rickudon

Reality. At the current death rate, if everybody in Thailand caught this version of Covid, 2,000 people would die. Compare that to the annual road death rate. if they all caught Flu, it would kill 3 times as many. No need for panic.

A few facts: 1. for every one degree centigrade rise in air temperature, the water vapour holding capacity increases by 7%. Higher temperatures also mean higher evaporation, so it is actually more likely that higher levels of saturation will be reached. Many studies suggest that rainfall intensity (amount falling in a given period of time) has increased up to 15% in the last 25 years. this can lead to more flash floods and more erosion. 2.Glaciers in central Europe have lost 39% of their volume in the last 25 years. Globally, loss has been 5%. 3. sea level rise, this averaged out as about 1.5 mm per year in the 2oth Century. In the 21st Century, this average is over 3 mm per year. In 2024, this increased to nearly 6 mm for the year. 4. Floods and droughts. Increased rain intensity has led to more floods. Conversely, higher rates of evaporation are leading to more droughts. 5. wildfires. in the last 21 years, extreme wildfires have become more frequent, more intense and burned larger areas. mainly affecting boreal forests in North America and Siberia. 6. in the 21st century, average temperature has increased by about 0.3 degrees Centigrade per decade. this rate is slowly increasing. It is easy to extrapolate that if the rate stays the same, 1.5 degrees centigrade of warming will almost certainly be reached by 2030 and 2 degrees by 2050.

Unfortunately need brackish water for breeding. Most of the giant prawns are grown near the coast. In Isaan, have been told supply of prawn larvae is a monopoly - they want you to sign up to a contract for larvae, feed and harvest of adult prawns. You take all the risks and they charge you over the top for everything - they make all the profit. There is a market for small wild shrimps (like you get in Pad Thai), But harvesting is labour intensive. My Mother-in-law did it for a while but too old now, I have dug a number of small ponds. and if the shrimps thrive, may try catching them. Will be about a year before i can assess stocks. Can find nothing on the internet about this, just have to go by what is known about shrimp ecology from USA or similar.

Who froze tax allowances, child benefit and tried to impose 1% pay rises on all public sector workers? 2010-2025 saw the biggest fall in inflation adjusted income under the Tories and students being saddled with probably the highest level of student debt in Europe. Brexit just added another layer of toxic icing. This just pushed more people onto the welfare state. Oh and also highest levels of migration ( Mainly of those from India, which put pressure on better paid jobs).

Cheese is a matter of taste. I admit to not liking most continental cheeses, either to waxy or rank. only one i like is brie. Plenty of other types of British cheese, Cheshire, Wensleydale. Double Gloucester, but rarely available here and always expensive (4-5 times as much). The Aro Cheddar is actually not to bad, better than the mild cheap stuff in UK supermarkets. mainly use cooked (on toast, toppings). As for your other products, do not eat cornflakes; i get Muesli at about 150 baht a kilo (cheaper if i make myself) and practically never buy chocolate in Thailand as also overpriced. I do like the odd McVitie's Chocolate digestive, which are a similar price here to the UK (but frequently welded together!). If you are rich enough, you can buy what you want. But most of us have to live on a budget. So i buy very few European products, only locally made versions (if good enough, but reasonable quality harder to find). My diet is about 90% Asean sourced. Just takes a while to find what you want. Been here long enough to have done this.

In our village, rarely see them at our house. Down on the farm, used to see quite a few, but since everyone installed loads of solar powered security lights, they have gone.

I have moderate BPH, and CKD. Finally got fed up with the slightly increased urinary frequency, urgency(once i feel a need to go, i have to go if standing up VERY soon) and weak flow. Urologist put me on Duodart. Didn't notice much change at first - but after a month or two flow had improved; subsequently I have found that ejaculation takes a lot longer and volume decreased, but if anything erections are better and no effect on Libido. I can get through the night without urinating, as long as i go after midnight before sleeping - wake up around 5 a.m., when i get up have to go quickly and usually again two times in next 2 hours. After that frequency is ok. Urgency is still an issue when i do need to go and emptying bladder not wonderful, get some leakage if too quick afterwards. On the whole, i can live with it.

If it was profitable to exploit what remains (there are a range of values, but your 30 years is at the top end) oil companies would do so. Oil price is same as it was 15 years ago, it just isn't economic to invest in trying to increase production. The oil companies just want to take what they can from existing wells without spending more. If oil price were to double, maybe interest would grow.

Yes. Compared 400 gram Sainsbury's block to one kilo block. No wastage. Actually did the maths and Makro block is actually about 10% cheaper. Smaller pieces of cheese in Thailand are double the cost. Sometimes freeze part of the block - perfectly ok when thawed again.

The soil in our family's paddy fields is so awful, that without chemicals etc. we get only 3 bags per rai average (about 120 kilos) after milling about 60 kilos. With ploughing, harvesting done by machine (or paid labour), seed costs etc, it costs 2-3,000 baht a rai to grow it. We do not grow any more, cheaper to buy rice. I have converted my wife's field into fish ponds and hopefully fruit trees ( the soil is still awful, but mangoes seem to survive so far). Maintenance is less an do get some fish and fruit.

Sad. I am a liberal person, but there is a point at which we have to ask does the government have to pay for every perceived need? The welfare state should cover basic needs, not provide individual tutors for every student who has some problems. If speech and language therapy needed. cannot we train the parents to provide most of it? I agree with free normal education, free health care, state pension and limited unemployment benefit. Everything else should be on a cost/benefit analysis - if the benefit isn't high enough, do not expect the government to pay for it. There is a place for workfare - get benefits (including some money) for doing work which benefits society and the environment.

Two-thirds of all North sea oil has already been pumped. In the UK sector, the only unexploited reserves are in smaller fields and are probably uneconomic to develop at current prices. The last major oil field to be discovered in the UK sector was over 25 years ago. Trump, as usual, knows nothing. North sea gas also declining, at current rates, it will only last another 14 years

Cheese - basic cheddar one kilo block is now under 300 baht in Makro - a lot less than one baht a gram (30 satang) similar price to UK.

I sometimes grow real spinach. Not easy in Thailand. Only cool season and only successful sometimes. needs shade. hard to get the seeds, usually from UK.

Last time i had a credit card compromised was about 23 years ago, when buying a car in the UK! In Thailand, just use my card at larger stores (e.g. Lotus or BigC), or IN the bank (do a counter withdrawal), Most small purchases cash.

Met mine at a fishing lake.

so one person a day dies of Covid. I will worry about it when more people die of Covid than die on the roads.

USA didn't give them anything. Pakistan got first blood, but India's reaction did damage to airbases, command posts and involved an attack on Pakistan's nuclear deterrent - they bombed an underground nuclear weapons store, collapsing the entrance. With their nuclear deterrent compromised, Pakistan couldn't use it as a threat. India had more drones, Pakistan used most of theirs in a couple of days.

I think that is true. Why go to the expense of arresting them, getting them deported, and then paying to keep them in prison. As long as they are not actively involved in ongoing crimes. Thailand serves as a free open prison. I only knew one significant individual. I was playing cards with him when he got a phone call from Victor Bout, just before the DEA arrested him, minutes later.

The real problem is consumerism. People always want everything. But you have to pay for it one way or another. Dickens character Mr Micawber never said a truer word - "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." The more we spend, the more things cost. Capitalism drives inflation. We need to end this spiral and live within our means. Only buy what is necessary. Applies to individuals and governments. We do not need growth, just stability. When your economy grows, something, somewhere is destroyed to pay for it.

These days, only Employees/salaried people pay significant amounts of income tax anyway. In this digital age, the profits just get skimmed off to some tax haven, laundered and paid out as foreign dividends.

I just use my UK credit card, no fees (including taking cash), excellent exchange rate (as good as Wise), pay it off online. So no need to send money to a Thai bank account (just use Thai account for immigration).

Three issues for the people - Immigration, cost of living and housing costs. Immigration. Illegal immigration is a problem, but is dwarfed by legal migration - nearly a million a year. It only benefits employers. It makes the housing issue worse, puts strain on infrastructure and trying to find a job is not easy - graduates have to apply for about 50 jobs or more to get one. No migrant should be allowed in unless an employer can prove he cannot fill it from a UK resident. No benefits for migrants for 10 years. If existing migrants cannot find a job after say 6 months and run out of money, give them a plane ticket back home. Illegals should be housed in old army camps and forced to work for their room and food - until they can find legal work. No putting them in hotels. Cost of living. Probably the hardest one to fix. Cut energy prices, some subsidies. Housing costs. Driven up by immigration. cut that and house prices and rents should start to fall (or at least rise more slowly). More drastic, tax rental property owners or introduce rent cuts. More houses on the market, lower prices. Also, with a stable population, no need to forever spend more on infrastructure; could build houses instead you have an immigrant labour force.... A stable population will mean less pressure on the environment, water, energy. That would be a start, at least.

There is a touch of truth to the OPs story. Don't like the truth - well, you can find a nutter online who tells you it is fake news, Deep state, whatever. I remember visiting the USA (Florida) in the 90's and 2005; it was cheaper than the UK for many things and i did consider retiring there; conspiracy theorists i didn't meet. Now, motel prices in USA are about 2-3 times higher than 20 years ago, bread and eggs are cheaper in the UK and eating out costs about the same. Real estate and health costs in USA are astronomical. If i had gone down that route (although was not rich enough to get residence) i would be homeless by now. Mind you, UK is no paradise either. Supermarket prices may be higher than 20 years ago, but food is still relatively cheap - as long as you prepare at home. But you can no longer afford a home - prices have doubled in the last 20 years, while rents have trebled. council tax (local government tax) and energy bills also at least double. A one bedroom flat would consume my entire pension in the South of England if i returned, so would slowly starve (better find a food bank). My son and GF earn nearly 100,000 GBP between them, but cannot afford a house; they spend 25,000 GBP a year on rent for a small flat. Work commitments mean living in London. USA is going to the dogs, so is the UK. Not sure which will collapse first. Just hope that is still at least a decade away, doubt that i will be around then.

Presumably a technical problem, 50% of your solar panels are not going to stop producing power in 5 minutes nationwide. Presumably they monitor the weather and sunset, so would know about any expected drop in solar energy input. A grid issue for sure.