Lapun

Well, she certainly is curvaceous - if you like that sort of thing . . . 

On 10/28/2022 at 9:41 AM, webfact said:

One goal is to elevate the overall wealth of the nation and dissipate prosperity to every locality so people’s livelihood could improve.

But only for the rich in every locality. The poor can go & get stuffed, as they cannot afford the contents of a brown paper envelope to grease the wheels of official corruption.

According to https://tricycle.org/beginners/buddhism/three-poisons/

In his early teachings, the Buddha identified “three poisons,” or three fires, or three negative qualities of the mind that cause most of our problems—and most of the problems in the world. The three poisons are: greed (raga, also translated as lust), hatred (dvesha, or anger), and delusion (moha, or ignorance). The three poisons are opposed by three wholesome, or positive attitudes essential to liberation: generosity (dana), lovingkindness (maitri, Pali: metta), and wisdom (prajna).

What is Uncle Tu's (& his wife's) wealth valued at now I wonder?

On 10/28/2022 at 8:58 AM, Kenny202 said:

I think Ho Chi Minh summed it up when he refused assistance from China in the US war. He said better to sniff US shet for a few years than EAT Chinese shet forever

If people keep repeating this quote, then it almost becomes a factual quote. However, according to the following web site, it may not be true.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Ho_Chí_Minh

This site says that it is disputed that he said that, & may have been fabricated by a French colonialist to justify their occupation in Vietnam. But why let that get in the way of a good story/quote.

He must have taken the long or scenic route. According to Google Maps, the distance, as the crow flies between the points (as nominated in the Thaiger article) is 5.67km.

Still, well done. Very good effort to swim that far & raise so much money.

Sorry, should include amperage drop as well. I'm no electrician, but I think that amperage fluctuations will harm appliances more than voltage fluctuations - but who knows what you get in Thailand?

Voltage and amperage are two measures of electrical current or flow of electrons. Voltage is a measure of the pressure that allows electrons to flow, while amperage is a measure of the volume of electrons. An electrical current at 1,000 volts is no more deadly than a current at 100 volts, but tiny changes in amperage can mean the difference between life and death when a person receives an electrical shock. 

A  "Blackout" is when you lose all power.

A "Brownout" is when the voltage drops & depending on the drop, causes some appliances to stop & others to work, albeit in a reduced capacity. Depending on the appliance electronics, voltage fluctuations can have a negligible, minor or major (the unit dies) outcome.

Thailand & many other countries have both. Rural districts are probably more affected by Brownouts - but I have no irrefutable evidence of this statement.

Couldn't be bothered reading 4 pages of some agitated opinions & I may have missed it if anyone pointed it out, but on the 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

 they state quite clearly at the bottom (if you bother to scroll down that far), that for a total at 08:00am on 16-04-22 of 18,892 PCR positive test & 8,858 ATK positive tests **

** Infected with a network (ATK) : does not count towards the total number of new infections.

So all the Thai Covid figures (and most probably all the other countries in the world) are, as the Orange Man said - FAKE NEWS.

I stand to be corrected by someone with irrefutable evidence - not a biased opinion.

Happy Songkran.

Covid numbers, Songkran (in general all) road fatalities, tourist numbers, the number of poverty stricken people, the number of Hi-Sos, the number of Generals in Thailand & how much they earn, the Russian reported civilian deaths in Ukraine, the number of parties Boris went to . . . . . . <deleted>? All complete & utter BS.

Oh & I don't believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus & the Tooth Fairy (but I wouldn't mind an Easter egg today).

For those looking for statistics & citations, try -

https://extranet.who.int/roadsafety/death-on-the-roads/#deaths

https://extranet.who.int/roadsafety/death-on-the-roads/#country_or_area/THA

It only took 15 seconds on Google to find this. So you can all see for yourselves - but just remember, in all probability, the numbers are skewed like they are with Covid deaths.

And I haven't seen anything about not counting road fatalities if they die in hospital. A link showing this would be appreciated by me & my geriatric falangs when we are discussing Thai Songkran road fatalities at our weekly (daily?) debates on the state of the World & Ukraine & Covid (over a coffee or water or soda or beer).

23 hours ago, Screaming said:

The word happiness is very subjective and I would think impossible to measure.

If you look at Appendix 2 of the Report "Statistical Appendix for Happiness, benevolence, and trust during COVID-19 and beyond, Chapter 2 of World Happiness Report 2022" it is 56 pages long and looks at many measures. Whether or not these measures are actually relevant is debatable, but they seem to have made a reasonable attempt. And no, I haven't read the report & don't intend to.

But then as you say, it is very subjective. I sometimes measure my happiness on how well my football team is going. 

The wall has the compressor of a split cycle a-c system mounted on it indicating that this is the outside of the restaurant, with the cooling a-c unit on the inside of the restaurant.

Maybe 2022 will also have a King Taksin Day?

Don't forget the 4 additional holidays approved by cabinet & announced on 05 Nov 2021 

https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG211105001025819

These are all on Fridays to create extra long weekends to stimulate the economy:

15 July, 29 July, 14 October, and 31 December (31-Dec has already been listed).

Additionally, the reports states -

The Cabinet has also declared 28 December the eastern region’s 2021 regional holiday, celebrating King Taksin Day. This holiday will be observed in 8 eastern provinces, namely Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat, Nakhon Nayok, Prachin Buri, and Sa Kaeo.

35 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

No more domestic pigs, wild pigs, pet pigs. No more chickens, no more songbirds, no more seabirds. Destruction of species is the fruit of greed & overpopulation. Better get used to it.

 

Humans can't catch swine flu but bird flu is deadly.

The Mayo Clinic (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bird-flu/symptoms-causes/syc-20368455) says -

Although bird flu may kill more than half the people it infects, the number of fatalities is still low because so few people have had bird flu. Fewer than 500 bird flu deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization since 1997.

In contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that seasonal influenza is responsible for thousands of deaths each year in the United States alone.

On 1/7/2022 at 5:40 PM, fangless said:

The link is not clear as to what the "parts of 18 other provinces will remain as blue (tourism) zones.!"

Does anyone have a link as to what/where they are?

There are 2 relevant links

https://www.tatnews.org/2022/01/thailand-steps-up-covid-19-curbs-nationwide-from-9-january-2022/

This gives you the Provinces &  Blue Tourist Areas. Below is my summary of it.

The other link is -

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/what-does-new-level-4-alert-mean-for-thailand/

Note that this article does say . . .

"Though the Level 4 alarm bell has been sounded, the CCSA has not yet declared any province as a Red or Dark Red zone, preferring to adopt a wait-and-see policy."

So the CCSA have said Level 4 Alert, which theoretically means a Red Zone, but they have classed all 69 Provinces as Orange Zones.

So who is more confused - us or them?

Pardon me if I missed it in the 7 pages of replies/comments to this article, but according to the first sentence in 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Thailand

Downloaded: 27-12-2021

Prostitution in Thailand is not in itself illegal, but many of the activities associated with it are illegal. Because of police corruption and an economic reliance spanning from the Vietnam War, prostitution remains a significant presence in the country.They usually come from the results of poverty, low levels of education, lack of local hiring, rural backgrounds and mostly from Isaan/the northeast, from ethnic minorities or from neighbouring countries, especially Myanmar and Laos. UNAIDS in 2019 estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000. 

????

However, they go on to say -

The precise number of prostitutes in Thailand is difficult to assess. Estimates vary widely and are subject to national and international controversy. No Thai government has ever conducted a formal survey.

Another source quotes different figures.

https://thegeminiweb.com/thai-hooker-in-thailand/

Last Updated on: December 19, 2021 by Allen Gray |  Fact Checked

If you take the time to look up prostitution in Thailand you will read that it was Legal till 1767. In addition to this, this market made a total of 6.4 Billion US dollars annually.

The probable reason behind the government and police not taking a step against this can be that despite being illegal about 500,000 sex workers are estimated to work with as freelancers and hired professionals.

So whichever way you look at it, because of the covid lockdowns & the govt not compensating those in that particular "entertainment" industry, many of whom have gone back to their villages, that's a lot of brown envelopes missing from the pre-covid RTP income. Could this be a desperate attempt to rectify that problem?

But maybe I'm just being unfair to the RTP? 

Well Anutin had better hurry up. The 7 Day Moving Average has been on the rise since mid-June. In the North East Region, they brought theirs down in two months quite dramatically. And of course the Central Region was also brought down being the elite & financial hub of Thailand. They have done nothing to date in the South. The following graphs are from CCSA figures.

Don't know if you can read them. In the first graph, Thailand Total in red & Central Region in blue. In the 2nd graph, the South in Red, East in orange, North East in yellow, West in green, North in grey & Prisons in pink. The bars are Thailand's 7 day Moving Average of Deaths. Everything except for the South is going down.

Anutin better pull his magic wand out of somewhere, as it keeps getting worse in the South.

The Covid figures for Phuket according to the CCSA are as follows:

I don't know the breakdown between tourists & locals, but I don't think they have it under control at all.

In Tha Yang (Phetchaburi) IO, they accepted a bank statement & bank letter which I got from Bangkok Bank the day before, ONLY AFTER I went to the local BKK Bank, made a transaction & brought back my updated bank book that day.

For my last extension, I got a bank letter & statement on the day I applied for the extension & I did not have to make a transaction at the local branch that day.

In both cases, it was only after the above, that they gave me the "Under Consideration" stamp. 

So do not touch your money until after you get that stamp. You should also be aware that, as I understand it, you should keep the THB400k in your bank -

  > for two months PRIOR to the application

  > for one month AFTER the application (although I have not had my bank account checked by the IO for this, unless they do it through the banks - but I doubt this.)

2 hours ago, RobU said:

I wonder if anyone has done a comparison with the national statistics for infection and death and the Phuket statistics for infection

According to Wikipedia, the Thai population in Phuket in 2019 was 416,582. Given their total Covid-19 cases of 954, this equates to an infection rate per 100,000 Thai people of 229.

From my figures, and I may be wrong, this puts them at 42nd out of 77 Provinces (plus the Prisons).

This does not include migrant workers, illegal workers or farangs. However, the Provincial Covid case figures does include those people I believe. Also, is there any under-reporting?

I think the top 10 are -

51 minutes ago, aussienam said:

For the Aussie expats here:  I know that there is AZ expiring on the shelves in Australia because citizens there were basically scared off from taking it unless they were over 50, then changed to over 60.  Most are waiting for Pfizer.  

In the meantime, those of us not spoilt for choice and without the luxury of relatively low numbers, face a higher chance of death or suffering long term disability from COVID illness.  

Why doesn't the Australian government express deliver unwanted vaccines near expiry overseas to vaccinate Aussie expats?  It would prevent inevitable deaths.  Some of us will die without the vaccine (yes some of us on this forum may be dead from COVID including me) .  There is no doubt.  The Australian Embassy here in Thailand could help prevent that.  We are sitting ducks at the end of a very long queue.  

The recent AZ vaccines provided last Sunday was very limited in number and only a token gesture. Most of us missed out.  

Expats from other countries with oversupply of vaccines should also be getting help this way.  

Channel 9 News reported that Australia is exporting 600,000 doses to Pacific countries, 2.5 million to Indonesia & 1.5 million to Vietnam. 

Yet Australia is lagging behind quite a lot in the vaccination stakes.

1 hour ago, Why Me said:

Thailand has administered at least 12,908,193 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 9.3% of the country’s population.

According to Our World in Data,