Scientists Agog Over First Images From the Webb Space Telescope
Boys and girls, listen up! Yet another Thursday dawns in this 122-week battle to flatten the curve. Thank you for your cooperation.
CORONAVIRUS THAILAND
In the past 24 hours, up to midnight Wednesday:
• 2,391 new cases
• 25 deaths
• 24,082 active cases
• 776 serious cases
• 1,901 recovered
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2345328/
Rona catches Chuan
Chuan Leekpai, 83 years old, former prime minister, president of parliamant and House speaker, is in hospital with Covid-19.
https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40017656
CORONAVIRUS CHINA COMMUNISTS ZERO COVID
Gee, ya think?
WALTER DURANTY, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Chinese Zero Covid was always a lie.
The story here isn't that Chinese Communists lie like a valuable Persian carpet, but that U.S. and world fellow travelers and media help them do it.
Much, much more at
https://unherd.com/2022/07/chinese-zero-covid-was-always-a-lie/
Yes, correct. "15 July" is tomorrow.
After two years of hiatus, it's back again! Tickets are 50 baht.
The train is operated by Thailand's SRT, not Malaysia's ETS.
Sure, but it ALSO is wise to recall just how effectively the Medical Council of Thailand has handled the Great Coronavirus outbreaks and lockdowns.
HEALTH MARIJUANA HOSPITAL
Cannabis in food 'strains Emergency Room units'
The Medical Council of Thailand wrote in its Facebook account yesterday that, since June 9 many consumers of cannabis had suffered acute illness, hallucinations and hurt themselves and others.
It referred to the decriminalisation of cannabis on June 9.
"The load on emergency rooms has increased unnecessarily."
PHOTO: Anutin Charnvirakul, the pro-military loyalist politician who brought legal marijuana to Thailand, tastes some 'cannabis tea' at an exhibition in Bangkok's Nonthaburi suburb.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2345448/
THAILAND TOURISM YACHTS
Raft of marinas eyed for new hub
6 provinces being scouted for locations
The provinces that will feature in a feasibility study to be carried out over the next two years are:
Ranong, Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun.
MYANMAR BURMA BOMB YANGON RANGOON
The explosion occured close to a popular shopping mall, as Burmese marked a public holiday.
No group has claimed credit/blame for the blast.
Overall, more than 2,000 people have been killed and at least 14,000 arrested in the Tatmadaw junta's crackdown on dissent since the coup.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2345523/
EUROPE HEAT WAVE
Scattered parts of Europe see temps of 40-plus
It has also been "a very bad season for the glaciers".
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2345558/
Go preach it in Saudi Arabia. Go on. I dare you. I double-dog dare you. Or even in China.
China-owned and -managed 'World Health Organization (WHO?) 'Going Beyond Non-Binary Approaches' Because 'Sex is Not Limited to Male or Female'.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/07/who-going-beyond-non-binary-approaches-because-sex-is-not-limited-to-male-or-female/
The Cowards of Texas.
Why aren't they branded?
WHEN SECONDS COUNT, THE POLICE ARE ONLY MINUTES AWAY WILL FART AROUND FOR NEARLY AN HOUR EVEN AFTER THEY ARRIVE:
The awful Uvalde surveillance video.
https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2022/07/12/the-awful-uvalde-surveillance-video-n482343
MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF GALAXIES: Scientists Agog Over First Images From the Webb Space Telescope.
PHOTO: Scientists may not be able to "know God’s thoughts" as Einstein suggested. But perhaps we can see the universe through His eyes.
PHOTO: Stephan's Quintet, five galaxies in a beautiful and complicated gravitational dance.
The entire Twitter thread is fascinating. But we're just starting. Such as: The clearest photo of Mercury ever taken. And our first photo ever of the Unseen Universe.
WEEKEND READ
Breaking Macy Gray
Bow down before the Female Penis
With many links and sidebars
If you want to have a successful career in entertainment, or a middle-class profession, you must salute the female penis. The U.S.A. schools are working hard to brainwash the younger generation.
... I insist that this is "soft" totalitarianism, because nobody is being sent to the gulag. But they are being compelled to pay a price for saying things that were perfectly normal the day before yesterday.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/breaking-macy-gray/
Take the case of the singer Macy Gray, who defended the traditional definition of woman (versus transgender revisionism) on British TV the other day, and told her critics to stuff it. But then:
WEEKEND VIDEO for Space Geeks. And photography nerds.
22 minutes of 'Insane Facts About The Apollo 11 Lunar Photoshoot'.
It also busts a few Conspiracy Nutjobs, so there is that.
TRIVIA
The Rolling Stones began playing in 1962. The Group Your Mama Hated has outlived U.K. administrations of
Harold Macmillan
Alec Douglas-Home
Harold Wilson
Ted Heath
Wilson again
Jim Callaghan
Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Theresa May, and the soon-to-depart
Boris Johnson
And the Rolling Stones are still playing. Not bad for a band of misfits that everyone, including them, thought would last a year or two at most.
https://spectatorworld.com/book-and-art/my-night-with-the-rolling-stones/
THAILAND ECONOMY INFLATION
Tighten your belts! The prediction is:
Subdued spending in second half
Surging oil prices, rising inflation and concern over Covid continue to dent consumption.
Most industry chiefs believe private consumption in the second half is expected to remain flat, limited by pressure from high energy prices and the prolonged pandemic.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2345173/
Related commentary
BoT can't afford to hold interest rates
by Chartchai Parasuk, PhD, freelance economist
... Thai interest outlook is likely to be like this.
First, the MPC and Bank of Thailand would raise interest rates by 25 basis points in their next three meetings, bringing the year-end policy rate (1-day repo rate) to 1.25%.
Second, the widening interest gap between Thailand and the U.S., plus continued current account deficits, would induce more capital outflows.
Third, assuming that outflows are no less than 800 billion baht as happened in the first half of this year, a liquidity war could happen in the 3rd quarter, killing most SMEs with inadequate access to liquidity and pushing domestic rates close to double-digit levels.
Under liquidity pressure, the Bank of Thailand will have two choices to make - the right choice and the wrong choice.
The Gooder And Harder Solution
Bank of America analysts hold a meeting, decide they want to make some headlines. Around the world. Here's their statement:
Severe recession needed to cool inflation.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/deep-recession-needed-cool-inflation-bank-of-america-analysts-say
Yes? And? Your Point Is?
George Soros and the EU Parliament condemn the SCOTUS {U.S. Supreme Court} for following the Constitution.
https://bityl.co/DDzZ
Son of a b... Is this anything like humans?
Bumblebees kept in isolation make up for it by being more social later.
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-bumblebees-isolation-social.html
Related?
U.S.A. college enrollment drops by 1.3 million in two years.
https://bityl.co/DDwr
U.S.A. ECONOMY UNITY
HOW IT STARTED: Starbucks barista arrested for spitting in police officers' beverages.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/new-jersey-starbucks-worker-accused-of-spitting-in-law-enforcement-officers-drinks/2523769/
How it's going: Rising Crime Forces Starbucks to Shutter 16 Locations in Lawless Cities.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/07/13/rising-crime-forces-starbuck-to-shutter-16-locations-in-lawless-cities-n2610167
R.I.P.
Monty Norman, composer of 'James Bond' themes, dies at 94.
NOT from Covid.
Norman was commissioned to create the score for the first Bond movie, Dr. No, and wrote one of the most iconic guitar riffs in the process.
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/monty-norman-dies-at-94
WEEKEND READ - Not easy but important
The Collateral Damage of a Movement.
https://bityl.co/DE02
U.S.A. CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE
The U.S. state of Maryland is rubbishing its ridiculous requirement of 'Good And Substantial Reason' for issuing a gun permit to U.S. citizens and legal aliens.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/07/maryland-will-drop-its-good-and-substantial-reason-requirements-for-wear-and-carry-gun-permits/
The New York Times/Siena College Poll has just discovered that 64% of likely Democratic Party voters want someone who is not Joe Biden to run for president in 2024. Quelle surprise.
The same poll, covering national feelings all through the entire U.S.A. found that 33% of Americans are thrilled to bits at the job performance of President Biden. Who saw that coming, right?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/briefing/midterms-poll-president-biden-rating.html
