Coss

Third Person (2013) - A lady's movie. Three interlocking love stories, or, one story told three ways. Some good acting, nice cinematography, held my attention even though I'm not a lady. Worth a watch.

Sharks eat whale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5uSjCC9OMI

Prices? So one is not arse kicked? Ans distinguishing features of the shop? Or do I look for airline staff?

I hope they do

I watched Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) I hadn't realised that it was a comedy. Things that seemed funny to me: Even though they can warp and hyper drive around the universe, they still rely on shoulder mounted weapons and also pistols. These, despite being able to shoot pulses of blue light, seem to do about as much damage as a 45 magnum or 50 cal. But with a shower of sparks. Also they never hit an A grade actor. You'd think they'd have worked out better ways to not kill many people. Also those with the 'Force' have a variable range, sometimes exerting considerable power over long distances, other times unable to do much, at a distance of a few metres. In 'busy' scenes, I often saw extras running across the screen on important business, heading into blank spaces and slowing as they neared the end of their run, going nowhere, but the director hadn't called 'cut' yet. There was a 'baby' Darth Vader, who when he took off his helmet, made me think this was a Twilight Series Vampire movie, what with his and the young girl's obvious attraction and angst. That and he, 7 foot tall, black haired and Transylvanian, was the supposed son of Princess Leia and Hans Solo, both, average height, blondish people. But they found what's his name in the end and that lines up the next movie. Special effects though were outstanding, ish. Worth a watch.

No I'm not suggesting that, indeed I think that China is way overboard on this, land grabbing/making. However from outside, the observer sees two 'defence' forces poking each other with pointy sticks.

Last decade the residence was in Beachaven, now Northcote/Sokkham.

>> Chinese fighter jets intercept US spy plane 'unsafely' over South China Sea | World news | The Guardian >> Much to Beijing’s chagrin, the US military has conducted several “freedom of navigation†operations, in which planes or ships pass within a 12-nautical-mile buffer around the Chinese installations. Not wanting to defend the Chinese, but you do have to wonder what the USA's response would be if the Chinese conducted “freedom of navigation†operations, in which planes or ships pass within a 12-nautical-mile buffer around the American installations or territories. http://www.theguardi...pt-us-spy-plane

"Auckland to me is the symbol for an incredible distance ." As indeed it is, they shoulda made it closer.

What you said...

Well you could argue that, but my experience of the Lao, is that they'll profit where they are able. For example, when I bought my property, I saw it once and kept far away from the negotiations, as my wife's sister, a medium level bureaucrat, played the "we're all Lao friends and family" card to the seller, achieving a price I thought was well below market levels. One of the few deals I've ever done, where I had the winning side of the equation.

On the other side of the coin, one of the local Ma and Pa shops, near my house, decided I could pay twice as much for my beer, as everyone else and lost my business. Resulting in sour faces directed at me, every time I walked past carrying beer, from a little further up the road.

When you're one of a few white faces in Laos, it is surprising how quickly the locals learn who you are and who you are connected to.

Yep that's the one, mind you it's been 7 years since I last saw it and if the previous Danish management have moved on, then it's back in the wild again, Thailand, you get what you pay for. A note on Trip Advisor, I know a few guest house owners in Laos, and mostly they are lovely and have good, pleasant establishments. But if you reference Tripadvisor, you get all these complaints posted about them and it is difficult to reconcile the complaints with reality. The truth is often, that good reviews don't get made and the 2% that are unsatisfied with everything, do make reviews. However, back to the Stable Lodge, if they've got a new management, then perhaps it's time is over.

For Mongering http://www.stablelodge.com is my fave, a solid performer in the 3 star range, close to Suk and in Soi 8. Pool. Has been known to accept a travelling circus at 3 am, but does charge an extra fee for more than one companion.

I do have to say, a little nutter on a plastic 50 ran into the side of me, on a rented 400cc bike in patters. The girl I was ferrying, took my side of the argument and the cop let me go, much to the chagrin, of the little man, whose mother and 14 buffalo, I had apparently also killed. But Karma got me, I drove around the block and got pinged 500 bht for a stop sign that was very cleverly hidden.

Welcome. Apart from the perceived cost of fun having gone up, way too much over the years, Thailand is still a place where enormous fun can be had. My advice, such as it is, is that the more promoted something is, the less fun it'll be. And that twinkle in a girl's eye, in the most unlikely of places, if acted upon, is probably the best fun you'll ever have. Cheers Cost

What you said. I used to have staff that would chase people down the road for unpaid bills, much to my consternation, cute little waitresses after a mob of louts, I never deducted anything from their wages, but they had the impression that I might. Au contraire´ I've worked in places that would bill staff for a broken wine glass, morale there was gutter low.

The Lady In The Van - excellent, well worth a look.

MLG will go 24 hrs on Line and other group chat bullshit - solution? She now works for a living a la Kiwi style. None of this relaxing all day, at a desk in an air-conditioned Lao ministry with naps and chit chat, noooo, 8, 9 10 hrs of real work with minimal breaks as prescribed by law. She gets home, fires up the girly chat and suddenly it's lights out, sleeps until morning... Little bit of schadenfreude there on my part...

Yes, it would seem that the normal levels of the oceans differ for reasons noted above and elsewhere. It would be interesting to see what effect any sea level rise has on islands, in isolation of other effects, and what that rise actually is, with islands coming and going all the time. A fixed point, referenced by geostationary stationary satellites perhaps. As it is, even the study noted above notes that there are a plethora of interrelated influences that may or may not cause islands to appear or vanish. On a side note, where I slowly rot in the wasteland, nearby there is a small sheltered bay. In my childhood and teens I spent a lot of time there. As a kid, playing in the shallow waters, a safe place to be. As a teenager, doing the same, at night with girlies. Anyway, the other day, there was a King Tide and the water came up to the car park and nearly to the road via a small creek. There were people standing around taking pictures of the water, like Global Warming had all come at once. Two points I'll make. One - I used to play in the creek as a kid and I can clearly remember water reaching similar levels 45~50 years ago. Two - The folk taking photos, didn't hang around to see the other end of the King Tide where the water went far out, so far that marine life, not normally seen, could be examined in the drying seabed and boats on the shallower moorings listed as their keels found land.

I am all for balanced argument, using facts and Science, please note that I don't single out the people or media as promoters or, that most religious of descriptors, deniers. I do have issues however with the concept of truth by popularity, i.e. if everyone believes something it must be true. Here's an article that seemingly supports my point of view with what Dr. Simon Albert, the study’s author, has to say. ----- A prominent liberal news outlets was forced to walk back an article that “exaggerated†the link between man-made global warming and Pacific islands getting swallowed up by sea level rise. The UK Guardian was one of many media outlets jumping to the conclusion that a study published Friday showed how Pacific islands were being submerged by global warming-driven sea level rise. The study’s author disagreed. “All these headlines are certainly pushing things a bit towards the ‘climate change has made islands vanish’ angle,†Dr. Simon Albert, the study’s author, told the Guardian in a subsequent article correcting the paper’s alarmism. “I would prefer slightly more moderate titles that focus on sea-level rise being the driver rather than simply ‘climate change’,†Albert said. Albert’s study “identified five vegetated reef islands that have vanished over this time period and a further six islands experiencing severe shoreline recession.†The study attributed the sea level rise to trade winds forcing more water into the region. Natural ocean cycles, particularly the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, are causing islands to sink regardless of man-made warming. “These trade winds have basically pushed water up into western Pacific and have driven these exceptionally high rates of [sea-level rise] in the Solomons,†Albert said. “The trade winds are partly a natural cycle but also the recent intensification is related to atmospheric warming.†Coastal erosion from high wave energy has also been a major problem for these reef islands, which has made adapting to rising sea levels harder for some low-lying Solomon Islands. “The key aspect I stand by is that these observations from the Solomons are a warning of things to come irrespective of if climate change alone caused it or a range of factors,†he said. Albert’s message to the media, however, didn’t get out in time. Several news outlets ran with headlines suggesting global warming was the main culprit behind sinking islands. A Solomon Islands official even used the study to call for more aid from the United Nations. “This ultimately calls for support from development partners and international financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund,†Melchior Mataki, who heads the Solomon Islands’ National Disaster Council, said in a commentary published on the study. Scientists and environmentalists have warned for years that global warming will exacerbate sea level rise and storms, causing Pacific island communities to be wiped out. But the real story seems to be more complicated. The islands identified by Albert were low-lying reef islands that tended not to have year-round communities living on them. The tropical Pacific region also has lots of variability in terms of sea level rise due to natural ocean cycles and El Ninos. In fact, research has also found some reef islands are growing in size despite rising sea levels. Ironically, the same high energy waves that erode the coasts of some islands actually bring more sediment and coral debris to others, causing them to grow. Humans have also contributed to growth by artificially expanding islands. Scientists from Australia and New Zealand found in 2015 that despite the Funafuti Atoll seeing “some of the highest rates of sea-level rise… over the past 60 [years]†the island chain has actually enlarged. “Despite the magnitude of this rise, no islands have been lost, the majority have enlarged, and there has been a 7.3% increase in net island area over the past century (A.D. 1897–2013),†according to the study published in the journal Geology. “There is no evidence of heightened erosion over the past half-century as sea-level rise accelerated.†Albert’s study acknowledges another 2015 study finding “little evidence of heightened erosion or reduction in island size†in Pacific islands. “These islands were located across the Central Pacific in areas with 1–5 mm yr−1 sea-level rise where net accretion occurred on most islands and only small (<1 ha) islands were actively eroding,†Albert wrote in his study. Read: http://dailycaller.c...-totally-wrong/ -----

"the Pacific is 20cm higher than the Atlantic," ​if this is the case, and Google tends to agree with you, it still doesn't explain why the Solomon Islands referred to are apparently experiencing water rises, when place like Fiji, Auckland and Sydney are not. ​The subsidence and erosion of Islands happens all the time, but you can get more aid if it's Global Warming doing it...

And now more misinformation. I'll just make a quick prediction, the islands referred to below are subsiding and being eroded. However the report is all about Antropogenic warming induced seal level rise. Using it's own words, it is easy to see the bull shit. "What's more, the sea-level rise observed in this study - at about a fourth to two-fifths of an inch a year - is triple the global average. In most places, the added water from melting polar glaciers raise the sea level just slivers of an inch annually. But if the ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica were to dissolve into the ocean, by 2100 the oceans could rise by as much as 15m." >> triple the global average.<< Again, the oceans are one pond. Is there no gravity in this part of the world? How can the seal level rise be higher here than elsewhere? Or is the land getting lower? >>But if the ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica were to dissolve into the ocean, by 2100 the oceans could rise by as much as 15m<< and yet they haven't. For more on and if you can be bothered to read - "a recent paper in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the scientists link the destructive sea level rise to anthropogenic - that is, human-caused - climate change. The study is the first time anyone has concretely analysed the loss of Solomon Island shoreline in the context of global warming, they say." go to http://www.nzherald....jectid=11636499

excreting camp?