Thai-Spy

If his B visa and work permit are both current, he should have no problem getting a multi-B in Kuala Lumpur.

He should also append the company's year-end tax summary to his application if he's a Director.

If you were to submit your passport for a day or two while applying for a visa to a country which did have a diplomatic presence in Thailand, you'd get a receipt for it. Presenting that receipt along with copies of the photo page of your passport, the page with your current stamp, your current Thai visa if any, and your original TM.6 Departure card would probably be acceptable to any Thai cops. It's the one sort of situation (along with showing a police report and re-application receipt due a lost or stolen passport) where'd they'd likely get the gist and give you a pass.

This does not apply at all to mailing your passport away of course since you have nothing at all to show you really had a valid passport in the first place. Anybody with Photoshop and a printer can dummy up a passable copy; thus authorities more and more insist on the original article. If you really have to do this and you really aren't comfortable, pre-empt any problems by introducing yourself at the local police station to a senior Thai policeman, explain what you'll be doing, and ask politely for his name card. After you get your passport make a point to go back and show him your new visa, thank him with a small gift and you've made a new friend.

Perhaps Thailand could finance research into these missiles by selling the aircraft carrier they've never got around to using.

Per that ship's motto: "Occupy The Sky, Occupy The Sea, Chakri Naruebet".

Technically true, since it displaces both air and water.

May it be presumed that the Road Runner was unavailable for comment?

The OP has little to do with doctor-patient confidentiality since it seems the nursing or clerical staff were the culprits. But as a general rule security on any sorts of records -- medical or otherwise -- is very lax here.

Is it DDR or DDR II?

If it is DDR II, I could buy one and you could snap a 2GB, so ur computer will have 2.5GB.

Even if it is DDR, plz tell me the price, maybe u can get my money

Be carefull taking this route, some motherboards will only let you fit matched pairs. Check out your motherboard manual before you do this.

Also check the mobo manual to see if there's a maximum amount of RAM it will support. Acer/Aopen were notorious for capping this capacity. Put too much RAM in some of them and your system will no longer boot.

Regarding discrimination based on colour the last constitution included the following text:

Unjust discrimination against a person on the grounds of the difference

in origin, race, language, sex, age, physical or health condition, personal status,

economic or social standing, religious belief, education or constitutionally political

view, shall not be permitted.

I do not know whether a school’s preference in the colour of its teachers is unjust discrimination. If you think it is, I guess you have to wait for the promulgation of the new constitution and if it includes a similar clause you can then sue the school that rejects your application on the basis of your colour.

--

Maestro

With all due respect, those fine sounding words appear in Chapter 3 of the Constitution of 1997. That chapter title is, significantly, "Rights and Liberties of the Thai People". The Constitution of 1997 as rendered to English does not contain the word foreigner nor any guarantees of their rights.

Targetted ads is the whole idea about Gmail. Its all automatic, noone reads your email.

I'm not that stupid to think there is some team of people reading each and every Email that goes through Google, but there IS something "not quite right" about the whole thing

How DOES it target the ads?

And just think of the privacy issues for a moment

Penkoprod

You signed away your right to certain forms of privacy including those targeted ads when you agreed to the Google Terms of Service and opened the account. And frankly your email is no more unsafe with Google than any other email provider; your personal communications are still sitting on one or more computers not under your exclusive control. One thing in favor of Google is that they are very high profile and if they were genuinely misusing data in any way there be an immediate howl from the technocratic chattering classes.

I don't really know if Thailand has the ability to develop a missile or not. We could make a judgement on this based on Thailand's track record for developing major technical research and engineering projects. Can anyone name some major research and engineering projects that have been developed by Thailand?.....I can't think of any but maybe there are some or is one. If there are none then this doesn't give me confidence that a missile system is a realisitic possibility. Anyone know of any they have successfully completed so far?

If you were going to hire someone to develop a missile for you wouldn't you want to see a list of projects they had successfully completed before you handed over the money?

For that matter are there enough qualified specialists being produced by Thailand to even staff this project? Or toss out the word qualified; are there even enough warm bodies with degrees? Keep in mind that with no similar project currently underway (except some explosives work which can be adapted to warheads), everything has to be built from scratch. The brain-drain on more profitable endeavours would be frightful and only serve to set back overall economic development.

That argument would be more believable if it was different offices giving different interpretations.. The point I was badly trying to make is the same offices are reading hte rules to the negative in all possible ways.. Eg the same office is giving a block of 180 days (qand hence small amount of days entry even if well under 90) AND also treating it as rolling (if your block ends you dont get a fresh 30 day entry.. Being told they must now have a tourist)..

In fact I cant think of a single interpretation that has been favorable for Thai longer stay visitors in the last 6 months ?? Surely it can all be incompetence..

In that case something certainly is amiss although, again, it is just one possible interpretation albeit the least favorable one. As for the most favorable possible interpretation... The newest regs don't leave many cracks for sunshine to squeeze through. The best possible news would be that a very senior Immigration official is aware of the confusion and misinterpretations and will issue a definitive and unambiguous directive. While that might not be good news, at least everyone would know where they stand.

You're right that the bigger picture hasn't been great, but as you said earlier (and many others have said) it is their country, after all. One point that remains (and its probably as boring to read again as it is to type again) is that Thailand seems to want to more tightly integrate those foreigners that can be integrated, and say goodbye to those who can't or won't fit the programme whether or not they are cashed-up and well-intentioned.

The big spending oil worker on 28 and 28 doesnt have much opportunity between rig and bangkok to stop for a tourist to satisfy his next 28 day downtime..

Local area being Phuket specifically Patong.. I must say that of my expat mates perhaps 1/2 of them are oil or contract workers.. Many of them spend 150k - 250k or so in thier months off here.. They spend on average more (IMO) than the average tourist and do so for 6 months a year.. If the options get too restrictive they will find another easy place that wants thier money..

Now I readily admit that Phuket and the environs I hang out in in the more expat and less tourist bars is not representative of the issue as a whole, its probably the worst hit by this.. Tho I still think the indirect effect of losing these people will be far greater than is estimated.

Your forward-looking concern for those bars and other facilities which specifically cater to those people is astute. But, any overspecialized business is at risk during a time of economic or regulatory adjustment. As with any business it's up to the individual owner to figure out how to sail with the changing tides.

'Tiny Bubbles' singer Don Ho dies at 76

HONOLULU - Legendary crooner Don Ho, who entertained tourists for decades wearing raspberry-tinted sunglasses and singing the catchy signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," has died. He was 76.

He died Saturday morning of heart failure, publicist Donna Jung said.

Ho had suffered with heart problems for the past several years, and had a pacemaker installed last fall. In 2005, he underwent an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart in Thailand.

R.I.P.

Perimeter defense is the best option. Keep them away from the wall with thorny bushes. Keep them from getting over the wall with spiked steel and a motion detection system linked to floodlights. Video security warning signs on the exterior make a good bluff as long as they are readable at night.

The last thing you want is to deal with is panicked intruders who are inside the wall with no obvious means of escape. In that case, go to a safe room with a cell phone and wait for the cops to come sort it out.

But there's a dilemma ... how long would you be waiting for the police ?

Not long at all if they know there's spot cash waiting for them.

Perimeter defense is the best option. Keep them away from the wall with thorny bushes. Keep them from getting over the wall with spiked steel and a motion detection system linked to floodlights. Video security warning signs on the exterior make a good bluff as long as they are readable at night.

The last thing you want is to deal with is panicked intruders who are inside the wall with no obvious means of escape. In that case, go to a safe room with a cell phone and wait for the cops to come sort it out.

The whole system is a mess.. I have to conclude they are reading every possible intepretation to make it awkward.. Its a block when they want its rolling when they want.. Either way they seem intent on stopping the use of 30 day stamps for anything other than the most simple of tourism purposes and package holiday maker. All well and good, its thier country and thier call, but where I live the economy is very much benefited from the person who works overseas and parties in Thailand on his downtime.. To give that up and send these very mobile big spenders elsewhere is going to have a large effect locally.

As Napoleon is reputed to have said: "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by simple incompetence". The fact that different Immigration offices are working from different interpretations of the regulations is not a sinister act. The same problem can be found when dealing with different offices of any government ministry or department. The tendency of Thai government functions to break down into fiefdoms under quasi-independent direction is well known and unlikely to change any time soon.

The burden of compliance to get a proper tourist visa rather than relying solely on visa exemptions is not that great for most people. Undoubtedly it will pose a hardship for some but they will be in the minority. Of course it's human nature to feel hard done by; when you've enjoyed a privilege for a long time it starts to feel like a natural right. Government by its very nature prefers to deal with categories of people rather than individual cases, and it's impossible to frame regulations that satisfy everyone's interests.

It would be interesting to know which local area you're referring to, but generally speaking the behavior of the "downtimers" in economic terms is not that different from the more typical mom-and-pop tourist, aside from the number of days spent in Thailand. But in general terms these frequent visitors are so few on a percentage basis that even losing all of them wouldn't make a great dent in the tourist revenues.

It's not clear if the OP is entering Thailand by train, plane or other means of transportation. If by train, there have not been any recent reports of "show cash" or "show ticket" at the Padang Basar Immigration checkpoint where the Bangkok-Butterworth train crosses the border.

the atm machines we used while we were in samui were the ones that were outside a bank.funny thing was i would of used any machine but my m8 was adament he only wanted to use the purple machines which i think were bank of thiland or somthing like that

the best way when using an atm is to cover the keypad with your bag/wallet or hand.so even if the atm did have a false fronf or card reader installed then your information would be pretty worthless.

Purple is probably Siam Commercial Bank.

If the fraud is being done by an insider, i.e. one with access to the guts of the ATM, then all bets are off. The PIN can be recorded internally in a number of ways, none of which involve the external security camera. Covering the keypad when entering the PIN is a good defense against "shoulder surfing", but in turn someone still needs to clone your card or come into possession of the original by whatever means.

Thailand has decided to develop and produce rockets and missiles in a radical shift towards building an indigenous defence industry,

rockets and missiles ? defence against who exactly ? laos , cambodia , burma ?

those countries are not exactly highly tooled up are they ?

In a word, Malaysia, at least in terms of a missile capability which likely includes both air- and ground-launched systems. Rockets covers a much wider range of applications, especially for ground war against a relatively low-tech opponent.

And there is of course the irony of a country seeking to position itself as a weapons developer and exporter at the same it discusses enshrining Buddhism in its constitution as the official state religion...

Don't forgot those countries who supposedly believe in "turning the other cheek" and "loving their neighbor as themselves" as well. There's no irony in their practices whatsoever.

You mean those horrible countries that have enshrined separation of church and state in their constitutions? The ones that don't leave religious minorities to die by crushing suffocation by the dozens in the backs of military vehicles?

We could play this game all day, but it would be much more interesting to hear your thoughts on the implications of the armaments development initiative to the Thai economy and regional security.

Great, just great. Another SEA arms race begins, just like before the '97 crises.

Soldiers get their expensive toys, another avenue of possible graft is opened, and that in a time of economical difficulties, and budget cuts in elementary civilian programs such as public health services.

Yeah, that's one way to look at it. Another way is that this could potentially save Thailand millions of dollars in the future from keeping importing (and depending on) foreign techonology and in turn could use the money in other civilian programs.

Another reason that I posted this was to show that Thai engineers aren't as incompetent as some ignorant people on here have said.

Given the scale of Thailand's defense requirements they'll have real trouble producing enough units for domestic consumption to offset development costs. The only way this becomes profitable is by exporting in significant quantities.

That being the case, it is the marketplace which will decide on Thai engineering competence; and even that hinges to some degree on whether they pursue original designs or simply copy/steal from other extant weapons systems.

And there is of course the irony of a country seeking to position itself as a weapons developer and exporter at the same it discusses enshrining Buddhism in its constitution as the official state religion...

The price given in the papers is indeed for the "gold everybody wears" which is approximately 23K.

Thai gold is .965 pure. (24 * .965 = 23.16 karat). Gold in the west is quoted at .999 purity.

When you buy gold you are paying the jeweler's selling rate plus the cost of the workmanship on the item. When you sell gold you will get only their buying rate which is typically 100 baht or so less than their selling rate per 1 baht-weight.

Life or death ? Depends what was in the sandwich

From the photos it looks like some type of liverwurst.

And his name was Heinz Dürr (or Duerr if you can't manage the umlaut).

The PCN seems to be living down to their lack of journalistic standards.

Condolences to family and friends. R.I.P. Herr Dürr.

Have you tried using your free [email protected] email address yet?

Just when you thought you'd heard it all...

DNA tests probably won't be required. If they are, be prepared to pay the premium for the types of test that can distinguish between close family members. This implies needing a sample from the brother as well as the OP and his child.

And how much effort needs to be put in by the OP depends mostly on his goals and purposes. It may simply be enough to legitimate the child; there are ample examples of one man legally raising another man's child, and ready means to do so with the full blessings of the Thai government. The attitude of the OP's home government must also be considered, of course.

It might sound odd to many Westerners not do everything possible to correct the birth certificate itself, but it may be the smoother path. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

A bit of a tangent perhaps, but you have to wonder if and when visa run operators are going to lose patience. From various sources it sounds like they now spend a fair bit of time explaining the new visa regs, interceding with Thai Immigration examiners at the borders and so forth. Although most reputable operators do their best to be helpful, they've started to move well away from their original charter which was simply to get you to the border, grease the process into and out of Cambodia, and get you home. You might anticipate a day where they stop and think about this and subsequently raise their prices especially if the operators start to compare notes and form a cartel.

A smart visa run operator might also see the value in initiating a special service on a twice-weekly basis for a limited clientèle -- one specifically for those on formal visas (B and O mostly) who just require stamps and who are not on overstay. There would probably be some appeal to these clients: not to have their visa run subject to undue delays caused by "tourist" issues; having to wait in the sun/heat/rain while "tourists" have their passports scrutinised and calculations done, etc.

If done by one operator, it's likely that they'd be able to fill that coach once or twice a week and maximize their profits. Thai Immigration would probably welcome it as an improvement and it would certainly simplify their workload, perhaps even to the point of dedicating one service window for the 20 minutes or so required to do the very straight-forward processing involved.

It does seem a little disingenuous to allow the touts on the arrival level to call their service a "taxi". Most visitors would probably expect a taxi to have a meter. "Limo" or "private car service" would be more apt to describe a fixed fee.

For anyone who tires of the long wait for a taxi on the ground level beneath arrival door C and entrance 10, the smart move is to walk back to about entrance 7. There's another meter taxi desk there that rarely has a queue.