Walker88

The vast majority of tatts are 'art' like tigers painted on black velvet or dogs playing poker are art, despite coming 'a loooooong way'. They aren't the Pieta. What makes true art special is its uniqueness as well as the skill involved in imagining/creating it. There was one Michelangelo; within a ten minute walk from my condo there are twenty tatt shops, all producing the same banal stuff. Also, get tired of a painting and one can simply remove it. Tatts, or their scars, are forever. Yes, to each his own. I suspect lots of folks got caught in the fad and will come to wish they never inked up once the fad goes away or the person ages and the tatt migrates due to sagging skin. Now seeing that the inking itself is carcinogenic just makes it worse. Is a fad worth dying for? Maybe for some it is.

While I don't eat bacon, those who do benefit because of the protein. Tatts are useless, so it is jumping on fad or fashion for something of zero biological benefit but perhaps with a severe cost.. Like smoking, it's an unnecessary thing that involved some sort of discomfort just to acquire something---tatt or tobacco addiction---that can kill you. It epitomizes human idiocy. Darwin smiles. Someone who might develop a fatal cancer can look at himself and say, "Well, my tribal tattoo made me look like a bad man, so it was worth it".

It's a fad now. Just because a Bronze Age guy had one doesn't make them special. He also likely believed in bloodletting. He had no access to medical journals or NIH publications, so most of what he did stemmed from abject ignorance and superstition.

And having the heart pulled out of your 6 year old daughter had religious and spiritual significance to Aztecs. Gods, however, are a foolish superstition, so whatever done on 'their' behalf is a colossal waste of time and effort, and offers nothing except it feeds silly beliefs. Tattoos are absolutely a fad in most societies now, far removed even from their superstition. Ten years ago, few Thai women had tatts. Maybe some had the usual left shoulder tatt, but most had clean skin. That they don't now = fad. Fads, die off. In five years people will be embarrassed that got Maori warrior tatts or tribal tatts, of "F U" tatts.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/study-finds-almost-half-tattoo-040222632.html The article notes that some of the pigments or solutions used in creating tattoos can be broken down by bacteria or UV light into carcinogenic compounds, and also some particles in the ink can be small enough to migrate into cell nuclei and lead to cancer-causing genetic mutations.. How anyone would think injected dye into the skin might not cause some sort of issue is more of a surprise than this new research. Is that 'special memory' injected into one's body worth dying for? Admittedly I am not a fan of tatts....not on me, not on anyone. I understand tatts have joined politics and religion as topics not to be discussed in polite company, but an anonymous forum doesn't necessarily qualify as polite. It is a place for opinion, and while I appreciate people will have differing opinions, this is mine. Others can add their opinion, and a discussion results. While 'some of my best friends' have tatts, I do not think anyone ever looks better with a tattoo. I know for some cultures they have religious significance, but there was a time when sacrificing one's young virgin daughter to some god had religious significance. That doesn't make it special and being opposed to such a thing doesn't make me culturally insensitive. Tatts in the West were once a fringe thing. When a fringe practice becomes mainstream, the word for it is 'fad', and fads have a shelf life. Unfortunately, tatts do not. A mullet or a mohawk can be cut when the owner decides the fad is dead, but tatts are forever. At best one will have a scar if later someone decides they no longer like it. At worst, the tatt causes cancer, which is a high price to pay for a fad. (Aside, I see lots of elderly expats now sporting tatts, and because of the style, I know the tatts are new. A guy who wants to look like a warrior or a 'bad boy' would be better off cutting back on the beer and hitting the gym than getting inked like a Maori. Tatts, and maybe a "man bun" on old expats might be the midlife crisis for guys who cannot afford a Porsche.) I appreciate many wonderful Thai women have tatts. My opinion is every last one of them would look better absent the tatts, but of course I wouldn't hold a tatt against a woman, especially if she was willing to hold it against me. Their body, their choice. Still, I guess I am more in line with ancient Greeks who believed tattoos were a sin against the gods for defiling the beauty the gods gave a person. Toss in this new medical news about carcinogenic ink and perhaps the fad finally goes the way of the mullet. Also, while tatts might have become somewhat mainstream, at least for a while longer, most of Thai society still looks down on them (despite one really famous person with an almost entirely tattooed body). Have the tatts often associated with bargirls, and one is not going to get hired by a bank or anywhere that tries to create an image of hi-so-ness. Fair? No, but it is what it is. Tatts limit options in Thai society. Per an earlier thread, tatts may not not equate with 'bad girl', but the more tatts one has often does equate to 'bargirl', and there may come a time when a woman might wish to erase that part of her past. Still, to each his or her own. Just know the risks----of being stamped with yesterday's fad or---according to this new research---a cancer victim.

I have noticed a lot of 'economic optimism' among those who have money and need to justify having money (IYKWIM). The problem is that such people become competition for real entrepreneurs who need to consider the bottom line. What often happens is the market gets over capacity, and businesses that are trying to survive actually running a business do not have a large enough customer base to survive. This type of situation isn't the only thing impacting Thai business currently, but it is important. Another issue is migration of FDI to neighboring countries as PP&E in Thailand comes to the end of its useful life. Vietnam is opening its doors and offering incentives. Over the next few years, absent better leaders in Thailand who understand these trends, UE will take a hit, which has knock-off effects in consumer spending. Yet another issue is that Thailand's 'economic boom' from 2011 until Covid was almost exclusively debt-fueled. Bank lending, corporate bond issuance and household debt all increased at a multiple of GDP growth. (Thailand is hardly alone in this.....from 2016 to 2020 in the US Federal National Debt grew by more than $7 trillion while GDP grew less than half that). These separate issues---excess capacity, business migration, record debt levels---demand an innovative and expert response, which the current government seems incapable of delivering. There might even be brain drain if Thailand doesn't offer opportunity to its best and brightest. Thais are resourceful, so decline is not guaranteed, but it will take an integrated approach to solve, which will include tax incentives, better education, going after the corruption that skews wealth and indirectly leads to over capacity, and more judicious use of credit so that the banking system doesn't become more hobbled than the last decade has made it. This is more than 'brick and mortar', though the move to online shopping has added to the bad debt issue.

It's 2022. In case you missed it, it's long time past when anyone should grasp Stone Age superstition and idiocy promoted by people who didn't even know the Earth is round. Being 'stuck in Western thought' is another name for Reality. Adults live there. Even children eventually figure out Santa Claus isn't real. Time to throw away ghosts, demons, deities, magic and spells. Or you can engage in bloodletting and have a shaman read the entrails of a slaughtered pigeon under a blue moon while buck naked and high on kratom. One will begin to let you solve your problems, while the other will just let you sink deeper into the weeds. Up to you.

Well that's some serious generalizations ! What about beauty in the eye of...... never mind. And why are corrupt hi-so Thais superior to rural Isaan women? As for superiority and hierarchical social structure, anyone who feels superior to another simply by birth is, in my opinion, inferior by choice. I was born in a Western nation. Should I feel superior to all Thai people because not a single invention, discovery, or addition to the body of human knowledge has ever come out of Thailand, despite it always being in the top 25-30 of population size in the world? Or maybe I can't feel superior because I'm not Newton or Faraday or Maxwell or Kilby or Poincaire or Feynman. so no better nor worse than anyone anywhere? Maybe, just maybe, we would be wise to judge people by their character and kindness, not birth circumstances over which they had no control?

So what? I might date an accountant back home and run into a former boyfriend in a restaurant. Big deal. If I were in love, and she loved me back, I really couldn't care if I went to a football match and every single person in the stadium was a former barfiner. None of that affects what she and I feel for each other. Plus, I'm likely much better in the sack that anyone she ever met (what I really mean is that my ego isn't affected by what pleasure another man might have given her).

Should I ever choose to marry, I really don't care what work she might have done before, even if she worked in a bar. I'm not a virgin, and I would neither expect nor want a virgin for a wife. I had my share of virgins when I was 16, and I can say it was not the best sex I ever had. Do we get along? That is infinitely more important. Can we bridge the cultural gap? That would concern me more than how many partners she had, for pay or pleasure. If there is anything long term visitors or residents to Thailand come to understand, it is that being judgemental about sex is something best left to the gods, and I don't believe in gods. No one is hurt in a sexual assignation between consenting adults, so whether it was done for pleasure or profit is of no import, nor does it reflect negatively on the players. If two people fall in love, that is the only thing that matters. I've met couples here who have made it work. Given the odds of a successful marriage are not great anywhere, no more should be expected of a marriage between an expat and a former bargirl. That many of these marriages do work says no one should be hesitant if the mutual attraction/affection is there.

These self-appointed types have much in common besides self-importance and low IQs: they also think Mig-29s or submarines makes their junk bigger.

Well, the right certainly is funny. I mean they have this mendacious, bloated, obese, corrupt, fascist, racist, willfully ignorant orange-face clown and they equate him with every messiah every Bronze Age superstition has ever fabricated. That's pretty funny stuff.

Once you get the nightlife out of your system, it's all beaches and temples from there on out. Or so I've heard. I really truly want to reach that transcendent state where I no longer have desire, but I think I first have to be 100% certain I do not want anything like carnal pleasures. I mean, the gods no doubt want me to be sincere, and how will I know I don't want it if I haven't tried it?

I'll have a glass of that port, if you don't mind.

Given that there are a few folks here who do enjoy a good wine, there are a few major suppliers here who mostly sell to restaurants and hotels, but will sell to private customers if you buy sufficient quantity. They have excellent selections and---at least once clearing Customs---store the wine properly. Also, for folks living here, one can buy at a reasonable price a pretty good 'wine cellars' to hold wine at the proper temperature and humidity. Buy enough wine, and one not only gets the wholesale price, but also may get a discount of up to 20% for cash purchases. As I stated in an earlier post, the prices for medium and higher quality wines are not much different from the US, especially for Italian wines, since importers under declare or pay 'a little tribute'. The reason I wrote my first post in this thread is because I felt the article is wrong in that the duties Thailand imposes are less visible as one moves up the price point, owing to under declaration or tributes. Maybe European prices are better, but US prices for certain price points are no different than what I pay in Thailand, and since some readers here are from the US, that info may be of use. This is especially true of mid to higher priced Italian wines. Everyone has his or her own price point and taste. While some argue that few can tell the difference between plonk and something special, that is not always the case. It's funny that wine tends to bring out two extremes, while beer does not. People who are really particular about beer never get scolded by those who say few people can tell the difference between cheap beer and, say, a Belgian Trappist brew, but when it comes to wine many get their panties in a twist if someone dares to enjoy a good Barolo or Brunello and can tell it from plonk. Folks are quick to criticize US beer (based on a long ago time when the choices were Bud, Miller and Schlitz vs today when the typical liquor store has 5000 different microbrews) and say their German or Czech or Belgian is vastly superior, but anyone who chooses a decent wine is criticized as overspending for something he cannot actually appreciate. Drink enough wine and one can tell the difference and one gets accustomed to the good ones. One need not be a sommelier to tell good wine, just go through lots and lots of bottles. Maybe that's a curse and one is better off being pleased with plonk, but if folks can bark about their beer, why not wine?

There's a wide range of wine drinkers in Thailand, so I assume also on this site. The market here caters to all income ranges, and since the article is about excessive prices in Thailand, I noted that it depends on one's price point. Medium to higher price wines---at least Italian ones---are no higher in Thailand than the US. Nobody knows me, and never will, so if I'm 'showing off', it's for a crowd of 1. Drink whatever the eff you want.

Depending on the type of wine one drinks, prices are not necessarily higher in Thailand. I pay the same price in the US as I do in Thailand for specific wines like Le Volte (about $30/1100 baht) and il Bruciato (about the same). For Barolos and Barbarescos in the $50-100 range, prices are also about the same. Ditto for Super Toscanas For higher end Italian wines like Sassicaia and Solaia, Tignanello, Guado al Tasso and that ilk, prices are lower in Thailand than the US (because importers under declare the cost and most Customs officials are unfamiliar with these wines). if one buys in bulk, discounts are available from major importers. I enjoy a good wine with a meal, so I load up on favorites. Where the price impact is felt the most is with less expensive wines, as their price is low enough that true price is declared and the tax/duty is added on. The wines at Wine Connection tend to be cheap wines, so the full markup is felt in Thailand.

I can be convinced that inflation is just a temporary problem, and what is coming is the opposite: deflation. Perhaps even hyper-deflation. Here's why I might think this is the case: In most industrialized countries the fertility rate is tumbling. In South Korea it is .9, which means not even one half of a couple replaces itself. Population is becoming an inverted pyramid. That is going to be felt the most in fixed asset prices, particularly housing. Fewer people means less demand. Also, since so many seniors did not save well for retirement, reverse mortgages will fund their golden years. That means banks are going to be assuming lots of homes, and they will be trying to unload into a shrinking population. There is also excess productive capacity worldwide. China has added more steel production capacity since 2011 than existed on Earth before 2011...but there isn't another China to build to absorb all of that production. Plus, any new plant and equipment will utilize the latest technology, which means less human labor, which will eventually evidence itself in rising UE across the industrialized world. High UE impacts demand, which impacts prices. I agree that food and water will be a counteracting issue, but I think overall we're more likely to see deflation in the next 20 years. I end with a kind of Biblical quote that considers both sides of this issue, inflation or deflation? Assets to ashes or debts to dust......

So brain-addled has the repub cult become that the Senator older than Methusaleh (chuck grassley) actually claimed Biden was hiring IRS agents to lock and load their AR-15s to go to Iowa and shoot middle class taxpayers. If I give grassley the benefit of the doubt I would say his problem is Alzheimers. Truly, a sickness has taken over repubs. I think back to a patriotic and righteous repub Senator, Howard Baker, and wonder what he would think of the demise of his party.

Perhaps you are unaware of the US legal system, but NOBODY is above the law. NOBODY. That should be comforting, but for reasons that escape me, far too many people on the right think the US is, or should be, an autocracy. Long ago, when the US was being founded, there was a slogan that is as applicable today as it was in 1776: "We bow to no Earthly king" The Constitution, written by Madison and Jefferson, could have just piggybacked off the Magna Carta. Those men knew better. They knew the inherent evil of allowing anyone to be above the law. It is high time for repubs to re-learn the founding principles of the US.

I have been 100% accurate in detailing the process by which documents are declassified. The idiocy 45's cult tries to spout here, justifying 45's criminality, demands a response. Personal experience allows that. Believe what you want. It matters little. 45 is going down. Better people than he could ever be will make sure the law is followed and justice is done. That his cult will go apoplectic and engage in violence says everything one needs to know about 45 and his sycophants. They, too, will be crushed. I was never a big fan of HRC, but the one things she got 100% right was "Deplorables".

Very interesting day in court Friday re releasing the affidavit. Here are some key points: The Chief of CI argued that a full release would 'jeopardize an investigation in it's early stages'. The use of 'early stages' is significant. It also notes a grand jury has been opened to address possible crimes. Another key point was that release 'would possibly jeopardize numerous witnesses'. The use of the plural 'witnesses' says more than one person in 45's sphere is cooperating. Obviously these people would be at risk, since 45 has already released the names of the FBI agents who were involved in the search. That is 30 people now under threat, all because of an evil malicious and vindictive clown, 45, who knows his Cult is violent. A third key point is that although 45 barks about 'releasing the affidavit, his (on) 'crack' defense team chose NOT to argue that in court. Even though they are Z Team lawyers, they are smart enough not to ask for something that will make their client look even worse than he already does.

In their endless silliness to obfuscate or simply kiss the bloated, obese backside of their messiah, members of Cult 45 always gloss over reality and fail to provide answers to obvious questions: ---re the MaL warrant: why would an ex-POTUS retain all of those classified docs? He's too lazy to pack 27 boxes himself, so he ordered people to do it (they are equally liable for mishandling classified docs and ALL face years in jail) ---Why did 45 lie in June and claim everything was returned, when he knew full well he still had 12 boxes of docs he had zero right to have? What did he intend to do with them? His lies show intent to deceive, so the answer can only be bad ---Re Jan 6, what was the purpose of fomenting anger and sending the mob to the Capitol, other than to begin an insurrection? The procedure to take place that day was a mere formality, the election had been decided (45 lost), and all the necessary sign offs had been done. There was ZERO reason for 45 to send the mob---then watch as the Capitol was attacked, 140 LE Officers injured, and the drooling goobers were chanting "Hang Mike Pence"---other than to have the mob do what they did? 45 is guilt of sedition, a capital offense, and SHOULD be executed if found guilty in a court of law. The Cult never provided an explanation of why 45 sent the mob to 'take back the country'. Take back from what? Democracy. ---Re the Georgia vote---'please find me 11,780 votes' is obvious election interference, yet another felony. There is no other possible explanation. It was an attempt at vote fraud. ---Re NY and his 'business'...it is clear he filed wildly different claims re asset value for tax vs loan/insurance purposes, and there is no legal defense for this. His CFO has plead guilty, and NY law allows the State AG to inflict the ;'corporate death option' on 45's company just based on what the company's CFO swore to in the investigation. The AG can literally seize 45's assets and shut his company down ---Why, on manafort's 3rd day on the job as Campaign Manager, did 45 send manafort to Spain to meet with Kilimnik and give Kilimnik detailed campaign data, which russian agent Kilimnik then forwarded to the GRU-run Internet Research Agency in St Pete, who then microtagetted voters in key swing States with lies and made up stories about HRC and Dems? (This was detailed in Mueller and in the repub-produced SSCI 1000-page report on the russia investigation.)

It makes perfect sense to cult members, which is to say people with zero connection to reality. To sane and rational people, especially those of us who worked with TS/SCI clearances, it is utter and complete BS. It is lies. Nothing more. Besides the fact 45 never did any work---too busy golfing, calling into Fox, and doing his silly rallies---this is not how the classification system works. How many times does a Cult 45 member have to be told the reality of how classification works? Unlimited. They lack the intellect to understand. Just enforcing the law 45 himself signed in 2018, he will get 5 years in jail and a felony on his record. If it can be proven he intended to monetize the docs he had zero right to retain---and then lied about having---he faces execution for 'conspiracy to commit espionage'. If he is executed according to the law, on that day I will celebrate the return of rule of law to the United States.

Silly silly comment. It shows a total lack of understanding of the rule of law, and drifts into the conspiratorial idiocy that has become the bread and butter of the fascists repub party. Whom did the Dems arrest, and in a manner that reflects a political adversary? Moronic statement. The DoJ did search 45's home because he was illegally holding material he had no right to hold, and he lied about what he had. It seems the current Administration takes national security seriously, besides believing in the rule of law. You and the repubs have become a cult of personality, totally against everything the US was intended to be. Thankfully the Dems are still a patriotic party, not fascist scum like the repubs.