ozimoron

State control is socialism, not communism. China is bordering on fascism if not completely fascist now. .

I live ten minutes walk from soi 6 and it may as well not exist. Other than that I walk down it most mornings to buy a coffee from Amazon.

When I went to school, I learned that when a ship disappears over the horizon, no telescope would see it.

Tucker Carlson faces scrutiny over his previous defenses of alleged human trafficker Andrew Tate https://www.rawstory.com/tucker-carlson-faces-scrutiny-over-his-previous-defenses-of-alleged-human-trafficker-andrew-tate/

I stand corrected. Many countries are, including the US, Australia, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Israel, Spain, France, UK. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/29/countries-imposing-covid-rules-for-travellers-from-china

SARS was way more deadly and less contagious than covid so in a sense it did burn itself out. The measures you mentioned helped a lot and those measures are less effective for covid because it's less deadly and more contagious. Covid would probably be gone it it hadn't mutated.

I'm waiting for the first selfie on the edge.

But every developed country on the planet is also requiring tests for Chinese arrivals.

I guess you missed Sheryl's comment. This debate should be over but for the anti-vax zealots.

Easy to treat but read up on it first so as not to waste your time.

On my ignore list

answer: They don't. There are neap tides and spring tides.

Are you sure it's not scabies?

Which pandemic in history was not stopped?

Who in their right mind would claim that vaccines don't work?

Trump has already let it go. The only reason he declared his hand is the faint hope that it will protect him from prosecution. He hasn't held any rallies. His plane is likely grounded, he can't afford to maintain it. He knows what's coming down the line for him and he knows his endorsements mostly all lost in the mid terms. There is no shortage of commentators blaming him for the mid term red tide failure. Trump is toast. He just wants to blow everything up now. Actually, he always did. The Russian collusion thing isn't over either and most Americans fault him for holding Ukraine to ransom for weapons over dirt Hunter Biden. Trump is toast.

Your "poll" is not a poll, it's an anecdote. The right wing cling to them because they don't have a lot of credible evidence.

50 hours a week night shift. I use a mini computer with a decent sized an external monitor, external keyboard and mouse. I could could travel but it would be disruptive and sleep even more of a hassle. I'm mostly home so it kind of doesn't matter where I am in Thailand. Cost would be the main impetus to move. Pattaya is cheap although I notice that Thai open restaurants are charging almost double what they did pre covid.

I was younger then and had a yen for women. I was pretty green and she was brown. It was more than that but now I'm older and don't care anymore.

One of my mates is married to an Indonesian girl and has a home in Lombok but it's not for me. Food's good, that's about it.

I've modified my diet a lot in recent years and recently joined a gym and shelling out a king's ransom for a personal trainer to try to prevent health issues becoming the driving factor. I walk a lot and won't buy a bike so as not to get lazy.

I'm not driven by prostitution. Other factors take a much higher precedence. I was referring more to social interaction. No woman is free. I like Thai culture as you've probably noticed how I push back against Thai bashers. Again you are showing a predilection for telling everybody what I think.

Suggestions as to where a single man in late 60's would enjoy? I'm not fixated on girls and don't want to have a girlfriend but complete celibacy would be a problem. I'm very much a homebody and not much of a drinker. I'd like to rent a car for a month and travel all over.

Right now I'm a digital nomad working 5 nights a week so travel is difficult. I have been to CM 40 years ago and a couple of years ago. Not been to Phuket since about 1983 and not to Samui since 1979. Went to Udon a couple of years ago. I went to Kanchanburi as well i the 80's. That was nice. If I had real money I'd stay in BKK but that's out of my price range.

It would cost me at least 3 times as much in rent to stay anywhere in Australia in simple accommodation and much more in food and transport. The visa and flight costs are the only impediment to staying in Thailand. If I needed frequent health care that might tip the scales but so far not. I have some health conditions, HBP and cholesterol which essentially preclude health insurance. I live in Pattaya because it's cheap and varied with much to do and see. Everything is walking distance so I don't bother to rent a bike. Jomtien would be cheaper to rent but the transport costs would make up the difference as well as I just don't like the place. Currently I pay 15K rent and if I was on a pension or much older I'd probably pick somewhere else. No idea where. I'm single and so Pattaya suits me but I don't often go to bars and rarely drink. I have lived in the Philippines for over 20 years and over it big time. I didn't like Cambodia. I have been to Vietnam once and quite liked it but was only there a couple of weeks. Too hard to live there for an Aussie (visas). Speaking Thai helps. I think the time will come when I need to move out of Pattaya to save some rent. Staying in Nirun or Arcadia doesn't appeal.