cdemundo

You points are well taken but... "Basically, no Thais use bicycles " This depends on where you live I think. I see a dozen riders a day in the hour that I am taking a walk. Not the lycra crowd, old beater bikes that the lycra crowd wouldn't be caught dead on. Among them are two young ladies who apparently work together, wear same uniform and ride one-handed holding umbrellas for sun protection, like something out of a Thai Mary Poppins. Some of these bikes gotta be 40 years old with big old fenders on them and kickstands and baskets etc. But my neighborhood doesn't have much traffic and the Thai authorities (who ever they are) have blessed our neighborhood with many speed bumps so motorized vehicles go slow.

Before I moved here I watched some of the "10 best tips for living in Thailand" videos. Many had the advice, "Don't get in a fight in a bar". That would signal time to quit the video as it made me think the presenter was an idiot or his target audience was idiots. Who needs to be told not to get in a fight in a bar?

Whenever this topic comes up it seems like those that don't tip are angry at those who do tip and resentful of and insulting to the service workers who they don't tip. I don't get the reason for that.

I tip the parking lot attendants that flag me a taxi at the grocery store 40 baht. Working near the market I shop for some groceries almost every day. I can sit at the store entrance and they walk across the parking lot to the street and get a taxi. I don't know if everybody tips them but it's worth it to me. They seem to appreciate it.

Sadly, there is no unambiguous yawn emoji, so lacking that: "Yawn".

"But who the hell is confused by a post or reads something fact based and responds with a sad emoji?" This is what's known as "asking for it". So expect sads and confuseds on your future posts.

Can't blame the guy for trying to fit in.

I think that recent discussions where some members made it clear that confused and sad emojis upset them has led to a lot more confused and sad emojis being posted. I know i post more of them since knowing that they bug some people.

Hard to tell when someone is being ironic here because of the crazy opinions expressed by some.

"Who worries what kind of job a person they want to hire has done in the past. " Uh, everyone. (Hard to tell when someone is being ironic here because of the crazy opinions expressed by some.)

Right, professional historians, what do they know?

"Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more bu·reau·crat·ese /byo͝oˌräkrəˈtēz,ˌbyo͝orəˌkradˈēz/ noun a style of speech or writing characterized by jargon, euphemism, and abstractions, held to be typical of bureaucrats." So i guess your Google is different from my Google. This was at the top of the page but there was a pageful of references to this word. Mysterious why your search would have none.

I live in an affluent suburb of Bangkok. There is a much used walking path (really a low traffic loop of city streets) very near to where I live. I walk there several times a week. Maybe half of the walkers say hello. About a third of them introduce themselves, ask my name, ask after my well-being etc. In general they chat and joke with me as far as their English proficiency allows. There are some who I thought standoffish until I said hi to them first and then they turned out to be friendly. These are largely retired folks and from all appearances well-to-do if not wealthy. There is only one out of about 30 regular walkers who seems to feel superior (at least it seems that way). These are people who could easily look down on me as a foreigner, they may not be HI-SO but they are definitely not low status individuals. So my thinking is that just like anywhere, xenophobia, snobbishness, and maybe just a desire to be left alone exist but are certainly not universal among Thais.

Best said by Marlon Brando in "On The Waterfront" many years ago when he called a priest a "gravy train rider with a turned around collar". Beats working if you have no self-respect i guess.

Gambling addiction is terrible. One big problem is that after a loss the gambler thinks "I gotta go win that back!". Not like the drunk who feels sick as hell and briefly says "I'll never do that again". Maybe gives a window to kick the habit.

"Distance between Edmonton, Canada and the Arctic Circle 1448 km = 900 miles" https://dateandtime.info/distancearcticcircle.php?id=5946768 Close to points of interest. A weekend trip by snowmobile.

and there is no "ignore" button.

Right, "it's the principle of the thing" the cry of the pig-headed around the world.

"Don't you understand? It's the principle of the thing!" Always idiotic thinking, as you said, what did he think was gonna happen?

That's what's important in this discussion?

Right, how smart (or dumb) is the average American? Half of them are dumber than that.

Steve Earle does Bob Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee".

Miley Cyrus covers a Bobsong.

sounds like a lot of posters here.

Uhmm, need to make a video, I can't visualize what you are describing.