connda

Ok - I'll play. The WHO is softening up the plebeians and commoners of the world to accept the coming Bird Flu Pandemic which will kill 1 out of 4 people globally. As such, Bio-Level 4 labs are busy creating a Bird Flu Virus candidate with maximum lethality to be "accidentally release" although any claim of a lab-leak will be branded "Conspiracy Theory" as the Natural Zoonotic Mutation Theory will be floated on every cable new network in America and therefore the world and will be endorsed by Anthony Fauci's embalmed corpse. The source of the alleged zoonotic leap of the "Chicken Plague" from chickens to man will occurred somewhere in Texas and patient zero will be discovered to have been a "Far-right wing, Cis-gender Christian MAGA supporter who only uses two pronouns and had and illegal copy of TikTok loaded on her iPhone" and who ate under-cooked chicken at a church BBQ and became infected the day before taking a 30 day "Round The World MAGA Tour" and unfortunately and inadvertently infecting the entire planet. However Moderna and Pfizer will have already outguessed the deadly virus (having been given genomic samples of the most deadly form created in the labs to date) and will surprise the world at its Warp-Speed 2.0 Vaccines which will be ready to be injected into the arms of every human and domesticated pet in the world - by force if necessary. 100 million people will die of coronary failure within two weeks of taking the shots but which will be attributed to a combination of Sun Spot activity, a Coronal Mass Ejection, Gamma Ray Bursts from Alpha Centuri, and the killer "Chicken Plague" itself. In the confusion of mass panic, hundreds of thousand of people will climb tall buildings and throw themselves to their deaths whilst crying, "The Sky Is Falling!!! The Sky If Falling!!!" The End 🐔 Epilogue: A 2029 investigation found that the small percentage of humans who hid from the forced vaccination campaign experienced nothing worse than a mild flu-like infection although the 1 billion humans who died were all vaccinated. As of 2030 the MSM claims that anyone who doubted the lethality of the "Chicken Plague" are Conspiracy Theorists and that the "Un-Vaxxed" were solely responsible for all of the "Chicken Plague" deaths due to being "Unsymptomic Spreaders" The Hunter Biden Administration's Presidential Task Force is urging Congress to turn Conspiracy Theorists and the "Un-Vaxxed" into human compost in order to save the mental health of the population of Oceania (once known as the US, UK, and EU) as well as to save the planet from the coming Ice Age considering the now accepted conspiracy theory of geo-engineer (or "chem-trails") has cause global cooling on a scale that some eminent climate scientists believe the fiction movie, Snowpiercer, may actually become fact by 2050. And of course, composting Conspiracy Theorists and the "Un-Vaxxed" won't change the weather, but it will appease the blood lust of plebs who are looking for someone to blame for the pandemic chaos. How's that?

Bob Moran at his finest.

Not sure about Propiomazine but you can get Hydroxyzine OTC at any drug store. https://www.drugs.com/compare/hydroxyzine-vs-promethazine

I personally believe that every person who is pro-conscription and who has not previously served in their country's military, regardless of their age, should immediately be conscripted to serve their county just like they are asserting that "young people" should be required to do. Likewise - every war-hawk who believes that "young people" should be conscripted and sent to fight "the enemies of the State" should be immediately conscripted, handed a rifle, given a few weeks of basic training, and sent to the front - regardless of age! This goes double for government bureaucrats and politicians. If you're Pro-War and have never served in the military? You need to be voluteered to go to the front and fight for whatever b******t reason that you're all to willing to send your country's youth to fight. If the bureaucrats and politicians were suddenly put into harm's way - they'd all sing a different tune and look for diplomatic solutions. Happy Memorial Day Signed, An Anti-War US Veteran

Yep. I can conduct an transaction with cash in 15 seconds. 30 seconds if the cashier has to break a 1000 THB. Pet peeve here too.

bob smith

The Thai government doesn't seem to understand the real negative effects of their pursuit of more and more tax revenue. This is one thing that I've read and reread by expats in this forum regarding their future purchases of big ticket items - they aren't going to make major purchases. Of course - in a vicious cyclical manner - taxation creates an environment where those who are taxed make fewer purchases resulting in less VAT revenue which results and the government thinking up more "novel" methods of taxation - like the cluster-foxtrot that we are now experiencing here. Dear Foreigner scum - You never become real resident of Thailand because we think you all be national security risk to Thailand. Foreigner bad. "Ai farang!" But we make you Tax Resident so you pay your fair share like every Thai citizens....which you'll never be! Now foreign scum, pull out wallet and give us money like real Thai citizen.....which you'll never be. 🙄 Dear Thailand - We planned on purchasing a new car <enter other big ticket items here> this year, but now due to your decision to tax us like Thai citizens -- which we'll never be -- we're putting off all major purchases due to you taxing us like Thai citizens.....which you'll never allow us to be. So - please feel free to kiss the Value Added Tax from those major purchase(s) we'd otherwise make (and all other future major purchases we'd otherwise make) good-bye 👋 as well as any taxes from funds we remit to Thailand -- as we simply won't be bringing foreign funds into Thailand except for those funds needed for basic needs. If you want to tax us like Thai citizens - then open up access to permanent residency to those of us whom you label as "Tax Residents." Quid pro quo.

I've got a Mitragyna speciosa sapling which is all "leggy" stems with few leaves. How to I stimulate this sapling to sprout more branches as well as to stimulate leaf production?

The God of Taxes.

"How come foreigners can date women 30 years younger than them if they're so low on the scale?" You've missed the point. Where do foreigners fit into the Thai hierarchy. If the woman marries a foreign man, she essentially shares his rank and status within Thai society -- although she herself is still a Thai native and as an individual and when considered unassociated with her husband still fits within the Thai hierarchy as a Thai citizen -- but her husband rates around the status slightly below a soi dog. Now - if a foreign women marries a Thai man? That Thai man carries all the benefits of a Thai citizen and his foreign wife then shares his rank and status within Thai society -- and as such she is a valued and charished member of Thai society and is extended the opportunity to become a Thai citizen after three year, and should she product a Thai child with her Thai husband she is extended the opportunity to become a Thai citizen after one year. Now the status of a foreign woman not married to a Thai man? She too has the status that may be slightly above a soi dog as she has the potential to become a valued member of Thai society should she marry a Thai man.

Which "conspiracy theories" in the past, and especially in the last four years, have turned out to be factual conspiracies? That's a better question as well as being more relevant. The term "conspiracy theorist" is a pejorative use to demean and discredit anyone who challenges the narratives within the current Overton Window. Over time, the Overton Window shifts and what was once "Unthinkable" or "Unacceptable" because accepted as factual. The corollary to this is that given sufficient time - hard fact will always surface and factual data prevails at the end of the day. On the flip side, utter nonsense is also proved to be exactly that: absurdity, babble, baloney, bunk, craziness, drivel, fiction, folly, foolishness, gibberish, madness, rubbish, silliness, stupidity, tosh, and trash. But I refuse to use the term "conspiracy theory" as the word is essentially weaponize in order to stifle, squelch, and summarily end debate. And to me personally, debate - even if it's about something I consider to be nonsensical - is more important than considering yourself to be a superior human mind and reverting to ad-hominid attacks and name calling: "You're a stupid Conspiracy Theorist!!!" In my humble opinion, people who go that route are either smug jerks who lack the intelligence to defend a counter-argument, or they are actually state actors spewing propaganda and using the term "conspiracy theorists" in order to shut down any investigative inquiry. If you really want to investigate the veracity of what are referred to as current "conspiracy theories," then step away from State Department and Foreign Office's propaganda, turn off your corporate cable news, and follow the new generation of investigative reporters such as Matt Taibbi. In my day and age, Jack Anderson was the Matt Taibbi of my era. The goal of true investigative reporting is to "muckrake" and uncover the facts and realities that state and corporate actors, and those with the wealth, capital, and power which allows them to sway the current accepted narratives via the use of corporate media and government pronouncements. Study history: Governments and corporations lie through their teeth to benefit themselves and their bottom lines of power, greed, and avarice.

Spot on. Thailand new tax rules: Obfuscation Through Obscuration.

I'm not doing anything. I've read the US DTA to determine what is taxable. Actually nothing although Thailand could challenge me on my pension - my Social Security is untouchable via the DTA. So I worked through the tax forms for my pension funds I remit to Thailand and worked out all of the exemptions. I don't remit anywhere near my Thai tax exemption threshold. So - I'm doing nothing. No plans to file unless I'm forced to. What I'll probably end up doing is transferring more money to my US brokerage account and investing more of my pension instead of bringing it here. So I plan to wait to see what 2025 brings and then reassess.

"I fell 3 metres onto concrete, breaking several ribs and my cheekbone." Consider that "Instant Karma" for destroying public infrastructure.

I tell you what - once I switched over to LED there was no going back. Better lighting; lower power consumption; lower cost to operate. Higher initial cost, but you make that up with lower electricity bills.

Where do foreigners fit in the Thai hierarchy? Below Thai dogs. Above street beggars.

I installed Bluestacks yesterday. Man it's a monster as far as resources and it spreads itself all over Windows. It took up 7 GB of space. Plus the interface looks like a Gen-Z Zoomer dream -- games, games, games! But I just wanted a simple, functional Android emulator. Ended up uninstalling it then spent another 15 minutes cleaning up all of the various software junk that was left behind that the Windows uninstaller didn't uninstall. I like the concept but as Woof999 remarked, I'd like to see an Android emulation app that is cleaner, less cluttered, not geared to gamers to just to folks needed a simple Android emulator, and as such not such a resource monster. So far I've also tried running Android x86 and BlissOS in a VM, but either functioned well. Android x86 had the cleanest interface, BlissOS was a problem to install and run and once I got it installed was unstable. And on Android x86 I just was unable to get the Android apps I wanted to use to run in that environment. Maybe someday the emulators will become more robust but we ain't there yet.

Wow. Total install size is around 7GB. 😳

...or a "Dead Friend's" Richard Mille RM29 luxury time-piece.

I'll give it a look. Another one I found was BlissOS.

I've started playing around with an Android emulator, in this case Android X86. I'm running it in a Virtualbox VM and I see some potential for its use. Has anyone else played with Android emulation. Any recommendations on other emulators regarding ease of use, functionality, and reliability? And security. Thoughts?

Classic CYA (Cover Your Asses).

It's the standard trope to justify the US forever expansionism, forever wars, and forever support of the military industrial complex. The MIC can't suck at the teats of Uncle Sam if the US doesn't have forever enemies. The narrative goes like this: The US must project power right up the the doorsteps of all the other countries on the planet in order to stop "evil" countries from aggressive expansionism. Essentially they "project" what they themselves have been doing since the end of WWII onto Russia, China, Iran, DPRK, and all the countries they call "The Axis Of Evil" or other BS sloganism which justifies their 800+ bases world-wide and a military budget that when combined with dark branches of the various "intelligence" agencies exceeds $1 trillion USD a year (I won't use the world "defense" as there is nothing defensive about the US hegemon's military - it is all offensive) - then add in a few hundred billion USD more in "foreign aid" to "allies" in the form of military hardware. The US has to have enemies in order to shovel $$$ cash into the gaping maw of the Military Industrial Complex - and yes - it is very Orwellian (for those who still can read and have read 1984 - a dystopian future vision which is getting all too uncomfortably real). As for the US' "enemies?" Watch countries like China and Russia as well as the nations which will comprise the BRICS+ closely and listen to what they have been saying, unflitered by the Western main-stream media. This requires that you use multiple sources of information and includes actually listening to the leaders and foreign ministers and diplomats from these countries. The basic tenet of what will become the BRICS economic and defense alliances is to respect the internal sovereignty of individual nations, to utilize the United Nations and International Law as the arbitrators of disputes, and above all - the engage in mutually beneficial economic trade. What you don't hear from these leaders or their foreign ministers is any rhetoric about military expansionism or colonialism, as colonialism is now essentially a Western phenomenon - and the colonialists are losing grip on their colonies as their colonies reject colonial control and they begin the process to take back control of their countries (the French are a perfect example as nations in the African Sahel region kick both French and US militarizes out of their countries). What fills the vacuum? China and Russia who are offering an economic place at the BRICS+ table for those countries who want to trade and to actually develop their countries economically for the benefit of their own people as opposed to having their resources raped by Western colonial powers and put into the pockets of Western corporate benefactors and Western oligarchs. Western militaries are there to protect Western corporate interests as well as the interests of Western capitalists and the billionaire class. Most expats from the West are basically brain-washed from the time they are born to accept that a Western liberal international order - which includes settler colonialism - is the only form of "Good" in the world and therefore their home countries have a right to fight and go to war with any other countries who refuse their yoke of "liberal democracy" (which looks more like classic Fascism). So they laugh and ridicule anything other then the narratives regarding foreign affairs and foreign relations put forth by the propaganda arms of their own foreign offices and megaphoned to their citizens by the Western main-stream media. So the West puts their militaries right on China's doorstep, they put their militaries right on Russia's doorstep, they put their militaries right on the doorsteps of every country in the world which refuses to accept a Unipolar Western "Rules-Based International Order" (we make up the rules; you follow them). Now ask yourself the question: What would the US do if a military alliance of China, Russia, and the BRICS+ nations put a military presence on the doorstep of the US? What if they started pouring military weapons and military aid into Mexico, Cuba, Central American, and the Caribbean? "To stop US aggression," of course! We all know what happens - we saw it in 1962. Yet that is what the US and its allies have been doing since WWII and then accelerated their military expansionism after the fall of the Soviet Union. And their justification? "To stop foreign expansionism." You can't make this s**t up. It reads better than fiction. So It really amazes me that expats living in Thailand, the ones who viscerally hate China and who believe that their countries must go to war with China if China dares to reintegrate their break-away island of Taiwan (an island which only 12 countries in the entire world consider to NOT be part of China), actually chose to remain in Thailand. Why? Because there is every sign in the world that the US with the aid of its allies plan to go to war with China - soon. Why? In order to "stop Chinese aggression" of course. 🙄 <head-shake> So when WW3 breaks out, where are the Chinese hating Western expats going to go, what are they going to do? When WW3 breaks out with Western military attacks on the Chinese mainland, who do you believe that Thailand will align with? The US? France? Australia? Western countries that are thousands of kilometers away? The ones that are thousands of kilometers away and yet on China's doorstep and attacking the Chinese mainland? Or the country that is 200 kilometers away? Wake up.

Go to a government hospital.

In order to trade in dollars countries must have USD reserves. With the US sanctioning everyone and their brother who doesn't follow their rules in the Rules-based International Order (We make the rules; you follow the rules or else) or they and their G-7 allies keep freezing the USD assets of sovereign nations (for not following their rules), the BRICS+ and nations in the Global South and other non-aligned nations are going to simply stop using the US dollar. They writing is on the wall. It's not safe to hold USD reserves. It won't happen over-night, but more and more countries will opt for trading in local currencies or when the BRICS+ matures they'll probably establish a common economic form of currency transfer. Most countries globally understand the Ledeen Doctrine and as such are making long-term plans to unhook from "The Golden Billion" in the West and establish trade with the other 6 Billion world-wide.