Growth, we all seek it, in mind, in business, and in setting and there is a stage that is evolving at present. The Guardian reported early this morning ‘Record warm winter in parts of Europe forces closure of ski slopes’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/04/warmest-january-ever-forces-ski-slopes-across-europe-to-close). Now there is the expression that one swallow is no identification of Summer. Yet there is no guarantee that next year will be better. Consider the stages France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. That is a stage that gives them a pool over well over 2 million people who do want snow, who want to taste the slopes. They will soon need to seek or at least consider other venues. In the Northern Hemisphere that gives them Norway, Canada and China. Finland has a lack of mountains, as does Sweden. Norway can grow as can Canada. I reckon that there are too many anti-China sentiments at present. Norway and Canada have good vibes on the slopes and I reckon it is time for them to consider new settings. Some places in Norway can grow, but they will need at least one more place for now, as does Canada. Yes Whistler is a great destination, but it is overcrowded. The 2022/2023 movies are mostly ab out the horrendous waiting times, the amount of people trying to get up. Whistler is full and Canada either creates an additional place where the people now going to Whistler can g, or bleed tourists to other nations. I reckon that they will see that another Canadian field (most likely in British Columbia) makes sense. There have been abandoned places (near Calgary) that offer a good setting, yet that stage need work as well as anything new. Every field will grow, but only if all the amenities are there. The same for Norway, who is seen as an excellent place to visit, but the call of Whistler is strong. So, as I see it They both have good chances, but the one with a better option and a cheaper one (Whistler is really expensive) will get that cluster of people. So there is risk. If a strong winter gets back in the next year, their issues are saved (France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy), if not the early bird will get the collection of worms and it will be a lot more than mere thousands. Thi will affect plane travel as well as accomodations. There is of course a lot more and even as I cannot give you all the answers, there is clear place to grow, not merely to get the overrun to Whistler, the failing of places we never expected to fail will call for more answers, some we might never get. But the overwhelming stage is that snow is lacking in places where it should not and the places that could benefit might never have seen this coming.
That is not on them, but next year will be and there they need to find ways to either take the risk that they miss out, or see what they could get because a group of millions of tourists in this day and age is a strong call. Personally I have no interest, but there is a second stage, one that is not a given. We can get that Paris and Milan–Cortina d’Ampezzo are places currently set for the Olympics. I hope it goes well, but if this bad winter stage continues, someone has to step in. Who? That is anybodies guess. But there is room to grow for several reasons and several places will have the option to grow, will they take it? I cannot tell, but even if there is added revenue, it comes with a decent amount of risk. No one denies that, but no one saw the really bad snow weather of this season come, especially when places like Canada is drowning in the stuff.
Early this morning I was alerted to news from the BBC (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64082923). There we see ‘Foreigners now banned from buying homes in Canada’ and when home pressures are as high as in Canada, that makes sense. But there is more. You see Canada states “As of 1 January, the ban prohibits people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents from buying residential properties” so we can state that the term ‘foreigner’ is applied loosely. Then there is the list of people with critique and issues. But consider, why would you want to buy a residence when you are not a citizen or a permanent resident? Consider that and then consider how the London Real estate atmosphere is spiced and spiked due to hedge funds and wealthy investors? Canada had to do something and they chose this. And it is not a new thing. New Zealand did something similar in 2018. We also get “federal housing minister Ahmed Hussen said the ban is meant to discourage buyers from looking at homes as commodities instead of a place to live and grow a family” and here I personally believe that Ahmed Hussen is correct. What is interesting that the BBC did not give us any results from the 2018 act by New Zealand. Did it reduce pressures? Any answer would have been nice and also illustrative, but they did not, why not?
I personally believe that Canada made the right step, whilst too many governments are catering to investors and speculators, there is a larger need to stop all this. And Canada made its move. Also the Canadian governments made a mention in December “the Canadian government announced some exemptions to the regulation, including for international students who have been in the country for at least five years, refugee claimants and people with temporary work permits”, as such we see that the heart of the Canadian government is in the right place. Will this be enough to reduce pressures? I cannot tel, I do not know enough about the housing market and specifically the Canadian housing market. Yet, overall when we consider the mess London and several other places are in, the move makes sense. If there is one loser, then that would be the players who invested in building ‘The One’ on Bloor street West in Toronto. That building screams investors and they cannot get a place as far as I can tell, but I reckon that the government will find a loophole for that as that place has nothing below a million and it caters to a different group.
I wonder if the results will be made public enough at the end of 2023 to see the impact. It might be a report that places like New York, London, Amsterdam and Paris are waiting for. In a time when the cost of living is going nuts, reducing housing stress makes perfect sense to me.
Yes, there are always white papers, but which one is true? You see, they are all true, they are all a point of view. Yet the truth from a point of view is relative, that has always been the case. This is why we have peer criticism for academic papers. Yet that is not the case for the media, they are all fighting to remain around with some feigned form of value. This has been the case for over a decade and now the BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63869013) ‘Meta threatens to remove US news content if new law passes’, you see the truth of the matter is that the people no longer need the news, the news is no longer if value. It started when the media starting soliciting (aka whoring) for digital dollars. Flamed bring revenue, actual news not so much. The events surrounding Elon Musk, the abstinence around Jack Dorsey and a dozen other cases made it so. The newspapers are irrelevant and they know it, so in a last gesture to remain not completely irrelevant they rely on laws to force funds from social media. Even as the shared instances from places like the Australian link to paywalls, they are all about ‘lost revenue’ And the Australian is not alone, loads of American newspapers and media (like Forbes) do EXACTLY the same thing. They will tell you the scoop AFTER you pay, so how is that lost revenue? Not all papers are like that, but many are and now we get “It would give publishers and broadcasters greater powers to collectively bargain with social media companies for a larger share of ad revenue”, I believe this is to be a false setting and Meta gives it to you in the form of “Meta claims their platform, in fact, provides increased traffic to struggling news outlets.” They are correct. Consider the truth, it I simple, how many times did you go to the news site? How many times was this because THEY shared news on social media? This has been the case for a decade and now that Meta is taking off the gloves, we see how irrelevant the media has become. In the last year alone I highlighted close to a dozen cases of incompetency and a lack of information vetting by the media, so why should they get paid for shortcomings? It is almost like the decapitated chicken. It’s running around, but it is already dead, the rest of its body did not figure it out yet. Is it fair? Does it matter? No, the media had the option to evolve, it merely decided that is was cheaper and more profitable to hang onto someone else’s coattails. It did not work out well for them and now they cry foul, almost like the yellow pages. Their era died and they just never adjusted in time and I am adding to the pain as my 5G seemingly goes to China. Setting a new stage in several ways and taking advertisement power away from all and leave it where it should have been all along, with the advertising people. With the locations of advertising and that is the lesson that they never picked up on, and it is not their fault. A place like Google missed it too and I mentioned it at least twice this year.
A stage that is moving away from them faster and faster and if Meta makes the move it is threatening to a lot of players in the media world will be done for. Such is life, Media Erectus is getting eaten before passing on its whinges. So do not focus on the whinge, consider the place technology had for almost 2 decades and see where the media is not, and they have not been where they needed to be for almost a decade and now that they are about to become irrelevant they cry laws. Bu the way these same people never championed law changes to the environment, law changes to taxation and they simply went for the emotional targets, it had more expected digital dollars, so where are these dollars now?
And when we see “Media companies argue that Meta generates huge sums of money from news articles shared on the platform.” So where is THAT evidence? Meta generates advertisement towards people through free accounts, and this gets me to (at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2H8wx1aBiQ) the congress statement April 2018 where the answer is ‘We run ads’ a setting that was in place for well over a decade. The news was never an element and as such the media better be quick with presenting ACTUAL evidence in that case.
When I see how irrelevant the media and Microsoft have become and I see them cry like little chihuahua’s all whilst they screw up options left right and centre, what the actual F*** (censored word) the world around them is doing protecting something this irrelevant is beyond me, it actually is.
We can debate things but look at the numbers. the Paris based World Association of Newspapers, which represents 18,000 newspapers gives us that there are a lot more. The world has 8,000,000,000 people, which implies that there is an average of 445,000 people per newspaper. When you start doing the math, you will see that the numbers o not add up. The newspapers that are still relevant are so as they have well over 2 million subscriptions. The Washington Post has 3 million, and The Wall Street Journal 2.4 million subscriptions. The Dutch Telegraaf had in 2001 807,000 subscriptions, in 2017 it was only 393,000. The larger national newspapers are losing ground and now we see the larger play. There are 195 countries in the world. So why are there 18,000 newspapers? They nearly all rely on Reuters, making at least 17,000 irrelevant already. But these are the numbers no one looks at, and they are all vying for advertisements. Look at ANY newspaper and look how many advertisements they have and how much they charge and you will see their actual loss. They are no longer a relevant advertisement group, digital media replaced them, they lost relevancy by allowing to become a family of 18,000 brothers and sisters and that is before you see the rest of the media relying on advertisement sales to qualify their existence. But no one looks at that side are they?
The other white paper that no one gets to see is the one no one in media wants to look at, it merely shows how irrelevant they have become.
Yes, that happens. I get an idea that is not really on my plate and I hand it over. And as the Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA) is part of the Ministry of Media, it seems only fair that I hand it over to the man with the plan, the man in charge Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi. It is up to him to decide if this has any option of succeeding. If someone else takes this on, that is not up to me. I have other issues to deal with. I got this idea whilst watching the remake of Candyman. I like it, it is superior than the previous edition and even as there are a few issues with it, there was no real objections. And whilst I was thinking that through this idea came to mind.
Riyadh It was a warm day, the sun was warming everything it touched and in the shadows was a man, his name was Henri Cernuschi, he was a banker, but not related to the Cernuschi family from the late 18th century. He was from Javrezac France and had an economy degree from the Sorbonne in Economie du Development. When he had his degree he had issues getting a job, he had no connections, he was eager to make a mark but in the end he gave his resume to an online place for resume’s and two weeks later the SAMA (Saudi Central Bank) offered him a position in Riyadh. Off course he eagerly accepted and he got to do the things asked of him. French bank papers were scanned and he looked if they were all up to scratch and correct. In the end he was to some extent an overpaid office clerk. He was not complaining, the money was good and he had amassed a nice sum over the last three years. But as all bankers, he got greedy and it was a paper he saw in some evening where he read “they are highly associated with financial risk-taking and gambling behaviours” it took a hold of him and held him in his grasp. If he could instil a level of superstition, he might profit, profit even more. And as such he set out a plan to instil superstition.
There was no real action in the next few months, but he started to learn as much as he could on Arab superstitions, there was quite the number, yet nothing stood out to him. It was two day later when when he stumbled upon a book regarding the Afreet.
It was not until a bank trip to Jeddah that he started to have an idea. What happened if he could summon an afreet? What happens when that superstition took hold?
This is the start, I would like to add a lot more, but the general idea come now and not in a story. You see, he starts learning the elements of such a summoning and he does it all nearly flawless, but as he prepared the 4 anchors he accidentally steps on one of the anchors that should keep the afreet to the small space in a basement. He becomes the anchor of the summon and the second part he overlooked that only a sorcerer can hold an Afreet as such the Afreet could break the shackles at any point, yet as anchor the man cannot be harmed and thus starts a larger stage. He does not know what he invited to be attached to his soul and an ancient afreet gets free rein in Riyadh.
It is one of the clerks that recognises some of the symptoms and soon thereafter she understands the dangers the bank is in and she warns her boss, who does not dismiss the stage. The woman is very afraid and tells him of the stories her grandmother told her. The manager sets in motion a quiet investigation and sees the danger they face and as such he grows an idea to deal with it. He spices up the man’s achievements and sends him on official business to London and sends the spiced resume to people he knows. During the event in London the man is approached by a few companies and in the end one firm takes on his business and as such they invite the afreet.
London It is one year later, London is in a setting of failed events, failed economics and even more disastrous elements in Fintech. No one can find any relationship. And as the Afreet grows in power, it learns of the crusades, and it becomes a lot more malevolent. Diseases, old diseases start forming in the UK and the weird parts are that the medics find links to St Olave-towards-the-Tower, as well as St Giles-without-Cripplegate. Both places of worship were investigated inch by inch and no findings were found, but they were on the lookout. As the months unfolded the Afreet started to get a lay of the financial land and he wrecks upon it. Banking systems stall and money goes missing. It was an Arabic cybersecurity officer that finds links in the display and links them to the stories of old. As he digs into the data he finds 5 people who have been to the middle east, Henri Cernuschi being one of them.
That’s all I got in a few hours and if you can make more of it, good luck to the Saudi Broadcasting Authority (SBA) for making it into a new kind of horror.
A small note. What happens when the anchor dies? Perhaps it gives the Afreet freedom to go wherever he wants. Just a thought.
I got a nice surprise this morning from the BBC. They had an interesting article (at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62717599), in this article named ‘Undeclared pools in France uncovered by AI technology’ we see an article on something different. It is not a pool on which girl has the loveliest lingerie. No it is a large tub of water. In Franco they however have the rule that “Pools can lead to higher property taxes because they boost property value, and must be declared under French law.” And as such we get to “The software, developed by Google and French consulting firm Capgemini, spotted the pools on aerial images of nine French regions during a trial in October 2021.” This led to finding well over 20,000 undeclared swimming pools with the number leading to “some €10m (£8.5m) in revenue, French media is reporting” As far as I can tell it is the first time a revenue service got to be clever about the tools available in this. A novel and lovely way to find something. This is a case of deeper learning taking a dive into the photo’s that aids the tax office. To be honest, I never knew swimming pols had to be declared and as such there is the added fact that I never lived in France. And as we are given “According to Le Parisien newspaper, an average pool of 30 sq m (322 sq ft) is taxed at €200 (£170) a year.” If that is true, the finding of 20,000 undeclared pools will add to the French coffers in a nice way. So it sucks to be the non declaring swimming pool owner. But that is not the real deal. It is about something more and we get that when we see “His comments come as France tackles its worst recorded drought that has left more than 100 municipalities short of drinking water. In July, France had just 9.7mm (0.38in) of rain, making it the driest month since March 1961, the national weather service Meteo-France said. Irrigation has been banned in much of the north-west and south-east of France to conserve water.” And still some see global warming as a nuisance, something that is not real. Last week I saw an image of the largest sweet water lake in China, now completely dry, now we see images like the image below.
I have nothing against people with a pool and for the most people are not hindered by drought, not in Europe, but the fact that France now has the driest month since March 1961, before I was even born gives a much larger stage, one that we cannot deny. It is not about the pools, it is about water and we need to figure out how we can unite all the data on water and find a common factor. I know, it will be people. But consider that the Seine took care of a few hundred in 800AD, and went from 1960 with 46.62 m to 2021 with 67.50 m people. This is a growth of 44.8% in 61 years, now they do not all spot by the Seine, but it gives a rather large stage when we consider that In 1600, there were roughly 220,000 Parisians; in 1650, approximately 450,000 in 1700, Paris had about 550,000 inhabitants. Now Paris is a city that houses 2.161 million, that shows a growth of 390%, now we have a different picture. And here deeper learning might give organisations a better view and we need to do this, not next week or next year. We need to start looking at the facts now, something needs to be done now. And it has nothing to do with pools, that is merely taxation fun for some. The question becomes have we hit a larger point in our evolution? How long until we have drunk all the non salt water? You think I am kidding, but we need to consider that the population of this planet was 2 billion in 1900, in 122 years time we went to 8 billion. 8,000,000,000 people needing 400% more than the population in 1900. I am not kidding, we might have hit a point of no return in the population. The planet can no longer support this population. Consider that we need 16 billion – 24 billion litres of water EVERY DAY to support this population. And that is before we look at what they need for the washing machine, the shower and so on. I am not putting the pools on that list, but someone will and now the need for deeper learning towards water, water consumption and water levels becomes a little more clear, does it not? This planet had a water cycle, it was a natural order, but we disrupted it and we pretty much destroyed it. Water does not get replenished, it merely recycles in different ways, but 8 billion people consume water too making the cycle smaller every day and soon there will be no water. I do at least have an escape plan that allows me to live out my life without the danger of running out of water, but it would help if Amazon or Google (or Elon Musk) buys my IP, sooner rather than later mind you. So when you consider the issues in Pakistan (see below), consider that nature has a massively strange way to seek balance, but is it really balance, or is it something else, something we did by keeping silent to appease the greed driven?
It is a serious question and most governments were part of this all, so they do not get to lecture, but deeper learning could give us numbers on the global aftermath of water shortages and we need to start now, not tomorrow. Data collection needs to start the moment we can, not when it suits some. That time has passed and is gone forever.
This morning when I created ‘Crossover salad dressing’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/08/23/crossover-salad-dressing/) I wrote “I came up with several ideas to propel Neom and the Line in such ways that is not seen at present, so why not? Are these marketeers (most likely in London) losing the plot of what might be?” And as such a few were eager to make me say how. It is fair enough, and in this case I do not mind. You see, others are seemingly incapable of figuring things out. So now I get to open that door and show what others were not able to figure out.
Awareness Some people seem to believe that it is all about awareness. That used to be the case, but now it is different. There is so much noise in awareness, through click farms, through trolls and through fake message makers that the numbers in Twitter on awareness, on likes in Facebook, hearts on Twitter. The numbers are no longer as reliable as they once were. Engagement is the real metric. Engagement also creates awareness and that awareness is real. So how to coin in on this? Well we see the Neom and the Line options in Twitter. The problem is how can we propel those two projects? Even as the same option is for both, lets focus on the line.
I see the creation of awareness through the people, to engage them and to offer them something new, something that all can use. In that setting we create (what we will see later) a stage. A stage with two images. That stage is placed in three locations in a large city. London, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris, Beijing, and that list goes on a little longer. In the first stage we have 5 sets of 3. 5 cities get a set. And we have three locations. Mostly malls, although in London we should avoid Harrods (too expensive). Now the three locations have a stage where people can make selfies and put them on social media, use them to create little quick-films and a few other things. They will propel awareness in many ways. They merely needed a stage.
So each two weeks the stages rotate over the three places and after 6 weeks, that set moves on and the second set comes to this place and now we have three new sets. That is the setting 5 sets each having two images. Each image on a canvas 5 metres by 3 metres, with optional representation with leaflets and more. It would be best if these stages are in a city that has a Saudi consulate or embassy, for support reasons. As such we have 15 locations and for 30 weeks these 15 locations will propel the Line in social ways. People taking selfies, people sharing how they look in the Line, in Neom and that same set could then got to 5 new locations and over that time thousands will share their selfies on social media, share with friends and family and propel awareness all over the internet to thousands that might never have seen the tweet, the news or the stories. A propelling machines that is fuelled by looking cool, by looking different and by looking unique. A stage that these marketing people could have seen coming a mile away and could have been set months ago, if not almost a year ago. So why did they not see this? Perhaps the Saudi spokespeople decided against it, decided on other paths. That is possible, but is it not the duty of a marketeer to hand all options? To give alternatives? So why am I the one giving them this? Because I believe in Neom and the Line. They will encourage the dreamers to dream what comes next and I am now too old to be that next cycle. I have what I created, I have what I possess and I have what I concocted and this is merely a slither of my concoctions. It should not be that difficult. Just a simple setting of what is visible and what could be made visible. As such I leave these thoughts and ideas to my Saudi brethren and may they push the ideas of Neom and the Line to places where they are not aware of these things and may they become more visible on a global scale.
The next day was one of highs and lows. The high was breakfast which was pretty much the best one I have had in several days and I was considering having a second one. I decided on another coffee and merely pondered the events of yesterday. The trip was not a concern, the new job awaiting me was not a concern either, but a nice change of steps. What was a concern was whatever was in California. I was aware of Perses, but only in a limiting way. He was with Asteria the parents of Hecate, but that was about all I knew. Hesiod had written something, but I had forgotten it, I needed to reread those works, or ask someone I knew. But that did not seem like a good idea at present. I went back to Iraklion airport and flew to Paris, it was the earliest flight I could get. De Gaulle to LAX was simple enough and I only had to wait 4 hours. The nice part was that I had a first class ticket, which meant that the lounges were open to me.
As expected, these French were proud of their culinary achievements, and Air France was willing to share that experience. If breakfast in Crete was great, the snacks and drinks in De Gaulle were nothing short of amazing. The 4 hours and being armed with a few magazines went rather fast. There was an announcement and I walked to the gate to get on the plane. Getting there and on board was easy enough. The smiling flight attendant was a nice bonus and as I went into first class, the idea of sinking into my seat and getting some more sleep was a rather nice idea. I was certain that I wouldn’t be getting any in California.
Part 1 The arrival t LAX was interesting. It was my first time and as I was about to seek a taxi when I noticed a man with an EIB plate. I walked up to the man, he was holding an iPhone and looking like he was comparing it. He showed the image, a picture 3-4 years old. I nodded. His hand gestured to follow him. He walked in a stern stride, not too fast, not too slow. We walked out and towards a large dark Lincoln. He opened the back door for me, I got in. He pointed to the left side “Ouzo and raki”, he pointed to the right of the door “Ice water and orange juice”. He slowly and cautiously closed the door. I grabbed a glass of ice water. The car drove off into the late morning, towards wherever I was going to go.
It was almost 2 hours later when we stopped at a gate, the gate opened and we entered the driveway. The house was amazing, like nothing I had ever seen before. There was a man waiting at the door. “Good morning Sir, I am the Major Domo. I hope you will keep me on?” I nodded. “Very well sir.” He went on explaining the house and showing the spaces. The office took me by surprise, very spartan, just the way I like it. There was some art on the walls, not really my kind of stuff, but still decent. The nude n the master bedroom however was exquisite. It was an oil painting of a girl standing in front of a window. Her transparent gown down to her hip and her back was turned to the observer. It made me stare at the sea she was staring at through a white window. It was lovely. I could not decipher the autograph. I wonder if the previous owner ever knew the woman.
I walked back into the living room and into the kitchen. I checked the fridge. “More fruit-juices and ice water please” Patrick the major domo nodded. I looked at the rest, it as all predictable and it was all I had seen before. “I am resting in the office” “Very well Sir” I walked away. There were things to consider. The fires were on the news, but they were all over the place. More than 30,000 fires over millions of acres. It would take time to figure out where to go next, but there was time for that, the TV in the office was big and very sharp. I watched CBS2 and KCAL9 most of the time, they gave me more of the fire information. I had to look into the fire brigade. To find one place in over 30,000 was going to take some time and a lot of effort. But that was for later. I had to learn a lot more on Perses and more important, how he was fuelling the fires in the first place.
He arrived a little past 20:30 at de Gaulle, he went straight to the counter to get a ticket to Rhodes. There was one in an hour, it was Italian airways via Milan, he took it and went pst boarding to the gate. It was all a repetition of something he had done dozens of times. The airport was almost new, he had been in this airport once as he had to change flights, he never went through the departure lounge though. There was nothing significant here. And there was nothing really interesting at the gate. He got on board and sat down. His mind started to wander as they took off.
The map showed Rhodes, but nothing stood out there. The documents and the drawings were different, the drawing was what seemed like an old oil lamp, the text was in French and referred to the sight of Helios. Yet how the lamp fitted into this was unknown to him. The writing gave that there was a shrine, a shrine to Helios. The lamp of illumination would shine on the places it reached and it could reach more if the items were united. That part did make even less sense to him. Jacques III Thuret came 2 millennia after ancient Greece and likely the same time when the shrine of Helios was lost to the world. There was a cult to Helios, but he knew nothing of it. As such he would be going in blind, but what was more important, someone knew a lot more and that was never a good thing. Even as he knew that his ancestors had created some items or relics, the ones that survived are a lot more powerful now, then they were in those days. As such when he arrived on Rhodes 6 hours later he would be considering his options. He took a taxi from the International airport to Rhodes and asked the driver to take him to the Rodos Park Suites hotel. He got there 15 minutes later, paid and tipped the taxi and booked a room. His credit card could take that hit because it did not look cheap. He got a nice suite a double room, it was not large but looked comfortable. The bed felt nice and the TV was clear. He switched the TV off and as he walked into Rhodes he looked his Olympian sight it was almost dark, almost, there was a small spot that was seemingly illuminated. He walked in that direction. It took almost half an hour to get there. He looked again, the place looked a lot more illuminated, when he switched back to his normal sight, he saw that no one would notice it, but that might not be for much longer.
There was something at play here. He looked around, he was at the Platia Rimini. The hotel mentioned this place, they called it the “Sound and Light Garden”, it was beautiful, nicely arranged and quite peaceful. But it made no sense, he was now close to the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, which was somewhere in the 7th century. He needed answers and none were coming forth. He walked into the garden and looked. The garden were alight in Olympic views and normally nicely lit in normal view. He tried to focus but the light was way too illuminating for that. So he sat down on the bench that stretched the sides of the path in the park and suddenly he saw it, it was as small as a flicker, but it was there. So he walked to the well in the middle, it was dry but there it was, a little out of the middle, the circle of discolouration. He looked around. Too many people here now. He looked deeper and closed his eyes as fast as he could. Whatever was there was bright, really really bright. He had closed his eyes. As fast as he could, but he was seeing blurbs of white all over and he saw them everywhere he looked. He closed his eyes for a minute whilst sitting on the bench again. Most had dissipated, but there was still a few spots, they would subside soon enough. He was thinking of the vault he had. So what happened if he created another portal? With a hole that led to the hole under the well? The problem was that he did not control it as well as he wanted to, so he might have to resort to brute strength. He hated that because he would leave a mark, but he saw no other way, he did not know where the others were and how soon they would be here. So he walked across the street to the Dromos Street Food where he had the Satay Chicken and nachos with Greek Salsa, both were really nice, and the coffee was good, nothing to write home about but still good. He sat at his table with his back to the wall and his view on the park entrance. He looked at the people, but the two in Paris were not showing up and the people seemed uninterested it specifics of the park. For a moment he thought there was a catch, but it seemed that the couple there were remembering the park and what they did there. They were still in love and softly speaking in each other ear on what they did there. He smiled, to be young and still this much in desire for one another, these two had no idea how lucky they were. It was almost dark when he finished the Papara Beef which made him more hungry. Odd, but that was the result of a really nice beef, better than anything he had had in London. He ordered another coffee and paid, he took the coffee with him as he scoped out the area. There were no people in the direct area. He got rid of the coffee and walked into the park again, but now keeping a close eye on the entrances and who was around, he stepped into the empty well and stood as far away from the lighted spot, there was no one so he summoned his bident and focussed he tabbed the well once and pushed hard, harder then anything he pushed before and slowly the ground and the well gave way. There was not much sound, but too much to his liking, the hole was large enough, he jumped in and ended in a well lit room. He quickly put some shades to protect his eyes, but it was not needed. This light was strong, almost a strong as a LED torch, but not too strong as long as he did not look into the flame. The oil lamp was on top of a golden hand, he got the lamp, blew out the flame and looked around, it was an empty room, there was a path going north and down, he saw that the corridor had collapsed a little further down. He got out of the well and he got away as fast as he could. At the wall of the park he summoned the vault and placed the lamp, closed the vault and walked off. He left the golden hand, it would add to the puzzle and it would leave him unexposed. He went back to the hotel, enjoyed a nice hot shower and he went to sleep. The next morning he had his breakfast and he bought some clothes and a nice duffel-bag. He made a point of of buying postcards and posted them with names he remembered from London. He kept them around for most of the day as he walked the streets of Rhodes, it was late in the afternoon when he noticed the orthodox priest, he asked for the postbox, the priest pointed down the road and he went there to mail the cards. He returned to the Dromos Street Food, he had another Papara Beef with a coffee and smiled at the woman who helped him the day before. He was happy that he got the pink shades, it did put the woman on the wrong food, alas, the waiter liked them a whole lot better. He asked if I asked pink and my solemn response was “υπήρχε μόνο αυτό”, he sighed and walked away, something she really liked. She started the conversation “Have you heard?” I shook my head, “heard what?” The well in the park collapsed there was a golden hand under the well. I tried to look shocked “Really?” Yes she responded, the hand was large it took several man to get it out, the police have closed the police have closed the Sound and Light Garden for now. There were reporters, so he backed off, he did not want to give the wrong people a shine on him. He looked at the commotion, and noticed that all the camera’s were pointing at the park. He nodded to the woman and paid for the coffee and sandwich. He was about to walk off when she handed him another coffee in a takeaway cup with the smiling “for the walk”, he nodded and smiled. He gave here the customary ‘Antio’ and walked away from the scene in the general direction of the hotel, walking and shopping most of the day. When he got back he made a point of keeping eye on the people going in and out of the hotel for at least 10 minutes. His Olympian sight saw that there was nothing watching the place or him, yet he had the feeling that someone was staring at him, he had that feeling in Paris but not as strong. He saw nothing, so he went to his room and packed the bag, he signed out and knowing that he could get the 22:45 from Rhodes to Gatwick with Easy-jet was his sign to leave Rhodes and the parts they were looking for were not on him, more important, they were in a place where no one could ever find them, so the relics were safe, but he was really curious on what was going on.
End of episode.
This was part two and the parts over the last day would be the two parts of a three parter. The third will not be tomorrow, because I have a few more parts to figure out, but consider I had all this in under an hour, what more could I get done? I reckon that I might be one of the never published 30,000 wannabe’s in Hollywood, but it is not about selling this, it is about the story and you will get more soon enough.
He woke up the next day nice and refreshed. He had breakfast, read the paper and was considering what to do next. He knew he had the watch, but the watch was dangerous, even the trip into the past of Rotterdam was a lucky but dangerous setting, he realised that. He basically survived a bombing that might not have killed that many, but it made 20,000 homeless, even if knocked down the impact could have been severe, so he was happy that the watch was in his vault. He was about to walk away when the paper caught his eye. He had looked at the International news, the business news but it was a corner that he usually ignored that was the eye catcher. Vandalism in Paris, there was a photo of a place he recognised, it was an image from the Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church he visited the day before. He looked over the article, someone broke in broke several of the tombstones, the ones on the side of the one he visited. These people were less subtle. The authorities were investigating the senseless act of vandalism, they were pursuing leads.
He put the paper aside. Apparently he got there in time, but who else was looking for the clock? There were several thoughts, but none of them made sense. Too specific for tomb robbers, too violent for thieves and in that the surrounding stones were damaged, not the most subtle of ‘explorers’, there was more to this. He checked out and walked back to the train station and boarded the train to return to Paris, this needed to be investigated.
CROSS Architecture. Wir sind ein junges, international tätiges Architekturbüro mit Standorten in Aachen und Amsterdam.
He needed to learn who else wanted to stake a claim on that watch. Getting the ticket and getting to the train was relatively simple, he got off where he needed to board. There would be a train in 35 minutes. He saw a shop, bought the Guardian and got to the platform. It was 10 minutes later when the train arrived and he got to the seat assigned to him. He didn’t feel like looking at the environment he was travelling through, he did that yesterday. He decided to read the paper, even if the information was pointless and in some cases useless. It kept him occupied. Some of the information was interesting, but for the most it was the proverbial waste of time, reading it was as useful a passing of time as watching paint dry. It took a little over 157 minutes to get where he needed to go and from there he walked the same path towards the church. When he got close to the church he saw the abundance of police cars. Too many to be useful, this was a presentation to the people. He kept his distance and looked around. It was then that he saw the Imperial House just next door. He walked on the other side of the street until he was directly opposite the Imperial house and crossed straight to the restaurant. He saw that one of the tables was free and sat down. He waited to be served. He ordered the spring rolls and noodles. He ate slowly taking in all the traffic, all the people and memorised it all. He switched between his normal and Olympian vision and nothing sprang out to him, it was about 20 minutes later, just as he was ordering more tea when he noticed it. A man and woman, passing by a third time. His Olympian vision saw nothing stand out. They were human, nothing special. Yet they were observing the church they were taking turns at looking around and they had each others back. They were a near perfect team, observing and checking all the elements they could see. He felt decently safe, as he was eating and drinking tea. He was done, he saw them walk off and they would be back in minutes. They were very good. He got up and took a turn to the left. He saw the crossing and crossed the Rue de Rivoli. He walked into the small street and looked around, there was not that much traffic, there was none looking at him. He stood in a corner and waited, the couple walked past the crossing focussing on the church. He focussed his Olympic vision on the couple, he would now be able to find them anywhere fast. He walked away and left the area of the church. It took 20 minutes before he passed a nice cafe. He walked in, ordered a beer and took a small table. The beer was served, it was a Stella Artois, he took his time, savouring every sip and let time pass by. Every now and then he looked out and focussed on the two he needed to investigate and it was not before 7 PM when their direction changed. He waited another 10 minutes and he moved in the direction the couple had vanished towards. It was a small trip, a mere 15 minutes. When he got close he saw where they were. They had taken shelter in the Cour Des Vosges, what seemed to look like a suite on the second floor. Very convenient for him, so he slowly walked around until he had enough privacy to get up and he did as fast as he could. At every moment looking around for prying eyes. When he got to the upper floor he saw that one of the windows was open, it was one that led to the corridor where they were staying. He waited in a corner, he saw the couple leave the room, they were talking to each other, speaking softly, but for him it was not a problem, they were discussing diner and the excellent quality of food that the Cour Des Vosges served. That was a nice surprise, it meant that he had time to investigate the room. He waited around 10 seconds and walked into the corridor, walked to the door and slowly gained entrance to the room. He was cautious not to leave any prints, not to leave any footprints or any kind of disturbance. The drawers and lockers were all filled with clothes and all kind of stuff, so far they looked like perfectly ordinary tourists. It was then that he noticed the small safe. It was easy to get entrance and there was what he hoped for. Hopefully a clue, images, documents and maps. The maps were of Paris and Rhodes. He memorised the documents as fast as he could and he memorised the maps, the Paris one was useless, he had been there, but the post-it on the map stated that the watch was most likely in the tomb of Jacques III Thuret. He looked at the other map. It was Rhodes, there was no post-it, but the documents gave the information he needed. He carefully put everything back in exactly the same order and left the room. He left the hotel in the same way he came in, as he left the hotel he saw a window with the restaurant, in the corner he saw the two enjoy whatever they were eating. It seemed to be a lamb dish. He walked off. Whatever came next, it would be in Rhodes. So he signalled a taxi and asked the driver to take him to Charles de Gaulle airport. Time to see what Rhodes brought to the equation.
Part 4
Still to be continued (remaining as evil as I can)
Yes, that is the setting, it is in part a question and in part a statement. You see, I returned to the place of the crime (my writing) and in ‘Presentation and awareness creation’ (June 6th, https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/06/06/presentation-and-awareness-creation/) and ‘The mind, it continues regardless’ (same day, https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/06/06/the-mind-it-continues-regardless/). First of all, lets be clear this solution would fit dozens of malls. I merely used this one as there were plenty of walk through video’s, in addition it is spacious and it is in a large city (Toronto, population 2,934,544) as such it is not the largest city but in size rather respectable and as I was testing my idea for the 5G implementation I created, I also saw anther few options, when combined would merely enhance what some malls could experience. My mind also looked to implement safety features and images in augmented reality, which would actually enhance safety in these places. The 5G is a bonus, but one that could proper my (expected $8.4B) solution into an 11 figure one and who would I be to pass up on that option? 10% of that is serious cash, an amount my wallet is not showing at present. Google not Amazon has the lead here, but it also made me realise that they could do a lot more in places like this, I merely wonder why they did not go there. I made searches all over google, but I cannot find them, as such I wonder why not?
So the premise becomes:
Why are they overlooking the obvious? This is a hard question, it is not always visible in the eyes of any beholder that is not an insider of a place like Google. Yet consider that Zara has 6829 stores (globally) and it is a $30B operation, which means that one solution would fit dozens, if not hundreds of stores. Sephora operates 1,900 stores globally (29 nations). As such it is also a many implementation setting. Gap has 3,000 stores Victoria Secrets has well over 1,000 stores and the list goes on. And now the one little element. How many malls have all these stores? Are you starting to catch on that a place like Google has been overlooking the obvious? The premise, the question and the statement all in one place and I am at a loss why they missed it, others missed it too (Amazon being one) a setting that allows and screams innovation and they both missed it and I am merely adding to the IP and testing the application of 5G IP I had before and Eaton Mall (Toronto) was a place to test it first, but it is in no mean the only place. Other places in Canada, the US, UK, France (Paris) and more places that could be benefitting the setting I designed and when you think I am bluffing, or as some stated ‘You are full of it’ consider the mall you know best, the mall you usually visit and I can test this globally, som players are not on the innovative page and in this day and age that is funny as hell. We see statements like ‘MoneyGram speeds digital transformation initiative with assist from Rafay Systems & Amazon EKS’, we see ‘Amazon payment services delves into fintech innovation and the future of payments at Seamless Middle East 2022’, ‘Dematic to ‘accelerate supply chain innovation’ with Google Cloud’ and ‘Sabre and Google developing framework to transform future of travel: Sriram Gopalswamy’ all mentioning innovation, mention of fintech but none of them truly about enhancing your pleasure as a shopping consumer, or the importance of retail innovation reaching you. All forgotten paths that should have been on the forefront of their minds. They forgot the number one part here. The consumer, the user, they forgot about you.
Do not believe me, check for yourself and you will see that I am right, check for yourself! As such I see a new niche opening. I am not sure that it is good to have too many niches (Microsoft tends to buy them and screw them up for all concerned) but that might be my overly negative view on the matter. What does matter is that I created a little over a year ago pieces of IP that a tech player like Google still does not have, still does not cater to and in the process leaves the people out in the cold (or in the cold in a mall hallway near you).
A setting now clearly shown. The statement and the question and Google seemingly cannot answer it (neither can Amazon). Why are these players overlooking the obvious? The US has 116,000 malls, and neither looked at the obvious? I let you ponder that part and when you add the Canadian and European numbers that number becomes frighteningly large.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 