Muhendis

Quite so. And a common source of the infection is from the rectum. Personal hygiene of personal parts is the recommended prevention.

You might well be tempted to ask "where does that leave his accusers?" It was some time ago that Big Joke found a few bullet holes where he didn't want them. I suspect he may be clean but he is upsetting the apple cart for everyone else.

And what a shifty looking character he is too.

Yes, there used to be logic in the numbering system but that was long ago when villages were pretty well just one (large) family with only maybe 10 houses. Each Amphoe would have a number of villages and each village would have a number. An address would be the house number followed by the village number followed by the name of the Amphoe. My Amphoe has 22 villages and I am in village number 9. Having said all that my village also has a name which is on Google Maps but the Amphoe village number is not. There are now over 200 houses in the village with numbers randomly scattered about all over the place. Even the local EMS post lady rarely ventures past the end of her street in case she can't find it at the end of her shift.

I have an XPX bought on Shopee and cost 750 Baht. I will be buying a second one. Same model. Same supplier but price has dropped to 650 Baht. I live in a farming area where dust is an issue so my air purifier is making a noticeable difference. I see them advertised on TV for thousands of Baht. That is really profiteering on a grand scale.

This is a problem in rural villages. When a villager builds a new house, it is given a number which bears no relation to other house numbers nearby. Streets don't have names or numbers. There is no logical way to find an address other than go to the village and start making enquiries of the locals. That is why a 'phone number is so important. Reading a map can only be done if land marks are added like a picture of a bank on a corner. My hand drawn map for immigration, is a copy of google maps with a single line drawing of the route added plus a few identifiable buildings and crossroads. There has never been any problem of rejection by immigration.

Yeah but there aren't too many soi dogs in the west. Or pythons in trees for that matter.

Wow! That's 1.5 Billion Baht per Rai. Here in my part of Buriram we are looking at 300,000 Baht per Rai for agricultural land. Just imagine how much you would have to charge for a kilo of rice grown on one Rai in the center of Bangkok.

'cos they want to show off their high levels of intellect.

My PDF viewers all have an "add text" button. Maybe in a sub menu across the top or perhaps if you right click on the document and look at the drop down menu.

Horses for courses indeed. It depends how much space is available. I have a "well house" which contains a surface water well, lots of filters and a couple of big storage tanks as well as the hot water storage and automatic house water pump. The heat exchanger for the hot water is on the roof of the well house. I am fortunate in that I have plenty of space to do what I have done. All my hot water bits are easily located relative to each other. There is a down side. The hot water needs to travel 30 Metres in an underground gulley so a minute of patience is in order and a few litres of cold water is wasted. I would imagine that living in a townhouse, one may not necessarily have things in such a convenient arrangement so routeing cables would generally be easier than plumbing pipes.

I also think that is what the OP means. If the storage tank is higher than the heat collector panel then there can be no reverse convection at night. With my system, the 200 litre storage tank is lower so there is no natural convection circulation. I use a small 7W pump to do that. To get around the reverse nighttime circulation I have an NRV (non-reverse valve or check valve). The system also has a small expansion tank. Total cost in the order of 10k baht and has been in service for over ten years now and always gives hot to scolding hot water. I would not be atall happy with the idea of making electricity to heat water when we can do it more directly from that big fusion power station in the sky.

Governments are really quite stupid. When they see a declining population they see less tax going into their coffers. What they fail to see is a reduced need for spending due to fewer people to spend it on. The problem of taking care of an aging population is currently being addressed by not paying pensions until a few years later. After all, people are generally living longer and healthier lives so should be able to contribute to the community for a few more years.

Spot on. And the rest of the world? Same Same I guess.

Trump has many, many like minded followers bedazzled by his thoughtless rhetoric. For me he is indicative of the intelligence of huge numbers of Americans. Apologies to any whose feelings are hurt.

In my opinion, prices for inverters are not so much going down but rather more returning to what they once were some eight to ten years ago. Solar panels are getting remarkably cheap now but not so noticeable in the local stores. They probably still have old stock which they need to sell at old prices. The cost of batteries is looking good. I guess they may one day be on a par with lead carbon chemistry. Overall good news for the solar brigade which includes me.

Yep. I went down that route also. I seem to remember the retailer was in Chiang Mai and he seemed quite apologetic when discussing the price, but that was before they were manufactured in Thailand. The advantage of the Redox battery is, it will last for 20 years before fluids and/or filters need changing. Also the battery can be frequently discharged to 0% with no ill effects. I now use lead carbon gel batteries. That is a capital outlay which is within reach of my short arms and deep pockets.

Flow batteries rarely, if ever, get a mention on consumer level news. That is probably due to the high capital outlay required to make the initial purchase. What is a flow battery? Very simply, a flow battery is two tanks full of fluids one positively charged and the other negatively charged. These fluids are pumped through a special filter which removes some of the charge to power external electrical circuits. The fluids are recharged when they get depleted. There is an Australian company with a flow battery manufacturing facility in Thailand that has secured a contract to build a 15 MWh microgrid battery for a company in America. Well done them. https://mailchi.mp/redflow.com/redflow-progressing-multiple-commercial-opportunities-1366002?e=0595a5331a

My original comments seem to have fallen by the wayside. Curiosity got the better of me, which is not difficult since most things seem to get the better of me these days. I had a look on the internet for VFS Global and this is what came up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VFS_Global Regardless of the bad vibes mentioned about VFS, I am very happy they did my passport renewal for me.

That is an extremely misleading statement from Forbes. It gives the impression that solar panels stop producing at 25 to 30 years. That is simply not the case. At some point in the life of a panel, it's output will have declined to 80% of what it was when new. So when a solar panel has been in use for 25 to 30 years it is not dead but is still producing 80% of its maximum rated power. That 80% figure is a measurement benchmark and is not an indication of end of life.

The text quoted in the OP is not from the website of the Immigration Bureau. Actually it is from the website if the immigration bureau. To find it you need to go to the URL below and click on the E-Extension bit. https://buriram.immigration.go.th/index.php/th-th/ Please note the follo0wing 2.3 Necessity to Stay and Work in A Government Section, State Enterprise or Other Government Agency It applies only to those foreigners working for the Thai government in Thailand and enables fast track treatment for such.

The two tier approach has occured to me also but with something else in mind. I was thinking along the lines of a visa similar to the one my wife had when we were resident in the UK. She had an indefinite leave to remain visa. She worked and paid taxes etc. I would like to see something similar available to long term non-Thais who are full time resident and contributing to the Thai economy. Probably never going to happen but it would be nice.

I wonder how long it will be before VFS will be the "go to" place for us run of the mill folks. Nice if they can speed things up with regard to the 30 day wait for extension approval but there would probably be a sizable fee for that.

I have a visa extension to do in the not too distant future so I decided to look at arranging an appointment at the Buriram immigration office. That bit of the web site seems to be non-functional but what I did find was as follows. It seems that VFS is becoming the preferred agency for document handling on behalf of the immigration bureau. Although this doesn't apply to me this is news to me. Any body seen this before? Visa categories and Document Information 2.3 Necessity to Stay and Work in A Government Section, State Enterprise or Other Government Agency Criteria for Consideration Foreigners are required to have a stamp for temporary stay. Receipt of Affidavit or request from the agency or organization. See Documents needed → At the Immigration office As soon as you arrive at immigration with the approved E-Extension visa, follow the steps mentioned below: Go to the E-Extension area at immigration and join the queue to the E-Extension counter Present the necessary required documents and passport to the officer Get the E-Extension visa stamp Add note: Please be informed that the application process will be completed successfully after applicant get sticker visa at immigration. Visa fees The fee payment is the last step of your application process after submitting your details and the other mandatory documents. The fees paid for E-Extension visa would be (NON – refundable online processing fee, inclusive of all charges) as follows: Visa fee: 1,900 THB Service fee as following: • Regular Service fee: 500 THB to get your E-Extension decision within the next 7 business days. • Express Service fee: 1,500 THB to get your E-Extension decision within the next 3 business days. • Super urgent service fee: 5,000 THB *You can also apply for a super urgent service, to get your E-Extension decision within the next day (only business day).

My house, which is 2 stories, has no cracks. Pillar slabs depth of 2m. Landfill depth of 1m with 2 year settlement time. Then I added the carport. Cracks appeared, as anticipated, between main house and carport due to different settlement rates. I made sure the two weren't bonded together to allow for this movement. Resulting cracks are entirely superficial and not a problem. Stopping the water seeping between the house and carport was a bit of a challenge but all's well now.