Fat is a type of crazy

I assume it's how many posts in that forum or sub forum e.g. the Forum Support Desk as a whole has had  53900 posts.

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Some on here miss the point about faith, which is belief without the necessity for scientific or other proof. Much along the same lines as believing there are more than 2 genders.

 

Also, there is no proof that intelligent design wasn't created by God. IMO the basis for evolution was introduced at the beginning of life the universe and everything by God and everything is all going according to plan.

 

Those that say there is no God must ergo believe that the universe life and everything just happened from nothing, which is like saying magic created the universe. Magic/ God....................... which to believe?

If you are saying some have faith that there are more than 2 genders, rather than it being based on science, that could be correct for some . Many people though just say..if you feel like you are a lady  and it makes your life happier and easier then do your thing. In that case its not science based or faith based - it's politeness or live and let live based. 

A key point made many times is that not having definitive proof that something isn't real doesn't help those trying to prove it is real. In fact there is significant proof that intelligent design is not real but it can never be definitive - especially when believers can just change the goalposts of how it happened. That doesn't mean anyone has the right to look to stop other people believing it.

There's talk of arrogance and 'loud voices' in posts above - but saying there is not proof of something, or something is not likely to be a fact based on evidence, in a forum such as this, should be just as welcome, as letting people believe what they want. 

That goes to your last point too - scientists don't say that they are not sure how stuff happened so the options are magic and god e.g. no one understood the plague, and many blamed it on magic or god, but scientists did the hard work for us all doing research and keeping statistics and working out what caused it saved millions of lives. They may do the same on how stuff started. 

Delete

If you are being friendly and they don't like you they probably don't like each other too.. you can feel like an outsider when in fact there are all sorts of little squabbles going on so just do your thing..

I got on pretty well with my ex's family ..they had rubber trees ..not that well off but didn't ask for much assistance. Took the father and two others to Australia for a holiday ..his first trip overseas. 

Normally they just want to see if you think your different or special so if you stay in their house and eat their food and hang out a bit, a couple of times a  year, that can help you to be accepted.

My current girlfriend just has a sister and a mother so no problems except the odd bit of help. 

There may be a few young kids buying drugs but for many thai people, including the young,  the meagre government handouts is the  difference between a meal or no meal. 

As others have said if you want to see what survival of the fittest looks like, i.e. do nothing, then Brazil is somewhere down that track with 1000's dying per day. They are doing something - if nothing is done then the deaths could be much higher.

29 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

I'm afraid you'll not see any intelligent design, until you'll accept the possibility that intelligent design exists. 

In this case, no blind faith is required, just ceasing to be in denial. 

The laws which rule the universe are not there "by chance ", in the same way human artifacts are created with a mix of hard work and intelligence, and are not existing "by chance".

 

I agree with your last paragraph, although not sure if you're being sarcastic.. . Sure, God is everything and everywhere and everyone.. forever.. thus God exists. 

 

As for the evolution theory, we are still at the beginning,  so I can expect to see a mix of theories, some of which may be completely right,  and some completely wrong.

I have some opinions about that, and it's always interesting to hear new and old theories. 

The last sentence wasn't meant to be sarcastic but was following the logic of a believer in god such that belief and faith comes first and they'll make the world fit that belief. They may feel they have good reason to do so since life experience tells them their is a god and they'd rather have a life with god rather than waiting for objective proof to keep the nay sayers happy.

An alternative is to start with no premise regarding god or intelligent design. If evidence showed that there was no sight and suddenly fully formed eyes appeared out of nowhere the intelligent design and god theory would get a lift.

The no premise theory doesn't deny god, and may even hope that god exists so there's more to life and more life,  but it just starts with the observable and works from there. 

11 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

Once you realise that physical perception is not enough to perceive everything, you may understand that "available information " is not worth that much.

.. but, if the knowledge coming from materialistic science is enough to make you happy,  so be it.

Btw, I don't see why the study of evolution of beings should be against the existence of an intelligent design.

On the first point it is not about contentedness but that physical perception is all I have. Examples of the non-physical in your life, that could only be sensed presumably by physical feelings and senses, would be interesting. That which cannot be explained by hormones, chemistry and dreams. 

On the second point intelligent design seemed to be based on the idea that things like eyes could not evolve bit by bit over time ..it had to be designed. 

Religion says  that whatever science finds - be it the creation of the universe, or evolution, or possibly life on Mars -we'll just update our previous FACTS and say it's god. That is faith. 

I thought god wrote the text above but you prove to me you wrote it. I say god was pulling the strings so it was god .. problem solved. It's all god and therefore god exists.

1 hour ago, mauGR1 said:

Perhaps he read it somewhere, or heard it on the tv ????

In looking at the topic you discussed, ie that intelligent design makes sense to you, I think it is  not unreasonable to rely on stuff we read or see if it has been peer reviewed and is scientific in nature. If I only believed what I found from experience my life would be limited. 

He might have seen a TV show comparing the scientific evidence for natural evolution and intelligent design. 

I concur that believing, say,  eyes happened by chance is hard. Even Darwin said initially that it seemed absurd that an eye could come from natural selection though he then said it was feasible.  

The Wikipedia page on the Evolution of the eye is interesting looking at how forms of life such as bacteria could sense light and over time life in evolved forms developed eyes. It makes sense that variations of life that improved even slightly the ability to perceive light, the direction of light, and more and more subtleties would have a huge advantage over the competition, and survive to pass on their genes.   100's of 1000's of years and competitive advantage for reproduction - you end up with eyes. 

There are of course a range of different types of eyes in life today - many more limited than ours and some with advantages over ours. 

I think therefore it is an intelligent decision to reject intelligent design for evolutionary science based on available information. 

If your issue is the occasional smell of burnt plastic and an ugly outlook that might be nothing much. Thais love their burnt plastic it seems. If for example you can show that polluted waste water, a common problem with pig farms,  is an issue for your farm and the local area then locals might take notice. 

For peace of mind you could find a lawyer who knows the local, regional and national environmental protection and waste laws just to see what the laws are. They might not charge too much for a consultation or two and they might be able to focus on you on the specific legislation  or act relevant to your issue.

Of course they may give you false hopes of winning a case but it might at least give you a sense of if the issue is worth taking on or not.

35 minutes ago, faraday said:

Yes, so do I. Maybe it's because they're more traditional in their approach to serious relationships. Even though wimmins liberation didn't flourish here, they are less after 'rights', but it doesn't make them subservient. At all.

 

In my experience of 7 years of marriage to a wonderful Thai lady, they don't feel the need to prove themselves in the "I'm as good, if not better than any man" attitude.

 

I dunno, maybe I haven't explained this fully....

Lucky you on the happy 7 years. I've been with mine now for some time but it's all a few months at a time and covid ain't helping ..

19 hours ago, faraday said:

You ever actually been married, Leaver, or is this merely argumentative twaddle?

 

????

I am with Leaver on this. I prefer Thai women to western women for reasons I am not totally sure of, but I think the notion that UK women don't work during marriage and or play a long game, maybe 30 years, to get the family house, is twaddle. For those women that  don't get paid employment bringing up kids is not an easy gig in any case. Right on sisters. 

20 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Owl Log - 12-04-2021 - Monday morning

 

Should go into Ban Dung today. Mrs Owl says we need supplies, and I have to pay my internet bill in Big C. Must find out if I can pay it on-line. She is sleeping at the mo'. Not speaking to me since yesterday.

 

Mildred went fishing for just half an hour last evening and caught 7 pla nin from pond two. Gave four away to a passing guy on a motorbike, and took the three biggest back home. I noticed that the fish were still in the bucket at 22-00. "Are you not going to sort out the fish teerak (which were then well and truly brown bread)?" "It's a buddha day. Cannot kill anything." "So you gonna stay up 'til twelve tonight then dear." "What you say, ding dong farang." My funny was simply wasted; as it normally is.

 

 

I did say to Milly that I'd make a her a new fishing rod. The one she uses is a tad short. Cut a new bamboo down a few days ago.

 

 

Beginning to dry out nicely. Another week and I'll get started. Too long, and too heavy at the mo'.

 

 

Have to keep it out of the sun during this drying phase, or it will warp.

 

The little Avocado tree is taking to its new home well.

 

 

Gonna give it some water every day. Can't rely on any rain up here. I think it will be another very poor year for rain. Although I've just watched a vid' of Pattaya beach being washed away. Some areas are getting more than a little drop.

 

I have a favourite euca tree which also gets special treatment; a bucket of water every few days. Pond water too. So better than any rain.

 

About five metres plus high/tall now. Put in the ground in the first week in June last year. Don't think I'll ever cut it down.

 

 

Ah yes! That time of year is fast approaching. Reminds me a bit of the week after xmas in England. Every time ya go to visit someone (but not last year; covid) "Hi Owl. Cup of rosy (or glass of beer) and a turkey sarnie?"

 

"I've got mangoes for my breckies. Mangoes for my diner. Mangoes for my supper and mangoes for my tea. I got mangoes!" Spike Milligan song.

 

 

When we arrive at the farm. The chickens have a butchers to establish if Mrs Owl is in the pick-up or not. Yesterday she was not. Busy at at the village discussing lottery numbers at the corner shop. So!

 

 

 

What to make of the footy? City getting dumped by Leeds. They put their third team out and thought that would be enough. No! Manchester first and second. Bolton on the move.

 

Had a monster of a row with the Mrs yesterday. It's a little complicated. Mrs owl had been saying that the boys were coming over and they should get a little something for songram. They arrived last night about seven. I didn't have any change so I walked next door and bought drinks for Milly, Snack and Tang. Ready to pay at the shop and the lady showed me Nan's beer bill; 360 baht. I paid up; naturally.

 

Got back home and gave the two boys 100 baht each with their drink. Nan and the Mrs chatted for 10 minutes outside, and then she left. As soon as Nan had gone, WW3 broke out. "Nan not have money. Why you not give her?" I was thinking that this was secret squirrel talk. "You not tell me she didn't have any money?" Then I added. "She needed money to pay her beer bill?" Big mistake! "What beer? You are stupid farang. Husband not get money for work yet. She need buy food."

 

She went on to tell me that I could easily die tonight for being a bad farang. I'm OK til midnight I thought. Anyway! This morning I got my cuppa, and soon after a bowl of spicy porridge.

 

Even after all these years I can't comprehend the double talk I sometimes get from the wife. What's wrong with simple straight talking?

 

I started Milly on one of my books; George Orwell's 1984. Reading the words is a lot easier than understanding them I feel. Did the first two pages. Enough for starters.

 

Not had a game of chess for a while. Maybe this afternoon; if I don't go to town.

 

Still keeping up the running. Sprinted 160 metres on Saturday. Raced Mildred. I won. She stopped to pick up some plastic rubbish during the race; but I reckon I would still have finished first anyway.

 

When we did the euca planting last June, I started taking pic's from the same spot every so often to see progress. They are taken from the far corner of number one farm. Have three angles. Looking north; looking east; looking north-east.

 

Looking north: First entry is 5th July. Just a month after planting.

 

 

28-August; 10 weeks later.

 

 

20th October; after 4 months.

 

 

27th December; just over 6 months. Looks better with the grass cut!

 

 

3rd February. 8 months in the ground.

 

 

11th April (yesterday). 10 months.

 

 

After a pretty slowish start they are doing well. Most are approaching 2 metres high now. Nowhere near as big as the trees in the lower areas though.

 

That's it for now.

 

Bye y'all.

Well done with the trees. Hopefully the rain will really get them going. 

Good to hear I am not the only one whose partner has Buddha days. My girlfriend had one day a week where a range of things were off limits. 

Just when there was talk of a bubble between Australia and Thailand, in Australian news, covid takes off there and vaccine rollout is  slow here. It's cold here and she says it's stiflingly hot  there so not much fun for either of us. 

Good book 1984..Good for her to learn about how countries all around Thailand control the masses...she might be a bit young for some of the concepts though and room 101 might be a bit full on for her.  

2 hours ago, shy coconut said:

Duck in water with vegetables sounds delicious ????

I don't put the roast duck in the soup.

If you have been to a decent asian roast duck or roast pork restaurant you'll know how tasty it can be and MK do a good job. 

My girlfriend is a vegetarian as I said above so she makes the soup with fresh vegetables including a plate of different  mushrooms and different tofu and she adds some sauces that she likes. I share that and have the duck separately. 

They make a point of saying they are MSG free.

and I like my free ice tea so there

Correct. They are gone.

Not sure about first one but they removed the world news stories. 

My partner and I are a big fan of MK. She is  a vegetarian and likes to make the healthy soups from nothing - no salt or MSG - and I like to get duck with MK sauce to go with it. She has a card where you get a discount too. I like too that they have free iced tea.

56 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

There is no relationship between thirst and water requirements.

In a normal healthy person there is

For the past few months I have had no ads. I use a work computer and they must have put some ad blocker on or something. It's faster now. I can't recall the adds much - they were often to other websites which had some supposedly amazing story about a celebrity like Nicole Kidman or something  so I never clicked. 

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think that is a bad summary. Let me try.

If someone has a chemical imbalance or a brain tumor (something that can be measured) that is a job for the psychiatrist.

If someone behaves strange or bad maybe because of crazy parents for PTSD or something like that then that is work for the psychologist.

The psychologist talks to the patient, the psychiatrist gives him medications.

I am sure that summary is not exact but it covers the basics.

I take your point - I just feel a psychiatrist has the skills to do both if they are good at what they do. I personally feel a psychologists skills are a bit so so and most of us could do a similar job but I am sure there are good ones out there. I suppose they do have access to services and support in a way that a psychiatrist may not. 

I don't think a psychologist will help. Keep in mind a psychologist is a psychiatrist without medical training. My girlfriend has gone badly crazy a few times in between a lot of happy times and it normally has to do with her perception that I didn't care about her. I think part of it comes down to having my hand on the purse strings. Its not easy for a beautiful  youngish girl to feel her financial security is at the whim of a forty something and now fifty something guy who doesn't want to get married. The explosive part is just a girl's temperament - it won't go away no matter how many doctor's you see if you set it off. 

By describing her as long term girlfriend you might have your answer right there - she craves security. She may still have the temper but it may not be set off if you give her more security. 

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Dunno, I'm sexually fixated on women in their early 30s.

I don't expect my step-daughter to spend any time with me at all, and I cut her off from all cash handouts last month.

I'm hoping she'll find a guy to provide for her in the very near future.

As for my 'will to live' that disappeared 13 years ago when my Brit wife divorced me, i've been hoping for death ever since, although my religion prohibits me acting on that feeling.

I hope you're being melodramatic. Sounds like you've got a good life up there with the family and the bike rides and exercise. I could live without the wine coolers. Maybe your wife did you a favour - otherwise you might be sitting in the UK right now in an unhappy marriage  dreaming of greener pastures in Thailand..

23 minutes ago, starky said:

I dont have any answers or claim to maybe if we were all exposed to it sooner maybe the variants wouldn't be so virulent who's to say? we will never know. What I believe however like solitary confinement, locking people away eventually takes a toll on their psyche. And yes great news for the US and UK but for the rest of the developed world and even longer for the developing world its going to be more than a year. Also countries that had and have had lockdowns are also experiencing new waves. So holding Australia or New Zealand up as an example is something that most of the world can not achieve. 

 So would you like the rest of the world to perpetually lockdowned until we are in a position where no one is any chance of getting sick and there is zero chance of transmission?

 Funny thing is all you guys that wanna have a crack at me don't have any answers or facts to back up either but I would rather live in hope than live in fear.

I see it as being hopeful to take control and take action sometimes and fearful to let the virus take control. Different perspective. Hope in science. 

It's just some posters seem a bit flippant about the deaths that we saw in parts of America, with the less virulent strain, and in Brazil, that started with the less virulent strain, and probably  helped create a more virulent strain. 

I just saw Brazil in the news the last couple of days  - I agree that there can be bad consequences of taking big steps like lockdowns .. the alternatives of overrun hospitals full of people who can't breathe and mass graves is worse.

I just have Australia to go by and it seemed to do the  trick - harder for governments with less ability to offer support ..

Hopefully extremes are not necessary and Thailand can get it under control.   

7 hours ago, starky said:

Never ever wanted anyone to be more wrong in my life. Still the best part of a week before Songkran. Do you think the Thai government is that inept? In so far as their covid response?  Do you think they would like an outbreak through the provinces?

If it was up to the scared this world will never come out of lockdown. You do realise at some point we have to live with this and the vaccine is no silver bullet right? Go hide in your bunker and let the rest of us get on with it.

You and the Brazilian president know the truth. We should just get on with it. Stop complaining. I see. 

Those who have actual responsibility have to make hard decisions. Lockdown may not be the answer but just seeing what happens like in Brazil isn't the best solution either. So many unnecessary deaths.

You would have hated 2020 in Australia but now it's pretty much covid free and economy in fairly good shape. Opening both way travel to New Zealand shortly.

Some business owners suffered badly but were supported through it by the government. Give me the Australia approach rather than Brazil's approach.  

The vaccine might not be a silver bullet but a lot of Americans for example are a lot safer compared to three months ago because they have got the needle or needles. 

10 minutes ago, BigStar said:

I didn’t say that you did. Maher did, as part of an absurd, pernicious attack. After I reminded you of Maher’s lie, I then pointed out that, far from disagreeing, you even extended his attack by making up some nonsense of your own:

I think it is fair to point out that being serious about diet or fitness to the degree of searching out wild plants to eat,

 

Again, searching out wild plants for the sake of diet or fitness--health--had nothing whatsoever to do with Gibbons' motivation for writing his books.

 

 

Maher is so pernicious. Why always merely "think" instead of finding out? I didn’t say ONLY outdoorsman. He didn’t exactly “advocate” but “informed” in an interesting way of their availability, nutrition, and preparation. Moreover, he hardly suggested eating them exclusively. After all, he even promoted Grape-Nuts cereal. He did advocate for healthy eating generally.

The general populace, mostly living in cities, haven’t the slightest interest in finding and eating wild plants; there aren’t a lot of edibles growing in the pavement cracks.

Gibbons, broke, was interested in generating some income through writing. A literary agent suggested he might find a market among members of the growing back-to-nature movement, for factual stuff about edible wild plants. He knew something about the subject from an impoverished childhood, not mysticism. Who was in that movement? People who went out and spent time in nature where they had access to wild plants: Campers, hikers, outdoorsman, hobbyists, etc. as I said. He appeals specifically to THAT target market in the intro to the book Maher references:

Why bother with wild foods in a country which produces a surplus of many domestic food products? With as much reason, one might ask, why go fishing for mountain trout when codfish fillets are for sale in any supermarket? Or why bother with hunting-and-game cookery when unlimited quantities of fine meat can be purchased at any butcher counter? Why do millions of Americans desert their comfortable and convenient apartments and split-level houses for a time each year to go camping under comparatively primitive conditions in our forests and national parks? For that matter, why does anyone go for a walk on a woodland trail when one could be speeding along a superhighway in a high-powered automobile? . . .

The outdoor skills, necessary to the survival of our ancestors, are now utilized in the service of recreation. In recent years there has been a great renewal of interest in hunting, fishing and camping. . . . A knowledge of wild food gathering can contribute greatly to our enjoyment of this back-to-nature movement. It can add new meaning to every camping trip, to every hike or even to a Sunday drive in the country. . . .

Another point in favor of foraging as a family hobby is the handiness with which it can be practiced. . . . Children, especially, are intrigued with the idea of garnering their food from the fields and byways.

 

He says that he himself is merely a “hobbyist.” Incidentally, he noted the advantages of “saving on grocery bills” and merely enjoying some new tastes, for foodies.

 

“Economy, food, fun, and healthy activity”—that’s IT.  

If you’re out in nature anyway, perhaps with the family & kids, then looking around for edible plants, preparing them for dinner, bringing them home and trying them out is something interesting, different, and fun to do. Most people, after all, pick wild blackberries if they run across them. It was after Euell that organic and wild foods made big inroads into urban supermarkets.

 

Please quit distorting Euell Gibbons, whom you haven’t read and about whom you know absolutely nothing, and do offer up more than salads (following the OP) as the only healthy alternative to ice cream, shakes, burgers, and fries.

 

I could go point by point but the overall point is that I think you read peoples posts a little too literally and specifically sometimes. It results in interesting posts but sometimes I feel misses a bigger point.

Some of the specifics above are probably fair enough - you clearly know Gibbons better than I do and for the third time I'll acknowledge Maher may have taken a cheap shot. But to say that Gibbons cared about nutrition in plants, but that my point that diet was a factor in his actions was invalid, is an example of thinking too much. Just like your opinions on the evils of a few sweeties as a treat. 

You seem to feel generalisations are not fair, yet you have particularly harsh words for Maher, using terms like so pernicious and other comments,  while noting that you don't know his work and choose not to find out more. At least I googled Gibbons - your harsh words for Maher are apparently based on a one minute video. No quarter given - end of. 

Eat an ice cream. It won't kill you.