Geekfreaklover

A group of the labourers working on a new hotel nearby had their shacks bulldozed by the landowner on Saturday but I'm sure they'll be losing sleep over your dreadful weekend.

belg, on 2012-05-22 13:39:18, said:

God forbid hiring an ex-con....? Whatever next?! A black man for President, a woman as PM?!

Many brilliant journalists are "ex-cons" having spent time behind bars at some point or other chasing down sensitive stories or trying to expose corruption of those in power.

Pretty irrelevant really given this guy isn't a journalist, he's the author of a single book, which I guess he'd struggled to have written without being an ex-con, given the subject matter...

ratcatcher, on 2012-05-22 07:28:47, said:

I find this sort of view totally naive and medieval in outlook. How can we expect anyone to be integrated back into society if they are subject to criminality in prison? Take a troubled individual and send them to a breeding ground for vice and violence... great idea Einstein!

Most conveniently ignore the fact that the vast majority of people in jail are in for non violent crimes - failure to pay taxes, driving without a license etc. Most Governments would like us to believe that prisons are full of murderers, rapists and armed robbers but the facts are very different; such inmates make up a very small fraction of the total number of convicts.

One particular case will always stick in my mind - UK, painter & decorator supporting a family of 5 single handed, lost his license for speeding, continued to drive as vital to his work, caught driving without a license or insurance - 2 years in jail. His children watched in tears as he was lead away, then were promptly taken into care.

Next case - Grievous Bodily Harm, community service and a small fine, man left court laughing his head off and threatening to "do him in properly next time".

Next case - Cultivation of marijuana with intent to supply - community service and a small fine, man left court in his BMW M3 with a big smile on his face, smoking a large hand rolled "cigarette".

That is the reality of jails, they aren't filled with evil, violent cons, they're full of quite normal people who've either been unfortunate or stupid. Sadly by the time they leave they will probably have picked up a few nasty habits to bring back to society...

This painter could have sat on his arse living of benefits in a council house but instead got out there and tried to earn an honest living. He made a mistake, no one was hurt, he didn't profit from it, yet his and his families life were ruined as a result of it.

I detest those so quick to judge based on false preconceptions. If you really believe that jails should be nasty places akin to medieval dungeons with widespread torture and rape, you need locking up yourself; that sort of perverted view is, in my opinion, the real danger to society. It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what modern society is and should be.

Jail should be about education, rehabilitation and deprivation of freedom, no more and no less.

Those poor exploited African guys...

I see quite a few old farang men who have conned themselves into believing they are young again.

arthurwait, on 2012-05-17 22:24:34, said:

Just to point out my previous wife had a degree, we were married 25+ years, and she still cheated me in love and in money.
As the financial institutions like to state, 'previous performance is no indication of future performance". It seems to work that way with women too.
A womans educational level and geographical place of work are really not an indication of her character.

One thing I really love about Thailand is the near-universal total lack of respect for work and career.

Family comes first by far, friends a close second. Comfort and ease, not worrying about tomorrow, enjoying the moment.

The cultural programming I grew up with sees this as "lazy" and "bad", valuing goal-oriented striving, improving yourself work work work above everything and most people end up unloved and alone.

I think they've got their priorities straight, no one ever lay on their deathbed wishing they'd spent more time at the office.

But of course you have to live with the consequences of your choices.

Balance is the hardest thing.

Sounds like a bad case of projection, there, Samsiam- your son's eventual sexual identity doesn't say anything about you personally any more than your daughter's.  Some go one way, some go the other.  If you wanna fight and fuss about it, you're gonna damage your kids and ultimately, by losing them, yourself.

thaifrelst, on 2010-05-10 17:28:45, said:

Bzzzt. Wrong. The lucky ones are the ones who have daughters who are good looking and manage to go to decent university on a scholarship and graduate marrying a respectable Thai guy from a decent family. This is real social mobility without selling your soul.

Everyone else is just settling for inferior options and or because they met their "suitors" from "alternative" occupations.

I'm actually going to reply to this post quite seriously, because I'm a woman and I do sometimes have to think about what I would do if I was to be attacked and I have been attacked before in the past by both men and women (I come from a rough part of the UK where it happens sometimes)

I have a tendency to headbutt people in the nose. Nothing gets someone off balance by making their eyes water after butting them in the conker. I have done this before in the past to both men and women and it's always been a pretty successful move. Sometimes a kick in the nuts if they're a guy and as for girls... Well girls are more dirty fighters than men so I am actually more wary of them. I would grab them by the hair and twist my hand round and then have them in headlock. Also if the girl even dares to take off her stiletto shoe and hit me with it (Yes, they do this in the UK) then I would punch her in the throat.

However I never start fights and have only had a fight in self defense.

(Good little Manchester girl)

Geekfreaklover, on 2012-05-04 21:05:00, said:

You should come down to our level, if you can hold your breath that long.

I hate to ... well, let's not go into that.
But to be pedantic, 'crepuscular' means 'being active at dusk and dawn', so that would not include midnight runners (nocturnal) nor high noon cowboys (diurnal) but might include happy hour heroes, or the dawn treaders of the walk of shame.

Anyway, if you can't shirk your responsibilities, what can you shirk?

SC

inquisitive, on 2012-05-01 01:48:33, said:

I thought his comment was quite valid.

So how are you going to ship it ??

I have found potential suicide victims to be nice short term friends.

clearly another blatant case of anti-farang sentiment, this one....

Soutpeel, on 2012-04-30 21:35:05, said:

Quite the opposite, it's more that certain posters that are in the top 1% of salaries in this country can't accept that 20k per month isn't scrapping the bottom of the barrel and in fact is reasonably comfortable even in Bangkok.  These people are the middle class and they exist in huge numbers in Bangkok and in Thailand, there are millions of them.  They have cars, homes, computers, cell phones, all the things you associate with being middle class.  When people say a Thai can live on this quite easily, they aren't being some neo Sahib saying the natives can do with less, but rather understanding than Thais on average are able to live more cheaply because they understand how much things should cost, speak Thai, enjoy local food, know how to do things more cheaply, and usually don't have some unemployed woman being paid a salary to live with them.  Plenty of farang are able to do this as well.  Some farang guys here though seem to lack understanding how the Thai middle class lives and how much they make and think anyone living on 20k per month must be living in absolute pig squalor.

So yeah, this guy's girlfriend makes 20k per month.  That is a good salary for a single woman and she should be able to afford to live comfortably.  It'd be one thing if they were married and it was their apartment he was paying, but it's not, it's hers