Gaybutton

I don't understand any better than you or anyone else, but if I've learned nothing else through observations of what the currencies actually do compared to the predictions, it's that it seems nobody is ever able to accurately predict anything.

BANGKOK, Nov 14 (TNA) Thailand's baht currency unit appreciated to plateau at 36.39 to the US dollar Tuesday morning, its strongest in eight years, boosted by a dumping of the greenback and a capital inflow into the Thai bond market, according to a Bangkok money dealer. Pattaravadee Chinkulkitniwat, the money dealer of Kasikornbank Plc, said the baht had continued to strengthened in the same direction with the Japanese yen, which appreciated to 118 from 117.55 to the US dollar since the economy expanded more than expected. The strengthening of the Thai currency also stemmed from capital inflow into the bond market in large amounts. The next scheduled support levels of the baht is 36.30, 36.20, and 36 to the US dollar. "Today, the baht has appreciated in the same direction with other regional currencies including the Philippine peso, Singapore dollar, Taiwan dollar and South Korean won, which is the strongest in nine years," Ms. Pattaravadee said. However, she said, the Bank of Thailand would not remain passive in response to the current baht movement because the currency had appreciated too rapidly. The central bank had closely monitored the baht' s movement in the past. So, she believed it would come up with a measure to curb the stronger baht. Under the current circumstances, Ms. Pattaravadee said, she wanted exporters to count on financial tools such as forward or spot contracts to hedge against the currency exchange rate volatility. (TNA)-E005

For something as important and complex as this, the last thing I would even think of doing is listening to the advice of the "message board attorneys." I would recommend consulting an attorney both in your home country and in Thailand and let them be the ones who tell you how best to handle it.

It's hard to say which one is best. That is a matter of individual preference. However, whichever of the two, or any other Thanksgiving dinners around town, if you do not already have your reservations I suggest making them as soon as possible. These dinners get booked very quickly and the longer you wait the harder it will be to find one with space still available.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) Actor Jack Palance, who won an Oscar with his comedic self-parody in 1991's "City Slickers," died Friday. He was 87, said spokesman Dick Guttman, and died of natural causes in his home in Montecito, California, surrounded by his family. Known for hard, grizzled roles in numerous Westerns during his six-decade career, Palance gained a second wind of fame when he won the best supporting actor Oscar for playing Curly in "City Slickers." The actor clutched his Oscar in one hand and dropped to the ground for a round of vigorous one-handed push-ups. The Academy Awards crowd laughed and applauded as he said, "That's nothing, really. As far as two-handed push-ups, you can do that all night, and it doesn't make a difference whether she's there or not." It was a magic moment that epitomized the actor's 40 years in films. Always the iconoclast, Palance had scorned most of his movie roles. "Most of the stuff I do is garbage," he once told a reporter, adding that most of the directors he worked with were incompetent, too. "Most of them shouldn't even be directing traffic," he said. Palance was born Vladimir Palaniuk in Pennsylvania. His family was Ukrainian and his father was a coal miner. He was a professional heavyweight boxer in the early 1940s, but his career in the ring was halted by a stint in the military. Palance was wounded in World War II and received a Purple Heart. His acting break came after the war as Marlon Brando's understudy in "Streetcar Named Desire." He replaced Brando on stage as Stanley Kowalski, a working class construction worker with a fierce temper in Tennessee Williams' classic play. According to the Internet Movie Database, Brando asked the actor if he would work with him on a punching bag but wound up with a sore nose when Palance missed the bag and hit the superstar. Palance's portrayal of Kowalski earned him a contract with 20th Century Fox, the IMDB says. He went on to positive reviews in a film career that included "Young Guns" in 1988 and "Batman" in 1989. Palance also made guest appearances on numerous television shows, such as "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour," "Playhouse 90" and "Your Show of Shows." Palance was nominated for an Academy Award in 1952 after portraying the ardent lover who stalks a terrified Joan Crawford in "Sudden Fear." In 1953, the Academy nominated him again for his role as Jack Wilson, the swaggering gunslinger who bullies peace-loving Alan Ladd into a barroom duel in the Western classic "Shane." Palance also won an Emmy Award, for a role on "Playhouse 90," in 1957. He is survived by his wife, Elaine Rogers; two children by his first wife, Holly Palance and Brook Palance Wilding; his brother, John; sister, Anne Despiva; and three grandchildren.

I don't know, but I am guessing that the answer is yes. Tom, the manager, told me the reason they were not yet able to take credit cards was because of Thai banking regulations. A business has to be established for a full month before it is eligible to accept credit cards. It has been more than a month now, so they probably do take credit cards. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask before making the assumption unless someone can confirm the whether they do or not.

I haven't seen them yet, but something I have been wondering about is what became of the city buses? Remember those? The red, green, and yellow lines, or whatever the colors were at 30 baht a ride. Has anyone seen any of them lately? I haven't spotted any in quite some time. Either I'm blind or they have simply disappeared.

As "Fuji," from McHale's Navy would have said, "Oy vey!"

Well, Ear Wig, I'm still waiting for you to answer my question about where you are getting your percentages from. After all, on another thread you wrote, "Everdentally the good heart is there, its just that you have a hard out side, protecting a soft inner shell, I dont assume anything, I have documented proof. I can always prove what I write, even though some of the articles have seemed to be pure fantasy to be always in the future true, even the last post you deleted which is the Gaythailands prerogative and I respect that." Those are your words, aren't they? Ok, you don't assume anything. You have documented proof. You also can always prove what you write. So, prove it. After all, we wouldn't want the super star of the Internet to come across as full of baloney and less than credible, would we?

I advise seeing a Thai attorney quite often and when it comes to wills, if you are living in Thailand I advise the same thing. Even if most of your assets are in another country, it still is advisable to see a Thai attorney and perhaps make a Thai will or at least make sure as to what kinds of complications your beneficiary might have to deal with in order to receive your bequest. Also, life insurance policies are available in Thailand. You might want to check into that. Something else to consider is the way assets will be doled out. As so many of you know, the typical Thai boys, even when they get into their 30's, 40's and so on, still have absolutely no concept of saving money. I have heard stories several times about "farang" who left virtual fortunes to the boyfriends and within a year the boyfriends were broke again. They went right through the money, as usual, despite the fact that it was huge sums of money. You might want to consider setting up a monthly allotment.

BANGKOK, Nov 11 (TNA) Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra--now staying in Beijing--has no plan to return to Thailand until the overall situation returns to normal, his legal advisor said Saturday. Noppadol Pattama said he had talked to Mr. Thaksin by telephone and that the ex-premier told him he did not intend to sneak into the country, but would fly to Bangkok and disembark at Suvarnabhumi airport in a dignified manner if he returns. Mr. Thaksin, toppled in a bloodless coup on September 19 while he was attending a United Nations meeting in New York, had given much attention to building the airport before its recent opening. He said he would prefer to step down at the airport rather than sneaking into the country secretly, Mr. Noppadol said. Rumours spread earlier that Mr. Thaksin would make his way into Thailand secretly, overland via China, or crossing into Thailand from a river in Myanmar, but these rumours were unfounded, he reportedly told his legal advisor. As a Thai citizen, Mr. Thaksin can return to this country any time he likes, but he has decided not to until the situation in the country returns to normal, Mr. Noppadol said. He asked people who had spread such rumours to stop doing so for the sake of reconciliation among people in the country. When asked whether there is a possibility that the former prime minister would return after the end of martial law, Mr. Noppadol said he believed normalcy in the situation was the key factor. He said Mr. Thaksin had told him that it was unnecessary to create unrest by using pressure in a democratic country and that he would quit politics as his family also wants him to spend more time with the family. (TNA)-E111

Then don't read it.

I have not yet made the trip. How many days would you recommend? Can you also recommend an itinerary?

I don't disagree about that at all, but bitching about the problems, frustrations, and shortcomings is fun, at least for me . . . . But one thing has been true and remains true: I can't think of anywhere else on the entire planet I'd rather be than right here in Pattaya.

It never fails. Every year there are torn up road problems just when high season is about to begin. If you have a car and want to drive from Sukhumvit Highway to Second Road via Pattaya Tai, forget it. You can do it, but you could get out and crawl quicker than you'll make it in a car. That's due to the torn up road referred to in the story at the beginning of this thread. If you drive, the only practical way to do it is to detour around on Third Road, from Central Road (Pattaya Klang) or via Soi Korpai, Of course, Soi Korpai is much too narrow and it too is full of potholes. Topmanb is right. It certainly isn't limited to Pattaya Tai road. There are plenty of other places available to experience the joys of being stuck in traffic, dealing with torn up roads, trying to avoid potholes, etc, while also dealing with motorcycles going the wrong way and coming from out of nowhere to cut you off, cars trying to cheat their way through by creating their own bypass lanes, tour buses trying to make an impossible turn into a narrow soi, cars double and triple parked, baht buses picking up and dropping off passengers, and plenty more to add to the festivities. Often, you really don't have to worry about the potholes. That's because the traffic is so jammed and backed up that you can only move at a snail's pace to begin with. Here's one for the "I don't get it" list. Remember the red, green, and yellow line city buses (or whatever the colors were)? Anyone seen any of them lately? What happened to them? They seem to have disappeared. If they're still around, I never see them anymore. Another item on my "I don't get it" list is the fact that streets in desperate need of repair, and have been that way for years, are completely ignored while streets that were no problem at all are constantly torn up, repaved, torn up, repaved, and so on ad infinitum. There are several instances of streets on which repairs were started, but never finished. I know of one street that was in the process of being repaved, but the work simply stopped. It's been sitting there unfinished and it has now been five years. If you happen to be on that street and are unaware that the street suddenly just ends, then you're liable to wind up in a ditch. Several cars have done just that. There are so many potholes that sometimes I think Pattaya intends to sponsor a craters of the moon exhibition. Sometimes the potholes are repaired, but that's only once in a month of Sundays. Even then, the work is almost always so shoddy that the first hard rain washes away the repairs. Not only do we end up with the same potholes, but we get even more to go with the old ones. Of course, the most serious potholes remain either unmarked or the warning markers look as if a kindergarten class made them. They are virtually useless. Other than that, driving around Pattaya is a breeze.

The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: Story and photos: http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_10_11_49_3.htm _____ Two Italians Arrested and Accused of Sex with Minors The Tourist Police work constantly on cases of pedophilia and we now report on one such case now which occurred in the early hours of Friday Morning. Police Lieutenant Colonel Wootishart along with Police Captain Siam and a team of undercover officers conducted an operation in Soi Nokow in Central Pattaya to arrest two Italian Nationals accused of conducting sexual acts with girls aged under 15 years. The arrested men are Mr. Magini Massino aged 32 and Mr. Buoguerricri Tullio aged 57. They were detained after a complaint was received from an anonymous source who claimed that the two men who stayed in the same apartment would often be seen with young girls. The two suspects were taken back to the Tourist Police Station where Mr. Tullio confessed to befriending a 14 year old girl who studies in Sattahip. The girl, who cannot be named, told Police that she would often sleep with foreign men for the money to assist her with financing her studies. She slept with both Italian men on two separate occasions. The case will now be transferred to Pattaya Police Station and the Italian Embassy is also involved in the case which will now be heard in court.

I'm still waiting for the answer to my question. Where are these percentages coming from? What is the source?

Someone else will have to make a recommendation for the type of gay massage you seek, but for a legitimate massage, not gay, try Marble House. I've been there several times and it's the best legitimate massage I've found in all of Thailand and several of the masseurs are mature to elderly. The following is from an article I have on hand, but now I have no idea where I got it from: _____ This establishment owes its popularity, especially with tourists, to the professionalism of its masseurs. They do the massaging in a very soothing atmosphere and as a result customers keep coming back. It offers the following services: Traditional Thai Massage THB330 for two hours; Oil Massage THB1,000 for two hours; Foot Massage Reflexology THB280 per hour; and Pedicure and Manicure THB200. Branches: 3rd floor, Ruamchit Plaza, near Soi 15: Tel: +66 02 651 0905 (10am-11.30pm) Sukhumvit Soi 13, Near Ambassador Hotel, Tel: +66 02 254 4616 (9am-midnite). 410/6 Siam Square Soi 6, Beside Novotel Hotel, Pathumwan: Tel: +66 2 658 4124 (9 am-12.30 am)

'60 Minutes' Reporter Ed Bradley Dies By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer Ed Bradley, the award-winning television journalist who broke racial barriers at CBS News and created a distinctive, powerful body of work during his 26 years on "60 Minutes," died Thursday. He was 65. Bradley died of leukemia at Mount Sinai hospital, CBS News announced. With his signature earring, Bradley was "considered intelligent, smooth, cool, a great reporter, beloved and respected by all his colleagues here at CBS News," Katie Couric said in a special report. "He certainly was a reporter's reporter," fellow "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace told CBS News Radio. Bradley's consummate skills were recognized with numerous awards, including 19 Emmys, the latest for a segment on the reopening of the 50-year-old racial murder case of Emmett Till. Three of his Emmys came in 2003: for lifetime achievement; a 2002 "60 Minutes" report on brain cancer patients; and a "60 Minutes II" report about sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. He also won a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Black Journalists. "He was a great journalist who did the most serious work without ever seeming to take himself seriously," Barbara Walters said in a statement. Bradley grew up in a tough section of Philadelphia, where he once recalled that his parents worked 20-hour days at two jobs apiece. "I was told, `You can be anything you want, kid,'" he once told an interviewer. "When you hear that often enough, you believe it." After graduating from Cheyney State, a historically black college, he launched his career as a DJ and news reporter for a Philadelphia radio station in 1963, moving to New York's WCBS radio four years later. He joined CBS News as a stringer in the Paris bureau in 1971, transferring a year later to the Saigon bureau during the Vietnam War; he was wounded while on assignment in Cambodia. After Southeast Asia, Bradley returned to the United States and covered Jimmy Carter's successful campaign for the White House. He followed Carter to Washington, in 1976 becoming CBS' first black White House correspondent

BANGKOK, Nov 9 (TNA) Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted Thursday to lift the ban on political assembly imposed by the coup makers in September. It means that political parties can begin to function again and that gatherings of citizens are permitted. Agreeing with the prime minister and Cabinet, which recommended the action to them, the Assembly move paves the way for full political participation and eventual decision-making on the part of the Thai public. The lawmakers on Thursday heard three readings of the ban to comply with statutory requirements. In related action, Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtat said that martial law--imposed throughout the kingdom following the coup--will probably be revoked prior to interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's planned trip to Vietnam next week. "It (martial law) is likely to be lifted before the premier travels to join the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hanoi November 18-19 in order not to create uneasy feeling among other countries," the minister affirmed. Gen. Boonrawd said that Council for National Security (CNS) chairman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin and Premier Surayud had discussed the issue and agreed that the military committee needed a few more days to decide, and that it is expected that martial law will be revoked very soon. The move to lift martial law is an apparent response to mounting pressures from both domestic and international human rights groups on the coup makers'-council and the interim government it installed. Both bodies have been reluctant to revoke the law, citing remaining "political undercurrents" (lingering anti-government sentiment against the coup) as the main reason for maintaining it. (TNA)-E009

You can always have some from my private stock: Maddog 20-20, Ripple, and Boone's Farm Apple Wine. I know my wines.

The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: _____ Crisis Meeting as Ongoing South Pattaya Road Construction Work Irritates City Hall Officials A crisis meeting now from Pattaya City Hall, chaired by Khun Bunleur, a City Councilor who summoned officials from the East Water Company who are responsible for ongoing construction work taking place along the South Pattaya Road to install new water drainage pipes along the stretch of the road from the Sukumvit Road intersection, down to Walking Street. The budget allocated for this scheme was 261 Million Baht which was provided by City Hall. A problem, which we have highlighted before on this program relates to the non-completion of the work which has left dangerous potholes in the road and un-even surfaces causing hazards for motorbikes and cars. City Hall are far from happy with the work undertaken along the road and want the project to be completed as soon as possible, which must include road re-surfacing work. The company responsible for the work claims that the work is 85% completed but with works still ongoing along the Western stretch of the road; this figure was deemed as inaccurate. Financial penalties will now apply if the work is not completed to a revised schedule.

It is difficult to address your most recent questions. I think the main question you have to think about is whether you want a relationship at all and, if you do, is this the right person with whom to establish one. Because none of us know you or know your boyfriend, it is also difficult to advise you whether to compromise. I can tell you, if it were me, I would be thinking about why I would even consider compromising. If there is a legitimate, verifiable reason, a reason with which you truly agree, then that is what you have to think about. The problem is that you have already told him what you are willing to do for him. If you give in to additional pleas for money I can virtually guarantee that it will never stop. You have been writing about the things you are trying to do for him. What is he doing for you? Is he doing anything to earn the help you want to provide? One more thing to consider. I wrote that my "gut feeling" tells me that this is a relationship that won't last and will eventually end. What does your own "gut feeling" tell you? If you think it won't last, then the sooner you get out of it, the better. If you really do feel that your boyfriend is the right person for you, then I would advise the same thing I already said . . . "Trust, but verify."

Yes, indeed there are. I read all three of them. I have a question: "as a non gay and 90% are, this is from not at all gay 0 to 50% then you have from 50% to 90% who take to it as though they are gay or just curious and enjoy sex as sex, then from 1 to 49% in strength of gayness, but still prefer a woman to a man, if they have a choice, then you have 10% who only want a man same as all over the world." The question is where are these percentages coming from? What is the source?

I can't provide an answer about what he'll be paid, but I can tell you he must obtain a work permit in order to be able to work in Thailand at all, even if he receives no salary. He'll have to obtain that through his local Immigration Police office. His potential employer or a Thai attorney should be able to help him fill out the paperwork and obtain the permit. He will have to enter Thailand on a non-immigrant visa in order to be eligible for a work permit. He will not be able to obtain it on a tourist visa. He will also have to open a Thai bank account if he has not already done so. The minimum deposit with most Thai banks in order to open an account is 500 baht. Whatever he does, make sure he does not attempt to work without first obtaining the work permit.