OldgitTom

Democracy is created at the ballot box (on the assumption it is a fair election), not by anarchy on the streets. While the current government may be criticised and corrupt, I support their stand. I also support democracy, but not this continuous red shirt campaign. There are laws, follow them, not break them.

Not so, terryfix; democracy was won by the blood of those who fought to get & defend it. It is always under attack from the privileged minority. No elite or authority hands democratic rights down from on high. Do you think a 'mob' is not a mob if it wears uniforms?

When the early pro-democracy protesters took to the streets of Queen Victoria's London, her head enforcer, the Duke of Wellington, described these ordinary citizens as "rotten to the core". That is the voice of 'authority'. Luckily for us, the pro-democracy 'mobs' won those early rounds. OGT

charmonman, you might be less angry if you read what I wrote. I know about Mr T. I was here when he dunnit, & was appalled by his murderous blunderings. I simply noted that legal action against him was no bar to an election. His party should be free to participate, unless you believe in guilt by association?

Your diatribe against the Redshirts might be justified for all I know. I wasn’t there. But neither do I take much notice of the local press, which is bought & paid for by vested interests, just like everywhere else in the ‘free’ world.

I’ve met both Yellow & Redshirt supporters & find them as likeable as most Thais. I resent your side attempting to paint the Reds as ‘terrorists’, even if their rooting for Ole Squarehead baffles me. I hope what they really want is democracy, not him back.

Your support for the present government also baffles me. It cannot be considered legitimate in any true democratic sense. It got in after an armed coup & the subsequent quasi-legalistic jiggery-pokery. If you are so sure it has majority support, put your money where your mouth is & go for a free election – at least verbally - becos we farangs are mere observers.

There is little reason for the farang audience to get overexcited. Let there be peace & a free election. We might not like the result Charmonman, but the will of the majority must prevail. Vox populi, vox dei. If there is any doubt, get the ballot boxes out, not guns. OGT

What are the yellows??

Burr,

the Yellows are/were the crowd the Bangkok Bandits wheel out when they lose an election. Unlike the Reds, the army does not shoot them when they occupy an airport, etc.

Most of the farang posters here seem to be right-wing authoritarians who have not a clue about democracy. In a real democracy, ultimate political power is the will of the majority of people, as expressed at the ballot-box. It is not some elevated elite possessing unlimited money, troops, tanks, guns, & English-language newspapers.

I see one of the latter has dubbed the Red-supporting majority of Thailand as 'terrorists'. Nice one for all authoritarian anti-democrats. It's a simple 'law 'n order' situation, so bring on more firepower! Were Adolf Hitler & Joe Stalin alive, they would be cheering behind you.

By all means let the legal attrition against Ole Squarehead continue. Meantime, howsabout a free election, dudes?

The wheels of almost every legal system grind exceedlingly slowly.

However, it does show a high degree of disregard to the families of the unfortunate victims.

Let's just hope that justice is served.

Lord, those poor kids - - - - . 'Managers' carry the can? Owners untouchable? Looks like another Fat Cats 10, Stooges -20 game to me. Pretty much the same the world over. A clean post-9/11 investigation would have put George Bush in the dock. Some chance! OGT

A step in the right direction. Time to buy those cloth shopping bags people.

Never mind cloth bags, bring back the string bag. Strong, durable, & they roll up into a small thing you can shove in yer pocket. Come on OTOP, give us back our string bags.

OGT

Looks very nasty indeed and my condolences to those involved.

As for people asking for a cash injection for the railways, it gets one every year from the taxpayers to pay its ongoing losses. It is a crying shame that political manipulation over the years to benefit road transport has meant that the rail system has been massively neglected.

Amen, TAH. Same in Europe, UK & US (I have read). Just when we so desperately need eco-friendly rail systems, they are being eliminated, or have been already. Old Git

If you are looking for a western style upright vacuum (mistakenly called a "Hoover" by all folks British) forget it. I have looked all over, for over one year. A person might assume that you could find one in BKK, but you would be mistaken. No luck at Emporium, Siam Paragon, Central, Central World, etc. I have even inquired at fancy hotels & office buildings as to where they get theirs to clean carpets, & they all look at me like I am from Pluto.

You can get a canister type vacuum which you pull around on the floor behind you at any appliance shop or Tesco. They have lots of suction, but there is no model that has a "beater bar" or a rotating brush in the suction head for cleaning rugs and carpets.

The closest you will find to an upright here, is a battery powered/rechargeable unit that is nothing more than a "Dustbuster" hand held vacuum that clips into a stand up housing. It's called a 2 in 1 or 3 in 1, I don't remember which. It is totally useless as you can feel no suction at the business end what so ever. Also it's dramatically overpriced at 6000 Bt plus.

If you want a proper upright vacuum with a rotating brush for carpet, you will have to have a friend send you one from Oz or the UK. I did find a distributor for Hoover Vacuum Cleaners in Malaysia on the internet, but they obviously have to much business (& life is too good) for them to respond to my e-mail request to purchase their product.

Good luck...If you find one, like a Hoover or Dyson, please PM me as I would like one myself. My housekeeper is tired of rolling up the dog hair from the rugs in our home with a rubber flip flop.

Thanks folks. 'Washable' crap bags I will not soil my hands on. Looks like I'm buggered. Old Git

I need a vacuum cleaner. The curtains are covered with dead insect life. I want one of those upright models with a transparent plastic muck cylinder you take off & empty when it is full. I don't want to mess with changing paper bags. Looked around Ubon, but all I see are those things you pull around the floor like a dog on a lead. Not married, & last maid was a klepto. Any ideas, any Ubon (Mai Mee town) stores keep uprights? Old Git Tom

Anyone know if there is a bus from Ubon to Khon Kaen? Where would I go or who to ring to book a ticket?

If not, how to get there?

I'm out in the sticks between Chong Mek and Phibun.

Thanks.

As said by My Friend I, just round the corner from TAT office, center of Ubon. Ticket office is opposite TAT. Make sure you get aircon bus. The rattler service is uncomfortable & has more accidents. Old Git

I can connect Ok from Bangkok and the age loads fast. Try this go to Free Proxy Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter the URL www.bbc.com and click go. This will make the request from a UK proxy server rather than Thai and it should enable the BBC i player to work. No guarantee, but give it a try it has worked for me in the past.

Cheers, Rick

Bless you bangkokrick. Your fix brought instant relief. BBC R4 loads & runs. Not being a geek, I'm clueless, but my speed check showed 4035 kbs down, 264 kbs up. I suspect that's somewhat below the advertised service for 1000 B/month here in Ubon. Rip-off? Quelle surprise. Old Git

Summising from observations rather than knowing the facts:

It is all to do with the site filtering software put in place by Maxnet (or perhaps at an even higher level)

The vast majority of sites are totally unblocked and these work fine.

Its the sites that are partially blocked that cause the problem. ie where some pages are allowed and some are not. These sites are passed through to another proxy that does this detailed filtering, eg for BBC or Wikipedia. Often this proxy is overworked and slow even when the vast majority of unfiltered sites are working to full speed.

Melonf, you might be interested. Accessing a WWII history site, up came a white page saying something like "This site blocked by blah, blah, prornography, blah, blah, Thai police". Pity, I didn't copy the message. Anyhow, I pushed some buttons & then the page loaded OK. How did they know I get my rocks off on pix of naked 30-ton tanks? Phwaoooorh! Khao pat Big Brother?

My Maxnet - BBC 4 connection is the pits. Been that way for about 2 weeks. Never had this trouble when nice Mr T was robbing the till. Old Git

I've had maleria.

Incubation period is about two weeks.

If you can eat. You don't have it. If everytime that you eat you are sick (vomitting) then it's a possibility.

It ain't malaria then. Thanks.

This recent article about a new threat might interest those living in malaria-prone areas. Sorry to add a health scare to all the others, but read it & decide if you need the mentioned mosquito nets.

Johann Hari: The forgotten war that could kill millions of children: This parasite is stripping away our ability to treat one of the deadliest diseases

The Independent Wednesday, 12 August 2009

On the border between Thailand and Cambodia, a mighty battle is taking place – and the outcome will determine whether millions of people live or die.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/comme...en-1770655.html

Old Git Tom

Well, pace the ‘experts’, some useful info has come out of the ‘speculation’ here. Don’t fly on planes with narrow undercarts, for one. Another might be, keep on speculating. The air accident experts might take a year or two to produce a detailed report. In the meantime, most of the public will have forgotten about the crash.

Whitewashing in air accident reports is not confined to Thailand, unfortunately. I remember a case many years ago. Modifications recommended by a plane manufacturer had not been carried out. The manufacturer knew this, yet was under no legal obligation to inform the air safety authority – manufacturers rarely snitch on their airline customers.

And the ‘safety’ boys & girls are sometimes similarly pressured not to blame manufacturers or the airline operators – bad for business. Much easier to find pilot error, or, “Just one of those things”.

Recall that recent terrible Air France accident? Speculation wandered to the airspeed indicator pitots. Latest mods had not been carried out.

Of course air traffic control can close an airfield down if conditions are bad enough, but how often do they actually do it? Google ‘aircraft crosswind landings’ for some hairy evidence. I suspect the attitude is, “We don’t want to lose landing fees, so we’ll leave it to the pilots to decide. Anyhow, Blog Air just landed safely, so it’ll probably be OK.” It is OK, most of the time. That’s how hazardous practice becomes routine. The difference between the two is demarcated by accidents.

I notice no-one has given an insider opinion on if , or how much, pilots are pressured now to save fuel by landing first try. And talk about air being safer than bus is hardly relevant where there is no alternative to flying.

Beware public: listen to the experts, but remember their dependance on the industry’s vested interests. Ask yourself if your air trip is really necessary. If you decide no, you save a little bit of the environment. OldgitTom

I echo BkkJames. Pressure on pilots must be great. In dodgy conditions, extra fuel is used to divert or 'go round again & have another try'. Airlines are in cut-throat competition. Extra fuel may be the differance b/ween profit & loss. Pilots who do not land first try - do they get a black mark, or lose a fuel economy bonus? If you want to see how many aircraft land in severe weather, Google YouTube, 'cross-wind landings'. It's frightening.

Most of the time, most pilots get away with it, but it is still dangerous. As far as I know, the rule is that air traffic control informs pilots of local landing conditions, then it is up to the pilot to decide whether to land or not. Cop-out! ATC should know if landing conditions are dangerous or not. THEY should decide whether to close down an airfield.

I suspect airfield operators don't want to carry the decision can. I also suspect the insurance companies find it cheaper to lay the blame on 'pilot error' when an accident occurs. WRONG: the first priority should be passenger safety. This is not a Thai problem, it's global.

You get what you pay for. Cheapo airlines must trim their budgets somewhere. If you save $100 & end up dead, don't blame the pilot. Remember the BA plane that recently landed short at Heathrow, or the similar incident at Schipol?

My deep sympathy goes to the family of this dead pilot. He was very experienced. I only hope he doesn't get unfairly condemned. OldgitTom

Let's spell it out one more time: the danger is not from this particular epidemic. The danger is that its spread will give rise to a far deadlier mutation. The H5N1 variety of the 1920s killed tens of thousands. God forbid, if something like this happens again, there will be no medical or social answer.

There is no use blaming the Thai authorities. They are ultimately as powerless as the rest of the world. Isolation is a tried & tested palliative in epidemics. It is not a cure. You can buy Tamiflu before the rush, but it's probably not much use.

If the worst begins, keep away from contact with others, shut yourself up at home, & pray. Oh, for the entrepreneurs amongst us, maybe buy a wheelbarrow. You might make a few baht going round shouting, "Throw out your dead". Let's hope not. Old Git Tom

Near everyone knows the benefits & blessings of train travel. Investment in improving & extending the Thai network is blocked by the bus & road lobby at political level. That's not just a Thai phenomenon. The same kind of bent mafiosi do the same kind of thing in the UK & USA. As some Brits know, privatization of railways means minor improvements, no major investment, & fares doubled, trebled, & on. The road lobby also buys into railways in order to minimize competition with their polluting, slow, hazardous, cramped bus travel.

Farangs, please don't lecture the Thais. I reckon some of you oldies fell for this 'privatization equals efficiency' garbage when you voted for those scheisters Ron Reagan & Margaret Thathcher. You then grabbed your pile & moved to Thailand to escape the resulting dreck. Old Git Tom

"The reason why the Flu was so successful in 1918 was primarily the "terrain", namely the millions of immuno-deficient hosts and hostesses starved and stressed by 4 years of war."

"Regards, Peter (Peter H. Duesberg, Ph.D. is a professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley and is the author of the book, “Inventing the AIDS Virus”)."

A very useful post It proves you don't need to be an ignorant redneck to talk rubbish, you can be a highly qualified ignoramus. Eg., '4 years of war': the US troops who died in droves in 1918 only entered hostilities in later 1917, & the Euro war finished in 1918.

Far from immuno-deficit, most were, young, strapping fit & well-nourished. A troop ship arrived in Europe where many of the dead were still in their bunks - not enough able-bodied left to bury them at sea. According to latest thinking, the flu virus strain turned their efficient defence mechanisms against the victims, often killing the poor devils in the space of one day.

So you just don't care if you live or die? Your privilege, I'm sure I don't either. But please don't disseminate falsehoods. Old Git Tom

You can usually take what the World Health Organisation (WHO) says with trust. Why? Because the plutocrat gangsters who run our world do not mess with health issues. They know a pandemic can kill off the rich & powerful as well as the impoverished millions.

It's not just a government-drugs industry scam. The WHO is worried because a mutated/mutating swine flu virus could spark a global pandemic for which there would be no quick answer.

Yet there are some simple prophylactic measures you can take. For rundown & tips, try one site -

http://www.survivetheflu.com

The 1918 – 1920 outbreak took out mainly fit, healthy young adults. It tuned their bodies' strong immune system against them. Many died in 24 hours.

What you do about it is a personal choice. Maybe the best defence is accurate information. I'm too old to bother about myself . Old Git Tom

Thanks Beano2274. I regularly check the uTorrent speed guide – no p/forward. Ruddy thing was fine with the old modem.

No window from the browser, probably because I don't use the Firefox 3 browser with uTorrent. I start from desktop. Wrong?

I tried portforward.com – heavy man – or too heavy for this old man. Every time I try anything like this, it's SNAFU & back to System Restore.

I think I'll get the chang round to fix. dam_n clever these orientals. Trouble is, no English. Ah well, nothing a few bahts more won't remedy – eventually.

How was South Perrott (?) last time you looked? Gert big housing development? It was 'ansome when I was there around 1950.

Thanks again, Oldgittom.

login : admin

password :1234 or TTT or ttt

indy is the cheap maxnet package

NHJ, you may have an answer? I have the Maxnet package (XP OS). After a new box, old modem would not work. so TT&T supplied a replacement - Huawei SmartAX MT880.

Fine, except uTorrent downloads slower than before. I applied the TCPZ patch which increased XP's limit on half-open files. Better, but still slower than of old.

Prob seems to be port not forwarding. How do I forward a port? Can I? If you have a clue, keep it simple, please for a non-techie. OGT

hmm i am having problems at the moment

We’re sorry, but your Google Mail account is temporarily unavailable. We apologise for the inconvenience and suggest trying again in a few minutes.

OS Wins XP: ISP TT&T Maxnet.

Yep, been getting the same for about 5 days here in Ubon. Gmail will now reveal messages in HTML only. No send, no save, no nuttin else. If I switch the browser from Google Chrome to Internet Explorer 7, there is a small improvement. Yahoo mail works without problems within G Chrome.

This seems to be a Google server ballsup. I notice Google Search now returns a larger number of 'This site is not available', etc. blank pages.

Cannot monkey with Wins firewall as it was switched off by my Comodo firewall. Two firewalls slow everything down. Advanced Wins Care makes no difference.

I can live with this temporarily if Google is getting its finger out. If not, over to Netscape, whatever. Goggle does not seem to be putting any info out. Can't complain, as it's free. Any ideas out there?

Suddenly Google/Chrome/Gmail are back to spiffing normal. It would be nice if the company responsible just let us know about these hitches in service. But as said, you can't ask for customer backup when the service is free, can you? Thanks tho to everyone for all your suggestions.

In return, anyone who hasn't tried it, Google Chrome browser seems faster than the rest. Firefox has/had more features but became too slow. Cheers, OGT

hmm i am having problems at the moment

We’re sorry, but your Google Mail account is temporarily unavailable. We apologise for the inconvenience and suggest trying again in a few minutes.

OS Wins XP: ISP TT&T Maxnet.

Yep, been getting the same for about 5 days here in Ubon. Gmail will now reveal messages in HTML only. No send, no save, no nuttin else. If I switch the browser from Google Chrome to Internet Explorer 7, there is a small improvement. Yahoo mail works without problems within G Chrome.

This seems to be a Google server ballsup. I notice Google Search now returns a larger number of 'This site is not available', etc. blank pages.

Cannot monkey with Wins firewall as it was switched off by my Comodo firewall. Two firewalls slow everything down. Advanced Wins Care makes no difference.

I can live with this temporarily if Google is getting its finger out. If not, over to Netscape, whatever. Goggle does not seem to be putting any info out. Can't complain, as it's free. Any ideas out there?

HACK & FERRET LOUNGE, Bangkok

Frontline O'booze (Your man in the stained flak-jacket).

Here in the thick of a bitter battle between (insert) & (insert), colored tracers criss-cross the sky - red, yellow, blue, luminous bugs with big eyes, an' the whole bar's lit up. A local Thai man said, 'Hey, when you pay go home, arsehol_e?' That sums up the tense situation. Anything could happen. Send more 'spenses.

For urgent cases of stranded air passengers, how about train from BKK to Nongkhai, Lao visa from any friendly guesthouse, then cross to Vientiane airport? Any help?