In my neighborhood, and of the students at my university, there are many, many Muslims in evidence. Lots and lots of head scarves, I guess the guys are harder to spot but I have met quite a few. I also know that lots of Muslim girls don't wear head scarves. So there's a lot.
And they are happy. Thai Muslims should do seminars for those miserables in the Middle-East. It's just not an issue in Thailand, you're a Muslim, good for you. It's a lot like the way it is not an issue if a sixth grade boy wants to wear make-up and talk like a girl. That's his business. No one cares at all. And the Muslims are as Thai as anyone else. They love it here and are just as proud as anybody to be Thai. Proud of the King too. And there's no Taliban to bother the girls if they wear a tight t-shirt revealing a sexy bra and tight jeans along with the head scarf. That's their business too. The Muslims leave each other to practice each according to his own conscience.
I can clearly hear the call to prayer being broadcast over loudspeakers at the appointed hours every day. Hey, it's a free country. In fact, Thailand (Brataet Thai) means, "Land of the Free." You can look it up.
Incidentally, the "Muslim" problem in the three southernmost provinces is not a religious problem at all, it's cultural. Those Muslims speak Malay and were part of Malaysia until the Twentieth Century.
I'm beginning to think that the problem's not religious in the Middle East either. More likely it's a problem with the underlying culture.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Bangkok Dawn
This was taken from the veranda of my old ABAC Condo. My new place has the pool right outside, which I am finding to be a nice view as well. No, get your minds out of the gutter, although watching children having fun is not the only part that I enjoy. Just the pool itself is a beautiful sight.
You All Make My Day
I knew that everyone would love Love, because Love is just so lovable. Thanks for the comments. And thanks to the young man who reminded me that fifty-one years old is pretty young, because then I realized that sixty in two weeks is young too compared with seventy, or even sixty-five. The sun is still shining for hay making purposes; it's a shame to waste a day of it.
There are terrible alternatives to being of advanced years.
"Obituary, Brooklyn, 1918 . . . died May 7th at Governeur Hospital, Frederick Ceely, aged 40."
There are terrible alternatives to being of advanced years.
"Obituary, Brooklyn, 1918 . . . died May 7th at Governeur Hospital, Frederick Ceely, aged 40."
Monday, August 4, 2008
It Was a Pretty Good Day
It’s not late; I’m listening to “Wyatt Earp,” by the Marquees, featuring Marvin Gaye, produced and featuring on guitar Bo Diddley, and on the big Samsung is “Wyatt Earp,” a Kevin Kostner movie. Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday, the luckiest man in history, played also by Val Kilmer and god knows who else, I’ll let the film buffs fill in the blanks, but Doc Holliday has been made to look good in movies, I’ll say.
Didn’t get rained on today, but beautiful clouds. Chicken Gap Pow and some vegetables stir-fried with pork and shrimp for lunch, less than a dollar. For dinner, some tropical fruit and a sandwich, which if I do say so myself, was an epic of the genre, a world class ham and egg sandwich.
Nothing really to do today, talked with some interesting people at school, goofed off on the Internet, but I looked good in my yellow shirt, Monday, yellow shirt day, the King was born on a Monday.
Taking it easy now. Half-way through playing out a Paul Morphy chess game from the late Nineteenth Century on a set that I made yesterday out of “Future Board,” some kind of Asian plastic heavy cardboard popular with us teachers. Got the moves off the Net, God’s greatest gift to man since Penicillin.
An hour more to kill before I can go to bed with any dignity.
Now does any of that sound drunk to you? Whatever you might hear to the contrary, I'm not drunk, I'm just drinking.
Didn’t get rained on today, but beautiful clouds. Chicken Gap Pow and some vegetables stir-fried with pork and shrimp for lunch, less than a dollar. For dinner, some tropical fruit and a sandwich, which if I do say so myself, was an epic of the genre, a world class ham and egg sandwich.
Nothing really to do today, talked with some interesting people at school, goofed off on the Internet, but I looked good in my yellow shirt, Monday, yellow shirt day, the King was born on a Monday.
Taking it easy now. Half-way through playing out a Paul Morphy chess game from the late Nineteenth Century on a set that I made yesterday out of “Future Board,” some kind of Asian plastic heavy cardboard popular with us teachers. Got the moves off the Net, God’s greatest gift to man since Penicillin.
An hour more to kill before I can go to bed with any dignity.
Now does any of that sound drunk to you? Whatever you might hear to the contrary, I'm not drunk, I'm just drinking.
Movie Review: Godzilla v King Kong
The best natives and the best island sets by far of the entire series
All of the natives are laid out in primary colors, the whole village too; on this island even the birds have feathers in bold primary colors.
The epic Mia Hama, alone in orange with a huge, coconut-shell brassiere that sways languorously. This is a solid, strong looking beautiful woman, a real brick-house.
Explorers totally Abbott and Costello in their costumes and personas. Bribing the natives with lots of cigarettes and a bright red radio playing Japanese pop songs.
Akiko Wakabayashi shines. The most beautiful sentence in any language. I know that there have been beautiful women throughout history, women that I will never see, but if any of them were better looking than Akiko I’ll eat my hat. Miss Earth of all time. She was even a Bond Girl in one of the later Sean Connery Bond movies. Unfortunately she gets very little screen time.
American nuclear sub, the crew decked out in white gloves like those worn in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Crew killed by Godzilla, they die with dignity.
Everywhere the primary colors, including the internal and external color scheme of a U.S. Navy helicopter.
Godzilla emerges from an iceberg and approaches land surrounded by a field of icebergs. He is immediately fired upon from a very big land base that is strangely devoid of ice or snow and covered with brush and trees that ‘Zill can set on fire.
A wildly successful native dance around the drugged out Kong, lots of good looking women on this island, displayed to wonderful advantage. We would have loved this dance at our parties in the early Sixties, the girls walking slowly and jerking their breasts to one side with the beat.
Funny how the monsters always appear in twos in Japanese Kaiju movies. In this one Godzilla is breaking out of an iceberg simultaneously with the finding of King Kong by some guys who went to an island looking for something else. After that they gravitate to one another, the better to stage a climactic battle.
The old Tokyo skyline, nothing over six stories . . . the little tanks are Shermans, World War II vintage and kind of rinky-dink.
The Godzilla suit used in this movie is a good one for the period. It might be the famous “frog” suit that I have read about. The Kong suit is really awful, but the suit-actor makes the best of it.
My copy is a DVD in the original Japanese, letterboxed and very good quality images, two Dollars worth of Baht. No thrills and chills in this movie, but lots of good looking women and plenty of fun.
All of the natives are laid out in primary colors, the whole village too; on this island even the birds have feathers in bold primary colors.
The epic Mia Hama, alone in orange with a huge, coconut-shell brassiere that sways languorously. This is a solid, strong looking beautiful woman, a real brick-house.
Explorers totally Abbott and Costello in their costumes and personas. Bribing the natives with lots of cigarettes and a bright red radio playing Japanese pop songs.
Akiko Wakabayashi shines. The most beautiful sentence in any language. I know that there have been beautiful women throughout history, women that I will never see, but if any of them were better looking than Akiko I’ll eat my hat. Miss Earth of all time. She was even a Bond Girl in one of the later Sean Connery Bond movies. Unfortunately she gets very little screen time.
American nuclear sub, the crew decked out in white gloves like those worn in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Crew killed by Godzilla, they die with dignity.
Everywhere the primary colors, including the internal and external color scheme of a U.S. Navy helicopter.
Godzilla emerges from an iceberg and approaches land surrounded by a field of icebergs. He is immediately fired upon from a very big land base that is strangely devoid of ice or snow and covered with brush and trees that ‘Zill can set on fire.
A wildly successful native dance around the drugged out Kong, lots of good looking women on this island, displayed to wonderful advantage. We would have loved this dance at our parties in the early Sixties, the girls walking slowly and jerking their breasts to one side with the beat.
Funny how the monsters always appear in twos in Japanese Kaiju movies. In this one Godzilla is breaking out of an iceberg simultaneously with the finding of King Kong by some guys who went to an island looking for something else. After that they gravitate to one another, the better to stage a climactic battle.
The old Tokyo skyline, nothing over six stories . . . the little tanks are Shermans, World War II vintage and kind of rinky-dink.
The Godzilla suit used in this movie is a good one for the period. It might be the famous “frog” suit that I have read about. The Kong suit is really awful, but the suit-actor makes the best of it.
My copy is a DVD in the original Japanese, letterboxed and very good quality images, two Dollars worth of Baht. No thrills and chills in this movie, but lots of good looking women and plenty of fun.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Love: 101 (No Prerequisites)
Love, think about it. Everyone loves to love Love, loves to be in Love, loves to be loved, everybody. It may be different things to different people, but the love of it is universal, the love of Love that is.
Contrary to common belief, Love is rather easy to understand. The description of Love has an obvious vocabulary, and the theory of Love can be reduced to almost mathematical precision. Yes, be assured that the theory of Love is easy; it is only in the practice, the mechanics of it, that Love goes horribly wrong.
Love is usually confused with sex. They are definitely related phenomena, but they are quite different things. Sex is merely an aspect of some types of Love. Parental Love, romantic Love, filial Love, fraternal Love, all Love has the same basic components, sex is merely the icing on the cake in some situations.
The building blocks of Love are several and obvious. They are the essentials of human existence, the things that we all must have, often called either “wants” or “needs,” although it’s all the same thing. We want them because we need them, and visa versa. Love is acknowledging that we want them from a particular person, and are prepared to offer them in return. Ideally, anyway. They are arranged below in their approximate order of importance:
Consideration: Consideration is a filter through which the individual in love must pass most little decisions every day. The loved one’s feelings must be considered. Think before you speak, think of the loved one. Think before you agree to something, before you decide to do anything, consider the feelings of the loved one. Consider this: your loved one wonders, should I fuck this person? If the loved one considers your feelings, the answer should be “no,” or at least, “as long as it doesn’t get around.” Failure of consideration may lead to a simple “yes,” or a “yes, and I don’t care who knows it.” Absence of consideration may come in the form of a “yes, and take that you moron.” That hurts, because in our everyday worlds, the world shows us no consideration at all, and we count on it from loved ones. It’s nice to get it, and little trouble to return the favor. If you love someone.
Approval: This can be in the form of acceptance or forgiveness. Censorship, the opposite of approval, is encountered in life much more frequently, censorship or indifference. We all have complex personalities in which some aspects are more admirable than others. It is nice to find someone who will take the good with the bad and approve of the total package. Someone who will accept you as you are and value you for your good points, someone who will forgive your little peccadilloes, or your grievous shortcomings if it comes to that. Your approval of a loved one creates in them a warm feeling of belonging that is not generally available in the world at large. The ultimate expression of approval is consensual procreative sex.
Comfort: Monkeys comfort each other by picking nits off of the loved one. For humans, it may be offered as a smile, a kind word, the offer of a cool glass of water or a warming cover, a gentle good morning! a simple touch or a hug. Or, sex. Comfort, offered lovingly over the course of years upon years and years should deepen Love, and this history of comfort is the greatest comfort of all.
Enjoyment: Sex may offer some assistance here as well. But more than sex is required, the provision of opportunities for enjoyment by the loving one should be broad based and varied.
Encouragement: If the loved one is happy, the love giver is happy, so it only makes sense that one should offer encouragement to the loved one.
Commitment: This can come in many forms, it may be less than total and/or less than eternal. It is only important that the same degree of commitment be recognized by, and comfortable for, both of the loving parties. Here it matters little what the lovers say, the important commitment is in their hearts. If one party commits for all time in all situations, and the other commits to a couple of years to see how it goes, there is a failure of communication that sinks the love boat.
These are the components of Love in most situations. Other, strange components are common, strange to most of us anyway. These, whatever they are, should not be thought of as pathological. In analogy, if a person is ugly, that is natural, it is not a problem, the person looks like a person, like it is possible for a person to look. The person’s ugliness defines the range of human appearance. If a person wants to be treated badly, or to have pain inflicted on them, or to be pissed on, it is because they want it, and by wanting it they help to define the range of human wants and needs. It’s all Love.
The mathematics of any particular Love situation is different from others of its type, and couples or groups must find their own solution to the problem. The mathematics of the first strike of Love is easier to formulize.
Most men have only the most limited understanding of Love. No surprise there. “Man,” and “woman,” are, of course, interchangeable in this analysis, I just happen to be a man. Women are in the dark too, by and large, even though they may believe otherwise.
For young men the experience of new Love is so emotionally and electro-chemically charged that it often results in a stunned feeling, much like having been hit in the head. Many men think that they have a certain type, as in, “she’s not my type.” But it’s really just simple mathematics. It’s the simple sum of two numbers, and there are two important factors.
The first factor: the numbers should be close to each other in value; the second: the higher the total, the better. If the total is high enough, the result is love-at-first-sight.
Of the numbers themselves, the first, the most important, is the numerical rendering of the perceived likelihood that the woman involved will be responsive and grant the man intimacy. At this stage, sex is disproportionately important, but all of the above components involve intimacy. If this number is high enough, it alone may cause love-at-first-sight. Standing alone it tends to make a woman attractive to a man, especially a young man. The second number depends for its value on the degree to which the man desires intimacy with the woman.
It’s possible that a man may meet someone, or see someone, and calculate immediately that: 1) this person would love to fuck me, I’m the answer to their prayers (let’s say, ninety out of one hundred); and 2) getting next to them would be the greatest thing that has ever happened to me (again, ninety out of one hundred). Note the gender neutrality, no need to be exclusive here. So it’s easy to see that if the combined number is very, very high (in the example it’s 180/200), the man will experience a shock as this wave of emotion travels through all of his systems. Every molecule in the man’s body moves towards the woman (person) on an individual basis, much like the tide moves towards the moon. It has happened to me, and if you are lucky, dear reader, it has happened to you as well. I have on several occasions met a woman, here I can be specific, a woman, and performed a calculation similar to the one in the example, and I have thereupon become dizzy and disoriented, giddy, and openly grateful to the deity. Out of consideration, as defined above, I will not detail the results of these encounters.
Contrary to common belief, Love is rather easy to understand. The description of Love has an obvious vocabulary, and the theory of Love can be reduced to almost mathematical precision. Yes, be assured that the theory of Love is easy; it is only in the practice, the mechanics of it, that Love goes horribly wrong.
Love is usually confused with sex. They are definitely related phenomena, but they are quite different things. Sex is merely an aspect of some types of Love. Parental Love, romantic Love, filial Love, fraternal Love, all Love has the same basic components, sex is merely the icing on the cake in some situations.
The building blocks of Love are several and obvious. They are the essentials of human existence, the things that we all must have, often called either “wants” or “needs,” although it’s all the same thing. We want them because we need them, and visa versa. Love is acknowledging that we want them from a particular person, and are prepared to offer them in return. Ideally, anyway. They are arranged below in their approximate order of importance:
Consideration: Consideration is a filter through which the individual in love must pass most little decisions every day. The loved one’s feelings must be considered. Think before you speak, think of the loved one. Think before you agree to something, before you decide to do anything, consider the feelings of the loved one. Consider this: your loved one wonders, should I fuck this person? If the loved one considers your feelings, the answer should be “no,” or at least, “as long as it doesn’t get around.” Failure of consideration may lead to a simple “yes,” or a “yes, and I don’t care who knows it.” Absence of consideration may come in the form of a “yes, and take that you moron.” That hurts, because in our everyday worlds, the world shows us no consideration at all, and we count on it from loved ones. It’s nice to get it, and little trouble to return the favor. If you love someone.
Approval: This can be in the form of acceptance or forgiveness. Censorship, the opposite of approval, is encountered in life much more frequently, censorship or indifference. We all have complex personalities in which some aspects are more admirable than others. It is nice to find someone who will take the good with the bad and approve of the total package. Someone who will accept you as you are and value you for your good points, someone who will forgive your little peccadilloes, or your grievous shortcomings if it comes to that. Your approval of a loved one creates in them a warm feeling of belonging that is not generally available in the world at large. The ultimate expression of approval is consensual procreative sex.
Comfort: Monkeys comfort each other by picking nits off of the loved one. For humans, it may be offered as a smile, a kind word, the offer of a cool glass of water or a warming cover, a gentle good morning! a simple touch or a hug. Or, sex. Comfort, offered lovingly over the course of years upon years and years should deepen Love, and this history of comfort is the greatest comfort of all.
Enjoyment: Sex may offer some assistance here as well. But more than sex is required, the provision of opportunities for enjoyment by the loving one should be broad based and varied.
Encouragement: If the loved one is happy, the love giver is happy, so it only makes sense that one should offer encouragement to the loved one.
Commitment: This can come in many forms, it may be less than total and/or less than eternal. It is only important that the same degree of commitment be recognized by, and comfortable for, both of the loving parties. Here it matters little what the lovers say, the important commitment is in their hearts. If one party commits for all time in all situations, and the other commits to a couple of years to see how it goes, there is a failure of communication that sinks the love boat.
These are the components of Love in most situations. Other, strange components are common, strange to most of us anyway. These, whatever they are, should not be thought of as pathological. In analogy, if a person is ugly, that is natural, it is not a problem, the person looks like a person, like it is possible for a person to look. The person’s ugliness defines the range of human appearance. If a person wants to be treated badly, or to have pain inflicted on them, or to be pissed on, it is because they want it, and by wanting it they help to define the range of human wants and needs. It’s all Love.
The mathematics of any particular Love situation is different from others of its type, and couples or groups must find their own solution to the problem. The mathematics of the first strike of Love is easier to formulize.
Most men have only the most limited understanding of Love. No surprise there. “Man,” and “woman,” are, of course, interchangeable in this analysis, I just happen to be a man. Women are in the dark too, by and large, even though they may believe otherwise.
For young men the experience of new Love is so emotionally and electro-chemically charged that it often results in a stunned feeling, much like having been hit in the head. Many men think that they have a certain type, as in, “she’s not my type.” But it’s really just simple mathematics. It’s the simple sum of two numbers, and there are two important factors.
The first factor: the numbers should be close to each other in value; the second: the higher the total, the better. If the total is high enough, the result is love-at-first-sight.
Of the numbers themselves, the first, the most important, is the numerical rendering of the perceived likelihood that the woman involved will be responsive and grant the man intimacy. At this stage, sex is disproportionately important, but all of the above components involve intimacy. If this number is high enough, it alone may cause love-at-first-sight. Standing alone it tends to make a woman attractive to a man, especially a young man. The second number depends for its value on the degree to which the man desires intimacy with the woman.
It’s possible that a man may meet someone, or see someone, and calculate immediately that: 1) this person would love to fuck me, I’m the answer to their prayers (let’s say, ninety out of one hundred); and 2) getting next to them would be the greatest thing that has ever happened to me (again, ninety out of one hundred). Note the gender neutrality, no need to be exclusive here. So it’s easy to see that if the combined number is very, very high (in the example it’s 180/200), the man will experience a shock as this wave of emotion travels through all of his systems. Every molecule in the man’s body moves towards the woman (person) on an individual basis, much like the tide moves towards the moon. It has happened to me, and if you are lucky, dear reader, it has happened to you as well. I have on several occasions met a woman, here I can be specific, a woman, and performed a calculation similar to the one in the example, and I have thereupon become dizzy and disoriented, giddy, and openly grateful to the deity. Out of consideration, as defined above, I will not detail the results of these encounters.
Age Distortions.
If a person with a year to live is convicted of a crime and sentenced to twenty years in prison, shouldn’t they be tortured for that remaining year of life? It’s only fair. We must pack their punishment into only one year.
Why should a ninety-five year old woman get seventy-five thousand dollars worth of heart surgery? Even if she lives through the surgery, she lives for what, six months? Sorry honey, back of the line, it’s only fair.
I don’t know about the torture, although it seems to be coming into vogue, but the old lady with the bad heart was in the news recently. She’s doing ok, but it was very controversial for her to receive that treatment at the twilight, shit, the deep darkness of her life.
Insurance entities whined that providing life extending care for her was “not economical,” and that it “used recourses that could better be applied to younger patients.” If they offered a proposed age for plug-pulling I missed it.
So what if the insurance companies decide that at a certain point, let's say five years beyond when the actuaries said that you had no chance at all of still being alive, they are not responsible for providing you with any care to prolong your already ridiculously prolonged life. Anybody have a problem with that?
That policy would be only a short step from legalizing the euthanasizing of old people because, after all, it is only practical to stop the ridiculous waste of resources that their maintenance represents.
So the old lady with the heart thing is a “Right To Life” issue. I’ll be waiting for the anti-abortion people to weigh in on the subject.
Why should a ninety-five year old woman get seventy-five thousand dollars worth of heart surgery? Even if she lives through the surgery, she lives for what, six months? Sorry honey, back of the line, it’s only fair.
I don’t know about the torture, although it seems to be coming into vogue, but the old lady with the bad heart was in the news recently. She’s doing ok, but it was very controversial for her to receive that treatment at the twilight, shit, the deep darkness of her life.
Insurance entities whined that providing life extending care for her was “not economical,” and that it “used recourses that could better be applied to younger patients.” If they offered a proposed age for plug-pulling I missed it.
So what if the insurance companies decide that at a certain point, let's say five years beyond when the actuaries said that you had no chance at all of still being alive, they are not responsible for providing you with any care to prolong your already ridiculously prolonged life. Anybody have a problem with that?
That policy would be only a short step from legalizing the euthanasizing of old people because, after all, it is only practical to stop the ridiculous waste of resources that their maintenance represents.
So the old lady with the heart thing is a “Right To Life” issue. I’ll be waiting for the anti-abortion people to weigh in on the subject.
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