tominbkk

Frightening to think of the killing weapons potentially at his disposal.

I can totally see him committing genocide and loving it!

I really really like Cyberlink Powerdirector, now at V8. Earlier version would crash, this one is rock solid. Simple to use, but loaded with tons of great features, effects, etc, you can keep it as simple as you want but can also do some really sophisticated stuff as well. Outputs to a huge amount of different file formats, really almost any type or size you want, and easy to specify. Plus has wizards to atuomaticially upload a project to youtube, facebook, myspace....which is really great for me, as that's what I mainly publish my vids for. Remember though, version 8 is the one I like, previous one were not as stable as this one.

Edit: I guess I should explain that I am the sort of person that sees only Black or White on issues related to the law. If one breaks the law, one should be punished to the full extent of the law! In other areas I am more flexible and see the need for some grey but not when it comes to the law.

Unfortunately the Thai legal system sees all kinds of shades of grey, er, or more likely sees purple and light brown as the best colors when legal matters need to be decided. Still, always follow the rules of the country you are in, otherwise you are just asking for it.

I also see people throwing the word pedophile around a lot in this forum. From Wiki: Pedophilia is a psychological disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children. Pedophiles then are after very young children, and I think they have other names for people after older kids. I doubt that these bars are touting kids under 12 or 13. Still, anything under 20 is illegal, so all's fair fro the cops to bust. Then again, isn't all prostitution illegal in Thailand? Last time I looked it was.

I wonder if the internet risks are being over emphasised?

Attached is an article on the subject published in the PC World magazine

in the middle of last year.

I don't have a net reference, this is copy I scanned from the magazine

I wold definitely agree that cyber bullying is a much greater threat to children.

I don't think I have what it takes to can sit here reading your baseless assumptions any longer.

haha I should have read further....funny, I was going to go off like you did, but just decided to talk about my school. Glad that you let it out though, that is the seam way I feel about some posters here.

Private (International) schools don't want to put any of their fees at risk...

If they are anything like my school (a private intl one), then we have a few positives going for us:

• smaller class sizes, thus easier to monitor.
  
• Handwashing highly encouraged, and done very frequently.
  
• Nurse on hand full time to spot check for fever.
  
• Spot temperature checks at morning assembly with laser-thermometers (or whatever they are called)
  
• Close communication with parents, especially those with younger children.
  

I have done some volunteer work in public schools. when kids are crammed 60 to a class where 30 could comfortably fit, there is no wonder the spread of disease is higher. Intl schools do get infections, but they are usually spotted much faster. Same goes for foot/mouth disease.

I think that there must be a lot of family disputes, that children are used as tools to hurt the other partner or family, Maybe how the missing person list is compiled should be better investigated, If the police find any child in this situation the police should maybe not list them as missing, just turn a blind eye for the better welfare of the child.

This is a common thing in the US as well.

Good Lord, another old timer!

Someone tell me why Thailand is unable to manage or attract a variety of musical artists to play here?

Even Indonesia does better that Thailand when it comes to at least attempting to put on quality and varied musical events.

Don't hold your breath, but I bet Air supply will be back around again soon!

Crazy law. On my way home, doing my shopping for dinner at Foodland, I am not allowed to buy a nice bottle of wine to go with it. But by my house, the two mom and pop shops that are literally 2 minutes walk from a high school would openly sell me beer or whiskey any time.

Why do the pedo's from around the world flock to Pattaya? It is for the missing children forced into the sex slave industry. The place is known world wide as a brothel there is nothing else there but for the sex industry.

supply and demand farangs in Pattaya demanding children and the thais steal and supply them. I would love to see an end to this repulsive trade but as long as there are supporters like yourself then thay children will continue to go missing.

Was he supporting child prostitution? You are not nice putting words into people's mouths like that. There are certainly elements of truth to what you are saying, but you also seem to have a zeal to make it all a farang-child prostitute issue, when the vast majority of these kids are being abused, either sexually, through labor, or otherwise by their own fellow citizens, and this goes on with the government and law enforcement officers knowing about yet doing nothing about it.

(Mark Baker, "Sin city can't shake vice's grip," Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1997)

(Authorites and activists, Kulachada Chaipipat, "New law targets human trafficking," The Nation, 30 Novermber 1997)

(Mark Baker, "Sin city can't shake vice's grip," Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1997)

(Jill Serjeant, "Asia to launch joint crackdown on child sex trade," Reuters, 1 April 1998)

Duplicate source and fairly out of date. There has been many clean-up attempts since the [sensationalist?] articles above was printed.

I would agree with that. When I first came to Tahiland you would see kids in single digit ages with farang all over the place in the evening in Bangkok, Pattaya, even wandering the beaches on Samet. Very disturbing. They cracked down shortly after that and it is a different place now. No doubt they are better hidden and it still exists to some extent but not on the scale that it did when those articles came out. They say a vast majority of the child sex trade is domestic customers, who belong to special "clubs" that cater to them, no farangs involved as it would be to risky and might expose them. A couple years ago a brothel in Nonthaburi was busted, boys from 8-16, I think about forty of them, lived there. When they got the books of the place, it was all Thai people, including names of politicians, police officers, some monks, etc. who were the customers. No Farang. I think the child sex stuff happens more in Cambodia with Farang, at least that is what I have heard, though I am sure there is a little going on here as well.

Not Thailand. Sad, though.

Problem is, no amount of NGO work will stop corrupt government officials and police from turning the other way and taking the bribes. True, NGOs get word out about it but alas until the dealers and enablers are hung high there will be no end to it.

Many of the NGOs have ulterior motives as well. For World Vision, their primary goal is to convert people to Christianity, everything else is secondary. It's in their mission statement. Their aid station in Phuket after the tsunami doubled as a baptismal center. A strange kind of altruism going on there. Still, they are doing more than I do (though I try to do what I can).

A lot of child missing these figures are pumped up so that another foiregn aid worker can come over and live in Thailand, wherever and get paid 10ooousd a month. And as sick as it sounds many of them are the very problem.

Have to agree with that. I don't deny that orgs like World Vision etc do good work here but their existence depends on them getting visibility and funding and if that means fudging with numbers of victims, or going as far as labeling a 22 year old a child, then they have done it before. People I know here from World Vision in particular were making fantastic salaries and living very nicely indeed. They also work pretty hard and do good. So I don't want to critique them too much but I am also a realist when I hear reports like this.

Hopefully someone 'pops' Arisman this time, when they have a chance.....that would be very very good.

It's intriguing, but I will wait for a year or so, when I consider replacing my current iPhone (though really i see no need to even then if it is still in working order - I love it!). Maybe in a year they will have more features, and something that will actually be ready to compete with Apple. If not, then it will be the iPhone 5G (or whatever it will be).

Can anyone say anything positive about any tuk-tuk anywhere in Thailand?

Sure, in Chiang Mai they are not so bad. They are polite, helpful, honest and know their way around the city.

I would agree with that. the several times I have been to Chiang Mai I have always had consistently good service from the Tuk Tuk drivers there.

the iphone works great with wifi...fun!!!

all working OK for me as well

I believe in the states the area would have been closed down for boating immediately, so a study could be done. Was that area closed for even two minutes?

On the issue of safety, Bangkok is NOTHING like what it was 20 years ago. It has become an overly expensive and crime-stricken city. This place has degraded so much to the point where I no longer recommend it to friends. Anyone who has lived here as long as I have will probably agree with me that a lot has changed, but not for the better. Those of you saying, "it's safe" -- well, just know that many violent crimes aren't reported in the English press. The Thai local press is riddled with this stuff. Compared to many other western cities, Bangkok is anything BUT safe. Go talk to the locals, they will tell you exactly how it is.

I've been here full time since '92. A little bit more expensive, but not by much. I also make more money. Still as safe as ever. Can't speak from experience about vice-laden areas though, not my thing.

Paholyothin 52? I lived very close to that soi for many many years and still drive through it as a shortcut to my house, day and night. Never any problem. Still, we don't know what the problems actually are so hard to judge....

Good job. They also need to get rid of those so called fruit drinks....you know, the ones with 20% real juice, and then pumped up the rest of the way with water and HFCS. Probably worse for you than coke. Same goes with the green tea, with 25% HFCS. Horrendously sweet and deadly.

Most often RAR torrent files are fakes.

I use a popular piratey b*y kind of site where there is a lot of peer review of "documentaries" up for download. Very little fakes or bad files get by in this place. Just look for the piratey baaay kind of place.

I joined TV around the time of the last coup, or at least that's when I first started really using it. It's a part of my day, most every day. Thanks, George!

Politics anywhere is about achieving power and wealth by what ever means. Any actually idealistic and honest person can never be elected since the advent of electronic media as they won't dance to the contributors tune, and as such will never achieve sufficient funding.

Politics isn't anything to get emotional about as it is beyond our control, just sit back and watch the show as all the liars and thieves fight it out to get control of the teats of the treasury. It doesn't matter who wins as they are all the same article in a different packaging.

Red or Yellow etc, who cares? They are all corrupt and only interested in winning at any cost to achieve power and even more wealth. Democrats or Republicans, Labor or Conservative, all two sides of the same coin serving the same masters. And that isn't you or I.

Nominated for post of the year!