Haecksler

17 minutes ago, dimitriv said:

 

They don't. There is no guarantee that the Thai person will stay at that address. It's also not a requirement. A visum to the EU will give you the right to travel in all EU countries, without reporting.

 

 

I think you never made a Shengen visa for a Thai person

Great Discussion highly appreciate the contribution of the community. 

As this new enforcement of an old law is mostly understood as an overkill I do not believe in racism or even as a clearing method. There are people which are positive against foreigners and some are not.

I am watching this discussion with a very skeptical eye and a great fear as a move elsewhere would be for us  a very difficult step.

I think the reasons behind this is much  more serious.

The possible scenarios:

1. Obtaining tax money from condo owner mostly rent out for tourists which bypass the tax system. (most likely).

I fear that the Thai economy is not doing that good as always claimed.

I think that the new rule of heaving 800,000THB in a bank account for certain visa applicants follows the same reason - liquidity.

2. I even would go so far and suspect that this enforcement is intended to lower the inflow of money (mostly from China) in order to release the pressure of the THB. (May be BS may be not)

In any case I guess that the great people which are behind this glory idea to enforce a outdated law are not really aware about the side effects.

I also recognize that most of the TV members are highly underestimate how much the expat community direct or indirect contribute to the GDP of this country.

Also an appeal to the smart TV members which compare immigration to a western country versus to Thailand - the money here flows the other way. 

There are multi billion (THB) condo and housing projects highly depending on foreigners which are now under enormous pressure due to this law enforcement.

The ones who can not move easily must sit and wait spending and keeping money wisely and have more than ever Plan B in consideration.

There is not much point to live, work, rise children, spend money in a place where you can not move freely.

My guess is that this "ghost" will disappear as quick as it came.

But we will see.

To discuss with some folks abut global warming is the same as you are masturbating with a cheese slicer.

Ok. Get this:

Even in the unlikely event that 93% of all scientists are wrong I ask you what would you do if you are in the dessert and you have 1000 lit. of clean water and no way to renew it??? ---

Exactly you would save it as much as you can and you would work hard to find any way in order to save the amount of water you have. 

What are we doing with our recurses on our Planet? We are building SUV's with permanent 4-wheel drive and many other essential things in order to move on a concrete road.  Yeahh!! this is what mankind need!!

I mean is it really necessary to get rid of our resources as fast as possible????

And another thing:

All the carbon, whether coal oil peat or other materials was created within billions of years. (For all the deniers - this is a very long time)
The nature and the climate could adopt to the conditions and to the amount of Co2 in the atmosphere.
We convert all this carbon into CO2 within a eye blink in terms of geology. You no need to be very smart to understand that this can not be good at all.
Try to jump into 6°C cold water. No time to adopt no time to protect. You have no more than 7 minutes and you are die. And this is what worries me most of all that the same thing can happen with our planet earth.

I tell you what man kind an all other creatures on this planet need:

Clean water; Clean air; Clean and healthy food and a healthy social environment (I definitely don't talk about face book).  That's it.

Unfortunately there is no money earned hence the fact that nobody cares.

Amazing

the first environmental topic with that much replies

But not so much blame to all to the developing countries.

Most of the blame lays on the multi billion cooperation and the banks of the western world which just exploit all this countries and leave them hanging with they’re  problems.

How on earth can all this highly educated cooperation leaders agree to export all this goods (respectively the technology to manufacture it) which needs a prober disposal after use into the non developed world????? How they can look at this mess, seeing their products floating in the sea and making a severely threat to the ecosystem and at the end to man kind, by doing nothing???

How on earth can any western politician and leader agree all the regulations in their own country, (which most of them do make sense) making western labour unplayable and at the other hand agree that billions and billions worth of goods are imported from countries knowingly manufactured without any regulations. 

The answer is: "money and power" and nothing else!

To solve this garbage problem regulations must be enforced very strictly and law violator must be punished hard. Like in my country (Germany) whereby I do not say that the problem is solved in a sustainable way.

The reason for saying this is that there is a multi billion business manufacturing packaging which are used only once. There is another multi billion business - disposing, recycling and mainly incineration of all that garbage - mainly packaging materials. Billions and billions of money is made so no reason to change anything!!

The consumer has the impression that everything is fine and everything is clean but it's not.

Unfortunately the trend is going towards even more packaging and more energy consumption in order to fulfil cooperation demand of centralisation and hygiene standards.

The only way to "improve" this situation is "decentralisation". I do not say it will solve the problem. But it will improve.

At the end of the chain there is the consumer which have it in his hands. Every individual should decide wisely whether buy  multiple packaged goods or not. Everybody should decide wisely whether to buy  goods which last for a decent time or some cheap crap which brake down after a couple of weeks. Every individual should decide wisely whether it must have this really now or can survive without e.g. a plastic cup of sugar water or a Hamburger served appetisingly in a ugly paper box.

I think the consumer has much more power like he think. When the consumer is aware of it's power and use it, it might be to late.

Great explanation digibum

An old trader wisdom:

Do not put all the eggs in one basket!!

I think most of you guys doesn't have a clue how things are working here

Sustainable projects are only appreciated for nice pictures in front of cameras.

The money is made with big projects or long therm contracts. Upon signature a significant amount is going in another way then in the project.

Whether the project works or not is not much of an importance as the money is paid already.

You can see this in many  projects in develop- and emerging countries.

The Samui Incinerator was build from a Japanese contractor. Obviously the only contractor which delivered the plant in that small size.

Look at my post before.

@ Tropicalevo

You are right, many people do not agree to pay the garbage tax though it is a ridiculous amount and it covers only ....... not much.

People have to understand:

The cheapest way to dispose garbage is dump it into a hole and leave the problems to future generations.

Or, you spend money bring people into secured jobs and you start to avoid, separate, and recycle.

You know which way is chosen in this country.

Amazing a major and threatening problem and 23 posts only.

Tells me a lot.

@ ksamuiguy    

I don't know from where you have all your information but the most I can see are wrong.

Samui incinerator had a capacity of 140 tons/d. It was shut down because of a failed modification by the operator.

It was always given the impression that the plant on Samui went well. It was not.

Due to the incredible high water content in the waste the operator spend a fortune on diesel fuel.

It was only as much fuel spend in order to keep the process running. Dioxin levels in the stack gas was the highest ever measured world wide. (this information are out of a public domain)

The fuel was burnt by the auxiliary  burner and at the oil peak in 2007 they installed another burner. I've been told this causes the total clogging of the furnace and it was shut down.

There is nowhere any discussion or information how fly ash is handled as this ash is highly hazard. (I can see this problem as the strongest argument against incineration of MSW in the non developed world.)

Waste to energy only work if you separate and pre treat the waste properly.

Waste management is expensive.

Sustainability is uncomfortable.

People have to understand this.

How long is going to take? It's been going on for a year already under pressure from Surat & the result is still more BS.

Transported to where? Wasn't that discussed & agreed that it would be carted by barge to the mainland?

More BS.

Rooo,

You have 16000 posts guessing you are familiar with the procedures in this country.

So you might understand that a proper waste management system which requires

Budged, expertise, quick decisions, and especially a proper legislation and Organisation would be very difficult to implement here do you?

There are many western countries which provided experts and financed demonstration projects in Thailand. How ever there where several decision makers which had another opinion about the subject, unfortunately.

The situation is catastrophic indeed perhaps no sealed ground perahps no leachate treatment and other things required for a sanitary land fill.

If they are forced to carry the waste with a barge to the mainland then there would be enough financial space for a waste management project including waste splitting composting even bio gas. I doubt that will happen.

But let's hope and see.

Dear Municipality of Kho Samui,
Now when the S?(/@t hits the fan you are searching for solutions.
If you want to fix the problem from the past couple of years, you have to grab very deep into the tax payers pocket but this might not happen.
Unfortunately there is no solution for your ongoing problem and especially there will be not any "waste disposal machinery" which can help you either.
Waste is a complex thing and it can't be managed by a single machine upon the press of a trigger.
If you try to understand that and you are willing to spend some money and give the right people your ear and the right conditions to work you might find some body which can help you.
Otherwise good luck with that.

The rights or freedoms of the many are now consistently debased under varying pretenses, in this case catching bad guys. RFID, transmitters, passive, active, smart cards, circuit boards, reduced monetary notes, ad infinitum... Its always done "for the children," to "catch bad guys," for your "safety," and using fear. The net result is one step closer to a cashless society. In this world fiat money is created out of thin air with zero overhead. The benefits are endless for bankers, and the State.

While all these financial actions can be presented as commonsense, and opposition compromised by "What do you have to hide?" non sequitars, the end result is overwhelming consolidation of yet one more frontier of data by the State.

I do not particularly use such notes often (I wish I did ). However, the greatest good for the greatest amount of people concept of enlightened plural societies are now passé. Now minority issues (wedge issues, contrived issues) always drive the majority to be compromised or bear the burden. All together, these changes to money tracking is a very big deal. Soon you will not be able to pay the gardener without a transaction being recorded. I would rather a black economy, laundering, and even crime then a cradle to grave roadmap of my financial life owned by the State.

arjunadawn

That is a very good point.

The global financial system is moving toward it's end.

It was very short before melting down in 2007 (Northern Rock bank run) and I don't know how many people are aware about this.

The financial crises from 2008 is not over it is still there.

The banks and the government are now preparing for the worst and the "war on cash" is only one measure.

Cash which means coins and bank notes are anyway the only legal payment method from a strict lea gal point of view.

We should not let this happen, cash is one of the last personal freedoms in a system where privacy is already back in the stone age.

War on cash has nothing to do with fighting criminals, absolutely nothing!!

I'm agree with all you said only 3 points:

Skype: Sound problems.
Laptop: not every Laptop has the hardware to run Linux smoothly.
Wine: Not every MS program is running on Wine

I migrate 2010 to Linux from Wind. XP.

I was just stunned but it cost me much time to go through the topic.

Now I think I will try a Mac as I am pretty p. o..f with Ubuntu as after every upgrade some of my loved features has vanished.

I just do not want to have always my controls changed and it was harder after each upgrade to convert the desktop back to what it was before.

Once I had a complete black screen after a update. The forum helped me as I was not the only one.

My desktop which once runs absolutely stunning is now very slowly.

Linux mint is may be the answer, I will give it a try but I need some body which can service me as I start not to care about the costs.

Back to MS - Never!! But what is the alternative if you do not like to fiddling around with bloody computers.

Anybody has a Idea?

Dengue is a virus and must be first detected by your immune system.
The virus goes through cell membranes thus causing internal bleedings. (therefore never use Aspirin as a pin killer in the tropics)
Afterwards the immune system can fight against.
How successful this battle is depends heavily on your physical condition.
Your physical conditions depends heavily on the way you are treat your body. (training diet)
Is there a link between the mentioned group of infected people in Thailand between the age of 15 - 24??
I mean the mass of junk food everywhere and the dramatic increasing amount of overweight youth?
May be some expert can reply.
What was not mentioned in all you posts is that 80% of all dengue infections are not critical.
Only 20% are acute and 8% of those are lethal thus reported.
My first infection was almost not detected. (week symptoms but clear dengue symptoms) I just went to the doctor because of skin rash on large surfaces.
The blood test gave the evidence.
Papaya leaves contains bitter substances which are helpful to support the curing process. I heard this many times and I think you can't make anything wrong with it.
Avoid stagnant water, how ever the biggest breeding ground for mosquito in Thailand is the drainage system which is build almost without slope hence stagnant water without access.

this pollution has been going on for some time I did read somewhere that it is caused by wildfires which the authorities are unable to deal with and they have declined help from other countries saying they can deal with the problem ?

They obviously can't deal with the problem, but they can't trust that outsiders won't post photos of burnt orangutans or the vast swathes of rainforest that have disappeared under the conflagration.

BOYCOTT Indonesian palm oil!!!!!

Exactly what would be the right thing to do. !!!!!!!

But nobody will do anything.

Instead we continue producing big cars as we have environmental friendly fuel by adding palm oil.

In which world we are living?

jcisco,

Do not assume that the Samui Landfill is something what we understand as a "sanitary landfill".
And it is sure not a Landfill for hazardous waste.
For the bottom ash this would be not a big issue although it would be not suitable.
But for the filter ash it would. I did not have any knowledge how they treat the filter ash in the past.
That means the answer to your question would be "no"
Just think about this:
The costs of incineration of mixed garbage - if it is done properly (including. proper technology, exhaust gas cleaning, ash disposal)
Costs around 150EUR per ton input.
My information is that e.g. in Phuket the costs are around 800THB per ton.
Now we can speculate why there is that big difference.

A good incinerator would not cause any pollution, and leave little more than dust as a result (think of cremation type residue ash) that could be used for building materials. Extreme high temperature is key. In an ideal world the plastics could be separated and turned into diesel or other benzine type fuel with gentle heating (they are oil based after all). It would take some planning, but could probably pay for itself. This problem has an opportunity on the flipside, and some official could make great face for tackling it.

Finding an eco friendly waste to energy system would be the answer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_gas_utilization

It's been done before and is being done now.

If I lived there and had time on my hands, I would look for - for profit companies that specialize in this and contact them and make a business of it. Even if you could just get the satisfaction of getting rid of this eco-travesty, you would have a win win. And no more whinge whinge!

Maybe no need for more power cables from the mainland either!

Hey guys in which fairyland are you living?

Forget landfill gas at Samui, this is a wild dump.

Burning mixed rubbish is a bit more complex as you and our PM are assuming.

I was in Samui when the incinerator was still in operation I was there short after shut down and a couple of month later.

When we left the island the last time my Partner was short before crying because they saw the situation which we have today already and we could do nothing.

There was a reason that the incinerator was shut down and there is a reason that proper waste management is not in place. Neither in Samui nor elsewhere in Thailand.

Most of us probably know why.

12 years ago we demonstrated waste management and organic recycling technology at a commercial scale and it was refused.

The project took place exactly opposite of the incinerator so I know the area exactly.

Now the s....t hits the fan and it is good that at least some expats are doing something.

I like to support as much as I can.

I have still the connection to the municipality.

And for all waste to energy fans note the following:

This technology is working well where proper technology, proper waste management and especially proper regulation/law enforcement is in place.

Some numbers from our countries:

Incinerator for burning municipal solid waste e.g. AVA City of Augsburg Germany year 2014:

Input: 238,283 ton MSW

Output:

Ash: 61,000 ton

Power: 61,167,000 KW/h without own consumption which is around 25-30%

That means per one ton of garbage, under the conditions of Germans waste management law the incinerator sold 180 kw/h power to the grid, a money plus of appr. 14.5 EUR per ton of MSW input.

That is not very much but this is a real number.

Unfortunately the waste here in Thailand is dramatic different concerning the composition and the heat value. I do not believe that a/ the incinerator in Thailand for untreated wast can even cover the own power demand.

And now the downside:

1. In Germany we have very strict regulations concerning exhaust gases. Over 46 different substances must be monitored and have limitations. Despite that, the Federal environment agency stated that “there is the possibility of other unknown hazardous substances because the waste is not homogeneous.”

   How much substances do you think will be monitored in a Thai MSW incinerator?

2. In order to avoid dioxin and furan temperatures must be at a certain range and exhaust gases are undergoing some sort of a afterburner in order to crack dioxin and furan which reduces the efficiency of the process.

   Do you believe such kind of technique will be applied in Thai MSW incinerators?

3. Filter ash:

   Approx. 70% of weight reduction is achieved in a MSW incinerator. From the 30 -35% Residues are 10% Filter ash. And that's the point, filter ash has all the toxic substances which we know – PB, HG, CD, ZN, Dioxyn, Furan, etc. And this substances are fully soluble therefore this kind of residue is called highly hazardous waste. In Germany this waste is not allowed to dispose it on common land fills.

   Do you think Thai authorities have the proper disposal facility for this kind of waste?

   Think about this first before you want to have this technology in Thailand.

Kenny,

Interesting post and worth to give a comment.

I am searching for 2 years the same vehicle you just bought but the 3000cc version 2. Hand and find out they are rare. Very rare.

I think the reason that most of Thais do prefer 2WD is simple because of the costs.

As a poster mentioned before for a Thai 80k Baht is much and if they can avoid (or think so) they do.

For farangs 50 or 80K Baht only to upgrade to a 4WD is a no- brainer but not for the majority of Thais.

How ever starting of the rainy season you can discover several models upside down in the ditches as well as stacking in front of different steep slopes here in Phuket, therefore no need to discuss the sense or nonsense of 4WD Pick up.

But there are other down sides as the following which let me decide to purchase a 2WD Isuzu D-Max 10 years ago which I want to replace it now by a 4WD because of my boat. (some of them of course refers to the Isuzu D-Max only):

• When you not use the 4WD often the mechanism in the gear starts to getting jammed and you really struggling to get your Isuzu D-Max into ½ speed 4WD mode.

• At the former Models (I think up to the 2012 model) you have to scarify your coil spring at the front axle because the 4WD version has got a torsion bar spring.

• The angle of your wheels if full locked is much less at the 4WD version making your vehicle uncomfortable to park and manoeuvre into narrow entrances. (Probably the biggest disadvantage)

• There are several more moving parts of course which can be subject to failure as well as some more costs to maintain. (especially the annoying rubber cuff at the front axle shaft which last not more than 100K km)

• A bit higher weight and a bit more fuel consumption.

Therefore if you not have a use for a 4WD e.g. a boat to tow or a remote property it is worth to consider about 4WD or 2WD.

For the sake of safety of a unloaded pick-up in rainy weather there is also the possibility to have some ballast at the back of the truck.

Anyway congratulation to your purchase and drive save all the time!

masuk, on 17 Nov 2014 - 20:32, said:

We're supposed to be an intelligent species, capable of looking into the future.

But at our present rate of pollution, burning of fossil fuels, fracking to get the last drop of oil/gas from the ground, the pollution of our oceans with plastics, overfishing, logging tropical and temperate forests, it does not appear that a lot of forward planning is taking place.

Right now we're acting like a few thousand fishermen emptying the oceans of cod and herring, and then looking stunned because the stocks are close to zero.

If we don't stop polluting and over harvesting in the immediate future, there's not going to be a lot left for our kids, and the future will be one big, hot, dust bowl.

Sorry to be a prophet of doom, but open your eyes politicians and act now, as people won't do it on their own.

Try not to confuse pollution with anthropogenic climate change.

The former is IS a problem whereas the latter is not.

Yes, pattayasnowman

don't confuse therms and before write posts with sophisticated

words understand the simple ones first "pollution"

Merkel buys her power from French nuclear power plants even though she shut her own plants down. Kinda stupid when you think of it. If the neighbouring plants go toxic they are on Gemany's border anyway so makes no different than having your own. Just another politician talking crap for her own ends.In this case it's to appease the looney greens and keep her job. No matter the little guy has to pay higher power charges for absolutly no benefit to the planet. But then again she has reopened a couple of coal mines to fill in the gaps so a few jobs are created. The same political nonsense With the so called Obama China agreement. Lets China continue to do as it please's for a couple of decades while goofus Obama is about shutting down the coal industry in his useless quest to seem relevant. Again it's the little guy who will pay for subsidies to these clowns with their constantly failing green schemes. The american electorate has just told Obama what it thinks and worry about climate change is near the bottom of their concerns.

The trivial and blunt BS from people which does not understand anything what is happen now.

Better use information from verified sources than those from the bar at walk-in street.

The first topic related to environmental problems and have more than 1 Page of replies.

Amazing.

Every body can contribute to improvements (littering open combustion). Just keep complaining and deliver the right evidence in pictures and words in Thai language and be polite! Officials will act, I experienced it.

Waste in Thailand is going it's way ever since.

But only the “money making way” regardless of any impact.

Nobody want to change anything as every additional ton of garbage creates more money.

Innumerable waste management projects and demonstrations related to composting anaerobic digestion and other alternative waste treatment within the last decades weren’t successful because nobody really want them.

Organic waste is the highest content in the waste stream and western countries show since more than 30 years how to collect and treat it.

Waste management specialists are in the country in large numbers.

The Thai govt. just have to go ahead and doing something.

oilinki

Posted 26.Jun 2013., 20:10

We have linux users in Thailand.. and in Phuket as well.

So where are they?

oilinki

Posted 26.Jun 2013., 20:10

I don't normally recommend linux to friends, unless I know they are self sufficient of finding solutions to the problems. The reason is that I'm lazy and do not wish to give free support for the rest of my days

Linux support is rare and it costs way more than the other OS handymen charge.

I use the Linux card rarely when doing shopping. Most, well almost all of the shops don't have Linux knowledge so even to ask if some device would work with Linux.. the information have to be fetched from the Internet, or just give it a try.

And by the way who is asking you to perform support for the price of the “other OS handymen charge”??

It's a bit sad that you not recommend your friends Linux. May be you even missing a great business opportunity.

That was not the point of my post. The point was where are the users? Where are the enterprises who can sell Linux support here in Thailand in order to get more people into Linux?

How we can attract more people using Linux? Giving support for free is certainly not the answer.

This is nothing new that you have to gutter informations from the Internet. But that is probably the point. Small and very small enterprises which probably refers to a big mass of computer users can not afford a OS relying on “some information from the internet.”

They want to go to a shop or may be want to call some person where they can be sure and trust that there is help. And they chose probably Microsoft even they know there is something much more better out there.

Of course professional Linux support would be great value and cost money.

Again where are the users? What kind of Linux OS are you using? What kind of experiences you have?

Post it here.

Hi,

Interesting to read about Linux in Thailand. Always good posts and interesting discussions.

Am I right when I say that this community consists mostly of computer professionals?

Hey where are the Linux users??

Are there any in Thailand? Are there any in Phuket?

E.g. at the computer stores Linux is something unknown and the vendors react strange if you tell them that you are working with Linux only. (like shocked, want to run away)

As a Linux user I feel pretty “alone” I try to change that.

Desktop/Server Ubuntu 11.10

Acer 4820TG Dual bood Ubuntu 12.04 - Windows 7

Hi

very interesting thread.

I am a user only and I migrate 3 years ago to Ubuntu. I just learned computer work with Windows XP 10 years ago. The failure of my laptop forced me into Windows 7.
I did not liked it at all. Some discussions with friends lead me to try Ubuntu. I liked it very much.

I installed Ubuntu 10.10. on my desk top and on my Acer 4820TG. The Acer runs dual boot on Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.10.

I was able to install Ubuntu on both machines but it took me to long to do it despite there is a good German instruction on line.
The Ubuntu community provides brilliant support but 80% of the posts I don't understand. Therefore if I stuck it takes me even longer to find this posts with clear user understandable language.

And then after one year upgrade of the desk top - black screen and again it took me ages to fix it.

And now upgrade the Acer, no need to talk further. I love to work with Ubuntu very much but all that sucks.

My opinion:

There should be a commercial support for Linux with individual service. Hard ware manufacturer should support more Linux. E.g. Canon does not support Linux at all why??? And there is a very affordable A3 printer available.

It should be possible to purchase a piece of hardware plug it in, install the OS and use it. If you have severe problems there should be a place where you can buy professional service.

I think this is not happen really, probably many user decide still for Microsoft.

I will definitely not return to Microsoft. I should probably spent more Time searching people where I can buy service.

Any advice would be highly appreciated.