Despite this show of competence, she is self-conscious as she rolls the rice delicately with her fingers into little balls before popping them into her mouth like the locals of north-eastern Thailand, where she spent a year on a project which helped Mekong River villagers deal with the march of hydro power and big dams.She pops the locals of north-eastern Thailand into her mouth? It must be a comfort, one imagines, but has this approach been peer reviewd? Did she wash her hands after touching that bike seat? Are natives of south-west Thailand popped in some other orifice?Are they also being trampled by marching dams?
The rest of the article gets a bit better -- quite a lot, actually -- and if you take turns reading out choice bits with jolly companions there is a much laughing to be had. The Professor's favourite passage is author Debra Jopson's (minds out of the gutter!) dismissal of Thai food as it is served in the suburbs.
MEMO TO GINA: Tell your reporters to stop sneering at their hick readers. Or just fire the lot and hire humans.
Readers are invited to post their favourite excerpts in comments. There are many gems to choose from.
UPDATE: In the cold light of a sober dawn it was immediately obvious this post went up with quite a few typos and other errors. They have been fixed.
