stub

And it IS interesting to see that Thailand DOES rate significantly higher than any other Asian country.

I captured two screen shots which I think TV readers may find interesting:

Asian infections / deaths:

World statistics for past 30 days:

Hi.

Your charts are actually a great example of the baseless hysteria. For the first one, the fatality rate is not shown at all. All this graph tells you is that Thailand has 4000 confirmed cases, which compares highly to other nearby countries. The only thing this might tell you is how much testing is going on - perhaps Thailands infection rate is half of what it is in, say, the Philippines but 4 times as many tests are being done so this chart shows twice as many confirmed cases in Thailand. This of course will feed back, the more people get worried, the more testing is done and the higher the confirmed rate will climb into a spiral of panic.

The second clearly shows that the fatality rate isn't growing in proportion to the number of people probably infected. It is actually a positive good news graph, but sticking the cumulative chart in the middle is a cheap trick to make it look bad (of course the cumulative graph is going to go up).

Surely there are more deserving individuals than drug offenders for these prisons....i.e. murders, rapists, peadophiles....

I understand the need to keep drugs out of the prison but i always presumed that the REAL big drug offenders didn't use their product, just abused the people. Unless of course these super max prisons are for poor souls addicted to yabba etc and need kept away from it - surely a rehab, education and drug councellor would be cheaper and more appropriate and constructive for them....

If you build prisons for drug dealers, you might be able to get the money from countries and interest groups engaged in 'the war on drugs'.

Spending this sort of money on prisons would help perception of Thailands treatment of human rights - there have been too many stories in the press and several books about people chained up without enough room to even lay down. Stripped naked in chains or a bullet in the brain is more secure than 'super max', but doesn't sit that well with current morals nor does it provide photo opportunities and big budgets for politicians.

A grid of wires across the roof and a transmiter tuned to block the

same three basic frequencies putting out white noise would do it.

Not to expensive either.

They can *impede* cell phone use this way, but I'm not so convinced they can *block* it without engineering it from the start. Not sure how well this would work, if it would have complete coverage or cause unwanted interference. Also, I wonder how difficult snipping those retrofitted wires would be.

Location is a bit more difficult.

MUCH more difficult, given human ingenuity. Make a quick call, take the battery out, relocate the phone (assuming you're making the call when not in the cell). By the time they pick up on it, locate it and dispatch the guards, it's already too late... or even stealthier, don't connect to the network (Flight mode), then collect / send out SMS in bulk in a brief period. A minute should do it, and you don't even need to take the phone out of your pocket during that time.

Easier, just pay off the guards. This is trivial if you're important enough that your phone use would represent a public threat (e.g. mafia boss). If you're small fish, too bad, you need to be creative.

You can buy and build cell phone jammers easily (although this would be illegal in many countries) - you just have to generate enough noise in the right spectrum and no real signal can get through. They would be installed in movie theaters around the world if it wasn't for doctors and people with other occupations where lives depend on them being contactable. They are used by law enforcement to block mobile phone signals during bomb scares since this is a common way of detonation. Just google for 'cellphone jammer' and you will find ready built handheld devices, devices designed for prisons and a whole spectrum in between. There is no point locating a useless phone, but people do like their toys and the budgets with which to buy them.

Of course, you want to saturate the complex across all frequencies if you really want a secure environment - its not rocket science putting a signal in a gap between TV stations for instance. You might need to put your computers in a metal cage and shield your phone lines if you go to this extent.

Its surprising they need a special budget for something like this. Well, maybe not surprising. It wouldn't be the first time lots of money got sent to a well connected company when a 16 year old with a soldering iron and a schematic would do just as well.

I use Linux 24/7 - XP occasionally - why would I want to use this?

The selling point is that it runs off a thumb drive. This isn't for your personal machines. It is for when you are using someone else's computer - you can just plug it into a PC at an Internet Cafe and start up your portable Ubuntu installation.

Looking at all the user comments its only another Ubuntu hit & mess miss application.

Ubuntu is crappy most of the time, especially Kubuntu KDE4.xx - its almost windowsesque

The chip on your shoulder is showing.

Last week i went to an Indian restaurant in Bangkok and ordered a Lamb Vindaloo and asked for it to be served very, very hot - something i never would have dared do in the UK. Even just ordering a standard Vindaloo in the UK took some courage!

It didn't taste hot though - rather mild actually.

Since coming to Thailand i don't eat anything like as much Indian food as i did in the UK, but everytime i do, i find myself feeling a bit let down that there's no kick to it.

Is it to do with Indian food in Thailand being less spicy than Indian food in the UK? Or is it that my taste buds have adapted to spicy Thai food. I do love Thai food and through the years have progressively been asking for it spicier and spicier, so that could be it i guess.

What are your experiences?

In most places I've been, Indian food is less spicy than the UK.

It could be worse - the least spicy vindaloo I've ever had was in Mauritius. Apparently the French tourists there don't appreciate spicy food. It tasted like someone held the chilli next to the pot for a few seconds and threw them out.

The main concern about this one is the kill ratio that it currently appears to have. Common Flu is far more widespread for the moment, and therefore appears to kill a lot more, and like Dengue fever therefore appears to be of greater concern. The thing is that it seems that more people that catch this one are dying (some stats have it as high as 5% whilst common flu is below 1%). Therefore preventing the spread (or attempting too) is a rational step. The WHO are saying that its too late to prevent it though, so it does seem like this is a reaction after the horse has not only bolted, but has made it to the next field, mated, raised a championship winning foal and is now off to glue factory.

Those stats are out of date. Current stats, such as found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic, show the mortality rate below 1% even when just considering those people who tested positive (not considering the millions who never got tested, or even realized they where infected). Current fear mongering outside of Thailand is focused on the what-if scenario of it mutating in a bad way.

What kind of deluded idiots think that a free visa is the answer to the revival of the tourist industry? The complete lack of thought process in government here never ceases to amaze me.

I don't think anyone thinks it will revive the tourist industry, or that there is any single action that will do so. It might help though, just a little bit. At least there is someone with some power actually trying to do something. If a lot more people try and do something positive too, perhaps it will revive?

It's not a perfect system, but it apparently it worked well enough for millions of entries the past few years. Current, accurate information is out there, (Consulates, Embassies, airlines, travel agents) if a tourist can't figure out how to get here, that's their problem.

No, its Thailand's problem. The tourist can go somewhere else, and so does their money. The tourist has no problem. A tourist is a very precious commodity today, and the smart countries are doing everything they can to grab a bigger portion of the shrinking pie. Its a buyers market out there for the tourist, particularly if you are after a generic product like 'beach holiday'.

Windows Vista Ultimate 18 months trouble free from install to now All the free back up you require

Free backup? An odd definition of free. Last I saw Vista Ultimate set you back around 7000 Baht.

Hi.

I don't understand why someone would advise against Ubuntu..? Linux users don't necessarily have to be geeks and able to get a Slackware going...... i myself have tried PCLOS and was not happy with it, so Ubuntu it was. So far 14 months without major headaches (nothing that would render the computer useless).

Ubuntu is the tall poppy now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy), having become the most widely deployed Linux variant on the planet. Also, the sheer number of people who try it compared to the other variants means there are a lot more people out there with failure stories despite it probably having a higher 'success rate' per capita.

... thailand will learn a hard lesson. they need dollars or they wont have rice.

Um, don't you have that backwards??? Isn't Thailand (one of) the biggest rice (and shrimp) exporters in the world? It would be more accurate to say that if YOU don't have dollars YOU won't have rice. Agriculture remains the backbone of the Thai economy. The Thais will always have rice and will never starve. In difficult times like these the laid off factory workers just go home to their families in the country. Life goes on. Tourism only makes up 6% of Thai GDP. Even if tourism collapses completely the Thais will adapt and life will go on.

Gone are the days when every Thai family had enough farm land for self sufficiency. Now when factory workers go home they still need baht to buy rice. The big companies who now own the farm land sell the rice to the highest bidder, which won't be an out of work rural Thai.

Having now talked to accountants without a vested interest in taking my money to setup a local company, it turns out that the opinion that telecommuting like this is illegal only exists on Internet forums.

If you explain your work situation to a vaguely helpful consulate, you will get a 1 year Type-O (Other) or maybe Type-B Visa. You cannot get a work permit as you are not employed by a Thai company, and not working here as as far as the definitions used by Dept. of Labor are concerned. You don't need to submit tax forms because you have no taxable income. Your just another long term tourist as far as the Thai government is concerned. As far as I can tell, it makes no difference if you declare yourself as a a tourist or on business or both on your arrival card, and nobody will blink an eye at your Thailand residential address.

Is building web pages, running web pages, writing software, selling stuff in internet, packaging and posting it to the customers from thailand just "telecommuting". I do not think so, it is running a business or providing consultancy and other services from Thailand. For this i believe you do need WP.

You are correct - that is not telecommuting. I was talking about telecommuting, quite a different subject to running a small export business. My apologies if I misinterpreted the original posters situation. I have no idea if the straw man you are setting up is legal or not. My guess would be illegal in your case since you are shipping physical product from Thailand and some entity needs to pay the sales tax.

Luck im a 3 year overstayer

How are you coping with a 3 year overstay? I switched jobs recently and did not report at the labour department. One guy told me I will be fined 20.000box for overstay (2 months). How can I handle this?

Kind regards,

Marvel.

Leave Thailand from the airport. Pay the 20,000 Baht fine at Immigration. Get a Visa in a neighbouring country and come back if you wish.

And do it quickly. No hassles as far as immigration is concerned - just pay your fine and on your way. If a police officer checks your passport before you get to immigration though, it is jail time.

By the way you make a few good points, too, namely what you mentioned somewhere earlier "illegally working on the internet". Now for something to be "illegal" there has to be a "legal" alternative. You can't have one without the other. Now can YOU tell me how to LEGALLY work on the internet..??? If you tell me how to get a WP for working on the internet, heck i'll even pay you for it. Because for what i know, i can't have a one-man-company (only myself) and hence can't have an online-shop either. And it kind of defeats the purpose when you need to hire four Thais at 20,000 Baht per month to legally run a business that makes maybe 15,000 Baht a month. If you suggest something, please also show how it's done. Because i can "only suggest" too - how about migrating to Mars? I heard you can own land in your own name there and the immigration rules are VERY relaxed.

Having now talked to accountants without a vested interest in taking my money to setup a local company, it turns out that the opinion that telecommuting like this is illegal only exists on Internet forums.

If you explain your work situation to a vaguely helpful consulate, you will get a 1 year Type-O (Other) or maybe Type-B Visa. You cannot get a work permit as you are not employed by a Thai company, and not working here as as far as the definitions used by Dept. of Labor are concerned. You don't need to submit tax forms because you have no taxable income. Your just another long term tourist as far as the Thai government is concerned. As far as I can tell, it makes no difference if you declare yourself as a a tourist or on business or both on your arrival card, and nobody will blink an eye at your Thailand residential address.

The airport was an amazing success, the new train line is already a success and has not even opened yet.

Feel free to explain this mystery to me

Lots of money got spent, so lots of profit has been made. Lots of public money transferred to the families where it belongs.

You don't think the train system is actually supposed to transport people, do you? That would really piss off the taxi concession owners at the airport. Its supposed to create lots of nice fat contracts that will go to the right companies owned by the right people. Its similar to why new condos get built when everyone knows there are no buyers (except the ignorant investors being fleeced). Same thing happens everywhere, except in the more corrupt countries it is more blatant and the profit margins higher. Selling remaindered or unusable stock at full price and still getting paid. Using cheapest building materials but charging for the good stuff. It does not matter if the website does not work, or the station got built a kilometer to the left because that is where the land your family wanted to dump was, or the building falls down, or the cheap sand washes out from under the runway - as long as it is good enough to get your final payment your done and the project has succeeded at its goal of making you richer.

It (TPC) was doomed to failure before it was even launched.

[...]

Just like all the other pipe dream projects dreamed up by the then 'head waiter' the majority of which were dismal failures.

Failure? Didn't you see the numbers? It was an amazing success, only shutting down now after the unfortunate change of government. Hundreds of millions of Baht have been drained from public coffers to private bank accounts! The fewer actual customers the better - only 1000 members, only 1000 complainants when the scheme finally collapses.

People ridicule the powers in Thailand for being idiots. Once you stop accepting the face saving facade and realize all the schemes have the same goal - enriching the powerful and maintaining power - you realize that the Thai leaders are not idiots, but geniuses. Just don't go too far like Taksin. The airport was an amazing success, the new train line is already a success and has not even opened yet. Name your haha TIT folly and if you ask around you will find people in power who benefited from it being built and others who benefit from having it fail. If you want a project to succeed, it needs to continue raking in the cash after it is completed and you have to make it worth while to the competing concession holders so it doesn't get torpedoed.

Far too many poster here with the "I'm alright jack....sod you!" attitude...

I only hope their comfortable lives don't experience any difficulties and cause them to have any worries.....

To class all those who live here with minimal spending power as being unworthy or filthy trash is an extremely prejudiced attitude ....don't forget 'what goes around, comes around'....

Indeed. I'm fairly certain most people interested in this thread would never have considered doing back to back visa runs, even when they where 30 days and unlimited. We just see another restriction. Always new restrictions - rarely (never?) anything to make the system better for anyone. Tourists, expats, retirees, refugees, backpackers, businesspeople, investors - harder to stay here, harder to get here, harder to invest here, harder to work here. Thai citizens - less foreign money. Thai officials - less work to do, eventually fewer jobs and lower salaries.

You read these announcements and wonder when it will be your turn. Will 90 day reporting be scrapped, requiring border crossings like other non-Imm Visas? Will Ed visas stop being granted for Thai language study, or require a degree in linguistics? Will Thailand Elite 5 year visas stop being honored? Will Thailand drop out of the APEC card scheme? Will the bank account requirements go up yet again? Will it become impossible to open the sort of bank account required by Immigration to grant retirement or marriage visas? Will the entry stamp counter at the airport disappear (oh wait...)? Will you be forced to deal with your closest Immigration office no matter how impractical or corrupt (oh wait...)? Will consulates and embassies in Asia stop giving out Tourist visas to people who qualify for entry stamps because 30 days should be enough for everyone? How far will the ad-hoc requirements to prove your marriage is 'legitimate' go? Will your slim hope of gaining permanent residency become no hope? Any of these seem just as likely to an outsider with no access to the genuine rationales for these changes (just hearsay and spin).

Heres what happen. I have a acer aspire one, with ubuntu 9.04 netbook remix installed, I went ahead and also installed LXDE which is a light weight version of a desktop, so far so good gnome and lxde internet working fine no problems. In synpatics package manager I installed a network manager for lxde after that ethernet and wireless quit working I now have eth0 disconnected, any ideas on how to get my ethernet working have already searched online no luck. If can't get this fixed I will just wind up having to reinstall the entire os again which I've done many times before. Linux is a good system but sometimes I don't know weither to keep trying on it as it would seem you do the slightest changes and when you can't fix the problem, then its time to reinstall the entire os and start all over again. I wish I had the chance to attend some linux meetings back home as I would ask tons of questions. Any help would be useful

If things stopped working after you installed the lxde network manager, I'd try installing it. There shouldn't be any need to reinstall the OS, although lxde isn't supported software so it might be doing something evil that doesn't back out properly. You can try reinstalling the network-manager package - that might put things back the way they are supposed to be.

''i would love those bewilderd souls who have defended mr T's honour over the last few days to get a look at it and watch them try to defend it''

the amount given out by the governement was 2000baht not 500baht

1st attempt

whos next?

And by claiming 500 Baht, he is belittling it. He is a politician spinning, not a news reporter.

a bit like you spinning it here then Stub?

Exactly. Well done.

''i would love those bewilderd souls who have defended mr T's honour over the last few days to get a look at it and watch them try to defend it''

the amount given out by the governement was 2000baht not 500baht

1st attempt

whos next?

And by claiming 500 Baht, he is belittling it. He is a politician spinning, not a news reporter.

first , if you have not seen it, watch thaksins BBC interview where when asked if he paying the reds, and say NO then watch this video presentation he made to the reds:

particularly watch for his reaction at the 40 second marker and his fumbling afterwards

anyone who defends Thaksin and says he does not lie can watch him shoot himself in the foot right here

i have sent it to the BBC and CNN already

Sounds like he is belittling the cash handouts the government has been making, claiming that under him you won't need to be lining up with your beggars bowl. I guess it could be called a slip up as it has been misinterpreted. Even with the limited context given, it does not seem to be about paying protesters.

Debian is the only decent linux distro. Ubuntu cant be dangerous for newbies because of security problems, port open out of the box

If you found a port open, file a bug. There should not be any, and I don't recall there being any... ever. This clearly stated policy by both Ubuntu and Debian is often cited when comparing the security models of various operating systems.

There is a katsu restaurant hidden in soi 11, off a carpark I think opposite Bed, but you need to be able to read the Japanese for katsu to find it. I've never been in though as the walk to 33/1 is much more my style.

I went looking the other day for this elusive katsu restaurant, and couldn't find it...

Indeed, directly opposite Bed on Suk Soi 11, there is a large U-shaped complex of shops and a few restaurants with interior courtyard parking. We stopped by there one day just about lunch time.

I don't read Japanese, but there is a full-blown Japanese restaurant there on the left hand side as you enter, about 1/3 of the way down the road. But the Thai guards on duty said it is only open for dinner time. And I looked in through the door window, and the place was indeed empty and dark at lunchtime. They have a sign out front, but I didn't catch a photo of their nane/sign.

That said, it didn't look like a katsu shop, it looked like a fancier Japanese restaurant from the outside. Elsewhere in the complex, there were a lot of closed and empty spaces, and some Korean places.

If anyone has indeed eaten at this katsu place or seen it open lately, can you be a bit more specific on how to find it???

You found it. There are two entrances next to each other - one side leads to a Japanese restaurant, the other side goes to the katsu specialty place. It doesn't look cheap. I didn't go into either - I don't bother with places without menus in front as I've been disappointed too many times. There was a greeter hanging around the front.

From their Myspace page:

Tokyo Joe’s will remain closed for the forseeable future...we’ll be back when things pick up again.

I suspect anyone thinking 'they have moved' at the moment is just repeating information around from when they moved from Soi 24 -> Soi 26.

I have a particular model Acer laptop that is not fully compatible with Ubuntu. The wireless function will not work and although it is possible to fix it is a little complicated. So, I am wondering what alternatives I should consider. I have Xandros on my Asus machine which is good but I would like to try a different distro. Any suggestions?

If Ubuntu doesn't work out of the box with your wireless, then it is unlikely that other distributions will either. If you give more details, you might get some better recommendations or even a simple fix for Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid) (like using the ndisgtk ndiswrapper GUI that I think is on your install CD). If you have the bandwidth, you might also want to download and try the Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) beta as hardware support gets better nearly every release.