ArtVandelay

If a 50% increase in lung cancer deaths in a decade doesn't inspire a clean up there, then I don't know what will. Air pollution has got to be worse for children, whose lungs are still developing.

How is this possible? * cheap airfare

Social media and the Internet are only the latest in a long line of societal disruptors throughout history. * In the 1500's, it was the printing press (allowed for the Reformation which brought on the 30-years war in Europe). * In the 1800's, it was the telegraph. Rapid spread of information accelerated the US into Civil War, while a similar thing happened in Europe (1840's). * In the 1920's, the latest technology was radio. The Nazis used it effectively to brainwash an entire nation into WWII. Now, it's the Internet. Vladimir Putin used it effectively to give us Donald Trump. We probably should brace ourselves.

For most Thais, Thailand is not so cheap to live. As a foreigner with dollars, pounds, etc, it's easy to forget this.

I'm sure the song will appeal to the kind of foreigner who visits for two weeks and returns home believing they've seen "the real Thailand." Almost feel sorry for them.

Sometimes "justice" isn't 3 hots and a cot . . . . . . . the rest of someone's life.

I'm on Koh Tao right now and I've never seen so many tourists crammed into one tiny island. Been coming here for 8 years and this is the first time I'm not renting a motorbike. Too dangerous, too many places renting them now, and too many people who would never even think of getting on a motorbike back home plunking their 200B down and clogging the main drag.