canopy

Some farmers have had their bananas stolen as many as 6-7 times this year.

In the 21st century this is so trivial to solve. Just put up a trail camera with a sim card in it and all will become clear in real time. Instead they choose a prone to failure dark ages approach "volunteers from the villages are now holding joint patrols of banana plantations at night". They are making it too easy for the thieves. It's no wonder it's a problem.

What is the problem with it if the product is OK?

I'll go out on a limb here and say they have no idea if it is OK or not, there is no scientific testing going on to prove it is OK, and they aren't getting any approval from the manufacturer to do this. So it's just fraudulent marketing to salvage food going bad and fool customers into thinking they are getting a deal. In my country, they could get shut down for this. Lying and not caring if customers get sick is a seriously bad business strategy.

Several years ago Villa was caught selling food with deliberately altered expiration dates. After clear evidence like yours was brought to their attention they told a staff person not to do it anymore. No reprimand. No one got fired. Lots of people bought bad food. Not surprised to see it happening elsewhere as there seems to be no accountability.

An advantage of 2 years over 1 is those that don't qualify for a 5 year license only need to renew half as frequently and for those people that will be a good thing. The disadvantage is for others it seems you must wait a year longer for a full thai license of which there are numerous subtle benefits. For instance, you may not be aware social drinking is not allowed on a temporary license as the blood alcohol level you have to meet is almost 0. And there are other differences.

I have to wonder if all the ramp up in cloud seeding may be to blame for the increasing droughts. At least in my area in the North rainy seasons have become progressively shorter, rains smaller, and less frequent. Meddling with mother nature is never a good thing. They need to ground the cloud seeding program pending a credible environmental impact study.

Good. And what exactly is that white component on the right side of the box and does it need retained?

Yeah I know and gee, 6000 watts, I've never seen one that large before. A complete redo the right way crossy recommends is what I would do, but it isn't my place. And exchange isn't doable. So let me throw out another possibility. The shower is pretty low flow, driven by low psi so perhaps never pulls full power which may be the only reason worse problems haven't happened yet. What if I simply replace the faulty knife switch with a 20A RCBO and tell them just not to turn the dial up on the shower to where the breaker trips?

I was summoned by a neighbor upcountry because they were having problems with their 6000W shower heater not activating. The unit looked brand new. However, the gfci test button did not trip despite there seemed to be a ground attached. I noticed a few problems at the service entry. A screw had stripped and so the wire to the heater was loosely contacting the main switch. The insulation was melted and the arcing made the contact black. Improving this connection allowed the heater to work and that's all I did for now. I also noted the wires were only 2.5mm2 on a 15M run to the shower. I also noted the meter is just a 5/15. I don't want to get overly involved in a complete redo of their house wiring nor do they have money to do much. It will probably be a tough sell as the system works, but is there anything simple that might be helpful or safer to advise in this situation.

where grey water is put in the same tank as human waste

Exactly right. And so if separating blackwater from greywater, which you probably are, that's an excellent factor to take into account when choosing your source since it reduces the size needed. Typically a size that yields 4 days retention time is considered to be very good.

I will take that advice every time over some hyped up piece of wiki junk every time.

Simple solution: if you don't like wiki junk, then don't read it. Simple as that. There are plenty of sources of reliable information to choose from. If you can't be bothered to look anything up, you'll simply be repeating the mistakes of the past which in the 21st century is completely avoidable and ludicrous.

Hey Arjen, your research stinks haha. Sorry, couldn't resist.

My guess is...

And in the 21st century why guess? There is absolutely no need to do that when the answers are online free and easy. Just choose a reliable source to your liking and you have chosen a solid system size. Be forewarned 1000 liters sometimes doesn't work. Numerous people have had problems with that size. So it would be stupid to listen to a single observation that says "it worked for me" and flat out ignore the rest of the people's experiences. And studies have been done, calculations performed, and easy to read material released to help your decision. It shouldn't take even 2 minutes to look up the right septic size for your purposes. It may be less than 1000 liters. Or more. Or equal. You could end up saving some money. Regardless it means you've made a large step in assuring your system has a chance of performing great.

One other note. It is short sighted to calculate based on how many people are currently reside a dwelling. It can fluctuate over time and if it's ever more than that, then what. Again there are easy to follow guidelines to help.

But isn't there a simple way to assure buyers can understand whether land being sold is legitimate? Step 1: forestry department adds their borders to google maps. Step 2: anyone interested in buying land steps inside with a smart phone / GPS to see if they are in or out. Completely eliminates being fooled by dodgy documents and corrupt officials. No excuses. Everyone knows where the border is.

It's easy to see that Thai's are happy to pump their cesspits frequently so when they choose a septic tank, they just get a small one that in turn needs pumped frequently and the trucks dump it all in an environmentally insensitive way. Thai's also don't care about groundwater contamination so the outlet from these undersized tanks that aren't as effective as big tanks for treating waste usually goes to a pit rather than getting biological treatment in a drain field. In the 21st century it's just not necessary to make up a system that clogs easily and pollutes the environment when the rest of the world has developed simple rules that solved these problems for generations. It may be of interest to note the smallest legal size of a septic tank in the state of Florida, which has a similar climate, is 3400 liters. And in many cases they need to be, and are much larger than that. Moral of the story is if you want a system that is long lasting and good for the environment to boot, don't choose septic tank size arbitrarily by just putting a finger up in the air or looking at what other incompetent people around you are doing. Look it up. If you are smart enough to post here, then you are smart enough to look it up. Also it's a good idea to opt for a multi-chambered unit. Some building codes require 2 or even 3 chambers to maximize treatment.

"We are focusing on the big rubber plantations, larger than 30-50 rai, where the owners are not locals

Sounds more like an eviction than reclamation project. For every rai reclaimed the locals will just take it back plus however much extra they want since they are exempt. Then the nominees come. Doesn't sound like a successful strategy.

I don't get it. They want to reverse a normal, healthy economic trend of an ever smaller population and artificially raise it to millions of buffalo doing nothing? Thai's aren't going to use these for farming just like the current population. It sounds like the future is millions of unwanted buffaloes forced upon the poor who don't want them who in turn become a burden to the tax payer propping up this senseless idea. I hope I am missing something.

There are shops that have copper in bkk. thainair and thana-intl are very good. They have web sites and great english speaking staff.

This is the reality all over northern Thailand.

Exactly right and same here in Phetchabun. Like you say it's crazy right now that the government doesn't know who owns what, but the people living/encroaching there do and buy & sell with ease even with no titles. And the forestry people drive right on by their dwindling forests. Out of curiosity I once politely stopped a forestry pickup truck and pointed to a fire made by poor people encroaching in the forest nearby and innocently asked why they didn't do anything. They said basically "enforcement is not our department" and went on their way doing whatever they do.

But there is a change in the air. Earlier this year the government for the first time had every single village in our province use GPS equipment to survey every single land holding without chanote and get signatures from each person who claimed the land. Maps and boundaries were then drawn up and submitted to the authorities. I don't know what this is going to be used for, but heard it is subject to approval. Mass evictions seem doubtful but I am hoping, probably incorrectly, this will at least become an impenetrable wall that no one is allowed to encroach past.

Human waste is a terrific fertiliser and is in no way a vector for disease...A local night-soil collector empties these and the waste is put directly onto the fields, including those with growing plants which will later be sold.

No, no, no! Human waste is extremely dangerous and must be used with great caution! The absolute worst thing you can do is what you describe: place raw human waste in contact with produce that will be consumed by others. The fresh eggs and parasites in it will love that quick path from one person to the next. I highly recommend learning about how to compost human waste properly. The system I use is described in the Humanure Handbook and is pretty easy, but requires 1-2 years before it is safe to use.

Let me explain as I live in rural Thailand. In the country, folks do not follow sets of strict and complex rules which is required for organic. There is a spec. You must read it. You must understand all of it completely. You must follow all of it with no deviation. You must be tested to verify you meet the spec for certification. Not going to happen. Just look at some other areas for reference. When they drive, they just do what they want on the road rather than follow the rules of the road book. Most never get a legitimate license. Or how about when they make a house--it's just ad-hoc junk with no building codes observed. Have you ever heard of a decent brick layer? Or electrician? I haven't. And when farming, here again they just do whatever they want. So there is indiscriminate burning, chemicals, poisons, and erosion even though these can carry significant disadvantages such as lower profitability or be detrimental to the environment and population. So in summary: they don't care. They do what they want rather than following someone else's rules.

This type I always thought of as a civet but they look a bit different. The one in the first post has a tail like a cat and this one has a tail like a monkey.

I would sit a security camera with sim card inside the shed. So when the door opens, it rings your phone instantly day or night. You can't stop people from breaking in, but cheap 21st century technology allows you to detect it as it happens pretty reliably.

Exactly right, so why are you lost? I bring the toyota in after 6 months expire. The book lists things that should be done at least that frequently. But they don't know what to do and ask me what I want. They are confused as to why I am even there and sometimes suggest things that don't make sense. This thread confirms one may need to take a more active role instead of relying on Toyota to properly service the vehicle.

I am surprised to confirm Toyota hasn't a clue what to do with people who accrue mileage at a slower rate than average. I read the owners manual and there are numerous checks that should be performed at maximum 6 month intervals. I guess I need to bring the book to the counter and go through line by line and show them what it says to do, how frustrating. And the recommendation to take it to another shop as a stop gap measure seems less than ideal. First, Toyota will no longer be able to track what's been done and what hasn't. Second, useful checks could be skipped.

This is just one more reason I've lost a lot of confidence in Toyota service. Let me give another example. I use breaks gently and often prefer gear braking. One service interval Toyota Phetchabun told me I used brakes very sparingly. The next time they said I'd still be fine. The next time the brakes had worn through and cost me a lot of money to rectify. I was very concerned this had happened as I had accrued very few thousand km since the last service and as they said, I use brakes gently. What if I had put on a "normal" amount of km the last 6 months? What if I didn't use breaks so gently? I let them know I was not satisfied with this outcome. To appease me, they had a nice girl call and claim the problem was because I live in the mountains which uses a lot of brakes and so wasn't their fault this happened. I asked if what she was trying to say is their policy is to put everyone in the mountains in danger of losing their brakes. They still didn't get it and did nothing to appease me or change their policy. The machine is solid, but the service hasn't met my expectations. Glad others have had better experiences.

I have had a Vigo for 7 years. I thought the right thing to do was bring it in every 6 months for service which is what I have been doing. But here in Phetchabun each time they seem more confused than ever with what to do and ask me what I want. Or sometimes they recommend a service type for mileage I am years away from getting to which seems really wrong. One of the contributing factors is I put fewer KM on that is usual; maybe 3000 in 6 months.. I would have thought it would be pretty standard to at least change the oil and perform some basic checks every 6 months just like during the 3 year warranty. What is the right interval for servicing after warranty and what should I tell them to do? It has regular oil, not synthetic.