OneMoreFarang

Just read a few opinion pieces in The Guardian and it won't take long before you read these words. I.e. yesterday or so there was an article about Twitter.

Long time ago I knew a (super rich) guy who had terminal cancer. He was maybe 40 years old, and the doctors gave him max 6 months more to live. Obviously, nobody is happy if they are told that their life will end soon. But it seems to focus peoples' minds. What do you do now if you know it's all over in a few months? I don't know how much of that happens to people when they are 80 or older. But I think it's an interesting phenomenon. P.S.: He lived about 10 more years ...

I don't know which is worse. But it seems clear to me that on both sides the extremists try to bring more people from the center to the edges. And the language and accusations on both sides get worse all the time. Most of the time I read news in the Guardian. They are on the left. And sometimes they call people who are slightly right leaning "radical rightwing". On the other hand, in my YouTube feed are often videos from conservatives (especially anti woke). And what do they do? They pretend everybody left of center is radical left and crazy woke. Personally I don't like the radical left and I don't like the radical right. Both are bad. Is there still a center? When the left calls you rightwing and the right call you leftwing what are you? It must be hard for "normal", not radical people, to live in such environments like US universities. It seems to me this is not yet a problem in Thailand. But it certainly is a problem especially in northern America. And it seems to get worse. In a way it is funny to see them fight each other. But obviously what the USA does has lots of consequences for the rest of the world. Somehow it seems to me the situation is getting worse...

There are several pictures on the left. I suggest scroll through the pictures. They also show a remote control. Is that included? You could also use the chat function. In general, I wouldn't trust anything electric if not even the very basic information are included with the product.

Look in the manual, or on the website! Some LEDs are sold with a tile like "12V", but they should be connected to 220V AC and then internally that is converted to 12V.

That should be answer enough. It's not that these fake beggars went out in the streets and took away donations from the real (mafia organized) beggars.

For the last two decades nobody ever asked for my passport in Thailand on the street or in any bar, restaurant, etc. I only bring my passport if I go to something official or, in very rare cases, some office building security want to see a passport to allow entry. But those are definitely not the rule but the rare exception.

And I almost forgot. I am also an activist. I support people in need. Especially if they are female, young, brown and cute. Buy now I guess I donated to those people in need already more than a million THB over the last decades. Yeah, look at me, I am an activist. ????

Please try to do something good in Africa. That continent is big enough that you should find your place over there, stay there, and I am sure they have also an English language forum. About myself: I am a computer specialist. I made enough money back home. I came to Thailand for all the pretty girls and the nice weather and all that. And, believe it or not, I started learning the Thai language, including reading and writing, before I moved to Thailand. I live in the middle of Bangkok, I don't like up country. And about the girls? Cute brown Buriram girls are perfect. I like them, and a few others. But what's the point of marrying them?

This requires visual support - just in case there is still somebody out there who didn't see it until now.

Isn't that the reason why so many people watch those shows? They could watch cute rabbits, but that is obviously not what they want to see...

Polarization is definitely a big issue. And it seems radicals on the left and on the right do their very best to make the polarization worse. There was a time when many people had different opinion on different issues. I.e. someone could call himself conservative and at the same time support the right for abortion. And people had different opinions about climate change, electric cars, medical support, and many other issues. Now people in the middle are attacked from left and right because they don't want to support the left in all issues or the right in all issues. Sad!

Is there anything you could do at home without flying to a country far away? At home you also share the culture with the other people over there. Understanding each other is much easier. Do something for your community. Become a local leader. Inspire people. Or do you just need a reason to fly to a country far away with beautiful girls? Look at me, I am an activist. 555!

That doesn't really work. When I see a picture of my favorite dancer then that will bring up lots of exiting memories. When I see a picture of your favorite dancer then maybe I think she could be fun. But that's about it. No personal memories. And when I see a picture of your favorite dancer and she is also one of my favorites now then it becomes complicated... ????

Ok, please come back in a year and let us know what all these players who pretend to care so much did within a year after they pretended they care.

Interesting. Now let's say I think gay people all over the world should be free to make love to their gay partners. But it is not important enough for me to fight for them or support them with more than a sentence like that. Does that mean I belong to the filth category? And is everybody who does not support the rights from everybody "filth"?

Yes! Let's take the football players, just as one example. When they go back to their home countries and have dinner with their friends, how many of them do you think will bring up the rights of the gay people in Qatar? How many will discuss with their friends what they can actively do to support those people? Like: Let's donate money to that xyz organization over there. I met [insert name] and we should really support him. How many of these virtue-signaling players will even spend 10 minutes of their time to actually do something - when no camera is there to see it? Obviously I/we will never really know. But I would be very surprised if that is really an issue for even 10% of the people who now pretend it is important.

How many people do care? How many of the do-gooders have any connection to any gay people over there? How many donated anything to these people who they pretend to support? How many do anything, even a tiny little bit, except wearing some band or shirt and posting images of themselves with those "look, I do something" items? At least I don't pretend that I care about lots of things which I really don't care about.

No, just a picture from the internet. I keep the other pictures private and confidential. ????

Who or what gives you the idea that I am a conservative? Or is anybody who is not woke a conservative in your mind?

At least for me, and I guess for many others, the question is if an activist is really trying to change something (small or big) or if the main reason for the activism is virtual signaling - look, I am and activist for xyz. I show it clearly on my Instagram and fb and twitter. I.e. if you have a colleague who is gay and another colleague uses derogative words in front of that person or behind his back, then you can stand up for your gay colleague and tell the other person that he shouldn't talk bad. That is action or (small scale) activism. Having a rainbow flag on your fb page but then ignoring if the colleague talks bad, that is just virtual signaling. Look, I pretend to do something good. But in reality, I don't care. For me it seems a lot of activism is just virtual signaling. How many people really care about gay rights in a country far away? And, as bad as it is, we can also include the question: How many people care how many low paid workers from countries like India or Pakistan die? I am sure if a single (high paid) engineer from a first world country would die of a heat stroke that would create more news and sympathy. Like: he was one of us... Let's stop pretending!

Maybe Au Bon Pain at the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 31.

Some interesting fact might be leaked. But will that change anything? Most Trump supporters will never hear about it because the right wing media, which is of course the only media they watch, won't report it. And even if they hear something they will call it fake news. And even if they hear it and believe it then probably they will call it smart not to pay taxes or something similar. The Jan-6 commission showed that facts don't change MAGA supporters' views. Not even 1%.

Thanks I think we should accept that many people/communities/religions/countries have different ideas about what is wrong and what is right. In Thailand I might ask a cute girl on the street if she likes to have a coffee with me. In some other countries I would certainly not do that. And most likely I wouldn't do it because I wouldn't visit those countries. In Thailand lots of laws are ignored by many people. But we know there are a few laws which are absolutely not ignored and mostly not discussed. Everybody knows them and it's best to shut up. So, when people visit other peoples' countries, should the visitors insist that certain things should be allowed? Should they protest? Or is it sometimes a good idea to just accept that in real life it is better to just shut up or not visit those places with laws and/or customs which we don't like?

What's a birth gender? It's some time ago that I was in Pattaya, but I remember from many previous visits that the lady-boys (I didn't check if they had an operation or not) were the most aggressive on the streets. I.e. I could walk through walking street and probably I saw thousands of female sex workers. Some quiet and some "come inside sexy man" or something like that. And then there were the lady-boys. Best not to come too near to them and make sure your wallet is deep in your pocket. I don't know why lady-boys are a huge annoyance and so aggressive. Fact is, they are. It's not a bad idea if the police explain to them to calm down.