Beacher

I recently bought a krups espresso maker at siam paragon. i figured a mall of that stature would be on the up and up.

Thanks for the reminder that we do fool ourselves into thinking that just because places like Siam Paragon appear fairly well kept that we should trust the merchants there more than at the village market. But let's face it, Siam Paragon doesn't investigate the honesty of its tennents -- they're only intested if they pay their rent. It's the old story of "Don't judge a book by its cover".

I'm honestly not being critical here, dumball, but when it comes to issues of your health, why would you trust the opinions of total strangers who likely have no medical career background ? I could understand doing some research first then asking people what they think of the information you found -- does it coincide with their own experiences, etc.?

I typed "yellow tongue" in Google and the first site shown at the top of the page is from the Mayo Clinic, which is a very well respected medical facility. For the little amount of time it takes to get information on the web from reliable sources, wouldn't it make more sense to ask the pros before asking a pool of total strangers?

As I say, I'm not picking on you. This type of thing happens all the time, and it confuses me as why people choose to seek medical opinions from people they don't know (and know nothing about how qualified those people are). Your post just happened to raise this old question.

The trailer looked great. I love Nicholas Cage. I bet you its much better than Hanuman!

Hope it's better than the remake of the cult classic "Wicker Man" that Hollywood recently murdered, with Cage in the leading role.

Cage has a habit of doing that (murdering films).

Sorry, you Cage fans, but I can't stand the man's "acting" (or in my opinion his inability to act).

Could you give me a list of every Thai that feels you can not play cards without gambling?.

Because your statement "It's too bad that Thais don't seem to realize that there are loads of cards games that do not involve gambling" is incorrect. Thais in general do not feel that way. In fact it is very comon here to play cards with out gambling as it is probably common top play with gambling.

The hotels reaction to your request is not because that Thai Felt that you have to be gambling. They just do not want to take any chance with a government that is over reactive in regards to gambling or even potential gambling.

Are you under the impression that there was a nationwide vote on this?. Seems to be it was decided without the input of the common man.

Chiang Mai Plastics - 120 B

Crisis over. Bought a pack from the guy who sells magic tricks at the weekend second hand market. It's cost me 350 baht.

I only paid 50 baht for the cards but my stepson seems to have an unnatural amount of luck at pontoon for a seven year old. Still, it's improving his mental arithmetic no end .

Yes, It's too bad that Thais don't seem to realize that there are loads of cards games that do not involve gambling and are quite good at helping young learners to get good at doing quick mental math calulations. I grew up playing games like Cribbage, and I really believe it was helpful for "maths thinking". Not only that, but playing cards is also good for developing social skills through creating conversation opportunities, dealing with disappointment and learning sportsmanship (when one loses) as well as how to be a gracious winner (when one wins).

Card playing was an important part of my family activities when I was growing up, and no one in my family has any type of gambling addiction problems. I really feel it was a much healthier passtime than a non-stop diet of watching mindless TV shows or playing computer games, as is so common these days.

Sorry lordfoul, I don't understand your reply at all!

Could you perhaps elaborate? Maybe it would help you if I explained why I said that bit that you highlighted. Whenever I've been holidaying in Thailand (with Western friends) and we've asked the front desk of a hotel or resort if they have any playing cards, the Thais behind the desk usually looked shocked and shake their heads vigorously while saying something like, "cannot -- cannot -- police come." I've tried to explain that we don't want them for gambling -- just to play a game, and they can't quite seem to understand that concept.

So, what the heck were you trying to say, anyway? Perhaps you've replied to the wrong thread. That's the only thing that makes sense to me because you reply sure doesn't.

That's news to me. I really have never seen Thais playing card games. Since you apparently know so much about this, could you please give me some examples of non-gambling card games Thais regularly play?

lordfoul, it appears that your simply looking for an argument today. My request is obviously a lot more practical than yours. Sorry, but I refuse to play your little game.

I said in my post that YOU CAN"T FORWARD PORTS, and I understand that's because a Zyxel 660 is only a modem, not a router.

your understanding is wrong. i have a Zyxel 660 which is modem AND router

Naam, if you had read further, you would have seen that I made that comment THINKING I had a 660 model, but I later found out that mine is a 630, and I added another post to reflect that. If I'm wrong about the Zyxel Prestige 630 not being router and port forwarding is possible, please let me know.

Because your statement "It's too bad that Thais don't seem to realize that there are loads of cards games that do not involve gambling" is incorrect. Thais in general do not feel that way. In fact it is very comon here to play cards with out gambling as it is probably common top play with gambling.

The hotels reaction to your request is not because that Thai Felt that you have to be gambling. They just do not want to take any chance with a government that is over reactive in regards to gambling or even potential gambling.

Are you under the impression that there was a nationwide vote on this?. Seems to be it was decided without the input of the common man.

Chiang Mai Plastics - 120 B

Crisis over. Bought a pack from the guy who sells magic tricks at the weekend second hand market. It's cost me 350 baht.

I only paid 50 baht for the cards but my stepson seems to have an unnatural amount of luck at pontoon for a seven year old. Still, it's improving his mental arithmetic no end .

Yes, It's too bad that Thais don't seem to realize that there are loads of cards games that do not involve gambling and are quite good at helping young learners to get good at doing quick mental math calulations. I grew up playing games like Cribbage, and I really believe it was helpful for "maths thinking". Not only that, but playing cards is also good for developing social skills through creating conversation opportunities, dealing with disappointment and learning sportsmanship (when one loses) as well as how to be a gracious winner (when one wins).

Card playing was an important part of my family activities when I was growing up, and no one in my family has any type of gambling addiction problems. I really feel it was a much healthier passtime than a non-stop diet of watching mindless TV shows or playing computer games, as is so common these days.

Sorry lordfoul, I don't understand your reply at all!

Could you perhaps elaborate? Maybe it would help you if I explained why I said that bit that you highlighted. Whenever I've been holidaying in Thailand (with Western friends) and we've asked the front desk of a hotel or resort if they have any playing cards, the Thais behind the desk usually looked shocked and shake their heads vigorously while saying something like, "cannot -- cannot -- police come." I've tried to explain that we don't want them for gambling -- just to play a game, and they can't quite seem to understand that concept.

So, what the heck were you trying to say, anyway? Perhaps you've replied to the wrong thread. That's the only thing that makes sense to me because you reply sure doesn't.

That's news to me. I really have never seen Thais playing card games. Since you apparently know so much about this, could you please give me some examples of non-gambling card games Thais regularly play?

Are you under the impression that there was a nationwide vote on this?. Seems to be it was decided without the input of the common man.

Chiang Mai Plastics - 120 B

Crisis over. Bought a pack from the guy who sells magic tricks at the weekend second hand market. It's cost me 350 baht.

I only paid 50 baht for the cards but my stepson seems to have an unnatural amount of luck at pontoon for a seven year old. Still, it's improving his mental arithmetic no end .

Yes, It's too bad that Thais don't seem to realize that there are loads of cards games that do not involve gambling and are quite good at helping young learners to get good at doing quick mental math calulations. I grew up playing games like Cribbage, and I really believe it was helpful for "maths thinking". Not only that, but playing cards is also good for developing social skills through creating conversation opportunities, dealing with disappointment and learning sportsmanship (when one loses) as well as how to be a gracious winner (when one wins).

Card playing was an important part of my family activities when I was growing up, and no one in my family has any type of gambling addiction problems. I really feel it was a much healthier passtime than a non-stop diet of watching mindless TV shows or playing computer games, as is so common these days.

Sorry lordfoul, I don't understand your reply at all!

Could you perhaps elaborate? Maybe it would help you if I explained why I said that bit that you highlighted. Whenever I've been holidaying in Thailand (with Western friends) and we've asked the front desk of a hotel or resort if they have any playing cards, the Thais behind the desk usually looked shocked and shake their heads vigorously while saying something like, "cannot -- cannot -- police come." I've tried to explain that we don't want them for gambling -- just to play a game, and they can't quite seem to understand that concept.

So, what the heck were you trying to say, anyway? Perhaps you've replied to the wrong thread. That's the only thing that makes sense to me because your reply sure doesn't.

Chiang Mai Plastics - 120 B

Crisis over. Bought a pack from the guy who sells magic tricks at the weekend second hand market. It's cost me 350 baht.

I only paid 50 baht for the cards but my stepson seems to have an unnatural amount of luck at pontoon for a seven year old. Still, it's improving his mental arithmetic no end .

Yes, It's too bad that Thais don't seem to realize that there are loads of cards games that do not involve gambling and are quite good at helping young learners to get good at doing quick mental math calulations. I grew up playing games like Cribbage, and I really believe it was helpful for "maths thinking". Not only that, but playing cards is also good for developing social skills through creating conversation opportunities, dealing with disappointment and learning sportsmanship (when one loses) as well as how to be a gracious winner (when one wins).

Card playing was an important part of my family activities when I was growing up, and no one in my family has any type of gambling addiction problems. I really feel it was a much healthier passtime than a non-stop diet of watching mindless TV shows or playing computer games, as is so common these days.

Can someone who knows about buildings, perhaps an engineer, explain why building 7 at the WTC collapsed?

It wasn't touched by either plane but it imploded. Why? I don't know why but we should know why.

On Youtube you can find the BBC announcing its collapse 20 minutes before it happened? Incredible.

All governments need control and authority of their populace and with the Homeland Security and Patriot Acts in the USA, the checks on government control and authority have been surrendered.

There are clips readily available all over the internet where Silverstein (the man who took a long-term lease on the entire World Trade complex and insured it for very hefty amount of money only months before 9/11) admits that the building was intentionally demolished.

So, it came down the same way the the two main towers came down -- intentionally demolished.

Yes, it`s a dead snake, killed by an idiot.

...but a 'safe' one indeed....

Are you referring to the snake or the idiot?

Yes, it seems like I see them in every 7-11 I go into. I think they're relatively expensive, though. They have what looks like a tax seal on each pack, so I assume they're taxed pretty heavily. I think the justification for the high tax is because it's assumed that people will use them to gamble, so they must pay a "sin tax".

Doesn't anything like this ever happen in Bangkok? (He asked sarcastically.)

Seriously, it seems like every time I check the threads here at TV there is a story or two about foreigners being drugged, robbed, beat up, and generally abused in Pattaya, but I never seem to notice any threads about similar happenings in Bangkok. Should Pattaya's foreign residents consider leaving Patters and move to nice safe Bangkok?

perhaps possible stiffy?? Watermelon is being touted as the natural viagra.

That's indeed also part of the watermelon story !

Probably a rumour started by the watermellon farmers.

I tried different reminder systems but didn't really like them and had to pay a 2000 baht fine once. After that I bought a fairly small whiteboard and put it up in my kitchen. I write my next 90-day reporting date at the top of it in large noticeable letters and use the rest of it to keep an ongoing shopping list. This works great for me, and I haven't missed my reporting deadline since. (I also don't forget to buy as many items when doing my weekend shopping as I used to.)

zyxel 660 is a routeur even it has only one RJ45 port, put it in bridge mode and let your wifi routeur do the "dial-up" or do a DMZ from your adsl routeur to your wifi routeur, then use a port forward from your wifi routeur to your LAN IP.

Yeah, got home and checked -- mine is a Zyxel Prestige 630, not a 660. It doesn't handle port forwarding because it's only a modem, and an old one at that.

But I still have no problem getting good download speeds. As I said before, usually with certain private trackers I maintain the full 2Mbits/s I pay for when using them. Public trackers vary, of course, but still work fine and generally fast, for the most part.

Beacher,

Well i took off windows firewall and still cannot get the port open. so even if i had a personal firewall, it would not work. not sure. perhaps worth a try.

Reimar,

I already have a modem wi-fi router and it doesn't work with CAT internet. So i am not sure if buying another modem would be a good idea or not. what if it doesn't work with CAT internet?

its getting a bit frustrating.

TB>.

I said in my post that YOU CAN"T FORWARD PORTS, and I understand that's because a Zyxel 660 is only a modem, not a router.

BTW, I don't think it's a good idea to go online without a firewall. The last time I tried that I was bombarded with viruses, Trojan horses, etc. within seconds.

the way you talk, i can certify 100% that you are a SEXpat and that girl is a prostitute.

well, getting stds and pregnant = risk

same same as being a butcher and cutitng off your hand..

is the butcher going to try to find the guy who he was cutting beef for and sue him? no.

F--- me! It's Sherlock Holmes--I think you might be jumping the gun somewhat, Little Goat.

Yeah what an amazing post by petitchevre -- reaches a new low.

The most unfortunate thing about it is that she (he?) doesn't even know enough to be embarrassed by it.

A US based law firm with an office in Thailand might be able to help pursue the case in the US court have jurisdiction (where the father lives) The US office could take the case on a contingency basis. They would undoubtedly research to see if there are assets or income worth going after. After all, the guy could have been saving for 10 years for his fling in Thailand.

I believe the Thai law firms are forbidden from doing cases on contingency

TH

You may well right right about that, but I seem to recall a situation where i was talking to someone and they had made a contingency arrangement with a Thai law firm. It would seem strange to me that Thai law makers would be concerned about how a private law firm negotiates payment, but that assumption is based on Western logic, and as we all know Thai logic is 180 degrees opposed to Western logic. Even if it were a law, how often are the laws in Thailand really observed?

Hi Guys,

Was having a wonderful Belkin ADSL modem router before and everything was working fine with my previous TT&T Hinet account that I used for years. Upgraded to CAT 4/1 Megs account and they gave me this Zyxel Modem P-660H-T1 v2. For some reason my older Belkin keeps disconnecting the ADSL line. Can't figure out. But internet works fine with the Zyxel modem. Took an older router and attached it to the modem so that we can have wi-fi. So everything works fine.

Problem now is that I can't get to port forward successfully to allow Utorrent to get by. I have opened up port in the windows firewall. Also tried port forwarding the IP of this computer with a port to be opened up for Utorrent in the modem setup. But to no success. Anyone else have this modem and having the same problem?

Also is turning off Active Firewall within the MOdem safe? Seems to allow opened ports at times and then it gets shut despite Active Firewall being turned off.

any ideas guys? its stressing me out!

TB..

I think I have the same type of setup you do. I'm definitely using Utorrent and think I have a Zyxel Prestige 660 modem (can't look right now as not at home). Anyway, as I understand it you can't forward port because it's a modem, not a router.

I used to think that was a problem, but now I can get great download (torrent) speeds. I don't use Windows XP Firewall -- disabled it. Instead I use Sunbelt Kerio Personal FW and allow it to have incoming and outgoing traffic for Utorrent. The little green checkmark is always on in Utorrent (when torrents are active) and when I use some of my private tracker sites, I can hit full 2 Mbit/s downoad speeds.

This sounds to me like a situation that one should just stay clear of.

Wanting to help someone is always admirable, so the best advice you could give this girl is to hire a lawyer. If she doesn't have the funds to do that, she might try to find one that will consider taking on the case for a hefty portion of any cash settlement that is finally secured. I'm pretty sure that there are lawyers here who work with those terms, and if she talks to one who is typically willing work for a percentage of a settlement but won't take on her case, she's already learned that it's unlikely she's going to get very far going through proper legal channels.

thank you for your advice - but how a lawyer would act in this case?

contacting the us embassy?

You're welcome.

How a lawyer would go about persuing a case like this is a good question. I suspect that it's a very involved situation that would take a lot of cooperation between the Thai and US legal departments, not to mention the man involved. In my heart, I suspect that there's not much this girl can really do within the bounds of legal action. She may be better off trying to appeal to the man's sense of compassion and fairness by explaining that he's left her in a tough situation and sweetly ask that he make some sort of regular financial contribution to help both her and the child.

As far as I know you're right, PB, but a rule unfortunately honoured far too often in the breach than the observance. The use of 'it's' to mean 'it has' is informal and usually not recommended in writing, as far as I was taught.

That's not quite the way I learned it.

If we say, "It's a nice day today." the 's part replaces the word "is" because the sentence is in the present simple tense, but if we say, "It's been a long time since I last saw you." the 's part replaces the word "has" because we're using a tense called the present perfect, which requires the use of the word "have/has" followed by a past participle.

But as Ijustwannateach has pointed out, use of informal contractions is not proper when writing formal letters. However, if I was writing to a long lost friend, I'd have no hesitation using the sentence, "It's been a long time since I last saw you."

I used to teach English in a past life (thank gawd it's a past life) and hope I wasn't misleading my poor students.

Reading this thread has scared me and shown that #1 - maybe I've been living in Thailand for too long or #2 - I definitely need to get out of the country soon and go home for a visit.

Most of the things mentioned here don't seem strange or insane to me right now -- just life as usual in Patters.

Noooooooo!

This sounds to me like a situation that one should just stay clear of.

Wanting to help someone is always admirable, so the best advice you could give this girl is to hire a lawyer. If she doesn't have the funds to do that, she might try to find one that will consider taking on the case for a hefty portion of any cash settlement that is finally secured. I'm pretty sure that there are lawyers here who work with those terms, and if she talks to one who is typically willing work for a percentage of a settlement but won't take on her case, she's already learned that it's unlikely she's going to get very far going through proper legal channels.

I remember talking to friend who took a TESOL course many years ago, and he was shocked that the only student in the class who failed the grammar test portion of the course was a guy from the US who had supposedly graduated with a B.A. in English.

I believe my friend's story but always wondered if the grammar-troubled student lied on his course application or if he was really awarded a degree in English without actually learning much about the language. It seems from the posts I've read here, that the latter is true.

I've got to agree that this seems highly unlikely.

If true, then the guy that spent a week in jail and paid 400,000 baht bail to skip the country is a complete and total moron -- not a speck of working gray matter under his skull.