Bob

Damn, glad it wasn't me. Guess I would have been on the menu as shish kebob bob.....

Just read in the Nation or Post that the government has postponed the program until next year. It seems they need to educate the major retailers and consumers regarding the program. That sounds strangely unbelievable.

It is difficult for me to be critical when the waiters just don't know any better.

I completely understand and agree. Even in the upscale joints, bad waiters are just a sign of bad ownership/management. Can't blame them if the owner/manager never told them how to properly wait tables.

My retirement visa expires on Feb 1, 2010. I was at Pattaya immigration today and asked the officer who processes the retirement visas if I could get the letter at the Outreach here on Thursday to use then. He said, "Can can."

Let us know if it works (taking a November letter in for a visa renewal in February). Hope it does work for you but I have my doubts.

All in all, I like middle-of-the-road attention by the wait staff at a restaurant. I don't want them hovering over me as that's irritating as hell (and, for Christ's sake, you don't need to fill up the damn water glass every time it's down a 1/4" or so...hehe). On the other hand, I also get irritated when I need to send up flares to get anybody to pay attention to me.

If they're helpful but you don't notice they're there, they're perfect.

But aren't DVDs of brand new movies often poor quality?

Not the ones I've bought (i.e., so far, the quality has been excellent). I realize I probably shouldn't do that (I guess it's technically illegal) but it's so open and obvious here in Thailand. I'm not talking only about the few dudes at the night markets that somewhat secretly sell them, I'm talking about multiple out-in-the-open vendors at some of the major malls. I usually get 6 for 500 baht.

I don't blame Carter at all for the hostage crisis. He wasn't responsible in the first place for the US's long history of supporting the corrupt shah and attacking Iran after the hostages were taken was an absolutely no win situation.

I will say that Jimmy Carter is the President of the US I admire most for all the good works he and his foundation have done since he left the presidency some 28+ years ago. Although Bill Clinton is starting to do some very good work too, the other

ex-presidents in my lifetime did essentially nothing after leaving office. Eisenhower played golf, Johnson did nothing, Reagan did nothing (oh, he gave some speeches for unbelievably high fees), GH Bush did do a little good regarding the tsunami issue (other than that, he got paid a million bucks to puke on the Japanese President), and nobody's heard from GW Bush (I think he's riding the pickup on the ranch and coloring his presidential coloring book).

Ya know, this whole Sarah/Levi things sounds like a great sequel to the movie Dumb and Dumber (although it's far less funny).

I'll bet ya 5 baht I can get the movie on dvd for 100 baht or less within 2 weeks here in Chiangmai!

FREE AUNG SAN SUU KYI!

This message being delivered free of charge just in case those monkey-assed Burmese generals are reading this board.

Hmmmm....business sucks so it must be the monkey statues. Solution is to move the monkey statues. Business still sucks.....hmmmm, maybe it's because there are fewer tourists and there are 8 million shops in the airport????? Duh.

Why is it that if God talks to people, it is a religious experience, but if other voices are heard, it's mental illness?

I understand that sex is often a religious experience (or something like that as, in the midst of it all, they're yelling "Oh God! Oh God!"

Because one does not believe in ghosts or hauntings, due to the fact of no experience or lack of scientific verification, does not mean it should be dismissed as hocus pocus.

Some rather strange logic there.

Unless you've experienced it or unless a credible source (like science) tells you it exists, there's no rational basis to believe it exists. Sorry, but that's what I go by. And, right or wrong, I do believe that anyone who believes in such things simply is a few fries short of a happy meal.

Now, excuse me, I must go as the little man on my shoulder is telling me to go hurt somebody again.

For courtroom attire, sometimes it's almost unbelievable what a few women will dress like - as in major slut city.

But, in my experience, the absolutely worst dressed and creepy looking guys in the courtroom are usually undercover narcs.

All I can say is thank god they didn't have mobile phone cameras or other video equipment around when I was a teenager (or in my early 20's too). Most people do a few stupid things that are surely best forgotten (and definitely not documented!).

Back in my hometown, we used to joke that a criminal is somebody that's so dumb that even a detective can catch him (which, of course, was a double swipe at both the dumbass criminals and the Barney Fife's of our police department).

I have know guys who were too well endowed and it was a problem for them too.

Don't worry, guys, he ain't talking about me there! God wasn't very kind to me.....boo hoo.

Do most see this as another Jihadist terrorist act?

So far, I only see it as a mass murder. The signs of jihad are there but, given I don't trust the press that much, I couldn't conclude that as yet. And the prosecution, if they are doing their job properly, won't play this case out in the press but in court when the time is right. Then we'll likely know for sure.

Amen, brother.

Praise the Lord but, more importantly, pass the basket.....

I had mentioned the story about my sister-in-law who worked for the Secretary of State. She was branch manager for a chunk of her career and I remember her repeatedly telling stories about the slobs that would come into the office to renew their license or whatever.

One story was some woman about 30 in a halter top was up at the window, fumbling around with some paperwork, and one of her boobs flopped out on the counter. She simply kept playing with her paperwork and my sister-in-law had to say: "Madam, could you put that thing back in your shirt!?!" With a snotty look, she proceeded to do that as if she was putting her wallet back in her purse.

I also heard many stories about slob guys coming in with very short shorts (some nothing more than rags) with underwear and body parts hanging out below....

Ir'a difficult to express anything publicly about religion because almost anything you say is insulting to those that have the "faith."

From the beginning of man, humans have called anything they don't understand "god." The funny noise (thunder) in the sky became Thor, the sea monster became Neptune, etc. We have progressed somewhat (we at least understand thunder now....) but what really gets my goat is an organized religion that believes it's the one true religion. Given there are thousands of religions around and many of them think they're the only one and true religion, the obvious answer is that one of them is right and all the rest of them are wrong - or, alternatively (the selection I make), they're all wrong.

Reality doesn't faze "faith." A four-year-old with his hands over his eyes believes he is invisible. Rather harmless fun but believing something doesn't make it true.

While this particular case may not have merited expulsion, I have no problem at all with school, work, etc., dress codes. I'm from a resort city on the great lakes and it's perfectly acceptable for a 16 or 20 year old to wear a string bikini on the beach; however, it's totally unacceptable to wear the same or a similar outfit downtown, at the mall, or at school.

Some kids dress like tramps and one wonders what, if anything, their parents are thinking.

Ghosts or hauntings? To my knowledge, there's never been any scientific verification of any such beings/events; as such, it's all baloney to me. Much like the boogeyman.

When I lived in the US I liked Daylight Saving Time, but because in Thailand daylight is roughly 12 hours all year, it doesn't seem necessary.

I knew there was a difference due to Thailand's being closer to the equator but never thought about what the difference might be. Just checked out one site which indicated that sunrise tomorrow in Bkk will be at 6:13AM with sunset at 5:46PM. On June 21st of next year, sunrise will be at 5:50AM and sunset will be at 6:44PM. So, it appears that Thailand's difference between the deep of winter and the beginning of our summer (June 21) is only about an hour and 8 minutes.

Big difference from where I come from. Didn't check it out officially but I know we Michiganders have 6-7 hours of daylight more in June than in December.

I'm still a bit confused.

Is it possible, lvdkeyes, that what you saw was not a mental health commitment hearing at all (which are usually handled by what we call "probate" judges) but a hearing in a regular criminal proceeding (usually before a District Judge or a Circuit Judge) based on a petition by the prosecutor to have the criminal defendant sent for a psychiatric exam to determine if he was mentally competent to stand trial? If that's the case, I can see a very short hearing if the defendant made some smart ass or goofy remark back to the Judge (and almost none of what I have said in this thread would apply to such a hearing as they are totally separate beasts).