Thailand returns to 2006 and OLPC
All right kids, settle down, yes its's Tuesday morning again, everywhere on this blessed Earth.
All that I can say for sure are two things: The world is still here, and the Fishwrap will soon provide the evidence.
NOTE: Over the weekend until right now this morning, the big Chinese cities have been listening to chants much like Thailand:
Xi Jin-pin Get Out!
The blank paper is now a nationwide protest against CCP censorship.
ANALYSIS
by the BBC
China's fury and fear of Covid puts Xi in a bind
For three years the patience of one billion Chinese was stretched with lockdowns - now it's snapped.
... Suffering under Covid restrictions has become a unifying experience, breeding anger in many corners of China from major cities to far-flung regions like Xinjiang and Tibet.
It has galvanised every part of society including university students, factory workers, middle-class families, and the elite.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63779250
Speaking English poor very
The newest edition of the Education First's English Proficiency [EF] Index is out.
Thailand's position on the list is about what anyone would expect: 97th out of 111 countries, behind Haiti and Kazakhstan.
And behind Cambodia and Myanmar.
The coronavirus epidemic continues, and Thailand is a victim.
In the past week, Rona attacked - on average - 702 people per day, putting 4,914 into hospital care.
The virus also killed 10 people per day - 74 in the past week.
No positive or medical action has been taken by the ruling junta, so-called alleged "medical experts" or "trained scientists".
The roles of the token 'prime minister' Prayut, his loyal 'public health minister' Anutin are currently 100% political.
PHOTO: Prayut's last public appearance before his new "Mask Up" order took effect on Monday.
Thailand returns to 2006 and OLPC
Thai junta promises to buy 13 million laptop Windows computers and give them to "poor students" over the next five years.
Because it is necessary to manufacture a 'Smart Thailand', and that cannot be built without an exclusive 'Thailand digital transformation roadmap to Thailand 4.0'.
The mission was announced on Monday by the junta's token 'minister of digital economy and security', Chaiwaut Thanakamanusorn. He promised to involve the education ministry.
He claimed that money for the first one (1) million laptops will come from the NBTC - the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. That group's only assigned job is to censor TV and movies.
The original flop known as One Laptop Per Child involved the United Nations, MIT and Nick Negroponte - a geek who promised to build and supply a billion laprops for tykes. It didn't work out although several people milked the project of millions of corrupt dollars.
The OLPC Revival plan for Thailand will provide opportunities for corruption.
The "new" project is certain to be an election campaign plank by at least one Thai political party.
Flashback:
The Green Machine of the OLPC's laptop was going to change the world.
[Spoiler Alert: It didn't.]
https://bityl.co/FuCU
Prawit surrenders, partly gracefully
The master of the 2014 coup, retired army General Prawit Wongsuwon, spoke openly of the new mass of political defections from his PPRP political party - including the specific loss of former army bff and alleged 'prime minister' Prayut.
He said that losing political friends inclusing Prayut is no big thing.
Prawit, recognised as Thailand Top-Number One political powerhouse, described the likely new home of former army buddy Prayut would end up under his control.
The Ruam Thai Sang Chart [United Thai Nation] party is "like a sibling". And he has no intention of trying to talk Prayut out of defecting.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2448095/pprp-utn-like-one-party-says-prawit
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2431917/prawit-wouldnt-try-to-stop-prayut-leaving-party
THOSE DAMN KIDS AND ALL THEIR NOISE!
Criminals and nitwits still abound - sometimes dangerously.
https://twitter.com/KhaosodEnglish/status/1597057194390097920
NOTE: Ranong in the far South, opposite Burma. NOT Rayong near U-Tapao and Pattaya.
CORONAVIRUS CHINA XI JINPING UNREST
ANALYSIS
Authoritarian rulers across the world are starting to get a glimpse of what it means to oppress their population to the breaking point as thousands start to turn out in various Chinese cities to protest against the highly unpopular 'Zero Covid' nonsense ordered by President4Life Xi Jinping
The Communist Party put up 'crowd control barriers' and the police attacked crowds jeering, "Xi Jinping Get Out!"
The blank sheets of protest against the communists' censorship.
https://tinyurl.com/344kx9z3
China creates a Great Wall of Porn to block news
Search any major Chinese city on Twitter, and you will see a cascade of spam tweets showing porn, escort services, and gambling content that are published every few seconds, making it impossible to get any legitimate results. There has been a "significant uptick" in these tweets over the last three days, according to a China-focused data analyst. The surge in such bot content coincides with an unprecedented wave of protests that have swept across major Chinese cities and universities.
https://news.yahoo.com/great-wall-porn-obscures-china-090220453.html
Apple hobbled a crucial tool of dissent in China weeks before widespread protests broke out [Quartz.com]
Hidden in the update was a change that only applies to iPhones sold in mainland China: AirDrop can only be set to receive messages from everyone for 10 minutes, before switching off. There's no longer a way to keep the "everyone" setting.
https://bityl.co/FuGa
Incidentally...
China reports fourth straight daily record of new COVID cases [Reuters.com]
BEIJING: China's National Health Commission reported its fourth straight daily record of 39,791 new Covid-19 infections on November 26, of which 3,709 were symptomatic and 36,082 were asymptomatic.
https://bityl.co/FuGT
And Canada turned into China so gently and silently, hardly anyone noticed.
So far
Assisted suicide plans for children unveiled at Toronto's Sick Kids hospital.
Related. By Birth
The Editor-in-Chief of the Fishwrap [7 pounds, 2 ounces] came into existence at Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital - known then and perpetually as 'the Sick Kids'.]
"Unexpectedly" "Surprise"
Thailand sees surprise dip in export for October.
Jurin Laksanawisitwarnst, the junta's minister of commerce finally warned of a 'possible' uphill battle amid fears of global recession
October exports dropped by 4.4% year-on-year. Until then, total exports rose 9.1% over 2021, and totaled US$243 billion. The weak value of the baht helped.
Thai Enquirer: https://bityl.co/FtRF
DRUGS METHAMPHETAMINE HEROIN CHINA
The sudden appearance [and surrender] of suspected Thai-Chinese mafia boss Chaiyanat "Tuhao" Kornchayanant is a challenged and an opportunity.
The deputy police chief and 4-star general Surachate "Big Joke" Hakparn has moved in.
Surachate vows to take the cases of Chinese triad gangs to the limit - and even revoke the Thai citizenship of Tuhao if it comes to that.
Big Joke has publicly linked the discovery of narcotics at an illegal Bangkok pub to Chaiyanat.
Surachate: "I will take action against all Chinese triads and all state officials involved with them.:
https://today.line.me/th/v2/amp/article/l2M00J0
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2447697/
L'il Kim's baby daughter appears with Dad again, heating up succession debate
The Associated Press - with seven (7) photos
https://news.yahoo.com/kims-daughter-called-most-beloved-043516965.html
On this day in 1917, the National Hockey League was founded, in Montreal:
Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Arenas. The first game was the Wanderers vs. Toronto at the Forum. Ten years later, the Arenas became the Maple Leafs.
Also, it's Tina Turner's birthday. She is 83, but she could pass for a little bit younger.
SOCCER WORLD CUP QATAR
Match of the Day for spectators, hands down, was the five-goal South Korea-Ghana tilt, won deep in the second half by the Africans.
Korean players fell to the ground in grief, and their manager Paolo says "it wasn't fair".
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63698280
Argentina is alive! It's true. They beat Mexico, but c'mon man, if your team had Messi, you'd be alive, too. Germany doesn't have Messi, and Germany is halfway out the door.
And Canada... CANADA! Canada defeat Italy. Oh wait, that was in tennis.
In soccer, the Croats whipped the Canuckistanians 2-1 in the official Buh-Bye Canada Relegation game. That was official authorisation for Canadian media to begin the "How will Canada perform in the next World Cup?*" campaign.
*ANSWER: Not very well. Canadian kids don't get soccer cleats when they're 2 years old; they get skates.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/worldcup/opinion/2022/11/26/this-is-canadas-world-cup-moment-fear-croatia-not-any-more.html
THE MOST SOCCER THING EVER! U.S., England tie World Cup match in Qatar, 0-0.
The highlight reel from the game is really something:
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/25/1139220807/usmnt-england-world-cup-tie-qatar
'highlights': https://ggle.io/5ORj
I always said that kid would never amount to much.
Great, Now We're Getting a Horror Movie Where Bambi is Killing People.
"Bambi's out for revenge against the hunter who shot his mom”
https://gizmodo.com/bambi-the-reckoning-horror-movie-1849824011
And don't ignore the move, Pooh: Blood & Honey.
https://gizmodo.com/winnie-the-pooh-horror-movie-trailer-blood-and-honey-1849479054
TECHNOLOGY
NASA's Orion Sends Back Haunting New Views of the Moon's Tortured Surface. With photos.
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-orion-views-moon-surface-artemis-1849820337
Behold the world's oldest living cat. Almost 27.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2022/11/worlds-oldest-cat-confirmed-at-almost-27-years-old-726391
What to do when someone disagrees with you online, by Frank Fleming
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/11/22/what-to-do-when-someone-disagrees-with-you-a-guest-post-by-frank-fleming/
There are 7 million adult males in the US who are out of work.
Related question: Where are the millions of illegal aliens who cross the border every year? Are they working or just collecting welfare?
https://youtu.be/m8D42LtavvQ
Former Paralympic athlete selected as world's first disabled astronaut.
https://gizmodo.com/paralympic-athlete-first-disabled-astronaut-1849818034
It's all pretty Enron-like.
First and definitely not the last decent mini-doc on the crypto currency Ponzi scheme FTX and its horrible Sam Bankman-fried (SBF) and that meth-loving chick you love to love, Conniving Caroline Ellison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20BEJouWBgY&ab_channel=ColdFusion
Humankind: A grandmother and a teen she accidentally invited to Thanksgiving dinner carry on their tradition for seventh year.
https://bityl.co/FtDt
UNCLASSIFIED
Grammy-winning Fame and Flashdance singer Irene Cara died at 63 after a long battle with cancer.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/26/irene-cara-grammy-winning-fame-and-flashdance-singer-dead-at-63/
The Reuters chief correspondent in Beijing believes
China has limited power, desire to curb Pyongyang
He writes
China doesn't want to see a nuclear-armed North Korea, but the expanding U.S. military footprint raises other priorities.
Sounds very Cold War-ish.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-has-limited-power-perhaps-little-desire-curb-north-korea-2022-11-22/
A former editor-in-chief of the Bangkok Post, as usual, has an inside track on Thai politics.
Veera Prateepchaikul believes the "Prayut has aces up his sleeve" as the possible 2023 general election approaches. And the photo looks like he thinks he's holding the nuts.
Since he is the only person who can dissolve the House [and call an election], Prayut will try to capitalise on that prerogative to his utmost political benefit.
The opposition may react by skipping House meetings to prevent a quorum to give the impression of a lame-duck Lower House as they have been doing. But such a practice will backfire on them rather than the 'government' or the 'prime minister' Prayut.
PHOTO: Prayut at a Government House briefing: He knows what he's doing.
https://bityl.co/Ft9w
A Bangkok political cartoonist sees present-day politics is quite a different way.
Translation: Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), formed in 2018, is the supposed refuge of Prayut and fellow coupmakers.
UTN: Ruam Thai Sang Chart [United Thai Nation Party] is wooing Prayut away from his junta comrades.
The Canadian-Brit Gwynne writes on Vinland history, a rare subject.
The Exact Chronology of Early Societies' (ECHOES) team of palaeohistorians at Groningen University in the northern Netherlands has set the time, place and Viking gang for exact date of the first European settlement in the New World, i.e. the Americas: 1021 AD at L'Anse aux Meadows at the very northernmost tip of Newfoundland - what they called Vinland.
Long suspected, now confirmed.
Because in the 1960s, Norwegian archaeologists had discovered the remains of eight Norse longhouses on the L'Anse aux Meadows site. And we know that the Norse in Newfoundland had both peaceful and violent contacts with the local indigenous people.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2447727/vinland-history-a-question-of-dates-timing
Columnist Roger Crutchley writes just once a week, but he is on fleek 52 times a year.
It seemed a good idea at the time
The annual elephant festival in Surin province attracted more than the usual attention last week after featuring an attempt to enter the hallowed Guinness Book of Records.
Alas, the only record achieved was that hundreds of student "volunteers" roasted in the sun, exposed for hours to high temperatures reaching 39C.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2447299/
There is an excellent sidebar to the Crutch column, by a Bangkok Post feature writer:
Theatre of the absurd
If the students did not participate in the event, they would be failed by teachers.
PHOTO: Intimidated students of 15 schools were forced to spend time and money in order to puff up the ego of the junta-appointed Surin province governor.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/2447857
