copa8

4 hours ago, goatfarmer said:

I was awake in the early hours this morning staying near Rome Termini. At 3.40am I felt the hotel room shaking. At first I thought it was the effect of the wine. But after a minute or two it was apparent that a mild earth tremor was happening. A few aftershocks occurred half an hour later. Then calm. Back to sleep. No big deal.

True. A 6.1 ain't nothing to sneeze at, but still nothing compared to what Japan experienced in 2011...a 9.0.

On 8/17/2016 at 10:29 PM, ClutchClark said:

 

Thailand is a safe place...until it is not.

 

And then it is very unsafe.

Even when "very unsafe", it's still safer than sh*t tons of other places, like Brazil, Rwanda, South Africa, Venezuela, etc.

On 12/24/2015 at 5:34 AM, kinmaew said:

This is the reason why in civilized countries tuk tuks and the like do not exist as no seat belts and no protection. If only taxis (Cars) were allowed she would still be alive.

I think you meant in advanced economies (Switzerland, Australia, Japan, HK, etc). Nothing to do with being civilized or not. Everything to do with the stage of economic development.

13 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Didn't see much but it could have been a lot worse. Sports wise, it was good. Despite Bolt getting progressively slower (he's right to make it his last), many records were broken and tiny Britain outdoing the sore-losing Chinese was kind of a highlight.

Yup..."tiny" Britain with 372 athletes vs China with 400. LOL!

You did outdo another big country in India, though, which had only 2 medals (a silver and bronze).

Hope it won't be as crowded/crazy as this. LOL!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3746901/Thought-commute-bad-Shocking-video-shows-women-launching-moving-train-rush-hour-Mumbai.html

Another 800 or so more slashing and Pattaya might be almost as bad as NYC. Then again, NYC racked up 899 by March.  At this rate, it could break 3,600 slashing by year-end. 
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/900-slashings-stabbings-in-nyc-this-year.html

1 hour ago, ChidlomDweller said:

Exactly my thoughts.  He's a great athlete, but his medal count would be impossible to achieve in most if not all sports other than swimming.  Give me the dexterity, precision and motor skill of soccer or tennis any time.   Seriously, who would you rather watch, Messi at his finest moments or Phelps?

Table tennis right? 

12 hours ago, bark said:

With 1.3 billion people, there are always rich and poor. But China is the only country which show videos at airports on how to behave when traveling.

Vast majority are traveling overseas for 1st time. Same sorta sh*t happened when Americans began traveling overseas for the 1st time (Ugly Americans). You hear, read, see of bad behaving Chinese tourists more often now due to social media.

On 8/8/2016 at 8:40 AM, onemorechang said:

 

Good for you

I had no idea that pattaya had so many rich Chinese sex tourists.

oh well we live and learn.

 

 

 

Majority of the sex tourists in Pattaya are white ppl.

On 8/3/2016 at 3:32 AM, Rob13 said:

 

 

Smart lady.

He's fugly alright. Could pass for a zombie extra on The Walking Dead.

7 hours ago, Thian said:

What was he thinking? He thought the German police can speak mandarin? Think again dude.

Mandarin not likely. Arabic yes.

Surprised none of the TVF detectives are questioning this incident. I guess maybe it's because victim is Asian.

On the road to implosion. This place right now has all the hallmarks of an internal conflict about to kick off. This could get real ugly real quickly.

Venezuela has already imploded.

Some Airlines are refusing service to the country because the value of their money is considered junk.

Food lines are blocks long with the situation getting worse daily.

Electrical services are being shut off and hospitals are closing with no electricity, nor medical supplies.

Most transportation has stopped.

At night the streets are empty as everyone is in hiding.

Gangs are forming and raiding anyone who has food, water, or barter items.

Be thankful you are here in Thailand now!

All but your last line.

Assuming you're in Thailand now...why don't you just leave?

Damn!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3639201/Kidnap-boss-holding-Caracas-ransom-Sinister-meet-crime-boss-running-racket-Venezuelans-poverty.html#comments

...not stabbed....allegedly stabbed....

True, but since the suspect is Thai (heck, any Asian), TVF members will usually not give the benefit of the doubt.

I live in China... and renting a CB650F to a Chinese is akin to letting a 2-year-old play with a loaded gun.

Like this, for example?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/28/milwaukee-two-year-old-son-mother-shot

If the first two comments are any indication, I'm anticipating a sh*t-ton of hateful, stereotypical, maybe even racist comments rolling along. This is a China-related article, after all.

The reason this is newsworthy is it is so unusual under European safety standards and practices.

In Asia, this stuff happens every day and no one finds it remarkable.

In Africa, this stuff happens every half a day and no one finds it even worth mentioning.

In countries where it is illegal to own a gun there are still gun deaths.There have also been mass stabbings, not to mention bombings. Where there is a will there is a way. Unfortunately this subject always makes for a good soapbox.

in modern western economies, not as many

In modern Eastern economies (e.g. Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, HK, etc), even less.

This just goes to show there is still a great divide between east and west ,

You mean between East Asia (mostly non-Islamic) and West Asia (mostly Islamic).

Lucky they were in Thailand with trained lifeguards and first rate medical facilities to save the boy and not some third world country.

The dad is a complete idiot, but maybe stuff like this is why, IMO, the Russians are the toughest people in the world. He nearly killed him.

unlike the USA where everyone, and I mean everyone would have stopped the boys father way before it got to this.

The police would been called and arrive in five minutes and Ivan would have been arrested for child endangerment.

but lucky they were in Thailand where everyone just stood by and watched.

I guess you've been to everywhere in the USA, since you're 100% sure everyone and you mean everyone would've stopped the boy's dad.

Police advice: could you ask before you fire?

Heck of a lot better than US police motto: shoot first & ask questions later.

He seems quite an ordinary normal kind of chap. Who would believe it? It doesn't perform any useful function to come out with the "cut his balls off", " hang, draw, and quarter him", response. Why would anyone find it sexually exciting to go with a pre-pubescent child. I can understand (not condone) a man who goes with a sexually mature, underage, girl. But a pre-pubescent child is beyond my understanding. We need to understand what, psychologically, is going on here. And it seems to be becoming more prevalent, so the need is even greater.

Pedophiles flock to SEA in the hope of richer pickings. Google Gary Glitter and hundreds more like him.

Just curious, but why do these a-holes tend to head to SEA? There are other places (e.g. Sub-Saharan Africa) that are poorer both economically and politically.

Read it again

He won't be released onto the streets...he'll be turned over to Immigration police and deported back to Russia.

There was no report that this has actually been carried out.

Not a done deal yet!.......13 years in a thai prison would feel like 25 years in western civilized prison.....

Hence, there are generally more crimes committed in the West. Prisons have the comforts of home.

Unless, of course, you're including those prisons in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, etc.

Hmm, is there a correlation between harsh prisons and lower crime? The softest prisons in the world are in Scandinavia, they also have some of the lowest crime and lowest recidivism rates, among the hardest in the EU is the UK, the crime rate is also among the highest as is the recidivism rate.

Each of the countries in Scandinavia probably has a lower population than major cities like London, Shanghai, Tokyo, NY, etc. Not an apples to apples comparison. Anyway, I think Singapore, which has harsh prisons, has an even lower crime rate than Sweden, Norway, etc.

This article is mainly about hordes of British tourists invading Spain, yet many comments here are directed at Mainland Chinese tourists. LOL! Lots of repressed racism.

And you think that there's so much negativity about Chinese tourists for no reason at all? Don't be naive.

Talking about Mainland Chinese tourists here would be like bitching about British tourists on an article about Chinese tourists in Thailand.

Anyway, you can rant more about Chinese tourists here, if you wanted to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3211218/Brits-behaving-badly-Infographic-reveals-countries-holidaymakers-likely-arrested-answers-surprise-you.html