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Why Thailand is Better Than Your Country

MilkmanDan says...

Pretty good video. Specific things:

Too many prostitutes: Most of the non-Thai people that complain about this went to the wrong places in Thailand. Pattaya was a tiny fishing village before the Vietnam war. Then, soldiers started getting shipped into the country for R&R. The Thai government didn't really know what to do with them, so they sorta passed the buck and decided to send them to Pattaya to relax. Bunch of stressed out dudes there, nothing to do, high demand for alternate activities ... the market answered.

Fast forward to today, and Pattaya knows exactly what put it on the map. I hate that place -- it is like what would happen if you took the worst/sleaziest elements of Vegas and Tijuana, and then built a "city" around it. Shittiest beach in Thailand, chock full of sleaze, disgusting. However, it is one of the most major tourist destinations. Gee, why could that be? Is it in spite of the nature of the place, or because of it? No false advertising here, you know what you're getting when you book a trip there. And if that is your thing, more power to ya.

Now, I don't want to act like prostitution exists in Pattaya and Soi Cowboy / Patpong in Bangkok, and is absent elsewhere. Far from it. Every town, down on to tiny ones, likely has a red-light district and brothels. The ones you hear about are sex tourism pits like those major ones, but the trade is alive and well pretty much everywhere -- and mostly caters to local Thais.

I've honestly never been to such an establishment or sought those services (in 11 years of being here), but I don't care that they are available. The most significant negative is that they are NOT well-regulated like, say, what I've heard about Amsterdam. Prostitution is technically illegal in Thailand. So the de-facto situation is that brothels have to pay protection money to police in order to avoid getting shut down or "inspected", etc.

Corruption is a major problem -- much worse than prostitution, in my opinion.


Too many ladyboys: It is certainly true that there are more trans people per capita here than pretty much anywhere else that I know of. It took me a while, being a country kid from Kansas, but I see that in pretty much the same light as the German narrator in the video at this point. Acceptance is good. You do you, man.

As a stereotype on the flip side of the coin, I think the ladyboys tend to be great in custom interaction kinds of jobs. Cashiers at 7-11, waitpeople at restaurants, etc. Polite, attentive, helpful. And often the most willing to attempt to use English. A lot of the best students that I've taught English to have been ladyboy leaning.


Freedom: I'm with @Mordhaus here. When your personal liberty is mainly due to the apathy / incompetence of the governing authority, and they may choose to get off their asses and revoke that at any time ... perhaps it isn't something to brag about. Very basic stuff like dissenting speech and protesting is met with being carted off for little re-education chats, etc. Pretty scary shit, actually.


Basically I tend to think that just like anywhere on Earth, there's a lot of good here and plenty of bad too. There's plenty of legitimate gripes with cultural elements and stuff in Thailand, but the most common ones (that the video pretty accurately listed) are pretty insignificant in my opinion.

Bill Maher - Sen. Bernie Sanders

MilkmanDan says...

Thanks for the video reminding me of why (and how much) I like Bernie Sanders.

I liked what he had to say, but on the other hand I really think Maher was asking the right questions and I don't know that Bernie had great answers.

Shattering Trump's cult of personality is necessary. Maybe Trump will do that himself by just continuing to dodge and not follow through on anything, but we can't take that for granted because A) it is possible that he will put forth enough token effort into his campaign promises (wall, etc.) that he can simply blame lack of completion on "Democrat obstruction", and B) even if he does *nothing*, it has totally worked for him so far with regards to approval ratings in his base.

"Make America Great Again" was a stroke of genius, whether he happened on it by dumb luck or not. Obviously a good thing at face value, yet vague enough that anyone can attach their own baggage to it and feel like Trump is totally in sync with them. What do Democrats have to counter that? All of Bernie's offerings are campaign-promise-speak that can't happen unless there's a D in the White House and a majority in Congress. And no sure thing even then.

Like I said, I don't know that I think Bernie had great answers to those questions. I don't know that anybody else has better answers right now. I certainly don't. But I DO think that those questions are the right ones to be pondering over the next two years.

How to Tell a Realistic Fictional Language from Gibberish

Brass Against - Wake Up

MilkmanDan says...

FUCK YEAH!

Accomplishing the guitar solo parts with strong suits of various brass -- sax, trombone, trumpet: Awesome.

Female singer keeping the feel and style of the original (male) vocals, while also putting a unique spin on it: Awesome.

Idea, execution, production: Awesome.

That's a full-on trifecta of badass!

Khruangbin: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

MilkmanDan says...

"Khruangbin" means "airplane" in Thai (literally "machine" khruang + "fly" bin, "flying machine"). So, I assumed it was a Thai band when I saw the name (or that it was in another language and coincidentally like the word in Thai). Interesting that they were inspired by Thai music, which pretty much verifies the origin of the name...

Post-viewing edit:
There's definitely some connections to Thai Country/Folk "Lookthung" music in there, but plenty of other influences also. First song sounded Surf-y to me. I dig the bass in all of 'em.

Top 7 Most Bizarre Musical Instruments of the World

MilkmanDan says...

I knew them all minus the Otamatone (?) thing that didn't work.

My anti-theremin bias remains. The slide whistle could at least produce consistent near pitch-perfect notes if you practiced with it to get used to the slide locations. Theremin seems consistently inconsistent even if you've got masterful steady hands and loads of practice. The voodoo or homeopathy of instruments.

Nirvana Were a Feminist Band

MilkmanDan says...

I knew some of this stuff, but not that. But that seems ... problematic.

Cobain's lyrics were pretty famously difficult to understand. I had no clue what most of the lyrics to Smells Like Teen Spirit were until like 20 years after I first heard it when I was 10. Weird Al's parody of the song directly jabs at this, which a whole verse being:

"It's so unintelligible
I just can't get it through my skull
It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss???
With all these marbles in my mouth"


Considering all of that, if you're listening to "Polly" or "Rape Me" but only hearing half of the words, is it any surprise that people might not fully grasp the message? Might even interpret the songs as being pro instead of anti?

I love Nirvana. I agree with the intended messages of their music (at least, to the extent that I understand them). But any time that a band thinks that they don't want fans who don't agree with their "message", I tend to think it is just pointless.

Lots of bands take very clear political / ethical stances in their music. I can like the music without being fully on board with those messages. Even if I'm utterly opposed to them. I can like Rage Against the Machine without fighting the system. I can like System of a Down without being ... psycho? You might be a registered Republican who likes NOFX, or a registered Democrat who likes Kid Rock or Brooks and Dunn.

Basically, if I like what you're doing musically I don't give two shits about what your message is. The extent to which it might make me like you more or less is very negligible.

kir_mokum said:

"rape me " was written as a reaction to the lack of response and understanding of "polly". basically "oh, that was too difficult to understand? this one should be a little clearer."

Religions/We're All Wrong

Trump Won't Win

MilkmanDan says...

I'm with you on almost all of this.

However, I *still* wouldn't vote for Hillary if it was a Trump / Hillary rematch in 2020 (I voted for Stein, would happily have voted for her or Johnson).

I see the current Trump presidency as a "teaching moment". It teaches a lot of things to people that need to learn them: The electoral college is bullshit. Be careful who you vote for. Don't trust the promises of *any* goddamn politician, ever. If the opponent party is running somebody with a lot of negative baggage, maybe try a milquetoast "bland but acceptable" candidate instead of going full tilt with your own baggage-laden candidate. And on and on.

If 2020 turns out to be Trump vs Clinton again, then clearly those lessons haven't sunk in yet. So, as George Costanza once said: "Wanna get nuts? LETS GET NUTS!"

Mordhaus said:

It was clear he was going to win once the democrat mafia forced Hillary down our throats again. There were a metric fuckton of people who were forced to either sit out the election or sadly vote for the worst possible person just because the dems wouldn't fairly let a candidate be selected.

I DID NOT want Trump to be President. At the same time, I COULD NOT vote for Hillary Clinton. Had Bernie ran, I would have jumped ship and voted for him like I did for Obama. I am willing to bet there were a lot like me. The sad thing is, as much as I dislike Hillary, if she is forced on us again I will have to vote for her. I don't want to, but at that point it will be the lesser of two evils again.

Pedestrian Question - Do You Have a Black Friend?

MOWGLI - Official 1st Trailer

MilkmanDan says...

Cool. I kinda liked the 2016 Disney Jungle Book movie, but they certainly need some reminders about what the public part of Public Domain means. They've benefited massively from it in the past century, but they are working really hard to try to prevent anyone else from doing the same in the next century...

What's Wrong with the British Monarchy? - Jim Jefferies

When dad childproofs the BBQ

MilkmanDan says...

I'm in complete agreement, although there are some edge-case limits. I lost an uncle (well before I was born) to one of them.

Kansas winters are cold and dry. My grandmother liked to deal with both problems by putting a pot to boil on the stove. In the 50's, my father's 3-4 year old brother managed to get enough of a grip and yank on the handle of the pot to pull it over the edge and didn't survive the burns from the scalding water.

Burned fingertips? Lesson learned, will heal. Boiling water or oil? Better keep it out of reach.

CrushBug said:

BBQs and ovens and stove tops and other hot objects are all self-solving problems for kids who like to touch things. Warn them, tell them the consequences, and then they either don't touch it (Win) or the touch it and get burnt and never touch it again (Win).

Dave Grohl's Short Film, 'How I Ended Up In Seattle'

Dave Grohl's Short Film, 'How I Ended Up In Seattle'



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