Thailand will likely end the 52-year ban on afternoon booze sales
Hello Fishwrap readers in Thailand and around this world.
Here in hot Nong Bon, we have put to bed the first edition of the Fishwrap for Monday, February 5. And here it is.
February showers cause tourist glowers
The usual, annual April rain started two months early in Bangkok and most of Central Thailand.
Also in the Central and South, the winter is definitely over and we are starting the dry season.
The North and goodly parts of Isan (the Northeast) are still very chilly at night, and Thai tourists love it.
Khao Sod (Fresh News) https://www.khaosod.co.th/breaking-news/news_8081095
More (in English) at: https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40035221
Ban on a string
PHOTO inside a Bangkok supermarket shows the daily notice that all sales of all alcoholic beverages are banned from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Word from the Minister of Public Health Dr. Cholnan Srikaew is that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, especially, and other government ministers think that allowing sales of alcohol in the afternoon will attract a lot of new tourists.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2735781/
Roger encounters a certified honker -- and he doesn't mean a Canada goose.
Despite the frustration of sitting in endless jams, I've always felt Bangkok motorists display remarkable restraint when it comes to using horns.
He was also a terrible driver constantly changing lanes, cutting off cars and at one stage going through a red light. On the rare occasion we had a bit of open road he accelerated wildly before slamming...
I was quite relieved when we finally reached our destination, but immediately felt sorry for new passengers he proceeded to pick up, who didn't know what they were letting themselves in for.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2735946/
No extinction here, we're Thai!
Explorers from the Foundation of the National Science Museum (NSM)have found and reported three (3) brand new species of earwigs, also known as Pincher Bugs; two (2) completely new species of ants (photos of them all, below) and a plant -- quite pretty, kind of like ginger.
Below the tiny new animals is a plant, never seen before in Thailand.
The discovery team in Tak province near the Myanmar border, named it Dok Din Khai Pla. Its scientific name is Kaempferia subglobosa Noppornch & Jenjitt. It belongs to the ginger family and is native only to Tak province.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2734950/
Earwigs are super-tiny insects also known as Pincher Bugs.
The three new species were discovered in Chiang Mai, Nan, and also in Chantaburi in the far eastern region.
They are wingless and unable to fly, unlike other earwigs. Their colours range from medium to dark brown. The males have long sex organs.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2734950/
Two days late but a wistful Fishwrap remembrance of February 3, 1959, better known as The Day The Music Died.
A small plane crashed outside Mason City, Iowa (a state in middle America) and killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.D. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
Things you didn't know that you'd ever find out. aka Trivia.
1. Buddy Holly's last song was Brown Eyed Handsome Man by Chuck Berry.
2. Photo (below) is Waylon Jennings, who played bass for the Crickets at the last Buddy Holly gig at the Surf in Mason City -- which is still open and rockin'.
Waylon lost a coin flip to (19-year-old) Richie Valens for the last seat on the plane, which gave Waylon years of survivor's guilt.
THAILAND USA COBRA GOLD 2024
U.S. ambassador Bob Godec drove out to the headquarters of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) at Nonthaburi, just north of Bangkok.
He paid respects to supreme armed forces commander General Thitichai Tiantong and talked with the Royal Thai Navy commander, Admiral Adung Phan-iam.
At this year's 43rd edition of Cobra Gold, U.S. and Thai navy divers will go down to look at the swamped, sunken HTMS Sukhothai warship under the Gulf of Thailand.
The United States is currently ticked off that Thailand has hired a Chinese firm to recover the ship, which sank in heavy seas in December.
Khao Sod (Fresh News) in English https://shorturl.at/erHS6
Cobra Gold 2024, the 43rd annual military exercise, will take place in eastern Chonburi and Rayong provinces from February 27 to March 10.
Photo (below) shows the start of last year's Cobra Gold, also in Ryong.
GLOBAL WARMING CANADA POLITICS USA
'There will be blowback' if Trump wins
A former Canadian ambassador to Washington -- and also close political adviser to Justin Trudeau and his NAFTA negotiator -- has told the prime minister to stop his periodic jabs at Trump.
Taking indirect shots at Trump would make it a lot harder to fight against Trump’s promised 10 per cent tariffs on U.S. imports, or to persuade a new Trump administration that the Trudeau government is a trusted partner on defence and security, suggested David MacNaughton.
MacNaughton said the prime minister is taking a risk by being seen to take swipes at Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in a U.S. presidential election year.
Americans vote this coming November, which a full national election in Canada will be a year later.
Toronto Star: https://t.ly/hrnPC
Biden replaces John Kerry with John Podesta as his 'climate envoy'.
 Podesta is a longtime Swamp creature who knows a good grift when he sees it.
Hotair.com: https://shorturl.at/pvIOP
FLASHBACK: He became rich (no pun intended) and then super-rich by consulting for Green Energy billionaires. Now, he oversees a U.S. federal fund that could make them all richer than they can imagine.
ISRAEL GAZA WAR
In response to the killing of three American soldiers in a drone strike conducted by Iranian proxy forces, the United States struck over 85 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force and Iranian-backed militia targets in Iraq and Syria yesterday. According to Critical Threats, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias said that they will continue attacks targeting US forces until U.S. forces are expelled from Iraq.
Centcom's press release:
 The 85 targets were struck with more than 125 precision munitions. The facilities that were struck “included command and control operations centers, intelligence centers, rockets, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicle storage, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces.
A White House statement in the name of President Biden:
 It vowed further strikes "at times and places of our choosing."
Centcom statement: https://t.ly/gcuvW
Biden statement: https://t.ly/2yJrL
Below:
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1753445594578772241
The [Biden] administration also believes in repetition.
 The statement attributed to Biden includes this variation of what has become an administration mantra:
 The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world.
The City Council of Chicago, home to Al Capone, the dirty Daleys and more corruption than Thailand's ministry of education, brags that it passed a resolution (by one vote) demanding a casse-fire.
https://shorturl.at/inwAN
Monday morning headline by ABC (U.S.A.) Chicago:
 At least 14 shot, 2 fatally in weekend gun violence across city, police say.
https://twitter.com/emanabdelhadi/status/1752788056539537597
And America's Newspaper of Record:
 Gaza Votes For Ceasefire In Chicago. https://t.ly/qu9k2
Genuine Feel Good Story
Just two weeks before her gala wedding, a South Bay bride-to-be found out 'something' about her honey, and cancelled the wedding.
The owner of the reception hall said, "Tough luck. We're keeping your US$15,000 deposit" -- about 532,000 baht in real money.
Instead of collapsing in deep sobs on her fainting couch, the lady [who insists on being anonymous] called the local nonprofit charity Parents Helping Parents and said, "I've got a large hall and food and even a DJ, let's have a party for all the kids and teens with special needs."
And they did.
The party at the Gilroy Eagle Ridge Golf Club, included not only dinner and dessert but a DJ, a photo booth, and a fireworks display.
The special-needs kids and parents did not have a good time -- they all had a great time!
VIDEO and Report at NBCbayarea.com: https://shorturl.at/dtJXZ
ENTERTAINMENT DEATHS RIP
Carl Weathers, best known as Apollo Creed in the first Rocky, died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 76.
He was also a linebacker in the NFL back in the day. Golf fans will recall him in Happy Gilmore, where he played Chubby, whose hand was bitten clean off by an alligator.
Excellent obit by Cracked: https://t.ly/B7Iyr
ALSO USA POLITICS ELECTION NIKKI
The problem is not her trying to manipulate opinion, but doing it so stupidly.
 Nikki Haley appears to fabricate her own fan mail and gets devoured by the apex predators of MAGA.
AmericanThinker.com https://shorturl.at/gADFV
SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT SUPER BOWL
Early next Monday, 0630 to be exact here in the Zulu+7 region
And ZOMG did Fishwrap mention to yous guys that Taylor Swift will be there, watching her current squeeze Travis Kelce of the Chiefs?
Super Bowl LVIII is the National Football League (NFL) championship match.
The game will be at 0630 on Monday morning Hua Hin time (Zulu+7), February 12, at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, near Las Vegas.
Translation to help American and Canuckian readers: The game will be at 1830 Letterkenny time (Zulu-5) at Allegiant Stadium, Paradise, in the state of Nevada in America.
Time of the Actual Contest:
 1530 Zulu -8 (Calliente, Nevada time)
 1830 Zulu -5 (Listowel and Letterkenny, Ontario and Hull, PQ)
 0630 Zulu +7 (Nong Ban and Amphoe Prawet, Thailand)
Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show: Usher. Reba, who will also sing the U.S. national Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner) before the actual game.
 Stupid Bet: How long will she make the national anthem last?
 Stupider Bet: Which of them will be the first to forget their song lyrics?
Completely Unofficial colours: Â Red and Gold for San Francisco, Red and off-white for Kansas City.
The Las Vegas bookies have Kansas City as a slight favourite over San Francisco -- three points only.
The Las Vegas bookies have Kansas City as a slight favourite over San Francisco -- three points only.
The Las Vegas bookies have Kansas City as a slight favourite over San Francisco -- three points only.
Over-under as of this morning is 47.5.
TECHNOLOGY
Looks like we can't count Mark Zuckerberg out just yet: Facebook's market cap grew by $200 billion. (Yahoo Finance)
In one day.
Even if you don't use Facebook, there's no denying that an awful lot of people do use it.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-200-billion-surge-biggest-152002946.html
Snap is recalling and refunding every drone it ever sold, iow a total recall of the Pixy drone. (The Verge)
More specifically, they are recalling the Pixy battery, but since they are recalling the Pixy battery because it catches fire, they very much do not want you to send back the battery.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/1/24058119/snap-recall-pixy-drone-refund
Another day, another recall. Today it's the Bambu Ai 3d printer. (Tom's Hardware)
This one can short circuit and deincarnate your chicken, so best do as they say.
https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/bambu-lab-a1-recall-company-asks-owners-to-turn-off-their-3d-printers-as-micro-center-pulls-product-from-shelves
Speaking of memory (and we always are, right?...
you can now add 256GB of RAM to regular Intel desktop systems except you can't. (WCCFTech)
64GB memory modules should be here soon, but right now it's just a check box on the motherboard feature list.
https://wccftech.com/msi-256-gb-ddr5-memory-support-intel-700-600-motherboards-easy-compatibility/
But speaking of check boxes on motherboard feature lists...
It seems that Intel started supporting ECC memory -- two years ago.
The Core i5 12500 and up, 13500 and up, and 14500 and up all support ECC RAM, both with DDR4 and DDR5.
Fishwrap Disclaimer which geeks and nerds will get instantly:
 256GB should be enough for anybody.
There's another security vulnerability in GitLab. (Tech Radar)
It's marked 'critical';, but it's a privilege escalation bug, so it only applies to users who are already logged in to the GitLab server.
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/gitlab-users-warned-of-flaw-that-allows-file-overwrite-so-update-now
NOTE: The 'Macbeth discourse' is a never-ending dispute between those who think Macbeth's (undoubtedly and duplicitously evil) wife A/ forced him to kill King Duncan, against his will or B? knew that's what Macbeth really wanted, and malevolently guided him to the deed, which explains "Out! Out, damned spot!"
