snaggletooth

We also take action against large traders and let small drug traders earn a living in the right way by fuelling our economy,'' he said

I'm sorry. This has to be a misquote. He's talking about a war on drugs and then says that small drug traders should earn the right to continue plying their trade for the sake of the economy?

Temp. here in Kranuan at our house was 15.8 at daybreak.

Al Gore? John Mc Cain? Their all crooks,

They haven't got a dam_n thing to do with the temp or weather in Thailand or anything else I hope.

The Politics & corporate greed of that country is why I retired here.

The only good republican is a jailed one.

Back to the topic,

I would like to see how far back records of weather stats have been kept

and what the coldest temperature my have been beenmay have been.

Since when is Al Gore a Republican? And did you miss the fact that politics in Thailand is 10 times more corrupt and Thai corporations and businesses are 100 times greedier than their american counterparts. Do you know how much money the wealthy businesses and people give to charity in Thailand? Hardly anything. They pay ultra low wages, work their people six days a week, give few vacation days, no benefits...And don't even get me started on politics in Thailand.

If you retired in Thailand because those reasons, brother, you are in the WRONG place.

Or maybe here it is easier for you to bury your head in the sand since you don't understand what they are saying.

My thick furry persian cats feel right at home...

This thick and furry viking does too.

Surely the age barrier is a minority in human trafficking, not a majority percentage or is Cambodia in its usual witch hunting corruption, stating the majority of marriages over 50's is connected with human trafficking? What a croc and how absurd in a country still hiding in fear of reprisal from Khmer. Perhaps they need to establish an "Inquisition" and public floggings into anyone interested in marrying a Cambodian when over the age of 50. Cambodia is still in the Dark Ages.

You can't be happy all your life - you have to get married sooner or later! I waited until 53 and have a wonderful 33 year old Thai wife (at the time) and 2 great kids now. Maybe I'm not normal... it has been said! Thank God I didn't chose a Cambodian girl!

20 years your junior. This is just the kind of cradle-robbing they are trying to avoid in Kampuchea.

Everyone is assuming the Italian is an innocent man that did nothing wrong.

Innocent? He's the victim. It has nothing to do with anything. A man was shot and killed. The perpetrator needs to be brought to justice regardless of the motive or what this man has done in the past.

And how do you know what everybody is assuming? I for one didn't make any assumptions about the man other than that he was shot while riding his motorcycle.

Well, better safe than sorry as I imagine if something had happened and no warning had been issued that would have been far worse than issuing a warning and nothing happens.

Around Songkla is a narrow but relatively straight line down from Japan.

Waves can propagate around obstacles and continue and even widen, speed up, or arc in area when coming past a partial block like Philipines, or Viet/Cambo. Or between two points, like islands, creating a venturi effect for the force not directly blocked by either island.

So this was certainly not out of possibility for some portions of a tsunami to get down here. Maybe not from the original temblor, but the aftershocks were moving southwards and more in line with that narrow path to southern Thailand.

Yes better safe than sorry.

you have no idea of what you are talking about. anything less than magnitude 7 will not cause a tsunami, which all of the aftershocks have been.

IKEA will revolutionize Retailing and Customer Service in Thailand...

Index... Watch out.. Your Days are Numbered!

I can't wait until they Open.

When I was last in KL I picked up a catalog from their Store there (and had Swedish meatballs for Lunch).. I'm real interested to compare the KL prices with what they do here. A rare opportunity. Sort of Like the Big Mac Index for gloal food prices.. We can do an IKEA index comparing prices around the world.. It may keep Things honest here in Thailand.

Interesting thought... Swedish Meatballs are the most popular Item on their restaurant menu.. But they are made of BEEF.. I wonder what will happen here. Will it remain #1? Will They change the recipe to pork? Will they sell it at all?

Something to make you go... Hmmmm ???

CS

Agreed. THe more foreign competition in retail here the better. Then Thai stores will have improve their game, especially in terms of customers service and better return policies. Actually customer service is great in Thailand until you have a problem then they just laugh at you when you complain.

Doesn't this guy have anything better to do. It would take hundreds of these "sweets" to have any real effect...

How do you know? you ever have Jell-O shots?

the land where one gains the impression that the inhabitants would be happier if we all just arrived on a plane emptied all our available money into a waiting bin and then got back on a plane leaving.

It's been like that for years.....where have you been hiding? Farangs are tolerated because they have money...nothing else.

Yep

I'm not a big fan of Thailand even though I live here out of necessity, but I do not get that impression about thais at all. I have plenty of Thai friends and they aren't hanging out for my money and the vendors near my house that I deal with, I'm charged the same as everyone else. If you are nice here, talk to them and smile, Thais love you.

I find Thais helpful and kind.

If Thailand wants quality tourists it should focus on becoming a quality destination which means clean streets, clean sidewalks, clean roadways EVERYWHERE like in Singapore, well-manicured shrubbery in all the major towns and cities, a fresh coat of paint on every building in the country. The list goes on doesn't it?

If you want quality you better give quality everywhere.

If this has to do with safety or movement on the plane then why is their a size difference between a female and a male?

Well spotted. Of course it is about attractive appearance. It would be hypocritical to claim otherwise.

When THAI starts to employ Katoey attendants like another airline has announced - will the male or female rules apply? (hopefully the female measurements...)

Maybe the gay members of TV forum could advise on the most appropriate measurements to judge male cabin staff.

As it is, the attendants in Economy class on THAI are usually very nice to look at, and compensate a bit for the hopelessly inadequate AV entertainment on board. Presumably a young attendant is cheaper than a new aircraft seat...

In Business Class, however, it seems that older, more experienced but not usually more attractive attendants get to choose there. So maybe THAI believes that the AV system in Business is all the passengers need to look at. Or maybe it is just the people with "connections" to THAI executives who get to work in Business and First, regardless of looks.

My wife's a flight attendant. She's in business class only because of seniority and no connections. It all depends on your time spent with the airline. When the purser has the roster for each flight he or she assigns the crew, based on seniority, to appropriate positions in the aircraft with the crew having been with the company the longest in the front in business or first class.

But also this weight thing has always gone on. If the wife gains a kilo upon her annual review, she's always heard about it as their bosses degrade them in a room with other managers. It's not a one-on-one deal. It's a humiliation.

And this is what I love about Thai law. No mention of the club out of fear they will sue.

One more reason this crap happens over and over. Not only are there no consequences, but you can't even name the place.

IF you and the others who wrote the same thing, why don't you bother to click on the link for the name of the bar and the bard manager. There is much more detail in the article that this post links to. typically lazy. If you are that interested in which club, you would have clicked the link.

Ms Tida Thanawan said that at about 02.00 a.m. on the 5th February, she took her friends out for a drink at the entertainment venue “super girls a-go-go” on Walking Street Moo 10 Nongphrue Banglamung Chonbrui .

How much more clarity do you want?

Although Bangkok has been rattled by a number of minor blasts since rallies by anti-government protesters in April and May, it was not clear if the latest incident, at around 5pm (1000 GMT), was politically motivated.

"We still don't know if it was a conflict between students or something else. Someone threw a grenade on to a minibus," Police Lieutenant Colonel Montri Kongjumpa, of eastern Min Buri district's police station, told AFP.

"We're now waiting for the explosive specialists to investigate the scene, but initially there is one person dead and eight injured," he added.

The Reds deny any involvement and have accused the authorities of a plot to justify tougher security powers.

I love that part. Government and police do not know any details as yet, but the REDS already blaming the government

Nobody, including the reds, have directed any blame for this tragedy -- stop trying to troll for responses by taking one section of an article totally out of context.

Say something constructive, like " our best wishes to the family of the deceased and to the injured for a speedy recovery ".

It saddens me that innocents on the bus died, but why extend best wishes? Are the victims and their families on this board?Is that what this website is about? Extending condolences to people who will never read them? That's constructive? Give me a break.

I don't think George is twisting anything. Is it not what it the news said, that the Reds are blaming the government. That's true. That's their schtick.

or maybe it's all denial. denial is the first of the four stages of grief.

Probably why it's not in the Bangkok Post or The Nation, but being reported by an international chain.

Probably because it happened TODAY (FRIDAY). Do you expect the newspapers to also be soothsayers?

No way was this free fall (though it might have felt like it). After 10 levels thats an awful lot of kinetic energy presumably the safety devices slowed them down to an extent, they are lucky to survive.

agreed. a few tons of elevator plummeting would leave everybody dead dead dead. another instance of accurate thai reporting.

told yer the other month to watch this space.....this is not the end but the beginning....all the people want to do is vote..so let them

As long as they are paid to vote.

i wonder who planted it, the government to justify the continued emergency decree, the reds or the yellows, or southern insurgents (terrorists). My money is on the fist one.

You're over the top. The government would try to kill its own people to justify the decree which NOBODY enforces anyway. Did you miss the red shirt protest recently in the Rachaprasong area? That was a political meeting that SHOULD have been dispersed under the decree.

You know deep in your hear who did it. I've said all along that the red shirts would go underground and resort to terrorism. I had no idea Isan was palestine. Should Thailand give it back to Laos?

Ermmm - study your history a bit more closely - I think you mean "back to Angkor"?

The reason Isaan has strong Laotian cultureal and linguistic connections is because ( a ) what is now Laos was once part of Lan Na and heavily assimilated into Tai (no H) culture and structure, then ( b ) both Ayutthayan and post-Ayutthayan military campaigns (against Burmese occupying the northern region) brought Laotian prisoners and volunteers into Isaan to populate an under populated area (after the Khmer were driven out), plus ( c ) post-Ayutthaya, large parts of west and central Laos fell under the rule of Rattanakosin Siam following eviction of the Burmese from Lan Chang and Lan Na.

Angkor had ruled Isaan (all the way up to Vientiane and beyond, and to Chiang Rai in Lan Na) for centuries before Ayutthaya emerged, and did for a couple of centuries afterwards too.

Remember too, the main reason modern Laos has land on this side of the Mekhong is due to post-WW2 division of Indo-China by the Allies and punishment of Thailand for failing to more forcefully resist the Japanese.

All of which (for the sake of pot stirring) throws into the equation that instead of southern insurgents, maybe it was south-of-Mehkong Laotians wanting to get Thai attention to help them secede and join their Tai brethren? Maybe it was Burmese dissidents or nationalists wanting Lan Na back under Burmese rule? Who the hel_l knows right now?

Seriously - at this point, unless I've missed something, it's not known who planted the bomb, save up your angst and wait for the police to say who it was .... must be true if the police tell us who did it.

Er. Yeah.. Thanks for the history lesson. I think you missed the point of what I was trying to say. Obviously what I wrote was tongue in cheek and not a historical reference and obviously nobody is talking about secession. The point was that the reds, who in part largely hail from Isaan, have no serious grievance except for contrived wrongs perpetrated by the elite in Thailand.

But as to your history lesson on retrospect it explains a lot. Thanks to Isaan being populated by Laotian prisoners, the reason for the guturral intellect of red sympathizers makes complete sense.

I hope we can do without the finger pointing please. It serves no purpose. The people that plant bombs like this are selfish psychopaths. Maiming and killing people in this manner is wrong and I don't think one needs a diploma from the Braniac School of Book Learning to figure that out. Red, yellow, pink, polka dot, coloured shirts, I don't care, but normal rational people don't do this sh*t.

Reds are not normal, rational people

i wonder who planted it, the government to justify the continued emergency decree, the reds or the yellows, or southern insurgents (terrorists). My money is on the fist one.

You're over the top. The government would try to kill its own people to justify the decree which NOBODY enforces anyway. Did you miss the red shirt protest recently in the Rachaprasong area? That was a political meeting that SHOULD have been dispersed under the decree.

You know deep in your heart who did it. I've said all along that the red shirts would go underground and resort to terrorism. I had no idea Isan was palestine. Should Thailand give it back to Laos?

I do think that it's no more fair to say that Thailand is a haven for pedophiles than it is to prejudge the accused, nor an intelligent way of responding to the media, which everyone knows can't be taken seriously. The United States is crawling with them, they're loudmouthed and arrogant even where employed in school systems. Thankfully, I've not found myself required to share space with people like that or with heavy substance abusers, in fact, of the many people I know in Thailand, none of them are like that, so I'm proud and happy to be here. In the states, I couldn't get away from them. I hope and pray for a fair resolution of this tragic event, and encourage Thailand (and everyone) to be fair, reasonable and forgiving.

At last...a voice of reason. Well said sir!

You have got to be kidding

Is this serious? Working with pedophiles all over the u.s.? They're loudmouths? Crawling with them? What planet are you from.

So before even being found guilty these %% treat him like he is.........so much for the fair treatment rulling

The lesson here: If you want to get rid of a foreigner here you don't like, accuse him of child molestation and he'll won't any due process. Good to know

I wonder if they will identify the 150b international transaction ATM fee as being unfair?!...somehow I think not!

or the charge they make you pay for changing small change into notes, and the fee i was once charged for paying in 3000 baht in small change into my account, apparently to pay for the time and energy taken to count the money that was already counted and bagged ready for the teller to put it on their money scales.

International fee is beyond Bank of Thailand jurisdiction.

Anyway, you people can afford it.

No it's not beyond its jurisdiction. It's not foreign banks imposing this. It's local banks charging foreigners using their banks. It is pure and simple gouging by local banks and a domestic bank issue.

Great News.....give me an update in two years!

more like 10. The ICT Ministry is too busy blocking sites to do anything. If they say two years multiply that times five. When I moved here seven years ago they were promising 3G in 2004. Has that materialized? By 2010 all of the subway and elevated train routes were to be completed throughout bkk (seven lines), according to plans in 2003.

The government and successive governments and the bureaucrats here have their heads so far up their own butts looking for ways to enrich themselves that they'll never get it done unless they can get rich in the process.

Don't hold your breath.

Whenever reading TVF threads there are always the same people posting negative comments, If you dont have anything useful to say why bother reply?

Yes these people thrive on the misery of others. This is what anonymity on the Internet does -- makes people brave enough to say things they'd never say in public or to someone else's face.

If the man was unfairly convicted I think it's great that he's standing up for his rights. That shows character, which most people lack these days, especially on this forum.

I wonder if in some odd way this curfew is a form of retaliation toward the Isaan population who in the main would b viewed as Red Shirts. When you think about it in an X-Files type conspiracy way, being all Isaan are poor, and most of the ladies working bar jobs at night come from Isaan, who are the main losers in this curfew? See what i mean?

Warped! How about it's time of the day when people can move around the city relatively unnoticed and therefore cause havoc or damage without being seen. And as people sleep it could have a devstating effect.

Good on you Abhisit. I for one feel this is a good thing. It won't last for ever but if there are more problems once the curfew is over it will return. I am sure that any of you posters who live in Bangkok can feel just how much this is working at the moment?

And for those of you who can't stand it because it puts a dent in your drinking and letching schedules, go to Pattaya, as we keep being told, there's no curfew there and it'll all be over here soon anyway.

Wow, yeah. The government is getting back at the Isaan folk by hamstringing the bar girls. That you even wrote that reflects the level of your intellect.