GammaGlobulin

I neglected to mention above that you can use the BROWSE function, within the ANKI App, to see a complete listing of all vocabulary within any flashcard deck. You must be using ANKI on a desktop or laptop computer to use the Browse function, I believe. ANKI is quite a mature and versatile piece of software with many more functions than most power users will ever use. The sky is the limit with ANKI. Enjoy.

Dear Friends, This is a POST for my very DEAREST Friends on ye old farang pub, my most Special Friends, and YOU know who you are. I am speaking to my SEPTUAGENARIAN cohort, of course, as well as to anyone here, in particular. I hereby throw down the gauntlet to all you SEPTUAGENARIANS reading these glorious words. (and what is the demographics of this group anyway?) I bring you a message of hope and a fun challenge designed to prevent the further dwindling of the scope and breadth of your existing English vocabulary, however meager it might be! Nay, Gentlemen, I propose a competition which can REJUVENATE not only your mind, but also your body and soul. Language is what makes us human. It’s an indisputable fact. The more words at your fingertips the more human you may see yourselves, though others may not. Of particularly note, there seems to be a septuagenarian golpher in this pub who often seems to imply that he knows more words than we. I do not know about WE, but I believe he knows more English words than me, if only by the hair of his chinny chin-chin. I am not saying that we should expand the breadth of our English vocabulary for the sole purpose of impressing others on this forum, for such would be a fool's errand. Let’s just say that such a challenge as I intend to present to you now is one that you might find fun, one that might keep you out of trouble, and one that is worthy of your time, unlike some other pursuits in Pattaya which may be considerably less worthy. In addition, I had once thought of taking up this challenge, myself, but then soon realized that I lacked the motivation to carry it through. But now, if I can find just a few others to climb this mountain with me, perhaps this is the incentive that has, hitherto, been lacking. Without further discussion, the following explains how you play this challenging game, and I hope you are able to enjoy it, “Long Time”: Now I realize that some of you may say to yourselves things like, “I will NEVER use all those words. Those words are not even the words I will use when talking to my friends about “a good lay”, meaning a good lie in the context of golfing.” But I warn you that, if you even THINK such thoughts, then you are missing the entire purpose and spirit of this game. Also, as I shared in my recent somewhat-related OP, let’s keep in mind that people aged 70 and 80 still retain sufficient linguistic ability to significantly improve their English vocabulary. In that great OP, I shared a graph demonstrating that vocabulary and linguistic ability only begins to taper off gradually, maybe a total of 10 percent by age 80, beginning at its peak at age 55 or 60. Therefore, please keep this in mind while playing The GAME. THE GAME….. This game is designed to maintain your knowledge of English vocabulary skills, your cognitive abilities, and your overall feeling of adequacy as you live your everyday lives. This game does not promise you a rose garden, just as Patsy Cline never promised, either. Setting up the GAME…. a. Please open your browser, if you have one, and search with google-search for the term ANKI. b. Click on “ANKI-powerful, intelligent flashcards”. c. Click on DOWNLOAD (Please note that ANKI is free for use only for the OSes Windows, Linux, and Android. If you are using the Apple OSes, then I pity you because ANKI for Apple OS is NOT free (Jobs was a control freak, and users must pay the price). Anki is free for Linux, Windows and Android. After clicking on the DOWNLOAD button, and using Anki for Windows as our present example, (and please choose the ANKI 2.1.65 Qt6 download, by the way, please just follow the easy instructions to setup this app on either your computer or your mobile device. IF you intend to use ANDROID, then please just refer to GOOGLE PLAY’s directory of Android apps, and set it up on your phone or Android tablet..Easy Peasy, even a child can do it. d. You will need to set up your personal ANKI account using a User ID, which is your email address, plus some password of your choosing. Simple. e. After you have set up your ANKI account, after having installed ANKI on your computer, your phone, or your tablet, then you are ready to go. And we will now proceed to the next step which is….THE GAME! e2. I suggest that you set up ANKI on ALL of your devices so that you can play this game “everywhere you go” using phone, laptop, desktop, and tablet. Some guys like to play this game with all those cute young things in Pattaya, even, on their mobile devices!!!! f. The next step: Please find this link by using your browser: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2430987595 What is this link? This is the ANKI Vocabulary Flashcard Deck: “GRE Master Word List - 5000+ Words” HOW TO: How do I add this flashcard deck to my ANKI app: Please open your ANKI app on your DESKTOP computer. THEN…Click on this link. The link should automatically be downloaded and installed to your ANKI app. If this does not work, then…download this link to your computer and open ANKI app. Next, go to FILE and click on FILE. You will see a menu. Click on the IMPORT button in this menu. And….You are SET and ready to play. Gee! I just hope I haven’t overlooked any important steps. If I have, then please let me know, or, just post a question to the ANKI SUPPORT forum. Everybody on the ANKI support forum is super helpful! Believe me. When first beginning to play this game, many of you will begin to crab and complain, saying, “This Game is just too EASY!”. But, please do not fret. ANKI will remember the words you know, and ANKI will soon begin to show you the words you DON’T know, and, very soon, you will stop your complaining. You know, Guys, for the past three years, during our lockdown, I have been trying to play this GAME with the washerwoman that maintains our GuestHouse, and she loves it. Fun as this has been for me, I would rather play this game with you. ANKI has a fantastic statistics function which allows two or more players to compare notes, concerning their respective progress. This is NOT a contest. I repeat, I do not envision this GAME as being a competition. Here in Asia, in this culture, we do not like to compete, so much as we prefer a more collective and inclusive experience with our aging friends. Again, this is not a possing contest (intentional typo)! You know, Guys, that some of you may have occasionally been given the impression that some of my comments and posts were a bit weird, even though you were just too polite to voice your concerns. This is why I decided to devote a few hours to document and share this GAME with you. You have been nice to me, and I want to reciprocate in my own way. By the way: This TOPIC, this POST, is DEFINITELY NOT a Joke! I will post below a screenshot of this game running on my computer. I uploaded this flashcard deck to my computer several years ago, but lacked the intestinal fortitude to persevere to the bitter end. During the lockdown, I lost my mojo, I think. But now ...I'M BACK, completely reinvigorated, and I want to see what happens if I play this game several times per week for the foreseeable future. About the ANKI algorithm for effective “spaced-repetition” practice, ANKI works BEST if you never miss a day. Med Students around the world swear by the effectiveness of the ANKI app. I have been using it for many purposes during the past decade, such as for teaching, etc. So anyway, I wish you luck and enjoyment playing this GAME, and may the best person WIN, meaning you. Hoping you stay cognitively fit, While keeping me updated of your progress in the comments below, Yours truly, Gamma NOTE: ENJOY! This is my gift to you that keeps on giving. Obviously, I did not type up this OP on my NOTE4. And so, hopefully my writing has improved a bit, resultantly. I am sure all of the above represents effort on my part which I know will prove to be time well spent. The flashcard deck linked above (The GRE Master Deck) has been created by some kind soul using BARRON'S GRE vocabulary list, as well as his own additions, so he says. And I dearly hope that this offering will not be too easy for your purposes. FINAL NOTE: This OP is a follow up to my previous OP, “Linguistically Speaking”, in which many of you commented concerning various strategies you use to stay Cognitively Fit. After reading your comments, I felt compelled to provide you with what I consider to be an even better option, even though I realize it is probably not for everyone. Still, kindly give it a try before you pass judgment. The person who maintains the ANKI app, IMHO, is a SUPERHERO, and a NICE Guy! Likewise, the guy who maintains the AUDIO Function for ANKI (AwesomeTTS) is a heck-of-an awesome dude, and I have corresponded with him on several occasions, years ago. Lastly: ALL constructive comments and criticism is most welcome in the comments section below! WOW!, Guys, I just glanced at the clock and I was shocked to see that I have put 2.5 hours of my time into this labor of love, explaining the rules of this GAME, for you, and for FREE. No thanks is necessary…Of Course! (I had considered waiting for a Sunday Morning to post this OP, but I just couldn’t wait…I was THAT excited to share this GAME with you!) At least, I DID wait for the start of the Raining Season here in Thailand when this GAME will be more entertaining. And, as you can plainly see, I held myself in check, and I used NO BIG WORDS in the composition of this OP. Hope one of you will congratulate me on this, too…. Additionally, I realize that there are some super-smart guys in this pub. So, I can accept that this GAME may not be sufficiently intellectually stimulating for you. I know it! As ZELDA would often say: “She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring.” FINIS…. Oh!…just one more thing: This OP has been brought to you by the Chinese tea harvesters slaving away in the mountains of Sichuan. Speaking of Tea, it pays to always choose the best one can afford.

It's pointless to fight entropy, or to tilt at windmills.

In my callow youth, I spent MUCH time on Martha's Vineyard and on Chappaquiddick. If you want to see more cedar shake siding and cedar shingles than you can shake a stick at, shuffle on up to Chappaquiddick. (Now, say the above sentence ten times, fast.) And then, feast your eyes on this cedar shake shot: But, of course, what you stated is true. And, American homeowners have paid a heavy price for not listening to your advice. So many forest fires, and so many more to come, as global warming marches on.

SINGLE! Temperamentally, I am the perfect example of the Rogue Male. RIP, Peter.

Your Dickensian anecdote truly cracks me up! Five chimneys is not a lot on the Main Line. Steel is good!

One of the houses I grew up in, built around 1935 by German immigrants (I think), had a heavy natural slate roof. Last time I checked the roof, using Google Maps, the roof looked as good as new. And the Main Line gets plenty of snow and ice during winters with blazing heat in summers. Coldest winter night I recall reached negative25F. Can't beat the Germans for providing quality workmanship, maybe.

Excellent analysis and critique.

Do you think they were comparable to the LUSTRON Home, as superficially discussed in this VOX video?:

Just a bit of input from my end. I use a very old NOTE4 Samsung phone to post, in most cases. I have never had any issues (similar) that I can recall. When not using the NOTE4, then I use a desktop computer. I have never had a similar experience to that of the OP. However, I can say that, recently, when I left-click on some headings on the forum pages, NOTHING HAPPENS.... And then, my workaround is to RIGHT-CLICK on the same heading so that I can get where I am going, by opening the desired new page in a new tab. This issue began only a very few days ago, maybe 3 or 4 days. I did not want to report it because I assumed that it was being worked on already. And I am sure that this issue will be resolved in the coming days. Hope this info might be useful.

Before carrying on with my listing of the critical requirements for the future TESLA House, and with your forbearance, I would like to share with you the main impetus for uploading this OP. First, I grew up in a barn of a four-storey house with a full basement and a fully finished, liveable attic. The house, constructed of stone, was built, I believe, around 1935 by German stonework artisans and plasterers living in Germantown, PA. Although the house was solid and comfortable, it was extremely expensive to heat, and we even had a large coal-storage area in the basement which was used before the coal furnace was removed and replaced with an oil guzzler. I have no idea whom the former owners hired to shovel coal, but I am sure they did not do it themselves. Maybe they had a man living with the maid-in-the-attic who did the shoveling. We also had a buzzer beneath the dining-room table so that you could press it with your toe to call for each successive course while dining. More wine, Jeeves! Such a house is just not practical anymore for the Masses. We need to totally revamp our ideas of what a house should be. Second, I am not sure how much time you have spent examining data which clearly shows usage of floorspace in the home, but I think if I post just one pertinent image, then you might find this information rather elucidating and even downright shocking. In fact, my having become familiar with such data decades ago is the single most important reason I will never again live in a large, or even a HUMONGOUS house, despite the fact that houses continue to grow larger, year upon year. In my opinion, house-size is sort of like druggies and crack, and I have heard that the obsession with ever-more floor space is relentless. So it is with house size, too, apparently. I think this graphic might have originally been posted in the WSJ: As you can see from the graphic above, much of the typical residential home is rarely used. Most likely, you, same as I, have found this to be true just from many years of living in a house. Specifically, I am speaking about RARELY using the dining room. And, thinking back, how often did I use the porch? We did have a beautiful screened porch with a view, as I recall, complete with a couch and tables, floor lamps and table lamps, and magazines placed carefully on the coffee table. So then, you just gotta ask yourself this question: If, in practice, and in reality, you almost NEVER USED most of your house, then…what is the point of it?!!! Third, I continue to question the viability of the ever-increasing size of residential housing that I observe in communities where I have lived in the past.Two exemplary images from Naples, Florida, then and now, tell the true story. This community was once, pre-1970, a quaint and sleepy haven for unpretentious snowbirds of limited means, a majority of whom hailed from Iowa. These days, checking on Google Maps, I see a completely different landscape. The before and after images are SHOCKING! The house pictured above, Naples FL, is the typical style and size which could be found all around Naples, pre-1970. Not too big, and Not too small, and sort of a goldilocks-just-right size for almost any sane family. The house pictured above, Naples FL, is typical in style and size to many homes in this area of Naples FL, between the years 1985 and 2015, and on the same connecting road as the house shown below, located less than 100 meters away. This house is not too small, and not too big. This house is located opposite from the house we had which no longer exists; our house was razed to build another cookie-cutter monster house. The house pictured above, Naples FL, is the typical style and size which can be found all around Naples, post 2022, and this house is sort of the runt of the litter. This example is now considered a hut or shed, compared to the newer and grander monstrosities being built. This house was not here when I lived just adjacent to the vacant piece of land which turned into this eyesore. One good storm surge during a hurricane, with a direct hit from the eye, and it’s curtains! SIGNIFICANTLY: This area is not on elevated ground, and sea-level rise will make these homes unsellable one day soon. Also, these homes are NOT easily transportable! Is this madness, or is this similar to a crack-type drug habit? Again: I am trying to keep my comments on this OP much shorter than usual….. As you can imagine, I have found it somewhat challenging to address key aspects of the OP in just one or two comments. And, it would have been impossible to cover the whole schmear at the very beginning without some explanatory background information. Therefore, I have chosen NOT to try to condense the whole schmear in one fell swoop, but rather to gradually add useful snippets of historical information in order to support the single main question of this post. As usual, any and all constructive comments are welcome at any time, as we continue to explore this topic concerning a well-designed and high-quality TESLA Home of the Future suitable for you and me. To be continued…

I could not concur more vehemently with your thinking. In fact, from the little I know, it seems my fellow-alumnus Leon is striving to manufacture long-lasting, lower-cost, lithium-less batteries with higher energy-density storage capability. This is just one additional logical reason why TESLA is well-placed and highly-qualified for mass production of manufactured, easily-transportable houses, IMHO.

A bit more clarification about the title of this Original Post: Initially, although I did my best to learn if Mr. Musk might be planning to manufacture houses, and there have been hints to this effect, I was unable to learn much more than the fact that Musk had chosen a prefab house to be used at one of his facilities located at his Starbase compound, and may even have lived in it. I could find no pricing for such a TESLA house, but I am still searching. Be this as it may, if TESLA will soon offer, or is planning to offer manufactured houses, there might be many advantages for prospective buyers. And, TESLA, due to battery expertise, manufacturing expertise, and even from a cultural perspective, might be ideally suited to the mass production of perfect homes for the Masses: Everybody here complains about the quality of work done by local electricians. A TESLA house would be designed and built so that the constant need for local electricians to visit your house, to gum up the works, would be a thing of the past. Manufacturing a house up to this standard would be easy. And…no more constantly tripping, overloaded circuit breakers. I am talking about being able to deliver 50 amps to every electrical outlet in your home. And, I am talking about having sufficient outlets in every room! No more of that “one outlet per room thinking”. The house must be made of steel. Steel is easily recyclable. And, the recycling process uses comparatively less energy. Therefore, one should be able to buy a TESLA home, and then either sell it, or recycle it. The house should be designed to retain its value, or even increase in value, over a reasonable length of time, maybe, say, 50 years. Most unfortunately, the reality of our present predicament is that we all are now living smack-dab in the middle of times of Global Warming, Flash Flooding, Sea-level rising, bad Airbnb neighbors, and constant uncertainty, which causes too much stress for all homeowners, and even property rentees. Therefore, it is crucial and imperative that we create quality housing which is easily transportable, and simply-installable at low cost, and in short order. I will soon continue with this comment so that I can continue listing key requirements for the TESLA home of the future which will meet the changing social and cultural needs of the younger generation as we forge our way towards the uncertain times which lie ahead. By the way, I guess you know that Leon is an alumnus of mine. And, once my ideas for the TESLA house have been fully crystalized, I will email Leon to explain why, for the future of Mankind, efficient housing is at least three times more important than any self-driving electric car. In my opinion, Musk, while an undergrad, became sidetracked and distracted by his dream of electric cars. Electric cars, certainly, are important. However, they are nowhere near as important as extremely efficient, ultimately comfortable, and easily transportable housing. You know, often when one is young, one becomes enamored with what seems exciting and glamorous, such as self-drive vehicles, and spaceships to Mars. Therefore, I can perfectly understand why Musk first focussed his efforts on super-fast electric cars and rockets to the stars, instead of the best ways to manufacture recyclable, easily transportable, and highly efficient homes which almost anyone can afford. As I stated just a moment ago: Yes! I do intend to reach out to Elon, just as soon as my thinking and planning is fully crystallized in my mind. OK, enough said, for the moment. I am always leery of making any overly long comment. It is always better to separate a long comment into many shorter comments, and then gradually upload. This makes for a surprisingly more enjoyable reading experience, I think. Please NOTE: There may already be a good product on the market which meets all important criteria for a transportable and comfortable highly-efficient home. And I will continue to search. A caravan, however…. I would NEVER consider it! Also, I am of the generation who grew up reading guys like BUCKMINSTER FULLER. So, I was exposed to the important concept of EPHEMERALIZATION at such a tender age. In my view, efficient and comfortable HOUSING is very high on the list of problems that we must solve, as quickly as possible, if we are to save humanity from itself. To be continued….

Hey, Man! Thank you for another great comment, and I do appreciate them. Still, I would NEVER live in a shipping container. Even a 48-foot shipping container would be too claustrophobic, in my view. So, I ask you: Have you ever investigated the potential of Enameled STEEL houses? Because, basically, this is what I was thinking of when I began this OP. Steel Houses have many advantages, and there is at least one steel house, originally manufactured in the late 1940s, still being occupied today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lustron_house If I were the manufacturer of steel houses for use in Thailand, I would design one that was easily transportable using a single giant construction crane. I would have a large HOOK concealed in the peak of the roof. Then, any time my neighbors got noisy, I would just call a company offering a big crane and a large flatbed truck. I could have my house picked up and then delivered to any new site, a process which would be almost as simple as moving a medium-size refrigerator. I first began dreaming of this concept soon after I finished my first Buckminster Fuller book. (I would NEVER, however, wish to live in a geodesic dome due to its spherical shape, and the way noise easily propagates from one side of the hemisphere to the other side. If one is taking a leak in a bathroom on one side of the dome, the sound would be easily detectable in a kitchen located on the opposite side of the hemisphere. So, living in geodesic domes is, for me at least, impractical. Plenty of volume inside a sphere, but, still, a sphere is impractical for long-term living.) ALSO: As you know, steel roofs are among the best for insulation from heat generated by solar radiation, if one uses the proper insulation below them. A copper roof is even nicer. But copper is more expensive. Obviously, for stability during relocation, my house would incorporate THREE hooks, and not just one large hook. And, people transport yachts along our highways, and on container ships, all the time. There is nothing odd about this concept.

The downside to buying in Thailand is the lack of control of the environment around the home you purchase. Are there zoning regulations, for example. Does a cottage industry suddenly move in next door? A new neighbor decides to buy 10 more barking dogs. I would never buy property in Thailand. A house that could be easily moved seems the best option. Leasing land cannot be very expensive in Thailand.

I think this is a statement of the obvious.

I completely agree with your reasoning and preference. A highly resilient, high efficiency, well-designed house, maybe offered in a range of sizes from 50sqr meters, and up, is what is needed. For one, I would NEVER live in something that felt like a trailer home, living among trailer trash. However, a high quality prefab house made of resilient materials, and mass produced, able to be planted almost anywhere, and purchased at significantly lower cost than any other alternative...I would like to see this. Is such a product impossible?

I agree with the first sentence of your reply. However, I may have been misled by the advertising and might have erroneously come to the conclusion that the Boxabl house, in which Musk reportedly admitted living, might have somehow been connected to him. And yet, when one googles Tesla Home, there is a lot of tesla homes that seem to pop up.

Are they legal? Why do you ask? If you are worried about what might not be legal, then you can always restrict your torrent downloads to movies produced by Harvey Weinstein.

I recall that the cable company, maybe in 1975, connected HBO to our summer house in Cape May, NJ. I found it exceedingly boring at the time. Always the same old flicks on offer, and then there was Cinemax which offered the same. I have always preferred torrenting what I want. UTUBE is almost as much of a distraction as TikTok. Most movies produced after Y2K are not watchable, with the exception of things like Pulp Fiction, "unless one enjoys video games", to paraphrase what Jack Nicholson once said when asked why he stopped making new movies. As the OP stated, old movies are more interesting on multiple levels, and can usually be found on UTUBE. My only worry, very occasionally, is that the US film companies in Hollywood might go bankrupt without support from movie buffs like me.

From this further information you thankfully posted, I see that some of these Musk-type TESLA houses have proven to be "leaky and moldy", which are two qualities that would not be appreciated here in Thailand. There is already enough black mold in the few dwellings I have seen where I am. It seems that somebody might be capitalizing on the TESLA name to sell Tesla houses, even though there is apparently no connection. Even the typeface of some of the brand seems identical. As I also stated in the OP, Musk is such an enigma, and an unsolved riddle, a persona that seems to tickle his funny bone. Very high-quality prefab houses which are ultra-efficient and nonpolluting, and ultra-resilient, is, one would think, a type of product sorely needed by millions if not billions, around the world. Maybe Musk should stop making automobiles and work on the housing problem, instead. Just in case it might be of interest, here is a link to a New York Post article on the subject. If you cannot trust the New York Post, then whom can you trust? https://nypost.com/2021/07/05/elon-musk-is-living-in-a-prefab-tiny-house-worth-only-50k/ I just hope that somebody here might be able to reach out to Elon for comment and clarification concerning any TESLA involvement in this or any other house manufacturing scheme. Musk is such a mystery.

Yes. I agree with you...not much in the video...sorry. And, concerning accurate information about Tesla houses, this seems, also, difficult to come by. The BUSINESS INSIDER article I linked originally, however, does seem to provide a bit of information on the subject.

I noticed a error when I stated UTUBE resolution goes up to 4k. Actually, 8k is correct, as you can see from this video: I found that streaming this video shows download speeds up to about 150Mbps, although my download/upload internet connection promises 1Gbps down and 1Gbps up, which is pretty much standard. My computer displays are good, but not 8K, for sure. Most old movies on UTUBE are offered at between 480p and 1080p, it seems.

That's all part of the fun of owning a Musk House, IMHO. I actually very much enjoy Musk's humor, kitchen sink and all. Anyway, he's a fellow alumnus of mine, and maybe this explains his taste in humor. I like his thinking about manufactured housing, but it must be totally off-grid-capable before I will show much excitement about the concept.

To be honest, as old as I am, I have never in my life paid to download a movie. The last movie I paid to view was at a movie theatre at the King of Prussia Mall, Raiders of the Lost Ark, back in 1981. One very good source of free, and sometimes HD format movies, up to 2160p (4k), is UTUBE. These days, there is a veritable plethora of dynamite old movies, many from the 1940s and 1950s, freely available on UTUBE. The number of old movies being uploaded/available on UTUBE continues to increase. If you enjoy Film Noir, they're all there and in high video quality. Therefore, when in search of old movies, UTUBE is a good place to begin. And of course, you might think that you need to pay for a UTUBE subscription in order to avoid ads. But, I do not pay. And, I do not see any ads. If what you are looking for has not yet been uploaded to UTUBE, then maybe your next stop should be the site created by those famous buccaneers. At this site, whatever you have been unable to find on UTUBE you will find here, in 99 percent of cases. IF, in the rare case, you cannot find what you are looking for having tried option one and option two, then consult the ruskies; they sometimes offer some rare films that nobody else has, period, even films that you cannot buy, films that some had believed to have been lost or destroyed. You don't really even need an overly fast connection but still be able to download most films within minutes. Most of films from the Buccaneer Library are offered in several choices of video resolution to suit varied preferences, The Raiders movie, for example is provided in a 1080p, 8.83GiB size file, and smaller files, too. I don't know much about connecting to NetFlix, but all NetFlix films seem to be offered up by the buccaneers. Spotify, I have never used, just because I find the name Spotify gives me the creeps. But still, using just three easy options, I feel no need for Spotify, and I don't understand all the buzz about it. So my suggestion might be, before you stream movies, if you think that doing so might be problematic for you, try the three alternative options I have mentioned, because they just might work for you. Hope this was somewhat helpful.