Thursday Miscellany!

[maxomai]

• Standard and Poor was minutes away from cutting the US credit rating to its lowest level. Yesterday's deal means we avoided that; however, I'm still not sure we've avoided a credit rating downgrade to a less scary level. In fact, Dagong, a Chinese credit rating term, cut the US credit rating from A to A-. We'll have to see whether other, more influential rating agencies follow suit. Analysis like this and this will not help our case.


• During the Iraq war, the US relied on mercenaries"contractors" for security services, meals, and other bits of logistics. Those contractors are now being let go.


• Russian opposition leader navalny has avoided jail time on embezzlement charges; those charges are seen in the West as trumped up by the Kremlin to shut him up.


• Why do male writers, by and large, suck at writing female characters? One strong hypothesis here. (Taken from a reader of this blog, whom I thank.)


• My friend is on the crew of Milagro Theater's "Day of the Dead" show, Corrido Cavalera, which opens tonight. The Oregonian's Faith Cathart took some stunning photos of a rehearsal session here. Check them out!