Dancing Girls At The Mall Bangkapi

I live in Bangkapi and this is the local mall. In fact, it is the local "The Mall," as in The Mall, Bangkapi. I came out of the Asia Books and poof! Girls!

I never noticed what they were selling. The medium was the message, as Marshall McLuhan used to say. The pleasure of this marketing exercise was all mine! And yours!

I love the way Thai girls do routines like this. These are professional dancers, a professional dance crew. The steps are worked out, but it's all a little loose, a bit uncoordinated, especially close to the end. I like this casual approach, as though really getting it together wasn't worth the effort (and it's not, when you think about it). I've seen bits like this where a couple of the girls just start talking to one another and laughing. That's Thailand in a nutshell: people are more important than precision.

Turnabout Is Fair Play

What show was that, Concentration? No, it was Hollywood Squares! The turnabout hit this gecko this morning, hit him like a truck. How did the ants overtake him? That would be a good story. He doesn't look fully grown, so how likely is it that he just up and died there and waited for them to find him?

It reminds me of something that happened when I first got to Thailand. After our training, we were inhabiting an old wooden house in Phrae, waiting for our rental to be vacated. This was a "teacher house," on the grounds of our grammar school, no one had lived there for a while and it was termite infested. One night the termites sprouted wings and swarmed like crazy, as usual they dropped on the floor in large numbers. I figured that I would clean it all up in the morning when they were done dying. The next morning, like magic, the floor was completely clean, not one wing. It was the ants! Nature's garbage clean up crew!

But the pix. Some big ant party, no?

The Right to Drive a New York Taxi Now Costs $1 Million - National - The Atlantic Wire

The Right to Drive a New York Taxi Now Costs $1 Million - National - The Atlantic Wire

New York taxi medallions for a million dollars?

When I was driving cabs in 1972 to '74 a medallion was about $40,000 if I remember correctly. Maybe $50,000. Let's say $50,000. A new Checker cost about $3,500, so the medallion cost fifteen times what the car cost. Let's see, what does a car suitable for taxi duty cost now? Might be easier to go backwards, what's one/fifteenth of a million? $66,000. I'm pretty sure that you can get a taxi automobile for less than that.

I need more information, I don't even know how much per mile a taxi ride is these days in the Big Apple. When I was driving it was fifty cents a mile, and the drop was fifty cents.

The big difference now is the driver's employment situation. When I was driving, I paid for nothing. No charge to drive the car, no paying for gas. I was a straight-up employee, I picked up the car and turned it in at the end of the shift. I turned in all of the money that was on the trip-sheet at the end of the night, and once a week I got a paycheck for half of my bookings. (Fifty-one percent? Forty-nine percent? One of those. I forget.) Now, the driver has to "lease" the car from the owner, the driver is an independent contractor. The driver has to pay some exorbitant amount just to make the owner money. The driver works for the first few hours to pay the lease fee. And the driver pays for gas too. A hundred to a hundred and fifty miles per shift, what's that? Ten gallons or so at $4.00 per? Another forty dollars.

I suppose they make a living, so maybe I shouldn't worry. I mean, you can get a million dollars for a medallion!

The guys in Bangkok have the same new deal by the way. They pay about 750 Baht to lease the car, and they pay for the gas too. Gas costs four dollars a gallon here too, about a dollar a liter. The cost of taking a cab hasn't changed for fifteen years or so, so it's a real bargain now for the customers. And no tips! Not usually anyway. Most Thais don't tip. In fact, I've seen lots of people just throw the guy forty Baht if the meter says forty two. When I tip them, sometimes they try to hand me back the money as I'm getting out. Foreigners are a mixed bag. Americans are the best tippers; Europeans blow hot and cold. Australians don't tip.

But a million dollars! Wow, that got my attention.

The Wicked And The Credulous

Christopher Hitchens, still living, I believe, at the time of this writing, is a favorite of mine. I don’t always agree with him, but when he writes or speaks about religion I do agree with him most of the time. One problem that he sees with the phenomenon of religion could also be seen as a problem with politics in America.

Here’s the quote:

“It is not snobbish to notice the way in which people show their gullibility and their herd instinct, and their wish, or perhaps their need, to be credulous and to be fooled. This is an ancient problem. Credulity may be a form of innocence . . . but it provides a standing invitation for the wicked and the clever to exploit their brothers and sisters, and is thus one of humanity’s great vulnerabilities.”

By “the wicked and the clever,” Hitch is talking in this source about religious leaders, from old-time witch doctors to modern day officials of established churches. But he could just as well be talking about politicians, especially this bunch of charlatans currently vying for next year’s presidential prize. In another sense, he could be talking about the Tea Party specifically.

I don’t want to dwell on it, for one thing it’s just too bloody annoying, but the next time someone tells you that the way to improve the job situation is to lower taxes on the most prosperous among us (lower them even more!), and to eliminate government regulation of business, and if this happens without your bullshit-detector ringing off the hook, please be aware that you may be demonstrating this ancient problem yourself. Having even the slightest patience with these foolish suggestions means that you are giving credence where none is warranted, and it means that “the wicked” are winning the battle for your soul.

Testpattern - Catchball

Just a mood I'm in. I'm sure that it'll pass.

Japanese, by the way. I'd never heard of it either. I must say, YouTube has really turned into something great, it's Scopitone on steroids, right in your own home.

CORNELIUS "Like A Rolling Stone"

No, not that "Like A Rolling Stone." I'm not sure what it means, but that's what usually happens with Mr. Cornelius. This guy swims at the deep end of the pool, that much I know.

Century Style Flooding In Thailand

Here's a link (not link; do it yourself link) to the best pix of Thailand flooding that I've seen anywhere.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/10/worst-flooding-in-decades-swamps-thailand/100168/

Things are wild and wooly over here, it's a lot of water, I can tell you. Factories under water; rice fields underwater; whole neighborhoods and towns full of stores that can't do business (because they're under water). I just can't imagine what all of those employees are going to do with no money coming in.

The situation might have real legs too. Usually it stops raining about now, but I heard months ago that this rainy season would extend to December. That's about what the CNN weather maps are showing. Storms still forming over the Pacific.

I'll be fine, but I am a bit concerned in general.