Xircal

The animal belonged to a hacker who planted a virus on a memory card which he then attached to the cat's collar.

The hacker attempted to entice journalists with riddles which promised a big scoop if they uncovered the mystery.

Although Japanese police were able to arrest the cat, the hacker is still at large apparently.

Phuket airport added a new terminal few years back and it seems that it's still expanding. For me that sounds that there are more flights to and from Phuket.

Some time ago I send an query to flightradar24 to ask if it would be possible to extract data from their database, how many flights and how large planes are landing to Phuket, but I never got an reply back from them. That data would not have revealed how full the flights are, but it would have given an independent indication if there has been increase or decrease of pax capacity.

Here are a few stats which might answer your query: http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/thailand-aviation-growth-slows-in-2014-as-international-traffic-drops-and-domestic-numbers-surge-206133

Finnair is supposed to have started a direct flight to Phuket from Helsinki using an Airbus 340-300, but I couldn't find anything on their own site. Here's the news report though: http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/article/59938/finnair-to-introduce-scheduled-phuket

All the tuk-tuk scammers must have been jumping up and down with glee seeing that bugger on the horizon.

Just in case you weren't aware of it, privately owned drones are forbidden in Thailand if they're equipped with cameras so watch out if the BiB are around: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/02/thailand_drone_regulations_why_you_should_care.html

To upload to Youtube, you need to open an account after which you can create a channel and upload videos to that: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/161805?hl=en-GB

Uploading a 560MB file will take about three hours on average so the best way of doing it is to create a number of smaller files of say 50-100MB each and then merge them on the Youtube site using the video editor: https://www.youtube.com/editor

To merge them, use a transition of which there are several to choose from (see screenshot). Here's a video of a flight I took on Malaysia Airlines about a year ago. The opening shot shows the 777-200ER for a minute or two and then jumps smoothly to the actual takeoff which the 'Crossblur' transition accomplishes perfectly: http://youtu.be/dRd5LYRxCU8?list=UUayhvQlEZoDkX-gJlQKQJkA

The editor is quite simple to use and only requires you to drag each clip into the timeline adding transitions between each. Finish with another transition to fade to the desktop.

Nothing......still got my Ferrari..........didn't try to register it.......but I do enjoy driving it.

And the chicks are begging me for a ride

Did you do that back home too?

Here's another classic example which took place this morning. A young Aussie guy negotiated a 20 Baht fare with a tuk-tuk for a a short journey to Central Festival in Phuket. On arrival, the driver demanded 200 Baht which they Aussie refused to pay. The tuk-tuk driver subsequently smashed him in the face. Story here: http://phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Tuktuk-driver-punches-Australian-face-fare/48294#ad-image-0

I checked out the condo where the Aussie was staying and then used Google to calculate the distance. Here's the map showing the route: http://goo.gl/maps/xSGOZ

As you can see, it's just over 3.1km using the shortest route (grey), but Google figures it'll be quicker taking the longer (blue) route which is 3.8km

Either way, it isn't worth much more than 20 Baht and maybe that's why the passenger didn't consider it suspicious.

I've no objection as long as it doesn't come at the expense of ordinary economy. That's what usually happens.

China Airlines has just introduced that layout model and in economy, they've squeezed in an extra row of seats in their new 777-300 and reduced the seat pitch to 32 inches. Story here: http://www.nycaviation.com/2014/10/china-airlines-takes-delivery-first-boeing-777-300er/?feedsort=more

If SIA is planning the same thing, they'll do themselves more harm than good.

Also, 'Premium economy' is usually centred in the middle of the aircraft where the wings are. That means your view out the window is restricted and there's no point in having a window seat at all if all you can see is the wing.

According to Flightglobal, the ATR 72-600 which crashed shortly after takeoff from Tapei Songshan Airport killing 11 passengers was less than a year old.

Here's a video of the crash taken by an onboard camera as it happened: http://youtu.be/eJNAx4BsUtE

Initial reports suggest the driver of the yellow taxi shown in the video suffered serious injuries when the aircraft wing struck the vehicle shortly before crashing into the river.

The current administration probably thinks Yingluck was on the right track in a roundabout way by trying to force up the price. But you can't do that if there's a surplus, hence the advice to farmers to switch to other crops like sugarcane.

But what do rice farmers know about growing sugarcane?

Are you rich?

The 1999 Land Amendment Act allows a foreigner to own up to one rai of land provided he invests 40 million Baht in specific Thai government bonds and holds them for a minimum term of five years. A 'rai' is 1,600 square meters.

You might want to consider flying via Amsterdam. There's no Air Passenger Duty applied to flights like there is in the UK and you can save yourself £83 (Band C = 4,000 to 6,000 miles).

If you don't mind flying via an airline's hub, you can save significantly on cost with the cheapest tickets starting at €326 return. Here's a screenshot taken from the http://www.ebookers.com site showing flights departing around 10 April.

I'd advise you to take plenty of DEET with you, preferably the solid kind on a stick rather than a spray. You can buy roll-on DEET in Thailand, but it's very expensive. Thais don't seem to bother much with repellents probably because of the price so it might be difficult to get hold of in remote parts of the country.

Mozzies seem to prefer areas of the body where there isn't much flesh between the skin and bones so they tend to zoom in on the ankles, backs of the knees and behind the ears. So just apply plenty of repellent to those body parts.

Although recommended by health organisations, you'll probably find the climate too hot to wear long sleeve shirts and trousers and practically nobody does.

Other than that, as long as you've had your recommended jabs, I wouldn't worry too much.

And just to make matters worse, a new Flash vulnerability has just been discovered for which no fix is yet available: http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1031686

And if you happen to be an IE user, here's the icing on the cake: http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1031689

Run Dell diagnostics on it: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Products/

Go to: http://store.apple.com/th-en/buy-iphone/iphone6

Then click the link top right to: "Find a store". Switch to English and then click "Apple Authorised Resellers" and type: Bangkok. (Sorry, can't link to it directly).

If you do decide to chance it with a non-authorised reseller, learn how to spot a fake: http://www.ksrplayer.net/?Product/Wholesale-China-mobile-phone-cell-phone-from-China/Copy-iPhone6-Fake-Clone-Replica-In-China-Qaud-Core.html

Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/Bangkok-Thailand?ss_id=jcszom1x

I wonder if the current incumbents will be furnishing their 'financials' for scrutiny?

Pray tell, who would those 'current' incumbents be ?

Now, now, you know as well as I do that it's illegal to criticize the junta.

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Thai armored car/van/truck???

Yes, that was my thought too.

Does such an animal exist in Thailand? I can't say I've ever seen a vehicle which even vaguely looks like an armoured truck.

It's only for sending text messages apparently: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/dont-fall-whatsim-expensive-pay-go/

See: How to Recover Lost Contact List

I remember only a few years ago they "dreamt" about 21 or was it 22 million tourists.

Don't they realise how big a number that really is?

If 28 million people spread their arrival out over a year that is nearly 77,000 people arriving every day..... so how long would the queues be at Swampy?

answers on a post card please from Jomtien Beach....

Actually, they weren't far short of that figure back in 2013: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Thailand#Statistics

I guess TAT is looking at the plunging oil price which is supposed to translate into more people taking holidays abroad to faraway places.

However, FX rates are abysmal no matter where you come from.

That's going to have all the taxis running on the stuff up in arms and demanding a fare increase next no doubt.

This site may be of some help: http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm

Moving away from the US wouldn't make sound economic sense. According to the USTR site, quote "Thailand was the United States’ 19th largest supplier of goods imports in 2013".

Direct investment in Thailand was also substantial at US$16.9bn (2012 figures) which represented a 16.1% increase over the previous year.

But will China be interested in 866 million pairs of shoes? I doubt it somehow.

Thailand is a essentially a supplier nation. As long as foreign companies are willing to invest in new factories to produce goods, Thailand will supply the labour and cheap.

But they're not an innovative nation. You'd think that with their cheap labour and knowledge picked up from making other companies products, they'd be able to design a classy mobile phone. But nobody in Thailand is willing to invest in new technology without being sure of an immediate return.

So the country will largely remain just a supplier of mass produced goods apart from agricultural exports.

No harm in that, but they'll have to learn to swallow criticism and not go sulk like a scolded child if events lead other countries to call their form of democracy into question. They don't have any clout in the world and what Thailand produces can be had elsewhere if things go sour.