Gaccha

Going to watch game of thrones I think... then sons of anarchy. .. Thanks all

Once the clunky dialogue of the first, and the bad acting of the second have led to a loss of interest.... Then move on to Mad Men.

I watched 4 seasons in 4 weeks. I felt it outperforms Shakespeare.

What about Veep--- the US version of The Thick of It....

Mad Men is presumably the greatest TV series in the history of TV.

Me, facing imminent bankruptcy and pouring over the statements for the wife's credit cards: "Are you aware that you spent over 35 thousand dollars last year in beauty, clothing and shoe shops?"

Her: "Don't you dare tell me how I can, or cannot spend my money? You're a control freak."

Me: "Are you aware that the monthly interest payments on your outstanding credit card debt is more than a thousand dollars."

Her: "That's none of your business."

Me: "Well it is my business because the debt you are racking up to buy worthless sh_t is sending us bankrupt."

Her: "Stop abusing me. Telling me how I can spend money is domestic violence. If you don't shut up I am going to the police to file charges."

The socio political fabric of Western society is now entirely disfunctional because it has been highjacked by the feminist narrative. Thailand must avoid adopting this narrative at ALL COST.

So you married a woman who spends your money and makes empty legal threats, and on the strength of this 'experience' you argue, what, that societies that tolerate high levels of sexual violence against women are better than those that don't? That's stupid. I mean, even leaving aside the morality of it (which I find abhorrent) , it doesn't even hang together as a coherent thought.

Actually--astonishingly-- a claim that the husband has criticized their spending habits has successfully been used as domestic abuse. Google it.

I think you're right that unacceptable thug behaviour gets punished harshly here. A thief will get a beating. A drunk driver killing someone will have a lynching mob after him. A tatooed troublemaker foreigner won't be able to bully his way around. All good. Where it isn't good is getting a bottle over your neck cause you talked to some girl without knowing she had a boyfriend. Jealousy is dangerous here.

I agree with that.

The danger of creating a loss of face is pretty lethal. I think you might even get by with a handshake in the UK....

I should point out I'm a Brit. I could easily spread my point to cover most western countries.

I am talking about seeing street violence. How or what can that do with my social circle....

I don't understand the points about drugs and gfs. I felt the point I was making was pretty clear.

'Platform", Michel Houellebecq

"I've lived so little that I tend to imagine I'm not going to die; it seems improbable that human existence can be reduced to so little; one imagines, in spite of oneself, that sooner or later something is bound to happen. A big mistake. A life can just as well be both empty and short. The days slip by indifferently, leaving neither trace nor memory; and then all of a sudden they stop."

The author is probably France's greatest living writer. And here he has written a book about a sex tourist travelling to Pattaya. That really should make it irresistable for ThaiVisa readers.

Houellebecq brilliantly describes the modern life. He is the literary successor to Marcuse's One Dimensional Man.

His style is called Depressive Realism, and I find his description of the Western life as entirly inauthentic and-- ironically-- the moment of sex with a prostitute as the only sincere and genuine moment of jouissance, as entirly convincing.

His writings superbly tie in with academic work on regular sex as a resource extraction mechanism (see Florida University's Baumeister) and the reversing of the normal view of a holiday as a 'staged authenticity'.

Simply superb.

"Platform is calculated to poke, prod, engorge, enrage and amuse the complacent reader of today. It’s dangerous in the way that literature is meant to be dangerous -- that is, it awakens neglected sensibilities." - Benjamin Anastas, The New York Observer

To understand the depth of his life philosphy have a read of: "THE SUICIDE OF THE WEST: The Novels Of Michel Houellebecq" by Alan Dent (just paste and google it)

Available at Kinokuniya Emporium.

I feel there is more criminal violence in Thailand than the UK, but I also feel I am less threatened by it and less vulnerable to it.

My theory is that the violence is more often than not instigated to reinforce breached social norms rather than as a social norm breach.

The UK, like all nation-states, is intensely jealous of its monopoly on violence. They become awfully bothered by citizen's justice and can be quite vengeful in any signs of violence as retribution.

I am sure Thailand would be the same if it could. But I feel there is an understanding of the weakness of the state and the more conservative normative forces in Thailand to keep a lid on the violence in the street.

Clearly, there is political violence (the numbers of politicians shot at around election time is astonishing) but for the man walking his dog on the street the violence is unlikely to be directed his way. This violence in Thailand is to punish unwritten norms.

I thought this as I watched a scooter driver beat up three teenage boys. They offered little resistance as he gave them each black eyes. I thought it was interesting that the police officer I grabbed when he spoke to the boys used a similar terminology to my imagined 1950s British police officer; not the "what was the number of the scooter?", or "What did the scooter rider look like?", but rather, "what were you scallywags up to?".

Despite the heavily bloodied faces it soon became clear among the four of them that they had it coming-- they had not got out of the way of the scooter driver when he was attempting to pass them on the pavement. So the norms of respecting elders, not getting in others' ways, and other norms seemed to take priority.

I have never been threatened by violence here, except by a 'roid rager Briton in Khon Kaen. It seems a preferable place for those who just get on with their lives.

I can also imagine quite a few of the tattoed hothead Brits feeling very upset at this sort of violence since it will be precisely them it is directed at. While in the UK, they could beat people up who dared to look at them, Thais do the chivalrous act of ganging up on the norm-breaching troublemaker and reminding him of the norms. Their upset is revealed in their claims of experiencing Thai cowardice; Thais bravely and instinctively gather together in fighting these giant Brit thugs through sheer numbers.

I have read many times of Brits getting unfaily beaten up, but I have only ever seen Brits get fairly beaten up,

Thoughts?

The old may look more needy than me. But i have been in agonising pain. I am not giving up a seat because somebody *looks* less fit. And i don't turn the evil eye on others who don't.

A labourer may have worked 18 hours hauling coals. He should not have to stand for an old lady who has foolishly caught the bus at rush hour despite having all the time in the World.

To show my lack of guilt--and to show the sedating effects of the powerful painkillers-- i always stare right at the person who expects my seat, so they know i have no guilt.

I never had an endoscopy to start with. The local clinic doctor just stuck me on the miracid.

I take the miracid once daily. For the initial 3 months i needed twice daily.

I went off it for 3 months as i felt it was making no difference . And the symptoms remained the same level of low discomfort. I then went back on it to try to knock this ulcer on the head. And 2 months later it seems to have worked. I have had no pain for 3 weeks.

I have drunk not a drop of alcohol for these last 11 months after the first false start ended after i drank a glass of vodka.

I have not needed the NSAIDS but i might sometimes in the future.

Another question, if i was to need the NSAIDS should i preemptively take the miracid.

Thank you and thank you in advance.

So the hotel conceded to your request. In Japan, they would have apologised effusively but ultimately made you pay.

Sheryl & friends ,

1 year and 3 months after i developed a stomach ulcer, after 2 false starts, it seems to have cured.

I am still taking the Miracid. Can i now slowly wean myself off it ( it has famously awful side-effects) or do i keep taking it for say another month?

To what extent is my stomach recovered (or what can be inferred) from the pain ceasing? Can i, after ending the medicine, start to drink my beloved red wine? Or is my stomach in a lifetime vulnerable state ( the ulcer is NSAID type).

Thank you in advance.

I've heard the words ccombined as "kha-dtut".

It was clearly a one-off that evoked laughter. But it was immediately understood. It was fired at a effeminate man who as a one-off was dressed as a cute girl.

or Kosovo may satisfy you.

At least, there is no VISA problem at all.

Thai Passport holders for stays up to 90 days, NO Visa required.

In Europe, only Russia allows that also. (30 days)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Thai_citizens

Interesting.

When i went it was a UN mandate. UNKFOR?

I recommend bus to Albania over the dangerous bandit- country mountain passes.

Bittorrent is your friend.

Is there now a system of national segregation.

My 90 days with the bar code took about 20 seconds to be processed. But vast numbers of Indians & Chinese were patiently waiting for their documents to be processed. This was at Chaeng Wattana in December.

To answer your question you need to delve into the notion of 'holiday-ness'.

A primary concern for tourists is authenticity. They seek the 'real'. "See the real Thailand!". But their very presence as the transactional tourist leads to failure.

There is only one solution & the one i adopt. I travel to war zones for my holidays and live my life in holiday zones.

I recommend-- and I'm not joking-- Algeria, Northern Iraq or Eastern Afghanistan. If you are risk averse then the west bank or Kosovo may satisfy you.

When i sat in the compound of the arab (who looked like he'd just fallen out of the Lawrence of Arabia movie) with tea in hand and spoke of the tribe's difficulties .... Without any suggestion of touristic purchase of the experience..... Well, that sir, is the only worthwhile holiday.

Oddly, i have become one of the world's experts on this topic area.

I have ended up published in a peer-reviewed journal on the rise of the shaming of men to man-up and marry. I have analysed the extraordinary growth in the 'manosphere' on the internet (google it) and looked at the desperate situation for female graduates in the anglo-saxon settler states.

The dominant framing in a death spiral of silence remains oblique on the obvious point of marriage: it is a cartel on the access to sex. The intellectual gymnastics required to come up with other stories won't change this core point.

Thailand is part of the cartel-breaching process of globalization. Men can do travel to break the cartel that hinders male desire.

Obviously this is far more nuanced and complicated than I've written, but once my article is on Google scholar you can read all about the complex confluences of factors that mean Anglo-saxon settler state women can't find men to marry.

I have become interested in the extraordinary and growing popularity of the 'manosphere' in the internet e.g therationalemale and Chateau heartiste ( both sites are crude but intellectual). These are web pages that are expanded versions of the Pick-Up Artist websites.

They ask us to rethink female nature and place it in the changes of modern life.

Two books I've read as a consequence were a polemic by the brilliant writer H. L. Mencken: surely, his reputation proceeds him, and the female argentinian E. Vilar.

Mencken's 'In defense of women' is superb in his writing style and fairly convincing in the engrossingly ironic way he sets out to show women are the better sex, and so men deserve help.

By way of contrast, Vilar's 'Manipulated Man' goes too far. My jaw dropped several times at the level of disgust she has for her fellow women. And it's just too long.

I recommend them both. You can read them both in around 4 hours. They are free to download off the internet. The Mencken dates back to before the roaring twenties.

I have become interested in the extraordinary and growing popularity of the 'manosphere' in the internet e.g therationalemale and Chateau heartiste ( both sites are crude but intellectual). These are web pages that are expanded versions of the Pick-Up Artist websites.

They ask us to rethink female nature and place it in the changes of modern life.

Two books I've read as a consequence were a polemic by the brilliant writer H. L. Mencken: surely, his reputation proceeds him, and the female argentinian E. Vilar.

Mencken's 'In defense of women' is superb in his writing style and fairly convincing in the engrossingly ironic way he sets out to show women are the better sex, and so men deserve help.

By way of contrast, Vilar's 'Manipulated Man' goes too far. My jaw dropped several times at the level of disgust she has for her fellow women. And it's just too long.

I recommend them both. You can read them both in around 4 hours. They are free to download off the internet. The Mencken dates back to before the roaring twenties.

Good post WC. I too am lucky to have some good workers in our village that we can call on to do some work. Unfortunately they are always busy, for the simple reason that everyone knows how good they are....so there is always a waiting period.

But this does not just apply to Thais......in my former life, I came across many workers who just weren't up to scratch, and then there were others that were like a breath of fresh air.

It's a human trait to be lazy or conscientious, some of us can be changed, many can't.

Cheers.

This attempt to universalise won't wash. Just contrast almost all japanese with almost all thais.

If your education system is a trained incapacity then you will be useless.

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Download DVD Decrypter. Save processed files onto external hard drive.

My pleasure.

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Is the removal of 7 day leeway for the address 90 day report valid new procedure.... Or is that bad advice?

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Worst thing that happened to me was a dog bite at 2 am in the park next to the bridge.

Apparently a lady was raped on the stairwell 2 years back.

The decision to add a sign seems unprecedented. Amusing it is in thai as at least 10% of foot traffic is farang...

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why is that amusing ? this means 90% can read it, plus those Farang who are not too lazy or stupid to learn to read and speak the language of their newly adopted country

It's amusing because it fails in the endeavour that it sets out to achieve.

The thais mostly know about the violence through reading Dara Daily, it is unfair to expect farang to be able to read such high-level vocab in a tricky font in a badly lit area on the 'wrong' side of the bridge. I've never noticed the sign before....

Has anyone seen such signs for other areas. The heroic narratives of forum members through slum districts always lit up my day.... Surely they have seen something.

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Worst thing that happened to me was a dog bite at 2 am in the park next to the bridge.

Apparently a lady was raped on the stairwell 2 years back.

The decision to add a sign seems unprecedented. Amusing it is in thai as at least 10% of foot traffic is farang...

Sent from my HTC Explorer A310e using Thaivisa Connect App