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Nest, Nut, Tam. if you like Nest, he was featured in Labour BKK magazine with a solo masturbation video. One of the early editions, which you can find on their Twitter.

How can you care about genocides on the other side of the world and show no concern for your neighbors lives? It sounds like bull shit to justify supporting Trump. I do care for anyone being murdered or mass murdered anywhere in the world, although naturally and logically I am primarily concerned for the lives closer to me. Right now there are hundreds of thousands of people, disproportionately People of Color, dying because of the pandemic. If you are a DC resident (and you are actually involved with the local community), you know that most fatalities are Black and Brown people. The pandemic would have not gotten to this point in the USA with a competent administration. If you cared at all for your neighbors, you would be supporting Biden-Harris.

Yes! I would go to public libraries reading everything written by Verne!

Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island. I liked my fiction fanciful as a boy.

El Principito

Regarding her emphasis of the grotesque, O'Connor said: "anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic."[20]Her texts usually take place in the South[21]and revolve around morally flawed characters, frequently interacting with people with disabilities or disabled themselves (as O'Connor was), while the issue of race often appears in the background. Most of her works feature disturbing elements, though she did not like to be characterized as cynical. "I am mighty tired of reading reviews that call A Good Man brutal and sarcastic," she wrote.[22]"The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian realism. ...When I see these stories described as horror stories I am always amused because the reviewer always has hold of the wrong horror."[22] She felt deeply informed by the sacramental and by the Thomist notion that the created world is charged with God. Yet she did not write apologetic fiction of the kind prevalent in the Catholic literature of the time, explaining that a writer's meaning must be evident in his or her fiction without didacticism. She wrote ironic, subtly allegorical fiction about deceptively backward Southern characters, usually fundamentalist Protestants, who undergo transformations of character that, to her thinking, brought them closer to the Catholic mind. The transformation is often accomplished through pain, violence, and ludicrous behavior in the pursuit of the holy. However grotesque the setting, she tried to portray her characters as open to the touch of divine grace. This ruled out a sentimental understanding of the stories' violence, as of her own illness. She wrote: "Grace changes us and the change is painful."[23] She also had a deeply sardonic sense of humor, often based in the disparity between her characters' limited perceptions and the awesome fate awaiting them. Another source of humor is frequently found in the attempt of well-meaning liberals to cope with the rural South on their own terms. O'Connor used such characters' inability to come to terms with disability, race, poverty, and fundamentalism, other than in sentimental illusions, as an example of the failure of the secular world in the twentieth century. However, in several stories O'Connor explored some of the most sensitive contemporary issues that her liberal and fundamentalist characters might encounter. She addressed the Holocaust in her story "The Displaced Person", racial integration in "Everything That Rises Must Converge" and intersexuality in "A Temple of the Holy Ghost." Her fiction often included references to the problem of race in the South; occasionally, racial issues come to the forefront, as in "The Artificial Nigger," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," and "Judgement Day," her last short story and a drastically rewritten version of her first published story, "The Geranium." Despite her secluded life, her writing reveals an uncanny grasp of the nuances of human behavior. O'Connor gave many lectures on faith and literature, traveling quite far despite her frail health. Politically, she maintained a broadly progressive outlook in connection with her faith, voting for John F. Kennedy in 1960 and supporting the work of Martin Luther King Jr.and the civil rights movement.[24]Nevertheless, she wrote in a letter to Maryat Lee 3rd May, 1964, “You know, I’m an integrationist by principle & a segregationist by taste anyway. I don’t like negroes. They all give me a pain and the more of them I see, the less and less I like them. Particularly the new kind.” [25] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O'Connor

I think the one that had the most impact on me was Flowers For Algernon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon

Lord of the Flies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies

Seems like moonlight models will be making appearance in hotmale bars this friday night!

As a child.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Wild_Things_Are As an early teen..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsiders_(novel) As a late teen... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Budd

Plane cabins could change dramatically because of the pandemic. Here’s how.

Brazil Health Theater: Rio de Janeiro Edition (come to Rio) The greater powers of Rio (and the world) have a conundrum to solve: how to get life and the economy back up while still trying to mitigate the spread of COVID. With the rates of transmission decreasing and deaths declining as well, I can see why Brazil decided to open its borders when it did. The virus is far from solved here (or anywhere) of course, and there is still a lot of suffering happening, but I do see the powers that be here are trying to forge a way forward, Bolsonaro notwithstanding. So here are some more things I’ve noticed on the Brazil Health Theater front, this time around Rio, while it tried to forge a new normal: Shopping Mall Temp Checks This seems to be above what Sao Paulo was doing – the two shopping malls I’ve been here, mainly Shopping Rio Sul in Botafogo, and Barra Shopping in Barra da Tijuca, are employing these temperature scanners: Coupled with people lanes to direct crowds and avoid agglomeration, and signage to social distance, I guess these would be good enough for mitigation in a shopping mall. Not sure how effective these are, but its something, right? Restaurant Measures The fact that indoor dining is allowed here is light years from what is allowed in most of California where I live. How it's executed with mitigation measures, however, is a mixed bag. Some old-timey padarias have social distancing measures like prohibiting seating in every other table, others just exist as usual with no such distancing at all. But a few observations: 1. Those “por quilo” buffets are ripe to become disasters with COVID transmission, but so far I’ve seen these plastic gloves available at the start of every buffet line, so at least you are handling those community utensils to shovel your food on to your plate with a clean barrier from your COVID hands. Around the “quiosques” in Copacabana and Ipanema, you can encounter these good housekeeping “seals of approval” posted, and if you follow the QR code, will show you a website that states that the establishment is following current city guidelines for mitigation of COVID. Again, unsure if one can just print one out and pretend to be compliant, but it’s a nice things to have. The signs are in Portguese, Spanish, and English (three signs total), geared towards the tourist set, obviously. Whenever I am in Copa, I am partial to a shrimp and strawberry caipirinha lunch, for some reason: There’s multiple things happening in this next photo, which was taken at a usual café near the Copacabana beach front: 1. Hand sanitizer in every table 2. Mask wearing required for every restaurant worker 3. Tables spaced further away to promote distancing 4. Menus now available online via QR codes so you don’t have to handle a physical menu I appreciate the effort. It made this $1.25 cup of coffee worth it. Even with COVID Changing Everything, Barra da Tijuca Is Still The Best This week I’ve been to the beach complexes of Copacabana, Ipanema, and Botafogo. While all three are excellent and largely popular with tourists, to me, the beaches of Barra da Tijuca is still the best among the Zona Sul of Rio beaches. Sure, Copacabana will be the one teeming with tourists during Reveillon, or the stretch of Ipanema near Farme de Amoedo street will be teeming with slutty gays, or the Botafogo beaches boasts views of both Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf mountain, capturable in one photo, but to me, it is the Barra da Tijuca beaches that blends the best combination of it being a more of a beach for locals, with better services, and less tourist troubles. Some reasons: 1. Some barracas are connected to the qiosques, so you get better food, drinks and access to their bathrooms if you need it, to join your umbrella and chair rentals in the beach: Coisa linda. And it tasted even better than it looked. I contrast this with less exciting food found in Copa and Ipanema, which is usually from barracas with less resources and skills, than you find in a full blown restaurant. 2. The street vendors are less pushy and less annoying for some reason. Maybe because less tourists and more locals are here, and they are less enthused with bullshit. Also, we were in for a treat this trip. The day we went, we recognized one of the street vendors, selling biscuits, from a news show we were watching days ago. His story is a cute one. He is an engineering student who is trying to help his parents who lost their jobs by selling “biscoitos” in Barra Beach. He is being celebrated as a sample of Brazilian resiliency in the face of crisis. I was thrilled that we spotted him in Barra, and had a good chat with him about his newfound fame, selling biscuits, and his future plans. I even got a selfie with him: The biscuits were $1 each bag. 3. Barra has more sporty people coming to play and surf. Not bad to look at as well. In closing, even with all the uncertainty in the world today, I am glad this fact still remains: The best summer I’ve ever experienced, is a winter in Rio.

FINALLY found decent pizza in SP https://www.veridiana.com.br/ They have a location, very pretty and great service not far from Lagoa.

Based on the story shared above, after you tested negative at the hotel, u are allowed 1 hour time a day for accessing limited hotel facilities. Cant say the rate is bad but the fact is you cant go out or bring boy in. Deal breaker for me haha.

luxury prison is still prison

I think it is called racist guilt. To cover your preference for and complicity with American White Supremacy, and your lack of empathy and caring for the people of color living next to you, you cry for the lives of Brown People you read about in media.

Not exactly childhood, but in 11th grade my English teacher said, ‘I know who you would like,’ and handed me a collection of short stories by Flannery O’Connor. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O'Connor Life perception was never quite the same since.

Was going to say something or other. But just feel we are all on LSD right now.

Eh, these things don't happen quickly.

whole thing is becoming more nonsensical by the day

The question is how are you treating them when you support Trump's reelection.

Also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Thousand_Leagues_Under_the_Sea

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Seven_Gables

There is a clear international definition of genocide that Obama/Trump are absolutely clearly guilty of in Yemen, Bush/Clinton/Biden/Powell et al in Iraq, Kennedy/Johnson in Vietnam, Churchill in India murdered 40 million, King Leopold in the Congo murdered 70 million, etc. America is established on genocide where 90% of 80 million natives were killed in our first century. Why are there statues of Grant and Churchill everywhere? Because their genocide while much much larger than Hitler's was of dark-skinned people and in the US we don't consider that genocide if we or our kind do it. Why was Hitler's killing of a much smaller number called genocide by the west? Because he dared do it to white people. How many A Bombs did we drop on white people? If we do it to other races it's not genocide. The whole US economy is based on our war machine and our war machine is at least now, used exclusively to kill dark-skinned people in multitudes like non-humans. At risk of citing Chomsky here, there's an article where he describes how it's basically a matter in the US of if we do it's not genocide. That's not an international law. That's law of the jungle and the most powerful. In the US we're conditioned to commit what is internationally considered genocide without batting an eye. And in elections genocide is just another rather unimportant issue. https://truthout.org/articles/noam-chomsky-how-the-us-politically-vulgarizes-genocide-and-war-crimes/

Entry to Thailand for Thailand Elite members, current procedures.

Reporting by mainstream media about the protests may be limited for a reason other than being supportive of the government: https://www.thaienquirer.com/17181/thailands-traditional-media-faces-new-challenges-as-protests-touch-on-taboo-topics/

From The Thaiger Bad news for Boss as Thai prosecutors put him back on the ‘wanted’ list 3 weeks ago Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya must have thought it was Christmas after charges him were dropped by the Office of the Attorney General (for reasons that still remain a mystery), and then police said he was free to return to Thailand. That’s now all changed and the fugitive now finds himself a wanted man again with some charges reinstated and a few more added. Evidence of cocaine abuse emerged last month. Upset with the decision not to prosecute Vorayuth, a lawyer released results of a blood test taken by the Red Bull heir following the hit-and-run incident. It came back positive for metabolytes showing cocaine abuse. Amid the prevarication and confusion, Thailand’s justice system has again shown itself to be a unpredictable beast when it comes to its uneven approach to justice, depending on your family name and who you know. Vorayuth was facing a slew of charges back in 2012 after his family-owned Ferrari hit a 47 year old motorcycle policeman, at speed, in Thong Lor, Bangkok. Boss avoided facing courts 8 times before eventually fleeing the country in 2017. He was 27 years old at the time of the incident and has kept a low profile whilst living as a wanted man overseas. Now police are attempting to bring 2 charges against Boss… reckless driving causing death and illicit use of cocaine, the latter only coming to light in recent weeks. Thailand’s National Police Commissioner says he will oversee the fresh investigation himself, trying to wind back some of the poor worldwide PR the Thai police force and justice system has received over the matter. No fewer than 4 Senate committees and a fact-finding committee set up by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha have forced a back-flip from the Attorney general office and the resignation of the deputy AG. In June, police endorsed the OAG’s decision to drop all charges against the Red Bull heir and part of the rich and powerful Yoovidhya family. With public anger over the matter becoming a major PR problem for the government, PM Prayut moved to set up the fact-finding panel, led by respected graft-buster Vicha Mahakhun. Meanwhile, the OAG and police have launched their own internal investigations into how Boss was going to be allowed to walk free. This probe concluded that 14 policemen might have been guilty, 11 of whom have already been implicated by the National Anti-Corruption Commission over the handling of the case. Then you can add the assistant national police chief Pol Lt-General Permpoon Chidchob, a younger brother of influential veteran politician Newin Chidchob. Though Permpoon signed an order endorsing the OAG’s decision to drop the Boss case, he claims he was just following protocol. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are now trying to see how they can track down Boss and prosecute the charges. The statute of limitations on 4 other possible charges… drunk driving, speeding, reckless driving causing damage to another person and fail to stop to aid the victim, have already expired. he decision to drop the charges was not even initially reported in Thailand. Instead it appeared on CNN and the matter then became a scandal in Thailand with almost universal outrage on social media, forcing the PM to take decisive action. The Yoovidhya family was also forced into publishing a half-hearted public statement from their main company, distancing themselves from the errant Red Bull heir.

Seems your friend got it wrong on his own visa, or didn't relate it clearly to you, or some other misunderstanding. The way it works is apparent from the Elite website. I also have a friend who has an Elite visa. He certainly doesn't buy any reentry permit. The first part is correct, the second part is not. The visa (= permission to ENTER, not to stay) is good for 5 years. Upon each entry, he will receive a stamp with permission to stay for ONE year. Therefore, after one year without leaving Thailand, the PERMISSION TO STAY will have to be extended (by another year). The visa itself is of course still valid, but is not relevant in this scenario, other than that it is the basis for granting a one year extension, which Elite holders are eligible to get (as they do upon each entry into the country). This extension is very similar in nature to the annual retirement extension (except the paperwork etc). That retirement extension, by the way, does not allow you to enter Thailand as such. That's why you need the re-entry permit to re-enter Thailand under the same permission to stay that was granted with said extension. A retirement extension holder does not hold a visa. This is the difference to the Elite. The Elite holder DOES hold a visa and therefore does NOT need a reentry permit, because he can reenter the country using the still-valid visa and get a new 1-year stamp. Well, he believes wrongly. No need for reentry permit, as per above. Below is from www.thailandelite.com/faq : There you have it: 1. MULTIPLE ENTRY visa => hence no need or room for reentry permit 2. one year EXTENDABLE length of stay All very clear.

Link Malaysia and Singapore will begin reopening the borders between the two countries from August 17, 2020 for selected travelers under the Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL), and the Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) travel schemes. The RGL scheme will permit short-term travel of up to 14 days for essential and official business. The PCA scheme will enable cross-border travel for those that have valid work visas. Strict health protocols, such as COVID-19 testing and self-quarantine measures will apply to all travelers. Before the onset of COVID-19, the Malaysia-Singapore border was one of the busiest in the world, with more than 300,000 daily travelers crossing via land and more than 29,000 flights annually. Malaysia and Singapore will begin allowing limited cross-border travel between the two countries from August 17, 2020, months after they were closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The two countries have issued two new schemes to facilitate the cross-border travel – the Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) and the Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA). The RGL enables short-term travel for official purposes and essential business for up to a maximum of 14 days’ stay. The PCA scheme allows the entry of residents of both countries who hold valid work passes. Both travel schemes incorporate strict health and visa protocols, such as mandatory pre-departure COVID-19 tests and self-quarantine upon arrival. Malaysia and Singapore have one of the world’s busiest border crossings. Prior to the onset of COVID-19, the land border would see more than 300,000 people traverse each day and more than 29,000 annual flight; the equivalent of 82 flights a day.

From Thai PBS World Activists plan more protests nationwide in September Student activist groups across the country are threatening to step up anti-government protests in September if their demands are not met. The secretary-general of the Free Youth Movement said today that the planned protests include a march through the streets of Bangkok and prolonged nationwide protests. Tatthep Ruangprapaikitseri cited Sunday’s protest at the Democracy Monument as a “big show of force”, sending a message to the government about their 3 key demands. The students’ original 3 demands, which have since grown into a 10 point manifesto, include a new Constitution, the dissolution of Parliament and an end to state harassment of protesters. Activists also want an end to coup d’états and a democratic system placing the Monarch under the Constitution. Tatthep admits that major political changes cannot happen in Thailand without popular support, but points out that many ordinary citizens joined the protest at the Democracy Monument. He dismissed concerns that the escalated protests next month could provoke violence, saying they’ll be peaceful and that the police will ensure peace and order. “If there is violence, it will not come from the protesters. If there are third-party elements, then the government will be held accountable.”

Another decent escort site... https://friendboy.pro/amp/

From Coconuts Bangkok Arrests of 9 Thai activists, rappers on ‘wanted list’ condemned Thanayuth ‘Book’ Na Ayutthaya, aka ElevenFinger for his extra digit, raps about Khlong Toei and social justice. Photo: Coconuts Human Rights Watch this morning condemned the arrests of seven pro-democracy campaigners and two anti-establishment rap artists by the police. The arrests violate pledges made by the government to respect their rights at a time of swelling protests against its rule, the New York-based group said in a call for their immediate release. “The Thai government’s repeated promises to listen to dissenting voices have proven meaningless as the crackdown on pro-democracy activists continues unabated,” said Brad Adams, the group’s Asia director. “The authorities should right their wrong and immediately drop the charges and release [Arnon Nampa] and other detained activists.” The arrests were carried out last night and this morning. Arnon, an attorney who’s led Thai Lawyers for Human Rights and was previously arrested after he broached the topic of royal reform, was reportedly taken into custody at the Bangkok Criminal Court, where he was tending to his clients. Between last night and this morning, he was arrested along with Baramee Chairat, Korakot Saengyenphan, Suwanna Tanlek, Todsaporn Sinsomboon, Thanee Sasom, Nathawut Somboonsup, Thanayuth Na Ayutthaya and Dechatorn Bamroongmuang. Dechatorn has used the stage as a weapon against the regime ever since Rap Against Dictatorship released popular anti-government track What My F**king Country’s Got in 2018. He performed at Sunday’s mass rally at the Democracy Monument, which drew an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people, alongside Thanayuth, a teen rapper from Khlong Toei known as “ElevenFinger.”

From National Geographic Hun Sotharith recalls when he moved to Cambodia’s Tonle Sap to become a fisherman. It was the early 1990s, and the lake's freshwater swamp forest where he fished was so dense that it could take Sotharith, a former soldier, a day and a half to find the way back to his floating village. Back then, during the six-month rainy season, the vast wetland became a place to feed, breed, and hide for a wide diversity of fish, including the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish. “Everywhere was forest, and fish was abundant,” says Sotharith. Today, only remnants of that forested water world remain in Koh Chivang, the five-village district on the northwestern end of the lake where Sotharith is now deputy chief. A fire in the 2016 dry season burned 80 percent of the district’s flooded forest, destroying critical fish habitat and causing many of the 13,000 residents, who live in floating houses, to abandon fishing; they now grow chili and other crops. A similar story plays out around Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia’s largest lake and the center of the world’s most productive inland fishery. In many places, where native forest once grew from the lakebed, drab, dry, treeless farmland—yet to be inundated by the floodwaters that in recent years have arrived late—now stretches as far as the eye can see. Fires, often lit deliberately to clear land for agriculture, has further reduced the flooded forest. Many conservationists now warn that Tonle Sap, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, faces an existential threat. Further deforestation and environmental degradation have the potential to inflict devastating economic damage to the nearly one million Cambodians living around the lake and the many millions more who depend on it for fish—the country’s primary source of protein. While other areas, such as Prey Lang, a nature reserve in central Cambodia and one of Southeast Asia’s last remaining lowland evergreen woodlands, have suffered high deforestation—often because of illegal logging underpinned by government corruption—the greatest loss proportionally has occurred in the Tonle Sap floodplain forest, according to a study published recently in the journal Water. It shows a 31 percent loss of flooded forest since 1993. Continues with maps and photos https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/08/cambodia-tonle-sap-lake-running-dry-taking-flooded-forest-fish/