blackprince

I raise your BS and call. Pattaya is not on the international gourmet circuit. Pattaya is possibly the most well known sex tourism destination in the world. Everyone knows that Jing.

No they didn't visit Pattaya. Which doesn't surprise me, as people don't visit Pattaya for gourmet food, and most don't go for the beach either. Bangkok is well known for gourmet food, and prior to the pandemic was neck and neck with London for many of the last few years as the top city destination. Pattaya doesn't have the genuine regional cuisine of other parts of Thailand either, for example Chiang Mai. Now if there was a Michelin guide for Full English Breakfast in Thailand, Pattaya may well get the top spot.

There is something very very seriously wrong with the Bilderberg Group I agree. But is it a global conspiracy group? My guess is no, because: 1. The attendee list is known 2. There's a range of political views there 3. There are elected political and business delegates 4. The attendee list is different every time (not 100% different but different) 5. The meeting iself isn't secret, even if the actual conversations and agenda are barred to journalists. I imagine it's like a load of lobbyists lobbying each other. And probably boring as hell. But yes there is something very seriously wrong with many of the most powerful people in the world getting together beyond the news cameras without any accountability. There is a very fine line between conspiracy and lobbying. It would help if lobbying was controlled better, strictly regulated, reduced and made 100% transparent. But the QAnon stuff is just bizarre, totally bizarre. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/02/bilderberg-pompeo-kushner-nato-stoltenberg

I agree with everything you say here TBL. The only thing I'd add is that if the west continues to fail to honour its pledge to vaccinate the undeveloped world, then the variants will continue to mutate - just as the experts have been warning for the last year. Politics is always the trade off between the short term and the long term, and the short term usually wins. The people I feel most concerned for are the 15-30 year olds. It's so important to get a grip on your life at that age - well, at least it was for me - older people like us are more or less settled I guess in one way or another. And for me personally, living 60 km from the nearest city, my life has hardly changed, despite the fact that I'm going out to work every day with the team.

I believe you mean the German-Turkish 'dream team' Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/10/ugur-sahin-and-ozlem-tureci-german-dream-team-behind-vaccine

So now the 1st world is obsessed with boosters, talk about short-sighted: " The emergence of Omicron was the “ultimate evidence” of the danger of unequal global vaccination rates, the Red Cross head, Francesco Rocca, said. “The scientific community has warned … on several occasions about the risks of very new variants in places where there is a very low rate of vaccinations,” he said. “It’s unbelievable that we are still not realising how much we are interconnected. This is why I call the Omicron variant the ultimate evidence.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/04/who-says-no-deaths-reported-from-omicron-yet-as-covid-variant-spreads

The vaccines reduce viral load, therefore a dose you pick up from a vaxxed person would be lower in viral load than a dose you pick up from an unvaxxed person (assuming everything else is the same). Consequently the risk of serious illness, hospitalisation and death is reduced. There is also the public policy issue of keeping the health services from collapse due to the larger number of serious cases that would exist in an unvaxxed population.

An interesting report, thanks. I do know that many small business traders, shops etc have chosen to close because of their concerns over covid, and probably also because they believe the tourist traffic is still too low to make it worth their while opening. The people who work in the malls have less control over whether they go to work or not.

Medicinal CBD was legalised a couple of years ago, but I can't remember the exact date. Each stage of the process is controlled: - licensing of approved growers by government department - provision of seeds by government institution - processing of crop (into oil and tincture) by government institution - distribution of oil via a doctor's consultation. Ivor biggun's statement that he obtained his oil via a doctor is conformant with the official procedure, which I confirmed with the authorities again yesterday. The process I outlined above started 2 years ago, and each stage takes time. The licensing of approved growers took several months for example. One or two people have said that they have seen the oil for sale in regular shops - I always start with the assumption that people are telling the truth, but I can say with certainty this is not the procedure as laid down by the authorities, and that it's certainly not for sale in shops in my region. Medicinal oil extract, and the plant, is treated as a controlled drug in Thailand. And the medicine is only available via oil or tincture. The programme is still in its infancy, but there are no plans for a California or Amsterdam style legalisation. If you grow it without a license or are in possession of the plant in any form you will be treated by the police and courts as a drug criminal.

As a Brit, I've always been impressed with US FOI laws. But this particular case does sound a little odd: "According to the documents filed (PDF) in a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the FDA asked a federal judge for 55 years to complete a FOIA request for data and information on the approval of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty." ttps://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/fda-requests-55-years-to-complete-foia-request-pfizer-s-covid-19-vaccine But as for the adverse events referred to by @placeholder above I have to agree with him on this occasion. In fact I posted a fairly detailed post to that effect 2 or 3 weeks ago. It took me quite a long time to do and required me not just to research and link various websites, but also to make statistical calculations based on the raw data. For some reason it got deleted, possibly because there was a spat on either side of it. Shame though. And needless to say I wasn't pleased. Consequently I would advise posters here who demand ever increasing amounts of data that this can turn into a very big waste of time.

I gave the source of my quote. I would have quoted at length but Thai language is forbidden on this forum. If you can't be bothered to check it that's up to you. I never made a claim, I stated a fact based on my experience of living here. A fact that is obviously corroborated, to say the very least, not only by my quote but your post too! I qualified in stats at Bachelor and Master's level. I have managed data science projects for leading management consultancies and household names for 30 years. There are many types of statistical metrics, I gave you a statistical metric. You have misreperented my posts repeatedly over the last week, because you have an agenda that will not be changed by data. I note you give me "likes" when what I say fits your agenda, and misrepesent my posts when what I say doesn't fit your agenda.

"Ten years of clinical trial data cannot legally be hidden from the public, US court rules" https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m832 "Typically, the standard use for NDAs ranges from 1 to 5 years. " https://lawpath.com.au/blog/how-long-should-a-non-disclosure-agreement-last I wrote a much longer post, but it got lost...sorry.

Thank you for that Crossy. This thread has been set up for Thai bashing, which is against the forum rules. If I set up a similar thread about some of the excesses in our home countries I'm fairly sure it would be closed down straight away, probably as baiting.

The really great thing about Thai drivers is they don't get out of the car and shoot or stab people who annoy them, unlike some of our wonderful former homelands. I'd be surprised if many people here do more mileage than me and I'll tell you folks I'm happier with them than I am with the few farangs I see behind the wheel of a car here.

The last time I checked about this it was possible to start at 60, and once you're in you can extend beyond the standard retirement age, just like Thais can. But these aren't hard and fast rules. If you've got a good background as a senior academic at uni in the field they're hiring for then you've got a very good chance. But circumstances change all the time of course. And academic institutions are not free of internal politics ????

Personally I'm loving it. Gives me a chance to wear some of the clothes I can't wear the rest of the year too. Are you sure those cats aren't photoshopped ????

I can't agree Rob. Unless I've misunderstood you the simplest thing for your friend would have been to go back to the US and work legally. You and i both know he's working illegally here, regardless of whether he's getting away with it or not. I've worked all over the world - legally - the Thai rules are pretty standard. For example an American can't work illegally online from the UK. A Brit can't work illegally online from the US. The same is true for all countries that I'm aware of. The best deal in the world for legal international work is the EU, but even that is restricted to member nations.

Yes, I can understand an immigration officer may have turned a blind eye to that. On the other hand I know of cases where people teaching online working for a US online outfit were deported - a large number - half a housing compound! The key issue is that it's illegal, and banking one's security here on an immigration officer turning a blind eye seems pretty immature to me, never mind the risk. Those of us with substantial roots in Thailand obviously prefer to do things properly.

Yes I do know one guy on EV who crows about his illegal work here. He's even daft enough to brag about it online. I'm not very happy about foreigners working illegally in my country of origin, and I don't see why foreigners on this forum should advocate illegal working in Thailand either. Those of us who go to the trouble of starting legal businesses, getting work permits, employing people legally etc find the proud illegals on this forum quite amusing. I have posted several cases of people getting deported for working illegally. I'm not in the least sorry to see them ago, EV or no EV

They're paying for a different class of service, same as planes, trains, insurance etc Just that some of them seem to a bit careless about reading the rules. The big problem with EV is that you cannot work here - it's basically a long term tourist visa I believe

I also worked in the NHS before I went to university, as a mental nursing assistant. What great people those nurses and matrons were. Sadly Thatcher closed that branch of the NHS down and turned everybody out into the street under the mantra "care in the community". The immediate consequence of the scheme was beggars on the streets of London. A longer term consequence was the decay of those grand old Victorian buildings that housed the mental hospitals; then the petty criminals moved in to strip lead from the roofs and any other materials they could sell. Care in the community meant dumping the mentally unwell into the community and numerous murders occurred as a result. Perhaps you rememeber the headline cases. Still, the private landlords benefitted from the social security payouts. Thatcher of course initiated the privatisation of the health service by stealth. Still in full swing last year as we see Tory cronies pocketing a large chunk of the billions of taxpayers money spent on private untendered contracts for covid PPE and Testing. As ever, privatisation meant socialising the risk and privatising the benefits. Inquiries are pending. Thatcher always wanted a "return to Victorian values", and boy has she succeeded - poverty now at levels not seen since the Victorian age. Child poverty at record levels, better send them back up the chimneys I guess, or put them in the poor house.

I didn't say his lifetime's work work means nothing or that these two people shouldn't be together. I'm just digging into the notion of what "consenting adults" really means. We all have to work (well most of us anyway), but some of us are lucky enough to live in countries where we have access to education and opportunities. This young woman didn't have that luck (I'm assuming). I've been sat in restaurants enjoying a beautiful afternoon, relaxing, life is good. A couple of sexpats sit down at a table nearby and start discussing their exploits with underage girls (their words). Life suddenly doesn't feel so good. It's happened more than once. Whatever this guy is doing, this girl is of age anyway. Good luck to them.

That's a bit of a generalisation about who owns the MSM. The most well known owners of MSM like Murdoch are hard core right. The Guardian is owned by an independet trust, its editorial content is its own affair. The BBC is a public broadcaster with a charter to ensure independence. But apart from that many msm outlets have a variety of writers who have a variety of views. How about investigative journalism? How about Oxford Uni stipulating that its IP for the AZ vaccine must be waived until the pandemic is under control? The idea that all the MSM is biased towards the vaccine just doesn't hold up.

Not sure, what do you think? Assuming his wrists work he has access to sex. At 77 maybe he's hiring a nurse?