dekestone

Are the NFL games only being shown on ASN? They used to also show some games on True Sport 3 but they don't appear to be doing that this year. Anyone know for sure?

(Sorry, OP, we really are trying to help. )

I think we should circulate work calendars, then we could all take the Fri, Mon and Tues off due to nobody knowing what the he1l is going on (nothing new there)!

For private sector workers in Thailand, Saturday is considered to be a normal working day. In other words, there is normally not a substitution day for a statutory holiday which falls on a Saturday.

Are you sure? I work in the private sector -- large Thai multinational -- and we always get substitution days when the holiday falls on a Saturday. We recently got our list of public holidays for 2012 and yes, both the 2nd and 3rd are holidays, so I think you can assume they will be for most businesses.

There are two different points being made in this thread. Some people don't want to fill out a simple form reporting where they have bank accounts. The US govt wouldn't make a big deal about this if US taxpayers were following the rules and paying their legal obligations. The second point is that some people don't want to pay any taxes on money they can hide.

Well said. Also, some people seem to think that the requirement to disclose froeign bank accounts is something new. It's not. It's been around forever. It's stated very clearly in Form 1040 Schedule B. Don't know how anybody could sign their 1040 and not know about it. (Unless they don't use schedule B?)

FATCA, however, is new, and may go through some changes before its (as of now) implementation date of Jan 1 2014.

FATCA now doesn't come into effect until Jan 1, 2014. There may be some more changes before then, judging by the growing backlash among bankers, at least according to this article.

"A senior American finance executive at the Hong Kong branch of a major investment house told Michel that FATCA was "America's most imperialist act since it invaded the Philippine Islands in 1899." The regulation, Michel said, was "engendering a profound and growing anti-American sentiment abroad."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/19/us-usa-tax-fatca-idUSTRE77I38220110819

So what's it like this morning, first working day rush hour? Would like to hear some first hand reports.

I live in Phra Khanong, one stop down from On Nut and have been concerned that trains would be full by the time they got to my station.

That didn't happen yesterday at all. Trains were run frequently and while it was S.R.O., it wasn't overcrowded.

I suspect that many passengers who originally would take the bus to On Nut and then the BTS will now just get on close to their homes but that the actual numbers of daily riders will not increase dramatically for now.

I don't think you can really judge it by yesterday's numbers. It was a holiday after all, and on these three-day weekends lots of people leave town. The real test will be Monday.

Rode out to Bearing about 2pm today. It was great! Of course this is a long weekend and half the city has fled Bangkok. The real test will come on Monday morning rush hour.

^ There's one behind Seacon Square as well (not sure if it's full-size actually - what defines full-size anyway?)

Never been to the one in Seacon Sq. Will have to check it out. From About.com hockey:

A standard NHL rink is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide, with goal lines 11 feet from the end boards.

International ice is 210 feet long and 98 feet wide. Goal lines are 13 feet from the end boards.

I'm not 100% sure but I think the one at Imperial World Samron is more NHL size than International/Olympic size. The width seems more like the ones I played on back home (N. America).

The rinks in Esplanade, Imperial World Lad Prao (if it's still there), Central World, and the new one in Discovery center are all way too small.

And the Department of Land Transportation will be easier to get to.

And thankfully so will Imperial World Samrong, which has the only full size ice-skating rink in Bangkok.

Wonder if Bruce IDed them.

Yamaha S70SX at Proplugin 95k baht or around 3200USD

Yamaha S70SX on eBay around 2200USD

That's a LOT of freight and taxes.....

gkin, have you done this? I would seriously like to know if anyone in Thailand has first hand experience in buying instruments from ebay and having them sent here. Were they satisfied with the price, delivery, service, etc? Any recourse if there are problems? (I know a lot of sellers on ebay in the US won't ship outside N. America.)

I'm just curious to know if this could be a viable alternative to paying the inflated prices we see locally.

"It is not beyond the realm of possibility that these tough requirements could lead foreign banks to deny banking services to US citizens living abroad"

It is already in place...a lot of international banks will not touch US citizens who try and open offshore accounts.

Seems like this would be the easiest for Thai banks, rather than trying to track down every American who has a deposit in their bank -- then they wouldn't have to worry about the 30% withholding tax. But in my case, my company deposits my monthly salary directly into a local bank, so I wonder what's gonna happen with that.

Oh and FBAR has been around for a long time. It's only recently that the IRS is making a lot of noise about stricter enforcement.

Proplugin has it all, but expensive.

Whenever i can i use ebay.

Is there a local (Thailand) ebay? Or do you buy from overseas and have it shipped to Thailand? In that case doesn't the shipping expense (and possibly duty/taxes) make it more expensive than buying new equipment locally?

Try Music Concept in Central World.

http://www.musicconcept.co.th/product.htm

Also the authorities have killed the fireworks and they are investigating alternatives......"frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads," is an option I guess......

No fireworks again?! Bummer. Is that a ruling by the local Thai authorities in that area?

Definitely my least favorite venue of all the July 4th celebrations I've been to in Bangkok over the many years. Even when they had it way out on Suk Soi 100+ a few years ago they still had fireworks. It'd be nice if they could get back in to the International school on Soi 15. Easy to get to, plenty of parking, nice big area.

Secondly;

I believe Thailand is in direct violation to Human Rights Article 27, which states:

Everyone has the right freely to partisipate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

Once a country has alowed a person (foreigner) to live in that country he or she becomes a part of that community regardless of types of long duration visa's. So any person with more than a tourist visa enjoys the human rights under article 27 of the UN charter

Good luck with that one, mate.

You can always check out "Bangkok Gig Guide" Google search it.

Tried and tried

Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage

Never mind, it's been way out of date for years. Still had Tokyo Joe's listed the last time I looked.

Any way to register for this online? Their website this year is pathetic, specially if they consider it an 'international' event as in the past. Maybe they're trying to keep the Ethiopians away lol.

http://www.pattaya-marathon.com/

I thought they could sell until 6 pm the day before election and the ban would finish midnight election day.

Could be wrong though.

This is the way it's always been in the past. From 6pm on Sat. July 2nd to midnight Sunday July 3rd. (That's the official line -- though of course there may still be some places you can get booze.)

There's a gym just steps from the Phyathai BTS station (and the airport link) on the east side of Phyathai Rd. Think it's called Noo's.

I'd guess that most Chicago mic nights involve performances by US citizens, or those with permits to do so. If a Thai with a USA tourist visa gets up, sings, the crowd ask for more and he sings again, hey, that's work and he's breaking his visa. No difference here to that scenario.

No, that is definitely not an open mic scenerio in the US. Anybody can play, you don't have to prove citizenship or show your passport to get on stage. Just google a bit if you don't believe me.

But ultimately, I can't argue with your point. If the Thai authorities believe that playing music for free in a bar is 'work', then you have to have a 'work permit'.

And BTW, if someone is arguing that open mic nights attract customers and the bar owners are making money even though the performers aren't getting paid, well, I've been to open mics where the performers have driven customers away.

A lot of <deleted> written here by posters.

If a Thai musician, or sportsperson, comes to UK or USA to do their thing, they need a performers or sporting visa. No difference here.

I knock Thailand a lot, but I don't see why people who can strum a guitar, or play the piano, should get off with financing their stay here by earning a few baht without the proper permissions and permits.

Depends. There are open mic nights in bars all over my home town Chicago, and I assume many hundreds (thousands?) of other cities. Anybody can get up and play but of course they don't get paid. If a foreign musician is getting paid yes, agreed, he has to have the proper paperwork. But shutting down open mic nights where no one gets paid is a bit over the top. But then, I don't make the rules.

It probably doesn't compare to this guy's.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110525/ap_on_re_as/as_new_zealand_human_balloon