Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Little Details' InsaneJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Saturday, May 19th, 2012
10:53 am	Friends Forever? http://little-details.livejournal.com/3168993.html Okay, this is something that's been bugging me for a while and has stalled progress on my story in a big way. The setting is modern day Japan, and there are two main male protagonists.  They were relatively close friends as children (though they bickered a lot), but circumstances irrelevant to this post separate them.  They meet again several years later...and this is where things get tricky. The older of the two, for purposes of the plot, becomes very devoted to his old friend's well being not long after the reunion, which goes badly as the younger one is, due to a major trauma in his life, not the person he once was; the past friendship doesn't mean anything to him anymore and as thus is quite hateful towards his former friend and his devotion. So here's the problem: what is it about the younger guy, apart from their shared past, that would cause the older guy to continue to be so close to him despite being treated like dirt? Here's what I DO know about the older guy (for greater context if it helps anyone): 1. He never knew his father.  At all.  His parents split before he was born.  At this point I'm not sure whether or not his mom will remarry. 2. His childhood was rocky; he suffered from severe asthma and had few friends apart from this other guy.  Things improved in both health and friendships as he matured, however. 3. He is heterosexual, though I could change that if need be. Finally (and most importantly): 4. This devotion of his is not merely a desire to continue the friendship.  He could probably care less.  This is almost an obsession with the other guy, and (though I haven't decided yet) he may give up his life for him and has already come pretty close, though it still doesn't mean jack squat to the other (I like to think of the Bruno Mars song "Grenade" here).  So what's up with him?  Under what circumstances would a guy like this get so obsessed with a friend? Research wise I have done little, though I did at one point search "why would a straight male become fixated on a male friend"...and I got a bunch gay porn sites. :P (Comment on this)
10:53 am	Adoption Without Birth Certificate and Bridges in Ealing http://little-details.livejournal.com/3168707.html Setting: 2006 London (Doctor Who universe, if it matters) Question 1: Search Terms Used: Adoption without birth certificate, born without birth certificate, adoption in UK I also looked at a previous post on a similar subject while going through the entire child custody section on this site. However, there were enough differences between the situation that they had and the situation that I have that I decided to make this post. The situation is that a thirteen-year old American girl is on vacation in London when she accidentally falls into an alternate universe. Although she has an alternate-universe counterpart, taking over her identity would not be practical as due to timey-wimeyness between universes, her counterpart is six, not to mention back home in America. The plot that I am planning calls for her to fall in with a family and possibly be adopted by them, and I was wondering how that would be feasible, if at all. Also, I was wondering if, despite having absolutely no records, other forms of identification or even any type of paper trail whatsoever, she would be able to still go to school, and if there would be any way for her to get identification so she would be able to have a job, get a drivers license, etc. Question 2:(Same setting) Search terms used: Ealing+bridges (that got me a bunch of bridge clubs), poking around the area on Google Earth's street view, I also looked at the Wikipedia page for Ealing. I want this character to become trapped under a concrete bridge, preferably about overpass sized or similar, when said bridge collapses. The person would be running and trying to use the bridge for cover when it collapses, so somewhere easily accessible by foot or bike would also be great. Traffic would likely not be much of an issue for this situation, as there is an alien invasion going on and most everyone is either hiding, captured, or dead. Are there any bridges or underpasses in or near (meaning within around five minutes or so biking distance) Ealing that would fit these criteria? If anyone could answer these questions, that would be great. Edit: Thank you very much for all of the info. I'll make sure to take this into account when I write my story. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 18th, 2012
11:31 am	Inpatient Psych Unit Intake Questions http://little-details.livejournal.com/3168354.html I'm writing a short story about a girl in her late teens (college age, probably 18 or 19) who is being admitted to an inpatient psych unit. The setting is the modern-day US, within the past few years. She's being admitted voluntarily after a police officer found her wandering near a busy street, half-clothed, ranting about a delusion she's been having. What I am looking for is a list of questions she'd be asked during the intake process. I want to list some of these out in Q&A format as part of the story. I know she'd be asked about suicidal thoughts, thoughts of harming herself and others, and drug use, although I don't know the wording that a professional would use for those questions these days. I have experience working in a psych hospital in the 90's and I'm concerned about using outdated language as a result of what I think I know, so please be as specific as you can with wording. Thanks so much! :D Google search terms: inpatient psych unit intake interview inpatient psych unit intake questions psych hospital intake questions psych hospital intake interview mental hospital admission questions (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
11:33 am	Operation Verano and Pre-revolutionary Cuban military- resources. Oh and cultural questions. http://little-details.livejournal.com/3168122.html Setting: Alternate Havana/Guantanamo, Cuba, in the near-future Searched for: Every term possible relating to plans for Operation Verano and Cuban military history, mostly on Google Books. OK, so this is the first in a series of questions for this alternate history steampunk science fiction book I'm working on that involves human cloning and The Mob and is set in Cuba. The PoD is basically that Batista stayed on in power because he implemented some reforms and wasn't openly corrupt like he was in our world. Leading to M-26-7 being easily crushed, a series of juntas all aligned with the US in some way, and a Boys From Brazil style plot involving cloning Che Guevara. The protagonist is the clone. All the stuff I've found on Operation Verano so far tells me what its objectives were and why they failed (mainly because Batista's soldiers apparently weren't all that competent and he didn't have much popular support. Yeah, I know that). But I couldn't find any books on the pre-revolutionary military or that broke down Operation Verano in detail. Also, can anyone answer some general questions for me on culture (mainly Santeria?) (1) what would a non-initiate call themselves? From what I've read, it seems like santero/santera refers to an initiate, not just a follower. Can anyone confirm this? 2) Would a child raised with Santeria around them be told patakies/patakis? 3) How involved with the Catholic Church would the average Santeria follower be? Is it possible to practice both Roman Catholicism and Santeria? 4) What are non-initiates prohibited from doing in Santeria? (Comment on this)
11:33 am	Resource: The Worldbuilding Internet Library http://little-details.livejournal.com/3167976.html I haven't been very active on Little Details for a while, but I wanted to share a resource I've created with the Little Details community in mind: The Worldbuilding Internet Library The site collects eighty or so web resources that I've found invaluable in worldbuilding/historical research or that I believe would be helpful to others. Please enjoy, and feel free to recommend a resource! Also, let me know if you experience any technical difficulties. This project was in part an excuse for me to play around with Wordpress, and while it has so far looked fine in modern browsers, I can't make any guarantees about older versions of Internet Explorer.... (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
11:08 am	Child abuse from beyond the grave? http://little-details.livejournal.com/3167705.html One of my stories set in Japan features a ghost as the villain, and not just any ghost either: she's the main protagonist's ancestor.   In life she was pretty nasty; she was obsessed with having amazing descendants.  When her son failed to live up to her expectations, she treated him like crap.  Now, as a ghost roaming the earth, she continues to make life miserable for all her descendants (as none of them have ever reached her crazy ideals), namely siccing her unsavory "friends on the other side" on them. I'm on the fence with this scenario though.  I can see her haunting​ her descendants and making life hell for them, but the using other ghosts/demons to carry out her deeds seems to be stretching it a bit (though she was a medium in life and had a kitsune as an ally) So I guess what I'm asking here is, does anyone know of any other ghost/supernatural myths or legends with similar themes?  (And they don't necessarily have to be Japanese in origin)  I've done Wikipedia research on ghosts etc in Japanese folklore but nothing really seemed to fit. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
9:11 pm	Fatal poisoning or ideas http://little-details.livejournal.com/3167240.html Terms searched for: various combinations of; poisonous plants, animal poison, Japan, organ failure, infection like symptoms, blood poisoning. Working my way through the '~medicine: poisoning' tag. Setting: Warring States period (Sengoku) Japan. Our world. I need a character to murder a healthy female in her mid-teens and to get away with it. The female character is recovering from or newly recovered (I haven't decided on which yet) from two broken legs. Ideally I want her death to appear to be due to some complications connected to her injury, and for it to work quickly enough/be serious enough for her not to be able to tell anyone.  I'm thinking of some kind of poisoning, but the girls' private doctor would intervene if he noticed any obvious tampering with the wound and I also haven't found a poison that would give symptoms similar to an infection. Does anyone have any idea of what sort of poison I could use or is my scenario impossible? I'm more than open for suggestions, thank you in advance for any help. (Comment on this)
9:11 pm	American movies in 1940 England, and popular male stars http://little-details.livejournal.com/3167018.html I've been working on a story about a sixteen-year-old girl in London during WWII. Specifically, during the Blitz, so I'm thinking about 1940. However, I'm having some trouble because some important parts of the plot depend on what sort of access she has to American films and information about Hollywood and American stars. I want her to be very enamored with Hollywood and American movies, but would she realistically have much access to this stuff during the war? Would she have any access to American media? I've read that UK theaters were closed for a time due to concerns about safety, but I haven't found anything more specific than that, and it didn't say anything about films being imported from other countries. Secondly, assuming her having access to Hollywood movies or at least news is plausible, I wanted her to have a crush on a popular American actor, but could use some ideas about who it could be. I'm looking for a Johnny Depp or Leonardo DiCaprio sort of figure -- an actor who would have been popular with young women at the time, and would have been seen as a heartthrob. Obviously, my character could be attracted to anyone, but the point here is that she's more attracted to this guy's image and popularity, so I want the 1940 version or equivalent of your stereotypical teen heartthrob. I know a decent amount about movies and actors from that period, but I don't know a lot about how different demographics perceived them at the time. That is, who was popular with young people vs. older crowds. Would someone like Errol Flynn work? I've done some searches like "Hollywood film distribution, 1940s, UK," "1940s teen idols," "Movies in London during WWII" and variations thereof, but I'm not finding a lot of stuff that seems to address these questions, and I don't honestly know what to search for. So I'd appreciate some input -- even a nudge in the right direction. I don't need a ton of background. I mainly need to know if my plot is plausible, and find a few specifics like an actor she can like and a few films she might have seen. So thanks a bunch to anyone who can help. (Comment on this)
5:34 pm	Math help! http://little-details.livejournal.com/3166757.html OK, Here is the problem. I'm told that the horizon is approximately 3 miles away, I know this is dependent on height of the person and curve of the earth and what not. I can find numerous formula on the internet. What I need to know. Say my character is six foot tall, and looking across a desert landscape, I need the horizon to be TWO miles away, so is the planet he is standing on bigger or smaller than earth? I just cannot wrap my head around it. Math and science are not my thing, when I google things like "how far is the horizon" I get formula for Earth, not as if he was on another planet. help? (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	How long would it take a decently experienced seamstress to let out a dress? http://little-details.livejournal.com/3166657.html Hey everyone! New posting, long time stalker. Thanks in advance for any help. Alright, so I have a scene in my Edwardian-esque setting (alternative universe inspired by, all that jazz) where a fairly experienced seamstress (been sewing all her life, working hard professionally for three years) is letting out a simple wedding dress a few inches. Is it reasonable to expect that she could do it in one sitting? If so, how long would it take if she didn't stop to take care of other work? I've searched the exact question in the subject line and several variants (how long to let out a dress, quickest way to let out a dress, how to let out a dress yourself, etc.) and while I've gotten lots of information on HOW to do it, not very much on how long it would take to do it. My problem is that I want to know how long the actual work takes, not how long a seamstress will take to get it back to you if you take it in to have it altered professionally. Any ideas? Thanks again! ETA: Thanks so much to everyone who replied! I think I have an idea of where to go from here. (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	Army Unit/Iraq War http://little-details.livejournal.com/3166301.html HALP. I am overwhelmed by links! Research has fried my brain. This is for a charity fic, so... Basically, I have a character joining the Army in the summer of 2000. Ultimately, he becomes a Cavalry Scout with the 10th U.S. Cavalry. Here's my first question/problem. This site says: "Both types of scouts do, however, go through a special form of basic training called One Station Unit Training (OSUT). OSUT is longer than regular basic training and combines basic training with advanced MOS-specific training. Calvary Scouts attend Cavalry OSUT at Fort Knox, Kentucky." http://www.ehow.com/list_7389854_differences-between-infantry-cavalry-scouts.html However, this says: "Job training for Cavalry Scout requires Basic Training, where you learn basic Soldiering skills, and Advanced Individual Training, and 16 weeks of One Station Unit Training (OSUT)." http://www.ifrad.us/scout.html So do they do both Basic *and* OSUT, or just OSUT? Second question: The 10th U.S. Cavalry was deployed to the Middle East and saw combat in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and is still deployed in Iraq. https://www.facebook.com/pages/1st-Squadron-10th-US-Cavalry-Regiment-OEF-11-12/137452839672150?sk=info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Cavalry_Regiment_%28United_States%29#21st-century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Cavalry_Regiment_%28United_States%29 So once Basic/OSUT is completed, we are pretty close to the deployment date in 2001. My issue is - what unit is my character *in*? I get the idea that 1st/10th has smaller units within it, or is that my problem, and they *don't*, and i'm just confusing myself needlessly? Ist Squadron, 10th U.S Cavalry was there, but I don't find them listed in the Order of Battle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Iraq_%282003%29_order_of_battle Were they supporting/part of a larger/other unit and so wouldn't be listed separately? Basically - I'm drowning in info and links and *stuff*, but can't get this all narrowed down to what I need, which is the name or designation of the actual unit that this character would be in while running around in Baghdad trying not to die. Any sort or help would be very much appreciated. I have *no* clue what tags to use. (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	American Banks - robberies & large cash/money withdrawals http://little-details.livejournal.com/3166038.html Where: USA (Northeast part of the country if that's relevant) When: Modern day Terms: how to withdraw a lot of money from a bank, bank secrecy act, famous bank robberies, bank security I have a few questions relating to banks. 1. I'm writing a character who works at a large bank (it's a large company with many branches) branch as a manager. In the story, I want him to have experienced two separate armed robbery situations. I was wondering what sort of security measures are in place for a large branch that has a fair amount of cash on site? I'm envisioning one daily security officer and some kind of silent alarm button that all the tellers can press that notifies the police, but is there anything else? Are their trainings for employees on how managers/tellers should deal with robbery situations? 2. My second question is: how much cash is a bank required to actually keep at every branch? I'd imagine it's a certain percentage of something to do with local accounts, but I haven't had any luck googling for any figures. 3. I'm writing a wealthy criminal character is planning to withdraw a lot of money and flee the country. He has millions in the bank/investments and is very savvy as to how the banking system works, so he would have made plans for how to access all these assets if he were forced to leave the country in a hurry. Not having worked in a bank or made millions, I don't have any ideas as to what steps he would take. -Does anybody have any ideas for how he would be able to transfer/move his money around so he could still access it in Western Europe? I know he wouldn't want to leave his money sitting in a US bank account since the government would move freeze all his American assets quickly. I think I've heard of certain offshore bank accounts that can be set up (on certain island nations or whatnot) that will ignore the demands of the US government to freeze assets due to pending criminal trials, but I don't know much about this or how the character would be able to access the money in those accounts. Western Union? Wire transfers? -This character is also going to try to withdraw as much money in cash from his account as he can from a large branch. I've read a bit about $10,000 cash transactions that require a bank to notify the government in CTRs, and about SARs, but is there an actual limit to the amount of cash a branch will actually fork over to a person at one time? Is there are a lot of paperwork that needs to be filled out? I know it's a broad topic with a lot of sub questions. Any help on this topic would be much appreciated! (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	Brands of cigarettes and What They Say About You http://little-details.livejournal.com/3165934.html Modern day, all over the world. Not entirely sure how to google this, because I'm looking for more anecdotal kinds of information. I have two characters who are both long-term smokers. I don't really need any help on the mechanics of smoking (I don't reall smoke myself, but I have done so enough times to know what it's like), but more about certain kinds of cigarettes and figuring out what "their brand" would be. I know how certain brands/strengths/etc carry certain connotations amongst smokers, so I'm mainly looking for any and all information about those connotations. (For instance: one of my friends rolls his own because it's cheaper, but hates how that's become more popular and cool lately, because it makes him look like he's just doing it because it's cool. I've another friend who used to smoke Lucky Strike, but hates them now because she says all the Mad Men poseurs smoke them.) Ideally, I'd like a brand that's decent quality and available pretty much everywhere, or a couple of different brands that are available in different countries but are fairly interchangable. But on the other hand, a particular brand that's hard to find but really awesome would work as well (and even better if there's a "will do in a pinch" alternative to the awesome brand.) Or a non-obvious brand that's considered particularly terrible even, that they'd have to be desperate to smoke. Both characters have military experience, so if there's a certain brand with those connotations, that would be awesome as well. But they hang out all over the world, so they're not really particularly constrained by geographic availability. But any information on the connotations of brands/strengths/etc would be much appreciated. Thanks! (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	A question about your grandparents http://little-details.livejournal.com/3165450.html Since it is for something I'm writing, I hope it's okay to ask here: How old were your grandparents when they meet/fell in love? Are they still together today? Would you say they are still in love or rather just living next to each other out of habit? (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	What conditions can cause a woman to be in a lasting frail state after giving a difficult birth? http://little-details.livejournal.com/3165254.html My story is fantasy but I've based it around Britain in the Early Middle Ages. It's basically a retelling of Snow White. I decided to tweak the story a bit and have her mother survive for awhile after Snow White's difficult birth, at least long enough before she gives birth to three other children. The mother is often in a weakened, vulnerable state and some days is bedridden. I should also note that before she had Snow White she went through numerous miscarriages and stillborns. She dies later on in the story giving birth to her fourth child and I want to see if it can be linked from complications of her firstborn's birth. My question is what sort of health conditions or disease or infections or what have you can she have to go through all that? I've searched terms along the lines of: "pregnancy long-lasting effects," "birth lasting effect," "difficult birth effects" and so on. I only turned up with articles focusing on the infant's health, postpartum depression, and so on. (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	Japanese Military Honorifics http://little-details.livejournal.com/3164931.html I currently am writing a piece that's set in the Japanese after world, so the time period of the honorifics isn't as important. However, the characters all take place in a military setting, so I was wondering what the honorifics would be for the various ranks. The only anime/manga that had military ranks being used that I've seen or read was Bleach where they address captain as -taichou and assistant captain as -fukutaichou, but I wanted more than one series for basis of my characters' honorifics towards each other. The honorifics that I'd like to know are mostly, "general", "captain", "assistant captain", "___ seat" (ie 1st seat, 2nd seat, 3rd seat, etc. Up to 10th seat is needed.). I'm assuming that after a certain amount of familiarity with each other, the ranked members who see each other often enough might start addressing each other as -san, but correct me if that's wrong. I'm also assuming that a higher ranked member might use -san as well, such as a 2nd seat to a 5th seat. Would an unranked member of their division address a 4th seat in a different way than a 9th seat, assuming that the 9th and 4th ranked member were not on a -san level of familiarity yet? I've tried to look up 'Japanese Military Honorifics', 'Japanese "Military Honorifics"', '"Japanese Military Honorifics"', 'Military honorifics in Japanese' and a plethora of other ways, but most of the sites that I come across are general honorifics or they have some mention of the military in it, like in a description of -kun. I also found about 50 results for a book called "Language and Gender in the Military: Honorifics, Narrative..." but it's about western military honorifics in English and French. I did find one source that listed -taichou as an acceptable way to address a captain, but that was the only one that I found so far and it came from an anime's forum so I also don't know how legitimate it is. I also tried using an online translator (because those work so well), but it literally gave me "Kyaputen Miyagi" and I decided that was all of the information I needed to invalidate instant translators for this. (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	Physical effects of being bound/confined to a small space http://little-details.livejournal.com/3164923.html The setting is modern day, urban USA. The character in question is a healthy, slim man, about 35 years old. He's fit and more flexible than most men, about average height. He's been kidnapped (I'm thinking chloroformed rather than hit over the head so I don't have to complicate things further with a concussion), bound tightly with his hands behind his back and his feet together in front of him and put into a wooden crate just large enough to hold him sitting with his knees to his chest. It's not airtight but it's solidly constructed and he doesn't have enough space or leverage to get free. My intention is for him to be kept in that state for a whole day or most of a day, though I can change that if I need to. I know there would be psychological effects as well, but I'm trying to figure out how mobile he could reasonably be within a short time of being freed. I'm sure there would be muscle spasms/pain/stiffness/soreness for some time, but once he was lifted out of the crate and rested for a short while would the character likely be able to stand and walk with assistance? I want him to refuse transport to the hospital and be able to recover with oral hydration and skilled if not professional TLC, so if I need to change the time frame I can do that. I've googled the effects of long-term binding/bondage/confinement/physical confinement and found articles about solitary confinement in prison, physical confinement of children in school and the elderly in nursing homes, and reminders not to leave somebody tied up too long in BDSM scenarios but nothing that applies to this situation. (Comment on this)
2:01 pm	Revealing court-ordered surveillance to suspect in the US http://little-details.livejournal.com/3164595.html My novel is set in West Virginia, USA. A detective has returned fire on and killed the boy-toy of the wealthy and very well-connected son of a six-time congressman and Speaker of the House. Subsequent to being informed he may have charges brought against him, the detective finds himself under open surveillance. His best friend is researching to write a book on a closed child murder that took place in her rental house. She is partially motivated by two new murder cases with similar circumstances that have occurred near her house. Her house is ransacked and the files and interviews she obtained have been stolen. Outside her house, the detective approaches the men following him to ascertain who they are working for and find out if they also have his friend's house under surveillance since he has been living there. They are FBI. As it's not required by law, they do not have a court-order for the video surveillance of the writer's home, but they do have one for audio and a GPS transponder on her vehicle. If asked directly by the writer, do they have to reveal and present the court-order for covert surveillance? (I'm hoping for yes- and the agents are also sympathetic to the detective's case, but Daddy has pull- I can make them private goons if need be :-)) I have read lots about covert surveillance, the Going Dark proceedings, the use of informants for surveillance, privacy laws, and the FBI lawsuits brought by EFF for by-passing court orders and searched with 'legality of covert surveillance' 'court ordered surveillance' 'informed consent, court ordered surveillance' 'court ordered surveillance, informing suspect' 'requirements of revealing covert surveillance' 'requirements of revealing court ordered surveillance', those last two with 'to suspect' added. And whatever else I though up[, lolol, but I must be missing a keyword because I can NOT find the answer to my question :-) (Comment on this)
Monday, May 14th, 2012
12:02 am	[ANON POST] Perform a quick, clean, complete amputation of an arm using shop tool(s)? http://little-details.livejournal.com/3164255.html Setting is contemporary urban North America. A teenaged girl (5' 3", approx. 110 pounds), needs to cut off her arm very quickly (i.e. in a matter of 1-2 seconds, using a single clean cut) and also sever it completely from her body, because plot. The character has access to a wood & metalworking shop with various tools, and she also has strong and capable friends able to assist her in performing the necessary operation. She is also skilled at modifying and tinkering with machines, so she could remove any safety features that would ordinarily prevent such an "accident". What would be the best tool, manual or power, to use to perform such an operation? Would a guillotine paper cutter, for instance be capable of cutting quickly right through the girl's bone if a strong man were to do the chopping? I was looking at metal shears, but all the models I've seen don't seem to have enough clearance between the blade and the table for my character to insert her arm. I would really like this amputation to be as clean and precise as possible, which is why I avoided looking at (say) table saws or chainsaws, as I figured those would probably mangle the tissue -- but I'm willing to be corrected on that point. It is also important to note that my heroine cannot go to hospital after the amputation, but must be privately treated on-site, because she is secretly Not Human and her wacky blood type and other anomalies would cause Serious Problems in a hospital setting. Searches Performed: "severed arm workplace", "accidental amputation shop", "metal shear safety", "guillotine paper cutter", and variations thereof. Many thanks in advance. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
8:56 pm	Deceptive chess strategy http://little-details.livejournal.com/3164044.html Where: real world When: early 1950s Terms searched: none Any chess experts out there? I need something, preferably mid-game, which a) has a name (e.g "Ruy Lopez" or "Berlin Wall") and b) involves laying a trap. Ideally, it would be the type of trap where every "correct" move just digs the hole deeper. Edit: I know how to play chess - learned over 30 years ago. I'm just not good enough to have studied the kind of thing I'm looking for. (Comment on this)