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Interesting comments. I think I have downloaded from them in the past with no problem. And here is what I see today.

Interesting that no one showed any interest in poking at JOB SATISFACTION.

I will say couples take a job for one of two basic reasons (or both).

1. Desperate for income, cant' find anything paying more (survival)
   
2. Conditions sound the best; good perks, extras (e.g., free room and board, telephone, use of motorcycle)
   

But then they will only stay on the job if they like it and there are multiple factors involved here). For example:

1. They love the job; they enjoy it doing it, it is challenging
   
2. It is what they will have to do anywhere and this employer treats them better than any other they have had. They enjoy the treatment by their employer while accepting they have to work.
   

The OP said money, room & board, days off, etc., do not seem to be sufficient to keep them for more than about 2 years.

So what are the other factors? Even though the soap opera comments were sarcastic, how are the staff treated?

Is there a common language? Can the OP talk to them as people, not just employees, ask them about their kids, their parents' health, etc.? Do they feel free to come and talk about a family problem? Or is it a limited Thai/English language employee/boss arrangement where the only exchanges are basically job directions?

Where do the couples actually end up when they leave? That could be a very important "tell". Making less money, working harder, no free room and board, etc. would indicate they were not happy with the working conditions.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: Where is the OP's house? Living and working on the property may limit their social life with the rest of the world. They may, after a couple of years, just feel too isolated. They can not wander over to their cousin's house for dinner one day, walk to the wat where all their family goes on a holiday. Maybe too many times they just want to have a good bowl of noodle soup or kao mun kai for lunch and couldn't get there from "here". Live-ins are isolated; not many people want to be isolated from the world like that.

Maybe he would have better luck with commuters?

P.S. Just saw OP's last post. Sound like he has figured it out, but I will post this anyway.

What do all your antivirus programs have to say about it? Why won't the programs you have on your computers (speaking globally here) take care of it? If it is will identified, then wouldn't all the major free and paid programs either protect you before infection and/or quarantine it or delete it after?

Seems like an extreme action to reformat and reload the OS.

happynthailand's advice sounds like the best approach.

1. My orders from Amazon U.S. have all been by DHL to my door, no additional taxes or duties added in/by Thailand.
   
2. I do not know what/who Amazon UK uses. I would guess Amazon UK would not use UK mail system.
   
3. I have ordered electronics and shoes. The taxes added on seemed OK for each item. Higher taxes on electronics, lower taxes on shoes. The total price was about what I would have to pay in Thailand if that item were sold here.
   
4. I have had refunds on the taxes on a couple of shipments. That refund is sent back to my Visa card as a credit.
   
5. I had a friend ship a $200 electronic item to me by U.S. mail. I had to pay a 300 baht tax at the post office to pick up the package.
   

YOU SAID: "Have arrived up country where a TOT wi-net [extended WiFi by antenna] set up has been installed but not used. Everyone was told just plug in the laptop to the network cable and it'll work.........Have turned off the WiFi on laptop and when plugged in the Broadcom card reports the connexion, but none is visible at the OS level.."

First, I assume that it is an active TOT ADSL connection and someone is accessing the internet normally? Which is what LOMATOPO was asking, so maybe I should not assume that?

Anyway, assuming it is connection that normally works as advertised, did you try just connecting to the modem with an ethernet cable and accessing the internet hardwired? If that worked, then I would think it is your laptops wireless connection settings.

I had a friend who connected wirelessly at his home but could not at my house. Made a change in his settings and he was able to connect both places. And I have forgotten the change he made.

My immediate reaction is you talked to some inexperienced clerk back there in the UK. With digital photos, you can very easily manipulate the size on the computer and then print out the exact size you asked for. That is what the shops will do here in Thailand, so I am sure a reasonably competent shop in the UK could do that.

Should take all of 30 secs, at best.

yes I was referr0ing to carrying banned books on my reader.

I do ot think Amazon could or should take responsibility for my safety in such cases

However the bigger point was regarding books that are not banned and can be shipped world wide in hard copy but which they will not sell in many of those same countries as an eBook

Sure I can use a proxy or overseas address and credit card but why should I have to?

They are encouraging piracy by their actions

On more than one occasion I have attempted to buy a book legally from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or simlar but in the end I have gone for the non DRM pirate copy in frustration.

By the way have you ever tried to buy an eBook as a gift. It is almost impossible, or at least I have been unable to do so from the main suppliers

I cannot imagine how Amazon could determine that (say you are in the U.S.) the book you want to buy is banned in China and, therefore, you can not buy it because you plan on someday going to China. Are you are saying you try to buy from China an e- book banned in China and they will not sell it to you but will mail it too you at a Chinese address?

I can not help but think there are a couple of details I do not know and that is why it does not make sense to me.

RE being unable to buy books not banned; again there must be a missing detail or 2 or 3. So let me describe my specific situation.

I have a ONE CLICK account with Amazon since I have a valid U.S. credit card (let me stress the U.S. credit card) on record and can buy a book (or anything Amazon sells) with that single click of the mouse. I have a registered Kindle DX which is on Amazon's Whispernet. So when I buy acurrent New York Times best seller new novel on line via my desk top PC with the one click and my Kindle is on and 3G connected, the book shows up on the Kindle here in Thailand within something like 15-20 seconds at the most. I do have the option to have it downloaded to my computer for USB transfer to the Kindle and I use that for my other Kindle.

Now when I borrow from the library and get sent to Amazon, Amazon wants to send those wirelessly. If I say download to my DX, Amazon knows it does not have a wireless capability downloads it to my computer within 10 seconds after clicking DOWNLOAD and I subsequently transfer that book by USB. If I select my other Kindle (with wireless) it sends it that way.

All this is intriguing and really has me interested. Can you tell me how our situations differ? What kind of account do you have with Amazon, what Kindles or e-readers registered, etc.? Did Amazon refuse to sell you an e-book but then actually mailed you the hard copy? You are not using the APO, are you? If so, then it all makes sense.

RE Post #15 thaimite words: I have never understood the logic (if there is any) of being able to buy a book from Amazon and have it shipped to my country of residence and yet not be able to buy the same book in the same country as an eBook!! Also I am not aware of any law that says I should not carry certain eBooks on my reader to various countries, apart from possibly some religious and political works in countries I have no intention of visiting. If anybody has any input behind the reasoning of this (il) logic I would love to hear it.

I am perplexed by your words. I have never heard of any prohibition on carrying e-books on your e-reader from country to country or restriction on down loading them to your e-reader unless(maybe?) you wanted to download or carry one banned in that country. If you tried to get one one those, it would be very nice for Amazon to keep you from putting yourself at risk.

Putting that aside..................

I have bought over 200 current e-books from Amazon and have them all delivered to me here in Thailand either by Whispernet or via the computer (downloaded for subsequent transfer to one of my e-readers). And the computer tells them my location, even if Whispernet does not (I bet it does but what do I know?). Movies? No, Amazon will not stream movies for the obvious reason. But absolutely no restriction on books.

Another source for e-books would be (for U.S. residents) your public library. If you have a permanent U.S. address or an U.S. for absentee voting, you could use that to register with the library. If you use to have a card and did not cancel it, contact the library on line, and see if you can not get the number, reactivate it, etc. I did that a year ago when I found out my old library now has e-books for check out.

The library's check out policy is 10 at any one time and can return them as soon as I am done reading them. So I can check out books as fast as I can read them. And that also applies to audio books. So I get them also for my MP3 player (they have other formats).

Since I have Kindles, I select the Kindle format, check them out, get redirected to Amazon which then downloads them to my computer for subequent transfer to which ever e-reader I select. Again.....current books downloaded in Thailand with no restrictions to date.

Going back to the OP: NEWSPAPERS: Can not trust them; have to really read what they write and then still be skeptical.

The title of The Guardian's article implies the German govt is " 'exporting' old and sick to foreign care homes". But if you read the article carefully, you will find that is not really what they are saying, though they definitely do imply that. Never the less, Germany, as a country, is not involved.

I have quoted below a single sentence from the article that really sums up what is happening but what they buried in the article because it is not "sexy news".

"The lack of legislation has not stopped retired people or their families from opting for foreign homes if their pensions could cover the costs."

Do the Thais collect that tax from you, or did Amazon collect it in the invoice? In other words, do you pay the tax or does Amazon? I have heard of shippers like Amazon taking a wild azz guess at what the tax would be and adding enough to be sure, and then refunding to the customer when the dust settled. Any chance of that?

The tax is collected by the Thai Customs http://www.customs.g...ome/homewelcome The goods is put on hold until all duties are paid. For this reason the tax authorities issues an invoice and this invoice has to be paid before the goods is released. This is where 99% of all farangs get it terribly wrong when the dispatcher (FedEx, DHL, UPS etc.) forwards the cost and charges the recipient - they believe that it's the dispatcher who's doing something dodgy. You only have to search on this forum and you'll see that the average perception is that the dispatcher issues the invoice, and that they do it in an attempt to scam.

I have ordered numerous items from Amazon U.S. and Amazon estimates the duties and, itemizing my bill, charges me as part of the over all purchase/shipping costs. Everything has been delivered to the house by DHL and no attempt made to collect additional duties. A few weeks later I usually get a partial refund of the duties (maybe 10%+/-). The duties have always seemed reasonable (e.g. ~20% on a $300 Kindle DX).

I am not saying this is the best one to buy, just expressing our satisfaction.

2005: bought a 25 cu ft Whirlpool side-by-side with ice maker. Had a 5 year warranty but didn't need it.

Ran plumbing to the ice maker; love it and it gets lots of use.

Caveat 1: 2012 ice dispenser door would not shut correctly, warm air entering, ice melting and freezing jamming the ice maker. Repair guys admitted they had no experience in fixing as the average refrig buyer opts for the smaller Japanese models. They had a heck of a time trying to figure out what part number had to be ordered from their overseas provider. I finally did the research, found it was a kit, not just the door, and gave them the info. Then I had to watch and make sure they used the whole kit because there was a very subtle difference in some of the parts. The old parts did not seal off the outside air when used with the new door. HOWEVER: I would buy this type and size of refrig again (with ice maker) though any brand as long as one well known to me.

Caveat 2: Neighbor bought a Whirlpoor with ice maker also, but bought the model with all the controls on a circuit board and a display panel on the door. Power fluctuations burnt out the board and it had to be replaced (which the repair guys figured out easily). I guess I would recommend less electronic controls when/where possible.

The D'Lite vegetarian restaurant is closed and the parking lot gates are closed and padlocked So that is why the cars were parked (and booted) on the street.

............... I copied this from their site:

2. Do I need to provide B&N with my credit card number to use NOOK Simple Touch? What if I'm only reading free eBooks and samples?

Yes. You must have a completed and updated BN.com account to purchase or download paid and free content [from BN].This includes an email address, default credit card number, valid expiration date for the credit card, and a current U.S. billing address. Security measures are put in place to protect all of our customers' account information.

May I suggest the bold red sentence is the key, specially the underlined words and my two word addition in brackets?

I have a Kindle DX and Amazon's Whispernet puts books on it within 15-30 secs after buying. I also borrow books from my old U.S. library that end up coming from Amazon but, because the DX is not wireless, automatically come up with Amazon's direction to DOWNLOAD TO COMPUTER for transfer via USB.

Worst case, 1 book might take 2 minutes from check out at library, move to Amazon, download to computer, download onto Kindle, so that is essentially effortless.

I will guess that when I get my wireless Kindle, Amazon would send it through my wireless modem router. I should be able to give specifics in 2 weeks.

Now if I did not want to buy books from Amazon and did not borrow from the library, which automatically sends me to Amazon, I would have no reason to need to register with them. The DX is perfectly capable of working as a stand alone item in my experience. I can download anything to it from the computer. As long as it is in the right format, I would not expect any problems. I have not tried that yet, but the other comments here seem to support that.

Maybe if you opened a browser, typed ROUTER in the URL line, and then posted screen shots of your set up, someone could compare their D-Link set up with yours and offer a specific suggestion?

1. Go to http://www.track-trace.com/post,
   
2. Enter Thailand EMS tracking number
   
3. Select TRACK WITH OPTIONS
   
4. Select country (USA)
   
5. Get results
   

I personally separate area codes and use a dash in the actual cell phone numbers but not in land phone numbers and adjust for my audience, in Thailand or out.

So SeaVisionBurma's land phone number +66 5321 1234 I would send to my US friends as +66-53-211234 (what they would dial) and my local friends as 053-211234 (what they would dial).

Cell phone numbers would show up as +66-89-211-2345 outside of Thailand and 089-211-2345 for inside Thailand use.

Why use those dashes in that manner? Makes it easier for me to remember the numbers. Does it help others? Don't know; no one has commented.

My nephew has the True fiber optic cable and has had no problems. He opted for the 10 mb speed which, besides being cheaper works, nicely for him as he is one of only two connected to that line/node.

He checked for me and True told him there was a node across the street from my house and would run 70 meters of cable for free. I have not yet done it but am seriously considering the prospect.

I have a friend living west of the canal road who has the fiber optics cable and has no complaints, disconnects, etc.

I read the other comments was not sure when what comments applied to the fiber cables and when they did not. Some read as if they were not fiber.

Duty (and VAT) free do not automatically get linked with low prices. To maximize profit, every duty free shop in every airport I have been in seems to charge whatever the market will bear.

Seems to me I have seen them in Baan Tawai over the years.

No one mentioned their wives' ages and life experiences. I realize that is impractical and imprudent for Thai Visa. But self confidence and assertiveness are learned behaviors. Of course the personality trait has to be there in the first place, but it can be beaten down as well as nourished by life. So today's meek, mild mannered 20 something can turn into the family matriarch in her 40s and 50s and become very assertive when dealing with others socially and professionally.

Just think of the female immigration officers fighting unruly farang every day. Can you imagine them leaving work and meekly accept poor service, poor treatment anywhere?

Every place I have found that makes prints also can take your passport photos. The most important thing to remember is to specify the size you want with details down to size of your head and the size of your face. Take the diagram from the form and show them. Make sure you know what color background is acceptable.

Zippy

You said algae growing on the bottom, solid algae, not the microscopic floating stuff. It sounds as if you have have all the sustaining filters and plants you need. You are lucky. I think that is easy to take care of by just getting some algae eaters.

I have similar pond but with tile instead of plain concrete. I have a jug fountain in the middle that gets solid algae growing on the outside because no fish can get to it. But I have absolutely no algae in the pond because, I will say, I have a whole bunch of algae eaters.

When I clean the jug and the algae falls into the pond, all the little mosquito fish (neons, peacock tail, whatever) come flocking over to eat it. So I know those little fish will eat algae, but I also wanted the real thing.

For algae eater variety, I got both black and orange red finned sharks (that is what Shogun called them) and plain ole algae eaters. They all look the same except for the red fins. They are all "surface sucking" fish. Some of my older ones are 6-7 inches long. I also got some suckers which now range in size up to some 20 inches. These fish have kept the bottom and walls algae clean for several years now.

I put a UV light in my filter and I want to say it kills the floating algae and who knows what else out of the pond. Over a year ago I started seeing a faint green tint and discovered the UV bulb had burnt out. Replaced it and problem went away. But I do have a cover over most of the pond. Maybe 20% of it gets sun for an hour or 2 or 3 a day, depending upon the season. And that makes a big difference.

I got the best UV light I could find, strongest and best brand, for about 750 baht, if I remember correctly. It is just a 23 inch tube in a standard self contained electronic fixture (no removable starter). I get a long service life out of it but, being only some 9 inches above the water and under a cover, either the fixture and/or the bulb will from the humidity and fail before the bulb burns out. My current fixture is over a year old, I think, and the bulb has lasted some 8 or 9 months so far.

Neighbor across the street gets some 50% sun every day and has 2 UV lights. When it is really hot and humid and bright sun all day, he gets a GREEN pond. Cooler, drier sunny days? OK. Rainy days OK. Only the hot days with day after day of sunshine. But you do not have that problem.

A very astute and erudite response well worth repeating!

What constitutes the best education has been debated since the days of ancient Greece, a debate that has covered a huge number of forms, styles and content.

But there is a general agreement that the best education starts young, includes the rigorous teaching/learning of mother tongue + other languages, mathematics and the natural sciences, philosophy, the arts, morals/ethics all laced with exposure to and use of analysis and challenging ideas or what is presented to the student.

Travel does get a mention in a great deal of the descriptions of the best education, but as a finishing to a thorough education, not an education in its own right.

Clearly, you can be immersed in a culture, but if you are not equipped with the tools to observe analyse and understand what you are observing you'll not learn anything and very likely assign values and ideas to what you are seeing that you either assume by yourself or that are deliberately given to you by your host.

As witnessed on TVF on an almost daily basis.

youtube is frequently interrupted on the small resolution. I cannot prove it, but I think I'national connections might be worse.

YouTube originates from outside of Thailand so you are already using and testing the international connection.

What I think ISPs are saying about the speed is that they will only guarantee it for in country. For us in CNX, we may get that on a speed test linking to BKK, but our speeds from overseas locations like London or Seattle will vary from one minute to the next based on many factors.

True offered 20MB via cable for 1300/month in my area.