The Bangkok Black Friday to End Of Year Sale

By Richard Nikoley | November 25, 2022 |

— Bangkok doesn’t really have anything to do with it… I headed out to shoot a quick 2-minute video trailer for this sale. I hate sales but I’m doing it anyway. Sales are kinda like lies…in the sense that if you can sell something at that price, then why not just set that as the…

FTA News — Wednesday, November 23, 2022 — DEPLATFORMED BY STRIPE?

By Richard Nikoley | November 24, 2022 |

If someone forwarded this to you in the newsletter version and you bizarrely ended up liking it on balance, you can subscribe for free to future copies that [ought to] arrive in your email twice per week. You’ll get the whole thing, not just the excerpt provided here on the blog. The blog rendering of it has added things like embedded videos, larger images with lightbox thingy, etc.

From Bangkok — New MacBook Air

Troubles With Stripe Credit Card Processing

From Ao Nang, Krabi

Youngun “Party Town” Thailand: Sexless, Self-Righteous, Androgynous

Covidless Excess Mortality

From Bangkok

Beginning with the most recent thing, from today.

I don’t know how long one must go between computer trade-ins, but I’m pretty safe in saying that eight and a half years is plenty of time—a veritable signal of my great virtue—to pound away on the same notebook computer. Since 2008 and after 20 years at PCs, I’m an Apple Mac guy. Had two MacBook Pros over 4 years. I’ll not get into it but the Pro version is generally overkill for most people. In 2012 I researched whether a MacBook Air could reliably drive the 27″ Apple Cinema Display I had.

Indeed it could and indeed it did—even running HD video on its two screens with rapidity and ease (many believe you need the expensive Pro to do all these things and most who think that don’t even do those things…but pay for the Pro anyway). The 2014 model was the last computer I’ve purchased until this morning at the stunningly beautiful Apple Store at Central World in Bangkok.

I didn’t even come to Bangkok yesterday for this…that’s another story for the next section. I’d looked into it, but the info I got online is that you have to order it, which I assumed was because of the US keyboard and not Thai.

I checked into my hotel with a smokin’ deal. $43 per night in a 4-star, regular $120. Long time since I stayed in a hermetically-sealed fancy-pants place…the Marriott in Warsaw, 2019 if memory serves.

…I don’t like them. Tomorrow, my two nights is up and I’m moving to a $20 place where I can at least open the fucking windows, for shit’s sake.

…Anyway, soon as I checked in and arranged every item out of my travel-light, 30L backpack, I headed out. Hoofed it to the Apple store 2.5 KM away. What I found out was that they did indeed have plenty of the M2-processor MBAs in all four anodized aluminum colors with US keyboards. It’s any customizations that have to be ordered. So, if I want more RAM, bigger SSdrive, etc… OK, nope.

And so, voilà, and I resolved to return this morning and do the deal. In the meantime, I set out to get some food, so I headed down to Nana Plaza, perhaps the most curious place on earth. I don’t care for it much—or go-go bars in general—but it’s quite a spectacle to behold with three floors of them in a 70s style indoor-mall format. There’s a Hooters across the street, though, so I had a pretty decent grilled-chicken Caesar. Given that Thai girls have smaller breasts on average (rocket tits, I call them), I think the franchise should be called Handfulls over here…right? That added 1.6 KM to the trek tally.

Youngun “Party Town” Thailand: Sexless, Self-Righteous, Androgynous

By Richard Nikoley | November 16, 2022 |

— In a rational world, brats get sent to bed without any dinner

As I've been recounting in my recent Newsletter issues, I've been doing some no-reservations travel where one just sorta spontaneously heads off in one direction and goes with the flow along that path. I didn't plan to go to Koh Phi Phi again, but that's where I ended up for a night before continuing on to Koh Lanta, refreshingly devoid of the young set. Lanta is a place for older, mature-of-mind-and-attitude expats, to partake in its peace and tranquility—which it delivers handily.

Instead of hopping the ferry back home to Phuket, I opted to grab a 3-hr minivan transport to Ao Nang for a couple of nights—at the heart of geologically-astounding Krabi province and its Phang Nga bay. You have to see it to believe it.

This is what no-reservations travel is all about...no-commitment trekking at your whim and leisure. You wanna stay an extra day or two? Can do. Had enough, and you wish to move on right now? Can do. Wanna switch your next destination to someplace else? Can do. Wanna go there by a different route or change the means of your transport? Can do.

I've been travelling like this for 38 years all over the place and have yet to end up hunkering down in a sidewalk alcove for shelter and sleep. I'd never want to do travel any other way, preferably.

...But you have to live a rather fearless life as prerequisite—or you'll fret yourself silly—and the planet doesn't produce many of those types, anymore.

Better safe than sorry!

Ao Nang, like Phi Phi, is a popular destination for the young set—backpackers, students, dreadlocks, elephant pants, vegans, etc.

Plus: NO SEX!!!

...It gets way, way worse from here out, so this is where I'll need to cut it off. If you'd like to read it anyway, plus get unfettered access to everything devoid of hassle going forward, then join up.

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MY EASY WAY To Stop Drinking Forever: DryGains

By Richard Nikoley | November 15, 2022 |

— Know The Terrain, Understand It, Then Fix It First. Only Then Quit Boozing Easily. This post kicks off yet another multi-post series. You can scroll midway down on the homepage to peruse the 8 or so other past and present multi-post series I’ve published going back to 2013. The reason for this series is…

FTA News — Sunday, November 13, 2022 — THE BEST INVESTMENT

By Richard Nikoley | November 15, 2022 |

If someone forwarded this to you and you bizarrely ended up liking it on balance, you can subscribe for free to future copies that arrive in your email twice per week. You’ll get the whole thing, not just this excerpt. The blog rendering of it has added things like embedded videos, larger images with lightbox, etc., and soon, a searchable archive.

Greetings from Koh Lanta
- No reservations
- The hot and humid hike
- Snagging an amazing modern updated beach bungalow
- Chillin’ in remote and sleepy Lanta
- The food; lots of pics

The Best Investment Option For 2022 to 2122
- Everyone is an investor
- The financial markets
- Tax sheltering and deferral
- Crypto
- Entrepreneurship and Geoarbitrage for max gains

The FTX Crypto Fraud is So Delicious
- Overview
- Andrew Tate makes a point
- “Bankman” demonstrates that point
- Sorry you’re bankrupt
- The “CEO” who doesn’t use math
- The laughs keep piling up

Hit & Run
- The Church of Texas at Austin
- Moron cucked simps kneeling before assholes
- It’s true about unmarried adult women in America
- Children should be seen and not heard
- Like the Fyre Festival fraud
- IF covid CAN kill you…
- Birth control
- God bless the internet
- Kamala is living proof
- Just do it right, for God’s sake

Pet Peeve of the Week

— Greetings this Monday. Yea, it’s supposed to be out your Sunday morning in America. ~~What befell me~~ My excuses are I was deep diving into the FTX collapse-fraud and also travelling still. Left Koh Lanta this AM, now in Ao Nang, Krabi. In this Newsletter I’ll cover my getting to Koh Lanta and a bit of that 4-day experience; the best investment you can make in 2022 and for the next 100 years; the FTX crypto fraud (so delicious); a bunch of Hit & Run; and maybe more…we’ll see when I get to the end. Also, this late Sunday edition might count as an early Wednesday edition to just get on track. Again, we’ll see.

Greetings From Koh Lanta

After the night in Phi Phi that kicked off the last newsletter, things went without a hitch for stage 2 of my no reservations travel. The speedboat ride was sunny, fun, calm, and short.

The Best Investment Option For 2022 to 2122

By Richard Nikoley | November 14, 2022

— Enough to cover anyone's lifetime

Just over a week ago I was asked a question about investing in today's climate, so I did a video and intended to write a more detailed post in the next day or so, then procrastinated until last Wednesday, and then I was off on another pack-the-backpack spontaneous travel thing, as documented in my last newsletter (free by email).

If all things work together for good, then this delay surely worked out because I now have a whole new laugh to mock, involving a 30-year-old losing people's billions of dollars.

Yes, it's a laughing matter.

Sorry not sorry. How many times is shit like this going to happen before people stop chasing just another turn on playing the lottery? I can't count the times over the last few years I've been told about various too-good-to-be-true-or-lasting deals, where you supposedly get a lot of free money. "Money," I should say.

You know, just because something has better maths doesn't mean it's good maths. Lots of stuff is better than shit and that's not saying much. I'll speak to crypto and its latest lost-billions fiasco down below. The quote I use in the headline image will tie into that, primarily.

...Everyone is an investor. The difference amounts to what's the nature of the investment. When people say they invest in stocks, bonds, funds, real estate, startups, et al, they're just using common lingo to make distinctions, which is fine. But, there are many things to invest in and what I intend to do here is draw the most critical and wide-scope integral distinction you'll ever consider.

You might be left wondering why you never looked at it like that.

Topics

The Financial Markets

Tax Sheltering
- Story: How My Company Was Penalized For Giving Away Too Much Money

Real Estate
- Vacation Rentals: The Sure Big Bucks in R/E!
- Potential Investment in R/E With Vacation Rental Level Income

Crypto
- FTX Fiasco (LOL)

Entrepreneurship and Geoarbitrage for Max Gains

Since the video is already public, here it is, to be viewed as a scant introduction to this post. If it's only appetite wetting, feel free to get more. It doesn't cover much on vacation rentals and almost nothing on crypto, for example. It sets a tone, though.

https://youtu.be/yP0V5P01OhQ

The membership for unfettered access to everything at all times is $6 per month, $50 per year, or $250 lifetime. I've been at this for 19 years this month (03 November 2003 was post #1) so it's a good bet I'll be at it long enough into the future to make lifetime the best investment. Plus, the price of membership doubles 01 January 2023 across the board. If you're thinking of popping for it before then, what better time than now?

FTA NEWS — Thursday, November 10, 2022 — RED DROPLETS

By Richard Nikoley | November 11, 2022 |

If someone forwarded this and you end up liking it on balance, you can subscribe for free to future copies that arrive in your email twice per week.

Greetings from Koh Phi Phi
- No reservations
- Snagging a “room” anyway
- Late night Phi Phi
- Later night writing

Red Droplets and a Newborn Mouse
- The mountain rumbled
- 1000-words
- Fear, money, and status
- Red Waves of the past vs. Red Trickles now
- A fix, again?

Some Admin Stuff
- Newsletter
- Blog membership

3 Months No Booze Update

Hit & Run
- Modesty for women at the Buddhist temple
- Thanks, covid
- Firing half of everybody yet doing better
- CIA disinformation eagerly promulgated by US media
- How essential is sexy sex with a sexy woman?
- Ungentlemanliness
- America’s diminishing cachet (two topics)

Greetings From Koh Phi Phi

***These Thai speed ferries carry about 40 people and cruise at 65 kph***

Phi Phi is the island where that silly DiCaprio film, The Beach, was partially shot. Details are way off throughout the whole thing but whatever. I didn’t intend to be here and I like it just as little as when I was here a year and a half ago during peak covidiocy, and the only tourists were Thai families (the saving grace).

The geology and oceanography is breathtaking but in terms of having an enjoyable time otherwise, not really my thing. Last time it was totally quiet but now, has resumed its rap as a party place…which means the young crowd and you know what that means.

Basically Spring Break shit, though with “adults.” Or something.

Anyway, I’m here on an overnight because in my 40-year penchant for no-reservations travel I suddenly told myself to go to Koh Lanta, packed the backpack, and headed out on the cafe racer to catch the 12.30 ferry at Rassada Pier, 35 minutes away. But the boats to Lanta were booked. Best option was to take the 1 hr speedboat ferry to Phi Phi, stay the night, and check out the famed “party” island post-covidiocy. Then, catch the 30 minutes over to Lanta the next morning, which is happening.

Prosper Anyway — Eat The Elephant

By Richard Nikoley | November 10, 2022 |

— Contrived Global Crisis is the New Terrain Du Jour. Become Adept at Weathering All Storms This post was originally published as “Permanent Crisis Is The New Normal — Prosper Anyway.” There was also a separate series, “International Living By Geoarbitrage.” The latter is being incorporated into the former and now redirects here. This whole…

MY EASY WAY To Stop Drinking: Nothing To Be Proud Of

By Richard Nikoley | November 9, 2022 |

— Rather, It’s About Time…

This occured to me as I was making my list of what to cover in Todoist, a fantastic new app I’m using to keep track of almost literally everything. More on that later.

So this was a rather hefty milestone…to make it 3 months with zero booze, not even a whiff or sniff. And as I have emphasized over and over: it has been effortlessly easy and I mean Effortlessly. Easy. I shit you not and my cachet here over many years is that I don’t fucking lie to you.

Read the damn testimonials, some by folks who’ve been readers for over 10 years.

This affirmation I make is not the typical hyperbolic, lying bullshit that’s 99% of marketing on the internet these days. I don’t blame you for being skeptical…jaded, even. I really get head-shaking fucking tired of it myself and even more, that it apparently still works, why so many marketers operate like that.

Can nobody just do a straight-up, take-it-or-leave-it, no-hard-feelings offer and deal, anymore?

So, Ok…

The more I contemplated and considered how I would present this 3 months in the can—both here in writing and in the video below—I became increasingly uncomfortable with being in any way proud, triumphant, exemplary, et al.

Instead, I had feelings of thankfulness that I’d apparently stumbled into a “method” of my own dumb-luck design…only to gain awareness of it in retrospect.

Perhaps that’s why the location to do the video popped into my head and I immediately knew that yes, that’s the only place to do it. Then as icing, I got cooperative weather (though I got soaked and chilled to the bone on the drive back).

No, this isn’t about any virtue-signaling religious or spiritual experience as I explain in the video. Rather, it’s simply a place that symbolizes socially-shared values so deep and ingrained that appreciation for the fortune of having them rather than not transcends many differences between us.

The List of Topics

Set yourself up right

Get calmer and cool

Dump go-nowhere shit

Started cooking again, a LOT

Organizing out the ass – Todoist

Nothing to be proud of

…OK, if you’re a regular here or at least pop in from time-to-time, you know the drill. The real meat that follows is for the paying peeps.

Perhaps it’s frustrating or annoying to be foiled once again, especially if this particular post is one of the ones you’d like to read. You do know how to solve that, to have unfettered access going forward, so there’s no need for me to explain it. I get the reluctance. There’s a lot of options out there and only you can judge the value to you.

What I will say is that over these last 3 months my attention has intensified and my vision is clear. I’m pretty confident in saying there can’t possibly be very many 1-man-shows in the world who put out the varied content so voluminously, consistently, and for such a long track record, as I do and I have. I’ve always operated on the notion that any given reader is going to love some, hate some, not care one way or the other about some.

So, the modus operandi for me is to put out enough variety in enough styles—from reverent to censurious to vulgar—that everyone has enough here to love…and those who hate or are indifferent to everything have no business here anyway.

It’s up to you, of course.

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Asian Women: The Everyman’s Definitive Guide

By Richard Nikoley | November 8, 2022 |

— Know The Terrain; Don’t Fool Yourself; Never Complain; Never Get Angry; Tally Up Information [Formerly titled “What Caused My 40% Testosterone Increase?” and originally published in November of 2021. I found the subject matter too limited and too easy for someone to take as a sales pitch for some collection of male-enhancement product(s). So,…

About My Free Nikoley’s Sunday Scribbles — With Crazy Awesome New Sample

By Richard Nikoley | November 6, 2022 |

[fluentform id="3"]

— I could go on and on and on with pestering and annoying sales pitches about why you should fill in your name and email to subscribe to my Free Non-Pestering Newsletter.

How about I just show you a copy of one, instead? Now, this is the first of the revamped approach (details within). If you think it’s pretty good, it will evolve. That’s evolve…not devolve.

Got that?

If you love everything, check your exuberance and I’ll check about doing my job right. If you hate everything, you’re wrong and your silly little time is best spent elsewhere. If you love some hate some, then I’ve hit my sweet spot and I hope it’s yours, too. It will be the dual challenges to both bring you around eventually on the stuff you hate, and your challenge as I continually push your envelope on the spectrum over and over.

The bad news is that the browser version of this stupendous new thing, coming free to Newsletter subscribers each Wednesday and Sunday via email, is for paying members. That’s basically embedded videos, clickable larger images, etc. Also, a searchable archive pretty soon.

HOWEVER, all is not lost. You can check out a full issue right here and decide if you want to subscribe to the newsletter and get it free in email twice per week.

FTA NEWS — Sunday, November 6, 2022 — WHAT’S COOKING?!

— Cool stuff at FTA; Social Media engagements; Revampments; Things that are actually news, with commentary; and maybe more…like..COOKING!

Cool Stuff At FreeTheAnimal.com

Good morning FTA peeps. Welcome to the Sunday morning addition where it’s morning for me and Saturday afternoon or early evening for most…those in USA.

…Word is, y’all northern hemisphere agrarians are going to gain an hour in your sleep tonight. Probably, some of you need it. Enjoy. Here in Thailand, they work their asses off in the fields—or in whatever other micro-thing they do like prepare food and sell it from one of millions of food carts—from sunup until sundown anyway and being at 7 degrees N Latitude, day and night is pretty close to 12/12 throughout the year.

The clocks are fine as they are.

Ironically, The Inuit Show That The Keto Diet is Bullsh*t — They Genetically Adapted Against It

By Richard Nikoley | November 6, 2022 |

As most readers know, some months back, a collaborator came to me with some interesting findings in terms of research he’d discovered concerning what’s commonly called “animal fiber” (bits of animals that can feed the microbiome). This led to more digging and the understanding that when animals are eaten fresh, raw or frozen, many contain…

The Failed Rekindling Try With The Thai Girl

By Richard Nikoley | November 3, 2022

— I sincerely tried. Hopeless. Here's why.

[This is the 13th installment to the newly-published revamp of the "40% Testosterone Increase" series, which I've re-dubbed Asian Women: The Everyman's Definitive Guide. Hugely expanded and a far wider context for a lot more times and places, since 1982. Now I have endless Asian chick stories to write about...from Japan to Korea to Okinawa to Philippines to Hong Kong to Indonesia to Malaysia to Thailand...going back 40 years—if you're interested in that sort of thing and if not, no worries. Plenty of other stuff.]

...We were waiting for our order at a seriously good burger joint in Patong Beach, just off the famed Bangla Rd. "Walking Street."

I've been recently seeking out Google reviews of good burgers on the island and FAT MAMMA Burger Patong was my latest find. I even had a little fun on my Telegram feed with it.

Thankfully, five months later and such reenactment crap still isn't on the menu. It's a really damn fine all-beef burger though, just like the reviews said.

One hallmark of a good burger is that it's confident enough to not hide behind a bunch of produce, cheese, bacon, and whatever other non-burger stuff people are adding to them these days. My favorite burger in the world to date, still, is the near 1-lb charcoal grilled on about 1/3 of a bâtard (une baguette, but wider; what Americans call "French Bread."). That's it! No mayo, mustard, ketchup, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, cheese, bacon, or watercress. No sesame seeds. You'll find it at Original Joe's in San Jose, CA.

Bread. Meat.

***Scraped off Google reviews. Great Big Burger***

Anyway, I was so impressed that I decided to take Yui to FAT MAMMA's...and...

...One of my members, Jacqueline, has this to say, in part:

"I am that rare thing a paying female member. Why? I enjoy getting the honest male point of view with all the rawness and crudity that sometimes entails. Yes, sometimes it’s a bit rough to take in, sometimes I disagree or I’m shouting back ‘well, I don’t think that!’ or ‘it’s not all women’! But that’s the point – you do not have to agree with everything someone says – and it’s a great stimulus to be challenged by a different point of view. It’s a great thing to be offended sometimes and to realise that it does not matter, you can still like the guy and value his contribution." [More...]

She's not the only one but they are fewer than the dudes for sure. The ones who do stick around over years and years remind me of the older women in my life growing up, grandmothers and the like. Stong, determined, unflappable.

Who else is like that? Then maybe you really belong here. Subscribe here.