dhream

OK we have some clarity! 

Not replacing the current visas.

Not happening anytime soon.

Everything the current government says is basically wishful thinking, and that's being kind.

Let's shut this baby down, it's getting off topic anyway...

On 28/11/2016 at 10:24 AM, newnative said:

Yes, I am aware of it--been waiting awhile to make sure they have the kinks out and Immigration is fully up to speed with it.

Never gonna happen.

It's very user unfriendly, but it is not impossible to do it.

The main thing is to remember you must submit the computer 90 day report no LATER than 7 days BEFORE your 90 days are up (you won't lose any days doing this). They usually approve within 24 hours, you then print out the approval and put it in your passport, just like at the immigration office.

21 minutes ago, DSJPC said:

what the hell is a "tom"???...do u mean a tomboy?...lesbian?...and is it a question or a statement???...do u not know how to use a question mark??????????????

Tom is a common word in Thailand used by all to describe 'butch' lesbians.

Dee is the lady partner of a Tom.

I have no idea about the other guys skill level in punctuation, sorry.

Sorry to be the second dimmest poster on this thread today, but isn't Gen. Prawit the Deputy PM?

I have not heard Gen. Patimapragon mentioned before today.

I don't think they could swim.

From the usual patchy reporting, it seems they went out holding onto lines that are strung between the buoys, it is easy for these to dip under human weight pushing down on them, even in water, so as non-swimmers, or doggy-paddle swimmers, they'd start to panic then, rather than just float, let the line return to the surface, and then gently use the line to retreat to safety. 

Tragic.

3 hours ago, z42 said:

Farcical... They'd likely get more respect from most if they just came out and said we haven't got the want to bring this bent old fool in without A, pissing off a few plastic monks / followers, or B, making a complete dog's breakfast of the arrest with the spotlight firmly on them. What a clown show ?

It is really agonizing for them. No seriously.

They are reluctant to move because they know that if they do, they risk things getting nasty, the world (mostly oblivious to this at present) will point to footage of police and army roughing up peaceful worshipers of their own kind, and at the worst possible moment in modern Thai history too.

Even if it remains local news, the very high risk of it going pear shaped means massive face will be lost.

Where face is likely to be lost, the job is just stalled, until the boss does something. 

Well, it is as high as it can go now, bar one.

See the mess they're in?

If he wont surrender willingly, there's not much they can do, really. 

Except, lose face.

His foot looks pretty nasty, no way that's fake.

Is that surgery inside the compound? 

They must have BILLIONS stashed away with a fan club that size!

The joint is bigger than Mecca. I used to enjoy my bingo nights down the mecca...

12 minutes ago, DaveE13 said:

You can see why the police government and army poo themselves over him. He has some number of followers 

1 hour ago, DM07 said:

Come on, guys...on the count of three..."This happens everywhere, not only in Thailand" and "Have some respect for the culture of your hosts..."

...and the like!

 I don't have too much time for the hosts, the hostesses on the other hand, heck I'd come out of my golden UFO for summa dem any old deadline.

How much more face can the authorities lose?

Or is there some sort of deal?

Either way, it's going to do a lot of damage.

There's no way the junta can really resolve this and not upset a ton of people one way or the other.

Just now, JaseTheBass said:

 

Dukes is good because of all the extra gubbins, but I prefer Beast as the patty is better.

Sent from my R2D2 using my C3P0 manservant
 

 

Cheers, I'll grab one and see... The patty really is what makes it all come together, kind of like Lebowskis rug.

Live and let live.

I had two girlfriends both go into same sex relationships right after me, they were not Toms, neither were the new partners.

They were both Singaporean, and they both went to the same school together, which incidentally, also educated Annabel Chong, funny old world.

19 minutes ago, Bassosa said:

Agreed.

 

Everyone should just go to Beast Burger instead.

 

http://chiangmaifoodhub.com/beast-burger-nimmanhaemin-believe-the-hype/

I like The Dukes too. Anyone whose tried both want to give a quick field report? Ta.

6 minutes ago, mark45y said:

McDonald's restaurants are found in 118 countries and territories around the world and serve 68 million customers each day. McDonald's operates 36,615 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 420,000 people.

 

Not bad for the worst burger ever made.  I wonder if that works for cars and hospitals too?

Even Heston Blumenthal could not say McD sucks, but I'm not sure if that was just him erring on the side of diplomacy.

I do occasionally indulge, but, I don't like the weird aftertaste, it's sort of metallic, I dunno, weird. 

12 hours ago, chiang mai said:

 

It's called clustering, the South Koreans use it to great effect in Seoul, people wanting fried chicken for example typically find five or six fried chicken places all side by side, that way the consumer can choose where to eat and only the best survive, it's Darwinism of the fast food world - if they did that here all the MCD's would be history very quickly,

Absolutely right, the same thing with, get this... Mattress stores in the USA.

'Freakamomics'  excellent podcast even did a show about why it works that way.

There are king sized profits in beds, by the way.

Breaking news:

He got away, he simply walked out disguised as a monk.

Tick tock.

Less than three hours to go to the midnight hour...

17 hours ago, halloween said:

When I had a HIV test (in Oz) my doctor informed me that there are 3 groups of people with the disease:

Those engaging in intravenous injection of drugs, needle sharing being the prime concern

Those engaging in anal intercourse

The female partners of the above

 

The stated view of the AMC is that if you do not fall into one or more of the above groups, you are highly unlikely to contract the disease.

For those who remember, the AMC objected to the Oz govt bowling lane ad, and had it stopped as false advertising.

Siimon (yes, the tosser spells it like that) Reynolds was the copywriter behind the 'bowling ball' Ad, but, it worked! And we remember it 30 years on!

26 minutes ago, debate101 said:

Yeah, there will be some house cleaning, internecine Thai-style conflict, etc... nothing the public will ever get to really know or talk about openly until things arrive at a stable condition. I don't expect fireworks.

You can forget about democracy, though. Which, despite some posters' insistence that it never existed here, did exist in a flawed state from 1992 onwards that resulted in greater freedom of expression, protection for human rights, progress on education reform, openness to western culture and positive attitude towards long-term residents. That's all in the rear view mirror now, and the sooner a lot of us wake up to it, the better.

Spot on with the second paragraph.

As to the house cleaning, we're all in the dark, and I sincerely hope it does not embroil the rank and file, but that all depends on whose zooming who, and what they bring to the party, excuse my overuse of metaphor here, but...

There are I think, fundamental differences now, that may speed up another period of disquiet, they are geopolitical instability (another GFC) the sprint of new technology, and the undeniable fact that whatever else the Shins did, they let the genie out of the bottle -forever.

You are correct in observing that stability is in everyone's interest, but that desire in itself, has always pretty quickly been trumped by egos, throughout history, that's where I think the cracks will appear... 

Most worryingly, it is certainly not just the two factions portrayed in the press that everyone is used to, there are several very powerful forces all looking for the upper hand, or at least, a place at the table.

Anyway, I hope most if not all of it, will involve nothing more than 'terminally inactive posts' shall we say, at the elite levels. 

I do think that unless the current honchos have managed to do a very convincing job of switching horses mid stream, their prospects are bleak. And I unfortunately doubt that, whichever cadre that follows after that reshuffle, will be much better.

Re- your other earlier post, I think we've both been privy to one school of thought that believes we could see a surprising, and feared alliance. That's what I immediately thought of when I saw this '20 year plan' concept floated...

9 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

 

There's a whole generation  that doesn't understand HIV, HEP, HPV or herpes.

Why do you think there is an ongoing STI epidemic and an infection rate of close to 50% in certain sex trade demographics.

While none of the above are particularly fun, the less serious ones are misunderstood greatly.

Most sexually active humans carry HPV (warts) and/or Herpes, some can transmit them but never show symptoms, or get one initial attack, or get hit hard and often with recurring outbreaks, these are rare.

The silver lining to this is, since a huge number (I think from memory 80+% of the global population) are carriers, the panic and recriminations around getting these infections is often unwarranted.

When I first got warts the Doc told me trying to lay blame was pointless, it could have been my current girl, or one from 5 years ago. They (the warts, not the girls) went away on their own eventually, and never came back.

There are also vaccines available, but only for pre-sexually active teens now, the future looks bright for them.

HIV is probably always going to have the stigma of the early panics, and it's a serious disease, but, the reality is, if you don't get it into your bloodstream, you simply cannot get infected, decades of medicine confirm this.

It's a bit perplexing that Thai teens, specifically, are now a high risk group. Impossible to speculate on the strength of a news report. So I won't try.

What makes the virus so prevalent in Africa is that the strain there is more virulent than elsewhere, and a large swathe of the population already have compromised immunity and untreated sexual sores from other infections, and/or use heterosexual anal sex as a form of birth control.

Some people are actually immune to HIV.

About 3% of the northern European (nordic gene) population. It's complicated, Google *CCR5-delta32 gene deletion*. believe it or not, I found that out at a Thai Red Cross consult, and then looked it up.

6 hours ago, kotsak said:

 

The Mr. Condom :) Now he is authoring constitution drafts..

 

Oh dear... from saint to sinner in one lifetime.

Australia provide free condoms and lube at sexual health centers, which are also free as consult surgeries and treatment through Medicare.

Here condoms are expensive for teens, and they have to front another person to buy them in a 7/11 or Boots.

Even the Thai Red Cross charge a (small) fee for tests etc, these should be free, everywhere.

The best prevention, is really education.

They don't need to even bother with the issue of teachers getting involved, just create a non judgmental, informative website that is designed for teens.

For example, check out the UKs superb privately run 'drugs+me' harm reduction site for kids and uni students.

Thailand can afford this nowadays, easily.

4 hours ago, seancbk said:

Large corporations such as CP group put a lot into CSR.   The notion that these conglomerates are run by robber barons taking advantage of the poor is very wrong.

http://www.cpfworldwide.com/en/sustainability/policy

 

I did you the courtesy of following the link.

I am well aware people like Gates and Buffet do enormous good, I'm just saying it's not as prevalent in Asia, and yet the graft is almost a second economy, if not THE economy.

So I was more miffed about impossibly wealthy individuals on the take here, not necessarily aiming at corporations.

Of course, one cannot name names on mere suspicion.

They have more money to pursue defamation cases than I will ever have. But they're all gonna eventually end up just as dead as me too, so that's some comfort.

Today's episode of "Rich Slags Dodging Justice" is proudly sponsored by Red Bull.

Hey, Dhammachayo!

This time, we mean it!

We really really mean it!

If you are not out here by Midnight some random day in 2026, the statute will expire, so hurry up!

Please... oh please!!!???

Please come out!

We have cookieees!

Mmmmm, they're yummy! etc etc etc forever....

8 hours ago, NongKhaiKid said:

You are so right and I don't want to think about what could happen if there's serious and very open opposition.

I can't help thinking the country could turn into a pressure cooker and we know what happens if pressure isn't released.

What nobody's seemingly understood in the thread yet, and the junta are desperately trying to pretend has not even happened! Is that there are very long standing conflicts within the system, that must finally now be addressed. They cannot be ignored as the new reality unfolds.

This stuff is not easy to track down because even the BBC and Reuters know they'll be shut down in Thailand, and their local staff jailed if any information deemed unlawful (which is basically now  anything released without official sanction) is aired in their media channels outside of the kingdom. So like the Thai media, they self censor on all but the most anodyne of facts as they relate to current events.

The truth is out there.

6 minutes ago, baboon said:

Upon his passing, Stalin's housekeeper said "No better man ever walked the earth."

1 - 0 to Stalin, then...

He was cruel, but fair, he used to send his Mum flowers and stuff... It's true he once nailed my head to a coffee table, but I had to insist...