List of buildings attacked so far...

BMA: Rioters set fire to 34 places

A total of 34 places were set ablaze during Wednesday's riot, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said on Thursday morning.

They are;

1. Siam Square’s Siam Theatre
2. Centara hotel in Ratchaprasong
3. SET building
4. Mahathun Plaza Building
5. Maleenont Building
6. Bangkok Bank (BBL) Asoke branch
7. BBL Din Daeng branch
8. BBL Rama IV branch
9. BBL Victory Monument branch
10. BBL Sukhumvit 83 branch
11. BBL Sathupradit branch
12. BBL Thanon Chan branch
13. BBL Saphan Luang branch
14. BBL Klong Toey branch
15. BBL Hua Lampong branch
16. Klong Toey office of the MEA
17. Krung Thai Bank (KTB) Asoke branch
18. KTB Sala Daeng branch
19. KTB Sukhumvit branch
20. GSB Din Daeng branch
21. Office of Narcotics Control Board building in Din Daeng
22. Central World
23. Kasikornbank Ngam Duplee branch
24. Kasikornbank Victory monument branch
25. Siam City Bank (SCIB) Din Daeng branch
26. SCIB Penang branch
27. Center One shopping centre
28. Noodle shop at Victory Monument
29. Gold shop at Victory Monument
30. 7-Eleven in Din Daeng
31. Lotus Express Rama IV
32. Dok Ya Book store at Victory Monument
33. Watson shopping mall at Victory Monument
34. Police booth on Rama III road

Remnants of Central World - RIP

Central World burning down

End of an era! A place I have bought items I still use. To view the pics, click on the title link.

Great pics of the violence of the last month or so in Bangkok.

Cick on the title link to see the rest of the pics.

University of York offers degree course on The Wire

Laughable though it sounds, The Wire, a cult US television series about the fight against crime in Baltimore, has become the subject of a British university course. The American police show will be studied at the University of York from this autumn as part of its sociology degree.

The 10-week module, thought to be the first of its kind in the Britain, will be offered to all final year students. Titled The Wire as Social Science Fiction?, it will use the HBO series to look at topics including class, race, political process and the city.

The lecturer behind the course, Professor Roger Burrows, head of sociology at the university, believes the popular show could challenge traditional methods of teaching and presenting social science.

"We spend an enormous amount of our time trying to craft books and articles that are read by so few people and it could challenge how we represent the work that we do in the academe. I find it odd that we're still using 19th and 20th century forms as a way of disseminating what we do."

Can't but agree as most sociology courses these days are based on antique texts like those of Margaret Mead and similar old crusties, so anything that makes use of modern technology and ideas has to be a welcome addition to the sociology canon.

One wonders what will be next on the list of new degree courses? How about a degree in The BBC six O' clock news!! Survivor? The Apprentice? Or my favorite - The TeleTubbies? Who said the world is increasingly dumbing down to the populace nowadays? Never! I can just see Detective McNulty now putting in a request for a transfer!

Why are British women's breasts getting bigger?

This is a funny look at a strange phenomenon e.g. that British women's breasts are getting increasingly bigger every year. It seems that recently, the average British bra size has jumped from 34B to 36D, which means that while women's backs have grown one size, breasts have jumped up two.

Many department stores have increased the range of cup sizes on offer to meet the ballooning, er...humongous demand. In 2007 Marks & Spencer introduced the J cup. Earlier this year, Selfridges began stocking a K cup range, and its sales of D to G cups have risen by 50% year-on-year since 2005. Last week, Debenhams started stocking KK bras, which were previously only available in specialist stores.

In Britain where obesity is fast becoming the norm, you'd think there was a simple, fat-related reason for this, but it doesn't explain the jump in cup size, nor the biggest growth area in bra sales: smaller back size and bigger cup size. Judging by recent underwear figures, there are more slimmer women with larger boobs than ever before. Women are happy about this. Men are happy about this. But no one seems happy to explain why this is happening.

Perhaps it's nature's way of showing the supply and demand dynamic. If men want bigger boobs, then that's what they get. Or have I made a boob here?!

Mother's phone call as comforting as a hug, says oxytocin study

Hearing your mother's voice on the telephone has the same stress-busting effect as a cuddle, say US scientists. Children know that mum's got the words when life seems to be getting too much.

Now it seems her voice on the phone can work the same soothing magic as when she is there to give her offspring a comforting cuddle. US scientists believe hearing mother down the line produces the same stress-busting effect on her daughter as physical contact such as a hug or a loving arm round the shoulder.

In a study that will send phone companies into their own comfort zone, researchers found mothers' calls released similar levels of the social bonding hormone oxytocin in girls as when they were in close proximity.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists report how they deliberately raised the stress levels of 61 girls aged seven to 12. The children had to make an impromptu speech and solve maths problems in front of strangers. This sent their hearts racing and levels of stress hormone cortisol higher.

This is probably what all mothers instinctively know anyway and Freud no doubt understood this at a psychological level: that there are many unseen bonds that exist beyond the level of psychology e.g. what are often classified as the Oedipus and the Electra complexes.

We all know that the words that come from mum are soothing in ways we can't understand but which we feel as doing us the power of good when we are sick, or angry, stressed, or just simply in need of conversation and communication.

This is always comforting to know.