May 8th, 2011

Injuries with regenerators

I have a few characters who are regenerators, able to heal a lot quicker then normal people are. However I would like to do this as realistically as possible, with some fudging allowed (as there are vampires and werewolves and dragons, oh my!). As my novel is in first-person and the character (a regenerator) gets injured quite frequently, it would probably be a good thing to figure out. The regeneration is a fairly high one, but not an ungodly one.

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Thank you in advance!

Requirements/Rules for Coroner/Medical Examiners in North Dakota

Question: I'm writing a story where the protagonist is a M.E. serving as Assistant Coroner under an elected coroner, preferably in North Dakota, U.S. I'm trying to find the exact specifications necessary where the coroner could be an elected official with a contracted M.E. under him. I'm willing to make up a county, if need be.

Search: I searched Google for coroner requirements in the United States, medical examiner requirements in the United States, which led me to the website that stated "North Dakota requires that coroners be licensed physicians, but only in counties of more than 8,000 people." I tried looking up "North Dakota coroner" as well as looked up details in my forensics book, but the book doesn't become that specific state/county-wise. I checked out North Dakota official websites and haven't found anything yet. I also checked out the medicine: misc tag on this lj community but couldn't find anything.

The character in question is a licensed medical examiner, with his boss being a taxidermist/dentist who was elected into the coroner position. The county population is < 8,000. Thanks for any help.
SGA atlantis postcard

Power inhibitors in the marvelverse

So I need some help from the Marvel fans in the crowd, as I find myself writing fanfic despite not being terribly widely read. One of my major plot points hinges upon taking away a certain character's powers, and so I've been trying to research the various methods of power inhibition; unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding a lot of info. So my questions are:

-What are the various methods for taking away powers? I know of at least two-- inhibitor collars and S.P.I.N. tech-- but are there any others? (I'm really more interested in technology that can do this rather than people who can take away powers-- but feel free to mention those too.)

-What are the limitations of these devices? Mutants only? They work on everyone?

-Are there any side effects to using them long-term?

-Has there been any mention of how much they cost, or how widely available/easy to get they are?

-Do they require preparation to use? (i.e., you can just snap them on, or like with SPIN tech, you have to have the person's DNA beforehand?)

-Power collars: do they come in different forms (like, say, handcuffs), or is it always a collar?

-Specifically in regards to SPIN tech, who knows about its existence? Is it super-secret or something everyone is aware of? Same question for the inhibitor collars, I guess. (I'm trying to figure out what my character's reaction is going to be upon coming in contact with these things. Right now I've got him having had experience with inhibitor collars-- he was in juvie for a while-- but not having ever heard of SPIN tech. Plausible? And how easy would it be for him to research/find out about it? I'm guessing Google isn't going to help. He's one of the Young Avengers, if that makes a difference.)

I'm sure I've forgotten some other vitally important questions, so please feel free to mention anything else you think might be helpful!

Search techniques:
So far, I have googled some combination of the following:

Marvel + "power dampener"; "power inhibitor"; "inhibitor collar"; "SPIN tech" + cost + availability, and other terms I've forgotten.

I've also read through the Marvel wiki articles, and also TVTropes. I've tried to get my hands on as many of the comics that mention them as possible, but this has not been terribly successful. (If you have copies-- I would probably kiss your feet.)

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Common illnesses in babies - non life-threatening

I'm writing a fic where two adults are forced to assume parental responsibility for a three month old child for one to two weeks. The adults are law enforcement professionals and want to do everything to keep the baby happy and healthy but neither is a parent or has knowledge of how to care for infants short of a well thumbed copy of "Parenting For Dummies".

What sort of everyday common illnesses could a child develop that would worry somebody that doesn't know how to deal with them? I don't need anything serious, just something that would freak out the carers.

I have Googled using search terms like "baby illnesses", "non-serious baby illnesses" and "common baby illnesses", but what I think would be more helpful is some first hand experiences from parents who got freaked out over something that ultimately turned out to be something minor.

Thank you in advance if you can help!

Race and "Prefects" in Norway

I'm writing a next-gen Harry Potter fanfic set at Durmstrang. I'm putting it in Norway specifically, and modeling all of its academic facets off Noway's system, but it's the main school for all of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Because home schooling is so common in the wizarding world and I imagine there are a handful of smaller, less prestigious schools throughout the continent, I'm only planning on having about 60 students per year at the school, with about 40 of those coming from Scandinavia, and the rest coming primarily from throughout Eastern Europe. So, a couple of questions:

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Thank you!