RecklessRon

Thai at heart said:

Well no, I have the article. Which since it is the only subject matter we have it stated.

His main role was moving luggage and counting money. So it isn't conjecture. If you defied a direct order to pick up luggage in that environment, you would be a braver man than most of us.

As I said, if he was directly involved in killing people, so be it. But this is ever so slightly tenuous.

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By that logic if I am a doorman working for some seriously bad dudes and my job is simply to open the door while they transport people who are obviously kidnapped into a basement where I KNOW they will be tortured and killed I am NOT responsible, legally? Clearly I'll be killed if I say anything so I guess you'd be okay with my walking away from it without being prosecuted?

And if I get away from them and shut my mouth for 40 or 60 years I will be blameless, eh!

I wonder why it is that people who have no personal experience, were not there, never talked to anyone who was there and don't have any friends or family who where there, on ANY side, feel they have the right to claim anything about what happened based on their own opinions garnered from articles mainly written by people who also where not there? Especially when anyone who was there, or talked with anyone who was there, will tell you it happened?

"I Googled it and found out it was not real!" REALLY? Try telling that to a concentration camp survivor! Or any of the soldiers who fought against it and actually saw the concentration camps! I have met and talked to many, many camp survivors.

I have personally seen their tattoos and their broken bodies and heard stories that are unforgettable from people who actually lived through it.

And why is it always the only about the JEWS? Poles and Russians were treated to the same conditions in the camps, albeit their race wasn't targeted to be exterminated. (and no I am not dismissing atrocities that other countries committed but that has zero bearing on whether or not the holocaust happened!)

BTW: I am not a believer in Yahweh, I don't believe they had any claim to the land Israel currently occupies and I think what is happening to the Palestinians since 1945 is also an atrocity! BUT NONE of that has anything to do with what was done by the Nazis during WWII.

Wasn't he just taking orders?

Then who wants to be soldiers?

Blame the head, don't blame the ants.

Soldiers are not required to follow illegal orders. Those that do are as guilty as those who give them those orders.

If you have ever sat down and talked to a prison camp survivor then you might have some right to suggest we forgive everyone and forget about it.

Instead of fleeing justice he could have stood up and claimed only to be a sad sack forced to do bad things. He'd have been convicted and released decades ago if he honestly only played a minor role.

Personally I think we can consider forgiving him AFTER he has paid his debt to society.

Don't bother debating with holocaust deniers. It's like debating with tin foil hat conspiracy theorists.

Please don't tar tin foil hat conspiracy theorists with the same brush as holocaust deniers!

IMHO the best site to download

movies: http://www.icefilms.info

TV shows: http://watchseries-online.ch

Both are 100% free; both are link-list sites that give multiple links for each video. In most cases I recommend joining those sites as a free member (I never recommend paying for anything or giving any credit card or banking info).

Those linked-to sites come in 2 main flavours. Those that require a captcha code to download from and those which don't.

Sites with no captcha code:

movreel

cloudyvideos.com

mightyupload.com

shared.sx

I use JDownloader to cue dozens of movies, documentaries and TV shows for download every day.

IMHO: Often Thai web sites are set up in Thai and then, as an after thought, those pages are converted to English. Links like Help and Customer service point to Thai language pages and are 'temporarily' disabled pending the addition of English language version, which often are never created. Email addresses that were meant to go to Thai only staff rarely get changed and those people often just ignore, or delete, email that comes in languages they cannot read (so as not to fall out of favour with their boss by suggesting an English reading person needs to be hired and/or for fear they will be replaced with a bilingual person).

IMHO: It is irresponsible to advice anyone to encrypt data placed on a cloud to make it more secure. DO NOT place sensitive data on the cloud in any way, shape or form. You are exponentially increasing the likelihood of it being hacked. And I do not agree that it is more secure encrypted on a cloud than not encrypted on a cloud. Non-hackers won't be able to get to your cloud and hackers will be targeting encrypted files.

It is very hard to sift through ALL the data EVERYONE has.

It is very easy to scan through all that data looking only for encrypted and zip files.

That gives them a small subset of people to look deeper into.

And the more impressive the 'lock' the more 'thieves' are likely to want to break in!

BTW: It is not MY elected government!

AND: It is child's play for the NSA to crack your encryption unless you are using your own custom software to do the encryption, which can be illegal in many cases especially if the data travels across national borders.

To those who think encryption is a method to safely secure your data on a cloud:

IMHO: You couldn't be more wrong. It is simple logic to deduce that any agency that decides to look at everyone's data will be attracted to those who feel the need to make their data more secure. Therefore the tighter the encryption the MORE likely you and your data will be looked at.

FYI: I encrypt nothing. I zip nothing. So a cursory or 'quick' scan to see what I am trying to hide finds nothing.

Not that I have anything to hide but... I have download a bunch of porn from various sites. Far more than I could ever look at. And we all know that stuff is often mislabeled. I have downloaded mainstream movies, like Superman 3, and found it to be porn (and, occasionally the reverse). I am a heterosexual male and, from time to time, have found homosexual gay porn in the stuff I have downloaded - as well as child pornography - neither of which I wanted. When I find unwanted clips I delete them but I have tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of porn clips that I have not seen. I would not be surprised if some of those clips where illegal. So... I certainly would never park them on a cloud!

I would like to point out that I went to the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) in the 80's studying computer science and spent my life as a computer consultant. The last decade of which was spend as a Data Consultant specializing in data security (including being the Data Administrator for the Credit Reference Association of Australia).

It is my learned opinion that there is NO SUCH THING as data security when someone is willing to spend whatever time and money is required to hack or crack your system. Data security comes from securing your data in such a way that it is cost-prohibitive for anyone to hack or crack your system! (also constant vigilance and as much track-ability as possible for all data access)

Since the NSA has unlimited resources I would suggest that the more trouble you go to to hide something the more trouble they will go to to find out what you are trying to hide AND the more likely it is for them to prosecute even the smallest infractions!

So... the best solution is to keep anything sensitive, like your revolutionary manifesto, the book you are writing about espionage or your porn collection, stored offline. Put that stuff on an external hard drive and only plug it in when you need it. And for the most security you can reasonably obtain: turn off your internet while it is connected (physically unplug your modem, router or hub).

Lastly, for those who think they have nothing to hide: People are harassed and even imprisoned for being 'suspected' terrorists. Anyone belonging to any group is considered guilty by association. Human rights groups, religious groups, etc. are all on the NSA's list of terrorist groups, which include Christians, Jews, Muslims, all 'service' clubs (like Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary... even the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo!)... so if you think 'they' have NO reason to look at YOU then you should rethink that conclusion.

I will NEVER put anything on anyone's cloud.

An external hard drive costs around $100 for 2 TB. It is a one-time cost - not monthly or annually.

Learn to use any free backup software (I use EaseUS ToDo Backup - free version) and you'll never lose data.

FYI: I have 18 external drives in use and 16 more that are backups of those external drives. Plus one that is dedicated to backups of online drives - every few months I do a complete clone of my 'C' drive and well as backing up individual files as needed.

In the UK they have no authority to make criminal record checks except in very specific circumstances. You can't just do a criminal record check on anybody you please.

This a new one on me. Are you really suggesting that individual police officers need to obtain explicit permission from senior officers or even the courts before they can routinely access their own computerised rogues' gallery database?

No but in most western countries individual police officers MUST be able to show a REASON why they did each and every check - if and when asked. They cannot just run someone's name for the fun of it (or for friends or money).

Sorry, standard was the wrong word. I meant COST of living.

I don't expect a city of 120,000 to compete with a city of 1.6 million in terms of amenities.

Plus I'm thinking of somewhere near Dumaguete rather than actually living there.

I'm looking for somewhere I can retire. All I really need is decent weather, a computer, a clean soft bed and western bathroom. Air-con when too hot and heat when too cold. Plus a 125cc motorbike to get around and a kitchen to cook in. I like to cook so I don't care what the locals eat so long as I can buy something fresh

Mostly I want to go somewhere I can invest in real estate that will return enough money to pay my living expenses assuming I've bought a home and bike so I'm not paying any rent. In terms of real estate I'm thinking anything in Dumaguete that is clean and a reasonable price will rent to students without being vacant for long periods of time.

Many people see Chiang Mai thru rose-coloured glasses and imagine it is the same as it used to be but the vacancy rate isn't something to be envied and I have no faith that it will become wonderful anytime soon. Meanwhile I need to invest what I have before I spend it all...

I'm seriously looking into Dumaguete, Philippines. Cost of living is less than CM and it seems the standard of living is about the same

From what I've seen of the Phillipines (so far, just Cebu and Manila) the same quality of apartment costs twice as much as it would in Thailand. Then higher elec / air con / internet costs on top.

Infrastructure, safety and amenities are worse. So I'd consider standard of living lower and more expensive. The positives would be easier visas, English language being spoken, girls, friendliness of the locals, and it just being nice to get a change from Thailand.

Rent is more expensive in Manila and Cebu (barely) than CM but it is cheaper in Dumaguete.

I'm seriously looking into Dumaguete, Philippines. Cost of living is less than CM and it seems the standard of living is about the same - aside from bad local food but I don't have to eat what or where the locals do...

Anyone with info on Dumaguete, or anywhere else in the Philippines comparable, please post.

A simple Google search should give all you need.

Thanks however I was hoping someone who knew would point me to a good one rather than rely on random luck!

I think we all agree you can live comfortably in CM for $1500 a month.

I don't think you would need $15,000 a month to live the same way in Australia!

SO... I wish people would please stop quoting the 10% figure that is a legacy from the 80's.

Read livinginthephillipines.com then go for a drive around the different areas....

That's a bad link - it goes to a generic search site and offers that domain name for sale.

Maybe you spelled it wrong?

Could it be an org or net or gov or ...

Yes but this probably includes the suicides who shot themselves multiple times before tying their hands behind their backs and jumping off a bridge or building

Can someone post links to the "fairly good ex-pat forums for the PI"?

13) You will not post links to other Thailand forums, or forums which could reasonably be construed as competition to Thaivisa.com or its sponsors.

The Philippines are only competition to Thaivisa if you imagine South America and Europe forums are also.

Personally I do not see regional forums as being in competition with other regional forums from different countries!

What goods or services do you imagine I, living in Chiang Mai, would buy from the sponsors of a forum in the Philippines instead of buying locally?

Can someone post links to the "fairly good ex-pat forums for the PI"?

I've been a long time fan of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Last year I moved here and planned to retire. I obtained my Retirement visa and was planning to buy 3 rental condos to provide a basic income. Then the military decided to clamp down on multiple tourist runs, those here on bogus student visas, all ex-pats working illegally and other things that have, and will continue to, IMHO, increase the vacancy rate.

So, again IMHO, I don't feel comfortable risking all my retirement funds, which are insufficient for me to live out my life on without earning anything from a business or several rental units.

I ran across an article claiming that Dumaguete was a great place to retire so I checked out the cost of living and it appears to be even lower than in CM.

Mostly I'm interested in retirement and visa issues for British citizens, custom clashes, language problems, racial and religious hassles, travel restrictions, health care, insurance, banking, elderly issues, etc.

I've also been know to smoke the occasional joint so I'm wondering about the legal penalties (both as written and as actually implemented) on pot.

Can anyone give me details on this?

All these countries have one thing in common. The general population is predominantly poor. A bank manager here takes home that sort of income each month 65,000 baht so in retrospect they are in asking for a lot of money. All these countries are in general structurally, environmentally, educationally, inferior to the country a retiree is coming from. Tax payers have nothing to complain about, it is above their pay grade. It is obvious a country like Australia, the UK and the U.S would demand a person be of the same difference in stature than its average citizen to come and retire and access the benefits of its developed nation. Thus somewhere like Australia demands a person is worth around 1.5 million AUD to go there and retire with a visa. Now if you had an open check book and money was of no consequence would you choose to retire in Thailand, Ecuador, Malaysia, etc etc? Or would you choose somewhere like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Santa Fe, N.M., and Orlando, Fla.??? I know where i would be heading.

Neither the U.S. or Canada offer a retirement visa OF ANY KIND. In fact, most countries don't. In some countries, there are loopholes where the same thing can be accomplished (like Cambodia). Australia and N.Z. do but with financial requirements only for elites.

Neither the U.S. or Canada NEED a retirement visa of any kind as they both have clearly defined paths to citizenship! (not that I'd recommend living in either place!)

I just did it, my first. It can be up to 7 days after and either 10 or 14 days before (I don't remember but I think it was 14 - twice as much before as after rings a bell).

I went to the airport immigration at 2 pm. Got a ticket number and the 90 Day Reporting form (from the bin marked as such in English), went out back to the photocopy shop and handed the girl my passport saying '90 day report'. Got all the copies. Bought a 10 baht pen (because I forgot my own), went to the ledge with the pre-filled out example, filled out the form (very easy), signed all my photocopies and waited 90 minutes for my number to be called. I handed them my passport, photocopies and the form and waited 10 minutes for them to process and stamp my passport. I was home before 4 pm.