little_details

I have a character who needs a large (seven bedrooms or more...he has a rather large family) house in or around Dortmund or Meschede in Germany (some of you might remember me asking about Meschede before...yep, same guy!). I've googled lots of real estate for both cities (though mostly Dortmund because he doesn't particularly want to be in Meschede) but nothing seems to be big enough. So now I'm thinking he could either a) buy a farmhouse somewhere nearby or b) buy land on which to build this house.

Google seems to be failing me on how feasible this is. In the US, it's (relatively) easy to buy land to build your house on, or to buy an existing farmhouse because we have farms and farmland everywhere. But is it the same for Germany? Money is really no object, he's rather independently wealthy.

Alternatively, if houses that big are available in that area (I say Dortmund because the family is familiar with it, but it could be anywhere as long as it's within easy driving distance of Meschede), could someone point me there? I couldn't find anything bigger than four bedrooms.

Edit: Thank you all for your help! I love this community. Everyone is always so wonderful. ♥

NaNoWriMo strikes again.

Tried
drinking water around an active volcano
living around an active volcano
ground water around an active volcano

And all I could find was studies of lakes and supplying freshwater in bottles during an emergency.

I have a community in a fantasy setting who live near an active volcano, and by active I mean it is errupting every so many weeks. Thanks to a fluke in the geography, the lava never reaches the city, however I can't figure out how to give them drinking water. Originally they were going to take their water from a spring fed lake, but I've heard from a lot of places that volcanic erruptions tend to mess up the local supply of freshwater when they occur. I thought about maybe saying that my city desalinates the nearby sea water, but the website I looked at said that this process is expensive, so it may be beyond their technological ability (We are talking swords as the main source of weapon here).

How could they go about getting safe drinking water around an active volcano? How far away would a lake or river have to be for it to be safe to drink?

Edit: Would boiling the water from the lake do the trick or would it not be sufficient?

I think I know where I am going with this now. Many hugs *hugs* to everyone who replied. You have all been marvelous. My NaNoWriMo project and I thank you ^_^

For an original fiction project:

I need some information on what it's like to have asthma, mostly the day to day details you wouldn't find on a health website. I have looked on some sites for kids that describe what an attack feels like, and watched some actual asthma attacks on YouTube, and am hoping for additional practical/personal information.

My main character lives in the US, 15 to 17 years old, has asthma and lives in a house where the conditions aren't exactly the healthiest for her. There's a certain amount of dirt and some hidden sources of mold/mildew.

Would she be on a daily preventive medicine? How often and what time(s) of day do you take it, and would that be on a full or empty stomach? Are there side effects?

She has a rescue inhaler. At what point would she use it? How many times would she pump it? (What would she be most likely to call using it? Would it be a "hit" or "dose" or what? Is there slang or medical jargon she'd be comfortable with? She's a science fiction geek but not a science geek.) What are the immediate effects of using the inhaler? Does it have a taste? What's that like? Does the taste linger, or is it pretty much while she's getting the med? Does it have any side effects? How long does it take to stop an attack? Are there circumstances under which it doesn't work? When would she decide to call for medical help?

What are the likeliest triggers for an attack? What makes things worse in general, what makes them better? Is activity helpful in general, or would it make her more prone to problems? Are there alternative therapies that she might try or at least hear about?

How does it feel when an attack comes on? Are there early early signs (the way I can sometimes tell I'm about to get a migraine before the aura because I suddenly find it hard to read the computer screen)? What are the first actual symptoms? What are the sensations that lead to a full-blown attack? What are the feelings of an attack that's subsiding? After it's over, how do you feel? Do you rest or go on with your day?

Anything else that would be useful for me to know in terms of insider information?

I appreciate any specifics you can give me. Fiction lives and dies by sensory detail and physical sensation, so I want to have a vocabulary and physical reference points for writing something that feels true.

Thanks!

Yep, it's me again, with yet another question about alternative lifestyles! If I'm not careful, I could get a reputation for this sort of thing.

Okay, so the character I'm thinking of is an independent prodom with his own dungeon and charges by the hour--basically like any other independent professional dominatrix, only he's a man who services men. I've searched "gay male prodom" and "professional male dom" and "bdsm independent prodom" and variations thereof, appending -mistress and -XML and such as necessary and have found. . . basically, nothing!

Do these guys exist? If so, how do you find one? I've even looked in the classifieds. Lots of massages, but no prodoms. Am I better off making this guy part of a house, or would that just make it worse? I assume I can take a lot of my cues from this list and this list, but I read somewhere that prodoms might have sex with their clients, which is an important detail. And of course, I'd need to know a lot more about how a session actually goes, but one thing at a time.

Bottom line: Are you a prodom? Know a prodom? Know a website? Know a book? Let me know--and if you'd rather be discreet, you can email or IM me as well (relevant info in my profile).

Edit: IN AMERICA. BECAUSE I SUCK AND SOMETIMES FORGET THAT AMERICA IS NOT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD. orz Anyway, uh, in America, probably San Francisco or Seattle or some other big city with a reasonably large gay male population.

I hope the subject is clear enough. There is a sandwich - or maybe it's a sort of pot-pie-like thing? That is traditional for the 'working man' in the UK, i believe. Meat and vegetables in a crust, a sort of 'sandwich' they could carry with them to eat in the field or while at work.

I have *no idea* what it could be called, but i'm sure there *is* such a thing. It's driving me nuts. I've googled 'tradional hot sandwich ireland scotland england' and 'traditional pocket sandwich' and 'traditional laborer's food' and just found nothing. I'm *sure* i remember reading about this, but my brain just won't supply the details for me to figure it out.

Help!


ETA: Answered! Damn, you guys are fast fast fast.
:)