angmo

I came pretty close to ending my membership of TV today.

It is incredible to see all the negative comments posted on a daily basis. Methinks that these folks are bitter old men with nothing better to do. All you see is one complaint or criticism after another. If Thailand is so terrible why don't they b*gger of and go home to their perfect wonderful countries?

In my mind there can only be three reasons for them staying on:

1. They can't afford to go home

2. They actually prefer Thailand to their home country

3. They have criminal records and dare not return

Either way they seem to be a bunch of miserable old b*st*rds. No wonder the world is so screwed up at the moment everyone moans and bitches and fights about everything.

Folks please - let's try and be constructive and positive or leave.

To quote Eleanor Roosevelt

To criticise is easy. Come up with a solution - and please not some of the half-witted ones seen here.

Am I the only one that feels there is too much negativity?

JurgenG

I agree with you completely.

Everybody always moans and bitches about vote buying.

Please give the Thai people more credit.

All my friends take the bribes from both parties and then go and vote for the party they prefer anyway. They are not stupid.

Very few actually vote for the guy who bribes them because of his THB 500.

Try readydedicated in BKK - prices are good and although a recent snafoo on one of their routers, they are great. We have 2 servers with them and very happy.

http://readyidc.com

Just because someone says you are xyz it does not mean you are.

The democrats are trying to block them from changing the constitution back to what it was before they (the yellow shirts) changed it in 2007. What's good for the goose....

I wonder what fine the yellow shirts got for closing down the airport and costing the country BILLIONS. None yet? Again the bias is showing. I believe only recently has anyone done anything about them. The democrats certainly didn't do anything about them. Now that was REAL damage.

Today for the first time since arriving here 7 years ago I am pi$$ed off - really pi$$ed off!'

I have been a TrueMove customer for all 7 years and currently have post-paid accounts for 3 iPhones and 2 iPads.

Yet today when I wanted to upgrade my oldest iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4S I realized that buying the 4S from TrueMove is nearly THB2,000 more expensive than from Apple.

Oh said the lady somewhat cheekily "LISTEN to me mister, we have promotion where iPhone is THB 25,350 if you sign a new contract". This is where I lost it.

You want me to pay THB 500 more plus I have to sign a new 18 month contract and get ripped off every month. Are you completely Ting Tong.

It is not so much the extra THB 500. It is the fact that these guys try and rip-off an existing good customer with a straight face.

*&£$(* them.

I am ordering it from Apple - even if I have to wait a week.

There - with that off my chest I am now going to enjoy a hefty Gin Tonic and start the weekend.

Vote buying is really not an issue. Most of my Thai friends - especially the younger generation - are smarter than given credit for. They take money from everyone offering it and then go and vote for the people they prefer anyway. Thai people are smart - it is the parties that are stupid thinking they can truly buy the votes.

My hand is not in the cookie jar - it never was and never will be - now get out of the kitchen.

Goodness - typical bunch of queens trying to out-intellectualise each other.

Pointing a finger at Thailand does not distract from the fact that a supposedly developed country that touts freedom and equality does not walk the walk.

What I find interesting is that all the whiners are still here. If Thailand is so bad b&gg&r off home.

Politicians worldwide need a wake-up call.

Maybe the people should use a new approach. We vote you in. You screw up we vote you out.

You steal - we shoot you.

Next guy might be more careful

Time to take serious action against serious corruption.

Oh give over. But I suppose that there is nothing else that you can say when faced with irrefutable facts like the chronology of events.

You dismiss as irrelevant the fact that your PAD yellow heroes did indeed start this whole mob rule thing. I assume you knwo what the word 'start' means - just in case you don't, it means that the yellows took to the streets before the reds even existed. The yellows overthrew a democratically elected civilian government, and they were allowed to get away with it. People on the other side detest them for that, a hatred which is manifested in what is happening on the streets of Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand at the moment.

Why doesn't Abhisit hold an election, get a legitimate public mandate, and then use it to confound the reds? I'll tell you why - he would lose an election, because people simply don't like him enough for him to keep his job democratically. He is seen by the majority (i.e. the whole country - not just Bangkok) as not understanding them and failing to represent their best interests, and they think he sucks for that.

The only way that Abhisit can keep the seat that he stole is by hiding like a craven-hearted coward, while killing his own people and splittig the country in half. I look forward to seeing him pay for it.

Clockworkorange. Finally a comment from someone with a brain. Thanks.

Sad that people call the reds animals, criminals and what the like. This is what happens when the poor and uneducated are disenfranchised. Any one of us in that position might do the same. If you have nothing to lose and the hope of gaining something.

Dispersing them with violence and keeping them uneducated and in poverty will not end the problem. I should know - this is what the apartheid regime in South Africa tried and it failed miserably. The only long term solution is to educate them thereby improving their opportunities in life.

Unfortunately both sides' leaders are a bunch of greedy animals who don't really care about the people. Thaksin was just the smarter crook - he actually gave the people hope through better medicare, etc.

It defies normal logic.

I have a MAXNET broadband connection.

When setting up my email accounts, I cannot use my own company server for outgoing mail (SMTP) as they block it (as do TOT and True Internet). I have to use their SMTP server.

Now I have discovered that some of the maxnet servers are blacklisted for spam and therefore many of my emails don't get through to the recipients. THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THAT ONLY SOME WILL REPLY WITH AN ERROR MESSAGE. This is how I initially discovered the issue.

I then tested:

1. Sending from outlook (using Maxnet SMTP settings) to my MobileMe, Yahoo and company accounts, all receive the email except yahoo. Yet I dont get an error - so if I were sending to another yahoo user I would not know that they did not receive it.

2. Sending from my company webmail rather than outlook to my MobileMe, Yahoo and company accounts, all receive the email.

3. Sending from my yahoo webmail rather than outlook to my MobileMe, Yahoo and company accounts, all receive the email.

4. Sending from my MobileMe webmail rather than outlook to my MobileMe, Yahoo and company accounts, all receive the email.

Then I have also received a error on a mail sent to one of my customers referring to the following link:

http://security.rr.com/cgi-bin/block-lookup?202.69.137.160

If you go to this link you can see that the maxnet server is blacklisted.

NOW THE BEST OF ALL.

When I complained to Maxnet they said the reason they don't let us use our own SMTP servers is to prevent SPAM.

THE FACT IS:

By letting anyone use their SMTP (which requires no password - the modem is the security), they are opening themselves up to being used for SPAM because now anyone who has a MAXNET connection can send emails with fake reply addresses and it will all go through.

If they allowed users to use their own SMTP servers - THOSE servers would get blacklisted and not MAXNET servers.

THE RESULT: IF ONE MAXNET SUBSCRIBER SENDS SPAM - MAXNET GETS BLACKLISTED AND ALL THEIR USERS SUFFER THE SAME PROBLEM.

The help desk people don't or won't understand this when I explain it to them. In the meanwhile I have no way of knowing how many of my emails are disappearing into the unknown and my business could be suffering as a result.

Does anyone have any idea what one can do to shake up these idiots.

Cheers,

Pieter

Agree. TOT and True both useless as far as internet goes. Costing me a total of THB 2990 a month and varies from 60k/s - 1.7Mb depending on its mood. Finally TT&T have become available in our area and we have jumped at the chance. 5Mb for only THB 1090/month. It can't be worse than TOT, but let's wait and see. Friends using TT&T or CAT are all very happy for the most part. I think the only reason TOT survive is because they cover all areas where the others don't.

A gay married couple from South Africa both got visas based on the one partners teaching visa. So it seems some embassies will accept legal gay marriages. Not sure about civil partnerships/unions, but I think it is worth a try. They called the embassy first before going there - just so as not to cause any prejudice should they have had to follow a different route.

I find it amazing how some of us tend to lecture others on how to live their lives.

I have always been a business owner and always been out of the closet with my staff. I have NEVER had anyone resign or not accept a job offer because of my sexuality - I guess it depends on the confidence and comfort you show with yourself. However I don't go around with a sign that says "I'm gay" either. Many of my customers know I am gay - not because I tell them - but because they have asked about my marital status or partner or something at some point. For example, many of my international customers have visited me in Thailand and therefor I have needed to entertain them. I always take my boyfriend along. I have never had a negative reaction. Actually many of my customers have become good friends and are totally comfortable with my sexual preference.

Know comes the difficult(controversial) bit. Most of the time (90%) I answer honestly and have never been rejected or lost business because of it. However, when I do business in the Middle East where homosexuality is still mostly extremely unacceptable, I have avoided offering the full truth of my relationship. Would this be because I am a coward or just because I believe in self-preservation? Call me what you want, but I am not going to jeopardize my safety or lose a million dollar contract just to prove a point and shove my sexuality in someone's face. That would not only affect me, but my business partners and staff as well. I am sure they would love me for throwing away all that money just to prove a point.

Another uncomfortable situation I encountered was during my compulsory military service in South Africa. There were rumours in the camp about my sexuality - mainly because my close friends knew and I did not hide it - but one day at a parade the CO confronted me in public and asked "Are you queer?" My response was quite simple "Why do you want to know? Do you want to sleep with me?" He turned red and walked off in a huff. I did not see that it was any of his business. Was that cowardly?

So - in some cases when someone has asked me whether I am married, I have just said no and not offered any more than that.

To me it seems, there are choices to be made depending on your circumstances. I have absolutely no shame about being gay, however I sometimes think that discretion is the better part of valour.

A few simple comments:

1. I would like to ask all straight guys who think homosexuality is a choice - When exactly did you choose to be straight?

2. What about bad straight behaviour - is that excusable?

3. Shakespeare - "Nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so"

Don't worry - be happy!

Nice idea!

Hi - I am Pieter - 50 year old South African with a Dutch passport. My Singaporean boyfriend (39) of nearly 13 years and I moved to Pattaya just over 3.5 years ago from the Netherlands. Neither of us look or behave our age - but neither are we into bars and discos.

Have visited Thailand regularly since about 1985 and thought it might be time to move here permanently. Absolutely love the life style and relaxed atmosphere. Have my own software business here, but sell nothing in Thailand. People think its crazy, but I have to travel all over the place implementing the software, so between projects it is nice to come to a home that is more like a holiday resort.

Even though my bf is Singaporean and we have many nice Singaporean friends, I prefer Thailand. People here may have less materially, but are much more content. Most Singaporeans tend to be too materialistic and live very stressed lives.

Other than that we love to make good friends - both Thai and Farang - and tend to entertain a lot at home. Barbeques (braais in South Africa), wine and just lazing around the pool on Sundays is our speciality.

Hope to see some of you around.

Cheers,

Wilson and Pieter

Thanks so far for the advice - including the jokers!

Cheers

Pieter

Villa supermarket in the new Avenue mall has tablets for dishwashers.

I buy mine there

I am looking for an electrical contractor to install a 3 phase transformer and cables with meter boxes on a plot near Ban Amphur.

Can anyone refer me to someone and give me an indication of how much a 180kVA transformer would cost?

Thanks

Pieter