nausea

Autarky in German.

Evergrande probably makes this initiative irrelevant.

Well, good luck with that. Didn't work in the UK, despite a high profile campaign to repace migrant workers with native residents post Brexit, doubt it will work here.

Riding a bike here is akin to indulging in an extreme sport.

OK, I'll join the chorus - the mention of "cultural and natural activities" and Pattaya, in the same sentence, just produces an instinctive guffaw, like that knee-tap reflex you get when a doctor hits your knee with his little rubber hammer.

Talk about kicking a (wo)man when (s)he's down. One really does wonder at the mentality of these people, parading some hapless woman in public, as though it's a great achievement of which to be proud. OK, I know you have to do your job, but don't make a song and dance about it;

Malaysia, Vietnam, Bali - all cracking down, now Thailand with its new ultra rich visa, seems to be a pattern emerging here.

Didn't the one seaters throw their lot in with Prayut's crowd? If so, it's kind of poetic justice they're being screwed over.

Pattaya Mail voice a controversial opinion on the new rules: "Thailand’s new rules for retiree visas sound alarm bells" "The immediate question is whether current retirees will have to move to the new regulations or whether they will be protected on the rules as they are." "It is possible, though by no means certain, that they will be “grandfathered”, that is able to retain one year renewable extensions of stay but without any of the new perks promised for the wealthier group." (By Barry Kenyon, 15/9) Personally, I think that's all hogwash. I'm pretty sure it's an addition not a replacement. What they, maybe, did get right is this: "The proposals will appeal mostly to (i.e. target) Chinese and other Asian investors who already dominate the foreign-bought condo market and the multi-billion (in any currency) import and export complex dominated by the Eastern Economic Corridor." The replacement of "will appeal mostly to" by "target" is my amendment. How much it will "appeal" remains to be seen.

Cf. Malaysia. Thailand is missing a trick here - your initial conditions should be quite reasonable, then once you've baited the trap, and the gulls are committed to condos or whatever, you up the ante. In fact, I do wonder just who this new 10 year visa is aimed at, given the onerous qualifying conditions, though I could guess. One would think the legislators have some target market in mind, even if it's unstated, and probably miniscule. I'm assuming the justifying flim-flam given out for public consumption is just that, flim-flam, and nobody actually believes in it.

I think the primary target was/is high end ASQ hotels. Interestingly, I hear that cheaper boutique/guesthouse style hotels have recently been deleted from the ASQ database. I'm sure the fact some were enjoying 100% occupancy rates is totally unrelated.

I agree with the police colonel, too vague to be of any practical use, unlike, say, the Kabul airport warnings, issued by multiple agencies, prior to the 26/8 terror attack.

Sterling just cracked 45 again (TT rate, Bangkok Bank). I read a theory on another thread that there were attempts to shore up the weakening baht. This might explain sterlings increase, retreat, and fresh advance. Covid numbers, Afghanistan, and other rational explanations, might explain an advance or retreat, but this pattern of "advance, retreat, advance," seems artificially induced to me. I'm no financial guru though, the theory just has a sort of logic that appeals to my layman's sensibilities.

The way of the world these days, social media drives the agenda. Incidentally, I see where a fake news report re Wallmart drove up the price of Litecoin 20%, crazy times.

I can't think of a better way to crash the market than offering genuine 40% discounts. Prices must be inflated - an old pre-sales trick, and if nothing is selling anyway doesn't really matter what you set as the current list price.

Interesting interpretation; would explain why sterling went up, retreated, and is now creeping up again.

The Chinese can't own land, right? In fact, wasn't that why the ban on owning land was introduced in the first place, with us Farangs being collateral damage, so to speak.

What the monks want: What the Sangha wants:

Yeah, I'd say that was a very asian piece of writing.

Dead? Not completely. Re-read The Plague by Albert Camus; seemed apposite. Was a voracious reader of novels in my youth. More into movies now. Put that down to how easy movies are to access these days. And many movies are virgin territory for me, as opposed to a lot of novels. Pretty sure if I was an unread callow youth I'd be reading novels big time, burning through the classics. I must say, the amount of stuff, including novels and movies, you can get for free online is quite remarkable to me. I mean, we had the local library, but there's really no comparison.

Yeah, a name, or names, would add credibility. The use of the word "hacker", followed by "hackers" and "group" doesn't help.

The Republic of Korea is South Korea. North Korea also has "Republic" in its offical title, which can be confusing to plebs like me. I mean, I assumed they meant South Korea, but I had to google it to be sure.

Clickbait headline from the Daily Express (4/9), at least I hope it's clickbait, but one never knows with these bozos: "Pensioners to pay National Insurance! Shock tax move to fund social care bills". Out of curiosity, I looked up the current standard rate - 12% on monthly income £737 - £4,189, 2% thereafter. As context, there does seem to be some political debate re raising NI to fund social care, in particular fixing the "selling one's house" issue - something the Conservatives pledged to remedy. Nothing decided yet in so far as I'm aware. It's controversial in that it hits lower paid workers disproportionately, and raising NI is also contrary to the Conservative manifesto. Boris is caught between a rock and a hard place on this one.

If it stays above 40 I'm happy, the rest is a bonus, but I can see how this might be bad news for some. I'm sure there's quite a few guys on the breadline, for whom the prospect of a declining baht was a morale boost.

Are there any scientific studies validating this position? I did read about some studies on an AZ/Pfizer combo., but Pfizer is a RNA (mRNA) vaccine, so not really applicable to a Sinopharm (whole virus vaccine)/AZ (non-replicating viral vector) mix.