sean in udon

Simple..Do not work! This subject has been beaten to death!

Would like to disagree with that statement and offer some anecdotal evidence.

Had my curiosity piqued by the 'special' magnets that were being sold to aid fuel efficiency for gas boilers and cars and magnetic wrist bands to aid health.

Purchased one for £30 and cut it open to find a standard bar magnet inside.

Any magnet will do the job.

Now the anecdotal stuff. Friend has 3 dogs. Two close to 10 years, one is 4 years old. The youngest develops an arthritic condition and is always lagging behind, struggling to keep up with owner and the 2 older dogs. Medication from the vets had no noticeable benefits.

She put a small neodynium magnet on the dogs collar and within days the dog was walking better. About 2 weeks after the first use of the magnet, I received a thank you letter from her dog, signed with a paw print. Her youngest dog is now up front and not struggling at all. I don't believe the placebo effect is relevant with animals and therefore believe that magnet did something.

Second personal experience is a gas boiler. My aunts ageing boiler made quite a loud noise every time the gas fired up. Medium sized neodynium magnet placed on the gas pipe very close to where it enters the boiler. It's supposed to save money. Don't know if it saved her any money, but the boiler stopped making the loud noise.

Small neodynium magnet was about 8mm diameter and 3mm thick. Very cheap on eBay. It needs to be close to or touching the skin. For people and animals, bigger is not necessarily better. I tried a big neodynium (25mm diameter 10mm thick) and it gave me a headache within hours. Tried it on and off over a few days 'cos I didn't believe a magnet could do that to me, but it did, every time.

Nothing to offer regarding copper.

Well the 10th is here and not a drop of rain in sight.

Closest to a thunderstorm was the evening of the 8th, had some clouds and lightning. It felt stormy, but nothing happened.

Located about 30km outside Udon Thani.

Anybody have a thunderstorm? Or even some rain?

I think the problem can be summed up in the headline itself "Flood expert warns of next year's drought crisis"

Perhaps if they had flood experts working on the flooding issues and drought experts working on the drought issues..........I'm just sayin

The irony wasn't lost on me either

Seems like the new guy, recently transferred from TAT, has been put in charge of press releases.

Must have got his knuckles rapped 'cos yesterday it was tropical storms, so downgraded to something a little more realistic today.

due to societal norms and mores those thai's who gave money to the two had no reason to doubt military ranks could not be purchased.

their mistake was purchasing them from the wrong vendor

100% spot on.

Penis anxiety in the UK? Yes

Penis anxiety in Thailand? Definitely not.

Interestingly though, the same reaction from girls in both countries..."omg! There's no way you can get that inside me."

But, the girls here seem afraid, whereas the UK girls seemed disappointed.

Normally, when a battery stops charging, it's quite simply, the battery.

Couple of good alternatives already mentioned.

It could also be the circuit that charges the battery.

Unfortunately, it's a process of elimination.

Start with the easiest, cleaning the contacts.

Then check your manufacturers website for BIOS updates. If there is a relevant update for your machine, the next choice is BIOS or battery.

Up to you.

Just tried on my iPhone. Wifi with TOT and 3G with AIS.

Still blocked for me.

Never trust a thai by his word...they are born liers...

That is very unfair, I have had Thais work on my house, car, M/C. computer etc, and never had a problem, and none of them were liars. Thais are no more liars than in any other country.

Beg to differ on that comment.

While I also disagree with the born liars comment, there does seem to be a good proportion of Thais that have a propensity to outright lie or make stuff up. More so than I have experienced in the UK.

Anywhere I go with an inquiry, particularly large stores, I always ask 2 people.

I could start a huge list for all the times I've been initially told, don't have and then asking someone else who kindly shows me the item.

Or my other favourite:

'we don't have that, but we have this. It's exactly the same.'

Err, no. It isn't the same at all.

I used to let it go, but my language skills are improving. They generally go very quiet when I ask them 'why lie to me?'

Building supply stores.

What size is this metal box section?

2" x 4"

My tape measure comes out. It's 1.75" x 3.5"

Again just one example. There are loads.

As for workmen, the crap they come out with sometimes. Problems are always caused by the suppliers, the materials, the tools or sometimes, the weather. Never them.

This isn't Thai bashing before anybody starts. It's opinion based on experiences here. I've adapted accordingly, which minimises any problems that could occur.

As for the Canadian, I hope he's a newbie here and just had a massive learning curve.

If he's been here for a while, I hope he's got a big bank account. He's gonna need it.

I've got a dead dog I can let them have for a couple of Thousand Baht.

Its very very very lucky indeed.

Not lucky enough to still be living however.

I also have a bone and a perfectly preserved fingernail from the Buddha himself. They go for a bit more though, what with them being priceless religious relics an' all. Say 100,000bht the lot. I'll even chuck in a packet of mama noodles left over from when he transcended.

You cant say fairer than that

What nonsense post. Grow up sir.

Nonsense? Are you crazy?

I think there's a bargain to be snapped up.

100,000 baht? They must be worth millions!

Its wonderful to see some people ending their gene pool for the betterment of human kind.

Spoken by a guy that glorifies Satan... Well done...

I've been to a night club in Pattaya called lucifer. Several times.

They didn't glorify lucifer, although I was drunk, so maybe they did.

Perhaps this lucifer is affiliated with the club. Seems perfectly innocent to me.

Back on topic, happy for my genes to end with me. Not sure it's for the betterment of human kind, but I am sure there's a few people out there that would agree it is.

Not sure but they gave Mrs.Trans a new phone BUT she had to pay HALF the phone value.....

In the UK, if your phone was out of warranty, Apple used to have a fixed price replacement scheme. Regardless of the fault with a phone, book an appointment with an official Apple store, take your faulty phone in, pay your money and get a brand new phone.

Total time in store? 5 to 10 minutes.

I say 'used to have' because I've been in Thailand for 15 months, so my information is dated.

Maybe they have a similar scheme here?

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Probably not necessary. Any martial art will give you the basics for inflicting violence.

There are fight situations where normal martial skills are adequate and will usually prevail.

And there are fight situations where being fearful for your life, makes violence necessary.

Know how to do a thumb lock? It doesn't take a great deal more pressure to dislocate or break it.

Can punch with some accuracy? Punch to the throat - hard.

Ears are very soft tissue and tear off real easy.

There are others, but I'm sure you get the general idea.

Once you've hurt/immobilised your attacker, get the hell out of there - run.

Chances are, she'll never be in a situation where such violence is necessary and I'm not sure if teaching a 12 year old is appropriate. However, Confuscious strikes me as fairly clued up. His decision.

IMO, from reading this thread, she's already getting a well rounded education from a parent that cares.

The thai visa auto profanity software won't allow kung foo (deliberately misspelt) with an 'f' and 'u'

Very funny

Does your daughter have any preference? That must have some bearing on the decision making.

Any of the 3 should be good for fitness and building confidence in a young girl.

And don't be swung just by arguments for or against a particular martial art. Do some research about the schools. Learning at a school with a good teacher/s and reputation is going to reap greater benefits.

My first interest was karate at the local sports centre. It was basically a belt factory. The school wanted to get you to a black belt as fast as possible and not in a good way. I didn't bother.

Back to your choice of 3, I studied Kung <deleted> and aikido. Aikido wasn't until I was in my late 30's, but would have been my preferred choice. The first thing we were taught at aikido was how to 'fall' without hurting yourself. May not sound very exciting, but can be very useful in a fight.

Appreciate they are not on your list, but jiu jitsu or mma are also on my favourites list.

As an ex bouncer, close quarter fighting is much easier if you know how to manipulate an opponent's bodyweight and have knowledge of arm locks, hand locks, etc.

I had a 'friendly' fight with a co-worker who was very good at jiu jitsu. At 16 stone and 6'2", I got beat by a guy 5'8" and about 11 stone (before I studied aikido).

Whatever her choice, if she becomes proficient in any of them, she will be able to take care of herself (if that's one of the objectives). Again, from previous experience, most people have no idea how to fight. A trained fighter should beat joe public everytime in a fight.

Channel 3 reported Sunday that police had conducted an investigation.....

I wonder how many thousands of man hours went into the investigation?

Maybe got a crack CSI team in, who obviously think outside the box: "let's check the cctv".

Mind numbing.

You clowns are priceless - what do you want it to be called if not an investigation ?

The police were allegedly confronted with a concocted story - then as everyone is innocent until proven guilty (unless you're a Thai Visa half brained conspiracist wannabee detective) - the police then INVESTIGATED and have very quickly ruled out the given version of events and came, possibly to the right decision where justice will now be done.

In the UK this would probably have taken a whole lot longer followed by a billion pound 'inquiry' into nothing much !

Though it really isn't surprise you have a numb brain - it'll be all the whining taking its toll !

Apologies. Should have included an 'irony alert' in my post for those who have suffered an irony bypass.

The investigation should have taken about an hour, not required an autopsy and then after the autopsy, check the cctv.

From my limited knowledge of police investigations, when an incident occurred outside any night club I've worked at, the cctv is the first thing they look at. Usually within an hour of the incident.

Not sure if it's medically proven, but it would appear that an irony bypass can cause bouts of severe irritability.

Channel 3 reported Sunday that police had conducted an investigation.....

I wonder how many thousands of man hours went into the investigation?

Maybe got a crack CSI team in, who obviously think outside the box: "let's check the cctv".

Mind numbing.

"2 birds with 1 stone"

"What does that mean?"

"8 plus 8. That's 18"

"8 plus 8. That's 19"

Please, don't have children.

I turned off after 19 minutes - I couldn't take anymore.

This is a really great idea.

It works hand in hand with Thailand attracting quality tourists, the kind who would like to visit these parks, and enjoy Thailand's natural scenery.

It also helps foreigners wishing to come here, in the sense that they will know that their trip will be vastly more expensive than it ever was.

Great work everyone!

Now, what's next?

I know, I know!

How about a beach entrance fee? Say 200THB per kid and 400THB per adult?

Blanket rule across Thailand's beaches.

Oh - and don't forget to inflate the cost of temple admissions too - tenfold would be best.

It's important to make the distinction between foreign visitors and Thai visitors as wide as possible - as this fosters a good feeling, and also will go a long way to ensure that Thais selling any other product and service don't inflate their prices too, using these new measures as a starting block.

Have to agree that this engenders/encourages a 'farang/foreigner pay more' mindset.

You want to clean up corruption, Mr General PM? How about you start with your own beloved military. Thailand's combined military is one-fourth that of the US, but they have 10 times MORE Generals, and they are ALL millionaires. Please don't give me that crap about how they all "married rich girls", as not even the dumbest Thai believes that.

When you clean your own house, maybe then you'll have the right to clean the house of Thailand. Until then all I hear is bull dung.

Is that baht millionaires or USD millionaires?

No regrets. Children are not for everyone. But for some, it makes them very happy. Good for them. Every time I see a screaming baby manipulating their parents, every time I see that helpless and sad look on the parents' faces, I thank God it never happened to me. I just got off a 7 hr. flight with 2 screaming kids in my section. The parents were nearly in tears trying to keep them quiet. If you want unconditional love, and someone to always love you back, buy a dog. Just wait until your kids are teenagers. A dog will still love you.

Gave you a 'like' for this post, but would have preferred to give a 'like this a lot!'

51 years old, no kids and, like some others, I was a pretty good kid until my balls dropped. Then it went a bit tits up.

No regrets about not continuing the bloodline.

If you want to get real geeky, have a read of http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_store_batteries

Worked in a computer shop for a few years and regularly had customers come to us with dead batteries in laptops that were less than 2 years old and almost always plugged in. Almost always had to answer 'But I never used the battery, so why does it not work?'

The 40%/50% charge level seems to be the best option for storage if you are happy to remove the battery and run on mains only. Downside is, any blips or power cuts (TiT) and your machine will instantly shut down. Hence the recommendations of a UPS.

My preferred option is to fully charge the battery, then use battery only until Windows warns me there's only 10% left. Then fully charge again. I do this at least once a week.

I'm not sure storing the battery in a fridge is a good idea. Unless you have it sealed in a bag that's guaranteed moisture proof, I would be concerned. But then, I've never tried it, so only conjecture and the fridge will be a cooler option than room temperature in Thailand.

Just great! Another several days were the banks are closed which means if your receiving funds from overseas like me, I no access to my funds which means I can not spend money to enjoy the long holiday. So, now I must budget my April funds to have a nice 5 day holiday in May. Thanks Thailand.

ASEAN countries which intend to invest here will find it difficult to do business transactions from different time zones will not like this arrangment which includes their labour force that will be here.

When you can not more money transactions, they your not making business.

Yes, I know ATM'S and the Malls. But, some like me must go in person to the bank to due transactions with my passport only!

This avoids those ATM scams and being robbed at one.

Stop bloody whinging and transfer your money before the holiday if you really have too. However banks in Malls are open 7 days a week and on public holidays so its doubtful you'll need too.

If your so paranoid about using an ATM or being robbed, perhaps you shouldn't go outside at all.

I agree with gyrosman about ATM scams. I only use a passbook, having read too many times (on various forums) about unauthorised arm withdrawls and the banks shirking all responsibility. But I don't feel any sense of panic over a 5 day bank closure.

Before we start all the "only in Thailand" and similar rubbish - don't forget the number of times that people have been beaten senseless by the moronic "security guards" or "bouncers" outside clubs in Australia and the UK - where there can be no language barrier - unless one thinks of the basic thought capacity of this type of person.

Most security guards, here or overseas, are not the sharpest tools in the box to start with.

Having said that, this is certainly unacceptable anywhere.

Having worked as a bouncer/doorman/security (up to you what job title you think appropriate) for 12 years in the UK, I've seen a mix of well and poorly educated work colleagues.

The area manager of First Leisure in the Midlands had a problem with 'over brawned, under brained gorillas' (his words) and encouraged the venue managers to employ door staff with a brain. Although this wasn't always possible, for the most part it did work and made for an easy life with the customers and the police.

It helped make my 'job' good fun, but there were plenty of clubs around that had issues similar to this problem in Pattaya.

6 'O' levels, A level maths and BTEC level 3 electronics and electrical principles. We're not all brainless thugs, but I do understand where you're coming from.

No offence taken