Xircal

Maybe should be in the Apple thread?

I didn't know there was one.

Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul has branded Phuket 'Thailand's poster child for tourism' according to Phuketgazette.

Ms Kobkarn also said, quote: "Phuket is the image of Thailand. Therefore, if Phuket has a good image, so does Thailand".

I've been scratching my head over that one. Why would she think Phuket has a good image?

Maybe she approves of the jet-skis run by criminal gangs, the tuk-tuk mafia ripping tourists off daily, taxis who don't want to use the meter, tourists banned from bringing their own sunloungers to the beach etc., etc.

I'm perplexed.

They'll hang on even if they haven't got a brass farthing to their name: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/why-are-so-many-westerners-homeless-in-thailand-8830302.html

www.gonorththailand.com

At first glance I thought that was a website fro a sexually transmitted disease.

LOL, me too!

Won't make any difference to the folks in Isaan annd surrounding provinces. They'll just burn them like they've always done.

This is another Google Project Zero discovery whereby Apple was privately informed of the vulnerability on October 20 last year, but has failed to address the issue.

In keeping with its policy, Google made the vulnerability which allows a local user to bypass the sandbox public. Details here: http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1031624

Two other vulnerabilities for which no fix is yet available either are these:

1. Apple OS X Memory Corruption Flaw in IOKit IOBluetoothDevice Lets Local Users Gain Elevated Privileges
2. Apple OS X Null Pointer Dereference in IOKit IntelAccelerator Lets Local Users Gain Elevated Privileges

You are either the inventor of the Lobola Calculator App, or you are pissed out of your head at 0207 hrs.

Some people have no sense of humour.

I don't wish to be the bearer of bad tidings but today, the Doomsday Clock moved three minutes closer to midnight. That's the time Armageddon is supposed to wipe the human race from the face of planet. Reasons given for the adjustment are global warming and the continued development of nuclear weapons.

As far as global warming is concerned, methane is the main danger and around 5.5 million metric tones of the stuff is produced every year solely by cows. That equates to around 20% of global emissions according to the US Environment Protection Agency.

Methane is a good source of energy, but harnessing it is the main problem.

If you suffer from flatulence yourself, here's what can happen if you try to light one: http://youtu.be/hluzdmzrpKo

Already been addressed. Upgrade to 16.0.0.287

According to the Phuketgazette, the mayor has had yet another change of heart and has decided to ban the use of beach chairs, sunloungers and umbrellas again on Patong Beach forthwith.

You can still bring a beach mat, but that's it.

On the plus side, if there aren't any tourists around on the beach anymore, the jet skis might just go out of business which isn't a bad thing at all.

With the Lobola Calculator, you can determine how many cows your loved one is worth before tying the knot. All you need is the Lobola Calculator

Subtle difference between what these lot were doing and what digital nomads do, is this:

'The language teachers were hired by BOI 360 Max Co'

They were not working for customers in China, they were working for a Thai company that had customers in China, the teachers were working for a Thai co and being renumerated by a Thai company in Thailand.

Dumb.

360 Max Co., doesn't look like a Thai company to me somehow: http://abc360.com/

Here's the WHOIS link: http://whois.domaintools.com/abc360.com

I'm assuming here that it's the same setup which kingstonkid posted a link to: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/794216-17-foreign-english-teachers-arrested-in-chiang-mai-for-working-illegally/page-2#entry8975054

Farang describing Thai taxis as expensive is ridiculous. For the service they give they must be among the cheapest in the world yet still people here want to bash them and call them rip offs. Stop being so tight and open your wallets and minds just a little bit. Not everything here is a con job.

If you regulator relents in any small way at all, the cabbies will exploit it for all it's worth. It won't be long before your shoulder bag will be considered as 'luggage' as well.

And since when did taxis take the most direct route? Any deviation earns them lots of Baht over and above the normal fare.

(Edit: corrected spelling mistake)

There's more bad news on the horizon next Sunday. That's the day the Greeks go to the Polls and at the moment, the anti-austerity party Syriza led by Alex Tsipras is tipped to win.

What he proposes to do is to have the Troika right off half of the €billions of Greek debt. He says he'll undo all the austerity measures and then implement a massive spending program to kickstart the economy.

However, the Dutch prime minister has already given that one the thumbs down and Merkel is unlikely to accede to it either.

So he would either have to do a U-turn and stick to the original agreement, or Greece will be forced out of the Euro.

This morning when I checked, the Euro FX rate was 36 Baht. A Greek exit would send that figure spiralling south in no uncertain terms.

It looks like the Euroland fairy tale is unravelling fast.

Stupid idea where tourists are concerned. While the euro hovers around the 37 Baht mark, I can only afford to stay about three weeks, once a year. I usually end up with about six weeks worth of credit left on the SIM after which it simply expires.

I've no problem with them noting my details as long as it's understood that the following year, I'm going to have a different SIM number than the one which has just been registered.

Don't know about the bus, but here's one for train travel: http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm

A tourist visa is 1,000 baht per entry.

Each entry on a tourist visa is good for 60 days in Thailand, but can be extended by 30 days for 1,900 baht. With a double entry tourist visa you can therefor stay for 60 days + extend for another 30 days, leave the country and stay another 60 days + 30 days for 1,900 baht again.

But keep in mind the validity of the tourist visa, all entries must be made before the visa itself expired.

@ Mario,

I think it's fair to say that it depends on which country you apply for the tourist visa in. In the Netherlands at least, a 60 day tourist visa costs €30. Bearing in mind that the value of the euro has dropped to 37 Baht at the moment, this equates to 1,110 Baht give or take a few satang.

@ OP,

Extending a tourist visa by an additional 30 days costs 1,900 Baht. If somebody told you it was only 1,000 Baht, you were misinformed.

If you do propose to stay up to the maximum six months i.e. two periods of 90 days each, it would be a good idea to open a Thai bank account. All you need to do is to provide a copy of your tourist visa together with a copy of some other form of identification such as a drivers licence (provided it includes your photo). See here for more details: How to open a Thai bank account

No point in posting a link to the report in the Daily Mail UK since it's banned in Thailand, but her mother states she died of natural causes.

In the image taken from the news report which came from her Twitter account she recounts 'lying on a sunbed with an alcopop and a bucketload of Tramadol'.

Mixing Tramadol with alcohol and certain types of antibiotics can prove fatal according to this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramadol#Interactions

Why she would be taking Tramadol in the first place is difficult to imagine considering it's a strong painkiller, but given the easy access to pharmacutical drugs in Thailand, she probably wouldn't experience any difficulty getting hold of it.

Don't forget to take them on a tour of Phuket's beaches!

Surin beach should be singled out for special treatment. That's where the Press can view the excrement floating in a pond in the middle of the pristine white sands along with other garbage strewn all over the place.

Just in time to film the "No Japanese passenger allowed" spat with the cabbies.

And let's not forget that many taxis have converted to LPG. The fuel tank in the boot takes up a considerable amount of space which is supposed to be only be used for luggage.

Last but not least, typical vehicles such as the Toyota Corolla Altis were never intended to be used as taxis. They're way too small with very little legroom for passengers on the back seat. If Thai cabbies want to be taken seriously. let them buy the kind of vehicle built for the job such as this one:

Come on, let the conspiracy games start.

Anyone cared to read some news that may not be so favoring for a murder conspiracy?

Christina 'had felt unwell'

It appears from her Twitter feed, that tragic Christina had been feeling unwell in the days before her death.

She wrote in one post: "Great, just as I finally make friends I have to shell out £60 for antibiotics and now can't afford to go out with them. <deleted> everything."

On Saturday she remarked how "two weeks of solid drinking" had left her feeling unwell.

Agree with you there. Your link is dead, but the Evening Standard is speculating that her death may have been due to natural causes.

A British backpacker has died on a Thai holiday island.

====

British backpacker Christina Annesley dies on Thai holiday island Koh Tao

Christina Annesley, from Orpington in south London, was found dead yesterday on the paradise island of Koh Tao.

The 23-year-old is believed to have been visiting Thailand as part of a four-month tour of south-east Asia.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the death of a British National in Thailand on 21 January 2014.

"We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."

The cause of her death was not immediately clear although it is believed she may have died from natural causes.

Days before she died she posted pictures of her holiday on Twitter.

"In awe of how beautiful this place is," she wrote next to one.

On Monday she wrote: "Great, just as I finally make friends I have to shell out £60 for antibiotics and now can't afford to go out with them."

The Young Britons' Foundation, a Conservative group with which Ms Annesley was affiliated, hailed her as a "wonderful girl" with "strong libertarian principles".

In a statement, the organisation said: "I am sorry to inform supporters of the Young Britons’ Foundation that Christina Annesley has died while on holiday.

"Christina attended a number of YBF conferences having already achieved a level of notoriety for her strong libertarian views while at Leeds University. Christina was a wonderful girl of strong libertarian principles, who made great waves amongst all of us who were lucky enough to know her.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends at this tragic time. RIP."

She studied history at Leeds University and was a former vice-chairman of Yorkshire Young Independence, as well as a former chairman of Leeds Conservative Future.

She was also a member of Ukip, and described herself as "very libertarian" and "anarcho-capitalist".

Last year two British tourists were murdered on the island. The trial of two men charged over the murders began last month.

-- Evening Standard 2015-01-22

I want to read the technical preview before I make any decisions. M$ hasn't released that yet and all we have at the moment is the window [sic] dressing.

There's a number of screenshots on the Neowin site where you can see how Microsoft thinks we're all a bunch of kids who need little images to show us how to differentiate between a picture folder and one containing documents: http://www.neowin.net/news/hands-on-with-build-9924-of-windows-10

The Music folder looks more like a shopping trolley to me...lol

Correct me if I am wrong but you need a Google account for this to work - no account no problem?

You need an email account to view the data, but it doesn't have to be with Google.

That's purely to safeguard your privacy from prying eyes.

The Euro was doomed from the very start. How could anyone create a currency whith all the member states having different economies, pension plans all with different balance sheets and cultures? The E U is destroying Europe with it's grand plans to create a united states Europe all run by representatives unelected by the people. It has created many problems with the open migration rules. Germany now needs to raise new tax's to pay for bailing out failed states like Greece and Spain the most obvious examples.The latest move by Switzerland is the next sign of bad things to come for E U. So those wiser than I can tell me where I am wrong. but it seems to me the writing has been on the wall for a long time now. People are over taxed and going in the streets to protest the austerity measures created by the failure of the E U..I hope I am proven wrong. We shall soon see.

You must be German or Brit. One of the few good decisions the British government has made in decades was to stay out of the Euro. Many years ago Bradford built a ring road with huge signs proclaiming "Financed by the European Union". Which actually meant that British taxpayers gave £2,000,000 to Brussels, yet were supposed to be grateful for getting £800,000 back. And that was before all the really poor countries joined with the begging bowl held out. What does Germany or the UK get out of the EU?

You're only looking at one side of the argument.

The UK benefits from free trade with the whole of the EU without the imposition of import tariffs as would otherwise be the case. If you want a good example of that, look at the withdrawal of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) which is now affecting Thai exports.

In addition, as a member state, it has a voice on decisions affecting the EU as a whole.

Also, it enjoys investment from foreign companies which view the UK as a favourable means of accessing the EU free market. If the UK were to exit as has been suggested by those who cannot see the wood for the trees, businesses like Japanese car manufacturers will move their operations to other locations in the EU with the subsequent job losses for UK workers. Even Airbus has hinted that a UK exit will cause it to reconsider its aircraft wing manufacturing plant currently sited in Wales which employs 100,000.

The UK is not a huge country like the US or China and won't be able to absorb the loss of business confidence should it ever decide to leave the EU. That would be catastrophic for Sterling with the value of the £ plummeting to new depths unimaginable in today's market.