pete_r

Amazing; how does he still have a job?

His bosses are older than him. Is it safe to guess that they don't use internet either?

I will add http://www.emusic.com to the list of sites to try. For 10 USD per month, one gets 30 tracks to download (MP3 format). The selection of music available is very wide, however there are very few mainstream artists. There are no restrictions on the use of the tracks you buy.

The drawback is that you can't accumulate tracks: You have to download 30 tracks every month or lose them.

Their marketing department offers 25 free tracks upon signing up (just cancel the account immediately if you want only the free tracks - I did so and was offered 80 tracks for 10 USD 6 month later as a re-activation offer).

No problem to use the site from Thailand, using a UK credit card.

Ramintra Road, when going towards Minburi:

* On the left side of the road shortly before Ramintra soi 63 (between KM5 and KM6) (PTT NGV).

* On the right side of the road, 500m after the Eastern ring road and Fashion Island (KM11).

* On the left side of the road near Soi 109 (between KM12 and KM13), as already mentioned by Spaniel.

Paholyothin road, when going towards Laksi circle:

On the left side of the road, between Bangkhen bus station and Wat Pra Si, about 1 km before Laksi circle (KM17 or 18).

My assumption would be that the overall export performance is good because large companies have ways to soften the effects of currency fluctuations and are still doing well, while at the same time smaller exporters may be suffering.

The slowing down of the imports makes the trade surplus look good, but it also reflects decreasing investments in new projects and a lower confidence in the economy.

Here's a little curiosity... A flight from Suvarnabhumi to Don Mueang, showing on a departure board at Suvarnabhumi (picture shamelessly borrowed from the Pantip forum).

For information, on the Thai airways website, flight TG1222 is announced from Phuket at 21.35 to Don Mueang at 00.20 with a "technical stop" mentioned.

Good to know, thanks.

These mini-vans (rot-too = car-cupboard) link different locations around Bangkok. Most are not as new as the ones to Suvarnabhumi, but cheap and convenient they are.

I don't see people spending more until they know where the economy is going. And they won't know that until the elections.

A quick note to say that I disagree with the use of the word "animal" applied to the perpetrators of the massacres and bombings in the South, whoever they are. Atrocities are done by people who de-humanize their perceived enemies, from Abu Graib to the terrorist attacks of Al-Qaeda and others, including the insurgents in the South. By calling these people animals, we are using the same process of de-humanization as they do, and become no better than them, even if our atrocities are limited to hitting a keyboard.

IMHO

Which area of Thailand?

I've had a good run with hard disks, only ever had an old Maxtor go bad on me. Once it started having bad sectors that was a sign it was on its way out. Wiping the whole disk and reinstalling Windows didn't do much good, kept having problems with this and that, replaced it soon after.

If you have any niggles after reformatting you might be better off buying a new hard disk. An 80GB Samsung sata/pata is only 1500 baht, Seagate or WD a few hundred baht more.

This is exactly correct. Once any disk starts to develop bad sectors, it usually indicates that the end is approaching. Since disks are magnetic, the failure soon spreads like a disease, to other nearby sectors. Save yourself the trouble of re-installing windows etc & buy a new hdd now.

True. There was one problem with opening a file 2 weeks ago, then in the following days problems seemed to multiply on different partitions. I wonder if the start of the hot season has something to do with it.

Thanks cdnvic, I'll follow your advice.

As Penguin said, the disk is probably on its way out. It is two years old and has been operating at high temperatures (no air-conditioning in the room). The Smart function says the highest was 57 Celsius.

Huw, I take a note of your partition layout for my next hard disk. Currently I keep a Windows clean boot on a separate disk, and use it to inspect handy drives suspected of virus infections. Maybe paranoid, but I like the idea of keeping the main hard disk and potential virus infections physically separated.

Thanks a lot for your help.

A technical question, thanks for any answers... I've checked my main HD yesterday, using the manufacturer's utility (Seagate). 86 bad sectors were found and reallocated to spare ones (the disk size is 80GB). A new check today found no new errors.

Now I want to reinstall Windows, as some parts of the operating system may have gone missing (the Notepad has disappeared, making me worry for more important components).

My question is, instead of only re-formatting the C:\ drive and doing a clean install of Windows, I am thinking of zeroing the MBR and re-installing my 4 partitions... Is that a good idea or overkill?

There's no concern about my data, all is already backed-up.

The scientific studies say that the prevalence of MSG intolerance is very low, but that also means that there are a few people who are affected by MSG for real. If my information is correct the figure is between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1000 people, depending on the study one chooses to consider.

After reading through the thread I think it's perfectly possible that Brahmburgers is the unfortunate 1 in a 1000 who has this intolerance, but clinical tests would be needed to get a firm conclusion (self reported symptoms are not enough).

That ass clown doesn't miss a trick, does he? Underhanded jabs at the government for putting the kibash on his lottery scheme, while cloaking himself in the generous light, by giving away money. (or at least offering). Sure would be great to see pure selfless acts of goodwill from the phu yais in this country. Just giving, for the benefit of man. They could all follow the lessons of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Ted Turner in that regard....

Yeah, offering to help students who are short of money because the gov't stopped the program that was funding them is really a terrible thing to do. He should be ashamed of himself for offering to help people!!!!

We all know that Thaksin is only offering to help because he really feels sorry for those kids....put down the bong dude....

What if he was?

Seriously, how many students on that lottery funding are we talking about? If it's 10, no big deal. If it's 1000s, that's a lot of potential supporters...

For what it's worth, my wife protects from the sun the patches where the grass starts to dry, by covering them loosely with large palm tree leaves during the day. I guess a black net would work as well (the type that is used over some car parks). It doesn't look very nice having those leaves lying around, but the grass survives. We water every evening too.

Edit: Spelling mistake

In Bangkok I've seen neem extract for sale in Homepros (pesticides and fertilizers section). The name was written in Thai and I recognized only the word "sadao" (neem), but the picture was telling. Jatujak would be a good place to look as well.

I came across an article in Asia Times on China's strategy to deal with its own Muslim insurgency in Xinjiang. The article describes it as a carrot and stick approach. Be tough with the terrorists (somehow Chinese authorities manage to identify them), and at the same time integrate young people into the system before they are tempted to become insurgents. It could be the way to go for Thailand too.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/IB27Ad01.html

Chinese reportage on terrorism is notoriously problematic, at times imprecise or simply fabricated. For the skeptics, photos of a policeman killed in the raid were also released, showing emotional relatives amid a sea of People's Armed Police paying their final respects. Ironically, China's ability to kill or capture militants without social blowback demonstrates the significant degree to which it has won the population's "hearts and minds", however grudgingly.

China's successful efforts to keep the global jihad from spreading into its territory present a real challenge for al-Qaeda. The organization reportedly trained more than 1,000 Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group that is predominantly Muslim, in camps in Afghanistan prior to September 11, 2001. In late December, al-Qaeda's No 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called for action against "occupation" governments ruling over Muslims, including reference to the plight of Uighurs in western China.

Yet despite this commitment of resources and rhetorical energy, Uighurs across Xinjiang's social spectrum explain that violent resistance is no longer a viable path. Many in Xinjiang believe that insurgents worsen Uighurs' plight by making the Chinese more fearful, thereby more repressive. Uighurs today increasingly participate in the Chinese system as local government and Communist Party officials, educators, informants and police.

To get you on board:

Jehovah witnesses go around and promise the heaven.

Amway dealers go around and promise financial freedom.

Thanks, but no thanks.

One poster has already pointed to www.merchantsofdeception.com

Here are two more links:

http://pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/home.html

http://believethemovie.com/

[Joke mode on]

Global warming? Just increase the air conditioning. Problem solved.

[Joke mode off]

.... "I never wanted to deceive her......but nature gave the male overwhelming desires"

That's what he's saying after his wife died (...and contracting her with HIV/AIDS)

I stopped watching.

LaoPo

Agree with that. It bothers me that the movie puts the responsibility of avoiding the infection only on the wife, and presents the husband attitude as unavoidable. If he knows (or only suspects) that he is infected, it is his duty to inform his wife. There is no excuse for not doing so, it's a matter of life or death.

In the movie he says he loves her, but by telling her the truth he could have saved her life. And he didn't. What kind of love is that?

I appreciate the movie is pragmatic and deals with the society as it is, and not as it should be. But still...

Go on everyone, tell me to wake up and get back to the real world.

Poor people have to rely on others to help them out in times of need. So they have to be friendly with everyone, smile, give the impression of happiness, because humans tend to help people with a happy personality more easily. To caricature, to be happy is part of the "job" of being poor.

Rich people have their bank account to fall back on, so they don't need to pretend to be friendly with their fellow humans, when they are not in the mood.

The above is a generalization. I've also met people with genuinely happy personalities whatever their position on the financial scale.

I guess you've already seen the official information of the embassy in Bangkok:

http://www.vietnamembassy.or.th/visa.html

A year ago, the 1-month tourist visa was about 2000 Bahts and took 4 days to obtain.

Amazing, how does one spot these things???

Internet forums in Thai also talk about up to 60 tanks in Bangkok tonight, and a lot of soldiers at road crossings in Lopburi. Wait and see the news tomorrow.

I find it a bit strange that Sondhi let go of his slot on Channel 11 without a fuss. Is it that he has gone too far and angered someone really big in the CNS or government? Or is he just getting a better position somewhere else?