General Reports

[HorseTrader]

I read the headline this morning and thought at last some sanity.

I continued reading, oh oh yes it broadens the STV from the original list of 24 for all countries but does nothing to ease the requirements for the visa itself.

Now the old list included among others China, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Finland and Norway which one might imagine had enough population to attract a reasonable number of visitors. How many came. Total 825.

So with the conditions to obtain and comply with the terms of the visa unchanged what makes them think there will now be tens or hundreds of thousands arriving from the countries added to the list.

What am I not getting?

There wont be tens of thousands. Maybe double the number of tourists. They cant expect anything better.

Very few people will agree to 14 day quarantine. The other requirements are reasonable, but pains in the ass. Being open to all nations will help, but not enough to restart the tourist economy.

I would agree to do a 2 or 3 days quarantine. No more than that.

Last night a friend of mine in Chiang Mai told me that COVID is starting to spread in Thailand. I asked how many and she said 19. I dont know if that is daily cases or total active, maybe Chiang Mai, maybe all of Thailand. In any case it is more than it had been and can’t be ignored.

[Franciscass]

Seems STV will be available in any countries.

https://www.posttoday.com/economy/ne...DwTvopenu9pOlM

I read the headline this morning and thought at last some sanity.

I continued reading, oh oh yes it broadens the STV from the original list of 24 for all countries but does nothing to ease the requirements for the visa itself.

Now the old list included among others China, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Finland and Norway which one might imagine had enough population to attract a reasonable number of visitors. How many came. Total 825.

So with the conditions to obtain and comply with the terms of the visa unchanged what makes them think there will now be tens or hundreds of thousands arriving from the countries added to the list.

What am I not getting?

[Christian G]

Seems STV will be available in any countries.

https://www.posttoday.com/economy/ne...DwTvopenu9pOlM

[Banana Boi]

I remember seeing horror stories in Thai news of people sleeping with their phone beside their head while it's being charged, then the phone explodes or catches fire killing the victim. This was not a one time incident. I never charge my phone in a 220V socket and leave it near me.

I bought an extra battery at Tukcom. Charged it a couple times and it was fine. Then one time it was super hot. Threw the battery away. Buy OEM guys.

[HorseTrader]

If your cp feels warm or hot from charging then you are using the wrong charger.

Or there could be something wrong with your device or the device's battery. About a year ago that is what happened to my very old iPad Mini (original version). It got very hot to the touch while charging and then it wouldn't boot. The charger was fine and was subsequently used on multiple devices.

In any case, if your cell phone gets hot while charging, unplug it and investigate the problem without holding it to your face.

[Goferring]

Other thing to be aware of is to not mismatch chargers with the cp. Most cp will charge at 1 amp. The Samsung charger will charge at 2.0+ amp. Using a Samsung charger on another cp can overheat the battery.

Many Samsung phones now have a rapid charge feature which increases the charge voltage from 5 v to 9 v. Over voltage on a li-ion battery is far more dangerous than over current as it can lead to a thermal run away. This is not too hard to imagine in a faulty or knockoff old phone / charger.

[Member #4698]

GUILTY FEEL LIKE SHIT!

LBM,

It is only natural to feel real bad about what happened to your friend. But you are not guilty of anything. In fact you stood tall and helped the family out in their time of real need. The guilty people are management of the company that manufactures & sells such dangerous products. You can bet your last baht that this was not the first time their product malfunctioned, exploded and hurt someone.

I have a long time American female friend that was a front seat passenger in an auto accident. Some asshole ran a stop sign and plowed into her side of the vehicle she was riding in. She suffered internal injuries. After 3 operations she is still not completely well. Shit happens to good people!

I hope your friend fully recovers.

[Dg8787]

Wow. That is fucked up. I used to always have those thoughts when I would buy the Chinese batteries off ebay for Samsung. They seemed to be thicker than the original. I was thinking those mfs may overheat and explode or whatever. Are there any phones these days that you can remove the battery without the proper tools and know-how? Maybe they no longer make them that way for this very reason.

It may have been a cheap charger without the intelligence shut off features. Without the shut off feature on the cp or charger the battery keeps charging and will overheat. The overheating will cause the battery to expand and quite possibly explode.

I have seen many expanded cp batteries from cheaper cp chargers. Once the battery is bloated it is best to throw it away.

Other thing to be aware of is to not mismatch chargers with the cp. Most cp will charge at 1 amp. The Samsung charger will charge at 2.0+ amp. Using a Samsung charger on another cp can overheat the battery. If your cp feels warm or hot from charging then you are using the wrong charger.

[Crocodilexp]

GUILTY FEEL LIKE SHIT!

It's a shitty situation, and anybody would feel like shit, but you're not guilty of anything. No more guilty than someone who gifted a car in which someone proceeded to have an accident due to a mechanical problem. If anything, it's the shop that should have spotted the problem, if you paid them to check it. Shit happens, and it's rather nasty shit in this case, but certainly not your fault.

[Mr Enternational]

I responded back and the next message shocks me to the core and I'm not easily shocked? The message " my mother has been in the hospital for 4 days the phone I gave her the battery exploded in her face "

Wow. That is fucked up. I used to always have those thoughts when I would buy the Chinese batteries off ebay for Samsung. They seemed to be thicker than the original. I was thinking those mfs may overheat and explode or whatever. Are there any phones these days that you can remove the battery without the proper tools and know-how? Maybe they no longer make them that way for this very reason.

[Berrys66]

Yup got to be true, I read it in that most credible of UK tabloids the Daily Star.

Sir Patrick Vallance warns Brits could still be wearing face masks next winter because it will 'take quite a long time' to vaccinate everyone and jabs might not stop the virus spreading.

The chief scientific adviser said people must still follow social distancing rules.

No proof that vaccination will stop people transmitting the coronavirus.

Studies have only proven so far that jabs can prevent Covid-19 disease.

Britain today became the first country in the world to vaccinate citizens.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nce-warns.html

[Turgid]

.....I responded back and the next message shocks me to the core and I'm not easily shocked? The message " my mother has been in the hospital for 4 days the phone I gave her the battery exploded in her face " of course the thing that crosses my mind and when I told my coffee buddies all said " scam " .......

To my instincts the very first thing I would have done before anything else would have been to go see her.

[LittleBigMan]

This report continues from a post I made on the Bangkok Thread.

As I noted I've known this Thai woman for a long time in our meeting in Bangkok it was agreed I would give her my old cell phone it was checked by the shop and all green lights were given. Even my brother's kids play with it while I was visiting, the night before I checked it again before placing it in the box and into my backpack. When I saw her the next day I pulled it out of the box and put the battery, turn it on and went through all the features then change the language to Thai. It all went back into the box since she didn't have her True sim card didn't notice it then because I'm not very techno about phones I was wondering why when putting in the battery then putting the cover on it didn't seem to fit the same not very tight? She told me if necessary she would put a rubber band over the phone she was just grateful to have a phone now basically something was better than nothing having to borrow her friend's phone not being able to talk to her sons etc.

The next morning she got up early took a shower put the phone in her purse I got her a taxi to Mo-Chit to try to catch the first van out to her village I felt bad didn't know it was a 4 plus hour ride since the van stops and pick up and drop off riders throughout her trip. As noted in my Bangkok post since she got into the taxi I felt something come over me like a rain cloud something just didn't feel right. Hours later when I didn't hear from her I started to worry but I just wrote it off as me being paranoid? Days went by I didn't hear anything, not like her when I tried her friends' phone there was no answer but her friend would see my number and tell her I called thereafter I get a callback but this time nothing. By now 5 days have gone by but I just figure Thai style but I was hoping for the best inside?

Now it is Sunday, Dec 6th, I was having my usual morning coffee with my ex-pat group next thing I get a translated message on my phone asking me if I was a friend of his mother. I responded back and the next message shocks me to the core and I'm not easily shocked? The message " my mother has been in the hospital for 4 days the phone I gave her the battery exploded in her face " of course the thing that crosses my mind and when I told my coffee buddies all said " scam " I wasn't born yesterday I've known this girl for 10 years although she was a hardened BG she has never shown that kind of behavior or side of her to scam me. Back and forth the messages finally the son tries to call me but my limited Thai we weren't connecting it was actually better although slower to use their translation program which I thought wasn't bad. Basically, although she is under the government health care program this particular procedure wasn't she was scarred badly and possibly blind she needed an operation for both the cost was 80,000 baht. Although shocked and very concerned I was thinking of money naturally so I turn to a few guys who I knew were Thai but raised in the States and spoke Thai and English well.

Back and forth with the son in the end the son wasn't asking me for 80,000 nor blaming me directly and I was liable that they needed 80,000 for the operation he and his brother could raise only 68,000 their backs were up against the wall the friend mentioned me and my number was on her phone that I might be able to help out with the rest there is no doubt also that I gave her the phone. It just happened that the call was made on my Thai friend I-Pad which was a video that enables me to verify that it wasn't some scam the son even ask the Doctor to speak to us. No matter what I wasn't going to make a bad situation into a pissing contest by asking more questions if it was a scam I told the son I would gladly cover the difference. I placed the amount into her mother's account and they proceeded with the necessary operation. Right now the last message I got her mother is badly scarred and her eyesight might never return if lucky 50%.

Her mother after the operation is heavily sedated and very upset wishes to die doesn't understand why so many bad things happen to her? The last year her mothers pass away in July she gets into a bad motorbike operation hospitalized for a broken arm that required pins and months of rehab just when things were getting better and the rainy season over with the flooding in her village over she was starting to be able to sell her second-hand clothes out of the trunk of her old car now this! The latest message from the son was to thank me for the money adding he felt this was his fault if he had only purchased a phone for his mother this wouldn't have happened to her.

I've met the two of the son when they were young they are good kids I responded it is no one fault how does anyone know this would happen. It was checked several times I wonder if it had gone off when my brother's kids were playing with it or even when we were together in Bangkok in the room it had gone off?

GUILTY FEEL LIKE SHIT!

[Franciscass]

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/lat...unity-23118841

Coronavirus vaccine may only give people immunity for 90 days, say scientists.

The government's scientific advisors have suggested immunity may last 90 days, however in a study they explained a high proportion of people are likely to get immunity.

The coronavirus vaccine may give people immunity from the bug for 90 days, according to scientists.

Research conducted by the government's scientific advisors suggests vaccine immunity is not fully understood.

In a paper published by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, experts say the duration of "natural or vaccine induced immunity is not yet fully understood".

Yup got to be true, I read it in that most credible of UK tabloids the Daily Star.

[TheNileRiva]

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/lat...unity-23118841

The coronavirus vaccine may give people immunity from the bug for 90 days, according to scientists.

As someone who works in the field, that tabloid headline is not technically false, but very misleading.

They're saying it provides immunity for 90 days because 90 days of data is all they have. Researchers cover their asses when speaking to the media, so they won't say the vaccine provides immunity beyond what the current data tells them. Expect the length of immunity to go up as time drags on and they get more data on its efficiency.