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It was just soooooo enjoyable watching Harris read out the confirmation of Trump as POTUS.
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51
Essential Driving Rules and Etiquette in Thailand
Perceptions of Road safety in Thailand Why can’t people understand road safety in Thailand? “The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers.” – Dave Barry When it comes to road safety – “seeing is believing” is most definitely NOT the case…. The 2 main enemies of clear thinking on road safety are confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance…… (take note Dickie) It is important to overcome them…. Confirmation bias (“confirmation bias,” the tendency people have to embrace information that supports their beliefs and reject information that contradicts them). E.G. – if you decide that drivers of pickup trucks are very rude, very time you see one doing a manoeuvre you don’t approve of you say “look, see what I mean” – but subconsciously you ignore the other vehicles and drivers doing the same. Cognitive dissonance (Sometimes learning new information can lead to feelings of cognitive dissonance. For example, if you engage in a behaviour that you later learn is harmful, it can lead to feelings of discomfort. People sometimes deal with this either by finding ways to justify their behaviours or findings ways to discredit or ignore new information.) E.G. – when you find out that statistically your belief about Fortuner drivers isn’t true – you ignore the evidence because it conflicts with your long-held belief and continue to pick out Fortuners as culprits. A common sign of cognitive dissonance is asking for citations (sealioning) rather than accepting the point or finding a proper reasoned argument against it. Overcoming these prejudices helps to get a realistic appreciation of the reality of the situation in Thailand and then to assess one’s personal driving skills. To understand road safety, it is advisable to drop the concept of “bad drivers” altogether and consider it in terms of human error within a Road Safety environment; a holistic approach to Thailand’s road environment” … and then consider how YOU fit into this either as a road user or even just a bystander. It can require a bit of soul-searching but in the end might make Thai roads safer for yourself and others. Perceptions in Thailand seem very skewed as is reflected in government policies and most comments you see in the media – whether the main news or social media. Most of the advice you see on driving in Thailand seems to be based purely on the “blame game” aimed at “other” (Thai) drivers and nape of the neck dictums from politicians trying to look as if they are doing something. - This has long been a discredited view in road safety science. Preconceptions and prejudices: - Foreign drivers in particular in Thailand often get overwhelmed by the unfamiliar traffic environment. This transmutes itself into criticism of other (native) drivers who seem far more comfortable on the roads. This quite often takes on a very aggressive and condescending nature. Comments by foreigners on road safety in Thailand are mostly just derogatory. Rather than any critical thinking or research, people simply use either anecdotal evidence or personal observation e.g. false (or politician’s) syllogisms[1] that don’t make for a well thought out, sound argument. Most of this advice I’d suggest is ill considered and at times downright wrong. Add to this a lack of experience by those handing out advice or any real knowledge of the factors contributing to road safety in Thailand (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) and the result is not so much opinions as assumptions and wildly inaccurate assertions. Just because someone can operate a car, doesn’t make them an “expert” on road safety. Many ignore the issues of road safety and focus on what they see as “bad driving”, and then conclude that driving in Thailand is that it is a prohibitively perilous thing to do and that this is largely down to Thai people being useless drivers. In fact, Thais have grown up in the Thai driving environment and are much more accustomed to it than most foreigners. They have the skills for survival. It is often foreigners who fail to understand and adapt to a new driving environment and try to stick to the old rules and conventions that dominated in their old home country…. they do so at their peril. Driving by the rules – your rules – is just not the right way to drive in Thailand. It is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. What they consider to be experience is in reality brainwashing or conditioning. Statistically, driving in a 4-wheeled private vehicle is a lot safer than people would have you believe. The road death rate for these in Thailand is just about the same as it is in the USA. Most of the opinions that appear on chat web sites etc., are by people who issue a series of tirades and vitriol against Thai drivers. Virtually every opinion is thoroughly negative. Many posters also suggest that because the roads are too dangerous to consider driving oneself, a driver or public transport was preferable. This is of course highly illogical as they have already accused Thai drivers of being the “worst in the world” so why would they let one drive them? On one hand they admit they aren’t competent enough to drive on Thai roads and then say all Thai drivers are dangerous and no good at driving??? What is more important is how competent a driver YOU are and how good is your ability to understand, acclimatise and adapt to the driving environment in Thailand. My experience is that many foreigners, even those who have lived in the country for a long time fail to grasp these concepts. “Thai roads are dangerous and all Thai drivers are reckless morons”. – so are you! Just take a moment to consider how people who say things like this see themselves and other road users. They have pre-set ideas about how others should or do drive and when they see a mistake of any kind it just serves to confirm this, but they are oblivious to any evidence to the contrary – this is a combination of confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance combined with a Dunning Kruger[2] effect appreciation of their own driving skills. How people form their opinions on driving can be quite tenuous. Yet they then talk as self-appointed authorities on the subject without any logic, reason or evidence. When it comes to some subjects, people quite unreasonably consider themselves to be “experts” – Healthcare, Teaching and education and Road safety seem to be prime examples of this – · Because they went to hospital, they are be “experts” on healthcare · because they went to school, they are “experts” on education · because they can drive a car, they are “experts” on road safety Everyone seems to think they are superb drivers and better than all those other road users. Expert - a reverse fallacious appeal to authority, often used by people to attack the messenger rather than the message. People without any argument seem to believe that they can discredit anyone who says something they don’t agree with or didn’t know, by suggesting they aren’t an “expert” or asking them why they think they are an “expert”. As if any opinion other than an “experts” must automatically be invalid.[3] People accept archaic ideas on road safety without question but things have moved on and this is reflected in the dramatic drop in traffic injury figures of countries that have adopted the “new” thinking. E.g. the “Safe System”. The problem is that if someone is told something they haven’t thought about before and even if it is backed it up with logic and reason, cognitive dissonance kicks in and they ignore even the most powerful evidence. In Thailand, the default position for foreigners is to turn on the vitriol when talking about their fellow road users... they automatically exclude themselves from the equation and whilst implying that their driving skills are far superior to those of any Thai people. It also seems that many foreigners who don’t even drive themselves like to get in on the act and get just as vociferous. However, it does underline that road safety isn’t just about driving, it’s about ROAD USERS - and that includes everyone on or near the road, pedestrians, stall holders, elephants, gammons etc etc……. On the whole though, if we were to believe everything the non-Thais posting on chat forums said, we wold have to conclude that almost everyone is better than the average driver! Which is mathematically impossible... Detailed anecdotal descriptions of how “bad” other motorists driving achieve nothing. Without analysis, all they do is reinforce those people’s prejudices about driving in Thailand - i.e. blaming people or even the entire nation, rather than considering the underlying causes. There is also the temptation to attempt simplifying matters by looking for one single solution for the whole problem; a sort of road safety panacea. A few common truths about how motorists see themselves versus other road users “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” - George Carlin “ ….. there are only three types of drivers; the too fast, the timid and oneself.” ― Virginia Graham, Say Please “There are two things no man will admit he cannot do well, drive and make love.” – Stirling Moss “The survey by Michelin North America found that the majority of Americans don’t trust other drivers and say they witness unsafe driving behaviour regularly. At the same time, an overwhelming majority - 81 percent - remain supremely confident in their own abilities behind the wheel.” [4] These were some observations resulting from research done by the Centre for Transport and Society - UK.... The public know that driver behaviour is a major contributory factor in the vast majority of road accidents... (Cauzard, 2003) - But there is a consistent view that OTHERS drive in a riskier manner than individuals themselves do - (King and Parker, 2008) It’s not just driving, older children and adolescents think they have good attitude and skills towards road safety but believe that others especially those in their peer group do not - (Tolmie. 2006). Individuals do not believe they are dangerous on the roads but at the same time fervently believe others are. • I am not likely to be responsible for an accident; others are likely to be responsible. Therefore, little I can do. • Hence, less likely to need to “plan to avoid them” • Campaigns aimed at dangerous driving are for “other” drivers not themselves. • Such campaigns re-emphasise this difference (2CV, 2008 and Flaming Research, 2008) • The third-person effect (Davison, 1983). • High support for enforcement, engineering solutions and education • But not for themselves - for other people. However, the reality can be a long way from these benighted perspectives. [1]Politician’s syllogism: - All cats have four legs. My dog has four legs. Therefore, my dog is a cat. [2] Dunning-Kruger effect: - a cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective criteria or to the performance of their peers or of people in general. - https://www.britannica.com/science/Dunning-Kruger-effect [3] “Experts” feel the need to know every piece of information before they start a project and constantly look for new certifications or trainings to improve their skills. They won’t apply for a job if they don’t meet all the criteria in the posting, and they might be hesitant to ask a question in class or speak up in a meeting at work because they’re afraid of looking stupid if they don’t already know the answer. [4] https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/23/george-carlin-was-right-other-drivers-are-idiots-and-maniacs.html -
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Palisades Fire in LA has zero containment
Get back to us when you have the engineering worked out and have a mitigation plan in place to address the contamination and destruction of the land that will result when it is soaked with salt water. Perhaps if you had a basic education you would understand this. Salting land destroys the local ecosystem, causes building problems, pollutes the water table and corrodes infrastructure, but sure go right ahead with your brilliant plan. -
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Health Insurance in Thailand After Leaving Employment
Sherly this information is out of date, since 2022 there is a new health insurance regulation in thailand called "New Health Standard". -It guarantees contract renewal (so the insurancy company can't kick you out if you make a big claim) -Forbids premium increases based on individual claim history (company can only increase premiums based on age, occupation and if there were lot of claims on a portfolio level so they have raise everyone's premium equally) These are pretty much the same as european regulations . This only affect new contracts so if you bought insurance in 2021 for example then still the horrible old rules apply. sources: in english SCB bank: https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/stories/protect-my-family/new-health-standard.html in thai AIA insurance: https://www.aia.co.th/th/health-wellness/new-health-standard in thai blog post: https://www.msmany.com/TH/product/newhealthstandard.html The only "catch" is in the "New Health Standard" that the insurance company can put you on copayment but only if the company reserves this right in the policy when you buy it (so read the renewal terms of your contract in thai). And copayment is limited to 30% per criteria but it can go up to 50% if you meet multiple criteria but can't go up higher than that. And if the company puts you on copayment then they have to give you the same amount of discount on your premium (so 50% copayment means 50% discount on your premium) and if you do not meet any copayment criteria the next year then the company has to remove the copayment. -
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Palisades Fire in LA has zero containment
The fire hydrants were not dry. They delivered water as intended. Go back and take a basic physics course. You cannot maintain water pressure if all the hydrants are in use and the size of teh pipes limits the amount of water that can be transported.- 1
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What on earth is going on!
Here’s what really happened. Bob staggered off to bed last night alone, lonely, absolutely snookered out of his head (all as per usual), mumbling something to himself about saving the world from expensive bar fines. Then he drifted off into one of his classic Soi Sex dreams, this time about those lads who skipped the bill out at Soi 6 and got themselves sorted with a proper street beating. Morning rolls around, Bob wakes up, scratches his ample gut, belts out a fart loud enough to scare the geckos, then waddles off to the loo for his daily masterpiece. Once relieved, but still hungover like a bag of smashed crabs, and whilst still sat on the porcelain god, he fires up his minging old laptop and bangs out another daily episode of “Bob’s Wild Imagination,” complete with chaos, carnage, imaginary women, and shirtless farang lunatics. And there we have it, another not so thrilling tale from the bowels of Bob, based on nothing more than a cocktail of dreams, booze, and a healthy dose of narcissistic, nail-biting nonsense. Classic stuff, mate. Keep ’em coming. -
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Essential Driving Rules and Etiquette in Thailand
Yet another monologue of verbose absurdity, sprinkled with clichés and cloaked in a flimsy guise of pseudo-intellectualism which sounds both patronising and uninformed at the same time. That said, your comments read well.... but are still utter tosh that drown a simple topic in a sea of pompous over-analysis, turning routine driving behaviours into an inflated exercise exercise in cultural critique... .... You overuses jargon like "cognitive dissonance" and "ethnocentrism" to give the illusion of depth, while offering little practical insight. You are more interested in lecturing readers about their supposed biases than addressing the realities of driving in Thailand.... .... By inflating basic observations into grand moral lessons your comments become nothing more than a self-righteous rant, disconnected from the actual, everyday experiences you claim to critique. .. Is that nuanced enough for you ?... "I'm a boat, I'm a boat"..... -
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Strange and annoying things here in land of smiles
For me, what's strange is when I order food and they bring my warm rice, then it sits going cold for 15 minutes before they bring the rest of the food I ordered. -
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Does Trump completely lack decency and compassion?
It's not "like a religion"; it IS a religion. Just a few days ago, on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Capitol, lots of video was on the news showing his cult sporting flags with his name, kind of like the flags some nations have noting the name of their particular deity. Same same, and NOT different. Purely a captured cult. I bet you're feeling like a Danish cartoonist, who some cult members think committed heresy by criticizing their messiah. One little guy has posted 19 replies already, I guess trying to prove his fealty, as if his love muffin could even guy the guy exists. 47 has no decency and no compassion. Though I'm not a psychiatrist, many board certified psychiatrists have labelled the guy a psychopath. Certainly he's been in the public eye enough so that an accurate diagnosis can be made. Psychopaths have no empathy, no guilt, lie as easily as they breathe, and think rules do not apply to them. They are totally self-centered and self-absorbed, out solely for themselves, though they can fool the naive, gullible and forlorn.
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