Showing 1 - 10 of 14
The euthanasia debate
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 25/02/2025
» A request for euthanasia from a terminally ill patient -- a controversial practice that remains illegal in Thailand -- inspired Dr Isaree Siriwankulthon, a palliative care physician-cum-author, to write a popular novel in 2023.
Doom, not gloom kicks off my 2025
Life, James Hein, Published on 29/01/2025
» Over the years, the game Doom has been ported onto some amazing platforms including a pregnancy test kit screen. The latest iteration of this practice has turned up in a version that will run in a .PDF file. If you are like me, then this will cause your mental processing to pause for a moment and your next thought may well be: "Wait, what?" The Portable Document Format (PDF) was developed to present documents in a manner that is independent of the software, hardware and operating system showing them. While it does this well, some malware writers have exploited its complexities.
Turning smart glasses into surveillance tools
Life, James Hein, Published on 23/10/2024
» I'm sure most readers are familiar with the Apple Vision Pro, and may have also been witness to someone wearing one out in the real world, because I have. Since then, there has been a new version of the Meta Ray-Bans that look like a pair of nerd glasses from the 1970s. The latter have turned into something from the TV series Person Of Interest by a couple of Harvard undergrads. The pair, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, are known for their punch-activated flamethrower. This time they built a system that allows the Ray-Bans to scan faces of people in view, pass this to an AI system that scans the internet for identification, and builds a dossier that is passed back to the glasses. It's called I-XRAY and challenges the concept of privacy because, if available, it will even provide details like address and social security number.
On the naughty Stephff
Life, Dave Kendall, Published on 07/04/2023
» 'Hard cover. 160 color pages of pure old-fashioned sexism, outrageous political incorrectness and borderline humor with a touch of ugly neocolonialist patronizing that will definitely make this book strictly forbidden in 20 years."
The coming storm
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 20/02/2023
» Climate change is an invisible killer. A family that lived in a hill station in India, an area known for its colder climate, took their sick child to the hospital. Nobody thought of dengue until a diagnosis confirmed it. Warmer temperatures in India and elsewhere make conditions more favourable for mosquitoes.
On death and dying
Life, Patcharawalai Sanyanusin, Published on 13/12/2021
» Feelings of sadness accompany any death, even if that person is a stranger. Last month, I came across a story about the passing of a woman on social media that saddened me but made me feel glad as well.
Exposing the bad boy tycoons of India
Life, Yvonne Bohwongprasert, Published on 23/10/2020
» Despite an earnest effort by Netflix's docuseries Bad Boy Billionaires: India to document the rise and fall of men behind financial deceit such as Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy -- best described as a bunch of "has-beens" whose amoral behaviour eventually led to their fall from grace -- it does little to shed new evidence about their cases.
Never forget
Life, Yvonne Bohwongprasert, Published on 27/01/2020
» Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a solemn moment when we reflect on one of the darkest periods in human history: the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews along with 5 million Slavs, gypsies, blacks, homosexuals, political enemies and members of other persecuted groups.
Turning crisis into opportunity
Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 02/04/2019
» It was breaking news for the global music industry when Justin Bieber announced last week that he is temporarily stepping away from music to focus on his mental health. Having entertained the world's audiences for so many years, Bieber was reportedly receiving treatments for depression last month.
Smoke and mirrors
Life, Yvonne Bohwongprasert, Published on 04/02/2019
» For weeks now, Bangkok has been shrouded in toxic haze. Like the rest of the city's population, I have been struggling to lead a normal existence. The avalanche of accumulated PM2.5 -- when it spikes -- sends the capital into the top 10 places with the worse air quality in the world.