Carmine6

Even with perfect and fast speech recognition, it'll take a while before the keyboard goes away. Have you ever been editing something with another person and tried telling them what you wanted them to do while they were working on the computer? It's not easy. Many of the things you do with your fingers take a lot of work to explain. Arrow keys, home and end keys, ctrl plus another key, etc.

Touchscreens help, but I think the reason they have not caught on is how people use computers. On a mobile phone sure because it's already in your hand, but on a tablet sized device I don't want something that lays flat on the table. And I don't want to reach for the screen to do something. Drink a coffee and hold up a tablet and swipe around to navigate? No thanks.

Plus, do people really want to talk a lot while working with their computer? How'd that work at a coffee shop or internet cafe? Do you really want to be saying the internet addresses out loud or the content of your emails?

Saying the keyboard should go away because it's old is kinda dumb. How long long have people been using buttons or zippers on their clothes? Or shoelaces? Should we go to velcro on everything because it's newer?

For us non-Brits, what is it about a hung Parliament that would cause the pound to decline?

Is it something to do with indecisiveness of the electorate, mechanics of passing legislation, uncertainty in direction, or something along those lines? Would the pound do better regardless of who won as long as one party was a clear winner, or would a certain party have been better?

PPT clean up ailse 6

Ah I see your on it....Good boys

Impressive too.... 10,200 to 9800 & back to 10200 in what 4 minutes?

love to find out more about the 'errant trades'....

I dont believe there were any errant trades.

That is the story they want to feed but ................

First they pointed at CITI saying it was them & they mistakenly added a zero when they wanted to sell 6 million & sold 6 billion.

Well we all know it is quite a bit more than one zero to make that mistake.

Also Citi came out soon after & said no way was it them.

Could be the curtain was accidentally blown open today & folks will see how manipulated things are.....Even more than those who say Oh the market was always manipulated imagined.

Perhaps just a machine going nuts based on how fast the market was falling perhaps not. Maybe a test to see reaction times?

It just gets more bizarre by the day.

I was sitting on my rollers spinning/exercising & watched the whole thing flashing by in so few minutes it was impressive.

PS: Those who thought they sold today will have to re-sell tomorrow?

Nasdaq, NYSE to Cancel Some Trades From Selloff

Nasdaq Operations said it will cancel all trades executed between 2:40 p.m. to 3 p.m. showing a rise or fall of more than 60 percent from the last trade in that security at 2:40 p.m or immediately prior.

Nasdaq said the stocks affected and break points will be disseminated soon.

Separately, the New York Stock Exchange also said that it will cancel all trades executed between 2:40 p.m. and 3 p.m. that were more than 60 percent away from their last print at 2:40 p.m.

2 things that came up on CNBC very soon afterwards that they now seem to not want to report. They're going with the "error" story.

1 - The dollar/yen had a sharp move that preceded the sell off. Graph it out for yesterday and the move 94 yen/$ to below 90 actually preceded the market sell off. I remember someone commenting on the yen and other currency moves before the sell off. CNBC graphed them together although other than pointing out the yen move preceded the stock sell of they didn't really have commentary on it.

I just saw a reporter on CNBC World that said the yen move coincided with the stock market sell off. That's flat wrong.

2 - The CEO of the NYSE did an interview after the close, and said the big drops happened through electronic exchanges not on the trading floor. What happened is when the selling started (for whatever reason) and the prices were getting crazy the market makers stop filling orders to wait for prices to stabilize. He called it a pause, not a halt. 90 second pause or something along those lines.

He said the electronic exchanges don't have to follow the NYSE lead and can keep trading. So obviously if the guys in NY aren't trading, the electronic orders go find any open buy orders even if someone had a crazy offer price.

Video:

http://classic.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video...0975&play=1

Transcript:

http://classic.cnbc.com/id/37004249

Note he says, "Today we had to slow the market down. We also have the right to slow down the market as appropriate". That's all fine, but if they're going to halt trading in NY, they should halt for everyone.

Out of curiosity, I have always wondered how you know if a place is downtown or not?

Whats the difference between downtown and uptown? is it by the compass or???

I hear the term a lot but it doesn't mean anything to me.

Is it just an American term?

I never really thought of it as an American term, but maybe it is.

Downtown is a general term. Usually the business or civic center of a city. So downtown Los Angeles is the place with the tallest buildings around the civic center. Downtown Bankgok to me would be centered around the Silom to lower Suk area, although someone could just as well say downtown meaning anywhere in a much larger area around there. "I have go to the convention center downtown tomorrow." "The airport train will go to downtown Bangkok." It could also mean the area around the Grand Palace.

Uptown is usually a more specific location. There is no uptown Los Angeles, or uptown San Francisco. However there's an uptown in NY and uptown Chicago. The ones I'm aware of usually have a history as a more upscale part of town, and seem to generally be in the northern parts. I would guess it was a more common term historically and now is generally a specific neighborhood or area of a city. Size also comes into play with uptown. I've never heard uptown used in any place other than a very large city, while downtown is used for even small towns.

I had the same problem as the OP. Ok quality with the built in mic. But bad enough quality that people on the other side will mention it.

Every headset I've tried, including really cheap ones has worked fine. No need to get a Skype certified one. I also tried plug in mic on a stand with laptop speakers, and that works, but cheap headsets run about as much as a mic alone so might as well get the full set.

Bluetooth would be nice, but I've tried it and it was flaky. Never tried the bluetooth ones certified by Skype so maybe those work.

"Just out of curiosity, have you ever heard of someone getting nailed for this?"

"Heard", as in sitting in a bar, and someone strolls by nonchalantly mentioning that his ex-business partner got nailed for this? Nope, I've never heard of it.

On the other hand, I've read about it. Researching a lawsuit, I perused the website for the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and found several court opinions relating to people not filing the form. Without boring you with a lot of detail, the government takes it very seriously. As with everything else in your adult life, you make a choice, and you should be prepared for the consequences.

No need to look that hard. That whole UBS dust up last year was all about un-reported overseas accounts. This guy is just one of the 4,500 folks that UBS was forced to report on.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6074UH20100108

The port is open and the land routes open. As long as that is the case, the baht is supported by trade. Outflows would have to overwhelm that to move the baht significantly weaker.

Thai trade is so close to balanced that in 2005 and 2008, there was a slight net import balance. For the 15 months through February however, the country was a net exporter every month. (March and April not reported yet.) A total of US$20 billion net exports for those 15 months. In recent months, it is likely that imports have been much more affected than exports. Less imported food items being sold in Bangkok due to the disruptions and less imported items being needed for tourists, for example.

Trade statistics here:

http://www.bot.or.th/English/Statistics/Ec...onalTrade.aspx#

So on net, there's still demand for baht from:

Trade

Tourism - still more tourists in Thailand than Thais as tourists elsewhere

Support for girlfriends and families

Expats receiving pensions and bringing in money for living expenses

Investment is the remaining big item. That can swing the other way, but it doesn't seem like people are heading for the exits yet.

follow the rules and there is no problem

The problem is, while individuals can control their end, there is no guarantee that banks will just meet the minimum requirements or interpret the regulations the same way. Many banks implement policies that are more restrictive than the law requires. I think the reason the NY Times article says "some" banks and not all banks is because there seems to be no such requirement in the Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act only specified that minimum identification requirements be set up. See SEC. 326. VERIFICATION OF IDENTIFICATION in the Patriot Act. It was up to the Treasury to specify any additional requirements, and even they did not make any requirement about maintaining a US address. I can't find any references to foreign addresses or expats in the Patriot Act or the Treasury website.

The closest I find from the Treasury website is

"The final rule therefore provides that a bank generally must obtain a residential or business street address for a customer who is an individual..." "Treasury and the Agencies recognize that this provision may be impracticable for members of the military who cannot readily provide a physical address, and other individuals who do not have a physical address... Accordingly, the final rule provides an exception under these circumstances that allows a bank to obtain an Army Post Office or Fleet Post Office box number, or the residential or business street address of next of kin or of another contact individual."

It does not say the residential address must be in the US.

An easy to read description:

http://www.occ.treas.gov/cdd/Ezines/spring...customer_id.htm

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js335.htm

See relevant Treasury guidance documents including a link to the Patriot Act here:

http://www.occ.treas.gov/BSA/BSARegs.htm

All they require is:

The rule requires that financial institutions develop a Customer Identification Program (CIP) that implements reasonable procedures to:

1) Collect identifying information about customers opening an account

2) Verify that the customers are who they say they are

3) Maintain records of the information used to verify their identity

4) Determine whether the customer appears on any list of suspected terrorists or terrorist organizations

It is up to banks to determine how they "Verify that the customers are who they say they are." Some banks clearly have decided they don't "know their customer" if that person has a foreign address.

A "non-local address" is one of the Treasury's money-laundering red flags for deposit accounts. Another is transfers of cash outside the US. Not really surprising that some general counsels get skittish. If this really were a requirement from the Patriot Act, wouldn't ex-pats in Thailand have said something 7 years ago? I've seen more than one US ex-pat mention a Thai address on their account to get ATM cards and things.

OP, this is such a ridiculous situation. You should have gotten copies of their passports before ever renting to them, and now you should do everything you can to get copies and other information even if you haven't decided what to do. I think you should take legal action, and try to rope in anyone else who was scammed as well. It'll be harder to brush off several suits than one.

And why are you talking about them with some random guy in a bar if they're well liked? They're clearly con artists and not some people down on their luck or something. So they'll fool lots of people. If they get tipped off to what you're doing they'll make up some story against you and all their acquaintances will back them. Do whatever you're going to do without their acquaintances knowing.

If they're very rude to Thais, that's a huge tip off to most people. So I'm not sure if you can say "... aren't people who you would dislike." Clearly they've fooled a lot of people, but I doubt they fool everyone.

Hey guys didn't mean to get you all upset. I think from what I have been reading around the net. They want to know if you move over $10,000, just like at the airports if you have over $10,000 in cash that your carrying. So I would look for this to apply to any transfer that is 10,000 or over. Seems to me that I read about a link in this bill to another bill which clarifies that this will be the case. I will see if I can track it down.

To any one out there if your planning on leaving the good old USA. Better get out now. If your out of the country and your a US citizen you might want to think about what you would do if they canceled all passports. From what i hear this is there intension. No link sorry. Good luck to all of you.

YES WE CAN.

The $10,000 reporting threshold on international wires has been around for a while. However there was no withholding requirement, banks were just to report those transfers.

I think you are wrong about the $10,000 threshold applying in this case. It seems to be any amount, however seems to relate to potentially taxable distributions, not someone wiring money from their US bank account to their account in Thailand or another country. However any third party transfer could be rent or compensation, so those could fall under this depending on how they write the regulations.

Here again is the list of "Withholdable Payments":

(i) any payment of interest (including any original issue discount), dividends, rents, salaries, wages, premiums, annuities, compensations, remunerations, emoluments, and other fixed or determinable annual or periodical gains, profits, and income, if such payment is from sources within the United States, and

‘(ii) any gross proceeds from the sale or other disposition of any property of a type which can produce interest or dividends from sources within the United States

This is getting ridiculous. I welcome someone with actual KNOWLEDGE about what this news specifically means to post here. Not interested in theories and speculation.

It means that any and all foreign banks based on any American soil when they send monies in the amount

in excess of $10,000US they are to withhold 30% and report said amount to the US gov. and the IRS for

tax accountability as well as the legitimacy of the monies. If by law thay do not or can not do this thay are

to close the account....and the US gov. will an has done so in the past and now it is the Law and has been written so.

There's no $10,000 threshold mentioned anywhere in the legislation that I can find. The OP mentioned that amount for some reason. $10,000 is a threshold for several different bank reporting situations such as depositing cash in a bank or making an international wire transfer, but not for this legislation.

They are trying to withhold taxes on potentially taxable disbursements such as interest, dividends, wages, etc. So any amount is subject to this, with the way out being the bank and customer meeting the reporting requirements.

Feel free to search for any limit yourself in the text. Starts at Sec. 1471.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2847/text

...

This means that a bank, say Bangkok Bank, has an account holder, say you, who doesn't want to provide a SSN, there has to be some kind of central reporting system that Bangkok Bank can inform about your recalcitrant status, and then the sending bank is responsible for checking this and doing the 30% withholding.

...Otherwise, what is Bangkok Bank supposed to do? Send a FedEx to every single bank in the world saying "hey guys, if on the off chance someone wants to wire USD to this particular account at my bank, you need to withhold 30% and send it to the US government". Somehow I do not find that realistic.

...This looks god awful complicated. I can see a couple of years of development effort in this specification.

It is not quite that complicated, but it is how they can impose reporting requirements even where they have no actual jurisdiction. The foreign banks themselves, such as Bangkok Bank, are required to enter an agreement to withhold the 30% from the transfer, and do the required reporting. If they don't enter into the agreement and comply, then that bank will be labeled as not complying, and then the sender in the US would withhold 30% of transfers to that bank. On a practical level, if the receiving bank isn't in compliance, how does the sender know any account isn't subject to the tax? Seems like they'd withhold 30% of all transfers to that bank.

SEC. 1471. WITHHOLDABLE PAYMENTS TO FOREIGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

‘(a) In General- In the case of any withholdable payment to a foreign financial institution which does not meet the requirements of subsection (, the withholding agent with respect to such payment shall deduct and withhold from such payment a tax equal to 30 percent of the amount of such payment.

But here's an important definition:

‘SEC. 1473. DEFINITIONS.

‘(A) IN GENERAL- The term ‘withholdable payment’ means--

‘(i) any payment of interest (including any original issue discount), dividends, rents, salaries, wages, premiums, annuities, compensations, remunerations, emoluments, and other fixed or determinable annual or periodical gains, profits, and income, if such payment is from sources within the United States, and

‘(ii) any gross proceeds from the sale or other disposition of any property of a type which can produce interest or dividends from sources within the United States.

( EXCEPTION FOR INCOME CONNECTED WITH UNITED STATES BUSINESS- Such term shall not include any item of income which is taken into account under section 871((1) or 882(a)(1) for the taxable year.

‘© SPECIAL RULE FOR SOURCING INTEREST PAID BY FOREIGN BRANCHES OF DOMESTIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS- Subparagraph ( of section 861(a)(1) shall not apply.

What this seems to do is extend the withholding requirement that exists for foreigners with financial accounts in the US, to US citizens living overseas, unless their banks are in compliance. It is trying to trap taxable funds not transfers of cash in the bank. Although don't count on the intent to determine policies. Regular transfers from a US bank account might get caught up by some banks. It's also entirely likely that many banks will set their balance requirement to well below the $50,000 minimum before they ask for a tax id.

Here's the text:

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2847/text

No idea ?

Chaiyaphum has hardly any hotels to begin with. Best to find whatever ones you can online and by searching prior threads and then contact them directly.

Buy a camera in the US. For cameras, the prices are never even close, probably due to high tariffs in Thailand. The only issue you might have is if you needed warranty service, but that's fairly low odds.

The wording of the article seems a little biased, but the school would not have been closed unless it was guilty of something. Perhaps they were complicit in not reporting students in violation of their visas. I believe schools must assure that foreign students are attending classes etc.

It basically sounds like a fake school where you paid the fee and they signed off on paperwork filed with the Feds.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/05/1513...-officials.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/us/05fraud.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...MsKZ1gD9E833P00

"Menocal and Macia were charged with conspiring to commit an offense against the U.S., and Menocal faces other charges including falsifying immigration documents, according to a grand jury indictment."

...

"Of the approximately 200 students enrolled at Florida Language Institute in each of the past three years, only 5 percent regularly attended class, he said. The school offered classes to help international students improve their English skills.

Menocal and Macia failed to report to authorities, as required by the post-9/11 rules, that the vast majority of the Miami school's students were not coming to class, according to the indictment.

"It's a systemic failure to report to class, not a vacation day here and there," Mangione said.

Oh, youtube video of the news report:

The amount of time you must spend in school to be a full-time student will vary. Generally it has to do with the number of credit-hours for a class.

If I recall correctly, students are allowed to work on a part-time basis while attending school.

I think the difference is that in the US they do keep track of foreign students and they are expected to follow the laws. Oh, and paying your tuition does not guarantee you will pass and if your GPA is not at a certain level then your visa is canceled.

I am surprised the school was closed and would like more information on their part in this.

Among other violations, the school in question was reportedly falsifying attendance records, even to the extent of filling in attendance records ahead of time.

I posted in the other thread that at the same time the Thai students were caught up in the mess, there was a California man who was arrested for taking exams for Arab students. They showed a whole pile of fake ids he had. He would take entrance exams or class exams so the students could maintain their visa. A couple of those students were reportedly of interest.

With both stories happening within a week of each other, it seems likely there was some increased scrutiny after the recent terrorist incidents in the US. The Thai students just happened to be enrolled at a school that wasn't even faking it well.

go to the manufacturers website and download drivers...

eg: soundcard

motherboard etc

W7 says the soundcard drive is current. Not sure about the MB. The manufacturer of the graphics card doesn't have a new driver compatible with my hardware (that was the error message, I watched the tech guy try to get it).

On the scrap it idea, a brighter thought, go SOMEWHERE else with my new drive and give them the new computer business. They didn't exactly inspire confidence.

With brings up another issue. I bought a new W7. Its OEM SE Asia, supposed to be in new machines only. Will Windows allow me to reinstall it in a new computer? Is it based on the hard drive or some kind of machine code outside the hard drive? If I do get a new computer built, I reckon it would be good to do a fresh W7 install but I wouldn't want to lose the validity of the windows key.

Even if Windows 7 says they are current, try all the manufacturer's websites. Motherboard, sound card, dvd drive, the card reader. The motherboard manufacturer will hopefully have updated drivers for anything built in.

Many of the Windows drivers do basic functions, but aren't equivalent to the manufacturer's ones. For example, I can plug my Linksys bluetooth dongle into any Windows machine and it'll install just fine with a Windows bluetooth driver. But for full functionality, I have to install the Linksys driver.

When I installed the Release Candidate for Windows 7, I had to get drivers for the sound card and dvd drive to get full functionality back. If there is no Windows 7 driver, then try the latest Vista or XP one. I was able to use very old XP drivers to get 7 to recognize some old hardware. It gives some kind of warning like Windows can't install the driver, but would you like Windows to try to use it. That's not the warning, but it was something where you just go ahead and install it. And then Windows figures it out.

There were no Windows 7 drivers when I installed the Release Candidate version, and I think I got everything to work on XP drivers.

If you can't actually call, then maybe:

Reinstall or upgrade the version of java on your computer.

Try another computer.

Try another browser.

I've gotten errors from their website before but it usually works fine later. Not sure if it's because I've rebooted in the intervening time or they've fixed something on their end.

Thanks for the reply s.

I think the best way for me would be travellers cheques in sterling and then to get them changed in Thailand. As the baht rate now is shocking 45 baht to a pound .

The rest I will use my credit card, as a poster recommend paying money onto this and then with draw the credit balance. Although i will look into opening Thai bank account while I am over there.

Could anyone also recommend the best places in Bangkok to exchange a large amounts of cash. Would a bank be the best bet, do you get better rates for the more money that is exchanged?

Thanks for the update.

Regards

For actual cash, try Super Rich in Bangkok. Only the Rajadumri branch gives the good rates on the website. The denomination of the bills determines the rate.

http://www.superrich1965.com/app/our_rates.aspx

For traveler's cheques, you'll have to go to a bank.

I should add, some people have claimed good rates from some gold shops and some other exchangers like Vasu(?). Do a search and some of those will come up. I don't recall anyone actually giving a rate that they received from those sources.

Maybe try contacting this goat farm which is not so far away from you. It was posted in a thread about raising goats.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Interested-D...ng-t177837.html

http://www.asiagoat.com/

I have a feeling I will probably get ripped off but doing that but it's not like I have much choice anyways hahah.

What about the cell phone problem? Thanks btw

Try asking AT&T for the unlock code before you go. They're not as willing to do it as Tmobile, but if you're a long time customer they might. Try telling them that you need to have a local phone number for business purposes or whatever, and can't use roaming.

You are holding an Indian passport so naturally you would be subject to tax - just as anyone going to there home country would be for items obtained overseas.

Will move to travel forum as has nothing to do with visas for Thailand.

Lopburi3!You must be from very lousy country if they want duty from you for camera.

to OP drPrasannabhat:Indian Customs is bunch of chorahs,you know it very well.

In civilized countries any traveller can carry one camera,one laptop,one recording/playing instrument

without need to declare,exception is - Burma(but it is not civilized place).

I travel with three cameras and sometimes 2 laptops - never any problems.You may declare your equipment if

it is expensive-looking professional stuff,or to much of it.Then may be - you will have to go through customs clearance

to ensure your re-export.In India it was called TBRE.If you are Indian and you go to Pakistan,then you can expect all

sorts of harasment and better - do not go there at all,and if you do - do not carry expensive items.

Very important:relax and do not show your feeling of guilt,there is no reason to feel guilty if you are just average traveller!

Thank you all for your concern and information.

While coming back I declared my DSLR and obtained export licence. But this time I have a video camera (Sony HD) with me, again for personal use. Don't know what they'll do. So trying to have all info and prepare myself. Should I contact my lawyer there? Will that help?

Well it might not help when you're dealing with a corrupt official, but this website seems to say you should not be charged a duty. If you printed the website pages then at least you'd have some way of demonstrating you know the regulations. Two hurdles are proving you're taking the video camera back out and that you're a tourist. They're obviously going to lean towards claiming you're going to leave it there.

Main site, look for "travellers information" on the left side.

http://www.cbec.gov.in/cae1-english.htm

http://www.cbec.gov.in/travellers.htm

About 1/5 the way down is the tourist information:

A tourist arriving in India shall be allowed clearance free of duty articles in his bonafide baggage to the extent as mentioned below:-

Articles allowed free of duty

I Tourists of Indian origin other than those coming from Pakistan by land route (i)Used personal effects and travel souvenirs, if -

(a) These goods are for personal use of the tourist, and

b These goods, other than those consumed during the stay in India, are re-exported when the tourist leaves India for a foreign destination.

(ii) duty free allowances applicable to Indian Residents.

This call by Faber wasn't intended to be a timing call, but it happened to have been a good time to go short. The big question is does the sell off continue as Faber was thinking?

Faber's call was mid january. please tell us about the good time shorting what markets and where do you see any selloff since then?

You'll note that my post was January 23rd, the end of that week. Monday, the day of the article was a US holiday. From Tuesday, the Dow declined 3 days in a row from about 10,700 to about 10,200. The S&P 500 declined those same 3 days from about 1,150 to about 1,090.

5% in 3 days isn't the end of the world. But if you look at a 3 month graph of the Dow, S&P 500, or Nasdaq, it's such a sharp break you can identify that week without looking at the date.

that is corect, but a week means nothing if you are an investor. it means of course a lot if you are a daytrader. but Faber is not a daytrader. he is always quoted (ze zwizz Guru has shpoken) when he was right. those 50% when his forecasts were wrong are conveniently never mentioned, neither by him nor by the media which favours his sensational messages.

Hence, my notation that he hadn't intended to make a market timing call followed by my query on if the decline will continue.

This call by Faber wasn't intended to be a timing call, but it happened to have been a good time to go short. The big question is does the sell off continue as Faber was thinking?

Faber's call was mid january. please tell us about the good time shorting what markets and where do you see any selloff since then?

You'll note that my post was January 23rd, the end of that week. Monday, the day of the article was a US holiday. From Tuesday, the Dow declined 3 days in a row from about 10,700 to about 10,200. The S&P 500 declined those same 3 days from about 1,150 to about 1,090.

5% in 3 days isn't the end of the world. But if you look at a 3 month graph of the Dow, S&P 500, or Nasdaq, it's such a sharp break you can identify that week without looking at the date.

I've yet to get a good haircut here...and I don't even have that much hair!

How many of you have run into the "1, 2, 3, 4, 5?" at a Thai barbershop?

I did, and had no idea what they were talking about. As I later found out -- both by results and having it explained by a Thai friend -- it means how short/long do you want it...sort of a scale, with 1 being very short and 5 being very long. Had I know what it meant I would have said 3, but leaving it to them it turned out to be a 1.

The black plastic clipper blade guides are numbered, so that's where it comes from. It's not just a Thai thing. For franchise type operations in the US where you rarely see the same stylist twice, it's an unambiguous way to tell how short you want it. Although above a 3 is normally done with scissors.