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tetrapod
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Bangkok has that sinking feeling
By Joshua Kurlantzick
THE WASHINGTON TIMES http://www.washtimes.com/world
BANGKOK — Once known as the Venice of the East for its stately
canals, Bangkok now shares a less lovely distinction with the Italian
city. Like Venice, Bangkok is sliding into the sea, so much so that the
entire capital could be below sea level within 50 years.
Thailand's Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) says the city is
sinking at a rate of 2 inches a year and that 6 square miles already
are below median sea level. Built on swampland next to the Chao Praya River, Bangkok has
always been a low-lying city. Every year, the Thai capital weathers
heavy rains during the Southeast Asia monsoon season — rains that slow
traffic and flood houses.
The canals are gone, paved over years ago in a breakneck rush to
build a modern city.
The factories and housing estates that sprung up during Bangkok's
economic boom of the past two decades tapped into the city's ground
water, a recent DMR report said. And as more water is pumped out of the
ground, soil sinks in to replace it.
Land-use analysts in Bangkok estimate that 88 million cubic feet
of ground water are pumped up every day in the capital, double the
amount that safely can be removed. Industry alone uses nearly 49
million cubic feet of ground water daily.
"If we don't stop overpumping, we will face a really serious
crisis," said Deputy Industry Minister Wuthichai Sanguanwongchai.
Industry abuses the water table because ground water is simply too
cheap, said Wanchai Ghooprasert, governor of the Provincial Waterworks
Authority.
Ground water costs 1 cent per 3* cubic feet, about half the cost
as water from the tap.
In addition, Bangkok's ability to control floods has been
constrained due to the past 20 years of paving over canals to build
roads and blocking up drainage systems —much of it in a building boom
of unregulated construction.
If Bangkok dropped below sea level, floods previously limited to
certain districts might decimate large swaths of the capital for weeks
at a time, the DMR report said.
These floods also could be a health hazard. Leptospirosis, a
disease spread via water, killed at least 13 persons this year in
Thailand's swamped northeast and could spread to a submerged Bangkok.
Despite the potential for disaster, the government has done little
to prepare.
DMR sources say proposals to address the sinking-city crisis have
been ignored because government officials are unwilling to alienate
industry and land owners.
The department has suggested raising the fee for pumped ground
water and injecting water from higher areas of the city into the soil
beneath districts that are sinking most rapidly.
The Thai Cabinet has been mulling the latter proposal for the past
17 years without acting.
Ultimately, Bangkok might have to construct hundreds of dikes, an
infrastructure project so massive it could bankrupt the city, which
already spends roughly $255 million on flood prevention each year.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 5:53 am on April 13, 2004
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Manuel bkk
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I start to wonder why I live so close to the beautiful Chao Praya.......
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 7:14 am on April 13, 2004
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Thin White Duke
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This must be why I get that "sinking" feeling everytime I'm in Bangkok. Tommytiggerboy can make a sociology paper out of this on.
Well, it's like they say, you can take the fish out of the river, but you can't take the river out of the fish, (or TBG).
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 9:17 am on April 13, 2004
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Vancouver Jay
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Save Bangkok, screw standing up.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 9:54 am on April 13, 2004
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UK Punter
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Bad one VJ,
(Save Bangkok, screw standing up.)
There's more pressure on the goround screwing standing up than there is laying down. lbs per sq in!!!!!
Save Bangkoks water bath with a friend, save more water bath with two take aways, just make sure they don't slop too much on the floor. If you can find a Thai girl that doesn't soak the barhroom floor, you a better man than me Gungerdin.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Beautiful Thai Girls
Posted on: 10:55 pm on April 14, 2004
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Vancouver Jay
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OK, to be more precise about it...
Save Bangkok, screw laterally.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 11:17 pm on April 14, 2004
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CiaoCiao
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Quote: from Vancouver Jay on 7:17 am on April 15, 2004
OK, to be more precise about it...
Save Bangkok, screw laterally.
VJ - can't you ever just admit it when you're wrong? UK P's position is well taken.
Screwing laterally would transmit only a small vector of the force laterally, that is, in a direction of pushing your partner away. More so, that lateral force would have to be consciously kept small by both of you, for obvious reasons that too large a lateral component would have undesired consequences and could result even in toppling the recipient of the force, or at the very least in disengagement. Additionally the recipient would no doubt then act in her own best interest to minimize the lateral compomnent even moreso by intuitively moving toward the force, in rhythym with it, effectively cancelling the lateral vector.
Therefore almost all of the force vector would still travel in a downward direction through the smaller contact area of the feet rather than through the larger contact area of a body in prone position, thus exerting relatively more pressure per square surface area, and voila, pushing BKK further below sea level.
Would be glad to prove the Save Bangkok Theory - loser buys. (Bring a bunch of Baht.)
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Thai Girls : Meet Active Thai Girls
Posted on: 12:24 am on April 15, 2004
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tetrapod
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One could help "save Bangkok" by marrying a TG and taking her home with you.. lol
tetrapod
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 2:01 am on April 15, 2004
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Vancouver Jay
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CC, I'm more worried about spalling and ground liquefaction. 
4pod, the way TG's put on weight when you take them offshore, you may just doom someone else's home town.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Attractive Thai Girls
Posted on: 2:14 am on April 15, 2004
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