StoneSoup

OK - it is now September 5th. One week from now, the USA will be sorting through the wreckage of this year's vintage of 9-11 terrorist strikes. In his infinite wisdom, President "More Mush from the Wimp" Obama's administration has announced the removal of funding from some or all of each of the following programs: Hellfire missile Tomahawk missile A-10 Thunderbolt ("Warthog") So - my question is: where are likely to be three targets hit on 9-11-14? My guesses: Texas Colorado Virginia Oh - and Iraq and Afghanistan don't count - the "background noise" explosions would likely make it tough to accurately discern a strictly anniversary-based attack. I will be delighted if 9-11-14 is actually "kaboom-less" - I just don't think that the slavering jihadists will be able to pass up the opportunity to take cheap shots at Uncle Sam, while the feckless Obama cruises the golf links, and fist-bumps his way through various celebrity fund-raising parties. And - those three weapons systems up above? As a former Infantry officer, I have a hard time thinking of any other weapons systems that have done a better job of taking out bad guys, while minimizing risks to the good guys. WTF are they thinking, to diminish or eliminate these programs???? Cheers! SS

Is that maybe a local franchise name for a "Hooters" bordello restaurant ? Cheers! SS

25 Year Ago - Wendy James

For some reason the lyrics reminded me of a lot of realationships in Bangkok: "...playin' detective,wanna' know it, too Goin' through my pockets, searchin' for clues Trying to follow me, you and the desperate crew The end of this relationship was long overdue Now what you did was cute, girl' you spent the loot Easy on the tears, oops, 'mind you'll soil the suit Do yourself a favor, and find a new recruit And don't take it personal. because you got the boot..." http://youtu.be/NTdz0zRAWEM

For anyone who might be interested in the Bitcoin phenomenon, from the standpoint of how things work in Thailand, I have launched a website to serve as a central clearinghouse for relevant information. You can find a directory listing the (very few) business in Thailand that currently accept Bitcoin at: http://www.bitcoinrealmthai.com/ You can read an accurate summary of Thai government treatment of the first fully-legal Bitcoin exchange in Thailand at http://www.bitcoinrealmthai.com/thai-government-regulation-bitcoin-trading/ If anyone is interested in learning more, there is weekly meetup of Bitcoin enthusiasts, as posted at: http://www.meetup.com/Bangkok-Satoshi-Square/ Bitcoin has three main uses: 1. As a store of value - and it continues to take periodic beatings in this regard, due to whipsaw price volatility. 2. As a means of carrying out convenient retail or on-line financial transactions - with an app on your mobile phone, you can make a payment down to 25 satang very quickly and easily, at a merchant set up to acceopt payments; in the future, it will be easy to make (or receive) on-line micropayments - of, say, 20 or 30 baht - opening up new ways of delivering paid content at a very low threshhold of entry. 3. As a method of transferring funds internationally - quickly and inexpensively. In this role, Bitccoin van be thought of as a "magic envelope". You purchase as envelope to hold a specified amount of funds in whatever currency you are using to purchase the envelope at your end. The size of the envelope is determined by the amount of money it contains. You then send the "magic envelope" off to its destination - similary to sending a e-mail message or Tweet - but to a very strange looking alphanumeric address. The "magic envelope" reaches its destination within a few minutes - anywhere in the world that has internet. It can move 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The "postage" for the trip is about 1 Satang - regardless of the size of the envelope. The recipent "opens the envelope" by "cashing it in" for an amount of money in local currency, roughly equivalent to what you orginally put into the envelope. The "magic envelope" is then ready for reuse by someone else. Right now, due to limited numbers of exchange points, the "exchange rates" between Bitcoin and local currencies can be somewhat unattractive - but that situation will improve, as more players begin enterring the market, increasing competitiveness. Resistance to Bitcoin in 2014 is almost perfectly mirroring resistance to e-mail in 1994. It is only a matter of time before digital currencies become ubiquitous. Cheers! SS

James R. Schlesinger, Willful Aide to Three Presidents, Is Dead at 85 James R. Schlesinger, a tough Cold War strategist who served as secretary of defense under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford and became the nation’s first secretary of energy under President Jimmy Carter, died on Thursday in Baltimore. He was 85. A brilliant, often abrasive Harvard-educated economist, Mr. Schlesinger went to Washington in 1969 as an obscure White House budget official. Over the next decade he became chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, director of Central Intelligence, a cabinet officer for three presidents (two of whom fired him), a thorn to congressional leaders and a controversial national public figure. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/us/politics/james-r-schlesinger-cold-war-hard-liner-dies-at-85.html?_r=0 Quite a resume: Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA, Chairman Atomic Energy Commission. I remember him for two things: 1. He was the Secretary of Defense when I memorized my first military Chain of Command in 1974 (way, way deep into the recitation) 2. He was the driving force and main proponent for developing both the A-10 Warthog Thunderbolt, and also the F-16. As a grunt, those were guardian angels to be cherished when available. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Schlesinger RIP. Cheers! SS

I will drink this evening to Fred Phelps dying in agony - a slow lingering death would be ideal.

Hal Douglas, "The Movie Trailer Guy", dead at age 89. I'll bet you can recognize his voice: (and this clip will probably put a smaile on your face) Cheers! SS

While doing some business research involving GMM Grammy Group, I stumbled across the story of this guy, of whom I had never before heard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewat_Buddhinan Then I found one of his songs on-line - evidently performed and filmed in 1986: http://youtu.be/XsPNP18Gu_Q Not half-bad at all. Flash - you must have heard of this guy - he must have effectively been the first real rock star of Thailand. He evidently died in 1996, at just 48 years of age. 'Founder of GMM Grammy in Thailand - which is now a quite substantial empire. Cheers! SS

OK, I feel a bit hesitant to cast dispersions upon a recently departed gent who can't defend himself - but ..... I'm not so sure that Nelson Mandela's saintliness was not substantially fabricated by a white western media that felt guilty. To whit: “I salute the South African Communist Party for its sterling contribution to the struggle for democracy.â€

A holiday tune - very well performed:

OK, this one is really "outside the box" - but, give it a chance - the guy actually has an amazing voice:

http://youtu.be/7z3TPwOT31g

Lou Reed. R.I.P.

Two bad-ass cellos, plus one fine drummer:

Johnny Cash's haunting cover of a song by Nine Inch Nails:

http://youtu.be/0k3cUqI8pIg

Let's see - 'haven't heard any Brazilian hits featuring an accordion lately..... http://youtu.be/hcm55lU9knw There is also an English version: http://youtu.be/CwC5BFX7rqQ

http://youtu.be/L_fCqg92qks

On Twitter, I saw a tweet from @BangkokDan: "My new Thai girlfriend said, "A small penis shouldn't be a problem in a loving relationship." I still wish she didn't have one."

It appears that Whitney Houston was already coming unglued last Thursday - as per photos at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/abrams/whitney-houston-left-hollywood-club-thursday-belli

Ah .... Kimmie sleeps on the wrong side of the dirt. 'Hope he enjoys lava baths with Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, the previous Kim (Il Sung), and the rest of the murderous panoply of asshole dictators.

I heard the same report, and since I live directly opposite Sukhumvit Soi 50 (on Soi 79), I went to take a look. From a point 1.8 km southwest of Sukhumvit, I took the photo shown at: http://twitter.com/#!/StoneSoupBKK/status/129822334596038657/photo/1 This was looking southwest. 500 meters to the west, Khlong Prakhanong water level was absolutely normal - see http://twitter.com/#!/StoneSoupBKK/status/129831847847931904/photo/1 and http://twitter.com/#!/StoneSoupBKK/status/129831048124178432/photo/1