Cost Of Living Set To Jump

Consumers should brace for a higher cost of living throughout 2008 as several manufacturers are pressing for approval for second-round price increases in the first quarter amid rising oil prices.

Palm and soybean oil manufacturers are now waiting for the Internal Trade Department's approval to increase their prices in the second round. If approved, a bottle of palm oil would rise to Bt50 from Bt43.50. The price was jacked up Bt5.50 a bottle late last year from Bt38.

The Soybean and Rice Bran Processors' Association also asked for similar permission to raise the price of soybean oil. Without a specific target this time, soybean oil was increased in December from Bt40 to Bt45.50 a bottle.

Sources in the food industry said consumer products tended to raise their prices along with the prices of raw materials like vegetable oil, milk and sugar. It is reported that 40 food and drink products could ask for hike approvals in the first quarter.

Phiphat Phaniangwet, executive director of Thai President Foods - makers of Mama instant noodles - said noodle manufacturers could face wheat flour shortages aside from the sharp hike in flour prices. He anticipated periodic shortages of such products in the near future.

Paisal Chongbanyatcharoen, president of the dairy affiliate CP-Meiji Co, told Krungthep Turakij that the company had recently raised the retail price of yoghurt by Bt2 to Bt12 a cup. As milk has risen from Bt14.50 to Bt16 per kilogram, and powdered milk costs rose from US$3,000 (Bt100,320) a tonne to $5,000, its dairy product prices have also gone up. 

However, the problem could be heightened if the Finance Ministry decides to raise value-added tax (VAT) from 7 to 10 per cent this year, a move most feared by manufacturers worried that higher taxes would further damage consumer spending.

"Many operators continue to raise their product prices because of skyrocketing oil prices and the rising prices of raw materials," Thai Industries Federation's chairman Santi Vilassakdanont said yesterday.

"Therefore, the new government should be careful if it plans to boost VAT from 7 per cent to be 10 per cent because higher prices will make it difficult to stimulate people's spending." [via The Nation]

  

 

Sierra Tangos

 

• Wet n' Wild Go Go Dance Competition, Friday Jan 11, with prizes totaling 50,000Baht. Location: Centre Condo, Pattaya Tai

 

• The 2008 Phuket International Blues Rock Festival blasts off at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa, February 22-23, 2008.

This year the festival will be huge - expanded to 12 bands total - showcasing 10 of South East Asia’s finest acts and topping it off with an American headliner each night. Confirmed are Bangkok’s Soi Dog Blues Band, Georgia Blues Band, Full House and Cannonball as well as The Blues Machine from Pattaya and Boy Blues Band from Chiang Mai as well as The Fabulous Hepcats from Koh Samui. We have also secured one of Australia’s top blues acts, Salty Dog. The local contribution to this year’s show is provided by The Groove Doctors w/Jimi Fame and American born diva Bonnie Anderson.

The internationally renowned Rich Harper Band from Los Angeles which has gathered strong following in Thailand over the past two years will return in 2008, to headline Friday night with their usual fiery style, helping to make this year’s festival a blues/rock extravaganza. Saturday night will see another top U.S. blues act: The Shari Puorto Experience from Southern California. [via eTravelBlackboard]

 

• Ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra issued a statement on Tuesday, pointing out three reasons why his wife Khunying Potjaman decided to return to Thailand this morning.

"Khunying Potjaman returns to Thailand to pay respect to the body of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana on behalf of me, the Shinawatra and the Damapong families," he said in the statement.

Also, she would like to surrender to fight court cases and to prove her innocence. In addition, she would like to return to live a peaceful life with her family and to take care of her children, according to the statement. [via Bangkok Post]

 

• A few weeks ago we, gave Viddler 1st place for being the best sharing site of 2007. That’s when it hit us that we’ve been using Viddler for quite awhile without actually writing about it. Not spreading the word about Viddler is pretty much doing an injustice to our readers. We use Viddler for all of the screencasts and videos that we produce. The video quality is pretty amazing, and they offer users an incomparable amount of control over the videos that are published. Lets take a look at how it all works…

–Upload a Video–

Viddler’s uploading process couldn’t be any easier. Their Flash-based uploader lets you queue up as many videos as you would like. It will upload each of them one-by-one, process them, and let you know when they are completed. What really makes the uploader intelligent is that you can enter in the title, description, and tags for each video while you wait for them to finish.

You can upload videos that are up to 500MB in size, and they support the following types of files: AVI, DV, MOV, QT, MPG2, MPEG2, MPEG4, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, ASF, WMV, and FLV. In the next version of Viddler they have plans on letting users upload music and pictures.

After the videos finish uploading you can navigate away from the page, and optionally you can be notified via email when they are ready for you.

–Embed/View the Video–

We optimise all of our videos for Viddler’s largest resolution. That way when we embed the videos they look clear and concise, which is especially important when posting screencasts.

–Sharing–

Naturally with any video service, the focus is on members who share their videos with other people. Viddler has the most powerful set of sharing options out of any other video site that I’ve used. You can control whether everyone, your friends, or just you can comment, tag, embed, and download videos. Each of the settings can be configured on a per-video basis, thereby giving you the ultimate control. [via CyberNet] 

 

• Convert Any Audio File with MediaEncoder Audio Edition (Windows only) - free open source conversion app MediaCoder Audio Edition is like the audio-geek cousin of its easy-to-use, all-purpose brethren, MediaCoder. The main difference is in the sheer breadth of audio file types supported (including the iTunes default M4A, FLAC, and really esoteric stuff like "Enhanced 3GGP" and "OptimFrog Encoder") and the many ways you can grab that audio—from DVDs, video files, or even web playlists. MediaCoder Audio Edition even supports the sound-tweaking DSP plugins made for Winamp, but offers a wealth of audio tweaks on its own. MediaCoder Audio Edition is a free download for Windows 98 and later systems, with 32- and 64-bit versions offered. [via Lifehacker]

 

 

• Shay Laren - Set 10222

 

 

 

 

 

• I'm a customer of the first bar to install motorised barstools for the loo run

 

 

 

 

 

• Top 10 Worst Movie Performances By Singers [via Hecklerspray]

1. Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard (1992)

2. Tom Jones in Mars Attacks! (1996)

3. Madonna in Die Another Day (2002)

4. Phil Collins in Hook (1991)

5. Diana Ross in The Wiz (1978)

6. Wayne Newton in License to Kill (1989)

7. David Bowie in The Prestige (2006)

8. Bob Dylan in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)

9. Busta Rhymes in Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

10. Britney Spears in Crossroads (2002)

 

• Q: What can a goose do, that a duck can't do and a lawyer should do?  A: Stick his bill up his ass.

        

• A bloke goes into the Job Centre in Hull and sees a card advertising for a Gynaecologist's Assistant. Interested, he goes to learn more.

"Can you give me some more details about this?" he asks the man behind the desk.

The Job Centre assistant sorts through his files and replies, "Oh, yes, here it is. OK the job entails you getting patients ready for the gynaecologist." "You have to help them out of their underwear, lie them down and wash their nether regions. Then apply shaving foam and shave off all their pubic hair, then rub in soothing oils so they're ready for the gynaecologist's examination."

"There's an annual salary of £85,000, but you're going to have to go to Liverpool."

"Oh, why, is that where the job's at ?" he asks.

"No," replied the assistant, "that's the end of the queue." 

BuzzNet Tags: Pattaya, pattaya, pattaya_rag, pattaya_nightlife, go-go_bars, bar_girls, pattayarag, bar_go-go_pattaya, beach_pattaya, news_pattaya, girl_pattaya, girl_thai, bar_girl_thai, lady_boys, katoeys