AndreasHG

It's sad to see people leaving their country to escape dictatorship, repression and war. I wonder if Thailand is the right place to seek shelter from the authoritarian rulers of the PRC, of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, etc. Recent news about the Cambodian MP shot dead in Bangkok, or extrajudicial extraditions from Thailand to neighboring countries, or evidence that Thai authorities have assisted neighboring governments to take unlawful actions against refugees, are not reassuring. I hope Thailand comes to its senses and shows compassion, or karuna, a core Buddhist value, a feeling of concern for others that should motivate people to help those suffering, including those suffering from injustice in their homeland. Bangkok Post - Thailand ‘forcibly’ deports six Cambodian activists (https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2911210/thailand-forcibly-deports-six-cambodian-activists) Bangkok Post - Court approves extradition of Vietnamese activist (https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2877713/court-approves-extradition-of-vietnamese-activist)

I agree: Truly amazing, considering how inept and corrupt the military and civilians who control the levers of power in Russia are. And this despite Russia, a country covering a total area being about 28 times larger than Ukraine's, with a population which is 3.25 times bigger than Ukraine's, and a GDP per capita 1.81 times higher than Ukraine's, being a real Goliath when compared to the Ukrainian David. And besides being 'amazing', Putin's "victory" looks everyday more like a Pyrrhus' victory. Pyrrhus, king of the Epirus, defeated the Romans at Asculum in Apulia in 279 B.C.E., suffering so high losses that he is said to have told those who congratulated him, “One more such victory and Pyrrhus is undone”. What Putin has won so far are an area of Ukraine his army has destroyed to such an extent, that it will take a fortune to rebuild it and take it back to pre-war life conditions (a fortune that Russia doesn't have), and the need to resort to the help of a disaster-stricken nations like North Korea and Iran to keep the Russian army afloat. And if this is what the word 'victory' means in the language spoken in Russia, I wonder what the words 'defeat' and 'humiliation' mean. Because Putin's supposed "victory" in my native language is called defeat and humiliation.

From Wikipedia: "Robinson served four prison terms between 2005 and 2019. In 2013, he illegally entered the United States using a friend's passport. In 2018, he violated a court order by publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering court. Prior to sentencing, he appeared on the American far-right website InfoWars to appeal for political asylum in the US. In 2021, he was subjected to a five-year stalking prevention order for harassing journalist Lizzie Dearden and her partner. In 2021, he was found to have libelled a 15-year-old refugee at a school in Huddersfield and was ordered to pay £100,000 plus legal costs. After breaching an injunction about repeating the libel, Robinson was sentenced to 18 months in prison. In June 2022 Robinson admitted gambling away £100,000 before declaring bankruptcy. He also said he owed an estimated £160,000 to HM Revenue and Customs. The Times said that he owes in the region of £2,000,000 to his creditors, and is the subject of a HMRC investigation over unpaid taxes."

Your choice of conversational-partners says a lot about who and what you are.

On November 19th, Argentina elected a new president, the libertarian populist Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances). He inherited a difficult legacy from the previous Peronist government with hyperinflation of 211% in 2023, a recession of 1.6% and a high poverty rate of 45%. After one year in power, it's time to draw a first assessment of the results obtained by this atypical politician, made famous for the electoral campaign fought with chainsaw blows. These are Milei's most relevant achievements: Decline in inflation: on a monthly basis (as at October), inflation now stands at around 2.7%, or 37.7% per year. Budget surpluses: As soon as he took office, Milei began to reduce state spending by abolishing or merging ministries and subordinate authorities. Since January, the new government has been able to achieve a budget surplus every month (for the first time since 2008), although a slight deficit was recorded again in July, which the government explained with seasonally higher expenditure. Foreign investments friendly legislation: Argentina is not only rich in agricultural products, but also has attractive conditions for investments in the energy and raw materials sector. The country has considerable gas and hydrogen reserves and favorable climatic conditions for renewable energies as well as valuable raw materials, particularly lithium. Milei launched the investment promotion package RIGI, which includes 30-year tax concessions and foreign trade facilitation for larger investments (over USD 200 million) in selected sectors. Since the law came into force in July, the first foreign companies have already announced investments. Relaxation of tenancy law: Milei introduced a comprehensive liberalization of tenancy law. Under the previous Peronist government, rental agreements were subject to numerous restrictions. In view of these restrictions, many landlords refrained from putting their apartments on the market, and the demand for apartments far exceeded the available supply. Milei's government scrapped previous regulation and liberalized the tenancy law: terms and currency can now be freely negotiated between the tenants, often now on a quarterly basis and in US dollar. The relevant real estate portals immediately recorded more than double the number of apartments on offer. But Milei's reforms do not stop here. In an article published today by the Financial Times, the author (Ciara Nugent, link below) describes how "Javier Milei has begun wrenching open Argentina’s protectionist economy, slashing tariffs in a bid to beat down high prices on everything from air fryers to electronics." "A Black & Decker air fryer that sells for $100 in the US retails for $289 in Argentina, according to listings on online retailers. A Zara slip dress that costs $25 in the US sells for $67 in the country, while an Apple iPhone 15 on sale for $799 in the US costs $2,800." Milei's government not only "has slashed tariffs on dozens of products", but has got rid of most of the red tape that was an obstacle to the import of goods, such as "a rule that required representatives of local manufacturers to give approval for some imports from their foreign rivals." Milei is now switching his focus on Mercosur, which he called a "prison" because it imposes common tariffs for all imported goods into the area of up to 20%. Given the surprisingly positive results obtained by the Milei government in the first year of its mandate, which aroused the admiration of Donald Trump and Elon Musk among the others, we can only look with optimism at the new battle for cuts or for the abolition of import duties, to which Milei has committed starting from 2025. https://www.ft.com/content/e3a9b2ee-c5f4-480a-9ae4-70d94492d57b

You mean a two weeks 'Special Operation', don't you? That is what has been sold to the Russian public opinion. A special operation that even the Moscow police department could have easily carried out without encountering any significant resistance. Instead, three years and almost half a million Russian casualties later ...

Please read also the text following the one you copied and pasted: "Because of the timing of the announcement, we will not be able to deliver Pension Age Winter Heating Payment in 2024. Instead, DWP will pay it on our behalf."

Musk justifies his use of ketamine to treat depression. No matter the reason, this addiction can be the root cause of his temperamental behavior.

Ketamine addiction makes people behave erratically, in a kind of 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' fashion. Don't judge him too harshly. Be understanding.

Sorry, but this is not what the Scottish government states in its website: Pension Age Winter Heating Payment - mygov.scot https://www.mygov.scot/pension-age-winter-heating-payment#:~:text=If you're eligible,be made in December 2024. "You’ll get a letter in November or December telling you how much you’ll be paid. Most payments will be made in December 2024."

Oh dear: do you have any idea of what it takes to get the German passport to asylum seekers settled in Germany? Britons insularity is surprising. It seems that you spend the whole time closely watching your own d**k, and lose sight of the rest of the world, except the USA of course, I guess because they are just too big to ignore. Asylum seekers can become naturalized German citizens after five years of legal residence in Germany: Applicants must demonstrate that they are well integrated into German society. This can be shown by having outstanding educational or professional degrees, being involved in volunteering, or speaking German at a level above B1. Otherwise, nein, nada, niet, no UE German Passport for the asylum seekers. Now, let me ask you a second question? Why would an asylum seeker leave a country like Germany, offering a GDP per capita of €51,304, once they are integrated and speak the local language, to move to start all over again in a country having a GDP per capita of €48,441? The only rational reason is that, in the UK, the Sharia law is one of the law of the land. It is regularly enforced by Sharia Courts, whose verdicts are binding for Muslims living in the UK. And this is yet another peculiar consequence of the British insularity.

Thak you for being honest. I immediately understood you had a vested interest in promoting TCL, but I had no evidence to support my assumption. I have no vested interest. I am not in the AC business, and I am not a shareholder of any of the companies I mentioned above. My recommendation to the readers herewith is, if they really care about quality, to stay clear of Chinese designed and made units, including TCL. To you my recommendation is to introduce a two-or-three-tiers offering, something the like of good, better, and best. The Thai market is maturing. Customers are getting more experienced, and they start appreciating differences that first time users do not appreciate. If you don't see the need to expand your company offering to include also upmarket solutions now, you may soon. Actually, for your company, it may become a matter of survival, when the market finally really becomes mature. I have seen this trend in Japan first, in Europe thereafter, and in Latin America and Southeast Asia since a while.

I doubt the EU will ever collapse. What has happened and is still happening in the UK, starting from immigration, is so appalling that it has dissuaded the rest of Europe from following suit. Continental Europeans must be grateful to the United Kingdom for having voluntarily acted as a guinea pig. With regards to Europe, the last three years have been exceptionally difficult because the continent is consumed by a criminal and costly war, started by Putin, and that Putin cannot be allowed to win. For next year the IMF foresees an improvement for the EU as a whole, especially for Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Poland, Greece, Romania, Sweden, Finland, Checz Republic, Hungary, which are expected to post a GDP growth in line or higher than the USA (see link below). And this is the thing that EU haters tend to forget. The EU is a bloc with some common regulations, but also a large degree of discretion granted to national governments with regard to the vast majority of rules that regulate the economic activity in the individual states and more. The result is that there are EU countries that outperform compared to international standards, and countries that end up crushed by the competition. Textbook examples are Ireland and the United Kingdom: they joined the EU almost at the same time (1972 and 1973). The Irish per capita GDP in 1972 was US$2,080, while the UK per capita GDP was 50% higher, or US$3.030 in the same year. In 2016, year of the Brexit referendum, the Irish per capita GDP was US$62,784, or 50% higher than the UK one, equal to US$40,985. The UK has not been able to benefit from the EU membership as Ireland and many other countries did. And when considering this specific and humiliating aspect (the UK was once the colonial power asserting its domain over poor Ireland), Brexit was probably the only sensible choice left to the UK Below the links to the data in my post: https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/EU/EURO/EUQ/NMQ https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/IRL/ireland/gdp-per-capita https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/GBR/united-kingdom/gdp-per-capita

It would have been notable if the brand-new TLC inverter units had not performed better than the 12-year-old fixed speed MELCO units. Try comparing any 12 years old Toyota diesel pick-up truck with any brand-new electric car and see if you get a different result.

Your comment is nonsense. Are you really so naive as to believe that all inverter air-conditioners are the same, just because the manufacturers print an "Inverter" label on their boxes? You always get what you pay for. And TLC units are among the cheapest units you can buy, also when comparing its prices only with Chinese competitors. That's it.

I agree with the second comment. It’s impossible to restore Russia to its former glory for the simple reason it has never been neither glorious nor great. The most Russia has ever been is huge. An immense landmass sparsely populated by people mostly living in misery.

Not in Scotland!

The installation cost is not significantly affected by the size of the unit. It varies based on the complexity of the installation (pipe length, finish, etc.). Regarding the cooling capacity, shops usually do not take any risks and recommend the capacity required in the worst possible scenario (large windows, south facing, exposed to direct sunlight, poor insulation, daytime operation, etc.). f your room does not have such extreme conditions, it is better to choose a unit with a lower capacity. Oversizing the unit attenuates or negates the benefits of the inverter. Each inverter operates within a certain range around its rated capacity (e.g. 30% to 110%). If the nominal capacity of the unit is too high and the typical heat load is close to the minimum capacity of the inverter, the unit does not modulate but operates as an On/Off unit, turning the compressor on and off instead of slowing it down. Don't buy Chinese stuff. Choose renowned brands (Mitsubishi Electric, Daikin, Carrier, Toshiba and Panasonic). The best inverter units (those which can provide the highest comfort and energy efficiency) are those with the widest modulation range. Some of these brands' top of the line units are equipped with twin rotary compressors, capable of rotating at a very wide range of RPM, without emitting excessive vibrations. The advantages offered by a good inverter (wide RPM range) are numerous: the continuous and regular operation of the compressor improves the thermal comfort, the energy efficiency, reduces the mechanical and thermal stress on the AC components boosting its reliability, and reduces the noise. Cheap inverters units (in name only) have narrow modulation ranges (e.g. 70%-100% of the nominal capacity). They are marketed as inverters, but they actually behave most of the time as cheap fix-speed units, continuously switching their compressor On and Off to regulate the temperature.

Donald Trump has neither forgotten nor forgiven the United Kingdom for the 11 windmills installed right in front his golf resort in Aberdeenshire. in 2015, the UK's Supreme Court judges delivered a unanimous ruling, dismissing Donald Trump's objection to the then proposed offshore wind farm. In 2019, the judges ruled that the Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd had to pay the legal bills incurred by the Scottish government.

In an interview broadcast earlier on Sunday, Farage told the BBC that the fact that Musk "supports me politically and supports Reform doesn't mean I have to agree with every single statement he makes". Elon Musk's response didn't take long to wait: In a post on his social media site X, Musk wrote "The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn't have what it takes" - but did not explain his reasoning.

It's fascinating how people can reduce a complex issue to a simplistic slogan. It's true: we need more skilled immigrants. But then we also need unskilled immigrants to cater their needs. Hosting more skilled immigrants calls for more unskilled ones, required to cook their burgers, serve them in restaurants and bars, cook their favorite ethnic food, pick the fruits and vegetables they eat, dry clean their clothes, and also more criminals to sell them the cocaine they consume, provide the sex-services they occasionally need, etc. The alternative is for American-born to perform the unskilled jobs needed to support the high standard of living of skilled immigrants. At present however the opposite is usually true: Americans more often than not perform skilled, high-paying jobs, while unskilled, low-paying jobs are left to unskilled immigrants.

Misha, you have been already banned from a number of posts as a Troll: do you really want to start all over again?

Either they do it for money, or they are brainwashed idiots. No... ...wait, yeah, none can be such an idiot.

Nice try troll. This is exactly what the US offered Zelensky assuming that the Ukrainian Army was incapable of resisting. Boy if they where wrong! Google has no mercy for liar like you. Слава україні

Suella Braverman teaches geography lessons for the world to benefit 😀.