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In loin cloth. (Use your imagination a bit.)

What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch? W.C. Fields

The Grand Palace in Bangkok is a series of buildings right in the heart of the city. A visit to Bangkok without seeing this magnificent compound at least once is a shame. Every time I go there I am transported back to the King and I movie I saw as a child. It really is simply breathtaking and photos do not do it justice. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha is one of my favorite areas. It is quite stunning.

David Cameron, UK Government Under Fire For Aggressive Intervention In The Guardian's Reporting The Huffington Post | By Jack Mirkinson The political row over the British government's aggressive intervention into the Guardian's national security reporting continued on Wednesday, as it was revealed that Prime Minister David Cameron dispatched his top civil servant to demand that the paper hand over the sensitive files it had acquired from NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Moreover, one of the people responsible for the anti-terrorism law used to detain Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner said the government had abused the statute. Multiple outlets reported that Sir Jeremy Heywood had been tasked with pressuring the Guardian to either hand over the documents or destroy them if it did not want to face legal action. "The prime minister asked [Heywood] to deal with this matter, that's true," a sourcetold Reuters. The Guardian wound up destroying several hard drives in the presence of several members of Britain's security services, even though, as the paper's editor Alan Rusbridger pointed out, copies of the same files still exist elsewhere. The Committee to Protect Journalists waded into the controversy in a statement, calling the destruction of the hard drives, and the detention of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald's partner David Miranda, part of a "disturbing record of official harassment of the Guardian over its coverage of the Snowden leaks." The government also came under increased pressure over Miranda's detention, which took place under the auspices of the Terrorism Act. Miranda is set to take legal actionagainst the government over the detention, which his lawyers have called "unlawful." Miranda got a boost on Wednesday when Lord Falconer, who served as a top legal official during Tony Blair's government and helped bring the act into law, told the BBC that it had been wrongfully used in his case. "The powers...can only be used where the purpose of using them is to determine whether somebody is a terrorist," he said. "If you know they're not a terrorist, then you can't use these powers." See the original article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/21/david-cameron-guardian-jeremy-heywood_n_3789682.html?ref=topbar

OK hito....1-2-3.....OH MY !

Thanks for the pictures. I will take the guard on the right in picture #2. Best regards, RA1

Necessary? No. Convenient? For me yes. I like to see the last posts that are made. I click the word spy at the top and I can see all the replies. I normally get emails for every topic I have participated in when a reply but for other topics I do not. I do like to see those posts and have found I missed them from time to time. As the forum size gets larger, I think this may come in handy. Or, it just may be something that is extra that a few enjoy.

- The increase is on its way - the real closed today at 2.45150 1.00 USD = 2.45150 BRL US Dollar ↔ Brazilian Real 1 USD = 2.45150 BRL 1 BRL = 0.407914 USD ◀Convert again View Chart Mid-market rates: 2013-08-21 23:50 UTC -

Sorry about that. Just doing one's modest best.

- I believe we will soon see at least 2.5 reais for one USD; probably within the next month or two, maybe sooner. There are still lots of problems and lots of unhappy Brazilians at the present time. Not a lot is being done to correct the problems in Brazil which made the Brazilians unhappy enough to demonstrate. After the demonstrations subsided, there were many promises made by the government to the demonstrating Brazilians. But, promises take time to deliver. In the meantime, Brazil's economy suffers along with the decline in the value of the real. Clearly, the demonstrations, earlier this year, are the chief reason for the decline in the value of the real. There are still sporadic demonstrations which continue to drive down the value of the real and draw attention to the problems remaining in Brazil. Even if the exchange rate rises to 2.5, we, as tourists, will not be able to have things back the way they were before the Brazilian currency shot up like it did. Although the real is cheaper for us, the inflation that occurred over the last several years is not going away and will not be reversed. Therefore, the more favorable exchange rate merely makes spending time in Brazil less expensive, currently. Unquestionably, it is a lot more expensive now, even with the better exchange rate, than it was ten years ago at this time. -