GammaGlobulin

Two years ago, I had my full series of rabies vaccine injections. . I had been bitten on the toe by a rat while dining at a street night food stall. These days, rabies vaccination is painless. Also, I was able to develop a nice rapport with the same hot nurse during the series. She was Hot. But she was also kindhearted and respectful. About a month ago, I visited a rose-plant nursery. While there, I happened upon two overly aggressive dogs. Just barely did I escape being bitten, and maybe eaten. I'm no medical professional, but next time I visit the hospital, I think that I will get a rabies booster, just for my own peace of mind. In fact, when I last spoke with the nurse who injected me, she told me that she, too, had had a full series of rabies vaccinations. She told me that she raises cats. And she, thusly, chose to be fully vaccinated prophylactically. I am not saying whether her decision is right or wrong. All i am saying is that I know two friends who have been bitten by dogs. I have been attacked by dogs, several times in this land of smiling dogs. They wag their tails, then try to bite you. As T. Roosevelt often recommended, walk softly and carry a big stick. If you don't have a stick, then throw stones. Sometimes, local dogs can smell a farang before you can see them. Their strategy is to sneak up from behind and bite you in the white thigh. Just an opinion, but I think the local dogs prefer white meat. Next time I visit the hospital, I will get my rabies booster vaccine, in preparation for my future, almost inevitable, dog bite. I am not complaining. Even our canine friends gotta make a living. As far as I know, rabies can be transmitted just from the saliva of the dog. I once read the account of a young man who had set out to walk the entire length of The Great Wall of China. His greatest fear was Man's best friend of the rabid kind. As far as I know, the rabies vaccine is not entirely, 100 percent, effective. Therefore, if this is true, one should still remain wary of all running dogs, especially during the dog days of summer.

Farangville (Just the term seems uproariously amusing.) What about Howlieville? If one cannot poke fun at oneself, then what's the point of living. We can't hide from history. Neither can we hide from ourselves. One should always try to see through the glass less dimly.

Wow, Man, is your brother in any way related to General Curtis LeMay? Psychologically speaking, I suppose you know that pyromania goes hand-in-hand with other aberrant behavior such as torturing cats, and serial murder. In my humble opinion, pyromania is a form of psychosexual illness, closely related to necrophilia, but even more untreatable. Fortunately for you and your parents, your brother was able to just barely keep himself on the rails. But thank you for sharing. Also, as I know that you know, most, if not all, of us are not in our right minds. We are all, each one of us, living in our own private worlds of quiet desperation. Just one stressor too many, and then, we go off the rails. Think of Michael Douglas and his vanity license plate... D-FENS

The Big Bang Theory, so far, remains intact.

What, Me Complain? Thailand, especially where I am, is the greatest place on Earth. I would not trade it for the world. The grass is greener here than anywhere. (And, I do not mean weed.)

Realistically speaking, Hawaii is probably the single best answer and solution to most of the complaints I have ever heard voiced on the Farang Pub. Concerning the Smoke issue, I have never breathed a fresher breath of air in all my life than the breath I first breathed, stepping off the plane in Hawaii, in 1970. The winds have not changed too much in recent years, although people are worried. This fresh air is the result of the trade winds blowing NE to East-North-East, bringing cool and clean balmy air, anytime you want. There is no need for air purifiers in Hawaii. In Hawaii, there are regulations to prevent neighbors from burning down your fences, obviously. In fact, in Hawaii, nobody knows much about fences, either. Why would you even need a fence in Hawaii? The trade winds do not blow steadily all the time, of course. And, the trade winds have been diminishing recently, which is just about the only thing Hawaiians worry about. Therefore, in reply to the OP, if anyone might be overly concerned about burning trash, burning fences, burning anything, then please go to Hawaii. I have been to Hawaii two times, once just stopping off on my way to Tokyo, and once when I lived in Hawaii for a spell. Hawaii is not a big place. And, it is not so easy to get from one island to the next. I think that most farang would like Hawaii. In Hawaii, you will never be called "farang". In Hawaii, they call you HOWLIE, instead. Howlie or Farang, both terms mean basically the same thing. And, I never complain. Why should I? I am comfortable in my own skin. So, anyway, I just wanted to provide a possible alternative suggestion as a place for you to live, if you do not like the smoke, and you do not like being referred to as a farang (which I actually LIKE!). BUT, you know what? Thailand is just SO MUCH BETTER than Hawaii, you would not believe, unless you had lived in Hawaii. I probably could live anywhere, or almost anywhere. But, I would not live anywhere but here, given my preference, for so many reasons. SO THEN..... Should I complain too much about the place I love so much? This doesn't seem fair, does it.... I REALLY DO NOT CARE about the smoke...Honestly. It's not the smoke that bothers me. What bothers me is the aircraft, overhead, and the roosters, underfoot. I cannot change the smoke, even if I wanted to. But, I CAN move away from overflying aircraft. So easy to do, really. After quite a few years, here... I have just about ZERO to complain about... Too True!!! My only complaint is that I do not have a few BILLION, like Larry.... (maybe). Here are some of Larry's GFs...on his private island of Lanai... Not bad... BUT, I have seen FAR BETTER in Thailand, at the uni.

Let's all move to Lanai. Smoke problem solved, On so many levels. There is no cleaner air, anywhere.. Than here. Trust me.

And, NOW, a Public Service Announcement You might be able to make your own Air Purifier using just a box fan, etc. Please just check this link. No need for bells and whistles. This type of DIY air purifier is evaluated in this link... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41810-022-00152-7 Also, this linked article is NOT the only study of its kind. There are plenty more studies comparing DIY air purifiers to those of various manufacturers. The only problem, maybe, is that, in the real world, living in a Thailand house, it is almost impossible to prevent quite a bit of outside air from entering your abode, anytime the wind blows. Thailand houses were never designed to keep out the outside air. Heat insulation is almost nonexistent in many Thailand houses. Therefore, IMHO, when one uses an air purifier, of any brand, one is still fighting a losing battle, as the outside air will, inevitably, continue to flow in, and there is really no remedy for this problem, other than to build your own house. OR, there is another remedy, actually: Just become another Boy in The Bubble... So... In fact... Looking at this photo.... I bow down, and I thank the gods. I thank the gods that I can breathe the air, and the smoke, too. Be GRATEFUL for the air you breathe, No matter how smoky.

In reply to your questions: a. Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 Pro b. I have purchased 6 units. They are amazingly good. c. These machines calculate when filters must be replaced. Therefore, replacement time will correlate with the amount of dust in the air, and the airflow. I.E. the software of the machine obviously uses level of dust and airflow to calculate when the filter must be changed. The filters are about Bt.800.00, and two or three filters should last a full year. d. Where to buy? You can buy online. Or, you can buy from a local retailer. Personally, I HIGHLY recommend this machine. The fan motor is silent and strong. Without doubt, this is the best thing I ever purchased in my life. I purchased it several years ago during the last HORRIFIC Smoke Storm, a few years ago. (Hopefully, the quality of the Xiaomi has not changed since then.) If you find this information helpful, please give me a LIKE. Thank you. (Even my dentist uses these machines in their offices. It's a dynamite machine.)

Direct quote from California... Sorry. Should have provided attribution.

Concerning LITERALLY burning down a house: How much do you know about passive aggressive behavior? Passive Aggressive behavior seems to run rampant in some cultures even more than others. Burning Down the House of one's neighbor is just a more blatant display of the same passive aggressive behavior characterized by KEYING your Neighbor's Car. Here in Thailand, very few people will KEY a Car, by using a key to scrape the paint off a car door. Yet, in Taiwan, in days past, one rarely saw a car more than a few years old without many key marks. This is just an example of passive aggressive behavior. Your neighbor might not like you parking your car too close to his property. The perfect solution is to use a car key to completely ruin the car's appearance. In extreme cases, in Taiwan, houses have been burned to the ground for little more than causing one's neighbor to lose face. Arguments are often not settled openly and outright. Instead, passive aggression is key to revenge. Sorry to my Taiwanese friends. But, you know this is true, guys! Or, you can always cut the brake line's of your neighbor's car. This happened to me, and we caught the culprit on surveillance camera. Or, better yet! If you don't like your political opponent, you can always run over his wife with a truck. Chen Shui-bian, where are you now? Let bygones be bygones.

Here we are, these days, fretting about a tiny amount of smoke rolling down upon us from the farmers in the hills, for only a short four months of the year. Why, in the Grand Scheme of Things, should we be so irrationally worried about a bit of smoke? I mean, REALLY.....! People here are worried about SMOKE???? I mean: It REALLY Blows My Mind! Sure, one can empathize with you for being slightly concerned that a tiny amount of smoke might wipe out a few days from your collective lifespans. And, who really cares about that? Have you no conception of REAL existential threats which are FAR more important than a little bit of smoke that might disturb your view of the local mountains? RIDICULOUS!!! The pollution of smoke from agricultural burning is, in fact, of extremely little importance when considering the impact of other pollutants such as CO2 and methane. Oh, WAIT..... I forgot, most idiots don't care about CO2 or methane, simply because these two gasses are invisible. Here we are...BURNING DOWN OUR HOUSE, not to mention the house of our grandchildren; Yet we care more about the relatively innocuous smoke from burning STUBBLE to grow the food we eat? Why do we not quickly put everything into a more logical perspective? Oh. I get it. Everybody wants to have MORE of everything. Every more. Shop until you drop. One can NEVER have too much of anything. Kids, today, have no concept of the degradation of the planet. They are unable to make any gut comparison between what the environment was like 70 years ago, and what this garbage dump is like now. Young kids are now living in a garbage dump, comparatively, truth be told. Yet, just like rag pickers, they haven't a clue. They have no good frame of reference by which to judge. And so, Being Human, we will continue to burn down our house, without thought, until we have burned down our house, to ashes. Or, maybe we will blowup our house, in One Giant Fell Swoop of Nuclear Armageddon. Either way, we are Bent on Burning Down our House, most assuredly.. Maybe... Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish.... You be the judge. Who Got a Match?!!!

And now, a word about STUBBLE. Everybody knows, FULL WELL, that stubble could, in principle, be turned into biochar. Biochar has many advantages. But, is it cost effective? Therefore, you have a choice to either burn the stubble or create biochar. The cost or creating biochar might add significantly to the cost of doing business. Also, you can think more about the conversion of STUBBLE to increase soil carbon. Everybody complains too much. Nobody wants to pay for the added costs, either financial costs or costs of convenience, to make meaningful changes. This is why I laugh at Mankind, like Randy Newman. Randy Newman had a rare sense of humor that rubbed almost everybody the wrong way, but he was right. Young people, these days, are so much more fearful of things they need not fear. And, they have forgotten the real threats that they should be fearing, NOW. Here we be, with REAL existential threats all around us.... And yet, some children are worried about a little bit of smoke, once per year. Truly, it boggles the mind! But, I tell you, Kids.... You will NOT live forever. Cancer rates are increasing. And, this increase is NOT due to smoke from burning STUBBLE in the fields. Look elsewhere. Try to put your existential threats into a more logical hierarchy, based on.... Science? Anyway, no matter what, you probably will NOT live forever. Here is a word from....ZANZIBAR, APROPOS:

When I was young, during the autumn, we would burn the leaves which had fallen from the trees. Nobody never told us not to. The smoke from the burning leaves of chestnut trees was delicious, not to mention the smoke from the elms and oak trees, too. My fondest and most nostalgic memories of those days, now, are intertwined with the smell of burning leaves in the crisp air of that season. I would not trade those memories of smoke for nothing. Some people, not to name names, become overly anxious anytime they smell the smell of burning, even if they do not discriminate between what is being burned. They, idiotic as they are, think that all smoke is equal, which it is not. Some smoke is OK, and far less harmful than other kinds of smoke. In addition, young people today, having grown up with helicopter mothers hovering around them, believe that all risks in life are equal, which they are not. They have no capacity to place risks in life in some logical hierarchy. And thus, they become equally fearful of almost everything in life. They are taught that they must LIVE FOREVER, and that they should always remain...GLUTEN FREE. When I grew up, I had never even heard of gluten, nor any type of peanut allergy. The smoke here is, in fact, very minor compared to the smoke in other places. I would not worry about it if I could avoid the publicizing of it. Speaking of the chestnut trees, and the leaves we loved to burn in autumn months, I am reminded of Nat King Cole, who died from smoking fags, and not from roasting chestnuts: Pardon me: In my last comment, I stated "ventilators" when everybody knows that what I actually meant was the term "respirators". A ventilator is what you need when you have had too much smoke, and you are about to take your last gasp, of course. And a respirator is what you need to minimize inhalation of smoke, of course. Still, one should never worry, too much, about the Smoking Season.

Burn, Baby, Burn.... I do not care. Because, I have an Air Purifier. I NEVER worry about the smoke from the Burning Season. Why should you? You already KNOW that the smoke is INEVITABLE, and for good reason. Therefore, why do you sweat about it? Personally, I LOVE the smoke. I have a TON of 3M N98 ventilators. I actually ENJOY the smoke here. I ALSO very much ENJOY the Jasmine rice produced here. I am totally OK with the little bit of smoke, once per year. In my opinion, you should be OK with it, too! Don't Bellyache!

Agricultural burning is the intentional use of fire for vegetation management in areas such as agricultural fields, orchards, rangelands and forests. Agricultural burning helps farmers remove crop residues left in the field after harvesting grains, such as hay and rice. Farmers also use agricultural burning for removal of orchard and vineyard prunings and trees. Burning also helps remove weeds, prevent disease and control pests. For some crops, including rice and pears, burning is the most efficient and effective way to control disease. Burning is allowed only on Permissive Burn Days, which are issued based on the forecast of air quality and meteorological conditions that can affect smoke dispersion. All burn permit holders must comply with fire protection agency requirements.

I hate Firebugs.

However, now that I realize that the OP is serious, I must admit that I am EXTREMELY fortunate to live in a very small neighborhood, here, where ALL my neighbors are EXTREMELY sane, with me being the only mental case exhibiting signs of "benevolent narcissism". I just wish for your sake, although this might never happen, that if you live in a neighborhood with pyromaniacs, that the gov might consider putting Thorazine in the water supply, even if they refuse to fluoridate it. We all know what happens when the gov fluoridates the water supply. Carries go down, supposedly. And, people go crazy. And, we also might guess what might happen if the gov added Chlorpromazine to our water supply. Nobody would go crazy, anymore.

Sorry. I had thought this was just another post about PM 2.5, until I had read it for the second time.

My Thai friend suffers from Sanguivoriphobia. She was prescribed a dash of Thorazine, last year, to be taken bis in die (b.i.d.), for the rest of her life. Now, she's doing better. Yet, she still refuses to go out at night without a scarf around her neck. Those bloodsuckers are everywhere, if you ask me.

Do you ever worry about your LIVER? Take your liver pills. Even then, Hepatitis-C might do you in.

There is very little doubt that Will Shortz is far more culpable of wasting Many Millions of man-hours than I ever was, here. Talk about somebody with Too Much Time on his hands... Will Shortz is your man!