dean

.Kong, I can see why your stay in Houston was relatively short. Texas may be the gun Capitol of the U.S.

Flash is the only one of the posters that is active on the board, now. Anyone that has spent much time in Thailand should know that spending any time in a Thai prison is not worth doing an illegal activity. I'm curious; you have been back in the U.S. around 9 years. Did you just now Google your name and decided to respond to every forum where your past in Thailand was mentioned? I am glad to hear first hand that you didn't let your Thai experience color the rest of your life. You must have a talent for languages, as there are many Iranian-Americans that could do your job. Good luck!

Yogi Berra (the baseball player, not the bear) has died at the age of 90. Besides being one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, he was known for his "Yogisms," sayings that made little sense taken literally but made perfect sense coming from Yogi. RIP!

Members of those great Philadelphia 76ers teams of the late 70's to mid 80's are dropping like flies. First Chocolate Thunder and now Moses Malone, who died at age 60. A great rebounder and scorer, we famously promised in 1983 that the 76ers would go "four, four and four" in their playoff rounds to the championship. He was only off by one loss. Since deaths sometimes occur in threes, if I were Doctor J, I would see my Doctor immediately and double my life insurance. Moses, RIP!

Not that it would be justified, but do these "village tribunals" ever find that punishment be met out against the males of the family (siblings and father)? What a bunch of horny, old farts.

http://youtu.be/TtJawsitMsA The first dunk was the one that I saw live, with my season tickets 3 rows from court side, giving me a very good view.. A much more spectacular dunk, with all the glass falling down. Soon after the two dunks, most basketball Arenas switched to rims that collapse with enough pressure is exerted.

Darryl Dawkins, former NBA player, died at age 58. He was the first high school player drafted out of High School and played 14 years in the NBA. I'll always know him by his nick name "Chocolate Thunder" and being at one of the two games where he shattered the backboard. He later made up a poem about it, calling it "The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam". It delayed the game by 90 minutes, while they cleaned up the glass and found a new backboard but it shocked everyone in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium. Even the players, who went to get their cameras to take pictures of the backboard. Chocolate Thunder, Rest In Peace!

At least it's not a view of Mars from Uranus.

It's nice to know that I can send my Thai step son back to Chiang Mai to set him up with beads and a choice highway intersection to work and be legal.

Never mind. I wanted to post a very famous photo of Chuck Bednarik standing over a seriously injured Frank Gifford but can't figure out how to post it.

Frances Oldham Kelsey died at age 101. She worked for the FDA for 40 years, when she turned 90. She is best known for not approving thalidomide to be prescribed in the U.S. while being pushed as a wonder drug in Europe in dealing with insomina. It did cause birth defects in expecting mothers. As an outgrowth of her story, which went nation wide, a bill was passed, giving the FDA greater powers to regulate new drugs.

I just read on the Huffington Post how Margaret Thatcher kept a youthful appearance; by taking electric baths regularly! It seems that electric baths are popular with Royalty and the Hollywood crowd. Looking at photos of both the former Prime Minister and a leading Holywood starlet of the 1940's, I can definitely see the youthful appearance in both of their faces.

Maybe they can try the method used in "Braveheart," have the Greek women impregnated by German men.

That might work in my favor if my wife and I ever divorce.

I had someone recently look at my house for rent. The caretaker staying at my house showed it to the German and his Thai fiancé. I hadn't heard from him in a week, so I emailed him, asking what he thought of the house. He emailed me back, saying the house was fine but on top of a cabinet were two urns and a picture. I'm pretty sure that there are no ashes in the urns. When the fiancé saw this, she turned white (I suppose as a ghost). Obviously, they are not renting the house. I don't expect many Thais to be interested in renting the house but will tell the caretaker to take down the picture and urn (I believe that they are her's) before next showing. Should I make it known that monks blessed the grounds before building and after completion? Is the Spirit House outside a turn on or turn off for Thais? Should I have the movie "Ghostbusters" playing on the DVD while showing? I certainly don't want any Thais uncomfortable in sharing their rental house with "relatives" that they don't know.

Besides the four starters, 2 Royals were picked as reserves and today, Royals fans stuffed the internet ballot boxes to choose the last American League All Star, Mike Moustakas. So, in all, there are 7 Kansas City Royals on the 35 man roster (one player, Alex Gordon, won't be playing because of a groin injury 2 nights ago). Somehow, I think that MLB will change the way that players will be elected by next season.

. Donald Trump has a comprehensive plan to solve this problem.

Hillary's fee is $275,000, but it does go to the Clinton Foundation. I don't think that the Clinton Foundation offers any assistance to veterans.

I've been watching, with much amusement, the fan voting for the baseball All Star game. Kansas City, with the second smallest market in baseball, has made a concerted effort to stuff the ballot box. Their high point was 10 days ago, when a Royals player led the voting in 8 of the 9 positions. Four Royals were voted in to start. I haven't watched the All Star game in years but wouldn't miss watching this one.

So, if I wanted to murder someone in LOS, all I need to do is hang them to throw them off a balcony, provided that I get them to write a suicide note first. What are the odds that Thai authorities will even check with a handwriting expert?

My worst experience with a cabbie came in France on several occasions. They assume that every passenger is going to do a runner and lock the back doors for every one (it also helps them in disputes as they have a captive audience). I was charges $45 to go from the train station to a hotel. On the way back, I had the hotel manager handle the taxi reservation and was charged $18. That was the last time that I've been in France, some 20 years ago.

I posted two weeks ago about the number of times I had my carry on checked at BKK, Narita and Detroit (4 times), even though I never left a secured exit. I assume that checked bags are also x-rayed at BKK. Is it common practice for Thai government officials leaving Thailand on an international flight to be exempted from having their suitcases examined? Would he have been given the same courtesy in Japan with his checked luggage? In other words, is the only reason that we are reading about this is because he forgot to put the gun in his checked bag?

Patrick Macnee, most famous for his leading role in the television series "The Avengers," dies at age 93 years old.

Unless he was flying an "open jaw " route, he had flown through Narita both directions. At Nartia, everyone goes through security and half of the time, they want to look in my carry on (it might have been the water pump that I was taking to LOS 4 years ago). I'm surprised that his hand gin made it through security on the out bound portion (unless, he didn't have the gun with him then).

Here's an update on the IPad. I brought it back to the U.S. Yesterday, I took it to an Apple Store and the manager told me she could not give me any information about the previous owner. She did say that, if I brought in a receipt from the peron that sold me the IPad, Apple would check it out and if valid, would unlock IPad for me to use. Today, I contacted the seller in Fresno, Ca. And he told me that he worked for a pawnbroker. If the pawnbroker had an Apple product that took too much time to repair, this man put the item on EBay. He didn't think that the pawnbroker would have a sales receipt but would check. I realize that he could be telling the truth or he could be part of a theft ring of IPads. I assume that there are a lot of people that pawn their IPads/IPhones and immediately turn on the "find my IPad" feature or lock their iCloud, so I may or may not have a "hot" IPad. My bank allows 60 days to file a dispute on a charge, so they won't be any help. I did pay through PayPal, and they allow up to 180 days, so if I take it to the police and find out that it was reported as stolen, at least I can get back the purchase price of $75, but not the cost of replacing the screen. I'll give the pawnbroker a week to come up with the receipt and, if he doesn't, go to the police.