timmyp

Thanks, AyG! I just had a look at the site, and it's incredibly helpful.

I noticed in the "steady typing game" that it repeats the same pattern? A couple of times it showed the character ว่ with ไม้เอก, so it couldn't be typed it correctly. That is, the game only allows one key stroke for the character, and ว่ requires two key strokes (ว plus ไม้เอก). It's still a cute, helpful game.

I'm just starting to enjoy typing, though I still often hit the wrong key. I'm really bad with hitting the Backspace key instead of ช, stuff like that. I used to force myself to practice for 10 minutes once every few days, but now I'll practice for 10 minutes throughout the day when I'm taking a break from other work on the computer. The site you posted helps keep the exercise fresh.

>the god of rain in Hindi beliefs

"Hindu beliefs". Hindi is a language, not a religion.

I have never heard of "sudden death syndrome", I thought it was an unchecked error from the National New Bureau.

Here's the Wikipedia link for those who haven't already looked it up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_unexpected_death_syndrome

Truly bizarre.

Despite having lived around Asia for 20 years, I only recently learned how widespread lactose intolerance is.

There is a breakdown of lactose intolerance by country and ethnicity here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactase_persistence

Very interesting. It puts Thailand at 98% lactose intolerance! There sure is alot of milk on the shelves for a country that is so lactose intolerant.

The fat content of whole milk is way above any healthy limits,

The fat content in milk is fine. What is out-of-date is this anti-fat trend.

My folks were part of the fat-is-bad-for you health trend, so I was raised on skim milk. I still prefer the taste of skim milk (that shocks lots of folks, but you would prefer it too if you were raised on it), but have switched to whole milk after I came to understand more about nutrition. Fat isn't bad for us, it's the carbs that we need to avoid. Carbs in milk go up, incidentally, when you remove the fat.

If someone is suffering from clogged arteries, then avoid fats, of course. But they didn't get that way from fat consumption, it was from carbs.

I thought "bowel movement" had some special meaning because it was in quotes and capitalized, but it was just a standard pants pooping. I'm glad a photo of the darkened load filling his pants was provided, I would have doubted the authenticity of the story.

I believe there are a limited number of languages you can study, simply because you have to get a school that is certified by the Ministry of Education to teach those languages.

Yes, it is possible for people to get an ED visa for studying English. I know people who are doing this (all East Asians), but I hear that immigration is not allowing western Europeans to do this. I don't know what would happen if an eastern European would try to get an ED visa for studying English.

I know people who have completed the 3 years allowed for studying Thai, and have switched to studying Chinese, Japanese, or English. I don't know of language schools offering other languages that qualify someone for an ED visa.

There is supposed to be a test when extending the visa, which is done at one of the Ministry of Education offices. The test in Thai is a ridiculous joke (just a very simple interview), and for the one in Japanese, if you even get asked anything, it's like, "Tell me the word for 'cat'." There is a written test prior to that interview that the school is supposed to give you, but that is done on the student's own time, so I don't image there are many people who are taking the test honestly.

I really wish it were possible to get an ED visa to study Thai for longer than 3 years, and I wish they would actually test people appropriately. The current system is of course abused (i.e., people getting a visa to study Thai or whatever, but never going to class and never studying), and as a consequence, they have wrecked it for the rest of us who would like to study and follow the rules as they were intended.

For deliveries, I let them keep the change if it is between 10-50 baht. If it is less than 10 baht, I add on 20 baht.

I don't get lunch deliveries, I am usually ordering larger volumes of food or products.

I make sure I have close to the correct amount, because it really bugs me when I feel someone is feigning that they don't have change.

I tip taxi drivers by allowing them to keep the change, but usually the tip is about 10-50 baht, the same.

I never go out to eat, and if I do, it's not a place where tipping would be appropriate, so I never tip when I go out.

I don't particularly like the custom of tipping. I'm guessing that it doesn't get me better service, I'm guessing that once I start giving tips, the folks I tip start to feel that the tip is owed to them. Nobody thinks, "Oh, this timmyp, he always tips, and so I want to do a better a job so I keep getting those tips." But knowing how much their works sucks and knowing what those folks get paid makes me feel obliged to try and pay a tiny extra without rocking the norms.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese

it can't happen here...

Weaponry in the U.S. has been upgraded since 1964, and nowadays crimes of "passion" like that usually end much quicker than they used to.

"corn flakes" is a generic referring to general cold breakfast cereals, just FYI

Rice is rice, corn is corn...are you stupid????

Wow, thanks loads, WillyUmiii. I can't deny that I'm stupid as you so kindly point out, but as stupid as I am, I do know that when Thai folks and Japanese folks say "corn flakes" they generally mean any cold breakfast cereal, including Raisin Bran and Fruit Loops and Cocoa Puffs, etc. They just use "corn flakes" as a generic term, probably because that was the only breakfast cereal marketed 30 years ago, and there isn't much of a custom of eating breakfast cereals, certainly not like cereal-crazed North America.

Just like when Thai folks say

กินข้าว kin khaaw

they don't actually mean rice, they just say "rice" to mean food in general. This fact may have escaped you.

I guess by your logic, Thai and Japanese folks are all stupid, too. You should continue pointing out how stupid people are when you haven't a clue what you're talking about, it makes you look the genius you clearly are.

They are certainly entitled to protest, and have a right to have a say in the businesses that pop up around them. Hopefully the end result will be agreeable to everyone in the area.

How many people are now reading these comments just to see what the Islam-bashers have to say?

Do the elephants damage the rubber plantation at all? Just curious. Obviously they make it hard for the workers to move through the plantation.

Any other damage beyond generous amounts of free fertilizer?

>>FDA secretary-general Prapon Angtrakul said that most imported rice come from Vietnam and Australia and they are used to produce corn flakes.

What do they mean cornflakes from rice ?

ok ok so he meant to say Rice Crispies - stop going on about it, probably lost in translation somewhere, if the report had said cereal then no confusion, it matters not either way, I understood exactly what was meant without all these nonsense posts

"corn flakes" is a generic referring to general cold breakfast cereals, just FYI

>Doctors had performed an x-ray and found that he suffered broken neck and broken right lib.

A broken rights liberation?

Someone should sue for libel.

...I hope that someone can make a more clever pun with this than I just did.

I rented from a place in Bangkok about 2 months ago, and they wouldn't take a credit card deposit. The deposit had to be 6000 baht cash. When I returned the car 7 days later, I got the full deposit back without any problems.

> he might have assumed was Ghanaian or Nigerian, living and working in Thailand—and she

>responded with her black American accent, he immediately switched gears and insisted that it wasn’t a problem.

It's hard for me to believe that the cop could understand the difference in accents.

I get the point of the article, and overall it's an interesting difference in treatment to hear about. That said, it seems very silly to me that they are contrasting "black" vs. "African" to mean black = African-American, African = black African. That would be as silly as saying "white" vs. "European", where white = European-American, European = white European

When I lived in Japan, people from west Africa would often claim to be from the U.S. because it got them better treatment from Japanese people. Many folks in Japan (like many people in the world) think black American = rap, sports, total coolness. It was bizarre to me that Japanese people couldn't tell the difference in accent whatsoever when these folks from west Africa would claim to be born and raised in New York. If the Japanese folks couldn't hear the difference in accent, I can't imagine your average Thai cop patrolling the park can tell the difference in accents either. If they can't tell the difference in physical features, clothes, and mannerism between west Africans and African-Americans, I'd say the cops have about zero chance of getting the difference in accents.

It is easy to tell the difference.

Nigerians talk like Britts.

Black Americans do not.

The difference is perhaps easy for you and me!

BTW, Nigerians talk like Nigerians! It's not any more like the Brits than the folks in Bangladesh speak like the Brits. Do the Brits think folks from Nigeria actually sound British?

I guess dropping of final "r" would be kinda British, but in that case I might as well say people from Boston speak like the Brits, and I think most Brits would disagree.

These differences are easy for native speakers to tell apart, of course. But again, I highly doubt this cop would have the ability to do this, just like many Europeans ask me if I'm from the UK all the time, despite a big fat American accent. People just can't really tell unless their language level is extremely high.

I have always seen racism as a two way street, Blacks can be just as racist as whites

Everyone can. It's just a sad part of human nature.

"A Thai patrol police officer able to recognize an American accent??"

Yes.

You see, the Thai people are able to watch American movies from Hollywood now.

They're called "talkies"....

I highly doubt that a Thai cop can tell the difference, regardless of how many movies he has seen. Can you tell the difference between a Thai person from Isan and someone from Bangkok speaking standard Thai?

The difference in accents to you and me is perfectly clear, but not to someone who isn't at a very high level of English. Europeans with excellent English ask me all the time if I am from the U.K. because, they tell me, of my accent. I am American with a strong Chicago accent, but most Europeans I meet can't tell the difference, even though they've most certainly had extensive experience with all those talkies you mention.

> he might have assumed was Ghanaian or Nigerian, living and working in Thailand—and she

>responded with her black American accent, he immediately switched gears and insisted that it wasn’t a problem.

It's hard for me to believe that the cop could understand the difference in accents.

I get the point of the article, and overall it's an interesting difference in treatment to hear about. That said, it seems very silly to me that they are contrasting "black" vs. "African" to mean black = African-American, African = black African. That would be as silly as saying "white" vs. "European", where white = European-American, European = white European

When I lived in Japan, people from west Africa would often claim to be from the U.S. because it got them better treatment from Japanese people. Many folks in Japan (like many people in the world) think black American = rap, sports, total coolness. It was bizarre to me that Japanese people couldn't tell the difference in accent whatsoever when these folks from west Africa would claim to be born and raised in New York. If the Japanese folks couldn't hear the difference in accent, I can't imagine your average Thai cop patrolling the park can tell the difference in accents either. If they can't tell the difference in physical features, clothes, and mannerism between west Africans and African-Americans, I'd say the cops have about zero chance of getting the difference in accents.

We are all certainly in agreement here on TV, and all well aware that it is cruel and unsafe to keep wild animals, especially animals of prey, as pets.

It still bewilders how many people want to visit the Tiger Temple (foreigners and Thai people alike). Pointing out how awful the Tiger Temple is really needs to be done outside TV! We're just preaching to the choir here.

Thanks for asking, that tracker1! I actually stepped away from this article to do a little internet search myself, and my tiny 5 minute search didn't find the answer. Can someone provide a quick answer?

I saw the headline and wanted to see the art that the graffiti artist arted. It must have been a very fancy letter A, and that's why the headlines correctly referred to this person as an Artist, rather than just someone tagging or spray painting a sign.

>He also urged the Asean community to call on Myanmar to give the Rohingya citizenship

Good luck with that. Even Aung San turned her back on them.

Any idea as to why that might be? Rhetorical question.

Cuz prejudice runs deep.

But just to catch others up to what you are alluding to: Aung San said they are immigrants for Bangladesh, as undoubtedly many are. The trouble is that so many are not immigrants and have been there for generations, but are unable to prove that their grandparents were born in Burma because they have lived in isolation, and records were not kept.