smileydude

With the current air pollution crisis in CM goes to show how fast things change (for the worse) and how quickly information can become outdated and incorrect and the need to double or even triple check information.

3 hours ago, Ramdas said:

Thaïs incompetence needless to say, I wonder if they received a bribe from Barhain ????

Would you care to elaborate how following international law and protocol is incompetence?

From what I see the incompetence is clearly evident on the part of the ABP and a rather shabby excuse/admittance of  “human error and outdated IT” which resulted in causing a young man and his family much distress.

I don’t see how Thailand can be blamed.

Yes Thailand has a lot of incompetent officials but in this case I think the diplomatic move to talk to Bahrain which resulted in Al-Araibi being released should be lauded if anything.

From what you described the only thing uncommon is the race of the child with the family but I would just step back and observe from afar.

Pedophilia is illegal.  Adopting a kid of a different race is not.

Fat Thai wife and whisky on the table is not unusual nor uncommon.

Good intentions under assumptions often backfire on us.

Riding a motorcycle in an unfamiliar country with the 2nd highest rate of vehicle related deaths in the world is always going to be extremely risky.  RIP

One choice is of necessity and the other want so its a normal cycle until contentment is found though sometimes I wonder if humans are capable of being truly content with what they have.

7 minutes ago, GeoMill said:

But that happend in Asia.. not in Europe. So it cant be as important to the world as whatever happend in Europe...

 

That's the hypocrisy i cant stand from a selection of westerners. The whole world needs to know about what happend in Europe, but do they even know what happend in Asia? 

My point exactly.  Thank you for putting it into perspective.

The cost of healthcare is not a conundrum.  It is due to a number of factors in the supply chain of the service which includes the presumed cost of R&D in the pharmaceutical industry, medical equipment business and investment in training people in the medical field e.g. doctors (6-10yrs),  pharmacists (5-7 yrs), nurses (4-6 years), medical technicians (2-4 years) nurse assistants (6-12months) who in turn expect reasonably good salaries. 

Private hospitals unlike Public hospitals will always be more expensive due to lack of subsidies and higher investment costs in order to provide better service (capitalism at its best).

Cost control of a part of the supply chain (medicines/commodities) WILL NOT SOLVE the problem.  It may look like a decent effort to solve the disparity in pricing.

For me I choose not to overpay for the same service by choosing hospitals like St. Louis (Catholic non profit organization) because many competent doctors from Chula who are not into maximizing their income work there part time or Siriraj Piyamahakarun, which is the private hospital arm of Siriraj hospital which is more expensive but about 20% less then BH, Bumrungrad and I get university hospital competent staff without having to deal with the private hospital policy of maximizing profit. 

Its like choosing deluxe class over business class.  I get the same basic treatment without the frills and pay less with the trade-off being longer waiting times.

It's all about supply and demand.  Businesses will gouge if you want their products/services: Think premium products like Apple, Dyson, B&O, Supercars , 5 Star hotels etc.  

Let your choice do the talking.

He's penny pinching to build that wall.

Rather surprised the big guy made it this far without getting flattened.  

Her visit show's a lot of empathy and effort by the Australian government to accommodate this single request but I wonder if it was really necessary (to spend taxpayer's money).  Could they not have a representative of the Australian consulate or someone at UNHCR process the paper work and do an interview then forward it to the Australian Foreign Ministry?

Pay him and just let it go.  I think everyone gains a few years of our life if we can lessen the stress and anger.

Any altercation with someone who has less to lose usually turns out bad for us especially being non-Thai.

Reporting it wouldn't do much good as it wasn't really a blatant offense but rather lack of communication skills (him in English, you in Thai).

Of course some will see it as inappropriate and they can choose not do such things but there are those who feel comfortable being physically close to their children as in the case of J's family.

Not everyone has an Oedipus complex.  It's their lives and they can do as they please.

Internet netizens need to get off their high horses and start focusing on more pressing issues such as borrowing other people's watches etc.

Cheating usually is a sign of:

1. Character: Integrity, commitment, honesty vs flip flopping, always lookin for something better, dishonesty...

2. True feelings: If your really in love and happy you just don't do it no matter the temptation (as was in your case).

So no matter the excuses, the feelings or the wishes to have children etc you probably have to ask yourself what kind of person cheats on others and will the relationship truly last.  The hardest decision is usually the best.

Seems totally unfazed by the arrest.  PR stunt ala thai net idol style?

I see the words “Hi-so Mercedes driver, privileged treatment, respect for the elderly etc thrown around which is a lot of assumptions on how the outcome will be but few addressing the real problem. 

I think the main problem is not all of the above but the following:

1. Many highways in Thailand do not have proper “emergency lanes”.  The lane was so inadequate in width the delivery truck was overlapping the traffic lane line despite parked inches to the barrier.  What if it was an 18 wheeler?  Just an accident waiting to happen.

2. Lifetime driver’s licenses:  Though this option has been discontinued most people over 45 have them so there are absolutely no measures to check for the physical and mental capacity of drivers especially the elderly.

3. Using your cellphone while driving: We have laws forbidding it but the whole mentality is its ok until I kill someone.  Looking at the video the Mercedes was not centered in the lane but had been driving over the left solid marker for some time so either she was distracted or she had a physical condition such as cataracts that limited her vision.

We’ve seen tragic accidents like this happen over and over again.   My car broke down on a similar elevated tollway and the only thing I could do was turn on my flashing lights, and stay 50 meters in front and away from my car until help arrived.  NEVER STAY IN OR NEAR YOUR CAR.  I don’t recall this as one of the driver’s license test questions but they should definitely make it one.

I have caught the flu 5 times this year and developed post-allergic cough for months but this can probably be explained by seasonal endemics, my increasing age and decreasing exercise regime (aka immunity in the dumps).

I have been developing skin rashes more often then usual but being sensitive to insect bites and being OCD about personal hygiene (bathing often with lots of soap = drying my skin out) is not helping to narrow down the suspects.

My water smells like metal because my pipes are getting old so contact dermatitis is always in my mind ....hmmmm.

I’ve been seeing a lot of cases of persistent skin rashes and after doing allergic testing there have been some concerning similarities.  A lot of people have been found to be developing allergies to formalin.

Most likely this formalin is coming from food and a common culprit is pork.

A lot of nasty allergens are in our food and air but are so numerous and since each person reacts differently over time (desensitization, age etc) it makes identifying the causative agent or trying to avoid it a challenge.

PM 2.5 levels have increased throughout Thailand though we are nowhere near the levels that some cities in India and China have experienced (worst in the world).

The source of PM 2.5’s in Thailand differ by province but common sources include automobiles, burning and industrial.  Burning of forests by locals releases a whole lot of potential allergens that even though the smell has faded the allergens remain in our air.

I digress Sheryl but maybe the best we can do is either hope the allergy will pass (as we become desensitized) or try to be pro-active by using technology like Hepa filters in our home.

I hope your feeling better.

In Thailand pretty girls are often attracted to “cops”.  I don’t know whether its the tight uniforms, the power to elicit fear, the machismo or what.  So if your gf has ever had a beau who was a cop and you are not 1000% sure she’s actually cut the cord or he’s the jealous type I would stay away from such “former cop gf’s” at all costs because you will never win against a man who has a gun and knows where to hide.

Problem is in the past we had lifetime valid driver's licenses so there was no way to screen drivers (especially elderly ones) for health problems such as poor eyesight, hearing etc.

The good news is lifetime valid driver's licenses are no longer offered but the bad news is most of people over 45 have them and things like this are going to happen again unless we change the rules and require those over 65 to get health checks to confirm their physical and mental capacity to drive.

I hardly think in that short span of time could the guy identify whether the snake was poisonous or not so my hats off to him for dealing with it in such a calm collected manner and even humorously showing it to the obviously freaked out cop.  It looks like he had a limp as opposed to some saying he looked like he shit in his pants.

I think the average person would have broken the Olympic high jump record when a snake heads straight for you like that.

On 12/5/2018 at 9:07 AM, Somtamnication said:

Did a border run to Mae Sai (CR). Stopped by a Bangkok Bank atm (I use Siam), 220b charge to take out 500b. Went to another bank, Kasikorn, 220 baht charge. Walked my lazy butt across the street to the Siam atm, free.

 

Go figure.

Usually when setting these fee’s the banks meet and huddle like mafiosa to set the same fee rates so we consumers think its standard (but is actually cooperative monopolization and not free capitalistic competition) so unless we use our own bank, we pay dearly.

I guess its fair in the sense that like HMO’s you have to use THEIR hospitals so in this case you have to roam around and find THEIR ATM’s.  It’s all about cost control.

They finally agreed to share the cost of 150,000,000 million baht for the software linking each other’s databases?

Most likely to to be “reclaimed” from sharing the fine revenue perhaps.

Time to go pay for those tickets but oh crap I threw them away thinking pigs would fall from the sky before cooperation would ever occur between different government agencies as this is rarer then hen’s teeth.

The mindset and rationale of some Thai parent’s on how to raise or deal with their children is disturbingly distorted.

I knew a female taxi driver who was also head of a “motorcycle taxi stand”  and she had this son who was a juvenile delinquent.  Starting at about the age of 11 he refused to go to school and then later joined those “Dek Van” motorcycle racing gangs.

I asked her why she didn’t intervene and she told me she couldn’t control him or do anything about.

At the age of 13 he got into an accident and broke his arm and she asked me to help take care of him (as I worked at the hospital).  I visited him and tried to advise him that its very dangerous and that he should try to focus on his studies for his own future.

1 year later he got into a more serious motorcycle accident this time unconscious with cerebral hemorrhage.

His Mom was screaming in the ER why people weren’t doing more to help her son as she thought just because she knows me she has the right to pull off a “I know the hospital director crap”.

I checked the facts and his condition was so serious we needed to refer him to a hospital with an advanced neurosurgery department.  He had a 50-50 chance of survival.  We immediately coordinated with the other hospital, transferred him and they did surgery on him within 12 hrs.  He survived.

I told the mother that it was not right to chastise the ER or hospital staff.  I let her know that her son’s recklessness and her own decisions on how to raise her son were the reasons that he was in such a dire situation and they only had themselves to blame and to no longer ask me for favors.

I had hoped they both learned their lesson but from what I’ve been told he is now an 18 year old part time motorcycle taxi driver/street racer.  Oh and btw he also impregnated some teenage girl when she was 15.

Wuh da fudge ????!!!!!   (facepalm)

17 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

Did you miss school directors and teachers off the list?

Don’t forget Catholic Priests too

Entrapment?  Any doctor using his position to abuse patients (eg. Larry Nassau of Women’s Gymnastic Assoc fame comes to mind) is pretty scummy but going back after the doc “rubbed his genitals and tried to kiss her” is really unusual and even if she wanted to gather more evidence to incriminate the doctor why allow 15-20 minutes of intercourse?  

The doctor is definitely in the wrong so hopefully she will be his last victim.