sibeymai

It does seem to be some form of retaliation by way of sanction.

Does MIA only have MD-82s and do they only fly to KL and BKK ?

Best maths I've seen in LOS is by BGs scoring darts games. No calculators needed.

Will the OP promise to post a picture of the maid in her new uniform ?

May I request you snap her while she's dusting those cobwebs high up on the ceiling.

IMHO, there is a degree of irresponsibility, or at least selfishness, to have your own children when there are so many orphans or kids who need good parents. If ever there was an argument for not having kids this surely must be number 1. Don't all the kids already here deserve caring parents before creating any more ?

Unfortunately it's not always easy to convince one's partner of the above, thus before the detectives amongst the TV community accuse me of being a hypocrite I'll admit my wife and mine's selfishness in having our own baby.

Much the same really as buying a new car when the world probably has enough for sale in second hand car yards that there'd still be enough cars to go around even if new ones weren't produced for some time.

Human nature I guess...greed and selfishness will destroy us all in the end.

At least we know that respondents (so far) have no problem multiplying 4 by 12.

If you saw Paris Hilton on TV in America would you assume that the whole school system is completly rubbish?

As far as a "random" sample goes, so far we have 7 incorrect answers out of 7 attempts comprised of:

- 3 adult university educated Thais

- 1 adult who may or may not have a university degree

- 3 10-11 year olds who are considered bright enough to be on a TV quiz show

I'm no statistician, but the results so far are surprising and illuminating, even if not conclusive or wholly scientific.

I think I have the explanation for you.

I asked my wife, a high school English teacher at a Thai government school.

"How many weeks are there in 10 years?"

Answer: 480

"How did you calculate that?"

Answer: there are 4 weeks in a month

Close enough for government work, I guess ... sigh

That's the same answer the woman celebrity gave, and exactly the same method she used to arrive at the answer.

Thai TV3 has a game show where there are a number of students about 10/11 year old and a celebrity answering questions for money prizes.

The question "How many weeks are there in 10 years" was asked in english.

All 3 students and the adult woman celebrity could not answer the question correctly.

Was this a public confirmation of what so many believe, that the Thai education system is severly inadequate ?

Or was it just that the people did not understand the question because it was asked in english.

I'd like to believe the latter, but my wife who has a degree in computer science also answered incorrectly and her english is good.

With a baby due in a number of weeks, this really has me wondering about education in Thailand. I always thought there must be good schools and student attitude has a lot to do with successful learning, but this has made me wonder whether education in Thailand is actually as bad as rumour says.

In which case if it is so bad, apart from overseas education, what options are there in Bangkok that don't cost a fortune (ie. international schoools).

Are there any decent government schools at all ? And if there are, how does one get children into them ?

Bangkok Post

One-Two-Go crash caused by 'wind shear'

(BangkokPost.com) - Results of examination of data recorders of ill-fated One-Two-Go flight together with witnesses and evidence prompted officials to believe that the wind shear is the cause of the horrendous crash that left 90 people dead and more than 40 injured in Phuket last month.

Transport permanent secretary Chaisawat Kittipornpaiboon, who is heading the inquiry into the disaster, said the sudden strong winds cause trouble for a plane landing at the Phuket airport.

The cause of crash is concluded weeks after the black box flight recorder of the airliner was returned from analysis in the United States.

Nation Version

Phuket air crash caused by bad weather : Chief investigator

The fatal crash of One-Two-Go airline at Phuket airport in September was caused by bad weather, Transportation Ministry's permanent secretary Chaisawat Kittipornpaiboon said Friday.

He said the wind shear was a major cause of the crash that made the airline slid off the runaway and slammed into nearby earthwalls.

Chaisawat said the conclusion was made after the US experts examined the black box and voice recording box of the ill-fated airliner.

Chaisawat is chief of investigation committee of the crash.

Ninety passengers were killed, many others injured in the incident.

Note different emphasis, between 'the cause' and 'a major cause'. I believe a full press conference is planned for later today.

Regards

What a load of rubbish. Cause of the crash ? Weather my ar5e. The pilot decides if the weather is suitable for landing and the pilot was informed of wind shear conditions.

Cause of the crash.......error of judgement by the pilot, or to make it really simple, PILOT ERROR, nothing else.

Blaming the weather does produce a very convenient scapegoat though.

I have IPStar installed, 512k down, 256k up. Seems to work ok, except in the heaviest rain. Actual speed appears to be about 10% of what's quoted eg. download typically 5-10kbps. Sometimes as high as 50kbps but that's rare. Might be better with a 1 or 2mb package.

From memory the installation was about 3,000Bt and the monthly fee about 2,000.

a Thai driving license can often be presented in place of a passport anywhere where a Thai would usually be required to present their ID card such as domestic flights. I've even used my own country's driving license at times, although this might not always be accepted.

Narowly missed being involved in a brawl at Penny Black Bar in soi Cowboy, must be around a year ago now. It was 4am or thereabouts. The bar was not very full: some girls from bars on the soi and a few people playing pool. One girl in particular was pretty loud and was playing pool with a rather drunk young Brit who was there with 3 mates.

There must have been a wager on the game and possibly previous games as well because when she won she was very outspoken about her victory, especially to the young Brit she just beat. At this point and for whatever reason she came and sat with me. Things were fine for about 5 minutes until the young Brit at the next table decides he wants to try and win his money back. The girl said she doesn't want to play.

Next the Brit starts ripping into me with insults and badmouthing the girl. I didn't know her so I didn't really care but she didn't like it at all. With a few of her girlfriends to back her up she let loose verbally at the Brit.

At this point I offered to play the Brit at pool for 500Bt thinking that he would leave the girl alone and everything would settle down. Somehow, through his alcohol fuzzed logic, this was seen by the Brit as offensive and he refused, resumes insulting me and trying to provoke a response. Now the girl is telling to <deleted> off and things are getting heated. He picks up a pool cue and heads over to the girl who is by now keeping the pool table between the Brit and herself. I'm still seated at the table thinking that any movement could be regarded as threatening and escalate the situation. Play it cool and wait. One of them will back down, surely.

Everything now seems to happen in slow motion. I'm talking to the Brit telling him to relax. His mates have moved in to back him up. He's now yelling at me to "p!ss off". All the girls are now screaming at him and his mates. There's 3 or 4 girls, plus the bar staff, the Brits and me. Things are getting close to being out of control.

One of the Brit's mates is also trying to calm things down. Between us we seem to be making some progress. Just at that point about 4 young Thai guys bolt up the stairs. Seems that someone, probably one of the girls, has called in the soi's vigilantes. Each Thai guy is holding a nice length of timber. And they're not smiling.

There's only seconds to prevent what seems inevitable. By now I'm in between the Thai guys and the group of Brits. 4 Thai guys with 4 pieces of wood and one Brit holding a pool queue. With the help of the Brit who also wants to avoid a fight we quickly managed to prevent the other 2 as yet unarmed Brits from picking up a pool queue or any of the girls or staff for that matter (some went down the stairs, others went across the room out of reach). I even managed to get 3 of the Thais to put down their pieces of timber, although they remained within reach.

So now it just remained to get the young, drunk Brit to put down the pool queue and it would all be over. At this point I honestly thought the fight would be avoided. That is, up until the point the young Brit rushed at one of the Thais. From that moment on, and perhaps for only a minute or two, the Brits had the sh!t beaten out of them. The Brits were never in the fight. Stupidly, after a few blows to the body and legs to put them down these guys got up to carry on. Second time the Thais really let them have it with blows to the head. They didn't get up again.

I thought the Thais had been pretty good about it. First they appeared with superior force which should have made the Brits back down. When it came to fighting they went for the body first, again giving the Brits the option staying down and out, but when it came to finishing the fight they were very methodical about it and there was no doubt about what the end result would be.

All except the Brit who helped me try to keep the peace were hospital cases. I've never see so much blood. These guy's clothes, shirt, jeans and all, were completely soaked in blood. The calm Brit didn't get hurt much, mostly incidental injuries from trying to protect his mates. The Thai guys didn't attack him or me directly. They didn't have a scratch on them either.

I couldn't immediately figure out why I wasn't attacked in the mayhem . How would the Thai guys know I wasn't with the Brits ? Then I realised the girls had been yelling at the Thai guys not to hit me, that I was ok and I'd been sticking up for the girl who the Brit was picking on.

It was a very bizarre situation being in the very middle of complete carnage and yet seeming to be invisible. The Brit's were seriously hurt but if they'd been a bit smarter it could have been easily avoided. Seemed to me they were probably tourists. I can't imagine expats who know how Thais fight getting into this situation.

The calm Brit walked up to me at the end, looked around at his mates on the floor and said "I think you'd better go now". And I did, before the BIB arrived.

Foreigners may not be able to own a gun, but they can use guns at shooting ranges. Not sure if there are any outdoor clay pidgeon ranges but there's plenty of handguns and rifles at the ranges. You may even be able to keep a weapon at the range, but not sure about this. When I last visited a month ago the fee was 40Bt a round for a .38 revolver, or 20Bt for members.

don't forget to bring some "classy birds" with you.

After 3 disappointing trips to the MCG in '89, '92 and '94 it's a wonderful result and I couldn't have hoped for better. Only I wish it had been WCE who got thrashed although Port fans are almost as obnoxious.

what do you mean almost, them and collingwood scum take the cake when it comes to obnoxious :D

I wasn't going to mention anything about Collingwood but since you brought it up.....this is what Geelong achieved this year:

1. Brownlow Medalist

2. VFL premiership beating Coburg

3. AFL premiership thrashing Port with record breaking margin

4. Norm Smith Medalist

and all of this after beating the Pies to get in to the Grand Final. Could it possibly get any better ?

Well, maybe if it was Carlton instead of Collingwood.....

You seem to have trouble working out who you hate the most Sibey.

The one thing Eagles fans did after beating Geelong for the '92 and '94 flags was aknowledge the good opposition sides. The Cats were brilliant yesterday and they, and their coach, humble in victory. However, the fans showed why there is a strong dislike by the other states for Victorians. To boo the opposition captain at the presentation ceremony after winning the GF by 119 points is pretty low.

Congratulations Geelong, a great win by a great side. Anything else this year would have been a miscarriage of justice.

Could it have been the Port fans booing their captain at the presentation ceremony ?

I'd imagine the Geelong fans would be too busy celebrating at the time to even know he was on the podium.

As for hating other teams....we all have our favourite team(s) and we all have teams we love to beat. Sport's shouldn't be about hating other teams, simply that beating some teams is more satisfying than beating others.

I remember walking from the MCG back to Lou Richard's pub after the '89 grand final against Hawthorn (the game where Gary Ablett kicked nine goals and Dermott Brereton played almost the whole game with a broken rib). Hawthorn supporters were congratulating Geelong supporters and visa versa, well into the night. Lost count of how many shouts at the pub were bought by Hawks fans. This game has since been referred to as "the game of the century".

In contrast in '92 the WCE fans taunted Geelong supporters about being the first Victorian club to loose the flag interstate. Sure the WCE fans could be jubilant at being the first interstate club to win but it was very ugly all night and most unnecessary.

provided you exit and re-enter Thailand at least every 90 days you'll be able to enter on the non-Imm B visa until the visa expiry date.

seriously though, At a hotel I once had an eletronic in-room safe malfunction. The manager brought with him a 9-volt battery and connected two wires to the front panel (he obviously knew where to attach the wires). he just held the wires with his fingers and the battery reset the safe's code. You should check with the manufacturer if there is a similar reset capability for your safe. Might save you a lot of effort and damage.

Both are readily available in Thailand.

Sorry, no 12-yr-old virgins in Thailand -- maybe an ugly 5-yr-old. Seriously, ask any psychologist and they will tell you that a paedophile is similar to a homosexual in that they have a genetic predisposition. In other words you would have the same success changing a paedophile as you would telling a homo that they must be hetero. The second problem is that prostitution is the largest illegal business in Thailand along with drugs. I am approached weekly by minor children, some even knocking on my door at night, and then there are the mothers attempting to drop their daughters off at my house. Since I am a single, wealthy man iliving in Thailand, they see me as a cash cow. So far I have resisted any temptation only because I fear going to jail. Let's be honest, though, how many single males would turn down a gorgeous 17-yr-old coming to their hotel room at night??? I've done it, but how long I can continue to do it is difficult to answer. Get over the notion that innocent young girls are being tricked by seedy old farangs. There are a few cases of this, and the farang should be caught, however, the bulk of it is underage prostitutes plying their wares. You can arrest the farang, but they will just approach the next one.

Quite an element of truth in this. And it won't just be 17 year olds who can easily apppear 18, but often girls as young as 12 or 13 with fake IDs. Once the deed is done they'll tell you their real age and threaten to cry rape to the police unless their victim can be extremely apologetic and even more generous.

Beware the games children play. The girls who play this game are very smart.

Good on the old guy for having a go. Probably had asked them to turn it down for months. About time muslims found out there are other people in the world apart from them. Intolerant people who use religion as an excuse to disturb the peace of others need to be taught a lesson.

What kind of a religion has to shame it's followers into coming to prayer by loudly and indiscriminately announcing to all and sundry that it's prayer time anyway.

After 3 disappointing trips to the MCG in '89, '92 and '94 it's a wonderful result and I couldn't have hoped for better. Only I wish it had been WCE who got thrashed although Port fans are almost as obnoxious.

what do you mean almost, them and collingwood scum take the cake when it comes to obnoxious :D

I wasn't going to mention anything about Collingwood but since you brought it up.....this is what Geelong achieved this year:

1. Brownlow Medalist

2. VFL premiership beating Coburg

3. AFL premiership thrashing Port with record breaking margin

4. Norm Smith Medalist

and all of this after beating the Pies to get in to the Grand Final. Could it possibly get any better ?

Well, maybe if it was Carlton instead of Collingwood.....

After 3 disappointing trips to the MCG in '89, '92 and '94 it's a wonderful result and I couldn't have hoped for better. Only I wish it had been WCE who got thrashed although Port fans are almost as obnoxious.

My wife says it's nobody's business except the Burmese. Does she care that monks are being killed ? No. Does she realise that the freedoms she enjoys now are the result of struggle against tyranny and the deaths of protesters much like what is happening in Burma now ? No.

"Not my business." "I don't want to know."

Does she understand that events in Burma may affect the kind of Thailand our children grow up in ? No.

Why so much disinterest ? "I can not do anything."

I have to agree with her. Why concern yourself with something you can't do anything about ? Seems to be the general Thai attitude to most things.

and keeping the spice in my relationship to counter outside temptations.

Yeah.go out to a go-go bar and take someone you both fancy, that sure spices thing up!

He'll never leave you!!!!

Couldn't agree more.

It's not just western men who get hit on in Bangkok. There's plenty of attention paid to western women by the local ladies as well.

warm hot dog or frankfurt split and filled with crunchy peanut butter, then wrapped in bacon and grilled, on a freshly steamed bun.