Tight minge
-
Posts
1,283 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Store
Posts posted by Tight minge
-
-
On 05/08/2023 at 10:12, Alexanderallen said:
After years of procrastination I have finally published my first book with a couple of others in the pipeline. It’s certainly not going to get any nominations, but would be great for some honest feedback here if anyone is willing to shell out 6.99 or waste a few bourse of their life if they have Kindle Unlimited.
Of course, at least in Kindle/Amazon give it an okay rating so it doesn’t totally bomb, I have a wife and kids to feed
PS: posting this under my pseudonym.
Not quite Shantaram but a decent enough yarn.
0 -
Read Shantaram, then the Mountain Shadow by Gregory David Roberts
A long slog for both, but all in all decent reads and excellent depictions of India.
0 -
5 minutes ago, MazzyStar said:
Fair enough. The ex leader does seem like a w****r, but the army doing a coup is never usually a good sign. However, the people seem fairly happy and it looks like the election that just happened before the coup was fraudulent.
Surely the country is pretty fucked if it had a president that used to be a 1970’s magician.
2 -
On 30/06/2023 at 04:17, FreedomFarter said:
Only physical Qurans matter and they're mostly ornamental. They're revered as divine objects. That's the point of them. They're hardly read by Muslims so not viewed like books. The classical Arabic of the text is largely impenetrable to modern Arabic speakers then the vast majority of the world's Muslims don't speak Arabic anyway. Muslim kids are made to rote-learn lines from the Quran under the supervision of the Imam but are not taught the translation. They believe its God's words they're repeating therefore its a divine and worthwhile exercise for that alone, despite not knowing what they're saying. This is also why Imams chant the lines. Nobody knows what he's saying, they're there for the ritualistic aspect of it and you're to believe these chants are just inherently majestic as they're composed of God's words. It's not like modern Christianity where Bibles are accessible to be read and understood by lay Christians.
The Quran has been translated into many languages and also has many dual language versions so anyone can read it and everyone is encouraged to read it, exactly like the bible and every other religious texts. A dual version is preferred by most as, yes the original text is sacred.
Arabic is also taught in many schools in countries that are Muslim or majority Muslim so that people can read the Quran in its original language.
it’s true the original language of the Quran is a challenge, like any historic book or document, and like the bible and other religious documents there are historic and symbolic copies that are ornamental only. But to suggest that Muslims in the whole don’t read the Quran is incorrect. To suggest that they are led to read Arabic without knowing what it means is also not completely true either. Yes there are swathes of text people won’t understand, but they are taught. Whether they remember or not is a different story.
Its not really much different than the bible in the basis that most homes of the persuasion will have copies. That not everyone will read those copies, but many will and everyone will cherry pick what they want from them.
As for the burning, for Muslims it’s sacred and there is a process to follow when disposing of old copies that should be followed and done by a ‘professional’. So burning a copy will always get a reaction.
Burning books or anything else that sets out cause offence or hurt or denial is a stupid thing to do, but to burn the item itself is not illegal, but how, where and why could be.
0 -
It’s just starting into the rain season then, but all in all shouldn’t be a big deal. Showers should be very heavy and short. Normal temperature and not particularly overcast.
1 -
On 31/03/2023 at 17:55, The Other Foot said:
Proper lot of whingers in the footballing fraternity, worried about sunshine, public transport and shitty hotels. What happened to the idea of adventure?
A WC somewhere like Indonesia would be phenomenal. Europe is for dullards.
A world cup in Indonesia would be phenomenal, but absolutely impossible. It's not shitty hotels and public transport, but a complete lack of them. The investment needed to make it possible would be wholly impractical and complete waste of money.
0 -
No big surprise With Israel qualifying. It was always going to become seriously problematic. I don’t think it really has any significant impact on future hosting rites as these would have been unrealistic anyway.
Indonesia have zero ability to host a world cup and even a joint regional bid would be most practical with either or both of Malaysia and Indonesia and it would be near impossible for Malaydia to make the guarantees Indonesia tried to do.
All in all its the right decision as an Israeli team/supporters in Indonesia would have been a magnet for the nutters.
I wouldn’t be surprised that after extensive discussions to make this work, it's been mutually agreed between Indonesia and FIFA and any sanctions will not have a major impact. The current government is constantly undermined by some of the right leaning religious groups.
Any team sanction will be a shame as the current Indonesian team is young and pretty good (by regional terms) and getting better under Shin Tae-Yong (ex South Korea Manager).
0 -
4 hours ago, Gorgie greatness said:
Those are not innocenti lambrettas lad.
That's the sorry state of the Lambretta name, technically they are Innocenti. They are part of the holding company and licenced out the name and of course gain profit from the sales.
The whole thing is a mess, and for some like yourself, who is obsessed with the original, you’ll spit at these (and quite rightly). As I see the design is in Austria and the build is with SYM, so either manufactured in Taiwan or China. They are allegedly looking at some production in Italy, which would be purely to keep this tenious link to the originals.
The licencing of the Lambretta name has been quite the embarrassing story.
0 -
1 hour ago, hk blues said:
My young lad (10 y.o.) doesn't really have a discernible accent. Where I am there isn't really a strong local accent due to their efforts to Americanise themselves. Our son makes a lot of effort to be British and drops 't' sounds i.e. Bri'ish and wa'er. Annoys the f**k out of me but less so than his mates with their 'Bro' nonsense and other Americanisations.
My 6 year daughters accent is pretty neutral, but I am constantly correcting the Americanisms from school.
I get frustrated with some of the locals exaggarating American accents here, it's not natural, especially compared to Singlish.
When I was 3 I lived in Canada and on returning home had a heavy North American accent, but it only took a few months for that to go away. Now been incerseas for 20 years and still got my Scottish accent, maybe a little slower in the way I speak now, which is a necessity to be understood.
1 -
6 hours ago, Gorgie greatness said:
G&V do you mean GP & TV models?
wheres “out here”?https://lambrettascooters.com/v-special-series/
https://lambrettascooters.com/g350/
I’m based in South East Asia. Motorbike/Scooter Central.
0 -
1 hour ago, Gorgie greatness said:
My obsession is with the original lambretta. When the scamadi first came about they had a Vespa GTS engine in them so should be reliable to an extent.
I didn’t know that. It’s pretty much impossible to get an old Lambretta out here, but plenty of old Vespas. I hadn’t given Lambrettas a second thought for long enough, but recently a few of the Innocenti Lambrettas started popping up and the G and the V look quite nice. The X looks crap.
There is a clear difference in the quality of the Italian and Vietnamese built Vespas.
Out here is flooded with Japanese bikes which are decent enough machines but ugly as shit.
0 -
6 hours ago, Gorgie greatness said:
I’m a lambretta man looks like it’s a wee blast down the coast of East Lothian here!
What would your opinion be of the new Lambretta? There are a few knocking about here and look okay, but no idea the quality of them.
0 -
Have a Vespa LXV150 currently in storage in Indonesia, but due to flooding is ruined. Was one of the Vietnam builds and was a great bike but always had a few issues with the engine.
Too expensive to have a bike here just now but will invest in, probably a GTS 300 if/when I head back to Indonesia.
Owned a Kawasaki in The Philippines and maybe not the nicest, but was a decent bike.
Drove a SYM scooter when I lived in Vietnam, it done a job.
Considering the year round weather out this way, driving bikes here is wonderful.
Have driven one of the Indian Royal Enfield in India and it’s okay.
0 -
18 hours ago, Newbornbairn said:
We took on a new salesman who was all over LinkedIn - something like 10,000 "followers". Every day it was some pious positivity bullshit post, real goody-two shoes sanctimonious crap.
He got fired for using the company credit card to pay for lap dances in strip clubs. Twice.
He got called into HR and threw a wobbly when they fired him, refused to leave and it took 6 cops to escort him out. We got his company mobile back and it's full of prostitutes calling him about their availability or debt collectors chasing money. Yet he's still on LinkedIn posting about reaching for stars and the virtues of hard work and dedication.
Legendary.
Many years ago the company I worked for kitted out a truck with samples, marketing literature and TV and video. They would take it round the customers and tradeshows to drum up interest.
It was a complete failure, until one day, our Sales Guy in Scotland got it to take to a customer and within an hour or so had queues of people waiting to get in.MD turns up and is completely delighted to see the activity until he entered the truck to see that the sales guy was showing his porn video collection.
The actions of sales guys and executives like this can be nothing short of legendary.
3 -
12 minutes ago, hk blues said:
It's San Mig Light for me - I have got some class being a Dundonian!
Please tell me you wrote that with a sense of irony
0 -
21 minutes ago, hk blues said:
Based on living here (the Philippines) for more than 8 years now I can say confidently that it may be a daily topic of conversation for your guys over there but it is far from that over here.
As long as the Red Horse and Emperador flows!
1 -
4 hours ago, MazzyStar said:
What a load of pish.
The false equivalence between Taiwan and Algeria, Ethiopia and Kaliningrad is laughable. You also never specified you were only talking about international courts that deal with marine issues rather than international courts writ large.
Also, what does this have to do with Russia? I never claimed China should be able to what it wants with regards to the South China Sea.As for “tossing the toys out the pram”, you seem to be the only doing so because America is being criticised.
The fact the occupation of Hawaii and Guam started before international courts existed doesn’t matter considering the occupations continue to this day.
I doubt people in the region ,Vietnam and Indonesia especially, think that it’s “better the devil you know” when it comes to the US.
Maybe if Pelosi didn’t visit Taiwan and if Blinken hadn’t cancelled a trip to China because of a balloon the situation between the US and China wouldn’t be so intense.Both sides have done things to provoke these tensions but you would have to be very biased to suggest it’s China that is the party mainly at fault, considering the trade war was started by the US and the almost constant anti Chinese sentiment put out by the US media.
I shouldn’t bother responding but, Indonesia have clearly stated they do not want to be party to any of the shit between China and US and have been the only country to really take a military stand against China.
Vietnam have been much closer to the US for years.
Chinas actions in the region have been going on for a long time now and pre-date any of the more recent trade war. It’s not as simple nor recent as you wish to paint it. And again, the US are a huge problem, but you should be a little more concerned about China. Look at them like the arse cheeks of the Old firm. They are both detestable.
Anyway. Back to the Russia/Ukraine thingy or much more importantly figuring out what constitutes a tank!
4 -
22 minutes ago, TxRover said:
Since the Philippines have marines aboard a clapped out boat, rusting on an atoll, in the area, they think more than that.
Like nearly every country in the region they are being sucked into a choice they don't want to make. It's a tightrope for nearly all the countries here. There either getting beaten with the stick or force fed a carrot.
0 -
24 minutes ago, MazzyStar said:
Dearie me.
1) No, but I do believe that the US carrying out naval exercises near to where China does have the right to claim is an act of aggression.
2) Taiwan isn’t a country. As for the rest, I’ll be sure to get in contact with their embassies to ask about their claims.
3) I reject an international court that ignores the crimes of its biggest backers. Where were these international courts every time the US has violated another countries sovereignty and committed atrocities on a massive scale (Vietnam being one example)?
How is America’s imperialist conquest of Hawaii and Guam any better than what China has done?
Honestly, your seriously either looking for a reaction or have little knowledge of the situation in the South China Sea.
Chinas actions, which have been governed as illegal based on UNCLOS that they were a signatory of are destabilising a region. Americas involvement is far from helpful, but is prinicpally legal.
Right now we have China and the US really destabilising the region and the situation between China and the US should be addressed as is and not based because something happened in the past.
I do not particularly like the US, but if you cannot see the risks that China brings you have your eyes shut.
The politics in the region just now go far beyond just the claims on the South China Sea. It would be better not to have The US pissing about here, but the reality is China is a growing power and I am not sure you would really want that to continue unchecked. Better the devil you know.
3 -
On 13/02/2023 at 18:35, S7C said:
Underrated -
Salta. Nobody outside of Argentina seems to have heard of it, but I had a great time up there. People were great and the scenery is unique.
Osaka. Not got the sights that Tokyo has and missing the traditional elements you get in Kyoto, but the people are great and a lot more outgoing that the rest of Japan in my experience.
Overrated -
Bali. Maybe it’s where I was staying (Nusa Dua) and I missed out on things I’d have seen staying elsewhere but I just thought it was overdeveloped, clogged up with traffic and mobbed with Australian and Russian tourists. Had a good time nonetheless, but don’t think I’d rush back.
I also think San Francisco has gone downhill in recent years. I used to love it but it just felt dodgy last time I was there. Massive homeless problem, people breaking into cars in broad daylight, and dirty.
Your better heating north on Bali, Ubud and around is great, whereas anything close to Depensar is overcrowded and overdeveloped.
However, your right, it’s massively overrated. It is more or less Australias ‘Ibiza’.
There are many better places in Indonesia than Bali.
It’s been plagued by issues over the past few years with foreigners bending the immigration laws and causing issues and now, as you said, have a large number of Russians arriving due to the war.
1 -
1 hour ago, ICTChris said:
A Glasgow man has been found guilty of a cashpoint armed robbery - of his own son!
The 45 year old used a kitchen knife to threaten his victim at a cash point in the Cranhill area, unaware his target was his own son.
Clearly! The charmer was jailed for just over two years.
Have any P&Bers ever robbed their own son (or daughter)?
Were any P&Bers ever robbed by their parents?
Yes to the second question.
0 -
On 03/03/2023 at 06:13, Kapowzer said:
If you've got any friends who are expats (the term should be economic migrants) who've every stumbled across a can of Irn Bru in Seattle or a Caramel Wafer in Bangkok and informed their whole feed, this isn't much different.
Maybe @rowsdower can confirm.
I got sliced sausage from a Scottish butcher in LA and told everyone in Christendom.
Many, many years ago while living in Hungary. The local Tesco got a pallet of Heinz Beans delivered, I guess in error, and it lay forlorn at the top of one of the isles being ignored by all the locals.
Texts and emails started pinging around the ‘British expat community’ about this discovery and it wasn’t long until the pallet was picked clean.
When living in Ho Chi Minh a local shop got in Irn Bru, but it looked like was only myself and my mate who worked our way through that order.
6 -
On 14/02/2023 at 14:32, S7C said:
How is it that I can get through Singapore Changi at peak time with a couple of flights coming in per minute and have my bags within 25 minutes, but in Edinburgh it takes over an hour on the only flight arriving early in the morning? They weren’t even ready at the gate.
Absolutely not apples for apples. From stepping off the plane I can be in my house in 30 minutes and I live 20kms from the airport (50 minutes if I have luggage).
So much of the process is fully automated making it hugely quick and efficient.
The downside to all the efficiency is how fucking expensive it is here.
0 -
2 hours ago, bennett said:
Surely the Indian polis will have a little financial windfall out of this.
Fixed that for you.
0
Singapore + Bali
in The Travel Forum
Posted
Yes,. Its enveloped into the landing card you can do online.
https://eservices.ica.gov.sg/sgarrivalcard/