CALSinCM

2 hours ago, webfact said:

There will be all kinds of vaccine to choose from.

So what do you do?  Double-down and keep saying the same thing over and over again.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

There will be all kinds of vaccine to choose from.

Where have we heard the exact same thing before?

Oh, May 25rd in the News section of this forum:
"Plenty of vaccine of any brand for everyone – even third dose, says Anutin"

And what has the last two months brought the Thai people (let's not even talk about the expat farangs at the end of the line and who are considered non-entities)?  Shortages, registration cancellations, vaccination cancellations, placing commercial interests before the interests of 'at risk' community.  The list goes on.  Why bother.

What will be done?  In another few months the people who created this mess will be giving each other medals.   

1 hour ago, ThLT said:

Real estate agents usually aren't scientists.

Insurance underwriters and the bean counters at title companies are 'scientists' in the sense of economics, statistics, and risk management. 

If the polar icecaps were melting and the oceans set to flood all the beaches and lowlands (like Bangkok) worldwide, you would not be able to purchase the land - it would become worthless and it would become uninsurable.  Just try obtain financing no less to obtain title on a piece of land guaranteed to be underwater by 2030!  And yet?  Who has bought beachfront property lately.  Al Gore.  The Obama's.  Yep the people telling you the ocean floods are coming. 

The gullibility of average non-thinking people is simply incredible.  But it does make the rich ever richer. 

From Vonnegut's Wiki page:

In a 2006 Rolling Stone interview, Vonnegut sardonically stated that he would sue the Brown & Williamson tobacco company, the maker of the Pall Mall-branded cigarettes he had been smoking since he was around 12 or 14 years old, for false advertising:

"And do you know why? Because I'm 83 years old. The lying bastards! On the package Brown & Williamson promised to kill me!"

So classic Vonnegut!

On 7/29/2021 at 1:10 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

Sorry. But, what I meant was, the older we become, especially as we grow older away from our original roots, then the more we might question traditional justifications for being alive....unless....

 

We finally understand that our only reason and justification for living is to pay back, in some positive way, for that which we have received when we were young.

 

I have plenty to pay back for.  So many kindnesses extended to me during my life.

 

As we age, the tougher it gets, simply because we rarely engage in the things that we once loved to do, such has humping and flirting, and combing our hair, which is not so easy to comb when you might not have any hair.

 

Yet, no matter how old we might be, there is no doubt that we can pay back, and doing this is probably the only thing that makes life liveable.

 

Regarding Vonnegut, as far as I know, he lost his mind towards the end of his life, so sad, really.

 

The worst fate for a writer is to lose his mind.

And, so, no doubt this is why Hemingway used his gun.

 

Some people say, Hemingway was crazy to do this.  I do not agree.

 

=============

 

During this pandemic, I truly believe that we have much more time on our hands, and that we can use this time to do some paying back for the many rewards we have received when we were young.

 

It is not always easy to find a way to contribute.

If someone asked you to contribute, then you would.

 

But, it is not so easy to become proactive and expend energy in order to seek out ways to contribute, during these days.

 

 

Perhaps someone needs to keep a eye on you?  Hate to see you "Hemingway" yourself.  You'd be better off to Vonnegut yourself, find the absurdities in life and poke fun at them.

Life has its seasons.  Even you.  Your spring your summer your fall and your winter.  Your birth your youth your ageing your sickness and your death.

So it's not actually change which has brought you to this existential moment in your life where you stand staring in the mirror and for once you see yourself clearly without the makeup, or the fabrications, or the social constructs, or the years of marketing (propaganda) telling you what you should be - and you see "you" with crystal clarity - and it scared the living **** out of you.

It usually comes in the form of a mid-life crisis.  But it could also be said that it happens at the point of change at each season of your life.  Childhood moving into young adulthood - usually a time of joy and celebration; young adulthood moving into middle age - for some a mid-life crisis, for others a redefinition of what's important; adulthood moving into old age - at time where people should go stark raving mad and start looking for the shotgun, but interestingly enough for most people its a time of acceptance and reflection and another downshift of life's gears. Many people if they have the means an energy find this is a good time to "give back" or perhaps "pay forward." (Often difficult to do in Thailand as those running the show don't understand the concept of community service and completely mistrust foreigners seeking to volunteer and give freely of your time).  Also at this point you either accept the inevitable or you pretend it's not coming.  You are going to die.  No way around it.  Gonna happen.  That's a pretty heavy concept to dwell on.  Every period of change in life has a period of transition, and in that period of transition is the seeds of acceptance for your new mode of life.  And if you can't accept it.  "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad."  Grasping onto the past or grasping onto how things could have (should have) been will make you a very unhappy camper.

Sounds like you've hit a "Transition Point" and now are looking for ways to accept the inevitable.  My suggestion.  Get rid of your Vonnegut and Henningway collection, then do something like 'give back' as it will get you out of your own head.  Or seek other ways to "get out of your own head."  Giving back is one way to do it.  Something as simple as taking up a hobby and becoming very good at a new skill may be other ways. 

From the song: That All There Is, Peggy Lee

I know what you must be saying to yourselves
"If that's the way she feels about it, why doesn't she just end it all?"
Oh, no. Not me
I'm not ready for that final disappointment
Cause I know just as well as I'm standing here talking to you
And when that final moment comes and I'm breathing my last breath,
I'll be saying to myself

[Chorus]
Is that all there is?
Is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is

Best of luck.

It could go to 1000 a day and they'd think of an excuse to keep it going.

At your age? Our kid went into a crib and daddy and mummy slept together. 
Now if mummy wants the baby in bed and daddy in the next room - daddy should consider finding a new mummy.  You're days are numbered and you're there to keep the money spigot on.  That's about all. 

Now, at my age?  There are no kiddies around and mummy and daddy want there own space.  The only time I want so share a bed is if we are listening to Reggae and doing the horizontal mumbo.  Other than that, I want my own bed and my own space. 

Tony will never return through the front door unless the US wants him to return through the front door.

On 7/27/2021 at 8:18 PM, Scrotobike said:

Has it gone through the process of approval such a peer review?

It no longer matters.  If enough media outlets and ministers says it should be used, studies aren't needed.  Dr. Manop's word is good enough and the protocol should start immediately.  Benefits outweigh risks so just an expert's "ok" is good enough.  If people get sick, they had something wrong with them.  Nothing to do with these lifesaving vaccines.  All vaccines are safe and effective. Anyone who says different is an antivaxxer and should be thrown into prison until they are re-educated. 

Well it's simple.  1.54 million doses of Pfizer vaccine goes to Thai people to be distributed by the Thai government.

Zero doses go to US citizens as who give a goddamn about US expats.

Now, where those 1.54 million doses actually end up - that's not the problem of the US embassy. They just give those freebie doses away as long as they don't go to US citizen Expats.  Other than that, who cares?  The US isn't their brother's keeper. 

The country deserves what it gets. 

Demonize that evil daughter.
How about looking at exactly WHO caused this regional epidemic in the first place?

Dup

4 hours ago, ourmanflint said:

They want to send a man to space, but they can't even work out how to put 2m spacers on the floor to help social distancing? 

Well, then the back of the line would be in Laksi. You could tell it's the Bang Sue shot line as as the Thais would end and the farangs would start at Chatuchak.

4 hours ago, Thailand said:

Let them eat cake!

Let them eat Fah Talai Jone.

4 hours ago, champers said:

Panic has set into Bangkok and neighbouring provinces and Government cannot or will not deal with the consequences. Scary.

Actually - good.  Not scary at all. 
You reap what you sow.  And having seen what has been sown? 

3 hours ago, Nojohndoe said:

A little old lady just down the road has it growing prolifically as weeds.

She  makes a tea of it which I have been told is hard to swallow due to bitterness but definitely is beneficial in time of many illnesses.

I wonder if it is simply dried, ground up and put in the capsules ?

 

 

I knew an old lady in Pai.  She grew this weed that had sort of an interestingly pungent smell to it.   It grew prolifically in her garden.  Pretty little flowers.  I had a few cups.  Wish I could get some more.  If I ever get Covid I think a handful of capsules of that ground weed and a liter of tea and I'd be cured for sure.  And if I die?  It would be a nice way to check out.  She had some interesting blue mushrooms too.  Maybe those would be good for Covid too?

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s Cabinet has approved the use of Fah Talai Jone (green chiretta or Andrographis paniculate) to treat asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, after a successful trial of the herbal remedy in prisons.

"Thailand's Cabinet."  Not a medical body, but a political body.  That's where we are at now.  Politics defining treatments. 

"We're going to give medicine to people who are not sick and magically, they they get well!!!" 
Well.  Simply amazing.  I'm beyond words. 
 

Quote

Ms. Ratchada added that the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation recommends that asymptomatic patients take 180mg of Fah Talai Jone, divided into three 60mg doses, per day at mealtimes.

The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. Sure. 
And the peer reviewed published research and FDA approval for a medicine being touted as a Covid cure?  Where are those to be found? 

Nowhere.  ????

4 hours ago, canthai55 said:

I had a set of lenses replaced by Top Charoen in Pattaya years ago.

Hi Index, progressive, lens material made in Germany. Glasses shipped to BKK for the work.

Almost the exact same price as Canada - and just as good a quality.

I'm going with Zenni this time around.  Even in the US when I had a refraction the optician would usher you into their own shop with their own selection of frames and their own prices for lenses.  I've been blind all my life so I never questioned that practice.  Then one day I just didn't see a set of frames I liked at my optician and the lens prices finally got high enough that I wanted to shop around and compare. So I asked for my prescription and thanked the doctor.   And then I found the best set of frames I've ever had in my life and the lens where less expensive but good quality.  Why throw money away?
Since coming to Thailand I've been tossed back into that same model.  Go to most optical shops and ask for just a refraction and a piece of paper with a prescription and they won't do it. If you don't purchase from them at their prices then they won't do it.  In the US they have to.  They can't force you to purchase their frames and lens when you paid for a refraction.   Here in Thailand?  Consumer protection isn't a strong point in Thailand. 
So this time around I just to try Zenni.

5 hours ago, lexilis said:

I had all this done at Bangkok Hospital EENT Center. No appointment, in and out in about an hour. I don't remember the price but it was less than 1000Bt. 

Did they do a refraction and give you a prescription for lenses, or did they just do a medical check of your eyes. 
Although I need glaucoma and retinal checks my primary reason for going to get a refraction and a lens prescription.  I've notice a change in my vision and I need a new pair of sunglasses for driving..
 

Now the prohibition has arrives so have 'speak-easies.' 

"Black Hills", Dan Simmons

6 hours ago, webfact said:

A cap on vaccine exports could force those countries to delay or rethink their plans to get shots in arms.

A cop on vaccine exports invalidates contractual agreements between Astrazenaca and the countries who contracted for vaccine deliveries. 
That will force all countries globally to rethink their plans to conduct international business with Thailand now and in the future.