impulse

That's partly true. But a large component of the recent increase in antisemitism has been the redefinition of the word to include any criticism of Israel and its response to the atrocities. Agree or disagree with either side, legitimate criticism isn't antisemitism.

Funny how the benefits are always in the forecast, but the downsides are in the day. Like Bidenomics. The bestest economy ever. But only on paper, and in the minds of the spin doctors.

There's a huge difference between divesting company owned stations and closing them. The linked article isn't very clear whether the stations would close, or simply change ownership to be operated by others. For Shell, divesting would mean less capital employed (assets), increasing RONA, with a bonus that they shed the carbon footprint for others to pick up. Sounds more like financial and ESG shenanigans than shutting down stations. Bet'cha some management types at Shell figured out how to increase their bonuses.

I'm liking the suggestion to carry treats for a long term, around home solution. But I'm often accosted away from home and I've always found bending over to look like I'm picking up stones has been effective. And if I know I'm walking into a pack's territory, I pick up a stick before I get there and toss it away when I'm past them. Not even a big stick, and I've never made contact. That's always worked for me and I anticipate it will tomorrow when I'm walking to my hotel in Kanchanaburi, past the same mongrels that I walk past every time I stay there. Regarding those who suggest dogs key in on fear, so what? Fear is normal in those situations. Whether I turn that fear into flight, or fight is the unknown. The fear itself is a given. And, I propose, smart.

Interesting that the first time that the USA has ever dropped out of the top 20 for happiness is on Joe's watch.

While I agree with that, I've opened .xlsx spreadsheets and .docx documents with the freeware and the formatting can take a looong time to fix. It may seem petty stuff, but I just don't want to spend an hour fixing the formatting. It's especially bad when I open a document from someone else who uses strange formatting like adding line breaks when they really didn't need to. That's what margins are for... In fairness, my conventions may be just as bad, but I know what they were.

The first thing I'd do is get a shower drain plug with a built-in P-Trap. That keeps fumes from backing up. Many Thai plumbing systems don't have P traps or S traps that keep smells from backing up. Edit: Also, look under your bathroom sink and see if there's a trap that keeps fumes from backing up. If it's a straight pipe into the floor, that's another source of the sewer smell. I'd add that I've stayed in quite a few hotels with that problem and the simple short term solution was to soak a face towel and put it over the shower drain and/or the sink. The purpose is to keep the fumes from backing up into the room.

Linux is great if you know how to root the flubus when things go haywire. Because that's the advice you'll get on the Linux blogs. They seem to assume all the users are wizzes already. Windows blogs and help resources are usually geared toward luddites. I stick with Windows because it supports the software I've been using for over 30 years. I've got tens of thousands of hours into the learning curve on programs like Excel, CorelDraw, etc. That's more valuable to me than saving a few $$ on the OS and freeware versions (like GIMP) that are probably just as good, but have their own learning curve. As much as I missed Mac OS when my company switched to Windows in the '90s, I won't go back to Mac just because of the learning curve. Even if it is a better OS, and I'm no longer hogtied to Windows by a job.

Most of that "building" came long before the welfare state where a crafty individual can go from cradle to grave without ever working a day. GOP'pers aren't anti-immigration. Just anti free-for-all. We prefer our newcomers do it legally, which means vetting to make sure they're not in MS13 (or worse). We can attract the best and the brightest immigrants from around the world. But the educated ones are inclined to vote conservative when they get legal citizenship. And that's a problem for Dems. Edit: Living and working for over 20 years in Thailand and China has given me a whole new appreciation for the difficulty of legal immigration. That needs to be fixed to make it easier, and make the numbers bigger. But opening the border to anyone that shows up isn't the way. I've got too many Chinese and Thai friends with degrees and advanced degrees who would make more money in the USA picking fruit than they do at home as accountants, etc. Those are the guys I want to let in...

Is that true, or an urban myth?

I've got a personal rule that if I run into 3 buttwads in a row, I have to look back over my own behavior. Maybe it's me. We all have bad days. Some of us, bad decades I imagine.

That was one of my thoughts, too. If I was the czar of Thai immigration, I'd offer a reward to alert hoteliers. Maybe a percentage of the overstay fine...

All possibly true. That said, my DL worked most of the time anyway. It shouldn't have, but it did. Edit I wonder if the hotels are penalized if they have guests on overstay. Are they really responsible for checking, just curious, or wannabe Kojaks?

Mine usually worked, but keep in mind his DL will no longer have his current PP number if he has sent the PP off for a renewal. I don't know if that affects anything, but it's worth knowing. Edit: You never know when they may upgrade the system to flag a bad PP number upon check in.

I don't know about Chiang Mai, but there are dozens of sign shops in Bangkok that sell acrylic sheets of assorted colors and thicknesses. Scattered all over the city, but there's a whole neighborhood of them in one block of Chinatown. I'd suggest looking for shops that make advertising signs. I just wandered through the Chinatown neighborhood today. It's not on the main drags. Tucked away a little, but still going strong.

I hope the OP will post back with his/her result. Interesting question, but I suspect that many variables will figure into the result. Like location, political clout of the parties, what's in the agreements, etc. Sadly, I'm not forecasting good news. Seems like any case of burglary, where the OP's homeowners insurance would be the normal recourse. Then the insurance company can seek reimbursement (or not)

If she has genuine health issues (and I'm not doubting she does), my heart goes out to Kate. 'Couple of years ago, I had a health issue and I lost half my energy, my ability to climb a ladder (no balance), and most of my sense of humor. If you didn't know what caused it, it would have been easy to think it was a mental condition. But it wasn't. I just felt crabby and craved naps all day. 2-1/2 years later, I'm still not 100%. I've just gotten used to feeling like poop. And I still don't crave public interactions except among friends. No way someone in that condition should be put in front of the public until she gets to feeling better. And people need to cut her some slack.

That's a nice looking car. Post back with any Thai pricing and availability info you may come across.

I'd suspect the ex-works value of that pork may have been less than zero in Brazil. For example, if it was condemned after inspection. Probably easier and cheaper to stick it on one of those freezer ships to almost anywhere in Asia than to dispose of it legally in country. And if they can sell it on... Bonus!

"Green" toilets that never flush turds away, "green" dishwashers that take 2 hours and never get the dishes clean, along with "green" washing machines that that take 90 minutes and still leave your clothes smelling funky are probably worth tens, if not hundreds of thousands of votes. Not for Trump as much as against Biden. They're kitchen table issues. As frustrating for lefties as they are for conservatives. Especially the female voters.

I remember when gerbils were off limits on TVF. But I can't for the life of me remember why. My brain must have leaked over the past 12 or 13 years. Probably God being compassionate, because it seemed pretty stoopid.

Good catch. I guess my pundits (3 of them, all right wing- but different venues) mis-spoke, It's 2-3 months, not 2-3 weeks. Still, I suspect he may make different decisions once the election is done and dusted. Removing Willis wouldn't have been a prudent political move for his re-election, regardless of how correct it would have been.

I understand the judge's election is 2-3 weeks away. In a blue county with a lot of Black voters. It wouldn't surprise me if that figured into his decision, that he could let the charade go on for another few weeks before pissing off the Black and the Blue voters in Fulton county by yanking her. Especially after her race baiting in church. I halfway expect to see him making different decisions after the election. That based on his pretty unflattering proclamations about Ms Willis' behavior. In any case, she needs to be on her best behavior after that election.

Sounds fun to watch. But I'd let them drive a block or 2 before disabling the car remotely. They'd be less likely to walk that far for retribution.

No difference other than a few vowels Huge difference in which side of the meat grinder they'd be on if they went home and got drafted. I don't understand the Russophobes that would prefer the Russkies be kicked out of Thailand, to fight Ukrainians. Seems counterintuitive. Unless the only motivation is hating on Russkies. Which seems to be a thing on here.