blackprince

Consenting adults implies a relationship of equals. But would she consent if she had money herself? When 1 of the parties is coerced by financial circumstance, and the other party is paying for the relationship, either by the hour, or by the decade etc, that doesn't suggest a relationship of equals. It's still coercion of sorts. Put more simply. If the young woman in the pic had money would she be with the guy in the pic? Or, if the guy in the pic had no money, would the young woman be interested? Maybe, love works miracles they say. Or maybe not.

Deep Sleep by Phutawan is a ready mixed spray based on essential oils. It was recommended to me by a doctor. I've been using it for a year. It really does the job. Spray it on the side edge of your pillowcase to avoid eye contact while you're asleep. https://www.lazada.co.th/tag/phutawan-deep-sleep/

Portugal's a beautiful place and easy for EU citizens. But for non EU citizens (including Brits these days) I would guess the admin is much greater than in Thailand.

At last Ivor. We are in agreement. I guess you've seen bottles of low alcohol beer? I believe the % is lower than 1.7, but I think you get my drift - low alcohol beer is indeed beer, is it strong enough to get drunk - ahem no lol ???? A CBD plant could easily give an oil extract of 1.7% THC, the CBD constituent of that extract would be a much greater %age. "did IvorBiggun2 get stoned m'lud?" "No, not in our expert judgement on 1.7% Save him from the gallows." Phew. THC proper is very strong - it's concentrated THC chemical extract. Comparable let's say to rubbing alcohol @99% The THC seed and its derivatives are not legal in Thailand. Now, why did it get labelled as THC when it's not the THC that any recreational user would understand? Marketing perhaps? (after all so many farangs here are closet recreationalists as this thread has shown, maybe they're not even in the closet about it - that's their business). A mistake perhaps? after all Thai script & Roman script are very different. Frankly I don't care. And as you've said that it gave you no effect anyway - medicinal or recreational, I'm somewhat bemused that you've laboured this issue so long. But that's your business. Can we finally put this to bed now, please. PS a vision in a dream. A Fragment. Kubla Kahn. An extract from Coleridge's poem chronicling his descent into opiun addiction (laudanum) abandon hope, all ye who enter here In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round; And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery......

Earlier today I mentioned the correlation between PTSD and ICU in the context of covid. Imagine my suprise when the Guardian published a story about PTSD and covid a couple of hours later. Serendepity or what! "The NHS forecasts that nationally, there will be 230,000 new cases of PTSD as a result of Covid-19." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/07/covid-ptsd-cases-mental-health-crisis-early-intervention-trauma-uk

Reuters fact check agrees with you. Fact Check-Vaccinated people in Britain are not dying at a higher rate than the unvaccinated "The number of COVID-19 deaths, when adjusted proportionally to show the rate per 100,000 people, is higher in the unvaccinated population than the vaccinated population." https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-coronavirus-britain-idUSL1N2RP28I

The issue is not merely the mortality rate, which is low for most age groups under 60 years, say. There are 2 other issues: 1. The overloading of national health services with covid cases that are not fatal. Over the last year we have already seen the largest national health service in the world - the UK's NHS - on the verge of overload 2 times and a 3rd is imminent. In the last 2 months alone "UK hospitals have cancelled at least 13,000 operations over the last two months as they struggle to cope with record demand for NHS care and people sick with Covid-19." 2. Long covid, which can be debilitating, has been estimated to affect 30-50% of cases discharged from hospital. These people require ongoing outpatient care. I've linked the articles many times, so I hope you'll forgive me if I don't do it again. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/dec/07/doctors-report-13000-cancelled-operations-in-uk-over-two-months

I've answered this question many times Ivor. Here goes again. Cannabis is a plant that can be said to have 2 main varieties - CBD and THC. Oil can be extracted from either. CBD: The production of CBD for medicinal purposes (won't get you high) was legalised in Thailand nearly 2 years ago. But production didn't start immediately of course: growers had to be licensed, authorised seeds had to be distributed by the authorities, etc. The organic farm I live on was in the first group of farms to be licensed. THC THC is an illegal recreational drug in Thailand. The troll that keeps bragging about how he's an expert grower of THC is not doing that legally in Thailand. If he's doing it in Thailand at all I hope he's prepared for a long stretch at the Bangkok Hilton - that'd be the notorious prison, not the hotel. You claim you took THC but felt nothing. One thing the troll and I would agree on therefore is that you definitely did not take THC. Your bottle may have said THC on the outside, but it would have had only tiny traces of THC in it at best, because as I've mentioned umpteen times, the CBD variety has very small traces of THC (and vice versa), not enough to get stoned. If you're so keen to try THC or THC ganja, get a plane to Amsterdam or anwhere else that has been recommended on this thread. Or alternatively PM the troll and ask to buy some illegal THC from him, and maybe you'll enjoy the same suite at the Bangkok Hilton. Though I doubt if he actually lives in Thailand anyway. He sounds like a wannabe skunk lord.

This time I got the right link! And I do not claim that it presents a strong case for not getting a vaccine, so please no abuse. "A higher-than-usual number of cases of a type of heart inflammation has been reported following Covid-19 vaccination, especially among young men following their second dose of an mRNA vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday." https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/evidence-grows-stronger-covid-vaccine-link-heart-issue-cdc-says-n1270339 Personally, unless I had a heart problem I wouldn't worry about the covid vaccine. I was delighted to get 2 pfizer doses through my government hospital here in Thailand after the private hospital had to cancel several appointments. And I've just come out or a 2 hour meeting in a ventilated room where I was wearing 2 masks as I always do. I regard masks and vaccines very much as belt and braces. The masks do a good job in keeping it out of my system, and the vaccine does a good job in helping me to stay alive if anything gets through the mask. Last year I spent a week in ICU here in Thailand (not covid related). It was the first time I had ever been in hospital for treatment in my life. I do not recommend ICU to anyone, many people suffer PTSD afterwards - it's well documented. Fortunately I didn't get PTSD, but I did get vivid dreams that at the time I thought were reality - this is very common. I'm sure a really invasive procedure with a ventilator for covid would be excruciating. That's why I stay ultra safe. But I try not impose my views on other people. Peace all. I've got drive now. Have a good day.

Quite right. That was a mistake due to a rushed post during a coffee break at work. Thanks for pointing it out.

Harvard Medical School doesn't think you're crazy either Mac (Nov 1 2021): "In one of the largest studies of its kind to date, researchers found strong evidence that heart attack and stroke risk rises sharply in the weeks following a COVID-19 diagnosis." https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/covid-19-diagnosis-raises-risk-of-heart-attack-stroke PS Mick McManus v Johnny Kwango, London, late 60s with my mum, she loved the wrestling!

Whatever it sounds like to you Jing it's absolutely true sir. None of the Thais I know are anti-vaxx, they are all keen to get a western made vaccine, but they are all a bit reticent about sino, some of them simply refuse to have sino. Quite a few are also reticent about AZ because (1) many have experienced body pain that has kept them off work for 2 or 3 days including several young women I work with (2) they believe it's made in Thailand - and of course some of it is, thanks to Oxford University stipulating that its intellectual property should be freely available until the pandemic is under control. I have tried to find stats about how much of the AZ in Thailand is made here and how much is made in the west, but I have not been able to find such stats. We 1st worlders by origin are immensely lucky in many ways, not least of all our governments are the most transparent in the word. All sorts of stats that we take for granted, for example on the economy or healthcare are not available in other parts of the world, or not available in such detail, or less reliable. Believe me, I know our 1st world governments have problems too, but let's not go there. I know many Thais, I work with Thais, my family is Thai, there is only one farang in my area (apart from me) - his family is also Thai. Anyway, my coffee break is over. I need to get back to work. Cheers Jing.

I can only talk about the families I know in the absence of stats. That's why the metric I suggested is a better one. It's not a perfect metric, but in the absence of stats it's the best I can offer. We statisticians used to call this a "heuristic", but that term has become overloaded with all sorts of other meanings from other professional domains, some of them quite pejorative, so I hesitate to use it. I'm about to go into a room full of Thai colleagues, half of whom are holding out for a western vaccine, the other half have taken a sino - you'll be pleased to know they are all very much alive! have a good day.

Jeff I'm a statistician at BSc & MA level, and have managed data science projects for decades. As a data science professional I am aware of the limitations of anecdotal evidence, but sometimes that's all we have, as in the case of sino deaths in Thailand. By the way, the metric you suggest would not be the correct metric in this particular case anyway. The correct metric would be the number of people in the families I know that received a sino vaccine v the number of people in the families I know that died within a few days of a sino vaccine. I know a senior research doctor here who has tracked the results more formally, but I won't post them as she is unwilling to publish them herself, for reasons that you can perhaps guess at. If you want to conduct a full exploration of sino related deaths in Thailand, be my guest, but you'll find it very hard for fairly obvious reasons - the stats, if they exist, have not been published. I have a lot of work to do this morning, so I won't have time for fighting about this, and frankly I have no interest in doing so either. One final thing, all of the Thai people I know, and believe me that's a large number, would be happy to take a western made vaccine. They are not anti vaxx, but they have a far greater understanding of their society than you, or me for that matter. Cheers mate.

I am talking about an organic farm in Thailand which has been producing for over 50 years. I am also talking about the legal medicinal CBD industry in Thailand, which our farm is part of. You on the other hand have only abused people here, and clearly know nothing about the legal medicinal CBD industry in Thailand.

I said Thai people and families I know Jing, not people I hear about on Facebook. I never use Facebook actually. Many of the culture warriors here don't actually live in Thailand, that's why they have nothing to say about Thailand, but those of us who not only live in Thailand, but who are also integrated into Thai society rather than living in the various expat enclaves, do have a lot of experience that may not fit into the tidy binaries of the culture war. If it had been just one death, I'd have said nothing about it, but it's now 6 deaths just in the families of people I know. I even hesitated to post it here, as I expected comments such as yours, but what I post is true.

They do Jeff. And honestly I see trolls on both side of the schism. I don't class you as one of them, even though we occasionally have different opinions which I hope we can continue to discuss in a civilised and tolerant manner ????

I'm not sure I'd go quite as far as that, the thread has opened up a lot of interesting debate; but as I posted earlier, the OP divides the world into 2 camps: QAnon and Angels. QAnon would probably divide the world into 2 camps also: QAnon and Devils. I do hope I'm not the only one here who sees the irony.

"The Serpent is a British crime drama serial developed by Mammoth Screen and commissioned by the BBC. The eight-part limited series is a co-production between BBC One and Netflix. It is based on the crimes of serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who murdered young tourists from 1975 to 1976." Personally I thought the Serpent's sets and locations were excellent even though I never visited Thailand in the 70s. I just gave 2 examples of light entertainment, but there's so much more. I have the box set of the complete dramatic works of Shakespeare that was produced and broadcast on the BBC a few decades ago. Interesting to see some of those well known thespians preserved in aspic lol. No-one else has ever done that. Shakespeare is another fantastic British brand, kids and adults all over the world know about him and Rome & Juliet ???? What a shame Britain in general doesn't aspire to such high ideals. I even recently downloaded Jonathan Creek lol, nice quirky stuff 555

Sorry to hear that. I haven't spent a lot of time on the various websites, but I was looking at doing a PhD programme a while back for fun lol to keep the old grey matter ticking over, and I din't find any problems myself, and they were super-responsive on email. Just pick the unis you are interested in or the faculties, if you don't get any joy from email, try phoning. That's all I can suggest really. Cheers.

Yes I left the UK officially 25 years ago, but I'd been working internationally for 10 years prior to that. I'm well under 75 and I hope covid buggers off for good soon so I can enjoy the remains of my long extended youth lol. But about the BBC. I started complaining to myself about the BBC in the late 70s - mainly I found the luvviness irritating. But as I've got older I've really come to appreciate it more and more. I know the license fee is a pain for some retirees, and I know that some people think the internet, netflix etc has made the BBC redundant, and obviously media outlets like The Telegraph hate the BBC for political reasons. But it provides so much to the world, I really believe that. It's the best British brand bar none. Everyone in the world knows about it. I like hollywood, netflix etc but nobody does the more serious stuff better than the BBC; the world service; the radio channels, even some of the light entertainment... Line of Duty, the fairly recent cop series The Serpent Just because a stranger is charming and well-dressed, it doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous. Set in the mid-1970s, The Serpent is based on the crimes of serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who murdered young tourists traveling through Thailand. and so much more... My only complaint about the BBC nowadays is that there isn't much on it that caters to the highly educated. But the world is a far better place for it. There's not a huge amount that makes me feel good about being British, but the BBC and the English language are way up there.

Yes it's possible depending on your experience and education, but of course one does need to have a good fit for what they're looking for. The availability of current open positions for foreigners is a different matter. I'm not aware of any general resource for such vacancies, but the unis often do advertise such positions on their individual web sites.

I know of 5 or 6 cases where people in Thailand have died within a few days of a sino vaccine, yet every Thai I know and their families would be happy to receive a vaccine made in the west.

I'm sure you have a good point BM. I was offered a job at the BBC when I was about 20, but to be honest I didn't like the luvvies much on a personal basis, so I declined. Being a working class guy at the time I found them patronising and privileged, even though I shared 70-80% of their political views. But can I focus on the word "dominated". Would you say the UK media is more or less dominated by the security forces than, say, in Russsia, China, Oz, France, the USA? I'm not at all a sinophobe, but having just finished a long investigative journalism book on the CCP and its tentacles, I find it hard to believe that anyone can match that, except maybe the totalitarian states of 40s or 50s Europe.

May I respond? I am from the UK (a long time ago admittedly). In the UK the media is definitely not dominated by the left. Of the majors, the Guardian is progressive liberal left, ditto the Independent, the Daily Mirror is more traditional working class left. Just about everything else is right wing. Not only right wing but often controlled by billionaires with specific agendas - eg climate denial, anti-refugee, anti-EU, pro deregulation of the City (and consequently money laundering, tax evasion), pro handouts and tax deductions for certain business sectors. The right wing think that the BBC is left wing, and the left wing think that the BBC is right wing. Personally I think the BBC is the most reliable source in the world - it's a public broadcasting medium which has a charter to inform and educate, it has a watchdog to ensure neutrality and assess complaints from left and right. It features factual reporting, not lengthy opinion pieces. Sadly the right wing want to close it down. The Telegraph has been running that campaign for a long time. I've never read The Mail, but I would be surprised if it's not trying to close the BBC down too. It's true that the academic world in general leans to the liberal progressive side of things, but this is the consequence of education, not indoctrination. thanks for reading.