CharlieH

I think that, in age old Thai tradition depends entirely to who you talk to on the day at that specific time.

Reported post and response removed

Some places put up signs "patrons only" to stop casual use.

What you describe sounds like a degree of dehydration caused by alcohol which is the primary reason of a hangover. Drinking water before sleep is a good move and keep a bottle of water/glass on your bedside. After you had your pee in the night drink more water again and you'll notice the difference in the morning.

The Thai car insurance market is unique compared to other Asian market and worldwide. That's because most of the car insurance policies sold in Thailand are without excess. Based on our experience at Roojai.com, this is one of the reasons for the high number of road accidents in Thailand. Contrary to common belief, no-excess policies do not benefit the customer, the insurer or the overall society. The only winners in this context are the agents and brokers earning higher commissions on inflated insurance premiums. What is the Insurance Excess? The excess is the maximum amount that a driver will payout for an accident when they are at fault, or there is no third-party involved. It is, in simple words, the amount of risk that the driver retains before the insurer takes over the rest of the bill. If the driver is not at fault in a car accident, they don't have to worry about the policy excess. The insurer will recover the damage from the third-party at fault, and the excess will not need to apply. Here is an example. Let's say a driver hits a pillar in a car park. They have a 5,000 THB excess on the car insurance policy, and the car repair bill is 12,000 THB. It means that the insurer will pay 7,000 THB, and the driver will pay 5,000 THB. It is pretty straightforward. If the car repair cost is 3,000 THB, the driver can repair the car, without submitting an insurance claim. In this way, the insurance premium and the No Claim Bonus will not be affected. Here is why no-excess insurance is worse. Most drivers believe it is better to have an insurance policy without excess. You have nothing to worry about, and the insurance company pays for everything in case of a car accident. It sounds great. Not if you look a bit deeper on how car insurance prices work. When there is no excess, every little damage becomes an insurance claim which requires the insurance company to intervene. For example, when someone reports a 3,000 THB claim for a small dent, the car insurance company will open a file and have a claim handler to send a surveyor to review the damage. Then they will discuss with the garage to approve the car repair. Afterwards, they will receive a quotation from the garage, authorize it, receive an invoice and pay the invoice. That is a lot of people managing a lot of paperwork for a 3,000 THB insurance claim. The cost of handling an insurance claim is on average, about 2,000 THB, without including the actual repair. While customers may think they do not have to pay, the insurance premium calculation includes all these expenses, and they impact everybody. Statistically, one accident out of two is for an insurance claim below 5,000 THB. These claims generate very high costs for insurance companies. The companies, of course, include these costs in the car insurance premiums. Why are so many no-excess car insurance policies sold in Thailand? If it is a lose/lose situation for both driver and insurer, why is no-excess insurance so common? The simple answer is because there is one big winner in the transaction: the intermediaries. Agents' and brokers' remuneration is a percentage of the car insurance premium. They usually get paid 18% of the premium so the higher the insurance premium, the better for them. For this reason, they tend to promote insurance policies without excess with the simple message: 'It is much better for you. You don't have to pay for anything, and the insurer will pay every cost'. It is indeed a great simple message. But one that does not stand scrutiny because you are paying much more upfront than you should. Let's have another example. The average car repair cost is 10,000 THB per year. An insurance company needs to manage all insurance claims, including small claims : On average, 3000 THB for the whole servicing of policy (issue policy, send documents, offices, etc.) Out of the 3000, 1000 THB is for managing insurance claims, out of which 500 to manage small claims below 5000 THB. Then the agents take 18% of the total car insurance premium. So the total insurance premium is: 16,000 = 10,000 (car repair cost) + 2,000 (insurance company expenses, non-claims) + 500 (manage claims of more than 5,000) + 500 (manage small car accidents) + 3,000 (broker agent commission % of insurance premium) Now, continuing with our example, let's assume the customer choose excess insurance of 5,000. On average, it will reduce the repair cost carried by the insurer to 5,000. It will also reduce the cost of managing insurance claims by 500 by removing the small claims. The cost without commission becomes 5,000+2,000+500 = 7,500. The intermediaries are taking 18% of the premium, but now the car insurance premium is 5,000 + 2,000 + 500 + 1,600 = 9,100 The customer would have to pay the excess when they have a car accident at fault or without a third-party, which is on average an additional 5000. That makes the total cost on average 9,100 + 5,000 = 14,100, which is a saving of 1,900 THB. This saving comes mainly from the broker remuneration, reduced from 3000THB to 1600THB. Also, there is a 500THB in cost-saving from the insurance company since they don't have to manage small claims. One can easily understand that the main losers in this equation are the intermediaries, and that's why most intermediaries will advise you to buy a no-excess insurance policy. Another benefit of excess insurance is that small insurance claims won't be reported. So, they won't impact the driving record of the insured driver with his insurance company. At the time of renewal, the driver can benefit from an improvement in its No Claim Bonus. Why would it benefit customers and society if more drivers used insurance policies with excess? Another benefit of policies with excess is that drivers with an excess drive better. On average, people with insurance excess do fewer road accidents. If a driver knows that a car accident will generate a cost, he/she will take fewer risks. With a no excess insurance policy, the driver bears no consequences in a car accident. It would not be a big deal if that caused implications only for the driver and its car. Unfortunately, reckless driving has an obvious consequence which often can lead to injuries or death of other people. There is a correlation between the high number of road accidents in Thailand and the preponderance of zero excess insurance policies. In conclusion, we strongly advocate for buying an insurance policy with excess to save money, for yourself and others, and to reduce the risk of road accidents. Roojai.com online car insurance Expect more, save more

Stop the personal comments please.

Depends entirely how long you intend to stay in Thailand. There is a practical answer known to be the actual case in majority of identical situations, and of course the official answer to this question.

Public discussion of other members is against community guidelines. Posts removed.

This also my understanding.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he informed the United States of his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state after the resolution of the Gaza conflict. During a press conference, Netanyahu asserted his determination to continue the offensive until achieving "complete victory," defined as the destruction of Hamas and the return of remaining Israeli hostages, acknowledging that this might take "many more months." With nearly 25,000 Palestinians reported killed in Gaza and 85% of the Strip's population displaced, international pressure on Israel to halt its offensive and engage in meaningful talks for a sustainable end to the war has intensified. The US and other allies, as well as some adversaries, have advocated for reviving the dormant "two-state solution," wherein a future Palestinian state coexists with Israel. Many hope that the ongoing crisis could push the conflicting parties back to diplomacy as a preferable alternative to continuous cycles of violence. However, Netanyahu's comments suggest a contrary intention. Following Netanyahu's statements, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby acknowledged the divergence in perspectives between the US and Israel. Netanyahu had previously asserted on Thursday that Israel must maintain security control over all land west of the River Jordan, encompassing the territory of any potential Palestinian state. He framed this as a necessary condition for Israel's security, conflicting with the notion of Palestinian sovereignty. Netanyahu's latest remarks align with his longstanding opposition to Palestinian statehood, a position he proudly emphasized just last month. The public rejection of Washington's diplomatic efforts and the commitment to the current military strategy illustrate a widening gap with Israel's Western allies. Since the October 7 attacks, the most devastating in Israel's history, where Hamas gunmen killed approximately 1,300 Israelis and took 240 hostage, the US has supported Israel's right to self-defence. However, as the death toll rises in Gaza and distressing scenes unfold, Western governments have urged Israeli restraint. The White House has consistently sought to influence Israel's military approach, advocating for more precision-guided weapons, discouraging a ground offensive, and promoting a two-state solution with a role for the Palestinian Authority in post-conflict Gaza. 19.01.24 Source

On the bottom it states "Food and Drug Administration. " "Print from the original electronic document Food and Drug Administration Ministry of Public Health" That's where you'd get it.

3 kids, age 12 and under, after midnight riding a motorcycle ! What could possibly go wrong. The irresponsible actions of some parents just astound me.

Inflammatory trolling post and subsequent responses removed.

Right tool for the right job. I wouldn't be buying furniture or large appliances etc etc online. I'd need to see it and touch it first. Not being potentially misled by a manipulated images.

Wealth can be measured in many ways. You are here, you seems to have reasonable health, you havnt been hit by a truck or succumbed to substance etc, maybe NONE of that would be the case if you HAD NOT contributed. You have a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food on the table, money in your pocket. Be grateful and recognise what you have that millions do not.😉

MOVED to Finance forum

It is a scandal that has rumbled for years, and yet it is suddenly dominating UK politics. Here is a guide to the saga of the Post Office and its Horizon IT system. What is it all about? It has been described without exaggeration by the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in UK history: the hounding and prosecution of thousands of people who owned and ran smaller post offices for alleged fraud between 1999 and 2015, the overwhelming majority of whom were falsely accused. The initial fault was with Horizon, a digital accounting system installed by the IT multinational Fujitsu, which wrongly said post office branches had cash shortfalls. This was then compounded by the Post Office, the company behind the network, which rejected any fault with Horizon and insisted operators must have taken the money, to the extent of covering up the real problem. Overall, 3,500 branch owner-operators were wrongly accused and more than 900 prosecuted, with many of these jailed and ruined. Some suffered significant ill health, local ostracism and family breakup, and in a handful of cases, suicide. Who were the people wrongly accused? These were, in the traditional job description, subpostmasters and postmistresses, who owned and ran smaller post offices as franchises. While they were independent, often owning the building where the business was based, they were part of the Post Office system, which handles not just letters and parcels but services including banking, bill payments, money transfers and applications for documents. The Post Office, which has about 11,500 branches across the UK, was formerly part of Royal Mail, but was split off in 2012 when the mail service was privatised. FULL STORY

Israel has shown “chilling” and “incontrovertible” intent to commit genocide in Gaza, with full knowledge of how many civilians it is killing, the UN international court of justice in The Hague has heard, at the opening of a case Israel has described as baseless. South Africa, which has brought the case, alleged “grave violence and genocidal acts” by Israel, on the first morning of the two-day hearing amid a febrile atmosphere outside the court in The Hague. It called on the judges to order an immediate ceasefire. It said evidence of genocide was present in the number of civilians killed by Israel and also in statements made by its political and military leaders, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In support of its case, it showed photos of Palestinian mass graves, Israeli flags adorning wreckage in Gaza and what it claimed were videos of Netanyahu expressing support for genocide, as well as troops – taking his cue, it alleged – chanting “no uninvolved citizens”. “Genocides are never declared in advance but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly, a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” the South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the court. Her colleague Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said there had been “reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of state in Israel” such that “the evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible”. Israel, which has denied the allegations, will give its response on Friday. It has said it is waging war against Palestinian militants, not the Palestinian people. In a statement, Israel’s foreign ministry accused South Africa of rank hypocrisy, saying it had ignored “the fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and kidnapped Israeli citizens, just because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide”. FULL STORY

SUMMARY US and UK forces have carried out air strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen President Biden says the strikes are in response to attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis on ships in the Red Sea since November Royal Air Force warplanes helped carry out the "targeted strikes" against military facilities, says PM Rishi Sunak The UK PM adds that the strikes are "limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence" The Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Bahrain provided support as part of the mission, says Biden Houthi deputy foreign minister warns US and UK will "pay a heavy price" for this "blatant aggression" Strikes are reported in the capital Sanaa, the Houthi Red Sea port of Hudaydah, Dhamar and north-western Houthi stronghold of Saada The Houthis control much of Yemen and say they are supporting ally Hamas by targeting shipping headed to Israel Pentagon details air strike targets US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has just released a statement saying that the joint military "action is intended to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ capabilities". The attacks "targeted the Houthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, uncrewed surface vessel, land-attack cruise missile, and costal radar and air surveillance capabilities". A US defense official said the Pentagon chief had monitored the operation in real time from hospital, where he has had surgery for prostate cancer. This official said Austin was "actively involved" and has spoken to the president twice in the past 72 hours leading up to the operation. Austin has been under political fire this week after he failed to let the White House know about his hospital admission, including time in intensive care. FULL STORY

Donald Trump returned to Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday for the last day of his fraud trial, lashing out in court at the attorney general who brought the case. A judge has already determined that Trump family members and executives fraudulently inflated assets to secure favourable loans. But the trial will determine damages. New York Judge Arthur Engoron has said he will issue a final written ruling in the case by the end of the month. The outcome could be stiff penalties that may challenge the famous family's legacy after it built its fortune in New York real estate. New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking the judge for a $370m (£290m) penalty. She also aims to bar Donald Trump from ever doing business in New York again, a five-year ban for Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr and an independent monitor to oversee their company for the next five years. Mr Trump's attorneys attempted to discredit Ms James's case, arguing during two hours of closing argument on Thursday that the family had not committed fraud. At the end, the former president interjected as well. After defence lawyer Christopher Kise requested that his client be allowed to speak, Mr Trump told the judge the trial was a "a fraud on me". Judge Engoron allowed Mr Trump to continue talking despite him refusing to abide by restrictions set by the judge. Mr Trump went on to insult Judge Engoron as well as Ms James. "We have a situation where I'm an innocent man, I've been persecuted by someone running for office," Mr Trump said, before Judge Engoron told Mr Kise to "control his client". Mr Trump has made similar complaints during the three-month trial, both in his testimony before the court and in his speeches to reporters outside. He also brought up similar grievances when speaking to the press on three separate occasions during the hearing on Thursday. FULL STORY

A huge ancient city has been found in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years by lush vegetation. The discovery changes what we know about the history of people living in the Amazon. The houses and plazas in the Upano area in eastern Ecuador were connected by an astounding network of roads and canals. The area lies in the shadow of a volcano that created rich local soils but also may have led to the destruction of the society. While we knew about cities in the highlands of South America, like Machu Picchu in Peru, it was believed that people only lived nomadically or in tiny settlements in the Amazon. "This is older than any other site we know in the Amazon. We have a Eurocentric view of civilisation, but this shows we have to change our idea about what is culture and civilisation," says Prof Stephen Rostain, director of investigation at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, who led the research. "It changes the way we see Amazonian cultures. Most people picture small groups, probably naked, living in huts and clearing land - this shows ancient people lived in complicated urban societies," says co-author Antoine Dorison. The city was built around 2,500 years ago, and people lived there for up to 1,000 years, according to archaeologists. It is difficult to accurately estimate how many people lived there at any one time, but scientists say it is certainly in the 10,000s if not 100,000s. The archaeologists combined ground excavations with a survey of a 300 sq km (116 sq mile) area using laser sensors flown on a plane that could identify remains of the city beneath the dense plants and trees. This LiDAR technology found 6,000 rectangular platforms measuring about 20m (66 ft) by 10m (33 ft) and 2-3m high. FULL STORY

Unsubstantiated . CLOSED

Because why would you want or need to like your own posts. They are provided for use on other posts. not your own.