Rogie

What was the reaction of the gay community to this guy's prison sentence i wonder? For example any sympathetic articles written in the pink press or related websites? As we all know the gay community get very hot under the collar about this sort of thing.

Poco + ? = Koko + Loco I'm not quite clear what kind of backpack it was you saw Koko. Is it similar to that commonly used these days shaped like a small version of the rucksacks backpackers favour? Maybe 20 Litre capacity or so, made of synthetic fabric. During Rogie's schooldays the schoolboys used a satchel made out of leather which was worn like a backpack with a strap over each shoulder. I suppose it could be carried but was designed to be worn on the back.

Sorry to butt in again! There is some discussion on the Today's Quiz thread in the Beer Bar about emoticons. Maybe whilst the update is bedding down it would be possible to expand the smiley repetoire?

Yes I noticed that too but in fairness I am pretty sure (sorry, can't be 100% sure) it was happening exactly as GB describes before Scooby started this thread telling us about the update/upgrade whatever. It seems to work ok with some browsers but not others. Last time I checked it was ok with I.E. but not Firefox. I'm on Firefox now so I'll go back right now and edit this post. Later: Firefox still not working properly. Ditto Chrome, just tried that too. Now trying I.E. Nope, doesn't work either, but ok if I use the 'use full editor' button.

That's true, plenty of laughing or smirking emoticons but not a sausage crying. That's supposedly the beauty of a beard, being able to cry into it, but last time I had one I didn't cry at all, so can't verify that particular aspect of a beard's usefulness. Probably doesn't have one except to save time shaving or to hide a double chin or sagging neck. You can tell I'm in a funny mood today, all this waffling. Now down to business. Let's have some hip icons, hear hear, well said. But please not too many, some Message Boards seem to have dozens, some quite risque IMO. I don't really want to see two smileys having it off, so keep them tasteful - pretty please!

That''ll teach me. I did of course intend to say: Compared to GBT's 1,500 metre runner, GT is a heptathlete. i.e. Gaybuttonthai consists of the Message Board and its several Forums. Gay Thailand is many other things in addition (although to be fair I don't use the other functions of the site, so effectively GBT and GT are on a par as far as my particular usage of them goes).

Understandable mistake! I assume you don't live in Thailand Daddydawg, otherwise you would know about the heavy rains in parts of the country. A good idea to post that link as I knew there'd been flooding around Sukhothai but not that it has been so widespread. There has been flooding in 15 provinces in the past week.

That illustration is a great way of looking at it - the Redwood is taller but the Sequoia is immense in terms of cubic volume. Whereas the Tasmanian trees are at least 180 cubic metres (cu m) the Sequoias are nearly 1,500 cu m.

My heart's with GB but my head's with Michael. In addition, and speaking as a total non-geek, is it possible that GT and GBT are quite different? GT seems to me to be quite 'complicated',. perhaps bespoke, whereas in comparison GBT appears to me as off-the-peg, or ready to wear in tailoring parlance. Where GBT scores is the total lack of advertising. But, compared to GT's 1,500 metre runner, GBT is a heptathlete. In very simplistic terms, GBT is BBC to GT's ITV

I well remember some confectionary called Munchies made by Rowntrees. Wouldn't touch 'em nowadays as they're made by Nestles but in my youth they were most agreeable. And here is what has to be one of the best blogs ever devised! CANDYBLOG http://www.candyblog.net/blog/item/head_to_head_smarties_vs_mms/

Blue whales are definitely on the L-A-R-G-E size . . . http://en.wikipedia....Blue_whale#Size Here's a nice website devoted to L-A-R-G-E trees in Tasmania. 'Biggest hardwood trees in the world!' http://www.gianttrees.com.au/ So these trees are longer than the blue whale and I assume a lot heavier also. Koko says they weigh 1,000 tons. Some of you are probably thinking "I thought the biggest or tallest trees were the ones referred to already, the Sequoias". So, are the Tasmanians telling fibs?

The press in Thailand are often seen as a bit toothless, by which I mean the English-language papers the Bangkok Post and The Nation. I can't comment on the Thai language papers as I don't read Thai. Some people, far more knowledgeable than me, reckon The Nation is skewed in favour of the 'establishment'. Well I don't know if it is or not and I realise the article quoted by FH is post # 11 appeared in the Bangkok Post with the rather catchy title . . . Yes, We do know who your daddy is . . . so the press are quite capable of putting into print what many of us are thinking on Forums such as this one. It's not like we're some group of raving extremists! We're just saying the obvious. It is the privileged few - those protected by the power of patronage - who have their heads in the sand. However, I could be wrong but suspect the Thai-language press are more restrained in their criticisms; hopefully I am wrong and they aren't afraid to vent their spleen too. Unless those 'with the right connections to the patronage network' can hear the mutterings of discontent getting louder and louder they'll just laugh and dismiss it as nothing to worry their precious little heads about. The press is in the vanguard of trying its best to keep the flag flying for justice for all irrespective of one's position in society, but really and truly it should be the people, not the press. People like university professors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, bankers, businessmen, indeed all the professions that in an ideal world would wield influence. The universities seem to be particularly quiet, maybe there are some noises but I haven't heard any. One group that could 'wield influence' if done in the right way would be the Buddhist clergy if that's the right word to use. The top monks. Does Thailand have anybody equivalent to say the Archbishop of Canterbury? Yes, he is head of the Church of England, but Archbishops over the years have never shied away from criticising governments or percieved inequalities in society. In a country such as Thailand where, unlike Britain where religion is fairly low-key these days, Buddhism is taken very seriously by most of its people, whatever their social standing, perhaps religious input into the problem we are discussing really could make a difference.

Indeed. No point in bothering about anything that can't be changed. The unstoppable force of impotent outrage meets the status quo of the immovable object. But of course it can be changed! Perhaps undermined is a better way of thinking of it. If the present system of patronage can be undermined. But can it? Undermined suggests a change from within. So for example if the head of the extremenly wealthy Red Bull dynasty denounces his son who killed a policeman. Is that so unlikely? In Thailand yes it is. But I would like to think if something similar were to happen in my country, the UK, the reaction would be different. Richard Branson has two children, so let's suppose one of them, his son Sam, had partied, got behind the wheel of a fast car and killed somebody by careless driving, the whole nation would be hanging on his every word. Would he condemn his son or would be try and make excuses? As a loving father he would probably do his best to stand by his son, but his hands would be tied, justice would prevail, the courts would hand down the sentence and the son would have to live with the consequences of his actions. Branson would also say how sorry he was that an innocent person or people had died and make other suitable noises. Justice would be seen to be done.

Ah, I see - thank you for your observations FH and TW. So if a 2 minute conversation in English takes 20m in Thai, a 2 hour one spoken in Thai would take only 12m when condensed into English. Or, if you genuinely did need to talk for 2 hr in English, that'd equate to 20 hr in Thai - allowing for eating anf toilet breaks that's a full day!

Does M and M stand for anything? I don't think I've ever scoffed one. I don't remember them being around when I was a kid but could well have a memory lapse. Would it be possible to make a healthy version? Say with soya replacing whatever they are made of. Like TW I hate to think what their glycaemic index is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index Wouln't it be great to polish off 10,000 of the healthy version of M and M's and be able to point to a 'new you'. Svelte figure and razor-sharpe brain buzzing with high octane alertness.

Why not ask him? What Thai boy doesn't love his mama? 2 hours does seem a bit excessive though. If both your bf and his mother can chat for 2 hours it doesn't look like they lead very busy lives. Does he have a job?

Reminds me of garden fetes and guess the number of sweets in the jar. Ah, but is that official? Might be worth contacting Guinness to try and claim a new world record.

Ha! That means khun FH knows but is kindly allowing the rest of us to torture ourselves trying to guess (without cheating). Khun koko mentions a body part that keeps growing and the only one I can think of is the hair on your scalp. So is that a kind of analogy? Some organism that grows in the way hair does, getting bigger and bigger. If so how is it nourished? From the soil or from the sea. Ah, as I am writing I now see a post from Khun KT. Maybe I am on the right track. . . A few minuted later: Yes, I was on the right track. I promise I did not cheat and did not read KT's link until just now! However clues were provided so it was just a matter of following them.

This topic was started to discuss corruption and so it is only fair to return to that. I got carried away a little by broadening the terms of the word 'war'. I hope I did not offend any of out mermbers who live in Thailand permanently, what I was suggesting is easier said than done and of course myself as just a frequent visitor ought to take up that particular 'cudgel' too, although an ex-pat is going to see more and be more aware of what's happening around him because he's living in Thailand 24/7. One could also point the finger at resident foreigners in high places who really ought to do more. I am thinking of people attached to Embassies and Consulates. Some of these people fit into the category of 'cosy' I used before. They don't want to rock the boat, certainly, but seem to fight shy when they could be more outspoken. The attitude of the American ambassador in the Joe Gordon issue comes to mind - enough said. It seems these are interesting times in Hong Kong. There is an article on the BBC website. As China appears to be a corrupt country, or rather a country whose rulers and decision makers and those in positions of authority are corrupt, this suggests to me Hong Kong is aware of this and is fightling tooth and nail to keep its institutions 'transparent and accountable', in other words as corruption-free as possible. Maybe khun FH would like to comment on these developments in Hong Kong. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19529867

Ok, I'll go first. I don't know the answer but my guess would be something like the Great Barrier Reef. I don't think that's is the right answer because I assume that although the coral is present in large amounts it is comprised of individuals.

This topic follows on naturally from the More Fighting in Thailand in the next two months threadwhich has probably run its course as clearly there wasn't any. There's the war of ideas and action needed to fight corruption - that's the kind of war meant by khun FH in the quote above. The other kind of war involves fighting the enemy, whether it be with cudgels or with tanks, the kind discussed in the thread I referred to above. Which kind of 'war' is more likely to happen? Almost certainly the 'fighting with cudgels' version is the more likely to happen because there are several possible reasons for it to happen. Here are three, no doubt there are others: 1. The Thaksin issue 2. The issue that cannot be discussed on this Forum 3. Inequality, unfair treatment, corruption My hunch is #1 is less likely to happen with the passage of time. I have no evidence for that belief other than the old saying 'time is a great healer'. Maybe a poor comparison, but look at Bill Clinton, left office in disgrace but now heralded, at least by many in the Democrat Party, as some kind of Grand Old Man having given a speech at the meeting to confirm Obama as their candidate for the forthcoming election. #2 is not open for discussion As for #3 the obvious way to hopefully prevent that happening is to wage the war on corruption. But any war on corruption is in for the long haul, surely time is not on its side. And its chances of success are pretty poor, let's face it. One of the things that some find irritating is when a 'noisy' farang complains about something in Thailand. Some will say in very many cases he is being unrealistic, it's not his country, leave them (the Thais) to get on with it and what's more don't try to tell them what to do! Fair enough, but most of those things are trivial in comparison to what we are discussing here. Corruption is not trivial, it is ingrained and it is insidious. I hold the strong opinion that farang should speak out against corruption. If they come across it in their dealings with Thais speak out. Speak out man! Don't just shrug your shoulders and mutter under your breath, make your objection known. Now I know some will say, don't ruffle any feathers or upset the (cosy) apple cart. Yes, it can be cosy for ex-pats. They don't want their nice easy life disturbed. But surely anyone coming across corruption and keeping quiet or making some lame excuse why they shouldn't object is helping to perpetuate the system. I would be interested to know if any ex-pats reading my comments think I am talking a load of baloney. If so, please tell me why. I'm quite prepared to be told I am naive but that's no crime. What is a crime IMHO is turning a blind eye to obvious corruption. And it is obvious, bleeding obvious. If things in Thailand go badly wrong, it could easily be a matter of life and death. One of our posters, khun KhorTose, said this on the More Fighting in Thailand in the next two months thread:

My next guess is it is a kind of folk remedy to be applied to the affected extremity (are you with me?) in order to revitalise it. The stuff is mixed in the bowl with a little water and the resulting gooey paste is used sparingly. The result is often a disappointment but the practitioner usually warns the patient against false hopes.

No don't recognise the badge, looks like a Caucasian male (or could be a woman) dressed in black, looks a bit old-fashioned. On closer examination, whatever it is appears to be round with a hole in the middle, so I'll guess it's pasta, maybe similar to those spaghetti hoops Heinz sell in tins.

I've no idea! Is it something edible or not?

Are you quite sure FH? For 15 ringgits which is only about 150 baht you can enjoy the comforts of the dorm room and the promise of sweaty feet (don't all young men wear those awful trainers which being made of synthetic material stink to high heaven), smells from the shared bathroom and copious snoring. Surely enough to keep even the most pesky gecko away!