jas007

It depends on how you’re going to use them and where. Clearly, the HomePods or the HomePod Minis will be better than the speakers in your laptop or the speakers in your TV.  On the other hand, you can probably get better sound with some real audio equipment at a somewhat higher price point so long as you have the space.

For my TV and music listening, I have some KEF LSX II speakers. They sound way better than a pair of HomePods would sound. But they also cost a lot more.

On 3/18/2024 at 5:21 PM, swerve said:

The security guard will need to pay income taxes, food tax, and tip before he can fully enjoy that burrito. 

 

I figure the $22 will go up to $36 before tax money. $4 tip, $3 food tax and then approx. 20-25% income tax on earnings.

 

Your security guard will need to work two hours for his lunch.  Beverage and any extras will bump the price up.

 

 

Somewhere online, I saw a post about a steak bowl at a Chipotle restaurant in California. It was around $39, if I remember correctly. Granted, that’s less than I would usually spend at a Mexican restaurant for lunch and a beer or two. I guess the restaurant meal still seems like a better deal.  The last time I was in a Chipotle, back in 2023, a steak burrito was around $10.

On 5/5/2024 at 8:50 PM, Jingthing said:

Almost everywhere, yes.

Some places including some of the D list places we've been talking about, no.

 

 I shouldn’t have made such a sweeping generalization.  Yes, you can find cheap houses almost anywhere outside of California. Real pieces of junk. and they don’t cost much until you factor in the cost of making them livable. And that’s the problem. If you can do the work yourself, you can save some money, but the costs will still add up.  

Update: The speaker arrived and it sounds ok.  It took me a while to get it set up, and I still have some adjustments to make, but I guess I’ll figure it out.

6 hours ago, heybruce said:

I'm dealing with a recent tornado issue in my neighborhood in the US.  Thank god for those immigrants! 

 

I was amazed at how fast they were in removing trees from the tops of houses, blocking driveways and side-streets, and other essential places.  Large tree removal in urban areas is difficult and potentially dangerous.  Yes, they were paid (very well I hope) but they were very good in quickly and safely removing large trees and debris from places where people were trying to salvage their homes and get on with life.

 

I don't know if any or all of them were illegal and I don't care.  This neighborhood, where my very elderly Mom also lives, would be in chaos without the work they'd done.

 I had a similar problem, once upon a time. Two or three times, actually. Once I had to pay for the cleanup, the other two times the city picked up the tab because trees were blocking the road after they fell down. I’m not sure if the damage was caused by a tornado, but whatever it was must have been pretty strong.  

Some pics.
 

America would be starving, but for the California farms and its agricultural sector.  And those farms depend largely on transient, mostly illegal labor. It has been that way for years.  And today, it’s not just farm labor. Construction, restaurants, manufacturing…. all profit from low cost imported labor. Anyway, I think most people don’t have a problem with people who want to work. Most citizens don’t want that kind of work, in any event. 
 

On the other hand, the country can’t really afford millions of new people on welfare.  As Milton Friedman put it, “you can have open borders, or you can have a welfare state, but you can’t have both.”

6 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

They also have the HomePod Mini, I currently have 8 or 10 Mini’s mostly as stereo pairs, and a pair of HomePods. 
The HomePod is quite expensive, the Mini’s, not so much

 I’ve never heard them side by side, but I used to have the original version of the HomePod that I bought on sale at Best Buy. I think it was $199. It was ok.  Anyway, I ordered one of the new HomePods, so I’ll be able to try it out in a few days. If it’s any good, I might get another one for stereo to use on my desktop.

Update: I looked it up. They warn of various dangers of rapid weigh loss, such as nutritional deficiencies, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, lack of adequate fiber, muscle loss, and so on.  Some of this is just common sense.  In any event, a person can take precautions.

The doctors who advocate for a carnivore diet explain that you need to have adequate water intake, add electrolytes, and perhaps vitamins.  Red meat itself is an excellent food source.  Over a period of a few weeks, the body adjusts. 

I wasn’t even trying to lose weight. It just happened when I altered my diet. Anyway, according to the doctors, everything was fine.  As for quick weight loss being “dangerous “?  I wonder why? I’ll have to do some research.

The only problem I saw was that continuing with a carnivore diet might be difficult for most people.  You almost have to cook all your own food and forget about eating in restaurants. And if you look at the junk they sell in the typical grocery store, there isn’t much to eat from there, either. 

On 4/18/2024 at 12:55 AM, Lancelot01 said:

Same here, I dropped from 85kg two years ago to 64kg with the help of exercise and Keto.

I'm still 64/66kg and eat as much low carb foods as I like. I dine out regularly and I seldom feel hungry.

Further, I am no longer required to take any medication for blood pressure, cholesterol. An upside of this regime is a reduction in my medical and travel insurance premiums. 

 

Many people simply don’t realize how easy it is to lose weight with a proper diet. I found this out my accident, so to speak. 
 

Last fall I decided to try a carnivore diet. About the same time, I read about the benefits of intermittent fasting, so I experimented with a three day water fast now and then.  Anyway, once you cut out alcohol, fructose, sugar, carbohydrates, bread and other grains, processed and ultra processed food, your body burns up all available sugars and then goes through a process where you start to burn stored fat. By that point, the sugar cravings subside. You never feel all that hungry. You’re using mostly protein for energy.

After about six weeks of that routine, I went to the doctor for some blood work. My weight was down to 74 kilos (from about 85) and my blood pressure was 118/68 with no meds. My cholesterol readings were optimal with no meds. For reference, I’m 5’10”.  More recently, the scale said 70 kilos.  That’s about what I weighed in my 20s, so I can’t complain. I’m now 72.

The Apple Thailand website is now listing as available the Apple HomePod 2.  It’s a streaming speaker and also acts as a Siri assistant.  In combination with an Apple TV box, it can integrate with Apple HomeKit and become one of your music speakers. They can also be paired for stereo. There are no wired inputs available. It uses your Wi-Fi or Apple play to play music from an Apple device. 

Retirees?  I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t really think of myself as “retired,” even though I retired almost 18 years ago when I was 55. So I’m just myself, doing whatever I feel like doing. That’s pretty much the story of my life. I can’t say that I’ve changed much, other than the fact that I usually don’t stay out till 3AM on a regular basis. I could manage that in my 20s. Anyway, I figure the quickest way to become “old” is to start acting that way.
 

Thanks. That makes it simple.  

Does anyone know what happens when you rent two condos at the same time? A condo in Pattaya and a condo in Bangkok, for example?  Do you have two addresses on file with immigration? Or just one with the other being superfluous?  

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I disagree only that "most have already been killed". Plenty that ran away to other countries than stay and die in Zelensky's war.

Let’s say that most of the available men have already been eliminated.  Apparently, Ukraine would like to get their hands on those that aren’t in the country any more, but  how that’s going, I’m not sure. 

Just the other day I watched a few YouTube videos about Albania. It looked interesting. I wonder, though, about the future of Europe. Even if things are OK now, that can change. Actually, there are probably other places in Eastern Europe that would work for retirement. Or South America.  
 

Here in SE Asia, we’re somewhat insulated from Europe, the West, and all their problems. For example, I haven’t noticed a lot of crazy inflation over the two years I’ve been back, and there certainly aren’t gangs of hooligan immigrants roaming the streets. 

Cheaper than Bangkok????

I can’t imagine.  Sure, a person can pay a lot for a place in Bangkok, but to say that it’s cheaper in California is silly. To be sure, real estate in Bangkok will never be “equivalent” to real estate in Thailand. For example, the typical condo in Bangkok is smaller than the typical condo in Bangkok.  Or the places in California will likely have bigger kitchens.  
 

Also, I’m pretty sure the real estate taxes and insurance are much more costly in California.

I used to live in the San Diego area. Today, I’m sure I’m better off without having to worry about all the traffic and the insane cost of living there.  

They’ll wait until the last moment, but they’ll come up with a fix. Of course, the country may have other problems long before then. Millions of arrivals across the southern border and the costs associated with that problem. A financial system on the verge of implosion. Inflation.  Wars around the world.  We’ll be lucky if the only problem is less Social Security money.  
 

Maybe they’ll do something soon?  Lots of people live only on their Social Security, and at this point can’t even afford to retire, given the high cost of everything, especially food.  

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'd like to agree, but about 5 minutes from the northern hemisphere being destroyed the gangs will likely move to take over- they are the ones with all the weapons since the last government did it's best to disarm the lawful citizens. Not a happy idea.

 

No point in posting facts. The fearful need to believe that they are in imminent danger of being taken over by the Orcs, then they will turn to the government to protect them,

36 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Even if we didn't all die of radiation, NZ doesn't make much anymore preferring to exploit cheap Chinese labour, and just about everything is imported. That leads to a problem with such as medications, and as we do not have an oil refinery any more, no more petrol or diesel. It'll take a while to breed enough horses, though as most people will have died from gang warfare that may not be an insurmountable problem.

We'll be able to grow lots of food though, as long as we don't need sprays, which are imported. Never mind, with 30 million or so sheep we shouldn't have a problem with mutton, providing we know a friendly farmer.

However, even without the gangs I suspect most of the townies will die off quickly as they likely have no survival skills, and probably can't survive without U Tube telling them how to do stuff without electricity or supermarkets.

That pretty much sums up the civilized world at this point. We’re all connected.  Without international trade and the flow of money, what then?  Imagine someone pulls the plug on all the ATM machines. Imagine there are no more fuel deliveries. Imagine if the electricity doesn’t work. I imagine if people can’t get the medication they need. The typical big city has a three day supply of food. Then what?  All because some defense contractors want to sell some more jet airplanes that don’t work most of the time?

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'd like to agree, but about 5 minutes from the northern hemisphere being destroyed the gangs will likely move to take over- they are the ones with all the weapons since the last government did it's best to disarm the lawful citizens. Not a happy idea.

 

No point in posting facts. The fearful need to believe that they are in imminent danger of being taken over by the Orcs, then they will turn to the government to protect them,

 I’ll admit, I don’t know much about New Zealand.  I once worked with a woman who grew up there. She didn’t like it.  But that was years ago.  Anyway, the general idea is to find a place where the prevailing winds won’t carry radiation.

On 5/6/2024 at 6:07 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Doesn't matter if it's NATO pilots or the guys that make the tea for the officers club, if NATO joins in it's just a hop, step and jump to MAD, IMO.

 

For it to even be suggested implies the lunatics have escaped and taken over NATO command, IMO.

Correct.  The world is now on the verge of a catastrophe and the idiots in charge of France, the U.K., and the US keep upping the ante.  Putin is not joking.  NATO forces in Ukraine = WW III. It’s just that simple. Russia would see any such escalation as an existential threat and they will respond . For Europe and NATO, none of this is really necessary. The survival of Ukraine is not an existential matter for the for any NATO nation. Russia has no interest in reestablishing the old Soviet Union. They went bankrupt trying to hold it together years ago, and they won’t repeat that mistake.  
 

So, why all the interest in starting WW III?  Western leaders have been brainwashed by the spin doctors.  The military industrial complex is huge. It profits enormously from defense spending and they have good spin doctors. They have a good propaganda machine. And the politicians are well rewarded.  And so we hear tales of Russian aggression and its desire to conquer Europe. Russia is demonized. Putin is demonized.  Of course, no one asks the voters in Europe or the US if they are ready to sacrifice their remaining time on earth for an unnecessary war so that a small group of people can continue to profit.
 

Most people don’t even realize how close they are to death.  This war won’t be another WW III. Once it starts, it’ll be over in a few hours. Maybe here in Thailand we’ll last a little longer.  Then again, I wonder about the nuclear fallout.  I once read that New Zealand might be a safe place to be. Out of the way.

I wouldn’t vote for a Democrat at this point, mainly because they aren’t real Democrats any more.  They lost the plot somewhere along the way.  At this point, they’ve simply scary.  Authoritarian war mongers, and that’s to put it politely. And so I would vote for Trump, simply to oppose the Democrats.  
 

What’s wrong with RFK Jr?  He makes more sense than either Biden or Trump.  The day he announced his candidacy, I donated money.  If he wins, great.  If he takes votes away from Biden, great.  Either way, it’s a win.  

I think the days of finding a house for $100k are over, unless you have a sense of adventure and can you do a little renovation.  Maybe wait and watch.  If the economy implodes and you have some cash, anything is possible.