Why Me

On 3/1/2020 at 6:15 PM, narisarasgroove said:

I have to admit to being a bit confused by this post and wonder if someone can clarify for me.

 

The reason being that when I do my yearly retirement extension but I have never had a document attached telling me I had to show funds in 90 days. I have always made sure the cash in the bank was at the correct amount (800,000) three months before my extension was due and have been told at immigration that the photocopies of the bank book need only go back three month and they did not require a full years worth of copies. I am wondering what makes the difference to have different rules.

 

My extension is based on a Non-O visa and is done at Chaengwattana. 

Yep, got my non-O retirement extension at CW last month with agent help. I had 800K in my bank for 2 months prior to that which is what the agent asked when I contacted him last  year.

After the visa was stamped I repeatedly asked the agent (based on accounts here on TV) about what minimum I should keep and how long. Nothing. Just make sure you have 800k for 2 months before your next renewal. See you next year.

So I am guessing there is no requirement to verify a minimum X for a period Y after renewal in their IO rule book. However, again guess, there is something there to the effect use your judgment/discretion to decide if the money was temporarily borrowed ...

Jeez, I would just get me to the nearest hospital asap. Every one should have derms on the roster. E.g., Bumrungrad you could walk in any time during the day and find more than one derm in attendance. Without an appointment you may have to wait a bit but someone will see you for sure.

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Was that intended to be funny?

Yes, brilliantly so. One of my finer efforts. Did you not get it?

Dang, I had this vision of President Pete flying off to a one-on-one with Putin at a dacha by the Black Sea where they fall madly in love causing all wars everywhere to stop instantly.

The only terrorist left is in South Bend, IN, until the police chief tells Chasten to cut it out, it's over, Pete's with Vlad now.

I've stopped eating bats altogether. Cats are too delicious to resist. What I do is buy them live and observe them for a day or two to make sure they are not sick and then put them in the tom yum.

32 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

And before you say, well, they're the WHO, let me say, they're also the same WHO that has consistently recommended against countries imposing travel restrictions in order to slow/prevent the spread of the CV, and look where that's gotten a lot of places.

Well, they are the WHO:-) And you are wrong about travel restrictions stopping spread. Listen to the UCLA epidemiologist:

OP:

I have this web site in my notes for med needs:

Thai Travel Clinic: https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/

Maybe worth a call.

5 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Anyone got a line on legit N95 masks available locally at a reasonable price?

You probably don't need one. From the WHO site https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/when-and-how-to-use-masks

* If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.

* ...

It's not ebola or HIV. It's a flu. An otherwise healthy person should be able to ride out a bout of C-19 with paracetamol, fluids and rest. Zero reason to worry if you currently are in decent shape.

Which means probably the best defense is to hit the gym and do more roadwork.

10 hours ago, webfact said:

U.N. chief declares women's inequality 'stupid' and a global shame

and then he turned to the kitchen and yelled, Honey, is dinner ready? I am hungry.

Irrational hysteria, Greenspan might say. I put in 30k yesterday. According to the futures I am going to lose off the gong today. But I expect to be ahead late next week.

Go ahead, virus, prove me wrong. I dare you, I double dare you.

Great to hear. The short formats of the game are as exciting and fun to watch as any other sport. The only hurdle to playing cricket is the need for a proper pitch and to maintain it plus all the equipment, not cheap.

Btw, the BBC article linked says "batter" and I thought what the 'ell BBC mixing up cricket and baseball?  Then I realized batsman may not work in this case:-) But what's wrong with batswoman?

You might want to post to the tech forum.

5 hours ago, freeman01 said:

Ok well that's where there is a misunderstanding, there is almost nothing else that displays all those properties together. Spend a bit of time on this and you'll realized it is a pretty big deal, remember we are talking about currency here, there is no precedent in history.

 

Now the actual value is determine the exact same way the value of gold is, except the market cap of gold is in the trillions and bitcoin in billions hence the current volatility. There is supply and demand in bitcoin, there is actual use case and there is speculation.

 

This first paragraph is not an answer to my question about where bitcoin gets value.

The second paragraph is nonsense. Because bit coin's total worth is billions vs. gold in the trillion, bit coin is volatile? You're kidding right?

GMs net worth is around 50 billion but the stock isn't pinging up and down like bitcoin. The reason it's assets are clear and present and tangible, not faith-based.

3 hours ago, freeman01 said:

If I may ask, when I say mention the following about bitcoin earlier, what do you make of this ? how do you interpret that ?

 

Quote

Well the value of bitcoin is derived from its fundamental properties :

- open source

- decentralized

- censorship-resistant

- borderless

- peer to peer

What do these attributes have to do with the intrinsic value of a currency? All of them could (possibly) be applied to an app on my phone.

Look, I am not arguing that a bitcoin has value. It obviously does as there is a market. But I want to know how the value is assigned. Based purely on bidding like for a work of art or something else?

I have a question about bitcoin which I've never really had an answer to.

But first let me say I believe (without knowing much economics) that a fiat currency like the USD has intrinsic value in that it is supported by the full faith and credit blah blah of the US Govt. or something along those lines. Which means to my mind that as long as the US doesn't collapse into a heap the value of the USD stays. For the converse see Zimbabwe.

So where does bitcoin derive its value? There's no government or asset behind it (which is claimed to be a good thing). Seems to me that it's kind of like artwork, which is worth as much or little as people care to bid.

I would love to know the answer.

Btw, to the OP: if you are looking to speculate that's your business, good luck and have fun and I wish you success. On the other hand, if you're looking for a reasonably safe long-term investment I would strongly recommend a broad market index fund.

AA Insure though they don't have an office in Bkk. But their reputation is excellent. So if you can live with phone/email communication they are good people.

Google find this site (I have not used it though to find a tutor):

https://www.learnpick.com/thailand/local-tutors/bangkok/all/thai

1 hour ago, gk10002000 said:

few occasions have had my email hacked

Few? More than once, amazing, you must be one of those fancy free careless souls:-) I've had email since the internet was born with a dozen different accounts and never been hacked once.

It's pretty much impossible if you're careful in public areas and in using wifi. At home on your own PC connecting over fiber you'd have to be targeted with equipment.

I interact with Fidelity and my credit union in the US exclusively via email (and the occasional phone call) and they have everything nicely set up with instantaneous auto-acknowledge (which tells me mail go through) plus secret phrases which tells me mail from them is genuine.

It's the way to go. The IRS should have digital/paper/both options and give a $5 incentive for the first one.

Easy to miss so just want to point out that this year's 1040 has spaces for email address and phone no. (in the Sign Here section). If the IRS finally discovers the internet and starts communicating via email that would be great especially for expats.

Snail mail is scary for vital stuff because it can get lost particularly international. Last year I got one of them dreaded Notices from the IRS. Of course, they sent it regular mail and I hate to think what would have happened if I didn't receive it and maybe missed the followup. Of course, I responded via registered mail and sweated tracking the next few days which ended at some weird receiving station that I couldn't be sure it had reached.

Hey, IRS, email/attachments way to go. Save tax payer money and a lot of stress.

Not to hijack the topic but any opinions about Sing Sing Theater. Good? Bad? I haven't been there but see some decent reviews.

Particularly looking for a place to dance. Suggestions welcome.

All this breast beating is overblown. Everyone will be back soon as the corona virus scare comes to an end, which it already is slowing.

Where else are they going to go? Cambodia? Vietnam? Give me a break.

But the visa exempt is a good idea. Not quite sure what the difference ever was between VOA and VE except the stamps and the extra hassle/fee at the airport here for the VOA.

1 hour ago, saengd said:

Before you can transfer funds out you need to prove you transferred them in or earned the money here and paid tax  on it. If you can't do those things you can't transfer even one Dollar overseas

Really? I've use Dee Money several times to transfer out of Thailand. I believe there's a dropdown that asks purpose of transfer but none requiring to certify source of funds.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019-nCoV_acute_respiratory_disease

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),^[2] also known as 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease, is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a virus closely related to the SARS virus.

Viruses mutate, names too.

I hope this doesn't lead to a reaction that they want to throw Brits out of Thailand before the bad behavior spills over here.

Imm police are going to have a hard time dragging fat white geezers kicking and screaming from their barstools, fishwives wailing as they follow their meal ticket to the IDC.