Eleftheros

I guess that depends on whether you mean the American people, or the federal government.

Well, I guess it's a sign of the times we live in when sticking 300,000 NATO troops on Russia's border could conceivably be mentioned in the same breath as a "Partnership for Peace".

No, I haven't. They are not members of NATO as it stands, and it still all depends on Turkish President Erdogan, one of the most unstable people on the world political scene.

Well, that's one reading of the situation. Given, though that the WHO allowed itself to be guided by the Chinese state apparatus into tweeting as late as January 2020 that Covid-19 was not expected to be transmitted from human to human, I think it is the wrong reading. A better reading, I think, would be that the WHO is a basically non-functional bureaucracy led by a blithering incompetent.

Whereas in early 2020, this same Tedros was quoted in the media as follows: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-officials-note-serious-problems-in-coronavirus-response-the-world-health-organization-keeps-praising-them/2020/02/08/b663dd7c-4834-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html Like so many others at the heart of this unprecedented public health policy disaster, Tedros is looking for the lifeboats.

Since the only borders NATO has with the main European part of Russia are in Estonia and Latvia, plus a tiny bit in the deep Arctic region of Norway, it might get a bit crowded at the border. Or perhaps they can surround Kaliningrad as well, ease the crush slightly. Still leaves rather a large gap in the middle of Europe, though, but.

That rather depends on whether the theater is actually on fire, or not, surely? In fact, if you have made an informed decision that the theater is on fire, it would be criminal negligence not to warn people in the most urgent way possible.

I wish that were the case -- or had been the case over the past 3 years. Instead, we had people like Jacinda Ardern publicly saying that: "We [the government] will continue to be your single source of truth. .. Unless you hear it from us, it is not the truth." It was not just empty rhetoric, as she went on to point out that her Covid policies would create a two-tier system in New Zealand where non-vaccinated citizens did not enjoy the same rights as the vaccinated. In other words, you were not free to make your own informed decision, unless you wanted to be treated as a second-class citizen. But then, of course, the government's line was essentially that: "If you do not agree with us, then you cannot have been properly informed." That is an arrogant and hubristic attitude which regrettably still prevails in many quarters.

I was out there today, turned up on spec, picked up ticket on the door, all day 320 baht. The downside was that there are 3 zones, basically rings around the centre, with Zone A being the closest, then Zone B, and Zone C, the cheapest, up in the bleachers. Zones A & B were full, so I got the cheapest deal in Zone C, which is OK but not great. I did get to watch Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump (from a distance) plus the legendary Thai player 'James' Wattana. Other points to note: * You can buy tickets online at Thai Ticket Major. * Zone B prices are 500-600 baht, Zone A maybe 1000, but they may be sold out soon as the tournament is approaching the sharp end. * The plastic seats are designed for Thai students and are not very comfortable for the, ah, perhaps more generously proportioned farang rear ends. * Air-con bus 510 goes direct to Thamasat Uni from Victory Monument, price 25 baht, time around 1 hour.

I think he is pointing out the obvious fact that nothing that Thailand did made any difference to how many people died from Covid, and instead did enormous damage to the Thai economy and the lives of millions of ordinary Thais.

Not all of them were banned, only 10 of them. Mostly from the younger generation, while Ding is pushing 40.

Watts is not as important as torque for getting up hills - though they are related to some extent. There are so many variables. Is the motor is a hub motor (which is normal for a 3-wheeler) or a mid-drive? Hub drives usually have better torque, but are not as efficient in terms of battery use as a mid-drive. What is the weight of the thing, is it throttle only or pedal-assisted, how many gears and so on. The key thing to bear in mind is what sort of cycling you want to do. Commuting on good roads at reasonable speed carrying some goods without too much effort is very different from cycling as power-assisted exercise on varied surfaces. And surely they could supply an Li-I or Li-P battery with the same capacity but much lighter.

If you buy a custom e-bike that looks like a scooter, then it's possible you will attract attention from some snoopopathic meddlers in the police force who start going on about helmets and insurance and so on. If you buy an e-bike kit and install it onto your existing frame, so that it still looks like a bicycle, then the chance that anyone will even notice that you have a motor-assisted vehicle are minimal. Well, that's what I did, and as of today I have put 9,214km on the clock in two years' of riding in eastern Thailand, and not a single comment or question about what I am doing.

We've known about the power of natural immunity for 2,500 years, ever since Herodotus wrote about it during The Plague of Athens (446BC). It shows how remarkable the Covid panic was, that for three years this piece of ancient well-established knowledge was forgotten about, discarded, derided or ignored.

Better late than never, I suppose. Most people with an ounce more sense than a billiard ball knew those things already 3 years ago, if they knew anything about history and had any common sense.

Literally adding another dimension to the traffic madness in Bangkok would be, perhaps, a less-than-perfect development.

In next week's episode of Dimbulb Stories: "Official: The World is Flat - Follow Government Regulations or Risk Falling Off the Edge."

Trying to conflate deliberate aggressive human action aimed at the conquest of other countries, with a respiratory virus having similar effects in all countries, is beyond absurd. Really.

The pandemic did nothing to the aviation sector. Government policies in reaction to the pandemic did all the damage.

The public were asked to look out for a man with an eyepatch, and a parrot on his shoulder.

I never said it did. It's not only illegal, but perverted and revolting. I was responding to a post which suggested that it was unfair to ever blame the mothers in any way.

It is well known that when he was living in Vung Tau, Vietnam, some parents willingly offered up their children to "play" with Glitter at his house in exchange for money. Plenty more money was handed to the local police to turn a blind eye to this behavior.

Quite right. Get rid of this awful song and instead play tasteful rap lyrics from the likes of 50 Cent and Esham. "I used to love her, too bad I had to put a slug through her/Dumped her body in the trash like I never knew her/Blood runnin down the gutter into the sewer ..." After all, 'Delilah' has only been around without problems for over 50 years.

The private sector wasn't battered by the pandemic. The private sector was battered by governments' response to the pandemic.

Chuwit was on Thai TV last night, issuing a public apology on behalf of the Thai nation, as though he were the prime minister or something. He seems to be the go-to guy for whistle-blowers inside the police department, a kind of Witchsmeller Pursuivant, which must be very irritating to the higher-ups in brown. I hope he checks under his car each morning, and doesn't allow motorbikes to pull up along side him at traffic lights.