Popular Video-Hosting Site Banned ...meanwhile in a Religious Stampe a Woman is Trampled to Death

Popular Video-Hosting Site Banned ...meanwhile in a Religious Stampe a Woman is Trampled to Death

Got a u2 from a member today. He knows where I stay, why he forwarded this link to me
www.todayonline.com...#


Quite honestly I hadn't noticed, I run out of access as my net-quota of the month was used up a week before time. Today it was renewed and big was my surprise to find out, that it actually closed last Wednesday. And since they closed new vids on the taboo subject keep "mushrooming". As reported by Yahoo.




Not that the other incidence mentioned in the header has any connection to Utube, it's just to show what happens on a more regular basis, with no intervines called for what so ever, is not like when autorithies get mocked.

The net is in grave danger as for uncensored opinions in the country of my writing. When the costumized search engines arrive and the special conditions are agreed on with google, it will be night with any diversity on the net in this place.

Not that it might affect ATS, but it very well could, depending on what is written and whose eyes come to see it. Those with the good engines usually also have the power to execute bans. Given that I can't foretell my exact future in connections with this misled and forsaken country, I have to excercise great constrain and inhibit my expressions, not to draw the attention of any deeming eyes. I cannot write direct what things are like.

More off I don't even have the proper sources open any more. YouTube was closed a week ago, b2 weeks ago ago it was the only critical English online media that got banned. An essential loss, left with now only Bangkok Post, much more formal and conservative, to inform in English.

Anyway, today's Bangkok Post had this story about an unlucky woman, who fell victim as she was waiting in the crowd for the release of an object of great desire, a holy amulet supposed to bring good luck. Well, they all are ...supposed, and believed, to bring good luck in a country where luck is considered more important than basic skills.

This special talisman however --because manufactured in a temple, that are holding relics of the Buddha -- tonnes seems to be left after him -- it is considered REALLY big luck. For some reason it wasn't for Peun Kongpet caught up in the crowd. She fainted in the crush, collapsed and was trampled.

The reason for the craze according to the paper report.



The article is titled Abbot faces charge after mob crushes woman. Yes, but they don't close his lucrative business because of that.

This just to ponder how cracy things are and draw the attention to a country developed technological to the 21st century and sure have their consumer behavior and greeds deep rooted in there as well, but funy enough have a 17th century mind-set.

For my own biased part I can add, despite their level of IT technology, they have no idea about the outside world, except for references to anglo-american b-movies -- and western tourist on the run or bing of course -- and that ain't always a pretty sight.

About 06:45 GMT internet connections were suddenly blocked -- ALL of them -- and it lastet till about 08:15 GMT with several 3-8 minutes black outs in the following hour.


Now, that's nothing special when you're accustomed to the terms telecommunication operates under in SE Asia.

In the peak hours, breaks of short duration, a minute or two, occurs all the time. It makes it practically impossible to take down any video lasting more than a few minutes. Given you can resume, it might take up to 10X the actual running time.

You learn to be grateful just to have a connection that gives you access most of the time to most of the net content. Yes, you even learn to live without some of your favorite sites, because they don't fit the local political agenda.

But it wouldn't be possible to live with a net inaccessible most of the time.

Today some interest rate setting was going to be announced by the central bank. To prevent speculations or insiders taking advantage they just close the whole damned system of electronic pulses connecting to the outside world.

Wonder if they could do that on Wall St ...if it was convenient?

BTW. Things aren't normal today, the day before a major holiday.

It is THE holiday of the year about to begin, stretching over a 10-12 day period, celebrating the new year, the first moon after spring equinox, with water thrown, poured, sprayed, splashed, hosed and hurled on anyone moving in public space.

They are getting ready for the craze, drinking and having fun, throwing water at each other (whomever think it is fun). Some hundreds will be killed in accidents and drunkdriving or in booze induced violence. In bad years the toll are counted in thousands. In other words it's quite normal and it's called Songkran.

What is NOT normal is, that my only English news source still available, Bangkok Post, hasn't changed its news from yesterday. Never seen that before. A frozen news site.

Now.. The other local site in English, BF the best, the Nation, is to my knowledge still operating, but as mentioned not available within the country.

If you wanna keep an eye, you can access www.nationmultimedia.com... and see what's up.
If something shaking, please report here.

All I can learn right now, humbly online again, is Bloomberg telling me

Something major coming up ...soon!

With Songkran and its drinking drive, the craze might run out of control.

Originally posted by khunmoon


If you wanna keep an eye, you can access www.nationmultimedia.com... and see what's up.
If something shaking, please report here.

Here's something from that site.


Regarding YouTube

Thanks for the input Hellmutt.

That's one of the stories with interests of national unity in its bloody message. It's one allowed to be reported freely with as many grisly details as possible.

BUT ...funny enough that detail with her charred remains dropped on the stairs of gvmt buildng, just as generalisimo himself comes by I didn't notice any rendition of on local television.

So many crazy and dark things goes on in the country, but they're supposed to play by the rules of conduct of ethical acceptable behavior for trade partners. And I bet most of them are by the paper-trail -- smart enough not getting caught. But to the naked eye many of them kinda stin*s.

I wonder if other members in exotic locations might have similar problems of unreliable hook ups to provider.

Not to mention if any should live under repressive rule, that would exclude and block certain sites.

You don't have to reveal geo location, to tell about it. I avoid certain keywords myself.



[edit on 11-4-2007 by khunmoon]

Here is a way to get around Thailand's censorship. The only thing that sucks is that it runs slower than your normal internet connection and you have to have broadband connection too.

tor.eff.org...

This morning great surprise: The Nation's nationmultimedia.com are open again.

Better not risk any rampage from drunk-infused Songkran party-goers. Though I would say less than 10% of the people might know the paper in question, the ones who might care probably makes up no more than 4-5%. But they are educated and they'll get drunk too during the revelling ...and you never know what drunk people will do when angered.

Two days ago international news outlet brought the message his majesty, the king "in his goodness" had pardoned the Swiss man sentenced 10 years of 'lese majestic'.

Never knew the word before I came here, and it does translates as insulting the majesty, but it seems to imply more than that. In practical terms it means you cannot talk about the king, and if you mention him better be sure sure it's in honourable and positive terms.

For that very reason as good as nothing has been reported in local medias. Western news crews have been tried fooled out of the court room and from reporting the story at all. A case like this is impossible to report, because you simply cannot render anything touching negatives concerning the king.

On one of my first trips to Bangkok in a mini-bus with about a dozen tourists of which two couples were of local origine, an American guy started talking about the king in general terms and in no way defaming. He talked about he'd heard him to be very artistic, fond of music and virtous on the sax. Then he suggested --this was in the days Clinton-- that the president and the king got together for a jam. Could solve much more problems, than just talking and negotiating, was his opinion. The reacting from the two indigious couples was a total freeze. It was more than awkward with a total silence engulfing the van. The diversion to break it didn't come before someone asked why so many people seemed to be living in make-shift shelters along the banks of the royal moth.

A short resume of governing history. The present king is born in Massachusetts and did spend less than a handfull of years of youth in the country to which he was later to be crowned. He didn't reside in Bkk before he returned 22 years of age for his coronation.

The present king is Rama IX, for short number nine. He is a grandchild of King number Five, ruling 1869-1910, the one and only king to have visions and set the agenda of western adoptions into tai culture. His grandchild seems to be doing his best and is well educated for the job but is spun into a web of traditions, which doesn't, and though does, go well with corperate culture depending on the degree of cynicism these traditional rules are applied with. All of the 20th century has been a mess and a breaking down of something out of another world, a almost total defilement and corruption a whole culture, which has never been fully understood by the West. Number Nine has restored faith in the monarchy, and as it appears it might be the last spike holding this country together.

My personal assumption to the calamities scourging the country, the core root of their problems, is the leprous corruption of their special version of Buddhism.

I've known Buddhism for 40 years, but never before I came here seen it in daily life practic. A few revisions of my conception have been needed and a lot of experiences have been learned. Stupidity, ignorance and sloth has always outraged me, but control and observation of temper is central in Buddhist living. In this country they've taken the control to manipulate social order by obedience to authoraties. Despite no cast system, like in India, they have taken all the Brahman hindu junk and mixed it up with their local animistic beliefs ...and installed Buddha as god above all their demons and heathen Hindu gods.

Maybe I should add, Buddhism is consider an atheist belief system rather than a religion.

To follow up on the OP story of the stampede on the release of some allergic alloy, to reach excorbiant prices because formed into some talismans, here's a very good OP

FROM TODAYS Bkk POST: A dangerous obsession on the path religious practisese have taken.



It's a damned good business, when people are stupid and superstitious.

As for the tube, no news of open up, as people will keep posting mockery on the subject now the idea is given.

The Nation still have the consisting critics of the media policy and old critical articles like this one is still up.

The "blocklist" numbered 13,435 websites as of January 11, compared to 2,475 on October 13 last year.



The group is currently running a campaign against Internet censorship and has urged the public to participate by joining them at facthai.wordpress.com....

Todays discussion goes on in fresh article like this one.

The government has shut down a popular online political chat room, citing national security as the reason.
As for Utube discussions, they're here.

Two more offensive videos put on site





[edit on 14-4-2007 by khunmoon]

Oh yeah, almost forgot about Songkran. Well, it's not really started but getting off this weekend with culmination next one.

None the less, no more than a little more than 24 hours into the fest, it is reported:

The grim side of Songkran was the high number of road casualties. On Wednesday

and Thursday, road accidents claimed 98 lives, said Interior Minister Aree Wongsearaya. The number of people injured on the first two days of the festival was 1,234.

When they are most exited and feeling at their best, they truly believe they are inconvincible and most people get killed. During the reign of the former despot, there were years with 5.000 casualties, some say there might have been as high as 10.000.

A fresh report for about the first 60 hours states as follows

Songkran, or Sonkran lasts from the middle of this past week all through the next and into the following, about 300 hours. Which if the pools are to be trusted will make us end up with between 8-900 fatalities. That's about the norm for a controlled songkran event.

Every year authorities try to control the event from running out of control. To make crash helmets compulsory is probably the most successful measure so far. But the core root of the problem, a hooligan behavior fuelled by alcohol and yaba (meth) combined with a peaceful ritual run amok and hijacked by a spirit of time getting less 'n less Buddhist, makes this ancient old ritual become wrecked and corrupted.

More about to follow... and I hope to find some images of the event.

Better add, reports also show foreigners enjoy the "event" of uncontrolled water splashing. Not when you've stayed here 10 years.

I've started a new thread about Songkran with mostly pictures.

Wonder if anybody seen something like it. Worth a debate.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Here's acouple of teasers.

Thought I just would add this.

Police try to manage the crowd as people scramble to buy coupons for the much-sought-after Chatukam Ramthep amulets at a technical school in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Muang district.


Amateur bombers have always been around.

Police scour a telephone booth outside the Major Ratchayothin shopping and entertainment centre, the scene of Monday’s late-night bomb blast. The explosion comes as the country prepares to celebrate the Thai New Year from April 13 to April 17. The traditional festival period ended yesterday, although the extended holiday ends on Tuesday.

"The traditional festival period" varies from one part of the country to another, so effectively it stretches all togethewr over two weekends.

well i am shocked thailand blocking youtube because it makes fun of a king. while their police chop off girls arm because she won't give them special favors.and children are sold into sexual slavery it is so rampant there that the corrupt us goverment has made a new law againt going to thailand for sex with children it is called the sexual tourism law.

Thought i just would update this and give it a bump.

There're no movement in the case. The parts are locked and YouTube remains blocked.

The original vid was removed by the owner, but copies started popping up.

Here's an article on the Thai media reality from The Irrawaddy:Thailand’s Media Landscape Worries Activists.






[edit on 3-5-2007 by khunmoon]

Finally some development... which will lead nowhere but harden the stances.

Thailand to Sue YouTube over Video Clip Offensive to Country's King


And if they get convicted how do they plan to inforce the sentence..?

Oh, no problem, the Majesty will pardon them anyway... like he did the Swiss man sentenced 10 years earlier this year.

He is back in Switzerland now.

Latest on the YouTube dispute.


They'll remove them, but new ones will emerge. They can never keep up with it. The tube might be open (in Thailand) for a day or so, before they block it again.

Only way: Drop Censorship.