BangkokBP

In my opinion, it should be in each and every charity donors interest to do their research prior to donating, and in the case of wildlife preservation - though there might be many appealing "special interest" groups with pet projects - only a slight pun intended - I would play it safe and donate to the World Wildlife Fund every time.

They look out for the interest, of not only the cute cuddly animals with public appeal, but also the small ugly ones that most wouldnt even notice if they disappeared.

BBP

I got the catalog 2012 from IKEA already 2 weeks ago by mail(with very competitive prices).

IKEA has also donated 10 million Baht for the flood victims with many useful donations of blankets and other stuff to follow. Wisely they donate all to Mae Fah Luang Foundation and the Red Cross I think.

According to my sources its apparently 20 million Baht:

"In Thailand millions of people are being displaced due to the worst flooding in decades. The IKANO Group will donate 20 million THB to Thai foundation Mae Fah Luang Foundation, who will use the money for immediate help to flood victims and for longer term support to families to build up their lives again. Additionally, they are donating blankets, cups and plates, which will be distributed to affected and hard reached areas. Co-workers have also decided to donate money designated for a co-worker event to the above mentioned foundation.

The first IKEA store in Thailand is planned to open on 3 November and the IKANO Group still plans to proceed with this, although without a grand opening or special celebrations."

I just had to submit this to Mythbusters.

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9701967776/m/78219326901

Would love to see them rip this idea to shreds in a "scientific" way!

PM caught crying due to stress from flooding crisis

Crying because she is feeling sorry for the flood victims and the horridness of the situation many people are in, or crying because she is feeling sorry for herself that she has to deal with this and her underlings are not handling it.

I'd say its crocodile's tears, or possibly posing for the "chance" photograph some lucky photographer happened to take.

Not much to do unless add snakes or cats in to the equation.

I agree, however if a snake is seen you can be sure there is someone with a stick to beat it to death within seconds, whereas the rats are just ignored.

Sad.

During the past few days many of us have been following the reporting on what is going on in Bangkok here at Thai Visa, on Twitter (which certainly proved its value) on TV and in the news.

A huge THANK YOU! for your amazing efforts keeping us not in Bangkok informed and who would have had less information of lesser quality without your reporting!

Now to the topic;

I would like to hear some suggestions on what can be done to help those cleaning up and rebuilding Bangkok, getting things back to normal, how can we support and help speed up the recovery?

Please come with suggestions and - requests from those involved - on how people both locally and those abroad can support, any ideas are welcome.

Anything, small things to big things.

Locally (be careful its still very risky out there);

- Provide support for those doing the hard work, if you can't help hands-on, help with fresh cold water, food, restrooms, "pa yen" and other necessities for thos out there working.

- Smiles and encouragements

- ...

From afar:

- ... let us know how we can help!

Ops: Pin if seen appropriate.

Dear Glitterstar,

Discuss your thoughts with your boyfriend, and most of all, discuss the possible future that lies ahead. And if you both see the same goal, what is between now and then is just problems. I do think trust can be an issue, and a very fundamental one, but if either of you get too suspicious it will never last, and the same way the other way around, if you give too much freedom.

Worrying wont help, ask the questions you need to ask, if you feel you get the right answers, think about it again.

If you feel you dont get straight answers, talk to a common good friend that you both trust.

There is a way, if you both want you can walk it together.

Problems are not solved in these forums, so its just some words to make you think.

/BBP

or perhaps an ant farm?

Peacocks are beautiful, needs little care and usually stick around their feeding place without being caged.

Have seen them for sale at JJ market.

Some general recommendations:

- First of all; Use the (windows) program IsoBuster (http://www.isobuster.com/isobusterdownload.php) to make a CD backup image of the disks to your hard drive to ensure what ever data that might be there wont be further damaged.

- Try on many different computer systems and drives from different manufacturers.

- Try on some of the older, slower drives, TEAC and Pinnacle used to do very reliable CD-Readers/Writers.

- If you are able to open and browse the disks but unable to open the pictures (for example get a Cyclic Redundancy error), again try to use IsoBuster, it is built for these situations.

- If you can find one of the previously mentioned cleaning/repair kits, try that.

- If there are big visible scratches and you have given up on all other options, you might try to polish the surface with a soft clean sheep fur polishing disc and a power drill. Be prepared to loose it all.

Sunlight and some chemicals may damage the actual optical layer the data is written to on the disk, you will see this as transparant patches or spots if you hold the disk up to the light. Not good if you find that this is the case, but still worth a try with the above methods.

Good luck!

BBP

For anyone keeping an owl, I can highly recommend the book "Understanding Owls" written by Jemima Perry-Jones, a world renowned and recognized authority on raptors who also owns and runs The International Centre for Birds of Prey in Newent, Gloucestershire, UK. Its available from the major online bookshops.

She has been very kind and helpful answering questions by email, and probably knows more than anyone else about raptors.

While I agree that buying wild captured birds is irresponsible and feeds the demand for illegal wildlife trade, there is another aspect on this; the trade will not go away without people being educated, especially not here in Thailand as corruption is rife and there is big money in the trade, so may I suggest that a different approach would be to get people interested in keeping Raptors (and other wildlife when possible) and domesticate and breed birds and make the offspring legally available on the market. The benefits are many and it would reduce the load on the wildlife.

Thank you to to Burman and CMSally for the links, good sites.

Cheers,

BBP

Thank you very much Mario2008, you have explained exactly what I needed to know and problem is solved!

I am very grateful for your help.

Best regards,

BangkokBP

Hi Mario2008,

They were never married, the fathers name is on the birth certificate and in the entry for the daughter in the mothers house register.

As you mention, the fact that his name is on the birth certificate have no significance, would his name in the house register make any difference?

Are there any other document that would indicate if he registered or not? My fiance says he never registered, but we will need to show some document that proved this to the authorities.

Many thanks for your help on this one.

Best regards,

BangkokBP

My fiance have a 6 year old daughter from a previous relationship with a Thai man, he was abusive, unfaitful and violent, and offered no economic support.

Now we are planning to move to my home country but the get a residence permit for them she must either show a ruling by court that she have 100% legal guardianship of her daughter or a signed and witnessed agreement from the father. The latter option is not likely to work, and my fiancee is convinced he would ask for an extortionate amount of money to agree to sign.

Can anyone give any advice on how we should proceed?

Thank you,

BangkokBP

I am in, +1

Cheers!

I'm looking for *specific* suggestions to woo/impress her family, and to get their blessing.

Most of my gf's family and friends are against me for the below reasons . . . her family is wealthy upper class conservative . . . they all act kind and cordial around me, but my girl tells me what they say on the side . . .

examples:

"he looks poor, he won't be able to take care of you"

"he isn't a doctor or lawyer, so you'd end up living a life of poverty"

"he is 9 years younger, you're dating a child!"

Then it gets more complicated . . . she has an ex-husband . . . so her mom is freaking out that she'll lose face to her friends that her daughter could get married again. Her mom refuses to even meet me on the grounds of my age, that Im not a doctor, and she has an ex. The rest of her family was friends with her ex, so it makes everyone uncomfortable around me.

On the bright side, they said nothing negative about me being a farang, nor does it seem to bother them

I'm an engineer and run a successful company, definitely not poor . . . but I don't think Thais hold engineers in high regard - everyone, including the engineers here, tell me all Thai engineers are heavy drinkers.

I've already played the 'speak thai' card, so other than wearing a suit and tie everyday around her family, what else can I do to ease their worries?

ps - I've already done the 'just be myself' thing for the last 4 months, but to no prevail

Show valor, persistence and dedication. Good manners will always impress, so make a point of using what you know.

If you have the opportunity, show off your skills and success to her family. If your girlfriend really cares about you, which seems to be the case, ask her for advice. She will know best.

/b

Johnsurin,

I am 38 and have a considerably higher BP than you. Figure it is down to alcohol consumption, stress and smoking.

Either way, a quick fix is to stay off booze (if that may be a reason), for two days before the next checkup.

A loop diuretic such as Furosemide will down the pressure fairly instantly, as will Propranolol.

I am unsure if they will check for drugs when they do their checkup, so find out first, but basically anything that will drag out salts from your body (as a loop diuretic would) is helping you so you might want to check out natural equivalents if that is the case.

The margin for passing your test is so small that just keeping off salt might help.

Both the drugs mentioned are available over the counter in any drug shop in BKK, and there are considerably cheaper generic versions of both so ask for them by the generic name, not brand names.

/bp

Why even entertain this subject with a reply?

Obvious trolling as the same message was posted by OP in a message in a different tread.

/bbp

Yes its the annual Kings Birthday Parade, but wouldnt it grand if they continued marching with one half wheeling left towards Don muang and the others headed straight for Swampypoon.

Now that would cause a few stains in hundreds of undies

No, it would not. And its not the topic of the thread.

/bbp

Most likely the first international flights taking off and landing will be Thai Airways, others may be slightly more reluctant.

no TV at work, is there a website link?

It's broadcast on all the local channels so any of their streaming services should work including this one http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/

/bbp

This military parade is an annual event and has nothing with the ongoing problems to do.

Certainly, you are right.

/bbp

I recommend turning on your TV set and have a look at the royal parades shown live on TV now.

/bbp

Is that live? If not, what's to be read into it?

I am fairly sure it is live, but that is just my assertion.

/bbp

I recommend turning on your TV set and have a look at the royal parades shown live on TV now.

/bbp

I cannot see it up and running for a week even if they left Tonight

Might see the Odd Flight out, Even thats good News

Thank You Padywack Give them all A bone

This Old Man is going Home.

Later

I would have bet my shorts a few hours ago that I would not be seeing any parades outside the government house today, so please tell me what I am watching on Television right now. Seriously.... confused.