monkeycountry

I hate to admit it but Thailand isn't the only place where this happens often. I love my country (America) but domestic killings happen very often and thanks to the availability of guns it is far to easy to accomplish

I'm from the states too. This stuff happens all the time everywhere. We have had two shooting sprees recently. Doesnt happen often in Thailand.

Not about face. Just a jealous insecure guy with a firearm. It isnt a Thai thing.

This thread isn't about the US, and you are way off topic. However, I will post the graph one more time (maybe the tenth time) showing that Thailand has the 3rd highest gun murder rate per capita in the world, and it's ten times what it is in the US. And Thailand supposedly has tight gun controls.

It IS cultural. These figures are per 100,000 people.

Thank you all knowing Neversure. I never said it is about the US. I want to stop the Thai bashing and try to be a bit positive.

Are you Thai? Asian? You understand every culture? I hope you dont live in Thailand.

You said "This stuff happens all the time everywhere" and then continued to refer to shootings in the US, but the table clearly shows it does not happen all the time everywhere, not even in the US. It only happens all the time in a few countries, including Thailand. Why do you want to stop the Thai bashing, when it is clearly not a general problem, but a Thai problem (together with a few other countries)?

I can to some extend understand guys who accidentially bring their western girlfriend to Pattaya, and stick with her anyway. But actually hooking up with a western girl once you are already in Pattaya, let alone a 50yo, seems kinda crazy to me

It's not about "culture". But a madman who can't control his feelings.

This exist in all countries.

Yeah, I have to agree. Thais are really bad with jealousy, but the ugly emotion of jealousy--including in ridiculous extreme forms such as this--can be found in all countries and cultures, and among all socioeconomic classes.

It's so sad, too, because there is nothing "natural" about jealousy (humans have only been "monogamous" for a tiny portion of their existence...read Sex At Dawn if you'd like to know more about this), and it CAN be unlearned. It's all based on the idea that one can somehow possess another person...and you just can't. Unfortunately, it is possible to kill a person you realize you can't possess...if you let jealousy overtake you.

I know this is nowhere near the magnitude of this unfortunate event, but this whole "having a new boyfriend too soon" angle reminds me of a girl (American) who dumped me about 20 years ago...in about a month, I had met another girl, and, as I was "remaining friends" with the one who dumped me, I told her. She got very pissed off at me (remember...SHE dumped ME), saying "well...if you could fall for someone else so soon, that makes me think you never really cared that much for me...!" Can you believe that madness?!

The world is full of screwed-up people with weird and destructive agendas.

Human males have only been monogamous for a relatively short time yes, but I believe usually the females (back when we were monkeys) only had sex with the strongest male, and that this male would beat or kill any other male that approached his group of females. So in short, the murderer in the OP is just a monkey or very early human. Remember also that Thailand is still a few decades behind the west when it comes to most issues, and some Thais, like the guy in the OP, unfortunately seem to be several millenia behind :-)

"He felt insulted by the sight, and decided to commit the crime."

It's a shame cars do not run on "face" or "thainess", as that would make Thailand the richest country in the world!

This may deter future coups. However, if it doesn't, and there is a future coup afterall, it may just as well deter those behind a future coup from giving power back to the people, knowing that there is no guarantee they will not be punished for the coup.

In other words, it is a gamble. It reduces the risk/chance of future coups, but if there is indeed a future coup, it also reduces the chance that those behind it will ever step down.

I have a strong feeling, that if you asked most foreigners living on Phuket or in Thailand, they would consider the governor himself the biggest criminal on Phuket - in fierce competition with the mayor of Patong and his son - just a guess

I am guessing a local criminal, such as a local police officer, will rarely get caught, and even if he get caught, his connections will ensure he is not tried or punished, hence there are no local criminals in the police statistics

I think the trick is to make sure everyone who works pays income tax, even those with low income/salaries. Even if people only pay a few hundred baht in tax, they will suddenly start to feel that it is also their money being used/misused, and therefore they will start to care how it is used/misused. Seeing a few hundred baht of their hard earned money disappear from their pocket each month will also make them realise that the money the government spends is not coming from thin air.

You could argue that everyone pays VAT and that should have the same effect. However, most people do not really understand VAT or that the VAT is actually tax, and as the price they see in the stores already has VAT included, they do not even realise that they are paying anything but the price for the actual product. Therefore VAT has no psychological impact on most people.

Regarding voting, I do agree that people should somehow make an effort in order to be allowed to vote. However, tax may not be the right way to go, as lots of people do not pay tax, such as the elderly, unemployed etc. I suggest instead some form of simple test that everyone, even the uneducated, can pass if they are prepared to make a small effort in order to prepare for the test and thereby learn a little about the society they live in. It could contain basic general knowledge questions that everyone can learn in a day if they are prepared to read a predistributed book or listen to a predistributed cd (for those who cannot read).

If tax has to be the deciding factor, then you could differentiate, so people who do not pay tax get 1 vote, people who do pay tax get 2 etc.Those who bother to file a tax return, even if they do not have to pay any tax due to low salary, could get 2 votes as well - it still shows they care. All those who make good money but do not file tax returns, will only get 1 vote. They are cheating society anyway, so don't deserve more than 1 vote.

I do not know what would be the best system, and I do not suggest this just to get rid of the PTP, my suggestions goes for all countries, not just Thailand. The intention is to get rid of the voters who either do not know anything, or do not care about anything, as well as making sure that those who contribute to society and/or care about society are actually those who run society. If you want to be heard, you have to make an effort, one way or another, not just turn 18!

The current system where any lazy idiot over 18 can vote makes no sense to me - in any country. We might as well let monkeys and children vote too!

What a load of <deleted>. Democracy - for those who pay tax, own property or can attain some other measurement put in place. No votes for the others eh? Why not make it only elite landholding gentry, with a university degree? Or those above a certain IQ perhaps? Or members of certain families.

Democracy - just an idea, not the goal.

I take it you read my admittedly rather long post very fast and skipped all the details, so I won't bother starting an argument

Religion should be against the law.

only if atheism will be against the law too.

religious can't prove the god exists, and atheists can't prove he doesn't, so what is the difference?

and if we compare, there were much more murders in the name of atheism than in the name of god...

Murders In the name of atheism?

Please point me to a single reported murder "in the name of atheism".

As far as proving whether gods exist, I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. No one has proven to me that he doesn't exist, therefore he must exist.

Heyy .... brother?? (not sure what we call fellow believers?) I joined about 3-4 months ago - easiest "membership" ever http://www.venganza.org/join/

And yes, agree, murders in the name of atheism??? Never heard of that either

Oh, and btw, got a new passport at my embassy in Bangkok a month ago. They do not allow the spaghetti thing on my head in the picture. Did not bring one anyway, but did ask :-)

There was a clause in a contract for an apartment which I rented in Thailand that said I would be charged something like 50 to 100 Baht to 'repair' each hole left in the walls when I leave.

I was quite surprised to see them go into so much detail. I don't bother with any kind of artwork anyway so it wasn't an issue.

A clause like this does give you an insight into the mindset of the person who wrote it though.

50-100 for a hole ? are we talking about patpo....? the wages here are 300 thb for an employee. your landlord would make a better loan shark or bookie than the profession he is in.

But the joke aside, he simply can not do this. The basic rules of common law force him to apply arbitrary fairness between the contractual partners, even here in Thailand.

Even if you put a salvatoy clause like: well is point 1) not works the contract will stay in state - this will not fly in a court.

Before you go down this road - talk to him !

You're a lawyer then?

No, not exactly but i had to draft quite a bit of contracts, terms and conditions, aup and so on so i had to learn about this kind of stuff.

If you have ever been to court in Thailand, you will know that it does not really matter what it says in the contract, or whether it will fly in court. An condo deposit is rarely worth going to a Thai court over - even if you win, and the condo owner knows that, so it is pretty much down to what the condo owner, who has the deposit, says!

I don't see how this differs from the christian belief.. both are unproven, just an other kind of madness. When there is no proof (and there is none of any religion) and you still believe then you should believe all the religions as they also have no proof. So actually all religious people are equally gullible.

It doesn't. But where for example many, if not the majority of, muslims base many of their everyday as well as major life decisions on their religion, 95% of christians only pray when the pilot says "brace for impact". Buddhism is somewhere inbetween.

The PTP government keeps saying they cannot calculate losses due to the fact that they have not yet sold all their stock. Virtually every company in the world, including Thailand, has some form of stock that keeps coming in and keeps going out in a continuous circle. Yet all these companies manage to, and are required to, file a tax return stating their profit/loss each year. It is very rare that companies run completely out of stock, which seems to be what the PTP is waiting for before calculating their profit/loss.

The "trick" is to simply put a value on your existing stock based on the current market price (not some future imaginary/fantasy price), and to disregard stock that is damaged/obsolete/unsellable - a very simple task for anyone but the PTP.

Wish they had something like if you pay taxes you can vote if not tough luck. Its so sad for the people paying taxes seeing it all spend like this.

Now THAT is a good idea. It would sure shift the vote in this country. I would like to see it in the USA too, although, not sure it would make a difference there.

Seems only fair as they are the ones paying for it all. Right now their money is used to buy poor votes so more of their money can be stolen. Does not sound fair to me where the ones paying have nothing to say in it and their own money is used for a form of vote buying but against them. Yea I know its not a fair thing to think about but as long as it would keep the reds away I am all for it.

I feel hurt how they are raping the funds of this country and totally control it Not ever accepting their mistakes and so on. Telling lies all the time. The current voters don't care about corruption as its not their money that is being stolen. I bet the ones paying all the taxes hate that its stolen like this but because the majority (also the ones that dont pay no coincidence there) selects these criminals.

I think the trick is to make sure everyone who works pays income tax, even those with low income/salaries. Even if people only pay a few hundred baht in tax, they will suddenly start to feel that it is also their money being used/misused, and therefore they will start to care how it is used/misused. Seeing a few hundred baht of their hard earned money disappear from their pocket each month will also make them realise that the money the government spends is not coming from thin air.

You could argue that everyone pays VAT and that should have the same effect. However, most people do not really understand VAT or that the VAT is actually tax, and as the price they see in the stores already has VAT included, they do not even realise that they are paying anything but the price for the actual product. Therefore VAT has no psychological impact on most people.

Regarding voting, I do agree that people should somehow make an effort in order to be allowed to vote. However, tax may not be the right way to go, as lots of people do not pay tax, such as the elderly, unemployed etc. I suggest instead some form of simple test that everyone, even the uneducated, can pass if they are prepared to make a small effort in order to prepare for the test and thereby learn a little about the society they live in. It could contain basic general knowledge questions that everyone can learn in a day if they are prepared to read a predistributed book or listen to a predistributed cd (for those who cannot read).

If tax has to be the deciding factor, then you could differentiate, so people who do not pay tax get 1 vote, people who do pay tax get 2 etc.Those who bother to file a tax return, even if they do not have to pay any tax due to low salary, could get 2 votes as well - it still shows they care. All those who make good money but do not file tax returns, will only get 1 vote. They are cheating society anyway, so don't deserve more than 1 vote.

I do not know what would be the best system, and I do not suggest this just to get rid of the PTP, my suggestions goes for all countries, not just Thailand. The intention is to get rid of the voters who either do not know anything, or do not care about anything, as well as making sure that those who contribute to society and/or care about society are actually those who run society. If you want to be heard, you have to make an effort, one way or another, not just turn 18!

The current system where any lazy idiot over 18 can vote makes no sense to me - in any country. We might as well let monkeys and children vote too!

May I just remind all of you that all of the people mentioned in this story are eligible voters or at least soon to be eligible voters. This includes the people in Pimay1's story above my comment. Scary if you ask me

The definition is fairly simple really.

Whatever you put on the beach, has to be removed at night, and then you can put it back again the next morning. This is how it is done in some other places in Thailand. Obviously this approach means the more stuff you put on the beach, the more workers you need to do it, hence the more expensive it becomes to do it. And structures too large or heavy to remove each day will obviously not be erected.

When will the stupidity end?

Another few hundred billion in loses on the way

Rice farmers get free money .... rubber farmers get tear gased

Small time rice farmers don't see any of this money at all, thanks very much.

Yet small time rice farmers are still too stupid to keep the scam alive by supporting it. Even I did not think they were that stupid

Nobody asks for permission to do anything in Thailand - just do it!

Driving down towards Ban Tai today there are posters dotted along the ring road .... like this (actually I don't like!!!... )

Just to go off subject but since it was mentioned!

The comment from Tropo, this red weevil problem, does not seem to be getting much worse..that I have noticed. I think they are using Fermone traps to attract and kill the males (usually how that is done.)

along Soi one to Lamai, one can see a few of these traps hanging in the groves ... not been out and about in other areas to see if any around, but it may be just and experiment.... Lets hope it works....

So they are promoting to Thais then .. And what is with the fortuner ? Do you get. Free one with an apartment ?

My guess is first ten buyers.... ? anyone ?

As far as I can read it says they have 10 SUVs available to transport people from their condo through soi reggae when it floods

I just don't understand why OP doesn't have his own blog. I didn't think this was offensive to Thais at all...it was pointing out a difference in perspectives. Friends and friends of friends who visit here often find it hard to believe things I tell them about Thailand that are basic (and not negative, either). It is a different place. Anyway, BletherBlog...when is it happening?

There is a blog in place at the moment but I haven't had time to set it up correctly and populate it. I'll do that when I go back to Scotland but to be honest it's not a priority, I've got plenty of other things that are a call on my time.

When you say you are busy I believe you. I assume you have a lunch and a dinner coming up shortly :-)

I read your other post about some dinner, the ladys after-dinner dinner and paying for it all 10 minutes ago, and I now understand you. If you have lunch/dinner with ladies 24/7 it obviously adds up :-)

It also explains the bumbui part, which I only mention as you mentioned it yourself :-)

And yes, one can go for lunch/dinner with various ladies without it leading to sex - but why?? According to you all they do is spend your money and make fun of you :-)

70 cm water level is possible. 70cm rainfall??

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