Plus

thanks for the proof that that story isn't anything but BS. repeats don't make it true.

What makes you an authority on what is true and what is not? You weren't there.

The story was published in a UK paper, take it or leave it.

Mr Plus

I won't waste your time pointing you at british comedy, as a yank it will go over your head.

As for drama, posters have mentioned some excellent shows.

If you are in to educational stuff (travel, natural world, science) the BBC is second to none

Prancing around while clapping coconut shells to imitate horses was bloody hilarious, goes way way over my head. And that's from Brits' best comedy troup ever. Luckily they had better moments, like "What have Romans ever done for us?"

Fawlty Towers was funny, true, but that was ages ago. Still in black and white?

So far I got recommendation for The Tudors, any current comedy show? Action? Something mysterious like Heroes? Recently I enjoyed leverage - a group of criminals stealing stuff to help people suffering from big corporations. Got a British lead actress, too. And let's not forget Dr. House.

i don't think Muslims have any sympathies for Rohignyas, I don't think they care very much, just like the rest of the country.

On the surface The Tudors sound as exciting as The Age of innocence, nothing like 24. Mind you I didn't think of House MD much, until I saw for myself that it's a lot more than another medical tv show. The man's brilliant, not matter what he does, medicine is just a backdrop.

So, what is it about Tudors, really?

Last season of 24 was about exploiting a cliche and totally predictable. They solve the first problem by episode 6, get a bigger one that they solve by episode 18, then there's a big betrayal and a sudden happy ending.

I've seen Blackadder and Fawlty Towers.

Are you serious???

I mean they could have been revolutionary thirty years ago, but who'd watch them now????

Is there anything contemporary that wouldn't look like high school production? I'd like to give it a try - it's off season for most popular shows now.

Correct.

It's also a question of how much value one should put on safety. Even if selling price is the same, it's a good idea to estimate how much the maintance would increase that price over the years, or, conversly, how old must be the Volvo to cost the same as Sportrider after five years of driving.

Or one could think that it's the upfront money that matters, and regular maintance is affordable, even if it seems like a lot when all totalled up.

Should really go to Thai boards to read what people say about ten year old Volvo V70, you'll get good summary of costs and troubles and advanrages. Thai specs might be different to the rest of the world, so experience in the US is not the same, especially comparing to the rest of the car market. I mean it could be slow by western standards but more than adequate for Thailand, or vice versa, if engines are different.

Abhisit is an experienced spin politician, what he says does is often the exact opposite of what he does.

Possibly, if you believe in red propaganda.

Otherwise he's pretty much stuck to his guns. The bus affair was a big test for him and he didn't flinch a muscle, so far.

What's "Twin Peaks"?

Most English speakers get by no more that five thousand words, I guess. What's the point of having a million? As useful as some world's biggest frying pan on display.

And yes, Bonobo, people learn English for all kinds of reason, being able to extract money from loud mouthed proponents of Brit/American culture is just one of them.

When England couldn't qualify for Euro 2008, someone said on this board - all the participants must be really disappointed of not having us, the inventors of the game.

Huh? Who gives a...?

US tv has absolutely nothing over quality BBC productions

I'll give it another try. What would you recommend?

When BBC entertainment on True was free before the official launch, it was dreadful, in my opinion.

I can't think of any Brit show that has made any acceptance outside their own borders in recent years, and I don't mean game shows like "who wants to me millionaire" or the "weakest link". I can't stand them as a matter of principle.

Prime Time Thai TV is on a Par with Kids TV in the UK, in my opinion..

I always wonder why Brits think their TV is superior. From the samples I've seen, it's as crappy as any other TV.

Americans at least created some truly amazing shows like Lost and Heroes, comparing to that Brits are still in the high school amateur category.

Both Lost and Heroes have lost the plot after first successful seasons, but that's not the point.

I think you confuse Sportrider the OP was talking about with a pickup truck. It is an SUV, truck based, but still and SUV, with SUV body and three rows of seats.

They are unique to Thailand, never been assembled or exported anywhere else.

They were designed to take advantage of low taxes on pickup assembly and public demand for SUVs, as investing or importing proper SUVs was not competitive. At that time Toyota was selling smaller RAV4 for 1.6mil here.

Braking power and other features are shared with Thai build Hilux Tigers that were indeed sold all over the world, and I bet it brakes better than a loaded Tiger as it still weighs less.

Only dirver's airbag on Sportriders.

safety+road handling+expensive maintenance (Volvo) vs. ruggedness+economy+trucklike ride (Sportrider or equivalents).

Yes, but things like expensive maintanance will hit you for sure, while safety advantages are a matter of chance. Sportdriders are undesctructable and heavy, it's hard to get yourself killed in one, at Thai speeds anyway, and so goes for handling.

I don't think they are actually comparable - station wagon and a genuine seven seater.

Second day on Ubuntu, no big problems so far.

Wine is working, Grabit was downloading at 4mbps, then it started disappearing. Once I switch to another desktop in cube, wine window with Grabit in it disappears. System monitor says the grabit process is running but in sleeping mode. Terminate, start grabit again, flick the cube to another desktop, and it's gone. Odd.

Also spent hours trying to set graphical grub menu with gfx-grub only to find that it won't work on Ubuntu since Intrepid version - they've made some changes to "base names" to "256-bit" whatever that means, and gfx-grub can't read files from the disk at all. Found "startup manager" instead and it even has the option of blowing up the resolution beyond 640x480 set in original grub.

The reason for tweaking it was that default grub menu was way off the screen to the left, trunkating the entries. So far off that Windows was completely out of the display, I had to guess which one was it.

Also the file manager doesn't have address field to type in, navigate only by clicking around through folders. Strange.

Overall it was a very pleasant experience, even Ubuntu colors have grown on me, and Gnome's simplicity has it's own advantages.

So it's the militants getting bolder and bolder.

Or it could be Democrat trained secret kill squad sent by Abhisit who was under the influence of the army.

Or it could be Buddhist militia.

>>>

Bottom line - the govt must overcome the perception that was the army behind it, no matter what they truth is, perception is what matters at the moment.

And over at the Internet forum people are looking for ways to get MORE channels.

These changes are immaterial. Waste of time, even though people might approve if asked.

I think they will try to sneak in immunity for politicians, too, among the consituency boundaries changes.

Like I said, the cover could have been provided by local commanders sympathetic to the cause. I don't think outsiders would have had any difficulty moving around if they had their uniforms on and some sort of an officer in charge - I'm pretty sure they weren't wearing ski masks all the way through.

I'm not saying it was Sae Dang's gang at all. I'm saying that the possibility of outsiders sabotaging the govt work should not be ruled out.

Or "insiders" going rogue and dishing out justice themselves.

Or even militants getting peaved off with the whole village.

Whoever has done it - locals blame it on the govt and it's a serious blow to whatever trust Democrats were trying to build. There are two obvious beneficiaries - insurgents and PTP. Both are fuc_king terrorists if you ask me, and there should be no negotiations.

Drive up to a mosque, spray bullets into the crowd, jump in a truck and drive away. Local commanders can provide cover and intellegence based on personal relationships rather than on chain of command.

Sometimes it seems Dems have decided to go along just to see the amendments killed for sure.

The problem with referendum is that all kinds of changes would require only ONE 'yes/no' answer, so people, 90% of whom have never read the constitution will be forced to decide whether one consitutiency MP would be worth sacrifucing no punishement for fraud. It just doesn't make much sense.

But the same could be said about 2007 referendum, too.

What is the purpose of all those referendums anyway?

Last time people voted along their party line, without even reading it.

The ultimate result depends on who is doing the writing and for whose benefit, as people's approval is no more than a rubber stamp.

I think what Englishmen will have to get used to is not being the authority on the language anymore - no one would accept their "standards", either in grammar or pronunciation, or spelling. Americans are less fussy about it already, so it won't affect them as much.

And both Americans and English will have to get used to the idea that their existence is not the reason others learn English. Some just can't stop sharing their cultural experiences thinking they are educating people. That's just unbearable. Many learn English so that they can screw Americans out of their money, not to learn anything from them.

What about rumors of Thaksin's prostate cancer, one possible reason for staying in Germany?

I bet Montenegro is not at the forefront of cancer treatments.

I've seen a guy open an older Corolla with nothing more than clothes hanger, one of those made from a piece of wire.

He just made a hook, slid it between rubber sealing and the glass, and pushed the lock button up from the inside. Not an easy thing to do without experience, though, and then there's alarm.

Once I had water insude my key fob, so I could open the door but couldn't disable the alarm.

The trick was to insert the key, turn on and off about ten times, and alarm died. Took less than a minute, but still wouldn't recommend this method to thieves.

Sae Daeng has no post commanding any significant amount of troops, and no influence whatsoever in Army Region 4.

Like Tawp said, it could have been a roadtrip. That would explaing why the MO was so different.

The Southern provinces have had massive Democrat led patronage networks, until Thaksin started shaking them up.

What do you mean? For ages Wan Muhhamad Nor Matha from Chavalit's party was in political control there, not Democrats. He has lost big in 2005 elections but Dems lost control of those areas again in 2007.

Not to mention that when Thaksin started shaking things up the whole region went up in flames in a space of several months.

And comparing The Straights Times with Burma's propaganda rag has now again disqualified you from any sensible discussion.

And Straights Times is not a Singapore propaganda rag????

he Straits Times' initial take

Why don't you post link to comments from New Light of Myanmar, too?

Three troublesome provinces are not Democrat base, for starters, and I don't know why one should overlook the possibility of rogue elements in the military trying to destabilise the situation for their own ends. This latest attack, if done by rogue paramilitaries, would fit very nicely with the idea of blaming Democrats for ineffective policy.

The name of Sae Daeng immediately springs to mind but I'm sure there are others who can be called on to do dirty jobs for Bangkok politicians.