8-19-09

8-20-09—Only about a quarter of the 2009 high school graduates taking the ACT admissions tests have the skills to succeed in college, a report found. WSJ A1
--The only place at the moment where you can see women forking over money to have sex with a gigolo is on HBO’s salaciously named “Hung.” The kooky comedy is about a divorced Detroit high school basketball coach ... He decides to sell his best asset, dubbing himself “a happiness consultant,” and teams up with an unlikely pimp, Tanya Skagle ... an aspiring poet who listens to PBS and has “Proust” tattooed on her forearm.—Dowd NYT A23
--...business embraced the carnival it saw in the muddy hills of upstate New York in 1969 not merely because it wanted to sell things to kids but because coolness, nonconformity and soulfulness expressed something deep and true about capitalism itself... let us remember that any establishment is lucky to have an opposition like this one.—Frank, WSJ A13
--[Engels] hosted regular Sunday parties for London’s left-wing intelligentsia and, as one regular put it, “no one left before 2 or 3 in the morning.” On a personality quiz, three of Engels’ answers were “Favorite virtue: jollity”; “Idea of happiness: Chateau Margaux 1848”; “Motto: take it easy.” NYT C1,6