Bob

Nowadays, if the world is ending tomorrow, I would do llike the Prince song and "party like it was 1999." Like the Thais, any excuse to party, is a good thing.

Now....I like that attitude! I only once remember running into one of the wackos holding one of the infamous "Repent - The World Is Ending Tomorrow" signs. When passing by him (perhaps he saw the "you-gotta-be-a-moron-look" on my face)one Wednesday evening, he blurted out: "Hey, you know the world is ending tomorrow!?!" I returned the "moron" look, said "Good! My fucking mortgage payment is due Friday!", and kept walking.

I know some people think things like superstition, UFO‘s, ghosts are on the edge....

Yes, Wino (and yea, you seem like a nice guy and nowhere as negative/cynical as I am), some people think things like that are "on the edge"; however, more than some people think that stuff is downright idiotic.

I get the impression that, to play it safe, you'd go to confession the same night you see a guy on a street corner holding a "The World Is Ending Tomorrow" sign....

No problem with me if it helps someone (although watching somebody chew tobacco almost makes me nauseous....especially when they smile...ugh).

Better than most farangs I know but I'm still rather mediocre at best. Somewhat studied it on my own off and on for 10 years, took a 5-week course (2 hours, twice a week) in Hua Hin earlier this year, a 3-week (3 hours, 5 days a week) course at Chiangmai University a few weeks ago, and am now trying a private tutor for two one-hour sessions per week.

Biggest stumbling block for me is retention - which ain't so good at 61. But I'm also hard of hearing and that sure as hell doesn't help me accurately hear those weird sounds and tones. But studying Thai is fun, somewhat keeps your mind disciplined, and most Thais I know appreciate it when you make the effort (even badly).

Come on, Wino, I doubt if anybody here doesn't welcome differing opinions and views. But holding a view or opinion that's based on personal bias only and with no factual basis to back it up is a totally different story and my welcome mat doesn't extend to crackpot theories.

So the guy claims flight TWA 800 was shot down by a missle? I hope the heck you asked him what he based that view on (it certainly wasn't based on the extensive reports and and reviews by either the FBI or the NTSB). Because initially it was thought that the plane might have been brought down by either a missle or onboard bomb, the FBI was initially involved too - but they turned over the entire investigation to the NTSB later on when they concluded that no criminal act (and no missle or bomb) was involved. The NTSB investigation also considered the possibility that a bomb or missile caused the mishap, but found no evidence to support such a theory (you see, they recovered most of the entire aircraft and there was none of the readily apparent damage caused by a high-explosive detonation in an aircraft found on any of the structure or contents). No (as in "zero") verified factual findings supported either the missle or bomb theory.

The NTSB consists of a group of really smart guys who know what they're talking about - and the FBI isn't exactly a slouch outfit either. I'll take their findings any old day over somebody that would claim (based on a "feeling", I guess) that a missle brought the plane down. I admire the guy for his military service but I don't admire him for his thinking ability.

Egads, I can see it now - wall-to-wall lime green shag carpeting in the cave.....

I would not classify people with odd views as ignorant.

Well, I'll grant you that not all the people that actually believe the things I mentioned are ignorant or stupid. The ones that aren't in that category would fall in the "mentally ill" category.

Yes, there are still some people in the world today who think thunder is a god. I don't question the sincerity of their beliefs - but they're still ignorant (i.e., dumber than a rock).

Crazy that these two well-liked teachers were stupid enough to jeopardize their careers for a roll in the hay. Some people are risk takers and get off on having sex in risky places. Now they pay the piper.

I agree with the sentiments. Sex is great but, dammit, it ain't worth ruining your life over. I can understand two 15-year-olds being carried away in the moment of passion (hey, 15-year-olds are genetically prone to be stupid!) but the "well-liked" teachers ought to have known better and either gone home, rented a motel room, or, for god's sake, at least locked themselves in a closet!

Being a bit lowbrow with my drinking habits, I drink Chang beer when I'm drinking beer.

And poster Beer Chang votes for Archa???

I don't think it is a matter of brains, more like a natural distrust of the government.

Heck, it's a smart thing to distrust the government. Generally, the government has duly earned it.

But even distrusting people need to occasionally have a little horsepower in the cerebellum and occasionally turn on the engine. Those that truly believe the moon landing was a fake, that the Warren commission was a set-up job, that the US was behind the 9/11/01 attacks, or that Obama is not a US citizen are not only distrustful but ignorant too.

God, this one is way too easy......

......cunning linguists?

Come on guys, this eccentric is begging to be photographed! hehe Actually, based on your descriptions, I'd like to see what this guy looks like.

Will they ever give up? Not a chance, especially when they are going to win the next election. According to the one newspaper article this week (not sure if it was Nation or Post or both), the army conducted a "secret" poll and determined that Puea Thai would win an outright majority if the election were held today. While it's appalling that the army is intruding into politics in the first place, their poll gives the red shirts ample reason to wait it out and try to retake the government.

The only questions that seem to remain are:

(1) When can they force the government to dissolve the house and/or make the call for elections?

(2) Presuming the reds win an outright majority, will another coup happen within days? and

(3) Presuming the reds win and no coup happens, how much revenge will the Reds ultimately exact against PAD, the Democrats, and/or the military?

Just a month or two ago, the Pattaya administration was proclaiming that they wanted to change Pattaya so it would become more of a family destination (versus it's current image as sodom by the sea). This bikini contest is a real good step in that direction...hahahaha.

I can see the next big contest - seeing how fat a guy you can fit into a speedo or a thong. There are a lot of contestants already walking (well, waddling) the beaches of Pattaya now!

Obama made an excellent acceptance speech in Oslo when he accepted his Nobel Peace Price. An Obama statue was erected recently in a park close to where he grew up in Indonesia. $10,000 for a bronze statue. Good idea?

Why not? Anything that might inspire any young kids to better themselves is certainly a grand idea.

Obama is admired much more outside the US than within the US. Bush (W), on the other hand, is despised much more outside the US than within the US (which is really saying something given how many people in the US didn't like him!).

I've actually run into people that actually believe the moon landing was a total fake job and that the US government was in on the 9/11/01 airplane attacks. Unfortunately, as the very old saying goes: When god passed out brains, some people thought he said "trains" and they missed theirs.....

How can a whole nation be that backward and ignorant?

To be fair, it's probably not the whole nation (it certainly isn't the gays there) but the idiots in power. Reminds me of the neocons and the far right wing of the Republican Party back in the states. They're almost that crazy too.

He was born in the United States (his birth certificate was published many times last year) and he's a US citizen. The rest of the comments are pure bullshit in my opinion. To be president, he needed to be a US citizen (he is) and 35 years of age (he is). End of story (one does not lose US citizenship by having dual citizenship in another country, you lose your US citizenship only by renouncing it). I suppose now the crackpots (and some of the shooters from the grassy knoll in Dallas) will now assert that an alien told them that Obama renounced his US citizenship aboard a spaceship where he was being probed.....

Simply backward ignorance.

Has everything you mailed from Thailand to the States always arrived Bob?

So far, yes. The only frustration I've experienced is it ranges from 9 to 20 days to get there. That's a pretty big spread in my view and fairly unacceptable. And my mail is always taken directly to the post office by me.

Never said he died, just said he was a 'drowning statistic'.

Not to be too pedantic (hell, I'm not even sure how to spell that let alone am I 100% sure of what it means), but your post starts out with "Yet (sic) another drowning" which said to me, at least when I read it, that somebody drowned. That to me (again, you're dealing with a simple mind here) meant somebody died.

Back on topic (meaning I apologize for that pedantic interruption), I am with the group that simply wonders where the parents were. You simply don't allow a kid that age to go anywhere near the water without somebody watching him all the time.

I've never mailed anything from Thailand, somehow I never considered that, thinking instead to download form, fill it out and give to a friend going back home to mail.

If you're only here for vacation, I can see the need would never arise. I use the mail here all the time....costs 28 baht to mail a card/letter from Chiangmai back to the states. I've gotten a couple of cards from family/friends in the states in the last month and see that it cost each of them $0.98 to send a card to here (I was wondering which direction was less expensive and it looks like the Thailand to US route is a whopping 12 cents cheaper).

Last year I sent in the form from the States.

I'll be in Thailand this year.

Is there a way to send it electronically?

Not that I'm aware. But you can download it from the Treasury website, print it out, and mail it from Thailand. I've got the form on my computer at home but didn't bring it (I'll be home next May) or I'd somehow attach it here for your use.

I try to keep my Thai account under $10,000. I am told, as a US citizen we are suppose to report any accounts over that amount.

Rather impossible for me as I do the "800,000 baht" routine for my one-year visa. But it's easy to file the report (due every June 15th) to the US Treasury.

Of course, one of the purposes of the filing of the annual form, I suppose, is to make sure you pay income tax somewhere on the meager interest but I've never reported it (and I doubt if it adds up to much more than $100.00 per year).

I understand that a baby hippopotamus went missing from the Chiang Mai Night Safari. The baby hippo was soaking in a tub of water at the zoo’s veterinary hospital when the guard fell asleep. When the guard woke up the hippo was gone. Is Bob out there joining in the search and rescue operation?

No, I haven't been looking.....but it might explain the large footprints I found in the jello in the refrigerator this morning....

(how the hell do you lose a hippo?)