The Plan to Make Bangkok Drivers Pay First

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, award-eligible, generally stately, and illustrious Fishwrap.
This, to celebrate the eve of the eve of eve of Halloween 2024.

Hello?...hello?... Can you hear?. Ah, that's better, eh?
Fishwrap has mostly recovered from our super-important 100-day hiatus.
As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...( not for the squeamish)

Anyhows... 92 degrees and hot, very hot; This must be Nong Bon. And this is the Catch-Up Edition of Fishwrap.

Pay To Drive in Bangkok
    

The Thai Ministry of Transport thinks [the operative word] that if it charges citizens to drive in the capital city, traffic jams will disappear.
 Theory: 'Encourage*' car owners and drivers to leave their cars at home and use public transport.
 The fees will help to fund a 20-baht flat-rate fare for the city's electric trains.
 However: This plan will take at least a year to study, so breath-holding is discouraged.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/2890858/
*'Encourage', v, synonym 'charge heavy fees on top of licensing and mandatory government-insurance'.

COMMENT: It's wise as always to recall that this is not a new idea, and all previous versions have been shot down by civil servants during lengthy "studies".
Fishwrap staff remember that this was first proposed by Thaksin himself, while promising during his very first toe-dipping in politics  in 1997 to solve the Bangkok traffic congestion.

TAIWAN CHINA USA

The Totally Expected Biden Government Response
The Biden Admin  has approved a nearly $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, including two radar upgrade packages, and for the first time ever, an advanced surface-to-air missile system that has been battle-tested in Ukraine.
The Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced the deal, calling it the largest single military sale to Taiwan during President Joe Biden’s administration and the 17th overall since Biden was sworn in -- 2021.
President Lai Ching-te sent an official 'Thanks' to Biden, said official spokeswomanlady Karen Kuo (photo).
https://english.president.gov.tw/News/6825

Top World Spectacle
Thailand (finally) staged the Royal Barge Festival along the Chao Phraya River in front of Bangkok.

Sunday's three-hour production marked the 72nd birthday of His Majesty King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) on July 28 and it made a large deal out of inviting all citizens and tourists. 
A list of fourteen (14) prime vantage points was selected by City Hall, aka the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. It was advised to carry drinking water, umbrellas, hats and any necessary medicines, against the 97-degree (36 Canadian) Sunday afternoon heat and rain. Oh, And Also: everyone needed an ID card or passport for final security checks held under CCTV cameras, just in case.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2890691/
by Kavi Chongkittavorn, veteran journalist on regional affairs
Behind Thailand's winning UNHRC bid
Thailand has been elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 2025-2027 term. It was no stroke of luck; the public has been surprised by Bangkok's success.

A frequent question is whether domestic political challenges had an impact on the UNHRC election -- such as the Constitutional Court's recent dissolution of the Move Forward Party, its removal of (now former) prime minister Srettha Thavisin, not to mention hundreds of political activists being jailed. Based on the voting outcome, nah; these political intrigues did not affect the October 9 vote for UNHRC selection.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2887887/

Israel Strikes Back: Backbone of Iran's missile industry destroyed

The most interesting part:
 The targets struck were sophisticated equipment that Iran could not produce on its own.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-826205

Big Mike Calls The American Election
Michelle Ma Belle [right, in photo] stepped out to campaign for Kamala, and made a speech which noticed:
 'This election is too close'

Also
Hey! Men! Take our lives seriously.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgrrr7gzxxo

Which begs the Oped question, What If Mike had run, instead of Kamala?
Her speech in Michiganistan:

 I'm deeply concerned that so many people are buying into the lies of people who don't have our best interests at heart. Ugliness will touch all of our lives.

Don Trump, also in Dearbornistan:

 Arab-American voters can turn the election.

SCOOP!
STOP THE G*L DA**ED PRESS
In the latest news of only 31 short years ago, the former news-paper Washington Post reports excitedly on the front page that Stacey Williams has just recalled that time in 1993 when her friend and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein*introduced her to Donald Trump, who right then and there "groped" her.
Surely there will be further updates, possibly inluding the word p***y? Stacey used to be a "swimsuit model" but that was 31 almost forgotten years ago.
*Who did not kill himself.
This is the email that came to Fishwrap exactly from .

In one of the greatest coincidence in the history of the United States, the Washington Post and the El Lay Timesdecided to not run instructions to readers on, for whom to vote. There was absolutely not any tiny smidgen of conspiracy about it.
The "news"papers' staff are irate and several senior editors have quit, perhaps to learn to code.
The New York Times called it "this shocking abdication from editorial responsibility." The New York Timesalso 'reported' that those two papers are probably preparing for when Hitler literally becomes president of the U.S.A. and orders the press what to print.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/28/opinion/washington-post-la-times-endorsement.html

Fishwrap unabashedly recommends the two-reel 1944 cartoon short (13 minutes) urging everyone to vote. [Reminder: World War Two was bitterly under way at Election Day 1944.]

USA POLITICS ELECTION
David Urban, Grabien: Kamala Harris Participated in a One Person Debate Last Night, and She Lost.
'She was asked direct questions, and she provided very circular answers.
Van Jones (CP, Xi-NN): The Word Salad stuff gets on my nerves. I think that some of the evasions are not necessary.

Good Question:

In collaboration with the American Studies Association in Thailand and the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat College, the Matichon Group hosted a seminar entitled U.S. Election 2024: Deep Dive into the Race for the White House.
https://shorturl.at/l40Iz

Say What? Gate What?
You've seen them, they've probably pushed you to get to the head of the line to board the airliner.
Those 'people' are Gate Lice. And U.S. airlines, at least, are really, really tired of them.
e.g.
American Airlines (and that includes Japan Airlines and Alaska Airlines by the way) are installing technology that beeps and TRILLS when passengers try to bust the line and board before it's their turn. Gate people grab line-cutters and escort them to the back of their rightful group's line.
OregonLive: https://shorturl.at/k5L5x

TECHNOLOGY
The Librarian of Congress has granted a DMCA exemption to allow franchise owners to repair their own ice cream machines. (ExtremeTech)
The requested exemption was much broader, but the Librarian only granted the part covering "retail-level food preparation equipment". Still a step forward for soft-serve lovers everywhere.
Still, a step forward, kind-of.
https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/us-copyright-office-grants-dmca-exemption-for-ice-cream-machines
Siri now has an integration with ChatGPT. (The Verge)
Asked a simple question, it can return answers for things you didn't ask, just vague enough to be completely useless when they are not entirely wrong in the first place.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/25/24278716/siri-chat-gpt-ios-18-2-developer-beta-apple-intelligence
This page does not exist. (Wikipedia) (via archive site)
The judge in a defamation case in India has ordered Wikipedia to take down the page about the case -- globally.
Be a shame if this got Streisanded into the stratosphere.
https://archive.md/XIxZv

Cheaper Zen 5 laptops are on their way. (Tom's Hardware)
The current Zen 5 laptop chips are Strix Point, with twelve cores (four Zen 5 and eight Zen 5c). The new Krackan Point chips trim that down to eight cores (four of each)
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-ryzen-ai-7-300-krackan-point-apu-allegedly-spotted-in-a-benchmark-and-shipping-manifest-sports-eight-zen-5-cores-and-lpddr5x-8000-memory

Still waiting in the wings is Strix Point Halo, with sixteen Zen 5 cores and forty graphics cores.

Maximise Productivity With This Microsoft Bundle
Get Office, Project, Visio, and Windows 11 Pro for US$71.94.
https://www.extremetech.com/deals/get-ready-to-maximize-your-productivity-with-this-ms-bundle
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE Slashed to $319.99
It has a 10.9-inch screen with a 2,304-by-1,440 resolution, runs on Samsung’s Exynos 1380 octa-core chip, has 6GB RAM, and can be expanded to 1TB storage.
https://www.extremetech.com/deals/this-samsung-t7-shield-2tb-portable-ssd-is-just-14999
This is a good (true) story, by Brie Stimson:
Chinese Hackers at Work
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chinese-hackers-attempted-breach-trump-harris-campaigns-cellphone-data

HEALTH FAST-FOOD
As McDonald's tries to track down the source of its E. coli outbreak, other major fast-food chains pull one likely suspect  -- onions from their menus.
https://shorturl.at/jiP0q

Dooby wants to collab with vTubers, but ... like, you know...
 She got about 50,000 people show up for her debut across Twitch and YouTube.