Priceless
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This is almost an impossible scenario. The instruments on modern aircraft detect turbulence, whether it be CAT or not, and the aircraft has plenty of time to avoid it.
What we should ask is what the air crew was doing that the aircraft was prevented from detecting the danger.
Quote: "Clear-air turbulence is usually impossible to detect with the naked eye and very difficult to detect with conventional radar,[7] with the result that it is difficult for aircraft pilots to detect and avoid it." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear-air_turbulence]
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Dr Nook Animal Hospital is where I always take my cats. If you go south on Chang Klan from Pantip Plaza, you will see a big Kasikorn Bank office on your left. Turn right into the soi opposite the bank and Dr Nook will be the last house on your right. She is very knowledgeable and thorough and speaks excellent English. Her phone is 081 883 5430.
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If you Google fluoxetine cat you'll find some recent research that has shown very good results. There's a locally made generic called "Oxetine" that comes in 20 mg pills that you can split in four (4 mg pills are not available in Thailand and customs may frown on direct import). 5 mg is a little bit on the high end, but works well with my cat.
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If you check your baggage as well as your cats through to CNX, you will only pass immigration in BKK. All customs procedures, including for the cats, will take place in CNX (at least it has on the four occasions that I have brought in cats).
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I cannot get test strips for my accu-check compact here in Thailand and have to order them from Canada ( cheaper than UK)
I get strips for my Accu-Check Performa at Peera Pharmacy on Ratchadamnoen (about three or four doors down from Black Canyon Coffee, same side of road). They usually carry strips for at least one more AccuCheck model.
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May be just fog? I don't know but it's raining almost every day?
No, it's smog for sure. The smell of smoke is in the air. It's better today. Rain?! We haven't had rain (near airport plaza) in over a week!
At the Northern Meteorological Centre (800 metres from the Airport Plaza) it has rained five out of the last seven days ( http://www.tmd.go.th/en/weather_report_daily.php?StationNumber=48327 )
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A good question Tywais!
I'm not claiming it's wrong (note use of 'stealing'), that was Priceless.
I would just like someone to explain to me how, a third party (aka SH bookseller) removing income from an author/publisher is OK. Yet an end-user (aka reader) doing effectively the same thing is morally (or legally) wrong.
I seem to remember a copyright notice along the lines of 'lending, redistribution or re-selling is prohibited by law' being printed in books.
And the answer is - First Sale Doctrine The site says "deals primarily with US" but the EU courts recently have also passed it.
The first-sale doctrine plays an important role in copyright and trademark law by limiting certain rights of a copyright or trademark owner. The doctrine enables the distribution chain of copyrighted products, library lending, gifting, video rentals and secondary markets for copyrighted works (for example, enabling individuals to sell their legally purchased books or CDs to others). In trademark law, this same doctrine enables reselling of trademarked products after the trademark holder put the products on the market. The doctrine is also referred to as the "right of first sale," "first sale rule," or "exhaustion rule."
That doesn't really help me with the moral aspect of it all.
If I download from a pirate site or buy from a SH shop, it still seems to me that, for both cases, in reality I am depriving the author of their intellectual property rights. (in both cases the item was originally purchased by someone)
So if I'm going to 'steal', better to do it myself direct and not use a 'pimp'.
If you leave the 'moral aspect' out of it and look at the legal aspect, reselling a book in paper format is legal. Copying and reselling the same book in electronic format is not. Try following Tywais link to 'First Sale Doctrine' and you may understand the difference.
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I'm not saying that the prices that I quoted are typical or that my sample is, either. Obviously stealing is cheaper than buying, and if your interest lies in fiction of yesteryear you may well be able to easily find what your looking for, legally without charge.
Maybe you could explain to me, how buying a second-hand book, gives money to the author/publisher (as opposed to downloading) and therefore isn't 'stealing'.
Seems to me, to be exactly the same process.
Author/publisher lose a sale.
But the bookseller gets some revenue
However, I was referring to your claim of getting books for free as opposed to buying them, in either paper or electronic format, from a source where the the author/publisher gets a share./ Priceless
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A note on the Kindle discussion:
It appears that many posters believe that by buying an e-book version, they will automatically save a lot of money. This is apparently not always true.
I am not a Kindle user, nor am I much of a customer of the local second-hand (pre-read?) bookstores. The reason for the latter is that my reading interests are somewhat specialized (though I am an avid reader). Out of curiosity I looked up my three latest book purchases (on amazon.com, which incidentally is not where I usually source my books). My savings would have averaged 14.5% buying e-books, compared to hardcover versions. In fact, the savings on the two recently published ones were 9.4% and 3.7%, respectively. The only in my opinion significant saving (34.1%) was on the third one, which was originally published ~15 years ago.
I have not included the postage costs, since that would have complicated the comparison. I usually order my books from UK, since the postage from the US is outrageous and parcels from e.g. amazon.com seem to always end up with Thai customs, which further increases the costs. However, it seems that you are not allowed to order e-books from outside the UK
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But many of us don't 'buy' books for our Kindles.
Think of it like buying from a second-hand bookshop, but without the buying part.
So we save 100% of the costs.
Now that's what I call Priceless.
I'm not saying that the prices that I quoted are typical or that my sample is, either. Obviously stealing is cheaper than buying, and if your interest lies in fiction of yesteryear you may well be able to easily find what your looking for, legally without charge.
I would however be very interested if you could point me to free, legal sources for the three titles I commented on:
Acemoglu & Robinson: Why Nations Fail
Logevall: Embers of War
Diamond: Guns, Germs, and Steel
The first book is a very interesting study in political economy, the latter are still waiting on my to-be-read shelf. The second is an historical study on the events leading up to the American involvement in Vietnam and the third might be classified as 'economic geography' or 'social development'. Not exactly light reading, but they happen to interest me.
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A note on the Kindle discussion:
It appears that many posters believe that by buying an e-book version, they will automatically save a lot of money. This is apparently not always true.
I am not a Kindle user, nor am I much of a customer of the local second-hand (pre-read?) bookstores. The reason for the latter is that my reading interests are somewhat specialized (though I am an avid reader). Out of curiosity I looked up my three latest book purchases (on amazon.com, which incidentally is not where I usually source my books). My savings would have averaged 14.5% buying e-books, compared to hardcover versions. In fact, the savings on the two recently published ones were 9.4% and 3.7%, respectively. The only in my opinion significant saving (34.1%) was on the third one, which was originally published ~15 years ago.
I have not included the postage costs, since that would have complicated the comparison. I usually order my books from UK, since the postage from the US is outrageous and parcels from e.g. amazon.com seem to always end up with Thai customs, which further increases the costs. However, it seems that you are not allowed to order e-books from outside the UK
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Does anybody know if the Honorary Consuls in CM produce these letters and whether Immigration accept them? Are there some Honorary Consuls that do and others that don't (realising that this is academic if Immigration will not accept them).
And just to add to the confusion will a Consul (Honorary or otherwise) for a country to which you are a national be willing to certify income if it is derive from another country?
CM specific as I wish to lodge in CM and consistency (in my experience) has not been that good between Immigration offices. CM have always been good to me though.
The Swedish Honorary Consulate in Chiang Mai does produce e.g. statements of income, residence etc. These documents are accepted by immigration, DLT and so on.
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Here's another illustration, from Chang Klan Road in 2011:
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PS My apologies to whoever I stole the pic from.
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Tried to quote the guy that was ranting about pollution levels in Asia, but it wouldn't let me. So, anyway here is my reply to his 'facts'.
This is <deleted>. The Philippines has over 7,000 islands. Did the survey bloke visit every island, take a reading and then take an average, or just say I'll take a reading in Manila then go on the piss.'
I've gone through the thread one more time, and the only post that mentioned Asia was my own (post #23). However, it says nothing about 'pollution levels in Asia'. What it does say is:
'As for other countries' standards, let me quote you a few (in µg/m3): [...]'
The Philippine government's standard is, as far as I know, the same over the whole country and can be found e.g. here: http://www.chanroble...cleanairact.htm
Before you claim something like 'This is <deleted>.', please read the post you are criticizing.
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I use to use http://aqmthai.com/ to check the daily air quality and look at the history but it seems the page is now changed and there is a log in but I nor my Thai GF can figure out how to set -up an account. Can anybody (Mr. Priceless perhaps?) help or suggest another way to get data?
http://firefly.geog.umd.edu/firemap/ is a good one from NASA to see where the fires are
http://www.windguru....x.php?sc=116783 and to see which way the smoke is blowing
The Pollution Control Department set up a completely new site for air quality on 1 February this year. Unfortunately it does not seem to contain more than one month of 'historical' data, at least I haven't found any either. I maintain my own database on which I base my longer term statistics. This is a bit of a pain, though, and means I cannot add any new locations since data will be missing from 1 February this year to (as of now) 31 July.
If you are looking for historical data before 1 February 2012, you can find it here: http://www.pcd.go.th/AirQuality/Regional/QueryAir.cfm?task=default
For Chiang Mai you will find data there going back to the late 90s (though I tend to doubt the very early data).
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[...]
Note that you don't need to go for the absolute lowest levels of pollution; really most of the country is fine, with the prime exception of the North. I wouldn't fuss over if the average pm-10 is 40 or 60 or 70; all of that is fine, you just want to avoid any crazy spikes you get some years/some days in the North, with values ranging 120-300.
This is very true and the reason I specifically mentioned Sara Buri. There the yearly average is in the 90-100 µg/m3 range with 90-100 days/year in excess of 120 µg/m3! I tend to think that the number of 'bad days' per year should be discussed more often, but these figures are rather hard to come by.
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okay - let's approach this from another angle, where would you suggest escaping to that would be suitable for a recovering mother and newborn?
When people suggest 'heading to the coast' where would make a good destination, rather than a crazy party hotspot?
cheers!
Mal
P.S. I'm a Brit and my wife is an Aussie in case you were wondering...
From a pollution (and climate) point of view it seems that Surat Thani would be a good choice. I have very little personal experience from there, but it seems that the mainland province would be your best choice. Koh Phangan is very much a backpacker party place and Koh Samui is quite expensive (very much so compared to Chiang Mai).
Phuket is also a good choice from the pollution aspect, but very touristy and expensive.
Prachuap Khiri Khan (e.g. Hua Hin) is supposedly very laid back but should also suit your environmental needs.
From the pollution aspect you would probably do well to avoid all of the Upper North and Central Thailand. Sara Buri is by far the most polluted area in the country and Bangkok (at least the central parts) is not very good either.
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March is the worst month but last year it was way over the safe limits for 4 moths. So in effect you are filtering the air using your lungs. I will not be staying for the month of march.. Most locals have no choice but to stay but you do... The Thais always say they are sorting it even in talks with Burma about burning but last year was the worst ever.. If this burning season is the same then its good bye to the north for us..
Don't ask me about the poster's motives, but this is a blatant lie!
Last year (2011) was the best year on record, with not a single day over the Thai standard limit of 120 µg/m3. If we are kind and for a moment assume that the poster actually means this year, we did have a bad March with 13 observations over the limit (and one such day in February). However, January, February and April were all less polluted than the Chiang Mai average.
That said, it is still true, as several other posters have confirmed, that since the pollution period is (normally) so concentrated, it may well be a good idea to stay away for the first six weeks of your baby's life, i.e. past the end of March. After that s/he will be a bit stronger and more developed and most of the pollution should be gone.
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let's not get into name calling and accusations already. It's not good air for health and the previous poster didn't say who's limits. It may be personal limits or another countries standards. For me exercising its way over my personal limits for healthy exercise.
Priceless makes a lot of contributions to the debate but also comes off very pedantic and petty at times. Perhaps this is due to his own motives whatever they might be.
Show some more harmony and good nature in this on going discussion.
My motives are quite simple:
In any discussion of factual circumstances, it is preferable (if not necessary) to stick to FACTS while such are available. Otherwise the discussion turns to merely an exchange of opinions appearing as facts, which can only mislead.
If the poster above ('BlueSmurf') indeed referred to his personal opinions, he should have called it that and not 'safe limits'.
As for other countries' standards, let me quote you a few (in µg/m3):
Thailand: 120
Singapore: 150
Vietnam: 150
Philippines: 150
Malaysia: 150
Indonesia: 150
Myanmar: N/L
Lao PDR: N/L
Cambodia: N/L
PDR China (Grade II): 150
USA: 150
(The European Union does not have a limit for individual daily level.)
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March is the worst month but last year it was way over the safe limits for 4 moths. So in effect you are filtering the air using your lungs. I will not be staying for the month of march.. Most locals have no choice but to stay but you do... The Thais always say they are sorting it even in talks with Burma about burning but last year was the worst ever.. If this burning season is the same then its good bye to the north for us..
Don't ask me about the poster's motives, but this is a blatant lie!
Last year (2011) was the best year on record, with not a single day over the Thai standard limit of 120 µg/m3. If we are kind and for a moment assume that the poster actually means this year, we did have a bad March with 13 observations over the limit (and one such day in February). However, January, February and April were all less polluted than the Chiang Mai average.
That said, it is still true, as several other posters have confirmed, that since the pollution period is (normally) so concentrated, it may well be a good idea to stay away for the first six weeks of your baby's life, i.e. past the end of March. After that s/he will be a bit stronger and more developed and most of the pollution should be gone.
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'I've been hearing lots of reports of the pollution situation geting worse in CM.'
It all depends on what you mean by this. The long-term trend is very positive, the average pollution level has fallen by ~40% since mid-2004. That said, there are fairly large variations between different years giving 'high' and 'low' years. So far, though, every 'high' year has been lower than the previous 'high'. Obviously no one knows in advance what kind of year 2013 will be
However, what characterizes pollution in Chiang Mai (and the rest of the Upper North) are the very sharp seasonal variations, normally peaking from mid-February to the end of March:
As for some of the comments above, remember that subjectiveness is subjective
E.g. October of last year (as indeed November) had very little pollution with averages around 30 µg/m3, with the Pollution Control Department's 'risk level' set at 120. The Chiang Mai levels for those months were half the levels at Din Daeng in Bangkok at the same time.As for your future baby, that is your responsibility and must be your decision. If the baby is strong and healthy there shouldn't be a problem (babies are born here all the time...). On the other hand, if the baby turns out to have asthma or some other respiratory problem, you should probably get out of Chiang Mai on the double and not come back until around Songkran.
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Where do you suggest we buy prescription drugs? None of the pharmacies I have tried carry the vast majority of them.That is true what they told you. That is how prescriptions are issued in Thailand.
Why not just buy the generic equivalent which is cheap as chips? There are two generic brands in Thailand, but by far the cheapest is Atorsan (GPO). You would save even more (about 35-40% more) by buying 100 X 20 mg. and splitting the tablets.
Edit: Don't buy your prescriptions at C.M. Ram. That is the most expensive place in C.M. to buy drugs.
Peera Pharmacy, a few doors down Ratchadamnoen from Black Canyon coffee, same side of road. Run by two VERY knowledgeable sisters.
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website only in farang language no thai
i think only cater farang pricing wise should be farang price as well
LemanRus pointed out that the website is not ready. If you look at their Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/wbywanlamun ) it is largely (mostly?) in Thai.
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The river level has fallen by half a metre (well, 49 cm actually) in the last 24 hours. It is now >1.5 metres below danger level. http://www.hydro-1.com/index.php?id=61&rivercode=0602
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Also interesting to know that Sukhothai is not a tourist destination. I guess that tourists should limit themselves to Pattaya, Phuket, Patpong and Nana
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Rain
in Chiang Mai
Maybe it was mid October, but the sun definately came out in November....in that case 2.5 1.5 - 2 more months of rain then, regardless it still sucks !(for some)
But it has to be noted that the closer you live to a mountain the more rain you will get, do any of you posting graphs live close to a mountain by chance?
I stayed on Huay Kaew road last year and it was wetter than other parts of the city from the rain that developed over the mountain range at Doi Suthep.
On the other side of the city there was much less rain. I remember this because i would have to go to the other side of town to paint my motorcycle.
I really hope it is Mid October, then i can go back sooner...the US is driving me nuts right now.
You don't give up, do you?
The weather data reported from Chiang Mai is normally, and definitely on the site that I pointed to, measured at the Thai Meteorological Office at Chiang Mai Airport (VTCC).
Last year, i.e. 2011, there were five days with rain between 20 October and the end of the year (two in October, two in November and one in December) with a total of 8.64 millimeters of rain. If last year is anything to go by, your "2½ months" would me more like 5 weeks!
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However, I was referring to your claim of getting books for free as opposed to buying them, in either paper or electronic format, from a source where the the author/publisher gets a share.
Driving Directions CM to BKK
in Chiang Mai
Posted
Welcome back, M. Hulot! Long time no see...