ignoramus

Agree with Nienke about age difference cm; listen to a vet weekly on radio, and this is what he suggested about a new cat into a cat household. Can't imagine why it should be different with dogs. Hierarchy establishment is less of a problem apparently, unsurprisingly. If younger animal eventually becomes the more dominant (either via force of 'personality', or physical strength), I'd imagine that the transition would be smoother. Probably not much help, but I do empathise.

Fom your profile it seems that you are in bkk, and that you joined TV in only '06. Have you been there for so long that you are 100% aclimatised? Just an idle, a rhetorical, question. I don't aclimatise to any climate. If the climate is a hot one then I feel the heat all the time, if it's a cold one blah blah blah. To repeat, this a rhetorical question...you are entitled to feel how you feel.

I'm dead curious about how it's possible to feel cold in bkk. One morning at 5, back in '92 or '94, I felt very pleasantly comfortable, for an hour or so. Ditto in C.M.

It's perfectly possible to lose up to a half a cup of fluid from the feet per day (I can be trusted on this). I, like Naam, perspire, regardless. My feet aren't mine. I repudiate them, but they refuse go, or even mend their ways.

The only indoor footwear that I find is comfortable is 100% pure cotton slip-ons. Bare feet beats everthing of course. Anything synthetic is antipathetic (sorry).

Oh yes, excellent stuff seonai.

I've just realised that, since joining TV, I've subconsciously been pining for some of the music I heard in Thailand back in the early '90's.

Poo's song is marvellous, and what a beauty she is. I too never thought to go to youtube.

I'll have to update my laptop, RAM perhaps, as Poo's song keeps pausing, and doubtless the other songs will too.

(I can't believe that I nearly bypassed this thread!). Thanks.

Read about the Japan/stomach cancer/raw fish link decades ago. Can't vouch for it either way.

Well said Bina, You sound like you have your feet on the ground - I like that in a woman. A minor point: I like the phrase "from both genders". Many would settle for "from both sexes".

Gotta say that I find high powered people, of both genders, boring, if not vaguely frightening.

Tried recently to find, unsuccessfully, a book that I bought some decades ago called The Cinderella Complex. It was written by a previously self-supporting literary woman who married a literary bloke. She discovered to her dismay that once married all she wanted to do was be a home-maker. Such people of course often seriously lack self-insight. Anyway I admired her intellectual honesty.

I forget precisely what I learnt from her, but an obvious 2008 observation to make might be that had the groom decided simultaneously that he wanted to house-husband rather than support, that, given the then zeitgist, her need would have priority (backed up by strong and irresistible societal approval). The point I guess is that before she married she 'happily' supported herself, but once a meal-ticket appeared she 'reverted to type'. And good luck to her.

I've always wondered - but not too deeply mind you - why it's thought to be a man's world. Fanciman wants it to be a man's world, and I can't imagine why he shouldn't. Given that men and women are supposed to be equals I would treasure a rational argument against fanciman's fantasy, not one based merely on tradition. Isn't tradition what the libbers wanted to circumvent?

I don't know what the Cinderella lady is up to these days, perhaps I should enquire...

Gotta agree with you there dogleg.

The distaff branch of the human family, being infinitely more practical than your average testerone-fuelled crazy, and infinitely more attached to 'security' than are we, are indeed loathe to part with things of tangible 'value' (though philosophers would argue about what is of 'value', not that [mostly male] philosophers hold much sway with half the population).

Concomitantly, they are somewhat more prepared for the receipt of said things, and ever alert to not much else than the need for such preparedness. All very level-headed I'm bound to admit - a biological imperative in fact.

One can hardly argue with this imperative any more than one can (sanely) argue with the imperative to spread the seed.

The earnest ladies who choose to suicide-bomb for a 'cause' are beyond the understanding of yours truly, and also, I dare say, of their sisters (how they expect to profit from the 72 female virgins awaiting in paradise is a monumentally moot point).

I understand that certain wealthy widows, et al, in Japan have come to terms with the need for 'speed' however, in that they have grasped the fact that life is finite, and that fulfilment is fleeting and perforce elusive.

The OP has a perfectly legitimate, though perhaps tongue-in-cheek, enquiry.

He must have heard about the gigolos of the Italian Riviera, and the Greek Islands, and wonders what might be...

60k per month for a cardiologist? Obviously it's true, but I am amazed. The average worker in Oz makes much more than this (we have minimum wage laws - nothing like the $5-6 ph for many US workers). A bus driver in Sydney can earn 150k baht pm (with penalty rates for weekend work).

If the wage for an average worker is around 150 baht a day (115 or so in the early '90's), then a cardiologist's earnings are 14-15 times this, which I suppose is reasonable enough, but a cardiologist here wouldn't earn at this ratio (less I would think). On the other hand, a top-flight lawyer here can earn 18k per day, and some earn more!

Sorry, just thinking aloud - not trying to make much sense.

(Going on memory, the cost of certain services in the early 90's must have produced a lot of rich and now retired ladies of leisure in the LOS. Unless their cut was miniscule. No wonder they are drawn to the 'vocation'.)

There must be a great many well-off farang here, who elsewhere on the forum are discussing the purchase of vehicles costing as much, and more, than a cardiologist earns in 10 months. It's a wonder the Thais aren't falling over themselves to make the farang feel welcome. Enchanting contradiction I guess.

Back to the original question...yes, I too cannot imagine why a man of leisure - a layabout if you insist - is not considered to be a catch. Isn't laying about what the LOS is almost all about.

My sympathies to the OP.

It sounds to me like there's a fair chance you could support a cardiologist's daughter and still afford to lay about!

Yep, I agree Marshbags, Lopburi does seem to be everywhere, and on the case. Posters ask if anyone/someone can help, and invariably it turns out to be Lopburi. I think he should have his own (paid) site!

If I see a "Last Post by..." his good self I drop everything and head straight there. Good post M.

Quite right endure. The wording following 'i.e.' was misplaced. It's 2am here. I am tired.

Haven't had any experience of of the application immigration rules, and wouldn't be in a position to say whether or not there is any 'hatred' - policy-wise - of foreigners (though I'd doubt it exists), but a fairly extensive reading of TV seems to suggest that, at the very least, there exists an extreme and puzzling ambivalence on the part of authorities towards foreigners wishing to call the LOS home.

Just for fun: My 1964 Oxford Concise Dictionary defines xenophobia as a 'morbid dislike of foreigners'.

The Macquarie (1982): 'fear or hatred of foreigners'. Meanings 'evolve' it seems. Modern times.

The Websters (1913): The word doesn't appear, even in the Department of New Words! Modern phenomonen it seems (after all, who was travelling, and meeting 'foreigners', in 1913)?

Camerata states that there exists a hatred for foreign sex workers, inter alia. This is fascinating. Used persons are hated? Interesting. If true, it's hypocritical to a quite remarkable degree, and more than a little unkind. I understood that 'sex-work' was an almost-honoured tradition in the LOS, and that there was less than little hypocrisy about it. Perhaps I was sadly misinformed.

Not for fun:

To my extreme chagrin (and shame), back in the early '90's I was 'introduced' by an 'obliging' taxi-driver to an obviously under-duress, and probably kidnapped, foreign worker, a young girl of about 16, from Burma I imagine. My decampment was post haste. You dig?

I can only imagine that she would have been seen as a prize by the local and/or foreign creeps, and being obviously a hostage, hardly an object of hate....morbid indeed, if true.

I never met, nor saw, a foreign pimp.

I am so in need of education. Then again, perhaps I'll pass.

You've just said that he is wealthy. If so, what's 300k? Peanuts. He has a marriage back home, and it was all too easy I'd imagine - the pretty wife, the money - he is just aching for a life lesson. He just wants to feel the thump of betrayal in the diaphram - a cleansing experience. Id' say he's had it all too easy, and wants to ground himself. Perfectly legitimate. That's why Thai girls exist, ain't it?

Thanks macb, likewise I'm sure - or should I say 'right back at you'.

A glucose tolerance test is indicated for meandwi's wife, and another poster. Think hypoglaecemia, precursor to diabetes, if I'm not in error (a common enough occurence).

Wow BTDT, sounds like you have really been there and done that. I guess LOS is the right place to be, for you.

I suppose that I shouldn't have been too surprised about the TAT. In the early 90's I bought an expensive little item - it would have sat snugly in an earhole - which subsequently lost its glitter. I was so incredulous that it took me months of on and off double-checking to finally accept the fact that I'd been ripped off I kept thinking that I must be looking at it in an insufficiency light. Looks like 'policy was sub-standard' even then. My attitude to LOS changed, as I was a more trusting soul back then.

The Japanese provide gifts of appreciation to certain Pacific island nations, inter alia I guess, to win votes for their scientific studies of dead whales. I imagine Norway's vote assists in this regard, minus the gifting, as they eat 'em too.

GOING to be Mr H? Sure you know how? Not a typo I suspect.

Terrific post cm-h. Thanks.

Altman, thanks for that website. I have an old copy of Final Exit, but happen to know that Dr Philip Nitschke has since updated it, and provides details for making the appropriate 'kit'. Just before our (now ex-PM) closed the door on internet discussion etc of euthanasia I lodged my card details via the net, but the bastard must have closed the door before the publicised deadline, as I didn't get a response. However your site provides the solution it would seem.

Cuba? Wow, this would just have to be the most exotic location for a TV member.

Some Aussie advance-planners for the f exit apparently travel to Mexico in order to expedite matters, though exactly how I'm not sure.

(My interest in the subject stems mainly but not only from the fact that my mother 'did it' using a plastic bag, god bless her brave heart. Her second try was 'successful').

This is the second time tonight I find you irresistible Tone baby. I think I am attracted to you in some weird kind of way, and it's concerning....

You know the feeling - you see a face you just want to punch. No talk, no discussion, just a punch.

You read a post and you just want to go phaww, yawn, then go to beddy-byes.

A dill? Yes, that's relatively close to what I had in mind. Tonight's reading of your posts stirred a memory of previous posts of yours...I'm getting close to the answer...but if you don't mind could you post another feeble troll before I go to bed? Just so's I can get a proper handle...On the other hand I could just ignore everything you say from here on out..yeah, this sounds wise.

I'm thinking sicko...but it's not quite what I want...do you harbour a secret desire to write sci-fi maybe?

I'm thinking total fantasy-world stuff.

Are you frustrated, did you shame yourself back home...were you unloved...is payback the go maybe...at society that is...did she do you wrong...mummy that is? Or you just a nasty piece of work, and loving it?

I am impressed though, as some posters actually you seriously, and that's got to give you a mini rush.

Amazing how some posters completely miss the drift.

Don't believe for a nanosecond that U R 22 wiv dough. Reckon you are a sad one though.

If you do in fact have dough - as per your other post tonight - resist the impulse to discuss or hint at it. Try not to lower the tone here. Most of us are people. You don't give the impression of being 'people'. Most of us want the locals to accept us, or at least tolerate us. Reckon you don't care, and that can't be good.

Shingles was my 'diagnosis' as soon as I read your description, before I got to the proper diagnosis.

You are lucky you have someone who saw the 'rash'. Later than 72 hours after onset, and you'd have been suffering much more than you will. You'll suffer discomfort for longer than you'd like, but not the pain I believe can occur with too-late diagnosis.

Stress it is, though I expect you don't believe it. Without being a smarty-pants I'd suggest that your cycling regimen is slightly over-doing it, at least as far as your body is concerned, if not your 'mind'.

For me, I didn't think stress sufficiently explained it, as it's has been part of my job for a while now, so I've put it down to aging and its concomitant reduced immune efficiency. If you are in your 30's or 40's I'd be looking at something else stress-wise. If you are a good deal older, diet is the answer. Cheers

Twathead time huh? I learnt a lot from your post, although I'm only 85% certain of this. Could you elucidate, and maybe multiply your contribution by pi? Then perhaps we can get a 100% fix, latitudinally-longitudinally-wise. You do sound awfully smart.

OlRedEyes - you got a loud chortle out of me. U R right tho', it is innit.

Mike, yeah I did too, and was quite proud of myself before I read your post.

Gawd Tony, I wish I had the your dough. Does it feel good? I've always wanted to be upscale, but alas..

Fellow posters, we should have more respect for our upscalers, their shining light does reflect on us you know.

Seriously though Tony, the lowers orders are not unappreciative of our acknowledgment of their existence. If they are looking at you they are acknowledging yours yes? Although, I should add that occasionally my betters have had the temerity to stare right through me when I nodded. I'm sure that you don't stare though.

I am very sad about this poor dog. If it were next door to me I could end my sadness in a second, but alas...

[Momentary dirgression: I read a quite likely apochryphal story (probably in 'Culture Shock') back in the early '90's about a Thai (Princess, I think) who, during a Royal Barge ceremony many many years ago who fell overboard. No one would help her, the story went, because that would put her under great obligation to the rescuer, who would most likely have been a person of lower status. I can understand the reasoning, as I've encountered a similar reluctance amongst the self-appointed 'higher stratas of society' to acknowledge even the slightest (needed, but unasked for) assistance from a person of lower status. Pathetic and sad, but rules are rules apparently.]

Recently I had occasion to deliver the coup de grace to a very young possum which had been hit and seriously injured (guts were visible) by a preceding vehicle. It was a windy wet and cold night, and the poor thing was trying to crawl out of harm's way. I made what could be called an executive decision, that is to say I took responsibility for the life/death of the poor creature. It's life's 'options' were zero. I shortened the odds and performed what a beneficent god would have approved of (said beneficent god not being in a postion to do anything, being non-existent).

Philosophically speaking, the possum and I were utterly and completely alone in the cosmos, it was in pain, or at least severe shock, and I, and I alone, could assist. The answer was breathtakingly simple.

I hesitated of course; it took me a few seconds to come to grips with the situation. I had to steel myself to do it, but do it I had to. To not do it would have caused me more pain than to not do it.

And as Shakespeare said, all is vanity...we do what we do for ourselves. (Though in my mind I apologised to the poor animal for my action).

I suffered for a while, but was grateful to my ability to end the baby possum's suffering. I had to steel myself, but I knew beyond any doubt that it's need for peace far outweighed my need for non-involvement.

Many years ago I was in a car with a girffriend when we came upon a kitten which had suffered a similar fate. I wanted to hit it over the head, to end its suffering. The girl objected. I acquiesced, much to my eternal shame. I acted 'like a girl'. She thought like a what? I still don't know. Her 'logic', her 'thinking', still escapes me. Well, sort of...she was wrong, I was right.

(That was back when I figured that women had all the answers).

So, where are we now with the poor dog situation? Nothing will stop me from consideration of retirement in Siam. I love the Thais. However, like all societies they possess serious flaws.

If the attitude of the dog's owners stems from Buddhism then I shall have to re-assess my attitude to this religion, and to the Thai people (not that anyone, including you, cares about what I think in this regard).

I heard a while back that the Thai education system does not teach independent thinking. This may or may not be true, but it would appear that at least in this dog situation it is true. Religions have a way of closing minds to suffering. I find this to be a weird thing. Human, but weird neverthless. It denotes a disconnectedness from the present, to which I do not relate.

Bambina states that 90% of vets would do the 'right' thing. This seems to me to be a very small percentage (it's a bit like saying that 90% of mothers love their their offspring). In Oz 100% of vets virtually insist of ending unnecessary suffering.

Frankly I am amazed that the OP couldn't figure out what to do. It's a bit like 'well the guy next door is sexually abusing his 8 month old daughter, should I do anything'? Has the OP perhaps drowned himself in the religious ethos, the zeitgist, and discarded reason? Does the animal's pain not register in the gut, but merely in the intellect? I'm exaggerating of course, as the post wouldn't have been made, but hey, come on mate -- grab the bloody dog and express your empathy. I trust you get my drift....

[Note, I respect Buddhism above all religions, and love the Thais above all people, but domestic animals were introduced into Siam way after Buddhism was. Simply put - they do not belong there. They are not adequately appreciated. Cats, dogs (and even a kangaroo!) have been known to save human lives. They deserve better than the otherwise delightful Thai people are capable of.]

If you got through this then you deserve a medal. And, hey, say what you will - I shan't be returning to this post - it took all my emotional strength to even broach it.

sorry -- typo -- an onlooker cannot deny help.

I have no idea what I would do in the above-mentioned instances, whether at fault or not. I understand that in France their Samaritan law requires that even an onlooker can deny help. A decade or 2 ago in Germany a women hit someone with her car, and left the scene. A while later the police called on her to say that a hit and run driver had killed her son....guess who it was...

You sound nice i......your English is just fine - I have no foreign language -- you are one better!!! . Good luck.