CaptHaddock

^ are they not just cheap magnifying plastic / glass ?

I am sure you are right. The point I was trying to make was that most of these Top Charon type outlets are only interested in separating you from your money regardless of your eye needs. From personal experience and my wife's I can only believe the person who determines the prescription has only had minimal training. My wife paid something in the order of 7k baht for a pair of reading glasses and she said that her old ones were better than the new ones. She made several visits to the shop and the same person re-examined her eyes and told her the script he had given her was correct. She took those glasses to Dr Paradon and he said that those glasses were not right for her eyes. In her case if she had gone to see Dr Paradon first it would have only cost her 1600 baht (exam + 10 pairs). Instead it cost her closer to 8.5k baht.

That is why I would rather pay someone like Dr Paradon 1400 baht for a proper eye examination and get the correct prescription. I am then free to choose who fills that prescription.

Or you go to chinatown and buy a pair of every lenses they have. Then at home you try them all out and go back to buy 10 more of the best ones.

I have never ever seen customers in any of the top charoen shops.

Top Charoen is reputed to be a money-laundering operation, not a bona-fide retail business that actually needs customers.

CaptHaddock

We'll just have to wait an see how PissIt gets on in his discussions with Google, Facebook, and Line next month, won't we!

You think they are going to announce their cooperation? We'll probably have to wait until the next Snowden or Wikileaks to know the truth.

According to an article in that newspaper a Thai cabinet minister is calling for changes to the 30 baht healthcare program to charge unspecified co-payments to patients. He claims that Thailand cannot afford to support the system although he apparently does not object to the proposed 7% increase in the military budget. Govt civil servants get healthcare at a cost to the govt of 65 billion baht per year for 5 million people while the 30 baht scheme covers 48 million people at a cost of 101 billion baht. The minister did not suggest that the government cannot afford to continue to cover the cost of the healthcare for the civil servants.

There is no mention in the article of studies that have shown that the 30 baht scheme reduced infant mortality by 13% in the first year alone or other studies that show that the program alone has reduced poverty in Thailand overall by 30%.

Class warfare.

No one has noticed that she is not, in fact, naked at all? It's true that under the regalia she is indeed naked, but all of us are naked underneath our clothes.

CaptHaddock

You've provided an interesting link (relating to a specific case from October 2009).

Whilst that specific article is critical of Microsoft, their action on that occasion must be seen in the context that they were dealing with the democratically-elected government of Thailand.

Before suggesting a visit to lalaland, I suggest that it's a bit premature to assume Microsoft (or the others) will respond the same way to heavy-handed action by the junta (especially when Article 44 is cited as justification).

You are being very naive. Companies are in business to make money not to protect your rights or your privacy. Remember IBM's data processing machines, staffed by IBM employees, helping keep track of processes at Auschwitz?

Google and NSA close working relationship:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/06/nsa-google_n_5273437.html

Yahoo In China

http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/08/yahoo-in-china-an-unfair-attack/

For those who missed it, in short Yahoo was attacked by both sides of politics for complying with a request under Chinese law, in China, to provide information on a political dissident.

The rhetoric was raw; San Mateo Democrat Chairman Tom Lantos called Yahoo moral pygmies, and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., compared Yahoo’s cooperation with the Chinese government to companies that cooperated with Nazi Germany during World War II.

Calling Google, Facebook, and Line reps in for attitude adjustment. PissIt bettet start learning how to herd cats!

If you imagine that those internet companies are going to deny the Thai military anything they want, you are off in lalaland.

Take Microsoft, for instance:

http://business-humanrights.org/en/thailand-privacy-international-says-microsoft-handed-information-to-govt-used-in-l%C3%A8se-majest%C3%A9-case

Coupled with the recent report on the low efficiency rating that Standard & Poors has given to Thai banks, it will be interesting to see if they can compete effectively outside of Thailand.

Lots of misinformation here. The OP's main concerns are a keystroke logger in his computer and eavesdropping on his wifi connection while he has a session with his bank.

1. The best protection against a keystroke logger is not to browse the internet with a computer that you also use for money transactions to avoid infection by a keystroke logger in the first place. You don't actually need a second physical computer though. You can download a linux CD image, burn it to a CD, and then boot from that to connect to your bank. There are many, for instance, knoppix:

http://knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Even if your computer already has become infected with a keystroke logger, it will not be able to start if you boot from a CD instead of the hard drive. You don't need to know much about linux just to start up the browser. No need to worry about viruses, adware, keystroke loggers, bloatware, or other malware.

2. When you connect to a bank website you are using HTTPS which is an encrypted communications protocol. Using an additional encryption layer like a VPN would not add any additional protection for the session. The VPN would protect unencrypted communication like HTTP browsing or email, but your session with the bank website is already secure from eavesdropping.

However, the larger point is that most of the actual risk in the real world does not originate on your own computer at all, although all of the uninformed people believe it does. In a career in IT in financial institutions I have noticed that end-users, all of whom lack basic knowledge of how systems work, always start the discussion by proposing their favorite solution, just like the OP. By contrast, the engineering approach is to start by identifying the problem. In this case, where is the likely risk to his assets at the bank?

Not on his own computer at all, as it turns out. The likeliest attack is on the bank's own computers. Or brokerage firm or credit card issuer. I have heard statistics estimating that as much as 97% of the losses originate on the institution's computers, not the users'. I would certainly expect a US bank to make me whole in such a case, but would not want to test it. The only defense for the end-user is to spread your money among several banks since you are incapable of assessing the risk management of particular banks.

I buy my glasses from

http://www.39dollarglasses.com/

in the US. The most I have paid was $128.00 for a pair with progressive lenses. I am not aware of the width issue, but the company is a US company that you can call on the phone to ask them about it.

Before I knew what was what about buying glasses in Thailand I made the mistake of going into a Top Charoen shop. I plunked down 50% with the order. When I went to check them the lenses were so wrong I couldn't see out of them. Buying glasses in a Thai store is certainly much riskier than in the US.

After January they will not renew his passport if he has not been filing. You have to file every year regardless of what you are earning. Currently anything below 96500 and if you stay out of the USA is tax free

Flatly untrue that every American citizen has to file. Filing requirements are here:

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p554/ch01.html

I think Thai culture is one where direct eye contact is impolite in some contexts rather than a claim of sincerity or equality as in Anglo-Saxon culture. Of course, we are going to misinterpret gestures and behavior because our own culture has taught us what is natural and universal even though our culture is neither.

It would be naive in the extreme to attempt to understand Thai behavior as an expression of Buddhism. Thais are as fond of sin as Christians.

So fine, then name the vendor and tell me what the experience was. General advice is not what I am looking for.

Thanks, but I am not interested in alternatives. I expect it is hard, but not impossible, to get a quality job done here, which is why I am asking for actual experience with a local vendor along with actual prices paid, if possible. In other situations I favor DIY, but not this.

Can anyone recommend a carpet cleaning service for central Bangkok? I have some orientals that I would like taken away and cleaned. Cost information would be helpful as well.

For some people losing weight can eliminate the GERD. It did for me.

Probably you can. Try it.

Why are is there never any hysteria over these weapons that kill people all the time?

Line 'em up portray them as the Evil Killing Machines that they are.

I guess guns go "BANG" though, which makes them more scary.

Congratulations on the dumbest question so far. When was the last time you read about someone killing 16 people in a crowd with a machete?

Weren't they going to legalize kratom a few years ago? What happened to that?

My report date is Dec. 22. I counted yesterday, Dec. 7, as fifteen days prior, but got the message to go see my local office and couldn't complete the submission. Today it went through without a problem. So, looks like the earliest to file online is fourteen days before the due date, not fifteen. They must count differently.

You can say this to help them get a sense of what kind of a guy you are:

ko toot pom ben khon ngoo maak yaab maak

Austin, TX. Not cheap but it's a vibrant city with an excellent mix of people. We're also tolerant of people like Jingthing. You know... food critics.

I get the appeal of Austin but have judged it too expensive (for me).

Also no expanded Medicaid.

I was looking at McAllen because it's near the border.

McAllen? Which has the reputation as having one of the highest per capita health care costs in the US?

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/01/the-cost-conundrum

Sure.

But as I've said the plan was to access the medications I need in Mexico, cheaply, and try to avoid the U.S. health care system before age 65.

I'm not really serious about McAllen but the border access is a feature.

Look as far as I'm concerned the entire U.S. health care system is a disaster, pre-Obamacare and post-Obamacare. That was a big part of the reason that I "escaped from America" in the first place (and I know I am not unique in that). But for people living there, they need to adapt to it, and my adaption when I did live there often involved Canada and Mexico.

The Canada part is out now ... they made the import of meds illegal.

People can get all ideological about this all they like, but that was my experience and it radicalized me. Sure doctors deserve to be well off, but the vast majority of health care money shouldn't be spent for end of life time either.

I dread the thought of ever being subject again to the US healthcare system. Beyond the outrageous costs, the quality is sub-standard, except for the top-level. Doctors are entitled to a living wage, but are not entitled to make up 40% of the top 1% of the US.

Austin, TX. Not cheap but it's a vibrant city with an excellent mix of people. We're also tolerant of people like Jingthing. You know... food critics.

I get the appeal of Austin but have judged it too expensive (for me).

Also no expanded Medicaid.

I was looking at McAllen because it's near the border.

McAllen? Which has the reputation as having one of the highest per capita health care costs in the US?

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/01/the-cost-conundrum

Like many things else American, the quality of health care depends a great deal on where one lives. We certainly have never waited weeks for any kind of appointment up in my neck of the woods. Most times we see a doctor with a couple of days unless it is urgent and then get seen very quickly.

Funny thing is that in Canada as mentioned I can get into see a doctor in hours in any major center. In the U.S. and we are talking Santa Monica or Newport Beach it takes days or weeks to see a GP. The GP is the first line of defense in correcting the problem before it becomes more serious. The US health care system is not effective for average Americans. I wish Americans would wake up and see how their media and the corps dumb them down and feed them misinformation to pad their wallets.

"It is rare that a simple matter of patient choice causes an international flap.

But that's what happened when 60-year-old Danny Williams of St. John's, Newfoundland, decided to go to the U.S. for heart surgery.

That's because Williams isn't just any old Newfoundlander -- he's the premier of Canada's easternmost province, the head of its government.

The disclosure Tuesday that Williams was in an undisclosed location in the U.S., having an undisclosed procedure that he couldn't get in Newfoundland, brought catcalls from both sides of the border."

LINK

And your point is?

On the whole, Canadians are not flocking to the US for health care:

An estimated 52,000 Canadians — half of those from Ontario — left the country to receive non-emergency health care in 2014, according to a report titled Leaving Canada for Medical Care.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/estimated-52-000-canadians-sought-medical-care-outside-canada-fraser-institute-says-1.2997726

From a population of 35 million that would be 0.15% of the Canadian population seeking treatment in all countries abroad.

On the other hand Californians do indeed flock to Mexico for health care or, at least they did in 2009. One hopes the flow has been reduced by the ACA.

Driven by rising health care costs at home, nearly 1 million Californians cross the border each year to seek medical care in Mexico, according a new paper by UCLA researchers and colleagues published today in the journal Medical Care.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/nearly-one-million-californians-92807

The population of California is 38 million. So, that means 2.63% of Californians sought treatment abroad, or 17 times as many Californians as Canadians. Not exactly a resounding endorsement of the US healthcare system.

I taught myself the Thai writing system using Marvin Brown's AUA books in two months spending about an hour a day. Later in the Intensive Thai Program at Chulalongkorn I relearned the system in five weeks of Basic 2 (four hours per day plus homework), although we covered additional material as well. So, I think a flash course in 5 days is not going to work for most people because it is going to present too much material too quickly. Some people might get over the hump and finish learning the writing system afterward. Crash courses for second language acquisition, like miracle weight-loss diets, seldom work.

Unless you are an ethnolinguist doing field work in some obscure language, it hard to imagine a bigger waste of time than learning IPA.

Some companies like Buffalo sell routers with dd-wrt already installed at regular retail prices.