impulse

10% profit on revenue doesn't seem so greedy. 2100 baht ($60) profit per employee doesn't sound so greedy. 1.7 million baht ($50K) per location doesn't sound so greedy. Without knowing how much NCE (net capital employed), it's tough to judge how greedy it is. Looking at a typical Starbucks, I can't even imagine how much they have invested in each store's fixtures (assuming they rent space and that comes in as an expense and not an investment) If investors can make a better return somewhere else, they'll put their money somewhere else. And lots of retired guys in Thailand are living off their investments and quite happy to see the stock value rise. If someone has the give-a-poop, I'm curious what their return on investment (ROI) is. I'm not curious enough to do the info scrounging. Especially since it's a consolidated company and breaking out Starbucks would be a chore.

What a nothing burger. Trump had existing business, with employees, payroll, customers and expenses. What was he supposed to do, kick out his customers, and fire his employees? He's the only modern president that actually left office with less net worth than when he entered. $2.4 billion less (if you believe CNN). That's quite a sacrifice. Makes that $7.8 million look like chump change. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/05/politics/donald-trump-net-worth-forbes-billionaire/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/forbes-400-donald-trump-wealth/index.html https://blog.cheapism.com/what-presidents-are-worth/ Contrast that to Biden, whose family had no businesses, no product (other than "the big guy") and took in $24 million from foreign sources. (That they know about so far) Mostly from unfriendly nations. https://dailycaller.com/2023/09/28/biden-family-associates-more-than-24-million-foreign-business-dealings/

Don't sugar coat it... How do you really feel about Starbucks?

How many average Joes could get on Facebook or Instagram, call out hundreds of thousands of protestors, and actually have them show up?

It'll be interesting to see if the increase sticks (and whether competitors follow suit). Wouldn't be the first company that raised prices to increase per unit profit, only to find out they lost so much volume that they had to reverse themselves.

The key word is sitting... Generally, when I'm in a Starbucks, I'm renting a nice place to sit for awhile, and they throw in a coffee. Sometimes, I rent a cheaper seat and they just throw in a water. I could get the water cheaper at 7/11 but they don't have nice seats.

All good info. Getting into EV's, fuel cells and green energy in general, what worries me is them passing laws dictating policies based on forecasts that there will be more wind, and more solar, and how much more. And how much it will cost. I read stuff like this, and I wonder how that will impact that future... https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/01/us/orsted-wind-energy-canceled-climate/index.html If they mandated EV's expecting these projects to be online in 10(?) years, will there be a shortage of charging capacity when those EVs come online and the wind farms don't? Or if they shut down wind farms during eagle migration season when a different group of greenies protests all the eagles killed, or when yet another group protests the waste when solar panels reach the end of life and need to be disposed of? Or too many whales are dying... All surmountable challenges, to be sure. And tying it back to hydrogen fuel cells, the energy has to come from somewhere. I just hope they don't mandate our way into a crisis based on forecasts that don't come true in the real world.

Good question. Recently living on the butt end of Galveston Island in a community that started out as a bunch of fishing shacks (that's slowly morphing into a high end community), I only witnessed it a few times a year. Usually on the other end of town where the services and hospital are, but sometimes with AirBNB'ers in the neighborhood. I don't drink, for decades, and I'm pretty sure that shields me from a lot of f*ckn*ttery in the bars I no longer frequent, but that's not a new woke phenomena. My sister and her daughter both live near Houston downtown to be closer to their lucrative oilfield jobs. They are constantly telling me horror stories of things that have happened in their neighborhoods and the park they walk to for exercise. And in my niece's case, stuff she witnesses from the window of her high floor condo. Makes them afraid to go out shopping after dark., and a lot is related to "catch and release" by the popo.

All pretty much corruption-free, and all far more prosperous, Join the dots,,,,,, But they didn't start out that way. In each case, a ruthless (corrupt) strongman started them down that path. I'm not saying Thaksin's that guy for Thailand. I don't know that much about his reign. But I sure don't see anyone else that could. And a small glimmer of hope is better than no hope at all.

Congrats on having a reasonable discussion. And thanks. Sadly, rare here on TVF. Hydrogen (and batteries) are storage mechanisms to store energy produced externally. To charge a battery, you have to add energy, in the form of electricity. The battery, by itself, just stores the energy. To break water up into H2 and O2 (Its 2xH20 -> 2xH2 + 1x02), you have to add energy. That's an endothermic reaction. It requires energy. Contrast that with natural gas (or gasoline), which has intrinsic energy that's released when burned. That's an exothermic reaction. It gives off heat. Which can be converted to work in the cylinders of an ICE. Huge difference between space flight applications and automobiles is that in space, all you're trying to generate is enough to run the systems. You're not using the hydrogen for propulsion. It's the difference between running lights and computers and some life support vs driving a 3000 pound vehicle for 500 miles. One requires a few pounds of hydrogen and the other requires a lot more. I'm sure we could be a lot further along with hydrogen fuel cell technology. I'm equally sure there will be technically and economically valid applications for fuel cell technology. I'm not convinced that automobiles will be one of them. At least not until they figure out how to safely store more H2 molecules in a smaller volume. BTW, one of the things I'm also interested in is what Amazon plans to do with the 02 component (H20-> H2 + O2). Will they sell it into the welding (industrial) market or the medical market, find an internal use, or simply vent it? Knowing what little I do of Amazon, they may pump it into the warehouse offices to keep their employees more alert and productive.

Because the laws are already in place. Biden is simply ignoring them. He's demanding they throw more money at it so they can continue to handle the inrush at the border, not to get immigration back under control and quit allowing criminals, terrorists and fentanyl over the border. More money for Dem donors that are making $trillions on immigration programs and more future Dem voters. Probably sooner than later when taken together with Dem efforts to allow illegals to vote.

Far from pedantic. It determines the #of days you are given and ability to obtain extension. Completely different animals. True, and good info. But since I don't think the OP even has the option of getting a VOA, the only practical implication is which queue he gets in when he arrives. Or is it possible for a Brit or a Yank to get a VOA? If it is, I am mistaken. Would not be the first time. I used the term "pedantic" because of all the silly flame wars I've read over the years, posters calling each other all kinds of names when they confused the two. (some of that popping up in this thread) Perhaps a better term would have been "semantic", because VOA and VE are often confused here, but do not mean the same thing.

Good heads up. That may sound like a subtle, even pedantic distinction. But it determines which queue you want to get in on arrival.

Who said they were free? I once worked for a billionaire, and you never knew which jet he'd arrive in, or who was going to bum a ride with him. He'd borrow someone else's jet (and crew) if his was in the shop or otherwise in use, or if he needed a bigger jet on one trip for a bigger entourage. And other zillionaires and companies would borrow his jet and crew, for the same reasons. I don't have a clue how they settled it all up, but I suspect there was an accounting method for that.

And in Thailand, don't forget to ask if that price is for the meal, or per unit weight. Especially seafood places. Usually, a notation in Thai so a tourist traveling without a native reader can get bit. Bad. Ask me how I know that...

Last month, I did my 9th visa exempt entry into Thailand in 2023. US citizen and I generally stay about a week. For me, it's a visa run from China, where my 10 year tourist visa only allows me 30 days at a time. Not a peep from Thai immigration. Just smiles and a stamp. Suvarnabhumi. Edit: YMMV.

In this context, my money is the prize. I'd be the compromise that goes along with the money. The tradeoff. I'd hope that would grow over the years into a mutually beneficial relationship. But I am a sap.

I did. Merriam-Webster unabridged The meaning of WOKE is aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice) —often used in contexts that suggest someone's expressed beliefs about such matters are not backed with genuine concern or action. Notice the references to green and gender... https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woke Edit: They update dictionaries regularly to catch up with common usage. As I recall, it used to be once a year in print. Nowadays, it can be instantaneous. Or as soon as the committee decides...

But it's not just the interweb. Folks in Thailand are generally shielded, but not so much in the west. Like the fidiots blocking traffic to protest climate change, or Israel. People being accosted on the street for wearing an "offensive" red hat. Service people getting beat up because they misgendered a customer (when they really got the gender right). And myriad of other offenses that weren't offensive, certainly not when I was growing up. Some of them even ending up in jail, fired, or worse.

It's become a lucrative business, on both sides of the pond.

It has become so. Originally meant (as you pointed out) "with an understanding of black history and issues related to the history". It's been co-opted by every cabal. In this case, "with an understanding of, and sympathy to, the challenges faced by the obese" Or the (name your oppressed group de jour). Whether they're really oppressed or not.

Claiming to be unbiased and truly being unbiased are two very different things.

Western MSM has become a mouthpiece and cheerleader for the left. More specifically, for the Democratic party. With 10x as many US journalists identifying as Dems as Repubs. A far cry from "truly independent", and getting worse every year. Unless you're willing to scrounge through the right wing counterbalance, then do some rather time consuming digging through the links and original source material. Sadly, most Americans would prefer 10 second sound bites, and be hypnotized by the echo. Edit: I say scrounge because the right wing stuff is usually less well funded and not nearly as slick and entertaining, with a few exceptions. https://www.theamericanjournalist.org/_files/ugd/46a507_4fe1c4d6ec6d4c229895282965258a7a.pdf The linked PDF has a lot of good info, in addition to the posted graph. But I'd bet 90% of the members here won't even bother.

It's good to find these things out on low impact issues, and early in the game. I'm expecting soon that your car will tell you you've exceeded your carbon allowance and won't start for the rest of the month. Or, in medicine, AI making a determination that the societal cost of keeping you alive exceeds your value to the collective. Or charging you triple someone else's airfare, because it's looked at your finances and determined you can afford more. Scary times, indeed.

I'm not seeing where you're addressing her ability to stay and work in the USA. It's been many years since I worked with young pups that got married to foreign ladies, and my experience in that regard was in China. I worked with several guys who fell in love on an expat assignment and got married, but her visa situation wasn't a slam dunk (even worse percentage on the K1) The story was that there are so many sham marriages that the Embassy made it extremely difficult to move the bride to the USA. Almost universally denied fiancé visas because of the prevalence at the time of sham arrangements, and often the poor guys didn't have a clue. Keep in mind that was in the early 2000's and in China. Any insight into the current spouse visa situation in Thailand? Is it just straightforward take the marriage documents to the US Embassy? On an aside, I still remember running into an irate countryman on a flight to China to read the US Embassy the riot act. Seems his fiancé was denied a visa, in spite of their year long online romance and spending a whole 2 weeks with her in person. He was incensed, as a taxpayer. I wished him well, but quietly thought the IO was doing him a solid.