daboyz

unlike most sheeple, I listen to/watch most of everything and especially C-Span from time to time to get the whole truth and not just the media spin on it...

NPR used to be my primary listening choice from noon to 5 every day, then got sick of the rhetoric there that was played off as fact...

Fox News & MSDNC are jokes upon themselves at times, though the "news" portion of Fox is pretty accurate. You only get in trouble when you start watching tools like Oreilly, Beck, and Hannity... CNN does ok when Anderson Cooper isn't throwing his personal bias on things in there, though CNN.com is inherently biased a lot of times in their cherry-picking of 'opinion' articles... ABC is probably the least biased on the "web" portion of their news.

MSDNC

I hear that a lot here, what's short is actual examples of such large scale failures. Hoover dam is still something discussed around the world, as is Enron, the lastest wlal street induced recession etc etc etc.

It's just strange that for all this hatred of government, every single other successful country in the last decade or two has achieved their success by means of government. China is growing at 10% and they're freakin Communist. Their economy is where the US was in 86, not exactly too far behind. Whereas, excluding the US, the rest who have this government sucks attitude are third world countries.

I wont go into all the economic factors for this (artificial currency levels etc.) China is not communist when it comes to economic policies. If you believe they are not communist politically, Santa will be visiting you on Dec. 25. Be sure to leave out cookies and milk. They are communist politically. Big difference! So is Burma, so is Cuba etc. etc. If we didn't buy all of China's cheap #######, the Europeans would buy it etc. China cant sustain this much longer. Cost of living is going up there etc. Look to Africa for the new China if they can get their act together.

Might be true that some European govts. have done well for their economies short term, it is not sustainable. (see recent riots in France)

Not to mention, after five years of being here I can count government fails on one hand. Whereas, I'd need a data management system to list the private sector failures. For example, I don't like contracts so I wanted to purchase an Iphone outright, something extremely common abroad. As much as I hate the company, I was willing to use AT&T. Do they have any BYO plan or logical per minute plan like everyone else in this world? Of course not.

Agreed. Subsidizing the cost of the cell phone with a contract should be illegal. Also locked cell phones should be illegal. This hinders competition and is very "Un-american"

Can I use anyone else, like the five or six WCDMA cell companies in European or Asian markets? Oh noes, cannot use it on any other network because they use silly frequencies [t-mobile], with the rest using incompatible ancient technologies.

That's a failure of the US companies and their arrogance in this area. Almost the whole world runs on some form of GSM now. Even 3GPP is a form of GSM. Americans are arrogant in this manner. When it comes to standards, the Americans have Imperial vs. Metric. Stupid. In communications the US has T1/T3 circuits, while the rest of the world has E1/E3. I wont argue this fact with anyone. it is annoying as hell. That said Japan, has their own crazy weird mobile standards. The whole world should be on one standard, and the U.S. needs to quit holding on to old standards to be competitive. I agree with you 100% here.

I find examples like this all of the bloody time. It's just amazing how no one on the right sees it.

It will be profitable, in ten or so years. It's a long-term investment for the country and one which also opens up competition. Most of us here have one cable company and Fios or uverse to choose from. Whereas, the wholesale FTTH, is essentially like a road, which anyone can use. AKA competition.

Long term is a concept [quite frankly] that is no longer familiar with most Americans. This short-shortsightedness is exactly what the Chinese are exploiting. While Americans plan for the next quarter, they plan for the next 5, 10, 20 years. Why do you think they are not stupid like the Soviet Union to pump hundreds of billions into worthless military #######. Here it's a case of leave it all up to the private sector, which is why the US was just ranked as pretty-much having the most expensive cell services. Who else pays for incoming calls and text?

Not sure about the govt. in Australia, but if I was relying on the US govt. for high speed internet, I would still be hearing the annoying scream of 9600 baud US Robotics modems and playing some chat game on a BBS.

Yep.

With the build out of a federal/private owned wholesale FTTH network, within eight years, 93% of the country will receive speeds of 100Mbit/s to 1Gbit/s.

Hmm. Not sure of the population densities in OZ. Hopefully 93% of the people live in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, or Perth. If not, will never be profitable.

OZ is 233rd on the list. The U.S. is 178.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_population_density

Has to be a cost/benefit I would think for the telcos to invest unless the govt. is willing to shell out some big public money. Wimax or something along those lines would probably work better for Australia to cover more people over a greater area albeit at slower speeds.

Telstra, who is the largest ISP, offers 100Mbit/s via cable. Optus the second largest offers 75MBit/s.

They're not running very far using a coax 75 ohm cable that's for sure. There has to be some fiber nearby if they are doing that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_x

Verizon actually ran the fiber to my apartment closet. I would be curious to see their coverage area. I would suspect it is only available in densely populated areas such as Melbourne and Sydney.

Try speedtest.net.

That's exactly who is used.

That is blazing at 69Mb down, but I wonder why you're not getting 35 up? Not that 20 is slow.

It varies on the test site I connect to. But before I canned Time Warner and went with Fios I ran tests with Time Warner. There's no comparison. Fios is 15 to 20 times faster minimum for basically the same price and more HD channels as well.

How fast is the internet in Australia right now? By the time your done building that system it will be slow and outdated like the current system. That's all you have to argue, feasibility, and we're gonna do this and gonna do that.

Holy####. What are you paying for 50/20?

They bundle it so not sure how much is what. I assume it is probably about 50/50

I pay this without taxes per month:

1 Verizon Flex $ 109.99

Includes:

- FiOS TV Ultimate HD

- FiOS Internet 35/35

No contract.

So 35 up and 35 down advertised. Doesn't always turn out that way when I run speed tests. Sometimes I have gotten much higher upload speeds than download. They did actually run a fiber optic cable in to my apartment closet. Since I am in telecom, I thought that was pretty awesome. I didn't get their phone service because I use Vonage to call Thailand. That is unlimited as well to Thailand for $25 + tax a month. The service is awesome with both companies.

Verizon also up to this point have avoided the fights with the networks (FOX mostly) that Time Warner had, and Cablevision has now.

I am stuck in a hotel in NJ and may not get to see the first ever Texas Rangers world series game tomorrow. Maybe the hotel uses satellite so might not be an issue.

I ran a speedtest from my Fios in Irving, TX a few weeks ago and got these results:

http://speedtest.net/result/980844495.png

Pretty good considering I was getting about 500k up and 1.5 down on Time Warner. I pay about $10 a month more with Verizon than I did with Time Warner and get much better internet speeds and more HD channels.

Another benefit of internet tv - I am sitting here watching the Yankees and Rangers (go Rangers!) and she has the laptop watching thai television using headphones. With the satellite, you are setting up a showdown for the television...

(of course, you will lose)

They did it. Unbelievable!

It's good to know that there is an alternative out there for Thai TV. $95 for one year or $165 for two years isn't too expensive if it keeps working as well as you say it does. The recorded content would come in handy because of the time difference. I'm not sure what time Mimi's favorite soap opera will be on here in the USA...I fear I'll be waking up at 3:00am to watch some Lakorn Thai Thanks for the info.

Mike

Thanks for that! Now the wife wants a dish! You're not helping me.

I know this is a K1 forum but it seems like the place where all of us "Thai" people hang out. Just for general knowledge, wife entered Houston Sept. 25th, received SSN 9 days later, and today (22nd) received her Green Card. Thought that was pretty quick for government business after the long protracted wait of the initial visa.

Post in the Thai forum under asia/pac. Better that way. I brought this up a year or so ago. This while conversation should be there.

My wife got her SS card in two weeks. Green card came 2 weeks after that. Done finished!

GL.

Ever look into getting your MIL a B2? I know you mentioned that back in September.

No haven't done that. I did talk to some shyster lawyer here in Dallas. He suggested bringing the niece here on a B2, then adopting her here in Dallas county and then adjust her status. I'm pretty sure that's fraud.

Bring your niece here? Unless you adopt her, I'm not aware of any way you or your wife to can help her immigrate here.

Yeah I'm currently working the adoption angle. Seems pretty tough in Thailand if one or more parents are alive.

Well things are not going well with my sister in law. She is very sick. Her daughter (my niece) will have the choice of moving to Si Saket with my wife's parents or riding it out in Chiang Mai with the brother. (Not a good move since she currently attends a private Catholic school in Chiang Mai)

Any one have a clue on how I can bring her here? She is 11. The father is not a factor in her life. He is up in Chiang Rai somewhere, and she has no contact with him at all.

It's a sad story, because she is a very good kid and does well in school.

Vive Quebec libre!

Anyone else see this Marie Claire article?

http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/advice/tips/asian-trophy-wife

Perhaps it's because I haven't spent any time in Issan, but this passage was surprising, even to me:

"citing one phenomenon in the northeastern region of Thailand called Issan, where 15 percent of marriages are between young Thai women and Western men well into their 60s."

15%? Really? If this is just "Western men over 60", then what is the percentage for Western men of all ages?

Anyone have any insight as to whether this can possibly be accurate?

Kind of a funny rebuttal to that article.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/disgrasian/imarie-claireis-asian-tro_b_259102.html

Might as well throw in AP while you're at it in case she needs to go back to Thailand for an unforseen emergency. Also if you guys want to travel out of the US before she gets her GC.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/10/15/politics/Thaksin-to-return-if-Pheu-Thai-wins-30140127.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Nationmultimediacom-Politics+%28NationMultimedia.com+-+Politics%29

This guys is truly selfish and delusional.

It sounds as though the Embassy has encountered this situation many times before, and they've given you clear instructions on how to proceed. Do your part, and the ex-fiancee's part will probably be taken care of without need for her action.

Again, all the best, si man.

I've seen this a few times here on VJ alone with Thailand. I can't speak to this specific case but I have seen others.

Goes something like this:

Thai girl strings along foreigner all the way to the interview. During this time foreginer is sending money for made up emergencies etc. I've seen some petitioners go as far as to buy them a car etc. Thai girl goes all the way to the interview gets the visa. Tries to string along foreigner to get more $ by delaying the move to the U.S. Eventually foreigner figures that the Thai lady never had any intention of coming to the U.S. Thai lady probably has Thai boyfriend the entire time.

I knew girls similar to this when I lived there. They would send emails to five different guys in five different countries with the same sob story asking for money from all of them. All the while having a lazy Thai boyfriend that promptly takes this money and gambles and drinks it away. They look all sweet and innocent, but some of them can be real pros when it comes to extracting money from foreigners.

I'm not trying to paint Thai women with a broad brush, but I have seen this happen too many times for it to be a coincidence.

Spoke to NVC tonight. We are IR1 bound...she said the request to continue with K3/129F will NOT be honored. She said not to worry, IR1 will come through quickly as long as we send the forms and fees ASAP. I'm hoping for Xmas or sooner for a Dublin interview date!

If you are eligible for IR-1, than that is definitely the better route than K-3. No lifting of conditions.

moving from K-3 to Asia: East & Pacific

This is a question better suited for a board that deals with expats living in Thailand. Even though there are quite a few unhelpful morons on Thaivisa.com, there are a couple helpful ones and a lot of good information regarding working in Thailand as an expat, among other things.

You might also want to check out the Thailand Thread on VJ.

No kidding!!

Hi Canadian_Wife... please do tell... how heafty of a price are we talking about???

$1010 for Adjustment of Status.

Sorry, I'm not sure where to post this.

I cancelled the 10/13/2010 USA immigration interview for my wife and son in Bangkok. I will retire to Thailand instead.

My wife's parents have 3 houses and 2 latex farms in South Thailand. She's the oldest daughter and will inherit them. They're not in her name now. That could be changed if needed.

Am I allowed to work at the latex farm for free, or for wages with a retirement visa? Am I allowed to repair the houses or build one?

Thanks for your time.

Get a work permit if you can. 5 Thais and one Farang and start a company. If not,the better bet is to go for Non-immigrant-O based on your marriage. See thaivisa.com.

I'm surprised we don't have those here in Vermont. They would be awesome for blasting Quebecois tank batallions....oh, yeah...never mind.

anyway, what if we ever decide we want to enforce our National Health Care which will still be so good that all the Quebecois will still want to drive here and escape THEIR system...oh, yeah...never mind.

Hey, Heracles was gonna post something on that. How about it Heracles?

Vive Quebec Libre! You square head.

Hello there Canadiens!

my hubby and i are going to montreal for a a week and maybe taking the train to quebec for a day and was hoping you could give some tips.

where should we stay if no hotel recommendations, area would be great? we aren't looking for super fancy, just CLEAN and convenient.

anything we shouldn't miss? we love old architecture and off the beaten path stuff as well.

any musts for restaurants? we are foodies and he fancies himself the next tony bourdain or andrew zimern.

neither of us speak french but i can pick up a fair amount since i do happen to speak spanish, and i know there is english but would it be worth grabbing a pocket french guide?

thank you so much in advance for any suggestions.

I lived in the Old Port for 3 years. That's a pretty cool place to stay. Almost like Europe.

This is the hotel my friends stayed in when they would visit:

http://www.lesaintsulpice.com/

Great location. Nice hotel. Not sure of the price, but if you can find something cheaper in that area, that is definitely where you want to be. Also, dont really need a car there. Taxis are fairly reasonable.

You can get by without French, but some of the Quebecois can be real jerks to you if the think you're English Canadian. Usually when I told them I was from the U.S. they were cool after that.