JaiRai

I wouldn't be in her shoes -- but if I was, would damn sure do the same (as she). Time to go.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/navy-fires-7th-fleet-admiral-after-latest-destroyer-collision/article/2632296 "The Navy on Wednesday removed Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, the three-star commander of the 7th Fleet, after four ship collisions in the Western Pacific over the past year, the service announced. The commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, Adm. Scott Swift, Aucoin on Wednesday, two U.S. officials familiar with the situation, due to "loss of confidence in his ability to command," according to a 7th Fleet statement. This past weekend the destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker near Singapore, and led to a search-and-rescue mission for 10 missing sailors. Some remains have been found, but the search continues. Of the four collisions this year, two have been deadly. On June 17, the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with another commercial ship, killing seven sailors. Leaders aboard that ship were dismissed last week...."

While it was promoted as an event to protect historical confederate statues, there were some pretty fucking vile people behind the march and they ARE the real deal, genuine racists that are seeking a society arranged along racial lines -- these are people that need to be identified and called out for who they are. There's a lot of disillusioned kids out there on internet forums that have been duped into thinking these were simply people against identity politics -- they were not -- they were actually promoting some of the most evil identity politics. That said antifa are not simply good folks standing up against racism and facism -- that is a lie. They also have an agenda -- they advocate violence against those who oppose them politically (not just racists) and seek to silence any sort of dissent towards their agenda -- which is also pure identity politics and something I would call equality of outcome over equality of opportunity. I've heard virulent fucking anti-semitism coming from both sides, which sparked me to instantly leave the democrats. But seeing so many swept up behind an idiot like Trump backed by Bannon who has downplayed what the alt right really is... just depressing. Both sides have driven people in the middle towards one side or the other. Literally worst climate I've seen in the US in my lifetime, though I don't think we're anywhere near a civil war. We need more skepticism and for people to really scrutinize what's coming out in media from either side -- in that aspect, some sort of sophistication on how shitty people can be, the Europeans are way ahead of us.

Whoa = What do you say to that? I'm guessing you got some PMs as this is a potent post. Genuinely sorry to hear about the stroke. It's good that you came through unscathed considering what 'could have been.' I don't like most of the TED talks but... there are a few I REALLY like. This is one. Give it a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU&vl=en

indeed - (god, i yearn for my troll days at times)

Yep - there's the rub and there is no answer. Those that work until they've built up quite the security blanket only to find their lives mostly spent may regret it. On the other hand those that take the leap, fuck the consequences, and find themselves down, out and broke in their 30s, 40s, 50s, + - will regret this also. What's the solution? You figure that out.... and yeah.

Yeah, here's the resolution -- cancel the thai360 meaningless self indulgent circle jerk and send some fucking people with an IQ greater than Angela Merkel's *** term in office. Or Trump's hand size. Take your pick on which is the most asinine.

Don't want to give anyone ideas but the charcoal thing is a common form of suicide. Used to see it at the hospital intermittently. The folks referenced who passed out will be lucky if they come through it without brain damage (not kidding).

Flew them several months ago, the trip just before most recent trip - same same LA to BKK. Respect your view mr migrant but i almost got the opposite impression, I found Guangzhou a welcome relief after the horrific nightmarish experience of that cesspool known as LAX. Rudest TSA pricks I've experienced yet, I imagine it would be more pleasant being in a herd of cattle at the local slaughterhouse. But I digress. China Southern - roundtrip tickets were @ 500 USD and the flight length was reasonably short so rolled the dice and gave them a try. Both legs of the flight were delayed - but it was a small delay (40 minutes at LAX, about an hour at Guangzhou). No major complaints with the food or the seats and I'm at 6'1". Guangzhou is actually a small airport, all the terminals are together in one area and there is no second run through security when catching your connection - which is nice as that can be a stressful delay. When I went to the gate to go to BKK I was surrounded by people wearing the exact same windbreaker and rallying around a lady waving a flag. We're talking like 80 people. Turned out to be one of those massive tours going to Pattaya and I was seated right in their midst during the flight, which proved to be quite interesting as they were a somewhat rowdy bunch. When we got to Bangkok the stewardesses didn't have any pens to fill out the customs form which was a bit of nuisance (mine was out of ink or whatever). Actually held me up at the airport briefly looking for a pen. They're definitely budget. Would I use them again? Maybe. Depends.

Bah. Too many Thai vloggers out there for me to go into detail, lets just say it's an interesting development and am certainly curious to see where it goes. I'm just the opposite in that I can watch drone footage for about 2 minutes before my eyelids get heavy. Separate of that - the stickman piece was some darn good investigative journalism in that it answered a question I've heard several people asking - who are these hidden camera guys hitting cowboy and walking street (patts)? The fact that you have fellas posting hidden camera clips of nightlife areas to Youtube of all places (youtube is on a tear demonetizing everything deemed not family friendly or politically correct) and making a big chunk of change doing it - .... vellly velly interesting. It's a crazy mixed up world. Incidentally BKK112s vids have gotten tamer and tamer and tamer. But the fact that some of his older clips are drawing 1million views (+) also speaks to renewed interest in Thailand to those on the outside.

Went in - god knows why - for a cold one around 4pm last Thursday and business was booming. YMMV.

Yeah I should have clarified. The stickman article focused on the guys filming nightlife areas with hidden cameras. Initially Bangkok112 went into the gogos/clubs, but now just films outside walking around. His video footage of climax was 10x clearer than what it is to be inside the club itself, which was very dark/seedy. So regardless the guy has tech skills and I've been curious what his modus operandi is. Past tech questions there is the larger question of filming unaware punters and working girls walking around the nightlife areas. While his videos make you chuckle - there is that element of.... yeah. Hmmmm. They have gotten tamer though. My second paragraph was just speculating on a separate category of thai video vloggers - something that has taken off A LOT over the past couple years and the more successful ones are generating an income doing it. I should've just left that part out, not related to the Stickman article - just something I find fascinating. And there is drama generating as some of these guys are going to 'war' with each other. But overall I enjoy the thai video vloggers...kinda. Sometimes. I don't know if that would be the genre of comedy or tragedy.

https://www.stickman...n-bangkok-bars/ Good read, was happy to see this article - a topic a few friends and I have speculated on a lot over the past year: the phenomenon of youtube channels filming the bar areas with hidden cameras (and how it's done so clearly) for profit, how long they'll get away with it, and what to think about it. Separate of that there is also the emergence of a plethora of Thai Video Vloggers with youtube channels - Sonny Scholenbruch (had some sort of nervous breakdown online though), Rob/20 seconds in Thailand, Kev in Thailand (pattaya), Scott Mallon, etc. etc. etc. I actually like that this happening, but it does give unearned credibility to a group of 'amateurs' and there is no check on the accuracy of what life here is portrayed as -- which leads to interesting results. But overall I see it as a kind of video version of forums like this (when they were more active).

Sorry for slightly late reply. Flew in Thursday arrived a little after 2am. By 330am had checked in to hotel and showered, walked/crawled in an exhausted state over to soi 11 (flight had been delayed in china went from one hour layover to 10 - making about 30 hours flight time total) and climax was seething with it's rich tapestry of life 555. In Hua Hin now and got an SMS from a girl I know who refers to Climax as her 'borisat' (office). She seems to be under the impression they are facing imminent closure due to some sort of issue with the building itself. Heard the same thing from a girl at Country Road (climax will close very soon, probably this month/week). Will check when back in BKK. The loss of Bangkok Beat and Climax kinda sucks. Oh well. Ps - I like Hua Hin, first time here. Nice change up. Pps - Climax isn't for everyone, it can definitely be annoying and I'd last about two minutes there without alcohol in the system (loud, sometimes obnoxious crowd, constant hawking of 'snacks' and drinks by the wait staff of which there is an army, etc.) But as a place to go at 3am with an enormous diversity of women, some quite stunning - it was a beautiful thing.

Street food is so intrinsic to the daily lives of literally almost everyone in Bangkok, there's no way I see this being pushed through to fruition. And if it is - it will be one of the most asinine gestures in the history of time/space (and I suspect it will also inspire some defiance, not a strategic political move).

The alley between soi 7 and 5 is gone? Fucking hell. The one with bizarro characters hovering around, and the country road branch (and the pool bar just across)? And the incredible food cart carving off gyros/kebabs at the end? The world just got a little more mundane and drab. The place I will miss most is without a doubt is Bangkok Beat (which I referred to as Bangkok Beach for longest time not paying attention to the sign). Loved the Tapas place also. Cheap Charlies was cool, but it was usually like a sausage fest of male tourists telling me how great the place was and I'd get a little worn out. Out in late April, have to rearrange my whole routine of blitzkrieging the beer bars from afternoon till midnight then making an ass out of myself at bangkok beat. This is most depressing.

I've used Schwab for years, service has been great. Lost ATM card twice, including once when I was living in Thailand. They wouldn't ship a new card to Bangkok but they did allow me to use a friend's CA address as an alternate address - shipped it to him express and then he sent it to me DHL. I lived off that ATM card/schwab checking account the year I stayed on soi 13 -- and it saved me probably @ 800 usd (in reimbursed ATM charges) over the course of the entire span I was there. It's also tied to an external account so simply did online transfers when I needed to move money in. But anyway - the ATM reimbursed fees combined with exceptional customer service and fraud protection make it a definitive thumbs up.

This guy, Ben Shapiro, is UCLA alumni and walked into a BDS drive on campus to divest from Israel. Shapiro is a conservative and I don't agree with several of his positions (more restrictive immigration policies, less restrictive gun policies, etc.). But I also admire his courage in walking into this group and expressing his views -- many of which are spot on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8vXSObQMrI I think what disturbs me most are the trends on campus to silence any criticism of the left and shutdown folks like Ben Shapiro, Israel Horowitz, Sam Harris, etc. Literally prevent them from speaking. Flash - I don't know where things went wrong, but on the left they have gone way wrong. (Ironically this is likely what put an asshole like Trump in the white house). We shall see.

We must live in alternate universes. My moment of alarm came last year when I was walking around the UCLA campus and saw Palestinian flags flying in several places. Gay pride parade, black lives matter, 3rd wave feminist groups -- all rallying against Israel as part of the new intersectional victimhood of the left. Saying "hey, I support Israel" will get you condemnation and accusations of fascism. It's a very distorted worldview and the left has literally gone off the rails. While I still call myself a liberal, I certainly don't call myself left any more or even a democrat. And the stipulation that Israel can do anything it wants... really? Is that said in seriousness? Having the support of the Trump administration may give Bibi a little relief in the present but I'm leery of how that will play out in the long run. We shall see.

That's it Billabong. Thanks. Yeah, even the cleaning woman was trying to coax me upstairs for a ST, which I found quite interesting. 5555 But I enjoyed the vibe (whatever that means). Prolly my gradual intoxication played a role. Also didn't realize there were two of them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QttOYGnqFk

There is an open air Australian beer bar with live music right in the center of LK metro. Forgot the name, but hands down my favorite chill out spot in Pattaya. Pattaya gets annoying (for me) after a couple days but I always seem to have a good time in that particular bar and return again. And again. Damn the name eludes me.... there's a hotel upstairs from the bar. Lot of hot milf types hovering around. Next time I am in Pattaya, will check out the Soi Buakhao a little more. And thanks for the prose Herr Nasiadai.

If only that orange sliver was a little smaller... we'd finally have peace. (fuck kerry and obama, never thought this day would come but i actually have to back trump on this one) 1947 Partition Plan. The Jews said yes to a state, the Arabs said no, and since have launched wars to destroy Israel. John Kerry should read a book on history. Does he know Gaza was part of Egypt before 67? West Bank part of Jordan? Were they occupied then? Israel has more human rights than in any other country in the mid east. This is a joke by an administration that has watched 500K die in Syria.

Indeed. In my life have never seen a shred of evidence to support a direct correlation between intelligence and the public perception of success or mass popularity. (Not to say that bright people aren't 'successful' but one doesn't indicate the other from either side of that equation). Always been impressed by the capacity of the Thais to employ English. A different alphabet, a different tonal structure -- no small feat.

I know there was a raid in September due to being open after hours. Interesting if it is shut down, the owner is "maew" - same woman who owns morning/night and the hillary bars -- and I thought she was highly 'connected' for whatever that's worth. Haven't been there since I was in BKK last year - curious to hear from people on the ground if it is closed. Living on soi 13 a few years ago had a love/hate relationship with the place but - certainly spent a lot of time there (to the extent they gave me a 'vip' card at one point unsolicited) - being it was one of about three options available circa 4am. Anway - can validate in person in a few months - but curious to hear from anyone on the ground now if the sacred institution has shut its doors.

Climax, soi 11 (ambassador hotel basement). It's like a tidal wave of FLs hit once Nana/Cowboy close for the evening, they begin trickling in around 1am to full flood 2-3am.