jdlancaster

Not what you asked... but if anyone is traveling in Chiang Rai, try Neua Sud Home Brew. It has like 20 beers on tap and many many more in can/bottle. They do some homebrew classes now and again. https://goo.gl/maps/LcKKDyBkQsJCfk2N9

The Chinese embarrassed themselves making such a big deal out of it. So much so, that the "little pinkies" (小粉紅) are throwing a fit online. They are posting videos of screaming and slapping themselves in the face in shame. It's hilarious. 

"China's final warning" (Последнее китайское предупреждение) has been going on for over 70 years. When everything is a red line and a disaster to US-China relations, nothing is. It's just business as usual. They will find something else to complain about soon enough and they will continue on doing what they planned on doing all along.

Most of this is really just for Chinese domestic propaganda purposes anyways. Plenty of US military and politicians visit. This may be  purposefully trying to stoke anti-US/foreign sentiment. Policy has been changing to push foreigners and foreign influence out for the last few years under Xi.

I'd love to use this with the Work-From Thailand Visa, but it's always the little details that get you. Got a Master's and make more than 80k a year, but have to work for a large company and I don't. Just working for myself.

Theoretically, I could find a part-time remote job for a big company.... but most of the money to make the requirement would be from myself. I doubt they'd accept that.

Sounds like he reached the cards expiration date after 3 years. This isn't that uncommon. My family in the US does something similar for me for my credit/debit cards. 

2 hours ago, mvdf said:

In the event of his account going into default, you will be hounded, harassed and bullied by debt collectors night and day. They might take possession of your property until you can prove you have nothing to do with the cardholder's unpaid debts, a costly (because of lawyers) and difficult (because of your address being linked to the arrears) process. And when the juice collector asks neighbors about your whereabouts or where you work, you will be the talk of the town.   

Can you post a reference to someone with the same address being responsible for someone else's debts? If the OP is not a co-signer or married to the friend, it would be extremely strange to have any legal culpability. I'm pretty sure the CC company is not a "juice collector" or loan shark type entity. 

As a third-party, I don't even think the CC company is even allowed to tell you about the debt, nevermind try to collect from you: https://ratchadalawfirm.com/en/thailand-debt-collection-law/

Here is the process to collect an unpaid debt (which you would NOT be a party to): https://mahanakornpartners.com/debt-recovery-practices-in-thailand/

4 hours ago, BonMot said:

Your graphic doesn't include all the wars post 1985. With MIC Americans living in perpetual state of war my entire life.

The graph goes to the 2000. It also doesn't include the democide from Russia, Myanmar, or China after that. As I stated in the post, it takes many years after a conflict/democide to get accurate numbers. Your perception through news reports is meaningless. 

If you have evidence that Americans killed more people than the Totalitarian regimes than you should publish it. It would likely win an award. Democide from Totalitarian/Authoritarian states has been shown to consistently be a far larger killer of people than war between countries. That is just what the numbers say.

Edit: You would also get a very large amount of grant money. 

7 hours ago, petey123 said:

the u.s. empire is endlessly interfering in virtually all countries of the world:   the more important the country, the more interference.     the unnecessary and totally avoidable war in the ukraine is a good example,    the countries most likely to be subjected to u.s. pressure are those that refuse to kowtow.  despite what the empire is now saying, no national borders are sacred, e.g., serbia/kosovo, syria, czechoslovakia, etc. (hypocrisy being one of the empire's "strong suits").    for those who don't understand the negative influence of the empire on world affairs, it is only necessary to ask one question:    in the past 30+ years, what country has created the most mayhem, destruction and death in the world?    

Recent data isn't very complete, especially if trying to extrapolate from secretive regimes, but RJ Rummel publishes some good data.

The world has continually gotten safer and less violent to include since the US rose as the major world power (only correlation not arguing causation). War between states, surprisingly, is not the biggest source of "Mayhem, destruction, and death" in the world. That trophy goes to democide from totalitarian/authoritarian countries (China, Russia, Myanmar, etc.) by a large margin. 

Not medical advice blah blah blah..... but if bacterial can use an antibiotic cream in case there is also a bacterial infection. Or, can take 500 mg Amoxicillin 3x day 5-7 days or Azithromycin 1g day 1 and 500 mg twice on day 2 (if possible STD).  Along with this try a cream with a different antifungal active drug in case it is fungal and resistant to your current cream.

Also, if diabetic or pre-diabetic you might not have it under control.

I don't understand the work permit part.... Is it open ended and work wherever or however (for yourself)? Then can apply for Permanent Residence after a few years? If you have a job, you'd have a work permit already I think (without having to invest $1 MM)? Can someone explain the angle/advantage here?

Not just money. A lot of relationships are built here, especially at the LTC to BG level. I had even got an invitation to the Thai Command and General Staff College (though no real possibility for me of getting that from the US side) due to speaking Thai and being friendly. Diplomatic relationships are dynamic. As one group dies/retires, the next moves to power. You'd be surprised what can be done over a few beers, BBQ, and songs sung.

Cobra Gold is definitely not competition to the bar crawlers.... if anything any competition comes from JUSMAG-THAI guys in BKK that are here permanently. Normally they are married already due to their age, but may go out now and again.... but very few in numbers, Even COVID Era tourists outnumber them greatly.

Strange to care that much when regular tourist number greatly dwarf anything a military exercise could possibly bring(and hasn't in a generation).... perhaps someone that enjoys the lockdowns?

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Are the military guys likely to be given shore leave or not?

If not this effort seems redundant. 

From my experience at Cobra Gold prior to Covid, the vast majority were not given leave/pass. Most Commanders are extremely risk averse and are afraid Joe will do something stupid while drunk. At least on the army side, it was small groups like senior officers, Psy Ops/MISO and Civil Affairs that had freedom to go out when not working. The rest had a highly supervised trip to a temple/museum/market or 2 and were stuck in barracks. 

On 9/29/2021 at 3:25 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

I wonder why?!

4 hours ago, ChrisKC said:

Only four days ago, I met a Thai man and his wife plus their son, all friends of my wife and connected with the Thai military through their careers. Apart from the son (now 46 years old) are retired Colonels; in fact the son is also a Colonel. I asked my wife a couple of times to confirm they were actual colonels and she assured me they were.

 

The article here that prompted your question makes me think that if colonels can be "non-commissioned Officers" then their status is not so high as The "Colonel" I understand whose  responsibility is for about 3,000 soldiers!

 

I now know 5 colonels arising from my wife's connections and it seems therefore, if true, colonels are more common than those below them (ugh!)

 

A bit of research on this does not really answer yours or my question, especially as it may relate to the Thai system.

 

In any event, a sad tale of a man - whoever he may be, has been murdered for the value of a plastic chair - which is virtually nothing!

From my time working with them a Thai LTC had about as much sway as a US/Western CPT. A full bird COL the same as a MAJ (Except for Commanders who seemed more like a US LTC). They're extremely top-heavy in the officer corps as they don't retire after 20 years and not so much up or out. Might be more generals than even the much larger US Army. 

Most of them tended to fill out bloated staff positions I feel might be more appropriate for a CPT/MAJ.  Usually, nice guys and fun to drink with.

Yes, some bars are open in the Jet Yod area, mostly the survivors.  Many Thai bars are open too especially if they serve food. Many places have gone out of business, however, and many close early.

@Chris.B Though I do appreciate the link, I bought the laptop quite awhile ago during a GPU shortage. I checked many websites. Availability between now and then are quite different. Unfortunately, the link isn't of much value after I already bought the computer, but might help others if looking for a RTX 3070. Of course, for any others looking... don't compare my price with his posted... different components, size, warranties... and even different wattages with the same type of GPU (major differences in performance/portability). Do your own due diligence.

Recently bought a computer from Amazon from the US. Cost was $1499 plus $37.46 shipping and a $213.43 deposit for import duties. They later refunded me $20 for the leftover from import duties.

Edit: I got the laptop from the US because I couldn't find a Thai one with a RTX3070

I pay about 35000 a semester at Mae Fah Luang University (International) in Chiang Rai a semester. Some programs are significantly more such as medical, law, and other graduate programs. Some are over 100k a semester in tuition in fees alone.

Housing for most students is from 4-6k a month, so 16-24k a semester. Add food, beer, clothes, transportation, etc... 15-25k a semester.

Parents that give on the lower end, usually means the kids get a job working at restaurants, bars, etc. at night to pay for their fun. I know a few girls "working" as well. Their parents don't give them much for spending money so they find it elsewhere.

I spend way more than this.... but I have the GI Bill covering me.

3 hours ago, arick said:

I guess thats what happens when your British and you vote Brexist. Wait the great positives of the Brexiteers will come soon and we will all be rich.

 

Working for a  foreign company has nothing to do with a retirement visa. 

I would like to know how none married under 50s non teachers teaching online stay in Thailand 

You can study at a local university and take a low number of credits (I enjoy studying). Cheap and easy, especially if you already have a few degrees. Has some fringe benefits if you're single. Could pay for the elite visa or country hop, but I'm pretty settled here.

My money comes from elsewhere but I did VIPkid a few years back, was easy money. If you have a Masters/PhD can also teach for online Universities but the work is less regular. Due to Purchasing Power Parity and reduced marginal tax rate making US$3000/month is similar to $9-10k a month back in the US with a lot less work. I've been able to save more off a smaller income living here.

2 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

People like you are disgusting so you use poor people for your own selfish pleasure.

I treat people the same I expect to be treated myself after all do you ever consider your victim you feed on is a human being. 

So you're saying I should give her nothing... Since that has been what our relationship has been for months... Just dating.

Curious about others experience. How much ka kanom/ka khao you give your gig or mia noi? What are the particulars to your relationship?

How much should I offer? In particular to the request <removed>(request for a little food money). She could definitely use it... But I don't want to give too high of expectations. 

So our particulars... up north. I have a poor gig that doesn't speak English and didn't get past matayom 3. I'm rather fluent in Thai so no issues there. She doesn't know/interact with the farang community other than myself. Cute but no model, 24. I'm upper 30s, not rich but have more than teachers.

I'm not married and all my girls assume I have others.

Edit: been dating for months and could continue doing that and give nothing... 

So, from my experience, you have a few issues:

1. False negatives: Someone may have contracted the virus enroute or a few days prior to the test. They just haven't built up the viral RNA load high enough for accurate results. There are also the untested Thais.

2. False positives: depending on the test, if you are overly strict your results can give false positives. This could mean running the PCR cycle more than 35 cycles , which has many chemical artifact issues, or the assays used base pair lengths as small as 25 base pairs (FDA recommends 100 contiguous base pairs), or human error. See peer-reviewed example: https://www.aacc.org/science-and-research/scientific-shorts/2020/false-positive-results-in-real-time-reverse-transcription-polymeras

3. Fake certificates: I can make something up in Adobe or whatever app... many of us can.

In the end... the hassle reduced the overall load of passengers. Its purpose while sitting next to an untested Thai.... well... probably not a scientifically based recommendation. It was overly Draconian but effective.... except for the fact that you can just walk over from Burma or wherever.....

Well, I don't think the actual question has been answered yet....

The reason is that immunizing 10-20% of the population doesn't reach the Herd Immunity Threshold of Pc= 1-(1/R0). Where we would need about 60-70% of people to be immune for the disease to slowly reduce (people will still get infected but at lower rates over time). At a basic level you can compute this as those infected multiplied by the efficacy of immunity to reinfection plus the percentage of uninfected multiplied by the percentage that get the vaccine and multiplied by vaccine efficacy.

Comparing other diseases such as the flu is incorrect... They have a very different R0 and require very different public health approaches.

It doesn't matter if you think most people will be ok or not (morbidity and mortality)... Given the current political climate, we need to reach the Herd Immunity Threshold to move on with our lives.