impulse

From the linked article: I drank several rounds before driving my daughter into town. On the way back, I stopped at the gas station to fill up,’ Mr Davis declared. He claimed he was unaware of his actions. However, he sincerely regretted what happened and offered apologies to both the victim and the Thai people. So the guy was driving in a drunken blackout. Then he assaulted some guys. Nice...

His last one worked out fine. Russia behaved. Hamas behaved. The border was pretty much sealed by his last year. But TDS won't let its sufferers to get past those mean tweets. As if they were worse than the specter of WW3.

Some day, maybe someone can explain to me how this is a war, and not a police action. Acknowledging (or creating) a Palestinian state would make it a war... Tough situation. Israel is in an intractable position. But that's been the case since around 1948, when the Palestinians rejected the offer to return part of what had been taken from them.

Don't sugar coat it. Tell us how you really feel...

Sitting on an 11 hour layover on my way to BKK, I noticed there's a horticulture exhibit through tomorrow (May 24) at BITEC. I'm short on details, but it may be worth going for anyone who grows their own. Or it may be a bust. Do your own research. Google BITEC I'm limited on a tiny screen on a network in a Chinese Airport. Chongqing is a very nice airport, though. Not a bad place to get stuck.

They provided 1.4 million doses at a cost of over $1 Billion? Do some math on that one...

My experience with Asian airlines (Singapore, Korean, Chinese, Thai...) is the pilots are likely to leave the seat belt sign on for the entire 10-13 hour flight. I prefer the US based pilots who will announce that they're turning it off so we can move around and use the head, BUT warn that turbulence can be unexpected, so leave it fastened while you're seated. If the seatbelt sign is on for 13 hours, you never know when it's safe to hit the head and avoid soiling the seat. Edit: On the flipside, I much prefer the Asian cabin crews. I've concluded that the US airlines choose their international cabin crews by seniority, and they are often tired of their job and surly. Not all. Some are delightful. But on average...

Better than ending up in an illegal black site, the victim of an "extraordinary rendition". Which were all the rage around that time. He's still in the news, his case and cause still have international attention, and there's significant pressure on his own gub'ment to defend him. Ask Epstein how things go when inconvenient people with inconvenient evidence end up in custody. Oh... Wait...

No. She won the Democratic primary. She wasn't re-elected to anything.

Too Many Words

Yup. That TDS really takes it out of you.

AP says: Tracking data captured by FlightRadar24 and analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Singapore Airlines flight cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet (11,300 meters). Just after 0800 GMT, the Boeing 777 suddenly and sharply pitched down to 31,000 feet (9,400 meters) over the span of some three minutes, the data shows. The aircraft stayed at 31,000 feet (9,400 meters) for just under 10 minutes before rapidly descending and landing in Bangkok in just under half an hour. The descent happened as the flight was over the Andaman Sea approaching Myanmar. So it must have happened pretty close to BKK. It will be interesting to hear from passengers and crew what actually happened and why. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-05-21/1-dead-others-injured-after-london-singapore-flight-hit-severe-turbulence-singapore-airlines-says

That's a lot of ping pong balls.

Studies from OZ and the USA say the risk of death per km is 20-40x as high on a scooter as in a 4 wheeler. The same sets of studies show that helmets reduce the risk by 40%. So even with a helmet, riding a scooter is still over 10x as dangerous per km. Wear a helmet, sure. Buy a good one, not a plastic POS that will only get you past the checkpoints. Leather jackets and leggings will help, too (if you can stand the heat). But they won't keep your legs or head from getting ripped off. Seat belts and 2 tons of steel will.

I'd go one or two steps further. If they suspected drugs in the hooha, they should have taken her for an x-ray, regardless of whether she was pregnant, and nobody needed to violate her with today's tech. Just from a pragmatic standpoint, they'd have completely missed the baggie up the bum trick. And from a human dignity standpoint, nobody should be subject to a body cavity search if the tech's available to do a non-contact search. Especially if it's just based on suspicion. That's just wrong.

Reminds me... I wonder what my Beanie Babies and my Yu-Gi-Oh cards are worth? I still remember when it seemed that half the items on EBay were Beanie Babies and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and some were going for eyewatering bids.

I certainly hope it's not about Thailand, but the US State Department has recently issued a travel warning around LGBTQ gatherings around the world, citing a risk of terror and/or violence. I wonder if they know anything concrete? Seems like this would be a good time for any US Embassy people to spill whatever they can... https://aseannow.com/topic/1327587-state-department-issues-travel-warning-for-lgbtq-pride-celebrations/

The only reason Assange is getting that due process is the debacle of hiding out in the Ecuadorian Embassy for so long. As it transpired, it's such an embarrassment to the British Gub'ment that they have to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. They're under the microscope, because of the publicity. Had he been arrested at the time, he'd have been bundled off to the USA before the public even knew he was in custody.

So you don't figure the Brits would have looked at 2 competing extradition requests, one from Sweden for a bogus sex assault and the other from the USA for national security issues, and decided to send him west instead of north? At the time, his only chance of avoiding extradition to the US was to not be in custody. He was never going to Sweden. So it matters not whether Sweden could extradite him.

One more tragic data point. The guy with 4 wheels and 2 tons of steel walked away. The riders on a scooter weren't so lucky. Except, it wasn't luck. Yeah. I know. Lots of people can't afford 4 wheels and 2 tons of steel. But those of us who can... Can take a lesson here. Edit: And I'd add that it doesn't matter how skilled the scooter rider was. He got smacked from behind.

I guess they don't have x-ray machines anywhere in Thailand...

He was never going to Sweden to face the sex assault charges. He would have been extradited to the USA.

Okay, I just had to look that up, and it's pretty much what I thought... Though this particular factory seems to be in Pattaya. https://jetcarthailand.com/

If only... The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html The high stock market is a boondoggle for the billionaires, while inflation is eating away at the rest of us. I think they refer to that as "trickle down economics". I call it getting pissed on as politicians look for votes and donations.

Still... I read that it took rescuers 15 hours to find the wreckage because of the fog. I'm not suggesting it happened that way, but someone with better tech and stealth could have gotten a lot done in 15 hours. I also read that there was communication (cellular?) with one of the passengers after the "hard landing". The next few days of spin and counter-spin is gonna be interesting. I hope it doesn't spin out of control.