Gumballl

Out of curiousity, which gov't entity is requesting a birth certificate? Is it the US Embassy/Consulate?

Actually it appears the Linpus is Fedora based, thus making it Red Hat-tish. Nevertheless, I think it is great that a company is selling a product that is not pre-installed with MS Windows. It blows that one must indirectly pay for MS Windows (when buying a notebook PC) even if they do not plan to use it.

I'm using FF and oddly enough the HTML content of this entire TV post does not wrap to the preset width of my window. If I go back a page that lists the forum topics, then everything is fine.

There must be a formatting issue with this page (and/or topic).

dave_boo -

Thank you for your suggestion concerning Amarok. I've installed it and it works quite well. Do you know if it will support uploading of MP3s to an iPod?

As for my attempts to deal with DVDrip, they failed, and thus I gave up on it; in fact I've removed it from my system. In its place I have installed K9copy, which has a simpler interface. The only problem that I have with it is that it does not let me re-author a DVD; I have to tell it to copy the entire disk when making a backup. I think there is a problem between K9copy and the API to dvdauthor. Hopefully a newer release will sort that issue out.

If approved, you should get the visa the next day. The conditional visa (green card) simply means your wife must apply for permission to leave the US or she will lose the visa, also as stated, you must apply for Change of status to permenent residence in 2 years.

TH

The CR stands for Conditional Resident. Your wife does not need permission to leave the US (e.g. for a vacation), however she can only remain outside the US for a limited period while as a CR. I think the max period is 6 months. I would not recommend leaving the US until she receives her "green" card.

Within 90 days of the second anniversary of her arrival (not your marriage) into the US, she (not you!) can petition to have the CR removed, and have PR instated (you guessed it... PR = Permanent Resident). Of course you can help her complete the myriad of forms to have the CR removed.

Anyhow, suffice to say, it appears that your wife is on track to get her visa to come to the US. The visa will be pasted to one of the pages of her Thai passport. The visa takes up an entire page. Upon arrival at a port-of-entry in the US, border patrol officials will process her, and within a month or so she will receive the "green" card at her place of residence in the US. Once the "green" card is received, the need for the visa within the passport is no longer required. Your wife will be able to leave the US, and upon re-entering, she should present her valid Thai passport along with the "green" card.

Btw, on the day your wife collects the visa from the US Embassy, she will also be given a large envelope with paperwork that she needs to turn over to the border patrol official(s) at the port-of-entry in the US. She is not permitted to open the envelope. The visa, the envelope, and a bunch verbal information will be given to her (and many others) in a "Q&A" forum when she collects the visa. This session takes about 30-45 minutes.

P.S. Make sure your wife carries with her 1-2 passport photos when she enters the US. My wife had to supply one to the border patrol official because the US Embassy neglected to include on the the large envelope. The photo is used for the green card.

Grunting and dropping the weights on the floor is totally unnecessary in a non-competitive setting. If one has to grunt, then they are probably lifting too much. Lifting slightly lesser weight and performing more repetitions is the more desirable way to get one's exercise, to build endurance, and physique.

The gym owner however should know better than to have concrete floors. He should have rubber matting to protect the floor and the weights.

In the US I have never seen a sign posted on the wall concerning "grunting", but it is not uncommon to see signs asking members not to bang, drop, slam or otherwise abuse the weights. Also there is always a friendly reminder sign to return free weights to their proper place (on the rack or stack).

As an American and I am in LOS or other SE Asian country, I despise having to asking for the location of the "toilet" when I am in a restaurant, bar, etc. I prefer the American term "restroom". It sounds less vulgar. There are times when all I want to do is wash my hands and I certainly do not want to wash them in a porcelain bowl that Americans tend to call a toilet. I want to use the sink.

Funny thing at the airport in Taipei occurred to me once when I forgot my place (probably due to jet lag) and asked an airport employee the location of the "restrooms". She directed me to the restaurants! I had to go back to her and say "no, not the restaurant, the toilet".

You can guess what I do from my avatar.

There is a Thai Post Office on Sukhumvit Road, I believe between Soi 4 and 6. Pretty much what you need to do is buy a "Money Order" type thingy. The post office will know what you need. Have your wife do all the talking if you do not speak Thai.

After the purchase, you will receive a receipt. That receipt needs to be taken to the Embassy on the day of your interview. Have you made any other payments towards the visa? In my case I had (in the US; about $350 or so) and therefore the day my wife had her interview I did not have to shell out any more money.

The visa section has an email address you can send your queries to. I wish I could recollect the address. If you do not already have it I think if you search TV you'll find it.

gumball that's a pretty different issue from the OP. yours is on the computer level, the OPs is on the router level and affecting all machines on the network.

Alchemist: VPN very rarely screws up my router, but the only effect is that VPN doesn't work anymore. I then reset the router and all is well. In your case, try upgrading the firmware on the router, and make sure VPN is enabled/not firewalled etc. Or try a different router...

Gumball: Which VPN client do you use? You can set network preferences in Network Connections->Advanced Menu ->Advanced Settings... then rearrange the connections - the topmost is tried first. You could try rearranging these. More likely it's a problem with your VPN client software configuration. Mine activates only for internal network addresses, for example - everything else goes through the normal WiFi.

Nikster, I am using pptpconfig (under Linux). You're probably right about my need to configure the settings differently. Pptpconfig allows me to specify which type of tunneling I will use; my choices are: 'Interface Only', 'Client to LAN', 'LAN to LAN', and 'All to Tunnel'. I can also add 'Network Routes', but what IP and bitmask to enter for these I am not sure.

Anyhow, when I use VPN I normally (and have to) specify 'All to Tunnel' and I do not have any 'Network Routes' setup. Currently I am limited to using 'All to Tunnel' because any other setting fails to allow me to connect to the office system. Do you think you can lend some help with this configuration so that I can setup the VPN and still access the web?

I think pretty much everyone agrees the climate is changing (i.e. it is getting hotter). Statistics are showing that. However not everyone agrees to what is causing the climate change. Some think it is a natural occurrence, others think that man-made pollution is to blame. Either way we all need to adapt. Latest headlines from Thailand indicate that the country is immune from global-warming. That should give you some comfort.

This thing with banning liquids on airplanes is completely ridiculous. On my most recent flight out of the U.S., I had a very small bottle of hairspray, half a bottle of lotion and a new tube of toothpaste that they took and threw away right in front of me. I'm sorry but toothpaste isn't going to harm the airplane or anyone in it. As a matter of fact, the whole security thing at all airports is a sham. I work for a major U.S. airline at a major U.S. international airport. If a terrorist really wanted to do some harm, there are so many easy ways to do so that have nothing at all to do with security checkpoints. It's just a joke and it pisses me off.

In case my career path someday leads me to want to become a terrorist, can you please shed some light on the "many easy ways" to do harm? I'm sure the policing agencies around the globe would also like to hear your comments.

You do know that there are explosives that can be formed into a paste? You undoubtably also know that such paste can be inserted into a tube of toothpaste and then capped off with a layer of genuine toothpaste.

An easy way to bring down an airplane is with fire. Next time you are playing with your girly hairspray, use it near a flammable source (i.e. a cigarette lighter or a lit match).

I would be interested in knowing the solution to the VPN issue as well. I do not use WiFi to connect to my office network, but instead a direct link to my Linksys Router which is then connected to the cable modem. Every time I initiate the VPN connection, my system loses its ability to do any communication over port 80 (which is used by HTML servers/clients). I'm not sure what port Vonage uses for the VoIP, but surprisingly that continues working even though the VoIP Router is also connected to my Linksys Router.

Airports of Thailand board member Chirmsak Pinthong said passengers who buy liquid products from airport duty-free shops would be issued special seals and certificates to be introduced soon".

This sums it up. Nothing new with the regulations, except now the airport shops will be able to do more business.

The embassy wouldnt issue the visa, you'd have an entry stamp for Malaysia but no exit stamp, the only way you could do it is if you travel to a country that doesnt stamp your passport.

For instance the US (well, at least in Seattle). When I recently returned from LOS, an entry stamp into the US was not given.

I use DVDrip (http://www.exit1.org/dvdrip) for extracting data of DVD, use Gnomebaker or Nero to burn them and most of the time use Mplayer to play them.

I use Fedora Core 6, but I think that all programs are also available for Core 5. Nero for Linux is not a free program, but I remember that a year ago you could exchange your Nero MS Windows serial for a Nero Linux serial (I not know if they still do that).

I've installed DVD-Rip (and all of its dependencies) using 'yum'.

Now I want to rip a DVD. Will DVD-Rip allow me to compress the video as it rips it? If so, how? Under the Transcode tab, I changed the Video Bitrate Calculation target media to "One x 4580 MB" and the Target size shows the same size. Yet after ripping a dual-layer disk, I got VOB files totaling near 7+ GB.

Any suggestions on how to get a dual-layer disk down to 4.7 GB or less?

The separation of powers is not a pillar of democracy. It may be practiced in many countries, but don't confuse it with democracy.

A democracy permits many "voices" to be heard; but as for the system of government, well it can be configured any way those voices dictate. So if Thailand wishes to merge all government departments into one organization, with only one leader, then it will be so if the majority of people vote for such a change. But I doubt that will occur.

I for one believe that stupid people should not be allowed to vote. But since my opinion is not shared by the majority, I lose out. That is democracy!

So whats wrong with Nuclear power then? Perfectly safe and better for the environment than coal/fuel/gas powered plants. Wind Farms are an eyesore (and not sure they could be used in Thailand anyway). Perhaps I'm biased though...worked at BNFL Engineering and Sellafield in the past and theres nothing wrong with me at all!

I should also add Greenpeace are a bunch of militant scaremongering environmentalists that shouldn't be trusted anyway ......and they probably smell!

I agree. Greenpeace had a few of its activists stage a stunt against the new BLCP power plant in Maptaphut recently, which is coal-fired. Can't win with these nuts... I suppose they power their vegan pop festivals and drug parties with electricity produced from marsh gas and bat-droppings or something?

If constructed and operated 100% correctly, nuclear energy is the cleanest fuel there is. (Although production overheads are very expensive) Unfortunately, I don't ever see Thailand achieving this.

What about the spent rods of Uranium? I don't think that these are "clean".

Your g/f has a few options available for her to come to the US, however since you seem not ready to commit (to marriage), that leaves out 2 of them (e.g. enter as a fiance or enter as a spouse). That leaves a "tourist" visa.

To get a tourist visa, your g/f will have to prove beyond a doubt that she will return to Thailand after her stay in the US is concluded. If your g/f has plenty of assets, property, a good job and can present solid evidence that she will return to Thailand then it is a mere matter for her to apply for the visa. If any of the above cannot be satisfied, then forget it because the US would consider her a high-risk candidate that would probably overstay her visa.

Most folks that are in the same position as you simply opt for the fiance visa. This takes about 6 months to obtain. Once your g/f has this visa, she can come to the US. She must marry you within 90 days (3 months) or return to Thailand. An overstay without marriage would be a violation of the law. Many folks do this too.

GaryA -

I assume because of your last post that your system is still running slow. I am not familiar with KDE (I use Gnome), but see if there is an administrative tool that permits you to start/stop daemons. One service on your system that probably should be stopped is mDNSResponder.

Here's a link to some info on Bonjour, which mDNSResponder uses. If you are running a single computer (with Linspire) then you definitely do not need this service running.

Btw, under normal circumstances, consider running KDE (i.e. logging in) as a regular user, not root.

Use the ATM rather than a currency exchange booth if it comes down to that. If you are staying in a hotel, make sure you book the room for the night you arrive. You should have no trouble concerning taxis.

It ticks me off that Thai airlines always seem to arrive at 6am or so from the US, and then depart at 6pm or so when returning. This costs me money for the hotel upon arrival (for which I am not there for the most part of the night!) and ditto for when I return.

I been through the same before. All I did was send the form(s) to my wife and have her complete the appropriate sections. Then she would mail the form(s) back to me. Just to make sure my wife got it right, I would mark the appropriate sections with a "sticky".

You can use the US Post Office to mail your letter, or if you prefer "guaranteed" delivery, use UPS. The latter of course costs 4x more money.

Alternatively, if you already know the address in "English", go to any Thai translation service and they can help you out. You can also find Thai "translators" at any decent Thai restaurant in the US.

That's funny. I use Linux everyday, both at home and at the office. The MS guy must be on crack. I could almost say the same about you since you were the one that posted the nonsense.

What is really troubling is that many people give MS the right to tell them when, where, and how they will use the MS OS. To me that is BS. If I purchase an OS, I should be able to use it on any system I wish. Imagine if you were to buy a CD and Virgin Records only allowed you to play it in your car. To listen to it at home you would have to buy another CD.

Seems to me that if people were to wake up (or merely just stop taking it in the a*se), that it would be MS that will fall on hard times.

Haven't had this problem myself-- do the command keys work, or the drop-down menus for the commands?

Thanks for the reply.

The drop down menus appear to work, but I did not see anything under the drop down for "Go Back One Page" or "Go Forward One Page"

Command keys = keyboard short cuts, right?

Alt + Left arrow Backspace does not work for "Go Back One Page"

Alt + Right arrow Shift + Backspace does not work for "Go Forward One Page"

But...

Alt + Home takes me to my Homepage.

Thanks,

TheWalkingMan

What gave you the notion you needed to type a "backspace" character? Just try Alt-Left Arrow to go back, Alt-Right Arrow to go forward.

I run FF 2.0.0.1 and I never have had a problem. Perhaps you should consider your OS and how it handles the "suspend" feature when you press the power button to turn off your system.

Also if memory serves me correct, FF can support multiple users. Is it possible that when you launched FF that a previous incarnation was not properly exited and thus when you launched FF again it thought you were a different user? Thus no bookmarks, no previous history, etc. Take a peek at the process stats of your system to ensure that there are no lingering FF incarnations running when you have "terminated" FF.

As far as FF having bugs, I'm sure it has them. But to the order of what you folks are seeing, I highly doubt it.