Fat is a type of crazy

10 minutes ago, 2009 said:

That's right.

 

Everyone is speculating that he went to Thailand for sex. That's what this whole thread is about.

 

All we know is he enjoyed holidays here and sent money over regularly. Maybe he was going to temples and making donations.

 

What's the problem?

The theory being that she is a human being with feelings and it hurts to see someone who you were intimate with for many years, maybe not physically in recent times, turn their back on you and look for fun and excitement and life elsewhere. It hurts. We don't know whether she drove him to it but even if she did the best way for him to deal with it is stand up and be a man and either separate or talk to her and see if they can come to a mutually acceptable compromise. At minimum try and build a lie that doesn't drag her feelings through the dirt. 

1 hour ago, KhunHeineken said:

So, 183 days outside of Australia sees you automatically be deemed a non resident for taxation purposes, and the Australian pension you receive is deemed to be an income derived from Australia, and the non resident tax rate is 32% from $1 to $120,000, and this would be of little concern to you.

 

Why is that? 

I have made the case as to the steps required for it to happen and noted that at each step it becomes statistically less and less likely e.g. that they would tax the age pension in this manner and that rules would not be grandfathered. My conclusion is that if I were in those circumstances it would be well down the list of my concerns. 

48 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

Why would they care? 

 

If those pensioners were informed, through the media, "The government is ensuring Australian pensions are spent in Australia, to benefit the Australian economy, and create jobs in Australia" would they like a headline like that, or still vote it down, even if, and that's a big if, it became an election issue?

 

Even Jacqui Lambie, with her patriotic slant on politics, would be for it.  

 

I suppose the question is, what's more important to Australians inside Australia, money in the Australia economy, or Australian citizens living overseas. 

 

Who would you bet on to vote which way? 

 

My bet would be on people inside Australia voting for anything that benefits Australia and the Australian economy, as they would see expats as a minority group, which we are, spending money to support foreign economies, and creating jobs in foreign countries.

If I was a pensioner and living in Thailand this issue would be way way down my list of concerns. 

1 hour ago, KhunHeineken said:

I wasn't commenting on a positive or negative effect. 

 

I am simply saying, there is a common belief that if you stay under $10,000 then an AUSTRAC notifications will not be triggered.  This is not the case.  Eg. try donating $5,000 to your favorite mosque, on a monthly basis, and see what happens.    

If you are in Australia and donate to an Australian mosque it would not show up on Austrac. Payment from Australia to overseas Mosque it would but would likely require Centrelink to happen to look up your details i.e. it would not be likely to trigger something automatically at Centrelink.  Both affected by gifting rules if discovered. 

I have a work ipad that is terrible for this site. It's not just the ads themselves but it jumps around as it adds more and more ads. You go to pick something and you pick something else because of the constant jittering around. Or you touch something on the side and takes you to some horrible google sponsor site. Pretty much unuseable. On my laptop no ads at all. 

Like most long running animation series, and along with Family Guy and the Simpsons, the best days of South Park are well behind it. No subtlety or humanity anymore. Normally the most obvious and banal of observations. I stopped watching a while ago to be fair so it may have improved but not based on the supposed highlights that pop up on Youtube from time to time. 

On 2/21/2023 at 9:08 AM, KhunHeineken said:

As posted, try making several transfers of $9,999 and see what happens.  It still triggers notification. 

 

The whole AUSTRAC discussion is off topic. 

 

A member pointed out that AUSTRAC tracks transfers over $10,000.  Another member disagreed, stating AUSTRAC informs no other department of such transfers.  So what is the purpose of AUSTRAC?   

To clarify I am fairly sure it is as follows:

0ver $10,000 cash banked - reported on Austrac

Funds transferred e.g. wise or for purchases made   - reported on Austrac regardless of amount

The $10,000 overseas is where you are taking say cash, travellers cheques if they are still a thing, money orders etc overseas, or sending by mail, etc.

So sending $9999 by Wise has no positive or negative effect positive in terms of notification. 

1 minute ago, Hummin said:

Isn't that depending on which side you are on and seasonal wind? Maybe Australia avoid the belt of garbage far out there by yourself.

I have heard there is a fair bit in some of the north west islands coming from South East Asia which is really sad. Most beaches on the east coast, and much of the west coast where there are cities, have little or none to my knowledge and I can confirm in the south east where I am there is normally none. 

Having said all that I like to watch the youtube videos of apartments in Pattaya and the life there looks like it could be fun. Nice to get away from a long winter though concerned about too much heat, excessive traffic, and pollution but hopefully not too bad.

I lived for years near a pretty beach in Melbourne but rarely swam there so if it's a bit dirty not a game changer and can take a break somewhere a bit nicer as you say.  

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You're not seriously suggesting that Australia never suffers from sh!te washed up on it's beaches?

Nothing like in Thailand. Most beaches have none. 

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I don’t know if you're American or not but any American with even elementary knowledge of American presidential politics would understand that when Biden runs for reelection not even one competitive democratic candidate will oppose him.

That might normally be the case but these are not normal circumstances. This is unprecedented. He's not Bill Clinton in 96 or Obama in 12. There is a constant question mark hanging over him. He'll be 82 and he's struggling now. Come on man. 

John Oliver did a 20 minute bit on psychedelic medical treatments on today's show. See on Youtube. Nothing that new but not bad. 

3 hours ago, Hanaguma said:

Nobody is questioning Biden's physical health. He is doing very well for 80 years old. It is his mental decline that is the elephant in the room. And also conspicuously absent from the medical report. 

 

As for Harris, more than 70% of democrats polled chose SOMEONE ELSE to lead the ticket if Biden doesn't run.  She also manages to trail Biden in overall approval rating by 4%, 43 to 39. That takes some doing.

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3849873-democrats-prop-up-harris-clinton-for-2024-if-biden-doesnt-run-poll/

I think Biden is slow when it comes to quick witted banter but he was never that fast. Bill Maher said today what I was thinking, that, you'd prefer an 80 year old who is slow but steady, still clearly with it who might take time to make a decision, as compared to some inexperienced 40 year old. I think it may be best if he retires though as 82 to 86 could be a different kettle of fish.

42 minutes ago, xylophone said:

No it's not really an interesting phenomenon taking place, it's just that there are levelheaded people who don't believe in fairy stories, and find it pitiful/painful when others continue to believe, when they should have gotten out of this habit years ago after discovering that Santa Claus wasn't real.

 

I don't see what the other rabid fairy story believers post, because I have them all on "ignore", however from your reply it would seem that one of them actually believes the old "barstool" tale, when there are probably others like me, who haven't been near a barstool in ages, and who only have one or two beers a week, and don't sit in bars all day. So much for that fairytale.

 

I agree with the post by @Nemesis, and normal, levelheaded people think likewise, and realise that the bible and its contents are very much like a Spider-Man series – – entertaining but impossible. Having said that, these folk are certain that these things happened and I even had one person on this forum come on and challenge a cartoon I posted about, "some folks even believe that penguins walked all the way from the Antarctic to get on a boat built by a 500 year old man", whereby he put forward arguments that suggested they could, would you believe!

 

To round it all off, in pagan times, corn dollies were seen as containing the spirits that would enable a good crop and the way of determining whether a woman was a witch or not was to throw her in the water and if she surfaced, it was seen that the water didn't want her because she was a witch, whereas if she drowned, then the water did want her.....a nonsense thought process but it appealed to them. And nowadays folks have supposedly moved on??

 

And of course there are the "godly" institutions which do everything they can to protect their paedophile priests and vicars, so in effect they are free to do their evil deeds again. A bit like an evil brotherhood for want of better terminology.

 

Finally, it doesn't seriously bother me, but what does is the fact that people can be so stupid as to believe in fairy stories in this day and at their age.

 

Stupidity has no bounds, and this was reported today:  "A pastor has died after going 25 days without food and water while trying to fast like Jesus".

OK Let's start with the assumption that everything is physical. We are just our bodies. We all want a full life with those bodies. It is interesting to see how a Christian, a spiritualist, a hippy new ager and an atheist such as yourself adapt to life on this planet. It's not so easy to look in the mirror and say I am likely to or are going to die in 30, 20, or 10 years. That there's no moral watchdog.

Religion for some seems to take the pressure off .. lets them walk with head held high.. make better life decisions. For others that is not the case.

The price to pay is faith .. closing your eyes to statistically the most likely facts of the matter and likely outcome. Now some here have had experiences which they believe gives them both belief in god without resorting to faith. That can be debated. My point is a debate about god doesn't have to be just about the ludicrousness of Noah's Ark or similar. 

18 minutes ago, nauseus said:

While there is hard evidence that Putin was not afraid of Obama or Biden.

How is that turning out. Might be a sign of poor judgement from Putin rather than a criticism of Biden. 

40 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I never married and never needed a prenup.

But I guess sometimes it is difficult to do that.

Darling, do you want to marry me. I love you and want to stay with you for the rest of my life.

And darling, please sign here that you won't get any of my money - just in case. 

 

If you want to get the girl into Australia marriage makes it easier though there are other options. Been with her a long time? No marriage? No pre nup? Half each. Maybe not in Thailand. 

I almost didn't get a prenup but did. Love and kisses turned to distrust and tediousness. Thank you pre nup. 

I haven't stayed there but Sukosol seemed to meet criteria of good location, free parking, gym, nice pool, and Deluxe room including nice buffet breakfast for 3000 baht if search on Tripadvisor and pick Agoda. 

7 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You are wrong too. The $10,000 limit applies not only to passengers and crew, but all cash sent by air, courier or by sea.

You may be right on the electronic reporting, permit me to doubt AUSTRAC will get their knickers in a twist over one or two thousand AUD. After all, it took them years to catch up with Westpac.

Austrac is normally cash payments over $10000 and all payments or transfers to and from overseas.