MaiPenLai

Wonderful! I will have to take another look at their product line.

If you like to read there is a book, I think the title is " Working with the Thais" by Henry Holmes. I found it to be very useful but I must say many TV members have given you the real situation already.

MaiPenLai, am I correct to say that you didn't mention the 'non paid' status and the subsequent agreement in your first post, hence my comment. I am not quite what the payment conditions were, but that these computers were not paid after three months make me think that EX COM didn't have to give service at all. I would even go that far that your friend was not in a position to sell them to you, as he was not the owner.

They could have taken the computers back, but that was not a very clever thing to do, because they were already outdated and second hand.

Yes, condo_bk, with the person you are, that's what came first in my mind ...

For the sake of brevity I am going to cut and paste this from the first post:

Before buying the machines I looked them over. Asus boards, Kingston RAM, etc.....They had about 3 months of office use and the office was never open full time. He had bought them from a company named EX COM a reseller of Lemel branded stuff. Lemel I now know is a division of Synnex Thailand.

Before I bought them my friend put me on the phone with an EX COM rep and he assured me that not only were the computers covered by a 3 year warranty that his company did the first year "on site".

Agreement made and accepted, terms not in dispute. So in short, you are right about the finance details but that has no bearing on anything.

In a previous post you claimed your problem was with my interpretation of the invoice. One is left to wonder what exactly your problem is in general other than reading comprehension ( see paste above) and writing in understandable English (read your last post again for further.

MPL

This reply was exclusively aimed at condo_bk .... if you knew the history of our 'friendship' I guess you wouldn't have made this comment. It must have been a long wait for him to 'get back' to me.

And if you really had read my post carefully, you would have seen I talked about the wording on the invoice (ie conditions) not the warranty. I'm sure you're not an 'expect' (whatever that is), but I am sure that

the second owner cannot hold the supplier responsible for conditions (like on site support) made during the original sale. Also, it is not uncommon that certain types of products carry only a warranty

to the first owner on record. Sometimes, a warranty transfer has to take place.

Furthermore, it was desirable that the moderator (if he was as attentive as Tywais and Maestro) would have regarded condo_bk's post as flaming and had removed it before escalating could occur.

sniffdog is very right. The "service" of the company who sold the product, goes to first owner only.

if that product is resold again, the company is out of any responsibility regarding to the statement on the invoice and/or contract. Everything that company will do for any "third" party is just on them "good will" and out of any warranties.

Cheers.

Well obvious to most readers whatever some consider normal is not relevant in this circumstance.

I took the time to contact the company (see original and subsequent posts) and once a rep makes a promise (contract) I expect them to keep it. They wanted to get paid for their equipment so they AGREED to the entire transaction. That made them liable. If they thought that is was a bad deal they could have just collected their equipment.

Because I have lived here for some time I realize that almost every purchase is "as is". That's why it takes a kid 15 min to buy a pen. He has to try it, shake it, write in uppercase and lowercase, drop test it, makes sure it is straight. Once the money changes hands it's over. Hence the DD above.

I think it would be more reasonable to state that "some" computer warranties are non-transferable because clearly the better companies want repeat business and therefore bend over backwards to take care of their customers. This is a company by company policy so blanket statements don't work and retail or wholesale companies want their money. On the bottom of my original post, I gave a clear example of a small company that offers excellent customer care and that is why they have loyal customers and continue to do very well.

DELL

Dell makes it easy to transfer the warranty and ownership of a Dell product from one owner to another owner. Simply follow the steps below to update our records, and you will receive an email when the process is complete. The transfer process can take up to 10 days.

I am not going to waste time scouring the internet proving my point and locating the smaller shops would be impossible using this method anyway.

All consumers should read and properly research the warranties for the products they are buying. Some computer and electronics equipment companies still offer full warranties as opposed to limited warranties but many have fallen victim to the lawyers and the bean counters who have proven quite skillful in writing very long documents that give the end consumer little to no protection in the end.

This opens their after market extended warranties sales.

The one I really personally love is you buy a product, a computer, which is meant to be upgradeable... BUT, The very minute you open the case you have voided the manufacturers warranty.........

Happy Shopping!

MPL

In an effort at fairness to EX COM the computer came back today. Three weeks to the day. No charge. It works. Rant ended.

I don't know why you complain about EX COM ..... the invoice was clearly made out to your friend in other words the first owner. There is no contract or obligation between you, the second owner, and EX COM.

That they are willing to help you is clearly good will.

Talking to the rep on his office phone number is plenty of due diligence and he was aware that I was buying them as his company wanted them paid off, not defaulted on and repossessed. Enough said?

The fact that they TOOK IT is in itself an agreement. First year law?

It is a story told, I am sure, by many.

A friends business went pear shaped and he needed to liquidate everything from his office. Knowing I am a computer fanatic he offered me two desktop machines. I bought both not because I needed them but because he is a good friend and I felt bad that his business plan went south.

Before buying the machines I looked them over. Asus boards, Kingston RAM, etc.....They had about 3 months of office use and the office was never open full time. He had bought them from a company named EX COM a reseller of Lemel branded stuff. Lemel I now know is a division of Synnex Thailand.

Before I bought them my friend put me on the phone with an EX COM rep and he assured me that not only were the computers covered by a 3 year warranty that his company did the first year "on site".

So I was able to sell one machines at my cost and after trying to sell the second machine I just was weary of quoting the specs over and over, I kept it. It became machine number "7".

Of course the one I kept soon had a hardware failure. I called EX COM and a guy came over with an arm load of software, no tools at all after I had already informed him on the phone it most certainly was either a motherboard or PSU problem ( I had already yanked the HD as it contained data I did not care to share and I wanted to see also if it was the problem, it was not.

So he takes the machine ( so much for on site service right>? ) and gives me a slip of paper.

Week one passes and I call for a status check. Well they have not had time to look at it....... I inform them that I have been buying , building, maintaining machines here in Thailand for a dozen years and I KNOW for a fact that turn around on almost any component is 7 days max.

Week two finds me asking what the problem is with no answer.....At the end of week two I finally reach the boss. Of course he is not only unaware of my individual problem, He also is unaware that his company clearly prints on it's invoices " First year warranty ON SITE".

Tomorrow will be week three........ seriously feel that the machine has all but been stolen at this point.

Just be careful dealing with this company EX COM. They don't have a clue and have misrepresented themselves and lied blatently about the "on site" warranty.

On a positive note. Recently I had a new Gigabyte board go tits up and I have been dealing with the same delightful 26 y/o Thai business lady for about 5 years now. She promptly returned the board to Gigabyte, and installed an XFX Sli board in the box until my replacement came back ( 6 days ).

If you live around the Mall Bang Kae or Future Park Mall, she is in IT Grand which is in between both. She gives excellent service, great tech's at the shop and better than average prices as well. She was educated in Australia and speaks English well but has become so successful, She is rarely at the shop anymore but her brother has taken over and is doing a good job and although his English is weak he is able to get things done.

PM for phone number and name, I can't think of the shops name right now but I have Mimi's number. If she is not there either take a Thai person with you or test your Thai language skills

EDIT: attempted spelling correction.....TWICE!

mp4 is usually 350MB per hour of video, roughly speaking and depending on quality of course. I am watching this right now:

Release Title Get Smart 2008 DVDRip H264-KingBen (Kingdom-Release)

Release Date 22 August 2008 (UK)

Release Length 1:50:10

Storyline Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, battles the forces of KAOS with the more-competent Agent 99 at his side.

Cast

Steve Carell ... Maxwell Smart

Anne Hathaway ... Agent 99

Dwayne Johnson ... Agent 23

Alan Arkin ... The Chief

Terence Stamp ... Siegfried

Terry Crews ... Agent 91

David Koechner ... Larabee

James Caan ... The President

Bill Murray ... Agent 13

Patrick Warburton ... Hymie

Masi Oka ... Bruce

Kate Torrence ... Lloyd

Ken Davitian ... Shtarker

David S. Lee ... Ladislas Krstic

Dalip Singh ... Dalip

Genre Action | Comedy | Thriller

Language English

Original Source Get Smart DVDR-ALLiANCE

Total Size 734,857,715 Bytes

Video Specs

Container: MP4 (.MP4) file

Video Codec Type: avc1

Video Codec name: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC

Bitrate: 760 KBS

Encoding: 3 Pass

Resolution: 720 x 400

Quality Factor (QF): 0.110

Frame Rate: 23.976 fps

Display Aspect Ratio: 1.800

Subtitles: English,portugues,Espanol,

Audio Specs

Audio Codec: mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC

Bitrate: 129 KBS

Sample Rate: 48000Hz

Channel Count: 2

edited to add information.

1) Chula is only 'elite' in that you have to be smart and well disciplined to get in

and

2) One pilot refused to takeoff with a PPP party list MP (and former TRT MP) on board.

For the sake of accuracy lovers everywhere.... 3 people were denied boarding on the Thai airways flight.

Link provided.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/topstory/r...newsid=30085464

Prasert, H3Digital, Reimar, Thank YOU all!

I am seriously thinking about the gigabit solution as I would only need the switch and cables as all my NIC's are gigabit already. Now if I can just find a PCMCIA gigabit adapter for the laptop............

Thank you again for your time and ideas.

MPL

Like many people I have multiple computers at home on a LAN. The LAN has 3 desktops and a laptop. The three desktops are wired through a SMC Barricade ADSL/modem/router and the laptop connects through wifi with 100% strength and 100% link quality ( It's 3 feet away )

The games we play on the LAN are mostly C&C stuff... Generals, Yuri's revenge, Generals Zero Hour with a little Counter Strike thrown in for good measure.

All the computers far exceed the listed games requirements. RAM, Video, and CPU far surpass the requirements on all machines. No cheap hardware, all machines but the laptop have a dedicated HD for the OS on a 78GB very fast HD.

All hardware drivers and software updates are current including Bios, video, SMC.....all.

No cheap LAN cables, no long runs.

When LAN games are played all unnecessary software is disabled: Anti virus, Firewalls both hardware (Barricade) and software are dropped, all utility programs are halted in an effort to make lean machines to handle the games run better. The internet is disabled fro LAN play.

THE PROBLEM: As we progress in the games the games either slow down dramatically and are unplayable or they halt due to data mismatches. I have tried removing the laptop from the LAN but the problem still exists. I have tried every combination of computers on the LAN but the problem remains. Even with just 2 computers running the LAN game in Generals Zero hour, as we build forces the games starts to crawl.

So I did some reading on the net and I thought I had discovered the problem. IPX is supposed to be a "weaker" protocol than TCP/IP. I went in an assigned hard IP's to each machine and adjusted the router accordingly. Tested the network and all working fine for internet and normal data transfer across the network.

The problem still exists.

I downloaded a program called Network Magic and ran it looking for bottlenecks and possible problems. Other than reporting slow internet connections ( common to Thailand and even more common as a frequent point of frustration on TV ) the program found no flaws. I am not a newbie with computers or games as a stand alone FPS player but I am a newbie at optimizing LAN games!!

Can anyone offer a further suggestion as to how I might determine the problem? The games seem to generate tremendous amounts of data but this must be doable as LAN parties are common everywhere and internet cafe's accomplish this routinely.

At this point I am eying my SMC combo box as the culprit ? I was thinking about buying a nice 8 port switch with lots of memory and reconfiguring the network. Like all computer geeks I don't want to waste money on hardware that is unnecessary.

One footnote: While using the software Network Magic a suggestion was offered by the software to change the wifi channel to channel 6 as this would be optimum. IF YOU USE..... TRUE wifi I would strongly suggest that you do not do this. I use several True wifi accounts to supplement my hard line internet and as a back up to the TOT phone line. After changing the SMC to channel 6 I was unable to connect to True wifi at all. IT MAY just be an anomaly but it took me a few days to figure this out. As you can imagine with all the changes across all the machines I just missed it at first. After changing the SMC back to channel 11 on the SMC, All is well in wifi land! and each computer can connect with True wifi easily if wanted or needed. I think there was some kind of conflict as a result of changing the wifi channel on the SMC to channel 6.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Infrequent poster but daily reader of TV.

MPL

PB, I don't disagree but currently there are many teachers who have had their degrees from Adventist accepted and in the end that is the truest test of it's value or worth. There is even an entire school staffed by graduates from Adventist.

I hope this is true but it is my understanding that no one has been issued a teachers license to date. As with all things Thai.... and a quote from the Zen Master "We will see...."

I think this might help many teachers who currently hold a bachelors degree here in Thailand meet the MOE/Teachers Council requirements and provide good bang for the buck outside of Thailand as well. Learn while you work sort of thing.

http://www.international-education-center.com/

I hate to talk about the subprime mess on Thai Visa but a few observations.

I recently was forced to spend a few months in LA on business in the middle of all this and I think the ramifications are bigger than just 1.5% of total mortgage loans.

Over the past five years, I have watched LA become a feeding frenzy of prices and speculation. Now granted, California in general has always been the worst for this in the US but I think it also took place in states like Florida, Illinois and New England in general.

I watched as employees in our LA based company, making $40,000 a year, first took out a mortgage on a little, cracker box house in a bad area for over $300,000. Now that roughly equates to a mortgage of $3000 per month for a couple bringing home around $50,000 a year. Now if thats not bad enough, the mortgage companies would then get this same couple to buy home two, and maybe home three, on interest only loans. They would rent them out and expect the homes to be worth 800,000 in just a few years.

With the collapse of the subprime market, and the loss of liquidity, nothing is selling, I mean nothing. House prices are tumbling across the board. That means that families making $50,000 a year are losing huge amounts of equity in their homes. Thats still a loss. They now owe much much more than their house is worth. Granted you could wait it out but in the meantime, consumer spending has plummeted. We normally retail 150 to 180 motorcycles a day, thats down to less than 100.

Just observations but I think this could go widespread and really put the brakes on the economy in general. Honestly, isnt it about time? What ever happened to living within a budget and saving for a rainy day. Maybe I am just getting old and curmudgeonly.

You are on the mark with your observations and specifically Florida as I have ties to that community and the report is exactly as you have characterized it.

I would only add that it is not that you are old and ......... People ( U.S. savers ) may not fully understand all that is going on, But they do understand that putting money in the bank at super low interest rates and watching the dollar's actual value slide further than even the meager interest rate income can offset is clearly understood.

Then the attitude becomes " Why save as I get less by saving? Might as well spend it all before it is worth less." Naturally I don't agree with this thinking but I do understand the frustration of Americans with limited financial IQ and the feelings that they have. They feel as there is no solution they can grasp.

Sorry for going OT, But I wanted to respond to your observations and as many posters have point out it will only be a matter of time before effects are felt globally including Thailand. For better or worse.

Mai Pen Lai, once again you have clearly shown that people outside the U.S. really do not fully understand what is going on! As I prevously posted there are areas like California and Florida that saw in some cases a doubling of real estate values 3-4 years ago, so the expected correction in those areas of 30% or so should be no surprise. You are also correct that Americans have not been putting their $ into savings accounts that yeild 2%, and why should they when they can put their hard earned money to work in the booming U.S. stock (mostly through their 401K programs that are not included in the national savings rate) market and earn 15- 20% per year. My stock portfolio has doubled in the last 5 1/2 years and my wifes much more conservative 401K has risen by about 65% in that same period. As for real estate values, most Americans (like myself) owned their homes before all this bubble started 5 years ago and even with the down turn in the past year most of us have realized a 40-50% increase in our real values over the last 5 years. Thailand will certainly be effected by all of this shortly, but generally in a good way as the hedge funds exit the asian and chinese markets and currency traders begin to unwind their positions, the baht will finally have the air let out of it and then the Thai export sector can be saved by the weaker baht and the tourists will be able to spend more money in Thailand. I too am sorry for going slightly OT, but when I see misinformed drivel I feel the need to clarify the situation!

I actually have (own) several properties in Florida ( Palm Beach county, Boca to Palm Beach ) so I think I am in touch with what is going on there. I am fortunate in the sense that I don't need liquid assets right now but everyone is not in the same position.

It really does not matter what the estimated or perceived increased value of anything is if you can't sell it. And that was more the thrust of my orignal post.That should be pretty simple to understand. You can only calculate that after it is actually sold. I did note that your 70% in five years has come down to a slightly more reasonable 50% in fewer years.

Case in point:

A dear friend that is 73 years old has a property in West Palm. He built his home (4br/3ba/2car, 1.25 acres) some 8-9 years ago in a good area for a little over 400,000.00.

In the last year his wife's health has rapidly declined so he wanted to relocate to his second home (smaller, more manageable ) in NC. He can't even get offers at 20% over his actual cost 8-9 years ago, Nor can he get offers at 400,000.00. Now this is a pristine home, good area, built by him so quality is ensured and documented.

The guy is now a full time care giver to his wife and the property and home are large. He would love to get out.

To make matters worse, over time a percentage of the homes around his have foreclosed causing a blighted area appearance making it even more difficult.

I guess to some, making money no matter what the real cost to the masses at the end of the day is fine. I would say that loaning on mortgages, at 0% down, loaning 125% of the value of the property, and then granting an ARM was a recipe for disaster. Many people realize that financial markets over time cycle, many do not.

I will not take issue with the 401K as that is another topic on it's own other than to say it is still a savers mentality. Different people view investing in differing ways, Don't, Don't lose, and WIN. Not much different than a savings account ( 401 ) although granted, better performing. I remember the mid 70's on most levels. There is a clear difference between retirement packages then and now and there is no comparison.

What we do seem to agree on is that Thailand may wind up having some of their problems taken care of by circumstance. But, It could hardly be otherwise. So we will not agree on many other things and that is fine.

MPL

reason for edit = dyslexic figure transposition.......

U.K.'s Subprime Crisis May Be Worse Than U.S.'s

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

The U.K. has had a property bubble every bit as crazy as the U.S.'s. Valuations were stretched, and lending criteria loosened. And now arrears are starting to rocket, even while the economy remains healthy.

Not only does the U.K. face its own subprime crisis, it could be far worse than in the U.S.

" The average British home already costs 11 times the average local salary, and that figure continues to increase "- I can remember when the banks would base your suitability for a UK mortgage on 2.5 - 3 x your salary - no wonder people are in such a pickle

Exactly. But since U.S. banks and I would guess U.K. banks hold much less of the paper anymore, why should they care if a borrower can afford to repay the loan. They are more than happy to grant the loan and then pass off the paper to speculators. I wish the speculators would actually get caught holding the bag and actually eat the defaulting loans as that was part and parcel of the bargain.

BUT

Somehow I see these guys being bailed out and then having a big laugh as they plot the next wave of creative financing to come over a few drinks.

I hate to talk about the subprime mess on Thai Visa but a few observations.

I recently was forced to spend a few months in LA on business in the middle of all this and I think the ramifications are bigger than just 1.5% of total mortgage loans.

Over the past five years, I have watched LA become a feeding frenzy of prices and speculation. Now granted, California in general has always been the worst for this in the US but I think it also took place in states like Florida, Illinois and New England in general.

I watched as employees in our LA based company, making $40,000 a year, first took out a mortgage on a little, cracker box house in a bad area for over $300,000. Now that roughly equates to a mortgage of $3000 per month for a couple bringing home around $50,000 a year. Now if thats not bad enough, the mortgage companies would then get this same couple to buy home two, and maybe home three, on interest only loans. They would rent them out and expect the homes to be worth 800,000 in just a few years.

With the collapse of the subprime market, and the loss of liquidity, nothing is selling, I mean nothing. House prices are tumbling across the board. That means that families making $50,000 a year are losing huge amounts of equity in their homes. Thats still a loss. They now owe much much more than their house is worth. Granted you could wait it out but in the meantime, consumer spending has plummeted. We normally retail 150 to 180 motorcycles a day, thats down to less than 100.

Just observations but I think this could go widespread and really put the brakes on the economy in general. Honestly, isnt it about time? What ever happened to living within a budget and saving for a rainy day. Maybe I am just getting old and curmudgeonly.

You are on the mark with your observations and specifically Florida as I have ties to that community and the report is exactly as you have characterized it.

I would only add that it is not that you are old and ......... People ( U.S. savers ) may not fully understand all that is going on, But they do understand that putting money in the bank at super low interest rates and watching the dollar's actual value slide further than even the meager interest rate income can offset is clearly understood.

Then the attitude becomes " Why save as I get less by saving? Might as well spend it all before it is worth less." Naturally I don't agree with this thinking but I do understand the frustration of Americans with limited financial IQ and the feelings that they have. They feel as there is no solution they can grasp.

Sorry for going OT, But I wanted to respond to your observations and as many posters have point out it will only be a matter of time before effects are felt globally including Thailand. For better or worse.

Quite sure only ones ever driving tuk tuks will be thai(s)!!

I dunno......... We Americans certainly have a love for anything with wheels. I can just see the tuk tuk " elevated " to the following categories:

MONSTER tuk tuk Crushing hummers and SUV's with abandon!

Dragster tuk tuk Just extend the frame and add alcohol!

F-1 series tuk tuk A tuk tuk bristling with millions of dollars of sophisticated electronics and computers engineered beyond comprehension!

The applications are endless. Of course we would have to address some serious safety issues with the original design...... BUT on the bright side we already have the perfect crash test dummy. GWB Ride'em cowboy!!

Japan doubled the amount of foreign currency reserves it makes available to Thailand to shield against a possible financial crisis.

UP to 6 Billion US$ - instead 3 Billion...

Japan, Thailand expand currency swap pact

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japan said Tuesday it had doubled the amount of foreign currency reserves it makes available to Thailand to shield against a possible financial crisis.

Under the bilateral arrangement, Japan will now offer up to 6 billion US dollars from its foreign exchange reserves to Thailand in the event of a currency crisis, a finance ministry statement said.

Previously, it had made up to 3 billion dollars available in exchange for the baht.

Thailand for its part will continue to provide up to 3 billion dollars to Japan in exchange for yen if needed.

The pact is part of the Chiang Mai Initiative of bilateral currency swaps set up by Southeast Asian nations plus Japan, China and South Korea in May 2000 as part of efforts to prevent a repeat of the 1997 East Asian financial crisis.

Asia now holds the bulk of the world's foreign reserves at some 2.7 trillion dollars, led by China, which alone has more than 1.0 trillion dollars.

Asian finance ministers agreed in May to pool part of their huge forex reserves to enable a country to borrow foreign currency from another more quickly until a crisis passes.

ABCmoney.co.uk

Interesting.

LaoPo

Under the agreement made between Thailand and Japan, Tokyo will now offer up to US$6 billion from its foreign exchange reserves to Thailand in the event of a currency crisis. Thailand will provide up to

US$3 billion to Japan in exchange for Japanese yen if needed.

Also, the amount of loan would be increased to 20 per cent from the current 10 per cent before a borrowing country could seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mrs. Pannee said.

She said the bilateral agreement would further boost Thailand's credibility in international financial markets and also to would-be foreign investors. The agreement will carry a three-year maturity

date, starting from when it is endorses. (TNA)-E111

Quote from MCOT story.

Deal not inked yet but interesting none the less

A one-year work permit can be issued to a degree holder without teaching subjects, but it is subject to renewal after one year.

How is this any different from someone who has all the education (teaching) degree requirements and/or completes a program such as the one mentioned in the OP?

Are you saying the teaching degree holder does not have to renew his or her work permit on an annual basis?

The crux, I'm told, is not so much the work permit as the teacher's licence. A bachelor's degree holder wanting to work in a private bilingual/EP school in the Bangkok jurisdiction can get a one-year teacher's licence which entitles him/her to a one-year work permit. For the WP to be renewed evidence is required of the 15 credit points. A bachelor's degree holder with the 15 credit points is entitled to a 3-year teacher's licence, which means that the WP will be renewed each year for 3 years (if the licence holder remains at the same school).

All this will change when the new lifetime teachers' licences are issued. I'm told they have been issued to teachers in international schools and they are working on those in other schools. I've no idea how long this will take.

X, you are going to think I am either picking a fight or specifically picking on you as it seems I am responding mostly to your posts in this thread........

I would believe the 3 year deal if only there had been one consistent move in the last 3-4 years by the combination of the MOE or Ministry of Labor but like all things Thai, todays truth is tomorrow's lie. Surely I don't need to give examples. How many Ministers of Education in the last 8 years were there ? Speaking of which, has anyone found out who got all those 500B fees that were collected from teachers for their teachers licenses and continue to this day? Has anyone ever seen one in Foreign hands ? I have not.

I really love living here but at times it truly tests a falangs application of adopted, acquired, or stolen mai pen rai.....

Begging pardon once again for going OT.

MPL

"The advice I get from the staffing officer at our school is that the 15 credit points of a university level teaching qualification is still mandatory for a continuing work permit to teach in private bilingual/EP schools in the Bangkok jurisdiction. "

Xangsamhua, I hope that your information is wrong or if it is the current best thinking that it is abandoned quickly. If this is genuinely the coming standard then the students are the ultimately on the minus side of the equation.

The current regulations have caused many qualified and under qualified but excellent teachers to leave. The Thai government's lack of consistency and forward thinking has been felt for some time now as schools can't find teachers to meet the last set of qualifications and are doing everything they can to dodge the very rules when faced with the practical problem of staffing. Even agencies have closed as a result of dealing with too many problems from both the schools and teachers. The only winners here are teachers from the Philippines who now have a much improved position. And most proactive Thai parents are going to draw the line in the sand and vote with their wallet, and childrens feet.

Raising the bar once again so soon will have no positive effect.

I pray for the kids sake that this newer, new requirement is forgotten as quickly as Thailand becoming the fashion hub, toilet hub, or any of the other countless PR stunts and bad trial / test balloon ideas that make reading the daily newspaper and actually extracting anything useful out of it impossible. The sports section is still pretty accurate but we are talking about reporting history and not making or writing history as it were. It has become like panning for gold.

It is no wonder that Sonti (spelling?) flies to Chiang Mai to consult with a fortune teller ( an older TV thread ). I am not a believer in such things but if I were him and surrounded by yes men and people of such obvious limited ability, well, who am I to knock him for following this path.

Appologies for the off topic finishing paragraph.

Aussiestyle, kudos for the link.

MPL

Thanx cali,

After reading your post I found a locally available 160gb 2.5 made by WD form a Thai web vendor. 4880THB

I was not aware the Seagate and WD made these small form factor drives themselves.

Once again, Thank you for your help.

MPL

Am I missing something?

After reading this thread a couple of times I am at a loss to understand why Ram or the Thai government would target people already holding a Bachelors degree for improvement. Although I think an educational advancement opportunity is generally a great idea, what problem is solved or addressed by this move?

Ramkhamhaeng University International Program:

Graduate Diploma in Teaching Profession

(English Program and Chinese Program)

Admission Requirements

1. Applicants must hold a Bachelor degree or higher in any field from an accredited university.

2. Successfully pass the IIS English Test. (For exemptions from passing the IIS English Test, please see Admission Requirements.)

3. Successfully pass the interview at your learning centre.

4. Submit a complete application (including payment of the Application Fee).

I would think that since the current requirement is a Bachelors degree to get a work permit this effort will only help a small segment of the current / future teachers who choose to rise to a Masters degree. So unless the bar is being raised once again to need a Masters degree to teach, what real impact is had?

And if that is the case then Thailand is in deep trouble as the salary does not justify this. Many would argue that the current salary levels don't beg for the Bachelors degree they are requiring now compared to other Asian countries.

A note on the perception of the quality of any kind of paper from Thai universities. Ram credits are not transferable to other universities inside Thailand ( my understanding from Thai friends ) until each degree is completed. So having said that their real value is a good question.

Ultimately how one feels about the value of Thai paper is of no consequence. What is important is to plan ahead, know where you plan to apply this paper and see if it will be accepted. Ram should be making moves to get this program endorsed by brother / sister international educational partners to add legitimacy and prove it's value.

I am with aussiestyle and others who would think a more proven external distance educational institution, although arguably more expensive, would offer more application and flexibility outside of the kingdom. And as recent events have shown all of us things here can change rapidly, a gross understatement.

In the end I fail to see how this program addresses the teacher shortage. I could understand if the program were bottom up offering people with no degree and the ambition to work and live in Thailand an educational track.

I am not an education expert. I am watching a few different schools try different programs, many are quite innovative to mitigate the problems caused by recent MOE and Labor Ministry decisions. I am just another guy following this thread with interest.

MPL

I went shopping for a new flash drive as my 1 gig drive is just not cutting it anymore. When I realized that a 4 gig flash drive was about 1400 THB I was thinking of other higher capacity options as the 4 gig would be another stop gap measure.

Can anyone tell me if they have experience with using a laptop drive in an enclosure, say a 120-160 gig drive ? I don't mind the trade off of having something larger than a flash drive, I am always on a bike so a full sized external would be too bulky added to all the other stuff I carry each day.

I would really like to know if anyone is using this device powered by the computer you attach it to? Once you factor in having to carry a power supply it becomes a less desirable option unless I buy a couple of power supplies and leave them at work and home.

None of the computers that I use have external SATA, So I would rely on USB and preferably fire wire connections.

Please recommend a good enclosure if you can as my past experience with building my own externals is quite bad because I chose badly made enclosures.

Thanks in advance.

MPL

Nice build Noodles !

You made a note about Firefox suggesting a different case. Which case was he/she suggesting and why please? I have made a few builds but never too old to learn something new.

I am about to make a similar build to your spec, A little different as I am going for an OC gaming rig.

Enjoy your new com