Chicog

So sad that the Stanley Cup isn't in HD.

Or Moto GP, Or F1

I'm sure it will be soon. They had HD F1 on Sky Italia last year (although this year they seem to have abandoned F1 altogether - cost cutting I presume).

The Maple Leaf (opp. Guitarman) will doubtless be showing late games - advertising them anyway, and he's got HD.

http://www.mapleleaf-bar.com/calendar/webcal.html

found this WC predicition based on a countrys GDP, economic data- interesting

And if it's got Serbia in the semis, probably wildly inaccurate. If you want to know who's going to win, look what the bookies offer.

They don't make money for nothing.

Ignore the English bookies as far as England's concerned, because people stupidly bet them all the time so the price is ridiculously low.

If they stay apart, though, it's hard to see past a Brazil/Spain final, with Italy, Argentina and Germany sniffing around as usual.

It's been disappearing a few channels at a time here. Don't depend on it for the world cup, even if you're still getting a signal today.

Ive just signed up for this Link and for 5 pounds a month you can log on to your computer with an english IP address anywhere in the world. Then if you know someone who has a sky contract in the UK ask them to add online viewing. They then just need to give you the password and username and you can watch all skysports coverage etc free. If your computer has an hdmi output and your TV has an hdmi input join them together and bingo world cup in english from Sky sports in Thailand on a big TV or if you just wish to get English commentry off five live etc this will be enabled also. Just wish i had learnt about this before signing up for True's HD package...lol

P.s I am using an AIS super G3 aircard for this and it streams perfect.

Never heard of logmein.com then?

It would seem Phuket has doubts about the English feed as well:

Phuket bars to open late for soccer World Cup (Courtesy: Phuket Gazette):

PHUKET: Soccer fans will be pleased to hear that bars in Phuket will be allowed to stay open late to show South Africa 2010 World Cup matches, although alcohol sales regulations will still apply.

"Bars can show the soccer matches late, but they still have to follow the law limiting the hours when alcohol can be sold," said Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong.

Bars can serve alcohol until midnight unless they have permission to do so until 1am from both the local District Office and the Interior Ministry's Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA).

Certain venues inside entertainment zones that applied for permission before 2004 are still allowed to sell alcohol until 2am, a DOPA officer told the Gazette.

The first 2010 World Cup match will kick off on Friday, June 11 at 9pm local time, when hosts South Africa face Mexico.

Kick-off times will range from 6:30pm to 1:30am local time, meaning bars will need to stay open until around 3:30am to show the later matches.

The tournament will be broadcast on True Visions and Thai TV channels 3, 7, 9 and 11.

Those seeking English-language coverage of the matches on local cable might be disappointed, as customer service representatives at two local cable TV providers said they would only be carrying Thai-language feeds from free-to-air channels.

This quote from another thread on the same subject (see below) may be of interest:

Channel 3 dont have dual commentary but they will have English commentary on Easy FM 105.5

I'm not paying 2000 Baht + just to hear someone saying "oh ho" every 10 seconds.

That's Jimmy Tarbuck f**ked then

> I He11, I even went in through the PornPing Tower Hotel washrooms to avoid the cover charge and any after-hours noodle-soup would be "American-Shared" with any girls I was with. :-))

Cheers,

Chanchao

Ki niow.

Isn't that the Thai word for "American?"

Bubbles is shut for refurbishment, but Hotshots was going strong when I was there in April. If you like THUD THUD THUD music that makes your teeth rattle.

There's a Thai place down the road before the narrow one-way bridge that was buzzing every night until stupid o'clock.

It's time they sacked these fat old gay boys and ugly old hags that have been there too long and are just a bunch of leeches.

They're paid far too much, they're as lazy as <deleted> and they put people off flying BA.

It might cost a few quid to fire them, but the airline will benefit in the long run.

Bit late but try the UN Irish Pub...

It's not as touristy as the gay parts of Phuket and Pattaya, so perhaps they come for the BFE......?

Each to their own, Thaihog. I had the dubious pleasure of a week at the Amari once, and after two days was out looking for places to eat tasty food.

Take your point about the other thread covering the Olde Bell though, so it needs no further mention in this one.

Having said that, if I want a decent Sunday roast, I generally cook it myself.

I find the Olde Bell sunday lunch excellent and good value for money.

So what exactly do you mean by "after that other shenanigans"?

Send the pretentious knob to Burger King. After all he was caught shipping pre-cooked chicken in trucks to his London restaurants to have the sauce poured over them before serving. This from the man who "only EVER uses freshly cooked ingredients" in ALL his restaurants. Yeah right.

More fool the gullible sods that pay fortunes for his over-priced, over-rated, noncey cuisine.

What Smartphone? If it's iPhone, you download them, if it's Android you download them, if it's Symbian, you download them, if it doesn't download them then it isn't a very Smart Phone.

iPhone apps you can buy discs full of them at Panthip upstairs I think.

Same goes for Nokia.

Fashion King in the Night Bazaar (next to the big Food Court). He's been sponsoring and making stuff for dozens of people from the cricket every year, and I've never heard a complaint. But shop around for the best prices, I'm not sure he's the cheapest but he is quality.

Grenade launchers and home made explosives have been using in Chiang Mai over the last few weeks.

Why is it paranoid to assume a loud bang might be another one?

Hopefully they'll only be throwing water around for the next few days.

Click on the main map for a "realtime" view, then click on any region in the world to zoom in.

This is the link for Asia-Pacific, by the way: http://satellite.ehabich.info/index3.5.html

At the time i write this, the Space Station is visible in orbit above the region.

All I get when I zoom in is a picture from the 22 March. Anyone got one from today?

I'm landing in Chiang Mai tomorrow, so I'll be able to see/smell for myself......

Here's a lengthy article from today's post about the problem:

Chiang Mai is choking, as is most of northern Thailand. Grey smoke billows from thousands of deliberately lit fires, both large and small. Mountains, temples and city tower blocks dim into a dull grey background. An ineffectual sun tries to shine through the dusty haze.

Take a drive in any direction and it looks like a scorched earth policy has been enacted for Chiang Mai and its surrounds. Roadside shrubs and grass verges are burnt to blackened lanes; trees planted on centre road median strips are crisped to their charcoaled bare branches.

Long-term residents make plans to take refuge in southern beach towns. Others, unable to get away, spend time following the rising air quality figures on the Pollution Control Department's website with little hope of relief from the smoke. Emergency rooms at most of the city's hospitals juggle services to cope with the increase in people coming in with asthma, allergies, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia and emphysema.

Dr Chaicharn Pothirat, the head of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Allergy at the Department of Medicine at Chiang Mai University, says once the air quality in Chiang Mai drops, peoples' health risks increase.

"The number of people seeking emergency help for asthma, allergies and COPD [Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease] is much higher now the air is so polluted and today the PM10 levels are so high they are dangerous."

PM10 levels are used to indicate the density of miniscule particulate matter in the air we breathe. The particles are so small the human eye cannot see them, but they can be lethal if these tiny particles find their way into our lungs and stay.

Numerous international and local scientific papers have identified cancer as the most common cause of death in Thailand and lung cancer as the second. A paper put out by the National Cancer Institute identifies lung cancer as the top cancer killer of Chiang Mai men and the second in women.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says particulate matter (PM) "affects more people than any other pollutant. The major components of PM are sulfate, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, carbon, mineral dust and water. It consists of a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles of organic and inorganic substances suspended in the air".

The Pollution Control Board, Regional Area Air Quality Data webpage shows Chiang Mai's PM10 levels are dangerously high at 268.4, Mae Sai 328 and Mae Hong Son a staggering 437.8. To put the severity of northern Thailand's current high figures in context, international standards consider anything more than 50 a serious threat.

Dr Chaicharn says Chiang Mai PM10 is at least five times higher than the acceptable international standards.

Some doctors argue there is no such thing as "safe levels" of particulate matter.

The World Health Organization's Fact Sheet #313 estimates that air pollution causes two million premature deaths worldwide each year. WHO's fact sheet also paints a disturbing picture for Chiang Mai and northern Thailand residents, citing that "even relatively low concentrations of air pollutants have been related to a range of adverse health effects".

Wandee loves Chiang Mai's lifestyle and moved there from Bangkok to work as a writer and to raise her four-year-old son, but now says she may have to consider leaving if the pollution does not improve. Speaking from her sickbed she explained.

"Last year I took my son to Bangkok because of the smoke. This year I'm sick. My eyes want to cry. My throat hurts. I cough all day and night. I can't sleep, I can't breathe and my nose is blocked. I'm worried about my son - he's so young. I'm thinking of taking him to Bangkok. It's expensive, but my son's health is more important. I've had to take him for the last two years. It's ironic, but I moved to Chiang Mai from Bangkok because I thought the air was good."

Journalist Jeff Hodson has had enough.

"I can't take it any more. Every year the politicians talk and talk and talk, but nothing gets done to stop the pollution."

This is the third year the Hodson family has evacuated because of the smoke.

"Last year we left for five weeks. My eyes sting, my kids have coughs and my wife has headaches. They're going crazy locked inside all day. My kids are two and four."

Hodson says it cost him about 100,000 baht to move out last year and wonders if there's not some way citizens can take a class action against the government for failing to enforce laws to stop the burning.

"Someone has to take responsibility, someone has to enforce the law. There are serious health risks involved, like cancers. What price do we put on our children's health?"

But not everybody is able to leave the city. Ewun has been driving a tuk tuk around Chiang Mai for four years and says Chiang Mai's smog is getting worse.

"I'm used to pollution, but I can't handle this. My eyes are sore, I can't see and my throat hurts. Tourists are running away, they don't want to come here when it's like this. Yesterday, I couldn't take any more. I went home. I'm losing money, my customers all complain. It's too smokey to work. Someone should fix it."

But finding "someone" to fix the annual burning off is not easy. A trawl of newspaper clippings shows there is plenty of media space devoted to local politicians talking about how they plan to fix the pollution. Buzz words like recycling, eco-friendly, composting, pollution hotlines, posters, clean air campaigns and healthy food fairs all are uttered.

In a recent edition of The Chiang Mai Mail, Boonlert Buranupakorn, the president of Chiang Mai's Provincial Authority, said he planned to work with agencies to "speed up the installation of water spraying machines around the city roads to make the city wet so as to reduce dust in the air".

But residents say it's the same every year. Politicians and city officials talk, but nothing changes. Politicians have blamed everyone from Korean Bar-B-Que restaurants, slash and burn hill farmers, backyard rubbish burners, gardeners and even neighbouring countries such as Laos and Burma for the polluting smoke.

Meanwhile, in spite of the political spin from officials and government officers, northern Thailand continues to burn, often within sight of the law enforcers.

Somchai is a professional driver. He drives a luxury mini-van to tourist spots and is a regular traveller on northern roads. He says he was surprised to see land burning opposite a fire fighting office.

"They advertise their number for us to call if we see a fire. It's a joke - government officials do nothing. They just talk, but never take action."

Somchai says politicians should be aware that the smoke pollution affects everyone.

"People are getting angry. My customers don't like it, it's bad for my kids, the smoke and roadside fires makes it dangerous to drive."

A drive out of Chiang Mai confirms what Somchai says. A mountain top, necklaced with flames and billowing smoke, is within a couple of hundred metres of an official checkpoint. Somchai says this year the indiscriminate burning has worsened.

"Nobody seems to care. Every year it's the same. They make noises about doing clean-ups, but nothing ever gets done. It will be the same again next year."

Dr Chaicharn agrees and says officials have to do more and policy makers have to take the annual smog seriously.

"I and my colleagues are fed-up of dealing with sickness that could be prevented if policy makers tackled the problems with serious intent and stopped the burning before it's too late."

Hodson, like most of the people interviewed or spoken to for this article, felt politicians were more part of the problem than the solution, and if nothing is done he'll have little option but to take his young family elsewhere.

"Chiang Mai is a great place, but the pollution is the main reason I won't be staying long-term. Most of the time it's a lovely place, but when they start burning I can't stop them and the government doesn't stop them. What choice do we have?"

The WHO acknowledges air quality control is not something individuals can do much about.

"Exposure to air pollutants is largely beyond the control of individuals and requires action by public authorities at the national, regional and even international levels."

In the meantime, Dr Chaicharn says parents should follow his advice.

"Don't take exercise outdoors, while the air quality is bad. Keep your children inside. If you have to go outside, wear a mask and if you drive a car, don't take air from the outside. This pollution not only affects lungs, but is also a factor for people with diabetes, high blood pressure, circulatory diseases and heart conditions."

Dr Chaicharn and his colleagues have just completed a study that proves that when the PM10 levels increase then so does the number of people seeking emergency care.

"When the PM10 levels go up, then so does the number of people requiring treatment for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Every time the PM10 increases by 10% we see an increase of two to three per cent of people needing emergency treatment."

Somchai says if government policy makers don't enforce the laws and curb the annual burning, Chiang Mai might soon become infamous as the lung cancer research capital of Thailand.

Anyone who would stiff a shop assistant or waitress deserves a fuc_king slap. They invariably would have to make the difference up out of their salary.

Why are some farang so fuc_king sting?

While we're on the subject, where's the best/cheapest place to buy proper PS3 games in Chiang Mai?

I only just bought mine so I'm in the market for a few games. It came with Tekken 5 which absolutely bores the tits off me.

Perhaps a dumb question, so forgive me, but have you cleaned the lens in that 18 months? If not, they get covered in bits of dust, dead skin, dirt, etc. and then they can't read the discs.

Get a CD/DVD cleaning kit - you can get a disc with fur on one side, spray some purpose-designed solvent on it, play it and it cleans all the crap off.

Any optical drive that stops reading disks - that's my first move.

The thread was about a Farang being shot dead in a road rage incident. The current thread is about a Farang being shot at in a road rage incident.

Is that too off topic for you?

The law stated that owning land is not allowed, it says nothing about owning a condo and that you can indeed own. But in a condo complex there must be a majority of Thais

I thought the Thais have to own the majority of floor space, which is not the same?

Also, I understand that certain unscrupulous Thais have flogged condos to farang when they aren't supposed to, so you need a lawyer as well?

So having quick feet entitles opposing players to be reckless in the tackle, does it? Look at Boateng's assault on Sagna - hardly the quickest feet in the premiership. Just another example of a manager whose game plan to stop football teams is to "let them know we're there" type shit. Thankfully tango man has been fired, and hopefully Hull will get an actual manager.

We'll see it all again at the end of the month when Alex McLeish sends Bowyer out to try and do Fabregas. Thankfully Song is developing into a good midfield enforcer and seems to be able to take a hit or two for the little Spaniard.

These are not accidents, they are serious injuries as a result of ill-thought challenges that are high risk but avoidable.

I mean come on, you've seen Vieira and Keane go at it, but they did it with their eyes open and committed themselves to the ball rather than the opponent.

Let's just remember Shawcross broke Jeffer's ankle with a tackle from behind, put Adebayor out out with a tackle from behind after the ball was out of play and then Ramsey.

And you defend the bloke. Give me strength.

Watched "Up in the Air" last night. How the <deleted> that got nominated for anything is beyond me.