Bob

Have to get you a new watch or something (it's 9PM EDT, Mountain Boy!). Will be watching here and I expect Romney to look a bit wooden and give pre-memorized answers. Obama ought to handle it fine but we'll have to wait and see.

We agree for the most part but I don't agree with the notion.....which sometimes seems to be what you're arguing....that it's the celebrity who is at fault for allowing any of this to happen. Their public lives ought to be scrutinized minutely but their private lives ought to be protected just as much as yours or mine. Whether it's you or me (god forbid) or the Duchess of whatever sunbathing nude behind a high-fenced yard, nobody ought to be allowed to either take photos through a knothole or via a drone let alone publish them publicly for the world to see.

Yea, don't blame all of us yanks because one rube from Texas can't figure out how to pronounce a few words! But, on the other hand, it was funny as hell a few times seeing George Jr. trying to say "nuclear" without spitting out a few teeth....hehe.

It's always been a crime to "window-peep" and perhaps it's an appropriate time to strengthen the privacy laws to match existing technology. One's fenced-off backyard or gathering ought to be beyond limits for snooping whether by drone, peeking through a hole in the fence, or via pre-planted cameras. Privacy for everyone is important and the laws ought to reflect that. No different in my eyes than making phone or computer hacking a crime.

Somebody sent me a cartoon showing some stuffy old lady at a podium complaining about how people should be punished for their misuse of the English language. She was proposing a syn tax.

I and a couple of friends drive one of our British friends nuts by how we pronounce some words. In fact, the word that we pronounce that drives him the battiest is the word "pronunciation." We yanks (and Canadians and Aussies) pronounce it "pro - NUN - ciation" whereas he insists the the correct way to say it is "pro-nounce-ciation." What the heck, we'll "learn" him some day..... And I've found myself occasionally using the British spelling of the word "behavior" (which is "behaviour"). I've got to stop that.

Only an outfit like Fox News would provide this bimbo a regular platform to spout her views. She fit's in well with the Fox News mentality but, to me, she's vile, devisive, and disgusting.

Ocean 1 Airways?

Reminds me of a good friend of mine who had a vasectomy reversed and then had to go back to have his sperm count checked a couple of times. A nurse would give him a cup and he was told to go into a room and provide a sperm sample. Kinda red faced, he asked the nurse if she had any reading materials or videos....hehe. There's simply no friggin' way I could have done that (well, at least without dying of embarrassment).

Some type of medical device, I suppose, but I have no clue. On the other hand, given the prior suggestions, I'd guess it's the new ATM at the local sperm bank! (deposits only, please)

All (4 or 5 main entrances?) have large numbers over the door so it's easy as hell to hook up with somebody (provided somebody's given notice of the door number ahead of time). I agree that exiting the baggage area to the general floor/hallway area (where there usually are the usual drivers and whatnot hanging around with their signs trying to find somebody) can be sometimes intimidating to the newbe but I just ignore it and head right to where I need to go. If one ever looks puzzled (you know, that "where the hell am I and what am I doing here" look reminiscent of half the falang walking down the Patpong sois), the few touts on the side will pick that up in a flash and do their pouncing job. I kinda chuckle now when I see that happen. But, overall, I like the new airport. It's easy to get around although the distances can be a bit much and it's a million percent better for going from domestic to international (or vice versa) than Don Muang ever hoped to be. Come to think of that, does anybody know if Don Muang will still have that god-awful overhead tunnel (the one about a quarter mile long and that's rarely cooler than about 35C) between international and domestic?

It appears you're in line to buy that bridge I have for sale. Cheap, too!

Please delete....the editing software is driving me nuts!

For whatever reason, it's the editing software that's screwing up the word.....looked what it did to Rogie's 'expression' above.

From Air Asia's website: "You will see Bangkok (BAK) for selection while making a booking. System will auto-assign Suvarnabhumi (BKK) or Don Mueang (DMK) based on the date of travel. DMK will apply to all travel starting from 1 October 2012. Your itineraries and boarding passes will show DMK or BKK so please take note of which airport you will be arriving at or departing from."

Huh? Let's see, using your logic, what I say that I think about Mitt Romney is the same as taking photos of his wife through her bathroom window and then publishing them for the world to see? Just a bit difficult to equate freedom of speech with privacy rights as they're quite different animals. My comments were aimed at the bastards who invaded the privacy rights of both Harry and Kate, not at the boneheads who bought/published the pictures (although I think purchasers/publishers ought to be liable for heavy civil penalties if they had reason to know that the photos were obtained via an invasion of privacy). And, yes, I think some reasonably crafted laws (aimed at the persons taking the photos, aggressively sticking a camera an inch from somebody's face, following somebody in a car, etc.) would deter a fair amount of this crap. I personally don't see where somebody's rights of speech trumps another person's right to privacy. [please substitute "exp ression" for "speech"....the software won't let me write that one word!]

The fact Kate went topless on vacation is somewhat irrelevant to me as it just shows she's doing something that feels good/healthy; however, the creep that violated her privacy ought to be jailed and/or at least fined. What a slimeball. The same goes for the creep within Harry's hotel room that not only took the photos but then acted like a total bastard and sold them to the media. Another slimeball (and, hopefully, ex-acquaintance). Rather than simply taking the position that it's the royals' (or other celebrities') fault because they ought to know there are slimeball papparazi behind every tree, urinal, or wherever, it seems to me that the law ought to protect them a bit. A prohibition of taking photos of them except when engaged in public functions might be a start. And, come to think of it, a simple (and, in my view, very meritorious) law forbidding journalists of all stripes from following celebrities in automobiles might have allowed William and Harry to still have their mother around.

One would have hoped that mechanism of evolution would have assisted human beings to think a bit more logically over the ages but that doesn't seem to have happened all that much. Ignorance has bred strange beliefs from the beginning of time. Whether it's the god of thunder, Buddha, Mohammed, Christ, Joseph Smith, or Jim Jones, it's pretty much all the same to me and I don't see any benefit in either promoting or criticizing one brand of insanity over another. And, unfortunately, what we do know always seems to get trumped by what we don't know (but which we know for "sure", i.e., religious faith). If there were alien societies out in the heavens (correction - other galaxies) that have studied the evolution of humans on earth, I'd pay a pretty penny to read their analyses. Probably pretty damn funny and pathetic at the same time.

I'm just a bit weary of western governments tiptoeing around middle eastern governments due to our "oil interests" or because somebody is afraid of provoking more of the idiocy that's occurred over the last 40-50 years. I acknowledge that the US and others have done a lot of stupid things to foster hatred of us over there but, since we can't undo the past, at least I'd support a very principled and explicit future. If other western nations won't join the US in appropriate condemnations and sanctions for important issues, then, yes, I'd support the imposition of unilateral sanctions. The principle of the whole thing is more important to me than how somebody might measure the effectiveness of same (plus I happen to believe that they need us a lot more than we need them). On very important issues, some of the so-called "allies" need to be reminded that they too have a responsibility to stand up for principles they claim they support (and, if they repeatedly fail to step to the plate, maybe they need to be told that other governments no longer have any interest in doing business with them). The tepid and un-unified response by the west to both the Danish cartoon thing and death threats against Rushdie was, in my eyes, unbelievable and only helped foster further problems. It's time for a change that's principled, explicit, and firm.

Governments everywhere are aware of that dictum and most intelligent people in the west and elsewhere are also aware of it. But, respectfully, so what? The implied notion that western governments somehow need to support the dictates of any religion is absolutely contrary to western history and culture. I'm not going to defend the content of the stupid little youtube movie and I join in condemnation of the idiots who made it for their total lack of sensitivity and respect toward others' beliefs. But, that being said, I believe it's extremely important that western governments make it clear to governments and people everywhere just what to expect or not to expect from the west. I've been disappointed for years, maybe decades, that western governments have not joined together to make it clear to others how we operate. Western leaders ought to stand shoulder to shoulder and periodically announce rather forcefully something like the following: (1) Western governments encourage all citizens everywhere to respect and not denigrate any religion anywhere. We western governments don't support any particular brand of religion but we are obligated by somewhat rigid law to defend the rights of our citizens to say and think anything they like. While we occasionally condemn people who say, write, or produce stupid or hateful things, it's our obligation by law to defend their right to do it. For better or worse, a western citizen can say some rather nasty things about political figures, religious figures, or anybody else. And western governments cannot punish people for saying or thinking stupid things. And none of that is going to change. (2) We western governments condemn any government or group anywhere that either advocates or exercises violence toward western citizens anywhere just because those western citizens think or say something offensive to their religious beliefs. If a group or government anywhere encourages any such type of violence or even doesn't condemn it when it happens, we western governments will react badly. If a government should actively encourage such violence, we western governments will do our best to isolate and punish that government. For example only, we will not tolerate government fiats or religious fatwas aimed at people in the west who write hateful things, draw hateful cartoons, or the like. And for anybody anywhere that exercises violence against any of our citizens, we will exercise our efforts to hunt you down and punish you under our justice system. And that too isn't going to change. (3) With respect to the youtube movie creating the current furor, it's incumbent upon governments everywhere to explain to their citizens that the western governments do not approve or encourage such insensitive and hateful things and that violence against anybody or anything, including against western citizens or governmental embassies located anywhere, will not be tolerated.

Just noticed that Scooby and/or the gods have added a "Like It" button to the posts. And also noticed I had a PM that told me that TJ (bless his soul) liked something or other that I posted. Because I think it's rather silly (and I also forget about it because I'm old), I don't use the feature. So, I suppose I ought to announce: (1) To posters I like (you know who you are): Just imagine I pushed the "like" button. (2) To posters I don't like (you likely have no idea anyway): Just be happy they don't have a "fuck off" button!

Not all of them can be trimmed to fit. I bought an unlocked Galaxy III about a month ago and just went to the AIS shop here in Chiangmai to get my old 1-2-Call standard sim trimmed to micro-sim size. They couldn't do it - said that my sim card was "too old" (heck, it's only 4-5 years old, maybe). Anyway, no problem.....got a new micro sim and they then somehow electronically transferred my old mobile number along with the prepaid minutes to it in a jiffy.

I just got back "home" here in Chiangmai and took steps to make sure I could vote here. Rather nifty - they're going to email me the ballot and then I'll print it out, make my preferences, and then have two choices to get it back (either give it to the Consulate and they'll deliver it to the states within 48 hours or via regular mail). Note to expats voting outside the US: My state (Michigan) like some others have somewhat detailed rules regarding voting outside the US so please be very careful to pay attention to all the details they send you with an absentee ballot. For example, should I choose to mail my ballot back, the envelope in which I mail it must have written somewhere on the front "Official Ballot" or they won't even open it. This election might be very close so be careful to follow the detailed rules to make sure your vote counts.

The various armed forces have various codes of conduct which apply to people associated with them (whether as actually servicemen/women or as independent contractors) and, whether for intelligent reasons or not, the standard this guy breached was being a porn actor. I don't believe that the issue of "gay" versus "straight" had anything at all to do with this event.

If/when the love attains biblical proportions, please promise us you won't post the video! You two somewhat remind me of Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. GB's still using the telegraph (and/or pony express) and you've got the lastest country-club app installed on your mega-pixil-byte I-Phone VII.....