Living expenses up - Highways Kracked - Hot Holidays

Cost of Living Increases likely                                  

We should be feeling the continuing flooding conditions in southern Thailand at the checkout counter shortly.   730,000 rai (28,8619 acres) of agricultural land are inundated to date

  REUTERS  Severe flooding to reduce Thai shrimp  output 

Sakon Nakhon Provincial Road Cracked                 

Villagers, 70some  miles from the city of Sakon, have reported  20 cm wide cracks in their village road.
If you've been on some of the village roads, then you realize it's not really unusual after a rainy season or two.

The recent earthquake in Burma, and aftershocks originating on Thai fault lines may have caused these cracks. A map of Thailand's fault lines is available at  Twitpic @RichardBarrow 
The nearest fault line to this area is between Nong Kai and Nakhon Phanom


Thai-Asea Network  Land Cracks Discovered in Sakon Nakhon 

Just hot sunshine for the holidays                             

A weather system traveling in a NNW direction is moving into southern Vietnam.

Local weather predictions forecasting  rain over the upcoming holidays have been changed, omitting any chance of rain.

It's  11 AM Saturday, temperatures already feel like 34C (93F).
Think this time I can really stash my cold weather clothing and bedding.

CURSE YOU APRIL 1

Some media outlets have nothing better to do, than to carry on a centuries old tradition of fooling you.
Wasted most of my morning reading news stories, while constantly looking at the calendar April 1.
Then it happened.  Power off, power on.  A momentary disruption in local electric supply.
My computer gave me the finger!  REBOT.- blankety-blank, Bot corrupt.


Install system, update, set passwords, recover, set preferences, repeat, repeat, repeat...  then Back UP!!
I've repeated most processes half a dozen times.
Think I'll have my system back to the way I had it in a week or so.  Still haven't gotten to installing the sound cards.
Lucky I have my recently acquired Mac Book to fill in the gaps.

Get's confusing, two computers, two mice, two keyboards and three screens.

Sakon FC hosts Chaiyaphun Sunday 5PM

Saturday Fair - Bar for sale - Shame - GoGo applicant

.

First Saturday of the month fair

tomorrow, starts at dusk, downtown Muang Sakon square.


As seen on Thai VISA .Escape Bar For Sale 

Shame Shame

Remember our pal Eddie who's funeral was last December



Pictures taken at his graveside this past week attest to very obvious neglect



Claims of weekly visits and fresh flowers aren't in evidence

Thailand's Got Talent or is it a Go-Go bar applicant?

You are invited to join 'Sakon in English' on Facebook

Just started  Sakon in English, a group on facebook. I am hoping that it will fill a gap in sharing information and opinions of local concern.

Local temperatures are returning to a more norm for this time of the year.

Next week: Feels like temperatures low forties, with rain at times, just in time for Songkran.

	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Thai Meteorological	24/14	26/14	29/16	31/18	32/18
FEELS LIKE	37/20	39/21	35/21	35/21	34/21	36/22	39/22
AccuWeather	33/19	34/21	35/21	35/21	34/21	36/22	36/22
Wunderground	31/18	33/20	35/22	35/21	35/19

The one day rain did fill my water tanks, but it also made many more mosquitoes seek indoor shelter.

We were playing indoor 'mosquito splat' for hours last night.

I found your mint candy stash

ACS: Warden Message: Flooding in Southern Thailand

US Embassy American Citizen Services Warden Message
Thousands stranded due to flooding and landslides.
If your immediate travel plans  include  Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Krabi, Similan, and Phuket, and other southern destinations, consider alternate destinations.

Best times to use the internet in Thailand's rice jungle

Internet is really slow in Thailand at the moment

I'd venture to guess, the system is old, antiquated, and overused.
Best times to use the internet in Thailand's rice jungle (back country / outback) is when they're sleeping or otherwise engaged: 3AM to 10AM.

After 10 AM things begin to slow down, especially when school is in session.  The rest of the time is peak usage. 

Quite often I've had success by disconnecting and reconnecting internet provider hardware or software (network control panel)
By doing that you are most likely disconnecting from an overpopulated node, and then reconnecting to a less used node (node=connection point).

Upgrading Thailand's connectivity has been underway for quite a few years.  Stalled in political and legal wrangling.  There seem to be promising developments that an upgrade might finally begin this year.  But for heavens sake don't hold your breath.


3G services approval under consideration Reuters

Thai News revisited

Radioactive sweet potatoes destroyed THAI VISA
The comments to the article are at times informative and hilarious at THAI VISA

Tourists stranded by Thai floods The Australian

One million stranded in the South THE NATION

March 25, Sakon FC looses to Kalasin FC 2-0

News from Afar

NASA - First Image Ever Obtained from Mercury Orbit


Panama accepts resignation of cross-dressing diplomat 

That's Entertainment

Waitress of the month                                         Watermelon in the snout


Skid Marks                                               How real men change fan belts


When not to clean your glasses                                          Bizarre British

Take the last bus from Bangkok

Weather-wise it hasn't been a pretty picture in Thailand lately.
Locally it's been a temperature roller coaster ride.  Extreme heat with feels like temperatures above 45C (113F) at times, then dropping down to 15C (59F).

One day my pool is overcrowded, the next day my visitors are dressed as if they were on an expedition to the North Pole.

A little over a week ago Bangkok experienced some of it's coldest weather in five years, 20C (68F).

 Coldest day ever in Bangkok 9.9C (49.8F) in January 1955  Bangkok Blogger

Southern Thailand is getting hit by rains, floods, high waves, and heavy winds for the past week.
Boat, train, bus and air service to the southern provinces has been halted due to flooding.
Hundreds of touristst are stranded at Koh Samui.

With local cool temperatures and almost continuous light rain I'm asking myself, isn't that why I left Seattle and moved to a supposedly warmer climate. So I wouldn't notice all those aches and pains.

SakonNakhon Outlook:
A few more cool days ahead. Warming slightly at first, then accelerating.

It's a bit early to tell with certainty, but Accu Weather is predicting feels like temperatures of 42/26C (108/79F) for April 12.  NOTE TO SELF: Keep the air conditioner remote for the bedroom handy.

Last bus from Bangkok to Surat Thani  

video by muijablogi

After Burma, quakes rocked Thailand too  The Nation

 Eight dead as Thailand hit by floods and cold spell    Monsters and Critics
The numbers continue to rise

 Deadly Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Spreads in Southern California  abc news
Two facts got my attention in this article

• The bug is spread in hospital environments.
• The most common means of spreading bugs is the handshake.

Why I don't accept game and application requests on facebook

 Data Mining: How Companies Now Know Everything About You  Time

This dog owner doesn't need a housekeeper

Thailand's deadliest driving Season Ahead

Songkran, the Thai New Year begins in less than three weeks.
It's the annual celebration when Thai's near and afar make a pilgrimage home to be with family.

A few days before the holidays it becomes obvious: 
Extra buses are put into service from major metropolitan centers.   

Highway traffic is at its peak, and so are accidents and road mayhem.

Plenty of extra road checks are set up along highways to insure driver sobriety.
Many of these checkpoints now have breathalyzers.

After 5 pm the police are asleep or ...

100% helmet use campaign started in Phuket last November.
The following month a nationwide campaign was kicked off.
Quite recently, posters and banners started to appear locally promoting the campaign.

The campaign seems to be working to some extend, but it's not quite 100% yet.

While adults wear helmets, their passenger children are mostly without head protection.

5 pm seems to be the time when helmets are discarded by almost everyone.
As one neighbor explained it to me, after 5 pm the police are asleep or...

I'd suggest eventually the law will expand, requiring eye protection for motorcyclists.  It's mandatory in many western countries.  Until then, we'll see plenty of eye patches.

Somewhat reminds me of the headlight law.  When I first started driving a motorcycle in Thailand (2003), Thai's would laugh at me for keeping my headlights on during the daytime.  A few months later it became law.  But it took another year before it became accepted practice.

Motorcycles sold these days are manufactured in a way that the headlights are on automatically when the engine is running.  Unfortunately helmet wearing can not be built into motorcycles.

Sakon FC experiences 0-2 loss

Kalasin scored twice during the first half.
Sakon FC had plenty of near misses, hitting the goalpost a few times and going over the goal a number of times.

During the second half Sakon FC continued to have a number of near misses, but were playing much better, foiling any attempts by Kalasin to increase their score.  Some player changes seemed to make the difference.

Large crowd of Kalasin FC fans was cheered on by a five drum cheering section.  Noisy!

About Thai time

There's a pattern here
Just like I noted two weeks ago in Korat, Kalasin score seems to function, but not the clock.