Mirage) is added as well? All settings that Ubisoft could have considered and implemented, growing their gaming population into an educational population as well. I reckon that a slice of 2 billion English students could be encouragement enough. 

All settings that not only push Ubisoft forward. It also grows the streaming population on a global scale. Consider that China has 400,000,000 English students. Now consider these people contemplating a Tencent Technology handheld to aid them in English studies. It would make that console the biggest console in history almost overnight (in less then two years is more credible). All revenues that Ubisoft overlooked. The consequence of staring with blinkers. What is in the corner of your eyes, tends to pass you by unnoticed. 

Just a thought for the day, enjoy yours.

Leave a comment

Filed under Gaming, IT, Science

Tradecraft 301

This is not speculation, it is not presumption, it is a story. The beginning or one side to a story and it just jumped at me. I cannot use it in any of the other stories, as such I put it here. Enjoy and feel free to use this. 

It was early morning. The man was walking on the street. He was merely walking and enjoying the sounds of the city. Yet behind the facade that we all see there was something more, but unless you have been part of it, you will not pick up on it. He was looking to the stores in a mall and he was considering issues that were left open to him. He stopped, he smelled something and it was overwhelming him. On his left was an Italian shop making fresh wood fired oven baked flat bread. The sense of oregano was almost making him faint. He was suddenly so hungry. He saw the small breads, there was a version with Sopressa and parmesan. It was a special 2 for $5 and he bought two. He asked where he could get some coffee so he could sit down and eat them. The cook pointed at an empty table. He nodded and asked for a macchiato. He started to slowly eat the first loaf. A loaf was an exaggeration as the break was hardly more than a mini baguette but the smell and the taste were amazing. Before he had munched down on his first bread the macchiato was delivered. 

He starting to consider how greed has left tradecraft at a massive disadvantage all over the world, especially in London, most metropolitan American cities and Sydney. These franchise settings, setting an unrealistic stage of zero hours and non-manageable forced choices had opened up these places to tradecraft. Places like the IRGC were sending people to acquire these franchises, set 2-4 people as staff, letting them get trained in local customs and solidifying their new identities. And for years each place would gain 100-350 identities and credit card information. A trickle down solution that was not fast, but it was certain. Every shop would gain personal details from whomever paid with a credit card and it was fuelling the data coffers of UANI. And every day that no action was taken more details would flow to Tehran. The setting was almost unmanageable. It was even worse that the holders of these franchise solutions were holding onto their shops with an iron fist and their legal teams were shielding their revenue streams and not shielding the locations where the were. 

He considered that as far as he could tell already 28 shops were in play, three in Sydney, eight in London and the other 18 were set over San Francisco, New York and Chicago. And every 6 months these places would upgrade 36-72 agents to a new level finding new jobs with their old ‘employer’ vouching for it all and no one could tell how long it had been going on for. He was aware of at least 2 years of issues, as such Iran had close to 150 agents all over the globe and the options for chaos were enormous. So how to deal with them?

Detection was the largest problem. Several of them would enter some international student program and could fall under the net swim ming freely in an academic pond of knowledge and that was beside all the local knowledge they were acquiring by merely being silent and misinforming on their enemies through third party sources whenever possible. 

The options for some slaughterfest were also not possible. Before there were enough solutions, the media jumps in label it racism and they would make matters worse. Moreover these players had made connections with local organised crime overpaying for services and these people would be keeping an eye out whilst selling every now and then something with a huge margin, these people were not stupid, they were driven and the people who needed to be aware were not, or they just didn’t care.

Whatever this was it was a mere story. Will it grace your writings? Good luck with it and whilst I am looking at the additional settings for Residuam Vitam and Engonos I see more options for both, the question becomes how can I smooth things over? You see adding cogs tend to create levels of chaos and at some point I need to revisit the entire story and see if the story is smooth enough. Fr what it is worth, I see no point adding levels of tradecraft to either story. Well, Residuam Vitam has some tradecraft, but it was for different reasons and with a different mindset in play. The distinction makes sense when that story is complete and the additional parts are about to evolve, but that is on me and that is my challenge. 

We all evolve and every storyteller knows that if he or she does not evolve. Whatever comes after is merely repetitive and a simple twist on the originalist of the first story. A setting I will desperately avoid, but that is me. 

Enjoy the day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Stories

Is it bigger than a hotel room?

That seems like a question, but if you have been on the web and if you have been on YouTube you will have seen a AirBNB advertisement. I personally do not trust them. That is nothing against them, I for the most do not trust anyone. If my mother would call me promising me a solution that gets me  1000% return on investment, I would not trust her (she dies decades ago). 

The BBC (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67341051) gives us ‘Italy to seize $835m from Airbnb in tax evasion inquiry’, it sounds simple and cozy. Yet I believe the all over setting is less simple. We see this with “Prosecutors say the firm failed to collect a tax from landlords on around €3.7bn of rental income. Landlords in Italy are required to pay a 21% tax on their earnings” and here lies the rub. Italian tax laws are not simple, but a lot less complicated than some and this was there in all the writings upfront. AirBNB might be “surprised and disappointed at the action announced by the Italian public prosecutor” but this was a simple application of Italian law. And the statement “Christopher Nutly said the firm’s European headquarters had been working to resolve the matter with the Italian tax agency since June” Really? June? It took me 11 minutes to see that part of the law and AirBNB was in the dark for months? As such “In 2022, Airbnb challenged the Italian law requiring the company and other short-term rental providers to withhold 21% of the rental income from landlords and pay it to tax authorities” Really? A firm goes up against Italian tax laws? How quaint. 

So when I see “The firm argued that Italy’s requirements on taxation contravened the European Union’s principle of freedom to provide services across the 27-country bloc” I wonder how their CLO (Chief Legal Officer) saw this? They checked with the local hookers on the Warmoestraat in Amsterdam perhaps? I am just fishing, but still. And the fact that they took this approach after YEARS leaves something to be desired as well. The fact that we are also given “Three people who held managerial roles at Airbnb from 2017 to 2021 were also under investigation, Milan Tribunal prosecutors said in a statement” gives me another path a simplified and optionally an incorrect  one. You see, this is an issue that has lasted for 6 years, the simpleton I would have looked at legal settings before day one commenced, but that is just me. 

Elizabeth Holmes, Sam Bankman-Fired, WeWork and the list goes on. Some ignored the law, some ‘overlooked’ and some merely made bad business calls and the media saw nothing until their stars exploded or imploded. How is that? A setting where we see €3.7bn of rental income and the Italian media never saw that post missing from the tax statutes? I am asking the questions out loud now, because the media isn’t. With Elizabeth Holmes, the media shunned Tyler Shultz. The media levitated Sam Bankman-Fried to godhood and no one looked where they needed to look for the longest of times. The €3,700,000,000 income in Italy makes that almost clear as day. You see that revenue exceeds the combined sums of Enel, Eni and Generali over 6 years and they are the top revenue firms in Italy and no one noticed? Who is asleep at the wheel there? 

Just some food for thought, enjoy it as you progress to the middle of the week.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Law, Media

Voice of the Peoples Republic

It is not a voice we hear often, most times we try to ignore that voice on a multitudes of given premises that are by some account unverified. We merely accepted it and for the most we see the Tiananmen square image. We were all lulled into a state of denial and sleepiness. Now I am not stating that the pavements of President Xi are innocent, that is not the case I am going for. Consider that well over a dozen communities in the America’s are now extinct, all due to the greed of the Vatican. How do YOU see the Vatican? That is a serious question and you should ponder it. You see, some of this surfaces when we consider the BBC article (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67305453) giving us ‘China and Australia: Frenemies who need each other’, I get the premise, yet this premise is incorrect for us. You see, as far as I know China has never engaged in hostilities with either Australia or New Zealand. We are also not at war with them. We merely boastingly push them away because of America. The article gives us “In recent years Australia and China have accused each other over human rights violations and perceived threats to national security. Public perceptions of the other side are more negative than they have ever been. But when it comes to trade, they cannot afford to let go of each other. At the peak of their trading relationship in 2020, almost half of Australia’s exports went to China.” It is true, we (Australia) do need China. America has less an less options to fund whatever they overspend. For China Australia (optionally New Zealand too) is a path setting a trade and commerce setting with the entire Commonwealth, with Canada optionally abstaining due to the borders of America. But that gives them Australia, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh, Bahamas, Jamaica, and in the end the United Kingdom and optionally Tuvalu. Tuvalu sounds like a joke, but the moment China gets to place a base there, Hawaii becomes an interesting setting. A place where the USA is no longer safe and it impacts most of the Pacific Oceans strategic area. 

The article is also giving us “Sure enough, a string of Chinese tariffs and restrictions followed on an estimated $20bn (£16.4bn) worth of Australian goods. Among the many products affected were barley, beef, wine, coal, timber and lobster. “Basically the Chinese government was sending a message. They were unhappy with the Australian government and decided to use economic coercion to make that point,” Professor Golley added.” Getting back to that, did we ever see a complete document on the origin of Covid-19? We saw that the media whore itself to all the digital dollars we can get, we saw some of the accusations, but were we ever presented a clear version of what actually happened? Preferably from an independent source? We have acted or presumed acting against China for the longest of times, but it is time to disregard certain media, disregard certain politicians (US politicians) and start listening to what we (in a national sense) need to get ahead. The fintech people made that abundantly clear and most of them are on Wall Street. Then we get something that gives me a question mark. We are given “He reminded Australians that trade with China was worth more than with Japan, the US and South Korea combined. Clearly, normalising relations between what he called “two highly complementary economies” would be a priority for his government. Whether China’s so-called economic coercion was successful is doubtful. Australia is still openly critical of Beijing on several fronts – but there is no question that Australian businesses and workers took a hit because of China’s trade restrictions.” The first is that America is becoming a liability. As its economic value decreases, so does the voice it holds and lets be clear America has used its own version of coercion for the longest of times. Its defence apparatus, the hardware we were ‘allowed’ to obtain and that list goes on. There is a question on economic-coercion from China, I am not saying it isn’t (or wasn’t) happening. I am stating that as the media has remained silent on too many sides, it is also the least reliable one. It is the cross that players like the Sydney Morning Herald (and other Australian papers) will have to carry. There is truth that China needs Australia, I reckon it needs New Zealand too. In all this BRICS will win and America will lose more and more ‘allies’, the economy has pushed for that part. I reckon that once the they acquire a clear business setting with the United Kingdom, the settings for Margrethe Vestager (EU commissioner) will change a lot. Her digital age will change from a field of dreams into a harsh pitfall as EU members will side with the UK hoping to salvage whatever they can, the EU will soon thereafter collapse, it is on the brink of failure right now. The EU had in March a total debt exceeding $14,689,200,000,000. So how long until more banks will have to pull the plug? I gave you all part of this in ‘The finality of French freedom’ which I wrote (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2017/03/17/the-finality-of-french-freedom/) on March 17th 2017. I saw the dangers SIX YEARS AGO. I compared the EU economy kept in place by 4 anchors, with the UK gone it would be three anchors. So the moment China gets the setting to woe the Commonwealth to the BRICS organisation, the EU anchors will collapse. I even mentioned that that economy cannot be maintained with two anchors and I believe that France will buckle before Germany will. The greed and gravy train embellished economy will not support itself when the gravy train collapses, these politicians will side with whatever pays their food stamps and America has none left at present. So yes, we might call China a frenemy, which sounds clever. Yet where is the evidence? We see a mention of coercion, but is it not the customer who is allowed to decide WHERE to buy? Were trade agreements broken? It might be, I merely do not know and the media is not properly informing us. This BBC article is good, it gave us more questions then answers and that is not a bad thing. The issues for a place like America is that the straws are now escaping their grasp and with each iteration we see BRICS gaining strength. It alas means that Russia will be in a stronger position and I reckon that for Chine, for them to win the long term gain they will need to remove Russia out of the equation. Russia is seeing that and is trying to set up more partnerships. But the overall picture with the players is somewhat clear. America and Russia fought so long that the sum of them is now less than the total power of
China and it is now fuelled with Middle East trillions, the one player that had all the cash was shunned and rejected on ego driven factors by America, how stupid was that and I have warned about that stupidity for well over a year. 

How is your weekend going?

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics