Walsingham

Whoah whoah whoh. Slow down. We need to field strip this baby if we're going to find the broken part. Concentrate. What makes me recognisably a customer in ANY situation. To an alien from the planet Zmormphm.

That's a lie. Evolution doesn't exist. God created the Earth in seven days for humans to enjoy and destroy. Awesome. How much does it cost to hire a circular saw and a continuously looped tape of There Goes the Neighbourhood by Bodycount?

QActually, I wasn't angling for alternatives to the British system. I'm thinking there's something fundamentally awry with the notion that being a customer makes the relationship healthy. Even in situations where you - for example - buy a sandwich, you can end up shafted. On the other hand, being a customer can be very good. I'm curious what the factors are at work.

No, mate. It's bloody art.

I got pretty down about the economic outlook on Friday. Went out for drinks with friends. The drinks didn't help, but the friends did. Spent yesterday working in the morning then bought a small keg of beer and went to a new friends for a mammoth wargaming session. It's been ages since I did any tabletop and I'd forgot how arguing about the rules, forgetting to add +1 and so on. It was half the fun. Came home pretty drunk, but remarkably happy. Unfortunately my good mood disappeared in th enight and I dreamed about my house falling part which is hardly very subtle, brain.

I'd quite like some seafood now, actually. Baked, maybe, with a little herb salad. I recently discovered an Armenian restaurant where they serve a slad of just fresh herbs and walnuts. Surprisingly tasty.

Very grateful for all your thoughts so far. I'm particularly struck by the (good natured) disjunct between the 'I pay you. You do what the contract says' approach and a more nuanced one. I will need time to digest them.

Bollito Misto would be my choice. Several kinds of boiled meat, served with the broth and a bunch of condiments.

Lol. More than enough. Thanks, man. I assume I'll be off the pretty pretty features, though?

Shoot a molerat - "Fallout lvl 1" = rubbish achievement Trap Elijah in the vault with at least one holotape and 3 robot components - "Sciency Mystery Theatre" = cool The point is there are dumb challenges and good challenges. Plus there are bragging rights to tough ones. What's so hard to understand?

Tale's got a point. Maybe you should team up with crazewpolf. add some of your thoughts to the loose terminals in FONV. Maybe have a bit of a treasure hunt element to it? Maybe just a story.

Am considering demanding my tidying obsessed housemate buy me Skyrim to make up for all the OCD shenanigans he is polluting my waves with. But i've only got an i7 2.6 ghz, and a GTX270 (from memory). Not sure if that's enough.

:p @ Gorth's Oz experience. Yes. I guess that would make you a customer in a way. Cant, your experiences in the US might be even morevaluable because theres a perception here that US medcare is more consumerist/free market. ~~ So far I'm picking up on two things: 1) service, with an element of responsiveness in that service. Even a degree of proactive standards 2) Pay on delivery, with Enoch implying the old concept of 'investment' (I think). If your customer is the state then the citizen isn't really the customer. They're like the nephew of a rich patron. Except the patron is old and insane. Mistreat their nephew and they probably won't even understand anything is wrong. ~~ My point really was to seek to describe the distinguishing features of a customer, as opposed to other roles we play in society.

I know there are a bunch of psychologists and economists etc. on here. I'm interested in a speculative way about how the UK government is trying to turn government services into kind of consumer driven entities. They keep waffling on about it. What I'm after is some academic (or indeed your own) perspectives on what actually defines being a customer of, say, a hospital. Rather than being, say, an employee.

I suggest you should introduce user prompts that read "Forgive me, machine. I do what I must." And other bits from the imperial infantryman's primer.

Pro-tip: oxen.

It's like my body has developed some sort of massive calypso deficiency. Mainly listening to Lord Kitchener.

Damnit. Now I want to play GTA III San Andreas.

I should have time this evening. After a pretty wild week I'm taking a quiet Friday.

If that dog growls like Chewie...

Note to self: one dragon couch, moochers welcome.

I read this as "Two Chickens linked to a Russian bomb were shot in Turkey." Terrorism most fowl. ~~ I like the notion of a phantom invasion followed by a quick phantom win. Our own Ministry of defence may have to have one or two of those.

You need to link us some day so we can hear those golden pipes. As soon as I get a recording which doesn't sound like a donkey being whaled on with a bar stool, I just might. Ugh. NEVER agree to work on a song about getting stupidly drunk in local pubs.

1) Last week Turkey announced it was sending tanks and armoured vehicles across the border into Iraqi Kurdistan. They then later announced they were pulling out. The Kurds announced that they had no idea about any of this, and there had been no incursion. 2) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15462752 Two Chechens linked to a Russian bomb attack were shot in Turkey. ~~ There's surely some proper shenanigans afoot. ~~ Commence the wild speculation!

Work this morning, then clocked off to sing on my friends album. Bloody awful. Drank vodka. Now don't care am bloody awful. Funny how being recorded can make me tense up so much I basically throw away five years of lessons!