impulse

100% agree I don't disagree, but I'm keenly aware that I chose to move into an ecosystem that existed long before I got there, and will exist long after I leave. It's incumbent on me to protect myself against risks I was fully aware of before I made that choice. Risks like uninsured cyclists who don't have enough money. If I want to live in a nanny state, I can always move. They can't... They don't enjoy that same luxury.

Sadly, it'll be about who benefits the party elite, regardless of what the voters want. https://edition.cnn.com/polling/approval-rating-polls I don't care what you think about the guy. When you see them putting up a guy with numbers like those, you can't help but question their motives. Total disrespect for the voters...

At the risk of being ridiculed, you could try one of the expat focused churches. I met quite a few nice folks at the (I think) Catholic church near the US Embassy. I also met a lot of people, local and foreign, walking around the tracks at Queen Sirikit and Lumphini parks, especially around 5:00 PM when it cools off a little and the workers come out for exercise. I was surprised at how many local women would approach and speak English. Most of them a little older... Could be because they recognized me from walking there several days a week. Used to meet them bicycling in the same parks, but that seems to have gone by the wayside. (Or maybe bicycling hours have been changed- I didn't ask.) I don't know if they still do it this year (or where), but Sunday evening BKK Symphony concerts in Lumphini park were always enjoyable and usually met some nice folks. Used to be January and February, when it's a little cooler.

Once again, the Dem establishment insisting they know better than the voters. The voters know when they're getting peed on, even if the Dems want to claim it's rain. But feel free to ignore the voters... https://edition.cnn.com/polling/approval-rating-poll-of-polls https://edition.cnn.com/polling/approval-rating-polls And those are the CNN lefties. I won't even link to the conservative press. If I was a Dem looking at those numbers, I'd be looking for a better candidate. And I would have started that search a long time ago.

I'd hope so, but I don't know. That's why I mentioned that it was an '88 model. Back then, you had to catch an intermittent problem as it happened. I would expect today's computers may record the events. The Taurus was my retired company car that I bought for peanuts. When I took it to the shop that did all our fleet work and described the problem, he immediately told me to replace the fuel pump. Strangely, a rebuilt fuel pump cost more than a new one, but he told me to spring the extra money for the rebuilt because the rebuilds fixed some issues that caused them to fail from the factory. In any case, I never had the problem over the next 10 years or so I kept the car.

Had the same issue with an '88 Ford Taurus and it turned out to be a bad fuel pump. I'd replace the fuel filter first, though. Just because it's cheaper and just as likely. There's no telling what you may put in your tank at a gas station out in the sticks. Or in BKK.

That's a good point, and I'll probably roll it into one of my investment accounts when the amount gets substantial (I'm just 66 so it's not a huge amount). But I'm still a little butthurt by one of my family's "trusted" investment advisors that was making stupid trades to bump up his commissions on my inheritance account. Then when I got back to the States after being gone for years, his office staff chuckled at me when I bitched about the lousy (in fact, negative) return. It is a different market now.

That's one opinion. Just like the Maine SOS's opinion. Quite a few Repub SOS's and election officials don't share that opinion. Deliberately allowing unvetted illegals to flow across the border doesn't sit well with them.

IMO, you're overthinking this. I chose to go on SS when I qualified for Medicare at 65, simply so I don't have to come out of pocket the $150-200 a month to pay into Medicare. Nor do I need to take any action on a monthly basis. Since I don't need the funds, they accumulate in my bank account and unless I do something stupid like buy a boat or some other toy that I don't need, the funds will still be there when I turn 70 and offset the lower payments I'll be receiving. (Unless I die in the meantime, then my heirs will get the $$$) The idea that I can predict Thai tax law, Thai (or Mexican) retirement requirements, the date of my death, interest rates, or any of 100 other unknown variables didn't figure into my decision. My crystal ball just isn't that good. Edit: That doesn't mean I don't appreciate the good flow of information. I'm open to the possibility I made a booboo.

You could easily say the same about the deliberate neglect of protecting the sovereign borders of the USA. The results would be just as wrong.

Gosh, here's a thought. Why not let the American voters decide? Are Dems that contemptuous of American voters that they won't allow us to decide?

You guys keep getting caught up in the minutia. I'm just saying that personnel operating indigenous equipment, with native language and idiosyncrasies geared toward their own experiences, are going to outperform someone operating imported equipment that they've trained on for months, and not years or decades. Using myself as an example, I will always be more competent driving on the right side of the road. That's the way I grew up. I've done millions of km driving on that side, and shifting with my right hand. Stick me in my Thai pickup truck and I was marginally proficient, in spite of years and tens of thousands of km driving Thai roads. I do enjoy watching air crash documentaries, and there are quite a few of Soviet pilots crashing Boeings and Airbuses because they're different. The autopilots act differently and even the attitude indicator is different. Uke pilots have trained in Soviet aircraft for decades. They'll be marginally proficient in F16's, for years. Just like I am driving on the left.

If they think they're going to prevail up against Russkie pilots with decades of experience flying Russkie jets, they're going to be in for a rude (but short) awakening. Minimally proficient is the best they can expect after a few months of training.

To get a 95% chance of being within 5% of the right answer, they'd need to poll 385 random people in a population of 67 million. That's just the way statistics work... And the people who do those surveys know how to reach out to "random people". Whether they do or not, I don't claim to know. https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/sample-size-calculator/

They're probably minimally proficient. Try this... Borrow a friend's Thai language cell phone and see how well you navigate it. And understand that an air defense system probably has 10x as many knobs and menu selections. Then hand it to a 6 year old Thai kid and see how much better he does. That's the difference between a native language user and someone who's spent a few months training (and getting drunk at night) in the US desert.

Took awhile to find this, since I'm sure they'd rather we didn't. It took 244 years from 1776 to 2020 for the USA to get to 3.26 million illegal immigrants wandering around the country. It took Biden less than 3 years to get that number up to 6.2 million. And those are just the ones they have paperwork on. Counting getaways, I suspect Biden doubled the number in just 3 years. https://www.ice.gov/doclib/eoy/iceAnnualReportFY2023.pdf The Biden administration’s ICE authorities carried out 142,580 deportations in fiscal year 2023, according to an agency report released Friday. (while adding 1.44 million to the "Non-Detained docket" Deportation amounted to less than 10% of net arrivals.) https://dailycaller.com/2023/12/30/ice-held-less-37000-migrants-in-detention-2023-while-more-6-million-went-free-report-shows/

Gosh. I like to hear what both sides have to say. But if I'm ruining the acoustics of your echo chamber, feel free to put me on ignore. In fact, I'd prefer if you did. And to answer your question, since it was Russkies operating Russkie made, Russkie language air defense missiles in Belgorod, they probably do better than Ukes operating English language air defenses.

That's a lot of factoids. With absolutely nada to back them up.

Just curious... Has anyone actually sharpened theirs? I just replaced the blades. Which, of course, limits the choices to brands that I can find blades for.

Good info...

I don't know about Oz, but my banks closed all my US bank accounts (checking and savings) when they figured out I was no longer a resident of the USA. My investment accounts stayed open, but that was a PITA to work out of for month to month stuff. Same thing happened to my (much wealthier) brother when he worked in Kazakhstan.

Here's an even better candidate for a Darwin award... Seen it quite a few times, drunks popping off rounds into the air to celebrate the New Year. Las Vegas MGM Grand wasn't a good place to do that after recent history. It'll be interesting to see what the guy's story is. It wouldn't be funny had there been any injuries... That's why I suspect hope the guy was just drunk. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/developing-massive-police-swat-response-signature-mgm-grand/

I can't help but wonder if anyone's been caught out by a paperwork snafu that would delay one month's deposit. I'd certainly have tight sphincter condition based on some experiences with international wire transfers where a single digit or errant letter caused me grief. Usually it was my paycheck and quickly straightened out. I'd hope SS deposits would go smoothly once they were dialed in. But... Anyone have a horror story?

The problem (as I see it) with hydrogen is that you're just pushing the problem up or down the supply chain. It takes energy to split H2O into H2 and O2. That energy has to come from somewhere. In that respect, it's like charging an EV using electricity produced in a coal (or gas) fired power plant. Contrast that to oil and natural gas that comes out of the ground with the energy built in, over eons, by nature. I'm not saying that EV's and hydrogen don't have a place, and technology and infrastructure isn't developing that make it cleaner and more sustainable. Just that you have to look at the whole energy chain to figure out whether they're doing right by the planet, or just virtue signaling.

Heavy on the "without a trial". In the Maine case, there was no open discussion, no opportunity to defend himself or present an argument on his behalf. Just a unilateral decision by a partisan hack. If there's anyone that doesn't bother, I don't understand their thinking. Because it may be you or yours that they come after next. Edit: I'd add that I didn't respond to Tug's post, because if he had substituted "Biden" for "Trump" he'd probably be getting a visit from the FBI.