Gaccha

2 hours ago, john donson said:

lasers... who knows, lol

This book knows.

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

The key lies in finding a balance between protecting free speech and preventing hate speech.

Correct. And that balance is to allow all speech, and for people who are offended to withdraw from the conversation and go and do something else. 

If however they say something which in any event would be a crime under normal criminal law (such as a threat to kill which has long been a crime in England), then they must suffer the normal sanctions. 

I remain quite concerned about the possibility of dissipation of funds.

You need to make an important strategic decision: you can warn the possible bad actor to immediately desist from his behaviour, or in the background you can smoothly remove control from him. 

Both these options have advantages and disadvantages. If you follow the first route, he hopefully will back off understanding the serious legal implications of his behaviour. With the second route, you avoid arousing his suspicion and get the matter done quickly without his obstructions. 

If you do decide the first route, you need to explain very clearly to him that he has no grounds to control any of these matters including his fantasy of setting up a fund for the daughter, or sending money to the Hong Kong nephew.

55 minutes ago, Tippaporn said:

Do you have a figure that would be reasonable for a lawyer here?  I'm only asking for a figure because i understand that there are unscrupulous lawyers out there who drastically overcharge.

I don't know any prices. But you should be prepared for what could be quite a costly matter as the other parties may try to disrupt your daughter's claim. The case could drag on for a long time and involve several different actions by the lawyers. I think you'll just have to accept that this will not go smoothly.

Go to 3 law firms and ask them each for their costs and how they think the case will proceed. They should offer this initial interview for free.

In regard to possession of the items, this again is very challenging, so it might be wise right now to report the matter to the Thai police. Then it is on record.

Have you specifically asked for the computer back? Have you specifically asked for the information on the location of the bank cards etc? Have you asked why he has kept these and has not given them to you?

It might be that he really is acting in good faith and believes that means ensuring the Hong Kong relative receives some money before you try to stop it. Or possibly he thinks the oral will-- which I'm sure is invalid-- must be carried out. But it is important to figure out his motives.

If he is acting in good faith then he should be prepared to work with you to get the probate done. If he isn't, you must be ruthless to ensure he does not dissipate the funds.

9 hours ago, JackGats said:

For intermediate-advanced learners, some teachers of Thai include their own 100% word-for-word sub-titles, like this teacher

That is nothing like intermediate- advanced level. There are absolutely no Thai teachers for the level I am talking about. At best, the level you have shown is roughly intermediate- beginner level. About the equivalent of 1-year's very gentle study.

Thai language tools obviously mostly target early beginner levels because most people give up long before they make any progress. 

By intermediate-advanced I'm talking about the equivalent to the CEFR B2 level for English.

In my original post I pointed out that old movies with their dodgy sound quality would obviously be a problem for automatic subtitling. 

But if you look at some of the current popular current affair programmes which do use automatic subtitle generation, then they are absolutely fine. Anyone using a 50 dollar mic will cause no problems.

I'm an ex English Law lawyer. Your case definitely requires a Thai Probate Lawyer. 

I don't know Thai law but there are multiple issues you need to resolve in rapid succession. 

Notify the banks of the death and they should automatically freeze the accounts. 

Obtain probate for your daughter. 

Uncover any details on financial assets. Gain physical control where you can. Look for finance statements,  and search for other evidence on his computer.

The daughter is too young to be appointed estate administrator. The biological father's trusted party might dispute your attempt to appoint, for example, yourself, as the estate administrator.

Do you know if they intend to act as friendly to your cause? What position has the Hong Kong relative taken? If there is a dispute it will severely delay the court granting probate. But anyone your daughter favours is likely to be granted this power.

Without a legitimate will this case may drag out. I don't believe the Hong Kong relative has any right to any of the money. The most distant relatives recognised in Thai Law seem to be grandparents and aunts and uncles, not nephews.

Go to a lawyer. This week.

2 hours ago, JackGats said:

Auto-generated subtitles are not much use for learning a language because they contain many mistakes.

Very strongly disagree. It is true there are errors, but overall it is an enormous net benefit. I would encourage all intermediate-advanced learners to use as a vital tool in rapid learning.

Obviously you can switch off the default very easily.

I wonder if this would actually be bribery under Thai law. If the beauty pageant umpires were counted as state officials then it would be clearcut bribery of an official and a crime. The Thai courts define "official" very widely.

Presumably there is a crime of "sporting bribery" but I can't find it after a quick Google search. If this exists then does a beauty pageant count as a sport in that law? My guess is it does.

In any event, the cheeky manager seems to have committed fraud. I don't believe it would make any difference to his defence that what he was falsely offering was in fact a crime and so the victim "deserved it" etc etc. 

This has nothing to do with luxury counterfeit goods. These are minimarts breaching food certification requirements. 

The problem is chemical poisoning (food adulteration). It is absolutely rampant in China. Manufacturers will add poisonous chemicals to make a product look nicer, or add poisonous fillers to bulk up the product. 

And for this reason, do not buy Chinese goods via Lazada etc. Stay safe kids.

31 minutes ago, JackGats said:

it turned out it was already on my phone.

I think it's standard on all Samsung devices.

I strongly recommend you set it up under the accessibility functions as a "Shortcut" key. This will add a stick figure on the bottom of your phone next to your home/tab/down keys. 

I think you'll find this very effective for your needs:

2 hours ago, Rolo89 said:

I can just take a short flight to another country, withdraw up to $20'000 USD from my Guernsey bank account where my company dividends are paid and Thailand can't trace or tax it.

Guernsey is signed up to the Common Reporting Standard. The bank will require you to submit your tax number for your Thai residence. It is under a treaty obligation to report the money withdrawn to the Thai tax authorities, subject to the normal conditions. 

Obviously you can attempt to illegally evade tax payments, but the net is tightening considerably faster than you seem aware. Those off shore accounts are not some secret hideaway any longer.

1 hour ago, itsari said:

I know the TM30 is good for many years as shown by the 90 day report going through

...but as you say it was last registered in Bangkok... so your TM30 is currently wrong. 

Why on earth did you not simply hand in the TM30 form at Chiangmai so from now on you'd be able to do the 90 day online? You say there is "no need" to update but you literally offer up a reason in your own story: you were unable to complete the online application.

And, at least in Bangkok, they always check your TM30 when doing a yearly extension, so what happens in Chiangmai?

4 hours ago, itsari said:

On the 17th I went to Chiang Mai Immigration office and the notification went through no problem .

What "notification"? Do you mean you provided a TM30 notification or do you mean you provided the 90 day notification? 

The sensible thing to do is update your TM30 address. This, like the 90 days, can be done online.

She is solving Europe's largest problem: it must appear to adhere to its human rights reputation and norms but also solve the problem of low-quality resource- extractive migrants from Africa.

By exporting the human rights abuses to the North African countries, like Pontius Pilate, Europe can wipe her hands clean of the abuses, leaving the messy work of beating up migrants to large, squalid Italian-funded camps mostly in Tunisia. And anyone who can make it to Italy will get sent to Albania.

As it is, Europeans continue to display remarkably high levels of tolerance to outsiders. 

If you want to appreciate just how remarkably high the tolerance levels are, you should compare them with the figures for Thailand or any countries in Asia. Typical worldwide surveys on this topic usually ask "would you be comfortable with a foreigner living next door?" 

Good spot. I'm sure you're right. It sounds greatly improved. Much closer to a human.

Since the beginning of this week (as far as I can tell) Thai language subtitles auto- generated by a computer are available for everything from Shorts to old uploads. The option has been available for certain select videos for around a year already, but the creator of the video had to opt in for the function to work.

Simply select from the settings menu:

Unlike auto-generated English it is not available for live broadcasts. 

Presumably this is using Google Live Transcribe software (because Google owns YouTube) and anyone who has used that knows that the speech recognition software is not especially great. But it's doing a pretty good job from what I've seen so far, even on old movies with very poor quality soundtracks.

I'm guessing they are female to male transgender. 

Usually, when they speak of transgender monks in Thailand it tends to be more like this: 

One radical difference this year in Bangkok is the police are now requiring your details on the TM30 to be instantly updated after you receive an extension/change to visa.

So the day you get an extension/change, the person dealing with the TM30 should be sent a photocopy/scan of your passport extension to send the details. You can then ask them to take a screenshot of the current data on you that they inputted on the system.

The data states your immigration status (e.g. NON-B) and the date of expiry. You should ensure it's correct. Sloppy errors are common when the matter is unimportant to the inputter. 

The police are clearly increasingly relying on these details. Just a few years back, they didn't care so long as they knew where you were.

Most of the diet recommendations on this thread fail to grasp the reason why dieting generally does not work. 

You have to have a system of losing weight which is effortless. If it is difficult or a struggle there is a very high chance that you will give up and/or return to your previous weight.

Your absolute priority is to stop the hunger or desire for food. And we now know how to do this. 

Cut out sugar or anything that spikes your insulin levels from your diet outside of a 4-6 hour eating window.

Eat anything you want during that eating window, but outside it severely restrict yourself to only tea/ coffee with no milk and no sugar/water/ginger tea.

It sounds like torture but in fact since all your hunger pangs will go it will just feel normal after a couple of weeks. You'll have no desire to eat more.

You then start to gain large amounts of energy, and then you'll feel the desire to run or walk long distances.

3 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

Could you please provide a credible source for your claims re cannabis causing schizophrenia ?

There are huge numbers of academic papers on the subject. It's not an obscure topic to research so I am baffled at your request. Are you familiar with 'Google Scholar'? One meta-study on there found 620 other papers on the topic. Did you miss all of them?

If you're trying to initiate an argument on the topic then I would point you towards the need for a literature review on an area to make your decision as to the scientific consensus; a mere one paper should never be enough. You certainly shouldn't be arguing out on a random forum.

Of course, if you simply want a credible pop-science book on this then:

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

Literally ruined his life at 18.

And that's why it must be restricted to adults only. There should also be warnings against anyone with past experiences of manic or psychotic episodes, And anyone with a family history of those types of severe mental illnesses should be warned against trying it.

Obviously the State always has a paternal role to play but ultimately it should not limit the fruits of nature because of the foolish behaviour of a few.

By way of contrast, the dangerous risk of schizophrenia is greater in marijuana, but it inflicts people who could never have predicted they may be vulnerable to it. It is a lottery. This is a day and night difference.