spidermike007

12 hours ago, The Deerhunter said:

And some of you guys try to tell us that you came here to "get away from it all."

Always nice when a reply has some actual content.

In my opinion by far, the best Indian restaurant on Samui is Live India, in Lamai. No place else comes even close! Tried most of them. And very reasonable too. Good spot. 

39 minutes ago, AlexRRR said:

 

I would......and im picky.....might be because she has a bit more class than the village girls you run around with..

But think of how much more fun those village girls are, than the high maintenance. older, sort of worn out bitchy gal you chose. LOL.

1 hour ago, upu2 said:

Totally agree with you. That as I think you will agree is not to say it doesn't happen as i am sure it does but it is a rare occurrence unless the foreigner starts the trouble as we have read many times in some of the bars in Pattaya. Back in my home country, the UK, i am more worried about mindless attacks than at any time here in Thailand

I have been in situations with younger Thai men, where I could tell it could get overheated. Accidental kinds of situations. I simply offered a wai, and sorry, looked them in the eyes, and they waved it off. Seems most Thais are very sensitive to your attitude. If you show enough kindness and respect they respond to that. Not necessarily the case in the US, these days, where hatred is far more fashionable with diet orange in charge. 

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

I tend to think that a lot of us don't realize when we're in a dodgy situation in Thailand, because of language and culture differences.  I have no problem at all divining dangerous conditions back home where I understand the culture and the language- even if its not my own. 

 

Here in Thailand, I have no clue whether that group of kids in my path is talking about their last football match, or planning to rob and beat the crap out of me.  And on a more practical note, it's tough to tell when I'm approaching some kind of tipping point where a discussion is going to go south and result in violence.  That miscalculation seems to be the root of so many incidents we read about where a foreigner ends up on the wrong end of an argument.

 

I'm sure that the murder rate is well over 90% Thai on Thai (or at least Asian on Asian) simply because the percentage of western foreigners is well under 10%.

 

I get where you're coming from, and I "feel" safer in a dodgy Thai neighborhood than in a dodgy US neighborhood.  But the numbers shake out pretty clearly in favor of the USA for a middle class white guy who stays out of Detroit, Chicago, etc.

I truly doubt what you are saying. I think it is a false contention that the rate of thai on fareng violence is low, because the number of foreigners is low. Very unscientific. LOL. I think it is mostly that we are simply not targets. Thailand is not a violent culture like the PI, or New Guinea. Most are peaceful people. And if there is a murder, it is among two thai guys playing cards, getting drunk, and losing their minds. 

The per capita murder rate in the US is comparable to Thailand. But, there it is American on American. Here is it thai on thai. I would prefer the latter.

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

If you go to the FBI stats and look at race and location, you'll find out that the odds of being murdered for a middle class white American who doesn't hang out in dodgy neighborhoods, hit on other guys' wives, or do drug deals are virtually nil.  (Personally, I think the causative correlation is poverty as opposed to race, but that's another topic for another thread.  The media has a tendency to sensationalize the murders that capture viewers, but they're like a one in a million- literally.) 

 

Thailand's murders seem a lot more random to me, simply because of the lack of zoning and the way poverty lives within spitting distance of amazing wealth.  On one hand, I have no problems going into Thai neighborhoods that I'd avoid like the plague back home.  On the other hand, that's largely because those neighborhoods can't be avoided like they can be avoided back home.  There's no separation like zoning laws enforce.

 

I feel differently. I am genuinely concerned in alot of the neighborhoods in the US, that I pass through. Concerned about a random drive by shooting, or a violent robbery. I have no concerns about that here. None. Not one iota. I have rarely ever witnessed thai on fareng violence here. Unless the fareng was being really stupid. I see alot of senseless violence in America. And we are not even talking about mass shootings, which are unheard of here, but common in America, these days. 

Not sure if any studies have been done on it, but I think over 90% of murders here are thai on thai, and either a disagreement among wanna be gangsters, marital in nature, or hits ordered by drug lords, mafioso types, or top officials. 

1 minute ago, bluesofa said:

I tend to avoid films that are foisted upon us by the me too movement. I do like an occasionally chick flick. But this one looked way too contrived. I would see it for $7,500 though. 

 

That's a lot to pay to watch a film. I saw it for free, still not really worth the money compared to the earlier ones.

What I am suggesting is that if the producers of the film were willing to pay me $7,500 US, I might consider seeing the film. I feel that way about alot of films. 

On 6/20/2018 at 7:58 PM, mogandave said:

Just saw Ocean’s 8 at Paragon, really enjoyed it...

I tend to avoid films that are foisted upon us by the me too movement. I do like an occasionally chick flick. But this one looked way too contrived. I would see it for $7,500 though. 

20 hours ago, lust said:

Why not serve justice yourself?

Sometimes, the courts are inadequate for the task at hand. Sometimes there are alternatives. 

There seems to be alot of judges here who are very weak, when it comes to prosecuting offenses and handing out the kinds of sentences that are deserved. I suspect some of the population count on that being the case. 

This does seem to be a worldwide phenomenon. In the US the middle class and the lower class and getting poorer by the day, while the wealthy are getting a bigger piece of the pie, and huge tax breaks from Diet Orange. But here, the biggest problem seems to be a vastly inferior educational system, that discourages the kids from thinking outside the box, and being creative. Also, the lack of english skills does not help. 

I think the system is exactly where Tiny P. and the rest of the powers want it. Keep them poor and dumb. 

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

The reality is that even a crazy dangerous place has an annual premature death rate in the XXX per million range.  So most of us will not be victims.  Even those staying for 50 years may only have a one in 10 chance of becoming a fatality before our time.

 

On a comparative basis, the statistics may look terrible.  But on a real life, "how does this affect me?" basis, it's better to just keep your wits about you, avoid high risk activities and enjoy life.

 

Thailand has a comparable murder rate as in the US. But here it is less random than in the US. And here it is Thai on Thai, 98% of the time. So, for most of us, it is quite safe, until we hit the highways! 

I do not get what the fuss is all about. She sounds smart, and accomplished. Is that a crime, nowadays. Or do I smell envy? Regardless, it is nothing but a tempest in a teapot. Just alot of malcontents with nothing better to do, than to start a scandal over nothing.

Sophida graduated with a finance degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and was a manager at TMB Bank. Her profile includes winning a President’s Education Awards Program medal from President Barack Obama in 2013, awarded to about 3 million students. Her father, Tavatchai Kanchanarin, was a doctor at Phramongkutklao Hospital.

3 hours ago, bkkgriz said:

So let me see if I am understanding your rhetoric here. Suu Kyi, an Asian woman, is racist towards the Rohingya, also Asian people. Is that what you are saying? The Asian woman, Suu Kyi, hates her own race. Am I getting your argument right? You do understand that Muslim is not a race, right? Islam is a political ideology, it is not a race. Anyone can become Muslim, just as anyone can become a Christian or a Buddhist. If you are going to just argue by virtue of ad hominem attack, you should at least get some of your information straight. 

Yes. She is racist toward the Muslim portion of the Burmese population. The Rohingya are just as Burmese as the Americans who came to the US within the last century. Most have been there for a century or longer. The fact that they have never been granted recognition does not change the facts, and the fact that they are Muslim does not make them second class citizens. Unless of course you want to use Tiny Don type logic. The fact that she has made no effort whatsoever to stop the atrocities, or address the issues makes her guilt even more pronounced. She is supposed to be the moral leader of the nation. We cannot expect anything out of the Burmese army, which are closer to animals, than humans. 

Allow hate speech to thrive, absent yourself from any kind of moral leadership, and you must surely expect to reap the whirlwind. So it is not as if Aung San Suu Kyi can – or should – escape a degree of blame. To those who might argue that she is doing the best she can under the circumstances, the rejoinder has to be: for whom? The majority Buddhist Bamar, or the whole country?

Given her longstanding ties to Britain, criticism in this country has been particularly loud. The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, urged her to use the “moral capital” she has built up to stop the persecution. Aung San Suu Kyi – the Lady, the Iron Butterfly, a Nobel laureate, a pro-democracy icon and the Nelson Mandela of Myanmar – has turned out to be very different indeed from her South African counterpart.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/19/west-aung-san-suu-kyi-saint-nobel-rohingya

On 6/29/2018 at 2:01 PM, bkk6060 said:

Sicario 2.

I loved the first one.  Benicio I think is always good.

This one was just ok.  Pretty much all the action you can see in the trailer.

I was a little disappointed, but still worth a watch I think.

 

The ending ruined the film for me. Sucked all the wind out of it. A 13 year old could have written a better ending. Also, the direction was marginal at best. A pale shadow of the original. Would not recommend it.

On 7/10/2018 at 2:34 AM, Ulysses G. said:

I could be fairly satisfied just watching Netflix for $8.00 US a month. However, with streaming on free sites as well, I can't keep up.

I hear the content in Thailand is still very limited/ Is that the case? Anyone have it and have any comments on the content? Still at only 12% of American content?

4 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Who can blame the Burmese for not wanting them to settle in Burma, since it is said that they are really from Bangladesh. Wherever muslims go, trouble soon follows, and this is the reason Buddhist dominated countries do dot want them. The only ideal solution is for there to be muslim and non-muslim countries, such as Japan, so that the muslims can cheerfully fight each other as seems to be their wont, and leave the civilized world alone.

Some posts are better off left alone. How does one even reply to a comment like this? Definitely sounds like the rantings of a Tiny Don supporter.

I admit I am not a parent. But what comes to mind for me, is that if you live on the 27th floor, why would you not at least have strong screens on all of your windows, and some sort of screen door, or guard on the balcony, to prevent something like this from happening? I assume it is impossible to keep your eyes on your kid all the time. So, you create measures to prevent something like this from happening. Right? What am I missing here? I think back to the Eric Clapton incident. Why was a child playing near an open window, on the 50th floor of a tower? What is that all about?

15 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

I took a team of Thai MBA students from a so called prestigious Thai university to an international invited one week business case competition at a uni. in Texas. Thirty invited universities from USA and the world. 

 

Five hundred people at the final dinner, then the announcements of the winners of the competition, in order:

- First place - Uni from China, then

- Two uni's from Singapore

- Uni from Brazil

- Uni from France

- Then 2 US unis.

......

A professor from the host uni in Texas was sitting at my table. As soon as the announcements were made he jumped up grabbed the microphone on the table and yelled 'I cannot accept that US universities didn't get at least the first 3 places, and I cannot accept that the winners are all from 3rd world countries, then he stormed out.

 

For a long time now, the US has been ranked around 40th place, in math and science, worldwide. The best and the brightest come from all over the world to study at top universities in the US. When they graduate at the top of their class, they cannot get a visa to work in the US, because of the broken immigration system, that uses a decades old quota system that has not been revised due to an incompetent congress and senate, and one president after another without enough will or influence to get it done. Talking about illegal immigration, when you refuse to address legal immigration is the height of ignorance and hubris.