Wino

My sleep patterns are all mixed up, at times. Glad to have the internet to past the time.

Sad to see Malaria mutate to become drug resistant. Here again due to the misuse of artemisinin. Hope the scientific community can come up with something soon to contain this terrible killer.

Hard to believe the Thai government cannot allocate money to maintain the tsunami warning equipment. The US has donated the equipment, yet Thailand cannot afford to keep it going. What a waste!

Yes, you are right. I think that is per day. The Ayutthaya area is lucky with an increase of 8 baht. The minimum daily wage will be raised from 173 baht to 181 baht.

Happy New Year! I hear starting January 1, Thai workers will receive an increase in the official minimum wage. The wage is suppose to increase by one to eight baht depending on the area. Hope workers do not spend the big money increase all in one place.

This is tragic. Best not to ignore signs that state "pool closed" and "no swimming at night." This young man learned the hard way. A late-night swim ended in tragedy early Tuesday morning, when 22-year-old Netanya native Ariel Soriano was electrocuted in a pool on the Thai island of Ko Phangan. Rabbi Nechemia Wilhelm, director of the Chabad House in Bangkok, said that Chabad would oversee the preparation and transferring of Soriano's body to Israel. Soriano, who was described by family friend Dan Dobri as a "lovely kid, really responsible and full of life," was halfway through a one-month vacation in Thailand after being released from the army a year ago. Soriano and his friends had come back from a party at 4 a.m. to Friendly Bungalows, the resort on Ko Phangan's Sunset Beach where they were staying. Although the pool was closed and there was a sign on the grounds warning against swimming at night, Soriano and his friends entered it anyway. A cable connected to a pool-cleaning machine fell into the water, and though Soriano's friends were also swimming, he was the only one electrocuted. "His friends were in the pool with him, but he was closest to the wire," said Dobri, who had spoken earlier with Soriano's friends. "So Ariel took the brunt of the shock. And it took them about a minute to get out of the pool, because they had to disconnect the electricity; it didn't turn off automatically, so they couldn't touch the side of the pool." Soriano's friends had to run into town to find a doctor. According to one doctor at a Ko Phangan hospital, some resorts have had private ambulances stationed at large parties in case of emergencies, but since Soriano was electrocuted so late at night, he went without medical treatment for more than half an hour. "We close the pool at night, so there weren't people around," said Bendi, a worker at Friendly Bungalows. Dr. Kitti Sak, a doctor at a nearby clinic, was eventually brought to Soriano, whose face had turned purple from a lack of oxygen. "I determined that he was brain-dead at the pool, since he wasn't responding to light," Sak said. Soriano was then transported on a stretcher in a tuk-tuk - a motorized cart - to Sak's clinic. "We used adrenaline for about 40 minutes," Sak said. "But there was nothing we could do. We pronounced him dead at that point." Rabbi Nechemia Wilhelm, director of the Chabad House in Bangkok, said that a Chabad undertaker would oversee the preparation and transferring of Soriano's body to Israel. Dobri said that the Foreign Ministry hoped to have Soriano's body back in Israel by Wednesday morning. Soriano's friends, who had planned to stay in Thailand for two more weeks, were due to arrive in Israel on Tuesday morning. Ko Phangan is a popular destination for Israelis vacationing after the army. The area is best known for its monthly Full Moon parties, when 10,000 to 20,000 backpackers converge on the beaches in Thailand's southern gulf. http://www.chabad.in...cle_en&id=16856

Parking may be at a premium in Phuket but this is crazy. French tourists attacked for parking in 'wrong place' PHUKET: Chalong Police are on the hunt for a man presumed to be a ‘tuk-tuk / taxi driver’ who allegedly set upon a French family with a beach umbrella in the Kata area of Phuket on Saturday evening. The family, an elderly couple on holiday with their 44-year old son, his wife and their three children, aged 14 months, seven and nine, claim they were attacked when they parked their rented car along the Kata Beach road. The family claims they were confronted by a man outside the Karon Municipality offices, at the southern end of Kata Beach. He was aggressive and told them to move the vehicle, the family said. After checking the area for no-parking signs, and seeing none, the family refused to move their car and began unloading their beach items. Moments later, the man returned and assaulted them with the shaft of a beach umbrella, breaking the 44-year-old man’s arm. The 68-year-old father also sustained numerous bruises in the attack. Many people saw the incident, which occurred at about 5pm, but no-one went to the family’s aid, the victims claimed. The family escaped in their car, stopping at the Kata Palm Resort to recover from their ordeal. Staff at the resort alerted paramedics. The family reported the attack to police on Sunday. Today, Chalong police invited the victims to study police file photos of known criminals in the area of the attack. The victims have apparently identified their attacker and police are believed to be tracking him down. Phuket's public transport shortcomings have been been the subject of bitter complaints from local residents and foreign tourists for at least a decade. The complaints have intensified sharply this month, to the point where public outrage could culminate in mob action by victims of the system. Following publication of a story by the Phuket Gazette on Dec 12, in which taxi drivers were alleged to have threatened and verbally abused staff and tour company representatives at the four-star Centara Karon Resort, the Gazette Online's Phuket Forum saw the first in what has turned out to be several hundred complaints from angry local residents and foreign tourists. http://www.phuketgaz...ail.asp?id=8171

The tsunami story is a sad one. So many innocent lives lost. You would think five years later, the Thai government would have equipment and warning systems in place. Not according to this article. Here is a quiote, "A former emergency chief at the Thai government-run National Disaster Warning Center has revealed to the media, that the project is severely underfunded and is risking the lives of millions of people." http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000011557

This is scary. MRSA, drug-resistiant TB and other superbugs are on the rise. How long will it be before antibiotics do not work? LiveScience.com livescience Staff livescience.com – Mon Dec 28, 2009 To keep sickness at bay, many of us constantly wash hands and disinfect surfaces. But a new lab study shows one pesky bacterium eats cleansers for breakfast: When disinfectant was applied to lab cultures of the bacteria, they adapted to survive not only the disinfectant but also a common antibiotic. The research team focused on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium responsible for a range of infections in people with weakened immune systems. When the scientists added increasing amounts of disinfectant to P. aeruginosa cultures, the bacteria adapted to survive not only the disinfectant but also the antibiotic called ciprofloxacin. Here's how: The bacteria were able to more efficiently pump out antimicrobial agents. The adapted bacteria also had a genetic mutation that allowed them to resist ciprofloxacin-type antibiotics specifically. "In principle this means that residue from incorrectly diluted disinfectants left on hospital surfaces could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria," said lead researcher Gerard Fleming of the National University of Ireland in Galway. "What is more worrying is that bacteria seem to be able to adapt to resist antibiotics without even being exposed to them." The results, published in the January issue of the journal Microbiology, show just how savvy some bugs are, adding to research on superbugs - drug-resistant microbes that modern medicine struggles to combat. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, has become a deadly and growing problem in hospitals in recent years. And news out this week suggests the country's first case of a highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. A major factor in the emergence of these antibiotic-resistant bacteria is the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new study suggests disinfectants may be part of the problem, though more research is needed to firm up the link. "We need to investigate the effects of using more than one type of disinfectant on promoting antibiotic-resistant strains," Fleming said. "This will increase the effectiveness of both our first and second lines of defense against hospital-acquired infections." Fleming also stressed the importance of studying the environmental factors that might promote antibiotic resistance. http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091228/sc_livescience/disinfectantscausesomebacteriatoadaptthrive

A GPS is very helpful in helping with directions, although the shortest distance setting really caused trouble for this couple. The GPS also saved the day. Here is the story. By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer GRANTS PASS, Ore. – A Nevada couple letting their SUV's navigation system guide them through the high desert of Eastern Oregon got stuck in snow for three days when the GPS unit sent them down a remote forest road. On Sunday, atmospheric conditions apparently changed enough for their GPS-enabled cell phone to get a weak signal and relay coordinates to a dispatcher, Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger said. "GPS almost did 'em in and GPS saved 'em," Evinger said. "It will give you options to pick the shortest route. You certainly get the shortest route. But it may not be a safe route." Evinger said the couple got stranded Christmas Day and a Lake County deputy found them in the Winema-Fremont National Forest outside the small town of Silver Lake on Sunday afternoon and pulled their four-wheel-drive Toyota Sequoia out of the snow with a winch. John Rhoads, 65, and his wife, Starry Bush-Rhoads, 67, made it home safely to Reno, Nev. "It will be (a Christmas) we remember the rest of our lives," Starry Bush-Rhoads said in a telephone interview from her home. "They said if they didn't find us 'til this time next spring, we wouldn't be happy." The couple was well-equipped for winter travel, carrying food, water and warm clothes, the sheriff said. "Their statement was, being prepared saved their life," he said. The couple had been in Portland and followed their GPS as it directed them south on U.S. Highway 97 to Oregon Highway 31, which goes through Silver Lake and Lakeview before connecting with U.S. Highway 395 to Reno, Evinger said. In the town of Silver Lake, the unit told them to turn right on Forest Service Road 28, and they followed that and some spur roads nearly 35 miles before getting stuck in about 1 1/2 feet of snow near Thompson Reservoir, the sheriff said. "For some reason, they finally got a weak signal after 2 1/2 days," Evinger said. "They called in. They alternated between two different cell phone numbers." A GPS-enabled phone is able to send its coordinates to 911, and eventually one of the couple's phones sent its location to the dispatcher's console, the sheriff said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091229/ap_on_hi_te/us_stranded_motorists

According to these two University of California professors, Tiger's affair has cost his company's sponsors $12 billion. I am not so sure but here is the story.By Bill Lindelof | Sacramento Bee SACRAMENTO — Two University of California, Davis, professors have pinned the loss to shareholders from Tiger Woods' marital infidelity at up to $12 billion. The researchers said the new study speaks to the question of whether celebrity sponsorship has an impact on a firm's bottom line. "Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too," said Victor Stango, professor of economics. Stango and fellow economics professor Christopher Knittel studied the stock market for 13 days after Woods crashed his car outside his Florida home on Nov. 27. Since then, several women have said they had romantic affairs with Woods. Woods eventually confessed to infidelity and lost major sponsorships. The UCD economists compared returns for Wood's sponsors to those of the total stock market and of each sponsor's closet competitor, a UC Davis news release states. The study focused on nine sponsors: Accenture, American Express, AT&T, Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf (Electronic Arts), Gillette, Nike, Gatorade, TLC Laser Eye Centers and Golf Digest. Shareholder value fell 2.3 percent -- or about $12 billion. The pattern of losses is unlikely to stem from ordinary variation of stock prices, the researchers stated in their study. Investors in three sport's-related companies -- Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, Gatorade and Nike -- fared the worst, experiencing a 4.3 percent loss, or about $6 billion. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/81367.html

Here is the latest report on the condition of this two year old. By TALES AZZONI, Associated Press Writer SAO PAULO – Doctors have removed four more sewing needles from the neck of a 2-year-old Brazilian boy who was stuck with dozens by his stepfather in an alleged plot to spite his wife. Doctors successfully operated on the toddler Monday in the northeastern city of Salvador. One of the four needles was dangerously close to his spine. The boy was doing well following the three-hour surgery, Ana Neri Hospital spokeswoman Susy Moreno said. Last week doctors removed 14 needles from the boy's intestines, liver and bladder, and in an earlier surgery they extracted four needles from near the toddler's heart and lungs. Police have formally accused the stepfather, 30-year-old Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, of attempted murder. He recently said in a TV interview he tried to kill the child as revenge against his wife. Police also formally accused Magalhaes' lover, 47-year-old Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos. Magalhaes said he drugged the boy with a mixture of wine and water and had dos Santos hold the child down while he pushed nearly three dozen needles into the child's body. He said the boy was too drunk to cry while the needles were inserted, but felt pain after the alcohol wore off. Magalhaes said he thought the needles would work their way through the boy's body and kill him without anyone discovering. The needles were discovered on X-rays after the toddler's constant complaints led his mother to take him to a hospital. The neck surgery had been scheduled for later in the week, but new exams Monday showed the needle near the spine could cause serious danger if not extracted quickly. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091229/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_boy_needles

Madoff isn't the only one that is not enjoying Christmas. Many of Madoff's clients are probably having a bummer Christmas and they aren't even in jail.

Religion in my opinion was invented to control the people

This camp is leftover from the Vietnam war? Maybe a wise move to close the camp thirty-five years later.

Those Norwegians and crew are very lucky all were rescued. The outcome could have been much worse.

I just heard a story from a friend. Apparently my friend has a friend that was able to travel to Thailand from the US, have all her dental work completed. Travel costs and dental costs combined were still cheaper than what the expense would be in the US. Not a bad deal.

Stats can be manipulated to serve ones purpose. Good news indeed if tourism is up.

I was very surprised to see how widespread Valentine’s Day was celebrated in Laos. Five years ago, I was in Vientiane. I was passing the time of day in one of the many riverside establishments and witnessed several groups of school boys and girls celebrating the holiday. I thought it was only celebrated in the west.

Don't think for a moment a month boycott would do anything. The government would probably raise the tax again to make up for the lost revenue.

New government imposed airline regulations will keep passengers in their seat with no blanket, pillow or anything else in their lap for the last hour of the flight. Passenger cannot use the bathroom or have access to hand luggage stored overhead. American Airlines also announced they will no longer provide pillows or blankets on flights. How stupid is this? How does this keep us safe? Can’t a terrorist do all of his evil doings an hour and a half before landing? Stupid bureaucrats. By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON – Some airlines were telling passengers on Saturday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing The regulations are a response to a suspected terrorism incident on Christmas Day. Air Canada said in a statement that new rules imposed by the Transportation Security Administration limit on-board activities by passengers and crew in U.S. airspace. The airline said that during the final hour of flight passengers must remain seated. They won't be allowed access to carryon baggage or to have any items on their laps. Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa Saturday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn't have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows. The TSA issued a security directive for U.S.-bound flights from overseas, according to a transportation security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly. The official said passengers traveling internationally could see increased security screening at gates and when they check their bags, as well as additional measures on flights such as stowing carryons and personal items before the plane lands. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement Saturday that passengers flying to the U.S. from overseas may notice extra security, but she said the measures "are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere." A Nigerian passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam allegedly attempted to start a fire as the plane prepared to land in Detroit on Friday, according to authorities. The incident has sparked a major international terrorism investigation. Air Canada said it was limiting passengers to one carryon bag in response to a request from the U.S. and Canadian governments. The airline advised U.S.-bound passengers to restrict their carryon item to "the absolute minimum" or to not carry any bag on board at all. "Carriage of any carryon item will result in lengthy security delays for the customer," the airline said. U.S.-bound flights on all airlines are experiencing significant delays, said Duncan Dee, Air Canada's executive vice president and chief operating officer. A spokeswoman with Infraero, a Brazilian government agency that oversees airport infrastructure, said that airlines had been asked by federal authorities to add another layer of security for international flights originating in the country after the attempted attack in the U.S. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter, said that passengers would face an extra screening that would take place just before they boarded planes. She would give no more details, citing security concerns. David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, said the domestic airline industry has been in close coordination with the security administration since Friday's incident and there will be increased scrutiny of passengers. He declined to comment on whether new regulations have been put in place. ___ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091226/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airline_attack_regulations

If it is an expensive mobile, it may be worth giving this procedure a try. You may have to buy a new phone anyway but this procedure has worked for at least one person.

How much would you bet that this 911 originated from a trailer court? The Public Record: From the Findlay, Ohio, police: "A woman called the police early Saturday morning (Oct. 31) during an argument with her husband after he claimed that the woman's daughter performed oral sex on him, and the daughter was better at it." [The Courier (Findlay), 11-2-09] http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20091213/od_notw/nwx091213xml

Hard to believe this study found that standard cigarette pack warnings may make smokers smoke more. You think they should change these warnings? You would think that "smoking will kill you" would be a detriment. Not so! Maybe warnings should change to "smoking is not cool" or "you don't look good smoking" would work better. You never know. SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Cigarette pack warnings that remind smokers of the fatal consequences of their habit may actually make them smoke more as a way to cope with the inevitability of death, according to researchers. A small study by psychologists from the United States, Switzerland and Germany showed that warnings unrelated to death, such as "smoking makes you unattractive" or "smoking brings you and the people around you severe damage," were more effective in changing smokers' attitudes toward their habit. This was especially the case in people who smoked to boost their self-esteem, such as youth who took up the habit to impress or fit in with their peers and others who thought smoking increased their social value, the researchers said. "In general, when smokers are faced with death-related anti-smoking messages on cigarette packs, they produce active coping attempts as reflected in their willingness to continue the risky smoking behavior," the study said. "To succeed with anti-smoking messages on cigarette packs one has to take into account that considering their death may make people smoke." The study was based on 39 psychology students, aged between 17 and 41, who said they were smokers. Participants filled in a questionnaire to determine how much their smoking was based on self-esteem, were then shown cigarette packs with different warnings on them, and then after a 15-minute delay, the students were asked more questions about their smoking behavior that included if they intended to quit. "One the one hand, death-related warnings were not effective and even ironically caused more positive smoking attitudes among smokers who based their self-esteem on smoking," the study said. "On the other hand, warning messages that were unrelated to death effectively reduced smoking attitudes the more recipients based their self-esteem on smoking." The researchers said this finding can be explained by the fact that warnings such as "smoking makes you unattractive" may be particularly threatening to people who believe that smoking makes them feel valued by others or boosts their self-image. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091209/od_nm/us_warnings

Most anything dealing with sex usually makes the church elders worry.