Richb2004v2

When I first came I never stood at the first couple of movies I went to see, but I soon started to comply. I believe in individuality and find it hard to accept that an informed public would all think exactly the same way and do the same thing. I don't think it is at all healthy.

Rich.

In the context of this thread, your comments are the very definition of racism.

Do you think? Well they weren't intended to be. I think that in most comparisons there will be something that comes out on top. It's not often that you can say two things are exactly equal. In my opinion in this case the Uk is in almost ever way, and certainly overall, better than Thailand. To me it's clear cut. Ask me which is better between Germany and the Uk, or Canada and the Uk and I would not be able to answer because the difference I believe is not enough. Similarly ask me which is better between Thailand and India or Thailand and The Philippines and I would not be able to answer because they are on a similar level. I think the debate over these comparisons is valid and healthy and can be argued both ways convincingly. I realize that 'better' is a little vague.

I don't think my car comparison or analogy was that far out in my opinion.

I've been in contact with Libyans since it started. For the first week or so they complained at 'the shame of the west' for doing nothing. It was all the fault of the west. Then a week or so later when noises were being made by the west to take action their noise changed to 'we don't want the west to come and take our oil. They will come only for the oil!'.

Personally I understand why there is intervention, but my experience of Libya and Libyans says it's better to leave them to it.

It's a little like comparing a 1980's Skoda to a current BMW. There will be some folk that for personal reasons prefer the Skoda, which is fair enough, but to argue it is better then the BMW is surely delusional.

No, it's the ignorant bigots like you who are deluded.

Right. So, to you everything is equal is it? All things are equal are they? Nothing is better than anything else right? Or is it that we are not permitted opinion? What is it that qualifies me as a bigot? Is it my opinion that a developed European country like the Uk is generally better than a developing country like Thailand? Have I really stretched my reasoning so far?

FWIW: I go to the cinema quite a lot and I've got no hesitation in kicking the backs of the theatre chairs foreigners were sitting in and tellin' 'em to stand up for the Royal Anthem, but that's just me.

You must be a real swell guy.

Already back to over 30C in Bangkok

It was nice while it lasted, be able to walk a couple miles without sweating while breathing nice air

Yes, it was nice. Now back to dripping sweat, four showers a day and feeling generally uncomfortable. I am told that the good weather should be back tomorrow though.

The colonel has not allowed any kind of opposition in his 42 year rule. He has suppressed his people whilst cleverly ensuring that they do at least have money for cars and houses. In Feb the people came out to demonstrate and he attempted to suppress them again. Maybe if he has been a little more flexible over the years this may not be happening. Many people here are like the Libyans themselves. If the west does nothing they will be up in arms, but if the west does take action again they are up in arms.

Surely when one man takes control of a country and then starts killing it's people for complaining outside help is needed.

The reason that he has recently been tolerated and even courted is because his compliance is far better than having him as he once was, funding every terrorist organization and trying to arm himself with all manner of weapons. It was the lesser of two evils. Had Saddam taken the same route as he did he would have got the same treatment. Better a calm and controlled mad man than a loose nutcase.

Some are trying to turn the 'supermoon' into a story linking it to the recent earthquake in Japan. It is nonsense. You can find information on it here:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/11/no-the-supermoon-didnt-cause-the-japanese-earthquake/

My 6 year old desk top was the same. It was slow in every way. Slow to open things, slow to start, slow to switch from one thing to another. I tried cleaning it and removing things, as well as virus and malware checks but nothing made a difference. In the end I put Linux Mint on it a few days ago as a dual boot. With Mint everything works without slowdown. I have no idea why but will no longer bother booting into Xp unless I have to.

What ever happens many of the Libyan people will simply blame everyone else if there is a bad outcome. If there is no intervention they will blame the west. If the west intervenes they will complain afterwards no matter that the result.

The double of a Shogun and Cro Cop win would be brilliant. If Cro Cop loses he has to cal it a day I think.

I've no shame in admitting that I'm not very smart about a lot of things. Simply one of my flaws.

I have learned through the years to avoid situations were it would be costly.

I don't think were born equally, by no means.

But I do question stats from three sources. Wikipedia, NGO's, and Thaivisa.

Last night my BIL fixed an irrigation pipe at my home with a cigarette lighter, while we were drinking. I don't know about intelligent, but it sure was cool.

Have you been out this morning. You better go and check. You'll probably find it has dropped off and is laying on the floor.

Outside stalls, but with more than adequate cover. The car wash places were also completely covered and it had stopped raining when I was there. I'm not talking about heavy monsoon rain, I mean light spots.

I guess that to Thais a light rain is the equivalent of it being 0'c in the Uk. When it's like that people do tend to avoid going out.

I remember when my wife first went to the Uk as soon as it rained she ran for the nearest cover, even if it was very light rain. She was convinced that rain made her sick. It took a lot of time to convince her it wouldn't. A Thai colleague that visited the Uk was the same. Who knows, maybe rain does somehow make them ill, after all we are not all the same.

The leaves on line problem is not just confined to the Uk. It effects rail lines all over the world in the exact same way. It sounds preposterous and was picked up by the media, but it is a real problem.

It could be possible that we are only picking up and remembering the negative stories and accounts. I don't know. Maybe people only relate the bad experiences.

Of ten hospital visits I can remember four of them were bad experiences, including an almost serious incident when my wife was giving birth.

I'll be downloading it on Sunday evening and watching it with the wife as usual.

I took a K1 DVD into my old Thai owned gym and put it on. They were very much interested in watching until Baekow got beat, then they completely lost interest. I took a UFC/Pride DVD in and they had no interest once it went to the ground.

I hope that Shogun knocks Jones out as early as possible, but that doesn't mean I think he will.

It's always surprised me how everything grinds to a halt out here with a bit of rain.

In the UK, it sometimes rains constantly. The rain in the UK is cold as well, not like taking a warm shower as it is in Thailand. Yet we just get on with it.

Why do the Thai's need to stop everything?

I think it's just about what's normal for the country.. Unlike the UK, Norway doesn't come to a grinding halt when it snows a little bit..

The Uk doesn't come to a halt when there is light snow. It comes to a halt when the roads are covered and the councils fail to clear it. As a consequence people can not safely or easily drive or walk around in it. It becomes an actual impediment to travel. There is nothing the Thai government can do about light rain as, light rain is not an impediment to anything. There is a big difference. If the Thai streets were flooded then that would be a similar comparison to heavy snow in the Uk.

Warpspeed's avatar is very current, the incident happened in a Sydney school a couple of days ago.

The kid who was thrown to the ground, breaking his ankle, was the agressor.

He landed half a dozen punches before the bigger kid lost it and showed what can happen to a bully.

It's the subject of much media debate in Australia about school bullying.

That's a quite sickening clip. You can see the kid move at the end otherwise I'd have assumed he was a gonner. I'll search it now.

It seems to have been raining for longer periods that usual recently. Instead of half hour showers or downpours we seem to have constant light rain for hours at a time. During this I've noticed that many small shops simply shut down and go home whilst it rains. Today we found our usual noodle shop was shut, a shop outside the bank we use was shut, and a Hoi Tod stall we use was also shut. Last week I went to get my car washed. It had been raining but stopped. Both the car wash places were shut due to rain. I also went to a photograph shop and commented to the shop keeper about how nice and cool it was. He said it was bad for him as he had no customers all day because of the rain! The positive side is that the roads are also often deserted when it rains. Plus we went to Tesco and it was almost empty, which is great. It's not like it's a flood, or even heavy rain, it's just light constant rain. I sometimes wonder if they aren't part Gremlin.

If only it were like this all the time. Well, maybe a little warmer.

Congrats mate.

Approx. 3 years ago after numerous tests in the Bangkok/Pattaya hospital the Doctor came to the conclusion that my wife could not have children 100%, but, if I paid xxx,000 Baht they might be able to make it possible, maybe! Anyway we accepted that no children were going to be in our lives and we moved on in life. Two months later we were back in the hospital for a pregnancy test which turned out to be positive. Three years later we now have two lovely daughters.

It's pure business in alot of these private hospitals

I've had my fair share of bad experiences here in hospitals, and I don't mean government ones. I also accept that any doctor anywhere can make a mistake but the majority of incidents with myself and friends here are bad (but not all of course). The worst being a friends young wife who was told she needed an operation immediately which would unfortunately result in her no longer being able to have children. That was a government hospital. She got a second opinion, which was negative for the problem. That was over three years ago and nothing has surfaced.

I am always puzzled by people that claim the health system here is one of the bonuses of living in Thailand. I can only assume they mean that there are dozens and dozens of nurses wandering around in each ward.

I am Thai and join today and feel bad as i dont know so many farang hate Thailand and speak about us so bad I am shocked

when i see farang they seem nice and dont feel liek this

I think most foreigners don't hate Thailand and those who do just hate being ripped off. However there are plenty of things wrong in your country and foreigners often dont sugar coat their opinions as most Thais do. We come from a place where it is ok to criticize things.

Lack of criticism and complaint is at the root of many problems in Thailand I feel. Many of the annoying problems for me in Thailand could all be rectified so easily and with little expense. That is what is so distracting. However as Thais are adverse to complaining and raising their voices as well as taking advise nothing ever improves. They continue to carry out tasks badly year in year out, even when it is obvious to most westerners that there are much better ways of doing things. Thais don't go out of their way to drive me mad, even though it sometimes feels that way, it's just that they don't know any better. In the west if a guy is doing a job badly or giving bad service they soon end up out of work. Here because no one will complain that guy can continue doing the exact same bad job for years to come.

This morning I had a really cold shower...and I didn't even need one!!!

Those electric shower heaters just don't cut the mustard compared to a gas water heater...when the weather turns cold.

Still, compared to the regular routine of sweating, I'd take this alternative any day...

My electric shower has always worked well, in a Thai fashion. It's automatic. When it's hot out I get hot water and on the rare occasion it's cold I get cold water. What more could I ask for a shower in Thailand.

Ok, sorry about that.

I'm not sure where he lived, but it was a condo in Jomtien. I think is was a bar in Soi 6 that he was talking about.

He was a nice guy. We used to meet every other week at Soi 13 Sportmens Bar when ever we were here at the same time. I'll miss those afternoons. He was only 44 years old. I'm trying to find out what might have driven him to this. I've a feeling it may have been a terminal illness.

If anyone knew him or thinks they knew him and talking to him anytime last year please PM me. He told me he used to drink in what he called 'The Windmill Bar' in Jomtien. I don't know if that's the real name of the bar or where it it unfortunately. He mentioned 'Cheap Charlies' too but again I don't know if that's an actual bar.

It would be easier if I gave his name I guess, but I'm not sure if that's permitted. His christian name was John anyway, and he was from Manchester.

Thanks.

I was surprised to wake up today and actually feel cold in bed, without even having the AC or fan on. This is the first time I've felt cool or almost cold in Thailand in probably four years. It is such a pleasant change from constant humidity and heat. It also rained most of yesterday which is a little unusual. I wonder if other parts of Thailand are experiencing the same conditions.