bkkcanuck8

This risk of death in most countries is around 1%, the risk of 'long COVID' is significantly higher at maybe 5%. COVID was first classified as a respiratory virus, but the medical community now thinks this may have been an incorrect classification that it should really be classified as a cardio-vascular virus (the reason why we have more varied symptoms). I won't have anything to complain about if I die, but I really don't want to be stuck with 'long COVID'. A vaccination lowers the risk of catching it (it does not prevent it, it readies your body to fight it once you get infected as with all vaccines -- basically it is an attempt to prevent a foothold situation). If you do unfortunately 'catch it' it significantly reduces the severity and risk of hospitalization - and the 'long COVID' potential... Vaccination (which I have received fully vaccinated as of 2.5 months ago, and I will get a booster in maybe March 31st next year) is one of many things that you can do to reduce your risks (wearing a mask reduces your chances of spreading it if you do catch it; and others wearing a mask will in turn reduce the chance of someone else spreading it to you -- is another).... Vaccines are probably one of the major reasons why the average lifespan has nearly doubled over the last century... no guarantees, but it raises the chances you will lead a longer life with less health issues... so I find this antivaxxer crowd to be .... silly.

The COVID vaccine half-life is closer to the Flu Vaccine half-life unfortunately... Vaccinations will lose their ability to protect after maybe 5 or 6 months at best. Anti-bodies die off over time, and the long term vaccine protection where your body 'remembers' [B lymphocytes; memory cells] do not seem to keep a 'blueprint' for rapidly recreating the antibodies necessary when needed. This is not noticeable with the Flu vaccine because that one basically gets reformulated every year because there are lots and lots of Flu strains out there - and seasonly the flu strains tend to differ (there is only one COVID strain that we are concerned about at this time [multiple variants]). For now, regular boosters will likely be needed (maybe every 6 months). This may change as the virus becomes a normal endemic virus that our body learns to deal with. It will likely be another few weeks before we know for sure, but it seems that the Omicron variant is much more transmissible -- but also less severe (meaning that more people will get it - but the hospitalizations will be less likely to be needed if you do catch it). If this is true, then our healthcare systems may not be as much at risk of being overwhelmed... which is really what lockdowns are suppose to help alleviate.

The transaction history is just not on the system when the passbook is updated (only up to 6 months max), it would show as a consolidated entry with a transaction code of 'CMB' which is a 'Combined No-Book Transaction'. The most common deposit system codes are documented on that back cover of the bank book. The older transactions would have been archived and not available online or for book update - you have to do a statement request that includes the transactions from the archival. You could have a CMB for 1,000 baht but it is really 1,000,000 baht of debits and 1,001,000 baht of credits.

The deposit system and ATM in those cases likely only carry around 3 to 6 months of transactional history, the rest of the transactions are archived. When transactions are moved off the system they would basically take all the debits and credits and consolidate them into a balance forward entry - and remove the transaction history before the date of the balance forward entry. If you go a full year without updating the bank account book, the system would not have the entire transaction history online connected to the system that the ATM is connected to... it would start printing transactions from the balance forward entry - that to the end user just looks like a consolidation of debits and credits. For Bangkok Bank, I am guessing you cannot get a full 12 month transactional printout at the branch because they also would not have access to the full 12 transactional history online. Transactional history takes up space, it can slow things down for administrative tasks etc. - and archiving them can keep operations more efficient.

It depends on whether the local immigration office is determined to mulish about adhering to the letter of the rule or just making sure they adhere to the intent of what the legislation was meant to accomplish. The letter is you must have x amount of money for these days, the intent was to ensure that this was your money in your account and not placed in there for the renewal then removed from that account after the renewal was granted (i.e. fraud with regards to the intent of the requirement). If your balance is always just enough to be approved, I expect that the immigration staff would require more to ensure that money is yours (i.e. adhering more to the letter), if your balance is often significantly above - and there is history of that balance being there (though not a years worth), then I would expect the immigration office to require less adherence to the letter of the rule since the intent was always - to make sure you had the money available and were therefore worth granting a visa to.

I am assuming the small deposit is for the savings account?. With my F/D (Bangkok Bank), I did not need to do a transaction - They just did a 'B/F' (transaction entry) with the current date/time. (Balance Forward) - So date (today, no sequence no, B/F for transaction code, no debit/credit amount and the total balance after that entry with date and timestamp.

If using a FD a/c then it is wise to give it to the bank staff at the time the letter is created, they will have the system give a balance update 'transaction' so that the last transaction printed in the bank book is recent (i.e. today)

You talk about it like your are the authoritative expert to which Immigration consults... but your expectation or experience does not match my reality here in Khon Kaen. My bank book usually is updated once a year (and they consolidate most of the transactions into one), and the bank statement issued at the counter is 6 months only... and I have never had any issues (same at another immigration office earlier). They do require a letter from the bank, they do require a photocopy of the bank book (matching the letter from the bank - they highlighted the final balance transaction as of today), and I provided them with the last 6 month statement (the bank book would be missing most transactions).. They also required proof of address. (and passport photocopy and picture)... After that is all provided the renewal process was quick and easy (my ongoing balance is actually quite a bit higher than needed since I hate spending money and it comes in regularly). As with most things, the procedures to meet policy needs are implemented regionally (not that much different than I experienced in some western countries), so your experience does not necessarily mean it is the general experience or the experience in other regions.

That is well within the norm for polling, yet polling can be very accurate -- depending on making sure that the sample size is representative.

Perfect timing to consider it... /s China is really cracking down on the junket business - and gaming revenues in Macau will likely lose half their revenue (or more) as business from China dries up... The question is who are the Casinos for (in Singapore they have a levy to discourage locals gaming - $100 to $150 / 24 hr or I think $2000 to $3000 annually (foreigners that are not residents - i.e. visitors can enter free)? I visited Casinos with a group of co-workers in the US regularly while I was in San Diego, and I was disciplined and usually left the Casino with more money than when I entered (but not enough of a profit to make a profession of it)... I have seen one co-worker literally lose it (i.e. loss of logic when losing, bet more to win it back)... and we had to drag that person out (at that point the rest of us decided it would be best not to continue to make it an regular event anymore). That said, I don't think it should be legalized at this time -- as too many locals already have issues with gambling, and the big foreign junket market from China (for foreigners) is being hit... so I don't see the benefits outweighing the risks at this time.

You get home... and she says "let's role play, you be the painter..."

Maybe she might cut another rope?

Some will allow it through phone banking but not through the app - I guess they figure you can change it in one location using one method - where you cannot do transactions....

Doing it from a desktop/laptop computer through a web browser to your bank is going to be less secure than using a banking app on the phone (IMHO). [30+ years designing/building banking and brokerage systems].

Smart phones are computers...

You can have the convenience of online purchases while limiting your risk.... You just setup an account with a debit card specifically for purchases and you maintain a balance that you are comfortable losing if the debit card is used for malicious purposes.

Oh, yes they keep it... I went in a few months later and they had to retrieve paperwork and they were in bundles by date (they actually were able to identify the specific bundle fairly quickly). I don't know if they were interim (i.e. scanning), or were delivered in bulk to storage. It is not just government, it is the banks and any large institution. I know my home bank was ahead of times technologically - but they had done away with bank books and required paper slips years ahead of others (but the others have caught up). [if a slip is needed it does not need to be filled in, just printed - handed to you and signed (for cash)].

So Canada has a higher vaccination rate and a lower per capita infection rate (than the US or Thailand -- actually; about the same percentage vaccinated in Canada as Singapore)... and they are not on the list ... interesting...

The pandemic just made the financial mess -- impossible to ignore... It was not so much a big role, but really just the nail in the coffin... regardless of the pandemic there was always going to be a reckoning sooner or later.... The company in some ways was run like a ponzi scheme. (taking new purchase money - paid in full for future development to cover work in progress on other work - while also taking more loans for development on property paid in full.

Well, to be quite honest, there have not been any good/great presidents this century... Trump was just the worst by far. As far as international defense alliances... where others made mistakes... he was completely absent. (When I lived/worked in the US -- if I had the right to vote, I would have tended to chose Republicans at that time, though I would be more in line with John McCain Republican - now.. the party is completely a different beast.)

If we ever have a dispute, I will just invite you over to my house and then kill you... I will then give you a gun, pretend it was in self defense... and you will be fine with that ... no investigation needed. The job of the police is to investigate and provide the facts and make sure they have the facts, not just rely on the only living witness and accept his word for it. It will then be up to the Crown Prosecutor and courts to decide if it was unlawful murder or lawful self-defense.

It is very likely that the buying of condos in Thailand and elsewhere are in large part effectively parking money in real estate (rather in a Chinese bank).... not much different than some Thais who buy gold - which is effectively acting as a bank (will be liquidated later if need to withdraw).

Trump was unpredictable and that could have consequences, but US trade sanctions on China did as much damage to the US as it did to China (maybe even more). China was still preferring Trump get re-elected though because whatever damage was done between the US and China paled on what was being done to international relations by the US - and that was a big benefit to the Chinese foreign policy. Unpredictable yes, but still a net win for China.

For normal economies, this would be a very bad sign indeed. The development side is very cyclical, but the services side would be a counter balance to flatten out the highs and lows and provide some liquidity during the down years. I doubt the proceeds will do much to fix the problem with being overleveraged and built like a house of cards.

I don't know whether Biden can be trusted... I would not trust any American leaders assurances these days... but he could not be worse than Trump for the Asia-Pacific region - the US basically abandoned the region to China during Trump's presidency... Biden at least seems to be taking a greater interest in the region lately... though the damage done would take decades to repair with consistent foreign policy etc. and I don't see that happening.