GammaGlobulin

Concerning close encounters with snakes: While barbecuing chicken and pork with my GF late at night in the mountains, a BaiBuShe ( 100 Step Snake) passed between us. It was CLOSE. The popular name "hundred pacer" refers to a local belief that, after being bitten, the victim will only be able to walk 100 steps before dying. In some areas, it has even been called the "fifty pacer" or, in extreme examples, the "five-step snake." This often causes bite victims to needlessly amputate or burn bitten fingers or limbs, resulting in further complications like the loss of the amputated body part or gangrene. Nevertheless, this species is considered dangerous, and fatalities are not unusual. An antivenom is produced in Taiwan. Still, we were not particularly afraid at the time. Though, for sure, if we had been bitten, we would not have been able to walk even five paces. Not due to the venom of the snake, but simply because we had each drunk almost 5 liters of canned Kirin beer, by 4 AM. Such a beautiful snake. Also, rare, I think.

Dear Charlie, a. You are brave. b. I would not have been able to face the snake..(unless my grandchildren had been at risk) c. I am thankful that you survived...(for several reasons) Hopefully, this same type of thing will not happen to you, ever again. Regards Note: It is just these types of close calls that keep me awake at night, reliving them, maybe a few times each year. Should my mind succumb to complete dementia, then it will still be these terrifying memories which will be the last to leave me. I have no doubt. We are prisoners of our own minds, with no escape.

Many years ago, I narrowly missed losing an eye to a dart in this bar. This bar once had a dartboard near the exit Foolishly, I taunted a dart-thrower, some drunk I did not know. And he winged one just past my eye. This bar is one of the ones which did not close until...ever....Years ago. I have no idea who really owns this bar, which has been going strong, very late at night and early in the mornings, for many years. This bar was better many years ago, because.... The guys were weirder than they have been since 1983. Anyway, I almost lost an eye in this bar. Some nights, I still wake up after dreaming I cannot see, with PTSD. Also, it was in this bar where, on rare occasions, a Chinese friend of mine would wheel himself in on his wheelchair, with his catheter and urine bottle, and ask for a beer. What had happened to him was that he fell in love too deeply with a bar girl. She rejected him one night. And then, he jumped out of a high floor window of the Mayflower Hotel, across from what was once the Hilton, and landed on the roof of the porte-cochère to the hotel. It saved his life, but left him with a catheter and a life on wheels. I asked him why. He just smiled. Sometimes, for some people, life makes no sense. There is just no logic to it.

The moral to this story is to buy Hitachi refrigerators in Asia, I think. I hope it is not out of bounds to state this opinion here: I have had great success with Hitachi products in Thailand. These days, when I buy Hitachi products, I am never chased with a Chinese meat cleaver. Also, in my humble opinion, Hitachi company has a reputation for extremely good after-sales service. I am now a very satisfied customer of Hitachi, Thailand. Thank you, Hitachi!!!

My Dear Friends, Stupid is as stupid does, as has been said. And, this is particularly true in Asia, as we all know. If you have been in Asia for a long time, then you probably, just like me, have a few stories of near-death experiences which might not have happened if you had stayed in your home country. Here is one of mine, just as an example: Many years ago, back in 1979, I decided to buy a Tatung refrigerator from a small shop near my flat. I paid a small deposit to the roadside shop. And this shop was not much more than just a roadside stand in the village. After paying the deposit, I waited a few weeks, yet the refrigerator was never delivered. I assumed, seemingly with good reason and Farang logic, that, perhaps, the small shop had just pocketed my money. I still needed a refrigerator, and so I decided to order a second refrigerator from the Tatung company, thinking that the roadside-stand vendor had forgotten me. In due course, and within about two days, the Tatung distributor delivered the refrigerator in good condition, and on time, and at a lower price. I was happy. All was good. No worries. But then, after a week or so, a cart pulled up to my building just as I was entering the front door with a GF late in the evening. On the cart was strapped a refrigerator, the same one I had ordered two weeks previously. And now, the guy in the cart was asking me to pay for the refrigerator he had strapped to his cart. What would you have done? At that time, my Chinese was not too good. But, fortunately, my Chinese GF was with me. She began berating this man for his late delivery. And, she kept it up, cursing him for his many mistakes. She told him that, due to his stupidity, he had lost the order. She told him we had bought the refrigerator from the factory at a lower price. She told him he had overpriced his Tatung machine. And then, she told him to go get stuffed. My GF was a bar girl, after all, and, although she was a very kind person, she sometimes became overly riled over nothing. Bar girls, as you know, are tough in nature. After telling the guy in the cart to get stuffed, and after this guy had, no doubt, obviously already paid money to the Tatung company, in advance, to order the refrigerator and have it delivered to his roadside shack, .....This guy pulled out a Chinese meat cleaver from his cart. He chased both of us up to the 5th floor where we bolted the steel door to our flat. We were stuck inside. The shopkeeper began furiously pounding on the door with his meat cleaver. He kicked and kicked, huffed and puffed. And my GF began screaming from the 5th floor to the surrounding neighbors: 救命 (save life!) At the time, I had thought that I would be hacked, for sure. I had run, as fast as I could, up the stairs, with the mad retailer just a few feet behind me. We were out in some very remote village, with very few people about, and it was dark all around. The only commercial enterprise nearby was the hog slaughterhouse. Think 42 years ago in China, for example. You will then understand what it was like. This is probably the closest I have ever been to being hacked with a Chinese meat cleaver. Not sure about you. Also, maybe this is a lesson for you... Never let your GF get you into trouble. Stay away from hot girls who might be hotheaded. Not good. Find a plain fat girl with a kind heart. Some fat girl who is nonconfrontational with retailers. I have almost died many times in Asia, during the past decades. Probably, you have had some close calls, as well. Glad you are still alive. Regards, Gob

I once lived in Kyoto with a cult. In the evenings, the members would come to my room and lay hands on me. I would pretend to be asleep, and I came to enjoy the ritual. Finally, they kicked me out for being a faker. Yes, I was a faker, but not a fakir, at the very least. I did pay rent.

"Jesus wept" Difficult to find a shorter verse than this. Maybe he is weeping about his housing situation. Maybe he is weeping because he fell in love with his landlady, and now he has been evicted. Maybe he is weeping because he was charged too much for a plumbing problem. As Maslow said, housing is key to self-actualization. Poor old Jesus never did find a home. Instead, he travelled from town to town, and lived rent free. In return for a bed, he provided fish, loaves of bread, and plenty of wine. Also, for some landladies, he provided the feeling of eternal life. Jesus, being the nomad he was, turned out to be a good tenant. Never paying rent, he cured the infirm, instead.

Regarding Raskolnikov, Did Raskolnikov actually commit a crime? Or, did he provide a service to all future renters of rooms, such as we? Any time your landlady gives you a hard time.... Maybe... Just mention Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment". Maybe then, she will be quicker to provide the service which you deserve. You pay your rent. And, you expect good service, as is due you. No need to socialize too much. Keep it impersonal, and demand what you pay for. Just a suggestion.

By the way.... I do not especially appreciate stories written on the Farang Pub which are not true. Exaggeration and prevarication is just not interesting, not to mention a waste of everyone's time. Most of us wish to know that what we are reading is something which actually happened to one of our members. And so, here is what happened to me: I innocently rented a condo in a building owned by a couple who had a second condo just below me. There was a passageway which led from the flat below up to my flat, with a steel door locked from the side of the landlady. I had no way of locking this door from my side. As time progressed, and as this landlady got to know me better, she would sneak up to my condo, and we would read Mark Twain together, and laugh and laugh. Eventually, after she had groomed me enough, and after much laughter, she got me into a position where she was able to kiss me. As weeks progressed, we progressed from just kissing to many more intimate acts. And this, my friends, is how I wasted almost FIVE years of my life on this unhappily married landlady. Let this be a warning to you, my friends. I do not wish to go into much detail here, although, I guarantee you my story of woe is rather interesting. ==== This is my story of having had my landlady make me her Loverboy. ====== I also have a story of a landlady, also unmarried, who almost made me a Raskolnikov. ======= Please be aware of this dynamic before you get drawn in, too far. And, it is always best to stay at the Marriott, on a long-term contract, for this very reason, if you can afford it. The manager at the Marriott will never mess with you, or, if she does, then she will get fired.

Dear Friends, Here in Thailand, as far as I know, there seems to be many unmarried women, or married and divorced women, or just single women, who offer accommodations, both big and small, to Farang types. Most are just guesthouses which they provide, and they run the gamut in size, amenities, and comfort. One thing that most seem to have in common, from my experience, when run by a single woman, is that the owner is more likely to get in your business. She is often more likely to be a hen, and you the henpecked. I do not want to write too much on this topic. Instead to say that I have had landladies of many sorts, both here in Thailand, and also in other countries nearby, even one on an island. Whether you might like your landlady or not, the single landlady, unmarried landlady, is just a very lonely woman, in my opinion. And, being lonely, and having nothing other than her guesthouse to keep her company, then it has been my experience that this kind of woman might be looking to worm her way into your life, in an uncomfortable way. She might even think of her guests as her "family", for example, and she might eventually become so intrusive that you will need to move out. I could write pages, and pages, and pages about this topic. But, I will not. And you will be relieved, this time, knowing that I will keep this short. Let me just say that, in one situation, I actually had some landlady bring me flower arrangements, and leave them on my desk, several times each week. She did not send me roses. Her arrangements were mostly baby's breath, lilies, ferns, and such, as she had been studying Japanese flower arranging. Sort of something like this image, but not exactly... So, anyway, one thing led to the next. Before I knew it, she was in my bed. Not good for me, for sure. But, I did enjoy her flower, many times, until, after three years, we parted ways. I was the worse for it. I had wasted too much time on her flower. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there is the unmarried landlady who engenders in you thoughts that, maybe, only a Raskolnikov might feel. I am not saying that I have ever had the urge to go as far with my landlady as did good old Raskolnikov, of course. But, sometimes, I really wish I had. Still, what I am saying is: Never live in a building which is run by a landlady who is single, for whatever reason. If she loves you, she will drive you mad. And, if she is just lonely, she will drive you nuts. Next time, I will deal with a married couple. But, first, I will check to make sure that they are happily married. Because, otherwise, you are likely to have the wife in your bed, while the husband is below floors, asleep. This has DEFINITELYL happened to me. And, it is NOT fun. Anyway, my friends, I think it is better to buy property than to rent, for this reason. And, I am sure that many of you have experienced what I have experienced, just renting rooms, suites, and flats, from lonely landladies. Am I right? Best regards, Globule

So, then, I am not mistaken?

Just a question regarding this topic: Are we now promoting the "new bags in town"? Or.... Are we mocking these "new bags in town"? Does this topic mean what I thought it meant? Or, is it just completely as it seems on the surface?

OK. Great Topic! I can only assume that anyone's mention of "new bags", in this context, must be a metaphor for something/someone/some slightly-new and slightly-off-key forum, one which I talked about, maybe last year. No need to say more, I think. What I wrote before, still stands. I have not changed my opinion about these new bags....for sure! You may watch them, and that is your right. As for me, even if I were to continue watching these new bags, there is no doubt that...in the future...I would like them even less than I do now, which is to say...Not Much! I have already COMPLETELY turned off these new bags. Anyway, each to their own. Feel free to tune in to the new bags, or... Please feel free to tune in to the Gong Show.... It ups to you!

This is serious topic. This is an important topic. Anyone approaching this topic might address it in a multitude of ways...obviously: a. Environmental impact of increased tourism b. Projected increase of EVs (Electronic Vehicles) c. Possible further decrepitude of the average TV poster, due to extremely advanced age d. Possible further noise pollution and light pollution. e. Possible impact of Musk's Starlink project on the night sky overhead f. Possible 10 or 100-fold increase of our basic Internet speed I have no time to get to Z, but, 26 possible important variables we might consider are still not enough in order to try to imagine the many ways Thailand will change by 2030. This is an interesting topic for discussion. This topic is one which most of us often think about, and maybe even worry about. Take it seriously, if you will. Or, not.

Are you sure? You want an adult child with a son-in-law? Does this guarantee your happiness? No matter how you plan it.. There are no guarantees in life.

One more thought about Humble Pie, if this might be allowed.... Although the Humble Pie band was very well known, around 1970, and even though we listened to this band on 8-track tape, still, Humble Pie was not a winner, and neither was it some sort of great underground band. Humble Pie was just....out there, and something we could listen to. No matter what anyone's MOTHER might say, Humble Pie was not much, especially compared to the other bands we were listening to during those years. How do I know? Because: a. In 1969, I used to have a VW Bug, a blue Bug, just like this one. Exactly the same. Ok? b. I mounted huge JBL speakers in the back seat area which left no room for anything but sound. c. At that time, I had purchased some sort of high-powered Hitachi tape deck, but not much by today's standards. Maybe about 100 watts RMS. Rather costly. d. I had both an 8-track deck, as well as a cassette (tape) deck. Please check with Hitachi in Japan for the correct photos because even Google cannot find them. e. So, I am just saying... I listened to a lot of music in this bug. And, with the JBL studio speakers turned up full blast, this bug was hopping. Much louder than anything I have heard, these days. f. Surprisingly, the best tune to listen to in a car of this size, IMHO, was Chicago....6-2-4... g. Unfortunately, such good things could not last forever... In the end, during a driving lesson one evening, while teaching my GF how to use my shift, after buying a large pizza, my GF froze trying to work the clutch, but not the brake, and we hit an oak tree at 35 mph. She had never touched the brake. She was too busy pushing on the clutch. Pizza flying all around the car. h. That evening, while my GF was in the ER, I had a chance to eat a bit of Humble Pie as her father walked in. All that I could say, as soon as I saw him, was, "I was not driving". Anyway, things reached a happier ending, a year later, when my GF's younger sister asked me to drive her up to Quebec City, and we pleasured ourselves along the way, all throughout Maine, until we ended up at the Château Frontenac. We would have kept driving north, but the Saint Lawrence River was complete frozen, and no easy way over it. Yeah. Far Out, Man! Of course, we were nothing but teens, really, at that time. These days, I hardly ever think of the crazy things I did in my callow youth. I NEVER listen to Humble Pie. But, from an acoustics point of view, the bug is good! Put some giant speaker in the back seat, and then sit in the front seat. This is the best way to listen to music, my friends. ========== But, how did I get to Château Frontenac if the Bug had been totaled after hitting the oak tree? I had a 1971 Lemans. =========== What did my GF say when she learned that I had driven her younger sister over 1000 miles from a mid-Atlantic to Quebec City? I do not know. I never heard from her after this trip. =========== So, anyway, my friends, I know that you think I am nutzo for being so committed to being celibate. However, after listening to so much great music, and after having so much fun at places like Château Frontenac, I really need a break from my former ways. I know what is best for me. Please do not sit in judgment concerning my celibacy pledge. Quebec is a beautiful province, by the way. I have many fond memories of my times in Canada. Please pass me another Molson. (Not today's Molson!)

As you say.... Blue Yeti X Tks.

USB MICROPHONE (USB microphone) BLUE YETI X: Price: Bt.9,990.00 at JIB, for example. Looks good. But, where to find it for a lot less? Anyone know? Or, is there a better mic for less? I have ALWAYS been extremely pleased with all of the Logitech products that I have purchased, over the years. On Amazon, this mic is about Bt.4500.00 if delivered to the States. Just saying...

OK. Nice reply. Thank you, in fact. Maybe, the point was... Back in the day, going "down" to Harlem, to get a bit of jazz, was seen as a bit risque. And, the roots of rock come from places like Harlem, and the South, maybe. Humble Pie was something we enjoyed, simply because listening to it was better than eating it. As Dickens stated: I ate 'umble pie with an appetite. === By the way, if it were not for the Sun, then we would all be the same color, right? And, if we were all the same color, then how would we know who were Soul Brothers, and who were just a white band pretending to be Soul Brothers?

Maybe Mick stood on the shoulders of giants?

Speaking of Withers and his Harlem song... Why not listen to the Harlem Shuffle? Please check out Mick's lips... Jagger has Soul, for sure.

Please note: I am a lover of the Gaelic language. If it had not been for the fact that I wasted my time studying Chinese and Thai, then my third and next best choice would have been to study and learn the Gaelic language. I love the music. I love the language. "Gaelic is a precious language" ... https://www.gaidhlig.scot/gd/ I know that most Americans only know about the Boston Celtics... "Between the Legs...the foot work!" But, I am not the average American. When I see the word Celtic, I pronounce the hard C. The Boston Celtics are nothing to me. The Celtic culture is everything to me, .... Ever since 1200 B.C.!

Dear Friends, It is gospel that, nine years ago, one day in May of 2013, I was told that I should never comment on the Farang Pub. One of the kindlier mods told me that I was free to post anywhere on TV. However, his suggestion was that I should not post comments on the Farang Pub. His reasoning was, so he said, that if I posted a comment, not to mention a Topic, on the Farang Pub, then I would quickly be "eaten alive". So, all I have to say is: acht, awcht, auchte, auchtt, auht, auch. and awgh! It is true that I do not speak the language of the majority, here. I am not from Scotland, directly. However, there is no doubt that my ancestors derive from places nearby there. Of course, you must know that this is true, just from the sound of me. Very unfortunately, I believe that this Farang Pub is the closest I will ever get to Scotland, which is a shame for me. For many years, even decades, I have been a man without a country, and suffering., though only slightly. And, recently, since July of last year, I have found a home here, thankfully. Therefore, why would I not be most grateful? No. In fact, I would! So, thank you, everyone. So far, I have not been eaten alive. I have read numerous humorous and interesting posts on TV which perked me up. Humor is a cultural thing. Some of the best written humor, written in English, comes from places like Ireland, maybe, and places nearby. Here is an example of a great Scottish quote which proves the point: "Here comes Glib-tongue: who can out-flatter a Dedication; and lie, like ten Epitaphs." Nowhere other than in Scotland! Best to all, and, Hoping for another good nine years, And nine more yards of good Scottish Tartan cloth. Gob

Dear Friends, Some of you may have wondered if some of your friends might be smarter than Chomsky, or even Chimpsky. It all boils down to what you might mean by intelligence. Some mental tasks are easier for apes, for example. Chimps are very fast at pattern recognition, obviously. https://youtu.be/qyJomdyjyvM (The above link cannot be embedded here, simply because the chimps at Google do not allow it.) Here is a similar link showing the same thing: So, what does this prove? a. Google vetting and censoring of harmless educational videos is stupid. And Google is sillier than chimps? b. Intelligence is not so simple. c. Chimps are interesting to watch. d. Chomsky is smarter than chimps because he is human and chimps are not human. e. This evening is a Sunday, and sometimes, on a Sunday, it is good to look back into, and criticize, some of the things we once took as gospel, while attending school. So, do you think it might be strange that a chimp can outperform us on some memory tasks? Or, do you think that a bald eagle, or a golden eagle, seeing better than you, is unfair? Personally, I wish I had the eye of an eagle. And, I wish I had the brain of a chimp, in some cases. But, above all, I just wish I had the brain of Chomsky! What about you? Regards, Gam

But, as I say....at JIB...I don't get no respect, just like Rodney Dangerfield. Anyone buying anything, who is over the age of 60, at JIB, often is treated like we are old, and computers are some sort of new thing beyond our ken. Somebody should ask these JIB sales technicians if they have any inkling what the Josephson effect might be. Or, can they explain how a transistor works. Or, maybe ask them if they think there are any transistors inside their CPUs.....