Jump to content

xylophone

Advanced Member
  • Posts

    12312
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by xylophone

  1. Very timely post NanLaew, because I tried Nord VPN on BBC iPlayer a couple of nights ago and it was picked up and I wasn't allowed to access iPlayer, despite trying a few times. So it was back to Smart DNS, which I had forgotten to log into! When I looked at the Nord VPN servers in the UK, it only had one "available" in the north of England, or possibly in Northern Ireland (can't remember now) and that was not working. All up, having tried quite a few VPNs, including Cyberghost, Express VPN, Nord and Total VPN, I have found that Smart DNS is the best one and the most reliable, with just one or two hiccups in a year, and now it has also included an extra add-on which you can load, called "Smart DNS Proxy VPN" and that's an option which allows you to choose the country into which you want to gain access, although not all countries are listed. So I'm letting my Nord VPN subscription run out, although it is handy as a backup at the moment, and I'm continuing with Smart DNS.
  2. But it does have tweets!! Whilst Truth Social is a platform for trump lies!! And on that note, what puzzles me and at the same time astounds me, is that all of the many thousands of lies that trump has told can be found online, in newspapers, various other publications and videos, so they are there for all to see, BUT the trumpies don't see them/don't acknowledge them! So in effect they are lying to themselves, a bit like expecting to be able to book a room on the Titanic, when we all know it's at the bottom of the ocean – – but, using the same logic, trumpies don't. Very strange behaviour, and perhaps it's because there is something in the Kool-Aid which has disturbed their wiring?
  3. Not only are the fundamentals still bad, the name is a total misnomer, a farce in fact, because nothing trump ever says is "truth", so they should call it "Lies Social" as that would be closer to the mark for trump and his cult followers.
  4. But he didn't say that did he.................trumpie lies again. So sad.
  5. Well, they don't come here to get a tan do they, and unless they are wealthy in their own right, which I suspect not, then they are here to deal in drugs and other things, whereby they can make some money!
  6. Well that's a $64,000 question isn't it, because I've seen so many farangs, and Thais driving motorbikes with the crash helmet either hanging from the handlebars or elsewhere on the bike, or in the carry basket on the front – – won't do a lot of good there I'm afraid.
  7. For the folks who like docos I came across a hidden gem in the BBC iPlayer library called, "How the Wild West was Won" by Ray Mears and thought it was great.......the true story of the migration west, the cattle trails, the Donner Party and the demise of the Buffalo and the cowboy. Also mentioned were the native Indians and the intro of the railways..............and much more. Fascinating, but hurry if you want to watch it as it is only available for 24 days. I can highly recommend it.
  8. I'm sorry to say that in my opinion, no electric shaver will give you a shave close to a wet razor! I have tried two models of the Philips rotary-head shavers and even the most expensive one brought me out in a rash, so I've converted back to my Braun electric shaver which is altogether the best one for me at the moment. As an aside, you may wish to consider applying a pre-electric talc before you use an electric shaver.
  9. Do you mean those very vaccines that were being developed 10 years prior to Covid? So much nonsense published about these vaccines, as well as other folks recommending the likes of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, that it's estimated millions of people died because they were convinced by the quacks and anti-VAX brigade – – and as for the "unexplained heart attacks and sudden deaths", see below: – Who Really 'Died Suddenly'? A new study sheds light on the risks by Jeremy Faust, MD, MS, MA, Editor-in-Chief, MedPage Today March 21, 2024 During the initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout, a rare complication called myocarditis was detected, primarily in young males. The incidence of this problem was low and most of the cases were mild. Still, even for people in the highest-risk demographic for vaccine-associated myocarditis, receiving the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccines was safer than getting COVID-19 without having been vaccinated. Nevertheless, the anti-vaxxer factions seized on this and used it to sow doubt. The phrase "Died Suddenly" became a kind of motto for those looking to spread misinformation about vaccines. There has never been any link between COVID-19 vaccines and sudden cardiac death. Meanwhile, one of my least favorite cliches during the pandemic was the image of some muscular person flexing for a camera saying that they didn't need vaccination, because they were just so damn healthy. Nor did I get any joy out of stories of athletes who refused the vaccines on those very grounds, only to die of COVID-19 later. https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/who-really-died-suddenly-anabolic
  10. I bought my house here from an English guy who had a bar in Bangla and who was struggling financially and wanted to go back to Blighty, and if my memory serves me correctly, he basically gave the bar away for peanuts, handing it over to a friend and I bought his house for a bargain price because I offered him cash in hand within 24 hours. I don't think he ever came back here. Another friend of mine bought (leased) a bar and when he went back to his home country for a couple of months, not only did his girlfriend sell his bar out from under him, she was also getting her leg over some of his friends. He doesn't have the capital to enter into bar business any more and he is shortly going back home, having been here some 11 years or thereabouts. He has said he may come back when the weather in his home country turns cold again, but owning/leasing a bar here is definitely out of the question.
  11. Well that poster can't help it because all he watches is Fox News, so he repeats the nonsense that they spout........another thought sprung to mind, because surely no one could be that dumb, so perhaps he is a shill who is on this thread, and possibly others, to act as click bait?
  12. I have just finished the series, "The Gentlemen" and I thought it was okay although IMO it got bogged down towards the end with too many subplots, some of which I couldn't fathom! Shame really because it started off well enough.
  13. Better than that, I'm going to put this far right trumpie on ignore, mainly because I feel sorry, so sorry for someone who believes Fox News, when they've already acknowledged that what they print/state amounts to lies. Life's too short to think that someone believes this nonsense. Reminds me of the pigeon analogy.
  14. Fox again.............come out of the rabbit hole and do yourself and us non-gullible posters a favour, because with all of your nonsense you are about as popular as a rattlesnake in a lucky dip.
  15. Thanks for the tip but cannot find it available on any of the usual sites??........any clues please?
  16. Mentioning ageing and dementia brings up something which may be affecting Donny boy, especially as quite a few of his gaffes have been in the press just recently........ Shadowing Trump’s attacks on mental fitness — his own father’s dementia. Trump avoids mention of his father’s Alzheimer’s disease as he lashes Biden for being ‘cognitively impaired’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/20/donald-trump-dementia-father-fred-alzheimers-biden What are the chances of getting Alzheimer's if a parent has it? Studies of family history say that if you have a close relative who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease—the most common form of dementia in older adults—your risk increases by about 30%. This is a relative risk increase, meaning a 30% hike in your existing risk.Jan 28, 2562 BE https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/alzheimers-in-the-family#:~:text=Studies of family history say,hike in your existing risk. Maybe warning signs for Donny and his cult followers????
  17. Yes, I thought about recommending that because I take it, however it does contain lovastatin, often in varying amounts, so you don't always know the exact amount you are taking.
  18. That's what I did when I sold a house here in Patong and because the neighbours talk amongst themselves, it wasn't long before I had a buyer. My first house here, I sold through advertisements in the local Phuket newspaper and producing flyers which I distributed around the place. Now I only rent and was lucky enough to have a good Thai woman and lawyer who helped me through the sale process. Good luck, and don't give up, and certainly don't engage a real estate agent unless you can get a promised 3% commission charge, because nowadays it is certainly up in the 5% range plus.
  19. Now back onto Patong activities in general, or should I say, nightlife activities........ Went out to have dinner with friends on Friday night, and unfortunately made a pig of myself and ate too much, which left me very bloated for the walk up Bangla to the Blue Lotus bar, in which we had one drink and moved on. Bangla, as has been the case in the past few visits, was still very crowded and I wondered if this was trickling through to the Thai folk working here, and that "question" was answered when we walked past a Tuk Tuk driver stationed at the beach end of Bangla, who was being asked by a couple and their young daughter, "how much to go to Jungceylon?" Of course he obviously didn't know that Jungceylon was just a very short walk up Bangla, however that being the case, the Tuk Tuk driver quoted 500 baht!!!!! Which of course astounded us – – so rip-offs still abound in Patong and I found the same experience with my motorbike taxi driver this time, because my main one was not available, and whereas I used to pay 140/160 baht for a trip from Soi Nanai six, the new motorbike taxi driver whom I hailed, charged me 200 baht. I wasn't about to argue with him because he was an old bugger who probably needed the money, but in future I will ensure that I book my regular motorbike taxi driver. Back to Bangla – – the bar on the corner of Bangla and Soi Sea Dragon was very crowded, and I'm not surprised because there were quite a few attractive young women in the place, obviously attracting the punters, so that ploy is working, as it always has done here! Jumping around a bit and on the subject of attractive young women, an attractive woman I know who manages a massage shop here, and who I've known for years, has got her boyfriend over Europe, and when I asked after her, one of the other women in the shop said that she and her boyfriend had gone home to the north of Thailand to get married!! I was astounded at this because whenever I had spoken to this particular woman, she had said that she and her boyfriend often had rows and I know she had a couple of other boyfriends in tow, so the thought of her getting married to this particular one was one hell of a surprise. This other woman in the shop who knows me and who speaks pretty good English, gave me a lesson in Thai logic......she said that it might be difficult for me as a farang to understand, but a Thai woman does not confuse love on the one hand with money on the other, saying they are not the same, basically telling me that her friend (the manager) was getting married for money, whereas the boyfriend thought it was love, but based on that "misunderstanding" they could both be happy! We had a little discussion on this and I told her how surprised I was when I first arrived here to see how many really old farangs were walking around with much younger women/wives, and her response was, well that really goes to prove what she had just said: – for "love" and care from the Thai person, the older farang gives financial support to the Thai woman and her family, and thinking about it it's probably been that way forever here. As an addendum to that, I am sure that there are farangs and Thai women who are in love with one another, but IMO a Thai woman's "love" can be a movable feast! Unfortunately the shop/building in which this massage parlour sits has been repossessed by the bank and so the shop and the one next to it will have to close this coming month, which is a shame because it gets a lot of foot traffic and there is parking outside of it. It made me wonder why the bank wouldn't keep the occupants of the shops in place, and sell it as a going concern, and if the buyer doesn't like that, then ask them to move out? Just to end on a positive note; a couple of weeks ago I and a couple of friends had ventured down Soi Freedom to have a drink with a birthday bar owner, and something I'd forgotten all about was happening in that Soi, because the ladyboys were putting on a stage show, and I have to say they were professional not only in their stage gear, but in the routines and the lip syncing of course, only this time it was a little different to the one I remember a few years back, because the "female" singers were often accompanied by a couple of gay boys prancing around either side of them. Either way a whole lot of them seemed pleased with their performance and there were a few onlookers, so perhaps things really are back on track here.
  20. After your recommendation P2, I stopped by Le Bistrot to have a look at the menu and it's not huge by any standards, but has a nice range of options on it. I then looked at the wine list and their house wine is, unfortunately, a fruit wine, which I'm not partial to, so I may ask the owner if I can pay a corkage and take my own wine along??
  21. Add.....he is not popular with Mike Pence, his previous VP, and that speaks volumes about trump!! Former US vice-president Mike Pence says he will not be backing Donald Trump in the 2024 election. The decision makes Pence the latest in a series of senior Trump administration officials who have declined to endorse their former boss’ bid to return to the Oval Office. “During my presidential campaign I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, and not just our difference on my Constitutional duties that I exercised on January the 6th.” “I mean, as I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life,” he went on, also referencing what he called Trump’s “reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration’s effort to force” the sale of the popular TikTok app.
×
×
  • Create New...