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* There's a lot of foreign policy stuff I should write about at length, but sitting upright long enough to feed and hydrate is a whole lot of challenge just now. Short form for key events: 1. Remember those disputed islands between Japan and China? China declared it Chinese airspace and ordered the world to notify them if they were going to fly there. It's right on the flight path for a whole lot of Pacific rim airlines. Japan, US, and S. Korea are defying the notification rule and have flown over. It's getting ugly. 2. There are ongoing protests in Ukraine. It's looking like Putin strong armed the Ukrainian government and a lot of people are unhappy with that. There is also worry that the EU may be pissed that they backed out at the last minute. 3. Protests continue in Thailand, with protesters entering the army headquarters for a peaceful rally, after which they left. 4. In Egypt, the crack down on free speech and protests involves beating, sexual assault, and imprisonment of often young women in the hopes of intimidating women into being too afraid to participate in political activities. I am no friend of the Muslim Brotherhood, but I believe in free speech and the right of women of any political stripe to move freely and express opinions without fear.

* "Residents shocked that DeKalb County, Georgia, juror form lists ‘slave’ as occupation:" http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/27/residents-shocked-that-dekalb-county-juror-form-lists-slave-as-occupation/

* "Woman Shot Heading to See 'Hunger Games':" http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Gun-Goes-Off-at-SEPTA-Station-Shrapnel-Hits-Rider-233068631.html

* "Their Old Kentucky Home: Ken Ham, Al Mohler and Big Bone Lick:" http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2013/11/27/their-old-kentucky-home-ken-ham-al-mohler-and-big-bone-lick/

* "Gynecologists May Treat Men, Board Says in Switch:" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/27/health/gynecologists-may-treat-men-board-says-in-switch.html?_r=2&

* "24,000-Year-Old Body Shows Kinship to Europeans and American Indians:" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/science/two-surprises-in-dna-of-boy-found-buried-in-siberia.html?hp&_r=2&

* "Little man with huge potential:" http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Little-man-with-huge-potential/30885

* "Early uses of chili peppers in Mexico:" http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/plos-euo111213.php

* "New Clues About Human Sacrifices at Ancient Peruvian Temple:" http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131119-moche-human-sacrifice-war-victims-burials-archaeology-science/

* "Study of Mixtec woman shows the illnesses she had and how they affected her daily life:" http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=66172#.Uplbx-KQMf4

* ""Niccolo' Machiavelli: The Prince and its Era 1513-2013" opens in Washington:" http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=66198#.Upl4H-KQMf4

* Confession time: I sometimes wonder of Machiavelli's crush on Cesare Borgia wasn't more than simply political.

I am now picturing Machiavelli gushing about Cesare Borgia's perfect, perfect hair. Dammit! Night Vale has completely colonized my brain.

* "Victoria University recreates traditional Māori vegetable garden:" http://phys.org/news/2013-11-victoria-university-recreates-traditional-mori.html

* "Photos Reveal Harsh Detail Of Brazil's History With Slavery:" http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/11/12/244563532/photos-reveal-harsh-detail-of-brazils-history-with-slavery

I think it's important to look at the faces of people in the past. So often, people abstract people in other periods, as if they were all one thing, as if they were somehow less than we are because they had less technology and different options and experiences. When I see photos of 19th Century people, they become more real to me as individuals. It is harder to forget that they were individuals with feelings and experiences.

That goes a hundred times more for photographs like these. All that anger and strength and living through some of the worst things there are to live through on faces that could belong to a neighbor or the person in line with me at a super store. I think it's important to never forget that were are real people like us who hurt and loved and tried to survive.

* "Yeah, Alec Baldwin Really Is a Bigot:" http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/yeah-alec-baldwin-really-is-a-bigot/281911/

* "I Repeat, Can Y'all Stop Hatin' On Transwomen During This 2013 Holiday Season?:" http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-repeat-can-yall-stop-hatin-on.html

* Glee 5.7: Puppet Master

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* I know pedophiles spend money too and it's a bad economy for luxury goods, but it is so creepy that Kay Jewelers continues to target them specifically with an add showing a man grooming his future step daughter with their product. It seems to me that marketing targeting active pedophiles is a way of condoning it and normalizing it. Every time they run that add it makes my skin crawl.