Jonathan Swift

On 6/5/2017 at 6:52 PM, Laab Muu said:

Not so organized criminals might be a more apt description for them.

"Disorganized crime" has a nice ring to it. "Disorganized criminals". "Disorganized crime bosses". "Disorganized crime rings". 

On May 21, 2017 at 11:20 PM, Bulldozer Dawn said:

Pfffttt...  Walk around any big hospital and you will see a dozen or more girls more attractive than her...and with less silicon inserted into their faces...and...one can hope...less narcissistic tendencies.

 

Just another bint trying to kickstart her career as a pretty and (insert dry reaching sound grab) an internet idol.

 

 

On May 21, 2017 at 11:20 PM, Bulldozer Dawn said:

Pfffttt...  Walk around any big hospital and you will see a dozen or more girls more attractive than her...and with less silicon inserted into their faces...and...one can hope...less narcissistic tendencies.

 

Just another bint trying to kickstart her career as a pretty and (insert dry reaching sound grab) an internet idol.

 

 

Silicone, with an e. A complex group of hydrocarbons, including rubbers, gels, and lubricants. Silicon without an e is an element, what all your computer chips are made from. 

It looks like Amazon Global ships to Thailand. There is also a Thai ebay, and ebay sells most brand name items

I only know from my limited experience over 4 years, but I find the Brits to be a lot of fun to hang out with, but I also hear a disproportionate  number of stories of their bad experiences in Thailand compared to what I hear from other farang. These stories are usually in the context of warning me about all of the terrible things that will likely happen to me if I live there. So whatever it is, there seems at least to be a cultural gap leading to a tendency to misfortune in one form or another. But I don't necessarily put much stock in the news OR in my limited experience. 

23 hours ago, darksidedog said:

It needs a button in the back for the passenger to be able to turn the bloody meter on too, so they don't pay 2-3 times the normal fare.

You or someone always rides in front, make sure he turns on the meter, and watch it. read his name on his license, I always try to pronounce it out loud. If he doesn't turn on the meter, find another taxi. Simple

16 hours ago, nursebobrmn said:

i tried to edumacate my wife of the perils of raw fish in somtam, it fell on deaf ears. maybe she will die of the big C before i do.

Sad thought. Truth be told, there are so many types of cancer, some causes known and some not, it almost seems futile to worry about one particular type. My father had two different types in his later years, skin and salivary gland, as did my mother, breast and lung. My brother had prostate cancer, and I had melanoma. So, between the 3 of us we had six different kinds. I think it's a near certainty that a person in today's world will eventually develop some form of cancer if he/she survives all else. I wish you both a long happy life. My last few decades will be spent in Thailand, happy, cancer or not

Folks, bear in mind where you're reading this. Thaivisa news. How could this possibly be a serious issue? Just another piece of disposable "news". 

2 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Pathetic fail at sarcasm.

The laws in place  to protect civil rights and privacy in the USA and UK are strong and are enforced. Despite what you might think, a police agency can not access private data as easily as the manner proposed for Thailand.  The judiciary is independent and is not cowed or intimidated by the military. Neither the US, nor UK military interferes in domestic affairs and in both countries the military is subject to transparent civilian oversight. 

 

If  I am harmed by a police officer or the government, I have a right of recourse. I have far more confidence in the judicial system, the military  and the law enforcement of these two countries than I do in the shakedown boys who hang out under the  walkway in front of Market Village , Hua Hin at the end of every month collecting money.

 

 

are

I don't know which of the two countries are yours, but as a US citizen whose rights have been trampled on and whose rights have further been beaten down when I tried to stand up for them, been harassed, abused and falsely arrested and tried, had more than a few encounters with despicable police/government maliciously misusing their authority, you are dead wrong in your naive belief about an average US citizen having recourse against police power and a corrupt prosecution/public defender system. Cops who HAVE been arrested and tried are almost never convicted. Smartphone videos almost daily show cops blatantly hunting down and murdering young black kids even when they know their body cams are running. They also often have camera "malfunctions" when committing these assaults. In the US we have a THEORETICAL constitution, the enforcement of which is at the discretion of law enforcement, prosecution, and the courts, and whose protection is found more by those who can afford good enough lawyers, and almost not at all for those who can't. It seems to me that Thai cops have not taken to hunting, shooting, and murdering ethnic minorities as a matter of routine, as happens in the US. Yes, loss of privacy and state sponsored spying on citizens is a grave concern, but again, the US has been doing it since 9/11, and has been caught doing it and exposed by the likes of wikileaks and Ed Snowdon. The New York police tried to use the courts to force APPLE to write a back door security code so that they could access a suspects iphone data without destroying it. Apple fought all the way. We have it a LITTLE better that other absolute police states, but  not by as much as many people think. And our judicial system works more often than not, but it fails plenty, and its victims are many. So the US does NOT occupy any moral high ground on this subject. I wish it did. 

20 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

“We believe that electrical leakage from the power meter box could have somehow made it through or under the corner of the wall. Mr Wilkinson might have touched the wall while he was gardening,”

 

since when does a concrete wall conduct electricity?

 

" ...electricity-supply meter for the house, with a jumble of connected wires hanging underneath."

 

How is this different than anywhere else?

 

RIP.

 

 

 

The emergency crew was guessing wildly, which they shouldn't do. Right. And even if there was "leakage", electricity has to follow a path to electrical ground through a person's body in order to stop the heart. Otherwise, as they say, it follows the path of least resistance, which if the theory had merit, if the wall were conductive from water or rain, would have discharged through the water/wet wall without delivering a fatal dose. Probably a heart attack, but we don't know, nor does anyone until the autopsy. 

9 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

In any normal society she would return the phone and be satisfied she did the "right" thing. Any reward offered by the owner would be a bonus .
But, it would appear we are not in a normal society ☹️

I would substitute the word "ideal" for "Normal", in the majority of cases in most parts of the world it would not get returned. It would have been kept or sold. I left mine in a tuktuk once and went back to where the guy worked out of and no one would help. I would guess maybe on the average  10% of incidents would result in a return. I have seen a good cross section between the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of human nature through many travels including touring as a rock and roll musician. 

17 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Quite the Racist statement - how could you possibly know ? Personal friend ? Relative ?

Somchai Photirat is a Thai name, is it not? Thai names are unique amongst other Asian cultures, and easily recognizable, even to a farang like myself. So he's racist and a complete idiot as well. 

Let's see - you're Catholic, right? Exposure to the "evils" of porn is the same as being exposed to the flu, you "come down" with deviant behavior which isn't your fault?  The "devil" or evil spirits enter and possess you? "Pornography" is not a problem. The problem rests solely with the individual. Murderers do not commit murder because they saw it on TV. Racists do not commit hate crimes because they saw it on TV. The issue has been explored by experts in psychology for decades. The history of sexual predators has been thoroughly studied.The viewing of pornography, defined as the viewing of explicit sexual acts, is within the range of normal sexuality and natural curiosity about the very thing that creates us and perpetrates our species. Being aroused by viewing pornography is no different from being aroused by your partner.  Millions of decent people with healthy sexual relationships watch it including a substantial population of women. And there is NO doubt you have watched it, and probably still do. EVERYBODY does it, same as masturbation. And they are unlikely to admit it or talk about it, like masturbation, so that statistics are hard to come by because it's a personal thing, and because of the attitudes judgments and hypocrisy of others like you. The psychological roots of sexually deviant behavior have nothing to do with pornography. Such behavior stems solely from the person's own preexisting mental problems. That they may view pornography  is something that occurs parallel to the behavior, and is not a cause and effect. Posting "trophy" videos of rape victims online is an entirely different thing. Pedophilia has nothing to do with ordinary pornography which depicts normal sexuality. In the case of pedophiles the possession and viewing of videos of minors is a crime in and of itself because pedophiles are watching a deviant sexual criminal act of the sexual abuse of children.   Your problem is you're twisted up in your own sexual hypocrisy, or you are barren of actual healthy sexual experience, possible mentally unbalanced as well as ignorant. You're probably projecting your own guilt onto external scenarios. The real "evil"  in the world, besides sexual predation,  includes  the corruption of obscene amounts of wealth and money, and the bloody wars and genocide perpetrated by despots and warlords, who often commit rape without any source of porn. . Instead of just making up your own fiction on the subject, or listening to clueless idiots rant and rave on the subject, why don't you actually study and learn something about it? 

11 hours ago, jvs said:

Check your definition of rape.

use the term sexual assault, covers everything. that's the legal term, rape is not a term used by the courts or law enforcement

14 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

" Police said there was no insertion."

 

good to know.

 

kick him real hard three times in the balls.

 

next case.

 

repeat as needed throughout the day 

16 hours ago, fruitman said:

Bringin a diamond watch to Pattaya is asking for problems....i thought Germans would be smarter.

who did he think he was going to impress?

16 hours ago, LotusBoy said:

A German Mad or a Mad German?

German man? But you know that it's a typo, haha

16 hours ago, fruitman said:

Bringin a diamond watch to Pattaya is asking for problems....i thought Germans would be smarter.

who did he think he was going to impress?

19 hours ago, the guest said:

I think if they jail him it will send a very clear message to foreigners not to get involved with Thais or their politics.

Meaning that you think human rights activists should say and do nothing, or is your statement simply a grim unbiased observation? I am American, a country which once was a leader for democracy in the free world, and a totally free press and right to speak is guaranteed in our constitution, our courts have solidly upheld those principles with rare exception. Now my (former) country is collapsing under big money corruption and a very large angry and hateful part of the general population who elected an insane monster to the presidency. And yet, the free press remains a loud voice for freedom, and in solidarity with a majority of horrified Americans, this monster president will likely be unseated. It makes me very sad to see a country like Thailand exacerbating its economic woes by failing to act as the prime minister no doubt knows he should. Those American Wall St "gods" who in 2007 caused an economic collapse unheard of since the Great Depression were never prosecuted for their crimes, a dark stain on freedom and democracy. And as it stands, unlike the Obama administration, it's unlikely that America will weigh in and bring to bear the ammunition of public and world condemnation which it could easily do. So I am sad for both countries. Nobody wins except the oligarchs, and the lawyers. Sad, but still hopeful

7 minutes ago, dunroaming said:

Well I am not going to try to work out who is telling the truth here and who is lying.  There have been times when I have been overcharged by adding an extra drink to my tab in a Thai bar and when I have pointed it out the bar simply adjusted the bill and said sorry for the mistake.  Even in Pattaya I doubt the bar tender would have kicked off like that over one drink.  Nobody knows the truth and we never will.

My experiences mirror yours

Having heard endless similar stories I had been carrying a concealed keychain pepper spray around with me. A situation arose at Nana which looked like exactly the ones described here, someone blocking me from exiting, and I made a split second decision and sprayed my way out. Turns out I had headed for an identically curtained doorway resembling the exit but it was the ladies dressing room, and the man was just trying to turn me away and toward the correct exit. . After my exit I realised what happened and ducked into another bar to think about somehow apologizing without risking my well being. I had forgotten about security cameras, and so I was found there, I ran for it, and got tackled with one minor painless punch to the head. I was sat down at a table and allowed to speak through an english speaking person who understood my confusion and my panic response. The man I had sprayed also understood my mistake and why I did it. I was brought to the police station because of the pepper spray which they said was illegal. I was not abused physically in any way, but treated humanely and with decency and to my amazement the man I had sprayed sat next to me (his eyes were open and he had recovered) and, sitting in the police car,  was not angry at me. I was apologizing profusely to him, bowing / wai ing repeatedly. He smiled and said it was OK. The police were very polite, one spoke perfect english while explaining the illegality and the possible penalties, but stating that they didn't want to go that route (I knew what was coming next, ha!) . In America cops would have beaten the s---- out of me, hand cuffed me, tasered me, and thrown me in jail on assault charges and left me there until I made bail. We simply negotiated "compensation" of 10,000 baht ($280 US dollars) and everyone was satisfied. It was my mistake and the man was entitled to his cut and as far as I'm concerned so were the police. In America I would have been sued for thousands after lawyers pounced on the case. When they released me I was actually happy because of how benign the whole thing had turned out to be, and was fortunate to have interacted with a better segment of Thai people. Not one person, security or anyone else, held a grudge the next time I went to Nana. I am relatively new to Thailand (my 4th time, 3 months) and have no idea what the ratio of humane experiences to bad ones is, but I don't think I will be carrying pepper spray anymore. I think this story was worth telling, and still plan to live here eventually. I wish this man the best of luck, chok dee mate. Next time I will make sure I know where the door is. The bar was laid out in a circle with no exit signs. 

8 hours ago, Somebodee said:

My guess is the US will be invading shortly under false pretences.

If Trump read the news I would say maybe, but he only watches TV, and he's too busy tweeting back and forth with CNN to know where Thailand even is, or that it exists. He's more likely to bomb Iran or Mexico or China

Thailand has a reputation for "zealous" bar tab collection in the entertainment zones. This is described everywhere on the web. Did this guy come here completely ignorant of things not to do? Or was he just an idiot/a$$$hole who enjoys giving people a hard time over anything he can think of, a troublemaker? How many baht was the difference in cost? 100 baht? It's less than 3 frig-ging dollars. Don't come to Thailand expecting people not to react badly to your western arrogance. And, yes, she deserved to be arrested, needs anger management. If you have a problem with a bar overcharging you can make a detailed note about it and turn to the tourist police, it's part of their job to mediate such things. 

I want to add that I have encountered some serious problems here in Thai,  and as to what people say, naysayers, alarmists, and wiseasses, nothing has been further from the truth. I have found nothing to criticize in my actual experiences with police, banks, people, and other institutions, rather, I have found compassion and respect alongside  of the Thai way of "doing things", and can attest that similar scenarios in the USA would certainly have been unpleasant and perhaps life threatening under the current US social climate. And mentioning the way things work here, some of those posting here very likely have caused themselves problems here simply by way of pig headedness and ignorance of the culture, and like to retaliate rather than accept personal responsibility

2 minutes ago, CGW said:

Personally I would like some respect to be paid when I die, not a lot to ask? Guess you like to see dead bodies with gruesome fatal injuries plastered all over the "instant media" as well!

Would you be happy for your family to read about your demise on the internet, surely be more respectful to inform them first! personal preference in the "instant media" age I guess!

Shallowness, humanity numbed by the endless barrage of tabloid media,  admitting as much, justifying itself by its own nature. 

7 minutes ago, BangkapiPete said:

People like you certainly does make foreigners consider leaving your country, not necessarily to go home, but maybe somewhere else where they get a little more respect whilst spending their money. Where would your 3rd world country be if every foreigner that wishes to express an opinion had to leave? If I was you I would seriously consider removing your comment as it was obviously posted when your insecurity was at an all time high. 

I agree with you Pete, but the guy is "thinking" with his emotions and not his mind, as such I would regard him as emotionally disabled and leave him be. That's not advice to you, it's just the way I regard commenters and others who shoot from the emotional hip. They see things in child like terms and react accordingly.