Walker88

Quite the topic ! Morals are a terrible thing to waste....or impose. It is sometimes difficult to grasp what is behind some of the rules in Thailand. Obviously they can do what they want, but an outsider could never objectively deduce what the law might be. For example, no booze on Buddha Days (because of some false piety), but selling and smoking weed is okay. Much of what passes as faith-based culture has absolutely nothing to do with the dominant faith, but are merely vestiges of the much older paganism. Again, it's their country so they can do as they please. I think some of the rules exist simply because those with authority like to act with authority. What's the point of having power if you cannot use it to inconvenience or control people every once in a while? I also think it allows people who might know deep down they are immoral to do something that allows them to feel moral. So they might accept all sorts of bribes, but if they prevent the plebes from drinking on certain days, they make merit that erases their corruption, kind of like releasing fish someone has captured just so another can release them for 'merit'. Maybe it's all some sort of acid-base relationship, where immorality and merit mix to become neutral. Or it's like buying carbon offsets after you fly private. Finally, I think a life without vices is a life poorly lived. Vices are the spice of life. Living the straight and narrow from cradle to grave not only wins you no points, it is likely boring. Pick your poison, or perhaps multiple poisons. For some it's alcohol. For others, weed. Or cigarettes. Or frequent sex. Maybe unprotected sex. Maybe gambling. I'm sure there are others. I believe we all need at least one vice. Personally, I enjoy a nice wine with the right meal, or a cold beer on a hot day. I'm not into excess, but neither am I a fan of total abstinence. I also rather enjoy a romp in the hay, albeit protected against the often associated maladies. Could I do without those two? Sure, but why should I? It would lessen my enjoyment of life and offer absolutely nothing in return.

You haven't kept up with advances in physics and quantum field theory. No need for any god nor any creator. Disparage 'tHe sCiEnCe(TM)', and you might as well go back to bloodletting to cure disease and believing the Earth is the center of the Universe. I guess it's a 'blessing' of sorts that the math and physics is so complicated that Flat Earth equivalents will never get their heads around it. It likely would scare them. Listen to a few talks by Neil Gershenfeld or Nima Arkani-Hamed. If you can follow it, you will begin to see the truly bizarre nature that reality is. Infinitely more interesting than virgin births, walking on water, or loaves of bread and fish feeding the many. Those are silly parlor tricks compared to what really is.

Do you have a degree in biochemistry or neurology? How about cosmology or particle physics. Quantum Field Theory? (I have one of those.) You would find your evidence there, though for some people it might be disconcerting.. The Earth is not flat. Lots of folks 'knew' it was before the theory of gravity was put forth. I guess it's fortunate that believers can take their faith into non-existence and never have to face reality. The irony is that reality is far more interesting than any faith or belief system in such things as consciousness independent of physical structure.

Evidence? ALL evidence suggests you get one shot at existence....and then....a return to eternal nothingness. There is a sum total of zero evidence that there is any other end. There's just wishful thinking by some. You are your neurons and synapses and charged ions floating across the synapse. Your 'consciousness' exists only so long as all the parts are together and working in unison. Once they stop functioning, all that your were is gone for eternity. If I take the circuit boards out of my computer, then sandpaper the hard drive, nothing I stored on the machine is retrievable. Same with consciousness. It ceases to exist, because the physical package that it was is destroyed. That makes this brief period of existence so precious. I suppose some people are comforted thinking that even a person suffering dementia or Alzheimers, who has essentially disappeared---or the 'personality' they had disappears, before the other organs of the body cease to function---all of a sudden becomes cognizant and all-knowing in the instant of death, then comes back as a stand-up comedian or cockroach or amoeba, albeit with no 'memory' of the women he schtupped during his last iteration or what he had for breakfast last Tuesday.

Eternal nothingness. Entropy wins. The trillions of molecules that were "me" get redistributed into the environment. What atoms, molecules, neurons, synapses, ions and chemicals that were temporarily my 'consciousness' go on to become trees or rocks or are contained in someone's glass of water or are part of the atmosphere. 70 or so years after I'm gone, when anyone who ever knew me is also gone, I will be totally forgotten, as if I never even existed. When the sun goes supernova, or if it's too small to supernova and just burns out, some black hole will suck all that was Earth and this solar system, and do whatever it is black holes do with what they've reduced to a singularity. Ceasing to exist for all eternity will bother me as much as not existing for - infinity until my awareness of self arose bothered me. While I exist, however, I'm going to enjoy it....because I can.

"Now that I am 71, do you think I still have what it takes to satisfy a woman of 43?" A profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed, luckily I was able to interpret these feelings correctly: loss of essence …I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women, ah, women sense my power, and seek the life essence….I do not avoid women, Mandrake, but I do deny them my essence

I think that data was heavily influenced by Josef Stalin and Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Gotta love Gershwin. Blue, because of censorship, but who thinks that ending coda is anything less than an orgasm? I would suggest for Gamma's mood music (to get that <43 Thai woman frisky), he try Miles Davis' "Tutu". "So What" might be superior, but for a Thai woman one should make a small concession for funk. And since Miles didn't like to use it, Gamma can provide his own vibrato.

On the contrary, I always found the outfits quite attractive. Every so often I stop in the Hooters on Soi 4 in BKK, and I decided that if I ever become a deity, my paradise is going to have women in those orange hot pants. They seem to bring out the absolute best in a woman's asstributes. The staff turnover in Hooters Soi 4 is massive, but they always seem to find women who do those hot pants proud. I dated a woman for a while who won a Ms Hooter's Thailand Bikini Contest. Lovely assets.

Look to the work of Drs Andrew Huberman, Andy Galpin, Don Layman and Peter Attia. Their recommendations are for 1.6 to 2 gm per kg of total body weight. They also recommend animal or whey protein, not just plant protein, as animal/whey is more accessible and has the key amino acid of leucine. All state that because muscle mass and strength correlate with lower levels of all cause mortality, and as one ages protein utilization is less efficient, more protein is needed to maintain muscle mass.

Don't give up on the weights. Strength is highly correlated to lower all cause mortality. Here's a few suggestions: ----More protein. At your age you can process protein with about 30% of the efficiency you could at 25, so take in more protein to overcome the inefficiency. New guidelines from exercise research scientists suggest 1.6gm/kg of body weight per day, up to even 2 gm/kg. You can utilize obn;y about 40 gm of protein in an hour period, so spread out over several meals. Don't worry about activating mTor, because amino acids stay in the blood for less than an hour, so from dinner to tomorrow's breakfast, mTor is turned off. ---Take collagen peptide supplements or powder. You produce about a quarter of the collagen you did at age 20. You need collagen for your joints, tendons and skin. Mix 15-25 grams of it into a protein drink daily. ---Take creatine monohydrate supplements, about 5 gm daily. Not only does it help with energy for muscle growth, it appears to have cognitive benefits as well ---Carbs after a workout, along with more protein. The anti-carb crusade might be useful if you're fat, but carbs are needed if you're athletic and exercising heavily ---Mg has already been mentioned ---Omega-3 supplements...take about 1 gm of a combo of DHA and EPA Omega-3 daily ---For cardio, use a bike rather than running. Each step put 3x your body weight on your knees; running puts 8x body weight on your knees. Knees are not indestructible.

Actually, it's borne out in research, I think some by E.O. Wilson, the father of Sociobiology I read an article about that a few years ago, and it became additional motivation to stay in shape, so when I reach older age I might still be appealing.

Up until very recently, and in some places still today, none of what you mention is available. Consider rural Niger. Or Mali, Chad, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not much Viagra there, nor condoms, nor drugs to treat STDs. Also, most days are spent finding the day's calories. Everybody is tired, but the men still find a way to boom boom, as these nations have the highest fertility rates in the world. Unlikely there is a whole lot of romance involved. Daddy just sticks it in and finishes while Mom just wants to sleep. The other kids in the room sleep through it. The world actually has less sex now than in the past. (Personally, I try to maintain the higher averages, but I can't do it alone.)

She has a Hobson's choice of letting her family down, or doing whatever she can to provide for her child. I am not qualified to look down on what she does, because I never faced anything close to that. I could also be open to falling in love with her if she had qualities I admire. What she did to make ends meet is not for me to judge. What I can judge is how she relates to me, the character and traits she has that appeal to me, and how we get along. I wouldn't close the door on a woman simply because of her background. As I wrote earlier, I am not a virgin, and sometimes I have engaged in non-paid sex simply because I was in the mood for sex. I do not consider that sort of sex in any way morally superior to a woman who seeks money to take care of her child.

Many young women are attracted to considerably older men, and it's not just because of the Electra Complex. Instinct is sometimes at play. A very fit and healthy older man is suggestive of a strong genetic makeup, and women seek a partner with strong genes to mate, as that gives her offspring the best chance at survival. Money might be important, but for this instinctual drive, only in the sense that a man generally needs to be skilled/bright/ambitious/etc. to be wealthy, and intelligence is something indicative of a good genetic makeup. For men who enjoy the company of young women, there is no better incentive to be in shape and stay in shape as one ages. If you're in your 30s or 40s, get that gym membership now and use it. Work hard and make a lot of money, too. That might allow you to be a stud muffin into your 50s and even 60s.

I wonder if you understand the economics of being a bargirl. Many were pregnant at 15-16, their baby daddy did a runner, and they were forced to leave school because their condition would be 'confusing'. Without the HS degree---as useless as it is---they can't even get a cashier job in 7-11 or a product stacker at Big C. Their child is likely with a relative, that relative cannot work due to child care, so the onus is on the young woman. Maybe she can get a waitress job and make 10K baht a month, or if she's really lucky, a factory job that pays 9K a month with a chance for OT. That money isn't going to pay for her flat (if she has left job-starved Isaan), her food, her transportation, her grooming products, plus leave her enough to remit to her mom or grandma who is looking after her little bundle of joy. Maybe the young woman is 'cursed' with good looks. That opens up a job where nobody cares if she can even read, much less have a HS diploma. Suddenly she is making 100K baht a month, maybe more. I know I lack the 'integrity' to walk away from that and go back to Isaan to pick rice for 250 baht a day, though I never had to make such a choice. If you never had to make that choice, then you have no clue which path you would choose, so saying a young woman 'took the easy way' is sanctimony born from ignorance.

Since I'm a gym rat and quite rich, I can have as a goal a similar age gap to what I occasionally see now.... ....and if anyone thinks it's wrong, well...the f-word them. Before I get placed into the box or get poured into the urn, I'm going to enjoy life to the fullest. Any critics I might have are also going to get placed in the box or poured into the urn, albeit they will not have had 1% of the enjoyment I have had.

Not in Pattaya, but in Bangkok I've seen very fit and well-kept older foreign gentlemen walking or dining with lovely, early-20s Thai women. Age gap could be 40 years. Sometimes it looks rather elegant. The two seem....what's the word....happy. Life could be worse...for both of them.

Funny you should mention that. I recently met a 'bargirl' from Isaan. As is often the case, she once became pregnant, and the Thai baby daddy did a runner. She chose to bring the child to term. She has accounting qualifications, but her job did not earn her enough to take care of the child, the grandmother looking after the child, and fund the law education of a very clever sister. This woman's parents did a runner when my friend was about 3, leaving her and the sister with a granny. Yes, typical Isaan story. She had much to overcome just to get where she is now. My friend is a skilled artist and has a great deal of knowledge re art, both Eastern and Western (self taught....isn't the internet wonderful !). She is skilled in Thai dance, which may not be the Bolshoi, but it is lovely and culturally significant. She is a fan of jazz, and has an unusual play list on her phone. She is beginning to study jazz piano. She can cook Japanese food, and knows the difference between shiso and mitsuba. She's 21. Maybe not a typical Isaan woman, but she's proof they are not all cut from the same cloth. Can she do algebraic topology or discuss the Chern-Simons Form? No. Does she know what the War of Jenkins Ear was all about? No. What she is, however, is a heck of a lot brighter and far more curious than the average expat I meet here, albeit lacking a rigorous education that probably flew right over the typical expat's head. The intellect and the curiosity are there, so for the right guy, she could make a wife every bit as good as any common Russian woman raised in the Putin dictatorship. Do you think Dan and his Russian wife discuss the phrasing of a Borodin symphony over dinner? I'm guessing 'no'. When one wonders what a Western expat would have in common with an Isaan bargirl, I might ask what any Westerner has in common with any Thai, or even why any Westerner would choose to live in Thailand, since Thai and Western culture and ways of thinking are so different. Do we have anything in common? People find reasons to like things that are so different from what they know.

But they might marry a man who treats them as an equal human being, worthy of basic respect and to be afforded dignity. I spent many years using my own money to spot micro loans to people with ideas, ambition, a solid work ethic, but who had no access to capital. It might surprise you that even 'bargirls' often have ideas and good business sense, and merely need a chance to show what they can do. Some bargirls, perhaps through their work, have incredible people skills, which go a long way to making a start-up business successful. Most of the people I funded were not bargirls, but some were, and many came from families where an older sister or two worked the bars. To overlook a woman simply because of a job she does or once did is to miss opportunity. It takes effort and an open mind to help level a very unfair world playing field. As for 'creepy sex tourist', I wonder how that is defined, since your comments suggest you have 'played the field' while in Thailand. What makes you NOT creepy?

I see you believe you think you live on the Moral High Road and are a flawless judge of character and integrity. It smacks of false virtue and some Dunning-Kreuger to boot. While I am not married to a woman who chose to work in a bar, nothing would prevent me from doing so if I fell in love. I am not a virgin, and I do not expect any long term partner to be one. A woman might have engaged in sex for money; I have engaged in non-paid sex simply because I was feeling randy. I do not view my exploit in any way morally superior. Women choose to work a bar for many reasons. I did not live their life, so not only do I have no right to judge them, but I have no clue how I would behave under similar circumstances. You seem to think you are better than what you call 'hookers', but I suspect that is pure delusion on your part. Certainly the stridency with which you dismiss all women who worked bars suggests you believe yourself to be a superior being, but I wonder what proof you have of that. I suspect none; just a kind of Potemkin ego that life has never put to the test. I have known many women who worked bars at one time or another. I include some as good friends, and find them to be extremely kind, caring, and generous....exactly the kind of people who could make a wonderful life partner. I have also worked in fields where people had easy lives and who ended up making millions not so much due to talent, but more to an accident of birth. I include myself in that, as I entered this world with more advantage than 99.999% of all the humans who ever lived. I see zero difference in character or integrity between former multi-millionaire colleagues with elite educations and some of my friends who entered existence in rural Isaan, got pregnant at a tender age, were forced to leave school, and who had precious few options other than find work in a bar. Without a HS degree, even 7-11 cashier is out of reach. I can judge such a person ? What makes me---or you---so superior than we can look down our noses? In every sphere of human existence there are good people and bad people. That includes women who worked bars. I might even think that someone who has experienced great difficulty in life, yet who is still kind and caring, may be a morally superior person. Goodness is a choice. As for what other people might think if I married a former bargirl? What do I care what others think if I am happy? Who are they to judge me? How has their supposed superior morality evidenced itself in making the world a better place? If it is just about 'face', that is a meaningless concept in my world. Anyone who looks askance at me is going to end up worm food in a short while anyway, and for the rest of eternity their sanctimonious opinion means exactly nothing.

To be fair to trump, his paramours did get a lot of magazine covers, so there's that.

It's at least sexual assault. Plus, he was a deadbeat dad. Never could figure why a supposedly omnipotent being would 'create' a Universe of 200 billion galaxies, each with up to a trillion stars, most of which have planets revolving around them, just so he could knock up a female being on one planet in one part of a pedestrian galaxy.....all somehow part of a bizarre initiation ceremony to get one species of being on that one planet into some celestial country club. Oh, and this omnipotent being has no problem whatsoever with slavery, and even told one of his early Guys with the Red Phoneline (Moses) how husbands/significant others could and should abort fetuses if they suspect the wife had dallied (albeit NOT with said omnipotent being, Joey, so get thee to Bethlehem in December). Is the explanation for all of this in those schoolbooks just after the denial of evolution?

Not quite sure what that means. Do we get bonus points on our last day if we avoided bars, nightclubs, agogos, etc.? Can we cash those points in somewhere for 'valuable prizes'? Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, and the only thing that matters is if one enjoyed the interim. For some people that might be bars. It might be going through a large library of books. It could even be agogos. For the remainder of eternity it will make no difference how one spent this brief existence. Do whatever pleases you. It was Somerset Maugham who said he had met many men who lived the straight and narrow, and at their end had regrets they hadn't let loose more, but Maugham claimed he never met anyone who had spent life sowing his wild oats who had any regrets at the end.

I'm lucky enough to fit that profile, and I'm quite happy right here. I have homes in other countries I now barely use. I do travel occasionally, but for the time being, Thailand is quite pleasant. It has yet to exhaust its appeal. I'm not old enough to have health issues, and I work my butt off staying in shape, so ideally I'll be late entering the Death Zone. All I would like is more time to enjoy, and nobody gets that. Now if the question was you could go back to age 25, albeit with all your current wealth, then.....Oh boy !!!!!