WDSmart

I've had one for seven years now. Mine was easy to get. All I needed at the time (I think) was my passport and my Yellow Book (showing my residency).

I just pay my local Immigration Department 1,000 baht to send me my 90-day Certificate by mail for the next 12 months. I do that when I get my one-year extension. They've always done that, and I usually get it about a week before the deadline. I know you can do this online now, but I do it this way to ingratiate myself with my local office. I want them to "like" me so they will hopefully give me a "benefit of a doubt" if I screw up and need something fixed.

Hamas: Oct 7 was 'necessary, normal response' to 'Israeli conspiracies'. I don't think the Oct 7th Hamas massacres were either a "necessary" or "normal" response to Israeli conspiracies, but I do think there are extreme, right-wing Israeli (Zionist) conspiracies to complete the Jewish takeover of the land that was once called Palestine.

My opinion of the purposeful eradication of dogs in any particular place is it shouldn't be allowed, and any attempts at that should be punished severely. We (humans) are already eradicating many species of life on this planet through our hubristic activities. We certainly shouldn't be allowed to start doing that purposefully.

A declining birth rate is a good thing. I wish it were a world-wide statistic. Humans have greatly overpopulated the Earth, and that's part of why we are destroying the Earth's environment.

First of all, I was not "screaming" racism. I was merely agreeing with the article that the song lyrics, the ones highlighted, did have a racist quality in that they were focused on the Thais. Everything alluded to, prostitution, etc., exists in all societies and all races. As I said in my first comment, I did not view the song and didn't intend to, so I accept your judgment that it was presented as "light-hearted." Many racist comments are delivered that way. They are meant to be funny by those making them but are often not seen that way by the group targeted. And second of all, and most importantly, I don't think spouting derogatory comments is helpful, necessary, or justified when expressing your disagreement with someone.

Perhaps, but mine was not a derogatory remark like yours.

There's enough information in the article, including quotes from some lyrics, to justify my statement.

Yes, the song (I assume, I have not listened to it) is probably racist, sexist, and insulting towards a particular group of men and women. Many songs, both contemporary and old, are - especially songs in this type of genre.

I see a lot of negative comments about this ritual, but has anyone thought to do a follow-up on the followers of this man to see if they did indeed receive charm and good luck?

I devoted the entire last chapter of my book, Jihadi: Path to Heaven, to giving my description of heaven. It consists of six blank pages. In other words (or the absence of words), there's nothing there.

I use Bank of America in the USA and both Ayudyha (Krungsri) and Bangkok Bank here in Thailand. I've never had any problem transferring money from BofA to either bank. I usually get the money the next day. There is a $40 minimum fee, so I also use Wise for smaller dollar amounts because it's less expensive, but Wise takes a couple of days.

You’ve never been forced to go to the Pizza Company… I eat at the Pizza Company in my local Lotus's shopping center about twice a month. I always have a Caesar salad and usually some kind of spaghetti dish, but sometimes I have a pizza. I usually order a "meat deluxe, double cheese, and no pineapple." It's not the best I've ever had, but it's okay.

The center part looks DELICIOUS!!!!

I've NEVER had a BAD pizza...

I've ordered hundreds of items from Lazada over the past several years. I probably order at least one or two every week. I've NEVER had any problems with any of these, and when I have returned a few items, they were readily accepted and refunded promptly.

I don't doubt that. Microplastics are interfering with everything else in the biosphere.

I guess give credit to Russia under Putin who has lost over 300,000 Russian men to the Ukraine war and counting more every day for reducing humanity. Or to the US under President Trump who saw over 1 million Americans die from Covid pandemic as he dismissed its danger. Yes, although tragic, these deaths do help reduce the overall population, but not as much as you would think since most of the men probably already sired children. I would, however, propose a more humane method, like a one-woman one-child policy. That would reduce our population by about 90% in about 350 years. But, unfortunately, I don't think we even have enough time for that. We're already "over the cliff" as far as destroying the Earth's biosphere is concerned. There's no fixing it now. But reducing our population would help push out the timeline.

I don't know about the sperm count, but I agree that "there are already far too many people in this world." I don't know what you mean about "one specific group," but I'd probably not agree with that.

I live in northeast Thailand, far from Bangkok. When I speak Thai up here, I get no sense that anyone is offended. I often have to repeat words, mainly because although they sound okay to me, I'm using the wrong tone (high, low, rising, falling). Other than that, I get along fine up here. When I go to Bangkok, however, I get a lot of the opposite. When I'm in a store and try to talk to a Thai salesperson in Thai, they often seem offended, or at least bored, and start talking to me in English. Once, a particularly offensive Thai just flat-out replied to me in English, "You don't speak Thai good. I can't understand you. Can you speak English?" To which I replied (in my broken Thai), "Kuhn mai phut Anglit dee. Pom mai khao jai. Kuhn phut Thai, mai (with an accentuated rising tone).

If you do not want to sedate yourself, why would you think that would be appropriate for the "witches"? It's not too much for you to WISH that the "witches" will stop barking. It is, IMO, too much for you to take actions that include harming the "witches" to fulfill your wish.

If you're bothered by barking dogs, take the valium yourself.

Thanks for your clarification. There is a category of economics called "Bayesian" that is a mix of capitalism and socialism, and that is what the USA has. Just about anything that starts with "public" is, IMO, a socialist feature. Examples are public libraries, public streets, public police and firefighters, etc. And, again IMO, the "proper" discussions between the left (Democrats) and the right (Republicans) should just be what the percentage of that mix should be. Democrats favor more socialism, and Republicans favor more capitalism. I, of course, favor more socialism.

I agree with most of your recent post except this first part. Having lived in the USA most of my life, I always knew there were these types of people there - racists, homophobes, xenophobes, sexists, fascists, etc. But, I thought they made up no more than 10% of most of our citizenry. Now, I think the 40% or so that seems to be there now has always existed, and Trump (or Washington) did not "create" them, but Trump has allowed them to crawl out from rocks under which they were hiding. However that happened, they are there now, out in the open, and, like you, I think no matter how the next presidential election goes, this could be the end of the civility in the USA and the start of a very chaotic and violent era.

I agree completely. I am a US citizen and a lifelong registered Democrat. Years ago, I used to respect most Republicans, even though I disagreed with their conservative views. I listened to their arguments and understood where they were coming from. Now, especially the Trump MAGA supporters, are just spouting non-democratic, fascist chaos. I'm very concerned for my home country and expect an upsurge in public violence in the now less-than-a-year period leading up to the 2024 presidential election. I believe no matter which side wins, the other side will claim fraud and not accept the outcome. Then, I don't know what will happen, but it won't be good.