Bob

Very nice photos, Z. I've been up here in the boonies so long that I've forgotten what visual delights the beach sometimes offers.

I must not be very observant as I didn't notice any sand or sea.

The "edge" to this discussion began elsewhere with a poster saying that a falang should never directly intervene in a given case and, instead, should somehow contribute to the general Thai medical system. That advice, in my view, was silly, unrealistic, presumptuous, and unfortunately was given using a few demeaning terms. Absolutely uncalled for and boorish in my view. The individual stories, the one given on the other board and the others given here, involve falang who are adults, intelligent, and financially able to do whatever it is they choose to do. I cannot bring myself to offer any criticism, advice, tips, or whatever you want to call it and cannot fathom how anybody else thinks they could (and, more importantly, should) analyze or critique any of it - especially since the falang involved never asked for that type of input or advice in the first place. And nobody's required to applaud their efforts; regardless, I do.

Ditto. As I noted then (in the thread located elsewhere that you mentioned), nobody is required to applaud the helping falang for his charitable efforts but it was simply classless for the one poster to essentially attempt to demean those efforts.

Yep, that's what I also thought was the ironic part. And rather pathetic too as the amount of money spent to transport, bury, and "honor" that worthless toad would have been better spent feeding a few hundred thousand truly honorable North Koreans who scramble every day to stay alive.

I'm sure the mods and/or site owner will carefully weigh your thoughts given you'd never jump to a hasty or incorrect determination. Years of experience does grant one certainty it would seem.

I can agree that the Allied bombing of civilian centers and the like - where war actions are mainly directed at civilians - would come within the notion of crimes against humanity or, more simply, war crimes. We (the allies) did it and there's no denying it. We from the west too often overlook things like that or justify it from the point of view that the Germans did it first; regardless, it was neither self-defense or justified in my view.

I'm a bit puzzled here. Z, is it the falang involved in this silly scenario who's asking us whether we think his situation will go "smoothly" or, alternatively, is this a situation you're personally aware of and you're asking us whether we think it will go "smoothly" for the falang involved?

Somewhat difficult to answer as we're dealing with terms (such as personality) that are a bit amorphous. I personally don't see any change of personality (and doubt if anyone is capable of doing that at least in the short term). I just see a guy having fun (doing something that brings pleasure/happiness to himself). Simple as that, no need to analyze or over-analyze in my view. As to the notion of "acting out a fantasy", I suppose it could be phrased that way if what you mean by it is that somebody's doing something here that generally wasn't available in their home country; if, however, you mean something different by that term (such as involving some distortion of reality), then I don't believe there's any "fantasy" involved at all.

I too have experienced long delays in the last month+ in sending letters/cards to the US and some that were sent here weeks ago still haven't surfaced. While the floods probably caused some transportation issues, I chalk most of it down to a fairly lousy postal service.

Absent a special relationship status (such as a therapist, teacher, jailkeeper, or the like), there are no laws at least in the west which prohibit consensual sexual conduct with the mentally ill. Absent more (such as the actor actually knowing about or even taking advantage of the mental illness), I don't even see any ethical (non-criminal) issues involved in the given scenario.

At least you ventured a guess! I had no clue whatsoever and probably would have not gotten any continent right let alone a location. Congrats to the winner. Oh.....and Melly Clitmas too.

I'm not sure about the "hiso" or "loso" view of KFC by the Thais but want to share a Thai KFC story that a friend told me. My friend traveled to Thailand since the early 90's and he decided to walk over to the brand new (first?) KFC chicken joint he heard they opened in Bangkok (I think he told me it was in the mid or late 90's). As he approached the place, he noticed the normally obnoxious 8-to-10-foot statue of Colonel Sanders (the KFC mascot, so to speak) outside the place but what struck him were the incense sticks, flowers, and fruit and other offerings placed in front of the plastic/fiberglass Colonel. Then he watched as most of the Thais who walked in front of the Colonel were either bowing or waiing the good Colonel. My friend told me that he burst out laughing when he realized that the Thais, new to the KFC thing, were treating Colonel Sanders as some type of American buddha! Kinda funny (and even slightly embarrassing to the yanks) if you think about it.

The answer to that is fairly obvious - a rate set by the free market versus one artificially established by the Bank of China. Not letting the currency float artificially keeps the price of exported goods low and keeps the Chinese economy humming along.

No question about it. There are a lot of things China ought to be doing but, given it's economic might, nobody in the west seems to do anything more than talk about the issue. And, of course, there are those who argue that China is a special case and/or for some unknown reason shouldn't be held to any standards (for example only, the United Nations charter obligations such as those enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

In my view, I have no doubt at all that China (with or without Russia joining in) could make a huge difference within North Korea (and/or Burma) simply by sitting them down and telling them they have two choices - dramatically change their ways or all political and economic aid will be immediately withdrawn. In any event, just happened to check out the CNN news website and read the following article which is somewhat related to our discussion. That writer too is arguing in part for more pressure on North Korea: Green article

If, as it appears, you're suggesting that the west or the US alone is responsible for the situation in North Korea (and/or, better put, has been involved in persuading other nations to leave the North Koreans alone and to not criticize what's happening within that country), I'd elevate "apologist" to "fantasist." The same label in my view would apply to those that think that talking sweetly to the Burmese or the North Koreans (or Khadafi or Assad or a myriad of other horrible leaders throughout history) would had have any appreciable effect. But, when we have rogue regimes like those in North Korea and Burma supported by countries such as Russia and China, the world effectively loses its ability to force change through isolation and penalties. So, yes, I absolutely believe that the situations in both of those countries have persisted due to inappropriate support from China and Russia. Had Russia and China desired to see things change there and cooperated with the west in methods to force that, a lot of the horrible history of both North Korea and Burma wouldn't have happened. At least that's my view. Your analogy of the carrot of the stick is interesting. We could debate that issue back and forth and likely neither of us would be able to definitively prove anything. But I'd love to hear what Aung Suu Kyi might have to say in private* about what she thinks about the topic (i.e, whether she's appreciated the actions/condemnations of the US and a few other western countries and/or whether she's appreciated the support China and Russia have provided to the thug generals). [i say "in private" on purpose as I'd hate to see her penalized again for the next 20 years for simply speaking her mind.]

Yes, I understand that but, for some reason, they perceive any type of criticism from the outside as undermining that effort and what they constantly call an interference with the domestic affairs of another nation. Perhaps, as you note, it's simply that they are worried about losing stability due to outside influences (and my guess is the concept of the "Arab Spring" has been of substantial concern to them along with the potential political hostilities emerging in their big neighbor to the north). And, to protect themselves from any of this criticism or agitation, the Chinese have adopted and exercised an extreme view that no nation is allowed under almost any circumstances to criticize or even comment upon what another nation does within its borders. And this twisted view has led to the world being unable to affect the internal brutalities of North Korea and Burma. I sometimes wonder how many of the millions of North Koreans who have starved over the last decade would have been saved had China a more realistic and/or moral attitude about what a nation state ought to be allowed to do to its own citizens.

I'm not worth mentioning?!? Hrmmmph! And you ought to see my new outfits.

God, you almost gave me a heart attack there. I use this particular word probably more often than most (heck, don't you "perfectly" understand it?) but, for a moment, you had me wondering. I knew it meant to advocate for or support a cause (the only meaning I was aware of) but it also (I just checked) has the archaic meaning of "to marry." Now, given somebody archaic called me dearest (blush, blush), I'm hoping he's not too disappointed when I say "NFW!"

Yes, a time of concern. If I had my way, there would be a huge power fight in the north, all of the top leaders would kill each other off, a moderate would emerge and would lead North Korea into the 20th century (I didn't say 21st on purpose!), and a peaceful reunification and reconciliation would occur. But, then again, I believe in Santa Claus....

The words "brothel" and a "bordello" have the same meaning, both in general describing a house of prostitution. "Bordello" is of obvious French derivation but I have no idea about "brothel." I don't see either word as being either more polite or harsher than the other.

No doubt, Michael (I'll omit the "dearest" even though you are one of the good guys), that you can understand more than most although the "perfectly" was a little arrow obviously pointed elsewhere. But, neverminding all that, let's see if Pong is willing to respond to the questions posed above so at least your dearest (a poor slob with no Indian supervisees but who converses in person with the beloved and other Thais every day) can better understand what position he's making an effort to espouse.