gk10002000

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

"Any pool halls open?" Will there not be enough boredom with the bars shut without bothering about pool?? 

eh?  You makes no sense.  If bored, a few nights out playing pool would alleviate that

Go meet her first.  Spend a few weeks.  Unless you are thinking you are going to propose and marry right away?  And even if you want to do that, you will most likely need quite a bit of time with her in order to get a decent chance of getting her back to the USA.  And in the meantime, the amount of money she asks for or discretely indicates she needs and that you give her will tell the real story.  

would not trust it very much.  Thai products are a bit suspect in my mind

Thai gun carry laws? 

On 3/17/2020 at 3:44 PM, katana said:

In the Naewna story in the OP, the Deputy Governor of BKK, Mr Sakchai Bunma, claimed the truck had a tyre blow out, causing the truck to raise up then come crashing down on the bridge, collapsing it. All sounds a bit confused.
Here's Google Street View of the bridge before the crash:
https://www.google.com/maps/@13.5687296,100.4194062,3a,58y,25.92h,95.05t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sg9VFfp5Mg7s07K9Lrw3kDA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i39

 

  Those darn brake failures and tire blow outs seem to be the cause of every thing in Thailand.  But seriously, a tire blow causing the truck to raise up? 

Almost hard to believe but here at work ( New Jersey , a fairly large aerospace company) some guy was just busted stealing toilet paper.  There are many employees here and several bathrooms and they typically just store the paper towels, and toilet paper cartons against one of the plant walls.  Some guy took a case out.  Everything here is on CCTV due to the security.  Lose one's job and security clearance because of stealing toilet paper? 

On 3/17/2020 at 3:05 AM, Matzzon said:

You don´t read much news, do ya? The test is to make sure they are not already infected. Then they would have been taking to hospital. That they do not show anything as of today, means that they are allowed to self-isolate for 14 days. That due to the virus can take that long time, or even more, to show up on tests after a person have contracted the virus.

That is stupid.  That means the test does not work.  So what is the purpose of testing?  If they run around and test 1 million people, so what?  If test is positive.. quarantine.  If test is negative ... quarantine.  Ludicrous

On 3/16/2020 at 9:18 PM, webfact said:

They have now done that and been tested and do not have the virus. 

So if they do not have the virus why quarantine?    If you are tested, and do not have the virus then case closed!  This makes no sense except maybe they are being coerced into this 14 day penalty box.

so the world is shutting every thing down.  All the mass expansion, faster and larger airplanes, worldwide Disney and water type parks, etc.  Are we going to go back to a basic agronomy society?    3 or 4 billion drop in global population would be necessary.   Diseases and spreading of them with this many people and worldwide transport vectors is only going to increase.  

Many posts on the topic.  You may have to deal with the Manilla office since you are residing outside the USA.  SSA websites check on your internet source.  I have read that some people can get through properly with a VPN, a valid USA address, etc.

1 hour ago, Ron jeremy said:

Fact is these woman are prostitutes, they <deleted> for money, no matter what race , colour, or nationality.

look at the white men in pattaya they are sleeping with ?

just had a friend come back from pattaya, he looked at the degenerates there, and left, he said in no uncertain terms, if these woman are sleeping with these animals, I won't even go near them. 

He will never return! 

 

Totally understand.  But some do have preferences

On 3/15/2020 at 7:48 AM, Justgrazing said:

I once asked my bird if she'd ever had an Indian .. The utter look of contempt that returned was priceless .. I ramped it up abit more by saying " come on let's go have one " before the satang dropped when we pulled up outside the local Indian restaurant I like to chow in .. 

I also discussed this with a few Thai ladies there, and the general consensus was "between a snake and an Indian they would take the snake".  Just saying that was their words and the over all general impression I got from them

Well the Jomtien sea walk is still pretty.  Outdoor restaurants probably will still serve food.  There will be plenty of ladies out of work and one might get a pretty good discount for a one or two week live in "care giver".  For a quiet get away, Pattaya might not be that bad.  Any pool halls open? 

20 hours ago, ryanhull said:

he wouldn't even give me a medical cert

Here in the New York New Jersey area, while they have set up some testing stations, one must make an appointment, one must get a Doctor to certify the test is necessary, and I think you must name or assert you were with or near somebody that had tested positive, which of course you almost certainly will not know.  So I don't know how this Thai policy is workable

15 hours ago, spiekerjozef said:

So do the soi 6 girls now start working in restaurants?

Interesting... ????

I suggest that a person may now be able to hire a live in "care giver" for a few weeks at quite a discount rate. 

As the world's population increases, population density increases, travel increases, etc..,  things like this are going to be more common. Add to that the number of elderly people that are now alive relative to how many elderly were alive in past decades or centuries, and all the ingredients for the recipe of a disaster are present. 

48 minutes ago, Yinn said:

Yes!

My friends say/think same last night see him TV. 

He look skinny, weak and old a lot.

 

heavy is the head that bears the crown

How is  your portfolio doing?  I have a relatively conservative portfolio where I invested for dividends and interest.  However, my NLY and AGNC REIT stocks are down almost 50%.  Across the board, my total portfolio on paper is down $-229,000!  A few weeks ago it was worth 1.2 Million!  Luckily I have no need to cash out as I am still working, will have plenty of passive income, etc.  So as far as panic selling I don't have to sell low.   But man, I never thought I would experience a 20% drop in a few weeks.  I hold a lot of ATT (T) and that has gone down, but I added a few hundred shares on this big drop because I am sure the company is solvent and I love the dividend.

27 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

Why file for California, do you have property there?

Even though I am a Florida resident, I worked and earned wages in California last year so I have to file.  I had CA state taxes with held.  CA forms are a bit of a pain but over the years I have worked in California at various times as a contract engineer so I am familiar with their Non Resident forms

18 hours ago, webfact said:

he developed pulmonary fibrosis - a disease resulting from lung tissue becoming damaged and scarred, which makes it harder and harder to breathe.

So is this damage special to the corona virus alone or do other Flu type viruses also do this?  I can understand fever, congestion, swelling etc.  but I was not aware of scarring type of damage.  And is that scarring special to older people and not younger?  I seem to recall that

7 hours ago, tweedledee2 said:

  So you are 35 yrs old, healthy, have a company paid health plan, but would get an increase in annual salary if you voluntarily exit the coverage. Does the company pay 100% of the premium? If yes, keep the coverage, as that's a company benefit at no cost to you. Drop it and you're responsible for your own health insurance premiums plus any co-pays.

  From experience never voluntarily give up a company paid benefit, because in doing so it will benefit the company more than you. Heath insurance costs will continue to increase but your opt-out money won't. By accepting $1-2,000 to opt-out, the company is saving a lot more than that in their present and future costs.  

   Although you consider yourself healthy now, ones health can change suddenly. An unforeseen and unplanned event can change ones life instantly.  

Well stated.  I would add that on one's W-2 down in box 12 area, there is an amount of money that shows how much the company asserts it paid for your health insurance.  That number is useful for calculating what your COBRA insurance cost might be if you leave the company and want to maintain the same general health insurance plan.  I just left a big aerospace company and am on COBRA for 18 months and my new plan costs were in line with those numbers, although they jacked up the 2020 costs more than the 2019 W2 would suggest. 

$3,000 more in salary would be taxable, Federal tax, Social Security Tax, maybe State tax also depending on how you declare residency.  Unless somehow you are getting paid in such a way that this salary as an overseas earned income exemption.

On 3/16/2020 at 10:12 AM, lust said:

  On 3/16/2020 at 9:49 AM, milys said:

Why do you use toilet paper in a land where most toilets have a shower in reach. Clean your ass with water for a while and you will not get back to toilet paper.

Having been to Thailand many times, and to some remote places where the "toilet paper" is that little water thing beside the squat toilet, I tell people here in the USA that there are ways to wipe ones butt besides what is sold by Scott and Charmin.   I am pretty sure it is not going to catch on.  Gosh it was not too many generations ago even here when people had out houses with old newspapers, magazines, old rags that were washed and re-used etc.  Somehow they got by

16 hours ago, Wiggy said:

I remember reading a while back that 50% of Americans who are shot, are shot with their own gun, mostly during robberies/burglaries.

Below are some statistics for gun deaths.  Finding it hard to get some good numbers on non fatal gun incidents.  But it looks like suicide by guns is the largest single incident number, even more than accidental non death accidents.  Not sure on that

In 2017, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 39,773 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC. This figure includes gun murders and gun suicides, along with three other, less common types of gun-related deaths tracked by the CDC: those that were unintentional, involved law enforcement or whose circumstances could not be determined. It excludes deaths in which gunshot injuries played a contributing, but not principal, role. (CDC fatality statistics are based on information contained in death certificates.)

What share of U.S. gun deaths are murders and what share are suicides?

Though they tend to get less attention than gun-related murders, suicides have long accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths. In 2017, six-in-ten gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (23,854), while 37% were murders (14,542), according to the CDC. The remainder were unintentional (486), involved law enforcement (553) or had undetermined circumstances (338).

Accidental shootings:

On 3/16/2020 at 4:40 AM, webfact said:

increasing social distance

Those are challenging words to a culture that is internally sociable.  So many Thais, not unlike some other cultures love to eat and chat several times a day.  It's just the way of life.  Now add in living in fairly small plots of land, small apartments/houses and any sort of distance is a hard sell