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* "Guraidhoo Island Council stops ballot boxes inside schools citing “too much black magic”:" http://minivannews.com/politics/guraidhoo-island-council-stops-ballot-boxes-inside-schools-citing-too-much-black-magic-65526

* Remembering the four girls killed by white domestic terrorists in Birmingham:

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* "Four Little Girls-50 Years Later:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/09/four-little-girls-50-years-later.html

* Dear Republicans, if you go around calling "The Bluest Eye" Pornography, I am going to assume you are a pedophile, because frankly, if this is what you masturbate too, you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near children. Just saying.

* "Man seeking help after North Carolina car crash shot by police:" http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/15/us-usa-police-accident-idUSBRE98E0AT20130915

* "Police Wound Two Bystanders In Shooting Near Times Square:" http://wvxu.org/post/police-wound-two-women-shooting-near-times-square

* Housing Update: We were supposed to sign last week, but nothing happened. Not only am I sick of being dicked around, we have until October 31st to vacate this apartment.

* Research was extra hard this week with Hector stealing my sleep and generally interfering with all attempts to concentrate or take notes. I think I'm getting a handle on the shape of the coming North African Campaign. This is the issue, of course. I can't just prep Cordoba, as Cordoba is the jumping off point for so much else.

* RP heavy RP report:

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Next two weeks, Tiger player will be gone, so were are "Sailing to Byzantium."

* Help this cat get a needed amputation: http://nebris.livejournal.com/7403456.html

* "Fine Art Cakes:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2013/9/15/sunday-sweets-fine-art-cakes.html

* The Clutch:

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* Massive storms were hitting both coasts of Mexico, with 19 dead before my bedtime last night.

* The Senior Woman Police Officer in Helmand has been shot to death. She was providing for her paralyzed brother and his children, and was a inspiration to her fellow officers on the job.

* Police are using tear gas on protesters in Turkey again.

* More than 60 are dead in the rebel siege of a city in Southern Philipines. The government was launching a counter attack as I wrote this last night.

* I genuinely tried to watch live coverage of Kerry, France, and the UK do their joint Syria policy announcement stuff last night, but my concentration's always a mess after running my game. I simply couldn't focus the way I have to on things like this to parse them into sense. Apologies. The jist seems to be we are trying negotiation, in the hopes of easing Assad out so as to allow better protection of minorities during the change over and in the hopes of finding moderates to turn the government over to, but do not quote me on it. They seem to be talking sanctions rather than military action.

* They are still trying to rescue people from the flooding in Colorado. While the water is receding there is more rain coming and are concerns about flash floods.

* 12 are dead in a mass shooting at the DC Naval Yard. The gunmen was killed as well. As is my policy, I do not name mass shooters in this space so as not to contribute to glorifying these sorts of criminals. A DC police officer and a few others were wounded.

* "Lost silent film with all-Native American cast found:" http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/53890738832/girljanitor-girljanitor-lost-silent-film-with

* The Clutch:

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* Given the quantity and scale of disasters over the last week, now might be a good time to donate money to the Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations

* Republicans in Iowa have vowed to protect the rights of sex offenders to have concealed carry permits, part of the same law that gave the blind the right to a concealed carry permit. The NRA feels strongly that convicted rapists and murderers have the same right to gun ownership as people who are not violent sex offenders and Republicans in Iowa and Louisiana agree enthusiastically. Good to know.

* Background checks are not too much to ask:

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* "The Boy Genius of Ulan Bator:" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/magazine/the-boy-genius-of-ulan-bator.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

* Greenwick found, Bill Nye's Pseudoscience episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtEVirQgPeI&feature=youtu.be

* "Fifty Shades of Graham" and "Dude, Where's My War?:"

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* The Word - The Guilted Age:

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* I haven't mentioned, but the swapping luck has been Amazing over at the BPAL forum for the last month or so. I've been trying to clean as much as possible out of the infamous swaps cupboard, in the hopes we really do move. Not only was there the ebay sale, but a lot of private swapping. The est of these was a bottle of something I really didn't want for something I've wanted for two years, plus *gasp* a 1/4 of Storyville! For those of you non-BPAL geeks, this means nothing but trust me folks, this is the most expensive and coveted BPAL scent that exists. Current market price for a full bottle is nearly $300.00, and you can generally sell an EMPTY bottle for $10-20. Why so expensive? it's this incredibly beautiful super rare scent that paints a complex slowly unfolding scent poem about the beauty of New Orleans that was only sold it a particular convention for a couple of days a while before I started collecting. I was allowed to skin test it once by a friend who got a decant, but never thought I'd even touch a bottle, let alone own a partial. Yes, I'm going to wear it, but I'm waiting until I'm healthier so I can enjoy it properly. (I let Greenwick skin test it, though). My plan is to wear most of it for very special occasions, then toss it in an imp swap as a testable sniffy plus bottle. My second best exiting swap in the last month was a bottle of Crypt King that mailed out Monday. Only fifty of these exist and they sold so fast I was lucky to score a decant to test. Again, I never expected to own a bottle. I can't believe the deals have been this good. I need to do another ebay batch, and that should be it.

* Life with Hector: I just caught him stealing the fish food again. He periodically conceives a wild passion for those big algae wafers the plecoes eat. He is now sitting in the dirty laundry howling because I'm a big meanie. I do not starve this cat. This was even a goosh night.

* "Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman Probably Had Sex Once:" http://the-toast.net/2013/09/17/oscar-wilde-and-walt-whitman-did-it/

* "7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding:" http://io9.com/7-deadly-sins-of-worldbuilding-998817537

* "Think Seeing A Little Male Nudity On TV Is Too Explicit? Then ... It's Time To Hear The Hard Truth.:" http://www.upworthy.com/think-seeing-a-little-male-nudity-on-tv-is-too-explicit-then-its-time-to-hear-the-hard-truth

* "The Official "Fun vs. Effort" Graph of Pets:" http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6914070/the-official-fun-vs-effort-graph-of-pets

* The Clutch: <img src="http:/