First-in-line for desperate price controls
Hello World and girls and boys and others.
Today is Monday, April 25. Do try to get to the office on time.
Yesterday (Sunday, April 24) was yet another horrible, crappy deadly day for Thailand because of the Covid-19 virus. There were
20,052 confirmed new cases and another 14,937 probable new cases. Of these, 78 new cases flew in (mostly with tourists) from abroad, while 40 were diagnosed in prisons.
129 deaths were attributed to coronavirus.
As of midnight Sunday new cases included
44,824 in hospitals (1,023 fewer than Saturday)
1,929 in ICU (down 33)
899 on ventilators (22 fewer than on Saturday)
The 98 people who died were aged from one to 99 with an average age of 74.
Two were from Myanmar and one from the United States.
Trivia
Since the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan in 2019, here are the latest available statistics for
ASIA ONLY
146,960,749 total cases
1,419,420 total deaths
As always, there will be great and heavy and lasting debate over how many people died WITH coronavirus and how many died OF the novel virus.
This argument will become better defined but will not be settled in our lifetimes.
THE VACCINES WERE OVERSOLD. CHANGE MY MIND:
Pfizer Covid-19 third dose vaccine protection against hospitalization from Xi-Omicron mutation wanes after 3 months. Says a study.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-04-pfizer-covid-dose-vaccine-hospitalization.html
THAILAND POLITICS DICTATORSHIP
PRICE CONTROLS
It is the (often last) desperate act of every dictatorship, and sure enough Thailand's ruling junta is first in line.
Top Down! And I don't mean your new Tesla convertible
Commerce Ministry to curb price of goods
The junta's 'ministry of commerce' has prepared steps to help the public, even as the rising price of diesel fuel brings inflation to food and other consumer markets.
"The Department of Internal Trade has analysed the costs of all types of goods.
"Rest assured that the ministry will monitor the prices of goods closely."
PHOTO: The popular and tourist-friendly Chatuchak market in northern Bangkok.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2299650/
Related
The residential price index inched up in the first quarter of 2022, which was seen as a warning of an upward trend in housing prices based on the cost-push effect, according to the Real Estate Information Center (REIC).
The price index for both new low-rise houses and condos available for sale in Greater Bangkok in the first quarter of 2022 rose to 127.3 and 151.7 from 126.8 and 151.2 in the fourth quarter of 2021, respectively.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/property/2299770/
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) announced ahead of World Malaria Day on Monday that will achieve a "malaria-free Thailand within 18 months."
There have been 731 malaria cases recorded in Thailand this year.
All of them occurred in five provinces - Surat Thani, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan.
PHOTO: If you see this little bugger, kill him fatally.
https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40014879
THAILAND POLITICS
Thaksin's littlest baby daughter Paetongtarn quiet on being a candidate for prime minister
Pheu Thai to wait for dissolution of House
PHOTO: Paetongtarn Shinawatra, head of the Pheu Thai Party's Inclusion and Innovation Adviser committees, speaks on stage at the party's general assembly on Sunday.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2299578/
Who want mango and rice that is sticky?
Thai singers create California (and home-grown) hype for the national dessert, but the junta has ordered all Thai media to point out that there never can be 'soft power' without a military government's plan.
And within minutes, the Oped writes go crazy.
'Soft power must have global appeal' claims Paritta Wangkiat, a Bangkok Post columnist, in a completely coincidental 1,100-word essay.
PHOTO: In a 60-minute Coachella performancer at Indio, California, rapper Milli elevated mangoes-and-stick rick to internatioinal fame.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2299858/
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2299706/
THAI LANGUAGE LESSONS
Things I did not know until this morning
1. "Khao Niao Mamuang" (literally 'glutinous rice and mango' in English) is gangster-underworld slang for murdering an enemy.
Well, I have only lived in Thailand for 47 years, so I'm sure there's plenty more to learn. At least no local mafia boss has ordered me to eat mangoes and sticky rice. Yet.
Related
The Number One Complaint of people who live in Canada and the United States:
1. The (mostly imported from Thailand) glutinous/sticky rice is A-OK but the mangoes (from Mexico) suck worse than CNN-plus.
Nothing to see here, just the Chinese Communist Party renewing its human organ harvesting:
71 Chinese inmates on Death Row had their hearts or lungs removed during executions before being declared dead, new study says.
https://news.yahoo.com/71-chinese-inmates-death-row-223005497.html
GLOBAL WARMING
Activist dies after lighting himself on fire outside U.S. Supreme Court: As Tom Wolfe wrote in his epochal 1976 article, "The 'Me' Decade and the Third Great Awakening:"
"It is entirely possible that in the long run historians will regard the entire New Left experience as not so much a political but as a religious episode wrapped in semi military gear and guerrilla talk.”
https://nypost.com/2022/04/23/wynn-bruce-dies-after-lighting-himself-on-fire-outside-supreme-court/
Gosh what a shame!
ALEX JONES' INFOWARS files for bankruptcy amid Sandy Hook lawsuits.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/alex-joness-infowars-files-for-bankruptcy-amid-sandy-hook-lawsuits
The Monday Morning Joke
An elderly Italian man living alone in New Jersey wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, since the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love,
Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you, Vinnie
(H/T Ace of Spades)
THAILAND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Do you have questions? Here are several Twitter accounts that might help:
Twitter Communities in #Thailand
𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦 https://twitter.com/i/communities/1496622151419691009
𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗦 & 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 https://twitter.com/i/communities/1505371691987652610
𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗟 https://twitter.com/i/communities/1489595690804465666
𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗘𝗦 https://twitter.com/i/communities/1497402596973510656
THAILAND DEMOCRACY
Poll shows support for elected governors
All 77 provinces including Bangkok are run, top-down, by junta-appointed governors.
Bangkok, uniquely, is to have an election for governor on May 22.
But now a junta-supported survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, shows public opinion.
A majority who replied to the telephone said 'yeah', they want free and fair elections for governor everywhere in the country.
PHOTO: Gubernatorial election campaign posters are everywhere in Bangkok, where a gubernatorial election will be held on May 22.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/
TECHNOLOGY
Why Apple's Thunderbolt 4 Pro cables are so expensive. (9to5Mac)
1. Basically there's an entire computer in the plug at either end of the cable.
2. Apple.
https://9to5mac.com/2022/04/22/apples-thunderbolt-4-pro-cable-teardown-shows-why-the-accessory-is-expensive/
The US government is planning to spend up to $6 billion to keep nuclear power plants in operation. (Associated Press AP)
After spending decades working to make nuclear power unaffordable, they've more or less succeeded in killing off the only readily deliverable gluten-free carbon-neutral base load energy source.
It leaves Biden & Son Inc with a Hobson's Choice:
Prop up the nukes and piss off their anti-nuclear base or allow it to be replaced with natural gas and piss off their anti-global-warming base.
https://apnews.com/article/climate-business-environment-nuclear-power-us-department-of-energy-2cf1e633fd4d5b1d5c56bb9ffbb2a50a
The best thing about finally being older than 29 is that I don't have a gadget-filled home.
The smart home company Insteon has vanished.
The entire company seems to have abruptly shut down just before the weekend, breaking users' cloud-dependent smart-home setups without warning. Users say the service has been down for three days now despite the company status page saying, "All Services Online." The company forums are down, and no one is replying to users on social media.
As Internet of Things reporter Stacey Higginbotham points out, high-ranking Insteon executives, including CEO Rob Lilleness, have scrubbed the company from their LinkedIn accounts. In the time it took to write this article, Lilleness also removed his name and picture from his LinkedIn profile. It seems like that is the most communication longtime Insteon customers are going to get.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/04/shameful-insteon-looks-dead-just-like-its-users-smart-homes/
Related
Was this the original Smart Home gadget?
RIP
Orrin, we hardly knew you. You didn't really achieve much in all those years, but Rest in Peace.
Orrin Hatch, longest-serving Republican senator from Utah, dead at 88
https://news.yahoo.com/long-serving-utah-senator-orrin-010200707.html
Also... those winds would blow the spots off a Dalmation.
Despite the appalling conditions on that damp Devon day the locals showed their fortitude by still bravely walking their dogs along the promenade, seemingly unfazed by the sweeping rain and wind.
Admittedly some of the drenched doggies did not look entirely happy about this unscheduled bath.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2299438/
