Lacessit

My OPPO F37 is about 6 years old, and has never missed a beat. There should be an OPPO model available in the OP's budget.

Favipiravir ( anti-viral ) is the standard treatment for COVID here, that's what I got. I didn't really need paracetamol, which is for fever. There is no evidence ivermectin is an effective prophylactic or therapy for COVID, apart from what can be found on social media. No reputable medical journal would publish any studies, AFAIK the studies that exist are not peer-reviewed. It is a favorite pharmaceutical of Big Pharma conspiracy theorists, however.

Note to self: Avoid posting medical information on ASEAN.

I'm not a doctor, but your symptoms - particularly taste - are not normal. I had COVID with zero after-effects. Are you able to exercise normally, without excessive fatigue? Do you have trouble concentrating? See a doctor for more informed diagnosis and treatment.

So you have people queueing up to pay with their phones in a lane that says cash only. Same as the people who lug about 20 purchases to a lane that says limit 8 items.

I must admit to liking the rear sensors for parking. New tech does not always work as it should. CVT systems were supposed to save on fuel, and they do. However, the Jatco CVT is a design that should have been strangled at birth. It's cost quite a few owners heavily. The Nissan Leaf is equally infamous. I think I am entitled to claim I am a better driver than most, without modern technology. In over 60 years of driving on all road conditions, I have never had a front-on collision. I've been rear-ended by a couple of drunks, T-boned by a couple of incompetents. I have never had an accident in ten years of driving in Thailand. I put that record down to a very good driving instructor, and also to having to pass a defensive driving course before I got the keys to my first company car. Back on topic, I think I should be able to pick the technology I want to use. Which means a business which is cashless only won't be getting my custom.

Will the tech really work for you, or someone else? Your lane departure system poops in its trousers. You go to your friendly service department, it's a monopoly because independent mechanics have been driven out of business. They say make an appointment for Tuesday week, bring a spare arm and leg to pay. Time was, I could do my own tuning, brake relines, cylinder bleeds, grease and oil change, even replace the universals in the RWD shaft. I would not even know where to start now, a shifter and a few sockets doesn't cut the mustard. If I look at what is termed fruit salad by the car trade in 2022, IMO 90% of it is there to compensate for lousy driver training and skills. I need to be alerted I am about to have a collision? Spare me. Sorry, off topic, but it's also about being half-smart.

2014. It was a repayment to a government department, almost inevitably.

It's my choice if I want to waste my time on ASEAN responding to posters whom I am never likely to meet, and probably would not want to anyway. It's when someone else wastes my time with their incompetence that I get snarky.

I feel this could be generational. Many years ago, I caused great amusement for a former GF when she discovered all the coat hangers in my wardrobe faced the same way. My Thai GF was horrified when we stayed with my son and his wife in Australia. Putting it kindly, they are messy grubs. Interestingly, they have converted to neat freaks now that they are selling the house. They must have filled four dumpsters with the <deleted> they had.

One Thai general for every 660 personnel of lower rank. The US makes do with one general for every 1600 personnel. The phrase "too many chiefs and not enough Indians" springs to mind.

Clear as mud to me, how the hell does anyone growing pot for personal use tell whether they are growing <0.2% or >0.2%? Will everyone have to buy a gas chromatograph as well?

IIRC, it was the Japanese who invented blow-up dolls for their sailors on long voyages.

Every food-exporting nation in the world is looking to profit from the crisis, Thailand is just one of them.

How about a few pythons?

You raise some valid points, I am sure. If anything, I have the obverse of Dunning - Kruger effect - I err on the pessimistic side of my capabilities, which is probably why I have never had an accident on the scooter or in the car in ten years of driving here. I don't carry a wallet here, strictly cash, I can't drop what I don't have. I suppose I am selective in the new technologies I embrace, comfortable with DUO, ZOOM, and video editing software. Actually, I am pre-Boomer.

That's a nice lure on the fishing line, tempting me to estimate how many halfwits there are in Thailand. Just take a Sunday drive, OK? I suppose one could argue phones are contactless, cash spreads COVID. So you're comfortable with the government knowing about your hypothetical bit of fluff on the side?

Exactly, 99% of canola sold all over the world comes from genetically-modified plants.

You raise a valid point, to get the cash from my pocket, a thief would have to get past 6 feet and 85 kg of suspicious me. OTOH, a thief could empty my phone account and I would be none the wiser until the next time I try to buy something, and it could take quite some time to get it sorted with a Thai bank, due to the language barrier. I do wonder sometimes whether we are not outsmarting ourselves. The latest in self-driving technology, if one reads the fine print, contains the disclaimer the technology is not intended for use with a long list of conditions. I've been driving a 2006 Vios here for 8 years, it doesn't even have ABS. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Homo sapiens has been around for about 200,000 years, dinosaurs about 200 million. I don't know why we are so enchanted with how clever we are, at least dinosaurs didn't screw up the planet for their successors.

Ah, ASEAN. For some, a sandpit for children.

The military does pretty well when it is their own countrymen.

That 3000 items an hour is a job requirement. I don't know how the assessment process works, but a checkout operator who fails to meet that criterion gets fired. That's what I was told by one of the Aldi workers.

It may be great for some moron with a smartphone who is paying for their goods at a supermarket checkout. It's not so convenient when they have a queue of people behind them waiting for said moron to get their act together on the phone to make payment after a minute or two of fumbling. It's bad enough Thai checkout chicks have never heard of Aldi checkout speeds, 3000 items an hour, without adding in cashless payment. Ever seen a Thai trying to pay by phone when they have left their glasses somewhere else, that's what I mean.

Really. I guess that structure and ability is in play with dozens of Chinese cities in lockdown, with residents unable to move or get food staples delivered. Ghost cities and trains going to nowhere, a property sector buckling under massive debt and shoddy building standards. A population that is ageing faster than anywhere else. Yeah, the Chinese are doing just fine.