King Kung

Every single historical document ever published throughout the history of mankind would need to be scrubbed in order for this notion to take hold. The Internet is only a few decades old. What if I want to eliminate any mention of my great-great grandfather who was a horse thief and cattle rustler? Do I have that right? Moreover, Google is but one of many hundred providers of essentially the same service. It's unenforceable and the amount of data collected is enormous. It's one thing to collect and file, it's another thing to go back in and edit every time Gretchen has a fight with her husband and wants her public information to be anonymous. Just because it can be found on Google doesn't mean they collected it (i.e. online newspapers or public records notices) I'm sure governments have far more information about their citizens than Goggle does.

Quite the ambassador, wasn't he? Prostitution, racketeering, fraud, dealing drugs ... at least he never killed anybody, right? (that we're aware). I can see a posthumous OBE in his future.

Nobody likes a grass, but everybody will talk about one.

Soi Nitapat has many more shop bars now. Maybe 15 or 20 all together. Each as depressingly grim as the first, with one or two notable exceptions. Greg is a gregarious Ozzie good for some chitchat and really cold beer. On Saturdays just before the sun goes down, there is a vendor's market on the riverwalk (about a 10-min walk from Nitapat). Hundreds of people schlepping their wares in a somewhat orderly and regimented madness. Find a bar along the promenade and people watch for an hour or two. Try the ham and cheese on a Lao baguette at Brendan and Nois. Its great value and goes down a treat with a cold beer.

If their relatives had 50,000 baht laying around, I doubt the refugees would have left. Only in Thailand would someone kidnap a destitute panhandler for ransom.

A revolving-door judiciary that sees convicted murderers released to murder again has the net effect of killing far more innocents than capital punishment does.

Interesting story, thanks for that. It's hard to argue with success. I know his skin is white, but can a Thai citizen be considered a farang? Best not to think too mut. *Reading through the comments, that page has a shelf life of about a day (or less) It does nothing to aid the happiness factor of Thailand.

This is changing rapidly. One hundred years ago when most of the west was still agrarian, and individuals (or small villages/towns) were responsible for their own survival I might have agreed. In the west now everybody is in full sprint to the head of the "victim" line. If you can somehow convince others that you are an oppressed and held-back casualty of The Man, you get top billing in the victim sweepstakes and all legislation for the next 50 years will seek to provide you with exceptional status. Currently the LTBGs and Millennials are battling the victim newcomers -- refugees, (heretofore referred to as illegal aliens) Blacks have been nudged out of marquee status owing to their recent successes. Former notions of self-reliance, independence and, as the OP puts it, inner locus of control, are quickly disappearing. It used to take one strong person with ambition, drive and fierce determination. Now, seemingly, It Takes a Village, the consequences have become socialized; notions of responsibility and integrity are geared not to the self, but toward the cult -- just like in Afghanistan.

I'll bet it tastes ghastly and they spelled Pizzer incorrectly on the vending machine.

I don't believe this. How has the bicyclist done anything wrong? Although I must admit parts of Europe have some very odd laws. I know a never-been-married German guy paying child support for a child that is not his and everyone, even the court knows who the biological father is. Back to "freedom to be forgotten." There is no such phenomenon. The world didn't start with the Internet. How can you purge your name from the police blotter in the newspapers circa 1970? Those papers still exist as public documents.

This is something that should be considered when having a house built. A Thai's idea of a finished house is a farang's idea of a pretty good start.

Agreed. There is a lot of foolishness in applying censorship as well. Thai soaps have the creamy-white hiso lot smacking the snot out of their Issan slaves daily, and nobody seems to mind. Yet turn the channel and you'll see a cartoon alien smoking a cartoon cigarette (Roger, the alien on Family Guy) that is blurred out by well-intentioned censors protecting the children from the evils of life. I had a raff out roud moment.

A trial to establish guilt or innocence would be a nice first step. I'm afraid this will have the opposite effect. Juries will be reluctant to find defendants guilty if they know death is the absolute, unmitigated result. Justice and emotion are like oil and water.

Are you telling me all those fellas writhing abound on the soccer grass in profound pain didn't just have acid splashed in their face? Sorry, but I can't believe that.

Bobo had to hide all that because he attended as a foreign exchange student from Indonesia. A real turd, fo sho. But at least he's half black.

And, and, and ... I heard they raided the refrigerators of unsuspecting Germans and stealthily swiped their schnitzel.

It sounds a little but like Thai fantasy land where the truth is none of anyone's business. If you need to know something, Nanny will tell you. "For the Record" is a very legitimate and useful tool. Nobody should be aided and abetted by public policy that allows them to erase and start over. That's just a fantasy unless you live in a place where actions have no consequences.

I've been to Australia with a contingent of American aircrew. The blacks found it far more racist (I'm not black) than anywhere else in Asia. We flew all over Asia. I didn't get that vibe. Maybe I wasn't listening.

It takes time to bury the monetary transactions through foreign accounts. Accordingly, why did you fly to Singapore with your wife and children last month? It is inconceivable (or uncomfortable) that a lovely smiling Thai person might be deceiving us. Therefore, it's YOU! White devil. It soothes all the pain. A bit tongue in cheek, but not far off the mark. The entire country is feeling conciliatory and prepared to find a scapegoat. And it won't be them.

Luddites -- they're still around.

Some twat quoted me 2,500 to mow my lawn yesterday. I reckon six billion won't buy you a congregated tin shack in 20 years. I hope he invests it wisely.

Fighter pilot, two ivy league schools, good pedigree, open if not mediocre grades. Compared to dope smoker, (hidden everything, including pedigree) various illegal alien relatives (several sponging Illegally off honest hard-working Americans )... But at least he's half black -- got that going for him.

Keep a baseball bat concealed somewhere he would never look -- like near the kitchen sink. The next time he wallops you, pummel him to a point just before death. You are obviously nothing more than an object of derision to him. Teach him a lifelong lesson, then get out. Ditch the baby's momma who turns a blind eye to her husband taking beatings. That's the real proplem.

I know a woman who works as the Children's Ball Room attendant at a local Tesco. She's a casual acquaintence of my wife and a selfie addict -- mildly attractive, 26 or 27 years old. She posts about 5 pic of herself on facebook every day for the past three years. Half of them are posed in the Tesco bathroom with various cleaning products and disinfectants in the background. Disturbing. I'm an ugly bastard so its rare I 'm caught by a camera and even more rare it's blurted out to the Intertwitfaceweb. I'm waiting for selfie porn to go mainstream.

Public spaces are public. What we do there has no bearing on privacy. If some minx wants to strip in front of an open window in her private residence as I ride my bicycle to school on the public road, it's not a private affair. It's within the public domain. Just my opinion of course. This is a good, debatable topic.