retarius

I quite agree, but as they say 'it's the thought that counts'. I'm just trying to expand the list of unenforced laws. If it gets long enough, then maybe they will 'defund the police'. Besides that anti-social behaviour like driving sound motorcycles at high speeds should not be allowed by society. You can exert your freedom, only to the point that it disturbs other, and loud motorcycles disturb me.

No activists for quota people get to do that. and I reject it. They have changed the definition of racism from being someone who acts and speaks in a racist manner, to someone who is merely white and acts in a totally impartial manner. The definition of Anti-Semite has changed from someone who doesn't like Jews and discriminates against them, to someone who doesn't express full support for Israel's atrocities against Palestinians.

I agree. The ways the elites have stayed in power since the early days of humanity has been to create divisions between the population it controls and others. creating an enemy we can show no mercy to, is the only thing oligarchs do well.

No its not....it is used extensively by blacks. I have heard and seen them.

Yes, I think a certain modest degree of prejudice is part and parcel of being human. It is hardwired into our being from 300,000 years of evolution when as recently as 5000 or less years ago, the ability to discriminate between members or 'your tribe' vs another's tribe was a matter of life or death. Most racism and prejudice is not personal at all....it is an abstract concept that you hate Jews or Blacks or Gays in toto, not in person. It also comes from your personal experiences from contact with this race, creed or sexual persuasion. I'm sure if that contact is positive over your lifetime, then I'm sure you will be less discriminatory....if it is routinely negative, then I'm sure it will be negatively impacted. My own contacts with Jews have been very good, I lived and worked with them. I would probably be considered anti-Semitic now because of my views on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. I think blacks in the US deserve a fairer deal....not reparations or quotas but real help to take the brightest and best and invest in them....pretty much the only way for a black person to make high income in the US is to be a rap star or an athlete. I hate all organised religions believing them to be a hotbed for bigotryry and an excuse to murder other people from a different religion.....and the Christian religions are steeped in bigotry and murder.

How is it right wing? Woke came from left wing academia not from the right wing. Blacks started using the term a few years ago. I do agree that the left wing leaders moved away from supporting workers rights and better pay, forgot their voters and immersed themselves in identity politics. The Labour Party in Britain has totally moved away from workers to supporting illegal immigrants, which, having been brought up in working class Britain in council housing, is a huge electoral mistake as most working class people are socially very conservative. Go in any city pub and you will see what I mean.

I must admit, I despise wokeness and the 'critical' race theory that underpins it, which is not a critical theory, but a naked attempt to get special privileges, top jobs and $$$$$ for quota groups. I worked in the US for 20 years and left because it was truly awful to works with totally incompetent 'quota' staff. that you couldn't ever fire (unless they killed someone). My company paid out hundreds of millions in damages settled out of court to quota people that left the company voluntarily and decided post facto that there was racism at the company. It was beyond ridiculous. Now it has moved into even more nuttiness with wokeness. Not only that when you went to a store and went to the check out, they were staffed almost exclusively by quota staff, who were not only incompetent but bone idle. Now I have nothing against blacks or gays, but I happen to believe that they don't merit it. I also happen to believe that there are only two sexes and two genders male and female, and changing the definition of gender to permit people who 'identify' as a another sex is nonsense that I reject. Fortunately in Thailand there are none of these irritation that impact my life (I don't know about other people). I don't patronise gay or transgender bars, and in fat the only transgender person I come across is an assistant at the bakery store....and he/she is perfectly pleasant and normal.

I should add that I read on a US website, that the Fed minutes of the last meeting were released and appear to indicate that there were many members who favoured maintaining high interest rates for a prolonged period, and were not convinced that rates should come down. The article did not say what the split was ie how many for high rates and how many for reducing rates. This is one of the perils of guessing at future exchange rates, and Thai exchange rates are not in the hands of the BoT.

Forearms are usually kept in a holster behind in the small of one's back, secured into the waste band of one's shorts.

Must be the season for predictions. The one thing you can say about financial predictions and that they are wrong almost always WRONG. I think it will be 3.8% and my guess is as good as anyone on the planet and if I get it right, it will not be because I know the future, but because of chance and luck.

I don't trust the statistics. Like in most places they are massaged too reflect will on the leadership.

I must say that I dislike big bikes intensely. Why can't we have a law banning excessive motorcycle noise.

After the first scandal with this chap I took some time to listen to him. He is certainly less bad that the Uk press made him out to be. Not exactly public enema #1 imho, and better that I had been led to expect.

My dentist diagnosed my obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). At age about 40 and pretty fit as a fiddle, my dentist noted persistent high readings which my cardiologist did not pick up. The reason is OSA patients have high BP in the mornings when I had my dental appointments, and I saw my cardio gut in the afternoons after work. The cardio gave me losartan; and the dentist gave me a variety of device to put in my mouth and sleep with, none of which were any use at all. I now have a CPAP machine which I hate.

He had prostate cancer and refused to even go for the biopsy or have treatment. He couldn't afford it. The GoFundME page was to rate money for him to go to a large private hospital and have a biopsy for the definitive diagnosis. His PSA score was over 100 and the velocity was accelerating. He was receiving treatment from a local doctor who didn't treat him for the prostate cancer but for his inability to urinate, and pain. He fell over in his bathroom and did something awful to his shoulder, it had a huge and extremely painful lump behind it. So he was hospitalised for his shoulder, but died in hospital after 5 days or so. His doctor was not impressive. His death certificate said he died of a heart problem. He received no treatment in hospital except with he medicines he had from his 'GP' brought in by his wife. It was terribly sad. I told his wife to sue the hospital but they don't do that sort of thing here enough.

Correct, to self-insure you must have assets, and to get those assets, you needed to have a decent job and to have saved and lived prudently within your means. Insurance is for those those that spent all they earned trying to impressing the neighbours and saved nothing; had poor IQ or education and consequently a lousy job; had bad luck and/or a poor pension are going to have a bad time self-insuring. So if you cannot self-insure, then insure. If even that is too expensive (it is a rip-off imho) then that's what GoFundMe (GFM) is for. But it doesn't work for everyone and those of us who have lived our lives outside the Uk as ex-pats might have a hard time finding friends to contribute. A cautionary tale: Some UK mates of a friend of mine set up a GFM page for my mate but all he got was peanuts and died without any dignity in an open ward in a public hospital lying for days in his own urine. A vile death that I wouldn't give to a street dog. I was shocked at the laziness and callousness of the nurses. Me, I want a bit of dignity in death not to be in a ward with 7 others who were dying and receiving no care from the nurses. Then the bastards screwed his missus for 40,000 baht to release his money. She had to go to a loan shark. How the other half live? He was good bloke in the pub, but had to impress everybody with his car, his truck, etc etc

I have no doubt the Russia lie and resort to propaganda. Perhaps it is exceeded only by western propaganda justifying wars of choice and minimising the brutality and death toll sin the wars. The Guardian reported this morning that the 'barrage' on Kharkiv killed 5 people overnight. Compare this the the death toll in Gaza.

Thank you for the science lesson.

Thanks for the response. I don't know much about building but why doesn't sound insulation work. It seems that near us every young man has a motorbike with an exhaust that sounds like a Boeing 747 taking off. I don't understand the logic of why they want to make so much noise but they do....I thought that sound insulation might be a good alternative to murder :)

My understanding (from my wife) is that for temporary residences like containers or knockdown houses no permission is needed. It sounds as though this is incorrect if I am reading your post. Can you clarify? Perhaps this is a local thing. I'm not bothered about having an address. When we built out home, we built 5 buildings in a sort of compound. We didn't get permissions from anybody. Years later when we wanted to change the name on the title, the land office came and surveyed the property and we got a 50,000 baht fine for building without permission. I'd rather avoid any problems like this.

I just bought some land, and am wondering what to do with it. I already have a house and don't want another one that I don't own. You might wonder why I bought the land, and the reason is simply that I want to control it and am prepared to pay for the privilege. I am thinking of several options for knockdown houses or containers. I am having a wall erected at the moment around the property at the moment and when the place is secure I'll build some structure. My needs are air conditioning and soundproofing. Does anybody have any ideas if these knock down places can be insulated for heat and sound? I'm not really concerned with costs so much as I don't need a big space, but just want somewhere quiet and relaxing to sit and get away from the noise of Thailand and compose myself, gazing at nature.

I like Pattaya when it is not crowded and the hotels are cheap. If you fill it up with low quality tourists there is no point ever going there. You will pay and arm and a leg for a hotel room (compared to when the place is empty). If you come for a beach holiday with your family, not much to do except to sit on a poor quality beach watching the filthy sea that you daren't go in because you would be rightly afraid for your health. What I do miss is going when it rains and sitting on Soi Buakauw with a cold beer watching the poop and rats rising out of the sewers manhole covers.....nice!

Perhaps bounties should be introduced and given directly to the policeman who apprehends these drunks driving motorcycles and cars. How about giving a bonus of 10,000 baht cash paid to any officer who arrests and successfully prosecutes a drunk driver.Note that I picked the amount out of the air, but I understand from 'friends' who regularly drive drunk that a 5000 baht 'donation' to the cop who stops you, gets you off the charge. So it would pay cops to prosecute and/or force up the costs to the drunk. Also impound the vehicles.

I am becoming intolerant in my old age. I think pieces of scum like this need removing from society, permanently. They are a danger to anyone who comes in contact with them. I've changed my view of the death penalty over the years. There are eight to nine billion people, so no scarcity of people at all. People like this who wilfully harm another because (presumably) they cannot control their temper, and lack the ability to get things into proportion, frankly are not needed in a society of decent people.

It will only make a difference if retailers reduce e their prices. If I were a retailer and had this one year opportunity to make additional profits, I would keep prices the same (or reduce by 5% or so) and pocket the extra profit. Does anyone think that bars in Pattaya or Bangkok charging 120 baht for a small Leo that costs about 35 or 40 baht in 7/11 will reduce their prices becuase Leo has gone down to 30 or 35 baht in 7/11. Personally after the hard years of COVID, iI'd want to pocket the extra profit, especially as the opportunity is only for one year.