Well, I'm assuming you've read the 40s/50s classics?

Our caps..... they've got skulls on...

That...yeah, that's not good. I'm sorry you had that experience. I'm not a MD doc but I am a science doc (PhD in various aspects of human genetics) who works with patients in clinical trials. The patient is at the heart of everything we do :/ That kind of attitude towards a trial patient under my watch would reap…

I am going to check that out. Thank you very much for the tip. :)

She gagued your auras remotely?? My goodness!!

You have a good doc! Hang onto her like a limpet. I now live in Sweden and although I had to have a small copay (argh! Unused to! UK native!) I got TWO HOURS of chat and tests, plus follow up and referral. Good stuff (this is in Sweden, I used to live in the UK..I assume you're American.)

He is. And yes, that's kind of how I felt.. I could sort of see some allegory in there but his writing (whilst dense) is beautiful.

The "Nazis" one is almost as good... "Hans... are we the baddies?"

I do a lot of work on Placebo in my job, and wow...it is seriously powerful stuff.

Well of course it's bollocks. And of course it makes people feel better. In the UK, a GP (General Practitioner) appt is now 7 minutes long. Many, many people who go to the docs don't need medicine, they need someone to sit with them and listen. They need someone in a white coat, and authority, to sit, and LISTEN to…

A planet named Shayol...oh my. My mother is a sci fi nut. I'm one too, and a book nut. I could read at age 2. Once I'd read every book in nursery, school, and the library, I was unleashed on my mothers bookshelves. I read that aged about 6 and it HAUNTED me, but I couldn't really remember many details. I finally…

Wolfe is hugely underrated. I kind of thought i'd get annoyed at him (there's quite a strong influence of his religion on the books, I feel) but I didn't. His writing is amazing and only the morality, not the preachiness of religion shines through.

Lem is incredible. But you're right, those books aren't a throwaway read. I get through a thousand pages in an afternoon easy peasy but Lem...woooooft... yeah that takes me some time. Love "The mote in God's Eye."

OK, I will check some of them out. I am really quite stuck in the past when it comes to sci-fi. From the initial stack of "astounding" magazines I stumbled on in the attic as a child, I'm a dedicated Asimov/Ray Bradbury/A E Van Vogt/Heinelen etc fan...LOVE Vonnegut, love Gibson, Frank Herbert etc.

Yes of course :) (Sorry the cheese thing is a bit of an In-joke with me and the other half... he was HORRIFIED by the "lack" of cheese in the UK. He never quite acquired the cheddar-love.)

And have you read any of Jasper Fforde's work? As a graphemist I reccomend starting with the wondefully surreal "The Eyre Affair" (A silly book for smart people) and going from there...

Ooh..I had some lovely lace weight alpaca from when I was in NZ...Great U/name by the way .. Excuse my scientist's woeful inability with anything to do with semanitcs, but have you read one of my favourites, "the name of the rose" by Umberto Eco?

Cool. OK, so we don't do the every day thing (I used to, when I lived in the UK, and we had the monstrosity that is carpeting.)

If you do relocate, shout me. It is not easy for Individualists like UK/US citizens here.. you have to give up a lot to be part of that collective (ONE wine shop, government owned, open about 3.5 millseconds a week..) It's tough, but it is worthwhile. Let me know if you are thinking of it...

So where? I think one of the more stable S American countries would be a good move. None of the Eurozone really want it (alas we're all super skint right now..)