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Marpa47

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Everything posted by Marpa47

  1. Somewhere it was noted that the famous ancient forum in Rome had _many_ exits and could allow for the entire (many thousands of), number of patrons to exit within minutes. Building such a venue would no doubt be prohibitively expensive in the capitalistic setting, notwithstanding the generous funding and tax abatements provided by an overly fond municipality that is usually forthcoming.. it would or at least might save lives however.
  2. Thank you for making a statement in well balanced good taste. And thank you for the beautiful photos of King Rama IX and Queen Elizabeth II over the years.
  3. Yes. Still cringe at the recollection of a beautiful young family, (still safe I hope), pulling out from a parking lot onto a busy highway — dad, mom, two kids — all seated in a row, as pretty a picture as you could imagine, on the family scooter, all with no helmets…
  4. You spent a lot of text on the topic of PIF’s and well done. Here is hoping that your message gets through to the powers that be.
  5. Loving the new format with pictures. Seeing Rooster with family was a treat. Also the impact of the bridge collapse story really sunk in when seeing that actual photo of the damaged structure. Thank you very much for adding these photos in. As always enjoying your posts immensely. Please keep ‘em commin’!
  6. Yeah, I’m just sayin. Seeing as to how some laws are not enforced as strictly or are in flux (and not knowing _how_ or _if_ any current law may be even in existence or in what form the law is, or how strictly upper management _wants_ the laws to be enforced), then things could go either way — more restriction or more easing of already tenuous restrictions. And, with the enthusiastic pressure on the part of the many very vocal proponents of said smoking of said joints, then things could get very… smoky, in many many venues. So, this is hypothetical. But it is a hypotheses that may very well happen, given the impetus from various sectors both in public and governmental as well as private that seem to salivate at the prospect.
  7. Say one is on board a train bound from Thailand to Malaysia, or in a restaurant prior to boarding a plane to Singapore and someone near you is smoking weed. Now, I’ve been given to understand that someone smoking a regular cigarette in a room full of people will result in a blood test for nicotine of the same amount for _everone_ in that room as for the smoker. Does this also apply to smoking maryjane? That would be a real bummer for the innocents who may later get caught up in a test while trying to cross the border wouldn’t it? And just one reason for keeping the smoking of this substance restricted to the privacy of one’s digs.
  8. My bad. Meant to say, in trying to back up what you said, that access to cheap drugs would only steer youth away from use of alcohol towards the use of the drugs, just like the alcohol restrictive age-related laws in the USA have done to the vast increase of drug use there along with all of the devastation associated with it.
  9. Just saw a YouTube vlog wherein was discussed, (apropos your observation that cheap drugs for young Thais will cause increased use alcohol), that in the USA there was a statute enacted, (on the federal level?), raising the drinking age to 25 fairly recently which of course steered the under-25 year olds towards the ‘club drugs’’, and how well that played out. ???? Here too it is the issue of the greater evil’? May it also be mentioned that scientific research in the past has shown that using pot at an age when the body is still developing, (and the brain has not fully matured — if at all it ever does — until the age of 21 - 25), can have negative effects on that developing organism. OK, the old adage ‘do your own thing as long as it doesn’t do any harm to anybody else’. That was the chant of the ‘60’s hippie era. That worked out well.
  10. Another great article, dear Rooster, and one where you are announcing the dawn of ‘something else’ as the hippies used to say. The pendulum swings a bit wildly in another direction if you ask me. Kudos on the several pictures. Is that a first? It is surely adding to the story line and hopefully will be something that continues in future. Not being interested in any part of the subject of all-consuming interest to so many, I remain a loyal and devoted reader, knowing that next time around the former humor and insights, peppered with many colloquial and educational items (perhaps more revealing than any picture) will be in evidence as the pendulum swings once again. As Shakespeare wrote, ‘Methinks thou dost protest too much’… you-all _know_ that any drug, taken beyond need, beyond an amount that is needful, is just a bad idea? I suppose however that I will be walking through clouds of the stuff with no recourse other than having to readjust my life to avoiding certain areas or selecting a route that circumvents the idiocies of the ignorant. Just to lead my own life. Really, thank you all for your heroic, brave and really and truely brilliant posts in defense of this miraculously wonderful ‘herb’ that obviously has never done anybody any harm and is only very very good for you. What medical and cultural geniuses populate this forum is so astounding that i stand in humble awe at the perspicaciousness of the many, many consummate .thinkers. As the saying goes, “what possibly could go wrong?”
  11. A co-worker’s Jamaican father, (a Rastafarian which regards ganga as a sacramental substance), smoked a _lot_. After many years of this practice his father developed severe COPD. That’s a breathing condition where the functional lung tissue, after gradually being destroyed, can no longer a). Provide the necessary ‘oxygen in / carbon dioxide out’ function it normally had and b). Has lost the ‘elasticity’ which has usually allowed adequate exhalation of air, resulting in ever higher levels of carbon dioxide in the blood, greater and greater effort to breathe due to having to use accessory muscles to exhale just to get enough air into the lungs and finally c) loss of breath with the smallest physical activity or even at rest. This was, admittedly an exception in every way — exceptional use of ganga over exceptional length of time.. but perhaps not unexpected. Like anything, even something that is regarded as harmless or even good for you, too much of a good thing can all to often be… not so good.
  12. Masks have been in use in Japan, (just for one example and the best one IMO), for the longest time just as a courtesy / precaution — when someone is feeling like they might have something that could be communicable they wear a mask to protect everyone they come into contact with. What a concept. Never forget the time, just walking down the street in NYC and someone walking towards me unleashed the loudest, wettest, most powerful sneeze before I could avoid it, which left me bedridden a few days later with flu symptoms. This was years and years ago but will never be forgotten. The guy in fact, instead of covering his mouth, actually opened both arms as if bestowing a wonderful gift. But, as has been said over and over, (to paraphrase), with all the precautions and preventions and even effective treatments for all the various illnesses mankind and womankind can pass along to each other, there is still no cure for stupidity. And not wearing a mask will remain for many a brave, clever and proud statement of their rugged individuality… to the end.
  13. Greetings Bosun. We have only been in the LOS a little while as of yet. Before our sojourn, I had been following the Rooster Tales studiously and picked up on his reference to a book which I since have been perusing occasionally. It is so densely packed with information that it bears reading in small doses for me. The title is “Thai Ways” and the author is Denis Segaller. It may be just what you want. And it is available on Kindle.
  14. Hello Rooster and all! The wife and I also got our second booster, being over 70. We went to nearby Central Rama 3 where it was being administered at the time. No crowd, unlike when we had the first booster at a very crowded Asiatique. The healthcare staff at Central Rama 3 and at Asiatique were very professional and efficient. All four vaccines we received were Pfizer and each time we both experienced a little pain at the injection site for a few days. But this time my wife was cautioned to not do any physical exertion for two weeks. That was a first. Neither of us smoke and I only drink on occasion with a meal. So that may have been why there were very few symptoms. The injection this time was administered very slowly for me — I believe that was a much gentler delivery method. Hope everyone is taking advantage of this free option. The vaccine station at Central Rama 3 is due to close soon. I believe it was on the 3’rd level and opened at about 10:30 (the mall opens at 11). There were forms to fill out but were all in Thai. Only possible for me because of the dear wife. The staff, too, just about only in Thai although I did see some farangs there so either they spoke and read / wrote in Thai or maybe the staff just ‘leaned’ on my wife for everything and ignored me. Fine by me! my wife loves durian. Her favorite is chaani-Thai (my spelling). The vendors have told her that it has become rare because only ‘Monton’ (again my spelling) is popular so the ‘channi-Thai’ trees have mostly been cut down to make way for the more profitable ‘Monton’. But, ironically, even though rare, the ‘chaani-Thai’ are usually _less_ expensive. And, there is usually a line waiting to purchase them when they are available. I can take ‘em or leave ‘em. Cannot understand either the passion fer or agin’ ‘em. Now the wife says that they are very ‘yang’ (hot) and need to be balanced with mangostein which is very ‘yin’ (cool). Well that’s OK by me — that is something I can really get passionate about.
  15. Loving every one of your posts. Although not conversant with the British football scene which remains a mystery to me. Always thought it ironic though that, for such an elegant, usually non-contact sport, its fans in some places(?) are more violent than a MMA match.
  16. As so many have posted here this week about the MJ issue, many with much more expericnce then mine, all I want to say is that, while I dread the day when it becomes legal and so common place that no one can avoid inhaling the smoke whether they want to or not, there are some definite hazards to smoking or even partaking of it, at least in large quantities, long term. It has been found through some studies posted recently in the, I think NYT, that long term heavy use can cause pulmonary restrictive disease. Personally, I know of one person, a co-worker’s father, (who was a devout Rastafarian for whom MJ is a kind of sacrament and was consumed regularly and in large quantities), who developed severe COPD, (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). But that was only after years of use. But still it was a definite result and is now a documented, scientifically proven hazard. there are other hazards, of a cardiovascular nature, (again as a result of long term excessive use), also mentioned at least one news. Article. And ingesting this substance via a form that can be taken orally is also a possible hazard, even in the short term — if the dosage is too high all at one time, as was mentioned by another post this week. ,
  17. Very well put. One can only hope that somebody takes charge of this situation and turns it around. Not impossible but as you said,…. I wonder if, by changing the rules to reflect all you observed in more ‘developed’ countries such as intelligent enforcement, education and testing on a more stringent level etc… things might eventually be changed. Might it be tried? If it were inculcated among the youth while still in school, might there not be a way to begin the process? It has been said that, once the kids are on to the social issues, the process can ‘filter up’ to the parents as the kids will question and even challenge the parents, thereby modifying their behavior. Just a thought. And a hope.
  18. I got news for you dear Dr. B: I live in the heart of Bangkok and walk along Rama 3 Road sometimes. The (silent! They are just too polite to startle us with sounding their horn.) motorcycles (with unhelmeted rider of course), coming up behind us ON THE SIDEWALK as well as on the road AGAINST TRAFFIC because they can’t be bothered with going a few blocks out of their way to get on the right side of the road is an all too common phenomenon here as well. There is one Khlong — Phum — that is entered / left via al narrow steeply inclined walkway. I once observed a motorcycle racing up this to reach the sidewalk and then progress on their way, (against traffic of course). Needless to say, had anyone been walking on the sidewalk just in front of that entrance, either they would be in big danger or the motorcyclist would have to slow down, on an impossibly narrow and steeply inclined passage precipitating who knows what kind of mayhem. Not so much four wheeled vehicles (though I wouldn’t put it past someone). And there a lot of bicycles, motorized pushcarts and even the occasional tuck tuck (where did they all go? Rarely see them in Bangkok) traveling along the road, danger to themselves, the other ‘drivers’ and even us pedestrians as we sometimes have to walk into the street to get around the truck or group of motorcycles temporarily parked on the sidewalk and totally blocking it for some unknown reason.. And don’t get me going about the sidewalks here! While there is a sidewalk, it is constantly buckling and forming huge cracks and loose blocks from the heat, filled in ( a week or so later) with macadam and interspersed with all manner of shrubs, (nicely manicured), telephone poles, streetlight poles and road signs of every description that narrows the walkway considerably. TIT
  19. Thanks again, dear Rooster, for another great article at the end of the week. I always look forward to it and you always (mostly) come through and then some. Always a surprise, always something new in the way of Thai culture, language or geography, (I’m still new here), so thank you very much.
  20. Do you really think it would survive the translation? Or the culture gap? I dunno but from what I read hereabouts there is a lot that looses in the cultural divide, much less the actual interpretation. But I agree it would be great to spread it around so more can enjoy.
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