55Jay

3 hours ago, Mook23 said:

Third world. 

If this is the yard stick, then many of us are from the third world. 

Can The Nation pull content from anywhere or are they confined to TVF Member comments only on The Nation articles shown on ThaiVisa?  I cringe at the thought of some kid over at The Nation surfing around in Farang Pub, thinks something is funny, and exports it to The Nation "Opinion" section.

As overarching context, I'm not bothered by any of this really, sites share fair use content all the time. 

But I was ruminating about why some TVF members are so hard over on this The Nation deal.

One distinction could be that farangs sign up (for free) to be members of a niche farang website where most things are discussed freely, and they create content and comments for THAT kind of English-only venue.  Comments are often based on shared or understood backstory/background, culture, and can be laced with colloquialisms, snark, irony, innuendo and humor that may not be understood by a non-native English/ESL speaker; or worse, misunderstood and cause offense when none was intended or reasonably anticipated in the native venue - that happens already on ThaiVisa.     In this context, sure, I could see how having one's comments cherry picked and exported into a Thai venue (albeit in English) with a different vibe, purpose and outlook, would be off putting.  Moreover, a Thai venue with enhanced exposure to the specter of real-life repercussions from a petulant, thin-skinned gubmint, hanging over their heads.

On that note, is it possible to comment on a news article in The Nation?  I'm not familiar with that venue but a quick look in didn't reveal any comment sections for articles or opinion/editorial.  

My Gosh!  Could it be that TVF Members were sold out to a passive/aggressive The Nation as useful idiots and cannon fodder?   TV Forum, as it is, or was, would be a virtual gold mine of material to ridicule the government by proxy, with a carefully worded legal blurb to divorce themselves from opinions and comments not made by them, nor do they represent the beliefs and position of The Nation.

Reminds me of my wife.  Buy 1 get 1.  We don't even need "1" of whatever it is to begin with, what the he!! we going to do with 2. 

Jeez, where do they get these people with all the great ideas. 

Of course dash cams don't prevent accidents or drunk driving.  They are as usual as the police.  Show up after the fact, fill out a report and scrape the dead bodies off the highway.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

5 hours ago, flyswat said:

All Americans should put their hands up as the cause of the credit card  "add on " to everything. They pay  add on "tips" for everything! instead of realistic fair wages........ Instead of providing  a "tip" for extraordinary outstanding good service !

 

A far more annoying and often threatening payment procedure.

Credit card company surcharges have nothing to do with tipping in the US. 

I began visiting both in my late teens/early 20s in the mid to late 1980s.  My opinion then was that Thailand seemed a bit more organized and clean than PI, which had daily power and water outages and just felt like it was always teetering on the edge of calamity.  However, the overall vibe for a "kanoe" like me in PI was more relaxed and familiar due to western influence and of course being able to communicate in English/Tagalish, goes a long way.

All these years later, living in LoS full-time but away from the big cities and facade of tourist areas, my outlook is more realistic.  I still wouldn't want to live in the PI though.  Many do and like many here in LoS, they love it (or say they do), warts and all. 

Corruption is allowed by those who benefit from it.  It is tolerated by the masses, who understand the only real solution is open revolt against their masters, who will, in turn, resist the "terrorists" in the name of peace and national security.  

Never get out of the boat, unless you're prepared to go all the way.

3 hours ago, AlexRich said:

 

I think my point flew right over your head? The point being that Kuhn Leonard may not be an entirely "innocent" victim, unlike those that are defrauded by boiler room scammers, who are.

Leonard's wife could have a gambling problem. 

3 hours ago, kiniyow said:

Most Americans are afraid to travel outside there enviroment...Especially Far from their own Border

Most?  What is that, like 20%?  50%? 

If the business has a strict policy on charging an additional % sur charge, my policy is to walk away.  They have their policy.  I have mine. 

7 minutes ago, blorg said:

So @55Jay you are saying sovereign states do not have rights to control their borders?

 

But you, as an American, have god-given constitutional rights that apply everywhere in the world and trump the rights of sovereign states?

 

Sorry to break it to you but you might find out the hard way that an immigration officer actually has a lot more rights than you do in a country other than your own.

Nope, didn't say that.  I really don't need any help for you on this matter, not sure why you are trying to have an argument with me, based on your manufactured assumptions.

PS: Rights aren't "god given" either.

3 hours ago, blorg said:

I think this is getting very semantic, they have the "right" in the sense the sovereign country has the right to do this and delegates that authority to the border agents.

 

YOU personally on the other hand do not have any of your American constitutional "rights" once you step outside America and so I see complaining about other countries having the right to search you as misguided. They do have that right, it's their country. You don't have any rights to object to it. Complaining about it is likely to result in an adverse outcome for you.

I didn't really notice, until now, that it was you/your post which characterized law enforcement having "rights" instead of authority.  It's easy to dismiss my point as semantics because you were wrong.  If it's too much for you, simply stop responding.

I know quite a bit about the fundamentals of law enforcement at various levels of government from my previous life/career, and where I stand overseas.  Thanks for the lecture though.  Take care. 

Roger that.  FWIW, accidentally re-created the EX error page trying to avoid another duplicate post.  Not moaning.  Ack techs are working on it.

Refreshing the page causes the data to resend then results in below EX error screen.  Once you make your way back to the thread, there's a duplicate/double post.

6 minutes ago, blorg said:

You can argue about your "rights" on entry to a country of which you are a citizen. Even if you are a US citizen US CBP do actually have the right to search you at the border, as it is "outside" the United States and the full constitutional protections against warrantless searches do not apply.

 

Ultimately, however, IF you are citizen US CBP cannot actually deny you entry, they have to let you back in. They can however make your day very unpleasant and delay and inconvenience you.

 

The same goes for every other country, if you are British British immigration cannot deny you entry, if you are Australian Ozzie imigration cannot deny you entry, etc. and in these circumstances you can think about your "rights" and standing up for them.

 

If however you are talking about entering ANOTHER country of which you are not a citizen (and I am guessing you are not Thai) you have precisely zero rights and the immigration officer can deny you entry for just about any reason and don't have to justify it. So not a good idea to take a stand based on your supposed "rights" entering any OTHER country other than your home one.

Painfully aware of that, mate of mine was put through the ringer at the Tijuana border crossing.  I merely object to the misuse of the word "right" applied to law enforcement.  It's not their "right".  They have been granted authority, not a "right".  

The process at US borders is an inspection, not a search.  A search is a specific quest for evidence.  An inspection is broad in nature, but contraband can be used as evidence.

6 minutes ago, gdgbb said:

Yes, I'm getting the same message.  Happens also when the "Like" button is clicked.  Admin are you there?

 

 

I tried rogering it also but it melted away far too quickly.

Another double post from the Gremlins.  Deleted.

3 minutes ago, gdgbb said:

Yes, I'm getting the same message.  Happens also when the "Like" button is clicked.  Admin are you there?

 

 

I tried rogering it also but it melted away far too quickly.

Couldn't LIKE your post.  Rogering.....good one! 

I don't care about the word "atheism" anymore.  No need for a label.  Keep it simple.  I heard the story, flipped through their bible book and decided it was utter nonsense.  So I simply disregard it because it doesn't warrant further consideration.

2 minutes ago, gdgbb said:

Tops, Sukhumvit 19 has it also, as does my fridge now, so presumably all the Tops will stock it.

Roger that!  Yup, there are 7 blocks of it in my freezer now.  Woo Hoo! 

Well, you have the members who announce ultimatums and say they are leaving, but they don't. This time feels different.  It's eerie.   The usual, like-minded members are still over in the World News sub-forum.  It's probably nirvana for them to talk among themselves, all nodding heads in agreement.    

56 minutes ago, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

 

Which T21 are you talking about? They're building one in Pattaya. But if you mean Bangkok at Asok BTS Station, I have to ask: Is there a Foodland there now? That's pretty close to the Suk Soi 16 Foodland. 

 

Anyway, I agree, the Big C Rama 4 bakery is pretty good, better than crappy Foodland's or Villa's.

New one in Korat City.  I live up that way.

I have tried to "Like" a few posts this morning, the page re-loads and gives an error message.

I got another error, "EX".... something, don't recall now what I was doing to get that one.

Also, my comments will post on screen as normal, but reappear in the Reply dialog box down the bottom, with red text message saying I have to wait X number of seconds before making another reply/post.  If I refresh the page, it posts my previous comment again, creating a double post. 

These cascading errors and odd behaviour just this morning all at once, can't say I've experienced it before.  Anyway... FYI.  

Referred to as a "right" held by any Immigration.  I don't agree with that.  It's not a "right".  They are gathering information sources in the event you bring attention on yourself, they can find out about your life, where you are/have been, political views based on forum/facebook comments, etc. 

I would resist providing the information to them, and when it was a "thing" here with Thai Immi for a short while, I was never asked, or presented the form to fill.

Reserve my personal social media for friends and others I choose.  CBP agent Jones at LAX ain't my friend and neither is the agency he/she works for.  If they want to find out more about me beyond all the stuff they have already, they can get up off their butts and find it themselves.  What's next, providing them the ammo to use at my firing squad? 

45 minutes ago, SooKee said:

I also prefer Foodland. Their bakery is very so so I'd agree. Some of the sliced packs are ok if you can filter out the overly sweet slices of air. For bakery I actually like Big C at Rama IV (which along with Pattaya and Phuket have the only farang bakery managers). I've tried a few of these specialised bakery shops but not found anything took rave about plus it's too much hassle tripping around hunting down bread. Prefer to pick it up at the same time I'm getting other products, find I can only do that at Big C. I don't even find Villa bakery anything to rave about.

Something wonky with the site.  Getting error screens and my comment above, double posted on its own.  Weird.

35 minutes ago, SooKee said:

I also prefer Foodland. Their bakery is very so so I'd agree. Some of the sliced packs are ok if you can filter out the overly sweet slices of air. For bakery I actually like Big C at Rama IV (which along with Pattaya and Phuket have the only farang bakery managers). I've tried a few of these specialised bakery shops but not found anything took rave about plus it's too much hassle tripping around hunting down bread. Prefer to pick it up at the same time I'm getting other products, find I can only do that at Big C. I don't even find Villa bakery anything to rave about.

Recall going to our local BigC when we first moved over 4 years ago.  Wasn't impressed so we gave it a miss for years until roughly 6 months ago, wandered in and saw the bakery was offering uncut loaves of sourdough, rye and other nice looking grainy bread.  Wow!  Make it a point to swing by there now.  We just got a Foodland in the new Terminal 21 Mall and agree, the bakery is just ok. 

5 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Maybe because it is the middle of the night in Thailand?

Right, I did get home unusually late, looked in and didn't see a whole lot of activity since I left the house 7 hours before. 

IMO, used to be a discernible rhythm here, with Thailand/near region folks posting during the day, then other time zones would come on line progressively for the night shift.  Thailand residents could wake up next morning, get a coffee and sift through the overnight traffic, and new, front page content. 

Even the front page content seems stale.  Before the upgrade (thereabouts), seemed like new articles/threads were added quite often and that would bump the existing ones down the page and eventually out of view.  Now, appears like days old content with many pages of forum comments and tangents, is being recycled on to the front page.

Not the end of the world, just an observation.