New App For iPhone

Just read on TechCrunch about a new app for iPhone which sounds pretty cool if it hits the market successfully. It's call nrme (pronounced near me). It's basically like Twitter where you submit a short message, but the difference being that the message gets submitted to all nearby users within a 9 block radius. So there's no follower or followee system. This will especially be cool and useful since you'll get the latest updates about things going on around your vicinity (like whether a bar is over-crowded, there's a major traffic jam in Ekamai, or where to find that good ol' delicious noodle vendor). Though the app's not about socializing, private chats can be initiated with other users, so I can't imagine how this won't end up being a tool for meeting new people around your area. Hopefully, they'll find a way to prevent spam and what not from those abusers.

Anyway, if I'm ever changing phones I think I'm going to get myself an iPhone. Whenever it comes to Thailand that is.

Endings

I'm not really good with endings. There are things I'd stop doing because I can't stand the thought of it ending because it'll make me sad.

Like finishing off the I Am Legend book by Richard Matheson. I didn't know there was a dog in the book also (like the movie) and although it appeared for less than 20 pages I stopped reading after it died. And when I found that there were only 160 pages or so and not 300 pages (turned out that there were all these short stories in the book also), I stopped reading because I didn't want the book to end yet.

Or like buying the 7th Harry Potter book. I'm still preparing myself to finish the last book and couldn't bring myself to buy it yet.

Or like watching Friday Night Lights. I still haven't finished the first season because I couldn't stand seeing Tim Riggins become an alcoholic again when he has so much talent playing football. He's such a tragic hero.

I guess it's kind of pathetic that I'm so weak.

It's not just with books and shows, but on a larger scale of things, these feelings are reflected in a lot of everything.

Samak and His Gang

So many things happening right now in the Thai political arena that it's getting hard to catch up with everything. But the other day I read in either The Nation or Bangkok Post about how Samak Sundaravej, the Thai Prime Minister, was going to form a street gang of 5 if he gets the boot to disrupt the new government. What a thug! I couldn't help but think that there's seriously something wrong with him. He can barely answer a question and he just attacks people left and right. Yesterday I was watching him on TV where the opposition side was accusing him of negligence and being uninformed about issues in the South and they zoomed into him folding a paper origami box. Then they cut to a shot of him making excuses like " I didn't know", but I'm sure we all heard that one before.

Chicken

Yesterday I succumbed to a year's craving of KFC. I already feel an inch thicker. I haven't gone to the gym in two weeks so I'll be going today after work.

My Shadow

There are things I write in here only because I want you to read.. But you never do. There are things I'd like to say to you.. But I don't because I'm frightened. Why don't you ever read these words? You say I listen but I don't hear things. But when you look at me do you actually see me?

Twitter

Twitter is a pretty cool widget to add to any blog so do check it out. It's also pretty cute with very minimalistic functions. It's kind of like the Facebook updates except that you can put it on your blog. I tried to get on it just now but couldn't. I guess there's too many people trying to get on it at the same time.

Get Smart

Last night I went to watch Get Smart at Esplanade. It was good to get in some laughs considering how down I felt the past couple of days. Anyway, the movie's OK. I like Steve Carrell and he always makes me laugh. He's also in Little Miss Sunshine, which is also another great movie to watch.

Some movies that I'm anticipating:

The Dark Knight (I love comic books but I was never into Batman until Christian Bale took the leading role in Batman Begins. Plus, I'm really looking forward to Heath Ledger as the Joker. I love that it's all dark.)

Hellboy 2 (Not a huge fan of the red demon but I'm really looking forward to see all those fantasy creatures in the trailer from the golden army to the long-haired, jigsaw-faced prince with amazing sword moves. I'm a fantasy nut after all.)

Wanted (Another comic book remake. Angelina Jolie looks hot. And the guy is also cute in a dorky way. )

Wall-E (Pixar!!)

I have this Esplanade Cash Card my brother gave me for free so I can watch like 2000 baht worth of movies there, which is pretty cool.

There's also some pretty horrific slasher movies like Asylum and Frontier(s) out, but I don't think I'll watch them because it'll make me too squirmish.

Emotions

Three emotions I feel nowadays:

Indifference, Anger, and Sadness

It's not right for me to be angry and take it out on YOU (at least that was never my intention), but when I look at you and see that even YOU don't have faith in me, I feel that nothing matters any more and I fall into indifference. It's becoming so easy to say I Don't Know or I Don't Care again.

Desperation

The eyes that opened up that morning looked calm with a shade of mania and bewilderment, as though she was searching for another pair of eyes to comfort her. Not finding them, she looked pleadingly at me with such sorrow in her eyes as they silently screamed for help. Her eyes were glazed over by fresh new tears as they rolled down her cheeks. It’s so easy to cry these days. There were so much anguish and despair. Everyday she wakes up thinking that one person will love her less. She held onto her blanket to feel the warmth because her body felt cold. Her right hand still ached. But she didn’t mind it. She tried making a fist and grimaced at the pain that shot up her arm. She opened up her hand again, flexing it slowly to see the extent of the damage she did to herself last night. It was OK. The skin around her knuckles were still pink and raw, but beginning to heal. The bruises were still there. At least the scars weren’t as obvious as cutting.

She said that dreams always walk hand in hand with anxiety and confusion. And this was her part in dealing with her anxiety and confusion. She laughed at how cornered she sounded, like a sleek-furred fox caught in a foothold trap waiting for the dreaded hunter to pierce the forest calm with the loud explosion of a rifle. It was desperation, just as the fox would chew its leg off to escape death. She slowly got up and tried brushing her long black hair with a wooden comb. It took twice the effort to do it because her index and middle fingers were swollen and throbbing.

Nathia

Today Nathia took a day off from work. It's Monday. She's been taking quite a few days off work already, for one reason or another. She says that she doesn't feel like going into work because she doesn't feel good. She said it'll be OK, because she really was sick last week, but still went to work. They'll just think that her illness got worst over the weekend. She went back to sleep and woke up at noon.

Nathia looked and felt like a zombie throughout the day. She had bags under her eyes. The area under her eyes were already usually dark so this morning she looked extra sick. Her face was ashen pale. She didn't even bother to brush her hair. She looked like that the rest of the day. Walking around the house yet not really doing anything.

She left the house around 5 today. It looked like it was going to rain but she didn't seem to care. She thought to herself, good, if it rains on her, then she can really be sick. She ended up coming back home, drenched, about half an hour later. She forgot her phone. And while she was making calls in the public phone, she forgot her pink umbrella she bought overseas in the phone booth. It was gone by the time she went back to look for it, which was less than 5 minutes later. She looked upset.

She sat on the sofa and bent over, her hands clutching her wet hair. This doesn't look too good. She felt a sudden rage. She needed to hit something. The anger was like a black hole, sucking everything sane with such aggressive velocity that no thoughts were left. She saw the wall and began punching it. After two or three hits she stopped, bent over in pain, she uttered a little cry. But she continued punching again. This time with more force. Her knuckles began to bleed as her skin split open. Tiny specks of blood splattered on the wall. She stared at them, mesmerized by the angle and beauty of blood, her blood. She smeared the blood on the wall with her fingers. Now her hands were bloody. Her knuckles were oozing blood. She looked at it with satisfaction. They were now purple and bruised. She couldn't even make a fist now because her whole hand was shaking. Every little curl of her fingers sent a shocking pain like pins pricking into the bone. She touched her knuckles tenderly. She winced in pain. Pictures of a dog tending his bloodied wound by licking it came into her head. She smiled at the thought. She probably was like that dog now. She got up and dampened a kitchen towel with a little bit of water. It was time to clean up the bloodied wall, with her other good hand.

Limitations

You know, there are two groups of people in this world.

Ones that are naturally gifted and those that are shackled by chains of their limitations.

It's as though no matter how much work you put into it, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much heart or hope or optimism or faith, no matter how much you try to learn, the results are never as good as what the first group can achieve... creatively, artistically, musically, articulately.

It's just so disheartening.

A Short Story

I’ve decided to write a short story. The working title is called The Butterfly from within the Promised Place. I’ve kind of got the characters, setting and basic plot all written out already so will try to finish it in a month. Hope I don’t get distracted.

Topshop at CentralWorld

Last Saturday I went to Topshop at Centralworld but boy was I disappointed. I was actually looking forward to this new shopping venue in Bangkok because I’ve heard that it was similar to H&M but slightly better. Anyway, I didn’t like it. I thought the material looked and felt cheap for the price. It was like this shop called Cotton On in Australia with the only difference being that I like Cotton On because it was cheap but Topshop being almost as pricey as Zara or MNG. And it wasn’t the price that bugged me I guess but the selection of clothes there. Still, I wish they brought in H&M instead.

Driver's License

On Monday I took a day off and went to extend my driver's license. I got there really early so I got it done really fast. The new driver's license looks a whole lot better also. It looks similar to the Smart Passes you use for your BTS and MRT, all slick and plastic. However, it costs an extra 100 Baht to get it done. Otherwise, you can stick to the old laminated card for 505 Baht. I was really glad that I didn't have to do my practical exams again considering how I passed it only on my third round.

This Friday I'll be taking work off again to get a new passport at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Moving On To Bangkok Governor

So word has it that Khun Nattakorn Thewakul (apologies for butchering his name) is running for Bangkok Governor. I was never really surprised about this considering his dad was a politician and that the man himself sounded pretty knowledgeable about Thai politics and the economy. But I did think, “Gosh, he sure is getting his hands into everything!”

Though he might not be as popular in the entertainment and night life industries, I still think he’s a viable candidate. At least I’d prefer him over some old dinosaur crony of Samak’s any time.

Reported by the media, he’s been saying that he will crack down pretty hard on night life, especially in terms of prostitutions, as well as organizing and putting order back onto the streets of Thailand. I don’t really have a problem with this unless he starts closing up clubs at 10 PM.

Another tidbit - since I worked at Radio Thailand during the weekend before, we’d have this segment call the Stock Report during the afternoon news hour where we’d call him up and have him say a few things about the economy. I usually zone out when he begins rambling about stock and business news though.

The Case of the Vanishing Cockroach

Occasionally when I get home I'd see one or two dead cockroaches in the garage. Anybody that have seen my garage knows its dirty and old beyond repair. It's covered with boxes, newspapers, old tires and pipes, cement blocks, etc so it's not really surprizing if Remy's family is stirring up a stew in there. Being lazy and tired I'd leave the task of sweeping it away the next morning. Now the odd thing is that sometimes when I wake up the cockroaches would be gone. What does this mean? Did the rats or cats eat it? Was it really not dead but only pretending to be? Did the wind blow it away? I always wonder why the cockroaches vanish in the morning. Maybe there's a helpful garden gnome that cleans up my garage while I lay in bed asleep.

The First Black Presidential Nominee

CNN has reported that Obama has now become the first black presidential nominee.

This is definitely something to rejoice about huh? History has really come a long way.

The Frog Riddle

If a frog fell down a 50 m well and it takes 3 m a day to climb back up but the frog slips back down 2 m every time. How long will it take to get out of the well?

Taxi Fares To Rise

Taxi fares are speculated to rise as reported by the Bangkok Post and the Nation from tentatively 35 baht starting price to 40 baht.

Everything's just getting more and more expensive these days. My salary should go up too!

Wonderful Town

On Saturday I went to watch an independent film by Aditya Assarat (pronounced Athit as in sun) called Wonderful Town at CentralWorld.

It’s about an architect name Ton from Bangkok who was sent to a small town in Southern Thailand after the tsunami to oversee plans for the reconstruction of a hotel near the beach. He stayed at a nearby rundown and empty hotel where he met Na, the hotel’s caretaker and owner. They fall in “love” but problems arise along the way.

With minimal dialogue and expressionless/stiff acting, I honestly didn’t really like it. I thought that the whole movie was painstakingly slow, which made it incredibly boring. Part of the reason is because I'm usually drawn to characters the most when watching movies, especially the conversations they have with each other (like in Before Sunset).

We also had a chance to talk to the director after the movie, which actually turned out to be the more interesting part of watching this movie.

He said that the movie was purposely slow in order to recreate the atmosphere of the town, which he filmed in Takua Pa. According to him, people there were still haunted by the tsunami. The ghosts (of the past) were still haunting them, figuratively. Although reconstruction had begun, he said that it’s still harder to fix people’s emotions than physical objects and buildings. Though they know that they should move on, they wonder if they deserve such happiness. Since it is a small community and almost everybody knows one another, the sadness and loneliness becomes feelings of jealousy and ill-will when they see others happy.

*spoilers*

I asked him a few questions surrounding the death of Ton by the hands of a local gang led by Na’s little brother at the end. He said that Ton was pretty much the scapegoat. They saw Ton as an outsider and he became an easy target for them to vent their anger, annoyance and feelings of pressure.

The weird thing was that after he got killed, it was as though the town suddenly did a 360. Color returned to the drabby town, Na’s little brother returned to help at the hotel, the grandma found her fan (she was looking for it during the whole movie), it was as though hope resurfaced from death. Anyway, I asked him whether this was kind of misleading considering Ton was killed by these people and that it’s almost saying that you can get away with murder and that life will become better from it. He replied that yeah it can be looked at that way and that it’s definitely not a movie for kids. He did say something else I think but I can't remember. All in all, I still felt that the ending was unjustified.

*end of spoilers*

I also asked him some other questions about the film industry. Some things I found interesting from what he said:

1. It took him 2 months to complete the script but 2 years to get enough funding for the movie.
2. It was incredibly difficult to get funding from Thailand so he had to sell it as a film promoting and preservingThai arts and culture.
3. Going to film school abroad or in Thailand is the same. He pretty much said that everything you really learn in going to college abroad is how to be more independent, etc. Equipment and technique-wise, it’s pretty much the same. You can’t learn to be an artist.
4. His favorite movie is Yi Yi by Edward Yang.

Throughout the whole movie, I kept thinking to myself how this movie could be better, which is probably something I should’ve asked him, whether he was content with how the movie came out or whether he should’ve changed something.

Even though I didn’t like the movie, what I do like about movies like this is that it gives people an opportunity to discuss it, their ideas about the movie meanings, the characters, the symbolism, etc. It’s not a popcorn movie where you go just to watch and come out saying, yeah that’s a good movie, period, end of discussion.

Another ABAC Poll

From the Bangkok Post, an ABAC poll indicates that:

68.8 per cent of those polled would no longer say confidently that Thai society was peaceful.

65.1 per cent told the poll they could not confirm that Thais loved one another.

51.7 per cent even admitted they were hesitant to say that Thai people were kind and helpful to each other. This came as a surprise as it contradicts a long-held belief in Thai society that we are united, love one another and are helpful.

64 per cent were no longer sure that "senior people" still had compassion.

60.6 per cent refused to condemn a corrupt government.

I wasn’t really surprised about points 2 and 3.

I also browsed their website to read who the people conducting these surveys are. According to the website, the unit consists of 90-100 people with over 1000 people around the country assisting them. Project heads have also received Masters and PhD degrees from various fields like statistics, economics, information technology, survey methodology, psychology, business administration and so forth.

More from the website, the methodologies they use include conceptual framework, questionnaire design, pre-testing methods (e.g. think aloud, probing, test-retest), data collection methods (e.g. face-to-face interview, mail survey, phone survey, web survey), sampling methods (e.g. SRS, systematic, stratified sampling, stratified cluster sampling, area sampling), and complex survey data analyses (e.g. t-test, ANOVA, Chi-square, Wald statistics, Odd Ratio, Logistic Regression Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis, design effect (DEFF), statistical weighting).

The website is available in English so you can read more about it here.

Earthquake Survival II - Triangle of Life Fallacy

OK so I went online and did a bit of research about Doug Copp's article I posted in my previous entry and a number of established organizations and people have discredited it. For example:

1. Copp's simulation of the earthquake in which he collapsed a building in Turkey with 20 mannequins inside cannot be applied to all buildings, especially in the US, as the building structures are different.

2. That people trapped under furniture will ALL die is false. Decades of earthquake studies indicate that most people are injured by falling, sliding and flying objects therefore dropping, covering your head, and holding onto furniture will offer the highest level of protection in most cases. It's actually more dangerous to move to another location to find a potential spot for the triangle of life to occur during an earthquake. There's also the risk of being crushed by furniture if you are lying next to it and it slides.

3. That people can move to a desired location during an earthquake. Depending on the magnitude of the earthquake, most people usually will not be able to move during the strong shaking before the building collapses.

Anyway, here are a number of web sites you can check out to read more about this.

Earthquakecountry Info
American Red Cross
Marla Petal's doctoral research (I like this one the most)

Earthquake Survival - The Triangle of Life

With the number of natural disasters occurring back to back this year, I found this article by Doug Copp pretty interesting. It was a forward e-mail from Mai with tips on how to survive an earthquake, which also argues against the internationally accepted "Drop, Cover and Hold On" technique. It goes like this:

Mr. Copp is the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake. He has crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and is a member of many rescue teams from many countries. He was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years and has worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985 (except for instances of simultaneous disasters).

In 1996 a film was made which proved his survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul, University of Istanbul, Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. A school and home were collapsed with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did "duck and cover," and ten mannequins used the "triangle of life" survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse researchers entered the building and crawled through the rubble to film and document the results.

The study showed there would have been zero percent survival for those using the duck and cover technique. It also found there would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using the "triangle of life."

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilingsiii falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what is called the "triangle of life".

The larger and stronger the object the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void next to it and the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured.

The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the "triangles" you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see in a collapsed building. They are everywhere.

TEN TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply "ducks and covers" when buildings collapse are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case,you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. (The stairs have a different "moment of frequency" they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads - horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

8) Get near the outer walls of buildings or outside of them if possible It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will beblocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.