Claystead

I call it blisters for lack of a better word. They are more like insect stings by appearance and itchyness; they are not sore, and only sting when they appear close together, like on my arm. It started about a week ago, when I noticed some of them on my right buttock one night after showering. Since then they've been appearing and disappearing at different places on my body, mostly arms and legs, but especially hip and buttocks. One appears at first, then more rapidly pop up and spread out. They itch for about an hour or two, then the swelling recedes over the course of 3-6 hours. The blisters are not red or otherwise very distinguishable from the normal skin, besides that they don't turn pink under cold water, staying pale. They rise 1-2 millimeters, then expand and slowly sink back into the skin.

It is driving me freaking crazy (as I write this about a hundred of the things have melded together to swell the entire underside of my left forearm), but I can't see a doctor about it because my town only has one, and she is away for a long time because she injured herself the other day. The replacement doctor isn't coming until December 1st. I tried asking the nurses, but they are clueless. I am considering driving to the hospital next town over, but I feel stupid going to the hospital over only a strange rash, not to mention how expensive it would be. Do any of you guys have a clue what it is? If it's a side effect of some disease, I will of course go to the hospital.

I am a foreign-born British national with dual citizenship. Some... family matters have come up and I have to spend four or five months in the UK. Would I need a visa or residence permit? I am not planning to work during this period, my savings should be quite enough.

My girlfriend has a new hobby; creating jewelry with rocks and minerals. She asked me if I could get her a polished piece of one of these stones for her birthday, which I will of course oblige. However, I am between jobs at the moment, so while I have funds, I would prefer to buy the cheapest one. Could anyone help a fellow out?

I recieved the task of writing a brief history of a European city, just a few dozen pages, and I chose Frankfurt. I just discovered Nathan Mayer Rotschild, the famous Jewish-British banker, died from an infection in Frankfurt, his place of birth, in 1836. But none of my books seem to mention what he was doing there (Visiting family? Conducting business? Returning home to die?) or where in Frankfurt exactly he died. I tried looking it up online, but my German is a bit so-and-so. Anyone have any idea?

I mean, what... Like... There's so many discharges and fluids and hormone imbalances and estrogen and yeast infections and ph troubles and... How is a poor man supposed to understand how his woman ticks?

My coworker and friend has started to see a person that isn't there. I had a long, quiet chat with her about, hoping my old high school classes in psychology would at least help me classify the magnitude of what was wrong with her. The reason I didn't immediately order her to a psychiatrist is that her family is a little... Uhm... They would think it was a demon. I wouldn't call them rednecks, they're just a bit... religiously hysterical. And because plenty of people she works with knows her family, they are bound to find out if she goes for professional help, so I wouldn't do that until I was certain it was serious.

Here is what I have gotten from her:

This person, an unnamed brown-haired woman dressed in a purple summer's dress and with "soot rubbed all over her arms", started showing up about six months ago and has appeared roughly every three-four weeks since, not in synch with her menstrual period (which according to her has always been quite "sporadic" due to stress and slight overweight), but has the last two weeks bothered her several times a week. The person only appears when my friend is alone, for example in her car, in her bedroom in the evening (her man is working in Alabama, not due to come home for another year) or during break hour at work. She can perfectly describe the person, but when she looks directly at her she can see right through her. My friend has no illusions this person is real, which is why she came to me about it in the first place.

The person seems to appear when my friend is in an emotionally fragile state, for example after having a fight with her old father. It is certainly not a vision deficiency, for the pair of them are having conversations "I can hear inside my head, like if reading a book". The person verbally attacks my friend, ranging from simple name-calling to, I quote, "putting her cold hands on my face and telling me that she made me stronger, that I should not deny her". My friend is not pregnant, not on any forms of medication, does not smoke marijuana or take any forms of psychoactive drugs.

Do you think these delusions are stress-related, or a case of schizophrenia bad enough I should commend her to a psychiatrist?

Years ago I knew a girl named Rachel. However, we moved and haven't seen each other for so long I've forgotten her surname (it did start with an "N", though). But today I saw a comment by her on Yahoo News. Her username was RaNi and she talked about something I was with her when she did. She must be the same!

Is there any way I can send her a private message or email? These new Yahoo profiles are so confusing.

It's just... Youtube is acting all odd on me these last two weeks. The automatic 360p quality works just fine, but it won't expand to 480p when I maximise, instead staying the same. Any attempt to change to HD automatically puts the quality to 240p and gives a black screen. I *could* work around it for a while by accessing new videos from full screen (then all qualities would work on that new video as long as you didn't exit fullscreen), but now I can't access videos from fullscreen at all.

I thought it was something wrong with my Flash player, but my friend in California recently told me Youtube had a lot streaming issues for her since the player update, so i thought I should ask you guys.

A friend of mine joined recently, and I would like to see her questions.

Hi. I am going to live in the United States for a couple of years, but I want to bring my computer and (hopefully) a videogames system, as I don't want to leave them lying about back home. Do I need any special permits or anything?

One of my answers was marked as a violation here the other day. I appealed, but the appeal was rejected on the grounds that my answer "promoted a personal non-profit site".

I still disagree, as I answered the question, AND the site was not mine (it was a Youtube video answering the question). Is there a way I can complain?

Is "y'all" purely plural, or can it be used singularly in the Texan accent (as opposed to certain related accents)?

Only today I've been called a "fascist pig", a "communist dog", a "capitalist swine", a "Republican leash-hound", a "Democratic zombie", an "idiot, an idiot with an attitude", an "overeducated besserwisser", a "priviliged elitist" and a "welfare case". I love it. It's like gambling and football combined.

Just read this:

"As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the Bible which satisfies the following ten guidelines:

1. Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias. For example, the Living Bible translation has liberal evolutionary bias; the widely used NIV translation has a pro-abortion bias.

2. Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other feminist distortions; preserve many references to the unborn child (the NIV deletes these).

3. Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level.

4.Utilize Terms which better capture original intent: using powerful new conservative terms to capture better the original intent; Defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words that have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle".

5. Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots"; using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census.

6. Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.

7. Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning.

8. Exclude Later-Inserted Inauthentic Passages: excluding the interpolated passages that liberals commonly put their own spin on, such as the adulteress story.

9. Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels.

10. Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word "Lord" rather than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Lord God."

Thus, a project has begun among editors at Conservapedia to translate the Bible in accordance with these principles."

As a Christian, I am horrified at this distortion of the Scripture. God knows how they will exploit His word for their own twisted purposes. Especially 8. shocked me. The "adulteress story" they mention is Hosea 3:1, where the Lord tells Hosea that he shall forgive his wife for adultery as he forgave the Israelites for idolatry. They can't remove that! They will be feeding their children propaganda!

I was just enjoying a Youtube video when suddenly the browser closed and the entire screen was filled with a line of text saying I was being monitored by the police, and I could see myself on a little screen. And I wasn't even wearing a shirt (I just showered). I panicked and smacked the laptop shut and shut it down. What was I doing? It was just a completely innocent music video I was watching.

Now what? Will they call me? Add me to some offender list? WHAT DID I DOOOO?

I was just looking at statistics for voter turnout right now, and was shocked to find that where most countries had around 81% average voter participation in general elections, the US had only 48% (55% in presidential elections). Why?

I was reading at midnight when I heard a strange noise outside, and when I looked out, I saw a black unmarked military single-rotor transport helicopter with no lights on hovering literally just a few yards away! I have seen at least six more since, but due ot the darkness I am unable to ascertain the total number of helicopters, as I can only make out three or so at the time.

They come flying in from sea and are continuing in the direction of the capital, which of course has me a little freaked out. Is this part of some unnanounced special forces drill? Whatever it was, it went on for at least an hour before they stopped coming.

I am writing a short novel. However, one of the chapters takes place at a military base. An American one. I am not without military experience myself, but I have no idea if American soldiers do the same things that we do.

So, could you describe what would happen if, say, a colonel or major entered a room with only privates, corporals and lieutenants inside? Would anyone announce his entry? Would there be collective salutation, individual as he talks to them, or no salutation at at all (this is not in a warzone)? Would everyone stand up, or remain seated?

With the kids all grown and moving out my father has decided he wants to be a manly man and build a new house for him and my mother up in the mountains. He has now been doing this for nine months, and he has actually done a pretty good job.

Now, the thing is, the place is out of cell phone range. Last winter me and my brothers went up there with him to keep an eye on him and give him a hand. But this winter, none of us have the time to go up there with him. I tried to tell him that a man in his fifties should not go to a place in the mountains where he can't call for help, he is half a mile from the nearest road (you have to trek through the woods on a path that is icy and dangerous in winter), and three miles from the nearest house. But the stubborn old fool will not listen. I told him to wait over winter or at least hire some professionals to help him, but noooo... He could have brought my mother, but she has broken a leg and cannot go up there. What am I supposed to do? It is not like I can lock him in his home.