GayThailand Forum : Gaybutton - Viewing Profile

GT has given me the green light to open my new board for posting and I do have it ready now. Those of you who would like to register and start posting are welcome to do so.

I still have a few bells and whistles to figure out. For example, I haven't figured out how to put in YouTube vids and that sort of thing, but I'll eventually get everything figured out.

As far as I know, the important features of the board are working. I would appreciate an Email if you encounter something that isn't working properly.

My Email remains gaybutton@gmail.com

Ok, I wish GT best of luck with his new endeavors and I hope things work out for everyone on my new board. Most of you know my rules and they do apply. I haven't had time to get into the FAQ or anything else yet, but most of you know how I operate.

I will continue posting on this board too until GT makes his move.

Here it is, the URL for my new board and I hope to see you there. Don't forget to bookmark it:

http://gaybuttonthai.com

I am going to start up a new message board after GT moves the current board. I have discussed this with GT and he is very supportive of my decision. I hope the rest of you will also be supportive.

My intent at the moment is to open strictly a message forum rather than a full scale web site. While several people have asked me to resurrect my old web site, quite frankly it is just too time consuming to keep articles updated, photos updated, etc. Running a message board takes enough time as it is. I may add a web site to it at some point, but for now that's not my plan.

The message board software I'm planning to use is the same software the Gay Ting & Tong board uses (assuming I don't have any problems getting it to work).

I suppose I could have decided to just retire from running message boards and use the existing Gay Thailand forums, but I enjoy running a message board as I have been doing for so many years now and I would like to continue. I also prefer to run a board my way and I do think it is a good idea to have at least one board run by someone who lives full time in Thailand.

I will not use advertising on my board. That was one aspect of my old board and I intend for the new board to be the same in that respect. I also will not solicit donations. Between domain registration and web hosting services it will cost me about US $90 per year. I think I can handle that.

As always, any gay venues that wish to advertise on my new board will be welcome to do so within messages, free of charge.

I will post another announcement once I have the new board ready so that you will know the URL for getting to it. However, I do not intend to open it until GT moves this board. Also, I'm planning to do some traveling in early August, so I don't know how much time I'll have in order to work on getting it up and running in time, but I'll do my best. I don't think I'll have very much trouble at least getting something preliminary up and running. I can add bells and whistles later.

So, there it is. I will be very happy to welcome those of you who wish to use my board.

Many of us are currently in, or have been in relationships with Thai guys. Some are working beautifully. Others turn out to be nothing but problems and horror stories.

Where do you fit in? Are you currently in a relationship? Did it begin fairly recently and you're not really sure yet where it's going? Are you in a relationship that you consider to already be long-term?

If your current relationship is working, have you been in past relationships that went bad?

If yes, are you happy you did it? Some are probably very happy and would do the same thing tomorrow. Others wish they never got involved and are about to end it or they feel trapped and can't find a way to get out of it.

I have no idea what the statistics might be. Are most of you who are in relationships glad you're in it and are truly happy - wouldn't have it any other way or do you wish you never met the guy in the first place?

In my case, I've been involved in live-in relationships with Thai guys twice. Both went sour in the end. Part of it was their fault and part of it was my own fault. In the second relationship I was one of those guys who everybody else but me could see that I was definitely with the wrong person. I was blind to it and it took me a long time to finally wake up and accept the reality of what I had gotten myself into.

It was difficult, very difficult, to end it both times, but I knew that despite the difficulty and heartbreak it nevertheless had to be done. We'll never be in a relationship again, but with the first one, now years have passed. We're both over it and we're still good friends. The second one, if I never see him again it will still be too soon.

I've vowed never to get into a relationship again. Up to now I'm living up to that vow and I prefer it this way. Of course, I fully expect the day will come when I meet the guy I think is finally my Mr. Right. If that happens, I hope I'll be lucky this time. But, more likely I'll be stupid again.

So, where are you in the relationship thing?

Doubts Surface on North Korea's Role in Ship Sinking

Some in South Korea dispute the official version of events: that a North Korean torpedo ripped apart the Cheonan.

July 23, 2010|By Barbara Demick and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Seoul — The way U.S. officials see it, there's little mystery behind the most notorious shipwreck in recent Korean history.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls the evidence "overwhelming" that the Cheonan, a South Korean warship that sank in March, was hit by a North Korean torpedo. Vice President Joe Biden has cited the South Korean-led panel investigating the sinking as a model of transparency.

But challenges to the official version of events are coming from an unlikely place: within South Korea.

Armed with dossiers of their own scientific studies and bolstered by conspiracy theories, critics dispute the findings announced May 20 by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, which pointed a finger at Pyongyang.

They also question why Lee made the announcement nearly two months after the ship's sinking, on the very day campaigning opened for fiercely contested local elections. Many accuse the conservative leader of using the deaths of 46 sailors to stir up anti-communist sentiment and sway the vote.

The critics, mostly but not all from the opposition, say it is unlikely that the impoverished North Korean regime could have pulled off a perfectly executed hit against a superior military power, sneaking a submarine into the area and slipping away without detection. They also wonder whether the evidence of a torpedo attack was misinterpreted, or even fabricated.

"I couldn't find the slightest sign of an explosion," said Shin Sang-chul, a former shipbuilding executive-turned-investigative journalist. "The sailors drowned to death. Their bodies were clean. We didn't even find dead fish in the sea."

Doubts surface

Northwest Airlines Found to Violate FAA Rules

From Allan Chernoff, CNN
July 23, 2010

(CNN) -- Northwest Airlines violated more than 1,000 Federal Aviation Administration safety directives, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel has found, substantiating complaints of an FAA whistleblower.

Northwest, now merged with Delta Airlines, engaged in "systemic non-compliance with FAA Airworthiness Directives," the investigation concluded, referring to government rules designed to remedy an unsafe or potentially unsafe condition.

Northwest Airlines violates FAA rules