wpcoe

The niece wasn't biological? Was she a blow-up doll or a robot? (Yeah, yeah, I know what they meant...)

Yowza. Running at less than 50% capacity? That can't be good.

65 years old is elderly? ????

From the article linked in the OP:

How wide were the sidewalks on Thepprasit? To remove 50cm would be significant, no?

On https://www.ais.th/one-2-call/sim-netmarathon/en/, they offer: 3 months for B535 (B178/mo) - 5G 100GB/month unlimited data. Is it 100GB/month or is it unlimited data? Do they mean 100Gbps? It says 100GB/month...

Agree that is looks like a shunt release, like this one: https://chint-circuit-breaker.com/product-sht-x3-shunt-release.html

"..a Scoot flight from Singapore to Bangkok..." "...Airbus A321 departed Bangkok at 3.56pm and was due to arrive in Singapore at 7.15pm..." Great accuracy in reporting. Causes me to wonder about the rest of the information in the article.

Where in Jomtien is "Big Market Jomtien"?

(1999, Tokyo) The recent craze for hydrogen beer is at the heart of a three-way lawsuit between unemployed stockbroker Toshira Otoma, the Tike-Take karaoke bar, and the Asaka Beer Corporation. Mr. Otoma is suing the bar and the brewery for selling toxic substances, and is claiming damages for grievous bodily harm leading to the loss of his job. The bar is counter-suing for defamation and loss of customers. The Asaka Beer corporation brews "Suiso" brand beer, in which the carbon dioxide normally used to add fizz has been replaced by the more environmentally friendly hydrogen gas. Two side effects of the hydrogen gas have made the beer extremely popular at karaoke sing-along bars and discotheques. First, because hydrogen molecules are lighter than air, sound waves are transmitted more rapidly, so individuals whose lungs are filled with the nontoxic gas can speak with an uncharacteristically high voice. Exploiting this quirk of physics, chic urbanites can now sing soprano parts on karaoke sing-along machines after consuming a big gulp of Suiso beer. Second, the flammable nature of hydrogen has also become a selling point, though it should be noted that Asaka has not acknowledged that this was a deliberate marketing ploy. The beer has inspired a new fashion of blowing flames from one's mouth using a cigarette as an ignition source. Many new karaoke videos feature singers shooting blue flames in slow motion, while flame contests take place in pubs everywhere. "Mr. Otoma has no one to blame but himself. If he had not become drunk and disorderly, none of this would have happened. Our security guards undergo the most careful screening and training before they are allowed to deal with customers," said Mr. Takashi Nomura, Manager of the Tike-Take bar. "Mr. Otoma drank fifteen bottles of hydrogen beer in order to maximize the size of the flames he could belch during the contest. He catapulted balls of fire across the room that Godzilla would be proud of, but this was not enough to win him first prize since the judgment is made on the quality of the flames and the singing, and after fifteen bottles of lager he was badly out of tune." "He took exception to the result and hurled blue fireballs at the judge, singeing the front of a female judge's hair and entirely removing her eyebrows and lashes, and ruining the clothes of two nearby customers. None of these people have returned to my bar. When our security staff approached Mr. Otoma, he turned his attentions to them, making it almost impossible to approach him. Our head bouncer had no choice but to hurl himself at Mr. Otoma's knees, knocking his legs from under him." "The laws of physics are not to be disobeyed, and the force that propelled Mr. Otoma's legs backwards also pivoted around his center of gravity and moved his upper body forward with equal velocity. It was his own fault that he had his mouth open for the next belch, his own fault that he held a lighted cigarette in front of it, and his own fault that he swallowed that cigarette." "The Tike-Take bar takes no responsibility for the subsequent internal combustion, rupture of his stomach lining, nor the third degree burns to his esophagus, larynx and sinuses as the exploding gases forced their way out of his body. Mr. Otoma's consequential muteness and loss of employment are his own fault." Mr. Otoma was unavailable for comment DarwinAwards.com 1994 - 2001

Colonel Klink?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scorched-earth: directed toward victory or supremacy at all costs : RUTHLESS https://grammarist.com/idiom/scorched-earth-policy/ Today, the idiom scorched earth policy refers to any ruthless strategy that includes destruction in order to achieve a goal. https://www.idiomsandslang.com/scorched-earth-tactics-policy-etc/ ruthless, extremely destructive Get the idea?

Actually, I have an easier/cheaper way to book a "fake" trip before the 30th/45th day after entry: I have a pile of unused mileage points with UA which have no cancellation penalty. I'll book my SIN side-trip and once I get to Thailand if I just don't feel like taking that side trip, I will go to Immigrations for an extension of stay and then cancel the SIN flights with no penalty. If I'm feeling game enough, I will actually do the SIN side-trip and avoid interacting with Immigrations for an extension.

Same experience as @Mike Teavee: Folks who have traveled from the USA recently have still been asked to produce a ticket out of Thailand by the 45th day. I'm not confident that escalating to an airline supervisor would be successful. If the airline carries you into Thailand and for some reason you're caught exceeding 45 days (or you simply get a grouchy IO at the airport?) I understood that the airline would be fined. How would a waiver between you and the airline avoid that fine? i.e. Why would an airline supervisor put their company at risk?

If I can get past the hurdle at the airport when the airline carrying me to Thailand insists on seeing a flight out of Thailand within 30 days, that would be fine. I did the Singapore side-trip once before and it actually was quite pleasant, but yeah, any travel these days can be more drudgery than it should.

Yeah, sure. I'll do just that. What could possibly go wrong?

I'm hoping they do. I'm arriving on 25-April for 45 days and would prefer not to have to make a side-trip out of the country (probably a day or two in Singapore.)

Or, Wite Out? Easier to slip into your purse.

Here I was thinking the old "Find 'em, **** 'em, Forget 'em" and wondered what the other two were. Turns out they meant: "food, film, fashion, fighting, and festival". Imagine that.

I'm a 67-year old American, and after 19 years in Thailand I left for Mexico in 2020. I rationalized it by being ticked off at having to put THB800,000 in a Thai bank for the retirement extensions. I preferred to keep that money invested in the USA in higher-yielding equities. However, I think the reason was at least as much that I was restless and wanted a change. Now, I'm pretty much prevented from returning to Thailand full-time even though I still have a condo in Jomtien. I canceled my long-standing Thai Aetna/BUPA health insurance policy and soon thereafter was diagnosed with cancer. If I were to return to Thailand now, everything documented in 19 years of Thai medical records + cancer would be excluded. If I get tired of Mexico, I'll probably return to the USA for health care under Medicare.

Are 20-year-old “Lakkhana” and 19-year-old “Netnapa” men? Maybe I'm not woke enough, but those two folks with blurred faces like like women – who are they and what's their connection to the story?

I like how the lead white car in oncoming traffic decides to make a U-turn. "Uh uh. Nope. I'm outta here!" ????

I like plain "chaa dahm" better. It's the famous "Thai iced tea" without the dairy and sweeteners.

Most of the 110/120v heaters here are 3.5kW, but yeah, 4.5kW would need hefty cabling. Electrical supply is as stable as in Thailand. We have 14°C mornings as often as Pattaya, i.e. not often. (I don't think we went that low this winter. Yet, anyway.) From the comments here, I think what I probably have in my Jomtien condo is a 3.5kW heater. When I was in smaller homes and in a low-rise smaller condo building with rooftop tanks, in the summer the "cold" water was warm enough for a shower without turning the hot water knob. In a high-rise condo, the cold water's not quite that hot, and in the winter whatever heater I have (3.5kW?) is enough for hot, but not scalding, shower. I think there's a big difference between underground tanks and rooftop ones exposed to the sun, and the latter is what I have in Mexico. After reading these comments, I think I'll go with a 3.5kW or 4.5kW 220/240v heater. Thanks!

I'm renovating a home in Mexico (I will be splitting my time 50/50 between Thailand/Mexico once it's finished) and want to install an on-demand "multi-point" electric water heater. In Thailand these are fairly common and I've had them in my past four Thailand homes. However, I've been stuck in Mexico for three years and have trouble remembering what type of heater I even have in my Jomtien condo. Tankless on-demand electric heaters are relatively new here. Most people use a gas heater, usually with a big tank. None of the "changs" that I'm working with have ever seen one, and even the experienced contractor I'm using has never used nor installed one, so local knowledge is pretty slim. Seems like the entry-level heaters are 110v and 3.5kW, with a few 110v 4.5kW units. There are a fair amount of 220v models starting at 5.5kW. The climate where I am is almost identical to that of the Pattaya area. Rooftop water tanks are ubiquitous here, too. There are tons of scathing reviews for almost all of these heaters on Amazon, even for a 220v 7kW unit, saying they barely warm the water. I have my suspicions that these reviews are from folks who live in colder climates, but not sure. Is a 220v 5.5kW heater adequate for a one-bedroom home (think condo) for sinks & shower? What do you think about a 110v 3.5kW heater?