mfd101

Um, not sure you've got the sequence right there.

Wouldn't it be fun if the WHOLE of the Lower House refused to recognize the dissolution of MFP! and carried on as though nothing had happened. What then? I wonder. Won't happen but one can always dream.

Currently at 23.588 on Xe. Plus ça change ...

Won't happen. Europe is already overwhelmed with unwelcome Third Worlders.

Yes, just what they need to frighten the enemy along the border at Preah Vihear. Cambodians about to crumble.

Replaced by 'centre'? As in 'centre of the universe', Central World ...

And the 'health certificate' from the exporting country would be thoroughly reliable?

Yes, used to find vegemite occasionally at Tops in Surin but not for the last couple of years. Peanut butter & jams no problems either there or at the local Lotus here.

Funny that. HK used to be the kind of hub Thais can only dream of. Somewhat diminished now since the CCP crackdown of the last few years ...

Ha ha. Thanks for that, shows how out-of-touch I am - would never occur to me to go shopping for foodstuffs there. Will give it a try.

I had a colonoscopy in Oz about 9 years ago, in a private hospital: Go under at 1400, awake at 1430/1500, off home at 1530/1600 (but someone else must drive). I had ditto here at private hospital in Surin City 5 months ago: 3 days & 2 nights in hospital all up - multiple pills & cleanouts, blood tests, inspections, hideous food, inspections, waiting ... From memory about 45KB. My theory (and my b/f agrees) is that Thai medics not unreasonably don't trust Thais to follow instructions both pre- and post-op. So they hold you prisoner from pre- to post-, and charge accordingly.

Not sure which is more ridiculous: The PM's travels or the breathless reporting. I guess we can say that both parties are doing their best. The other members of his party don't look as though they're much engaged. "It's all Greek to me."

One might argue that poisoning the owner would be more effective in the long run.

As she explains above, the consulate is powerless to do anything without cooperation from the Dubai government & an approach from the Thai individual. Same applies to all embassies & consulates everywhere in the world: They are there by state-to-state agreement and have NO power to intervene in local matters.

Vegemite is the only thing I miss, though I did manage to find 2 jars near Asoke in January. Impossible to find here in Surin. (I have to make do with Marmite. Ugh!)

Not sure whether a non-subscriber can get in, but for what it's worth: theaustralian.com.au of last Thursday and go to the Business Review section. So here's an extract for you, Dude: "While treatment could still be years away, the in-vitro study showed there are anti-cancer effects of a specific extract from cannabis sativa called PHEC-66. "According to the study, this strain forces melanoma cells into a “programmed cell death”, also known as apoptosis. "The cannabis extract works by attaching itself to the receptor on the melanoma cell surface, and changes the messages to the inside of the cell to manipulate the normal growth ie: force it to go into death progress. “If we know how they react to cancer cells, particularly in the cause of cell death, we can refine treatment techniques to be more specific, responsive and effective,” said study co-author Dr Nazim Nassar. "Dr Nassar said the next challenge was to develop a targeted delivery system to the melanoma cells, enabling pre-clinical trials."

Any large-scale & long-term change - over which, by definition, individuals have no control - has to be good for a sclerotic culture unable to see much beyond the end of its nose.

My thought too. May be brothers.

About a month ago and for the first time ever we had a snake (at most 2m) in the house. When I came downstairs at 0700 to sweep out & make the first double shots of the day, there peeping out from the heavy curtains by the front sliding door was what I first thought was a large gecko head but then realized it was a whole snake. So I shrieked for my knight in shining armour who came galloping up trumpets blowing. I handed him my broom and he carefully escorted the serpent out the door to the garden. He said it was deadly poisonous and I believe him (though he may have been embellishing his own daring-do).

I travelled through northern China by train in 2010 - Beijing, then Xian, then on to Xinjiang/Urumchi before heading on to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan & Russia. A magnificent trip. Wonderful to watch a great nation lifting itself up by the bootstraps. Pull in to a huge railway station in the middle of a small (by Chinese standards) town. "This looks like it's built for a million people!" "No worries, they'll be here in 10 years." Western end of the Great Wall; windmills everywhere throughout the western deserts (Taklakmakan); ancient watering systems from distant mountains (Turpan); men riding on donkeys while women tilled the fields by hand. In Urumchi at the museum a Tocharian woman from c300 BCE with ginger hair - one of our cousins; beside her a Chinese general from C1st or 2nd CE wearing white robes with blue bumble bee motifs (Greek! the influence of the Indo-Greek kingdoms of what is now Pakistan & Afghanistan, following on from Alexander the Great). Then in to Kazakhstan, which was like going back to the 1950s ...

If we just consider the quality of life as human beings then technological progress isn't so important. Yes, which raises a whole lot of other - rather more philosophical - issues. The Thais, however - at least at the 'Middle Class' (such as it is) and elite levels - clearly want to follow The West up the escalator of economics & technology. They just display little or no idea of what's involved, namely a 50-year project of clear-eyed step-by-step progress up the ladder. And no idea where to find the up-to-date project plans: Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Sth Korea, and increasingly even India ...

I don't disagree, but the problem is that Thailand has too few eggs in too few baskets. So there is very little protection against the gale-force winds of economic change worldwide. For example, it has a good car-assembly industry but that's just doing the dirty work for those who actually design & build vehicles (China, Japan, Korea ... ). So it's at the low end of skills and profits. When will a new and better car be designed and built in Thailand? When will there be an education system that produces the skilled workers necessary for moving up the ladder of productivity? When will a Thai government recognize that the endless chasing after the tourists' quick bucks is a road to cultural loss and ecological ruin?

True, but as usual the expert commentators here on AN ignore the question: Why do poor farmers behave like this year after year? ie People who barely know where their next meal is coming from, who have a passive attitude to life carefully reinforced on a continuing basis by religion and by the feudal state, who never have new & better methods explained to them including how this will help with their next meal as opposed to merely helping the (relatively rich) contractor ...

Arrived in Thailand at last, to show off to the RTAF. Mummy! Mummy! I want one!

An economy based on tourism, real estate and corruption ... An example to the world of how not to manage anything. 'Productivity' anyone?