Walkabout

then and now ...

Quote "The brave Muslims at it again......................women and children...........

All in the name of the invisible prophet!!"

We prefer to do it for power and wealth . . . Syria, Libia, Afghanistan, Irak, and so many other countries since so many years. And the collateral damages are so un-important ... And now we do not even need to be brave, we can steer drones from our chairs at home ...

"..... but it is the people who own such supreme power."

and I suppose that "the people" can express their supreme power only by voting ....

I just discovered this interesting thread.

There is an interesting website where most SEA tree species are described. A PC application with a good database is freely available: you can then keep the info on your PC/laptop ... Beside botanical and common english names, you get also the common names in all the SEA languages (romanised Thai included) as well as a description of the trees. The site is: http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/products/afdbases/af/index.asp

Regards

"He is not charged with distribution - he is charged with assisting others in the distribution"

Assisting is quite an elastic concept. What about the big communicatioon companies whose networks are used for the "crime"? Or even the local and national governments whose road networks are used for all kinds of criminal activities ...?

Having lived in Africa and Asia for many years and experienced the US ways, I tend to think that this NASA project is only a foot in the door ...

See what "Voice of Russia" says, as reported by the Voltaire Network at http://www.voltairenet.org/US-tosses-new-challenge-to-China

Extract from http://grist.org dated 2011-02-16:

“When you think of “caramel,” you probably imagine cooking sugar until it turns brown. But that’s not quite what soda manufacturers do to blacken carbonated water for cola. According to CSPI, here’s what they do:

Caramel Color IV (synonyms: ammonia sulfite process caramel, sulfite ammonia caramel, sulfite ammonia process caramel, acid-proof caramel, beverage caramel, and soft-drink caramel) is prepared by the controlled heat treatment of carbohydrates with ammonium-containing and sulfite-containing compounds.

So, they take carbohydrates and cook them up with ammonia-based chemicals. In addition to dark color, the process also yields a carcinogenic chemical called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI for short. CSPI points to studies on both rats and mice fed 4-MI showing significant carcinogenic effects.

Evidence of 4-MI’s cancer-causing power is so strong, CSPI points out, that just last month, the state of California added [PDF] the substance to its list of “chemicals known to the state to cause cancer.” “California has determined that [4-MI] levels above 16 micrograms per day pose a significant risk,” CSPI reports. How much is in a can of cola? According to CSPI, 130 micrograms — eight times higher than California’s danger threshold. Drink two cans per day, and you’re ingesting 16 times the level deemed dangerous by California.”

BTW: When reacted with sulfites, caramel color retains traces of sulfite after processing. Further, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies and regulates caramel color in Title 21 CFR 73.85 as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) color additive EXEMPT FROM CERTIFICATION.

As for the claim that Coca-cola never changed their receipt in 125 year, that is pure commercial talk. The coca disappeared from the regular formula; phosphoric acid (as indicated on the can) replaced another one I cannot remember; in most western countries, natural caramel was replaced with an industrial substitute (which legislation allowed to be called caramel!); the cheaper high-fructose corn syrup has replaced the natural sugar (some of my Californian acquaintances claim to taste the difference between a US regular Coke with HFCS and a Mexican Coke with sugar from cane);….

Copying is as rampant in the USA as in Canada ... but it does not make the US list, of course.

And there are so many excuses to overlook the the IP rights. Just looking at music in Western Europe: the IP rights collecting agencies distribute the collected rights (after taking a large parts for themselves - so called operating costs) to the major labels (and not the smaller ones who are not strong enough to defend their rights) which, after taking also a large part for themselves, distribute what is left to only their leading artists. Less known artists (the majority) get nothing. But what is more troublesome, the countries take a levy on all recording media (CD, DVD, HHD, memory sticks and cards ... ) in the name of the collecting agencies to compensate for the "loss" of rights. The honest buyer pays thus the IP rights twice ..

Here some info:

3G -> 3.9G

There seems to be confusion when people discuss terms like 3.5G, 3.75G so i decided to define them. I am sure people who have objections will comment. Lets first start with 2G systems:2G = GSM2.5G = GPRS2.75G = EDGE Then moving onto 3G systems:3G = WCDMA, R99 (i am not looking at other technologies but similar mapping will apply)

3.5G = HSDPA3.75G = HSUPA3.8G = HSPA+ (HSPA Enhancements)3.85G = 'HSPA+' + MIMO

3.9G = LTE 4G = NOT WiMAX

Steerable (by Big Brother T) … Yes, she probably will be.

But then, the leaders of our own western democracies are not much better, considering that there are controlled by Big Money (the Banks, the Cargills, the Monsantos, ….).

By the way, we may perhaps consider that the colour “competiton” (yellow, red, …) is more a fight between the Thai elite who tries to keeps its money against the Western Money who tries to get a larger part with the help (conscious or not) from a proxy (Taksin)

<br />Google tells me that navies and NATO do send convoys from time to time to provide safe passage. <br /><br />Why could these people not just wait for one of these convoys and tag along?<br />

... because small boats cannot keep up with the speed of commercial ships. The speed of a displacement hull is function of the length of that hull ...

Were the Thai boats fishing "legally" in those waters?

Here an interesting article http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/3-toxic-waste-behind-somali-pirates/

Yes, "demand" is a strong word and it is for a flotilla of about 50 boats ... There are also unsafe parts on the west coast of Africa. Going east, you have to be careful in the south of the Philippines and eastern Indonesia. Even the the strait of Malaca is quite dangerous. Btw, the website of Alondra is www.alondrasailing.com

It could be a software problem.

We bought a Huawei dongle with DTAC sim a while back. It would only work with XP. Vista wouldn't recognize it.

A quick trip to DTAC at Siam Paragon and they installed Vista software for the Huawei for free and haven't had problems since.

DTAC Nakon Nayok could help. I guess I shall have to wait until my next trip to Bangkok. Thanks.

Hi

I got an Infinity Aircard (from the Chinese manufacturer Sunplus) from DTAC and it works fine on the laptops of my wife and daughter, both with Windows XP. When I installed it first on my computer with Vista Home Premium, it worked until I disconnected it for the first time. When I tried to reconnected later on, the software indicated that it does not find a SIM card. Uninstalling, reinstalling, going back to a previous restore point (in Vista) does not help while the Aircard continue to work well on both XP machines. During the several attempts to reinstall the software, I can see a red window appearing in a flash to short to read what is written on it. The install log shows several lines with failed EstonInstED.exe processes.

Could someone help? Thanks>

Hi

I got an Infinity Aircard (from the Chinese manufacturer Sunplus) from DTAC and it works fine on the laptops of my wife and daughter, both with Windows XP. When I installed it first on my computer with Vista Home Premium, it worked until I disconnected it for the first time. When I tried to reconnected later on, the software indicated that it does not find a SIM card. Uninstalling, reinstalling, going back to a previous restore point (in Vista) does not help while the Aircard continue to work well on both XP machines. During the several attempts to reinstall the software, I can see a red window appearing in a flash to short to read what is written on it. The install log shows several lines with failed EstonInstED.exe processes.

Could someone help? Thanks>

I found this forum looking for info about building a boat here in Thailand.

I have the full set of drawings for the Shpountz 38-40 wooden gaff-rigged shooner (see attached picture). I like the boat having crewed many years on one. But it is out of my reach financially for the material as well as for the estimated building time (about 10 to 12,000 manhours)

I started now to design a smaller and simpler junk-rigged sailboat of about 11 m overall length. The designing phase is still WIP (work in progress). Estimated building time: 3,000 to 4,000 manhours.

You can see the lines and some renderings.

I hope this can give some inspiration ...