Freddy42OZ

Seems fair enough. Aside from some medical conditions there is no reason for someone to go from being slim to being fat, other than greed and laziness.

I don't believe any large nation will ever use nukes. They all know the outcome if they do. The biggest risk is not Russia or China, it's our own people, or rather the less well educated, less privileged ones who don't understand the bigger picture when it comes to the economics of their city, let alone their country or the World. There is a major movie coming out later this year about a Civil War breaking out in the US, and although its just a movie, I would not be at all surprised if within the next 5-10 years something like this happens. If Trump gets in this time round his supporters are going to wake up in 4 more years and realise their lives have not improved, in fact they'll likely be much worse. The other threat to most of us is AI, Robotics and self driving vehicles. Huge numbers of job are going to be lost and whilst some new jobs will be created they'll be filled by some of the existing top level tech talent, leaving very little opportunity for new graduates or out of work people. Take this recent news that an 800 million dollar movie studio project has been "put on indefinite hold" because AI Video will eat that business - https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/tyler-perry-cancels-800-million-dollar-expansion-due-to-openai-sora-1234956364/ If I had kids or still had more than 5 years of employment ahead of me I would be very very worried. Whislt

I bet the number is significantly higher than 10 million. Just look at the estimated number of rats per person on this recently updated list - https://privateexterminator.com/25-most-rat-infested-cities/

Because most members on here have never been that fit. I'm 56 and although I haven't had a six pack like that since I was in my mid 20's, I make damn sure I never get fat.

I have audible alerts for most things and a very active network of friends who because we are all expats are now scattered all over the world. I guess 80% are friends I knew in HK, 10% are old school friends from 35-40 years ago and the rest people I've met in Thailand. With social media, it now means that just because friends have moved to another country for their job doesn't mean the friendship has to end. You can still stay in contact and keep each other upto date on your lives etc. I'm also active on social channels with communities where the people are not real friends, but we share an interest in the same topics. Lots of crypto groups on Discord and Telegram, topics on Twitter, groups on Facebook for web development, the Bangkok car scene, AI groups, new tech etc There is so much info out there that I want to stay up to date with it means I have my phone in my hand or next to me 24/7.

It's been a while and I really miss the days when I had friends who would have dinner parties. I had a place in HK where I could have 8 people for dinner and another with a terrace where I hosted a Xmas dinner for about 24 people. I've been to one proper sit down dinner party at a friend's condo in Bangkok.

How do you prove your swimmers are trans? Surely they (and you) won't know until they grow up? 🤣😂

With birth rates falling expect to see restrictions on anything that stop pregnancies. (I'm only half kidding).

Based on living in Bangkok. I would have guessed far far lower.

Thanks, I've used their 1175 many times and they are very helpful but that email address will be useful to have as well.

The sad and confused icons are a waste of time. A thumbs down or minus icon would make more sense if people want to show they don't agree with a particular post. I use the Plus icon a lot to show my agreement with posts; and the laugh icon if the post is funny, or sometimes if I think the post is laughable (as in I think the poster is talking nonsense) But who the hell is confused by a post or reads something fact based and responds with a sad emoji? There are clearly some very strange people out there.

This is a good article - https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking/anti-vaccine-documentary-died-suddenly-wants-you-feel-not-think It makes a very good point when the author says "People want to feel like their concerns are heard. Being dismissed can lead to loss of trust, which can send people looking for empathy in the wrong places." It never really occurred to me that part of the reason that so many people seem to gravitate towards conspiracies is they don't have the education to understand things that frighten them, and those of us who are educated do tend to treat these people as if they should just stop being stupid. Certainly in the western world there are vast numbers of people who are being dismissed as unimportant, there is a growing divide between let's call them "the struggling" and "the thriving". The "struggling" being working class people, who have been promised a good life by the great Western dream, or by all the marketing that tells everyone they can have a great life and all the nice things. When in reality that isn't close to possible. Not everyone can have a nice middle class life, with no financial pressure. Most people are going to have to scrimp and save if they want to amass any decent amount of money. Unfortunately these people have also all been given credit and it seems most of them don't have the financial education to use that properly, hence millions of them in debt to credit card companies and banks. Then you have "The Thriving" who are people who, for whatever reason, are making good money, have got a good life and are seen in marketing campaigns and social media flaunting their wonderful lives. These people are typically well educated, and in positions of authority. The "struggling" are being made to feel more and more ignored and marginalised by the "thriving". Which in turn makes them lose trust in the government (especially if it's a Gov they didn't vote for), and not trust anything coming from the side of the fence where the people who seem to get all the breaks are ie the 'Thriving". I really think this divide is largely caused by the class and socioeconomic differences. The only people I see or hear believing in conspiracies seem to be working class types who I'm guessing didn't have the best educations (beyond the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic). They are not typically private school educated members of society, in highly technical or science based jobs. People in the West have been brainwashed to believe that everyone should have a comfy life, they forget how lucky they were to have been born in their society at all. Sure, they may be at the bottom of the UK (for example) social ladder, but at least they weren't born into a slum in Calcutta.

You can be a good guy and still make money from investments and cash gifts given for providing extra attention to certain things.

Brilliant comment!

100% agree about Sheryl.

My mistake. I thought it was a poll of regular Americans.

I thought they were supposed to be choosing their favourite president, as in the one they liked being in charge of them. I very much doubt the respondents had a good enough knowledge of history to determine which one was best based on the historical record.

I'm not sure just which demographic "proles" refers to, but if it's the PC sheeple class that have a mobile phone permanently tuned to social media ( so they know what to think ), I'm with Clarkson when he gives them the virtual finger. He is definitely one of my heroes for sticking it to the wokies. I just wish he was still on the BBC to make them uncomfortable in their offices located in their ivory towers. I used to give him a virtual cheer every time he said something that offended the wokies. Long may he grow old disgracefully. Proles is short for Proletariat. When I was at boarding school we referred to the younger kids as Proles although it's actual use is a derogatory term for the working classes.

That is very possible. But I've never seen your face assuming your Avatar is actually you 😉

Why would anyone vote for Lincoln or anyone prior to Hoover? Coolidge was president 100 years ago and there can't be many people alive who had him as their president. Hoover was next so there are probably some people who remember him. But Lincoln??

There are a few people on here who I think it might be ok to meet; and a few who I doubt I'd want to spend even 1 min in the proximity of.

I've been to group meetups with people who live in Bangkok and are in my Twitter network. Nice to meet people IRL and put a face to their name. I've also been to meetups for crypto with people I've met online. 2 weeks ago there was a very large Crypto meetup, it was the 10th year anniversary of a group that meets every Monday to discuss crypto (and of course chat every day on their telegram). I think perhaps the oldies on here have forgotten how to be social

And why should he. Do you care what the proles think?

I completely understand your frustration. However, ultimately the only people that can fix this are True. They need to send someone to check, it is possible the issue is outside your home and nothing to do with your router etc at all. Coming to AN for advice is ok, but you really should be hammering True for customer support. Threaten to leave. I wouldn't use True if they paid me after reading so many bad stories about them in the past 15 years. I've been with 3BB and very happy with their service for a very long time (I am in Bangkok, in a condo though so maybe us city folk get better service than people out in the sticks). Might I also suggest that you don't stream things, but instead download them. I really don't understand why people stream anything unless its actually live. Good luck!

So are a lot of the people that use them.