Rogie

Good advice! I've has a few problems with getting the best bus. If you are not careful you can end up on one that is just a 'bus' stopping for all and sundry by the roadside, rather than a 'coach' that goes direct with only a few recognised stops. I am a little more practiced now but owing to not reading or speaking Thai I am in extra difficulties at small bus stations where the signs are only in Thai.

To save copying and pasting, the link given in the above post is the same one as in post #11 (as far as I know, I haven't double checked). I assume a 'forest' burial is the same as a 'woodland' one, maybe just a place that's been in use for a lot longer so the trees have grown much bigger. I'm not sure if there is a difference between forest and woodland, but 'forest' always conjures up mature trees in a rural setting. The idea of a woodland burial is, I believe, that a tree is planted for every grave. I presume the grave must be dug deep enough and far away enough so that bits of bone don't get disturbed as the tree grows larger putting down its strong roots. Re: repatriation. As I do not live in Thailand and only visit, my travel insurance should cover it. Here is the wording . . . "The repatriation of your body or ashes back to your home or up to £5,000 for funeral expenses in the country where you die if it is outside the UK"

Having watched the video in post # 31, just a few comments. Firstly, while I am sympathetic to campaigners who use such tactics to convert people to vegetarianism or veganism, as a meat-eater it wouldn't change my liking for meat and dairy produce, but what this and many other articles I have read and seen have and will continue to do is make me think more about what I'm eating and how it reaches the shops where I buy it. Like it or not factory farming is here to stay. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming It's not just the chickens, fish and animals who are stressed. Mankind is too. The pressures of daily life bear heavily on us, as we are bombarded with images, advertising, media, our interactions with other people - especially those living in big cities all competing for space on the train, the roads or the shopping mall, as well as housing. So, should be all hark back to the 40's and 50's then . . . an idyllic age? Where I live, I'd love to walk down to one of my local farms and wait at the gate and buy a dozen free-range eggs and a few pints of raw (unpasteurised) milk, poured straight out of the milk churn. I can still do that with eggs but the nanny state has decreed milk now has to be pasteurised. (On my last visit to Thailand I spent a pleasant afternoon at Chokchai Farm. The farm was originally mainly beef production but now the accent is very much on dairy farming. There are hundreds of cows and yes it's all very sleek and mechanised, but I would very much doubt the animals are mistreated, at least judging from what I could see - the dairies are on clear display to any visitor. I would be happy to buy the milk produced at Chokchai without any qualms). The crazy thing in my view is that whereas some aspects are now over-regulated, such as milk, pumping chickens and farm animals with antibiotics is now common. Some countries also allow the use of growth hormones. The consumer wants cheap food and the many shops, especially those with muscle such as the huge supermarket chains seem only too happy to oblige, but nothing comes without a cost . . . In the End of the Road for Irish Chicken we read: The source of foreign chicken is not easy to trace: Remember the fuss over meat contaminated with horsemeat? One of the things blamed for that fiasco was the curse of the long food chain . . . http://www.chicken.ie/chicken-news/end-of-the-road-for-irish-chicken.724.html http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/02/meat-industry-still-gorging-antibiotics Awful as that video is, to be quite honest, I am much more seriously concerned about the use of drugs, hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. But even if animals are raised in factory farms without any of these I would still not wish to eat such chicken or meat because of the cruelty involved. So If anything would stop me eating chicken, beef or pork it'd be because I didn't trust what I was eating was actually safe to eat, or was proven to have been produced using the worst kind of factory-farming practices. If I wish to eat a steak or any other kind of meat I usually buy it from one of my local butchers (we're lucky we have two). The supply chain is short and accountable, and if I am not sure I can just ask them. Most independent butchers are now only too happy to tell you which local farm the meat they sell comes from.

Like many, I enjoyed the Wasp Factory which I read in paperback maybe a year or two after publication. I haven't read all of the others but especially liked Walking on Glass which is actually three unrelated stories. One of the three is called Walking on Glass and conjures up a bleak barren atmosphere in which the 'hero' is desperate to escape some kind of hideous confinement that's driving him crazy. He can escape in either of two ways, by giving up free will or by correctly answering questions put to him by the senechal (a kind of warden). I also liked Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games, the first two books in the SF Culture series, but have not read any of the Iain M. Banks books since.

Living in the UK, I quite like the idea of a woodland burial, but haven't thought about it all really other than having an idea in my head. Out of interest here is one I came across but right now I have no idea whether I would definitely choose to opt for burial in such a place. If I did decide I would then make my wishes known to my next of kin. It would be important to do that because cremation seems to be the default method nowadays, unless requested otherwise. http://www.burialswithnature.co.uk/default.htm If I was living in Thailand I don't know what I'd do. Visiting is fine, but I very much doubt I would want to live in Thailand on my own, hence if I was living there it would be with another person, so all being well (i.e. death as a planned event rather than an unforseen accident) we would have discussed the arrangements.

I have had no idea about how either of the words were formed. I just liked Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia owing to its absurd teutonic length and then came across sesquipedalian online and the explanation for which apparently means a lover of long words. Having got that off my chest I just looked it up in my SOED and it says this: Definition #1. adj. of words etc (after Horace, A.P. 97) of many syllables - 1656 transf. given to using long words - 1853 Definition #2. sb. a person or thing that is a foot and a half in length - 1615 Hence KT is spot on with definition #2. I have liked his post in recognition. As for the changes in 2,000 years, that second definition has only been around for 400 years but the meaning must have been apparent for 2,000. I think we have to make allowances for dictionaries. They didn't have them 2,000 years ago to the best of my knowledge and English-language dictionaries are obviously not the same as Latin ones. So I would be quite happy to acknowledge sesquipedalian was in use as a Latin word in ancient Rome as KT mentions in post #6.

You may feare them, but is there any chance you secretly love them?

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia sesquipedalian As we know the meaning of the first word (see back to the OP if you missed it), and the similarity of a big chunk of the words, might that not provide a clue? And thank you Koko for your kind words. May I wish you a long life, one free from stray hippos and the lust for gold!

Maybe they're dreaming. One thinks of the phrase Beyond the Dreams of Avarice. (Sorry, definitely off-topic, but I came across this link to Hermann Goering) http://www.goeringart.com/

http://techpresident.com/news/23617/quebecs-language-laws-lead-pastagate I am indebted to my Canadian cousin who brought this story up in the pub last night. He lives in Ottawa but was born and raised in Montreal. I myself lived in Montreal as a small boy.

I'm sure sheep are crammed into the truck too, but surely they don't have this to contend with. So according to the quote above (which is from the CNN report, not Michael) the dogs are stacked 1,000 to a truck. It would be great to think that somewhere along the journey which 'lasts for days' the vehicle would get stopped and the driver arrested. But of course I am sleepwalking if I really think that might happen. I am reminded of the recent case of the trailer which caught fire on the way to Khon Kaen. Normally that would never make the headlines, however in this case the trailer was carrying six luxury cars; if I recall a couple of Lamborghinis + a Ferrari or two, etc, maybe the odd BMW. The fire spread from the trailer to the cars and four of them caught fire and were destroyed. It seems there is a thriving trade in Thailand where cars are imported in such a way as to dodge taxes. This trade must have been going on for a long time but only came to light because of a freak accident. Sometimes i think that people in Thailand must go around with their eyes closed. Well, the eyes look like they're open all right, but they are so often of the 'unseeing' variety.

Can anyone guess (ideally without 'cheating') the meaning of these two words 1) sesquipedalian 2) Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia If you don't know the second one you haven't been paying attention!

Your post is mostly tongue-in-cheek surely. . . Boat-racing is very popular im many countries, certainly including Thailand, as well as the Olympic Games. If you extend that to yacht-racing the Americas Cup is world famous. When I was in Pattaya - Jomtien last December they had a Jet-ski competition. Now, I'm no fan of those 'wet bikes' but hundreds of people were enjoying the spectacle and yes, there was a certain amount of noise, but far from deafening. As for pollution, I have no idea, there must have been some (but then the sea off Pattaya - Jomtien has been a joke for a long time now, or have you never ventured into the sea yourself Christian?).

Sorry Z, I joined the discussion late so overlooked your comments. As a meat eater I have to tread cautiously. I don't want my cultural heritage to blind me to the way things are done in other countries. That's their business, so I am certainly not in the vanguard urging Vietnamese, Chinese or Korean people to stop eating dogmeat. I am not a vociferous person, neither am I a campaigner (other than within the confines of this message board) but if I had the guts to go out and do something it would be to urge consumers of dog meat to boycott the kind of battery farming shown in the link I gave in the previous post. As regards your comparison of what people prefer to eat with a man's sexuality, I think that's taking it too far. Of course we'd all agree discrimination based on sexuality is wrong, but I am sorry I would have no hesitation in pointing an accusing finger to a person tucking into his 'farmed' dog caserole whilst happily munching on my organic free-range chicken-burger.

I've never undertaken a blind tasting, but I'll accept that as a fact. Crabs and lobster and other shellfish are cooked in their shells so why not prawns and shrimps? Sorry Lukylok, I don't know your nationality, and that maybe so in some countries, but a certain white-haired and goatee-sporting American has urged that when gorging on his 'southern delicacy' that his countrymen should lick freely and copiously.

Not knowing much about the dog meat trade, although I have heard of the great work the Phuket Soi Dog Foundation are doing, I made the assumption that the trade between Thailand and Vietnam was to 'cut corners', in other words to provide fully-grown dogs to satisfy Vietnamese demand. I reasoned that this would get round the problem of breeding the dogs and raising them from puppies to adults. That is clearly the case in many instances. The proximity of Thailand and Vietnam facilitates this, whereas other countries such as China and South Korea are more distant. That set me wondering how S.Korea caters for those of its citizens who enjoy nothing more than a good dog dinner. I was shocked and sickened to discover the answer . . . Please take a deep breath before viewing this: http://imgur.com/a/5fCTu#bOrrw9M

One of the questions members upon joining this forum can answer if they so wish is to state their gender. I have and it is male. So has everybody else who's answered that question (to the best of my knowledge, I've only checked regular posters). As far as I am concerned I am male - and definitely not female. We hear about transgendered people and transexuals. Are they the same? And what about sex? Again, if asked to state my sex I simply say 'male'. But what about deeper issues, what if I was asked to describe or define my sexuality? That's when it starts to get neither black nor white for some people - myself included! I think before I get myself even more confused I will hand over to a much more articulate authority! Here is a quote taken from a fascinating article on the BBC website: Richard O'Brien: ‘I'm 70% man' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21788238

There have now been two very high profile gang rapes in India, the one in Delhi in December and the recent one in Madhya Pradesh of a 39 year-ols Swiss woman. The first one has seemingly caused a lot of soul-searching in India and probably everything that can be said has been said already. The rape of the Swiss woman on Friday appears to me to be a simple opportunistic crime. Two tourists were camping in an isolated place in or near a forest. They were spotted by some men (six have been arrested) who carried out the attack. So yes, if rape or robbery is on your mind then this couple must have seemed perfect targets, but why would that be on any man's mind in the first place? And not just one 'rogue' male, but six! I can understand a poor villager, desperate to feed his family, committing robbery . . . but rape? That's another level of awfulness altogether for my western mind to accept. So that brings me back to the often mentioned fact that such violence is ingrained somewhere in the male psyche. At least for those men living in certain parts of India and of a certain class. But why? Is it because they know they can get away with it, do such things with impunity because women are held in such low regard? Do they even stop to think whether their attitude towards women is distorted? If not, then why not go all the way and treat them like animals? If you can get away with it, and especially if you know you are not alone - either by doing it in the company of other men, or knowing of other men who are or have done similar things - that to some men may make it, if not right, then at least justifiable to themselves. I am sure we can all think of similar 'crimes' committed against vulnerable individuals in every country. Many of these crimes went largely unpunished for a very long time, maybe even centuries, before in many cases extremely unfavourable publicity opened people's eyes. Society was outraged and the guilty were condemned. So I think there is hope, that some things that have persisted for a very long time can be reigned in by public outrage. The media are often criticised but the way news is broadcast nowadays means that what at one time might have been known to only a few - swept under the carpet syndrome - is now in the public domain for us all to tussle with. The well-known quote: A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes - attributed to Mark Twain - can be corruped to: The truth can travel all the way around the world while the guilty are still protesting their innocence.

Can you explain what's going on in your last photo there, Michael? I assume it is to do with the turtles.

Another Francis, Francis Bacon, had a thing with Popes "Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X is a 1953 painting by the Irish artist Francis Bacon. The work shows a distorted version of the Portrait of Innocent X painted by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez in 1650. The work is one of a series of variants of the Velázquez painting which Bacon executed throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, a total of over 45 works. The picture was described by Gilles Deleuze as an example of creative re-interpretation of the classical. When asked why he was compelled to revisit the subject so often, Bacon replied that he had nothing against the Popes, that he merely sought "an excuse to use these colours, and you can't give ordinary clothes that purple colour without getting into a sort of false fauve manner." In Bacon's version of Velázquez's masterpiece, the Pope is shown screaming yet his voice is "silenced" by the enclosing drapes and dark rich colors. The dark colors of the background lend a grotesque and nightmarish tone to the painting. The pleated curtains of the backdrop are rendered transparent and appear to fall through the representation of the Pope's face." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_after_Vel%C3%A1zquez%27s_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X

ARGENTINE president Cristina Kirchner has scathingly branded Falkland Islanders "squatters" after they sent a resounding message that they wish to remain British in a referendum yesterday. You can read more, plus the bonus of seeing this virago displaying her charms, at: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/383929/Argentine-president-dismisses-Falklands-vote-as-a-parody-and-calls-islanders-squatters Pope Francis Election Highlights 'Frosty' Relationship With Argentina President de Kirchner http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/13/pope-francis-argentina-president-de-kirchner-relationship_n_2870736.html?1363213509&utm_hp_ref=uk As the new Pope has a sky high in-tray, l would hope he keeps his thoughts to himself over the long-running Falklands saga. Later: Wishful thinking! It seems he's likely to be pestered by Mrs Kirchner according to recent history, plus he has a track record of outspokeness. See also the video clip in the Huffington Post article, which includes reference to the 1976 - 83 so-called Dirty War. Here's another look at the Pope's track record over the years: Pope Francis haunted by Argentina’s Dirty War http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/pope-francis-haunted-by-argentina-s-dirty-war-1-2835826

Celibacy! Not something many readers of this forum are likely to be contemplating, but interesting nevertheless. Why do some people do it? Following revelations about the sexual indiscretions of Cardinal Keith O'Brien, some questioned how feasible it is to live a celibate life. Many people wrote in to share their own stories and experiences of celibacy, abstinence and otherwise living without sex. Here's one man's response: Many other men and women's stories on this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21739640

Further to Ultimo's comment regarding an individual who isn't well, we have to bear in mind that can cover a whole range of conditions. For example I was really shocked to read an article recently where I learned that between 1993 and last year 900 people in Britain had been homicide victims. Not from all causes, but specifically from a person with mental health problems. The majority of victims were people known to the killer, but quite a few were completely random assaults. We touched on this briefly in the thread in the Beer Bar several months ago in relation to the gun killings in America. It is thought the true figure may be around 100 victims a year in Britain. In the late '80's a very good friend of our family was killed by a patient in a psychiatric hospital environment. She was a health service professsional just doing her job, then Wham! The hospital social services were found to have been negligent in their care of a highly disturbed individual. I'm no psychiatrist, but when people start acting strangely we need to take note. As so often happens, people are wise after the event, so that people like social workers, doctors etc who ought to have taken preventative action, either did nothing or were ineffectual. So if the person referred to in the previous post is reading this, get a grip mate, you almost certainly need help.

Anyone heard of chicken class? No, not those! Just a name for a secret cabin where you can smuggle your kids in 'under wraps'.under the noses of those snooty types lording it in the A380 business class bar.

Ok, I know it says fave photo of the day, and I've already done three. This is the final one for today.