AmeriThai

Some of the mom and pop shops around Saraburi province sell bbq'd rat-on-a-stick. They aren't cheap, but there seems to be plenty of locals who enjoy gnawing on them. Years ago, we stayed at my wife's sister's place. Early one morning a bunch of nieces and nephews grabbed me and lead me through a small grove of bamboo to one shop so I could see the owner skinning a number rats and dropping the pink, naked carcasses in a pan of water. The owner was just grinning away.

Never tried eating any of them, and have no desire to do so. Although the rats are field rats (as opposed to those that live in sewers), they certainly must drink from some of the large water ponds surrounded by houses. Sewage from all the outdoor hong nams ultimately drain into the ponds, so just how safe it is to eat these rodents seems pretty risky to me.

Some of the numerous threads about Farang Beggar sightings are pretty amusing. I don't know if this was the first one that started them out, but if not, it's gotta be pretty close to it. I think there are a few threads with Farang Beggar in Thailand videos (YouTube maybe).

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Farang-Beggi...l=Farang+Beggar

The health threads are a treasure trove of genius. I would have never known that "colonic irrigation" could cure me of so many ailments. A close second are the steroid supporter threads. And of course who can forget the hairy mole dilemma or the Grumpiest Man thread about someone's stool at a coffee shop.

LOL! I manage my colonic issues first thing in the morning, and on an as-needed basis after that.

Jingjingna, just curious, but have you seen a neurologist?

How about a KSR Backpackers forum?

Where Can I Buy It forum

Whiners forum

Latest Scam/Ripoff forum

Wife/TGF's Family Lives With Us forum

Weird Polls forum

Came upon this thread two years late, but have a couple of things to add.

I was asked by a Thai friend if there are any Thai loan words in English. Couldn't think of any . . .

One very prominent one: 'bong', from the Thai บ้อง, referring to a section of bamboo such as those used to make smoking bongs as well as northeastern Thailand's famous bamboo rockets (บ้องไฟ)

LOL! Yes, "bong" seems to be a word that's been adopted into the English language probably when GIs were based in or on R&R in Thailand.

and what about "CHECK BIN" which seems to be a combination of the US word "check" and the British word "bill" both meaning the same thing....and by coincidence comes in a "bin".

Actually, "check" here means "inspect", as in the British English "check the bill".

Interesting, I had assumed it came from the GIs calling for the "check" as they do in the states.....where have you found this out?

Yes, I always assumed it was "check" from American English, and "bill" (which, of course, becomes "bin" in Thai) from British English. The actual Thai expression is either "gep tang" or "kit tang", I think.

While I wouldn't argue that "bill" is from British English, both "check" and "bill" are commonly used in American English. They're similar but often slightly different in meaning or usage.

American English usage examples:

"Check, please" when you indicate to the person at a restaurant serving your table that you've finished eating and are ready to leave. I would suppose it might also indicate you want to "check" (inspect) the costs before paying and to determine how much of a tip to give. "Check" usually refers to the "bill" (the statement of what you owe).

"Bill" often a written financial statement of an amount of money you owe such as the phone "bill", electric "bill", car repair "bill", grocery "bill", etc.

I agree. I had an ATM card swallowed after only one attempt at SCB off Suk, across from Soi 8, although it was many years ago. The bank was closed but I got the card back the next day.

In the Uk they cannot do that, they would be obliged to send the card to the issuing bank.

I was talking about an incident with an ATM in BKK years ago (around 1990). At that time, some ATMs could be a bit quirky. Why? Who knows? They probably just get jammed sometimes. If I hadn't gone to the bank the next day, they might have sent my card to the issuing bank. As it was, I got there early, showed my ID, they retreived the card and returned it to me. Even now, they still have to retreive the cards first before they can send them off.

Also, some ATMs that were 'Out of Order' back then could take weeks before anyone would get around to fixing them.

Years ago I had one approach me with the usual annoying big smile with a "Welcome to Thailand sir," then started in with his routine. He claimed he knew everything about my past, present and future. I asked him if he knows everything about me then he should also know my name. He ended up getting frustrated and started ranting about how I was not taking the matter seriously, and finally stormed off, no doubt looking for a willing sucker.

...........before the ATM machine swallows it !

The machine will only swallow the card if it is issued in Thailand.

More that 3 PIN tries will block an overseas card, at the issuer.

However the card will still be returned.

I'm not so sure this is a hard and fast rule.

My mother's card (issued from an Australian bank) was swallowed (not blocked) after three incorrect PIN attempts in two seperate machines (apparently the number of times you can enter a wrong PIN is cumaltive, not machine specific) in Bkk last May.

Before anyone asks - it was a recently issued card and my dear mother thought the machine was playing up, not herself getting the number wrong.

I agree. I had an ATM card swallowed after only one attempt at SCB off Suk, across from Soi 8, although it was many years ago. The bank was closed but I got the card back the next day.

...nasal hair...

A razor.

... but ear hair. ...edge of the ears, the lobes, in the ear, etc.

A soft Thai lap, bright overhead light and tweezers.

If nose hair ever becomes a problem, I'll be sure to consider shoving a razor up my nose for a good scraping, then skip that plan altogether.

Tweezers for ear hair? Soft lap or not... Ouch! Lemme know how it works out for you. Why not just sear it off with a lighter?

I think I'll stick with the scissors for the inside stuff and razor for the edges, etc.

Get out much?

the morning shave is as much a time of contemplation and peace as it is a time of ritual.

it's a ten minute period of calm and meditation , when nothing should break the concentration and application needed to achieve a smooth and blood free result.

along with a succesful and easy early morning bowel evacuation , the perfectly executed morning shave is one of those tasks that when performed properly can make your day sink or swim.

stubble , nasal hair and hairs sprouting from the ears , badly trimmed moustaches and food encrusted beards are for neanderthals only , make no mistake , real men do shave , and shave properly.

goatees are acceptable , but only for the seriously overweight , those with poor or no fashion sense or for homosexuals.

Indeed. Taking care of morning bowels first, avoids untimely discomfort while shaving. I don't have a problem with nasal hair, but ear hair is becoming more of a hassle, around the edge of the ears, the lobes, in the ear, etc. Those battery powered ear trimmers are pretty useless and tend to rip the hair out rather than trim it out. Tiny scissors can be helpful, but not always. Sure can't shave 'em out in some spots.

I remember on a flight sitting next to a guy who spent nearly the entire trip plucking out his facial hair one by one, then wiping them on a napkin. Kinda gross. He said once finished, he's shave-free for a couple of months. Um, no thanks.

As for facial shaving, if 4 or 5 blades are better than one, why not a 50-blade cartridge? Bonus advantage: good exercise just lifting it.

As for those who are concerned about the risk that the world may be gobbled up by a micro black hole, it's worth mentioning that the size of these things are incredibly small and would vanish almost instantly leaving only an interesting trail pattern behind from other particles.

Worst Case Scenario!

"...black hole would have an event horizon trillions upon trillions of times smaller than the size of a proton."

"...it would still take three billion years for the black hole to suck in even one gram of matter! So the chances of this happening? Zero. Not one in 50 million, like Martin Rees says, but zero. This is the worst case scenario, and it still takes billions of years to even eat one gram's worth!"

"Black holes decay, and the smaller ones decay the fastest. Even if you managed to make this 25 femtogram black hole, it would decay into normal matter incredibly fast. How fast? According to Hawking radiation, this black hole will be gone in 10^-66 seconds..."

http://startswithabang.com/?p=878

I'm sorry but the above is predicated on Hawking radiation of a black hole in vaccum this is obviously not the case with the LHC where the black hole will be constantly bombarded with particles?!

Yes a small mass black hole has limited ability to suck in matter, but it would probably be perfectly able to absorb matter that happens to hit it. 

People who equate a black hole in vacuum with one being in the business ring of the LHC are at best commiting intellectual fraud. 

Also, hawking radiation is only applicable to spinning black holes, one might envision it as kids being flung off a quickly rotating merry go round. The idea (as far as I can tell) is that the speed of the particle at the perimeter of the black whole is enough to cause a lack of cohesion, interesting, but.. 

But? But what? You left the post hanging. LOL! That a micro black hole may escape, drop to the center of the Earth, grow to ultimately consume the entire planet? The same fears cropped up over the RHIC. It produced a flash that’s thought might have been a micro black hole, although it’s still uncertain. Admittedly, LHC is much larger and more powerful than RHIC, but it’s pretty doubtful anything other than some interesting science will occur.

As for constant bombardment, I guess it depends on what you mean. They’ll be colliding around 6 million protons at a time though. Seems to me it’s pretty standard to send particles in ’clusters’. I don’t think all those protons are going to be direct collisions at the same time. More like one after another. Some may be glancing strikes. Some might not hit at all. It might take that many to get a relatively few direct hits. There’s not much to worry about because they’ll vanish almost instantly. They’re just too small and won’t have time to linger around to devour anything. Okay, maybe a quark or two. But that’s not going to be enough to stop it from vanishing. What will linger though are the tracks of quantum particles.

From what I understand, it won’t be an absolute vacuum, but it WILL BE a vacuum similar to that of interplanetary space.

“Also as you might expect the particles moving around inside this thing would naturally run into air molecules and create collisions as well. So one of the things that they’re going to do is create a vacuum that’s equal to interplanetary space, or actually about 10 percent the density of the Moon’s atmosphere. It’s going to be an extremely good vacuum inside here so that the protons don’t interact with all sorts of other things before they run into each other heading in opposite directions.”

“One of the things that people have talked about is the production of the mini black holes by the particle collisions, and that’s not totally out of the realm of possibility. The thing about black holes it that they tend to evaporate over time, and the smallest black holes evaporate the most quickly. Any black hole created by these particle interactions would disappear within a small fraction of a second, something along the order of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. So any of these black holes would evaporate before they would have a chance to start devouring anything around them.”

http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/blogs/astron...n-collider.aspx

Then too, there’s the old worn out, but still valid example about cosmic rays that frequently collide with protons in the Earth’s atmosphere. The energy is vastly more powerful than anything LHC can produce and easily capable of producing micro black holes. But no problems and we’re still here.

Frankly, even if the LHC doesn’t find the Higgs Boson, the data will still likely produce some incredible information for a long time to come, and give us a better understanding of how the universe works.

This is a bit old, but still an interesting read: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=quantum-black-holes

I know what you're talking about but I think tachyons are still considered to be hypothetical. However what has been said about particles that seem to know what the other is doing, even over long distances, is yet to be explained as you said. It could be any number of reasons. It's possible some quantum particles could involve extra dimensions, which is hoped the LHC might be able to detect. If it involves some kind of shortcut through the fabric of space-time, then it wouldn't necessarily require exceeding the FTL limit. Or it may have something to do with cosmic strings, if they are ever found to exist.

and also don't forget that the Higgs Bosun (one of the prime targets of the LHC) is similarly at present nothing more than a hypothetical entity.. it only exists in calculations

i believe that tachyons (its a broad term, meaning anything sub atomic that travels FTL) do exist.. although (unsurprisingly) i can't prove it.. i'd win the Nobel if i could

when you talk of tears, or rips, in the fabric of space time then the wormhole theories definately come into play especially if 'Time Travel' is also on your agenda

Indeed, the Higgs Boson is hypothetical. I agree and haven't forgotten about that. Just mentioning that tachyons are also hypothetical. As for Time Travel, at best (imo), would probably follow a single line. Travel to the future seems likely the closer you get to FTL. But once you get there, there's no way to reverse it. Travel to the past seems very unlikely, though it's a great idea for science fiction. Even if wormholes exist, it would only be a shortcut providing less time to travel between point A to point B.

BTW, the LHC is now on hold until Spring. Thailand and the rest of the world can be free from worry about being gobbled up by any micro black holes - until then.

Talking of Tachyons and faster than light travel Wolfgang Pauli's Exclusion Principle of 1925 ( proved at the Univercity of Geneva in 1997 ) whereby, certain pairs of subatomic particles, even when seperated by considerable distances ( 7 miles at Geneva ) can each ' know ' instantly what the other is doing. Particles have a quality known as spin. The moment you determine the spin of one particle, its sister particle, no matter how far away, will instantly start spinning in the opposite direction at the same rate.

Can't get fater than that ! Last time I looked how this happens has yet to be determined.

I know what you're talking about but I think tachyons are still considered to be hypothetical. However what has been said about particles that seem to know what the other is doing, even over long distances, is yet to be explained as you said. It could be any number of reasons. It's possible some quantum particles could involve extra dimensions, which is hoped the LHC might be able to detect. If it involves some kind of shortcut through the fabric of space-time, then it wouldn't necessarily require exceeding the FTL limit. Or it may have something to do with cosmic strings, if they are ever found to exist.

Yo, yo, yo, mrpinknz! If you're planning on heading for Thailand in 2-3 weeks and planning to stay for a year, you should've already been spending some time finding out about costs, etc. Wouldn't your family friend with the dope studio apt. have given you a heads up on such info? How did the language school job come about?

Well, I don't think this is a clear cut thing. Yes, eating heavily spiced/hot foods will change your palate. On the other hand, different people have a tendency to love heavily spiced/hot food, or not, and culture is but one of those factors. Who hasn't met Thais who hate spicy foods or westerners like me who can never get enough of it? So called super tasters generally do not like heavily spiced/hot foods, but to test the OP's premise such people would have to eat spicy/hot food for a long while and then see if they are no longer super tasters.

I see what you mean and I agree that hot spices might do that. I was thinking more about Thai foods in general having a rich variety of flavors, much more than most western foods. From that standpoint, I'd still say western food is blander than Thai food. I don't mind food that's a little on the spicy hot side, but not thermonuclear. I know a number of people who don't like spicy hot foods. My wife on the other hand, likes it so hot you could start a fire with it.

Perhaps hot spicy food might dull the taste buds, but I'd guess if you get away from it for a while, you can start redeveloping a taste for western foods again. But like you're saying, some people can handle hot foods and some people can't. For what the OP is saying though, western foods are still going to be generally more "bland" in comparison to spicy Thai foods, any way you look at it. Although, Mexican foods can be pretty toasty on the tastebuds.

Is this true with any other people ?

Seldom do I eat western food anymore but when I do it just seems very bland and wonder if my taste buds have just been burned out.

Thai food is usually rich in flavor, which may be why western food seems rather bland in comparison.

I really like post from Amerithai about love, honestly say I can learn a lots from your post since I just start my real family - relationship here with him 8 months, new life new place new people and have to adjust to each other.

Thank you.

Thank you. I'm glad you found something of interest in it. I hope you will also have satisfaction for a lifetime with your own family.

that missing mass is actually streaming away from us at almost twice the speed of light (or even faster), and that is why we can not see, or account for it ?

ah.. the hypothetical Tachyon. (swift one)

faster than light travel suggests the possibility of Time Travel

Which is deemed impossible in science (Although science accepts that nothing is either impossible or definite). And yet they are even pushing that boundry. Scientists are also searching for the value of infinity.... is it possible for infiity to have a value/equation/formula????? Either way they are looking for it.

What is so exciting about the higgs boson for me is that, should it exist, then it will have to occupy the same time space as other particles which is theoretically impossible. This gives birth to the thought that previously unseen dimensions could be discovered which could be the single greatest scientific breakthrough in world history, this shit is absolutely mind boggling.

I have read up on this and basically they are hoping to be able to combine all of the existing theory's into one, in the way that electricity and magnetism where combined into electromagnetism many moons ago. They are looking for the equation that combines E=MC2 with everything else to get an equation that answers EVERYTHING.

But this is science, and we are humans. And so I also wonder that if we do find the Higgs Boson (The answer to EVERYTHING), how long will it be before we want to split the Higgs Boson, after all it was not that long ago that the atom was considered to be the smallest possible particle.

Nice post globalj. Easy on the brain to read. Although the Higgs Boson is referred to as the answer to everything, I gather it's what may be the most fundamental particle that connects everything to everything else as predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. Oddly, the Higgs Boson would not only be what provides mass to all elementary particles, but gives mass to itself. That's way beyond my ability to comprehend. Whether it's proven to exist or proven to not exist, it'll certainly provide some new ways of looking at the universe. But you're right. Finding the Higgs Boson would certainly help open the way for a host of new discoveries. The idea that there might be extra dimensions would be an incredible discovery, perhaps some tightly wound up within our own 3D+time universe. It really staggers the imagination as to what may be found.

Interesting images of a simulation depicting the decay of the Higgs particle.

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1013169

At the moment though, the LHC is set back for at least a couple of months due to this second malfunction. Hopefully, no more major problems ahead.

As for those who are concerned about the risk that the world may be gobbled up by a micro black hole, it's worth mentioning that the size of these things are incredibly small and would vanish almost instantly leaving only an interesting trail pattern behind from other particles.

Worst Case Scenario!

"...black hole would have an event horizon trillions upon trillions of times smaller than the size of a proton."

"...it would still take three billion years for the black hole to suck in even one gram of matter! So the chances of this happening? Zero. Not one in 50 million, like Martin Rees says, but zero. This is the worst case scenario, and it still takes billions of years to even eat one gram’s worth!"

"Black holes decay, and the smaller ones decay the fastest. Even if you managed to make this 25 femtogram black hole, it would decay into normal matter incredibly fast. How fast? According to Hawking radiation, this black hole will be gone in 10^-66 seconds..."

http://startswithabang.com/?p=878

http://atlas.ch/atlas_photos/fulldetector/eventslgpng.html

http://images.iop.org/objects/cern/cern/44...Ehol1_11-04.jpg

Yes, can be hard to tell by sight; however one they speak you will have a clue.

The clue being if one speaks to you with a deep bassy voice?

ladyboys stay tpgether in packs

Its a transsexual Serenghetti out there, people. They prey on the weakest and oldest, thinning the herd.

Will National Geographic or the Discovery Channel be holding any wildlife specials on the subject?

I'm not s scientist (obviously), but what would happen to an object (a tank, or air plane, or concrete structure for example), if you were able to fire a concentrated stream of protons at it, at nearly the speed of light ?

Speed of light (in a vacuum) is approx 186,250 miles per second. Lets round that off to 185,000. So, an object that is 10 miles above sea level (52,000 and a bit feet), could be hit by a pulsed beams of protons about 18,500 times per second.

What effect would that have on say, the electronics, metal or fuel of an aircraft or missile ?

Using this LHC technology, what else can they stream around the coil at near light speeds ? Could they use electrons or neutrons instead ? What would concentrated stream of those elements do when fired at near light speeds ?

Somehow, I think that the possible creation of mini-black holes from the LHC is the least of our (future) worries.

Who ya gonna call? Isn't that what the Ghostbusters used to trap those ectoplasmic slimers? Don't cross the streams!

I'm no physicist either, but I still find the subject interesting. The problem is that the particles are mindbogglingly small. Protons would have to be separated atoms. As a weapon, it wouldn't be very practical when you think of the size of cyclotrons and the amount of power it takes just to run one. Colliders like LHC, require extreme alignment and controlled conditions in order to smash atoms. Even then, it can be hit and miss because there's a lot of space a specific atom has to deal with in order to make a direct hit with another. Such a weapon would not only have to be extremely large but also extremely maneuverable. A single particle wouldn't do any damage but would just pass harmlessly through a tank, plane or building. It's also worth noting that protons make up a sizable portion of the cosmic particles that constantly bombards the Earth without harm.

The idea of a proton weapon still makes for entertaining sci-fi movies. But that's not to say some experiments at LHC and other colliders aren't being looked at by the military for potential applications. I think most spin-offs would be mostly peaceful applications, such as communications, medicine, and energy.

New Leak Causes Another Setback

"The collider was briefly brought back into operation on Thursday, but sensors detected a large helium leak from the device's cooling system during testing on Friday. That forced another shutdown, and an investigation of the problem was expected to continue through the weekend."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26780393

A most eloquent description of love, and I believe that you are fortunate to have developed your own relationship into such a rewarding experience.

I was fortunate to have met my wife through friends. We're both close in age (she's 4 years younger) and became good friends for about a year or so. It gave us enough time to get to know each other. We're both getting on in our years now, and have been learning about each other ever since. We were married on Christmas Day, so I guess there's no excuse for me to forget our anniversary. LOL!

I suspect drronnie may have had a relationship that had an unhappy ending, and is having a hard time sorting though some confusing and hurt feelings. It'll pass and he can get on with his life. There are lots of good ladies out there (imo), and many are real gemstones. Mine is!