ronz28

I see, Hakuchi, my bad for not making that connection. I was reading headlines, skimming the story in the middle of the night while half asleep. Thanks for setting that straight.

My condolences to the family and friends.

Why are Foreigners falling off of trains in Ratchaburi like the Canadian?

What are the odds of this happening twice by chance within days?

Sounds like a serial killer is doing this.

She can watch Dora here and sign up for the newsletter and Dora the Explorer kit etc. at:

http://www.nickjr.com/kids-videos/kids-dora-the-explorer-videos.html

My grandson's favorite is Kai-lan

http://www.nickjr.com/kids-videos/nihao-kailan-kids-videos.html

This is one of the saddest things I have ever heard of. Rest is peace.

Thai Economy Roars!

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2010/08/23/thailands-economy-roars/

Is there any natural gas to be recovered far from environmentally sensitive Koh Samui like in Thailand's shale deposits in Northwest Thailand with the new fracking technique?

http://geology.com/usgs/oil-shale/world-oil-shale-countries.shtml#thailand

What are you doing next Thursday, the 26th? I bet you could get the answer to your question then.

Dear Colleagues,

Dr. Christopher Schenk of the United States Geological Survey ("USGS") at 15:00 on Thursday, 26th August 2010 for a presentation on the "Assessment of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources". Below, and attached, is the abstract of Dr. Schenk's presentations and we hope that you can join us in welcoming Dr. Schenk to AIT. (This is a different presentation from the one that Dr. Schenk will present at the SPE monthly meeting on Thursday evening.)

Assessment of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources

Bender Auditorium, AIT, 15:00h.

....Kindly confirm your attendance by email before noon (Wednesday 25, August), please.

Best regards,

Nualchan

[email protected]

02 524 5574

Yes, thank-you, that sounds interesting but I am on the other side of the globe so won't be there. It sounds like they still need to do assessments to determine if the new fracking techniques are feasible to produce natural gas in the Thai shale areas.

Is there any natural gas to be recovered far from environmentally sensitive Koh Samui like in Thailand's shale deposits in Northwest Thailand with the new fracking technique?

http://geology.com/usgs/oil-shale/world-oil-shale-countries.shtml#thailand

To reduce the germ population you might try to rinse your mouth two or three times a day with half your favorite mouthwash and half 3% hydrogen peroxide labeled for use to rinse your mouth with,etc., but back off the hydrogen peroxide a little if it irritates your mouth. Gargle with warm salt water between the times you use the hydrogen peroxide. If you eat or drink coffee, soft drinks, etc. all day long that could be a part of the problem so you should stop that until its healed. That might be enough for your body to heal itself with a little help from the reduction in the germ population.

If you also snore and are fatigued all the time you might also have sleep apnea which would be another reason to remove those tonsils or more if its really bad.

I too enjoyed The Secret of OZ.

Current M3 money supply tracked by ShadowStats.com at

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/money-supply-charts

gives a different picture of the quantity of money available in the US than the Fed published as the economy continued to suffer:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/current/

However, I am not sure that M3 by ShadowState is the best measure either.

Is it gold or gold plated steel?

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fake-african-gold-turns-out-be-dust-upon-arrival-uae-millions-ethopian-central-bank-bullion-

This guy better turn himself in because if he has a face off with a cop they will probably shoot to kill him because of his reputation.

To me, its appropriate to target and stabilize P, price of money in terms of inflation and deflation to give everyone confidence in money as a store of wealth at least for a reasonable holding period.

Perhaps, the Fed could resume publishing M3 for money supply or some improved measure of M to increase their effectiveness with more valid data on the money supply but I suspect the real problem is with V.

To me, it appears the lack of focus and attention to the impact of their decisions on the volatility of V, the Velocity or turnover of money in the economy is causing the Fed, etc. to miss its targets. I could be wrong as I don’t have time to read as much as I would like about why the Fed does what they do. Assuming velocity is stable just doesn’t make economic sense to me. I wonder if the Fed’s current available tools are sufficient to effectively manage velocity even if they better timed the application of their tools.

I wouldn’t target Q or GDP because we might end up with empty cities or subdivisions as in China and elsewhere just to crank up current production/GDP.

MV = PQ is an axiom rather than equation

So as I remember things Friedman and Schwartz showed that V was pretty constant because it is likely to be if PQ is establishing MV. Unfortunately when Reagan and Thatcher decided to target M to effect PQ the causality didnt reverse and either 'V' moved or whatever M was chosen was subject to 'disintermediation' )a long word which simply means that new M was created outside the targeted M. Which is why they stopped producing M3.

Still I 100% agree that targeting P engenders stability in the store of money as wealth. I actually think that is at the very heart of the problem. Bernanke wishes to create inflation so that money is not a store of wealth and is invested or spent - that it is very much at his heart of his thinking and his criticism of say Japan. As a store of wealth its velocity would tend to be low.

So the problem with some implicit P target at close to 0% interest rates is that all you do is create expensive assets based on known real rates. O% real yields at 1.5% inflation over 5 years for TIPs implies far too much faith in the value of money while Bernanke's theory of creating inflation is about making money less attractive.

Ultimately much of deflation is about hoarding cash rather than circulating it. Targeting P actually was the cause of the bubble. People had a very firm and increasingly firm view of the value of money which led to lower rates and higher asset prices while there was conviction they would outperform another fixed asset. People even had the confidence to know that if inflation rose so would interest rates until inflation fell.

Ultimately inflation targeting and other factors led to the highest historic valuations. You might think that dollars store of value is unhinged already by gold prices but then think of the velocity of gold. The whole point I am making is that deflation is destructive because currency is seen as such a good stable store of value. If you create enough inflation it wont be but productive assets will tend to devalue. Ultimately volatility allowing P to be volatile will reestablish velocity.

So please accept the dichotomy in your very argument. Which is that targeting P creates a stabilized store of value while Bernanke's central criticism of deflation is that cash becomes the ultimate store of value.

From what I understand, Bernanke acted primarily to prevent deflation since liquidity in the banking system was freezing up, home prices were falling, stock markets were tanking, etc. indicating the velocity of money was slowing too much to support price stability and he is adjusting course a little now as liquidity in the banking system improves and his expectations for deflation changes. He says they will keep the adjustments up just enough to stop deflation and preclude inflation but they haven't proved it up so who knows. I think they could be more transparent about what they are specifically tracking to base their decisions on.

As a practical matter, I guess I will just continue to keep watching regression channels, moving averages, etc. of the S&P 500, home prices, same store retail sales, home resales, interest rate spreads, etc. to know what side of the market to be on as I currently don’t have a lot of faith in being in any investment position or currency for very long.

To me, its appropriate to target and stabilize P, price of money in terms of inflation and deflation to give everyone confidence in money as a store of wealth at least for a reasonable holding period.

Perhaps, the Fed could resume publishing M3 for money supply or some improved measure of M to increase their effectiveness with more valid data on the money supply but I suspect the real problem is with V.

To me, it appears the lack of focus and attention to the impact of their decisions on the volatility of V, the Velocity or turnover of money in the economy is causing the Fed, etc. to miss its targets. I could be wrong as I don’t have time to read as much as I would like about why the Fed does what they do. Assuming velocity is stable just doesn’t make economic sense to me. I wonder if the Fed’s current available tools are sufficient to effectively manage velocity even if they better timed the application of their tools.

I wouldn’t target Q or GDP because we might end up with empty cities or subdivisions as in China and elsewhere just to crank up current production/GDP.

Yep, its like the pot calling the kettle black. Its been around since I have first came the Thailand in 1968 but that's only a few years after the Civil Rights Act passed in the US to stop the worst of racism. Back then there was a place called Jack's where blacks could go for southern cooking, etc. without racism directed at them, but Farangs weren't exactly welcome there as every other place catered to Farangs.

The velocity of money has apparently fallen off a cliff because its all stuffed under our mattresses. Once velocity starts cranking up we are bound to see inflation but for now the reduction in velocity is a deflationary force. Just a matter of time I guess.

Its not an allergy , it was caused by a streptococcal skin infection and I've seen specialists about this in Europe before. There's seems to be no effective treatment for this.

Thanks for the suggestion , I have not the best experience with Samitivej but I think I will give this one a try.

You might find some information in the videos here to be helpful.

http://www.ihealthtube.com/aspx/viewvideo.aspx?v=21be32339029117f

The recommendation for taking a GLA supplement like borage seed oil and vitamin D3 both support healthy skin. A Google and Youtube search will provide more info from Doctors on these two supplements, but as always, discuss with your doctor.

^ Thanks for trying to steer this one back on topic!

Thailand's oil and gas fields are in decline. Exploration is moving into shallower waters and onshore. We cannot claim that there will never be an accident but a "catastrophe" of the GoM magnitude will never, ever be on the cards.

Usually when such environmental issues start making headlines in the west, it's because there's local or national elections coming up. What's Thailand's or Samui's excuse?

Its good to hear Koh Samui will probably never be fouled with tar balls from oil drilling as we haven't been there yet and would like to see it without an environmental disaster like in Louisiana. Do you know if Thailand's old gas fields or other areas are susceptible to the new type of fracking techniques that have started to be applied in the US recently as discussed in this recent Forbes article?

http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0719/markets-ken-fisher-portfolio-strategy-fracking-gets-cracking.html

There are stories that indicate fracking has a risk of causing problems with a local water supply if done incorrectly, but it shouldn't happen, and natural gas appears to be the cheapest alternative for USA energy needs in the future as long as the drilling is done responsibly.

Sounds like tough times ahead unless Thailand starts expanding its water reservoirs. I guess one good thing is that all the pollution China dumps into that water will end up settling in the bottom of their new lakes behind the dams instead of getting flushed down the Mekong. The water that is released should be better quality than before as the lakes would operate as settlement tanks or big filters. Dams can also be used to manage flood waters. An issue is whether or not they reduce the water flow for people downstream or just capture excess flood waters to keep their lakes full and control floods.

Ireland Depression?

Ireland Crisis

Race is one of the easy filters we initially use to understand each other with before getting to to know someone themselves for their behavior, beliefs etc. Another meaningless filter is like how is this person before me dressed...a slob or appropriately dressed but this this is a better measure than one's race.

Its a defensive mechanism that should be replaced with other observations to discern what that person is all about. I think every race has racial views of other races and someone could survey that here. We can't get to know everyone but its a big mistake to base decisions about someone based on race.

Murdered for 1000B~30$ Dollars some kind of sickness seems to be gripping Chonburi and surrounding areas. Is it greed? I am not sure, when stories like this break I want to point my finger at the Russian mob or just over all greed or something else. I am not sure what it is but the last few stories make me wonder. Coyote dancer murdered, Computer hack and ATM theft, double suicide, drive by shooting, and the list continues murder, rape, hate, and desperation.

RIP young men

Russian? I don't live there and I don't understand that.

I guess the perpetrator was on drugs? Why would anyone murder children?

Well oil is no small matter, but despite what you think, we didn't fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to take someone else's oil. Here in Texas we have oil and are a leader in new natural gas exploration techniques that have recently found more natural gas in the U.S. than the Saudis have oil. We also lead the world in wind energy and are continuing to develop that resource.

We are behind the curve on solar energy but new solar power plants are under contract and R&D continues to drop the cost.

My hero, Boone Pickens provides national leadership in pushing our Congress to get the U.S. off of foreign oil by developing the use of wind energy and natural gas throughout the U.S. as substitutes for foreign oil.

I don't know where you are from or what your country is doing to provide your own energy, but, to me, Thailand needs to exploit alternative energy sources too or it may end up with oil pollution in the Gulf of Siam and tar on the beaches of Koh Samui.

Yes, I am aware the 911 terrorist were originally from Saudi and trained in Afghanistan.

Are you aware that Saddam’s government in Iraq operated and supported terrorists training at Salman Pak and other locations in Iraq, provided them with cash, gave them safe haven such as Yasin, one of the al Qaeda bombers who hit the World Trade center in 1993, provided diplomatic aid and facilitated international transit of terrorists such as 911 Pentagon terrorist Midhar and al Hamzi with its Embassy employees in Malaysia, etc., celebrated the destruction of the twin towers with shrines in Iraq, provided them with medical support, and finally paid $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers.

I hope the U.S. will recover some or all of the money spent on pursuing terrorists and preventing future attacks. But I am not holding my breath as that is just not in the cards. As for me being dead wrong, rest assured I will never die and will pursue the elimination of terrorism forever.

I might get slammed a little for this, but I thought there were so many (I'm concentrating on Americans here, I'll do a Korean post later if there is demand! ) because:

1. You get your church back home to pay you an American wage whilst you live in Thailand with much lower living expenses.
2. It allows you to send your kids to Grace International and so get a virtually free high quality (American colonial?) international education, paid for by poor unsuspecting church contributors back home.
3. You can now live in a 20,000 Baht plus (rent) home in World club and eat out with the family at Dukes, Sojo's etc. on a regular basis with all your spare cash.
4. You get at least one large SUV to ferry the family around in - I'm sure they are not free, but all seem to have them...
5. You can have a maid full time; something completely unattainable back home. The list goes on...

Should I get my coat? Flack jacket?

Now I might be being a bit disingenuous, but it does seem to me that REAL Christian would forego a lot of this and ensure that the cash was spent on ruining the spiritual life of the natives... instead of doing the really Christian thing and LEAVING THEM THE <deleted> ALONE!

Although... maybe I'm wrong? What do you think? Maybe they are doing really valuable work, and making good use of church funds, saving souls, being selfless, and making the world a better place. God knows it needs it!

...and maybe I came to Thailand for the food and culture... :jap:

I agree, it can be a big tax dodge too. There are so many of these "missionaries" that its disgusting. If the church people back home Understood the religion of the Thai people and knew how their money is being spent they wouldn't tithe another dime.

Lao Po, we are leaving Iraq now and we are not taking their oil with us or destroying it as Sadam attempted to do with Kuwait's oil fields. It's not about oil, its about terrorism and the murders and destruction on 911 which you seem to belittle by ignoring those events. Sadam's invasion and destruction of our ally, Kuwait, the terroristic murders of thousands of our people on 911, and continued threats by Sadam caused the Iraq wars and we never would have been in Iraq were it not for those events.

The oil is still there and free Iraq can do with it what they will.