CygnusX1

Back in 1930, the famous economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that by 2030, the average person would only need to work 15 hours a week. Given the spectacular advances in labour saving technologies since 1930, together with large scale participation of women in the workforce, if we could somehow bring him to the present day, he’d surely be mystified as to our worries about the labour force in a gradually falling population being insufficient to maintain a prosperous society .

This problem (if it really is a problem) should eventually correct itself. Women who want several babies will, unsurprisingly, produce more offspring than women who don’t want babies. Their daughters will tend to inherit their mothers’ desire for babies, and so the proportion of women in the population who want several babies will increase over the generations, and after enough time, we’ll be back to the old problem of the population increasing too steeply. In any case, you don’t have to be a rabid Greenie to realise that an economic system that relies on a continuous increase in the population is no different from a Ponzi scheme, in that it will eventually run out of resources, just as every Ponzi scheme runs out of new investors.

Excellent article. On days when I can’t even see the nearby island of Koh Larn from Jomtien, I know instinctively that breathing in that air must be very bad for my health, but in science, data is always king, no matter how obvious or logical your theory. The problem is that it’s so hard to reliably compare the health of people living in places with high air pollution with others in areas with clean air, due to so many confounding variables.

We should be clear that the explosion of the reactor at Chernobyl wasn’t a nuclear explosion from a chain reaction, but rather a steam explosion from the accelerating chain reaction of the fuel - a commercial fission reactor can’t be a bomb. I think discussion of fusion reactors is moot, since they’re always 25 years in the future - they were in 1960, and they still are now.

Hydro’s the perfect, almost instantly available power source, just a pity that the world doesn’t have enough mountains and rain. I wasn’t just talking about grid frequency stability, but also the huge amount of extra ‘poles and wires’ that large scale wind and solar require.

If that’s the case, then renewables are the last thing Thailand needs, as they’re a nightmare for an electricity grid.

Nuclear of some sort is essential for reliable base load power, whether as small modular reactors or more conventional plants. Even if it’s more expensive, I’d happily pay more for reliable power. The way we’re going with renewables, is that the wealthy will be OK, as they’ll be able to afford to install a large array of lithium batteries in their home for backup power, whereas the poorer will just have to endure blackouts. I can’t understand the anti-nuclear hysteria. I read media reports of the ‘elephant’s foot’ puddle of radioactive fuel at Chernobyl, which apparently would kill anyone standing next to it for a short time. However, many of the substances routinely handled by modern industry are so much more dangerous - for instance, a single drop of hydrofluoric acid on the skin will lead to a horrible death, yet this substance is used in the electronics industry without any apparent media hysteria. I do have the anti-nukes to thank for one thing though - a few years ago, I realised that the highly successful campaign by the Greens against nuclear power meant that we’d be dependent on thermal coal for far longer. Bought some coal shares, and have so far multiplied my investment by a factor of 5.

Suvanaphumi airport (haven’t been to Phuket for years) is the only airport in the world where I buy food, as it’s the cheapest by far, and has a great selection of fast food chains. Always look forward to my ‘take-home’ size blizzard from Dairy Queen. Have also occasionally bought Subway there, and it seems to be about twice the price of my local Subway at Jomtien, which makes it about the same price as a non airport Subway in Australia. I think that’s fair for an international airport. The complainant’s clearly very fond of cheese - 3 extra portions per sandwich?

We could be approaching peak complexity now. In the near future, we might each have a personal AI assistant which (who?) would handle all of the complexities of everyday life for us.

First morning this burning season that I can’t see the nearby island of Koh Larn from my condo in Jomtien.

Compulsory 2 factor authentication via mobile phone can be a nightmare for frequent travellers. There are some countries in which your home SIM card doesn’t work, and what happens if your phone stops working or is stolen? There should be an option for people to have a bank account which doesn’t require 2 factor authentication, for which the user absolves the bank of any responsibility in case of losses due to fraud.

I’ve had a small amount with Bangkok Bank for the last 6 years, just so I can auto pay my electricity bill. Never received any interest until last month, when a bit of interest was credited, together with withholding tax. Had changed nothing in the account, hadn’t even deposited any money for months. Bit of an irritation, as the amount is negligible, but I’ll have to declare it on my Australian tax return (I’m now careful to be present for less than 179 days each calendar year in Thailand).

Reminds me of the short story “The Loaded Dog” by the Australian writer Henry Lawson.

Actually, I think that Gen Z or whatever they’re called wouldn’t be very happy about someone with my lifestyle receiving even a small part pension, and I can’t say I blame them!

I promised to provide my out of Australia pension when it became available, so here it is - $251 per fortnight in Australia $173 per fortnight overseas So I’ve lost $78 per fortnight. Can’t use these numbers for an exact calculation, as my fortnightly pension payment changes slightly as the value of my shares changes.

My bro-in-law’s a mix of short and relatively long term. He has previously made the mistake of trying to catch a falling knife, in continuing to buy into a falling stock - “‘it’s even better value now!” The 2 big wins were in well established, dividend paying companies. 5 of the 6 losses were small startups or near startups.

I’d like to know how exactly Aeroflot is keeping its A330’s flying. The 74 year old interviewed looks more like 94. Hard life, no doubt.

My bro-in-law’s a full time share trader. I’ve bought into 8 of his red hot tips over the last few years. 3 have gone broke, 3 have dropped by 70% or more and 2 have done well. Luckily, gains on those 2 have far outweighed the losses on the other 6. I’ll be sticking to dividend paying blue chips from now on though, too old for all the stress.

That is a fair question. I think I can recognise the Russian language when spoken, although of course they could be speaking a closely related language such as Ukrainian or another Slavic language. I’ve spent enough time in Croatia to know they’re definitely not speaking Serbo-Croatian. Maybe I should see if I can find some yellow and blue board shorts to see their reaction.

Let’s just think of the technology available 2,000 years ago - perhaps a small pottery dish, a hollow reed, and a human male happy to commit the sin of Onan, and now use your imagination! Or maybe we’re only arguing over the strict definition of the word ‘virgin’.

Indeed, and 21st century technology isn’t required. That’s why I’ve always been confused when some atheists talk about ‘the impossibility of the virgin birth’ - it seems to me to be the single miracle in the bible that is plausible. Maybe Mythbusters should have done an episode about it.

As a frequent swimmer at Jomtien beach, I’ve always found the Russians there to be perfectly well mannered and decent. Not their fault they have one of the planet’s most evil psychopaths as their president. They probably complain about the dodgy looking Westerners who frequent the place.

My condo’s quieter than usual, as there’s a ban on non urgent maintenance during high season, so no drilling noise. There’s no obvious attempt to ban short term rentals in my building, not even any key card needed for entrance or lifts, but any short termers on my floor aren’t noisy. The place is far, far less noisy than my flat in Australia. Not as many young Russian ladies at the pool as last year, more’s the pity.

The spending habit of mine that’s changed is that since I’m now staying 2 months a year less in Thailand than originally planned, to see me under the 180 days, some of the money I would have been putting into Thailand’s economy is now being spent in Europe and Australia.

Can’t give you my OS pension as an example as I’ve not yet exceeded my 6 weeks. Will post figures early new year, expect it will be in within the range on Centrelink website posted above by Bvor and rhodie.