impulse

I went to high school in Illinois where White Castle was all over. Not so much in Texas where I went to college and lived for the most part. And between Ruby's, Carl's Jr and In 'n Out, I never even looked for them in SoCal. Ruby's, BTW, mostly for the scenery on Huntington Beach pier. Their burgers were good, but not world class. The location was.

When I lived in SoCal in the 90's, I thought it was a toss up between Carl's Jr and In 'n Out. But Carl's Jr. may have changed in the hookup with Hardee's. And I haven't been to any In 'n Out's in 20 years, though they are in Texas now. Too far from the butt end of Galveston where I live.

I miss sliders. In high school, we'd go in and buy 30 of them for a carload of us. Then order more...

I love a great burger, but I'm not willing to go clean across town to get one. Next time I'm on Sukhumvit, I'll gladly try it out. When I'm staying in Chinatown, I like Burger236 very close to the Hua Lamphong station and MRT. It's not the best burger in Bangkok, but very satisfactory in addition to being inexpensive. Worth a try if you're in Chinatown. Tiny place with just a few seats so I usually got one to go with 2 orders of fries because one just wasn't enough. On a related note, I miss the Carl's Jr that used to be there (Nana), Soi 22, and Silom. Good fast food burgers and the only place that I recall having bottomless brewed ice tea, which is one of my weaknesses when it's hot outside. Also good fries.

Can't speak for the causes of this incident, but we always kept a bottle of Johnson's Baby Oil in the car when the Ixtoc platform oil washed up on the beach in Texas. We had blobs of oil for years and years after that. Generic name is mineral oil, but the Johnson brand smelled nice in addition to cleaning up oil off our feet, clothes and the car's carpeting.

A lot of Thai restaurants asked me for payment up front. But they forego all the profit from upselling high margin desserts and coffees, which keeps a lot of restaurants in business. I'm more likely to buy dessert and coffees on an open tab. On a closed tab, I'm more likely to go down the street for ice cream or coffee.

Maybe. But at what cost to world order, when embassies and consulates become fair game targets? If they were launching missiles from the consulate, fair enough. But not if it was just retaliatory, or to target individuals.

The lights may go on if they keep pumping him full of industrial grade NoDoz. But still, nobody will be home. If I ever showed up at a company meeting like he showed up at the SOTU, I'd have been "randomly" drug tested the next day.

While I won't claim that most lefties are idiots, the vast majority of idiots I've encountered have been lefties.

I fly in, stay a week and fly out. My one land entry was pre-Covid, and it was visa exempt. If I were to suggest a lesson from that, it's that the number of fly-in entries isn't the limit that's going to cause a problem. But that's just my experience.

I recently posted this about my experience, but that's all it is. My experience: Last week, I entered Thailand visa exempt for the 12th time in the past 12 months, and it was all smiles and less than a minute. I fly in, stay a week and fly out. It resets the 30 day clock on my China visa. My buttcheeks always pucker up a little on both ends of the visa run, so I'm interested in what folks have done (if anything) to merit the extra scrutiny. BTW, US citizen, 67 yo, worked in Thailand on BOI WP for 7 years and haven't had a Thai visa since. Just exempt entries by air. (One by land when I pursued a wild hair to take the train from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok- never again) Most of the time, my airlines ask to see an onward ticket and I show them a flight booking within 10 days. A few (maybe 3) times, they've asked me to show cash (20,000 baht equivalent) before issuing the boarding pass. I've not been asked to show a hotel booking, though I always have one just in case. Details like whether a sea or land booking is acceptable, I don't know. I also don't know what would happen if I stayed longer, or accumulated more time in Thailand on each trip or in total. Or if I had a different nationality.

Being dissed by the usual suspects on here is a badge of honor. Caitlyn Jenner has done more IMO than any other American to win acceptance for the transgender community.

You need to get yourself a copy of the BBC Big Band Album. I downloaded it on a lark and didn't listen for over a year. When I finally did, I was floored. I'm probably the only guy on the MRT humming along to the oldies. Timeless music from 25 years before I was born.

I'm the opposite of a Biden fan, but what's not to like? A trip to Bangkok like that would make the guy a hero. You know it's a deep fake because he doesn't drink. Edit: BTW, thanks George for embedding the video instead of just a link. YouTube and others are blocked where I'm staying and I appreciate the effort.

So you see how easy it would have been to avoid the controversy altogether? But his lefty staff just couldn't resist pushing their agenda. Probably at great cost to his campaign. Certainly it couldn't have benefited. Not to mention reminding voters that Team Dem is the one behind biological males in women's sports and women's bathrooms, laws that take away a parent's rights in regards to their children's healthcare, drag queen story hour in elementary school, porn in school libraries, and and a plethora of other rules to benefit the 1% that identify as trans. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2024/

Every year on August 13, he neglects the 10% of voters that are lefties on Left Hander's Day. Not a peep from the WH. Despite the fact that honoring us on our day probably wouldn't lose him a single righty vote. He could have done the same to the 0.6-1.5% of voters who identify as Trans. Instead, he panders to the 1%, alienating some portion of the other 99%. Just on the numbers, he was a political idiot for that Proclamation, especially with the coincidence of Easter. It was an unforced error. And the Repubs picked up on it and ran.

Not fair! April 1 jokes need to be off the wall and something that would never happen IRL. This one is too credible.

That's disappointing.

I wonder what failed? Maybe someone stole the copper cable?

You mean the CNN campaign piece, carrying water for the DNC and Sleepy Joe in an election year? Read the linked article, and she gives herself away quite a few times.

Self loathing, or sad to see the progress they've struggled for and made, being set back by the idiots like Dylan Mulvaney and Drag Queen Story hour in elementary schools?

I buy the good stuff. But the topic is what we find in restaurants.

My favorite beach resort in Jomtien used to cater to Eastern Europeans. Mostly Russkies, Belarussians, Ukrainians and East Germans. With their families, I found them to be delightful people and very receptive to striking up a conversation in English. And they all got along well with each other. In fairness, I did not party with them. Just at the beach during the day. And they weren't solo travelers (mongers). They were at the beach with their families. And, being a resort, they were tourists. Not long stay. Then circumstances changed, the Eastern European tourism dropped off and the place was inundated with Chinese tourists. Who were generally delightful, as well. I guess you generally find what you're seeking. And what you're giving off.

The Department of Disease Control (DDC) has assured the Thai public that no instances of necrotizing fasciitis, a dangerous bacterial infection often referred to as a "flesh-eating" disease, have been reported in Thailand this year. Oh man. They just jinxed it. Time to stock up before the run on antibiotics?

There are dozens of holidays every year that I won't be celebrating. That's one of them. August 13 is another, though I bat and golf lefty.