Tag Archives: UAE

June 17, 2025 · 22:10

SYSMIS(plenty)

Yes, this is sort of a hidden setting, but if you know the program you will be ahead of the rest (for now). Less then an hour ago I saw a picture with Larry Ellison (must be an intelligent person as we have the same first two letters in our first name). But the story is not really that, perhaps it is, but i’ll get to that later.

I will agree with the generic setting that most of the most valuable data will be seen in Oracle. It is the second part I have an issue with (even though it sounds correct), yes AI demands is skyrocketing. But as I personally see it AI does not exist. There is Generic AI, there are AI agents and there are a dozen settings under the sun advocating a non existing realm of existence. I am not going into this, as I have done that several times before. You see, what is called AI is as I see it mere NIP (Near Intelligent Parsing) and that does need a little explaining. 

You see, like the old chess computers (90’s) they weren’t intelligent, they merely had in memory every chess game ever played above a certain level. And all these moves were in these computers. As such there was every chance that the chess computer came into a setting where that board was encountered before and as such it tried to play from that point onwards. It is a little more advanced than that, but that was the setting we faced. And would you have it, some greed driven salesperson will push the boundary towards that setting where he (or she) will claim that the data you have will result in better sales. But (a massive ‘but’ comes along) that is assuming all data is there and mostly that is never the case. So if we see the next image

You see that some cells are red, there we have no data and data that isn’t there cannot be created (sort of). In Market Research it is called System Missing data. They know what to do in those case, but the bulk of all the people trying to run and hide behind there data will be in the knowing nothing pool of people. And this data set has a few hidden issues. Response 6 and 7 are missing. So were they never there? Is there another reason? All things that these AI systems are unaware of and until they are taught what to do your data will create a mess you never saw before. Sales people (for the most) do not see it that way, because they were sold an AI system. Yet until someone teaches them what to do they aren’t anything of the sort and even after they are taught there are still gaps in their knowledge because these systems will not assume until told so. They will not even know what to do when it goes wring until someone tells them that and the salespeople using these systems will revert to ‘easy’ fixes, which are not fixes at all, they merely see the larger setting that becomes less and less accurate in record time. They will rely on predictive analytics, but that solution can only work with data that is there and when there is no data, there is merely no data to rely on. And that is the trap I foresaw in the case of [a censored software company] and the UAE and oil. There is too much unknowns and I reckon that the oil industry will have a lot more data and bigger data, but with human elements in play, we will see missing data. And the better the data is, the more accurate the results. But as I saw it, errors start creeping in and more and more inaccuracies are set to the predictive data set and that is where the problems start. It is not speculative, it is a dead certainty. This will happen. No matter how good you are, these systems are build too fast with too little training and too little error seeking. This will go wrong. Still Larry is right “Most Of The World’s Valuable Data Is in some system”

The problem is that no dataset is 100% complete, it never was and that is the miscalculations to CEO’s of tomorrow are making. And the assumption mode of the sales person selling and the sales person buying are in a dwindling setting as they are all on the AI mountain whilst there is every chance that several people will use AI as a gimmick sale and they don’t have a clue what they are buying, all whilst these people sign a ‘as is’ software solution. So when this comes to blows, the impact will be massive. We recently saw Microsoft standing behind builder.ai and it went broke. It seems that no one saw the 700 engineers programming it all (in this case I am not blaming Microsoft) but it leaves me with questions. And the setting of “Stargate is a $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and investment firm MGX to build a massive AI infrastructure in the United States. The project, announced by Donald Trump, aims to establish the US as a leader in AI by constructing large-scale data centers and advancing AI research. Initial construction is underway in Texas, with plans for 20 data centers, each 500,000 square feet, within the next five years” leaves me with more questions. I do not doubt that OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle all have the best intentions. But I have two questions on this. The first is how to align and verify the data, because that will be an adamant and also a essential step in this. Then we get to the larger setting that the dat needs to align within itself. Are all the phrases exact? I don’t know this is why I ask and before you say that it makes sense that they do but reality gives us ‘SQUARE-WINDOWED AIRPLANES’ 1954 when two planes broke apart in mid-flight because metal fatigue was causing small cracks to form at the edges of the windows, and the pressurized cabins exploded. Then we have the ‘MARS ORBITER’ where two sets of engineers, one working in metric and the other working in the U.S. imperial system, failed to communicate at crucial moments in constructing the $125 million spacecraft. We tend to learn when we stumble that is a given, so what happens when issues are found in the 11th hour in a 500 billion dollar setting? It is not unheard of and as I saw one particular speculative setting. How is this powered? A system on 500,000 square feet needs power and 20 of them a hell of a lot more. So how many nuclear reactors are planned? I actually have an interesting idea (keeping this to me for now). But any computer that leaks power will go down immediately and all those training time is lost. How often does that need to happen for it to go wrong? You can train and test systems individually but 20 data centers need power, even one needs power and how certain is that power grid? I actually saw nothing of that in any literature (might be that only a few have seen that), but the drastic setting from sales people tends to be, lets put in more power. But where from? Power is finite until created in advance and that is something I haven’t seen. And then the time setting ‘within the next 5 years’ As I see it, this is a disaster waiting to happen. And as this starts in Texas, we have the quote “According to Texas native, Co-Founder and CFO of Atma Energy, Jaro Nummikoski, one of the main reasons Texas struggles with chronic power outages is the way our grid was originally designed—centralized power plants feeding energy over long distances through aging infrastructure.” Now I am certain that the power-grid of a data centre will be top notch, but where does that power come from? And 500,000 sqft needs a lot of power, I honestly do not know how much One source gave me “The facilities need at least 50 Megawatts (MW) of power supply, but some installations surpass this capacity. The energy requirements of the project will increase to 15 Gigawatts (GW) because of the ten data centers currently under construction, which equals the electricity usage of a small nation.” As such the call for a nuclear reactor comes to mind, yet the call for 15 GW is insane, and no reactor at present exists to handle that. 50MW per data center implies that where there is a data centre a reactor will be needed (OK, this is an exaggeration) but where there are more than one (up to 4) a reactor will be needed. So who was aware of this? I reckon that the first centre in Texas will get a reactor as Texas has plenty of power shortages and the increase in people and systems warrant such a move. But as far as I know those things will require a little more than 5 years and depending on the provider there are different timelines. As such I have reasons to doubt the 5 year setting (even more when we consider data). 

As such I wonder when the media will actually look at the settings and what will be achievable as well as being implemented and that is before we get to the training of data of these capers. As I personally (and speculatively) see it, will these data centers come with a warning light telling us SYSMIS(plenty), or a ‘too many holes in data error’ just a thought to have this Tuesday. 

Have a great day and when your chest glows in the dark you might be close to one of those nuclear reactors. 

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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). 

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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.

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June 2, 2025 · 16:59

The obvious under attack

I have my own views on settings. In the first I am certain that Hamas needs to be eradicated. It is not for Israel, although they benefit massively. It is the fact that Hamas is the nameless animal that Iran uses to inflict pressured on parts of The Arabian peninsula that do not go their way. And I see that certain Hamas leaders are getting funds from other parties as well. In short, they will attack Saudi Arabia and the UAE at some point as they gain more and more certainty in the world. This does not sit well with Iran. I voiced their eradication as they are likely have ‘tools’ to influence the structural integrity of several parts of NEOM. It won’t be big, just a concrete ‘anomaly’ but one that will cost the KSA millions to fix and it will make them look bad. That is my personal believe and it might or might not happen. But as I see it, under Qasem Soleimani it would have definitely happened. Yet now, Israel is shooting themselves in the foot by setting the premise (according to Al Jazeera, at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/1/saudi-arabia-calls-israel-barring-arab-ministers-west-bank-trip-extremism) ‘Saudi Arabia calls Israel barring Arab ministers West Bank trip ‘extremism’’ It leaves me with several questions. So according to the byline we are given “Foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE had planned the visit to discuss Palestinian statehood and end to war on Gaza.” As we take a look at the second article giving us (at https://arab.news/bm5bm) ‘Arab ministers denounce Israeli ‘arrogance’ over blocking West Bank visit’ where we are given “Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Israeli government’s refusal to allow Arab ministers to the occupied West Bank showed its “extremism and rejection of peace.” His statements came during a joint press conference with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain in Amman.” The question I have is why Israel is involved, they could enter the West Bank from Jordan. The ‘legalized’ setting is that “As of June 2024, 146 (75.6%) of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised the State of Palestine within the Palestinian territories, which are recognized by Israel to constitute a single territorial unit, and of which the West Bank is the core of the would-be state.” I actually get that Israel has to be involved, but this setting shows that there is a much larger stage where Israel is getting kicked around and the has to stop and Hamas made this impossible with their hostage situation. Even as they should not be part of this, the shouts of ‘Palestine should be free’ by radicals who have no idea what is happening and this is where they can rely on a million plus anti-Semites, and as their troops are dwindling, they use whatever they can. As such I see that there are issues, but Israels setting to block this visit isn’t helping anyone, not even the state of Israel (as I personally see it). 

Yet the larger setting was opened in 2002 where we were given “However, the “Road Map” states that in the first phase, Palestinians must end all attacks on Israel, whereas Israel must dismantle all outposts.” I personally see that the attacks need to end is essential, the dismantling of the outposts is not. I get that Israel needs to keep its outposts (on Israeli soil), so why is this so hard? They should have seen that 23 years could have been much more constructive if these two parts were kept in the first place. As I see it, in the last 20 years several Americans had ‘their’ view on matters, solving nothing. So why not give this Arabian party of ministers a try in getting things resolved? If Hamas strikes now, they will be building their own coffin and their end is pretty much assured. The second setting is that there are two areas, Area A and B. They are themselves divided among 227 separate areas (199 of which are smaller than 2 km2), this is almost insane. At some point someone needs to back off (implying that this is Israel). These 199 areas makes for an impossible setting and simplifying that might be a first step in resolving issues. So when we see that 11 governorates used as administrative divisions by the Palestinian National Authority, Israel, and the IDF and named after major cities. This setting is shouting ‘disaster is imminent’ and if I get called that I am dead wrong. I will agree, I know too little of this setting to call this, but at times a fresh set of eyes are needed (I am not claiming that I am that view), but I am willing to bet that Egypt (Badr Abdelatty), Jordan (Ayman Safadi), Qatar (Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani), Saudi Arabia (Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud), and the UAE (Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed), they might see solutions that break through some concepts and if it gives the area peace, why block it? 

I personally think that Israel made a bad call in this instance, but then, what do I know?

Have a great Monday, time for me to hit the pasta preparation shelf.

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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.

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May 28, 2025 · 02:15

The call for investors

That is at present the larger setting, everyone wants investors and they all tend to promise the calf with golden horns. As I see it, investing in gold mining, Oil mining and a few others are near dead certain return on investments. The larger group that will seemingly want to invest in AI, the new hype word. Still, considering that Builder.ai went from a billion plus to zilch is a nice example what  Microsoft backed solutions tend to give. You see, the larger picture that everyone is ignoring is that it was baked by Microsoft. Now, this might be OK, because Microsoft is a tech company. But consider that Builder.ai (previous known as Engineer.ai) was supposed to be all ‘good’, yet the media now reports ‘Builder.ai Collapsed After Finding Sales ‘Inflated By 300 Percent’’ This leads me to believe that there was  larger problem with this DML/LLM solution. Another source gives us ‘Builder.ai’s Collapse Exposes Deceptive AI Claims, Shocking Major Investors’ and another source gives us ‘Builder.ai collapse exposes dangers of ‘FOMO investing’ in AI’ yet that is nothing compared to what I said on November 16th 2024 in ‘Is it a public service’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/11/16/is-it-a-public-service/) where I stated ““a US strategy to prevent a Chinese military tech grab in the Gulf region” and it is my insight that this is a clicking clock. One tick, one tock leading to one mishap and Microsoft pretty much gives the store to China. And with that Aramco laughingly watches from the sidelines. There is no if in question. This becomes a mere shifting timeline and with every day that timeline becomes a lot more worrying.” With the added “But several sources state “There are several reasons why General AI is not yet a reality. However, there are various theories as to what why: The required processing power doesn’t exist yet. As soon as we have more powerful machines (or quantum computing), our current algorithms will help us create a General AI” or to some extent. Marketing the spin of AI does not make it so.” You see, the entire DML/LLM is not AI, as we can see from the builder.ai setting (a little presumptuous) of me, but the setting that we get inflated sales and then the Register ended their article with “The fact that it wasn’t able to convince enough customers to pay it enough money to stay solvent should give pause to those who see generative AI as a replacement for junior developers. As the experience of the unfortunate Microsoft staffers having to deal with the GitHub Copilot Agent shows, the technology still has some way to go. One day it might surpass a mediocre intern able to work a search engine, but that day is not today.” Is perhaps merely part of the problem the “the technology still has some way to go” is astute and to the point, but it is not the larger problem. It reminded me of the old market research setting, take a bucket of data and let MANOVA sort it out. The idea that a layman can sort it out is hilarious. I have met over the last half a century less than a dozen people who know that they were doing. These people are extremely rare. So whenever I hear a student tell me that they had a good solution with MANOVA, my eyes were tearing with howls of deriving laughter. And now we see a similar setting. But the larger setting is not merely the coded setting of DML and LLM. It is the stage where data is either not verified or verified in the most shallow of situations. And now consider that stage with a 500 billion solution. Data is everything there and verification is one part of that key, a key too many are seeing aside because it is not sexy enough. 

And now we get to the investors who are in “Fear Of Missing Out”, for them I have a consolation price. You see, RigZone gave me (at https://www.rigzone.com/news/adnoc_suppliers_pledge_817mm_investment_for_uae_manufacturing-27-may-2025-180646-article/) hours ago ‘ADNOC Suppliers Pledge $817MM Investment for UAE Manufacturing’, and as I see it Oil is a near certainty of achieving ROI, and as everyone is chasing the AI dream (which of course does not exist yet) those greedy hungry money people are looking away from the certainty piggybank (as I personally see it) and that kind of investment for manufacturing will bring products, sellable products and in the petrochemical industry that is like butter with the fish. A near certainty on investment. I prefer the expression ‘near certainty’ as there is always some risk, yet as I see it, ARAMCO and ADNOC are setting the bar of achievement high enough to get that done and as I see it “ADNOC said the facilities are situated throughout the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD), Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD), Dubai Industrial Park, Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (SAIF Zone), and Umm Al Quwain. They will generate over 3,500 high-skilled jobs in the private sector and produce a diverse array of industrial goods such as pressure vessels, pipe coatings, and fasteners.” As such the only danger is that ADNOC will not be able to fill the positions and that is at present the easiest score to settle. 

So as we see the call for investors coming from the sound of a dozen bugles, remember that the old premise that getting the call from a setting that works beats the golden horns that some promise and the investors will need another setting (or so I figure). And in the end, the larger question is why builder.ai was backed inn the first place. Microsoft has a setting with OpenAI and as one source gives me “Microsoft and OpenAI have a significant partnership, where Microsoft is a major investor and supports OpenAI’s advancements, and OpenAI provides access to powerful language models through Microsoft’s Azure platform. This partnership enables Azure OpenAI Service, which provides access to OpenAI’s models for businesses, and it also includes a revenue-sharing agreement.” I cannot vouch for the source, but the idea is when this is going on, why go to it with builder.ai? And was builder.ai vetted? The entire setting is raising more questions than I normally would have (sellers have their own agenda and including Microsoft in this is ‘to them’ a normal setting) I do not oppose that, but when we see this interaction, I wonder how dangerous that Stargate will be and $500,000,000,000 ain’t hay. 

And going back to ADNOC we see “ADNOC’s commercial agreements under the In-Country Value (ICV) program have enabled facilities that allow businesses to benefit from diverse commercial opportunities, the company said. The ICV program aims to manufacture AED90 billion ($24.5 billion) worth of products locally in its procurement pipeline by 2030.” More impressive is the quote “ADNOC’s ICV program has contributed AED242 billion ($65.8 million) to the UAE economy and created 17,000 jobs for UAE nationals since 2018, according to the company.” You see, such a move makes sense as the UAE produces 3.22 million barrels per day, that has been achieved from 2024 onward and some say that they exceeded their quota (by how much is unknown to me). But that makes sense as an investment, the entire fictive AI setting does not and ever since the builder.ai setting it makes a lot less sense, if not for the simple reason that no one can clearly state where that billion plus went, oh and how many investments collapsed and who were those investors. Simple questions really.

Have a great day and try not to chase too many Edsel’s with your investment portfolio.

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May 21, 2025 · 19:28

What’s in a brand?

That is at times the question. Most of the world was to sink their claws into Saudi Arabia and we see all kinds of settings, some speculative, some going for the worst. The truth is that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on the rise. Not merely because they are doing well (they really are), but the massive secondary reason is that they are a no-debt zone, just as the UAE is. So as we se that America is $46 trillion in debt, the EU has a debt of 14 trillion euro and Japan has a $9 trillion debt. Yet as the Telegraph a mere three hours ago gave us all ‘‘Worse than Greece’: The debt crisis threatening to blow up the global economy’ (at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/21/trump-sparked-debt-crisis-could-blow-up-global-economy/) the truth is (speculative) that I personal believe that America is in a worse state, even as the America administration is in denial and the media is massively avoiding reporting on it. I personally think that the network of Stake holders is con spiritually involved as well. As I see it (based on the work of Cathryn van Kessel) that ‘(Con)spirituality as a curriculum of immortality’ is set to “If we are listening to marketing hype, it seems that—with enough money—we can live longer, healthier lives. These products, however, are often no more than consumerist swindling steeped in pseudo-science and pseudo-spirituality. When viewed through the lens of terror management theory (TMT), mitigating the harms of (con)spiritual grifts is more than a problem of a lack of scientific literacy, anti-consumer education, and media literacy.” My personal view is set to the premise of “mitigating the harms of (con)spiritual grifts is more than a problem of a lack of scientific literacy, anti-consumer education, and media literacy, it is a (sort of) given setting that the stakeholders are dwindling the settings of parameters and changing the premise of given values, creating confusing hype settings” This is merely a personal view, but it seemingly fits the patterns we see, or tend to recognise.

So as such we see “Because the assets that the country holds are still far more valuable than the debts. All the land, mineral rights, water, etc.” and this shows the pressures to add Greenland and Canada to America, as such they wouldn’t be considered bankrupt. Another version is “Because debt payments are still manageable” but here time is running out, as such the Trump administration is playing the bully card on Canada and Greenland. But here the dance becomes a problem as Canada is not giving in as it is part of the Commonwealth. And that is why Keir Starmer as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is being catered to by the EU as the WU is in a similar predicament and the UK ‘re-joining’ the EU, the EU ends up with a credit card that gets renewed value. But the larger truth is that time for these three are running out and as such they are courtesan themselves to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And now we see the larger setting that the article ‘Saudi brands reach $116.8 billion in value fueled by energy, banking, and telecoms sectors’ (at https://brandfinance.com/press-releases/saudi-brands-reach-116-8-billion-in-value-fuelled-by-energy-banking-and-telecoms-sectors) gives us, and the values we see are “STC (brand value up 16% to USD16.1 billion)”, it is number two. Number one is Aramco (of course) and that is oil and I didn’t want to ‘taint’ the setting. After that we get “Almarai (brand value up 20% to USD4.7 billion)” but the third one is the kicker “Saudia (brand value up 34% to USD1.1 billion)” and here is the setting of three out of the ten that these are brands that have a 16%, 20% and 34% growth, totally unheard of in western settings and as such everyone wants in. Wall Street pretty much demand these new settings, but this is not on Wall Street, as such several brands (including me) are pretty desperate to get in. And I have made a few unsuccessful moves and I will totally try to do so again and again. I told a previous boss a few years ago that they had to get there now, now the going is good. But alas, it fell on deaf ears and now as brands in the EU, US and Japan are getting desperate we will see a total new stage of in-fighting and spading their opponents. But as they diminish one another, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will get the cream of the crop at a mere 65% of the total value, because the desperate will sucker themselves to get into the game as early as possible, hoping that the going is good early in the game. I get that, I would feel the same way (as a non-captain of industry that I merely my view) and now that China is entering these fields as well, the west is desperate to get in.

And at present we see little to no evidence how three players can have a cumulative debt of $70 trillion dollars. This is $70,000,000,000,000. Did you ever consider that the debt of these three is more than all the gold in the world? How is that possible? Is it because these three have the assets, because the debt is manageable? We think that we can all be a millionaire as long as we can couch up $55,000 in interest every year, but that is a debt without an end date, you pay as long as you live and that is not a realistic setting but these governments are telling you that story with the assistance of stakeholders (who get their own revenue out of that), yet at that point we ned to consider that you are a millionaire at $55,000 plus whatever the stakeholder charges and now it get to be a little iffy (aka yucky). It is a setting that is delusional, as such they all (desperately) need to be part of the Saudi branding, yet as I see it the Saudi’s have another view, you see STC gave us in 2024 “In 2023, we expanded our global footprint even further by acquiring a 9.9% interest in Telefonica and launching TAWAL operations in three European countries. Over the past year, STC Group has focused on diversifying our global offer to connect people across countries and continents.” They gave us that in March 2024, and the sphere of influence of Saudi Arabia is expanding. So whilst by an expected 2029 we might see brand X, but it is fueling STC for a larger and larger slice of the pie. As such it will all be co-owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and this is not white washing. It is merely business and these stakeholders will turn to the needs of their own paychecks more and more. 

And this is not a dream story, it is not a nightmare story. It is about to become the reality of things and as such our paychecks go in part not to Telefonica, it will go to Tawal and through that to the STC. A simple business setting and for the most the media is will not inform you, it adheres to the needs of shareholders, stake holder and advertisers. 

This is the power of branding and whilst we think that Nike, Lululemon and Jaguar are great brands, there is an underlying setting that the cool car is owned by Natarajan Chandrasekaran (chairman and Managing Director) and Saurabh Agrawal (CFO) (to some degree). And now we see the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expanding in all kinds of directions. In this I kinda set that stage in ‘An altering stage’ which I wrote on October 2nd 2023. I used the word ‘kinda’ as the focus was China and I wrote “It is a summary and you should read it. It shows several elements that are taking the world by storm. It is not “As shown in the latest IMF annual review of the country’s economy, progress has been most notably reflected in non-oil growth, which has accelerated since 2021, averaging 4.8 percent in 2022. Despite lower overall growth reflecting additional oil production cuts, non-oil growth will remain close to 5 percent in 2023, spurred by strong domestic demand.” We get the goods here, but it is “The economy’s non-oil growth has been spurred by strong domestic demand, particularly private non-oil investment. Sustaining this performance requires pursuing sound macroeconomic policies and maintaining the reform momentum, irrespective of developments in oil markets.” Even if the stage is not revealed, when combined with other views we see that ‘strong domestic demand’ is merely one string from the harp of economy, the harp of Saudi economy. What matters is that larger streams involving defence, technology, construction, tourism and services are ALL moving towards Chinese shores. We see some of it now, but that list is rapidly expanding and the next US vote is 45 days away with them having to brood on a loss of billions and it will be a lot more than 1 billion.” Which was a slightly different setting than the IMF reported on and I saw that two years ago. It is the story (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2023/10/02/an-altering-stage/) which gives the goods, so consider that I had this at that point, so why didn’t the media see this over the last 17 months? Consider that before you lash out and wonder who you should blame. 

Too many of us are kept in the dark and you should wonder why. You see I am not an economist or some savant. Yet I know data and I have parsed data for decades, and I saw a long time ago that the numbers didn’t add up. So wonder how the media could have missed it all. You were merely given slithers of data and until you consider the larger picture (which the bulk of the media will not give you) wonder why and it is not that it was to complex. As I personally consider the setting is that stake holders are part of the deception. Their cheques are too fat, so they like this game how it is played and they have been playing it for years. 

Have a great day and remember, don’t trust all you read, verify the data you are given, even my data. I am not telling you to trust my data. If anything I am a little like Fox Mulder (from the X-Files) and trust no one, not even me. 

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May 18, 2025 · 09:51

Delphi in a name

Yup, we are talking about Oracle, not Borland. And whenever I hear Oracle I tend to add the ‘of Delphi’ automatically. It is a Pavlovian thing. This is nothing negative about Oracle, I wanted to join their ranks in the 90’s, and beyond the millennium a few times too. My origin settings was a database programmer (I earned my stripes with Clipper, the Nantucket version). I think it is the very first program where I shelled out $650 (Dfl. 1,200) for a program and I learned a lot through Clipper. I also got the Clipper notes (Norton Notes) and these two kept my in my apartment (on a desk chair) for weeks and weeks at a time. I relish these happy days. Then of course I got into technical support and customer care through a precursor of IBM and my life at that point was pretty complete. I miss those days and I still think fondly of them. Not so much the upper ranks of that company with their political games, but them I was never a political player. 

So when I saw ‘Oracle commits to invest $14bn in Saudi Arabia over next 10 years’ (at https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/oracle-commits-to-invest-14bn-in-saudi-arabia-over-next-10-years/) my mind starting swirling and twirling (sorry JK Rowling) and my creative logging started to set new parameters. 

You see, we are given “Oracle has committed to investing $14 billion in Saudi Arabia over the next 10 years to expand its cloud and AI offerings in the region. The plans were announced by the company on May 13, and in the wake of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Kingdom” this implies Technical Support, Customer Care and Trainings. Things I can do (all three) and I have had well over a decade of experience in these sections. As such I keep my eyes open for positions needed in either Riyadh, Mississauga or Abu Dhabi. I reckon that the investments are not just for Saudi Arabia, they are all spend in Saudi Arabia, but there will be essentially needed persons in Abu Dhabi because no one walks away from ADNOC and with ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia, a secondary call center would be needed in Abu Dhabi. And they too will have all three settings in that centre, beyond that I reckon that it will a location will be cheaper in the heart of ADNOC than in Dubai, so there.

When we see “Our expanded partnership with the Kingdom will create new opportunities for its economy, deliver better health outcomes for its people, and fortify its alliance with the United States, which will create a ripple effect of peace and prosperity across the Middle East and around the world.” The words “a ripple effect of peace and prosperity across the Middle East” merely implies (not confirms) the setting I see. You see, it makes sense to do this, but it requires knowledge of Oracle policies (and I don’t know those).

So when we see “Oracle has two existing cloud regions in Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia West, located in Jeddah, and Saudi Arabia Central in Riyadh. The former was launched in 2020, the latter launched in 2024, and is hosted in a Center3 data center. The company has been planning a third in the upcoming Neom City since October 2021, which remains listed on Oracle’s website as “coming soon.”” Someone would think that another cloud the UAE cloud should be there as well. Merely not mentioned in this stage, but ADNOC is too big to walk away from and Microsoft has dropped the ball too many times. There is a setting that implies that IBM and or AWS are already there, but that gives the larger setting that ADNOC becomes dependent on one supplier and they are as smart as they come. So I am betting that Oracle has that region (as well as Dubai) in mind when we consider DAMAC (valued at US$ 595 million) with the total revenue recorded by DAMAC Properties was AED 7.5 billion (2017), and they are not all. There is also Emaar Properties, which is said to be the biggest of them all and that are the kind of clients Oracle really likes to keep happy, as such I saw the stage evolve, even though they are already there and in January 2025 we were given ‘Oracle to increase Abu Dhabi investment five-fold’, as such I think that there might be a new need to seek employment with Oracle. Now add to that the quote “Earlier this month, the Abu Dhabi government put out a call for the development of a single multi-cloud system that will serve more than 40 government entities” and you’ll see that there might be space for me too, either in Abu Dhabi or in Mississauga and the two cover a little over 20 hours a day coverage in a 24:7 setting. The nice part is that it takes time to get people up to speed, so I might have an advantage (merely a slight one). 

So as I am about to dream the day away on this rainy Sunday. I see the cogs of industry revolve around the settings of the world and I keep having happy thoughts.

So have a great day everyone, preferably less rainy than it is here.

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May 17, 2025 · 10:09

Death is nigh

Yup, a bit gloomy and perhaps a little too doom speaking, but the news is there and I for one saw this coming a mile away. I mentioned this in the article ‘Utter insanity’ on October 4th 2020 (https://lawlordtobe.com/2021/10/04/utter-insanity/, aka World Animal Day), I mentioned in there the few articles where I also made mention of the US debt, one as early as 2020. So why now?

Well, Reuters (at https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/moodys-downgrades-us-aa1-rating-2025-05-16/) gives us that the credit rating of America has been downgraded. It went from AAA to AA1, this might not be a big thing, but it is, especially in current conditions. You see, Moody also gives us “Moody’s cites rising debt and interest costs” and with that one line the die is cast. Even if it is merely a rise of 0.1%, the implied setting of $36 trillion ($36,000,000,000,000) gives us an additional interest of $36,000,000,000 or $36 billion and the Americans cannot keep their budget as is. So how much larger will this debt become? You can all say that Saudi Arabia is now investing, the AI is coming. But the investment over years will not even pay for the interest increase and at present the top 10 least risky investments hold 10 countries and none of them is America. Makes you think doesn’t it? Then there is the second stage, the stage where some players might think that holding US Bonds might be a tat too risky for them and banker being the cowards that they are learned from the 2008 credit crises and they will be bailing at the first opportunity, especially as the UAE is a much safer and seemingly more rewarding venture at present. 

So is death really nigh?
That is a fair question and I am hesitant to answer either way because the reliability of the press is nowhere to be found (perhaps in a dozen places). So they cannot give us the goods and I saw this going as far back as 2011, as such we cannot see any press reasonably credible, especially when they quote market wannabe’s. And this is not on President Trump, although his actions did speed up the process. The World Travel & Tourism Council gave us “THE U.S. IS projected to lose $12.5 billion in international travel spending this year, falling to under $169 billion from $181 billion in 2024”then there are the losses in defense projects, the losses from allies regarding Canada and Greenland and that showed me that America is desperate, and it seems now that the hammer falls down on people realising that I have been right for over a decade, but bury your heads in the sand. All these presented ‘wins’ are a cloth covering the larger losses. The AFR gave us yesterday ‘China slams Trump’s new chip ban, reigniting trade tensions’ with “The US Commerce Department issued guidance this week that Huawei’s Ascend AI semiconductors are subject to export controls anywhere in the world on the basis that they were developed using American technology.” What a way to piss off your allies. We see this when we critically look at the statement “For Washington, restricting Beijing’s access to cutting-edge processors is a way to blunt China’s rise in artificial intelligence and military applications.” In the first, Huawei is using its own chips, making it doubtful that it is ‘cutting edge’ and in the second, you just tried to ‘beg’ Saudi Arabia for more money, do you think that they as well as the UAE will take that warning? Huawei already has a decent grip on that region with cutting edge development and Oracle is about to go there too. So is this the best way for the American administration to hedge their bets? Now that their credit rating dropped, I reckon the floodgates are no longer sealed, whatever they let through will cost America close to billions and there are people holding trillions in American debt, as such they are likely to get out while the going is good.

So what if I am wrong?
It is doubtful, but it is a fair question. Look at all the economy that America lost in this year and add the losses of next year too, because as I see it, tourism and all the connected spendings are close to gone until at least 2027. Then in 2029-2031 Saudi Arabia has its 2030 setting with all the new resorts (which was always going to happen) and as such you see, the strangling interest of 36 trillion on American and their dream settings. The fact that Tourism at present is “This significant shortfall represents a 22.5% decline compared to the previous peak” as such their current setting is a lot less than 2019 before COVID, it is that bad and we might not care for the income of Disney, or Warner Brothers but this also impacts all the places around them as people cannot afford it all in these places. These places will share in those losses, as such I reckon that Florida will have a few massively bad years (compared to the present). Do your own researching and never accept anyones word as gospel (not even from me), know that data, know your area and see where the losses can be seen. 

I reckon that Oracle is doing fine and will be doing fine for some time to come, but they too have shed employees in 2024 and 2025. 

As I see it, when the masses get the insight of how bad America is doing, that coffin will basically bury itself. So have a great day and don’t let the recession hit you in the head, it is an expected two weeks away at present and there is the setting we all received there hours ago ‘Why France, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Finland, UK, Netherland, Belgium Issuing Travel Advisories to US, Making a Big Dent in American Tourism Revenue, The One Detail That Changes Everything’ as such the bulk of the EU is turning away from America on tourism, as you can see, I remained optimistic, it seems the news is pushing ahead of the settings we now see and when they catch on regarding bonds and America quality of life going down too, the panic will hit wall street and several other markets

So enjoy this Saturday.

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May 14, 2025 · 13:04

The price of stupidity

That is at the foundation of the severe conditioned setting of what can now laughingly called American stupidity. CBC reported yesterday ‘Conferences relocating to Canada over harsh new U.S. border measures’ (at https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6758054) with the underlying text “As Canadian travel to the U.S. continues to drop, CBC News has found several professional conferences relocated to Canada to avoid harsh new U.S. border security measures. One sociologist describes being grilled by U.S. customs officers who searched his phone and wallet.” As such not only is there grilling (and no grilled sandwich), but searching the phone and wallet? I wonder what deeds custom officers have to copy this all to third and fourth party intelligence gathering settings. I get that a passport needs to be checked (read: validated), but a phone? I might agree that a wallet could be seen as reasonable. But consider this. Tourism already is down and now conferences are the new goal? Consider that the CES has over 100,000 attendees and the SEMA show over 150,000 attendees. Then there are the defence shows and IT shows. How many events will it take for these show runners to go to Vancouver, Toronto, or Ottawa? Is this the price of stupidity? How many millions will America lose in 2026? How long until the larger players will offer their shows in Abu Dhabi where the tourism spike is going on. How long until only gamblers will visit Las Vegas? Nevada have poured serious cash into Las Vegas and now that it is regarded as hostile terrain, what will they lose? There is little interest to move to London or Paris (too touristy saturated), but Dubai and Abu Dhabi have options. Soon so will Monte Carlo and now there is already space in Toronto among the 14 locations are Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. Ottawa has the Ottawa Convention Centre and a few others. Basically should you consider the Mississauga location (Oracle) for a place to show the CES, America will have close to two dozen locations for people no longer interested in America violating their privacy and as the Canadian places (optionally the UAE too) show bang for their bucks. Plenty of organizers will relocate their shows. 

And there is data. CBC reported in late April that ‘Nearly 900,000 fewer people went to the U.S. in March as cross-border travel plummets’ so what damage will Florida with their Universal and Disney parks endure? Especially as their is a great alternative in Abu Dhabi. As such there is a larger case we see when we consider the Oracle CloudWorld. It was in Las Vegas, September 9–12, 2024. As such Oracle now has a larger case to present their 2025 show in Mississauga or even in Dubai (if the clientele is enticing enough). Dubai has a whole highway of entertainment structures. There is the option of renting a boat for their guests and make a presentation on the Alexandra Dhow Cruise in Dubai Marina. A setting that reeks of elegance and fine foods. America is no longer the place to be, their U.S. customs protocols made sure of that. And I only mention two locations. And after the Guardian reported last week that ‘Stockholm rejects ‘bizarre’ US letter urging city to scrap diversity initiatives’, I reckon that Stockholm would be willing to cater to American shows that now seek entertainment elsewhere. Don’t let the location fool you. Stockholm is magical and it has an amazing cuisine all over town. I reckon that soon enough the high chefs in America will seek their fortune elsewhere. So how much longer will America cater to the stupid minded? I reckon this might be the last year and anyone thinking they will be safe is likely to unknowingly handing their IP to U.S. customs (they might be in denial, as these costume officers will claim that it is protocol). So how long until that damage becomes completely non-reversible?

I will let you decide. And as I see it, Iceland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France might have similar issues down the line. So how many tourists and conference dwellers will miss America out of from now on until December 2026? Oh and before I forget Saudi Arabia is about to set new settings in at least 3 locations, so there are these locations to consider too. 

So, good luck with the excuse of protocol and watch what the price of stupidity is about to cost America, as one source gives me “The index now sits just above the historical low of 50 in June 2022. Current Economic Conditions registered at 56.5, compared to 63.8 in March. The Index of Consumer Expectations was at 47.2, compared to 52.6 in March.” So economic expectations is at least 5 points down in about 2 months. So what more losses can we see? Canada looks forward to having a great year in catering to conferences and tourists. As is the UAE. But America is doing great (apparently), as Reuters gives us “Approval of Trump’s economic stewardship rose to 39% from 36%. Trump began his term with a 47% approval rating, and saw his popularity tick” as such how many more shocks to the system can America survive? As I personally see it: retail, tourism, and business have been hit and will be hit a few times more this year, so by the time high summer hits places like Venice beach and other tourist location will suffer the lack of tourist. But not to fret, you can find them in Canada and a few other places.

And as the larger places expand Mississauga and add a European location or one in the UAE, we will see a larger exodus to these safer places and that is a trend that is set to continue until deep into 2027, because conference are usually planned up to two years in advance. Oracle might be the most visible one but I reckon they are not alone. All these players (like Snowflake and Palantir) have customers very worried about their IP and they will press for change a lot louder than I am.

So have a great day and if you want to have fun, pass US customs with a box of 5.25” floppies and see the question marks on their eyes as they are uncertain how to proceed. 

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