Lacessit

Stalking is when someone persistently posts negative emoticons to a poster, I have had that a couple of times. Somebody does not seem to do that, the worst I have had is one confused emoticon.

You may be right, although I notice not all my posts are flagged. If your hypothesis is correct, maybe the emoticons are randomly generated. I suggest buying a lottery ticket.

I am cursed or blessed with an inquiring mind. I would like to know - who or what is somebody? He/she/it never starts a topic, or posts on a thread. There is no avatar. The only evidence of somebody's presence on ASEAN are the emoticons posted in response to posts by other members. Is somebody just preternaturally shy, or do we have AI in our midst?

I can see this thread and its posts will be a shoo-in for the Good Taste award.

Best hedge against currency of any kind is precious metals. Gold, silver ( both going gangbusters ) platinum, palladium. I've made and lost money on shares and property investment. I have never ever lost money on precious metals. Bitcoin? Something I can't see, hear, feel or touch? It has all the characteristics of a religion, and we all know how leaders of religions fare compared to their followers. Google the net wealth of David Miscavige, Brian Houston, and Jerry Falwell.

Take a look at the number of posts I have made, then the number of positives given by other posters. Then compare it with your ratio. IMO that says it all about our relative value to this forum.

There is no such requirement at Chiang Rai Immigration. I do my 90-day report online. The only time I report the bank balance is the day I apply for extension. They require a bank letter, and a statement for the last 6 months prior to renewal of the extension. IMO it just shows how inconsistently the rules are applied across the Immigration offices. Any IO with two brain cells should be able to look at a passbook and determine if any requirement is not met. It's definitely not rocket science.

According to the billing I saw for mine in Melbourne ( paid for by my health fund ), AUD 1100. Can't resist being smart##se, can you?

What you say is very true, with a couple of extra factors mixed in. Emergency departments in Australia are all under siege because so many doctors in clinics are abandoning bulk billing in favor of private clinics. Patients who cannot afford a private clinic clog up the ED's with the merest sniffle, headache, or stomach pain. COVID was the icing on the cake in terms of patient numbers, the public health system is still recovering from that pandemic, with more variants surfacing. The final nail is inexperienced registrars staffing the ED's, who are expected to make critical decisions and think on their feet after having worked up to 20 hours without sleep. It's a Darwinian selection process the medical profession regards as a rite of passage. They can't expect any help from the hospital administrators, who will throw them to the wolves if they make a bad decision under pressure. I am under no illusions as to the patient - doctor professional relationship, although some are better at the bedside manner than others.

Should not be, given the length of full Thai names.

You really are like a dog with a bone, an obsession to prove me wrong. I have better things to do with my time than go looking at all the hospital websites I visited previously, or post the links, which still would not satisfy you. Did your PET scan include infusion with radioactive isotopes? Such pharmaceuticals are expensive, and I seriously doubt the technology exists to manufacture the compounds in Thailand. As an example of how expensive they can be, I am currently on a course of oral medication which is free for me in Australia. If I was in America, it would be USD 7000 a month. Said medication is not available in any Thai hospital, including Bumrungrad. I posted the figures in good faith, take it up with the hospitals and websites quoting them, not me.

100% agree. If you want to live longer and have quality of life, you have to work at it. You may get hit by a bus instead, but that's life. Malcolm Fraser once famously said life wasn't meant to be easy. While he got pilloried for the comment, he was spot on.

Which office is this? I have never had this in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. Question is, what can an IO do to you if you don't comply? If you don't draw on the balance of 800,000 during the year, your bankbook tells the story when you go for the next extension. Some four-eyed petty bureaucrat dreamed this up as makework, I doubt the system will deny you an extension for non-compliance. A BS fine, maybe.

Whether one has to pay depends on classification as an in-patient or out-patient. Private health funds will only cover in-patient costs. I have no explanation as to why that should be, it's a system quirk.

https://us-uk.bookimed.com/clinics/country=thailand/procedure=pet-ct/

Looks hot to me. I prefer women I don't have to roll in flour first.

The Physicians Committee is linked to an animal rights group, and therefore has a vested interest in discouraging people from eating meat. Quote: "The AMA finds the recommendations of PCRM irresponsible and potentially dangerous to the health and welfare of Americans. The AMA charges that PCRM is “blatantly misleading Americans on a health matter and concealing its true purpose as an animal 'rights' organization"

You were lucky, many doctors are abandoning bulk billing in Australia. Why would a doctor bulk bill, with all the administrative BS, when they can charge more as a private practitioner? One example: One specialist bulk bills, I think she gets $80 for a consultation. OTOH, a hernia surgeon charged me $280, of which I got refunded $37 by Medicare. In my area, there are 6 medical clinics. 5 of them do not bulk bill, the sixth is not accepting new patients.

Check the medical websites yourself. Perhaps they are the ones adding on the extra zero, I'm not.

I had a PET scan in Australia, cost AUD 1200, state of the art. My private health insurance paid for everything.

Do you know what age the equipment is? Or how much it cost? Prices for that type of equipment are $75,000 to $150,000 for a base model, $1.7 - 2.5 million for something with all the bells and whistles. I should imagine cost recovery is the focus for the more expensive systems.

Not according to the Thai private hospital websites I have visited.

What do they do to it to make it so bad? Cooking food is not rocket science.

You may be right, it is tiresome rebutting repeated bogus claims and misinformation. At least I now know the purpose of the two year rule, to prevent Australians from claiming the pension and taking it back overseas immediately. Real dog in the manger stuff, with the dual purpose of employing more bureaucrats to police it. IMO it would fall apart if subjected to a stringent cost benefit analysis. I mean, what is the contribution to the Aussie economy by people waiting for their pension during those two years, against the drag on the welfare budget by bureaucrats who are employed to keep the system operating? AFAIK no other country does this to their citizens, although I understand the Brits freeze the pension of expats, with no COL indexation.

The link directs me to a disclaimer, no information of substance on the topic. Note the link says "former residents." The devil is in the detail. If one has lived overseas for an extended period of time, AND is deemed non-resident for tax purposes, the two year rule applies. If the applicant maintains an Australian residential address ( I did ) and is present in Australia on the day they become eligible for the OAP, they get the pension. Full or part, doesn't matter. I did not have to wait for two years. As I said before, an appointment with an FSO is what is needed.