jas007

I agree. Not long ago, I went on a modified carnivore diet for several months. No sugar, no fructose, nothing containing high fructose corn syrup, no carbohydrates, nothing containing processed of ultra processed food, no bread or grains of any kind, no seed oils. Just grass fed beef and some salmon once in a while. Eggs once in a while. I had some green leafy vegetables on occasion as a salad. I lost about 15 kilos or so in six weeks. Since then, I’ve added some limited carbs on occasion, and more vegetables. I’ve kept off the weight.

Just to add a quick note. Do some research on the destruction of food processing plants across the U.S. Search for an interactive map of the destruction of food processing plants. It would seem as though a deliberate effort is underway to restrict the U.S. food supply. In Europe, they’re using a slightly different method. Under the guise of protecting the planet from greenhouse gases or whatever, they’re taking farmland from farmers.

I’m too optimistic? Maybe. I think the whole digital money thing may not happen anytime soon. That’s the key to controlling people, for sure. But try taking their money away and watch what happens. They say they’re also trying to control the food supply. Couple the limited availability of food with a digital currency as the only “approved “ method to purchase food and you’ll see trouble, I think. But that seems to be a part of the plan.

I first came in the year 2000. The airport back then was DMK and I don’t think there was a Skytrain, or if there was, they were still building much of it. And I can remember eating at Woodstock in the afternoon. A burger and a few beers. They had movies on during the day.

If Vietnam had a decent retirement visa system, I’d seriously consider moving there. From what I currently see on YouTube, the people that are living there now as expats are leaving the country periodically and living on their tourist visas. I suppose that’s doable, but it might get old after a while.

I haven’t been to the U.S. for two years, but it’s not rocket science. Something has to give. There’s no way people can continue to live when the cost of living exceeds their earnings. My guess is that adjustments will be made to their pay. Maybe not immediately, but over time. Anyone old enough will surely remember what things cost back in the day, and how earnings expectations evolved and earnings increased. So today, no one would be offended by gasoline at 50 cents a gallon, but at one time, when that happened, it was a big shock to people used to paying 27 cents. You can go down the whole list of typical prices. Houses, cars, groceries, movie tickets, college tuition. Things will work out.

I think Zelle is only available within the USA. As for the friend’s rather low limit on wire transfer amounts? That seems odd. Maybe he should try asking the bank about how to raise that limit. I use a big bank in the USA, and I’m pretty sure the limit is thousands per day.

To make a long story short, don’t eat any margarine. Use butter.

Not too long ago, I took an exploratory trip to Nana. I didn’t stay long, but it seemed fairly typical to me. Some bars were almost empty, some were hopping. That was early in the night, though. Maybe around 9PM.

I looked into the whole issue not too long ago. The experts will tell you that you shouldn’t eat any modern bread or rice, that you shouldn’t eat anything containing sugar, high fructose corn syrup, that you should avoid seed oils, and that you shouldn’t eat anything with chemicals or preservatives. What it boils down to is that you shouldn’t eat 98% of the food sold in the typical grocery store. Processed food and ultra processed food are responsible for many health problems. One cardiologist on YouTube says you shouldn’t be eating anything that comes in a package with a barcode, if that tells you anything.

Has anyone else noticed a decline in the quality/amount of food in restaurants lately? Example: Cheeseburgers that seem to have less and less meat. Sandwiches that have less and less meat and other ingredients, and so on. Of course, the price stays the same. Who do they think they’re fooling? In any event, if the prices need to be raised, that’s what should happen. Raise the price. If the ingredients cost 20% more, raise the price of the item 20%. How hard is that? For Western food especially, people who are ordering that stuff would probably prefer paying more in order to get the dish they’re used to getting rather than some less than adequate version. For me, when a restaurant skimps on ingredients, it just means that’s one restaurant I’ll never order from again.

Burgers in Bangkok? There’s a burger place down on Sukhumvit Soi 11 that’s pretty good. I forget the name. And the Zest bar/restaurant inside the Westin Grand Sukhumvit has some pretty good steak sliders, if that counts. Prime Burger is also good.

I was curious, so I did a quick search and found this. Not sure if it’ll be any help, but some of the information might be relevant. Wise changed their USD bank details for ACH and wires a few months ago so that might be what's causing the problem. Also the details for domestic USD wires and international ones differ. Here's details from the Wise USD page: When your sender enters your account details in their bank's system, they might see Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB) if the routing number starts with 026, or Evolve Bank and Trust (EVOLVE) if the routing number starts with 084. This is because Wise's USD accounts are with both CFSB, and EVOLVE. If you have any questions about your account, always talk to the Wise support team — CFSB or EVOLVE won’t be able to give you any information, because you don't have an account directly with them. How do I receive USD from inside the US? If your routing number starts with 084 - it will work for both ACH and wire transfers. If your routing number starts with 026 - provide your ACH (ABA) routing number if you’re: being paid a salary receiving earnings from platforms, such as Amazon receiving direct deposits receiving non-urgent payments ACH payments, also known as electronic money transfers, are the most common payment method in the USA. They’re usually free, or cost a lower fee for your sender. They typically take 2–3 working days to reach Wise. Provide your wire routing number if your sender specifically wants to pay you with a wire. Wire transfers can cost your sender 20–30 USD, but will reach your Wise account within 1 working day. If someone sends you money using a wire transfer, we’ll charge a 4.14 USD fee.

Maybe the Community Federal Savings Bank acts as a conduit for Wise. Money sent to Wise is first routed through Community Federal? If Community Federal is on the drop down list, maybe he should use that routing number along with the Wise account number.

Sometimes, the system hasn’t been updated for a while and the banks that appear on the “drop down list” don’t include every possible choice. I’m not sure that’s the problem your friend is having, but it’s a possibility. One time I was trying to open an account at a new online bank. I forget which one. Anyway, as part of the opening process I was try to transfer some money to the new bank, so I entered all the information . Routing number account number, etc. And that information was absolutely correct. But my bank kept coming back saying that the information was incomplete or incorrect. So, I called the customer service number of the new online bank, but that was an exercise in futility. The girl just kept repeating the same nonsense, over and over. I finally gave up. Then again, maybe there’s something different about Wise that prohibits the transaction.

A restaurant I used to go to in Scottsdale is showing the current price of a Baja Burrito with blackened shrimp and two sides as $16.45. I guess if you added a large beer, tax, and a tip, lunch might end up costing you $25 or thereabouts.

I learned my lesson about horse races one time when I was living in NYC and decided one day to go out to Belmont. That didn’t work out so well. After that, I stuck to relatively small bets placed at OTB outlets. That seemed to work better. I’d bet some money and call up later to see if I won anything. One time there was a new jockey that seemed to be winning a lot of races, so I bet $10 on a long shot horse he was riding that day. As it turned out, that bet ended up paying $250 or so. I had fun that weekend. This was in 1976, so it was more money back then.

It’s only a media/Deep State fantasy. I’m sure they’d like people to believe that, though.

I used to live in Del Mar, but I never went to the track to bet on the races. I guess I figured it would likely be a losing proposition.

About seven years ago, I had cataract surgery in both eyes. Six months later, I had a retinal tear in one eye and had surgery to repair that. They used a laser, and I also had a gas bubble for a while. After that I was fine for a number of years, but a few months ago the “capsular bag” that normally holds the eye’s natural lens but at that point contained an IOL became totally detached from its usual position and was floating around inside my eye. Sometimes I could see it, depending on how I held my head. So, I needed surgery to repair that problem. From what I understand, they took out the old IOL and the capsular bag and replaced the IOL with an IOL that could be held into place with stitches. The IOL had eyelets and it was attached to either side of the iris. They called it a “scleral attachment.” I think the surgery itself lasted about 1 1/2 hours. I don’t remember any of that, though. One minute they were hooking me up to stuff in the operating room and the next thing I knew, it was several hours later and I was in the recovery room. So, it was all a bit more complex than the typical cataract surgery. So far, the recovery seems uneventful.

He’s sort of the lesser of two evils. Whatever his faults, at least he never used the justice system to attack and silence his political opponents. The borders were secure. He didn’t start any wars. And he was the guy actually in charge, unlike Biden. As it now stands, we don’t even know who is running the country.

Putin hasn’t leveled Kiev because that’s not part of the plan. As for “nuking” France or the UK or the US? He apparently doesn’t think that is necessary. Russia can accomplish its limited objectives using conventional weapons. The objective? A neutral Ukraine. No NATO. Anyway, the Ukrainian military is all but destroyed at this point. And the whole conflict seems to be fading from the news. Anyone who thinks Putin’s real objective is to reassemble the Soviet Union hasn’t been paying attention. Or rather, they’ve been listening to too much Western propaganda. As for “self-determination , freedom, and democracy “? More propaganda. The foreign policy of the US currently revolves around destroying Russia. And the US/NATO is more than willing to fight to the last Ukrainian to accomplish that end. The US really doesn’t care about self-determination, freedom, and democracy. Not for Ukraine . That’s just what they say. That’s the official narrative..

Sorry to hear about all the pain. My surgery was about 10 days ago, and I had to spend one night in the hospital under “bed rest.” I couldn’t even get out of bed without setting off a bed alarm. Anyway, they gave me a bunch of pills when I finally checked out, including some Tylenol for pain and some sleeping pills in case I was having trouble sleeping. So far, I haven’t taken any of the pills. I never take Tylenol, and when I’m sleepy, I sleep. Otherwise, I’ve been on a regimen of eye drops. Steroid eye drops and antibiotic eye drops. Plus, some antibiotic ointment before bed. I also have to wear a protective shield over the eye at night. My vision has been slowly improving. The first day or so after surgery, I couldn’t see much at all. Since then, it has gotten a little better every day. At the rate I’m going, I should be back to 20/20 in another week, maybe sooner. When I had my first follow up appointment four days after surgery, the doctor told me about all the symptoms I might experience following surgery. The gist of it was that a lot of what might happen is normal and is to be expected. On the other hand, she told me to call if I experienced severe pain that wouldn’t improve with Tylenol, or if I had a lot of severe discharge or bleeding.

I hate to say it, but most of my photography experience was with film cameras. Years ago, I had my own darkroom and shot mostly Tri-X Pan, although I did try developing a few rolls of Ektachrome, just for the heck of it. I’ve had a few digital cameras over the years, but they didn’t really get much use. Nikon D70, Nikon D300, some Pentax DSLRs. I ended up either giving that stuff away or leaving it in the U S. All I brought with me was a little Sony pocket camera. Anyway, maybe I’ll buy something new.

I’ve never had a Sony full frame camera. And no lenses. I guess I’m just in the mood to try something different. I’ll check out the APS-C bodies.