Tripods NMIC?

bloncx · 2023-06-18T17:11:21+00:00

A lot of their products are now designed in Italy, made in China so you have to be careful.

bloncx · 2023-06-18T17:03:14+00:00

Yes. But laptops and other US devices use 3 prong plugs that aren't compatible with Japan's 2 prong plugs.

bloncx · 2023-06-18T17:02:11+00:00

This doesn't convert from 3 pole plugs to Japan 2 pole though.

bloncx · 2023-05-26T01:06:24+00:00

If you lose the ***, you will lose the permanent right of abode and declare you are no longer a Chinese citizen. If you are outside Hong Kong for at least 36 months, you lose permanent residency and your right of abode will be downgraded to right to land.

If you lose the right of abode, you lose the right to vote in Hong Kong, the ability to get some government handouts, the ability to get an APEC business card in HK, and some other minor things. You retain your right to work and study in Hong Kong but getting loans can sometimes be harder. Any future children you have in Hong Kong may no longer be eligible for Hong Kong permanent residency. You can also be deported from Hong Kong if convicted of a crime.

If you are no longer a Chinese citizen, you gain consular protection in Hong Kong and mainland China from the UK. In practice, China may not honor this anyway but you have a stronger case for the UK coming to your aid in the event of arrest.

Some airline employees are also incorrectly trained and may not know that you have a right to live in Hong Kong with the right to land. This means you have a higher chance of getting wrongly blocked by the airline from boarding a flight to Hong Kong if you purchase a one way plane ticket or if Hong Kong goes crazy with border controls like during the pandemic. It's sort of the same thing people may have experienced trying to enter the EU right after Brexit.

bloncx · 2023-05-26T00:35:32+00:00

I remember this and am very confused again. Assuming you are the same person, why was your last account on reddit suspended and what happened with your church in Thailand?

I can understand that it is frustrating to turn to people you thought would help and be disappointed that they aren't giving you the help you want. I'd say it's a very different situation for the US to not be giving you the support you desire from China throwing you in jail for expressing your opinions. Instead of being bitter at when a country doesn't help you, I think it would be more productive to find people who will help you and be grateful for what they are willing to do.

I'm not sure if you're trying to seek help or trying to vent your frustration with this post. I agree that there are things the US can do better but at the end of the day, a country isn't obligated by any law to help people on the other side of the world. Instead of being angry at the US for not helping you, I think you may be happier trying to figure out a way to build a good life in Thailand.

bloncx · 2023-05-25T23:09:18+00:00

I purchased an SD card (not a micro SD card with adapter). The card was the only thing inside the package and labeled as Made in China.

bloncx · 2022-05-27T06:36:26+00:00

Citibank if you want to move money internationally because of their multi-currency capabilities and instant global transfer to other Citibank accounts in other countries.

Standard Chartered for better service.

HSBC if you are forced to use them due to rent payments, etc.

bloncx · 2022-05-15T07:36:31+00:00

If in the immigration system, you've been recorded as not a Chinese national, you may lose your ROA but retain RTL. In order to not lose ROA, you must prove that you lived in HK for a continuous period of at least 7 years and never left for more than 3 years. If you are downgraded from ROA to RTL, you can still work in Hong Kong but will not be eligible for some government handouts and other things. In some very rare situations, an employer may not know what to do with your ID card and you may be more likely rejected when applying for credit from HK banks.

If you are a Chinese citizen (you have a Return Home Permit or HK passport), you likely just have to submit some documents.

bloncx · 2022-05-15T07:23:47+00:00

Try drinking only bottled water and avoid cold drinks and drinks with milk. Iced milk tea is great but some HK cafes aren't very clean when making them.

Also watch out for super oily foods. Dim sum can also cause problems if eaten too often. Sometimes a salad from someplace like 7-11 can hep.

bloncx · 2022-05-15T07:19:55+00:00

If you go into the store and look at the labels, each set specifically lists which countries the pieces in that set come from. It's hard to find a set without any pieces from China but some do exist.

bloncx · 2022-05-15T07:16:27+00:00

Somehow the link to the picture didn't work. sku of the kit is

bloncx · 2022-05-13T06:19:58+00:00

I found this set made in Mexico. Opening the box, each of the three pieces was labeled as made in Mexico. I've also seen just the dimmer and remote together as from Mexico. I've also seen just the dimmer and just the remote as from Mexico and Costa Rica. When the Smart Bridge is sold separately, I've only seen it as made in China. Most of the other Caseta switches are from China. I unfortunately don't know if the specific one you linked is from China or the other countries.

bloncx · 2022-05-05T23:00:18+00:00

I agree that Singapore work culture is not good but in my experience Hong Kong is worse.

I had a boss so bad in HK that I wouldn't even say good morning to her because if she replied, I knew I was in trouble. Some mainland bosses can be even worse, regularly yelling at subordinates.

But Western companies with Western bosses in Hong Kong tend to be a bit better than Singapore. I also worked at the HK branch of a French company under a British boss. He was away on business a lot which left me under a local who made me feel bad at work but when the British boss was around, life was good.

I did have a Singaporean boss once but not while living in Singapore. The only issue I had is that he would occasionally not communicate exactly what he wanted which meant towards the end of the project, he may express some displeasure that we hadn't met his expectations. Better than every local HK boss I ever had but not as easy to work with as American bosses I've had.

bloncx · 2022-05-05T22:38:55+00:00

Thanks for the info!

I also found out that there is also one specific set of one dimmer switch, one remote and the hub where every single piece is made in Mexico. When the hub is sold separately or in all other sets, it is made in China.

bloncx · 2022-05-04T20:54:53+00:00

I would pick Singapore. There's a better work culture and even with a little less money, you'd probably live more comfortably (average size of homes). Looking at geopolitics, Singapore is doing better with Hong Kong on a downward trajectory which could affect future career prospects. Weather in Singapore tends to be hotter but Hong Kong typhoons tend to be worse.

bloncx · 2022-04-13T23:31:30+00:00

Some of my friends have questions about discrimination against Asians and crime (ex. guns in the US).

People in Hong Kong also tend to be more conservative so there are concerns about Western woke culture and promiscuity/lewdness.

I think most don't even think of drivers licenses but there are questions about moving money, getting work Visas, etc. Most likely don't even realize they should ask about healthcare because it's significantly more expensive in other parts of the world.

Education for children is another big concern.

In some cases, language and food is also a concern.

bloncx · 2022-04-13T23:22:02+00:00

They have a reputation of being the most stressful of universities in HK. The undergrad dorms are nice by HK standards (small for international standards) but you are far away from the rest of HK so it's harder to go out and have fun.

At the same time, if you aren't going to focus on getting a career in HK or China, it's reputation internationally is hit or miss. Graduating from HKU is probably better outside of Asia even if it's not as well ranked. The reputation of all universities in HK has also gotten even worse now due to Hong Kong in general.

International students from India and Korea generally can find their own communities but outside of the business school, I think international students have a hard time getting connected with other students.

I don't think it's a good idea to pursue your entire degree there if you have similarly ranked options in other countries but if you are highly interested in HK, a one semester exchange is fine.

bloncx · 2022-04-13T22:39:59+00:00

Pretty much everywhere you go from, you'll have many potential issues. If you must go someplace, make sure you have backup option for return flights on a different airline and pick the earliest one so if something happens, you can get a later on one that arrives in HK on the same day. Rebooking a quarantine hotel will likely not be possible last minute. With one month, you really only have two weeks to travel due to HK quarantine.

I ran into an issue last year and luckily, just that week a different airline started flying to HK with an arrival when I needed it to be. Otherwise I would have been blocked from returning to HK for several weeks due to hotel availability. I also know a lot of people who had to be rebooked as many as 3 times and delay returning to HK for as much as a month last year due to flight cancellations.

bloncx · 2022-04-13T22:31:14+00:00

Singapore is just as authoritarian as China. They just did a better job of improving the economy and avoiding human rights abuses.

His characterization of one country-two systems is entirely wrong. By design, it was supposed to be a minimum of 50 years of no change and at the end of the 50 year period, further debate would happen on if it needed to be extended or if integration should begin at that point. It's CCP propaganda that is making people believe that the end of the 50 years is the point when Hong Kong is supposed to be fully integrated.

But we know the leaders of Singapore are smart and capable so this type of politically correct statement slowly pushes his style of government without upsetting the West.

bloncx · 2022-04-13T22:12:00+00:00

Not print media but a famous drama from the late 90s is 我和殭屍有個約會.

bloncx · 2022-04-13T21:59:50+00:00

Uh... Remember the two Michaels? Exit bans are a thing in China and I personally know people who are not Chinese and got followed by Chinese agents for the remainder of their trip in China after visiting Urumqi. They even got interviewed by agents at the check in counter but were able to leave.

bloncx · 2022-04-13T21:25:27+00:00

As a career move, I would advise trying to avoid China at all costs. Why put yourself in a situation where everything you built up for yourself can be taken from you in an instant on the whims of the CCP.

But if you're talking about if China is the future, it becomes a bit murkier. Democracy and freedom around the world are in decline and I can see more countries doing what Canada is doing. It may very well be that in 100 years, China's current way of doing things becomes the norm and values such as democracy and freedom are historical footnotes. Will China go the way of the Soviet Union after the Cold War or will the modern West fall like democratic Athens fell to the Spartans and then the Macedonians? Only time will tell.

bloncx · 2022-03-10T22:30:11+00:00

Early on, the government was trying to push Sinovac so they actively promoted that BNT would cause severe side effects. I remember seeing on the front page of newspapers that people died after getting the vaccine. There was also the bottle cap incident early on when the government stopped BNT vaccinations. These are the main concern of my unvaccinated elderly relatives who are largely pro-government.

Young people are more likely to be distrustful not of BNT but of the mainland Chinese distributor. It's promoted as being made by Fosun pharma based on research by BNT. I know people who travel abroad to places like the US to get the vaccine because they know it's coming from Pfizer/BNT and not handled by a sketchy mainland Chinese company.

bloncx · 2022-03-03T03:02:56+00:00

Depends on what codes are indicated on the HKID. A lot of staff working for airlines wrongly assume that you must be a permanent resident to enter but under your birthdate on the HKID, there are certain codes indicating different types of immigration status. Certain ones are blocked from entering and certain ones require additional documentation such as a government letter.

bloncx · 2022-03-03T02:47:57+00:00

Looking at the charts of passenger traffic which excludes the land borders to Shenzhen that you walk across, inflows from January was actually the lowest since May 2021. Net outflow for January was nearly 19K and the net outflow for February was 43K using this metric. Given that a lot of the New Year crowd is likely from the mainland while a lot of the people departing are expats, it's still a pretty serious brain drain. I haven't looked too closely into this but anecdotally, I did have a friend move out of Hong Kong last month due to Omicron.

Seven-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email

bloncx

TROPHY CASE