rebo

Mapguy, on 2012-02-25 18:40:30, said:

Maybe the illustrious science minister, Mr Plodprasop, famed for clearing the floods with 1000 boats, will line up planes on CNX runway, to blow away the smog

chrisyork, on 2010-09-30 14:02:31, said:

It is normal design practice with large hydro-dams to have silt-release spill-ways that open from the bottom of the dam, the pressure/force of the water pulling the conglomerated silt into the downstream stilling ponds before running in the old river bed.

A hydro-dam does not stop a river from running. It blocks the flow for a time, during it's initial phase, but then retains a fairly constant volume of water (hopefully - depends on droughts and so on) while releasing as much as is in-coming.

These environmental people only think halfway through the problem. As engineers, we go all the way to the logical solutions.

We are way beyond irreversible, in the sense that the big countries are in 5th gear, and going downhill, with a wind at their back, with regards to getting what they want by any means necessary to the survival of their governments and the ones they are sworn to protect. I refer to the silent war over energy resources, natural selection being over-euphamized as being "civility", and the haves and have nots.

I understand the faux "show of concern" by the hypocritical agencies. What  I do not understand is that the driving force behind this story (i.e. The War over Natural Resources) is not being addressed as a possible real motive for this concern. Terrorism and Earth worship are being used as a means to limit what weaker nations can and can not do regarding utilization of the precious resources their countries contain. Until they are invaded, they can not damage the Earth (hence this article). When they are invaded - because they might be thinking about something that will affect the national security of a country 12000 miles away - their resources will be raped and sold to the highest bidder.

Why should Laos be scrutinized and villified when compared to, say, China, and its Three Gorges Dam project? Where were these hypocritical bums when that project was going up? The transboundary effects that this massive project is already having on all downstream countries should not be overlooked. The country at the end of the river is going to scream the most, and the self-imposed big brother countries (the protectors of the realm) are going to support them, but only as a means to get their energy-resource-sniffing noses into other people's business, and ignore the real issue; improving the way of life for millions of humans living in squalor.

This seems to be another case of picking on the little guy (simply because they can be picked on with impunity) by turning a well-intentioned project into a long, drawn-out headache. 'Problem is; the pickers are way out there in the guilt department in their deceitful and murderous methods for getting natural resources by land-raping other countries they invade. They are too cowardly to admit that this stupid "extensive debate" is nothing more than a way for the energy hungry nations to get their fingers in on the Laos project and divvy up who gets what and how much, regarding financial profit. Laos would more than likely get the crunbs off the table. Seems the little countries who disagree with the big countries get to be labeled as despots and terrorists. Funny, that.

It's not about care for the environment, carbon footprints, and mother Gaia. That is simply  a religion that is being propagated as an excuse to push the expendable people to the outer edges of receiving aid, and fend for themselves as best as possible, until the bigger nations decide how to deal with them.

It is not about caring for people living in squalor. It is plausable that these people have already been slated as collateral damage for the one world government, so why bother until that time? Why try to fis something that is going to be done away with in the future anyways? Can anyone say Pandemic?

It is about "Mommy, he's got more ice-cream than me. Not fair!" Let's keep the ice cream in the freezer until the most powerful have their say, and get their portion agreed upon and secured.

Looks like China can be counted as one of those who gets to eat ice cream, and even get their monstrosity lauded as a wonder of the world.

Laos should consider themselves fortunate not to have a lake of oil under their land! I believe this story, and many like it, points to a trend that will some day place the human being as the most expendable and cheapest (to the truest sense of this word) form of energy in existence. We are headed in that direction. The old saying, "Be a hero, save a whale; Save a baby, go to Jail" isn't far off the point. The apathy over human traffiking supports my view on letting it go until it can be dealt with in a fashion that the more fortunate can rationalize and sleep peacefully at nights.

'Just another opinion, but not as stupid as this charade of a story.

The bad news is that last night the city of Chiang Mai was completely submerged by the river.

    The good news is that now Chiang Mai has become a river resort.

    In Chiang Mai, the Yacht Club and the Beach Club Resorts are both located a short walk from the flooded areas. Many consider the pool area (Chiang Mai), with its shipwreck theming, the Taepae road which is now a huge water slide and muddy bottom pool to be the best of any Northern Thailand resort. Boat services now travel directly from Bangkok and Chiang Mai`s theme parks (water taxis are available for transportation to the other parks). Restaurants and entertainment at the Boardwalk are also conveniently close.

i'm glad it's been raining a lot.  i prefer the rain to the heat.

CMX, on 2010-09-27 15:40:10, said:

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun CMX,

Yes, when we go to Airport Plaza we have to avert our gaze because there are so many lovely women, of all ages, walking around, in the shops; if we didn't we'd be forced to hear the sounds of the Ghost of Testosterone Past clinking his chains and moaning piteously.

best, ~o:37;

Interesting.
2 and a half years ago, my company aquired a Thai transport company, who conduct nationwide deliveries.
At that time they were having about 300 "accidents" a month. (this is including freight loading damage, which was the majority).
There was a pending action against a driver who had been involved in a fatality with a motorcyclist.
When I asked for the internal report, it read " Truck hit to motorcycle, motorcycle died". that was it. This Showed me the OH&S attitude of the old management.

We implimented the following :-
Driver pre-employment testing (60% of applicants can not reverse a truck into a parking bay) These guys all come with licences.
Driver fatigue management system
Random drug and alcohol testing (a few quickly fell by the wayside).
Safe driving courses, especially prior to the rainy season.
Introduction of a proper driver HR record system
Disciplining of errant drivers
Deduction from annual bonus for damage costs.
Introduction of GPS, which can produce a driver profile of safe driving, based on over revving, harsh braking & acceleration etc.
The bad ones soon left.
We also introduced proper maintainance procedures.
Anyway, last month, we had 9 accidents, all very minor. (hope I havnt jinxed ourselves there).

But I have to say it was hard to introduce a lot of the above, after 20 plus years of apathy.
And a bit confrontational as well.

But by and large the remaining drivers have adapted well & they now appreciate its for their safety as well.

I guess it all depends on the management.

In response to question about e-mail addresses. Suggest you do what I did, use Google search. I do not want to violate Forum rules - maybe the moderators can post email addresses but I can not. For the US Consul General, their general e-mail address works. This was verified by the Head of Consular Services when I talked to him on Saturday. I am not sure what results will come from complaining to the director of the Language Institute or President of CMU. I doubt if you will get any response but it may make you feel better. I did cc: the president of CMU and US Consul General on my concerns expressed to a US University with collaborative ties to CMU.

I think a question all non-Thais should ask of their home countries. "Why should our home nations be granting educational visas to CMU students who want to go study in our home countries when CMU has does this to citizens of our home country?"

I have heard from my friend that LICMU is pretty close to cracking - i.e. begin to issue visas and/or refund monies - the pressure has been pretty intense both on the LICMU director (Professor Rien) and CMU's president to do the right thing - many students have been going to see both. There are a few things that you can do if you are affected LICMU's refusal to process students visas for paid for programs - 1) tell you embassy - many countries have trade and educations agreements with Thailand i.e. both countries agree to supply visas to bone fide students - if Thailand is going to refuse visas to, say, Australian students in Thailand, why should Australia issue visas to Thai students, 2) send a copy of your email to your embassy to the CMU president's office and to LICMU's director's office, 2) CMU has associations with over 140 universites around the world - let those universities know what's going on: i.e. money has been taken from students for courses and visas refused, 3) call the editor of the education section of your newspaper at home - this is a warning to other students deciding whether to study in Thailand or not, get a group of affected students together and camp out at the CMU president's office ------ the most important thing is: don't take this lying down - farangs have been considered disposal and treated like second-class citizens for too long (by a certain canary coloured section of Thai society).

I have been following this thread since it started. I am retired and living in Chiang Mai. I have a "retirement visa" and like some other retirees have wanted to be able to "volunteer" and legally give some of our time, knowledge and skills back to the Thai community where we live. What appeared to be the best avenue to do so was to enroll in the CMU Cultural Exchange Program (CEP). This decision was based upon the apparent inability of the United States Embassy and the British Embassy to gain any leeeway from the Thai government to allow retirees to give their time to the Thai community without having a work permit. At a presentation where the prior US Consul General was the guest speaker, the host made the statement that enrolling in this program was probably the best answer for retirees to be able to "volunteer" in Thailand - the Consul General did not disagree with this statement.

I have enjoyed the time I have "legally?" spent interfacing with the segment of the Thai community I have been engaged with. I would like to be able to continue to do so.  I find it very concerning the disruptions and stress which have been created by CMU's apparent decision to withdraw their support from the the Language Institutes programs of which CEP is one.
Based on this, I have decided not to enroll in any other CMU programs - I had seriously considered enrolling in their TEFL program. I am evaluating what course of action to pursue related to the money paid to "legally" volunteer my time within the Thai community. The payment was via credit card and I will explore the posibility of contesting payment but believe the time window to do so may have closed.

I did a Google search on "Chiang Mai University foreign university collaboration agreements". The top search result URL contained "inter.oop.cmu" which is a PDF document. If you go to page 27 of this PDF, you will find a listing by country of the universities and colleges which CMU has collaboration agreements with. Whichever country you are a citizen of, you might consider voicing your concerns to those institutions listed for your home country. I found the school where I received my masters degrees listed and I will be voicing my concerns to them.

givenall, on 2010-09-26 20:38:16, said:

Did you call DSI to offer this info? This is great staff, and might change the DSI reports. What is the point of farting in ThaiVisa; or are you expecting DSI to take evident from this forum (like some 3rd rate farang journalists who only source is ThaiVisa the morning after the hang over from Nana)?

Best news I ever heard. Dem never won an election (where they are a majority) in history.

Cooee, on 2010-09-04 09:24:01, said:

If you are in Australia I suggest you contact your state's consumer protection body.  As the transaction occured as a result of a website viewed in Australia it is covered by state consumer protection laws.  They will want you to write to them with a complaint and they will contact CMU eventually.  You may have difficulty recovering the money in Australia however CMU may begin to realizwe the international ramefications of their apparent actions (or inaction)

The concept of having rented a shop and THEN asking strangers for advice about what to sell, without having named even the city not to mention the real location .... strikes me as either failure to do due diligence first ... or trolling.

[quote name='SamritT' timestamp='1285301734' post='3903982']
She has a green card, so what. I have a "beyond" platinum card. Green card cannot make payment nor withdraw cash. Who cares about green card outside USA. If I am the immigration office, I would politely tell the girl to put the green card away, as I won't be interested; and stop threatening me. Have green card does not make her my mother. I am only interested in her Nap passport, her real intention to visit Thailand, if she has the mean to support herself, any hidden agenda, is she likely to take up illegal employment, and will she be leaving Thailand after her intended stay, etc. . . . As the article is only a one sided story, I will take it with a bucket of salt. . . . [url="http://thaicatwalk.com/wordpress/2009/08/scb-beyond-platinum/"]http://thaicatwalk.c...eyond-platinum/[/url]
[/quote

How can you be an immigration office?
you stupid cow