impulse

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.

When it comes to romantic wokeism*, my favorites are the 300 pounders screaming misogyny when they spend more lonely nights at home than their 130 pound friends. Regarding race and romance, if you're a white guy and you choose Joy Behar over Halle Barry just based on race, you have a bigger problem than being a racist. That's just stupid. *Yeah, that's an ever changing meaning of "woke".

The guys living in Thailand are shielded from it to a large degree. I recently spent about 4 years in the USA and it's not as easy to overlook.

But here's the deal. Just like Jesse Jackson, I'm a racist when I feel safer encountering a group of white kids after dark. I think differently, and that's racism. But I don't act on it. I do my best to deal with the individual, and trite as is may sound, a lot of my good friends (and roomies) have been black. And people I've worked with and promoted. That's what Equal Opportunity laws are about. They know they can't dictate or control feelings. Just actions. Source: https://quotefancy.com/quote/247823/Jesse-Jackson-There-is-nothing-more-painful-to-me-at-this-stage-in-my-life-than-to-walk

Sure, if they've got the talent, the experience and the smarts. (And didn't plagiarize their work). Lots of excellent black leaders all over in business, gub'ment and academia. But don't hire or promote them over other, more qualified candidates just because they tick a box. That's reverse racism, which is still racism. Edit: Can you imagine the NBA if they required racial quotas and only 12.5% of the players can be black?

That blacks have a statistically higher probability of legal problems isn't racist. It's a documented fact. 12.5% of the population and 33-36% of the arrests. Or do you believe the wokies that try to convince us they're being picked on? https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/revcoa18.pdf

As I see it, Thailand's problem is that there's too many snouts in the trough and not enough left over for real development. Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, the strongest Asian economies were all started down the road to prosperity by a crooked guy who had the strength to control unfettered access to the trough. (Edit: I'd add Japan, too. But I don't think MacArthur was crooked) Made their families immensely wealthy, but their countries, too. Is there anyone alive that could do that for Thailand? Thaksin is the only one I know of, with the stones, the cunning, and the business experience to do it. Whether he will (would?) or not, I have no clue. My stint in Thailand started after he was ousted, and a year or two before Yingluck got couped out the door. I'd hope he would try to leave a favorable legacy in his remaining years.

That's pretty shameful. A group of us back home occasionally go down to the soup kitchen where a few of them volunteer on a weekly basis. We always kick in a lot more than the meal would cost us if we had gone to Denny's around the corner. I wonder if he put out a basket for donations? Maybe with a sign asking for help feeding the needy. Face being as important as it is, I'd hope a lot of the locals would want to be seen kicking in some baht.

So if I decide not to hire any blacks because they statistically have more problems with the law, that's not racism? Judging a person by the color of their skin is racism. Has nothing to do with hate. But I'd still get sued (and rightfully so) for $$$ millions, for racism. If a person chooses (or excludes) a romantic partner based on race, that's racism.

Racism is treating people (or even thinking about them) differently based on some racial trait. You seem to think it's limited to abject hatred. It can be a lot more subtle.

By that line of reasoning, any Thai woman that won't marry (or even date) a foreigner is a narcissist?

I just got a new debit card at K-Bank last month. Went in and asked and it took about 10 minutes. The card doesn't have my name on it, just "Privileged Member". Credit cards? I have no clue. A little more info, I'm American on visa exempt. I got the card to replace one that had expired a couple of years ago when I was a Covid refugee outside of Thailand. They expended some time and energy canceling the last card, which I had cut up soon after it expired. They were a little dismayed that I didn't have it with me, but not a big problem. I don't know what that was about.