NotEinstein

Why are westerners so obsessed with democracy/capitalism/science? If every region of the world had the same ideas, beliefs and understanding of life etc. would it be a better, or boring world?

Just in case anyone else is in the NI top-up black hole, once you have your Future Pensions forecast, you can pay any missing years without needing the dreaded 18 digit code if non-UK-resident. The information is on the website, but not obvious. I managed to pay mine today.

https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance/make-an-online-or-telephone-bank-transfer

A friend has a house just available for rent - 2 bedrooms one with air-con, near the river, about 20 minutes south of the city - 4,000 pm

A pregnant cat chose our garden to give birth in. I was brought up with dogs but my wife has been anti-pets. The mother had obviously be dumped as she in good with people. Now the 3 remaining kittens are 7 weeks old and it looks as though she is pregnant again......

Anybody want some cats?

https://shopee.co.th/Diatomaceous-Earth-(Filter-Aid-Type-A)-1-Kg.-ดินเบา-สีขาวพิเศษ-(ผงกรอง)-ขนาด-1-กิโลกรัม-110256-i.804789002.23354833815

https://shopee.co.th/ซิลิโคนกันกลิ่น-กันแมลง-ในท่อ-ใช้งานได้ยาวนาน-i.391868721.9619356762

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I was contacted last year by a former pension company I had transferred out of many years back.

 

Essentially the letter said they owe me 4000 pounds that they had underpaid when I made the transfer.

 

I didn't question them, just gave my bank account, and a few days later had free money.

That would be nice, but surely she could have just told me that.......

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

 

They are required to do an identity check on you, this is generally done by a credit check on your UK bank, or UK address.

 

Without this check they won't pay out, and they have no way to do this check with someone who has neither.

 

But they asked for my Thai bank details, they now knowing 'where I live'......

And I no longer have a policy with them.....

In May I received a letter from Pru, part of M&G plc, requesting me to fill out a 'confirmation of details' form, which I duly did. I assume they got my address from HMRC via my NI number.

Yesterday I received another letter requesting me to send a recent bank statement so that they can "proceed further". As with HMRC, I ended up phoning them 3 times, each time being on hold for 15 minutes and then speaking to someone that, while being very courteous and helpful, couldn't get access to my details - the last one arranging a call-back, which happened this afternoon.

Once clearing identification, I asked why they wanted my bank details (the policies I had with them were transferred 10 years ago). I then asked for a transfer balance, I was put on hold, then not given a value, she was very evasive, and then could no longer hear me, although I could hear her.

Are they now so incompetent that they may be paying out on old policies?

Probably indicates that a different kind of 'surgery' is required, if the brain thinking it would be a good idea can't be made to see how shallow the idea is.......

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Actually not complicated at all, if mechanically inclined.  A few members installed, maintain (very little), and upgrade their own systems.  YT will talk you through installing.  Doesn't seem difficult at all.

I didn't say it was difficult - my point was that there is the risk of single point of failure that would be down to you to fix - crossy has had issues for example. With luck maybe you will not encounter any problems, but we all know about the business models of organisations manufacturing such products - cut corners as much as possible to maximize profit. The days of companies being run with technical professionalism being prime is long gone - think Boeing.......

In my computer engineer days in the 80's I was called to a city stock broker to repair a non-starting CDC 9766 300MB exchangeable disk drive which used a large motor to spin the pack - I put my fingers on the start capacitor and started to 'white out' until I fell away - had some nice burn marks on two finger tips as a souvenir!

Short-termism in the extreme - do you remember the 'new car tax discount' scheme to boost flagging car sales - everybody that could bought a car, and then the market collapsed to lower than before, obviously.....

Now if they could make it a 10K payment per month - different story..........

Thaksinomics to save the day......

Last year about 6 weeks before extension deadline, I went to Bangkok Bank to get the statement and letter, and wanted to get a new ATM card too (it got eaten by an ATM years ago). I was told to come back after extending - not long enough now.

The same thing happened at the government office for "pink card" - come back after extending.

I've never seen any ads on my desktop - change your browser.......

6 minutes ago, RobU said:

It's Liverpool Lou up to his old tricks. He waits until someone makes a statement then makes derisory comments. He never posts an opinion or statement other than to insult other people

Yeah, that seems to be the default for many posters on AN - attack any comment for grammar etc. as some sort of twisted entertainment. I guess this is the legacy of social media.

26 minutes ago, Stocky said:

If the gun was behind his back, how did they know he had a gun? Just asking.

He stood sideways so they could see. Later they went to the pawn shop opposite (he works for the tessabahn) and could see on their camera coverage.

12 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Calm down. He was speaking at his party heaquarters to his party MPs about improving their skill and embracing lifelong learning. This is an internal gathering to his own party members; not a rally in a public place inciting violence. 

With the optimum word you used being 'his'............

You should all read Larken Rose - The Most Dangerous Superstition (2011) - download it free: http://libgen.li/ads.php?md5=38F4296FBC5805F6B03527858534F331 if you can get past the lifetime of conditioning to believe that government is necessary, a much better future could be had.

Very old news, in fact they have probably finished filming by now......