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place: U. of Illinois, time: 3 years ago, google: quantum physics research

Our Hero is a professor of quantum physics, at U of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign (because they apparently have a good quantum physics department). I need to blow him up, or at least blow up something in his lab in a way that could reasonably kill him. But I need someone else in the same lab to survive, because he knocked her out of the way or whatever... (Think Heroic Rescue. It doesn't have to have been normally survivable for *him*, he's got a god looking out for him).

But I can't seem to figure out what a quantum physicist actually does, day to day. Lots of information on what topics/concepts they research, or on famous past experiments, but no mention that I saw of buying a new graviton floculator or whatever [g]

What, in a quantum physicist's lab, could reasonably blow up or otherwise try to kill people, in a way that one person could save another from it?... it doesn't have to be probable that it'd blow up (or otherwise catastrophically fail), it can be due to sabotage/manufacturing glitch/lightning strike/etc. I just need to mortally wound my character saving his grad student from the 'splodey.

If there wouldn't be anything in his lab, is there anything in another physics lab he might be visiting that'd do the trick?

I don't need to actually show/write the incident, I just need at least a vague idea of what it actually was.

Thank you. Sorry I've been posting so many questions lately.

Tags: explosives and explosions, science: physics

Setting: 1920s Mississippi
Googled: Abuse laws in 1920s America, adoption in 1920s Mississippi, adoption in 1920s America, and looked up "sexual abuse" and "abuse" on Wikipedia.

My questions:

1) I got a little information about this. Would an abusive father be jailed in 1920s Mississippi?
2) Upon the mother remarrying, how easily would the stepfather be adopt to his stepson?
3) Can the little boy's last name be changed fast to match his stepfather's?

Is/was anyone a computer science major? I'm on the path to get a history degree, but I have been taking some computer science classes that I'm really enjoying. I'm toying with the idea of changing to a computer science major. Do you think that this would help more for librarianship or not really make a difference?

I want to work as an academic librarian (or at a large research library) if that helps. Thank you for your advice.

My friend and I want to set up an L Word RP (roleplay) type thing on Facebook and Twitter and I thought I'd ask you guys if any of you would be interested in joining us. It would be set after the Lez Girls premiere and would be true to the show, with the exception of Jenny and Dana both being alive. No one would have murdered Jenny (or she wouldn't have committed suicide..whatever really happened) and Dana would have beaten her cancer way back when. The only characters that are taken right now are Helena and Dana, but everyone else from Shane to Tina to Carmen to Molly and so on are available! Let me know if you would be interested in taking part in something like that.

Setting: Modern-day, USA.
Google terms: calligraphy pen, calligraphy tools, what pen to use for calligraphy, calligraphy
Results: a lot of websites discussing the importance of certain types of pens, but not using brand names. amazon.com and other sales websites. tutorials about how to actually use a pen or start calligraphy.

My character does calligraphy (western, not Japanese/Chinese/Islamic/Persian/Tibetan characters).

What is a reasonably versatile set for him to own? A modern-style pen - I don't want my character making his own out of feathers, thanks - and one of the type with replacable ink cartridges, as opposed to a "dip" pen. Interchangeable nibs, also. These features won't play a big part in the story, but I want to know what brand/kit it would be likely for a serious hobbyist to use, so I can describe the pen itself in detail and be realistic.

As far as I can tell, Brause is "The Best Brand Evar" but it also seems to be rather expensive? But on the other hand, not the $20 sets you can buy at any crafts store.

Thanks for the help.

Previous Searches: Read Wikipedia articles on blood in the forensic category, Googled "how to clean up blood" and related queries, Googled variations of "how to counter luminol spray blood test." Found a lot of interesting, semi-related things along the way (this bit on How Stuff Works made for good reading), but nothing that really answered my question.

Setting: Modern day, present time

Question: Okay, this feels like a stupid question because I'm sure the answer must be so obvious, but I couldn't find a source to really confirm any sort of answer for me. My question is - how does one effectively clean up blood stains (on any surface, table, carpet, wood, metal, linoleum, etc.) so that it's completely gone?

C.S.I. on TV, for example, has had episodes where the murderer or whomever attempts to clean up the crime scene, washing the sheets, using bleach, whatever - but the forensics team just sprays something at a surface and if there's blood, presto, it glows under a dark light! A wiki search says the spray is luminol, and this post about luminol sprays seems to state that luminol reacts to anything with iron in it (or something, I skimmed it).

That How Stuff Works article mentions hospital grade bleach and hydrogen peroxide - in fact, most of my searches reported that - but I just want to be sure - does that just remove the stains, or does it also completely wipe out the blood so that spraying luminol solution at it wouldn't turn up anything?

ETA: Wow, thank you everyone for raising awesome discussion points! I have a lot of choices of where to go now and will definitely be exploring them further.

Tags: forensics (misc)

Setting: Modern day, United States. New England, say New Hampshire or Maine maybe?

If a person dies and has no family, none at all that can be found to come forward to claim the dead body; and there was a autopsy performed on the person with the results being 'no foul play' so let's say they simply died of old age, or heart attack; not something contagious. Can a close friend or former fiance accept fiscal liability for the body and make funeral arrangements; have the body picked up from the medical examiners, etc and hold a memorial service for the departed?

Have asked the local Medical Examiner this, and their response was that the friend would need written permission from the family. Which makes no sense, because for the purpose of this story there is none.

It's rather confusing to me.

Second question; what if no family member comes comes forward to take the body, is it cremated and put into a local grave, some sort of a pauper's grave? Who would have the record of where this body was laid to rest? How would someone go about getting that information, and from who?

I have asked hospital employees, made phone calls, googled funeral rites, family laws, etc. What am I not googling correctly here?

Current Deep Dark Secret: confused
Current Fantasy: Cat Stevens: Lady D'Arbanville

My partner and I are writing an action research paper on whether or not it's a good decision to have one library in a system that is devoted to ESOL and foreign language materials? That is that the other branches' collections have been mostly seized in order to keep the collection at the assigned branch.

Is this a common phenomenon library systems to have each branch with it's own specialty?

Hey SIUD peeps,

I'm in a long term, long distance (for now) relationship with my girl. We've been seeing each other for 6+ years. I'm currently in a M.S. program in Michigan and she's a Marine Capt. in Okinawa, Japan. We both figure we're doing our two years of time, then she's getting out and we're moving to wherever I get accepted into a PhD program. Excellent.

So, here is my problem: I don't consider myself a super-feminist, but when my girlfriend tells me she went out with some USMC friends to see "the banana show" - which is a woman sticking all sorts of random shit up her vagina - I can't help but get really fucking pissed. First, I don't see how one would want to see something like that; secondly, I object to the objectification of a woman in that manner and spending a buck in silent support; third, the partner in question is the one who gets all uncomfortable/jealous/annoyed if I suggest or am doing anything like looking at naughty pictures or watching porn... which means, out of respect, I've stopped; fourth; I'm not stupid enough to tell my partner stuff that she would rather not hear, like, um, I dunno, "I went to a banana show the other night."

She, on the other hand, doesn't see why I'm upset and thinks I'm being overdramatic and groundless. I think, at the very least, she should respect me enough to know that this is not something I want to hear about and keep it to herself. Ideally, she wouldn't go at all, but I'm a realist.

Your thoughts?

Current Deep Dark Secret: annoyed