Beer Chang

House parties are more fun than bars anyway.

I suppose in December it's better to be cold in tropical paradise than in Sweeden. But geez, in Pattaya one can rent a fan room for 3500 baht.

True. Mickey D's presents a much more clean cut image than BK or Wendy's.

Sounds good to me.

They had a som tam making contest.

Williamburg hipsters vs the Black Hats, interesting

Maybe Uncle Ernie and Aunt Mildred deserve each other.

Profit trumps people.

PHUKET CITY: A homeless couple from Sweden face imminent deportation for overstaying their permits to stay. Lt Col Boonlert Onklang of the Chalong Police identified the couple as Bjorn Lennart Lundqvist, 59, and his female companion Gabriella Rose-Marie Strand, 58. Officers found the couple lying on the sidewalk in front of the the Bangkok Bank branch in Karon at 1pm last Wednesday. Asked to produce their passports, only Ms Strand was able to do so. Her passport revealed that her permit to stay expired January 19. Both Mr Lundqvist and Ms Strand were in rough shape when found by police. Ms Strand's hair was all tangled up and Mr Lundqvist had numerous cuts and abrasions on his arms and legs. On Thursday, Chalong Police took the couple to Phuket Court where they were charged with breaking immigration laws. Mr Lundqvist initially told police his passport was being held at Patong Hospital pending payment of 20,000 baht in treatment charges following a motorbike accident last month. The couple, who are not fluent in English, told the Gazette they had stayed at the Bamboo Village resort in Karon until their money ran out. Staff at the resort told the Gazette the couple stayed there for two months, August and September, before renting a small room near Karon Temple to save what was left of their money. They later moved into another small room nearby the resort, but were most often seen on the streets of Karon, the staffer said. "They were always drunk. Sometimes they asked me for money to buy alcohol," the resort owner said. Ms Strand told the Gazette they didn't have enough money to extend their visas because their wallets were stolen last month. The couple had just three baht between them at the time of their arrest, she said. Despite their run of bad luck, the couple hope to return to Phuket some day. "If we are sent back to Sweden, I will get treatment for my arthritis there, but we will be back because we love it here. The police have been very good to us," she said. Phuket Immigration Superintendent Chanatpol Yongbunjerd updated the case today. They will be deported as soon as the Swedish Embassy arranges air tickets for them, he said.

Accenture, as if Tiger Woods Were Never There By BRIAN STELTER How do you Tiger-proof an entire corporation? At Accenture, you start by telling employees to tear down all the posters that say, now somewhat awkwardly, that “we know what it takes to be a Tiger.†For six years, Tiger Woods was the advertising face for Accenture, the big consulting firm. But now that Mr. Woods has confessed to infidelities amid an assault of media coverage, Accenture wants him to disappear. On Sunday, hours after Accenture ended its sponsorship deal, the golfer’s face was replaced by an anonymous skier on the company’s home page. His name was scrubbed almost completely from the rest of the Web site. The company’s advertising campaign is about “high performance,†and Mr. Woods “just wasn’t a metaphor for high performance anymore,†a spokesman for Accenture, Fred Hawrysh, said. By Monday afternoon, Accenture staffers had swept through the company’s New York office and removed any visible Tiger posters. The next day, marketing and communications employees around the world were asked to turn in any remaining Tiger-emblazoned posters and other materials. Accenture marketing employees did not respond to requests for comment about the Tiger purge on Wednesday. Accenture said it did not tell all of its 177,000 worldwide employees to toss their Tiger T-shirts, caps and tchotchkes away. But when asked about branded merchandise, Mr. Hawrysh said, “Our intention is to ensure we are no longer using it internally or externally.†But it takes time to erase the golfer’s identity completely. Accenture spent $50 million on advertising in the United States last year, and Mr. Woods appeared in 83 percent of the company’s ads — far more than for any of his other major sponsors — according to TNS Media Intelligence. The remaining billboards and ads, now outdated, inspire smirks and jokes. In ads at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, Tiger is seen crouching on the green, studying a golf ball’s trajectory and endorsing outsourcing. In Atlanta, he is posed as The Thinker, adorned with a Nike hat, promoting management consulting. At Dulles International outside Washington, he is peering into the distance, dark clouds on the horizon. That ad, forebodingly, says it is “tougher than ever to be a Tiger.†“The Accenture ads with Tiger finally make sense,†Quentin George, the chief digital officer for Interpublic Mediabrands, an advertising holding company, remarked on Twitter Wednesday. Mr. Woods provided a big boost to Accenture when he became the company’s worldwide public face in 2003. At the time, the Accenture name was less than three years old, and was still regularly called by its old name, Andersen Consulting. The campaign’s initial theme was “Go on. Be a Tiger.†Mr. Woods “was a powerful device for our advertising, there’s no doubt about it,†Mr. Hawrysh said. But as allegations of Mr. Woods’s extramarital affairs spread in recent weeks, the titan of golf was transformed into a distraction. In the early days of the media frenzy, Mr. Woods still greeted visitors to Accenture’s Web site next to the words, “It’s What You Do Next That Counts.†Then on Sunday, the company proclaimed that Mr. Woods was “no longer the right representative†for its advertising and began scrubbing his name and face away. On Tuesday, that meant telling staff members in an e-mail message to review their sales pitches and slide shows to ensure that they “no longer include Tiger Woods.†In New York, employees were asked to bring posters and other physical assets to the company’s front desk for disposal. The company would not comment on exactly how they would be disposed of. They may be trying to avoid having the materials recast as collectors’ items. Already, some Accenture magazine ads and memorabilia, including an Accenture Match Play Tiger Woods Caddy Bib, are on eBay (Asking price for the bib: $175.) Mr. Woods’s private life remains a daily topic on TV talk shows and Web sites, but some of his sponsors, including Nike, have stayed by his side. Nike’s chairman, Phil Knight, told The Sports Business Journal last week that when Mr. Woods’s career “is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip.†Accenture, however, is already preparing a new ad campaign. Jon Swallen, a senior vice president for research for TNS Media Intelligence, said it seemed notable that the consulting firm chose not to hide under a no-comment cloak or hire a new celebrity spokesman; instead, it separated from Mr. Woods publicly and swiftly. “It struck me that they were taking him to the woodshed,†Mr. Swallen said.

And the ice cream vendor is the drug dealer.

I'd say it's Guiliani time!

I think they're very dangerous.

Getting paid to get drunk, sweet!

A found a wallet at the Cloisters once that had 60 bucks hidden in it. Turned it in, no one claimed it in a month so I got the 60 bucks.

Yup, a good combination for sure

Uncle Ernie would be fiddling all about.

Forgot about them parish priests!

Castration would be too good for this piece of human garbage.

Not really fond of New Year's Eve in the LOS, two many street fireworks. One of my favorite bars will closed and another favorite bar is in Jomtien which is problematic as traffic is a mess that night.

Yup, it's like a blind guy suddenly regaining vision.

I also prefer to pay with 500s since if wiseguys try giving change for 5000 when you give 1000. If I give 1000 I always announce to the server neung pan baht.

Is that the black best friend?

I always give exact change to a baht bus driver. And amazing how a small business doesn't have change of 1000.