New Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told his first press conference today he may consider giving amnesty to ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra - but not for at least two years.
Samak admitted before the December 23 poll that he was a proxy for Thaksin, who faces corruption charges if he returns to Thailand.
But the premier, shortly after he and his cabinet were sworn in as the country's 57th cabinet, appeared to be talking about a five-year political ban on Mr Thaksin and 110 former executives of Thai Rak Thai, the party he founded.
"If the political climate is good and... if more than half of the 111 want it, then once the government has been in power for two years (we) will do it," he said of the proposed amnesty.
"But if there are complaints about it, we will stop," he added. [via Bangkok Post]
Sierra Tangos
- This is my 200th post since July 22, 2007. That's not many days without a post and nobody's more surprised than me.
- Buffalo Bar Valentine's Day Party, Thursday, Feb 14
- The guys behind The Farang Speaks 2 Much are letting me make a weekly post of Pattaya news on their popular site. My first, abbreviated post is here. Abbreviated because I overstayed my welcome at Club Blu and by the time I exited stage left, I only had time for a couple more bars. Hopefully, I can fit a bit more in to my next post.
- Thailand further relaxed its foreign currency controls, making it easier for individuals and corporations to invest overseas, the central bank said Tuesday. In the latest shift, corporations can now invest or lend up to US$100 million a year to its overseas subsidiaries. Thai subsidiaries can also invest or lend up to US$100 million to parent companies overseas, the Bank of Thailand said.
Corporations listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand will have no limits on overseas investments or lending with subsidiaries, it added. The central bank also relaxed rules for companies and individuals buying property overseas, allowing real estate investments of up to five million dollars, up from one million dollars. [via China Post]
- What do Thai girls really think of farangs? I reckon this ATM T-shirt pretty much sums it up for many. Buy yours at Zazzle.
- A good alternative to Launchy - I’m a huge fan of of the free Launchy because it is a well-developed application launcher. A new program that I recently decided to give a whirl is called Enso, and it is also free. In many aspects I would also say that it is even better than Launchy.
To really get the gist of Enso you’ll need to watch their video demonstration. The reason why it is special is that it can be used as an application launcher, spell checker, media controller, translation tool, and much more. In the future users will be able to expand Enso by creating their own add-ons for it.
To activate Enso after you’ve got it installed just hold down the Caps Lock key and type in one of the supported commands. You’ll begin to see results as you type, and they are shown in large text to ensure that you don’t have to strain your eyes. When you’re done typing just release the Caps Lock key to process the command. To see a list of supported commands type “command list” while holding down the Caps Lock key.
Tip: In the preferences you can force Enso to act like other application launchers, where a single key activates the program and the Enter key processes the command.
The Enso Launcher is my favorite aspect of the program because you can maximize/minimize windows, switch between running programs, and close/start an application in just seconds. What’s even more amazing is that the “go” command, which is used to switch between running programs, also recognizes tabs in the browser.
The developers of Enso were just brought on to the Mozilla team to work on Firefox, which is a good indication that they know what they are doing. Now I can’t wait to see what Enso 2.0 is like! [via CyberNet]
- The Best Digital Post-It Notes Software Available - If you’re like me, you’ve covered your desk with real post-it notes, but what if you could have digital post-it notes on your computer desktop as well? There are many different brands of digital post-it notes available that can help you organize your life – without cluttering up your desk! Here’s the low-down on the pros and cons of the different post-it notes for your desktop. And, at the bottom, the winner of the post-it note contest is announced at the bottom of this post!
3M Post-It Notes:
Where to download it: http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/digital/digital_notes.html
How much does it cost: Free 30-day trial, then $19.99 to purchase
Features: Able to change the font style and size as well as the color and size of each post-it note. There are also alarms that you can set which will help you keep track of important dates.
Drawbacks: It sometimes takes a little while to load the program and the trial version has constant reminders about purchasing the full version.
dt Notes:
Where to download it: Download.com
How much does it cost: Free
Features: This program has a feature that allows you to “stick a pin” in your post-it note and keep it always on top. It also has a handy note management feature that allows you to keep post-it notes without having them all displayed on your desktop at the same time.
Drawbacks: dt Notes is a little difficult to figure out at first, but once you get used to it, it isn’t hard to use.
MoRun.net Sticker Lite:
Where to download it: FreeDownloadsCenter
How much does it cost: Free
Features: You can change the transparency of the post-it note to make it fade into the background like the pink note above. When you scroll over the note, it solidifies and you are then able to read it. This program also puts the date and time of the post creation on the top of every post.
Drawbacks: This program is amazing and really has no significant drawbacks.
And the winner is … MoRun.net Sticker Lite! This program won the contest because it is free and offers all of the features of the other programs plus some additional ones as well such as post-it note transparency. [via Online Tech Tips]
- Sharpen Up Your New HDTV - Getting a brand new high-definition TV should be an
enjoyable experience, but when you open up that big box you could also be opening up a frustrating can of worms. HDTVs are complicated gadgets. It's not like the old days when you could just plug a TV into the wall and everything magically worked. HDTVs require a little nuance and a little knowledge. Read the full article of tips and tricks at Forbes.com
- AskMen Top 99 Women of 2008
- Chanelle Hayes - Nuts Feb 2008
- A senior citizen drove his brand new BMW Z4 convertible out of the car saleroom. Taking off down the motorway, he floored it to 90 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left.
"Amazing!" he thought as he flew down the M40, enjoying pushing the pedal to the metal even more.
Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a police car behind him, blue lights flashing and siren blaring." I can get away from him - no problem!" thought the elderly gent as he floored it to 110 mph, then 120, then 130 mph.
Suddenly, he thought, "What on earth am I doing? I'm too old for this nonsense!" So he pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the police car to catch up with him.
Pulling in behind him, the police officer walked up to the driver's side of the BMW, looked at his watch and said, "Sir, my shift ends in 10 minutes. Today is Friday and I'm taking off for the weekend. If you can give me a reason why you were speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go."
The man looked very seriously at the policeman and replied, "Years ago, my wife ran off with a policeman. I thought you were bringing her back."
"Have a good day, Sir," said the policeman.
- Paperless toilet - women don't know whether they're coming or going....
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