Asiantravel

Interestingly I notice there is a story in the Thailand news thread about the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA) warning people in Bangkok they should prepare for possible water shortages as the dry season is expected to be prolonged for many months.

In that case I hope we are not going to see ridiculous amounts of wasted water when they start splashing it around in April

featuring marching bands and a beach parade,

Just about sums it up, all show and no go.

Clearly, we need a rerun of the marching band which needs to be bigger and louder this time

seems like it is not only the Thai’s the that can be accused of being ignorant about this issue now?

Why were swastikas carved into stonework of council offices completed at the outbreak of WWII?

I have never liked anything about Facebook and would have nothing to do with it in any way, shape or form.

This Man's $600,000 Facebook Disaster Is A Warning For All Small Businesses (FB)

Facebook's terms of service forbid third-party verification of its clicks. That's something all advertisers should be aware of before they spend a penny on Facebook

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/This-Man-s-600-000-Facebook-Disaster-Is-A-5258472.php?t=7c5e3ab580

I've been buying organic vegetables at Rimping market and wondering if it is worth the extra cost. Now I know it is.

Really?

And even if you give credit to the standards in Thailand compared to China, how many here believe that

Thailand is miles ahead of China regarding enforcement of environmental standards ?

organic certification does nothing to address environmental sources of pollution such as chemtrails, contaminated irrigation water, and fallout from industrial or chemical factories that might be nearby. A certified organic farmer can use polluted water on their crops and still have the crops labeled "organic."

http://www.naturalnews.com/039195_organic_foods_China_pollution_nightmare.html#

I can understand the police would not want to interfere with the bombings of anti-government political headquarters, but you'd think there would be some pressure to investigate when so many are being affected by collateral damage from the PTP gorilla war against their political opponents.

WOW has it come to this ?

Do you mean guerrilla ?

I would still like to be able to test at home...probably a difficult thing to do. However, how accurate is the article? There could be some sensationalizing going on to drum up readers. Are the results exaggerated? How reliable was the testing? How many samples were tested? It is fairly vague on specifics. And these substances are bad for you but how much is one actually ingesting if washing a little and cooking using various methods.

I only mention this because one has to be very discerning about what one reads. Just because it's in a "newspaper"...

Re; the dangers. We are still learning about the hazards of modern chemicals in our food, water and air, because in many cases the newer chemicals we are the first, second and third generation to have ingested these chemicals.

Experts stress that high levels of pesticides and other chemicals are very dangerous to infants and young children, less dangerous for adults. Global cancer rates are skyrocketing exponentially, and in the case of environmental toxins such as pesticides and water-treatment chemicals, it is hard to separate their risks from lifestyle factors such as smoking drinking etc. and the bigger problem is that many of the chemicals are new which means the people ingesting them are the first generation to do so, and so there can not possibly be long-term studies into health effects.

I have bad MS and so I have to take an interest in man-made environmental toxins which can cause poisoning and seizures etc. and the reading I've done on this is very alarming to me, although I've reached the happy point now when I'm ready to shuffle off this mortal coil anyway so I just eat and drink what I want.

But it saddens me that these food-toxicity issues are considered by the mainstream to be of marginal importance, for the reason that young healthy kids are ingesting them and experts say this is dangerous for child developmental reasons. I see this whole problem as a child-safety issue, based on what the experts are saying about toxicity effects in infants and young kids.

Yunla the world hasn't even seen the worst yet primarily because there is so little awareness of this due to deliberate media suppression

Radiation Has Contaminated U.S. Food Supplies

Air, water and milk samples collected across the United States after the Fukushima disaster all showed high levels of radioactive iodine, cesium, and tellurium. [12]

When this stuff hits the globe it spreads like glitter thrown into a fan. There is no safe haven!

http://wakeup-world.com/2014/02/21/8-must-know-facts-about-fukushima-nuclear-radiation/

It is pointless to worry about it really , because I think the battle to keep safe and clean food sources has been well and truly lost.

Even a couple of years ago it was reported in a study at least 200 million people around the world risk their health daily by eating food grown using untreated waste water, some of which may be contaminated with heavy metals and raw sewage, according to major study of 53 world cities.

And even in 2010 in this Thai visa forum there was a thread entitled Canal Chemical Pollution Levels Alarming: Greenpeace Thailand

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/383147-canal-chemical-pollution-levels-alarming-greenpeace-thailand/

The problem is the red shirts have declared very firmly they will not accept it if there is another coup this time.

According to the website global fire power the total manpower in the military is 306,000 active frontline personnel and 245,000 active reserve personnel.

In an article in the Bangkok Post today entitled “Fomenting a culture of absolute hate “ the author wrote that a red-shirt leader told his supporters that there are as many as 10 million guns in the country, ready for Thais to defend themselves.

I think this is what Thailand's army chief meant when he warned about the country risking "collapse"

The people are ready to rise up and fight this anti democratic fascist movement.

If there is further violence, Suthep and his thugs have no one to blame but themselves for trying to overthrow a democratically elected government.

Sorry, you are backing the wrong horse. Anybody with an ounce of understanding can see that this post is utterly off-beam. Look at Thaksin's historu! Look at his connections? Look at the type of speeches his supporters make. (Jaturporn for example). Review the U-Tube videos of the red short leaders' speeches during 2010. And you are serious about calling Suthep a fascist? My God! I'd hate to meet you in a dark alley. Where on earth is your humanity?

But how do you ( or anyone for that matter ) know for certain which is the right or wrong horse? Doesn't it seem a bit too coincidental that Ukraine, Thailand and now a Venezuela all erupt politically around about the same time ?

Whereas Ukraine is eastern Europe’s breadbasket, Thailand is Asia’s “rice bowl.” Yingluck has made several statements that any agreement on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade zone must take into account the needs of Thailand’s farmers, who serve as the bedrock of popular support for Yingluck’s “Red Shirt” movement. After Yingluck came to the defense of Thailand’s farmers, who would oppose any attempt by Monsanto to introduce genetically-modified rice to the country (which previously occurred with Haiti, which saw its rice industry decimated), pro-royalist “Yellow Shirt” protesters took to the streets of Bangkok

http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/11624

See it on a daily base, when a bus or truck is doing a difficult manoeuvre like a u-turn, there are always those motorbikes that can't wait for a second.

Yes, I can never understand why you see this so often.

Of course their time is so valuable

(When they're not sitting and staring into oblivion)

BM, I'm almost betting she will end up, back inside. Seriously, they'll push the boundaries, they can't help themselves.

I have that feeling also. Wouldn't you lie low for a month or two and say nothing? Move out of that expensive compound?

Instead, Mercedes and her husband are actively lobbying for Schapelle to be allowed to give an interview.

Really is adding fuel to a fire

Even Ketut Artha the head of Bali’s parole board says he would " prefer Corby leave the luxury villa and stay in Wayan’s family home, which is the address she put on her parole documents ".

Crikey the Corby family are showing real signs of desperation in their hunger for money…….even trying to meet the Justice Minister in Jakarta

Mercedes and husband Wayan Widyartha have been waging a campaign to get the green light for Corby’s interview.

This week, the couple apparently visited Jakarta, where they visited the corrections directorate general but didn’t get the answer they were looking for. They then tried to meet the justice minister, Amir Syamsuddin, who granted Corby’s parole, but were only able to leave a letter for him.

Syamsuddin told reporters on Friday the advice to Corby couldn’t be clearer. “What’s with Corby?” he said . “It’s clear what the corrections board in Bali has answered to their letter, and that’s what’s correct. The corrections board has rejected it.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/21/schapelle-corby-interview-still-out-of-bounds-despite-sisters-plea-to-minister

For whatever is worth, I have been stopped this morning - again - on the motorcycle on Second Road.

The usual check on tax, insurance and driving license. Then the policeman has asked to see my passport.

Not aggressively but quite firmly. I had it with me (I only started carrying it a few days ago after reading about

all this, never had for years) and have been sent on my way without any problems, but they seem to have instructions

to check.

It must be the flavor of the month, probably it will fade away soon.

I was sitting near Central yesterday watching 4 policeman pullover scores of bikes to check papers, but not one rider was asked to produce a passport?

In fact, I have never seen a traffic cop ask to see a passport?

Maybe there were no foreigners among the bikers that's why the policemen didn't ask passport

they were 90- 95 % foreigners and mostly tourists

For whatever is worth, I have been stopped this morning - again - on the motorcycle on Second Road.

The usual check on tax, insurance and driving license. Then the policeman has asked to see my passport.

Not aggressively but quite firmly. I had it with me (I only started carrying it a few days ago after reading about

all this, never had for years) and have been sent on my way without any problems, but they seem to have instructions

to check.

It must be the flavor of the month, probably it will fade away soon.

I was sitting near Central yesterday watching 4 policeman pullover scores of bikes to check papers, but not one rider was asked to produce a passport?

In fact, I have never seen a traffic cop ask to see a passport?

There is nothing unusual about what is happening with the weather. It has been hotter in the past and cooler. There has been more CO2 and less CO2. Etc..etc..etc.

You are simply incorrect. The advent of burning oil for power has unleashed significantly higher levels of CO2 into the atmosphere than existed previously. All the graphs show the trend beginning in the late 19th century, exactly when the industrial age began. The acceleration of global warming, the trend, is indeed highly unusual. The fact that there gave been time periods in the past when climate changed is not relevant to the current change.

Wrong. CO2 has been many times the level it is today and it has never driven climate.

This plain to see in the ice core data.

so what about this ?

" The last time there was this much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere, modern humans didn't exist. "

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/the-last-time-co2-was-this-high-humans-didnt-exist-15938

It's many a decade since I used a long distance bus in Britain and the last time, in 1977, the coach from Glasgow to London had 2 drivers.

NCA have 2 to 3 drivers on their routs. NCA has had the best safety record on buses in Thailand but unfortunately they have had two wreaks in the past few days. Before these wreaks it has been 10 years for them to have an accident.

The bus reported in the news is from Nakorn Chai Tour and a different company from Nakornchai Air.

http://www.nakhonchaitour.com/

http://www.nakhonchaiair.com/index.php

I think they made a mistake in the article because the photograph clearly shows a yellow stripe which NCA Gold class buses have while NCT don't have that

ADDITIONAL NOTE

It should be noted that this evening the story has been amended on the Khaosod English website and reference to Nakhonchai Tour Company has now been removed and substituted with Nakhonchai Air Company and the following message

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly identified the name of the bus company as Nakhonchai Tour Company. It should have read Nakhonchai Air. The mistake has been fixed.

http://www.khaosod.co.th/en/view_newsonline.php?newsid=TVRNNU1qWXlORGd6TXc9PQ==

It's many a decade since I used a long distance bus in Britain and the last time, in 1977, the coach from Glasgow to London had 2 drivers.

Of all the bus companies in Thailand, Nakhonchai Air is the one I'd plump to use first. Their safety record and in-house regulations are pretty good and their buses are second to none. This is a rare event for them and while the driver may well have dozed off, it could also be possible that he had a heart attack or stroke at the wheel. I guess it depends on how good an autopsy is performed to establish cause of death. He was after all, 59, so not the youngest guy on their books. They also often run a relief driver on the longer routes, though not the 6 hour BKK-KK route I believe. Very unfortunate incident, but it would not stop me from using their services.

Nakhonchai Air ALWAYS changes the driver halfway Bangkok-Khon Kaen.

And mostly there is a spare driver stashed away somehere in the bus.

The picture above clearly shows a single decker bus, low profile, standard fare of Nakhonchai air.

The other company uses double deckers or semi double deckers, high profile.

To the question if there are "things" to check the alertness of the driver, there are.

here is just one example.

Optalert drowsiness monitoring glasses work by measuring the velocity of the operator’s eyelid 500 times a second using a tiny invisible LED built into the frame of the glasses.

Core to the success of this safety technology are two key measurements tracking the amplitude velocity ratio—essentially measuring how fast and how far a person opens their eyelid after they close it.

http://optalert.com/the-products/components/

The first photo is an NCA Gold Class Bus.

The next photo is from the article. Notice the yellow striping.

As a person who has travelled on NCA so many times ( not NCT as the article claims ) I'm really sad that it seems you are right.

I liked to believe that this would somehow never happen to an NCA driver.

Those yellow lines are indeed quite unique and you can tell by the size of the windows in the first picture that it's a Gold Class Bus

And if you look at the timetable on their website for Bangkok to Khon Kaen there was indeed a Gold class bus that departed their terminal at 23:00 hours

http://www.nca.co.th/runway.php

Sometimes you gotta love the utter PREDICTABILITY of this joint!

Meanwhile, I predict there will be no easing off regarding checking the papers of farang motorcyclists as they ride down beach road (because there is money in it )

HMMMMMM.... But isn't saying the Dems are the PDRC over-simplifying the issue to the point of distortion?

The democrats and the PDRC are totally different don't even totally agree on a lot of issues.

I think you need to explain that the Dems never once voiced support for the blocking of the election. They just didn't agree with it.

This once again demonstrates the narrow vision of the foreign media. They probably don't even realise how much they distort the actual picture to the rest of the world.

Remember that dumba$$ CNN idiot Dan Rivers? That fool just mailed in his reporting without a single care of the actual issues at hand.

Yes, the word democracy is thrown around conveniently but at least they are trying to dig deeper this time around.

And I for one am glad we kicked that idiot Dan Rivers so far out of this country he's nowhere to be seen

" Yes, the word democracy is thrown around conveniently but at least they are trying to dig deeper this time around. "

http://world.time.com/2013/11/28/thailands-democrat-party-is-hilariously-misnamed/

It's ironic seeing these words come from the mouth of the ultimate puppet.

Suthep is his own man.

Yingluck and the entire PTP as well as the police are the ones who are puppets and Thaksin is the only one pulling the strings.

No proof that Suthep is anyone's puppet..... loads of proof all the others are.

Get used to it.

" Suthep is his own man "

Oh yes, he certainly is that……………..

so were Mussolini, Fidel Castro , General Pinochet etc…..