March 2009

What I’ve been reading

March 16, 2009

I just got back from eight incredible days in Bangladesh. More on that soon.

In the meantime, here’re some links that’ve caught my eye of late:

  • The Wire creator David Simon in the WaPo: “In Baltimore, No One Left to Press the Police”1
  • Youtube video (embedded below): “A look at the Peel P50 and Peel Trident microcars built in Peel, Isle of Man in the mid-1960s”2

  • This WSJ book review is several months old, but it’s worth reading. It’s a look at a book about author Robert Pirsig and the sad story behind Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.3
  • Journalism.co.uk: “Obama’s digital guru (aka Thomas Gensemer) at City: ‘Email is still the killer app‘”
  • Daily Routines: Michael Lewis on writing. My favorite part:

    But I’ve written in awful enough situations that I know that the quality of the prose doesn’t depend on the circumstance in which it is composed. I don’t believe the muse visits you. I believe that you visit the muse. If you wait for that “perfect moment” you’re not going to be very productive.

  • Kevin Kelly’s Street Use blog on technological improvisation here in Thailand.
  • John Stewart shakes his fist at Twitter.
  1. Thanks to A for the link. [↩]
  2. Thanks to my dad for the link. [↩]
  3. Thanks to J for reminding me about this book. [↩]

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Back next week

March 10, 2009

Quick note: I’ve been on the road since Friday and have only limited Web access. I’ll be back and blogging next week.

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Thai students pay to get fast food jobs in the US

March 4, 2009

Some snips from an interesting Global Post story: “McDreaming in Thailand”

The girls bunked three-deep in a run-down Best Value Inn room, each of them far from home and earning minimum wage at the McDonald’s franchise inside Pittsburgh International Airport.

Jiratchaya Intarakhumwong and her friends — law, English and business students at some of Thailand’s most elite universities — had adopted an immigrant’s life.

Jiratchaya would wake before the first light, don her McDonald’s uniform in cramped quarters and catch a shuttle bus to the airport. The morning shift began at 6 a.m.

The days were long, the work was repetitive and customers sometimes grew impatient with her sparse English. But after her tour was over, she arrived back in Bangkok with a highly sought after bullet point on her resume: foreign work experience.

This summer, thousands of young Thais will replicate Jiratchaya’s experience in America, piling into cheap hotels and apartments to work jobs often left to poor Americans and immigrants with few options.

The Thai students, however, will actually pay for the privilege of frying burgers and bagging fries.

This phenomenon is known as “work trah-VUHL” in Thai. It’s fueled by Bangkok’s upper-middle class families, who pay work travel agencies upwards of $3,000 — a small fortune in Thai currency — to arrange fast food jobs in America. And it’s a testament to Thai employers’ high regard for American work experience, even if that experience consists of ringing up Big Macs.

And:

In the highly competitive post-college job circuit, a stint abroad shows initiative. Even former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra once worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in the U.S.

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“Just give me the damn sepak takraw ball”

March 3, 2009

I mentioned this hilarious fake news report from The Onion last year, but the clip (embedded above) is worth checking out again. Thanks to J and S for reminding me about this gem.

Some tidbits I like:

  • “Thuy touches rattan on 85 percent of the Tigers’ volleys…”
  • The team names: Chon Buri Tigers and Mae Hong Son Water Lillies (not real names)
  • The reference to Wat Phra Kaew
  • The reference to sepak takraw players “releasing their own luk thung albums”
  • The reference to Thai bean custard

But wait — there’s more. Much more.

For a painstakingly annotated version of the complete transcript, see this excellent blog post. Even old Thailand hands will be surprised at the level of takraw-related detail packed into the video.

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Thai Waffle-coated hot dog: in the news

March 2, 2009

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry.

The Thai waffle-coated hot dog, which you’ll remember that I consumed in Kanchanaburi in late 2007, has been featured on what is currently the Internerd’s most popular bad-food blog, This Is Why You’re Fat. TIWYF (tag line: “Where dreams become heart attacks”) mentions the creation here.

To have this Thai dish featured alongside the Carny Casserole, the Jabaconageburger With Cheese, and the Mega Double Stuff Oreo is an honor.

I think.

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