radiochaser

I am surprised by how people from Europe consider some speeds excessive. Even though I understand that in Germany high speed driving is allowed on the Autobhan, at least it was back in the 1960's when I lived there. I will admit that 180 Kph is too fast for many of the places I have been in Thailand and I don't think many Thai drivers (if any) are competent enough to drive that fast! The last time I drove that fast was when I was given "high speed pursuit" training at a Federal Government training center, here in the United States.

Years ago in my mid 20's I did drive 153 and 161 Kph (95 and100 Mpg) on a regular basis, but that was the maximum speed limits on well maintained Interstate Highways in the state of Texas!

A little off topic, even though I think that American drivers, as a group, are better drivers than drivers in Thailand, most of them really do not know how to drive fast and safe here either!!! I am continuously surprised that more drivers don't kill themselves than do each month!

Am I the only one who has African dating service ads all over his screen? AfroIntroductions.com

One can see where TV is getting a good share of its revenue from.

I've never seen any on TVF. (Or am I missing a joke?)

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa ap

No, not a joke. TV is always full of ads for dating sites but normally just the Thai and Filipina ones. This is the first I've seen of it being context sensitive.

Or maybe it's just me? ...

Mine too. African ladies.

Pic of the suspect 'Bank' and victim in Matichon:

http://www.matichon....atid=&subcatid=

I do not know how accurate google translate is, but reading the translation, the guy seems to be a psychopath!

Are all the mentioned deaths and accidents on the main highways in Thailand?

If a person were not interested in getting from point A to point B in the fastest time possible, but wanted to drive a slow pace, could that be done on back roads, off the main highways?

And if it were possible to drive from Bangkok to, say Udon Thanii, taking your time arriving, about 1 to 2 weeks after leaving Bangkok, would that be possible and could that be done safely?

So there are lots of armed people lurking about ready for a gunfight...interesting and worrying.

If one is thinking of opening a bar in Pattaya may I suggest an authentic Saloon with swinging doors, Saloon girls in costume with an old guy playing the piano in the corner, it would make a mint.

Where would Gabby Haynes fit in? Who else could drive the stagecoach?

I remember watching a very old Western on late night steam powered TV. The film was so old that in the end Gabby got the girl.

Was that a talky you were watching?

What do I see on the News, New York fireman are gunned down attending to a house fire. After 9/11 the status of these civil servants reached an unprecidented high.Looking at the news report it looks like an affluent neighbourhood,and the dead gunman a Bum with a record. How does a Bum with a record get a firearm. Targeting NYC fireman,thats an all time low.

I was hoping to see it as a news item on here.

You can go the not so easy (my opinion only) and steal a firearm yourself. Or you can go the easy way and buy a stolen firearm.

When I lived in California, if I did not want to go through California Department of Justice mandated two week waiting period, before I could take possession of a "legally purchased firearm" I could have bought a stolen pistol, rifle or shotgun.

Being a person that did not want to violate criminal laws and take the chance of going to jail or prison, I waited two weeks!

Waiting period for any illegally purchased, stolen, firearm was, "Wait here, I will be back in 15 minutes"! My response would be, OK, I will give you $100.00 now and $100.00 when you come back. The same "legally purchased firearm" would have a two week waiting period and cost 2-300 dollars more!

So, I would say, that is how a "Bum with a record" can get a firearm. That way or by way of a "Strawman" purchase which is a legally purchased firearm which is then illegally sold to a known felon, thus violating federal gun laws and most likely violating state laws.

I am not in anyway denigrating anyone, only the laws involved regarding failed marriages in the West.

The problem is that the rules regarding the rights of wives/girlfriends in the West has gone way over the top in favour of the women:

She has the option to divorce her husband at any point during the marriage just on the grounds that she no longer wishes to remain with her partner and if there are children involved, in 99.99% of cases, she gets the family home and the kids, even if there is a new partner on the scene, plus child support and alimony. The woman gets paid even if she is the partner that dissolved the marriage and still gets paid even if the male partner and her don't legally marry.

I know of some men that had been completely destroyed by these Draconian Laws where their spouses and the system have literally picked their bones clean.

I knew a man out in California. He worked on a farm earning $1000.00 a month. The farm he worked at provided a house for him to live in. He and his wife had 2 or 3 children.

He goes home one day and finds his wife has moved out with the kids. A short while later he gets a letter from her attorney, filing for a divorce for "irreconcilable differences".

The court awarded her $900.00 dollars a month. Where did she move to? She moved in with a guy who the kids say was bringing home over $2000.00 a month net. Kids said when mom got the $900.00 dollar check, she would buy new clothes, shoes, and handbags! She didn't spend any money on the kids! This was back in 1985.

For today best be prepared for the hot temperatures of 1250 C at least this is from what the weather forecast showed

Hey!! What is the weather for Saturday??? I need to know what to wear that day!!

..... I find it difficult to believe that a family pet (which is essentially what this animal was) would be so out-of-control as to attack anyone passing on the street. ....

The next door neighbor of my niece is a man who has several dogs that he allows to run free outside his property. His dogs try to attack my nieces dogs, which she keeps locked inside her property.

These dogs also have run up on me, surrounding me, barking and growling, causing to have concerns about being attacked and bitten. His dogs do this when I walk on the short road where the houses are, off the main road. He yells at the dogs when he is in his yard and sees them surround me. I yell at the dogs too, when they act like this. A nice friendly guy. I have been in his yard a couple of times talking with him about his work around his house.

Down the street is an older lady that appears to be an unfriendly person. I do not really know what kind of person she is, but she never responds to me when I say hello to her. Her dog is an unfriendly dog. Based on how it reacts to people walking down the street, I believe it would bite someone if it could get out.

When I thought that the old woman was going to let her dog out one time when I passed by, I had no stick so I took out my knife and held it hidden in my hand in case she did let her dog out and it tried to bite me.

This old lady's dog acts in the same manner as trained military sentry dogs I have seen. The sentry dogs were extremely vicious and would attack and bite anyone outside the cage they are kept in, if they could get out. The sentry dogs were known to attack their handlers and put some of them in the hospital!

It is because of how the dog reacts to passers by that leads me to believe that, even if it is a family pet, it is a vicious animal and will attack people that are not part of the family if it could. I have seen Thais yelling at the old lady about her dog, so it isn't just me. She just ignores them and goes inside her house.

These inhospitable types are not wanted here, deport him back to the Farangland and let him and his cuddly Rottenweiler become someone else’s problem.

Times like this I wish they would bring the Dislike button back.

There used to be a "I don't like this" button?

I did not know that.

I concur if there was one.

Boy that was a hard story to find. I just searched using google under news and did not fine one newspaper in the USA who carried the story. Apparently it is only running in Australia. I searched, "Americans fight for the right to bear arms-at work, and I get the Newcastle Herald. Is this big news in Australia? Just asking....

State of Alabama: http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2012/11/23/ala-lawmaker-pushing-for-allowing-guns-at-work/

State of Florida: Proposed Florida law: Companies can't keep employees from bringing guns to work. Seems the newspaper , Orlando Sun Sentinel, has removed this article from their website.

Bushmaster, not pistols caused most of deaths. Medical examiner just gave statement. He examined 7 bodies of first graders. All had Bushmaster wounds were all shot between 3 and 11 times.

I had read an article earlier that stated the only firearms Lanza took into the school with him were pistols, that the police found the bushamster in his vehicle.

I wonder when we will get the real truth of this, if at all?

Watch news! As a fed agent you should understand preliminary reports on something like this gets pretty fouled up. They also said at first his mother was a teacher and he shot her in the class room. They said it was his sister he shot at home. I think they are being very up front and answering all questions during press releases I saw today. Maybe net rumors and stories are not best sources sometimes.

Why imply someone hiding something?

Seems like details are coming out better now and some sad stories. Poor dad of six year old little girl was on TV.

It was not my intent to imply that the media was lying, just wondering when the actual truth of events would come out. I have seen where the media does lie about events, but have also seen what I perceive to be lack of correct reporting of events due to any number of reasons.

I can see how my comment could imply that I was accusing the media of deception in this case, but again, I was not.

Bushmaster, not pistols caused most of deaths. Medical examiner just gave statement. He examined 7 bodies of first graders. All had Bushmaster wounds were all shot between 3 and 11 times.

I had read an article earlier that stated the only firearms Lanza took into the school with him were pistols, that the police found the bushamster in his vehicle.

I wonder when we will get the real truth of this, if at all?

A lot of missing the forest for the trees here.

These atrociously violent acts by young American males are the symptoms of an ill society. It's been painful realizing this only the latest in a consistent string of similar tragedies, continuously being produced through some faults in our American culture to which we are too blind or weak to notice. Expect Americans to widely attribute these events to poor implementation of some government policy, while failing to reflect on how they treat, lead, and value one another.

I agree that these are symptoms of an ill society and expect many loudly vocal people to attribute these acts to poor implementation of some government policy, but expect that those same people will not blame the person commiting those same acts as being the person responsible.

I think society as a whole, all over the world, is experiencing some thing going wrong. While I have some thoughts about the reasons and write about some of them, I really do not know what the actual reason or reasons are.

it grieves me to the core of my being when I take the time to think about it all.

Called human nature when awful stuff hits home. Empathy. Don't be a sour pus who is the one making it about oneself from attention perspective. Empathy is more powerful than sympathy. The world needs more of it.

Yeah, this event made me think back to when I was in American elementary school in a school that looked like the one in Newtown. My generation had some traumas too and they were actually pretty bad at the time, but comparing them to what those kids in that school have dealt with is kind of mind blowing. My traumas in the 1960s were: the shock of a beloved president Kennedy assassinated; the Cuban missile crisis (I was in a target city, we had a bomb shelter, duck and cover, and I had nightmares about planes dropping bombs); one year a local serial killer of children was on the loose for months (fear and nightmares); then there was dodge ball . Childhood even in the best of times can be DARKER than most adults sentimentalize about. But again remembering my childhood nightmares and what it was like to be in elementary school, comparing to those kids, right now ... feeling very bad for those kids, obviously the dead but very much so for the living as well. Really, the idea of mass shooters at schools wasn't even close to being in people's consciousness then. Now, it is, when's the NEXT one gonna be?

I was 14 in 1964, when I returned to a school in Louisiana. One day I was sent to the principals office for some reason. In a corner of his office were several .22 caliber rifles and various shotguns.

I asked a friend about it. He told me it was squirrel season. Some of the kids would bring their rifle or shotgun to school so they could go hunting right after school let out. Each kid had to have a written note from their parents saying their child could go hunting squirrels after school.

The note had to have a telephone number that the principal could call to verify that the parent knew their child brought the squirrel gun to school and could go squirrel hunting after school. If the family did not have a telephone, then the note had to specify when a parent would stop by the school and speak with the principal.

If the kid forged a note or did not have a note giving him permission to bring the squirrel gun to school and/or to go hunting afterwards, then the kid was expelled from school and the parent had to pick up the gun. If a parent did not pick up the gun, then it was given to the local sheriff department and confiscated.

This was at a time when there were little if any government support services, only local church charity organizations that would help out people that were too poor to provide for themselves with money. The only time many families had meat or fish was when they shot or caught it themselves.

No child ever threatened anyone at school with a firearm at any time!

no one is attempting minimize the horror of these shocking events. Quite the contrary, i mean to give them the respect they deserve

what i find offensive is people who take such tragedies as an excuse to wax lyrical and turn the thing around to make it about themselves.

in this case a forum spat.

that, to me truly is self indulgent nonsense.

I like this response to what was written better than your first. Thank you for explaining.

It is rare to see this type of massacre in the rest of the world, only in America is it somewhat common place.

Mexico, as US good ole boys loves em some close to broder Texas gun shows where they can set up and sell assault rifles. American capitalism at it greatest. Cartel guys come up and pay nice premiums for all assault weapons that they can find. Great for US economy as gun dealers get rich by selling to their non licensed buddies who get even richer selling to felons and Mexican cartel members. No wonder Texas loves them some guns and the NRA as gun trade keeps their economy above water. Flat bed semi the other day got stopped in Mexico with 478,000 rounds of ammo after going from Laredo to Neuva Laredo. Ammo was easy to see and in the open, but US BP and Laredo cops thought it was cool to watch it driving around and cross border. Good ole boy NRA capitalism. Better to drive new truck than old Datsum truck. Guns and bullets don't kill so no worry seeking this stuff to felons and cartel members. NRA and sellers not responisle for their actions.

Do you mean this story?

http://www.kvia.com/news/US-Truck-Driver-That-Took-Ammo-To-Mexico-Not-Charged-At-This-Time/-/391068/15242782/-/ogtivyz/-/index.html

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_22081753/truck-driver-talks-about-time-mexican-prison

A question from an outsider. Simple curiosity - no more. Different States have different laws so is it possible to buy guns in a State with lax laws and then simply take them over the border into a State with strict laws without any legal comeback?

A good question. For example Florida now has ONE MILLION concealed weapon licenses. I think they wouldn't apply outside Florida. It's probably a patchwork for different situations. There are federal laws and state laws for most any issue in the U.S. Just a comment -- sure the gun owners know a lot more!

Concealed Carry permits issued by the state of Florida are legal for concealed carry in several other states. If each state accepts the others permit then a reciprocal carry is allowed.

I, for instance, can legally carry my hand gun concealed in Florida and several other states as well.

I'm all for some gun control, but what happened here was a failure of our health care system, or lack there of. Please also notice that a man in China stabbed 22 children yesterday.

Well, guns can't be controlled and shouldn't. They were made for this.

But people who own guns should be controlled with tough psychological tests. Random check on gun owners to see how they conceal their guns so to keep it out of reach for everyone.

This will create new jobs as well.

Oh that will work well. Felons and teenagers can already buy assault rifles at gun shows and off the streets. Truth is, most people that feel the need to own and do own assault rifles and special license for machine guns have mental anomalies. Normal people just don't feel the need to have a gun.

The above statement appears to be written as if anyone can walk into a gun show and buy anything they want here in the United States!

OK, again, felons cannot legally buy firearms at gun shows! This is a complete fallacy! There are federal and state laws that address the issue of if and when a felon can buy a firearm!

A person considered to be a felon may only buy a firearm if they go through a stringent process that may have to be done with either or both the Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and/or state and local law enforcement agencies. Only after those agencies have determined that the ownership of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony violation of a "criminal law" and would not be a threat to society due to such ownership of a firearm, then that person will be able to purchase a firearm! I emphasize "criminal law" for a reason. You can violate a "Federal Legislative law" and end up with the brand of "felon". Criminal and Legislative laws are different.

There is a small number of these people in the United States. Most times once you have been convicted of violating a "criminal" law that causes you to be branded a "felon", then you are never allowed to legally own a firearm again!

Teenagers purchasing firearms at gun shows????? Not even if that teenager is in the military and has a combat infantryman Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) in which he has extensive training with the current military rifle and how to use to use that rifle to kill human beings!

He cannot legally purchase a firearm at a gun show, period! To say so is to perpetuate a myth or even an outright lie! I believe you have to be of the age of majority, or 21 years of age, to be a legal purchaser of a firearm.

Now, felons and teenagers purchasing on the street? Yes, that can be done. I participated in several undercover firearm purchases in California years ago. Every gun that I purchased "on the street" so to speak were stolen firearms. Two of the glocks I purchased were stolen from police officers!

There are also "straw man" gun sales. A person that can legally buy a firearm buys one, then sells it to someone not legally eligible to purchase a firearm.

Logical consequence of the too liberal Arms law in the U.S., where every criminal can buy arms in the next shop around the corner. Responsible is at the end the Republican Party, which opposites any change to arms trade laws.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, is all about saving lives and protecting people from harm—by not letting guns and explosives fall into the wrong hands. It also ensures the timely transfer of firearms to eligible gun buyers.

Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and launched by the FBI on November 30, 1998, NICS is used by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to instantly determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy firearms or explosives. Before ringing up the sale, cashiers call in a check to the FBI or to other designated agencies to ensure that each customer does not have a criminal record or isn’t otherwise ineligible to make a purchase. More than 100 million such checks have been made in the last decade, leading to more than 700,000 denials.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics

It didn't stop James Holmes creating a veritable arsenal and getting thousands of rounds of ammo online. But as one gun "enthusiast" said about him: ""If I only had 6,000 rounds for my AR-15s, I'd literally feel naked". How can you reason with mental cases like that?

Well since you bring up James Holmes, I offer up this link about him. http://www.infowars.com/murder-under-hypnosis-the-james-holmes-story-takes-a-familiar-turn/

When I read things like this, I am unsure if this stuff is true, conspiracy theories, or outright fiction.

As to the issue of thousands of rounds of ammunition. When I was working in California, a shooting range was close enough to my office to be seen and heard. Depending on my work schedule and the time of year (i.e. when the sun went down) I would stop there to shoot before my work shift or after my work shift. I worked rotating shifts so would have time after day shift, mid shift or before evening shift.

I purchased a case of .22 caliber ammunition as I like to shoot this small caliber out to 100 yards with both pistol and rifle. A case of .22 ammunition had 5000 rounds in it. I expended the entire case in about 10 months!

I have owned firearms since I was 12 years old (I purchased my first rifle in a military Post Exchange) and I am now more than 60 years old. I have never had the urge to shoot people like the deranged individuals such as James Holmes or this most recent shooting by Adam Lanza.

Logical consequence of the too liberal Arms law in the U.S., where every criminal can buy arms in the next shop around the corner. Responsible is at the end the Republican Party, which opposites any change to arms trade laws.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, is all about saving lives and protecting people from harm—by not letting guns and explosives fall into the wrong hands. It also ensures the timely transfer of firearms to eligible gun buyers.

Mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 and launched by the FBI on November 30, 1998, NICS is used by Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to instantly determine whether a prospective buyer is eligible to buy firearms or explosives. Before ringing up the sale, cashiers call in a check to the FBI or to other designated agencies to ensure that each customer does not have a criminal record or isn’t otherwise ineligible to make a purchase. More than 100 million such checks have been made in the last decade, leading to more than 700,000 denials.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics

I would point out, at 20 years old, you are not allowed to purchase a handgun under United States Federal law. You have to be 21 years old to purchase a handgun.

Yep, gun control works well. Just go to trade show a buy you an AK. Just give them a fake name so through don't know you escaped from an insane asylum and are wanted for murder. Should be good to go.

And the buyer gives the licensed firearms dealer a fake name. That is if the dealer is a local licensed firearms dealer, if he isn't, then the purchase must be made through a local firearms dealer who is at the show just for that purpose (and he gets paid by the buyer for it too).

Then the local firearms dealer asks for a drivers license or other required identification card to back up the fake name you have given. If no ID, then no sale.

The licensed firearms dealer is required to, "Before ringing up the sale, ... call in a check to the FBI or to other designated agencies to ensure that each customer does not have a criminal record or isn’t otherwise ineligible to make a purchase."

There are strict guidelines for the identification as well. I was a Federal Agent with badge and credentials and the firearms dealers could not accept that as valid identification for purchasing a firearm!

The argument that you can just walk into a gun show and purchase a firearm from any of the dealers is a fallacy. State and federal laws requires the sale must be legitimate! Any other sale at a gun show is a felony act!

If there is anything to call the fashion police for, it is these fat, facial haired, tattooed, simmet wearing, shorts wearing Farangs.

I am not fat. I shave my face. I have no tattoos. What is a simmet? (too lazy to google) I never wear shorts, not even at home!

Yes I am a falang.

Oh, I never go to Pattya!

Ah, a guy just like me, I bet your'e handsome as well. Anyway, a simmet is a vest, in Scotland we call it a simmet. When I go to Pattaya, I take my wife sometimes, or go with my friends, maybe about twice a year, and as a non drinker, I never go to the bars.

Why yes I am a handsome guy. And the more money I give to my girlfriend, the more han'sum' I am too!