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fxm88
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Posts posted by fxm88
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How about Bovine Growth Hormone-free milk (also identified as BGH or rBGH or BST or rBST). Anyone know if that's commercially available? Or is -free the norm here? And what about anti-biotics? I worry about these a lot more about than the pasteurization process. I consume most of my dairy in yogurt and yogurt drinks.
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Do you mean rectum-linear? It's the basis for the whole Germanic sense of humour.
Rectum?! Nearly killed 'em!
Bonus question: for which sense of humor is this joke the basis?
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I appreciate that some nationals, for example, North Americans, may have some difficulty in grasping the idea of it in the same way that sarcasm similarly seems to fly over their heads,but are other folk similarly affected?
Wow! Who have you been hanging out with? Americans, the younger generations anyways, are some of the most sarcastic people around. So much so that it gets quite boring after a while. When I first came to Thailand it was so refreshing to be away from it -- it seemed like there just wasn't any sarcasm here. Now, I don't speak Thai very well, and when one is forced to speak simply there's not much room for sarcasm but I really do believe that there's very little sarcasm in Thai society. Maybe the NAmericans you're meeting are just so pleased to be rid of it.
Irony. Well, that's an entirely different matter and one that's not easy to grasp. After being misled by incorrect popular usage, hit songs such as Canadian Alanis Morrisette's "Isn't it Ironic" (which wasn't), and their poorly paid public school teachers -- well, Americans are more than a little sketchy on the details. They gotta go back to the 1989 movie "Heathers" to really learn anything about irony and I think Police Academy 6 did bigger box office that year.
Anyway, written sarcasm often fails -- you gotta practically be G.D. Volatire to pull it off -- so it's not surprising that the third-ever "smiley" in history was the winky Ha Ha Only Serious sarcastic one. I'm not quite sure what, but something gets lost in the translation to out little yellow buddy here on TV.
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Shouldn't this be in the jokes forum.
Shouldn't the "real" news about this project be over there, too? Shouldn't half the news coming out of Pattaya?
Anyways, here's a pic from this afternoon:
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Its funny how people are saying 'forget the economics text book'. In fact, its all economics, just not European/US/Australian economics.
Well then by all means please help us to understand Thai economics (which is why I started this thread). I've got a hypothesis or two. For example, I've read a little about "prospect theory" which suggests that [western] people feel approximately twice as much pain from a loss as the pleasure the feel from an equivalent gain. I've got an idea that Thai people feel 5x as much pain from a loss, maybe more. It's no doubt a cultural difference but from what part of Thai culture does behavior like that come from? Buddhism? Face? Class? Poverty? Something else? If it is as simple as good old supply and demand then why does it so often appear that prices do not decline when demand drops off (or disappears altogether)? "Zero-profit" conditions suggest that in markets like those apparently in Thailand no-one should be able to make any profits at all -- but if that's not the case -- as suggested by some of the above posts -- why not? What else is going on?
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Work nearing completion on Beach Road.
Work is nearing completion on Beach Road. Police Lieutenant General Surawongsamsanatcharee, the Provincial Commander of Police in an interview declared that work shall be complete by end-of-year. The underground tsunami shelters which the city has been installing at Pattaya Beach will then be stocked with food, fresh water, and provisions enough to last 3 to 4 weeks while water levels subside.
At the earliest indication of a tsunami, beach-goers can seek safety in the shelters. When the all clear is given survivors will emerge and set about the task of repopulating coastal regions. Now that the temporary landscaping project is complete an advertising campaign will be launched to alert residents and visitors alike as to the existence of the underground shelters.
-Pattaya City News
Monday 10th October 2005
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1. You need an oven.
Wow, you've been in Thailand too long! You need to learn about deep-fried turkey. It's all the rage -- or it was when I left, maybe I've been in Thailand too long? Anyways, you do it outside so no heating the house. It still takes about an hour though. And after you've done the turkey you can fry up a mess of snickers bars.
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I have been fascinated and baffled by the Thai economy since the day I arrived. It was in the middle of a downturn and I was confused by sellers saying things such as "If I don't sell to you then I won't sell anything all day so how can I lower the price?" which, for sure, was a sales-pitch but there really weren't any customers around and as often as not I walked away without buying -- an action often prompting some unkind words from the sellers, BTW. Things seems to have picked up a little since then but I'm still confused.
For example: there are lots of markets with many -- sometimes hundreds of -- small shops all offering exactly the same things at exactly the same prices e.g. mobile phone markets (esp. the MBK's 4th floor); any of the clothes markets; on some highways you can drive for an hour passing individual fruit stands every minute, at least. Then there's the restaurants, hotels, bars, massage places, beach chair setups, etc. All the same, nothing different. (And what's the point of advertising if you really have nothing to set you apart from the fifty places closer to your customer?) There seems to be very little innovation or even branding. A lot of these places seem to be continually on the verge of going out of business. And another thing about some of these clothes shops: they're packed full of clothes that, to be honest, are never going to come back into style. Is there a benefit to having inventory for the sake of having inventory?
I've looked around the web -- Universities, government agencies -- and while I can find lots of MBA programs I'm not finding much in the way of research on Thai economics, not at this level, not in a language I can read anyway. So I can only guess, but sadly, I'm not very imaginative.
What a lot of these businesses seem to have in common is very few barriers to entry. Anyone can sell clothes (especially if you don't have choose the design), anyone can serve a drink and (in Thailand) everyone knows how to give a massage. There seem to be very few zoning restrictions so you can set up shop out of your home. So it's easy for new sellers to come into the market and that keep profits from rising. Now, I'm not saying that a lot of money can't be made -- it was chicken farming that built this, right? But there's got to be more to the story. What is it?
Some things I don't have any hard info on e.g. how cheap and easy is it to get a loan from the government? how many markets actually have very few owners and giving only the appearance of competition? how much corruption is there and what in form does it take?
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atheism is a non-profit organisation
Sorry, but this joke really doesn't work if you misspell "prophet".
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I am only familiar with the US beef market -- which is very different from the market in Thailand e.g. feedlots, subsidies -- but I know it's pretty hard to make a living raising cattle. The net profit (income - expense) on a single head of cattle varies from year to year but is generally small. For examples (note these are from different years):
http://www.math.uic.edu/~takata/some_artic...ntibiotics.html
http://beef-mag.com/mag/beef_net_return_details/Pollan says that according to Cattle Facts, a market research firm, the return on an animal coming off of a feedlot has averaged about $3 per head over the last 20 years.average net return per cow last year was $64.87. But the average net return among the 20% least profitable operations was -$46.91/cow. Compare that to the $164.03 net return/cow for the 20% most profitable operations. That's a $210.94/cow difference.http://extension.usu.edu/files/agpubs/sep99nl.htm
The average net return per head was -$21.89. The range in net return varied between a profit of $60.57 and a loss of $123.27.I don't know if similar statistics are collected and/or made available in Thailand.
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I know i could also have a go at making these, but i'd like to have a go at getting a professionally made aerial first
One consideration is whether you will be using a USB dongle -- it might not be easy to connect to an external antenna.
You should reconsider trying to make one yourself -- it can be as easy and cheap as a US$3 noodle "scoop" and some duct tape. I went all out and got a US$10 microphone stand for easy positioning. For examples see
http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/
http://www.binarywolf.com/249/wifi_basics.htm
http://www.strange.net/archives/2004_08_01_archive.html
http://images.google.co.th/images?q=cantenna
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Hello. Does anyone know any good parks in Pattaya? Someplace one could sit on the grass and enjoy a picnic with the family? Bonus points if the park is away from traffic, construction, or other annoyances. Triple bouns points if I don't need a car to get there.
P.S. davethailand, if you're going to post to this thread, and undoubtedly you will, please think 2wice before you tell me to build one my ****ing self, mmm-kay?
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The exponential growth of the herds of cows is amazing,although i do wonder who is going to eat all the beef.Locals here never touch it.
1. Raise a lot of cattle.
2. Convert the local population to Islam, Judaism, and/or non-pork eating Christian sects.
3. Profit!!!
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Ok all jokes aside. What is the going rate for a damned buffalo? The missus has this idea to buy about 10 buffalo and then breed them and / or sell them at vast profit. I have my doubts but who knows. Anyone had any experience of buffalo? I can just feel the sarchastic comments coming my way!
Anyone remember Defending Your Life?
Lena Foster: What did you finally invest in, Mr. Lambada, do you remember?
Daniel Lambada: [under his breath] Um, uh... buffalos.
Lena Foster: And what happened to the buffalos?
Daniel Lambada: I don't know; I never got a straight answer. All I know is that their teeth fell out.
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"Those who are badly impoverished, they will be given free houses...
Will that include English teachers?
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4.8 Million Baht is PEANUTS! (Although try telling that to your Thai friend who's making 4000 baht a month and couldn't earn that much if they lived to be 100 years old.) My current favorite is this one:
72 Million Baht rescue boat for Larn Island unveiled, Pattaya City News, Friday 19th August 2005
Sorry I couldn't find the original so it's from the Google cache, which is a pity cause it's missing the photos. As any of you who saw this thing can attest: it was bee-yoo-tee-full!
Honestly I can't understand where Pattaya gets the money for these projects or who approves them. I suspect it's got something to do with most of the people living here being unable to vote here.
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Deal with it the same way you dealt with it in the USA: ignore it when you can, be polite about it when you can't. It should be easier over here cause 1) you probably can't understand what your GF/the monks/the other folks are saying and 2) they're not so offensive about it e.g. huge crosses, billboards, folks knocking on your door or chatting you up in the supermarket/gym/street, etc. so common in the USA.
Of course if you're in the country or near a Wat and they start blasting at 5am it's a little harder to ignore. But still it's easier to fall back asleep when you don't understand a word they're saying.
Hard as it may be I suggest you don't tell too many people you're "mai mee sasanaa" -- *if* they believed you they'd shun you quicker than a boyscout with lesbian parents.
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Friend of a friend huh? How about this one, with documentation:This episode reminds me of a story told to me by a friend in the UK who was a Supermarket Manager...Cat food sold as tuna, 7th Heaven for shoppers
Tainted tuna stock sold for humans 7 years laterImagine opening a can of tuna and finding yourself in seventh heaven -- 7th Heaven brand cat food.The product was to be sold in the United States as 7th Heaven cat food, Ms [Lillian Aveta] said.
The decomposed tuna was labelled as four different brands -- Ocean King, IGA, Blue Bay and National. Some tuna labels were pasted on top of cat food labels.
More excerpts from the article
Cheeky Americans!
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Sometimes the check-out girls at Tops Supermarket will check the expiry date. If it's past-due they'll even go retrieve -- run, not walk -- one that's fresher. Tonight my checker-outer even exchanged one that wasn't expiring until tomorrow. Now that's service!
But I don't know why the old stuff is on the shelves at all. 7-11's seem particularly good at throwing out all the expired stuff, I always see them pulling stuff off the shelves. Maybe it's because they're fully computerized?
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I recently had the displeasure to go for a visa stamp at the border crossing near Surin. It's cheap and easy enough to get there on the bus from the Surin bus station in regular buses or air-con mini-buses, both are regularly scheduled. They take you right to the border. If you're not planning on staying the night in Cambodia don't forget to ask the driver what time the last bus goes back.
Thai immigrations is pleasant enough but I can't stand the crooks in Cambodian immigrations. It was pretty empty on the day I went, late in the afternoon. I had a chat with the guys that stamp the visa while waiting for the guy that issues the visa to come back from town. Now the official price of the visa is 20 USD, but I'd been here before and expected him to ask for 1000 baht (~25 USD) but when this guy arrives he quotes me a price of 1200 baht (~30 USD). When I got my passport back I asked him to fill in the "Fee" which he'd left blank. Well, he didn't like that very much but I was insistent. I have a few Cambodian visas in the my passport and some have it filled in and others don't -- the only place I haven't been ripped off is the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok.
I had intended to go to the market but after the hassle the went right back to Thailand I made sure to explain to my "helper" guy that the visa guy was keeping my "tip" for him -- what's the point of the helper if you get ripped off x2 anyways? Perhaps they settled up that evening?
On the Cambodian side there's the casinos, then a big market, and past that is the town. They'll check your visa if you're going into the town. The town isn't very nice: there's a guesthouse or 2 but they're really more like walled-in barns or stables; there are limited entertainment options but a motorcy tour through town is mildly interesting; I believe you can also find transport to Siam Reap.
If on your want back into Thailand you're really feeling guilty about the crowd of children who have no doubt gathered around you, consider buying them each a Yakult (5 or 6 baht for a little bottle) from the sellers who are sometimes there.
Funny story: I had intended to go to Aranya Prathet but 1) I didn't recognize the station 2) the elderly woman sitting next to me assured me that it was not this station but the next one 3) the conductor lady forgot about me too -- oh well, they've got some really good Phad Thai in Surin (at the night market cooked up by 2 or 3 ageing ladyboys and I highly recommend it).
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Some feedback would be really appreciated.
I like Terrazzo. It's prettier than concrete and will last forever (longer than any of the crummy tile-jobs I've seen). I don't know who does it but I've seen it in some of the big banks like maybe Bangkok Bank?
For more info:
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A lot of cuban cigars are not cuban. And a lot of the cigars that actually do come from Cuba were in fact made somplace else and only packaged in Cuba (not unlinke most American-made cars these days). So unless you really know what you're looking at why bother?
Wow, I just found this article from last year. Seems that American Citizens are prohibited from smoking these things even while travelling abroad. How long until we see "Smoke a cuban cigar in this country, go to jail in yours" signs around Pattaya?
So don't forget:
If you smoke that cuban (or "cuban") cigar...
then the terrorists have already won!
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Outback!? Good god man. Please try these:
Niel's Tavern on Ruam Rudee
Chokchai Steakhouse on Sukhumvit 23
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Dear Pattaya Area American Citizens,
Please let this serve as a reminder regarding the upcoming Embassy consular visit to the Pattaya area. Consular staff will be available to provide consular services to resident American citizens on Friday, September 30th, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the Amari Orchid Resort, Pattaya.
Sincerely,
American Citizen Services
U.S. Embassy Bangkok
Thank heaven's they made sure to update their webpage at http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/embassy/consvisit.htm or I never would have known they were coming...
How to deep fry a turkey.
Be careful.
Thailand Elite Card Looks To Moscow And London
in Thailand News Headlines
Posted · Edited by fxm88
Have you seen these new advertisements in some of the business magazines? Are these only in the local Thai copies? Or in all of Asia? Surely they're not world-wide! I wonder how much that cost!?