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Proper Crispy Pork Pad Krapow with Star Egg
These are fried on one side and hot oil is ladled over them to achieve the crispeh… This is the de facto national lunch dish, so please stop using recipes with tofu bits and chili jam mixed in them, and I’ll try and stop Asian corpos from topping pizzas with artificial crab sticks and bacon-wrapped cheese wieners stuffed in the crusts…
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Easy Solution for AMD GPU noise
A couple months ago, I put together a new PC out of cheap/used parts since I was still using an ancient 4th gen Intel CPU to power a superpotato tower (ambitiously named “fragmonster”). AMD GPUs are very unpopular in Thailand, so I found a Sapphire 6700xt for a song. I paired it with other decent-but-not-exorbitant components, and made a 1440p rig which made me quite happy. I was using it with USB headphones, and it was all good. Then one day, I plugged it into my stereo amp via the analog line out and I couldn’t believe the whining and stuttering noises coming out of it that started as soon…
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OpenAI Educator Guide
OpenAI has released an official guide for teachers using ChatGPT in their classroom: Teaching with AI It’s nice to have something official posted, at least. There are some new resources in there that I’m slowly trying to get through. The official answer to the question, “Do AI detectors work?” is: In short, no, not in our experience. https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8313351-how-can-educators-respond-to-students-presenting-ai-generated-content-as-their-own I asked ChatGPT the same question, and its answer was: AI detectors, specifically those designed to identify plagiarism or academic dishonesty, can be effective in detecting instances of copied or improperly attributed content. https://chat.openai.com/ So who knows better, the parent, or the child?
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Toshino Kickass
It seems like a funny name for a safety product, but I guess they paid someone’s 12 year old nephew to design it, so whatever… Toshino actually makes some of the higher end power strips in Thailand, though (in a market filled with dubious/dangerous products). Seen at the Thaiwatsadu home center near our home. UPDATE: The Jetpack suite for WordPress now contains a built-in AI for providing feedback on my posts before publishing. It has told me: The content mentions a safety product with a humorous name, suggesting that it may have been poorly designed. However, it also highlights that Toshino produces higher-end power strips in Thailand. The accompanying images…
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Dharmachakra
If I had a celestial chariot, that’s the kind of wheel I want on it. At a holy site in Nam Phong, Khon Kaen, that I possibly misidentified on Maps due to it being next to or possibly on the grounds of a large temple. I have asked some locals about it, and it’s still not clear. #dharmawheel #wheelofdharma #wheelofthelaw
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A Message to the US Ambassador to Thailand
On September 29, 2023, Robert F. Godec, Ambassador of the United States to Thailand, visited Mahasarakham University to open a new wing of the American Corner, at which Mina and I have been helping run open conversation classes. If the ambassador’s social media ninjas happen to see this post, please convey a message to him that I was unable to complete when a VIP entourage suddenly appeared: The best historical book in English regarding the Issan region, and Mahasarakham in particular, is The Far Province by Francis Cripps. There are several editions; try and get one with photos and you will see how much this town has developed in 60…
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Stewed Beef
I am a huge fan of stewed beef, and I love the texture of stewed meats in general. Nam’s friend from middle school opened a noodle shop near her university and we visited a while back. It was so good. I’m also loving the camera on this used Pixel 6. I was shocked to find out that a local phone accessory shop could cut me a hydrogel screen film with their cutting machine. It had the specs for my phone in its memory, along with thousands of other models I could see. Maps Link: Racha Stewed Beef
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Mahasarakham University Convention Center Building
Weather and schedule permitting, I walk around this area every day around sunset. I caught a double rainbow framing the “medieval church” convention center last week:
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wiggy
A stall selling wigs at Robinson Roi Et shopping mall. It must be noted that the number of the stall is also shorthand for the name of the city, Roi Et, which means “a hundred and one.” According to Wikipedia: The name of the province literally means ‘one hundred and one’ (Thai: ร้อยเอ็ด; RTGS: roi et ). Correctly, the number should be “eleven” (Thai: สิบเอ็ด; RTGS: sip et ), as the province was named after its eleven ancient gates built for its eleven vassal states. In ancient times, the number “eleven” was written “๑๐๑” (101) and the provincial name was written accordingly. Later, people took “๑๐๑” to mean ‘one hundred…
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Lunchtime Perfection @Praewa
Pat Prik Gang Moo Krob Khai Dao – Red Curry Stir Fry with Crispy Pork Topped w/Fried Egg (AKA Star Egg) at a short order joint between my office at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University and the National Sports University down the street. They serve the highest form of Pad Thai in the known universe, topped with crispy pork, only available at a couple restaurants I’ve ever seen.
