jas007

Years ago, I read about the possibility of quantum computers someday being able to break the encryption. So they've known about the possibility for years. What they didn't realize, I think, is. the speed at which technology would evolve. I'm not sure what the answer is. That's one of the reasons I don't really trust Bitcoin.

Twenty years ago, I was in a bar in Phuket in the middle of the day, having a cold beer and chilling out in the air conditioning.There weren't too many customers. A few seats away from where I was sitting, some guy got up and left, leaving some change for a tip. A few seconds later, two girls were fighting over what couldn't have been more than 80 baht or so. It was mayhem. The girls weren't just arguing. It was a real brawl. And before it was over, they had torn up the entire back of the bar. Throwing chairs, knocking over tables. It was crazy. All over a few baht.

99.9999% of the people don't realize what's coming or why it's a game changer. It can't be stopped, and it will be the biggest technological advance ever. And it's happening now. I don't pretend to be a know-it-all about this subject, but I see the importance and I vaguely understand the process. The Saudis rolled out the Red Carpet for Trump for a reason.They aren't stupid, and they currently have the cheapest energy available on Planet Earth. They see a path out of the oil business and they're taking it. And why not? Remember, the only limit to AI is available energy. The AI will be free. The energy is the limiting factor. Personally, I'm "only in it for the money," at this point. How to make some easy money and ride the wave? My apologies to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. I've been pumping money into the Quantum computing sector. Some people seem to think the usefulness of that technology is decades away, but, maybe not. My guess is that it's here now. But as usual, Wall Street is asleep at the switch. If that's not an opportunity, I'm not sure what is. For anyone who doesn't understand the power of Quantum computing, go do some research. A Quantum computer can solve a problem that would take traditional computers trillions and trillions of years to solve, and the Quantum computer can do it in a few minutes. Imagine putting that kind of power to work.

I mean just that. They aren't sentient beings. They learn based on what they're trained on, not unlike human babies who are trained on external stimuli. But they're also different. In the case of AI bots, they're trained on material off the internet and perhaps, on input from their master. Mostly garbage, in other words, at least as to what they receive online. The set of external stimuli they receive is but a subset of all possible stimuli. They are creatures of their environment. Entirely logical. Or mostly logical. Remember the character Data from Star Trek? Do they have intuition? Are they creative? I'm not sure they're that far advanced, yet. And we may never know. We can no more climb inside the mind of an AI bot than we can climb inside the mind of another human.

It's already happening. AI is just acceleerating and amplifying the trend. It may seem like it's a powerful tool for exposing the "truth." But is it? I don't think so. Not necessarily. Mainstream media has been brainwashing people for years, and many no longer know how to think for themselves. Why do that when you can simply regurgitate propaganda? You won't be alone and there's comfort in numbers. In any event, AI works better in some settings than in others. For example, you can probably trust a solution it gives to a simple math problem. But ask it about something controversial? No way.

It's simply a matter of "garbage in, garbage out." The Large Language Models that power the AI simply don't know any better. They only know about the garbage they were trained on. And a lot of that "garbage" is mainstream media. So of course that's what they spit out. Garbage.

Anyone using these AI agents regularly should look into the privacy implications. How the individual's data is stored, where it is stored, and how personal information is protected. What happens first a malicious actor enters the picture?

It's more of a political statement than anything. Of course, the markets will overreact, as usual. And then everyone will forget about it in a few days. Whatever problems now exist have been building over the last 50 years or so. Compared to much of the Western world, the USA is doing OK. The debt to GDP ratio is bad, but not as bad as it is in some countries. And the economy is doing better than many. Finally, the US dollar is the world reserve currency, and that won't be changing anytime soon.

It's beginning to look like that isn't going to happen. Perhaps some sane people are in charge, after all.

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.