Cory1848

22 hours ago, paul1804 said:

Many of us westerners call it Burma because the people are known as Burmese and due to the fact that the name was changed by a non elected regime. Many senior Burmese do the same as well as younger people that I know living & working abroad. 

Exactly -- at least to some, the name “Myanmar” is affiliated with a repulsive regime. When Mobutu took charge of the DRC, he changed that country’s name to Zaire; when he was gone after 25 years of repressive rule, the incoming administration immediately tossed out the name “Zaire” like it was part of some bad dream.

1 hour ago, TheScience said:

They all do...Pah-ma.

 

But tbh the Myanmarese (?) Call it Myanmar as well.

 

Burmese is the predominant language. Dozens more.

 

The American insistence to call it Burma is just stupid. The name was changed decades ago. There are dozens of ethnicities the nation hardly just belongs to the Burmese.

Well, I call it Burma; and not only Americans but many Europeans as well (Birmania and variants). In the Burman language, the name of the country was always pronounced something like “Myanma,” a word that designates the Burman ethnic majority just the same. And it’s my understanding that the country’s non-Burman minority groups reject “Myanmar” as the official English name because the change was effected by a military government whose legitimacy they often don’t accept, and they continue to use “Burma” when they’re speaking English or their own language. Even Aung San Suu Kyi, when speaking English, has continued to use “Burma.”

On 11/18/2021 at 11:53 AM, gearbox said:

I'm currently in Phuket and there are tourists coming....just not enough. Once the figures are collected for a month or two I expect the Thailand Pass and the PCR test on arrival to go away. The risks seems to be too small to be worth handling with obstacles like these. My prediction is Jan 2022 for proper reopening.

Likewise -- My girlfriend just reopened her travel office in Chiang Mai and has been getting business -- tourists (European; Israeli) who are younger (backpackers) and not interested in drinking but purchasing tours to elephant camps, cooking schools, trekking excursions, and the like, much of which is open at least up here in the north. I’m not disputing anything being said here, and this may be driven by Loy Krathong, which is always popular here, and otherwise Chiang Mai is still far from lively, but I’m encouraged.

My girlfriend got her first Sinopharm shot in Chiang Mai this morning (at Chiang Mai Hospital, and not free, as you mention); she did not want Sinovac, and did not want to wait for a US vaccine. Very well organized here as well, second shot in about a month. She had registered earlier, but her number came up quickly. Other than some mild fatigue, no side effects. Good luck!

Got a first shot of Pfizer last week (at Promenada Chiang Mai) and was assured that my second shot, scheduled in a couple of weeks, would also be Pfizer. (Of course, I have to show up on the scheduled day.) They are keeping careful track of shots they administer, and I'm led to believe that they're keeping everyone's second shot in reserve -- i.e., not administering so many first shots of Pfizer that they don't have enough for people's second shots.

32 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

I guess my perception of you is a "new age " type male who  dont believe in go go bars ...and us guys ...shouting out "show us ya titts !!  oogling over them 

you would find that horrid i believe?

 I take it you dont go to bars in thailand nor partake in the service?

I mean it would be hypocritical if you did

 

I have no judgement against "new age" type of men like yourself ,your perception that women dont like men looking at them and it creates  "microaggression" & "unease" to the ladies  (your words)  is your opinion ,but what i dont like what are hypocrites that say have some empathy for the ladies and what they have to go thru with  us guys staring at them....and lo & behold  the next thing your in a bar with ya old fella hanging out like a true hypocrite !????

Well done! I have nothing to add here --

12 hours ago, Boarn said:

Where you direct your own eyes is nobody else's business, or should simply looking from a distance now also be defined as harassment? 

I think that most women, especially those who are traditionally attractive, have developed sufficient survival skills, when some stranger is glaring at their rack, to distinguish between a genuine threat and a person who is merely boorish. So, yeah, go wild.

23 hours ago, Boarn said:

Haha, part of the issue here.

 

By being such a simp you are making it worse for proper people.

 

If women don't want to be looked at, called 'darling' don't make yourself look so appealing maybe??

 

When I was last back in hell (the UK) was out with a friend, a quite attractive man I suppose and he received looks, stares and smiles from quite a few women. Should I take offense because I'm ugly? No, I don't care.

A “simp”? “Proper people”? What on earth are you talking about? You may not care if someone else stares at your crotch, but another person might if someone stares at theirs. Try looking beyond your own nose.

57 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL. I've had women at work call me "darling" even though I wasn't their boyfriend.

Too many people looking for something to be offended by now, IMO.

I myself would be happy to be called "darling" by a casual acquaintance, or a complete stranger for that matter. (Better than "lung farang," which is what I usually get!) But I wouldn't presume it for someone else.

29 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Wholeheartedly agree with this.

 

I am not 'clever' in the sense I miraculously came to understand this female world.

 

I have three, tall, attractive (IMO of course) daughters who, over time, have educated me as to what their lives are like living and working in London.

 

It is horrendous.

 

As an aside, for the morons, they naturally dress conservatively, as they all hold down responsible positions in the city.

 

What really scares me is that are very aggressive and don't back down from sexual harassment.

 

One day they could be seriously hurt.

Hope your daughters stay safe! Good for them for not taking any flack, and sounds like they have enough common sense to not get in over their heads ...

On 9/1/2021 at 6:27 PM, Will B Good said:

Maybe as a young attractive woman suffering leering looks from old men you might have a different perspective.

 

Remember it is not just a one off incident when you do something like that, they have to tolerate this and other obnoxious behavior all day, everyday.

Well, yes, exactly. The original poster seems to long for the day when he could casually call women “darling”; but what does the woman think, who’s being called that by someone who’s not her “darling”? Whenever I (and, presumably, most people on this forum), go out in public, I’m read as a man, with all the social and cultural implications of that. I have NO IDEA what it’s like to be read as a woman, so the best I can do is listen to what women have to say about it. This article is a good start.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-thing-all-women-do-you-dont-know-about_b_8630416

I knew this guy; he was married to my girlfriend’s cousin. Sadly, he was overweight and a bit of a heavy drinker, which at least partly led to him suffering a sudden and deadly stroke (at age 44). I can’t even begin to express the disgust I feel for antivaxxer morons who are co-opting his tragic death for their own ignorant purposes.

17 hours ago, fearless1 said:

My gym in Chiang Mai just shut down this morning (Friday, April 16) for at least two weeks because a member recently tested positive ...

 

Are you allowed to say which gym Closed?

I don't know, but I will: Ruam Chok Fitness Center, on the 3rd floor of the new area that's opened up there, with the new Top's at the far end of the parking area. This ought to be public knowledge, just like everyone knows when the Warm Up Cafe closes because of exposure and the press reports on it. The gym acted quickly and responsibly when they found out, and otherwise it's a great gym, I recommend it! (And I say that quite honestly, not just to cover my tracks.)

My gym in Chiang Mai just shut down this morning (Friday, April 16) for at least two weeks because a member recently tested positive; I was there last Sunday, same time as this member. I have no symptoms, but the advice was to self-quarantine for two weeks; if no symptoms crop up during that time, then I’m probably OK.

Testing is possible at Lanna Hospital (and certainly other hospitals), but for foreigners the fee is 3,500 baht, and you need to schedule a time online or by calling. I was told, if I developed symptoms, get tested.

20 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

You know f$%@ all about those who came over in the 20's and before. My father came over in the 20's college educated, a banker, spoke 4 languages. He came to America for the adventure. He loved America and the possibilities here.  

Yes, and my parents emigrated to the US in the 1940s as war refugees, my father having already obtained a medical degree. That doesn’t make it so for the vast majority who came impoverished. And I didn’t intend for my original post to be taken so personally, or so uncivilly.

13 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

With regard to your second paragraph, people often get confused. Gender and Biological are completely different, in the clinical sense that is. The chromosomes determine whether one has female or male body parts while Gender refers to state of mind in which one favours inclination to the opposite sex or not. Having sex reassignment surgery doesn't and cannot change chromosome type but it can can add to the well being of one's mind. Yes I know, it isn't as simple as that.

As far as sports are concerned the male body is structured differently to a female one in many ways, generally speaking. For example, the female Femur has a bigger slant than that of the male and of of course the female pelvis is generally larger than the male's. So actual vector magnitude and direction will be different and this could be important in say, running events. A transgender person with a male structure could, theoretically, have an advantage on say, sprint events and a transgender person with a female structure could have an advantage in non sprint track events. But again it isn't that simple.

So one might ask that as there are separate Games for disabled people would it be fair to start thinking about having separate transgender Games? Tricky one, that's for sure.????

I agree with most of what you say (transgender games is certainly worth thinking about), and I'm no scientist, but I think even the chromosomes don't always indicate what we've been taught to think of as biological sex. There's tons of stuff online; here's something I just found from Scientific American that I've just skimmed through for now, but it provides quite a detailed assessment:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

11 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

I have no issue with the LGBT crew, no issue with anyone sexual orientation or what they do in their bedroom, or what anyone as an adult does. 

 

I draw a very firm line when it involves children, federally funded schools, and biological sex. One of Joe Bidens EO's involves forcing federally funded schools to treat transgender people 100% as the gender of their choice. 

 

This includes allowing biological males to compete in biological female sports, get womens scholarships, and more. 

And this needs to be fought tooth and nail in the courts as it puts women and girls at a disadvantage, especially during their formative years when sports provides a pathway for scholarships to higher education. 

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

It’s a tricky issue, particularly as it relates to sports competition, as you mention. I do think that Western (Judeo-Christian) society in general has been locked into thinking of gender as purely binary (thanks at least partly to scriptures written by men millennia ago), but thinking of gender as more of a spectrum is not something new or “feminist” or “liberal” -- Native American, Hindu, and likely other cultures have long traditions of doing so.

There’s plenty of room to accommodate transgender people without resorting to a strictly “biological male/biological female” binary; that said, finding a solution to ensuring fair sporting competitions is among the bigger difficulties ...