Star Trek Inspirational Posters. This one reads: “CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK. I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.”
Related: Demotivators.
(Via.)
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Year: 2007
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Thailand’s Amulet Craze
Jennifer Chen has an excellent story in the Wall Street Journal about Thailand’s Jatukam Ramathep amulets. Don’t miss it.
Not so long ago, Nakhon Si Thammarat was a sleepy town with no obvious tourist attractions — or tourists. Its economy revolved around shrimp farming and fishing.
Now this provincial capital in southern Thailand is crawling with thousands of visitors each week. The big draw: amulets, some as small as three centimeters wide, called Jatukam Ramathep.
Thais are big believers in the supernatural. Amulets, which come in various materials and sizes and are usually worn around the neck, are basically lucky charms thought to have magical powers that protect from physical and spiritual harm as well as bring good fortune. Thailand is predominantly a Buddhist country and the amulets usually depict famous monks or the Buddha.
Thailand has seen its share of amulet crazes over the years. But the Jatukam Ramathep medallion — which depicts a mythical figure that resembles a Hindu god with multiple arms and heads — has set new heights in the annals of amulet history. And at its birthplace in the town of Nakhon Si Thammarat, most buyers seem to be snapping them up more for their supposed power to deliver instant riches than for their promise of good health…
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Thai Voters Approve New Constitution
Thailand’s voters have approved an army-drafted constitution, but a hefty “No” vote suggests December’s general election will be messy, with ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra still a potent political force.
With 98 percent of votes counted on Monday in Thailand’s first referendum, the Election Commission said about 57 percent of people had accepted the charter, designed to prevent a repeat of Thaksin’s powerful single-party style of government.
However, 41 percent rejected it, sending a signal to the generals who removed the telecoms billionaire in a coup last September that they will struggle to control the make-up of the next administration.
Roughly 25 million of the 45 million electorate cast their ballots, a 56 percent turnout.
Having pressed for a “Yes” vote, the army-appointed post-coup government had been hoping for at least a 60 percent turnout for what will be the 18th charter in 75 years of on-off democracy.
Bangkok Pundit has more details.
I’ve got a travel story in today’s New York Times. It’s about how Bangkok’s legendary Khao San Road, long a meeting place for backpackers, now offers a variety of upscale amenities.
The guy selling spears of chilled guava down the street sports a Chelsea football jersey. Everywhere in soccer-mad Bangkok, in fact, people wear garments proclaiming their affiliation with one or another English Premier League team. But one jersey you’re unlikely to spot? That of Manchester City. It’s not because City has struggled, unsuccessfully, for three decades now to emerge from the shadow of its more moneyed crosstown rival, Manchester United. Even Birmingham’s lackluster Aston Villa, after all, maintains a dogged fan base in Thailand’s capital. No, the reason Manchester City is taboo in Bangkok is because its new owner is ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra…
Gaisma provides “sunrise, sunset, dusk and dawn times for thousands of locations all over the world.”
The image above is “Manhattanhenge: A New York Sunset,” by Neil deGrasse Tyson via APOD.
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Strange Maps: Three Views of the US
Here’re three amusing visions of the US from the blog Strange Maps: The United States of Florida, Ex Unum Pluribus: New American Nations, and (pictured above) The United Countries of Baseball.
![Bangkok from a Window [not my image]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1132/1071742340_0029faa16e_m.jpg)
That’s the name of Stephen Cysewski’s photo gallery, where you’ll find various images of Bangkok as seen through “Taxis, Cars, Buses, and Trains.” Don’t miss it.
![Hello Kitty Armband for Misbehaving Thai Police [not my image]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1169/1067467536_17d87a538c_o.jpg)
I’d seen this amusing item a few days back, but thanks to reader Paul D for pointing it out again.
Seth Mydans, in the New York Times:
It is the pink armband of shame for wayward police officers, as cute as can be with a Hello Kitty face and a pair of linked hearts.
No matter how many ribbons for valor a Thai officer may wear, if he parks in the wrong place, or shows up late for work, or is seen dropping a bit of litter on the sidewalk, he can be ordered to wear the insignia.
“Simple warnings no longer work,” said Pongpat Chayaphan, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, who instituted the new humiliation this week.
“This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,” he said. “Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps.”
Ten of the armbands have been prepared, but so far none have actually been issued, according to an officer who declined to give his name while discussing this sensitive topic.
Related: The Hello Kitty Jet.
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Bangkok, Maine?
My cell phone rang at 2:41 a.m. today. I had been in a deep sleep and was more than a little confused when I answered.
Me: “Hello, this is Newley.”
Woman with an American accent: “Oh, Hi is this John in…?”
Me: “Sorry, no. I think you have the wrong number. This is Newley in Bangkok.”
Woman: “Oh, wow, sorry about that. You’re in Bangkok, Maine?”
Me: “No, no. Bangkok, Thailand.”
Woman [laughing]: “Oh, wow. That’s amazing! Sorry!”
Me: “That’s okay. It’s a small world.*”
Then I hung up.
Two notes and an asterisk:
1. I think she meant Bangor, Maine, although she clearly said “Bangkok, Maine.” I assume she was calling from somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, because…
2. I have a Washington, DC area code phone number that routes, via Skype, to my cell phone here in Thailand.
If I was confused that a strange woman was calling me from America in the middle of the night, imagine how bewildered she must have been to dial a DC-area code number and reach…an English-speaking stranger in Thailand.
*I’m not sure exactly what I meant by “it’s a small world.” I imagine I was trying to say something along the lines of:
“Hey, isn’t it nuts how in this crazy day and age you can be just, like, trying to call your buddy John to say come on over to our surprise party tonight for Martha, who’s turning 50, and be sure to bring some of those Lays chips that she likes, and also a card, and then next thing you know the streams are crossed because of a solar flare and you’re talking to somebody totally different on the other side of the world — can you believe cell phones these days?”
But it didn’t come out like that.