featography

"unfortunately" for the girl, people killed in the bus come from not too dissimilar backgrounds: generally well educated and likely to be inclined to stand up for their rights. Probably a few strings that they can pull as well.

This issue won't be swept under the carpet as easily as say, the Lao girl who was killed.

You are always defending Thais (and rightly so at times). But don't you agree that this is one of the biggest problems in Thailand. Getting justice when the rich and powerful are involved. I am not so sure if the 36 million is an ok sum. If they start with this then soon everyone will get sued and car insurance will increase.

...and drivers will start to fear enough to drive sane. Sounds like a good plan to me.

What do you think a law suit normally entails? You calculate lost and go after it. I am not understanding where these comments are coming from, expand a bit.

Belay that request. Dont expand.

Ask your Thai GF/wife to say "fluff" I guarantee she will pronounce it "flupp".

Until she can master the word fluff she cannot truly speak the Queens English .

Here are some good words for Thai natives to perfect.

"very, ferry, pill and throttle"

Also, a Thai speaker will let their tongue tip touch the roof of their mouth in different places. Westerners may hear "L" or "R". A bit tough for Thais to separate.

Yes, I play with that daily, trying to show the wife where to touch the roof of the mouth, to get that R sound. Another thing not mentioned here, some schools do well to teach students to pronounce each syllable in words. This is good in most cases, but after 4 years of hearing "veg a ta bul" , "Deemo CRAH see". "CAH sin oh" it went from cute to lets move on in English 101. It became big news to the wife when she learned that some vowels are silent in some words, and the concept of there being an emphasis on the proper syllable in most words was never brought up in her university.

Now its a regular ritual of "Thank you Mr. Teacher". Still has a problem dropping the Mr. in that sentence, but we will work on it. I do see the day when she will speak as good Americanish as I do, and I may well miss the cuteness of her thaiglish

They're confidence in this working is shown in the following snews article;

Hospitals Ordered To Prepare For Songkran Road Accidents

http://www.thaivisa....road-accidents/

Booze free safety areas states, "There have been an average of 1,948 deaths per year during Songkran in the past four years and another 1,423 people made disabled by road accidents caused by drunk driving", and yet "Govt hopes to bring down number of deaths" article states;

"During the same period last year, 361 people were killed in road accidents and 3,802 others injured." Thai Math or drunk Statitions?

"landslide that killed ... causing the horrific landslide that killed ... prevent landslides ... slow down flashfloods ... counted over 60 landslides ... had caused landslides and flashfloods ... areas that were damaged by flashfloods and landslides after the floodwaters recede ... Most landslides had occurred ... factors behind the landslides ... damaged during flashfloods ... high risk for landslides ... the main causes of landslides ... the flashfloods and landslides in the southern provinces ... Most of the mudslides had occurred ... the ground to prevent landslides and flashfloods ... said the landslides ... said severe landslides... recorded over 30 landslides and eight flashfloods"

it's possible to write a long article with just a few words, just by repeating them in different combinations. Good journalism.

It is due to the Nation's shortage of copy editors. Some online stuff even goes up untouched. As a former Nation editor, I can assure you that this is how many pieces look when the foreign copy-eds first get hold of them, before cutting them down to half their original length (which can really upset the writers). The Thai writing style works in spirals, ideally ever decreasing ones, but usually not. It is a tricky thing to manage. In the right hands, this diplomatic style can say a lot without seeming to say anything in particular - there have been some annual speeches in Thailand that are excellent examples - though it still doesn't work in English where we just bluntly get to the point. Among other things, this orbital approach enables (though not in the above example) criticising a person without falling afoul of the libel laws. Just say the same thing with slight variations over and over until the reader sees where the finger is pointing.

Apparently the online Thai/English dictionary/translation programs follow this spiraly style work too. Its absolutely amazing to see the end results of students English reports done in the Wife's internet cafe. Occasionally they will ask me to check their reports. Pure unadulterated jiberish.

Horrible news. I'm actually working near that area today, but haven't heard anything about it until now.

I drove by the scene a couple of hours ago. The entire roof of the lory was ripped off with impact, and laying under the bridge. One of the other lory drivers came into the shop and mentioned the lory was full of Burmese migrant workers.

People hardly need more to get worked up about without fake news to add to the already incendiary nature of discussions here on Thaivisa.com; I do not exclude myself.

There is also the issue that really nothing is too amazing or ridiculous to come up in this place. It leaves no litmus test to tell fact from fiction.

It may be bit irresponsible as well, since quite a few people may have actually based important life decisions on this piece of "news."

And finally, it wasn't really that funny.

...

BTW, I am considerably younger than 50 and am philosophically opposed to marriage.

Another thought to go along with your point of irresponsible;

Apparently not all that have some control over a media source has learned the valuable lesson from Orson Welles radio broadcast, War Of The Worlds. Google that for the ramifications caused and the pain and suffering on the general public that resulted from that broadcast. Is the lesson here, George, that we turn off TV in March and April each year, or is the lesson that you and yours consider the Thai govt has no bounderies, or limits to what they will impose on their own people and foreigners visiting and living here, and TV should be a little more self governing about their humor, just as we must be self governing about what we politically say here.

Wonderful, another great move by the powers that be...but seriously the way I see it is this new law in fact hurts Thai people much more than "old farang", no wedding no sin sot, no house etc etc etc etc, the saddest thing I see from this though is this is another example of the Thai governments total disregard of foreigners and the benefits they bring, other recent comments from other "minister's" prove this, we are not only disliked we are in fact HATED by some and treated accordingly, I hope Thailand keeps its racist bullshit up so more of us have reasons to finally throw our hands up and say enough is enough..

I couldn't dream up a better scheme to unite all farang to side in and campaign with the Red Shirts. Not even Taksin would pull this stunt. There does come a time when even farang must unite and fight. You might re read the article; It said, that thai /farang marriages outside the country would not be recognized after initiation of the law, and that all previous marriages must get documentation from consulates to show in Thailand, that they were married before the law was enacted, to be recognized as legal marriages.

So instead of trying to introduce such a disgraceful law, if Mr Tawatchai Suksoom believes the problem is that people are trying to circumvent visa rules why don't they simply change the visa requirement to be 800K in the bank? I guess as that would be a simple solution it illustrates that is not what Mr Tawatchai Suksoom really thinks. He is simply a racist bigot who is insecure and trying to make his name by promoting a nationalist bill.

The idea of the bill is as disgusting as the comment in the post by trodgers

And there will be a baby boom of half breed bastards on the laps of the government - because he is not permitted to get married by law.

Is there a need for such a term in a 21st century world?

As they say in the States, it's calling a spade a spade, or in the poster's phrase, calling a spade a F#$%ing shovel. Same same

Are you sitting down?

Okay, here's the bombshell. The volcanic eruption in Iceland, since its first spewing of volcanic ash has, in just FOUR DAYS, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet – all of you.

Of course you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress – it's that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow, and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans, and all animal life.

I know, it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of: driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kid's "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, vacationing at home instead of abroad, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your 50 cents light bulbs with $10.00 light bulbs...well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tubes in just four days.

The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in just four days - yes - FOUR DAYS ONLY by that volcano in Iceland, has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud any one time - EVERY DAY.

I don't really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in its entire YEARS on earth. Yes folks, Mt Pinatubo was active for over one year – think about it.

Of course I shouldn't spoil this touchy-feely tree-hugging moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keep happening, despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.

And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud but the fact of the matter is that the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years. And it happens every year.

Just remember that your government just tried to impose a whopping carbon tax on you on the basis of the bogus "human-caused" climate change scenario.

Hey, isn't it interesting how they don't mention "Global Warming" any more, but just "Climate Change" - you know why? It's because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past century and these global warming bull artists got caught with their pants down.

And just keep in mind that you might yet have an Emissions Trading Scheme – that whopping new tax – imposed on you, that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer. It won't stop any volcanoes from erupting, that's for sure.

But hey, relax, give the world a hug and have a nice day!

PS: I wonder if Iceland is buying carbon offsets?

There is always at least one climate change denier who'll post data that's wrong or that distorts the weather patterns.

Has this been a cold winter? Globally no. The combined global land and ocean surface temperature during December 2010 – February 2011 ranked as the 16th warmest boreal winter (austral summer) on record. During the three-month season, warmer-than-average conditions were particularly felt across western Alaska, eastern Canada, southern Greenland, and northern Siberia. I've attached the map showing the distribution of hotter and colder than historical areas of the globe - obtained at http://www.ncdc.noaa...c/global/2011/2

I got to looking again now that Thailand is having a March that is particularly chilly, though the "winter" was quite mild. Just goes to show how the weather can vary from place to place while still having an average above the 20th Century mean.

Oh, and Blackjack neglects to mention that while volcanoes and solar flares have always caused fluctuations in seasonal and global temperatures, the changes that humans are contributing to the atmosphere are the only way to account for the changes in global temperatures - particularly since 1970. See a video by David Attenborough

Will there be fluctuations from the combination of factors as they are added up, varying each year? Yes. Yet still the pattern of earth warming over the background noise of natural causes continues.

Looking again at the Dec to Feb winter results for the globe I see the Arctic area as warmer than normal and the "temperate latitudes" as colder. Some people liken the colder middle latitudes as to having the freezer door open and cold drafts are dropping out into the room at large even as the freezer warms. It certainly felt unusual - matching my favorite description ==>> "Weather Weirding." Indeed what a warmer atmosphere in general will certainly generate is greater turbulence, a higher incidence of extreme weather. Oh, and the warmer oceans supplied greater moisture to then form a very snowy season for where it was seasonally freezing or below.

In the current conditions a "High Pressure" over Siberia and China with a "Low Pressure" over SE Asia would naturally lead to a flow of air from there to here... bringing that colder than normal air into contact with what humidity is in our atmosphere which precipitates out as rain in the humid south but only colder air for the inland northern provinces.

now you are not seriously suggesting that David Attenborough is someone that should be quoted

he is a presenter and all is scripted

you need to expand your time frame a bit as this is how things are measured

ie 1500 years temp changes

ie million or even billions of years of evolution

etc

el ninyo

el nina

al gore

har har

keep watching TV if thats your source of info

Sir David Frederick Attenborough (pronounced /ˈætənbərə/) OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA (born 8 May 1926 in London, England) is a broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the respected face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. He is also a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s.

1970: BAFTA Desmond Davis Award

1974: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

1980: BAFTA Fellowship

1983: Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)

1985: Knighthood

1991: Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) for producing Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas broadcast for a number of years from 1986

1996: Companion of Honour (CH) "for services to nature broadcasting"

1998: International Cosmos Prize

2003: Michael Faraday Prize awarded by the Royal Society

2004: Descartes Prize for Outstanding Science Communication Actions

2004: Caird Medal of the National Maritime Museum

2005: Order of Merit (OM)

2005: Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest

2006: National Television Awards Special Recognition Award

2006: Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management - Institute Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the public perception and understanding of ecology

2006: The Culture Show British Icon Award

2007: British Naturalists' Association Peter Scott Memorial Award

2009: BAFTA Specialist factual award for Life In Cold Blood

2009: Prince of Asturias Award

2010: Fonseca Prize

2010: Queensland Museum Medal

He would appear to be somewhat more than a presenter don't your think?

yes, a former senior manager of British Bullshit Co. ( I got that from one of you Brits. Its not an original)

Academics are experts in weather patterns?

Leave the weather analysis to meteorologists.

Just curious, what do you think "academic" means?

Cheers

Xlf

I have it under good authority:

academic means simple as in it's academic (simple or apparent) so academics must be somewhat like apparent simpletons.

meteorologist are people who study meteors - ology means "the study of"

So what does this post have to do with weather?

You asked!

My dad used to say, An academic is an over educated idiot

Academics are experts in weather patterns?

Leave the weather analysis to meteorologists.

Where do meteorologists learn to be meteorologists? At universities, where all the academics (ie researchers) are.

It's just terminology.

those that can...................do

those that can't..................teach

Its a might concrete dam, been there twice. its a tourist spot, you can turn into the access road its about 8Km from the Highway 1.

They have everything for the tourists, like food and beer and souvenirs. Also all kinds of preserved fish.

[/quote

SYMBOLISM OVER SUBSTANCE; He was sincere and truthful with the statement;

"In response to locals' concerns about the collapse of the Bhumibol Dam, the provincial governor of Tak province has assured them that the largest concrete dam in Asia is inspected regularly and that the dam is strong enough to sustain a magnitude 7 quake."

The largest dam in Asia is in China, and we can all rest assure that THAT dam is inspected regularly.

My heart goes out to these people suffering from the latest destructive weather , may providence shine on them and that there is no more loss of life and all in distress are rescued successfully .

Dumball

Agree. Does anyone know a good support agency?

Look anywhere but the Thai Tourism Council;

Posted Today, 06:21

Tourism council hopeful of limited impact

its a shame the electricity was turned off AFTER someone was electricuted, i was always taught that water and electrics dont mix,might have been a good idea to turn it off a bit earlier.

Never ceases to amaze me how many times I see locals shinny up poles with extension wire, and hook up their food stalls to electricity. One slip of the hand, or an arc to sweaty, or wet hands, and its bbq'd villager.

Amusing Thailand.

Another observation;

Listed in the news for the day, is this gem, 1 million people stranded as floods rage through Thai South

and further down we have, Thai Tourism council hopeful of limited flood impact

AND..........................................................................Tak Governor Dimisses Possibility Of Bhumibol Dam Collapse

Kinda gives ya a warm cuddly safe feeling, doesn't it??

"If we want to reduce new HIV cases, we need at least 10 million people to undergo the HIV test,"

Then what? Euthanize the positives?

Now that would scare people enough into keeping their zippers up and their legs closed.

Bending the topic just a little: Anybody have any idea what the photo in the article is supposed to be illustrating?

It is a waiting room in a hospital and it is supposed to be illustrating all the sick people from the cold.

Not sure why you farang feel its so great for you. You came here to enjoy our culture and day to day living, weather included. Yes we can't change how nature is, but, it is cold for us. Do you wonder why we feel the way we do when you make your feelings known, it always has to be about you. :jap:

There`s a first.Go home if you DO like it? Blimey!

Only in Thailand! If its never been said, never been done, just wait. It will be. A M A Z I N G Thailand

"Thai Cabinet Rejects To Boost List Of Crimes To Be Overseen By DSI" - do your headline writers actually speak any English?

NOPE

They speak Thaiglish

Should I already draft that news release about those missing torpedos?

good one, yes get started on that. Youre quick today

Tell me its not JJ wiith a jetski, a pair of binoculars and a mobile phone...........

Dammit zaza, you WERE NOT supposed to let the others know!!! I am so not going to trust you with a secret again.

My wife, and visiting adult daughter went to Wienna in Bangkok. They were told that there are 4 cup shapes, each named after a flower, it's important to know your individual shape,and along with the correct size, gives a custom fitted bra. They left the shop with 15 bras, and both have said more than once, Wienna bras are the best fitting and best supporting bras they had ever owned. Also worth mentioning they have quite a selection.

I disagree with anyone that suggests the laundry bags for delicates will shorten the life of bras. I do the laundry, and found that hooking the bras in the loops before putting in the bag, keeps them from tangling and hooking in the fabric of the bag. It's not the bag that does damage over time, but rather the agitating balls in the washer with the bag of delicates.. Remove them and wash on gentle cycle and you should get 5+ years out of them, as my wife does.

ps go ahead, tease me about being the house husband LOL I have broad shoulders and can handle it.

Seismologist Paibul Nuannil, from Prince of Songkhla University's Hat Yai campus, urged the government and related agencies yesterday to install a high-quality earthquake warning system in order to warn the public and help evacuate people at risk to safety promptly. He said this was necessary because Thailand had 13 fault lines.

Earthquake warning systems? The only ones I know of are animals.

Nation does it again. The headline conveys the idea that there are missing buildings and monks in Bangkok.

Shock, horror - surely not a rift in the PAD?

6000 PAD members in the U.S.??

What are 6000, Royalist, keep the status quo, PAD doing in the U.S.? Enjoying freedom of speech, relative freedom of censorship, right to carry guns for protection, vote in an election more honest than a Thailand one, excercise all the amendments and laws of the Constitution, buying land, businesses, and homes??? Why are they not here, fighting for their Thai political beliefs???

USGS (US Geological Survey) reporting a 6.8 and 4.8 quake hitting the region.

http://earthquake.us...region/Asia.php

Just for the rcords: Ratchadamri, 15th floor, blinds and closet doors were remarkably shaking for about 30 seconds, gf on chair felt shaking and got dizzy, only a few people lurking at the reception after...

Manachai, Samut Sakohn, felt nothing, but a "herd" of dogs took to barking