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2 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Money. She wants more money.

30 million baht is just not enough to live on.

I'm sure she'd prefer her daughter back, but that's not going to happen. 
Justice would be nice, but won't feed her. 
30m will set her up for life if she's sensible with it.  Thais can be very practical at times.

My take on this is that the girl said NO to someone high-up who wasn't used to that and tried anyway.  She died defending that NO.  RIP.

Time to move on, no one is ever going to be arrested for this - or at least no one guilty.

"Health authorities are now advising against the arbitrary use of ATK and RT-PCR tests"

Does that mean no tests to enter bars restaurants now?

Wrote this years back, now, at 66, I'm thinking of having it done again as my eyes have deteriorated a bit.  Reading glasses I can accept, but I'm getting close to needing glasses for normal use and I don't like that.  Sorry if this is a bit dated, it's as I wrote it then;

"Laser Surgery (done December 2003).

I wore glasses or contact lenses (not very comfortably) for about 35 years and never liked them.  I was short sighted with astigmatism, my sight wasn't too bad, I wouldn't walk into walls or anything, but I certainly couldn't drive without glasses.  My eyes were different; the left was a bit worse than the right.  Glasses fogged up, got rained on, stopped me wearing most sunglasses, generally were a nuisance to take care of & I was fed up seeing the world with a frame around it.  I did a bit of research on the net about laser surgery and asked around to find people who had had it done.  

I heard a lot of horror stories but they were mostly anecdotal, I didn't manage to speak to anyone who'd had a problem themselves.  Even on the net I couldn't find a case of anyone who'd lost their sight through this, although there are some who ended up worse off than when they started.  The cases where someone had a bad result seemed to be caused by infection, and always seemed to be due to not taking care of the eyes after the op, not to the surgery.  It is after all an operation, and a lot of post-op care needs to be taken in the first month - especially in the first few days.

I looked into the various types of surgery and decided that I wanted 4th generation Lasik (aka "Wavefront") equipment to be used.  The laser beam is a 9th of the size of previous versions but the main change is in the computer technology.  The older versions basically cut your eyes to match your glasses prescription, this version does a computer mapping of the inside of each eye (by flashing lights into it at various angles) and programs the laser for the best possible cut for you.  My surgeon asked me what I wanted in particular; long sight, short sight, one eye of each (didn't fancy that!) or a more general average - Wavefront is accurate enough to be able to produce the end result that you ask for.  I wanted long sight; I was prepared to need glasses for reading but wanted to be able to conduct normal life without a frame around it.

I looked into who to get to do it.  I could only find one clinic in the UK who used Wavefront technology and that would have been expensive (about £5,000).  In addition, the closest clinic to me was in Bristol (I'm in Cornwall) and I'd have needed to travel up; for a consultation, the day before the surgery, the day of the surgery, the day after, the week after, the month after, 3 months after, 6 months after, and 1 year after, for appointments.  That would have eaten up my annual leave pretty fast, and cost me a fortune in rail fares!  As I usually holiday in Thailand, and Bangkok is the world centre for laser eye surgery, I looked into getting it done there while on holiday, and decided on this place [email protected] - I only have the email address with me but I think the website has the same name.  They have US trained eye surgeons, Chinese equipment (supposedly the best) and spoke good English - OK for the staff, excellent for the surgeons. 

After asking a lot of questions on emails I made an appointment for 18 Dec 03, here's how it went;

12:00 turned up,

All afternoon - tests, with various eyedrops to dilate/undilate the pupil.

18:00 into surgery - there is no anaesthetic used apart from eyedrops and you need to be awake for this.  However, as there are no nerves in the pupil itself that didn't worry me much.  The only things that hurt were the anaesthetic eyedrops (stung a bit) and the clamps that hold your eyelids open (blinking during the op would NOT be a good idea!).  One eye was clamped open, the other taped shut, the surgeon did a lot of cleaning, then used a "microkeratome" (I think that's the spelling) to slice the top of my eye almost off and hinge it back - think of cutting the top off of a boiled egg.  I was then told to stare at a red light and the laser did its thing.  The flap of eye was then folded back down and smoothed into place (no stitches, no glue, it just sticks there!!!), more cleaning, then the eye was taped shut and the same procedure was done on the other eye.  After, I was fitted with eye-shields to protect the eyes in the first few hours - apparently the cut mostly heals in about 8 hours - I had to keep them on until I returned the next day.  They did have small holes to see through but vision was very limited, I WANTED TO SEE IF I COULD SEE!!!  What I could see through the holes looked clear but it was frustrating and I couldn't manage to line the holes up so that I was using both eyes at once.

18:20 walked out of the surgery.  The actual time on each eye from the cut to the flap being put down was under a minute, all the rest of the time was cleaning and disinfecting.

18:30 was put into a taxi to go to my hotel.  Here's where I made my only mistake, I was alone, in a strange taxi, to a strange hotel, in a strange city, in a strange country, with limited visibility.  I hadn't even booked into the hotel.  I strongly advise having someone with you.  Fortunately, everything went fine but I felt really vulnerable, I hadn't anticipated the eye -shields and the limited vision they caused.

So, after checking into the hotel - they didn't see anything unusual in the eye-shields, the clinic sends a lot of people there - I managed to eat a sandwich and tried to sleep for the night.

12:00 the next day - back to the clinic, eye-shields off and the eyes cleaned again.  Things were clear.  Success, the cut was mostly healed but the next week was important, that's when most post-op infections happen, if they happen at all.  I was given two lots of eyedrops, one an antibiotic, the other a lubricant (artificial tears) because the antibiotic tends to dry the eyes and they feel grainy.  I was told to use the eyedrops every 3 hours, the tears when I needed them, and to wear the eye-shields when sleeping - in case I rubbed my eyes in my sleep.  Also, I was told to keep my eyes completely dry, no washing, showers, swimming, etc.  And come back in a week.

During the week I found that my long sight was pretty much perfect, if I hit a golf ball 300 yards I could see it - if I could hit a golf ball 300 yards in the first place!  My eyes were dry and grainy so I made good use of the "tears" eyedrops, also they were more light sensitive, I needed sunglasses more than before.  My short sight wasn't too good, I needed reading glasses (+1.75 lenses) for even normal print, but I expected that and was prepared to put up with it in exchange for good long sight.  One thing that was very different was that my eyes were the same, my left was always worse before.  Keeping my eyes dry was a nuisance (ever tried shaving your head without getting water on your face! - probably not) and wearing the eye-shields to sleep was a nuisance as well.

A week after the op I went back to the clinic.  The cut was completely healed and I was told to stop using the antibiotic eyedrops, my vision was tested as 20/20 for long sight, and my short sight was improving.  Within a couple of hours the graininess had gone but I kept the "tears" eyedrops with me and needed them a few times over the next few weeks.  I was also allowed to stop using the eye-shields at night and I could wash, shower, swim, etc. again.  I was still being careful; for example, if I got into a bunker on the golf course (and I do!), I put on a scuba mask to make certain that no sand got in my eyes.  OK, so people laughed, I would have laughed too.  

Four weeks after the op (still in Thailand) I went back for a check-up; no problems, long sight the same, or maybe a touch better, short sight improving.

It's now almost a year since the op.  I've just had an eye test at a UK optician (free through my work, I like free!) and I've got better than 20/20 for long sight - I can read the line on the chart below the 20/20 line.  Over the year my short sight has improved to the point that I only need reading glasses for REALLY small print - serial numbers and such - or in lower light conditions like reading in the car at night, they are only +1.00 now and can be bought in any supermarket cheaply.  Normal print in normal light is fine, VDUs are fine.

To summarise, this is life-changing stuff.  I'd recommend it to anyone, I'd also recommend the clinic I used if you happen to be going near Bangkok.  Total cost 79,500 Baht (about £1,200 then).  It is, however, scary.  There was a moment, lying on the table, when I was thinking; this man is going to cut my EYES, last chance to chicken out, last chance to chicken out, too late, he's done it.

Getting up in the morning and being able to see clearly is worth the money alone.

I hope that this helps."

Please help the Ukrainians.

Russians though?  OK, these particular Russians may not have had anything to do with the war, but putting pressure on ALL Russians is the only way to influence Putin.

My hope is that one of the oligarchs is inconvenienced enough to "do something" about Putin - just like Putin has "done something" about those he disagrees with.  Live by the sword.............