BangkokReady

Sounds like no one wants to take responsibility. Can't really blame them. If a school has an outbreak and then a family member dies, that's a pretty big embarrassment for the school, and a tragic loss for the family. At the end of the day, everyone wants the kids back in the schools, but the risk to any unvaccinated family members is considerable. The time between contracting the virus and showing symptoms, or in between random testing, could allow one case to turn into tens and then hundreds quite quickly. Opening up anything means more cases are likely. it's all about making a trade off and someone being responsible for that decision. The question is, can a student really go back to school before his or her entire family has been vaccinated?

It's subconscious, so no, no thinking is involved.

It hasn't. You aren't aware of it. This happens at a subconscious level and you only perceive the effects. If you've found a way to easily and permanently overrule your subconscious, you should be making a fortune in the coaching and personal development field, it would basically be a miracle. Not really. The urges still remain. We can, of course, reason and correct behavior when we notice it, but, like any other urge that stems from our primitive mind, motivation, discipline, food, exercise, addictions, it is a difficult battle to win. You might personally be an outlier, or you could have a medical problem, but you can't ignore masses of research on this topic based on your personal experience (or your opinion on what you believe you perceive). The function of the subconscious mind is pretty well established and basically a truism.

Alas, the human brain has not.

I think we're hard wired to assess everyone we encounter. A quick up and down checking how fertile a woman is and how much of a physical threat a man is. Do our eyes linger more on the woman? For sure. Just don't break your neck to stare at her as you walk past or have a "phworr" look on your face. Also, we take in masses of information both consciously and unconsciously, with our direct gaze and our peripheral vision. The idea that we would be walking along and everyone near us is just a shapeless grey blob unless you consciously and deliberately focus in on them is pretty ridiculous.

Absolutely. That or the website should be paying him something. Unless they do, in which case it is well deserved. Are you on the staff @ubonjoe?

What?

I think you can use @ to tag someone by username in your comment: @JimmyJ, that way they should get a notification.

The first and last time, I'm sure. ????

Can you be a little more condescending and negative? It feels like there's some slight ambiguity around how bitter you are.

I'm not sure what you think this brings to the conversation. Obviously they're going to use a model on promotional material. If you believe the model on the ad banner or sign up page is the girl you're going to get on the website, you shouldn't be using them at all, possibly you shouldn't be using the internet.

I believe there is research to show that vaccination reduces spread.

Indeed. A lot of people seem to only consider people working directly with tourists as being effected, but there's a massive knock-on effect due to lack of foreign people. Things have been relaxed quite a lot lately, but my experience is that only malls and more expensive eateries are very busy, because their customers have money to spend. The places that would have been occupied with the working class and poor are still looking pretty empty.

What is a blue roofed cave?

It's not just the authorities that carry some blame, Thai society as a whole does. We know what would happen if there was some sort of crack down, people would object and say the police are being too harsh. If they started issuing heavy fines to the parents and crushing bikes, it would solve the problem pretty swiftly, but Thai people prefer jumping jacks and push-ups then "on your way now kiddo" as it's a more "Thai" way of dealing with the problem. No civilians are reporting kids without helmets or children obviously too young to ride, or more than two on a bike, they aren't even cautioning them. Society plays its part in this.

Great news. Now if we could just get rid of the insurance for those who are already residing in Thailand.

I assume they don't have an accurate record of their population, but it seems kind of weird to not acknowledge this in some way.

Interesting. And you accumulated them while teaching English in Thailand? If I have the numbers right, you started when you were 24. Did you just work as many hours as you could? Or was there some external source of money, inheritance, etc.?

I see. In that case, I suppose rather than saying "Vietnam era GI’s leaving a “legacy of sex culture”", which implies that a sex culture which wasn't present before was created and left by the GIs, Chuwit should have said something along the lines of "Vietnam era GIs left a new kind of sex culture aimed at foreign clientele in the form of Ap-Op-Nuat (or soapy massage)", which would clearly explain that GIs did not create a sex culture, rather they prompted a change in what was already there. Probably Chuwit couldn't put it like that, as he has to toe the line and effectively deny the long established sex industry that caters to Thai men. Easy to see how people would end up objecting to the content of the article in these circumstances.

In what world is a guy saying that foreigners left a legacy of sex culture not a Thai person blaming foreigners for said sex culture? Anyone who objected the contents of that "article" was quite right to. It was a blatant lie. If anyone is imagining anything or overreacting, it's you.

How were you planning to fund your retirement?

Russel Crowe is a good actor and has been in some amazing films, a few are my personal favorites. He's clearly enjoying his time in Thailand, which is great to see. The police officer did a really great thing and dealt with the situation he found himself in a very positive and peaceful way. Two decent chaps enjoying a pleasant moment together. I'm enjoying seeing/hearing about Crowe's time in Thailand. It seems, to me, to be a generally positive thing. It feels like maybe people have become a little entrenched in the doom and gloom of the last couple of years. Maybe it's a good time to stop, take a step back, look around, and smell the roses. Life moves pretty fast, or so I'm told.

Quite a sad indictment of the Thai education system. In the West, although things are getting a little silly these days, it's not unusual to find an academic giving sound advice, choosing to focus on the real root of the problem without any kind of scheming or self-promotion, simply the desire to help society improve. Here we have someone who claims to be educated, who probably wants to be seen as working for the betterment of his society, yet through either ignorance or malice (neither are acceptable given his position), ignores pretty much the main reason for the high number of deaths on Thai roads; the way Thai people drive.

If that's your stance, go for it. Personally, I see a difference in behavior, values, beliefs, culture, social rules, and so on, but perhaps I'm overthinking it.

Are you suggesting there is little difference between the behavior of people in SEA and in the West?