Fat is a type of crazy

If only there had been diseases in the past and then a vaccine came and the disease diminished or disappeared. And there were no other major factors to account for such things. Lets say Polio or Measles or Flu or Hepatitis A and B or Rubella or Hib or Whooping Cough or Pneumococcal Disease or Rotavirus or Mumps or Chicken Pox or Diptheria. But there's not in your mind. Oh well. You are lucky you live in a world where you can have such thoughts without repercussions to your health thanks to the hard work and intelligence of those who came before.

Trump fans love this stuff. Makes himself prominent on a site. Appears to make really useful information less prominent. Sells a line where the evidence is not clear either way. If Biden did the same I'd be embarrassed but Trump fans lap it up.

Some good monkeys there to see. Saw some running across the road and steeling bananas from a shop. Last trip went to Phuket instead. Hopefully back there in July or August. You been there lately? It seems to stay a bit the same. A bit far from Bangkok especially with the boat ride.

Ok you stick to talking about looking at monkeys and I am sure the abuse will stop

Josh Shapiro was on Bill Maher a while ago. Disappointed in him. Stock standard uninspiring message. Maybe had a bad day.

Friends of doctor dies. Doctor is 74. I wonder if there could be other factors. Hmmm. Don't know age of friends but might be helpful.

Then you ask them out. They don't enjoy that bit.

Geez it's owned by News Corp - how right wing does a source have to be

Maybe it's true that you shouldn't discuss politics and religion. I'd probably have a different sense of many posters if those topics were avoided.

I did a recent post and got confused emojis and I thought ..why? Then I realised I wrote JFK Jnr instead of RFK Jnr. And my whole post was a bit here and there. So the feedback is fine. I don't like the lying down man laughing emoji as it's often used to say - I am so clever and my come back is so witty and amusing and it is self evident I am correct. When usually it isn't. I think Yagoda is upset by emojis as he mentions them alot. Harrisfan too.

Or a youtuber could be a digital nomad. I could see you doing that. Walking the streets of Pattaya and Jomtiem.. discussing the prison like condos or the cost of beer - doing surveys with expats about their age or lifestyle or finances. Could be entertaining.

Trump's tariffs seem objectively dodgy but there can be different opinions. Trump's loss in 2020 - that he says he won - is a fact as much as this type of thing can be a fact. You seem like a throw out the baby with the bathwater kind of guy sometimes - nothing and no one is perfect and known - but overtime you hopefully work out a reasonable hit miss ratio. People say there are lots of conspiracy theories that came true but I don't observe that and the ones they cite are normally marginal at best and not as clear cut as they think it is.

One of Dutton's big mistakes was to try and go all Trumpy on some things when Trump was becoming on the nose and never that popular here. He went in with stopping work from home for public servants and cutting the public service. Sky news viewers may have loved it but most thought it was silly and know someone working from home and the benefits - including myself. It sent a message that he is trying to be a tough guy and it didn't resonate I think. There are some real differences - nuclear power for example. There are minor differences on tax policies. But must admit have been in Thailand for the start of the election and now usually fast forward those bits when watching the news.

Some here don't believe in vaccines at all. Or the moon landing didn't happen. Freedom of speech and all that but life is short and it's all about objective evidence and most people will say - I will spend my time looking at issues where there is a reasonable degree of likelihood that a theory has some validity. To some here that makes you a sheep. So be it - spend your time dreaming of a different reality to what is clearly apparent in the real world.

My knowledge is a bit limited to Jomtiem - I like the area from the main night market down to the other night market. A bit quiet for some. Easy to get to Pattaya. Beach nice to look at and walk on but no good for swimming. Air pollution a big factor for long term stay - was there for March and about a week was pretty terrible but rest fine - during May to October has been fine. Phuket better option of course for beach and air. I like Copacabana - but rooms a bit small and new apartment block next door taking some outlooks - but nice pools, gym, facilities etc. New Copacabana on Second road could be good. Cetus looks nice with some bigger rooms and good facilities. Sea View Beach Condos has a new block being built on the beach that could be good. The existing buildings are basic and rooms small but there's been some nice renovations combining two rooms. Nice outlook. Gym terrible. Pools nice.

Delete

Could be obvious but covid put the whole thing on steroids. Mystery source of disease, big pharma using newish technologies to make medicines making big bucks, some aspects mishandled and some people treated unfairly, the lockdowns that some passionately were against and that gave them plenty of free time at home to ponder things etc. I think if covid didn't happen there would be many who wouldn't have moved on to the more extreme theories on the interweb. I supported much of the actions as you could see on the whole people were doing their best with what was known and the results were overall very positive - despite no doubt many making money and taking advantage of the situation - but others didn't quite see it like that. Some now I think have conspiracy theorist as a proud part of their identity and like the notoriety even when people abuse or make fun of them. I think some deep down know many of their theories are dodgy at best.

You missed Elvis in between

Genius? You have to love you some Trump to describe this childish high risk experiment as genius. You are obviously happy with bullying the world into bringing them to the negotiating table against a superpower when in many many cases there is no issue in the first place - America sells more to the country or they buy more because they want the stuff. You do know the calculations don't include services making the figures even more bogus. A small number of countries that have real issues can be addressed as appropriate. Consumers, investors, businesses and everyday people have to cop the consequences of this and you call it genius. I can imagine you saying the same thing if it was Kamala.

To your original point I think you are right that if he was arrogant but seen to be doing a good job people would have cut him some slack. Similar with Trump. The public probably would have been and would continue to be supportive if individually programs are identified and seen to be wasteful or indulgent. At first it seemed a lot of good could come from this but I think everything from the type of people making the cuts and their concerning access to private information, the manner in which the cuts were made across departments i.e. so fast without reasonable due consideration of the cost and benefits, the indiscriminate way of cutting staff - who knows what good experience and knowledge lost, the examples of poor decisions e.g. sacking and having to rehire, the findings of misrepresentations of successes followed by the hiding of such background information by DOGE, services cut, so his arrogance on top of that pushed opinion firmly against him. Then there is the human element. That arrogance does not sit well when real people, hard working and smart staff believe it or not, are treated so poorly.

It's been said many times. You get that there's no logic to this. Cote D'ivoire sell cocoa beans to America because they can do it cheaply and America can't grow them. They don't buy much as a poor country. What is the logic for a big tarrif when they are selling stuff to America they want. There is none.

There is. The World Trade Organisation. There are articles like this that look at the role they might play IF INTERESTED. https://www.piie.com/commentary/speeches-papers/2025/wto-30-return-higher-tariffs Australia took China to the WTO after they made it difficult to sell products including wine, sea food and steel products - the dispute process takes a lot of time. They now may take the US to the WTO. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-02/government-could-challenge-trump-at-world-trade-organisation-/105127142

But there's enough there to use your own brain and judgement to pick a side on many of these issues. I have said it before - sure the mainstream media puts a slant on things but it is fact checked and it is mainly true. What I see on this site is Trump addles peoples brains to believe everyone is lying and bad and so everyone is as bad as Trump so be careful not to full in the trap. What you might think is being objective may be falling for Trump's nonsense.

Since Biden left stocks have surged, America is loved and respected around the world again, rule of law is stronger than ever and all the smart people are in positions of power. Thanks Joe - you kind of mucked it up here and there - but your bad is so much better than the nonsense there now.

Isn't it super obvious. Make sensible cuts looking at programs that are not needed or marginal - and being smart about which staff are cut and which left behind - no worries. Make poorly thought out wide ranging cuts in an arrogant smart alec way like you want to be seen as a hero rather than actually doing good things and people push back. Signed A Public Servant