Fat is a type of crazy

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5 minutes ago, zyphodb said:

 

A Lou Reed song lyric puts it perfectly, can't remember the name of the song, but it's on the Transformer album...

 

 

you still do the things that I gave up years ago"...

 

 

Such a good album. To be honest I'm still doing the things I was doing back then too. Creature of habit. One day I'll retire and move to Thailand instead of just holidays. 

Talked to her and her new partner for an hour tonight. She's pregnant. Interesting times. 

Most people agree that blacks had it bad for a long time and the only debate is whether in 2022 there is an ongoing need for positive discrimination. 

On the CRT thing most agree that teaching America's failings, along with the many triumphs and successes, is appropriate. Some of the interpretations of CRT were a bit over the top, in terms of racism in 2022,  but the idea of teaching kids balanced history is not that controversial.

On gender issues, most agree with letting people be who they want to be, but might draw the line at coming to conclusions on gender as fact e.g.  teaching young kids about what is known, or what is not known, when aspects of gender fluidity are scientifically controversial.

The point being that the difference between opinions on such topics is not that large, but those differences are often exploited, and exaggerated by politicians and the media, for personal gain. 

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm well aware of all that, but it takes more than I have to be happy living here these days. My biggest and most frightening problem is finding a DECENT place to live, which is an impossibility for thousands in NZ now. The prices have become ludicrous and the government does nothing but make noises about it.

When the only alternative option is living in a car it's hard to be happy with life. I was happy in LOS when I could live in a decent hotel for a lot less than the unsatisfactory situation I find myself in now, with no light on the horizon for hope.

You should look into public housing. I am sure in New Zealand there is a waiting list but you might get lucky now if you are happy to live a bit out of town. If not now maybe a year or two. Then you can save your money and have a holiday in Thailand. 

25 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Fear mongering, can you expand on this for at least me....I mean it is known that most sausages/hot dogs etc...are known carcinogens and cancer causing.  Not scaremongering but at least one knows what's possible.

 

https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/teach-me/who-hot-dogs-and-sausages-cause-cancer-now-what

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified processed meat as carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, to humans. It’s in the same category as cigarettes and alcohol. Think about that for a second. Cigarettes, alcohol, processed meat. All bad for you.

I think though there's a big difference between fresh premium sausages I buy in Australia which, I hope, use pretty good meat and not much preservative and they go bad like normal meat. You can tell when you cook them not much fat and not salty. A step down are normal cheap sausages, and a step down from that is hot dogs, and worse still is processed meats such as salami and cabana. 

13 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

He mentioned PCR test in his opening post, then mentioned Saliva test in a follow up post, so, the info is not clear. 
 

This is not a money making scam as implied by you. If they are positive they need o isolate somewhere. Anyone else can isolate at home. 

Tourists don’t have a home to isolate in and thus need to isolate in a location where the staff are fully vaccinated, have full PPE and isolation protocols in place ( Hospitel ).  This may seem extreme for a mildly symptomatic omicron and perhaps could be reduced to simple isolation in an SHA Plus + hotel… the costs are likely to be similar.

 

Ralf001 - what would you do with tourists who have tested positive? 
they are unable to travel so have to stay somewhere ? 
a hotel of their choice ? Putting other guests and staff at risk ? 
what is the solution ?

I concur. But as I have said before for asymptomatic cases they just need to spell it out in detail and give options so tourists know what happens and what is the worst case. 

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Bored by soccer. Maybe because it wasn't on as a kid in Australia so not hard wired. Though stopped watching sport altogether. A game like this with nothing at stake is just for the die hard fans. 

6 hours ago, LaosLover said:

Liked WH best in Altered States, Ken Russel's most left-field film and surely a GobaGlob-5 star-er. It was full of the hippie science of the day: talking dolphins, Carlos Castaneda-like mind transformation, isolation tanks.

 

It's a big cult film in Mexico. It suits their favorite plot of being transformed into a monster -and then saved by a good woman/saint. The same storyline pops up in Thai ghost soap operas.

 

Tremendous market in the historic district of Mex City where no film is too obscure to bootleg for $2.  Stuff like the uncut El Top or Buenel's documentaries. I got Andy Warhol's Trash the last time.

 

Vientiane used to have a store where if you were a repeat buyer, you could get 20 films for a $10 bill (must be in mint condition). Huge selection due to the French expat community, they had New Wave-everything. There was also a guy on the corner of Suk and Soi 11 who would get on his phone  to get you any title the next day for 50 baht.

 

The cream of bootlegs were Chinese, often in box sets like all the Kubrick films or Film Noir vol's one, two, and three. How was that ever a profitable business for anyone? It was prob some rich Chinese guy's hobby.

 

Anyone else here remember buying movies at Pan Tip Plaza?

In the 2000's, seems like yesterday,  I would walk up to the Hello Kitty stall full of fake stuff of course, and the guy would give a furtive look around then take you into his DVD shop behind a curtain. Those shops and big internet cafes came and went. 

I recall Bali had cassette shops back in the 80's too and they would have some strange best of compilations with added obscure tracks that seemed good at the time. 

9 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Thailand makes no money on the day 5 test. 

 

Positive Day 5 ATK cases can isolate at home... thats if they even bother to upload a result or just keep it quiet. 

 

It is the Day 1 PCR test which ‘could’ prove costly as Thailand over-reacts to international cases and ‘may’ place recent PCR positive arrivals in hospitel quarantine rather than letting them quarantine at home. 

You seem to know your stuff. If I test positive during that first night is there something that says   If you are sick.. this happens ... and if you are positive but not sick.. this happens. There is no 'home' in Thailand for tourists of course. 

2 hours ago, cmarshall said:

Morality and ethics have as small a role in this conflict as they had in the illegal American war on Iraq, which is to say none.  Putin is going to achieve his goal of destroying Ukraine.  He probably won't annex all of it, but Zelenskyy's successor's will think twice before they say the word "NATO" again.

 

 

It is obvious that good does not always wins against evil and that this will not have a Hollywood ending. Of course, there is no such ending for the dead, and many lives and cities are devastated. I am just saying that normal people's sense of morality is having a big impact on this battle. 

It is obvious to note that the Ukrainian reaction, and outrage around the world, is resulting in huge support to Ukraine, and a prolonged war for Putin, and is dealing a huge blow to the Russian economy. 

I guess I am just pointing out that your argument of the inevitability of a Russian victory, based on power and selective history, is being offset by people's moral outrage and this has lead to Putin becoming a much diminished figure and Russia seriously struggling to succeed in their war. 

42 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

Ukraine's freedom is simply not available.  To arm them and encourage them to provoke the Russian bear is the height of cruel stupidity.  Like a lot of people who have seen too many movies, you think this is about morality, but it's not.  It's about great power politics.  The great powers, the US, Russia, and China all pursue their own interests ruthlessly without reference to morality.  

You seem to assume Russia is going to win. You may be making the same mistake as Putin and thinking too much about politics and power and not enough about the effect morality and ethics is having on the people and soldiers on both sides. Around the world too. 

Cynicism about politics and power and human nature can only take you so far. 

Russia  has lost control and influence in neighbouring nations through it's own actions. This effort to reverse it's decrease in influence is showing to be a disaster. 

Ukraine has decided one side is better for its' interests than the other. The human toll is terrible but Ukrainians have decided that given the alternative of living under the control of a thug it is best to fight. 

It is a terrible price for Ukraine to pay for freedom.  If a gangster authoritarian tried to take over your country, that has an imperfect democracy,  what would you do. Rally the allies and fight or say best no one dies, historically we have done bad things at times, let the gangster take control.

It is hard to argue that Ukraine's move towards the west, similar to the Baltic states and other countries, is not because of the extreme bullying of Russia. Yes.. maybe there are weak parallels with Cuba but it's 2022 now.

Think what it means for Ukraine to move towards the West .. integration with other democracies, new standards to maintain, a better economy. The west in 2022 is not as bad as you may think. 

I have just looked at a few insurance policies such as AXA and they specifically exclude hotel accommodation cost due to quarantine which, as others have said, makes sense if you are not sick. Lets say I am at a hotel in Bangkok and test positive. How long do I have to quarantine. Can I pick a different hotel from my first night and can it be SHA but otherwise normal, and I can just order food from the hotel, or, I assume, it is a special booking that includes meals. Is this a category that can be searched for on booking sites. These issues have probably been discussed ad infinitum but I don't see clear rules and regulations. If I can work this out I can at least know the worst case of what can happen. 

21 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.

The point of consensus isn't to say that it is perfect or that there could not be a new scientist come along and upend previously held beliefs. The new scientist just needs proof. Consensus of scientists is surely the most likely to be correct except where the consensus leads to complacency, a barrier to new ideas, or if there is corruption. I think that is rare but others may have a different opinion.

Michael Crichton wrote some really good books. Not just Jurassic Park of course.  

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

UK military is one of the best gravy trains ........................ if you do it right.

One of my pals was a sniper 'spotter' in one of the middle east skirmishes, at age 23 he fell off a roof while taking a wee with no lights, damaged both his ankles just enough to have an excuse never to work again. Decent 'grace and favour' pension for the rest of his life, plus free accommodation forever if he wants to live in the UK.

I had a close friend who shocked us all when he joined the army at 17 when we were just thinking about girls and bands and such.

He eventually got into the SAS, I think, as he couldn't talk about it, but after 20 years service he retired, with a pension of about $50000 in the 90's increased by inflation. He had no wars to fight, and just did lots of fun stuff, if you are into that sort of thing. So he had the last laugh compared to my good self working till 59 or 60. 

I think the reason William Hurt's death may have touched some is because his acting was fairly relateable and somewhat sensitive. He seemed like an everyman dealing with life.

I wasn't a huge fan of his movies. The Accidental Tourist. So so. Kiss of the Spider Woman Not my cup of tea. The Big Chill. A bit pretentious. Children of a Lesser God. My worst date movie ever. Lost In space. Terrible movie and he was terribly miscast as John Robinson. 

All this talk of widespread scams is a bit over the top. It seemed a few months ago there were some stories of people getting hit with huge bills and hospital stays but none since. I may have missed such articles.

I think the government was likely under pressure to keep the one night Test and Go given the cost to hotels and others in it's implementation, and to keep the money coming,  but to say there is some broad scheme to have false positive tests or similar, does not seem to be borne out by the evidence at this point in time.

I'll be happy to save $150 on a PCR test at the Australian airport, and hours of waiting around, if and when I go to Thailand. 

38 minutes ago, SooKee said:

The problem with that theory is that most insurance with medical coverage will contain a clause about admission to a HOSPITAL being medically necessary.  As a lot of people here found out the hard way, that is the get out clause for the insurance company.  First and foremost the incarceration here for those with no or mild symptoms is NOT medically necessary (it's just a public health policy), secondly many of the facilities (hospitels and 'field hospitals') are not recognised hospitals.  On that basis it would be advisable for anyone to check the specifics of any policy they have or consider buying rather than assume 'they must cover it' or they might find there's a lot of 'iffs and buts'.

It would be good to get suggestions on an insurance policy that is fairly comprehensive such that you are covered for the situations you have noted. I have a ticket for May that can be rebooked but if I had that type of policy I might still give it a go.