AgentSmith

Really? Can you give an example?

Paper will keep working regardless of digital methods so what's your point? No one's preventing you from using cash. Works fine for me. Payments happen within a second. Much faster than fiddling with coins by most people. Actually your phone doesn't even need a data connection for NFC payments. That's a huge advantage over QR payments. QR is fine but quite cumbersome. Requires a data connection, opening an app, enterinf an amount and showing the payment slip to the vendor. NFC payments don't require any of this. Unlock your phone, hold it close to the payment terminal and done. Faster than anything else even cash. I've been using Wise with Google Wallet for a while now in Thailand. Works great. I can leave most of my money abroad now. I convert to Thai baht in my account when the exchange rate is optimal and just leave my baht there. The less money I need to send to my Thai bank account the better.

Plenty of alternative channels too. As long as the official channels divide their customers by man-made borders I'll happily pay alternative channels to watch what I want wherever I want. In any language not just English.

I'm pretty sure that was irony. ????

There are indeed plenty of very friendly pitbulls and lots of people are actively trying to give these dogs a better reputation. The problem though is that they _can_ be trained to become killer dogs which is what happens too often. Pitties can be turned into weapons (can't do that with a lab) and too many people abuse that. So yeah better to get rid of them. Problem solved. Just like ordinary people shouldn't have guns. No pitties far fewer kids will be killed from dog bites. No guns no high school shootings and far fewer kids are killed. It's quite straightforward logic really.

Obviously we can't take this message seriously in a country with more soi dogs than people. You'd think they'd take all those dogs off the streets but no.. Too much work for these lazy tarts. Tough language without tough actions in this country, as always.

there is a much worse pandemic in the making. We're having the worst bird flu epidemic in recorded history and it's happening in western countries. Trust me, once it jumps over to people and starts killing millions we'll be missing the current corona viral pandemic.

You gotta read all my posts. I clearly wrote this is a northern African problem specifically. For all sorts of reasons.

Epidemiologists treat ebola very differently from monkey pox. If there is an isolated case of ebola somewhere on the planet you can be 100% sure this person will be isolated immediately. This means full hazmat. Ebola means big trouble for the people around. Ebola will never get the chance that monkey pox got to go around. And of course that is directly related to the death rate of both diseases.

Why would you say that? The death rate of monkey pox among people who get proper medical treatment is practically 0.

Ebola not being airborne doesn't spread very easily. It can hit North African countries hard but that is partly due to cultural reasons. Many local communities there balm the dead and ebola takes advantage of this intensive bodily contact. The distrust in medical facilities is also quite high causing many sick people to stay in their village infecting others. Ebola is a highly incidental disease in other areas and for good reason. I wouldn't worry outside North Africa.

So when is Thailand actually going to adopt NFC technology for store payments? QR codes are clumsy and always require a data connection. NFC payments work entirely offline and don't require any user input other than unlocking your phone. This has been mainstream tech in the west for years now. In my home country I can create a virtual debit card in my online banking app. Then I simply hold my phone next to a payment terminal until all lights are green. Takes 2 seconds max and done. Works everywhere. And if Thai banks don't want to adopt this tech all by themselves then they could at least support Google and Apple pay. I prefer the direct method though.

Depends what kind of upper we're talking about.

Road safety is about more than just deaths per 100.000 people. In a city where many people take other modes of transport than a car a certain amount of deaths on the road means the roads are more dangerous than in another city where almost everyone drives and the same amount of people die on the roads as in the former city. In other words. If a higher percentage of the population drives a car or motorbike the roads are safer relatively speaking if the absolute amount of road deaths stays the same. This means you also need to take the amount of regular drivers into account in a given country or region. That said though, America being an extremely car dependent nation has a very high number of drivers which should mean their road safety is OK even if their death toll per 100.000 inhabitants is considerably higher than say Switzerland's where public transportation use is enormous. ---- A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation. ― Gustavo Petro

Life sentence for killing someone after road rage? And how can 3 people all back up a single truck? Weird story and I'll surely be very careful from now on not to get angry on the road. I mean if these people really do get the same prison sentence as the next serial killer who knows what less evil outcomes can mean in jail time...

I think the main issue is that many farang have frames of reference from back home that are just as bad as Thailand. Utopia in a sense does exist when it comes to really well designed infrastructure. I really do miss the amazing infrastructure from my country of origin. It's just that there are other reasons keeping me here. Mostly the pace of life really. And the climate. I'm a happy person here. English isn't my native language though and sometimes what I write comes off a bit harsh. I generally don't mind the roads here. They're good enough. Just not what they could be and just a few changes could improve capacity and safety by a lot. Nothing wrong with a bit of wishful thinking.

No no.. I know your kind. Unable to play ball and always straight onto the player. Any player. For no reason other then to just fight and annoy. I don't care what your kind thinks though. Whatever floats your boat but you won't get under my skin. ????

It's just a wish. You're the one complaining.

"He also said that drivers in the right lane on such roads must not travel at less than 100 kmph." I wish they'd teach drivers to always keep left when possible. The keep your lane idea is a horrible system that only creates slow moving islands of vehicles greatly reducing the capacity of the road. Many traffic jams happen for this reason and are totally avoidable. There's absolutely no need to stick to the right when one or more lanes on the left are quiet. Also U-turns in the middle of the road should be banned on all multi lane roads. Having to leave and again enter a road via the fast lane is the worst piece of road design I've ever seen anywhere.

I'm one of those expats but Thailand is dealing with the unfortunate reality where too many foreigners enter the country without proper insurance. Getting it for them is a way to get around the problem. Also if people are getting out of wack over 300 frick'n baht as if it means the world to them then those might very well be the same people who are too cheap to even get proper insurance.

Wouldn't be surprised if it's mostly Americans here who are opposed to mandatory insurance. Communist nonsense they must think. The rest of (aka the sane part of) the developed world nods in approval. Those unforeseen medical expenses have to be paid from somewhere. It better not be some horrendous crowd funding project to beg for money. Oh please give me a hundred thousands bucks so I can fly home. Please please before I die.. Certain people really have to get some common sense. Fine if you come here without proper coverage but don't start crying when things go off the rails and instead just gracefully accept the consequences.

No just smoke free. I don't care if you drink yourself to death. Also alcohol tastes good. There's nothing nice about smoking. Even many smokers think so.

In the mean time young teenagers in Western countries are getting hooked on vaping. From as young as 10-12 yo they're inhaling nicotine liquids often on a daily basis. Schools are reporting kids who are absent minded or worse who are coping with health issues as a direct result. Vaping makes smoking much more accessible while what we should really strive for is a smoke free society. Smoking is bad. Vaping is bad. There's absolutely no need to compare the two when one is often just a precursor to the other.

How about they finally do something about diesel vehicles that clearly lack any filter? Or even better, ban the sale of smaller diesel trucks and pickup trucks all together... It would also help a lot if they'd electrify all tuktuks and motorbikes. That would force Honda and other manufacturers to finally introduce electric versions of their standard models. It's 2022 and the only EV's in the country are for the rich. That's no way to improve air quality. Not even by a long shot.

Malaysia and Singapore have 90 days visa exempt for many passports. Why shouldn't Thailand do the same? Would make the country a lot more attractive for many people.