attrayant

29 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I assume if you did not meet the requirements the would not accept your next extension application.

 

Okay but that was in the past.  Now you're back up to 800K and should qualify again?  Or will they actually deny a renewal into 2020 for a momentary dip below 800K (or 400K depending on which month it was) in 2019?  That just seems petty and spiteful.

I guess the worst case (being denied for renewal) means you go to a border country and come back in with a brand-new retirement visa?

So what happens if your balance drops below 400K for a few days in the three-month-after period?  Maybe you had a medical emergency and had to draw on that money (that is why they want us to have that money in the bank, right?  To support ourselves?), but then you made a transfer from home and topped it off again a few days later.

Presumably this would not be detected until a year later when it comes time for your next year's renewal.  What would they say?  Get he hell out of the country because you went below 400K for a few days 11 months ago? Pay a fine?

I recall last year there was broad general support for a science forum, but the answer was no to that.  If we can't have a science forum, I don't see why we should have a tennis forum.

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

But with the growths etc., on the carrots in the photos does this not indicate they are quite old?

Not necessarily, it could just mean they got rot-infected sooner in their growth. 

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

And is it not true that fresh produce is more healthy for the human body.

The drop-off in nutritional value over time is somewhere between minimal and nonexistent if you keep them refrigerated.  Most root veggies keep their nutrients fairly well if kept cool and moist.  Leafy veggies are more delicate and can lose certain nutrients fast.  Spinach loses about half its folate after a week.  But the leafy veggies wilt quickly and this is a turn-off for most people.  If something is still firm and crunchy, it's probably still got most of its nutrients.

Vitamin C, thiamine and folic acid are most unstable and break down when exposed to air, heat and light.  Proteins & carbs are relatively stable.

19 hours ago, rak sa_ngop said:

Maybe they did not apply enough pesticide on the farm?

Maybe you were trying to be glib but you're actually right.  Pesticides cost money, and maybe carrots just aren't worth it.  Or these could be "organic" carrots, and thus the farmer is very limited in what tools he can use to control diseases.  Those black spots are carrot rot caused by a fungus that is present in the soil.

Copper sulfate is usually the choice for most organic farmers, but that accumulates in the soil since it's a heavy metal pesticide.  Lots of organic vineyards are giving up their organic status because of the deleterious effects of CuSO₄: French winemaker drops organic status for better treatments.

Most processors wash carrots in chlorinated water before packaging, but I'm not sure if fruits and veggies here get processed at all.  They might just get dumped from farm to truck to wholesaler to retailer to consumer without any cleaning or treatment at all.

Having said all that, I'd just cut off the black spots if I had no other option.

DMSO is also commonly used as an industrial solvent.

This sounds like you want an ordinary CO₂ canister of the type that is used in any restaurant that has fountain drinks on tap:

You could try any of the many dry ice shops that are almost everywhere - they are where the Thai ice cream vendors get their dry ice every day.  Here's one near me:

https://thaimitrdryice.com/index.php

If they don't have CO₂ canisters, they should at least be able to point you in the right direction.

Since I originally posted this, I've seen both HD and hamburger rolls regularly at Foodland (Ram Intra 31)  and now (occasionally) at Big C near me (Sapphanmai). Possibly they are trying to bring in some more western items because of all the new condos going up around me.  Here's the HD rolls they have:

I almost always buy a couple of packs even if I don't plan to use them because I can freeze them and hopefully it encourages them to keep restocking.

Can somebody give me more info about this corned beef in a can that was posted back on page 2.  The corned beef I'm familiar with is actual beef that has been, well, corned.  It slices just like beef and is the principle ingredient in the delicious Reuben sandwich:

If the canned version is anything like that, I'll have to grab some next time I see it.

I do laundry only once every two weeks (because I don't do a wash until I have enough to fill the machine), which means the laundry is positively rank by the time it goes to the machine.  Even so, I use very little detergent (maybe a teaspoon or two) because it's a front loader and still never have the OP's problem.

You can't use chlorine bleach on most colors or some fabric types.  I would recommend an oxygen bleach (Big C sells it in an orange container) because it's safe for most colors.  Pre-soaking in diluted hydrogen peroxide seems to get good results too.

But before doing that I would get a second opinion to see if it's as bad as you think it is.  Maybe it's in your nose?

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

Use the same tablets they use for sterilizing babies bottles, Gotta be safe etc as its for babies.

That would be calcium or sodium hypochlorite, aka bleach.  Bleach is my choice too since it's widely available, cheap and effective.  If you don't care for the smell of chlorine bleaches, there are oxygen bleaches available in the laundry detergent section of most supermarkets.

General recommendation for surface cleaning is a 1% dilution of 5% bleach (mix 10 ml of 5% bleach into 1 liter of water).  For cleaning biohazards like blood stains or human excretions, double it to 20 ml.

38 minutes ago, TunnelRat69 said:

Fist - lose the cold drinks, cold water is nothing more than a training tool for your body to "need Cold Water"    I only drink warm water, set your A/C to about 24-28, after awhile you wont; even notice the heat.

No, don't do that.  A/C is nothing more than a training tool for your body to "need Cold Air".

1 hour ago, blinkers said:

Its not actually the air cond unit that gives sore throats and infections, its breathing in the cold air.

You can't be infected by cold air because it's not an infectious agent.  You can only be infected by opportunistic germs.  If what you meant was the dry air desiccates your sinuses and bronchial tubes, allowing germs to slip in unfettered by sticky mucous that normally lines these passageways, then you'd be right.

Don't fall for that old wive's tale that you can catch a cold from simply being cold.

4 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Can i ask why you guys set it to 28 ? Isn't that still hot?

Not if it's dry enough and you have a breeze.  If you can get the humidity down to 70-75% (from over 90%, which is what it almost always is in Bangkok), that'll shave 3-4 degrees off the temperature.  Don't just aim for coolness; aim for comfort.  The drier it is, the more comfortable you'll be.

9 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

During hot weather we open the windows at night to let that area cool down and close it up during the day.

Can you come talk to my Thai inlaws?  They open the windows during the hottest part of the day and close them up tight around 9 pm, just before bedtime.  Mind-boggling.

I would suggest you contact a supplier directly.  I got a good response from KBS when I needed a truckload of 1 Kg bags of sucralose.

http://www.kbs.co.th/index

https://www.facebook.com/khonburisugar

There are others but I can't think of their names.  Take some notes in the sugar aisle next time you go to Big C.

If they can't meet your needs, maybe they can at least point you in the right direction.

37 minutes ago, ravip said:

Live and let live... Why take on others headaches?

That is my lot in life.  Education is the cure to so many of the world's problems.  To quote Lawrence Krauss:

"The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance, but to overcome it."

I share Lawrence's passion about overcoming ignorance.  He argues that teaching children competing theories of established facts (like flat Earth, young Earth "theory", intelligent design/creationism and so on) is tantamount to child abuse.

His full statement is here.  It's just three and a half minutes.  WATCH IT: 

2 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

youre swinging wildly now pal! lol

Science says I'm not.  There, I can make the same nonsense statements as you.

And this shows how you misconstrue the improvements we make using the tool of science:
 

7 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

As were Newtons LAWS (later refuted by Einstein)

Einstein's work on relativity did not disprove or refute Newton's law of universal gravitation.  They improved upon it; they put a finer point on it.

3 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

and yet science considered them laws

Who are you referring to when you personify "science"?

We can not use Kepler's "laws" to plan a mission to the moon.  They are observational, not mathematically based.  They are ancient history.

[edit] Wiki has a paragraph on the nomenclature and describes how Kepler's observations took two centuries to become "laws" (my bolding):
 

"It took nearly two centuries for the current formulation of Kepler's work to take on its settled form. Voltaire's Eléments de la philosophie de Newton (Elements of Newton's Philosophy) of 1738 was the first publication to use the terminology of "laws". The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers in its article on Kepler states that the terminology of scientific laws for these discoveries was current at least from the time of Joseph de Lalande. It was the exposition of Robert Small, in An account of the astronomical discoveries of Kepler (1814) that made up the set of three laws, by adding in the third. Small also claimed, against the history, that these were empirical laws, based on inductive reasoning.

Further, the current usage of "Kepler's Second Law" is something of a misnomer. Kepler had two versions, related in a qualitative sense: the "distance law" and the "area law". The "area law" is what became the Second Law in the set of three; but Kepler did himself not privilege it in that way."

7 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

keplers laws have turned out to be a pretty good approximation of planetary motion but in fact are not completely correct

They were, as you note, merely approximations rather than laws - at least not as we use the term today because they weren't supported my mathematical proofs.  Science was in its infancy and the term "law" wasn't even in use until the mid 1700s.  His "laws" were derived from observational data and, while observationally correct, were more like rules of thumb. A century later, Newton's law of universal gravitation allowed us to accurately calculate and predict planetary motion.  Kepler's "laws" are now a part of science history.

Scientific laws are mathematical proofs about the way nature works, like ballistic motion or magnetic force.  They describe the observation in mathematical terms.  Any future observation must act in accordance with the law.  Laws don't explain why a particular phenomenon exists or what causes it (that's what a theory is for). A scientific law is the highest form of proof we have, and it's the only thing better than a scientific theory.

Insofar as the current topic (superstition) is concerned, I think we should concentrate on theories rather than laws.

23 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

and yet some people DO say that god definitely does Not exist..

Unless any of those people are here, then you're setting up a straw man and expecting me to knock it down.   I'm not going to debate people by proxy, so please give up the "some people say" line.

23 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

and known laws of nature have turned out not to be laws after all.

Really?  Which laws would those be?  Are you confusing a law with a theory?  Scientific theories get updated and improved all the time as new information comes in.  Darwin's theories of natural selection have been updated, modified and parts have been disproved when it was found they didn't fit the observed evidence. But (to bring this back on topic) at no time has a well-established, evidence-based theory been discarded in favor of some supernatural explanation.

The scientific method does not guarantee that mistakes won't be made, but it does guarantee that they'll be corrected as technology improves and better evidence comes along.

9 hours ago, AYJAYDEE said:

If you declare something does not exist...

I'm going to stop you right there, because I wouldn't declare that something does not exist unless its existence would violate known laws of nature.  This is how we know free energy devices don't exist.  If somebody claims that such a thing exists, it's up to them to provide evidence.

9 hours ago, AYJAYDEE said:

and you cannot prove it, then that is merely your opinion and we have no reason to accept it.

Which is why people need to stop claiming, without evidence, that deity X exists, fairy rings exist, karma exists and so on.  This is Hitchens's razor: "Whatever is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence".