Purdey

When I was in the US in the late 70s smoking weed was what every kid did if they weren't old enough to buy beer. Easier to get and unlike alcohol not as dangerous. Thaskin and his friends are no longer able to control the illegal drug market. He needs it to be illegal to make huge profits. Very similar to the guys who control the underground casinos. They make good profits with no real competition so they don't want it to be allowed here. Portugal has decriminalized drugs since 2000 (while keeping drug dealing illegal). The benefits have been to lower deaths and infections. Maybe we could learn from that.

Once when I went to renew my driving licence I overheard the end of a conversation between a government officer and an irate driver. "We cannot renew your licence unless you pay the fines you owe us." They do keep a record and when you go to renew your licence they want payment up front before renewing. I use an app that gives me a warning before approaching a speed camera. When I slow to 80 and see people people pass at 120 I can't help feeling smug and self satisfied. But maybe that's the wrong attitude.

Lots of snarky remarks from several uninformed people on the probable cause of monkeypox are hilariously misleading. People here who were quite willing to believe Covid came from bats in a Chinese wet market are also forgetting that the origin of HIV/AIDS has been linked to chimpanzees. I can hear people here thinking, "Rabies? From animals? Hah! A likely story". Many diseases have unexpected origins but trying to laugh them off doesn't mean they aren't true. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3234451/ Lots of diseases were passed to people from animals. Here is a list. https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/animal/zoo/index.html

Looks like the cat walked by itself into the vet's with no owner. Do humans never enter a vet's surgery?

Isn't it funny how we treat women differenly depending on their skin colour or religion?

Still awaiting the first Thai to win a Nobel award.

Sounds like Bill Heineke got his way after all. Now tourists can get smashed in the afternoon.

One error many people make is to look at the weather where they live and think, well, it is pretty cold here. Climate change is measured by taking the average surface temperature of the entire planet, not just one town. The measurements are compared with previous measurements going back to the 19th Century.

While as a young kid at university somebody may have passed the dutchie to the right while we were sitting cross-legged in a circle wearing tie-dyed shirts and flared jeans, but I never inhaled, of course, and no one had a heart attack or died as we swayed to Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd and fell asleep while force-feeding ourselves half loaves of seed bread. No one thought too much about it.

If only foreigners were allowed to buy property here, eh?

Banning smoking is not a bad idea. My father had emphysima from smoking and suffocated to death over several years. My aunt died of lung cancer but smoked up until the hour she died. It is like very slow suicide. If people need a strong hand, so be it.

The history of Thai economists forecasting any numbers like growth or inflation has a poor record. However, the more important number I think we should look for is when inflation subsides, will prices decrease proportionally?

Those who sold illegally clearly are losing profit. I have never heard of anyone overdosing on cannabis but I have heard of people lacing reefers with other drugs. The freak show news media are not that interested in facts.

There has always been evidence available (https://www.academia.edu/34630690/DEMOGRAPHIC_PROFILES_AND_BEHAVIORS_OF_BACKPACKERS_CASE_STUDY_OF_KHAO_SAN_ROAD_THAILAND as an example, there’s lots more), which the government chooses to ignore, that backpackers give money to the grassroots for food and services. The rich pay five star hotels for food and services. The backpackers stay longer and spread their money over a broader range of people. The rich have to get back to their business and thus need a week or two here as a break. Generally, if you have a job, you have to get home soon while backpackers often are more flexible and often left employment to travel. They should be encouraged not the opposite.

I strongly advise never giving the finger to anyone in Thailand. While Thais don't use it, they know what it means. And they have guns.

Agree it should be used in moderation. Having been illegal in so many countries for so long, there isn't a lot of deep research but it looks like adolescents are more likely to be affected. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_effects_of_cannabis

Yes, your daily cost was made up. I found numerous references that price this annually and on a lifelong basis and you have not (because you made it up). Generic medicines are pushing down prices. Also, your weird interpretation of what I wrote: "Any support here on ASEAN Now for sending (overwhelmingly) dark skinned people to Africa seems to be based on false and racist assumptions" Specifically says "any support" for a reason. You weren't named. I think you don't get the point and don't want to. Fed up with people who make up so-called facts without reference.

I suppose you know that beer cans are lined with plastic? When aluminium cans first came out people complained about the metallic taste caused by the aluminium (aye lad, I were there!). So they lined them with plastic. Same for soft drink cans. Should we switch to paper packaging (tetrapak) perhaps? They're all lined with plastic. And are very hard to recycle.

Making up numbers doesn't create much credibility, does it? The annual cost of AIDS treatment in the UK is £6372, which is about 17 quid a day. https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/how-much-does-hiv-treatment-cost-nhs Any support here on ASEAN Now for sending (overwhelmingly) dark skinned people to Africa seems to be based on false and racist assumptions that this will prevent hordes - nay, millions - of dark skinned people flooding the country despoiling our women and taking services without paying tax. In the whole of 2021, 28,526 people are known to have crossed in small boats - up from 8,404 in 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-53734793. Where are the millions? Migrants want to work. In 2020, unemployed migrants were less likely to claim unemployment benefits (27%) than UK born unemployed workers (36%). https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants-in-the-uk-labour-market-an-overview/ Draw your own conclusions. Just don't make them up.

I didn’t see the rank of the policeman mentioned, but guess not higher than sergeant. Normally, he would have collected and passed a lot of it upwards. The police never catch generals for instance. As others said, there other factors involved that we don’t know about yet.

I was chatting to the mayor of the Mae Ram Pheung Beach area several years ago during a corporate beach cleaning effort. I asked why there were bins placed regularly along the road but none on the beach, where the rubbish was dropped. He told me the beaches are controlled by the Natural Resources Ministry not his district and they did not want bins on the beach. Why? They would make the beach look dirty as Thais fill bins with rubbish that overflows. Why not collect more frequently? No budget. My company once offered one district office free bins for a few kilometres of Sukhumvit road. They declined, again saying Thais would throw rubbish "at the bin" not in the bin and it would make more of a mess. Why not collect more frequently? It would cause traffic jams and people would complain. They only collected at night. it isn't just about the waste, plastic or otherwise, it is about the government not wanting to be part of the solution. it is also about the carelessness of people. See a bin for plastics? Put the remnants of your hamburger in it.

I must admit as an outsider I am surprised at how people make stuff up to prove a political point. I don't see ANY president controlling oil and gas prices. Any government controlling the means of production would get short shrift as a communist. The president doesn't have the ability or authority to control global prices. Capitalism depends on the market controlling prices. In the case of energy, it is a global market that is following capitalist norms. The same people who complain about mass shootings are republicans who won't allow gun restrictions. It is all very strange to adults.

Love durian. This was one of the first things Thais warned me about. Yet I have seen Thai throwing up after getting drunk first then eating durian. I guess when people are drunk they do stupid things.

Got charged the local entrance fee (300 vs. 500 baht) at Nongnooch park in Pattaya the other week by letting my wife buy the tickets. However, tourists would pay the white face 500 baht because it is still cheap. Just over 11 pounds. EU parks roughly 1,500 baht or 3,400 baht in the USA depending on the site (these are just rough Thai baht prices). I guess white face tourists simply say to themselves they came all this way and might as well see it.

I never understood why people voted Conservative. Maybe the list of potential Labour candidates was unappealing to voters. Now, any party would look better.