bowthai

turn off the tv

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away

http://www.ixquick.com/

the search engine with the most privacy.i avoid google,yahoo,msn,etc., and most usa websites unless i want the feds snooping into my seach history or reading my emails.

pepper spray,mace,etc.,are legal though some states have restrictions.as one who's camped and climbed most of my life,i've had several magnum-sized pepper sprays designed for bears.called bearguard,it looks like a mini fire extinguisher and can spray a huge cone-shaped blast up to 25 feet away.fortunately i never had bears or wild dogs to contend with,just lots of snakes and deliverance-looking inbreds.my italian-made stainless steel 9mm berettas in my fanny packs gave me more comfort than any spray.

when i was a kid everybody had those "disposable" red-eared sliders with the plastic dish with palm tree island and fed them dried ant eggs and they always died.

besides proper diet and good water quality,most turtles need to bask and need the vitamin d sunshine provides.if in an indoor aquarium,supply a spotlight in one area for them to bask in to regulate their body temperatures and provide a specialized fluorescent lamp like vita-lites to supply them with the necessary vitamin d.

always wash your hands if handling due to salmonella concerns.

blu-ray is sony's answer to the industry's hd-dvd juggernaut so ps3 has it.sony's last answer,beta, sure flopped with vhs taking over.i have the newer slimmer ps2 and have played resident evil 4 a jillion times and am now starting to play scarface.i can wait for the ps3 price to come down or whenever resident evil 5 comes out.

Are the French still yelling and screaming about the BBC showing 'Henry V' on the 200th anniversary of their glorious revolution, or is it because Napoleon met his Waterloo thanks to Wellington or is it because they hated to get off the Chunnel train at Waterloo station, or is it because London got the Olympics and they didn't?

it's because they stopped showing the jerry lewis movie marathons that used to be on every night.i was in paris when it happened and it was an amusing sight seeing thousands of frenchies in berets running around screaming like jerry lewis and hitting each other with loaves of bread.no wonder the germans were so fearful of taking on france.

National IQ's

Country Average IQ GDP Predicted GDP

Hong Kong 107 20,763 19,817

Korea, South 106 13,478 19,298

Japan 105 23,257 18,779

Taiwan 104 13,000 18,260

Singapore 103 24,210 17,740

Austria 102 23,166 17,221

Germany 102 22,169 17,221

Italy 102 20,585 17,221

Netherlands 102 22,176 17,221

Sweden 101 20,659 16,702

Switzerland 101 25,512 16,702

Belgium 100 23,223 16,183

China 100 3,105 16,183

New Zealand 100 17,288 16,183

U. Kingdom 100 20,336 16,183

Hungary 99 10,232 15,664

Poland 99 7,619 15,664

Australia 98 22,452 15,145

Denmark 98 24,218 15,145

France 98 21,175 15,145

Norway 98 26,342 15,145

United States 98 29,605 15,145

Canada 97 23,582 14,626

Czech Republic 97 12,362 14,626

Finland 97 20,847 14,626

Spain 97 16,212 14,626

Argentina 96 12,013 14,107

Russia 96 6,460 14,107

Slovakia 96 9,699 14,107

Uruguay 96 8,623 14,107

Portugal 95 14,701 13,589

Slovenia 95 14,293 13,588

Israel 94 17,301 13,069

Romania 94 5,648 13,069

Bulgaria 93 4,809 12,550

Ireland 93 21,482 12,550

Greece 92 13,943 12,031

Malaysia 92 8,137 12,031

Thailand 91 5,456 11,512

Croatia 90 6,749 10,993

Peru 90 4,282 10,993

Turkey 90 6,422 10,993

Colombia 89 6,006 10,474

Indonesia 89 2,651 10,474

Suri name 89 5,161 10,474

Brazil 87 6,625 9,436

Iraq 87 3,197 9,436

Mexico 87 7,704 9,436

Samoa (Western) 87 3,832 9,436

Tonga 87 3,000 9,436

Lebanon 86 4,326 8,917

Philippines 86 3,555 8,917

Cuba 85 3,967 8,398

Morocco 85 3,305 8,398

Fiji 84 4,231 7,879

Iran 84 5,121 7,879

Marshall Islands 84 3,000 7,879

Puerto Rico 84 8,000 7,879

Egypt 83 3,041 7,360

India 81 2,077 6,322

Ecuador 80 3,003 5,803

Guatemala 79 3,505 5,284

Barbados 78 12,001 4,765

Nepal 78 1,157 4,765

Qatar 78 20,987 4,765

Zambia 77 719 4,246

Congo (Brazz) 73 995 2,170

Uganda 73 1,074 2,170

Jamaica 72 3,389 1,651

Kenya 72 980 1,651

South Africa 72 8,488 1,651

Sudan 72 1,394 1,651

Tanzania 72 480 1,651

Ghana 71 1,735 1,132

Nigeria 67 795 -944

Guinea 66 1,782 -1,463

Zimbabwe 66 2,669 -1,463

Congo (Zaire) 65 822 -1,982

Sierra Leone 64 458 -2,501

Ethiopia 63 574 -3,020

Equatorial Guinea 59 1,817 -5,096

9 packs a day = 180 ciggies

10 minute average per ciggie

180x10=1800 minutes=30 hours

there are only 24 hours in a day

are butts glued to your lips even when you sleep?

at least fishing is non-cardio

"unfortunately in america's case,it is saddled with the most debt in world history,an insurance policy and big mac selling service economy,an illiterate and uneducated society,and a corrupt and bloated government.printing out dollars by the truckload,not releasing m3 figures,military overreach,anti-americanism,etc., will lead to the eventual socio-economic collapse of america into just another third world banana republic in the americas.one can just look at history and see where america is going and see shades of weimar germany and the collapse of rome and the british empire in its future."

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the barstool this morning. As for uneducated and illiterate, your post is an excellent example.

just calling it like it is and fortunately didn't attend american public schools.watch what happens to america probably this year or next year at the most.

A couple months ago, the Shanghia stock market had a 10% correction. Did the Thai economy change then?

That 10% correction a few months back was just a little hiccup, however it was also a foreshadowing of things to come. When the bubble bursts in Shanghai it will look more like the NASDAQ meltdown in the US, and the loss will likely be 50%+. Markets all over the world will feel the effect but they will be rather short lived. The effect on the asian rim markets and economies will however be more severe and last quite a bit longer. Thailand in particular is in a weakened state both politically and economically so I would imagine that it could get hit worse than some of the other regional economies. I did notice that the BOT lowered interest rates by 50 basis points last week, just as I predicted a month ago. As far as guessing exactly when the Chineese market will colapse in on itself its anybodys guess, but with the average forward PE ratios currently above 60 for the Shaghai exchange I doubt that we will have to wait too much longer. Now I imagine that backflip and a few others in the rose colored glasses brigade will assail this post unmercifully, but those of you out there following this situation would be good to mark this post and six months down the road look at it agian and then you will see who on Thai Visa has a better grasp of the situation at hand, not that it takes a rocket scientist or a fortune teller to observe the signs and envision what is coming down the road for the Chineese stock market.

OK - a 300% rise in 2 years is....exuberant, but is the comparison to the USA accurate? How long has Shanghai been trading? How long has China been a market(ish) economy? Perhaps we are looking at wealth creation similar to Russia post-Soviet era (but better managed and a bit more shared around)? Is there any validity in that assesment?

Ace

this will be the chinese century and wouldn't worry about the chinese market in the long term.i would worry about america's economy in the short term though.

every hot and frothy market has its corrections,downturns,profit-taking,etc.,but the long term trend is china wll be like a thousand hong kongs and singapores and shanghai will be the economic capital of the world.

unfortunately in america's case,it is saddled with the most debt in world history,an insurance policy and big mac selling service economy,an illiterate and uneducated society,and a corrupt and bloated government.printing out dollars by the truckload,not releasing m3 figures,military overreach,anti-americanism,etc., will lead to the eventual socio-economic collapse of america into just another third world banana republic in the americas.one can just look at history and see where america is going and see shades of weimar germany and the collapse of rome and the british empire in its future.

china is producing products the world buys and its citizens are strong savers.america buys products from china and its citizens are negative savers.

i'd bet on the banker with the surplus over the borrower with debt.

one can look at purchasing power parity with the big mac index to see which currencies are overvalued and which are undervalued relative to the dollar.euros,pounds,etc.,are considerably overvalued while most asian currencies except for the free-floating baht are undervalued.as the yuan is allowed to rise so shall most asian currencies in lockstep with the yuan.

i am also in dollars but started diversifying away from it years ago through everbank foreign currencies and with foreign cash.have several hundred thousand bahts sitting in a safety deposit box that i purchased a few years ago when the baht was over 42+ baht per dollar so it is worth more at today's rate.i will be using the bahts until the rate changes favorably for the dollar before exchanging dollars to bahts again.

you should look at converting your dollars to asian currencies like yuan,yen,singdollars,etc.,or in commodity currencies like the aussie dollar or canadian dollar.

http://www.oanda.com/products/bigmac/bigmac.shtml

i just bought $25,000 in yen through the japanese yen etf,fxy,and through my everbank yen deposit account.feel the yen is super cheap and the yen carry trade will slowly unwind.also have a $10,000 icelandic krona cd paying 12.55% with everbank.

I have looked into Icelandic krona accts before. Do you have to be a US citizen to open an acct with Everbank - they seem to ask for US social security no. Any other banks offering krona accts ??

i think everbank is for us citizens but am not sure.many banks have foreign currency deposits or cd's but the icelandic krona is probably not one of them.the aussie dollar and new zealand dollar also have high interest rates now so you should look into foreign currency accounts in banks in your area.

Out of interest do foreign currency accounts pay interest the same as if they were held in the country of currency?

Like could I get 6% or 7% in an Aus or NZ account at HSBC in Thailand? or is it the same interest rate as if it were a Thai account? If it is the former what bank has the best rates for Aus and NZ?

am arriving in bkk in june so am not over there yet and am not familiar with thai banks except from their websites.it appears their foreign currency accounts are just cash accounts and one can make money from the currency's appreciation but not interest rates.hsbc may be different.

uob in singapore does give foreign currency interest rates as well as the bonus of possible appreciation.currency appreciation can boost the overall profits i.e.,the new zealand dollar appreciates 5% as well as pays 7% equals a realized 12% gain,but it can also work the other way if the nzd depreciates.

with the current unstable political stuation in thailand and the currency crisis in the past,i am not sure if i will be opening bank accounts with thai banks.i am definitely opening an account with uob and phillips securities in singapore.

would be interested in knowing if others can get by easily in thailand without thai bank accounts especially regarding atm charges.

i just bought $25,000 in yen through the japanese yen etf,fxy,and through my everbank yen deposit account.feel the yen is super cheap and the yen carry trade will slowly unwind.also have a $10,000 icelandic krona cd paying 12.55% with everbank.

I have looked into Icelandic krona accts before. Do you have to be a US citizen to open an acct with Everbank - they seem to ask for US social security no. Any other banks offering krona accts ??

i think everbank is for us citizens but am not sure.many banks have foreign currency deposits or cd's but the icelandic krona is probably not one of them.the aussie dollar and new zealand dollar also have high interest rates now so you should look into foreign currency accounts in banks in your area.

I'm especially interested in how to invest in something like a new drug, where can I get information on these kinds of opportunities?

Thanks

there are multitudes of biotech and drug manufacturer stocks out there in just about every country and market,and most are working on vaccines,medications,etc.

it just takes a lot of digging and research and hanging out on stock message boards for leads.

dendreon,dndn,has been front page news since the pre-approval by the fda and even cnbc's cramer has been first up then down on it.

wish it had been so easy for me.

instead of spending a few years losing thousands of dollars by first paper trading with fxgame then moving on to mini lots,i could have bought some proven system,program,or signals.

entertaining infomercials though.

post the website and will check it out.

everything depends on if that $15g is money you can lose and on your risk tolerance.if you are hoping for 10% or better than you are in the low risk safety category.

$15000 may seem paltry but if you had put it in apple 2 years ago you would be very comfortable today.

i just bought $25,000 in yen through the japanese yen etf,fxy,and through my everbank yen deposit account.feel the yen is super cheap and the yen carry trade will slowly unwind.also have a $10,000 icelandic krona cd paying 12.55% with everbank.

also plunked down $10,000 on dndn hoping for fda approval of their prostrate cancer drug provenge,but suffered a major setback as the fda wanted more test results and information so am down about $6000 in about a week.biopharma is the vegas of stocks.the winners hit the big time fast and the losers lose just as fast.am holding and hoping the fda grows a brain and approves a drug that at the minimum extends life for tens of thousands of prostrate cancer patients.

my biggest success last week was putting $10,000 on ptel,a uk adult entertainment penny stock.bought in at .06 and it hit .45 in a week.naturally i sold just enough to recover my capital but am up tens of thousand of dollars in a week.porn rocks!

I don't think the chap is going to consider finding 3m baht and starting a business at 25 after one trip. If you're happy living hand to mouth for a while to experience things try:

1. Teaching English (there's a new idea!)

2. Playing the stockmarket abroad on the net (gambling)

3. putting in for voluntary redundancy if you get the chance, and using the money to live off in CM for a while

4. e-commerce work (if that's your thing)

5. beg/borrow from parents or bank to try out living here for 6 months

2. Playing the stockmarket abroad on the net (gambling)

Yes - $5000 in a Forex trading account and you could easily make Baht 500 - 1000 p/day. Sorry if that sounds simplistic, but from experiance I really belive that is realistic. Just follw the trend (the trend is your friend), discipline your self (the most important aspect -can;t emphasize how important that is). If it's volatile - choose a pair with a low spred and play the volitality. Pull out as soon as you've meet your target - do not gun for more. Oh, and do your homework - Dailyfx.com is an excellent resource.

I have forex traded from Thailand for 6 years - I set my self a low target each day I trade (on 100:1 leverage with a significantly larger balance to work with - but the principal is the same) - and play as decscribed above. Makes what I earn from the bank look stupid.

... you're your own boss and can "work" whenever you want (day or night)- the forex market is open round the clock for 5 and half days a week.

It's not rocket science, but boy - does it test your self-discipline!

MF

i've been trading forex for 5 years and have $20,000 in my fx account with 40-1 leverage.i am now more short to long term trading and have lengthened my time frames and increased my stop losses after trying the hectic and exasperating day trading.now am looking more long term and set trailing stops on my winning trades.average $200-$500 a day with my system.

right now i am long yen vs the dollar and short euro and pound against the dollar.

and "stop losses are for sissies" is bad advice as one who didn't and lost big money.

fxstreet and moneytec are 2 great forex websites.

I would like to move my online brokerage account from the US. Does anyone recommend an online broker similar to schwab or etrade in either Hong kong or Singapore?

If that is not a possibility, any other banking information regarding the above locations and types of accounts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

i am also in your situation and have etrade and scottrade accounts.i am thinking of transferring my stocks to phillips and/or dbs vickers and my money to uob and dbs banks.

also don't forget about the irs and foreign bank and securities accounts must be reported if over $10000 in cumulative value and a fbar must be filled out.

http://www.qualisteam.com/Stocks/Asia/Singapore/index.html

Hi All

Just wondering if anyone uses E-gold.com ? Is this something like Paypal ? Can we actually exchange for real gold ?

Advice required

Thanks

Tytus

avoid e-gold!the us federal government is taking them down for possible "terrorist" money laundering and there have been arrests of the major e-gold execs.

if one wants the convenience of buying gold and silver electronically,goldmoney.com is reputable and based in jersey and headed by gold guru james turk.if one wants to redeem for physical metals,there are fabrication and shipping costs involved.

i personally am long gold and silver and have perth mint certificates and mining stocks.unallocated gold and silver pool acounts and etf's are just paper promises and it is dubious if they have the actual physical metals in their vaults.

i researched doing business in thailand and the bars,teaching english,etc.,and all the attendant hassles and problems.

i decided the best way to make a living in thailand for me is to have several condotels in waikiki with a couple thousand dollars in positive monthly cash flow so can concentrate on just living in thailand.it won't be all fun and games as will be spending several hours a week trading hongkong/china stocks so i won't get too bored just lying on the beaches or hanging out in bars.

OK, you're in the unfortunate position of having no elegant visa solution.

A Tourist visa, gives 60 days on arrival then extend by 30 days at immigration (1900 Baht).

If you can get a double entry tourist visa (depends on which consulate you use, some will even give triple entry) then you just do a border run to activate the next 60 day entry which you can then again extend by a further 30 days.

Once your visa is finished you should go to a consulate outside Thailand to get a new one, again depending upon where you go you may get a single or double entry (triple is unlikely in the region).

Rinse and repeat. You may have to mix and match your consulates, some are limiting the number of consecutive TVs they'll give out

I really don't think that doing 30 day border runs should figure in your plans, visas are just so much more convenient and the recent requirement for onward air tickets just about makes 30 day runs impractical.

OR

You may be able to get a non-o class multi-entry visa on the grounds of 'visiting friends' from a friendly consulate. Others will have to name the friendlies in the US (I'm a Brit). If you can get this visa you just have to do border runs every 90 days, much more convenient.

thanks for the clarification on a confusing subject.every 90 days is fine but every 30 days would be too much.flying back to hawaii every 90 days would cost too much and wasn't sure if just going to malaysia,cambodia,etc.,i would be able to get the 60+30 day tourist visas.

mahalo mucho!

See if the Thai Consulate General in Hawaii will give you a multiple entry Non-Immigrant O visa for visiting friends. That would cover you for a year.

aloha doctor!unfortunately i don't know anyone in thailand yet but am surprised one can get a non-immigrant o visa for just having friends there.i knew about marriage to a thai national visa but not a friends one.hopefully by my first trip back to hawaii from thailand i will have several friends of mainly the female persuasion to use as reference.

OK, you're in the unfortunate position of having no elegant visa solution.

A Tourist visa, gives 60 days on arrival then extend by 30 days at immigration (1900 Baht).

If you can get a double entry tourist visa (depends on which consulate you use, some will even give triple entry) then you just do a border run to activate the next 60 day entry which you can then again extend by a further 30 days.

Once your visa is finished you should go to a consulate outside Thailand to get a new one, again depending upon where you go you may get a single or double entry (triple is unlikely in the region).

Rinse and repeat. You may have to mix and match your consulates, some are limiting the number of consecutive TVs they'll give out

I really don't think that doing 30 day border runs should figure in your plans, visas are just so much more convenient and the recent requirement for onward air tickets just about makes 30 day runs impractical.

OR

You may be able to get a non-o class multi-entry visa on the grounds of 'visiting friends' from a friendly consulate. Others will have to name the friendlies in the US (I'm a Brit). If you can get this visa you just have to do border runs every 90 days, much more convenient.

thanks for the clarification on a confusing subject.every 90 days is fine but every 30 days would be too much.flying back to hawaii every 90 days would cost too much and wasn't sure if just going to malaysia,cambodia,etc.,i would be able to get the 60+30 day tourist visas.

mahalo mucho!

i am planning to live in thailand for a while and am too young for the retirement visa and don't want to do business either.i have $100000 cash and will receive $2000 a month from investments.

i figured the tourist visa is my best bet but after the first 90 days is up,can i just go across the border and come back in and get another 90 days and repeat this process?is my passport just stamped and won't need another tourist visa.

have others first arrived in thailand with a tourist visa and just did 90 day visa runs?will i ever have to fly home to get another tourist visa ever?

also i am planning to keep my money in a singapore bank and switch my stocks from etrade to a singapore broker. which singapore online broker do people use and recommend?