Etaoin Shrdlu

They needed to wait until the jails were cleared of those incarcerated for simple possession of ganja before they could start stuffing them full with DUI offenders.

In my opinion, the supplement/vitamin industry exhibits many of the same traits as the patent medicine industry of the past. The main differences are that supplements and vitamins are not allowed to contain harmful substances and they can't be claimed to cure or even treat diseases. Like patent medicines, in most instances there is little clinical proof that they provide benefits to people with the exception of those with nutritional deficiencies. With respect to the efficacy of vitamin D in preventing or treating Covid-19, I think the jury is still out: https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1822. There is a bit more positive finding for zinc picolinate: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8711630/. But as I said in my original post, there are medical conditions which may warrant the use of vitamins or supplements, especially in the case of deficiencies. These may be such cases. I did not say that vitamins and supplements are scams, although some of them probably are. But like patent medicines, they are often sold using vague language about "supporting" body functions and health for which there is often little or no evidence of benefit. And in defense of patent medicines, at least some of them did what they promised, such as relieving pain in the case of those containing opium, albeit with other, negative effects. But for those who receive or perceive benefits from taking supplements, more power to them.

Back in the 19th and early 20th century a number of patent medicines were sold that claimed to cure all types of ailments and complaints. Many of them contained opium, alcohol, cocaine and other now-controlled or illegal drugs. This industry hasn't gone away. Today these nostrums elixirs are called "dietary supplements" and are no longer allowed to contain controlled or illegal substances. Although they can no longer claim to cure anything they now say that they "support" various functions, however there is seldom any clinical proof that they have any beneficial effect. This isn't to say that vitamins and other supplements don't have their place in treating diagnosed deficiencies or other medical conditions, but most of this industry isn't far removed from its 19th century patent medicine roots.

I second all the reservation that other posters have mentioned. Also, since you are both US citizens, consider the complexities of compliance with US tax obligations if you use a condo in Thailand as a rental property. Exchange rate fluctuation and the mandatory depreciation that you would have to account for can turn a loss at sale in Thai baht terms into a profit in US dollar terms, handing you a large US tax bill even if you don't repatriate the proceeds.

I have entered Thailand with a new passport obtained abroad and shown the cancelled passport with the still-valid non-quota immigrant visa without problem. Perhaps this would also work for exiting the country, but I don't know.

Yes. Immigration will record your new passport details when you apply for a new re-entry visa and endorsement. No need for a special trip.

The only passport number recorded in my red police book is the one that was valid when I first got the book back in the 1990s. I have never made special trips to the police to provide new passport information and have not had any problems at my normal 5 year visits.

If you have permanent residency, there is no renewal procedure with respect to the Immigration Department. PR has lifetime validity unless revoked. I am not aware of any requirement for a PR holder to advise the Immigration Department of a new passport. I've always just waited until I needed a new non-quota immigrant visa (re-entry visa) and endorsement in my TM17 and submitted both my old and new passports when applying. Never had an issue. Or are you referring to the renewal of an extension of stay granted under a non-immigrant visa?

Why a duck?

Mahatma Kane Jeeves. Otis Cribblecoblis. Charles Bogle

I think he'd rather be in Philadelphia.

My wife successfully applied for a B2 visa for the US four years ago for the purpose of accompanying our daughter to start at her university. During the interview, the consular official did not ask any questions about my wife's finances, property or anything else about her and did not wish to see any of her documents. The questions she was asked were all about my situation in Thailand such as how long I had lived here, for whom I worked and the like. She was asked to present my passport, but did not have it with her. It seems to me that the main consideration will be how strong the US citizen spouse's ties are to Thailand.

This is interesting: https://www.wrlife.net/compant_licences.php And then this from the Nevis insurance regulator's website: https://www.nevisfsrc.com/regulated-entities/#general-insurance-companies Scroll down the regulator's website to the section "Licensed International Insurance Entities" and select "General Insurance Companies". There is mention of Lorentz Capital Ltd. and also Norfolk Insurance Co. I think that the designation "Licensed International Insurance Entities" may designate insurance companies incorporated elsewhere but licensed by the regulator in Nevis to transact insurance business. Not sure about this, however. There is a Lorentz Capital UK Limited, but I don't know if it is the same entity as that shown on the Nevis regulator's website: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13131191/filing-history A couple of financial statements are available to review. I haven't been able to find information on Norfolk Insurance so far.

The Visa credit card that I have, which is issued by a major Thai bank, has a stated credit limit that is not connected in any way with the amount of funds I have available in my account.

Paid 2,750 for uncomplicated extraction of upper wisdom tooth for daughter at Sukhumvit Hospital a few months ago.

Low-dose aspirin (usually 81 mg) is available OTC. Regular-dose (325 mg or greater) is not, at least as far as I can determine. I am not sure whether the Thai government restricts aspirin to lower doses due to concerns over bleeding or Reyes Syndrome or something else.

I received my 7162 in early July. No sign of my daughter's 7161 so far.

Monitor lizards use the drains in our mooban as an underground highway and I see them from time to time through the gratings while out walking the pooch. Once in a while a snake, too, but that's less frequent. Haven't seen fish on the streets yet, but don't doubt your experience.

Perhaps the most iconic construction ruin left over from the 1997 financial crisis is the Sathorn Unique Tower.

I have already tried to format the disks from the command line prompt and it also does not work. Disk utility in Monterey really seems to have done a number on both the WD disk and Seagate disk I tried to format. Neither has responded to disk utility, command line instructions or Disk Warrior. There is something deeply wrong with Monterey and both the Seagate and WD drivers or controllers.

Thanks. I've used terminal before, but I'm not much of a sorcerer, so I'll leave that to one of the computer repair wizards. There are a number of shops in the basement of Seacon Square here in Bangkok, so I'll try there first.

Tried using my son's Windows machine. The disks are unreadable. Don't even show up as disks. They worked fine out of the box until Time Machine tried to format the first one and then disk utility tried to format the second. After that, both disks unreadable.

I successfully formatted a Seagate 2TB external HDD on a 2012 15 inch MBP running Catalina. Absolutely no issues. It formatted completely normally.

Was your Mac running Monterey? I have had an issue formatting brand-new external HDDs for use with my Mac since upgrading to Monterey. I connected the HDDs to the Mac and started to format them for use with Time Machine. After a few minutes, the formatting stopped and an error message appeared. The disk was then unreadable by any machine, Mac or Windows. I tried using Disk Utility to format them, but this did not work. Also used Disk Warrior, a third party program, and it failed as well. I thought I had gotten a bad disk, so bought another of a different brand, and the same thing happened. I found some discussion of similar issues online which attributed this to Monterey. I bought a third disk and managed to format it using an old Mac running Catalina. Once formatted, the disk works fine on my Mac running Monterey. But I still have two unusable HDDs from my attempts to format them using my Mac running Monterey. Spent over an hour with Apple Support from Australia, but they were no help. They even connected remotely to my Mac and I walked them through the issue of trying to format one of the brand-new HDDs that was ruined by Monterey. I'm at a loss on this now. Any useful suggestions welcomed.

That's a good point and you're correct about saving electricity.