China edges ever so slowly towards allowing its citizens to visit Thailand again
Good morning y'all of y'all, it's the start of yet another weekend, Saturday, July 2.
Can we just be happy for a moment? On Dominion Day weekend, watch and listen to The Quebe Sisters. And get your feet movin' and your toes tappin'.
They have the entire package - voices, harmonies, charm, fiddling skills, and of course, an upright bass in the band.
TRIVIA
The Quebe Sisters are Hulda (age 23), Sophia (age 26), and Grace (age 28). They are not from Quebec. Also, they are not from Canada. Their family name is pronounced kway-bee. Their other two band members are Simon Stipp and Daniel Parr.
Again, just for emphasis: If there's an upright bass in the band, the music is probably good.
THAILAND CORONAVIRUS
Hey! Give us another week, okay?
Thailand's junta agency to decide next Friday on Covid-19 endemic status
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will meet on July 8 to revise plans to declare Covid-19 endemic, as patients with severe symptoms are likely to rise.
https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017257
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2337998/
Meanwhile...
The Covid-19 disease doesn't care what you call it.
On Friday, the that supposedly ended the pandemic, Thailand recorded
2,345 new cases of the Rona, (four carried in from abroad).
4,814 additional (likely) cases by antigen tests.
16 additional deaths by Covid.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2337858/
To put it another way, it's kind-of open. But "Papers, Please."
One thing you do NOT need as a condition of entry to Thailand: that proof of US$10,000 of health insurance. It's dead, Jim.
https://www.tatnews.org/2022/06/thailands-entry-requirements/
The prime minister of Taiwan says it out loud:
Hong Kong's freedom and democracy 'have vanished'
"It's only been 25 years," said Premier Su Tseng-chang.
The promise [by the Chinese Communist Party and President-4-Life Xi Jinping], ..."their promise was 50 years of no change."
"The 'dancing will go on and horses will still run' has disappeared, and even freedom and democracy have vanished."
He was quoting the dead ex-leader Deng Xiaoping.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2337958/
On the List of Things We Didn't Need, where does this rank?
Solar explosion projected to shoot toward Earth today, disrupt magnetic field.
https://nypost.com/2022/06/30/solar-explosion-projected-to-shoot-towards-earth-today/
Related
The first step to the wonderful news that Thailand needs to hear for a rebound of the economy:
China loosens curbs on travel
- Beijing approves two flights a week from Thailand to China
- China cuts Covid quarantines in half
But in Thailand, the National Security Council says...
State of emergency still necessary
PHOTO: The huge Bang Sue Grand Station, built to handle all rail transport in Thailand, is actually the Bangkok centre of mass Covid-19 inoculations.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2337898/
THAILAND MYANMAR INCURSION
Thailand's designated 'prime minister' says the actual jet-fighter incursion by a Myanmar air force MiG was no big deal.
The Tatmadaw have apologised.
Prayut said:
"The military attachés spoke to each other, and theirs apologised.
Currently, the two countries enjoy a good relationship. When problems arise, we can talk.
The most important thing is that we have adequate capabilities to defend our sovereignty. We also need to be sure that our defences will be strong and modern enough in the future."
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2337188/
Is it possible (yes) that Prayut does not know anything about military attachés? Yes.
World's largest naval exercise begins
The five-week, U.S.-hosted biennial Rim of the Pacific 2022 (RIMPAC 22) began, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California.
"It's great to see the exercise return to the scale that we have seen in previous years," said said RIMPAC CTF deputy commander Rear Admiral Christopher Robinson of the Royal Canadian Navy.
"It enables the combined forces of our 26 partner and allied nations to work together and learn from each other."
On-Site Participants
RIMPAC 22 includes 26 nations, 38 surface ships, four submarines, nine national land forces, more than 30 unmanned systems, approximately 170 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel.
There are approximately 90 senior staff members from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United States.
Notable By Absence
No nation beginning with the letter "T" is involved in RIMPAC 22.
PHOTO: A commander's conference in Hawaii was the formal kickoff to RIMPAC 22.
https://www.pacom.mil/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/3081151/rim-of-the-pacific-2022-officially-begins/
TRADE DIPLOMACY
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu is calling on Thai businessmen and entrepreneurs to invest in her country.
She says it has strong potential for broad economic expansion and can provide a new source of investment for Thai businesses abroad.
It could also be an attractive destination for Thai tourists.
In an exclusive interview, Ms Osmani said Thailand and her country started their relationship about a decade ago after Thailand recognised Kosovo's independence.
Both countries agreed to establish diplomatic relations on Nov 22, 2013.
Kosovo later set up an embassy in Thailand, Kosovo's first in Southeast Asia.-
PHOTO: Now in Thailand: Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, president, Kosovo
Not 'No'! But 'HELL No'!
The Norwegian company Telenor, which raised the DTAC mobile phone provider from infancy, vows it will never leave Thailand.
The Norse are working on a deal to merge with True, the only Thai mobile provider. Maybe within this month.
Usually affable Sig Brekke, CEO and president of the Telenor Group (photo below) said it clearly and publicly:
“Telenor is not going to leave Thailand.
"A lot of people have been wondering that. We entered Thailand two decades ago with a vision that all Thais should have access to cell phones."
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2337623/
Related
"The passage of time has not resulted in greater clarity concerning what we should have learned from the event [Watergate], perhaps because we still lack an authoritative account of it."
John Marini, political scientist,
https://tinyurl.com/4xyh83fm
U.S.A. SCHOOL SHOOTING
Dear Dave: Your terms are acceptable.
DAVID "BOSS" HOGG promises not to have children if we keep Roe v. Wade overturned and value gun rights.
Interesting Sunday Read
SCIENCE CIVIL LIBERTY
An uncanningly prescient lecture of 1987
The Lost ACLU Lecture of Carl Sagan
It is no good for just a few nations to decide not to burn fossil fuels because of concern about the Earth's climate. The entire fossil fuel–burning community of nations must do so for it to be effective.
... You can design a technology that subverts the Constitution.
PHOTO: Carl Sagan, 1987
https://quillette.com/2022/07/01/science-and-civil-liberties-the-lost-lecture-of-carl-sagan/
RIP and Semper Fi.
Hail and farewell to Hershel "Woody" Williams.
Woody Williams, America's last of 472 World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies
Williams, 98, received the medal for his heroism on Iwo Jima
and also
And just RIP
Hells Angels founder Sonny Barger dead: Motorcycle club leader 'passed peacefully' from cancer at 83.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/hells-angels-founder-sonny-barger-dead-motorcycle-club-leader-passed-peacefully-cancer
WRONGTHINK
Fox News has published the claim that:
BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color.
Nope. Absolutely not.
BIPOC stands for Black and Indigenous People of Color.
That is: Black and indigenous Indians and Latinos of the Americas, who are partly descended from Indians.
This is vital. Because BIPOC means "NO ASIANS". This is critical to the meaning. Under no circumstances, in no place, at no time, must any Asians receive any benefits of affirmative action and forced racial hiring.
Joe Biden was an originator of NO ASIANS following the Vietnam war, and referring to refuge and resettlement of all Indochinese. Joe's son Hunter made 'NO ASIANS' an explicit instruction to a pimp.
MORE WEEKEND READING
The One China Policy Is A Lie.
IT'S COMPLICATED:
President Richard Nixon acquiesced to the One China idea in the Shanghai Communique. But Nixon's agreement was never as clear as Beijing claims.
Rather than unequivocally endorse Mao's statement that "the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government of China; Taiwan is a province of China," Nixon said the "United States Government does not challenge that position" but instead "reaffirms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves."
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/06/one-china-is-a-lie/
SUNDAY READ
Chasing Utopian Energy: How I Wasted 20 Years of My Life.
I started to realize that I had accepted as true certain claims about energy and our environment. Now I began to see those claims were false. For example:
I used to think solar and wind power were the best ways to reduce CO2 emissions. But the biggest reduction in CO2 emissions during the past 15 years (over 60%) has come from switching from coal to natural gas.
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/06/26/chasing_utopian_energy_how_i_wasted_20_years_of_my_life_839185.html
RIP
U.S.A. POLITICS
Bookies Say Biden Now THIRD Place In The Odds To Win 2024 Election for President.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/bookies-biden-now-third-place-in-the-odds-to-win-2024-election
Closely related
Michelle Obama Is Running for President in 2024
Michelle Obama launched a cover story for her intense political activity back in 2008. Soon, we'll see it come to fruition.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/06/michelle_obama_is_running_for_president_in_2024.html
TRUMP WAS RIGHT: FCC commissioner calls on Google and Apple to ban TikTok from their app stores. “TikTok is not just another video app. That's the sheep's clothing. It harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing.”
Because of course they are: Now the U.S.A. is going to meet with the Taliban about unfreezing their money?
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/06/29/now-were-going-to-meet-with-the-taliban-about-unfreezing-their-money-n479731
Tragic.
TO BE FAIR, THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE THEY KNOW IT ISN'T TRUE:
Report: U.S.A. January. 6 committee hasn't corroborated Hutchinson testimony about Trump SUV incident.
aka
Stalin Witchhunt Trial Vows To Be First Inquiry In History To Prove A Negative.
https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2022/06/30/report-jan-6-committee-hasnt-corroborated-hutchinson-testimony-about-trump-suv-incident-n479986
Concerning that lunge for the steering wheel:
Ms. Hutchinson stands by all of the testimony she provided yesterday, under oath, to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
Statement by Ms. Madison's attorneys Judy Hunt and William Jordan
Sure, and she's salivating at the very idea of a book deal.
But where in the blue blazes of damnation did she get the money for these sky-high attorneys? Why is it secret?
https://bityl.co/D01S
TECHNOLOGY
TSMC to customers: Get with the program and move to 28nm already. (AnandTech)
Compared to the new hotness (see below) 28nm is old school and almost old hat, but it works, and it works the same as older processes. It's the last robust process with planar transistors rather than FinFETs, so designs are relatively easy to move.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/17470/tsmc-to-customers-time-to-stop-using-older-nodes-move-to-28nm
Related - Sad Note
TSMC Wants Customers To Pay Sooner, Reportedly Plans For Another Price Increase (Taiwan Tech)
Company faces problems recruiting staff, workers
TSMC Share Price Hits Record Low As Rival Takes Chipmaking Lead & Goldman Makes Dark Prediction
https://wccftech.com/tsmc-wants-customers-to-pay-sooner-reportedly-plans-for-another-price-increase/
Related
The Raspberry Pi Pico W is the Raspberry Pi Pico with added W. (RaspberryPi)
The W stands for 802.11n - WiFi.
The article also notes that the Pi Pico chip is made on TSMC's 40nm process, so: Get with the program.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-pico-w-your-6-iot-platform/
I would pay good money to a mozzie hitman.
