Lacessit

I give small cash gifts to my GF's closest relatives at Christmas. I contribute to my quasi-grand-daughter's education. Her divorced parents are skint most of the time. As another poster has said,it is important to set boundaries. I am treated with respect by all my GF's relatives. However, that may just be because I am usually twice their size.

Break my age.

It depends on golf course policy. I used to know my regular caddie quite well in Chiang Mai. In Chiang Rai, it seems all courses have a policy of rotating caddies, and one has to pay quite a lot extra for a regular caddie. I suppose when there are 100 caddies at a golf course, all wanting work, the policy is equitable. However, it does prevent a golfer and caddie getting to know each other well. Another downside is not knowing whether one is going to get a good, average or incompetent caddie. All the caddies at the course where I am a member seem to know me; be damned if I could remember them all if I was 50 years younger.

Sorry, what is HIIT? The routine I described is daily, there are no holidays.

Alcohol has been listed as a Class 1 carcinogen since 1989. The most common health effect is cirrhosis of the liver, or scarring. The amount of scarring will obviously be related to the amount consumed. Paracelsus, "the dose makes the poison". Ability to detoxify alcohol is dependent on one's genetic inheritance. I've seen several alcoholics die when I was in Chiang Mai, and it was not pretty. Total breakdown of the liver results in dumping blood into the toilet as well as solids.

I had a similar experience with prednisolone, short term memory loss and confusion. My theory is doctors in Thailand are paid on the basis of how many drugs they can dispense, by the pharmaceutical industry. I've noticed Thai doctors are uncomfortable with being questioned if they are male, except if they have had their medical training outside Thailand. Female doctors don't seem to mind. When I get issued with a raft of medications here, I check on the internet for side effects, and also what each medication is supposed to achieve. I sometimes find one or two medications are completely unnecessary. There is also the question of appropriate dosage. While I was in COVID quarantine, one of the medications was 1 mg of Valium, presumably to keep me placid. Which was probably a sub-clinical dose, as with a body mass of 90 kg about 5 mg would have been a minimum. Science is mostly beneficial, but misapplied science can be lethal.

IMO there are 3 step changes which occurred on the way to where humanity is now. The first was the Industrial Revolution. The second was the development of personal transport, i.e. the automobile and aircraft. the third is a combination of factors, deforestation of the Amazon and other countries for profit and by overpopulation. Haiti apparently has the gold medal for the most deforested nation on Earth. The other factor is the rise of China and India as major energy consumers since 1990, for their billions in population. That energy is mostly provided by burning fossil fuels. Science can provide satisfactory solutions. With solar power, water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can be combined with nitrogen to produce ammonia, which can then be safely transported around the globe and converted back to clean fuel at its destination. The technologies already exist, it's a matter of market forces providing the funding to build the necessary infrastructure. Or there is the Sun Cable, a USD 22 billion project scheduled for completion in 2027, sending Australian solar power to Singapore. Meantime, the rear-guard actions of the fossil fuel industry are no conspiracy theory. It is not an accident the Prime Minister's Department in Australia has about 90% of its staff with links to the coal and gas miners there, just as it is no accident scientific advice on environmental effects of mine development is overridden by venal politicians.

My blood pressure is inherited. I daresay I am in the top 10% level of fitness for my age cohort. 20 minutes of stretching, 25 pushups, plus 10 minutes of cardio in the morning, 15 minutes cardio in the afternoon. Golf and swimming are extras. I'll admit to enjoying food. Having said that, my BMI is below 30, and I can't see a diet of carrot juice and celery being an enjoyable lifestyle. If a pill produced by science helps me to greater enjoyment of life, I'll take it, as long as it is legal. No doubt there are millions of Viagra and Cialis users who say the same.

I am a bladder cancer survivor, first diagnosed in 2006. I have high blood pressure, controlled by medication. IMO I would not be posting on this forum without the beneficial outcomes of medical science.

I was responding to a post by Tippaporn re fallacies. AFAIK fallacies and dishonest argument are part of the fabric of science.

While we are about it, here's a book which you might benefit from reading: "Straight and Crooked Thinking" by R H Thouless. It lists and dissects all the dishonest forms of argument.

I am a scientist, not an economist. The financial costs of climate change are already with us, ask any insurance company. They don't concern me if they don't affect me. They call economics the dismal science for a reason. It is incredible deniers like to cast themselves as victims. Scientific researchers are about 0.1% of the world population on average, from memory South Korea leads the world with 1.1%. We are hardly a majority shouting down a recalcitrant minority. Research needs an open and inquiring mind. Laypeople can have open and enquiring minds too, their problem is they are not equipped with the necessary tools. For you to be asserting you know climate science is rubbish without any knowledge of the laws of thermodynamics is like saying you can service a modern vehicle without any training. Social media is rife with conspiracy theories. My most recent example is an anti-masker who represented himself as a viral immunologist. He did not even know the correct diameter of coronavirus, and proceeded to an experimental design which was totally erroneous. False prophets abound, anyone can make a video with an appropriate bookshelf behind them, claiming to be this and that. If you consider conspiracy theory is not a part of climate change denialism, I suggest a visit to Facebook. I don't think I can accept a lack of education somehow makes one smarter than the average person, and more capable of perceiving truth. That's a bridge too far. My views are formed on the basis of data, training and experience. Nothing to do with belief. What I do find depressing is the number of people who deny global warming exists, and claim so-called "alarmists" ( a useful pejorative ) are brainwashed. I have no doubt many of these people cheerfully send their children to Sunday School or madrassas, to be brainwashed into believing in an entity they can't see, hear, or feel.

I’ll preface my response by saying climate change is not important to me, I will be dead long before its full effects are here. Having said that, logic and reason is. You are quite correct in stating short-term weather effects cannot be predicted accurately. It does well as a red herring argument. Similarly, implying I am gullible is argument ad hominem, which is a dishonest form of argument. Scientists focus on facts and trends. Here are a few: Fact 1. The Larsen Ice Shelf is melting at an unprecedented rate. Fact 2. Iceland’s glaciers have lost 7% of their surface area since 2000. Fact 3. Polar bears are an endangered species, they are running out of Arctic icecap to live on. Fact 4. In the last decade, Australia has experienced heat cells greater than anything since record-keeping began. Fact 5. Carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases. Trend 1. Since the Industrial revolution, carbon dioxide levels have risen from 300 ppm to above 400 ppm. Trend 2. Deforestation of the Amazon is about 20% over the last 30-40 years. Trend 3. Demand for protein – pork ,beef and sheep – is increasing. These animals produce methane. As a greenhouse gas, methane is 100 times more effective than carbon dioxide in terms of absorbing solar radiation. Here are two non-scientific trends. Governments worldwide are shifting away from fossil fuel power and transport. Financiers are refusing to fund new fossil fuel projects. Governments and markets are not populated by starry-eyed idealists. They are cold-eyed pragmatists who recognise the risks of climate change in terms of property and reputational damage. In local government, there is probably not a single seaside council that does not have a disaster plan in place for what they know is coming. In Australia, power companies are screaming blue murder because they gold-plated their fossil-fueled assets in anticipation of captive markets, only to find sensible Australians are putting solar panels on their roofs as fast as they can be manufactured. I was one of the first. Global warming is the Second Law of Thermodynamics in operation. Climate change is an example of the First Law of Thermodynamics. The laws of thermodynamics have no escape clauses. They are as immutable as Muslims believe the Koran is, and unavoidable as the fact the sun rises in the east, and sets in the west. They govern the lives of all of us. Yet if I was to ask randomly selected persons to explain their understanding of the laws of thermodynamics without resorting to Google, I guarantee over 99% of people would look blank. Similarly, I would be drawing blanks if I asked people what albedo and clathrates are, and how they can affect the rate of climate change. Trying to explain this is an exercise in frustration. Indifference, denial, abuse for discussing an uncomfortable topic. That annoys me, because all the facts and evidence point towards global warming resulting from human activity, principally the burning of fossil fuels. I’m also insulted because I trained for 4 years to be a scientist, then worked for almost 50 years in that capacity, and in research. I think I can be deemed to be impartial, as I have never received research funding for anything associated with the fuel industry. It’s absurd to think I am part of a global conspiracy. The last gasp of the fossil fuel industry is called carbon capture and storage, or CCS. Not many people know when natural gas is produced, it is just as polluting as coal. It does not come out of the ground as pure methane and ethane, it contains up to 30% carbon dioxide, which has to be separated before distribution. If not, the pipelines would collapse with corrosion. CCS has had billions of dollars poured into it worldwide, yet there is not one plant that has performed as designed, or to expectations. Put simply, CCS is up against entropy, a thermodynamic concept that says the gains in capturing and storing carbon dioxide are always going to be less than the losses incurred while doing it. 95% of scientists accept the data and trends behind global warming and climate change. As you seem to think you are smarter than all of them, good luck with that too.

You had to look up an explanation of the laws of thermodynamics via a comic duo of the sixties. It's actually quite a good simplification for a layperson. Now I suggest you look up the terms albedo and clathrate, because they are also involved in global warming/climate change. Actually and potentially. Or perhaps you may like reading Friedrich Schiller, who was the first to come up with the concept of the butterfly effect over 200 years ago. Denialism of climate science comes in the forms of it's a conspiracy, it's a natural cycle, it isn't happening, it's not man-made. It reminds me of Canute's courtiers. As I posted previously on this thread, science does not care what you believe.

Good luck with disproving the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. Double post, first said bad gateway.

Good luck with disproving the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics.

There are artifacts found in ancient Babylon excavations which were clearly designed to be batteries. One South American culture was capable of moving obelisks weighing 50,000 tonnes a hundred miles from the quarry site. Stonehenge was built a couple of thousand years before the birth of Christ, and there are still only theories about its purpose. Science has existed ever since humans started thinking. However, a lot of scientific knowledge gets lost, destroyed or discredited. tech support.mp4

Human nature being what it is, good news, such as smartphones, aircraft and life-extending pharmaceuticals, are cheerfully accepted by the species. When it is something that is bad news, such as climate change or wearing masks, it is rejected.

When I encounter a climate change sceptic, I ask them if they can define the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and what albedo and clathrates are. I then ask if they understand the role of each in climate change. 100% of the time, I get blank looks. I conclude it's a waste of time trying to have an intelligent conversation on the topic with them. For what it's worth, I'm predicting Bangkok will probably be under water in 50 years, unless the Thai government copies the Dutch and builds big dykes. The Indonesians have already twigged, they are moving their capital from Jakarta to Borneo.