rundmw

I am not a scientist but I don't understand how over prescribing antibiotics is going to cause any bacterial illness to gain strength. I can see how it might make an individual's immune system weaker but not make the bacteria stronger. I am guessing I am missing something because I hear this stated a lot.

If somebody doesn't take all their medication and the bacteria is not fully killed then I can see how that bacteria may treat the antibiotics as a sort of vaccine against the antibiotic. Similar to doctors giving you a safe dose of a specific disease to cause your body to build a resistance to it. So, if somebody was to not kill the bacteria it could reappear stronger and spread to others and in a sense cause a new strain of that bacteria.

But even in terms of not taking all the prescribed antibiotics isn't there still the same chance that the bacteria can spread after it has been attacked by the antibiotics? Clearly the antibiotics don't kill it right off and a normal course of antibiotics is approx. 5-days..

It would just seem logical, in my mind, that bacteria is always going to try to find a way to mutate (as all life does) in order to survive regardless. However I can see how not taking all ones medicine can facilitate this happening.

The above seems like logic to me but again I am not a chemist, scientist or physician and I have heard this kind of reporting many times. Just not sure what I am missing beyond beyond being part of the pharmacological industry that makes incredibly HUGE amounts of money when they come out with a new drug and also get plenty of money handed to them to come up with new drugs if the public/government is convinced a health issue is at stake.

Essentially, it's an issue of evolution and population dynamics. By stopping the treatment before the fully prescribed cycle, you kill the microbes that are most vulnerable to the medicine, but you leave in place the ones that have some incremental resistance. With the non-resistant microbes now killed, the more-resistant ones come to dominate the population. Since genes for resistance can often jump cross-species, increasing the frequency of resistance genes in entire microbe population raises the chance of that resistance gene appearing in a pathogen microbe.

See a reprint of a Scientific American article on the subject: http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/FULL/Challenge_of_Antibiotic_Resistance.shtml

Another datapoint: At approx Sat 11:30AM, I bailed on all hope of my BKK-HKT flight and grabbed a taxi for the bus station servicing the southern region. Got a ticket no sweat (departing 17:50 though). Have seen a few farang here, maybe more than usual, but certainly not a swarm (currently 16:15), so perhaps bus tix to Phuket are still available here.

[ Just realized that this post is not strictly about the airport closure, but since it's transport-related, I hope you'll consider it sufficiently on-topic. Just trying to help. ]

Good luck to all.

TG website says TG 203 re-scheduled for 11am and TG 201 still showing 7:30am departure......

Thanks! I'll check with the staff here in Suvarnabhumi. Wish me luck!

Just adding a datapoint to the news and operations component of the topic.

Sat AM, Aug 30, approx 7:00AM. I am currently in Suvarnabhumi, returning home to Phuket from USA, scheduled for a connecting flight TG 201 in an hour, still no news on airport/flight status, TG staff say to check back at 8:00 AM.

Anybody know anything else?

My service in Patong, Phuket has now returned (since yesterday afternoon 2008-07-29, approx 16:00) .

My friend's office here in Patong seemed to come back yesterday, but now seems to be out again.

Just adding datapoints. YMMV.

Today's update: As of an hour ago, I was still down.

But a friend now reports that his office in Patong started slowly coming back online this morning: able to do an antivirus update, but no FTP or web. Then, a bit later, FTP and web coming on spottily.

Hopefully, this is a sign that he service is all coming back. Fingers crossed...

Another internet cafe I visited in the Nanai Road area - in search of somewhere to plug in and get some work done - reports the same thing.

There sure seems to be something going on...

My TOT ADSL in Patong, Phuket has been down since Fri 2008-07-25, spotty on Thu night 2008-07-24.

My local internet cafe and another business here in Patong report the same thing.

Calls to TOT on Fri from my friend's business and from me got the same answer: they are aware of the problem, some issue at a center in Haad Yai, no idea what the problem is, no idea when the service will be restored. Another call just now (Mon 2008-07-28) got the same results.

Strangely, a friend here in Phuket Town reports that his TOT ADSL has been fine the entire time.

Anyone else having the same problem? Anyone else got any better information?

Thanks and best regards.

...we make sure that we put small fish into any other water collection or pond to eat the larvae.

Our rented bungalow has a wooden deck which is built over a now-unused swimming pool that predictably has a permanent collection standing water inside. I want to push the landlord to fill it in, but my wife and her group of old-wives tell the tale that the fish and the frogs/tadpoles down there are enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

So, is there really something to the idea that the fish and frogs have a substantial impact?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28575

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, man. Missed that post.

My Thai girlfriend claims that there is another earthquake/tsunami expected to affect Phuket on approx March 12. She claims that everyone is talking about it and planning to go home to the provinces, and that official-looking police-like vehicles are running around Patong with loud-speakers announcing the impending event.

It strikes me as the typical scuttlebutt that goes around among superstitious folks. I am trying to explain to her that if it were real, I would certainly expect to have read about it in the newspapers or on the mainstream news sites online, seen it on TV, etc. Not to mention the unlikelihood that they can predict with that kind of accuracy.

But, of course, this has no impact on her.

Still, I want to at least be open to the possibility that there is something going on of which I am unaware. After all, this is Thailand, and we farang are often the last to know anything.

Anybody got any ideas about what's up?

Thanks,

Brings to mind the case just last year of Chompoonut "Jeab" Kobram, the 23 year-old Thailand PADI certified dive master who was found murdered in Pattaya with 48 stab wounds.

The suspect was a Belgian 24 year-old man named San Van Treeck who was arrested by the Thai authorities, somehow made bail, got the Belgian Embassy to give him a new passport, and then promptly skipped out back to Belgium where he remains free.

Sure hope that this case works out better than Jeab's.

More details at on Jeab's murder can be found at the site organized by her fiance:

http://groups.msn.com/FriendsofJeabSeeking...iceforherMurder

Relieved to hear someone finally say what all of here have known: that while some areas were certainly hard hit with deaths, injuries, and property damage, and they do absolutely need help in the form of rescue, aid contributions, and reconstruction, many places, like Patong, are functioning pretty much as normal if you simply go inland a few hundred meters in from the coast.

I have been loathe to publicize it too strongly for fear that it would undermine the enthusiasm back home to make contributions to relief orgs.

But in the end, the truth, with all its nuances, is the way to go.

I, too, encourage folks not to cancel their trips here. This is still a great holiday destination (weather, beaches, food, people, etc) and the economic need of the local population is as acute as ever.

Theres an Avis in KK airport.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Any idea what kind of drivers license do they require? Will a US license be sufficient?

Thanks

As an ex-smoker and non-smoker I don't give a toss what people do to themselves, but when it affects the air that I breathe...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We all affect each other and the air that we breathe, by driving cars, by using fuel to cook our food and heat our homes, etc.

This notion that we are each enitled to a pristine environment totally unaffected by those around us is based on the incorrect assumption that we each own the universe. The public space - as opposed to the private space - is precisely the place where the highest level of tolerance is required.

There clearly has to be a consideration that balances the magnitude of the harm of an individual's action against the freedom of that individual to act. Harm, not mere preference would seem to be the more important criteria. And even in the presence of harm, no one is entitled to co-opt the public space in a way that guarantees a completely harm-less environment (again, consider driving our cars, heating our homes, cooking our food, etc). It's the magnitude of the harm that must be considered against the freedom of the individual.

Since a confined area amplifies the harm to non-smokers (to a level that strikes me as sufficiently intrusive to warrant control), a ban on smoking in public confined areas seems quite reasonable, despite the impact it has on me as a smoker. But in an outdoor environment, the harm is dramatically reduced and the affect seems to fall to the level in which a complainant would be expressing a mere preference.

Do we want to live in a world in which regulations are geared towards accommodating the preferences of the least tolerant?

And let's not forget the case of Chompoonut "Jeab" Kobram, the 23 year-old Thailand PADI-certified dive-master originally from Buriram but living in Phuket, found murdered (stabbed 48 times) in the Pattaya hotel room of 24 year-old Belgian national San Van Treeck who was arrested but has since skipped bail.

Full details can be found at:

Friends of Jeab Seeking Justice For Her Murder

I looked at the link and idt seems to me that your idea is correct: rai, ngan, talangwaa.  What makes you think this is not true for all districts?

Sorry, I misspoke. I meant that the prices did not seem to reflect the rai-ngan-talangwa (RNT) interpretation. Looked like places of smilar size had widely varying prices, even in similar districts. I suppose that could relfect specifics of theproperty, the vagaries of what owners ask for, etc.

But I am buoyed by your view that the numbers seem to have the RNT interpretation. Thanks!

But any idea why Khon Kaen is not even listed as one of the provinces? Plenty of Thai farmers there...

On the Kasikorn/Thai Farmer's site, they list land sizes in some format I don't understand. For example, listings here show sizes like: 2-0-0 or 1-0-40 or 32-1-60.

I suppose these could rai-ngan-talangwaa, but the numbers, even in similar districts, don't seem to reflect that.

Also, any idea why the site doesn't list Khon Kaen as one of the searchable provinces?

Any help would be appreciated.

I, too, am blood type B+, currently in Phuket, no plans to be in BKK soon, though.

Feel free to contact me if I can help: [email protected]

Sawasdee khrap!

Looking for some authoritative advice.

I am an American, male, 42, with a long-term Thai girlfriend (pregnant, expecting in September, ), been doing monthly visa runs for about two years.

Now with the word out (again!) that monthly visa runs might be an endangered species, I'm considering a more stable visa status.

Haven't married yet - for all the reasons that single guys avoid it - but if it makes a decisive difference in visa status, then it may be time to really do it, especially with the kid on the way.

Got lots of strong connections with my girlfriend's family (mom, brother, two kids from her previous marriage to a Thai guy), lots of photos. Bought some land up in Isaan, under her name, of course.

I'm not doing any work for Thai companies. I do a little consulting work for foreign companies.

I speak, read, and write Thai. Probably better than your average long-term farang, but certainly not "fluent". For example, I still pick up precious little from TV news in Thai.

Any advice? NonImm-O or NonImm-D? What are the chances?

Will getting married make a big difference? She often talks about jotabien as some kind of intermediate marriage status. Any ideas on what she means?

Khawp khun maak khrap,

Love the site. Lots of solid information. The news updates in particular are great; very timely and pertinent.

If I have to make a suggestion, then maybe:

* add more information on obtaining foreign visas for Thai girlfriends/wives.

* provide RSS feeds for the news items?

* net to phone sms would be cool.

Thanks and keep up the good work.