This time we're going to get Thaksin -- says multiple screw-up Sondhi Lim

PHUKET TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY
Just about every worker, editor, weekend volunteer... just about everyone has memories including personal remembrances:
Boxing Day, 2004, Banda Aceh, Sumatra (photo courtesy U.S. Navy)

The death toll that morning was 375,000, more than 50,000 on Thailand's Andaman coast alone -- and no one forgets such a catastrophe.

Amazing coin... no, ridiculous, not a 'coincidence'
By Victor Kuk, Head for P&C Reinsurance SID for Swiss Re:
Bolstering Asia's tsunami defence
Worth a full read.
Memories of the tsunami are painful, they prompt us to reflect on the steps we have taken -- and how far we must go.
We've made a lot of progress in reducing risks, which is commendable -- but there is so much more to be done.

Oh... Repeat: Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah and may be next year be superior to the last.

Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

The People's Party's next big rival is Thaksin.
-- Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, founder and Main Man, Thailand's 'progressive' politics.

Nineteen Years Later...

Ex-leader of the Yellow Shirts vows, 'This Time I'm Going to Get Him.'
Full-name Sondhi Limthongkul has been a newspaper magnate, a big-money donor to Thaksin, the original leader of the 'yellow vs red shirts' demonstrations, the loser in a court fight over his decision to totally close both Bangkok airports... et cetera et cetera
It's now known as The Sondhi Group. Two weeks ago, Sondhi and his clutch of TDS supporters 'gave Prime Minister Paethongtarn Shinawatra, better known as Ung-Ing a two-week deadline to put the (formerly extremely minor) Memorandum of Understanding over a strip of land on the Cambodian border to a court test.
The PM has failed to Jump when The Sondhi Group said, "JUMP".
So the Yellow Shirts are preparing (allegedly) to try to revive their previous street-blocking, whistle-blowing nuisances again.

FISHWRAP NOTES...
A generation has been born since Sondhi first emerged from Lumpini Park in Bangkok.
His several 'Bangkok Shutdowns' brought on two (2) military coups but busting Thaksin still hasn't happened.

CHINA COLONY DEATH
HONG KONG: There have been many changes in just a few months inside China's newest colony. One of them is the umpteenth attempt by Beijing to prove that Chinese tech is the world leader in technology.
For example,
Beijing ordered all drivers of Hong Kong Airport transportation fired, and replaced by no one -- driverless trains.
The first death was a five-year-old child, who dropped into a gap between the passenger platform and the actual train.
The (alleged) government, i.e. Beijing has ordered another committee to re-investigate and ordered the new colony's officials to get cracking on better safety measures.

PHOTO: It's a narrow gap between platform and driverless trains, just big enough to fit and kill a child.
PREVIOUS HISTORY
Under the actual, elected Hong Kong government, the number of deaths of travelers and Hong Kong citizens of all ages was a perfectly round digit.

TECHNOLOGY Christmas Special
Good AI: Generate your own weird Victorian Christmas card. / Glif
https://themorningnews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9c6b661954bcfe8d5966c91c7&id=94ecc2bf51&e=c7f6519b9c
Bad AI: When AI won't show what Texas Trash looks like, it's going to give you appetizing images of Meow Mix instead.

On Link Rot
The internet is forever. But also, it isn't. What happens to our culture when websites start to vanish at random?
The Verge of course

And because of that 'Of Course'
The Verge's 2024 in review: Looking back at a very busy year
https://www.theverge.com/24305538/2024-best-worst-streaming-gaming-tech-list-roundup

A Christmas - Boxing Day Think Piece

Breaking up Google will be a great American catastrophe
In the days or weeks ahead, the courts will decide whether to break up one of America's most iconic companies or to sell off some of its activities and products.
The latest reports are that the courts may require Google to sell off its popular Chrome browser. (To whom? China?)
... How weird is this? Keeping prices low and relentlessly improving product performance is illegal because it is unfair to a company's competitors?