Siki

Cheryl

Is there some way to determine which urologists have extensive experience with the TURP procedure and which ones have very little? It doesn’t seem feasible to go around and ask them all.

Thanks

Siki

Thank you for sharing your experience. I will have to do something else besides take medications within a year or so. Is it possible for you to tell me your Doctors name on this forum? If not, is there some other way that I could find it.

Thank you

Siki

Dear Friends:

I was using a website that had 6-10 stories written by Thai 6^th graders. The vocabulary and style of the stories was just right for my level in learning to read Thai. There was a story about a shark and a turtle (which I was working on), a story about flowers, a spider, etc. The stories are written in both English and Thai and are illustrated by the students themselves (very simple cute drawings like you would have in a children’s book).

Does anyone have this link?

Thanks

Siki

Dear Friends:

What is the best retail outlet in Bangkok for Thai Language learning materials?

Tapes, books, flashcards and the like

Thanks

Siki

I have learned a lot in the last few weeks and recognize that things are changing rapidly.

From what I can learn TOT 3g is the fastest 3g service available in Bangkok now. It is not the cheapest but the speed is better than any other service.

Is this correct?

Thanks

Siki

Dear Friends:

I have recently moved into a place on lower Sukhumvit (Bangkok) where the phone system won’t support a DSL line.

I am sure I could use an Air Card but it is not clear to me if one Air Card is better in terms of speed and dependability.

Are there any other Internet hookup options available to me?

Thanks

Siki

Bangkok!

Out by the Don Muang Airport

Dear Friends:

Does anyone have the current address and phone number (or link) of the Immigration Office where the “documents to notify of staying longer than 90 days” is to be sent.

Thanks

Siki

Yes, sorry.

I need repeated help with my pronunciation. I am generally good but I can start to mispronounce and no one will say anything.

If I had a tutor several hours per week it would be very helpful.

I am reluctant to go through the Language Schools because they will, of course, want their cut.

Anyone know of a reasonable tutor?

thanks

Siki

My Yahoo home page claims that the most recent content was added 4 days ago.

Anyone know how to fix?

aloha

Siki

Dear Friends:

Does anyone know where to purchase (anywhere in Thailand) backlit frames for Duratrans Prints? IQ labs makes Duratrans Prints but no one there seems to know where the frames are sold.

Thank you.

Siki

Need to buy some good running shoes. Any suggestions of a reasonable store to do this would be appreciated.

The Nike and all name brand stores that I looked at are flooded with marketing gimmick, fad of the month type expensive stuff. All of their shoes are very similar in build but come with very different names and colors. The sales people seem to know very little about the shoes except that you should buy the one that the happen to have in stock.

Does anyone know where they have a wide selection of shoes and sales people that know their shoes?

Aloha

Siki

It is difficult for me to know if I am attracted to this photograph because it is a difficult shot (it took a lot of patience) or because it is a good photograph. What do you think?

I learned a lot by cutting down the noise in this shot but some of this noise reappeared (look at the red part of the fish) when I added some red and saturated the colors at the end of my work on this photograph. Should I have gone back and treated the noise problem again? How should I have handled this?

I find the background distracting and I have done a number of things to it but nothing looks good to me. Any suggestions?

Any general comments on how to improve this image would be appreciated.

Aloha

Siki

It is difficult for me to know if I am attracted to this photograph because it is a difficult shot (it took a lot of patience) or because it is a good photograph. What do you think?

I learned a lot by cutting down the noise in this shot but some of this noise reappeared (look at the red part of the fish) when I added some red and saturated the colors at the end of my work on this photograph. Should I have gone back and treated the noise problem again? How should I have handled this?

I find the background distracting and I have done a number of things to it but nothing looks good to me. Any suggestions?

Any general comments on how to improve this image would be appreciated.

Aloha

Siki

Here is Nemo after processing him with Neat Image noise reduction software.

The program is easy to use and quite intuitive. It seems to me that this software did make some difference although Nemo may be too noisy to save.

Comments?

Hi Canuckamuck:

Your image is much better than I would have thought possible. The color of the tentacles is off but maybe this was necessary to cut down the noise.

What did you do? Did you use some of the noise reduction features built in to Photoshop and/or Camera RAW? I have not experimented with these things

At the time this photograph was shot (over a year ago), I was not saving my raw files. So, I have no way of determining if the noise is due to the way the picture was shot or the small size sensor in my compact digital camera.

I appreciate these comments and I can’t tell you how much better this is than flubbing around by myself. The only time I am around photographers is when I go on a dive trip.

I may try the suggested program, “Neat Image” and post the results.

Thanks

Siki

Nemo (Spinecheek Anemonefish)

1. There is some kind of orange colored artifact all over the anemone’s tentacles. It was there in the original and was made worse when I sharpened.

2. Is this noise? If not, what is it?

3. What can I do to avoid or minimize it?

4. What overall suggestions and impressions to you have to make this shot better?

I like it!

It surprises me that I didn’t even see the problem with the greens. I just knew that something wasn’t right.

There are a number of ways to boost the magenta in the background. How did you do it? I have not made much use of Blending Modes.

Thanks for your comments. I learned a lot.

Aloha

Siki

Is there an up to date description of how to prepare images of all types and sizes for posting?

In my last post there were to be 3 images and only two showed up. Is there any way to see what you have done while you are in the process of doing it?

Maybe you can only load one image at a time. Is this correct?

Aloha

Siki

Questions- For Saddled Butterflyfish

1. I like the colorful dance that these butterflyfish do as they feed but I find the background distracting. As you can see, I have dulled it, removed it, etc and still nothing strikes me as quite right. Do you have any suggestions?

2. All views of this photograph (print or screen) tell me that there is no detail in the curved white section of the fish. However, when I bring this photograph through camera raw and/or look at it in Levels, I am told that there is no clipping. What is going on?

3. There are some smudges on the black parts of the fish that are not on the original image. Does anyone have any idea how I allowed these smudges to get into the photograph?

4. Cropping is a real problem for me. Does anyone have suggestions for cropping?

5. What overall suggestions and impressions to you have to make this original shot &/print better?

This is a trial run.

Like many people, I have ended up with many boxes of slides which I would now like to convert to digital.

There are approximately 100 that I would like to have scanned at a high resolution.

What are my options? Does anyone know of a shop that can do high-res scans? How about the chance of renting or paying to use a scanner?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Aloha

Siki

While visiting Similan Island No. 4, I was unable to get a signal on my Nokia mobile phone from 1-2 call. A person sitting adjacent to me was able to carry on a long conversation on a Samsung mobile using 1-2 call.

There is obviously a difference in the ability of mobile phones to receive and send a signal.

Does anyone know how to go about choosing a mobile phone which has the high capacity to receive and make calls in “fringe areas”? Is there objective measure of this mobile phone feature?

Aloha

Siki

I was recently on Similan Island 4. My 2-3 year old old cheap Nokia mobile (AIS Sim card) showed no signal and I could not dial out. Some months ago I used this same phone successfully in the very same place.

Several minutes later I saw a Thai girl chatting away on her mobile. She told me that she was also using AIS also but it was her understanding that Nokia phones would not work on Island 4 and that Samsung phones like hers do work.

This has to have something to do with the reception capabilities of the two phones and my current Nokia just won’t cut it.

What is the best way to go about purchasing a new mobile phone that has better signal reception than my old Nokia? Is there a way to rate or compare a mobile phone’s ability to receive a signal?

Thank you.

Siki