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clokwise

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Everything posted by clokwise

  1. It's a new show is called "Conan O'Brien Must Go". For those who haven't heard of him, he's a living comedy legend who wrote classic episodes of The Simpsons waaaaay back when it was still good, he also wrote for Saturday Night Live, and hosted a scrappy late night chat show for several decades. He now hosts a podcast called "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" which really finds him in his element. It's unscripted and he improvises and does bits constantly. He's very likely insufferable to be around in person, but as an entertainer, he's the best.
  2. My Thai wife and I visited Egypt last year, at least from her research, she was required to go to the embassy in BKK in person. That may have changed now, I dunno. However, they took FOREVER to grant the visa (2 months+) and they only issued it after she went back there in person and raised a stink as we were supposed to leave the following day, after which they took about 10 minutes to issue it. So make sure you get the visa taken care of as early as possible.
  3. They are not rigging the meters, this is just some bug in the reporting. However - there is evidence showing that the municipal government is parking large water misting trucks near AQI monitoring points. Everyone knows these trucks have no benefit whatsoever and only affect the air within a few meters of the truck. So why do they do this, and why place them at specific points that just happen to have an AQI monitor?
  4. I mentioned that this was the first time I had used my alternate passport to enter Thailand. First question the IO asked me was had I been to Thailand before. Seems their system, just based on my name and DOB had flagged me. I explained this was my alternate nationality passport, he seemed satisfied with my answer and then stamped me in. I'm sure, like you, if I were to switch passports once in a while there would not be any more questions asked. But since my visa is based on just one of my passports, I will just keep using that one.
  5. I can answer this definitively. I am a dual passport holder. Usually travel in and out of Thailand on Passport #1. Due to misc visa and passport issues, I arrived using passport #2 which I had never used before in Thailand. Same name, DOB, etc, just different nationality. They immediately picked up on this, and confirmed after taking my fingerprints and face scan. They asked me several questions then stamped my passport and and sent me on my way. This didn't seem to cause any concern for immigration, they seemed prepared for this situation. Long gone are the good old days when you could "lose" your passport and effectively start over.
  6. From my experience, it's very rarely an issue with a lack of trays, rather, it's people waiting to the very last second to start removing their belts, shoes and jackets, extracting their notebooks and powerbanks from their carry-on, and then doubling back to do the scan again after forgetting loose change and keys in their pocket.
  7. Haven't you been to Nimanhemen lately? The Chinese have already annexed it.
  8. Yes! You do indeed have admin access. The method to migrating to the free edition has been described multiple times in the reddit group I posted above. There's just too many detailed steps for me to recall or to outline them all here. Be aware that it's possible that the window for the free upgrade has finally closed, I know there were quite a lot of people migrating about 1 year ago, including myself. Anyhow, I'd recommend you read some posts on that group to figure it all out.
  9. Do you have access to the Google Workspace admin account for this domain name? If yes, you can login there and migrate your Google Workspace to the Free Edition. This free version is grandfathered to older accounts which signed up years ago under legacy GSuite or GAFYD. I can't 100% tell from your screenshot, but it's very possible your personal account is also the Workspace admin account, which, if that's the case, is a good thing - see my link to Reddit below to find out how to do the migration. If no, you could sign up for an alternate e-mail service provider, such as Microsoft 365. Do you have access to your domain's name server? If yes, then you will be able to migrate, you just need to modify the MX records. If no, then your options may be severely limited. You mentioned the person who setup your account is now deceased. Does that mean you do not own and fully control your domain name? If that's the case, you are probably never getting your email back unless you pay Google at this point. But regardless of the above, if you don't fully control your domain name, and pay for its renewal every year, eventually that domain name is going to expire and your email will stop working entirely - unless you are on top of it and also extremely lucky and can snap it up before a domain name trader does. If what I just wrote is incomprehensible, then I suggest you just move to a regular gmail account now, tell everyone you have a new email asap, and cut your losses and move on. There is an entire reddit sub dealing with this issue. Check out other people's experiences there, or try posting this question over there: /r/gsuitelegacymigration
  10. There's more than one kind of gated community in Thailand. There's the sprawling corporate-built cookie-cutter-house moobaans, and then there's the open-ended, buy the land then design and build it yourself "DIY" moobaans. There's pluses and minuses, but I prefer a moobaan that has personality and plenty of variations in the properties, which generally also have more, and more varieties of, trees. My DIY moobaan in Chiang Mai attracts artists, musicians, architects, TV personalities and other people in the arts, plus a surprising number of high-ranked police. My land is over 1 Rai, and we have a stream running past the land which keeps the neighbors and animals a good distance away. WIDE streets, and because it's effectively a dead-end, the only traffic is from people who live there or deliveries. Families are able to let their kids play in the street, and we often leave the house with the windows open or doors unlocked. It's safe, clean, and quiet. When religious missionaries or other strangers show up in the moobaan, we have a LINE group to warn other residents. We have open areas of unused land which are maintained as small parks. We do not have a clubhouse, fitness center or a pool, however most residents have their own private pool anyway. On the negative side, there are a handful of dogs whose owners consider as security which live on the street and they can be aggressive, also, no one cleans dog poop off the street. Dead leaves tend of sit on the street for a while before they get cleaned up. The security guard is useless, and often gets hired out by other residents to water their lawns or other tasks instead of doing his job. Many residents, including me, don't agree with paying the common fees as a result of these and other issues, however we still do pay for garbage collection. So in my opinion, DIY moobaans are a far better option, should you have the choice.
  11. I used to have an older Sony surround receiver with a little switch inside the case for 110/220v. Although I never had any need for it, it was easily accessible after unscrewing the metal case. You might google your model and see if it also has this switch. This is a way simpler solution than buying and hooking up a bulky transformer.
  12. Alternately, and probably less expensive: get an ESIM from airalo.com .... 1 week/1GB of data for US$5. Follow their instructions and you'll be online in 10 minutes or less. I used to use the travel data package from DTAC (very similar package as True) but it's generally more expensive and also routes all my data via Thailand, which causes issues with geoblocked websites. EDIT: Just re-read OP. It's not clear: Are you currently in the UK now, or are you in Thailand and just need to appear to be in the UK? If the later, then just get a paid VPN which lets you select which country you want to appear in.
  13. Sure, but everyone knows tests are frequently forged in China, so an additional PCR test should be administered at their destination, possibly even forced quarantine until shown all-clear. Thailand already built the infrastructure to do this, if the govt is wise, they will re-activate it ASAP.
  14. Just found this thread, but just want to add some info, FYI... I'm preparing to build a really super high end PC (RTX 4090 + i9-13900K). This is my first PC in over 10 years, as I've been exclusively Mac since then. I'm still keeping the Macs, but planning to use the PC for VR gaming and AI video processing, stuff the Mac just isn't ready for yet. By coincidence I am also making a brief visit to the USA next month, so I thought, great, I'll just buy all the parts there. After comparing prices+sales tax at Amazon, B&H, Best Buy with Lazada, it's actually considerably cheaper to purchase the RTX 4090 in Thailand than in the USA! Like at a minimum at least 5000 baht, or more, depending on the brand you want. And there is PLENTY of stock, whereas online retailers in the USA often don't have any in stock at all. Plus, the other components I require such as motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler, DRAM, M.2 storage are all readily available here in Thailand and at comparable prices to the USA. It doesn't seem that long ago (but I suppose 10+ years is quite long) where literally all electronics had to be purchased overseas because it was either unavailable in Thailand or was sold at extortionate prices.
  15. Good, can they also shut down the Chinese gambling den setup in a rental house in my moobaan? Non stop traffic from cars coming and going to the place day and night. Some of the people we see going in there look really shady. Neighbors have been quietly gossiping about it for months. There is an active police captain and a retired police captain living within a hundred meters of the home, yet they have zero interest. No one wants to report them because you never know how that can backfire on you. I wish there was a way to safely and anonymously report these things - and get action.
  16. I was a fan of Tesla up until Elon recently went off the rails. Now I can't wait to see him, and Tesla, fail. Teslas certainly have some impressive technology, but their assembly process is still pretty shabby, with endless complaints online about panel gaps etc. Regardless, the Chinese are gearing up to not only destroy Tesla, but also the Korean and Japanese automakers, in nearly all non-US markets. Chinese cars have made tremendous strides in the past 10 years, from literal death traps, to world-class EVs. Toyota and Mazda are still stuck in the past with petrol and hybrid cars that almost no one will want in just a few short years. If I could drive off the lot in a new Ora Cat today, I'd have bought one already. But since it's still a 4~6 month wait, I'll just sit tight and see what 2023 delivers. There definitely won't ever be a new Tesla in my driveway though.
  17. I don't know whether she and her family knowingly scammed people, but wow she made some really stupid and greedy decisions. Now she is facing a likely very long prison sentence. Her career is toast. As is Thai tradition, she will undoubtedly be living in Dubai shortly.
  18. I use a very similar company called myus,com. They also offer cheaper shipping than Amazon, but possibly their biggest advantage is there is no sales tax to ship to their warehouse, which does add up, particularly with thousand+ dollar items. On the downside, though you could argue it's a positive thing, they insist on opening, inspecting, and photographing every parcel, ostensibly to ensure the goods are actually the goods on the invoice and are in good condition. And they are very picky about confirming the true values on the invoice, although I'm sure it's just to make sure they don't get in trouble with customs later.
  19. I wonder if she intends to make Miss Universe more "inclusive" by mixing women and ladyboys? In my opinion that would probably spell the end of the competition pretty quickly. For one thing, the ladyboys will probably win every single year from now on. I've casually noted that the Miss Tiffany winners usually looks far prettier than their Miss Thailand counterparts.
  20. As mentioned above, JIB is your best bet for buying HDs. You really need to buy a HD specifically designed for RAID use. Desktop and external drives are a totally different spec and are more prone to fail early and lose data when used 24/7 in a NAS. NAS drives feature heat-resistant and anti-vibration design and provide 24/7 operation with higher speeds. They also may cost 10~15% more, but you get what you pay for. By my estimation, 8TB drives are the sweet spot right now in terms of price vs capacity. Get yourself some 8TB Seagate IronWolf drives from JIB and you'll be set. Seagate has really efficient warranty service in Thailand, you'll usually get a replacement for a failed drive within 24 hours of returning it. And yeah, drives DO fail, so never use your NAS as a backup or as the sole location for your important files.
  21. My family and I won't swim unless the water is minimum 28ºC. Which means our pool is basically only in use from late-April until early-August, and the rest of the year I'm constantly sweeping heaps of leaves out of it, keeping it chlorinated and pH balanced, repairing and replacing the pumps and filters, draining the pool after heavy rains, and generally wondering why I have a pool. It's a lot of maintenance for three months of actual use. Swimming in December in Chiang Mai? Hope you're a polar bear ????
  22. In my case I know the cause, and I can easily address the cause - I smoke a lot of weed. But also to OP, I've never seen it or any similar product here in Thailand. I always buy a couple bottles whenever I'm abroad.
  23. I have a rental property in a popular area of town, over the years it has rarely sat vacant more than a month or two. This is partially due to one property agent who is easily the largest agent in town. We have done a LOT of business with them for over a decade, renting, selling and buying properties. Recently a tenant decided to break their 1-year contract and leave after only two months to head back to Europe. This kind of thing happens far too frequently, unfortunately. And each time we are stuck with loss of rental income, plus cleaning expenses, and minus the agent commission. This agent has refused to offer any compensation, such as a partial refund of their commission, which equals one month rent per-year. They claim it's not their problem and refuse to offer any compensation whatsoever. My argument is, part of their responsibility as an agent is to vet potential tenants and offer us only tenants that have proper visas, jobs, families, or other ties that will ensure, or at least imply, they won't break their contract. I've really had it up to here with this particular agent, I don't appreciate their attitude and I will not be working with them in the future unless we can come to some agreement - but unfortunately it seems they have have the upper hand as these rental contracts are not enforceable, and they have never expressed any genuine sympathy in this kind of situation. Does anyone have any workaround for dealing with agents? I had a few ideas: Make the tenant fork over a 3rd month of rent as a guarantee they won't break the contract, then make the 12th month rent "free" Put the agent fee in escrow and they can't touch it for one year Insist on paying the agent 1/12 of their fee every month Have a side contract/agreement with the agent with an assurance the tenant will stay, and if not, provide terms for compensation (such as prorated refund or credit toward the next tenant's agent fee) I don't know how practical these ideas are, as I'd guess most (all?) agents will not accept such terms, and it's unlikely a tenant would either. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know, I know... TIT....
  24. Woah! That's a significant increase from last week - when only 4 people tested negative. I'm not a doctor, but if you extrapolate this, I predict by the end of the month there could be as many as several thousand people testing negative for monkeypox! Indeed, this could be a game changer for Thailand if we're not careful. If a significant portion of the population tests negative for monkeypox, it's only a matter of time before we're all facing the prospect of lock-downs not occurring. Take care out there, folks!!
  25. I've been smoking these weed oil vape carts for a number of years, I can attest they are the very best way to smoke marijuana. No smoke, no odor, and powerful af! A one gram oil cart costs about US$40~50, and with moderate tolerance, you can smoke it once every day for 2 to 3 months - so a great deal. But beware: After seeing that article in Sanook I investigated and discovered the ONLY oil carts available for sale in Thailand seem to be fake carts using extremely low-grade weed oil + chemicals that simulate the effects of marijuana but which are quite harmful. Additionally, I've personally tried a number of these and they give me massive long-lasting headaches. I have about half a dozen of these fake carts in a drawer here which I smoked once and will never touch again. These fake carts are easily purchased on the dark web, and they have scratch-off QR codes and holograms on the fancy packaging in an effort to make them look the legit brands. But they aren't. There are a few tell-tale signs where you can, at a glance, know they are fake. Check out /r/fakecartridges/ on Reddit. If you want legit carts, buy them yourself at a legit dispensary in the USA. Buy a spare battery while you're at it. I'm not going to get into the logistics of importing them into Thailand, but I've found it's quite simple to do so with personal quantities.
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