Thanks for the heads up - last purchase I made was via Lazada and it took about 9 days from China, but generally I go straight for Aliexpress and I don't like waiting for refunds much.

8 minutes ago, Ranshoko said:

Yes, totally agree. They also want to close all the bars on Sukhumvit soi 4 and 6 and elsewhere in BKK.

Sure, they should go around closing anything down they don't like. We need to encourage conservatism, instead of just leaving them alone.

It never bothered me, I never bothered to go there except a couple of quick cruises just to see how it was for myself. Not my taste, but it's not something I think worth bothering the government about - better focus on issues that affect us.

App is entirely in Thai, with a lengthy questionnaire to be filled out - but again, no English is required. We are either exempt, or the government is too inept to manage anything using English language because perhaps they all left school aged 13 with no education to join the army and get rich.

On 4/12/2020 at 11:44 AM, overherebc said:

As Mr Berra once said,

'include me out'

Interestingly, throughout the 'darker' times when we saw hospitals fill up and actually worried about getting this disease, it was fine to go to the local Tesco Lotus Express (my local one is only about 15 metres square) or 7-11.

Today, after many days with virtually no new cases, we're not allowed to go into the tiniest Tesco Lotus Express without scanning or registering. Fortunately there's paper so you can write down 'Batman 03248655' to satisfy the demand for compliance without actually complying.

Please do not copy my details.

I am assuming this is due to the 'unsuitable' venues (non-essential shops in Malls) being upset about 'unfair' competition (excluding local shops like 7-11 and Tesco Express) in selling 'non-essential' items like bum guns to replace the one leaking in your bathroom etc.

So now I'm assuming this crackdown on all 7-11's (not applied to the barber - who is not registered) is of a similar nature. Very superficial in nature... 

If they're not willing to go all the way and BAN all shoppers without a mobile device, then it's truly ridiculous.

47 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

And what perfect country are you from that is doing such a wonderful better job then they are here maintaining low numbers and deaths?

Right. In Thailand, when people were all getting sick they introduced the lockdown. During this time everyone was free to go to the 7-11/Tesco Lotus express or local food shops their goods...

After days with no new cases, they decide to put restrictions on Malls, which makes sense, and apply them to the 7-11 and Tesco Lotus, so you can no longer go there locally without scanning in, giving them your details and phone number and signing in and out.

Meanwhile people will take on a 3-4 hour drive and refuse to remove their masks in the car to be safe.

It's not just about doing a 'better job' it's more about the way they go about it.

Back in about 1978 I remember Beatties department store in England had signs at the entrance to the car park... They would allow cars in until it was full, and then close the car park until someone drives out to allow another car in. So I would say that Thailand is at least 42 years behind in that respect - they'll allow everyone to turn up and double park, and then stand and sweat while they faff about.

Sure, for 'non essential' shopping, they might have a good idea to have everyone either agree to install apps and scan in (those without apps can scribble 'Batman' and some stupid fake phone number to satisfy the need for 'compliance') but to apply this rule to the entrance to a minimart - rather than simply allow 5 people in and then force the next to wait until someone comes out - is utterly ridiculous in any language or country.

Even beyond that, my son came for a ride in the car - and stayed in the car - but when he got home his mother insisted he needed to do santiization with alchohol, as she disagrees that washing hands is equally effective and also avoids the need to use up and purchase sanitizer.

20 hours ago, Cranky said:

To go where? Frying pans and fires spring to mind. Kingdom safer than most.

Lolz sure. We just had a couple of family visitors from Rayong. They wore their masks in the car for the whole journey...

When I asked my wife why they didn't just keep the masks and put them on when they come into range of other people, she said 'to be safe'. Even with all the cases being reported being attributed to people coming into the country, they won't even remove a mask during a 3-4 hour drive.

19 hours ago, rudi49jr said:

I'm betting thousands of people who were killed in his his "war on drugs" may not agree with you. Not to mention his shameless corruption, nepotism and self enrichment.

Exactly. In his time he was evil, but since he was kicked out, that evil is being refined and strengthened.

There's no longer any need to actually provide even a sip of water to the starving masses.

On 5/14/2020 at 6:05 PM, unamazedloso said:

Who cares what Thaksin thinks? Isn't he a criminal like his sister? Typical greedy nature.

Thaksin did some good things - his misdeeds are now largely ignored, overwritten and forgotten as they're overwritten by reminders of his triumphs.

As we see these old 'criminals' ousted, we see the new 'criminals' take their place who take even more, and don't do much to replace what they take. I remember him sending out gunmen to shoot people he didn't like in his 'war against drugs'. He was a tyrant, but people remember him for his small gestures... 

I remember him mostly for introducing the 30 baht medical scheme - even as the worshipped heads preferred to support militarism and oppression Thaksin offered something very slightly less unpalatable.

Absolute dictatorship and absolute monarchy are the future... 

It's a bit like replacing the Mafia you saw in the Godfather with the real Mafia and finding out the real difference. The honourable behaviour attributed to them in the fiction was just that, fiction. They were JUST brutal thugs who did not do any good. In the past we had brutal thugs that did some good to keep the illusion alive.

On 5/15/2020 at 8:25 AM, Acharn said:

Revenge. Prevent the individual from killing again. Because it's the Law. It's pretty well accepted that death sentences don't actually deter killing. It's a good question, though, because executions used to be reported. Maybe the junta decided to suppress the publication as a public relations measure.

Exactly. The main point of the Death sentence is REVENGE, which has no place in a society which says it promotes JUSTICE.

We know even in Thai schools that 'military' style discipline rules over any idea of justice and humanity - they still dictate how students cut their hair and resort to threats if someone's hair is a bit too long, or a bit too curly for their tastes.

This was a 'military cadet training academy'. We should know that anything that aims to put people into the Thai military system will play by their rules. i.e. DO WHAT YOU WANT - you're only wrong if you get caught, and even then you might find a road out at the end if you've enough power and money.

Nice to see justice aimed at their own kind for a change, though it's clearly only because he's out of favour.  Soldiers are NOT the kind of people that should run schools, or countries.

10 hours ago, DrTuner said:

That macbook in the photo isn't available for 90% of Thai schoolkids due to costs. And that's the problem. The equipment and internet connectivity aren't for free, so the poorest will suffer.

There are some good examples - like 'The Maths Factor' and some of Khan Academy - which show how some lessons can be very well placed online, in video and interactive applications. NO guarantee of access, but simply putting the material out there for those that CAN access it.

They're not particularly difficult. In fact, going just one or two steps further than simply writing down the curriculum in code... all of the Thai curriculum could be made available in a very short time if they had any smarts, or desire.

Then schools could reopen with students attending possibly over 6 days, 1/3 of students attending each day for 2 full days per week.

Certainly my boy is doing more reading, riting and rithmatic in about 2.5 to 3 hours each day than he gets in school.

But forget about the International schools, forget about the hugely wealthy bilingual schools, or the hugely wealthy cheap 'Sarasas' type schools - most of which have actually done nothing at all to answer this crisis. The rest of the schools are left out in the cold.

At least they aren't talking about restricting the traffic - that means that you can still have 200,000 people turning up and driving around, double parking and forming queues of traffic around the car-park.

It's going to be amusing. I figured we might pop down and take a look, maybe just grab take-out pizza and go home to see what's going on. We have a discount card that means we have to physically pick up pizza... it wasn't a problem last week.

1 hour ago, thesetat2013 said:

I can't understand why they call it reckless driving? Were they breaking the speed limit?

In most civilised countries, especially ones with police, if you drive fast enough to cause a wake bad enough to knock anyone over, it's called 'reckless driving'.

The most telling feature in my opinion is that - in any other country - once this happens, and you have a video, you take the video to the police and the offenders will be charged by the police.

In Thailand, they just post it on Facebook.

Start by having a way to turn off the pump.

I've had issues with stuff like a bum gun not quite closing off, if it wakes me up at night now I'll just turn off the pump and investigate later.

Fortunately I didn't wire it in directly, I have a socket installed under my sink where the pump is...

Then it's a long painful matter of trying to half-split and diagnose the possible locations for leaks.

10 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Maybe it would have been better to man up, get an income, take care of his money and sending to his mum.

Right, 'cos that's what it means to be a 'man' right? Man up and get an income.

What would you have said if he was a 'she'. Woman up and get an income maybe?

He could have sold the gun though...  

On 5/15/2020 at 5:49 PM, bkk6060 said:

?

A bit uninformed and judgmental.

Many of them are students and that is their first job.

Basically kids who can make a mistake.

They are not stupid, just inexperienced.

Most of them went through Thai schools, where blind acceptance of stupidity is ingrained.

Police and Army have to defend their territory.

19 hours ago, Why Me said:

Great guy by the way. Super smart, articulate and humble.

Sure, the greatest ever boxer in his own words, don't leave him alone with your wife. If you complain after he rapes her, he'll just bite your ears off.

Great guy. Where do you come from? Remind me never to go there...

Fantastic.

Let's work to glamorize violence, showing how it can make people get rich and famous - using an old man who, in his time, has proved that such aggression and rape fit together nicely.

Where better to host this barbaric display than in the Muay Thai capital - will they bend the rules to allow headbutting and biting as well as kicking?

Why not make it more fun, give them some baseball bats with nails in them. Let's have some REAL sport, instead of pussyfooting around with stupid 'beat the <deleted> out of him safely' bull.

On 5/12/2020 at 10:38 PM, ParkerN said:

 

Eating meat or fish uncooked is dangerous and primitive. Which is why most developed societies do it rarely if at all and most primates don't do it at all, setting aside the reactionaries and trend-setters (forerunners of the present-day wokely-folkely). Find a social anthropoligist and ask him/her why and how humanoids began cooking food prior to eating.

Excellent logic. That's why we always prefer caves to exposed housing, defence against wandering bears.

I've been eating raw fish for over ten years, and I remember being sick about three times - from cooked food (the worst was curry at 'three coins' restaurant at Ramkhamheang that knocked me out for 3 days).

The truth is there's always SOME risk - even with cooked food. For this reason, we developed a civilisation which allows us to get our sushi from reliable/safe sources. Also, sushi usually comes from frozen fish (fresh isn't always best). Ignorance is dangerous and primitive... 

On 5/12/2020 at 7:03 PM, cornishcarlos said:

Freezing also kills nasty stuff...

So always freeze fish and defrost before eating it as sashimi.. Sashimi is my favourite ????

Whoops - freezing merely puts it into hibernation... otherwise you could keep it protected from air and leave it to thaw out at room temperature for a weekend...

Try it.

22 hours ago, Catoni said:

“No Covid risk from eating cooked pork, beef or chicken: virologist”

Well of course not. As long as the meat is thoroughly cooked... any virus or bacteria or parasite is killed.

Some people aren’t aware of that fact ????

Don't make stupid comments. That's like asking why cavemen weren't aware of the facts surrounding using sharp stones to puncture the skull to cure headaches.

How often have you seen Thai's cook food and then leave it on a table for days on end? When visiting family I won't eat anything unless I see it cooked.

Basic hygiene awareness is very patchy - they're treated like morons from school, and for many it's a normal way of behaving (even educated Thai's have some very strange beliefs).

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

Obviously it won't work for all businesses but it's actually not a bad idea, flattening the rush-hour curve (where have I heard that expression before).

 

On office days I'm usually in by 6.30 and out at 15.30 (I keep the same hours when working from home too) missing the traffic at both ends of the day and I get a nice long evening with Wifey and the dogs. Of course there's always the occasional fly in the ointment when "The Management" call a meeting at 5PM on a Friday.

 

One of my employers in the UK had true flexitime, office core hours (have to be there) of 10AM to 3PM and a minimum of 35 hours total per week. Suited the early birds (like me) and the late risers and generally worked well in an engineering development environment.

 

So obvious, yet so rare...

In the 70's my school had rolling lunchtimes... yet my wife's office is bog standard rush hour to rush hour. She has to arrive more than 40 minutes early to cut her conjestion by about 20 minutes. Even a ten minute shift in start/finish time from the hour would make a huge difference.

The fact is that they don't really care. The same way that her office has a basic policy to work alternative Saturdays, but there's rarely any work to do on Saturday... instead of fixing a monthly or weekly schedule with even minor flexitime.

During Covid, they told her NOT to work on Saturday, but 'make up for it' by staying an hour late every day. This also adds 3 hours to her weekly travel, yet she always stays late when her work isn't finished, and could simply leave when it's done...

Simpler solution is to use a fine mist spray from the shower head. 

Our water sometimes gets pretty damn warm - but the joy of having water pressure is that you can push out a fair bit of water in a mist, which feels a good few degrees colder than a stream.

Having put the water tank INSIDE the kitchen, I'd say the only other feasible option would be to have a built in tank possibly underground... but I find that a mist is cool enough even on a super hot day.

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

They don't work??? This must be my imagination then.

Yes. Whilst some curious mozzies might get caught, research shows that most insects in the zappers are not female biting mozzies. The female biting mozzies making up less than 5% of the total... leaving the area's population increasingly dominated by females. Meanwhile, you'd do better to have some fish in a bowl to eat the larvae of the next million eggs to be hatched...

I vote for carbon dioxide/fan traps. I used to prefer the tennis bats, but now my eyes aren't good enough to track them (they just disappear) and I'd given that up when I hit 50.

Also, the light might attract more of them to the area, meaning you end up with MORE.