Gumballl

What is Bundaberg Rum? It sounds German? Seriously... I have never heard of it. What does it taste like? Is it like Bacardi, Sang Som, or something else entirely?

I think that Watchdog2008 could have presented his OP in a better, more sympathetic manner, nevertheless, what he has stated is correct. Under US law, any assets that are fully owned (i.e. no lien exists on the asset) by the man (or woman) prior to marriage are not up for grabs in a divorce settlement. Any assets (property acquisitions, income, etc) that are earned after marriage is subject to review.

Watchdog2008 has indicated that since he was married, he has resided in Thailand. No where did he state whether or not he earned any income. For all we know he might have been a 50+ year old retiree. If he hasn't earned any income (assets), then it is correct to assume that his spouse (ex-wife now) shouldn't get anything. If there were kids involved, then of course that would be entirely different. Or if he were in the US, then the legal sharks might have a field day --- but they still wouldn't be able to touch the assets he had prior to the marriage.

I only wish I had researched the topic on an overseas divorce much sooner before. It cost me dearly when I was divorced. Fortunately it does not cost me on a month-to-month basis.

Does the lap top have a tracker pad? You may be brushing it, or it may need cleaning.

Regards

Brushing the tracker pad is probably the problem. It happens to me sometimes when I am lazy and typing with my palms resting on the notebook. The proper technique for typing (using a typewriter) is with the palms of your hands raised up and not resting on the machine. I would imagine the same applies to computer keyboards (and notebooks).

The longest reigning monarch in world history was Pepi II, who ruled Egypt for 94 years.

The second longest was Louis XIV, who ruled France for 72 years.

Nice facts. Although I think TAT was referring to monarchs who are still living. Pepi II and Louis XIV are no longer "reigning" in their respective countries.

Well this topic has reached 80 pages. Is Thailand in a crisis yet??

When the economy has crashed, or at least is within a recession, and many people are out of work and companies are closing left and right, then I will consider Thailand to be in a crisis. Until then, its just another day in a troubled country.

Another thought crossing my mind... with the gov't recently lowering interest rates, inflation on the rise (at least that's my perception), some jobs being lost... is the Thai economy facing stagflation? If so, then perhaps Thailand is in a state of crisis. Governments are usually the last to admit an economy is going nowhere fast, or it is in recession, so I guess we will have to wait and see what the true state of the economy is.

I would replace the battery that is shot... the main one. If the other battery is shot too, either replace it or remove it.

I've never examined the insides of a notebook PC. Does it come with a wafer-sized battery to maintain the system clock? I know on regular PCs there is a small battery connected to the motherboard. Sometimes this battery must be replaced too, or the system clock will drift.

It appears the the OP found out the hard way to hold his thoughts (and fingers) before reporting false news... err rumours. From what I read, MS made a mistake announcing that a SP was being readied for release for Vista. MS (almost) immediately retracted that statement and instead stated that the SP was slated to be delivered for Server 2008 (and not Vista). Perhaps a SP will be available for Vista later this year... perhaps.

I believe that you will still be able to view DVDs that are not region-encoded. Those types of DVDs are plentiful in LOS. Goto Panthip or other outlet.

I live in the US with a Region-1 DVD player. Panthip DVDs work just fine.

If you already have a collection of DVDs that are region-encoded from your home country, you can strip away the encoding using DVDShrink (or other similar PC application) and then reburning the image to a DVD-R.

She has said she wants me to come over ASAP and she will get a divorce if I promise to commit to her but I can't do that. I'm not gonna make any promises unless I'm 100% and I don't want to mess up things for her if things don't work out for us.

If you are planning a visit to LOS, I wouldn't do it on your friend's time schedule, but on yours. In other words, don't rush over to LOS to confront her. Don't send her any money, chocolate candies, nothing. See where things go from there. You do not need to be present in LOS for her to get a divorce from her US hubby. Based on what I have read before on TV, it won't be easy for her to get a divorce.

I said it earlier, and others have agreed... get your foot out of the quicksand before it is too late.

The only way to avoid that is to stretch the picture and make everybody fat, or to zoom the picture and clip the top and/or bottom, both of which can be done with KMPLlayer

I have to agree with this statement. What the OP is asking for is going to be impossible without sacrificing something of the original video content. There isn't any software applications, magic wands, pixy dust, or anything else that is going to be able to convert video recorded in 4:3 ratio to a 16:9 ratio without doing a stretch or a zoom, both of which will not provide true representations of the original video. Suffice to say, it is impossible to create additional video content from the video available from the original source, unless there happens to be some extrapolation video tool that I am unaware of.

Some TVs (for instance my Samsung DLP) offer a setting that allows one to display SDTV (standard-definition TV, or 4:3) on the entire screen by stretching (supposedly) only the sides. Images in the center of the video image are not stretched (as much as the sides), thus persons appearing in the middle of the video image tend to appear normal. However, when a video containing two or more persons is shown, inevitably one or more persons will look bloated.

Before one ever buys a widescreen TV, they should always examine what SDTV video (or recordings) will look like on that TV. Many people are disappointed when they return home with a shiny new (and expensive) TV and find that their favourite videos or shows from yesteryear are displayed with side-bars, or that DVDs are displayed in letterbox.

There is no way she could have gotten the visa to the US without attending the interview.

I think this girl is playing you (and perhaps her husband too). With so many fish in the sea, why spend another moment dwelling on the one that is deceiving you at every opportunity?

Well put argument 'stub'. I guess I am just old-fashioned.

Whatever "evil" one could do when logged in as 'root' can also be done by running the command with 'sudo'. I really do not see why 'sudo' is so popular. Maybe it saves users from having to remember their login password and the 'root' password. That might be too much to ask.

Some say that by using 'sudo', one has an opportunity to think before they type (or hit the carriage return)... I never quite understood this. How about just paying attention to the command-line prompt? Generally regular users and the root account are defaulted with different command line prompts. The former appears with a '$' and the latter with a '#'. If you choose to deviate your command-line prompt from these "standards", then as they love to say in LOS, "up to you".

Anyhow if you want to do something evil to your Linux system, feel free to employ any of the following (they all have the same effect):

1)

2)

3)

Note that options 1 and 2 require you to enter the root password. Have fun!

If you are running Windoze, I believe it is possible to share your network connection (i.e. the one that is using the AirCard). Right click on the network connection icon for the AirCard, and check if there is an option for this. You may need to examine the properties of the connection if it is not there.

I've shared a network connection before (when I was using dial-up service in BKK), and I believe the principle is the same with the AirCard network connection.

I've been so busy this past week that I have not had a chance to get back to using VMware under Ubuntu. Does anyone have any experience running WinXP under VMware? If you do, what are your thoughts on this? On a system with sufficient horse-power, is it necessary to setup a dual-boot system if the VMware option is acceptable?

Arunsak,

Thank you very much for the reply. Along with Lopburi's reply, my concerns concerning registering my newborn daughter have all been allayed.

Thanks Lopburi3.

Btw, Item 1 seems to imply that my wife and I must submit the original documents (along with 3 copies of each). Is this correct, or are the copies sufficient? I hate to hand over my wife's "green card". It's not an easy item to replace.

My TW just gave birth to our second child here in the US. In the past, it was easy to find information on the Thai Consulate (Los Angeles) web site as to how to register a child (of a Thai national) as a Thai citizen, but it seems today that most of the consulate's website is written in Thai. Perhaps they do not want anything to do with us foreign devils?

Anyhow, is there a website (in English) or information available here on TV where I can find the appropriate form(s) and instructions necessary to register my newborn child? I performed a search for "registering child" on TV but I didn't immediately come up with anything relevant.

Oh, because I live in the state of Washington, the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles falls within my "jurisdiction". Could I handle the matter of registering my child in Vancouver? It is closer and I could make a personal visit there. Plus it would be interesting because I have never been to Canada.

Doesn't anyone get the parallel to John Mark Karr?

No I don't see any parallel relationship here. JMK is a nut-case that wanted the spotlight for a crime he didn't commit. The illegal immigrant in the US is being charged with murder of a young girl.

It hard to believe that all you derive from this tragic event is whether you can get a f*cking work permit in Thailand.

So it's problem unless somebody can tell me how to remove IE from Win98SE.

Seems these people haven't addressed reality.

It's easy to remove Win98SE, err, I meant IE. Insert a Linux distro CD into your CD-ROM drive and reboot. Then follow the instructions to remove all partitions (especially those containing the Redmond Virus).

I cannot say much about whether the AirCard will work with (K)Ubuntu or not. I personally have not tried it. But I did provide you with a reference that you can research some more.

As for Ubuntu vs. Red Hat, they pretty much ship with the same packages, although it's highly probably that Ubuntu will have later versions of packages/drivers than Red Hat. Plus it is free.

I'm using RHEL Version 4 at work, and frankly I do not see the big deal with it. Sure, RH.com ensured that the distro is pretty much bulletproof, but still, the distro contains packages that are one or two versions old.

If you are looking to support some weird off-the-wall piece of hardware, stick to a later version of Linux. Otherwise you might end up spending a fortnight searching the Linux forums for a driver/solution for any h/w anomalies that you might have.

Btw, Ubuntu ships on one CD. RH ships on 6 (4 with distro, 1 rescue CD, 1 source packages CD). With Ubuntu, if you require additional packages, you can download them.

If you still feel that RH is for you, then consider Fedora Core 7. Its the latest/greatest/non-official release of RH. FC7 comes with both KDE and GNOME. It is available for download as 4 CD ISOs or 1 DVD ISO. I usually choose the latter.

Use this link (http://www.sierrawireless.com/faq/ShowFAQ.aspx?ID=608) if you plan to install Kubuntu (KDE Ubuntu).

Consider installing Ubuntu. It has the easier interface for linux newbies.

Once Ubuntu is installed, you can opt to install VMWare Server, and once that is installed, you can install Windows within it.

Concerning your CDMA Aircard, if it is manufactured by Sierra, then here is a "helpful" link to some installation documentation: http://www.sierrawireless.com/faq/ShowFAQ.aspx?ID=608

Good luck with everything. Please post any questions concerning Linux in the appropriate forum.

But did they take the tons of plastic bags out of the trucks first?!

This idea of doing something is only going to backfire in a few years and actually cause more damage than good.

For example for many years around Fort Lauderdale Florida they bundled old tires together with steel bands and nylon straps. Well over time the bands and straps broke. Then when the hurricanes and storms came through, the loose tires went everywhere and caused major damage to the living reefs. It has gotton to the point that the military and local government there are now recovering the tires used to make the artifical reefs.

I can't see the Thai government diving down in 10 years to recover the falling off pieces of the garbage trucks that are killing the still alive coral... Sad.

In your example above, your should have noted that you lifted the information from a Reuters news article. You make it seem like you have witnessed the event(s). But hey, what do I know... maybe you have, or maybe you work as a reporter for Reuters.

You're children are without a doubt Thai (because of their mother). They can obtain Thai passport at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chaengwattana Rd., BKK)

Because the children are also related to you, you can report the birth of your child(ren) at the ACS (American Consular Services) at the US Embassy in BKK. I believe that you will need to schedule an appointment. Prior to this appointment, the ACS will send you a packet of forms (one for each child) that you will need to complete.

If all of your children were born after you were married, then the process of acquiring citizenship is almost guaranteed. If not, then the ACS will advise you as to what documents are needed to prove the child is yours (i.e. your name of the child's birth certificate would help immensely).

If the ACS approves your application(s), then at the same instance you can apply for the US Passport and SSN-card for your children. Expect to shell out lots of money (about $125-$150 per child).

The "18-year old" rule is not true anymore. Just make sure your children obey the laws of both countries. The US also would frown upon your child's citizenship if they were to find out s/he joined the Thai military or government.

Btw, the infomation above is not comprehensive of all details of the process of acquiring US Citizenship, but the gist of it is. I hope it helps you.

Here's where to go for more accurate info: The ACS unit's fax number is (02) 205-4103, and the e-mail address is [email protected].

Ha!

I just re-read the OP. It appears the children already have their US Citizenship. Anyhow, "the 18-year old" rule does not apply. Period.