impulse

Hub of alternate physical realities. That was my first thought when I read that. But changes in G forces did cause stuff to go flying around the cabin, even if gravity itself remained constant. It's a frame of reference thing...

I don't know that the idea is that far out. There have been several times that I thought I was strapped in, but the buckle didn't catch. Having a little flashing light overhead warning me would have been helpful. Also in cases where the seatbelt sign goes on... People just aren't thinking, and a little warning light above their seat would remind them. It would also reduce workload for the flight attendants who have to check everyone's crotch area before landing to make sure we're all strapped in. They've gotta love that part... Expensive? I'm sure it is. But worth evaluating.

Safe and effective? And I wonder whether they are really treating long Covid, or long vax?

I wonder if they're asking for a liability release before the investigations are completed. $10K and a refund is chump change.

Seems reasonable. Otherwise, it's a waste of time, jet fuel, and carbon. But if it's like the WEF meetings, the hookers will make out like bandits.

There's evidence out the wazoo in the House investigation and the Hur report. You can look that up yourself. But would you want to be in the history books as the cause of a Kamala presidency, by way of impeachment? Joe's gotta get re-elected, just to stay out of jail himself. Keep in mind that the Hur report is just a recommendation. It doesn't exonerate Joe with prejudice. Next DOJ may decide differently.

The pendulum swung too far, did too much damage, and now it's swinging back. Elected officials all over the West, ignore that at your professional peril. Safer to be an unelected deep stater.

All around the world, beach renewal is a constant cost of attracting tourists. Each storm washes the sand out to sea, and the dredges send it back. I don't know why Jomtien would be any different. Unless they're like some places where they let the beaches disappear and lose all the tourists before they act.

Can he lick his eyebrows, and is he a tongue roller? Either of those attributes could offset a micro thingy. Taken together, the guy could be a God in the sack.

You seem to be tapped into the drone scene in Thailand. What's the current state of the rules? Is there an easy access interweb resource? (YouTube, Faceplant, and other social is blocked where I'm staying) I recall before I became a Covid refugee outside of LOS, there were changing rules around maximum weight, where it's legal to fly drones, etc. I'm considering buying one next time I'm in BKK, but I don't want to end up being the "bad foreigner" of the day getting arrested for violating this week's drone laws. Also, any more insights into good, affordable models? The DJI's and the Xiaomi's pique my interest, but OUCH. I'm just looking for a hobby grade with 1080P (4K would be even better but not necessary). 500 meters of range would be fine, even less could be okay. Smaller is better as long as the video/photo quality is there.

Coming clean, apologizing, and a bottle of Jack Daniels has helped smooth out some of my screwups over the years. Still had to fix the issues, but it's soooo much easier when the customer isn't yelling at me. Hopefully, someone here will chime in with a lesser known feature of Wordpress that autosaves a backup because this probably happens so often.

That, or oregano, is what most of us started off with back in the day... But that kind of dates me to the '60s and '70s, when our high schools' dealers were less than ethical. (And Thai stick was considered THE premium product)

Seems like a prudent restriction would be to require the buyer to certify that they'll use the rice for rice wine, rice vinegar, or livestock food. That would protect the reputation of the millions of tons of Thai rice sold each year, giving end users around the world a little confidence that they haven't bought a bunch of old rice mixed in with the bags they bought. They may not get top dollar (baht) with that restriction, but is the difference worth the risk to international confidence in millions of tons of Thai rice each year? All it would take is one customer in Africa or Europe (or a Walmart) to claim that the Thai rice they bought was tainted, and they'd be pulling Thai rice off the shelves around the world. Edit: And that kind of reputational stank takes decades to go away.

If that convenience is important to you, it may be wise to pay a visa agent to explain your options. I hired one in Houston to move my visa over and they told me they didn't recommend trying. Back in the 2010's I hired one in Bangkok, but don't recall the details because it was through my employer. Keep in mind there's always an ebb and flow in diplomatic relations between the USA and China. You could end up getting your 10 year multi-entry cancelled and replaced with a single entry. Years ago, I got several extensions in country at the local PSB. They cancelled my multi-entry visa(s) and replaced them with a zero entry visa that allowed me to stay longer, but not leave and return without a new visa. Visa agents can explain all that to you, and they usually know whether the visa/diplomatic situation is hot or cold... They do it every day. I just know what happened to me, in my unusual situation. Edit: I'd add that carrying that expired passport has not been too much of a PITA.

I've been making monthly trips between China/BKK for the past year and my 10 year L visa is in my expired passport. I present both and never have an issue. First time was before Covid, and it still works a treat since they re-opened. I'd add that I always get asked a few questions about my reason for visiting, where I'll stay and for how long. Just routine and not a cause for concern. US citizen, BTW.

MAGA hats are red. I wonder what color the new MEGA hats will be? (And whether they'll trigger lefty heads to explode on the street like the red ones?)

Men can get pregnant, burning down city blocks is mostly peaceful, stealing up to $1000 isn't a crime, fully intact men are allowed in the little girls' room, minority voters aren't capable of getting ID's, our border is wide open while we dump billions into protecting other countries' borders, a fentanyl addled convict is a national hero, and on. And on. 20 years ago, I generally voted and supported Dem. I didn't move right. They moved left. Off the scale left. Biden's EEOC recently showed their quintessential lefty madness, right after he had a dismal campaign stop at a Sheetz Market/Truck Stop. (I wonder if the timing was coincidental???) They're suing Sheetz because the company performs criminal background checks as a hiring criteria, and that has a negative effect on minorities. It's a company with hundreds of locations where employees interact with the public at all hours of the day and night. But making hiring decisions based on criminal histories is illegal? I don't know about lefties, but when my wife or daughter stops to get gas in the wee hours, I want that guy behind the counter to not be on the sexual predator list. But that's racist, apparently, even if I don't care what color he is, or where his accent is from. Apparently, Sheetz didn't care about color or ethnicity. Just a clean criminal history. And Biden's EEOC is suing them because of it. Here's my link: Sheetz Inc., which operates more than 700 stores in six states, discriminated against Black, Native American and multiracial job seekers by automatically weeding out applicants whom the company deemed to have failed a criminal background check, according to U.S. officials. https://apnews.com/article/sheetz-discrimination-suit-biden-campaign-visit-9cc14287564a8821a54acbc83ae3de83 Absolute lunacy on the part of the lefties.

99% that it's something age and back related. But I'd sure hate to find out later I had prostate or colon or other cancer and didn't spend the few bucks to have it looked at. I did just that a few months back for similar pain after walking my target 10,000 steps a day. (20K when I'm in Thailand) Well worth the money just to make sure it wasn't cancer. I'm probably paranoid, staying in China this past year to care for my GF who does have cancer, that got into her lower spine. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. They didn't catch it early with her because the hospitals were so booked up during the lockdowns.

Dont'cha need electricity to run a thumb drive? And won't the grid be down from all the EMP's? Better build a hardened solar array and hope the glass doesn't melt. I stand by my comment from a few months ago... Most of the people that think they'll be in the subset of survivors of the Big One will be sorely disappointed. For a few nano-seconds. They'll be the lucky ones... The rest of us peons will suffer horrendous painful burns, blindness, and starvation for months before we succumb. On an aside, gaining back a few hundred square miles, already lost, in Eastern Europe hardly seems worth the risk.

Not meaning to get too serious here, but the best explanation I've ever heard was in AA speaker's meetings where Cliff R from SoCal described it perfectly. He's my favorite circuit speaker and easy to find on YouTube. I especially like his early stuff, and I heard him in person 2-3 times in the early 90's when I first took the oath in Texas, then moved to SoCal to work in the mid 90's. Obviously, Cliff R doesn't have exclusivity, but he's my favorite. If you don't want to listen to the 45 minutes, the bottom line answer is that 8 minutes of peace and being "enough" that many alcoholics feel between the first drink and too many drinks. YouTube's blocked here in China so I can't provide a link. And I'm not the proselytizing kind of recovering alcoholic, but I highly recommend searching for Cliff R 970606 on YouTube, or any of his speaker meeting tapes.

Do you not see the flaw there? With Israel vowing to wipe out Hamas, what incentive is there to release the hostages or even keep them alive? Not to mention that, until the rescue operation, the hostages served as a bargaining chip and a shield against attack. Now, they're useless for either purpose. Just a burden and an existential threat pending the next rescue operation that will kill dozens, perhaps hundreds, many of them kids. Doesn't bode well for the remaining hostages.

no wait ... sorry ... you're EXPATS !! lol you get a nice cute name for immigrant if you're "white". I'd say that the biggest difference is that (almost) every westerner in Thailand has an expiration date on our permission to stay in the country. And every one of us is subject to deportation should we misbehave (and without benefit of a very expensive trial, at huge cost to Thai taxpayers). Not to mention a repatriation flight on our own dime, and not at public expense... Exceptions, of course, for the very few who get citizenship, but even that's subject to the vagaries of the Thai gub'ment who can cancel the passport with a minimum of fuss and other.

If your family member wasn't one of the 4 they rescued, how would you feel about their chances of surviving the likely retribution?

That was one of the great things. My living room also looked out over a private, very expensive looking mooban where all the homes were 2-3 story with banana and palm trees. (And a gate to keep out the riff raff like me). I have quite a few dawn to dusk timelapse videos from my balcony. The same landlord also owned 2-3 other buildings on the block and I suspect they'll all get torn down when the real estate gets too valuable. Though street access will become a problem if the density increases. It's already strained.

Hell, I can sweat in a blizzard in winter. Just genetic, I guess. My Russkie grandfather and my very American father (of Russkie lineage) were the same. That's why I usually wear loud print shirts in public. They don't show the sweat as much. I love Songkran shirts for that reason. And I always got complimented on them back in Texas. Back when we were dressed in black to honor the beloved King, my black shirts were always gray at the end of the day from all the salt from sweat. That's after I'd been working in BKK for years. Regarding A/C, I just kept mine a few degrees below ambient to knock out the humidity and keep the place from getting musty. That said, living on the top floor of my Asoke area building, my electricity bill was still pretty high. But well worth it for the gorgeous view from the 5th floor.