Tag Archives: travel

June 9, 2025 · 20:23

At the right time

That is what we all seek (if we can afford it), that golden ticket that is out in the open and we are in time to grab it. I get it, it is not easy and you need to have feelers out, but that is at time the setting we face. For example, Disney Golden Oaks has had his new park settings with residences and houses out there for almost a year. This is nothing bad. The places look amazing and when you are approaching retirement, or a life setting where you get to enjoy life at least three months a year (basically before the Trump era) nearly everyone who has the money would grab something like that. They are still taking orders, so there is space. I am not criticizing the setting. Disney has made enormous strides with their Golden Oaks and these places are top notch. The setting that the Four Seasons is there as well, merely adds charisma and flavor to that place. So what gives? 

You see, the Emirati News Agency WAM, gives us (at https://www.wam.ae/en/article/15l6shd-aldar-announces-launch-day-sell-out-all-133-homes) a simple setting. They give us ‘Aldar announces launch day sell-out of all 133 homes at Waldorf Astoria Residences’ a setting where we see a launch day sell out? Don’t get me wrong, I cannot afford living there, so I don’t feel sad. I had my eyes set on Sama Yas (which I cannot afford either) but at least it is more affordable than either two. And lets be clear onboard this, as America slides down to a near third world stage, would you want to live in Orlando? Yas Island will be the new Saint Tropez. With its 4 theme parks (soon to be 5) and Warner Brothers being busy to add the world of Harry Potter to their Arsenal, that place will be da bomb (as the expression goes). Ferrari World, The Yas Mall (not as big as the Dubai Mall), but a cracker of a mall. WaterWorld with slides, lazy river and all, SeaWorld which might be the most impressive water zoo you have ever soon and the Warner Brothers Theme park, soon to include these rascals from Hogwarts. And in (an expected) 2027 Disney will grace that place too. So what is there to hesitate over? Well the 133 new owners of their Waldorf Astoria Residences had that same idea and on launch day it all sold out. The first ever branded residential development on Yas Island generating AED 850 million in sales. That almost a billion amounts to $232 million, which amounts to a little under $2 million per unit, there are different sizes, so the small ones are cheaper, the big ones larger and Golden Oaks gave us the setting that they started at 5 million. So it is a win in several ways. And it gets better if you get the Yas Annual Diamond pass, which gives you unlimited Quick Pass Access at all Yas Theme Parks and offers unmatched benefits, such as 25% off dining, shopping, and more. Plus, you’ll receive early park entry, special events, and exclusive member-only experiences. And the price (at present) is $900 a year, with all these benefits you would be crazy not to get it, especially as it gives 25% on loads of stuff, even in the Yass Mall. For an entire year? That pass will earn itself back in less than a month. As such, I reckon that the price goes up when Disney is added to the flavour. And as there are free busses all over Yas Island, the need for a car becomes debatable. 

So in that world where does Orlando stand? Nowhere as I see it and Abu Dhabi has a lot more to offer. As I personally see it theme parks in America are soon done and when the economy collapses (which is likely to be this year) there will not be any reason to go to America. So when you consider these news clippings that America is crawling up from the mud, consider that the Economic times gave us 4 hours ago ‘Adrian Mowat on why non-US assets are becoming more appealing than US equities & bonds’ you’re seeing merely a first and as the pressures on Yas Island to expand is clearly seen in many ways, we will need to consider that America is close to done for. 17 hours ago we were given ‘Half of the bond market is US Treasuries. Why it’s ‘not healthy.’’ Remember that I talked about the dangers of Japan or China dumping the bonds they have and the other one following suit as not too be left with (what I personally speculative see) as toilet paper. Well this is a first sign. The entire Waldorf Astoria setting was out in the open and it is gone on launch day. Orlando never pulled that off, not even when they were the luxury height of the residence markets. As such the oligarchs, the billionaires and others will soon get their own place there and perhaps several already have their place. In addition, the UAE is a zero tax nation, well not exactly, but you do not pay income tax, so the money you get is the money you get to spend and with a Diamond card it gets to be even cheaper. Don’t think you are stuck there. The high speed train ride takes you to either place in 30 minutes, so breakfast in Dubai and Dinner in Abu Dhabi (or the other way round) becomes a reality, although I was unable to find prices, but a normal train going at half the speed is also an option, as such you would be in a train for an hour. 

As I see it the UAE is not merely making waves, they are an economic tsunami about to unleash their good times and as I see it America (Europe too) will face the economic onslaught it makes on both of them and as I see it, with the F1 also on Yas island, the setting gets to me almost embarrassing for America. And feel free to look at the Abu Dhabi videos on YouTube done by hundreds of visitors. A city that is clean, safe and spacious. What more do you need? The article ends with “Commenting on the sales performance, Jonathan Emery, Chief Executive Officer at Aldar Development said: “The sell-out of Waldorf Astoria Residences Yas marks a significant milestone for Aldar and highlights the attractiveness of Yas Island both as an investment destination and prime residential address. As the island’s first branded residential offering, its overwhelming success is a strong indicator of the rising demand for luxury, hospitality-led living in Abu Dhabi and the universal appeal of the Waldorf Astoria brand.”” As such I wonder what will come next, because the intake of wealthy residents is merely at a start this implies that Abu Dhabi is looking at 3-5 new settings and as the Satellite photos show, between Zayed International Airport and Yas Island are several large ‘plots’ that might be the setting of more. The influx of wealth and economic good times are setting a new era for the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi. Did anyone consider that when billionaires see new grounds, they tend to go from other places? Where does that leave America? You see, you can spin all you like, but when the wealth walks away they might be left with merely a dozen wealthy people and President Trump is not that rich, so when Elon Musk leaves, the expression about rats leaving the sinking ship comes to mind. Oh, by the way, I am not calling Elon Much a rat, or implying that he is leaving. But I think the setting comes across to all my readers (and its not my mum, cause she is dead).

A larger setting is coming to the shores of America and I have stated that as warnings for over the last 2 years at least, so whilst we now get “‘‘Death spiral’ nears as US debt service costs reach ‘unsustainable’ levels’” (source: Sky News) consider that I stated this danger es early as October 4th 2021 in ‘Utter insanity’ referring back to an article I wrote in 2013, it has been this long that the media could have informed you. Did they? Oh and the fact that October 4th is also World Animal Day is merely icing on the cake. I like my irony with a sweet tooth. I am a victim of circumstance. Still, the setting was clear years ago, you merely needed to learn to use an abacus, something that has been around for over 3000 years, no super computer needed.

So have a great day and enjoy your morning coffee in Toronto this morning (it is 06:00 there). 

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media

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

June 8, 2025 · 13:27

Delusional fictive imagination

Yup, I am going there. It is all me, or as the story goes MPI (Me Personification Individual) giving myself a fictive consideration is the next best thing. You see, as the setting of America goes on and on towards a drain that ens up in the sewer, I decided to let my conspiracy self roam free. In this setting I am due a nice retirement sum and as a bonus I get to see the people who merely promised me bad to become the corporate bitches which I always thought they would end up being. As such there is no reality in this story, it is merely the work of a B-level movie (unlike the awesome script I finished and the three that follow it, more delusion on your plate).

Anyway the story starts with me having a coffee at the Soul Origin in Burwood. I was just about to take another sip when I a man introduces to me as Dr. Mulla, Consul General for the United Arab Emirates. I was not aware that the UAE had a consulate in Sydney, but there you have it and he starts of with giving me a business card stating he is indeed the Consul General, but the address gives me Melbourne. I gave the man a courteous nod and say to him a “Allahu Akbar” and point at the chair on the other side of the small round table. He states something softly (I am in a mall, so I didn’t hear that latter part) and he makes his case. He asks if I am the person that worked in a statistics company during the 90’s and two thousands and I nod in agreement, I was indeed. As such he offered me a short term job which will give me 250 bitcoin, post taxation and my curiosity was piqued. It is a lot of money for any person to be given of nearly any kind in the west, perhaps an exception could be made for all who have over 50 million dollars and I am not one of these people, so I agree to do that. I did mention that my passport had expired. He mentioned that it would not be a problem. The need for ADNOC is high and I am one of the first they approached and if I am willing we would leave today. The job will be to inspect syntax and statistical files, aiding the people there in cleaning them up and making sense of them. Well, I have been paid a mere 1% in the past for doing a lot more, so I am massively agreeable in this. A chauffeur will collect me in 90 minutes if that was agreeable, it was. So I head home to get my stuff ready, including my extremely expired passport.

It was brought 87.254 minutes later when a black Mercedes is in front of my apartment and the chauffeur identifies himself with what I reckon is some embassy card and drives me to the jet airport. He drops me off where a female executive introduces herself as Aisha, personal secretary to the Emirati Consul. She also hands me a card. She stated that it held $2,000 for anything I might need at this time. The consul will be at the place in 45 minutes. She would escort me wherever I needed to go. I decided that the only thing worthy of my needs at this time was a DJI Osmo pocket 3 and a memory stick. If I am going to a place I never seen before, I might as well record it for prosperity. I was given a great deal for the DJI with ‘creator accessories’ and a 128GB card for $749. I am happy as nothing I have been for the better part of a decade. I ask if there is a lounge where I can have a coffee and a sandwich (my blood when there is too little caffeine in it tends to get jumpy). She takes me to the Qantas First class lounge. She waves her consular credentials and we are in. Two minutes later with a large coffee in a takeaway cup and two chicken wraps I am seated in a small glass room with Aisha and we both sit in amazing comfortable lounge seats while I sip a coffee. I take a moment to eat the first wrap and it was amazing. I look at Aisha and she tells me that the consul is around 30 minutes out. We will depart in about 15 minutes so that we are there at the same time. I nod in acceptance. I playfully look at my mobile B250 comes down to almost 41 million dollars. So where do I sign for my soul? This is more money that all my ancestors combined earned in a lifetime. As such I wonder what the snag is, but if there is one, this setting alone is making me beyond happy. I never imagined that I would even own a DJI and now I am almost playing with one. So, whatever bad news comes next. I am less concerned with the badf news that I am with this feeling of amazement. 

It is about 17 minutes later when Aisha nods that we had to go. I end up leaving half a wrap, but the coffee was good, as was the wrap. I just didn’t feel like having to rush to the toilet until we are well underway. It takes 5 minutes to get to the plane. We were met with a Qantas golf cart to take us where we had to go and as the cart sped up and down ramps we get to the plane in record time. I never knew that these carts could go that fast. We stop right next to the boarding steps of a Learjet 85. It was an amazing looking jet, the inside was beyond what I had ever seen (I don’t fly too much) and as I was beckoned to my seat(s) I chose to hav e the seat facing the cockpit. I was never one for traveling backwards, not in a train and not taking my chances now.

A minute later Dr. Mulla joined us and its across from his secretary and speaks to me. We have an 11 hour flight ahead of us. Is it OK if I complete a few tasks? I nod in agreement. A little eager to see this plane in action and taking a selfie on my Google Pixel 9. There is not one picture in existence showing me in a Learjet, so that fable has now been put to rest. As the plane takes off, the pressure of me being pushed in my seat is close to heavenly.

As I look outside of the window, seeing Sydney fade into a small nothing and the plane turning left. I am offered Champagne, but I preferred a coffee with cream a sugar. We all have our little needs. I sip the coffee in a porcelain cup, not the plastic cups we are normally given on flights and I feel a little special. The coffee comes after I am given a hot towel which felt good, I feel a little cleaner. And before I know it almost an hour has passed. The consul addresses me. ADNOC has a challenge. It actually has two challenges. The job would take a maximum of a week. Do you have a preference of Hotel? I immediately consider the Warner Bothers hotel on Yas Island. I saw a YouTube video and it looked like a heavenly place (with food, coffee and all). And he nods at Aisha who starts typing on her laptop in a composed manner (and a lot faster than I can type). “So let me explain to some extent, they have two challenges. The first is a Dutch translator, they just lost their translator in an accident and the new one will not come until later next month. They will need to be able to look at some Dutch documents in the meantime. The second setting is a program called IBM Statistics. They have been trying to replace the team they had. The person in charge invited less than qualified people in the past and as he has now left, the entire department is a little up in the air. Can you cell data files?” I nodded in agreement. “Yes I can, I am not a statistician, but I can clean files, read and write syntax files and help creating and validating omni-books. I can also teach your teams to be more privy to IBM statistics files and help them into increasing their knowledge of IBM Statistics.” The consul had an immediate more brightened look and he stated “Splendid” with a big smile. 

I considered asking a few questions regarding this, but I thought that he might not have the answers. Whatever answers there were, I would get them in Abu Dhabi. And after a nice meal which included a large cheese pizza (with added oregano) I partially dozed off. I felt a nod on my right shoulder. I looked confused. Did I sleep through part of the flight? I looked around and I was told that we would arrive in about 50 minutes. I was offered coffee which felt good to accept and I waled to the bag where the bathrooms were. And would you believe it, these bathrooms had showers and all. I didn’t take the shower as I thought that a long hot shower would make my day complete in the Warner Brothers hotel. We arrived at Zayed International Airport a little over 55 minutes later and as I got off the place, the hot air caressed my face. It was 33 degrees, a blissful heat with a minor breeze. Outside the plane was a car waiting, it was a black Bentley New Flying Spur. It was more than comfortable, it was amazing and I apart from a London taxi, I had never sat in a Bentley. I took a quick selfie as I walked towards the car. They would never believe me, not my friends, not anyone I reckon. And I would not even believe myself, the selfie was to remind myself I wasn’t making this up (as this is a story, I am, but that is for another time).

We got to the hotel in what I believe to be in under 30 minutes. It was merely me and Aisha, the consul had taken his leave at the plane. Aisha would take care of the rest. And as it was already 19:00, I was given the key to my room with complete all expenses paid access to the minibar and kitchens. I wasn’t hungry, a pizza and 1,5 wraps does that to me, the hotel room had a Nespresso machine and the mini bar had fruit juices. So I was happy. I was told that a car would come for me  at 9:00 next morning. I rejoiced at the overlook bar at the top floor, where there was an amazing collection of drinks and I enjoyed my iced Canadian (I refuse to call it an Americano), 51st state? Screw that.

I had a lovely breakfast with two waffles, hot cherry sauce and whipped cream. Another delusional thought I had on Ghent and an abbey in 1102 (a much larger story for another time). I had this as a breakfast and whilst I was contemplating to eat more, I thought it might not be the best introduction to my temporary new employer. I was sitting in the ground floor lobby where I was sipping a nice large coffee (we all have weaknesses) and a man approached me and help up a sign with my name, I nodded and he indicated that I move to the side entree with a “this way please”, his voice could not be seen as anything but warm polite and courteous. I moved to the side where a nice black Mercedes was waiting for me. He opened the rear passenger door and pointed to the water in the back. I nodded and thanked him. It was half an hour later when we arrived by a skyscraper on Corniche road. A man was waiting for me and as we shook hands be gestured the direction is was requested to walk. Th skyscraper stood alone, so that wasn’t a leap of faith to make. I was shown the way to the 76th floor. I had only been this high once. It was in the Sears Tower in Chicago which was (I think) the 98th floor. As we went into a room there were three man all standing up and bowing to me, I bowed back and stated “Alahu Akbar”, I was greeted back and now I got what I was offered in return in Sydney. 

I sat down and I was given the highlights of the deal, the translator setting was merely a side setting that might be required. They had the Dikke van Dale Dutch books, which is pretty much the Rolls Royce of Dutch dictionaries, or as I preferred to call them, the Fat Valley dictionaries, which was a loosely translated name. It was the IBM statistics they needed. And I would be shown a desk and the files would be shown to me. They were happy that I would be able to train the staff there was. As was given, the head honcho (El Jefe) in Arabic terms had kept all the work to himself, only letting the others do some of the ground work and as those people were elevated to much better positions, they went along with the setting. At my desk I saw that there were inconsistencies, not bad ones, no errors, but the syntaxes was written by someone not used to daily data process points. There was an EXECUTE after nearly every command, there was a setting that there were several aggregates when one could do and there was a setting where were at least 8 ADD FILES commands when 2 could have sufficed. This was a data noob, a person thinking he knew something, all whilst he was setting the stage to be ‘the specialist that is the coming of the whatever person he thought he was’ I went a little wild on the syntax. And at first I tested every part separate which took almost 3600 seconds. Then I ran it all and a mere 2500 seconds remained. This was as expected. I took the file renamed it with _EDIT at the end and re-ran the whole file, it came down to 1216 seconds. I reran the file and reduced the time by over 60% less time was required. 

It was time to set the larger setting of damaged files and what was done was that the output file was given the EXACT same name as the data file. So he had the results, but the data would have to be reread from scratch. The messiest way to set the premise for people to not get ahead without him. And that was the setting I discovered in half a day. 

Well, I want to go on and introduce a conspiracy setting where Brent Oil was slicing the dice of ADNOC (and in my delusion ARAMCO as well), but it is time to take a breather and enjoy the delusion of being $41,000,000 richer, or perhaps AU$20,000,000 and AED48,500,000 richer. You can’t enjoy money when you have no dreams for them and having a property on Sama Yas enjoying 4 (soon 5) theme parks in an age of retirement is a pretty good way to delusional dream.

And consider a theme park, absent of stupid people (people living between Canada and Mexico), isn’t that a dream worth pursuing? Consider that soon (2027) Disney will be here too and all on the island where you retire. Oh, and they have a Carrefour Hypermarket (UAE Supermarket, based on a French supermarket) and I reckon a few other places. I call that a win in every scenario imaginable. So have a great day. My Sunday today is delusional day and I have earned the sweet scent of delusion. And think of it, the setting might be delusional. But would you think that this stage is outside of American ‘tactics’? The entire American Administration is running itself into the ground (slowly but surely).  So have a great day and enjoy the spiciness of whatever you face today.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Stories

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

June 4, 2025 · 12:32

About the setting of prayers

This is about the Hajj, it is not a negative piece as I refuse to put any religion negatively. Perhaps the Catholic side as I was raised a Catholic. So as we get the the Hajj, which starts in a little over 12 hours. We start with the Bangkok Post (at https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/3038397/no-permit-no-hajj-says-saudi-arabia) where we see ‘No permit, no hajj, says Saudi Arabia’. I get that and as we see “Last year, 1,301 pilgrims, most of them unregistered and lacking access to air-conditioned tents and buses, died as temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius (125.2 degrees Fahrenheit)”, as well as ““Since the end of last season, we realised the biggest challenge is preventing unauthorised pilgrims from undermining the success of the hajj season,” said one official helping organise the hajj, requesting anonymity” I get that, I pointed this out in my lest years writings, even as many did not, they were all about blaming the Saudi governments of that failure. In addition, these settings of media never dug into the tour operators fleecing profits and living these tourists to their doom. But the media ignored that side of the equation as they reported their blame settings. Even with these unregistered Hajj seekers, the casualty list remains below 0.1% of the visitors, and when we filter this out we get a setting that the casualties in a setting of 51 degrees heat celsius remains a mere 0.018%, which is nothing short of absolutely astounding. I reckon that any western nation has yet to reveal a setting with over 600,000 people (half of what the Hajj got) and that little casualties. Consider that the Saudi government does nearly everything to keep people safe. A remarkable setting to say the least. 

Then we get to the second item, which is given to us by News Central Africa (at https://newscentral.africa/saudi-arabia-tightens-crackdown-on-unregistered-hajj-pilgrims-after-deadly-heatwave/) where we see ‘Saudi Arabia Tightens Crackdown on Unregistered Hajj Pilgrims After Deadly Heatwave’ and here we get “Saudi Arabia is intensifying its efforts to prevent unauthorised participation in the annual hajj pilgrimage, a year after extreme heat led to the deaths of over a thousand pilgrims, most of whom were unregistered.” With the additional “One organiser, who wished to remain anonymous, said that since the end of last year’s pilgrimage, preventing unauthorised worshippers has been a top priority. The hajj is one of Islam’s five pillars, and Muslims who are physically and financially able must perform it at least once in their lifetime. However, due to a quota system, permits are limited and distributed via a lottery, making the costly official route unaffordable for many. As a result, some pilgrims opt for cheaper, unofficial alternatives” I personally see why this person wants to stay anonymous. As I personally see it, their ‘sales staff’ seemingly saw a way around the permit setting and sold them using alternative settings. It is a speculatively view, but the setting makes sense when you consider the 1100 casualties without a permit and the 14 countries that has the ban are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, Jordan, Algeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Yemen, and Morocco (according to a source). It makes a lot more sense when you consider the facts that ‘Nearly 270,000 pilgrims without permits stopped from entering Mecca’ (source: Euro News) where we see “Saudi Arabia has stopped nearly 269,678 pilgrims without authorisation from entering Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The government blames overcrowding at the Hajj on participants without permits. It also says they made up large numbers of the 1,300 people who died in last year’s searing summer heat.” So, so you think the pool of an additional 15% all came to the thought by themselves, or were tour operators involved? The Guardian gave us last year that tour operators made promises that caused the deaths of several, and as I see it (at least through western media) this was never investigated. This does not mean that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia didn’t investigate this, it merely means that I don’t know what happened in that specific scenario. My view that I had last year is also seemingly proven correctly as Euro News also gave me “Officials have also imposed penalties on more than 23,000 Saudi residents for violating Hajj regulations and revoked the licenses of 400 Hajj companies.” I get that over the cuties there are a lot of companies involved, but the setting of 400 Hajj companies clearly astounds me. 

And with this I salute the Hajj 2025 participants and wish them a blessed and meaningful Hajj, and I hope for Allah’s acceptance of their pilgrimage, or in shorter terms Hajj Mubarak. Let their journey be a safe one and their pilgrimage a fulfilling one. Have a great day you all.

1 Comment

Filed under Religion, Tourism

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

May 31, 2025 · 12:46

All dressed up

Yup, that is an old expression, I heard it somewhere in the 80’s and if you know, you know. If not, you might figure it out during this article. The setting has been revised before, but now (at https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/north-carolina-and-oregon-unite-with-florida-new-york-nevada-arizona-california-alaska-as-canadian-travel-to-the-us-plunges-this-april-amid-political-backlash-and-tourism-boycott/) we get a more direct setting. We are told ‘North Carolina and Oregon Unite with Florida, New York, Nevada, Arizona, California, Alaska as Canadian Travel to the US Plunges This April Amid Political Backlash and Tourism Boycott’ it seems trivial and that site is, but it is merely one side of this. We are given “Canadian travel to the United States has plunged this April as North Carolina and Oregon unite with Florida, New York, Nevada, Arizona, California, and Alaska in reporting steep declines in visitor numbers from their northern neighbor—an alarming shift fueled by mounting political backlash, a growing tourism boycott movement, and rising disillusionment among Canadian travelers over the current state of U.S. affairs”, as well as “Canadians are now increasingly choosing alternative destinations, citing concerns over the political climate, cultural discomfort, safety perceptions, and dissatisfaction with immigration experiences.” And this is merely the start. Travel Tour World gives assisting data. We are given “According to official data, land travel from Canada to the U.S. dropped by 35.2% in April 2025 compared to the same time last year, while air travel declined 19.9%, marking one of the most significant cross-border travel retreats in recent memory” And it gets to be worse, for that we look towards the story (at https://www.cubaenmiami.com/en/expertos-temen-por-las-perdidas-economicas-que-pueden-traer-la-reciente-disminucion-del-numero-de-turistas-internacionales-en-estados-unidos/) there we get “According to a report by Oxford Economics, unfavorable perceptions regarding trade and immigration policies are causing international tourists to choose other destinations, which could result in an $8.5 billion drop in foreign visitor spending in the United States this year. The decline in travel, which represents a roughly 5% drop compared to the previous year, is due to a decrease in foot traffic. According to Aran Ryan, head of industry research at Tourism Economics, an affiliate of Oxford Economics, international visits to the United States are expected to decline by nearly 9% this year, according to a report released last week.” This is not all, in addition we see “The United States could experience a loss of $21 billion in tourism-related revenue this year if current trends continue, according to estimates by the U.S. Travel Association. According to the trade group, every 1% reduction in international tourist spending represents an annual loss of $1.8 billion for the U.S. economy. Furthermore, experts indicated that a strong U.S. dollar could be driving away international visitors.” Even though only Canada is ‘sifted’ out, the European losses could be close to equally large. I saw this yesterday in a YouTube video on the Epic Universe. The literal quote was “There is no-one here” and this is in the opening month of one of the most desirable theme parks I have ever seen. The damage could be a little bigger than the news we are getting. I saw two restaurants where little to no people are seen and in one case they were the only customer. This is a sight I have never have seen before in any theme parks and this one looks a lot better then most I ever saw with my own eyes. I don’t wish this on anyone and where are the people going? Well, my bet is that Abu Dhabi in the UAE on Yas Island will be raking in the cash. The people decided on another place and as Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand decide to seek greener grounds the sands of the United Arab Emirates might be the greenest grass of all. Even as we get one source giving us that “Walt Disney secures future of Euro Disney with €1bn refinancing”, I am drawn to the setting that this is not the destination of many who abandoned the idea of getting theme park rushes in America. I guessed that these people might be going towards Tokyo and its Universal, but the drop of 4% gives me pause to dig deeper there and I am considering that most went to the UAE and the numbers from Gulf Business (kinda) prove me correctly with “International visits to the theme parks also saw significant growth, with a 40 per cent, rise, led by a substantial increase from key markets, including India, China, the UK and Russia” and there I wonder if they investigated the stream of Canadian and European visitors. Yet 40% increase is not nothing, it is huge, especially as America is looking to a drop of well over $21,000,000,000 in business and that is not including all the bed and breakfast and fast food locations that usually see a much larger interest during these days. The tariff and 51st state mentions will be taking its toll on America a lot sooner than they think. I reckon that European (Australians too) will decide that Canada is a much better place to be than America, as such this coming winter Aspen will dealing with a zero minutes queue time at the slopes. This means that America is looking towards a two dreadful seasons, summer and winter. We can speculate how large this becomes, but there is no real data on this and the bulk of the people will not see these results until springtime 2026. Anything earlier is loaded with inaccuracies as the data they have been training on was never captured to the degree it needed and some form of forecasting analysis (the process of using historical data, trends, and statistical methods to predict future outcomes) as it is based on achieved data and this has never happened before in America going back to the before the 80’s, as such there is no forecasting settings and it needs to be done on actual data captured now, and these results are not looking good. Even if it is a ‘mere’ 21 billion, over 8-9 states the impact is nothing short of disastrous and America was never in that great a shape anyway. This is propagated by the real time risk of two nations dumping their bonds before they have the value of toilet paper (yes, China and Japan) and even whilst Japan has the largest amount and they are hanging on, they do know that if China is pushed to dumping their bonds, Japan will be racing to get there as son as possible, merely to safe some of their value. Considering the escalations that the BBC reported on a mere 10 hours ago, there is a chance (a small one) that China will respond by dumping the US Treasury bonds they have and that is pretty much a sequential set in ending the American economy. This America Administration will not be able to recover from that and whilst the Chinese portfolio is set to US$765.4 billion, which is 20 billion than a month ago. They might be gambling that Japan tries to drop their $1.13 trillion ($1,300,000,000,000) bond, especially as their own debt is now a debt-to-GDP at 260% and the Bank of Japan already owning more than half of outstanding Japanese government bonds, as it seems (according to people with the economic knowledge and foresight) that Japan is boxed in. Should China dump their bonds they could gain America and Japan at the same time. A sight never seen before in our history. So what does this have to do with tourism? Everything. You see if America cannot pay its debts, America becomes the third world country no one wants to visit and that makes it a nasty place within months. America has around 22 million millionaires. I recon that at least 15 million will get out in time, the rest is not ‘rich’ enough and those with a jet (around 15,000 of them) will go to any country that will take them and they will move fast. The rest? That is anyones guess. It reminds me of that B-movie where the wealthy and refuge in a theme park as it is the only one with enough food and security to make it last. But that is an overly dark (and unrealistic) setting. What is a given that these people will seek a safer haven, because America won’t be one for decades to come. 

Still, the first setting is tourism and that setting is under increasing pressures. And as I personally see it, it wasn’t President Trump who set this of, it was the short sighted views (my personal take on this) of Governor Ronald Dion DeSantis who chased away $1,000,000,000 in investment settings in Florida, that was the start. We saw a whole lot of anti woke and anti LGTBQ settings making Europeans (and likely Canadians) weary of safety issues in Florida, which would have impacted both Disney, Universal and Warner Brothers. That was as I saw it the start and the tariffs merely escalated that setting. The damage would have been horrific if Warner Brothers Abu Dhabi had started their Harry Potter park expansion a year earlier, yet as it stands it is now kinda set for a late 2026 opening. And as Disney is coming there too the bad news for Florida keeps on adding to the larger picture. That and as the UAE is one of the safest places in the world, the appeal of the UAE is easily spotted. That is besides the fact that Abu Dhabi has 4 theme parts and one of the largest luxurious malls in the world (right behind the Dubai Mall). The additional setting that you can travel from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in a mere 30 minutes by train, the appeal is close to complete. The zero tax setting that the UAE offers is a mere cherry on their yummy pie.

That is what American tourism was facing all along and now with the tariff wars the escalations are debilitating whatever was left of American tourism future, because if you are willing to fly to Florida, the idea that flying to the UAE for close to the same amount would be a desiring call for any tourist that wants something new.  So if you want to dress up, you might as well try an Emirati Kandura, looking good and looking different, having that real vacation feeling that you might never have had before.

Have a great day and consider where you might want to go and where you could go, especially for those who are sick of Americans referring to Canada as the 51st state and the Europeans who are not too happy on America annexing 2.166 million km².

2 Comments

Filed under Finance, Politics, Tourism

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

May 15, 2025 · 07:08

Operation Maybe

Yup, that happens. Although for the most we adhere to the two certainties in like (death and taxes), we automatically assume that hotlines remain available. It is just an automatic response, it is almost like the setting you get from “Our house was broken into, but the dog was home?” kinda like that. So when the news came to mind all the way from London (about 180 minutes ago) ‘Pentagon hotline linked to DC airport ‘inoperable’ since 2022’ (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgdmx1g1vzo) I initially thought the someone at the BBC had dropped the ball. But no, the hearing that followed gives clear voice that the BBC was on the ball. My initial thought was that both the airport and someone (likely reduced in rank a few minutes later) at the Pentagon were both equally to blame. The setting of “A hotline supposed to connect the Pentagon with local air traffic controllers in Washington DC has been “inoperable” since 2022, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official has testified.” It pains me to see the Pentagon advertising “At any given moment in time, we are ready to serve and come to the aid of Americans all over the world as well as out allies (pending hotlines operations)” it just doesn’t have that sparkle that finish has on your glasses in the dishwasher. Now before we go into the blame game (everyones favourite game), lets be clear. If the hotline was no longer ‘essential’ and someone switched off that hotline, it would have been nice to alert the US Senate before editors got “At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, FAA officials said they only learned of the problem this month after controllers at Ronald Reagan national airport had to wave off two flights attempting to land because of a nearby US Army helicopter.” Which gives light to the fact that the airport is every bit to blame was well as the (likely) degraded person at the Pentagon.

The setting of an at alert Pentagon is seemingly a ‘nice to have’ and not an essential issue. Lets face it, we can’t have a building consisting of with about 6.5 million square feet (600,000 m2) of floor space, 3.7 million square feet (340,000 m2) of which are used as offices with almost 25,000 headless chickens running around, that just won’t do. As such there are issues with the hotline not working. 

And the excuse “Deputy air traffic control head Franklin McIntosh told senators that the hotline was operated by the defence department and that his agency had been unaware of any problems” does not hold water with me. Hotline testing is an essential task I reckon that on an airport it would be once a day, but I’ll accept that once a week might be enough. As such at least 1226 checks were failed (optionally a mere 175 checks) and that is a much bigger issue, as such the nice game blamer Franklin McIntosh might wanna hang on to his retirement for dear life. Unless it is his first month they screwed the pooch on that one and I am not saying that the Pentagon is without blame, because a hotline has (at least) two ends and they were both missed. Just imagine that the get the setting of “Oi people, al-Qaeda is at it again” only to be missed because the hotline was out. As such we get the setting of “Peter, is your brother still delivering pizza at the Pentagon? Tell him there is an issue at the airport” which could be averted by dialing (703) 692–7100 and see if someone considers an attack by (a presumptuous) Al-Qaeda important enough to press the alert button. This is what could happen. What seemingly needs to happen is that people need to be purged (I still prefer self-flagellation as a solution, as Pope Urban II was a fan of it). There is the question that it should not affect me so intensely. But we have been shown that the Pentagon could be attacked, in other settings there are a number of flights that emerge from Washington DC, many of them connected to high ranking officials at any of the given Alphabet units (not Google), might be nice that immediate assistance is at hand (usually through a hotline). I just gave a few ways how this hotline might have been essential. As such when we see “The FAA, along with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the recent near-misses.” All this in regards of a issue surrounding the 64 people aboard the American Airlines-operated plane died, as well as three crew members of Blackhawk Helicopter which had taken off from Fort Belvoir in Virginia on a training mission. At this point the setting of “In the more recent incidents earlier this month, two aircraft from Delta and Republic Airways were told by air traffic controllers to perform “go-arounds” because of an approaching Army helicopter, similar to the one that had been involved in the crash.” And at that point the Hotline was not an issue (or perhaps it was the instigator of the Senate hearing). Whatever the reason, I reckon a complete investigation (and overhaul) of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is needed and I would say that an investigation in the Pentagon hotlines is equally needed, because if this was missed, other issues are likely to be found.

But it could be as simple as the maintenance hotline that ran out of battery power and a mere 2 AA batteries are needed.

Have a great, not hotline dependent day today.

Leave a comment

Filed under IT, Media, Military, Politics

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

May 12, 2025 · 16:58

America’s shifting phase

This morning Arab News (at https://arab.news/9hjca) gave us ‘First Saudi-made THAAD system parts completed in Jeddah’ Saudi Arabia has been aiming for the need of internal national interests to have this done. We are given “Saudi Arabia has completed the first domestically manufactured components for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system launcher in Jeddah, marking a significant step forward in the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to localize its defense industry.” And as we are given “Tim Cahill, president of missiles and fire control at Lockheed Martin; Nawaf Al-Bawardi, assistant deputy of the General Authority for Military Industries; and Wasim Attieh, president of AIC.” We seemingly are all OK with this, this is not really news. Saudi Arabia was aiming for this all along. In this case the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system launcher (THAAD) was on show. But the story goes beyond that. I reckon that the FEINDEF 2025 (Spain) as from today was the second initial kick off, but there were other symptoms. There was the (DSA 2024) in Kuala Lumpur and the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX/NAVDEX) in Abu Dhabi, UAE. I personally believe that Saudi Arabia kept close eyes on the ready date of this system as it allows them to gain interest from Bangladesh, Egypt and Indonesia, they might not be ‘big league’ material, but Bangladesh and Egypt represent almost $5 billion each and Indonesia represents $11 billion. Now, they don’t spend it all in one go, but Saudi Arabia is said to get a speculated part of that and even with a mere 200 million (over all three) that becomes a massive boost for the Saudi Defence industry, even more so, it would be revenue that America and Russia loses. Gives the expression “when two dogs fight for a bone, the third runs away with it” a new side to that equation. So as Lockheed Martin is locking in their services and consultancy for close to another decade, Saudi Arabia’s first delivery system is gaining strength in the defence industry. Bangladesh being 35th, Egypt 19th and Indonesia 16th. They are giving strength to the Saudi Defence industry. So as I saw that market evolve in February 10th 2022 in my story ‘Oh darn, I am missing out’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/02/10/oh-darn-i-am-missing-out/) with those decrepit tea grannies, it took Saudi Arabia a mere 3 years to evolve their own market. They now have their own industry. So cry “stop arming Saudi Arabia” all you like, the only thing they’d hurt was the British defence industry. And as I see it, they are about to do a lot more than hurt ‘the British business’, they are gaining political power by giving the Arabian nations and Asian nations their own voice, not hindered by America, Russian or British political powers. Now they (meaning Saudi Arabia) become the global political power player.

As I see that, I am reminded of the old setting that my granny complained about the essential need of the young to rely their technology, so I switched off her life support. How’s that for fun?

The world is getting smaller and the reach of every nation is increasing and now we see clear settings (not through alleged sport washing) that Saudi Arabia is becoming the larger power in the global arena. In the 2025 edition of “The Military Balance” from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is currently on the 7th place, yet if this takes off Saudi Arabia will be in a position to become 5th, optionally 4th and their defence industry will be making a profit as the Arabian nation will see that Saudi Arabia is the ‘friend’ to hold in esteem, as that starts happening Pakistan might also change vendor it is at present a mere $10 billion, but as it is only 12% of India, it might see reason to switch if Saudi Arabia is willing to talk shop and that is another slice of pie that will not end in America’s or England’s budget. As I personally see it a start has been made for Saudi Arabia to become less dependent on their oil industry. Starting ‘small’ is a beginning, so as Saudi Arabia creates more options. I reckon that they would likely evolve their drone industry next, Saudi Arabia is becoming a much larger industry. Only 5 years ago we would have seen an industry with America, Russia, China and the United Kingdom as players. Now even at 5th place, Saudi Arabia becomes the new player in town and that sets a new premise for global economies. Russia and America never had to share that revenue pie and I guess they will have to content with less as per 2026 onwards. 

A nice setting for Saudi Arabia who is likely to seek more revenue from Pakistan as it is outmatched to India at 2:1 in the best settings they can hope for and that allows for larger business benefits for Saudi Arabia. We tend to forget that war is business and their business is war. A little outdated setting, but we forget that it isn’t ugly to some, it is a payday. An essential need for any nation is to defend itself from enemies hostilities and that setting is over 2000 years old. It was given to us by Julius Caesar (that Italian dude). He did so in Commentarii de Bello Gallico at 50BC.

I reckon that the Saudi defence industry will be more than a simple blip by the time we get to 2027, still three years ahead of the schedule we saw 5 years ago. 

And as I personally see it, these tea grannies (CAAT) are still drinking tea, but the option for a biccie with that tea will soon be done for, because the revenue you hurt also impacts what you can have and they vied for less, so they will have less. I take my learning from someplace else. America decided to hurt Huawei as they were a threat, now we have HarmonyOS entering version 5.0, and Reuters gave us last November that ‘Huawei wants 100,000 apps on Harmony OS within a year’, and set that against Alphabet (Google) had announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its global workforce In January 2023, Amazon laying off 14,000 people in name of efficiency? (Source: MSN) and in 2023 Microsoft laid off approximately 10 000 employees followed by an additional 4 000 roles being cut in 2024. So with these big three ‘decimated’, who will counter Huawei? As I see it no one and now Huawei will have another industry to set foot in. Because all these Saudi systems require automation (as well as other options) as such HarmonyOS will be seen almost everywhere and that is only the beginning. Those who push to limit others, merely limit themselves and we have plenty of evidence there.

As I see it the shifting space of America is seeing that they never wanted other to be in certain places. This sounded like an idea in the 80’s when America was a global power, but they no longer are. They are mere steps away from becoming a third world country. You cannot remain a 3.4% military spending of GDP whilst being seen as a 37% of global spending. A 997 Billion invoice where in the fiscal year 2024, the U.S. federal government collected $4.92 trillion, not whilst you have $36.21 trillion in federal debt (and they cannot pass a budget either), it just cannot be done. As such the America setting will implode all whist their tech is set to impossible markers. 

As we consider this and we consider that the Russian stage merely sounds better (whilst it isn’t) there is every possibility that be 2027/2028 Saudi Arabia could become 4th or 3rd as a defence industry by that time. The idea that Saudi Arabia surpasses or equals America in three years is making me giggle. How the mighty fall, so how’s that for looking great, President Trump? It started on your watch in 2020 and almost a decade later you become allegedly surpassed by Saudi Arabia by 2027, a nice footnote in your memories and I reckon you will blame everyone but yourself in that writing. I am curious what the World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center will give us. I reckon that Saudi Arabia will have a few nice surprises in that show. I am willing to bet that Huawei will have a stand there to in showing us what the Internet of things driven by HarmonyOS will give the world.  I reckon you need to reserve tickets for the event  on February 8-12, 2026 now. As I see it the first day will be for the larger customers, so February 8th has been sold out to preferred customers. So, when will you optionally go? 

I won’t be invited, so let me know how the snacks were, they tend to be magnificent at these events. Now I’m hungry, time for some peppered crackers. Have a great day.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, IT, Media, Military, Politics

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

May 9, 2025 · 04:58

Seek it in the dark

Yup, that is coming to your favourite room in your very own house at some point in time in the nearby future. It isn’t that it was a secret, but today I saw a reminder of what is about to happen on a near global scale and as summer is coming to the northern hemisphere, I reckon that life there might become a bit of a challenge. The news was given to me by CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/small-modular-reactor-nuclear-power-ontario-construction-1.7529338) where we see ‘Ontario set to begin construction of Canada’s 1st mini nuclear power plant’ and I actually didn’t consider Canada in my first assessment as the focal point in 2022 was America and the UAE. It was in my story ‘It was never rocket science’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2022/06/27/it-was-never-rocket-science/) where I re-iterated stories I gave in 2021 that America would be having an energy crises all by itself. At that point it was the BBC who gave us ‘Japan urges 37 million people to switch off lights’, which was a little bit of a shock in Japan. They never considered that energy has a finite point? I saw this escalation coming to places like Austin (Texas), Paris, London, New York and a few other places. I came up with a general solution for places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but the setting was clear. Action was required and I saw it in 2022. Now we get CBC telling us “It would be the first of four such reactors that OPG aims to build on the site, at a total project cost of $20.9 billion, in an effort to meet what’s forecast to be a steep rise in demand for electricity in the province”, as well as ““As it stands today, we just don’t have the supply to meet that demand,” Lecce said” according to Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s minister of energy and mines that point is coming for Canada. On the upside, Canada only has 40 million people. As such the drain might not be as severe as America has, but Canada is doing something about it, which pretty much means that America better start being nice to Canada (as well as take the 51st State BS out of their vocabulary) As I see it, if the power consumption rises a little too fast, there is little for Ontario to do but switch off the 24% delivery to Michigan, New York, and Minnesota. I don’t think New York needs that power, do they? Wasn’t it President Trump who told the world “We don’t do much business with Canada”, well, as I see it, they didn’t need Canadian energy, as such Canada can scrap the deliveries of energy. And as Elon Musk has what the world needs (something I stated before) and it will make e-Musk (little giggle) and that will make Elon one the first trillionaires on this world. He can start making cash (by the boatload). And as places like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and a few other places have larger wallets and a dire need for the solutions America gets to be number three (optionally number two as Saudi Arabia might not need it immediately) in a few places right of the bat.

So, the question for you all becomes. If I saw this in 2021/2022 why didn’t the rest of the world (read: America) see this? I set it out decently detailed, so it wasn’t rocket science to begin with and now that Canada is moving seemingly ahead of schedule, why haven’t other places locked on the problem? Merely to say “it was a complex situation and we are looking into the problem and see where notifications fell short”? If a data-man (like me) can see this evolve years ahead of schedule with an abacus, why can’t those boffins do that with super computers and AI (little teaser, AI doesn’t exist at this time). 

In America KUT News gave its audience “On anniversary of Texas blackouts, ERCOT forecasts potential energy shortages in coming years”, which is fun as I said that years ahead of schedule and Austin successfully luring business to Austin (mainly from California) should have been ready already. So when solutions are implemented way too late it is the new policy to be able to find your desk in the dark, and work with pen and paper as desktops will also require power that isn’t there. And I get to gloat because it is just another instance where I warned people years in advance. I never warned Canada as I never saw it as an immediate hindrance and as I saw this morning Canada was ahead of the flock and ready to implement a solution. 

So, when will the others wake up? In particular Mayor Eric L. Adams of New York as they require a  jug of power from Ontario. As such they should have been looking at this and optionally being really nice to Elon Musk for the simple need of a discount.

What a way to get to Friday Breakfast early, have a great day everyone.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Science

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

May 8, 2025 · 10:11

In memoriam

I saw the stage unfold and I am still seeing the downfall of Florida, but the UAE just added the cherry flavored candy coating to that obituary. This was always going to happen, but two elements added to this evolutionary accelerated game. First there was Governor DeSantis who (seemingly) anti-Woke decided to give Disney a run for its money in all kinds of anti settings. I do not know all the details, but they are there. As such there was a diminished setting for tourism setting the destination to Florida. No matter how great the Epic Universe looks (and it looks beyond amazing for what I can see on YouTube), the stage was set. Then we get this whatever he calls himself in the White House playing the tariff game and impeding tourism in America (as I personally see it) and the busk of all Canadian are looking for another destination (plenty of Europeans too), so that is stage 1. The diminished interest in Florida, and even if you think that is not enough (and it isn’t), the UAE and Disney create a bond which will get Disney World to Abu Dhabi on (you guessed it) Yas Island. It will be sitting next to Warner Brothers World, Ferrari World, Water World and Sea World. When Disney opens its doors the setting of Stage 2 is achieved. 

Universal and Disney which was able to keep tourism in Florida will be setting a larger exodus of Tourism towards the UAE. It makes sense that Disney wanted to get in on the Emirati business, it they had not gotten there, others would have. So the business setting was clear and I saw this evolve over a year ago (minus the Disney part). 

I even set that stage in the article (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/01/25/those-happy-dreams/) where I wrote ‘Those happy dreams’ at that point I saw that tourism would be a larger setting and the service call to that pool of people had to be serviced differently. An overhaul of tourist serviceability through a customer care setting, in stead of a sales setting (which had been the focal point of many). With Saudi Arabia and its NEOM settings and now an even larger setting in Abu Dhabi warrants that change. I reckon that this might be a call upon Miral Experiences LLC to evolve their systems and make an Arabic solution which could also be deployed all over Saudi Arabia, an (optionally) c connected system that gives the tourist 110% of what others give them without impeding their own costs, optionally dwindling down some costs and making a system more efficient towards the tourist industry. When that is achieved other locations would follow. 

So now only will Florida not survive the outcome of all this, but it will evolve the settings for the UAE immensely. As such we could even see additional growth. And with the bullet train going from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, this high-speed train will enable individuals to travel in just 30 minutes, reaching speeds of up to 350 km/h. My sneaky brain even came up with a second train that leaves at 07:00 from Dubai, getting them ready to party in Abu Dhabi. The NM95 (painted in the Hogwarts Express colors) with NM meaning Non-Muggle and 95 being the square of 9 3/4 (ok, I did a little rounding, but 95.0625 might be a little weird on a train). So when these people depart from Dubai, in a Harry Potter (or fantastic beasts) themed train, the vacation merely goes with them on a journey. A setting where people take one week in Abu Dhabi and the second week in Dubai, with the non-tax setting of the UAE, a family buying iPhones for mum, dad and junior, the savings there pretty much enables that trip. I reckon that the UAE will be cleaning house in American tourism for years. And the stage that the BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrgr2zzv00o) ‘Disney to open theme park in the Middle East’ a mere 8 hours ago will have hidden treasures for the UAE as a whole. Disney might still be grabbing their 30%, but the larger cake with be for Miral Experiences LLC and the UAE. And with the quote “It added that 120 million passengers travel through Abu Dhabi and Dubai every year, making the Emirates the biggest global airline hub in the world.” I reckon that it will grow much closer to 150,000,000 soon thereafter. 

You see, with the Harry Potter world added to Warner Brothers (somewhere in 2026) and Disney coming after that, I reckon that anyone who faced fears over the Tumpisms of tariffs and other shenanigans will see Yas Islands with its amazing mall, and theme parks and on 4-7 Dec 2025 the Formula one as well, Abu Dhabi will be the place to be starting this year. So if they evolve tourism services in the UAE, Florida is pretty much done for, as such I see a speculated ‘In Memoriam’ appear in global newspaper in the near future. And I (yet again) got here a year early. I’ll be honest, I never knew that Disney was on route, but it made sense that they would come this way. And I reckon that there is another setting. You see, the amount of power required for Yas Island might in the nearest of futures require its own small nuclear powered reactor soon enough. Abu Dhabi (as I personally see it) already required it, but a Disney resort might make that a essential thing. It would probably fuel Abu Dhabi and Dubai, so something half way makes sense.

I reckon that the spaciousness of Abu Dhabi and Yas Island would fuel the need for growing the mall as well as place 1-2 hotels in that mall as well. 

A simple setting that President Trump overlooked when he started to play the tariff war. Now that the world has had enough of it, they are seeking another destination, the world sees a large neon sign stating “نحن هنا” (I’ll let you figure that one out). A setting comes an essential solution to a lot of tourists and the UAE is almost ready to provide. With the tax breaks that the UAE offers (Apple now has a new destination for its superiorly build iPhones), tourism in Dubai will fuel Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi will fuel the need to see Dubai. Both profiting and people get a new stage that they haven’t seen before. As I see it all winners. OK, America will sulk like a little girl but they basically put this on themselves.

Have a great day muggles, try the liquorices wands if you can, if not, there is always coffee.

Leave a comment

Filed under Finance, Media, Politics, Tourism

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

May 5, 2025 · 06:55

The Dutch gene

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leave a comment

Filed under Media, Politics

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

April 22, 2025 · 19:25

No Uber to the rescue

That is the setting that CBC gave me today and it angers me. For the most any situation that sets danger to children angers me. I reckon that is within all of us. Our first care is to a child, any child and that takes precedence over almost anything else.

The CBC (at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/uber-drives-off-with-child-1.7513379) is giving us ‘An Uber drove away with her kid. Then Uber wouldn’t connect her or police with the driver’ with the subtext “Uber representatives refused to help them or Toronto police contact the driver” a blatant setting that optionally will endanger a child. Lets be clear, there could be a setting that a person is not to be connected to a driver, but the police? The Toronto metropolitan police force towards the protection of a child? As I personally see it, all Uber activities will stop immediately until this setting is resolved. No matter what the impact is, to optionally endanger a child is something you don’t get back from.

So when we get “An officer called Uber to get contact information for the driver but Julia says a representative for the ride-sharing company refused to provide it — stating the police needed to fill out a form” your blood should be boiling, as did mine. So, I do get part of this, still the operator could have contacted the driver and take it from there. The driver could then have called, the operator could have logged the event and within 1-2 minutes there would have been clarity. Now, the child was left in danger, as such I have no value for the statement “Toronto police found her child about an hour and a half later, without the company’s help” or the ‘official’ excuse “An Uber spokesperson said in a statement the safety of everyone who uses the platform is the company’s top priority”, well that setting is a downright lie, because the setting of the operator calling was seemingly overlooked. And the setting that a child was without her mothers care for 90 minutes should wake up every mother in Canada ignoring Uber as a solution for them for some time (or ever again), the latter setting is not to be ignored. Especially against “We immediately began reviewing the details of this incident internally to identify opportunities to improve our processes and support systems.” In under a minute I found a solution that ANY call centre operator could have considered in seconds. But it was to no avail, Uber fell short everywhere (Überall in German) and it goes from bad to worse from there. You see the setting of “The company says its support team followed Uber’s standard protocols, which are designed to protect the privacy and safety of all users” is a debatable one, I reckon that Uber set that setting to protect themselves and optionally illegals that might get some cash by becoming an Uber driver. You see, in villages like New York they have the setting “Under New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law, ride-share companies such as Uber and Lyft are regulated as “transportation network companies” (“TNC”). To become a TNC driver, a worker must be at least nineteen years old and hold a valid New York State driver’s license issued by the DMV.” I reckon that this rule applies in many American cities, as such, as Uber needs drivers, they need to get space to keep their illegals ‘somewhat’ safe. And this setting with the child, a freak, one in a million events got in the way from what I personally see, the ‘protection’ of illegals. Now it is fair to say that I am wrong, but consider the simplicity of a call centre operator contacting the driver, optionally handing the data to a police officer against the escalation that the CBC is handing us implies that my version is likely correct. Just the setting that Uber refuses to aid the police department to resolve this situation gives it a much nastier turn and as such there is a larger setting that actions against Uber becomes essential, if only to guarantee that children get a much better safety net under this unsafe premise. And for those who state that I am wrong. Consider the following scenario. The child fell asleep, the mother was moving the three children and when she returns the cab is gone. So far, so good. Now the taxi driver rides off, hits a bump or pit in the road, as mother is no longer there, the child is thrown in the cab optionally causing damage to neck or other body part. This could have been not noticed (because mother is gone) and she falls out of sight and the taxi driver might be unaware. This is a possible setting and calling the driver could have stopped this from happening within minutes, and the child was ‘found’’ 90 minutes later, so for over an hour she remained in optional danger. 

As we get the last insult with “Julia’s boyfriend later received a $10 credit from Uber, which she considers “a massive slap in the face.””, as I see it, make Uber not an option for 10 months in Canada, a dollar a day so to say.

Yes, I am going for the larger danger, but as I see it, there is a clear need for this. In this I also oppose the setting that Carmi Levy, a technology analyst give with “traditional elements of customer service have been lost in today’s gig economy”, I oppose it, because as I see it the proper setting that seems to apply is “traditional elements of customer service have been lost in today’s gig economy for the larger need of profit, margins of profit and the pleasing of shares and stake holders” Yes, you forgot that, didn’t you? Uber works for profit slashing as many of the margins that they can to remain profitable and the funny part is that the phone call of the operator to the driver would not have impacted it. 

I will let you decide what the proper form of action is, consider that Uber gives us “Whether you’re in the back seat or behind the wheel, your safety is essential. We are committed to doing our part, and technology is at the heart of our approach. We partner with safety advocates and develop new technologies and systems to help improve safety and help make it easier for everyone to get around”, yet the website give us no information on where they are. So where do Canadians send their complaint letter to? For that matter, the line “technology is at the heart of our approach”, really? So is a phone call to the driver not technology? As such technology is not in any heart of approach and as I see it, a clear reason to block Uber from operating In Canada (optionally for 10 months), how does that go over with the share and stake holders?

Just a small merry thought, so you all have a lovely day and if you are Canadian consider City Taxi Toronto, 130 Westmore Drive, Suite 219, Toronto (reachable at (416) 740-2222)and keep yourself and your children safe, a random taxi service in Toronto was chosen. I personally do not know how good they are, but as I see it, optionally better than Uber.

Leave a comment

Filed under Law, Media

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