Shiver

What we need are T-shirts and buttons with the Guy Fawkes image on them. Such items we can wear anywhere and always until these crooks are ousted. Keep the pressure on and they will surely collapse like the house of cards they are.

I was asked by a friend the other week to take a photograph of some friends relaxing by the pool using some kind of apple i-pad or other (don't know the model). As I held the thing up for the picture, it started drawing squares around everyones face, marked out where the eyes mouth and various other facial metrics, and I realised I was holding in my hand a GPS device with mobile telephone capability and a clock on it. Wearing a mask would really xxxx with their facial recognition systems, but location and time it wouldn't. Don't want to be overly paranoid, but this info could be stored for years and come back to haunt us.

Just my 2 BTC.

Assume the the whole national economy is $100, and you borrow $100 at 10% interest, Now you have to pay it back, of course now you have to pay $110 back, so the economy grew by 10%.

How long are you borrowing $100 at 10%, i.e. the term of the loan? Your calculation appears to be a wild guess.

How about you borrow $100 (or 100 seeds) to plant and grow an apple orchard, get the energy from the sun for free to grow them, sell some of the apples for a profit and repay your 10% interest. Assuming you enjoy eating apples, you have participated in the financial system without having to print $18 trillion. Massive oversimplification, but you get the idea, The extra 10% comes from the sun and a bit of sweat, not the printing press of a private company.

Thank you for sharing your story, Shiver.

Could there have been any way to prevent these people from falling into the trap of crystal meth addiction?

If I was in the situation that you were in and they were insistent on taking something for partying, I would have suggested MDMA as a far safer alternative, citing the scientific studies that I have previously mentioned. I would have also suggested the use of Marquis Reagent test kit to ensure that whatever they bought as MDMA actually contained MDMA (or something similar like MDA or MDEA) and wasn't just methamphetamine (Ya Baa). MDMA, as enjoyable as it is in a party environment, is nowhere near as addictive or harmful as either methamphetamine (crystal or not) or cocaine, which is why it ranks much lower than those and other drugs on the harm scale.

I actually don't think you'd want a partner that was a cocaine addict either, as there are other stories a little like yours but with cocaine instead of methaphetamine.

I guess I was exaggerating when mentioning cocaine. I've only ever encountered users of it in pubs etc in UK, and never tried it (I was scared I might like it, and with having enough vices already, and at that time enough money to really party hard to personal destruction). I've tried quite a lot of the things on the erowid website before ever coming to Thailand (always looking for a nice clean relaxant alternative to beer - never found one). I tried the nootropics and hated it. I read it makes you smarter, but the experience I had was I felt completely normal and everyone in the world went more stupid, so that experiment didn't last long.

I did try Crystal Methamphetaime once (aka Ice), just so I could walk the walk when talking about it and lecturing people to boredom. To me it was like a mild amphetamine rush, but softer and smoother, and with a hint of hugginess/empathy, but with a limp unit that no amount of prescription tablets could arouse. I looked in the mirror and saw my pupils bigger than a melon and instantly became too paranoid to even visit 711. I didn't need a second visit. One and done. That was before all the above issues I wrote about with ex-partners.

Having lost both a business partner (farang) and personal relationship (Thai) to Meth, I have a deep hatred of the stuff, and I don't like having hate inside me. It's the most insideous(sp?) thing I've ever seen. Gently gently, gotcha, no going back. They'll promise you the moon and sky, but you're only talking to 50% of the person you knew, the other half is something very damaging to themselves and to all those associated. Avoid at all costs. I say this as someone who smokes legal cigarettes and over indulges in alcohol, but they're chalk and cheese.

I got to the point of keeping in my house Meth tests (from a friend in the business). Never got to use one of them, as they'll snake out of anything. Both of the above were very good people, fit, active, sociable, wonderful people to have around in my life. I paid heavily both emotionally and financially to be the 'do gooder'. If anyone reading this suspects the same, whether it be dirty yaa baa, or hi-so Ice, get them out of your life before they suck you into their world. There is no getting out of it when the 'authorities' are also the suppliers, and know who to target exactly, when and where.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your business partner and personal relationship. Your own experiences would certainly have shaped your personal views about the drug. Was it the crystal form (ice)?

It would be interesting to know what kind of drug education they had received before they had started taking methamphetamine. How much did they know about its harmfulness, particularly dependence? If after having studied all the scientific facts and statistics, would they have still started to take it and do it regularly?

The gf at the time had tried Yaa Baa many years before with her then Thai bf, and said she didn't like it. On a holiday with me a local neighbour introduced both her (Thai) and my business partner (Aussie) the Ice. The way they took to it was different. The GF thought is was 'fun' and started hanging out in night clubs with other users of the stuff, and despite having a good 'salary' from me as a 'sponsor' she managed to not pay the motorbike, my bills, or even send money to her family. It was me who went to the funeral of her father I'd never met because she'd been incarcerated (he died just 2 days before she was released). It was me who paid the money to get the lawyers to show the police had taken bribes. For the Aussie partner, he claimed it was my lack of devotion to the company that meant he 'had' to take it in order to cover my failures (which also included him sleeping for 30 hours+ to recover every several days - this is still ongoing as far as I'm aware). He's hardcore now and no going back. She went back to the old routine and got pulled again, and will probably do 8-20 years when her trial is due. I wash my hands. My guess is it put 3 years on her appearance within a couple of months. The Aussie ex-business partner I haven't seen, but reports sound grim.

I can understand that a farang can be a bufflalo, but if this stuff is more important than family, losing a father (grief, the family say), car, 2 bikes, salary, several rai of land and security for life, just for a hit to get 'up to normal' you know it's not good stuff. I don't have any special skills in chemistry (self taught), but do run a business for reversing cancer/heart disease and other ailments. I know a way that from a receptor point of view will get someone off any kind of addiction, but it's moot, because if the person doesn't want to, there's no point in even mentioning it to them.

I am extremely biased when it comes to Ice. At least with Heroin you only live in pure hell for a week getting off it. With Meth, it's too subtle to notice on yourself, but everyone else does.

I'd rather have a partner that was alcoholic/cocaine head than Meth. Actually I'd like a gf that didn't mind the odd drink and occasional ganja (legalities aside - no room for that here as a farang). I stay alone now. At least if I'm the one doing the lying to myself it doesn't hurt other people.

Hmmm.....I wonder what ratio of the seized drugs are "recirculated" by the BIB, to be seized yet again.

You just hit one of the nails right on the head.

Having lost both a business partner (farang) and personal relationship (Thai) to Meth, I have a deep hatred of the stuff, and I don't like having hate inside me. It's the most insideous(sp?) thing I've ever seen. Gently gently, gotcha, no going back. They'll promise you the moon and sky, but you're only talking to 50% of the person you knew, the other half is something very damaging to themselves and to all those associated. Avoid at all costs. I say this as someone who smokes legal cigarettes and over indulges in alcohol, but they're chalk and cheese.

I got to the point of keeping in my house Meth tests (from a friend in the business). Never got to use one of them, as they'll snake out of anything. Both of the above were very good people, fit, active, sociable, wonderful people to have around in my life. I paid heavily both emotionally and financially to be the 'do gooder'. If anyone reading this suspects the same, whether it be dirty yaa baa, or hi-so Ice, get them out of your life before they suck you into their world. There is no getting out of it when the 'authorities' are also the suppliers, and know who to target exactly, when and where.

Why don't they store the rice in a way that stops it spoiling and just hang on to it until they get their day in the sun? When I look at the way things from CP foods will keep forever in my refrigerator, there must be a technology in this country that can preserve it. Maybe pump it full of nitrogen/ClO2 then vacuum pack it? I'm no chemist, but I can open a packet of 'Lays' crisps/chips and see if they've gone off after exposure to the atmosphere.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but in my part of Udon nobody I know of is planning on planting rice this year, so they might need it here in Thailand (of course the climate can vary wildly from one village to the next, so personal observation is no measure of national sentiment.

While your idea has merit, and can I suggest storing in a pure nitrogen atmosphere would prevent rotting and infestation, we are talking about a low value commodity where the storage costs would sooner rather than later exceed the value of the rice.

I don't see why it would be so hard to do. The way they store grains anywhere in vast containers could easily be pumped with an inert gas then vacuumed if built correctly. Oh yeah, forgot....planning, quality, team, bribery.... I'll shut up now, stupid idea.

Why don't they store the rice in a way that stops it spoiling and just hang on to it until they get their day in the sun? When I look at the way things from CP foods will keep forever in my refrigerator, there must be a technology in this country that can preserve it. Maybe pump it full of nitrogen/ClO2 then vacuum pack it? I'm no chemist, but I can open a packet of 'Lays' crisps/chips and see if they've gone off after exposure to the atmosphere.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but in my part of Udon nobody I know of is planning on planting rice this year, so they might need it here in Thailand (of course the climate can vary wildly from one village to the next, so personal observation is no measure of national sentiment.

Just give them the GPS coordinates and let them figure out how to get there.

http://www.realecontv.com/videos/debt/the-universal-solvent-debt.html

It's not only about Thailand, but everywhere. Gave me great insight into my past relationships.

"N.B. this is NOT an answer. A few vegetable and fruit strains with genetic modification have been patented. There have been restrictions for many years in Europe on selling certain old varieties of vegetables and fruits. That restriction is related to poor levels of disease resistance, and not for Patent reasons. There are very few crops which are totally banned ( some toxic plants and some potential drug plants) , just that some cannot be sold commercially. It is true that the involvement of Patent law in crop breeding is a cause for concern."

Thing is, 'old varieties' of fruits and vegetables have their benefits too. For example, if you leave a fruit or vegetable to fend for itself (i.e. not use pesticides), then it will develop an immune system to protect itself, so when you eat it you benefit from that. A pesticide treated vegetable, even if cleaned, is lacking some of the things your body needs. Do a search on Salvestrols, and the enzyme CYP1B1, cancer and diet, The writing is all on the wall for those that have eyes to see it.

If it really works a big malaria Pharma company will arrive shortly to buy the patent and shelf any plans for large scale production.

Unlikely that use of citronella could be patented. It has been used for years as insect repellent.

But great thinking from these students.

They're trying to patent vegetables, and ban the growing of the organic versions, so who knows what levels they'll stoop to? (no answer required)

I use a repellent spritzer (can't tell you what it's called because I can't read Thai), that has citronella (or is it Limonella?) in it rather than deet. Smells so good I often use it instead of aftershave. What they're talking about isn't going to cure malaria, but hopefully could prevent them getting bitten in the first place. If you want a cure for malaria then look into MMS1 (okay I'm going to start a cascade of nay sayers now), but it does actually cure malaria in under 24 hours because it catches it at every stage of mutation. Too cheap and already public domain, so no money for big pharma there. Lol, I mistakenly wrote bug pharma before correcting myself.

So let me get this bitcoin thing straight. A bit coin is:

- a medium of payment which requires a computer to buy and sell

- it takes 10 minutes to facilitate a trade

- to 'earn' a bit coin (other than having to buy one) rather than getting one of a product of our own labours (ie something we are good at, whether you are a butcher, baker or offshore driller) you have to again log on and compete against some algorithm which some MIT PhD has scammed anyway.

- you have no broader reference point as to the value of the bit coin, whether it is the underlying functioning of the economy of the government - or in this case - the non government.

Yep, a speculation tool for nerds, the stupid, or the easily led.

When you want to send some money from the other side of the world to your Tirak, 10 minutes and little or no fee sounds pretty good to me. She can convert it with her smartphone app whilst skyping with her other sponsors.

If there's any work I can do for you, I'll be happy to accept bitcoin, litecoin, baht, or dollars, gold, silver or whatever, makes little difference to me as they're interchangeable,

If I wanted to send you $10 wired through a bank, from USA to here, what would it cost me?

If you don't want to be a bitcoin speculator, but want to purchase something on the internet (can't see it getting that popular on the highstreet any more than PayPal is), then you could put say $100 in an exchange, and leave it there in USD (or many other currencies), and if bitcoin goes up or down it doesn't matter because your money is parked in a segregated account denominated in USD.

And who guarantees that money against fraud, the collapse of the exchange or general digital incompetence?

You do. If you're going to play in the game you have to take responsibility for your actions.

The first step is still not clear to me.

Can I go with 100$ to a bank and tell the cashier to change this to X bitcoins ?

Also not getting a single ‘bank statement’ makes it a bit weird for me. If I understand it correctly you may have a number of balances on various ‘user-id’s.

The first step is to go out and research (eg. bitcoin.org) and with various other sites, youtube vids etc you can work out how to change money into BTC. There are at least 700,000 physical locations in USA where you can send physical cash in person. There are websites that tell you how to do it in UK too, other countries I'm not so sure as I don't speak the language. I do know there are at least 3 people in BKK who will face to face change Baht for BTC. I've often thought I should make a T-shirt saying "I trade BTC" with a QR code on my T-shirt, but 99% of people wouldn't understand what it meant.

As for Bank statement, you have x coins and that's it. How you manage your transactions is up to you, because a transaction would look like a group of characters 'xoijoijOJOIjoijOJOjjqawqwe' or something, so in your own wallet app you might like to write something next to each of those "Paid Bob 0,0000238 BTC for Lunch at the Red Lion Pub"

Mining is pretty much yesterdays game unless you're prepared to invest in a lot of hardware to mine coins. At the outset it was worth having your computer work to mine coins to create the initial base of parties to verify the transactions, but these days would take a lot of dedicated hardware to make an impact. The idea is that mining provided incentive to create coins to take a stake in the system. It's 4 years old now, so those that take part are there to earn money from confirming transactions as much as anything. For example, if you had a free application on your smartphone that 'mined' all night while it was being charged, you might make enough coin that you gained say 10 baht credit on your phone (if ignoring the cost of electricity to charge your phone), and a decent smartphone might contribute 10 G/hash to the network, and if you didn't want coin you could convert it to DTAC/12CALL credit at something like www.bahtcoin.com (at commercial conversion rates of course), That would be a tiny tiny contribution to the network, but with the distribution of contributors (what are smart phones these days, 30-40% of new phone sales?) with a billion old phones around the planet confirming trades, and you getting paid for confirming those trades, the ability of someone to target a single node in the network would be infinitesimally small, secure the network, and make your own transactions virtually free, and maybe a little bit of profit too, maybe,...but certainly stops you paying Western Union 7% or whatever they charge.

Mining coins, there's about 11,000,000 of them already, so already >50% of all coins that will ever exist have already been made, with the final coin theoretically being made by about the year 2140. This same activity of mining for coins is a bit like a lottery, but in that same block chain you would be processing transactions for other people, and getting small rewards for confirming that transactions are valid and not 'double spend' as they call it, ensuring the integrity of the network by participating, so you can still make a nickel or two here and there by being part of the collective, but the days of the gold rush are well gone, long before it ever hit the media in any meaningful way. People who took the risk (both financial and sweat) got some of the rewards.

That said, if you'd bought 100 coins last week at the worst (a little over $50) and sold them now (as of time of writing >$100 each), then you could have doubled your money, but that's speculation and more a day traders job. There seems to be a small upward bias right now (this can change in minutes/hours and is not advice), and if you were looking to get in, you could buy 10 coins now for eg. say $100, then later, if you think the market is over bought, and wait for it to drop to $90, sell and make 10%. This could happen in the space of 1 day, as internet time is very compressed compared to a week in politics or waiting for gold. Right now it looks to me that the markets aren't being manipulated as they're not big enough to attract interest of the big boys, but this could change. There are already bots trading the price (a couple of hundred that I could detect - and I'm not expert - just invested - albeit I got my investment out long ago and am on a free gamble).

If you believe Elliot wave or other theories, there could be a bounce to a good proportion of the last peak, then it could crumble to lower than the previous low. If that happens, then I think we'll have to wait several months or perhaps more than a year to see where it's going after that. It's too young yet to be putting serious money into it, but an interesting experiment just the same. If you really wanted to get into it then look at the daily volatility range and put some petty money in near the lows and if you get a fill then look to sell near the daily highs. If it works then you can repeat, but please don't put your life savings into it - it's nowhere near large enough to be regarded as a stable investment yet, any more than penny stocks.

Can someone explain this part of Bitcoin to me please?

Lets suppose I got in early, when the Bitcoin was worth $10. I bought ten of them so it cost me $100.

The Bitcoin is now worth $160 and I decide to sell my 10 Bitcoins, so I get $1600.

Now I gave only gave them $100 so where do they get the other $1,500 from ($1,600 - $100) to pay me my money?

Rephrase the question:

Lets suppose I got in early, when the Microsoft was worth $10. I bought ten of them so it cost me $100.

The Microsoft is now worth $160 and I decide to sell my 10 Microsoft, so I get $1600.

Now I gave only gave them $100 so where do they get the other $1,500 from ($1,600 - $100) to pay me my money?

I am a supplement manufacturer (vitamins, herbal teas etc), and the loop holes and regulations I have to deal with in creating a simple label for a product to pass FDA regulations are 'trying', to say the least, but I look at cigarettes, coca cola, alcohol, deoderants etc, because of my particular interest in labels I don't see anything on them telling you what to do with them, how much, the consequences or benefits, what the RDA is or anything else. Try looking for a toothpaste without fluoride (they are out there, but they're minority providers). I dig deep into all the chemicals that are in these products and it consumes my life working out the what, where, why, interactions etc.

At the end of the day to switch off all the madness I smoke cigarettes and drink crappy chemical beer...... Not smart I know, but fighting the machine takes its toll, and the antidote is the casinos own currency. We're all being played, whether informed or not.

As a smoker I can tell you that you don't look at the box (the menu is not the meal), and there's no link to show that the image on the box was anything to do with the product inside, it's acceptance of contract by default. On the other hand, next time you pick up a nivea aerosol, or a skin whitening cream with a picture of a shiny happy family unit on the box, or turn on the tv (I haven't an perhaps more than a year now), look at how 'images' make sales, without having a single line of text on them to make them liable for any consequence. Picture speaks a 1000 words?

I think 'fluent' is not an achievable goal, even with the best will in the world. I live in Issan (UT city) and have been here full time for about 6 years. My Thai is useful only to Thais that know me and my version of their language, the kind of 'accommodate' me. I have a couple of westerner friends with several languages under their belt, and I see the same pattern in all. As an example I am native English, and in my old life I travelled the country (UK) quite a lot as an engineer, so my accent isn't really easy to place unless you lived within a few miles of where I came from, in which case I would quickly revert to that version of English. Right now I speak very slowly, and mix my Thai, English and Tinglish together along with a lot of body language and peripheral observations to 'kind of' get a message across. I pay particular attention to tone. I'm told my Thai is very good, but it's only good if I stick within my comfort zone (directions, food, please, thankyou etc) - outside of that I'm a lost person.

Above I said some western friend could speak Thai. They would say they have good Thai, meaning they have a large vocabulary, but I look at them interacting and I listen to their 'tone deafness' and think their language is terrible. If you're native English you could go to Germany/Spain/Italy etc and have a passable communication method in 3 months, in 6 months you might be nearly fluent if you've fully immersed yourself. Same the other way around, most of the younger generations of northern Europeans can speak passable English, I can even look at those languages and get the 'gist' of what is being said because there are commonalities.

My next door neighbour is Vietnamese. It took him 1 year to learn enough Thai that I now look to him to translate something verbal that I don't understand a Thai saying. So that says to me that our formative years, whether we learn a western or asian language, will likely dictate whether we'll ever be able to learn. Some things get baked it early on, and there seem to be different learning styles for different people.

I remember my sister telling me some years back that my parents thought I was dumb (as in cannot speak), even though doctors could find no reasons. I was also told that I would write ambidextrous, and I right with my right hand, kick with my left foot, use left for a rifle, and either hand for a racket, so that's all a bit messed up. My mother was left handed, and I've noticed many Thais are left handed too.

Bottom line is I think once that wiring has been hard coded in your first half a dozen years, that will determine the future you.

Add in a few accents, a tonal system, about 10-20 times more words in a dictionary, and 6 months to me looks like a very bleak challenge and I'll bet heavily against it.

Being a computer person I can do predicate logic if I apply myself to it. I also have some right brain capabilities. What I would suggest to them if they were serious is to start with understand why Ruk Rak Luk and Lak cannot all mean the same to a westerner, that some words do finish in 'L' (eg. My name is Paul, my Thai version is usually Por or Porn. They can say PorLao (enough) so I say repeat that would the ou/ao bit on the end. "Por". Before starting to learn the subtlties of the English language and all its oddities, we at least need an alphabet we can rely on.

When I finally dedicate myself to learning Thai, it will be a written and tonal approach, not listen learn repeat. I suggest the Thai leaders of this project consider those kind of issues in reverse before making bold statements like '6 months'

[/RANT]

I am a smoker, but I've found many times that if I want to smoke, and I look around me and see that the place is predominantly full of non smokers I will go outside, and the owner would say "it's okay you can smoke inside". I say words to the effect of "thanks, but I don't want to because the other people aren't smokers", and the owner will often thank me (even though I would never have known of their distaste of the habit had I not taken first action). I am deeply aware of my imposition should I have a cigarette in the vacinity of other people, and it creases me to watch another smoker thoughtlessly allowing smoke to waft across the face of someone nearby (even if they are also a smoker - because getting it in your face is not pleasant even if you are an addict of the stuff).

That all said. Why are we not making laws to ensure that 2-stroke motorcycles, trucks, buses etc are kept well serviced and not putting benzine derivatives down our throats? Even though I stated I'm a smoker, I have to hold my breath often when travelling. My preferred mode of transport varies depending on the intent at the time, but is often walking. I also have a bicycle, motorcycle and a car. With a car you don't really notice it, and walking isn't too bad, but on a bicycle or motorcycle, being behind a vehicle putting out that crap is a nightmare.

Above and beyond that, I see people putting McDonalds in their bodies, and football and fox news in their brains, so I don't take advice from these people easily.

It would be nice if they would just enforce the existing laws. Far too many bars and restaurants currently allow smoking inside their air conditioned spaces. I would just like to see all areas that should be smoke free under the current laws actually be smoke free.

As George Ure would say, " *Everything* is a business model ".

Lemonade diet (aka Master cleanse) is very good, as is HCG diet (inject, none of this homeopathic drops stuff). If it wasn't Thailand and somewhere cooler I'd suggest DNP, but in this climate it would probably kill you. Bromocriptine with a calorie restriction is another way (read the Lyle MacDonald PDF). I've tried all of these after a couple of years of abuse each time, and all of them work, but you've got to choose your own path.

Large amounts of vitamin C (at least 6-10 grams spread through the day) several months prior to final term of pregnancy will help avoid stretch marks. It's needed to make collagen. Same could be said for adolescent stretch marks as well I would guess, but I don't know anyone who's done that. Once they're already there then I'm not sure much can be done about it, as it would required extensive tissue remodelling, and can't imagine the body would any longer see that as a priority.

If there are going to be so many VIP's on board the flight, I can't help wondering whether they'll do a 'Titanic' to get rid of a lot of people all at the same time, and Rockerfeller conveniently manages to miss the journey, taking out all his opposition?

I read that Megaupload had 50million users? At an average of say $8 a month that's 400 million dollars a month?!

Why doesn't Hollywood buy Megaupload? Problem solved.