BusyB

They are grouping together as free trade, genuine free speech and democratic adherents to thwart Trump's bullying and cowardice. Most of the world will grow closer together and the US will be left outside. The structures are all there. The US has just left them. Belt and Road is all basically in place for global logistics. Canada has openly declared its response to Trump's threats and the nation has just voted accordingly. Well done America: you got Brexit and Truss in one fell swoop. And remember, even if you didn't vote for the avaricious Trump tyranny, you obviously didn't do enough to stop it. As they say in accounting: you either created it, allowed it, or promoted it. Working out just what you are responsible for is the first step to changing things.

Are you kidding? Yeah, sure, here hold it for a while if you need to - like some fotos of it? Look after it while I get me a drink from 7-11 here will ya? Back in a tick ... Wow! Where I come from we call that tuition fees. Though I have to admit sheepishly that I and a pal, mesmerized by a con artist, handed over almost all our cash for 'safekeeping' in Singapore. OK, I was only 17 dammit! The funny thing was that when he'd made his pitch my pal and I managed to convince each other it was a good idea. He barely needed to say anything. An easy payday for him - he'd spotted us a mile away. Even today I find that episode excruciatingly embarrassing. Glad it happened at such a young age. Tuition fees for life. Hope those Israelis cop on as well.

True. Noone can be expected to play the hero, many of us are far too old for that anyway. But a call to the police shouldn't be too much to ask when someone's screaming for help.

Could hold forth on it for hours but I think 2 things: 1. Social media has given a megaphone to even the dimmest and the most evil. 2. Like religion, if science is too hard then why not learn a few fairy tales instead? They're much easier to remember and can make you sound just as impressive as any 'expert' that 'the sheeple' agree with. You can even be called 'sheeple' on AN no less. It attracts losers who fancy themselves as 'freedom fighters' and 'pioneers' of some kind of 'alternative facts'. They are anything but. Just watch a couple of 'sovereign citizens' on YouTube giving their passive aggressive lip to traffic cops. You can tell by their vocabulary, voice patterns and body language they'd never dare argue with a Moscow, Beijing or a Minsk cop like that. It only works with disciplined western democratically trained cops who have a mandate not to assault smart a$$35, and they live in a justice system that won't ship them off to the Gulag for a year or two. Navalnies they are definitely not. By the way, I am aware not all cops behave in a 'western democratically trained' fashion. But most do. I am also not suggesting 'sovcits' should have their heads caved in and be shipped off to the Gulag. I'm merely pointing out that free societies sometimes have to contend with real trash and that democracy is not for weak nerves or the mentally lame. That's why angry, scared little people always try to undermine it. They don't understand it and it scares them. Conspiracy theory and tyranny is easier. For the leaders and the led. But then maybe I'm just a sheeple.

Can be. Can be. The only question is will you take part in the toxicity?

I remember an American uncle of mine telling me as I was shaping up for some adolescent punch up or other, ''No matter how big you are, there's always someone bigger.'' That's what. the US is beginning to find out as it faces off against a) China and b) the rest of the genuinely free world (its former allies). Trump will also find that out when he is removed either overtly or covertly. To be replaced by Vance/Thiel. That is the basic plan. For now Trump seems to be useful. At the latest when he is looking serious about a third term, Thiel et al will remove him because they want to appear constitutional. Whenever that moment comes, Project 2025 will be implemented both effectively and competently, and in its entirety, and you will never get your democracy (lamentable as it was) back. That is clearly their playbook.

Look what happened to Turkey's lira when Erdogan sacked his central bank chief.

Mmhhh... Sounds familiar, where have I seen all that again recently?

Nicely said. Thank you. I hope so. And indeed I know I've managed to do some good and pass some learning on. But I will certainly be forgotten in the long run. And any learning I made is available to pretty much everyone - so as such I remain supernumerary and meaningless. A drop of water that will return to the ocean and be vaporized in a few million years. I'm fine with that. It's reality. And most of it is fun - even the learning bits.

Naah, it's about processing alcohol into something less toxic.

True. Your life only has the meaning you give it yourself. And it remains even then meaningless in the grand scale of things. Roy Batty summed it up exquisitely and I've lived like that ever since. Unfortunately that makes me something of a Darwinian failure since I haven't (to my knowledge) passed my excellent genes on down the line. And all I've seen and learned and done will be gone like tears in the rain.

I think ''WHAT?!'' is more appropriate ... Utter balderdash.

Ominous twice in one paragraph no less. I'll leave it at that 😄

This! You are doing yourself and everyone else a disservice by trying to learn a skill like diving without complete focus on the tasks at hand. And probably taking miserable pix at the same time. Very much the case with diving as with all other things including flying and driving and most professional qualifications. Passing the test means you've demonstrated enough competence to actually start learning properly without posing too much of a danger to yourself and others. It definitely doesn't mean you can do it. Spoken after some hair raising learning experiences, much luck and assistance over 6 decades 555

Had enough of experts ...

Nothing stops a recreational diver from buying a camera and taking it down with them on any dive without paying for an underwater photo course. AFTER they've finished basic training. Obviously the results won't be as good as if they're trained by professional instructors but that's their business. 'Rescue qualified' means I've honed some skills and been trained in helping others in difficulty because I didn't want to have to look on helplessly while someone drowns. (That's what it's about: not drowning.) I have enough knowledge and experience to post the comment I did. Whilst by no means a pro, I am aware of the dangers and can help novices at least till the pros get there. I have already saved one life (albeit before the rescue course). That qualification is the single best thing I did in diving - really made everything easier afterwards 'cos they really pushed me hard for the first time. The real McCoy and no longer daydreaming among the fishies. I'd recommend it to anyone who's got the Advanced course. It is so easy to get into trouble and nature and physics can be very unforgiving. Most understand that.

Because they should both be focussed on diving skills so that the trainee can survive long enough to later take a course in underwater photography when they've mastered skills like buoyancy and avoiding the corals etc. That way they can avoid potential emergencies and not destroy reefs. Recreational diving is fun and relatively safe. If taken seriously. It is not serious to be taking pictures as a trainee at 30 or 40m. The instructors are as culpable as the novice in allowing such unprofessional behavior. Most of my instructors have been first class. But I did have one set of instructor/guides who were bordering on criminally negligent. Caveat emptor. Rescue qualified diver.

I think you'd be more likely to be pushed out of the song thaew if you tried that in Pattaya.

That would actually suggest the TSA has won.

Goes pretty much straight past me. But it's sad in as far as he's been the nicest Pope in my lifetime.

Complete pillock.

National Service as rehab. But does it work long term after the threat of military discipline is gone? Not likely.

My thought exactly. More like 58.

I for one never thought it could possibly happen in such a family friendly paradise. What is the world coming to?

aka 'beaks 'n a$$-holes'. But they do taste good.