ChiFlyer

9 hours ago, Trip said:

Takes me back to when one of the greatest bands no one talks about now had both Steve Marriott and Frampton in it ...

 

I rattled on about this once before, but the situation might be worth revisiting.

Upon finishing my less than stellar college education, I rejoined my South Side of Chicago mates. We made a road trip run to Milwaukee to take in a "Humble Pie" October concert. "Humble Pie" opened with "30 Days in the Hole" and the crowd went nuts. I mean absolutely nuts. The beer tents were raided and the concert was declared a free beer concert in order to avoid riots.

Me and my mates went absolutely delusional nuts after 3 days of alcohol and drug abuse. To this day I can not remember everything that happened. I do remember that at one point we stole a boat and I was driving it. 

One of our crew disappeared and was arrested 100 miles away for assaulting an underage girl. 

Good times. -> not so much.

"Black Coffee" is my favorite "Humble Pie" song.

I initially posted this in a different thread, but it is a great song all by it's self.

"Toad the Wet Sprocket" -> "When will we all fall down".

I am not at all certain, but it might well have been"Toad the Wet Sprocket".

Or perhaps something by the "Meat Puppets".

8 hours ago, fforest said:

I agree 100% about Maneerat.....Not only are they super nice but they get the job done...They know their stuff...No BS ever.....I have been using them for about 10 years now.....I will be sticking with them for a looooog time to come...

They do a smashing business there.... One time I saw a box they had all the passports in.....There had to of been close to 200 passports in the box....And that was just on that one day....Plus they operate with minimal overhead costs unlike a bar or restaurant....

They deserve to do good they do a great job and take care of the customers...

 

I completely agree as well. I have only been using Maneerat for two years after receiving a recommendation from the late Striderman. Maneerat has their act together and are pleasant to deal with. I was even given a 1,000 discount on the initial Non-Im O application for having my paperwork all filled out and well organized. I had been on a Non-Im OA (long story), so I did a border run to kill the OA and then reapply for an O.

The Mrs. went with me the last time that I went to renew my Extension of Stay and after viewing the available entertainment options on soi Post Office (13/2), gave me a suspicious look. 🙂 

A Pattaya News article from November 2023 that speaks to financial benefits with regard to purchasing an EV. I am aware that as a Farang I may not qualify, but I intend to put the EV in the Mrs. name.

https://thepattayanews.com/2023/11/17/thailand-embraces-electric-vehicle-surge-plans-for-increased-production-and-incentives-unveiled/

I found this to be a decent write-up of the BYD Dolphin.

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/byd/dolphin-ev/

Here is one for the MG5

19 hours ago, Zeb said:

I went with a MG4 and am very happy with it but the BYD Dolphin is very good as well and I seriously considered it.

BYD are going to produce some of their vehicles in Thailand soon and the Dolphin will be one of the models made in Thailand. BYD have big improvement's coming soon for their batteries building on already very good batteries (& cars).

BYD started out as a battery manufacturer (30% of the batteries in mobile phones world-wide are made by BYD). They started making cars including EV's earlier this century and are one of the biggest car manufacturers world-wide.

The main difference between the two (IMO) is that the MG is rear wheel drive has good overall kit and is a drivers care with good finishing. Its been reviewed consistently very well by various motoring journalists and much can be found on YouTube,

The Dolphin is front wheel drive all models come with all the bells and whistles and a range of different size engines and batteries making it a very good runabout for a range of circumstances. The new model should out later in the year.

Again plenty of YouTube reviews available.

Off the shelf charging kit are readily available and it may well be worth your while to explorer linking it to solar and a home battery.

But a plug in home charger is the most straightforward way to go.

Thanks for taking the time to write down the great info. This is a lot of help in getting a little focus on things.

Looks like the MG is cheaper than the BYD. I am going to start looking around for where I can find showrooms in the general Pattaya area. I would like to do test drives at some point. I also need to reflect a bit on what really does matter to me. Like I said we are light weight mileage people for the most part (grocery shopping, out for dinner, ...). I doubt we drive 200 kms on an average week. The one longer trip we make once or twice a year is to visit the Mrs. family in Khon Kean. At 600 kms that is not going to work, plus Isan charging stations would likely be a challenge. Sounds like a good excuse to fly and rent a car for a week. I hate the drive in the first place. 🙂 

For fans of "Sweet Tooth", Netflix has confirmed that S03 IMDB 7.7 will drop on June 6th, 2024. This will be the final season.

Link for best selling EVs in Thailland.

https://carnewschina.com/2024/01/09/byd-is-bestselling-ev-brand-in-thailand-in-2023-neta-is-runner-up/

A link for info about EV cars in Thailand.

https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/stories/home-car/buy-ev-car.html

Interesting thread.

I have not had time to look through it in detail, but will do so over the coming week.

I recently watched "An Optimist's Guide to the Planet" 2024 IMDB 8.7. This is an eco-travel documentary hosted by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister from GOT). The 6 episode documentary covers Climate Change actions that are being undertaken in a large number of countries by private citizens and startups. There is quite a lot in the TV series about EVs (including planes) and building better batteries.

I noticed earlier in the thread that there was some criticism of battery material procurement of materials being unfair to African countries. There is an episode in the TV series that I have mentioned that debunks this. There are new Climate Change conscious companies in Kenya that are working on better batteries and providing much needed employment. These companies, although Euro funded, tend to be operated by Africans.

I live in Thailand. We are getting nearer to the point where we need to replace our car. This is in the 2025 budget to say the least. I am starting to think seriously about going EV. We are not high mileage drivers and I think I could easily setup a charging station at my house.

My other pipe dream is to convert or supplement the electric supply for our house to solar.

Sadly Dickie Betts is gone.

It is interesting that one of his sons is named Duane. The dual guitars of Betts and Duane Allman were incredible.

My favorite song remains "Whipping Post", which is probably more about the dual drummers, but still highlights the overall strengths of the band.

Been thinking a bit about the situation that @coxyhog posted about and I have a completely unsolicited and probably useless suggestion about this going forward. I am an American and I think you are a Brit, so maybe this affects things. Also, I live full time in Thailand on an O-NonIm retirement visa. Your situation may well be different.

What I do:

• I have a Bangkok Bank account.
• I had the Mrs open an account with Bangkok Bank.
• My central funds are in the US with Charles Schwab.
• I send periodic wires from my Schwab Account to my Bangkok Bank Account. These cost $15.
• I can then transfer from my Bangkok Bank Account to the one that the Mrs has at no cost.

I originally chose Bangkok Bank because one could route transfers through their NY branch at no cost as it was processed as a domestic transfer to the NY office. That ability was taken away a few years back. Still Bangkok Bank has pretty decent online services to enable the rest of my scheme, so I stay with them.

Not at all sure, if there are any similar possibilities that might work for you from the UK, but thought I would mention this. It took me a few years to work out this cunning plan (Black Adder reference intended). 

btw - currently a transfer from Schwab to Bangkok Bank (at least for me) completes in less than two days. Are these two banks taking advantage of me with currency conversions? Most likely. I am wiling to put up with that in order to have a hassle free ongoing process.  

A number of years ago (8 ?), before I had a Thai Bank Account, I would use XE to send a little cash to the lady who later became the Mrs.

On one transaction XE held it and I had to call them. Some minor office clerk (probably a Magatard) had held the transaction because of the first name of the person I was sending a little money to. The Mrs has one of those Thai lady names that ends in "porn". This is not unusual. 

Anyway I get on the phone with this moron and she starts grilling me. I ask for her boss and she joins the call. At one point I hear the boss groan a little and mutter "are you trying to get us sued?".

Finally I ask where their office is located and they say LA. I say "ok you probably have a person of Thai decent working in your office. Please ask them about the name". They call some guy and ask him to come to their meeting room. He verifies what I am saying and the transaction is released. I hear him chuckle a bit as he leaves the room. 

I never used XE again. I only put up with this in this case because the future Mrs was ill and I wanted to get her to a doctor.

Stephen Colbert Interviews Salman Rushdie - Interesting I thought

Part 1

Colbert - Rushdie

Part 2

What I find lost in historical accounts is the brave role the Canadian Merchant Marine provided in combating the Nazi Wolf Pack campaigns in the North Atlantic. They made a considerable amount of effort in bringing down the 3rd Reich at considerable cost to themselves.

https://legionmagazine.com/the-wolf-pack-attacks-the-battle-for-one-world-war-two-convoy/

Thank you for your courage Canada.

Orphan Black (S01-S05) IMDB 8.3 (2013).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_Black

I am really not all that wild about this show, but the Mrs likes it. Why I do not know. I find it interesting at times.

It is a Canadian show based on a number of clones who become aware of each other. The actress who plays all of the clones must have been going nuts with the wardrobe changes, not to mention the poor director who had to schedule shootings to minimize the impacts from said wardrobe changes.

This is one of those shows that gets more interesting the further one gets into it IMO. We started S04 tonight. Given the number of story lines it gets choppy at times.

I pulled it from IPT. I think that it is available on Netflix.

7 hours ago, Glasseye said:

 

Several years ago I had a T-Mobile account for a few years. Then changed it to Verizon which turned out to be one of the worst decisions I have ever made. Now back to T-Mobile, still learning the ins and outs of the app and services (mind numbing at times).

 

Anyway.... with that first T-mobile account I discovered that they were still charging me some fees long after I cancelled it. It was being charged to a CC that I quit using, but was still active. Eventually I caught it. Then I had to go to battle with T-Mobile who were claiming it was my fault... turned out it was someone who had hijacked my account. 

American big phone companies are dicks, like the banks. They are controlled by the U.S. governments distorted laws which came out of 9/11. It's all about tracking and controlling. The companies have many layers to make the average Joe grievances difficult. Example... T-Mobile said they had no record of the prior phone number I had with them because the number was terminated (by me), so they claimed no connected account info. was on file. Bullshit.

Well - my post here has nothing to do with Banks or Phone Companies, but this was one of the most aggravating experiences I have had with any company.

I had purchased a plane ticket from Cebu Pacific for a domestic flight from Manila to Tacloban. When I got to the airport my ticket had been cancelled even though they had charged my credit card. They said there was no record of the credit card payment.

I was going to see my honey. She had traveled 3 hours to Tacloban to meet me. We were going over to Naval for a starter. I did not want to leave her stranded in Tacloban wondering what the hell had happened to me, so I bought another ticket. It took me two years to get the charge straightened out with Cebu Pacific. At one point they told me that they could not refund my money because their email server had crashed and they had lost all records related to my initial purchase. 😠

I had kept tracks about all of this and turned them over to Citibank (the credit card issuer). At first they said hey your problem not ours, but I got a nice lady on the phone who was willing to look through said tracks. She got back to me after looking through said tracks and laughingly said "these guys are incredible, I am amazed". I got my refund from Citibank.

Now when Citibank is the good guys in any story something is incredibly wrong.

2 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

....

 

You mentioned you let your BB ATM card lapse. Are you still getting charged an annual fee, IIRC 350B, for a card you no longer use?

No - I do not think so, but I once slept through an earthquake. 🙂 

IIRC the ATM card had a fee when it was renewed. I chose not to renew it.

22 hours ago, Glasseye said:

 

I realized that... later. 

 

😜

 

 

And I think those in the UK have similar options. But need to do their research carefully.

NP

On 12/2/2022 at 11:22 PM, ChiFlyer said:

Mongolian Beef to be served over Jasmin Rice

https://thewoksoflife.com/mongolian-beef-recipe/#recipe

I have made this recipe several times and very much like the taste. As the author points out one can tailor the recipe to their personal tastes. I did the following:

• I went much heavier on the minced ginger and garlic.
• I changed the sauce components -> replaced 1 TBSP of soy sauce with 1 TBSP of fish sauce, added some heat (I hit it with a strong shot of Sriracha sauce, 1 TBSP of Sambal Olek might be better).
• I used Sesame Oil for the marinade.

Only one pic.

 

Mongolian Beef Revisited

I made this recipe tonight. I have changed it a bit since the last post.

• I backed down the Ginger and Garlic a little.
• I continue to use Sesame Oil for the marinade.
• I changed the sauce
  Reduced the Brown Sugar to 1 TBSP
  Added 1 TBSP Sambal Olek replacing the Sriracha
  Added 1 TBSP Hoisen Sauce to balance the Brown Sugar reduction
  I continued with the stated Fish Sauce -  Soy Sauce combo
  Added 1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
• I cut the Flank Steak into longer strips. I also used a very good Wagyu Flank that I had bought online for about 500. This alone made a huge difference. I buy my Flank from Sloane's. Sloane's goes out of stock frequently, so when I notice that they are available, I buy 3 or 4 and toss them into the freezer. Flank is my most often used medium cost beef steak for stir fries etc.
• I finish the dish with Sesame Seeds.

Ready to serve

Plated

Lacking all humility, I will state that it was delicious.

I have started watching "An Optimist's Guide to the Planet" (2024) IMDB 8.7.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27096916/

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister from GOT) hosts a travel documentary that focuses on positive actions that are being taken by private citizens of a variety of nations throughout the world in order to address Climate Change.

I am finding the show to be interesting and well worth a watch.

I pulled the show down from IPT.

3 minutes ago, Glasseye said:

Well, I have an account, for years. So.... I assume they have accepted my SS number. lol

 

Now I think they require a 25k U.S. for new international accounts. But they accepted me because I have been with them for years.

 

If you live "abroad" an international account is almost an absolute these days, or into the future.

I was cautioning BMs who may not have a US SSN.

9 minutes ago, Glasseye said:

 

Schwab (International) is my main bank, into the future. I will slowly rotate funds into them.

They have the best service out there. And the one I trust (if that is even possible).

Anyone out there consider Schwab. They are great.

One must have a US SSN in order to use Schwab Bank, not to mention a minimally funded trading account with their brokerage firm.

On 3/30/2024 at 12:40 AM, Trip said:

I was on a recent long flight and saw both Oppenheimer and the 90-minute Documentary Oppenheimer the real story back-to-back.

The movie was ok, but it was too long and just dragged at spots like delving into his balancing a girlfriend and crazy wife.

OTOH, the Documentary at 90 minutes I found riveting as it went into details about Oppenheimer's ties to his mentor Neils Bohr and why Groves chose Oppenheimer to head the Manhattan Project and how it ended up in New Mexico.

At the time Oppenheimer was black balled by Hoover/FBI for suspicion of being a communist sympathizer/agent but Groves went to Roosevelt and they over ruled Hoover. Groves said he knew in the first 5 minutes of meeting Oppenheimer that he was the only man for the job because he could condense nuclear physicist gobblygook into a few sentences of plain English so that Groves and others could understand the meaning and importance.

Any way, here is a link to the Documentary free on YT

 

I got around to watching the Oppenheimer Documentary the other day. IMDB 7.0. It compliments the movie well and is worth a watch IMO.

I think comparing the movie and the documentary is kind of an apples and oranges thing.

On 4/12/2024 at 5:12 AM, gs joe said:

Just arrived on Prime 

watched the first episode interesting plot and characters based on a video game 

 

I had already downloaded it on IPT where it is a very popular download. IMDB of 8.0 is impressive. I have not started to watch as of yet. That will likley be about a month from now.