AmeriThai

Troll

That's not a troll. That's a snotgurgle.

Given what you mention above...

In my instance, the folks at SCB in BKK were willing to cash it, but it was going to take some time...and I think their fee was about 500 baht ($15) per check...something like that... I didn't pay it and didn't do it..so don't remember exactly.

Depending on who sent the check and in what circumstance, any option for asking the sender to make the payment through some different means...and just tear up the check instead???

Agreed. Sending via an international wire through a bank (sender's account to the OP's account) would be faster and less hassle. Of course, it depends on the amount to be sent vs the bank's handling fees. It the amount to be sent is pretty small, then it might not be worth it, unless the bank provides free service to wire money.

Once the smell test is passed then digging in the nose, picking teeth etc are standard business.

Just be glad they aren't offering to share their nose nuggets with you.

I have several Thai female friends - strictly platonic. Been good friends with most of them for over 15+ years.

I am a ex-mensa graduate so am believed to be smart. Wrong!! You just have a bigger ego than the average person.

How does one become an ex-Mensa graduate?

The world's economy was attacked by the fantastic rise in the cost of oil. Why was there such a rise? it's back down to 80 something dollars a barrel now. This didn't work. The collapse of the world's banking system may work.

Largely because Bernanke and Paulson wanted to trigger high inflation in order to offset the deflationary effects of collapsing housing prices. It was utterly asinine of them, and was done to protect their Wall Street buddies, and it appears to have failed. Looks very much like we are headed into a fullblown serious recession, which is what was needed to begin with.

Unfortunately, they've also saddled the U.S. taxpayer with something like $1,300,000,000,000 (not a typo) in additional national debt in just the last year, and there's no end in sight.

Open your eyes and research these things on the internet. What's happening now is very frightening and I believe planned.

Possibly, although I believe a stronger case can be made for the businessmen/bankers simply taking advantage of the situation when they found that Bernanke and Paulson were pliable and more than happy to rape the taxpayers in order to bail out their friends.

And Arnold Schwarzenegger also wanted to jump in on the bailout bandwagon to ask the U.S. for a $7 billion loan to help the state of California. It's unknown if California is falling into the ocean after all.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cali...0,5726760.story

My biggest regret about being of this era is that I probably won't live to see humans colonize space.

I mean, I guess it's possible that I'd see it, but humans aren't progressing nearly as quickly as they did in the 30s and 40s. They promised us flying cars by the year 2000, but the biggest advancements since have served only to allow people to sit on their asses and get fat.

The internet, fast food, delivery pizza, televisions and games? All distractions keeping the masses from reaching greater potential. I'm sure it's not intentional, but it certainly is happening.

Even if humans were to begin preparing for interstellar colonization; with the technology currently available, it would take lifetimes to terraform planets. Ships capable of space travel still take years to travel the solar system. To realistically do anything, that figure would have to be taken down to days, or at least months. Though I have little doubt that we will someday accomplish this.

If I had to make a prediction: Soon after humans begin settling the galaxy, there will be a war that dwarfs all wars previously known to man. We'll dispute amongst ourselves as to who should get what planet, or which section on the planet, or which vast clump of resources floating around in space. If we survive that, then we're in the clear =) at least, temporarily.

*edit* I should amend that the internet serves many useful purposes and is definitely a step toward the right direction. Unfortunately, it's also an object of abuse. It's like a drug to some people; they just play around all day, wasting away as the world passes them by. Many of these people could be the next Einstein, or Ford, but we'll never find out.

I doubt even your children or great grandchildren will see any real space colonization. The only places we know about that are even remotely suitable is the moon and Mars. I suspect it'll mostly be a small number of astronaut/scientists on missions to the moon, similar to scientific outposts in Antarctica. Maybe a few space tourists now and then who have a few million to burn.

Mars? At best, a handful of astronauts photographing footprints, collecting rocks, setting up equipment, etc., mostly to show it could be done. It would be a very cool thing to do though. However, the price tag to send a crew of around 8 people for such a showing would be, um, astronomical. Who's going to foot the bill for frequent 2-year round-trip human excursions to the Red Planet? 9 months to get there, 3 or 4 months on the surface, and 9 months to get back. Far cheaper to send advanced AI robotics to do the work. Actual colonization? Probably not any time soon.

BTW, there are people who hold some thought provoking discussions on the Internet.

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=243659

What makes my blood boil is the way AIG decided to spend half a million dollars by sending their execs to a luxury resort spa to celebrate the bailout. Unbelievable! Someone needs to be seriously held accountable for that kind of nonsense.

Is this true? Can you please help me with a source? I have selfish reasons for knowing if this is a fact and would appreciate a link to some information

T

It's been all over the news the past few days. A lot of taxpayers are really fuming about it. This link might help.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27086714/

Shoddy shoddy journalism.

It was NOT a retreat for executives. It was instead, a retreat which was for the financial agents (not employed by AIG) who sell AIG products. It is a reward for high sales performance. It is a very very common practice. The media portrays it as manicures for bailed-out executives; instead it is to reward sales agents from bringing money INTO the organisation.

Of course, in these days of hysteria and panic and the desperate need to find a bogeyman, it's important we don't let the facts get in the way of a good story, huh?

I'd expect this from Fox News, but not MSNBC

And the source of your information is........?

It kind of looks like a grouper, but I'm not sure what kind.

Hawking, in an exclusive CNN interview, said that if humans can survive the next 200 years and learn to live in space, then our future will be bright.

optimistic, considering that in 4 years time the

to our Sun will enter the inner solar solar system bringing with it the 'end of days'

Dropped a couple of brown dwarfs off at the pool and that certainly made the end of my day.

Or do you mean a couple of brown logs?

i was thinking about this recently- i have a chunk of savings to back myself up in thailand, but if the economy gets worse, is it possible that my currency would be devalued? thus i actually would not have much in savings and if i lost my job(s) in addition, i could very well be trapped in thailand. is that a realistic fear? i know absolutely nothing about economics but all this talk about great depression v2 has me recalling that the dollar at one point wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. also, is keeping savings in a bank a good idea these days?

In the short term (hopefully) things might get tough and require making some living adjustments. But in the long term, I think the economy will eventually recover though maybe not quite like before.

As for whether or not to keep savings in a bank, what are the alternatives?

I wonder sometimes if she has some mental issues..

That should be a major clue right there.

Flying geckos, then.

Just add toast.

What makes my blood boil is the way AIG decided to spend half a million dollars by sending their execs to a luxury resort spa to celebrate the bailout. Unbelievable! Someone needs to be seriously held accountable for that kind of nonsense.

Is this true? Can you please help me with a source? I have selfish reasons for knowing if this is a fact and would appreciate a link to some information

T

It's been all over the news the past few days. A lot of taxpayers are really fuming about it. This link might help.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27086714/

What you're talking about is known as "kerning" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning ). Pretty cool when done by a professional who really knows his job, but can cause pretty unreadable text when done by somebody of the other kind.

/ Priceless

Then what tezzainoz is asking about could indeed be a font where the lowercase h/a combination can be closer with kerning enabled while at the same time the a/i combo wouldn't need it. There's always something new to learn about. The clarification is appreciated Priceless. Thank you.

I know I've seen the same text before. I think it was probably from a website, but I can't remember where. The design of the "T" is what caught my attention. If tezzainoz's example was a gif or jpg graphic, that wouldn't help knowing the name of the font, unless someone happens to know. Maybe tezzainoz can say where it was found.

Pad Thai font

Well, it's a Thai-style font, but not even close to what tezzainoz was talking about and showed.

So basically all those of us who used banks as money depositories trusting them to look after it (on fek all interest I may add) have been sold down the swanny to those dumb fcuks who, with no significant collaterall, borrowed to the hilt and spent the lot.

But what happens to those debtors? Okay a combination of financial interests and governments now own those bad debts and the assetts they represent but what of the people? Are they just going to be able to walk away from the whole shambles no worse off than the rest of us?

Is anyone ever going to trust a bank ever again?

Here in Thailand my visa prohibits me from working.

Thus my ability to look after my family is not the same as it would be at home... This is what worries me.

Lucky if you are able to work, but what about all the retirees? Wherever in the world they are living they are screwed.

When I started this topic I asked for opinions,and now I think I understand the situation much better.

My conclusions therefore are that because the Americans,in their usual 'money is everything' attitudes and actions are now ,not only suffering themselves...which it seems they well deserve,but are also making the rest of the world suffer with them.....perhaps a period of denial of their excessive lifestyles will do them some good....but as to if they will learn from this....I doubt it !!

I don't think you can put all the blame on Americans, although the U.S. is certainly deep in it. Other countries thought they were immune from such problems, only to discover the same thing happening though it took a bit longer to catch up to them. The problem is a global problem.

What makes my blood boil is the way AIG decided to spend half a million dollars by sending their execs to a luxury resort spa to celebrate the bailout. Unbelievable! Someone needs to be seriously held accountable for that kind of nonsense.

I am now one of those people who plan and play it safe, but still encourage others who want to shoot for the moon.

Good post Old Croc. Nothing wrong with encouraging others to shoot for the moon. The important thing is to think and carefully plan ahead for those moon landings so one reduces the risk of it ending up as a crash and burn.

Some people say you need to set aside an emergency fund and not touch it. I agree. Others say the economy can change you income. Yep, that's true too. And other also say a medical problem could pop up and drain your reserves. True, and that's why it's important to have good medical insurance, so it doesn't drain all your financial reserves. All of those are the kinds of things a person needs to take into account and have a backup plan to avoid problems, problems that are often preventable.

None of the fonts in that link even remotely look like the one the poster is talking about. I agree that it's not a font and looks like it was made as a graphic. The "h" curls under the "a". If it were a font, there'd be at least a slight amount of seperation between each character.

That's not necessary at all - consider fonts for Arabic! In fact, as 'h', 'a' and 'i' all end in identical curls, I think the glyphs may indeed be part of a font covering all 26 letters of the Roman alphabet.

You might be right. It is pretty cool looking. I'm not questioning the letters have curls. What I'm saying is look at the 'tail' or 'curl' of the 'h'. The 'curl' ends well under and within the outermost edge of the 'a'. One might think if the background for each character is transparent then overlapping wouldn't matter. But I don't see how because transparent background or not, each character is still limited by its own frame. I have to admit the large "T" does looks familiar though. I have a CD I bought in Ayutthaya years ago with a zillion sets of Thai-style fonts that can also be shown as English letters, but I'm pretty sure that what's shown above isn't the same as any of those.

I've never seen Arabic fonts, so I don't know how they are designed. But if I were guessing, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't always blend seamlessly either, although perhaps it may seem very close to it. If they're designed for computers, they're probably limited by frames as well. I don't know of any way around that apart from actually designing an entire word as a graphic.

Yes i am trying to admit...almost give up everything and go home.

Kinda hard but..I will go on

You're not a fool. You're just feeling homesick. That's not unusual for a person to feel. Moving to another country can be a very big change for people. It takes time to make the adjustment, but you can do it. It will get easier.

Really BIG change and im really homesick

Of course. But I'm sure you also realize that it's up to you to set your own priorities and learn the best way to stay focused on your goals. What's the most important thing for you and your future right now? How long do you plan to stay where you are? Probably not forever. Time will pass by more quickly than you realize right now. You can still keep in touch with your family, can't you? Even though it's not quite the same, call them, email them or IM them. It helps. Also find something to do to occupy your time so you don't think so much about being so far away. When you have a break and if you can afford to do so, them fly back home for a visit.

I think when you get past living there for 6 months or a year, you'll feel okay. But for now, missing your family is a very natural and normal thing to feel. And remember also, you have friends right here at TV.

Sorry that is not the Font

I hope I can load a pic of the font I need

with some luck you might find something on this page

http://www.1001freefonts.com/asian-fonts.php

IMHO the font looks like been modified or even entirely created by a graphic designer.

Its hard to determine with the small 3 character sample only.

None of the fonts in that link even remotely look like the one the poster is talking about. I agree that it's not a font and looks like it was made as a graphic. The "h" curls under the "a". If it were a font, there'd be at least a slight amount of seperation between each character.

Yes i am trying to admit...almost give up everything and go home.

Kinda hard but..I will go on

You're not a fool. You're just feeling homesick. That's not unusual for a person to feel. Moving to another country can be a very big change for people. It takes time to make the adjustment, but you can do it. It will get easier.

If someone deleted my Avatar they should at least PM me if they don't want me to repost it.

great avatar btw

Thank You I love that show "The Boondocks" I have both seasons on DVD.

Good until grampa starts lashing with the belt. I like Boondocks too.

The farang gangstas must be the ones with lotsa bling on their flip-flops.

Woudl you prefer KERPOW or KABOOM instead??? BOIIIINGGGG!

That'd be a change of pace. Maybe an occasional HONK-HONK or an AAOOGAH here and there.

Slightly off-topic, but those NBC chimes in the dept store can get annoying after a while as well.