OneMoreFarang

Recently we had some topics with arguments about bar girls and normal girls. And what we like and what we want. One member pointed out that looking at some pictures which I published here from time to time, I would be probably not interested in normal girls. My reply was that most normal girls, i.e. in offices, just don't turn me on. Today I had the perfect opportunity to think about this. Some time ago one of my favorite bar girls, Jane, was a professional accountant. She was smart and pretty, and she decided to work in a bar to make more money and later she found a rich sponsor. One reason was that she wanted to have someone to finance a good school for her son. Today I was in a meeting with a high-ranking accountant. And the funny part was that this accountant looked a lot like my favorite bar girl Jane. Similar face, height, age. But the accountant in that meeting had almost no makeup, a normal hairstyle, and ordinary office clothes. She was still pretty, but even if I would be single, I wouldn't have thought about asking her out. Now if I would see the girl from the meeting with a short skirt, made up hair and good makeup, then I would probably be very interested. So the member who "accused" me of not being interested in normal girls was right. Normally I somehow don't see them if they don't spend time to look sexy. How about you? Did you meet your gf or wife when she did her best to look good? Would you have "seen" her if she would have had different or no make-up, different clothes, etc.?

It seems you think you can hear the difference. So just to confirm, you say you will hear the differences between 128kbps and 256kbps MP3 and FLAC (lossless), correct? Do you hear that with any setup? Or just with very good headphones? Or 5k speakers? Any music? Or only your favorite tracks? I agree these days there is no reason for compression anymore, disk space is cheap, and bandwidth is no problem. But is that a reason to delete all those old mp3 files and start from scratch? Personally I don't think so.

If the source is very bad, then obviously nothing will make it good. But 128kbps MP3 is already good. Not excellent, but good. Nobody would have used it for years if it would have been so bad. When MP3 emerged about 30 years ago lots of people compared files with different bitrates. And people tried to save disk space. Most people at that times were happy with 128bkps. This is why lots of files are in that format. I am sure also today most listeners wouldn't be able to hear a difference with ordinary speakers in ordinary rooms (maybe with AC running). There are only few people who have the high-quality devices and the hearing to differentiate between good and very good.

I recently saw a video from a professional fire fighter. He showed a couple of ways which are not successful to stop those fires. His summary: Just let it burn. And try to make sure nothing else catches fire.

Sure But then there are those people who think they are smart and who buy cheap. And then they are surprised when bad things happen. How could that possibly happen? ...

And people should remember their passwords. I met lots of people who had backup of their phones online. But they were never able to access those backups, or continue with their accounts, because they entered once some passwords, probably short after they bought their phones, and then never used those passwords again. And then there are consequences. It seems too many people don't understand the consequences or can't be bothered to think about them and make sure they don't end up without their own data.

Maybe he can convince the mother that there is more to life than only good grades. At least I think that is what he should try.

You have a point. And in a way it is good when the mother looks that the child gets a good education. But there is something like too much learning. For proper development kids also have to play with friends and alone. And when kids didn't have that over the years when they develop nothing can make those kids "healthy normal" again. He should try to find a solution where the kid learns and plays.

I share your concern about Lithium battery fires. But electronics can be cheap and without any regulation the batteries would die on the first charge. There will be some electronics. How good or bad or reliable is a different question.

I imagine that decent teachers and decent schools know that a child should not study 24/7. If a school and teacher and mother insist that your child lives like that then they don't have the best interests of the child in mind.

And then other tourists go to other places in Thailand and complain that the locals don't speak English, don't offer proper (western) food, that the food is too spicy, etc. For most tourists it's a good idea to go to tourist places.

With your not existing knowledge about phones (and prices) I suggest go to a proper shop. And if you think you don't want to spend a lot of money then buy a cheaper phone - and not a cheap knockoff.

Like the author of Private Dancer...

A long time ago, when disk space for mp3 files was still an issue, I listened to file in 128kbps, 192kbps and higher. On "normal speakers" in normal environments (like AC running in the background), I couldn't hear a quality improvement with better compression. With expensive headphones (about 3oo USD at that time) I could hear a difference. The source only becomes and important issue if you have a high-end setup, especially speakers.

Good idea, I never saw that old video. I only knew this version:

Billy Idol on full volume with > 200km/h on the Autobahn.

At least you should offer him to compensate him for his expenses and time.

Sure, cables and connectors make a difference. But mostly it's about using a big enough copper cable and gold-plated connectors. Lots of fancy cables are just eye candy. Luckily my system is all digital up to the active speakers (with digital input). The cables with XLR connectors cost a couple of hundred THB.

Can he explain? Or can he, or anybody else, measure a difference? Too many so called audiophiles believe they can hear a difference, but they can't measure any difference. Modern measurement techniques are extreme good. And 20kHz or even 100kHz is nothing demanding. And even if cables would be 0.001% inaccurate, how about speakers? This is a sample from a very good and very expensive speaker. And this is considered very good. Now think about the measurements of a cable...

I there some little device which can be connected to a router or maybe WLAN which monitors the internet? And maybe shows an alarm on an app if the internet or WLAN doesn't work? I guess I could create something like that with an ESP32. But I am sure someone else invented that already. And maybe they sell it cheap on Lazada or AliExpress or similar. But what is the name of such a device? Any ideas? Recently the electricity was off in a place which I don't visit regularly and because of that the internet was off. I didn't notice for a few days. With a little device and app like described above that should be easy to detect and monitor.

What is the legal situation with this: A Thai Limited company, maybe registered with 6m THB, has a couple of employees since many years. Then the boss makes stupid decisions, no incoming money anymore, the company is unable to pay salaries. And if the company fires long time employees the company can't pay severance payments. Do the employees just have to accept reality, there is no money anymore, and go home? Is the GM or maybe the shareholders responsible to put up their own money to pay for outstanding salaries, etc.?

What is the procedure if a foreigner has a valid Non-B visa and work permit and then then the person stops working in that company? I guess the company will report to the authorities that the person is not employed anymore on date x. And that means from that day on the visa and work permit are not valid anymore. Is it necessary or common procedure that the employee has to give the passport and work permit to the employer so that they show them to the authorities, and they will mark them invalid? Or is that not necessary and usually it doesn't happen? And what is the status of the foreigner, who is still in the country, after the business visa expires? Does he then have no valid visa from that day on? Or does the status change automatically to tourist visa for maybe 30 days or so? Should the employee visit the immigration on or near the last day of employment to change to a tourist visa? Or does the employee have to leave the country and apply for a new visa or enter the country without visa to get a 30-day stamp? Thanks for any information.

I need something like this for my kitchen hood exhaust, 200mm diameter. Does anybody of you where to buy it online in Thailand or in a shop somewhere in Bangkok? Thanks

I like in lower Sukhumvit since decades. For all that time Foodland in Soi 5 was my main supermarket. I go there almost daily. In Covid times the whole area, including Foodland, was almost empty. No surprise. But even after Covid Foodland has maybe only 10% or 20% of the customers which it used to have - at least in my subjective experience. Why? As far as I know there are a few other supermarkets in the area, but IMHO nothing better than Foodland. Now, with the fewer customers, they also have fewer service people in the shop. It's a slow downhill spiral. Does anybody know what is going on or have a good idea for some reason(s)? Took Lae Dee restaurant, within Foodland Soi 5, is also almost empty.

From time to time we have news stories about fights. Sometimes guards are involved and often a group of people beat up a single person. Did you ever witness anything like that? Are you concerned it could happen to you? Personally, I saw this happening a couple of times. And it was never unprovoked. People didn't want to pay their bill, or they though they can call Thais bad names, or maybe take pictures in forbidden areas, etc. It seems in most of these cases the fights could have been avoided by paying the bill, apologizing, and not behaving like an idiot. Personally, I would be careful going into areas with drunk guys who look for trouble. But that applies to countries all over the world. I don't behave like an idiot and consequently I don't get attacked. How about you? Did anybody in Thailand ever attack you for no reason? Did you see fights for no reason? P.S.: If someone thinks they can just walk out without paying their bill then for me that is just plain stupid and asking for trouble. If people like that get beat up, then they deserve it - IMHO.