connda

I stand corrected. Natural gas. Doh! Nice chart regarding the dams (4%) Wind and solar - Wow! (5% when there is wind or sun). But - hydrocarbons rule the roost. However, like I said - Thailand really needs to look into nuclear. Wind and solar ain't gonna power AI data centers or EVs. FYI - I like solar for offsetting electricity at home. Home solar rocks. But for commercial power generation? It's a loser. Once Thailand joins the BRICS+ they can work with Russia to establish some Gen 3+ nuke reactors. Well - unless we are all nuked before that (different thread). Let's carpet farmland, lakes, and deforested forests with solar panels. <laughs> I wonder how much farmland you need to cover with solar panels to run a 5 GW AI data center? This is what I love about this. "We need solar to save the planet from CO2." Yep - by cutting down forests and covering productive farmland (you know - the green thingys the suck in CO2 and spit out O2) with solar panels. And when the solar panels down work anymore. Throw them into a landfill and allow the toxicity to leach into the groundwater. Great idea. We need hydrocarbon based energy and hydro-electric where it can be produced, and nuclear. That should give the planet time to get us to when fusion-powered reactors become a reality, then we can all look back on this "Green Energy" nonsense (wind - solar) and have a good laugh.

Get real. Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand Mae Mot coal generation plant in Lampang has added capacity. What hydro? From the Mekong River? Renewables? Where? I hear a lot of "We're gonna do this and that scheme." Thailand? We need a lot less talk and a lot more action. If they are smart they'll get serious about nuclear. Solar and wind is a waste of money and inefficient on a good day. In the meanwhile? EGAT keeps the lights on with coal.

Which neo-con sponsored think-tank wrote this pablum? Here - let me summarize it: The solution to Russian and Chinese totalitarianism, and "far-right populism" is - Fascist totalitarianism wrapped in a package labelled "Liberal Democracy," wrapped in an EU and US flag and endorsed by unelected EU technocrats like Ursula Von Der Leyden. In a typical 1984-esque manner, unelected is the new "Democracy." There, fixed it!

Very few people will survive a strategic nuclear war with the exception of those in "continuity of government" bunkers build by national entities and perhaps some millionaire and billionaire types who believe there will be something left on the surface that they can leverage to enrich themselves in a Mad Max sorta way. For some reason the neo-con "crazies-in-the-basement" think that there is going to be such thing as a Limited Nuclear War. It's not going to happen. Russia's nuclear doctrine calls for a full strategic nuclear response to any nuclear attack on its territories. The neo-con thinking is that "Russia is bluffing." Yeah - I doubt that Russia is bluffing. Nor China. Nor the DPRK. If nukes fly - they all fly. Now survival. Well, if you are in a "continuity of government" bunker your long-term survival may be better than most - assuming that the "continuity of government" bunker you are in isn't already targeted by a bunker-busting nuke. Then you'll no doubt live the life of a "Morlock" as the psychopaths who create this Hell On Earth go underground to breed the future of humanity <laughs>. Something like the final scene of Dr. Strangelove. For the plebs? Probably depends where on Earth you're located. Will there be survivors? Maybe. My guess they'll most likely be in under-developed, agrarian societies with the most societal cohesion and where there is enough sunlight to still grow food. Most people? Not going to survive. But for those who wish to paint a rosy picture of the life of an Eloi-existance post-nuclear-armagedon for the plebs who don't get immediately roasted - try places like here. https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else/#top Personally I'd rather be at ground zero. You're in the PI? Maybe you'll survive based on "computer models" (garbage in - garbage out) <laughs>. Or not.

Good cars. Had a 1950-something Anglia back in the day.

Go to Virustotal. Scan the installation executable. If there are no problems, then install it and click "Yes." https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

Kaspersky Free. https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-antivirus

I thought the British cops just beat the snot out of you for waving a British flag nowadays. And Lord Almighty, don't pray in public. You'll end up in prison.

Nope. Why?

I might not be correct on the timeline. Before 2025? Maybe. Sometime during 2025. Maybe. But imho most likely before 2026. But we are at a tipping point no less serious than the Cuban Missile Crisis. At my age I thought I'd gork from old age - now? Probably nuked. If in Chiang Mai - crispified at a few hundred million degrees Celsius. If not in Chiang Mai - probably slowly "nuclear-winter frozen" or slowly dying of radiation poisoning. : "You're nuts - that will never happen." Of course not. But in the meanwhile keep reading analysis by someone other than a cable news clone or military analysts who are aligned with Western foreign offices. "This is a continuation of the pattern in which the NATO forces recognize they are losing the war in Ukraine, with the fragile lines of defense breaking, and the NATO response is to escalate. This is not accidental, but very deliberate. It is not the first attack on the Russian nuclear triad. The ideological folks are seeing their world crumbling, after flying the rainbow flag over conservative countries and [waging] perpetual wars. They are frantic and could escalate to nuclear war to get out of the bind. They are taking a series of baby steps, and respond that ‘they don’t do anything in response,’ and so they keep taking baby steps until one of them lands on a land mine and we are into World War III. (…) Putin is very aware of the disconnect in the West, who keep saying he is just saber rattling, but he is not—he is informing the West of the dangerous reality.” - Col. Richard H. Black (JAG), former US Senator, Virginia There are more and more military analysts who are warning of the same outcomes.

Yep! #MeToo. But if I do buy an EV? I'll buy a Communist Party of China (CPC) BYD EV. Zoom-zoom, but quieter. https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Drivers-Overwhelmingly-Prefer-Gasoline-Cars-to-EVs.html

A massive battery on wheels. The primary cost of the EV - the battery. Once the battery is shot. Good-bye EV. Built-in obsolescence extraordinaire. "But they will save the polar ice caps!" Of course they will.

I paid the Thai equivalent of $10K from my car. It gets over 50+ mph. A typical trip to the dealer for the check-up and oil changes cost between 2K to 4K THB. What you should have said is, "Cars are status symbols and the most status conscious consumers pour their hard earned cash into their status symbol's money pit." There - fixed it! Much more accurate.

If I purchase in EV I'll purchase the most cost effective make and model. Which means I'll probably be purchasing a Chinese BYD. Why? The Chinese are going to beat the pants off of the Western EV technology as well as being able to manufacture them for less money therefore providing consumers with a significant discount compared to Western models. "We hate the Chinese commies and their c**p products. Grrrr!" Yeah - I know. But I have no problems with either the Chinese or their products. So - feel free to pay a premium in order to "show them Chinese commies a thing or two."

I'm afraid that you are just being snarky, as well as wrong. Your information is dated and incorrect. The procedures have changed. They will not accept a bank draft. They clearly state that you MUST use the Pay.gov site in order to pay for the DS-82 passport renewal. https://www.pay.gov/public/form/start/1156527186/ They will not accept a prepaid return envelope. They clearly state that you MUST use the ThaiPostMart Courier Pass-Back Envelope for the US Embassy Bangkok. https://www.thailandpostmart.com/product/1013460000929 And they clearly state - on the renewal checklist - to include the "Printout of the electronic confirmation" from the Pay.gov passport renewal receipt and your ThaiPostMart receipt in with your passport renewal package, as well as to write the invoice number on the DS-82 Checklist which must be included in the passport renewal package as well. (screenshot below) So to anyone who is reading this and planning on doing a US passport renewal soon. If you believe like thesetat that I "seem to either not be able to read or perhaps unable to interpret what you read," well, do it thesetat's way - find out! "Where do they 'clearly state' that! I don't think you know how to read or to interpret what you read." Whatever - RTFI: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passports/instructions-for-ds-82-processing-by-mail-and-online-fee-payment-for-u-s-citizens-residing-in-thailand/ What some of the snarkier members here don't seen to realize is that - procedures change - and if you don't stay on top of the changes, well - find out! So read through my adventures, follow the procedures, check to see if the procedures have changed since now (June 2024), and follow the directions that the U.S. Embassy Bangkok provides to the letter - or - find out!

His immigration officer is being a jerk. As we often read on the Thai Immigration threads, individual offices and individual IOs can deliberately try to make your life difficult for no other reason then to be malicious, i.e., there is nothing in the police orders requiring something like this, but they make up their own rules. It's just them being petty and spiteful because they don't like foreigners so the go out of their way to make life difficult. Thank goodness the majority of immigration offices are not like this.

Useful link. Thanks!

According to what I've read, there are less Passport Renewals submitted late in the year, therefore they can process the renewals faster. This time of year (pre-summer-vacation) they get swamped. So I fully expect to wait the 6 to 8 weeks.

They don't. They have no inside track to the US Embassy and can not "expedite" a passport renewal.

You post is akin to those members who have to act like the Grammar Police and the Spelling Police. I should ask the Mods to remove your posts as it is not helpful and offer nothing to this thread other than to be snarky, like the Grammar Police. Let's not go any further with this. You know exactly what I meant. I don't like playing word game. Let's not do it any more. Thanks!

As I said - you yourself are filled with hatred of the global Muslim population which you refer to as a "cancer on the world" . Perhaps you should work on your own hatred of Muslims before projecting "hatred" on to those with whom you disagree. I harbor no hatred for any race, ethnicity, or religion. It's sort of antithetical for a Buddhist such as myself to hate other sentient beings. But, I support global efforts to end war as well as to end the genocidal killing and murder of any civilian population regardless of who is doing that genocidal killing, why they are doing it, or where they are doing it - globally.

I have no "vehement hatred" of anyone. You project your own "vehement hatred" of Palestinians Arabs and Christians on to me. No - I'm pro-humanity. And I'm anti-genocide as genocide is a crime against humanity. And the genocide needs to stop - now! The International Court of Justice has called for the immediate ending of the killing, the withdrawal of the IDF, and and opening of the Gaza borders. That's not hatred. That's compassion. If you believe that the calls for the end of genocide of the Palestinian civilian population is "vehement hatred?" Well - then only God can help you, as you have lost your moral compass as well as your humanity.

Ah - if you are Anti-genocide, if you are appalled by the slaughter of Palestinian civilians - especially women, children, and babies with no ties to the military branch of the Hamas insurgency - real, true, ethnic Semitic Palestinians who can trace their ancestry in the land claimed by European Jews in 1948, back hundreds if not a thousand or more years...yes if you are aghast at the leveling of Gaza with 2000 lbs bombs making Gaza uninhabitable, if you are astonished by the purposeful blowing-up of mosques, universities, schools and civilian government buildings as well as the bombing of Palestinian tent cities in makeshift refugee camps, if you are shocked by the utter inhumanity of the siege starvation and the cutting off of water supplies to the Palestinian civilian population as collective punishment, if you are stunned by the killing of Palestinian civilians at a rate of tens of Palestinian lives for each Israeli live lost in the October 7th Hamas insurgency, if you dare to criticize the Israeli government for it barbaric ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza - then you are a "Anti-Semite!" And lets not even talk about what is happening to Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct 7th. Then you'd be an Anti-Semite X 2. Well, in that case I'm in good company as about 134 countries out of the 193 in the UN voted for Palestine to join the UN, with more countries supporting the ICJ's "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip," with many of those countries breaking off diplomatic relations with the Israeli government in response to the genocide of Palestinian civilians, and now openly recognizing Palestine as a sovereign nation - yes, I'm in good company as people like yourself will infer that the majority of the world's population who are shocked by the wanton killing and starvation of Palestinian civilians by the IDF and the Israeli government are all - "Anti-Semitic."

Really. What are they going to do other then take it right down to the bottom like the HTMS Sukhothai? That ship should have never sunk. That fact it did speaks volumes.