Acharn

As to why people buy books, it's partly because Amazon can't flip a switch and take it away from you. Some people find reading an electronic book less pleasant than reading a book made from dead trees.

Thanks. I've expected for several years to build a kitchen with a bread oven, other accessories, a sink, and counters. It now looks like it will be several more years until I have the money for it, and by then I'll be too old. I'll check breadmakers at Lazada.

Without an oven?

How do I print out the TM30? Mine was printed out from the Immigration Office computer and I don't have a copy of the original form or the computer file. I live in Nakhon Sawan. It's stapled in the back of my passport.

Thanks for the very helpful post. It's beginning to look like Thai politics will become interesting again. Over the last nine years Thai politics became utterly boring, which was what Prayut and a lot of people wanted. I absolutely do not want to go back to the Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts rioting in the streets, but it will be good to see the backbiting and betrayals in Parliament again. And some colorful political actors, too.

Throughout Thai history, every incoming king has tried to reform the government and courts. It's always worked for a while, and then human nature exerts itself.

Well, I'm an alcoholic but retired from the Army as an E-7, so don't think of myself as a loser. One thing I have noticed, though. I served 18 months in Vietnam while America was still there. I was a personnel sergeant, which means, basically, office worker. I had a friend here who was stationed in the Delta as an avionics repairmen. I've met an uncountable number of guys who were Special Forces, Marine LRRPs, Rangers, Delta Force, or other exotic combat types, although I know that at least 70% of American soldiers are support people, not grunts. I even met one guy who bragged about being assigned to Operation Phoenix, not realizing he was confessing to being a serial murderer. I've sometimes wondered why that was, but I don't live in Bangkok any more so no longer run into those kinds of guys.

Well, I haven't driven since 1989, but before that I found Thai drivers to be no worse than drivers in California or Washington, D.C. Of course, before I moved to Thailand in 1982 I made up my mind that I was the one who would need to change my opinions and attitude, not the Thais.

I don't understand how a commodity "backs" a currency. So there's inflation and I take my currency to the banks and ask to exchange it for the commodity. They give me the commodity. Now what? What do I do with it? Perhaps back in the 1890s you could take gold dust to a grocery and exchange it for food. I don't think so, but perhaps. I think you had to take the gold dust to an assay office (government office) and exchange it for currency. By the way, you say "many" nations have had their currencies "evaporate." I won't ask you to name them, but how many in the last twenty years? The last fifty? The last two hundred?

Thais are getting fatter, or maybe I should say more Thais are getting fat. The ones who are still slim eat a lot less sugar than Americans (and, I guess, British and Israelis). I first came to Thailand in 1971. It's changed. Actually, it's changed a lot since Thaksin was first chosen Prime Minister.

All well and good, but you don't say where you get these supplements. Is it from a clinic, a hospital, a local pharmacist? What are their brand names?

Yes, and with the first ever (the only ever?) majority party in Parliament. For good reasons. I don't know why so many posters here dislike him so much, but he did a lot for the people of Thailand. I remember what Thailand was like before he was elected the first time, and I've seen it change since then.

The overall trend of the price of gold is up, but there have been times when it went down, too. Or stayed the same for long periods of time while inflation continued. I'm not preaching against buying gold, but don't think that it's going to make you a profit or protect your wealth. Gold is a commodity, like oil or wheat.

Well, yeah, but you have to take it to a specialized enterprise to exchange it for the currency of the country you're in. In the U.S. you can go to most jewellers, or pawn shops. What you can't do with gold is take it to your neighborhood 7-11 and buy a six-pack of beer. In Thailand, and, I suppose, India, you can get a publicly announced price that is the same at every gold store and pawn shop. In most other countries you can't. Gold is not money, and it has disadvantages when used as the "backing" for money.

Well, what I mean is that it's not a requirement for legal marriage, but it is for traditional marriage. Certainly people who marry both ways (a subset of all Thais) use sin sod. I suppose there may be people who marry only according to the legal form who might use sin sod. I just don't know any.

No. Sinsod is part of traditional marriage, not legal marriage. The state doesn't recognize traditional marriages, only the paperwork at the amphoe.

I'm a different poster, but, yes, sleeping (sic) with a married woman is OK with me. Of course I'm not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim. I guess if your invisible sky god tells you it's wrong you shouldn't do it. I march to a different drummer. Quite a few years ago I "slept" with a large numbers of Thai ladies. A few had boyfriends, many had husbands and children. The husbands were OK with their wives working. Some of them had ordered their wives to go out and find some money. Some had left abusive husbands but had children to feed. I never met a "trafficked" one. I suppose there are some. I remember a case down in Rayong back when Prem was Prime Minister. A brothel burned down, and when going through the ruins the fire police found the burned corpse of a woman chained to a bed. Prem said he had no interest in the problems of a prostitute and the matter was forgotten. I mean that was on the news! Otherwise I've seen too many of these people pushing trafficking stories turn out to be grifters.

Pfui. Pure bull****. These people make a fortune from donations to "help rescue" these poor enslaved women and children. All lies.

Sorry, I'm pretty out of touch. What is the short form of Tradition 3? The whole thing reads, “The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.” I sobered up in 1976, and that's the way it read back then. Are you thinking of the substance problem? Back in the '70s a lot of drug addicts were coming to AA because Narcotics Anonymous was just being formed, and a lot of older alcoholics felt uncomfortable with them. The Tradition means what it says, you cannot keep someone out of an AA group who says they want to quit drinking. They don't have to have become homeless or even suffered a hangover. ETA: Sorry, my bad. I looked up the Traditions and there is a long form. I knew about that back when I was stationed in the states, and forgot.

The neighbors who come to the feast will chip in, but since it's Buriram they won't be able to give much. Most will put a ฿20 bill in an envelope. I'd guess they'll be spending around ฿50,000. Very sorry to hear about such an early death. It would be kind of you to put a couple of thousand baht in an envelope and give it to them if you go to the feast. And you might want to ask your girl friend.

Well, see, that's why members of AA refer to non-alcoholics as "normies." You're not like us and don't understand us. I think it's possible for normies to understand juicers, but there's no particular reason for them to.

I'm sorry to say that sometimes not everyone is welcome. However, in one of the Traditions it says, "The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking." It used to be "a sincere desire," but then they realized how silly that was. No alcoholic can be sincere. I only was able to do the first three steps, myself, but I haven't had to take a drink in 47 years.

The actual phrase is "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." I've heard there are groups that are Christian, but most are not, any more. I was always lucky to be able to find groups that called themselves "recovering Christians." The "higher power" can be anything. I just accepted Alcoholics Anonymous for a while, then left it undefined and tentative. It just seemed to me that either there is a huge conspiracy to make my life good, or there's some kind of power watching out for me (since I got sober). I don't know why you would want to claim you're cured. I never heard anyone in AA say anything except that they were one drink away from being the same as before. You never get cured. You learn to avoid the poison. Of course I haven't been to a meeting for several years. There's no group in Nakorn Sawan, and I never found being a Loner helpful.

Oh, thanks for telling me. My niece usually gets it for me and I hadn't realized it isn't the Zinger any more. It looks, smells, and tastes the same to me. I usually scrape off the salad dressing and put a slice of cheddar cheese on it.

I found the same thing about Pattaya in 1983.