6 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

I think not many Thai banks do teller "cash advance" for free or at all.  @Pib and I can verify that Bangkok bank provides this service for free.  @Pib also mentioned another Thai bank that does the transaction but charges a small fee.  Kasikorn and SCB do not offer cash advances at the teller.

 

I'm pretty sure that you will get the exact same exchange rate at the ATM and teller, but the maximum withdrawal is generally much larger at the teller.  The rate is adjusted once per day and not at all on weekends.  I can only verify this is true for US based accounts.

And what is the card cash advance fee that your bank charges? For credit cards a cash advance is typically 3-5%. Does your bank not charge this fee when using a debit card?

You may have purchased the wrong olives as those appear to be stuffed with air.

I love green olives, but I'm such a bad shopper I have to admit I have no idea what a good or bad price for pretty much anything in a supermarket. I tend to buy a couple of bottles of green olives with pimentos and they're gone in a day or 2. Then in a year or 2 when I make it back to the supermarket, I'll buy another couple of bottles.

19 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's been posted and shared a few times by a popular agent so I'd say it's true

Possibly* true.

I've had an agent tell me I'm required to carry a tm.30 receipt in my wallet or passport or I risk being arrested and/or fined. ????

I would love to know what time you're out and about when you're only coming across a handful of people on the streets. That's quite fortunate as every time I've been there the streets, mall, and shops along the sois were packed with Thais along with a sprinkling of Japanese, Koreans, and westerners.

7 hours ago, eisfeld said:

What is the difference in number format?

Only the banks know, but there is a format used after the BIN as there are services available to merchants which offer detection of a cards type and class of card via an API. This can detect not only credit, debit, and gift/prepaid, but also differentiate between the different card products offered by banks.

18 hours ago, Yodarapper said:

How much?

This

3 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Suzuki Thailand lists service schedule up to 150,000 km....

 

none of the listed periodical services mention a timing belt change.

Yeah, I'm thinking the mechanics are likely confused as I've never heard of an engine requiring a timing chain replacement at 100k km. Even 100k miles would be considered conservative. I was under the impression they last 100's of thousands of km these days and aren't changed unless there are signs of impending failure. It could be a Suzuki thing but if it were I'd imagine the Suzuki mechanics would have figured out what OP was wanting done.

1 hour ago, alex8912 said:

No. Connecticut private school system. 
Great rant btw. You seem angry. It's " called" what you said above by some who are pushing an agenda. The law is not called that especially because there is so much more to it then  gay  stuff as I hope you know. Some of the the law makes a lot of sense and some doesn't IMHO. Talk about childish!! 

Sorry, the education comment crossed the line.

You made some good points.

Cheers

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Hospital does not matter, it is choice of doctor that is important. There is no hospital without at least some poor/inept doctors.

In this case it was a combination of a young, inexperienced, and possibly inept doctor using cheap old equipment resulting in said scarring.

Go to a cheap hospital and they likely have cheap older equipment combined with inexperienced doctors to use it on you. I learned my lesson.

23 minutes ago, Eloquent pilgrim said:

The birth statistics of every country in the world will show gender at birth recorded as either male or female

No, sex is recorded at birth, as male or female (and possibly hermaphrodite in places... I don't know). If you are confused as to the difference between sex and gender, well, you clearly have access to the internet and don't want links from any of us...

Another recommendation for Bumrungrad.

Avoid Saint Louis. I went there first and still have the scar to prove it.

1 hour ago, BangkokReady said:

I think you're confusing rational with maybe instinctual or innate?  Even if the fear is learnt through socialisation, it doesn't mean that it is irrational.  An irrational fear is being scared of something that you have no reason to be scared of.

 

I think what you're talking about it "nature vs. nurture".  That is, something that is innate that we are born with and something that we "learn" from some aspect of our lived experiences.

I definitely could have worded that better, and I left out the part relative to learnt experiences. I was trying to say it would be a rational fear if "men" have been assaulting women while they do their business to such an extent that it has become instinctual. Likewise it would be rational if there were reports of this happening in the present day, yet I can't remember ever hearing of such a thing. If the only reason women are scared when they see a "man" (in this case a transgender woman) in the woman's restroom is because it's outside of our normal experiences, then I question if that's not an irrational fear (again, the fear that a transgender woman would assault a woman in the restroom). If a transgender woman who makes little or no effort to look like a woman, decides it would be a good idea to use the woman's restroom, I would certainly agree in that case the fear is completely rational.

Quite a lot of our points thus far have obviously been based around the idea that people would be able to ascertain who was born male vs. female while that isn't always the case. Trans women who take female hormones from puberty can be impossible to discern by most people with the exception of perhaps doctors or experts on anatomical differences (differences which may be apparent in these cases). Do they have to use the men's bathroom? Should there be somebody checking IDs at all restrooms denying these otherwise impossible to discern trans women from using the women's restroom? If the fear is only based on our assumption of a persons sex at birth, is this a fear that should be entertained to such an extent in modern society that we take actions which discriminate against one group of people so another group can "feel" safe?

Sorry for clipping the rest of your post as it's getting late, but you made good points and I think I agreed with all of your ideas on the potential origins of learnt and inherited fears and behaviors.

7 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Wondering what makes you think you can come to Thailand and tell other farang what they can and cannot do.

They just did, what are you gonna do about it?  ????

22 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

I was joking when I asked you to provide a link.

I stated a FACT - that transgenders undergo surgical procedures.

You're denying that surgery is involved?

Yes, I'm denying that. I do understand it may be a difficult concept to grasp. I wasn't trying to attack you, and I don't know why you have taken it in that way, I was only pointing out that surgery is not a requirement for one to be transgender.

Gender is a societal construct (man and woman), different from sex (male and female). Transgender people don't identify with the gender society has assigned them. Some transgender people undergo surgery, some do not.

I honestly can't tell if you're trolling at this point, due the overwhelming irony with regards to your name and this particular topic, but I'll play along if it makes you happy. ????

17 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

They might feel threatened, but it simply isn't the same as a "male presence".

 

I disagree.  I think a large part of it is fear created by someone who looks like a man in woman's private area or doing something they are only comfortable having a woman doing.

Perfectly understandable.

But is this a rational fear? And by that I mean is this a fear brought about by thousands of years of evolution which has become embedded in our DNA, or is this a learned fear from being raised in a puritanical society? Do women and girls in nudist colonies or the parts of the Amazon and Africa (and other places) where people aren't "fully clothed" also experience such fear? Even Europeans will laugh at Americans over their puritanical values while ignoring their own biases relative to those less-clothed societies previously mentioned.

10 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

I think it's possible that post-op we're talking about a safer situation, but either way, you still have the problem of if the person still looks like a man, it's going to make women, probably particularly younger women/girls, feel extremely uncomfortable.

Understandable.

What if a large, mean looking woman went into the bathroom while a young woman/girl was in there? Would they be scared then? Is there anything we should do about that?

Or if just your average butch woman who looks and dresses a bit more like a man? Would they be scared then? Is there anything we should do about that?

12 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

I'm not sure they really are. I think woman to man have a slightly easier time because they pass easier and they wouldn't really feel threatening in the same way that a man to woman might. What I mean is, can you imagine a man coming out of a public toilet looking scared and telling someone "I think there's a woman in there. I was really scared"? Not exactly fair, but then life isn't fair.

I think a large part of the fear is penis = weapon which can be used in a sexual assault. With females generally being smaller and less muscular than males, a "former" female probably doesn't cause men fear in most cases, other than fear of their own desires perhaps. ????

13 minutes ago, Dogsredrocket said:

ASEAN NOW Community Pub

Thailand is legendary for its entertainment, both traditional and modern. Discuss night life, restaurants, bars, music, movies, concerts, expat life, fun, or just a chat about anything not covered by other sub-forums. (No Politics).

 

So why are you bitter old farts dicussing such nonsense here?

 

Frantically report to mods if you like. The whole post shouldnt even be here.

 

OK? Is there another sub-forum more appropriate for this topic?

I actually find the root causes of intolerance to be much more interesting than discussions on what is or is not "appropriate" intolerance, as that is all based on ones perception, which is relative. How people handle being made aware of the root causes of their own intolerance's is quite fascinating. Have any papers been published hypothesizing on the stages people go through (similar to the stages of grief) when being made aware of their own misconceptions due to the relative nature of intolerance?

10 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

The Mayo Clinic.

Yes, of course.

The doctors performing these surgical procedures are making a fortune.

So, it's very gracious of them to write a neat little blog with all the sub-categories neatly defined.

 

I honestly thought you'd go straight for the "liberal Biden administration" or Wikipedia but you chose the Mayo Clinic.

I love this thread. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Just now, Mac Mickmanus said:

I have asked him to take it to an on topic thread (of which there is a thread running ) , that way it wont be deleted for being off topic .

  Staying on topic really isn't "trolling" 

Yes, multiple pages deep already and posting 1 link would be off topic, but discussing why you won't provide said link ad nauseam is apparently on topic.

I hope you do understand that nobody is buying this, though the mental gymnastics you're going through are proving to be quite entertaining.

6 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

This thread is about go gooders who come to Thailand and this thread isn't about banning books from USA school libraries 

And as I said, those do gooders are the ones who want books banned. It's completely natural to come up in such a discussion. Do you not think it possible that part of their do-gooding could eventually lead to the threat of banning books here? That's optimistic.