dressedingreen

It HAS managed to become the CRACKDOWN hub of S E Asia. This success has obviously gone to 'their' heads.

DIG

Next time, scream 'death to America'!! And throw stones at the lady.

So now we need to carry our passport, a clean pair of pants and a bag of stones when we go out for the night?

DIG

The Canadian press article is not accurate. The extensive testing and diagnosis was done in Canada by Canadian scientists and involved 3 well reputed facilities;

1. National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada

2. The Provincial (Infectious Diseases) Laboratory, Province of Alberta Health Services,

3. Specialists from the department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary

The simpletons at the Canadian Press were too lazy to read the submission by Dr. Fonseca, the senior clinical virologist who wrote;

days after the 1st specimen gave a positive result in the dengue IgM antibody EIA, although the IgG antibody was negative, consistent with an acute dengue fever infection. However, the lack of a dengue IgG seroconversion on a convalescent serum and the unusual nature of the rash, prompted us to investigate a probable flavivirus etiology through a molecular approach. Reverse-transcriptase PCR using primers targeting a region of the NS5 gene of the _Flavivirus_ genus was followed by sequencing. The 780 bp sequence obtained from the amplicon was compared to published sequences in the NCBI nucleotide database and showed a 99 per cent identity (769/780) with the corresponding sequences of ZIKV (Genbank nos. JN860885 and EU545988), thereby establishing the diagnosis of ZIKV infection.

In keeping with international protocol and the arrangement between infectious disease national laboratories, a sample was sent to the CDC along with the diagnosis for confirmation and entry into the research data pool.

I am interested to know how you found out that the Canadian Press were too lazy to read the submissions by Dr Fonseca or, if they had not done so, it was because of then being too Lazy? How also did they attract the label "simpletons"?

Whilst your reply gives indications of the virologists findings you do not provide evidence that they did not read it nor that they are lazy and the criteria you used to arrive at the label of "simpletons".

Perhaps they were working on the assumption that most of their readers were too dumb to read anything technical. Much of the world's media dumbs down to the lower end of educational attainment.

DIG

'A few years ago a man and his wife were in New York city when the symptoms appeared and the Drs didn't have a clue what they were treating both patients recovered but the man lost several limps due to infection'

A few mia noi might appreciate their man getting a dose of this infection then, especially if the limp is the beer induced type.

DIG

We are pattern seeking primates who see patterns where none exist. Ever see the outline of a sheep in a cloud?

... and often fail to see the ones that DO exist. Behind every superstition is a desire to control the world around us. Many elements of Asian society have so far failed to acknowledge the idea of reasoned analysis. Amulets are thought to be more influential than future planning using an historical perspective. And the affluent and influential in Thai society are happy to keep the masses 'in their place' by not disturbing their sleeping wakefulness.

Western superstition is not so far under the thin facade of reason either. When under pressure, or at times of severe stress, most educated westerners will revert to the superstitions of childhood fairy tale and myth. IOW, when reason fails we seek our version of God again.

Living in the physical world is painful for most. Amulets, superstitions, spells, incantations and folklore are used when we see no other way of gaining control, exercising power over our lives and environments.

Why don't people learn from their superstitious failures? Because there is as yet nothing to replace the superstitions. Until the cultural hierarchy starts disseminating reason and planning as workable substitutes the masses will continue to work with what they believe is all that's available. It is a human trait to disregard the many failures and embrace the few successes. We calm our inner turmoil by convincing ourselves something must have gotten between our correct belief and the expected outcome. It becomes a way of supporting the ailing self, the delicate ego.

The western hemisphere is still learning to cope without the multifarious incarnations of the rabbit's foot. Asia is just a little further behind the curve.

DIG

We have a similar but smaller problem in our village. 1 out of 16 won't pay. The rest of the village have worked around him. Basically, he gets free street lighting and doesn't contribute to the upkeep of the pool. But it's no big deal. Worth about 2,000 baht per year (the price of a good night out, with perks). Sometimes you have to just go around obstacles that would impede what the vast majority want.

Our village was never designated a Mooban when planning permission was given to build. This means we cannot form a Mooban committee. But it is still possible to form a committee as a juristic entity. The committee can decide by what rules the village will function. As another poster said earlier in this thread, with a Mooban committee a non-payer can have a charge placed against his property which becomes payable before he can sell it.

Careful with lawyers! Many will promise more than they can deliver. We spoke to our local Tessaban about the problem and were told to form a juristic entity costs very little. Just need to get a majority to agree, draw up a document and get it checked and approved by a lawyer.

I guess there will always be those who try to live on the expenses of others. IMO life is too short to waste on them. Good luck with the spongers!

DIG

If you cannot see the misogyny in the cartoon and the attending remarks it simply means you're not looking deeply enough. Most of the respondents in TV are male, and it isn't surprising that many are incapable of looking past their own narrow, paternalistic view of society. No judgment intended. It's just a fact of life. But misogyny is there, and glaringly so in this instance. Most societies thrive on hypocrisy and double standards. They represent the marked differences between what we are convinced we should be, and what we really are. We live in a physical world and our actions are mostly driven by our bodies and the natural chemicals that enable us to function and survive. Religion and philosophy have given us aspirations. But (particularly) religious rhetoric has turned those aspirations into weapons with which to attack those who do not conform to the dominant doctrines. Put simply, we often say one thing yet are 'driven' to do another.

I don't know if Chai Rachawat has ever used a sex worker of either gender in his long life. But even if he hasn't he should have had enough life experience at the age of 72 to understand that all in any society is not as it seems, and Thailand is no different. But it would not be unreasonable to suggest that he is probably no different to most of us. While he may understand the 'truth' of the society in which he lives he chooses to conveniently forget such truths in the pursuit of either political capital or professional aggrandizement. Either way his remarks about Yinluck should be challenged at least as strongly as his personal attack on her.

Disingenuous attitudes abound in all areas of societal conflict.

DIG

The pilots realized the auto-pilot had been turned off in their sleep?

A nosedive does tend to waken even the deepest of Bollywood dreamers.

DIG

guys if you let this happen, then the last bit of democracy that we have is gone forever. we will be an enslaved nation with no morals.

It has been 'an enslaved nation' since the year 'dot'. And the real slave owners have never been elected. Almost every country is the same. The real power hardly ever resides with elected officials. Simply another struggle for the power behind the power.

DIG

The scheme? Legal Rights Protection program? For some odd reason scheme and Legal Rights Protection program do not sound very assuring in the LOS.

Semantics!

DIG

Oh well! I guess I'll just have to pack up my grilled entrail BBQ parked outside the local police station at 4am on weekends. Pity! It was good business, especially when the late shift arrived back from their mia nois, before sloping off home to their families. They were always good tippers too. Particularly after the tea money was divided up and the local bars were done over by the 'catch em young' division. Still. I've made enough money to be able to buy this years visa, and a little left over for the wife to have her hair sent to Chiang Mai to be washed, colored, plaited and mailed back via EMS. A treat she looks forward to every year since the onset of serious post entrail shedding.

Seriously ... which mafia boss has his hand so deep in this gentleman's rectum he's able to twang his vocal chords?

DIG

If they really want to play this game a Facebook page could be set up for reporting corrupt officials here in LOS. Any, and I mean ANY suggestion of corruption should then result in the perpetrator's mugshot appearing on the FB page, together with the circumstances in which the corrupt practice took place. I read with interest and support about the Brit journalist who posted the photo of a corrupt tax official on his Twitter page. They want to play rough ... gloves off! Everyone who has been here for a while knows just how much graft occurs behind the scenes of this corrupt society. Most turn a blind eye, and few judge them for it. But if they want to play the racist card maybe we should all become a little more interested in their shenanigans.

My take ... this is just another local official feeling the pressure from the Phuket mafia. Rather than bending to their wishes and starting a witch hunt it's about time these weaklings asserted their rank and faced these people head on. I've never been to Phuket and never want to go. Sounds like a den of hoods that needs the sobering lesson of diminishing tourists due to bully tactics and corrupt and mealy mouthed officials.

DIG

I totally concur with the general sentiment expressed above. Westerners, in particular, have a habit of leaving their brains at home when they come to this part of the planet. The guy was wrong. He was offered a way out of the full penalty by the officer. And whatever the reasons behind the officer's offer the old adage about not looking a gift horse in the mouth but accepting it with good grace would have been the right reaction. The postponed ethnocentric second thoughts, which seem to have overcome his sense of reason on his return to his idea of civilization were devoid of both common sense and integrity. Perhaps he should restrict his future vacations to places where the full force of the law is brought upon him if he chooses to ignore reasonable precautions.

One should never generalize, but I've always liked people I've met from the Netherlands. They've usually shown a level of common sense and openness to experience I've found refreshing. This egoist obviously slipped through the 'I'm OK, you're OK' net.

DIG

'Called the Inactive Account Manager'

I guess 'Google Corpse' was too controversial.

DIG

This is the same inexorable advance toward big store shopping that most western countries went through in the latter 30 years of the 20th century. None of what is being suggested will reverse the trend. Once a people have seen what well run supermarkets can do they rarely go back to M & P stores, except the most modern ones who get their act together to compete with the franchises for local trade. The facts are these ...

1) Most M & P stores are run by people who have no formal training in retail, or indeed business in general.

2) The vast majority of Thai stores outside the cities (and many within) are dusty, dirty, have a high percentage of outdated stock and are not customer friendly.

3) These businesses do not keep up with consumer trends, do not advertise, promote or attempt to upgrade their businesses.

4) The manufacturing trade in Thailand dictates the prices and general business terms, and wholesale is neither well developed nor efficient (in many consumer sectors).

5) Manufacturing and wholesale price reductions are simply pocketed instead of being passed on to the consumer.

6) Customer service is extremely poor.

7) A high percentage of these stores are run on a shoestring budget, with families literally working hand to mouth.

8) Very little research is done before most Thai businesses are opened.

9) Many Thai stores sell the same products (Som Tam seller syndrome). The idea of specialization hasn't moved too far from the city centers.

10) There are very few traditional stores that look to build a business. They usually just open and stay the same. So when their traditional business model is under threat they have no plan B.

The next decade or so will shake out a high percentage of these businesses. One of the casualties will be the price of shop houses. There are far too many for a business environment that will, like the west, gravitate toward specialization, big box premises, advertizing and lifestyle driven consumer behavior, and move upmarket. IMO, many of them will be turned into apartments.

The Thai government is making the expected noises. But I have little doubt they know the writing is on the wall for these kinds of small, poorly run businesses, most of which make little profit and are often run by wives while their husbands work in larger local businesses or factories, and without their salaries the stores wouldn't survive anyway.

This is what happens when nations develop. Big business takes over, the 'little guys' are absorbed into the general workforce and Gemeinschaft is overtaken by Gesellschaft.

DIG

Nothing increases the probability of government policy change more than ministerial denial.

DIG

I'll be very happy to debate the role of the US in helping to perpetrate many of the world's crises in the last century and this one. Start a thread! It's an issue worth spending time on, IMO.

DIG

Great, you want to bash the US which generally takes care of it's people yet refuse to acknowledge a country that treats its people in such a way that 1/3 of it's children have some form of dwarfism due to malnutrition and lack of care. Very disingenuous. Maybe personal beliefs, prejudices or pride have blinded you to true human sufferings.

I think I've adequately acknowledged the shortcomings of the current and past N Korean regimes in my multiple posts on this subject. I said 'debate'! 'Bash' is your emotive response. Whether or not your other assertions about my motives are true will only come to light when you take up the challenge ... and DEBATE the subject. Start a thread. I can assure you my responses will be backed by good data from erudite sources. Many from your own citizens in trusted educational establishments. But perhaps you fear there is a lack of substance behind your rhetoric.

I'll look out for the thread.

DIG

Next!

DIG

Really ... all this rhetoric is aimed at the home audience in the hope it will stop their new Minnie Mouse from looking weak. Their news has been flooded with 'set up' pix of Mr Big at various military stations, apparently issuing orders to the NK military. The regime wants a permanent solution to the stand off. But they don't want to be seen to ask for it. So they're hoping the S Korean gov't will make the first move so they can be dragged, kicking and screaming, to a bribed end of the old conflict between the two halves of the peninsula. A little face saving. A lot of aid, and the little guy can claim some kind of victory to the starving masses of his own country. This is not about war. This is about the best deal they can get and a peaceful solution. The big hats are hurting since the new sanctions tightened the noose. They want out. A million strong army equipped with pop guns and inadequate rations isn't a threat to S Korea. Millions of refugees is. Both Park and the new Chinese suits know this. It's a facade! Watch this space. A deal will ensue and Korea will unify. Long, drawn out process costing the south a heap of Won. But the result will be a very strong N E Asian economy which will balance that of the Chinese.

Next!

DIG

________________________________________________________________________Technical problem here. Above is the post of dressedingreen. My post is as follows:

The grave problem for S Korea is that massive N Korean rocket artillery are only 50 miles from Seoul. I see as I write this that Chuckd has mentioned the fact in the post he just made. U.S. boomer subs presently off the Asia coast, each of which carry 24 missiles of multiple warheads, would smoke the North in two hours or less. (One of the three boomers constantly in the western Pacific is always off the Korean peninsula, and itself would be more than enough to do the job.) However, in those two hours Pyongyang's artillery would reduce Seoul to a wasteland. In addition to Seoul being the South's capital, it has a quarter of the country's population. So any kind of military action on the peninsula would occur at a great price, which comes as no surprise any of us.

I largely share the views you state in your post, but your statement is too casual for me. Since the unification of Germany Seoul has sent dozens of teams there to study broadly, at great length and in great detail the process, its effects, the cost, the time involved in what can be defined as complete integration of the former two Germanys. Each team has returned to Seoul pale and ashen faced. At the time of unification, West Germany had been the third largest economy of the world, yet reunification was carried on at great financial cost past the turn of the millennium. While the present chancellor is from the old East, Germany has yet to regain its social fabric while cultural differences continue to impede the Germans in the former East. These are costs Seoul and most S Koreans fear.

During two years in S Korea the Koreans kept telling me unification was "ten years" away. Koreans said that when I was there in 1996-98 and a Korean in an email to me January this year said the same thing - "ten years." The reality is the S Koreans still don't want to disturb or disrupt their high standard of living and high quality of life to bring their fellow Koreans in the North up to speed. S Koreans are enjoying being a developed economy which quickly is becoming an advanced one. S Korea broke through the middle income trap very successfully. They don't want to be inconvenienced - put out, really - by taking on the task before them.

Kim and his gang are now getting the kind of embargoes and sanctions that Prez Obama managed to impose on the ayatollahs et al in Iran. Iran has recently come to the table. I share your view dressedingreen that Kim will never come to the table. The Gang in Pyongyang want their caviar and to continue to move weapons for money, deal in drugs, launder money, have access the international shadow banking system and so on. Now Even the PRChina voted with Obama at the UN to block Pongyang in these illicit pursuits. The big hats in Pyongyang shutter to think of how thin their waistlines are going to get, which is not very different from the impact of the new sanctions in Tehran. .

It's clear as far as Washington and Seoul are concerned - Beijing too - that the stuck pig Pongyang can squeal and make all the racket it wants, but it's gonna have to face reality and give up its nukes.

And I need to commend Prez Obama for devising and implementing sanctions that go directly to the leaders of these regimes. Obama knows the criticism of sanctions is that they hurt the population themselves, the leaders less, as serious research over decades has proven to be true. Obama instead has begun to go after the bank accounts as well as the waistlines of the regimes themselves.

The West German people were not too keen on paying the price of reunification either. Many of them railed against the cost (1.6 trillion Euros) and the effects on their lifestyles. But it went ahead anyway. Why? Because over a generation or two it makes economic, political and global sense. The same reasons will drive the 2 Koreas to reunite. What the middle classes want will be secondary to what the Korean elites have in mind for the future. What we need to understand is that people are expendable and cities are easily rebuilt. The plans for this planet are not those published in political manifestos or alluded to in jingoistic speeches or interviews. They are unwritten, unspoken yet foreseeable with analytical eyes. As far as N E Asia is concerned the NK regime is merely a nuisance. An itch to be scratched when the time is right. Pyongyang will not be bombed but quietly subdued. Like East Germany, N Korea will not be an equal partner in a unified Korean peninsula. It will simply be annexed. People will be moved around according to the dictats of the S Korean military industrial complex. And the N Korean army will not be allowed to run amok in Seoul. It will be subdued by those who currently hold high rank in that organization. They are bought and paid for. There will be no resistance of any worth. Those who don't toe the line will be removed, and quietly disappear. Little Kim will become a distant memory.

For China, NK has become a liability. It's use as a buffer and uncontrollable child bully has run its course. China is in the process of ditching it, publicly. Another reason for the recent tantrums.

Many have underestimated Obama. I never did. He was destined to win his 2 elections. His agenda was set well before he took office. Regardless of his 'home performance' which many would agree has been somewhat lackluster, he has achieved many of his foreign aims. And that was always his main purpose. Corporations run America. No need for a large political footprint other than just enough to keep the sheeple quiet.

The Middle east has been on the back burner for a while. Like NK, it's now back on the main agenda. Watch as Iran stutters and succumbs over the next few years.

The ordinary people of (both) Koreas will be reorganized, 'reeducated', repositioned and redirected in the coming generation, as the global corporate network comes together.

The only surprise will be if someone of substance notices.

Casually

DIG

Really ... all this rhetoric is aimed at the home audience in the hope it will stop their new Minnie Mouse from looking weak. Their news has been flooded with 'set up' pix of Mr Big at various military stations, apparently issuing orders to the NK military. The regime wants a permanent solution to the stand off. But they don't want to be seen to ask for it. So they're hoping the S Korean gov't will make the first move so they can be dragged, kicking and screaming, to a bribed end of the old conflict between the two halves of the peninsula. A little face saving. A lot of aid, and the little guy can claim some kind of victory to the starving masses of his own country. This is not about war. This is about the best deal they can get and a peaceful solution. The big hats are hurting since the new sanctions tightened the noose. They want out. A million strong army equipped with pop guns and inadequate rations isn't a threat to S Korea. Millions of refugees is. Both Park and the new Chinese suits know this. It's a facade! Watch this space. A deal will ensue and Korea will unify. Long, drawn out process costing the south a heap of Won. But the result will be a very strong N E Asian economy which will balance that of the Chinese.

Next!

DIG

RT@ChannelNewsAsia: JUST IN: North Korea's full war declaration statement - cna.asia/13FvnED pic.twitter.com/2n9EO7Alu5

I wonder if they wear big hats to make them look taller

DIG

This is, of course, just sabre rattling on behalf of NK's Boy Wonder. But just in case it turns a little bit real, the US might want to hurry the deployment of its increased east coast defenses ...

A 50% hit rate probably isn't too reassuring to those who may be on the receiving end of NK nuke

US defense missiles only hit 50% in tests

DIG

N. Korea has very few long range missiles. The US would probably fire 10 missiles at each one, giving almost a 100% chance of knocking them down.

It's doubtful the US currently has 10 missiles to fire at 'each one'. This is the problem. The US has never needed them before, relying on MAD as a deterrent when faced with USSR threats. Now there are countries with a growing technology that aren't necessarily swayed by the thought of MAD. And it's not beyond some terrorist groups to be able to smuggle the parts for one of these missiles to a place where the country that originated the technology could plead ignorance of such a launch. Maybe not this year or next. But once the technology is loose (and it has been since the break up of the USSR, and the release of plans from Pakistan and S Africa), the possibilities will grow rapidly.

At the moment I'm unsure Kim Jong Un(wise) has the capability to even get one off the ground, nevermind pointing it in the right direction. But it will probably not always be so. And Iran has been spoiling to give the US a bloody nose since Khomeini virtually fell off the plane from Paris, onto Iranian soil (I believe Teheran airport is tarmaced now ... ) So the US needs to plan for the not-too-distant future, as do other likely western target countries.

Missile defense boosters press case

DIG

This is, of course, just sabre rattling on behalf of NK's Boy Wonder. But just in case it turns a little bit real, the US might want to hurry the deployment of its increased east coast defenses ...

A 50% hit rate probably isn't too reassuring to those who may be on the receiving end of NK nuke

US defense missiles only hit 50% in tests

DIG

I was raised in the UK in the 1950's - 60's. And any white woman who had a relationship with a man who was not white was regarded as a slut. Asia is going through immense change, and Thai/Cambodian/Vietnamese/Laotian women who, in the past, saw an opportunity to make a better life for themselves through (hopefully) meeting someone to 'rescue' them from the oldest profession are no different from others in western countries in the past. Remember the WW2 complaint from many English guys about their American brothers? 'Overpaid, oversexed and over here'! And there were plenty of English women who saw the chance of a better life in America after the war.

Every culture has to try to free itself from its own oppression, eventually. It often isn't easy to hear the truth, the reality of life in one's own country. Every citizen of every nation has to face (or not) the notion that there is the accepted view, and there is real life. The accepted view makes us feel safe, offers some sense of being OK as a people. The reality can make us feel guilty for not being prepared to stand up and demand change. The human condition is still a delicate one. Selective sight is not just the domain of emerging Asian nations.

DIG