Thomas_Merton

Well i have been to uni twice and studied business decision analysis and i also did a joint honours in law and psycology. What am i doing now? I drive lorries and operate heavy plant, because that is what i enjoy doing. I cant stand being cooped up in offices, i tried it once, lasted half a day then walked, i have to be outside

This is interesting.

The main problem with academic work is its demands of control and conformity. You are constantly being appraised and judged by your peers.

Should you leave university and work on the basis of your qualifications, your mind will then be taken over by the demands of the job and the goals and ambitions of your chosen company.

This is OK for many. The deal being, a high salary is sufficient compensation for this sacrifice.

Others, whose principal motivation in life is to be free, will choose to avoid these restrictions.

I once knew an old Slovakian Doctor of Law, who was living on a kibbutz in Israel. He told me he was unable to work in law in Israel because the legal system was so different than the pre-war Slovakian. Consequently he worked as a labourer in the Avocado plantation. He said this experience had freed his soul and his mind to such a degree that he was gripped by creative energy. He had in his free time become a potter and a maker of ceramic tiles to the extent that his work was famous throughout Israel.

Last year I stopped lecturing and went to work in the family engineering firm. Initially my job was to put the bookkeeping system in order and prepare the accounts for the accountant’s inspection. This done, I have now begun to work in the factory, operating several machines.

These, so-called, banal jobs have become to me far from banal. Nothing is trying to take control of my mind or my imagination any more. I can listen, with my MP3 player (a wonderful invention) to all a Beethoven’s string quartets, one after another, uninterrupted; or all of Mozart’s late symphonies; or a recording of several Shakespeare plays; or a random selection of over 6 hours Jazz/Rock. My mind is free to dream and imagine.

And I feel free.

What's a postdoctoral degree? I thought the PhD was the highest you can get

There is such an animal, like old TM here, as a Doctor of Arts.

Whilst this does not have a status in academic circles higher than a PhD, it is considered by universities to be the highest teaching qualification.

As a footnote: academic qualifications really do mean, very little in life. I am still daily, should you ever visit Bedlam, called stupid.

Harold MacMillan (once a Prime Minister in the UK) said, "The only value in my (Eton public school/Oxbridge) education is, I feel reasonable equipped to realise when the other man is talking bullsh*t".

This is all very well. But I have in my time (58 years) met many analphabetic people who equipped with their own common sense (not a requirement to receive a high education) have been able to "cut through the crap" quicker than any English politician or academic.

Thanks for all the help.

However none of it worked!!

I spent about 2 hours repeating cdnvic's advice; defragmenting my HD; emptying my cookie cache; cleaning my registry etc. but nothing worked UNTIL....

I checked out the link I had bookmarked:

It was http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/

When I changed the link to http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?ht....thaivisa.com/#

I became no longer one of the undead.

I have to log on every time I visit Thaivisa.

Despite, during the log on process, having checked the box "remember me".

This does not happen in other fora, where I am a member. In these I am automatically logged in as I open the home page.

How can I ensure that I automatically log on? Should there be a reference to my user name in the address?

As stated, I am using Firefox 1.5.0.1

A brisk 5k followed by freshly pressed fruit juice - best pick-me-up and energy drink in the world.

Don't waste your money on all that other crap.

I'm the dummy who assumes that 'gay music' means music that for whatever reason, has been popular among gay men, especially in discotheques.

If one is to consider the intentions of the OP, then PeaceBlondie's interpretation is correct.

There is no point in discussing music written by Gays - or any art form for that matter.

There could be some interest, however, in finding the great artists, in our time and in history, who weren’t gay.

The few that there are.

BTW, CCR’s “Put a Candle in the Window” is one of the greatest love songs ever written, IMHO.

Chelsea and Southampton legend Peter Osgood has died at the age of 59.

Osgood collapsed while attending a family funeral service on Wednesday at Slough crematorium.

Dubbed the 'King of Stamford Bridge' he made 380 appearances for the Blues and scored 150 goals, helping them win the 1970 FA Cup and 1971 Cup Winners' Cup.

The forward then joined the Saints in 1974 and guided the Second Division club to victory over Manchester United in the 1976 FA Cup final.

Osgood was also a member of England's 1970 World Cup squad and made four appearances for the national side.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/4763024.stm

Btw, 7 off-topic posts deleted here..

ChrisP

It is unfortunate that you were forced to make these deletions. I wonder why these postings were made.

The only reason I can think of must be because someone lost the key to the Lego box.

This does tend to make them rather over-exited.

An Irishman goes to the Doctor with botty problems....

"Dactor, it's me arse. I'd loik ya ta teyhk a look, if ya woot".

...

Why is an Irishman talking Thai?

I picked up a couple of CD's at a "car boot" sale. They were labelled "Gay Favourites".

I wonder how many of the numbers make you "strut your stuff "?

Or is there other music that reflects your scene?

***************************************

YMCA (Gay Disco Oldies) - Village People

Dancing queen - Abba

Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone

Ich bin wie du - Marianne Rosenberg

Crying at the discotheque - Alcazar

Its Raining Men - Weather Girls

Vogue - Madonna

To deserve You (Extended Dance Remix) - Bette Midler

This is my life - Shirley Bassey

Smalltown Boy (12Version) - Bronski Beat

You And I - Will Young

Like the way I do - Melissa Etheridge

I want to break free - Queen

I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred

Don't leave me this way - Communards

I will survive - Gloria Gaynor

I'm so excited - Pointer Sisters

I'm coming out - Diana Ross

Sexy boy - Air

Brand new day - Wiz Stars

It's Raining Men - Geri Halliwell

I Turn To You (Mixed By Louie Devito) - Melanie C

Stayin' alive - Beegees

Light my fire - Will Young

Tainted love - Softcell

Love Me Just A Little Bit More - Dolly Dots

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham

Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue

Crucified - Army of Lovers

Love shack - B-52's

Relax - Franky goes to Hollywood

Viva la Diva (Original Mix) - Dana

Outside - George Michael

Let me entertain you - Robbie Williams

You're my heart, you're my soul - Modern Talking

Shut up (And sleep with me) - Sin with Sebastian

Relight My Fire - Dan Hartman

Finally - Cece Peniston

Beautiful - Christina Aguilera

Toxic - Britney Spears

Step right up - Jamai

Copacabana (Original Disco Version) - Barry Manilow

Push up - Freestylers

Feel - Robbie Williams

Go west - Pet Shop Boyst

Why Tell Me Why - Anita Meijer

Can't take my eyes off of you (Extended) -Boys Town Gang

Dirty - Christina Aguilera

Mamma Mia - Abba

Like a virgin - Madonna

Respect - Aretha Franklin

In the navy - Village People

I Feel Love (Studio 54-Club Mix) - Donna Summer

Lay All Your Love On Me - ABBA

I am what I am - Shirley Bassey

Vlieg met me mee - Paul de Leeuw

Lady Marmelade - Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya & Lil' Kim

Shoot Your Shot (Ext. Mix) - Divine

You Can Win If You Want - Modern Talking

All the things she said - T.A.T.U.

Gay bar - Electric Six

You're the greatest lover - Luv

Crazy in love - Beyonce

Slow - Kylie Minogue

(Tell it all about boys) - Dolly Dots

Samen zijn - Willeke Alberti

Kiss - Prince

Daddy Cool - Boney M

Fast love - George Michael

Tragedy - Beegees

Man I Feel Like a woman - Shania Twain

Sing It Back - Moloko

Ding a Dong (Dutch) - Teach In

Karma Chameleon - Culture Club

Club Tropicana - Wham

Why (Almighty Definitive Mix) - Bronski Beat

Don't talk just kiss - Right Said Fred

You're The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White

Strong Enough - Cher

The Tide Is High - Atomic Kitten

Hot Shot - Karen Young

When will I be famous - Bros

Show mw love - Robin S

Brandend Zand - Anneke Gr"nloh

Murder On The Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis Bexter

Night fever - Beegees

J'aime la vie - Sandra Kim

Living on my own - Freddy Mercury

I'm every woman - Chaka Khan

I'm still standing - Elton John

The Time Is Now (Francois K Vocal Mix) - Moloko

You make me feel (Mighty real) - Sylvester

Take your mama - Scissor Sisters

Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Station

You Spin Me Right Round (Techno remix) - Dead or Alive

Trick me - Kelis

Supermodel - Ru Paul

Sex Bomb - Mousse T & Tom Jones

i nearly wish i was scottish today!!

come on boys give the paddies a whacking!

Just like i was really Irish today, and there is still 30 minutes to go

The story of how the loss of one man, playing at his best - Stephen Jones - and his replacement by a duffer - Gavin Henson - can influence both teams' performances!

Well done, the Irish.

Is there a guide to the new forum software?

If not, could one be made and pinned in this forum?

I think there appears to be many small nuances of which members could be made aware, thus increasing our enjoyment of Thaivisa.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?act=Help

here you will find some topics for using our installed invision board software

Thanks, huski - that is perfect.

Should the info be pinned?

I suspect, cuz it's normal to do, that this guys lawyer paid off the girls for their statements, and now the government ain't interested in reading them, or hearing anything more....

Got to agree with Ajarn here.

It is always the problem when getting involved with individual cases - we only ever know, highest, a tenth of the truth.

In a recent thread I read that powdered milk causes rot in baby teeth.

..

Our son spent most of his "milk" years in Thailand, drinking a substitute for Mother's milk.

Since his arrival in Denmark (and later the UK) he has had to have regular care from a dentist - ranging from 2 extractions to several fillings. He completes his final visit (he is now seven and has lost most of his "milk" teeth) next month. All his teeth will then be lacquered in the hope this will help to prevent any repeat of, what has been, quite a traumatic experience for him.

So please, if you wish to avoid any problems, always use real Mother's milk - better to fall asleep at the breast than with a bottle in his mouth.

There are, of course other positives with the real thing - vitamins, hormones and all those mysterious chemicals only found in a Mother's body.

Cows milk and man made milk can never be an adequate substitute for the real thing.

<deleted> disgraceful mate, England didnt deserve to win, i have seen 12 year olds play better rugby than we did today. Cohen shouldnt be allowed within 50 yards of the field let alone on it.

Very dissapointed, we have the players to be the best team in the world but unfortunately they just didnt play as a team.

No excuses ENGLAND WERE CRAP and didnt deserve to win.

Be fair. England did make a few errors of the under 15's nature, but the were beaten by a better side.

The Scotish pack was magnificent; the game plan was perfect and changing the half-back pair with about 10 minutes to go was a stroke of genius.

England not only made mistakes they were just not clever enough.

Well you have made my day.

Nr. 2 in the Gay Forum with my thread on Gay Movies.

My Mum told me I was good.

Results this weekend -

France - 30ish / Italy - 20ish

England - 50 / Scotland - 6

Ireland - 40 / Wales 26

France - 25/Italy - 20

England - 30/Scotland - 15

Ireland - 20/Wales - 27

I think Scotland will struggle but they always raise their game against England.

Italy should have the beating of France up front, but will get cut to pieces in the backs.

Wales are still smarting and Ireland still don't know where they are.

I'm picking that the jocks will step up and give you a right rogering.

taffs will just pip the micks and the froggies to wip the wops.

Couldn't have put it better myself. An erudite assessment.

In fact, I think I'll put a bob* or two on it.

*for the youngsters: a bob is a shilling is a 10p is 7baht or the price of a cigarette and a book of matches, which is what those pockets on rugby shorts used to be for - used in those prolonged injury breaks when a three-quarter broke her fingernail.

What's happening, apart from sea and sand, that might interest a 7 year old?

The beach itself is probably the least interesting place. It's dirty with all the food scraps, plastic bags and bottles, stray dogs... I would not let my child touch that sand.

There are places better than that.

...

Great post.

My son has printed out the pictures and already made his itinerary.

Thanks a lot.

No explanation needed. Just the correct sex education.

Read the Forum Rules:

5) Discussion of moderation issues, actions or moderation policies concerning individual cases are not allowed in the forums. Such comments should be directed to a moderator or administrator, and not discussed on the forum.

Surely if this rating system is to have a little small meaning, the OP should be excluded from voting for his/her own thread.

There should also be a chance to vote with minus stars (points).

1.2 petabytes hard drive developed

1.2 petabytes of storage would mean you could save every thought and image you ever had and not run out of space. Michael Thomas, an American inventor, has found a way to create a drive with that much capacity. As a refresher, one megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes, one gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes, a terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes, and a petabyte is 1,024 terabytes. What does this all add up to? Well, in other words, a single petabyte is 1,073,741,824 megabytes. A 1.2 petabyte drive, therefore, would be equivalent to 2097 Maxtor 500GB harddrives. That’s a whole lotta harddrives.

Thomas has accomplished this impressive gain in capacity through non-contact optical spintronics. Current data storage methods are able to control the direction electrons spin around a molecule, but not the spin of the individual electrons. The electrons spin randomly, which works against the best electrical signal. Thomas is able to get the electrons spinning in the same direction. This change makes all the difference, apparently.

According to Thomas, controlling the direction of spin will allow for much smaller electronic devices. He is in discussions with manufacturers in Japan and expects to see prototypes in two or three years, with commercial products in four or five years at a cost in the range of $750.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/313/C6555/

Whoops, just saw your vitals on side of page, seems you might be from Uttradit, now I understand.

We, too, take the plane when arriving in, or when flying to Don Muang in order to leave, the country.

But for those 2-3 day trips to BKK, we always take the night train to and from Uttradit:

Leaving Uttradit 22.18 and arriving BKK 6.25; leaving BKK 21.30 and arriving Uttradit 5.48

We always book a sleeper of course, so we arrive well rested with the whole day in front of us.

The considerable difference in expense, the extra space and not having to worry about parking spaces or any additional concerns about travelling to and from the airports, makes us choose this way every time.

To everyone: Thanks for all the suggestions. They are all duly noted.

To Jai Dee: I'll PM you as the time approaches. It would be nice to share a Chang and some Thaivisa teasing.

A general comment. We visit Thailand quite often though we always stay "up country". This time, we have invited Mah and Pah and my wife's sister for a week in Pattaya, prior to our trip north to chase chickens, goats, cows and a selection of geese.

Between the animals, the other kids, the tractors and cars that need repairing in Grandpa's workshop we are lucky if we see Martin (our son) for more than 5 minutes each day - and that only to grab a handful of sticky rice and a swig of water.

Pattaya was our worry as it has always seemed such an adult place.

Thankfully we have been put right.