boomerangutang
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Posts posted by boomerangutang
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Thailand needs to ease the hiring standards for native English speakers??? Yeh, that will make it better. "Hey you, native English speaker,no you drinking jager shots with that prostitute? Want a job....what...no, no, no qualifications needed as long as you are a native English speaker."
At the moment all one needs is a Bachelor Degree in any subject. Not very difficult. If you could not manage to obtain one of the simplest of degrees like a BA in Psychology you should not be anywhere near a classroom to begin with.
Are you saying folks with college degrees are less likely to drink hard than people without degrees? Or maybe you're implying that people with degrees speak better English and make better teachers, than people without degrees (?)
I'm a host for wwoof (look it up). I get to know hundreds of young backpackers annually. Many of them are not yet through college. None of them are hard drinkers or bar flies. Most of them are among the finest folks a person can hope to meet in a lifetime. Those who are native English speakers, are young, lively, bright, and many would be glad to teach/tutor Thai students for modest compensation. If they don't have a degree, they can't do so legally. On the other hand, there are people who have degrees, who can't speak English well (and may not be decent teachers), ....yet are hired by Thai administrators.
Most Thai administrators at schools and colleges don't speak English well. They think that all farang speak English. They are particularly impressed by young (19 to 29 year old) farang who are attractive (in Thailand, appearances count for more than substance). Result: many farang are hired to be teachers (whether their degrees are fake or not) who are simply inept at teaching English. And then there are the thousands of Thai nationals teaching English, many of whom are inept. Add that up, and Thai students suffer, and the results (lack of English skills) are everywhere to be seen and heard.
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Far from over with many more to die as more jihadists are joining.
Only hope is it does not spil over to neighboring country's as it does have a potential to turn into a full scale regional war.
It's a region with nearly no natural resources except sand, sun and black oil. It's been beyond its carrying capacity for humans for 3,000 years. Before humans came along, it was relatively lush, with cheetahs, giraffes, forests, etc. If nothing else, these internecine wars are putting a slight dent in gross overpopulation.
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This is the same type of underhanded tactics that PT, or some future Thai administration, will use to railroad nuclear upon Thailand.
PT mantra: Get it rammed through the front door or sneak it around through the back door, but however it's done, make sure VIPs in the pipeline get truckloads of cash, and that the common people are as minimally involved as possible.
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I had some U students come up to me, asking that I help them with an assignment from their Thai (national) English teacher. I looked at the printed page, once, twice, and thrice, ....and couldn't make sense of it. Those poor kids were being taught conflagulated refried garbage. I've also looked at U level study books for English classes. Some have errors on nearly every page. A couple English-Thai dictionaries had such ridiculous words (beyond archaic) that it's borderline criminal to keep those as study material. Am I surprised that those faulty Thai-English dictionaries were written by Thais? No.
I once was seated next to a Frenchman in an airplane. He told me (with difficulty) that he had already been hired to teach at Chulagong U. I asked him what he was hired to teach. He said "English." I was aghast, because he had an awful handle on English and its pronunciation. Another time, I befriended a Finn who was teaching English at another Thai U. His accent and word structure was worse than the Frenchman, if that's possible. I meet very few farang, so these examples are indicative of thousands of inferior English teachers, both Thai and non-native English speakers, having been hired to teach English.
Thailand needs desperately to ease the hiring standards for native English speakers. The current rules are completely counter productive. In effect, Thailand is woefully cheating its students nationwide, by having such bad quality teachers.
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In Thailand, beauty is skin deep, and that skin is heavily bleached.
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Thailand wants bullet trains. Problematic
Thailand wants several nuclear power plants: Problematic also.
Better to focus on improving the rail system here, and research the latest in alternative/renewable energy options.
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What a bunch of latent ill-will must have been festering in that country. Similar, in some ways to Yemen and Libya, to use recent examples. Which countries are next, for eruptions of prolonged killing frenzies?
If intelligent aliens were watching this from afar, what would they think about this weird human species? They might think that humans appear to get along and do normal things and interact civilly. Yet, all of a sudden, something small can change (a vendor kills himself, for example, as happened in Tunisia), and megatons of shit hit the fan. It's as though a switch were flipped and everybody in the country goes beserk.
Most of the crap happens in Middle East. Could it be partly due to the ingrained (and forced) belief system of Islam? I have my thoughts about that, but would probably be booted off T.Visa for expressing them.
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Thailand could send a barge-load of rice.
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I agree that the attacker is the one to blame. The other was running from being attacked, plain and simple.
Yet, from a Thai perspective, rife with excuses, there will probably be disciplinary action taken against both athletes.
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Thai women can blow up as quickly and as intensely as men. If it had been two Thai women, it would have been accentuated by fire-alarm loud screaming.
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They have moved April Fools day from April 1st to 26th July just to celebrate Big Brothers Birthday . Only explanation for such a daft idea and i am sceptical she even had anything to do with it herself.
Why would 'she' have nothing to do with such a 'daft' idea. Are you insinuating she's not daft?
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I'm waiting for Plodprasop's Science Demonstration TV show. I envision katoy assistants, dressed in ancient war skirts, demonstrating how water can flow uphill with the wave of a magic wand made from the tusk of a white elephant.
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How about a comedy show, where whiskey-guzzling male politicians make stupid statements, and everybody (or at least the laugh tracks) laugh. It could be hosted by Chalerm, and the proceeds will help him buy more million dollar cars for his three sons.
Question (from the opening monologue): How do you decide who is the designated driver of the pink Bentley, at the end of a whiskey-drinking party which Chalerm and his boys have attended?
Answer: dig up a policeman somewhere.
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Is the BBC neutral enough for everyone?
good map. As I've been saying for years, China is twice as far away from the disputed islands, as the others who (rightfully) claim ownership. I've also been saying, in articles and letters to newspapers, that the disputed islands would best be designated as 'International marine sanctuaries.' Yet, Asians don't think along those lines. Indeed, of 18 official Cultural Heritage Sites worldwide - which are jointly managed by neighboring countries, none are in Asia.
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I agree with the above post by Choakmydee - up to the point where he wonders whether we....'need alcohol or any drug in society?" Mind altering drugs have been with our species since we split from Chimps and Bonobos, 700k years ago. We don't need rec. drugs like we need oxygen, but they're an ingrained part of being human, similar to capuchin monkeys which will bite a millipede, not to eat it, but to force it to exude a yellowish liquid which gets the monkeys stoned.
Let's decriminalize all drugs, and then deal with people on an individual basis via counseling, etc. If they abuse the drug and harm themselves or others, then, as a society, we'll attempt to ameliorate that, but not throw them in the slammer or kill them. legalization is not a perfect solution (nothing is), but it's miles better than the current 'war on drugs' which criminalizes millions of innocents, enriches cartel bosses, ensures dangerous quality drugs and dirty needles on the streets, and ensures that purveyors of the only legal recreational drug (alcohol) continue to make billions/year.
It's no surprise that the people who make and enforce ridiculous drug laws are often imbibers of that one most harmful drug (alcohol). The recent #1 drug enforcer in Thailand is an alcoholic, by Zeus. The American, Mr. Anslinger, who was instrumental in making hemp illegal (a plant which never got anyone stoned) in the US, was himself a opiate needle junkie (and best buddies with alcohol drinking J. Edgar Hoover). Look it up if you don't believe me.
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I can see it now. The first contestant will demonstrate how she came up with a recipe for a whitening cream that's better than all the 87 other brands. She tried hydrochloric acid, but the burning off of skin proved to be a bit too drastic. She then hit upon white paint. Now, for only 385 baht per bottle, any Thai lady can be as white as the models in the magazines. As white as this page. And the contestant-inventor is pretty also!
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How about a show which showcases innovative thinkers and/or inventors of items that can tangibly benefit society and the environment? Could Thailand field any contestants?
As for beauty being a requirement. Imagine you're on the committee to pick contestants. For starters, do you weed out katoy or not? Secondly, you've got the women (and 3rd genders?) parading before you, and you have to pick which ones are pretty enough, and which ones fail the beauty requirement.
>>> "You on the right; yes" (big smile from her).
>>> "You, on the left, not pretty enough. Go home" (frown and tears).
It will be interesting to see how her spin doctors spin this, her newest bright idea.
What's next? Handsome men with the best bulges?
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Off your high horse there tonto...
End of the day, alcohol is a controlled legal substance. Methamphetamine's, canabis and the million and one variants of opium are not.
End of story. You want to change the play book? Petition your legislative member of parliament / House of Representatives / Senator whatever.
Preaching your AA play book to a group of keyboard warriors is about as useful as a corkscrew on a screw cap.
Surprised you didn't mention that other legal drug that is also responsible for millions of deaths...
Now excuse me while I go back to sipping my cognac and smoking my cuban cigar...Are you saying that all laws make sense? What about criminalizing people for growing a plant that can't get you high, but is good for making rope (hemp)? You can sip cognac, I don't mind. But I also don't mind your neighbor listening to jazz with headphones on, while smoking a little doobie. That neighbor, if caught by authorities, can get a big fine, and slammed in jail.
I find it very hard to believe that he was carrying 15 million Baht worth of meth. Surely they inflated the price to make headlines?!
That's part of the game: Authorities always hyper-inflate the value of drugs seized. It makes it look like they're doing a better job than they are. If the value was anywhere near that much, the cops themselves would take the contraband and sell it (which they do sometimes).
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update: mikekim and I met, and things are rolling along swimmingly.
There's some talk of doing a compilation of covers of Sleepy John Estes songs. He was a blind black bluesman from SE US. If you like old-style country blues, Google him, and listen to his tunes.
Nobody asked, but, my fave blues guitarist is Albert King. If you like that style, check out youtube with him playing with Stevie Ray Vaughn. Sadly, both are dead now, but that rare sit-down blues jam is as close as you're going to get to a loving 'father son' reunion. It almost brings tears to my eyes, to see and hear those two together. Similar to another collaboration, between Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins on their lovely album titled; 'Neck and Neck'
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As you may know, going to Kengtung requires an arrangement, by the farang, to pay minimum Bt.1,000/day to government-approved guide. That 1,000 doesn't cover any expenses, except guide fee. That law may change b4 2 long, if any decent sensible people decide to change it. I asked a tourist agent (next door to Burmese imm office) and she said the law is there to protect tourists (from dangers?). That surprised me, because the region north of Tachilek is not known for being dangerous to tourists, as far as I know. Colombia, yes, but Shan State?
i heard of the 1000/day thing, but isnt it already abolished? anyone can affirm?
still extant. I've told there's talk of it becoming sane (demise of the stupid Bt,1,000/day requirement), but the Burmese tourist dept. lady who told me (in a whisper) said she didn't know when. She said the requirement was officially 'for safety of tourists.' I mentioned that I didn't think there were dangers for tourists going up the main road in Shan State. She just rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.
In reality, there aren't any tangible dangers to farang venturing north of Tachilek - or at least none that I've heard of, 'if you keep your nose clean' (as my dad would say).
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Probably the biggest net result of Wikileaks and Snowden - are clandestine organization like the NSA (and similar overseas) are going to tighten up and be even more secretive. Possible results: info will be less judiciously (openly) shared with other organizations. Most of the time, that doesn't matter, but once in awhile, spook agencies come up with data which could prove to be important to other agencies - in efforts to protect against such things as bombings. Wikileaks and Snowden's legacies are to make such data less shared. To use a poker analogy: Cards will be played closer to the chest.
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The death penalty should be applied.
Would you also advocate death penalty for purveyors of drugs, at least as dangerous: death penalty for top management at Seagrams? Absolut? Chivas? Johnny Walker? How much harm has been fueled by hard liquor - compared to speed? Not long ago, an Australian tourist woman was stabbed in the heart in southern Thailand. The perpetrator: a guy who was desperate for beer money.
this is what meth does. you want every bar girl in Thailand to look like this?
How 'bout dig up some 'before and after' photos of alcoholics, while you're at it. Or better than that, before and after pics of car smash victims of drunk drivers. How many car crashes get caused by meth-heads compared to drunks? Even less (essentially zero) car wrecks are caused by pot-heads, and pot is an illegal drug in Thailand - which can get big fines and get thrown in the slammer.
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Crystal meth is bad. How much worse is it than the one recreational drug which causes more harm than all others? I refer, of course, to fermented sugar drinks, otherwise known as alcohol.
Before the 'justify alcohol' crowd pipes up in defense of beer and whiskey, just know that more deaths are caused by pharma drugs than all illegal drugs combined. Not sure how the numbers stack up, comparing alcohol and pharma. Which causes more harm? Regardless, each category, individually, causes more cumulative harm than all illegal drugs combined.
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I can relate to the story, because I was planning on visiting terrain similar to, and nearby that area in Nevada, and hiking/climbing solo. Sure, there are dangers, but that's what those of us who venture to such places have to accept, to do so. I did a couple trips already to Pyramid Lake (north of Sparks/Reno NV), and was aiming this time for southern Utah.
sad indeed.
'Al-Qaeda' Video Threatening Thaksin's Life Dismissed As Fake
in Thailand News
Posted
They got their 15 minutes of fame.
Reminds me of the Bt.1 million baht reward to anyone who could bring Thaksin back to Thailand (in handcuffs?). Fake offer, no substance, no follow-up, collective forgetfulness, ......welcome to the Thai way.