Coss

Many now predict the kingdom's industry is again set to surge... Are these Thais that are doing the predicting?

Even if I didn't think the Burmese are convenient scapegoats, I wouldn't trust the BiB to get the right suspects in the first place, or the second, or the third.

What is it? a fajita?

Will this affect ST / LT prices in Pyongyang ?

Rodman will mourn the passing of the free trips and the publicity.

The Voice Of Asia Paperback – January 1, 1951 by A.James Michener (Author) It's an interesting collection of views on most of the Asian countries. The section on Thailand was notable for the mention, even then, of the women. Also, that the main post office in Bangkok had 5 or 6 mail boxes to post the mail, Europe, Americas, Pacific etc. At 5 O'clock every day a man would come along with a big basket on a cart and empty the respective mailboxes into the singular basket. Tee hee...

Are there international teams testing the DNA?

In the absence of clear video footage of the actual crimes being committed, the cynic in me thinks that justice, will be what ever the police say it is, with no Thais above street cleaner status, being involved as perpetrators.

Me, I could only eat a little one, and then not at one sitting...

Don' need to walk, to pilot a drone from a playstation...

Very hard to convince a burgeoning middle class, to go back to poverty, willingly.

Why not 9 ? because too many third party products had code of the form if(version.StartsWith("Windows 9")) { /* 95 and 98 */ } else { http://www.cnet.com/news/is-this-why-microsoft-named-it-windows-10/

"Korbchai then spoke publicly to the police, calling on them to not work on the case in an aggressive manner and not find scapegoats. "Don't harm innocent people or frighten them," he said." Because if he hadn't told them... wait for it...... That, is exactly, what they'd, do... So you have to tell them, not to...

Belated coverage in NZ - this will not boost tourism... British students, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller. Photo / AFP A British student found dead in Thailand was raped by two men while another watched before she was murdered, police have said. No suspects have yet been arrested for killing Hannah Witheridge, 23, and 24-year-old David Miller but three people are believed to be involved. Lieutenant General Panya Mamen, police commissioner for the island of Koh Tao, told the Bangkok Post: "Two of the suspects raped and killed Witheridge while another one witnessed the murder. "We're confident we have a very high chance of finding the suspects." Two different semen samples collected from her body are the basis for DNA analysis being used to test hundreds of men. The pair's bodies were found on a beach on the tiny island, which is marketed as a palm-fringed paradise for foreign tourists, on 15 September. Post-mortem examinations revealed that Ms Witheridge, from Great Yarmouth, died from head wounds, and Mr Miller, from Jersey, was killed by severe blows to the head and drowning. A bloodstained garden hoe, believed to be the murder weapon, was found nearby. Officers have collected 200 DNA samples from people on Koh Tao and the results are expected later this week. All previous suspects have been released and a group of Thai footballers are the latest to be questioned by police amid criticism that the hunt for the killers has stalled. Read more: • Two British tourists found dead on Thai beach • Thai beach murders remain a mystery A spokesman for the Royal Thai Police confirmed that DNA samples were taken from "more than eight" footballers - who reportedly threw a late-night party at the nightclub where the victims spent their final hours - and officers were awaiting the results. Last week police colonel Kissana Phathanacharoen announced the offer of a 700,000 baht (£13,300) reward for information leading to arrests. Ms Witheridge and Mr Miller did not know each other from at home in the UK and are believed to have met on holiday. CCTV footage shows them leaving a bar together just hours before their battered bodies were discovered on a beach. Ms Witheridge, who was doing a post-graduate speech and language therapy course at the University of Essex, was travelling with three female friends and had only arrived on Koh Tao, or Turtle Island, three before her death. Mr Miller, from Jersey, was studying civil and structural engineering at Leeds University and was travelling in South East Asia following a work placement in Australia. His father, Ian, earlier said that he believes his son stepped in to help Ms Witheridge during an altercation. He told the Daily Mail: "It has become clearer and clearer that it is quite likely David was stepping in to help a girl who was in trouble." Thailand has been suffering large losses in tourist revenue following the murders and the martial law imposed following May's military coup. In an effort to ease safety fears, the tourism minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul has outlined a plan for identification wristbands for visitors and a "buddy system" to keep them safe. The programme, which could impose a curfew on bars, is still being discussed and is expected to meet with resistance from tourists if imposed. Thailand's military ruler Prayuth Chan-ocha had earlier provoked outrage by suggesting that "beautiful" female visitors to his country should not expect to be safe in bikinis. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11334712

"Anybody who was sentenced for his or her role in the taxi mafia - even individuals who ripped people off, were violent or intimidated tourists - can continue to work as a taxi driver as long as his or her sentence has been suspended," says Konlayut Jattutasri, chief of the PLTO Licensing Division. Mr Konlayut Jattutasri could also add, "when the bracelet system is implemented, anyone who was sentenced for his or her role in the taxi mafia - even individuals who ripped people off, were violent or intimidated tourists - can continue to work as a taxi driver as long as they only prey on bracelet wearing tourists. The colour coding of the bracelets will allow the taxi driver to distinguish between those tourists of wealth and therefore influence and those who are 'budget travellers' and therefore fair game".

It's a riddle? Whilst I am sure there are relationships that started and ended with the lady endeavouring to part the Tourist with his money; Most I've heard of are a result of the guy not adjusting to the culture, thinking that poor SEA families are somehow the equivalent of proud and poor western families who would never take assistance as a matter of pride. The facts are when the guy gives them money, its seen as them gaining merit, they've done something right to get this gift. If the relationship sours, the guy will obviously apportion blame and focus on the money. But he gave it in the first place (insert lecture from monk on the impermanence of possessions and money). When you marry a SEA girl you get the family as well. When one of the family members is down on their luck the family will look after them unless they're total lost cause, and even then they sometimes will go further, than a western family would. Western families tend to abandon people to the social welfare structures in their countries. The westerner experiences a sour relationship, tends to withdraw from the game and retreat to a distance to complain about how he was ripped off. The local, in similar circumstances, may not fare much better, but would never suggest that he'd not given the money as a benign and generous giver. To suggest he'd been ripped off would indicate that he was "sticky" or Kee Neow, not a reputation you'd want of you're ever thinking of courting again. Just my humble opinion.

And as someone elsewhere suggested, about the idea to zone and enforce "Tourist Party Only" areas, if there were barbed wire fences around such areas, you could herd the Bill and Margarets, with their pre-unwashed dreads and the harem pants and the pretty string purses that they purchased in the Scunthorpe markets before they arrived in Thailand, into these areas, ensuring that they are safe except unto themselves and that they don't stray into the surrounding local populace, offending local mores. Mind you, I think that could be a good thing. Bus from airport to big wire cage, 10 days of alcohol, drugs and deet, bus back to airport, go home. Holiday had, problem solved.

Well I guess the higher end hotels could issue gold, silver, diamond themed bracelets so that the Somchais could scam those more than the more economical yellow and green models. But would red ones provoke attacks by taxi drivers who are offended at tourists appropriating the colour that is the Thai proles by right and also demonstrating that foreigners will never understand Thainess?

So the next question is, "What are you doing with his signature ?"

Good news for advertisers, but maybe not-so-great news for users concerned about their personal data: Starting today, Facebook will use data it gleans from users for its new ad network, Atlas, which it will serve up ads on non-Facebook sites based on what Facebook knows about you. more...

Didn't use Google Image Search, made out "Vlad" in the sig and thought the script was sufficiently ancient, so I had an informed guess.

"Who you going to make happy with that little thing!" Peter Sellers in the Movie "Being There" was the subject of just such a comment.

A prime example of someone who was in the job for public service, was NZ's Norman Kirk, who entered and left the top job in NZ as a humble, ordinary bloke. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Kirk

In this "but he did good things too" argument, it is worth remembering that the majority of politicians in most western democracies, do a lot of good things and do so for a salary (often a good salary). They very rarely make themselves and their ilk, billionaires in the process.

and hammers