forcebwithu

Pic from yesterday's hash run. The area is west of Rugby School Thailand. Large swaths of brush have been intentionally burned off throughout the area. No idea why the Thai do this as the areas they burned were not cropland. The area to the right in the pic below is one such area that had been set alight.

My lady is at a wedding in Bangkok and she sent me this video of the air pollution around noon today.

I was out on a hash run yesterday afternoon. On elevated portions of Hwy 7 on the way out we got a good view of how bad the pollution layer was around Pattaya and the surrounding areas. The trail cut across the northern side of Khao Mai Keao. On trail the smell of smoke was heavy in the air. We could also hear the crackle of flames in the distance. Once we got to the NW side of KMK we saw the source of the smoke and sound of the fire. The govt needs to enforce burn bans and vehicle/industrial emissions. Until they do, it's just paying lip service every year to the increasing probl

I currently have the Sharp FP-F3061-C air purifier which is fine for my 25 sqm home office, but I've decided it's time I splurge on another purifier for our master bedroom. I bought another Sharp, but this one is large enough for our large master bedroom. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/sharp-fu-a80ta-w-62-i8727192.html

It's a bad day in Pattaya. Really hazy. Knew it was going to be a bad one as I woke up in the wee hours due to a strong smell of smoke. Some idiot nearby was probably doing an illegal burn of garbage/brush under the cover of darkness and the strong inversion layer trapped the smoke and smell at ground level. Had to close up the windows in the bedroom and turned on the air purifier. My lady and I have lingering lung congestion from our bout of flu/cold two weeks ago. Her's is worse than mine. I suspect the continued congestion we're experiencing is due to the bad air pollution.

The air pollution does make for beautiful sunsets.

Progress update on the new building going up on Soi Casino.

The fruit and vegetable stand that was on Buakhao near Soi 19 has moved around the corner and about 50m up Soi 19.

An oldie, but goodie.

Another, don't breathe air day in Pattaya. PM2.5 reading in my home office when I woke up was 102. Since I'm recovering from the cold/flu virus going around and my respiratory system is operating at less than 100%, I'll be skipping this morning's bike ride.

Part of a worldwide seizure of assets that were ill gotten gains from the world’s largest cybercrime computer network. Superhacker’s Arrest in Singapore Raises Uncomfortable Questions for the City-State Before he was arrested this month for allegedly running what’s likely the world’s largest cybercrime computer network, Wang YunHe enjoyed a lavish lifestyle in Singapore. He held a bank account in the city-state, was a director of several local companies and lived in a multi-million-dollar apartment overlooking a premier shopping district, according to an indictment and local fil

More comedy gold from the BMA. "creating atmospheric openings to disperse harmful dust particles" LOL And rainmaking won't do a thing to lessen the impact of industrial and vehicle emissions that are the major contributors to poor air quality. Bangkok explores new ways to curb harmful dust particles The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is stepping up efforts to solve the dust problem in the capital, which is expected to stay at present high levels until next month. Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said on Saturday that during his visit to the Hua Hin Royal Rain

I finally got around to working out how to add a soundtrack to a YT video. It's actually quite easy. Just use YT's video editor, click on Audio and do a search through their royalty free audio library for a track that you think fits the mood of the video. With the track added, and assuming it runs longer than the video, adjust the start point of the audio so the end of the track coincides with the end of the video for a nice fade out of the music. Next up, improve my editing skills. Shorter segments are better, and keep the video length down to a minimum.

Some excellent tips and info on Jake Sloan's YT channel. Here's one example.

Seeing shit like this makes me wonder if one of the requirements to be a sparky in Thailand is to have most of one's brains removed. Same for the supervisors that should be inspecting and red flagging hazards like this. If it's raining out, always, always give any kind of metal utility pole a wide berth.

Since I had the drone out this morning, thought it'd be a good opportunity to get some shots of the large construction site on Pattaya Tai up near Sukhumvit.

Got the drone out for an overhead view of the Countdown 2025 stage this morning.

The park next to Nakula Market

A new building going up on Soi Casino.

Self-serve laundry places have been popping up all around Pattaya in the last couple of years. I remember someone saying years ago they're one of the most profitable businesses. This is a new one going up in the parking area for the Tue/Fri Buakhao Market. Not as big as the one on Aurontai though.

Worked fine for me. I even used the Forgot Password link to change mine. The password remains the same, unless you change it. Each time you login you have to enter the characters displayed in the box for Type The Characters Above before clicking Login.

A few snaps from this morning's stroll. When going cheap on walkway material, this is what the result looks like after only a couple of months. When you walk on the panels you can feel them flex and give, so no surprise the damage done when motorbikes use the walkway. Wonder what the dBA level is at the monitoring station when the festivals are pounding out music at volume 11.

Sent the drone up for a couple of photos of what an AQI of 150 looks like. These are shots from 3.6 km from the Pattaya sign. Zoom is 1x, 3x, and then digital 9x.

Not a good day to be breathing the air in paradise. I turned on the PM2.5 detector in my home office and it read 77, then I turned on the floor fan and it immediately spiked up to about 90. That tells me the monitor is sensitive enough to detect the dust that gets kicked up when turning on the fan. The air purifier is doing its thing and the reading is already down to 45 after running for a few minutes. I have to say, this time of year it sucks living here.