ourmanflint

1 hour ago, Acharn said:

In Thailand you need to plant on both the North and South sides. If you haven't noticed, on 21 April every year the sun's path passes through the zenith, and after that is to the North of the zenith until 16 August. Lot's of shade trees are a help. I like to have one or more trees on the East to block early morning sun, but an alternative is to have your bedroom on the West side of the house. High ceilings seem to help. I think, but am not sure, that the old practice of extremely steeply pitched roofs help.

I hadn't realised that! Although Phrae is approx May 10th to August 1st, I will have to adapt my plans somewhat. Thanks

The language is changing. People now instead of foreigners. 

22 minutes ago, charmonman said:

I don't suppose they'll offer refunds to all they people they've just screwed over. This is incompetence and stupidity beyond belief. Not to mention borderline fraud.

I should be happy that the Thai Long Stay Company never even acknowledged my email. Maybe I didn't sound gullible enough to be conned.

"The government will not offer them any refunds for flights, accommodation, insurance, and other fees they already paid for the Special Tourist Visas, or STV, since the delay is not officially considered as a cancellation of the policy. 

“It’s part of the conditions of the STV that they had to pay first,” Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn said by phone. “So, there’s no need for those refunds, because their trip is not cancelled, it’s just delayed.” " Khaosod

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Considering you sell "bird nest soup" & shark-fin soup" that's not something i'd boast about.

In fact I think it's appalling... IMHO

Bird's Nest can now be farmed, a friend has just set one up in Ranong, the nests are not taken until chicks have fledged safely. They build special cave swift houses to provide safe alternative to traditional caves. Sharks fin on the other hand is deplorable

5 hours ago, 4myr said:

thanks for the many responses. To summarize what I've learned and take back:

• cavity walls, I was considering AAC blocks or low tech strawbales as low thermal mass walls
• microclimate - lots of trees [unfortunately have to wait at least few years] and also dehumidifying plants in and around the house
• underground cistern tanks as better thermal mass than soil

Wrt comments on point 3 of my OP:

• I agree there is no proven example yet, although the earthship inventor Michael Reynolds has implemented relatively short lengthed earthtubes in the Philipines, Indonesia and Puerto Rico without quantitative data to prove that it works
• the ecohouse example was afaik a closed system heat exchanger [not passive] and not an airflow earthtube. You can protect collapse of hdpe tubes with concrete drain pipe. Pest, insect and mold control can also be designed, but again no cost/benefit data yet seen - https://www.homeintheearth.com/tech_notes/earth-tubes/earth-tube-concerns/

I am planning to put our cistern underneath and supporting our decking on north side of our house out of the sun, so doesn't need to be completely underground, foundations won't be more than a metre underground. If you do go the full underground cistern route, would be very interested to see how stable the temperature is over a season

An underground rainwater harvesting cistern, would be a much better heat sink than earth type, plus keep all of your freshwater cool and simplify plumbing immeasurably 

12 minutes ago, 3NUMBAS said:

https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/03/every-adult-in-uk-could-be-vaccinated-for-coronavirus-by-easter-13365637/

 

Every adult in UK ‘could be vaccinated for coronavirus by Easter’

 

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/03/every-adult-in-uk-could-be-vaccinated-for-coronavirus-by-easter-13365637/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

Every adult in UK ‘could be vaccinated for coronavirus by Easter’

 

Just to say, this is not the Moderna mRNA vaccine, this is the Oxford Group ChAdOx1 anti-virus. This is good news, won't get to Thailand for a long while though

11 minutes ago, connda said:

" There are no approved mRNA or DNA vaccines, and neither has ever been tested in a large-scale clinical trial for an infectious disease. “The COVID crisis is a great opportunity for those technologies to be pushed." 

"To be pushed." Like in your governments force you to take it which essentially forces you be a lab rat.  How wonderful.

Slight of hand there, mRNA vaccines have been used extensively against cancer for which they were developed. But cancer is not an infectious disease so as I said slight of hand/words.

7 minutes ago, connda said:

Again - I'm not an "anti-vaxxer."  I routinely take certain vaccinations. So don't go there.
However - mRNA vaccines are bleeding edge technology.  So, please don't start denigrating people for stating that they would not be comfortable submitting to an mRNA vaccination until long-term studies of their safety have been published.  And why shouldn't we?  Governments allow the vaccine manufacturers to escape all liability.  So they have nothing to lose by fast-tracking a vaccine that hurts people. I don't trust the profit motives of capitalistic corporations even a little bit. And I've no plans on being one of the guinea-pigs by being forced to take a vaccination under duress. 

What the Moderna vaccine does is get your cells to produce a single protein to which your body will then hopefully produce anti-bodies or T-cells. I am not saying it is safe or not safe, just clearing up some of the wilder claims, like it rewrites your DNA

1 hour ago, Jeffr2 said:

Just read this about Sweden.  As they say, it's still to early to make a call on these things.  The very friendly virus isn't done with us yet.  Crazy times.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/28/europe/sweden-uk-coronavirus-immunity-analysis-gbr-intl/index.html

Good article, still all those idiots who persist in touting the Swedish model as being the way forward, simply do not understand what has happened in Sweden is not a good result.

As the article states, more than 50% of people live alone in Sweden, compared to just 12% in the UK. Like for like Sweden has had only 20 % less cases than the UK, taking into account the percentage living alone, this is a terrible result, and would have been far far worse than UK if households were of a similar basis

Calm down everyone, this is not what it seems. Perhaps if you read the article, it states a technical issue, during past 7 days stopped some positive tests being counted during the week, so instead all those extras were added to yesterdays figure. The figure will drop just as quickly as it rose

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A simple plan. A non antigen test 72 hours before the flight. And Thailand ups their game, and invests in some modern technology, and provides on the spot antigen testing at Suvarnabhumi or elsewhere. It is easy. You pass two different tests, using two different methodologies, and you are covid free.

 

Welcome. No health insurance required. No groveling at a consulate. No quarantine. Welcome to Thailand. Have a great trip. And thanks so much for bringing a bundle of cash. Our people really need it. 

 

No panic. No fear mongering. Double testing. You are safe. We are safe. Life is good. 

They could do a lot worse than this

Covid Sniffer Dogs almost 100% accurate

3 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

I love dreaming........ more than telling nonsense. 

I wish you could use google it would help 

there-wont-be-enough-coronavirus-vaccines-return-normal-life

https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/covid-19-vaccine-may-not-22774413

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-vaccine-unlikely-2022-says-leading-figure/

2 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

I love dreaming........ more than telling nonsense. 

You obviously have zero understanding of how things work, so might as well carry on

34 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

Won't be ready for general use. Might be available for priority groups like medical workers at the end of 2020. And general availability could be as soon as early spring 2021.

 

But this means "availability" in terms of FDA approval.  Availability in terms of on the clinics and hospitals etc having it in sufficient supply is a whole other matter.

 

And of course it assumes no untoward surprises from the Phase III trials now underway.

As i said earlier, it will be 2022 at the earliest that countries like Thailand will receive substantial amounts of any vaccine. Those in govt need to understand and factor this into their plans

Bad management is bad for business is the only takeaway from this. It should never have been allowed to escalate. 

2 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

Who told you that? 

Why Thailand should wait for a vaccine until 2022 when other countries will use it this year already ?

Makes no sense. ????

No it makes 100% sense.

There will be limited supplies of vaccines no matter what anybody says, and because Thailand has zero cases, it will be last on the list to receive vaccines, this is just basic common sense. The vaccine will go first to countries that have bad outbreaks or continue to have outbreaks, and that will take a while. I'm sure Thailand will get a token amount, but if you think the general population will get access in 2021 you are dreaming