impulse

Not to worry. Within a week after the election, he'll get a pardon. Though it would be political suicide to pardon him today.

In your story, Trump is like Jerry Garcia? That would make Biden like Carsten Pederson, lead singer of Smut, the band that played my high school concerts. Just like Biden, nobody ever went to their events, either. I wonder if Ben & Jerry's will name a flavor after The Donald, like they did for Cherry Garcia? Maybe something in the pumpkin line...

Kudos for wanting to stay sharp, but I suggest that in-person human interaction is more important than anything you can do by yourself. Optimally, with people who give each other fun guff, and don't just agree with everything. And I don't mean on the interwebs...

Speaking of wingnut conspiracy theories, were the recent Aurora Borealis due to CME's (natural solar stuff) or HAARP (un-natural gub'ment stuff)? Gotta love the wingnuts at GP. Even if I don't believe 'em, it's good to know the Bigfoot and ET crowd is still out there. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/haarp-solar-storm-public-speculates-northern-lights-were/

I used to buy my hot dogs (and buns and relish and mustard) at Foodland on Soi 16. They were in what I'd refer to as a Deli Counter, with some other goodies like roast beef. They weren't any brand that I recognized, but they fit the bill. They had several flavors, some of which were horrible, others pretty good. You just have to try them to see if you like any. TBH, I haven't been there since Covid, so I hope they still have them. Edit: I find it amusing to when Brits bash American food. Haggis and Marmite, anyone? And who eats baked beans for breakfast? That's just mean to your co-workers who have to sit in that gas...

Used to be a great show, though I haven't been to it since Covid and in the new QSNCC. Used to feature lots of discount dive equipment, though I don't know if that'll still be the case. I even ordered my 1970's vintage PADI certification card at the show in years past. (though I don't know if PADI will be there this year) https://www.thailanddiveexpo.com/ QSNCC site says May 17-19, but the DiveExpo site says May 16-19 Golf show is May 16-19, same venue.

Get back to us when you can hook up a full size keyboard, a 40" FHD monitor and half a dozen storage devices to your phone, and watch movies from across the room. Easy peasy with a mini... To the Mac fans. I get it. I almost cried back in the '90s when my employer went from Mac to Windows (Because Win graphics got good enough to compete with Mac. Not as good as, just good enough). But $ thousands of Win software and thousands of hours learning the Win OS and its iterations, and those programs makes it tough to go back now that I'm not on a company computer. As appealing as it is...

Coming up at QSNCC, Queen Sirikit MRT stop. I haven't been in years (not since Covid and the new QSNCC), but it used to be a decent trade show to see what's new and available in Thailand. https://qsncc.com/en/whats-on/event-calendar/thailand-golf-expo-2024/ Thailand Dive Expo May 17-19, same venue. Used to be a great show. I even ordered my PADI dive card at the show, though I took the class in college in the '70s. https://www.thailanddiveexpo.com/

You mean like the Dutch guys who missed out on tulip bulbs? Just out of curiosity, what percentage of crypto projects have gone belly up?

The wingnut conspiracy streak in me believes they'll also be tracking the money flowing through existing accounts, in an effort to decide what's now taxable under the new tax rules. "Last year's money" that used to be exempt from taxes will now be scrutinized. Gonna be interesting when it's time to file 2024 Thailand income taxes early next year.

It's a religious thing. That's where God put a lot of the oil, and where the companies mail those oversized paychecks.

I have a hard time getting upset about someone staying in Thailand since Covid, when extensions were a given and leaving was near impossible. Not hard to imagine he got himself in a pickle related to the shutdowns. If the guy was robbing banks or cheating people, that's one thing. But that doesn't seem to be the case, and I wish the guy well. I hope he's able to work things out in a manner that's amenable to him.

Biden packed in a hundred or so supporters to his recent campaign stop in Michigan, while Trump's New Jersey rally is expected to draw 40,000 supporters. https://www.foxnews.com/video/6352650996112 Winning, the Biden way... In "getting redder every day" New Jersey, no less. Bad news for Biden, who knows that Michigan's Muslim voters will be a key in November.

Interesting, hope they get to the bottom of this. "The findings directly contradict the conclusion of US officials a year ago that “anomalous health incidents” (AHIs) among embassy staff in Cuba, China and various locations in Europe were not caused by an energy weapon or foreign adversary." Color me skeptical of media outlets whose raison d'etre is their advertisers, many of whom want the Ukraine funding to go on forever. I'm not dismissing the possibility that it's the Russkies, but it's just as likely to be something our intelligence agencies are doing to themselves (or each other), maybe even unknowingly. Lots of experimental tech in the spy business.

Someone catch me up here... Bing searches (and a previous post here) say the guy was found alive, but lack detail. The rest of the sources are blocked here in China. (Like this one that I can't open) A British father who disappeared during a solo retirement holiday in Thailand last week has been found. https://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/other/mystery-as-british-father-65-goes-missing-in-thailand/ar-BB1lXfFI What happened that he went off grid?

+1 on AirBNB, especially of you can find a good landlord. But be careful of the add-ons. I have some friends that rent out their places on AirBNB and they add $$ hundreds for a cleaning fee. Some of them have a multi-page list of chores to be done upon leaving, lest they charge a penalty. They're near the beach, so the market lets them get away with murder... Contrary to some posts, there's a lot of AirBNB's for an entire home, as opposed to a room in someone's home. There are also a lot of extended stay hotels that have monthly room rates. They cater mostly to business travelers on extended projects like plant turnarounds, etc. I'd start with Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc. Or Google "extended stay hotels".

When I lived in SoCal, we used to have pot luck dinners every month or so, and our Hawaiian friends always brought Spam sushi. Because we all requested it. Don't underestimate the humble Spam...

I'd be careful extrapolating your personal experiences into a general statement. Maybe you just haven't posted a bad review of the wrong business. It's a lot like the guys who claim that scooters are perfectly safe, until they end up losing a leg... Or the guys who have never been cheated by a Thai woman, until they lose a condo... I'm recalling the guy from a few months back who was asked for 300,000 baht for filing a bad review on AirBNB. YMMV

Did the study consider comorbidities, or just the average remaining life expectancy of healthy people at their age? A healthy 80 year old may expect to live another 10 years, but not one who's 50 pounds overweight and has diabetes and COPD.

It's probably a small risk. But I've never had a problem with a Samsung phone that I didn't cause by swimming with it in my pocket. Usually, falling out of the boat. I lost 2 Samsung phones that way. My first smartphone was a Samsung S2, and it still works great. (Back when they had replaceable batteries and I've gone through a half dozen) In fact, I wish they'd make another one that small.

I don't know about Samsung authorized repair centers, but the guys I've used in MBK and Fortune Town had it done in 15-30 minutes. Part of that was to walk down to a nearby stockroom to get the battery, the rest was doing the deed. I just wandered around a little and came back to a repaired phone. Edit: I'm assuming it's a phone. I've never dealt with Samsung tablets, etc.

Where does that disrespect come from? They give friends and family an opportunity to show they cared by donating some money to the guy's funeral. How is that different from spending money for flowers (other than being a lot more practical than flowers that last a day or 2)? Or bringing a covered dish to the family home to take the burden of cooking off the grieving family...

That's 1/3 of the answer. Now we have to look at the long term excess deaths, for the next 20 years.

Even if that's true, at what cost? They could eliminate traffic fatalities by simply banning private vehicles. They could reduce deaths due to alcohol abuse by simply banning alcohol. The same way they could reduce Covid fatalities by putting millions of people out of business, banning them from seeing loved ones in their final days, and forcing them to take vaccines that weren't really vaccines in the traditional sense. As has been pointed out, there's an entire generation of kids that are behind on their schooling and their socialization skills. It'll be years before the long term data tells us whether the mRNA shots saved more than they damaged (and killed). Millions of businesses were bankrupted, and $$ trillions were added to the world's debt. There's more to life than not getting a disease that mostly kills those who have co-morbidities. It would be interesting to see a genuine study of how many years of life were added by the Orwellian way Covid was handled, and how many years of life were taken away by the Orwellian way Covid was handled.

For all the guys constantly ragging on Swampy... https://www.rt.com/news/597189-uk-airports-paralyzed-glitch/ Yeah, I know. Russkie propaganda. But I'm sure you can find it looking at UK News. I don't generally go there, even the ones that aren't blocked here in China.