BC basketball fans are tepid when winning, but this night they were downright listless and grumpy.  They had to watch a less-talented, barely noticed, underdog Harvard team put on a clinic of teamwork and scrappiness that put the Eagles to shame.  Despite my MIT roots, Lin’s personal display of excellence had me cheering and hooting loudly for Harvard from the stands.  I damn near rushed the court (and would’ve been all by myself had I done so) when the final buzzer rang. 

A few days later, I looked up some info on the kid.  No less than ESPN.com had a really nice piece on him.  Son of a 5’6″ Taiwanese immigrant who came to the States for a PhD in computer engineering.  Hours of practice in the local YMCA.  Lauded high school player who led his Palo Alto High team to a Division II state championship, followed by multiple player of the year honors.  Somehow overlooked by collegiate Div I teams offering scholarships.  Whispered questions about the role his race played in this snubbing.  Enters Harvard, which doesn’t offer athletic scholarships, for the opportunity to play Div I ball. 

It’s hard not to root for a story line like that.  You can imagine my pleasure, then, when I found out via Carisa that the Golden State Warriors declared that they would sign Lin.  Apparently he’d kicked a fair bit of butt during summer league games, even showing John Wall a thing or three.  Congrats, Jeremy – I’ll be rooting for you.

Clayton caught by the paparazzi

Two Sundays ago our MIT photography class took a trip to NYC to do some street shooting, see a couple museum exhibits, and meet Clayton Patterson.  (I know I haven’t written anything about the photography class yet – more on that later.)  For the uninitiated – of which I was a member not more than two weeks ago – Clayton Patterson is a little hard to encapsulate into a couple sentences.  He’s a prodigious street photographer/videographer, documentarian/historian, defender of the arts and artists’ rights, social activist, longtime resident of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and a bit of a countercultural icon.  I still have trouble wrapping my head around him, which I usually take as a good sign of the depth of a person’s character.  (Learn more about him here, here, and here.)

Clayton was gracious enough to meet us on a Sunday at Esopus Space gallery on West 3rd St.  The gallery was showing a selection of photos of inventive drag queens that Clayton had taken in the Pyramid Club from ’86 to ’87.  When I first arrived with two of my classmates, Clayton was chattering away outside of the gallery with another classmate and John Nikolai (link NSFW), our class instructor.  I soon realized that chattering was a baseline state for Clayton.  While waiting outside the gallery for another classmate to arrive, the conversation ranged from the negative categorization of women put forth by Sex in the City and Housewives of NY to the rapid increases in rent seen by residents of the Lower East Side.

Once we got into the gallery (after some difficulty with locks and elevator keys), the actual art took second stage to Clayton’s narrative.  I’ll just say this about his photos: nobody is going to look at the pictures he displayed and marvel at their technical or creative brilliance.  Clayton is not an Ansel Adams or Yousuf Karsh, and admittedly so.  But nonetheless, his photos convey a sort of surreal intimacy whereby one feels transported to a time and place that – for many – is wholly foreign.  Less art itself than a documentary of the artistry of the subjects, this installation tells stories while juxtaposing the bare, almost stark confines of Esopus Space with the raucous creativity and inventiveness highlighted in the images.

Clayton's exhibition at Esopus Space

But back to Clayton.  Ironically, we spent a relatively small time talking about his gallery show.  Rather, most of Clayton’s discussion during our wanderings about the gallery centered around gentrification – specifically in terms of the Lower East Side, generally in terms of its negative effect on societies.  What happens to a place, he questions, when artists – aside from the commercially successful few - are unable to afford to live there?  What are the negative effects on the larger community when increasing rents drive out the near-experiments in ethnic/cultural interactions, music, art, and otherwise?  Clayton didn’t answer those questions directly, but it was clear that he didn’t believe it to be a good thing.  I don’t think anyone can quantify the effects of what Clayton addresses, but overall I’m inclined to agree.

That being said, I also think that gentrification is a nigh-unstoppable phenomenon.  Clayton himself spoke of the loss of the magic of pre-WWII Paris to similar forces to those than changed his beloved Lower East Side.  Interestingly, he also speculated that China could be the next place where such an environment could be arise in the future.

The environment that Clayton describes – a relatively concentrated, low-cost area whose less-traditional residents are more free to pursue interests and make cognitive explorations without having to obsess constantly over money – is certainly not a new idea.  There’s even a word for it: Bohemia.  Of course I don’t mean Bohemia in the literal sense of the old European kingdom, but rather in the sense of Bohemia being a place that fosters bohemianism.

The difficult thing about Bohemias, of course, is that they can’t be drawn on a map.  More of a confluence of circumstances than a set geographic location, Bohemias are heavily subject to the forces of culture, economics, and politics.  I bet if you did the historical research, you would find that Bohemias across the world have always sprung up without intent; I doubt you could plan a Bohemia like you would plan a subdivision and neighborhood association.  Unfortunately, I think the corollary is that Bohemias are next to impossible to preserve, even if you have the insight to realize that you’re living in one.

So what to do then?  Is it futile to fight against gentrification, push for affordable housing, defend muticulturalism?  Maybe or maybe not; I’m not going to attempt to answer that here.  But what I think the ephemeral nature of Bohemias like the Lower East Side should make us do is appreciate even more the fruit that they bear, like Clayton’s drag queen photos.  Looking at these images is very near to catching a glimpse of something mythic.

On Monday I vacated my premises and moved in with a family friend on the outskirts of Bangkok. Wednesday, Bangkok burned. Last minute negotiations failed and gov’t troops started their crackdown at dawn. The protestors didn’t really have a chance against the armored vehicles and by noon security forces were just 100 meters away from the main protest stage. The remaining red leaders decided to save the lives of the protestors and turned themselves in, asking the crowd to go home. Many of them were in tears. And then all hell broke loose. Hardcore elements vowed to fight on and they initiated a well organized arson attack on Bangkok. Major shopping malls in downtown Bangkok were set ablaze; firefighters and medics were shot at to keep them from helping. Protestors took refuge in the nearby temple and rumors spread they would be shot if they left. Anti government protestors from around the country than came out of the woodworks, far from the center of Bangkok, vandalism and arson spread to beyond the red zone. Things have finally quieted down and I just have too many thoughts to share.
 
Firstly, the acts of arson were well organized, and also targeted at specific groups. Properties of certain business conglomerates were targeted throughout the city, while others right next to them were left untouched. The conflict wasn’t merely an issue of Red vs. Yellow, Poor vs. Rich. Many different groups with different agendas were at play. The Gov’t repeatedly stated the need to weed out the militant groups, who are clearly ex-army as they demonstrated urban warfare training. The poor protestors were armed with little more than slingshots lobbing firecrackers and sitting tires on fire. The accurate sniper fire or the focused M79 grenade attacks had to have come from another group within the reds. Someone wanted to destabilize the country, for whatever reasons. Going beyond the scenes of destruction, one sees that several things were accomplished. Thaksin will probably never set foot in Thailand ever again, if he’d try, he’d meet the fate of Aquino who was shot as he stepped off his airplane in Manila. Certain business groups were hit hard. The redshirt movement has been defined as looters and discredited. Someone has essentially used the protests as a smoke screen to do their dirty work, and just like in the movies where they always say to kill the assassin after the job is done, everything has been blamed on the Reds.
 
And blame it on the reds the Bangkok elite has. My Facebook news feed is full of my Thai friends denigrating the red movement as arsonists and hooligans. “This is democracy?” “These people don’t deserve to vote” “If they hate Thailand so much, let them move to Burma”. This last comment exposes that the true ignorance of Thailand is in the Bangkok elite. First, as a matter of demographics, Thailand has a population of over 60 million, of which 9 million are in Bangkok. And even within Bangkok, the majority of the population is migrant laborers from rural areas. The Bangkok elite are predominantly ethnic Chinese of relatively recent descent. Even the name Thailand is a 20th century construct of western powers trying to define borders and later, containing communism. The famous Pad Thai dish was popularized in the 1930’s, partly as an attempt to form a national dish for national unity. During this time, the local histories were wiped from the text books. All the other Kingdoms and Kings were struck from history, leaving the Kingdom of Siam as the only remaining legacy taught in schools. Saying the protestors are against Thailand, overlooks the fact that the protestors are Thailand. This is exactly what the Bangkok upper class is doing. Facebook has become an echo chamber, as wealthy Thais rant with other wealthy Thais. The social divide is such that these people live in a precisely limited social circle, and since all their privileged friends hold the same view, then they must be in the majority.
 
If Thailand is to move forward, it’s the Bangkok people who need to open their eyes, they are the ones who need to be educated. The red shirts, the rural farmers, are the true Thailand. Their grievances are genuine, and not just the whining of the lazy as the elite claim. In the US, the top 10% own some 70% of the wealth. In Thailand, the top 2% own 80%. Before you start thinking that I’ve suddenly given up my capitalist roots, I have not. In Thailand, wealth is derived from controlling limited resources, not from creating value. The rich are rich not due to business savvy, innovation or even hard work. They are wealthy because they have land, business permits or other exclusive resources. And they have those exclusive resources due to a corrupt government. For example, the top university of Thailand owns much of central Bangkok. When King Chulalongkorn established the university, he gave it the land for its endowment, the rental income to fund the university and provide affordable education (it costs a few hundred dollars a term all in). Rent in central Bangkok is over $1,000 a sq foot, of which less than 10% the university receives. The land is rented out at ridiculously low rates to people with connections, who reap massive profits when they sublet it. Almost every aspect of the Thai economy works in such a way.
 
Lastly, I just want to remark how liberal expats living in Thailand, somehow believe that Democracy and Freedom of Speech, aren’t good for Thailand. The rural poor are too uneducated, too easily manipulated, and unable to see the bigger Thailand. They are outraged by the coverage of western media, showing Army crackdown with guns on protestors armed with sticks and Bangkok turning into a warzone. There’s even a melodramatic rant of a letter to CNN editor complaining about the horrible coverage painting Bangkok a warzone. Amazingly, even after the carnage of last Wednesday, this poster’s Facebook page has gathered a large following. One of my American friends believes that Thaksin merely bought the poor votes with affordable healthcare, and that when given access to affordable credit, the poor just bought senseless goods, digging themselves deeper in debt. This is proof that they are incapable of proper decision making; they need paternal guidance not suffrage. Of course I pointed out that Obama is doing the same with health care, and that numerous Americans took advantage of low introductory subprime loans to finance houses they couldn’t possibly afford, wrecking the economy, yet they are not deemed too stupid to vote. I honestly believe that these expats have found a paradise in Thailand, one where they are treated like nobility and the servants always smile, happy to look up to their white superiors. When their servants revolt, and western media portrays this as a class struggle for democracy, their paradise collapses and they devolve into anger.
 
I hope to move back into my place on Sunday, I’ll see if I get new pictures of the post carnage, but cleanup efforts are well underway. I wish I could post this on FB, but I fear the backlash too much.
 

I also admit to being a little cognitively primed for the book.  As far back as I can remember, I’ve been a bit of a worse-case-scenario planner.  I remember back in elementary school taking an empty plastic bucket of Double Bubble and filling it with a flashlight, candles, and other supplies we would need in case a tornado struck.  We didn’t have a ton of tornadoes in New York state, true, but I didn’t want to be caught unprepared!  I even kept a couple pillows under the basement stairs for when we would have to take shelter there.

So naturally, reading The Road sent my brain off on a spree of survivalist planning.  Thanks to the internet, I’ve since discovered freeze-dried food with a shelf life of 20 years, the universal standard that is the #10 tin can, and companies that manufacture underground bunkers resistant to biological attacks and EMP’s.  All of this information has come to me via an almost countless number of message boards and blogs that deal with nothing but planning for doomsday/when the shit hits the fan (affectionately abbreviated SHTF)/the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI – seriously).

I guess I always knew that this sort of community was out there, but it was no less interesting seeing it in front of my eyes.  I found myself fascinated by the people as much as the information they were sharing.  What kind of person stores a go-bag with 72 hours worth of food, water, medicine, cash, and key supplies in each of his family vehicles and at his place of work?  Who builds a fallout shelter in their basement and Faraday cages around the rooms of their house?  What must it feel like to always be planning for an apocalypse?  I can’t help but feeling like I’ve taken a glimpse down the rabbit hole.

/* random thought: wouldn’t it be cool to do a photo documentary of modern survivalists and their various preparations? */

/* random thought #2: let’s say TEOTWAWKI occurred and only the well-prepared survivalists made it through.  What would humanity look like a couple centuries afterward?  What sort of people would have been selected for by the apocalypse?  Could you build a functioning society from the stock of personality traits left? */

I got out this afternoon, details of my exit below for those not on my Facebook. To answer [redacted]‘s questions. The streets are empty at night as the Army and unknown snipers shoot indiscriminately. But thats mostly south of where my condo is. The street I am on is actually fairly quiet, it parallels the main red camp, but there’s minimal action on the road, its sort of, the eye of the storm. As for the US Embassy, they are notoriously useless for any such matter, much complaint for their cold, bureaucratic handling of the Boxer Day Tsunami, plus they bill you massively for anything they do. On the utilities front, the Thai gov’t has ordered the telecom agencies to shut service to the central protest zones, but only 2 of the 4 operators have complied. This is a major source of irony as the two who shut down service are the companies bought by foreigners a few years ago, while the two still in service are Thai private and gov’t owned. One of the services that shut down was AIS, which was Thaksin’s telecom conglomerate that he sold to the Singaporeans (a deal I am not proud to be apart of) which sparked the coup that ousted him. The yellow shirts caused a public outcry that Thaksin was selling a strategic national asset to a foreigner and has threatened national security (ignoring the fact that 6 months prior, DTAC, owned by a Bangkok elite family was sold to the Norwegians). The gov’t also tried to shut down water and power, but due complaints of local residents, that order was rescinded. And that pretty much sums up the Thai gov’t, they announced measures that are poorly thought out, only having to retract them hours later.
For Thaksin’s corruption. Yes, Thaksin was a corrupt basterd… but welcome to the club. All Thai politicians are corrupt. His critics claim that even so, Thaksin has raised corruption to an unacceptable new level. This is a bogus argument for two main reasons. First, its hardly the largest corruption scam in the history of Thailand. That belongs to the 97 crisis gov’t, who leaked to the powerful elite that the Bank of Thailand would be dropping the THB/USD peg of 25. The Baht promptly fell to almost 60 to the dollar. Many of that disaster of a gov’t have now come back to power. The other reason is that the Bangkok elite couldn’t compete with the new form of Thaksin corruption, and that is hard cash from a booming stock market. My first year in Thailand, the SET index almost tripled from 300ish to almost 900. Massive amounts of wealth was created and suddenly the currency of bribery was pre-IPO shares. Contrast this with the old form of corruption where gov’t officials took bribes to issue permits and licenses, small potatoes. Thaksin’s new system was quickly replacing the old, and his growing popularity with the rural farmers was big threat to the establishment. This is the central issue at hand, everything else is a PR campaign.

It is easy for the establishment to frame the issue as Pro/Anti Thaksin. He’s an easy character to vilify due to his villainous actions. But I think its pretty clear now that the fight has moved on from Thaksin and is now that of a class struggle. Thaksin for all his evils, has given the rural poor something they have never had, and thats a political voice. It amazes me how much people in Thailand think democracy is a failure. I even had a very heated argument with a close friend over this matter today. Many feel that Democracy isn’t always the answer, and that it won’t work in Thailand. They believe that there needs to be some enlightened and benevolent stewardship. This is essentially what the Palace has provided for decades. For more on that

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/world/asia/16king.html?hp=&pagewant…

The other argument is that Abhisit is democratically elected and this is democracy and that the Reds are merely being selfish. This is also more BS from pseudo intellectuals. I’m not that familiar with parliamentary system, but Thaksin’s party won a string of outright majorities. The Thai Courts, known only for how easily bribed they are, issued a series of election violations and banned members of Thaksin’s party. The grounds for these dismissals ranged from, voting tables too high or too low to campaign posters the wrong size. Eventually, Thaksin’s party held only a plurality of seats and thus had to form a coalition gov’t. When the yellow shirts shut down the airport, the Thai Courts kicked out Samak the PM on the grounds that he illegally hosted a sunday morning cooking show, a member of the ruling coalition flipped sides and the Democrats formed a gov’t and Abhisit took over. Abhisits initial stance was to hold out the maximum 4 years before calling a new general election. I cannot see how anyone not a fucktard can possibly call that a functional democracy in action. This is why I think the reds have a completely legitimate grievance and the gov’t has absolutely no legitimacy. The reds have won every general election since 2001. When there was an elitist backed uprising, Thaksin called new elections as a referendum that he soundly won again. The Bangkok elite then resorted to a military coup, Mickey Mouse court rulings and back room bargaining to regain power, and then decide to squat the maximum amount of time before calling new elections. And while in power, their agenda consists of only 2 items, seize Thaksin’s assets to deprive the reds of resources and redraft the constitution to strip power away from the rural farmers. There are clearly many other agenda’s going on, but the elitest’s dismissal of the reds being purely the brain washed pawns of Thaksin is wishful thinking. But I believe this to be the core issue, and if the gov’t cracks down instead of finding true reconciliation, the desire of people to have a political voice will not be squashed and the red movement will return quickly and in new forms (I fear terrorism).

Exodus (from my FB)

It was tough sleeping through the the fighting last night, but I managed a few winks. I’ve gotten good at identifying the sounds from home made fire crackers, 12 gauge shotguns, M16 on 3 round bursts or the terrfying thump of the M79 grenades. Last night was different in both the intensity and proximity of the blasts and weapon reports. Fighting errupted up north at the chidlom/petchaburi intersection, less than a kilometer away. Action got much closer as the 7/11 on Langsuan was looted for supplies (as well as the adjoining CIMB ATM machine). Fighting down south was furious with hundreds of shots fired and over a dozen grenade blasts. But there was a new blast I heard that ended up being RPGs fired into the Dusit Thani hotel.

At dawn, heavy rains stopped the fighting and tire fires and the remaining residents discussed to stay or to make a run for it. I had debated going at 10am after the rains, but fresh explosions made me rethink that move. At noon a small army of reporters relocated to my building, each in body armor and Kevlar helmets, sporting communications gear out the wazoo. They had vacated the Dusit Thani after the RPG attacks and moved to the safest hotel in the red zone, ie my place. This gave me pause to think it best to stay, but then again, what the hell do fahrang journalists know about Thailand. So I shut down my apartment, tossed the perishables, flipped the electrical breakers, closed the water main, pulled the hard drives from my server and grabbed my go bag.

More heavily kevlared journalists checked in as I headed out. I asked for intel on what it was like beyond wireless road, but they gave me geographically impossible advice. So In turn I rhetorically asked if their level I Kevlar vest without the ceramic plate would stop a 5.56mm. I hoofed it north on Langsuan on news that motorbikes there can get you out. I passed the looted 7/11 which had more journalists filming the carnage. Along the way I spotted even more journalists, at this point semi bullet resistant fahrangs out numbered reds by at least 2:1, more astonishingly they outnumbered soi dogs at a staggering ratio of infinity. The oddest sight during the last few days was that I hadn’t seen any dogs or cats in days.

I made it to Ploenjit and surveyed last nights carnage. The streets were scarred with black marks from the tire fires. The scent of garbage filed the air as the city suspended sanitation services days ago. I approached a group of motorbike taxi and I thought of asking for the fastest transport for me, a boy and these two droids. Headed north on Chidlom, but cut across the side soi towards BigC to avoid the main road block on Petchaburi. After winding our way through the small sois we eventually came out onto Petchaburi with all the devastation from the night before. The road was covered with seeping black ooze from the tire fire. Debris littered the road and the reds were busy building new fortifications. Piles of tires and razor wire forced us to zig zag through. At wireless road we met the red check point, they merely asked where we were going. Passing the last of the red encampment I entered no mans land. It was open space for 100 meters to the army lines. An army transport truck and humvee were stationed there along with more razor wire. I was most scared at this point as the army has been practicing head shots on the reds and had warned that they will shoot to kill at anyone within 30 yards. I have taken adrenalin pumping trips on motorbike taxis through Bangkok rush hour many times before, but this open stretch was my scariest ride.

At the army checkpoint, a few cars were lined up infront of me, waiting to be cleared. When it was my turn, I was asked to get off the bike, and my crumpler bag was searched. I showed them my US passport and said nothing and was allowed to pass. Further along towards Nana, I came up to another army/police checkpoint where I was searched again and asked for more documents. After that I had returned to a normal city. It is amazing how little changed life is outside the red zone. There are tourists walking the streets, people shop and line up for Robin Hood as they enjoy two days of new public holidays. Bangkok never ceases to amaze me.

Many of you closely followed the latest goings-on in Bangkok a couple weeks ago.  I watched with particular interest since I have a good friend living there currently.  As it turns out, he was very close to all the action – a little too close, if you ask me.

Try as I might, on my own I wasn’t able to really dig deeper beyond the superficial facts of the protests.  CNN, BBC, and other news organizations were annoyingly undetailed about the political and cultural underpinnings of the protests.  I felt unsatisfied.  The comment sections of the various news sites hinted at the emotions seething underneath the distanced, objective facade of the news, but that taste was all I had.  At least, that was all I had until my friend wrote a sizeable missive that went out via email to a circle of his friends.  With his permission, I’ve pasted his message below, minus elements that could identify him or localize him.  Granted, it’s only one view, but it’s the best I’ve had so far into this whole conflict.  I hope you find it interesting.

Some of you may have noticed Bangkok in the news, and since i’m barricaded in my room, I thought I would send out an update…

[...]
Thai’s Love Thai
In 1992, the army took a power grab and a series of pro democracy protests ended in violent clashes. It was only ended when the King stepped in and famously made the army general kneel and apologize on national TV. The constitution was redrafted, giving the lower house, which is directly elected, most of the power while the upper house remained appointed by the aristocracy. The military top ranks were also to be appointed by parliament every 4 years. Things went great until the asia crisis in 97 when all went to shit. Shortly after, Thaksin formed a new political party called Thai Rak Thais, literaly, thai’s love thai’s. Thaksin was not from the established elite, he was a former policeman from up north who became a billionaire with his mobile phone company (funny, story, as a police man, Thaksin wanted the two way radio repeater service, but the powers that be kept it for themselves, instead they sold Thaksin the completely unwanted cellular phone frequencies).

In 2001 Thaksin’s TRT wins and he becomes PM. He seemingly is the only politician in thailand to realize that the rural north is where the majority of the population. Once in power, Thaksin enables populist measures, $1 a day health care, land reform, farmer credit, micro finance etc. He also goes pro business, privatizing many state enterprises and opening up more markets. He becomes incredibly popular with the poor and working class and becomes the first Thai PM to complete an entire 4 year term and also becomes the first thai PM to ever get re-elected. He also engages in some atrocious human rights violation, giving police dept carte blanche in a war of drugs that left some 2,000 suspected drug traffickers dead. The old elite are quite threatened by this. His old media mogul mentor a guy named Sondhi starts a series of public protests in the park against Thaksin. He forms a group called the People’s Alliance for Democracy and they wear yellow shirts in honor of the king. Sondhi blasts thaksin with various non sensical accusations ranging from wanting to establish a Republic to disrupting the harmony of Thailand. Eventually, Thaksin dissolves parliament and calls for new rounds of elections, giving the people a referendum. The opposition, knowing that they will once again lose in a landslide in the election, boycott the polls, in an attempt to discredit the results. TRT of course, wins in yet another landslide. The establishment, having no way else to remove Thaksin, stages a coup in 2006.

The Yellow and Red shirts
The Army, having seemingly learned its lesson from the 92 crack down, really not interested in violence, or in running the country. They happy just taking their bribes. They announce that the coup is to protect democracy and that they will call elections in one year. The courts disband TRT over election fraud for, get this, having polling stations where the table was too tall. The establishment of course, squanders its year in power. They are split trying to seize Thakin’s assets as well as redrafting the constitution. In their amendments, they want to have only 40% of the parliament directly elected, with 60% appointed by the elite. They fail to do either and new elections are called. Thakisin now in exile, forms a new party called the People’s Power Party (PPP). PPP again, wins in a land slide. Sondhi and his yellow shirts start protesting, he successfully paints Thaksin as anti King and mobilizes the bangkok middle class. They stage massive protests, shut down much of the city, take over parliament all the while the police and army just stand and watch. Eventually they take over the airports, shutting down bangkok for a week. Eventually, the courts find Samak, the PPP prime minister guilty of election fraud for… hosting a sunday morning cooking show. A member of PPP flips sides, and the democrats form gov’t and Abhisit becomes PM. No election was called.

The rural poor form a Red Shirt movement to counter the yellows. Two months ago tens of thousands of them moved into central bangkok, parking themselves in the posh shopping district near where I live. They demand that Abhisit call for elections, saying he was not democratically elected and had no legitimacy. They effectively shut down central Bangkok. The government is seemingly powerless to stop them as once again the military and police do not act to stop the crowds. At issue is that the 4 year army cycle is up and the next round of gov’t appointments is up in September. The army chief, not willing to end his career in blood shed, takes a passive stance. However, the generals and colonels who aligned themselves with the current gov’t have a stake in the current gov’t staying in power. On April 10th, they stage a crackdown at one of the red camps at the Democracy Monument. The monument is quite symbolic as it is the location of various protests and bloody clashes with the army over the years, but is mostly a farce as it is a monument to the 1930′s peaceful coup when the army took power away from the palace. The army gets humiliated in the crackdown, the reds are very well organized and reinforcements quickly outflank and surround the army. The army loses several tanks and hundreds of assault rifles and heavy weapons. 25 people died in the conflict. During the conflict, mysterious armed gunmen are seen firing into both lines, instigating the conflict. In addition, army ground commanders were shot by snipers, including a colonel who many was expected to be promoted by the current gov’t in the army reshuffle. The army is clearly divided btw those who have aligned themselves w the gov’t, and those who have been passed over. Many call the army Watermelons, for green on the outside red on the inside.

Living near the red camp was rather surreal for the last few weeks, my office was still open, but I had to pass a red security point where they would search my bags. At first they were happy to have me take pics of them, as did many other tourists, but as tensions built, they no longer allowed any picture taking. In the evenings, gov’t helicopters would buzz the area and the reds would fill the sky with lanterns and shoot home made rockets at them. A very odd feeling seeing all this from my window.

Over the last few weeks, negotiations slowly progressed until last week the gov’t agreed to a compromise of November elections, giving the gov’t what they want (to be in power for army reshuffle) and the reds what they need, early elections. Unfortunately, extremists on both sides moved to sabotage the deal. Hardcore red shirts refuse to accept the offer, and Sondhi and the Yellow Shirts demand that Abhisit step down for negotiating with the Reds on their demands he step down (I don’t know what the Thai word for irony is). On thursday, an unknown sniper shot the ex general militant leader of the red security forces in the head while he was conducting an interview. The gov’t also announced that they had withdrawn their peace offer and would no longer negotiate. The army moved in to block all roads into the red camp to cut off their supply lines.

My condo is a block away from the main red camp, and inside the red perimeter. For weeks, the redshirts have erected massive barricades made of trucks, tires and point bamboo sticks. I have gradually stockpiled supplies in my condo. When the army shut down roads, I have effectively been trapped at home. To the south of me is Lumpini Park, where the red shirts have setup blockaid and supplies. To the north are other blockades. To the east is embassy row where the british, US and netherland embassy are. Friday morning I attempted to head out on foot. I knew they had shut down the nearest skytrain stop, but thought I could cut across to embassy row and head north to the next closest station. No dice, it too was closed. I took a few steps north to get to the next main road, but sounds of gunfire errupted so I headed back. To the south, warfare had broken out in lumpini park. No longer do i hear the booms. It is safer for me to stay indoors then to venture out and try to cross the battle lines on foot. The Army’s goal appears to be to isolate the red shirts, and all day friday and sat, the reds have tested the army lines, but haven’t been able to break through. Today was another violent day with non stop sounds of automatic weapons fire outside my window. The gov’t has hinted that it is now prepared to crack down on the main camp. As i write this, I have heard a dozen massive explosions coming from the park to the south. Hopefully this will end soon, but it doesn’t look to be ending peacefully. And big picture wise, the class division remains high in thailand and I suspect the reds will resort to terrorist tactics.

Overall, I am sympathetic to the reds. They have won every election in the last 8 years, yet they have no political power. The establishment argument is now one of Democracy doesn’t work in Thailand because the farmers are too dumb to vote. They merely sell their votes to politicians in return for cheap health care. The elitist ideal is that of Poh Pian, which translates to To have Enough. They claim that Thaksin has exposed the rural poor to the global economic cycles and that thailand should return to the simpler life of being self sustaining and happy. This is all easy for the barons to say to the farmers from their mercedes benzes. Over the decades, all the wealth generation in Thailand was centered in Bangkok, the rural poor has had almost zero economic growth. I have many rich and ivy league educated thai friends who come up with some crazy rationale on why democracy is a failure. They have become increasingly angry towards the reds and many wish to see them die. Its rather upsetting when the peasants and servants rise against their masters. But what dumbfounds me the most is the number of expats in Thailand who are also so anti red shirts. They deride them for being too uneducated to vote, too easy to mislead with propaganda. They believe pro red media stations should be shut down and that freedom of speech and press is a western value and not a universal one.

I’ve heard of taking timed exposures as long as several hours, and even I myself have done exposures as long as several minutes, but this guy takes the cake with his six month exposure tracking the sun’s path from June to December.  He didn’t need no stinkin’ fancy SLR, either.  This was done using a tin can and a sheet of photographic paper.  Super cool.  (Help My Physics via Gizmodo)

I’ll ignore, for the moment, some of the more ridiculous claims that came up during the course of the session – detoxifying through sweating, “massaging your pancreas” with certain poses, and savasana “corpse” pose being more restful than eight hours of sleep.  These are laughably woo-tastic (I’m sure those yoga instructors still sleep in their beds at night), and I don’ t think any reasonable person – my yoga friend included – lends them any significant degree of credence.  I would’ve given at least a dubious huff when these ridiculous claims were aired, but I was too busy lying on my back trying to get my heart rate to come down while keeping the sweat out of my eyes.

This brings me to a more interesting claim of Bikram Yoga proponents.  Apparently the heat and the accompanying elevated heart rate allow one to burn an incredible number of calories during a typical 90 minute session.  One Bikram website calculates my personal expenditure to be 1100-1200 calories for 90 minutes.  A brief look around the web revealed similar claims – anywhere from 600-1000 calories per session.  This was simply too good to be true, but lacking the means to immediately falsify this claim, I had to do some digging.

Lacking access to a physiology lab and experimental volunteers, I had to turn to Google.  I expected the usual minefield of misinformed, baseless claims, and the web did not disappoint.  A large number of pages (usually devoted to quick weight loss secrets) tried to address the question of whether merely being in a hot environment causes you to burn more calories.  On the surface, this is not an unreasonable idea.  When you get hot, your body has to expend energy trying to cool itself.  Your sweat glands excrete sweat, and your heart rate elevates as it pumps more blood to your skin and periphery where it can be cooled.  The effect, however, is not anything to write home about.  The  L.A. Times reports that sitting on your butt in front of the TV for 20 minutes burns 23 calories.  Plop that butt into a jacuzzi, though, and the number rises to – wait for it – 34 calories.

“But wait!” some say, “I’ve worn my heart rate monitor during my Bikram Yoga class, and it says I burn a gazillion calories!”  Unfortunately, what these people don’t know is that heart rate monitors calculate calorie expenditure using formulas based on weight and heart rate (some better ones use height, gender, and age).  They assume that if your heart rate is up, it’s up because of exercise.  If your ticker is pounding away just because of that triple espresso, it’ll think you’re running on a treadmill and give you credit for calories you didn’t really burn.  So a heart rate monitor worn during Bikram yoga is giving you unearned credit just for being in a hot room with your heart having to work harder to keep you cool.

Carisa believes that the propagation of misinformation on Bikram Yoga can be partially attributed to the failure of science education, and I’m inclined to agree.  Perusing a Bikram Yoga thread on a fitness message board only serves to reinforce this notion, as misinformed, woo-filled posts drown out the attempts at reasoned, fact-based argument.  And this is one of the better threads out there.  Don’t get me wrong; I think there are a lot of benefits to be had from yoga – flexibility and improved balance to name a couple.  I personally hope to do more yoga in the future.  But I think that bogus claims like these don’t help anyone (save for those who profit from the falsehood) and ultimately only discredit any of the real benefits yoga might have.

Wow.  What a game.  What a magnificent, tight, hard-fought game.  It was a fitting end to one of the best, if not the best, NCAA tournaments I can remember.

I can’t count how many times I thought Duke was about to break the game open, put it out of reach.  Scheyer, Smith, and Singler all had chances late in the second half.  But that breakaway never happened, because the swarming, physical defense of Butler wouldn’t allow it.

At the same time, Duke didn’t exactly go away, either.  They continued to grind out a trickle of points, scrambling around to find that hint of an opening.  The monolith that is Brian Zoubek continued to pound the boards and alter shots.

And so it came down, fittingly, to one final possession.  Duke gambled by purposely missing Zoubek’s second free-throw.  The real-life Jimmy Chitwood, Gordon Hayward (Oh crap!  Not Hayward!), pulled down the rebound and brought the ball upcourt.  After a crushing pick by Matt Howard, Singler was on the floor and Hayward had an open look.  The ball went up, hit the glass, and caromed off the front of the rim, just a shade too strong.  Game over.

I hate to bring up the cliche’ that it’s sad that there has to be a loser, but I can’t think of a more fitting time than this.  This Butler team was awesome.  Tough doesn’t even begin to describe them.  I think the handful of people worldwide who rooted for Duke last night would all have said that they would’ve rooted for Butler had the opposing team been different.  They have a great school, great coach, and great players all tied up in a made-for-movie story.  They proved without a doubt that they belonged on that court last night.  (And as added props, they went to class yesterday!)  Consider for a moment, now, that four of its five starters could return next year.  Oh yeah – they’ll be back.

I hope people are better able now to recognize the value of certain things, like building a team of devoted – although perhaps less talented – players instead of a squad of one-and-dones (ie. Kentucky).  A personal thank-you goes to Brian Zoubek, who toughed out years of nagging injuries and questions of why he wouldn’t transfer and found true excellence and redemption in his senior year.

I hope people can realize that budget and facilities aren’t everything, or even anything close.  Butler’s budget is something like one eighth the size of Duke’s.

I hope this puts to rest the tired, petty notion that Duke gets favored status from the refs.  I don’t think any reasonable observer of the West Virginia game and the Butler game could say the the officiating favored one side over the other.  But then again, this favored status myth goes beyond reason.

I hope CBS pulls its head out of its ass and stops using that stupid high moving camera angle.  This is not The Matrix, and this is not an amusement park ride designed to make you nauseous.  The traditional, stationary side-view is the only camera angle you need 98% of the time.  And this year’s “One Shining Moment” – WTF?  Try including some actual footage of the two finalists next time instead of focusing on the singer.

Lastly, I hope college basketball fans everywhere feel a sense of honor returning to the game.  This is how it should be, with widespread parity between teams, thrilling tournament games, and things like teamwork, leadership, toughness, and heart trumping flash and money.  Butler’s run to the final has righted this small corner of the universe.  I’m happy for Duke and their fourth national championship, and I’m also happy for college basketball.