canopy

14 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Yes it makes sense to have charging where you park the car. But currently that isn't the case

Depends on one's particular situation. Personally I would not buy an EV if I could not charge it from my residence, but if you can't then some may find charging stations acceptable and Thailand is building these out as we speak. Bangkok to Phuket you could charge once somewhere along the way (same as you will stop for gas with an ICE), rent something for the trip, or fly. There are 800km and 1000km EVs coming out, but some will want more than that. Others won't.

6 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

The battery is heavy and always places low under the car. Soon we will see these EV cars boil off in flooded sois.

EVs are already designed to handle flooding. In fact they keep running unlike engines that get the tailpipe blocked or sucks water in the engine destroying it. Search for clips of tesla's swimming for some fun.

6 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

I see these as a great solution for people commuting in Bangkok. Trouble is, a lot of those people live in condos which makes charging them very difficult. 

To me it makes sense there should be charging available wherever you park your car overnight. That means at home (whether house, apartment, or condo) and at hotels. Similar to places like long haul flights once upon a time didn't have phone charging, but they do now.

8 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

The range is also limited so touring with them is problematic until the charging facilities are built.

If you need long range then select an EV model with long range. Don't talk about a particular EV with short range and complain it doesn't go far enough.

9 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

I think hybrids will be the sensible choice for most for the next decade. 

To each his own. I wouldn't touch a hybrid with a 10 foot pole. Too many disadvantages.

I have some recent experiences. I sent a package to the US via EMS which was delivered just today coincidentally. The post office estimated it would take 5 days. But it had taken a full 6 weeks. The other direction (US to Thailand) by USPS I also did recently and it took one week only.

Homepro has Protego for a danish type oil. If you don't see it in the store can order online or in store from the catalog. Pricey stuff and to top it off with they now got into the Thai game of putting only 2.5 liters into 1 gallon containers so you get 33% air with every purchase.

That kind of cracking can be caused by rendering too early before the brick work dries sufficiently or by failing to keep the render hydrated for 3 full days after it is applied. When patching it is also important to remove the old mortar in rounded shapes, never square corners. And put chicken wire over the joint of old to new brick before rendering. Do the render job over again to eliminate the underlying problems. Otherwise more and more cracks will appear over time and you can just keep slopping on stuff and repainting over and over if you prefer.

Nothing angers thai visa people more than premchai losing to the justice system. They can't take it. First these experts told us he'd never face charges. He did. Then these experts told us he'd never get convicted. He did. Then the experts told us he'd never get a jail sentence. He did. Now the experts are all telling us he'll never serve a day in jail. So let's predict what will happen next. Well of course jail for Premchai will be like a 5 star hotel experience so it's not really jail at all so it doesn't count.

The truth is Premchai brought his poaching case all the way to the supreme court and lost every step of the way, just like the so-called mushroom pickers who we all love so dearly. And now after losing this appeal it's not clear he can even shake the bribery charge and is getting more hard time poured on for this too. And the court system has taken the most unusual step to even appeal decisions against Premchai to strengthen the sentences against him and retry him of crimes. This never happened to the mushroom pickers (who by the way nailed for illegally logging) and these dear souls didn't have the book thrown at them facing every conceivable charge, their house searched for booty, and dodgy land scrutinized. Clearly Premchai is getting an unprecedented amount of stick.

People can't see their bias. Need some proof? Please tell us how many people were at the camp site that night? What you mean he wasn't alone??? Impossible, it doesn't fit the story line! How much does anyone care about justice served on these other sick individuals that night shooting, cooking, and eating a black panther and having a grand old time? What do you think about the cook getting off so easily with a slap on the wrist? Not a peep. This is called bias.

I just wish people actually cared about the forests and the wildlife, but these armchair environmentalists that came out of the woodwork to protest how horrible what Premchai did only care about yelling at a rich guy and meanwhile don't give a hoot if the poor continue to burn, encroach, destroy, and kill whatever they want to the tunes of millions of rai including untold numbers of black panthers and other wildlife. So you are right, two standards. You don't want justice served on any poor person let alone equal justice nor do you care to save any wildlife, it's all about voicing displeasure of the rich.

Power is a weak area in Thailand and the flagships are equipped with just 4 cylinder engines. There are no V8's so you are really getting just half an engine. But anyway here are some peak power specs I found for comparison:

ford raptor ranger:         2.0L diesel 213ps, 500nm torque
toyota revo rocco:          2.8L diesel 204ps, 500nm
mitsubishi triton athlete 2.4L diesel 181ps, 430nm

59 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Pickup versions of Mercedes legendary G-Wagen are available ..Mercedes X class

I don't see the X class on the Thai Mercedes Benz web site. And the pickup version of the G-Wagen is not shown. How are these purchased in Thailand?

If you are going to recommend something, please mention what makes it the best. It could be a simple subjective reason, features, specs, just anything. The only post that has done a real good job so far nominates the Mitsubishi as the best of the best and no one has disputed it or offered reasons anything else might be better.

And of course vehicles sold in Thailand only!

On 7/24/2020 at 1:38 PM, JimGant said:

I've setup, as with all of our utilities, a direct debit...Why in the world would you opt to have to fat finger in your monthly payments online?

Bingo. Been doing this for years and it's heaven. Using an app is a step backwards and has nothing but disadvantages. Totally stupid in my opinion. To each his own.

On 7/24/2020 at 9:10 AM, nobodysfriend said:

Hydrogen could be sold by fuel stations to cars powered by fuel cells

Don't listen to just the hype and try to get familiar with the actual pros and cons; there are plenty of good unbiased video clips out there on this subject. You will soon learn these fool cells are way too polluting all things considered plus suffer other major disadvantages. Some wonder if fuel cell technology can improve sufficiently in time. Maybe, maybe not. Wait 10 or 20 years and see how they are coming along.

Not best value for money, but best period. Not something from the past or in the future, but on the market this year. What would it be?

You need to think of it as there is no such thing as an M8 bolt. There are M8-1 and M8-1.25 bolts. Each type has totally different threads and don't fit each other. It is up to you to match the proper thread type on bolts, nuts, and fittings. This is a source of frustration because some consumer packaging in stores does not specify the thread type. Nor do a lot of online sources. It matters and different thread sizes in the metric line are common. For M12 there are actually 4 different thread sizes out there: M12-1, M12-1.25, M12-1.5, and M12-1.75.

Calculate how many watts of power you need and get a generator at least that size. You can add everything up by hand or turn on everything and measure with an amp meter at the panel. It's good to be real minimal here. Oversized generators cost more, are larger, eat gas quicker, and generate lots more noise and pollution.

There are mainly cheap chinese generators sold at the hardware stores. They are big, loud, have questionable durability, but again they are cheap which is all most people care about. Inverter generators are quieter as they auto throttle to load, use gas sparingly, are smaller, but also pricier.

For me the Honda EU22i inverter generator was sufficient and it can be carried with one hand. I just turn off the main breaker and plug it into the house and bingo, power is back up. But automatic changeovers are highly recommended. But I can hardly recommend Honda with a glowing review. Don't get me wrong it works great, is super quiet, and reliable. But even though these are made in Thailand they have the audacity to charge way more money than what they cost in America. The outlets on the front are American type, not Thai type so no plugs fit, an utterly ridiculous oversight though this can be worked around with adapters.  I have also had to return the Honda unit to the factory twice for product recalls which is inconvenient though free of charge. If I had to do it over again I would look for an inverter generator from another brand.

17 hours ago, NancyL said:

Chiang Mai is much more reliable than it was in the most populated county in Michigan

I'd love to see a link that supports this.

Sounds positive. I can see people leaving a few trees behind rather than cutting them all down as they do now or even planting a few new ones to get free money. Would be good to know how much money are they loaning for each type. And is size and age considered in the valuation? I imagine so otherwise there would be no incentive not to just cut them down right after getting the loan. If the valuation goes up with size they would have incentives to leave the trees grow in order to get bigger loans.

11 hours ago, Logosone said:

majority of that population is old and needs to be maintained

And you already were told plain as day how this will take place without the need for sheer volume of numb human beings like in past centuries. It is disappointing you choose not to take your theory to an appropriate forum, even on a different web site, and discuss it in detail because you would have an opportunity to learn a great deal from like and dislike people. Your mind seems unable to grasp anything changing much after 2020 and that's surprising. Your first few posts were useful in understanding how some people think about the need for inequalities in regards to gays, but I for one am not going to debate your theory here as it's becoming barely relevant. I just ask one thing. Mark your calendar for 18 years and 9 months from today. That's the beginning of when these extra children you advocate pumping out today through economic incentives for economic purposes will start coming into the workforce. Then see how well that theory held up in the world they entered. And make a special note to look at that doozy about robot taxi's "may just be fantasy".

I am not convinced incentives for having children make economic sense in the 21st century and furthermore do not believe this kind of discrimination has a place in government to begin with. You have some valid discussion points, but are outside the scope of this thread. Feel free to open up a new thread in the relevant forum where it can be discussed in detail is better than hijacking this one. This topic and the survey results are quite interesting and important to keep discussing. I am in somewhat shock that 2/3rd's of the people oppose gays having the same rights as others for whatever reason. What a world we live in.

That sure looks like a plastic lid on top. Step in the wrong direction to use plastic where none was used before.

For a professional fit and finish note Amazon has all sorts of switch labels to choose from and ships to your door in Thailand. Probably better to prefer labels with symbols over English writing so everyone can understand it.

22 hours ago, Logosone said:

that we should abolish society as we know it, without offering a convincing or well thought out alternative, is frankly not convincing

And frankly I never said anything of the kind. I simply discussed what is absolutely happening in the 21st century. It's as if you still fail to grasp how many more people there will be than jobs so let's get specific. There are 4 million truck drivers and taxi drivers in the US alone. That's a lot. These jobs are soon to go the way like the caboose driver in the 1980's. Anyone who can't see this is as blind as a bat. And we aren't talking cabooses, but an extremely large percentage of the job market. So now what are all these children in the pipeline, say that would normally become Bangkok taxi drivers, going to do for a living? And those that get laid off? This is an example of the reality for all these surplus children you advocate. And read carefully, I never advocated nor discounted a universal income (nor is it appropriate in this thread) but noted it is an option being considered. You asked where tax money comes from without sustaining the population size? Ok good question though again off topic but I'll spill the beans. Some propose taxing robot factories and robot taxis to help support the human jobs they displace as one option. Again I am not advocating or discounting this approach, just mentioning one alternative.

Huge amounts of jobs are going away for good and we don't yet know how we will cope with all the extra children in the pipeline making it utterly ridiculous to prop up pumping out even more children with incentives. And furthermore I firmly disagree with your notion that we should discriminate for or against a group of people based on economic merits. It's a slippery slope and before long you'll be saying things like smart people should get more tax incentives to have children because it can be economically justified. I am against discriminating for or against hetero, gay, or any other group no matter how large the group, how economically interesting it may be, or any other reason. I am for equality for all.