MikeN

2 hours ago, candide said:

I may have not remembered the exact figures or they were not up to date. The 18.8 trillion figure is about EU 28 but even by retracting UK's GDP.

So according to your remark, the % of GDP should be higher than 8% for the UK and lower than 2.3% for the EU. Actually it would show a worse situation for the UK than my previous comparison.

If you are making up figures then perhaps you should not have written them ? But according to your claimed percentages, and the GDP figures from Google, it just depends on how you look at it. THAT is why I was quoting the old saying about the three kinds of lies. By quoting percentages it looks worse for the UK ( IF your figures are correct) but in terms of cold hard cash it is worse for the EU. Statistics can be twisted to suit the purpose, but I don't see how "the % of GDP should be higher than 8% for the UK and lower than 2.3% for the EU" ...Either your quoted percentages are right, or you imagined them to suit your purpose ?

16 hours ago, candide said:

8% of UK's GDP depends on exports to the EU vs 2.3% for EU exports to the UK. The economic risk resulting from a no deal is nearly 4 times higher for the UK than for the EU.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics....

8% of the Uk’s GDP (2.622 trillion $US) = 0.209 trillion dollars of exports going to the EU.

2.3%of the EU GDP (18.8 trillion) = 0.4324 trillion dollars worth going to the UK.

A mere $223,400,000,000 trade deficit....

I got an email from Adobe this morning, among other things it announced the new "Photoshop Elements 2020" ....from a quick look it seems to have advanced in leaps and bounds in the last few years, and could be all you need for organizing and editing your photos. There is a 30 day free trial to check it out. $99, or combine with Premier Elements if you also do video for 149 dollars. Neither have all the bells and whistles of the full Creative Cloud program, but they are a one time purchase and could be all you (or many people) ever need, I know I'm tempted to "downgrade" from Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere Pro and the other CC programs to these two and save my money.

31 minutes ago, Mitkof Island said:

If i had known what a huge pain in the butt Adobe was for $200 i would have never purchased it. I don,t know anything about lightroom but it can,t be as bad as Adobe.

Lightroom is made by Adobe !!

You can only get Lightroom on subscription nowadays, so if you see otherwise you can be sure it is either a very old, unsupported version, or pirate software. There is a lot of angst on the photography forums about Adobe's subscription model for all it's products nowadays, and a lot of people arguing for other products such as Rawtherapee ( a free product but it does not have lightroom's library functions) or DarkTable (another freebie). Yet another freebie is GIMP, but I found that not very intuitive to use ....but maybe that's just me. Paid alternatives include DXO Photolab and Capture one, both have free trial versions if you want to check them out. ACDSee is another alternative.

I do use Lightroom and Photoshop, I also do a bit of video (Premiere Pro) and play around with Adobe's Character Animator so I am signed up to their full Creative Cloud package .....at the moment. Seriously thinking of finding other options before next year's subscription.

Lightroom is a great choice for basic editing and library management, if you are prepared for the subscription model. ????

2 hours ago, CH1961 said:

A marriage Visa? 

For a western couple? 

40k Baht income/month? 

 

What kind of Visa you are talking about? 

Go back and read it in context ....."use govt figures as a minimum = 40k" . Thats how much the Thai govt thinks is enough for a married couple (Farang/thai) to live on, as it is a requirement for a marriage visa. And as I said, a western couple here on holiday would probably spend a lot more than that.

43 minutes ago, elgenon said:

Sorry, don't follow you. 12k/month rent. What is the 40k? How did you arrive at 65k?

Thanks.

The govt, ie Immigration, expects people on a marriage visa to have an income of at least 40k per month to live on so I imagine that is where he got that figure. But a couple of westerners on holiday would spend a lot more than that in my opinion. They would want to go out to dinner, go on trips, etc.....at least 2k baht/day for that plus rent would add up to at least 75000/month.

On 9/29/2019 at 10:45 AM, Don Chance said:

Heat rises. In a tropical climates you don't insulate ceilings. Actually in any climate. We insulate roofs and walls to keep heat in. Those 'stay cool' products are a scam.

Tell me why people in Australia insulate their ceilings then, when it gets hotter there than in Thailand ? The ceiling insulation is not a one way thing .. in cold climates it does keep warm air inside the room, but in hot climates it also stops hot air coming down through the ceiling.

As we all know, different offices have different requirements, but at our local amphur  I also needed a certified translation of my passport. Because my missus had only recently finalized her divorce she also had to get a medical certificate that she was not pregnant! For some reason they wanted to know my “home” address even though I live here, and then they wanted proof of it. Luckily I had my Australian driver license in my wallet, that was good enough even though it has expired. They did not take any copies of that, so I don’t know why they bothered.

 I was expecting a lot of bureaucratic BS but it was actually quite straight forward. It was the first time the present staff had done a Thai-farang marriage registration so they did spend a bit of time looking up the rules. Her divorce took more running around !

Thanks DrTL, I found another product on lazada which seems to be the same, but had more comprehensive info on the product (with help from google translate). Interesting stuff. I had heard of EM before, but have never used it, did n't know if this stuff was the same or not. Is there any significant differences between the various brands of EM type products ?

My sister in law has dozens of old coke bottles full of some red liquid, on asking the missus she said that it's the same as EM. She later found what looks like it on Lazada, where the English says it's a "photosynthesis concentrator" 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/15-40-i406886154-s789778037.html?

So just what does it do ?

5 hours ago, Dexlowe said:

Is it just me? Or are others feeling a little cynical? It's not the Thai way to suddenly admit unequivocal defeat to foreigners. Remember the old racist expression about an "Indian giver"? But I sincerely hope I'm misguided. ????

they won't "admit defeat" ....they will put a spin on it to make it look as if it was all the government's idea to update everything to go with their much touted "Thailand 4.0"

Just out of curiosity I once grew a couple in a 50/50 mix of sand and potting mix, so yes you can. They are bromeliads and need good drainage.

49 minutes ago, rwill said:

They will have to come up with some solution for food vendors.  Specially wet items like curries and soups.  What did they do before plastic bags?

Well I just asked the missus, and when she was a kid everybody took a basket to the market, and food was served in a banana leaf...even soup. That I would have to see to believe though.

Probably getting people to bring their own tiffin carrier would be a better choice now though. Or maybe it's time to bring in the "tiffin wallahs" system  from India, updated with "an app for that".

But I did not see any mention of the styrofoam containers being stopped ? They are almost as bad a problem.

Found this planting calendar on the baanlaesuan (home and garden) website ( https://www.baanlaesuan.com/104632/ideas/garden-ideas/veg_calendar )

In Thai naturally, so you may need help from your wife/GF/whatever.

The woman never asked for the old router back, nor did they when i upgraded about 18 months earlier. I remember that i had to pay a small amount for the new router (99 baht from memory ). It was a VDSL connection, and those routers are just about disposable nowadays are n't they ?

Nor did she ask for ID, just took all my details off the customer card 3BB use nowadays.

^ Unless I have missed something, the 3BB app does not give you an option to cancel a service ....just sign up for an upgrade ! And view your bill .....

So no way to "do it yourself" unfortunately. 

Before I moved out of Bangkok I cancelled my 3BB internet ....or at least I thought that I had. I told the woman at their desk at Tesco Onnut to turn it off 'tomorrow" (the day I was leaving), she did something on her terminal and said it was done. Then today I was uninstalling various apps on my phone that I was not using, one of them being the 3BB app. Before deleting it I opened the app, to find that I owed them approx 2700 baht ! Evidently she had not cancelled it after all. I was well over the minimum 12 month contract so I was free to cancel at any time.

So my main question is, if anybody else has cancelled their 3BB service did you get any sort of acknowledgement in writing ? before ringing them I'd like to be sure of my ground in case they ask for a cancellation number or something. Not that they have any chance of me paying it, I use True now and have no intention of ever using 3BB again (the True service here in Ubon is faster than 3BB in BKK, includes a basic cable tv AND is cheaper than 3BB ! )

I would have thought that if somebody did not pay for a service they would simply disconnect the customer after a while, but apparently not !

1 hour ago, RBOP said:

What a waste money and resources. At the other end we get scanned, x-ray, questioned, probed and patted at departures before getting on a plane. 

At the other end they are looking for dangerous goods, not stuff that may or may not be prohibited or taxable in one of the 190 odd other countries around the world. That’s the job of the destination country, Australia has been X-raying incoming baggage for years, mainly for biosecurity reasons.

On 9/4/2019 at 2:39 PM, Huckenfell said:

I have just GOOGLED Plastic septic tank deign & details and find no special "media bed" for microbes. In all designs , concrete included, the affluent just feeds into the first tank and settles where it is processed by the microbes, the treated water goes to the top and drains into the 2nd tank which overflows when full into the drainage trenches.   Have a look if not convinced !

Try googling DOS septic tanks then ( DOS are probably the biggest septic tank supplier in Thailand).

Or I can save you the trouble : https://dos.co.th/products/dos-hero

1 hour ago, MrTrip said:

wow
Is that person fishing?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was my immediate thought too ........