impulse

So you've never heard the expression "When the US economy gets a cold, the world sneezes"?

I still don't think he should have been allowed to take office in his diminished state after the stroke, but he sure has been a pleasant surprise as he recovered.

What I also want to see is them seeking reimbursement from all the sham "sponsors" who made money sponsoring people they never intended to support. Up to and including jail time. Or it'll just happen again. And again.

That was the first concert of Season #32. I'd forgive them for learning lumps and a little gratitude toward the people who make it possible. This week, it started right on time and went swimmingly. I'd concede that the audience participation part was mostly in Thai. But hey, it's Thailand and the MC added enough English that we could keep up with what was happening. And the crowd seemed to enjoy it. I sure did, especially when they got the kids to conduct at the very end. Most of the kids were blonde, and it was hilarious. Quoting the Blues Brothers from 1980. "Whaddaya want for nothing, rubber biscuits?"

And there's probably a bunch of state crimes that the Prez can't pardon. And I don't think a criminal pardon shields them from civil lawsuits.

If the Yellowstone super volcano erupted, it would be a close call to figure out whether that created more long term damage than the Biden disaster.

Normally, I'd read that with a little bit of trepidation. But in this case,it just can't imagine it getting worse than the last 4 years.

Are you sure she didn't ask if you have a member? If you answered "no", she figured she was doing you a favor... On a more serious note, maybe the popo is sending foreign volunteers to catch them out?

That's why I mentioned Silom. If you didn't know better, most people would take the Lumpini exit. But that's a longer hike. Just like most people take the MRT Chatuchuk exit to go to Chatuchuk market. But that's not the best one.

A symphony concert isn't everyone's cuppa. But I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's. They did some classical and some contemporary and movie stuff. They had a male and a female singer and it was apparent he's a big deal in Thai circles. She had a great voice, and very attractive. They'll be doing it for the next 6 Sundays, same time and place. Then it gets too hot.

The other situation that used to bite us regularly is the woman who was applying for a $50K job. She'd get the job, be non-productive for 6 months going through training and learning lumps. (normal and expected). Then her $200K husband would get his bi-annual promotion and transfer, and she'd leave without ever having contributed anything. BTW, you're not allowed to ask her marital status, much less what her husband does. We've been sued for even asking.

Two repeated examples in my career where laws and their enforcement have hurt Blacks and Women. 1) You can't fire a Black employee without risking a huge discrimination lawsuit... Every employee you bring on has a risk that they won't work out, and you'll have to fire them. What's the best way to reduce your risk of being sued for wrongful termination? Don't hire employees that can sue you (and win) if they don't work out. 2) Several companies I worked for won't hire women of a certain age. Again and again, we hired women who were already pregnant (you're not allowed to ask). Six months later (do that math), they take their paid maternity leave, burden the company insurance policy to pay for the care, then don't come back when the mandated pregnancy leave runs out. It was clear from the results that they just hired on for the benefits and never had any no intention of staying. Can anyone think of a good way to prevent that abuse of the laws and the system? I can. Both of those are clearly abuse of the system. But the lawmakers (and the deep state) keep passing stupid, easy to game regulations. The ones that are hurt are the good Black and female employees.

Title says most of it. One of my favorite things about Bangkok (in season). I stopped in and they're set up and the sound people told me starts at 5:30... Well worth a visit. Free. MRT Silom, BTS Sala Daeng. Edit: Bring a folding chair if you have one. They used to have a couple of guys who rent roll up mats. I suspect they still do...

The problem with that plan is that it guarantees a high turnover of your better employees if you pay them less than they can make down the street. The slugs will stay with you forever, because that company down the street won't poach them. And some of them have become masters of doing the minimum they can get away with and not get run off.

Was it because they couldn't assess risk, or was it because they were considered sacrificial because they were morons? Not meant to be a pointed question. I don't claim to know.

Then why did the Biden DOJ sue Sheetz (gas stations), because they did background checks on their applicants for criminal charges? The DOJ claimed that the background checks discriminated against certain minorities who had a higher probability of a criminal record. Ponder that one, on several levels. Of course, it could be because Biden got the cold shoulder from the "crowd" at a Sheetz a few days earlier during a campaign stop.

Maybe I have my nomenclature wrong, but whenever I used the KBank debit card at a KBank ATM when I worked in Thailand, I'd get an alert on my phone even before I even finished the transaction. I assumed that meant the debit card was linked to the SIM. Is there another way that they do that? I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm trying to understand. This thread reminds me that I have to top up my annual AIS SIM, because it expires in February. I want it to be functional at wheels down on my next month trip...

Laws that are only enforced in one direction by the current knobs in office. But all that changes on January 20.

First you said it, quite clearly and unambiguously. Then when you get called out on it, you denied that's what you meant. You must be a lefty.

That may be how it was intended but just watching those 5'4" Secret Service ladies pretending to be human shields for a 6'4" Trump showed us all we needed to know. Had there been more than one shooter, someone else would be getting inaugurated later on in the week.

Steak ‘n Shake announced that they will switch completely from cooking in vegetable oil to “100% all-natural beef tallow” by the end of February. I remember how the taste of fast food fries took a nosedive when they went from real fat to faux oil. Thirty or 40 years later, we've found out that most vegetable oil is horrible for you. I switched back to real butter 20 years ago for cooking at home. And it tastes so much better than margarine. Can't wait to taste French Fries cooked right. https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/17/donald-trump-robert-f-kennedy-jr-beef-tallow-steak-n-shake/

When you get the message, do you have to approve it, or is it just an information message with no reply required? I swap out my Thai SIM with a China SIM when I'm in China. Also, that could explain why the KBank debit card was declined after I'd been in the USA for awhile, though the account still had plenty of balance. That was back around the start of Covid, and I wasn't using my Thai SIM in the USA, either.

Good question. I've got a year to figure it out. Since I'm only in Bangkok for 4 days this trip, I had more important (and fun) fish to fry today.

Between cell phone pings and gait recognition cameras, anyone who thinks they're anonymous in public are fooling themselves, masked or not. And nowadays, there are for-profit companies scraping up all that information and selling it to companies that want to avoid hiring problematic employees.

I don't object the 250 baht fee. I do object to having my card declined for lack of 250 baht when I have about 200K baht in the account. Seems to me like the prudent thing to do is decline the card if the balance gets below 250 baht plus whatever I'm charging.