That's definitely footage from Thailand; that's the distinctive paint job of a CPAC truck. We see this kind of bucket brigade all the time since they are building all around us.
We've found it's easier to contain him rather than cordon off areas we don't want him entering. At this stage, he likes it since he needs the support while standing.
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Previous colors of Max:
monokuro max
red red max
orange max
sepia max
coppermine max
blue max
Last night, Nam, Max, and I saw something I've been expecting to see ever since I came to Thailand.
We had finished dinner at a restaurant just down the road and were on our way home in the Cefiro when we came upon flashing lights at a big curve. A police pickup blocked the view from the rear, but when we passed by we got a clear view of the latest road casualty: A young white cow of the type that used to frequent our yards, locally (and also commonly) known as Brahmans.
When I first started driving around here I was sure this type of accident would be commonplace, but as it turns out, people seem to make sure their animals are in at night. Sometimes cows or small herds of them get away from their keepers during the day when they are set out to graze, but I've never seen them on the roads after dark.
This all leads to the question of liability... It seemed that the only party injured last night was the cow, but that could very easily not have been the case... Which party is legally at fault in Thailand? I only know of one related case, personally: A coworker was driving down a country highway and hit a fighting cock trying to run across. The owner ran out from his house and demanded 3000 Baht ($90 US) in compensation. My coworker refused to pay and drove on, and insists this was both legal and the right thing to do.
I'm going to have to ask more people about this.
Right here.
(It kept crashing for me in Firefox but worked fine in Chrome. I'm using the QuickTime Alternative plugin though, so it just might be me.)
My brother was quick to send over a copy of this book soon after Max was born since (A) it was one of our favorites when we were little, (B) because it was one of the first books featured on Reading Rainbow, and (C) the protagonist is of the story is also named Max.
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Adam also sent this last year:
Over at the Washington Post: Forgetting a child in the back seat of a hot, parked car is a horrifying, inexcusable mistake. But is it a crime?
It's kind of a moot question since it might be hard to find a worse punishment than the guilty are already going through... This was one of the hardest articles to read in recent memory. I tried to relate to the parents in the story, but it's just hard for me to believe that people can completely forget about their own babies in their cars.
Watch:
It was 36.5 degrees C (97.7 F), and the sun was angry at the world.
I won't be trying that again anytime soon.
I'm hosting copies here:
Drum Console (from Wham Rap '86)
Daft Punk Soundboard (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger)
And finally, the BEST flash videos ever, The Offspring's DORAEMON and Yellow Ledbetter Deconstructed
This video was everywhere including the top of Digg a couple weeks ago but I like it a lot, so here it is:
What I really wish they'd do is make a one minute version of Benjamin Button because I fell asleep less than halfway through both times I tried to watch it - and the second time, I started a quarter way through the movie!
The Our New Thai House series must be finished before the subject becomes Our Old Thai House!
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By the end of this period in September/October of 2007, the house was 90% completed.
In some of the photos above you can see a transformer box on the power pole to the right of the house. It took me considerable effort to get it moved from there, but it was of course worth it. Most Thais think its a non-issue, but after I campaigned to get it away from my house, nobody wanted it in front of theirs, either. We kept bothering and trying to bribe the power company to get it moved, to no avail. The man in charge at the power company claimed, out loud, to be incorruptible. This was relayed to me second hand, as foreigners should generally stay away from such negotiations. The intermediary reporting this back to me and the housing developer was sure we had hit a wall. I, however, am a skilled listener.
When a government official in the third world says they can't be bribed, it can mean a few things: It can mean they are newly elected to office and don't know how things work. It can mean they are currently under investigation. It can mean whatever you want to bribe them for isn't possible/available at that specific point in time. Or it can mean your initial offer was too low. What it absolutely does not mean is that the official cannot be bribed under any circumstance.
So we made a better offer. The price to get a transformer moved just down the street in rural Thailand, all-inclusive? 50,000 Baht (approx. $1,500 US). We split the cost down the middle with the developer.
It was worth every satang.
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Previous Our New Thai House entries:
Our New Thai House Part 1 - Picking a Plot
Our New Thai House Part 2 - Foundations
Our New Thai House Part 3 - Groundwork
Lend Zelda an ear, yo:
Note: I'm trying out a Yahoo's embedded media player for audio files I post here. Either (left) click the arrow to the left of the "Remix Medley" link above to play it or download by right-clicking the link directly and choosing "Save as" or equivalent.
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UPDATE: Track list here, mp3 downloaded here, artist's myspace page here.
I blogged about this guy's solo video last year; now he's hooking up his friends to the TENS.
Max is developing at such a fast pace, it's hard to keep track of. I'm just jotting a few notes down here.
- He knows the word "clock" in Thai. If you say it, he looks up at the clock.
- Not only does he like playing with all the remotes in the house, he has started to understand that they control something. He was playing with the TV remote this evening and looking up at the TV every time he pressed a button to see what had changed (nothing, since he was pointing it at himself, but still...)
- He can almost stand up without hanging onto anything.
- He can trick us into putting a finger into his mouth (to munch on) even though we've fallen for it tons of times already. He has this awesome sleight of hand plus angelic face technique that's impossible to resist.
- A couple weeks ago, a ladyboy tried to kiss him and he defended himself with a mighty backhand. I laughed out loud and rescued him.
daddy is busy!
maxie is eating new things every day!
Last week Max was rocking out to a funky Flash drum kit.
A couple years ago I embedded an awesome video of a Daft Punk-based creation.
Today's link is a combination of the two that I'll try out with Max when he wakes up: idaft
The intense high pressure system from China remains over upper Thailand. This causes summer thunderstorm i.e. thundershowers with gust over the country during 14-15 March, 2009. People should beware of severe weather in the period. Wind and wave in the Gulf is strength.
(I really dig whoever updates that website; their English reads like poetry, or bad subtitles, which I love equally.)
China has finally given me something nice, in the form of an intense high pressure system. It rained most of last night quite hard and the temperature this morning is 19.5 degrees C (67 degrees F) as opposed to yesterday at the same time when it was around 35 C (95 F). It is cool and its nice to have a break from the dulling torpidity of the hot season here in Thailand. The baby is sleeping peacefully without a fan or the AC on, which is a blessing in itself.
Monkey gets revenge on owner who forced him to climb trees for coconuts...
The punchline is in the second half of the title, which is why I cut it off.
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This comic strip, apparently known as the End of Calvin, made me really sad:
(click for full size)
This guy compiled all of the "grown up" Calvin & Hobbes strips he could find on the net: LINK
Don't forget to look through the comments there, either, because that's where I found the antidote for the above strip:
(click for full size)
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The best toilet design, ever
(made by the genius can coffee otaku squad at Georgia)
Dunno why, but this forwarded meme had me LOLing at the office all day:
Even though the thru-you site is still down, you can see an explanation of kutiman's work on the YouTube page of this video.
Out of all the fucking glorious mountains in the world, why is Mt. Fuji so universally beloved?
I can't believe nobody's ever written this before. So I reiterate: FUCK FUJIYAMA*
Some people like mountain climbing; I like mountain hating. FUCK YOU FUJISAN, YOU STUPID DORMANT VOLCANO!
Also, just to cover all bases: FRAK YOU, MT. FUJI!!!
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* For some reason, Thais call it Fujiyama. I hadn't even heard this word until I came to Thailand, but wikipedia says, "Fuji-san is sometimes referred to as 'Fujiyama' in some Western texts, but this reading is not correct in standard Japanese."
** This post was spurred by this comment.
In other news, I'm almost done grading and might even be able to start taking photos and posting here more often. I have a couple of gnarly photo sets coming up that will make you cover your eyes and leap back in abject terror...
....is explained very well here.
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Here's a quick and confusing primer, mostly for myself:
The following should be appended to the end of a YouTube link:
#t=??m!!s
(In the above, ?? = minutes; !!=seconds)
So if you wanted to link to the neck-cracking part of my jamke video (at 00:39), it would look like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePWjQ3DL-yI#t=00m39s
BONUS HACK: In the comments of the link at the top of this post, it also explains that adding the following will force the HD version of the vid to show (if available):
&fmt=18
Calling all drummers!
Just thought I'd amend my statement from the other day:
NOBODY WALKS IN THAILAND --> THAIS GENERALLY AVOID WALKING AT ALL COST
Because, obviously, I am in Thailand, and I am walking.
Also, the only other guy I saw walking on my way home today was an illegal Shan.
I usually walk home from my university's (Rajabhat Mahasarakham University) campus through another university's (Maha Sarakham University) secondary campus, and then down a four lane highway to the entrance of our community. People offer me rides all the time, even if they don't know me. They stop to ask what's wrong. As in, did my car break down or something? And do I need a lift to the garage? This can be attributed to:
- The fact that Thai people are really nice
- Quite a few people that know me are driving the streets (although most of the people that stop don't know me)
- When Thais see somebody walking on the side of the road, they automatically think something is wrong
Your ride is a status symbol in any vertical society, but especially so in Thailand. The social pecking order (not related to right of way, et al.) goes something like this:
People in new or VIP cars --> people in new 4 door pickups --> people in new 2 door pickups or new non-VIP cars --> people in classic cars --> people in old (>3 years approx.) cars --> people on motorbikes --> truckers --> people using public transportation --> people on motorized farm vehicles made by Kubota --> people on motorized farm vehicles, non-Kubota --> people riding donkey pushcarts pulled by water buffalo --> people riding in imaginary sidecars --> bicyclists --> skaters --> and finally, the lowly pedestrians who have somehow reverted to bipedal locomotion.
For me to willingly go from the top of that list to the bottom (many car people think I maintain the best ride in town - my wife's Cefiro A33 Brougham with VQ30, plus my car, the '71 Crown) and hoof it in the hot sun is simply incomprehensible to the natives. Some people at work were apparently asking why I was walking home the other day, even though I had already explained I just wanted to walk for the exercise. I must make it clear to them I guess: I AM THE WALKING DUDE.
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Maybe I should change into running clothes and a sweatband before I start walking every day. Maybe it's not so wrong to think that there's something strange about a fat guy in semi-formal attire sweating to death on the side of the road.
From my inbox. Artist's name is Tim Doyle.
There's an article up at the NY Times about how the global economic crisis is affecting the area where we're living: In Southeast Asia, Unemployed Abandon Cities for Their Villages
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