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July 6th, 2010 in
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Editor’s note: The following Q&A was provided to ARMCHAIR GOLF by Mandarin Media the week before the U.S. Open. Thongchai Jaidee finished in a tie for 47th.
Q: You are currently ranked No. 46 in the world, good enough to earn a U.S. Open spot at Pebble Beach. Is that a thrill or just another competitive opportunity?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: As a professional golfer, I try to perform well in every tournament. But since the U.S. Open is one of the majors, every player tries harder to perform well—because the field is full of talented people.
Q: You have won 12 times on the Asian Tour; you competed in your second Masters this year, you were a quarterfinalist at the World Match Play in 2010, and you are slated for this week’s U.S. Open. What are the similarities between players in the U.S. and Europe, compared with Asian tour pros—and what separates them?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: Looking at world golf generally, there aren’t many differences between each tour. This shouldn’t surprise anyone because players from the Asia-Pacific region, such as Y.E. Yang and Michael Campbell, have already won majors. Other leading players are performing well on the European Tour. The standard of play today is very high everywhere.
Q: You didn’t play golf until you were 16 years of age, and soon thereafter you entered the Royal Thai Army. Where did you learn the game?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: The very first course, where I started my golfing life, was Jompol Por Golf Course located in the army camp in my home town. This is not unusual. Many army bases in Thailand include golf courses that are accessible to public play. My old house was right beside the course and my first contact with golf was serving as a caddie there at Jompol Por.
Q: Tell us about your golf foundation. What does it set out to accomplish?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: The Thongchai Jaidee Foundation officially launched in 2009. My initial thought was that I wanted to support children, hoping to create new generations of Thai golfers. Who knows? We might find another Tiger Woods among those boys or girls. My intention is to give them knowledge of the game, a tool to earn their living perhaps. I’m hoping at the very least to assist in turning them away from drugs.
Thailand as a Golf Destination
Q: Thailand is by far the most popular golf destination for Asians, but North Americans and Europeans may not know much about it. In your view, what recommends golf in Thailand?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: I recommend golf in Thailand for its year-round golfing, and for the numerous world-class golf courses. There are hundreds. Nevertheless, I believe the hospitality of Thai people is the one thing that will impress visitors most when they visit my country. Thailand offers so many relaxing activities—Thai massage, the world’s finest beaches and so many other tourist attractions—but it is Thai hospitality that makes the strongest impression.
Q: When you play golf in Thailand today, where do you prefer to play? What are your favorite Thai courses and why?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: When I am home, I still practice at Jompol Por GC, and Narai Hill Golf and Country Club in Lopburi. These two courses are close to my home and make for easy access. But when I have more time, I will practice at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, which I can highly recommend for beginners, serious golfers, even professionals. It is one of my favorite courses because it boasts a very challenging layout and championship-standard course conditions. Also, the way the wind blows up there, it prepares me well for the conditions I can expect when playing in Europe.
Q: Lopburi, your hometown, is a rather new area for golf in Thailand. What makes it special and do you recommend golfers visit this area of Thailand?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: Well, it’s a bit early to consider Lopburi in the same breath as golf destinations likeHua Hin, Phuket, Rayong or Samui. These regions are home to some of the top resort courses in the world. But the courses here in Lopburi do offer a fine challenge to golfers who seek new venues. They are standard courses and well equipped with facilities.
Q: You surely play many pro-am tournaments alongside amateur players. Have many of them played golf in Thailand? What’s their impression of golf in your native country?
THONGCHAI JAIDEE: If I am playing a pro-am in Asia, most of them already know very well that Thailand is a wonderful golf destination. I would include some of those who play with me in European pro-ams, as well. Thailand has been promoted as the ultimate golf destination for golfers seeking championship-standard courses, offered at very reasonable prices. That describes Thai golf very well, in my opinion.
July 5th, 2010 in
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Europe’s airports have been troubled by Icelandic volcanic ash for the past three weeks. While a growing number of airports are reopening and accepting passengers, many are boarding flights hesitantly, concerned about the potential health problems caused by ash and dust caught in air conditioning systems.
Allergies, reactions, and ill-effects caused by airplane air conditioning are relatively common, with many passengers experiencing dry breathing passages or a common cold during their holiday. Most aircraft air conditioners are fitted with large filtration systems, ensuring the ash and grit won’t pass through into the cabin, but a number of passengers are still concerned.
The potential risks don’t seem to be limited to thoseinside the cabin, either. Pilots are concerned about emergency landings which could be caused by the ash. As grit and dust enters the plane’s air conditioning system – a system also responsible for regulating cabin air pressure – pilots may be required to switch air conditioning off to ensure passengers are kept safe.
While relatively inconsequential for local flights, international flights and long-haul carriers may need to land in order to clear out the dust and carry out air conditioning maintenance. With many British air travellers still stranded overseas, news of health risks from airlines certainly aren’t coming as welcome news.
July 5th, 2010 in
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There is nothing worse than having regrets; especially when it comes to something that you think you can’t make right. That’s how I felt about my education. I had always wanted to get my graduate degree and had always felt that it would have done wonders for my career. But there was never enough time in the day to consider going back to school and before long I was well onto other things but still nursing some serious regret at having not taken my education to the next level.
Not one to want to live with regrets of any kind, however, I quickly turned my attention to the possibilities that existed for me to return to school but on my terms. In this respect it meant that I would need flexibility in my school schedule. After all, I was still working full time and I was, like most people, working far more than a forty hour work week. I had a lot on my plate and very little desire to complicate my life even further even if it meant fulfilling a dream.
That’s when I really delved into the possibility of an online university degree program. This was a way that I could go after what I had long regretted not getting sooner and without having to over complicate my already busy schedule. The online MBA program – which was what I was considering specifically – could be done completely over the Internet. It would obviously still take some scheduling on my part; I would have to carve out time during my week that would be devoted exclusively to school but if I could manage this schedule then I could finally think about my education without regret. Online university degree programs can put people back on track no matter how far off course they may think they are at present.
July 5th, 2010 in
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The server is used quite broadly in information technology. Despite the many Server branded products available (such as Server editions of Hardware, Software and/or Operating Systems), in theory any computerised process that shares a resource to one or more client processes is a Server. To illustrate this, take the common example of File Sharing. While the existence of files on a machine does not classify it as a server, the mechanism which shares these files to clients by the operating system is the Server.
Similarly, consider a web server application (such as the multiplatform “Apache HTTP Server”). This web server software can be run on any capable computer. For example, while a laptop or Personal Computer is not typically known as a server, they can in these situations fulfil the role of one, and hence be labelled as one. It is in this case that the machine’s purpose as a web server classifies it in general as a Server.
In the hardware sense, the word server typically designates computer models intended for running software applications under the heavy demand of a network environment. In this client–server configuration one or more machines, either a computer or a computer appliance, share information with each other with one acting as a host for the other.
While nearly any personal computer is capable of acting as a network server, a dedicated server will contain features making it more suitable for production environments. These features may include a faster CPU, increased high-performance RAM, and typically more than one large hard drive. More obvious distinctions include marked redundancy in power supplies, network connections, and even the servers themselves.
Between the 1990s and 2000s an increase in the use of dedicated hardware saw the advent of self-contained server appliances. One well-known product is the Google Search Appliance, a unit which combines hardware and software in an out-of-the-box packaging. Simpler examples of such appliances include switches, routers, gateways, and print server, all of which are available in a near plug-and-play configuration.
Modern operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Linux distributions rightfully seem to be designed with a client–server architecture in mind. These OSes attempt to abstract hardware, allowing a wide variety of software to work with components of the computer. In a sense, the operating system can be seen as serving hardware to the software, which in all but low-level programming languages must interact using an API.
These operating systems may be able to run programs in the background called either services or daemons. Such programs may wait in a sleep state for their necessity to become apparent, such as the aforementioned Apache HTTP Server software. Since any software which provides services can be called a server, modern personal computers can be seen as a forest of servers and clients operating in parallel.
The Internet itself is also a forest of servers and clients. Merely requesting a web page from a few kilometers away involves satisfying a stack of protocols which involve many examples of hardware and software servers. The least of these are the routers, modems, domain name servers, and various other servers necessary to provide us the world wide web.
June 25th, 2010 in
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Although it was eleven years ago when Joan Cusack first voiced the adorable cowgirl Jessie, the actress — and mom of two — still has a special place in her heart for the character and the movie.
“It’s such a great story about imagination and playing,” she says.
To help celebrate the series threequel (which hits theaters today), Cusack greeted fans at the Chicago Disney Store on Wednesday and helped unveil the limited edition Toy Story 3 Talking Jessie Doll ($79.50) — she even signed boxes for a few lucky kids.
Love all things Toy Story as much as we do?
You’re in luck. We’ve rounded up our fave movie-inspired toys and products.
June 19th, 2010 in
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Gold, silver, and platinum have all been strong performance so far this year, but which has done the best? The table below presents the price of gold, silver, and platinum at the start of the year, today’s price, and the change. The performance of the S&P 500 is thrown in for good measure.
|
31 Dec 2008 |
17 Feb 2009 |
Change |
|
| Gold |
869.75 |
968.00 |
98.25 |
11.30% |
| Silver |
10.79 |
13.90 |
3.11 |
28.82% |
| Platinum |
898.00 |
1,083.00 |
185.00 |
20.60% |
| S&P 500 |
903.25 |
789.17 |
(114.08) |
-12.63% |
Silver has been the best performer so far this year with a gain of 29%, followed by platinum with a gain of 20.6%, and gold with a gain of 11.30%. The S&P 500 is down over 12%.
Silver and platinum were both down significantly in 2008 (see 2008 precious metals performance) so they are making up for some of their lost ground. Gold is continuing its moderate but steady price appreciation. Gold has had a positive return every year for the past eight years, even amidst the wild fluctuations in virtually every other asset class.
The line up above looked somewhat familiar, so I also decided to pull price data for the exact same time period, but one year earlier. Here is the result:
|
31 Dec 2007 |
17 Feb 2008 |
Change |
|
| Gold |
833.75 |
912.50 |
78.75 |
9.45% |
| Silver |
14.76 |
17.38 |
2.62 |
17.75% |
| Platinum |
1,530.00 |
2,060.00 |
530.00 |
34.64% |
| S&P 500 |
1,468.36 |
1,349.99 |
(118.37) |
-8.06% |
As you can see, last year started off eerily similar. Stocks were weak and precious metals were strong, led by platinum and silver. Gold, silver, and platinum would all rise to their peak prices in early March. After that prices started to deteriorate, and then deteriorate at an accelerated pace as the wheels fell off the stock market.
Will this be a break out year for previous metals, or a re-run of last year?
June 19th, 2010 in
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The National Law Journal’s Karen Sloan has a story Tuesday about law firms that have launched apprenticeship programs, one or two-year intensive training programs designed to, in Sloan’s words, “make new associates more valuable to clients by giving them real-world skills and a better understanding of how to practice law.”
Howrey’s got one. So do Drinker Biddle, Frost Brown Todd, employment firm Ford & Harrison and Dallas-based Strasburger & Price.
The programs have all been up-and-running for a year or more, and so far firm leaders are giving them cautious thumbs-ups.
Still, other firms haven’t exactly rushed out to follow the first-movers’ lead. Why not? Part of it has to do with the salaries. Sloan writes that some critics fear that the lower salaries commanded by apprentices will hurt an ability to recruit top prospects. Others wonder if the programs are worth the time devoted by partners and other higher-billers.
What the movement needs, say some, is a big full-service firm to make the leap. “If a firm Like Hogan Lovells instituted something like this, it might get the ball rolling,” said Jordan Furlong, a Canadian legal consultant.
Some clients, it seems, are clamoring for change in the way firms are run. Michael Holston, the top attorney at Hewlett-Packard Co., called apprenticeship programs “a great thing.” He added: “I’m not interested in paying the regular rates for a first-year. There needs to be a middle ground.”
Our question, which we’ve asked before, is this: why should the nation’s law firms be the ones solely responsible for shouldering the cost of training young associates? Of course, any firm (or company) has to take some of the responsibility.
But shouldn’t law schools be doing more? Why shouldn’t more of the onus shift to them?
Of course, a number of schools are innovating on this front — doing more to teach their students how to be real lawyers during their second and third years. It’s going to take a while for these schools to recoup their investments, either through higher-caliber students or better-placement rates, but we sincerely hope they do.
June 16th, 2010 in
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