midzo

10 hours ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

I note the other story is the police saying there were no reports of traffic accidents caused by the legalization. To give perspective they should have said in the 4 days since legalization how many traffic accidents were caused by alcohol. None? A couple? Dozens? Fatalities? If weed is to be compared to alcohol surely in the 4 days there will be some interesting data allowing fair comparisons.

 

My father had an MD, a PhD in Anatomy and Physiology AND a PhD in Pharmacology. He was a medical school professor for many years. 
In the mid 70s, the US Department of Transportation commissioned a study examining the effects of illegal drugs and driving competency. My father headed up the research. 

It was not safe or sensible to get people high and put them on the road, so an arcade game-like machine was developed. Volunteers "drove" in a virtual car while sober and their  performance was evaluated. They were then given alcohol, cocaine, barbiturate or cannabis and asked to repeat the course.

To no one's surprise, alcohol dramatically reduced performance. So did barbiturates. 

Cocaine appeared to slightly reduce performance, but the effect could not be determined, as the numbers were within the margin of error. 

Here's the kicker. Drivers using cannabis performed *better* than they did while sober. These results were so unexpected the experiment was repeated with cannabis several times, until the DEA stopped giving exemptions for the illicit drugs. 

The DOT did not like the results and quashed the data. 

I'd be interested in another scientific look at driving and cannabis. Not likely to happen here. 

 

Actor.

Loved my job despite the constant rejection and  financial insecurity. 
 

Still working part-part time, although I’m directing a lot more and acting a lot less. 
 

I still love it. 

Excellent hard product and service in the air. Terrific lounge in Doha (Spend the money for the QSuite biz class upgrade if you can--it's spectacular!)

Terrible, terrible service from reservations. I spent hours on hold, many times from within the US, never reached a soul. Finally made contact on social media, got helped finally --needed more clearly-printed itinerary for Thai COE application. 

Once in thailand, I tried to reschedule my return trip to the US. Never got anybody from within Thailand, social media referred me to a phone number in Doha. Hours of hold time, no answer.

Too bad, as I was going to abandon EVA and Cathay Pacific for Qatar, but now I wouldn't trust Qatar to walk my dog. And as I am now I a no-show on my return flight, the ticket and money are likely lost forever. 

I fly CNX-SFO biz cloass at least once a year. 
Both EVA and Cathay Pacific service CNX. Qatar does not. 

Both airlines use the same fully-flat Zodiac seat.
Cathay has far superior lounges in Hong Kong. VERY nice. But wants $100/year to join their Marco Polo FF program. I don't think so. Their Asia Miles program is free, but you cannot earn any status. Join a OneWorld partner airline's program. 

EVA has better onboard service and amenities (as EVA has no first class, their Royal Laurel class is essentially first class without the caviar.) EVA Lounge in Taipei is a disappointment. Go to the Singapore Air Krisflyers Lounge, it's marginally better. EVA's Star Alliance FF program is free, but stingy. Join Asiana's instead---use that number when flying EVA. 



 

For me, the difference between locking up 800,000 and 1,000,000 baht to secure an extension of  stay or Elite Visa is not a major concern. 
 

But if Immigration adds a new requirement I cannot fulfill (no-exclusions insurance, for example, won’t happen with my medical history), with my retirement extension of stay,  I can take my 800,000 and leave. 
 

My 1,000,000 baht is gone forever. 
 

That is a risk I will not take. 
 

After careful consideration, I’m sticking with the retirement option. 

2 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

21 hours ago, Aussiepeter said:

Reminds me of the time a girl in a pub in London, when I rejected her advances said "you are drunk"  - to which I replied, "yes and you are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober." Happy New Year all on TV.

 

 

That quote was actually Winston Churchill to Lady Astor at a dinner party

Churchill and Lady Astor had a long-running feud.

Once she said to him “Mr. Churchill, if I were your wife, I would put poison in your tea.”

Churchill replied “If you were my wife, Madam, I would drink it.”

Snap!

24 minutes ago, sencelebi said:

She should reapply for the visa. You are a US citizen and you have right to take your family with you. There is no set requirements for foreign spouses to get visa. It all depends on the visa agent at the embassy. But again you have right to take your spouse and child with you to visit US.

American married to a Thai here. 

We Americans have absolutely NO legal right to bring our spouses to the US, either for short-term or long-term stays. Being married makes getting a tourist visa even more difficult for a Thai spouse. 

Your spouse may have a better chance getting a visa to attend a professional conference or to join an organized tour. 

Your children, if they are US citizens, have a constitutional right to go to the US and cannot be barred entry. No so for your spouse. 

9 hours ago, GalaxyMan said:

That's not the least bit unusual anywhere in the world. In Holland, there are train and museum passes for local residents. When I last lived there, it was €40/year for a museum pass to almost all of the museums in the country, whereas the usual admittance fee, for tourists, was €12.50. It's a perfectly sensible way of doing things. The USSA has their national parks pass.

And the US National Parks pass is available for purchase by anyone, regardless of nationality. Note that the pass is for an entire carload of people, the driver and all passengers. Pretty good deal at US$80/year. 

Source: https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm

4 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Hmm? Most houses have a septic tank and yes while the overflow probably does exactly what you say it is not untreated sewage which was the inference you wanted.

 

At least they don't have septic fields with the resultant risk of ground water pollution.

Yes, the overflow is untreated sewage, just some of the solids are removed.

Properly designed and operated septic systems do protect ground water quality. The septic tank at my US home is less than 30 meters from my annually-tested well (concerns about contamination from old gold-mining operations) and the well has never had any bacterial contamination. 

6 hours ago, mercman24 said:

ha ha that is so funny, i was in a  bar , with a load of Thais celebrating a birthday,  i keep my small notes in a plastic plastic zip lock bag in my pocket, had about 150 baht in it, i dropped it on the floor, i think every bloody Thai in the bar claimed it as being theirs.

I dropped my wallet containing id, credit cards and 9,000 baht cash in a busy Seven.  I didn’t notice it was missing when I got home. 

10 minutes later I get a call from my Thai husband, fiancé at the time. 

A Thai customer found the wallet and gave it to staff. Staff found my wedding planner’s business card. Called him at 11:00pm. Planner called my husband, husband called me, I returned to Seven. 

Everything in the wallet was intact, including the cash. I offered 1,000 baht reward to the cashier, she refused it. I politely persisted and asked it be shared among the entire staff. She agreed at that point. 

When I got home I reflected on the  experience and regretfully decided it would have a near-zero chance of occurring in my home country. 

Nice people, good outcome. I hope my experience was typical rather than otherwise.