Throwing Your Life Away

[mrentoul]

Some people here may have heard of the website thai-language.com. It was run by a Seattle-based computer programmer, Glenn Slayden.

I have been a regular visitor for several years. It wasn't as busy busy as rival site learning-thai.com, but it did boast an outstanding dictionary into which Glenn and several Thai friends put many thousands of hours of work.

Mr Slayden is a gifted young man. According to a profile on the Net, he worked for Microsoft for seven years. He is also a college graduate, trained pianist and enthusiast for things Thai.

For the last few days, the site has been off the Net. In Seattle, a news report on Friday said Mr Slayden has been charged with attempting to manufacture LSD. He faces a jail term of up to 10 years.

The distasteful aspect of all this is that (according to police) he asked someone to post the drugs to an address in Bangkok. Thanks, Glenn!

What a waste. If he is guilty or not, I hope he manages to put this nonsense behind him one day, and start rebuilding his life.

By Maureen O'Hagan

Seattle Times staff reporter

A Seattle man who boasts on his Web site about college degrees, fluency in several languages and patents, is facing federal criminal charges for allegedly trying to buy chemicals to make LSD.

Glenn C. Slayden, 37, of Seattle, was charged Wednesday with attempted manufacture of LSD and attempted possession of a precursor chemical to the substance. If convicted, he faces a mandatory term of at least 10 years.

Slayden is a jazz pianist who has played around the Seattle area, and also runs a Web site that teaches the Thai language. He claims on his Web site to hold several patents as well.

According to the federal complaint, Slayden e-mailed an unnamed source in October asking to buy a kilogram of ergotamine tartrate and have it mailed to an address in Bangkok. He wanted to buy it with his Visa card.

The unnamed source said the deal could be arranged, but asked that he be paid in "finished product" — that is, LSD, rather than cash. At first, Slayden said he wasn't sure if he would "be successful" in producing the substance, which federal authorities say is difficult to make but can be highly lucrative. He planned to acquire other chemicals and make the drug in his living room, according to the complaint.

Finally, Slayden agreed that in exchange for the chemical, he would give the source two-thirds of the "FP" or finished product, court documents say. He would keep the remainder for himself.

"LSD has the ability to gain insights about yourself that continually stay with you," he told the source in a conversation recorded by the government.

Someone on a webboard, talking about the news report:

My guess is that the guy contacted a "normal" pharm-type company, he wanted to buy a sizable amnt. of a watched chemical. He wanted to have it sent to a country other than that in which he lived. Thats more than enough red-flags to get the attention of the chem. comp. who in turn contacted a fed agency. Then they trolled a few questions posing as a comp. rep., the guy bit, and like an idiot even talked about the beauty if LSD.

His profile:

Jazz pianist Glenn Slayden was born and raised in the greater New York area. He began classical piano studies at the age of eight after living in South America for three years. His private instruction in classical piano continued through high school, where he completed recitals of Chopin’s Ballade no. 1 in G Minor (Op. 23), George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (transcription of a Gershwin piano roll), and pieces by Rachmaninoff and Beethoven.

Glenn began studying jazz in 1984, joining the High School Jazz Ensemble in Bernardsville, New Jersey, and participating in regional competitions. With instructor Dr. Louis Gordon, Chairman of the Music Department at Fairleigh Dickenson University, he completed the switch from classical music to full-time study of jazz.

Living in Philadelphia for six years, Glenn received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and studied piano privately with Mark Valenti. He also was fortunate to study jazz with legendary guitarist Pat Martino and classical theory with Cambodian composer Chinary Ung. In Philadelphia and northwestern Connecticut, Glenn played electric bass for separate productions of the musical, Godspell. Glenn also developed knowledge of popular music production, using sequencers, synthesizers, computers, and multi-track recorder to produce several of his own compositions.

Glenn’s interest in computers led him to a seven-year position as a programmer at Microsoft Corporation. During this time, he led a jazz fusion band, the Overloaded Operators, which was a finalist at the Computer Industry Association’s Battle of the Bands competition. Glenn also studied with Seattle pianist Randy Halberstadt and produced and recorded several additional compositions.

Since 1995, Glenn has focused exclusively on music, enrolling in the degree program at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. He has developed jazz skills during two intensive month-long residencies in Tokyo and through sit-in appearances in venues throughout Thailand and mainland China.

In Seattle, Glenn has studied with Randy Halberstadt, Jim Knapp, and Dave Peck, and performed in ensembles led by Julian Priester, Hadley Caliman, and Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos-Neto.

In addition, he leads a regular trio which performs three nights a week with Margie Pos (bass) and Jeff Busch (drums). Guest appearances at this venue have included bassists Jeff Johnson, Phil Sparks, Chuck Deardorf, Steve Kim, and others, and drummers Steve Korn and Reade Whitwell.

Glenn also served as executive producer for Jim Knapp's 1999 album, "Things for Now."

http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Glenn_Slayden/

[penzman]

I' ve been a regular visitor at thai-language.com for more than a year and have seen it ''down'' quite a few times, I also wonder it was shut down permanently or just temporarily....

[mrentoul]

He planned to acquire other chemicals and make the drug in his living room, according to the complaint.

He lives in a plush pad, judging by pics he posted at his site once. And he owns a beautiful cat.

''LSD has the ability to gain insights about yourself that continually stay with you," he told the source in a conversation recorded by the government.

Maybe he thought it would improve his playing.

[penzman]

...or needed some chemical help to improve the color scheme on his website

[mrentoul]

Have you seen the colour scheme at ajarn.com? Like an old woman's nightie.

I wonder how a well-educated, middle-class guy feels when he confronts the prospect of a prison term?

No pianos in prison, I imagine.

[tutsiwarrior]

holy baloney rentoul...are you still pontificating...lets talk about Coleridge, De Quincy, Baudelaire and others for whom substances were assistance. In a previous life on acid I composed Les Fluers de mal but the man ripped of my effort.

Think about the personnel on 'Kind of Blue'...Miles, Coltrane and Bill Evans all stone junkies. Would it have been the same otherwise?

you maybe thought that I was dead but I ain't...

Tutsiwarrior

[plachon]

holy baloney rentoul...are you still pontificating...lets talk about Coleridge, De Quincy, Baudelaire and others for whom substances were assistance. In a previous life on acid I composed Les Fluers de mal but the man ripped of my effort.

Think about the personnel on 'Kind of Blue'...Miles, Coltrane and Bill Evans all stone junkies. Would it have been the same otherwise?

you maybe thought that I was dead but I ain't...

Tutsiwarrior

Holy-schmoley, if it ain't the old Tuts!!!! Where've you been mate? Thought maybe you were doing some time, like old Glenn here will be doing soon, for mebbe growing the wrong sort of grass round those duck/fish ponds of yours. Missed ya dude. The board too has missed your input and well timed wisecracks. I even put out a few calls for you to check in if you were reading without responding, somewhere out there in the ether, but to no avail. Even got to worrying that your good Missus caught you dabbling in another pond, and called in a flock of Muscovies. Figured you could be having reconstructive surgery, if not full-on reattachment! But, now you're here - WELCOME BACK!!!!!

There's some of the old faces and a lot of new. You'll soon learn which of your countrymen are letting down the side something chronic and which are a tribute to the Stars n' Stripes. Get down to that all new Bear Pit as soon as you dare Tuts., there's fresh, live meat for the tearing (and occasional guest appearances by our old buddy, Mr V). But no sign of the incomparable Bud Zumwalt. He should be due back just about now for his latest nose job. Or I forget, was he only here for the blow jobs?

[tutsiwarrior]

plachon...my old mate, nice to hear from you. Nah...not quite dead, just a clapped out laptop with obsolete software.

You know...I would have been a millionaire if I would have held on to the 'Nose Job' 78 disk that I found in a copy of Mad Magazine 40 something years ago. An absurd classic.

My wife still loves me and has no intention to feed me to the ducks here up country...all the fowl have been slaughtered anyway and she may be charged with murder not being able to hide the corpus delicti.

I have laid bait for our dumb friends as it is an election year in the US. Ah's tried and true as a Tennessee native so I can ###### around when required. Load up the shotguns and prepare for exploding screens from here to Hongkong.

Looking forward to to future online pyrotecnics

Tutsi

[chonabot]

Hey Tutsi nice to hear from you , you old tart!

Not many of the old school left , unless theres a few name changes ...

[plachon]

Yeah, it is a bit quiet down in the Scumclass cabins these days, eh? Even you've been a bit quiet Chon, like you caught a dose of the old clap or bird flu or summat, mate. What's been keeping you at bay, instead of kickin' red-necked arse left, right and centre? There's a new Oz dude, one "Gent", who's stepped into your shoes in the Bear Pit and likes a good scrap with the opposition and our Gallic friends, who are always happy to share a round of Cab-Sauvignon, when the Pit gets to heavy. Sante et salut! Axel is as steady-eddy as ever, but Kwiz seems to have faltered at the last furlong. Wonder if he still thinks we're one and the same?

[chonabot]

Yep Plachon it's a different world in here these days, I usually only wander on when I've had a few too many sauces...hic.

Just got me thinking about the old school brigade , heres the ones from memory..

Me.....

You....

Tutsi....

Tax...

Butterfly....

Markt....

Mrs Vietnam...

Dr ( Obviously )

Mrentoul

Roger13

Edward

pnustedt

SeavisionBurma

Membraine ( he of good avatar)

Kwiz

Sh1t there must be more , I'll just open a bottle of bleach and finish this in a min....

[francois]

you forgot tomy hahaha

francois

[tutsiwarrior]

Fie...stand fast and meet the present ignorant posters head on. It is up to us veterans to invigorate and defend the integrity of this board. Otherwise we may have to shut down at 12am due to lack of enthusiasm. Then the local guardians of public decency will have achieved shifting prostitution underground and silencing mouthy foreigners in a blow.

Falangs to the rescue...support your local chat board!

[plachon]

I'm all for draconian censorship, early closing hours for websites, keeping the riff-raff and impressionable youth out of such elite forums for the old skool, as this one Tuts! Just call me "Tok-sin" Plachon for short and we'll have floggings at dawn for miscreants and dissenters on Sanam Luang before I've finshed my term of office. Who needs "freedom" anyway? A quaint notion, only cherished by those born on the wrong side of the Atlantic and birds of a feather.

[plachon]

Yep Plachon it's a different world in here these days, I usually only wander on when I've had a few too many sauces...hic.

Just got me thinking about the old school brigade , heres the ones from memory..

Me.....

You....

Tutsi....

Tax...

Butterfly....

Markt....

Mrs Vietnam...

Dr ( Obviously )

Mrentoul

Roger13

Edward

pnustedt

SeavisionBurma

Kan

Kwiz

Sh1t there must be more , I'll just open a bottle of bleach and finish this in a min....

How could you forget the most prolific poster on anything and everything - the incomparable Bud. Was that guy for real, or was he the most convincing troll ever? You also missed out the old faithful geyser - DaveYo - who can spout a bit, but his heart is in the right place (Thailand - naturally).

[jayrockwell]

I checked, it's been nearly 4 months since we heard anything from the real Captain Bud, I'll drop him a line asking him to logon and give us some more of his trademark life advice.

J

[Richard W]

I have no confidence that thai-language.com will be preserved. I suggest that we all save the pages we have downloaded (they will be in Temporary Internet Files if using Internet Explorer) and, ideally, the index file, in case it is necessary to salvage the site from these files. The preservation of the soundclips is particularly important, because there will be fewer copies of these around.

Richard.

[markoinbangkok]

Have you seen the colour scheme at ajarn.com? Like an old woman's nightie.

I wonder how a well-educated, middle-class guy feels when he confronts the prospect of a prison term?

It's not so bad. really!

[penzman]

I was recently thinking of ''leeching'' the whole site for personal use... then changed my mind.... I should have, it probably will not be back online.....

Too bad, it was my favorite thai-language site..

[Gfunk]

What about me then??

[Guest IT Manager]

Have you seen the colour scheme at ajarn.com? Like an old woman's nightie.

I wonder how a well-educated, middle-class guy feels when he confronts the prospect of a prison term?

It's not so bad. really!

Did you mean the prison term or the colours Marko?

[Richard W]

It appears that Glenn is compiling a list of users of thai-language.com so that he can argue for the return of the site's database. If you found that site useful, please visit it now and add your name to the list.

I am trying to put what I can retrieve of the site back on the web, but a lot is missing. At the moment my spare time is devoted to recovering what I can from Google's cache, but it's slow work. I've put a few specimens up at thai-language.com Salvage Area, but at the moment it's a collection of broken links.

Richard.

[HaRoiHenry]

To address the topic,

I believe that we all deserve, and benefit from, a little deviation from reality from time to time. No matter how hard or soft a drug, drink or other vice we use it is only because it is an unusual thing that makes it special and therefore effective. If living under the effects of something becomes the norm then sobriety gets harder to deal with. Common sense, simple common sense. If this simple message was taught to all then we would see a lot fewer lives negatively affected by drink or drugs.

Perhaps self control should be promoted and policing could then be focussed soley on crimes committed against third parties.

No-one who has not tried drugs is morally qualified to judge the mental state of someone under their influence. I would never promote their use but I think demonisation makes the process of education a far more complicated process.

On a different subject; I was recently barred for posting under more than one name. I hadn't been, but I totally respect the right of Admin. to use whatever means available to stamp this out. What I would like to know is; who am I meant to be a clone of? Who's my doppelganger? Will the real HaRoiHenry please stand up?!

Sorry and thanks for letting me back on geezers, I like this forum. I have a brother on it somewhere....

HRH

:-off

[Richard W]

I have no confidence that thai-language.com will be preserved.  I suggest that we all save the pages we have downloaded (they will be in Temporary Internet Files if using Internet Explorer) and, ideally, the index file, in case it is necessary to salvage the site from these files.  The preservation of the soundclips is particularly important, because there will be fewer copies of these around.

Richard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

O me of little faith! The audio clips and message boards are back! I think they came back yesterday!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I have no confidence that thai-language.com will be preserved.  I suggest that we all save the pages we have downloaded (they will be in Temporary Internet Files if using Internet Explorer) and, ideally, the index file, in case it is necessary to salvage the site from these files.  The preservation of the soundclips is particularly important, because there will be fewer copies of these around.

Richard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

O me of little faith! The audio clips and message boards are back! I think they came back yesterday!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Was he found not guilty ?

[Boon Mee]

I have no confidence that thai-language.com will be preserved.  I suggest that we all save the pages we have downloaded (they will be in Temporary Internet Files if using Internet Explorer) and, ideally, the index file, in case it is necessary to salvage the site from these files.  The preservation of the soundclips is particularly important, because there will be fewer copies of these around.

Richard.

O me of little faith! The audio clips and message boards are back! I think they came back yesterday!

Was he found not guilty ?

He really didn't have the appearance of a recreational drug user - whatever they look like...

[Richard W]

Was he found not guilty ?

From what I can make out, there was some plea-bargaining.

Glenn now has access to thai-language.com again. In particular, he's just cleaned out the spam from the message board.