Thai tourists excited by first spotting of White Whale - ever
Good morning all.
This is the full early edition of Fishwrap forTuesday January 16.
There are just only four (4) more shopping days until Children's Day on Saturday.
Be generous.
FISHWRAP EDITORIAL-REPORT SMOG AIR POLLUTION
The crack team of elite newsperson people have returned to Bangkok after an up-country survey on the state of the 2024 air pollution, and in due course will present their exclusive scoop and photos.
For the present, the team reports that 'it is truly astounding' how little PM2.5 pollution there is, compared with last year when the smog was literally killing people by the day.
The annual January PM2.5 air pollution clouds still exist, and are seen from every air trip in the country. The number and size and frequency of such smog clouds have decreased this year compared with last. The Fishwrap team had no flight or resort cancelations.
We waded right into several locations where the 2024/2567 smog was at its worst but this year -- compared with last -- people were able to get on with business and their lives without noticable interference by the PM2.5 pollution.
Do you ever get halfway through eating a horse and go 'You know..., I'm not as hungry as I thought I was'? (Tim Vine)
The [Police General] Hospital will not allow members of the House committee to go to the 14th floor where Thaksin is housed.
Royal Thai Police Colonel Siri Srisanga, hospital spokesman
THAILAND POLITICS OPINION BANGKOK TRANSPORTATION
The choice of electric-line monrails has turned into a problem.
This Yellow Line train almost fell off its tracks when it suddenly lost guidance equipment.
The three monorails -- Yellow, Pink and the under-construction Brown -- are Bombardier INNOVIA Monorail 300s.
That questionable choice raises several questions, especially in light of the limitations of monorails and the experiences of other cities with similar systems.
Thai Enquirer:https://t.ly/K-zk1
ANALYSIS THAILAND GOVERNANCE
The stars of the Pheu Thai Party so far are new party leader Paethongtarn "Ung Ing" Shinawatra and realty billionaire Prime Minister Srettha Thaivisin.
Senior party officials have denied there is about to be a cabinet reshuffle -- which would affect Ung Ing most of all.
But a reshuffle of the party and the government are necessary for Pheu Thai's useful evolution.
https://shorturl.at/tuyLW
What happens when government trips, stumbles and falls over such a simple issue.
Is weed still legal in Thailand? Here's what tourists need to know as government U-turns
Just 18 months after Thailand opened the floodgates by legalising cannabis, the country’s new conservative coalition government is seeking to slam them shut.
Neon weed signs have become ubiquitous in Bangkok’s busy tourist area, with dispensaries cropping up on every corner. Hundreds of food and drink vendors advertise cannabis-infused menus.
But this could all change under new proposals to strictly regulate marijuana use and restrict it for medicinal purposes.
https://shorturl.at/qJUX8
PHOTO: Looking for a marijuana shop. They are numerous.
Some rules are already in place to restrict the use of cannabis.
Smoking and vaping in public places is not allowed.
Causing a 'public nuisance' -- including through the smell of weed -- can lead to a fine of 25,000 baht in real money, or €650.
THAILAND NATURE
First 'White Whale' in Thai history spotted off Phuket.
Not Moby Dick. This big sea-animal is real!
It is the first known sighting of what could be an albino of the species off Thailand.
The unexpected sighting was by a small group of tourists and crew.
Wait! There's More (not from Thailand) An albino penguin!
The female with leucism from the Gentoo species has been filmed at a base in Antarctica.
Taiwan voted and the new president will be William Lai of the already ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
For reasons no one knows except possibly his family DOCTOR (scroll for more) U.S. President took an alternate line: "We do not support independence" althoughA/no one else even mentioned it including Beijing and, actually,B/Taiwan is independent. And democratic, which was noted in congratulatory messages from world leaders except Biden's curious, unique statement.
Lai won a tight election over Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Hou Yu-ih, the mayor of New Taipei City.
Beijing never declared a clear preference, but some of the mainlander's hardest core had framed Lai as "dangerous."
A very notable difference from Biden came from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken:
On X, formerly Twitter, Blinken posted a message congratulating Lai --as well as "the Taiwan people for participating in free and fair elections and demonstrating the strength of their democratic system."
Mildly notably, Blinken refused to call them 'Taiwanese' which is what most of those "Taiwan people" call themselves.
CORONAVIRUS COVID THAILAND BATS
EcoHealth Alliance reports it has discovered a dangerous new SARS-type virus in faeces of fruit bats, near and inside thei cave dwellings in Ratchaburi province, west of Bangkok.
[Be Afraid. Be very afraid. Old story, new again as WHO and EcoHealth seek additional scare-stories about nature's killer threats, ahead of the lucrative U.S. presidential election in November. Tourists flock to see the millions of bats and locals collect guano to use as fertiliser.]
The highly politicised, U.S. group led by Peter Daszak reported the discovry to the China-controlled World Health Organization, WHO.
Daszak detailed his team's efforts to discover further animal viruses that could threaten human populations. He and EcoHealth are among the most dedicated defenders of the theory that Covid emerged and spread and killed from Chinese bats and definitely absolutely not from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
This never-before-seen bat virus has 'almost' the same potential to infect humans as Covid-19.
https://shorturl.at/BDPU0
More to the point, however,
ECONOMY WORLD
We have Seen the lockdowns and the damage done
WORLD BANK: Global economy set for its worst half decade of growth in 30 years.
Global growth is forecast to slow for the third year in a row in 2024, dipping to 2.4 percent from 2.6% in 2023, the organisation said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report released Tuesday.
https://shorturl.at/fCHMR
https://www.worldbank.org/en/home
CHINA SUBMARINE NUCLEAR
China sets an underwater ambush to catch potential U.S. and Limey naval ships and submarine invaders only to close it on their own People's Liberation Army Navy nuclear sub.
Experts on Chinese military tactics believe the ambush-gone-wrong killed 55 members of the crew -- a standard figure for the nuclear sub involved.
U.K. intelligence:
Our understanding is death caused by hypoxia due to a system fault on the submarine. The submarine hit a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese Navy to trap U.S. and allied submarines.
ASEAN THAILAND MYANMAR
Meaningful policy on Myanmar needed
by Kavi Chongkittavorn
The fall of Laukkai in Myanmar's Kokang Self-Administered Zone to rebel forces is one of the most significant developments in the conflict in Myanmar since the coup took place in 2021.
Why? It shows the State Administration Council's (SAC) inability to protect its territory from the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which launched a fierce offensive dubbed "Operation 1027" at the end of October, last year.
It threatens the Tatmadaw junta's hold on the northrn Shan state, which borders China, and other remote areas in the region.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2720674/
PHOTO: All-female unit of the Mandalay People's Defence Forces head to the frontline, for combat.
Sort-of-related feel-good feature report from the shoddy, forgotten Burmese refugee camps.
Stateless, but still in need of help.Centres for the children of migrants are running short of donor cash
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/2723792/
ABOVE: This is the main entrance to the Migrant Learning Center (MLC) at Mae Sot district, Tak province, near the Burmese border. Inside, it's worse.
Bruno Mars to perform in March
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/2721646/
The sold-out Rajamangala National Stadium show will be the third gig in Thailand by the American singer-songwriter.
SOCIAL MEDIA CANADA INSTAGRAM
Screw-up from start to finish
Canadian 'cooks' show their monster mistake of Tom Kha -- without kha. And other laughs.
It's as authentically Thai as an "authentic" Canadian demonstration of cooking poutine without cheese curds.
The top IG commenter sobbed,
"As a Thai, I'd like to say 'STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY'"
'Tom kha' without 'kha'
by Canadian chefs
The upscrewed 'chef-couple' don't wish to reply to criticism from people who know what is'kha'.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/2720358/
Canadian boy Randy Feltis and adjacent girl Katherine Grace Moore home-produce a cooking show called 'Katherine Wants' which sounds so cute but gets not even close to actual, real ThomKha"soup". Not close. To start, kha is galangal and if you don't have it, you don't have thomkha and the Canadians don't have it. They produce a weird-looking orangey dish that looks nothing like thom kha. Other ingredients and weird cooking methods... ZOMG did he just add ginger? Oh Randay did you just squeeze a substitute lime (formanao) in that... thing while it was boiling? Well that will make it bitter, good grief!
USA SPORTS GOLF
Thai-American athlete Tiger Woods says 'Buh-Bye' to Nike
Tiger signed his first deal with Nike back in 1996 and the sportswear giants saw their golf revenues increase by 900 percent in just two years, Which is still one of sports' most iconic endorsement deals -- any sport.
Today: The Incredible Thai American has ended his 27-year deal with the U.S. company.
Phil Knight stuck with Tigear all 27 years and never faltered.
CNN VIDEO report:https://t.ly/4IgEI
USA SPORTS NFL GRIDIRON FOOTBALL Wild Card (Lose and Go Home)
Dallas Cowboys 31 - 14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Baltimore Ravens 17 - 24 Cincinnati Bengals
New York Giants 31 - 24 Minnesota Vikings
Miami Dolphins 31 - 34 Buffalo Bills
Los Angeles Chargers 30 - 31 Jacksonville Jaguars
Seattle Seahawks 23 - 41 San Francisco 49ers
This weekend (all games, all times EST USA-Canada)
Saturday
Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs,4:30 p.m.
New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles,8:15 p.m.
Sunday
Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills,3 p.m.
Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers,6:30 p.m
TIME NOTE: Thailand time (Zulu+7) is exactly 12 hours ahead of EST, meaning the above four games will be played on Sunday andMonday morning, Thailand time.
IN other U.S. sports news
Pete's epitaph will read:
Give the ball to Marshawn.
The Dumbest Play in football history:https://t.ly/J2A3z
USA POLITICS RACISM
LIVE! From Boston, USA
Boston Complicit in Genocide
Blue on Blue: Pro-terrorist Team Hamas Boston "protesters" disrupt Mayor Michelle Wu's State of the City address.
Woo-Woo-Wu! https://shorturl.at/bpRX8
This is our democracy at work and we are a city for all voices.
Michelle Wu, mayor, Boston, who did not see any of the Team Hamas partly peaceful 'protest'
Fishwrap staff are still giggling, but really it's a clear sign that America is at or very close to The End Times.
Americans are buying plant-based peanut butter.https://t.ly/pLMs3
What's next? Plant-based orange juice with breakfast? Plant-based organic tomato juice with their Bloody Marys?
Well, they're already scarfing up "plant protein organic chocolate peanut butter powder."
None of the above was made up.
DIPLOMACY DRUGS CARTELS LATIN AMERICA
Right now Ecuador is experiencing an all-out cartel takeover.They're executing hostages, taking over prisons, and they stormed a news station on live TV. Live!
Openly supported on X-Twitter by Team Hamas USA.
https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1744863904209973458
USA GERONTOCRACY
Biden was 'exasperated at not more quickly being informed' that his secretary of defence Lloyd Austin was AWOL in the hospital.
But the 81-year-old, who himself held no public events for two solid weeks over the holidays, didn't even speak to Austin until January 6. Then Biden reportedly said he would not accept a resignation if Austin were to offer one.
Which he didn't and hasn't.
Austin has prostate cancer.
https://shorturl.at/aiFPW
RELATED
The case of the missing SecDef
https://jewishworldreview.com/0124/lowry011024.php
THE NEW SPACE RACE:
NASA delays first moon landing in decades.
NASA is delaying its long-awaited return to the surface of the moon by a year over crew safety concerns.
The agency also pushed back a slingshot around the moon that was scheduled for next year (2568).
https://www.axios.com/2024/01/09/nasa-artemis-delay-moon-landing
TECHNOLOGY
Science marches on. FOLLOW THE SCIENCE.
The Yellow Puzzle
(Finally!) Scientists discover the enzyme that makes you pee yellow.
Scitech Daily:https://t.ly/pOLt1
EV Progress
Tesla quietly cuts range estimates for some models.
The Truth About Cars: https://t.ly/jLzzb
WE WERE WRONG
Streaming platform Twitch is laying off another 500 staff. (Tech Crunch)
Fishwrap tech expert-writers were thinking that would be perhaps 5 percent of their staff.
THEY WERE WRONG. It's 35 percent.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/09/twitch-layoff-500-employees/
Nvidia's new RTX 5880 professional graphics card is not banned in China. (AnandTech)
Not yet.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/21221/nvidia-launches-rtx-5880-proviz-card-compliant-with-sanctions-available-globally
WEEKEND
Blinken firing blanks
Israel will not achieve full integration into the [Mideast] region without supporting a path to a Palestinian state, U.S. Secretary of State Antony "Don Tony" Blinken argued during his press conference in Tel Aviv.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-israel-blinken-says-peace-with-neighbors-hinges-on-path-to-palestinian-state/