genset

11 hours ago, YetAnother said:

ridiculous policy; beer-making-at-home big business grower these days

Home brewing is illegal in Thailand. I know this as an avid home brewer who was keen, but unable to continue my hobby when I arrived here.

It seems logical that an increase in established testing procedures would result in an increase of reported infections (people are now being routinely tested when they are admitted as in-patients to Hospitals in Florida as an example. Whether they are admitted for elective surgery, show any signs of viral infection or not).

Unsurprisingly conspicuous in it's absence from main stream media reports (who seemingly want to continue milking this story for all it's worth); is the reported mortality rate, which by all accounts has plummeted to around 0.26%, do facts matter any more..?

13 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

That's just untrue. Measles is one of the most contagious viruses ever known with an r0 of 12-18, whereas smallpox is 3 times less contagious and there is a highly successful vaccine for measles which has about 97% effectiveness.

 

Polio is also just as contagious as smallpox and again, there is an effective vaccine for it (more than one, actually). Other diseases which are either just as contagious as smallpox or more so, are pertussis, chicken pox, mumps and rubella. Again, there are effective vaccines for all of them.

You're correct, the qualifier should have been that no successful vaccine has ever been developed for a 'Coronavirus'

Not to dismiss the Thai/French effort to develop a vaccine, but this Cornell University article from a few days ago, gives a clear summary of where the big hitters are in their vaccine development efforts, and some of the hurdles they're facing.

On 5/8/2020 at 3:46 AM, JensenZ said:

This is absolutely brilliant. They destroyed the economy by shutting it down, now they want to allow Chinese visitors back in. Of course they believe Chinese statistics on the infection rate there. Nevermind that no one else in the world believes the nonsense the Chinese come out with, but the PM of Thailand does.

 

Yes, let them all in and start all over again. Let's get the 2nd, 3rd and 4th waves underway asap. Then we can stay on strict lockdown for another year or so. 

Not just the Chinese... fears of a (hardly unexpected) second wave popping up in Seoul

32 minutes ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

Okay, Mum.

11 hours ago, Andy from Kent said:

 

Read a report that a Yank  company named Gilead Science is already in the third stage of testing.

Developing a vaccine for this virus may not be as straightforward as talking heads in government and the media seem to think. It's no easy feat to create a vaccine in the first place, and many times more complicated when the virus mutates, which is why we still don't have a magic bullet for the common flu after years of research. This report from Sky News suggests that 33 mutations have been identified so far.

22 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Yes, @genset is a forum sponsor/advertiser and member.

 

Send him a PM, he'll also get a message that someone mentioned him in a post.

 

Thanks for the mention Crossy,

For anybody who is interested, here is my original post on the forum which dates back to 2009 (apologies for the website which is truly amateurish and out of date, I'm not a web guy, just a humble engineer, we are working with a web designer to bring it up to speed):

DekDaeng - Not sure 'dead dinosaurs' is a fair interpretation of a fully automatic transfer switch and generator solution. Solar certainly has it's place and is becoming more cost effective as the years roll on and i have a good friend who offers solar solutions if anybody is interested; but it really depends on your peak load requirement at the end of the day. If you don't have the space to install a sufficient number of panels and batteries to keep a 10, 15, 20kW solution immediately available then a generator and ATS (which has a footprint a fraction of the size required for a solar panel array of those sizes), is obviously a reasonable option to consider... One size never truly fits all.

I've PM'd advancebooking, drop me a line and we'll have a chat, thanks to all.

19 hours ago, Thomas J said:

Sign seen in Chonburi

 

Poor taste Thomas, enough said...

9 hours ago, Tagged said:

eyewitness describe it as an cross wind landing,  and make a low turn after discovering other canopies approching from the other direction on landing, which resulted in a fatal low turn. A panicked low turn. Remember no official report have been filed and released yet. 

 

This isn't a criticism of anybody related to the DZ or even Stefan himself, but in the interest of emphasizing the responsibilities of certified skydivers (generally BPA or USPA), and that landing is not a disorganized 'free for all'; it is the responsibility of each jumper to know (or ask) the wind direction and speed at altitude (exit point) and ground level, so that drift can be accounted for and you have some idea where your opening point will be in respect to the landing area.

Furthermore, each drop zone will (or should have) an agreed left or right hand landing pattern, which may change according to prevailing wind direction (usually starting at about 1,000ft, downwind, base and final legs), so that all jumpers are aware of the approach and landing pattern which canopies will use below 1,000ft... again, even if the DZ don't post this info, or brief jumpers at manifest, it's the responsibility of each jumper to ask, follow the pattern (unless skies are clear and you're last to land) and importantly, never place other jumpers at risk because you want to swoop in. If you do want to swoop, discuss with the ground staff beforehand and agree a plan, exit the aircraft last, don't fly head down (as the increased fall rate may result in you opening below belly jumpers who exited the aircraft before you) and don't punch below 3k AGL to give other jumpers with larger canopies time to land.

22 hours ago, Gary79 said:

Stefan rest in peace mate. Just to clarify,   Stefan was a very experienced skydiver and often travelled to Thailand to take part in jumps. 

22 hours ago, SomchaiCNX said:

Yet again a lot of wrong information in the article and replies.

 

Chute was deployed (open)

Low turn (hook turn) causing a hard contact with the ground.

The accident was filmed by another skydiver

The previous dead was somebody who got a hart attack during his skydive.

 

As somebody mentioned 99.9% is human error.

 

I activated my account again just to reply. My last jump was 28 years ago.

 

R.I.P.  Sorry for your loss Gary79

First of all, I'd like to offer my sincere condolences to Stefan's friends and family.

For those with an open mind, i want to add a little more information to this thread, as it seems a little unfair to point the finger at the DZ operators, equipment malfunction, and/or Stefan as being at fault for this unfortunate incident, without knowing the specifics . The details are a little light, other than those offered in Somchai's post.

I've been skydiving since the mid 80's and have held a USPA 'D' license since 2000, during which i was jumping at The Ranch in Gardiner, upstate NY (1997 to 2001). I have seen huge advancements in the sport during that period, as we've moved from chest mounted reserves, and sleeved Aeroconical (round) canopies with limited steering capabilities, to piggy-back systems and RAM air canopies with incredible flight characteristics.

Skydivers are a cliquey bunch, in a similar way to surfers. We have our own language, are constantly looking up at the sky, checking weather conditions and spend waaaaaaay too many hours hanging around the DZ. The common refrain used to be that Skydiving causes AID's (Altitude Induced Divorce Syndrome). Girlfriends, wives etc., will usually be supportive in the early days, but they never really understand why we're drawn to this sport, how it feels when you peel out of an aircraft at 15k and slide into a beautiful head-down position, in close proximity to your mates, flying circles around each other as you rip through the sky at 180mph... but i digress ????

Although Skydiving is obviously a high risk activity, it's can also be very safe. When i first started jumping there were no AAD's (Cypres being the most common), or even RSL's, but as the sport has become 'safer', new (and fun/exhilarating) disciplines have developed (such as freeflying and canopy swooping), which have lulled a lot of newer jumpers into a false sense of security IMHO.

Any honest skydiver who has really been bitten by the sport and spent significant hours hanging around DZ's (you know who you are...), will understand and freely admit the biggest problem within our sport. It's a combination of inexperience and over-confidence when it comes to downsizing of gear.

I'll try not to get into the weeds from a technical perspective, but downsizing of gear relates to 'wing-loading'. If you weigh 200lbs, and you jump a 200sq ft canopy, your wing loading is 1:1 (1lb per Sq Ft of Canopy), the lower the wing loading, the more docile and forgiving the canopy is as you pilot it to landing. But guess what... people don't want docile, forgiving canopies, they want little rocket ships with incredible performance characteristics (and a smaller rig profile), so they can 'swoop' and land at high speed. It's exhilarating to do, great to watch, but the risk to the canopy pilot increases exponentially, the smaller the canopy and more you downsize. If you weigh 200lbs, and you jump a 90sq ft canopy, your wing loading is 1:2.2 at this wing loading everything changes, the smaller canopy is much quirkier on opening (if not totally stable, chance of line twists are higher) the flight characteristics change, the canopy flies faster and reacts much quicker to any pilot inputs and is altogether less forgiving of errors.

What Somchai describes above as a hook turn, is old terminology, and is more accurately described these days as a 'front riser turn'. Risers are commonly manufactured with loops, which when pulled down, distort the leading edge of the canopy, enabling the pilot to dive at high speed and parallel with the ground, this is normally done in a spiral dive, you pull out as you approach the ground and swoop at high speed to land.

You can get an hours practice kicking a football around with your mates, but for a skydiver to get an hours freefall practice and canopy flying experience, it will take him approx. 60 jumps (depending on fall rate, whether he's belly or freeflying). I would jump 10 times a day on a Sat/Sun at the Ranch, but if the newbie jumper makes 5 jumps a week on average, that's 3 months, to get one hours practice, which frankly speaking is nothing, especially if you are going to downsize to high performance wing loading.

How long you've been jumping is not really a benchmark of experience, but how many jumps you have is. I don't know how many jumps Stefan had, but if Somchai's comments above are correct, the most reasonable explanation would seem to be either a mis-timed high speed landing, or malfunction during landing, as wing loading increases as you pull out of the dive. I saw a similar situation in NY, when the nose of a canopy being flown by a very experienced jumper, folded just before she pulled out of a dive, at a speed which allowed her no time to recover.

The reason for this post is simply to point out that DZ operators, rig checks, equipment condition etc., should be considered in equal measure with pilot experience, wing loading and approach/landing behavior. Skydiving has been my passion for over 30 years and I firmly believe it's a safe sport, if risk is fully considered and sufficiently well mitigated.

On 1/27/2020 at 12:23 PM, Jane Dough said:

I've got some "pertinent info" for you.

 

Hoping to "encourage an educated, authoritative discussion" on an internet forum is about as sensible as breaking into Wuhan for a family holiday.

 

Rooster

Here, here... and for the record, i'm going to get myself one of these N95 bottles, recently seen on the Shanghai Metro ????

13 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

these are the masks I brought from the USA in 2014 when I moved to Thailand.

note the soft rubber that fits to your face and the hard plastic case and straps like a scuba mask. filters are replaceable.  

 

these are N100 masks.

 

M 8233, N100 HEPA Particulate Respirator 3M 8233 N100, HEPA certificated, have a minimum filter efficiency of 99.97% of particulate mater of less than 0.3 micron. This is the best rated filter by the CDC and WHO and is recommended for ultimate protection.

3m 8233 meet the CDC recommendation for protection against Ebola virus.

Unfortunately 0.3 micron will not stop a virus, whether recommended by the CDC or not, but I do wear an N95 because the air quality sucks at the best of times. What masks will do is prevent you from directly touching your face with your fingers as you transit around heavily trafficked areas, touching various surfaces with your hands. Unless the virus can be absorbed through the skin (which it cant), i don't see the advantage of gloves, whether your hands are bare or gloved unless you have open wounds, if you pick it up on your hands, you pick it up. Regular hand washing, alcohol Gel, keep your fingers away from your nose and mouth.

With a reported 2 week incubation period, thousands of Chinese entering Thailand since late December, whatever will happen is going to happen at this point. I don't see enough people using simple precautions as detailed above, we'll know for sure in the next 4 to 6 weeks how this will all play out.

In the meantime, i would suggest Bangkok knocking shops are the safest place to hang out. The coronavirus doesnt stand a chance against whatever those girls are carrying, it'll be strong-armed on the doorstep and kicked to the curb ????

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

how very brave of him, if not a little counter productive for his government, but of course nobody will read it.

Ditto...

...Animal Farm themes center on the risks of government overreach, totalitarianism and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviors within society...

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it...

7 minutes ago, ReMarKable said:

Yes  Depends on how much you can contribute to the policeman's' ball.

Agreed, it was a rhetorical question really, we all know the score... unfortunately.

38 minutes ago, lucjoker said:

Now all these "safety" restrictions take away my freedom , so i moved away .

If you can not enjoy a few beers and drive home ......because "the law" says......no way.

 

Thais have a drinking culture,as all poor people have , work the whole day and evenings sit down with the family and friends drinking and laughing. Accidents happen and will continuing ,but that's life.

 

Let's clarify the definition of 'Accidents'

They happen by chance, unexpectedly and unintentionally, not sure that definition fits with people who drive drunk.

Any thoughts on the 'freedom' of the hardworking Thai on his way home from work after a long day, who is killed by that fun loving, freedom loving, harmless drunk driver? And if the victim was your own wife, brother, daughter, would you be inclined to brush it off as 'that's life' ?

21 hours ago, webfact said:

The update is intended to bring more discipline to on-the-road behaviour and improve overall administrative procedures by amending and then combining the Vehicle Act 1979 and the Land Transport Act 1979. 

 

Sorry... but 'on-the-road behaviour' will never improve in Thailand until the authorities take the licensing process and road traffic enforcement seriously, whcih they simply do not.

There's been a lot of waffle from many quarters regarding this issue, but in most 'developed' countries, it's not only a requirement that you actually 'learn' how to drive before you receive a license, but once you have it, 'on-the-road behaviour' is monitored and enforced by the authorities (Traffic Police... mobile enforcement, not asleep in their vehicles).

If the powers that be (the few individuals in positions of authority, who actually make decisions in Thailand) weren't so xenophobic, they would simply cut and paste from a model which actually works and apply it in Thailand (pick one of a dozen countries).

Would it be painful... cause a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth...? Of course, but what's the alternative; continued carnage and ignorance of what it actually takes to actually fix this problem... It's sad, but I'll have another pint and won't hold my  breath.