Stooge Time

Its been raining most of the day and night. Me and the dog are bachelors tonight cuz the wife is visiting her family in Roi Et. I think its time for some Stooge Mania. The 3 Stooges are like a secondary sexual characteristic, almost all men like and almost all women don't. So guys, Enjoy!!!!

- Khun Rut

Podcast: Isaan Funerals

My Funeral Clothes

Some of the Parting Gifts from the Past Year

I can't believe a week went by since my last podcast. I am going to a funeral tomorrow and I started thinking about funerals and stuff . Well here is the podcast. Getting late now so I will add some pics later but for now here is the podcast just click on the play button by the link to launch the player. (Edit: added a couple pics )

- Khun Rut

Podcast Funerals In Isaan

Sonny Criss - The Isle of Celia

Some how I followed a YouTube link to Kenny G. and got to thinking about my favorite sax player none other than the incomparable Sonny Criss. Yes, a quick search located several videos. This was the lead tune from his last studio LP Crisscraft. Such a gifted player, with lovely phrasing, and fast but clean. You won't hear a slurred note ever from Sonny unless he wants it that way. Enough play the video and go search out some more of this under-appreciated West Coast Cool alto player. - Khun Rut

The Pirates of the Pacific

 I was surfing the net today and testing video the new site I am developing and came across this great video. It is worth the 20 minutes it will take to watch it. Go to full screen! - Khun Rut

Pacific Pirates from Billabong on Vimeo.

Lone Star Watchdog: Texas Beer Joint Sues Church

A test of faith... this is great. As soon as some money is involved you see the true colors come out.
- Khun Rut

Great Stuff From Texas

Lone Star Watchdog: Texas beer joint sues church: "Texas beer joint sues church
Laugh A Little.
Texas Nationalist Movement

In a small Texas town, (Mt. Vernon ) Drummond's bar began construction on a new building to increase their business.. The local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. Work progressed right up till the week before opening when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means.

The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise in its reply to the court. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, 'I don't know how I'm going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not.'

Posted by realman2020 at Monday, July 25, 2011"

Don Tan - Suan Pa Nabun and Wat Dan Kum Kam

Friday I set off on a trip to get some shampoo from this little health spa in Don Tan (about 30 km. south of Mukdahan). It had been raining for about 4 days solid a finally the sun came out and I needed some "pi tio time". I jumped on the trusty Kawi and took off enjoying the sunny weather.

Suan Pa Nabun
I had been to Suan Pa Nabun a couple of times before It is located 1.4 km south of where the divided highway ends at the south end of Don Tan.. The first time I went with my wife to buy some stuff for her friends in BKK. The place is a health spa that is famous all over Thailand. They promote health through eating a healthy (organic) diet and using healthy hygiene products as well. One of the cornerstones of their program is the use of cleansing enemas. The Suan Pa Nabun has several programs throughout the year that last for a week or so where people come to stay at the spa and get instruction on their health plan and to do their cleansing too. The first time I went i was surprised to see literally 50 bathrooms (with more under construction). It is not surprising though if there is a crowd of a couple hundred people taking enemas.

I got there at around 11:30 am and their little store was closed. The lady that ran it was up giving a class to the participants in the program. But everyone told me there was no shampoo or face soap to be had they had sold completely out. I was told I could talk to the lady in charge in about  a half hour but when I got back and talked to her still no love.... They did have a small bottle of bamboo shampoo from OTOP but it was not the magrud shampoo that I was hoping for. Ted wanted some aloe vera too, but no luck on that either. They would sell me an enema bottle or a t-shirt but I passed. I got the phone number and will give her a call next time before I go. I recommend their products highly and you never know maybe I will get up the nerve to take the week long course of organic food and enemas, or maybe not.
Contact: Mrs. Gim 089-553-7284 for more information.
Click on small images below for he big picture.

      

      

      

Wat Dan Kum Kam
Remember I told you I had a little time to kill waiting for the lady to open her shop at the spa. Well, about a year ago I had been invited to go to Wat Dan Kum Kam for he dedication of the new sala complete with Nagas. The man that invited me was the one who made them. His name is Mr. Paa or Nui but he's Loong Paa to me. I have been friends with for years. He's a 75 year old contractor, garden designer and Buddha maker. He was asked by the forest wat in Don Tan to make the Nagas and s statue of a famous monk. Like I said I had been there about a year ago for the dedication but didn't take any pictures.

I went by there since it was really close. Its just another 1.4 km. south of Suan Pa Nabun. (a total of 2.8 km south of where the divided highway ends in Don Tan). The monks were most pleasant in allowing me to photograph the Nagas. They are really magnificent. and BIG. you can walk right under them. The statue of the famous monk is really great too. Loong Paa left Mukdahan for Ranong to build a big Buddha on one of the islands down there and might be gone for about 6 months or more. Hope he is working on his chess game while he's down there, cuz me and John will be ready for him.
Click on small images below for the big picture.

      

      

      

      

   

View Don Tan - Suan Pa Nabun and Wat Dan Kum Kam in a larger map
- Khun Rut

Death Don't Have No Mercy

In memory of the people killed in Norway and the 3 helicopters gone down in Thailand. Jorma Kaukonnen reprises the Rev. Gary Davis classic.

- Khun Rut

Daffy and Porky

For all you people out there in need of your daily cartoon fix. Daffy and Porky

- Khun Rut

You Are Who You Say You Are.

Tom over at Isaan-live.com asked me a couple of days ago to do a podcast for him. So today I recorded and edited a story about the opening of Ban Cafe and the Drunken Norwegians. I let my wife listen to it all proud and all and she told me I shouldn't do it because they would sue me. I am not so sure about that since its all true. But in the interest of marital harmony I recorded another piece I think you will like and maybe we can revisit it some other time. ;-)

Anyway click on the play button by the Title and the player will play the podcast.

You Are Who You Say You Are
- Khun Rut

Is Tawan Daeng The New White Elephant?

Around the early part of this year it was announced that Tawan Daeng German Beer Garden would be opening a branch in Mukdahan. Tawan Daeng is a highly successful franchised nightclub featuring the best entertainment and a German style microbrewery with German and Asian food choices. There are several franchises in Thailand, including a couple in BKK and one in Chiang Mai.

The land was secured in a rice field behind the old Noori's nightclub and load after load of dirt was trucked in. The original start up date was supposed to be right after Songkran. There were lots of workers initially that began creating the roof structure and the foundation. well the work began to slow down and there were rumors that there were people in Mukdahan that were not going to let it open. (Well connected owners of other pubs and nightspots, perhaps. I guess you can draw your own conclusions.)

Well, the construction stopped around Songkran and it didn't take up again for a long time. I was beginning to think that the rumor were true. I spoke to an business contact  here and he told me that the Tawan Daeng franchisers had taken on a local partner or partners and there was a dispute of some kind. Around about that time construction started again around the start of June. A friend of mine who lives near the construction site told me that there was going to be a big hotel going in on the cleared land behind the Tawan Daeng. He didn't look too happy about it. 

I kept going by checking on the construction progress and there was plastering going on and finishing up on the roof as well. A sign was up announcing the Grand Opening on July 22. On the week of the elections (July 3rd) the work stopped again. It has not begun since.The sign was printed over changing the Grand Opening to  August 22. Don't think that is happening either. Two of my friends had a bet when construction began that the place would open by August. Looks like John will win that one.

View White Elephants in a larger map

I find this interesting because there is another place we call the White Elephant that has been built for about 6 years it is a big concert hall and restaurant. It has a bunch of smaller pavilions around it for more private eating. The main hall is huge and very nicely built with a big fountain in front. There is even a radio station attached. It was built by a local silk dealer and is completely finished. Right before it was ready to open the owner apparently got caught smuggling a huge amount of silk from Laos. He didn't go to jail on the smuggling charges but I am sure the price was not cheap to get out of that one. Maybe then he didn't have the tea money to pay to open the music hall.So there it sits being over grown with vegetation and deteriorating. It is now in the bank and probably will be for a while. 

Click on the pictures below to see big images of Tawan Daeng and the White Elephant.
- Khun Rut

      

      

      

      

Building Blunders Part 1

I was riding around the other day on my motorbike with the dog and saw something that amazed me. I was in this pretty good area on the hill where they are building some pretty nice houses. Well I saw this one house that looked like it was completed but had never been lived in. I slowed down and saw why!!!!. The idiot that was building his house next door and up the hill decided to truck in a lot of fill dirt to level off his land. Jack ass just piled it up on the neighbor's wall like it was a retaining wall or something. It was just some skinny posts with brick and mortar in between., Well when rainy season came the inevitable happened the earth began to settle and pushed out against the wall, nearly tipping it right over into the other guys lot.
It quickly got shored up with timbers and some precast concrete posts but that won't last for long. The completed house still has no tenant and the work on the new house has ground to a halt. I guess the contractor got fired and they are sorting out who and how much the moron that was building the new house will have to pay. Frigging morons. (You know my wife and our contractor wanted to pile up dirt on our wall like that when  we were building our house... I said NO WAY!)
If you notice the title is  Building Blunders Part 1, as I figure there are going to be many more to come.
- Khun Rut

Click on any of the images below to see the big picture!

      


      

Solar Cells Printed On Paper

While browsing today I found this article about the latest advance from MIT in photo-voltaic cells. My next door neighbor wanted to take his house totally or partly off the grid but the cost was close to what his house was worth. (And you know it would be obsolete in less than a year or 2.) However this new technology heralds another way to create cheap photovoltaic items that are mobile. Printing with ink on paper seems similar to the news of being able to paint photovoltaic cells on surfaces. This way you could just laminate the paper hook it up to your device and it has power. It could be especially useful for developing and poor countries that lack electricity in rural areas. This would be great in Thailand.
The US needs to start producing this stuff today. But I am sure they will off shore it to China. Read on for a look to the future. You gotta get excited over this one!!!
Khun Rut

Solar Cells Printed On Paper | New Energy and Fuel: "It’s not a joke, MIT’s Miles C. Barr, Jill A. Rowehl, Richard R. Lunt, Jingjing Xu, Annie Wang, Christopher M. Boyce, Sung Gap Im, and Vladimir Bulović led by Karen K. Gleason are printing photovoltaic cells on regular paper. Moreover, the process as being reported in MIT News, its possible to print on ordinary untreated paper, cloth or plastic as the substrate for building a solar cell array.
The new technology paper is published in the journal Advanced Materials, published online July 8.
The MIT News article opens describing that the sheet of paper looks like any other document that might have just come spitting out of an office printer, with an array of colored rectangles printed over much of its surface. But then a researcher picks it up, clips a couple of wires to one end, and shines a light on the paper. Instantly an LCD clock display at the other end of the wires starts to display the time. Seems to work, and considering the skill sets and innovative atmosphere at MIT its not a great surprise so much as a quite pleasant one. Photovoltaic is still far too expensive for mass adoption, and in the current economy and government situations, PV is a technology that must self wean itself from incentives."

The device is tough, formed from special “inks” deposited on the paper. It can be folded up to slip into a pocket, then unfolded to watch it again generating electricity in the sunlight.  It’s a more complex than just printing out a paper. In order to create an array of photovoltaic cells on the paper, five layers of material need to be deposited onto the same sheet of paper in successive passes, using a mask (also made of paper) to form the patterns of cells on the surface. And the process has to take place in a vacuum chamber.

Solar Cells Printed on Paper. Graduate student Miles Barr holds a sheet of paper that has had one of the layers of the solar cell printed on its surface. Image Credit: Patrick Gillooly.

But the basic process is essentially the same as the one used to make the silvery lining in your bag of potato chips: a vapor-deposition process that can be carried out inexpensively on a vast commercial scale.  When one considers the total area of metalized bags like potato chips versus photovoltaic panels the idea of the scale becomes clearer.

Go Here For Full Article

Internet Archive

In my constant search for new music I came across the Internet Archive www.archive.org . Its the greatest! You can upload and download many different artists legally. There are many different streams available you can  either stream them from the Internet Archive or download them for play on your one computer. This includes audio and video. From time to time I will be posting them on this blog so you can stream it.

I have decided to use Yahoo's Webplayer. I works a lot nicer than the embedded player from Internet Archive. you can hit the popout button to let it play in a new tab if you want to move to a new page in the blog.

Today I  am posting a live Dave Alvin concert from September 19, 2009. Dave is performing with the Guilty Women at McGonigal's Mucky Duck in Houston, Tx.. Enjoy.

01- Intro
02 - King Of California
03 Marie, Marie / Dynamite Woman / Marie, Marie
04 California Bloodlines teaser / California's Burning
05 Dave introduces Amy Farris, Cindy Cashdollar, Christy McWilson
06 Here In California
07 Weight of the World
08 Downey Girl
09 Abilene
10 Dave Introduces Lisa Pankratz
11 Boss of the Blues
12 Dave Introduces Sarah Brown
13 Potter's Field
14 What Am I Worth
15 Haley's Comet
16 Ashgrove
17 Dry River (with Cindy and Lisa)
18 Crowd / Encore Break
19 Dave Takes Requests From the Audience
20 Justine
21 Chris Gaffney Remembered
22 Man of Somebody's Dreams
23 Que Sera, Sera


I am also including an old Episode of The Cisco Kid called "Ghost Town"



Have fun,
Khun Rut

That's Boxing.

Brandon Rios and Urbano Antillon War - A War in the Ring
Courtesy CBS.com

This past weekend I watched two exciting fights with two vastly different results, reminding us fight fans why we both love and hate boxing.
The first fight was a lightweight war featuring two fearless Mexican fighters both fighting out of Southern California. Brandon Rios the WBA champion TKO'd Urbano Antillon in a war that lasted just short of 3 rounds.Both fighters stood toe to toe and traded power shots that had the crowd at Home Depot Arena in Carson, California on their feet for much of the fight. This is the kind of action you used to regularly see at the old Olympic  Auditorium back in the day. I found myself shouting my appreciation at the computer screen at the end of round one as if they could hear me.
In round 3 Rios landed a hard left to the top of Antillon's head that really hurt him and he ended up knocking him down twice before the referee stopped the fight with 11 seconds to go in the 3rd. It was a great fight with 2 game and able fighters who gave it their all. This is what boxing is all about and why we love it.

Lara Smashes Another Left to the Face of
Williams
Courtesy ESPN.com

This was followed by the  Paul Williams - Erislandy Lara fight on HBO. This fight was decidedly won by Lara and it wasn't even close except for on the scorecards of the judges who gave Williams a majority decision 114-114, 116-114 and 115-114. The only thing that Williams did was throw more punches. Lara landed more even though throwing less. He by far dominated the fight hurting Williams on several occasions. The unofficial scorecards for Yahoo Sports and the HBO teams Harold Ledderman all had Lara winning by a wide margin. In the later rounds Roy Jones and Max Kellerman for HBO were even suggesting that Williams should retire after taking such a terrible beating.Bluntly, it was a fucking travesty.

Jones said late in the fight during an exchange with Max Kellerman that he felt Williams’ life was in jeopardy.

Kellerman: “There’s a good probability this is the last we see of Paul Williams in a boxing ring.”

Jones: “I hope it is. He’s taking a real killing here tonight. I wish his corner would stop it before he gets knocked out. It’s not safe for him. He’s not about to win and this kid is really teeing off on him right now. Those shots take a lot out of a guy’s life.” Courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Clearly this was a horrible decision. You should have heard the boo's coming from the crowd. Lara at worst deserves a rematch. I guarantee you Williams and promoter Dan Goosen want no part of that. Goosen said he has "moved on". I guess my friend John said it best "Never leave it to the judges." Especially in Atlantic City.
That's boxing.
Khun Rut

The Recent Elections

Yinluck Shinawatra - PM elect
thecelebritiesworlds.blogspot.com

The recent elections in Thailand  brought the Peua Thai Party (PTP) back into power with a landslide victory about 10 days ago. This was pretty much expected. Party leader and PM  elect Yingluck Shinawatra is the sister of exiled fugitive and ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra. From all accounts the people in Mukdahan overwhelmingly voted for her, which is not surprising since most people here are aligned with the Red Shirt movement. This was quite evident with the burning down of the Salaklang in the aftermath of the crack down on the Red Shirt demonstrations last year in Bangkok. I was witness to the police and fire departments standing by in the shade while a group of about 5 to 10 guys set fire to the buildings. So again not surprising the voting went this way.

Yingluck has said that she is a "clone" of her brother and will probably re institute his policies. I found it rather amazing that the PTP began distancing itself so soon from its Red Shirt base with the announcement that it would not be appointing Red Shirt leaders to the new Cabinet.

From smh.com.au : The victorious Puea Thai party will not appoint Red Shirt leaders as cabinet ministers as the incoming Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, negotiates the make-up of Thailand's new coalition government with the country's minor parties, party sources say.

The party, backed by mass Red Shirt support, is treading warily to avoid upsetting Thailand's powerful military or Bangkok's government and business elite who are reeling from Puea Thai's landslide win in Sunday's poll.

It would appear that even though there was a huge landslide electorally the PTP did not push all that hard for the Red Shirts to have a seat at the table. They are busy distancing from their base and it appears it will be business as usual for the party elites. And I do mean Business with a capital B. If you look at who the PM elect's brother has been associating with in exile you find what appears to be a  rogue's gallery of CFR Globalists. This is from a fine article by Tony Cartalucci:

The globalist stooge in Thailand's case is Thaksin Shinawatra, who ironically was reporting to the CFR in New York City on September 18, 2006 the eve of his ousting from power via a peaceful, orderly military coup. Since then, Thaksin has been represented by global elitists via their lobbying firms, including Kenneth Adelman of the Edelman PR firm(Freedom House, International Crisis Group, PNAC), James Baker of Baker Botts (CFR),Robert Blackwill of Barbour Griffith & Rogers (CFR), and Robert Amsterdam ofAmsterdam & Peroff (Chatham House) - many of whom are either directly a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, or members of similar policy organizations working on behalf of the Fortune 500.

Additionally, these men and the organizations they are affiliated with funded and organized the opposition groups and hordes of activists that flooded the streets during the contrived "Arab Spring," The New York Times reported in their April 2011 article, "U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings" that, "a number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the region, including the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and grass-roots activists like Entsar Qadhi, a youth leader in Yemen, received training and financing from groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House." 

Read the Entire Article Here 

I sure hope that the Thai people can keep the globalists at bay. Right now its all in the wind.
Khun Rut

Some Cogent Economic Analysis

I found this guy on YouTube. He has a bunch of rants and busts up Chinese shit with a baseball bat. He's crazy mad but so far I haven't heard him say a thing that isn't true.

MukSanook Revisited

A few years ago  a friend and I created a website called www.muksanook.com. It was a community website that was supposed to be for the local Mukdahan Community. We were going to make it a not for profit site. The intention was to give the community a forum for local news, views and events, we worked with a board of local business leaders in an attempt to create a plan for the site. Our intention was never to run the site but to create it and turn it over to local Mukdahanians so that they could create their own content, sell their own ads and promote their community. Well, it never happened, we had many meetings and tried to get content but no one would even write a story. There were a few sample ones that we created but that was it. After the site was completed, less content we turned it over to a Thai webmaster who was supposed to do something with it. He never did a thing. The project died an ignominious death. 


My friend and I went on to other projects and finally parted ways. For the past year or so I made the decision to  revisit the site but not from  the same view point. I add my content as I see fit.
Some people tell me I have a way with words. While I am not sure about that, I certainly have some stories that I can tell about my time here in Mukdahan (along with the stories of others). I have a lot of opinions on local and world news, sports and music. My posts here won't be all Mukdahan, all the time, but will be a collection of stories, links, videos, stuff that I have ferreted out on the web. 


I am currently developing Muksanook Part II on a local server and when that is completed it will be more about the local scene here, what you can do, where can you stay, eat, get into trouble. All that good shit. along with loads of images and stories from my intrepid reporters. I still plan to keep my blog here for my personal bloviations and stuff of interest. I will have some fun at anyrate. Catch you all later.... 
Khun Rut