THE MADE UP WAR ON WOMEN, NOW WITH URBAN LEGENDS: Romney Rumor: GOP Wants to Ban Tampons.  (Rolls eyes.)

THE TELEGRAPH CATCHES UP WITH THE REST OF US: US election 2012: Will the real Obama please stand up.

Voters saw a different Obama in the presidential campaign debate in Denver on Wednesday. And they worry that the tired, unfocused, and defensive fellow who lost the debate actually is the real one.

Only we don’t worry.  We know he is.  And we’ve known it since ’08.

THE FRUITS OF TOP-DOWN “FAIRNESS”: Lunch Lady In Sweden told to stop making fresh bread and varied vegetables.  It’s not fair to kids in other schools.  (Remember how they always tell us Sweden is socialism that works?  It’s sort of like saying it’s insanity few complain about.)

ANSWERING THE VITAL QUESTIONS: The Oxford English Dictionary wants to know whether Prince Philip is responsible for coining the phrase ‘blue-arsed fly’.

THAT’S NOT AN EXTREME  SPORT, THIS IS AN EXTREME SPORT: New Extreme Sport Of Flyboarding Takes Off In Australia

DEFINITELY BIG BIRD: Who should Obama pick to practice debate with next time, if Kerry was so ineffective?

FEMALES CAN DO FINE WITHOUT MALES:  If they happen to be snakes!

BAH.  THEY SHOULD SELL IT AS A NOVELTY:  Blue and green honey makes French beekeepers see red

WELL, IT IS THE 21st CENTURY:  Mouse stem cells yield viable eggs

THEY’RE SHOWING YOU DON’T HAVE ANY SAY: California struggles with gas prices and availability and people ask “What are they doing to us?”

OBAMA CARE GAMES: New York State Seeks to Limit Doctor Visits for ‘Benchmark’ ObamaCare Plan

OF COURSE HE DOES: Obama delays retaliating for Libyan attacks.  My children and grandchildren will pay in blood for the image of weakness he’s projecting abroad.

ISN’T IT TIME TO MOVE PAST NOSTALGIA? The Beatles 50 years on: sink the yellow submarine.

THAT HE NEVER THOUGHT THINGS THROUGH: What Obama’s debate performance tells us about his education policy. Of course, he also seems to have trouble learning from experience, since this is not his first dabbling in education with… less than impressive results.  With Mr. Obama, it’s all about trickle-down government.

SEE Q FOR ANY EQUIPMENT YOU NEED: James Bond and the modern gadget economy.

I SECOND: Michael Totten’s recommendation of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King.  Also from Dwight Swain (you know I REALLY don’t get kickbacks from the estate!) my husband found Creating Characters: How to Build Story People very useful.  I never needed it because characters are the one story element I “got” for free without having to struggle with it.

As a note, everyone knows I’m a big supporter of indie publishing and  self-publishing.  Everyone knows you can’t tell what will hit in the indie market.  But I can tell you a rudimentary knowledge of the craft will help.  Trust me.  I’m looking over the shoulders of several beginners doing this.  There is no shame in learning.

I SWEAR I DON’T GET ANY KICKBACKS: But if you’re trying to be a fiction writer, you could do worse than if you start by reading Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer.  It’s that rarest thing among writers’ manuals: useful.

UPDATE: The reason for the kickback disclaimer is that I recommend this book so much that for a while my books were associated with the author’s on Amazon.  I don’t even know the family (the writer is no longer alive) but I know this book took first me, then years later my husband, then more years later my older son from unpublished to pro.

A QUOTE TO TAKE INTO THE WEEKEND:

Political tags – such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth – are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

Robert A. Heinlein

ANDREW KLAVAN: A Fantasy Election, An Imaginary Man comes as close as anything to capturing the disturbing sense of unreality that’s making me feel as though nothing in the news were quite what it seems.  What I’ve taken to calling being gaslighted.

JOE BIDEN DEBATE PREPARATION:

HOW WRITERS HAVE FUN: The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.

Yes, we do sit around every once in a while admiring these.  Okay, it’s not the ONLY way we have fun.  Sometimes we drink.  Sometimes we drink while reading these.  (It helps.)

UN-REALITY BASED: Democrats fund-raise on Obama’s poor debate performance.  No, really.  Because money will fix everything.  Or something.

SHE DOESN’T MENTION UFOS: Kris Rusch explains why writers disappear.  (This is something that baffles fans — why a writer stops writing a series that seems to be going well.  The first point answers most my instances of doing so.)

BECAUSE SHE HAS ENOUGH MONEY NOT TO WORRY ABOUT FUEL PRICES: Daryl Hannah Arrested in Texas Protesting Pipeline.  (And I see from the picture she’s acquiring the weird cat-face of people who have too much plastic surgery.  HOW can anyone think that looks good?)

THE STUPID, THE STUPID, IT BURNS: Apparently Romney’s motorcade passed a hill where someone else was flying a confederate flag.  Note how the reporter’s bad grammar biased phrasing implies it was Romney’s motorcade flying the flag.  This is how you know they’re not sure of victory.  In fact, they’re scared to death.  And they should be.