DEF IN BANGKOK: THE THRILLING CONCLUSION

Got back last night around midnight. The work portion of Day 2 can be summed up as follows:

defrog BTW, everything Charles Stross ever wrote about PowerPoint is 100% accurate. This morning's session in particular. Lovecraftian!

defrog Lunchtime! Bring me pretzel dogs, Chivas, manga and eye candy, for I have simple needs.

defrog My traveling companion is Pimpalicious. It says so on her t-shirt. Sounds promising.

defrog  Today's episode of 'Def In Bangkok' was written by Jonathan Letham. Which is why we've been stuck in traffic since 1998.

defrog  If yr NOT checking in 10min before gate closes and NOT chasing plane down runway trying to lash yrself to wing, then yr doing it wrong

Yes, that’s how I remember it.

ADDITIONAL DATA

All up, not the best of business trips, though Bangkok itself was fine. But I got to see more of it the last two times I was here. This time, I was pretty much limited to my immediate surroundings – i.e. the bits between my hotel and the Centara Grand (formerly known as the World Trade Centre). And most of THAT was spent either in ballrooms oozing with PowerPoint or in the mezzanine café of the hotel furiously trying to meet an unexpectedly bumped up and panic-fueled deadline that the head office informed me of ten minutes before checkout time.

Result: stories filed, and GG and I barely made the flight home.

Still, even the little bits of Bangkok we saw were charming – the temples and shrines on virtually every other street corner (like the one above, which was outside my hotel), tributes to King Bhumibol Adulyadej [a.k.a. Rama IX] and the rest of the royal family on every other street corner without a temple or shrine on it, the pink taxis, etc. And of course the Manga By Playground store, home of the 12-foot lucha wrestler.



It’s kind of a local hip-hop influenced version of Hot Topic. I didn’t go in, no. It was closed when I passed by Wednesday night, and what little free time I had was spent browsing CDs in B2S (a local version of Borders), updating my manga titles in a Kinokuniya outlet and eating green fish curry and roast pork noodles in a local restaurant.

And so much for Bangkok.

For more information, see this fine collection of crap-quality photos on the Photobukkits taken on my Nokia N95.

FUN FACT: Rama IX was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Okay. Now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of my four-day Easter holiday.

Downtime,

This is dF

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE, PART 1,984

More signs that science fiction is more accurate than you think.

1. PRECRIME THE DNA WAY

Gary Pugh, director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard and the new DNA spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), says that primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life. In other words, if the cops think yr statistically likely to become a criminal later in life, they’d like yr DNA now, thanks.

2. ELECTRIC AIRLINES

Canadian company Lamperd has patented an airline security solution wherein all passengers are required to wear a bracelet that gives debilitating electric shocks via remote control. In case someone turns out to be al Qaeda. Or a pole dancer. Or a breastfeeder. Or Peter Buck. Or whatever. Somehow I don’t see this one catching on.

3. DIY KILLER ROBOTS



I know who killed me,

This is dF