Speedo1968

10 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

Yeah KK and surrounding areas seem like Sugar Cane Central.

CP have a new animal feedmill south of KK, areas of land put down to cassava and sugarcane started to appear as soon as construction of the mill started.     Possibly the lands were bought up by CP.      No doubt the area will spread and put up land prices.

Not sure where the local sugarcane factories are though as I live 50km south of KK.

Cassava waste is often fed to pigs; even pickup loads can be collected.

Bagasse , the waste from sugar cane has multiple uses, no idea how Thailand uses it though.  The web link below regarding bagasse may be of interest regarding the pros and cons of growing sugarcane.

https://phys.org/news/2016-11-alternate-sugarcane.html

13 hours ago, CLW said:

Once they use mechanical harvesters the issue of burning should be minimised.

The investment for such a beast is massive though. I saw one from Case-IH at a machinery fair for I think it was 4 Million Baht or even more.

Seen them at work just south of Khon Kaen last year, they seem to do a good job of cutting.

The price may seem steep but perhaps they will be rented out, driver included, just as they did with tractors many years ago.      Farmers within an area having their fields cut at the same time to reduce costs.

At least harvesters won't need all the highly sophisticated closed environment cabs as required by law in some EU countries.

Has anyone tried copying cassettes to their computer ?

How easy is Audacity ?

Does Cuba circa late 1950's ring any bells about sugar cane ?    The ensuing wars within Latin America devastated whole nations and farming practices as each country tried to change, or had to change their old traditions, to suit the barons / presidents of various outside countries.

Cassava and sugar cane make ideal rotational crops, an increase in production of one often leads to an increase in the other.

Cassava, we along with livestock can eat the other, sugar we don't need to eat at all.

Both can be used for ethanol production.

It's a pity they don't grow the yellow cassava as seen in South America and elsewhere, it's delicious.

Has any had or does anyone have a dog with Degenerative Myelopathy ?     Often called "Sway back".

I understand this is common ( genetic trait ) in Alsatians, particularly males and, also occurs in dogs with German Shepard genes.

Have seen myself in Thailand and other countries.

I also understand that this condition rarely if ever improves and euthanasia is unfortunately required.

A friend has treated another dog that had had a stroke and had lost all mobility and most bodily functions.

The friend is a qualified acupuncturist, the dog they treated recovered to full health.

The dog that has DM although friendly will not allow needles to be placed.    It did accept massage but even that is now not possible.

Has anyone found another method of treatment that could work ?

I live near a small market town south of Khon Kaen, one of the electrical dealers there was able to supply me an 'O' ring for my blender, a Sharp EM Ice-Power, cost 40 baht.   In the past they even took one from a new display model then ordered for stock.

Perhaps if you know someone in the US they could buy and post to you.

Found the below website, may be of use.

https://www.ereplacementparts.com/braun-4184-blender-parts-c-120570_120571_120583.html

Good luck

On 6/18/2018 at 2:30 PM, cooked said:

If you find some, let us know. I have not seen N, sativa since I got here, and seeds I ordered from abroad were the common or garden variety, of no use in the kitchen.

ok, will let you know

1 hour ago, faraday said:

Sorry to hear about your daughter.

 

Here's some Patient Information, which I hope is of some use.

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/browse/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-389

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

• ME Association
  • 7 Apollo Office Court
  • Radclive Road
  • Bucks, MK18 4DF United Kingdom
  • Phone: (128) 081-8964
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Website: http://www.meassociation.org.uk

Many thanks Sheryl, have forwarded on to my daughter and will through the web site myself today.

1 hour ago, faraday said:

Sorry to hear about your daughter.

 

Here's some Patient Information, which I hope is of some use.

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/browse/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-389

Many thanks faraday.

I read through some of the postings, interesting readings especially about CBD, have forwarded on to my daughter.

One of my daughters in the UK who will be 35 this month has just been told she has ME.

Since first seeing her GP it has taken 6 months to get an initial test result, it is going to take a further 3 months

to find out what form of ME she has.     

As ME can change rapidly from one form to another, having to deal with an appalling National Health System does not help anxiety levels.

I am seeking any advice or first hand knowledge of ME from any source.   

If from the UK that would be very useful as it allows for the long delays in getting feed back from the doctors.

My daughter is still waiting for the results of a renal MRA scan after 6 weeks, the hospital says they have a backlog.

She is open to any form therapy that may help, e.g. alternative.   At the moment she is looking at CBD oil and yoga.

Sorry, probably should have been more specific as 'ubonjoe' says, Nigella seeds is what I am looking for - to use in cooking.

The full name is Nigella sativa ( nothing to do with cannabis ), also called black caraway, black cumin, fennel flower.

It is used in curries, chutneys etc.

If you have become or will become non-resident whilst out of the UK any pension you are entitled to will be affected.

For example in my case I am seen as being non- resident ( even though born and bred there and a holder of a British passport ), I do not receive any yearly increase to my pension.

You would also not receive winter fuel allowance.

You could expect not to receive the same rights to hospital treatment etc.

Rules do change and, it is very important that you maintain your residence status if you intend retiring in the UK; information is available online.

Whatever your resident ties are to the UK, Brexit will / may affect many people, the current Windrush scandal is another example of just how difficult it may / will be for others.      In my own situation the wife of my children, my children and myself all have a different status within the UK, even though we all have had a blue UK passport bearing the words "The holder has the right of abode in the United Kingdom", don't believe a word of it.     There were 3 classes of citizen at least since the 1980's, even more now.

As a rider to the above, at one time if you had worked in EU countries you were able to apply for tax refunds if you did  it within a certain period of time, not sure if this is still relevant.   This I think was a reciprocal agreement.

As the title asks, anyone know where to buy Nigella seeds in Khon Kaen ?

Many thanks for any replies.

2 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Drink almond milk, it's much more healthier.....

Found all the so called almond milk drinks here taste like water.
If you have time better to make your own.

2 hours ago, Jonnapat said:

If you are unable to eat red meat and dairy produce like me , soy milk without sugar and other products like tofu are a good way to get your daily protein.

Not sure if you are vegetarian, vegan or just allergic to meat and dairy.

I have been a vegan for many years.   I enjoyed soy milk but, found that a couple of 250ml cartons of unsweetened  Lactasoy Red each day caused pain in my finger joints.    I finally had to give up soy altogether except for the occasional piece of tofu or soy protein.

Did try making yogurt from soy milk but it doesn't thicken well.

One has to be careful regarding soy milk as many of the products also contain cow milk.

18 hours ago, utalkin2me said:

The thing i cant figure out is it rains so damn hard and the streets never get clean. i mean it no matter how much rain there is a coating of dust on the street. i suppose when there is enough dust it just gets moved from one place to another. youd think it could clean out. 

In the small town where I live, when it rains the water goes down the drains then, when there is too much water it comes back out of the drains and back on to the road.     When the rain stops the water then goes back in to the drains, ( unless you live downstream ), along comes the local water authority and they wash and sweep the roads...... and so it goes.....

I used to work in Saudi desert area; dust storms common in some seasons ( as well as the normal sand storms ), couldn't see even a few metres in front of you.    I remember one that lasted 24 hours a day for 3 weeks.   Where I worked was a farm that used evaporative cooling, hundreds of livestock died.     Even if you went out wearing a mask it became clogged within a few minutes, office aircons also failed.        Travel was almost impossible.

18 hours ago, GTgrizzly said:

Hi speedo

Can you tell me when the rainy season ends please

An approximate would appreciated 

Cheers

Grizzly

From what I understand it is when the Ministry tells you it has...

5 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

I get what you are saying, but, having driven over 1000 km so far it has not been the usual weather pattern associated with the rainy season.

 

The 'usual' hour of heavy rain followed by a few hours of glorious sunshine has disappeared, this week we have driven through a continual blanket of heavy cloud with torrential rain, as I posted above, having driven from PKK to Khao Lak 200+ kms it hammered down all the way and the temperature in parts was down to 23 degrees. Not normal. 

I live about 50km south of KK, weather has been screwed up for the past 3 years, more so this year.

Temps like you see 22 -23 at night, cloud bursts, thunder all night, winds from everywhere.

Last winter it got to 8C, each year it has been 2C colder.

Wildlife all screwed up too.

Hope the weather improves a bit for your journey and stay safe.

In Saudi they used to have you donate blood before giving you a driving licence, then each renewal.

Probably not a worthwhile thing to do here for Thais, doubt there would be few takers... ( ahem )

As for being rejected for blood donation, same here when I went to a local donation center.

"More rain countrywide"

In the rainy season ?

Really !

On 6/5/2018 at 2:57 PM, wirat69 said:

The slaughterhouse requires an empty  stomach, mainly for health reasons. Seems many here have never been to an Abattoir or understand the slaughter process. However that does not stop them contributing uninformed discussion content!!

Agree entirely with this.

My background has been in farming since 1961.    

I first saw the real slaughter process of animals for the table back in the 1960's, nothing much has really changed except for the names we give to each process.      At least all those years ago the breeding / rearing / growing etc. was a little more humane, now much is factory farming with all it's ills. 

What also happens is that the slaughterhouse waste, including feathers etc. is often processed in to animal feed.

I have been a vegetarian since the 70's and a vegan for many years, the least I could do was to try and teach compassion from the farm side.

Modern advertising showing happy cows and milk or smiling chickens and eggs, even down to "antibiotic free" etc. are nothing less than bad jokes.

Humans will always eat meat.    At least if there is some compassion on the farms the animals will be more healthy, grow more quickly, less deaths and, the farmer will save money on medicines etc., make more profit from having more animals and better quality animals to sell.

Soylent Green and Quatermass 2 always come to mind.     There was a book written back in 1936 entitled War With The Newts which had a not too dissimilar story.

On 6/3/2018 at 6:14 PM, GeKoSc said:

I am 72 years old. My usual BP is 150/85 and it lowers to 116/74 after 20 minutes of meditation...but this is not a recept to keep my blood pressure sane during the entire day... the same applies to exercises...in most cases it helps you some time during and after you finished... 

For someone with strokes you still a very positiv thinking en energetic person. Thank you for your time used to provide a comprehensive system of suggestions to my illnesses. Most food I do by myself and it consists of mainly healthy unprocessed components (no bread and butter and little milk and cheese, etc.}. I consume large quantities of coriander every day because my body is demanding this herb. All drinks are without sugar but I like certain bitter chocolate with almond filling which i eat in small quantities almost every day. I cannot consume adrenalising intakes or activities (smoking) because it will produces diffuse states of anxiety and stress in my mind. I assume my high blood pressure has to do with this particular issue. I will visit a Psychologist soon to see whether he can be of any help. Nevertheless I still looking forward to substitute the pills with natural herbs. 

I am close to 72.

My blood pressure is improving, and I am happy but need to do more.  Unfortunately I am unable to meditate, my mind being very active since a child.    BP rates always seem to differ from country to country as does suitable body weights and will also depend on genetic background, no one person can be the same; sometimes it is perhaps better to be less anxious and more open to what is right for your general health.

My brain is pretty fried and TIA’s and strokes I have had hit all areas, fortunately I still have my 5 senses and my mobility is improving.

My attitude towards strokes and TIA’s is that I cannot forecast when they will happen, ( except some warning signs up to 5 days in advance of TIA’s ) so, don’t worry about them – try to improve myself physically and mentally and to think positive, hopefully this will reduce or delay them happening.    Think what I must do when an attack is coming and be prepared.  MOST IMPORTANT of all is to “Listen To Your Body” and what it is telling you, it tells you things for a reason – survival !!! 

About 15 years ago I was diagnosed with HBP and Parkinson’s it was beginning to affect my ability to work as well as the physical effects.   My work was intensive and entailed a lot of traveling within and outside of Thailand; many 48 hour days which also led to five ‘burnouts’.   The previous six years involved even more traveling to different countries.     Every medication I was given to reduce HBP and Parkinson’s symptoms caused other symptoms and cost thousands of baht each month.      When I finally stopped ‘official’ working I decided to stop all medications and get ‘me myself’ back again.    It took 30 months but eventually I was only taking two low cost meds for my blood pressure.      Unfortunately the damage had been done and I suffered my first TIA and body shut down in 2012.     I survived, just, and alternative therapy had saved my life then as it has done since.

Regarding your food, thanks for the details.   You don’t mention what meats you eat or if you eat eggs.  The difficult thing in becoming / being a vegetarian or vegan is finding enough and the right protein for you.     Depending or your cooking abilities and the facilities you have making meals yourself is a good way to improve your diet.   There are many simple meals you can make such as salads with fruit ( tomato is a fruit ! ), instead of salad cream you can use yogurt or olive oil with balsamic vinegar.    Sweet potato and similar vegetables can easily be found.      Beans are an ideal protein replacement and easily cooked in a slow cooker.      They can be used in salads, main meals such as chili con carne ( sin carne ), curries etc., also as a dessert.      If you have a good blender you can prepare your own 'healthy' drinks such as chlorophyll and smoothies.    The former, depending on the plants you use, can be a good general refreshing tonic, the latter what ever you want it to be, just remember it is generally high fibre and very filling.   

You mentioned you consume large amounts of coriander, may I ask why ?     Why is your body demanding large amounts or is it your mind ?   By this I mean the addiction to chili, som tam etc. that Thai people have.    Unfortunately now, this is also true of sugar, MSG and bad oils.

You say the following – “I cannot consume adrenalising intakes or activities (smoking) because it will produces diffuse states of anxiety and stress in my mind”.  Do you mean beer / coffee and cigarettes or fat reducing pills ?      Of course any of these are not good for ones health and should be reduced or stopped.

I would look carefully at the last two paragraphs to see if there is perhaps a link !

As you wish to save money on medication by going to a phycologist it could be that you are already aware as to the reasons for your diabetes and HBP.         Perhaps you should be thinking the other way round in trying to control your BP and diabetes which will then make you feel better and reduce your stress levels ?      May be save the doctors fees and the medication he will probably want to give you, reduce the coriander intake, modify your diet, even a little, and be positive.

Can anyone please clarify if a Thai Death Certificate is acceptable in the UK for a UK national ?

By this I mean in relation to bank accounts which I have there; I have no other property in UK.

Like others I only got a few leaflets and no direct advice.

I registered my details with the British Embassy in Bangkok and have a reference number should they need contacting.

I made out a signed Will and all information has been provided to my daughters in the UK, also with a friend here and a further spare copy at my house.     Daughters have acknowledged that my friend has the right to do what is possible and necessary here before one or both arrive in Thailand.    If either are unable to attend then my friend may go ahead with my funeral.   I also made my funeral requests known in writing.  

I live alone but have a close friend nearby.

I made a Living Will some years ago regarding "Do not resuscitate", which is already placed in my records at the two hospitals I attend ( when necessary ).  

Along with this are details of my medical history and all drug allergies as well as all contact details.  There is also a copy clearly posted on the wall of my house.   Whenever I go out, even for a short time, I have the same documents in my backpack or pocket; even when I go early morning and late evening jogging near my house.

NB - Regarding Living Will / DNR - Whenever I have had to visit the hospital for treatment ( e.g. bad TIA or stroke, even a serious bacterial infection which was spreading rapidly (( I am allergic to many antibiotics )), the hospital would still ask if these were still my wishes.   However, when admitted with a big stroke ( over two days on the floor and complications - rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure ) both hospitals I went to asked my friend if the DNR was still my wishes and accepted her "Yes" reply.    For antibiotic treatment I had to sign on the dotted line again at one hospital.  

I thank all who have posted there experiences, views and ideas regarding this important and often neglected subject.

I have learned a lot.

4 hours ago, grollies said:

Expected mortality is around 1%.

 

Mortality in the first 7 days is down to the supplier, after that the farm.

 

Minimum bird weights apply at 45 days with extra rates over minimum weight.

 

My experience on visiting many farms, the build quality and cleanliness/biosecurity standards are woeful. It's not how we intend running our place. Can't wait for the vet's reaction when he discovers he needs to shower and don overalls before he can enter the shed.

Some excellent observations there.

I would also check where the vet has recently visited, if he has been to a known sick farm don't even let him in the gate.    Have them leave their car well away from the houses, provide boots at the gate and of course a foot dip ( why is it they never notice these ? ), a room to strip off, a separate shower room, a room that provides clean clothes.   Some farms have a simple one way only system of doors.    They should not bring anything with them in to the farm, all documents and pens etc should be discussed in a farm office.

Govt vets are the worst, company vets are not much better.

When I worked with a UK company covering farms in all countries except America, and returned to the UK for a few weeks, I would not be allowed anywhere near livestock for a month.   When visiting Australia the companies there set me a one week break between farm visits.

Hygene in Thailand is abysmal having spent 16 years as a freelance consultant here I can think of back of beyond farms in many other countries that have excellent bio-security.

They will normally tell you that Bird Flu and Cholera does not exist here.

I did some work for a company in India that had a very high health status farm for producing eggs to be used in the manufacture of rabies vaccine.     The govt vet was bared from visiting.    The farm somehow experienced a bio-security breakdown which meant all birds had to be slaughtered ( actually birds cannot be slaughtered due to a disease under Indian regulations at that time.    Birds must die naturally then be removed.

Good on you for implementing a shower policy.