Longwood50

6 hours ago, RickBlaine said:

I thought the One Time Codes would be a pain, but got used to them now. At least NatWest will send to a foreign mobile number. Reading other threads on this forum, some banks won't do that, guys are having to use a roaming service, or buy a number from their home country to pretend to be sat at home

That is true,  I still maintain a USA phone number on an old cell phone for $3 USD per month for that reason.  Certain USA locations such as government websites, and banks often will not send the OTC to an overseas phone number.  

Short of having several cards, and of course using a Thai Bank account and getting a card here if you are staying, it is likely that at one point or another you will get a transaction denied.  

59 minutes ago, Mr Dome said:

Referring to the part about mammals & animals:

n few species. In males it is most likely to be correlated with dominance and thus to occur in species with hierarchies such as terrestrial monkeys and members of the sheep and goat tribe. In females it is often correlated with sexual condition; a female in heat most often mounted another female, 

Two things.  First off do these animals who had sex with another animal of the same sex, also have sex with animals of the opposite sex.  That would make them "bi-sexual" Not homosexual.  Secondly, the fact that one male lords over another as dominance, or that another female licks another female during mensuration is hardly sexual behavior.

Name 1 just 1 example of males or females who are "homosexual" that is they have sex with only another of their own sex to the exclusion of others.  That sir, is decidedly human. 

58 minutes ago, RickBlaine said:

I wonder if we're victims of our own travels?

We are victims of increasingly sophisticated scams that target credit cards.  Certain transactions have a higher risk of fraud so they are targeted.  Anything that is markedly different than your normal spending patterns gets it automatically blocked. 
 

They have mitigated the denials a bit by the One Time Codes sent to your phone to authenticate.  But not entirely. 

29 minutes ago, RickBlaine said:

What's the point of allowing customers to list their travel plans, if the banks are then going to ignore them? 

I had the same thing with a transfer directly to Transferwise.  My bank Chase rejected it and locked my account for potential fraud.  Despite calling each time I tried to do the transfer, they system automatically blocked it. 

It use to be that transactions were monitored by humans who if they got a suspicious transaction would look at the notes in the computer file and make an override after seeing the notes of foreign travel.  Not so much anymore since the computer algorithm just automatically blocks their approval.  

With credit cards I adapted by getting a Thai credit card.  I think the only way to somehow protect yourself is by having two or three different payment methods available to you at all times. 

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Lately, right-wingers have been on something of a tear denying the existence of “systemic racism

Actually it is the opposite.  It is only the left wingers who keep pointing to systematic racism as a phenomena.  

Is there Racism.  Yes but the constant media hype is about causing it to re-ignite it and inflame it.  You see when a police officer is white and the person arrested is black, the media goes out of its way to point that out.  When it is a black police officer arresting a white suspect no mention of it is made. 

When you constantly inject the persons race into absolutely every aspect of life you are indoctrinating the public that someone's race is of such importance that it must be mentioned.  Thereby that feeds the notion that somehow race must be important since it is constantly noted. 
 

Does racism exist, yes but I do think the term is used excessively and often as a crutch by minorities to somehow provide a mental excuse for things that happen to them.  I didn't get the job because " I was being discriminated against"  They  took the other person first, because " I am being discriminated against"  I did not get accepted into the college I wanted because " I am being discriminated against" 

If there is systematic racism it is actually the reverse of what is portrayed. 

1. Only minorities get special job protections and allow them to sue employers for discharge just by claiming racism. 
2. Only minorities get special consideration that excludes their academic performance but considers their skin color to gain admission to college even though others were more academically qualified. 
3. Only minorities get special "affirmative action goals" that require employers to hire minorities even if better qualified candidates are available. 
4. Only minorities get special contract set asides by government contracts again mandating that all or a specific percentage of the work must be done my minority contractors. 
5. Only minorities have laws passed requiring corporations to have a a representation of minorities on their boards. 

That sir, is systematic racism. 

I don't know if you have children but for those that do, try treating one of your children different, more favorably with preferential treatment over the other and see if that does not breed resentment.  The same is true of society in general when the public can certainly see that they are not receiving the same treatment as their fellow citizens. 



 

Call up NatWest and notify them that you are in Thailand and they will occasionally see transactions from there.  

This may help but not completely stop automated rejections of foreign transactions. 

Get a second credit card.  Preferably one here in Thailand.  You will have to open a bank account and deposit money which the bank will use as security to guarantee you will pay your bill.  I have one but only put 100,000 baht which is far more than I ever charge. 

1 hour ago, Delight said:

For that reason all voting outcomes have to be signed by those who are voting.

Thank you for your knowledgeable reply.  You confirm what one other person has also said.  

With general meetings is it required by law that the meeting and written materials be in both Thai and English? 

With proxies issued to people by other owners, can the proxy be given to a person who then uses the proxy to vote for themselves? 

Do the votes for specific issues such as the formation of a Juristic Entity  or for candidates for committee positions on the Juristic Entity committee have to be in the form of a paper vote with signature or can they be done by show of hands

One thing about being a member of some grievance group, you can always blame everything that happens to you in your life on the fact you are a member of that minority 

When I find that another person gets waited on first in front of me, I can not blame discrimination.  When I don't get the job I applied for I can't blame that it is because of my race, color, creed, or sexual preference.  When a police officer stops me for a traffic violation I cant say I am being targeted.  When I am turned down for a loan at the bank I can not claim prejudice. 

The reality is that things we perceive to be unfair happen to everyone. However in the minority community they have learned the squeaky wheel lesson.  If they scream and holler the loudest they get the most attention and like the screaming child that the parent placates to shut them up, they find that screaming is a way to get something. 

Life is filled with decisions and consequences.  If I choose to drop out of school and I find I can't get hired is that "discrimination"?  If I tattoo my entire face, and I find I can't get a job as a fashion model, is that discrimination?   If I choose to have a beard but wear a dress and I find a department store does not wish to hire me as a sales clerk, is that discrimination? 

With transsexuals' they chose to have operations to alter their appearance.  Not always but often they wear clothing to draw attention to themselves.  That is their choice but to say that they should be ignorant of the consequences of being perceived as out of the mainstream is ludicrous.  Again, a significant number but not all, go out of their way to showcase that they are transexual and desire to draw attention to themselves.  The fact that some employers might find that inconsistent with who they wish on their staff, should not come as any surprise.  

The minorities of this world have been very successful in securing rights that are not just equal but superior to the majority that they are so use to getting them that they continue to think that being treated equally is being discriminated against.  With being not a member of a minority group, you do not get affirmative action mandates requiring you be hired, you do not get the right to sue if discharged based on your minority status, you do not get mandates to have a specific percentage comprised of your work force, management, or board of directors, you do not get contract set asides that only you qualify for. 

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thai K-pop star Lisa was selected as one of the most admired women in the world in 2021.

It just shows you why their should be an IQ test with a minimum passing score in order to be eligible to vote in public elections. 

Having Lisa as one of the most "admired" women in the world only shows how shallow people are in terms of who they "admire" 

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Set your browser to translate Thai, it will give you Lazada in English, or on the Lazada page, top right click on language or click on the Thai script, top right, then click on English

I do that, however transam do you find that it reverts back to Thai.  Often times when scrolling to the next page it will jump back to Thai.  Sometimes it even changes the translation.  Instead of google translate having the settings at translate Thai to English, it mysteriously reverts to translate Thai to Thai. 

3 hours ago, MeaMaximaCulpa said:

It seems like you would enjoy this essay by Cyril N. Parkinson, about the law bearing his name!

Yes thank you and he hit it right on the head.  Years ago I purchased a trucking company and had to submit for licensing my company's policy's on vehicle maintenance, driver safety training, and monitoring drug/alcohol usage.  I read the regulations stating what was required numerous times and dutifully filled out my policies to comply.  Each time they were submitted they were rejected and when questioned as to what was wrong, I only got the terse response to read the regulation and make sure every aspect of it was covered. 

Of course the agency approving the licensing could have just written a standard policy for all the trucking companies and required them to agree to follow it but that would not require any review or work for the licensing agency.  In each case I submitted virtually identical policies three times and on the third time they were magically approved even though in some instances the only change from the prior policies I submitted was rearranging the paragraphs. 

I concluded and still believe to this day the reason for the rejections was strictly to make work for those approving the licensing.  They could show how many policies they had to review, and of course show how many companies were not properly following the licensing rules.  By having to submit them 3 times before being approved very effectively tripled the volume both guaranteeing the jobs of the current staff and probably used as a basis for adding additional people to handle the volume. 

1 hour ago, kg1947 said:

the only constant in Bureaucracy is : CHANGE of the DAY.

In business it constantly strives to reduce things that are unnecessary and create needless waste and expense.  With bureaucracies they seek new and more burdensome tasks to "create work" thereby providing job security and increase the size of the staff leading to promotions for being the head of larger departments. 

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

A simple statement stating done by her that you are living with her with signed copies of her house book and ID card.

Thank You. I don't recall this even being required before but I guess I should be prepared. 

3 hours ago, Mr Dome said:

So, that's your answer then. *Any* case of "not keeping it to yourself* = "shoving it down my throat". 

 

I rest my case & sorry to hear this. No, I haven't proven your point at all. You keep sexualizing & dirtying this because of your internalized homophobia. 

Shoving down ones throat:
2. To force, compel, or attempt to make one accept, endure, consider, or agree with or to something. I hate going to my friend's house, because his husband's always shoving political rhetoric down my throat. Look, I'm just browsing around for a car, quit trying to shove one down my throat!

I shop extensively online.  I use both Shopee and Lazada.  Of the two, I prefer Shopee.  Typically the prices are lower and you frequently get coupons for free shipping which are good for all the items in your cart versus Lazada that provides a free shipping coupon but only for one item. 

Both sites have lousy search engines.  You can literally copy the listing of an item on both sites and then use that to search for other products and it will come back very often with no product found.  If you do find a product like you are looking for Shopee does have a drop down which then searches for "similar" products.  Sometimes it does an OK job and sometimes it comes up with products that are not even remotely similar. 

However Lazada if you find a product you like, it does not allow you to search for similar products.  You can go to a category and then look at all of the listings in that category which typically are hundreds of pages.  Also why this is true, I don't know.  Sometimes I will see a repetitive listing on Shopee for the same item, same seller.  On Lazada it is always.  You can see the same listing, same item, same price same seller 50 times which only clutters up and makes it laborious to find just the item you are looking for or to get the best price.  I think that is by design from Lazada. They want you looking at thousands of listings. 

4 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

If you think being gay is a lifestyle choice

Oh so it is not.  Please show me the "science" showing that there is a genetic difference between those that are gay and those that are not. 

You "choose" what you have a preference for.  Some men might prefer small versus large women, some blondes versus brunettes, some Scandinavians versus Asians.  And yes some prefer other men or some women prefer other women.  That sir is a choice not a genetic code imprinted in ones DNA. 

If it were at all true that somehow people were genetically wired to be gay you would see that manifest itself not just in humans but also in other mammals.  It does not.  Also if there was some sort of DNA imprinting on humans that caused a person to be gay, that "gene" would soon be eliminated from the human gene pool since those possessing that genetic code would be incapable of passing it along since two men can not produce a child nor can two women.  

At the very least the percentage of the population who are gay would be decreasing as evolution since heterosexuality would be producing the vast majority of the children. 

The idea that somehow the person is destined to be gay is just a coping mechanism.  It shows that somehow you believe that there is no choice.   Why some are attracted to same sex I have no idea but the very fact that the phenomena only occurs in humans pretty well conclusively shows it is controlled by someone's brain not their DNA code. 

2 hours ago, Mr Dome said:

"shoving it down my throat"

This isn't "equality"  This is shoving down ones throat.  Let me ask you if the bill mandated teaching only heterosexual behavior to pre school children would you think that was not both advocating and mandating. 

16 hours ago, Mr Dome said:

Of course you hear it. Good grief, everyone's expected to be straight and if nothing is known will be categorized as such.

Here again you are only proving my point that somehow in the LGBT community what sexual orifice you prefer needs to be "proclaimed" to the public so that it can be embraced.  No it is not that everyone is expected to be straight.  It is the unusual behavior that a significant percentage of non straight are compelled to almost singularly identify who they are as a person by their sexual preference.  And they have this crying need for the public to revel in that.  It is truly as if they so doubt their choice that they need public affirmation. 

As said and repeated. I don't care what consenting adults choose.  However I don't want religion, politics or sexual orientation shoved down my throat.  The idea of "gay pride month" is not equal but "special treatment'  The idea of the gay pride flag being flown over the embassies of the USA around the world is not equal treatment it is "special treatment"   No country gets that kind of recognition.  I would say exactly the same thing if the embassies were requested to fly the chastity flag, the Christian flag, the KKK flag, the confederate flag, or a Union Flag.  

Keep your preferences to yourself and I will keep mine as well.  I will fight along side you for your right to live your life as you wish with all the rights and privilege's afforded by "equal protection"  But I will fight just as hard against you for any attempt to have not the public's acceptance but the public's endorsement of your beliefs whether that is your religious belief, political bias  or sexual preference 

 

11 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal mode of sexual orientation

This sounds like a made up term used to "justify" the alternative LFGB lifestyle.  Please show me an example of other mammals who do not practice heterosexuality as their preferred and "normal" sexual orientation. 

The term "normal" means what is standard, typical, routine, common,  When you have less than 5% of the population indicating they prefer same sex and less than .03% indicating they are transsexual that can hardly be defined as the "norm"  The terms "aberrant" "abnormal" "atypical" would be more accurate. 

13 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

. I have no interest in engaging in "debate"

The point is you are not debating.  And no I am "not discriminating" against sexual minorities.  What I am saying and have repeatedly said I am totally for two person union of the same sex to have "absolutely identical rights and privileges to a two person of the opposite sex.  What I am however have said is that the "union" should not be labeled and identified using the term "marriage" but rather a term that accurately differentiates it as a union of two same sex people versus two opposite sex people.  I would say the same thing about a union if "legal" between one man and multiple women.  

You are doing nothing more than reinforcing my belief that the fight is not for "equal rights" but rather a public "embrace" of the lifestyle for purposes of indoctrination of future generations.  The LGBT while it should not be discriminated against, neither should it be portrayed as the "norm"  I would not favor someone preaching religion in the schools, I would not favor someone preaching politics in the schools yet the LGBT community is pushing for that and giving the term "marriage" only serves to further their true aim and that is to foster the idea that someone the lifestyle is mainstream.  

I get a kick out of the term discrimination as it pertains to LGBT.  If someone is African American they can not conceal the fact.  If someone is handicapped they can not conceal the fact.  However the only way anyone knows what another persons sexual preference is if they communicate it to them.  That for whatever reason seems to be tremendously important to them.  I can assure you, I have never had a heterosexual male or female convey their sexual preference to me.  By contrast the tiny minority of LGBT people are driven to shove it in the public's face with flags, parades, pride month, special legislation and even having a flag celebrating the "pride" flag flown over U.S. embassies which is an honor not afforded other countries. 

Live your life, keep your beliefs, share your life with whoever you want.  However I don't care, I don't want to know, and I will certainly accept your right to do so.  However if a person tries to shove down my throat their political, religious, or sexual preference they will find I resent it and do not find it to be a socially accepted practice to ask that I share their ideology.  I may accept their right to have it, but not their right to try and get me to embrace it.