Walker88

Fads and fashion come and go. Tatts are now long in the tooth. When "old geezers" adopt a fad, that pretty much assures the fad is just about over. Of course one can do whatever one wants with one's body, but fresh tribal tatts on a 60+ guy with a 100cm waist---in my opinion, of course---look pretty silly. I cannot help but think "I guess the guy couldn't afford a Porsche". For hundreds of years tatts were a fringe adornment. Suddenly they sprung up everywhere, first on Millennials, and then they moved up and down the age chain. The US, which beats every fad to death and then some, developed all kinds of reality TV related to tatt parlors, tatt competitions with losers "sent home", etc. Like any fad, they get wildly overdone. To not be like everyone else is to lack tatts. Unlike leisure suits or spats or top hats or powdered wigs or bell bottoms or mullets or a thousand other fads that have come and gone, the folks who chose tatts have no way out. Lasers can rid a person of simply ones, but the full arm sleeve or full back tatt are going to the grave with the wearer. I have noticed an increasing number of young women---I've been in a few agogos in the last six months, but only to escape the rain---are choosing not to get them. I've asked the unadorned, and they say they don't like them. If that is an emerging trend among youth, that's further indication the end is nigh.

I appreciate the public debt to GDP and the FX Reserves, but I also can see that Thailand's growth from 2010 to today was solely debt fueled. Household debt soared (not including loan shark debt), bank lending, too, and corporate bond issuance was at a staggering rate 5x that of the meager 1.8% per annum GDP growth. Thailand faces a few hurdles today. They're not insurmountable, but it will take some clever policy wonks to navigate the next few years. I'm not sure the govt has the bench strength they need. The world is awash in capacity. Thailand benefited from lots of FDI, but as production facilities age or are depreciated, neighboring countries like Vietnam beckon. Tourism is picking up, and what was 17.8% of the economy in 2019 is likely to pop 20% in 2023 when all is said and done. Hopefully that is sustainable, but the new tax issue may encourage some resident expats and snowbirds to look elsewhere. Though not tourism per se, it is foreign money, so somewhat similar. I can't see where the Thai economy is going to excel, absent running up more public debt and utilizing the FX reserves. Something which is completely in the dark (to me, at least) is the level of NPLs in the banks. I know that the official numbers are accessible, but I don't put much stock in them. During Covid two things happened: one was that there was a debt moratorium that lasted many months. The other is that I read banks were allowed to book imputed interest and run that through the income statement. Loans were booked as if the borrower was servicing the debt, when they were not in fact. I worked the markets in Japan after the Dai Boroku and saw what banks were allowed to do. It was a stopgap measure that ultimately failed. Japan allowed imputed interest and had accounting rules that did not require subs that represented less than a certain amount of assets/revenue/etc. to be consolidated on the parent's BS. That led to hundreds of Caribbean subs that held losses. The worst offenders ultimately went belly up. Japan never really recovered. It's pension system is so bizarre in its accounting that I have to wonder what is actually in the coffers....and that as the population both falls and ages. Thailand lacks the massive public debt to GDP Japan had/has (see the yen still above 150 despite rallies in all other major currencies against the $), but Japan stands as a reminder that there are limits to how much the govt can help the overall economy. Thailand is also well below replacement rate in terms of population.

I'm one of those 'lefty liberals', but more old school liberal than the new version. You say there are only 2 sexes, and apart from true hermaphrodites, that is true. Two X chromosomes denote female and a Y denotes male. In the brain, of course, which is the most complex organ of any creature on this planet, things do not always develop properly, owing to a host of factors from environmental to a mother's actions during pregnancy. Some people have preferences or self images that differ from what is the majority preference or self-image. That is through no fault of their own, and since it is not you, nor any of your concern, it shouldn't bother you. Since it is not their fault, no one can condemn them, and they deserve the same respect as other innocent people. Of course we all have our own peccadilloes. I have a---perhaps irrational---contempt for fat and obesity. Despite a neo-liberal view that it is 'beautiful', I don't see it that way. I am not 'body positive', and I believe it is high time that 'fat shaming' become the norm, because it costs society and all in it far too much. Costs of fat are plopped on to the fit, via higher hospital costs and insurance where companies use actuarial tables and assume a certain % of obesity for all. To me, fat is evidence of a lack of self discipline and self control, plus laziness. I am not talking of those with a disability, as in that case there is a no fault condition. I'm talking about otherwise healthy people whose obesity is solely of their own actions. They eat too much, drink too much, don't exercise, and ignore the ever-increasing girth. Ironically, it is my experience that the people who are so 'offended' by people who now have a letter of the alphabet to denote their tendency, are fat. Obese. Blubberbutt. Land whales. Yes, the far right, non-liberals tend toward obesity. I look at far right political rallies in the US, and excess adipose tissue is the norm, just like their messiah. Butterballs. I'd be willing to bet that those on this thread so outraged about the terms some with those alphabet designations have are fat. 100+cm bloated bellies. Spare tires that Airbus might seconder for use on an A380. I happen to be 100% hetero and absolutely delighted to be in my male body, of which I take good care. I did not ask for either my preference or self-image, just as those who might have different preferences or self-images did not ask for theirs. Folks here ranting about labels of Q or T or whatever: go look in the mirror. You're bloated, right? Shirt is untucked in the hope of covering the abomination, yes? And bloated is a choice, while Q or L or T is not. Funny, that.

Methinks soalbundy the lady doth protest too much

Mystical traditions simply point to the fact that humans seek ways to reduce stress. Virtually every culture going back to Oldavai Gorge developed some sort of mystical thinking to provide easy answers to things they were incapable of understanding. Uncertainty is unsettling. If things are random, that's bad, because one cannot make a deal with random. That creates stress. It was comforting to believe a power was in charge, more comforting if that power was believed to be benevolent, yet more comfort if you could believe you could communicate with it, and more comforting still if those around you similarly believed and their belief reinforced your belief. That doesn't mean the beliefs are real, but that sort of thinking was probably 'selected in' to the species in a Darwinian sense because it led to stress reduction....and stress kills. It also allowed for communal cooperation, which provides security against outside hostile forces, such as other clans. Of course other clans maybe created their own deities, and if they were right and not you, there goes the stress level shooting higher. So your clan took on their clan, and with your deities on your side, you would win. If you lost you were dead; if you won, that further proved your mystical beliefs were the One Truth. So that's another source of "evil", which is folks who challenge your myths as you challenge theirs. This has long played out, and is doing so as I write in the Middle East. As I noted in another post, 'evil' also results from things such as bad combinations of neuro chemicals, improper brain development, or even game theory where people might behave in a negative way if they think an encounter is a one off and anonymous, whereas people will be more 'moral' if they are unsure an encounter is a one off, so bad behavior might be returned in spades at some future date.

Humans need no devil to be evil any more than they needs gods to be moral. Civilization leads to moral behavior on average, though not for everyone. It's silly to think some guy named Moses climbed down a mountain with a couple of stone tablets, gathered the guys around, and said, "Bad news. We can't murder, rape or steal". Bad ratios of neurochemicals, poor development of the brain that leaves some 5% of people psychopathic or sociopathic, character flaws like trump has in spades...many reasons there is 'evil' in the world. IN those with character flaws, evil is a learned behavior, but in psychopaths or those with bad neurochemicals floating around their brain, evil is innate. Dr Robert Sapolsky studies human and primate behavior and produced a fascinating TED Talk that discusses evil and goodness, and what is behind such behavior. It's worth a watch. By the way, a decent human is infinitely more moral than anybody's god. Most humans, even if they had the power, wouldn't send tsunamis crashing into coastal zones, nor cause earthquakes, nor give 3 year old kids horribly painful cancer. Steven Weinberg probably summed it up best: "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."

I'm with him in terms of diet, save for the sugar. No sweet tooth. (I only have sugar in the house because some visitors like it in their coffee; i have no use for it.) Plenty of carbs, not too much fat, lots of protein, and lots of exercise and weight training. 82kg on 183cm frame and a 79cm waist. Weight can be maintained and body fat minimized, but it takes effort as well as understanding one's body requirements. I need the carbs for fuel in the gym. Blood glucose is far from even pre-diabetes. Having never been fat or even overweight, I really don't understand how it happens. Maybe with kids I understand, but why do adults---lots of expats---allow themselves to look 8 months pregnant? Do they simply not care? Weight gain is largely diet, not exercise, so "I have no time to go to the gym" is no excuse. If somebody has time to eat, they have time not to eat. Slim, fit and agile feels good. A 100+cm waist cannot feel good. I would think the discomfort alone would encourage people to stop their bad habits. I understand the disabled might not be able to do this, but the vast majority of expat land whales I see in Thailand have no disability, though perhaps an inability to walk away from the buffet table or climb off the barstool.

How do you extrapolate dark matter on to some malevolent or supernatural force? Did the use of the word 'dark' fool you? Maybe you can add the scientific proof behind your 'supernatural forces' tempting us. Are they made of leptons or quarks? Do they have mass or are they like photons?

Him or her? For Bezos, that looks pretty natural. Do the work in the gym, and that degree of jack-ism isn't difficult.

Unless I'm mistaken, the guy with the cowboy hat sitting in the car is Right Said Fred.

Not TRT. TRT is dangerous. One's body sees it has enough testosterone, so stops producing it. The thing is testosterone production is directly linked to sperm production, so guys who regularly use TRT become infertile. Also, once TRT is stopped, 25% of men can no longer produce testosterone naturally. Better to do what Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg did: hit the gym. Of course they hired personal trainers and dieticians, too. All want to live long enough to enjoy their bazillions.

I hope they have a vaccine for whatever you've contracted, because I would hate to be so afflicted. I'd roll up the sleeve and take the shot, even if it had side effects. I have many things in life that excite me and make every day a joy. One of them is women. In Thailand, I doubt I go two minutes when out in public without seeing a women who makes me thank Zeus for my Y chromosome.

If ever there was an appropriate spot to toss in this old saw..... Some of my best friends are women. Love them, Usually prefer them as friends, unless we're doing a pick-up basketball game. And if they're smart...boom! They can have me. I'm a sucker for the proverbial well-turned ankle as well as the well tuned brain.

Armored vehicles are not so bad, provided one just faces a general, not a specific, threat. I lived in India and had a Landcruiser rated VR6, which is sufficient to stop AR-15 or AK-47 rounds. The windows were an inch thick. Terrible gas mileage, though, as the vehicle was rather heavy. I never needed it to do what it was intended to do, but it did offer some peace of mind. Most strife in India is aimed at a specific ethnicity, such as Hindus against SIkhs or Moslems, but madness can get out of hand and violence get aimed at targets of opportunity. The neighborhood was quite upscale (Prithviraj/Amrita Shergill Marg area), so others in the area took similar steps in the event of unrest. Better safe than sorry. In my residence I installed a massive steal door on a panic room. The entire frame had to be removed and replaced with a steal frame to support the weight. In the end, the biggest threat came from the two seasonal migrations of the giant fruit bats. Each night about 1930 they would flock over my residence. They are known to carry all sorts of diseases, but they are spectacular to watch. I had a flat roof home and a spiral staircase leading to the roof. In the evening I would take a glass of wine up there and await their evening movement to Lodi Gardens or wherever mangoes were in season. They can have a wingspan up to six feet (180 cm), but most who flew over me were in the 3' to 4' range. Each night thousands would fly maybe 10 meters above my head. Horror movie stuff, but quite cool.

Where I used to work the average guy---me included---wore Brioni and Stefano Ricci, so one can guess the wealth level. One day I was out after work with office mates and realized they all were arrogant a-holes. I began to wonder if I was not the same. Money can be quite corrupting. I cannot imagine what the wealth of a Musk or Bezos does to one's head. I quit soon thereafter (though admittedly waiting until bonus season finished...I'm not THAT pure). I hope the A-hole-ness oozed out over time, but that is for others to decide. The folks with whom I associate now, whether Thai or expat, are unlike my previous colleagues, both in terms of personality and wealth. It's much more refreshing today, though I do get hit up rather often for tributes or loans, as people can guess I have more than they have. Sometimes I give in if the need is real, and other times I figure I've been had. So be it. When I go back home and catch up with high school mates for golf or dinner, it's not an issue, as I was voted Most Likely to Succeed, so they kind of assume I have more than a pot to void in. With those guys, however, I'm still the kid I was in high school, so it's honest. We're all 17 years old again, gossiping about our female classmates we 'did' back then. Boys will be boys. I will answer an age old question, at least from my experience: Money does make you happy. It takes away the vast majority of worries most people have, which leaves one with time to enjoy this brief existence.

The CCP plays 'subtle' overseas (sarc) but not so subtle at home. Henry Kissinger once visited the now-jailed CCP official Bo Xilai, and the map of China on Bo's office wall not only included Taiwan, but also all of Myanmar. Subsequently China built a new airport in Mandalay with a 3 km long runway built to handle China's largest, fully-loaded military transport aircraft. China also began damming the confluence of two rivers at Myitsone in Kachin State, importing a wholly Chinese workforce, and attempted to construct a dam that would send all of its generated electricity to China. The KIA took out a few Chinese engineers and the project stopped. China also built two pipelines from Yakhine State across Myanmar into Kunming in order to carry Middle East oil and natural gas, and obviate the much longer voyage. China also took control of tropical hardwood forests in Kachin State, began mining for Rare Earths in Kachin State, engaged in gold mining using a cyanide recovery technique that poisoned ground water, and took over copper mines in other areas of Myanmar. The PLA also 'exports' young Kachin women to be auctioned off as brides in China. (perhaps these Chinese cops will export the bargirls from Walking Street and LK Metro). Bit by bit China was taking over Myanmar and making Bo's map accurate. China's control slowed a bit during the brief attempt at Myanmar democracy, but the Covid-Era coup has brought China back in. I wonder if maps are not being drawn up right now that will have Thailand join Myanmar as a part of the Middle Kingdom. As for these Chinese cops, admittedly it is a minor step, but perhaps a minor first step. The police tend to be MSS, and their function is both to monitor dissidents and gather intel on the host country. In the US, MSS agents joined a particular south Florida members club, that is a window into US national secrets. They also run ethnic Chinese assets who work at major universities or labs such as Los Alamos.

He's so full of sh** ,that if you gave him an enema, you could bury him in a matchbox.

The Monkees were a manufactured group, but they were already adults. Morning Musume and what has come after were mid-teens. I was living in Japan when that whole J-Pop thing began. I knew a guy in that business, and I know part of the goal was to attract middle age guys who fantasized about schtupping girls that age. It was building on the Super Loose Socks porn theme popular at that time. I don't know for a fact Korea had the same goal, but I suspect it did. As for talent, I don't think any of them are selected because of their voice or dance moves. It's all cutesy, and whatever they lack is corrected with Autotune and 2-second editing of video. There is a massive difference between the dance skills of, say Fred and Ginger, or Gene and Cyd, who did many of their dance scenes in a one or two camera takes. Today's 'dancers' only need to learn one move, do it, then it gets spliced in two-second cuts into a 3 minute video. (Look at "Moses Supposes" from Singin in the Rain...three camera takes in a 2+ minute dance, or Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell dancing to Begin the Beguine...two camera takes in a three minute routine). None of today's 'stars' can pull that sort of thing off. They don't have to to be considered stars.

I sort of get it. That doesn't mean I like it. This type of thing all began with Boy Bands in the US, like New Kids on the Block. It was aimed at Teeny Boppers who had access to Mom's purse. Japan took it one step forward, using cutesy girls instead of boys. Pink Lady was a start. Decades later Morning Musume followed. J-Pop had two targets: Teeny Boppers and middle aged men who fantasized about schtupping schoolgirls. The music was all flash...the girls made to be sexually stimulating, their voices corrected in the studio to something less than cat-in-heat screams, and a fancy technical production. Korea copied Japan and went after the same two target markets: Teeny Boppers and middle aged perverts. None of the women can sing worth a lick, and that doesn't matter. Can they be cute? Can clever editing make it look like they can actually dance? (Cyd Charisse they ain't) Can they be sexually stimulating to the older target market? It all comes with a price. The "artists" actually think they are talented, but as soon as their cutesy-ness morphs into adulthood, they are tossed aside and new pubescent girls are promoted as the next best thing. So many of these K-Pop singers and actors end up taking their own life by their late 20s. As for the music itself, the whole idea is to have a catch and then work it to death in the studio to make the voices a meaningless part of the whole. In the age of TikTok, where those without talent produce content for those without taste, it's a recipe for success, as the bar is set quite low. Cutesy is good enough. More power to them. Lisa Blackpink's recent $37 million contract says there is appeal, at least for now. Ideally she will survive her 20s and end up Mayor of Buriram.

This scheme is a one-off 5% addition to outstanding public debt. It is almost equal to the yearly budget deficit, so the two combined look to be adding 10% to outstanding public debt in just one year (if my math is correct). Pretty massive. I suspect this new debt will be treated like all the old debt, which is it is never really paid off, but rather just serviced, and then rolled over at maturity. As this is a borrowing from a State bank, it won't be exactly like a bond rollover/reissue, but the loan will just be renegotiated. This is really how all sovereign debt works. We all collectively agree that it doesn't matter so long as the debt is serviced (interest paid). There is some endpoint somewhere, where we collectively admit it's madness, but that point hasn't come yet. (The scariest thing in your LINKED article is Japan's public debt. Japan may be the canary in the coal mine, as the sharp fall in the yen---to 151.5/$---might suggest that collective realization of madness is upon us.) I'm not sure what 10,000 baht for 50 million Thais will do. I'll go out on a limb and guess it will not be used to pay down the very high average Household Debt Thais have, but instead will be used to buy booze, lottery tickets, and as a downpayment on a new iPhone 15, which means the other 30,000 baht for the iPhone will be financed, adding to the high outstanding Household Debt. The world is in a competitive race to the bottom regarding debt. This digital wallet scheme is just the latest sovereign scheme to mortgage citizens' future. The Perfect Storm that is coming is that virtually every developed and developing country has a declining birthrate, yet the debt structure and social obligations are based on a Pyramid Scheme. With the population pyramid inverting (especially in Japan), finally we might be seeing the beginning of the end of this wild debt cycle. To extrapolate on to the world as a whole, my guess is people will make decisions not based on the level of debt of any particular sovereign, but rather based on which economies are best able to weather the coming storm. Perhaps it will seem ironic to some, but I would guess this is dollar positive, yen negative, and emerging nation negative, which means, inter alia, the baht. It will unfold as a spinning coin.....ever-increasing until the coin is almost horizontal and at max speed....and then: silence. I look at this Thai scheme, then consider other sovereign debt, then consider declining populations who will assume all this debt, then consider the coming massive impact on employment that Artificial Intelligence represents, and it scares the bejesus out of me.

There is law. There is morality. There is a woman's right to say "No". There is also Darwin. Meet a guy once and invite him to stay with you overnight is bucking for a Darwin Award. Sometimes it makes sense to put limits on one's own freedoms. There are many things I can do, within the law and as my right, but would choose not to do because it could come back to get me. For example, I could draw and publish a cartoon that might offend some members of a faith enough that they would do me extreme physical harm. I would be limiting my own freedom to refrain, but wisely so. What the woman did does not make her responsible, but damn...why would she put herself in that situation. Naivete is not a crime, but it can have consequences. I guess she never watched "Looking for Mr Goodbar".

He probably just arrived in Thailand and may be suffering from jetlag, even if it's only a 4 hour time difference. Airline probably lost his luggage, too, and he was culturally aware enough to know how sensitive Thai noses can be to dirty farangs, hence the removal of his travel outfit. Very thoughtful, tovarich. As for striking that couple, he probably mistook them for Ukrainian Nazis or maybe Alexei Navalny. Honest mistake. Maybe he'll get his act together in the next 89 days before his right to stay expires. And he'll have to purchase new garments, so that's a boost to the Thai economy.

As one of Robin Williams' characters said when speaking of 'intelligent design', "Who would put a waste disposal unit right next to an entertainment zone?"

trump's performance (f)art and political rallying in court is quite funny....though his goobers being naive and easily fooled might buy it. He and his sons love to talk about 'brand', claiming just his trump brand is worth billions of dollars. Funny that trump steaks, trump water, trump university, trump airline, trump travel agency, and his many bankrupt trump casinos, plus a long list of other trump businesses failed. His 'brand' did nothing for them. It might attract his goobers, but since most of them are unsuccessful, they could not afford to pay the inflated prices he hoped to get in his various business ventures. The folks who could afford to buy were not smitten with the conman's brand, so did not buy. trump also likes to include his many 'outstanding properties and their incredible value'. He can blow smoke when his properties are US based, because as a private company he is not required to issue public statements of income. In many of his international properties, however---such as his British Isles golf courses---he is required to issue financial statements. All of those properties are losing money, so the value is likely not anything close to what trump likes to claim. That also says more about his 'brand'. His brand doesn't travel well out of Gooberville. (Personally, I think his business ought to go after the market demographic of his goobers, which is cheap discount products and services like Motel 6s or non-natural fiber garments sold in low end stores.) In court on 6 Nov trump tried to address his absurd claim that his 10,000 sf apartment is actually 33,000 sf. trump actually said that 'perhaps the estimate included common spaces and elevators. That would have to be some massive elevators! Also, some of what he called 'common spaces' turn out to be apartments owned by other people. Oh, and his claim the building is 58 floors seems to have added 10 floors that do not exist. Maybe in another Universe, a place where trump's endless lies are truth, those 10 floors exist, but they do not exist in this Universe.

Assuming you are honest in your questioning, I'll attempt to explain: First, perhaps you remember 2008. The world financial system almost collapsed (Obama saved it, but that is a long story that might require more knowledge of finance and economics than you seem to have) because banks do not always do proper analysis nor appraisal. That should stand as an example of what banks do and don't do. There are several reasons for this. One is time...there isn't enough time to do all the checking one might expects banks to do. Another is that appraisal firms often do what their regular client wants. trump would have been a regular client of some appraisal firms to which he pays a fee. If the firm doesn't do what he wants, he will take his business to one who will. This is exactly how the rating firms operate, too, such as S&P or Moodys. Another reason is that bank employees are incentivized by dealmaking. Some employees with overlook obvious fraud because they will be bonused for writing a deal that might not go belly up until they have been paid and possibly moved to another firm. trump, being unscrupulous, would know this and take advantage of it. His entire business was based on taking advantage of others, such as he knew he could stiff contractors who lacked the financial means to chase him down in long court trials.