From the BBC:

Thailand's king has pardoned a Swiss man who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for defacing images of him.

Oliver Jufer was sentenced last month, after he admitted spray-painting images of the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the city of Chiang Mai.

It was thought to be the first time a foreigner had been jailed under Thailand's strict lese majeste laws.

Mr. Jufer will likely be punted from Thailand, and the king will look even more benevolent now to his people -- as if that were possible.

It would be interesting to know if any publicity about the conviction were seen to be hurting Thailand's tourism economy, and if that helped spur the king's compassion.

In the first story, the Beeb corro said the Thai media kept a wide berth from this story. I wonder how much play the act of benevolence got?

Here's the BBC story.

He wrote a book that I still find influential in helping understand the world -- Player Piano. Written in 1952, it's a still-relevant look at man's relationship to technology and the Darwinian nature of corporate culture.

RIP, Kurt.

You may find this post on Inkless Wells to be just a normal Web hiccup.

And after reading this post on Pro PR, you might wonder if there's a more corporately Orwellian explanation behind it.