Dcheech

1 hour ago, capcase said:

you don't get the big picture, the whole china satellite debits story is a propaganda exaggerated by NASA to defame china

Oh my! Are people defaming China, yet again?! How about China grows up, gets a thicker skin, quits whingeing non stop about real or imagined slights. China is a big nation now, time to star acting like one, quit playing the poor little victim card. The sanctimonious victim/bully schtick is bloody old. 

2 hours ago, yang123 said:

Less contentiously, what is the appropriate time gap between 2nd and 3rd booster shots

A very contentious subject here. This from the health ministry.

 https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/health-ministry-revises-criteria-for-administration-of-booster-vaccine-doses

A vendor has been selling glass bongs at our Sunday walking street for years. If it was illegal, he would have been packed off long ago.   

14 hours ago, connda said:

BDSM?  Taken over the top.

Or he is just lying. Given in Thai culture you have to have an excuse, any excuse, no matter how unbelievable. Just as likely he killed her, and doing the culturally appropriate shoveling of bull manure. 

There is no tight US Thailand relations. That is all pro gov media speak. It makes them happy to claim it, say it. Oh those tricky Thais. Antony Blinken is just doing his job, both he and the Thai government know the underlying realities, even if the 'approved media' likes to gleefully burble nonsense. 

 

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

Chiang Mai immigration has been reported as not complying with the new regulation. 

In my case, I forgot. After the 15 day BK ASQ hotel solitary confinement, it happens. I had a re entry permit and a current visa. When I realized the error my life had fallen into, I went to Chiang Mai IM. They did not fine me for being late. However they did NOT say it wasn't needed. They wrote up a new form, inputted info and stapled a new TM 30 slip to my passport.

They have nothing better to do, it gives their existence, meaning. 

54 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

So many policies and protocols to adhere to that they (law enforcement) failed.

That is what was going on at Uvalde.  Adhering to policies and protocols? Current news up this morning;  Police Chief Pete Arredonado placed on leave amid ongoing Federal and State investigations.

Someone (lot of denial who),  made the decision all were dead and shooter was barricaded in. As such no immediate action was taken, even though messages received, people alive, wounded dying, need help.   What policy and protocol were in affect, no one is talking much about.

The Ping River remains a ditch filled with stagnant water. It moved four days, maybe five, after the big week long rains a month back. Reservoirs & Dams remain closed.  We see clouds, streaming rain, many afternoons. Occasionally they drop water on us, mostly they miss. Dry here 4 Km's from the moat. 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand and the United States are longtime military allies, despite a cooling of relations after the 2014 military coup that brought former army commander Prayuth to power. 

 

They were cool long before that. The 97 SEA economic collapse required conspiracy theories to hide the role of non performing loans, and the Thai class able get them from the banks, which ultimately imploded baht & country. This had to be blamed on someone or something. The US & Soros fit the bill for many of these theories.

Large numbers of foreigners use coffee shops to work from, but not buying anything in Pattaya and by extension all over Thailand. Yet the only time I have read a complaint, was locals doing this at a Starbuck in Bangkok, was it 5 years back?! It's kind of like a secret. ????  & Who knew?

Good to keep my fingers on the pulse beat of the Kingdom, here at Asean Now.

 

The Ping River was actually flowing ten days back, after that heavy rain storm plastered north Thailand. It had been a ditch with stagnant water for a year. Not enough rain, so reservoirs closed catching as much as they can to save for irrigation. Been like that for over two years now BTW. 

Sermsuk Public Company Limited, copiers, uh creators ???? of EST cola, still have clout.

Looks like the OP has found an anecdotal survey he likes.

They are a dime a dozen. However I noticed little change in the 2016 or 18 lists. And ones that have been turned in since 20. Lots of missing due to the pandemic since then.

 

On 4/27/2022 at 7:50 AM, Yellowtail said:

A little off topic, but for any old guys that fish, decent prescription sunglasses are a game-changer!

I have to have prescription sunglasses, since I was in my twenties. Bought two pair of prescription sunglasses from Zenni. Excellent. Note; if buying get polarized, with mirror shading, the more costly frames options. No time to be stinting, go stunning.  
 

Thailand used to have lots of good cheap optical shops. They have been replaced over the decades by 'glasses in a box', shop. The people they train to run them are ex tuk tuk drivers and 'Sow Chia Beer' girls.   

2 hours ago, Willy Wombat said:

That really have a hard on for soft power lately.

 

Could it replace "hub" as the buzz word of choice for the Thai media?  Time will tell. 

6 hours ago, Partenavia said:

It all sounds good, but means nothing.

That is a large component of the "intangible cultural heritage". Got to make it look good..

6 minutes ago, vandeventer said:

So what are they going to talk about? How to run a country effectively? Blind leading the blind.

Myanmar, South China Sea issues and ASEAN response to Russia's Ukraine invasion head the list. 

4 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Yeah, and you must be from USA, as you react the way you do to that you are no longer better. Then you just take the old card up, and blame others for giving the wrong information. What makes you so sure your own numbers are so perfect?

You dropped your statistical arguments, links, in record time, and went to snark.; outstanding. No idea what "no longer better" or "numbers are so perfect" have to do with anything. I live here. In many ways wealth, relative wealth, protects me, gives me privilege. However I know that. I try to be aware, and understand for all that, I don't know half of what is really going on.  Sorry if that upsets you.

Have a happy Songkran.

On 4/6/2022 at 6:31 PM, Gottfrid said:

Nope, it wasn´t! Here is some numbers for you. (Not seen any new number either, but as you said was I can counter it)

Yes it was. Starting a decade or so back, Thailand murder rate miraculously declined incrementally each year until, it finally dipped below the USA's per capita murder rate. Thailand in fact had a higher per capita rate than the US for most of the last two decades. In actual fact, many in Thailand are skeptical of that incremental drop each year. It feels 'manufactured'. However it does make one feel good, isn't that what its all about?! 

 * NOTE USA rate, is not the same as USA Virgin Islands, as your first link tries to suggest.

8 hours ago, bendejo said:

It could be said the crackdown was provoked by the "black shirts" but the conundrum is that the Reds won't admit the black shirts exist.

The black shirts were the reason, the army cracked down on the Reds. The Reds say they never existed, that it is nothing more than a cover story/excuse that the army used to claim they were provoked, and opened fire on the protestors. BTW A Bangkok court ruled that it was the military and not "black shirts" who shot the Reds in Wat Patham Wanaram, killing six and wounding others.
 

I wouldn't know about that, but was in Bangkok weeks later. No black shirts around my hotel at that time.
 

"Chiang Rai dams take toll on wildlife, farmers"

Great headline. Thailand's ally is pretty thin skinned, might be upset if labeled 'Chinese dams on the Mekong'. Better call them "Chiang Rai dams". 

I'm not traveling, nor water tossing, for Songkhran, so won't bother.

However as I am looking to travel soon, I will have an additional booster next month. I will stop in at the local mall. Make a choice of the (free) Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. After ten minutes for data input, shot, thirty minutes wait. That is that. Great it is not a big production with charts or graphs, you just turn up and do it.