MaxwellsDemon

Hey guys, looking for a place that sells small 6oz hip flasks, and a way to get them engraved. The guys at MBK are very unsure if they can engrave flasks since their machines are for flat surfaces and tiny objects... Unfortunately I couldn't find any plain stainless steel flasks at Chatuchak yesterday. Any help would be really appreciated!

La la la okay yeah I get it it's an odd request. I pretty much need a tiny, invisible heating element to prevent condensation in the evenings/early morning.

Ebay could work if all else fails, though.

Anyone know where I can buy hand warmers? The type you rip open and then stuff in your gloves/boots to keep your fingers and toes warm. Or any kind, for that matter (refuellable ones or battery powered ones).

Either on Phangan or Samui...

That's what they told me, that it was supposed to be like that but I had never seen it light up before and I definitely would've noticed it, it's pretty hard to miss. I know for sure. It came on first after about 600km in 24 hours in the hot sun, so thought that might have something to do with it.

Thanks for all the tips, guys, much appreciated.

Something else I forgot to ask about; recently (the past few days) my temperature warning light goes on for a few seconds when I first turn the key, before starting the engine, then turns off quickly. It never came on before in the 9 months I've had this bike, and so I'm worried. When I had the coolant flushed/topped up, the light went away but 5 minutes later when I started the bike again it came on. The two other thai shops (including a Yamaha service center) I visited said nothing to worry about, it takes you from A to B. I'm just worried that I might be slowly killing the engine if I keep driving, and I do want to be able to resell the bike. It never comes on while driving, just when I turn the key. Any ideas? :/

I've got a top-of-the-line Dell XPS 12, primarily a notebook with the ability to kinda-become-a-tablet. As in, it folds and the screen flips, but at 3 lbs it is a little hefty. But as a laptop it's still wonderfully light, and as a client-sharing device it's great to fold it up and show people photos, either as a portfolio or to your creative director seconds after you hit the shutter.

Plus, it's a 12 inch 1080p screen. Not sure offhand what the ppi is, but it's stellar. And it's a full fledged laptop with photoshop/etc, and runs great.

Little pricey.

Just a little, though.

Hi y'all. I've been driving in Bangkok for about a year now, i got a license, no problems, a couple of close calls/bumps but nothing I would call an accident (yet). Like most I could ride a bicycle, and upgraded to a twist-and-go and found it pretty straightforward. That said, I know that in the west there is a LOT more necessary education on safety, etc, before you can get your license.

Now I've moved to Koh Phangan with my manual Yamaha Spark, and am encountering some issues that I'd like to get some advice on.

- The roads here are all concrete and are noticeably less grippy than asphalt, especially when just a little wet. Is there anything I can do, either to my driving habits or to the bike, to avoid losing traction?

- Quite often here (2-3 times a day) I find my back tire slipping, usually when there's some sand on the road but also in little cracks and painted lines... again, anything I can do to avoid that, or how to recover properly? I haven't fallen over yet, but it definitely is scary and gets my heart racing and I want to be able to deal with it if it gets bad.

- How much traction is "enough" when cornering at speed? Is there anything I can do other than practice to improve my confidence on sharp turns? How do I know I'm not gonna lowside?

- I've toyed a lot with trying to increase my mileage (safely) and just have a technical question about the way the engine runs - generally, higher gears = lower revs = less gas = better mileage, right? But if I try starting from a stop in 2nd or even 3rd gear, it works, but I twist a lot more and it feels like I'm using more gas to chug the bike into comfortable revs... if that makes sense. But is that still economical? It feels (only feels) like I'm using more fuel when I'm clearly underreving, even at speed (30 km/h in 4th gear or something).

- Another tech thing; I notice throughout each gear's range that, below a given speed, it runs but seems to struggle a tiny bit, then it hits that given speed (at 2nd gear around 45 km/h) it suddenly gets a breath of life and revs nicely and there's a jump in acceleration... should I be concerned about this at all? Should I be aiming to upshift/downshift at that turning point?

- How bad is it to ride the clutch in ideal conditions (ie straight, slightly downhill road, no traffic, etc)?

Thanks for the help in advance!

P.S. sorry if these questions are a little hard to understand, it's kinda weird describing "feeling the engine" when you drive but that's what I feel.... :/

I was also worried about the concrete plank test but when I went to the test centre at Suk 101, near Udomsuk, they didn't have it. Just a couple of on-hill starts, a lot of turning signalling, a couple of corners (no feet allowed) and the cones. Easy pass.

Also, I for one do not subscribe to the philosophy of "why do it yourself when you can pay someone else to do it?" especially when it's "only x amount of baht which is like y USD/GBP"

Hmm, can't edit my original post on my iPhone (currently computerless) so here's my update:

So Monday morning I returned to the DLT, and despite my best efforts, got there at about 8:45. Seems like Monday is a very slow day, though, as it was still rather empty, much to my delight. Walked in and handed my remaining stack of papers บาto Mr. Information (no kind lady today) and got a number and told to go to counter 21. Waited a bit, handed my stuff over again and then happily paid the lady 305 baht for... Another tax/insurance sticker. I didn't have to pay the insurance counter again, this lady's counter is labelled "relocation something" in Thai, but I now have two tax squares... And I notice my old one has my old license plate number. A quick note from a friendly English-speaking fellow-in-waiting tells me they're all taxes and stuff but different taxes... Have to figure this one out.

Anyway, 305 baht later, I'm sent over to trade my old license plate in for a new one. So bring a wrench or screwdriver if you need one to change your plate.

Note: I'm not sure if plate changing is for the reregistration in a different province or if it's standard for all new owners - anyone care to clarify?

I didn't however have the necessary tools and just put on my sadface, and the guy complied and just gave me a new plate instead.

Drove out with shiny new plate (in my backpack...) and green book with my name. Whoo!

Mission complete.

I think he used PMIDIC for this one:

ThaiVisa only allows 2 vids a time.

More Leap, in a less conventional way:

I played with a preproduction model at Computex before it was released, and then my coworker had placed an order so I borrowed his for a few days.

Yeah, everyone's right, regarding "it's a gimmick", "your arms will hurt", "it's more accurate than anything before but still difficult" etc etc....

...but the people who have uses for it already knew it before the Leap was even invented... and I'm one of them. My uses? Live electronic music performances. The same goes for opensource Kinect, Source Audio Hot Hands, webcame based PMIDIC, or Mokey X.... all "gimmicky" but insanely useful for those who know it. The Leap just does it very well, and very neatly.

And thankfully there's already a plethora of apps that translate Leap's inputs into MIDI/OSC, and it was a breeze to integrate into my website. Ordered one myself now.

Do you have a link to a video of one in use? I'd be interested to see it.

Thanks.

Leap?

Kinect? (specifically KiNectar)

I played with a preproduction model at Computex before it was released, and then my coworker had placed an order so I borrowed his for a few days.

Yeah, everyone's right, regarding "it's a gimmick", "your arms will hurt", "it's more accurate than anything before but still difficult" etc etc....

...but the people who have uses for it already knew it before the Leap was even invented... and I'm one of them. My uses? Live electronic music performances. The same goes for opensource Kinect, Source Audio Hot Hands, webcame based PMIDIC, or Mokey X.... all "gimmicky" but insanely useful for those who know it. The Leap just does it very well, and very neatly.

And thankfully there's already a plethora of apps that translate Leap's inputs into MIDI/OSC, and it was a breeze to integrate into my website. Ordered one myself now.

ASN used to show evening recasts and sometimes morning live plays, and I see no reason they won't again this year. Wait until the preseason is over to be sure.

Alternatively...

http://forum.wiziwig.eu/forums/29-NHL-Icehockey

Use Sopcast or Acestream + VLC and you're golden. I rely more on the forum posts than their homepage, since you get more information and more links.

Here are my thoughts:

First thing, right off the bat: straighten the horizon. It's too slightly tilted for it to look intentional, instead it looks careless. Also, I can't tell for sure since it's not straight, but it looks like there's some significant distortion too, causing the horizon to buckle upwards a little bit. Lightroom will let you fix that, and usually also has a specially made profile for your camera/lens combo and should be able to autodetect it from EXIF data and fix it for you under lens corrections.

Across the image it's underexposed - eyes can't always tell from the get go as they adjust to changing light levels, but in Lightroom you have the histogram to tell you mathematically what's exposed correctly and what is not. Learn how to read one and then use it to ensure your images are well balanced (or well unbalanced, if you want to go for a certain effect).

Something else that's bothering and distracting is the fact the left side is significantly darker than the right. I know there are dark clouds overhead to the left, but it looks exaggerated and like you either purposely darkened the left yourself, or that someone left their finger on the front of the camera, casting a shadow onto the lens.

Composition wise, your subject is not clear. My eyes dart around looking for what I'm supposed to be looking at - not necessarily a bad thing, but they don't hunt in a fun way, but in a tired way. Good photos either have a single clear, emphasized focal point, or many small focal points that keep it exciting. This, unfortunately, has neither. Again, not sure if you shot it or not, but assuming you didn't, you can dodge/burn (aka darken and lighten) certain areas to an acceptable extent to help bring out the subject while pushing away the more intrusive parts of the image. In this case, for example, maybe brightening the little shack while darkening the water and sky a bit can help define the subject.

You've also boosted the contrast significantly, which in itself has nothing wrong with it but in an overcast, drab scene like this it becomes painfully obvious and unreal. Adding contrast certainly adds pop, but there are other ways to achieve this without compromising the realness of the image. The grass is too green, the dirt too orange, when the clouds are that dark.

Nothing personal

Pirom Plaza used to be the prime spot for used gear, but the last time I went there it was empty... anyone know what happened?

I've just dug up the phone numbers of the Ajahns there, or who were there at one point. We all had them for emergency purposes... Problem is I have no idea where they are now, if they're still there or not, and don't think it's entirely appropriate for me to call them to ask about Kathina.

Ah that's a shame. I guess I'll have to do that then

Sorry for the rather specific request... but does anyone here frequent WPN? Say what you will about them, but I have spent some extended periods of time there a while ago, and am planning a trip to at the least pay my respects to the community there. Depending on the dates, I might be able to catch them during the Kathina ceremony, after the rains this year. But I have no idea when it is, and the thing is, they are kinda notorious for being hard to reach. Does anyone here have anyway of helping me out on this one?

Ah that's a shame... I'm coming tomorrow actually! I'll try and find Katie tomorrow evening... next to the corner 7-11, yeah?

Aw you're awesome! Joking about the credit card, though!

I know there's a FMP the week I'll be there... I'm there on Saturday night, FMP is on Wed I think. Hopefully shouldnt be a problem. Worst case I'll go to the guy my friend on KP would recommend but he's usually the kind of guy to settle for second best, at first-rate prices. Pshft.

Thanks again for the help man!