The Washington Post has a great update on America’s tea consumption –

“The U.S. market for tea has more than quadrupled during the past twenty-plus years—from just under $2 billion in 1990 to just over $10 billion last year—according to the U.S. Tea Association. Demand for the herbal beverage has now been growing at a healthy clip for decades. By weight, Americans now drink almost 20 percent more of the herbal beverage than they did back in 2000, according to market research firm Euromonitor.” RT

The Scots are considering independence (and all I can think about is this).

“The people of Scotland are to be offered a historic opportunity to devise a federal future for their country before next year’s general election, it emerged on Saturday night, as a shock new poll gave the campaign for independence a narrow lead for the first time.” RT

Guardians of the Galaxy has now exceeded Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger is global gross total. You keep sashayin’, Baby Groot. RT

Darren Franich at EW on a study of the effect of watching Michael bay movies – “Technically, the study doesn’t specifically state that watching a Michael Bay movie is the equivalent of stuffing your mouth with M&Ms™ and then filling your overstuffed mouth with Coca-Cola™ while driving a 2013 Chevrolet™ Venture™ with Mark Wahlberg in the backseat screaming “I’M AN INVENTOR!!!” while he shotguns a Bud Light™ and plays Xbox™. But the study also doesn’t not say that.” RT

Fiona McCrae, publisher of Graywolf Press, had some great things to say about publishing in the age of the Internet. “There are dozens of obstacles to any given book succeeding. If a book succeeds it always does so against the odds. The odds in one generation might relate to the fact that people would rather be watching television than reading your book. The odds in the next generation might be that they’d rather be on their computer than reading your book. Once it was that people would rather be riding a bicycle than reading your book. It doesn’t do any good to be talking, as an author or publisher, about the obstacles. There are better uses of energy, I think. Yes, we can all feel helpless and wary in this industry sometimes, but it’s better, as a publisher, to look at the ways in which e-books and Twitter and so on can help us reach new readers, rather than treating social media as an enemy to literature.” RT

Tagged: American tea consumption, American tea drinking habits, American tea industry, Americans drink black tea, Baby Groot, black and green tea, Braveheart, Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy gross, Michael bay, Michael Bay movies, publishing, publishing in the Internet age, Scotland, Scottish independence, tea