DrPhibes

I have to say as a techie guy, Kaspersky was worth getting for my phone. I do quite a bit of banking/investing on it when I can't get to my computer. I always use the VPN feature when doing such. My belief is they are about as good as it gets for security. Using free antivirus in Thailand, my phone was hacked, phone number hijacked, used that to contact one of my banks and phone company which in the end allowed a Zelle transfer for the maximum amount. Was reimbursed, but the stress factor was pretty high for the relative low cost of such coverage now.

Now now. I have a ton of DVDs we brought with us when we moved to LOS that we would love to watch. Our high end Blu-ray player is DVD locked to wrong region and can't reset. Went to play one only to discover none of our laptops have disk players anymore. Guess I'll have to breakdown and get another player. Young kids could care less about the not perfect video quality on a big screen.

You forgot: Mis-treatment of maid who has a pure heart 101

You would think given how much they would have been able to sell them for it would be more like "...Cartier off four of the seats.". I have not been able to hear the word naughty without thinking...

Ya, buddy of mine just got back from Albania and could not shut him up about it. Cheaper than Chiang Mai (and about S safe) in all but the capital city (about the same as CM), a great beach scene, and only a few hrs drive to awesome mountain environments. As a US citizen, easy to be there and is a cheap 2hr flight to Germany and the rest of Europe.

Even in fluent Thai it won't help. The construction of the language is non-direct nor logically/factually oriented. One thing my buddies stateside/here and I totally agree on is that our Thai wives IQ drops about 15 points after they get together with the other Thai wives for more than 4-5 hrs and the longer they are back in LOS, the more it drops. These guys are ex-diplomats, engineers, serious business owners, generally higher IQ dudes that did not marry bar girls. I myself have degrees in Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Chemical Engineering. Over 70% of the angst in my married (She is a Thai college graduate) life is language related. We have been living back in Thailand for about 6 years now after 12 years in the US with 2 years of ESL classes and total English immersion (aside from parties) and her English has gone to s--t despite having to relate important Thai stuff to our English speaking kids in English only international school. She can hardly get a logically constructed sentence for content or time (past, present, future) out of her mouth. This then becomes a torturous game of 20 questions to figure out what the heck she is really trying to say only to find out 60% is conjecture based on nothing and only 40% based on fact. For her it comes down to why is this so important anyway, even if important. It is back to the Thai point of your making me feel bad, nothing is more important than that, no matter how critical it is to be correct. I took a very high end, intense, expensive Thai class at Payap university in CM and realized afterword the real reason (in my opinion) the problems westerners and Thai people understanding each other is more based on the radical differences in the mental constructs the language creates than the cultural differences. In one of the ex-diplomats words, not mine: "If you speak in caveman, you think in caveman". Thanks for reading. Hope all well.

How "smart" does it have to be? I have a Note10 Plus bought new (hard to find), in the US, about 3mo ago for about $400 USD. I should not need another phone for about 6-7 years if they would keep the updates going. The thing is a beast! Good luck hunting!

So I ran across a recent survey on what net worth of people in different cities in the US said made then comfortable: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/10/how-much-money-it-takes-to-be-financially-comfortable-in-us-cities.html I call <deleted> on this. You can't even get a house for cash in the San Francisco area for the entire amount they claim would make you feel comfortable living there. Maybe if the SF house was paid off and you had that much in the bank you would feel secure. I'm comfortable having renters pay rent that breaks even for a couple of US properties I have while I am lucky enough to live in Chiang Mai, with a bit in the bank, and a stable seasonal business. That makes me comfortable. Some people believe that just paying all your bills every month is getting ahead. Hope all well with everyone!

Actually, I think she places them in the freezer for 20min and she's good for the hot weather for 1/2 the day!

Or Greece, or Aegean Sea coasts...

A can of Aqua Net hair spray and a Bic lighter! Have hose ready afterwards.

Like any society, you need a lower level of people who are intellectually satisfied (or just able) with spending their lives turning the nuts on screws on an assembly line, watching Nascar on the telly along with their inebriated best buddies while going to church every Sunday to be absolved of behavior they can't control. In the US, this level of society is not seeing the economic windfall the higher educated coasts have had in recent times. When some immigrant who put everything he got into a higher level of education leading to a good job and heads to the west or east coast for a very high paying job, invested in the stock market or worked in a company that got bought out for insane profits for those who worked there, and then sells his house in CA and buys a mansion in your town (retiring at 45) and still have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank left over from the house sale, there is going to be resentment as you go to your 9-5 low end job and wonder if your meager savings and Social Security will allow you to live any kind of a retirement after retiring past 65. The feeling is, "I'm a US citizen, I get up and go to work every day and church every Sunday, why does this immigrant, who does not even believe in my version of god (the only true version my pastor tells me), get to live such an American dream life?" Devious people have seized on this economic disparity and coupled it with a religious righteousness to create a base for money and power while constantly fanning these hateful flames to continue it's propagation for more of such with no regard to tearing at the very fabric of society . This is ultimately reflected in the divisive politics we are now seeing as these extreme right wing groups gain more power. This is not unlike the disenfranchised Germans after WW l that lead to the rise of Nazi Germany. If there is not a re-balancing of economic wealth with a serious emphasis on a usable education in the US and jobs to put that education to use, well, history has a way of repeating itself. That's my two Pastoolas = 88,000 Golden Kratchmuks = 264,000 Silver Zlobecks or normally about 15,576,000 Drakmids (but these, they tell me, are not normal times...) worth!

Ya, my bad. Forgot the cardinal rule of checking with Aseannow before doing anything with immigration. oh well, was only 3k baht, small price to assure entry.

Here in Chiang Mai there has been a definite decrease in Grab Drivers to the point the wife went and found a few local guys who have developed a following off the grid of Grab. Pay them less than Grab and they are happy since no Grab fees. Rarely have not had at least one of them available. Grab food is another thing, food delivery bikes are still a big thing at my house given I got hungry teens with sophisticated palates!

Now now, #3 is important. Remember it was the cheese wheel that Spacex sent up in a Dragon demo capsule that really got their space program going! Have seen the cheese wheel in a sealed glass case, was lucky enough to get a look around of the Hawthorne Facility about a year before COVID hit, impressive and efficient. Stole a bunch of soda beverage cups with the SpaceX logo on them from the cafeteria which is 2nd floor behind the Command and Control room.

Ok, So can I cancel get a partial refund on the 6mo COVID insurance (Did not realize I needed only 3 mo to get in) that I am only 5 weeks into?

Eh, I seen more heavenly boobs than that on Soi Cowboy and they were worshiped with 100 baht note offereings not leftovers and plant origami.

I think I can make out the feet pedals underneath so I guess that makes it a hybrid!

I actually prefer your standard 4 on the floor sleek petite model, gets good mileage per compliment, quality head gasket, almost flush headlights, and purring motor on regular ethanol mix fuel (no large guzzlers). Of course, I always first check under the hood for a modified tranny as those can be a pain to deal with, require extra lube service, and can lead to a thrown rod.

Have rented a condo across the street from KMUTT University for my 2 kids for this coming school year and need to choose an internet provider. Choices are True, AIS, and 3BB. A lot of classes are online and they are Gamers. Looking for 1Gbps up/down. Any input good or bad on each of these choices are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Yes, a miracle. A miracle called a fair chance at a better life. The US is the center of innovation because it promises the opportunity to work hard/SMART and be rewarded for your efforts with a better life than the country you left. That better life comes back to the US in the way of taxes on your earnings that fuel the efforts world wide of promoting a better life in the US indirectly through the US efforts to help abroad. There is a kind of morality in this. The smart and motivated come to the US for that very reason. It is generally a fair deal. One they do not generally get in their home countries. I have financed 2 of my wife's brothers in college here in Thailand only to find there are very few jobs they can use their education for at graduation. This is because they are not "connected". A lot of jobs here are obtained by who you know, not what you know (government jobs especially). Thailand is not singular in this respect. Wife just watched an interview yesterday of Thais graduating from colleges overseas and if they were going to return to help Thailand progress, while polite in their response, none interviewed were coming back. Did you know that at one time the US provided pencils to Russia because the communist system could not provide nearly enough for their schools. The pencils had the Statue of Liberty embossed on them! The US is not perfect, no society has ever been. But it has been instrumental at the promotion of the progress of the world. Had there not been a certain amount of moral obligation in the US society to do this the US could have set itself up as the only advanced civilization after world war ll and suppressed all others from ever developing. It's geographical location and natural resources could have easily created such a scenario. Yes right now there are problems in the US, all societies go through ups and downs, but generally, Americans are a decent bunch. Hope all well with everyone!

Much better than blue waffles!

Dated, but still true:

The Great Cyber Wall descending? China has been trying to stamp out "Outside Influences" and that effort is picking up steam.

Not sure if he is advertising his size or intimate preference. Comments?