soc

All this talk of beer nearly made me want to take up drinking again! l did say nearly!

When l used to imbibe l preferred either Heineken or Tiger.

l liked Chang initially but then found it too sweet. Did they change the recipe or did my tastes change? Me not know.

Singha was a bit too bitter, Beerlao an excellent light lager, but l didn't like Leo at all.

Just my two bob's worth.

After the Brits kicked themselves out due to overzealous collection of taxes in the new world, the now Yanks have gone one step further in making their citizens pay tax on worldwide income... that's why lots come here and hide.

Apparently Boris Johnson is being chased by the IRS for taxes earned overseas because he was born in the States.

The US has been taxing their citizens for a long time I was required to file US taxes in Japan in 1965 and have been doing it ever sense I have lived in Asia and the middle east.Living here in retirement A US citizen is still required by law to file a tax report every year.Money made outside the US is tax free to $95,000.00.but you still have to file.

And yet, as a non US citizen, when l worked in America in 2007, l paid no tax at all.

True, the rate per hour was much lower than my American co-workers, but l still paid no tax.

The low hourly rate didn't bother me as l was on paid leave from my Australian job & my US employer also provided food & accommodation.

I m taxed based on residence, and not on citizenship. this is why I mention I m a EU resident.

all money I make is from Europe mainly, and as I m a tourist here with a tourist visa in Thailand and never stay longer than 3 months consecutively, I don't have to report anything. it s like I m living on the moon or in international waters. that s the nice thing to tax on residence Vs citizenship.

I heard USA is the only country with etria who tax on citizenship. maybe these 2 countries should unite together and make one flag for both (sarcasm).

my life is sweet. this is years I have not filed any tax report and the money is still raining on my account.

l laughed out loud at "the money raining on your account".

Don't we all wish for that!

l was in the roadside pub halfway between Port Hedland & Karatha(WA), forget the name, in the 70s & everyone was drinking from tallies.

No draft beer.

After taking a long swig, you would put your finger into the neck of the bottle to stop the furry black flies from getting at your beer.

Every so often, a drinker would forget & the next pull from the bottle would result in swearing & spitting as he would expel the fly, or flies from his beer.

Some blokes were too late & would swallow the fly!

Adding to their discomfort of spitting & retching, the crowd would raise a cheer & some wag would always shout, "Did you get the crunchy bits"?

Just remembered the pub, Whim Creek.

Anyway, if the father of this chap can't get any assistance from the Scottishi embassy, he should be down at his local Police Station making a song and dance about this and also at his local politicians office doing the same.

More noise he can make the better.

Perhaps some of the bar stool heroes down in Pattaya could get out and do some footwork, work off a few of those largers, take a photo of the lad and See if they can find where he got to, somebody will recognise him, as the photo of him shows, he's not your usual Pattaya sloth, he appears fit, trim, good looking, so he should stand out from all those beer chang wife beater wearing fat slobs wearing flip flops.

Again, I wonder what makes his father think that he's met with foul play, besides the fact he hasn't called in.

I do hope the lad turns up and makes this up to his old man, it's a terrible situation for his father to be in.

Scottish embassy???

My bad, I should be flogged.

Tie the scurvy dog to the mast.

.

I would love to see the statistics that back up that 'fact'. Can you please post a link to the study?

Of course, how silly of me.

The people who carried out 9/11,

London 2005,

Paris 2014,

Brussels 2015 & numerous other "peaceful" demonstrations were probably Jehovah's Witnesses, or maybe Hindus, or Jews, or perhaps Catholics or Mormons. Methodists? No?

No they couldn't be, dare l say it? from the "Religion of Peace", muslims?

Pull your head out of the sand, boy.

btw-whats in it for you?

That you continue to fail understand even my question and why I asked it does not make you correct, it just makes you look clueless. Maybe you should just stick to crap facebook memes.

Don't do facebook, is that where you get your inspiration from?

What an apologist! l'm impressed.

They can do no wrong in your selective eyes.

Oh well, you & your ilk will answer for it one day.

lf not in this world, then the next(thanks, Gladiator!).

You can't insult me.

l have a hide as thick as a rhinoceros, especially when it comes to dealing with the mentally challanged.

You protesteth far too much, rudi old bean.

Carry on with your apologising, l've got all the time in the world.

They are not proposing to cancel his visa because he is a Muslim, but because he espouse hatred and violence. The former does not guarantee the latter, and similarly, you can have the latter without the former.

And you quite often get them together. ln fact very often.

I would love to see the statistics that back up that 'fact'. Can you please post a link to the study?

Of course, how silly of me.

The people who carried out 9/11,

London 2005,

Paris 2014,

Brussels 2015 & numerous other "peaceful" demonstrations were probably Jehovah's Witnesses, or maybe Hindus, or Jews, or perhaps Catholics or Mormons. Methodists? No?

No they couldn't be, dare l say it? from the "Religion of Peace", muslims?

Pull your head out of the sand, boy.

btw-whats in it for you?

Shocking that the most vociferous supporters of islam are totally uninformed as to what islam is about. Rather than naively cheering on an imaginary view of what you would like islam to be, better to educate yourself properly and quit with the naive statements that contradict everything about islam. This cleric is a good strict muslim, and is preaching absolutely in line with normal mosque preaching. In mosques they are not discussing equal rights for homosexuals and how to end female genital mutilation. A quick education could be found asking your wife to walk around Bradford without a male escort - in fact don't bother.

How far can you see from on top of that high horse of yours? How do you suggest I educate myself? I woke up this morning at 4.01am with the call to prayer from the mosque that is around 20m from my bedroom. Being in the middle east, I usually spend most of each working day surrounded by Muslims, but this being Ramadan, they tend to disappear around 1pm. However at no point have they ever indicated anything other than fraternal friendship. Maybe tonight, at iftar, when we are sitting round our shared meal, I will ask them why they hate me so much and want me dead. Do you think that, with the explanation they will give me, I can then consider myself as enlightened as you?

You're a real hero, aren't you?

Have you converted yet?

Hero? Did I suggest that I was doing anything heroic or brave? In fact, my life is very mundane, normal and regular, probably not a lot different to most other people's; probably not even very different to the lives of the bigots who freely issue their drivel as if it was fact, and their base prejudices as if they were reasoned, inciteful positions. You see, we are all open to negative influence - whether Muslim or Christian, we can all be consumed with irrational hatred.

But followers of the "Religion of Peace" figure more prominently in the hatred stakes, these days.

Glad that you don't consider yourself a hero, probably a lot of the posters here don't either.

So, have you converted yet?

55555555

He is merely preaching Islam. He hasn't made it up himself. The penalty in Islam for lots of things is death, including homosexuality and leaving the Islamic faith to become something else.

The difference between Islam and Christianity ( which also has the death penalty for homosexuality ) is that Christians no longer want to kill people for such reasons. Many Muslims do.

Shocking that the most vociferous supporters of islam are totally uninformed as to what islam is about. Rather than naively cheering on an imaginary view of what you would like islam to be, better to educate yourself properly and quit with the naive statements that contradict everything about islam. This cleric is a good strict muslim, and is preaching absolutely in line with normal mosque preaching. In mosques they are not discussing equal rights for homosexuals and how to end female genital mutilation. A quick education could be found asking your wife to walk around Bradford without a male escort - in fact don't bother.

How far can you see from on top of that high horse of yours? How do you suggest I educate myself? I woke up this morning at 4.01am with the call to prayer from the mosque that is around 20m from my bedroom. Being in the middle east, I usually spend most of each working day surrounded by Muslims, but this being Ramadan, they tend to disappear around 1pm. However at no point have they ever indicated anything other than fraternal friendship. Maybe tonight, at iftar, when we are sitting round our shared meal, I will ask them why they hate me so much and want me dead. Do you think that, with the explanation they will give me, I can then consider myself as enlightened as you?

Before you ask them if they hate you, tell them that you are homosexual. Perhaps their attitude might change then.

PS I too worked surrounded by Muslims for many years, so I speak from experience.

Doubt that he will listen to you.

He seems to view lslam through rose coloured glasses.

l too, have worked & lived with muslims before & have seen some of the things that they are capable of.

My brother's Christian lndonesian fiancée was burnt to death in a church, along with a dozen or so other people in a fire started by muslims in Suluwesi province, lndonesia.

muslim apologists make me want to be sick.

55555555

He is merely preaching Islam. He hasn't made it up himself. The penalty in Islam for lots of things is death, including homosexuality and leaving the Islamic faith to become something else.

The difference between Islam and Christianity ( which also has the death penalty for homosexuality ) is that Christians no longer want to kill people for such reasons. Many Muslims do.

Shocking that the most vociferous supporters of islam are totally uninformed as to what islam is about. Rather than naively cheering on an imaginary view of what you would like islam to be, better to educate yourself properly and quit with the naive statements that contradict everything about islam. This cleric is a good strict muslim, and is preaching absolutely in line with normal mosque preaching. In mosques they are not discussing equal rights for homosexuals and how to end female genital mutilation. A quick education could be found asking your wife to walk around Bradford without a male escort - in fact don't bother.

How far can you see from on top of that high horse of yours? How do you suggest I educate myself? I woke up this morning at 4.01am with the call to prayer from the mosque that is around 20m from my bedroom. Being in the middle east, I usually spend most of each working day surrounded by Muslims, but this being Ramadan, they tend to disappear around 1pm. However at no point have they ever indicated anything other than fraternal friendship. Maybe tonight, at iftar, when we are sitting round our shared meal, I will ask them why they hate me so much and want me dead. Do you think that, with the explanation they will give me, I can then consider myself as enlightened as you?

You're a real hero, aren't you?

Have you converted yet?

Australia considers cancelling cleric's visa over gay views

Now why would they do that? We all know Islam has nothing to do with violence.

They are not proposing to cancel his visa because he is a Muslim, but because he espouse hatred and violence. The former does not guarantee the latter, and similarly, you can have the latter without the former.

55555555

He is merely preaching Islam. He hasn't made it up himself. The penalty in Islam for lots of things is death, including homosexuality and leaving the Islamic faith to become something else.

The difference between Islam and Christianity ( which also has the death penalty for homosexuality ) is that Christians no longer want to kill people for such reasons. Many Muslims do.

So, as you ackowledge, the Christian fairy story is as riddled with hate and prejudice as the Islamic version; do you actually believe that all Christians are filled with loving kindness whereas all Muslims are spewing fire and brimstone?

So when the Phelps family hold up placards at the funerals of US servicemen that state 'Fags Die, God Laughs' and 'God Hates Cripple Soldiers', according to you they must either be Muslims in disguise, or some benign, tragicomic joke that influences nobody?

Strange reasoning you have there old son.

Australia considers cancelling cleric's visa over gay views

Now why would they do that? We all know Islam has nothing to do with violence.

They are not proposing to cancel his visa because he is a Muslim, but because he espouse hatred and violence. The former does not guarantee the latter, and similarly, you can have the latter without the former.

And you quite often get them together. ln fact very often.

Should have had an Entry stamp for Cambodia, at least.

I've been driving in Thailand for quite a few years and in general I don't find it any more of a problem than driving in my home country, the USA except for the amazing traffic jams in Bangkok. My only piece of advice would be to keep an eye out for the motorcycles. And driving varies a lot by region in the USA. I found the drivers in LA where I lived for 10 years much worse than in Bangkok. So many amazingly hostile drivers on the road in LA.

l have driven in both the USA & Australia, & l found that American drivers to be far more courteous & better drivers than in my own country.

Every day, it seems, there are more & more ignorant, entitled, arrogant drivers on Australian roads.

Accelerating when being overtaken, refusing to get over when dawdling along at 80km/h on 100km/h stretches of road, holding up lines of traffic, not using indicators, tail-gating, some clowns think its funny to speed up on the open road then slow down when you cannot overtake.

Last time in Australia l followed one idiot who applied his brakes everytime a car came towards him!

l could go on.

The truck drivers are the best drivers on Aussie roads.

Capable, courteous & they must have the patience of Job, putting up with the fools in cars.

One thing when using the US as a reference, its a huge place and driving behaviors are so dependent on where one lives or has driven. If you are cruising along in say Montana or Nebraska you will definitely have a perception that drivers are courteous, respectful and you will likely not see a wreck at all.. However, drive in California, New York, Florida you will have a totally different comment. I am from California and have driven all along the west coast all my life. California is utterly terrible and only getting worse. Way worse then Thailand by a large margin. There are far more accidents with multiple cars then one can imagine. Its a daily activity in the morning commute and evening commute. The death rate isn't as high due to all the cars have excellent safety features but injuries are significant. Also the car to motorcycle ratio is very high. Compared to Thailand which is opposite. So Yes Thailand has a lot more traffic deaths because of the ratio of motorcycles to cars and no safety protection.

One thing I find funny in the US is that the # 1 selling point of a car is always its safety features and its JD powers ranking. What does that tell you about the confidence level of the drivers?. Its all about wrecks and technology to save people. Also California and New York have the highest vehicle insurance rates anywhere.

But back to the OP, the tips offered are common sense anywhere one will go. You have to pay attention to the road, you can't be eating, playing movies, texting, on your phone etc etc. People some how think they get in their car, close the door, turn on the AC that they are in some indestructible little bubble and do not need to worry.

Yes you are probably right.

l drove grain trucks in Nebraska & Colorado & it was mostly flat without a lot of traffic.

l also drove a company car from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, although the traffic was heavier, with the excellent roads & powerful car, it was no trouble.

l still found the drivers more courteous though.

Maybe l struck some good drivers.!

I haven't been to New York or anywhere in the east, so cannot comment about it.

l found most UK drivers to be well mannered also.

However that was in the 70s & things may have changed.

It may be legal in the Netherlands But is against the law in Thailand. He broke the law, end of story.

NO END OF STORY,....?!?!?!

As far as I know, he did not broke the law in Thailand !!!..

Imagine ?! you had a drink in you're country take a flight and make a stopover in Saudi Arabia or Iran, and they put you in jail for having drunk alcohol !?!?!?

Or as a woman? you drove a car in any country and they put her in jail for having driven a car !?!? (It's illegal for women to drive a car in Saudi Arabia, that exemplary human rights respecting country !!!!)

They should not be able to punish you for something you did legally in one country, because it's illegal in a other country !!!

Homosexuality legal and perfectly accepted in western and most Asian country's, but is illegal and reprehensible in others !!!

There are so many implication to this ......if you think of it ? we would all be criminals in one way or another !?!?

Food for thought !!!

Best regards.

Completely agree.

A friend visited Korea & hired a car.

He loved the 120km/h speed limit & drove accordingly.

When he returned to Australia should he be charged with speeding?

As the speed limit in OZ is mostly 100km/h.

Same reasoning.

He should not be in jail.

Cashless Thailand. You joking or what?

Today wife and myself were at an izuzu dealer, to buy a new pickup.

I proffered my card for payment. No only money no cards !! <deleted> !!

So my wife will have to go to the bank, what a bloody joke.

Recently bought a Toyota,they didn't want cash,only a cashiers check would do.

I presume the dealer would suffer some sort of charges,from the credit card company so decline the card usage.

Not really sure as I don't possess a credit card.

l never had a Credit Card either, & didn't want one.

But back in Aust l started buying books & parts online from the US & UK, so needed a CC to pay for them.

CCs are great but you must exercise restraint & control them vigorously.

Every time l went into the bank to pay the balance of my CC they would ask if l wanted to raise my credit limit.

l set mine at $1000 & resisted all efforts to raise it.

l also put extra money on my CC so that l can borrow more than the limit if l need it.

btw- Books & parts etc are much cheaper in the US & UK than in Australia.

Also used my CC in China.no problems.

Turks and Iranians are no Arabs, so are Iraci

Who cares?

I've been driving in Thailand for quite a few years and in general I don't find it any more of a problem than driving in my home country, the USA except for the amazing traffic jams in Bangkok. My only piece of advice would be to keep an eye out for the motorcycles. And driving varies a lot by region in the USA. I found the drivers in LA where I lived for 10 years much worse than in Bangkok. So many amazingly hostile drivers on the road in LA.

l have driven in both the USA & Australia, & l found that American drivers to be far more courteous & better drivers than in my own country.

Every day, it seems, there are more & more ignorant, entitled, arrogant drivers on Australian roads.

Accelerating when being overtaken, refusing to get over when dawdling along at 80km/h on 100km/h stretches of road, holding up lines of traffic, not using indicators, tail-gating, some clowns think its funny to speed up on the open road then slow down when you cannot overtake.

Last time in Australia l followed one idiot who applied his brakes everytime a car came towards him!

l could go on.

The truck drivers are the best drivers on Aussie roads.

Capable, courteous & they must have the patience of Job, putting up with the fools in cars.

It would seem that the adherents of beliefs which avoid the consumption of pork might be on to something. I would also include those who avoid the consumption of shellfish.

l was visiting a friend in hospital in PNG in the 70s & there was a native girl admitted who had eaten raw pork, actually undercooked pork & she was suffering from gangrene of her intestines.

Her screams of pain were reverberating throughout the hospital & a Doctor told me that there was nothing that they could do for her & she was going to die.

l stay right away from any type of pork, although l do love bacon.

Don't like shellfish either.

Muslims seem to be born without pity. Even burn their own kids to death over honour. Totally inhuman behaviour.

Thats because its an evil religion.

Their "prophet" was a pedophile.

Women are chattels,

Need l go on?

How insecure they must be to kill anyone who wants to leave their ridiculous religion.

l agree with Toscano.

My brother had the same symptoms that you are experiencing.

And they were getting worse.

He eventually was discovered to have a Tumour on the brain, caused from a head injury.

Luckily for him, it was on the outside of his brain & the tumour was successfully removed.

You may not have a tumour, but should at least get it checked.

She went from someone who bore the dishonor of having her daughter elope to someone who now has the honor of being known as the women who killed her own daughter by tying her to a bed and setting the girl on fire. Congratulations on coming up in the world.

And now the house will forever smell of the burning body. I wonder how her prison-mates will treat her.

Probably treat her like a heroine for upholding the family "honour"!

And we welcome these folk with open arms into first world countries to integrate..........

I agree with you. Unfortunately Transam, they do not want to integrate, they want to dominate, and they are succeding...

……succeeding because we have become a nation of softc..ks & PCIs & ARE letting them succeed.

Never been married to a Thai woman, but was married to a Filipina.

Yes, l regret it & l only stayed for the kids.

Once they grew up, l divorced,

Had to sell my land to pay her out but it was worth it.

Then moved to Thailand, but don't live here all the time.

Enjoying myself immensely in Pattaya.

With the older Landcruisers,as they had no 3rd Differential, if you drove in 4x4 on a hard surface for too long, you would get Differential wind up & it would be difficult to get the Transfer case out of 4 wheel drive.

As someone else remarked, it could be done by jogging the vehicle in reverse.

lf however you persisted in driving in 4x4 on a hard surface then the front of the Transfer Case would let go & crack & break just where the front Tailshaft(propshaft) comes out. The cases are aluminum, not as robust as the cast iron Gearbox.

When the front of the Transfer Case disintegrated, the front Tailshaft, being driven by the front Differential would flog around underneath & take out BOTH hydraulic brake lines(in a split front-rear system)ensuring that you had NO BRAKES either.

lf you were not traveling too fast then you could brake providing that your model of LandCruiser had a drum brake, parking brake at the rear of the Gearbox on the rear Tailshaft. Not all LandCruisers had this feature though.

l know this to be fact as l was a Mechanic with a large mining company & we had this happen 3 times with one particular Foreman's vehicle.