I was wondering if there were any naming customs among women of the samurai class, like the male naming custom of getting one kanji from fathers/grandfathers. My Google-fu (keyword combinations of samurai/bushi women names/naming customs) has turned up nothing, but I'm a bit nitpicky.

Edit: I'm referring particularly to the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods, but anything from any era can't hurt. :) I'm so sorry I forgot to specify that. *is ashamed*.

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/12/26/tv-reminder-dr-who-tonight-in-america/

If you’re in the Colonies on Boxing Day and missed the first part of David Tennant’s last episode of Doctor Who, remember you can watch it tonight on BBC America (9 PM ET).

Non-Spoiler Review: Can the Moffat Era please get here already? Part one of “The End of Time” had all the things that fans have grown tired of from the Russell T Davies era (ponderous narration, cutesy aliens). Thank goodness for the wonderful performances by Tennant, John Simm (great scenery chewing as The Master) and Bernand Cribbins as Wilf.

The second part of “The End of Time” concludes next week on  New Year’s Day in the UK and the next day on BBC America, when we presumably will get our first look at Matt Smith as Doctor number 11. 

Update: BBC America will run a super marathon of David Tennant episodes starting at midnight on January 1. Starting with “The Xmas Invasion,” BBCA will show a Tenth Doctor episode every hour until showing “The End of Time, Part One” at 6:45 on January 2, following by the premiere of “The End of Time, Part Two.”

Also, there’s a clip for next week’s episode already circulating on the net (specifically on Youtube).

[posted by Mark Coale]

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/12/26/holiday-reading-tune-by-derek-kirk-kim/

Well HERE”S something we hadn’t seen publicized too much. Xeric, Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz winning cartoonist Derek Kirk Kim is serializing his new graphic novel TUNE on his website. The first two panels should get you started.

There's a very sound explanation as to why there's a pile of plastic meat by my keyboard, but I'm amused all the same. It seems that after I called a moratorium on the Wii (Jakob was getting very frustrated with a boxing opponent) the kids noticed the little presents that I got them. Sean was very happily playing with his plastic meats and veggies from the dollar aisle at Le Target, Jakob was using his safety flashlight as a sight on his StormTrooper blaster.

And I was having the honor of doing Christmas dishes. There's a dark side to staying home for Christmas, I see that now. There is no one else to do the dishes.

At any rate, while up to my elbows in duck grease, I hear, "Reach for the sky and give me all your meat."

"No you play with the vegetables," Sean responded to the blaster-armed bandit. Jake tried this for a few seconds, then made a grab for the plastic meats.

Sean, quite calmly, whacked him with the plastic turkey. Jakob, howling more at the injustice of it all than the pain yells to me, "MOM SEAN'S STEALING MY MEAT!"

Uh-huh. Okay. Note to self, despite the 4.5 age difference between them, get exactly two of everything next Christmas.

One other thing: on Christmas Eve, we worked our way through the DVR, gave up on Dollhouse once and for all, and finished the first disc of season five of Lost, which oddly enough actually answered some of the questions, while, of course, raising more. Nice.

A couple of days ago, I finished reading Tom Holt's historical novel Olympiad, which gives his odd and very human viewpoint of really how the first Olympic Games took place. I found it a fun and engrossing read.

After a long, sad day working from relatively early in the morning, I was able to get home, change into a new aloha shirt made (exquisitely) by forestcats, and then we went to axelicious & themodeinliz's house for Christmas dinner, highlighted by the presence of the former's parents. It was a lovely time, with good food, good company and good fun.

As some might notice, because of getting out and about rather early, I didn't get online until extremely late on Christmas day, so for those of you who find that day important in your worship, I hope it was all you wanted it to be.

Over the last couple of days, I finished reading two comics, the first being Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? #7, which is still pretty good, and then Battlefields #1, which was about Australians flying British aircraft in WWII, again pretty good.

I'm not sure how to research this, but I'm mostly going for a plausibility braincheck in any case (roleplaying character)

( Many and verbose details )

Uh... hi. First post. I hope I'm doing everything right.

American Midwest, 1960s. I've got a man and a four-year-old girl who have just escaped from an underground-lair-type place and are running away from pursuers who are shooting at them with carbines. The man is carrying the girl on his left hip (to leave his right hand free to shoot back). A bullet hits the girl's right thigh about halfway down, breaks the femur but doesn't exit the thigh. They evade the pursuit, and the man has to give the girl emergency medical care.

The man has medical/pre-med training (I can fudge quite a bit on how much), but isn't a full-fledged doctor. He has a Swiss Army knife, matches, his clothes (suit and tie), a handkerchief, and a chocolate bar, but no sterile bandages and no way to boil water. They're hiding in the woods, so he has access to sticks for splints. He's out in the boondocks and has no idea where the nearest medical facility is.

I checked the 1966 Merck Manual on "wounds", but they assume a hospital setting. I also read the posts tagged "gunshot wounds" on this comm and found a lot of helpful info. I still have several questions, which I can't quite figure out how to Google.

#1: (the most important) Would it be preferable to dig out the bullet and/or set the leg right away, or just put on a temporary splint and bandage so they can concentrate on looking for civilization? If the latter, at what point (if at all) would it become preferable to debride the wound and/or set the break in unsanitary conditions rather than waiting any longer in hopes of getting to a hospital?

#2: Given the flexibility of a four-year-old's bones, what are the chances of the bullet causing a clean break versus a greenstick fracture or some such? If it would probably not be a clean break, how much of a difference does that make in the answer to question #1?

#3: Do gunshot wounds start to hurt right away? In other words, would the man (in good physical shape and running flat out, if it matters) know immediately after he felt the bullet hit that it wasn't actually lodged in his back, or would there be a minute or so when he might not be sure? He's been shot several times in canon, so he's got a bit of experience with how it feels, if that makes a difference.

Many thanks for any help!

Setting: modern-day British army

Research: variations on "military funeral" + "ceremony" + "honours" and "Tours of duty" + "Time between" and "promotion" and variations thereupon.

Questions:

1. What does a military funeral ceremony actually include?
I want to know what the 'military honours' that are mentioned in news articles are, as I can't find them explained anywhere.

2. How long would it be (on average) between a soldier's first and second tours of duty?

3. Would they be promoted between tours? And to what rank? (assuming he started as a private on his first tour)

Any relevant inforamtion on any of these subjects is also very welcome as i know next to nothing about any of this and am having trouble researching it  :)

Thanks

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/12/25/merry-christmas-tom-fowler/

Via