timendres

A Thai friend had an employee from Laos who was not registered for a work permit. Fine was 50,000 baht.

Elephants are wonderful creatures. It is easy to forget how powerful they are.

That is her tell. She's holding a pair of deuces.

This would be my one concern. Why is the contractor offering this at the same price?

I actually subscribe to the premium package. I do not think the available content depends on the plan. I believe it is the result of the contracts Netflix signs with the content owners. I have been loving a lot of the Korean content, which my friends on the US do not see. Archer is available here, but not in the US. But I do miss some content available in the US, for example Columbo. I just wish those folks could sort it all out so that all of the content was available everywhere.

I have had Netflix so long, for years I was getting DVDs mailed to my house in the US. I have tried almost every streaming service out there, and Netflix is still my top choice.

You missed 6 of them ^_^ 17 in total. If only he had just one more...

I recently renewed using the online procedure. It was difficult to find the correct starting page - there are some old ones that can lead you down a rabbit hole. I needed to setup a Login.gov account to make the payment. I needed a cashier's check from Bangkok Bank (any bank is okay) to pay for the return postage. All in all, it was relatively simple. I was really impressed that I got the new passport in 2 weeks. Good service overall.

Does it taste better cold? The idea behind that well known expression is that a person should wait until they cool down before executing their revenge. This way the person waiting to extract revenge should be able to make and execute a better plan for revenge than they might while they are still hot and angry.

Every year several birthday cards are posted to me from the US to Bangkok. Each and every one arrived, albeit weeks after my birthday.

If there is no electricity and no water, he will leave soon enough.

He's just trippin on Thailand. It happens. No drugs required.

Most people miss this insidious aspect of digital money - programmability. Not only can they track every transaction, eliminating all privacy in transactions, but they can program the money to become worthless in 6 months, and they can program where, and for what, you spend that money. This is not a good future.

A friend here had to remove a hornet nest. He purchased some sort of "death in a can" that sprayed a jet of a foam-like substance directly into the nest from a solid distance - something like 5 meters. He was able to douse the nest and get to safety long before the hornets came out that far. It worked quite well.

These machinations are of little concern to visitors to the Kingdom or its expat community, in general. They are internal to the powers that be. Big Joke was/is challenging to disrupt a status quo that will not go quietly into the night.

Let's not forget that this man had lead sprayed into his vehicle, and spent some time outside the country, for what I can only imagine was his personal safety. Few people would even consider stepping up to this task.

Am I misremembering, or is this the second time Prawit has brought this up? You know what they say... If a banker tells you the bank is solid....

There is no requirement to cancel your extension. With no re-entry stamp, the extension will be invalidated upon your departure. You can then return later on the tourist visa. But do be sure to follow up and make sure your work permit is properly canceled by your employer.

Very true. When I started in the US car industry 40 years ago, cars were getting 8 MPG and engines were often wearing out around 120,000 miles. Today, we have cars getting over 30 MPG (some over 40), and engines that are expected to last over 200,000 miles. EVs will progress a lot from where they are today.

The current evolution appears to point to a "bipolar" world. In this world, some countries will trade "outside" of USD. For example, if the BRIC nations were able to establish a currency (they are planning it), then they would be able to trade amongst themselves in this new currency. For example, India might trade with Russia in this new currency. However, India would continue to use USD for transactions with the US (and likely, Europe, Canada, Australia, etc.). So it appears more and more likely that the world splits into two major "currencies", with trade occurring in the most convenient currency for the transaction. The USD would become less dominate worldwide, but would still be the currency used in "the west". In other words, it is unlikely that the USD will lose its reserve currency status in our lifetimes, but it will lose its dominance in global trade and reserves. How much so is hard to say, but it will be incremental. One only needs to look at the massive purchases of gold that central banks are making. Having seen the "weaponization" of the USD (e.g., sanctions on Russia), they recognize that it makes sense to lighten up on USD reserves and hold some more gold. But USD reserves continue to dominate global reserves, simply because most global transactions continue in USD. The debt based monetary system (i.e., fiat currency) has now reached the "exponential" phase of expansion, and such a system must continue to expand or it collapses. The only solution to this problem is perpetual growth, which is not really feasible anymore. Thus, the debt based system must change. However, this change will not be smooth, most likely coming in the form of a major crisis and collapse. This will be painful for everyone. And there is no way to predict the outcome. Some say it will usher in CBDCs, but this will be just a digital form of the same thing, so the problem will not be solved, only delayed further. These are interesting times indeed.

I have used an agent for 9 years. The agent simply does the paperwork. There is no "special consideration", as I meet every requirement. The agent just makes everything easier for me. I would never have a problem extending without my agent, as the agent did nothing but the paperwork. That said, those using an agent to get around requirements that they do not meet will eventually run into issues.

You were not "blacklisted", only denied entry. This can happen for a number of reasons, and I believe would only cause an IO to possibly inquire about why. If you meet all of the current requirements, there is no reason you would be turned back, but I cannot be certain. I cannot imagine that you would be arrested. It should be possible to find someone who can give you a more definitive answer for a not outrageous fee.

deleted double posting

Having used many, and seen almost all, and having worked on projects directly with KBank developers, I will say that in my opinion their mobile app is the best in the business.

If I am ever arrested and photos are taken, I want a weef He wasn't "angrily pointing". He was asking "Do you want to hit this spleef, maan?"