Plugging back in

I've been mostly or completely offline for most of the last two weeks, having a really lovely holiday. In the last few days I've learned that Prince Harry took his clothes off and Neil Armstrong died. So please tell me, what is the most important thing that's happened a) in world affairs and b) in your personal life since the middle of August?

I'll try to skim DW (skip=250) over the next week or so – I read fast and I love you peeps. But I'm seriously bankrupt on LJ, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, so I'm particularly hoping for pointers / catch-up if you're in the habit of putting important stuff there!

My life from now to Christmas: PhD student starts Monday, I'm doing all the High Holy Day services essentially solo, term starts end of September with the 7-week block when I'm responsible for the curriculum for the second years, followed by the 5-week block when I'm organizing loads of stuff around disability teaching. Plus kitten-herding over a hundred assorted clinicians who are supposed to be mentoring my students. During all this the medical school is seriously short-staffed and at some point I have to (belatedly) write and submit my 10K word dissertation on education as well as making a case for moving from probation to a permanent job. So life gets interesting; I'll try not to fall off the planet too much!