flaming dragon

The first part is most certainly true, the second part I'm not so sure about unless it refers to the entire population of Thailand. Thaksin is probably the dirtiest shirt in the hamper but you wouldn't wear any of the shirts in there without a good wash.

I'd suggest a robust marketing campaign in Thailand's more affluent rice markets. Create Thai rice as a distinctive brand and have consumers demand it by name. Attach a cachet and status to Thai rice, combined with yarns that elevate it above competitors' crops. The claims need to be vague enough that they can't easily (or at all) be verified. Use nebulous terms, like politicians and the vitamin/herbal industries use. The key is product differentiation, not just producing more rice at a lower cost.

This is the easiest part of the equation to solve. The problem is as you stated first: the soil is depleted from years of mono cropping and not leaving fields fallow. If they could afford to ammend the soil with manure and other organic matter, leave it fallow for a year, then rotate crops, they could improve yields. Chemical fertilizers cause all sorts of complications. High nitrogen ferts cause rapid leaf growth which attracts pests, then you need insecticides to deal with them. They also acidify the soil, which, when out of the plants' required ph range, make certain nutirents unavailable (bio unavailable) to the crop. Nitrosomonas and nitrobacters in the soil are probably reduced, causing further problems. The green manures mentioned fix atmospheric nitrogen, but that isn't released back into the soil until the cover is plowed back into the soil and broken down. It's a complex problem and my background isn't in agriculture. Perhaps a more knowledgeable member can further enlighten us.

Pre- Thaksin the Isaan folk were treated like garbage and ignored. Thaksin was the first one to see the power of those votes, acknowledge the country folk and do something for them. That's how it was explained to me by an Isaan lady back in 2006 when the anti-Thaksin protests were going on. The Isaan folk were aware that they were being used but it beat the hell out of being ignored. Isaan people used to lie and say they were from Bangkok due to the stigma attached to being from the poorest region of the country.

It didn't happen, at least not in full, so the Brits are stuck with the worst of all possibilities. Had the plan been fully executed England would have autonomy and probably wouldn't have a flotilla of human flotsam crossing the Channel on pool noodles and air mattresses.

It makes me wonder whose boots are being licked. No Thai person I've ever known cared about poor farangs who didn't bother anyone. The rich foreign dickwads who try to throw around their money are the ones who cause the consternation. The locals got far more upset about that Swiss guy who put the boots to the Thai doctor than they did about that Brit (yes, he was a Brit) who shat in the gutter and washed himself in the public fountain. It's not as if there's a benefits system that's being milked and it doesn't appear that the Thai government puts up foreigners in refugee hotels.

The AN brain trust is hard at work in their self appointed role as gatekeepers for the Kingdom of Thailand. You lot were the geezers we loved to taunt as children, mostly because you rose to the bait every time. Stamped on that burning bag of dog excrement on the front porch, shaking your fist at the air. The angry geezers who despised people that didn't look or think like them, or hated kids for being young and full of life, and here you are now. The vast majority of overstayers and border runners are not engaged in crime. That's clearly apparent by the numbers, if not common sense. If catching these evil scumbags who are living here on 40k/month was priority to the ****Thais**** they'd have been rounded up by now.

Good luck with that. The Colombians have had that market cornered for 60 years.

Yes, he also sired many an illegitimate child whom the mother passed off as her husband's. Getting back to the article, it seems that someone with influence made allegations without any proof, and could seriously harm an industry that is already struggling. It seems to be a common theme running through mainstream media outlets these days and the perpetrators are rarely forced to recompense the injured parties.

Why are the women in the photo wearing masks? Moar injections, moar lockdowns and show your papers. It worked so well the first time that another round is overdue.

Bomb The City into rubble and England will assume its proper role in global politics. The owners will finally get the oblivion they're forcing on the peasants. The City is all the entire country has. There are no natural resources and manufacturing is a distant memory. There would be no more welfare or funding for extended hotel stays, so the 'guests' would swim back to France and make their way back home from there.

We've got the same artificial scarcity back home. The answer here is to pay them more and work them less.

Sure, because Cambodian migrant labourers hold a lot of sway with their current regime. Yes, foreign remissions do enter the equation. It won't last long though because the Thai corporate masters need those foreign slaves.

Obama sure fell for her, and he's gay. Big Mike tuned him up backstage after the event. This photo makes women back home (even more) bitter towards Asian women.

Western countries had eradicated these types of diseases. What changed? Mass migration from the Scandinavian countries?

Best of luck. It takes months of treatment and many who are afflicted are mentally ill and don't take their medication as prescribed. Here's the meat of the story.

I was there during the riot! He might have been the guy who was on the back of a flat deck truck with a Marshal stack, whipping up the crowd. Nobody got hurt, but it was a near thing. Marching on the cops/soldiers could have had a terrible outcome.

I doubt that most Thais who drink between those hours have an extra 10k in their back pocket to hand to the cops.

They'd get a heavy fine in addition to that sentence if smuggling an equivalent amount of booze. The government sends a message because they make a fortune in taxes off of alcohol.

Got to love our exchange rate! When I first arrived after retirement 3 years ago it was just over 27 and a baht of gold was 27k.

This is the correct answer. Had to wade through a lot of crap to get to it. Temples distribute food to the poor people, so George could make a donation at a temple or put money into a monk's bowl when they're making the morning rounds. The Father Ray organization also does charitable work and takes care of orphans.

Everyone knows how to ride - until they don't. Sadly it's usually some innocent person who pays the price for it.

No helmet, so if he went over backwards someone would have to hose his brains off the pavement and into the gutter. Rats gotta eat too.

I was thinking of the young Brit goof who killed the Thai lady whilst doing the same thing.

There's some young farang goof doing wheelies on an electric dirt bike riding around Pattaya. Not just popping wheelies but riding long distances with the front knobby high up in the air.