Purdey

Just to make it clear. 1. It was a request to do so by a concerned father and we knew it would reduce the risk of catching Covid (and thereafter passing it on). 2. We agreed to wear a mask as we had to walk through the restaurant. Kind of obvious I thought. 3. We all took tests beforehand to see that we were negative. While we would not give it to anyone, the real risk was catching it going through the restaurant unmasked. 4. Being in the open air, and the only table there, there was little to no risk of infection from other patrons. The waiter wore a mask. As you probably know, a cloth mask reduces the risk by 56%, respirators by a lot more. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7106e1.htm

You missed the part about eating outside (and sitting over a metre apart to boot). And the part about taking an ATK test beforehand. It wasn't me and the other person he was concerned about as we tested negative, it was the people in the restaurant as we walked through he was concerned about. I would have thought that was obvious but never mind.

Interesting as the UK must now kow tow to India and China following Brexit. Wanting to trade is normal and if you are not in a large trade union of states, sucking up to others will become the norm.

People who are not medical experts decrying masks are looking at their own selfish desires. Not unusual I suppose. Last night I had dinner with two friends, one of whom asked in advance if I could wear a mask and arrange a table outside the restaurant in the garden. He explained that his young son has a heart defect and catching Covid could be fatal. Of course I agreed and took an ATK test in the morning to lower the concern of the father. The point is, we don’t do these things for ourselves and our “freedumb” but for others who might catch it from us and die. Try thinking of others not yourselves.

While Anutin might say this, it depends on whether tourists agree. Premium tourists want English speaking service not confused smiles. They want clean beaches and streets. They want a single price system and fewer rip-off artists so compare with developed countries. If you want some of Singapore's riches, look at why they attract premium tourists (I can never see its attraction personally). Probably that air of western service in a clean, Asian, setting. Only Thailand's 5 star hotels will get income in a country devasted by financial loss due to COVID. Do premium visitors eat at the side of the road? Do they haggle with vendors of street side stands? No, they get in a coach and drive past. To me, with respect, Anutin is talking about helping the rich while the poor get poorer.

Admittedly, I am much more interested in where is the UN while all this is happening? It was founded specifically to maintaining international peace and security among other things. I just don't see them actually doing anything to stop the war. America clearly is more interested in donating weapons and will probably have strings attached to ensure the Ukraine remains loyal to them. But the UN is flipping useless.

Seems like gun control wasn't successful. But allowing nutters to get guns doesn't work either.

In my younger hippie days it was mixed with opium and dried. Called Thai sticks.

If you are into gambling like this I do recommend the Government Saving Bank's lottery savings account. You need to save money for a smaller than normal interest rate but you get numbers that are picked randomly every month. I usually win 1,000 baht a month but the top prize is 10 million (had someone in the family win it the first week he tried, dammit). I put a lot of savings in it because they guarantee all your money, unlike commercial banks. I did check this with them.

Sad but still made me think of the Alanis Morissette song "Ironic".

As usual, Thailand is concerned about The Children© and never mind the vocational college murder gangs or helmetless motobike speedsters. The threat of alcohol affecting their innocent brains has pushed government bans on alcohol advertising, which Chang utterly destroyed when it advertised in the Premier League. Now there is concern that The Children© might be affected by cannabis. Never mind that it has been easily available forever, together with harder drugs. While I accept Thais try to avoid uncertainty by having a law for everything, the main difference with other countries is that people just ignore them because there is a lack of enforcement and willingness to solve problems.

Interesting that Boonrawd is raising the price on alcohol first. They were always a price gouging company when Singha was the only beer available. If Chang maintains prices they could lose market share. Still, there’s alway ganja I suppose...

Good idea but. Wouldn’t it be interesting if someone pointed out that the electricity EVs would use comes from fossil fuels?

About time foreigners stopped name-calling Thais for being cautious and accept that they can decide to wear masks if they want.

Getting mails from Facebook and Microsoft. Facebook says I requested to change something so click here and Microsoft thinks I own my work account. Pull the other one.

Great photo op.

Perhaps people could stop arguing what THEY think everyone should do and let people do what they want.

To understand Thaksin's popularity, people need to ask, why does he win elections? What did he do to make people grateful and vote for him? Everybody pays for votes, even Democrats, so what else did Thaksin do? I once asked a villager why people liked him. The answer was that most politicians want to eat the whole cake. Thaksin ate a lot but gave some back to the people too. Bringing happiness to the people is not a matter of free cinema tickets (remember that?). Thaksin's government launched programs to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure, promote small and medium-sized enterprises, and extend universal healthcare coverage (30 Baht scheme). That's why he and his siblings win elections. I know someone will ask about the 2,500 people who died in his war on drugs. No one asks about the people burned alive by the military in boiling oil during the red tanks episode. Thais do tend to forget the negatives, forget the past, and focus on who is going to improve their lives now. The Democrats didn't do anything. The current government hasn't done anything. People long for the time when a government actually helped them.

You just said no one in your condo is a sheeple but others are. I guess you mean your condo is foreigners only. Hang on, that can't be right as foreigners can only own 49% of a condo. So, the Thais in your condo are NOT sheeple but others are. Thais are very risk averse and don't necessarily believe the government (as you obviously do ;-)). They make up their own minds about their safety if the way to do it is a simple mask.

I remember in distant history a police general did say it is legal and advised so the policeman in front of you is careful. As many of us have video cameras on the windscreen these days, it is a precaution worth taking. Be careful, I think it is illegal to hold a mobile phone in a car even if stopped. Someone else maybe remembers the law.

Clearly not a sheeple mentality as the government announced they can now take them off. Going against that announcement shows they are simply risk averse. Also, I guess, they don't necessarily trust the government.

This was an argument many years ago and putting a time limit on postpaid service was supposed to stop. If you buy 500 baht of service you are supposed to be able to use it until the money runs out, not the time.

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