Bob

Exactly. The fringe can dress it up any way they want but that's the bottom line. As for Trump, a bloated egomaniac who puffs (that's the polite term for "lies") about just about everything he's involved in doing. If I could pay the Republicans to nominate him for President, I would as I'd love to see Obama win by a landslide.

Khun Khortose and I were chatting about all this mess just a few days ago. We're both big Boeing fans and want to have the company do well (important for the industry, the US, and especially the west coast area of the US). What I don't understand is why some major heads have not rolled over all this. Who the hell thought up the idea of having parts made in multiple countries (some politics versus intelligence there?), who the hell set up the program to make sure that the other countries not only made the parts correctly but that they would fit when they attempted to join them in Seattle, who the hell was in charge to constantly monitor that all this was happening correctly and timely, and who were the bosses in the US who's job it was to monitor all this for the ocmpany and shareholders? There should already have been some major firings over this as it's obvious that a fair amount of bad engineering, bad manufacturing, and bad oversight occurred. And what's sad is we all know that Boeing can do it right (the 777 being a prime example of a superb airplane). But, if they get everything worked out (sounds doubtful in the article posted), I suspect that the new plane will be extremely popular. If it truly will save 20-25% on fuel costs, the 787 will likely be very popular. If not, the engineers who said it would achieve that kind of fuel savings ought to follow the other bumblers out the door.

Presuming you have your prescription and don't need an eye exam, why not just go to one of the chain optical/optician joints? Probably one or more in a local mall near you. You'll probably find somebody who'll be happy to take your money.

That's not been my experience at all. They generally are directionally challenged (have no clue about north/south/east/west) and have little clue about how to give directions or understand directions. They're not stupid - they tend to fully know routes to places they've been to before but sometimes I think they found the places the first time totally by accident. And how they orient themselves (it isn't north/south/east/west) is simply beyond me. As to the driving, the worst example is the the middle-aged Thai lady driver who seems to totally ignore all surrounding traffice. Sometimes it's so bad that it's funny. And, yes, I too have wondered why most of them back into parking places (often holding up traffic while they do their slow maneuvers). I realize it's a whole lot easier to leave that way but I'd guess that 99% of US drivers don't do it that way. Maybe it's just the way it's always been done here (hmmmm.....is it difficult to back up an elephant?).

Not sure why (I was just curious) but I just checked the Thai website in the UK and, from what I can see, there must have been some changes as the 90-day Non-Immigrant "O" visa (the I got a couple of years ago) is not even on the list of available visas except where you qualify for special things (business, study, etc.). Based on that website's list, your only choice is the 60-day Tourist Visa (which is extendable for another 30-days while you're in Thailand). And I believe you can get a second one when that expires but you might have to go to a neighboring country for a day to get that done (I'm not sure about that so don't rely on me for that question). I also checked the Thai embassy website in the US and same thing - it just isn't there any more. I have one (since expired and replaced by the "0-A" long term visa) dated February of 2009 (and I had no obligation to qualify for any of those special categories when I got it) but it looks like it just isn't available any more.

For many years, I've had a habit of watching/buying any movies where certain actors show up. Sir Ian McKellan (and, for another example, Morgan Freeman) is one of those people on the screen that fascinate me and their personalities/characters usually make the movie. Besides his acting prowess and stage presence, I've been both impressed and entertained by this guy's wit and humaneness as evidenced in every interview of him that I've ever watched. Wish I could go drinking (or whatever) with him some day.

My Norton (up to date) has no problem with the site and the site seems legitimate to me. And I agree with the answer of 20:39 if the question was "what time would the faulty clock show when the real time is 21:00." Fountainhill, just for the fun of it, what would you say the faulty clock would show when the real time is 20:59?

Yea, sure, the guy in Washington should have been watching the runway at JFK through his binoculars.

Hmmmm....some backwards logic here, me thinks (and I might argue that Khun Khortose is just as correct). Let's analyze this a little. Yes,when the correct time is 21:00, the faulty clock should show 20:39 as it's gone 21 full hours and lost 21 full minutes. However, what would the faulty clock show when the correct time is 20:59? Well, the problem tells us that the faulty clock loses 1 minute for every full hour. And, by definition, we know that the faulty clock only lost 20 minutes when the correct time is 20:59 as it's only gone through 20 full hour cycles (59/60th's of a cycle doesn't count). So, when the actual time is 20:59, the faulty clock should show 20:39, right? Now that can't be, can it?

Deal made. Now I'll do without a few necessities (a little food and water) in the meantime so I can come up with the interest....

And I don't buy that one at all. In my view, the pilot is responsible for knowing the width of his airplane and not taxiing into any situation where there isn't adequate clearance. By the way, I think the 380 was coming in versus going out but that shouldn't make any difference. While there may be various circumstances that contributed to this accident, bet you 5 baht that the AF pilot is mainly cited for this collision. But, we'll all know what the conclusion might be a long time from now (6 months+?) when they finish the investigation.

When the 380 visited Thailand a couple of years ago on its promotional tour, it clipped one of the hangars there and slightly damaged the wings. The excuse printed in the paper was that the pilot was following markings on the ground for smaller (less wide) aircraft. I suspect that might have been the problem here and/or simply poor pilot knowledge of the width of his airplane (the pilot should have easily seen the parked, non-moving, smaller plane as the camera had no problem in seeing it clearly).

Actually, this year the air isn't anywhere near as bad as in the past. I'm not sure if they are burning less this winter or if the occasional rains we've had (a lot more than last winter) have done the trick. In any event, the air is passable and not as bad as it normally is in March and April.

You (Z and Fountainhill) should thank Rogie as he sure as hell isn't talking about me. I can conjure up a few of us sitting at Dick's in Bangkok attempting to talk about how to wisely invest our money and, after several drinks, I suspect we'd end up with investing it in #27 at Boys of Bangkok. Better, I suppose, than being screwed by a stockbroker... [before I get the question, no, I have no clue who #27 might be....]

I'm mildly confused about the "inflation" risk you both are talking about. I understand that what you're talking about in general is that internal inflation in China is going to drive up interest rates, that will end up causing new bonds to have higher yields, and that will make the old bonds (with a lower interest rate) less attractive and the price will drop. So, if you're in the game of buying the bonds to later sell them, then I guess I see your points. But, if we (I'm speaking of non-Chinese here) intend to hold one of the bonds to maturity (and you're willing to assume the general risk of bond default and that your home currency will likely stay the same or depreciate to the Chinese currency), then why is internal Chinese inflation relevant at all?

Yes, it's a small (maybe half-inch wide?) black flexible tube that a doctor manipulates around the "corners." He looks into an eyepiece (I presume there's a light at the end) and he also has the ability to stick something else up there to take a sample of anything that looks suspicious. The limitation is that it's somewhat short and only extends through the lower 1/3rd of your colon (the "sigmoid" area of the colon). I was rather surprised by the "news" of this as it's somewhat old hat in the US. As noted, my long-time GP (general practitioner) did this more than 10 years ago (and I can assure you he is not up on the latest and greatest). I had the full colonoscopy (which checks out the entire colon) 4 or 5 years ago. Easy procedure (they injected something into my IV and I was out like a light and had no clue until I realized I was back putting my normal clothes on) and, as noted, it's the preparation the evening before that's the real pain in the ass......

Had one of these (sigmoidoscopy) by my general practictioner more than a decade ago...and thought it was fairly standard procedures for people over 40-50. Better yet is the colonoscopy which I underwent 5 or so years ago (and will likely repeat it in a few years when I'm 65 or 66). Nothing questionable showed up in the first procedure so I'm not too worried about waiting 5-10 years for the second. The absolute key for bowel cancer is early detection (detected early, it's almost always permanently curable). For about 10 years now, I know some doctors (started first being in wide use in Florida as I understand it) were using a "virtual" colonoscopy....which is some kind of MRI/Catscan/Xray deal checking out the large and small intestines. I haven't read much about it for a few years and I'm wondering if there have been any studies done to determine if this virtual procedure has a somewhat equal ability to spot questionable growths/nodes; if so, it'd be a lot easier and cheaper than either the sigmoid deal or the full colonoscopy.

I previously saw Beck only a couple of times and I immediately disliked him....although, to be honest, he seemed to be a perfect fit with the Fox network. I'd somewhat describe him as somewhat messianic like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh but he talked at times as if he played a lot of American football as a youth without a helmet. Thank god I don't get Fox News with my True package up here as then I'd have to figure out how to block a chanel with the remote thingie.

Could be wrong but it seems to me that an unexpected jump in your PSA reading is a solid clue there may be a problem. I've had 7-8 friends and one brother who had significant increases in their PSA level and all were later biopsied and determined to have cancer (and all are still with us after varied procedures). I read somewhere that 50% of the boys in a family can expect to get this cancer if their dad had it. My dad had it (had his prostate removed at about age 75) and that's why I and my 7 brothers are rather religious about the annual PSA screen. The baby of the family had his prostate removed last year at age 47. I'm continuing with the annual screening (PSA and the dreaded digital deal) unless/until they're sure it's a waste of time or until they come up with a better screening tool.

It appears that they do April Fools day over here too (which, before, I thought was limited to government personnnel).

Interesting and a bit amusing. It's more difficult for one to conceal one's style than one thinks. While I'm not concious of having any particular writing style, I'd be foolish to not believe that how I write (and think, I suppose) hasn't been affected by writing formal documents for a few decades. At least....thank god....I never have been an afficianado of the "hereinbefores", "hereinafters", or those that attempt to "brain up" a passage by tossing in a latin word here and there. Admittedly, I don't worry about spellings or grammatical errors when writing on the boards and my lack of proofreading after the fact too often evidences that fact.

Too bad you had to cancel. Hope you don't lose any funds (deposits or whatever) because of it. And it's quite unfortunate for Japan that, besides all the direct effects of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis, they're also having to deal with a rather severe blow to their economy because tourists aren't showing up, companies are wary of buying Japanese foodstuffs, etc., etc.. They deserve a break one of these days.