connda

Blast

Let me expand on that. The day a head of state of one of the worlds super-powers or nuclear-armed nations is assassinated, all bets are off regarding the global contagion effect and Quid Pro Quo by the affected nation(s). Can you image the impact on the West if it came to light that Russian and North Korean social media content started to trend to have Biden and Trudeau 'eliminated' in their next bilateral meeting? This isn't a game. See that big fusion blast above. That's no joke and we haven't been this close to MAD since I was 11 years old living on a SAC base in the US. And yet, we have utter morons calling for covert assassinations of the heads of states that the West doesn't like. Your people calling for this are quite literally insane.

What's your opinion on this? Jordan Peterson on Woke Mentality The 'woke' will be offended and will seek to censor Peterson. Most everyone else will nod in agreement.

Mutually Assured Destruction

You mean, the exact same things Thais do? The only difference is that these are foreigners and "Arabs" and somehow different. Same Same But Different. Thai - no helmet, no license, loud bike - Bad! "Arab" - no helmet, no license, loud bike - Really bad and a menace to Thai society. I truly believe their is a bit of a racial/ethnic matter going on here, and its not good.

Are the "Arabs" really being a nuisance or are the cops just Islamophobic toward dark-skinned (kon kaerk) Middle-Eastern foreigners.

Every man should make their first love their own solitude.

Whatever trips your trigger. FYI. Tony Dakota is America and was born in the US. Not Danish.

What cops?

I call it The Sticks and The Boondocks. And I live out here.

Your idea of "the sticks" and my idea of "the sticks" must converge drastically. You sound like you need to be in the suburbs of a large city or within a smaller Thai city where you have access to hypermarts, "chain restaurants, and private hospitals. Is it cheaper there? Yeah, if you are shopping mom & pop stores and road vendors. Rent will be cheaper too. When you are truly out in the rice fields and orchard of rural Thailand? Is it cheaper? Absolutely. Significantly for many items. Up to 50% on local fruits, vegetables, and dishes of food at one of the single-item-on-the-menu mom&pops "restaurants" (a covered area with tables). However - No Tops, Makro, Big C, or Tesco. No Chain Restaurants. No private hospitals. You have small local stores, some of which are relatively well stocked. Many mom and pop stores, local restaurants (as I said, a covered area with tables), and an occasional small private medical clinic, and even an occasional relatively well stocked pharmacy. If you're really lucky, you'll have a 7/11 within 10 to 15 km of you. Do you need transport. I lived out here a couple of years before buying a car. We live on a rail line with spotty service and my motorcycle worked for other chores. But, age wise, I got tired of driving a M/C - it's freaking dangerous. If you think a Mueang city district of one of the more remote provinces is considered to be in "the sticks" you have yet to have traveled rural Thailand. Yet, to me it sounds like that is the sorta places you are looking for. Cheaper? It can be. It doesn't sound to me like you'd be happy in real rural Thailand. Nope. No Tops, chain restaurants, or CM standard of health-care anywhere in sight. Which? Is the exact point of living out here! ???????????????????????????????????? ???? The Sticks If you are currently living in CM and want a change of pace, try Lamphun City, as in Mueang Lamphun. More low key and it has rail, songtaw, and bus service to Chiang Mai. Not a Tops in sight though, although they do have Jampha shopping center, excellent fresh markets, a Big C, 7/11s galore, and a two private hospitals, one brand new. It's probably marginally cheaper there. Much less busy than Chiang Mai.

I'd transfer all of my money out of Kbank. At a minimum it should be asking for your account PIN, which is still pathetic security. This is exactly why I prefer using a web-based computer app VS Android. You can set high security password on your account access via a web app. Yeah - that's pretty bad.

Of course, in the name of "equity" the "scheme" will be rolled out to Bangkok schools first to assess how it works, after which the tablets will 'trickle down' to the rural schools sometime in the next decade or so. And my guess is that the average life-span of classroom "tablets" will be measured in months as the contracts will be given to "connected friends" who will supply cheap, poorly-made, poor-quality, errrr... top-of-the-line tablets for the kiddies to use. This reeks of a scheme to manufacture money-making opportunities for those with connections to the present batch of bureaucrats. It will be poorly thought out, planned, and implemented. A tablet without a coordinated, comprehensive, integrated, well-planned and tested digital curriculum is simply so much plastic, silicon, and solder that will quickly fall into disrepair.

I do all my own paperwork and submissions at the Immigration office in the province where I now reside. The difference between this office and Chiang Mai back when I left CM was that Chiang Mai Immigration resembled a 19th Century Chicago Stock Yard back in Wild Bill Hickhock's days.

The A-Team! The only show on TV where there could be a 5 minute fire-fight with all sorts of guns - and nobody gets injured. "I believe in the Golden Rule - The Man with the Gold... Rules." Signed, "Mister; Middle name: period; Last name T"

Gold in 2003 ranged from $315 to $415, so a baht weight of Thai gold 97.5% would have been less than 157.50 to 207.50 USD as Thai gold isn't the same price as 99.999% fine gold. "Valuable watch?" Not quite in the same league as the dude wearing his "Dead Friend's Watches" 'eh? I'd have no problem wearing a $200 watch - if I wore a watch - which like jewelry, I don't.

The rap/hip-hop look isn't quite my style. And "No." In fact I don't wear jewelry at all. And I gave up wedding bands after the third marriage. Gold chain? Even my wife won't wear one of those now that gold is about 32K THB per baht-weight of gold.

Started last Wednesday. If he's a smart young lad, he'd be on the last leg of his flight between Taipei and a major US airport. After which I suggest a vacation in Mexico.

The last year I resided in Chiang Mai, I gave up and went with an agent in order to cut through the mind-numbing bureaucratic buffalo ????! Back when they were still in the old offices. I have no idea what it's like now, and don't care to find out.

Odd new protocol at Jomtien IO for Extension of stay. Give it time. Soon you'll be required to juggle a coconut, a banana, and a durian while hopping up-and-down on one foot and singing Chaat Thai in proper Bangkok Thai while the bank manager unicycles around you with a monkey on his shoulder holding a copy of today's newspaper - all filmed in front of the sign on the front of the bank, of course ????????

Banana Republic Democracy Offer citizens large sums of money directly out of the State treasury for their vote. Offer citizens small but significant amounts of money outside the polling stations on election day. Attempt to use the courts to disqualify candidates and disband their parties. Promise the citizens the moon and once in office, renege on the promises with mealy-mouthed excuses.

I find it interesting. On more than one occasion I've been in an adjacent room as my wife watches TV. "KWAI!," resounds from room. Minutes later, "KWAI!" I go through the room to get a cup of coffee. "Who are you calling a buffalo dear." "Srettha on TV," and then she goes into a litany of the ways the new PM is seeking to screw that average Thai citizen. "He do," this and "He do," that and on and on.... "So you're voting Move Forward whenever you can," as I move toward the kitchen door. Her head shakes up and down. <pours a cup of coffee> "KWAI," from the next room. From what I can ascertain, it seems the currently elected parties who put Srettha in the top spot are sorta of reneging on their campaign promises. Which bodes well for Move Forward in future elections. People like my wife and son are not happy.

What constitutes "attempting to overthrow the democratic system" is the unbridled use law-fare in an attempt to destroy opponent parties and candidates. And the use of law-fare is no longer the bastion of third-world, developing countries and "backwater banana republics" as it is now fully embraced in so-call "developed countries" which are regressing back to their less democratic roots and are beginning to mirror the average banana republic in their twisting of the legal system to get rid of their viscerally-hated political rivals.

Trust me. This issues go wayyyy beyond Smorprong and encompasses the entirety of Thailand.

...and 2,000,000 in debt.