mfd101

Seems to be about once a week ...

Wow! No wonder I was never a soldier, or anyone who moved too far from a desk and a pile of books.

Your eyes don't have to deteriorate with age, provided you look after your general health (80% what goes in your mouth - low low sugar, high on vegies & fruits ...) and 20% exercise.

I'm about to turn 76 next month. A year ago I got a new pair of glasses in Thailand, with my first eye check since arriving here permanently in late 2015. My eyes hadn't changed since my last eye test in Canberra in 1998.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

warning signs will alert residents to avoid the hazardous path.

 

In Western countries the walkway would have been closed off completely so noone could go there. But here it's left to the well-known discretion of the inhabitants ...

Fascinating how the 'big' cases never actually go away in this country.

With each turn of the political screw, a case reopens and the (same?) courts with the (same?) personnel reach new verdicts for new political masters ... Which rather raises the question where the money trails lead.

Oh dear! A world in which people have to make choices! How will we cope?

About a year ago my Oz bank (NAB) froze my (Oz) accounts until I supplied them with a TIN. No argument from me (eg my entire income in Oz was covered by DTA & no Thai income) had any effect.

So I had no choice but to go to the Revenue Office here in Surin & ask for a TIN. Took about an hour out of my life and all done. Apart from supplying it to NAB in Oz I've had no further use for it (no tax return lodged this March & no intention to do so while my income remains 100% compliant as I expect it will till my upcoming death some time later in the century).

I assume that, in any case, for most foreign residents in Thailand the relevant Double Tax Agreement applies so there's nothing to do or worry about.

On 5/17/2025 at 11:18 AM, geovalin said:

local authorities are expected to review safety protocols for future public gatherings at the site.

Gonna stop a lightening bolt, are they?

All on the Myanmar side of the border, in a mountainous area not under control of the incompetent Myanmar dictatorship.

Chinese state capitalism at work. Will be interesting to see what if anything the Thai guvamint can do about it ...

Heading downhill, at least on the books ...

Another fine specimen from Down Under. And appropriately dressed for the occasion too.

Seems to have lost weight too. Both literally & metaphorically.

I'm guessing that a "smarter more sustainable Bangkok" would have to be a very large boat.

One word you never hear in this country is 'productivity'.

Other ranks treated as servants by the officers. Quite common here, and no doubt in many other armed forces all around the world.

8 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

there’s this magical invention called the AccuWeather app. It’ll gleefully vomit up every microscopic weather detail you could possibly want, hour by hour, day by day,

I use them every day, multiple times, but here in the rain shadow that is south Surin, their predictions of rain or thunder storms are almost NEVER even remotely accurate ... often laughably so. eg They tell me we're having a downpour right now or for the next 1 hour but I look out the windows of the house in 4 directions and the sun is shining. Or vice versa.

Here in Prasat sth Surin we received this afternoon in 45 minutes more rain than we have had since last October. 

So the monsoon has at last begun here. For the last month before this we have received an occasional few drops, a light & brief shower 2 or 3 times, but not enough to give more than a few patches of brown earth a slight greenish look. A kind of aspirational lawn. Here are 3 photos from my library: 

Exemplary punishments may mark a turn for the better in the whole Thai construction business ...

Well, there's always hope.

2 hours ago, CMFarang said:

the laws that have been passed will most likely not be revoked. 

Mmmm, I wonder ...

More than that, I wonder who was the clever monkey that invented a voting system so complex that no reasonable person (not even me!) could understand it.

3 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

"If the United States wants to resolve the issue through negotiations,” the spokesperson added, “it must face up to the serious negative impact of unilateral tariff measures on itself and the world, face up to international economic and trade rules, fairness and justice, and rational voices from all walks of life, show sincerity in talks, correct its wrong practices, meet China halfway and resolve the concerns of both sides through equal consultation.”

While the US Administration is clearly the source of the current round of self-defeating nonsense, any country - such as Oz - that has been the victim of Chinese trade bullying in recent years would laugh cynically at Chinese moral posturing.