nisakiman

A sinister development.

I'm deeply suspicious of any moves touted as beneficial which are based on information gathering. They'll soon be trotting out that old NuLab canard "If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear".

I always do my utmost to avoid any sort of governmental tracking. What I choose to do and where I choose to go is my business, and has nothing to do with any officious busybody.

Where do you get this crap ' richest man in the country' check the forbes list and see who is the richest man in thailand, and all his wealth cannot be declared. The richest man in this country has more wealth than the next nineteen put together. Work that out and you will see thailands problem. Too many government workers trying to sway the opinion of simple farangs. We are not that simple. We do not believe thai tv. We can think for ourselves

Yes.

Frankly, any organisation that gives an award to the likes of Al Gore (Nobel peace prize? Purrlease...) does not inspire confidence. The fact that this guy Sen is a Nobel laureate means nothing. It certainly doesn't make him an expert on the recent upheavals in Thailand. ("Yeah, I go to Thailand for holidays a lot, so I really understand the situation...")

Whose payroll are you on?

The Thai press is just as accountable under the LM laws as internet forums such as prachatai and TV are.

And therein lies the root of the problem. It renders political discussion meaningless. All the political rants and raves here on TV are juat so much hot air, since everyone has to pussyfoot around the issues affecting Thailand without being able to address them. Until this rather pernicious form of censorship is lifted, Thailand is going nowhere.

Guesthouse seems like a rational person. I have read his posts for quite some time. What is there in his makeup that would make him propose such a bizarre idea that does not occur in the psychological texts of people who know about such things. I tried searching the internet for others who have compared emasculation to the purchase of Thai women's services and I came up empty handed. This must be Guesthouses own theory. One could suppose he knows a number of emasculated men.

What does an emasculated man look or act like? Emasculation seems like a serious problem that would reach to other areas of a man's life. Certainly they would be noticeable.

I am at a loss to explain it.

Let me help you out (and at last someone who wants to discuss the idea rather than relying on a defense of shouting feminism. The point I make has nothing to do with feminism - It works like this.

A man may be attractive to a woman for a whole range of reasons, his looks. his personality, his position of power, his masculinity, his ability to provide for the woman and her children - The list is as long as you want to make it, but essentially defines characteristics of men that women find attractive.

The view expressed time and time again here is that the only thing men can offer a women is money / women only want money from men / if you haven't got money you won't get the girl etc.

These are clear denials of the clear fact that women find men attractive for a whole lot more reasons than money - poor guys do get the girl.

Paying for sex is negating all the reasons for a woman to be with a man - The only thing the man offers is money - He doesn't have to have personality, looks, masculinity, nothing on the list of things women find attractive in men - All he needs is money.

Now we have men who defend their use of prostitutes with the argument that the only thing women want form a man is money - 'marriage is institutionalized prostitution' and the whole bag of statements we've had to that affect.

What has happened is, they have extrapolated their buying sex from prostitutes into a definition of all male female relationships.

I trust we can take the statements made regarding women's motivation being only money at face value, ie the belief of those people who have expressed that opinion.

They believe, and presumably accept, that the only thing THEY PERSONALLY have to offer a women is money - That, they tell us, is their experience.

They regard themselves as nothing but a source of finance in their relationship to women.

We additionally have statements such as 'women use sex as a weapon' - poor helpless men at the mercy of women. 'Women cheating, lying, being unfair in divorce cases' - Poor men who can't defend themselves. Women and their hate spreading feminism - Poor men who can't deal with women wanting to take part in defining their own role in society.

In short - Men without balls - Emasculated.

And it is in this context that I conclude Thailand really is attracting men who can't deal with women under any other circumstance than that the women is under a financial obligation to do their bidding.

What you say is probably, in essence, correct. However, it rather assumes that every man's relationship with every prostitute is the same.

Which it isn't.

When single and in Thailand and Cambodia, I availed myself of the services of a number of girls.

More often than not, it would entail a relationship that lasted a few days or more. We both gained from the situation.

Me because I like attractive female company, both day and night, and the girl because I always treated her with respect, like a temporary girlfriend rather than a five minute <deleted>. I always got very attractive girls with a great sense of humour, which I like, and I got the impression that they actually enjoyed being with me. I certainly can't remember any of them demanding the going rate. It was usually at my insistence that they took any money. A win-win situation.

I have no feelings of guilt. We both knew what the deal was. The idea was to enjoy it to the max.

And I have no issues with feeling emasculated - I've had a number of girlfriends (I mean real girlfriends - both western and Thai), and I am now married to a lovely Thai woman who works in a professional capacity (no, not that kind of professional!) when in Bangkok.

So I have no problem with the concept of prostitution - it can be mutually beneficial.

I don't like it when I see guys treat working girls with contempt, as mere shells, objects in which to relieve their sexual tensions. I think perhaps those are the ones you refer to.

But a lot of guys don't fall into that category. A lot of guys just want some female company, perhaps while they're going through a difficult post-divorce period (like I was) or something similar.

Prostitution is, as they say, the oldest profession, and for good reason. Long may it continue to be so.

Utter and completely pathetic CRAP !!!!! How can Thailand expect to get anywhere with this sort of rubbish going on, it is laughable in the extreme. Talk abnout losing face as THiland is doing that in a big way in teh international scene, a complete laughing stock so I hope the country will now grow up and show they are mature and sensible people as I know most ordinary folk are. Abhist and Corruption ?? I don't think so. Just compare that to what Thaksin has done and found guilty of by an unbiased court when his brother in law was the PM too, THAT is corruption. Abhist is NOT a corrupt man I am fairly sure of that so let the guy get on with his job. He is doing the best job of any PM here in the last 10 years and probably for a lot longer before that. No matter what your political stance and whether Thai or falang you have to respect this guy is doing a good job against some amazing problems that have been unfairly forced on him. SO let him get on with the job in hand until teh next general election. I dislike immensely right wing politics so really the Democrats are not of my political bias but then again no one is more right wing than Thaksin and his crooked cronies. Abhist is a good man and the right man for the job at this time. SO STOP BEING BLOODY IDIOTS AND LEAVE HIM ALONE AND LET THE COUNTRY GET BACK ON ITS FEET AGAIN ... PLEASE !!! PATHETIC IN THE EXTREME

When was Thailand on its feet last time?That was when Mr.Thaksin was in office,since Mr.Thaksin left, Thailand is going down.I don't like Mr.Thaksin,

he acted like an Imperator and changed immigration laws to the disadvantage of foreigners in Thailand.Still if I compare the time with Mr.Thaksin and the Time without Mr.Thaksin, then I very want him come back.He was the best PM ever for Thaipeople,with Mr.Thaksin Thailand had a plan,with Mr.Thaksin Thailand passed Vietnam already[economicly]most Thais gave a sh.. Mr.Thaksin filled his pockets and the pockets of his friends or family,or some drug dealers got killed,because at that time Thais had a job,had money and had food on the table,and this counts for the average Thai,Mr.Thaksin got sacked not for any corruption sh.. or selling whatever to foreigners,but he got sacked for stepping on the feet of the wrong people,he tried to cut power of royalist and military,and he did not need the bribes of Bkk elite,and those 3 groups made him fall ,if you look into the political past of Thailand then you will see any former Thai government was always royalist and military friendly[they had to]and if royalists or military did not like the government,then the government got sacked,easy as that,in the case with Mr.Thaksin they made a mistake,they underestimated the support for Mr.Thaksin,support from the average Thai,and they underestimated the stubborness of Mr.Thaksin and surely his moneypower.For me as foreigner Democrats or Mr.Thaksin are both not acceptable governments,but here is not USA or Germany,here is Thailand,and you can't apply 1st world thinking on a 3rd. world country.

I'll be interested to see if this very true and very accurate post is allowed to stand.

I had the impression that drug exports were a viable source of FX for the Burmese junta, in effect a state sanctioned enterprise. The contraband can't enter Thailand unless there is complicity at the Thai border. This then brings us back to the issue at the root of Thailand's problems: Corruption. Until the military, police and government officals implicated are stopped no amount of crackdowns, or even a legalization will work.

Anyone calling for legalization is a simpleton. As if all the problems would go awat. The vested interests in the trade would never allow a government mandated and regulated industry to operate because it would impact their own profits. People get up in arms at tainted medications that make it to market, but somehow, poisonous yaba produced in the jungle earns the Suzy Homemaker seal of approval. Ever notice that the people calling for a free for all never have a viable plan to deal with the social and economic impact of such a decision? You know things like where to warehouse the addicts etc.

I understand your opinions on legalisation but if you take the trouble to look at The Netherlands' policies, you can see that they have worked. They have a fraction of the UK's users but drugs are openly available. Heroin addicts in Holland are literally a dying breed. Their average age is getting older every year. Why is that? Due to education mainly. For example, asking former addicts to address schoolchildren has a huge impact. Prevention is better than cure.

Read about the prohibition era in the US. Legalisation takes the supply and profit out of the hands of gangsters.

It also provides a small tax revenue for government programs to wean hard drug users (heroin, crack..etc) off their habit. Take them out of illegality and bring them back into being productive members of society.

Drug wars are futile. Innocent people die, especially during Thaksin-like crackdowns. But dealers are like mushrooms, twenty spring up where there used to be one. The profits are too tempting. Earn 100 baht a day planting corn or 1000 baht in an hour selling a couple of little pink pills? (I'm guessing about the second figure, but you see my point).

I'm not saying meth should be legalised but existing addicts need counseling and some less harmful alternative until they are clean. It's a very difficult issue but there is a way out that most governments will not accept.

You are of course correct in your appraisal.

However, you will get howled down by the "hang-em-high brigade", because they read "The Daily Mail" or "The Sun" or some other equally execrable rag, and believe everything contained therein.

And yes, last time I looked, the average age of a heroin addict in Holland was mid forties, as opposed to the average in UK of about 21.

It's not rocket science, but it's obviously beyond the reasoning powers of many here...

The problem is, of course, the approach to drugs. This is not just Thailand's approach, but the global approach.

As long as the powers-that-be make the importation and distribution of drugs a very profitable proposition (by waging war against the trade) they will continue to lose that (very expensive) war. For whatever they do, the drugs cartels will be one step ahead of them.

The legislators of the world seem to be suffering a case of collective amnesia about the American experiment with prohibition in the 20s, it's singular lack of success, and the plethora of unintended consequences which sprang from that misguided legislation.

But nothing will change. They will remain blind to the futility of the pursuit of failed policies because it requires real political courage to address the problem sensibly, and there are no politicians willing to put their heads above the parapet.

There are many in and around Ban Tawai 15km outside chiang mai, that's where most of the exported furniture is made, I used to export to the UK but 30% off the £ killed me stone dead. Good luck in your search it's worth a trip up there !

thanks jason, anywhere with a website?

Many of the manufacturers don't have website's so it's worth travelling up there, Just give them a design and they can make it for sure. Sorry lost all my contacts. But head for Hang dong which is about 15km outside Chiang Mai and the village of Baan Tawai is left at the traffic lights and carry on to the centre of the village and also note the small showrooms on the way from the traffic lights to the village. My advice is ask many cos the price will differ immensley but from the designs you have given I would expect to pay no more than 3000-4000 baht per stool. That will be a fraction of the cost than BKK for sure. Don't bother with jj Market they also get most made in Chian Mai specially if it's teak wood.If it's for export I would advise Rubber wood strong and does not move to much at the joints with moisture, If its for use in Thailand Teak is fine. Good Luck

3000 - 4000 baht at current exchange rates equates to quite a lot of money. Most European furniture factories could compete favourably with that price, despite much higher operating costs.

Secondhand smoke is known as the cause of lung cancer, heart disease, low birth-weight , and chronic lung ailments such as bronchitis and asthma, particularly in children. The World Health Organization says the only effective means to eliminate the health risks associated with secondhand smoke is through implementing 100% smoke-free environments.

This is another convenient scare story which has been comprehensively disproved by scientific studies.

I hate being in smoky places and I support any ban on smoking, but I wish authorities worldwide would not try to sell their legislation by lying; that kind of scare-mongering behaviour can quickly become a habit (see MMR, swine flu, bird flu, global warming, DDT, BSE, Y2K, etc etc)

I was wondering when someone was going to point out that the whole secondhand smoke thing is utter tosh. Just an excuse so the zealots can impose their preferences/beliefs on everyone else. Same, as RB points out, as AGW, DDT etc etc.

When will these misguided do-gooders butt out of other peoples lives? It's just so tiresome. Like being pestered by Jehovas Witnesses on your doorstep.

I access UK channels via VPNUK (google it) which is a proxy network provider. I pay £5.99 a month for a proxy UK ISP, but if you want a choice of international ISPs to use, I think it's about £7-8 a month. I think that would give you access to just about every terrestrial channel, but not sure about sattelite channels. You also need fast enough speeds to get seamless streaming, although having said that, I only have 2 MB connection, and it works fine.

So, do I worry about intereacting with kids? do i <deleted>!! If the parents and the School like my methods and the kids enjoy and learn in my class, I'll be damned before I will let what some ignorant twunt thinks affect my behavior.

Just carry on regardless. If you are not a wrongun, who cares what morons think?

Good for you Loz!

The misguided bloody do-gooders of this world will be the death of us all if we let them.

Just another piece of sensationalist reporting seized upon by the gutter press for the prurient punter.

Paedophilia is no more prevalent today than it was 50 or 100 years ago. We just read about it more, and people somehow assume that it is all around us. That, of course is bullsh*t.

The vast majority of men (and it's always assumed to be men who are the suspects) are normal guys who like kids: for no other reason than that they like kids and want to help / guide them.

In their drive to sell newspapers, the gutter press have driven a wedge between adults and children which will have serious ramifications for the upcoming generations.

Fortunately not all countries have signed up to this foolishness. Thailand, as yet, seems to be unaffected, as is my adopted country of Greece, where showing affection to an unknown child is still seen as a positive, rather than as a perversion. Thankfully.

Lord, the press has a lot to answer for. I hope they get their just desserts in the final reckoning.

May those that started this witchhunt (in their drive to sell newspapers) rot in hel_l. They have done more damage to society than they can possibly imagine.

The Veblen Effect in part.....

the snob effect: preference for goods because they are different from those commonly preferred; in other words, for consumers who want to use exclusive products, price is quality;

I think the key word here is different, in a positive way not a negative way as TG' history is perceived by the user.

the bandwagon effect: preference for a good increases as the number of people buying them increases;

It would take a Thai mentality to put the above into practice in the situation of Thai Airways.....

No wonder the country is on the verge of destruction.... but the birght side..... the baht gets stronger.

The Veblen Effect, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, is knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Thai Air needs to get real and look at what airlines around the world are doing - trying to attract more customers with deals. People these days are looking for value for money.

Buy one of those flashing red mag-mount lights and put it on your car roof - keep it switched on at all times. Wear dark glasses and a baseball cap. Drive as fast as you want and on whatever side of the road that you want. If you hit someone or something, don't even slow down - it's not your fault

Simon

You've obviously been living in Phnom Penh.

If you come through customs in a wheelchair you can carry 10 litres.

Simply buy 2 5l boxes of wine and remove the cardboard boxes. Then:-

Tie one bag to a pole on the back of the wheelchair and tell customs it's your saline drip, and

the other to the side of the wheelchair and tell them it's your colostomy bag.

Brilliant!

I'll have to remember that one!

The wine issue is one of my main gripes about LOS. When I did a visa run to Lao a few years ago I bought a couple of boxes of nice Aussie red at the border. They didn't check at all on the Thai side. Didn't seem to be bothered, even though they probably saw me coming out of the shop on the Lao side, box of wine in each hand.

The several `stages` in price is something what is done in a lot of countries. Nothing `just Thai` about it.

Yes, it's the same here in Greece. Once you reach a certain level, you move into a higher price band. Only two tiers for private users, I think.

I'm a participant in a number of very disparate forums (or "fora" I suppose, if you want to be pedantic), and the verb "to flame" is common linguistic currency in all of them, and universally understood. As is "trolling", another word you wouldn't have come across until a few years ago. As already said here, the English language is constantly evolving...

An interesting and pertinent article here on the government "investigation" into the "climategate" scandal.

And the gravy train rolls on...

The recipe doesn't change from country to country - that's a constant. What does change is the water used, and that can affect the taste profoundly. Ever noticed the difference between Guinness brewed in Dublin and Guinness brewed in England under license? It's a different drink.

Also, as Travel2003 points out, the temperature at which it is served has an influence. Personally, I like lager beers served very cold, just above freezing. Ales, however, are another thing, and should be served at cellar temperature.

AGW science works like this. We throw the unpopular woman in the lake: If she drowns, she was innocent. If she floats and survives, she's a witch and we burn her at the stake. We can't lose. Whatever happens, it's "climate change. "

Future generations will relegate the AGW zealots to the annals of history along with millenial cults, domesday soothsayers, Jonestown followers and all the rest of the delusional, easily-led masses of people that have ever congregated under a rubric of doom.

It is a sad day indeed when we see non-scientists, who are perhaps otherwise rational people, conclude that a significant number of members of the scientific community, some would argue a large majority of the global scientific community, are psychos who deserved to be lumped together with an assortment of irrational behaviors.

And I believe that the "AGW" hypothesis, that human activity causes global warming, is not based upon anything remotely similar to medieval witch hunting practices but based upon statistical analysis.

But the really interesting question to ask is why would those who dispute the AGW hypothesis with an alternative hypothesis be so adamant given the most likely outcomes? If the AGW is correct then we avert tremendous suffering by taking steps to reduce the warming trend, if it exists. And if the hypothesis is wrong and we still act then we get a more energy efficient and cleaner world. There is nothing to lose by accepting the AGW hypothesis,

even if it turns out to be wrong, and yet there is a tremendous amount to lose by not responding if the hypothesis is correct. I just can't get my finger on the motivations of those who come under the classification of "deniers". I just can't figure out the answer to the question that always needs to be asked in such situations, "cui bono?".

What we have to lose, Johpa, is the ability to remain economically productive. What we have to lose is countless trillions of dollars wasted on a chimera. Do you really have the arrogance to believe that we can control the natural cycles of climate? What we have to lose is to consign the third-world nations to permanent poverty. Human advancement is inextricably linked to availability of electricity. Forcing nations to use "renewables" is the kiss of death to a poor country. We can't even do it in the west. What hope does a country in Central Africa have?

Go back to your dream world, where sugar and spice and all things nice rules....

The truth is Thailand is constantly covering up and hiding deaths/dangers because it will hurt their income. This is just one minor example of a huge problem.

So what do you propose? That the Thais tell everyone not to come to Thailand because there is a one in ten million chance that they may be fatally stung by a jellyfish?

How many foreign students have been raped / murdered in UK over the last 10 years? I can remember at least five. That would put the odds of getting raped / murdered in UK substantially higher than getting fatally stung by a jellyfish in Thailand. So what would you propose UK should do about that? Make all the university websites carry an "extreme danger" warning? No, better not - foreign students are a big earner for UK universities.

Yes, it's easy to say that the Thais are hiding deaths / dangers to protect their incomes. And I'm willing to bet that if your income was dependant on tourism, you'd have exactly the same attitude as the people who you sit in judgement on.

Life is full of risks, and if you're not prepared to deal with them in a rational way, then stay at home and wrap yourself in cotton wool. If people want to travel to exotic locations, then they must make the effort to educate themselves a little about their destination. That's not the responsibility of the locals. Particularly when the threat is so miniscule. 

The situation of people putting up warning signs because someone died and tourism operators then taking down the signs can seem saddening and angering, but according to stats I read some time ago, fatalities due to jellyfish attacks are extremely rare in Thailand.

I think to remember it is one every 3 or 4 years?

Things must be put in perspective - if I was a tourism operator I too would be displeased with business-damaging messages being displayed to people while the risk of a serious problem is almost zero.

It would be like putting signs warning about lethal danger on bretzels, since JW Bush almost choked to death on one...

So, condolences to the families of previous victims and best wishes of recovery to the swedish girl, but one has to bear in mind that nature has its dangers everywhere.

I totally agree with manarak. Putting signs up warning of the dangers of box jellyfish would be completely disproportionate. If there is one fatality every 3 - 4 years, set against the number of swimmers in Thai waters over the same period, the risk factor is statistically so low as to be not worth consideration. It would be more relevant, statistically, to have big warning signs at the entrances to airports, saying

"Caution! This plane may fall out of the sky and kill you!" 

We all know that. It's a calculated risk every time we fly.

Same as we all (should) know that there are some not very nice things in the sea that can harm us. It's weighing risk against what we want to do. Alarmist warning signs aren't going to help anybody. Do you suggest, philconnors, that everybody should give up swimming in the sea because one unfortunate child got stung? Get real. If we all adopted your approach to life, nobody would do anything. Life would come to a standstill.

If I had a business on that beach, I'd be one of the first to tear down any misleadingly alarmist signs that threatened to destroy my livelihood. 

Another little snippet, this from the Met Office. That's the same Met Office which is a global authority on the impending "global warming".

The national weather service has until now published an outlook for the country's weather three months in advance.

But after predicting a "barbecue summer", before a wet July, and a "mild winter", before heavy snowfall and the coldest winter temperatures in 30 years, the seasonal forecast has been quietly ditched.

Instead the Met Office will give a monthly outlook that is updated every week.

Dave Britton, of the Met Office, admitted last night that it was just too difficult to give an accurate forecast for the seasons using the current science.

"Although we can identify general patterns of weather, the science does not exist to allow an exact forecast beyond five days, or to absolutely promise a certain type of weather.

"As a result, 'seasonal forecasts' cannot be as precise as our short-term forecast," he said.

And they tell us the science is settled?

I am a smoker. Not a heavy smoker, but I like a fag. My wife is a non-smoker, and doesn't like the smell of smoke in the house, so if I want a fag, I nip out to the balcony and smoke it out there. That is what I do here, and what I did when we were living in Bangkok. I really cannot grasp the logic of banning smoking on your balcony. Just where do these people get their ideas from?

But then the zealots don't really care about logic or reason. It would have been very easy to legislate that all bars must have either a non-smoking area or a good air extraction system. (And they are very efficient nowadays. I've sat at a table in a restaurant which had such a system in the pre-ban days, and had a cigar smoker at the next table. I wouldn't have known he was there if I couldn't see him.) That would have been the sensible way to go, as it would have catered to smokers and non-smokers alike.

But no, the zealots wish to make lepers of any who won't conform to their view. There is no reason or logic behind any of the anti-smoking legislation as it stands, no attempt at compromise, no thought for the rights of people who enjoy indulging in a perfectly legal pastime.

"We don't like it, so we'll ban it" is reason enough for the busybodies in the anti-smoking brigade.

So the march of the zealots continues...

They banned smoking in bars etc here in Greece last year. This snippet appeared on the BBC News site a few weeks ago.

Thank God for the Greeks, and their distain for interfering busybodies trying to tell them how they should live their lives.