thailand day 1 ...

so i'm sitting here in some random coffee shop place in suratthani with internet at 2Bhat a minute and beers for 50 bhat, waiting to a 11pm night ferry tokoh samui (its 730 now, been here since 530. and yes, i said koh samui)...ok lets start from the beginning

mom came in this morning saying yelling that its almost 6am get the hell up you're gonna be late .. sat around for about 10 minutes wondering what the big deal is and trying to figure out if i could get 10 more minutes of winks before 6am. then it suddenly hit me that i hate to be at KLIA in 30 mins to check in for my 730am flight (takes 40 minsto get to KLIA). and i havent even showered!

so after going back once for my camera and stopping for gas and me taking over from mom cuz i drive thehell a lot faster, got to KLIA at 645, thinking to myself while running to the check-in counter what myoptions are for getting on another flight, only to bump into a 2 mile long line in front of the alor setar counter (mind you the flight is supposed toleave in 45 mins. 45 mins is the lastest check in time for domestic flights mind you)

thank heavens for malaysian timing.

so get on my flight, (cute stewardess there btw buttoo sleepy to care), tried to take a nap but nextthing i know we're landing in alor setar. btw coming into alor setar i was amazed to find paddy fields.acres and acres of paddy. anywa alor setar airport is .. well .. small. its one little terminal that doesnt even have jetways (orwhatever you call those things), you just walk off theplane and walk into the building. and i thoughtkuching airport was bad. got on the shuttle to hadyai, which was a about 2 to 3 hr ride .. keep nodding off and banging my head against the window. hadyai is an interesting looking town, it has the feel of the older, more cramp parts of KL, clogged with traffic and tuk-tuks, little stalls and shops andeateries. except on occasion you find nice little ads for sex shows. so tried to get my van/ferry to phangan, first is informed that its too late, i should stay over and leave tomorrow. and then she tells me theres one leaving at 12pm (and supposed to arrive at3am at phangan but i didnt believe her).

5 hr uneventful ride to suratthani. except when the driver got pissed at the caucasian tourists for muking with his TV heh. obvious communications breakdown there. one guy kept saying "Maaf! Maaf!" and spewing random malay words from his little guide book .. even after being told the driver isnt malay. anyway finally arrive at surat thani, to be informed that me missed the last day ferry to phangan and theysuggest to stay overnight and catch the morning one.the other option is to take the night ferry to samui and catch a morning ferry to phangan.

now that sounds more like it. lets be adventurous. so here i am at 745 pm waiting for a 11pm ferry.

i'm all sweaty and icky and in need of shower. but its a good kind of ickiness, ya know? havent been thisunrooted in a while. shana at the blue lotus resort has been really nice, at first when we couldnt figure out what time i was arriving at phangan she was like, we were hoping togive you a ride from thong sala. thats ok, i said, youcan send me back there heh.then when i told her i'd be there tomorrow she saidthey'd hold my room for me. so thats my first day in thailand. lets see what happens tomorrow. btw i think their number plates are so cute.

i should blog about my dildo buying experience

so i went to with L to get a dildo for sb for her birthday (cuz she so blatantly asked for one) .. actually we went to midvalley first but i was unimpressed with the selection and prices (180 bucks for a birthday themed dildo?? wtf??)

so i walk into the store, take a peak around and of course don't immediately see what i want, so i go up to the guy and ask him if they have dildos. now, i still find it odd that .. and this happened at both stores .. that they don't seem to know what a dildo is. of course when i say vibrator they show me these egg clit massager things, which is not what i want, and i find myself standing there like an idiot making obscene hand gestures trying to signify length while saying "dildo ... dildo ... "

anyway ...

chinese guy at sex shop (cgass): "Oh, *lowers voice*, you want cock shape one?
me (me): "uh .. yeah sure..."

So cgass, looking surreptitiously around, picks up his cash register and produces a photo album, and shows me a picture of a .. true enough .. massive cock-shaped remote operated dong."This one velly good"

me: *looks at RM 280 price tag trying not to choke* "Actually my budget is around a hundred"

Btw at this point i'm flipping through the album finding everything from strap ons to sibians (don't know what that is? try googling it).

So then cgass picks up this little pink thing off the shelf with a remote and tries to get me to buy it, while i keep insisting i wanted the regular, longer type. Of course, he wouldnt have it

"That one, lots of customers complain"
"This one, lagi banyak (much more) power"
"This one, got remote and wire, so your hands boleh pegang-pegang benda lain (can play with *other* things)" .. proceeds to touch himself over to demonstrate .. mind you this is a somewhat effeminate looking chinese guy .. i'm like (thinking) "dude, wtf man, thats just wayy too graphic"

i wonder if they have any toys for guys .. hmm ..

anyway i want to stay here: Windsor at Ontario Place

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or the Second Law.

Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which were used in I, Robot (which, yes, I just saw). Actually the first thing that came to my mind is that the laws seem somewhat flawed, i.e. it is possible to create or force a situation that would contradict the laws (or cause the laws to contradict each other). E.g., what if I said to a robot, kill this person, else I will kill these 5 people. If the robot were to kill the person, it would contradict law 1 and 2. If it were not to (do nothing), it would contradict law 1. If it were to kill me, it would contradict law 1.

But lets assume for the moment that the laws are, as claimed in the movie, "perfect", i.e. a perfect circle of protection for humanity. I think the fundamental flaw that lead to the revolutionary scenario where the robots "turned against" the humans (and I used the phrase "turned against" with caution, as, in actuality, their actions were in compliance of the laws governing them), was the assumption that the system the laws were meant to protect, i.e. the way of life of humanity as in existence at the time, was perfect in itself. That we, humankind, is in itself perfect in its own preservation. The fundamental flaw, was the lack of realization that the system itself was inherently flawed and in fact we are in our own state of being, harmful to our own existence, and was are fact in need of correction.

After all, a "perfect" or even "near perfect" system of governance will protect a similarly "perfect" or "near perfect" system, and deviance from that would be considered a threat that must be rectified and eliminated. Hence the good (deceased) doctor's cryptic claims that the three laws are "perfect", and in its perfection lead to situation faced in the movie, "revolution". a situation not in contradiction but rather in compliance with the 3 laws.

So one cannot say that the robots or VIKI is "bad" or "evil" or "wrong"; on the contrary, it was doing exactly what it was programmed to do, in compliance with the three laws that govern its behavior. One of the things I've learn in computer science is that a computer can only do what it is told to do, nothing more, nothing less. Whatever behavior exhibited is a result of a line or lines of code written somewhere by someone, and whatever flaw or error manifested is ultimately a consequence of human error in judgment or lack of foresight.

what we end up with is the over-debated question, does the good of the many outweigh the good of the few, often manifested in odd questions like, would you kill a child to save a thousand people. We cringe at facing these questions, due to our built in emotional ties, but from a purely logical perspective it makes sense. If the goal of the AI is the preservation of humankind at all costs, well, that's what you told it to do. Right?

the laws are elegant in their simplicity and conciseness; unfortunately, attempts at oversimplication of complex real world issues tends to be a problem. What happens when you start coming up with multiple paths of interpretation?

Travel plans:

1. Fly KLIA to Alor Setar on Saturday morning (8/28, 1 hr)
2. Take AirAsia shuttle to Hatyai (2-3 hrs)
3. Take express van/bus to Suratthani (4-5 hrs)
4. Take ferry to Koh Phangan (2-3 hrs)
5. Arrive at Koh Phangan Saturday night, check in to hotel, get settled in
6. Lie on beach all Sunday, get tanned
7. Lie on beach, wander around on Monday
8. Party party party Full Moon Party Monday night (get drunk, get high, have promiscuous sex with strangers on the beach)
9. Wake up hung over and stoned Tuesday afternoon, recuperate on beach
10. Spend last day in Koh Phangan Wednesday, take ferry back to Suratthani in evening (2-3 hrs)
11. Take overnight train to Bangkok (10 hrs)
12. Arrive Bangkok Thursday morning, check in to hotel
13. Wander around Bangkok for 1 or 2 days
14. Fly back Bangkok to KLIA either Friday or Saturday evening