JackGats

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah absolutely it's smart to look closely at taxation. 

When I was looking at Colombia I determined that at the very least I would be required to file tax returns there and that was a strike against them but the added visa hassles and expenses were the no go cherries on the cake.

I actually predict they will backtrack somewhat like Malaysia did but I doubt it will be enough. Either you want retired expats or you don't. If you make it too hard applications will dry up.

That's too bad because before they f-ed it up Colombia's retirement option was exceptionally excellent and at ridiculously low costs in the coffee region rather than Medellin.

I looked at Colombia too. Compared to Thailand better climate, better food, better language, better ... girls. However they tax you on your world-wide capital gains AND there's a wealth tax (if you own more than 800k USD world-wide). What deterred me for good though was the banks in Colombia. No use living somewhere tax-free where I cannot come at my money without losing 15-20% of it to the banks. Of course being like I am from the euro-zone doesn't make things any easier or cheaper in that respect (conversion from Euro to USD, then from USD to Peso).

Of late crime targeting foreign mongers in Medellin has been a further deterrent. There's lots of crime eg in Brazil or Peru too, but it doesn't seem to be targeted at foreigners dating local women like it seems to be in Colombia. I can live with crime within reason but not with crime disproportionately affecting my hobby.

In the EU they send you back home on the same day PROVIDED you are not home alone. In other words provided there's someone to look after you over the first night.

Chile's package for retirees much like Peru's (and if I'm not mistaken Argentina's). No taxes on the foreign pension. Uruguay is even better re taxes: no taxes on our pensions and no taxes on capital held outside the country.

Quick access to citizenship in each case but beware: once you are a citizen your pension may not be considered tax-free any longer. I remember there being talk of the same issue regarding becoming a citizen of the Dominican Republic.

There are other issues, like an acquired citizenship being impossible to renounce. This is the case of Argentina. You become an Argentine, then Argentina adopts a tax system like the US where you get taxed even when living abroad. What then?

They'd better hurry then because soon there will not be any Ukraine left.

Month-long Pattaya noise Festival 2024 officially begins.

There is a shortage of noise and dust in that area. Demolishing such a building (and rebuilding one like it) would alleviate said shortage in the short term.

1 hour ago, tomgreen said:

 

Thats interesting , so basically have I got this right . You were originally taking statins ,but stopped taking them after two weeks , now your last blood test results has shown a decrease in your cholesterol numbers ( - 25 % ) and you have made no lifestyle changes other than taking non cholesterol acting supplements .

 

 

Tom

 

.
 

 

That is the case. I didn't know such a spontaneous reversal was possible. 

My cholesterol turned out sky-high over a decade ago, with the "bad" cholesterol dwarfing the "good" one. I chose to stop taking statins two weeks after initiating them. What I gathered from my research and short-lived experience: statins not only are bad for body-building and for testosterone but they increase the risk of diabetes by one third.

Now unexpectedly my latest blood test showed a substantial decrease (-25%). No idea what may have caused the decrease. I haven't changed my habits. I have taken supplements but none acting on cholesterol. I keep my fingers crossed it will stay that way.

Note that a sudden collapse of cholesterol is often a sign of some serious disease like cancer.

15 hours ago, lom said:

Still waiting for the flashbacks they say we would get.

Lol, I suspect those flashbacks never really existed beyond recollections of the trip's visuals or impressions. By such a standard, everything in life is amenable to flashbacks. 

It's like cannabis leading to stronger drugs, crack babies, ex-cokeheads unable to ever again enjoy life ...

Meanwhile finasteride and antidepressants often do make patients impotent for life but they prefer to keep relatively quiet about it.

Thailand needs immigration badly, what with Thais increasingly considering any hard work is below them.

28 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Classic Conspiracy Theory. 

 

Most scientists collect data. They get paid regardless of what their data shows.

 

A scientist who "suspects" something after looking at the data may lose their jobs for any number of reasons, but the data is still there. Do you have any *data* to show that underseas volcanos cause ocean warming?

 

Spoiler alert: volcanos cause short term cooling.

There's limited fully ignored data. Your "spoiler alert" shows you conflate aerial and submarine volcanisms, which are two different animals. Aerosols play no part in underwater volcanism and the heat in underwater volcanism is transferred directly to the ocean, which is what the title of the article ("ocean temperatures") is about. Beyond some minor contributions to ocean chemistry, the contribution of seafloor volcanism to the oceans is thermal. Not that climate science would be interested of course, it has better things to do, like chastising "climate deniers".

16 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Unless you can demonstrate an increase in sea-floor vulcanism that accounts for the ocean warming, you are off topic.

Rest assured. The few workers who have suspected such a cause (or other causes besides CO2) have been ignored and defunded.

I'm not sorry to see stick gears on the way out. That way car rentals in Europe won't have any excuses left to charge more for automatic.

"Bought a one-way ticket to Thailand"?

What other parts in this story are bogus?

2 hours ago, Will B Good said:

It puzzles me that they get any 'customers' when you consider the competition they are up against.

You mean they're outcompeted by beer-bar grannies?

And we should make it worse for this Brit by republishing the story? So that a deal he may have struck with the police should irrevocably fall through?

I'd rather the bank spied on my account than closed my "data-protected" account because of uncertainties. I need my account more than I need my transactions to be confidential.

23 minutes ago, HugoFastor said:

Portugal: Personal use of drugs, including cannabis, has been decriminalized, meaning individuals caught with small amounts face administrative rather than criminal penalties.

Indeed not exactly a legalization. And a joke if what I was told is right (ie CBD, not THC). 

Sadly too when you get questioned by police for drugs it often matters jack shyt what the law says. Would you test Mexico's, Costa Rica's or Peru's justice system on their "dosis personal" charade? Good luck.

Many countries in the EU have long decriminalized "consumption only'. However they have done so in order that police can consume and entrap without themselves breaking the law. If they catch you high you lose your driving license (even if you're not driving) and you escape arrest only if you give them names. Some decriminilization.

2 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Knock knock, Steven, time to come out of the 1950s. 

So please tell me about all these failed countries that fully legalised or decriminalised, cannabis. Canada, Germany, USA (in some states), Luxembourg, Malta, Georgia, South Africa, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Chile, Uruguay, Netherlands,  Spain, Czech Republic......and many others.

Yeah, all known as failed states.

If only that were true. Some of those countries have backtracked or never really legalized. One example is Belgium, where I think you're allowed to grow cannabis in your garden provided it's the kind hardly containing any THC. 

I was in Portugal in November and enquired in a place calling itself weed shop. Only CBD legal there. Some legalization indeed!

Just now, scubascuba3 said:

i get a sea breeze some evenings for a while at least

That may help against the mosquitos' night shift.

55 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I'm 4th floor Pratumnak and most of the time don't get mosquitoes, after rain they will appear, also if there's wind from the sea no mosquitoes on the balcony

In theory there's usually a sea breeze during the day but the opposite during the night.

4th floor is not high but Pratumnak  is high in its own right.

I wonder if on floor 16th in Pattaya I could sleep with the windows open and not get mosquitos. The windows are without mosquito nets unfortunately. I haven't had any mosquitos during the day.