BigStar

40 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I think the site looks better, but the font size is way too small. Agreed. 

Use a browser extension to handle the font.

On Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/theme-font-size-changer/

On Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/font-changer-plus/ameggholdkgkdepolbiaekmhjiaiiccg?hl=en

I use Waterfox Classic, so the older extension No Small Text works brilliantly.

1 hour ago, Oxx said:

"Why did you change the font?"

 

Stupid question, but has the font changed? It's now Roboto.  Wasn't it Roboto before?

No, I think it was Work Sans. I changed it to Arial in my browser. I can live with Roboto, however.

5 hours ago, moontang said:

Star..but, if you use a certified translator, with a government stamp, could you bypass your embassy?  You stated the out of business translator sent them straight to MFA, were they bypassing the embassy?

It's be very nice to bypass the embassy of course. But the two translators I consulted as above on Soi PO insisted that I had to get the certified copy. They had no government stamps.

Any translator's stamp alone would be insufficient. The idea is to try to ensure the translation of your name is the same across government agencies. Different translators will translate your name differently. I have at least three different translations of my name on various documents.

So after I got the copy from the Embassy, the translator made the translation (the whole passport, not just the name, which is all the Amphur really needs), and sent the translation with the certified copy and even a copy of the Chanute (showing translation as the same, I guess) to MFA. Took about a week to get it all back w/ the official MFA stamp.

Some Amphurs aren't a strict as Pattaya about the requirements. You get a yellow book and pink card here, you've earned them and you're badass. Whip them out proudly at every opportunity.

9 hours ago, mauisteve said:

So, I'm a little confused about this process to turn my condo blue book into a yellow book...  

 

The Aussie that posted just above said that he first had to go to his embassy to obtain a certified copy of his passport???  Can one not just bring the actual passport to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for this Thai translation guarantee??  Is there no way to get this MFA Thai translation guarantee in Pattaya?  If not, this seem highly inconvenient.

 

Do you really have to drag 2 Thai people with their house documents down there with you "as witnesses" to stand in line if you have everything else?

 

Seems like a royal headache, but I really want a pink ID card.

 

Pre-covid, a translator who worked out the Maneerat tour agency on Soi PO could do the translation and send it off to the MFA for you. Last I looked, however, it had closed. There's another a few doors up, The Office or somesuch, with a translator who can handle MFA, but it may also be closed. Perhaps someone knows of another.

However, the copy of the passport must be certified by your Embassy. So you could get the copy then head to the MFA. The MFA itself merely certifies translations. However, there's at least one translator there who can do that. Otherwise, around BKK are some translators who can do the translation, send to MFA, and then mail the certification back to you. Do a search of the forum for offices.

One little gotcha is that the translation of the name from your passport must match the translation on the Chanute. So give your translator a copy of that, too. You might also go to City Hall first, announce your quest, and hand over your Chanute for checking, along with copies of your passport, including the 90-day report, signed. Sometimes the Chanute has a little issue and will need to be amended at the Land Office. Not a big deal, but something else.

Yes, you'll need 2 witnesses who know you. City Hall will ask them some questions about you, so they should have a favorable opinion. This isn't as bad as it seems. Thais often don't mind helping. I asked the wife of farang friend and a maid in the building. Just meet them at City Hall and give them gifts afterwards to show appreciation and it'll be quite pleasant, smiles all around.

I enjoyed the whole process. This was something different. Took a couple days in BKK for fun. Joked around with the ladies in City Hall and gave my number to one. Met the Mayor and his capos. Very personable, the Mayor, and clearly in charge. All were all really nice--to me.

Your own attitude makes a world of difference, and you can turn this into a positive experience. Can't imagine all the whinging that goes on here.

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

While I am aware that U Tapao had it's own bar girl area, didn't GIs on R and R visit Pattaya? It's not like Pattaya had much to get into trouble over with, from most accounts, just a fishing village.

It's almost impossible to find information from servicemen that were there now, but I've read bits and pieces over the years that seem to confirm GIs did visit it. It was probably the best beach close to Bkk in those long ago days.

R and R in the sense of visiting a quiet beach area, privately and informally, yes. There were some small restos and beer, but no P4P "scene" as asserted in the embellished fake history. The GIs didn't need that scene as it existed not far away w/ the blessings of officialdom and subject to health regulation, too.

Anyone not stationed at U-Tapao who wanted P4P and "fun" had the official R&R stopover of Bangkok, unbeatable and closer to the other bases. Hence the Scene in Pattaya started up after the GIs had left and Pattaya wasn't "built" by the Americans.

2 hours ago, Trujillo said:

So...you'd think that these "tourists" would be under pretty intense media scrutiny from now on. In particular, when they get out of detention. Where will they go (on their "tours")? Where will they eat? Will they be welcomed by the local population? 

Well, no. They've arrived, that's 'nuff, no further scrutiny needed. I don't think you've quite got to the bottom of the scam. These are all just Chinese Thais dressed to look like real Chinese. They didn't fly in, just got on a plane parked on another runway that then taxied to the gate where they got off and pretended they went through Immigration. Then they left for their hotels, where they'll spend a day and then leave late at night.

2 hours ago, Trujillo said:

As an example, I'd like to know what this fellow and his wife do for a living such that they can spend 14 days in solitude, with their 3 beautiful and well-behaved kids, and then at least another 14 days of enjoying the holiday destination of Phuket.

So naive. They aren't spending any time in solitude and when they leave the hotel will just go back to their normal lives in Thailand. For actors, this may mean sitting around and going to auditions sometimes.

Meanwhile, all the true Big Spenders are bein' shut out and not loved just for being their lovable selves! It's the most intolerable xenophobia!!! We gotta all leave and never come back.

6 minutes ago, Trujillo said:

"No. Originally we were told it was 120 coming in each 'batch'. Reality strikes, with the real numbers 0 from the first (cancelled) flight and now 39 from the second. That makes them 101 down so far on the original TAT claim."

 

No, you are misinformed. The 120 was a total fake. That was, admitted by the Thai government after the fact, the number of INQUIRIES on the program. No one had paid anything for the scheme. 

 

Indeed, the number officially released was 41. Now we have lost 2 people. Where are there? Are they still in the wheel well of the "chartered flight"? 

 

More interestingly, who are these people? Who can take 14 days off work plus whatever "holiday" follows? 

 

I'm hearing (as rumor) that Thailand has subsidized this trip in some way. I don't know if this is true or false, but it would certainly not surprise me (or anyone, I think). 

Exactly. We all know the whole thing is fake, right down the fake pics & video using actors. WHY? The only reason is to placate the Somchai on the street that some kind of opening is happening.

That ain't no opening! Esp. if it's for Chinese. They spend no money, just come in on the zero baht tours that were banned in 2016, and then leave. Only the great Golden Egg Layers of old, who buy significant quantities of baked beans on toast, can revive the economy. TVF Virologists have called for ending all the useless restrictions from the beginning, too. Can't believe The Authorities always ignore our wisdom here.

31 minutes ago, newnative said:

These are not tourists.  The headline should read "Thailand welcomes back a few long-stay visitors who have agreed to a 14 day quarantine and have set up accommodation to stay in Thailand after they get out of quarantine."   That's not a tourist.

Quite true. However, TVF Immigration holds that Thai Immigration defines all foreigners as tourists, no matter the visa. We're constantly warned that your visa could be instantly cancelled, most probably right after you've bought a 10 million baht property, hee.

Unless you're a Thai citizen, there's only short-term tourist and longer term tourist. So what we have here among our posters is a reversal of our official TVF narrative for bashing purposes. It's fun, innit?

On 10/20/2020 at 9:12 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Will a certain poster now admit I was right ( I'm not holding my breath )?

Never, I can tell you. Silence is the admission.

3 hours ago, Daffy D said:

Some interesting "Cleaning" tools mentioned, but looking closely some of them only wipe files that you want to delete, not wipe a whole disk 

 

https://www.killdisk.com/eraser.html  -  Will destroy all data on a disk including any partitions or left over fragments of partitions and overwrite with military grade code, making it virtually impossible for any possibility to recover any data.

 

It's what I use 

 

 

Possibility, of course. Bestcrypt, mentioned above (BCWipe), offers BCWipe Total WipeOut to do that. Darik’s Boot and Nuke, DBAN* is the classic disk wiper. Depends on whether OP thinks that he and his data are SO important that his disk might be forensically examined at a government lab.

So, to raise the paranoia level a notch further, better than Killdisk or DBAN is physically destroying the disk. Yeah, take it apart and use a hammer. Microwaving not recommended. Also worked for Hillary Clinton; them emails is GONE.

But if privacy is so important for OP's data, then why didn't he encrypt the entire disk in the first place? 'Course, Ross William Ulbricht, a.k.a. "Dread Pirate Roberts," of Silk Road did so yet was caught logged into his laptop while working in a library.

So the OP probably just wants to remove traces of his porn collection and torrent files. So, yeah, delete the files, securely delete all private info that may relate to them (via extensive analysis by Privazer or BleachBit), then securely overwrite all the free space now remaining (only some which was ever used), and that'll do.

If he intends to do a fresh install, as would be expected in the business market, then might as well do a complete disk wipe. Otherwise, further deleting Windows system files then overwriting the space once occupied those system files then putting them back in different locations is really just a waste of time. But it may feel comforting, and after all that's worth something, too.????

On 10/19/2020 at 12:33 PM, xylophone said:

Watched the " last night as didn't remember much about it, and once again, I was so glad that I did watch it as it waOliver Stone movie, "Heaven and Earths very enjoyable, if not a little "disturbing" in some respects.

That's a good movie I keep in my library, seen it several times. Based on a true story, it hits a lot of things but does the best job at portraying the kind of situation an Asian woman can get into with some random, obtuse Western serviceman of questionable stability.

Casualties Of War is too depressing ever to watch again and I didn't want to be reminded of it.

You can use

https://privazer.com/en/

to securely erase the private data then erase the free space. You can then do a Win 10 reset if it makes you feel better and wipe free space again. Note that it will handle SSDs. Paranoia notwithstanding, this will be more than sufficient. (A similar program is BleachBit, which worked well for Hillary Clinton.)

Re: SSDs, if you want to go thru a new install, you can use your SSD vendor's software to enable a secure erase. https://www.wepc.com/how-to/securely-erase-an-ssd-drive/.

12 hours ago, sncoem said:

Most people dont go to gym to waste time in a ridiculous sauna and steam

Some do. My gym often has one or two using the sauna during my visits.

One man's waste of time is another's recreation. Just gon' have to suck it up, pal.

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

That is a shame.... when I used a gym in the UK the Sauna after felt great and was heck of a laugh with the chat and joking. Do people not bother wasting time even in  a shower now? 

Thing is, living in Thailand is kinda like living in a sauna full-time anyway. When I lived in or visted northern countries, I enjoyed saunas and jacuzzis, not to mention hot springs in Japan, wonderful. Here, never. Probably wouldn't enjoy such in the UK, however, owing to the chat and joking, what of it I could comprehend.

On 10/12/2020 at 4:49 PM, RichCor said:

In the "old days" people would just use computer spreadsheets to collect, compile, sort and organize their scanned data.

This, and can be good for nowadays as well. OP's requirements sound so simple that a spreadsheet should be all that's needed. Scanner will collect all the codes in a column, interpret, and perform the needed lookups to fill in the other columns. Partly depends how many items. Excel should be fine with a few thousand.

So first just Google "use Excel as database." Here's something for a start:  How to Create a Database in Excel. If not Excel, free LibreOffice Calc will do. LibreOffice also has Base, which would make it fairly easy to write a front end data entry form and storage into MySQL/MariaDB, Adabas D, MS Access and PostgreSQL, locally or remotely.

But there are lots of databases & front ends for them out there. Microsoft has Access, of course, but it's not free, proprietary, and rather annoying.

In the quest for obscurity we've somehow managed to overlook the passing of another of the rock gods.

1 hour ago, ravip said:

 

Now to bury The Archies forever and have a listenable Sugar, Sugar:

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I've not noticed anything 'loosening up' in the world since the day the borders closed.

If anything, in the west it's tightening up.

So now you concede it's not just Thailand. But you'd have to read the news and have your eyeglasses prescription up to date. In Pattaya, First Optic is most recommended. Or perhaps the usual paranoia creates such selective perception.

Since last week:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1187191-foreigners-offered-new-‘smart-visa’-if-they-buy-a-condo-in-thailand-elite-card-holders-offered-work-permits/

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1187695-here-they-come-120-chinese-from-guangzhou-set-to-arrive-at-bangkok-airport-on-tuesday/

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1186794-foreign-property-owners-now-allowed-to-return-to-thailand/

and

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1185879-stv-preliminary-country-list/

Note "foreign property owners." So that's definitely loosening from the total lockdown before, and the trend looks to continue as pressure mounts. Not to omit the salutary effect of the vaccines coming down the pike.

7 hours ago, onebir said:

TRX is good, but I'm not sure all apartments have good anchor points (eg if the doors are not very solid). Furniture mover strap can be used for exercise??

TRX is great. Speaking of balance, the unsteadiness of the TRX is helful in some exercises. Now where there's a will, there's a way. Flimsy door, attach to a chinup bar that uses the door frame. Get permission to mount a bracket on the wall (yeah, find a stud) or just mount it anyway. Take it out and find something nearby to use. Etc.

I got the furniture mover straps idea from one of the gurus of isometric exercise, Steve Maxwell, an old guy himself who's been in the game since forever. Surprisingly versatile, the furniture mover strap, and so cheap it's almost free. Demo:

He has an e-book out on the subject.

Great spokesman for pointing out how Time Under Load can be utilized to get much more from far less movement. All seniors should study the concept and its various applications to save what remains of their joints, tendons, etc. Of course, youngsters should as well, but they won't.???? As a well-known practitioner of his own hard-earned lessons, he's worth hearing even if you don't do exactly what he does, which I mostly don't: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=steve+maxwell.

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

99% of the time I assemble myself.

Now I'd find that too boring if ever I did a new build from scratch. I was reminded of that recently when I rebuilt an old computer for a friend. For many years I've just replaced parts as needed or wanted.

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

But I had over the years lots of PCs which failed. And what do I see when I remove the RAM modules? The corrosion of the fingerprints from years ago. TiT.

Never found that an issue. But living in Pattaya near the sea, especially, there's a constant battle against corrosion. So once every couple years or so, when I'm going inside the case for something anyway, as part of a routine general cleaning I'll clean the contacts on the DIMMS and cards.

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Another reason is that many technicians like to make the cables inside the case look "nice". All together with lots of cable binders. And what do I do if I have to do any maintenance work? First thing cut many of those cable binders...

So they do, but not such a bad idea. Main problem is they use zip ties only and do only a very basic arrangement in front of the motherboard, leaving a big linear blob hanging the middle.

But, no big deal to cut the ties next time you're in there and then exercise your creative skills in a neater channeling w/ velco strips, cable combs, anchor points, etc. Probably wanna to change the SATA data cables anyway to better quality. I find it helpful to use a different color for particular drives so I don't to have to think which is which at the ports. 

On 10/11/2020 at 9:20 AM, lupin said:

The examples in OP are where you select the components online, they then build and deliver the finished rig.

You don't absolutely need a special order form for selecting the parts and then ordering the build via a Submit button. That's a bit too fancy for most Thai shops; not how they work.

Make your own parts list, perhaps from from a standard suggested build (https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/). Check the pricelist of those parts or equivalents at the shop of your choice.

Then you email your final list to the shop and see what they'll do for you. Hint: discount. Most will be more than happy to build it for you. I'm sure Invadeit will. Payment can be handled in various ways. Never any problems paying in Thailand.

If you wanna be really "in," go with one of the great classics:  https://jedicool.com/. But JIB will be fine; couple years ago one of the members had a fine machine built by them. Ryzen, it was.

The shop will have it delivered by a regular delivery service. You fire it up and if you have problems (unlikely) you correspond w/ the shop. Later, if a part fails while under warranty, you talk to them and they may handle a fix or replacement or refer you to a service center.

On 10/13/2020 at 2:32 PM, roger101 said:

So what I'm looking for is a cheap gym with a treadmill. I dont particularly want anything else.

Other things being equal, prefer the gym that has a cable machine. Not all of them do. They're good for strengthening your leg muscles involved in balance, e. g., adductors and abductors. Also do kickbacks and front leg raises. Just get a pair of ankle straps from Lazada, as the gyms never have any. You can do similar exercise at home using resistance bands but less conveniently.

6 hours ago, scoupeo said:

 

to be sure to never use it ?

how ridiculous when people are old and still don't know that very few of us are able to train at home ?!

time to learn old men !

 

Maybe time you should learn. Not sure why anyone can't train at home if motivated. I have a treadmill and use it weekly. Besides that I have a pair of dumbbells, yoga bands, loop resistance bands, a TRX suspension trainer, and a furniture mover strap. It will all fit into an average apartment. With those, using super slow lifting (a la Body By Science) and isometrics, I stay in shape and look it.

I miss the gym but, truth to tell, I can do as well w/o it, even though a workout may take a bit more time at home. On the other hand I save commute time and locker room changing/shower time.

Home has the big advantage of allowing me to watch vids during sessions. At the gym I've only got my mp3 player to listen to and drown out the crappy gym music. And I can turn up the aircon to a very comfortable level.????

39 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Tell that to all the foreign guys that bought, and can't get back into the country.

10MBht as a gift for a Thai chick  ..... you'd have to be bonkers.

That's them, and similar situations are by no means unique to Thailand.

Property ownership in foreign countries, particularly in Third World countries, has risks along with the rewards that one should be prepared to assume. Otherwise, one really should follow our TVF Little Miss Muffet Rule with regard to residency in Thailand. And then of course promote it whenever the question condo ownership comes up, as it does quite often.

If they bought long term, they'll someday return to live the dream again, underlining my point. Could be sooner than later, as things seem to be loosening up month by month. Lesson: don't ever leave, or if so then at least hasten back upon hearing the slightest rumor of a new pandemic. Take out Thai citizenship as well.????