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From USA Today REDDING, Calif. — The Transportation Security Administration has started using a new and more rigorous pat-down at airports, which one passenger this week likened to “groin scrutiny.” Nico Melendez, a public affairs manager for TSA, confirmed that the new pat-down procedures are supposed to be followed as of Thursday, but he was “limited on what can be shared” about them. He did say that the new "universal pat-down" doesn't involve checking any extra body parts, though. “This standardized pat-down procedure continues to utilize enhanced security measures implemented several months ago, and does not involve any different areas of the body than were screened in the previous standard pat-down procedure," a prepared statement from TSA reads. "TSA continues to adjust and refine our systems and procedures to meet the evolving threat and to achieve the highest levels of transportation security.” A Bloomberg story Friday quoted another TSA spokesman as saying that searches "will be more thorough and may involve an officer making more intimate contact than before." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/03/03/tsa-rolls-out-new-more-intimate-airport-pat-downs/98713844/

Learned to fly in the Cessna 172 (and the 150) half-a-century ago and I suspect there are a few others out there who may have, also. Until reading this BBC article, I wasn't aware that it was the most prolific aircraft ever produced with over 43,000 copies coming off the assembly line. More impressive is that it's been in production, with few changes, since 1956. To you less enthusiast readers, there's a high probability that the cockpit crew piloting your next flight got its first taste of flying in this machine. In any case, perhaps this excerpt from the BBC link below may entice you to read on. If not, please forgive my parochial indulgence. It was also a Cessna 172 that teenage West German pilot Mathias Rust used to fly into the Soviet Union – and land in Moscow in an effort to promote world peace. At the height of the Cold War, Rust was able to evade the world’s most formidable air defence system, boasting thousands of aircraft and missile launchers, and landed on a bridge on the edge of Moscow’s Red Square. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170302-the-plane-so-good-its-still-in-production-after-60-years

Welsh Guy, good news is that you have time to consider your move: use it wisely and keep your options open. I think it's still a bit early to predict on how Brexit will play out regarding currency, although a trend seems to be developing. Bear in mind that sage investor advice: past performance is no guarantee of future results. Assume that you've already considered the biggies: age, health care options and availability, best/worst case income projections. Dismiss any thoughts of buying a new or second home overseas. The condo market in Thailand is unpredictable and fraught with uncertainties. Reasonable rental opportunities abound. Remain confident and keep reading the boards. That's the best way of getting the pulse of what's happening in Thailand and elsewhere. Members have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to share their mistakes as well as their successes. Good luck!

The fate of the young Burmese pair convicted of murdering two British backpackers in 2014 is back in the news after a Thai court reaffirmed their death sentences. Their case drew world-wide attention when Thai and international forensic experts criticized the validity of evidence prosecutors presented. From The Irrawaddy news site The NLD government is concerned after a Thai appeal court’s decision to uphold a death sentence handed down to two Burmese migrants for the 2014 murder and rape of two British backpackers on Koh Tao island, and has pledged to continue its assistance to the legal defense team. U Zaw Htay, the President Office’s spokesperson and acting director general of the State Counselor’s Office—both ministries head by the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—said the government has reached out to the Burmese embassy in Thailand and members of the legal team in Bangkok in order to establish the best approach. Representatives from the Burmese embassy will pay an official visit to Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin next Friday, March 10, about which they have already informed the Thai authorities, according to U Htoo Chit, the director of the Foundation for Education Development, an organization that assists Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. Both Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun are in good health and “are hopeful about their next appeal,” said Sein Htay, the director of the Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN). MWRN staff and a Thai lawyer from the Lawyer’s Council of Thailand met the two men at Bangkok’s Bang Kwang central prison on Friday. “Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun said they were read the verdict of the appeal court on Feb. 23 at the Nonthaburi court, without the presence of their lawyer nor the translator,” U Sein Htay told The Irrawaddy on Friday. “The appeal court’s proceedings were not transparent,” added U Sein Htay, referring to the circumstances described by the defendants. Lawyers are reportedly able to meet the two Burmese men around once a month. http://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/govt-promises-to-assist-migrant-workers-sentenced-to-death-in-koh-tao-murder-case.html

Also found flying in and out BKK (on most major, international carriers) is nearly always cheaper and then relying on a low-cost regional carriers to visit other east Asia destinations. Fare structure certainly encourages travelers to use BKK as a base.

From Bangkok Post - The Ghost Tower Other pics and full article: http://property.bangkokpost.com/news/1208209/20-years-on-ghost-tower-haunts-city

When I stumbled upon this photo essay of a deserted Japanese island it reminded me of how this type of photography fascinates me. I wonder who once inhabited them. They'll always capture my imagination. Since there's so many great photographers on this board I figured I'd share some links. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gallery/eerie-images-reveal-crumbling-remains-9947435 From NY Times - North Brother Island http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/magazine/isle-of-no-man.html From Sir Lounge Urban Photography - abandoned power plant http://www.slrlounge.com/urban-photography-abandoned-buildings-dan-marbaix/ From Smithsonian - Beijing amusement park http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/17-amazing-photographs-of-abandoned-places-180949341/

I, too, found these numbers so extreme that I'm inclined to suspect exaggeration. A bit of Googling found this 2008 CNN article with similar results. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/07/japan.geishas/index.html The article that appeared in The Nation was from Agence France Press (AFP), a legit wire service. So I believe that the phenomenon exists--and has for many years--but are the women interviewed for the articles playing the foreign reporters along? Wouldn't be the first time. I'm not ready to label it fake news; perhaps just embellished. Now here's an article from 2012 on what Japanese males can expect to pay for female companionship. I find it quite explicit and believable. (Note: prices to not appear to include additional services, a practice we readers are more familiar with). Admission fee: 3,000 yen Standard Course 20 min – 3,000 yen 40 min – 5,000 yen (only 3,000 yen for first time visitors) 60 min – 6,000 yen 2 hrs – 11,000 yen 3 hrs – 16,000 yen 4 hrs – 20,000 yen 5 hrs – 25,000 yen 6 hrs – 30,000 yen 10 hrs – 50,000 yen “Shimei-ryo“ (fee to pick the girl you want to sleep with) – 1,000 yen + 500 yen per hour Optional Course Customer sleeps in girl’s arm (3 min) – 1,000 yen Girl pats customer on the back (3 min) – 1,000 yen Customer pets girl on the head (3 min) – 1,000 yen Customer and girl stare at each other (1 min) – 1,000 yen Girl changes clothes (1 time) – 1,000 yen Girl gives customer foot massage (3 min) – 1,000 yen Customer gives girl foot massage (3 min) – 2,000 yen Customer sleeps with head on girl’s lap (3 min) – 1,000 yen Girl sleeps with head on customer’s lap (3 min) – 2,000 yen http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/japans-first-cuddle-cafe-lets-you-sleep-with-a-stranger-for-y6000-an-hour

From Phuket Gazette The Royal Thai Army has declared that sun loungers are now allowed in the 10 percent zone at Patong Beach. The decision was handed down Monday afternoon by army and beach management committee officials, who decided to reverse the Royal Thai Navy’s ruling declaring them illegal in December last year. The same outcome is expected for other Phuket beaches, but no timeline has yet been announced. Following the announcement, vendors at Patong Beach immediately brought dozens of loungers and other furniture down to the beach. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30307523

If you're headed into or out of the Silom-Sathorn area, prepare for even more bad news during much of the same period that runway work is under way. From Bangkok Post The Thai-Belgian bridge on Rama IV Road in Pathumwan district will be closed for 30-45 days for repairs after its steel structure was damaged by a fierce fire among some garbage bins stored underneath it on Tuesday morning. Thiti Songcharoenkij, director of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Construction and Maintenance Office, said a preliminary examination found the steel beams on the outbound (heading to Klong Toey) were bent after being scorched by the fire for an extended period, causing the traffic surface to subside. The city's traffic would certainly be affected by the closure of four traffic lanes. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1206404/thai-belgian-bridge-to-be-closed-up-to-45-days

Long delays described below bear no connection the the planned runway work but was caused by understaffed immigration check points. From Coconuts Foreign tourists were stranded in a long line at the immigration checkpoint at Suvarnabhumi International Airport yesterday morning. Morning News showed a video of a paranoia-inducing long line of travelers queuing at the immigration checkpoint to leave Thailand as only six out of eighteen counters were open for service around 8am on Sunday. The influx of travelers caused the line to stretch from the immigration checkpoint all the way to the check-in area, according to government radio channel JS100. http://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/crazy-queue-suvarnabhumi-airports-immigration-causes-travelers-miss-flights/

If you think Soi Twlight long-time rates are high, be glad you're not a woman seeking male companship in Tokyo where it can run into thousands of dollars. From Nation Multimedia: CIGARETTE SMOKE hangs thick in the air of a Tokyo nightspot as Aki Nitta sips champagne with a trio of sweet-talking Lotharios peddling fake love at premium rates. In a country which has lost its mojo, many wealthy Japanese women spend eye-watering sums on male hosts in return for an evening of sweet talk, flirting – and often sex. The 27-year-old businesswoman from Nagoya, spends around $10,000 (Bt350,000) a month on the object of her desire – a faintly androgynous beau with bleached hair and a boyish grin. But some big-spenders splurge over $100,000 in a single night to have their egos stroked by smooth-talking rental Romeos who themselves can earn five times that amount in a good month. There are a growing number of wealthy and successful Japanese women that have become frustrated with traditional dating and instead prefer to focus their romantic energies somewhere they are guaranteed to be treated well. Many women – ranging from 20-somethings to those in their sixties – lavish expensive gifts on their favourite hosts, buying them diamond watches, luxury cars, even apartments. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/life/art_culture/30307247

An official from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, accompanied by a host of local authorities, toured some of the Pattaya hot spots over the weekend and seems to think the problem is well under control. From Pattaya One Some of Thailand’s leading tourism figures descended on Pattaya at the end of big week in the resort’s often troubled history, to focus on the future development. Leading the way on a tour of Beach Road and Walking Street was Pongphanu Sewatrun one of the leading lights at the Ministry for Tourism and Sports. Also in attendance was the Banglamung district chief Naris Niramaiwong and other national tourism industry officials. Pongphanu painted a rosy picture of the resort’s future saying that many problems of the past had now been addressed. He claimed that the city was dealing with its crime problem successfully. Countering comments make in the UK media that Pattaya was a sex capital of the world and full of nothing but prostitutes he said: “Pattaya has had some problems but it is a great place and a very important place for the tourism industry. We want it to continue to develop into the future. “There is nothing to worry about,” he added. “Pattaya is a quality place that is of a world standard”. http://pattayaone.news/en/upbeat-pattaya-future/

True. Individual tastes may vary but there are some universal truths. WB's needs more publicity than the Thai boards can provide alone. It needs a FB page and inclusion in the listings that other Asian and Chinese gays, in particular, follow. That may well require some professional help in getting it placed in the right slots but that should prove money well spent in the greater scheme of things.

A successful manager (as this Dane surely is) very likely has a schedule with waypoints he needs to tick off if Winner Boys will remain viable. He knows the seasons and can predict the potential traffic. He knows customers, like restaurant-goers, are drawn to the most crowded places. He's fully aware that he must maintain the original buzz that has prompted the positive postings on all the message boards which function like Trip Advisor ratings. Sounds like a good business plan. But even the best plans can go awry as firecat points out. He needs to keep staff pacified and happy because they are--in the final analysis--his primary asset. This is where it will get tricky: fail at this task and customers (and revenue) go south like birds in winter. If firecat's premise is correct--and there's little reason to think it's not--then its up to ex-pats to make or break this place, particularly in low season. Not being being one (I'm writing from 10,000-mike away), I can't speak for them but I gather from board postings that they like what they see. They've long offered suggestions on what a difference good management of a Sunee bar could make. Now they appear to have it. If, on the other hand, kokopelli's premise is correct that dwindling libido coupled with the convenience of on-line shopping make Winner--or anyplace like it--a dinosaur, then this is just a momentary blip in a continuum that knows only one direction. In any case, Winner Boys may well represent the last best attempt to keep Sunee on its feet. Until the reinforcements arrive again from the western front, it's up to you, besieged ex-pats, to fight the good fight!

NOTE: I'm no computer guru. I know how to turn the machine and can find my way around the net with relative ease. But that's it. I'm passing along this information because it seems widespread and PC magazine says passwords on some sites we use have been compromised. In the second link below from the Washington Post, there's a link that enables you to determine if your website is among those affected. I found one that I frequently use is. You're probably much-better technically aware than me to evaluated these articles. From PC magazine Web services company Cloudflare recently patched a bug that could have exposed a broad range of customer data like passwords, chat transcripts, and other information stored by millions of websites. The bug, discovered by Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy, allowed sensitive data from Cloudflare-powered websites to be cached by search engines, including Google. "I'm finding private messages from major dating sites, full messages from a well-known chat service, online password manager data, frames from adult video sites, hotel bookings," Ormandy wrote in a Feb. 19 blog post. "We're talking full https requests, client IP addresses, full responses, cookies, passwords, keys, data, everything." http://www.pcmag.com/news/351962/cloudflare-leak-exposed-data-from-millions-of-websites -------------- From Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/02/24/a-major-security-flaw-means-you-have-to-change-your-passwords-again

Take Christian's advice. Your cup will surely runneth over...and down your leg and onto the floor if you happen to find yourself in the Garden of (un)Earthly Delights.

Thai Airways International reports that it is fully prepared for the anticipated delays during the scheduled repairs on one of its runways at Suvarnabhumi airport between Mar. 3 and May 5. The airline also prepared to use an alternate airport if necessary Passengers are advised to allow extra time during the repair period. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transport/1204201/thai-warns-of-delays-during-runway-repairs

Brits running bars in Pattaya should not be too surprised they they soon receive a visit from the BIB. From Pattaya One Nature is the real reason, not sex, says Pattaya police chief Pattaya police chief has hit back at claims that Pattaya is only about sex by saying that tourists come to the resort for its natural wonders. But he seems determined to clear out the streetwalkers nonetheless. Apichai Kroppetch was responding to a story in the UK’s Mirror newspaper that said Pattaya was the sex capital of the world and 1 in 5 of its female population were sex workers. And he has suggested the damage to the Pattaya image came from British businessmen who have set up in the sex trade at the resort. But while accepting there was a certain sex business he said that his men would be stepping up efforts to curb the trade singling out prostitutes who openly sell themselves on Beach Road. http://pattayaone.news/en/nature-not-sex/

From Pattaya One A Crisis meeting was held by Pattaya police recently addressing the growing concern over tourist safety in and around the area. The solution to the problem, Happy Zones. The “Happy Zone” idea come from the national police HQ, and will slowly be introduced into tourist cities across Thailand in the near future. Pattaya will be the first to take a shot at the new concept, which police hope will be a success. Yesterday operators on Walking Street were invited to Pattaya town hall to meet with regional chiefs, local cops, district officials and immigration forces to hear the plans. With tourist revenue being a key factor for the Thai economy, tourist safety is becoming a big issue, especially with the recent problems involving foreigners, said Somprasong Yenthuam, a Chonburi police spokesman. He said he had been ordered by the national police HQ to stop crime against tourists. Crime figures in Pattaya are said to be the highest in the country, and recent press releases in International newspapers do nothing to enhance the image either. “So we have decided to set up ‘Happy Zones'”, said Somprasong. “These will be in tourist towns throughout the country but the project will start in Pattaya first”. http://pattayaone.news/en/happy-zone-introduced-pattaya/

This article from Pattaya One raised some issues we all should be aware of if we use or are considering using Viagra-type meds: A 64-year-old man popped sex drugs and died of a heart attack while romping with an escort who fled leaving him on the bed. A woman was seen on CCTV arriving on a moped at 10pm before leaving a ”short time later” while the man was sprawled naked on the bed in Bueng Kan, northern Thailand. Maids who checked the room at midnight found packets of an aphrodisiac called ”the muscle” and the man’s penis was still erect – despite being dead for more than an hour. Police said they believed he had suffered a heart attack while having sex with the young girl due to the power of the drug, or that he had eaten a large meal before having ”vigorous activity”. Police Captain Narong Srimart said the man took an aphrodisiac before having sex and had a heart attack during sex. He added: ‘’The officials opened the door into the room and the deceased was found lying naked. His penis was still hard and erect. He had been dead about an hour.” http://pattayaone.news/en/64-year-dies-heart-attack/ What exactly is Priapism and why it's considered a medical emergency: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priapism

I, too, remember those goings-on at Babylon. There were not many, but they seemed to be regulars. Haven't been to Babs for quite some time now because of the poor ratio of Thais to guys like me. As Groucho Marx said, "I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member."

If all goes according to plan, Thailand will have, by 2023, its first submarine in service since 1950. The Bangkok Post reports that two more are to be purchased. Although the Thai navy hasn't had a sub to man for 67 years, it remained steadfastly confident that replacements would follow, maintaining a staffed submarine command throughout. The challenge will be to figure how to effectively deploy the craft in the Gulf of Thailand that has an average depth of just 190 ft. From Bangkok Post The Royal Thai Navy has secured 13.5 billion baht to purchase a Chinese-made submarine. It is expected the vessel would be ready to enter service in six years time. The Chinese S26T craft has a submerged displacement of 2,600 tonnes and is equipped with an air-independent propulsion system that allows the submarine to stay under water for up to three weeks at a time. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/1186061/navy-secures-funds-to-buy-chinese-sub

Here's a novel idea from the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) to attract Chinese tourists. Instead of Disneyland, they can experience the thrills of Armyland, a ready-made solution that will divert them from Nana Plaza and Walking Street so they can inspect vintage tanks and watch the recruits train and drill. Actually, that may not be a bad idea, but make it an equal opportunity available to all foreigners. We need diversion, too. Getting to know the soldiers is as good as any. Suggest they develop an app for that. From Bangkok Post The Tourism Authority of Thailand has come up with an idea to open military facilities to draw tourists from China as part of a campaign to show Thailand's new look, TAT deputy governor Srisuda Wanapinyosak said. She believes warships, firing ranges and others will be exciting for them. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... facilities

Beijing aims to spread safe sex awareness among men at risk of contracting HIV as part of its wider push to tackle the spread of the disease. Critics say, however, any campaign should address the discrimination that patients face in seeking medical care. In a plan released by the State Council on stopping the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the government vowed to have 90 per cent of the high risk population educated about the disease, and lower the mother-to-child transmission to 4 per cent. The plan, released last month, also aims to lower the rate of infection arising from unsafe sex among men, or MSM, by 10 per cent by the end of 2020. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2072197/beijing-targets-unsafe-sex-among-men-hiv-campaign