tjo o tjim

While I would welcome 90 days on arrival, enforcing the 180 days per year (like Europe) is a challenge for many. You end up needing a full liberalization of the rules for things to balance out for everyone. The flip side is the whole tax residence thing. 

Simple solution: reduce the size of the senate by 25 seats every month a PM is not selected.

I think he forgot "or else." 

Side note... interesting there is no tank emoji.  Tiananmen Square?

26 minutes ago, h90 said:

don't know why the outcome should be different....there are so many votes missing

Well, if legal issues are "resolved" I think many of the senators will lose cover to abstain.  A big part of me thinks that the government might get a clue-stick and realize the potential for serious long-term impact if the popular vote is ignored.

On 6/30/2023 at 2:16 AM, dingdongrb said:

It sure wreaked havoc on those attending a concert recently at Red Rocks Amphitheater just outside of Denver.

Was there the following weekend... we had a little storm pass through and they weren't taking any chances.

Not that anybody here doesn't understand... but there is pretty much zero reason why you should have to go to a Thai Consulate/Embassy for a visa for fairly normal needs.  They really should push for 90 days on arrival.  We had a 12-month visa before the pandemic, but it was a very stupid hassle-- we had to fly to another city, stay there for 3 days, and pay a silly fee... in order to spend a fairly substantial amount in Thailand over the following year.  (We had a 1-year sabbatical.)  I can get paying money... but actually going for a physical stamp?!  Compare that to how it works in Australia.  All electronic, all easy and simple rules...

In the early days (maybe pre-2005 or so) there were plenty of issues on Koh Tao.  A few major things improved the situation, from the DAN center originally and actual nurses and doctors living on the island, to better water distribution resulting in a lot less nasty infections.  I wasn't there when Colin O'Brady was burnt, but his recovery was likely due to those improvements.

Many of the problems with crimes not being solved went to the fact that the police weren't exactly trained as police until much later.  It was effectively an honorary appointment.  

As for Suzanne, well... she had a bit of an axe to grind.  Not sure how much that impacted her stoking of flames.

Michael's death was no mystery; he had four concussions, and nobody thought he had any proper insurance and there was a financial concern, so his medevac was delayed and he went to the public hospital rather than the private one.  He didn't get the care he needed in time to survive unfortunately.  It was a freak accident, the video of it is quite clear.

Big Blue was in a bit of chaos from what I understand due to the "inheritance" issues.  

The aftermath of it all though is the only thing that would make me skeptical of Koh Tao in the least.

15 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Which specific Koh Tao deaths have remained "unexplained"?

IIRC the Indian billionaire couple.  One of the suspected suicides was never really investigated either as I recall, but there were several reports that she was depressed and isolated.  In the old days though there was definately people disappeared without investigation.  It was pre Facebook, pre Mobile Phone, and pre ATM though, so it was easy for people to get "lost" in Thailand.

All that said... the average person (myself included) is not going to be privvy to what happens after a death is out of the news cycle.

14 minutes ago, biggles45 said:

From a recent report 11 deaths since 2014 when the 2 Brits were murdered. 

Presumably "suspicious/unexpected" deaths, right?  I'm sure there are at least 50 foreigner motorcycle deaths in that timeline, even if most don't die at the scene.  Likely at least 10 scuba fatalities too.  No guess on suicides, but there have been a fair number. 

...oh, and at least 100 dying because of a coral cut getting infected with their shower water.  Kidding on that one...

I don't get a Thai condo as a way to store assets outside of China.  They aren't really that liquid.  Sure, it is a good way to have a place outside of China's control (especially for Hong Kong people), at least to a degree-- but does that really do much?

As an "investment" renting it out it generally seems even worse, but if it is just for "walking around" money then I guess the rules are different.  The airbnb/zero dollar tourist market seems even harder to make work today.

Sodium batteries have been around for a long time in various chemistries.  They are getting closer, but not 2023 for changing the world.

I would get a good digiital AC/DC multimeter with milivolt readings, and a DC shunt.

6 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

I have to disagree with this statement vehemently. China is again conducting mass lockdowns, and now are having riots because of it.  Unless Xi rolls over and gets rid of the Zero Covid policy, mainland Chinese will not be coming in droves.

I tend to agree, but after the Lunar New Year is a reasonable time to shift policy. I'd say April is more likely though.

I forget though how long the average Chinese tourist stayed in LoS pre-pandemic; I thought it was less than a week.  If that is the stay duration then it might be a long time before you see even 5,000 Chinese nationals coming per day, too much perceived risk.

Something tells me they are approaching this from the wrong direction.  Most foreigners that want to have ownership rights rather than leasehold feel that way because they either want to be albe to sell their investment on in the future, or leave it to someone when they die.  Ok, so there is also the contingent that is worried about their Thai spouse taking everything and being left out with zero rights.

If they want to encourage foreign investment then the first issue is legal transparency and predictability.  Right now putting more than 5-10% of your assets into Thailand as an investment is a risky proposition if you have been here less than ~3-5 years and have local connections.  (Even then, much more than 50-60% seems like a stretch to me.)

But if their goal is to attract foreigners with net worths over US$100MM, none of these things matter to them in the same way.  It is easy enough to create a company that owns your estate with employees running it in a legal structure that will pass muster.

I went through about 80% of the legwork to do it and gave up; it would cost me too much money every year to maintain compared to the revenue and benefits it would offer.  By my estimates at the time I would need about US$200k in revenue per year to break even at 30% gross margins; there were other solutions for my needs that didn't have that premium.

But, for a real long-term business that needs employees anyway to operate it is likely a different story.  Not sure how practical it is, but I would try to set up a holding company rather than an operating company as the Amity entity, so if your businesses change it is easier to maintain the same (expensive) company.

On 9/29/2022 at 1:09 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

The Shelly switches/relays are relative cheap. I guess they also work stand alone. I use them with Home Assistant. That software is free, and all runs local - no big brother is watching. 

Do you keep the shelly firmware or go with ESPhome or Tasmota?

On 10/1/2022 at 4:28 AM, jack71 said:

so whats the difference between 3MP and 5? All cameras are just looking at small distances inside our business. 

I take the horizontal pixel count and divide by field of view (typically 90-110 degrees), so a 3MP camera gives you 18 pixels per degree and a 5MP camera gives you 30.  At 4m, each pixel represents 2.3mm with the 5MP camera or 4mm with the 3MP.  So, the image for a face might be 50x30 pixels with the 3MP camera and 85x50 for the 5MP.  A hand grabbing something off the shelf might be half that in each direction.

If you just care about seeing that someone came in the door 3MP is fine.  If you want to be able to identify their face 5MP would be better.  If you want to be able to post the person's picture for stealing 8MP might be needed.  Really comes down to your expectations.

Formula is d*tan(FOV/(.67*MP)) = pixel spacing, with d = distance in mm.

(My biggest camera can read ship names about 20km away with good light.)

My CCTV system has cameras that range in price from 2,500B to over 50,000B; it all comes down to what they are being used for.  You need to understand the requirements for field of view, distance of interest from the camera, low-light performance, and then what you need out of the DVR.  I mostly like my system for my personal needs, but those needs are a lot more extensive than most people might have.

There is a big financial difference between knowing there is a car at your driveway and being able to identify who it is when it is coming down the road as an example.

That is the first time I have ever heard that expression, so I looked it up.  Sure seems like putting your light under a bushel basket is a bad thing, as you are supposed to put it on a stand to let goodnes and light out...

Oh well... no bible scholar in me. 

Well, they did *something.* History does not support giving 90-day or 6-month visas; too many backpackers (like me at the time) used it to work without authorization, and that really bothered the government. 

That said... liberalization of the whole Visa process would go a long way towards appealing to a broader demographic. This is not that change.