Barnet1900

On 5/7/2024 at 1:57 PM, Sandboxer said:

 Of the 25-30 or so I've met there over the last year......sorry, the majority really prove the stereotype. Drunk undereducated louts, especially the business owners catering to the expat community and their fanboy regulars. But yea, a few are somewhat normal/well adjusted.

I'm British and there are always the minority that make us look bad, worldwide, not just here.

However, can you enlighten us as to how you know, just by looking at them, that they're 'undereducated?'

From the black and white I'm reading from it sounds somewhat ignorant and judgemental no? 

22 hours ago, placeholder said:

Well, this is an El Nino year was was last summer. Now that a La Nina is on the way, temperatures should be lower next year. But they're still most likely going to be hotter, on average, than they were, say 10 years ago. There's not much anyone can do to stop this rise of temperature. Even if the world  were to achieve net zero tomorrow, average temperatures would still go up for a while before the rise was stopped. And, of course, by itself, Thailand can't make a significant difference to the rate of global warming.

Thank you.

Makes perfect sense. As sad as it is to accept. I think you're right when you say that we can't stop the increase in temperature.

I just wonder that should a time come where we are faced with day after day of going to shopping malls and such, just to stay cool, if a large volume of tourists and expats call it a day here. Nearly everyone I speak to stays in during the daytime to avoid the blistering heat. It's only my humble opinion but I do believe that eventually nature will dramatically change the way we live. 

22 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

My first suspicion too....   

 

Don't they handcuff detainees ??? (behind the back ?)... 

 

Is this a case of saving face ?....     those of us who are cynical may question this... those of us blindly believing what we read may not. 

 

The only certainty is that it the truth won't be announced.

I've had 2 incidents lately where, although the police weren't involved, it could have gone that way. One was my fault entirely and I took all the overreacting on the chin, paid out what they were after and on we went.

The other was entirely the opposite and they should have apologized and made good yet continued to lie and shout and behave like children. The longer it went in the worse it became. In this case I also kept quiet and walked away despite being completely innocent in the fracas. When faced with losing face the locals will stop at nothing to protect their pride.

Accepting responsibility just isn't on the cards here. The only ambition you should have is to get away as fast as possible before more get involved and more conflict ensues.

On 4/22/2024 at 1:20 PM, Gandtee said:

I don't believe it. I doubt the cops would put the accused in the front seat. More likely the driver cocked up and crashed. Casting the blame on the accused.

My thoughts also.

On 5/3/2024 at 6:03 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

I just hope that everybody here is paying attention to:

 

INCREASING Water Vapor levels in the atmosphere due to Global Warming.

 

Water vapor is one of the stronger greenhouse gasses.

 

Therefore, it, by itself, might be thought of as a positive feedback loop.  The hotter the temperature, the more water vapor in the atmosphere, and the more water vapor, the hotter the atmosphere will become due to water vapor being a greenhouse gas.

 

Then, of course, higher Relative Humidity leads to heat stress when it becomes less easy to evaporate sweat from skin, causing overheating of the body.

 

Obviously, society must do more to adjust to a world of 2 degrees C above 1850 baseline.  When will we hit 2 degrees C?  Well, the rate of change, the intensity, is increasing.

 

Let's all choose the most dire scenario, the worst-case model, and then we can see that it might be just one decade before we hit 2 degrees C, when we all agreed to 1.5 degrees C.

 

We need to insulate our houses.

And, we need to plant trees like crazy.

And, we need to remove inefficient buildings.

 

Doing this, we can reduce the heat-island effect.

And, we might be able to live in a world of 2 degrees above, for a short period of time, until....

We hit 2.5 degrees above, and then...

We reach 3.0 degrees above, and so on.

 

Soon, fairly soon, where we live will no longer be inhabitable.

 

(It's not IF, but WHEN.)

 

 

 

Great post.

I would never have thought COVID would be seen in my lifetime but it did.

I can honestly see this heat destroying the Thai economy within 10 years. With this heat nobody goes out, work stalls and people will look at other areas to travel to.

Unless Thailand takes this seriously they'll be facing an exodus which will be irreparable. 

This, and last summer have been dreadful. 

A baby...what's the world come to?

I don't believe in God and I remember having a debate with a believer shortly after the Dunblane massacre regarding how people believe in God when this sort of thing happens. Her response was that there is evil present within the human race that cannot be explained no matter what your faith is.

In this such instance, she's right. There is no possible explanation for a person to pour acid over a baby.

The perpetrators need to be erased off the face of the earth and their ashes literally binned.

4 hours ago, borderhopper2005 said:

Risk of child abduction for trafficking is still high in Thailand.

 

That looks like a reason why so many Thai schools send their pupils home in a big group(often by chartered songthaew(pick-up truck taxi/bus) and vans.

The woman should be put away for a long time, if she's guilty.

The girls should get counselling and help from a foreign agency.

The families of some of the girls will be involved. Make no doubts, they see the money and all else is forgotten. Not all, but certainly some are aware of what the transactions are all about.

Reality check...she pays a fine, the girls stay put or relocate to another brothel. The families get their monthly bank transfer. Thailand....

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Why would anybody pay a police fine into a personal bank account? It doesn't make any sense.

 

And the police officer must be also mentally challenged. Receiving bribes per traceable bank transfers. What a glorious idea.

They are mentally challenged. You've concluded the investigation. Good stuff.

I don't watch the news and have no idea what's happening. Suits me just fine because these disputes have been going on since time begun.

I don't want to know how hot it will be next week or the rising price of fuel because I can't do a thing about it and have no option but to accept it.

I don't listen to sceptical bs unless there are facts and evidence in front of me.

Call it ignorance but ignorance is bliss. Say what you like about Thai attitudes to world affairs...all I know is that I've not met one who doesn't sleep well. 

I wouldn't give it any thought. Carry on as you are and remember, if you have options you have a good life.

20 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

Good post, there could be lots of things going on, including lots of shady things.

Imagine she told him that her parents want to send her into prostitution. And she told the guy she doesn't want that and he can rescue her by marrying her. It could be. Lots of other situations could be. I think we should be very careful making up our minds about her and him and her family. All and each of them could be predators and all and each of them could be innocent. Could... 

I used to get told all sorts of things about any Thai - westerner relationships. Due to my naivety at the time I used to take it all in. Then I got involved in a relationship (28 year old not 16) and the same crap started getting stirred up about us.

I'm not reflecting this on this situation but it seems a hell of a lot of gossip is spiteful, pathetic and utterly unfounded. Pure jealousy.

As the old saying goes, there's always another side to the story.

Call it cynicism, negativity, I really couldn't give a monkey's, I simply don't take in what either party says when it comes to a relationship breakdown.

Today's news is tomorrow's fish n chip wrapping.

May I ask, is this a case of facts or is it something that the locals are talking about? I'm not defending either party but it could well have a completely different set of arguments.

From his pov. Did he know she was 16? How did he get to meet a 16 year old online when the dating aps ask that you consent to being 18? Why would he pay that much cash just for sex? Maybe he genuinely loved her and soon found out that after his cash was taken the goalposts changed. Could be that he's the one being deceived. Could being the all-important word.

From her POV, was she forced into it by the family? Did she think she'd meet the perfect, kind foreign hero only to find out he was the same as any man?

I think the whole story needs solid facts before people can truly judge.

If however, he knew she was 16, was willing to pay that sort of cash and was actively looking for girls that age online, it suggests he's a predator of some sort.

If however, she deliberately sought a foreigner to pay up for her family and made him all sorts of promises then it's not beyond the realms of possibility that this naive chap has been snared. These stories of farangs being tricked and ripped off go right back to the history of Thai-westerner relationships.

Sounds like something Stickman would getting to the bottom of.

18 minutes ago, Barnet1900 said:

Got it. I thought it was a poor farmer Vs rich expat comparison.

 

I don't agree with him or anybody polluting a neighbourhood but yes, there is reason to revel in the passing away of anybody in this manner.

No reason.

Correction. No reason to revel.

Cheers

23 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

 

It was triggered by early posts on the thread suggesting that the deceased farmer deserved little sympathy. Presumably some of these comments were made by expats living in areas where smog from agricultural burning is at its worst. While I can empathize with their frustration with poor air quality, I found the suggestion that the farmer deserved what happened to him to be offensive.

 

Rice farmers have some of the lowest incomes in the agricultural sector. The man was elderly, as are many of the members on this forum. You would think more empathy would be shown towards a fellow senior citizen, and the disrespect for his humanity, in my opinion, bordered on racism. I live in a small farming community - not much rice is grown here - but many of the farmers are elderly, and something like a farmer getting caught  and dying in a field fire would have had a traumatizing effect on the whole community.

 

Everyone is assuming that what he was doing was illegal in his area, but it's not clear that this was the case. The news article references another instance of illegal agricultural burning getting out of hand and resulting in damage to structures elsewhere in Thailand , but burning ordinances are not universal in Thailand, and the article did not say that this particular farmer was breaking the law by burning the field.

 

The burning of rice stubble produces a tiny fraction of the smoke generated that a field of burning sugar cane produces. Even if a thresher came in and just harvested the rice grains leaving the stalks in place, the amount of smoke wouldn't be that extensive. At most, the stalks would be knee high, unlikely to cause a conflagration which the farmer couldn't escape from, which is probably why the police and his family are speculating that he had a medical emergency. I would also like to add that from personal experience I can attest that it is not that difficult to misjudge wind speed and direction when burning.

 

As I said in an earlier post, an indigent rice farmer in all probability has a fraction of the carbon footprint of the typical expat retiree zooming around in a gas guzzling SUV, sitting in air conditioned comfort in his house, leading a consumer oriented lifestyle, enjoying international and domestic travel and ordering stuff on-line. For someone leading such a lifestyle, when that lifestyle is made possible or at least subsidized in large part by the exploitation of local labor such as the deceased farmer's to ignore this truth and to also overlook their own contribution to air quality and environmental degradation was more than I could stomach. 

Got it. I thought it was a poor farmer Vs rich expat comparison.

I don't agree with him or anybody polluting a neighbourhood but yes, there is reason to revel in the passing away of anybody in this manner.

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

You are educated & understand this…

 

The farmer isn’t - takes ‘burning short cuts’ because he’s allowed to & it saves costs he may not otherwise be able to meet. 

The governments all over Asia are accountable for the pollution when they ‘allow’ their citizens to repeatedly behave this way. 

It’s the very same of polluting industries not being penalised. 
 

It’s the same for allowing those horrific fume belching busses & old polluting lorries (with common brake failure).. 

 

Its the same when they never do anything about the clocked pickup trucks belching fumes.

 

This issue of pollution in Asia is multifaceted - one farmers death will not change this no matter how satisfied some posters are to hear of a poor man who burnt his field dying a result.

 

 

Can you explain your first statement?  Forget the rest of it because upon opening a comment like this the first thing that jumps out is your condescending and patronising tone.

I expressed an opinion and respectfully and I always imagined you to be one of the posters who doesn't revert to behaving in this way.

Opinion changed 100pc.

22 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

Fine. Let's make respiratory health, especially for the ALL-important expat community, the #1 top priority. All in favor of this, 100%. Food prices will go up for sure, but no doubt you as an expat can absorb the added costs. All I'm saying is don't demonize the lowly farmer for trying to eke out a living the best way he can. The real culprit is agro-businesses competing with one another to satisfy consumer demand (including you) who wants low prices, and don't care about hidden intangible costs like air pollution unless they are directly affected by the problem. Clean air, fair prices for farmers, and making consumers pay for the hidden environmental costs of food production. I'm all for it!!! 

The points you make are effective within themselves but I fail to understand why you keep treating this as a poor farmer burning his fields against the expat.

He didn't deserve death and his daughter will suffer that day until she dies. 

However, this isn't about a poor man and the expats. His actions are akin to living next door to a neighbour from hell. How do you think other farmers and the locals felt about being surrounded in his smog each time he decided to have a burn up?

This guy could be a saint for all I know but if the entire planet takes the same attitude that small potions of pollution don't compare to others then we're all in the proverbial muck.

He didn't deserve this death however it shouldn't be excused, blamed on the government or given any form of excuse. I'm of an age where all my rubbish used to go into one bin and you could smoke in public. I can fly tip all my rubbish if I feel like it, save a lot of time and I won't have to pay for different bins. I can smoke in public and just ignore people's complaints.

However, like many people I put up with it because it's beneficial to my own and other people's lives.

On 4/16/2024 at 2:18 PM, Chongalulu said:

30 baht per litre of diesel or thereabouts I’ll take all day long thanks. More than twice that in Uk! 

You have to relate it to the price of living. Everything in Thailand must be multiplied by 2.5 to find the equivalent cost in the UK. Therefore, what you quote above actually means it's cheaper to fill up in England.

I am unsure how they work it all out but I'm guessing they factor in salaries. The average working class Thai is on about 15-20k per month, so a tank if petrol works out around 10 per cent if their monthly salary. 

6 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

It's the Manufacturers of Food and Drink that need hammering into line as 'The Public' here are too lazy to deal with waste properly except for the ones that collect and recycle for cash.   They go on about getting the Cafe's to do away with Plastic Straws and Markets not using Plastic Bags etc but the easiest answer to this is simply BAN the manufacture of these items.   Oh dear; can't do that for upsetting too many Rich Business Men who don't care two hoots for the People or the Environment !

 

Put all Drinks back in returnable Glass Bottles like we had as Kids and do away with all the Double Packaging on things like Biscuits, Cakes etc.    We take Cloth Shopping Bags with us to Market and invite Traders to put the Veggies straight in but they want to put them in Plastic Bags first because nobody from any 'Ministry'  ever teaches them how do do anything properly to protect the Environment.  Of course; it will never happen because Public Officials here only want to do things that earn them Backhanders !

Best post of the year.

They wrap single biscuits in plastic. They sell LAYS 5bt crisps in plastic and have about 10 crisps in them.

They were told to charge for bags but they didn't bother.

All the rubbish on the beach is from farangs. Thais don't litter. Try looking at a local beauty spot after a Thai public holiday. Spotless. If you're Stevie Wonder or a Thai politician.

Like everything that threatens the world. It won't happen in Thailand and if it does they'll beg to the west to get them out of it.

Never a chance of cleaning up if they really on Somchai public.

1 minute ago, ADog said:

 

I used to be a heavy cannabis smoker, when it was solids back in the late 80 and 90s ... started smoking it aged 14.

Seen the damage it does to people i.e. 2 now with schizophrenia ... so its not harmless, and that was solids which is nowhere near as strong as modern day weed.

 

Now i'm al for decriminalising, as people want to get high for whatever reason, they always have and always will.

 

But Thailand has seem to have gone from one extreme to the other, with winkers walking around with spliffs everywhere.

 

Decriminalise it for indoors whether that be in the home or an airconditioned room, so the majority of people who dont smoke it, or want to see it ... dont have to!

 

I work in Holland from time to time, and when smoking was still allowed on trains, some Brit thought it clever to light up a spliff ... Within an instant a Cloggy put the ignorant fool in his place.

I used to smoke solid from 16 to 26. The only damage it did was keep me indoors. I used to get stoned and sleep. Not great which is why I quit.

When I stopped I started drinking, smoking fags and doing the things drinkers do best. Get aggressive, wake up hanging and spend the day in a bad mood.

In an ideal world we'd all hit the yoga mats and be passive people but in reality humans need a poison of some description and weed does not have anywhere near the levels of health or public damage that alcohol and cigs pose.

My point is, that if you're banning weed for health and social reasons you can't let alcohol and nicotine continue.

I'm 100pc in agreement with how you describe the way it's exploded onto the streets. They've been given a chance and there are idiots all over Thailand who are exploiting the opportunity. I've bought my stuff from 5 different suppliers and only 1 has delivered quality. 

I'd like to see it decriminalised for use at home, and the growers regulated with licences and inspections to ensure it squashes the opportunist scum that are making money from selling crap.

On 4/6/2024 at 3:21 PM, RichardColeman said:

Because I do not agree with gay marriage , does not make me homophobic. Civil partnerships should be respected as much as marriage in the 'emergencies' you describe. I see marriage as it is in the bible, man and woman, etc - though I am not a religious person or religiously brainwashed - it is my view. Both marriage and civil partnerships should be equal in the eyes of the law, society and people.  I have no issues with people being gay or being together. If any of my sons or grandchildren were gay they would always get my full support.  The problem is that people  tarnish all people as homophobic as they do not agree with gay marriage - that is the problem in society

It seems you can't express an opinion without being tarnished these days.

If people want to protest to get their way they should grow up and accept it isn't to everyone's taste.

I've no issue with people marrying elephants if they're happy but just shut up about it and don't try to force others to accept it. 

If 2 consenting adults want to get married good luck to them. In my opinion marriage will be a thing of the past eventually because it's too damn difficult to make it work.

Solicitors will love the world to increase marriages because the divorce rate will soar too.

Happy Sunday 😌😌😌

15 hours ago, bradiston said:

Exactly. The cost to any nation of alcohol related disease, deaths and social mayhem (domestic violence, family breakup, kid's lives destroyed) is almost immeasurable. Same but even worse for yaba. Smack, speed? Hey, nuts I may be. Speed freak I ain't! Get real you idiot politicians. Whose script are you reading from?

Honestly, I love a toke before bed but I take it to sleep well. How that's a threat or any other effect of weed is beyond me. Driving when stoned sure but you could extend that to say alcohol is also deadly when driving.

Banning weed when alcohol and nicotine is allowed to profit the pockets is akin to street vendors being banned for selling junk food yet allowing McDonald's and KFC to continue.

It's that bloody idiotic.

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

Just in my area alone there has been some serious money invested in shops, which bye the way have been empty for years, so the landlords are finally happy he's getting some rent, no doubt local people have got jobs, Other local business are also benefiting from them as it is bringing more punters in the area.

Not to mention the chocolate and crisp companies who are earning extra from the munchies.

Totally Thai...blame those less likely to fight back.

What about the harm alcohol and nicotine make? No chance taking those on so hit the vapes and weed farms.

Pathetic 

4 hours ago, topt said:

@Barnet1900

 

 

Naklua big day 18th

Pattaya 19th - and Sukumvhit normally gridlocked as well as everywhere else.

Jomtien -?

Bang Saray 20th I believe

Top man

Thank you

On 3/5/2024 at 9:08 AM, Roo Island said:

https://www.thailand.go.th/event-detail/songkran-festival-2024-to-last-from-1-to-21-april

 

Songkran Festival 2024 to last from 1 to 21 April

There are 3 days when traffic makes it impossible to drive. Naklua, Central then Jomtien.

Any idea the dates of these 3 only? 

Also, if I want to drive out of Pattaya for a week and return around 20th, what dates are best?