Sleeping Beauty

COMMENTARY

Published: 3 Mar 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Lois Wood is a teenager who sleeps for up to 44 days at a time. But hers isn't a sleeping beauty fairytale; rather it's a nightmarish story.

In a "zombie-like trance", as described by the Daily Mail, she would bang her head against the wall, attack her family and raid the refrigerator. Sometimes she acts like a babbling toddler, sometimes a violent drunkard, but at all times she remains asleep.

Doctors say she suffers from Kleine-Levin syndrome, a neurological condition that starts during adolescence, involving long hours of sleep where the sufferer becomes irritable, displays childlike behaviour, is disorientated and hungry for excessive amounts of food.

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samurai
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Discussion 8 : 03 Mar 2013 at 11.288
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Mediums, magic monks and amulets are complete anathema to what is supposedly "Buddhism" in Thailand or has it always been like that? I think when people crave for power, they often will not find it in religion, but in the occult forces that gives them a psychological edge or some form of coping should things turn out the opposite. The late Ajahn Pattana Kitiarsak had recentlyublished a study on this phenomena and it is a good read to those interested in the emergence of the occult in Thailand.
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Ian
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Discussion 7 : 03 Mar 2013 at 10.377
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Western countries also have their superstitions, the difference is that we mostly recognise them as such and do not let them interfere with our daily lives.
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pjt
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Discussion 6 : 03 Mar 2013 at 09.486
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Is not one of the flaws of democracy (not just in Thailand) that its underlying assumption is that the people standing for election are seeking to build and develop our society for the common good, and that they are honest and strong enough to say 'no' when what is demanded cannot be afforded or gives one section of society an unfair advantage versus another? The real truth is politicians lie and treat us like fools, and that for the most part we fall for those lies and accept them. Thus we have got the politicians, society and democracy we deserve
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D1063N35
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Discussion 5 : 03 Mar 2013 at 09.435
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Singapore is not a democracy, and Chinese are highly 'superstitious'. Mr. Voranai is doing better with nuance, but he is scattered, beating around the thorny bush.
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ringmaster
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Discussion 4 : 03 Mar 2013 at 09.024
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Ghost spirit, eh? Is it anything like a ghost voter?
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OldThaiHand
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Discussion 3 : 03 Mar 2013 at 08.353
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Khun Voranai

You need to remember that democracy was born in a city-state (Athens) that put all its faith in a babbling woman stoned on hallucinogic, sub-terranean gases (the Oracle of Delphi) and that presently. a group of mostly old white guys in red beanies are meeting in secret before they release the white smoke to herald the arrival of the leader of the largest mystical cult on the planet.

Even science-based societies have healthy doses of irrationality.
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upena
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Discussion 2 : 03 Mar 2013 at 07.452
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12.79 million accounts - not users. Multiple accounts abound on Facebook. Also, there is no other city listed for Thailand - so the stats may be from IP addresses in Bangkok - not necessarily users in Bangkok. My guess would be that the 12.79 million is for more than just Bangkok.
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nitnoi
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Discussion 1 : 03 Mar 2013 at 04.581
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Sleeping beauty syndrome is real.Thailand and its people are more in denial and/or in supernatural stages. Rip Van Winkle might be a good name for Thailand and its people.
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