ignoramus

1. Mercury VAPOUR is deadly. Break one inside your abode and you have a (largish decomtamination) problem, or rather your kids do, down the road aways (health-wise). (A little like kids living on main roads have a problem - where leaded gasoline is abundant - whereas adults do not, anywhere near to the same extent).

2. I rolled mercury (the solid - or is it a liquid?) around in my hand [the right I think it was] as a school student. This ain't no problem, me maties. It's the vapour (released when a globe is broken, or a container is dropped). Minor point: landfill-wise - I'd imagine, with actually knowing it to be so - that BURIED mercury would quite likely re-absorb into a more benign, solid form - either way, it is buried ain't it?). My friend the chemical engineer is far more concerned about certain chemicals, and radioactive substances. (Oh, re chemicals: what's under your wash basin? Think.....nasty fumes...think children...think lung ailments....think ingratitude towards parents).

3. Think Minimata, Japan (I think that's the spelling) - major problems for those poor young ladies. (q.v. the web, lads -- it happened many years ago.....but mercury is still here....tho' even more so, it seems).

4. Light bulbs use RELATIVELY little electricity, in comparison to other household items. People here in Oz leave front-door lights on all night. A 15 watt globe uses b***er all elec, but gives illumination.

5. This is a trivial point, but I don't like the light produced. It's cold, stark. Incandescent is warm (as a subtle poster noted).

To reiterate, I don't object to their use in principle, but I handle with extreme care, and when mine have gone to he*ven I'm returning to the the 'bad guys'. I don't give a darn about the zealots' carbon footprint or the global warming c r * p, but only because I haven't lost all my marbles (but only 'cause it's the sun wot warms us....init....). Exxon Valdez has all gone away ain't it....once again nature did it's job....as usual.....always has....always will.....ad infinitum.

Anyway, no offence to the earnest, the ardent, amongst us. (You are powerful, I fear you).

Don't know tons about macdegen or cataracts; listen to radio shows about same. "Cloudy" suggests cataract, however don't know if just the one eye only can be affected, rather than both.

[My mother never complained of 'cloudiness', just loss of central vision (in both eyes). People I hear on radio who complain of 'cloudiness' usually seem to have a cataract problem.]

By now you probably have the diagnosis. If cataract it is, then easy peasy to fix, at least here in Oz - that much I DO know. If macdegen, then not so easy - I also KNOW this. With macdegen there's wet and dry....one's much worse than t'other - forget which. Again, I understand that usually both eyes are affected, rather than one.

If the diagnosis is macdegen - 2 things: Blackmore's have a product called macuvision (but not too sure if this is an after or before the fact recommendation (q.v. the web). In Oz - in stark contrast contrast to the US for example - we have therapeutic standards for vits/mineral products. Blackmore's is one of the best companies; there's another whose name temporarily escapes me - I'll think of it after posting no doubt (q.v. vitamin 'manufacturers in Australia' on web I imagine - the brand has lots of 'o' 's' in its name). I could research if required, but I imagine you could too.

Second thing: there was a medicl chap on current affairs tv a while back who said all veg oils except olive should be avoided - his point being that macdegen is a relatively new phenomenon (veg oils are also a rel new phen - here anyway, but worldwide I'd assume).

If it's macdegen all you have is a 'holding pattern' situation. Pine, walnut and brazil nuts are cool, diet-wise (as per an optomerist on radio whom I respect immensely). Smoking inadvisable. Mother had it, I'll probably get it (I smoke, but also eat lotsa walnuts - contain a better oil than olives I read somewhere). There's an hereditary component' I understand, though I say this with a trepidation that you won't dig...never mind, it's unimportant).

If they can't tell you whether it's wet or dry, I'd get onto the net...FWIW, that is; neither is nice.

I feel for you.

Steady on george. You've just posted this, right? Sorry, but it's 2.20am here in Sydney, so it's 10.20 in KK...yes, of course it is. You are ADMIN! and you are consigning them to purgatory....you, ADMIN! The lovely Thai people???

You've been in los for 4000 years and you got took?

Where can I go, what can I do? I'm all at sea.

I didn't spend $500 for gold on that beautiful girl back in '94 did I? Was it you? yes? Oh, thank the lord.

Thank the lord it wasn't me who had to return to Syd a week early. Phew, that was a close one.

Sorry that I haven't had the patience to real every single post on this topic, so this contribution may have been already noted. I've got a few books on Thailand, including Culture Shock Thailand (first printed 1982), and had a look (without succes) for the meaning of 'farang', as used by the Thai people. The reason I had a look was that I seem to recall hearing or reading somewhere that the word meant 'long nose'.

Obviously there would be no word or phrase (for the word 'farang') from antiquity, so if I'm not mistaken about my guess this may be not too unreasonable, as noses are certainly a differentiating characteristic between orientals and occidentals.

I arrive at the TV forum via The Nation's site. Today I see that the temp on Phrurua Mountain, or some mountain anyway, is 1 degree C.

Does anyone know - just for curiosity's sake - what the temp was before this fearflul global warming overtook us?

Was it maybe minus 5 or something? Are winter woolly sales taking off up there this year? Can one ski up there?

A week or so ago I read that somewhere up north - CM or CR perhaps - the temp was around 10 degrees.

Is it usually around 5 or so? Can one get a decent woolen beanie and long johns in CM these days?

I was thinking of spending a bit of time in LOS, as Sydney's winter was Global-Warming-COLD for me this year, but now I'm beginning to question the wisdom of such a move.

If I do come to LOS could anyone give me an idea of what kinds of warm gear I should bring? Is Goretex the go now? Should I perhaps just stay here and slowly freeze to death next winter, or can I survive do you think, in LOS's colder but not really cold weather? What am I saying...it's warmer isn't it...yes????

Sincere questions., one and all. I hate the cold and can't wait for GLOWARM to really kick in.

Oh, is the sun still out for as many hours as it was 16 years ago, oldtimers? Do the evenings get chilly at about 5pm nowadays? What are the water temps doing? Are they way down? Or way up???

Golly gee I'm confused. Please Mama tell me what's going on.......

Ease up people - this is "ART" I'll have you know. Art's function is to give us a good laugh, or cause for much staring, pondering, ruminating, and learned, highly serious discussion, all while licking an icecream. As for it's importance relative to licking icecream on a hot day, icecream wins.

Wote Street Willy -- now this is serious stuff, people. Appropriate respect, pihlease.

However I wouldn't be seen dead anywhere near an icecream anywhere in Wote Street.

Right on wolfman, I would make it my sole reason for remaining alive - in fact I'd make a point of keeping fit healthy for as long as it took to track the scumbag down and do him down in the harshest, the slowest, way imaginable.

Theorising is for the glibly aloof, who cannot imagine themselves in another's shoes, those for whom the word 'humanity' has no meaning.

The obfuscaters -- guns and knives and swords don't kill people eh? Sophistic claptrap, meaningless rubbish, and not your original thought - you merely heard or read it somewhere. It's playing with words and meanings. You are mental lightweights and your hearts are just not with the program. you like to sit on the edge of the crowd and enjoy the suffering of others, like the knitters at the hangings.

A kerb can kill a person, a sharp table edge can kill a person, gobbling down a large piece of steak can kill a person. The blame lies where? I daresay a gun can too, especially if you look at the wrong end at the wrong time. If I die because someone in the vicinity, with a lethal weapon, is careless - or ill-intentioned - who or what kills me. <deleted>, does it matter? A criminally negligent person can't kill me by the power of thought or the evil eye, something has to be done. If he sticks the sharp end of a pencil or a feather up my nose, he can kill me, if he shoots me he can kill me, but what actually caused my death was the pencil....or the gun, or the fevver. The man 'killed' me - I do not punish the pencil, though it caused my death, but one does pursue the man. Tricky ain't it, theorists. Best you don't prognosticate. Leave this stuff to action man, go and do girly-boy somewhere else. Onya Damian, wolfman, and one or two others....

From what I can see, I agree Jetset (but that's just my personal preference). Is there a head involved? Possibly not, as one can see where the emphasis lies.

I agree absolutely Gary...living things are far more fascinating. If the taxpayers in my country had paid some w*nker 'artist' a ton of money tp produce it, my attitude would be radically different. I assume that the Thai taxpayers didn't pay for this. It's just that, as far this sort of stuff goes, it's a bit of fun, and probably an original idea.

In the scheme of things, it's importance rates well below a well-designed toilet bowl.

Would a pic from the front, but on the other side have been revealing? You have avoided this, the obvious angle...any reason for this, not that it's important.

In this land of relatively thin people, It's the last sculpture of its type I would expect to see. I'm no expert, but it looks to be an original 'concept', and a bit of fun.

I haven't looked up the P is a pathetic troll link, but will at a reasonble hour; but in the interim, yeeeeees P, you are either a 'PT', a more-confused-than-before-AND-a-failed philosophy student, or a dunce...as is our other highly esteemed philosophy student S. Mind you, all philosophy students are dunces, by definiton. I used the phrase 'in high dudgeon' with a philosophy TUTOR (and Accountant) once - poor b*gger went all ga-ga. He even came perilously close to doubting me - fool.

In my experience deep thinkers are often, though not always, slow reactors - their homes are very neat, and they possess very strong but oddly, invariably, erroneous opinions about, well, everything.

The only thing they are quick at is the volunteering of their opinions. If your heart fails, ask someone else to do something, not an S, or a P. Or just pass away - it would be less stressful.

Oh people such as S and P cannot drive motor vehicles, are half a second behind the beat, can't make sweet love or even pat a dog correctly. They have few clues about anything, much.

I usually seem to come in at the rear-end of most topics, so FWIW, a few years ago I saw a young Japanese guy at a Sydney university wearing a T-shirt which bore the Japanese war insignia. Given that most university students seem to lean to the left, this would doubtless have appealed to their generally subversive natures. The illogicality of this would escape such people. Many wise up decades later, many don't. The dear Japanese people are not taught the truth, like the Germans are, and probably would lapse into instant denial if they were, so one must have understanding.

The wikipedia contribution produced by keying 'reverse swastika' in Google is vaguely confusing, but not totally uninteresting. Inter alia, it features a pic of a Roman swastika. As someone has said, the nazis (I avoid the capital N - they don't deserve it), merely pinched the symbol and, it seems, reversed it.

Objectively speaking, it is graphically stunning, though not the best ever created. The nazis pinched and perverted it - the low decadent perverted/perverting shites that they were.

This isn't, as someone, said, a trivial subject. Here in LOS, however, I think it might be a trivial matter. Young people like to have an impact, at any cost - that's why they make so much noise in public, in Oz anyway. "Please notice me" - I exist. It's an adolescent's version of a tantrum, and is merely quaint, and usually harmless.

The young care about history, but only their own. 'Before they were born' is an irrelevance, a nuisance. Some great comments; love your work.

Thanks chico, Excellent stuff - added to my 'favourites'.

A girlfriend of mine from a while back had a resting pulse of 90. She was tall (5' !0"), and as fit as a fiddle. Her Dad lived to a good age. 72 is merely an average.

kopite -- a few years ago, and probably recently too as they recycle this stuff -- one of the current affairs shows had comparison tests of various trainer brands, expensive and inexpensive.

As is often the case with these things, the cheaper Dunlop KT26's proved as good as the big brand stuff. Dunno about e-bay, Thai availability etc.

How much were they before the price drop?

4000 baht isn't expensive by Aussie standards.

Considering the excessive sugar used in the (very small amount of) Thai bread I managed to stomach, I'm amazed that such machines aren't a big-selling item in LOS. Mind you, I've never heard of anyone growing their own spuds either, amazingly. Maybe I have lots to learn. Either way, if I ever decide on a long stay in LOS, a bread machine will be a priority - assuming wholemeal flower is available there...

[Perhaps this situation exists because of the American influence &/or lack of interest, but it seems (to me) that it would also be that the Aussies in LOS must have been very big cake-eaters/white bread eaters before leaving, and that therefore Thai bread is welcomed as a not-too-sweet cake-type concoction. My tastebuds inform me that nothing substitutes for proper bread. The Brits would know from whence I come. Absolutely no offence to our American cousins].

I'm not sure, but I think the brand referred to is Cuisinart(e).

It's a tricky subject, albeit perhaps but not necessarily, a trivial one.

He's dead now, but quite a few years back, Australia's richest man, one Kerry Packer, had a bit of a flutter in Las Vegas, and won a heap of dough. (He'd sometimes wager a mill). He, I believe, asked the female croupier if she had kids &/or a mortgage. She said yeah, $85,000 (USD). That's what he gave her as a tip. I don't doubt he was the biggest tipper LV ever saw.

He was crazy generous like this not only when he had gained something beforehand, but if someone's need touched his heartstrings. He always insisted on anonymity too, and would usually use intermediaries. (These stories only came out after his death).

Kankaroo, I think you are probably the most generous man in the whole history of Scotland. I too like to see the look on the startled, but happy, face.

If I like the face, or the attitude, I share, with a big smile. They know that I know exactly what I'm doing. They don't compare the next passenger/client to me. They expect little from mean people, wisely. From a person they like they likewise expect little, paradoxically.

A generous tip from an appreciative, generous person, is taken not only as cream in the coffee, but as a token of a rewarding human 'transaction'.

Mind you, sometimes, if I particularly dislike an attitude (that is, if I'm treated in a cavalier manner), I'll tip much more than they know they deserve, as a putdown. Perverse, but it works nicely. (More than is deserved, being zero, can be as little a baht or a cent, figuratively speaking, or a good deal more).

This probably won't be read, except perhaps for latecomers to the subject, like myself (and really, what are latecomers good for anyway?).

It matters not, as, as interesting as it has been (for the info herein), it's also been a tad tedious ploughing through the jibes to get at the meat.

Goodness gracious me, some of you do take yourselves seriously don't you. A post about an airline, and you want to get personal?

Also - and one does understand that time is tight these days - some of you simply do not read carefully enough - either that or you sadly lack a sense of humour.

I understood fennielyn's gist, why didn't you?

Her post was merely, and transparently 'an account of sorts'. No more no less. I LOL'd TWICE whilst reading her post. She's a fun gal. Her post was self-deprecating, dear friends. Somehow that was missed.

Her other posts are ALSO self-deprecating. She is a fun woman, a 'character', as we here in the English-speaking world say. Some would even describe her as a 'barrel' of fun. She's self-described as tight with a dollar but she's not (in my unhumble opinion) pusillanimous. Now that, I can assure you folks, is a rare combo.

Now, what am I trying to say here, you ask yourself?

Well, if you want to get serious, and personal - and you obviously DO like to get seriously personal - just go to the Climate Warming topic. Phew, now that's hot under the collar stuff.

Bottom line: since you do not know from whence fennielyn comes, resist negative comment. Skip her posts. You speak from ignorance. The 'guilty' will reply as they wish, but I shan't be back, as I have the info I need.

(Tricky words can be found in the OED).

Onya samran, for the Southern Cross link.

I've been searching fo guidance xyborg, and, bless you, there's your pointer. Thanks, mate.

Haven't bothered to read the pessimistic posts of the true-believers, and won't be tempted to, because, amongst many (i.e. many) other things, Greenland was in fact once a green land (hence warmer), and grapes once grew in Scotland.

China found no ice way north - you know - way up there, many many years ago (the medieval warming period I believe it is called).

Cycles, lads and lasses, cycles. Like circadian rhythms, stuff like that.

The ice age is a tad overdue, and when it comes it'll last for about 100,000 years, but relax, the sky ain't falling.

260 million years ago an asteroid hit us, killing off about 98% of species. Subsequent lava flows caused a temp rise to about 500 degrees (F or C, does it matter?).

Aphosis, in 2029 or more likely 2036, may be a slight prob., but I'm not nervous.

But I don't doubt that someone somewhere just skipped a heartbeat, or will do after a Google search.

The sun-caused warming stopped in '98 - no current sun-spots, you see.

The temps which appear on all those glorious graphs which litter the joint were taken in inappropriate locations. Oopsie, perhaps I shouldn't say this - hel_l hath no fury like a doomsayer laughed at.

I had a cousin - he is no longer - of near-genius IQ. In preparation for Y2K he purchased thousands of dollars worth of groceries, stashing them safely away. Come minute 1 in 2000 and what happened? Nix, zilch, nada. Oopsie daisy. He had no sense of humour, so wouldn't have thought "oh, silly me".

Doubtless he figured someone was out to get him. Too intelligent, that was the prob. Zero common sense. Hey man, hey bro', I coulda told him - I coulda been a contender - but, sheesh, he just wouldn't listen. No wait, he didn't even ask!

I haven't look at it yet, but if you are still confused, look up jimball.com.au.

Scroll down a little and look for the name Bob Carter. There you'll find 4 short (7-8 mins) videos. I understand they are somewhat mind-clearing.

(PS. I mentioned earlier that N.Z. is in for a shock re Kyoto. Every man woman and child will be up for about a grand each, taxation-wise. They can relax for a bit, though, as it won't happen until about 2012.)

Oh, to the pessimists, the true-believers, the walking worried, the I-insist-that-share-my-fears-crowd -- I shan't be entering this forum again, so address your venom to your compatriots. That is to say, make it third-person sermon (or rant).

Thanks for that question fishhooks.

Beats me why it appears to matter exactly where the money is, as long as it's 'at call' in case of emergency. Beats me how they came up with such an arbitrary figure.

Why not a million? Or 750,000. 800,000 wouldn't pop into my head if I were making such determinations

I bet they don't have figures on how many farangs are destitute, and how many are out there robbing banks, or similar, to survive. Or just scrounging.

If there are such people, I'm curious about their survival strategies. Saw a possible candidate in Patpong once, but then maybe he was just a hippy (no offence).

I'm curious about the number of farangs who burn their bridges.

Sorry, way off topic...why do I think aloud, I ask myself? No answers asked for.

Thanks for the answer lopburi3.

Actually, regarding emigration/immigration, Oz is one of the few countries of the world which is attractive in the extreme to the restless, the frustrated, the desperate. There are very likely more people of UK origin here than elsewhere (certainly per capita). The USA was a favourite of course, especially for the Irish, in earlier times. Oz is, now.

I forget the name of the UK poster who reported just now of looking out of his window at the grey sky. I truly sympathise: there is no virtue in perennial greyness. Ask any Scandinavian SAD sufferer.

A year or so ago, during winter, we (in Sydney) had an unseasonally warmish sunny day (just the one). Suddenly, unexpectedly, I felt terrific, without immediately realising why.

This was the moment I restarted my thinking about the LOS. There are some people (here, as elsewhere) who actually prefer cold weather. Sometimes they're married to someone who doesn't. Oops.

Me, I like it warm every day. Lots of Poms (et al) do too, it would seem.

elka, the appropriate digits numbers changed here in Oz recently.

Such info isn't in my mobile's manual, nor in previous mobiles' manuals.