hiso

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12338147

"The two were among seven Thai politicians and activists charged with illegal entry after crossing into a disputed border area"

So what is the big fuzz about, did he hurt somebody with bodily harm?

If you plan to do so as a Bomb maker, plotter and kill dozens of people, you get only, 2 years 8 month and will sit probably only 1,5 years really.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/668654-thailand-jails-swedish-bomb-suspect/?utm_source=newsletter-20130918-1536&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

Well there is definatly a difference between the two crimes. The red shirts were in Thailand trying to get a coup.

The Yellow shirts were illegally in Cambodia trying to start a war.

Do you often compare oranges to apples?

This is a case where one country (Cambodia) imposed a legal penalty.

Where as the other imposed a lenient one because they were secretly in the open supporting the bomb maker.

"The red shirts were in Thailand trying to get a coup" - Do you honestly, really believe that?

Oh and by the way the the second source is about a swedish/lebanese citizen found guilty of having the materials to make a bomb. How much further you can get from the UDD I'm not sure but nice try.

Not so much apples and oranges as hedge clipper and space capsule as far as relevance goes.

Meanwhile, TAT keeps showing photoshopped photos of perfection in their promo material.

No warning booklets given out free to in-coming tourists at airports and hotels.

Well, that's what TAT does as a job description. They're there to entice people to come to Thailand, not scare them off so it's hardly fair to blame them.

The OP had it right - there is already an organisation in place to sort the problem out - unfortunately in places like Phuket and Pattaya they are also part of the problem, so there's no incentive. And then there are the Mayors.

In an attempt to dry out the damaged rice, the warehouse owner relocated the rice to a space behind the warehouse.

Maybe he was trying to dry it out the rice by burning it.

A story in the other newspaper says the inital government report claims the rice was subject to " spontaeneous combustion " so the public is being asked to believe this wet and rotting rice suddenly burst into flames and this in the rainy season too !

Government excuses for everything are becoming ever more ridiculous and spontaneous combustion is up there with the evil spirts much loved by SRT and Thai Airways.

That is possible.....put enough wet grass together and it may start to burn on itself. It is the heat from rotting inside.

But still....flooded rice, flooded with dirty water, will be placed outside the warehouse for drying where it start burning....that story is bad....

He took the wet rotting rice out of his warehouse because it is lost. Put it behind the warehouse so he can proof that he didn't sell it.

To be fair, if you read the article carefully, it was the Marketing Organisation for Farmers that come up with the "spontaneous combustion" theory as part of their initial "probe", not the government. The Deputy Commerce Minister said that the government would investigate further.

On a side note, and I'm not sure if it's because of the BCD, but in the dive trip I did with it I didn't have to use any air to control my buoyancy at any time during 10 or so dives, only when reaching the surface for flotation.

Yes, related to the BCD, because of different buoyancy. Any BCD/wing could have effect on buoyancy/weights.

Not ideal BTW, diving without weights, simple physics learn that that means either too heavy during the dive or too light during the ascent/safety stop.

Well, I had weights, of course, I just didn't need to put air in the BCD to control the buoyancy. Oddly enough I only felt light at the beginning of the dives, had to kick down a bit to descend the first 10 meters or so, not at the end. Which is weird because the empty tank is supposed to weight 2 or 3 kilos more.

It actually made me think of trying to dive without a BCD at all, hey!, if it was good enough for Cousteau it's fine by me!

Yes, I have done it, going down with a Kilo or so less than I needed, once you get down to 10M you have no problem but if you come back up to around 5m you will find yourself really struggling to stay down, another thing for a BCD if you are on a busy boat that has to shoot off to pick up some less experienced divers you could be on the surface for some time, being able to inflate your jacket make life easy,

Also I would advise against wings unless you really are intent on using twins, I found they tended to lift me from the back and push me forward.

Depends on the make of the wing harness. I used to use a Dive Rite harness for years but just got used to the fact that at the surface it tended to push me face down - I just used to "sit back" and that was better (not always possible in rough water).

And then I then I decided to buy a complete lighweight travel set where the BCD provides its own carry bag. I bought an (Aqualung) SeaQuest Malibu Wing BCD. It has a couple of weight pockets sited just below the shoulder blades and gives perfect trim both below and on the surface. Perfect.

Incidentally the bcd and the rest of the travel gear is now for sale - if anybody is interested pm me.