wolf5370

I just listened to a recording of the shooting at the cafe. LINK

1. I believe there were more than 30 shots which would indicate more than one gun because Ak-47's, M-16's and AK-74's tend to have magazines that hold either 20 or 30 rounds.

2. Some of the bursts sounded like semiautomatic i.e. one trigger pull for each shot.

3. A couple of bursts sounded fully automatic, machine gun style.

4. All of the shots sounded like smaller caliber than AK-47's as in M-16 or AK-74. But, it's a low quality recording so nothing is sure. It didn't sound like AK-47 which has a deeper sound but a slower moving, larger bullet.

5. I believe I heard AK-74's or M-16's.

(An AK-74 is built on the same platform as an AK-47, but the bullet is smaller and faster and has a greater range. It is similar ballistically to the M-16 but not as accurate.)

I think there may have been two shooters at the cafe.

It's hard to know what weapon was used yet. But i seriously doubt that it was something with 5.56 ammunition, that is very rare on street level in Europe, especially Scandinavia.

Most illegal guns comes from eastern europe(Ex. Yugoslavia in particular, mostly from Zastava Arms.) And it's not the 5.56 versions, its mostly the AK-47 knock off, with folding stock(Zastava M-70).

But in general on street level the Zastava M88 pistol is a favorite, as it is accessable and cheap. Assault rifles in Scandinavia is very rare. None the less he acquired one, its going to be interesting to know the whole story.

He could have been using the Zastava M84, CZ Scorpion knockoff. They appear on street level sometimes as well, and is chambered in 7.65 short. But eyewitness was saying that

they saw a apx. 100cm long plastic-like rifle, that does not sound as the M84.

Don't forget there are a lot of European gun manufacturers too, not limited to American and Russia (Chinese knock-offs) so much as in the USA. Not sure what "Plastic-like" means, perhaps it means "looks like a toy assault rifle" in which case perhaps Belgian FAL? or if it means "strange looking/not traditional looking/futuristic" then perhaps something like the AUG HBAR (Steyr - Austrian)???

"Have a nice trip" he said

In more then 80 times passing Thai immigration at SVB i have never ever seen them say anything to welcome a tourist.

Heard this a lot, may be it is just the times some people fly (busy times????). I have never had a miserable Thai immigration person at Swampy (or Dongwan before that). Last time I arrived after a trip home (March 2012) it was quite busy at immigration (queue wise), the immigration guy was very friendly, asked if I could talk Thai (having seen my marriage visa), and we chatted for a few minutes about my kids and stuff in both Thai and English - nice chap, smiled all the time. I find the older males are best to go to - women always look miserable so I aim to avoid them.

I saw the program on my usually streaming site, but avoided it as I thought it would either be the usual every-expat-is-a-sex-pat thing or looking down the nose at Thais - from the comments above though it seems not - so may watch a few episodes to see. As a Brit here, I try to avoid such programming as its just so embarrassing and shaming watching the idiots that get chosen for 5 minute "stardom" - I guess every country has their muppets, but the UK media seems to love to air our dirty laundry at every opportunity!

There's something that really annoys me in this forum: All posters demand equal rights from Thai government, but when Thai laws get applied to them many Farangs complain. Do those Farangs want an Animal Farm where all are equal, just some foreigners a bit more equal?

How is your rant relevant to this topic; it only applies to foreigners - there is no such law for Thais.

" bright flashes of radio waves that last only milliseconds, but still emit as much energy as the sun in an entire day. "

What the..? Emits that much energy...in a milisecond?

Obviously I don't understand the physics of radio waves....what equipment could handle that?

Much bigger stars, binary systems and black holes for starters. Our sun is big to us, but is tiny compared to some suns out there - it is too small to make a black hole (or anything like one) when it eventually runs out of hydrogen.

Interestingly if you were a super advanced alien species that wanted to send out a message far and wide - small powerful burst is the way to go, there is less scattering that way and they stay more intact. Most signals from space are very faint, this must have sent the oscilloscope off the charts!

This is growth rather than might, so seeing any US, UK or Euro zone cities on it is great news after the global crisis. It means people are being hired again (out performing job loses) and those extra people are making more money per head!

And here we go again. For example Swedish krona have lost almost 40% against the Baht in 6 month. Why? Because the government have printed 100% more money in the last 8 years without telling the people.

ECB does everything wrong.

-0.2% inflation. Anyone living in EU can tell you: nothing is cheaper. How can inflation decrease while housing for example are at record level?

We really need a French revolution and take care of the 1%ers..

1930-1970 No economic crash. Then 1976, 81. 91, 2001, 2008.

Why? Because money lost it value and banks gained the ability to lend out something that does not exist and get interest for in. Best business idea ever! There are even a legal case in Sweden about this.

Fact: When bank lend you money: they don't have that money. In Sweden for example banks are required to have 0% by law. In US its 8-10%. If I for example lend 100 dollars in US, the bank only need to have 10dollars. 90 dollars created that does not exist. And somehow they get interest on it.

Another absurd thing is that banks threat checking accounts as assets. So when I get my 100THB saliry: According to the bank THEY have 100THB and therefore they can lend out 1000 that does not exist.

This is exactly what happens every 8-10 years now. Still today most people don't understand what happened in 2008.

2008:

You buy a house. The bank value it at 100 dollars. They can therefore lend out 80dollars. (and again: the money they lend out: they only have 10% of it. The rest is air)

The next day the bank calls you and say: Your house is worth 50 dollars. We can therefore only lend you 40 dollars. You have to either foreclose or pay the difference in cash.

And when we talk hundred of thousands of dollars: People dont have that kind of money. The absurd thing is that its the bank that decides what value the house have. Even if there is a buyer who wants to pay the original price: the buyer cant get a loan for that price.

Suddenly the bank have a "bad loan". Officially they have "lost" 50 dollars and have a house. The loss is tax deductible. The government bailed out the banks. A couple of years later: The house is worth 100 dollar and we the bank can give a loan to it.

This is how the biggest wealth transfer in history was done. Again and again. And the winners are always the banks.

Todays dollar: Only 3% of the total amount of money are coins and bills. The rest is "nothing". Stuff banks have created and get interest for.

Since the banks needs to have cash to pay out to people who wants cash: If the customers want 3.000001% of all cash = the system crashes like 2008. This is the reason why they want all to pay with card. Every western countries goal is to remove all money from the society to protect this insane system,

I dont know how it is in other countries. In Sweden: banks dont have cash anymore. I sold my house last year. Its impossible to get that money in cash. Legally I can get about 1500 dollar/week. All because the banks are protected. If the people have to much cash the system crash.

This is why Bitcoin is such a huge treat to governments and banks.

Banks cant lend out non existant bitcoins. Governments cant print bitcoins. Thats why they campaign against it all the time. Most security hacks against bitcoins are probably done by governments. (or more likley: MT Gox and the Silkroad owner. They have the same ethnic background. And if you check the banks 2008: same ethnic background. Just a fact).

Take Thailand:

One of the main reason why housing is "cheap" here is because people cant lend 80-90% of the housing price.

The whole western economy is built on this insane hyper economy.

Every company is recommended to have 70% debt. I buy shares in these AAA companies. Automaticly I am allowed to lend 90% of that chare price and so on and so on... They lend out far far more than the original value since this is just a money transfer.

Today the 1% own more than 50% of ALL THE WORLDS assets.

In Sweden: 115 years ago: State, aristocrats, church and farmers had 90% of the wealth.

Today its the 0.7% of the population that owns over 75% of all assets. This biggest heist/money transfer have gone extremely fast.

And yes. Its a specific inner circle that always have the money/wealth in western countries. The control media. Invented Political Correctness. "Rasism" and so on. Everything from the same Frankfurt school (just read the wiki).

This is why the non-western world like Thai for example have a huge advantage over western countries. There are no Political correctness in Thailand. My freedom of speech is much greater here than in Sweden where they lock people up just for example pointing to academic facts. I cant even say what ethnic group that owns 90% of Swedish media. Its a fact who own it, but legally I cant say it without going to jail. "western freedom".

Only solution is a French revolution and simply take back all assets by the 1%. Would solve all dept problems and so on.

Then move to bitcoin or some currency that are not controlled by greedy politicians or bankers that can charge interest for something that does not exist.

There will be an economic collapse between 2016-2018.

It will start in the USA 2016 because of tax hikes/less money = the banks starts again with this cycle of stealing money.

(and above is a hint why most westerners "hate" muslims. They dont have interest. Everything in western media that you read about muslims: who owns that media. What are their agena? Think and you see a funny pattern. But most people just want to live in their dreamworld. I personally am a refugee in Thailand fleeing a corrupt government in Sweden that have killed of 30% of the ethnic swedes in just 30years. Its ok. Its just evil whiteys)

Of course this is not a new concept - just has more recently taken on monster proportions as you describe. The rot started back when coins stopped being worth their value - Lady Jane Gray was executed as a pretender to the throne although she cousin to the king and ushered in because of her religion. The reason why was that she was pushing for the shilling to be worth a shilling, which had changed very recently. Before Tudor times a coin carried its worth in metal - a golden guinea was worth a guinea in gold content - after it was less than half. Today some coins are actually worth more than their face value, which is why they are removed from tender or changed to baser metals. Notes of course have no intrinsic value, only the promise to pay. With notes came the ability to lend money that does not exist.

There are only two ways this ends: A revolution (likely post huge global crash); or technology makes wealth obsolete. Neither likely any time soon as they are controlled with little bubble bursts that still profit the big money and decimate the poor guy on the street.

The other thing in your time scales is that during 30-76 period you mentioned there being no crashes, the world was still reeling from and paying for the Wall Street Crash that caused (with a little help from the French and the Treaty of Versailles) the second world war.

Bad move.

They were not committing a crime, they were offering a service that Thais can't offer.

They were taking nobody's job.

Just another excuse to say how bad these foreigners are..................

I know, you can't work without a WP, but at this instance they were harming nobody.

Rubbish and nonesnece, it was a crime, read your visa restrictions, end of!

Read yours, and immigration law - working is defined by doing work and expending energy. So, everything is breaking the law!

Bad move.

They were not committing a crime, they were offering a service that Thais can't offer.

They were taking nobody's job.

Just another excuse to say how bad these foreigners are..................

I know, you can't work without a WP, but at this instance they were harming nobody.

"They were not committing a crime,"

"I know, you can't work without a WP,"

Make up your mind.

"...they were harming nobody."

Perhaps they were harming those who paid to be taught English properly. I'm sure that if they were properly qualified to do that job they'd have had work permits.

You are "sure" are you. Or are you just guessing and likely wrong as much as right. Schools offer terrible wages and conditions for teachers in general here, online they can earn more and work at hours to suit. They are likely to be at least TEFL qualified, and many will be retired individuals and have degrees from earlier life. Just as qualified as most foreign teachers here. However, I am "sure" you know best - and the Thai authorities are really trying to protect the interests of those poor Chinese students!

Technically, from an international trade perspective, what they are doing is illegal in both Thailand and China. In 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed. The WTO is where 160 countries from around the world meet and agree on the rules they want for international trade. The WTO also released the General Agreement for Trade in Services (GATS) in 1995. GATS is the rule book for international trade in services. A service is a type of economic activity that is intangible, not stored, does not result in ownership and which is consumed at the point of sale (internet definition). GATS defines 12 service sectors and education is one of them.

Both the GATS agreement China signed in 1995 and the 2007 ASEAN/China trade agreement in services doesn't allow for providing a Mode 1 (cross border supply) services from Thailand in to China for language training. They might not be stealing jobs from Thai citizens but technically, they are stealing jobs from Chinese English speaking teachers inside China. It's similar to smuggling goods across the border from one country into another. In this case, it's a service being illegally exported from Thailand into China. China could complain if they wanted to. The internet business providing the service was also operating illegally in Thailand which explains why there were no work permits for that particular job to be found when the employees were asked for them by the police.

All in all, illegal foreign trade, working without a work permit or the wrong work permit and possibly not having the right visa while working.

for all I know, this may be right. but there's an entire industry openly operating around the world in violation of the rules you're citing.

Yes including huge international companies it seems - Google for instance is providing an intangible service, so is Microsoft, Yahoo and many more.

International online services are subscribed to, rather than pushed at. As described quite eloquently by someone above the Internet is capitalised as it is now a "place" (albeit a virtual one) - it simply does not fit with a lot of these archaic laws, rules and agreements - 1995 was a time before global Internet business existed.

if you can not abide by the thai rules and law, and can not afford to live here, go back to your own country, this is there country

If you are here, then you are not abiding by their rules either - see definition of work with respect to immigration law - so are you leaving us so soon?

Can't manage to catch those who possess/make/sell fake passports and engage in people trafficking but nab a few would-be TEFLERS.

Thai police seem to manage to apprehend a lot of foreigners who've been charged, even convicted and sometime briefly incarcerated in foreign countries, but who manage to slip through the fingers of the "superior" farang police and immigrations in those countries. The prisons here seem to be packed to capacity, so Thai police appear to apprehend a fair number of local criminals. Do you really think they should not enforce the laws against all levels of crime until they first catch all the "priority" bad guys?

The countries that Thai Visa farang come from certainly are constantly tracking down, arresting, incarcerating & deporting foreigners who are illegally resident in their countries and/or working there ... often doing work that their own nationals won't do, spending money in those countries, sometimes even paying taxes. In many cases the work those illegals do is vital to local economies and harming no one, but they are still tracked down, arrested and deported. Does that mean all the serious criminal the Farangland have been caught and the only thing left for the police to worry about is someone picking cabbages without a work permit in California?

On Thai Visa it often seems the most heinous crimes involve beach chair concessionaires, jet ski operators, shop owners who park illegally or lottery ticket sellers that charge more than the set price. Not often you see the farang apologists proclaiming that these "crimes" harm no one or that these people spend their money in the local economy.

It's not really about how petty the crime is or that no one is harmed. The deciding factor here seems almost always to do with the race/nationality of those caught. If they're farang, then the police and authorities are being unfair. But if some Thais cross the legal line or inconvenience Khun Farang, then they should be dealt with severely.

"On Thai Visa it often seems the most heinous crimes involve beach chair concessionaires, jet ski operators, shop owners who park illegally or lottery ticket sellers that charge more than the set price. Not often you see the farang apologists proclaiming that these "crimes" harm no one or that these people spend their money in the local economy."

I guess that would be because these people do harm the economy and do cause harm others with their theft, violence and intimidation. Are you really suggesting that a foreigner here, teaching another foreigner in another country, is somehow comparable to a jet ski operator defrauding 1000's out of tourists at the point of a gun or club and complicit policeman? Apologists? Man you really have a strange outlook on life!

How about asking a like for like. How many farangs here would object to a Thai, with a valid visa, in their own countries (lets say the USA for the sake of somewhere relevant), logging in a teaching Thai to someone in a third country (say China ) for money, which is then spent in the USA and thus enters the USA economy? Hand up! Anyone?

So, don't be absurd - these are not vicious criminals, thugs or thieves. They are people providing a service for very little money, that Thais cannot provide, that only bring money into the country - that have no way of providing within a legal framework where getting up in the morning is officially illegal without a WP, and where there is no "self employed" WP to cover it anyway.

Anyone know what type of work permit they could apply for in order to work 'online'?

I thought head honcho was quoted saying, a few months back now when all this recent visa fuss started, that these online workers were not the problem or indeed a problem? And although he didn't go as far to say it, he pretty much said these online types will be given a sort of carte Blanche. Albeit, yes this is Thailand and everything has to be taken with kilo of salt. Must be a bit of a worry for other online workers... Just saying...

Dashing off a few work related emails from the beach, posting on your well sponsored blog from your hotel room, or trading a few shekels on the Forex from poolside aren't a problem if you're a genuine tourist.

Working full time in an office as an unofficial resident without proper work permits (and a tax number) is a problem.

...but they are both illegal under the letter of the law, and as most have said here, the law is the law. So off to gaol for those who email their boss or clients whilst on holiday.

some people just like to push the boundaries, now they have blown it and will be tossed out, pretty stupid really for a few extra dollars

Teachers I know do it because it is their only source of income....sad really....they love to stay here and this is the only way they can do it. I'm feeling pretty grateful after reading this.

I've never taught English in Thailand, and wouldn't want to.

But over the last 5 years, I couldn't COUNT the number of Thais who openly and repeatedly encouraged me to teach English without a WP. Almost daily. And when I responded that I didn't have the right visa, so I couldn't, without an exception they all stated 'Who cares!'

This has nothing to do with 'how Thailand feels' about farangs teaching English in Thailand - or probably taxes, either. It's about picking on soft targets to put in the newspaper and pretend that foreigners are a bigger problem for Thailand than the lack of elections, and the million other problems Thailand is ignoring.

Hear hear

Yes that will do wonders for education in the kingdom - why not go the whole Maoist way and execute all teachers!

These people were providing a service for pennies, a service Thais cannot provide (just as a Brit cannot provide native Thai language, unless of course they are nationalised Thai of which there are far more than there are nationalised westerners in Thailand total). Cost to Thai economy - zero; Gain to Thai economy foreign income from both the foreigners home and the clients home (China).

Whether you think it's harmful or not, they are the laws of the land here.

I have not said there are not. Laws exist everywhere - they are written by people. Courts worldwide struggle to pick the sentiment behind the letter (the actual words), which is why higher courts exist in the first place. In a sensible society, some laws are relaxed and others strongly enforced - this changes based on the accused's situation also. This is normal. However, I am not disagreeing that there is a law, just that 1. A law designed to protect the economy and Thai jobs should not be employed to do the reverse; and 2. That if there is a real need for a service, and a pool of people willing to provide that service, then the law is an ass if it steps between - a far better solution is to bring said people into the fold, by provisioning a legal exception (or exempting clause) to the law.

In this instance, I feel the correct solution would have been to dissolve the company and prosecute the company owners, but to release the teachers with a warning. The question still remains - were they self employed contractors or employed staff. Both technically illegal under the letter of the law, but treated differently in most cases - and only the latter COULD benefit from a WP, there is no availability of one for the former.

You're probably just resentful that U.S. English is the globally dominant style of English.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

yes it is, but its not ENGLISH

Yes it bloody well is!

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

oh no its not, how can 'colour' be 'color', how can a 'tap' be a 'faucet' how can 'pants' not be something you wear under trousers

Erm "pants" is short for "underpants" - that are worn underneath trousers - as an American invention they were called "underpants" and not "undertrousers".

"Colour" used to be spelled "Color" in Britain too, this was the traditional spelling. It changed with the love affair with France during the powdered-wig 1700s - though most commoners, that could write, still used the non-u version until late Victorian times. It was the break between the UK and the US that sepated the evolution of the languages separately - just as Castallano Spanish differs from South American (indeed even between regions of South America) but remains intelligible across them all.

Not 100% sure about faucet - the original term was actually "spigot" as in a barrel "tap" - "tap" was term that means to remove the top, or sometimes all, of, i.e. to tap out a barrel. Faucet is used in British English as a device for helping a baby descend the plumbing during birth. Some early texts refer to taps as "spigot taps", so it probably came from there. Running water post-dates the separation of the US and UK, so the USA term came from their good buddies the French, whereas English took the term for a barrel tap and used that.

English is a bastard language anyway - arguing over it is absurd. The Germans, Italians and Greeks could just as well moan about how the British have twisted their languages!

Its only 17 teachers out of how many English teachers in Thailand just take this 17 and make an example 30 years in a max security hard labour Thai prison that will stop them robbing the Thais out of a job and make these so called teachers think twice about illegally working in Thailand.

Yes that will do wonders for education in the kingdom - why not go the whole Maoist way and execute all teachers!

These people were providing a service for pennies, a service Thais cannot provide (just as a Brit cannot provide native Thai language, unless of course they are nationalised Thai of which there are far more than there are nationalised westerners in Thailand total). Cost to Thai economy - zero; Gain to Thai economy foreign income from both the foreigners home and the clients home (China).

Whether like it or not, law is law and they need to respect it. Also I guess nobody forces them to come to Thailand and work illegally. It is 100% their choice and responsibility. If somebody teaches Chinese in the US without proper visa, do you think the US immigration would just let you go?

Give me a break.

Bad move.

They were not committing a crime, they were offering a service that Thais can't offer.

They were taking nobody's job.

Just another excuse to say how bad these foreigners are..................

I know, you can't work without a WP, but at this instance they were harming nobody.

Not the same scenario at all. They are westerners teaching English to some Chinese, in China, online from Thailand. Someone teaching Chinese IN the USA would be taking jobs of Chinese native language speakers IN the USA. Thailand has no native English speakers to speak of, and it is not Thais being taught in this story. Your implication is that there is a market for Thais to teach English to China - which is laughable.

Duplicate post

Bad move.

They were not committing a crime, they were offering a service that Thais can't offer.

They were taking nobody's job.

Just another excuse to say how bad these foreigners are..................

I know, you can't work without a WP, but at this instance they were harming nobody.

Are you under the impression they were paying income tax? Are you saying that is a victimless crime as well? If all foreign workers in Thailand failed to pay their taxes what would you think then? What if you were the Junta and you knew that the number was not 17 but 17,000 of 170,000, would that change your mind? Where do you think the government would turn for those losses if not prosecuting individuals for this offense?

How about allowing for WP for self employed native language teachers? - or self employed online work for clients outside of Thailand? - then they COULD get a WP and pay taxes. Your argument predicates on the lost income of taxes - money that was never there and could not be as laws do not viably allow for such a legal scenario. If taxes are wanted, then give an option for people to be able to pay them - rather than stoning people that cannot.

The client's were Chinese, which means Chinese money is coming into Thailand and being spent in Thailand (including VAT). This in inwards movement of money and includes entry into the taxation cycle. This has now been lost with no gain - immigration continue to go after soft targets because they do not understand the difference between the letter of the law and the sentiment of the law. Jeez, even their own ministers and immigration chiefs cannot make up their minds, with comments coming all the time that contradict what is legal and what is not. If they cannot agree, how are workers to understand?

And no, I am not in such a situation, before I am accused of being an illegal TEFL teacher.

Bad move.

They were not committing a crime, they were offering a service that Thais can't offer.

They were taking nobody's job.

Just another excuse to say how bad these foreigners are..................

I know, you can't work without a WP, but at this instance they were harming nobody.

OK, not harming anyone.

So if I open a company that offers the same service but pay 50.000 / month , work permits, social , taxes.

Then this company turns up with the same service but does it illegally and can therefor undercut me, they are not harming anyone?

You would not be able to do so viable anyway - you would need 4 Thais for every work permit. There is simply no way that could be accommodated viably in a business plan where the only income is via those WP native English speakers. This is a straw man argument.

Thailand are going to continue to hit soft targets, that are not at fault with the sentiment of the law, just the letter of it. If immigration wanted to actually stop illegal workers they would be raiding construction companies and the homes of wealthy Thais that hire illegal Burmese and Cambodians for pennies and treat them like slaves.

This is just a knicker-waving exercise to show they are doing their job, but avoiding causing the problem like they did last year when they causes an exodus of needed Cambodian workers. I only wish the same would happen with native English speakers - that they all stop teaching, or move to Cambodia or China and teach instead - lets see how that helps Thailand. Outside of brick-and-mortar schools, most English teachers will be illegal because there are no WPs for them - there are no "working online" WPs, there are no "self employed" WPs - language schools cannot afford or logistically accommodate WPs for all their teachers. If they did, then the price of courses would be too high and very few would exists - and them only for the wealthiest people and companies.

Pretty much every industrialised country has sets of people that do not follow the letter of the law in their working, but are necessary and therefore overlooked as a necessary evil - here it is done too, until they want to show just how good they are - agreeing with this wacky crack down is simply not understanding the situation, the benefit/deficit or the reasons behind it.

What's the chances that a few doors away the exact same set up is running in competition, but has a "friend" in immigration - certainly a good way to get a monopoly.

Please do not fret, my friend. Costas, rubl & djjamie will be along shortly to explain why these measures are to be applauded and how the west is far worse.

Did you miss me

Actually I'm disappointed that such snooping will be allowed without a proper warrant. On the other hand sometimes time is of utmost importance. With proper justification I would allow warrants to be asked after the snooping event and insist warrants are ALWAYS asked whether before or after.

Snooping is a hot issue for governments. The terrible attack in Paris a week ago puts pressure on governments to prevent such attacks. I'm afraid that at times freedom and security do not mix well.

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin, one of the original founders of The United States of America.

But, I expected you would be along to stick up for the status quo.

A mis-interpretation.

I have no good answer how to balance security and freedom and looking around me neither does the 'World'. Does that mean I 'stick up' with the status-quo? Can or should I alter something in here ? Does my attitude as professed in the post I wrote before make me much different from other posters here?

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"

Othello. Act III Scene I

William Shakespiere

Oh I really must disagree - it's Merchant of Venice Act 3 Scene 1. Shylock says it to Salarino.

some beer drinking/ barhopping sad farangs who hate anything thai.

The prejudice of Issan people by farangs

The intereference of thai politics by know all wannabees.

The disgust of thai driving, then farang do the same

The hatred of corruption by farangs, who then want to bribe police, and have the right to buy themselves out of trouble

The wannabee hi-so farangs, that think they are better than thais

What about "The prejudice of Issan people by many Thai people" ?

Indeed, one of the reasons farangs are looked down on, sneered at and laughed at behind their backs, is because they are happy to marry a dark skinned northern lass! In fact I;ve been here a long time, and yet I have not ever heard a farang slagging of Isaan people as a group - although I have often heard Thais do exactly that. Farangs may comment on their lack of education, families being often happy with sending their young daughters off to the city brothels , and their aptness to take loans for silly things like mobile phones, parties and cars when they have no way of repaying it - however, this always seems more aimed towards the government for allowing the continuation of all that, than the people themselves.

To BF - what is a Hi-So Wannabe? If you mean the Nouveau riche, well the west has had them longer than Thailand has existed, so who is the wannabe? If you mean poor farangs trying to look wealthy when they are not - Thais have us beat here too - just check out the monks with their bling and tech; or just about any dirt farmer with their IPad and IPhone. I agree about the corruption and driving comment however. The rest is just drivel.

Just a quickie, Macro Hang Dong have a special on Danish Blue - got 100G for 80 baht. Emborg Danablu (imported of course). Get it while it lasts - treating myself right now ;p

//Edit: Jus to add - not at Deli counter, over with the milk and bulk cheese at the back right of the store

.

In my café we would buy a tray of eggs (size 2 - 30 per tray) for 60-65 baht (seasonal) for years up until 2011. 2011 the price shot up to 105 baht (same farm - excuse was that most eggs were being mass purchased and shipped to Bangkok - this is Chiang Mai btw). Now prices are 97-102 baht per tray, with a large over surplus. Shopping around (as we do often to ensure the lowest price/quality) - and our supplier has changed their suppliers several times for the same reason - we see this the norm in the industry - at least locally.

"Shopping around (as we do often to ensure the lowest price/quality) -"

Nice to see that you shop around to ensure the lowest quality. Good PR for your caff.

Shame your reading ability is not in the same league as your foot-in-the-mouth posting eh? I clearly said Price/Quality - is that sum a little difficult for you? Let me help you - if the quality is high and the price low, then that is best - or would you prefer expensive crap instead? If the price is high and the quality low, that is the worst. Everything else is a balance between price and quality - with a sweetspot at the best quality where price is not an impact to sale price of the meal. Sheesh! Some people really like to advertise they are dumb as bricks!

Where are you? Usually they either take them to a charity dog drive - or more often - just release them somewhere else. However, they keep closing down dog meat suppliers.