Lacessit

What gender do you assign to a ladyboy?

Why would I be interested in traveling to those countries? As a sensible person, I read my country's travel advice. Here it is for Russia: "We continue to advise do not travel to Russia. Foreigners, including Australians, are at risk of arbitrary detention or arrest. Russian authorities make strong, negative comments regarding Western countries, including Australia. Local authorities may adopt a more negative attitude towards foreigners in Russia and arbitrarily enforce local laws. Avoid any protests or demonstrations and avoid commenting publicly on political developments. There's a high threat of terrorism. Terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda and Daesh-aligned groups, continue to call for attacks in Russia. Attacks can be indiscriminate and may occur on or around seasonal, festive, or religious events in public places, including popular tourist sites. Attacks could occur with little or no warning. Always be alert to possible threats. Military activity is underway in the regions of Kursk and Belgorod. Russian authorities introduced a federal state of emergency in these regions. The security situation could deteriorate with little warning". Also bear in mind to get into Russia, you may have to use a Russian airline, which is struggling with maintenance due to sanctions. Do you feel lucky?

I doubt very much the charms of Russian women could offset the climate, food, and risk of being arrested as a Western spy. I have not noticed companionship for farangs getting harder here. If my current GF was out of the picture, I'd have half a dozen women lining up to replace her.

India was part of the British empire, so what? Empires rise and fall. Ukrainians hate Russians, with good reason. How would you like it if a neighboring country deliberately starved a quarter of your population to death, then immigrated its own population into your country, and decreed their language was only to be taught in your schools?

Both. Russia is importing artillery shells and small arms ammunition from North Korea. It is also importing North Korean soldiers, which shows a certain desperation in the Kremlin to avoid drafting recruits from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The figures I have posted are from Russian sources. Apart from the male female ratio There's no doubt Ukraine is taking a battering. The battle losses are censored by Ukraine's military command. The question is whether the Ukrainians are killing Russian invaders in a favorable ratio.

Just delete them as you get them, don't open them. They will give up after a while. I only open emails from people and companies I know.

The only time I have ever experienced boredom was when I spent six months being a component of a McKinsey cost cutting exercise, which IMO was totally fraudulent. As long as I have my books, music, videos, golf and wheels, I don't think I will ever be bored here. When my mortality happens, it happens. I'm not going to dwell on it.

The same people who voted a septagenarian into the Presidency, and who will be an octogenarian at the halfway point.

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Well, I am solvent, and will remain so unless I make it to 103. I like that kind of simple. I also don't need bodyguards. I'll bet Musk has a platoon of them.

Trump is smart at conning people. As a businessman, his string of bankruptcies don't inspire confidence. In terms of economics and science, he's illiterate.

Interesting choice of words, take power with Trump. You could say X was free, if you subscribe to some cockeyed ideas of basic double entry book-keeping. It's called a profit and loss account. Or are you claiming Musk is so prescient he knew Tesla shares would go up if Trump won?

Musk can afford to lose money on X, with what he has made on Tesla. It's his toy to preach to the converted. As another poster has said, X lost 33% of its users. How does it make him more powerful? It's the money he funneled to Trump that achieved more power. You probably don't realize it, but America is heading down the same path as Russia. Rule by oligarchs. How's that going for the average Russian?

The best part of Thailand is a good pad thai goong.

As they are in Thai, no. Still would not bother if they were in English. I read manuals of cars, and any appliances I buy, because I want to know their features, and what to do if things go pear-shaped. If you read a Thai bank's terms and conditions, what could you do about it?

As I am not on Facebook and don't read X, I don't care. Wasn't Musk threatening to sue advertisers for pulling their ads from X? IIRC correctly it's only valued at half what he paid for it. Trump is not an idiot when it comes to conning people, that's as far as it goes.

Thank you. I have read the owner's manual of every car I have owned. Call it OCD if you want.

Just wondering - does your EV owner's manual have any instructions to do with driving in flooded water? Not a baiting post, curious about what it has to say.

I have the same concern. It would be nice to be able to invest the 800K in something that returns more than 1% on my money. However, there is always the risk a new broom will come in, and sweep cosy agent - IO arrangements off the board. I saw this happen at Chiang Mai some years ago. I don't know how many foreigners became collateral damage, although I did know one retiree who had to move to Cambodia. He had been in CM for years, but there was no way he could meet either income or deposit requirements.

It's not only the train system under pressure. Russia's domestic airline fleet is 70% Boeing and Airbus. Russia is not getting upgrades or spare parts from those companies. It therefore has to cannibalize existing aircraft for spares to keep flying. Software is not upgraded. It's only a matter of time before there is a major air disaster, which in true Russian tradition will be swept under the carpet.

Caddies get tips. Managers don't.

USD 200,000 for a house in Udon Thani is a mansion. A small home here should cost about $50,000 to $70,000. Rule #1 in Thailand is never put more money into here than you can afford to walk away from.

Food inflation in Russia is 10%. A lot of shoplifting of butter. The ruble is at 104 to the USD. It hit 115, before the central bank froze foreign currency transactions on November 28. Before Ukraine, it was 60 to the USD. Bank interest rates on deposits are 21%. The home mortgage interest is 26-28%. Homes are unaffordable for the average Russian. The Russian demographic is collapsing. Men who would be siring children are either migrating to avoid the Ukraine meat grinder, or are being sent there. Recent fatalities are more than 1000 men a day. Worldwide, there are 102 men to every 100 women, on average. In Russia, there are only 87 men per 100 women. The Russian education system broke down in the mid-eighties. Most technicians and engineers from before that era are retiring. I don't know about doomed, but those kind of facts would resonate with any economist.

You may be right, perhaps I should stop trying to be helpful.