Stickman

My thoughts on vaccines can be summarised as follows:

- Some vaccines that have been around for a long time have been proven to be effective and are safe.

- Some vaccines that have not been around for so long and were rushed to the market have been shown to be not particularly effective and their safety profile may not be great / what is expected.

- If you're not in great health / lead an unhealthy lifestyle / are old / infirmed / have underlying health conditions then there are certain vaccines which you might be best advised to take.

- If you're in good health, lead a healthy lifestyle and are not old or in a high-risk group, then certain vaccines may not be necessary.

As someone who exercises daily, has an excellent diet, leads a very healthy lifestyle and fills in nutritional gaps with high-quality supplements, the likes of the COVID vaccine and the flu vaccine are a case of, "No, thanks!"

Most disease is related to lifestyle factors, mainly diet. If you eat a good diet and lead a healthy lifestyle, your chances of contracting the likes of the flu or many modern diseases decrease markedly. There are other things you can do like manage stress, be aware of environmental toxins, prioritise sleep etc.

I had 2 shots of the COVID vaccine which with retrospect, I regret. I am not aware if I caught COVID or not. I have NEVER had the flu vaccine and I have never had the flu. I can't remember when I last had a cough or cold but we're talking several years, at least.

I think what is lacking with many vaccine discussions is nuance. For sure, some people most certainly should get vaccinated for every nasty out there. For others, like me, the likes of the flu shot and COVID vaccines are not necessary.

I'd say in your native New Zealand that way more than 7% are anti-vaccine.

Why pick on the US suggesting only 7% are enlightened? No need to pick on the other 93% of the US population.

On 5/11/2025 at 5:44 AM, itsmedave said:

Thanks for the replies Coss, Old Hippie, and My Penis (Nervous Dog, right?)

Had some fun in Bkk.  I stopped in to Soi Cowboy.  Is the street narrower than I remember or have they built out?  More than 4 people standing side by side and no room to move now.  Walked into Midnite for old times sake and it was awful.  270 for a beer, few customers so they decended like locusts onto me, and then "mistakenly" shorted me on the change when I paid.  Beautiful new stage and light system but sad all the fun was gone.  I went in a few places and apart from Crazy House, not even topless dancing seen.  What the fuck is that about?  Should have done research on the best clubs now instead of heading to old favorites.  Next time, I guess.  There aren't any gogos in Hua Hin so I was excited to head back into one for the first time in many years but left disappointed.  

Please let me know if ya'll get to HH and I'll buy you a beer (but you'll pay)

Outdoor patios were built in front of every bar on Soi Cowboy many years ago which had the effect of making the soi feel narrower.

Midnite was taken over by The Arab some years ago and he ruined it. It was a real fun bar back in the day, wasn't it! Nice memories from that bar.

4 hours ago, Mekong said:

Is that a polite way of saying that we all all Dinosaurs? 😃

I could use "old codgers" if that would be preferable?!

On 1/27/2025 at 12:30 AM, My Penis is hungry said:

Why not build up traffic on it to make it more desirable? 

This would not be easy to do at all. The Internet has changed and most people have moved over to social media. Forums and basic websites don't appeal to a lot of (most?) people these days. Consider also that the market for what this website used to be known for is well past its peak. Reader numbers for pretty much all websites / forums in the Thailand expat space have been in serious decline for a long time. Personally, I don't think there's any coming back. (FWIW, Stickman website traffic numbers are down 75% from what they used to be.)

Merry Christmas, everyone.

10 hours ago, think_too_mut said:

I have no such acquaintances. My colleagues, some directors at our global company office in Bangkok, have left and I have no track of them.
To acquire such a confident, may take me forever, if ever, even if I get a doctor or dentist or lawyer, they would have to have known me for more than a year, formally and atop of that, be willing to vouch for me. Can't do it. Even if I could, how could I ask someone in that respect to vouch for a visa runner (that is what I would have to be in Thai for over one year).

The banks were firm: Immigration have their rules, we, the bankers, have ours. Show me your passport with visa other than 60 days stay.
That is probably where those  "THAI VISA" agencies saw their business opportunity. It would be OK if the agencies could, somehow, open a bank account for me to deposit 800K THB into it.
No, the account they open (or somehow make it legal) is theirs. True, they say I will never have to deposit 800K THB. 
If I can open my own account, once I have the retirement visa through your agency stamped? 
You can, we are here to deal with 3 months reporting, renewal of visa, 20,000 THB a year. You may find it comfortable.
 

There are agencies who can help you open a bank account. Around 5K baht seems to be the going rate. This is a bank account in your name and has nothing to do with the agency. The "agency" is just a regular Thai who knows someone in the bank and most likely they split the fee you pay the agent for opening the account.

A few months back a friend used such an agency in Pattaya and it cost him 4K baht.

Try going in to a bank with a respectable Thai who holds an account in that bank and is willing to vouch for you.

Oh, that's really sad to hear. He was a thoroughly decent fellow and really loved Thai people and Thailand. He was also extremely helpful with advice to anyone asking, always patient. So sad to hear he has passed.

6 hours ago, Mekong said:

But that is the point, New Zealand are allowed to do the Haka but trams are t allowed to reciprocate.

 Remember the 2019 WC semi final when England lined up in a V Formation to counter the Haka, England were fined, where is the fairness in that?
England Fined

 

Most Kiwis are very precious about the haka. I think it's become a total nonsense and am very much an outlier in NZ over this.

19 minutes ago, bust said:

Imagine American football without padding and a thousand times less stoppages.

All Blacks rugby matches are worth watching for the haka alone.

 

I will go against the grain and I say that personally, I question the haka being allowed before all matches. It gives New Zealand an unfair advantage. It's over-done these days and I am one of few Kiwis who agrees with some in the Northern Hemisphere who rightfully ask, why is this pre-game pageantry allowed before every match?

Well he didn't do a great job of emailing everyone because I missed out on the email.....or perhaps that was deliberate.

On 8/31/2024 at 1:48 PM, Mekong said:

And that is, I assume, how most people feel, and how it should be. Thailand though is still a cash centric society, over 80% of transactions are done in cash, I haven’t been out of Asia since 2013 now so I don’t know how cashless the west has gone.

My feeling is that here in New Zealand, over 90% of transactions are done with what we term "Pay Wave" i.e. waving your card or your mobile phone. In supermarkets, it might be 96% or 97% - I seldom see people using cash in the supermarket. I understand in some countries like Sweden, cashless use is higher still.

There is one exception when I use cash and that is at my favourite Indian restaurant. The owner is always sitting at the cash register and his eyes light up when I pay with cash. The transaction is not rung up on the till and it's obvious he puts the money in his pocket. I want to support his business as best I can and if me paying in cash means he makes a few extra dollars, then all good. Obviously, in big businesses like supermarkets it doesn't matter how you pay, it's all being declared.

Further to this, a couple of tradesmen I have had around - one a gasfitter who repaired the stove and another an electrician who did some small jobs for us preferred payment by bank transfer. As the sparky said to me, it's just not worth it for him to take cash. Too much hassle and the tax department gets really nasty if he is caught not declaring income.

Like most New Zealanders, I pay for almost everything by electronic transaction - but I like the option of being able to pay by cash. Perhaps only 1% of stores here don't accept cash but I expect that to slowly increase. And certainly, some stores which accept cash actually prefer you to pay by card / electronic means.

With electronic transactions now very much the norm here, plenty of people don't use cash. But when something happens, you'll wish you had some cash at hand. I keep some cash in the house and given what happened here last year, I am *very* glad that I did.

For anyone who thinks cash is unnecessary, here's something to think about. In February of last year, parts of the North Island of New Zealand were hit hard by Cyclone Gabrielle. The town where I live, Napier, was cut off from everywhere with roads badly damaged and no way in or out. We could not get out and outsiders could not get in (other than by plane or helicopter). The power was out for 5 days across the city. Supermarkets opened as did petrol stations and some other stores but it was cash-only (as no other means of payments would work). Plenty of people did not have cash which meant could not buy food or petrol or essential supplies.

3 hours ago, Old Hippie said:

Overall, how are the rest of the thailand nightlife boards going these days? See remember Bangkok nights Baron bong Bangkok tonight and a few others… I don’t know if any of them are even still around anymore. The same goes for the dedicated Pattaya boards. Either way I’m willing to kick in a few bucks to keep it all going. Who knows there may even be a resurgence at some point.

Most of the Bangkok forums have gone by the wayside and the few that remain have much lower traffic. Probably the only true nightlife forum with decent traffic these days is Pattaya Addicts. They'd all be in long, slow, downward trajectory which Covid really accelerated. All of this notwithstanding, I agree with what Jigger said in a previous post that there *is* demand for something different, and something potentially old school.

Just a few random thoughts.

I can't see advertising working. This site's traffic is essentially zero. Any advert would essentially be a donation from a business. If someone is prepared to donate an ad to fund the hosting, great, but otherwise I can't see any business choosing to advertise here.

Nudity? No. there's plenty elsewhere for those who want it.

I think the odds of attracting new users is pretty much zero. There is competition everywhere - other boards, many social media platforms etc - and this board is simply a bunch of folks keeping in touch and reliving the past. Short of an effort to attract back old members who have not frequented the board in a long time, I cannot see user numbers to this forum increasing. The net has moved in new directions and it's all social media and YouTube.

I agree with Mekong. I'd happily pay a small amount for a year but $10 / month, while still a negligible amount, nah.

Really horrible news. Marcel was a very decent fellow and genuinely one of the good guys.

23 minutes ago, Coss said:

Sleeping Dogs - 2024 - 1h 50m

A film starring Kiwi Russel Crowe. An ex-homicide detective with memory loss is forced to solve a brutal murder, only to uncover chilling secrets from his forgotten past.

This very good, Crowe has learned how to act well and the director Adam Cooper's debut, is phenomenal. Gripping.

Mind you,  I remember when Crowe was "Russ le Roq" and was sniffing around my sister in the Auckland in the '80s.

Interesting wiki info: Through his paternal grandmother, he is a direct descendant of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, the last man to be beheaded in Britain. Wiki
 

The above is not to be confused with another good movie:

Sleeping Dogs - 1977 - 1h 47m

Also with Kiwis, A New Zealand man recently estranged from his family gets unwittingly caught up in a revolution. Sam Neil when young.

I'm no fan of Russell Crowe. Seems to be an arrogant hot-head.

I did quite like Romper Stomper though. Remember that one, Coss? Caused a bit of a furore when it was released....imagined it would be even less well-received now.

6 hours ago, Old Hippie said:

I talk with Cent, Father Tom, Lazy Phil and Chocolate Steve regularly, The_Numbers was a regular late night conversation, sadly he passed away at age 42 about 2 years ago or so, shortly before Dan aka Suadam…Silikunt Occassionally…Rusty as well…all are doing well.

How is Rusty doing? There's a fellow who was a good laugh and lived life to the beat of his own drum. How's he doing these days? Has he maintained any connections with Thailand?

1 hour ago, Coss said:

Also as heard on NZ radio - Parents are local multi millionaire Business persons and the "boys" are in Thailand on a "Wellness" trip. 

At least one of the boys reckons he's a MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter.

I'm reading this last as two boys, still living at home, sent overseas to get some life experience.

Mission accomplished, they'll be wanting to get home to their hipster lifestyle, pronto.

Both of these men are married and have family back in NZ. They're brothers who worked in the family business. Multiple reports in the local pres said they have travelled many times through Asia.

My best guess as to what happened is that they saw a police checkpoint and decided not to stop because they didn't have motorbike licences. This was beyond dumb. They were chased and things escalated from there. What they did next was pure madness.

You really get the impression the Thais are fed up with misbehaving foreigners and they could be sentenced to a few years behind bars. The maximum penalty for the most serious charge is 7 years and, amazingly, it seems they wish to fight the charges. That seems like a dumb idea. Plead guilty which comes with an automatic discount on sentencing and get it over and done with. Fight the charges and the sentence might get ugly. Whatever way, I can't see them being back in NZ with their families for some time...

My old 2014 Macbook Pro, which I keep as a backup machine in case my main machines dies, can't be updated any more....or rather the updates are simply security fixes. Haven't been able to update the main OS for a few years.

My iPad must be 4 or 5 years old. Can still update it ok. Will wait for the standard iPad to get an OLED screen and will upgrade then. I use my iPad way more than I use my iPhone (5 years and counting) so will upgrade iPad before iPhone.

21 hours ago, Mekong said:

Whilst I have basically been bed bound for the past 4 years or so I have basically been using it every waking hour, a conservative estimate would be around 4.5 Million hours of usage over its lifetime, probably more so and it never once let me down.  OK recently I have had to give it a Restart every 3-4 days but apart from that it has been fine.

You must be one old dude now, Mekong! 4.5 million hours is 513 years

I get the feeling the bar scene just doesn't have that addictive nature that it used to be. Where once those who were flying out from Bangkok were already planning their next trip and trying to work out how they could return as soon as possible, these days the impression I get is that the best times in the bars are very much in the past. There might just be more fun looking backwards than forwards.

4 hours ago, My Penis is hungry said:

So really, whcih is really sad for Dave, the cause was the private health care USA adopts, and Dave not getting attention quick enough.

 

 

WTF did the USA health industry have to do with it?

1 hour ago, Mekong said:

So based on such you have come up with a casual analysis that ( a ) Covid Vaccine cause ( b )amputation of limbs amongst diabetics. Correction does not imply causation. I once ate chicken sandwich before playing a game of football in which I broke my leg. According to your logic chicken weakens bones making them more suspectable to fracture where as I recognise it as what is was a coincidence 

Diabetics are 15 times more likely to need a lower limb amputation than people without the condition, that so more than 135 a week and I have not seen any peer reviewed reports stating that the Covid vaccine has increased this figure.

I am not saying that Covid Vaccines cannot cause complications with ongoing health conditions, what I am saying is based on evidence I have a hard time believing that Covid vaccine is responsible for an increase in LLA’s amongst diabetics.

Dave had his leg amputated because of the complications of diabetes. He had the big toe from one foot amputated in late 2015. The wound never healed and despite some of his imploring him to seek medical treatment, he did not. In 2018 or 2019 (I cannot remember which), he had two more toes off the same foot amputated. Again, the wound never healed and he did not seek medical treatment despite many people insisting that he did. Not long after COVID broke out, Dave returned to the UK and some months later he developed a very high temperature. A doctor came to his home, saw the state he was in, called an ambulance and he went to the local hospital. He ended up in a university hospital where after a couple of operations to try and save the leg, they were forced to do a lower leg amputation. That wound didn't heal so they had to take more of the leg well above the knee. There was an infection in the bone which apparently is very hard to treat. Osteomylytis or something like that it is called - and is apparently a consequence of uncontrolled diabetes

Dave's amputation was nothing to do with Covid and I never said it had anything to do with Covid. It was all as a result of diabetes that he had been diagnosed with years earlier but which, very sadly, he never took seriously.

Dave complained about issues with Covid and I said that I agree that there are various health issues due to Covid as well as the Covid vaccine. I did NOT say Dave's leg was amputated because of Covid. Never said that at all.

No more comment from me on this and if what I have written here is stuff you disagree with or dispute, drop Dave an email and ask him.