The Queen is dead. Long live the King
All day today is one day closer to Weekend Number 146 of the two-week lockdowns to flatten the curve.
The Queen is dead. Long live the King*
*This headline is an adaptation of the real one written by my father for Canada's national newspaper the Globe and Mail upon the death of Elizabeth's father, King George VI on February 6, 1952.
It's a coincidence that, two days ago, I watched the brilliant documentary 'Our Queen at War', detailing [the quite brave and superbly patriotic] activities of then-Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret throughout that war despite Hitler's London Blitz that almost killed them and their reigning parents.
 NOTE: There was a campaign to send the Royal Family to safety in Canada or America, to which the then-Queen Elizabeth (King George's wife) replied:
 The children will not leave unless I do. I shall not leave unless their father does, and the King will not leave the country in any circumstances, whatsoever.
The death of the Queen and the intense activities including a new King are running non-stop on the BBC, CBC, ABC Australia and elsewhere.
One remark
CNN (of all outlets) has quite a good reprise of King George's trip to America in 1939, as war clouds gathered. The King, for the first time in his life, ate a hot dog.
Also: When Franklin Delano Roosevelt Served Hot Dogs to a King
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/23/world/king-george-vi-the-windsors-inside-the-royal-dynasty/index.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/when-franklin-delano-roosevelt-served-hot-dogs-king-180963589/
For the Picayunes
Planning for Prince Charles's coronation, nicknamed 'Operation Golden Orb,' will begin. It will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, the traditional spot for coronations for the past 900 years. It is likely that there will be a period of twelve months before he is officially sworn in.
https://spectatorworld.com/topic/britain-reeling-after-queen-elizabeth-health-announcement/
Probably untrue but credible.
The Royal Family has posted extra security to keep Meghan Markle from breaking in to take a selfie with the body.
THAILAND POLITICS PRAYUT
The affirmed leader of the new and quite Bidenensque Sang Anakhot Thai (Building Thailand's Future) Party is perennial ex-deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak.
From the military regimes of the 1980s and '90s, through Thaksin and Yingluck and now the junta-without-a-leader, Somkid [age 69] and Thailand have lived with the description that Somkid is a financial genius, an economic planner without equal, and a political planner di tutti planners - even the alleged key political plotter who put Prayut at the pinnacle of the eight-year-old ruling junta.
Including Somkid, the top leadership of Sang Anakhot Thai are men (no women) who were recruited, promoted and then dumped by self-described junta leader Prayut.
And speaking of that...
Well-coiffed and -dressed Prayut made a public appearance on Thursday, with the sole goal of insisting that he is still prime minister, no matter what the Constitutional Court justices say.
He did not speak. Aides handed outa statement - apparently the one he has submitted to the Constitutional Court.
It claims he is Thailand's prime minister until April 6, 2025 - exactly what his hand-picked constitution writer Meechai Ruchupan has also told the nine Court justices.
His statement says:
 I have performed my duty as prime minister with honesty and loyalty and have always been mindful of my duty to defend public interests under a democratic system with the King as the head of state.
Prayut has told the Court in writing
 I insist that my term as prime minister should be counted from the enforcement [date of enforccement of] the Constitution on April 4th, 2017.
 This means that my 8-year term in office did not expire on August 24th this year.
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/suspended-thai-pm-insists-his-term-in-office-has-not-yet-expired/
Canada's most-hated person named 'Justin' cancels his Bangkok gig.
The 28-year-old Bieb revealed he has had another round of Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, a complication of shingles.
He didn't mention Bangkok, but he explained this way:
 This past weekend I performed at Rock in Rio and I gave everything I have to the people in Brazil. After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me and I realized that I need to make my health the priority right now.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/2386105/
So, adios Bieb, at least for now.
It's so similar to March of 2003, when the Rolling Stones cancelled their Bangkok show on the evening before. They were deadly afraid of contracting SARS.
They never got SARS and they never played Bangkok.
Congress shall make no law...
U.S.A. ONLY
JUST OUT: FIRE'S 2022-23 CAMPUS FREE SPEECH RANKINGS.
 With adminstrative behaviour (such as disinvitation successes or professor punishments) now a part of the rankings, the University of Chicago retakes its place as #1, while Columbia University brings up the rear at an abysmal #203.
https://rankings.thefire.org/rank
HUMAN TRAFFICKING KIDDIES
EDUCATION
Teacher 'filmed sex acts with children'
Sexual assault case involves 22 children
KORAT/NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A teacher has been accused of sexually assaulting 22 children, most of whom attended the school where he worked, and posting videos of the acts on social media.
Police three-star Lieutenant General Surachate Hakparn aka Big Joke, said he and his Thailand Internet Crime Against Children (TICAC) unit are hot on four such cases or human trafficking and sexual assault.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2386758/
Thai economist Chartchai Parasuk claims:
Thai reserves are quickly depleting
By which he means money, including baht and foreign currency.
... In (this past) June 2022, Thailand's money supply (broad money) fell by 101 billion baht. In July supply was further reduced by 26 billion baht.
 How can one expect the economy to grow when there is less and less money available to spend? To shock readers further, excess liquidity in July was negative 557 billion baht.
 Anyone able to obtain loans at this time should consider himself/herself lucky.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2386673/opinion-thai-reserves-are-quickly-depleting
LAUGH OF THE MONTH
U.N. watchdog says it 'cannot assure' that Iran nuclear program is 'exclusively peaceful'.[/sarc]
TECHNOLOGY
SECURITY
A joint Portuguese-U.S.A. cyber operation shut down and then seize internet sites collectively called WT1SHOP - with multiple websites and social media identities.
WT1SHOP dealt primarily in buying-selling stolen identities and credit/ATM cards. The group, for certain had stolen 6 million personal records ranging from bank accounts to passports - and plenty in between.
A 36-year-old Moldovian in the United States, Nicolai Colesnicov, was, allegedly the group mastermind.
https://www.hackread.com/wt1shop-marketplace-seized-us-portugal/
Cyberthreats on the up at Thai companies
Some 88% of organisations associated with operational technology (OT) in Thailand experienced cyber-intrusions in the past 12 months.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2386643/ฃ
If you're an explorer-type, or merely sentient, this is astounding:
 The first 8K video of the unsinkable Titanic, resting on the Atlantic's bottom.
"The footage was shot during the 2022 descent by OceanGate Expeditions, with guests forking over $250,000 apiece for a seat on the submersible.
STORY and VID: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/new-8k-video-footage-showcases-titanic-shipwreck-in-stunning-detail/
Chinese censors caught capturing fingerprints from social media users.
The prints are used to A) identify commenters and B) help in 'social scoring' and...
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk3vm/chinese-social-media-watermarks-zhihu-douban
Gee gosh! Really? Are you sure?
 White House, Big Tech colluded to censor 'misinformation.'
https://nypost.com/2022/09/01/white-house-big-tech-colluded-to-censor-misinformation-lawsuit/
COINCIDENCE: I just watched the Bader movie 'Reach for the Sky', made in 1956. It has a decent cast, focuses on his early RAF days, and is not a good movie but there are interesting parts.
WEEKEND WATCHING
Short, at 5 minutes: Triumph des Willens [Triumph of the Will]. 'Produced By Order Of The Fuhrer'
A curious speech it was, with the words inspired by Vladimir Lenin and the cinematography by Leni Riefenstahl.
The entire 104-minute documentary is here. As the always objective Internet Movie Database puts it:
The grandiose and powerful scenarios where the Nazis parades and speeches happen are amazing.
In German, with subtitles.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6uajey
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