Walsingham

Wait, I mean we have Chartered Surveyors, who assesss teh property once the initial offer is made. But we don't have people who come in just before handover and make certain small details like no crap left behind in the attic are obeyed. I got stuck with (among other things) an old fashioned TV which is big enough to be hollowed out and used as a bath. But on my own I'd have a hard time backing out of the deal. Whereas if the vendor knew a man would come in who had powers and obligations to cancel the deal if that was done, then it would certainly not happen.

I've never seen a chick (that doesn't work there) go into the only store I do: Gamestop. Of course, when they see (god forbid) a shoe store, its all a squealing, "ZOMG! SHOES!" rush, even though they already own more shoes than I do games (I traded in around half the other day and got $1250. Epic stinginess.) A friend of mine once explained this to me, in a way which convinced me of the sense in it. Women's clothing doesn't work in bits like men's clothing. I can have three pairs of shoes - sport, smart, durable. This will let me meet any eventuality. However, a woman's whole dress, bag, hat etc has to be 'unlocked' by the correct pair of shoes. Thus they freak out whenever they see a concentration of shoes, any one of which may unlock whole outfits they had previously been unable to use to devastating effect. Or, to put it another way, imagine that you had found a Grotblast Scale Armour, and a Grotblast Fur Hat, both of which were +1. But if you found and killed a grotblast you would be able to take its skin to be made into Grotblast leggings, and all worn together would grant +9 super kill death avoidance. Every time you saw a grotblast in the distance you'd be like "ZOMG! Grotblast!"

I do understand that a doctor should be free to exercise their right to choose, in the same way as I believe a woman ought to. However, a slight side-issue occurs to me: how do you plan emergency services with doctors picking and choosing what they do? What's to stop some white supremacist from refusing to treat black people because he believes they are "tarred with the sin of Cain" or whatever?

Hey, pal, you just have to listen to it. I have to live it! It sounds like most of us here will just use whatever we've got handy. I suppose being more charitable, I suppose that if you're going to all the trouble of buying a magazine rack - and frankly who does that - then I guess you want the pointless frakking object to be the real deal. I actually use these stainless steel designer wine racks as document storage. It's obvious they're wine racks, but I like it because of that.

I hadn't come across professional home inspectors. It's a great idea.

Based on my experience i think a lot of womanly annoyance stems from them refusing to accept that they DON'T want to settle down and make families. But they feel obliged to chase that objective even if they'd rather chill out or chase careers like the guys can. So youhave them trying to force their bloke into getting more and more 'serious' while at the same time hating being serious.

I totally sympathise. You want to get an extra couple of quid, but don't want to be an a-hole. If you recall I had the same issue, and applied the ruels from the book "getting to Yes without Giving in". It's only a few dollars, and quite available. Once you havea thinka bout it you may realise how much you can save by getting a quick resolution, and also getting a workable solution. For example, if you act like a jackass you may cause them to strip out furnishings or leave the place in a mess, or tell your soon to be neighbours you are a complete bastard. Honour can be a good policy.

The functional approach doesn't work for love imo. For survival of humanity, f*** around would suffice, but love has too many drawbacks to be regarded as nothing but a necessary foundation of community.Also, if you view it from your "evolutionary", (sorry, but: pseudo-)scientific angle, why would you differentiate between emotion and chemicals? Sure about that? The reason we form family units is probably because our babies take a long time to become even remotely self-sufficient. This is obviously pseudo-science as I don't actually know anything about this subject, but it does seem resonable. Or do we have examples in the animal world of mothers taking care of babies for 1.5 decade before the baby is reasonably self-sufficient? I'm not exactly qualified to say what is current theory, but as of about ten years ago, that was certainly what people were saying in psychology. If you think simply popping sprogs out is all that is required to make REAL human beings I direct you to observe the nearest race course on gala day. EDIT: I had an idea late last night that love - who we love and how we love - isn't just something we do. It is a display of who we are, and often the highest road to changing who we are. Perhaps this is why it absorbs so much time and attention. Perhaps also why forgetting love is so hard, because letting a love go is also letting part of yourself go.

I had a rather startling crash into what may have been some sort of cultural barrier yesterday. I was in a large interior furnishings store, buying a table, chairs, bookcases etc for my house, and while I was filling out delivery forms a man came up to the counter next to me and asked: "Is this a magazine rack?" While brandishing an object made of wicker-work. My immediately voiced reaction was "Who cares? If you want to use it as one, go ahead." He looked at me as if I had grown an extra head and began singing a duet with myself. I wondered if this struck anyone else as an odd thing for me to have said. As far as I can tell the man was almost clinically subservient to the dictates of Society. Seriously, what bloody difference does it make what something is sold as if it works in the manner you intend?

I'd totally echo Enoch if I were voting, up to the point where he says a single vote doesn't count. I thuoght you chaps had Florida swing on a couple thousand votes, and decide the whole election. If true I'd say get your ass voting! As an aside, on Palin, I love how the papers are painting this business with her relatives. Sure the guy tasered someone, and ate his father in law's moose or something, but I've been to Alaska a fair bit, have friends there, and in my experience that's just what they do. That's why I love it so much I'd move there if I could get any work.

That midget looks pretty shifty. I'd move him right along, if I were you.

Bill Withers - Who is he to you? Except of course the sound quality off CD is rubbish. He's got an amazing voice, but this is just such a cool tune.

Glad you liked it, boss! Had a couple more toughts on this topic today. The first was that the difference between romance and love is the diffference between hunting something and eating it. My second thought was that love at times can drive us to be far more than we ever would on our own, and perhaps by so doing it not only serves a real purpose, but emphasises what love is. That is, love reveals something in us that we cannot by ourselves, because the people we love are more than just people. Taken together they can be so much more. Love is the radioactive spider in the corner, waiting to bite.

That picture of me is far too kind. I'm older now, and fatter. Sluggo, the only way to beat menial work like data entry or mail sorting (and I should know, I used to do them both for years), is to race yourself or other people. Excellence is its own amusement. Time yourself, then the next day, get yourself a gatorade or what have you, and try again. Buy a stopwatch, buy a headband, buy little wrist weights. Buy a strobelight, listen to Vivaldi, experiment. However, it is vitally important that you stress that you are doing this for personal satisfaction, not for the business. Oh, also, please post pics of your progress.

And I still say this angle is ultimately pointless. The whole expanse of human existence is just protons, electrons etc. Saying so is like telling the same thing to a man whose house is on fire. Except that's a pretty fixed set of chemical reactions, and chemistry might actually help. Which is my point, when something is THIS COMPLEX a chemical problem it transcends mere chemistry. To put it another way, trying to use chemistry as the answer is like telling the average man in the street to drive in realtime, using binary. I agree that Checkpoint sounds as if he dodged a bullet. However, I'm a believer in the notion that if it feels like a situation sucks it probably does on at least some level. I'd suggest you're hacked off because at some stage she has to grow up, and when she does she'll be pretty cool. But you won't be there. The good news, as I finallly worked out a couple of years ago, is that all the things you liked about her... other women have them too. Whether its eyes, a passion for hockey, you name it. And what's best of all is that those other women will have unique new traits to make up for any you miss. Like the ability to mix really good drinks, or DJ, or cure cancer. And now _I_ feel better. I'd almost forgotten that.

Never underestimate getting someone on your side. I don't know any of teh kind of senior warrants you're likely to have to deal with but if they're anything like ours I have an argument which may amuse them and nettle them into helping: If the Brits will let Harry fight, why can't you? Our favourite blockhead infantier is set to go out for a second tour.

Obviously I don't know much about you, but you're clearly not afraid of working, can string a couple of sentences together and I'm guessing would be happiest in an unorthodox environment. Working ina bookstore isn't a bad idea at all. However, have you checked to see if there's any work going at a local college or university? in my experience such places are quite cliquey, and if you can get in the door you may be able to wangle better work, and move along the ladder. Even if you don't there's always the option of getting some discount schooling. Just a thought. As for my profession, I'm basically a freelance scientist. With guns.

Its a nice way for them to say the prospective male didnt make the cut. I'd say it's more of a, "I'm gonna keep you around to stroke my ego and if I get *really* desperate, I'll make you take me to a movie." sorta thing. Otherwise, why stay friends with someone who has a thing for you? If you're not interested at all it just gets irritating. ROFL. That's the most perfect summary ever. It makes great sense, really, when you think about it.

OK. But just for the sake of the argument, isn't that rather selfish? I mean, setting up with someone long-term just so you've got free healthcare?

My God! Were-Dalmatians! Back on topic, I have a question prompted by an email from an old bachelor acquaintance of mine, now in his sixties. What's wrong with NOT having either romance or love?

I would respond, but I fear your beauty. It's like gazing into the sun.

I don't think you have to get geopolitical to unfavourably compare the Chinese effort with the British one. It sounds as if the British one was knackers.

Great day yesterday. Free haircut in morning because I helped the hairdresser sort out some treatment for her mum. Got recognised in a major international anti-crime forum, and went to my favourite restaurant to work on some theoretical problems. Solved two of the theoretical problems over beer and snacks, validating years of work! In celebratory mood, so dragged many friends out to celebrate. We had great food, a mix of conversation from babies to famine to molecular chemistry and back to dating. Restaurant owners very happy to have their restaurant busy on a Wednesday, gave me half my food for free! Everyone left very happy. Had horrifying full realism nightmares about civil war in the UK, people being murdered in the streets, bombs going off, families fleeing for their lives. Bloody horrible. Woke up early and decided to get straight back to work. Hopefully I can fidn a cure for cancer and take another afternoon off!

Well I was going to but then I got confused by all teh mods, so I just put NWN2 in, and by golly I tells ya it rocks!

I just finished the main campaign, and absolutely loved it, although I was particularly amused to note that I had more *ahem* problems with my party as a Charisma 19 Lawful Good Favoured Soul than with my evil Charisma 10 fighter cleric. Goes to show how much comes down to spending time and effort on your party members, not just a few momentary rolls of the dice. I loved it so much that I opened up the toolset to see about building some environments just to hang out in. I could really see trying to build something expansive in the toolset. There's lots of things like the random number seeded item properties, that make it almost as good as the game itself.