Gecko123

Article reads like a young adults romance novel.

Apparently you are unaware that climate change is impacting barley and hop production, key ingredients in beer.

In the past the cool season was pretty reliably from early Nov thru late Feb. This year it seems like it didn't start until mid-Dec and ended mid-Jan. Cool season vegetable garden was fairly disappointing as a result.

Biden is over 3/4's of the way through his first term, and re-evaluations are done periodically. I don't see including him in the survey as damaging their credibility at all.

These ratings do move around as time passes, but my strong suspicion is that Trump will remain at the bottom of the barrel until the end of time. God help us if a future president were to somehow replace him at the bottom of the list.

Thai people are among the most approachable and outwardly friendly people on the planet. Unfriendly and unsmiling Westerners visitors have only themselves to blame if this most cherishable of cultural traits has been degraded over time.

You seem to take a perverse pleasure in trying to make people think Thai culture is a dark, scary, endlessly intricate minefield which only a few chosen souls like you have ever traversed without losing a limb or two. I recall you professing to have insights about how Thais secretly hold foreigners in disdain and how the word 'farang' is pejorative, neither of which, IMHO, is true either. I'm all the more struck that these comments, which seem aimed at sowing cross-cultural mistrust and resentment are coming from someone who has obtained Thai citizenship. You may be getting personal satisfaction by posturing on this forum as someone who has climbed to the top of Thailand's seven storied cultural mountain, but I think you are doing the Thai people a huge disservice by spreading misinformation about Thai culture. Anyone who has true insights into Thai culture ought to be working as an ambassador for Thailand, fostering understanding and mutual respect, not promulgating misinformation which sows insecurity, confusion, and mistrust.

One positive thing I can say is that she seems to be engaging with and having more positive interaction with locals than a lot of older foreign men do, this despite having seemingly limited Thai language skills. Some of this, no doubt, has to do with her being a younger solo female traveler, but one thing I observed is that she has a very humble and down to earth disposition which may make her more approachable from the viewpoint of Thais. Everyone's taking potshots at her lack of planning and vagabond style of travel, but in terms of generating opportunities to interact with locals, she may have stumbled onto something with her approach.

It's technically child neglect, not child abuse. Exposing the children to fire hazards, or failing to provide them with proper nourishment or sanitary living conditions would fall under the definition of child neglect, not child abuse. Was merely pointing out that with all that flammable trash piled up adjacent to one of the main exits from the house she was creating a major life safety hazard. I am not a deserving target for your righteous indignation.

judge not lest ye be judged

The fire hazard is my biggest concern.

A work permit is not a requirement for registering a car in your name. Considering the potential for getting embroiled in legal disputes between yourself and the renter and potentially getting sued by a third party as owner of the vehicle for damages caused while the vehicle is being rented out, in my opinion you need to have your head examined for even considering doing this.

I've had this problem in the past, but not for a while. I used to think the reason for the delivery being postponed was because they ran out of time and just wanted to reschedule for the next day. However, when I confronted the driver and expressed my annoyance, they vehemently insisted that the reason wasn't because it was getting late in the day, but because the package had been misrouted to their delivery branch. I live on the edge of my province and my geographically large amphoe is divided between two distribution centers (one located in my province and the other in the adjoining province). Only when the driver is about to deliver the package do they realize that the package is outside of their delivery service area and will need to be re-routed to the distribution center in the adjoining province. This problem has greatly been reduced since discussing it with the driver. I told them they should consider sorting the packages for my amphoe by zip code which would be more precise. The other thing I did was change all my on-line mailing addresses to both English and Thai, including the words tambon and amphoe for added clarity.

Would like to see Hillary Clinton (POTUS) and Michelle Obama (VP) drafted at the democratic convention. I think that ticket would win by a landslide against Trump.

What the cluck?

Pretty sure the EMS guy is the same guy on the left in the below story. Emergency organization is the same in both cases. This guy's heading for celebrity status. Trying to think of a nickname for him. Big Johnson? The Fixer? Mr Don't Move? https://thepattayanews.com/2023/07/25/pattaya-rescuers-help-swiss-tourist-remove-chastity-lock/

That's not what I said at all. As I stated, I was relieved to read that the step-father was being prosecuted. Nor did I ever say that I agreed with the mother and grandmother's sentiment that he shouldn't be prosecuted. All I said was that when you considered the dire economic hardship that the family (grandmother, wife, daughter, grandchild) will likely be facing due to the loss of the family breadwinner, their initial reaction to his arrest isn't as incomprehensible and backward as many posters on this thread have judged it to be.

The best advice I can give about how to have a productive retirement is to first decide what you want to do in retirement, and then decide where the best place is to accomplish what you want to do. Simply "living" in a foreign country is usually not enough of a plan, and usually a recipe for boredom and, too often, dissipation. Aside from gardening, mountain bike riding, singing and cooking, I have increasingly devoted a lot of time to French language study, (advanced grammar, daily newspaper reading, French classical literature (de Balzac), and studying French medieval, Napoleonic, and WWII history which provides a very enjoyable virtual travel experience which I believe, in today's world of over-tourism, may be more rewarding and more stimulating than actual travel. Some people may find rural Thailand dreadful in terms of stimulation, and I can understand this to a certain extent, especially if there is a major language barrier. But, as I think the above example demonstrates, mental stimulation can be found anywhere, and a rural setting is conducive to philosophical reflection, being in touch with the soil and the cycle of life, and low stress.

The mother's reluctance to press charges isn't as incomprehensible and backward as it might initially appear. With the daughter being developmentally impaired, there is a strong possibility that she will be dependent on her parents throughout her life. The imprisonment of the family breadwinner would likely doom the mother and daughter to a lifetime of poverty. I am wondering what those condemning the mother would do if they found themselves in a similar situation? I was relieved to read that the police insisted on pursuing charges, but those sitting in judgment of the mother need to consider the pragmatic choices people are forced to make when faced with life's harsh realities.

Who do you think was running the printing press?

Might it be time for the RTP to launch Operation Robin (national bird of England)???

No they are not implicitly linked. Extending a visa allows a person to remain in the country legally. Extending a visa does not prevent a person from leaving the country. Extending a visa is often done at the request of the foreigner in order to enable them to pursue their case. Confiscating a passport has nothing to do with the right to remain in the country legally. It only serves to prevents someone from leaving. Confiscating a foreigner's passport because of civil litigation would be akin to telling a Thai litigant that they can't leave the country during the litigation process. Maybe in a criminal case where the defendant was granted bail, but it's unheard of in civil litigation. A foreigner's passport is often their primary, if not sole form of identification which needs to be updated periodically and is needed for numerous transactions including making bank deposits and withdrawals. It's completely unworkable to confiscate a foreigner's passport during a civil trial which can take months upon months if not years to resolve. I'm sorry for the OP's loss. All I'm saying is the reason he gave for not being able to attend the funeral didn't ring true to life for me.

Requesting a visa extension due to pending legal matters and having your passport confiscated because of pending civil litigation are entirely separate matters.

Too early to bury the Cannabis forum as a sub-forum in the Health and Medicine forum? There's no way the cannabis forum should have ever been featured so prominently on the list of forums. Look at how few posts it has compared to other forums. I can't believe ASEANNOW went so 'all-in' with the cannabis advertisers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt pot-heads are a coveted demographic for most non-cannabis advertisers. Anyone still thinking 'no recreational use? No problem! Dr. Thai Stick will be happy to write you a prescription for your car sickness nausea' is living in La-la-Thai-land. That's not the way Thailand rolls (no pun intended.)