Submit materials for possible inclusion to: squaronians [at] gmail.com
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“The Rounds,” Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Headlines
( 1.) Fuel Prices to Drop Half a Baht per Liter
( 2.) TOP’s: Tidbits, Oddities, and Peculiarities
( 3.) Bangkok Drops on Quality of Life List on One Survey
( 4.) Bangkok to Lease 4,000 NGV Buses
( 5.) Foreign Tourist Arrivals Down 14.1% Year-on-Year
( 6.) Thai Baht Strengthens Against the U.S. Dollar
( 7.) Luna-ly, or “How to Garden”
( 8.) Starbucks Destroys Social Interactions and Democracy
( 9.) Handy Online Calendar of Public/Banking Holidays – for Just about the Entire World!
(10.) October 1st: 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China
(11.) Rio de Janeiro Wins 2016 Olymics Hosting Rights
(12.) My Brief Career as a Rodeo “Star”; and, Texas Commits $3 Billion to Fund a Quest for a Cure for Cancer
(13.) Heavy Rains Bringing Floods to Many Parts of Thailand
(14.) Where Are the Tourist Deals?
(15. Check In for Your Flight – Using Your Hand Phone
(16.) Anti-Digicam Star Wars Technology: Implications for Holiday Photographers; and, “What’s A Squaronian to DO?”
(17.) The Earth Burps
(18.) Beware Facebook “Friendly” Scams
(19.) Website to Help You Decide If You Might Have Swine Flu and Need to See a Doctor
(20.) U.S. Air Force Precision Flight Team Will Perform in Bangkok Saturday, October 10th — but WHEN and WHERE???
(21.) Airport Rail Link Tested This Week
(22.) Can a Foreigner with a Thai Spouse Legally Buy Property?
(23.) A Great Camera for Tourists
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Fuel Prices to Drop Half a Baht per Liter
Good news for motorists: just heard a television news report that the prices for all vehicle fuels except E-85 will be reduced tomorrow by half a baht per liter as a result of the downward drift in crude oil prices globally in recent days.
I suppose drivers shouldn’t become complacent, since no one seems to know what crude prices will do in days to come, but I also suppose that any relief, however short-lived, is more than welcome.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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TOP’s: Tidbits, Oddities, and Peculiarities
(1.) We’ve all seen streets and other public places with names that stand out; American towns have quite a reputation in this regard, such as Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
But I’ve just run across a street name that’s the most novel, if not the most captivating, I’ve ever run across: “@arjanelfassed tweetstreet” — that is, a www.Twitter.com address.
Now, if you don’t know what a www.Twitter.com address is, then this is meaningless to you. Twitter is a micro-blogging service that works much along the lines of a text message from your cellphone, computer, or other Internet-enabled device. But it’s more than that – you can have followers as well as be a follower. Some famous people have tens and hundreds of thousands of followers; U.S. President Obama has over 2 million. Since your messages are limited to 140 characters – spaces, actually, since spaces do count – you can’t blab too much in any one message, and many “tweets,” as Twitter messages are so charmingly called, are mind-numbingly boring, with a capital “B”!!! (Hi, I’m eating breakfast: ½ can flat beer from last night and stale cereal 2 months old.” You get the idea.)
Anyway, adding to the interest of this Tweety Street (that has a rather nice ring to it, doesn’t it?), is it’s location: Askar Camp. You can learn more at this URL:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/6242940/Street-in-Palestinian-refugee-camp-named-after-Twitter-account.html
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
(2.) “Your [U.S.] Tax Dollars at Work”: In mid-September CNN posted a report online exploring one aspect of an important consideration for the country’s national security, namely, land border crossings.
Most of our attention tends to drift southwards, towards the U.S.-Mexico border, while the U.S.-Canada border tends to get pretty short shrift in these consideratons.
After all, the U.S. and Canada share the longest essentially undefended border in the world, since neither of us is likely to invade the other or to present much of any other kind of threat to our respective national security.
CNN discovered that Senator Baucus (Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee) and Senator Tester (a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee), Montana’s two senators, have seen to it that their state is protected from Canadian terrorists and others attempting to enter the U.S. along The Open Frontier.
Specifically, they’ve convinced the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade two border crossings, at a cost of some $31 million. Few Americans begrudge necessary expenditures to keep our country safe from danger, foreign or domestic.
So, how big is the threat posed by the crossings at Scobey and Whitetail?
Well, according to the story, about 20 cars cross the border at Scobey and about 2 at Whitetail daily, on average.
During the busiest time of the year.
During Montana’s brutal winters, the border traffic drops, essentially, to zero.
Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano has ordered a 30-day review of the expenditure.
You can read the story yourself at the URL below; the observation of Senator Dorgan (D-North Dakota, Montana’s neighbor to the east) is particularly intriguing; the word “nuts” figures prominently in the quote CNN attributes to him. Anyway, here’s the URL:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/09/17/border.security/index.html#cnnSTCText
(I know some may quibble this story doesn’t belong here in TOP’s, but it’s just weird enough, I felt, to include it within this setting.)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
(3.) This next is about Miracle Whip. Yes, Miracle Whip, the sandwich spread that competes head-to-head with mayonnaise. I don’t even like Miracle Whip, viewing it as “The Great Pretender.” In fact, when I heard that great Platters song as a child in the 1950’s, I thought they wrote it about Miracle Whip.
I remember going to Aunt Billie’s house or to a reunion at which she drew duty of feeding us kids. She would ask, “Honey, do you want a baloney and mayo sandwich?” in velvet, enticing tones. I LOVE balogey and mayo sandwiches. Ever hopeful, despite knowing her evil treachery, I would enthusiastically reply, “Yes!” (A good part of my enthusiasm was based on being terrified; she had the longest, evilest-looking fingernails I had ever seen. But, I hasten to add, she’s a wonderful lady.)
I knew not to watch her make my sandwich, To have certain knowledge verified via visual evidence was just too much. She would hand me my “baloney and mayo” sandwich, into which I would swiftly clamp my teeth, eyes squeezed shut.
It never failed. Aunt Billie’s baloney and mayo sandwiches come in two varieties: (1.) Miracle Whip and pickle loaf, and, (2.) Miracle Whip and pressed ham.
I detested pickle loaf. And I detested pressed ham. (I’ve since converted on those two.)
But I have to give the marketing folks at Miracle Whip credit for a simply splendid ad they’ve come up with. It’s very much an in-your-face ad – but in a light-hearted way, which is mighty difficult to pull off. The ad’s called “Don’t Be So Mayo,” which is pretty damned cheeky in itself! 
Thanks for the folks at Slate for running a story, complete with the YouTube video. You can read the Slate story and watch the video at this URL:
http://www.slate.com/id/2228827?obref=obinsite
Alternatively, you can watch it directly on Miracle Whip’s YouTube page at this URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70xGUxznYY
Saturday, October 3, 2009
(4.) As if we don’t have enough irritations when flying: pilots and cabin crew get into a scrap . . . at 30,000 feet. Wonderful. URL:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/business/india-business/Air-India-pilots-crew-slug-it-out-at-30000-ft/articleshow/5085243.cms
(5.) Apoligies to all of you who like to wander around looking for fossils; I just learned of an auction, apparently held a day or two ago in Las Vegas, in the U.S., of some dinosaur.
And not just any old dinosaur bones, mind you.
Up for grabs were upwards of 200 bones all belonging to a single dinosaur, one most of you have heard of: tyrannosaurus rex. Scientists estimate this sweetheart – the bones are of a female – was 40 feet long and weighed 7.5 tons. [Real, red-blooded American tons, not those overweight things people in other countries use! 
]
The bones were expected to fetch several million dollars, though I can’t tell you the actual sales price, as (curiously), I could find no story written after the sale. (Assuming it wasn’t called of for some reason, that is.)
But just think what a traffic stopper it would be to have a pile of t. rex bones in your front yard, you with a ladder, mounting plate, and scaffold, and copious tubes of super-glue as you put Humpty Dumpty back together again. As it were.
WAIT! It’s sometime later after I wrote the above, and I just stumbled across a story written about the auction itself. Seems Miss T. Rex didn’t draw enough enthusiasm to meet whatever the auction house’s minimum was, the top offer having been well below four million dollars.
So, get yourself a dedicated piggybank, ar BIG piggybank, and start saving! Probably at least half-dollars, maybe silver dollars, since it may take, um, “some time” to save up several million bucks..
But there’s still time for you and she and some super-glue!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091004/ts_alt_afp/ussciencedinosauroffbeat_20091004070840;_ylt=A2KIKvZIsMhKb.wATAZxieAA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2cGFmb3U5BHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bi1yLWItbGVmdARzbGsDZXYtdC1yZXhmYWls
Sunday, October 4, 2009
(6.) Do you know there’s a Swedenborgian Christian Church in New York City to this day? (Swedenborgian Christians are followers of the 18th-century Swedish mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg, a very interesting fellow.)
“Well,” you snort, so the heck what???”
Don’t be silly, Children; there’s good reason to mention this particular congregation (or parish or whatever the Swedenborgians call themselves):
According to the CBS News story I read, the first preacher at the NYC church was none other than . . . one George Bush. (The answer’s “yes,” though I couldn’t verify CBS’s claim.)
The claim is not nonsensical. Swedenborg believed, for example, that angels are a literal part of our daily lives, and that we can commune with the Almighty in a direct and personal way (as I understand it, anyway; I’ve read Swedenborg before, and he’s sometimes tough to interpret). It would be no surprise to learn that such deep faith was handed down through the generations; certainly, President George W. Bush is very open about his own faith. The bits I’ve heard him say about his faith aren’t fundamentally different from Swedenborgian teachings. URL:
(7.) Did you know that Juneau, Alaska – that state’s capital city – is inaccessible by car?
Well, so says CBS at the URL below:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/02/sunday/main5358799.shtml
Monday, October 5, 2009
(8.) Most Americans and French (and a great many others) know the French gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States – but how many know what the gift signified? I didn’t, until just now: President Abraham Lincoln.
That little historical datum is woven into an excellent story in TIME headlined “How Moses Shaped America,” an excellent read. The paragraph about the Statue of Liberty is about halfway down page 2 (of 3 pages). Details of two Moses-specific links on the statue are detailed there.
Bonus oddity, since it relates to Moses as well, one I alreadey knew: the comic book (and alater television and movie) superhero Superman is based, in part, on the Biblical Moses, which the TIME article also mentions. That may strike you as crazy – well, just read the article, and you’ll slap your forehead as you say, “Of course!” [I didn't know this because I'm so smart or some kind of trivia expert. The development of the hero in Western culture was a major focus of my graduate studies.]
Monday, October 5, 2009
(9.) Did you know that enough sunshine hits the U.S. in 40 minutes to provide the nation’s total power needs for . . . and entire . . . year? (Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s still expensive, but make a line graph of the change in price over time, and notice it’s on a steep, sustained dive.)
(10.) McDonald’s is the Google of the restaurant world. They even have (or had last I knew, anyway) an outlet in the Forbidden City in Beijing. (Starbucks opened there, too, but got forced to close down because locals felt it was too Western for such a place. McDonald’s isn’t the epitome of Western???)
But now McDonald’s has gone a step further: they’ll open a restaurant at the Louvre Museum in Paris next month. Blasphemy! (Other sources say “by the end of the year; take your pick.)
CNN is one of a number of media outlets with a story headlined “’Bad taste’ cries as McDonald’s moves into ‘Mona Lisa’ museum” about this rather startling news. I looked around the Internet some and there sure are a lot of complaints. In one story, an art historian who works at the famous museum said that if there’s a McDonald’s trading on the museum’s name and reputation today, there will be low-cost clothing shops next.
Actually, to be completely fair and accurate, the new McDonald’s will be in the mall adjacent to the famous museum, not in the museum itself. That hasn’t soothed critics, one who notes there will be the “fragrance of fries floating under Mona Lisa’s nose.” Well, there’s already a Starbucks in the mall, so I guess the critics will just have to live with Ronald Mcdonald as a neighbor!
Wonder if the American fast-food giant has a lease somewhere in the Vatican???
(11.) How do you smuggle stuff to your service people who are P.O.W.’s?
Easy.
Smuggle stuff in Red Cross care packages containing . . . the popular board game “Monopoly.”
That’s an idea the British Secret Service came up with during World War II, and while no exact numbers are available, apparently the plan was successful – the government kept the program secret for decades after the war’s end.
Read about it here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10021
By the way, that website is downright addictive, as it’s filled with all sorts of odd information. Don’t sit home bored to tears on a rainy afternoon – turn on your computer and read all you want – remembering this site is dangerously habit-forming!
(12.) Confederate General Joe “Fighting Joe” Wheeler, one of 425 generals in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, didn’t see his military career end when General Robert E. Lee surrendered on the behalf of the South to General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865. As his nickname suggests, he did love a good fight.
So, at age 62, he volunteered to go join in the Spanish-American War at the very end of the 19th century, with the American – i.e., Union – army.
You might reasonably asks if that matters. I guess it doesn’t, but there’s an interesting historical note in his new military career: he’s the only former Confederate general to attain the same rank in the American army.
The Alabama native gave new meaning to “If you can’t beat them, join them.”!!!
This information is contained in the story at this URL:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/10/07/HELEN.KELLER.STATUE/index.html?eref=time_us
(The story is really about Helen Keller, who also hailed from Alabama.)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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Bangkok Drops on Quality of Life List on One Survey
Ran across a survey of cities around the world that ranked them in terms of quality of life. The same company also has other surveys, including one on cost of living; for that survey, 143 cities are included. The quality of life one didn’t indicate how many cities were included, but I’m assuming it al ranked 143 cities.
In any case, Bangkok dropped from 2008 to 2009 from 109th to 120th, the largest single drop for any city in Asia. (I also don’t know how many Asian cities were surveyed.)
On the other hand, the company that conducted the surveys, Mercer, has a page on its website that shows the 50 most expensive cities for expatriates to live in. Happily, Bangkok is nowhere to be seen on that list, which doesn’t surprise me.
Other measures include the five top Asian cities in terms of infrastructure and the top five in terms of quality of living. Bangkok’s not on either of those, either. (Somewhat to my surprise, all five top cities for quality of living are in Australia and New Zealand.)
One big plus is Bangkok isn’t singled out as qualifying for any “worst of” lists, at least not on the website. (The company sells its surveys for considerable sums, so its website serves more as a teaser than as an information source.)
The government still has hopes to make Bangkok a hub in several areas, hopes carried over from previous governments, such as aviation, medical tourism, and education. Given the current government’s relatively short tenure to date, about nine months, as well as the continuing domestic political conflicts, to aim to make Bangkok a world-ranked hub is quite ambitious for now.
The Prime Minister did well in his trip to the United Nations last week. Naturally, with all the controversy over matters such as Iran’s and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, he didn’t grab deadlines, but that’s understandable. The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian interminable conflict took a major part of the attention, too.
Another positive is that economists are saying that Asia generally is faring better than the rest of the world in the economic struggle. For instance, I read just yesterday that forecasters who had been pegging China’s growth this year set to come out a relatively poor 7% have revised that upwards to 8.2%. Even 7% is a figure enviable in many places, but the Chinese leadership believes an absolute minimum necessary to provide for the people is about 8%.
You can look at the Mercer survey at this URL:
http://www.mercer.com/referencecontent.htm?idContent=1340690
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Bangkok to Lease 4,000 NGV Buses
This has been a somewhat controversial proposal, partly because workers feared they might lose their jobs, since fewer workers will be needed as the buses will be equipped with electronic ticketing.
As I recall, sometime back, there was some consideration given to buying the buses outright.
In any case, a study has been done and the decision made to lease natural-gas buses for use on municipal routes here in Bangkok.
The project won’t be cheap at some 63 billion baht (about US$ 1.9 billion) – though the article I read [URL below] didn’t indicate how long the lease period is.
A great many commuters here do depend on buses, whether by choice or necessity. Some can’t afford to use the Skytrain-subway network, even if their homes and jobs both are convenient to it, while others either live far, work far, or both from that network.
One of the main goals in leasing these buses is to significantly reduce the carbon monoxide emissions – a most welcome result, when it happens!
It has been a long, long time since I’ve ridden a municipal bus, but one has but to look at some to realize that a fair number are well past their “use by” date and are plain worn out, so getting new buses will be welcomed by those using them.
Here’s the URL:
http://bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/155564/govt-to-lease-4000-ngv-buses
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Foreign Tourist Arrivals Down 14.1% Year-on-Year
This is the figure cited by a deputy spokesman of the Democrat Party, the chief party in the ruling coalition, for the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year.
The spokesman said that this year foreign tourists arriving had dropped in number to 8.9 million, blaming various factors, including this past Songkhran’s [Thai New Year's] riots, but added that arrivals are picking up so the fourth quarter should see some improvement.
Of course, the fourth quarter includes much of the high season, so barring some major catastrophe, an increase is to be expected anyway.
Here’s the URL of the story I read:
http://bangkokpost.com/business/tourism/155363/foreign-tourists-drops-14-1
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Thai Baht Strengthens Against the U.S. Dollar
The baht has gained fairly significantly in recent weeks compared to the greenback.
It was just a few weeks ago it was floating in the 34.0.-34.20 range per dollar, but this morning the Bangkok Post is showing a buying rate of 33.21 and a selling rate of 33.86 – a pretty wide spread. (This confuses some. What it means is if you use U.S. dollars to buy baht, you get only 33.21 baht for each dollar – but if you use baht to buy dollars, you have to pay 33.86 baht for each dollar you buy.)
Not everyone here is pleased with the strengthening of the baht (including me!). When the baht strengthens, Thailand’s exports get more expensive for foreign buyers, as international settlements are commonly made in U.S. dollars.
Thailand’s economy is largely dependent on exports, of course. Some here are saying the monetary authorities should make the necessary adjustments so that the baht reaches a level of around 37 baht per dollar, though not everyone agrees with that.
Foreigners, both business people and tourists, would be delighted to see the baht weaken against the greenback, even foreigners not Americans. Why? Well, unless things have changed, which I’m almost certain they haven’t, if you bring in, say, pounds or euros, the bank of money exchange will first convert it into dollars then into baht. That could work to one’s advantage, if the differing rates were just right, but it also can work against you.
The baht has been stable for quite a few years, which is a credit to the authorities here, particularly over the past three years since the coup, a time that has been tumultuous at times.
By the way, the rate is not engraved in stone. While the differences are small between various exchanges when we’re talking the amount you needed for a week or two holiday, if you’re bringing in a large sum for business or whatever reason, it may be worth searching out the best rate you can get.
As for me, I still fondly remember the day I got just a touch over 58 baht for each dollar I had . . . . oh, those were the days!!!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Luna-ly, or “How to Garden”
This arguably should be in the TOP’s story, but it’s so, um, “delicious” I felt it just had to have separate billing.
This jewel comes to us from the Telegraph [www.telegraph.co.uk] (and thanks to the cousins there for running the story).
Most of us have at least heard of “organic faming,” a notion some present as “The Only Way to Raise Crops” while others think of it as “Tree-Hugging 2.0.”
It seems that in the Island Nation a movement has arisen from organic farming, the central idea of which is biodiversity, which doesn’t mean what you probably think it means. It means planting, harvesting, and even eating your fruits and vegetables according to a calendar that has as a central feature the phases of the Moon.
Yes, lunar phases are key to this more advanced and refined organic farming. As are the signs of the zodiac, the position of the planets, and so on. Of course, such linkages aren’t entirely new. For example, some cultures have the “Harvest Moon,” which means just what it says – time to bring in the crops (in case you’ve led a sheltered life and didn’t know that already). However, the Harvest Moon is, as far as I know, merely a time marker, a celestial reminder, if you will: “Hey! Winter’s a-coming! Get off your duff and harvest the corn!”
But biodynamic gardening or farming goes considerably beyond this. For instance, an ascending Moon causes the upper part of a plant to have more vitality than the lower part, so during an ascending Moon is the best time to plant something whose upper parts are to eat. Conversely, a descending Moon means the lower part has more vitality – a great time for root plants such as potatos.
Apparently, some swear by this system; there’s even an official certification organization in Britain that signs off for luna-ly vegetables, fruits, and what have you. (Is there such an organization elsewhere?)
Too bad I didn’t know about this a couple months ago. My Mother has an autumn garden every year, so she has a month-long Pumpkin Patch, complete with hayrides and the like, the entire month of October. But as its mid-morning where she lives on September 30th, I am a tad late getting word to her this year.
The article does, sadly, leave one consuming question unanswered: when do I plant my potato chip seeds???
You can read further (and follow some links in the story, if you like) at this URL:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6230162/Is-biodynamic-the-new-organic.html
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Starbucks Destroys Social Interactions and Democracy
Or that’s the startling conclusion of an academic at a leading American university after he visited scads of Starbucks outlets in a bunch of countries, as that wonderful newspaper the Telegraph – again – reports.
Now, I’m not a regular of Starbucks – I might have been in one of its shops three or four times, max – nor am I stockholder, so what happens to the global coffee shop is of little consequence to me personally.
The professor notes that a great many people go into a Starbucks, get their latte (or whatever), sit down with their computers – Starbucks provides free wifi at many of its shops – put on their headphones, and are immediately cut off from the world around them.
Okay, I’ll buy that. But Professor Simon takes his point a bit further, as the article notes:
“He said the rise of Starbucks and its rivals was a far cry from the British coffee houses of the 18th and 19th centuries, ‘which were the cornerstones of democracy with a small ‘d’.”
I say.
Clearly, a 21st-century coffee house is, both admittedly and decidedly, different from an 18th-, 19-, or even 20th-century coffee house, in the last instance at least until late in the century. Of course, 18th- and 19th-century didn’t have electric lights, air-conditioning, or plumbing, either. Probably some early 20th-century ones, too, which also suffered air-conditionless until after mid-century or so. I wonder what role those lacks had in (presumably) lessening or destroying little-d democracy.
I weary of these attacks, which is why I’m writing this.
The professor makes a couple fundamental errors, at least as reported. (If the fault is with the reporter, that person needs to take another run through Journalism 101.)
First – do we all assume that earlier coffee houses were indeed “cornerstones of democracy”? Perhaps. But saying so and demonstrating it are two entirely different matters.
Secondly, had a late 17th-century or early 18th-century inventor come up with a portable computer, would the coffee houses of the day have become nothing more than ancestors of today’s Starbucks?
I also wouold like to know which countries the professor visited. Why? — because public places do indeed still perform the social function he ascribes to earlier incarnations of coffee houses, if specifically British ones. Just go to a local Thai equivalent; in some, there are plenty of folks chatting away.
I’ve even been in the Starbucks nearest my home a couple times and now recall that both times there were numerous customers, most with at least one other person, all engaged in conversation – despite any number of portable computers visible, but not in use.
You can read the Telegraph story here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6240788/Starbucks-kills-communities-academic-claims.html
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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Handy Online Calendar of Public/
Banking Holidays – for Just about the Entire World!
Just ran across this extremely handy reference source, by far and away the most thorough I’ve ever seen – including offline. For example, each island in Tuvalu has its own island-specific holiday – listed here. With nine islands, the island nation east of Australia ends up with a complicated holiday calendar, for sure!
There is one small point to mention on the downside; place names aren’t 100% accurate. Take the case of Tuvalu; it’s listed under it’s old colonial name, “Ellice Islands.” But that’s a quibbling point for so useful a resource.
Here’s the URL – and I suggest you bookmark it; if nothing else, you can how off using it!
http://www.qppstudio.net/publicholidays.htmgclid=CMftxPyImp0CFdMtpAodt3xfCg
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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October 1st: 60th Anniversary of the
Founding of the People’s Republic of China
And you can bet your last dollar (or baht or yen or pound of whatever) that it’s gonna be a HUGE affair.
In fact, the media are reporting that plans call for the biggest national birthday party in the history of the PRC.
There are ancient cultural reasons for this. Chinese tradition has 12 signs of the zodiac, as does the West, but in Chinese tradition, a sign last one [lunar] year. So, it takes 12 years to complete one cycle of the Chinese zodiac.
The next larger cycle is 60 years long, comprising five 12-year individual cycles of the zodiac. In Mandarin, the word for “six” is pronounced “liu” (fourth tone, for anyone who cares). The second part of the way to say “stay” is similar, “liu,” but with the second tone. The full Chinese expression “tingliu” really means “remain,” giving a sense of permanence – and important consideration for people whose country has been ripped asunder both by forces within and by foreign elements so many times that they’re plain tired of it. (That’s one major reason so many Han Chinese have so little patience with separatists in Tibet and Xinjiang. I’m not taking sides, just explaining.)
But why five cycles? Why not four, or six, or some other number?
Well, obviously, 12 X 5=60, but that doesn’t tell us the “why.” That has to do with the five known planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Viola: five.
It’s a lot more complicated than that, in truth. Anyone interested can explore it in more depth in a surprisingly well-done Wikipedia article at this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology
(A note of caution: you can go crazy trying to figure out all the myriad of factors that go into Chinese calculations in this regard. But there it is.)
Anyway, a 60-year cycle gives a feeling of stability, of permanence.
And China has been stable – territorially speaking – since Chairman Mao stood on the balcony above the main entrance gate of the Forbidden City on October 1, 1949 and declared the founding the the PRC.
The 50th birthday bash was a big enough deal – I was living and working in southern China at the time, so saw it firsthand. But that won’t be like the 60th, and I wish I could be there. Yes, I know – Bangkok has a thriving, large Chinatown where I can go, but let me ask you a question: “Are you CRAZY???”. It’ll be utter, total, chaos. Fun chaos, true, in many ways. But I don’t know Chinatown and that might not be the best time to visit.
Beijing will be the center of attention, naturally, where a vast parade is planned, partly to show off some of the country’s newest military hardware (to give pause to those separatists I mentioned earlier, among other things).
I get CCTV (China Central Television) English channel on my cable package – but the sound has been out for over a year. Not on my TV – from the cable service. As it has been for Channel News Asia out of Singapore. And as it intermittently is for Japanese broadcaster NHK.
But it’s about 3:30 A.M. As I write (messed-up days and nights, but never mind), and it’s an hour later in both Singapore and China than it is here, so I ay try to stay up long enough to bounce back and forth between the two channels to see some of the early festivities in those two places.
By the way, nine days from now, on October 10th, Taiwan will celebrate its own National Day – which is pegged to the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty in China. It’s a day Beijing always watches closely, trying to figure out what message the island’s leaders are trying to send – and they do try to send a message via the nature of the celebrations each and every year.
But back across what used to be called the “Strait of Formosa” to the mainland proper.
National Day is second importance only to Spring Festival, a cultural holiday (as opposed to a political one), though as China rises, one can safely assume that for some Chinese, National Day has come to rival Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). The groundwork for a festive mood has already been done, in that the annual Mid-Autumn, or Moon, Festival will be just two days later this year, and that’s another important traditional holiday on the Chinese calendar. The Chinese will have a government-mandated eight-day holiday for the two celebrations.
This is not to say that all this means it’s kumbaya time around the campfire. Despite China’s many advances, some of them astonishing, there remain unfulfilled promises from the revolutionary years. Of democracy (in something not far from a Western sense of that term). A free press (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha – though the blogosphere is increasingly filling the role of the Fourth Estate, much to the dismay of some authorities). Of an independent judiciary, well, we know about that. Even just moving to a new place is impossible for a great many people, “thanks” to the household registration system, which ties you to one place, often for a lifetime.
But I bet they get there. Almost certainly not in my lifetime. Maybe not for a generation or two after that. I think the slow pace is a direct function of fear on the part of party leaders, fear of losing not so much control (though there is that, of course, especially in the conservative branch of the party) as losing stability. And then being held accountable for it.
Yet China is rising, and does have much to celebrate on this auspicious anniversary. With success comes confidence, and we see some of the fruits of increased confidence already. Yes, the folks running the show tend to wear two six guns with hair triggers, and to resort to them far more quickly than they need. But not as quickly as even 20 years ago, and, yes, I’m thinking “Tiananmen Square, June 4th, 1989.”
If you were anywhere in a Chinese setting for the day (I use the past tense since I won’t get this up-loaded in time for today), I hope you had a walloping good time of it!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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Rio de Janeiro Wins 2016 Olympics Hosting Rights
I don’t know about you, but I’m glad not to be in Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid – of Rio right now!
I’m sure fans of the Olympics in the first three cities are disappointed, particularly since the new Japanese Prime Minister, the U.S. President, and the King, Queen, and President of Spain all showed up to make a last-minute pitch for their respective cities.
Somewhat to the Americans’ surprise, Chicago was the first city to be eliminated, followed by Tokyo. Madrid and Rio were apparently pretty much even with each other going into the final vote.
I’ve already read online speculation that though there’s no formal rule against awarding an Olympics on the same continent in two consecutive Olympics may have played against Madrid, as London will be hosting the games in 2012.
For me as an American, sure, it would have been nice to see Chicago land the Olympics. But I can certainly see the appeal of Rio, a.k.a. “Party City, S.A.” both as a city in its own right and as the first one on the South American continent to win an Olympics bid. (Yes, yes, Mabel, I know Mexico City had them, but Mexico’s in NORTH America. . . . What’s that? — No, Mabel, NORTH America and LATIN America are NOT one and the same. Tell that to folks from the southern Mexican border with Central America right down to Tierra del Fuego; they’ll correct your geography, “Muito rapidamente!” (*wink!*)
I’ve never been anywhere south of the equator, so other than what I’ve read, seen on TV or the Internet, and so on, I don’t know a whole lot about Rio. Friends who’ve been there have told me it’s a simply splendid and beautiful city.
“Cingratulations ao povo do Rio de Janeiro e do Brasil!”
(Whew. I don’t spreak Portuguese; sure hope Google Translate got that right!!! It means – supposedly — “Congratulations to the people of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil!”)
Hm. Never been south of the equator. Never been to an Olympics. Hm. Maybe if I’m still this side of the chimney come 2016, Rio just might be the place to go.
Hey! Wait a minute! Something just struck me! I think the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in mid-year . . . during Rio’s winter.
Well, okay, I just looked up a month-by-month chart of Rio’s weather, and it looks like it’s never cold, with a “winter” akin to our here in Bangkok, or maybe a bit further north of here. But to South Hemisphereans, won’t it be downright weird to have the Summer Olympics during their hemisphere’s winter???
Well, anyway, congratulations to Brazil for winning the Summer-Olympics-to-Be-Held-During-Your_Winter!
(Packaging this could drive travel agents nuts!)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
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My Brief Career as a Rodeo “Star”: and, Texas
Commits $3 Billion to Fund a Quest for a Cure for Cancer
The topics in the headline aren’t as unrelated as they appear, actually.
Just about anyone who’s ever so much as heard of Texas knows all about the image a lot of non-Texans have of the Lone Star State. They’re enchanted with details such as the fact that six sovereign flags have flown over the state – including that of the Republic of Texas, as Texas is the only state in the union that was ever it own, real, genu-ine country, if briefly (1836-45).
And most people have heard of the Texas Rangers, the lawmen, I mean, not the baseball team. Mean, tough bas- — gentlemen, I meant – even today.
And the gunfighters the Rangers chased, men such as John Wesley Hardin, born in Bonham, not real far from where I grew up. (We’re not related, though.) Hardin was one of the most violent gunfighters there was – imprisoned in 1858, he claimed he had killed 42 men. (Not that it did him any good; he got shot in the head from behind by a lawman with whom he had words earlier in the day. That was under three months after his 42nd birthday.)
The oil. The vast ranches in the days of yore. Do you know that at its zenith, the King Ranch, headquartered in (where else?) Kingsville, Texas stretch from northern Mexico all the way north nearly to the U.S.-Canadian border. The piney woods of Deep East Texas, and the deserts of southwest Texas.
Big D, as Dallas is known, and Fort Worth, “Where the West Begins.”
My fellow Texans, given our state’s colorful history, can be, um, “sometimes given to airs.” [But not as much as Okies! ]
Everything’s the biggest, the best, the grandest, the fastest, the meanest, the sweetest, the everything-est, to hear us tell it.
I never really bought into that legend, which is a good thing. And that brings me to my rodeo career.
I grew up on a small spread just outside a tiny town. There was zero to do at night, except a weekly “calf-roping” at a “calf-roping corral” on the edge of town nearest home, and my parents would let me walk or ride my bicycle to go watch.
Mostly, it was just roping. But sometimes there would be bronc and bull riding. One of the local men – probably Carroll Mohon, though I’m not sure after so many years, but he ran the show – convinced me to try “bull-riding,” though on a calf, not a full-grown bull.
Stupid me. Whover the guy was sure made it sound easy, and I could ride a horse already (but a real gentle one).
And there I was, flush with excitement, scared s***less. I leapt onto the calf from the fence plank on which I was standing, and there I REALLY was – my moment of glory! Me, a real Texas cowboy!!!
I guess that ended quick-quick, ’cause I don’t remember getting to hear the cheers and applause. I do remember being flat on my back dazed, and confused.
I rode horses a gazillion times afterwards – but never tried my hand at “bull-riding” again.
But Texas does, sometimes, really do things in a big way, or people from other places come and do big things – think of T. Boone Pickens’ plans for a huge wind farm in west Texas. If he ever gets the financing figured out, he’s talking 4,000 of the things.
Texas has been pretty lucky over the years, especially in the sense of income-producing natural resources (oil and gas) and lots of other stuff. That let’s our state government take on some mighty big projects, and now one’s underway, for which the state has the announced goal of curing cancer.
And they’re not kidding. That’s why they established the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas in Austin, the state capital. The article I read (link at end of story) says, “Gov. Rick Perry said he dreamed of the day ‘we talk about cancer the same way we talk about polio’.”
The current Great Recession has gummed up the works a bit for the peculiar way Texas legislators sometimes go about actually putting money on the table to fund stuff, the state has committed $3 billion over ten years – more than any other state, and second only to the National Cancer Institute, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.
Texas already had some fine cancer research and treatment places, the best known likely M. D. Anderson in Houston. (My oncologist here had a full career there after going there to study but ending up being recruited. Upon retiring, he came home, got bored, and went to work as Chief of Oncology at Bumrungrad Hospital, a post from which he has now retired. Again retired.)
I hope the researchers have better luck than I did riding that doggone “bull.”
Maybe Texas is larger than life . . . sometimes.
Here’s the URL for the story, which does have some more information:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_re_us/us_texas_cancer_fight
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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Heavy Rains Bringing Floods to Many Parts of Thailand
No surprises here, really, since we are in the midst of the rainy season, after all.
However, the flooding is quite widespread, from the southern part of the Kingdom right up through the Central Pailn, branching east and northeast into Issaan and north towards the border areas with northern Laos and Burma.
For instance, I just heard that there is some flooding in Nakon Ratchasima, a.k.a. Korat, and the ancient capital Ayutthaya – i.e., pretty close to Bangkok, where most international travelers still enter and leave the country. Bangkok itself has had some relatively minor flooding.
Concerns are rising as the waters do, particularly along the Chao Phraya River, which of course is “the River of Kings” that courses its meandering way through the capital. With heavy rains upriver, more serious flooding could be in store for the City of Angels.
Here in my neighborhood, in the vicinity of Soi Asoke and Rama 4 Road, there hasn’t been any flooding at all, and the rains have been relatively intermittent. About a week ago, it did begin raining about sundown, at first fairly heavily, but it eased up to a very moderate rain two or three hours later. It continued right through the night up to about midday the next day. However, my soi didn’t flood in the least. In fact, it was pleasant, especially the temperature, which topped out the next day at about 28°C/83°F, which for Bangkok is quite please, even with a thousand percent humidity! A nice, gentle, mostly continuous breeze helped.
If you’re planning on coming here, don’t forget your rain gear, or, alternatively, put buying some here on your to-do list. You can get umprellas and plastic ponchos very cheaply here. For instance, because I’m terrible about losing umbrellas (aren’t most people?), I buy cheap ones that are perfectly serviceable for as little as about 100-120 baht for small collapsible ones that easily fit into my shoulder bag. I don’t bother with a poncho, preferring to time my goings and comings to catch the rain when it has let up and never walking very far at any one time anyway – about the furthest I ever walk continuously is maybe two blocks, out to Sukhumvit Soi 22.
One problem that invariably arises during the rainy season is that taxis drivers become very picky – and very greedy. On the first point, they don’t want to take you to where you want to go; sometimes, I’ve had a driver stop, and even though I’m going only to Washington square – on Soi 22 and under a kilometer away – but the driver has refused. Even when he has readily agreed he’s going to Sukhumvit road, Ice., passing directly in front of the Soi 22 entrance to the Square.
Go figure.
And, as I said, sometimes a driver will want a ludicrous amount. Last year I wanted to go to the Square, and the fare is typically 37-40 baht, though if it’s raining, it can easily run up to 50 baht or a bit more – drivers here just can’t seem to handle driving in even a light rain; the city goes into gridlock – but the driver I flagged wanted a rather astonishing 300 baht to take me.
Needless to say . . . need I say?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
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Where Are the Tourist Deals?
I’ve been surprised at the relative paucity of tourist-attracting deals this low season, surprised even more in light of the ongoing recession plaguing the world and knowing that tourism operators are beyond desperate, in some cases, as their tensions and worries escalate to the madly frantic level.
Yesterday, I saw an interview on the English-language Thai channel TAN (Thai-ASEAN News Network, formerly ASTV, formerly TOC – they can’t seem to make up their minds about the name, TAN being the third in about five years). The interviewee is the owner of a small but rather prestigious hotel here, apparently; I had never heard of it and now have forgotten the name, since I didn’t know I’d be mentioning it in this column.
The interviewer specifically asked the hotelier about the paucity of deals, a paucity not only in the context of attracting foreign visitors, but little to motivate even domestic tourists. Since the hotelier had spent some time emphasizing her hotel’s strong points (and the footage did show it to be quite beautiful), including a competitive – in normal times – price range. But in response to the question, she talked at considerable length . . . only to say, ultimately, absolutely nothing.
Language wasn’t a problem, as the lady spoke excellent [North American] English, with only the faintest trace of an accent. Thinking I had missed something, since I was fooling around on the Internet at the same time, when the show was rebroadcast later, I dedicated myself to watching that portion of the interview again, giving it my full attention.
Nada. Nothing. The lady could be a teacher of public speaking for the United Nations, helping diplomats “improve” their diplo-speak skills even further. (Not that those skills need enhancement; even the newest diplo-critter to the U.N. Can speak for hours on end and say exactly zero.)
Not that there are no deals, mind you. For instance, I saw flights Bangkok-Vienna-Bangkok for some 16,000 baht each way, which is reasonably competitive. Extraneous charges (taxes, fuel surcharges, etc.) were also reasonable.
Also, some of the hotels are still having food specials, but not as many as previously. The interviewer, who apparently likes to go out for lunch and dinner with her husband frequently, mentioned that these days, even when they find a nice special and even when they get to wherever early, the place is packed and they end up waiting – sometimes waiting long enough to miss out on whatever the special is! Or they ge4t inside after awhile, but much of the food is gone.
If you’re coming and want a good rate on a hotel, try www.AsiaRooms.com – it continues to get top reviews. Even if you walk in, if you do a bit of research ahead of time, you can get a reasonably-priced hotel. For instance, I know of one that’s rated a 3-star one, but which is high-end 3-star, that has rooms for one person for about 2,900 baht (about US$88 this morning; the baht is selling at around 33 to the dollar). And if you don’t mind staying further out from the city center, you can do considerably better than that, even if you stay close to the Skytrain or the subway so you can zip around easily. (The mass transit systems here are a real blessing, and downright cheap to ride.)
This being the rainy season, travel times can be greatly lengthened, something to factor in should your plans include traveling about some, whether intracity or long-distance travel. Factoring these times in is easier said than done, of course, since how can you know when you board halfway around the planet what’s going to be happening when you hit the tarmac here? Well, if a thphoon is moving this way, you can pretty much depend on rains and longer travel times, but in the absence of those blows, it remains something of a guessing game.
Sort of like your spouse’s/significant other’s bad moods. You know they will come – but neither when nor why!
Back to deals for a minute. Maybe it’s different when you’re accessing the major travel portals from some other country, but accessing them from here, I have yet to find anything approaching a deal for anything – hotels, car rentals, air/train/boat tickets, even packages aren’t great – and that’s being kind.
Something I flat don’t understand I, the ridiculously wide range for air fares. What I mean is sometimes I look online to check, say, round-trip fares Bangkok-LosAngeles-Bangkok. And get a sometimes lengthy list of possibilities, usually listed from cheapest to most expensive. In this particular example, last time I checked, fares started at around US$550, only to range all the way up to upwards of US$ 8,000. Economy class.
Even more puzzling is when you see the same airline flying the same route with exactly the same kind of aircraft, the only difference being one flight is maybe an hour later or earlier than the other – but one can be, literally, two or three times as expensive as the other. Why? Does aviation fuel go up and down by orders of magnitude hourly? Or wages? Or airport landing fees?
What gives? (Any travel agents or airline employees out there who can shed any light on this unhappy state of affairs?)
A few weeks ago I checked a flight Bangkok-Dallas (Texas)-Bangkok, a flight going through Europe. How about US$13,000++??? Is that ridiculous, or what? Economy class? Are there real, live human beings who actually pay these kinds of prices???
Were I to meet such a person, I would be tempted to say, “There, there; I can get you to a nice shrink just down the road.”
You can bargain, to an extent, in some cases. You might be able to get a room upgrade. Or if you’re going with a reasonably large group to a restaurant for a meal, you might be able to negotiate a discount, or to get, say, dessert thrown in at no extra charge. Or a couple bottles of nice wine. Etc. If you’re buying air tickets here in Thailand through a travel agent, especially domestic air tickets, on the odd occasion you might get a small markdown on the fare – but it’s important to remember that travel agents operate on very thin profit margins, so they don’t have a lot of wiggle room themselves.
More upbeat news is that long-distance bus and train fares remain dirt cheap, by just about any standard. None of the trains are going to be luxurious, a la Orient Express, but they are comfortable, unless you opt for the lowest-class tickets – wooden seats, no air-conditioning.
Want a deal on centuries-old Asian art objects? Precious gems? Name-brand consumer goods – watches, clothing, etc.? You can get them here, just about everywhere. . . but they often are knock-offs. Fakes. As in counterfeits. If you genuinely know your stuff, you can indeed get some rasonably good deals. If you don’t, either steer clear or go with someone who does know. For instance, if I were to have a spasm one day to go buy a gem, I would call my buddy Burma Richard and ask him to go with me, since he’s a real expert about gemstones. And I wouldn’t even consider buying any stone he didn’t give his unqualified stamp of approval.
Finally, and still upbeat, Thailand remains a very competitive destination, especially outside the major tourist areas, such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, etc.
Further, while political tensions remain, the country remains stable, perhaps surprisingly so; it appears the competing groups may have decided the negative publicity about themselves, of which there has been plenty, just isn’t worth it.
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Washington Square News
I haven’t been to the Square since Sunday-before-last, so don’t have much news this time around.
I did talk to the owner of Silver Dollar Bar on the phone three days ago; from what I was told, it seems business is normal for this time of year, meaning the regulars come and go pretty much according to their usual patterns, except me, which is why the owner called me in the first place – he had been asked about me a number of times during the preceding week and finally decided to call me himself to ask if everything’s okay (which it is).
So, I guess there’s nothing new under the sun, at least not where it shines into and around Washington Square!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Ended up going to the Square yesterday for awhile, and indeed, it was very quiet in the two places I went, the Texas Lone Staar and New Square One Pub. Taffy, owner of the latter and a rooming house nearby told me it looks like things will pick up over the next few weeks; he already has several reservations from friends abroad who plan on coming, some intending to stay several weeks.
All the owners will be pleased to see returning Squaronians, for sure!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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Check In for Your Flight – Using Your Hand Phone
Just read a really interesting article at www.Forbes.com headlined “Mobile Check-Ons Take Flight” about this very topic.
Turns out McCarran Airport in Las Vegas has joined a group of about 30 U.S. airports offering this service. You do have to use your phone along the way to (1.) check-in for your flight, (2.) drop off your checked luggage, and (3.) just before boarding your flight, which isn’t explained in the article, but which I presume is likely to be a passenger-matching security step for the TSA officers.
This saves the airlines and airports buckets of money, and saves passengers time. If I’m correct the third time is for security purposes, I imagine the TSA officers appreciate it, too – saves them time since they don’t have to manually scan passenger lists. (I’m betting that’s exactly what that third step is for; why else have it???)
doing stuff with mobile phones sure seems to be the wave of the future, doesn’t it? I’ve read about some stores where you can pay for your purchases with your hand phone, which is pre-loaded with credit, sort of like a debit or cash card.
Mobile phones are moving rapidly to becoming mini-computers, for all intents and purposes, especially smart phones. Look at all you can do. The last phone I had (but lost) was one for which I paid the princely sum of 1,120 baht, at the time equal to about US$33.00. It could take pictures and video clips, record audios, had a calendar with the ability to mark birthdays, anniversaries, one-off events such as weddings (well, those happen one at a time, if maybe more than once in a given person’s life!). Smileys and other graphics, etc. etc. etc. and it was a “basic” phone – the cheapest Nokia I could buy new.
Of course, screen and keyboard size still remain an issue for using a phone as a computer, but I’m hoping some bright spark will come up with a fold-up or roll-up screen and keyboard, small enough to fit into your pocket, briefcase, or purse but which opens out to a decent size.
One thing I really don’t understand about some countries is how expensive it is to use mobile phones. Here, if I send an SMS locally, it costs me THB2.00/US.06. Phone calls can be as cheap as half that (which itself is a bit odd – cheaper than an SMS).
Now, there is one area I don’t want to see go onto my mobile phone: getting served once aboard the aircraft. I’ll stick with lovely hostesses, thank you very much. If I wanted to use a vending machine, I would have taken the BUS!!! even a fancy-dancy vending machine that I just wave my phoen at to get something!
You can read the Forbes story at this URL:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/05/mccarran-airport-speedcheck-technology-biz-travel-09-mobile.html
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
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Anti-Digicam Star Wars Technology: Implications for
Holiday Photographers; and, “What’s A Squaronian to DO?”
This story is based on an over I ran across at www.wired.com headlined “Russian Billionaire Installs Anti-Photo Shield on Giant Yacht.”
It seems Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich really likes his privacy. For his new yacht, the Eclipse, he has installed high-tech gear to defeat the paparazzi, i.e., free-agent photographers who plagued famous people. (Or perhaps a better name for them is “stalkerazzi,” since that’s fundamentally what they do. Add your own adjectives. ) The article has further details, but basically he has equipment that can detect digital camera gear automatically and zap it with a “bolt of light,” in the article’s words, which I assume to be a laser of some sort (hence my headline here). (Later note: read elsewhere it is indeed a laser beam.)
You can read the story at this URL:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/russian-billionaire-installs-anti-photo-shield-on-giant-yacht/
Abramovich’s New Plaything. All Nearly Two Football Fields of It
By the way, Abramovich’s little floater is pretty impressive: ~170m/557 feet, swimming pools (yes, plural) helipad, etc. The price tag is pretty impressive, too, at nearly US$1.2 billion – yes, that’s “B,” as in “Bubba.” Which is above most people’s pay grades, at least the ones I know or who read this. (If, however, there are any Bill Gates-likes or Warren Buffett-likes amongst you, by all means, contact me. I’ve got all sorts of good deals, and my go-between fee is quite modest. Smile!) Anyway, this ship is nearly half the length of an aircraft carrier, and is the largest yacht in the world.
But more to the point, I immediately thought how this sort of technology might affect us ordinary mortals, and taking casual snapshots in public places came to mind.
What if, for instance, the U.S. Secret Service got the heebie-jeebies thinking about people taking pictures of the white House. Would they install this kind of stuff to prevent the gazillion tourists who visit the white House every year from taking photos? Can they do that – legally, I mean?
And can these light beams harm my camera – or my precious, if decrepit, body? I’m not really up for a body transplant. (Unless it makes me like 17 years old again and irresistible to women. And the surgery doesn’t hurt.)
You may recall that any number of individuals and government’s have complained about Google’s photographic projects. While maybe you and I couldn’t afford the equipment to foil google’s photographers as they drive around, assuming we would want to do so, what about governments? And can this technology foil satellite imagery? (That may be a stupid question, but on this point, I’m, well, stupid, I guess, which I’m sure some kind soul among you who knows will happily confirm to me.)
I mentioned the White House already. There could be a whole slew of other places that might want to use this sort of technology for commercial purposes. For instance, say your at a fair where enterprising entrepreneurs sell stock, custom, or both kinds of photographs. Museums might be interested, especially those containing objects that flashes can damage over time (paintings, fabrics, paper stuff, and so on).
Hey! I just had an inspiration! This stuff would be GREAT for Washington Square! Lots of Squaronians get downright skittish when someone pulls out a camera in one of the bar, especially if the happy-snap person is a stranger, not a Squaronian. Especially at inconvenient times, such as when a Squaronian has had, um, “a bit too much” and is piling into a booth for nappy-time.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
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The Earth Burps
Well, this isn’t exactly news, but there sure are a lot of typhoons and earthquakes in the western half of the Pacific this year. In fact, a big earthquake hit the island nation of Vanatu a little over two hours ago as I write, and NHK, the Japanese broadcast, is warning of a tsunami 1-2 meters tall striking various places, moving out from the epicenter.
A tsunami that size – 2 meters is about as tall as someone 6′6” — isn’t nearly as big as the one that hit a number of countries, including Thailand, a few years ago; that one killed well over 200,000 people, with many more unaccounted for to this day.
But it’s big enough. You sure as heck don’t want to be anywhere near a beach when a wave that size comes thundering ashore.
Some of my Thai friends have been muttering darkly that all these earthquakes and typhoons in recent years that have afflicted this part of the world are some kind of cosmic payback. They’re quite sincere, if wrong, in my view. There’s nothing statistically significant about these events, according to scientists; it’s pure happenstance they’ve occurred in a tight cluster.
Last week saw the quake in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga, followed by another quake in Indonesia, quakes that may have been causally related as the two areas are at opposite ends of the same fault line. Wonder if the Vanatu quake might trigger one around these parts. . . .
Hm. Since typing the above I got an alert that another large quake struck well south of Manila, which is of course considerably closer to these parts than Vanatu is (which lies about 2,200 kilometers/1,400 miles northeast of Sydney).
Burp.
Late note: The tsunami warning has been lifted as of about three-four hours after the quake.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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Beware Facebook “Friendly” Scams
I suspect word about this is slow getting out, but any of you who have a Facebook account need to be aware of this latest scam flood.
I just read a story”FBI Issues Warning Over Facebook Scams” [link follows] about this. Though I already knew, I decided that since Facebook recently passed the 300 million mark in its number of users, and since I know some of you have accounts with the social network’s site, I decided to go with this story.
http://www.switched.com/2009/10/06/fbi-issues-warning-over-friendly-facebook-scams?icid=sphere_cnninline_tech
The story has a link to a tips page the FBI has put online:
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/networking_100109.htm
Well worth a look.
The story mentions that victims need to report their case to the FBI. I think I remember reading the bureau tracks incidents outside the U.S. as well, so it wouldn’t hurt to try to report it, even if your not an American citizen and even if there’s no connection the the U.S.
The kind of scams I’ve read most about are (1.) a frantic message from a friend in dire need of money, and, (2.) links to pages that steal passwords, usernames, whole address books, and so on – enabling the bad guys to clean out your bank account, for example, or to use your credit card information to make purchases.
This sort of thing happens more than we realize. I’m having an ongoing problem with my U.S. bank account (money vanishing into thin air, but not in huge amounts at any one go). I’ve managed to eliminate Facebook, but still haven’t gotten to the bottom of it, and neither has my bank. (I haven’t reported this to the FBI yet because I can’t give them a clue where to look.)
Okay. There’s an FBI representative here in Bangkok at the embassy, so I decided to call and ask him about it. While he’s unfamiliar with the Facebook scam in particular, he did mention some useful information in deciding whether to go to www.ic3.gov – the reporting portal for the FBI. Generally, on an individual level, there’s an informal threshhold of about $200,000 in losses before the FBI really sits up and takes notice. That’s not to bad-mouth the FBI; after all, they don’t have unlimited resources, so they can’t very well jump into relatively small cases. They are, however, interested when, say, someone steals a Facebook account to bilk people out of money. Why? Though no one person is likely to get bilked out of a vast amount, if the nogoodniks get, say. $100-200 (my number; the agent didn’t mention one in this context), when that’s multiplied out over many victims, we’re talking serious money. If just 1/100th of 1% of Facebook’s users were to fall victim, that would be over 30,000 people. Meaning, using my numbers, $3 million-6 million+ for the bad guys.
Not fun.
So, if you get a message or e-mail from a friend saying he’s stuck in the Congo because his money got stolen, verify it directly with him should you be inclined to help out. And I don’t mean verify online; get in touch with him directly. If all else fails, contact the State Department, if he’s American, or his country’s foreign ministry if he’s a citizen of another country, maybe by calling his country’s nearest embassy or consulate.
And be careful clicking links, especially in an e-mail. Further, be careful in allowing a site to display images in your web browser. If you want to store sensitive information on your computer – don’t. Instead, disconnect from the Internet, connect a thumb or external drive to your computer, put the information into the thumb or external drive, then DISconnect it BEFORE you get on the Internet again.
I also advise you not let your browser store log-in information for websites you visit.
It also isn’t a bad idea to store your documents and so on in a separate drive, meaning you have only programs on your internal hard disk. Why? Because it’s worth doing a complete reformat of your internal drive once in awhile then re-installing the operating system (Windows Vista or XP, for example) plus any other programs you use. Yes, that’s a huge pain in the derrière, but much better than getting ripped off for thousands of dollars.
The Internet is wonderful, and has changed the world beyond imagination even just a single generation ago. Unfortunately, it’s also a very dangerous place – so please be careful.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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Website to Help You Decide If You Might Have Swine Flu and Need to See a Doctor
I just read an article at www.aol.com headlined “Web tool helps advise when flu needs a doctor” that steers someone with flu to another website where the sick person answers some questions then recommends whether or not to go to the doctor.
The flu website was set up by Microsoft as part of a wider effort to lessen the number of people in the U.S. rushing to emergency rooms when they really don’t need to do so. (That’s a real problem in America, with 46 or so million people have NO insurance. Under U.S. law, no one can be turned away from an emergency room, regardless of his or her ability to pay; in recent years, for people unable to pay for care and who don’t have insurance, the emergency room has replaced a doctor’s office.)
Though the website is aimed at Americans, it’s useful for anyone wherever a person is – including here in Thailand, where swine flu, last I heard, had claimed 160 lives. Here’s the URL:
https://h1n1.cloudapp.net/Default.aspx
Here’s the link to the original article:
http://news.aol.com/article/web-tool-helps-advise-when-flu-needs-a/706991?cid=14
And here’s a link to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that has further information:
http://www.flu.gov
No website can replace a medical professional, of course, but you can make better decisions concerning your health care by having more, and better, information.
Let me express an opinion – and that’s all it is, so take it for what you think it’s worth – about the current panic about swine flu: it’s overblown. The number of people affected compared to the totalo number of people is the world is very small. Take Thailand, for example. The number of people here is about 67 million. Since only 160 people have died from swine flu, that means only 1 person in every 418,750 people has died.
Does that mean the worry is merited? Apparently not. I’ve read in numerous places that ordinary flu claims as many or more lives every year as swine flu has claimed so far. Malaria kills more people every year. Diarrhea kills more. A number of illnesses and diseases kill more – but they don’t have a lot of news stories written about them, unlike swine flu. It reminds me of bird flu, which made everyone very concerned, but which in fact affected relatively few people.
However, if you have even just a small suspicion you have the swine flu, it’s better to see a doctor than to risk becoming very, very ill or maybe even dying.
Neither is much fun, right?
Friday, October 9, 2009
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U.S. Air Force Precision Flight Team Will Perform in
Bangkok Saturday, October 10th — but WHEN and WHERE???
The USAF Thunderbirds are pilots with many, many hours of flight experience, some in combat. Once a pilot is chosen to join the team, he receives intensive additional flight training, as the Thunderbirds fly fighter aircraft at high speeds, flying very close together – dangerously close.
They’re good. Very, very good.
I saw them once, many years ago, at the U.S. Naval Air Station near Dallas, Texas. Awesome.
Two maneuvers stand out in particular.
There are five jets, today the F-16, but a different one then. (I don’t remember – I think the F-104, a fighter that was used during the Vietnam War.) At one point, four fighters climbed high above the south end of the runway, while the fifth flew equally high above the north end. From their positions thousands of feet above the ground, all five fighters turned and dove nearly vertically towards opposite ends of the runway, their engines at full power, the announcer told us.
The jets started flying parallel to the ground, very low – maybe ten meters – the four wingtip-to-wingtip flying north, the fifth fighter flying south. Their combined airspeed was nearly 1,000 miles per hour – and they were flying towards each other. A collision course.
At the last possible moment, the pilot of the lone fighter flipped his jet upside-down and flew through the tiny space below his four fellow pilots’ jets and the ground. Impressive? Well, once my heart started beating again and my lungs started breathing, I realized it was a VERY impressive maneuver.
The Thunderbirds’ final demonstration was equally impressive. The five fighters climbed in a spiral high in the sky, then turned down and dove. Once they got nearly to the ground, the pilots yanked the aircraft up, climbing again, but vertically, the bottoms of the jets turned in towards each other. Once they were thousands of feet above the ground again, they lket the aircraft fall over, the tops down, then curved over towards the ground. At that time, they turned on smoke machines, the smoke from each a particular color, no two smokes the same color.
Each jet came down and started flying level with the ground, all of them pointed at the same spot above the runway. And they met simultaneously, five jets barely missing each other as they sped above and below each other. The highest jet was maybe a hundred meters above the ground.
And they’re here. It’s early Friday morning, and I just heard a story on TAN TV about it. The reporter said they landed at Don Muang Airport yesterday, and that the pilots will practice today, then perform tomorrow. But the reporter did NOT say WHEN they will perform, nor WHERE. I assume they will perform at Don Muang Airport. It would be nice to know what time they will fly. I searched the Internet, specifically searching the websites of the Bangkok Post and The Nation. There’s not a word about these “Ambassadors in Blue,” as their called. (The uniforms of the U.S. Air Force are blue, except for some special teams. Makes sense, since the sky is blue.) I found the Thunderbirds official website at www.thunderbirds.airforce.gov and saw a link to their performance schedule, so I checked there. Sure enough: “Bangkok, October 10th” — but nothing about when they will fly, specifically, nor what time.
Anyway, if your anywhere around the old airport tomorrow, you might look around the sky for the airplanes. Even if you don’t care about skilled flying, I promise you that you will be impressed. Really impressed.
Why is the U.S. Air Force sending the Thunderbirds here? They’re visiting a number of places in this part of the world. The goal is to support relations with other countries and their armed forces, specifically their air forces. The aerial demonstrations have several purposes. They impress people, and make them feel good about the U.S. military (maybe). A young man or woman might be inspired to join his or her own air force and become a pilot. People get to see the amazing skills of well-trained pilots.
I believe goups like the Thunderbirds do as much or more to help U.S. relations with other countries than a thousand diplomats. (Sorry, dip-lo-types.)
Thailand is a member of a reasonably exclusive club of very close allies with the U.S. Whenever the subject of the Vietnam War comes up with young Thai people, I’m always surprised that very few younger Thais, born after the war, even know that Thais fought together with Americans in Vietnam. The U.S. Air Force had several air bases here, such as the fighter bases in Korat and Udorn Thani. U-Tapao was built by the U.S. Air Force for bombers and cargo aircraft; at the time, the runway there was the longest in Southeast Asia.
Friday, October 9, 2009
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Airport Rail Link Tested This Week
The State Railways of Thailand had a test run of the airport rail link between Makkasan and Suvarnabhumi Airport, for which they let people ride free of charge.
The run was a success. A local television station reporter interviewed some people after they had ridden the train, and they all were pleased.
The train is scheduled to begin regular service in the first half of next year, though I don’t know if it will start operating on a limited schedule next month, as was planned.
I don’t know if there will be a stop at the Chonburi Highway, but if there is, and if the bus companies will stop there, it’ll be easier to go to Pattaya and places beyond Pattaya than it is now, at least from central Bangkok. That area isn’t built up very much – yet – so traffic is less there than it is in town.
Choo-choo!!!
Friday, October 9, 2009
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Can a Foreigner with a Thai Spouse Legally Buy Property?
The short answer is “yes,” as long as the Thai spouse has her (or his) own money. That is, if the Land Department discovers a Thai citizen uses money from a foreign spouse to purchase property, the deed will be revoked.
This puzzles me somewhat, as Thailand wants foreign currency, so it seems logical to me that if a foreigner married to a Thai wants to give the Thai money to buy a condo/apartment/townhouse/home/land, then that’s just that much more foreign money coming into Thailand. In any case, a foreigner can’t legally have more than 49% control, and because of changes in the law not long ago, the Thai partner(s) has (or have) control – no more powerless nominees.
Even relatively inexpensive places in places such as Bangkok are too expensive for a many Thais, given the income levels here. (Last I knew, the average monthly income in Bangkok for Thai nationals was about 8,000 baht. And a cheap apartment, without any land, costs at least 250,000-300,000 baht, on the outskirts of the city.
Considering the expenses of daily living here, most Thais simply cannot afford to pay so much. (Of course, neither can a lot of foreigners, for that matter.)
I do not want to own any property here. The laws can and do change, and I would be afraid my ownership might be declared illegal. Besides, I don’t know if I want to trust someone else to control such a relatively large investment.
As I understand it, I can’t even give a Thai national money as a present for him or her to use to buy property 100% in his or her name, with my name nowhere. I suppose it would be easily possible for a Thai to take the money and buy land or a home without the authorities ever even knowing the money came from a foreigner – but I think if the authorities did find out, they could and would revoke the deed.
Let me emphasize that I don’t know this is true. I have read only news reports about the subject, and I’m not a lawyer.
Obviously, if you are thinking of buying property here, you almost certainly will want to consult an attorney with expertise in this area of law.
In any case, there may be a big problem concerning visas. It has been reported that Thai immigration authorities are trying to stop people going outside Thailand every two months to get a tourist visa at a Thai embassy or consulate then returning to Thailand – to work, which is illegal. In my case, I don’t work, but how can I prove that? I don’t know that I can satisfy an immigration official.
If you are at least 50 years old and can meet the income requirements – with money from outside Thailand, or if you have a Thai spouse or dependent (though I’m unclear about who qualifies as a dependent) and can meet the income requirements with money from outside Thailand, you can get a retirement visa or what’s informally called a “marriage visa.” Those are valid for one year, though technically one is required to report his or her address every 90 days. It used to be you had to physically report only once each year, and report by mail the other times, but I don’t know if that’s still true.
How much money do you have to have? For a retirement visa, you need at least 800,000 baht transferred from abroad to a Thai bank, or a monthly income of at least 62,500 baht coming into a Thai bank from abroad. The requirements for a marriage visa are half those amounts. Therefore, even for a marriage visa, you have to have about 4.5 times as much money as the average monthly salary for Thai employees in Bangkok.
Though Thailand remains an attractive place for business investment, there is some concern among potential foreign investors regarding ownership limitations. While most Thais are honest, it’s possible a foreign investor could lose his investment if the Thai partner isn’t honest. (Of course, even in their home countries, minority owners can get cheated by other people from their own country.)
On the positive side, for investors, is that Thai courts have become increasingly fair to foreigners in recent years, a trend that continues.
But that doesn’t help a retiree or foreign spouse.
I don’t know what to suggest, though I expect to have a better idea once I apply for another 60-day visa, and I will report about that then.
Friday, October 9, 2009
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A Great Camera for Tourists
Sony has just come out with a new ultra-compact camera with excellent low-light sensitivity, 4X-7X zoom, and 10 mega pixels plus a lot of other features. For instance, you can pan a scene and the camera automatically stitches together a panoramic picture.
But what makes this camera so good for tourists is it’s size: 3.75 x 2.38 x 0.65 inches (or about 9.38 x 5.95 x 1.62 centimeters) – easily small enough to put into your pocket.
While it’s not cheap with a price of about 12,650 baht/US$380, neither is that expensive for what you get.
Read more about it in this www.wired.com story:
http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_sony_tx1
Friday, October 9, 2009
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Enough for one go!!!
Mekhong Kurt
Looking forward to seeing him.