cookin' kuchen

We had a fun, snowed-in weekend with Miss Sweet Pea. She put the candles in her daddy's birthday cake (using her own unique decorating style), helped grandma decorate the tree, went on a toboggan ride with her daddy. helped grandma cook meals and bake cookies, and jumped on grandpa, among other things.

She also made kuchen (a German raisin bread) with grandma. This is a special holiday tradition in our home. Her grandma learned to make it from her grandma who learned from her mother. I don't know how far it goes back but Sweet Pea is the fifth generation of kuchen makers I personally have met.

The kuchen is good but the passing on of the tradition is even better.

Be blessed!
RB

charitable giving: usa v. the world

The USA beats other nations by a mile in terms of charitable giving. As a percentage of income, we give over twice as much as Brits and Canadians. Germans are particularly closed-fisted when it comes to giving. The French give well less than one-tenth as much as Americans. Folks in each of these countries tend to view themselves as compassionate and look down on Americans as greedy and self-centered. Perceptions don't seem to match reality.

Chart from The Wall Street Journal 10 December 2007, p. R10.

gop should pack it in though it's only '07

Source: Wikipedia

The November 2008 election is already over. A Democrat, most likely Clinton, will be president. Look at the above electoral college map from 2004. If Kerry had won Ohio with its 20 electoral college votes, he would have been president. With Ohio going for Kerry, he'd have had 271 votes to Bush's 266.

Do you really think Clinton will lose any state that the more liberal Kerry won in 2004? So all she has to do is win Ohio. Remember: other than Ohio, the red states above do not matter. A Clinton-Obama ticket would certainly do the trick in Ohio.

Below is a cool map with states and DC resized to reflect their relative size in the electoral college.
Source: Election Results Maps

our guy's guys

"Clean House: U.S. Army Soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Alpha Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment instruct Iraqi police on room clearing procedures at Forward Operating Base Volunteer in Baghdad." ~ Source: Multi-National Force - Iraq

(This was published earlier this week and these troopers are in our LT's platoon.)

P.S. The trooper in the foreground is our LT's humvee driver.

it has been a week, a slow week . . . .

I went off coffee and spent the first day of the month with a withdrawal headache. I will try to limit myself to a couple of cups per week to avoid a recurrence of caffeine addiction. Except for decaf, I only had a half a cup on Thursday.

It's one day at a time . . . .

boomers born to be wild

This was sent by her to her who sent it to me.

Original source: Newsday.com

let's say thanks

If you go to this web site, www.letssaythanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card, Xerox will print it, and it will be sent to a service member serving overseas. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.

Last year folks from our church sent packages to my son in Iraq who then put together Christmas stockings for the men in his platoon. We were shocked when he told us that for a number of the men, that was the only thing they received from anyone on Christmas.

So if you can take a minute, please go to www.letssaythanks.com. It may make a real difference to one of our men or women deployed overseas.

Be blessed.
RB

best stock market sectors?

Source: Callan Associates

The above chart shows indexes (like an average) for eight different financial sectors, or types of financial investments, for the years 1987 to 2006. They are color coded and ranked top-to-bottom by returns for the year in question.

Conclusion? No one part of the market out performs other sectors each year. On average, some sectors have beat other sectors over a long period of time, but not each and every year.

Implication? Have a diversified portfolio of investments from many sectors.

Be blessed!
RB

P.S. Want a better view? You can double click the image above. If that is too blurry for you, then you can download the original pdf file here.

thinking, economics, and dilbert

From The Teaching Economist:

Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, majored in economics at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. In September, he wrote about how economics has influenced his thinking: “I’m convinced that the study of economics changes brains in a way I can identify after about five minutes of conversation. In particular, I think the study of economics makes you relatively immune to cognitive dissonance…. The primary skill of an economist is identifying all of the explanations for various phenomena. Cognitive dissonance is, at its core, the inability to recognize and accept other explanations. I’m oversimplifying, but you get the point. The more your brain is trained for economics, the less it is susceptible to cognitive dissonance, or so it seems. The joke about economists is that they are always using the phrase ‘On the other hand.’ Economists are trained to recognize all sides of an argument. That seems like an easy and obvious skill, but in my experience, the general population lacks that skill. Once people take a side, they interpret any argument on the other side as absurd. In other words, they are relatively susceptible to cognitive dissonance.”

happy december

I am very grateful that one of my sons has a new job. With his previous job his entire day consisted of commuting, working, coming home, sleeping, and getting up to go to work. He worked a nine-hour evening shift. The new position is a nine-to-five, Monday through Friday job with a much shorter commute. In fact, he will have an extra four hours per day. (This is not an exaggeration.) It is similar work but more intellectually challenging and therefore more interesting.

He's happy. We're happy for him. Everyone should be happy for him**.

Be blessed!
RB

** If some bizarre reason you are not happy for him, then please seek help from a mental health professional. Referrals are available. :)