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I really wish she would not have mentioned Donald Trump's numerous bankrupticies and pepper him with questions on Defense policy and current missions. For instance she could have asked Mr Fox and Friends what is the name of the US Army base in the Marshall Islands and why is it strategically important? It is clear all he knows is "indo Pacfic" and this means S.Korea, Japan and Australia only. My guess is this is the first time he has heard the term ASEAN. I do not see him lasting long as Sec Def. His true nature will come out while he is in office. When I was in the Army we had a saying "any rank above Captain is a political position". Sec Def is a political position and not a warrior position. In recent memory my favorit Sec Def was Robert Gates. Someone like him would have been a better choice.

Can you imagine 30 million ETA's for Thailand? In the last 2 years I have completed 3 ETA's or Entry/Arrival documents for three different countries. 1) Singapore 2) S Korea 3) Malaysia. Both SIN and SK were very quick to respond with the entrance documents. Both took under 4 hours to land in my email inbox. Malaysia was a diffrent. For instance for Malaysia a foreigner could only apply up to 2 days before departure. I was concerned I would not get the doucment in time. I never got an email from Malaysian Immigration so I went into their webiste and found out the MDAC(Malaysian Digital Arrival Card) had been approved in 8 hours. The three countries I visisted that requierd some kind of ETA or Entrance documents do not get anywhere near 30 million arrivals per year. I wonder what any future Thai ETA experience could be like?

I know that but since I have moved into this area electricity outages were a common thing in spring and summer. Ranging from an hour to 4 hours. This is area is mixed use. Anyway this time it was only 90 minutes.

7 years and first time electricity has gone out in January. Power outagse during the middle of summer have occurred and is understandable.

Currently it is the middle of winter in Amzaing Chiang Mai. The temperature is about 20 C and the electricty just went out in my neighborhood (I live close to the Nimman area in CNX). First time that I can recall that electricity went out in early January. I wonder how many air conditioners are on now?

I took a nutrition class in college over forty years ago and the first thing the instrcutor said "if you want to live a long life then eat less". I think he was right because most of the really old people I have encountered are on the slim side. I have always tried to maintain a BMI of 25 of less. Currently my BMI is 22. Of course there are exceptions and some obese people live into their 80's and beyond.

I dont disagree about Trump. But the number of firefighers initally were inadequate. Some CA Army National Guard units have been trained to battle wildfires. They have been just been activated. By the time the Guard is able to deploy it will be next week. The National Guard does not have QRF's (Quick Reaction Forces). All guardsman have civilian jobs and need time to mount up and deploy. Also, to mitigate the risk some of the fuel should have been cutdown. I realize some of the land is under the control of the federal government but a lot is under control of the state and in some cases the county. This boils down to state and local leaderhip. Where was the planing for a castastrophic fire event like this? The same kind of leaders failed to plan and respond to the 1992 LA Riots( I worked it for 15 days straight) and it was a "Charlie Foxtrot" It was a little better in 1994 when the earthquake hit but not much happened until the Fed's came in. Yes Trump is a disaster and so are many of Caflifornia's elected leaders.

55 years in So Cal and the Santa Ana's have been part of life every year. The difference this time was the wind speeds were almost 100 mph. In the past I believe the fastest speeds were between 30 and 40.

If he knew then what was the contingency plan??? For $750,000 per year he should have had a contingency plan?

So a TV station in New Orleans is reporting about fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades CA? I been have up down the streets of Pac Pal for years. If the hyrdants buckled then they run dry? Did not know that?

The latest bit I just heard from the LA City Fire Chief was that the DWP (Department of Water and Power) is responsible for the hydrants. Ok, deflect. For many who are not familiarl with Los Angeles the DWP is a city agency that provides water and electricity. The DWP has a questionnalbe history. The current DWP CEO is paid $750,000 per year + benefits. Just amazing. I would recommend that Joe Biden bail out California before Jan 19.

As a long time resident of CA it is more than just climate change. The city and county Los Angeles along with the leadership in Sancramento have made decision that did not help in fighting these massive fires. For instance where is the clearing of the fuel in he Santa Monica mountains? Pacific Palisades (a very wealthy and mostly Democratic part of LA) is essentially gone. Firefighters reported many times the fire hydrants were dry and the ones with water had low pressure. Was this caused by climate change? The next major problem will be insurance claims. Many insurance companies pulled out of CA because the leaders in Sacramento put price caps on insurance premiums in high risk areas. In the end federal government will have to bail out CA to rebuild. Lastlly I am not a Trump supporter and did not vote for him. This event might have consequences for the next mayoral election for Los Angeles because Karen Bass did not look good while she hustled back from Ghana to lead her city because she was attending the inauguration of the Ghanian president. Unless she has a personal connection to Ghana then why she was there? Also, the California National Guard was just called for. This should have done within the first few hours. This delay is not on Biden or Trump. This delay is on Gavin Newsom. After all as the Governor he is the Commander in Chief of the California Air and Army National Guard. Army National Guard aviation units are equipped for fire fighting. Before I get accussed of making up the hydrant issue:

I believe her more than this "survery":

Source: Data Data Pandas. 25,000 users gloabally. Trusted?

Went to Kuala Lumpur last week and had no contact with an Immigration officer. Just scanned my passport for entry and exit. The only thing I had to to prior was to apply an entry document for Malayasia. I also wonder how this would work in LOS as well?

I have employed a Taser several times. Difficult hitting a moving target(like someone wieldiing an axe). Darts are fired attached to a wire so the exit velocity is not as fast as a round exiting the working end of a barrel. Also, the darts have to make direct agaisnt the skin in order for the electrick shock to take effect. I do not have much faith in Thai Police to properly train, maintain and eventually use a actual Taser in real life circumstances. Like most tools in law enforcement "it is easier said then done".

Last week I went to KUL from CNX and a few days later flew back to CNX. I flew with AA because they were the only nonstop flight. As expected AA is a budget carrier so the experience(cramped seats and pay for anything in the cabin) was not great. The surprising thing about this AA flight was from the time the inbound flight got to the gate at CNX the turnaround time was under 40 minutes. This meant the the outbound passengers had to exit, the cabin crew had to clean the plane and the inbound passengers had to be seated. On both flights it was a full cabin. I spoke to the purser on both legs and she said the airline expects the turnaround time at CNX to be completedI in 35 minutes. As I was getting to my seat at CNX I saw one FA actually vaccuming the floor and another was actually wiping down the seats in the back of the airplane. I have never seen an FA actually vacumming the floor of the cabin. I guess this is one fo the many ways AA offers low fares. Air Asia gets a lot out of it's employees and aircarft. It looks liket they push both to it's limits. Is that a good thing for overall safety?

How does one say "reality check" in Thai?

One issue I haved encountered for kL is the applying fo the MDAC(Malaysia ETA). The website is like gettiong on with a dial up connection. The 3 day before departure rule is not correct. One can only apply for the MDAC 2 days before departure. I hope the MDAC comes through before my flight?

That's how a small place like SIN can maintain order. Ultra strict enforcement of all laws. SIN is one of the places where certain narcotics violations can result in the death penalty. It is not for everyone. "A free spirit who lets's the wind take him anywhere or everywhere is more likely a better fit in the Land of Smiles".

The first news press event (no questions were taken) was confusing. The mayor said "terrorist attack". The NOPD Chief did not say much except that the FBI will be lead agency. Also, IED"s were found and the suspect exchanged gunfire with officers. The FBI SAIC said this was not a

Does Allianz offer a deductible option in order to lower the premiums?

Jeju is an island off the south coast of S. Korea. It may be weird to you but not to me or many others.

In general yes but there are some air lines I do not fly. If possible I avoid the low cost carriers. In the US about 20 years ago low cost/commuter airlines were growiing rapidly. A fatal crash with Colgan Air in Buffalo New York in 2009 lead to changes that increased pilot training and flight time standards. Since I am in Thailand when I fly internationally or regionally I avoid the low cost carriers. This is not to say they are less safe than the larger carriers but in most cases the pilots will have more flight expeirence with the larger known names. In the past 15 to 20 years S. Korea has seen a large expansion of budget carriers that fly to many destination in Asia and in southeast Asia. Some of the well known S. Korean budget airlines are Jin Air (owned by Korean Air), Air Seoul, Air Busan and Jeju Air. For domestic flights in LOS I either fly Thai Airways or Bangkok Airways. For medium or long haul international flights I normally fly Korean, EVA or Singapore.

I think Juan did a great job iin explaining the systems on the B737-800 and the design and placement of the localizer antenna array: