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newtronbom

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Posts posted by newtronbom

  1. Hi,

    We had the same problem with little tiny fire ants, but they would not take the ant bait. Ended up trying Chaindrite POWDER and it works great. When ever I see that they moved to a new area, just sprinkle a few puffs of powder and they are all gone.

    Have never heard of Chaindrite powder, but sounds like just what I need. What is it? Where can one buy it please? Cheers.

  2. I think people critising the Red Shirt leaders comments miss the point. The Movement was instrumental in mobilising the rural vote that put the party into power. AND as such they had better be included in the cabinet otherwise there will be an instant disconnected between the new Government and the electorate. Think of Obama appointing no blacks to his cabinet or senior Government posts. Think of a Labour Goverment appointing no one from the Labour Movement. Think of the Lib-DEMs (who have sacrifiued some of theiir principles) accepting that they don't get key cabinet posts because of the support to Cameron. Some of you guys just have to get over the fact that the majority of the people in this country support the winners of this election and for the vast majority of the rural population in the North and North-East of this country (plus millions of low paid workers in agriculture, commerce and industry) the Red Shirts represent their thinkinbg and their resistance to the rich elite of this country. This is Politics 101.

    None of the "wealthy people" in our Moo Barn voted for this party anyway and have never said anything good about them, but all the locals(common people) around here are waking up from what seemed like a pleasant dream, to the actual reality of what has happened. They all feel uncertain. Insecure. Not at all sure of what is going to happen now. Spending in the local markets has dropped quite a bit and the "stall owners" are feeling it. The ones that were shouting "Victory" - things will get better now - life will improve for all us poorer people at last - finally we will get justice from this election. They are all very quite now and refuse to discuss it at all. Many stall owners that I regularly talk to and who I often joke with, have "clammed up" and not just to me. Where there used to be a constant banter and "leg pulling" amongst themselves around the markets, there is now pretty much silence! Before the election, every Taxi around here and elsewhere, was pro Red Shirt. I got tired of hearing it every time I caught a cab. Now they either change the subject or say it will sort itself out when Taksin comes back. None of this gives me much confidence in the least.

  3. They deserve a few posts, just like every important fraction does. The DSI chief should not only be replaced but investigated for locking up numerous people under the computer crime law and LM offenses, Thailand does deserve a answer too on who shot on protestors so the responsible figures can become neighbors of Assad and Khadaffi in the Hague soon.

    Are you saying that they shouldn't have shot the red shirt with the "RPG" that was about to fire it on innocent bystanders? Or the "Red Shirts >>Black Shirt<< team" who were scuttling around with loaded "M16s", incindaries and hand grenades??? Well that makes a LOT OF SENSE!! But it does make sense, arresting many who could have been shot instead of getting a chance of a fair hearing in court of law, even if the police/army would have felt like shooting them at the time - and possibly got away with it......I think that if anything, the armed forces showed a lot (even too much) of restraint during a time of "high stress" and lots of violence where many innocent people were actually dying and shops and high-rises were being torched. I think that the police response would have been a lot harsher where most of us come from, don't you?

  4. Wish I had been there. Our "Mods" deserve more thanks from us than just a few free beers. In fact, all they usually get from us "posters" is abuse - and loads of it. WE only see a fraction of the good work that they do. Their job is really difficult and the "hate and crap" along with all the racialism that they have to deal with on a daily basis, so that this forum keeps running, is a job I wouldn't wish on anyone. Think of it this way. If not for the efforts of sbk and the others, this forum would have been banned a long time ago. So to all you "Mods" out there. Many thanks for keeping the forum alive and healthy, while still being very liberal, many thanks too, for all the "offline help" you (sbk in my case) have given me and many others too. thebom.

  5. Soutpeel. I was well aware of the heli ops for the rigs as I know some guys, who like you, work on them. They all says the pilots are fine. That is though, totally different to a land based operation and far less complicated too - bad weather aside. Pleased that you have a good opinion about the Thai pilots servicing the rigs too. As for places like Phuket not being profitable, there is no reason why a private heli company couldn't charge through the nose and do good business. Plenty of Thais, let alone tourists could afford it and would pay the price. It would be a good thing too for a 2nd reason, as it would serve as a much needed emergency service as well. So it's still not clear to me, why there isn't one. Is it like Dag suggests? A security/control thing? Or is it because more people are like me and would prefer to see the sights from the ground or the water? I know there are some who do like the "heli tour" thing, but are there enough to make it worthwhile? It's a fact of life that we have to accept, that accidents will always happen. Look at the train disaster in Japan last week. Lightning struck a signal, allowing the high speed train to crash into another that had lost power. Odds like that will never stop us flying though and man made reasons caused the 3 crashes in my opinion.

  6. I also never said, hinted at or tried to give the impression that I was a heli pilot, let alone an expert. If that was the case, I'd most likely know the answers to the questions I have posted. I have held a PP license for fixed wing single engine planes as well as a glider, but that was in another lifetime it seems now, it was that long ago. I did learn the theory for helicopters and have 1 take off to my credit and some hovering, which is a lot harder than it looks, along with a small amount of flying time. Certainly no expert, I did grow up around flying, so picked up a lot. All the pilots I knew, checked fuel on every pre-flight, as well as the stock held in drums. Anything to lessen the odds they'd say. Back to the topic. I see on the news last night, that there is an ongoing investigation into the 3 crashes and into the heli scene in general, from ground to air. How much "us public" will ever learn from the results, is debatable, as we know, though in the last few years, I have noticed that T/L has become a lot more transparent - not that you can see through it yet - but it's better than it used to be. You see and hear things/topics on the tele now, that would have never seen the "light of day" a few years ago. Thai people also talk far more openly than in the past and don't pretend ignorance so much. Perhaps(despite the heavy censorship here)the internet has played a positive role in Thailand. I'm not complaining though, as I knew the rules when I chose to live here. A good example of this new openness, is the Taksin coming back thing. 10 years ago, he could have slipped back and no one would dare oppose it, let alone talk about it openly. I am still confident that T/L is getting better - just at it's own pace. There is still far too much "power and influence" held by a minority who run things here to the benefit of their family interests, and always will be to a degree, as in most countries, but I feel that will fade to a reasonable level in the near future. Anyway. Lets try and keep this post civil people and on topic. I didn't start it to provide a shit slinging match. I would just like to know the cause of these accidents, especially the third one, as it's circumstances were not the same as the first 2. Bad fuel was not the reason anyway. For any of them. There is already talk of ghosts walking around one of the tents holding bodies on the first crash site, so we could be in for a long wait.....

  7. I have to admit a 100% score too. We had the first and only B&W TV in our area when I was a kid. I can still remember the regular sight of about a dozen kids after school at our place sitting in front of it, watching either Bonanza or Sir Frances Drake episodes. There was still no color out back then. I can also remember the day dad bought home a huge wooden cabinet that had not only a radio, but a semi auto record player as well (had been around for a few years by then), to replace the thing with a brass horn on top that was used as a speaker. Dad still liked to listen to the old one now and then. The old 78s started getting replaced by the "new fangled" 33 rpm discs. Stereo started to come in around then too. Wish I still had that stuff and the LPs. Worth a fortune today. Remember less fondly the "push mower" that had a cloth catcher, metal wheels and no motor, that I had to use to get my pocket money! I hated that thing. Did my best to wreck it, but it was indestructible. Most cars back then, still had a hole in the front fender for a crank handle just in case. My younger sister and I both in our rooms by 6.00 pm. Lights out by 8.00. Good times. Many fond memories.

  8. Do a CTRL ALT DEL and in Task Manager look at the Processes to see how much memory each browser is using.

    If one is using a lot more than the others bin it and use 2 tabs in one of the others.

    This utility also shows what resources programs are using.http://technet.micro...ernals/bb896653

    Win 7s task manager has an app on it called resource monitor, which does pretty much the same as the app in your link. You'd need to be a geek to understand to bits it doesn't do.

  9. Dont forget that with no civil heli operations here to speak of, their experience with them is behind closed doors and nowhere near the exposure or experience of the west.

    Whatever went wrong it is for sure a mixture of things....because the same thing happening at the same time to 3 machines is just not realistic....unless the spooks did get involved.

    I firmly believe it is a mixture of the face saving phenomenon which would incorporate pilot error, inexperience, training and probably instrumentation.

    When the blackhawk crashed 2 other machines turned away and made a sounder judgement to land and wait...one was an environmental departments machine...the other cannot remember now......that same decision should have been made by the blackhawk...why not ??

    Anyway...accidents happen everywhere, so they do not have the sole copyright on that.

    I have had several friends and acquaintances lose their lives over the years in those wonderful machines.

    I too Dag, have lost a few to "rattlers". Why is it, that private operators are so few and far between here? I know of only one and they fly VIPs to a few hotels - or used to from the old airport and may still do from the new one. I would think there is a good demand, though with the bad rep T/L has, how many would use them is hard to say. Could it be too many restrictions? Price would not matter to many Thais. There are quite a few private planes here though. Owned by both Thais and foreigners. Helicopters are so common in NZ where I come from. Many farmers own one and a lot use them to go shopping in town. Same with light aircraft(some of those ARE held together with tape and wire. I've seen it) though there are not many things that will stop the likes of a Piper Cub - bar losing a wing, engine failure just means putting it down quicker than planned. They glide a long way with no power as will a Cessna 172. Accidents will always happen regardless. Meticulous care and maintenance just keep the odds down to a minimum. Most people though, seem to think that accidents only happen to others and not them, is my experience.

  10. One rather pedantic correction :

    I think we should all take a moment to remember that Asian equipment husbandry is almost uniformly wank (with notable exceptions to the North East of the continent). The 'first principles' are apparently not common currency in the cultural consciousness.

    If you walk past some of the local machine-shops that are still around in Bangkok you will see what I mean. Same with most of the other mechanical contraptions devised or modified in Asia. Have a good listen to the vehicles (of any origin) that ply these roads and you will often hear the sound of suffering machinery.

    I don't think that it is a coincidence that the Japanese, for example, have considerably more rigorous and definite ideas about the physical world around them than Thais.

    The Gurkhas have consistently shocking kit husbandry and they are part of the British Army (paid, trained and equipped).

    I'm half Thai myself and I really don't mind saying so; it is the plain truth of mine eyes.

    You are 100% right about the usual attitude towards machinery here. I have still not pinned down the reason for this either. Way back, when I still believed I could change things in the world, I tried to change this with some of the people I had got to know. I explained, argued, persuaded and I demonstrated what I meant in case I was not being clear(my Thai was a bit limited back then). Zero. I am sure more than a few could see what I was on about, A couple offered me a beer and said "Jai Yen" it's bad luck to fiddle with something that works. Doesn't need fixing. I now know there is no single word in the Thai language for "Maintenance". I even gave the example of taking good care of a buffalo, so he keeps working. But he's not a machine I was told. Every now and then though, you will see an exception to this rule. I regularly pass this house where the owner has an ancient Austin-Morris of what model I don't know, but it's in "mint condition". He can be seen every weekend working on it. I had passed him a couple of times before I stopped one day and asked him what he was fixing. Nothing he replied. You need to work on a machine regular and take care of it, if you want it to stay in good condition. Don't you know that? I can't remember the exact words he used next, but they basically meant that "Thai people can teach you foreigners some things". When I left, it must have taken at least 5 mins for my jaw to catch up with me. I believe the Military (all branches) does have a maintenance program. As someone posted though, the budget they have would dictate how much they can do. Whether they are trained to understand the reasons for maintenance, or whether they are just following orders, it's hard to say. The ones who I know around here understand it, though they get others to do it for them. It's mainly an attitude/culture thing and not laziness. What you say regarding the Japanese is also true, but then no one is like the Japanese anywhere. I taught English there for 7 months before I couldn't take it any more. Too different for me. Good to visit, but not to stay. They are generally nice people though, despite their strange ways. Even a few "Yakuza" I got to know at a couple of night spots I used to go to, weren't too bad. Always very polite - like most Japanese I've met. Just different.

  11. You do not have to be a professional to pass an exam......I should know.

    Going the extra mile and knowing what you are doing while doing it is also very different.

    You really think the military pass system is much different to the rest of the countries attitude to passing you even if you fail ??

    I know of a western military guy that was brought out here to teach some specific procedures to your so called highly educated individuals and he failed them all because...gee whiz....they were not up to scratch. He got sent home for not passing the spoilt military brats and was told 'that is not how it is done here, you cannot fail them'.....seems no different in the military than elsewhere...just higher class of such.

    You should know the difference with your 100 ++ hours.

    Can't say that you're wrong. I am only going on the people I have met myself and I admit I can only have seen a fraction of the big picture. Having said that though, I too have met a few western experts, some of whom have written off their students who in their opinion had no talent and no future. When those same students came under the study of another instructor in a different field, he was full of praise. While there are more than a few "spoiled brats" in the system, there are also some good ones. We get the same in our culture too - maybe not to the same extent - but there just the same. The attitude and approach of the instructor plays a major role in the response to the students anywhere. Here in the end though, you are correct in that a lot depends on who your daddy is and who you know. I agree. I still think though, that it is far more difficult in the military here than in a normal situation. Even the Thais, can't afford to lose planes and people. I also don't believe your guy was told "you can't fail them" - more that was what his opinion/reaction was. If they are so incompetent, why don't more jets fall out of the sky? Last news I heard on the 3rd crash was suspected tail rotor failure. We will see.

  12. ^ Its the common sense decision making factors and asian face saving scenarios that make the difference......look at the roads and the driving.....do you really think the skies would be that much different.......and a high education does not make the difference......just look and talk to people that employ university graduates here and ask

    In the West, we call face saving not getting embarrassed. There is a difference between the road and the sky too. In the sky you are among professionals, on the roads it's mostly amateurs! As for education, I said they were "highly educated" by which I did not mean your average BA grad that anyone can pass and that level of ed does make a difference, as most people never try it, let alone graduate! Shows both brains and dedication, which are not easy to find as you seem to know.You should know too, that stupid decisions are made by "jet jockeys" in particular and others world wide, to either avoid embarrassment/save face or "one up" the next guy. If their trick bit of flying comes off they are a hero, if not it's a disgrace or sometimes death. Unofficially encouraged world wide. It is these type flyers who will go the extra distance to get the job done. If they all flew by the book, there would be many who would have never been rescued. If you know a military or rescue flyboy/lady just ask them and see if I am Wrong!

  13. What amazes me is that they buy second hand cars they cost almost as much as new.

    That will change soon I think. I have seen the same cars sitting in some of the big lots for over a year. Lots of people defaulting on time payment too. Pure economics must force them to drop the prices sooner or later. Surely can't just keep buying? Has to be good profit in it still though, as there are plenty of "cars for cash" on the tele. Beats me where all the profit is gained though, as the margins are small. Perhaps sheer volume of turnover like a supermarket does it. AS for the high price being kept to only allow the rich to afford them, it's the same where we come from. Your average guy can't afford a Roller, Ferrari or Lambo back home either. Mercs and Beemers are just another choice along with the Jap stuff. Anyway. Who would buy an old rust bucket when they could afford a new car?

  14. The automotive industry is very important to Thailand so they feel there is a need to protect themselves from foreign imports thus making imports more expensive in relation to those made here in Thailand.

    It is not uncommon for business or other groups such as unions to feel threatened by foreign competion and for governments to protect them. Other examples would be the steel industry in the USA where duties for some products from China reach 450 % (steel drilling tubes) or the UK which for some reason need to protect the ring binder mechanism industy from the evils of Thai competion and impose an addition 17.2% duty on products from there.

    Cars have always been expensive to buy here. 25 years ago, there were no car factories here at all, yet due to high import duty they were very expensive compared to the west. I have asked why many times since then and the only constant reply I have had, is it is done to keep the numbers down buy putting them out of the reach of the normal guy. This did work for many years, but not the last 10, as we can all see. I would be interested to know the ratio of imports to local made 5 years ago, and the figures today. Ferrari, Porsche and other exotics are a daily sight now, though anyone without a death wish would never drive them on the roads here as they were designed to be driven! This is overall not a poor country any more. Common to see 2, 3 or 4 cars per home in the gated villages these days. Even more in many wealthy homes!

  15. Seems to be a lot of talk about women versus men. I am sure a lot of the difference is psychological. By this I mean, that if men were raised up from babies and got told every day, to believe that they would only ever be good at say, sewing for example and nearly all the men they saw were sewing away happily and the few who were driving cars, were looked at as being oddballs, different from normal. Women were all told that they were good at driving and machinery. The fact is that not all of them would be. Just as it is a fact that not all men are great drivers and many don't have a talent for machinery. Agree that hormones and fighting and a more powerful build would still be there, but try and imagine the difference it must make, being brought up that way. Whether this can account for all the disparity, I don't know for sure, but I don't think so. There still seems to be a gender related difference that I can't quite put my finger on. I could be wrong. As to the budget limitations on military training, if correct, it is even more surprising that airmen here are as professional and capable as they are, training under such a disadvantage. Hearing the number of fighter jets and helicopters up each day just here in Bangkok, I would not have thought their budget too tight. I know a few "career military" guys - as opposed to the people who just get enlisted when they turn 20 - who live in my area. Couple of flyers, a special forces lad, a counter terrorism guy and one who I think is an officer in the Infantry. All highly educated, well spoken and all except the special forces guy, speak quite good English. Their system does seem very different from what I knew, but then I am over 30 years out of date. They don't make the same salary that we do, but they are still well paid by Thai standards, unlike the police force for example. I don't see Asians being any less able than westerners. They do seem to specialize more though, not so many "Jack of all trades" around like back home.

  16. Baffles me that people just wont admit that asians are not made to drive anything..

    exceptions dont make the rule.. There's a reason why top airline companies rarely if ever hire asian pilots, there's a reason why in the west the people failing their driving test everyday are always 500 asians and 5 young white guys.

    It's just how it is, no racism. Asians and moving objects do not go together. Just like women.. There's a reason women get more accidents than men on the road even though men are known to drive faster. Women have less driving aptitude than men by default. This is why F1 pilots are white men for the most part and why slower speed racers are still mostly white/black/brown men and not asian/women.

    It's like expecting the finest white basketball team to beat the finest black basketball team, it just wont happen no matter how hard you call me a racist to make yourself feel better.

    Thai Airways has a very good record. I have flown with them many times. No complaints. I would not say the same for what they call driving on the roads here though. As for women. I said it on another thread. Some can out drive most men back home. The percentage is far smaller here, but I think it's more a cultural/upbringing thing than a matter of gender and ability. I've just started teaching my 23 year old Thai stepdaughter to drive. She's taking to it like a duck to water. After only two days, she is driving better than some I see on the road daily - I am not being at all biased either - she just has the knack for it and a good head on her shoulders, along with great co-ordination. My wife is the opposite I'm sorry to say. I blame the poor driving here, on the way they are taught, the ease of getting a license and a bad attitude.

  17. Though rather getting away from the original topic, on our squadron we were not above doing something similar to newtronbom's "bulldogging". Sometimes, in idle moments during low level exercises, we'd flush out game birds, usually pheasants. The unfortunate creatures became pinned to the ground by the rotor downdraft and it was the job of the crewman to hop out whilst still in the hover and capture the birds which inevitably finished up in the officer's mess. It was a favoured way of capture, since the pheasant, when cooked, contained none of those bits of shot which you found in birds obtained in the normal way.

    As you say, it can be a lot of fun. I have to mention though, that an angry 130 odd kilo stag, is a little different than a "pinned Pheasant" to catch. Certainly has a lot more "pucker factor". Still, most people would never make the jump for any reason, let alone for what some of us term fun. Counterfeit parts may be the cause of these crashes, but 3 in a week? Like another poster said, a lot of helicopters have been and are flying around all the time daily. Why this sudden peak? I hope the parts are not to blame, or we are going to see a lot more accidents. I'm sure others have thought of this too and it's being looked into as we write. It would be nice if they actually do make a statement and tell us when they do find out. Things happening in the military anywhere, tend to stay in that circle, often with good reason, so we may not find out.

  18. I have well over a hundred hours in several types of helicopter, from the old Hughes 500C up to an air force Iraquoi. Most were spent in New Zealand in the Hughes, as over 25 years ago, deer farming was just starting to take off in NZ and most farmers were trying to get stock. The only way to do that back then, was to capture "wild stock" and one of the most common methods to do this, was called "bulldogging", which was to chase a herd of deer in a helicopter, then when the time was right, jump out of it (usually about 2 or 3 meters above the animal) and onto the back of a deer bringing it down, then pulling a bag over it's head to quiet it, tie it's legs and roll it into a net to lift it back to the farm. This method was a bit dangerous, but the money was good and we were young and bullet proof back then, plus it was a lot of fun. There were a few accidents though and I had my share of "auto-rotations" and such. My friends and I also did a lot of Sky Diving from helicopters. My point in all this being, that most of this (the deer capture anyway) was in very mountainous, heavily wooded country and the weather was not always ideal, so I know what I am talking about when I say that the recent crashes can't be put down to "the terrain" only. There has to be other factors involved in these crashes. From what I have seen, the Thai pilots are very professional and quite able, as pilots. That only leaves sabotage or mechanical failure. So far I go with mechanical failure. Flying in the kind of terrain they were, puts a lot more than the normal strain on a machine. WE will have to wait for the accident report to see if I am correct. Here is a link to an article on deer capture in NZ bulldogging deer for any who don't believe me, or who have not heard of it before. Google it for more info.

  19. Some moron mechanic must have bought conterfiet parts at Phuket.

    Well done!! You can just sit there safe behind your keyboard and make cheap libellous statements against some group of people of whom you have no knowledge.

    Have you any idea of the impact that such a thoughtless statement could have on the mental wellbeing of the unfortunate mechanics/technicians who serviced that aircraft.

    And the glib use of "moron" is despicable. These people are professionals trying to do a job and trying to keep their colleagues alive.

    There may be mistakes made, there may be errors of professional judgement.

    But you should be ashamed of making direct allegations of criminal action without any knowledge whatsoever.

    Fully agree with you. How can anybody make such a "trite and uninformed" post on what is a very sad situation. Bad jokes are not called for in a thread like this. Better not to post at all. There are probably more than one person asking themselves if they could be responsible for this accident and feeling like crap as it is. Saying that "toybits" post is insensitive, doesn't really cover it.

  20. Why is it that there are always a few posters on this forum, that try and come up with some "weird theory" for situations like this? There was no "high profile" person on board this 3rd flight that could have been the focus of an attack, nor do I believe are there any "high tech" secret installations in that area. How one can imagine such a thing, let alone post it on a forum, is beyond me. If they are doing it to provoke a reaction, they picked a poor topic to do it in. So far I have not yet heard any further news on the possible cause/causes of this latest crash, but it seems that "mechanical failure" is still high on the list. I just hope this is a sufficient wake up call, that may help prevent future crashes and loss of life.

  21. Considering cloning C: .. Reinstalling Windows and then replacing the clone with the exception of Windows.

    That wont work. But running the Windows 7 install DVD will give you the option of repairing the existing installation without erasing the drive.

    I would not count on this to retain your data or your programme installations, but it might. So back up all your data first and ensure that you have the installation disks etc for your programmes.

    How can he back up his data if he can't get to his desktop? :huh:

  22. Just came on the news that yet another helicopter has crashed with many fatalities. This one was on it's way to a previous crash site. That's 3 in one week! Can't blame it all on the weather. At this point, I think we have to factor in quality of maintenance, or pilot error - possibly both. Helicopters require far more maintenance which is also more technical than normal planes. I have to wonder how efficient and how thorough that is here. With helicopters, "you can't wait till it's broken, to fix it" or it will fail for sure. Anyone else have opinions on this one? There were 3 deaths in today's crash. That's a total of 17 for the week! Far too many......

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