That day in May when the April Showers hit Bangkok

To all readers without regard to either sex, political belief, national origin or even religion:
We will never ask who you voted for or for whom you intend to vote.
 Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Nong Bon, home of every Bulldog Edition of Fishwrap,
 this being Publication of Fishwrap for Wednesday, 8 May 2024, also known as the 1,540th day-anniversary since the Virus From Wuhan began killing Thais -- 4 years, 2 months, 15 days.
  

Do not trust trees. They're shady.
  

Such an idea has not crossed my mind.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin denies he wants a new law to curb the independence of the Bank of Thailand.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2787839/

As certain as Thunder and Lightning, the first 'April Showers' hit Bangkok and the Central Region early on Tuesday.
These 'mango rains' are appreciated/loved by every rice and and vegetable farmer, but no, this is not The Rainy Season; wait til July for that.
What the mango rains do so absolution brilliantly is to create more traffic jams in Bangkok city and all surrounding provinces.
PHOTO: Just trying to get to work! It drizzled most of the day on Tuesday.

Thailand's Chant. Among the 15 Freest nations in Asia
 We're Number 12! We're Number 12!
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-freest-countries-asia-183601250.html
Number One most-free is Taiwan.

RIP

Voluble, likeable Limey friend and colleague for 50-plus years, Colin Hastings, best known as founder-editor of popular Big Chilli magazine, dead at 73.
Colin was driving at Bang Saray, south of Bangkok, when he was struck by a heart aneurysm and died instantly at the wheel.
More from

Jungle Train from Narathiwat
On a 1980 evening, Colin and I shared the most memorable train journey I have experienced in Thailand.
It was evening, and we had taken up a position in the restaurant car, enjoying a snack and a beer, when the train ground to a halt in the middle of the jungle.
 This was nothing out of the ordinary for Thai trains, but after half an hour, the jungle telegraph informed us that a goods train had derailed in Surat Thani, and we could be stuck there "for a while".

Also from Crutch: The world's best excuses for train delays.
One of the strangest announcements came on the Cardiff-London route when passengers were informed the delay was caused by "a giant clown on the line". Apparently an inflatable Ronald McDonald had blown off the roof of a McDonald's restaurant and blocked the line.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2787090/

THAILAND POLITICS DIPLOMACY
The brand new foreign minister of Thailand says he is totally cool with Thaksin's 'intervention' in Thai-Myanmar relations.
We are not to be told just what constitutes that intervention. Here's the hint from new minister Maris Sangiampongsa (photo, glad-handing Government House reporters)

 Thaksin's talks with Myanmar rebel leaders are personal, and in no way are part of Thai foreign policy.

Sure.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2788300/

There will be Thai (political) blood
Prime Minister Srettha reshuffles government, creates serious and powerful enemies in the ruling Pheu Thai (For Thais) Party controlled by Thaksin's daughter Ung-Ing
Example: He took away the title of the foreign minister as 'deputy prime minister' and Panpree Bahiddha-Nukara immediately (photo) strode into Government House in high dugeon (PHOTO), carrying his resignation letter.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/2783429/
 Panpree noted that he had done a great job even citing his work on freeing Thai hostages from Hamas terrorists; although actually Hamas continues to hold eight Thai workers captured by the October 7raiders on Israel.
 Srettha appointed career diplomat and VCF (very close friend of Thaksin) as the new foreign minister.

Prime Minister Srettha also fired two other politically vengeful Pheu Thai ministers that could result in trouble -- the minister of public health and the deputy minister of agriculture.
Depending on exact events, Pheu Thai has a plurality of no more than a couple of votes in the Lower House. Srettha is a billionaire realtor with close-to-zero experience in Thai political knife-fighting and he may regret some of his actions of the past week.

ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS STANLEY CUP
Leafs-killers Boston Bruins went to Sunrise and handed the Panthers their a** -- 5-to-1.

Swayman stopped 38 shots but let in one goal by Matthew Tkachuk.
Florida coach Paul Maurice said

We weren't great tonight... They played well. They looked like they were in a little bit of a rhythm. They played a very patient game, so, good for them. Not so good for us.

https://www.nhl.com/news/boston-bruins-florida-panthers-game-1-recap-may-6

Tonight: Analysis of the all-Canadian series https://t.ly/qCy4q

We can’t get into a penalty fest against Edmonton. We can’t give them four, five or six power plays.

-- Rick Tocchet, coach, Vancouver Canucks

As the United States including Biden and the DEA follow Thailand down the strange 'Legal-but-Illegal' path on illicit drugs,
Here is an analysis via 12-minute audio, by Aubrey Gulick and Ellie Gardey, whom we also never have heard of.
 Biden’s Marijuana Decision Will Inflict True Disaster
 Medical marijuana is a gateway drug America can't afford. In Thailand, it will soon apply to meth.
The ladies point out that the Biden administration’s attempt to reschedule the drug panders to young Democrat voters.

Only Government can prevent Deaths

HIGHWAYS SLAUGHTER
The U.S. Government aka Biden Regime has mandated automatic emergency braking in all new cars sold starting 2029. (Car and Driver)
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates this will save 360 lives a year - - almost as many as are killed by beavers and bathtub accidents combined.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a60662904/federal-automatic-emergency-braking-mandate/

COLORADO (A U.S. state in the Rocky Mountain region)
 Mountain lion hunting ban working its way towards Colorado's 2024 ballot, November 5.
If it makes the ballot and passes, Initiative #91 would bar what the measure refers to as the “trophy hunting” of mountain lions, including bobcats or lynx, anywhere in the state.
Mountain lions have killed four people and numerous domestic animals and pets.

MIDEAST ISRAEL CENSORSHIP JOURNALISM
Israel to close local Al Jazeera offices as cease-fire tensions rise
 Under a law passed last month, the government can temporarily shutter foreign media outlets if it determines they are undermining national security.

Winston Smith reports the latest victories of his White House brothers:
The weapons have already begun flowing to Eurasia which has never been at war with Oceania.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/04/24/us/biden-israel-ukraine-aid
Even more clear, literally, and straight outta the White House

This Week's 'More Proof' that Mathematicians Are Beyond Mad
(with more theorems and illustrations than a Little Golden Book)
Understanding Stein's Paradox. Go Slowly.
Simple geometry proves 'the beauty' of the James Stein Estimator. Uh, well, that didn't work!
https://joe-antognini.github.io/machine-learning/steins-paradox

TECHNOLOGY
What is (RAG)? It is Retrieval Augmented Generation/
Why RAG won't solve generative AI's hallucination problem. (Tech Crunch)
Because models have no real intelligence and are simply predicting words, images, speech, music and other data according to a private schema, they sometimes get it wrong. Very wrong.

Bottom Line: Look it up. Which is why AI is unnecessary, unneeded and just flat wrong.

SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK.
 SpaceX successfully launches 23 Starlink satellites from Florida.