jas007

They did that for me as well, on my first visit to the eye doctor in Bangkok. It took about two minutes for both eyes. The capsule can become cloudy over time, so they do something with the laser to clear it up.

I haven’t tried making a call lately, but when I came back to Thailand this time, one of the first things I did was to change the SIM in my phone to a Thai SIM. So at that point, my U.S. number wasn’t connected to any real phone. But some business came up and I needed to make a call to the U.S. I think that’s why I added some money to the Google Voice account. Anyway, I made the call. It worked, even without a U.S. phone. Then again, maybe I’m not remembering things correctly. Edit: I just looked at my Google Voice account. The $10 I added to the account still shows as being there, so it wasn’t that. Then I looked under Settings in the account. Under the “Call” section, you can choose wi-fi calling. That’s how mine is set.

I think that to set up Google Voice, you need to initially have a real phone number. After that, at least in my experience, you can make Google Voice calls from other devices. Only case, the original phone number is no longer active, but my Google Voice still works. I think I recall adding some money to the account for some reason or another. Anyway, I get spam texts once in a while, but the service doesn’t seem to work for text messages.

So another few months until the election and then we’ll see. I think there’s no way out of seeing more inflation, regardless of who wins the US election. Trump doesn’t seem interested in controlling government borrowing. Ditto for the Democrats.

It’s probably a good buying opportunity, at least for some stocks. On the other hand, some stocks seem to be wildly overvalued, so a big correction seems about right. The official narrative for the sell off is that recent data suggests that the U.S. is now in a recession, or is about to be. How anyone didn’t know that long ago is beyond me. Lower interest rates = more cheap money = more inflation and further depreciation of the dollar. In that scenario, why not have stocks? Long term, stocks seem like a better deal than a continually depreciating dollar. As the saying goes, cash is trash.

Somewhere I read that the Fed or the U.S. treasury seems to think the US dollar should be about 34 baht. So, the recent price doesn’t seem too far off. Anyway, it’s all relative. Given the demand for dollars around the world, the dollar price is supposed to be fairly stable for the next four or five years. I hope that’s accurate.

Earlier today, I bought a bottle of wine for 989 baht. That same wine in the USA costs about $11. In other words, somewhere along the line there’s a huge markup. According to some websites I’ve seen, wine under 1000 baht shouldn’t be taxed at all, except for VAT. And if that’s the case, does it really seem that the price in Thailand is fair? If that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is. Maybe I should be trying some Australian wine? Or wine from somewhere closer to Thailand? South African wine? Thai wine? Is there a workaround? Decent wine in the US can easily cost $50. A really good wine, $500+. I don’t mind spending money, but surely, there’s an easier way.

Left wing farangs in Thailand? Who knows? Most of them are well and truly brainwashed and don’t seem to realize that the Democrat party in the U.S. is attempting to establish a dictatorship. Don’t like your opponent? No problem, do everything possible to throw him in jail. Don’t like the news? No problem, just use fake news and propaganda. And it seems to be working.

Harris = WWIII. That you can count on. The Deep State seems to be intent on starting WWIII, and Harris will no doubt be just the puppet they’re looking for to continue where Joe left off. Of course, from the looks of current events, we might actually get a global war during what’s left of Biden’s term. Anyway, if you value life on Planet Earth as we know it, hope Harris doesn’t win.

I go through phases, depending. There were times when I would have a drink or two every day. And then there were entire decades when I didn’t drink anything. I think it more or less depended on my life at the time. School, work, retirement. Location also mattered. Consider Pattaya. The entire city seems to revolve around restaurants and bars. Probably not a good place for an alcoholic. Big cities can also be like that. Bars and restaurants on every block. Anyway, I’m sure genetics plays a role as to the extent of any resulting health issues. My grandfather came from Europe and always had wine every day, and yet it never affected his health. I wasn’t around my other grandfather all that much, but he smoked and drank. Both of those guys lived to about 90. Actually, everyone in those families lived to almost 90. Some lived to be over 100. These are people born around 1900, when the life expectancy was a lot less. Good genes, I guess.

True alcoholics really do find it difficult to quit. I’ve seen the cases. Smart people, but they’re addicts. They can be in the hospital, on the verge of death, and yet they’ll check themselves out against medical advice and head to the nearest bar. And before long, the family has a funeral to arrange. I once worked with a guy like that. Smart guy. Yale law school grad, good career, millionaire, and yet alcohol was ruining his life. He somehow couldn’t stop. I think a lot of the problem stems from the culture. Some people can navigate through, others get tripped up.

Trump isn’t backing away from anything. He just said that he’ll wait to make arrangements with the Democrat’s official nominee.

You probably shouldn’t expect immediate results. Just be patient. After my first surgery, I couldn’t see much. I thought I was in trouble. But in a few days, my vision improved.

Did they do both eyes at once? When I had my surgeries, they were one month apart. First the right, then the left. The first few days after surgery are important. Wear the eye guard at night, use the drops like you’re supposed to, and don’t get your eye wet in the shower. If you go outside, wear sunglasses. You don’t want to screw this up. Within a few days, you should notice some improvement. Keep using the drops until they tell you to stop.

For what it’s worth, Amazon will send texts to a Thai number for verification purposes.

I sort of feel sorry for Joe as a person, and because of what they put him through. He was out of it, for the most part.

Don’t forget how “accurate “ the polls were in 2016.

Thoracic outlet syndrome?

For what it’s worth, Palantir doesn’t work the way you apparently think it does. They don’t know “everything about everyone.” That’s a common misconception. Palantir does not retain data. They make software that is supplied to customers. The customers are the only ones with access to the data. Anyway, the company was initially founded with money from the CIA, and much of what they do is classified. Let just say that they make the tools necessary for the government to know everything about everyone. Palantir now has a commercial side of its business and that segment is growing quickly because the world is waking up to the importance of AI and the use of large language models. They have no real competition and they’ve been working in the space for years. Fortunately, Wall Street does not understand the company, so the stock is still “cheap.” I picked up a bunch in the $6 to $10 range, and lately, it’s been approaching $30, so I’m happy.

I’m not at all sure how bots work, but this website absolutely could have members that are bots, assuming they could sign up.

Neanderthals? Most people have at least some Neanderthal DNA. I took the 23 and me test one time and it came back as showing some Neanderthal DNA. A minuscule amount, but it’s there.

Maybe Thai subject matter isn’t its strong suit. I’ve tried it. I’ve also tried some similar programs. For free, it’s not bad. But like anything else on the internet, you have to sort through the responses. No guarantees. They train these programs on Internet content. Bots scan the web and consume it all. Along the way, they “learn.” So, in the process they may pick up wrong information. That comes with the territory. One time, I was arguing with a bot and didn’t even realize it. It was being really stupid, though, so it maybe should have been obvious.

I’ve never tried making videos for YouTube, but once in a while I’ll post a food picture on Google Maps. Pick a restaurant, write a comment, and post a picture. They don’t pay you, but so what? I figure some people might want to know about the food. Anyway, the first time I did that the picture got 50,000 views in just a few days. So, the viewers are out there. You just need to find a way to draw them in. Google owns YouTube and also Google Maps. Maybe if you write some reviews on Google Maps, it’ll somehow help your YouTube channel. I think it might also help to have an Instagram account.

I have my gut sense on the matter. You do realize that we’re not talking about a mathematical problem? It’s politics. No “logical “ proof of any particular outcome is possible.

I’ve tried fasting. Never a dry fast, though. Just the kind of fast where you’re only allowed water. The first time I tried three days. They say that’s a good amount of time. Anyway, it’s not hard to do, and there are a lot of benefits. Your body’s initial reaction will be hunger. You’re addicted to sugar and your body wants a fix. Ignore it. With no food, your body will burn through all the glucose circulating in your body, and then it will start to use stored fat as an energy source. So, day one is a little strange, as is day two. By day three, the initial hunger goes away and your body is using stored fat. If you do this, make sure you have some electrolytes with your water.