dionys

I love this review I really love it.

I love this review I really love it.

+1

LawrenceChee #1

“Anyone has dated woman professionals in CM at the senior management level and has advice culturally what they are like?”

There are about 3.5 billion women on this planet, managers, scientists, workers, and homemakers, from Chain Mai to Timbuktu.

The first man, or woman, having valid answer to your question should immediately and without hesitation receive a Nobel Price. Reversed gender in your question only reinforces this statement. Have any easier questions?

Villagefarang

That landscape really tastefully compliments the house design. I would think it was your wife’s art work but can't help but think you had something to do with that also. Good for you folks. Much obliged for the additional shots.

villagefarang

I think you are absolutely right. The strait long stairs would have given a first time viewer some feeling of a commercial structure. By wrapping it around he was able to blend the two, giving the house sort of masculine personality yet combined with warmth of a residence. I am sure for you it is an old shoe but the job indeed deserves congratulation. The other feature is the patio/veranda. That gives incredible extension of the livable space both mentally and physically

Thank you for your response. It seams to be a combination of a Gable and modified shed type roof that indeed was well utilized. Splendid. I like nature also but because of my personal interests I keep coming back and looking at that house design. Also quite unusual terrace with ground connecting stairs. Speaking about pushing the envelope on his part. Yet he got away with it nicely. Thanks again for re-posting. Now back to the clouds…

Villagefarang #1

Indeed wonderful pictures and countryside. Also very impressive house design. Would you mine to share if you used a Thai architect or some other nationality. Very interesting roof combination. Thank you

Dio

If I may I would like to ask another question regarding the cost of living in CM. Is it possible for an expat (farang, alien, foreigner, acaudillar, cudzinec, auslynder, ytranger, inostranec), ok that should cover that, get some sort of medical insurance? From all the postings it seams like it is outlawed to be sick in CM. Or if it does happens it’s like the old story about the tough grandma that buried three husbands and two of them were just napping.

PS.: uptheos

Love them Wal-Mart fashion shows. Sort of flat chested, ein't she?

FolkGuitar #1213

Hello signore FolkGuitar; and what is wrong with having your cake and eat it too?

TommoPhysicist #115; 119 elektrified #116;120

Thank you; those were great summaries. And your extended conversation, where you covered some additional details, gives readers really much better understanding of the details. It is so funny, nothing in this life seams to be black and white. Well actually I just thought of one... [but it is sort of unrelated]

OK, democracy's not perfect - but what's the alternative?

If I understand it correctly the question is: OK, democracy's not perfect - but what's the alternative?

Somehow the question is a bit confusing. Is Pravit Rojanaphruk questioning democracy as a form of a government in general or is he questioning the present Thai governing system? If he’s questioning the Thai governing system [and I think he is] than the first thing he needs to establish is if the existing system really qualifies for that title.

Democracy definitions:

1. Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people. Collectively, the people, are regarded as the source of government

2. Government by popular representation; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but is indirectly exercised through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed; a constitutional representative government; a republic.

To help Rojanaphruk to review the existing system qualifications below are some quotes presented by different individuals

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

Abraham Lincoln

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Winston Churchill

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

Winston Churchill

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

Mahatma Gandhi

The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.

Mahatma Gandhi

Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person or keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of civilization.

Winston Churchill

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

Oscar Wilde

Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.

Ronald Reagan

Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.

John F. Kennedy

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

John F. Kennedy

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

Ronald Reagan

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

Aristotle

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

Aristotle

In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.

Aristotle

Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.

Aristotle

Our country's founders cherished liberty, not democracy.

Ron Paul

Democracy... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.

Plato

Democracy passes into despotism.

Plato

An ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.

Voltaire

Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.

Plato

Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy.

Plato

The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.

Voltaire

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy is the road to socialism.

Karl Marx

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.

John Adams

Democracy don't rule the world, You'd better get that in your head; This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that's better left unsaid.

Bob Dylan

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

Will Rogers

Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

George Bernard Shaw

Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.

George Bernard Shaw

And now if Pravit is sure that the democracy definitions and the majority of statements would indeed be applicable, to the existing Thai system then the question of “OK, democracy's not perfect - but what's the alternative?” could be revisited. Until then dear Pravit keep thinking about it. Really thinking

Viagra testing grounds ahead

Thank you for the pharmacy web-site addressees. Will check the availability Thank you again

Regards

O boy. I think I am in trouble; and I own every one of you folks a big apology. Before I do that (not very good at it) allow me to say one think: All of you, and I really mean ALL OF YOU, are really great people, and all of your responses were great and are indeed much appreciated. In addition, also special thanks to uptheos and mcgriffith for the extra mile. Thank you guys.

I have been following TV for about five years, and I just joined TV recently [not quite sure why I waited for so long] but I am glad I did. You folks are wonderful bunch of blogers (I hope that’s a compliment), carrying-on with good sense of humor, and I think that even the occasional teasing on TV is great. It puts the spice back in to the life. And judging from conversations you have among yourselves, even when you disagree, they are still friendly and actually I think quite a worm. I do not want to get mushy here hence I will just wishfully say keep it up guys. [..That means boys and girls of course]

And here is the clarification regarding the original posting, and this time I will try t cover the whole nine yards:

Years back I worked in Thailand, met a Thai lady from Fang, and after the job was over, I went home [uSA]. I guess I was too ugly, too stupid and to poor to find another girl so I went back to Thailand and married the girl from FANG. (Or may be there was another reason, who knows). After a while we returned back to states and that’s were we are now. Now we are retiring and going through the basic ‘checks’ before moving to Thailand, so we can live there happily ever after. (OK stop laughing now) And that is the reason why I could not check the pharmacies on my own. My wife’s dad is 88 years old, (mom past a way last year) and we could not ask him for any help in that regard. Therefore the OP. Now the rest of the clarifications:

Few years back I end up with high BP that almost killed me [actually not only the BP but the pills also]. Doctors first tried all the standard tests regarding hart, kidneys, ‘the pipes’, etc., and the final diagnose was, you are OK; you just need some pills to kill the BP, and you’ll be fine. They never mention to me I was also included in the process.

And you know the BP medication-categories posted before? Not only the Alpha Blockers, but all of the categories of BP medications that were posted? Well the MD’s tried every one of them [the groups that is]. And I have no reason to tell you stories, so believe me, I was ending in ER’s with 220/120 repeatedly. At times I thought that starting a Frequent Ambulance Flyer would be good idea. Maybe later I could get some discounts or a better seat in the house.

Sometimes after taking different prescription pills I would have a rash and boils over my body resembling the met amphetamine kids driving the big rigs in Thailand. Sometimes I would itch so bad that even my dog was looking at me in disbelieve [you know the typical 45 degree head-tilt-look dogs gives you], and I could swear that he was thinking about a flee killer.

Then doctors decided to try different pill again. After taking one, we went to zoo, and shortly after I took the newly prescribed pill, the itching got so bad I swear the monkeys took a the refuge in caves.

There was one good think though that I learned from all of this; the empirical formula used for dose-dispensing purposes, and the pharmaceutical guidelines, that results in the prescription of the drug itself, are often not as important as the individual body itself. And then if you really want to be funny about this whole situation than multiply this by about seven billion [people on this planet] and you just may end up with a magic wellness formula.

But seriously what helped me at the end was an article written by a researcher from a university in Philadelphia. Some of his research synopses pertaining to the different BP negative tangibles, and contributors, (in addition to hart problems, high cholesterol, plug arteries, etc.,) were so closely related to my symptoms that I was lucky enough to convince my family doctor to try the Clonidine and Cardura combination.

Unbelievably after about two and half year’s pure unadulterated torture it was a home run. [it required some dose tweaking but the combination was a ‘wiener’]. I think I finally joined the human race again, although not quite sure if the welcome sine’s posted

Anybody who is interested about the BP articles regarding this particular high BP research work let me know and I will forward them to you. (Do not want to bore the entire TV community)

And because of what I went through earlier, (and please believe me the side effects that I listed above were just tip of the iceberg), I want to stay with the ones that I know by now, and they are working for me. Without exaggerations I went from a totally useless to almost normal. Thanks Got, Buddha, Hair Krishna and what ever [Do not know to many of these guys]

Regards

PS.: One more question that was posted, and is really good because it will add more clarifications to the above report, came from orang37:

2. What are the negative tangible consequences of high-blood pressure for you right now?

The tangible consequences in my case are the adrenaline glands. Not sure which one, or if both, but I am so happy that my BP is now between 115-120/ 65-80 that I really do not care at this point. (Happier than a pig in a pile of s#@t) In addition I only take two to three 0.05 mg Clonidine, and one 0.5 mg Cardura per day [the numbers are not a misprint]. And if you are shaking your head; yup I have to break them in half since the doses of 0.1 mg and 1.0 mg, Clonidine and Cardura, respectively, are the smallest on the market.

Thank you, much obliged, and regards

mcgriffith #15

Thank you for your response. Great website that MIMS. Now since you identify the name of Clonidine to be Hypodine in Thailand I shall rephrase the original question: Does anybody knows if Hypodine is available in CM/Vicinity and also what is the cost for 0.1 mg tablets

Thank you all for your help

realthaideal # 10

hellodolly #11

Thanks for the messages. But just in case you would see Clonidine somewhere in Chiang Mai, please, any information would be appreciated, and here is why:

Below I took the liberty of posting general groups of BP medications. The general groups are:

Alpha blockers

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors

Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs)

Beta blockers

Calcium channel blockers

Central alpha agonists

Diuretics

Renin inhibitors, including aliskiren (Tekturna)

Vasodilators

The alpha blockers group can be then expanded and it will further yield medications that belongs to this group. (Please note this is a copy from the American Heart Association, or AHA publication).

[The AHA also published detail information for each major BP group; so if anybody is interested in any other BP groups please let me know and I will be happy to post them

Miscellaneous Antihypertensive Medications

Other types of medicines used to treat high blood pressure include alpha blockers, medications acting on the nervous system, and blood vessel dilators, says the American Heart Association, or AHA.

Alpha blockers help to relax the muscle of blood vessels thereby lowering blood pressure, reports the AHA. The brand name alpha blocker medications are:

Cardura, or doxazosin

Hytrin, or terazosin

Minipress, or prazosin

Phentolamine

Tamsulosin or flomax

The AHA states that medicines acting on the nervous system lower blood pressure by blocking signals from the brain that would cause tightening of blood vessels. These medicines include:

Aldomet, or alpha methyldopa

Catapres, or clonidine

Catapres-TTS, or clonidine patch

Tenex, or guanfacine

Wytensin, or guanabenz

As you can see above, the Clonidine group is sort of small. From this group, I tried the Adolmet, the Wytensin and the Tenex and they were all pain in the yenyenk, as they say in Canada.

And that’s how I got stuck with the Clonidine folks. My apologies but this posting is only an explanation of why the request about the Clonidine availability in CM

Thank you again

uptheos #6

Thank you sir, much obliged

meatboy #5

It just happens. I was suppose to have a small procedure done, and as the doctors normally do, they check your blood pressure and that was it. High bp. After that they did all the tests, and nothing. Everything was fine, meaning hart was fine, kidneys, ‘pipes’ and so on, yet the bp was still high. Hey no problem said the MD guy: take some pills. What? No good? Take these. I have some free samples, no ‘problema’ signore. We have the technology here, you know, the guy with the MD next to his name, bravely announced. Sure said I although not as convincingly.

Well, more pills, and more pills, and different pills and on, and on. And after a while, the guy with the MD, attached to his name, was getting less and less amused. Actually, the word ‘resentment’ would have been more accurate. And after a while I started to believe that the: “world is governed more by appearances than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it”. In fact, I think I was starting to be convinced about it.

The side effects of the medications were debilitating; and in addition, they were becoming more of a liability than assets. Finally […and trust me it’s a long story] just as the song goes: “it was a sunny day”…and the combination of Clonidine and Cardura did the trick. [Although it’s the short version of the events so as not to bore you out of your mine].

And that’s the story signore. Nothing to write home about. But it was a pain in my body’s' -lower parts of the seating area for a while. Regards.

meatboy #2 &3

Much obliged for the response. Unfortunately for over 3-years different MD’s tried to control the bp without any luck. They tried all of the ones you mention and plus, and it was a 'no go’. At the end the lists of medications end up to be a one foot long. It appears that this combination was the only one that was given a green light and that was the reason for the original request.

Do not know how to move it to the med.forum

Thank you

Does anybody knows if Blood Pressure medications with the pharmaceutical names of Clonidine HCL, and Doxazosin Mesylate are available in or around of Chiang Mai? Clonidine HCL is also known by the name Catapres and Doxazosin Mesylate by the name Cardura.

Thank you for your help

Mapguy #198 & #246

Very clear and informative posting of facts. Really excellent. Thank you

jsflynn603

If you want give me a call (951) 677-8753. 3-Hours ahead of you [west coast]

jsflynn603 #19

It looks like you are on the right track jsflynn603. Can you tell me if you are presently in US or are you in CM Thailand? I am looking at a few suggestions that I would like to send to you. Also do you know if a picture/drawing may be attached to TV blog? If the answer is yes than what format? [Extension?] Tiff, Drw, WMF, JPEG or?

Thank you

Regards

You welcome xen. My apologies for the “novel”. Somebody should start a topic about ‘understanding women’ and I guarantee you my contribution will be a one-liner. And speaking about one liner I have a one-liner for eyecatcher

I told my wife the truth. I told her that I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then she told me truth that she was seeing psychiatrist two plumbers and a bartender. [Rodney Dangerfield.]

xen #14

Xen your question are valid but you are covering a large territory of issues

First, the very simple issue so we can drop it is, that if someone wants to build a house and is not aware of the fact that he needs to clean, clear, and prepare his job-site for construction should not build a house. So that part is done

Next we need to look at the type of [building] constructions:

1. Residential

2. Commercial i.e. building , sky-scrapers, bridges

3. Industrial plants, i.e. copper smelters, coal preparation plants, steel mils, etc...

With the exception of seismic load these groups have their unique foundation requirements. (and by no means have these 3- categories covered the entire spectrum of construction)

• Commercial buildings,- specially skyscrapers, have their loading usually concentrated over a small area (small foundation footprint), they have high degree of wind loading, and in addition are often exposed to “channeling type” wind loading, positive and negative, due to location among other sky-scrapers and/or high buildings

• Industrial Plants,- contain heavy concentrated equipment loads and are also exposed to synchronized and unsynchronized dynamic loadings of vibrating equipment, violent thermo reactions, and starting forces of the relevant drive equipment [motors, etc.]. Quite often, these building are also exposed to dynamic loadings of machineries, similar to car driving over a bridge.

These types of buildings MUST have ENGINEERED foundations that sometimes includes concrete piles driven into the soil, but most of the times, the piles are steel beams driven all the way to a bed rock. Then, the concrete or the steel beams are capped with a reinforced concrete slab, 24 inches thick, or as required

If bedrock is not available, than the frictional resistance of the driven pile may “convince” the engineer that she (the pile) is fine. [Just trying to make a bit funny]. But as you can see even in cases like these (the industrial plants some times do not get the privilege of sitting on bedrock).

Now that we are done with that, the remaining type of foundations are the one used for residential housing.

The residential housing foundations, with the exception of the seismic loading, are only exposed to a static loading. The residential foundations, as you already mentioned, are either the Monolithic Slab, Walls with Footing, Walls with Piers, or combination off.

Now, unless it just happens that way, neither footings nor piers are placed on bedrock. They are placed, [poured if you will], over a regular soil, unless off course you are in a rice field, in which case you dig down until you find regular soil. Piers in Thailand are usually placed 1 meter below the surface, although I will never understand why. To dig below frost line is the ASTM requirement but a 1 meter below ground, as they do here in tropic? [its not my money anyhow]

As far as your concern is regarding the Monolithic Slab, if used, is placed either inside or on the top of the peripheral footing and really does not carry the house load. [if placed on the top of the peripheral footing it does but only in compression between the footing, the slab, and the wall itself.

If placed inside the footing the dead load of your furniture and the occupants is so small that the soil compaction as specified in the previous posting is just fine.

And now for those of you that are still reading and I did not put you to sleep, thank your attention and congratulation.