Uncategorized

DO Don Face Masks!

Posted on by taharkin

My posts of two days ago are being backed up by responsible public health experts, according to today’s Yahoo News. Because you SHOULD get out for fresh air, sunshine, and exercise if you do it responsibly…

https://www.yahoo.com/news/masks-respirators-and-coronavirus-catching-up-to-the-changing-advice-222618518.html

Masks, respirators and coronavirus:
Keeping up with changing advice–
As state and federal officials continue to ramp up efforts to control the outbreak of coronavirus in the United States, new information about the virus is raising new questions about the official messaging on the use of face masks.

Out of stock? How they are handling it in Thailand—turning clothing factories into mask factories!

Workers check masks at a factory in Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Workers check masks at a factory in Nonthaburi’s Pak Kret district. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

Face Masks–to don or not to don?

Posted on by taharkin

(from a post with my Brown Class of ’68 page)

My current rant–because we are in the right age range–about face masks.
I chose to postpone my flight from Chiang Mai, Thailand, to JFK two weeks ago, partly because it was on Korean Air with a change of planes in Seoul, but largely because the US government looked woefully unprepared and was giving advice about wearing face masks that I believe is DEAD WRONG.
Despite huge tourist and business traffic between China and Thailand, there has only been a single reported death (by a smoker in his sixties with other health issues). The Thai government is corrupt and self-serving, but they turned Covid-19 over to medical experts, and as the medical faculty at Chiang Mai University advised my expat group a few weeks ago, people here DO wear N95, PM2.5 or similar masks. If they wear simple surgical masks, they dispose of them daily. What makes this admirable is that no people on the planet are my style-conscious than Thais.
It also helps the we “wai”–the Thai equivalent of “namaste”–instead of shaking hands. 

Image may contain: 3 people, people standing

Why Not Wai in the Time of Covid-19?

Posted on by taharkin

 

A recent note I sent to Bangkok Post columnist (and former Sports Editor) Roger Crutchley:

Dear Roger–

You mentioned wais and namastes in another column. In the US, aside from stuffy Washington, D.C. and among oligarchs like Trump, the wai and namaste gestures are not that unusual–in yoga studios around the country and at the end of countless performances by musicians, whether they be rock, jazz or classical.

I would hope that Thais “get it” that in times like these they have something to offer the entire world (and perhaps a reason Covid-19 has not flourished here) and that perhaps the normal etiquette–who goes first, how high or low the hands are held–can be waived for now.

Best–
Terence A. Harkin
Author, The Big Buddha Bicycle Race
Occasional blogger, Curmudgeon in the Land of Smiles

UPCOMING EVENTS, BIG BUDDHA

Posted on by taharkin

August, 2017
Interview at All Things Jill-Elizabeth:
http:/​/​blog.jill-elizabeth.com/​2017/​08/​28/​interview-with-terence-harkin-author-of-the-big-buddha-bicycle-race/​

November 18, 2017
10:30 AM Powerpoint and Reading at Chiang Mai Expats Club, Le Meridien Hotel
(near Night Market)

Inching forward!!!

Posted on by taharkin

For those of you who still like to read printed books, The Big Buddha Bicycle Race is now available at three locations in the Old City district, Chiang Mai, Thailand–

(1) The Book Zone (Thapae Road)

(2) Writers Club & Wine Bar (141/​3 Rachadamnoen Rd–The Sunday Walking Street)

(3) On the Road Books (across from the U.N. Irish Pub)

14550665_940349466109225_89342903_o

Update–The Big Buddha Bicycle Race

Posted on by taharkin

I am proud and amazed to announce that my debut novel has been ranked the #7 Vietnam War Book at Goodreads.com!  

Humbling to be in the company of writing heroes like Tim O’Brien (The Things They Carried) and Michael Herr (Dispatches).

https://www.goodreads.com/list/book/32784266

The Big Buddha Bicycle Race

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Harold G. MooreA Bright Shining Lie by Neil SheehanA Rumor Of War by Philip CaputoDispatches by Michael HerrThe Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Vietnam War Books
7th out of 107 books  Green check

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenGone with the Wind by Margaret MitchellThe Pillars of the Earth by Ken FollettThe Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa GregoryThe Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Best Historical Fiction
1165th out of 5,577 books Green check

City of Ashes by Cassandra ClareHush, Hush by Becca FitzpatrickCity of Glass by Cassandra ClareClockwork Angel by Cassandra ClareMarked by P.C. Cast

Books That Should Be Made Into Movies
3148th out of 24,875 books  Green check

Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenEdenbrooke by Julianne DonaldsonCinderella and the Colonel by K.M. SheaSense and Sensibility by Jane AustenPersuasion by Jane Austen

Sweet and Clean Romances
104th out of 422 books  Green check

 

Nobody's Hero by Kallypso MastersMasters at Arms by Kallypso MastersNobody's Angel by Kallypso MastersNobody's Perfect by Kallypso MastersNo Place to Run by Maya Banks

Military Romance and Fiction
232nd out of 765 books  Green check