Etaoin Shrdlu

Yup, right up there with Time Magazine's Persons of the Years 1938 and 1942.

Cryptomator is open source and produced by a German company. I don't think a German company would be subject to the Patriot Act. That plus being open source, I wouldn't expect a backdoor, but perhaps you know better. I'm not an IT professional.

I keep lots of information in the cloud, mostly in Dropbox. I used to use Boxcryptor with Dropbox until Dropbox bought Boxcryptor and discontinued the consumer version of Boxcryptor. I now use Cryptomator instead. It does not integrate as well as Boxcryptor did, but it works well enough. Cryptomator might not stand up to scrutiny by one of the three-letter agencies, but if they really wanted to get my info, I suppose they could just break down my door or sneak into my house while I'm away and steal all my electronics. Cryptomator is probably good enough to protect my documents in the event of a data breach. https://cryptomator.org/for-individuals/

The Graham-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, was a major contributor to the financial crisis of 2008. All three of its sponsors were Republicans.

Also venal hyper-supply.

IMG acts as a managing general agent for some insurance companies. That means it has the authority to underwrite, issue policies, and also pay claims under agreements with certain insurers. It may also act as an independent insurance broker with respect to other companies. IMG itself is not an insurance company, however. I've always questioned whether an insurance broker that acts as a managing general agent can effectively represent a policyholder's best interest vis-a-vis an insurance company with which they have an MGA agreement, especially if their MGA agreement contains profit sharing provisions. But that may not be an over-riding concern with consumer insurance that is subject to consumer protection regulations in a well-regulated jurisdiction. IMG's headquarters are in the state of Indiana in the US, but may also be licensed in other states or countries, so you would want to know with which IMG entity you were dealing. Any US-regulated IMG office should be ok as far as regulatory oversight is concerned, although some states may have better consumer protections than others.

I have Phone2 and now use it instead of Skype to make calls to the US and it seems to work well enough. My bank in the US does not use SMS for 2FA, so I can't say how reliable it may be for that purpose. Note that Phone2 only allows outgoing SMS service on business accounts which require uploading a copy of the business license to subscribe. I think a better solution is Tello, where you get an eSIM and access to the T-Mobile network in the US. Cheaper than an AIS international roaming package. I subscribed recently and used it in the US last month. I think that Tello now requires activation while in the US. Not sure if there is a work-around for that.

It was a hot time in Thailand in the 1990s: the Kader Doll Factory fire, the Petchburi Road inferno, and this fire.

They keep spelling "Auschwitz" wrong.

I would suggest obtaining verifiable third party information on WRLife's (the insurer, not the broker) audited financial statements to ensure that WRLife is a financially sound insurer with proper reserves for claims. This is a better indicator of ability to pay claims than anecdotal evidence from other policyholders or information obtained from the company itself.

They're just imitating ICE: https://abc7.com/post/immigration-agents-caught-video-urinating-high-school-pico-rivera-el-rancho-unified-district-says/16926163/

I just completed this quiz. My Score 20/100 My Time 53 seconds  

Exchange rates are mostly a function of comparative interest rates. Fed chairman Jerome Powell is keeping US rates high due to concerns about inflation. If Trump succeeds in evicting Powell from the Fed as he is attempting, presumably his successor will cut interest rates. This will cause the dollar to drop vis-a-vis the Thai baht barring similar rate cuts by Thailand. The full effect of Trump's weak dollar policy hasn't been felt yet.

A durable power of attorney can allow someone to handle your financial affairs while you are unable to do so. I assume a durable PoA is a thing in NZ. It may take some time to get the PoA recognized and the funds liberated from an NZ investment account, however.

Yes.

As a general rule, disclosure is usually safer than non-disclosure. I'd also advise reading the policy in full and discussing the issue with your insurance broker.

I haven't seen a general requirement to inform an insurer of changes in one's health status absent making a claim, but it is possible that some insurers do.

Here's renewal wording from a policy issued by a Thai insurer: "This policy can be renewed until the insured's age does not exceed 99 years old, no supportive evidence is required at this point." To my understanding, this means that the insured is not required to make any additional health declarations or disclosures at renewal. Some policies will have a clause that requires prompt notification of injury or illness that may give rise to a claim under the policy. So, yes, with respect to filing claims for new conditions, there is a requirement to report. This wording often appears in the claim notification clause.

This was inevitable after people started calling Elon "President Musk".

The duty to disclose known or suspected pre-existing conditions exists when applying for coverage for the first time. I don't think Thai insurers require their insureds to declare new conditions that arise during the currency of the policy or its replacements. If a pre-existing condition was unintentionally omitted when submitting the proposal form, then it may be best to disclose it and let the insurer decide whether it warrants an exclusion or, in the worst case, cancellation of the policy. While a new exclusion or cancellation might not be a great result, it's better to do this early instead of having to deal with this issue when submitting a large claim.

The Thai Civil and Commercial Code bars insurers from denying claims for unintentional non-disclosure of pre-existing conditions at original policy formation after an insured has been covered continuously for a period of five years. Some insurers may have clauses reducing this period and some may provide for declared pre-existing conditions to be covered after a waiting period.

Sounds like Waze for the undocumented.

Since my pink ID card number will never change, I had AIS swap out my passport number for my pink ID number several years ago. Not one peep from any of the three banks I use when the phone number matching regime took place earlier this year.