Raithe

For the diversion from economic matters to.... And here I thought the Handmaid's Tale was written as a warning, not a bloody instruction manual.

Moirane, standing in the White Tower, looking out over Tar Valon's harbour. Apparently the proper trailer for Wheel of Time will be out tomorrow...

Okay, recycled telephone cords turned into art kind of made me chuckle.

Skip mancave and go to life-goals...

For a certain kind of snark....

In EU, I believe it went with how each system/sector had its own militarised "police" for local issues. Anything bigger and the various systems were supposed to co-operate and offer up elements of their system forces to combine together under Republic control. By the time of the Phantom Menace and such, the Republics bureaucracy was just bloated and all the cracks were appearing and systems weren't being as cooperative. On other funny things:

A school opted out of a free meals program because they didn't want kids to 'become spoiled' (upworthy.com)

Taliban executes folk singer after announcing a public music ban in Afghanistan - Classic FM