Gsxrnz

I'll file this report alongside that of the sad demise of the polar bear population.

Oh wait.... the polar bear population has tripled since the 1960's - go figure. 

50 years after hunting ban polar bears are thriving, new report shows - The Global Warming Policy Foundation (thegwpf.org)

London, 27 February: 2023 marked 50 years of international cooperation to protect polar bears across the Arctic. Those efforts have been a conservation success story: from a population estimated at about 12,000 bears in the late 1960s, numbers have almost tripled, to just over 32,000 in 2023. 

Despite this dramatic increase in polar bear populations, claims that their numbers are falling due to climate change still dominate most media coverage. 

Since 2004 we have been told that polar bear numbers in Western Hudson Bay have been steadily declining, but a new study made public in 2023 reveals that this isn’t actually true. In the State of the Polar Bear Report 2023, published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) on International Polar Bear Day, zoologist Dr. Susan Crockford provides the details on this explosive news. 

Among other issues addressed in this year’s report, Crockford explains that population surveys of Western Hudson Bay polar bears completed in 2011, 2016, and 2021 generated lower estimates than a survey done in 2004. However, these differences in bear counts are not statistically significant from each other, which means there has been no negative trend during the last 20 years. 

Crockford said the consequences of this survey are enormous. 

Hands up all those that think people enter politics to make the world a better place? 

Only two reasons they become politicians. The desire for power and wealth. 

The fact that anybody seeks political power is the very reason they should not be given that power. We'd have better quality world leaders and politicians if they were randomly selected from the phonebook every 4 or 5 years.

11 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

He will probably end up in Mae Sai.

 

IME asking directions of a Thai has about a 33.333% chance of getting a correct answer.

Whilst I agree with you in principle, I suggest you are being grossly optimistic at 33.333%. 

Remove the two positive integers and replace with a zero, and we're somewhere close to real world outcomes.

I think the letter is Russian disinformation. 

What's the International signage for "No reversing one kilometre on the motorway because you missed your exit"?

There's a damned good reason why the First Amendment of the US Constitution protects freedom of expression. Without the right to say what you think, you lose the right to think what you want.

As evidenced by history and every dystopian novel ever written, speech and wrongthink are always the first targets of wannabe totalitarian governments. We have decades of authoritarians banning and changing the meanings of words, but that just isn't enough. 

The UK government are now in the process of making it illegal to pray silently within 150 metres of an abortion establishment. You can and will be criminalised for your thoughts.

Eventually of course we will return to normality whereby government fears the people, instead of the current inverse. Unfortunately and inevitably, it will require multiple civil wars. This will only occur when government heaps on that final straw.

That final straw will probably be something relatively innocuous, such as rationing beer consumption (I jest), but it will be something as equally and ludicrously authoritarian that breaks the camel's back.

We are currently in Orwell's dilemma, speaking of his 1984 proles, the commoner and mostly unthinking proletariat - "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” 

 A cunning scheme dreamed up by Mossad's iteration of Q after watching Kingsman. 

Thai coppers should be made to watch a game of rugby as part of their training. A half way decent 12 year old hooker from Koondoola could have taken these blokes to the ground in a heartbeat.

UK , Canada, NZ, Aussie or USA - I know where I'd rather be when the government goes full on tyrannical. 

I once spent 60 minutes trying to exit the Central carpark - at that point I found a place to double park, and went for a coffee and nicotine.  Returned an hour later and nothing had improved. Another 30 minutes before I got out.

It was a holiday weekend before the Mexican beer crisis. I was on Level 5. One hour felt like a week. Crawling forward at a meter a minute, mayhem ensuing in front when somebody exits a park and the guy that wants that park doesn't have the room to manoeuvre.

Cars double parked. Cars entering the queue from lower floors adding to the congestion. The muppets at the entrance allowing more and more vehicles to enter the fray. If I had to guess I'd say the occupancy rate of parked and unparked cars was probably around 300%. 

The Missus' solution was to join the Central Festival Members Club. They get reserved parking on level 3 and there are always empty spots.  Exiting is much quicker on busy weekends.

If I was nicking copper wire, the first cable I'd cut is the one supplying 220V to the surveillance camera, swiftly followed by the one supplying the light pole. 

Not a well planned escapade. These two should consider alternative careers that match their skillset, and go into politics.

A few questions to those experiencing delays beyond 24 hours, assuming no home country or Thailand bank holidays/weekends.

1. Do you have a Wise THB account and also a Wise account in your domestic Currency? Let's say USD.

2. Do you routinely hold a balance in your Wise USD account - say at least the amount you would want to convert to THB for a month or more?

3. Do you regularly convert from your Wise USD account to your Wise THB account as and when you desire, depending on exchange rate on the day, building up a balance that suits your requirements or risk profile?

4. Do you occasionally flip THB from your Wise account back into your Wise USD account because the THB/USD rate moved in your favor and you can make a few bucks?

5. Finally, when remitting THB to your Thai domestic bank account, do you remit THB from your Wise THB account? i.e. you are remitting THB you already have in your Wise THB account. 

This is my general practise, and I have no problems other than a few minor delays because of weekends, public holidays in either Thailand or the UK.

I think many users don't hold the Wise accounts I refer to, and pay Wise from their domestic bank for every remittance they do.  Holding the THB in a Wise THB account means the final leg to your Thai bank account is an in-country transaction, meaning Wise have already received payment and they are remitting cleared funds to you.

I suspect most delays are usually caused by your home country bank/clearing system, or Wise' requirement to meet your countries money laundering rules. 

Looks like a self-erecting tower crane. Only two reasons cranes topple over - faulty erection, or the operator didn't calculate the tonnes per metre correctly. Neither can be described as an "accident". 

I wish the sticker said "Press to alight". 

What was there first - the road, or the pole? 

I like how the "get out of jail free" plea deal scandal was nicely glossed over.

Judge Delays Hunter Biden Plea Deal - The New York Times (nytimes.com)