Fat is a type of crazy

3 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Sorry to say but most Aussies don't realise that most Brits don't give a flying F about you, what you do or even the royal family. This is an old statement and QE2 is your head of state. Vote her out or get over it but PLEASE stop whining on England and put your own fires out.

I think the feeling is returned. Most Australians don't care about the UK. There are few royalists and  the mainly female magazine readers who love all the royal family stuff. 

I think few feel passionate about keeping the queen, and the majority would prefer she was gone,  but I think the Australian  nature is to be suspicious of change.

Malcolm Turnbull, who ran the Republic program,  was a bit arrogant and unpopular  back then, and there were disputes about what shape it should take. 

I just think many people don't care but I bet if it was put to a vote today it would get up.

If the queen goes it will happen.

I don't want to get all politically correct but if you think about what the Commonwealth represents, and the subjugation of so many people over time, and the patheticness of the royal family, they really should go. I'm starting to feel fired up. 

It is  a good time to buy in Australia. With a bad economy, and with China playing games with iron, cotton, and now wine imports, you can get a half decent wine in Australia, as Odysseus said,  for around $10 and a really decent wine from $20 up. Some nice wineries around here. 

China are saying that Australia is dumping wine or getting subsidies and sending general bad messages to the Chinese public about Australia.

I haven't eaten reptiles but when I was in Komodo I saw a big reptile eat a goat. 

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

How was Hillary Vs Trump before the election?

I was watching a story how a lot of the polling companies accepted they made methodology  mistakes last time and have adjusted there polling methods to take this into account. Therefore the poll results should be  much more accurate.

I am so sorry that you and others will be disappointed but you have till January to see him retweet  dodgy conspiracy theories and be a general tool. 

A concern is that Biden's comments on the oil and gas industry shutting down could be another Hillary 'Shut The Coal Mines' moment. His fracking comment didn't go so well either.  Trump's good at getting people fired up about stuff like that.

I think the election is likely to be lost for Trump with all the voting so far but it could effect the senate.

Biden needs to get the message out that he is talking longer term and not short term without upsetting his left supporters who want real action on climate change. 

17 hours ago, PatrickC said:

If lockdowns worked so well, why has covid spread so far and wide globally?

Even in China, it keeps popping up. NZ and Vietnam it has popped back up as well. And Thailand - no real proof that it went away as no mass testing. 

 

I'm sorry but we're all over lockdowns. No more - we're done with them. Time to move on and give up on trying something that is just a waste of time and ruins the economy.

 

You're really extremely fixed on your views. That is clear. And you've the right to be. However we've also the right to oppose them, and it doesn't make up "grannie killers", "fascists" or whatever other accusations you want to sling at us. Throwing names at people with different opinions achieves nothing. Give it up.

New Zealand has had a highly successful lockdown. They have had a little flare up of 25 cases today which they should be able to target through tracing and get the numbers back down. If they had no lockdown who knows where they'd be. Likely a lot worse than 27 deaths. 

New Zealand is an island country,  with low population compared to crowded European cities etc, and most people supported a tough lockdown so it worked.

There's more evidence of masks being effective too. Czechia brought in masks early and got the cases down quickly but, since they stopped wearing them, cases have gone out of control.

I take your point that lockdowns have a huge cost. I am in Melbourne and from this Sunday we should be able to do most things with around 5 cases per day. It has worked but at a big cost. I personally think it's worth it.

Better to be in Melbourne than in Prague or in many European and US cities that are out of control. If Trump had've just gone all in 6 months ago, and made certain behaviour mandatory for a time e.g. masks,  instead of playing politics, they could've done a lot better, in my opinion.

36 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

People put off by Obama are already voting for Trump.

 

The battle has always been the middle ground and decency.

I take your point. I just think there's that working class white men vote who, for right or wrong, saw Obama and Hillary as a bit dismissive of them. They felt that, despite the nice words, 8 years of Obama didn't do much for them.  Maybe there's even a bit of racism there. They are both attracted to, and repelled by, Trump and Biden gives them a decent option.

Obama gives a great speech but I think Biden is good at coming across as the 'everyman'. Even Biden's struggle  to get the message across sometimes can be seen as likeable and relatable.

16 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Slowing the spread slows down the number of infection and slows down the time it takes for the deaths to occur rather than reducing the number is what I understood the experts were saying.I've heard it said that all pandemics eventually end with or without vaccines which have only been around for a relatively short time historically speaking so I disagree that vaccines are the "only" realistic means of eradicating the virus.I don't disagree that vaccines can be very effective in helping to eradicating the virus.Mankind's immune systems are apparently still quite mysterious and not so well understood so we don't really get the full picture of what is happening in regards to immunity to this virus and is still a work in progress.It's sad what is happening and people are trying to do the best they can to deal with it but deal with it we shall even if some of the things we do are considered mistakes if we can identify the mistakes the we should be able to learn from them.

 

In terms of the numbers of dead without a vaccine I think it depends on the location. If people are relatively spread out, and you have strong borders , and you have a government that can get most people to cooperate, like New Zealand and Australia, masks and lockdowns can pretty much kill off the disease with relatively few deaths without a vaccine. New Zealand and Australia have now opened borders and as long as little flare ups can be knocked on the head it's all good from here.

New Zealand is the gold standard; a bit over 600 cases and 12 deaths.

In other places though, as you say, it seems the aim at first is just to slow it down so hospitals aren't overwhelmed. But then if they can get their act together they can be like Australia and New Zealand.

52 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I got out of there back to Thailand with about two weeks to spare before the blocks came down in both countries. I'd be climbing the walls by now, or in a straitjacket.

According to my son, the problem is people are willfully disobeying the regulations in place. He lives in Olinda, where there are many tourists and cyclists getting the stinkeye from locals, as they have clearly gone more than 5 km to get there. Or take the one infected guy who traveled to Shepparton, causing mass testing there.

Also, he says the issue of suicide numbers and mental health is being carefully kept in the background. Not a comfortable place to be right now, good luck.

Thanks Lacessit. I won't go on into a  Covid discussion, but patience is really wearing thin, due to so few cases. Today is a big day and hopefully next week businesses will open up.

I was brought up in Olinda for 10 years so know it well. Beautiful place. I lived along time in St Kilda but now am back in the hills. 

1 hour ago, owl sees all said:

I feel I have to explain just a little.

 

When it is Mildred's bed time Mr Chicken is asked to give a squawk. This is the signal for bed.

 

Mrs Owl was dozing in the chair. I thought she was watching the TV. It was 8-30 and time. Mr Chicken gave out an out-of-character, exceptionally loud squawk, which set the Mrs off. She grabbed Mr Chicken from me and promptly dissected it in the kitchen. And then; the ultimate insult. Threw it in the rubbish bin.

 

Everything seems OK for now. We will see at 8-30 this evening.

It looked like a clean cut which means she must have wielded the chopper with some relish.

If there's any possibility of Mr Chicken getting a squeeze I would hide the chopper.

33 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I never get bored here, every day is an adventure for me. Just negotiating Thai traffic on a scooter or in a car is a daily challenge. Golf, swim, exercise, shop, explore. Talk with all the nice people on TV, listen to music, read books, watch videos. Go down to my GF's village once a week.

OTOH, if I was living in Melbourne I really would be bored out of my skull.

 

Particularly with lockdown at the moment. I can relate to that though. I like Melbourne, and many of my friends and family are mainly here, but when I am with my girl in Thailand it's like life has an extra colour and sense of freedom that it doesn't have here. 

Riding the motorbike, eating the food, friendly people, less rules, massage, tropical weather,  it's just seems like a good place to retire .

Now with technology too you can still get benefits of back home.

Who knows I may get bored there but see what happens. Not sure what part of Thailand.

Last went to Chiang Mai and Chiang  Rai in 85 as a 20 year old tourist with my girlfriend, took a raft up to the golden triangle, stayed at a hilltribe, all that stuff. I liked Chang Rai. Had a lot of rickshaw bike type things back then. It was beautiful and green. No doubt changed a bit but still seems nice. 

1 hour ago, polpott said:

What is this thread actually about? It seems to be built on the premise that farangs are ruder than other races. Nothing could be further from the truth. IME, in order of rudeness are:

 

1. Chinese.

 

2. Indians.

 

3. Russians.

 

English speaking farangs are way down the list.

 

Maybe you guys don't mix with others much as your social lives revolve around a barstool.

I think sometimes it's do with being new to tourism. Many Chinese are new to travel, and are one generation away from being dirt poor,  and are not adept at social niceties. 

They have no notion of personal space - two hours at a famous tourist attraction in Bangkok, and having Chinese jump queues, bump into you and just generally get in your face, turned me off them for a while. Spitting and such is not uncommon. They can be a bit too patriotic in an obnoxious way.

Most Chinese are nice though and have a good sense of humour.

If you saw some Aussies in the first wave of tourism, drinking and shouting in the 70's and 80's in Bali, it wasn't much better.

Never found Indians rude but haven't been close to many in Thailand. Some Nepalese at suit shops in Patong would drive you crazy. Suits you sir.

Russians often look surly and grim and ready for a fight but they tend to actually be polite.

When I think of it Americans tend to be polite. The old cliché of the loud American isn't as common as it once was.

I think some of the anti ACB talk is a bit unfair. I don't agree with her politics or religious beliefs but she is a high quality candidate for the bench. Though she is likely to make conservative decisions, I don't think she would do Trump's bidding in any way, shape or form once she is on the bench. 

This contrast with Trump appointees in some lower courts that are unqualified and are picked just because they will do the Republican partys' bidding.

I haven't read all the posts so I may be repeating things but I think for me the keys are:

• have at least 2 days and maybe 3 days a week when you don't do heavy exercise - you can still walk and do yoga. Mixing the exercise day to day , which it sounds like you are doing, is good too. Watch your technique when exercising e.g. swimming - not too much strain in the neck;
• each night before bed, maybe when watching TV, do a ten or fifteen minute yoga and stretching  thing. I do it and I no longer get cramps and feel OK in the morning ;
• of the exercise you do squash is probably the most risky for joints followed by running, but if you don't feel pain when doing it, it should be fine;
• limit alcohol to one or two a day as often as is possible and have one or two no alcohol days a week;
• you are lucky to be in Thailand for cheap massage; and 
• turmeric, walnuts, salmon, not sure they make a difference but they seem to be good.