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Everything posted by Bob
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Unless the mods see a problem, I'm not so sure why any of us should. So far, I think everybody is being reasonably cautious with their language. For not being reasonably cautious with language, you ought to read the Wikileaks cables about what Prem and a couple of his buddies had to say (allegedly). You can't find the full language in any Thai or even asian website but look around and you'll find it. If there's such a thing as lese majeste, those guys sure stepped in it.
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Besides the two scenarios noted by Khun Khortose, I believe there is a third possible scenario. Perhaps someday there is a new monarch who for whatever reason wants to promote his own agenda - which might even be a surprising turn to more true democracy and reduction of rampant corruption. To exercise the power of the crown to move things in that direction, the first sign of that might be to remove the clearly powerful elements (starting with Prem) from the Privy Council and replacing them with people more attuned to where the new monarch wants to lead the country. The military and other elite in control (and who have a vested interest in keeping their power and hands in the till everywhere) might just feel that this is the biggest threat to their positions and thus 1932 happens all over again with essentially a Burmese-styled government. Same result as Khun Khortose suggests but it's not the ballot box or street protests that causes it.
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PM poster Smiles and he'll give you all the latest Hua Hin news. Little Choices closed at the end of business on the 20th of December. Within a few days, SM Bar opened (a gay bar) on the west side of the road north of the railroad tracks north of the big/regular night market, Rainbow Bar (a sorta gay bar - one of the two owners is gay and they are catering to the gay crowd too) on Soi 80 opened, and then Grasshopper Bar (between the old Guys Bar and Little Choices) hired two of the then-ex staff of Little Choices and sorta became a gay bar. And it appeared somebody was working on the Little Choices space but heck if I know if anything has happened there as yet. As I said, ask Khun Smiles and he shall reveal all. P.S. Khun "Tam" on page 15 is a real stunner. Unfortunately, a few Thai boys the other night were making comments about our (Khun Khortose and myself) larger "one-packs" compared to Khun Tam's six-pack....
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I know, from posting history, that you make an effort to stay in shape and that's really admirable. Although I'm not in terrible shape, I just can't get into the exercise routine. Maybe someday and then maybe I'd have the balls (and body) to post a photo of myself. Not likely! Speaking of 6-packs, just last night Khun Khortose and I were admiring the slim and muscled torso of the handsome Thai dude on page 15 of the new Out magazine (recommended reading/viewing). When confronted by our Thai companions as to why we don't look like that, we simply had to explain that we only have one-packs (albeit, a bit larger than any of the model's six). What the hell, our elbows seem to be in pretty decent shape!
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That phrase reminded me of all those horribly annoying TV commercials by John Cameron Swasey (spelling?). Maybe, subliminally, that's one of the reasons why I hate watches.
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I set up a Facebook account or whatever last year, thinking it was a good way to keep up with friends and relatives. I never really got used to it and was most puzzled by all those requests by people I hardly knew (and kids and friends of those same people I hardly knew) to make them a "Facebook Friend" or whatever the jargon happens be. I didn't want to expand the list but I also didn't know if a rejection conveyed something unpleasant to the requester. Eventually, I settled on just not answering any or most of those requests. After a few months of the Facebook thing, I started getting feedback - again, from people I hardly knew, some I wouldn't even recognize in person - that I didn't like [it wasn't unpleasant feedback, just inquiries and comments by people that didn't know me at all (or hardly at all) and people who I had no desire to either respond to or to be aware of the comments made on the "wall" (if that's what it's called) between good acquaintenances]. Ultimately,in April of last year, I decided the negatives outweighed the benefits and cancelled the account (apparently you can't cancel it, you just hide the account away somewhere and it's always available for revival). Then the bigger trouble began. In May, some wierd messages came indicating there were some Facebood messages floating around. I reactivated the site and cancelled it again. Then, in mid-summer, I got a stream of messages and emails from a lot of friends/relatives asking me why I was touting some Iphone App with my Facebook messages to them. Somebody, somewhere, had hacked into my deactivated account and sent Facebook messages (spam) to everyone that was on my Wall and everyone that was in the reserved (private message?) part of Facebook. I attempted to contact Facebook but that proved to be impossible (after a lot of time, I found through other sites an email address for their tech support but never got a response to any email I sent). So, to solve the problem (so far, at least), I reactivated the site, deleted everything on the Wall and in the private space, changed the password to a huge series of letters and numbers, and deactivated it again. Haven't heard a thing since and I hope it's dead as a doornail (in spite of getting annoying emails on occasion from Facebook that I can reactivate any time I want). I wish they'd leave me alone (but I can't seem to reach them to tell them to FO!).
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For Christ's sake, Xian, if reading a post like this is "extremely offensive" to you or even mildy ruins your day, you need to mellow out bigtime. And if somebody doesn't post on a board because one post like this shows up on that board, I'm doubtful their absence will be noticed much. P.S. I personally have no use whatsoever for Facebook or any computer games and, while a post like this is uninteresting to me, it's not "offensive" (let alone "extremely offensive") at all to me.
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I hate watches (due largely to being fixated on watching the big clocks in the gradeschool classrooms - I was counting off the seconds and minutes until I could get the hell out of there) and only own one today because it was a gift. But I only wear that twice a week when I go to language class (it's a three-hour class and, for some reason, I have this inner need to know when that'll be over!). So, I have no fascination or desire for jewelry of any type let alone watches and I've never understood why anybody would want to own a watch (hell....there are clocks everywhere or one can simply look at his mobile phone if need be) let alone multiple watches. So, whether's it's a real or a fake Rolex, it's all worthless junk to me.
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They damn well better sell something to filter the thoughts generated by my brain. The world is thankful that I rarely say what I'm thinking (contrary to the admonition of Peter Pan, I do occasionally have less than happy thoughts). I shouldn't worry. By the time this thought-transfer chip is generally available, there'll be very little left of my brain anyway.
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There are times (too many, perhaps) when I've been somewhat embarrassed reviewing a prior email I sent, finding a few spelling errors and grammar fitting a bordello. I never used to send handwritten or even typed letters that way in the past. Another thing I have noticed over the last 20 years (since the somewhat universal advent of computers and the internet) is that penmanship (including my own) has taken a slide for the worse. We just don't use it to the scale we did before. I recall everything went fairly smoothly, albeit much slower, prior to my using and ultimately being hooked by the internet. Then, after I became accustomed to communicating via the net, checking bank account balances over the net, paying bills over the net, I found myself extremely pissed when the ISP would be down and I couldn't immediately (right this second!) access my account, pay a bill, or send an email. When this happened somewhat regularly (that's the way it was in the beginning), I would be angry that I allowed myself to be seduced into all this technie mumbo jumbo. That attitude has somewhat gone away as the internet services have become more reliable but I still harbor some feelings that part of my soul has been lost by the intrusion of all of these friggin' bits and bytes. But, these days, that's the way it is. Almost everybody is on the net, even multiple people in the same household at the same time. Everybody's emailing and texting and blogging and twitting and, ultimately, interacting less in person. Hell, maybe someday we'll have no need or inclination to actually ever talk to each other (it's easier to text or email and my computer doesn't frown back at me....).
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It seems to hit a chord in me. Traditional (in person) human interaction seems to moderate people's behavior - even the behavior of the "weird" ones - but I'm not so sure that those people alter their behavior because of internet (especially message board) contacts. Using the internet, one has the ability to "hang around" some rather strange people (i.e., if you want gay skinheads who like mango, there's probably a website where they gather...hehe) and I wonder sometimes if the internet aids and abets or encourages additional anti-social behavior by those who are rather challenged in that department in the first place. For the most part, most of the message boards seem to have fairly normal people; however, a couple of the boards we know seem to attract and retain a small contingent of what seem to be really weird people. So, while the internet may allow those seemingly anti-social people to somewhat interact (the kind of people we likely wouldn't run into in real life....at least if we're lucky), I haven't seen any evidence of these weirdos moderating their strangeness as would normally occur in traditional (in person) human interactions.
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Yep, a bit pricey. And I, for one, will provide no thawing assistance to anybody who gets their backside (or other body parts) stuck on the frozen toilets....
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Hmmmm.....never believed in making resolutions for the new year but, what the heck, I'll give it a stab: 1. Become good looking and young. 2. Win the lotto. 3. Don't become depressed over not succeeding in the above two resolutions. P.S. Really going to the gym? If so, call me, I want to go too (and do they allow smoking there?).
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Too loose? I'd vote for almost hysterical. I don't disagree with you about the parents. If they allowed her to use the car, they ought to have some substantial culpability (however, conjuring up a murder verdict against them might be a bit draconian, let alone non-provable). They would be held accountable criminally at some level in the west (unless the kid took the car without permission). I disagree with the comments about even manslaughter applying here as I see no evidence of intent to injure or kill. In the west, we often have a charge of "negligent homicide" which relates to death caused by conduct which is negligent but less than intentional. That charge (or other special laws relating to vehicular deaths) is often used when a death is caused by the negligent/reckless operation of a vehicle but it needs to involve some significant aggravating factors (just because somebody died in a traffic accident due to your driving negligently isn't enough). I could possibly see that charge....should the provable facts merit it. In the wild west, the law (Sheriff whoever) and the crowds often acted in the heat of passion based on what happened to the victims. That's mob rule in my view. Justice, it seems to me, requires a calm and dispassionate (after the blood returns to normal temperature) review of the conduct and intent of the accused.
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Difficult to answer because we're not really sure what happened here (other than the horrific end result). But, presuming there is any criminal culpability, one would think that a 20-year-old would likely receive harsher punishment than a minor. In the US, a 16-year-old would typically be handled by the juvenile courts whereas a 20-year-old would be processed by the "adult" or regular courts. The ultimate determination of whatever punishment and/or fine would be merited would likely rest on how a judge or jury viewed the nature of the behavior of the driver (was it ordinary negligence, gross negligence, reckless behavior, or intentional conduct?). Being stupid and/or an air-head - if that's all that happened in the case - probably wouldn't result in much assignment of criminal fault (but, for another example, even a 16-year-old driving 100 MPH through a residential section and/or driving drunk or on drugs would certainly increase both the charges made and punishment given).
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Guess we ought to stone her, huh?
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No doubt the outcome of this accident was horific but there's no reason to suspect that what happened here was anything other than exactly that: an accident. And I'm a bit mystified why you consider driving too close or driving without a license as "serious" offenses. I believe those are both misdemeanors. Somewhat lower on the totem pole than robbery, assault, or even drunk driving. And the Al Capone in this story is a 16-year-old girl. Geesh.
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Since I am hog-tied myself (i.e., bf of 10+ years), I just went to look so I wasn't on the hunt (being on the hunt seems to provide a keener sense of eyesight); however, most of the guys there (in my view) were fairly average body build and I thought several were rather cute. Don't remember any particularly skinny ones and I don't believe there were more than a couple of the Tawan type (muscular big guys). Overall, a nice mix I thought.
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Was at Adams a couple of months ago and I thought the show was okay. Every one of the bars seems to have off nights. Power Boys is not closed (apparently it was closed for a while this summer but the allegedly Thai owners re-opened it - it's been up and running since I got here in September) and, because of a favorable report (including a full-on f..show), I went with a falang friend about a month ago. We went to the early show and it was so boring we left after one drink. But, again, I'm not sure that should put anybody off as all the places seem to have an occasional off night.
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Hey, I realize Mary and Rosary are new dancers at Adam's Apple but give me a friggin' break. I'm old and, as some Thai friends say, "I have no power" to do 10 and 5 in one night!
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Lol. Martha Stewart was likely his grammar teacher (and she was busy at the time - either cooking or actually doing time!). And be careful with the "divine inspiration" notion as likely even god can sue for defamation in Thailand.
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A "pick-up" group is a term (American slang, likely) for whoever shows up plays (and/or just a cobbled-up group of guys who play together on occasion with perhaps not all of them playing regularly). I played softball with a team from age 25-30 and was injured a couple of times. Great idea (the sports deal to keep you fit) but guys who aren't in shape need to take it slow and careful or god will let you know shortly that you're not in shape.
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If we/its gone so far as there's some wrong (lese majeste or, perhaps, a violation of any board's rules) by only mentioning that the book is out there, that's pretty pathetic in my view.
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Geez, I'm not sure this or any board needs rules to cover every hypothetical situation. Use reasonable judgment and you'll be fine (and you won't have to bother looking at the rules). I've actually never read them (and, yea, which probably means I only violate them once a week or so....).
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A mix of topics would seem to mirror most people's interests. It's all well and good to discuss Thai politics but there isn't much which is admirable about any of it; besides, to discuss the entire picture of what's really going on, we'd be bordering on lese majeste on occasion. Perhaps reading Hadley's "The King Never Smiles" might help you set the background. But get it outside of Thailand as I understand it's banned here.