wpcoe

Good you saved your father's life. I hope he has a speedy and full recovery.

Here four simple tests for people in your situation:

- ask the person to smile (this will not be possible – paralysis)

- ask the person to say a simple sentence, for instance: it is a beautiful day today

- ask the person to lift both arms

- ask the person to stick his/her tongue out. If the tongue is bent and does not come out in a straight way, this could be a sign for a stroke, too.

If the person fails in those tests he/she needs to go to see a doctor, no matter how fine he/she feels.

The first three tests are the first three letters of the word "stroke": Smile Talk Raise. It has been an easy way for me to remember it. I may even have read that here on ThaiVisa some time ago?

Also, if a stroke is even remotely considered possible, do NOT give aspirin, no matter how big or small the headache may be. Aspirin can be deadly in certain types of strokes.

I wish they made a movie of her already!!

You do know that she was a TV series many years back?

See: Wonder Woman episode guide for information.

Our Mail server is not in blacklist. But AOL have some rate linit policy for receiving mail . BTW we already try to contact with AOL to get more receiver or open our mail server to IP white list.

True support

WOW! Can it be "true"? Is there now a "True support" presence on ThaiVisa.com? A very welcome addition to the membership, if so!

I have a wide-screen 20" LCD (Samsung SyncMaster 203B) which has native resolution of 1400 x 1050. I use it in portrait mode at 1050 x 1400, and am very pleased!

The only negative about using it in the pivoted mode is that the backlighting on the left is brighter than on the right (intended to normally be brighter on the bottom when not pivoted, which I think is standard?), so I have it turned slightly toward the left to have uniform lighting. Even at that I *like* being able to see full pages in a readable resolution in word processor, and being able to read longer pieces without scrolling in a browser, like in a forum such as this.

So, what's the consensus here on the proper pronunciation of "Siam"?

see-AHM ?

SIE-am? (I mean SIE pronounced like the English word "sigh")

or something else?

I went to IT Grand and it seems they are either unaware of the AMD X2 price drop or they are weeks or months behind market movement?

I've always attributed the time lag in price drops to be due to over-inventory, or slow moving inventory, of stock in Thailand. i.e. If they bought a large lot of a certain processor before AMD/Intel cut the wholesale price, the retail price in Thailand won't drop until those higher-wholesale-priced chips are no longer in inventory. Now, that's just been my assumption, and I'm interested in other comments and theories.

I don't know the Rasayana Retreat mentioned earlier, in Pattaya. If someone has contact info for that, please post.

From http://www.rasayanaretreat.com/contacts.htm :

Pattaya

179/201 Moo 5 North Pattaya Road,

Nakiua,

Banglamung,

Chonburi 20150

Tel: 038-253-8947

Pattaya People would like to ask our readers to inform us of any crimes committed by foreigners here in Pattaya, especially against other foreigners, as the police force would be happy to know about these crimes.

<deleted>? Why not just report it to the police directly?

Or, is Pattaya People offering to forward anonymous tips to the police? If so, one could cause lots of inconvenience to their competitors or enemies by flooding the police with anonymous tips via Pattaya People.

[edited for grammatical correction for clarity]

(I despise such long quotes and subquotes such as what follows, but as you will see I found it necessary to clarify a point.)

Condo owners sue for sea view

PATTAYA: -- A group of Jomtien apartment owners has asked the Administrative Court in Rayong to halt the construction of a new residential building that will block their sea views.

Ten foreign Jomtien Complex Condotel apartment owners are fighting to preserve their uninterrupted beach views following Pattaya City Council building permission for a new apartment building directly in front of them.

The complaint asserts Pattaya City wrongly granted construction permission to View Talay Jomtien Condominium.

It adds the permission did not meet 1978 planning regulations and alleges it will deprive them of their present unobstructed views of Jomtien Beach.

Jomtien Complex Condotel resident of two years Richard Haines, 62, retired, is one of the plaintiffs. The United States expatriate claims the development of View Talay 7 is in breach of planning law.

The building is on the beachfront and will obstruct views, he argued. "I purchased my condo in October 2005 when I decided to make Thailand my retirement home.

"But the new View Talay 7 building will block me from ever seeing another sunset from my condo," he said.

Haines alleged View Talay 7 was illegal because it was 14 metres in height and within 200 metres of the sea. Buildings of this height are prohibited within 200 metres of the shore by planning law, he said.

Pattaya Mayor Niran Wattana-sartsathorn said the city correctly issued building permission.

"I'm not worried that some foreigners are suing the city in the Administrative Court because we are just an agent to mediate this problem.

"If the foreigners succeed it will be a precedent for others and maybe developers will think before getting into problems like this," Niran added.

The court will hold a preliminary hearing tomorrow.

--The nation 2007-03-27

And your point is?

Hi Peter,

The point is there is still hope in protecting one's right against view obstruction. Don't be surprised if Richard Haines win the case because the Administrative Court is sharp on any holes on the planning permit given by the local authority. Good luck, Mr. Haines!

Irene, I think PETERTHEEATER's point was that tropiccapricorn apparently simply quoted a previous post, en toto, with no input or commentary of his/her own. I see that a LOT on the forums: people simply quoting an entire previous quote with nothing added/corrected/changed. What's up with that?

It's not only a waste of bandwidth (especially for folks using dial-up modems) it takes time and effort to keep flipping back and forth with the original post to see if the new post has imbedded comments, another tactic that I find annoying. Often folks will imbed comments in a different color than the quoted text, and that's fine, but to have to pick through (usually long) original threads to find the additions is tedious, at best. So, most times, I just skip such a post.

Statements were recorded and after the injured people recovers they will have to negotiate and make a deal.

And, again, no mention of traffic citations?

The police followed and were able to find him at the back of the condo 20 minutes later. When the man had no where else to run, he jumped from the building that was about 6 – 8 meters high. This injured him but lucky he didn’t break any bones.

All things are relative, I guess. There are folks (I won't mention any names) who might wish a drug pusher had broken every bone in his body in the fall.

The police detained Atu until Mr. Nerisio recovers so that they can negotiate and make an agreement over medical costs etc.

This is the third news report I've read today that makes reference to detaining folks until they make restitution to their victims (the other two were accidents: a drunk farang on a motorbike on Beach Road, and the other a Thai motorist running a red light and crashing at Sukhumvit & Soi Chaiypruek), with no mention of any arrest.

Is the arrest part of the story just not being mentioned, or are we experiencing a "kinder gentler" version of policing?

Or, of course, the other option: get an O-A visa while home in Australia.

Granted, it requires a criminal record check and medical exam (do you think they'll every synch the requirements within country with oveseas and ditch those two?), but it is an option and with planning can be used to cover a two-year period.

Good on Mr. Ilichev for slapping at least one of the crooks. I sure hope he isn't charged with assault!

Is there any way the thieves could be held responsible for his death? I'd like to think so, but somehow I doubt it.

banqkapiboy - RE View Talay 5. Is that on Dongtang (sp) beach and isn't that a gay beach

The "gay beach" is just one section of Dongtan Beach. There's also the Russian section.

Seriously, the beach has probably as big a non-gay section as gay.

And, to keep you up with the times, the KFC closed a few months ago, being taken over by the restaurant next door whose name escapes me.

For those of you who advised he'll "get used to" the cocks crowing, you must sleep much more soundly than I, or have more tolerance (toleration?)

My first apartment in Bangkok, was on Sukhumvit Soi 26. EVERY morning, waaay before 6am, the charming roosters across the street would start their racket. No way I could sleep through it unless I closed the windows, turned on the air con, and played music on the stereo. The apartment was nice and cool, had big trees around it and I loved sleeping with the windows open, except for those stinking roosters!

Living downtown in a major metropolis of what, 6 million people, and I can't sleep because of roosters crowing! It's almost laughable now, but not at the time...

This is a quote from an opening post in another thread: "From, Thailand property report," where an uncited source was quoted:

A significant player in the bid to attract retirees is the Bangkok-based Thai Longstay Management (TLM), a company that is 30% owned by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The group offers qualified tourists the TLM Privilege Card, which provides for priority service in airport immigration lines as well as airport transfers. And perhaps most significantly - depending on the level of paid membership - foreigners can receive one-year multiple-entry visas. Packages cost between Bt6,000 and Bt72,000.

I didn't realize TLM was involved with visas. I vaguely recall TLM being majority-owned by some Thaksin crony and operating with some shady outfit in Samui or Phuket offering foreigners land ownership.

It took some digging on their web site, since most of the links from the main page are "under construction," but I found the page: http://www.thailongstay.co.th/en/all_package.php with details of the various plans. Regarding visas offered with each plan:

Silver package, B6,000/yr: no visa

Gold package, B20,000/yr: one-year single-entry

Platinum package, B28,000/yr: one-year multi-entry

VIP package, B50,000/yr: "one-year for property investor" (???)

Blue Diamond package, B72,000/yr: one-year multi-entry

How can a private company provide a visa? What is the "one-year for property investor" visa??

Could the B20,000 package be the ticket for single folks under 50 who currently seem to be left doing visa-runs?

I think you need to understand the reason why buildings are not as well made here as in other places. Lets say this is a history lesson. In the old days all buildings were made from wood, and wood does not last long in a tropical climate. Thus building were built adequatly and cheaply to last a short period of time (15 years?). Also in some areas, people would dismantle their houses and either move them or rebuild them. Hence not designed to last a long time. This mindset followed on to buildings made of concreate/bricks/steel; the building was built cheaply and to last a short period of time. In alot of places you see buildings flattened and then a new building built. Maybe its a case that the building is out of style or is not suitable for a new purpose and the owner decides to build something modern or suitable.

Fascinating perspective.

I've read/heard that Thai owners are not very gung-ho on condo upkeep and maintenance, and that would help explain that mindset.

The flushing removes good bacteria, and you'll notice colon-related problems for a few days, until the colony of bacteria gets renewed.

Very good point. Which is why I don't understand why the places doing "colonics" don't recommend taking probiotics afterward. It took me a while to even FIND a place that had acidophilius in Pattaya ... Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital.

A course of antibiotics will also kill those "friendly" bacteria in the colon. Again, I wonder why it isn't standard procedure to at the least, recommend, and even better, prescribe, probiotics to be taken after the antibiotics run their course. If prescribed, at least insurance might help subsidize the cost?

I can understand your skepticism.

If I understand this, these "Special Immigration Agents" invaded the premises of the Immigrations Police, implying they don't trust them to do their jobs?

Not and still meet the 21 days remaining requirement as his visa ends on the 10th and he does not turn 50 for two more weeks. Best he obtains a visa.

Oh, I forgot about that rule!

It wasn't enforced when I changed my visa-waiver stamp to Non-Immigrant O back in September, so I keep forgetting that it can apply. Thanks for the reminder.

Why do all the automatic moto-sais look like spawn of Ultraman? Why not a nice utilitarian look like a Honda Wave?

I'm puzzled why a "current cheque" account was not acceptable and was deemed "not lawful".

I thought the base criteria for the type of acceptable bank accounts was that the funds had to be accessible, and not locked up and untouchable, e.g. a municipal bond that matures in five years. Assuming that the "rationale" for having the B800,000 in a Thai bank is to show that you will not be a financial burden on the kingdom, why wouldn't a current/checking account be acceptable?

The "not lawful" comment sounds like such accounts are illegal in Thailand. (?)

Interesting.. I didnt know that you could work a 12 month and gain a 12 month extension based on UK based assets..

I was surprised, too. If you re-enter Thailand on the 364th (365th?) day of validity of the original O-A visa, you are stamped with a permission to stay for another 365 days. If you plan to leave Thailand during that period, though, you need to get re-entry permit(s) before you leave to keep the permission to stay alive. Else, when you re-enter the country past the 365th day of validity of the original O-A visa, you have no valid visa anymore.