Thailand's best Sunday columnist recalls Lop Buri in the old days

Hollywood on the way to film scenes for Jurassic 4 in the South
Headline du Jour: Loan-shark couple surrender in naked photos case

No joke (PHOTO: Port of Bangkok)

It is undeniable that Thailand's national debt has increased significantly since March 2020, aka  'the start of the Covid pandemic.'
Another example: Tourist operators are concerned after learning that Thailand had dropped 11 places in the annual World Economic Forum travel and tourism index released last week.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2804160/

Lop Buri is an interesting town but Crutch was there back when...
Lop Buri before the monkeying around
 In the 1970s, it  offered a chance to escape Bangkok for a couple of days and experience a taste of life in a small town.
 It was very pleasant too, with friendly locals trying out their English. The hotel staff were admittedly a trifle puzzled that I would choose to spend precious days off in somewhat somnolent Lop Buri in preference to the bright lights of Bangkok.
 Fast-forward 50 years, and Lop Buri now has its own special crack police "monkey unit," which has been busy recently, rounding up scores of misbehaving macaques and taking them off to a new home. Fed by the growing number of tourists, these monkeys become increasingly aggressive.

The misbehaving Lop Buri monkeys have always been a topic of discussion. In the informative book Guide to Thailand (formerly Discovering Thailand) written back in the 1970s by former French ambassador Achille Clarac and Michael Smithies there is the following observation:

"The temple ruins… are occupied by hundreds of gambolling monkeys, which the visitors feed. You should not leave your car doors or windows open because the monkeys will snatch anything that takes their fancy. They also climb on the trains which stop nearby and travel free on the roof."

That was 50 years ago. I was particularly pleased to see the use of "gambolling" a word you rarely see these days.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2803694/

Loan Sharks AND Blackmailers
PRACHIN BURI: A married couple operating a 'private loan agency' surrendered on Monday to answer charges of posting naked pictures of debt defaulters online.
The couple are charged with loan sharking (usury), posting pictures of naked people on computer systems and demanding repayment in an improper manner that damaged others' reputations.
More details: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2804191/

USA PROTEST
The Pride of being idiots
 Hundreds of Jew-hating "protesters" bring Philly* gay pride parade to a halt.
https://nypost.com/2024/06/02/us-news/anti-israel-protest-brings-philly-gay-pride-parade-to-a-halt/

NOTE: 'Philly' is the U.S. city of Philadelphia, which used to be the capital city of the United States.

INNER TUBE: Fishwrap at the Movies
Best Parkour Scene (still) Seven minutes-plus
Casino Royale, 2006, Daniel Craig. Just after the opening.

ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS STANLEY
Final Verdict -- Buh-bye Texas, Hello Florida

Edmonton defeated Dallas 2-1 in Game 6 and will face Florida in the Cup finals -- for their first time in 18 years.
The world's best hockey player scored the first goal, assisted on the clincher.
Game 1: Oilers at Sunrise, Sunday 0700 aka Saturday 8 p.m. Florida time.

But yeah! Right! No wonder there's so little interest in the Stanley Cup... There's a T20 World Cup at stake! And it's also Canada v America, what a coincidence.

Hollywood is coming to Krabi province to film scenes for the upcoming Jurassic World 4.

Film crews are scheduled to arrive at the southern province for a month, starting June 13.
Their main focus is one week at scenic, three-level Huai To waterfall (photo) in Khao Phanom Bencha National Park.
Producers have already applied for the Incentive Plan for foreign investors, which provide a 20 percent rebate once they spend 100 million baht, about approximately 2.7 million U.S. bucks.
https://www.nationthailand.com/blogs/news/policy/40038486

CHINA EBOLA WEAPONISING CALIFORNIA
by Gordie Chang, U.S. Sinologist who know approximately Everything about the Middle Kingdom
China Weaponising 90%-Fatal Ebola
China also can make the disease highly contagious. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is, after all, the gain-of-function capital of the world.
China's secret biological weapons lab in Reedley, California. near Fresno -- tricked up to look like an abandoned building (photo) -- contained thousands of samples of labeled, unlabeled, and encoded potential pathogens and a freezer labeled "Ebola." The freezer held unlabeled sealed bags used to store high-risk biological materials.

Excellent background report and revelations on the covert Chinese lab and its operators.

USA POLITICS
Trump on the possibility of going to jail: I'm okay with it.

GLOBAL WARMING
When she has more time, Kim Kardashian campaigns for U.S. President Joseph Biden.
https://x.com/Travis_4_Trump/status/1797009548718354516

[Advertisement]

Google Search With AI not only has all the answers -- it even knows what are your questions.

ALSO GLOBAL WARMING
From London, Canadian-Limey columnist Gwynne Dyer has been super-busy concocting a warning, in two or more parts.
Current trends give little hope on climate
 Interviewing 100 climate scientists -- proper in-depth interviews, two cameras, lights, the lot -- is a crash course in coping strategies.
 Most of these men and women are suffering from quiet desperation, because they know what's going to happen and they can't seem to change it.
 They feel obliged to sound optimistic, but give them a half-hour to talk about it and the sadness and despair start to show.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2804065/

NOTE: Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

There are no 'new records' (yuck) of tornadoes and hurricanes but there is record hysteria and record media hype.
And record amounts of American ignorance, historical and otherwise.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/409896.php

[Musical Interlude]
How y'all feelin' today? Better'n this, we hope.
Volume Up!

[The Tuesday Morning Joke]

At the end of the sermon, the pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express a praise for an answered prayer. Suzie stood and walked to the podium.

She said, "I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Frank, had a terrible bicycle accident and his scrotum was completely crushed.

"The pain was excruciating, and the doctors didn't know if they could help him."

You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagined the pain that poor Frank must have experienced.

“Frank was unable to hold me or the children," she went on, "and every move caused him terrible pain." We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Frank's scrotum and wrap fine wire around it to hold it in place with metal staples.”

Again, the men in the congregation cringed and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Frank.

“Now," she announced in a quivering voice, "thank the Lord, Frank is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely.”

All the men sighed with unified relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.

A man stood up and walked slowly to the podium. He said, "I'm Frank." The entire congregation held its breath.

“I just want to tell my wife that the word is sternum.” [h/t Ace]

Dateline INDONESIA

Young man, 25, now identified only as "AK" finds a squeeze, Adinda, also 25. And they date for a year. Adinda always wears a niqab which hides her face, AK figures, wow, what a good Muslim.
AK proposes, buys a ZOMG-large engagement ring, They get married. Two weeks pass, amd Adinda doesn't feel well, or she's on her period, or she has a headache, Two WEEKS! And AK, arguably the slowest guy in the village, figures out that Adinda's a katoey, imagine that!
Details of the story are even worse. It appears Adinda is about to get four years of free room and board for 'her' fraud.
With VIDEO: The Sun.com https://shorturl.at/2iBxI
Origin SCMP: https://t.ly/LqK84

TECHNOLOGY

THE NEW SPACE RACE
China conducts three launches inside two days.
https://spacenews.com/china-conducts-three-launches-inside-two-days/

MORE SPACE! MORE!
The first launch of the Boeing Starliner has been scrubbed - again - this time due to a computer problem. (CBS)
The launch is controlled by three independent computers that for safety reasons have to agree at all times. Four minutes before launch... they didn't
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boeing-starliner-launch-first-piloted-test-flight-halted-again-international-space-station/

ONLY in Taiwan
TSMC is preparing both 12nm and 5nm versions of its controller chips for HBM4 modules. (AnandTech)
Smaller than a postage stamp, HBM4 will store up to 64GB and have transfer rate of 2TB per second, which is a lot.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/21395/tsmc-readies-hbm4-base-dies-at-12nm-and-5nm

The implosion of an EV startup. (Tech Crunch)
Goes like this...
"Elon Musk is an idiot. If he can do it, I can do it."
(Fails miserably.)
Rinse and repeat.