VincentRJ
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Posts posted by VincentRJ
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54 minutes ago, Artisi said:Lord Buddha would cringe if he saw what is practiced as Buddhism in Thailand.
No, he wouldn't. The true goal of Buddhism is, no cringing, no anger, no craving, no attachment, and no suffering. The Buddha would probably just laugh at how his teachings have been distorted over the centuries.
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6 hours ago, Enoon said:It only needs 300,000 people to buy one 50 baht ticket each to get the 15 million.
Guaranteed millions of other people will buy tickets.......that's the money that goes into the pension pot.
That's not taking into account those in the 300,000, and the other millions, who buy multiple tickets....as much as 3000bahts worth each a month.
The point I was making is that everyone's money that is used to buy the lottery tickets, goes into a pension fund, no matter how many people buy the lottery tickets. The number of tickets bought are capped at 3,000 baht per person each month, for obvious reasons.
However, whilst the 15 million baht in prizes might be much smaller than the total amount spent on the lottery tickets, that 15 million has to be paid for by the government, including the costs of operating the lottery program and paying the vendors.
A search on the internet reveals that the normal Thai lottery system pays 60% of the total sales revenue in prizes, and the remaining 40% is used to cover administrative costs and fund social programs.
It would appear that this new lottery system will pay 100% of total sales revenue to fund social programs, that is, the pension fund. All administrative costs and prizes will be an additional cost to the government, or a government subsidy, presumably paid for by additional taxes, or additional government debt.
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"Every Friday at 5pm, participants stand a chance to win one of five top prizes worth 1 million baht each, or be among the 10,000 lucky ones to secure a second prize of 1,000 baht."
That totals 15 million baht in prizes. If participants who don't clinch a prize get their ticket's cost turned into savings, then who pays for the 15 million baht of prizes?
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So many negative comments on this thread. Here's an alternative view of the circumstances.
It's sometimes very difficult to be certain that someone is dead, whether a human or a dog. There are many stories of humans being declared dead, but who mysteriously come back to life, sometimes, fortunately, before they have been buried, but sometimes after they've been buried.
The owner of this dog might have been aware of this history of humans coming back to life in a coffin, furiously scratching the coffin lid to try to escape.
Perhaps he loved his dog so much that when he buried it, he decided to leave its head above the ground, just in case it was not really dead.
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So many negative comments on this thread. Here's an alternative view of the circumstances.
It's sometimes very difficult to be certain that someone is dead, whether a human or a dog. There are many stories of humans being declared dead, but who mysteriously come back to life, sometimes, fortunately, before they have been buried, but sometimes after they've been buried.
The owner of this dog might have been aware of this history of humans coming back to life in a coffin, furiously scratching the coffin lid to try to escape.
Perhaps he loved his dog so much that when he buried it, he decided to leave its head above the ground, just in case it was not really dead.
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14 minutes ago, SpaceKadet said:
Yeah, just like Swedes, Finns, Czechs, etc... About every European country. And don't even mention the Baltic Republics...
But, for whatever reason, the current POTUS just loves Russia!!!
I guess the explanation is: Trump is a true Christian. Love thine enemy.
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There are many examples throughout history of people being pronounced dead, who have later bounced back to life.
There are also examples of unearthed coffins, which have scratches under the lid, implying that the buried person came back to life and furiously tried to get out of the coffin.It's often referred to as the 'Lazarus syndrome'.
Here's a description of the Lazarus syndrome, from wikipedia.
"Lazarus syndrome (the Lazarus heart), also known as autoresuscitation after failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is the spontaneous return of a normal cardiac rhythm after failed attempts at resuscitation. It is also used to refer to the spontaneous return of cardiac activity after the patient has been pronounced dead. The phenomenon was first described in medical journals in 1982, and has been noted at least 38 times since then. It was named the "Lazarus Phenomenon" by Jack G. Bray in 1993, referring to Lazarus of Bethany who, according to the New Testament, was raised from the dead by Jesus."
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The correct title of the article should be:
"Temple Highlights Bangkok's Vulnerability to Land Subsidence"
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From the article:
"Bangkok's land subsides at about one to two centimetres annually, while sea levels rise by approximately 5.8 centimetres each year. These concerning trends indicate a potential for significant flooding in Bangkok and Samut Prakan by 2050."
Land subsidence is often confused with sea-level rise, but this claim of '5.8 centimetres per year' of sea level rise, cannot be a result of climate change.
5.8 centimetres is 58 mm. A search on the internet reveals that the current rate of sea-level rise, globally, is around 3.6mm per year, which is 0.36 centimetres.
If we add the claimed 1-2 centimetres of land subsidence (say 1.5 centimetres) to the claimed 5.8 centimetre sea-level rise, we get an apparent rise of 73mm per year. Subtract the global estimate of 3.6mm per year of sea-level rise and the result is 69.3mm per year due to land subsidence.
This is not a problem that can be fixed by reducing CO2 emissions. 🤣
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To get things in perspective, that's 400 Baht per day. 400 Baht is currently equivalent to approximately 19 Australian dollars.
In Australia, the national minimum wage is now $24.95 per hour, as from 1 July 2025, which means that the daily minimum wage in Thailand is less than the hourly minimum wage in Australia.
Assuming the average working day is around 8 hours, a Thai worker on the minimum wage, earns around 1/10th of an Australian worker who is on the minimum wage in Australia.
Thailand has a long way to go.
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Hey! Worms are nutritious. Didn't you know?
"Live, edible worms offer a surprising amount of nutrition. They are excellent sources of protein and fat, and some species also provide valuable vitamins and minerals. For example, live mealworms contain about 20% crude protein and 13% crude fat. Some species, like earthworms, are also high in calcium. "
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12 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:They would loose money when a friend of mine goes to Chiang Mai.
She is 40 ish kilos.
Eats more then me and her husband put together.
Do not ask me how she does it.
Good point! Most people have a natural ability to turn the excess food they eat into body fat. It's a survival trait which helped our ancestors to survive famines, and food shortages due to seasonal variations.
However, a few people, due to different genetics, lack that ability, and any excess food they eat is flushed down the toilet.
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27 minutes ago, Artisi said:Are you guys really saying the Thai experts are talking a load of hogwash?
They might be better off looking at banning people swimming in the oceans, lakes and rivers in Thailand as the impact of people immersing themselves in the water raises the water level by displacement of each person, they could also ban all showering, washing clothes and cars together toilet flushing as surely this also raises the water level.
In case anyone is confused.
From the article:
"Iceberg A23a, a massive block of ice covering around 3,500 square kilometres – an area over twice the size of Greater Bangkok – has been lodged off South Georgia Island, near Antarctica since it detached from the ice sheet in 1986."In other words, the ice of Iceberg A23a was already in the sea in 1986. The detachment from the ice sheet does not cause any sea-level rise. When sea water freezes, there is no fall in sea level. When the ice melts, there is no rise in sea levels.
However, when the origin of the iceberg is due to a melting glacier on land, which slides into the sea, then the sea-level immediately rises because of the additional water in the form of ice, but the sea-level does not continue to rise as the iceberg melts.-
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20 minutes ago, edwinchester said:Melting icebergs do not raise sealevel. Melting glaciers and other ice and snow mass above sealevel are what cause sealevel rise.
Good point!
The relevant quote from the article: "Adding to these concerns, the influx of fresh meltwater from A23a is likely to elevate sea levels, with implications for coastal areas."
What nonsense!
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“Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.
“Alongside President Trump, we are living up to our promises to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, and work hand-in-hand with our state partners to advance our shared mission,” added EPA Administrator Zeldin.
Watch the video below for more information.
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2 hours ago, Mike_Hunt said:
No one cares about Denmark.
Yet the Danes have a higher quality of life than the average American.
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4 hours ago, placeholder said:
As for Denmark, once again it looks like you've been hibernating.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Electricity_price_statistics
You'll note that the pre-tax cost of electricity is not much higher in Denmark than it is in Norway. Norway's electricity is virtually all hydroelectic.
I took the liberty below of of editing the graph to make that clearer
Thanks for the information. I wasn't aware that a major reason for Denmark's high electricity prices is due to its high taxation on the electricity. It seems that Denmark is one of the lucky countries with ideal locations and wind conditions that are suitable for wind turbines.
"Denmark experiences relatively strong and consistent winds, particularly along its coastline, which is ideal for wind turbine placement.
With over 7,000 kilometers of coastline, Denmark has ample space for both onshore and offshore wind farms."Also, I wasn't aware that Denmark's initial subsidies for wind power, including capital grants, were progressively reduced and eventually repealed in 1988 as reliability and cost-effectiveness improved.
However, it seems this is about to change, according to the following news item.
"COPENHAGEN, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Denmark will halt all ongoing offshore wind tenders as the existing framework where no subsidies are offered does not work under current market conditions, its energy minister said on Friday.
The global offshore wind industry has been hit by surging costs, rising interest rates and supply chain bottlenecks. Denmark said in December that its latest tender for wind at sea had failed to attract any bids."-
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8 hours ago, placeholder said:
As for costs, where have you been hibernating? Still living in 2015? Battery storage costs have plummeted. As have the costs of PVs.
Do you not know the distinction between 'falling costs' and 'plummeting costs'? 🤣
I have no objection to the development of battery storage and BEVs, but they are still too expensive for me.
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7 hours ago, placeholder said:
I'll give you one guess which country has installed by far the most solar energy and wind energy capacity in the world? Here's a hint: Its name begins with a "C" and ends with an "A".
How can you get things so wrong? 🤣
"Moving water is by far the most important form of renewable energy source in Canada, providing 61.7 percent of Canada's electricity generation in 2022. In fact, Canada is the third largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world."
If you check the following site you can see that wind and solar represent just 8% of Canada's electricity supply, although that has risen to around 10% in 2024.
The country which produces the most energy from wind and solar is Denmark, which is amongst the top ten countries with the highest electricity prices in the world.
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I'm surprised there has been no mention in this long thread of Trump's plan to stop wasting money on inefficient renewables, such as wind turbines and solar farms, which produce intermittent and unreliable energy, and rely upon huge amounts of government subsidies which result in high electricity prices.
The two fundamentals of economic prosperity are the true cost of energy, and the ways we use that energy.
A country can compensate for high energy costs by using the energy more efficiently, but cannot compete with a country that has low energy costs and also uses the energy efficiently.
The reason why China can produce such inexpensive products which they export to the world, is because they use less expensive energy sources, such as fossil fuels and nuclear power, and use those energy sources very efficiently, by paying workers less, and using advanced technology.
The purpose of Trump's tarrifs on certain imported products is to encourage the production of those products in the USA. However, unless energy costs in the USA drop, the prices of such products will rise and the cost of living for most USA citizens will also rise.
But this is not the plan. The plan is to reduce the true cost of energy, and use that energy more efficiently, which includes reducing the massive subsidies to stupid renewable projects. Drill, baby, drill!
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Ex-Abbot Vanishes Amid 28 Million Baht Embezzlement Scandal
in Thailand News - Discussion
I think you do not understand the basics of Buddhism. There's an interesting story in the Buddhist scriptures that describes the Buddha's response to insults.
In the story, a man hurls insults at Buddha, and Buddha responds by asking, "If someone offers you a gift and you refuse it, to whom does the gift belong?" When the man answers, "To the one who offered it," Buddha explains that the same principle applies to anger and insults; if he chooses not to accept them, they remain with the person who offered them.
I assume that someone who commits crime and corruption in the name of the Buddha, is equivalent to insulting the Buddha. Wouldn't you agree?