BKKBike09

No parking.

I have looked at the EP. One of the better looking MGs (to me, anyway). The actual vehicle build quality however is (to me) not great. Lots of hard plastics. Manually adjustable seats etc. Do you need extras like a sunroof etc? No, but I'd still like them. MG battery is 'only' 50 KWh for claimed 380 km range; BYD is 60 KWh for claimed 480 km range. MG ground clearance is 115 mm; BYD is 175 mm. That's a potentially big deal if you live in any area prone to flooding. The BYD is however quite lardy compared to the MG - about 200 kgs more.

If of interest, here's the owners manual for the BYD Atto 3. Some interesting (okay, maybe not *that* interesting) snippets in there about recommended battery charge status, driving in floods, not being able to turn off, it seems, some of the numerous driver 'aids', data sharing with BYD (possibly a concern if your phone is linked to the vehicle) and the fact that the car has a built in transponder (or so it seems). I like this car and am seriously thinking about buying one. THB 1.2 million is same / cheaper than for exact same vehicle in Oz/NZ/UK (when released). However I remain unconvinced about viability of an EV with current tech for all-round use. Daily commuting: perfect. Long distance use? Not so sure. ATTO-3-Owner's-Manual-NZ-08_2022.pdf

120 kmh. But frankly one of life's pleasures here in LOS is that you can drive much faster than that and not worry about losing your license [cue outrage from AN members about respect for others, risk etc etc].

90 kmh for highway driving? No thanks. I want to get to my destination quicker than that. Would like to know what range you get if you drive at 110-120. PS - I'm seriously thinking about buying a BYD Atto 3. THB 1.2 million and cheap financing (interest at 1.68%).

More reporting says he had flown into Phuket on a domestic flight, not that he was trying to fly out. Which implies he'd lugged the ammo and mags all the way from Israel! Which would pose a lot of questions about airport security in Israel. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-720882 Not sure if Galil in 5.56 is what IDF still use as standard rifle (they also sold the Galil to Thailand).

All part of 'crackdown of the month' themed: "bad Chinese in Thailand". Next month will be 'unregistered toasters' or something like that.

It was a very ineffectual 'assault'. Should have found a couple of French blokes to lend a hand. That said, Veerawich isn't wearing a mask! They must be terrified of him.

Sure there's the right to self-defence. There's also 'reasonable force' and proportionality. Either party had the chance to walk away. Both parties chose not to. The French guys - for whatever reason - appear to have stopped their car in order to have a confrontation. They could have just driven on. I think they're unlucky in that the French guy doesn't appear - in the video - to be trying to 'viciously assault' the Thai guy. But the Thai guy still ended up in ICU. In any country if you get in a fight and another party ends up in ICU, you're going to court. PS - i'm not jealous of the Porsche. Don't like them. Now if it was a Maserati ...

Doesn't matter who started the fight. You get into it with someone and they end up in ICU, expect consequences.

Give it a couple of days and media / netizens will move on. The foreigners will pay compensation, fines and possibly suspended sentence - unless they are known to police in France or wanted by Interpol, in which case I suspect that as I type this, the police attache's office at the French Embassy in Bangkok will be discussing purchase of one-way tickets. The police here generally tolerate foreign on foreign crime but will take action when a foreign national police service asks them to.

From the linked article: "As Thai criminologist, Associate Professor Police Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Krisanaphong Poothakool explains, people no longer believe that the police can effectively protect them when they are in trouble. “On the other hand, why don’t people in the UK, Japan, or Singapore believe that they have to possess a gun? Because their government reassures them that, if there’s a crime, the police can take prompt action and provide justice.” True in Japan or Singapore. The UK? Forget the police taking prompt action and providing justice if you get burgled or mugged! They might however ask you to fill in a diversity and inclusion questionnaire alongside your victim statement.

+1 to that. And the welfare schemes also make it much easier to buy for the legions of minor govt officials they cover because welfare guns are around a third the price for same gun if purchased legally by an ordinary person. Plus some schemes allow for instalment purchase, whereas buying from a gun shop as an ordinary person is full payment in one go.

It's off topic but I'm intrigued: does it matter what altitude the aircraft is when overhead, or is it just a blanket "if I can see it, even 5 miles up, I don't like it"? And what about women shouting, is that tolerable?

Spot on.

Indonesia, with Sukarno-inspired Pancasila

I also wouldn't underestimate the potential for local FIs to lobby the regulatory authorities (BOT / MOF) to craft legislation that works to their advantage and to the detriment of foreign companies like PayPal.

Official registry. Doesn't give names of shareholders but gives nationality breakdown (eg Thailand 51% Hong Kong 49%). https://datawarehouse.dbd.go.th/login/en Has everything else including headline P&L/asset data (if filed). The English language info is not always as comprehensive as the TH original (eg director names will be listed in the TH version but not always in the EN version).

The resolution demands that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.” Thailand was quite happy to support the March UN Resolution. Flip flop. Flip flop. Makes abstention this time around a bit silly. Until you read that there's hope it will allow Thailand to buy gas from Russia at 'friendship prices'.

One immediate and no-cost initiative would be a 'no questions asked' amnesty period for people to hand in illegal / unwanted guns (e.g. formerly legally owned by a deceased relative, now sitting at home because no-one wants it or the hassle of trying to transfer ownership).

With big stories a large news organisation will often fly in a regionally-based crew / correspondent (as CNN did here). Very often it's a bad idea to apply for a journalist visa even if there's time because then it flags you as a journalist. That can be a very bad thing if you're trying to report on something sensitive / don't want to be flagged as a journo on arrival.

When you cover a fast-breaking news story there's no time to apply for a media visa. I'm sure any non-Thailand based reported coming here to cover this story would use visa on arrival/tourist visa. Nothing 'unprofessional' about that. I don't get the witch hunt here: it looks pretty clear - watching Thai language news and 'Big Joke' explaining what happened - that the CNN crew thought they were allowed to go into the building because some local officials said it was okay. Everyone and his dog wears a uniform in Thailand; how were the crew to know the officials weren't authorised to give access? Add language challenges to the mix and away you go. The ethical / moral debate as to whether they should have gone in, regardless of whether they thought they had permission, is another question. As is why the RTP hadn't cordoned off the scene immediately after this obscene incident.

"Among the most common figures on gun ownership are personal estimates by knowledgeable observers. Their impres- sions are useful, but they can also differ dramatically. In some countries, such estimates have diverged by a factor of ten (Small Arms Survey, 2007, pp. 45, 54). Expert estimates can be much higher than other country totals, often double or triple other estimates, sometimes even higher. Expert estimates are important and should be considered seriously, but in our methodology, highly divergent expert estimates are usually discarded as outliers." https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/sites/default/files/resources/SAS-BP-Civilian-Firearms-Numbers.pdf The figures for Thailand are 'expert estimates' (the survey also claims that China has 49 million unregistered private firearms ... ). Regardless, however counted, Thailand has a large number of both legal and illegal held privately-owned firearms. The potential for mass shootings has been here for ages. The more pertinent questions are a) why do they not happen here more often (thank goodness) and b) are they now going to happen more frequently.

There are no comprehensive databases of crashed vehicles because the insurance companies still don't share info. Assuming the vehicle isn't older than say five years or so, consider: 1. Look at the service history - where has it been serviced? Call the dealer that's done the servicing and ask if any history of repairs. 2. If it has first class insurance, for how long and with which companies? If it has always been insured with Company A, that suggests it has not been badly damaged. Call the company and check. If it has only recently been insured with Company A, ask seller who it was insured with before and why did they change company. Then call the previous insurance company. 3. Go to a larger dealer for that brand and ask if there's any record of the vehicle in the company's service history database (some brands - Honda for instance - will have service history etc for all of their vehicles that all dealers can access). Easiest option is, as you note, careful inspection by someone who knows what to look for.

not on the bts... or in the cinema. No need to wear a mask on BTS. It is recommended, but not mandatory. BTS is privately-operated so, under local 'logic', isn't 'public transport'. Go figure. And still mandatory in cinemas? Get real (not that there's anything to see film-wise these days).