7 hours ago, johnnybangkok said:

Absolute nonsense. 

 

When trying to unjustify lockdowns, perhaps don't quote 2 economists who are only looking at the impact from a predominately financial perspective or who have a VERY biased viewpoint - 'Unlike much of the media-cited research on COVID-19 thus far, the new Johns Hopkins paper is by economists rather than by epidemiologists. Lead author Steve Hanke is a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a contributor to the right-leaning National Review. 

 

There are many studies out there that have extrapolated out the numbers for Covid deaths and the general consensus is that instead of the 5.75 million who have died so far, the number of deaths would have been more like 20, 30, 40 million. That's Spanish flu numbers.

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/09/872441984/modelers-suggest-pandemic-lockdowns-saved-millions-from-dying-of-covid-19

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52968523

 

And in direct rebuttal to the study you have posted -'Researchers excluded nearly 83 studies for consideration — including some that supported the efficacy of lockdowns. The most notable of which is a 2020 study published in the journal Nature that concluded that European lockdowns helped avert between 2.8 and 3.5 million deaths in the first months of the pandemic'.   https://nationalpost.com/news/world/johns-hopkins-university-study-covid-19-lockdowns

 

I do howver agree with Jennifer Grant, an infectious diseases physician at the University of British Columbia, who said “It made little sense to prevent young people from living normally because they are at very low risk of getting very sick, but have been very, very heavily hit by the impacts of lockdown,” she said.

 

Everything is easier with the benefit of hindsight but there wasn't much of that around at the beginning of the pandemic with countries 'damned if they did, damned if they didn't'. In future, the ones at risk should be isolated and looked after and yes, those at low risk allowed to get on with their normal lives. Easy to say now but much harder to impliment with much confidence back then.

 

 

 

Perhaps you would prefer I only post studies and opinions with which you agree so we can have a one sided debate?In case you haven't realised economics is pretty much imbedded in the fabric of our society and it's survival so viewpoints from this perspective would be foolish to ignore in my opinion.With hindsight we can better prepare for the future as in learning from our mistakes or would you prefer the blind leading the blind approach to problem solving or even a ship of fools following their train of thought?You seem to think you know what I'm trying to do but that would be a misguided thing to do as you don't and can't really know what I'm trying to do, what you are really doing is guessing or believe you know just like many who think they know about this pandemic and this virus and what they see on the screens we spend so much time looking at and forming beliefs which they mistakenly take for facts or knowledge which we don't really know but we can believe which is much easier to do than actually knowing.The best we do is take a guess.The study is from a well respected centre of learning and trusted information and scientific experts therefore should at least be considered in the debate, but if you don't want to listen to the experts that entirely up to you as you are the one in charge of your beliefs or you can always choose which experts to believe.Where do most of the experts get their knowledge from?Mostly they get their knowledge from other experts, kind of like a Chinese whispers of experts.   

7 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

Best welder I ever worked with was about 35 years ago.  He was then in his sixties.  He was an immigrant from Germany and he came over on the free ticket deal to work on the Snowy River scheme.  Back then they were not interested in certificates.  They just set up welding tests.  And the tolerances were all most impossible to meet.  Anyway Gunter made the grade.  We had a very good boss who took good care of Gunter because of his age and also because he was a true artist and occasionally a very difficult job would arise that needed his level of skill.  Our boss had him mostly welding up guards for belts pulleys electric motors etc.  No mig back then all stick welding.

 

Gunter told me that during the war there was no electrodes available.  So they used to cut lengths of 12 gauge fencing wire, wet them, and dip them in carbide powder (used in bicycle lamps) and then weld with that.

 

One night (I mostly worked night shift back then because 33.3 on top of day rate) Gunter hand forged me a jimmy bar from the center shaft of a 1 meter conveyor return roller.  I still have it.

 

Gunter was a little fellow not much more than 5 and a half feet tall.  He had a lovely young (Australian) wife in her late twenties.  For the life of me I could not work out why.  Then one evening Gunter and I just happened to clock off at the same time and hit showers together.  I soon found out how he keep his young wife in tow. 

Good welders are indeed artists and is fascinating to watch even on youtube.I now enjoy trying to TIG weld these days.All the pipeline was also stick welding and the number 1 welder was a Scotsman.

1 hour ago, ozimoron said:

There's no evidence that mRNA vaccines are not providing long term protection from serious disease and death.

That's right which is why nobody needs a booster?Why would people get boosters for if they are getting long term protection from 2 shots?Stupid Israel is doing number 4 shots?The vaccines have long term protection so they must have lost the plot like everyone else getting more than the initial double dose.Also all those stupid epidemiologist experts recommending boosters when there's no evidence that mRNA vaccines are not providing long term protection?We already know that breakthrough infections are extremely rare and that the vaccines are amazing at preventing infections so why are so many people getting boosters?

4 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

It would be coming in on road transport. Wont be bringing it personally unfortunately

If you knew any local Thai musos in Nong Khai doing a gig in Vientiane or even a Thai truck driver doing a run?Or any Thais taking their own vehicles over and back.I've driven to Laos numerous times and nobody checks vehicles.I play slide on National Resophonics and I have never even seen another one in Thailand let alone a cheap one so I can understand your frustration of so near yet so far.I would even rent a fishing boat and skip across the river to pick it up.I know that many locals cross the river both ways in ferries for a few baht.Sorry I can't provide useful info on the tax situation.Might be worth a shot to trust the seller on the no tax and see how it goes especially if it's secondhand.

29 minutes ago, chalawaan said:

I don't I know what the Gubbermint are smoking if they seriously think Thais are going to pussy about with hemp shakes and magic pizza toppings instead of seriously dank buds. Let's face it we need to be drunk or high 24/7 just to cope with the galactic arsehattery that passes for democracy and rule of law here.

I like the idea of "seriously dank buds", and although I've never heard the term before I'm pretty sure I know what you mean.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Why would the police have any interest in what a man does when alone in his own house?

Are there any laws against smashing your own furniture?

There probably aren't any laws against smashing one's own furniture but I suspect police were called because of concerns for other people's wellbeing.After finding that its all a misunderstanding he will probably be free to continue smashing his own stuff. 

13 hours ago, Dumbfounded said:

I was blind drunk at Octoberfest back in '97, don't think there'll be too many people falling over from the hemp cookies or tea.  

I don't know about that,I read an article in Hightimes magazine in the 70's where a bunch of people ate some hash cookies hungry after a long bush walk and some not knowing what they where they ate too many and had a pretty harrowing experience some ended up in hospital freaking out, so as my tolerances are way down I think I could quite easily become legless on some good weed. 

On 2/4/2022 at 3:24 PM, MikeN said:

Many people swear by Wise, but I send my money online direct from my Westpac account. Up to $10,000 only costs me a fixed fee of $5, while Wise has a sliding percentage fee scale.... the more you send, the more it costs ! That $10,000 would be approx 230,000 baht at the moment. No forms or anything, although if you did that every day for a while it might trigger an automatic money laundering alarm, but once a month or so no problem.

One potential problem with Wise depending on your future visa......if you ever need an extension of stay and rely on the monthly income requirements be aware that Wise only sends it to certain Thai banks marked as an international transfer, other Thai banks receive the money via the domestic money transfer system which does n't meet immigration's requirements.

Hi MikeN,I used to send online direct from Westpac to Bangkok Bank account until the Thai phone companies stopped carrying the one time password so I could no longer use a local phone number, so my question is does this still occur or have things changed again? 

On 2/3/2022 at 1:01 PM, Adumbration said:

You have obviously never been anywhere near a good welder.

I spent a year working as a survey assistant on a gas pipeline from Adelaide to Melbourne watching some of the best welders in Australia and grinding the welds seemed to be an essential part of the process because each and every weld was X-rayed and numbered and logged, each of these welders had an assistant whose main job seemed to be grinding the welds to remove any and all inclusions so I guess it depends on type of welding and its application.I had done some welding courses so I was particularly interested in watching these guys work which was quite fascinating as they had to position each 12 metre section of pipe with excavators to get the 1-2mm gap to ensure penetration in the weld and many sections were bent for creek and road crossings which made it even more difficult.Did you know welders get the deepest penetration in the root?

Also in the courses I did at TAFE (technical college) we were taught to prepare the surfaces by grinding not only to get a clean surface which improves the quality of the weld but also to get the angles correct on thicker materials to ensure penetration.

8 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

Most deaths occurred pre vaccine. So those stats are misleading.

You mean when everyone was a virus transmitting unvaccinated evil doer?I think it's time we blame the virus and not people, science is about asking questions and searching for the answers to those questions, it's not about calling people names and labelling them and blaming them.Like you say stats, although not misinformation per se can be used to misinform. 

59 minutes ago, zyphodb said:

I'm sure there'll be a few opportunistic RTP looking for possibly lucrative  pee tests from any farang who turn up, so beware...

They would probably be better off financially by setting up a stall selling Bubblegum Kush instead of trying to bust the customers.Not that some of them don't already profit from it already a friend tells me, now they have the opportunity to join in the legal profits it could bring which could help subsidise their meager incomes.

21 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

clothing, ,carry bags, take-away containers, as well as medicinals

 

If the carry bags and takeaway containers were filled with Blueberry Kush or other such varieties then I'm sure business would be much more interesting.

23 hours ago, ezzra said:

I'm sure the place will be swarming with pot heads looking to see how easy it will be to score pot in the future....

It'll be a bit like Oktober Fest in Germany accept with pot!A dream come true!

16 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

February 01, 2022

Hospitalization rate 23 times higher for unvaccinated vs. boosted during omicron

Data from Los Angeles County during the omicron surge showed that the COVID-19 hospitalization rate was 23 times higher among people who were unvaccinated compared with people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine series and booster.

 

Moreover, the COVID-19 incidence rate was 3.6 times higher among the unvaccinated compared with people who were boosted, Phoebe Danza, MPH, supervising epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and colleagues reported in MMWR.

...

As of Jan. 8, in the midst of the omicron surge, incidence (6,743.5 per 100,000) and hospitalization (187.8 per 100,000) rates remained highest in those who were unvaccinated. Again, incidence (1,889 per 100,000) and hospitalization (8.2 per 100,000) remained lowest in those who were fully vaccinated with a booster dose.

 

(more)

 

https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20220201/hospitalization-rate-23-times-higher-for-unvaccinated-vs-boosted-during-omicron

 

 

Have you got any figures on people who are not vaccinated but have recovered from a previous infection?Perhaps we should distinguish between the two instead of lumping them all together, after all those who have recovered from a previous infection and are "unvaccinated" have been shown to have better protection than vaccinated people with no previous infection.If people are being restricted from certain activities based purely on vaccination status and not on their protection status then that just doesn't make scientific sense to me.

FIGURE. Incident laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among immunologic cohorts defined by vaccination and previous diagnosis histories — California, May 30–November 13, 2021*^,†

5 hours ago, placeholder said:

No business owners are telling anyone that they must get vaccinated. Only that if they want to enter their establishments must they be vaccinated. The unvaccinated are free to patronize other establishments.

So you are saying that business owners are saying they must get vaccinated to enter their establishments right after saying no business owners are saying they must get vaccinated?Which one is it?Talk about covering all the bases!How can business owners be saying what you said they weren't saying and if they are saying what you said they weren't saying aren't they saying what you said they weren't saying?Are you confused?

4 hours ago, heybruce said:

Prior infection provided greater protection against double vaccination without a booster shot against the Delta variant, which was a reversal from earlier variants of the virus. 

This is gibberish.Maybe try reading it then try rewording it.As can be seen in the study I posted getting vaxxed after an infection provides little to no extra benefit.If they are going to restrict people for not being vaxxed yet are better protected from a previous infection then they should do the same for vaxxed with no previous infection because they are at greater risk of becoming infected and ending up in hospital and clogging up the health care system etc.The study clearly shows this. 

55 minutes ago, heybruce said:

The vaccinated are less likely to catch and spread the virus.  That's a good thing.  Risk reduction in general is a good thing.  Don't you agree?

Not always unvaxxed with previous infection have less chance than those vaxxed without a previous infection and getting vaxxed after an infection provides little to no extra protection according to a study released by the CDC in the US.

FIGURE. Incident laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among immunologic cohorts defined by vaccination and previous diagnosis histories — California, May 30–November 13, 2021*^,†

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

Pure deflection and an attempt to rebrand and remove the link to China.

 

Why are Chinese scientists in Wuhan meddling with bats from South Africa?

 

They say they discovered it in bats in South Africa no mention of where the bats came from but my guess would be the Wuhan Lab as that's the only place they allegedly found the last corona because they still haven't found where the last one came from, funny that!

23 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Some posters seem to lack basic comprehension skills .........

I'll be smoking 20% THC joints made from dried flower ........ not extracts so legal.

If you extract the THC from the dried flower by the burning method then the smoke extract containing the THC will be weighed and if it's more than 0.2% then you will get pinged.The hard part for them will be weighing the smoke so you might be safe until they figure that part out.I can see THC in smoke being classed as an extract because you are extracting the THC from the dried flower.

6 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Hardly. Those who care already have their sources; it won't change their life.

 

The sandbox tourists areas, if that comes, will be inundated with arrivals. Once that cash starts rolling in every province in the country will be petitioning for their own sandbox.

Legalization everywhere it has happened follows the same course of events. Money talks nobody walks.

Just imagine if sewerage systems were designed properly to provide clean chemical free fertiliser for growing hemp and recreational pot then we could call them "potty boxes" instead of "sandboxes".With the amount of products that can be made from hemp from building materials to plastics to make cars and oils to fuel those cars it would do more for the planet than any pot infused skincare products often mentioned and all some people can say is some people might get stoned, how little imagination some people have!The paper alone would make it worth the effort.In 6 months you can grow enough paper to supply the world and not tie up land for 20 years.Imagine all the rainforests that could be regenerated from this.Open your minds to the endless possibilities of this plant and think outside of the tiny sandbox of one's imagination.I've literally used bulls**t to grow the stuff with amazing results there was also the some waste from our eco dunny that was also used.

1 hour ago, NicholasTH said:

Empathy goes a long way nowadays.. 

 

And society is too judgmental on sensitive topics.. 

 

 

Tragic episodes like this will elicit all manner of responses and guesses about what took place and why even based on sensationalised articles such as the original story posted on this forum.