JAG

11 minutes ago, The Deerhunter said:

I have not been a soldier in those circumstances but soldiers are trained to kill. Police are meant to be trained serve and protect.  Whenever situations get this hairy, bad things are bound to happen.   My memory  (8 years later) was that police and army were involved.   You could be asking  "Why did the peaceful redshirts allow it to get so far out of control?"  They knew what they were facing and they persisted in the protest and authorities' ultimatums to disband had been ignored.   And their leaders were still threatening to burn the capital.   Do the protesters have no part of responsibility in this unfortunate  but predictable disaster?  It was totally the making of the authorities?

I have been a soldier, and faced hostile crowds in an urban environment. What they did was blatantly criminal, open murder, in clear breach of the Hague Conventions (Geneva Convention), and the international laws of armed conflict. I can categorically state that in my army, if I had done that, I would have gone to prison. For a long time.

10 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I can't wait. In a few years, I'll be laughed at for not doing ballroom dancing I'm not a bigot, I hope you just don't know the meaning of the word.

I had no idea that this dancing is due to become so big in the future.

Maybe you did Morris dancing when you were young, which has scarred to for life.

Off topic, but apropos of Morris Dancers - do you know why they have bells at their wrists and ankles?

So that they can annoy blind people too!

21 hours ago, Johnniey said:

 

My pal, who left school aged 16, with no degree earns 180,000 a month teaching Chinese 5 year olds in his underpants, online, wearing Mickey Mouse ears.  

18 hours ago, kaorop said:

proof or troll? sux to be called out so easy, hey?

Well, I know a little bit about the teaching Chinese children online gig...

Without a degree, you are really unlikely to be on more than $15 an hour, more probably $10 or thereabouts. The Chinese drive a hard bargain, and knowing where you live tend to set the wages appropriately. That means to get near the figure you suggest he must be teaching for 14+ hours a day. 7 days a week. Given that the online schools are open outside of school hours (typically 6 pm - 9 pm and during the day at weekends) that simply would not be possible. I do it for 12 hours a week, and in a good month, if I don't take time off, perhaps ThB25,000?

Incidentally, there are a number of international child protection agencies who would take a dim view of underpants and Mickey Mouse ears...

On 19/05/2018 at 10:04 AM, Neeranam said:

Ballroom dancing is not what a normal 17 year old boy should be wanting to do.

Scottish schools used to be the best in the world. The Queen of England even sent her sons  there.

 

By all accounts they hated it...

On 18/05/2018 at 12:01 PM, mikebell said:

Now we know why Thai Education is in a downward spiral.  Principleless principals cashing in.  My stepdaughter applied locally for a teaching job.  The principal was interested but only if I would teach part-time for nothing.  I agreed.

We then received back-word that another had been hired after an under-the-table payment had been paid.  The successful candidate bragged it had cost her/family 300,000.

I have a friend whose brother is the principal of a medium sized Government school near Bangkok.

She tells me that this month (start of the academic year) is worth ThB 750.000 to him!

4 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

Oh come on. Everyone loves a circus.

 

"All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth!"

1 hour ago, Basil B said:

There seemed to be only one royal displeased, seems Andy had concerns that Fergie (who tried to steel the limelight on her entrance) had been seated out of sight in the chapel. 

Is that so? I wondered why he was doing a passable impression of a bulldog chewing a wasp!

Well now, I thought he was rather good - he certainly seemed to rather believe what he was saying and took no prisoners in saying it. So many sermons at such occasions are of the "as Jesus said, and it has to be said with some degree of justification" variety; it was refreshing to hear someone preach with such obvious conviction. 

I would suggest that assessing royal and other approval from a selection of split second camera "pans" is a fairly inexact science. I'm sure that he would have discussed his text with the clerical higherarchy and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex anyway. As for protocol: we're told that apparently a rather jolly black American bishop chappie got it terribly wrong - what an eclectic selection of expertise is available on TVF!

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I think there must have been more cameras there than for any other event in history.

Well, it does seem to have brought some joy to a very large number of people across the planet.

Oh and stirred the bile of assorted misery guts, gadgrinders and experts on the protocol attached to sermons at royal weddings - apparently that rather jolly American bishop chappie got it terribly wrong - what an eclectic selection of expertise is available on TVF!

I rather enjoyed it myself, always rather liked Prince Harry, she really is a remarkably pretty girl, The Prince of Wales behaved most graciously and Her Majesty looked rather pleased. Good luck to them.

5 minutes ago, sukhumvitneon said:

Not really.

 

Venezuela was always a one trick pony with its oil resources. Remember 2007, with its sky-high oil prices and in the US, close to $5/gallon gas at one point?  And how Hugo Chavez acted smug and called America the "The Devil"? Seems like the tables have turned.  No sympathies to the Venezuelans.  Suffer more, you a**holes.

It's not Chavez or rather his successors who are suffering. Rather it is the ordinary people, who had no part in or desire to demonize the USA.

6 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

Really it's a Royal protocol. You could the look their faces he 14-minute speech was totally unexpected, Anyway, I can see not many people appreciate your comments with you pathetically low like rate

Right.

So posts are judged on how many likes they get.

OK.

Whilst were on the subject of things pathetic...

2 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Lordy..

 

Prozac is a Darwinian creation of science..chemistry..rampant Aristotelianism at its most deceitful..

 

Not that I am in denial or anything.and I agree that if the good lord has designed many Trump Towers then so be it ..as the local realtor righteously states.

 

Shall we get back to the topic at hand?

White flag run up.

Goodnight.

3 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

True.....

 

I often picture his team with their tin foil hats on...but the truth is probably more prosaic..they are all experiencing the "rapture" and who am I to intrude? 

Rapture or rupture?

Prosaic or Prozac?

7 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Ah..but will it be  seen from Outer Space?

I should imagine so - it seems to be where he gets most of his ideas from.

On 18/05/2018 at 2:39 PM, sukhumvitneon said:

. There are many Californians who are tired of the progressive agenda but limousine liberals and their ilk in LA and the SF bay area keep outvoting them

Ah, that will be because there are more of them than those who "are tired of the progressive agenda".

You see that's what happens in democratic societies, the agenda which garners the most votes is the one which gets followed*, unfair I know but there you are.

* doesn't seem to apply to selecting your President of course...

On 18/05/2018 at 6:36 AM, Odysseus123 said:

His media advisers thought that one up after the gaffe was committed.

 

Build the man a vast sandpit in the backyard of the White House,hide the twitter devices and give him a million piece Lego set to divert his tiny mind.

He can build a wall, "a beautiful wall" across the middle of it..

4 hours ago, KiwiKiwi said:

Besides, USA do Freemasons the same way they do everything else.

Loudly, vulgarly, and in extremely large portions?

7 minutes ago, thedan663 said:

Lack of standards is certainly an issue. However, many of the teachers here simply aren't real teachers an don't know how to teach. They don't understand pedagogy, classroom management, how to teach effectively, etc. It is a skill that a simple one-month TEFL/CELTA course can't teach. Qualified teachers in our home countries often have a minimum Bachelor's in Education and/or content area. Most teachers here do not.

 

However, I don't think students here are hung up on different spelling and grammar between Australia/UK and USA. The grammar is not that different, anyhow. We are in the age of global English - proper English is not so important. The issue is that many students cannot even converse with a native speaker in English, and believe me, it's not because of grammar and spelling differences in native countries. That is so far down the list of issues. It's because the teachers here don't speak English well and the native teachers don't know how to teach.

Most of the teachers here are not qualified or trained (in Western academic terms) but hold a degree and a TEFL certificate. I am one. I am conscious that I am not trained in pedagogy, I think that after three years teaching I have devised an effective technique of classroom management, and I am confident, within the fairly limited field that I operate in, that I am an effective teacher. The requirements demanded by the Thai educational system, a degree, and a TEFL or CELTA certificate are probably sufficient for that limited field, supplementing the trained Thai teachers within the Thai curriculum. Where the "envelope is being stretched" is where TEFL certificate holders are being recruited to teach other subjects, science and mathematics in particular, in the various bilingual and English programmes which are proliferating. That is not what TEFL teachers are "designed to do".

As far as TEFL teachers speaking English to an inadequate standard, they should be identified, and the applicants weeded out at their initial interview. I suspect that youth, physical appearance, skin tone and cheapness probably feature more in the concerns of many employers.

TEFL is a very particular specific skill set. There is no reason why, armed with a degree, a TEFL certificate from a decent institute (and I admit these do differ widely) and some experience, one cannot teach, in conjunction with one's Thai colleagues, effectively. The ineffective ones probably pack it in fairly quickly anyway.

As for the often quoted "why do they do it for the money", well there are probably as many reasons as there are people teaching. The only thing which could be said with any certainty is that it is not to fund the life of a "bar hound"!

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

John, John, John. 

 

Come back to reality! More chance of the Pope marrying a gay Protestant bishop, Barnsley winning the FA cup; England winning the world cup, or Sturgeon telling the truth!

 

 

Well, of course, Pope Francis is a Jesuit, and with the SJ you can never rule anything out, Barnsley winning the FA Cup, hmm, and the last two, well yes, I concede your point...

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

My experience on air stands at Shell, Esso and Texaco gas stations are few machines and in poor repair. Bangchak and PT have a better success rate but the all round winner for having a working machine that some dork hasn't buggered up the inflator gizmo is with PTT stations, especially the newer ones with a handy 7-eleven on the concourse. The PTT bogs tend to be much better as well FWIW.

Why do PTT install  tyre inflator in the bogs?

Or have I got confused...

?

Last time I did the trip a few years ago, there were two separate windows at the bus station in Udon with a sign:  "Visa Holders Only" for the Vientiane trip.
One window for people with a visa (or not needing one) that goes to Vientiane, and the bus to the border at Nong Khai for those without or just going across and back, both about 50 baht.There are mini buses too for the almost the same cost to the border.
When you get to the border there is a bus across the bridge and back for about 20 Baht each way.
Also there's a bus into Nong Khai town (if you can catch it) on the way back, or share a taxi.
This is not new at Nong Khai but might be at other crossings.
 
I prefer to stay off long distance buses here as it is extremely dangerous.