Lacessit

IMO it is impossible to reconcile vaccinated and wilfully unvaccinated. It is exactly the same as the topic of global warming/climate change, a matter of scientific fact against belief. Changing belief is a Sisyphean undertaking. 50% of Americans still believe in angels, and 1.4 billion Muslims believe their religion supersedes all others that preceded it. Anti-vaxxers are very lucky coronavirus has a low death rate. They seem to be oblivious to the danger of long COVID, which affects the unvaccinated disproportionately. It would be interesting to see what would happen to beliefs if a variant with a 40% death rate stopped by.

English is a language of combined consonants, most Thais have difficulty with it, as theirs is a language of complex vowels. My favorite example was when we were in the car, and my GF said she wanted to go Wat Ching. Wat Ching? Where the hell is that? Took about 5 minutes for me to work out she wanted to get back to the house, so she could do the washing.

IMO the only really accurate way to measure BP is with a sphygmomanometer. The machines are only as good their last calibration, or not even that. I can remember going to RAM Hospital in Chiang Mai for some dental work. On my first visit, I was checked with one of the portable machines, 170/100. I knew from my own recently calibrated machine I was about 110/60. When I looked at the back of the RAM machine, the most recent calibration sticker was 5 years old.

It's a grey area. Defacto relationships are registered by Centrelink in Australia. They are not recognised under Thai law. It's an anomaly, because if I was married to an Australian citizen and we lived in Thailand, we would both get the couples' pension or part pension, depending on asset level. A foreigner gets nothing, but Centrelink still cuts the single pension because they can. I've never asked about the defacto situation, and I don't intend to.

Noted. As my GF prays to Buddha for a long life for me, I'm not concerned. The other factor is her steady monthly allowance, and I pay regular bills such as power and internet. She would be living off the capital I leave her when I die, so it is in her interest to keep me alive for as long as possible. "The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race" ( Gough Whitlam )

I am not married to my GF. She proposed to me quite some years ago. Under Australian Centrelink's cockeyed rules, if we got married, I would lose about 10,000 baht per month in pension income. If I did not report the marriage, and they found out, they would be able to give me a world of pain. I explained this to her at the time, and she is on board with it. She will be well taken care of when I die, that's enough.

Until someone decides to feed the ducks. Is that why you keep rabbits?

Noted you have not answered my post about the illogicality of the numbers. Either the numbers are not accurate, or vaccination is a total failure. Deaths in Australia vs. RSA say otherwise. Another poster has put up data which differs from yours substantially. Permit me to doubt the genetic inheritance of black and white South Africans is so radically different to Australians that it would explain a 50-fold discrepancy in infection cases. Occam's Razor states the simplest explanation is also the most probable. I'll leave it at that.

I never fail to be amused by the description, used by US officialdom of any other nationality, as aliens. Yes sir, I have landed in my space ship from Alpha Centauri and would like to enter America. You think Thai bureaucracy knows or cares about your contempt? That's like an ant crawling up the backside of an elephant with intent to rape. I've found every path is smoother being able to converse in Thai, from getting a leaking tire fixed, to inquiring when an avocado will be ripe for eating. Thais love a joke, and they do get my attempts in somewhat clumsy Thai. Works quite well with the ladies, as well as the men. It's somewhat sad you don't realize your anger at a very minor component of life here is blocking you from greater enjoyment of this country.

It's not a matter of not liking or not wanting to accept the data, I am just puzzled by it. Something does not compute. It defies logic that RSA should have had so many more deaths, and such a low infection rate of the omicron variant compared to Australia. Especially when South Africa was where the omicron variant originated.

You are showing graphs from John Hopkins University, based in Baltimore, USA. How do they know what the RSA bureaucracy tells them is accurate? South Africa has had 3.58 million cases, 93,949 deaths. Australia has had 2.13 million cases, 3043 deaths. South Africa is less than 30% fully vaccinated, Australia is 80%. Draw your own conclusions.

You are quoting a lot of official figures for NSW and Australia. I don't see any from RSA, apart from your assertions. How do we know these are accurate, and the RSA bureaucracy is on top of the recording of infections?

It seems the training of police car drivers is no better than the training the average Thai gets. I am not surprised.

I was talking today with a 51 yo massage lady, who complimented me on my Thai. Not that it is fluent, but adequate. She spoke quite reasonable English. She was lamenting the fact her English boyfriend ( 67 yo ) had mastered the Thai language to the extent of sawadee krap and kopkhun krap. Which leads me to this question - is the willingness or reluctance to learn Thai correlated with nationality, age, or IQ?

Anyone who wants to be a scofflaw in a foreign country should realize there are consequences if they get caught. Zero sympathy.

Paracelsus said the same about 500 years ago. It's why frontline medical workers who are vaccinated get infected, they are more exposed to transmission.

Are you surprised? Conservative governments worldwide traditionally underfund public health, it is one of their favorite targets. Fortunately for Australia, every time a Liberal ( sic ) government tries to tinker with cost-cutting, it gets a bloody nose from the voters.

Cherry-picking from a 7 day moving average, it is still only 2 deaths per million. You'll probably get more frequency from heart attacks. The more important data is how many have "long COVID" from the delta and omicron waves, and how that is distributed between the vaccinated and unvaccinated. It's not only hospital resources that get tied up, it's also rehabilitation services. You'll get no argument from me Australian political leadership is incompetent. IMO many Australians are itching for the next election, when they can hand out retribution to the spin doctors.

My son had two friends who died from COVID, both in their forties. Muay Thai practitioners, as he is. Both unvaccinated. Depending on the countries, the consequences are being refused privileges open to vaccinated people.

I think you'll find the staggeringly high case numbers, in proportion, are coming from the unvaccinated. To me, it's not about infection. It's about overloaded hospital facilities. Sinovac may be sub-par in terms of preventing infection, but the data is saying hospitalisation is far less likely. If you are in a city which is in rigid lockdown, and you get infected, it's quite possible you survive in your apartment and the case is not even registered.

Go back through my posts, please. I have never said that. I have said if you want to refuse vaccination, there are consequences. It's up to you whether you accept them, or rage impotently against them.

Perhaps my post would make sense if you compare the actions of vaccinated people against deniers. We don't march in the streets, acting as superspreaders. Deniers do. A useful starting point is the rallies Trump ran in the lead-up to the presidential election. Then the rallies held in Melbourne and Sidney. Don't try to tell me those idiots were acting responsibly.

I regard my life in Thailand as quite normal. It would certainly be abnormal if I was living in Australia. Like you, I've had two jabs, had COVID, recovered quickly. I intend to have a booster when it is due, I am a belt and braces person. You've had two jabs. You don't consider they gave you a degree of protection from more serious outcomes? True, China has low case and death rates, and they do control the media. The CCP also has the power to lock down entire cities and compel its citizens to be vaccinated, which does not happen in democracies. That's an alternative explanation of their comparative success, unpalatable as it may be to civil libertarians.

Quite true, but the vaccines do prevent you getting an illness serious enough to kill you or disable you, I really have to thank you for your post about Mexico, it made my day.

LOL, Mexico recorded just under 50,000 new cases either today or yesterday. Thailand was a bit over 8000. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ In addition, Mexico is probably one of the world's rectums as far as kidnappings, murder and other violent crimes go. Yes, I am enjoying my safe space in Thailand, thank you.