bradiston

15th December is "Prepare to start thinking about it" day. It takes a lot of preparation. Committees and subs to set up, appointees b̶r̶i̶b̶e̶d̶ briefed, chain of command established so blame for inevitable total fu lands as far away from <deleted>tah as possible, untraceable brown envelope trail, etc etc. This all takes time and an enormous budget. All hail Caesar! He who dares wins Rodney. This time next year....

But Trump, Biden, Sunak, and most western leaders think both Huawei and Hikvision for example, are. This is what kicked off the chip wars and took the world to the brink of out and out economic warfare part 34. They're pulling back now thank whoever, and making friends again. From one blind alley to another. Still, can't fly a plane with only one wing

It's true, but there is also vinegar, chili powder, fish sauce and other stuff. Sugar is not the culprit every time. It's just a flavouring. I use erythritol which looks identical to refined white sugar, is equally sweet, but isn't absorbed by the gut. Inexpensive too. If you put it on a bowl on the table, nobody would know the difference. Sugarcane and palm oil cultivation and consumption are totally destroying the planet. Tax it off the shelves. People won't change their ways.

But how do they consume such vast amounts of sugar? In geng? Laab? Yam? Kanom? Yes maybe. On their Rice Krispies? In their coffee? Anyway, what difference is 2 THB on a kilo going to make?

I use ghostery and open various news outlets in it, so no ads. It's good for browsing and searching too.

I think there is a special menu for foreigners which includes a lot of sugar. Some curries are naturally sweet, paneng, green. We have all but eliminated bitter as an acceptable taste in our cooking. What do we do with a bitter gourd? Spit it out probably. So the Thais cater for what they perceive as western tastes. I don't think they use a lot of sugar at home, but maybe I'm wrong. When I first came to Thailand almost 40 years ago, the food my wife's family ate was completely devoid of sugar. I personally found it unpalatable, to say the least. But Thai sweets I believe have been around since the year dot. My mother in law took it into her head to slip me a packet of green powder to cure a stomach ailment she thought I had. It was bitter like you've never had bitter! The consumption of sugary drinks is horrific. The government needs to tax that off the shelves.

Add bread to the list of carbs. And Thai bread is really quite disgustingly sweet .

Exactly. They should increase the wholesale price, not the retail price, and guarantee the farmers a minimum of an extra 1.5 THB a kilo. Stuff the middleman. The sugar industry in Thailand you can see in the aisles full of drinks, sweets, biscuits and cakes in any supermarket. How many Thais actually buy sugar by the kilo, and what for? A teaspoon in the som tam/geng maybe?

I must remember that as an unchalengable defence in a court of law. And, as the late great Christopher Hitchens said: "What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." I suggest you made up the whole story.

And Google was listening in? And despite the ambient noise and the fact your phones were well away from the discussion, and you hadn't searched for an Indian restaurant, you're claiming Google thought "I know, I'll recommend one for them"? Nah. You're having a laugh mate. Disinformation and alarmist. Now, what REALLY was the story? Or did you just make it all up?

But you didn't say "we were looking for Indian restaurants". You said you were "going into Pattaya for an Indian restaurant". And from what you've written, Google didn't know that. The only clue was your brother saying out loud "I wonder which one is best?", which could refer to bars, tailors, massage parlours, you name it. So why is Google, or whoever, recommending an Indian restaurant? Sorry, I'm not calling you a liar, just that from what you've written, I can't see how Google would know what he was referring to. Despite conspiracy theories to the contrary, I'm not sure it cannot read your mind. Maybe your brother did an earlier search for Indian restaurants on Google?

I find this very hard to believe. Phones in pockets are not going to allow any decent audio reception. How did Google know he was referring to Indian restaurants? And push recommendations? He has all that, and his mic, turned on?

It's not stealing

No. The fruit is yours if it drops on your land.

Leaving using a different passport? Presumably under a different name. So they used facial recognition software?

Here's a link to the relevant section. https://library.siam-legal.com/thai-law/civil-and-commercial-code-property-section-1335-1355/#:~:text=A tree which stands upon,being borne by them equally. An excellent online reference. Of course, always best to talk to the neighbours first, but if it's a rubber plantation, I don't see any problems in doing it yourself willy nilly.

Can't spend it on fuel or electricity. The 2 areas that would be most convenient and helpful for millions of Thais I'm sure.

Damn right. No cover if helmetless. Maybe they don't think they're covered so why bother. But covered or not, how fricking dumbass can you be not to give yourself at least a CHANCE of survival if bashed up in an RTA?

It must be the most BS index ever invented. Consumer confidence? What the hell is it based on? How do they calculate it? Here's one explanation... https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cci.asp 5 questions. 1 of 3 possible answers to each. Utterly meaningless as you could answer anything to any of them. A complete nonsense for economists and Bloomberg. They go mad for this rubbish.

The time to kick up a fuss was in the airport when they first learnt of the delay. First thing is to find out what your options are, either at the airline desk if there is one, or at check in. Refund, hotel or whatever. 16 hours would be way over the acceptable limit. I reckon hotel and next available flight. But you have to fight for it!

Yeah. Up a gum tree!

All wombats think that.

Having weighed up all the facts of the case, definitely one for AN Poirot. Could be murder. Hmm, maybe not. Could be suicide attempt? Maybe. Could be murder/suicide? Yeah, let's go with that. Murder and attempted suicide your Honour. Crash. Hammer falls. Case dismissed. But where's the taxi?

As usual a paltry fine of up to 10,000 THB, or 6 months in chokey. Some kind of joke. Why are fines in Thailand so pathetically small? Let's see. 6 months in prison or 10,000 THB fine. Hmm think I'll phone a friend. Brrr brrr, 10 secs later, yes, I'll take the fine. 10 million THB and you might get a result you idiots!

Next headline: "Driving with eyes shut hinders vision, new study shows".