impulse

Sure, Give the work to Boeing or Raytheon. We'll pay twice as much, it'll take twice as long, and in the end the project won't perform half of what they promised. But they're in good with the Pentagon...

To carry those 7 people on scooters, there would be 3-4x as many vehicles and 3-4x times the chance of a crash, and perhaps 10x (or more) the odds for someone to be killed. On a per km basis, studies in the US and Aus show scooters to be 20-40x as dangerous as a 4 wheeler. Even in the back of a pickup, you have a lot of steel.

The good news is that he keeps making the case for no bail, no way stronger, with every act. Now they need to go out and round up everyone that's aiding his intimidation, coercion and witness tampering. And no bail, no way for them, either.

Good luck doing anything without federal funds.

In the hierarchy of traffic dangers, I think riding a scooter is more dangerous than riding in the back of a pickup. If you ban that, aren't you relegating them to an even more dangerous mode of transport? I wish everyone could afford 4 wheels, tons of steel and seatbelts. But that's not the economic reality for most Thai people. Cashed up expats are the ones who have a choice.

Can't say I blame any port for declining the cargo, especially if it was compromised in any way. An ammonium nitrate explosion killed about 600 people in Texas City in 1947. https://texascitytx.gov/464/First-Explosion https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-city-disaster Edit: And apparently, the SS Grandcamp only had 2300 tons loaded when it went off. I can't imagine 8x that amount.

I hope he checked the tank on the roof for dead bodies first.

The problem, of course, is that if they aren't held to account, they'll do it again next time. Guaranteed. These won't be revenge prosecutions. These will be completely foreseeable consequences for their actions.

The "party of law and order" rioted for a week, all over the country after their candidate took the L in 2016. Burned and looted and fought the cops... Made Jan 6 (one afternoon, one location, BTW) look like a rowdy school field trip.

Maybe the hawker was just saying hello to his own mistress, who was dressed in blue.

I've flown into Swampy every month for the past 19, and I've been extremely pleased at the short immigration queues. Mostly, less than 5 minutes with one or 2 times being 20 minutes. None longer. Departure immigration has also gotten shorter with the automated lines. Worlds better than clearing immigration into the USA... That's a cluster something that rhymes with duck.

You mean like they let Biden off the hook for Tara Reade?

What I'd like to see is honest statistics of road accidents and fatalities by km driven, broken down by heavy trucks, passenger vehicles and scooters. I suspect driving a car in Thailand isn't nearly as dangerous as most expats think it is, and riding a scooter is a crapshoot in any country. Once I got used to Thai road etiquette, I had no problems in my pickup. Edit: And I'm a much safer driver back home, where the defensive driving skills I learned in Thailand stay with me.

If you mean the ones who have heavy student debt paying off useless degrees, I can understand why they'd vote Blue. They want their debt expunged. No mystery there.

I was kinda tickled at the idea of a "Beverage Recycling Factory". We call them "urinals".

The sad thing is that she won a suit because her religious beliefs were not honored. She should have won because her human right to choose what they jab her body with was not honored, regardless of religious beliefs.

Here's another alternative: Offering to Cryogenically Freeze Liberals, until Trump's term is up. A viral video that’s making its way around social media right now is an ad for a fictional company called ‘Cryo’ which offers to cryogenically freeze liberals and wake them up when Trump’s presidency is over. https://vigilantnews.com/post/hilarious-parody-ad-features-company-that-offers-to-cryogenically-freeze-liberals-for-duration-of-trumps-presidency/

Good to know that they rent decent bikes. I always rode my own when I lived in Asoke, so I never checked out their selection. There's been places (not Thailand) where the rental bikes were horrid, making it no fun beyond a few km.

I started out riding for exercise in the parks (Lumpini and Queen Sirikit). Eventually, I got braver and quit walking my bikes to the park, and that opened up a lot more places to ride. Another great bike ride is the port at Khlong Toei. I found that out, looking for the pier where they load you up to cross over to the Elephant Ear. Nice riding, even though Khlong Toei port is very industrial. Lots of temples to duck into and nooks and crannies. But my favorite ride was on the island, especially around that big flea market. Edit: Have you been to the Elephant Ear and rented a bike since Covid? I travel to BKK once a month and no longer keep a bike there. I'm wondering if they came back after the shutdown?

I thoroughly enjoyed riding around Asoke where I lived and worked. In fact, on Suk Soi 16 where my apartment was, it was much safer to cycle than it was to walk, with no sidewalks on most of it. I also highly recommend taking your life into your hands and put your bike on one of the rickety longtail boats out to the Elephant's Ear. That's another great place to ride in Bangkok. Edit: As I recall, it was 20 baht to go across, and they'd get 5 or 6 bikes and passengers on each trip. It may have been more, but I recall thinking how cheap it was. As an alternative, they used to rent bikes right at the dock where the boats drop you off. Maybe someone can do a post-Covid update... That's a fun afternoon in Bangkok, and I rarely see anyone talking about it.

Thanks for that. Seems it's always a flip of a coin, whether anyone will post useful replies.

It's a throwback to the days of olde when it took months to travel to DC from the West Coast. After it took months to get news of who won... I think it still serves a useful purpose to give the lefties time to recover from that syndrome that doesn't exist, before they take to their beds (and to the streets) again when The Donald does get sworn in. Wouldn't want too many to shave their heads and buy their plane tickets to leave the country. Possibly to a country with low balcony rails.

Then they should find a more suitable line of work.

The biggest issue with copper clad aluminum (CCA) is that it corrodes a lot faster than a pure copper conductor. Especially in wet environments. Aluminum also carries less current (has higher resistance) than the same diameter copper, but that can be engineered out by using a larger diameter. The corrosion problem... Not so easy to engineer away. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), properties installed with aluminum conductors manufactured before 1972, are 55 times more likely to have faulty and fire hazard-deemed connections than a property wired with copper. https://www.electricmauinui.com/older-hawaii-homes-and-aluminum-wiring/

Trump has inherited a “turd of an economy,” and when things “roll over,” he’ll be the one blamed for it. This dire news comes from COVID vaccine data analyst and former BlackRock asset manager Edward Dowd. Dowd predicts things could “unravel anytime between now and March.” And if the incoming Trump administration doesn’t “get out in front of the narrative,” then they are “going to get blamed for what is coming.” “The real economy (not the stock market) has been rolling over,” Dowd lamented, “and we’re just waiting for the financial markets to figure this out. They will. And when they do, unfortunately, Trump will inherit turd of a financial market crisis.” I'm still waiting for the unemployment numbers to reflect all the "newcomers" that are without work. I think they're waiting for Trump to get in before they add them to the "available labor pool". At which time, there will be a spike in unemployment. And they'll blame it on Trump, though it's Harris/Biden's fault. I'll let you Google Edward Dowd to figure out if he's credible.