scottiejohn

I really must hand it to you for your "jokes"!

You implied that it would take 7 minutes to walk to the nearest bank or ATM from Pantip Plaza. Since there are at least four banks with ATM's less than 500m from Pantip it would seem that you are a slow walker!

You must be a very slow walker!

Since you ask. My crystal ball tells me that some people and organisations just pluck the figures they quote out of thin air!

Why close them? Keep your options open!

What that they are all biased toward one or other party/politician apart from "possibly" the WSJ and AP!

Where did you buy your broken crystal ball? Was the same shop as TAT?

I think it was a Ford, probably a mustang in his case!

Or was that his last "retort"!

A bad example! Asian expatriates, governments, humanitarian organisations and individuals around the world arrived, eager to offer aid and technical support. Such was the global scope of the disaster that the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters was activated in quick succession by the French Civil Protection Agency, the Indian space agency ISRO, and by UNOOSA on behalf of UNOPS, thus providing a wide variety of humanitarian satellite imagery to aid and rescue organisations. The World Bank initially estimated the amount of aid needed at US$5 billion. Although numerous countries provided help for relief and assistance, the UN criticised both the US and Europe for providing inadequate resources. Humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake - Wikipedia

So you quote an aircraft that went out of production 8 years ago and which obviously the Russians and Chinese do not use. The UK are even ditching the C130! The US do not use the Airbus or Y-20 or Il-76MD either!

That could be getting too personal for a public family forum!

Farmer Murphy and the English Toff! Farmer Murphy is working on his fence when an English tourist startled him by honking his car’s horn. "I say," asked the Toff "does this road go to the Castle?" "I do believe it does. Just keep on as you were." Farmer Murphy goes back to his business. About 10 minutes later, the Toff comes back up the road. “I say, my good man, there's a stream crossing this road. Is it safe to cross it in my car?" Farmer Murphy says, "Right, I should think you'll be fine." And the Brit drives off again. Farmer Murphy goes back to his business, he's working away and slowly becomes aware of a sloshing, dripping, stomping sound getting louder. He looks up. It's the Toff. He does not look happy! "I say!" the red faced Toff rants, "You told me it was safe to cross that stream." “I did that. Sir I did indeed say that sir" "Well, I nearly drowned! That stream is deep enough to completely cover my car!" Farmer Murphy has himself a smile and replies, "That's odd Sir!" "The water only comes halfway up on the ducks when they cross the stream!"

I saw a truck with a bumper sticker that said, “I’m a vet so I drive like an animal… It was then that I realized how many proctologists there are on the road!

The Biker and the Accountant A large muscly rough looking biker riding the biggest baddest motorcycle you've ever seen chases a small nerdy accountant on a Moped across a lonely highway. He easily catches him and runs him off the road. In desperation, stumbling and crawling to get away, the accountant grabs a discarded glass bottle and wildly chucks it at the biker, missing badly. But in a stroke of luck, the bottle breaks on a rock and a Genie appears. The Genie yells, "Stop! If you spare this man's life I'll give you each 2 wishes." The biker agrees and says, "I wish that any woman I want will find my irresistible and want constant sex with me." "It's done!" Proclaimed the Genie and he turned to the accountant. The small man says, "I wish for bank account that always has a million pounds in it no matter how much I spend." The Genie tells the accountant that it is done and hands him a new passbook showing a £1,000,000. The biker say, "I wish that all men would run away scared from me when they see me, leaving their women behind" "It's done" proclaimed the Genie as he turned back to the accountant. The small man, climbed up on his old moped, fired up the engine, took the control, revved it (sic) twice then pointed straight at the biker and yelled, "I wish that biker to be turned into a gay homosexual prostitute!"

An elderly man rear ends a guy driving an expensive sports car. Enraged, the guy hops out of his car and confronts the old man. “Look what you did to my car” he yells. “you’re gonna give me $10,000 right now or I’m gonna beat you to a pulp!” “Oh my” says the old man, I don't have that kind of money. Let me call my son, he trains dolphins and he’ll know what to do. Dolphins, the other driver huffs, while rolling his eyes. The old man pulls out his phone, calls his son and just as the son answers, the irate man snatches the phone away from the old man. So, YOU’RE a dolphin trainer, huh, a wet suit wimp? Well, your old man here just rear ended my car and I need ten grand right now or I’m gonna beat you AND your old man to a pulp! I’ll be there in 10 minutes, says the voice calmly on the other end. Exactly ten minutes later a military jeep pulls up and a large guy in gym kit hops out and proceeds to pulverize the bully, leaving him in a heap on the side of the road. When he’s finished, he walks over to his father and says: “For the LAST TIME dad…. I train SEALS…. NAVY SEALS…. NOT dolphins.”

Putin is being driven down the street in his limo! He sees a family on the side of the road eating grass. He tells his driver to pull over and he gets out of the limo and approaches the husband. "What are you doing? Why is your family eating grass?" he asks. "Oh, Mr President," the man says "Since the war in Ukraine began I've been thrown out of work and this is all we can afford now." "Well, that won't do." says Putin, "You can come my dacha and eat all you want!" "From my family I thank you" says the man in tears. "Yes, you'll love it," says Putin. "The grass is up to my knees there since I sent my gardeners to the front."

One night a man is driving down and old country road. He comes across what looks like a Catholic mission in the middle of nowhere. On an old hand-written sign he sees "Sisters of Mercy House of Prostitution". He's been on a bit of a dry spell so he thinks, "What the hell, I gotta see this!" He pulls over and knocks on the door. A young, beautiful sister in her 20's comes to the door and asks what he needs. He tells her he saw the sign and was interested. The sister blushes, and says to come in. The guy is thinking this is gonna be great. He asks her how much and she just says, go through this door and follow the signs. So he goes through the door and sees a sign that says "Deposit $20.00" next to a hole in the wall. He does so, and another door unlocks. He proceeds through it to see another sign that says the same. After 3 more of these rooms he's getting impatient when he walks through the final door, he finds himself outside with a sign near the parking area that reads, " Congratulations, you've just been screwed by the Sisters of Mercy!"

Please take off your rose tinted glasses. The US is not the saviour of the world! I am sure organisations like "Médecins Sans Frontières", "The Red Cross" and many others would disagree as to who "is often one of the first and most important organizations to arrive and start helping people," as would other military forces around the world!

China has all these capabilities but admittedly on a smaller scale.

You cannot be almost unique! You are either unique or not! All the major powers can send troops anywhere on the planet within 24hrs! US, Russia, China, France UK etc. The numbers of course will vary by country and distances/requirements involved!

I did! I had the same MGBGT for 32 years before selling it for more than I paid for it to retire here. It was used during it's last 10 years as my sole commuting (1hr) car!

If you mean they do not have WMD then you are wrong! They already have them; The People's Republic of China has developed and possesses weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons. The first of China's nuclear weapons tests took place in 1964,[1] and its first hydrogen bomb test occurred in 1967 at Lop Nur. Tests continued until 1996. China and weapons of mass destruction - Wikipedia If you are talking Political and financial power projection outside of Asia they have plenty; The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R[1]), known within China as the One Belt One Road is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in more than 150 countries and international organizations. It is considered a centerpiece of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping's foreign policy Belt and Road Initiative - Wikipedia

My advice is that if you are on a retirement extension with the 800,000 in the bank method make sure you do the branch/account transfer in two stages after the 800,000 requirement drops to 400,000 (never can remember if it is 2 or 3 months after extension) and only move 400,000 the first time, make sure it is in the new branch/account then do the rest!

Seems to me to be an accurate summary of the so called 3 front runners to me!