Soi Dog

What a tragedy. It is hard to imagine the grief of such an untimely death. It may have been that the child suffered a severe allergic reaction, which would account for her symptoms.

Scorecard and Arkady hit the nails on the head. In many respects this is like the US system where until recently there was absolutely no way to reward the good teachers and get rid of the bad ones because of the strength of the teachers' unions. Even now, progress in this area is tentative and spotty and until there is a way to make real progress the results will be same depressing results we have been seeing for so many years.

There are two issues that are not being given enough attention. FIrst, what kind of moron rams a jetski into a yacht? Yachts are generally big enough to be seen from far enough away that collisions could be avoided. So I have very little sympathy for the guy who did that and I think 100,000 baht is getting off lightly. He should have been fined a million baht on top of that just for being stupid.

Second, there is the issue of insurance. Shouldn't Jetski operators have enough insurance to cover these losses? Sure there could be a deductible that would need compensation but it looks to me that the current system is just the opposite, i.e. insurance pays a minimal amount and the customer is held up for an open ended compensation.

Just saying.

I view the proposed amnesties with a jaundiced eye but not for the same reason as most. I was on one of the very last flights to land at Swampy when the yellow shirted goons were storming the control tower. I could have had a very bad day so I am not one who views the yellow shirt takeover of Swampy as a harmless prank and great fun. And I certainly don't see the justice in none of them ever going behind bars while so many red shirts have been in jail for so long without trial. It will take more than an amnesty to even the score.

I had to look on youtube, now I know what happened to that Teddy Bear they use in the rape re enactments.

I think the choking of the chicken was a nice touch.

This form of idiocy is not unique to Thailand. There are spoilsports to be found in any country. But I like the idea of an anti-ageing medicine service. Since the only effective way to stop ageing is to die, they must be peddling deadly poisons, no? As for me, give me ageing or give me death.

Thailand has lots of IPR, except here the R stands for Robbery. However, the US could help themselves a bit by making legally acquiring online videos and music more accessible. Very few of the US suppliers of online content will allow business with computers having Thai IP addresses. Their concern is understandable but a) this does nothing to stem the tide of piracy and if people who want to pay for legally acquired media content can't do so, they join the ranks of customers for the pirates.

This should silence the critics who say the government doesn't know squat.

Yet another way for the government to screw up the agriculture sector. How about giving the farmers access to the information they need and the training on how to use it. But of course that would lessen their dependence on politicians for handouts and upset the social order.

There is no excuse for what those animals did but I have noticed a common feature on most stories concerning violence against foreigners. Almost invariably they involve excessive drinking late at night. These are things are generally not safe in any country and it is amazing how people think it will be okay here.

There are two things the US won't do. First, they won't take Thailand off the PWL and second, they won't do anything in the way of consequences against Thailand. Go figure.

Brace yourselves for a cool wave. They don't come much cooler than Santana.

And this is news because...????

Some time ago I took a boat from Phuket to Phi Phi and the seas were indeed rough. But being a longtime boater myself I was impressed by the professionalism and skill of our pilot. He played the waves as well as could be done and still kept us at a good speed. Piloting in rough seas is an art form and I don't think we have enough information in this case to know if the pilot of the Australians' boat was doing the best that was possible in rough conditions or was being irresponsible. I have an open mind on this.

I am also having problems with the site. I can't get the dropdown menu for departure or destination cities to work at all. So I booked my flight on Singapore Air instead.

One thought for the techies in the forum (I am not one) is that this started shortly after the issue of Java security came out. Could it be that our computers are disabling Java applets that the Thai site relies on?

What a load of crap. Styrene has absolutely no resemblance to any hormones. And to say it might be dangerous because it comes from oil is like saying we should avoid any pharmaceuticals because they ultimately come from oil as well.

The Baht isn't getting stronger - the Dollar is getting weaker and as long as Obama ignores the debt and deficit it will only get worse. And his union buddies will be loving every minute of it.

Wow. Hard to choose which side to root for: Russian mafia or yuk-tuk mafia? I hope this is not the beginning of an ugly turf war.

This whole argument completely misses the real point. The Democrats transferred cash to the farmers through the price insurance scheme and now PT is doing it through a pledging scheme. So the argument boils down to the amount and the mechanism (i.e. who scams the farmers). The real point which is totally missing here is how to make farmers more independent and in control of their own destiny. Cash transfer schemes, whether from the Dems or PT, just make the farmers dependent on handouts and don't give them the means to figure out for themselves a better way to make a living. It makes no sense for farmers in the Northeast with only a few rai to try to make a living growing one crop a year of low yielding rice. They can't. So who is working to help them figure out ways where they can be more productive and independent? Answer: Nobody. The status quo demands that they remain subservient to the people with the cash.