Gecko123

@Purdey Show me evidence to support your contention. A comment on a 20 year old ASEANNOW thread unattributed to any source is not evidence. @johng It must be nice to live in a world where you can discount anything you choose not to believe. I envy you. Not.

Google is saying your comment about Tiger Woods is misinformation. There is no public information or evidence to suggest that Woods ever declined the Thai citizenship offered to him. It has long been my observation that white foreigners who are eager to falsely portray Thais as virulently racist towards black people are usually projecting their own prejudices in an effort to legitimize and normalize them.

May be inadequate if you get bitten by a monkey.

His main complaint about so-called farang wannabes is their attempt to learn the language. Every time I have encountered feelings of resentment from foreign men about other foreign men speaking Thai, the root of the resentment has always been jealousy and insecurity. This has been particularly true when the Thai wife is present, and even truer when the Thai wife's English proficiency is limited, as another foreigner speaking Thai is an unwelcome reminder of how the language barrier limits the quality of the communication between the couple. Anyone who has achieved a high level of proficiency in the language knows how much effort it takes to acquire that proficiency, and ought to welcome the opportunity to evaluate another foreigner's proficiency, and perhaps exchange tips on ways to improve further. They also ought to be able to easily relate to and be indulgent when another person takes pleasure in demonstrating a skill which required a tremendous amount of time and hard work to obtain. Furthermore, anyone who has achieved a high level of proficiency in the language would know how much goodwill language skills generate with Thai people, and would encourage every effort made by foreigners to learn the language, and never attempt to stigmatize or make people feel self-conscious for having made the effort.

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but there is a variety of bee which is smaller than a typical Thai honey, and they are very aggressive and persistent when their hives are disturbed and are capable of biting or stinging multiple times almost behaving the way hornets/wasps behave when their nests are disturbed. You should be able to find someone locally who is skilled at wild honey harvesting who can tell you best way to manage. Usually smoke is used. Edit: @flare regular honeybees in Thailand are golden colored, and the smaller variety I mentioned are darker. But don't let their small size fool you their stings/bites can hurt, and cause swelling and itching. I had a big hive in a mango tree last year. I could be wrong about this, but when the honeycomb remnant was finally removed, it was all wax with no honey, so wild honey harvester might not be overly interested in the hive, but willing to remove it for a fee. @flare Probably gonna take a drawn out length of time to get an answer from tessaban. Just ask your puu yai or neighbors for a wild honey bee harvester reference. Probably take a little bird-dogging, but shouldn't be too hard.

Just to try to answer the OP's question about why this is done... The biggest reason is the logistical difficulty (and danger) of doing high elevation pruning. Thais have as much appreciation for nature and aesthetic sense as anyone, but this unfortunately is too often overridden by a poverty driven mentality which sees nature in terms of its monetary value, with aesthetics taking a back seat. Thais seem to be most protective of nature when a spiritual value is placed on it (caves, waterfalls, mountains, Bodhi trees, etc.)

fabricated nonsensical anecdotes

Can't recall a single instance where a gofundme appeal has received a sympathetic response on this forum. The comment section on threads like these seem to only bring out the misanthropic worst in people. If ASEANNOW thinks it is doing a community service by spreading awareness of people in need, fine, but maybe the comments section should be closed, if for no other reason than to spare the people dealing with hardship the pain of reading all the unkind comments.

Promises made, promises kept... Well he's certainly getting interest rates down as promised.... [sarcasm alert]

unstable Jesus

despise that arrogant white nationalist with a passion that is difficult to put into words.

A very regressive one at that.

Trump just gave the American consumer the Abner Louima treatment. (Haitian immigrant brutalized by NYC cops with a toilet plunger). Higher prices of imported goods into the US will mean buying anything online from the US just got more expensive. It's also probably not going to have a positive effect on the USD and all the currencies tied to the dollar. Enjoy, MAGA expats.

Global economy is gonna collapse like that Bangkok high rise. Extremely destabilizing geopolitically. Theoretical mumbo-jumbo untethered from the reality of how consumers respond to tariffs. Scary part is it will be very difficult for anyone to back down.

Her lack of contrition, refusal to take any responsibility for her actions, trafficking in conspiracy theories, and attacks on the judiciary may fit the "victim" narrative of the far-right but it won't resonate with France's left or middle of the road voters. In addition, Trump, with his stance on Ukraine, NATO, tariffs on European goods, attempts to annex Greenland and take over the Gaza strip, and allowing Elon Musk to meddle in European politics, is probably more despised on the European continent than any American president in recent memory.

homemade pork shiitake mushroom noodle soup with shrimp

It was her father Jean-Marie Le Pen who indoctrinated her in her xenophobic and racist beliefs, and it was her father who originally set up the scheme to siphon EU deputy and EU deputy assistant staff salaries and expenses to support the National Rassemblement (formerly National Front) party. She finally expelled her father in 2015 from the party because he kept exposing such extreme and politically unpalatable views. When he died in January of this year she said she would "never forgive herself" for having expelled him from the party. When you consider that he was the one who set up the scheme, and no doubt encouraged her to continue it, I can't help but wonder whether she is now not only able to forgive herself, but wishing she had done it a decade sooner.

You seem to be very determined to ignore the fact that a crime was committed, there was damming hard evidence in support of the allegations, and it was in fact right-wing politicians who successfully pushed for stiffening the penalties for misuse of public funds.

French far-right leader Le Pen sentenced to prison and banned from office in embezzlement trial. Le Pen may still appeal the four-year sentence, two years of it suspended, and five-year political ban, which came after she was found guilty of misusing $3 million to pay party staff. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/france-le-pen-marine-guilty-right-national-rally-paris-embezzlement-rcna198816 Edit: From Reuters: Le Pen's five-year public office ban cannot be suspended by appeal, although she will retain her parliamentary seat until her term ends. She also received a four-year prison sentence - two years of which are suspended and two years to be served under home detention, and a 100,000-euro ($108,200) fine, but they will not apply until her appeals are exhausted. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-le-pen-faces-crunch-day-graft-trial-that-could-kill-her-presidential-2025-03-31/

She's probably going to serve 2 years behind bars as well.

I find it disturbing that you seem to be incredulous that this could be the case. From the bottom of my heart, I can assure you that I am being 100% honest.

No...I think he's Hitler.

First of all, you old git, I'm not an old git. I've been up since 3:30 this morning to take the dog on a 7 km run, and just came in the house after climbing up scaffolding to prune a large tree limb. As far as being "blinkered to anything other than MSM narratives" I pride myself on being an independent thinker, and quite often the MSM comes to similar conclusions long after they have occurred to me. As an example, I recognized immediately Trump's authoritarian and fascist tendencies early on in his first term in office, the parallels between the tactics he was using and the tactics used by the National Socialists being blatantly obvious to anyone who has studied the rise of National Socialism in Germany. The MSM was probably equally aware of this from the outset of his term, but chose to quelch this quite accurate analysis as "inflammatory" until practically the end of his first term.

No...she was not going to win in the next election. A sizable majority of the French electorate are adamantly opposed to her ever succeeding to the Presidency, as evidenced by the willingness of the left to set aside their differences and form the Nouveau Front Populaire in order to block her from doing so.

Flattered by your questions. No, I don't live in France. Yes, I do speak French. I follow French current events by reading French newspapers daily (Le Monde), watching sessions of the National Assembly, interviews with politicians, and listening to news reports and podcasts. In addition to politics, I have an interest in criminal activity in France. My interest in French current events originated from a consideration that I might move there one day. I also have a deep interest in 19th century French literature, and have read many classics in French.