Sopranos series and Godfather saga are my favorite. Fr. Barron explains why.

If video fails, go to http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/11/soprano-godfather-wiseguys-analyze-this.html

Fr. Barron explains why the Sopranos is a great series.

Quick test if you are racist.

Do you like him any better now?

If you answered yes, then your are a racist.

If you answered no, then your are not a racist.

Source http://www.peekinthewell.net/blog/racism-test/

Of women and sushi. Or just as men need to be trusted, women need to be ...

From psychology I learned that women need to be loved as men need to be trusted.  It's just how the sexes respond to affirmation.  So I keep this in mind and drop casual and subtle messages of appreciation to my wife every now and then.  Like when we went for buffet tonight, I saw some eel sushi and got her a few pieces.  "I got these for you, I know you like them."  She trapped the eels with her chop sticks then chased them with that shaved ginger.  "Could you get some more?" she asked.  "Of course."  But it was gone, so I told the chef, "Eel?" He looked at me and said something in Japanese.  "What we have here is failure to communicate," I thought.  Then I saw the picture reference at the back wall.  "Naguri" I said while putting a buck at the tip jar.  He responded again but the tone assured me that I was getting eel.  Sure enough, he got a tupperware with eel and microwaved it.  You see, my wife is with child so she's not taking any chances with raw fish.  The eel sushi is cooked.  So, a little loving keeps the little lady happy.  And when the mother is happy, the children are happy.  It's that Reagan trickle-down economics.

Social Venn Diagram: based on emotional dysfunction, intelligence, social ineptitude & obssesiveness

Source:  http://thegreatgeekmanual.com/blog/picture-of-the-week-social-venn-diagram#more-7775

Here is a graphical definition of the labels used to tag people - FYI.

Dems Pyrrhic victory; Buffet's winning choices; Wearing my gas mask first

Pyrrhic victory:
Democrats may skip procedures to push through health care legislation.  Read more here.  They won so they can do what they like and ignore more than half of the nation.  Why are they acting like that in an election year where there are 435 House seats, 36 Senate seats and 37 Gubernatorial seats that are up for vote?  They may win in ramming this into a law but lose everything because of it.  Perhaps, it does not matter;  because, they might be getting some form of reimbursement that is worth the loss of their political careers - must be nice and big.

Buffet's choices:
From the book:  Warren Buffett's Management Secrets: Proven Tools for Personal and Business Success, his investment choices are based on companies that:
have a consistent upward ten-year trend in earnings per share,
have less debt than its competitors or on average less than five times net earnings and have high gross margins e.g. Moody's rating service, Burlington Northern Railroad, and Wrigley Gum are all > 50%.

My gas mask first:
In an emergency the procedure is to help myself with the gas mask before attending to the kids - common sense.  So, looking out for number 1 is not always selfish.  When my beloved wife wanted to visit her mom for the new year celebrations, I was wheezing with asthma so I told her to just go by themselves as I may not be able to handle driving to NJ in the bitter cold.  I did find rest and relief but their absence was debilitating.  Anyway the point was, one needs to love oneself first - not overly but enough and that's not evil.  If not, one can burn out and be resentful.

(updated) Terrorist peed on the fuse; Bullies and wuss; Getting ready to die in DC

Underwear terrorist peed on the fuse.

I think the underwear terrorist could have done a lot of damage if his bomb worked.  He must have peed on the fuse.  But now I see posts blaming Bush for that.  While Bush was in office, nothing of the sort happened since 9/11;  and the man has been away for a year now.  So, how can he or his administration be responsible for this?  Oh and get this, Janet Napolitano said that "The system worked."  I don't think it was the system that caused the wardrobe  malfunction.  So, I beg to differ.

Bullies Respect Only Power.

Character and personality studies have determined that the aggressive type understand and respect courage and power.  A bully will stop pushing  someone around only if he knows that he can and will be pushed back.  He does not respond to the nice guy approach because he thinks that is acquiescence and cowardice.  Would there still be an Israel today if they apologized to their neighbors and bowed to every sovereign king around them?

Exercise for a Happy Death

St. John Bosco had this practice with his students.  It consisted of a monthly recollection of the 4 last things:  Death, Judgment, Heaven & Hell and the sacrament of confession.  Death, than which nothing is more certain; Judgement, than which nothing is more strict; Hell, than which nothing is more horrible; and Heaven, than which nothing is more beautiful!"  The idea is to be ready to die anytime.  Back in the 19th century, death was more common than today.  Living in the outskirts of the nations capital, I somehow feel the need to get ready now more than ever.

Update:

Israeli Airport Security Screens:
It's good, cheap & fast.
Relatively low tech but high touch (not what you think)
Details here:  http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/744426--what-israel-can-teach-us-about-security