radiochaser

On 5/1/2023 at 10:57 AM, spidermike007 said:

I did too. Some of us are fortunate to be living with someone we actually trust. In my case she proved her worthiness of that trust a long time ago. It should not be freely given. Trust, like respect, has to be earned. 

I also loaned my wife $120,000.00 to start a restaurant.  She insisted that I draw up a loan contract.  Contract stated that two years after she received the loan, she was to start payments of $1000.00 a month until the loan was paid off.  

Instead of waiting two years to start the $1000.00 a month payments, she started making payments one year later.   At the end of two years I gave her a "Paid In Full" receipt for the $120,000.00 loan.   She paid every penny of the loan back!

That isn't what Thai people do, according to once Thai Visa and currently Asian Now, comments about Thai people.   

Now, would I loan my sister, an American woman, money?   No!  Not her or the American guy that used to be my best friend.   They took the loaned money and never made a penny of payment!

There is a friend of my Thai wife's family, that is trusted to handle family money.   Wife gave her $20,000.00 to deposit into a family bank account, for some reason there was extra money deposited with the 20k.   Seems that I left over $500.00 at the apartment, laying on the dining table.   She deposited that with the with the money my wife gave her!

It must not be Thai's that are untrustworthy.  It must be the people that you know who are or are not trustworthy!

 

Mom ..?

On 4/27/2023 at 5:16 PM, spidermike007 said:

It takes a long time to get to know someone. 6 months and you have barely scratched the surface. Best to continue being cautious, and guarding your valuables. I have a friend who let himself get taken for his life savings of over $250,000 in gold. He gave her the combination to his safe. Why, one would ask? 

I gave my wife the combination to the safe.  For some reason, she still asks me to open it!

I would say that the 30 days starts from the date stamped into your passport.   So don't forget to check the date stamped, before you leave the immigration counter to be sure you will have 30 days stay in Thailand, before you leave

I once flew into Thailand and had a ticket to depart 28 days after I arrived.    I had evidence of this with my round trip ticket itinerary and boarding passes when I boarded the aircraft to Thailand from the United States and the boarding pass for the day of my arrival, when I boarded the aircraft in Japan. 

What I found out when I went to the airport was, the date stamped in my passport had me arriving before I entered Thailand, making me 3 days overstay when I was leaving.   Even when I showed them the travel itinerary, showing my arrival date, the boarding pass from Japan date, etc, I had to pay 1500 baht for 3 days overstay!

On 4/24/2023 at 8:36 PM, giddyup said:

The rest of the world? Surely you jest?

He doth not!

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Do get over yourself.....

Get over what?

17 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

There was a Thai girl in Beach road a few years ago who kicked a stray dog ,

 

a very big  muscular New Zealander expat saw this and .. "sorted her out" ......so I wouldn't be doing that in Pattaya ,

 

I'm not sure if he is still around but he apparently every night feeds the homeless dogs ...he is very big tattooed bikie guy who used to get big donations on Facebook 

I think I know who you are writing about.  The last picture I saw of him, he had lost a lot of weight, was skinny, and looked to be in poor health.   I am an old fart in my early 70's and I looked to be in better health than he did in the picture!

On 4/24/2023 at 10:30 AM, still kicking said:

I like that.  It has a nice shape and good form with a tall U opening to help prevent projectiles from hitting the thumb placed at the bottom of the U.   The elastic bands look a little weak but that is easily solved so is of little issue.   

Did you find this picture on the internet or did you buy one?   

16 hours ago, jacko45k said:

No it isn't, I  am from UK and we do not grasp such things. You do seem to be going off (and on and on) at an off topic tangent.

I understand that you may not grasp such things.   From what I have been reading about the UK, you are, almost, not allowed to have a knife longer than 3 inches if that, when outside your house, much less being legally allowed to carry a concealed firearm.   

But rest assured, so few people actually know how in depth a background investigation is for a security clearance, for Top Secret security clearances, they think that a background investigation for a concealed carry handgun is a real back ground investigation.  It is not and neither would a background investigation for a visa be either.   

And that is my point of my posted comment and analogy.   I still do occasional contract work for the government, as a federal agent, even though I am retired.  I still have to maintain a moral character and non-criminal life that is required of that work (even though there are certain people who are more equal than others and they don't).  

There is no way that either the CCP investigation or a background investigation for a visa can compare to the investigations that I have gone through, yet, there are those that want me to apply to a local law enforcement agency to get a "criminal background investigation" just so I can travel to Thailand.   Just think of the visa background investigation as playing in a kiddie pool that is 6 inches deep, compared to the one I went through,  as deep sea diving to 14,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.
 

7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Yes.... if you apply for a visa that needs one. Why should you be exempt? (In your case one would expect the process to be quick and easy). It's more about people with a negative record and history of violent or criminal behaviour. 

Obviously, if an application for a visa, requires a background investigation, then I would have to contact a relevant law enforcement agency for one. 

But, do I need to apply for a background check merely because someone says we should, when there is no requirement.  

It's sort of like applying for a concealed carry handgun permit (CCP) locally, which requires a background check, and the CCP is issued after a two week wait.  All it required was birth date, place of birth, drivers license and current address.     What kind of investigation is done?

As a Federal Agent, who had an extensive back ground investigation, where I had to provide a list of every job I held, how long I worked there, every address I lived at and how long at that address, name of father and mother, their birth dates, if alive, where they lived, if married who I was married to, when I graduated from high school and where, and much more!   Damn form was 36 pages long and the background investigation the first time was only 6 months because it was during a war, but there were two FBI agents whose only job was to investigate me, for those 6 months.   Second time, the investigation was 18 months, because it was done by one FBI agent!  Third investigation was 2 years and 9 months, because I married a woman from Thailand!  

Yet, someone, malibu kid wants every one that wants to go to Thailand to have a background investigation.   Just how thorough will that investigation be?   And has malibu kid ever had any kind of back ground investigation?  

7 hours ago, norfolkandchance said:

We had American military guards at the entrance to the facility but they where not allowed in.

I could be wrong about the location and access, because I was never there, but the U.S. of A. had a work site at Chicksands RAF base and I think Brits worked there too.  

14 minutes ago, norfolkandchance said:

I was cleared to Cosmic,Top Secret. Atomal. Would that count.

Nah!   That's British stuff I think.   NSA is the way!

Top Secret / SCI.

16 minutes ago, malathione said:

Grin! I use EBL.

I thank you. 

As someone has already commented, that ain't no flea.  
Some of my childhood and teen years was spent growing up in the south.    There were two boys I remember, at two different places I lived, that would pick fat dog ticks off of dogs ... and eat them!   It's easy to tell, who the strange kids are, and stay away from them!

23 hours ago, malathione said:

2,800 mAh.

What brand?  I want to buy some!

Yes, an off topic response!

14 minutes ago, BangkokKnights said:

I remember when Songkran was a fairly timid affair with people putting dobs of whitepaste on your face and sprinkling some water. Then one fateful year some fat German tourist was walking through khaosarn with a huge plastic spray gun. The rest is history. Now you have Thais riding in pick ups with huge bins full of water. Often you would see idiots throwing or hosing bus drivers and tuk tuks. Morons. Mercifully that mindless behaviour seems to have waned a bit post covid.

Thais in pickups with bins full of water?   That was done back in 1973.   I was there!

20 hours ago, malibukid said:

again background checks should be required of all tourist.

I am a retired federal agent of the government of the U.S. of A. and worked with a once, little known part of a military intelligence collection agency..  I have had three background investigations that involved multiple face to face interviews of the people I worked with, my neighbors, my relatives, and queries to local law enforcement agencies.   All because I either had access to, worked with, intel that was some of the most sensitive material of the military or NSA,  or generated cryptographic materials and intel.   

Every five years, agents were again sent around to question fellow employees, neighbors and relatives to keep my security clearances active.  I didn't even need to commit a crime to lose my clearance.    5 moving violation traffic tickets or other moral factors would have caused my clearance to be pulled and I would lose my job.   

Do I need a background check before I go to Thailand??? 

More to the point, did you have a background criminal investigation before you went to Thailand?  If so, how extensive was your background investigation?

21 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Not so easy to just "pull out" the battery of most modern phones.

Last year at the mall across the street from the condo, the battery in my Samsung popped out all by itself!   I had just bought a screen protector and watched it put on.  When the cell phone was given back to me it felt warm then got warmer.   The phone split apart as I walked out the nearest exit thinking the damn thing was going to explode, catch fire, or both!  With me hoping it didn't like those youtube video's I saw!

My cell phone died a hot death by expanding battery! 

31 minutes ago, Stevey said:

https://www.samsung.com/ae/support/mobile-devices/changes-to-gallery-sync-samsung-cloud-drive-and-premium-storage/#:~:text='Gallery Sync'%2C 'My,and files that you want.
 

Is all that going to google ?  
 

And life is so much easier on an Apple device with face recognition. If my iPhone12’s face recognition system says it’s me that good enough for my bank so it must be secure 

Who knows where it's going?  Not I.   
Does it matter?   Google, Microsoft, apple, opm.gov?
They all have my life history someplace!
It's that black web that worries me.   They have it all too!

18 hours ago, Stevey said:

You can buy an android and open settings add a user name and password , verify the account is yours via a text from Apple to the registered SIM cards or pre-registered friends numbers and everything gets sucked into the phone ? 
 

Are you sure ? My general rule is to blank anyone I see with a non IOS phone on the basis that they either have no sense of right or wrong Sometimes I just feel sorry for them and try to educate the poor devil.

Something like that.    All my contacts, pictures, documents, etc were downloaded from someplace onto my new Samsung android phone in the U.S. of A., after the old one crapped out in Thailand last year. 

Reading the news story, it seems two pistols are involved.   Two gun shells (expended cartridge cases) collected at the incident scene, suggests a semi-auto pistol, either 9mm or .45 caliber.   

Then at the alleged suicide location police collected a .38 caliber revolver.   Revolvers do not eject cartridge cases!

I read the mortgage/sales contract the Title Search Company (in the U.S. of A.) gave me.   She told me that in the 13 years she owned the company, I was the first that she could remember that read the entire contract.   Usually, she would put a contract in front of the buyer, tell them, initial here, here, here, here, sign here, here, here, here and they did.   I bought the house at $240,000.00 in 1991.

Six years later I moved to a different state, rented the house and bought a second house.   When I visited the first house to be sure maintenance was being done,  Steve, the neighbor across the street came over and told me that he had refinanced his house at 125% of the then market value which was about $325,000.00 or $350,000.00, don't remember which, with an 11.5% interest rate.   Steve also said he thought the interest rate was going to be 9%.    He then gave me advice on how to buy homes and sell them.   What I owed on both my homes was less than his one home and my interest rate was less than his too. 

Later I found out that Steve put his house up for sale and found out he had a 10% prepayment penalty to pay off his mortgage.   

I don't think Steve read his contract.  I am sure the interest rate and prepayment penalty information was in it!

I worked a short time for a security company that falsified the times they checked doors and buildings when they never did.   I quit after finding out if you did what you were supposed to do, you know, actually drive to all the building you were supposed to be checking, you could not do it in the 8 hours of your shift.   I told the supervisor I was not going to lie about doing the job.   Later I heard the company was sued by some of it's customers.   People were stealing from the customers at the times the security company employees wrote they had checked the building and nothing was wrong.
 

11 hours ago, tuktuktuk said:

Those aren't steps.  That's an integral part of the seawall meant to dissipate incoming wave energy.  If somebody intended for people to access the beach there would be an access point or multiple ones. Preventing algae growth would be an around the clock pressure washing job.

 

Parts of the Galveston seawall used to look like this.  It was eventually rebuilt with a curved design that few people will try to traverse. The Lake Pontchartrain seawall still looks like this.  If you go to the lake on a Sunday you can watch people slip and fall on it all day long.  

I didn't know that Lake Pontchartrain  had a seawall.   I had to look that up on the www.   I saw a reference to a seawall along Lakeshore drive.   Is that the one you wrote about?

On 4/4/2023 at 3:30 AM, arithai12 said:

Not all spend the same.

A "real" tourist (IMO) comes for 2 weeks, stays in hotel, eats in restaurant, takes taxis and tours. Average 5000B/day.

The "45days" tourists are people who (IMO) come to stay with gf or rent a room, buy mostly at 7/11, don't take tours, rent a Scoopy. Average 1000B/day?

There will be exceptions to each category, but in general the Thai economy needs the first, not the second type. And there is already more than enough of both.

 

As for "reversal", typical click-bait. The policy was for 3 months, they have expired, nothing to report.

Wow!   1000 baht a day.   That is about the average that I spend on my self, when I am in Thailand.   I really hated it when my ex-brother in law retired from the Royal Thai police and gave up his free apartment, where I stayed by myself.  I only had to pay for electricity there.   But it was very convenient to the MoChit BTS/MRT stations.   Also convenient as it was closer to downtown than some other places.   I only had to pay a few Baht on the bus to go to MoChit, then downtown on the BTS/MRT, depending on where I was going.   No need for taxis to go where I wanted to.   

What the heck is a Scoopy?  

You don't buy anything from 7/11?   

Why pay for  a tour?   Family friends do that.

I don't have a girlfriend.