Mr Derek

Link? It's my opinion based on experience. I didn't bother writing up a paper for the Journal of Evolutionary Sociology. I won't ask for a link to your opinion that gays have equal or higher parental instinct, because there isn't one. Apologies as always to the exceptions, but I stand by the generalisation.

Why suppose that same-sex parents are more loving? I'm sure some do make a special effort in order to prove themselves 'normal', but it's a fair biological assumption that they have lower parental instinct. I have heard many gays profess they have no interest in children - especially lesbian women, who seem to be extremely conflicted on the subject. E.g. that California lesbian couple who drove their entire family over a cliff to their deaths. Of course that's an extreme case but it shows the pressures involved in fighting biology. Banning same-sex parenting can also serve to protect them from themselves.

That gays are cleverer than heteros on average - that's my conclusion based on fact that they populate certain fields above the norm - literature, the arts, architecture, science, philosophy, politics etc - the examples are too many to cite. Really, the proportion of gays in these fields is astonishing and of course some of greatest geniuses in history have evidently been gay. The effect is so significant that I assume that nature intended it that way so as to free up a certain group from the burden of procreation so they can benefit society in intellectual/creative fields. I give you Shakespeare, who ran away from the family he never really wanted. By this token, I suggest that gays not only play a significant role in society, but that they have been crucial to human evolutionary development - precisely by not procreating. There's a revolutionary theory for you.

There's only one way to deal with this - the same way prostitution has been dealt with for thousands of years: frown on it officially, but don't stamp it out. That preserves morals and caters to human nature. Of course they are not going to say 'porn is ok' - that's the road to degeneracy. I applaud any culture defending their culture (and not invading anyone else's).

Of course they will be cleverer but there's more to life than academic results. I have no problem believing that gays and lesbians are more intelligent than the average population (they seem to me to be super-human in some ways, and perhaps that is the evolutionary intention). They are surely more likely to promote intelligence in their children than the average maw and paw. That doesn't mean those children will be more balanced, more capable to deal with life in general though. They will have skewed perspectives and abilities, and (assuming the children are heterosexual) will pick up an inappropriate set of behavioural cues. At the moment, nobody knows what potentially damaging effects this might have on them or on society. We will have to wait till all these children have grown up to fully understand the unforeseen long-term consequences on mental health and social functioning.

Wrong. All societies need a degree of discipline in order to function properly. Self-indulgence is decadence and only leads to the degeneration of values and behaviour. Self-indulgence in the name of 'freedom' is misguided and dangerous.

I used to feel like a man trapped in a woman's body. And then I was born. [joke credit: Vic Reeves]

Just to report back on this. I'm become convinced enough that the air quality by the khlong is bad enough, even at a height, to corrode metal in the long term. I've always wondered why drawer handles, USB plugs, metal flash drives etc have been getting so tarnished. I presume it's a combination of the micro particles of polluted water churned up by the boats in combination with the engine fumes. Now I'm wondering what subliminal damage that is doing to my health... As to the air-con, I got the Daikin service chaps in and they said the compressor is shot. Why that wasn't obvious to two previous air-con dudes beggars belief because the noise is surely unmistakable. Anyway, a compressor costs about 10,000 baht to replace - an insane amount that is no doubt deliberately calculated to make us replace the whole unit. Which I did. I followed recommendations on this site and got a Mitsubishi Mr Slim. However, I wish I had shopped around more carefully. The Mr Slim is not slim at all - even the smallest 9000 BTU is built like Sydney Greenstreet and it's made of cheap-looking, clackety plastic. Also, the vane, which I need pointing downwards to stop the thing blowing in my eyes at night, automatically tips back to horizontal after half an hour - apparently by design! Madness. This has caused my old eye allergy to flare up again. Thanks Mitsubishi! I'm going to have to buy some kind of baffle to cover the vent. Also, the beep is shrill every time I use the remote - really loud and ear-piercing - I'm going to have to dig around inside to kill the piezo. Last time I buy this brand.

Seems some people still don't get it. Don't they know that mankind is in the grip of self-destructive addiction to economic growth? Don't they know the plan is actually to trash the planet in a single century - to go out in a blaze and have done with it?

Boring Sunday morning, so I went to the trouble of looking at the LALISA video to see what kids are obsessing about nowadays. Manic mix of rap and Arabic-sounding drone. Disappointing. She wears several headdresses, most prominently one of those Thai Ram traditional things. I can't imagine any of them 'selling like hot cakes'.

Daikin, 7 years old. Booms like a plane taking off for the first five minutes, then quietens down. Another unit in the next room (same age) is silent.

In the past, the khlong was utterly foul and I can just about imagine that the (acidic?) fumes it gave off could be somehow corrosive to certain metals over the years. It hasn't smelled for years though and is now full of fish. In any case, I suspect the idea is lodged firmly in air-con maintenance lore and they'll all think the same way. I'll probably have to go through ten guys before I find one who just knows what the problem is and how to fix it.

I'm 14 floors up and thought I was safe. Humidity might explain it I suppose, but I've never heard that living next to water can spoil an air-con. Regarding the noise, I'm thinking the fan just needs some oil, but maintenance guys never want to remove the compressor cover.

I've been told by two different air-conditioning maintenance guys that living next to Khlong San Saep is likely to have caused damage to the outside compressor unit, which has been running noisily on startup. They couldn't be more specific though and couldn't diagnose the actual problem. Not sure whether they meant the cause was the noxious air from the water itself, or the fumes of the ferry boats going up and down. I'm dubious. Could there be any truth in it or is it just some kind of local superstition?

Read the headline again.

Not really. It says they are spending foreign currency, but they are not, they are spending baht, only it is going out of the country. Some people might actually have a foreign currency account in Thailand and use that for payment, but I don't think that is what is being claimed.

Jupiter can always been seen with the naked eye. It's the brightest thing in the sky by far. Was looking at it through 25x spotting scope the other night. Can just about see the horizontal lines. Saturn is also bright, as mentioned. Rings clearly visible.