TallGuyJohninBKK

Here are a couple of the slides presented, with highlights in yellow added by me to some important clarifications / considerations, and some additional advice given. The first highlight below is a major exemption/clarification. ------------------------------------------------------ And from a Chamber member / Thai tax attorney who was answering questions online, but was not part of the presenting panel: The panelists said they believed the above opinion will likely end up being the case, but that the Thai Revenue Dept hasn't specifically advised on this issue. ------------------------------------------------------- Thai tax exempt gifts to a Thai spouse would have to involve a legal marriage with a Thai marriage certificate. ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- Lastly, there was a question asked about the status of U.S. Social Security payments, and how they would be treated under this new tax policy, including as addressed by the U.S.-Thai double taxation agreement. And, the status of that and the impact of the DTA on SS wasn't answered by the panelists.

Here's an MP3 audio of the AmCham Thai Tax webinar this morning... Some clarifications and answers, but a lot of questions/issues left unresolved, pending further clarification from the Thai Revenue Department. One of the disappointing things, for me at least, was I don't think the session at all addressed just how the specific provisions of the Thai-U.S. Double Taxation Agreement will in practical terms impact and operate for Americans here under the Thai government's new taxation scheme... Most of the practically useful info comes later in their initial presentation after a longish introduction and background briefing, and then during the ending Q&A session, starting at about the 43 minute mark, where they respond to specific questions asked online. One of the things the panelists specifically said was they BELIEVED, for now, that foreign debit and credit card transactions (purchases and cash withdrawals) done here in Thailand likely WOULD be considered tax assessable income, though they said the Revenue Department's specific guidance thus far hasn't addressed that exact question. AmCham TH tax brief 12-15-2023.mp3

There's a cable network in the U.S. -- MeTV -- that carries reruns of most of the oldie shows that have been mentioned above. https://www.metv.com/about-us/ I don't think it's available as a standalone streaming service. But it is available as part of a broader and very affordable U.S. streaming service -- FrndlyTV -- that focuses on content from many similar channels. https://try.frndlytv.com/ FrndlyTV has some nice features, including a built-in cloud DVR that allows the user to select shows that their system will record and save for later viewing. I subscribed for a couple of years until I basically caught up on watching all the older shows that I wanted to rewatch.... and then didn't want to rewatch them again and again... So cancelled at that point. (Using the service does requiring having a U.S. IP address). A bunch of the included channels above are primarily oldies and western channels/shows, and other various "family friendly" type content.

Rural humour "The following week, on Oct. 3, 1960, The Andy Griffith Show (CBS, 1960–68) had its delayed premiere and was an immediate ratings success. During its entire run of eight seasons, the show ranked in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings, leaving the air in 1968 as the highest-rated program on television. It also inspired two spin-offs, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (CBS, 1964–69) and Mayberry R.F.D. (CBS, 1968–71), both of which were also top-10 hits. The rural situation comedy had its foundation in a long American tradition of hayseed humour." https://www.britannica.com/art/television-in-the-United-States/Rural-humour I was never much of a fan of the rural / hayseed humor shows.... But, I also grew up in city areas, not out in the sticks. No "awe shucks" folks around in my youth.

Started out with B&W when I was just a wee nipper...and then transitioned to color as I was growing up.

Early wet dreams..... courtesy of Maureen McCormick, and later, Eve Plumb.

When Brittanica puts it like this above, it sounds pretty ridiculous... But hey, I was a very young kid back then...

Few of the shows of my youth, except for the original Star Trek, ended up being among the best TV series I've seen during my ensuing life... IMHO, those included from an American's perspective, in no order of ranking: --Hill Street Blues --The Shield --24 --MASH --Miami Vice --The West Wing --Brideshead Revisited (UK) --Line of Duty (UK) --Rumpole of the Bailey (UK)

From Brittanica on U.S. television in the 1960s: "Some of the best-remembered series in TV history were first aired in the 1960s. They established the reputation of the medium in the eyes of many, and, because they were on film rather than live, they would continue to be seen by successive generations in perpetual reruns. Unlike the dramatic anthologies of the 1950s, which are mostly unavailable to contemporary viewers, the long string of “classic” programs featuring not only genies and talking cars but millionaire hillbillies and talking dogs, island castaways and talking horses, Stone Age families and suburban witches continued to be frequently rerun into the 21st century. For many viewers these programs brought hours of escapist pleasure; to others they came to identify American TV as a cultural wasteland catering to the lowest common denominator of public taste." https://www.britannica.com/art/television-in-the-United-States/Rural-humour

Mission Impossible and the original Star Trek, of course, were first rate and iconic...

And Bewitched (1964-1972) with Elizabeth Montgomery: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057733/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

I think one of the earliest memories I have of watching TV as a child was the Daniel Boone western TV series with Fess Parker, which started in 1964 and ran thru 1970 on NBC. And had a catchy theme song as well, though this early version below isn't the one I remember from my "yooth" This second, later version is the one I remember, starting at the 1:01 minute point: "Daniel Boone was a man. Yes a BIG man..."

Get Smart! The original.... Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Edward Platt And, re Gilligan's Island, MaryAnne or Ginger? Dawn Wells, Bob Denver, Tina Louise and don't forget, McHale's Navy! Again, original.... Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Joe Flynn

They're stamping, alright....

I'm assuming you're talking about one of the Houston TX locations of the mail handling and photocopying store chain PostNet? What's their monthly pricing to provide you an ongoing U.S. mailing address? And then what kind of additional pricing for sending you periodic FedEx / DHL mail forwarding envelopes? ----------------------------- One of the issues people always have be mindful about with mail forwarding operations is that they often tend to be classed as "commercial" instead of "residential" addresses in the postal system. That usually isn't a problem for existing financial accounts a person may have and then do an address change for... But it can be a problem when trying to open a new financial account, or ordering purchases, when the address is rejected because it's recognized as a "commercial" address.

Take your pick in the following Thailand domestic tourism survey: I would have spent more money on domestic tourism in Thailand, except: 1. the government is planning for the first time ever to start taxing my foreign income and savings that I bring here, eating into my travel budget. 2. Every time I travel domestically, my local Immigration office insists on me submitting a new TM30 form, meaning I have to track down signed landlord Thai ID and tabien bahn photocopies. 3. The Thai interprovincial buses I might otherwise use for domestic tourism have a nasty habit of crashing and killing/injuring those onboard while enroute for the trips. 4. One peak time of the year for domestic tourism -- end of the year into New Year -- is also the time when much of Thailand is blanketed in choking, unhealthy air pollution, and the government does nothing to stop it.

Exactly... the holding hands stuff is meaningless....given that it occurred on the way to the room.... not in the aftermath of whatever happened in the room thereafter.... If the hotel has footage of them heading into the room, then presumably they have the same type of footage of them eventually leaving, apparently seprately, but there's no mention or description of that in the OP article whatsoever. The time line in the article also seems to suggest the guy booked the room BEFORE he actually met the girl at the club... so apparently he went out that night intending to score with someone. Since the OP article says he originally checked about 8pm Saturday night, then left, is said to have met the girl sometime after 10 pm, and then later returned to the hotel, presumably with her, around 3 am that early morning, before finally checking out around 10 am.

https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main Thailand's weekly new COVID hospitalizations continued their upward spiral last week, now almost five times higher than the admissions from just two months ago, and having increased for seven of the past eight weeks, according to the latest update from the Thai Ministry of Public Health. The MoPH's latest weekly update says Thailand had 590 new COVID hospitalizations for the week of Dec. 3-9, up 10% from the 536 recorded the prior week, and nearly five times higher than the recent low of just 124 new COVID hospitalizations for the week of Oct. 8-14. The most recent 590 new weekly COVID hospitalizations is Thailand's highest tally in the past five months, since the country reported 613 new COVID hospitalizations for the week of July 9-15. The current spike in new COVID hospitalizations is Thailand's second of 2023, but thus far remains well below the earlier spike that began after Song Kran in April. From mid-April through early June, Thailand's new weekly COVID hospitalizations rose steadily and ultimately peaked at 3,085 for the week May 28 to June 3. After that, the weekly numbers mostly steadily declined until the trend again rebounded starting in early October. Starting with the week of Oct. 8-14, Thailand's successive weekly new COVID hospitalizations have tallied at 124, 191, 206, 304, 287 (the only weekly decline in the recent period), 390, 480, 536 and now 590 for the most recent week. During the same period since mid-October, the MoPH reports also show that the tallies of ongoing COVID hospitalized patients considered in serious condition have risen 147%, from 38 in the mid-October period up to 94 for the most recent week. The prior week's tally was 88. Officially declared COVID deaths have remained very low in Thailand, though the MoPH has not recently publicly clarified their criteria for counting such deaths. The MoPH tallied five official COVID deaths last week, up from three the prior week, but well below the year's high figure of 69 for the week of June 4-10. Thailand stopped publicly reporting COVID infection/case data last fall, as have many countries, so tallies of COVID new hospitalizations have become one of the key indicators that public health officials these days use to monitor the successive up and down waves of COVID infections. The Thai MoPH posts its weekly COVID reports mostly every Monday at the following website: https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main A pull-down menu in the upper right corner of the website provides access to all of the MoPH's weekly COVID reports since the start of the year. The red-colored sections show the new COVID hospitalizations counts for that week and the cumulative number thus far for the year. The gray colored sections show the new officially declared COVID deaths for that week and the cumulative number for the year. The dark purple colored sections show the current number of serious condition COVID patients hospitalized for that week. According to the latest weekly report, Thailand thus far this year has had 36,794 COVID hospitalizations and 831 officially declared COVID deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, the MoPH has reported a cumulative total of 4.75 million COVID hospitalizations and 34,500 officially declared COVID deaths.

Thailand MoPH Weekly COVID report for Dec. 3 - 9: --590 new COVID hospitalizations, up 54 from the prior week --5 new COVID deaths, up 2 from prior week --94 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition, up 6 from the prior week --49 COVID patients hospitalized requiring intubation to breathe, up 9 from the prior week https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main

Anyone here ever taken that flight? I've always wondered about it... What's it like? The prices can be pretty good for a trans-Pacific flight. But I'm afraid it would be a long... stretch of cattle-car seating just like Air Asia's domestic flights.

Yes, and they did find some very rare side effects that weren't caught in the original clinical trials, BECAUSE those side effects were so rare... But they all were ones triggered relatively shortly after administration. The experts say the long into the future scenario is very unlikely, even for mRNA vaccines, especially now 3 YEARS after they were first rolled out and since then have had many BILLIONS of mRNA doses given. "But long-term or late effects that do not show up for the first time until years after inoculation, as some vaccine skeptics fear, are not possible, according to the immunologists we interviewed, and are also not known from other vaccines. This is because vaccines are rapidly broken down in the body and thus cannot trigger any lasting reactions." https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-can-covid-vaccines-lead-to-long-term-health-problems/a-59667465 The "unknown future" argument is a popular one among anti-vaxers. But thus far, there's no science to support it.

1. The history of vaccine related side effects is that they typically present very shortly after administration -- not years later. How can we know the COVID-19 vaccine won’t have long-term side effects? "Going back at least as far as the polio vaccine, which was widely released to the public in the 1960s, we’ve never seen a vaccination with long-term side effects, meaning side effects that occur several months or years after injection. And, in every vaccine available to us, side effects — including rare but serious side effects — develop within six to eight weeks of injection. ... mRNA technology isn’t brand-new, and mRNA degrades quickly in the body." https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/covid-19-vaccine-long-term-side-effects 2. Meanwhile, it gets in the way of your vague, generalized conflicts of interest argument above that the main authors of the OP cited study here reported no financial connections with the mRNA COVID vaccine manufacturers. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06800-3

The rise in infections coincides with the very rapid spread of the JN.1 variant, although the new strain does not appear more likely to cause severe forms of the disease "Covid-19 is on the rise again in France, according to the latest data published by Santé Publique France (SPF) on Wednesday, December 6. For the week from November 27 to December 3, the network of SOS Médecins associations reported a 28% surge in suspected cases among adults compared with the previous week. The increase is 24% in hospital emergency departments. In terms of volume, however, medical activity linked to Covid-19 remains moderate: emergency departments recorded 4,353 visits for this reason last week, representing 1.2% of activity (versus 1% the previous week) and resulting in 1,824 hospitalizations." (more) https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2023/12/10/covid-19-epidemic-returns-in-france-as-christmas-approaches_6328161_114.html

From the above cited BBC report and another of this study's main authors: "Co-researcher Prof Anne Willis said: "This is really important because this technology [mRNA vaccines and therapies] is amazing and it is going to be revolutionary as a new medicine platform for all sorts of things."