connda

When does this lunacy end???

Thousands of Thai deaths due to smoking - officials make huge seizure of tobacco and cigarettes.

Hummmm

Hypocrisy marches on...................................

And it's gotten to this boys...

Rasmussen Poll: 71% of Democrats Say Clinton Should Run Even if Under Felony Indictment…

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/may_2016/50_say_clinton_should_keep_running_even_if_indicted

Pretty sad commentary on the lack of ethics among Democrats, eh?

That women is as pure as fresh driven snow (and about as cold)

Muay Thai has an art to it....MMA is like a version of human cock fighting....

Thug sport.....

Lol

Ahhhh, the smell of a 'potential' revenue stream in the morning.

Wat Chedi Luang is a large and important temple, people have to pay to go into large and important churches in the UK and it's sometimes over twenty Pounds, not 40 baht. And even if entry to a UK church is free, assuming it's not locked (!) the cost of upkeep is passed on to the tax payer via things such as the Chancel Repair Bill, the cost of which is borne by the tax payer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancel_repair_liability

Wat Chedi Luang is an extremely popular temple and is a 'tourist' spot for Thais too. Most Thais will donate to the temple during their visit. My wife and I have donated at least a few thousand baht during my time in Thailand. This is beyond the scope of normal wear and tear upkeep. it's going to take a few hundred more years of farang walking around that temple to cause the bricks to wear down and need replacing. The wat has plenty of money for upkeep, repair, and upgrades -- the discriminatory fee goes beyond that. As a Theravadam Buddhist, I just find it unsettling to see those responsible for the wats being swayed by greed. It's that greed that goes totally counter to Buddhist teaching.

And this isn't England where there is no separation between church, state, and the means to levy even more taxes on an already heavily taxed populace.

Wife and I go to wats because we're Buddhist. When at a wat, we freely support the wats we visit. Force me to give money based on discriminating against me based on the color of my skin and nationality at birth, I won't go. Simple. They are making Wat Chedi Luang a tourist attraction first, and a wat second. Greed -- such a fascinating human trait. Don't even get me starting on the topic of 'true Buddhism' being hijacked by profiteers.

However, in Chiang Mai, there are hundreds of temples to choose from, and many of those having rich history and a non-discriminatory entrance policy. It's pretty sad when ฿฿฿฿฿฿ becomes more important than Dharma. True Buddhism will only survive in what's left of the forest monasteries and possibly in the stricter Dhammayuttika Nikaya and orders within Sri Lanka. The rest of Thai Buddhism seems to be in a flux and easily coaxed off 'The Path' by the mantra of ฿฿฿"Cha-Ching"฿฿฿

What a fascinating condition -- human Greed! This guy and people like him have it all: money above and beyond most Thais wildest dreams, but he (they) needs more, and more, and more. I imagine he'll be serving his jail term in some country-club prison for Thai socialites, if he serves time at all.

You're obviously not a Thai farmer. Out in rural Northern Thailand, lots of smiles come with the rain. With the rains come mushrooms, and then the fields fill with water and the rice planting can begin. If it continues to rain, the reservoirs will fill, the farmers may be able to plant a second crop, more smiles.

You're confusing Thai city-dwellers with Thai rural folk. Even when its drought or floods - the rural folk smile. And when the planting seasons are really good, they smile even more.

You should consider relocating to San Diego, CA. You'd be happier.

Both political parties are equally responsiblity for the train-wreak that is now the US economy; where the rich get richer (including all congressmen and senators) and the poor get poorer.

The true 'myth' is that government is good for the economy. They need to reestablish Glass-Stegall and other regulations protecting the markets against predatory corporate practices, abolish the Federal Reserve and put the issuance of money back in the hands of the Treasury, and then get the hell out of the way, including allowing any and all businesses, including banks and large corporations, to fail and go bankrupt. Supply a limit social safety net - then keep their hands off the markets.

Extremely wealthy buddhist abbots are obviously 'teflon' and untouchable. Surly the RTP will redirect their energies to bust and jail 'little people' for major crimes like chewing kratom. The wealthy, religious or secular, don't normally get tossed under the bus the way 'little people' do, regardless of the relative magnitude of their crime. It's not just Thailand, but Thailand does seem to disproportionately hold to that philosophy. Rich = 'teflon'. Everyone else = jail fodder.

TPP is a neocon trap. I hope the Thais will wake up and oppose it. That is, if they are allowed to look at it in the first place. Like the TTIP in Europe it's all hush-hush because it's simply unacceptable. Imagine corporations controlling governments ...

It's a really fascist piece of legislation that puts sovereign nations under the control of corporations. Signatories agree to be bound to the judgements of a corporate tribunal. For instance, if Thailand chooses not to plant GMO crops, a GMO producers such as Monsanto can sue the Thai government for loss of revenue, and the proceeding are arbitrated by the aforementioned 'tribunal' made up of corporate entities. So the governments of signatory nations are handing the sovereignty of their countries over the the whims of corporations, which is essentially the classic definition of fascism. Governments who choose to go this route are essentially selling out their countries. The only long-term winners are corporate interests. It will be a sad day for Thailand if this is allowed to happen. But ya'll know the power of greed over the human will.

Live large; crash hard. Ouch.

Employees??? Didn't the kind-hearted, compassionate monks care for the big cats by themselves???

Might be more fruitful to concentrate those 100 officers on targeting the source of those drugs, but as usual, harvesting the low hanging fruit is easy, productive, and makes great (albeit, boring) copy.

No wonder I'm agnostic. My first wife was Jewish, My second was a muslim, My third of whom I,m still married to is a Thai Budhist whom I love and is best . I was born Anglican, Religion "It's all bullshit".

Then you should understand that your wife is probably an animist, and that true Buddhism is not a religion. Me? True Buddhist. I don't market in animal parts, nor do the monks whom I follow.

...and the nail is driven into the coffin of the 'Tiger Temple' issue. Epic! If real. Brilliant! If not.

Other: Too many hot, sexy Thai women. I don't want to leave.

"What am I doing on the Internet Tiirak? Nothing sweetie. Hey is that a new Thai Soap you're watching...."

Just don´t leave. Be a sex addict and enjoy. Just a choise of life , dude

Please what ever you do, don´t look the soap operas!

Proof positive that my posts are too subtle for most. Well, at least for the besotted variety.

"Dood, i need a dikshenary to understand wad ur sayin."

Yep.

"She was sentenced to four years reduced to two years on her admission of the offence."

"The defendant said she would appeal against her conviction and asked for bail through her lawyer."

Agreed. I don't see how the lawyer will appeal the conviction considering she, apparently, took a plea bargain - but the Thai justice system is a different animal. Or maybe it wasn't a plea bargain. Who knows? I just pretty sure they do not have jury trials here.

Two years in a Thai prison probably isn't a picnic in the park. My guess is that on top of the cash compensation, the two year sentence is a facsimile of a just sentence.

To put it in perspective, my daughter died in a one car accident when her boyfriend took his car off the road at high speed resulting in her death. He got a $400 fine. He had no insurance. My insurance paid out $50K. The money was inconsequential other than for her funeral.
So - define 'justice' for me? I would have considered a two year sentence and a $50K civil fine as 'justice'. Without 'skin-in-the-game' I don't think that TVs arm-chair jurists really can understand.

You know, the 737 I fly is certificated for 15 knot tailwind takeoff/landing as long as certain conditions are complied with. Then we routinely climb up to altitude and sometimes enjoy tailwinds of 80, 100, 200+ knots, you name it

So why do we not "flip over", experience "instability", or stall?

Yes, a tailwind increases takeoff or landing distance required (ceteris paribus) but "Air flowing accross the wings" has nothing to with groundspeed and tailwind operations are not germane to a discussion of aerodynamic stability or stalling at all.

I understand why people might think such things, but they never read it in any flight manual or heard it from somebody who knows what they are talking about so it is baffling to me why people continue to post such rubbish, even on an internet forum. Then again so-called professional journalists publish sensational inane things all the time whenever there is a major accident/incident. Based solely on speculation and with poor understanding of basic aeronautic principles and flight operations standards and procedures.

CNN "B777 will struggle hold altitude with empty fuel tanks!"

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect1464764133.001215.jpg

You know, the 737 I fly.......

I am sooooo jealous.

We had large thunder storms down here in Lamphun this afternoon. Perhaps they were avoid thunder-heads? I use to fly general aviation so just my educated guess.

Quite an interesting mail, thanks.

Do you happen to have a photo of the fungi concerned?

For interested mycologists, this article might be of interest.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-31/tasmanian-fungi-hunters-citizen-science/7461438

I have not been in the mountains to collect them myself, so no photos. I showed my wife some pictures of Astraeus but they didn't look like what she is use to picking. I need to see the entire fruiting body and get a spore print to get a positive ID. Thanks for the link.

My wife is visibly excited when she returned from the market. She informs me that large groups of people from as far away as Lampang has shown up this morning in our sleepy little village which is bordered on three sides by the Khun Tan National Park. Their reason for coming to our moobaan in the early morning pre-dawn darkness of this grey June day? To gather the mushroom delicacy: Het Tawp.

Earlier this year the forests on those same mountains were ablaze on a daily basis, and those fires and similar fires throughout Northern Thailand contributed to a choking and dangerously unhealthy haze of particulate suspended over this normally beautiful region from mid-February until mid-May of this year. Why the fires? Random lightning strikes perhaps? No, that does not account for the sheer magnitude of the spot fires throughout the region. However, virtually all the villagers in the moobaan understand why the fires happen, and some quietly engage in the deliberate setting of these fires yearly during the dry hot season months. There is a commonly held belief that fire simulates the growth of these mushrooms. The villagers I've spoke with indicate that they find the mushrooms by walking up the mountains and seeking out sections of the forest that have been burnt, and specifically sections of the forest floor that have been scorched and blackened. They then start removing the thin, burnt forest soil layer to expose the highly prized Het Tawp mushroom fruiting body. Just from what I've described, one can imagine the consequential ecological damage: First the damage to the forest canopies is readily apparent more so this year than years past; the damage to the already thin and less-than fertile forest floor which in turn results in erosion and excessive, silty run-off that contributes to the pollution of our village water supplies, not to mention the horrendously bad air quality we experience three months (or more) out of the year. All this so that the Thai locals can collect the Het Tawp.

So why is this mushroom so sought after? The Het Tawp, which I believe to be in the genus Astraeus, possibly Astraeus Odoratus, is a non-cultivatable mushroom with a very short growing period of approximately 2 to 4 weeks out of the year. The mushroom tends to grow according to the proclivities of various micro-climates in the region. For example, the mushrooms appeared on the Doi Khun Tan mountain forests two weeks earlier than the mountain forests above our village. The locals generally know approximately when and where the mushrooms appear based on their seasonal cycles, and will opt-out of their normal work in order to collect these relatively rare and correspondingly expensive mushroom. How expensive? Mushroom are sold by the litre instead of per kilo. A litre of Het Tawp can command a price ranging from 250 to 500 baht per litre depending on their relative abundance or scarcity. This year a litre sells for 300 baht locally. In the markets of larger cities such as Chiang Mai or Lampang the price doubles. This year is turning out to be a bumper year with some local families picking upwards of 6 to 9 litres per day. For most villagers whose primary employment garners them 250 to 500 baht per day, the prospect of earning upwards of 3000 baht in a single day is highly alluring. And that allure is the primary reason that Thais burn up large swaths of their protected national forests and mountain jungles each year. No, it's not random lightening strikes; it is very deliberate, but no one in their right mind ever openly admits to engaging in the practice.

Next year I may attempt to fully document this annual event starting with the dry-season/fire season which culminates in the early rainy-season Het Tawp mushroom harvest. Now, we're already closing in on the tail-end of this season. In it's wake will be a rainy season bringing excessive erosion and silt-clogged aquifers to many villages, not to mention a plethora of chronic health problems arising from the inhalation of the acrid, polluted air; a by-product of numerous forest fires set in Northern Thailand while on the quest for the Het Tawp mushroom.

It's Putin's fault.