Tag Archives: Maple Leafs

May 1, 2025 · 05:00

Marky Mark (PMMC for short)

Yup, the man, the plan and the action. I got to (kinda) know Mark Carny when I named him Marky Mark of the British Bank. The simplest reason is that England sees the need for certain people to be made into pop stars and Mark Carney fit that bill. When Brexit was going on, I was for a long time on the fence and what I read (hat he evidently said) put me square in the Brexit field. He did nothing wrong, he made no promises, but together with the actions of Mario Draghi I held in mind that Brexit was the only way for England to get things done. Let’s not forget that the desperate political moves of the other nations is why in part things went from bad to worse for England. It showed to me that the EU was petty and vindictive, but in all they never set a foot against Mario Draghi who became Prime Minister straight after that. Mark Carney did a good job (better then most I reckon) as such he has my respect. So now it should become Marky Mark of the Canadian side of the Commonwealth. Yet Canada is not so much on the pop star frame of mind, so Prime Minister Mark Carney it is. 

So, what is going on here?
Yesterday we saw the BBC give us two parts towards the setting that Canada is facing and after giving my issues with America these last few days, but is time to set the view to the Northern Border, the homestead of the Maple Leafs and the place where Ice Hockey largely shines. In the first article we see ‘Carney wants to lead a G7 fightback on Trump tariffs’ (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx27d89z0qdo) which is much better then Prime Minister Anthony Albanese giving us that he wants to ‘talk’ about exemptions on trade barriers (good luck getting reelected in two days). Here we see “The global significance of Mark Carney’s election as Canadian Prime Minister is he now sits at the centre of an alternative pole of global economic thinking. Everything but Trump. There was a half expectation here that Carney would immediately sue for peace with President Trump when the polls closed on the election. It has emphatically not happened.” That is the making of a real consigliere (in stead of a counselee) and he is the consigliere of Canada, the one nation who has been bringing the fight to America (being called the 51st state helped), the bulk of the people think that polite is a form of appeasing to bullies and perhaps it partially is, but America crossed the line and Canada had enough of that and the rest of the Commonwealth (mainly me here) agree. As we see a larger Commonwealth uniting we now see the larger impact (and my personal favorite thought is that FiveEyes, will soon be Commonwealth Eyes, the intelligence alliance consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, now without the United States). My second thought is that this will push the corrupt all over the world to the top as America will scramble to not be blind to the situation, which means they have to overspend a lot. Still, PMMC (Prime Minister Mark Carney is too long) gives us “PMMC is also very adept at understanding the nexus between markets and headlines. He made a number of announcements as PM about rethinking the purchase of US fighter jets, slightly changing the purchases of US government debt, all of which would have quickly focused some minds in the US” which might not be bad, but I reckon that the Commonwealth needs to come across uniting behind Canada, to offer whatever America did and take America out of the equation for the whole of the Commonwealth. We need to realise that India is a powerbroker of retail power and we aren’t using that enough. In addition Canada can fuel our oil needs replacing America even more. The plus for the others is that all the consumer needs for Alcohol will be fueled by its Commonwealth neighbors, I wonder it we have the automotive parts that Canada needs, so that they can continue work without skipping a beat. The UK has shipping (to a degree) and here the connection with Europe becomes important, which allows Canada to remove more of American influence. The simplest setting is that you cannot tariff what isn’t there and even as we get the quote “Underpinning this approach is absolute conviction that the US is making a mistake that will primarily and visibly backfire on itself, its companies, and its consumers. The fact the White House is attacking Amazon for “hostile acts” in publishing tariffs is a cast-iron example of this. President Trump’s gun is pointed primarily at his own feet, the thinking goes.” Whilst Canadians own PMMC gives us ““We’ll have a partnership on our terms. There’s a win-win possibility there, but on our terms, not on their terms,” he said. A key part of that is forging new strategic alliances elsewhere, with Europe, and the UK. “One would assume” that Canada and the UK could do a free trade agreement that has been stalled, he told me. Co-operation on defence and Canada’s abundant critical minerals is also on the table. He also dismissed President Trump’s territorial ambitions not just for his country, but Greenland and Panama too.” I would like to offer that a setting that a free trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand should be pursued (if it does’t exit) as these two brothers of Canada is only separated by the Pacific River. A nice thought is that this could fuel the passion of the Hawaiians to become truly independent and here Australia and Canada might be of assistance (for me the giggle point is that it allows America to become 49 states) and that is hilarious as it directly backfires on Trump, a new setting he never saw before (he has missed a lot in the last two weeks). But the BBC saved the best for last ““America’s leadership of the global economy is over” and that was a “tragedy”. Implicitly, he is saying, with the help of the rest of the G7, he will step up. And by an incredible quirk of fate, it is he who will host the G7 summit in Alberta in June, just days before the expiry of President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs pause. Will Trump attend on the land he both tariffs and covets?” As such it is nice that PMMC is on my page, I mentioned that America as a global economy leader was over close to two years ago when the debt crossed the point of no return and with revenues faltering the good ship lollipop (oops America) is drifting straight for the abyss, no anchor on the planet will stop that move. As I see it as we (Australia and New Zealand) increase options for Vancouver and its harbors will increase, which will fuel work and better options. So with the G7 and Canada, All roads lead to Kananaskis in the middle of June and as such it is time for the Hockey ignorant population to meet the Calgary Flames.

And this is merely the start, as such I present to you the second BBC article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14xydjzn5eo) giving us ‘Canada will deal with Trump ‘on our terms’, Carney tells BBC’ (my mind still goes ‘yay Marky Mark’) and here we see “Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his country deserves respect from the US and will only enter trade and security talks with President Donald Trump “on our terms”. Speaking exclusively to the BBC as the polls were closing, Carney said he would only visit Washington when there was a “serious discussion to be had” that respected Canada’s sovereignty.” Which is probably better then my thought to take Hawaii away from America, but I am willing to kill the bear to save the salmon and I never had any use or respect for bullies. And with ““The leaders agreed on the importance of Canada and the US working together – as independent, sovereign nations – for their mutual betterment,” the statement reads.” Which is why he is PM of Canada and not me (I am also not Canadian, so that helps) as I was willing to throw America out of Five Eyes to make his reconsider the huge mistake he was making and as the bulk of the Commonwealth is furious about the tariffs I thought I could get this stage ‘my’ way. So as the one we love to [censored text] gives us ““The election does not affect President Trump’s plan to make Canada America’s cherished 51st state,” White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly said.” A setting that was dung, stupid and shortsighted all at once. And now with Mark Carney, this might go pear shaped in a short time. You see, it is true that “Canada accounts for a much smaller 17% of US exports.” But what are the numbers with the United Commonwealth nations of the world? Add the UK, Australia and New Zealand to that, how large is that number becoming? Logistical retrenching tends to be expensive and the Commonwealth is willing to go there as we are fed up with the bully (optionally bullies) on Pennsylvania Avenue and in our case, the business case needs to be done. The UK has a massive debt and when America falls the EU, UK and Japan are next, fortunately Japan is on that very same pacific river, so we have options that work for use come to think of it, so is Hawaii and wouldn’t it be nice to have them unite in this partnership? (My giggling way to loud).

So as we read the end of the article with “Canada is also America’s largest foreign supplier of crude oil. America’s trade deficit with Canada – expected to be $45bn in 2024 – was mostly driven by US energy demands.” Wouldn’t it be great if its brethren get to work on that deficit with local products in exchange for Canadian oil? It’s up to the PMMC to see if that fits the bill (I lack accountancy skills), but the idea has merit (a quote from an iconic Arabian person). 

Have a great day. Today I am treating myself to a slice of Tiramisu.

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April 6, 2025 · 20:39

The color of grass

The CBC just alerted me to something that kind of slipped my mind. There is no reason why it didn’t was on my mind, mainly because I do not harvest for headhunters. But when I saw the story, I thought that it would make a lot of sense. The story (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/us-scientists-canada-1.7502527) gives us ‘Top American scientists just lost their jobs. Canada is rolling out the welcome mat’ the byline of this story is “Manitoba, B.C., Ontario looking to recruit top scientists from the U.S.” You see, as we read and know from the last few months “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is aiming to cut 20,000 jobs at agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” So here we have Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Germany seeking specialists of all kinds of people and as they were shown the exit by America, others will look happily to bolster their own sides with people that they couldn’t get before. As such Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be getting several Christmas hampers, optionally a dozen this year. Even if he is under orders, there is nothing like governmental gratitude from these nations. Of the sidelines. I can advise these governments that the Hampers at Fortnum and Mason (at https://www.fortnumandmason.com/international-delivery-category) are the best.

As such we see an inverted version of the grass is always greener on the other fellows grave. We now (mostly the Commonwealth nations) are the greener grass. So as we see “One example: Dr. Madhukar Pai, the director of the McGill global health programs, told CBC News he’s expecting a record number of applicants for a new tenure-track job in his department, opening in the coming weeks. It’s a field hit especially hard amid sweeping cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development that are slashing life-saving programs across the world tackling diseases like HIV and malaria.” As well as “Scientists overseeing cancer research, vaccine and drug approvals, public health and tobacco regulations are also among 10,000 already laid off. Public health experts say the mass firings could have catastrophic impacts for the U.S. and the world.” Here I say that it s more the US then the rest of the world. This is the first instance of an American brain drain. The second setting was the market crashing over the last two days, making these people accept other locations a little sooner than accepted. As we see that ‘Trump tariffs wipe $5 trillion off Wall Street’, we also need to realise that some of these people are hurt in their finances and they seek a way out of the uncertainty. So these people are roaring to be the first with a decent contract under their belt. So as we see “Kevin Griffis, a former CDC communications director, resigned in protest two weeks ago after three years at the agency. He said the mass firings were widely felt and could have unanticipated consequences. If the agency needed to hold a press conference today about a major public health threat, “there’s no one who even knows how to run the sound anymore. Because they fired the studio team,” he said.” That case alone will speed China to remove whatever options the other players have. With that setting consider Dr. Fauci joining a Swiss medical enterprise, and according to Kevin Griffis when Americans do not know what to do when a health crises arrives. So when the next ‘covid’ arrive, the people can rely on the treatments through President Trumps ‘advised’ Hydroxychloroquine, but when that fails? What then. Canada can get a setting to be the next best thing to the CDC, then there is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and they are a little tired of the American tariff game and could slap a nice 25% tariff on that. The settings for America go from grim to deep black soon enough. Even now we get headlines like ‘Elon Musk backs ‘free trade zone’ between US and Europe’ (source: Al Jazeera) and that is merely for openers.

So whilst the Commonwealth replenishes their shorts on medical experts, America need to wonder what else they could lose. I am still of the mind that America is near to implosion moment of their debts and shutdowns are likely to happen, when that does, these first ‘evaders’ are is a much better position than any other American, even now as the 5 trillion write off hits the entirety of the tech corporation, some will make it, some others will make massive losses taking their home selling efforts almost essential and the billionaires who relied on their Bitcoin, need to realise that this currency is still a few percentage points. So Sergei Brin (all-father of Google) had $142.2 billion, now at 7% less, he seemingly lost 9.95 billion, not that much overall, still more than the 5 billion annual I had reserved for his firm as additional revenue (he dumped the Google Stadia, so that was that) and as Jeff Bezos seemingly lost 13.51 billion, my IP could set him topside in around a speculative 2 years. It is all relative as I see it. Still, this is not about me. As America is losing the handles on the world thought essential services, others will step in to make a move for themself (and I am no different). You see, as the issues evolve, we see scientists that were in unshakable positions, were suddenly shown the door and now as we see “Canadian provinces are already trying to attract American health experts suddenly out of a job. Manitoba is “rolling out the welcome mat” for U.S. trained doctors, nurses and researchers affected by the cuts, said Minister of Health Uzoma Asagwara in a statement to CBC.” And this is only the beginning. As some other fields are shown the cutdowns, we see other ventures all over Europe and even in the Middle East, they are smiling and wringing their hands as fields of opportunity are given to them. The Hollywood fires gave rise to the Dubai Media Group now getting their hands on several lucrative projects. No this is in no way the fault of President Trump, but these small kicks can become a lot bigger. They are not related, but these separate items can become related. As health scientists have possible connections to pharmaceutical corporations, the impact to the larger stage will be visible in less than two years, so consider that in two years the revenue now (which is expected to be $605-$635 billion on medicine in 2025) gets down by 20% (speculative number) in 2027. So what happens when $121 billion goes to other places (like Europe)? So we have Defense (2022-2026) went to China and Europe (close to 90 billion)  now presumption on pharmaceuticals $121 billion less, and the Middle East are now aiming for $10 billion handing that to others and taking that out of America. So how many hits can the American economy endure the loss of of revenue in added fields of revenue again and again. At present (as I personally see it) America needs to pay interest on 36 trillions, which is a little over 2 trillion, all whilst the tax revenue is around $4.92 trillion (2024), so 50% is out on paying the interest of outstanding debts. Do you realise the issues America faces? And now Canada has a first jab at the fired experts in healthcare on several levels and in several disciplines. So how was the tariff game a bright idea? 

And as America loses more and more it is (as I personally see it) nicely on its way to become a third world country, the first in the western world. And I am not surprised as I predicted this as early as June 8th 2014 in the story called ’17 or 70 trillion?’ (At https://lawlordtobe.com/2014/06/08/17-or-70-trillion/) when I wrote “My issue is not just with the US debt levels, it is also about the ‘blasé’ approach economists are throwing at the people stating that things are not that bad and that it will all work out. That part is a figment of THEIR imagination, because for things to resolve, actions must be taken and none are getting taken at present (or in the near future for that matter). My biggest issue with the Article of Chad Stone is seen at the end. His quote “Lowering the debt ratio comes at a cost, not only risking the recovery if it’s done too fast but also in burdening businesses and households with larger spending cuts, higher taxes or both to stabilize the debt ratio“” I foresaw the dangers 11 years ago, not to this degree, but the setting was clear and as the people are now vacating the sinking ship, the seas become heavy for America and they basically almost capsized the boat themselves. A larger setting is connected and even if we are ‘in denial’ that there is a problem, the people are seemingly rising up all over the United States and Europe with their ‘Hands off’ calls. ABC Australia is giving us ‘Thousands protest against Trump and Musk in ‘Hands Off!’ rallies across US and Europe’ (at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-06/thousands-rally-trump-musk-hands-off-protests-across-us/105143038) the American setting has usually been ‘The best defense is a good offense’, I do not disagree, yet I am more on the stage of Julius Caesar (Italian army, 65 BC) he states “the first stage is to protect yourself from enemy retaliation” a better setting and as I see it America has left itself open like never seen before. The (slightly less rich) friends from the American administration are now seeking their own save spot, the enemies are enticing former American friends and I warned of that in the years before 2025. Now we see another nail cast into a coffin named ‘defaulted’ And this is not the end, there is every chance that the defense industry will see its own setting of people seeking early retirement and the market crashes will make them seek other shores, their money is in danger of losing the bulk of its value. Will the markets get back? I feel certain they will, but will they recover enough and soon enough? That becomes the question. To write off over 5 trillion is not easily fixed, that much is clear. The next setting are the tariffs, America needs to cancel them for Europe and the Commonwealth to say the least, that might stem the flow of brainpower, but that is a presumption by me. The opponents of America are battering America’s walls and they did mostly this to themself. 

As such I am on the side of Canada, our Commonwealth brother. And if Manitoba, B.C., and Ontario gets their hands on excellent health experts, then I say “Hurray for Canada” and I raise my cup of coffee to them (no beer in my fridge). 

So you all have a great day and if you are on the board of scientists at the CDC, consider the lakes, excellent trout and pike fishing. The air is clean and the people are mostly friendly (not too much to Maple Leaf friends), they revere the Winnipeg Jets. So that’s all for now and see you all on the flip side.

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March 24, 2025 · 02:50

Fantasy in the past

We all have that, we dream of things, more often than not it will be sexually tainted and I have them too, but not this time. The CBC put that (not so) old fantasy on the forefront of my mind with the story (at https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/olympics-2026-hockey-venue-update-march-2025-1.7489606) titled ‘Construction of hockey arena for 2026 Olympics facing a ‘tight schedule’’ Here we are introduced to a new Hockey arena build in Milan we also are given the text “The schedule for completing the arena that will be used for many hockey games at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will be “very tight,” organizers told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week at the organization’s 144th Session in Greece.” And it came to me that the thoughts of that stadium given to us by Karissa Donkin gives more options. It is (for now) build for other purposes, yet it could become more.

You see, The Italian Hockey League has options (as I see it) and it takes a larger setting to impact settings. The Italian Hockey Leagues has:

  • Alleghe
  • Aosta
  • Brixen/Bressanone
  • Como
  • Eppan/Appiano
  • Fassa
  • Feltre
  • Fiemme
  • Kaltern/Caldaro
  • Pergine
  • Toblach/Dobbiaco
  • Valpellice Bulldogs
  • Varese

And of course my delusional brain added team number 14 to that (coming to that). You see, in my fantasy I got to the Scotiabank Arena (Home of the Toronto Maple Leafs) and of course, as a non NHL player, I decided to get through to the sneaky sneaky scoundrel side in me and I created ‘my own’ team, based on another jersey, a soccer jersey (see below)

So in comes visiting Father Larry van Rijn (number 62) from the IHL league team Vatican City as a visiting (massively wannabe) Goalie for Vatican City. And the men were fantastic and of course they massively loved the idea to push a puck in my goal and that was how I got my first day going up against an NHL team without qualifications and a certain level of lacking skills. You know it all starts with a mere dream.

Yet now, that thought gets a larger setting. With Women Hockey teams gaining speed all over Global Hockey Arena’s. As far as I can tell, America and Canada have their leagues, but there is also the Australian Ice Hockey League, International Ice Hockey Federation, Elite Ice Hockey League, Liiga, Asia League Ice Hockey, IHL, Emirates Ice Hockey League, Saudi Arabia national ice hockey team and a few more. Yet in this setting now (due to some political person) the American leagues are less and less welcome and now that Women’s Ice Hockey is gaining traction, having A European League would not be a bad idea and as Canada gets more and more competition, the idea of an American League become less and less essential. OK, essential might not be the proper word, but Canada could use some friendly competition in a few ways. Take that with the setting that a women’s league might do well in the Arabian countries as well gives it more front page. The idea that the western leagues final could end up being Vatican City (with yours truly as the goalie versus the Abu Dhabi Shaheen Falcons does have an unusual appeal. A setting where America has pushed too many buttons and now there is the stage where Europe and other places will find the need to enjoy a sport, preferably one without America. 

The idea that there is a larger need to promote women in sports and too many places where they are treated too inferior, and now the door to a larger competition drive could open the world to a global sport where the women are under their own power an equal league of their own.

So have a great day and feel free to have your own fantasy (optionally involving food).

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September 18, 2022 · 15:16

The new student

There is a class, this class is out there and it has many students. Yet its teacher had never expected that the BBC would be joining his class and this teacher is beside himself. The teacher is Mediocrates and his Syllabus called ‘Thats good enough’ has been handed from student to student for generations. Yet until today this teacher had never considered that the BBC would be joining him, and he is happy, he is very very happy.

This all started some time ago, yet for me to see another MBS bashing exercise is just too much, especially when it comes from the BBC. The article (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-62940906) gives us ‘Mohammed Bin Salman: Saudi prince’s controversial invitation to the Queen’s funeral’. In the first Why controversial? He is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. So far not a biggie, but then we get “A declassified CIA report concluded that the crown prince had authorised the murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018”

So lets make a little list

  1. The CIA report did not do that, it stated that it was highly likely, which is not the same. By the way this is the same organisation that send former secretary of state Colin Powell with a shining silver suitcase to places like a rockstar with the evidence that Iraq had WMD’s. So how many were found in the end? Not any did they? At that presentation they had graphics, now they have less than nothing. The rule of law states that a person is innocent until PROVEN guilty and the prove is missing on many levels. Even the hack job that the UN report represents never properly analysed the recordings, it gets worse that there is no one had ACTUALLY heard the entire recording and that is on Turkey. Then we get the ‘dismemberment’ part, there was no evidence of any kind that this had happened, merely the figment of some limelight seeking individual, and no evidence is showing that this ever happened.
    We now have all kinds of rumours. One is of him and a 20 year old mistress going to Tahiti. I doubt that there is anyone believing that story, but you can find creative yo-yo’s on any street-corner. 

REALITY CHECK

  1. Did something happen to JK? I speculate that this is the case and there is nothing to support that he had any other plans then to go back to his fiancee.
  2. Can we prove that something happened? No, there are strong indications, but no evidence. And in this Turkey, the tool of Iran played a very dangerous game. It is my belief they never had anything, but Turkey wanted to please Iran and the lack of forensic evidence on the tapes as well as the fact that those tapes were never fully revealed plays towards my view on the matter. Is it not interesting that the Washington Post never demanded their release? It made all kinds of other claims, claims that lack evidence, but the release of those tapes were demanded, the same could be said for the United Nations who had their tools attack the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but presented no evidence that actually holds water.

Then we get “The pressure group Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) has accused Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies of using the Queen’s funeral as a way to – in their words – “whitewash” their human rights records.” Here we have a different situation. The CAAT (or the group of tea grannies holding a banner) as I would see it have been clear about accusing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but they never made clear loud mentions of Houthi terrorists and Iran arms supplies, did they? Here the western media has gone out of its way to keep silent regarding the actions of Iran (like drone attacks on civilian targets in southern Saudi Arabia). They gave no visibility to the presentations of Colonel Turki bin Saleh Al-Maliki who on more than one occasion gave the media the clear evidence of Iranian drones. Yet the WSJ had no problems showing the application of “Iranian Kamikaze Drones Creates New Dangers for Ukrainian Troops”, why is that? Do the stake holders and share holders like the Ukrainian side of the matter? The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been forced to fight with one hand on its back against Houthi terrorists for too long. Yet the people and the media had no issue sending Boris Johnson to Riyadh talking about cheap oil. So why would they do that? It is my personal belief that the media has done everything it could to prolong this war. An event that started 8 years ago almost to the day and could have been resolved 5 years ago, but that did not fit with the needs of stakeholders hoping to get some cash out of Iran (a speculative view) and that is not all, the captured smuggling shipments from Iran did not make the news either, so what gives?

Finally there is a stage that most ignore. These acts ‘supporting’ Iran will have a much higher cost soon enough, when that happens will the media make a true call to action and a call to answer from media stakeholders or will they silent and mute like with Martin Bashir? 

The largest folly is the Aramco attacks on 14 September 2019. It is impossible for Houthi forces to have done that, yet everyone was so eager to accept that it was a Houthi attack. To give an example. I am a goalie (ice-hockey) and I would love to be the Goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but I lack the skills to be THAT good a goalie, as such Kyle Dubas (aka the Elvis Costello of the NHL), the general manager of the Maple Leafs will never put me on that spot, I am not god enough. It hurts, but that is fair. That lack of skill is essential. There is NOT ONE Houthi operative that has that skill level. The news gave us that 25 drones and missiles were used. So we either have an amateur rifleman how shoots near perfect bulls-eyes 25 times in a row, or Houthi forced found 25 operatives all getting near perfect hits in place. Such statistics are a fable, yet the media just swallowed the story and there is the problem, the media can no longer be trusted and now we see the BBC signing up for classes by Mediocrates.

There is a lot more but why bother, I reckon that certain people will not care. 

So when we see “All of which partly explain why international criticism of the crown prince is muted at most”, I merely respond

“Frank Gardner, you idiot. How much visibility have YOU given to the Iranian part of that equation? How much evidence did you test and read? Or was this just a hatchet paint-job so that the CAAT gets one more mention?”

Is Saudi Arabia a perfect nation? I doubt it and it would be for Muslims to give voice to that, I am not Muslim and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a Muslim monarchy. I reckon from my side, the most perfect nation in the world is likely to be New Zealand and Canada is in that top 5 as well. Two Commonwealth nations and they got their with the guidance of Queen Elisabeth 2. It will not have been directly, but she was a guiding force. The rest have a lot to answer for and this BBC article shows us that the UK has its own media skeletons all over its bloody field. 

This might be a decently valid article and their might be some concerns regarding the presence of some people according to others, but her Majesty kept global peace (for the most) for over 70 years. I think we can all shut the hell up and let the international dignitaries pay their last respect.

Did I oversimplify the matter?

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March 3, 2022 · 02:49

Coming from simpler times

I have been thinking of the simple time, the past, the adherence to simplicity that is within all of us. It is the time before the Romans (original Italians). It was the Greek setting of life. We worked for the glory of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. I reckon I would work for the glory of Hades, not because the others were not worthy, it would be that Hades seemed more real than the others. We are all confronted with our mortality, as such we would move towards the realm for Hades and it would be up to him if I serve him in the afterlife, or if I was destined for another place. And I would not be alone, 5000-3000 years ago many would be like me. If it was the greens versus the blues, I reckon I would be a blue. But overall the setting would be similar. Now we move to recently (1941), if any non-German would openly side with Adolf Hitler, if anyone would opt to not vote actions against Adolf Hitler, the populous (populism) would find that person and string him up  at the nearest tree. There are at times actions that are completely unacceptable and the Russians did that by cluster bombing CIVILIAN targets. And still they are malnourished, their equipment breaks down at the earliest notion and I see all levels of inactions. Just like Syria, just like Yemen and other places. Inaction for a reason that makes no sense. As such can anyone explain this list?

This is not right versus wrong, this is not communism versus the other side, this is acceptable versus unacceptable and the Russian actions have been unacceptable. People will state that I was in favour of Putin, I never stated this, I never was. Read the articles. I thought it was a stupid move to push politics into sports, sports and politics need to remain separated, it always does for all kinds of reasons, but in the first to stop sports to become the stepping stone for politics. I always oppose stupidity and the west has shown to adhere to greed over common sense (aka greed driven stupidity) too often. Consider the stage (as I see it), a nation (Ukraine) elects an entertainer (a clown) as the president of the Ukraine. We see the people laugh, giggle and I giggled too. I had nothing against the man, he was democratically elected and I am fine with that. In the time he put his positive marker on the Ukraine. I took little notice because the Ukraine is on the other side of the planet and I personally do not know too many people from there.
I am familiar with Alexei Ponikarovsky (Maple Leafs),  Dmytro Tolkunov (Ramparts) and a few others. But I know little of the Ukraine. Now as escalations have come to THEIR towns, I learn a lot more about the governments around me and their initial inactions and after that sending stuff (military and non military) all whilst civilian organisations take intelligence to a greater level (Trollrensics), all whilst the stage evolves we see their people take effort and the Dutch Nieuwsuur seemingly (according to what I have) cancelling what these people had to tell them. A person who translates, knows the places that are hit and the people that are there and the media turns away? That is what our sophistication brought, inactions towards what some call a tyrant. I am on the fence on that term, but there is an upside. Russia is 28 times the size of the Ukraine, there is more and I can list them, but I found a nice image that does it easier. 

And that image should tell you something about karma too. When the military power in 21st place can hold back the military power in 2nd place for a week, what does that tell you about the spending of the second best and the impact it has had on its population for decades? Also there are voices that are telling me that the FSB is opposing this war, how wrong was acting against the Ukraine from the very first minute?

And whilst I stop myself from posturing, taking the comedian side, I can tell you that Bette Midler stated (tweeted) it the best.

Consider where you stand, consider who you allow to represent your voice, I really hope it is not one of the earlier names seen, because in that case you are in deep trouble, because no matter how this ends, there will be a reckoning, it is the populist approach and it is bout to be turned against those relying on the populist voice to advance their political strategies. What comes around really comes around this time around. 

So for the glory of Hades, all hail the Comedian.

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October 6, 2021 · 23:03

What sells better?

That is the question that was racing through my mind today. We all know (or have heard of) the expression ‘Sex sells’. It is used to market, to advertise and to entice (usually the men). But what if that is merely the setting? What if in actuality fantasy is the part that sells better? I had a small daydream this afternoon. I was in Toronto and I was chosen to be the backup goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs (yes, the dream is not very realistic). I was sitting in some cafe, the staff was nice and suddenly addressed by Sheldon Keefe (their coach) and he said to me “Lawrence, today your most desired dreams becomes a reality”, my dry response was “What? You arranged a weekend of wild and passionate sex with Laura Vandervoort?” The team was howling with laughter and the coach deadpan response was “Well almost most desired then” and I was given the 62 Jersey to be the backup goalie that week, and lets face it, not unlike my blog name, if we want to have a fantasy, lets go for the really satisfying ones. 

So there I was with my jersey there were a few other jokes and giggles after that I woke up from my daydream (without the LV special), such is life. But the dream stuck and when I was watching someones drawing of Alice in wonderland I started to put things together. What if we are not looking at a porn or some sex movie, but what we used to call in the old days a soft porn movie (all innuendo and little or no show, except for the boobies). What if the movie is a new take in Alice in Wonderland? We go through the motions (or Alice does) and the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, the rabbit, they are all men with masks and onesies. A movie that is like not some cheap movie, but high end special effects (not unlike The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) and a storyline that does follow the book, but with a twist at the end. The end being that [CENSORED]

A stage that reminded me of a movie that impacted with me, Jacob’s Ladder. So what happens if Virtual Reality takes over our lives too much? There are settings (Elite Dangerous) where I would love to have the hardware to do just that, but the hardware for now is too expensive and (for now) not immersive enough. So when that changes (most likely in 2-3 years) what are the applications? What happens when we can dig into the fantasies of any person (like The Cell) 

So what can we learn? I am not merely thinking healing, but interrogations, information retrieval and a few other avenue’s. So when we take the stage and turn on the fantasy, what could be achieved? We have seen this in the past but always as the end goal, as far as I can tell it was never used as a mere waypoint. Why was that? It cannot be the limit of Hollywood, it could be the limit of any producer yet I believe that this path could lead to a load of green as the faith of Americans go. I believe that there is a host of options here, and as streaming channels are competing more and more, whatever we can do that is truly original is one that streamers will entice, I merely hope that they wake up before they cancel the series too soon (way too many examples) because it is the slow start and the deep story that entices a crowd and engages them. Not the Marvel versions. This is not me having a go at Marvel movies, because I love them, but there is more and that part is not explored, or perhaps explored too little. I personally would have loved where Dollhouse season 3 would have taken us. Eliza Dushku, Dichen Lachman, Enver Gjokaj, Tahmoh Penikett, Fran Kranz, Olivia Williams, Harry Lennix and Amy Acker were all beyond good, the story was engaging and enticing, yet we were sold short, a cancellation after season 2. So will a new approach to Virtual Reality as a weapon make it? I honestly do not know but as far as I can tell no one took that route and in a stage where games can almost take us there, the lack of such a direction seems like a loss.

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