nisakiman

What ever happened to a crispy top?

And a well made bechamel sauce! I make a great lasagne (I'm modest, too. ), but where I live here in Greece, they make lasagne with the bechamel you buy in packets, which is nothing like the real thing; it's made with potatoes, which gives the consistency but not the taste.

Yes, I understand some like their lounger, umbrella and beer service, but it's time to get over it.

I quite understand what you say, and from a personal point of view I'm inclined to agree. I'm sure you'd like nothing better than for the tourism aspect of Phuket to be scaled right down, as it would enhance your lifestyle there. And I'm sure I'd feel the same if I was living there, too. However, neither you or I rely on that tourism to support our way of life, so it's departure would have no economic impact on our lives. But for the locals, it would be disastrous, and I think their ability to survive trumps your desire for the aesthetic of bar-free beaches.

I wonder how much longer we are going to put up with these interfering busybodies in 'Public Health'? It seems their sole raison d'être is to deny us of anything in life which is deemed pleasurable.

It is nothing to do with them how I choose to live my life. Why should I be forced to have a bottle of wine on the table with disgusting medico-porn plastered all over it? Just so they can have their little orgasms of self-righteous smugness?

Most things we do in life for pleasure carry a degree of risk, whether it be smoking, drinking, climbing mountains, jumping out of planes with a parachute, playing football, water skiing or whatever. We know the risks, and we calculate the cost / benefit equation, and we either do or don't indulge according to our personal desire. That is, or should be, our choice as free human beings. We don't need any tin-pot fascists from 'Public Health' issuing diktats as to what we can and cannot choose.

As Chris Snowdon from the IEA writes:

 

As with cigarette warnings, the intention is not to provide information (information which is, in any case, widely known) but to deter purchase. As with cigarette warnings, the aim is to demonise the product and stigmatise the user.

http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.gr/2014/08/hands-off-our-bottles.html

A pestilence on all their houses. They suck the life out of society and the joy out of life.

My daughter is a ( Trolly Dolly ) only I can can call her that, my daughter works for British Airways and sticks with domestic and european routes rather than apply for long haul.

She was thinking about it at one time but she would have to change contracts just to please the management and greedy share holders.

After training in european flights or in other countries local flights forget for how long they can apply for long haul.

There is fierce competition within airlines and they are always trying to cut costs and upsetting staff so I guess some attendance have a bad day just like anyone else.

Most airlines I guess like BA get new staff on these contracts which they can pull them on and off whenever they choose to, my daughter is one of the lucky ones and was employed before this type of contract change.

BA are constantly trying to get staff off the old contracts and on to the new contract.

Both get generous concession on flights and my daughter can bring my other sons, daughters and grandchildren to Thailand very cheap.

Both get generous concession on flights and my daughter can bring my other sons, daughters and grandchildren to Thailand very cheap

About time they stopped these extras - all it does is push up the price of other peoples tickets

Other jealous ...Been flying 20+ years with those tickets. You can use em' if there are seats available and they have nothing to do with other peoples ticket prices.

Bus,train,food etc.companies have free tickets for family members or factory shops where staff can shop cheaper. You want to ban these too to get cheaper food and tranportation?

Many years ago one of my sisters was a FA for BA, and as I understood it, no paying passenger would be bumped for someone on a concessionary ticket. If there was an empty seat, you were in luck. If not, you waited for the next flight.

I've used a couple, and the best I've found is Adblock Plus. I never get pop-ups anymore.

It's also worth checking any software you've recently downloaded. A couple of months ago I downloaded some streaming software (Ace stream or something), and it introduced all sorts of adware - mostly Russian. My computer was slowed down to almost a standstill, but gradually, so I didn't realise initially where the problem was. Then I noticed in the bottom left of the screen where you can see what's loading on the page that as well as things like 'mc.yandex.ru' and 'codegv.ru' flashing up (which I'd tried without success to exorcise), the 'acestream' was there. And this was on my Hotmail account, which is obviously nothing to do with streaming.

So I uninstalled it, and lo and behold, my Adblock Plus started working properly again and my computer regained its previous speed. And the pop-ups stopped.

They started putting warning text on cigarette packets, but it made no discernible difference to smoking rates. So they made the warnings bigger. That didn't work, either. So then they decided that what was really needed was warnings and graphic images. Predictably, that made no difference either.

The puritans in 'Public Health' are nothing if not unimaginative; "If something doesn't seem to be working at all, well, let's do more of the same", they say.

So in Australia, they've gone for the Full Monty - plain, drab packs, grotesque photoshopped medico-porn and big warnings taking up most of the pack. Since they brought in plain packs smoking rates, which have been on a steady decline for years, have risen. Also take-up rates are on the rise for the first time. The treasury is losing billions to the black market, which has more than doubled in the past couple of years. Good result, what?

So you would think, given that warning labels and medico-porn have been a signal failure on cigarette packs that they would have abandoned this uglification of the things around us years ago.

But no! Now they want to do the same thing with alcohol! And not just in Thailand - 'Public Health' are lobbying for the same thing in UK.

Like they say "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results".

I'm not sure whether working for 'Public Health' warps people's minds, or whether it's only people who are inclined towards lifestyle fascism who are attracted to jobs within 'Public Health', but there's certainly a strong correlation in there somewhere.

I must say he seems to have done a rather splendid job of papering the walls with those tickets. Very artistic. He obviously missed his vocation.

I have never understood why the people simply allow their Government to tax them at every opportunity they can. You work and earn money and they tax you on it. Put any in the bank and earn a little interest and they tax you on it. Spend any of the money they have already taxed and they tax you again and then when you finally die they want even more of it. 

If people actually sat down and worked out just how much of their hard earned cash the Government takes there would be riots

In the UK, 'Tax Freedom Day', that is to say, the day on which peoples money started to go into their own pockets rather than the government coffers, fell this year on 30th May.

 

The date is calculated by measuring taxes and National Insurance Contributions as a proportion of the UK's net national income – producing a figure of 41.5pc, or 150 days as a share of the year.

In France, the equivalent date does not fall until July but in the US and Australia it comes as early as mid-April.

Institute director Eamonn Butler said the calculations included every tax, including stealth taxes – income tax, national insurance, council tax, excise duties, air passenger taxes, fuel and vehicle taxes to name a few – and show just how long the average person has to work to pay their share of them all.

He said: "The stark truth is that this burden costs us all 150 days of hard labour every year. That's not how long a rich person has to work – it is the time the average person must labour for the tax collectors."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/tax/10087413/Today-is-tax-freedom-day.html

I personally see inheritance tax as a pernicious double tax. However, having said that, it is an inescapable fact that those with the most money pay proportionately the least taxes, as they can afford the best 'creative' accountants to minimise their liabilities. If inheritance tax is to be deployed, then the entry level should be set quite high - certainly considerably more than 5 million Baht - so the scenario (as mentioned above) of a family home of several generations in central Bangkok doesn't fall into the tax net.

As much as some folk may not like it, if you want to be as near as certain as you can be that this will not spread outside Africa, a travel ban is the obvious choice.

It may yet come to that.

 

 

From my above post:

 

Because to accompany every new 'epidemic' (smoking, drinking, obesity, bird flu, swine flu etc etc, and now Ebola), there are always those clamouring that "something must be done", and that 'something' always seems to entail imposing restrictions and/or raising taxes,

It's just all too easy to stampede people into voluntarily giving up their freedom. Frighteningly so.

It's starting to look like the Ebola 'epidemic' is yet another scam, like so many before it to frighten the populace into submission to yet more restrictions on their freedoms.

 

But if you are worried about Ebola, please don’t be. It’s beginning to seem as if it’s just more psychological warfare from the usual suspects … just like Bird Flu and Swine Flu.

It’s another case of ‘figures lie, and liars figure’.

If you’re talking possible worldwide epidemic, the stats coming out from the World Health Organisation (WHO) don’t quite hang together as Ebola is not even at anything like epidemic proportions in Africa. Added to which, the genesis of Ebola seems to have come from a nucleus which has, at its centre, a bioweapons lab owned by multi billionaires George Soros and Bill and Melinda Gates.

Even according to WHO figures, the spread of Ebola in Africa is as nothing as compared to the amount of people who die in the West of ordinary common-or-garden influenza every year. You’re looking at a total of 456 deaths overall, for Ebola, against an annual figure of deaths from influenza of 250,000 and 500,000. Both these figures come from WHO health reports, and do remember the Ebola figure of 458 is overall, whereas the flu figures are yearly.

So hopefully that enables us to gain a saner perspective on the Ebola War of Terror tactic than the one being trumped up by the mainstream media which seems to be well onboard with this psychological warfare operation.

As Jon Rappoport, in an article for Infowars, says:

“Ebola is a propaganda operation. Choices are being made: what to emphasize, what to ignore, what to use in order to invoke fear. Producing fear, one way or another, is a standard element in exerting top-down control over the population. When people are afraid, they’re compliant, they’re obedient to authority. And that’s the agenda.”

http://therapybook.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/ebola-turning-out-to-be-joint-bio-and-psych-warfare-assault-from-george-soros-and-bill-melinda-gates/

That quote is from a blog, but I've seen the same figures and conclusions on other sites, and have no reason to suspect that they aren't correct. Also, rather tellingly, I've also seen on a few disparate sites this piece of information:

 

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tells us that the virus is spreading because of unhygenic practices in African hospitals. So it can’t be a coincidence that a bio-warfare lab in a Sierra Leone hospital, with a list of investors that reads like a Who’s Who of the New World Order, including known eugenicists George Soros and Bill and Melinda Gates, is at the centre of the Ebola outbreak in Africa. These are the richest people in the world and they own our governments.

 

It’s a matter of public record that this biowarfare lab has been working on developing various strains of Ebola for more than 40 years, which begs the question, how on earth would they expect to control it in a battleground situation? I think the answer to that is they couldn’t, and that weaponised Ebola is not and was never intended to be used just on the enemies’ troops, but on the ordinary civilians too. The Geneva Convention must be turning in its grave.

According to American Kabuki, who has researched this subject more deeply, this Soros/Gates lab has, so far, been unable to develop a strain of Ebola that will be virulent enough, and certainly not one which will spread in cooler climes than are found in Africa.

He says:

“They’ve been trying to weaponize Ebola for over 40 years. They can’t do it because the Mayinga strain of Ebola (the only known strain to be contagious through aerosol transmission) kills people too quickly for it to work as a broad spread bio weapon.

Yes, a bit tinfoil hattish, I know, but I'm starting to see a pattern emerging with the constantly overblown scares emanating from 'Public Health' / WHO (I'm not even going to touch on the mega-con that is 'global warming'; that's a subject that requires its own section), who seem to be the chosen conduit for facilitating increasing government control now 'terrorism' has been exploited to its max. Because to accompany every new 'epidemic' (smoking, drinking, obesity, bird flu, swine flu etc etc, and now Ebola), there are always those clamouring that "something must be done", and that 'something' always seems to entail imposing restrictions and/or raising taxes, "for our security / health / cheeldren's future".

I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I've always been very much a realist, and I usually scoff at the wilder scenarios that are thrown into the ring. But something has been afoot for decades now; since WW2, and it's looking increasingly sinister.

Thai Visa Moderators are slightly easier to spot.

Shy and easy to startle, they are often seen in small groups grazing quietly - with one or more of the group keeping an alert eye open for signs of danger.

They can also be distinguished from other bar dwellers by their distinctive eyewear...

Heh! Well that's ok then - at least I'll be able to spot the mods when I pop in for a beer!

I would have thought, as has been pointed out by a couple of posters already, that the bar would be particularly oriented towards TV members. However, if you walk in and have no idea whether any of the other customers have anything to do with TV or not, then it's just another bar in Nana.

I noted in an early post that TV members got a 15% discount. Was that just the opening night, or is it a continuing theme? Perhaps to qualify for the discount, TV members should be required to wear a TV badge with their username on it, which would facilitate a bit more interaction between the members who pitch up there? Otherwise, what's the point of it being a 'Thai Visa' bar? I'm sure there will be a lot of members who don't live in Bangkok who would pop in when they pass through if they knew they could identify other TV members. But not many people will wander round the punters asking "Are you a member of TV? What's your username?", however much they might want to know.

I brought a couple of litres of the best Greek olive oil in last year for the in-laws. It was in in my suitcase, and I didn't think twice about it when I came through customs. I'm sure there are no restrictions on small amounts like that.

The price, as notready points out, hasn't changed significantly for several years in Europe, so perhaps the import duty has been reduced, and that's why the price has come down.

I quite like the taste of Singha, but it tends to give me a bit of a head the next day, so I tend to avoid it. The best for me is Chang Draught (in bottles???). Nice taste and no thick head the next day.

 

 

A short ride from the airport starts from just Bt35, while a ride to faraway destinations like Pattaya can earn a taxi driver up to Bt3,000.

 

Airport to Pattaya beach = 123km.  3000/123= 24bt a km.

 

 

 

Yes, but don't forget he's got to get back to Bangkok, and it's very unlikely he'll get a fare. So that makes it 260 Km, which is 12 Baht / Km.

Like a couple of others here, I've never had a problem with taxis from the airport, DM or Swampy. I haven't had to wait long, it's been on the meter every time, and I don't think I've ever had an unfriendly driver. Quite the opposite, in fact; they are normally cheerful, friendly and helpful. Doubtless the anticipation of a tip (which is always forthcoming if I'm happy with the service) encourages them, but that's what the business is all about. It is a service industry, and in the final equation, the cabbie who looks after his customers will always make more money than the surly scammers. And the brighter cabbies know this.

Oh well, that's a result. Beats looking at a wide expanse of dried mud!

A lot of thoughts sprung in my mind.

Is ferret milk the same as badger milk?

I like ferrets and usually play with them, but never tasted their milk.

Has any of the prominent members tasted ferret milk before?

As I understand it, ferret milk is just so passé now. Tiger milk is where it's at.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/harry_potter.htm

says there is no word for badger in greek so it seems it will be a bit hard to find.

Not that our group member would ever stoop to selling us non existing products.

It think I may have to start a topic reporting this scam.

There is a word for badger in Greek - it's 'asvos' (****Greek language removed****).

That said, I've lived here for about 14 years, and I can't say I've ever come across 'badger cheese'.

Here in Greece, nearly all shops have machines which can detect forged notes, and they use them as a matter of course.

Mind you, the Euro is a forgers Eldorado, with notes at €50 (2000 baht, approximately), €100 (4000 Baht),€200 (8000 Baht) and €500 (20,000 Baht), so it's not surprising they check them. You wouldn't want to be caught with a couple of forged €500 notes in your till. That would make a serious dent in the day's profits.

I did hear a whisper that that concrete monstrosity building work in the reservoir is to be scrapped.......... .

But have they filled it up again yet?

Before you all get too excited - and seem to need it explained because you are either too lazy to open the link or are mentally challenged

This insurance covers a maximum stay of 60 days per trip even if you have an annual policy

This is standard for most travel insurance, I get free travel with my bank account but is limited to 60 days with other limitations that a few have also mentioned here

This policy is for tourists only that stay in Thailand for up to 60 days - I will also guess that the 60 days has another clause that defines it as - in any 180 days or similar

So I'm arriving on 17th Dec 2014 and leaving on 17th Feb 2015, which is 62 days. Does that mean I can't apply for this insurance, or that it will only cover me for 60 of the 62 days? I've had a quick look at the site, but couldn't see anything which referred to that.

Blimey! Having read this, I was compelled to run out to the kitchen to check if my rice cooker (Sharp) has rubber feet.

Aaarghhh!!! NO RUBBER FEET!

And it cost me more than 2000 Baht!

You'd think that at that price they could put non-slip rubber feet on the thing! Now I'm going to be worrying about it sliding off the worktop when I'm not looking.

Should I write Sharp a stiff letter?