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I watched a movie I'd never heard of before, called "Marshall" and it was the story of Thurgood Marshall, the crusading lawyer who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, and although it was mainly a courtroom drama with just a few scenes outside of it, it was very good. It starred Chadwick Boseman and Kate Hudson, amongst others. Another one I watched a couple of nights ago (again) was "The Dallas Buyers Club" and I enjoyed it and the acting by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto was outstanding. Yet one more for the record, I watched a little-known movie by George Clooney, called "The American" and although it was fairly slow, it was also enjoyable.

What is "DUCCT"???? And no smart answers that it is a type of tape please😉 Lol.

Love your posts @TallGuyJohninBKKand thank you for seeking out fact and science based information........however as can be seen there are a large number of anti-vaxx and conspiracy theorists on here who want to be seen and heard, for whatever reason (maybe they are just insignificant little people or just the gullible and "poorly educated"). Keep up your good work.

It matters not that these "scientists" have been discredited because the posters on ignore are the "poorly educated" (Trump quote) gullible and naive. As proof, they believe in......... -The deep State -A cabal of Democrats operating from a pizza parlour conducted satanic rituals and drank the blood of babies -Big Pharma -Covid was a hoax -Bill Gates is in collusion with others to control the world -The Sandy Hook massacre did not occur -The Covid vaccine can magnetise a person's body And much more nonsense out there which these fools choose to believe in. Sad, so vey sad and unbelievable to sane, normal and rational folk.

I had some pretty hairy events on motorbikes in my teens, and the same with cars, as well as making pretty large pipe bombs out of weedkiller and sugar and having some near misses with those escapades. Travelled to Libya to work for an oil company just after the Gaddafi revolution, and things were very "unsettling" there for the expats like me and I almost got my head stoved in by a very large pipe bolt thrown by an irate Libyan mechanic and luckily it missed by inches. Then onto Nigeria just after the Biafran war had ended, although there was still quite a bit of aggravation in south-eastern state and one had to be very wary. Back to Libya in 1976 and had a very large pistol held against my temple by an angry Libyan soldier who caught a few of us drinking, and I thought those were my last few moments on earth, I really did. On almost my last trip to Libya, the Fokker Friendship F 27 which was flying a few of us out of our desert camp to Tripoli airport, encountered an undercarriage problem, when it wouldn't come down and lock in place. The rotund Scottish pilot (a very experienced man by the way he handled it) told us that we had to strap ourselves in as we could well have to execute a crash landing. He flew the plane over the control tower a few times to see if they could pinpoint a problem from where they stood, but apparently not, so he told us to prepare for a "bumpy landing" (his nice words for a crash landing I think). Anyway he managed to put the plane down with one hell of a bump and I thought the rear wheels would come through the bottom of the plane, but as it happens the front landing gear, which eventually came down, held up, but I can tell you it was one hell of a frightening experience, especially seeing the fire engines lining up alongside the runway. A few more dangerous escapades, but none as bad as the above, and I consider myself lucky to have made it this far and I hope for a few more years yet!!

I subscribe to several different medical journals and research establishments, and I did see about a year or so ago that progress had been made on using the mRNA technology in a bid to fight cancer, but it is still in its early stages. Let's hope they can utilise this new technology to good effect on other illnesses/conditions.

Do we know if he had a "medical event" which incapacitated him?

Sad that you believe and post such rubbish. Really sad, but then again that is what your type do........you gave yourself away when you said, "WE have shown......". A member of the Far-Right or conspiracy theory brigade perhaps? Haven't got the time to read your nonsense so on to Ignore you go.

You forgot about the 7 million people who died as a result of Covid 19, but then that statistic didn't fit your narrative, so you chose to ignore it. Sad.

Well LL, it wasn't my intention to go out for the evening celebrations, just to go out for a meal and be home way before they started. This because I'm not a "party animal" any more, and I do get home in plenty of time, but even early on in the evening the traffic was horrendous.

Try telling that to the families of those who died as a result of Covid. Covid-19, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2020, killed millions of people, shredded economies and overwhelmed health systems. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/china-says-it-shared-covid-information-without-holding-anything-back/4MJ5SCX7T5FUFH7IKFVLH

Thanks LIK, and I'm hoping 2025 is better than 2024 for me, but NY Eve threw up a few disappointments.......... Although I wasn't planning going out for actual New Year celebrations, I did phone La Capannina to see if I and a friend from England could go along for dinner, and they said it was okay..... So at 7 PM I hailed a Tuk Tuk outside of my apartment block and asked him if he could take me to the restaurant, and his response was, "how much you give me?", So my response was, how much you want, and he said 500 baht, so I replied I will give you 200 baht (which was the figure quoted by a couple of other Tuk Tuk drivers recently) and he gesticulated angrily and started to drive away! He then turned round and said 300 baht, so I couldn't be bothered haggling and said okay. Arrived at the restaurant and they had no knowledge of my booking although we did manage to get a small table, although the chairs were the most uncomfortable I have ever sat in! To say that I was very disappointed that the menu had been altered for that particular evening, would be an understatement, because the fare on offer was much reduced and there were no pizzas available and very little else that I liked or wanted for that matter. Anyway getting over that disappointment I and my friend ordered and waited. What came was nothing like I had been used to at this restaurant and as we were both hungry, what was brought to the table was mostly eaten, although my friend could only eat half of his main course because he said it was far too salty, and I have to say that mine was also. I had suggested that we could walk back to our respective apartments, which were no more than about 100m apart, but my gluteal muscles which had been aching after sitting on that awful seat, and which had been damaged in my recent accident, were hurting like the clappers and they made it very difficult for me to even walk, but I did manage to walk bit by bit, slowly back to Soi Banzaan which is where there is a massage shop owned by a friend of mine, so I reasoned that if I could make it back to that, then they might be able to do something to loosen up those glutes. It was a long, slow and painful walk for me, but I did manage to get to the shop and the older lady there was superb, finding out the areas which were painful and working on them and after 45 minutes I'd had enough because it was a little painful, so I paid her and tipped her handsomely and set off home. I took an Ibuprofen, had a shower and got to bed about midnight and thankfully slept reasonably well. In conclusion, a disappointing end to a disappointing year, so let's hope this New Year brings better luck and health for me. And finally, the traffic last night was like something I have never seen in my life, with idiots, more idiots and even more idiots driving as if they had a death wish and if you were a pedestrian trying to cross the road, then you were sh!t out of luck and some!

"One of my favorite wines I drink (and sell as part of my portfolio)" Intrigued by your comment GOM........do you trade/buy/sell fine wines?? Send me a PM if the info is confidential.

The French Burgundy (Pinot Noir) I tasted at the Wine Connection was a:- Pinot Noir from Henri de Bareuil in the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune, and they sell it in the Wine Connection store/shop.

I've never been impressed with the Pinot Noir wines I've had here, however a few weeks ago I sampled one at the Wine Connection, a French Pinot Noir and I thought it was a nice wine, not outstanding, but had all the attributes of a typical French Pinot Noir. Can't remember where I posted it, but I'll have search through to see if I can find the name for you.

Back on topic.........what-lowmedium-price-wine-do-you-recommend Sorry about the previous ramble, but I have had chance to taste the Jacob's Creek Merlot and it is a very pleasant easy drinking red wine, with no discernible strong tannins and perhaps a little bit of oak treatment with "oak staves or oak chips", but don't quote me on that! Would I buy it for an everyday wine, based on this one bottle, yes I would as it would complement just about every dish one wished to serve it with. And at 445 baht a bottle it is at the cheaper end of the wine scale here, apart from the "fruit wines". I didn't find any hints of "black fruits" (often mentioned by wine tasters) in it, but a good everyday drinker, all the same.

Good to hear that there is someone else out there who likes this particular wine and for those that don't know, Petite Sirah is called Durif in France (named after the botanist who "discovered" it there) and also in Australia and a few other places, whereas in the USA and perhaps a few other countries, it's called Petite Sirah. I had tried a couple in Australia and found them to be very high in alcohol and also very tannic, and didn't take to them, however these from California are a different matter altogether, as GOM says, "bursting with berries" and absolutely delightful.

There was also a mention of Jacobs Creek wine being reduced in price a few posts back, but I can't find it right now. However in Lotus's a few days ago I noticed that Jacobs Creek had been reduced to 445 baht and also that a wine by JJ McWilliams, also from Australia, was now down to 395 baht – – not my normal drinking wines, however many years ago in my youth they were the type of wines that I would buy, not now however, BUT I decided to buy a bottle of each so that I could try them with my Thai spicy dishes and Indian food, because they should be bold enough to counter the taste of those dishes – – I will post when I have tasted them and those folk who are interested may want to try them. On that note, it's amazing how tastes change over the years and with experiences, because when I was in my early 20s I was buying the type of wine mentioned above and also other wines from France, especially Cotes Du Roussillon Villages which I found to be particularly enjoyable. In the late 70s and through to the 80s I was buying Bordeaux Premier cru wines, en primeur (before they were released onto the market) and I bought and tasted a great number of these wines before moving onto the quality Rhône wines like Cote Rotie and Chateauneuf du Papes. I never really got round to the Burgundy wines until later on in my life when I went over to France with a French wine merchant and sampled some absolutely gorgeous burgundies, which proved to be a mistake because that spoilt me for any other Burgundy/Pinot Noir which was on the market, including those from my newly adopted country of New Zealand! Now as I've gotten older and wiser (I hope) I have moved onto the more full-bodied wines like those from Australia, and in particular Appassimento wines from southern Italy, and the Petite Sirah wine from the USA which I have recently discovered here, which I find absolutely delightful. Sorry to ramble on, but it's been a hobby of mine for over 50 years, so I do like to share some of my experiences!!!!

I watched a movie last night which I thought I might have seen before, but in retrospect I don't think I had (don't forget I've got memory problems after my accident!). The movie was a Western, called "Hostiles" and starred Rosamund Pike and Christian Bale and it made for a good evening's entertainment and was enjoyable.

I hope you like the Italian wine, mainly because I find them a little insipid at the lower price range, whereas the Riddle Creek even at the lower price range is still quite a "bigger" wine – – IMO. Absolutely no problem putting red wine in the fridge in this country, as I keep all of my bottles in a wine fridge and remove about an hour before I'm due to uncork/open and drink it. I also let it breathe for a while, which can improve the taste no end.

I have to say thank you for your post, along with a big thank you to all of the other folks who posted, apart from one! I say this because the comments have made me re-evaluate my situation and needs. You're quite right and as I do have the first-generation iPhone SE, then I'm familiar with it and what it does, so maybe I'll stick with this one or even buy another one (cracked screen) because the size at 5 inches is ideal for carrying in my little pouch which clips on my belt. In addition I only use it for phone calls and SMS messages, along with the occasional pic and all of my email and banking I do on my computer, so a basic smart phone is sufficient. I was also thankful for the post by @Will27 as it put me onto another range of smartphones that I didn't even know about, so thank you for that Will. I think that's about it for now as I have got enough information from the good folks on AN – – thank you and I wish you all a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Thanks for the follow up.........and I have no idea what G_money has posted as have got him on ignore, but knowing him it is probably an insult (again)!!!!

OOPS.......Apple iPhone SE, released in 2016!!! Thanks for your input.

I like and have watched most of those already mentioned many times, and would like to add a few that I've also watched many times....... The Jackal Law Abiding Citizen Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Moon The Martian The Man from Earth Shooter Old Henry Castaway The Book of Eli Prometheus Live by Night Jeremiah Johnson Legends of the Fall Tombstone The Big Short Bottle Shock Contagion The Greatest Showman The Life and Deathof Peter Sellers The Jason Bourne Trilogy

I have been using an Apple iPhone for the past 5 years, but good to know that your kind still exist!