BigStar

Exactly. It's stressful to heed the ANF Poster Three Primal Laws Of Survival In Thailand all the time. One of our ANF Poster Longevity Principles is to avoid the kind of stress you've been suffering for so long. Or any stress, actually, especially the worst of all: diet and exercise. Horrors. Home country, never need to worry about tax policy, no hassles there with your high untaxed income Thailand is threatening. I've already suggested to you the paradise of The Villages, ideal for your mindset (and for many others here as well): The grass is always a deep Pakistan green. The sunrises and sunsets are so intensely pink and orange and red they look computer-enhanced. The water in the public pools is always the perfect temperature. Residents can play golf on one of 40 courses every day for free. Happy hour begins at 11 a.m. Musical entertainment can be found in three town squares 365 nights a year. . . . .There’s no (visible) poverty or suffering. Free, consensual, noncommittal sex with a new partner every night is an option. There’s zero litter or dog <deleted> on the sidewalks and hardly any crime and the laws governing the outside world don’t seem to apply here. You can be the you you’ve always dreamed of. —https://www.buzzfeed.com/likethebreadorthedressing/seven-days-and-nights-in-the-worlds-largest-rowdiest-retirem Pickups for the recreational activities, scheduled for you, always plenty to do, security out the wazoo. When are you leaving, finally? You seem perpetually sitting in the same old bathwater. The Villages, waiting.

Had the decent life renting, have had a better life owning. Benefits are multiple. Mainly, I like having my own place fixed up the way I like. Evidence suggests you may simply be a Rum Tum Tugger: The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore: When you let him in, then he wants to be out; He's always on the wrong side of every door, And as soon as he's at home, then he'd like to get about. He likes to lie in the bureau drawer, But he makes such a fuss if he can't get out. —T. S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats I've very much enjoyed living in my same comfortable place for more than 10 years. I ain't going anywhere. These threads always bring our Little Miss Muffets out of the woodwork counting their Fools Buy Real Estate, Condo Glut, and CONDO CRASH IMMINENT! rosary beads in their fleabag rented rooms. But the short-sightedness! You should know that a foreigner needs to cover ALL the bases. You never know what more nasty surprises THEY have in store for us! So we should always teach our poor noobs the classic, street-smart ANF Poster Three Primal Laws Of Survival In Thailand, distilled over many years from the sage advice of our shrewdest, most knowledgeable members. 1. Never invest in anything you aren't ready to lose; 2. Never own more than you can carry with you or leave behind; 3. Keep your suitcase packed at all times. There. All any foreigner needs. Now, enjoy! Yawn. Quoting one or more of the Laws gives you ten (+10) instant points of valuable ANF Posting Cred™ from the peanut gallery. I think you deserve +5 anyway.

Usual blind leading the blind here. Mostly outdated info. As I said earlier, worry more about the TG/HDL ratio. Men with a low ratio of triglycerides/HDL had a low risk of heart disease even when LDL was high Men with a high ratio had higher risk even with low LDL. Triglyceride/HDL ratio is related to metabolic health and insulin resistance.

A mostly appreciative analysis of technical aspects, including an AI demo, and the musicality of the song: In the end he has an issue with the taking of a song belonging to an earlier era and then creating a modern anachronistic production of it. Fair point and a matter of taste, so he stays on the fence. Might be nice to hear what a retro production of it would sound like, but this'll do nicely. Call it a cover version. 😄

Song kinda meh, but we gotta be thankful. The AI did its job well. I guess Free As A Bird will stand as the best from the cassette tapes. With the video, it was damn good.

Can you top it up by paying cash in, such as at 7/11?

How do you know she doesn't want him to and watch? We're so quaintly conservative here for supposed men of the world.

True. And "they," that is "these people," don't know anything and take greatest stock in rumors and superstitions for lottery wins. So one shouldn't generalize from the ignorant beliefs of some lowly peasants, as seems to have happened in the OP. Thailand has its own social benefits system, and it works roughly as it does in other countries. It's well-known among middle class Thais and workers employed by companies, institutions, small businesses, etc. They know about taxes and contributions, of course, since they pay them, and the later benefits resulting. Foreign employees also get coverage. Foreign employers must contribute, under the law. Mandatory benefits programs are required by Thai labor law. Many of these benefits are funded through social security contributions. Employers and employees are required to match monthly contributions—both paying 5% of an employee’s salary, monthly. https://www.rippling.com/blog/guide-to-offering-benefits-in-thailand https://www.globaldata.com/store/report/thailand-statutory-employee-benefits-market-analysis/ See the above for more details. Any assertion that a similar system is in place in the UK will be readily understood by a vast number of Thais.

But did you confirm that "they" killed him? I don't recall reading any details of the accident for our Accident Investigators to chew over. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'd say that if "they" killed him, it would DEFINITELY have been reported to generate an easy 100 pages of Thai bashing clicks. The probability seems to favor driver error on the member's part. We strongly resist finding fault with any of our "lads," however. If necessary, we resort to the old "dodged a pothole or dog" excuse. Hence your post makes no acknowledgement of any such fault ever happening. But they certainly do. So your rant may be based on a false premise, to enjoy ranting?

When farang have abysmally ignorant misconceptions about Thais, as does the OP about "these people" in general, we have a forum to promulgate them with a superior attitude while reinforcing our bigoted "Thais are stupid and ignorant" stereotype. With the applause of the peanut gallery, they then become codified among the smug Forum Poster Known Truths and echoed down the years.

Are these the only members of the large Thai middle class of whom you're aware? And with whom you're supposedly acquainted?🤣 Again: were any in attendance at the mom and pop shop the other night who were unaware of taxes, tax payments, the Thai SS system, and benefits received upon retirement from that system--or from whatever alternative system their companies/institutions provide for them? Simple yes/no questions. Irrelevant class warfare blather and smoke blowing <snipped>.

Have you talked to any members of that large number of middle class taxpaying Thais you supposedly know about whether they are aware of taxes, tax payments, the Thai SS system, and benefits received upon retirement from that system--or from whatever alternative system their companies/institutions provide for them? Ah, acquainted. Were any of them present that leads you to naively generalize about what all Thais think?

Middle class Thais are quite aware of taxes, tax payments, the Thai SS system, and benefits received upon retirement from that system. Evidently, you're not acquainted with any. Moreover, the elderly, whether they paid tax or not during their lifetimes, do get a monthly cash benefit of about 600 baht. They also can shop for foodstuffs cheap at selected government outlets. And taxpaying Brits often speak of, and tout, their "free" healthcare back in the UK and the "free" schooling for their kids. Nary a mention of all that tax they've paid thru their noses. So it's all not so simple. You can't generalize about "what Thais think" based on what some bargirls, farmers, or ignorant villagers say. They don't know anything. That merely leads to ignorant stereotyping by the farang taking them seriously. It later shows up on the forum. The lower orders in Western countries similarly have a lot of ignorant beliefs that would be laughable if the believers didn't also go to the polls and elect politicians to try to impose them on everyone else, at great cost.

KDE is my fave desktop environment. I'd go with Kubuntu among the 'buntus. Now there is a new rolling release, Rhino Linux, but only for the experienced.

Lazada and Shopee have some common vitamins reasonably priced. Otherwise, order from iherb. The Health forum has some threads about it, such as:

And so, straight dime store panty-droppin' headgear, son. And: trade in the East End Thrift Store checked shirt for a t-shirt, the old man cargo shorts for tight jeans, and the sandals & white socks for a pair of Nikes. Forget bar fines! Besides that useful tip, it'd be helpful if one of our members would give advice about hair implants here or in affordable India. We got a lot of "Plugs" Biden admirers around here. Anti-MAGA, you know.

On the contrary, it's included according to the checkup package you choose. I had one myself in a Phyathai Hsp promotion package. And it was comforting to learn of my low score. 🙂

Just as TAT: ANF is always confident in their total lack of numbers based on Eyeballs. They wouldn't be posting otherwise, would they? The exception to their lack of numbers is the clownishly wrong number they ALWAYS get for the average tourist spend. This they arrive at by dividing TAT's estimated revenue generated (NOT the total spend) by the estimated number of tourists. Then sneer and chortle at its impossibility, LOL.

Banglamung Hsp has greatly improved since the old days. Friend of mine spent his last 2 weeks there, first in a ward, then a private room. He received perfectly good care for a fraction of what he'd have paid at BPH. Recommended. For those of you holding one of those utterly useless pink cards, I suggest using it to register there and at hospitals generally. Been reports of avoiding the farang surcharge thusly. I dunno, I'm under Thai SS and use Sirikit free. No harm in trying; it's only your wallet.

Testifies to the power of prayer, no? More of our mongers should try it in hopes of paying lesser bar fines.

Traditional, too. Good 'nuff for Mick Jagger. Actually a doo-rag looks pretty good and certainly better than that old bald head. I always wince when seeng a baldie riding his motorbike w/o a helmet. SQUISH! There you go, Stevie Van Zandt. Changed to a hairpiece on The Sopranos.

Duh. You'll bicker and throw out your autodidactic nonsense forever. All that needs saying about your "advice" has been said.

I totally agreed with you until this. The average person hasn't a clue about how to evaluate his numbers. The report itself will show which numbers are out of normal range. Then the question is how to bring them into normal range. Some of them are rather obscure. Even a knowledgeable person won't be able to evaluate them off the top of his head, and in context with the other numbers perhaps. (On the forum, we seem to have a weekly question about what a member's blood pressure numbers mean.) The GP will have some idea, however. So you take that into account and do some of your own research AND then see a specialist if it seems necessary. In fact the GP may suggest you do that. No, you don't have to accept his recommendation; ask Sheryl first. 👍 Yes. Now, that said, all docs everywhere are notorious for prescribing meds and surgery instead of lifestyle changes. They hardly hear of the latter in med school, and they're notoriously out of date, esp. in Thailand. In fairness, that's what patients want to hear anyway. Few, if any, want to consider lifestyle changes and would ignore that advice anyway. We see the evidence here on the forum daily. If they had been receptive already, they probably wouldn't be having the problem until much later, if ever.