“A Fullerton man convicted earlier this year for twice ejaculating into a female coworker’s water bottle was ordered Monday to pay the woman more than $27,000 in restitution… The woman drank from the bottles both times, throwing the first one away after detecting an unusual taste.” [LAT, via Dodgerblue]

“Rick Perry intends to use a speech in South Carolina on Saturday to make clear that he’s running for president, POLITICO has learned. According to two sources familiar with the plan, the Texas governor will remove any doubt about his White House intentions during his appearance at a RedState conference in Charleston.”

As London prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Blitz, parts of London are engulfed in flames as rioters engage the police after a father being shot to death by a policeman provided an excuse for looting (pronounced Loo-ting for those unfamiliar with the English Tongue).

Here is a linque to a West London newspaper featuring pictures and a blow-by-blow account.

BTW. When reading of riots please try not to snigger at place names. Yes, there really is a placed called Chingford Mount (Ching-ford Mount). Same goes for Dorking (Dork-ing) and Wapping (Wop-ing. And no, that does not mean Italians live there). Tottenham is pronounced Tott-num. Enfield is pronounced En-field.

When asked to comment, Margaret Drabble (Drab-ull) admitted that she had heard of Brixton (Brix-ton) but had never actually been there. “So long as Hampstead’s (Hamp-sted) safe we’ll manage somehow,” the celebrated lady novelist opined. “Has anyone seen Piers Morgan (Ass-hole)?”

Standard & Poors’ recent decision to downgrade the United States credit rating from AAA to a AA+ has caused not a little handwringing among the chattering classes. The move dominated the financial news over the weekend, and investors the world over are wondering just what it means for the future borrowing costs of the world’s largest economy.

Which is pretty silly.

Because truth be told, in the grand scheme of things and once the dust settles, Standard & Poor’s rating of United States debt will prove about as relevant to investors as an unknown blogger’s review of the latest Hollywood blockbuster is to the movie industry as a whole. Which is to say: about none at all. Indeed, it’s a mystery why the the rating downgrade caused any sort of flare up at all, given Standard and Poor’s miserable track record issuing ratings over the past few years. As both Paul Krugman and Daniel Gross have pointed out in recent columns, Standard & Poors’ poor judgment in assessing the risks of securitized mortgage debt helped enable the 2008 economic collapse.  Read more »

Some very good shows were canceled before their time. I’m watching Outcasts on BBC-A – it’s the first season. I’m really enjoying it. But why do I bother when they’ll probably cancel it just like they canceled:

1) Survivors – this is my favorite sort of program – a few thousand people survive a pandemic and have to fend for themselves. Two seasons in they canceled it. The second season ends with a spectacular cliffhanger that I will not spoil for you if you decide to watch something with no resolution.

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Title: “How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines”

Author: Thomas C. Foster

Rank: 66

Blurb: “What does it mean when a fictional hero takes a journey? Shares a meal? Gets drenched in a sudden rain shower? Often, there is much more going on in a novel or poem than is readily visible on the surface — a symbol, maybe, that remains elusive, or an unexpected twist on a character — and there’s that sneaking suspicion that the deeper meaning of a literary text keeps escaping you.”

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