Florin

no sarcasm here, deadly serious - PAD should try smth novel and win an election. Anything else is simply undemocratic and hinders the govt from functioning.

The beauty, or ugliness, of true check and balances lies too often in the hands of people who oppose their governments. History has proven that too many times.

When you speak about undemocratic, you imply that this government is democratic. Democracy doesn't just mean the right to vote, but also a government that benefits its people.

And to say that this government is functioning is quite a statement.

Since when does a government have to benefit the people to qualify as democratic?? There have been so many governments divided to the point of non-functionality or too weak to set about doing anything, yet were allowed to fulfill their term in office.

These people do not fulfill the role of a checks and balances system, they fulfill the role of an unruly mob...they should just organize an election with only the Democrat Party running, because it obviously seems that any other ruling party is deemed wrong by these idiots. Seriously, they complain and moan and bitch and cause all sorts of social problems, yet do they have a solution? NO! Never mind paid voting in the upcountry moobans, ask any person in Bangkok who they voted for in the previous election...but noooo, it's still no good for the mighty, incorruptible PAD

Which version of Messenger are you using? 9.0? If so, downgrade to 8.0, 9.0 has stopped working for a while for me on TRUE, but 8.0 works perfectly.

You could just stick some PayPal code in there and thus be able to accept credit cards...though they will give you unfavorable exchange rates.

Legally, I think that you only need to declare the income for tax purposes...someone with more knowledge should say more, but from what I've seen here, you don't have to go through extra legal hoops for e-commerce sites.

i always wonder how people from russia who tend to be rude get on in business.....surely some are in the service industry and have to be courteous at some point or lose custom....or maybe not if its a cultural thing,it seems a bit like going back to caveman days.

They are some of the least service minded people I've ever met...in most cafes, supermarkets, reception desks, etc. they act like they're doing you some kind of favor by servicing your request. Their international businesspeople are quite professional though, the main issue is with these kind of front-line employees.

And this is in the private sector...in government offices where you have fat-assed civil servants who have been sitting in the same chair for the past 30 years, they nitpick with every single thing and make you come back repeatedly, nearly 15 years later the Soviet mentality has not departed at all for the people that were adults at the time.

It's amazing however how effective the Western Propaganda machine worked since WWII and the Cold War period...

It's still effective and all Russians are bad people...right ?

Well then it's amazing how many Russians live up to the propaganda! I happen to also come from behind the Iron Curtain, but most Eastern European countries have moved on from this kind of irritating stuff, it's only the former USSR countries where you can still feel it very much...the funny thing is, the Russians themselves are the first to complain about this kind of antisocial behavior amongst their people, but given the opportunity they will generally do exactly this...and this even happens with the young "new Russians", who also add a nice dose of nouveau riche self-importance to the mix.

A Russian can be an excellent colleague, friend or spouse once you get to know him/her, but in public I am often shocked at their logic and behavior, considering that they do have centuries of advanced civilization behind them.

It's the Russian way, it's ingrained in the culture, nothing to do with lower or upper classes or sex industry...they simply always want more and think rules are a recommendation, not something you need to worry about too much or feel bad about breaking.

Ubuntu is very easy type to install, configure and use...they even send you the CDs for free if you just go to www.ubuntu.com and order them

On a side note, you're better off keeping the phone, I doubt you could get more than 500 Baht for it these days...

When you are pretty sure that the taxi driver is taking you in the wrong long route to your asked destination but you just sit back and smile listening to the loud irritating cat-moaning songs on radio .

So true!

Also:

...when you go out for dinner at the local 7/11

...when you don't give the cockroach(es) strolling on the table as you eat your meal a second glance

So the technician was right?? It was in your system? I mean everything became ok after you changed cables..your cables ??

What, you don't understand? It's clear as daylight!

If you mean Thais, one (in nearly 14 years)...if including local expats & such, several...

http://www.railway-technology.com/news/news3980.html

A new project is underway to reconstruct the railroads between Thailand and Cambodia by 2010 as part of a joint venture between the Cambodian Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The ADB will provide a loan to reconstruct around 600km of track, along with 48km near the Thai border, writes Thomson Financial.

Cambodia is also expected to restructure its railway with the appointment of an international railway operator to manage, maintain and invest in the system over the next 30 years.

Cambodia's rail system currently runs an inconsistent service using unofficial trolleys.

Sounds great! I for one would love to go to Cambodia (and even sooner, Vientiane) by train, beats the heck out of road transport (at least on the Cambodian side)

I for one would only pay them online through their own payment gateway, other methods have caused quite a few problems in updating the balances, they're really not good at keeping everything synced

Thanks for the tip! So far the vinegar definitely seems to have replaced the previous smell, here's hoping it holds...

Bummer...

Does anyone have any idea? I used the kitty litter to absorb the dampness, a sponge with some detergent, yet the smell is still there...this is a cloth-covered couch, by the way. Is there anything that can be done, or do I have to get a new (imitation leather, those cheap airlines know what they're doing) one?

Warner going Blu-Ray exclusive definitely turned the tide and everyone followed...I think it sucks, because it's definitely the more expensive, less user friendly format, like all of Sony's "standards".

Ah well, I just hope HD downloads will flourish and spell the death of all disc-based media.

Nope, it's usually the area to the right of the avatar which is irritating

So they figure potentially killing hundreds with their party poppers and balloons is just reward for not getting money...the government should just pay them the (surely not too high) amount needed and bulldoze the houses.

Well there is a thoughtful response from an ex-pat who has nicely assimilated towards the Bangkok Sino-elite mentality, simply bulldoze the poor away, and possibly even a few unconnected middle class denizens under the flight path who have but broken promises.

Do some other posters actually believe that the Central Plains of the Chao Phraya delta were uninhabited lands until the modern era? (Of course most modern neo-sahibs have never traveled the Central Plains other than the catered boat trip to Ayuttaya, so the Central plains really don't exist once outside the ever expanding Bangkok environs.) Do others believe that towns like Bang Phli are recent creations or that Khlong Bang Phli, dug buy corvee labor, were built to simply provide bird watchers access to wetlands? I don't know whether all the chagrined sleepless souls have more recently purchased land under a flight path, but having stayed in Bang Phli a few times in transit and having walked around a bit, there are certainly some folks who have been living under some of the flight paths far longer than the airport has existed.

It's called progress...all over the world people have had to lose their homes in the face of highways, railways, airports, etc. I was reading recently about an old man who had stalled a highway widening here because he didn't want to accept the amount of money given and wanted more. So it's not about emotional attachment (how many 100+ year-old houses have you seen in Thailand?) or not being able to move anywhere else (this is not Singapore and reasonably priced land is still available in many provinces).

In this case the government is to blame for not giving them compensation, though I would say the stagnation because of the coup had something to do with that...but the residents are also to blame for resorting to these kind of threats. Picketing could have eventually solved their problem, I reckon.

And give me a break with the "Bangkok Sino-elite mentality" - if you don't want to deal with modern corporations building airports and malls, move to the provinces of Myanmar, nothing much has been built there for 50+ years.

Might I also ask where you live? Who do you think provides the Internet connection for you to bash the "elite mentality"? Or little niceties like running water and electricity? You can be sure that someone had to be bulldozed to build all that, but nooo, we must all hate and fear the "elite".

If you check out a place like www.airliners.net you will always see stuff like BA planes overshooting airways, SAS plane landing gears breaking, etc. etc.

These only make the news in their local areas usually and should not be seen as a reason to not fly the airline, because as was posted above, we should then never fly any airline except Qantas, just like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman...but oh, wait, their engines also stopped over Suvarnabhumi just a few weeks ago

So they figure potentially killing hundreds with their party poppers and balloons is just reward for not getting money...the government should just pay them the (surely not too high) amount needed and bulldoze the houses.

Yes, best do it where you live, for any issue whatsoever you have to contact your opening branch, you wouldn't want to have to come to Bangkok every time...

I for one am really looking forward to this phone: http://www8.garmin.com/nuvifone/

Very innovative in certain areas, just want to see pricing and how the programs work...

On the update point, my Firefox 2.0.0.12 has been very unpredictable with some Web 2.0 style sites, such as yahoo mail, with the session just failing, usually when logging out and whilst active in another tab. Hope FF3 is better.

Regards

FF3 doesn't work at all with the new Yahoo! Mail, you'd need to revert to the old one...they're blaming Yahoo

Yeah, I also hate this "feature", here's the solution:

open you're bookmarks toolbar

go into customize mode and drag the home button to the main bar

go out of customization mode and disable the bookmarks tab again

Has anyone got a contact number for Thanni? Its a pain int he a$ waiting 24/48hrs for responses to emails.

No such number exists, we all have to wait, I'm afraid...but they do reply, I even got an EMS tracking number after a particularly inflammatory message sent to them