libya 115

I have a 15 inch LCD Philips 150S4FG and have been very happy with it for 3 years. Back then it cost 350 GBP now it sells for less than half that amount. (Was I ripped off?)

I have been considering upgrading to a 17 inch LCD monitor. The main reason is to make everything easier on my eyes. I currently have the dispaly settings set at 800/600.

I have been browsing the computer stores here and there are a lot of 17 inch monitors on display at 7,000-8,000 Thai baht, Samsung,LG,Acer etc.

I don't play games on the PC, just boring slow stuff, but do a lot of reading off the screen.

Plus, would it be better to pay quite a bit more and go for a larger monitor and are there certain brand names to avoid?

Thanks for any advice.

This is not Japan, (Where vending machines are everywhere). It would not take long before a few locals, robbed, vandalised or actually 'dug-up' the vending machine.

So I reckon this is a non-starter. Incidentally, people in Japan caught vandalising vending machines, do one years jail minimum.

Love: Forever Changes

Patti Smith: Horses

Bowie: The Man Who Sold The World

Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick

Pixies: Bossanova

Graham Nash: Songs for Beginners

Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde

Wire: Pink Flag

Chumbawamba: Pictures of.....

Pj Harvey: Stories from the City

The The: Dusk

The thing about these 'greatest' album lists in magazines and in newspapers is that a lot of the same stuff gets thrown up: Sure I like Floyd/Zeppelin/Stones/Beatles but I am always on the lookout for something I have never heard before.

I only discovered Galaxie 500 recently, and they have to be compared to the Velvet Underground. Yet they are very overlooked and unheard.

I am getting confliciting answers...

Do we or do we not have to go to a service center to change SIM cards?

to answer your question.....YES, you do need to go to a CENTRE[correct spelling] to change SIM cards!!!

BUT, you do NOT need to change your SIM card....which has been said many many times ...read the posts carefully!

The number of your mobile phone is stored in the NAM (Number Assignment Module) which can be on the phone or the SIM card. This number has to be updated in order to receive calls after Nov.30!

The NAM can only be updated at a service CENTER or via Internet if the phone has the capability. You can not update the NAM from the key-pad.

On the later model phones you can get into the NAM and view your assigned number, it will show the 9 digit number unless you have upgraded the phone.

opalhort

The above information is erroneous.

The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) does what it says it does. Your SIM is specific to your account and mobile number. The SIM replaces the NAM (Number Assignment Module) that other digital phones use.

Updates are only to 'phone book information' held on the SIM card: which you can do yourself, unless you have no fingers and an IQ of less than 70.

Drug testing happens. If you take drugs beware. Who cares where you took em, if you're tested positive, you got probs maestro. The Dude has no probs with night club drug testing in Thailand

what if i don't need to urinate when I'm asked to? Are they holding me then until I urinate? Is this legal?

mauli: Or should I call you manali

It might be wiser for you to holiday in Amsterdam.

You won't get thrown into a nasty jail there; in fact you might get to spend time on the new;

Strafrechtelijke Opvang Verslaafden

a nice comfortable drug takers rehabilitation programme.

I got a fixed line from TT&T in Pattaya. It cost 3,300 baht, and they threw in a free telephone, which is a good one with SMS capability.

It was fitted after five days, by three lads, who hammered on my door at 0800. They charged me 800 baht for the trouble of taking the wire (from outside) into my apartment.

Beware: Do you have a suitable orafice on an outside window/door to accept the 2.5mm diameter cable? These TT&T installation staff do not carry low revelution hand drills or glass cutters.

I had to do it myself at 0810 hours.

this is nuts...

I agree: I have not taken any illegal drugs since I was a foolish student, 20 years ago.

It does seem unfair, if you indulge in your home country, and then are detected in the L.O.S. by the B.I.B. following compulsory micturation into a test tube.

Bad luck for THC enthusiasts: {it} has a long half-life: you need six weeks off the weed, to be negative in the wee'd.

How is the Wong-Amat beach compared to other beaches in the Pattaya/Jomtien area? Is it relatively clean (both sand and water)? I'm planning to be in Pattaya next month, and considering a hotel in the Wong-Amat. Thanks for your input.

If your main reason for coming to Thailand is the beaches, don't even think about Pattaya (Naklua or Jomtien included). There are much better beaches elsewhere.

Good point: Boracay (White) beach in the Philippines is good. Also Malapascua island north of Cebu, and Carnassa Island 40 km from Malapascua.

I was quite impressed with some Ko Chang beaches.

I have not visited the Maldives yet, but I hear some of their beaches are good.

I must just come in here again to say that there are many people who collect weapons and have large collections especially antique weapons It may be swords, pistols, rifles, daggers, and even blunderbusses. All these are lethal weapons.

These collectors in the main are normal people who enjoy their hobby and certainly do not suffer any delusions of power fixation.

This man if mentally ill could have gone on the `rampage` even if he possessed just one weapon.

I agree, that there are many people who collect antique weapons and even swords for historical or perculiar interest. Lemmy from Motorhead, for example has a fine collection of WW2 memorabilia including lethal weapons.

However, this man was a German residing in Thailand, with an extensive collection of lethal, swords, daggers and knives, some prefabricated stainless steel cleavers, many of which were not serious collectors items. (I did not see any proud display cases!)

The philosophic argument is that, in a free society, adults should be permitted to do whatever they please, always provided that they are prepared to take the consequences of their own choices and that they cause no direct harm to others.

The locus classicus for this point of view is John Stuart Mill’s famous essay On Liberty: “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of the community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others,”

Mill wrote. “His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.” This radical individualism allows society no part whatever in shaping, determining, or enforcing a moral code: in short, we have nothing in common but our contractual agreement not to interfere with one another as we go about seeking our private pleasures.

However this argument is flawed............(in my opinion)........

Human affairs cannot be decided by an appeal to an infallible rule, expressible in a few words, whose simple application can decide all cases, including whether guns and knives should be freely available to the entire adult population and because the desiderata of human life are many, and often in conflict with one another.

I don't know why this is news. Surely the police are present every night to some extent, particularly at the top end of the street near the B/W bar.

Go-Go bars and beer bars are randomly checked anyway.

Regarding the drug testing: Do foreign nationals have to provide urine samples? Surely Thai police are taking the p@@@.

Beware of muggings on Wong Amet beach, especially if alone in a quieter area. Freelancers also inhabit the beach which may or may not be a bad thing.

That sewage pipe seems to be variable, I think the nasty stuff used to come out at night. Also beware of rabid dogs here. There are groups of strays that can be troublesome.

Personally, I consider certain sections of Jomtien beach the best, (if you like beaches.)

Well, he probably IS a pyscho...

But don't assume that because you have a collection of lethal weapons, you are automatically a pyscho!

When I lived in the UK, I had a collection of more than 40 shotguns that were disguised as walking sticks, umbrellas etc. All were legally held and I never felt the urge to g on a rampage.

Sadly, I couldn't import them into Thailand. So they were surrendered to the police for destruction

Simon

This (German) man was just stopped in time with rubber bullets whilst threatening persons on soi 16 (Long Beach hotel).

People who have large collections of lethal weapons are rarely 'collectors'; they suffer from some kind of latent power-fixation which can develop and become murderous.

SIMON 43: I am happy that you have abandoned your collection of 40 shotguns, and have wisely surrendered your arms cache to British police. I am happy that you find such a forum confession cathartic. Collecting postage stamps or coins would be far more healthy.

I think some of you did not see the entire T.V. footage: some of this German's collection were murderous stainless steel weapons that were of no collective value, just fabricated in order to remove muscle and sinew from human bone and cartlidge.

I have just seen the footage on Pattaya News T.V.

What a psycho: a dangerous one at that! He is a sitting timebomb, maybe ready to go on a ninja-style massacre at any time. The number of weapons (he had) was sickening. Some looked like East African machetes, some looked as if they had been pre-fabricated (so as to cause maximum mutilation of human flesh). It is almost certain this could be a dangerous man.

I say deport him back to Germany now. I will pay the air-fare!

"They have until Nov 30 to upgrade the cards, or they will

not be able to receive incoming calls." (quoted from the BKK Post article)

This surely has nothing to do with the phone book. There must be a technical reason why current SIM cards won't be able to receive 10 digit calls after Nov.30

Somehow it makes sense. For now the system is sending both the 9 and 10 digit numbers out so both upgraded and non upgraded SIM card can receive the call. Currently The SIM cards need 9 incoming digits to connect, after Nov30 only 10 digits will come in and the number would not match the records on the SIM card.???

opalhort

The Bangkok Post is incorrect to say this. Change the numbers yourself. Don't offer your SIM cards to the caravan people. They will just bombard you with junk texts and other rubbish.

There was a thread on this a few weeks ago: look for it in search and there are some excellent professional postings on this big 'swindle'.

Trevor:

Firstly, the sweeping statement about 25% being stolen at the airport is untrue.

I live in Pattaya and in over five years, not one monthly bank statement has failed to arrive. To my knowledge only one greetings card has failed to arrive, probably because of suspected cash inside it, tell family not to seal greetings cards, just 'tuck in the flap'.

Regarding outgoing mail: Only once (when I posted 10 postcards in a postbox) none arrived. So don't use postboxes.

Small packets, and parcels I always receive; some have been opened for inspection, and some are delayed, but I have always received them.

I say: if you are experiencing a poor delivery of post, it is quite probably to do with the postman. So report it at your main post office. Official complaints made in a calm manner, will be investigated. There was a case recently of a postman dumping mail, in swamps: he was caught and punished for this offence.

Ten digits seem to work, but caller display still displays the nine digit number.

I don't understand this.

But, now is a good time to change business cards. Or is it?

Thanks for that info. Crushdepth: I will buy a dongle soon. Does that mean I can have a laptop bluetooth enabled and keep the mobile phone in my pocket while surfing the web?

For fish eggs try:

food supplies

Don't forget if the bar was selling poisonous liquor; you would not be the only victim, and hospital admissions would be quick to notice methanol poisoning in several persons.

Treatment for methanol poisoning is in fact intravenous ethanol.

I suggest that you take a note of the bars where you are poisoned and avoid any re-visits.

Plus; some innocuous medications can cause very unpleasant side-effects when mixed with wine and spirits. Do you eat Durian? Durian when eaten before consumption of spirits can be very unpleasant, sometimes fatal. Some antibiotics react badly with wine and spirits.

Also, if you drink spirits when your body is already dehydrated (you might not always know that you are dehydrated) and the ethanol cannot be converted into harmless acetate by body enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase: then a build up of the very toxic acetaldehyde can occur: this acetaldehyde causes a hellish hangover.

So: always ensure that you are fully hydrated before drinking alcohol.

Sometimes I use GPRS for internet connection in Pattaya: it is very reliable so far. However how safe is banking with GPRS. Can my passwords etc. be intercepted by air, is dial-up safer for banking?

Also; at present I use a USB cable to NOKIA phone, I was considering buying a bluetooth dongle. What are security issues with bluetooth? Would I be transmitting data to everyone with a bluetooth phone within 30 metres?

If I bought a bluetooth USB dongle; does it come with installation software? Or does XP detect it automatically? Is installation of a dongle easy?

Thanks in advance for answers and opinions.

I am 100% certain that many bars, decant cheap spirits into 'branded' bottles. I would never believe that a Gordons Gin from a Gordons bottle is in fact Gordans: probably a cheap bottle of local gin at 15% of the price of the Gordons.

However, even the cheap gin, should not poison you. This is Thailand, not Kenya or India, and there is little sense in bar managers poisoning customers with methanol, or isopropyl alcohols.

Even the cheap spirits have only trace concentrations of these harmful 'fusel oils'.

I suggest that you are probably getting bad ice, or bacterial infected glasses or possibly infected bottles of mixers. Rodents climb on bottles and urinate on to them at night.

I have commonly encountered situations where the printed e-ticket itinerary was demanded (such as at a security station). One time I had a hard time finding it and asked if this is really required. They said it was. I also have heard if you are bumped off a plane for whatever reason (airline goes bust) having a retro paper ticket puts you at an advantage. Still, I really like e-tickets because you don't have to worry about losing it. If you did lose the printout, you can always print another one from the website.

I agree, e-tickets are great. Almost too good to be true, but as you said better to have a printed itinery in hand.

Little chance of Emirates airlines going bust, inchallah.

Rinrada: C/C are credit cards what are F/F?

I second that.

I also use a TV card with my computer, does everything the DVRs do, except the 2000 baht investment for a good tv card wont break the bank.

I'm interested in the USB ported external tuner. I only have broadcast tv and want to record some news broadcasts etc. so that I can play them back and learn the Thai language from them. My question is; how do I hook up the antenna? So far this is a theoretic question....if an antenna can not be connected then I will not try to purchase one. Without an antenna you get nothing where I live...at least on a regular tv you get nothing...with the antenna the reception is ok.

Yes: I am interested as well. Are USB T.V. tuners readily available in Thailand? And would a small wire antenna be enough to receive CH 3,5,7,9,11 etc onto my PC?

Thanks to all replies. BambinA explained with attachments well.

So, I have a print out from the airline website: but this just has my 6 figure reference number and flight details: hope that is enough?

As I said they did not as promised email a proper receipt for the money paid by VISA plus another thing, on <checkmytrip.net> the 6 figure code is unrecognised.

Anyway, it looks like I won't be refused if I have my print-out from the airline website and of course my passport.

I didn't try to use my card for a further 5% off, maybe I should have tried, but it is quite a temporary set up, on the ground floor, with no p.c. monitor for the staff to work out the 5% reduction; so I did not bother trying.

Still happy with my purchases however and will return tomorrow for a more lengthy browse.