xylophone

Oh, I hope I haven't upset you, you poor thing, but I really wanted to focus on the nonsense remark about "the deep state", and I don't know where you got the idea from that I was a "leftist"? If you think that my political leanings are to the left, then you would be completely wrong, it's just that I can't stand the dumb orange lump, who grifts his supporters, lies continuously, steals from charities and has had so many businesses go bankrupt that it would take too long to list them here. Successful?? Not in a million years. I don't actually fancy myself as an intellectual, but I was responsible in NZ for producing a brochure/guide on investing using Managed Funds from various countries and providers, and this was vetted by well-known investment companies as well as by the banking ombudsman, and I was afforded many accolades for this, and conducted many seminars around NZ, so my credentials stand scrutiny. So please remain amused when people do focus on a particular part of your post to highlight a point. Deep State......really! And you think that you are an intellectual, believing in that nonsense. Utter rubbish, and gullible for believing in this and the conspiracy theories that surround it. Maga/rabbit hole/conspiracy theories/far right/deep state, how dumb can one get?

This thread seems to have gone quiet, so not quite sure if my post is okay or should be moved elsewhere, but all the same here goes........ The BBC News every night shows events in Israel and Gaza, so no one is short of information if they want it and there are many on here who call for Israel to cease what they are doing and American and UK politicians (and others) seem to think that a "two state solution" will work and wonder why this suggestion hasn't been adopted by Israel? My question would be, "why should they live next to a race of people who are governed by, and who have been infiltrated by terrorists, intent on destroying Israel"? And besides this, Israel has offered a way out of this conflict by suggesting that Hamas returns the hostages, and Israel will release its prisoners, and if Hamas lays down its arms, then the war, such as it is, will cease. Seems like a simple solution, so why won't Hamas accept it? The answer could well be in the fact that as they are a terrorist organisation, they need the weapons to be able to carry out their avowed intent with regards to destroying Israel and the Jews. So there is a solution, but Hamas won't accept it, and this being the case this conflict will go on and Hamas will reap what they have sown.

Just had to come back to that remark about the "deep state" because I didn't think it was widely accepted by normal, rational folk...... "According to an American political conspiracy theory, the deep state is a clandestine network of members of the federal government (especially within the FBI and CIA), working in conjunction with high-level financial and industrial entities and leaders, to exercise power alongside or within the elected United States . Political commentator and former presidential adviser David Gergen said that the term had been appropriated by Steve Bannon, Breitbart News, and other supporters of the Trump administration in order to delegitimize the critics of the presidency and critics of Trump's use of the term 'deep state' maintain that it is a conspiracy theory with no basis in reality. It has also spawned conspiracy theory advocates like Alex Jones who posits that the Sandy Hook shooting which killed 26 people, never happened and it was all a deep state plot to discredit the NRA. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy, after he and the parent of his Infowars website were ordered to pay about $1.5 billion for spreading lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting". So maybe this will help the conspiracy theorists.....just because one is crazy, it doesn't mean one can't have style.

As soon as I saw the line above, I knew that I was in for a load of MAGA/ rabbit hole nonsense, so I stopped reading!! So sad that you have got it so bad!! LOL.

Bearing this in mind, there are many microwaves now on the market and some of them are not expensive at all, so has the OP tried looking at a new one??

it's that so many seemingly normal and or intelligent people can support him. It's bizarre. I agree with you, it is bizarre and I just can't understand it, whereupon the Christian evangelist types still support him even though he's broken just about every commandment in the Bible, he's been found guilty of misappropriating funds from a charity, pays hookers for sex, even when his wife is pregnant/giving birth, and that's just a few of his moral misdemeanours. On top of that he has "shafted" the everyday average American working man who carried out work on his projects, starts rumours to disparage other potential candidates (birther rubbish) and cannot stop lying about anything and everything. So, as you say, "it's bizarre". Maybe it's the supporters that need to have a good look at themselves, because it's not normal to support an abhorrent specimen like this.

Well I can't fault the care that was given to my old friend at Bangkok Phuket Hospital, and personally I've had "mixed experiences" there, and that is why I visited Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok when my bladder stopped working, because nobody seemed to know why, and anyway Sheryl on this forum, recommended Dr Charuspong at Bumrungrad so I thought I'd give him a try, and was very pleased that I did (thank you Sheryl). I had a very thorough going over with tubes and wires going into just about every orifice, before being hooked up to a computer for about an hour, and the result after meeting with the doctor (actually he is a urologist) was that I have a neurogenic bladder and there's not much that can be done about it, apart from clean intermittent catheterisation, done by yours truly, which is what I have been doing now for over a year, and getting by I may add. However I did some investigation and found that a company called Medtronic in the USA makes a small device, similar to a pacemaker, which fits under the skin and the wire from it runs close to the sacral nerve, and it stimulates the nerve to work, thereby making the bladder contract, so it would/should make my bladder work again. However, having got no satisfaction from the company themselves or any other hospital here, I did contact Dr Charuspong and he has just this morning contacted me by telephone (how brilliant is that in today's world) and explained the process to me and why it is not available in Thailand. I won't go into the explicit details, but a first unit has to be inserted to see if it will work, then it is removed and the second one inserted, and this preliminary work takes about a week to 10 days, furthermore the whole thing will cost something like 700,000 baht, and it's not even sure that it works efficiently anyway, so he has answered my questions. Back on topic I suppose there will be good and not so good doctors in many hospitals around the world, but going back to the original topic the care that my old friend received at Bangkok Phuket Hospital was excellent.

Had to laugh at this one..................

Looking through the movies available on BBC iPlayer I came across one that I had seen a few years back, but couldn't remember too much about, called, "The Theory of Everything" about Stephen Hawking, and I'm so glad that I downloaded it, because it was brilliant. Not only was Eddie Redmayne absolutely amazing in it, his movie wife, Felicity Jones was also amazing and not only that she is absolutely beautiful IMO. There are a couple of scenes that brought tears to my eyes, especially at the end when he and his now "ex-wife" are watching their three grown-up children running around in a garden, and he says, "Look what we have Made" and I do believe that both actors really lived that scene and that's what made it so special and moving. If you haven't seen it, then my advice is to watch it.

It is a shame really that America has to choose between an elderly leader in Biden, who has made some very good decision so far, and an obese liar and thief who is as dumb as a bag of rocks, and "bigly" so too.

You reignited my interest in this particular plane crash, Will27, and I remember seeing a film about it a few years back, but I couldn't remember what it was called and there seem to be a few made about this particular incident, including documentaries – – so I went back online and found the one that I remembered from way back, called "Alive", downloaded and watched it last night, and enjoyed it. It starred Ethan Hawke, amongst others and as I said, was very watchable. HOWEVER if there is another one out there which is good/better, then I'd like to know about it, please. PS. Forgot to mention that I also watched another of my old favourites a couple of nights ago, and it was a film starring Gerard Butler, probably one of his best movies IMO, and it was called, "Law Abiding Citizen", and I thought it was very well done, not necessarily for the special effects, but because of the way Jamie Foxx, the lawyer, conducted the case, which did not bode well for Butler – – I know it's only a movie, but I wonder how often such things could happen in real life??

You are probably right when you say that, "aren't all of these fridges double insulated anyway?"....... Luckily enough whenever I have had to install something like this or a large microwave, I have found a way to earth them satisfactorily, and being an electrical engineer by profession (although long since stopped practising it) I knew what I was doing. Then a friend asked me to look at his fridge/freezer because he was getting a "tickle" from it, which was very noticeable, so I used my multimeter on it and sure enough there was around 50 V between the fridge and earth! I ran a separate earth wire from the back of the fridge to a socket outlet nearby and that cured it, so the moral of this story is not to rely solely on "double insulation"!

Double post!

From my recollection of insurance policies in the days when I was in banking, the cover should be for personal injury, for third party injury and for property damage, so I think you are pretty well covered.......unless of course he has got a totally useless and cheap policy which covers him for next to stuff all! I wouldn't worry about asking for his insurance if he is in hospital, because you have a right to do that, so go to it!

Thanks Patong2 and have a good and safe flight back to NZ tomorrow. All the best. Xylo

The guy is a clown.....and dumb with it.

I wasn't sure whether to update this thread or not, however here goes and there are two parts to it: – 1). I had the calcium heart score done at Bangkok Phuket Hospital and it only took about five minutes under the CAT scan, a short wait to see the heart specialist and that was it. My score was 40, which for my age (76) is pretty good, and the doctor wasn't worried at all, and therefore nor was I. So I will get on with living my life and keep including the red wine with my dinner every day. 2). Unfortunately I have just received news that my friend who was airlifted back to his country is still in hospital and not doing well at all. In fact it appears that the specialist and doctor at the hospital he is in have decided to cease treatment, as well as stop providing food and water (not that he could eat or swallow whole food anyway), thereby following the "nil by mouth" path that will signal the end for him I believe. So sad, but having said that, he was 89 years old and he had lived a varied and globetrotting life, which he loved. Farewell old friend and when your passing occurs, my thoughts will go with you.

"Mr Trump's victory was a broad one as well. He won the young and old, men and women. He also won over the evangelical and hard-right conservative voters he had difficulty winning in 2016". So they vote for the orange clown after all this....unbelievable:- He is a proven multiple liar, a narcissist, has cheated on his wives and once while one of them was in hospital giving birth, had sex with strippers and hookers and paid for the privilege, has defrauded banks and the everyday working American man, has been found guilty of stealing from a charity and sexually assaulting a woman in a department store............and the list goes on! I guess the evangelical far right really don't give a toss about their religion. Religious beliefs, good grief! What a farce. And this has to be "redneck speak".................“I truly believe that God has placed each and every one of us here at this moment, for this moment to save this country,” Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake told Trump supporters in Fort Dodge"

I also watched "Napoleon" the other night and I thought it was very good, although it did skip certain sections of Napoleon's life, for example what happened to his second "child" wife and a few other aspects of his life/reign. All the same, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone else who fancies watching it. Of course it is directed by Ridley Scott, so that should make a few avid movie watchers take note.

I had downloaded a movie called, "Leave The world Behind" a while back and finally decided to watch it. Although there were some minor twists and turns in it, just enough to keep me interested, the ending was, IMO, pathetic! Have still not understood the ending and even going online to one of those websites which explains the endings of various movies, I got no satisfaction.

This is like explaining colors to a blind man. I'm afraid you are wasting your time here, because remember that Trump likes his supporters to be of a particular level as regards intelligence, so you're probably dealing with someone of that ilk. Furthermore there is an old saying which goes something like, "never argue with idiots because they will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience". Having said that, I do admire your persistence in trying to "educate" trump supporters, but as you have seen, it is an exercise in futility.

Wouldn't that be wonderful.......getting his just desserts!

And that takes a lot of hard work – – yeah right! He would have to be a completely dumb and utter loser to do that – – oh, wait a minute, he is!

He was hoping to pick a winner!!

It's well known that he is a compulsive liar, and I saw another headline which I can't locate at the moment regarding Trump having to pay the New York Times legal fees of $400,000 in a case their reporters published in 2018 about his wealth and tax practices, which were "shady" to say the least. The Times’ story said that Donald Trump and his father avoided gift and inheritance taxes by methods including setting up a sham corporation and undervaluing assets to tax authorities. And Trump and the GOP supporters have the nerve to label Biden and his family, "the Biden crime family", but the difference is that Biden hasn't been convicted of anything yet! I'm hoping that the orange clown will be fined a lot more for his lies and dishonest dealings.