Jeepz

Mouse~

That is a thought. I am going to order a couple. Since I'm in the states shipping isn't a problem. But next time I'm in Thailand, I may actually just troll back and forth in front of cops and slipping the cig butt when I'm finished into the hidden bobken. The interior is fireproof so popping a lit cig in it isn't a prob. Just have to put a little heat proofing between me and it.

Jeepz (the wannabe artful dodger)

As a smoker (perpetually trying to quit) I can hear the frustration when it comes to cigarette butts. You'd like to do the right thing and of course you'd really like to avoid the one-on-one when "tagged" for littering.

A guy I worked with had one of these. He smoked cigars, but they are marketed primarily for cigarettes. Worked like a charm for him, and I plan to have one before I ever set foot in LOS again.

Pocket Bobken

Jeepz

[Note: I'm checking with the manufacturer about availability in Thailand. If any smokers over there are seriously interested in one or two of these, let me know. Shipping via Postal Service (slow boat to Thailand) costs five bucks. Packaging probably another buck or so. Worst case cost: $10 - $11 US for one, shipped surface mail. If there is interest and not already available there, I'll see about getting a few and selling at cost plus actual shipping. ]

Just out of curiosity, what is the tariff if you bring a number of bottles of liquor in with you from overseas? Say on a tourist visa. Suppose I had six or even ten bottles of liquor, with sales slips showing prices for each.

Would I get whacked with 200% tariff or what? There is a blended scotch that I'm pretty fond of. Sadly you can't buy it anywhere but Scotland at the distillery. Which may make an interesing visa run someday.

Jeepz

The US withdrawl from Vietnam was and remains a very sad bit of our history. I personally didn't think we should have been over there to begin with. I argued this (or used to) with other folks constantly.

It is a travesty that the Hmong have had to wait thirty years to be granted entry. I completely agree with that. If there was a better place for them to go that would accept them, I'm fine with that too. Thailand obviously doesn't want them. Thailand's treatment of "supposedly" nonindigenous people is its own sad tale.

If Ned is unhappy with American foodstuffs, that's fine. I like peanut butter, he doesn't, no biggie. If he's talking about the corporate food empires that produce somewhat suspect but palatable junk food, I actually agree with him. That is why farmers markets are growing by leaps and bounds here in the states. And why people are trying new and old foods that have almost nothing to do with the big conglomerates. Let's talk turkeys: Heritage Turkeys are starting to become popular. A whole different bird than the ones ConAgra produce. And it goes on and on. So yeah, Ned, usually it takes time and attention to produce good food. I couldn't agree more.

The Hmong will probably have their own grocery stores in short order. That's been the norm for most groups that move here.

Jeepz

I really like the picture of the Arab Sheik wearing his big flashy gold crucifix. Sheiks are well known for sporting such christian oriented jewelry because it makes all their Islamic brethern chuckle with amusement.

An appropriately despondent Norse guy in the next photo is probably wondering why he didn't catch on to the hoax. Sheik married to the daughter of an international gun runner. Wearing gold crucifix. Promising scads of money in return for a relatively small (but significant) investment. If only something had tipped him off to the ruse, but that wiley Sheik was just sooo smooth!

I like to think of it as tuition in the school of hard knocks.

Jeepz

Live and Learn. I can't offer you any help francois, but I am browsing zone free DVD players on the net now. I have zeroed in on one that can handle all zones, has a power supply that will accept either 60c/110v or 50c/220v power. But it says it needs a NTSC television to play.

I take it that televisions are PAL based in Thailand? What about Hi-Def TV's? I wouldn't mind picking up a good DVD player here in the states if I can bring it along to Thailand when the time comes. Anyone have any pointers along those lines?

Jeepz

mrmnp~

Right, and looking over the available terms, I like "wedlock" for a civil union. It does not have the religious overtones that "marriage" does. Or at least doesn't appear to, coming from old english and being based on a word that means "pledge" which is apropos to the circumstance regardless of the sexes involved.

So wedding and wedlock seems okay to me. But I suppose some folks might not see it quite so.

I do see your point about the fact that it took an active court to bring about mixed marriages on the racial front. You may well be correct that there will be less intolerance on the same sex marriage/civil union/wedlock issue than there was during and following the extension of rights to mixed couples.

One gay couple I know hasn't bothered to get a license, even though they are (or seem to be) a very committed couple. They have powers of attorney in place to handle most things, and one of them said, "It will likely get overturned, so why bother?"

Their life is in place already, they have made provisions for each other and don't seem to concerned which way it works out, at least on the short term.

Jeepz

et33.al opined:

what's so good about america

don't get kill by six years old

raped by ten years old

robbed by fifteen years old

become a mother by eighteen years old

beg on the streets by twenty one years old

and get killed for having the wrong skin colour by twenty five...

cdnvic~

Thanks for a more reasoned viewpoint. et33.com is a bit peevish, perhaps even petulantly vehement. Sounds like he judges countries by the latest news headline he's heard. I suspect the world is chock full of little surprises for him down the road.

There are reasons to dislike some of the words and deeds of the USA. Lord knows we sure argue them back and forth here at home. Just watch the elections coming up. Lots of hair pulling and mud slinging to be had.

Jeepz

I think this must be one of those To-MATE-oh / To-MAHT-oh things. Austrian or German, it all sounds too too teutonic to me. "Nicht marry der zame zex until ve zay zo!" Actually, many governmental types across the US have been coming out in support of the gay wedlock.

Where I live they started issuing marriage licenses after three county commissioners held an "almost" secret meeting and ordered the county to start issuing licenses. If it sticks that's great, but I doubt it will. One of the commissioners has major reputation problems with the public to start with and since she is seen as the leader of this change, it is tainted by her previous faux pas's.

I did listen to the conservatives and christians that are starting law suits to stop the licenses from being issued and to recall some of those involved. What I heard plays directly to the discussion mrmnp and I had earlier. They would start out arguing about it being illegal to issue the permits, but someplace in their sound clip, they would almost always say, "Marriage is a sacred bond..." etc etc etc.

I don't have a problem with that. I don't think that the state has any more business regulating marriages than they do baptisms. Civil unions, however, is where the state gets involved, who can, how to divorce if necessary, and so forth.

The Catholic church doesn't recognize a divorce by the state unless the church has approved it. Sounds like they look at marriage as their turf and divorce should be too. Okay, if I was Catholic I might just acknowledge that. If I want their blessing, I have to play by their rules.

But civil unions are not their turf. Want a wedding? Get a license, go to an official that is empowered to perform a wedding, and do it. Get the church out of it and make it a civil matter in a secular society. The church can have marriage, control the sacred aspects of it, and preach to their flock as they see fit.

And that day is coming.

Jeepz

Axel's last post was particularly cogent. We all have different styles of writing. Some of us will do a "stream of consciousness" approach, others spend more time rewriting. Ultimately what is important is if someone else understands what you are saying.

I doubt that many folks look at posting here like it was schoolwork, to be judged and graded. So they will dash off a few lines, maybe preview it once to see if they left a word out or misspelled something, maybe not.

I don't think that Axel ever tries to be disingenuous. And he is more aware of (and sympathetic to) the Palestinian point of view than many of the US posters. Which is fine. There is no requirement for lock step political views here.

I thought his initial point about the admonition of an "eye for an eye" as guide against escalation was interesting and relevant. I have rarely heard that passage quoted thusly. But it does make sense and could be very applicable.

As for the Jewish possession of the land in Israel, I thought that initially, most of the land was either bought by Jews from absentee landlords while under the British Mandate, or awarded by a UN committee made up of Non-Major Powers after WWII.

Subsequent gains in territory by Israel were often those areas coveted by the Israelis prior to wars started by their neighbors. If they conquered land they didn't covet, they ultimately gave (or traded) it back. Losing land often goes with losing wars.

The opportunity for the creation of a Palestinian State is their (the Palestinians) best hope for a homeland and an opportunity to remake their lives. That they will have to accept Israel and give up part of the land they view as theirs will be hard for them, but necessary. That is if they want to raise their children in peace.

The rise of fundamentalist Islamic movements seem to be at least partially motivated by the failure of secular Islamic states to deal with the Palestinian problem, and particularly with the failure of their various military adventures. If Allah turned his face away from the secular states, then he must be showing his displeasure. Thus the rise of fundamentalist movements that detest not only Israel, but also the secular trappings of Islamic governments.

But that is my view. Other's will see it differently. I'm sure Axel does.

Jeepz

NedKelly~

Good question, will her life improve, sentenced to the US? Maybe, maybe not. There aren't any guarantees of happiness or contentment anywhere. In the USA, in Oz, in Pattaya. Where ever you go, you can find disappointment, failure, and tragedy.

But you can find improvement, success, and happiness too. Depends on what you look for and how the cards fall. She will probably have a hard time adapting to the American culture. Her children may do better. One of her grandchildren might be go to congress. Who knows. Think that is possible in Thailand?

We've got quite a show in the USA. Austrian Governor of California, Native American senators, African-American Secretary of State (should have been Pres in my book). Down the road a Hmong Senator or Supreme Court Judge is not impossible at all.

So Ned, I think it's good to be proud of where you are from. But not at the expense of others. I don't see that USA is raised up by noting that Aussies are often sniveling twits. Not that they really are. But sometimes, you know, I get that impression. And I'm sure they occasionally get the same feeling from some American To++er.

Australia is, in general, a very good place. So is Thailand. And so is the USA. All of them have good points and bad, failures both historical and current, but with hopes of doing better in the future. We can leave it to the Hmong if they are happy to be moving on or not.

Jeepz

Dr PP~

Hey, I even pm'd IT asking what the reference was too, but never got a response back. I don't know if he's viewing my references to southern beauties or USG's name as sort of lame "to++er" stuff or what.

Perplexed, but sometimes that is the way it goes.

Jeepz

How did that old joke go ... ?

You can do this and they never mention it

You can do that and it's water under the bridge

But eff-you-see-kay one sheep and forever more it's Eric the sheep effer.

Jeepz

Not being British, but being a long time afficiando of bureaucracy, I suspect those questions are a hedge. Kind of reminds me of asking "Have you quit beating your wife?" though.

If they catch you doing something terroristic or genocidal (or find a previous instance at some point down the road), they have an extra charge to add. Gives them another reason to toss you out of the country or plea bargain as the case may be.

Jeepz

Ulysses G~

Hey, you got me! Cool, I hadn't thought of race in the equation, and I can see how Ulysses would be a fine choice. Pardon me if any of my previous posts were untoward.

I think your choice of a Colt .45 (semiauto) is a very judicious one. I much prefer it to the current issue Beretta 9mm, even though Beretta makes quite fine firearms as well. It is more a matter of caliber, though the Colt does have a long and illustrious history for functioning in all sorts of conditions.

If, however, you were referring to the Colt .45 popularly known as the ".45 Long Colt", a revolver cartridge, that works too, but limits your fire power and slows down your reloads considerably. I much prefer that cartridge in a Ruger Blackhawk, or rather, I used to be back in the days I was fond of things that went bang.

Jeepz

Ulysses G~

I can understand your disdain for the threats of the KKK, the Grand Association of Aryan Dunces, and those red necked peckerwoods that drool on their email before sending it.

But I shudder to think of the deprivation you must have experienced as young man when surrounded by the sweetest flowers of the south, those delicious daughters of the confederacy. What a dilemma, when chatting with a southern belle and she asks your name. "Ulysses," you reply, "named after that wandering hero of The Odyssey." Oh, maybe in a fit of pique you might have told her "Ulysses, named after a reluctant student at West Point." But I doubt it.

None the less, a proud moniker, and a hearty welcome (if somewhat belated) to the Thai Visa forum. I fear I am one of the peaceniks, since I generally prefer peace to war. Not at any cost, mind you. I wasn't named after Neville Chamberlain. [Note to the Brits: sorry there, I have owned to admiring Churchill elsewhere.]

Jeepz

A son of the South and named after Grant? What, your parents didn't like you? Or was it akin to that J. Cash song, "A boy named Sue"? They did it just to toughen you up for life? What if they could have named you Sherman or Butler or some other really well appreciated Northern general. You'd be super tough by now, provided you survived the experience.

I suppose they thought you'd be lost in the crowd of Bobby Lee's or Stoney Jackon's. Or, possibly, there is that off chance that you were born in one of the few, but existant, southern areas that remained loyal to the North during that no so very distant conflict.

Still, Grant, for all his failings was an admirable fellow. The stain of corruption that infected parts of his administration during his presidency did not tarnish him. And when he was bankrupted by a junior partner in business aftewards, he turned over all of his medals, swords, and presents received over the years as a general and the President to pay off his debts. He was at the very least, an honest and able man.

Jeepz

Adjan jb~

Hmm, let see, losing three wars to the Israeli military has made the Arab/Moslem contingent a more humble group, or should have, following your line of thought. The long line of suicide bombers that Israel has experienced should have produced a deferential, tractable attitude in the Israeli people by now.

To be honest, what you are saying is that, feeling slighted or undervalued, the effective remedy is to strike back. If one doesn't have the capacity to defend themselves or their feelings in a open manner, they should simply find an underhanded way of producing pain and suffering to balance the equation.

Humility, which I do happen to think is often a good thing, is rarely taught by a closed fist. Now fear can be easily instilled thusly. And some people will occasionally confuse the two things. They can produce superficially similar appearances of deference.

Now, you wonder why anyone would think that the twin towers attack could produce something along the lines of a world war three. And that is a good point. By itself, such an attack could not. But a continued series of attacks might. If, for the sake of argument, fanatical fundamentalists continued a series of successful (or partially successful) attacks killing thousands of people in the USA and or other western countries repeatedly, you might actually get to see something resembling a serious conflict.

I doubt that you would find the USA government or its citizens growing more humble and deferential to the necessity of placing Moslem fundamentalists in positions of power and authority. Instead one might find that we would end up killing them instead, regardless of geopolitical boundaries, their supporters sensibilities, and/or the admonitions of critics.

But there is little to discuss along these lines. Fundamentalists of whatever ilk, christian, moslem, you name it, are not interested in anything but controlling the world so it is reflects their vision. Their interest is forcing obediance and deference to their belief system. Well, and damning unbelievers to ######, occasionally even speeding them on their way there.

Sometimes, in my darker moods, I think that martyrdom is good for the soul, and we should do our level best to assist those fundamentalist obtaining it. You would expect they should accept that assistance with a sense of humility, wouldn't you, adjan jb?

Jeepz

Think of that as living on ball bearings then, NedKelly. I can not speak to Thailand specifically, but I live in an earthquake area of North America. Basically it sounds like you are in some sort of sedimentary deposit, not bedrock, sitting on top of moisture or moist earth. A big one hits and all that turns into almost liquid that will transmit force easily.

Don't want to scare you or put some major worry in your mind. I work on fairly similar land every day (well, five out of seven). Managment assures us that it can handle a big one. Maybe, Maybe not. I hope to be retired in LOS before it happens.

Anyway, if you get too worried about it, revamp the house by adding a safe area. Personally I'd go for a bedroom, but whatever works. A good architect should be able to design a retro fit for one room that would make it a better place to be during a big quake.

But actually, is it really necessary? Kinda like wearing a parachute on a commercial jet. Yeah, they fall down, but not that often.

Jeepz

Okay, so new layout and the Community Forums end up down at the bottom, under Local Forums. Since most of the contentious stuff is down in the Bear Pit and potentially contentious stuff might be in the Gay People forum, I guess I can understand that.

The Expat Clubs forum sounds like it is destined to be deleted, or folded into the various Local Forums rather. I suppose that makes sense. Have them in the section where they actually meet.

But I do wonder what the girls have done to get themselves banned to the back of the bus? I rarely see them being rude, except to guys that make cultural comparisons about women. Usually they are pretty well behaved, enjoying themselves, sharing info, laughing at stuff. But they are assigned down with the rabble rousers and/or riff raff of the Bear Pit and Gay Pride groups.

I think if they are going to stay down with us, they are just going to have to turn the rhetoric up a couple of notches, post some stuff that requires sanitizing, and maybe come home late with their clothes in disarray. Err, I mean misbehave in the finest traditions of the Community Forum heritage!

Since we know they probably won't start misbehaving, shouldn't they actually be up beside Farang Pub, a somewhat guy oriented forum?

Jeepz

Ulysses G~

I kind of doubt Hurt is/was gay. It is Hollywood so anything is possible, but he's had a number of relationships, two marriages, and I think four children. It's been a long time since I have seen the film, but as I remember, he doesn't do anything overtly sexual except maybe a kiss? Not too sure about that, but I know it didn't get an X rating so it couldn't have been too blatent.

But his persona in the film was excrutiatingly feminine. Sometimes you just have to remind yourself it is a movie. Kind of like when you were a kid and dad explains that The Blob (or vampire, werewolf, Freddy and/or Jason) are just make believe.

But it does speak to how sensitized we are as males to our roles and how uncomfortable we get when someone steps outside of those boundaries. I always felt a tad awkward when watching Truman Capote being interviewed. I knew he was a very talented author. I have read some of his work and enjoyed it. But watching him on the tube was sort of unsettling.

Like you said earlier, you lived around gays and didn't find it bothersome. I work with them and enjoy talking to with during breaks. One of them is an avid reader and we swap books occasionally.

Yeah, concerning Brando, like I said, he was a shadow of his former ability. A big shadow, but still not the real thing.

Jeepz

sbk~

I would suppose that Kerry's record is an issue because he wants to be president. George W's is less so because he already is president. I think (my lonely little opinion) is that GWB's record, while interesting, is not of great consequence, since we have four years of his actual performance to judge him by, good or bad, depending on your personal view.

Kerry is just getting the "national" spotlight since it's his first run at an office that requires a national vote. What he did in Vietnam, what he did after returning from Vietnam, and what he's been up to in the interim are all viable points of interest.

So the two's service records are not, in fact, equivalent issues. At least to me. And to a number of others. That doesn't mean I'm not at all interested in GWB's time as National Guard pilot. But I already have a fairly concrete view about him in terms of holding the position of Commander in Chief.

You might feel (and I do not for one moment want to usurp your right to express exactly what you do feel) that GWB's service record is indicative of his overall character. Or perhaps his lack of fulfillment (if true) a light on some residual hypocrisy. I'm just guessing here.

But for many non-aligned voters, we are looking at one guy that has the job and another one that wants it. We have a more informed pov about the one that has it because we've watched him. We may still have questions, and we may or may not like what he has done. But for many Kerry, and everything about Kerry, is relative new and has to be scrutinized.

Did he serve, how did he do? If he threw his medals back, just how far did they go? Does he put the toilet paper on overshot or undershot? Was he friendly with Jane Fonda during the protests? Was it because he agreed with her or because she wasn't wearing a bra that day?

Back to you sbk.

Jeepz

Ulysses G~

Which I take as a sort of back handed compliment to Hurt in the sense he must have been pretty effective in his portrayal. I've not been as fond of him as an actor, he always seemed to be a bit minimalist in his characters, too quiet. But I thought he was pretty darned good in that one, even if he and the subject weren't fav's of mine.

Meadish~

I hear what you are saying about the "selling out thing". It takes extraordinary character to withstand the seduction of fame. And trying to pin or limit a performer to one specific venue only is like trying to stop the seasons. It all only lasts for awhile. Then things change. If they don't adapt then the best they can hope for is being a Vegas lounge act down the road. If they are lucky.

mrmnp~

Truly great actors create characters that are believable. Perhaps when they fail to do that, an audience may well took to the person playing the part, and rightly so.

Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now is one such role. He was a sad actor in that one. A mere shadow of his former ability.

Jeepz

"Every New Registration Gets a Can of Sanitizer, Now With Scrubbing Bubbles!"?

Okay, I can understand thinning down words that might get you ranked lower in the search engines. But really, are they dropping your ranking because someone occasionally types d-a-m-n? I would find that hard to believe. Oh, now if it was a Christian Search Engine, or Retired English Teachers Search Engine, maybe. But Google and DMOZ are adding penalty points for expletives?

I have noticed that I am seeing the occasional "sexual conjugation" word show up by some users without being snuck in by misspelling it. What's with that? Censor on break? Not a biggie in my book, it is your website of course. You can ban multiple periods ... if you like, some places do. I don't really give a tinker's uhmm ... never mind.

Jeepz

I've been using Spybot S&D for quite awhile, no problems noted with it. The author of Spybot S&D has this to say on his website:

For the past two weeks, I got massive complaints from people who saw recommendations for Spybot-S&D on some TV show or heard about it on radio, and tried to go for it through the TV/radios website. Somehow, a bad link to Spybot-S&D is on its way and leading people to think that SpyHunter or SpyKiller would be the recommended Spybot-S&D. People downloading these two are forced to pay to remove spyware, and in the case of SpyKiller are even directed to us for support!

So my warning: please double-check what you've got before you pay anything!

Also, if you were mislead to SpyHunter or SpyKiller through Google AdWords, please contact Google. Google promised me some weeks ago they wouldn't do any more advertisement on my trademarked name "spybot", but I again receive complaints that they do, and this struggle with Google is going on for 4 months now.

Source: http://www.safer-networking.org/

There had been an earlier attempt by another outfit to market a product using a very similar name, but this was at least a year ago and I thought that had been resolved.

Jeepz