jas007

I used to have a house with floor to ceiling glass windows across the entire back of the house. Birds would crash into it now and then. Sometimes, they'd die. But sometimes, they were just stunned and managed to get up and fly away after a while. What I was really worried about were all the deer that used to come around. It wasn't just one or two. Sometimes, it would be five or six at a time. Anyway, imagine one of those animals somehow getting spooked and crashing through your window.

Both, but right now, silver is undervalued. Still, I wouldn't go all in on precious metals. Get some advice about a proper portfolio allocation. I can remember buying and selling 1 oz gold coins in the $300 range, most recently in the early 2000s. So it can be a good inflation hedge. And I can remember buying bags of junk silver for not much. Maybe 3X face? Again, a good inflation hedge for anyone with a long term time horizon. And don't forget, silver has industrial applications, so that gives it added value. They need that stuff.

Apparently, the real AF1 has all sorts of special electronics and other modifications. It's more than just a regular plane. That's why it takes forever to build one. They don't take any chances when it comes to transporting the President. From my window at work, I could see the Marine helicopters take off from the White House. Two of them, every time. One with the President, the other a decoy. Anyone with bad intentions only had a 50% chance of hitting the right helicopter.

I just did 30 seconds of research on Perplexity. And if you had done that, you wouldn't have raised this issue in the first place. What they say: • Use Thailand Post Express Mail, Registered Mail, or DHL courier service. Always obtain a tracking number for your outgoing package. 4. Provide a Prepaid Return Envelope • Purchase a prepaid courier envelope online (e.g., via Thailand Post Mart) and include the order/receipt number with your application. This envelope will be used by the embassy to return your new passport to you. • The embassy will use the provided prepaid envelope to mail your new passport back. This envelope will have its own tracking number, allowing you to track the return shipment as well. 5. Track Your Application and Passport • Outbound (to the embassy): Use the courier or postal service’s tracking system to monitor delivery of your application package. • Application status: Track the status of your renewal online at the U.S. Department of State’s passport status site: https://passportstatus.state.gov. • Inbound (return to you): Use the tracking number from your prepaid return envelope (Thai Post or DHL) to monitor when your new passport is sent and delivered back to you.

So, can you, or can you not arrange for tracking both ways, when renewing within Thailand? And if not, why?

Sounds like you've got this down to a science. I never thought about having a US dollar account in Thailand and waiting to do the conversion until the exchange rate is favorable. As fort the time required to post? There's a delay, but only because of the time zone differential and the fact that the Thai banks don't update my account until they're open for business.

I haven't seen it yet, so I guess I'll find out. Mostly, I think the movies and series Apple puts out are somehow lacking. They're well made and extremely polished, for sure, but that's what makes them less than they could be. If that makes any sense.

Supposedly, Apple TV+ has a new Sci-Fi series premiering on May 16, called "Murderbot." It's supposed to be good.

I've never done the renewal process from Thailand, but when I did it in the USA, I not only sent the passport to the processing center by trackable US express mail, I sent inside that same package a trackable return US express mail envelope. So the whole thing was trackable from the beginning.

The technology is there to make buildings that are more or less earthquake proof. The question whether the Thai authorities can make it happen. Can they set building standards and see that they're enforced?

There doesn't seem to be any way to cut out the small fees in Thailand for the currency conversion and for the incoming wire transfer, but at least from Chase in the US, the worst case scenario is a $40 fee, unless you send more than $5000 or have an account that qualifies for free international wire transfers. The bottom line: it's no big deal.

I just occasionally wire money into my Kaisikorn bank from the US. But they certainly don't take "almost half" of the money in the process. I send US dollars and Kaisikorn does the conversion. And I think there's a small incoming wire transfer fee. I just looked up the results of the latest transaction on May 1. It looks like the exchange rate that day was 33.55. After fees in Thailand, my net exchange rate was 33.267. So a little bit of money at the Thailand end. Not "almost half."

Assuming you can afford the care, aren't there nursing home type places in Thailand that offer such services? There must be. People get old and sick in Thailand, just like anywhere else in the world.

There's a real risk, though, apparently. People just don't understand how slow things can move. Or the dangers when they do. In the USA, there's a volcano under Yellowstone Park that periodically erupts and may be overdue for another eruption, although that kind of thing can't be timed. What they do know is that, over the past 2.1 million years, there have been three major eruptions, the last one occurring 631,000 years ago. So it could erupt tomorrow, or maybe in another few hundred thousand years. Off the coast of California, underwater, there's supposedly a long dormant volcano that may erupt sometime soon, according to recent news reports. In Thailand, who knows? Maybe there is a real risk of trouble sometime soon. And it's just a matter of time before there's another major shift in the plate in the Indian Ocean. The question is this: Are you going to sit around and put your life hold, perhaps, or are you going to live your life?

I haven't really followed this story. Are there not some tapes, somewhere, of the parties?

Of course not. My point was that I go into the deal with a certain assumption.

I usually proceed on the assumption that, once I pay a deposit on a condo rental, I'll never see that money again. I've never had that happen, but I assume it will. I negotiate the agreed rental price bases on the assumption that they'll keep the deposit. Whatever happens, that's fine with me. It's not worth arguing about.

It's early yet, but you're probably right. I definitely won't be complaining about a little deflation, though.

Stories like these blow my mind. Thai baht "under pressure"? LOL. A few baht in either direction is just noise. Wake me up if the change rate gets below 29 baht to the US dollar. Hint: it's not going to happen.

They put in all the additives for a number of reasons, including cost. That and the fact that they want people addicted to the food they sell. In America, much of the "food" is engineered to create junk food addicts, regardless of the health consequences. Taste, color, texture? All factors. Of course, the pharmaceutical companies profit from all the sick people, so there won't be any blowback from them. And as anyone can see, it has worked according to plan. A nation of sick fat people with multiple medical problems. And who has enabled it all? Bought and paid for politicians and a "captured" FDA. The Trump administration is trying to put a stop to it all. Hopefully, they will succeed. All those obese sick people are expensive to take care of.

You can't be serious. Anyway, you're entitled to your opinion about Kennedy. Some of us know he's absolutely right about a lot of things. And if I were you I'd revisit whatever you think you learned in a "nutrition course" you once took. For example, the so-called "Food Pyramid" was based on questionable data and is likely wrong. You can probably guess who subsidized the research for the study. If you're still healthy at age 75, you should probably credit good genes, for the most part. Many people aren't so lucky and can't get away with eating junk, yesr after year. Have you ever tried one of those "Face Age" AI apps? They have consumer versions and medical versions. The medical versions supposedly give accurate results within 4 years. The consumer versions are supposedly less accurate, but are usually not that far off. Try it sometime, and see what AI thinks about your biological age. I tried a couple recently. I'm about to be 74 and still have all my hair. One AI app said I was 63, the other said I was 57. Maybe they're just trying to make people feel good, but probably not. Some people just have good genes and don't age so quickly. I think I was about 43 the last time I got carded trying to go into a bar.

If I thought it was a random occurrence, I would do just that. But if I had to bet, I'd say it's deliberate. It mostly happens on controversial issues. What are the chances of that being random? Anyway, I think I'm mostly talking to myself on here anyway. Too many people are brainwashed and only believe in their "agenda." And the person in the background "randomly" resetting the app thinks they're performing a valued service. If I'm not back on here, I wish everyone well.

I'm on a Mac desktop. The new Mac4 Mini and the desktop app, I believe, if there is such a thing. It stays on my dock and is separate from the Safari browser. I always have the latest updates. Whatever is going on, I'm pretty sure it's deliberate. And for whoever is running this site: do you want an active sire with posters? Or are you OK with a site that pushes a political agenda, only? It's not as if ASEAN is the only website on the World Wide Web.

Somewhere online, I saw a meme about a straggly looking stray cat that roamed the neighborhood, pretending he was starving to death. He had a real racket going. Food from multiple houses. As it turned out, he already had a family and a home. He just had a scam going, to get extra food.

I keep trying to respond, but every time I get something typed out, some devious person resets the app and deletes it all. So I have to find a work around. It's sad when someone thinks that playing games is the only answer. I guess they can't handle the truth. Anyway, the interference is not a fluke. Just deliberate nonsense.