The Nation (English Language Newspaper in Thailand) Needs to Learn English

Uggh!

I was reading an article in The Nation today and I was mortified by the grammar and style.

Thailand-us ties: 175 years and building

The title of the article “Thailand-us ties: 175 years and building:” what does that title even mean? I only clicked to the article because the title was so cryptic I had to see what they were trying to say.

First off, “Thailand-us” should be “Thailand-US;” proper noun and all that. “Thailand-us” means “Thailand you and I.”

“175 years and building” means what? Most obviously it would mean it’s been 175 years and they are throwing an edifice in for good measure. If they are trying to convey that, after 175 years, the ties are still strong, there are far better words. “175 years and going strong” perhaps.

The punctuation is atrocious. Long, run-on sentences with excessive use of parenthetical elements that are not set off by commas. Or, worse, there is a comma on one side of the phrase and, as if Alzheimer’s has set in, the closing comma is forgotten.

The readability is terrible. It’s laborious to follow. It’s flat and dull. It holds all the flair and style of a 3rd grade “what I did on my summer vacation” essay. OK–the subject matter is not that exciting, but boring becomes painful in the hands of a bad writer with a weak editor.

Maybe circulation is down, maybe they can’t afford qualified writers or editors anymore. Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel and close the doors. (I hope not–the paper is generally pretty good and has noticeably less bias then the competition.)

However, if they are not desperate enough as to close shop, then they should do a little house cleaning and find some more qualified writers and editors.

Coworking in Bangkok; Jelly in Bangkok

Coworking is an extension of the social network into the the real world.

You have a pool of people, ideally somewhat like minded (or at least creative spirits that are inspiring in some way) and you share a casual workspace.

I think coworking would be very energizing.

Working from home, well it’s easy to get into a rut staring at the same four walls all day long, every day, week after week.

I venture out to a coffee house every now and then to work–but not as frequently as I did back in the US. Bangkok just does not have that many casual public spaces where you can sit with a laptop all day long.

Ever since I ran across the concept of coworking spaces I have been thinking “man, it would be great to have a coworking space in Bangkok!” Something like a coffee house–but with more of a regular crowd of people that are working and on the same wavelength.

But alas, I have yet to find a coworking space. I have thought about creating one, but I still have not found the critical mass of people to make it viable.

I just ran across a concept that might be the next best thing–or even a stepping stone to starting a co-working space: A Jelly.

What is a Jelly? It’s “casual coworking” (Which is “awesome,” according the the website tagline.)

It’s a floating co-working space set up in some space (public or private). In my minds eye, I see getting a bunch of other geeks together to meet at different coffee houses on a regular basis. If this gets to be popular enough, we might reach the critical mass we need to open up a coworking space.

Let’s see if I can make this happen. If anybody runs across this post and is interested, drop me a line at jberns-at-johnberns-dot-com.

Critical Mass Bike Ride in Bangkok

I would love to see more people using bikes as a way to get around, it’s ecologically friendly and it’s good exercise. We need more attention from politicians who can help make biking a safe transportation alternative.

Glad to see other people are working for this as well.

Check out the Bangkok Critical Mass Bike Ride.