impulse

I'm not even a fan, but if you were to announce a Taylor Swift concert in Bangkok, you could pack any stadium in the city and there'd be no more room at Swampy for any more private jets to park.

That's the way statistics work. Here's a handy tool from SurveyMonkey to see how adequate that sample size is. https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/sample-size-calculator/ With a population of 30 million, you need 16,632 samples to give you 99% confidence level with a 1% margin of error. 19,000 is overkill.

Don't sugar coat it. How do you really feel? Sadly, YouTube is blocked where I'm at so I'll have to watch the VDO when I get to BKK next week.

Ramaswamy is too much of an unknown quantity. What I do like about the guy is that he's an outsider who made his nugget outside of politics. So he's got a clue how the real world of business works, unlike the political class that graduate from political college with a firm grasp on the gub'ment tit and suck it for their entire career. They never had a real job. That was the only thing I used to like about Trump (and I voted for Perot- same reason) Perhaps Ramaswamy's run is an indication that the door is opening to the citizen leader envisioned by the founding fathers. The guy who puts down his plow, his lawbook or his set of tools, goes to Washington to serve for a few years and then goes back to thrive (or not) in the world he's created. If that door is opening, hate to say it but Trump is the one who opened it. It took someone with his outsized ego to put up with what he's had to put up with. Sadly, I suspect Ramaswamy will get swallowed up by DC dirty tricks, like they did to Perot. Besides, he's not the interesting one... Tucker's name is being bandied about. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

You can tell how sincere they are in their desire for peace by the 10 concessions they're demanding in Malta: The ten points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula are as follows: Radiation and nuclear safety; Food security; Energy security; Release of all prisoners and deportees; Implementation of the UN Charter and restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and world order; Withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities; Justice, i.e., a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and compensation for damages; Immediate protection of the environment; Security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent escalation; Confirmation of the end of the war.

Also explains why Thai Airways was recently weighing passengers to update their weight and balance calculations. They do the same in the USA regularly, and last time, men went up 20 lb (12%) and women went up a whopping 34 lb (23.4%). So there's got to be more to it than fast food. Women are piling it on much faster than men. https://airinsight.com/the-pending-new-faa-weight-balance-rules/

I'm not going to post a link, because it would probably get taken down. But if you do a Bing search for "Hassan Eslaiah grenade", it'll make a little clearer why CNN has cut ties with the guy. (I'd Google it, but Google's blocked here where I'm staying) I'd even suggest looking at 2 articles in that right wing rag, Gateway Pundit if you want to see the actual screen grab from a video reportedly pulled from his Facebook page. (His Facebook page has since been deleted). Big question is whether he was an impartial journalist or a cheerleader (if not a participant) with a GoPro.

So, what your data indicates is that the silver haired lovers are following the market trends and going online, too? Only makes sense.

You mean "again". Because last time, they closed the beach. And when they opened it back up to "individuals (no groups allowed), for the purpose of exercise", they required masks. At the beach, and in the middle of winter. You may think that's funny, but I think it was a criminal violation of freedom and individual and property rights.

I'd agree, though I'd have stated it a little different. More people die from drinking and smoking each year than from helmetless scooter accidents. Yet you don't see anyone here calling for a ban on smoking or drinking. In fact, I'd be more inclined to support a drinking ban because their DUI puts me at risk. But, like smoking and drinking, I would like to see them protect kids from bad decisions, at least until they're old enough to make an informed choice. I'd be in favor of a helmet law for kids. The safety difference between riding on a scooter (with or without a helmet) vs riding in a car is over an order of magnitude greater (+2000-4000%) than the difference that a helmet makes once you've decided to hop on 2 wheels (-40%). For those that can't afford a car, I understand and I sympathize. I also have great sympathy for farangs that get maimed or killed on a scooter, but I'm always puzzled when they think their superior scootering skills and great helmet will keep them out of harms way.

Even if you change your name you cannot change date of birth, fingerprints or face I think the first clue they'll have is the lack of an entry stamp in the new passport.

I just started with RT. Then I looked up Honest Reporting, from that article and found the HR article that was referenced in The Hill's article that formed the basis of the OP. Looked a little more and found even worse photos from some of the "embedded journalists" (in quotes for a reason), but I won't post or link to those because they're from further right wing sources. Let's just say that, if Israel wanted to off at least 2 of those guys, I wouldn't object. Then I went to CNN and found... nothing. Probably because they used several of their photos and want this story to go away.

And apparently a "member of parliament from the ruling Likud party". Sadly, the MSM isn't going to show us any of this, after they used photos from these guys. They're in CYA mode.

More than that. Israel has apparently declared them active participants. The head of the Israeli Government Press Office, Nitzan Chen, asked AP, Reuters, CNN, and the New York Times to address the “involvement of their photographers in the events of October 7th, which crosses every professional and moral red line.” Israel considers the photographers participants in the October 7 attack and they will be added to the list of those to be “eliminated,” according to Danny Danon, former Israeli ambassador to the UN and a member of parliament from the ruling Likud party. https://www.rt.com/news/586945-israel-journalists-embedded-hamas/ The OP's referenced Honest Reporting article is also worth a read. https://honestreporting.com/photographers-without-borders-ap-reuters-pictures-of-hamas-atrocities-raise-ethical-questions/

In healthcare setting? No problem here. Ask me to re-mask shopping at the Walmart or (how ridiculous was this) on the beach, and we may have a disagreement. A strong one.

The tourist told police through a translation application that he had gone to a beer bar in Soi 6 and paid a 4,200 baht bar fine to take the woman to his hotel. Upon arriving there she made a phone call and spoke in Thai, which he could not follow, after which the two men showed up and attacked him before riding off on their motorcycle. So he got robbed twice. Kinda curious what happened to the woman. Did she ride off with the attackers, or what?

According to the article, he already did. Not 100% clear whether it was consensual or violent, but definitely sex.

I'm forecasting an entire generation of freelancers that never darken the door of a tourist trap. They'll go straight from school to OnlyFans and Tinder. Probably even start while in school. Turbocharged by the Covid lockdowns where it was either online, or hungry- for a couple of years.

It's Thailand. It's 90 degrees F and 95% humidity. Testosterone is flowing. I made the leap. Edit: And I forgot to mention beer breath.

I'm not sure she made up a story. According to the original story a few days ago, the girl was in such a state that she couldn't provide details. The linked Thaiger article seems to confirm that: ThaiRath reported that the girl said she had never told the family that the minibus driver was a rapist. Her family members made the statement to the media. And the story isn't over, by a long shot. Especially since she's 13 and could not legally consent to sex. Nevertheless, a sexual assault did take place but a further investigation is needed to confirm the rapist’s identity. Police believe the rapist must be a person who has a close relationship with her, a family member, or her relative.

I'm afraid this new interweb thing is going to stick a fork into a lot of time honored traditions like Nana, Soi Cowboy and Soi 6. Why would a cute girl waste a bunch of time in a bar making small talk and sucking up to a bunch of smelly tourists, only to give up a huge chunk of the transaction to mamasan? Today she can peddle it online while she spends her day doing whatever she likes, she can name her own price, and she can keep it all. Only fat grandma's who haven't mastered the knack of Photoshop have to settle for the walk-in trade, lady drinks and bar fines.

Thanks for the advance notice.

Was the stopover delay the fault of the airline, due to the weather, or some other cause?

Nomex, invented in the '60s. Old enough that the patent has expired and I'm sure there are generics available.

Sounds like a good idea. There's a few zebra crossings in Bangkok with traffic lights and the cars generally do stop. I'm thinking of a couple around Chinatown where there's no cross street, just a lit zebra crossing, and the cars do stop. I don't recall whether they had red light cameras which would also make sense. Problem with zebra crossings with no lights is that they're ambiguous, depending on where you're from. Even in the USA, some states just allow you to walk across at a zebra crossing without risking a jaywalking ticket. Others require cars to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. No consistency. Add in a hundred more countries' laws and it's confusing. Until you add a red light. So I'm happy to see them added. I just hope they're enforced, and that means red light cameras, because of lack of police chase vehicles. A few 500 baht tickets in the mail may make people think twice, and it would be good to increment that to 5,000 baht a ticket for repeat offenders, impounding the vehicle for the real scofflaws.