jaywalker2

In a previous thread, someone pointed out that death insurance is available that covers cremation. I believe the cost was 20,000 baht

The good doctor does say that vaccines may not be necessary as most people have built up immunity through infection or previous vaccination and they are much more expensive than the influenza vaccine (which he recommends). Instead, they can put the masks back on the protect themselves.

They've been recommended by the illustrious Dr. Yoon as a defense against the current covid outbreak.

Paranoia is fueled by fear and anxiety. And certainly your belief that governments, health organisations and pharmaceutical companies are engaged in in a massive global conspiracy to deny the truth about the vaccines is a striking example of paranoia

Very interesting to watch the intricate machinations of the election of a new pope but the ending was like a joke.

Well, you continue to be stuck in a perpetual state of fear, anxiety, obsessive compulsion, and rage regarding the vaccines, so I'm not sure you're one to criticize.

Showering too much, even daily is bad for you. Strips the body of essential oils and dries out the skin, which is especially bad for the elderly as skin thins as you age

The twins.

Odd, I thought it was great. Best season yet. I'll be sorry to see Harry go.

Jeez, get a life

I used Notarize (https://www.notarize.com/). You do need to use a US address to open the account. But you can then have your documents notarized from Thailand with no problem. They're available 24 hours a day. The cost was $25

You can always use this for permanent activation: https://massgrave.dev/

It's still alive but it seems to have been taken over by the Indians.

Japanese writing is difficult because of the three writing systems: kanji, hiragana and katakana. The spoken language is much easier to learn than Thai. No tones and grammar much less complex than English

G20. This got a lot of bad reviews and it's true that it's just a remake of Die Hard at a G20 meeting and with Viola Davis playing the Bruce Willis part. This ended up being another in the continuing series of middle-aged women playing action heros if you consider 60 middle-aged. Still, for all of that, she is a great actor, the movies was well made, and even if the action scenes with 60-year-old Davis overcoming special forces mercenaries in hand-to-hand combat strained believability, I thought it was all in all a good action flick and she's a great actor so she was fun to watch.

I have to admit I was disappointed in the ending. I was hoping they'd be able to pull all the separate strands together but the ending felt rushed and too contrived. Plus, I felt Rick needed more of a back story in order to make sense of what he was doing. He complained that his life had been ruined but he was staying at the White Lotus so he couldn't have been doing that bad. The Russians just dropped out of the picture and Gaitock, the world's worst guard, suddenly acts completely out of character? Oh, well.

If I were you, I wouldn't try gaming the GV setup. I used one of those temporary SMS services to try to set up GV and ended up getting banned from google voice for life. To circumvent that problem I had to set up a new Gmail account and then have my sister transfer her GV number to that account. That was the only thing that worked for me.

Fidelity in its debit card Faq clearly states that although foreign transaction fees have been eliminated recently (they were 1 percent until this year), you might not get the best exchange rate

I don't know why this topic is difficult to understand. Even if your credit card doesn't carry an annual fee, it will usually include a foreign transaction fee if you're converting from a foreign currency. That is, you are charged a percentage of the purchase price when you make a foreign transaction. There might also be a foreign exchange fee. You won't get the interbank rate at the time of purchase. It will be something higher, often 1 percent, Then there are ATM fees, cash advance fees, late payment fees, etc. Merchants are also charged a fee, usually 2.5 percet, Not all companies charge all of these fees. The OP wasn't talking about an annual fee but a foreign transaction fee. That fee is built into the purchase price. Again, not all cards have foreign transaction fees but they are common. It's also common to charge 1 percent above the prevailing exchange rate. You may be waived these fees if you are a priority customer. It's similar to the fees charged when withdrawing cash with a foreign debit card. Then you pay the bank fee, which I believe is currently 220 baht, and the foreign bank or CC company might charge a foreign transaction fee. The Thai banks try to induce you to also use a "dynamic conversion," which would result in another fee of 5 percent. Only with cash are there truly no fees, which is why banks now want to start charging for the use of cash.

At least you're showing your true colors. But I'm surprised, Thailand had lockdowns, vaccine mandates, prolonged school closings, etc. but nobody ever talks about Covid here anymore. Well, except for Red Phoenix.

I agree that having intimate knowledge of Thailand creates another dimension to the viewing experience. I don't know how much time Mike White in Thailand but I think he's done a very good job of displaying the contradictions in this culture. I thought expisode 7 was particularly good, the way he juxtaposed the Buddhist imagery with the images of violence and desire. We have the violence of Muay Thai. Saxon is incapable of understanding what Chelsea is tryiing to tell him as all he can think about is sleeping with her. Even as the Buddhist monk is warning his acolytes that violence always turns back on itself, we see Rick determined to pursue his obsession with revenge. And it's not just the foreigners. We have Gaitok, the security guard, plaintively confessing his reluctance to hurt people only to have Mook (Lalisa) respond that violence is natural and he has to be strong if he wants to succeed. It's these subtlties and conflicts that have taken the White Lotus in a direction it hasn't gone before. I guess some people don't like that, especially because most of the comedy is lacking, but I find it thought-provoking. The big question is whether they'll be able to bring all these loose threads together in the finale.

I don't know why all the hate for White Lotus. Everybody says it's boring -- what is boring exactly? You've got the sleazy Russians,the corrupt investment manager and his tone deaf wife and incestuous sons. You've got Walton Goggins finally able to confront the man who killed his father -- and turns away from violence even as the monk at the meditation center is warning that violence turns back on itself. You've got the gentle and kind Gaitok, whom Lisa, who's probably in league with the Russians, is trying to turn into a killer. You've got Gary, who is planning nothing good I'm sure, and his slut girlfriend and finally you've got Belinda who wants to make the moral decision to have nothing to do with a murderer like Gary while everybody around her is telling her to shut up and take the money. Because that's all we care about in today's society -- money. What's boring about any of that. The show isn't perfect by any means but it's much much better than junk like Black Doves, 1923 (is this show going to be the death of Taylor Sheriden?), the new version of Presumed Innocence, which was laughable, or Jack Reacher and it's lazy writing and lame acting. At least it has depth, a valid social critique, and a complex plot.

Novocaine - great movie. Jack Quaid plays a guy incapable of feeling pain, which comes in handy when he sets out to rescue the woman he thinks he loves after she's been taken hostage in a bank heist. Action! Comedy! Romance! Amber Midthunder is gorgeous.

Season 3, you mean? I agree Alan Richter can't act but they managed to mangle all the other elements of the show as well. The series has been a big disappointment.